Light the World with Service!!

Hello family!
This week has been so good! Happy late thanksgiving to everyone!! We
had an awesome thanksgiving here in Missouri. It is so weird to be
having so many "lasts" here. This week has been full of highs and lows
but I am realizing more and more how blessed I am to be serving as a
missionary right now. I love being able to help others come closer to
Christ, whether it's people we are teaching, members, companions,
other missionaries, strangers. It just makes me so happy. Especially
during this Christmas season. If you haven't seen the #LIGHTtheWORLD
video yet, you HAVE TO go see it at Mormon.org. There is this awesome
countdown to Christmas on there that starts on December 1st with a
Worldwide day of service! It is going to be the best Christmas season
ever!

Yesterday was awesome! We got to go to an FHE with the Jensen family.
Sister Jensen is the relief society president and brother Jensen used
to be the ward mission leader ever. Their family is so amazing. They
are so service oriented. They had these gifts they were teaching their
kids about - gold, frankincense, myrrh. The question we were answering
was why did the three wise men give such good gifts to the Savior. The
kids came up with the answer of "they wanted to give Him their very
best because He was a King". Brother Jensen asked all of us What can
we give the Savior this Christmas that is our very best? I just loved
that question. I am still praying and pondering what to give the
Savior this Christmas season but I invite you all to think of that
question too!

After FHE, we helped with their service project of making frozen
dinners and then we went to our round 2 of FHE at the Russell's!

We we on exchanges on Saturday. I was with my old comp, Sister
Guerrero, in my old area, Shoal Creek Valley! #throwback. It was so
awesome. Sister Guerrero is amazing. We got to go see the given family
which was a huge miracle because the sisters hadn't been able to get
into that house since I had left!

Sister Clark and Sister Helmbold came to visit us at the jail
yesterday during their pday while I was on shift and it like made my
week. Also! Liz came into the jail on Saturday and surprised me and we
had a good chat. We also were matching!!

Here's some pictures!
- the Morgan family! Brother Morgan's first name is Tom so I call him
Grandpa Morgan :) he's our Ward mission leader :)
- selfie with THE Tami Knight
- #LIGHTtheWORLD and Liz
- Sister Guerrero and I in exchanges!
- the Jensen family ❤️

Sister Morgan

Starting my last transfer!

Well I officially started my last transfer this week... so that is so
super weird.
This week has been full of highs and lows but most importantly an
increased testimony of the love that our Heavenly Father has for us on
such an individual level. There have been so many experiences I have
had this week, especially these last few days that have helped to know
and feel that He indeed is real! I think the thing that I have learned
the most is that He listens. So many people in the world don't take
the time to listen and care for others. Time is oh so valuable and the
time that you spend listening to others is a huge gift to them. I know
that our Heavenly Father is the perfect Listener. It doesn't matter if
we are telling Him the tiniest details of the day that we are grateful
for or if we are pouring our heart out to Him through tears. He
listens and He loves.

Transfers were on Thursday. I had to say goodbye to my best friend
Sister Baggett as she went home but I'm so happy that she gets to be
with her family for the holidays after all the service she has done
out here in the mission field for the last 18 months. We cried the
whole drive down to transfers. :( we also had departure breakfast
Wednesday morning which was super sad and super good. We got to hear
the departing testimonies of the missionaries leaving.

I get to stay in Doniphan my last transfer in the mission, which I am
so pumped for! Before transfers we went to say a lot of goodbyes and
after transfers we did a lot of service and planning. So many amazing
things are happening right now. Even this morning, at Walmart, this
man stopped us and said that he has had a vision that he needs to bear
his testimony at our next testimony meeting! So that was super cool!
He said he had met with missionaries back in Lawrence Kansas and wants
to come to church next Sunday!

Friday night we fed the homeless with the Emmett family which was a
huge tender mercy. It was a particularly harder day and the Lord knows
me so well we went to their service before and Heavenly Father knows
that I love live music and we just got to be at this Christian concert
where everyone was worshipping Christ in their own way. We were with
the most humble people just feeling the Spirit. I loved it.

Yesterday on shift I met this amazing girl, Hannah. She had just
gotten released from the hospital. Her mom had gotten baptized like 2
years ago and the daughter loves Joseph smith. We went through the
presentation and afterwards she wanted a blessing from the elders
cause things started to not go well with her health. Before they got
there, she came back into the jail with her roller skates and asked if
I would come watch her roller skate. It was the sweetest thing ever to
go watch her. She was so happy. I just love little moments like these
that make your heart happy when Heavenly Father knows you need it the
most. God is good.

I love you all!
Sis Morgan

Pictures:

- the best three months in Doniphan
- Sister Draper who has some super exciting news this week! I won't
spoil it though. You'll have to read her email this week! She is the
best missionary ever!
- Sister Eraso at departure breakfast. I miss that girl!
- this is mostly for Lynds. I managed to hold five kitties in my arms
at once! They are the bishop's holy cats that they found at the
temple. Their names are Teancum, Moroni, Ruth, Gideon, and Esther
- they came and joined us as we painted bishop's doors.
- from Sister Beer's awesome service project that we got invited to!
- saying goodbye to the Marbles and Julia's accidental Polaroid.
- killing Sister Baggett the night before transfers
- goodbye!
- transfer pic with Sister Draper!
- Sister Murdoch, my new companion!
- beautiful Hannah ❤️
- our weekly Russell visits feat. Christmas decorations already!

Veterans Day service!!

Sister MorganHello family!

Well on Thursday I start my last transfer out here in Missouri, which
is so so sad. Also sad because Sister Baggett is leaving me!! I'm
going to miss her so much!

This week went by SO FAST! So many amazing things happened also!

The best part of the week was working with Bruce for the Veterans Day
service project! Sister Beers organized this amazing project for us
and him. He ended up speaking to the youth on mutual night and shared
some of his experiences in Iraq with them and then we all put cookies
into little boxes that kids in the Ward decorated for FHE earlier that
week. All the boxes we made got passed out within 15 minutes at Texas
Roadhouse on Friday. I just love this Ward so much and how they serve
others. It is incredible.

On Friday we went to FMTM at the visitors center because Sister Vest
gave a training there. All the departing missionaries gave a training
as well. It was one of the most spiritual meetings I have been to.

We are going to the Russell's tomorrow and tomorrow night we get
transfer calls so I may find out who my next companion will be!

Sorry I don't have much else to write this week! I'll write more next
pday though!

I love you all!
Sister Morgan

Pictures:
- our friends, Tami, Bruce, and some of the scouts!
- after FMTM at the VC!
- weekly stalker picture of Sister Draper
- my baby Sister Flake came into the jail this week with this super
cute skirt that a member made her... so I made her let me try it on :)
haha
- the Nielson's in our Ward!
- pday lunch with our favorite sisters! They had to say goodbye to
Sister Baggett 😢

#LIGHTtheWORLD by going to the temple :)

Hello family!

We just got back from a session at the temple! I also found out that I
get to go to the temple 2 more times before the end of my mission!!
Yes! We had MLC this week and they announced that they aren't having
an All Mission Christmas Conference this year which was super sad news
but instead they are having three zone conferences and after each zone
conference they are going to take us to do a session at the temple!!
So that is super exciting! Also at MLC, we watched the new Christmas
video that the church will be putting out at the end of the month
called #LIGHTtheWORLD. It is such an incredible video. I cannot wait
for all of you to see it and also to be able to use it out here in the
work. We had a meeting last night with the awesome new community
service committee in our ward that is a part of bishop's vision for
this area and Tami (one our favorite members who is also on the
committee) and I brainstormed this super amazing video to put together
to pump up the ward to serve for New Years that goes along with this
Light the World initiative! She is a super talented
photographer/videographer. The Spirit was so strong when we were
talking about what this would do for the ward. It was awesome. I'll
write more about this amazing initiative in later emails. It is
something for ALL MEMBERS, not just the missionaries :) We just get
super pumped about it all :)

Anyways, I don't have too much time to write this week so I will keep
it short. Sunday night, my friend Pauline from Independence surprised
me and walked through the jail doors while we were on shift which was
the biggest tender mercy. I love her and speaking of BIG tender
mercies... Sister Prior came back to visit the mission on Saturday and
she came in for prayer meeting. It was the best thing ever to see her.
We were kind of having a rough night. Literally started crying when I
saw her. She changed my mission so much.

This week, we met this cool less active member named Bruce. He is a
vet and super nice and was really open with us about his experiences
but isn't super interested in coming to church or anything. With the
new service committee and how amazing it works and runs, we asked him
if there was any service that we could do for him or those in the area
and he said no. Right when we started driving away, he called us and
said he thought of a service we could do for him. He wanted to do
something for Veterans Day. So with the help of Sis Beers in the ward,
we have this awesome service project set up for this week. It is going
to be awesome!!!!

Last night, we had our weekly visit with the Russells!! They had us
over for dinner before our lesson and invited their nonmember friends
to join. Their friends are moving to Michigan tomorrow so they had
them over to say goodbye and they have invited them to church before,
gave them a Book of Mormon, etc. It was the best appointment ever.
They were so fun and nice and we had a lesson on the Book of Mormon
and used the pictures in the front of the Book of Mormon to tell the
story until Christ came to the Americas and then we read a little from
3 Nephi 11. The kids loved the story and the Spirit was so strong. My
testimony was strengthened so much of the light that members of the
church have. They were talking all the time of how grateful they were
for the Russells and the influence they have had on their lives.

Oh! 2nd tender mercy of Saturday was getting a text Friday night from
some sisters in our zone to go to breakfast the next morning with them
because Sister Draper was on exchanges there!!! wooo!! So we went to
iHop! I think the last time I went to iHop I was with Sister Draper
(previously known as Rach;) It was so fun! I have heard none stop so
many amazing things about Sister Draper from everyone and from all the
senior couples that spy on her at the VC for me :)

Shout out to my comp who is the best thing ever. I am so sad for
transfers next week because her mom is stealing her back to Utah :(
She hit her 18 month mark Sunday!!!

Have such a great rest of your week! I love you all so much!
Sister Morgan

Picture time!
- when two of your favorite comps go home the same transfer and share
their departing testimonies at MLC. Literally have never had a
companion leave the mission except my trainer!
- zone lunch!
- breakfast with Sis. Draper!
- Pauline visit :)
- Sissy Baggett and I at the temple this morning! I love the temple!
- hail from the hail storm that we ran into this week