happy early 4th of july!

Sister Anderson exchange!!

some good ole exchange tracting! lol jk, we just knocked this one. haha

COMPS WITH LIZ

because we never take any pictures during the day. post planning selfie :)

district meeting!

love you all so much!

happily stressed,
sister morganHello Family!

This week has been amazing! And also so unbelievably stressful.

early 4th of july title because Sister Delange told me something so
funny one night while we were laying in bed completely exhausted and
stressed. She said, "you know those fireworks that buzz around on the
ground? yeah.. when I am stressed, I feel like my head is just on one
of those" hahaha, so as you are watching those fun fireworks for us
next week, just know we are there in spirit stressing our heads off
with what is commonly known as .. missionary work.

The Lord truly is in the details of our lives though. I feel so
blessed to serve as a missionary at this time. I love everything about
being a missionary. I have never lived in such a way that the Spirit
was with me as much until now and it is the best feeling in the world.
There is often a misconception that only missionaries have the
heightened Spirit with them because of our calling. That is not the
case though! The reason missionaries have the Spirit with them more is
because the lifestyle we are living. We get added doses of the Spirit
each time we are obedient to God's commandments. Isn't that cool?
Every time we TURN to God more, He blesses us with the influence of
the Holy Ghost! I think that is one of the things that I have
reflected on for a majority of my mission.

Anyways, so on Saturday, Ny'Vea got baptized! You all will seriously
never even understand what a miracles that happened to put this
baptism on.
Here is a sneak peek... (if it lets me send videos at the end of this,
I'll attach them so you can pretend to stress out with us. haha) get
ready for the longest story of your life.
So last Sunday, Ny'Vea and her brother got whisked away to their dad's
house unexpectedly, which prevented her brother, Antonio, from being
baptized. So they missed church and weren't able to see them up until
Friday night... the night before her baptism. Meanwhile, we have been
in contact with her mom trying to set everything up while she is on a
crazy work schedule working from 6pm-6am everyday. We set up a time to
have her baptismal interview Friday afternoon and we confirmed with
her mom 30 minutes before the interview and she is all set for it. We
get to the church building with the elders for her interview.. and...
no Ny'Vea. We wait 45 minutes and contemplate just stopping by her
house to see what is going on. Finally, we all had to leave to our
next appointment. So the night before her baptism, she hasn't even had
her interview and no one is answering their phones and at this point,
we haven't seen Ny'Vea in a week!
Her mom finally gives us a call that night and told us she ended up
falling asleep on accident and so Ny'Vea couldn't make her interview
(thank you crazy work schedule). She says we can go over in the
evening and see Ny'Vea though and teach her her last lesson even
though she will be at work again. So we go over there and no one
answers.. The TV is blasting inside but nothing (HIMYM is playing
inside ps. super distracting) We are like banging on the metal screen
door at this point. We convince one of her 4 year old cousins who was
on the street biking around to go inside and see if she is in there.
He at first tells us she is at the park with her mom, but we found out
from the little boy's mom that he has no clue where she is and is just
messing with us. We decide to drive around to see if we can find her,
but we decided to say a prayer first for guidance. Sister Delange gets
the prompting to go back to the house. soo.. we do that and again, we
convince the little 4 year old to go back in and give us more info. He
is no help haha so we peek our heads in and Ny'Vea and her older
brother are passed out asleep on the couch.. great. ha. We feel
awkward just walking into the house and waking her up.. plus there
isn't an adult woman in there anyways so we aren't even allowed to. We
spend the next 5 minutes bribing this little boy into waking her up.
We tried many tactics. First, tried turning the TV off, hoping the
change in noise would wake her up. We then tried telling him we would
fix his water gun while he went in to wake her up. Meanwhile, we have
no clue what to do. If we couldn't see her that night, there was no
way we could get her last lesson in and set up her interview in the
morning for before her baptism... so pressure. is. on. Nothing was
working for the longest time, but eventually! Ny'Vea was awake! We
taught her and set up a time for her interview in the morning!
We had to schedule to go on splits at with some members during her
interview THE NEXT MORNING because we have no other option. Thank
goodness, we have some amazing members who were so willing to help
out. We'll get to that in a bit though.
The next morning at 6am when we were leaving for our run, we thought
we should probably bring the phone with us because her mom, Latrice,
gets off work at 6am and we need to make sure she is good to bring
Ny'Vea to her interview. We finally get ahold of her at 7am and
confirm her interview. This time, they showed up! The interview went
great! We told her mom and grandma to come back for the baptism at 3pm
(an hour early just to be safe) and at 4:40pm no one from the family
is there.. including Ny'Vea. Members are just sitting there waiting
and we haven't been able to get a hold of them. Again, we were
contemplating going to their house and seeing what is going on. We
finally got a hold of Ny'Vea on her mom's phone and she says that her
mom is still getting ready (mind you.. this is 30 minutes after the
baptism is supposed to start)..
Long long long story short, they all show up to the baptism and it was
such a spiritual service. Her mom and grandma (who has been less
active for 15 years) bore their testimonies and the whole family was
crying. Ny'Vea was so happy. We asked her how it felt when we were
walking back into the primary room and she said, "it just felt like
all of my sins are washed away" so precious. Totally worth every
second of stress.

(Again, wrote most of that because journaling has been a stuggle and a
half this week)

We also went on the best exchange of my life this week with the
Raytown Sisters. I was with Sister Anderson! She is absolutely
incredible. I was able to learn how important it is to be a good
leader. She is training a new missionary and is seriously such an
inspiration. We also got to go to the VC FMTM Friday morning and they
were doing the Mormon Walking Trail! It was also June 24! The day last
year that I came out to Missouri, so it was a perfect way to
celebrate!

Now to the other best part of the week!
I got to be companions with LIZ!!! haha, she is one of the best people
who helped us out for splits Saturday morning! I was with her while
Sister Delange was with another member at one of our lessons. We
stayed with Ny'Vea for her interview and then we talked about the
temple and family history for a bit. She got her recommend to go to
the temple this week and we are going with her to do baptisms this
week!! I cannot wait! It is going to be the best thing ever!
Liz shared her experience of her baptism with Ny'Vea and shared with
her how she feels after having the gift of the Holy Ghost now and it
was so amazing! Liz said she would come with us to help with other
appointments too if we needed it :) Then, Sister Delange and our
member Sister Condie, were going to pick me up at a restaurant that
Liz was meeting her friend at and then, Liz invited us to stay and eat
lunch with her friend at the best Mexican place!
#lizisdoingmissionarywork! It was so awesome. I love Liz.

Last night, we had a cool experience too! A member invited us to
dinner at their non-member friend's hosue who has mini dinner parties
every Sunday and has a few friends over each time. We have been once
before but only have been able to stay for a few minutes. The member
is from Madagascar and her friend is from there as well. It was the
Madagascar Independence Day so they all made the best Malagasi food!
We had a cool experience meeting one her friends, Jamie, too. We were
talking with her for a while during dinner and she has a lot of
tattoos so we were asking what they all mean, and then she showed us a
tattoo on her chest that had the footprints of her son when he was
born and "Family is Forever" ... cue missionary light bulb going off
as we were trying to figure out how we could bring in the gospel this
whole time! We told her about the temple and our beliefs about family
and eternal families and she absolutely loved it and wanted to learn
more! Such a miracle! I love this gospel.

We also had interviews with President and Sister Vest of Saturday! I
absolutely love them! So blessed to be in this mission with them!

and finally, because I know no one read that whole long email, PICTURES!

Our cute friend, Ny'Vea!

Elder Hamula visit to MIM and the move to KC!

Hello Family!

This week has been absolutely insane! There has been so much that has happened. It feels like we were hardly in our area, but the Lord still provided so many miracles. 

On Tuesday, we had zone conference (where half the mission gets together from 8am - 4pm for breakfast, conference, lunch, and more conference :). We went to Lenexa, KS for zone conference. Elder Hamula from the Seventy and his wife, Sister Hamula came to speak to us. It was so amazing. Elder Hamula talked to us a lot about repentance and the importance of living the gospel of Jesus Christ. He changed my whole perspective on developing faith, it was incredible! Something else that I loved especially about repentance that day was how repentance is truly just TURNING to God. We leave the natural man behind and strive to make His will, our will. It is also probably the hardest thing to do, but I have loved this time that I have on a mission to strive to turn more consistently towards Him - in essence, to consecrate my all to Him. Mosiah 3:19 is one of my favorite scriptures as well about this that we talked about with him. 

After the conference, we had our first new member lesson with Liz!! We decided to teach her favorite lesson - the Plan of Salvation. It was so amazing! The biggest thing I have learned from Liz is how to love the Plan of Salvation. I have always loved this plan that our Heavenly Father has for us, but she loves it so deeply. We got through half the lesson and showed her so many amazing scriptures with her and decided to just have a continuation of that lesson on Thursday night. Teaching her is seriously such a joy.    Apparently there was a shooting in Florida? idk we don't know anything as missionaries, but that lesson really touched her because of that. I know that everyone after this life will go home to that God who gave them life and be in a state of rest and peace. I know that God loves us because of this plan. 

During our lessons with her, we pretty much read scriptures with her and bear testimony and cry with her. They are the most spiritual moments. 

On Wednesday! We had the opportunity to have an MLC with Elder and Sister Hamula!! It was again incredible!! I learned so much about the importance of consecration and faith. It was so incredible to be in a room with someone who leaves their witness of Christ with us and is able to receive specific direct revelation for our mission. He loved visiting the MIM!  I also absolutely love President Vest. Every time we have MLC with him, I am able to feel the love that he has for us. It was such a powerful meeting. 

After MLC, we helped a less active member move in like 105 degree weather with SO much humidity! It was great! haha, I really do love serving people though. One of my favorite parts about them mission. 

Then, we had a lesson with our friend, Connie. A member invited her over for dinner before the lesson and had the lesson in their home.. aka #miracle. It makes SUCH A DIFFERENCE having a lesson in a member's home. The Spirit is so much stronger. We are so grateful for the O'Laughlins. <3

Thursday, we planned, tried to write our Sunday talks for the YSA AND prepare to train at zone trainings (Friday). And we had three lessons set up in the afternoon and evening. And to top off the stress level, we got a call from housing to tell us that we were MOVING to KC Saturday afternoon (directly after our exchange with the sisters in Sedalia! woo!) haha. Thursday through Sunday were the most stressful days! 

So on to Friday, We drove out to Warrensburg, MO (boonies ha) to train at zone training, I gave a training on our potential as missionaries and consecration. Then we exchanged with the Sedalia sisters! I got to be with Sister Whitehead! We served at the VC together forever ago! She is the best ever! and SOO fun! 

After exchanges on Saturday, we packed our apartment up and after a year of living in Independence (said in Missouri redneck accent), I said goodbye and we made the move to KC! Yay for living in our area finally! Our new apartment is SO cute and SO nice! and guess what! new carpets!!! I never realized that new carpets could be such a tender mercy until I came out on my mission.  We also now get to run in the mornings in a cute safe neighborhood instead of crazy-town Independence. haha

We had stake conference in KC on Saturday and Sunday with Elder and Sister Spackman and then we both gave talks in the YSA for Father's Day! I spoke on Jesus Christ and His relationship with Heavenly Father and how we can follow His example to strengthen our relationship with Heavenly Father. It apparently went alright! We felt so unprepared because we were just a ball of stress all week! haha

ok, this email is too long, mostly writing it because I had zero time to write in my journal this week. so now I won't forrget the most stressful week in the mission. haha, thanks for listening. 

Also, we are still preparing Ny'Vea to be baptized on Saturday! We are so excited!!

Some pictures:

zone conference with my cute companion - she is a blessing to have during stressful weeks like these!

MLC lunch @ the mission home

MLC "Relief Society picture"

pday selfie at the library because we had no pictures from the week

6.11.2016

I love her so much. I am so grateful I got to meet her while being out here and be with her through her journey that has just started! Sister Delange and I were watching her baptism from the dressing room and she was just so happy and all smiles. It was one of those moments that you will just never forget. ya know?

Her confirmation was beautiful yesterday. The ward is so welcoming to her, it is awesome.

We made her a cute little present for her baptism, the same present I got at my baptism.. scriptures!!

My mind is seriously so overwhelmed with everything that has happened this week, so in case you didn't catch on, this is kind of a picture email with captions. haha. We had 12 lessons that members were able to come out to (when we normally are lucky to get 5) and it was absolutely insane organized them and then being on time to everything when they were back to back, but like I said, the Lord made it all work out. He literally had an old potential investigator call us randomly one day when our appointments canceled, because we had prayed to reach our goals. We found a member 1 hour before to come with us, which is pretty much normally impossible in this area. haha. Also, we had a new investigator, Connie, come to church yesterday with her cute 14 month old daughter, Amber. She LOVED it and invited us over for their Father's Day lunch this weekend! Which is soo nice of her!!! Anyways, today is a nice relaxation from the craziness.

Back to the pictures:

We cleaned the font for Liz on Thursday (because we love her sooo much) We even found a member to bring febreze because the guys bathroom that is connected to the font always has some weird smells going on.

We had an awesome lesson with NyVea Williams this week and we were actually able to meet with her a few more times during the week. She is preparing for baptism on the 25th!

Tuesday morning we had zone training. We trained in the Lenexa zone!! I gave a training from the MLC we had with Elder Soares. He talked a lot about if we knew why we were in this mission, so that is what I trained on and importance of our attitudes. The attitude we have in this life I feel really does show the faith that we have in our Savior. If we have faith in Him and His timing, we will have the hope we need to always see the positive. or at least look for the positive. I also shared the story of a recent convert in Inde 4th ward, John Davies. I'll tell you all his story later family :) It is so incredible!

My companion is seriously the cutest!

this man is the sweetest man ever. He is in our ward and he lives in a nursing home. Just recently, we have started teaching a few of his friends in the nursing home and he is just so awesome. He can barely talk because he so old but he has the most powerful testimony. We finished out lesson with them all one afternoon this week and he just said that he would like to bear his testimony. The Spirit FILLED the room as he shared his conversion story and his testimony on the scriptures. He knows they are true and studies them constantly and you can feel it. I couldn't help but snap a picture sneakily because I want to remember his conversion that he is continually working on. I hope and pray that I do the same throughout my life.

I love you all so much! To my dad and mikey (and all the other fathers out there): Happy Father's Day!
Dad: Thank you for being such an incredible dad. for supporting me and loving me and teaching me throughout all these years to be a genuinely good person. Thank you for teaching me the importance of learning and work
Mikey: Thank you for giving me this incredible gospel that I am sharing with others. It has changed my life. Thanks for always "keeping me humble" throughout the years :)

I love you all so much! I hope you all have a great week! Make sure to tell your father how much you love him. And also, take a moment to get on your knees and tell your loving Heavenly Father how much you love Him and how grateful you are for the blessings we receive on a daily basis. I know I will be doing that! And I will be sending prayers to my other dads that I won't get to see until next year :)

Sister MorganHello!

This week has FLOWN by! I seriously feel like it has been like 2 days
but I also feel like it had been so long! We have been so busy! We
literally have not even had time for lunch some days this past week.
We saw so many miracles. I have learned so much from Sister Delange
about involving the Lord when setting goals. He provides! I know that
is the case for non missionaries as well :) He helps all of us
accomplish the things that we want to accomplish. I am so grateful for
that.

Anyways, so yes, Saturday was incredible. Liz got baptized! and she
was confirmed yesterday. It seriously felt like a dream.

And isn't Liz the cutest?!

Elder Soares visit and baptism prep! oh and 1 year!!!

Hello Family! 

What a week!! I can honestly say this week has been one of my favorites on my mission. We have worked so hard this week and have been thinking about the work constantly and Heavenly Father has blessed us so much!

For starters, a little update:

Transfers were this week and they have started doing transfers differently the last two transfers but this was my first time involved in a transfer since the change. Instead of calling us Tuesday night and telling where one companion is going and who our new companions will be, they just call and tell which companion needs to pack their bags and then on Thursday when we show up to the transfer meeting, there is a list that gets posted at 9am of where everyone is going and who our new companions will be. So Thursday morning was crazy! Thankfully, I am staying in Kansas City 1st and my new companion is SISTER DELANGE! We served together at the Visitors Center last summer for 4 months and have been dreaming of being companions one day and now we are!!! I LOVE her! She is from Salem, Oregon. She is so amazing. 

We took Liz to Presidents Devotional last night (where people who recently got baptized bear their testimony and share their conversion story) and it was insane! There was a YSA who got baptized last week that told his story of how 5 years ago he never would have believed he would ever be a Mormon. He went on phases of loving and hating the Book of Mormon but he had so many answers to prayers that led him to the Book of Mormon when he asked God for comfort. The whole time, Liz and I would just exchange glances because that is pretty much her story. It was so perfect. After he finished telling his amazing story, he testified and said, "I know this church is true. Jesus Christ lives and this is His church" The Spirit was so strong. I leaned over to Liz and asked her if she felt that and she just smiled and said, "YES!" She is so amazing. We went through the history presentation afterwards at the Visitors Center and then planned the details out for her baptism next Saturday!! I am so unbelievably excited for her. She is one of my favorite people I have met on my mission. The faith she has is incredible. She listens to the Spirit so well. 

We had a lesson with her Wednesday and Friday night as well. Wednesday night was Sister Hixon's last lesson with her. We had our lesson at Ryan's apartment and had a little goodbye party for Sister Hixon, really just ate a brownie as we ran out to make it home on time. haha. 

Then Friday, Sister Delange got to meet Liz and we showed her the baptismal font in the church building and taught her the law of tithing. She, again, has so much faith. She just graduated law school and passed the BAR so school debt is a real thing for her. She knows that God will bless her though for being obedient and for showing Him the love that she has for Him.    We all need to make sacrifices in our lives. The biggest sacrifice, in my opinion, is our time. The reason why keeping the Sabbath Day holy is one of the hardest commandments is because it is a huge sacrifice of our time. It has brought me the greatest blessings though. 

On Saturday, we got called in to have an MLC with ELDER SOARES!!!!! He is in the Presidency of the Seventy. Back story, there was a point in my mission where I was struggling a bit (ha, oops I said it, missions are hard) and I came across a talk he gave in 2013 called, "Be Meek and Lowly of Heart". I read this talk every day for two weeks probably and read it every once in a while still. It changed me and continues to change me. I have post it notes of quotes from it all over our apartment. haha. so yes, #fangirled when I found out he was coming to speak to our MLC and I would get to be there. Anyways, the MLC was AMAZING! I can't even describe to you all what it was like. I learned so much. Sister Delange and I were talking in the car afterwards and we were wondering how many times before our mission there were those super spiritual sacrament meetings or devotionals like the ones we've experienced on our missions that we were just too distracted to feel the Spirit and receive the revelation that we could have. It probably happened on the daily for me. I would invite you all to think of what distracts you from the Spirit. Your phone, social media, your schedule, whatever it may be and reevaluate a bit and find a way that you can be more in tune with the Spirit on a daily basis. (Watch or listen to "Things as they Really Are" by Bednar) That is one of the biggest things I have learned on my mission: to take the time everyday to have spiritual experiences and stop whatever I am doing when those moments come up.    

One thing that I loved hearing at this MLC was about motivation. I loved what Elder Rossen said: 

"The world will tell you that motivation is a feeling. Motivation is not a feeling. It's a decision - someone who is motivated will do what they committed to do even when the feeling of motivation has long past. That is the true test." It blew my mind! haha. Our Heavenly Father created us to be agents to act and not to be acted upon. Make the decision today to be motivated and stay motivated! :) 

So many other things happened this week, but this email is so long already. So, here are some pictures :) 

But Sunday was CRAZY!!! We have been working with Glenda Burgin for a while and she has always been saying she will come to church and this week she did!! I love her so much!! She said that I keep bringing it up every lesson we have so she just needs to do it. haha. The Burgin kids came and our new investigator Bill. Also, Sister Delange needed to meet the whole ward! It was so fun and busy! Sister Delange and I were talking afterwards and how we both strive on stress and being busy. It is the best! 

Love you all so much! Have a great week! I'll enjoy the Missouri humidity and heat for you all. ha

This is Ny'Vea, Antonio, and Latrice Burgin! The kids are getting baptized in a couple of weeks!

transfer pictures!!

Meet Lexi! Her and her family are living in a hotel right now. Her mom is a member but hasn't been active for about 15 years. They are struggling a lot right now but they are loving the Book of Mormon so far :) 

and Friday was my year mark!! What! It is going by too fast and I hate it! but we totally forgot to take a picture during the day because for once (in pretty sure my whole mission), not one of plans for the day fell through. We had three lessons with members set up and they all happened! #blessings. So here's a late night selfie

Sister Morgan