Week 39: Yeehaw!!

Tuesday- I am grateful for road trips, life, deals, and mission calls

Wednesday- I am grateful for trails, lakes, tacos, and making food.

Thursday- I am grateful for sweating, good company, ideas, water, and NO MIGRAINES.

Friday- I am grateful for Disney, stories, laughing, burns, serving, and friends.

Saturday- I am grateful for cemeteries, videos, and memories.

Sunday- I am grateful for fires, s'mores, Come Follow Me, and rainbows.

Another service filled week! I caulked some things, used a leaf blower, cleaned a deck, painted a deck, moved furniture, weeded, took things to the dump, trimmed trees and bushes, and took pictures of graves.

There was a beautiful sunset drive Friday that hit the spot after a day full of service, making a video, and then getting lowkey frustrated with everything on our phones.

I am so grateful that God is all powerful and is aware of me in every moment.

We had a YSA activity Sunday and basically just roasted s'mores and sat by the fire, it was awesome!!

We had one member lesson this week and that's all for teaching but it's all good 

We administered the sacrament to a member yesterday and she had a cat the size of a dog! It was HUGEEEE and just sat there staring at you like it was about to pounce. It probably could've eaten me.

We got around to making a video this week so I'm excited to see how that's gonna turn out.

I am nearing the end of The Book of Mormon and I love it!! I am so so grateful that I prioritized the Book of Mormon and scripture study when I was 14! I have realized how blessed I have been because of it! I have accomplished so much more because of my steady scripture study than I ever would have if I didn't have a steady scripture study. 

My comp is getting transferred so I'm getting a new companion, it's always an interesting week when you get a comp change. 

The quad is doing good and we crush all the service we get, it's epic.

I'm so so so grateful for agency and the gift that each of us had to choose to come to earth and then be able to continue to choose the best option! I am grateful to have recognized how vital that gift is to me this week.

Love y'all hope you had a good PIONEER day!!!

Elder Morrison

Week 38: Serving all of Jefferson City

Tuesday- I am grateful for pday.

Wednesday- I am grateful for the stars, being outside, Gatorade, weed whacking, and driving, and new running shoes.

Thursday- I am grateful for working hard!

Friday- I am grateful for working outside, sweating, barefeet, and being so so busy.

Saturday- I am grateful for donuts, the Liahona, Gatorade, and Agency.

Sunday- I am grateful for games, storms, and lakes.

Monday- I am grateful for driving, music, clouds, and a full day.

Another epic week full of service. We had so many opportunities it was amazing!!

I weed wacked, pulled weeds, dug out fence posts, framed walls onto a house, mowed lawns, trimmed bushes, cleaned rocks, moved rocks, and re-creaked a creek.

Service is the BEST.

Smith, Tippets, me and Hobert

When we weren't doing service, we were tired from doing service or were wishing we were doing service. It's just the greatest.

Super epic storm came Sunday night and wacked us. It took out some power and knocked over some trees. I wish it was stronger and made a tornado. That actually would've been exciting.

Peaches and cream

Our only investigator is on a 3 week dinosaur fossil hunt in South Dakota and so we haven't taught someone for a week or two. It's interesting going from not teaching a lesson for more than week,  compared to Brazil and teaching at least 2 lessons every day. But anyways I love the service focus and I'm happy.

This swing has been so fun to take a break on.

My piano skills are getting better and I'm learning to love it and enjoy learning a new song and finally getting it down!

Been reading the New Era and Saints volume 2 and it's been great!! I love it and learning the past is helpful and strengthens my faith.

We went crazy on Sunday and took a run into the nearby corn field. It was pretty great and only one of us got a tick, btw it wasn't me.

We had Zone Conference part one and it was great. Felt the Spirit the strongest during a great piano musical #, it was the best.

My English tags finally came and I am sad.

29 hours of service this last week 

Decided to run a mile time trial for myself this morning. 5:11 with both shoelaces coming undone, I'll take it 

Week 37: A Quad

New bone conduction headphones that don't mess with the piercing.

Monday- I am grateful for smiling, organizing, and playing the piano.

Tuesday- I am grateful for the power of the Book of Mormon, birthdays, driving, and earphones.

Wednesday- I am grateful for serving, my Mom, water, and singing in Portuguese.

Thursday- I am grateful for pulled pork, building, efficiency, and being busy.

Friday- I am grateful for serving, positivity, happiness, and being a quick learner.

Saturday- I am grateful for being tired and 3 comps.

Sunday- I am grateful for fasting and a clear conscience.

Monday- I am grateful for running, wheelchairs, and BBQ.

The Quad

I wasn't having a good day on Tuesday and I just had the thought that I needed to read the BOM and so I did. I felt peaceful and calm and I wasn't as annoyed. The Book of Mormon really is SO powerful.

We had zone COUNCIL this week and it was great. The best part was the end when a sister training leader said that we are singing, "Called to Serve", for the closing hymn and we can sing in whatever language we want. It took me through the whole first verse to actually get the words in Portuguese but once I started singing the Spirit hit so strongly. By the last line I was crying, it was intense.

This week has been epic!! We have had so many service opportunities and it has been my favorite thing ever!!

Some of the service we have done is building a house, trimming bushes, pulling weeds, cutting grass, cleaning windows, weed whacking, pulling weeds, putting up siding, building walls, scraping paint, moving HUGE pieces of furniture, and making decks. It's been an excellent week of service.

Fasted this last Sunday because our ward changed it because we only meet every other week. It was great though!

To be honest I got real fed up with meetings the past week. I just want to be left alone and go to work. I've never been a real talker and when we have multiple meetings where we talk about the same things and I say the same things, I get annoyed. I've also realized how decisive and terribly blunt with people I am. I say it like it is and don't regret it. Not everyone will love me and that's ok, they know I'm here to work.

Having 4 missionaries in the house is really a unique experience. I enjoy it though because I connect really well with one of the new ones. Meals are kinda rough with a tiny kitchen and everyone wanting to eat and make food at the same time. Shower situation is slow but we get it done eventually. I've nicknamed us the little army because that's really what we are when we walk around or go do service. It's awesome.

Me and Elder Tippets

We all listened to a tonnnnnnn of prophecy and it blew my mind. Basically Jesus is coming soon and y'all, me included, need to be ready. So do what you need to do for that.

I'd really appreciate some emails from anyone out there

Love y'all

Week 36: 'Merica

That gorgeous sunset

Monday- I am grateful for calling, normal conversations, and the sky.

Tuesday- I am grateful for confirmation and a clear mind and gratitude.

Wednesday- I am grateful for turnarounds, Portuguese, THE GOODNESS OF GOD, sunsets, and happiness.

Thursday- I am grateful for country music, District Council, and interviews.

Friday- I am grateful for service, storms, pictures, the bible, and memories.

Saturday- I am grateful for racing, celebrating, my district, driving, and AMERICA

Sunday- I am grateful for organization, The Apostles, and technology.

Wednesday started out as an ehh day for me. I honestly didn't have the best attitude throughout the morning and by the afternoon I was just super bugged and annoyed by so many small things. We walked into the church after dinner and a member was there and he just said,"hey my friends how are you?", in Spanish and I said, "good you?", and then he started speaking more Spanish and I said that I speak Portuguese and immediately he started speaking Portuguese and said come over here.

So we talked to each other in Portuguese for like 5 minutes and it was awesome!! It was crazy to just jump back into the language and say everything I wanted too. It caught me off guard and made me realize how much I miss speaking Portuguese. It turns out that he and his wife were serving in Recife and got kicked out the same night we did and that we were probably on the same plane out!! That's crazy! Anyways it was a tender mercy to me. 

Building a huge deck

That's one big spider!

We then had an awesome lesson with our investigator where the Spirit just guided me and gave me the words to say. She said that she studies from Come Follow Me every single day! That brought me so much joy!! 

We did our Bible study that night which is always fun for me and then another lesson with a recent convert! The Spirit guided and gave me words to say then too. She said how she prays ALL THE TIME. After these events I was sooo happy and my whole attitude was changed. I walked outside the church and the Sky was an amazing array of pinks, yellows, blues, red, and oranges. It was amazing and I was so happy. I felt the joy of sharing the Gospel. I felt full of peace and happiness.

I know that God is aware of me every minute in every place. He is watching over me and helping me. I learned that the Lord WILL provide as He so plainly showed me on Wednesday.

AS A MISSIONARY- My physical well being and happiness, is not related to how many people we are finding, teaching, and baptizing. Even though those can bring happiness, it does not define my happiness. My joy comes through SHARING the Gospel through whatever means, (service, video calls, Facebook posts, thank you notes, talking, ACTIONS, etc.) whether it is accepted or not.

My 4th of July was actually pretty good. The whole zone got cleared to go run the Parley P Pratt Freedom Run! It wasn't a real race cuz of darn Covid but the course was marked and we all got together and ran at 8:30! It was a 4 mile course and tons of fun. I was very happy to get to run farther than 3 miles and at a fast pace :) we also had a party with the District and that's always a blast. Lastly we got to spend the night with some other elders in the zone and watched fireworks! It was great!

We are getting 2 more Elders in our apartment tomorrow. Our apartment isn't very big and we only have one shower. Things are going to get interesting but I'm excited to get to see other faces every day.

Another week down! 

I miss Brazil and the simplicity of it. There weren't so many specifics and most people weren't all up in our business. The mission didn't make things complicated and didn't make you stress out so hard over every. Single. Thing. 

But, there's pros and cons to everything, I'm good :)

Love you all, that was my week.

Can you tell me about yours?

Love,

Elder Morrison

Before the race

After