"all these things shall give thee experience"

Hello Family!

This week has been a blur! It has gone by so fast!! Sad news of the week is that Sister Montgomery finished her mission this week and went back home. It was so sad! We made sure to take plenty of pictures on her last day here. 

So a quick recap of this week:

First, I absolutely adore the jail. It is my favorite place. My testimony of the Savior and His Atonement has been strengthened so much. As I think of what these 5 men endured as they were imprisoned here and all the hardships that the Saints went through then, I am frequently brought to tears. I can't imagine going through the trials they went through. I think about that frequently for those around me too. I can't imagine going through other people's trials. Our Heavenly Father truly knows us all so personally that He knows what we are capable of and what will stretch us to help us grow. There is such a strength that we receive from our trials though. That is one of the biggest things that I have learned on my mission, and especially while serving at the Liberty Jail.  The scriptures that Joseph Smith received as revelation as he was imprisoned here and suffering such terrible things are absolutely incredible. This is one of my favorites. 

 Christ goes on telling Joseph Smith that no matter what happens to you - whether all of hell open's it's mouth to you, He says this:

"Know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.   The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?" (D&C 122:7-8)

Talk about humility check. I know that our trials truly do give us experience though. That is what we came to this Earth to get - (1) a physical body and (2) experience - and if you are reading this, you already got step 1 down! haha, now is the time to gain experience and to learn from our trials and to become better. Thank goodness we all have a loving Savior who is there to comfort and uplift and guide us when times get tough. 

Second, we are seeing so many incredible things happen in our area. I feel so blessed. I absolutely love this ward. We felt like we needed to go visit one of the two Spanish families in the ward that haven't been to church in a while one night. When we were there, she surprisingly let us right in and so many amazing things happened. 1. Tender mercy for me was that one of my favorite members from Independence 4th ward just randomly happened to be there helping her clean her house! Her daughter was there too who is adorable. It was so needed for me to be able to see them. I miss that ward with all my heart. and 2. This member, Sister Vega, had another person over at her apartment who is dating her son and agreed to take the lessons!! Sister Vega prepped it so perfectly too. hahah. She said, "Alexis is going to get married to my son as soon as his divorce goes through and then their baby is going to be blessed, Alexis is going to get baptized, and then next year, they are getting sealed". Alexis was totally down for all of it too! 

We are teaching a man named Will right now too. This guy has my heart. He has the cutest family. His wife got baptized 5-6 years ago before they met and he is just awesome. He has had so many near death experiences and has been into some pretty bad things during his life but has changed SO MUCH. He is now the biggest family guy around, such an amazing dad and husband, and just LOVES God and Jesus Christ. We went over for dinner Monday night and gave him the Addiction Recovery Manual (he is trying to quit smoking). We gave it to him and talked to him about it for a while and he said, "it's weird you are bringing this up right now. Just today, I came in from work and told my wife that I was done for good and didn't buy another pack this afternoon" SO AMAZING! This man is so motivated to follow God it is incredible. 

ALSO! An Emeritus Seventy came into the jail and I got to take him and his family through the jail. It was Elder Bruce C. Hafen - who is the nicest man ever. It was such a spiritual tour to be able to be on. 

Anyways, long story short: This work is amazing. I love being a missionary with all my heart, more importantly though is that I love this gospel with all my heart. It has provided me with more happiness that I could ever imagine. I don't know what I would do without it. I am constantly refreshed and fulfilled as I strive to live it more fully in my life. I know that is because it comes from God. He loves us and wants us to be as happy as we can as we are gaining these life experiences that are shaping us to become like our Savior Jesus Christ. 

I hope you all have another great week. Make it a great one! And don't forget, a verse a day keeps unhappiness away :)  (mormon.org/beliefs/book-of-mormon)

Sister Morgan

Pictures:

- last p-day at Zone Rosa!

- Sister Montgomery's last day :(

- We get to go to church right by the temple :)

- planning on the street because we were down a car this week. haha

- cookie logs are back!!! (saying goodbye to Sister Montgomery)

- Liberty Jail sisters :) after TMTM (Thursday Morning Training Meeting)