If Riverhead is some sort of Mecca, I deserve a title. I've been to Riverhead 4 times already this transfer!
Out of all my journeyings to Riverhead this last was by far the worst. We were taking a brand new car out to the Riverhead elders because the car they had was way over the amount of miles the mission usually likes to put on a car before they sell it. Well the new car we took out was a 2010 Toyota Carola. Well, Saturday (the day we took the car out) was 102* so when we got in the car it was quite the oven. Well, we turned on the AC and started heading east on the 495. The car's ac was putting out hot air... we thought we could wait it out and it would soon start blowing cold air. It never did. Before we knew it we were stuck in traffic and consequently past the point of no return, for we were on a schedule. Well, we couldn't take it any longer and rolled down the windows. 102 degrees never felt so cool. It was such a relief! That's when I knew it would be a long ride. Well we rolled down all the windows and turned off the broken AC (which should be under warranty and the Riverhead elders will just have to take it in to a dealer). We had to stop in plainveiw at 7 Eleven so that we could get something to hydrate us. I used my water bottle as an ice pack when I wasn't drinking from it.
Yesterday (Sunday), I felt strongly prompted to surprise visit Vishnu. I had hopes that this inspired visit would be the needed contact that resparked his flame of interest in seeking truth... well... no one answered. I left a note. I know there was a reason I was prompted, I just hope it wasn't my fault for missing him, for you see, I waited about 20 min before I responded to the prompting. :( Maybe the note will still have some sort of affect on him.
Also, on Saturday we did a zone "FREE CAR WASH" as a finding activity. It was successful and fun! I was out on the street with some others waving a sign and yelling at cars! I loved it! I did the moon walk to try and get attention. Ha-ha. Also I used my theatrical preacher falsetto type voice to say Free car wash. That was cool. :) we had to leave early to go do our long Riverhead drive with no AC. But yeah, the car wash was good cause a lot of people were able to see where the church is and that we are nice people who do things like wash your car for free just because! :)
Thursday was the day we took two of the Greenie elders to the airport. I hope I didn't scare you with that statement. Don't worry, its good news in a way. The two elders, North and Smith were only here for 2 weeks because they were visa waiters. They got their calls to Brazil but didn't get approved visas so they came here. It all makes since in hind sight because when they were in the mission home that first night they didn't seem very happy. But when we were taking them to the airport to go to Brazil they were very happy and pleasant and fun to talk to. Ha-ha. I'm happy for them and wish them an amazing mission. We ended up driving 237 miles total on Thursday! :S
Wednesday was a crazy AC run day. We got 5 ACs with Elder Baum at Sears and then ran them out (me and McFarlane) to the Dyker Chinese elders, Elder Long a cool greenie being one of them, followed by Far Rockaway where I was happy to see my beloved Elder Black once more. Well because we had a busy day we didn't get out to proselyte until 8:30. But that didn't stop us from getting 2 lessons! woot! It made us quite happy and gave us hope. We wanted to do that every night, but the other nights we weren't quite as successful. We are both working really hard on becoming more Fearless and being better Fearlessers. We are having our district pray for our pool, cause its like a drop of water right now.
Tuesday was my Temple Trip. It was wonderful! On the way there a Mariachi band got on the subway and played! It was awesome! There was an upright bass and everything. Very round sound, it filled the whole train and no one seemed to be annoyed. I would like to be able to do train shouts where I entertain the whole train car and no one is annoyed. Cause if I could do that then I could get the name of the church out in a positive way on a grander scale. Anyway. The whole trip was awesome I spent most of the time with Elder Wright. I felt as though I was back in Provo, because I was in the quiet spirit filled temple with my MTC comp. I had to punch my self though. I brought with me my patriarchal blessing and my 4 generation pedigree chart so that I could ponder my life and family while in the Celestial room. I was pretty much sure that I would receive amazing personal revelations by doing this. Well, I left them in the locker and didn't figure it out until I was in the chapel and there was only 4 min until it started. :( Well, It was still nice. I hope to remember next year. Manhattan Temple is possibly one of the coolest places on earth. Yup.
Last week after I email everyone I went to a zone activity. We did human foose ball and had chili dogs and yahoos. I'm gonna say that was the most successful zone activity I've been to. It was really fun and I really enjoyed it. I was even able to be comfortable enough to act like myself. :) that was a great thing!
That's about it. I testify to you that Jesus Christ truly is our savior. Only through him and by his grace can we be saved. Something cool I heard this week was in response to the scripture "we are saved after all we can do", the response was in a John Bytheway talk and he said, "Maybe the 'we' is us and Christ!" Cool right. Because all we can do, or all the works that are necessary for our salvation are only possible through and by Christ. I love it. Our Heavenly Father loves us no matter what. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the only church established and approved by the Lord. We have a living prophet. None of us is perfect, but that is why we have the church. It is a hospital for the imperfect. I am imperfect, but I know the Lord can accomplish His purpose even by using me as His tool. I may be a little rusty and dull but I can be used to do much good. I look forward to a life time of polishing and sharpening to be a better advocate of the father. This applies to us all. Just do the plain simple (not always easy... but plain simple) things the Lord requires of us to do so.
love
--
-Elder Samuel Austin Morris
Monday, July 26, 2010
Saturday, July 24, 2010
P.S. A Miracle
Two Bushwick Elders heading home from the office ran into a man at the buss stop. He said, "how can I get to Rego Park", they responded, "you are in Rego Park". The man questioned, "where can I find this place?" showing a paper with the words "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints".... "come with us!". They came back to the office. The man's name is Christian. He is from the Ivory Coast and speaks French the best. Well, we all thought "Elder Rowley should teach him". We began to look up Elder Rowley's number (he was transfered here from the Paris France mission mandarin speaking, so he had to learn both French and mandarin) well, anyway right as we were about to give Christian the number when, in walks Elder Lam and Elder Rowley (btw he is the only French speaker in the mission). Rowley Talked with him and got all his info and story and taught him a lesson and gave him a French Book of Mormon. Well, he lives in Lefrak City right next to a recent convert. He came to church this week and stayed for the whole thing. Everyone fellowshipped him really well. Then he even came for the broadcast of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir anniversary that night.
Awesome right!? well, there are no coincidences.
The field is white all ready to harvest.
--
-Elder Samuel Austin Morris
Awesome right!? well, there are no coincidences.
The field is white all ready to harvest.
--
-Elder Samuel Austin Morris
Sure Thing Boss
Well, here it is only week 2 of the transfer. I honestly feel like it has been a full transfer already. 8|
This week we taught one lesson. The rest of the week we were driving places or filling orders or doing things for the leadership meetings that were being held.
The lesson we had was with John Gadd. He is so much fun and so smart. He is an inactive member. Well we basically had an AMAZING discussion with him and because we only said what the spirit put into our mouths (as best we could) we were able to say just the right thing that was able to be just what we needed to say. He was kinda speechless for the first time I've ever seen. He said, "Elder Morris, you just said something that really pissed me off.". I looked at him kinda scared and waited for him to tell me what I did wrong, "You pissed me off because you said something that really makes since...", I was relieved at those words and chuckled a bit inside from joy. He pondered the sentence I had said (which really was just a nicely timed and juxtaposed paraphrased Nebakanezer's dream). "How would you cut a stone without hands?... It would have to be with something like... an earthquake! That wouldn't be pretty. Someone might get hurt." I jumped on the opportunity and said some more things I wanted to get in while he was pondering. Well short story shorter we left on a high note. It felt so awesome. I'm so glad that we were able to help John realize that the church and its members are progressing. That the members are not perfect and that we and the church are preparing for the second coming when Christ will reign, and that the church will continue to receive revelation and continue to progress and grow until in really does cover the whole earth. Its really easy to see, the church now and the church when it started are quite different. The Doctrine is true, the prophet receives true revelation, the church is directed by Christ. That stone cut forth without hands really is a rough stone rolling, and the lord will do things as he always has, he will continue to use imperfect flawed people to accomplish is perfect and righteous cause.
A letter from McLean told me that we can't judge. We can't judge our leaders or other missionaries because they and we aren't perfect and we don't know their heart or their circumstances. What we can be sure of though, is even though they will make mistakes and they will do things we don't like or we think are incorrect or maybe even not Christ like, that none of us are perfect. However, though Christ's grace their is repentance available for all. Also through the Holy Ghost Christ and Heavenly Father can instruct us and bless us and help us on our journey to become like Christ even in the midst of our trials or short comings or failures. I have been called many bad things on my mission, I have been accused of many things. My patriarchal blessing was right when it said I would be treated with meanness by the agents of Satan. I am not saying that I have not made mistakes, of course I have, but I can know where I stand with the lord. I can know that I am accomplishing what I was meant to regardless of my weakness and my mistakes. I can trust in the lord. He expects me to succeed by relying on the savior. We are saved after all we can do. "maybe the 'we' is us and Christ" (John Bytheway talk).
Alright moving along. Tuesday we filled many orders. Wednesday we bought pizza and put it out for hungry missionary leaders and then we filled orders. Thursday we bought 3 boxes full of sandwiches and put them out for hungry missionary leaders and then filled orders. Wednesday and Thursday Swains Kid Elder Aldridge was in a trio with us most of the day because of the leadership meetings. (oh by the way, did you know Tanner Spear is being trained by my MTC companion elder Wright? well he is, in park slope). Friday was CDM, after CDM we did some office work, but I can't remember what it was... whatever it was it took a long time. Saturday was a long day. We drove 252.6 mi. We kinda double booked ourselves and so we had to go to Dyker Heights (closest part of Brooklyn to Staten Island basically) where we picked up Elder Call the mission celebrity for his concert. After Dyker we drove back to Rego Park (middle of Queens) where we loaded up the van with stuff we needed, and call helped. Then we had a failed attempt of going to Sears because we went before it opened, luckily they didn't charge us for parking but unfortunately we didn't get the ACs we needed. Then Swain and Aldridge got in the van and we drove to Terryville (North-west Suffolk county) where we dropped off Swain and Call to prepare for the concert. Then we drove to the Southampton and set up the new sisters pad and waited for them to show up so we could move them into it. Then after that we drove to Riverhead (base of the North fork of Long Island) and moved out some really angst filled and snappy elders to their new pad. since we didn't have the AC we were supposed to bring them we tried 3 stores to get one there in Riverhead with no success. Then Elder Baum took the three of us (McFarlane, Aldridge, and myself) to Applebees! we felt unworthy of such a treat and thanked him heartily. Then we drove back to Terryville and watched the concert then after the concert we (Call, Swain, Me, Aldridge, McFarlane) drove back to Dyker. We had what ended up being basically a talent show along the way (Tangent: a talent as of last week would trade for $1.42 million. we did the math with Bro Gadd). Well, Call and Swain shewed their great singing skills. Then followed a conversation of How swain was an actor and Call was a great musician and Aldridge was a great Artist (and he proved it with his analyzation of facial structure and showing us his sketch book). Following, McFarlane Quoted large chunks of about 3 movies with impeccable precision. McFarlane then question what my great skill was and what I was going to major in.... I had no Idea. Well after we came home from Dyker it was 10:30.
As if we didn't drive enough on Saturday, Sunday after church and lunch we drove to Bushwick and then East New York and then to Little Neck and then to Terryville. It was 122 mi. We did it because of an emergency transfer. Guess what!? A family from Highland visited the Rego Park ward on Sunday. yup. The Johanson family. Their son graduated '09 from Lone Peak and is on a mission right now, but they were here on vacation with their daughter who was quiet, but nice to look at. ;) Ha-ha.
This week I re-realized that "a nother" is actually "an other"... but we all say "a nother", or at least, I always have.
We had two failed attempts to have our van get state inspection, because last time Elder Adolphson wasn't in the office to approve it and today their lift operator was on vacation. >:| At least we have until the end of July before we get ticketed.
Well My year mark was on Thursday.... its weird how I can say what I was doing a year ago and its my mission. This would have been my Fourth day in the MTC which was my first Sunday in the MTC.... That was a trunkie day for me. LOL. well. I'll never experience that again.
I don't know what else to say. so, have a nice day.
"And remember, I'm the President of the United States; Always!!!"
-Elder Samuel Austin Morris
This week we taught one lesson. The rest of the week we were driving places or filling orders or doing things for the leadership meetings that were being held.
The lesson we had was with John Gadd. He is so much fun and so smart. He is an inactive member. Well we basically had an AMAZING discussion with him and because we only said what the spirit put into our mouths (as best we could) we were able to say just the right thing that was able to be just what we needed to say. He was kinda speechless for the first time I've ever seen. He said, "Elder Morris, you just said something that really pissed me off.". I looked at him kinda scared and waited for him to tell me what I did wrong, "You pissed me off because you said something that really makes since...", I was relieved at those words and chuckled a bit inside from joy. He pondered the sentence I had said (which really was just a nicely timed and juxtaposed paraphrased Nebakanezer's dream). "How would you cut a stone without hands?... It would have to be with something like... an earthquake! That wouldn't be pretty. Someone might get hurt." I jumped on the opportunity and said some more things I wanted to get in while he was pondering. Well short story shorter we left on a high note. It felt so awesome. I'm so glad that we were able to help John realize that the church and its members are progressing. That the members are not perfect and that we and the church are preparing for the second coming when Christ will reign, and that the church will continue to receive revelation and continue to progress and grow until in really does cover the whole earth. Its really easy to see, the church now and the church when it started are quite different. The Doctrine is true, the prophet receives true revelation, the church is directed by Christ. That stone cut forth without hands really is a rough stone rolling, and the lord will do things as he always has, he will continue to use imperfect flawed people to accomplish is perfect and righteous cause.
A letter from McLean told me that we can't judge. We can't judge our leaders or other missionaries because they and we aren't perfect and we don't know their heart or their circumstances. What we can be sure of though, is even though they will make mistakes and they will do things we don't like or we think are incorrect or maybe even not Christ like, that none of us are perfect. However, though Christ's grace their is repentance available for all. Also through the Holy Ghost Christ and Heavenly Father can instruct us and bless us and help us on our journey to become like Christ even in the midst of our trials or short comings or failures. I have been called many bad things on my mission, I have been accused of many things. My patriarchal blessing was right when it said I would be treated with meanness by the agents of Satan. I am not saying that I have not made mistakes, of course I have, but I can know where I stand with the lord. I can know that I am accomplishing what I was meant to regardless of my weakness and my mistakes. I can trust in the lord. He expects me to succeed by relying on the savior. We are saved after all we can do. "maybe the 'we' is us and Christ" (John Bytheway talk).
Alright moving along. Tuesday we filled many orders. Wednesday we bought pizza and put it out for hungry missionary leaders and then we filled orders. Thursday we bought 3 boxes full of sandwiches and put them out for hungry missionary leaders and then filled orders. Wednesday and Thursday Swains Kid Elder Aldridge was in a trio with us most of the day because of the leadership meetings. (oh by the way, did you know Tanner Spear is being trained by my MTC companion elder Wright? well he is, in park slope). Friday was CDM, after CDM we did some office work, but I can't remember what it was... whatever it was it took a long time. Saturday was a long day. We drove 252.6 mi. We kinda double booked ourselves and so we had to go to Dyker Heights (closest part of Brooklyn to Staten Island basically) where we picked up Elder Call the mission celebrity for his concert. After Dyker we drove back to Rego Park (middle of Queens) where we loaded up the van with stuff we needed, and call helped. Then we had a failed attempt of going to Sears because we went before it opened, luckily they didn't charge us for parking but unfortunately we didn't get the ACs we needed. Then Swain and Aldridge got in the van and we drove to Terryville (North-west Suffolk county) where we dropped off Swain and Call to prepare for the concert. Then we drove to the Southampton and set up the new sisters pad and waited for them to show up so we could move them into it. Then after that we drove to Riverhead (base of the North fork of Long Island) and moved out some really angst filled and snappy elders to their new pad. since we didn't have the AC we were supposed to bring them we tried 3 stores to get one there in Riverhead with no success. Then Elder Baum took the three of us (McFarlane, Aldridge, and myself) to Applebees! we felt unworthy of such a treat and thanked him heartily. Then we drove back to Terryville and watched the concert then after the concert we (Call, Swain, Me, Aldridge, McFarlane) drove back to Dyker. We had what ended up being basically a talent show along the way (Tangent: a talent as of last week would trade for $1.42 million. we did the math with Bro Gadd). Well, Call and Swain shewed their great singing skills. Then followed a conversation of How swain was an actor and Call was a great musician and Aldridge was a great Artist (and he proved it with his analyzation of facial structure and showing us his sketch book). Following, McFarlane Quoted large chunks of about 3 movies with impeccable precision. McFarlane then question what my great skill was and what I was going to major in.... I had no Idea. Well after we came home from Dyker it was 10:30.
As if we didn't drive enough on Saturday, Sunday after church and lunch we drove to Bushwick and then East New York and then to Little Neck and then to Terryville. It was 122 mi. We did it because of an emergency transfer. Guess what!? A family from Highland visited the Rego Park ward on Sunday. yup. The Johanson family. Their son graduated '09 from Lone Peak and is on a mission right now, but they were here on vacation with their daughter who was quiet, but nice to look at. ;) Ha-ha.
This week I re-realized that "a nother" is actually "an other"... but we all say "a nother", or at least, I always have.
We had two failed attempts to have our van get state inspection, because last time Elder Adolphson wasn't in the office to approve it and today their lift operator was on vacation. >:| At least we have until the end of July before we get ticketed.
Well My year mark was on Thursday.... its weird how I can say what I was doing a year ago and its my mission. This would have been my Fourth day in the MTC which was my first Sunday in the MTC.... That was a trunkie day for me. LOL. well. I'll never experience that again.
I don't know what else to say. so, have a nice day.
"And remember, I'm the President of the United States; Always!!!"
-Elder Samuel Austin Morris
Monday, July 12, 2010
Sam Champion Gets a Hinchman
Whatever I may have said in the past about long weeks.... scratch that. This was the longest week of my mission. It felt like every dad was a week.
Lets start from the beginning. "A very good place to start" right?
Monday was the day that we picked up our beloved greenies (and one burgundy-ie). That was a most delightful experience. They have so much going for them. I love them. They are so great. It was the most ridiculous thing though to pick them up. It was super hot and humid! We had 22 new missionaries to pick up!!! (we is Saeyang and I) We had three groups of missionaries coming in from two different airports LAG and JFK with 2 at LAG a half an hour apart and one the same time as JFK's arrivals. :S It was so awesome to pull up to the pick up and see Tanner walking up as the new Elder Spear. I felt a little scruffy especially in comparison to his bright zeal and fresh vigor. I was sweaty and stinky. But I gave him a hug anyway and we talked until everyone else showed up then I loaded the van. Then we took off to JFK and went to the parking garage where all the rest of the greenies were. We loaded up the rest of the van. We filled up the seatless van all the way to the sealing and from the front to touching the back doors. The van was as full of luggage as the excitement in the hearts of the greenies. It carried over into my heart. I am way excited that at the end of this transfer the last thing I will do will be to pick up greenies. It will be the boost I need to resume the old calling once my office time is up.
Well we took them to Rego Park and unloaded the luggage and filled the van with seats and then with missionaries and we drove to the mission home in Little Neck (Port Washington). It was way fun, and I ended up writing a large portion of Elder Spear's letter home to his parents while he showed a video of him eating cereal out of Melissa Freeman's dimples and Kyle yelling in the background. It was weird. He told me things about home and it was just plain weird. I realized how different I am. I still have the same sense of humor, I'm still the same soul, I still have the same personality. But I am a different person. Home doesn't feel like home. Elder spear questioned my love for New York because I had said in past letters and emails that I didn't like it here.... but this is where I belong. I don't want to ever stop being a missionary. I guess I'm becoming a New Yorker myself because I don't really care much about whats outside of new york. LOL. Of course i care about my loved ones and of course i miss the mountains and Ditto... anyway. I hope you understand what I'm trying to say.
Side note: many of you have received letters from me in the past. I'd like to say I'm terrible at writing letters. I just have emotional diarrhea on the page and mail it. I hardly ever reread it or organize it or rewrite it. Therefore I've sent things that I really didn't mean. and there is no way to take it back... so... to all of you I say that I am trying to repent of that. I have not really written letters this transfer at all and it has given me the chance to think about it. I'm gonna try really hard to write quality letters... so expect less of them. Sorry.
ok back to the email-update. We slept over with the greenies. Well, more accurately they slept down stairs and upstairs and Saeyang and I slept on the couches. Saeyang was on a love seat with wooden armrests. lol. So he had a terrible night. I felt bad for him.
the next day we made a beagle run and then had breakfast and then took all the greenies back to the mission office for transfer meeting and to meet their trainers and such. Did I say I love the greenies? well This is when the madness started. About a million people came up to me asking me for stuff while I ran around trying to prepare things for the meetings that would occur the rest of the day and for the changes that would soon take place... It stressed me out and much of my excitement from the greenie pick up was overcome by "AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! everyone wants something!!!!!!!!"... I walked into transfer meeting late because we (Saeyang and I) experienced out last success together, we picked up Elder Cragun from the airport who just flew in from Bermuda. well I walked in to transfers and the only place left to sit was the very front seat in the chapel. I went up and sat next to Elder McFarlane (Saeyangs MTC comp who He didn't really like and who Ledbetter didn't like either) the whole time he muttered stuff under his breath and commented on everything that was said and that happened. Well they got to Zone 4 (my Zone) and called out "In the Office we've got Elder Morris! and..." this was the first time i've been the one to be called first, "Elder McFarlane". I was told my face looked terribly worried, McFarlane gave me a Gigantic Bear Hug. McFarlane is 6'3" and is double my weight. I was smothered. Everyone burst out laughing hysterically. I sat down and looked at elder black and Write and other missionaries with a "will I be ok???".
The requests didn't stop... I had to just tell everyone "have sister Baum write it down and we will fill it later" I had a constant "I have something dreadfully important to do; but what is it?" for the next 3 days. After Transfers things got even crazier. We (me and McFarlane) took Saeyang and his new comp to their new area because they were getting blinded in. Oh BTW, my Asian streak is over. That made me kinda sad but Its totally cool now. After we got back we were in a rush. We packed all the departing missionaries' luggage into the van as well as Elder Grimm's Luggage (the New Bramuda elder). The we took Grimm to the Air port. By this time I hadn't taken a shower in almost two days and worn the same clothing two days and one night and had not shaved since Sunday morning. I had a good beard started and smelled and felt like a subway railing. LOL. It was a breeze dropping off Grimm, and we had good fun talking about Lim (our common companion) and Richmond Hill (our common area; you see he replaced me there as Lim,s comp). When we got back to Rego the Departing Elders had already left to Port Washington so we had a little time to get some things in order before we left to stay the night with the dead missionaries. I was SO-O-O excited to take a shower and change but then I realized..... I had no clean underwear or cloths. :( you see I had no P-day so I never had the chance. :'( so I had to wait while my cloths washed before I took a shower. Then we got a call while I was waiting from the AP's, "Where are you guys? the missionaries need their stuff so they can have something to sleep in tonight?". They gave us until 8 to get out there, which meant we were short on time. So I told my tall goofy and blond new companion to do me a favor to save time. To make a long story short I ended up drinking a diet coke on the toilet naked for about 10 min. so I was clean; shaven and shorn. But eventually I was clothed and we made the way to presidents house to stay the night. I was flustered because of all the built up stress and we had a fiasco on our hands. Two elders in the mission had told us that their luggage was missing. So we took all the Departing missionaries luggage out of the van to sort through all of it. At the same time a family of a missionary who was being picked up decided they were more important then the rest of the missionaries in the mission and at presidents house and had to leave, so they made us move all the luggage that was on the driveway to the grass. Well, you guessed it, the sprinklers turned on and soaked all the luggage. Me and Elder McGuire seemed to be the only missionaries who seemed to care about what was going on. We were running around trying to save the luggage while the family slowly backed out of the driveway ignoring the mess on hand. well, they ran over some of the luggage and then left and eventually it was just me and McFarlane left to figure out things. The good news was we found one of the luggage's that wasn't supposed to be there but the bad news was everything was wet and that we still hadn't found the other lost luggage.
Moving on.
Wednesday. We woke up at 4 am to get the missionaries all together and leave on time to get them to the airport on time. Well, that morning Elder Khang got in the front seat of the van (where McFarlane wanted to sit) So there was a short prideful power struggle and president finally just told McFarlane to sit in the other van. This was the biging of the problems. This left us with no cell phone. It was me, and 3 Asians and all the luggage. We got to the airport on time and started unloading all the stuff on the curb side. Well all the other cars when to the parking garage. A lot of confusion and running around happened wile the neon vested flashlight wavers abused their authority and yelled a bunch at me. I wanted to hurt myself. Then I circled around and the missionaries came out and told us that they missed their flight! Delta wouldn't let them check their bags because they were there at 6:04 and they were supposed to check their bags at 6:00. Long story short they all left on the next flight (10 min later) but their luggage didn't go with them. wow. I was so frustrated. Luckily 4 of them didn't miss their flight. those were on American airlines. So much easier to check in and so much cleaner and the terminal is way nicer. Deltas Team treated us so rudely.
after that we took some missionaries to Nassau for a doctors appointment, when we got back we found that the apartment building next to the Church had caught on fire and the building was evacuated and we were providing the church as a relief center. So we spent the day with all the refugees. I was hugged by a disabled girl and she tried to kiss me. The greenie in Rego English speaking (Elder Swain,s comp) Elder Aldridge made fun of me and told me to pack my bags cause president was sending me home for hugging and kissing a girl on my mission. Ha-ha. Well, after our 18 hr day, we finally went to sleep.
Thursday I felt normal. I realized that I was in wonderful circumstances compared to those across the street. I was sad that it wasn't lightning and thunder for my birthday but at least it was a Thursday. Anyway, there was an all day leadership meeting at the office so I spent the day preparing food for them and filling TONS of orders. I've never filled so many orders or inventoried so much in one day before. It was really impressive. I'm glad my companion learned so fast. Well, I had managed not to tell anyone it was my birthday so no one said anything. But then Elder Mosman (I don't know how), knew it was my birthday and when everyone (all 70 elders) were down in the office he said "Hey Elder [so-in-so] did you know its Elder Morris' birthday?!?" Then they all sang to me! Ha-ha. It was great. A little embarrassing but it felt good. I think there were even parts being sung, thanks to Elder Swain. ha-ha. :) to top it off someone found for me a birthday package that was put on the wrong zone shelve. It was from Hilly and Davy! :) Thank you so-o-o-o much everyone who sent me cards and packages and emails, i really appreciated it. even the ones that i didn't get until today. :)
well I've been on a really long time so I've got to get off. But know I'm happy and healthy even though its been a really long week full of surprises and business.
Friday we had district meeting and moved the Ridgewood elders and I sweated from every part of my body especially my face.
Saturday we delivered 4 ac's, one to Staten, one to Midwood, one to Flushing, and one to Dyker. It took basically all day.
Its been pretty great, my companion has tons of movies memorized, so he quotes entire movies to me while we drive places. He doesn't miss a part. I can even put him on pause and restart an hour later and he doesn't hesitate. lol!
Today we went out to Riverhead. I've never been before. It looks like Idaho. It has the same trees and it has farms and cows and tractors and cabins... the only thing its missing is mountains. some places could have been McCall. Anyway we went out there to move the Riverhead Elders to their new pad. then we ate at Paneara. After that I had a but explosion in a gas station and I only just barely made it. It was scary. I had to sit on the seat without covering it, which was really gross. but better than pooing my pants.
OK I love you. Thank you for the roll you have played in my life.
--
-Elder Samuel Austin Morris
Lets start from the beginning. "A very good place to start" right?
Monday was the day that we picked up our beloved greenies (and one burgundy-ie). That was a most delightful experience. They have so much going for them. I love them. They are so great. It was the most ridiculous thing though to pick them up. It was super hot and humid! We had 22 new missionaries to pick up!!! (we is Saeyang and I) We had three groups of missionaries coming in from two different airports LAG and JFK with 2 at LAG a half an hour apart and one the same time as JFK's arrivals. :S It was so awesome to pull up to the pick up and see Tanner walking up as the new Elder Spear. I felt a little scruffy especially in comparison to his bright zeal and fresh vigor. I was sweaty and stinky. But I gave him a hug anyway and we talked until everyone else showed up then I loaded the van. Then we took off to JFK and went to the parking garage where all the rest of the greenies were. We loaded up the rest of the van. We filled up the seatless van all the way to the sealing and from the front to touching the back doors. The van was as full of luggage as the excitement in the hearts of the greenies. It carried over into my heart. I am way excited that at the end of this transfer the last thing I will do will be to pick up greenies. It will be the boost I need to resume the old calling once my office time is up.
Well we took them to Rego Park and unloaded the luggage and filled the van with seats and then with missionaries and we drove to the mission home in Little Neck (Port Washington). It was way fun, and I ended up writing a large portion of Elder Spear's letter home to his parents while he showed a video of him eating cereal out of Melissa Freeman's dimples and Kyle yelling in the background. It was weird. He told me things about home and it was just plain weird. I realized how different I am. I still have the same sense of humor, I'm still the same soul, I still have the same personality. But I am a different person. Home doesn't feel like home. Elder spear questioned my love for New York because I had said in past letters and emails that I didn't like it here.... but this is where I belong. I don't want to ever stop being a missionary. I guess I'm becoming a New Yorker myself because I don't really care much about whats outside of new york. LOL. Of course i care about my loved ones and of course i miss the mountains and Ditto... anyway. I hope you understand what I'm trying to say.
Side note: many of you have received letters from me in the past. I'd like to say I'm terrible at writing letters. I just have emotional diarrhea on the page and mail it. I hardly ever reread it or organize it or rewrite it. Therefore I've sent things that I really didn't mean. and there is no way to take it back... so... to all of you I say that I am trying to repent of that. I have not really written letters this transfer at all and it has given me the chance to think about it. I'm gonna try really hard to write quality letters... so expect less of them. Sorry.
ok back to the email-update. We slept over with the greenies. Well, more accurately they slept down stairs and upstairs and Saeyang and I slept on the couches. Saeyang was on a love seat with wooden armrests. lol. So he had a terrible night. I felt bad for him.
the next day we made a beagle run and then had breakfast and then took all the greenies back to the mission office for transfer meeting and to meet their trainers and such. Did I say I love the greenies? well This is when the madness started. About a million people came up to me asking me for stuff while I ran around trying to prepare things for the meetings that would occur the rest of the day and for the changes that would soon take place... It stressed me out and much of my excitement from the greenie pick up was overcome by "AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! everyone wants something!!!!!!!!"... I walked into transfer meeting late because we (Saeyang and I) experienced out last success together, we picked up Elder Cragun from the airport who just flew in from Bermuda. well I walked in to transfers and the only place left to sit was the very front seat in the chapel. I went up and sat next to Elder McFarlane (Saeyangs MTC comp who He didn't really like and who Ledbetter didn't like either) the whole time he muttered stuff under his breath and commented on everything that was said and that happened. Well they got to Zone 4 (my Zone) and called out "In the Office we've got Elder Morris! and..." this was the first time i've been the one to be called first, "Elder McFarlane". I was told my face looked terribly worried, McFarlane gave me a Gigantic Bear Hug. McFarlane is 6'3" and is double my weight. I was smothered. Everyone burst out laughing hysterically. I sat down and looked at elder black and Write and other missionaries with a "will I be ok???".
The requests didn't stop... I had to just tell everyone "have sister Baum write it down and we will fill it later" I had a constant "I have something dreadfully important to do; but what is it?" for the next 3 days. After Transfers things got even crazier. We (me and McFarlane) took Saeyang and his new comp to their new area because they were getting blinded in. Oh BTW, my Asian streak is over. That made me kinda sad but Its totally cool now. After we got back we were in a rush. We packed all the departing missionaries' luggage into the van as well as Elder Grimm's Luggage (the New Bramuda elder). The we took Grimm to the Air port. By this time I hadn't taken a shower in almost two days and worn the same clothing two days and one night and had not shaved since Sunday morning. I had a good beard started and smelled and felt like a subway railing. LOL. It was a breeze dropping off Grimm, and we had good fun talking about Lim (our common companion) and Richmond Hill (our common area; you see he replaced me there as Lim,s comp). When we got back to Rego the Departing Elders had already left to Port Washington so we had a little time to get some things in order before we left to stay the night with the dead missionaries. I was SO-O-O excited to take a shower and change but then I realized..... I had no clean underwear or cloths. :( you see I had no P-day so I never had the chance. :'( so I had to wait while my cloths washed before I took a shower. Then we got a call while I was waiting from the AP's, "Where are you guys? the missionaries need their stuff so they can have something to sleep in tonight?". They gave us until 8 to get out there, which meant we were short on time. So I told my tall goofy and blond new companion to do me a favor to save time. To make a long story short I ended up drinking a diet coke on the toilet naked for about 10 min. so I was clean; shaven and shorn. But eventually I was clothed and we made the way to presidents house to stay the night. I was flustered because of all the built up stress and we had a fiasco on our hands. Two elders in the mission had told us that their luggage was missing. So we took all the Departing missionaries luggage out of the van to sort through all of it. At the same time a family of a missionary who was being picked up decided they were more important then the rest of the missionaries in the mission and at presidents house and had to leave, so they made us move all the luggage that was on the driveway to the grass. Well, you guessed it, the sprinklers turned on and soaked all the luggage. Me and Elder McGuire seemed to be the only missionaries who seemed to care about what was going on. We were running around trying to save the luggage while the family slowly backed out of the driveway ignoring the mess on hand. well, they ran over some of the luggage and then left and eventually it was just me and McFarlane left to figure out things. The good news was we found one of the luggage's that wasn't supposed to be there but the bad news was everything was wet and that we still hadn't found the other lost luggage.
Moving on.
Wednesday. We woke up at 4 am to get the missionaries all together and leave on time to get them to the airport on time. Well, that morning Elder Khang got in the front seat of the van (where McFarlane wanted to sit) So there was a short prideful power struggle and president finally just told McFarlane to sit in the other van. This was the biging of the problems. This left us with no cell phone. It was me, and 3 Asians and all the luggage. We got to the airport on time and started unloading all the stuff on the curb side. Well all the other cars when to the parking garage. A lot of confusion and running around happened wile the neon vested flashlight wavers abused their authority and yelled a bunch at me. I wanted to hurt myself. Then I circled around and the missionaries came out and told us that they missed their flight! Delta wouldn't let them check their bags because they were there at 6:04 and they were supposed to check their bags at 6:00. Long story short they all left on the next flight (10 min later) but their luggage didn't go with them. wow. I was so frustrated. Luckily 4 of them didn't miss their flight. those were on American airlines. So much easier to check in and so much cleaner and the terminal is way nicer. Deltas Team treated us so rudely.
after that we took some missionaries to Nassau for a doctors appointment, when we got back we found that the apartment building next to the Church had caught on fire and the building was evacuated and we were providing the church as a relief center. So we spent the day with all the refugees. I was hugged by a disabled girl and she tried to kiss me. The greenie in Rego English speaking (Elder Swain,s comp) Elder Aldridge made fun of me and told me to pack my bags cause president was sending me home for hugging and kissing a girl on my mission. Ha-ha. Well, after our 18 hr day, we finally went to sleep.
Thursday I felt normal. I realized that I was in wonderful circumstances compared to those across the street. I was sad that it wasn't lightning and thunder for my birthday but at least it was a Thursday. Anyway, there was an all day leadership meeting at the office so I spent the day preparing food for them and filling TONS of orders. I've never filled so many orders or inventoried so much in one day before. It was really impressive. I'm glad my companion learned so fast. Well, I had managed not to tell anyone it was my birthday so no one said anything. But then Elder Mosman (I don't know how), knew it was my birthday and when everyone (all 70 elders) were down in the office he said "Hey Elder [so-in-so] did you know its Elder Morris' birthday?!?" Then they all sang to me! Ha-ha. It was great. A little embarrassing but it felt good. I think there were even parts being sung, thanks to Elder Swain. ha-ha. :) to top it off someone found for me a birthday package that was put on the wrong zone shelve. It was from Hilly and Davy! :) Thank you so-o-o-o much everyone who sent me cards and packages and emails, i really appreciated it. even the ones that i didn't get until today. :)
well I've been on a really long time so I've got to get off. But know I'm happy and healthy even though its been a really long week full of surprises and business.
Friday we had district meeting and moved the Ridgewood elders and I sweated from every part of my body especially my face.
Saturday we delivered 4 ac's, one to Staten, one to Midwood, one to Flushing, and one to Dyker. It took basically all day.
Its been pretty great, my companion has tons of movies memorized, so he quotes entire movies to me while we drive places. He doesn't miss a part. I can even put him on pause and restart an hour later and he doesn't hesitate. lol!
Today we went out to Riverhead. I've never been before. It looks like Idaho. It has the same trees and it has farms and cows and tractors and cabins... the only thing its missing is mountains. some places could have been McCall. Anyway we went out there to move the Riverhead Elders to their new pad. then we ate at Paneara. After that I had a but explosion in a gas station and I only just barely made it. It was scary. I had to sit on the seat without covering it, which was really gross. but better than pooing my pants.
OK I love you. Thank you for the roll you have played in my life.
--
-Elder Samuel Austin Morris
22 births, 18 deaths, 3 birthdays
Well, this was a super long week. not really in a negative way, just super long. Monday I had a really awesome exchange with Elder Jacob Swain from Orem. We taught really well together and had a fun time. It was nice to have a "regular missionary" experience.
Well, the Hiltz boys told us that they wanted to get baptized! :) but then the next day Sister Hiltz called and told us that they changed their minds. So that was a bit of a roller coaster. WE tried to contact Vishnu but with no success, plus we were busy planning the new missionary arrivals (22 new missionaries coming in!!!!) and departures (18 going home). So we didn't get much chance to try to catch him at home. :( We also helped move a sister in the ward this week (it took all day! we loaded and unloaded 3 truck loads and 2 van loads). she moved from a second floor apartment with no elevator to a second floor apartment with no elevator and a super super small stair case. So we ended up lifting stuff to her balcony and hoisting it into her apartment that way. LOL. the neighbors thought we were crazy. It was fun to exercise my Knot skills though, I haven't used my Knot skills in a while. It turns out in this situation a figure 8 knot was the best. So the credit goes to Rachel for taking me rock climbing when I was younger. :)
On Friday we had our first District meeting of the transfer... and our last. HA. We were never able to have one until now since Saeyang and I always had something to do, but we were finally able to have one. It was really good and Elder swain our District leader said some really cool things. Unfortunately It was rushed because half way through Elder Adolphson recruited us all to go to Ocean side to pick up the cars from the body shop. They took us all to get Nathan's Hot dogs which was really cool cause its the first Nathan's I've had and it was so close to the 4th of July. apparently (i was just told) Joey Chestnut won again! but only with like 50 something Hot dogs. Man, I'm so close and I didn't get to see it. Kobyoshi didn't compete! But he did get arrested cause they thought he was going to go attack Joey after he won the title.
Saturday we had a district finding activity that went really well after we ate at the Georgia Diner (which wasn't as good as its cracked up to be, we think its owned by the mob.). It turned out really well, we were all talking the whole time and Saeyang and I together found 3 potentials. I talked to this one guy, that I should have given a BOM, but I just gave him a pass along card for one. But he was way cool, and way friendly, but he didn't believe it was necessary to have a prophet and that there was very little difference to our beliefs. He believed all we need is scripture and prayer. So after he told me that God gives us what scriptures are meant for us I said "well maybe this book is for you then..." and he said, "yeah, OK." He was in a hurry and so I didn't get his info unfortunately. Elder Mitchell and I met a member from Norway though, that was pretty cool and guy is a bouncer and a comedian and a tennis teacher, born here but baptized in Norway! ha-ha. It was cool cause I talked to someone from every Continent during our street sweep.
This week I had Vietnamese food, Thai food, American food, Italian food, Chinese food, french food, and on Sunday we were fed by an Indonesian family and a Filipino family! :) so that was way cool. There is always something new here in queens. You never get board with culture or food when there is literally every culture around you. That's the best part about queens - the diversity.
oh, well, I have to go because we have to take an elder to the airport who is going home and then we have to pick up the 22 new missionaries coming in. Its gonna be CRAZY! But before I go, guess whats cool!? Nope, you guessed wrong. Whats cool is I met Mr. Simmons and his newly wed wife! Yeah! Mr./Bro. Simmons. He Student taught in the drama department at lone peak when I was a Junior! LOL. funny right! small world right! well, it was when I was on exchanges with Swain. He and his wife saw us in the food court of the Queens mall when we were taking a drink/bathroom stop. So he fed us. Ha-ha. He told me he served his mission in japan and so I said, "Oh, do you remember Bj Warner?", "BJ WARNER! OH MY GOSH! YEA... no, I have no idea.". It was hilarious. ha-ha. He is a super funny guy. he and his wife looked good together. But after talking he said yeah that he remembered me and then he talked bad about Mr. Smith. ha-ha. well. then he left. But he still has amazing style. I loved his hair. It was his Rockabilly type hair.
Well, to end here. HAPPY BIRTHDAY KYLE! (5TH), HAPPY BIRTHDAY NOAH (7TH), HAPPY BIRTHDAY USA (4TH). I'm sad I didn't see any fireworks, i heard some though.
LONG LIVE THE KING! jk... but seriously (the lord is our king. :) )
--
-Elder Samuel Austin Morris
Well, the Hiltz boys told us that they wanted to get baptized! :) but then the next day Sister Hiltz called and told us that they changed their minds. So that was a bit of a roller coaster. WE tried to contact Vishnu but with no success, plus we were busy planning the new missionary arrivals (22 new missionaries coming in!!!!) and departures (18 going home). So we didn't get much chance to try to catch him at home. :( We also helped move a sister in the ward this week (it took all day! we loaded and unloaded 3 truck loads and 2 van loads). she moved from a second floor apartment with no elevator to a second floor apartment with no elevator and a super super small stair case. So we ended up lifting stuff to her balcony and hoisting it into her apartment that way. LOL. the neighbors thought we were crazy. It was fun to exercise my Knot skills though, I haven't used my Knot skills in a while. It turns out in this situation a figure 8 knot was the best. So the credit goes to Rachel for taking me rock climbing when I was younger. :)
On Friday we had our first District meeting of the transfer... and our last. HA. We were never able to have one until now since Saeyang and I always had something to do, but we were finally able to have one. It was really good and Elder swain our District leader said some really cool things. Unfortunately It was rushed because half way through Elder Adolphson recruited us all to go to Ocean side to pick up the cars from the body shop. They took us all to get Nathan's Hot dogs which was really cool cause its the first Nathan's I've had and it was so close to the 4th of July. apparently (i was just told) Joey Chestnut won again! but only with like 50 something Hot dogs. Man, I'm so close and I didn't get to see it. Kobyoshi didn't compete! But he did get arrested cause they thought he was going to go attack Joey after he won the title.
Saturday we had a district finding activity that went really well after we ate at the Georgia Diner (which wasn't as good as its cracked up to be, we think its owned by the mob.). It turned out really well, we were all talking the whole time and Saeyang and I together found 3 potentials. I talked to this one guy, that I should have given a BOM, but I just gave him a pass along card for one. But he was way cool, and way friendly, but he didn't believe it was necessary to have a prophet and that there was very little difference to our beliefs. He believed all we need is scripture and prayer. So after he told me that God gives us what scriptures are meant for us I said "well maybe this book is for you then..." and he said, "yeah, OK." He was in a hurry and so I didn't get his info unfortunately. Elder Mitchell and I met a member from Norway though, that was pretty cool and guy is a bouncer and a comedian and a tennis teacher, born here but baptized in Norway! ha-ha. It was cool cause I talked to someone from every Continent during our street sweep.
This week I had Vietnamese food, Thai food, American food, Italian food, Chinese food, french food, and on Sunday we were fed by an Indonesian family and a Filipino family! :) so that was way cool. There is always something new here in queens. You never get board with culture or food when there is literally every culture around you. That's the best part about queens - the diversity.
oh, well, I have to go because we have to take an elder to the airport who is going home and then we have to pick up the 22 new missionaries coming in. Its gonna be CRAZY! But before I go, guess whats cool!? Nope, you guessed wrong. Whats cool is I met Mr. Simmons and his newly wed wife! Yeah! Mr./Bro. Simmons. He Student taught in the drama department at lone peak when I was a Junior! LOL. funny right! small world right! well, it was when I was on exchanges with Swain. He and his wife saw us in the food court of the Queens mall when we were taking a drink/bathroom stop. So he fed us. Ha-ha. He told me he served his mission in japan and so I said, "Oh, do you remember Bj Warner?", "BJ WARNER! OH MY GOSH! YEA... no, I have no idea.". It was hilarious. ha-ha. He is a super funny guy. he and his wife looked good together. But after talking he said yeah that he remembered me and then he talked bad about Mr. Smith. ha-ha. well. then he left. But he still has amazing style. I loved his hair. It was his Rockabilly type hair.
Well, to end here. HAPPY BIRTHDAY KYLE! (5TH), HAPPY BIRTHDAY NOAH (7TH), HAPPY BIRTHDAY USA (4TH). I'm sad I didn't see any fireworks, i heard some though.
LONG LIVE THE KING! jk... but seriously (the lord is our king. :) )
--
-Elder Samuel Austin Morris
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