Week 16: We don't worship Joseph Smith

Zone Conference

Selfie with the Zone

Monday-I am grateful for hymns, virtue, other languages, Nutella, and Poker. 

Tuesday-I am grateful for sweat, The Holy Ghost, dreams, and testimony.

Wednesday-I am grateful for interviews, blessings, families, and boxes from Home. 

Thursday-I am grateful for breaks, ab exercises, the TRUE church, Temple Square, using our time correctly, and the Great Mercy of the Lord. 

Friday-I am grateful for the priesthood, positivity, and talking.

Saturday-I am grateful for health, Stroganoff, The 1st Vision, and the Liahona.

Sunday-I am grateful for The 1st Vision, missions, clouds, and the Sacrament.

Nutella is expensive so that will probably be the only thing I can eat for 2 weeks.

I had Zone Conference and it was super good!! We talked about the Christlike attribute of Diligence and overall I just felt empowered and motivated to do more and to be better. Rohde and I have been working better together and have been using our time as best as we can. 

We stopped doing English class because no one would come, so that's disappointing but alright. 

I have become more grateful for the Liahona!

I have been reminded of the 1st vision multiple times this week and of how I got to actually visit the Sacred Grove. I am very grateful for that opportunity. 

Nothin' super crazy happened this week.

We had no investigators in church and no new dates for baptism or a super cool experience, but I feel the spirit so strongly everyday and that is a blessing in itself. I am grateful for a grateful attitude because I dont get down on our work. But, I do try to work as much as possible and this week my comp matched that and wanted to be doing more too. It was good.

I realized that these emails really have no structure and I just talk, if you have a problem with that, please tell me. I probably wont change anything but it would be nice to get an email from someone out there, even if your complaining about my lack of email structure.

I am grateful for the restoration of the True church of Christ.

I am still tired sometimes, but Im over it.

Everyone here thinks that I am going to die because I don't have an umbrella and so when it rains I just get wet and that's that. 

Our prayers are answered every single day and it is so cool to see Gods hand so frequently in my life.

I love the Book of Mormon and if you want to have a happy family, read it together.

Kind of rained a lot and well my comp doesn't really like it. 2 times this week we were about to leave the house and then it just started raining like crazy. We tried to wait it out for like 15-30 minutes but said send it. My comp prayed for the rain to lessen and then after a couple of minutes it did. I know God listens to and answers our prayers.

Shared the 1st Vision message multiple times this week and felt the Spirit so strongly. The church is true y'all. 

Elder Morrison

I got my Valentine's Package!

That's the temple.

Week 15: I went to a bar

District meeting

Monday-I am grateful for life, "cold weather", talks, and recognizing the Lord's hand, and also umbrellas.

Tuesday-I am grateful for laughing, meeting goals, cowboy hats, and jokes.

Wednesday-I am grateful for sweatshirts, letters, popsicles, and Portuguese.

Thursday-I am grateful for understanding pure truths, and The Savior who is always with me.

Friday-I am grateful for tacos, burritos, and water.

Saturday-I am grateful for memories, fasting, and homemade bread.

Sunday-I am grateful for my Redeemer, America, Lake Powell, and dishes. 

Continuing to testify that the Book of Mormon is the Word of God and it is TRUE.

Well folks here we are, getting close to the craziest holiday in Brazil. It's called Carnival and basically it's just people doing whatever the heck they want. Kind of reminds me of the Purge, but less violent.

Cowboy hats and plastic bags.

The weather has been so good!! I was even able to wear a sweatshirt in the mornings during personal study.

I thought that I would be having more tacos and burritos down here in South America but sadly, I have had none.

The title of this email is less amazing and interesting than you want to hear. We were in a bar for like maybe 5 minutes and it was just to take a picture of a map of a neighborhood, wahoo.

I am very grateful for fasting! It has proven time after time to be beneficial and for my good. This time I was grateful for the fast simply because I had been eating so much food and was sick of it. 

We had another investigator fall through, it was Breno. He moved to his uncles that is not in our area and I don't know if he will continue to talk with the missionaries. We were barely keeping him present at our visits. It was very sad for us. 

This week we knocked a lot of doors and heard a lot of dogs, my ears still hurt. Knocking doors isn't really effective though. Mission work is not 2 missionaries, it's 2 missionaries and A MEMBER. The majority of baptisms and quality people that are baptized are referrals from members.

I am playing poker with some Venezuelan's today, maybe that should've been my title. 

Sundays are great because we just visit members and talk and eat food. I am grateful for the Restoration of the Church of Christ. 

Still killing cockroaches everyday. 

Love Elder Morrison

Temple and sunset

A huge tree fell over.

Week 14: A sauna but you can't relax

Cool VW Beer Van

Monday-I am grateful for silence and the peace that comes from it.

Tuesday-I am grateful for pictures and how the spirit teaches.

Wednesday-I am grateful for haircuts and time to study.

Thursday-I am grateful for happiness, Nat Geo, my testimony, watermelon, and trying.

Friday-I am grateful for BBQ sauce, ice cream, honesty, double rainbows, and sunsets!!

Saturday-I am grateful for the beautiful sky, goals and the BOOK OF MORMON!!!

Sunday-I am grateful for limes, not caring about the weather, dishes, and my knowledge of the true Gospel!

I have been out for more than 3 months now, I don't know how I feel about the time yet.

Brazil Flag

The Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion and if you have a testimony of that singular book, you have a testimony of the true church, read the Book of Mormon and pray about it! 

We made some pretty high goals for us on Saturday so that we could meet the standard. We worked hard and were able to meet our goals that day! It was a good testimony builder for me. If I use faith and work hard, the Lord will provide. 

I think I am going to go deaf from all the darn dogs here holy cow!! You don't understand!

Got hit by the rain a couple times, but the rain isn't necessarily that bad. What's crazy is after the rain. I felt like I was just walking through a sauna but I couldn't relax, it's insane how humid it is! 

The Bible videos are great y'all.

Nice soccer field

To be honest this week was difficult in terms of teaching and baptizing. We had 3 people that we were teaching say that they don't want us to continue visiting them. Pretty rough. So we spent a lot of time trying to find new people to teach but it's all good. 

It is so easy to get caught up in the numbers of missionary work. You make goals with numbers every day and you talk about how many lessons, how many people you found, how many in church, how many baptized. And, we have to report on our numbers multiple times a week. But on Sunday we visited a member and had a super good conversation with him and he said something to me that I have heard multiple times, but I feel that I really need to apply it. Its about the quality of baptisms, not the quantity.

Focus on the person and not the number.

 

Breno and rainbows

My companion thinks that I am crazy when I say that I still want to run even when its a shower outside. Oh well. 

Continuing to have some really good food and even better dessert.

Learned about humility this week. Yeehaw!!

email me!

lmorrison@missionary.org

Lots of VW Vans

Pillar of light in the morning

And a gorgeous sunset in the evening.

Week 13: I ate 3 bowls of ice cream

All that Ice Cream!

Monday-I am grateful for getting used to things, ice cream, and country music.

Tuesday-I am grateful for tender mercies.

Wednesday-I am so very grateful for the Grace of God and working with Him.

Thursday-I am grateful for splits, a clear mind, and the BOM!!

Friday-I am grateful for storms, cookies, calm moments, and my imperfect Portuguese.

Saturday-I am grateful for simple, powerful testimony.

Sunday-I am grateful for listening to the spirit and exercising faith.

Yeehaw, hi y'all just here to testify that that the Lord hears and answers your prayers.

I taught English again and we had only 3 people come but it was pretty fun with just them.

I am learning a lot more about Faith.

My most powerful experience this week was in church. We had people that we had never met before and weren't members there. I went to the 2nd hour class and my comp stayed behind to talk with an investigator and I accompanied the other 2 investigators. They had a member of the Relief Society Presidency with them and so I didn't feel like I needed to help them and sit with them and honestly I didn't really think I could, what more could I have to offer than the person that was already with them, especially when she actually spoke Portuguese. So I sat next to some members. When my comp came in to the class with the other investigator he told me to go sit with the investigators. He sat down with his investigator and I stayed where I was at. I think and think and think and then an impression comes to my mind. This week Rohde and I are working on the Christlike attribute of Faith. I decided to exercise my faith and so I moved and sat next to the investigators. Turns out they didn't have a BOM and I did, of course, being a missionary. So I gave them one and helped show them what scriptures we were reading. After the lesson I testified of the Book of Mormon and invited them to read and all that good stuff. I was able to talk fluently and with the Spirit and they understood me perfectly. It was really good and showed that if I exercise my faith and do my best, the Lord will help me.

My District

I had splits this week and was with Elder Barbosa in my area, Costa e Silva. It was so good. He is a funny guy and we taught 2 lessons and gave 3 messages and it rained pretty much all day which is fine by me. We were also given lots of food by the members so that is always good. 

Simple powerful testimony is the way to go.

We are teaching Breno and got him on date for baptism! He wants to be baptized after he turns 18 because then its even more like he is changing his life. Cool I guess but I probably wont be here to see it. 🙁

We had a BBQ on Saturday at noon to start every ones fasts. Such a good idea and I had some seriously good food. 

A super profound moment that I really like from this week comes from my companion when we had comp study in the chapel. He talked about how the Prophet has tons of wisdom and knowledge in the church yet his testimony that he shares is simple and powerful. I later had an opportunity to testify and share my testimony on the Book of Mormon to a referral who we had finally been able to meet. It wasn't a long talk, but simple, powerful, and guided by the Spirit. I am grateful to have the opportunity to bear my testimony so frequently. 

Lots of rain

None of the investigators that we are teaching came to church but it's all good. Others who we have never met before came, so that was pretty sweet.

I feel like I am fluent at times this week, other times I was trash and literally couldn't even say good afternoon. Oh well.

I learned to make good goals for everything!!! 

Learning more than I am teaching out here in good old Brasil.

It's the thought that counts.

Love,

Elder Morrison

Gorgeous sunset

Another one

Jesus is the Son of Justice

Washing dishes for a member