My Good Man Ramiro

Hey Family!

 Another one week down, and ANOTHER BAPTISM!!!! WHOOO!!!!  Surprise!!! A baptism that we didn't even know we were going to have!!! Yeah!! Well, we knew we were going to have it, but it came a little bit early. Ramiro got baptized on Sunday! We were going to baptize him this Saturday but he wanted to bump it up. So, yeah. I felt like a chicken running around with its head cut off because we only had 4 days to plan this baptism and it was the day of stake conference so we baptized him at the stake center. It was pretty great. It only took 5 times to baptize him. Yeah, 5 TIMES!!!  He did not want to go under. He kept having his arm out of the water or something like that. I felt like at one point, now use your imagination here, in the position of CPR with all my weight trying to push him down. Ha-ha it was pretty funny. So eventually I was just like "okay, what you’re going to do is kneel down and then bend backwards." Ha-ha, and the Mission President was there too... ha-ha super funny. It all went really good. I was worried he was going to be embarrassed that it took so long to do it but he was just wrapped up in how great he felt and he kept telling us that. So I wasn't too worried.

  Also this week we had a really good lesson with one of the less active sisters in the ward. Two of her grandkids live with her. One is 5 years old and the other 9. In one lesson the grandma told us about how hard it was trying to raise these to kids on her own basically and how they were always fighting and how they were always getting into trouble. When we got there we sat everyone down and sang a hymn and said the prayer. Then I handed my scriptures to the 5 year old and said "Open them up." "Where do you want me to open up to?" he responded. "Anywhere you want, let's see what the Lord wants us to read." So he did. He opened up to 3 Nephi 11. I had had some scriptures marked on this page and I decided on one that we were going to share. Then, while we were waiting for everyone to get to the page, I felt like it wasn't the right scripture. So I looked at another scripture on that page. Then I read verse 29. It was exactly what the kids needed and what the Lord wanted them to hear. It was a testimony builder for me to trust in the Lord to know what we need. It was great!!! 

Anyway, this week we have another baptism!!! So that is good!! Have a great week!!! Listen to the Spirit because it is always guiding us!!!

Elder Morris

This is a good friend Ramiro. I'm so proud of him

Yes you heard right, 5 times! Note the depth of the water.

Mitch's letters from the past week

10/9/14

Holy cow. Is conference the best thing known on the earth or what? I love the idea of the members of the seventy speaking in their native tongue. The two in Spanish were some of my favorites. But holy cow, did some of the speakers lay down the hammer or what!? Like this JÖRG KLEBINGAT, who the heck knows how to say his name, but that was one of the best talks ever! Also Elder Lynn G. Robbins. Talking about which way do you face and fearing God more than men. Watch out Elder Holland, you've got some serious competition on your heels!!! Ha-ha but all of the talks were SUPER good!!! I especially liked the talk of President Monson about the Bismarck it was super awesome. Are we heading in circles or are we progressing and "Heading towards the safe harbor of the Lord?" Oh, such good stuff!!! And to top it off, this week we got to go to the temple!! Oh, such good stuff, the temple. There is always such a special feeling there.  

Anyways, this week was really good. I just want to share an experience that we had this week with a less active member. A couple months back he and his brother were drinking... a lot. Like 2 or 3 days straight. His brother got tired and went to the stairs to go up and sleep. He collapsed before he got up the stairs. He died from alcohol poisoning. This less active member has felt a huge weight of guilt and pain over his brother's death. Others, including his own father, blamed him for the death and he started believing them. We had a lesson with him about forgiveness and the love of our Father in Heaven. I testified, and felt the Holy Ghost confirming my words, that Father in Heaven knows it wasn't his fault and that there is always a way to forgiveness. It was a super spiritual experience. He was crying and I knew that he was receiving his own confirmation of that. Then I felt as if someone pushed me up out of my chair to give him a hug. I felt such compassion for this man. I got to see him through the eyes of the Savior for just a brief moment and to see how the Savior loves him so. Yeah, sometimes we do things we shouldn't, and there are consequences that we can't control. But we can always receive forgiveness for the things that we do in this life. We aren't perfect, but the love and Atonement of the Savior are. If we put our trust in Him, we will receive all the love he has for us. Keep on keepin' on with a head held high!! Smile, because you are alive!!! Thank our Heavenly Father for loving us enough to test us and give us trials, for the purpose of growing in faith, love, and developing Christ like attributes!! I know that there is unknown power in prayer and that that is the key to aligning our will with that of the Father. Have a great week!!!

Elder Morris

10/13/14

So not much has happened in the past 3 days. Same old same old. But some cool things did happen. For instance, we found 2 new golden investigators. So I guess A LOT has happened in the past 3 days!!!! Ha-ha

So the first one. Her name is Wendy. She was a contact from the other Elders in our ward. She told us that her parents are super Christian and don´t want anything to do with us, but she is really ready to learn and is really interested in the fact that families can be together for eternity. Then she told us that a really good friend that she hasn't seen in a really long time was Mormon. We asked her what the friend’s name was. You know, because we know about 1/1000 of all the members in Monterrey so we are bound to know her random friend, right? Right! She tells us the name. The maiden name rings a bell in my head. Her friend, from how many years ago, just happened to have moved into our ward and just happens to be the stake president's wife! It was just like sitting there with my mouth wide open. So that is pretty great.

Then there is Polo. We contacted him when he was walking with his grand-daughter. We talked to him and asked if he would like us to pass by his house one day to talk with him. He responded that he would like that very much. Then I responded that I, also, would like that very much. And then we took is address down. Then he asked me the strangest thing. "Do you by chance have any cookies or crackers that I could give to my grand-daughter?" And, not by chance, I did have some Ritz crackers to give him. Then we said hasta luego and then luego we went to his house to have a lesson. He wasn't home, but his wife was very kind and told us to come back the next day. We did so and he told us that he had stayed home to wait for us. He offered us corn on the cob and water and we had a nice discussion about baptism and then we invited him to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God. He accepted. It went pretty well. The only thing is that his "wife" isn't really his wife. They are living in a... Free union? I don't know what it is called in English. Where they aren't married but they live together and act like it. He was a great guy. So we just have to promise the blessings that the Lord has in store for him and testify that mawiage is what bwings us togever today... I mean, that marriage is ordained of God and it is part of his plan for all of us. True happiness is found within the bonds of an eternal marriage. I feel like we will be able to help him understand that and then I know that the spirit will testify of it to his heart.  Just keep swimming! :)

Elder Morris

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.