May 25, 2009

Elder Himes's ankle isn't getting any better.  that means we haven't had a chance to do any missionary work lately.  Well, to go out and find.  We have been able to go see people that have been referred to us.  Which... has been a lot!  Well, for this ward it is a lot.  

So much news to give you!  I was able o go on exchanges with week with [name has been removed for privacy purposes].  He is the senior companion, and he is making things hard.  I decided I would go to his area with him.  The thing is that for that day, he did everything perfect.  He knows what he is doing, he just chooses not to do it.  I wanted to know why he has been having struggles and what he was doing wrong.  That is why I went to his area.  I found out that his girlfriend cheated on him and she might be pregnant.  So, that's a little distracting for him.  But he was like this before that. I took a look at his planner and noticed that there were whole days not planned for.  That he didn't do weekly planning... which is a big deal.  Especially when you tell your district leader that you spent 4 hours on weekly planning.  Also in his planner was a list of songs, bands, movies and other things he wants to do when he gets home.  The boy hasn't even been out a year, and he's trunky!  What do I do to get him motivated?  I have already talked to him about all of it.  Told him what I saw in his planner.  I taught him, testified, and committed him.  I have been following up every night as well.  Still, he won't knock or talk to people on the street.  

More sad news.  When I was there, we went and saw Ted, Gena's husband.  When I was there, the spirit told me not to go see her for a while.  So, we probably won't be back for some time.  I just felt like she is doing it for the wrong reasons.  Which isn't a normal Nathan thing to do.  I teach everyone willing, but I think I will follow the spirit on this one.  That's always the way to go.  

We did get a new investigator.  His name is Tom.  He comes from a member named Ashley.  A few months ago we committed her to make a list of her friends and to pray about them.  She did, and she gave Tom a Book of Mormon.  Now we are teaching him.  We taught him twice this week, he came to church, and he is getting baptized on the 7th of June.  Downside... he is not even in our zone, let alone our area.  So, we are just going to send off our beloved Tom to another set of missionaries.  The important thing is that he opens the gates of heaven though, right?  I wish I could be there for it though.  Tom has read past 2nd Nephi and knows the Book of Mormon is true.  He is solid.  So, I'm sure he will do great with the new missionaries.  It's the sad thing about a small area... we did all this work to get the members missionary minded, but everyone they refer us to is out of our area.  Once again though, the important thing is that the work is getting done, right?  Right!  

So, I'll write back to your letter now... I love these stickers.  LOL.  My hump day wasn't too exciting.  I did get calls from everyone in my MTC district.  That was way fun.  The rest of the day completely passed by me.  I even forgot to burn my shirt that night, so I burned it the next day.  When I did, Elder Nielson made fun of me.  I for sure enjoyed making the shirt though.

I understand the less happy when you're bored thing.  Imagine living the mission rules without doing work.  Not an easy thing to do and it for sure makes me trunky.

May 4, 2009

I have a few things to tell you about.  Lets start with the results of transfers.  You will never guess who ended up in U.C... That's right, Elder Nielson.  He will be kickin' it with the Tiemanns and with his new companion Elder Huff.  They went to high school together and he was companions with Elder Shirts when he was here in Leander.  It should be really fun for them.  Guess who is living my dream?  My boy Elder Bennett just got sent to the border.  What is up with that?  I'm proud of him, but I am crazy jealous.  We need to start praying right now that I get sent to the border this next transfer, deal?  Hermana Halstead went to Windcrest which is in the same district as U.C.  That means Elder Nielson and Hermana Halstead are in the same district. Guess who their district leader is?  Elder Dutson.  They are so lucky.  Elder Leonard went to go be in Elder Dutson's Zone again.  It's not fair, him and I will always be apart.  I miss my old MTC comp.  Sister Dorsey is training again which means I get another hija.  She is a good one too.  She is a native spanish speaker, but grew up in Provo.  Her roommate in college was actually Stephanie Maycock.  Her name is Hermana Chavez.  Elder McCurdy got a new comp who is a little apostate.  They both didn't get home until 10:10 last night.  I don't know what to do about that.  I'm gonna have to keep a close eye on those two.  I wish people would just take their missions more seriously.  But what can you expect from a bunch of 19 year olds?  Obedience?  JK!

So I got a new companion as well.  His name is Elder Himes.  He is from Brigham City.  He worked at Maddox.  He doesn't have any friends but he doesn't care because his family is more important to him anyways.  He has only been out one transfer and he is an English speaking elder.  That gives him a grand total of about 2 months since he left home.  He still has a lot of new boy pride in him.  I have found that there are two types of new missionaries:  The Elder Rogers/ Nielson that are under confident, humble, shy and refuse to do things because they might fail or be judged by others.  Then there is the Elder Bennett/ Himes group that are just prideful, judgmental, over confident, pessimistic red type of personalities.  The only cure for this is to humble them.  They refuse to ask for help or take advice.  So, you need to let them do things wrong and fall on their face.  Then you pick them up and tell them the right way.  All this time, you push them and lead by example.  Now you know my opinion of him.  LOL.  He's another Elder Bennett know-it-all.  These ones are fun though because they wanna work.  The funny things that are different about Elder Himes though are that he doesn't want to lead, and he has a negative/ downer attitude about everything.  Always says no even if he's gonna do it.  He tries to be witty but he ends up saying a lot of mean hurtful things.  He likes to do it in front of members too.  I know how to help him though and love him.  These red types are so funny.  All I get is reds and blues... maybe it's to help me with you :)   He's a great kid and he will be a great missionary... he just needs a little bit more training.  

Now lets tell you about our investigators.  We dropped Jim.  He quit reading the Book of Mormon and wouldn't stop flying his toy helicopter around during our lessons.  Plus... he wouldn't return our phone calls.  So, he is dropped for he moment.

We do have a funny story about our one investigator.  Her name is Gena.  We were referred to her by some random lady that called up on the phone and wanted to remain anonymous.  We went to talk to her and found out that her 45 year old husband had run off with a 24 year old mormon girl.  Gena knew that our church doesn't agree with breaking up families and has a lot of respect for the mormon church.  Her daughter actually went to girls camp growing up and her two best friends were mormon.  Well, Gena wanted us to teach her whole family... husband included.  When her husband declined, she told us not to come.  I told her to read hat we left her and then give us a call.  She said she would, but it had been several weeks and she never called back.  I felt prompted to go see her Saturday.  When we did, he knew exactly who I was without looking at my name tag.  She told me that she had read the scriptures on Friday and was going to call us Monday because she thought that was when we worked.  She told us about how her husband Ted was talking with missionaries now.  I put two and two together and Ted is being taught by the Vista Ridge Elders and has a date for May 17th to be baptized.  Cool, eh?  He just called them up and said he wanted to know more.  Gena read the chapters and loved them.  Wouldn't it be great if both Gena and Ted got baptized and the church brought them back together again?  We are pretty sure it was the 24 year old that referred us.  Her and Ted are no longer dating.  Gena still loves Ted too.  So, your new job is to pray for Ted and Gena.  It would be so cool to invite Gena to see Ted's baptism.  

So Gena is our one investigator, but we are getting a lot done now and I'm sure that more people will start to progress soon.  Miracles are going to happen in McNeil.  This is going to be a great transfer.  

April 10-14, 2009

First off, I'm sorry for being a slacker and not getting this sent off sooner.  Three weeks without a letter is too long.  I think I have a harder time writing when I'm not happy.  I'm working on it though.  We found a little spot in our area about an hour away, but there are some nice people there, so we are working on that spot for the moment.  We've gotten 3 new investigators for the week from that area.  

The year mark was a big deal for me, but not much for others.  It was a big deal for the trust factor.  I don't know what it is, but if you have time on the mission, people trust you more.  Members, missionaries, and just people we talk to everyday.  It's way sad that I only get a year left.  I want to use it the best way I can.  It's moving by so fast too!  I think that's part of the sadness I'm feeling right now.  I don't feel like I'm doing my best because we aren't getting any baptisms.  I have a year left  My goal is 40, and I've only received 9 baptisms.  I know I shouldn't judge success by baptisms, but it's hard sometimes not to.  I hate having a dry month.  That hasn't happened since U.C.  So it's pushing me to want to do better, but I feel like I'm being held back. I also can't wait for this year to be over so I can rest for a moment.  Aren't you just way excited for everything to happen?  So, I guess I am for sure feeling the bittersweetness of it all.  The best I can do is take it easy and live in the moment knowing I can do hard things.  I need to if I'm going to get 31 more baptisms.  

I'm so glad you get advice for me from other missionaries.  Keep it up.  I need all the help I can get.  I'm teachable.  :)

I have to admit that we don't workout all the time.  I shouldn't excuse it, but we ride bikes and that puts a pretty big toll on my body, but we are working on doing pushups together.  It's a goal of ours.  I want to gain the weight back, so we both need to start working out more.  

You talked about how obedience is happiness.  This is so true!!  Yes, this is why it's been a hard transfer  for me.  If I could start at the beginning again with Elder Nielson, things would be better I think.  I would just do things differently now that I know his personality.  This isn't the most disobedient transfer that I've had.  I say that because we don't really break any rules.  It's by far the laziest transfer I've had though.  The ZLs are fully aware of what's going on.  It's funny in a sense that you have to adjust to who ever your companion is.  Well, if your companion refuses to go with you if you knock, you can't do much.  You just work on helping out your companion.  Which is a lot of what I've been doing in McNeil.  You could say that the soul I am saving is Elder Nielson's.  I believe he will be a great missionary once he leaves McNeil.  I've taught him everything he needs to know.  He just refuses to apply it because it's been put in his head that nothing good will happen here.  Anyways, don't worry about me.  I'm having a tough time, but I'm working through.  Just pray for me, and I know things will get better.  They already are looking up since my first transfer with him.  

What is my dream on the mission?  To go spanish speaking!!  I will feel complete once I do that.  Going to South Zone of the border.  LOL.  Would it be bad if I asked you to pray for that to happen this transfer?  

Do I like being a missionary?  Not at all.  Get me out of here!!  JK.  I LOVE it with all my heart.  I know I'll probably end up being that nerd in elders quorum that relates everything back to his mission.  There's nothing I'd rather do, and I can't wait to share this experience with you!  Will you serve a mission with me?  We've gotta start saving up while we're young so that we can do it.  

My favorite thing about the mission is how many lives I get to change for the better.  I knew I would effect investigators, but missionaries, members, and myself?  For example- Elder Nielson.  The things I teach him and how him now are forming him into the man, husband, and father he will be for the rest of his life.  The things I train my district on... that changes their lives as well.  All in all, I get to make a big difference in peoples lives.  

Conference WAS way awesome!!  I loved every moment.  LOL.  It's funny, they said exactly everything we needed to hear.  Like you said, Elder Hale's talk was the best.  

Know that I am safe and happy.  Truly happy.

Elder Nathan Morris  

From Email April 28, 2009

 I was told sunday night the following things...
1. You are moving tomorrow to your new appartment
2. Train your district tomorrow
3. the ZLs want to talk to you about your area
    This was all told to me at 8:30. So, I started to pack and be nervous and upset. I went to the "talk with the ZLs the next morning, but it took them 20 min. to show up. This whole time I'm thinking they are just going to chew me out. I'm having a tough time with them right now, but I'm trying to be humble about it. They finally show up and It ends up that the meeting is to talk about what they can do with the leadership in our ward. I told them they could start by somehow getting us a ward mission leader. We haven't had one for a month. That makes missionary life suck.
          Then I gave my district thier awesome training (on patience, listening, and member present lessons... I promise they all tie together).
           Then we moved into our new appartment and It was way way sweet. It's huge. We were told that it is by far the best appartment in the mission. It's better then any I have seen. We got the best Leather couch too. I love it. Anyways, We live just down the hall from our recent convert Chris March. Our move put us in an area that hasn't been worked in forever and I'm way excited because it's a fruitful area. We would bike an hour to get to this part and always find success. Now it's just minutes away. I'm way excited for it. Then we had dinner with the Bishop and things, I think, are fixed with him. I'm so so so excited for this next transfer.

Another Video...

March 11, 2009

You asked me what a normal p-day looks like for me.  Well, we would usually do laundry in the morning, but we got a washer and dryer at our place so we do laundry any time we want.  First thing we do is get up and pray.  Then we get ready for the day in our white shirts and ties.  Then we study.  Around 9:45 we head to the library to email.  We email until about 12:30.  After that, the sisters come pick us up to go to zone activity.  Our zone is way lame at this though.  It usually ends up being my district and the zone leaders.  That means 2/3 of the zone is missing.  We usually end up playing soccer or basketball.  This p-day I arranged for us to have a glow in the dark p-day.  We went and got a glow in the dark ball and a bunch of glow sticks.  We strapped the glow sticks to ourselves and turned out the lights.  We played glow in the dark basketball and dodge ball.  It was way fun.  We do that until about 3:30- 4:00 ish.  Then we go shopping for food, come back to the house and take a shower.  That's because basketball makes me sweat.  Dang, I used to never sweat.  Texas makes me sweat.  Then at 6 it turns back into a normal day.  We go to dinner and have other appointments.  

Sorry I didn't put more on the SD card.  I haven't been taking pictures lately because my camera is in the shop getting fixed.  Completely free because of that warranty I bought... smart plan.   (Note from Jamilyn... I'll post the new pictures soon- when I have time and a reliable wireless connection.) 

We do not have any Meijers in Texas.  We have something called H.E.B.  It sounds like they are very similar.  H.E.B is only a south Texas thing.  You were talking about Michigan weather and the blizzards... I know this isn't quite as bad, but we had a Texas rainstorm yesterday.  Now that wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't 40 degrees on top of that.  Let's just say that knocking and tracting was very cold.  Luckily I had Adam's New York jacket.  

Sounds like your Valentines wasn't as cool as mine.  We had two baptisms.  They were way sweet.  Couldn't ask for more.  After that, we did some knocking until dinner.  We then had dinner with Tina whom we baptized that day.  It was biscuits and gravy.  Then we went and taught Jim for the first time.  That was my first Valentines day on the mission.  

LOL I have gained a new view on Lent.  I had heard of Ash Wednesday but didn't know what it was.  It's the start of Lent by getting an ash cross on your head.  Anyways, the first time I saw it was when I went to go talk to a lady and she gave me a huge old crusty. LOL!  Nothing says leave me alone like an ash cross on your forehead.  

Well babe, just so you know, my district is doing better than it ever has in the history of the McNeal district.  5 baptisms this month!  I'm so excited.  Ruben is going to be baptized on the 22nd.  This Rocks!!  Pray for Jim and Ruben.