January 13, 2010
I'm going to tell you Ashley's whole story, ready? Get excited. We were having dinner with the Huerta family. Roman was missing, they told us, because he was with his girlfriend, Ashley. We called him up the next day and invited him to ask Ashley to take the discussions. He said "Okay, how about we do it tomorrow." What?!? Really?? So we met with her the next day. She's perfect and golden, knows everything is true. The spirit was so strong that first appointment. You could not deny that it was true. She wanted to be baptized so bad. One problem though. She's old enough, but she lives with her father. Her father is a non-practicing "catholic." He does not like the church at all. He has torn her room apart for anything LDS. He's thrown away 2 Books of Mormon. To make a long story short, she couldn't get baptized because she lived under his rule. We taught her about fasting and decided that we would all fast that a way would be made possible. We also invited many members to pray and her. She would come to church and meet with us in secret. Finally the day came when she was able to move out. That very night she was baptized. It was such a beautiful baptizm. Her boyfriend Roman baptized her. He'll be leaving on a mission soon. She wants to join the MGs. That's Ashley and the miracle of fasting and prayer
Another brief Elder Morris mission moment. I went to the temple after not going for a whole year! I really missed that place. I went with a years worth of questions and came out with so many answers. I feel fully confident in you, and also feel strongly about becoming a doctor. Also very important, I received inspiration for a lot of our investigators. That night we set three people with a baptism date. The temple is such an amazing place. I took my patriarchal blessing with me this time. In my blessing it talks about how I have an important mission. I wanted to know what that was and what I needed to do. A line stood out to me a tone while I was there. My mission in part is to become a doctor. I feel very strongly that God is leading me that way. My mission in life is to do well in school. I have to... it's my mission. It's more that something nice to do now, it's my mission. I thought you would like to know that. I don't know why it didn't stand out before, but it spoke to me suddenly.
January 29, 2010
So, let me tell you a little bit about my week. I changed my mind. I got writers block. So I've decided to talk to you more about Elder Hertig. It's kind of funny getting a new companion. I'm sure it's like getting a new quartet member that you've never met before. You have to work in complete unity and support each other. Every companion does things differently. Kind of like how I'm sure everyone has different strengths and weaknesses as they play. It usually takes a while to get in sync. Funny thing is, we fell right into place. His weaknesses are my strengths and my weaknesses are his strengths. He is really good at being organized and preparing things and talking to everyone. He is also very considerate and patient. He reminds me a ton of you. Mostly because he makes up for my weaknesses and his sense of humor is the same. He's my prep for coming home.
February 12, 2010
I just got done playing quad-zone dodgeball. It was like a McNeil district reunion. Elder Jensen of course was there, but Elder McCurdy and Sister Dorsey, Hallistead and Chavez were there. It was really sweet. It made me understand and see how much I truly love my mission. Hence, the reason why we need to serve one together later, deal? You'll love it.
February 16, 2010
I want to share with you what I learned in my personal/companionship study today. I was reading a talk that the Apostle who is coming on Saturday gave us. It's by Elder Bednar and it's called "Learning By Faith." You should read it. It's a good one. It talks at the beginning abou thow teaching by the spirit is so key and important. The more important part however is learning my faith. What does that even mean I've been struggling with that since we got the talk two weeks ago. Finally the answer came to me today. It talks about in Nephi how the spirit will carry the message UNTO the hearts of the children of men. UNTO, not into. It's our choice after things have been taught by the spirit to act in faith. You see, I've taught on my mission that faith is an action word. It's more than saying, it's doing. That's what learning by faith is. It's doing, and not just saying. Taking what has been taught by the spirit and applying it. Once I jumped into my companionship study with Elder Hertig, it got even deeper. In his personal study he read that scripture about how they had no more disposition to do evil because of their faith in Christ. As we increase our faith in Christ, we no longer are grumpy, mean, have a desire to commit sin, or anything like that. We just want to do well! We increase out faith by DOING. The more we do and follow Christ, the stronger our resistance to sin is. If we don't act however, that will decrease our faith. Which will then make your desire to sin increase. In the end, just go and do and God wil bless you. I hope you enjoyed my study!
We are having amazing miracles! First off, Elder Hertig and I are staying together for my last transfer. On top of that, I don't know if I told you much about Marium and her family. They are such a good elect family! They are getting baptized this Sunday. We were teaching them but they moved into the UC ward. So we had to switch them over to Elder Parmer and Elder Stobbe. What's the miracle in that? God took care of it. The switch worked and they're still getting baptized!
Next miracle, Susan is the most elect lady ever. We taught her the restoration and after the first vision, she said "I know that's true, because the spirit just told me." Isn't that sweet? Anyways, she moved into this guys house who said that she could no longer listen to the missionaries if she was going to live there. So, we stopped visiting her. She called us up today though and thanked us for obeying her wishes, but that she needed help moving out of this man's home. WOAHHHOO!!!! Man I was so excited. i can't tell you how much it hurt to hear her say that she coudln't meet with us anymore. HOpefully we can start teaching her again.
Ready for one more? We went by referral that our ward mission leader had given us. It was a part-member family in the ward. They are amazing. She was married in the temple once before and has been praying to feel the spirit again. Her new husband is not a member though. We found them Sunday night and they fed us the next day. SO READY! Feeding the missionaries is a sign of electness. Their names are Tina and Desmond. Pray for them.
Wanna know something fun? Elder Orme goes home on Friday. Since he's in Austin, he has to come down tomorrow and stay with a companionship for the day. Guess who he gets to be with?? US!!! I get to spend one more day with Elder Orme before he goes home! How sweet of a blessing is that?!
February 22, 2010
So, to tell you a little bit about what's going on right now. In this last transfer of my mission, on order to hit the standard, I need to assist the Lord in bringing 7 more souls into the waters of baptism. I know they are out there, so will you pray that I'll have the strength and guidance to find them>
Speaking of which though, we found a family of 7 that we are teaching now. It's kinda funny. We found them the night that Elder Orme came to be in our area. It was such a wonderful lesson that we had with them. We taught them all about God's love for them and the importance of prayer. These girls had never prayed before. As a matter of fact, they kinda had a dark spirit about them before. When we came the first time, the mom told us that they were kind of into dark things and have never shown an interest in God or Jesus Christ. Their whole demeanor has changed though. They have started praying and they've seen a change. They're coming to young womens tomorrow. The way we found them is everything had fallen through. So we said a prayer and God led us to their street. Their Mom let us in and the girls pretended to be afraid of the "God Men." They cooled down and we taught them. they are way excited. There is the Mom, the dad/boyfriend who is kind of a punk, and 5 daughters, ages 18-11. Pray for them. They need this in their lives.
Steve and Stephanie are doing great too. Steve is going to get interviewed for the priesthood tomorrow. Stephanie has a rash in her mouth though, so we haven't been able to ee her in a while. Pray that she'll receive the strength she needs to get better.
Elder Bednar came and it was amazing. I think I'm going to have to wait to tell you about that one til I get home, but I took good notes on what the spirit taught me. He just did a really nice Q and A thing. I loved it. I know he was there for me.
Everything is going really well right now. I've been doing lots of things to keep myself motivated but also to get excited about home. I made a really cool last transfer planner with the scriptures that you have me for christmas on it. I've kept my planner supper organized so I can stay on task. Your talks helped a ton! It's really not a bad thing to be excited about going home if I can remain focused on the work at the same time. I think I understand that now. So, I'm excited to see you and to finish strong!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment