18 months - time goes by too fast

So time is like the weirdest thing in the world these days. I feel like I have been on my mission for maybe 5 months but Saturday was my 18 month mark! So weird! I was actually on exchanges that day with .... Sister Jones!! My MTC companion. We were feeling a little nostalgic but it was cool to hear the things that we have improved on since being little babies in the MTC not knowing a thing about missionary work or the gospel in general. The exchange was so fun! AND in the morning since 4 of the sisters that we were in the MTC with in the same district are all up here at the jail, we decided to throw a party! and by party I mean, wake up even earlier than we normally do and burn old gross skirts that we have worn our whole mission on our driveway, shed a tear, and then take a picture! 

This week has just been super weird. It doesn't feel real at all yet but then I hit all of these "lasts" which is just so crazy. I had my last district lunch on Wednesday. I was on exchanges with Sister Dawson on Wednesday. And shout out to her! I just love her so much! We are homies and I am so grateful she lives with us at the house. She has such a fire for the work and is SO FUN to be around. I learned so much from her and definitely needed to be with her that day. 

I have been thinking a lot about God's love this week. I have re learned that God loves us so unconditionally. He knows us perfectly. That is something I am super grateful for this week. 

Thursday night, the Torontos took us out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse which was so sweet of them! I have loved getting to serve my mission with them as the VC directors. I also watched the Christmas Devo with Sister Toronto Sunday night while everyone else on shift was downstairs in the theatre and it was so fun!

Friday morning, we had a lesson at the VC with a potential investigator! Sister Draper actually got to take us through the history too! She is SUCH A GOOD MISSIONARY! Seriously, she is so good at following the Spirit and helping our friend focus on the gospel of Jesus Christ personally. It was actually a super cool experience because we set this appointment up at the VC like a week and a half ago but hadn't been able to contact him since to confirm with him or anything and normally, since the lesson was all the way in Independence, we wouldn't have gone, but we decided to pray about it and ask Heavenly Father specifically if we should still drive down to Independence. We both felt like it wouldn't be a bad thing and that we should go. So we took the leap of faith and risked running out of miles for the month for no reason and he showed up! right on time! It was just a testimony builder for me to see that we can rely on the Lord in all things, even in just the small things.  After running a few "errands" in Independence, we went to get frozen yogurt with our favorite sisters in Independence!

On Friday, we had our ward Christmas party! I just love this ward so much! Friday was also our favorite Sister Russell's birthday and so we wanted to leave a surprise on her door while they were out at a concert and so we went to go drop it off and their gate to their driveway wasn't working but we were not about to just leave. we ended up climbing over the fence and running in the freezing cold the like half mile up to their house to drop off her surprise and then running back. haha it was so fun! 

other things... oh! funny story from last transfer that I meant to write about but forgot to.. so this one time my companion (who shall remain nameless) and I were praying to start companionship study and so she starts praying and asks for us to have the Spirit with us and the normal things and then says, "and please bless us as we vaccuum" I looked over at her and was like what? she looked up and said in the most panicked voice, "I just fell asleep!!!" and then just finished the prayer. hahaha it was the funniest thing ever. It was so hard to not laugh during the rest of the prayer. But, the reason I am telling you this story is because this week, during church, in Sunday School, Sister Foley showed us the Mormon message called, "Earthly Father, Heavenly Father" (you all should go watch it to understand this) but it talks about the love that our earthly father and Heavenly Father has for us and one line that stood out to me was when this dad's little kid calls him from his wife's phone while he is at work and he says, "the phone rings, I hear breathing, I smile". I think that is the same thing with prayer with us sometimes. Sometimes, we know how to pick up the phone and dial to talk to our Heavenly Father but we don't know what to say (or in my companion's case, say the wrong thing because we are tired). But HE still smiles. He loves us unconditionally. He wants to hear from us. He already knows us perfectly but He wants to know that we WANT to talk with Him and rely on Him. I know that prayer is so real. The experiences that I have had this week confirmed to me again that He loves us perfectly. I know that that love that I felt from Him wasn't only for me, but it is for you as well. Pray and ask Him how He feels about you or how much He loves you. I promise that you will get an answer and you will feel of His never-ending, abiding love. 

I love this gospel so much.  Here's to another week in Liberty! We have MLC tomorrow, we are going to the temple on Thursday for a sealing in my companion's old area, zone training the next day and lots of other things so this week will be a crazy one but I am grateful for the time that I have to be a missionary. It really is the best ever. 

Love, 

Sister Morgan

Picture time

- #LIGHTtheWORLD has been the best thing ever for us out here! 

- dinner selfie with the Torontos :)

- my fav sis draper ❤️

- yogurtini date

- honoring our mission parents for #LIGHTtheWORLD. One of the "errands" we did while we happened to be in independence. I absolutely love the Vests. 

- 18 month party!!