ZOOM, ZOOM

Well, ha-ha. So here is what you have all been waiting for, it’s what you expected but with a curve ball twist!

The story begins one year ago, with two elders from Richmond Hill, Elders Lim and Khang. They found Keaun. Lim comes back to Richmond Hill one year later to be with Elder Morris, they baptize Keaun. Then Elder Morris gets transferred. Elder Morris goes to the island, a place called Plainview, and who is his companion.......... Elder Khang!

LOL. So there you have it, I am in Plainview with Elder Khang. It’s just him and I in our pad. Which is really weird for me because the last pad I was in had two other elders and the pad I was born into had four other elders and when I was in the MTC I was with 2 other Elders... so I'm really not used to being with just my companion. But here is the cool part, we have a washer and dryer and a dishwasher! WOOT! Ha-ha, no more laundry mat and no more washing dishes by hand! There is also a bunch of food in the pad so I never have to shop really, and to top it off Elder Khang has cooked me like 3 meals. So that’s pretty cool.

The down side, where I am is like 5 times the size of my last area. I thought I covered a big area before... ha-ha well now its huge for sure. At least we have a car; yup, a 2008 Mazda 3. :) My companion is not aloud to drive so I had to drive all the way out to the far corner of Nassau County from Elmhurst Queens! I was so scared! I haven’t driven since early July! It was weird. I did well though. That car is really fun to drive; I’m considering getting a Mazda when I come home now. So the area I’m in now when I am driving around in it, it feels like I am in Pleasant Grove sometimes and other times I feel like I’m in Orem/Provo and other times I feel like I’m in Cotton Wood.... I really don't like it. I feel like if I’m gonna be in the fray I should be in the middle of the fray; being in a place like home just makes me think about home more often. To make it worse the work in the area is really slow, and because we are in a car we can’t really do street contacts like I’m used to. We don't get any media referrals, so all our work is member work, knocking doors, and looking up less actives. More than half our lessons were less active/recent convert lessons.

We got a baptismal commit though! YEAH! Cool huh! But guess what.... it’s for a year from now. Yup, the guy knows everything is true... he just doesn't want to be pushed; he wants to do it on his own time. He is about dad’s age. He is cool though. His daughter is a less active member who told us that she wants to change and come back to church. She came to church Sunday and so that rocked! She is way solid I can tell.

Our other investigators are Kids, from 10 to 15. The 10 year old and 15 year old have only been to church once, a long time ago, but they LOVED it. The 15 year old knows everything! He should have been baptized and come to church long ago. But the parents are frustrating. Then we have an 11 year old who was going to get baptized last transfer. She passed the interview was excited, there were treats made and everyone was in the room waiting for her to get baptized and they had started filling the font and everything, but her dad freaked out last second and told her that she could get baptized if she wanted to but that he wouldn’t come in to watch. So of course she said she wouldn't get baptized. What 11 year old girl would get baptized if her only family member refused to be apart of it. :'(

Guess what’s cool!? I met a cool member here who went to UVU. In this area we cover a ward and a singles branch. A bunch of the members of the ward made fun of me on Sunday while I was introducing myself in priesthood and also right before I blessed the bread. Full grown men, acting like 14 year-olds.... I want to go back to the city. Anyway, it’s been tough for me to suddenly have to memorize like over a 100 people plus a new area; but I'll be alright. :)

I can't think of much else to say right now, but I will end with something cool I learned this week! :)

Ordinances sanctify principals! Ha-ha! Cool huh! So here is the example that we all understand. Marriage is for time but a sealing is for eternity. So, marriage between a man and a woman is the principal. Now it needs to be sanctified or recognized by God, so how do we do that? Through an ordinance performed by the priesthood of God, to bind things not only on earth but in heaven! Alright, so that principal applies to everything in the church—from baptism to marriage. I really wish that I could have understood this before now, but I’m really glad that I understand it now. It has really been a blessing for me to discover this. When I went to the temple I was really very confused, not because of the symbolism but because I didn't understand why I had to make a promise to God that I would do certain things that I was already doing; things I thought I had promised to do at baptism. But the reason why is because ordinances sanctify principals. Without the ordinance I would have just lived a really good life, but by going to the temple I sanctified that principal. Now, we are judged according to how much "light" we have been given. As members of the church we have been taught that we must sanctify our actions unto the lord by becoming a covenant people. That’s why those who never knew about our church and ordinances can still inherit the kingdom of God, and that is why we do work for the dead. Well, that’s what I learned. A lot of you are probably thinking wow he didn't know that?", but I hope it helps someone out there as much as it helped me. Because up until this point I was doing certain things because I knew I was supposed to, not because I understood the why factor or the importance of why factor.

Well, peace out y’all girl scouts!
Love Elder Morris