Being a conduit for the Lord.

Hey family!

Okay, so this week was a little in the category of mas o menos (not much). Our investigator that was going to be baptized and confirmed this week got sick on Thursday and didn't get better so we had to reschedule the baptism for next week. That was kind of a bummer. But it is okay, it is just one more week. And it gives me another week to prepare. He said he wanted me to baptize him, but he weighs a good 260 lbs. Yeah, a big dude. It isn't that he is fat, he’s just he is big. He was in the military and is strong, but has let himself go a little. He looks like he would be a good linebacker if he got back into shape. I don't know how I am going to be able to lift him out of the water. It is nuts. But what happens, happens!

This week something really cool happened. On Thursday, we had some plans fall through so we were just walking around talking to people. We passed the house of Martha because we still had another hour before we had an appointment with her. Then we stopped on the corner. I had planned on visiting a contact that we had had that lived on the adjoining street. But for a reason unknown at the moment we just stopped and stood at the corner for a minute or two. Then we were going to leave when Martha's husband came out of the house and motioned for us to come over. He told us that Martha wanted to talk to us real quick. When we went in, she was real bad. She was sweating and crying a little. She had a heartbeat of 120 beats per minute. She had a little monitor thing that said that and I was like, "No way" so then I took her wrist and did it myself, yeah, it was that high. It was a little scary. She told us that she was going to go to the hospital but just wanted a prayer first. We had just taught her about the priesthood so I reminded her of what a blessing of health was. Then we gave her a blessing. My companion did the anointing and I did the sealing of the anointment. As soon as I placed my hands on her head, I was filled with the Spirit. I felt like a bottle that you put on a hose and there is rapid fill and then the pressure for a minute and then it bursts. I felt this pressure and I couldn't speak for a minute. Then as I gave her the blessing, I felt such calm and it felt like all of this that I was feeling just flowed into her. I knew with a surety that she was going to be okay. I don't know exactly how to describe how I felt or what was going on inside. But I am sure that that is how a power conduit feels as electricity surges and then it passes that energy on. I have never felt more like the conduit of the Lord in all my life.  There was such tranquility after the emotions of pain and fear. And then, within 20 minutes, we were having the lesson that we had planned on as if nothing had happened. I kind of walked out of the house with a "What the crap just happened. Is any of this even real?" kind of feeling. As a missionary it is always your goal to be and "instrument in the Lord's hands". That is your whole purpose, that is what you should strive for every day, that is what you should live for. From the moment I walked out of the house, being and "instrument" took on new meaning for me. It is one thing to have the saying on your wall, it is another to be living it. It was an experience that I will never be able to forget. Not in this life nor the one to come. It was just really special, and words don't really do it justice. 

Well, life is good, things are going good. If we focus on what our Father would want of us and we forget the rest, nothing really matters. When we spend less time focusing on our lives and how we can arrange them, the more things just fall into place. That is when we find true happiness as well. The more good you SEE in life, the more good there will BE in life. And then you just become a happy person and go to heaven! :) Ha-ha Have a great week and keep looking up!

-Elder Morris

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY MÉXICO!!!!!!!!!!!

 Well, tomorrow, but it is going to be nuts!!! SO many drunk people, SO many parties, and (Hopefully) SO much food!! It is going to be great!!! Today for our zone activity we are going to have a noche Mexicana!! (Mexican night) You pretty much just do all things Mexican!!!! Food, games, friends, the whole sha-bang!!! All within the comfortable standards of the church!!! :) Ha-ha But I will take some pictures so that you can all participate. It will be awesome!!!! 

This week was good! We are still having trouble finding investigators but the ones we do have are great! Martha is a warrior!!!! So the doctor tells her do be completely rested ALL the time because only HALF of her heart works!!!! Are you following, don't get that mixed up. Rest always, half heart. Okay, so, we have told her time and time again to call us and tell us if she needs something and if she feels able to go to church that we would get a taxi for her. So we are walking to church yesterday and we see a woman way out in front of us about to enter into the church. This is pretty much how the conversation went between me and my companion. "Is that Martha?" "No, it can't be." "Yeah, you're right. She lives like 15 minutes away walking. She would be crazy to walk all this way." Then this lady turns into the church. "Holy crap!!! It IS Martha!!" She is awesome!!! A little crazy for pushing it, but completely awesome. She is a huge example to me of her faith and of her dedication to the Lord. From her, we are now talking with her daughter and grand-daughter-in-law. She is a perfect example of how when we have faith, the Lord will give her the strength of many hearts. I know that her half heart is stronger and has more faith than most whole ones.

Also this week, we are going to have a baptism!!! Ramiro passed is interview yesterday and is all set to be baptized on Saturday!! He asked me to do it! I don't know how cause he is a pretty big dude!!! But I will manage. So that is pretty great!!! Oh and Martha is set for baptism on the 27th of Sept. GOOD STUFF!!!

This week we had a visit by one of the Area Presidency! It went really well. So the teaching requirements have changed a little. We now have to teach the Laws and Ordinances part, lesson 5 of PMG, to all of our investigators before baptism. Elder Pieper pretty much told us it was because the people we are baptizing are some of the future leaders of the church and they need to know it better because the leaders now don't know it well enough. There is too much truth in that, as evidenced in my ward right now. But that just means that we have that much more responsibility and it fills up a little bit more of the teaching schedule. 

All in all, things are going. Sometimes not as quickly as I would like, but they are going. Everything happens in the Lord's time and we just have to adjust our timetable to His. Thanks for the love and the prayers!!
-Elder Morris.

Ice bucket Challenge completed!!!  Felt good.

Getting ready for Mexico's Independence day! 

Hey Family,

So this week was just like the previous week. Things have slowed down a lot lately. We are having a rough time finding people to teach. But there were some good things that happened this week.

This week we found a new investigator named Benigno. He is from San Luis Potosí so he comes from a real rural and farming background. He is really confused about his church and really doesn't like the fact that they make you pay for EVERYTHING. So he said he is willing to listen to us and come to church and find out what it is that we are so convinced about. His next door neighbor is one of our investigators and he says that he sees our investigator's desire and hears the way he speaks about the church. When we met with him he could tell that there was something different about us. The only problem is that sometimes the roots are really deep with the whole religion thing down here in Mexico and even more so in his home. We will see how that goes.

We also had a contact that was pretty cool. We stopped to see if we could help him put the rims on his car. He said no, but we got to have a pretty sweet conversation with him about the importance of following the Savior and the benefit it will have on his family. I don't really know what it was but there was just something different about him. Like his light of Christ was burning just a little bit brighter than other people's. It was actually really neat to see how his face just changed when we were talking about the gospel and the family. We invited him to the ward night this week on Tuesday and he seemed really excited to go. We will pick him up tomorrow for it. I really think that he could be a person prepared by the Lord.

Well, that is pretty much the things that happened this week. This next week we are getting a visit from one of the new area presidencies, Elder Pieper. So I think it is like a mini multi zone conference or something like that. I am looking forward to training with one of the Seventy.  It should be really good! Well, that is all I have for this week. Have a great week!! Keep looking up, because that is where the answers always are. I am learning that more and more every single day.

-Elder Morris

This is for the celebration of my one year mark. I about got sick

I found Jesus in Mexico!

Letters from 8/25/14 and 9/1/14

8/25/14

So, another week down. Officially one year in the mission!! Wow. It is kinda weird. Anyway, there was some sweet stuff that happened this week.

First off, something not so sweet, we didn't have a baptism yesterday cause our investigator was in the hospital. Good news, it was just precautionary. She had open heart surgery a while back and was having chest pain early on Saturday. So she just spent the weekend in the hospital so they could keep an eye on her. She will get home later today and, with all according to plan, she will get baptized on Sunday. She is a trooper.

This week we found a young kid. He is super prepared! He was taking lessons from missionaries 2 years ago. We were talking to him and he was telling us about all this stuff that has happened, his faith in Christ, and how he wants and feels like he needs to get to know God. He is super ready!

And Ramiro is getting ready for baptism and is super excited and dedicated as well. I don't have much time. Bad planning on my part. More to come next week!! Thanks for everything.

-Elder Morris

9/1/14

Well, nothing new has happened. Life is still the same. Things just seem to be dragging on. There aren't any transfers for us so I am going to hit 7 1/2 months in this area. A change of scenery would have been nice, but if it is what the Lord wants then I can't complain. I just have to learn whatever lesson that he has for me.

Well, we passed with Martha today. She told us that the doctor told her that she can't do any sort of physical activities in the slightest. Only half of her heart is undamaged. We are waiting for the go ahead from her to have the baptism. It was awesome because the first day she was home we went to visit with her. As we were getting ready to go she said "And my baptism? What happens now?" Her faith is SO big!!! It is a huge example to me. I can't wait to see the blessings that come with that kind of faith in her life.

Ramiro is also progressing really well. He is changing a TON of his lifestyles and a ton of his choices to better align himself with the will of the Father. He is going to be getting close to baptism real soon! It is great! 

We have started a Work of Salvation project. In our ward, if you go with the missionaries to a lesson or an activity, then we take a picture with you and then put it on the board. It is a good way to take pride in participating in the work of the Lord and then members will feel of the love and of how great this work is and be even more excited to continue doing it without us having to drag them by the ears!!

Sorry, nothing new is going on right now. We have to find lots of new people so these emails are more interesting!!! Ha-ha But the work is never boring, just slow at times. That is where enduring to the end (of the transfer) comes in. Anyways, I hope all is well and that you all have a fantastic week!!! 

-Élder Morris

Hot! Dang Hot!

What´s up!? Us, well, nothing much. We are just sitting here sweating.  It gets a little hot sometimes but that is all right. Okay, first things first. HAPPY BIRTHDAY (two days ago) TO MY DAD!!!! You all know how great he is and all he does for EVERYONE that surrounds him. If you don't know him, GET TO KNOW HIM!!!! He'll make your life better! haha He really does brighten up your day with a small act of service, often large acts of service, a funny joke, or just trying to make you smile with an accent (which are often Mexican... I will finally be able to beat him at that...) He is the perfect example of a humble, hardworking, priesthood holder. And what more, the perfect example of a loving father. An example that I hope to try and mimic one day. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Morris for birthing him so that I could be birthed to him. LOVE YA DAD!!

Let's see, what else.... This week was pretty usual. We didn't have a lot of lessons because we had a few meetings to go to and we had our Zone Conference, which was pretty much ALL day... But we learned some really good stuff.

Update on the investigators, Martha is still a rock’in and a roll’in. She is going to be baptized this Sunday!! She is such a cute little old lady. She said the prayer to end our gospel principles class and just thanked our Heavenly Father for sending her all of the blessings and changes she has seen in her life. And for the chance that she is going to have to be baptized in one week and for the strength to press forward in the true church. Really a cool experience! 

That leaves us with Ramiro. This guy is smart. His first time in the church he noticed all of the little things wrong with the ward. I don't know if you know but our ward is a little bit of apostasy. So he pretty much was telling us all of the things that happened that shouldn't happen in the chapel because it is a "holy place where we go to worship and learn from our Father." His words, not mine. Well, my words, but a translation of his. :)  He is just super prepared and his going to be a good leader in the church someday. We were talking about Christ and what he looks like and if anyone has ever seen him. That led us to the topic of prophets. That led him to ask if I had ever been in close proximity to a prophet before. I had the opportunity to give a personal testimony of the power and authority of the apostolic calling that Elder Cook has and to testify, with every fiber of my being and from the depths of my heart, that he is a prophet of God and a special witness the Jesus is the Christ. About that, I have no doubt. It was a super powerful experience. Something that I will never forget. 

Yeah, that’s about all I got for this week. 

Keep trying, even when you are down. Don't look from side to side for answers, because you'll just find opinions. Look up, because all truth comes from God. I hope you all have a great week! 

-Elder Morris

The picture doesn't do the tan justice at all! It's just a freckle past a hair.

I made Spaghetti and couldn't find any garlic bread. Then I saw this, it's here somewhere.

We can't have a dog so this is my pet Pedro.

And a Bolt of Lightning came down. JK

Hello my friends and family.

What's crackin!? How is life? I hope it is good! It probably isn't as good as mine, but I will give you the benefit of the doubt. I mean, not very many people can find more than a couple golden investigators at one time!! Okay, Well let's get started, shall we?

This week was great! I mean, every week is great, but you just have some weeks that are really great and others that are just barely great. Well this week was one of those really great weeks. 

We have been teaching Martha for a while now and she is progressing really well. She is the one whose family lived in Utah for a couple years and who was exposed to the church up there. She has been taking lessons for a couple weeks with us and has attended church 4 times. She has told us that when she had open heart surgery, missionaries were in the hospital and gave her a Book of Mormon and she had read a little bit of it. Obviously she has been prepared by the hand of the Lord. So she is set to be baptized on the 23 of August.

Then we have also found another guy named Ramiro. He is a gentleman who has a store in the street market that you frequently find in the streets of Mexico. He also had contact with the missionaries in another city but didn't think much about it. We never could get an in home visit with him but we would always have little "Contact Lessons" with him in the street or in the park. One day we saw him at the market and he told us that he has been passing through some rough times and that he would like to talk with us, so we set up a time with him to meet him in the park and talk. Well we waited and he didn't show up. The next day we are walking through the park and we heard someone yelling at us. We turn around and he is hurrying to catch up with us. He told us that he had gotten stuck doing something and couldn't make it. He asked us to come to his little one room apartment and we had a lesson with him. The next day we go back and set a date for baptism. The next day we went to get him for church and he came with us. Since then we have been having lessons almost every other day and he is progressing really well!! Just to give you an idea, we gave him the Restoration pamphlet and when we returned the next day we asked him if he had it so that we could talk about it. He was like "Oh, this one? Yeah, I have read it twice already. Let me tell you what I learned." He then proceeded to tell us about it. He continued talking about the list of terms that are found in the back and then defined them for us in his own words. I just sat there open mouthed and was like "is this even real? Somebody throw a Book of Mormon at me." It was so cool! He has already come to church 2 times.  He is scheduled to be baptized in the first week of September. 

Some really good stuff is going on out here. Oh, something really cool that happened yesterday. Our convert, Elias, is really popular in the neighborhood and has many friends. Through him we have made a lot of friends as well. Well some of these friends haven't wanted to give up the whole drinking thing yet (but we are working on it).

 Well yesterday we were walking down the street and saw a group of them out and about (drinking) and so we went over to talk with them. We made some jokes, told them to stop drinking, they thought that was another joke, and we were all laughing and they were drunk and it was just funny. Then all of the sudden this guy comes out of one the garages and says "Do you know what you are?" Well, yeah, duh. I am a 19-year-old living in Mexico preaching the everlasting gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He didn't let me respond, he just continued "You're liars" No sooner had the words left his mouth when he was struck by lightning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ha-ha Okay, he wasn't struck by lightning, but all of our friends who were just a little under the influence, started yelling at him, telling him he was crazy and to get lost. One guy even had his arm cocked ready to knock the guy out. It was freaking awesome!!! Ha-ha I have never had something like that happen before in my entire life!!! Then later on that night Elias sent us a message that neither he nor his friends would ever let anything happen to us. It was a super great feeling. 

Well, that is all I have!! When things are looking down, just know that it is because something good is around the corner. Remember, we have dark times so that we can appreciate the beauty of the bright times later on!!! Have a great week!!!

-Élder Morris

Change someone's life!

Wow, two weeks without writing home is really weird. Sorry about that. Sometimes the internet places are really slow and then just delete the email you have been working on for 30 minutes. But yeah, ni modo Life goes on! Ha-ha I hope I can remember the stuff that has happened.....

Well to start us off, WE HAD A BAPTISM!!!!! Yeah, we did. It is true. Right in the water and everything. I was starting to believe that baptisms were impossible in this area, but now we have evidence that it is possible! Elias got baptized and a lot of his friends and family came. Because of his example, a lot of people are now trying to follow the footsteps of our Savior as well. Ha-ha Elias is pretty great. He teaches and bible bashes others about Joseph Smith and about how he was a prophet and all that jazz. But that just helped me realized that the influence that we have in the way we live our lives has a huge impact on others. Whether we know it or not, we have to be aware that we are being watched at every moment. Every action we make will influence someone. A thought from the Sister Bird this week ties in nicely I do believe. "Daily choices are going to have a great effect for a long time in your life and in the lives of generations to follow." I am going to add "and to the innocent bystanders in your life. Who knows what a "Hey, how's it going?" or a "I like your shirt" or just a simple smile will do. "Behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise." So I challenge you to go out there and change the world!!! Or at least change somebodies world! Go "confound the wise"!!!!

In other news, we have an investigator that is progressing super well! Her name is Martha. She is a little bit older, but she is super awesome. She always gives us water when we pass by, and I don't mean just water, but like lemon, mango, and cantaloupe. Okay, so I know that sounds weird, a drink made of cantaloupe? But it is SO freaking good!!! I might buy some cantaloupes and make it this week, just to test out our new blender.... And by new blender I mean the one that has been sitting in the box since I got here, which was about 5 months ago.... Anyways, back from that side street. She is progressing really well. Just a quick little example. She had an open heart surgery a while back. She really can't do much without tiring. But, she volunteered, VOLUNTEERED, to come help us sweep and clean the streets and sidewalks around the church. It is so awesome!! We had a lesson with her this week that was super sweet also. I was on an exchanges with the ZL's and we just finished talking about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We had given her the homework to pray to know if this was the true church of God, if Joseph Smith was a prophet, and if the Book of Mormon is true. Well, she did all of that and after a little coxing and digging, she came straight out with it. She has received her answer that it is true!!!! Ah, there is nothing like hearing those words come out of a person’s mouth!!! 

Sorry, but we are going to jump back to Elias for a minute. So one day when we were passing by, we saw that one of his friends, who is taking lessons from the other elders in our ward, was sitting out on the porch. We stopped by to see how he was doing, encourage him to keep fighting the temptations to drink, that kind of stuff. Then Elias comes out and we have a lesson with the two of them. The best part of the lesson was when Elias shared his testimony. He talked about how he had had troubles dropping the beers too and how this Gospel has blessed his life. Then for about 20 minutes he went off on how if he was forced from the chapel, he would stand at the door to listen, and if he was forced from the door he would wait outside the building, and if he was forced out of the gates he would still stand there, holding onto the bars because he knows that this is the true Church of Jesus Christ upon the earth. It was probably the coolest thing that could have happened at that moment!!

I hope you all have a fantastic week and are enjoying the summer sun. I know I am, with a whole lot of sunscreen!!!! Keep the faith, change somebodies world!!!! 

-Èlder Morris

Our Zones Temple day. 

I know, selfies are popular here too!

This is Elias, our Superstar convert.