Cloudy With a Chance of Submersion‏

Well Elder Morris is quite blessed. I have a great companion, fall is coming, spiders aren't crawling all over me anymore, the spirit is giving me all the words I should say, and baptisms are happening all over the place.

Yesterday I got some very good news! I got a call from Elder Gourdin who took my place in Plainview three transfers ago and he told me, "guess what!? Nikita Smith is getting baptized today! So if you can make it you are invited. Sorry I should have told you sooner.". he was right, he should have told me sooner because I wasn't able to see the baptism, but I was able to call her on the phone and congratulate her. I was so happy. It really made my day. I was not expecting that call at all. Nikita said she misses me and that I was her and Darnell's favorite missionary. That was kinda a bittersweet thing to hear cause I don't really like being put above other people. I was just happy she decided to be baptized. I am still confused why Darnell didn't baptize her instead of Gourdin though. Anyway that was really good news for me. :D I am so happy I was able to teach the Smiths for 12 weeks, I'm so glad they are making the right decisions.

So we don't have as many spiders because I decided to investigate under the deck that is over where our windows to our bedrooms are. With a can of raid and a whole lot of courage I killed and killed and killed. It may be named the Middle Island Massacre. I killed hundreds and hundreds of spiders (no exaggeration). I killed spiders the size of Ritz Crackers, I killed spiders with really thick long legs! I killed spiders with funnel webs! Not just the men, but the women and the children too! I sprayed some nests that were hatching and about a thousdand spiders turned into clumps of raid soaked death! I sprayed windows I sprayed the underside of the deck, bushes, corners, ac units, the ground, the walls! It was worse than Arachnophobia! When I would spray the big spiders they would spool out about 5 feet of web! as if they had lost control of all bodily function and let loose. Then I would spray them again and their legs would straiten and then fold in. THE HORROR, THE HORROR! I thought that was good enough, so I went in and told the others in the pad. Elder Mitchell decided to see for himself. He came back a few minutes later and got a second can of raid and told me later he killed at least 60! Well, the spiders are gone. But now we have cock roaches. Ha-ha. We kill about 30 everyday.

So, here is what excites me right now. We have 5 baptismal commits! Three of which are guaranteed. The other two are Stephanie and Carlos the Claros kids. They may not be baptized because the family is not coming to church and are playing a lot of games and being very difficult to work with. It made me said cause they were the ones who originally were progressing the best! The other three commits (it was 4 but Judy told us last night that she can't be baptized right now) are Grace, Harold, and Eugene.

Grace is amazing. I have such love for her. We have only had two lessons but from the first time I saw here I felt like I knew her (Kiser said the same thing). She is so familiar. She is so willing to follow the lord! She has gone through fire but has come out humble and not crispy. She does her homework we give her and came to church for all three hours. She tells us how helpful we are (which feels really good) and is already making friends in the ward! :) We plan on meeting with her on Tuesday at sister Beus home (pmg style baby!). Yesterday Grace found out that when you get baptized you go all the way under the water in front of everyone. She seemed shocked and scared but responded, "I am gonna need to get ear plugs then"! It’s so amazing to me when people trust the promises of Christ and do as he asks even when it scares them. This could have been reason for others to just say, "Oh... um, never mind I don't want to be baptized", but not Grace! She just knew it was necessary and said to herself, "OK, what can I do to make the most of it?" The answer was take that day off work and buy some earplugs! :D

Harold! Harold is the man! What 23 year old Colombian-New Yorker in the middle of film Graduate school decides he wants to come to church and be baptized? Harold does! And not for some weird secret agenda! But because he wants to join his family in the celestial kingdom and he knows truth when he hears it; he has been prepared. He has lived a clean life. He instantly accepted the Word of wisdom and the law of chastity and even tithing! During Sacrament he read the pamphlets we gave him on the word of wisdom and the law of chastity. He is so cool and nice and fun! He played with the little girls in the row ahead of him by making funny faces and things. Ha-ha. It was great.

Eugene is more of a Mormon than me! He listens to conference talks in his spare time and studies his scriptures regularly, his favorite movie is the RM and he brought his non member cousin to church yesterday! He is so ready to be baptized. He is super nice and has had so many trials but is so willing to just press forward with faith and let the Lord guide him from now on. I am excited for him.

Wayne Duncan got the priesthood! And he seems to be a long time member by the way he answers questions and interacts with members. He is almost done reading the Book of Mormon already!

Thanks for your prayers. I know I am in the right place at the right time and I am so glad that it is a time where I am being allowed to see the fruits of labor, to see what good can be had. I am thankful that the Lord has seen me a worthy tool to accomplish his work despite my short comings and weaknesses.

Is everyone getting pumped for conference?

-Elder Samuel Austin Morris