OK, OK, OK... bad joke.... but I had to. Both my Christmas' have been with Koreans! Ha-ha.
My new companion is Elder Soo Huyn Jeong. Basically he is the nicest guy you could ever meet (and not cause he has to be, but because he is sincerely nice and wise. He really knows what’s important in life and in the mission). You can tell English is his second language and we sometimes misunderstand each other but its funny how we have better communication that all most all of my white English speaking companions. Ha-ha. I believe I would be content with him the rest of my mission... but the story of my life... he is leaving me. I completely understand why however. I don't know if you recall or not but there was an elder who was going home last May when I got transferred from Plainview because his mom was dying. Elder Khang was going to have to go into the Korean program but then the elder he was replacing decided to stay. Well I am now companions with that elder who stayed. He has been in the English program 2 transfers now (both in Huntington my new area). Well, His sister called him and told him that she doesn't think their Mom (and only parent) will make it longer than a month. The doctors give her 1 to 2 months. Elder Jeong's Mom has Stomach cancer, it has spread all throughout her whole inside. I can tell its really hard for Elder Jeong even though he is not sad because he knows that is what happens on this earth life. He knows she will not have any pain if she passes. He said, "People would think I was weird if they heard me say this but I hope my mom will die on time." This is the case because he is from South Korea and if he goes back to Korea he only has 10 days otherwise his visa will expire and he will not be able to come back and finish his mission like he wants to. He would come home with me to Utah in July if he is able to return to the mission (because this is where his sister lives. Plus he wants to go to Utah for school). Please pray for my companion and his mom. It looks like what will happen is my companion will go to Korea Jan 18th, but he wants to come back and finish his commitment. He deserves only the best in this situation. He has such a good heart.
Huntington is pretty cool. I am in a Branch and there is only about 50 or 60 people. Its English and Spanish combined. The branch leadership is awesome! I'm short on time so I’ll have to talk more about it later.
It snowed yesterday enough for us not to be able to use the cars and for the libraries to close which is why I’m emailing today. All we did yesterday was shovel the snow at our home/landlords driveway. It was huge. I am sore. We have some cool investigators and we've already had multiple spiritual experiences. Also today at Dunkin’ Doughnuts in Plainview (we are here because we had president interviews today) we met a cool guy named Khan. He is Muslim but only practices because it was what his parents raised him to be. He seems very willing to talk to us. It was funny cause he came over to us and just sat there staring at us like he expected us to recognize him. I asked if he knew other missionaries but he had no idea... ha-ha! I guess he was just following promptings and then we had a nice conversation about how truth comes from God and spiritual experiences only come through the spirit and talking with god, not book smarts. We will meet him tomorrow at our second floor of a library church! Ha-ha, because he lives in our area! Miracles happen! Thank you Branch president’s wife for Dunkin’ Doughnuts gift certificates! :)
Love you!
-Elder Samuel Austin Morris
Showing posts with label 2010. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2010. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Suprisa de espanol
The week started with a really fun P-day of Buffalo Wild Wings and nerf wars in the church gym, but then Tuesday was a trunkie day. I took elder Ledbetter to the mission office so he could go home. Well It was a nice last time with him, and I’ll really miss him. It will be hard to see someone who lives in Arkansas after the mission, but hopefully I'll be able to keep in touch over email or Facebook or something when I get home. I learned a lot from elder Ledbetter - I think some of the things he might say he learned from me I would say I learned from him. Ha-ha. He was a great help to me. Anyway...
So because Elder Vogt (Riverhead elder) and Ledbetter (zone leader) went home we were two elders short. So my companion Elder Moyers went to Riverhead (by the Ap's orders) to be with Elder Aldridge and I became Elder Paulson's companion. So this week we worked two pools, the Spanish speaking and the English speaking. I ended up praying in Spanish a few times (I’ve never done that before) I was pretty surprised. It turns out entiendo mas que hablo. I understand better when its in a lesson setting when we are with only one person. At church and the ward activities I didn't understand much at all. Well, of course if i was going to be in the Spanish program I would have to suffer all that comes with that call, namely multiple dinner appointments in a row. I'll tell you I am happy I only threw-up once and it was mostly water and none of the meal.
We had a huge lunch at the senior couples place in Riverhead after CDM and then before I was hungry again we went to a Spanish lady's house named Silvia (Actually friends with Judy) and It was an entire plate full a few inches high plus thick drink and desert (which I couldn't eat cause I was stuffed and asked to take it home). Well, right after that we were on our way to the Dyber’s to meet with Judy and eat with all of them... and sister Dyber called us and told us that it was Lasagna and it was home made. And that she had stayed up until 2 in the morning the night before to make it! and that the other people she had invited couldn't come any more so there was lots extra for us. We pulled over and cried. Well we were able to stall them an hour before eating by teaching Judy first. Even with the extra time we couldn't do it. Between distracting them, and praising them about how good it was and asking to take some home and elder Paulson’s heroic act of a small second helping (a blessing from the lord)... we made it. i took Judy's plate to the kitchen for seconds and that's when it happened. I spewed all over the blinds and the sink! Luckily I had time to clean it up without her knowing because I had asked her to play the piano for us! :) It was a good thing I made some extra room though cause then they gave us Ice cream cake. Paulson and I were blessed with a time constraint and so she obliged to only give us half slices. Wouldn't it be nice if a missionary could choose what and when and how much of something he ate? Well, that will never happen, especially in the Spanish program.
We were able to teach Judy a good lesson. She said an amazing prayer. I was really happy about it because the nature of her prayers have completely transformed. Well she has agreed to be baptized, but a date has not been set yet. Too bad I couldn't witness it... But all will be well.
Elder Paulson and I had a lot of fun and got a long really well. I'm glad we were companions for a week. I could have been with him a lot longer than that.
Well the plan was (i thought and guessed) that once the new transfer started that we'd get the new elders and Moyers and I would be together again for another transfer in Terryville. I was wrong. I was surprised too. Saturday I learned that I am out. So it looks like my track record will stay consistent. I've never been in an area longer than 3 transfers. It sounds like I'll be heading back out to the city because they didn't tell me not to take my bags to Rego for the transfer meeting. Its possible that I still go somewhere in Nassau, but i don't feel it is as likely. Most people have guessed pretty consistently and almost as prophetically as when everyone was telling me I'd go out to the Island. I let you know what ends up happening. Here is the saddest part about leaving though: the timing. 4 days before Christmas I get transferred! So unless I go to an old area, I’ll be at a strangers house for Christmas. To make things more complicated and scary is the whole Linda Lang situation.
I went and visited Linda and Lenny and Mary last night..... All they could talk about was how excited they were for Christmas eve and how she had hired caterers and how it was going to be a big seafood dinner and there is going to be a ton of food. She is expecting so much food she wants me to try to persuade elders to come to her house and forsake whatever plans they may have. Well its not much of a sacrifice because Lind, Lenny, and Mary are 3 of the coolest people on the planet and the food is going to be delicious.... but I WONT BE HERE. I didn't have it in my heart to tell her. I couldn't do it. She really might have died on the spot if I did. I couldn't even get a picture cause when I asked for one she just said, "oh just take it Christmas Eve!" :S
Well, I've got plans in the making to somehow pull off a Christmas miracle and show up at her house at 5 Christmas eve with 6 elders. Hopefully President will allow the plans and hopefully whoever my new companion is will be cool enough to accept and do it instead of what will already be planned. :S major dilemma. If I am in Brooklyn or Staten there will really be no way. Queens will push it but not as far. Pray for me, and pray for Linda.
It’s odd, last week I felt as if my mission here was not complete and I owed the lord and president and myself and elder Moyers another 6 weeks here in Terryville... But things just never seem to work out the way we think they will. I wasn't really able to say goodbye to everyone either because we left early from church so we could attend the Spanish branch (for Paulson’s pool).
Besides the complication of the Linda Lang thing and my feelings of wanting to have taught more with Moyers, I feel ready for a change. I know wherever the lord has me go is where I am supposed to be. This Is the lords work, I am privileged to be apart of it although I am just little ol' Sammy.
--
-Elder Samuel Austin Morris
So because Elder Vogt (Riverhead elder) and Ledbetter (zone leader) went home we were two elders short. So my companion Elder Moyers went to Riverhead (by the Ap's orders) to be with Elder Aldridge and I became Elder Paulson's companion. So this week we worked two pools, the Spanish speaking and the English speaking. I ended up praying in Spanish a few times (I’ve never done that before) I was pretty surprised. It turns out entiendo mas que hablo. I understand better when its in a lesson setting when we are with only one person. At church and the ward activities I didn't understand much at all. Well, of course if i was going to be in the Spanish program I would have to suffer all that comes with that call, namely multiple dinner appointments in a row. I'll tell you I am happy I only threw-up once and it was mostly water and none of the meal.
We had a huge lunch at the senior couples place in Riverhead after CDM and then before I was hungry again we went to a Spanish lady's house named Silvia (Actually friends with Judy) and It was an entire plate full a few inches high plus thick drink and desert (which I couldn't eat cause I was stuffed and asked to take it home). Well, right after that we were on our way to the Dyber’s to meet with Judy and eat with all of them... and sister Dyber called us and told us that it was Lasagna and it was home made. And that she had stayed up until 2 in the morning the night before to make it! and that the other people she had invited couldn't come any more so there was lots extra for us. We pulled over and cried. Well we were able to stall them an hour before eating by teaching Judy first. Even with the extra time we couldn't do it. Between distracting them, and praising them about how good it was and asking to take some home and elder Paulson’s heroic act of a small second helping (a blessing from the lord)... we made it. i took Judy's plate to the kitchen for seconds and that's when it happened. I spewed all over the blinds and the sink! Luckily I had time to clean it up without her knowing because I had asked her to play the piano for us! :) It was a good thing I made some extra room though cause then they gave us Ice cream cake. Paulson and I were blessed with a time constraint and so she obliged to only give us half slices. Wouldn't it be nice if a missionary could choose what and when and how much of something he ate? Well, that will never happen, especially in the Spanish program.
We were able to teach Judy a good lesson. She said an amazing prayer. I was really happy about it because the nature of her prayers have completely transformed. Well she has agreed to be baptized, but a date has not been set yet. Too bad I couldn't witness it... But all will be well.
Elder Paulson and I had a lot of fun and got a long really well. I'm glad we were companions for a week. I could have been with him a lot longer than that.
Well the plan was (i thought and guessed) that once the new transfer started that we'd get the new elders and Moyers and I would be together again for another transfer in Terryville. I was wrong. I was surprised too. Saturday I learned that I am out. So it looks like my track record will stay consistent. I've never been in an area longer than 3 transfers. It sounds like I'll be heading back out to the city because they didn't tell me not to take my bags to Rego for the transfer meeting. Its possible that I still go somewhere in Nassau, but i don't feel it is as likely. Most people have guessed pretty consistently and almost as prophetically as when everyone was telling me I'd go out to the Island. I let you know what ends up happening. Here is the saddest part about leaving though: the timing. 4 days before Christmas I get transferred! So unless I go to an old area, I’ll be at a strangers house for Christmas. To make things more complicated and scary is the whole Linda Lang situation.
I went and visited Linda and Lenny and Mary last night..... All they could talk about was how excited they were for Christmas eve and how she had hired caterers and how it was going to be a big seafood dinner and there is going to be a ton of food. She is expecting so much food she wants me to try to persuade elders to come to her house and forsake whatever plans they may have. Well its not much of a sacrifice because Lind, Lenny, and Mary are 3 of the coolest people on the planet and the food is going to be delicious.... but I WONT BE HERE. I didn't have it in my heart to tell her. I couldn't do it. She really might have died on the spot if I did. I couldn't even get a picture cause when I asked for one she just said, "oh just take it Christmas Eve!" :S
Well, I've got plans in the making to somehow pull off a Christmas miracle and show up at her house at 5 Christmas eve with 6 elders. Hopefully President will allow the plans and hopefully whoever my new companion is will be cool enough to accept and do it instead of what will already be planned. :S major dilemma. If I am in Brooklyn or Staten there will really be no way. Queens will push it but not as far. Pray for me, and pray for Linda.
It’s odd, last week I felt as if my mission here was not complete and I owed the lord and president and myself and elder Moyers another 6 weeks here in Terryville... But things just never seem to work out the way we think they will. I wasn't really able to say goodbye to everyone either because we left early from church so we could attend the Spanish branch (for Paulson’s pool).
Besides the complication of the Linda Lang thing and my feelings of wanting to have taught more with Moyers, I feel ready for a change. I know wherever the lord has me go is where I am supposed to be. This Is the lords work, I am privileged to be apart of it although I am just little ol' Sammy.
--
-Elder Samuel Austin Morris
Sunday, December 5, 2010
50 Gallons of Nature
We raked a lot of leaves. I really packed my garbage bags. The bags were very heavy. I am the King of leaf stomping. You should pay me tribute. If you don't I'll pay you leafs. You’ll have to rake. You will not be happy. I will be so vindicated. Let’s talk about other things now.
Last night a miracle happened. My companion said, "Goodnight". I was so happy. I felt like a girl who's had a seven year crush on a guy who hates her and one day she’s at school and the guy walks up and takes her in his arms all gentle and says, "I love you". I basically was completely shocked. I informed him that that was the first time he had ever told me goodnight. He admitted that was pretty sad. We actually said a few words to each other after that too. Well, basically I felt like this big relief I didn't expect to ever feel from a mere "goodnight". Any way today it has been easier for me to get along with him and I have felt a lot less tension. So basically the moral to the story is never take a drink on the house.
Also yesterday we did some trackting on a street that had a former on it. Well, we found the cousin to the former and the neighbor across the street that seemed like good potentials. So that was cool (in both denotations).
This week was a low number week, but we were able to help out and see a lot of members. We had Thanksgiving and McDonald's. Ha-ha Jk. We had Thanksgiving at The MacDonald's and whenever we told someone where we were going for Thanksgiving they got confused and thought we were actually telling them that we were going to McDonalds! Ha-ha. I think we actually almost offended someone when we told them we couldn't go to their house for Thanksgiving cause we were going to the MacDonald's. lol. Well, it was basically an amazingly wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, I couldn't have asked for a better one. It was as if I was at home almost. The McDonalds are so awesome and nice and such good cooks. I love them. They are one of my favorite families I have met on my mission. We also ate at Dennys for breakfast with Judy cause she didn't have anything going on for Thanksgiving. It was awkward saying goodbye but the actual meal and talking was pretty good. Denny's is only like $2-6 did you know that? Pretty good.
Last week was the most amazing primary program I’ve ever seen. No exaggeration. It was the best. Well, guess what, it was so good that the father of a part member family came this week as well! The wife called us and told us that she thinks we will be able to come over soon. I call it a Thanksgiving/primary program miracle.
That’s the gist of the week. Some good news however; Grace called to get an appointment with the bishop and is looking like she is going to try harder to get to church. Harold came to church; he told me he's been very busy. But he told me that he plans on encouraging his mom to get baptized while he is in Colombia (starting next week until January) and that he will be attending church while in Colombia! Cool right! :) That helped me see better that he truly is a solid as I thought he was, he just has a lot going on.
I love truth. It makes more since than the alternative. I'm glad I can be a messenger of truth although I'm a little weakling. Ha-ha. I can be strong as I put my trust where it should be put.
Love,
-Elder Samuel Austin Morris
Last night a miracle happened. My companion said, "Goodnight". I was so happy. I felt like a girl who's had a seven year crush on a guy who hates her and one day she’s at school and the guy walks up and takes her in his arms all gentle and says, "I love you". I basically was completely shocked. I informed him that that was the first time he had ever told me goodnight. He admitted that was pretty sad. We actually said a few words to each other after that too. Well, basically I felt like this big relief I didn't expect to ever feel from a mere "goodnight". Any way today it has been easier for me to get along with him and I have felt a lot less tension. So basically the moral to the story is never take a drink on the house.
Also yesterday we did some trackting on a street that had a former on it. Well, we found the cousin to the former and the neighbor across the street that seemed like good potentials. So that was cool (in both denotations).
This week was a low number week, but we were able to help out and see a lot of members. We had Thanksgiving and McDonald's. Ha-ha Jk. We had Thanksgiving at The MacDonald's and whenever we told someone where we were going for Thanksgiving they got confused and thought we were actually telling them that we were going to McDonalds! Ha-ha. I think we actually almost offended someone when we told them we couldn't go to their house for Thanksgiving cause we were going to the MacDonald's. lol. Well, it was basically an amazingly wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, I couldn't have asked for a better one. It was as if I was at home almost. The McDonalds are so awesome and nice and such good cooks. I love them. They are one of my favorite families I have met on my mission. We also ate at Dennys for breakfast with Judy cause she didn't have anything going on for Thanksgiving. It was awkward saying goodbye but the actual meal and talking was pretty good. Denny's is only like $2-6 did you know that? Pretty good.
Last week was the most amazing primary program I’ve ever seen. No exaggeration. It was the best. Well, guess what, it was so good that the father of a part member family came this week as well! The wife called us and told us that she thinks we will be able to come over soon. I call it a Thanksgiving/primary program miracle.
That’s the gist of the week. Some good news however; Grace called to get an appointment with the bishop and is looking like she is going to try harder to get to church. Harold came to church; he told me he's been very busy. But he told me that he plans on encouraging his mom to get baptized while he is in Colombia (starting next week until January) and that he will be attending church while in Colombia! Cool right! :) That helped me see better that he truly is a solid as I thought he was, he just has a lot going on.
I love truth. It makes more since than the alternative. I'm glad I can be a messenger of truth although I'm a little weakling. Ha-ha. I can be strong as I put my trust where it should be put.
Love,
-Elder Samuel Austin Morris
Monday, November 22, 2010
Life goes on with or without us
Hey friends and family. Just so you know this week I didn't struggle so badly. Elder Moyers and I are beginning to become more united and get to know each other better. We talk more now than we did before. We teach pretty well together I would say, which surprises me because of our situation but I know it is because we are following the spirit. I have thought of something I needed to say to someone and then he said it. Often while I am teaching Moyers will nod his head like, "yeah! That’s what I was thinking!"
I have learned a lot from Elder Moyers already and I hope he can say the same thing. Hopefully I have more impact on him in a positive way then in a negative way. I could imagine why he would think I am crazy or not the perfect example of a missionary.
Well its funny to me that this week we taught the average amount of lessons I taught a week with Elder Kiser... I feel like with Moyers we struggle to know how to schedule our day. With Elder Kiser it was difficult some days to plan our next day, but not as bad. I've been disappointed lately because we have gotten home late and then had extremely long planning sessions! Basically I get no wind down time cause once we are finished planning I've got 5 min to get to bed, ugh. We have made it a goal to do better about keeping our planning concise. I think it will be a lot easier when we finish the project we are working on of making a book of maps with all our members and contacts on it for each area. That way all we have to do is say "Where do we want to work tomorrow?" and then one of us will say, "Nesconset!" and the other will say "OK, sounds good. Here is a list of people... lets schedule them in for before lunch!" etc. :)
Well we started a new thing. We are going to be attending the ward members Family Home Evenings. We will either participate in the lesson or share a lesson with the family and maybe a game or something. This way we are getting more time with the members so we can build trust with them. We will also help them to take the next step in their family’s missionary work. This doesn't mean asking for referrals, that's like opening up the goose to try to get the golden eggs inside only to find there are none and you have killed the goose! If the members trust us then they will introduce their friends and family to us. What we will help them do is teach them ways they can be good neighbors (by helping them rake their neighbor’s leaves with them) or helping them think of ways they could invite their friends to activities or family bbq's, or how to share a testimony with a colleague. Or how to help the kids prepare for missions etc. Its not about numbers, its about love. Our examples as members and our friendships (not dependent on whether or not our friends join the church) can mean more than anything. When our friends and family know we love them and just want to help and will still love them even if they don't accept our message they will probably be more willing to listen the next time they get some missionaries knocking on the door. Ha-ha.
We had an amazing miracle night last Monday with Judy. We ate dinner at the Dyber’s and Sister McGibney was there as well and Judy came too. Well the spirit was super strong and everyone was testifying and Judy ended up getting a blessing and we sang a hymn and the words "I feel terrific" came from her mouth. Wow. I've never heard her say anything of that manner. The best think I've ever heard is "I'm OK" and usually It’s "Terrible, just terrible". Well I was convenced she was going to accept a baptismal date with the way she skipped to the car afterward. She has an amazing support system at church that extends beyond church friend status. She comes to church every week anyway... so it just seemed like this week she would tell us she wants to be baptized. Well she didn't. But Its still a miracle that she is happier and lighter. Baby steps are good when they are made in the right direction. Also, last Monday Grace called me. It was so nice to hear her voice. We talked and I was relieved to find out she still has a testimony and knows what she needs to do to be happy. She knows she needs to keep reading the scriptures and find a way to church. So this week I tried to get many members involved to try to contact her. She has been hard to contact especially cause she works in Riverhead and doesn't want people to stop by the house cause her sister-in-law that she lives with doesn't know she is a member and doesn't think she would respond to well to the fact.
Most of the work has been look ups of less active members and tracting, but we were able to contact a media referral this week! Woot! She is an amazing Jamaican lady who was referred to us by the LA temple visitor’s center. Her name is Parlin Johns and she is an international new born Nanny! Ha-ha. She goes all over the world for months at a time to take care of new borns. She gets literally piles of requests sent to her. She was awesome and so accepting of the message. Unfortunately she didn't make it to church but she was very sincere about reading the book of Mormon and knew what she had to do to find out if it was true. She told us she would keep us updated and wants to really know because she really wants to go to the temple. :) She couldn't make any appointments with us because she never knows when she has to leave the state, but told us to come by anytime she was home. So that was pretty cool. :D
The fall colors are starting to be scarce. Many of the trees are bare now. There were so many pretty colors, there are still a few trees that are vivid, but mostly brown now or fallen. We helped rake Sister Mcgibney’s lawn and it took a few hours with 6 of us plus her. We bagged over 100 bags and put them on the street! Ha-ha. There are still more leaves to fall, but thankfully for her not much more. We made a huge pile and jumped in it. Ha-ha. I filmed it so you all can see it later. Also pictures by the bags piled; I've never seen so many. And we packed them tight too, especially me! I sat on mine and/or got inside and stomped around while more went in. Ha-ha. It was fun. :)
Well, Imma hop now.
Love,
-Elder Samuel Austin Morris
I have learned a lot from Elder Moyers already and I hope he can say the same thing. Hopefully I have more impact on him in a positive way then in a negative way. I could imagine why he would think I am crazy or not the perfect example of a missionary.
Well its funny to me that this week we taught the average amount of lessons I taught a week with Elder Kiser... I feel like with Moyers we struggle to know how to schedule our day. With Elder Kiser it was difficult some days to plan our next day, but not as bad. I've been disappointed lately because we have gotten home late and then had extremely long planning sessions! Basically I get no wind down time cause once we are finished planning I've got 5 min to get to bed, ugh. We have made it a goal to do better about keeping our planning concise. I think it will be a lot easier when we finish the project we are working on of making a book of maps with all our members and contacts on it for each area. That way all we have to do is say "Where do we want to work tomorrow?" and then one of us will say, "Nesconset!" and the other will say "OK, sounds good. Here is a list of people... lets schedule them in for before lunch!" etc. :)
Well we started a new thing. We are going to be attending the ward members Family Home Evenings. We will either participate in the lesson or share a lesson with the family and maybe a game or something. This way we are getting more time with the members so we can build trust with them. We will also help them to take the next step in their family’s missionary work. This doesn't mean asking for referrals, that's like opening up the goose to try to get the golden eggs inside only to find there are none and you have killed the goose! If the members trust us then they will introduce their friends and family to us. What we will help them do is teach them ways they can be good neighbors (by helping them rake their neighbor’s leaves with them) or helping them think of ways they could invite their friends to activities or family bbq's, or how to share a testimony with a colleague. Or how to help the kids prepare for missions etc. Its not about numbers, its about love. Our examples as members and our friendships (not dependent on whether or not our friends join the church) can mean more than anything. When our friends and family know we love them and just want to help and will still love them even if they don't accept our message they will probably be more willing to listen the next time they get some missionaries knocking on the door. Ha-ha.
We had an amazing miracle night last Monday with Judy. We ate dinner at the Dyber’s and Sister McGibney was there as well and Judy came too. Well the spirit was super strong and everyone was testifying and Judy ended up getting a blessing and we sang a hymn and the words "I feel terrific" came from her mouth. Wow. I've never heard her say anything of that manner. The best think I've ever heard is "I'm OK" and usually It’s "Terrible, just terrible". Well I was convenced she was going to accept a baptismal date with the way she skipped to the car afterward. She has an amazing support system at church that extends beyond church friend status. She comes to church every week anyway... so it just seemed like this week she would tell us she wants to be baptized. Well she didn't. But Its still a miracle that she is happier and lighter. Baby steps are good when they are made in the right direction. Also, last Monday Grace called me. It was so nice to hear her voice. We talked and I was relieved to find out she still has a testimony and knows what she needs to do to be happy. She knows she needs to keep reading the scriptures and find a way to church. So this week I tried to get many members involved to try to contact her. She has been hard to contact especially cause she works in Riverhead and doesn't want people to stop by the house cause her sister-in-law that she lives with doesn't know she is a member and doesn't think she would respond to well to the fact.
Most of the work has been look ups of less active members and tracting, but we were able to contact a media referral this week! Woot! She is an amazing Jamaican lady who was referred to us by the LA temple visitor’s center. Her name is Parlin Johns and she is an international new born Nanny! Ha-ha. She goes all over the world for months at a time to take care of new borns. She gets literally piles of requests sent to her. She was awesome and so accepting of the message. Unfortunately she didn't make it to church but she was very sincere about reading the book of Mormon and knew what she had to do to find out if it was true. She told us she would keep us updated and wants to really know because she really wants to go to the temple. :) She couldn't make any appointments with us because she never knows when she has to leave the state, but told us to come by anytime she was home. So that was pretty cool. :D
The fall colors are starting to be scarce. Many of the trees are bare now. There were so many pretty colors, there are still a few trees that are vivid, but mostly brown now or fallen. We helped rake Sister Mcgibney’s lawn and it took a few hours with 6 of us plus her. We bagged over 100 bags and put them on the street! Ha-ha. There are still more leaves to fall, but thankfully for her not much more. We made a huge pile and jumped in it. Ha-ha. I filmed it so you all can see it later. Also pictures by the bags piled; I've never seen so many. And we packed them tight too, especially me! I sat on mine and/or got inside and stomped around while more went in. Ha-ha. It was fun. :)
Well, Imma hop now.
Love,
-Elder Samuel Austin Morris
I Miss the “Mis-mis”
Well, it was a rough week. The first two days i missed Elder Kiser a lot. I felt like my best friend had just died or something. I really struggled to keep us busy. It was tough. I realized that for the first time on my mission I was completely in charge, and not for just one day siked but the next 6 weeks minimum. I was really worried that Elder Moyers would think I was just a big slacker missionary. Then to top everything off not only do we have very little to do but I was going off of memory for directions and since I was in the hot seat and my old comp with a map for a brain was gone I myself out and sent us on some big unnecessary detours a few times. We were late a few times too and on splits only one member showed up and he didn't have anyone he wanted to look up or any home teaching to do so I had to improvise. It all turned out ok... and I am comfortable now as far as not being so stressed or feeling so pressured. Our numbers were the lowest I've had in a long while. :S
I thought it was interesting that Todd in his mission just had the same thing happen to him as what happened to me. That is our companion left to go to the office and we both got a greenie in his place. Man... I never understood what the old missionaries were talking about when I was younger in the mission. I felt like I wasn't any different than anyone else, and I really defended greenies when old missionaries would talk about their frustrations. I understand now. Not only is Moyers super green but he spent the last part of his mission in the Korean program. In the Korean program they are kind of Isolated from the rest of the mission. They kind of have their own culture and everything. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with elder Moyers. He is really easy to get along with and he and I seem to teach pretty well together. He has a really funny innocent grin he puts on ha-ha. It’s really funny. Also I'll get lost in thoughts sometimes and he thinks I’m ignoring him or am angry or something and tries breaking the science but doesn't know how. Ha-ha. Sometimes it’s really funny to just watch him when its obvious that there is something he wants to tell me or ask me but instead he just walks around or attempts to talk multiple times but then doesn't say anything. :) Ha-ha. I kind of feel bad for him. Ha-ha. He asks me the silliest questions sometimes like about how to do something or if he can do something that no one cares about (probably because he doesn't want to offend anyone by his actions... but he forgets he is in a pad with Mitchell, Ledbetter, Judd, me, and Paulson. There are probably few other pads that are so laid back). He often won’t do something until I do it or give him permission to do it with the exception of the car heater.... ha-ha. He’ll adjust the temperature really fast and make some little noise that sounds like a mix of awkward and uncomfortable then check up with me to see if I'll say anything.
Anyway, ha-ha-- hopefully he'll learn to relax, I think he is in this pad to learn that he can really do a lot of good and still be obedient and he doesn't have to focus on each rule but on the objective and his purpose as a missionary.
He is sitting right next to me and he keeps looking at my screen to see what I am doing as if he is nervous that i am going to go on to a porn sight or something. Well, moving on.
We had an amazing Zone Conference on Friday. I really felt the spirit. And Thursday we came up with some really good plans for this week. I hope we can be more successful this week.
I'm really sad about our recent converts. Particularly Wayne cause he is being a punk lately about coming to church. Grace really wants to come to church and told me in a text last night that she is "proud to be Mormon" but her boss won’t let her have the schedule she was having last month with work. I wish I could give her a bunch of money or find her a new job so she could get to church on Sunday. Harold was coming but he didn't come yesterday. I was thinking maybe he was going to start becoming less frail in terms of his activity since he had a long interview with bishop and was sustained to receive the priesthood. Last time I called him he was all weird on the phone and I think he misunderstood what I was trying to say. i just wanted to check up on him and see if he was going to come to the new member classes but I think he thought I was harping him. I felt bad cause I really, really like Harold and I want to be his friend and keep in contact with him after the mission... but i think he liked elder Kiser better cause Kiser knew more about movies and stuff, anyway....
Fortunately Eugene is strong as ever. He always makes it to church even with his busy schedule. I love I; he is so cool.
Well besides having a nice meeting with President Croft, this week was mostly introducing Moyers to the English program and this area, Zone conference and a disappointing day at church. No one came. Judy came... but no one else, none of our potentials and none of our other investigators. I was really looking forward to seeing Cornell again and hopefully setting up an appointment with him but..... he didn't come and when I called him he told me basically he wanted to do the whole reading the book of Mormon thing and learning about the Gospel on his own. I was so surprised. I've never met someone who was so interested and loved a testimony meeting and believed the Joseph Smith story but didn't want to meet with us to learn more and faster. I guess he's just a really independent person. :S Well I’ve got to go now.
Love,
--
-Elder Samuel Austin Morris
I thought it was interesting that Todd in his mission just had the same thing happen to him as what happened to me. That is our companion left to go to the office and we both got a greenie in his place. Man... I never understood what the old missionaries were talking about when I was younger in the mission. I felt like I wasn't any different than anyone else, and I really defended greenies when old missionaries would talk about their frustrations. I understand now. Not only is Moyers super green but he spent the last part of his mission in the Korean program. In the Korean program they are kind of Isolated from the rest of the mission. They kind of have their own culture and everything. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with elder Moyers. He is really easy to get along with and he and I seem to teach pretty well together. He has a really funny innocent grin he puts on ha-ha. It’s really funny. Also I'll get lost in thoughts sometimes and he thinks I’m ignoring him or am angry or something and tries breaking the science but doesn't know how. Ha-ha. Sometimes it’s really funny to just watch him when its obvious that there is something he wants to tell me or ask me but instead he just walks around or attempts to talk multiple times but then doesn't say anything. :) Ha-ha. I kind of feel bad for him. Ha-ha. He asks me the silliest questions sometimes like about how to do something or if he can do something that no one cares about (probably because he doesn't want to offend anyone by his actions... but he forgets he is in a pad with Mitchell, Ledbetter, Judd, me, and Paulson. There are probably few other pads that are so laid back). He often won’t do something until I do it or give him permission to do it with the exception of the car heater.... ha-ha. He’ll adjust the temperature really fast and make some little noise that sounds like a mix of awkward and uncomfortable then check up with me to see if I'll say anything.
Anyway, ha-ha-- hopefully he'll learn to relax, I think he is in this pad to learn that he can really do a lot of good and still be obedient and he doesn't have to focus on each rule but on the objective and his purpose as a missionary.
He is sitting right next to me and he keeps looking at my screen to see what I am doing as if he is nervous that i am going to go on to a porn sight or something. Well, moving on.
We had an amazing Zone Conference on Friday. I really felt the spirit. And Thursday we came up with some really good plans for this week. I hope we can be more successful this week.
I'm really sad about our recent converts. Particularly Wayne cause he is being a punk lately about coming to church. Grace really wants to come to church and told me in a text last night that she is "proud to be Mormon" but her boss won’t let her have the schedule she was having last month with work. I wish I could give her a bunch of money or find her a new job so she could get to church on Sunday. Harold was coming but he didn't come yesterday. I was thinking maybe he was going to start becoming less frail in terms of his activity since he had a long interview with bishop and was sustained to receive the priesthood. Last time I called him he was all weird on the phone and I think he misunderstood what I was trying to say. i just wanted to check up on him and see if he was going to come to the new member classes but I think he thought I was harping him. I felt bad cause I really, really like Harold and I want to be his friend and keep in contact with him after the mission... but i think he liked elder Kiser better cause Kiser knew more about movies and stuff, anyway....
Fortunately Eugene is strong as ever. He always makes it to church even with his busy schedule. I love I; he is so cool.
Well besides having a nice meeting with President Croft, this week was mostly introducing Moyers to the English program and this area, Zone conference and a disappointing day at church. No one came. Judy came... but no one else, none of our potentials and none of our other investigators. I was really looking forward to seeing Cornell again and hopefully setting up an appointment with him but..... he didn't come and when I called him he told me basically he wanted to do the whole reading the book of Mormon thing and learning about the Gospel on his own. I was so surprised. I've never met someone who was so interested and loved a testimony meeting and believed the Joseph Smith story but didn't want to meet with us to learn more and faster. I guess he's just a really independent person. :S Well I’ve got to go now.
Love,
--
-Elder Samuel Austin Morris
Shalom
It turns out we taught the exact same number of lessons this transfer as last transfer. This surprised me. It surprised me because I didn't feel as successful as I felt last transfer. The only real difference in numbers was the 4 baptisms compared to the 0 this transfer. I know what you have already said to yourself, "but Sam, don't you know that baptisms are not the measure of your success as a missionary?" Yes of course I know that. I'm just pointing out that the effort we put in or the amount of lessons we teach is directly proportional to the amount of baptisms. I think they tried to tell me something like that in the MTC... but anyway. I was surprised, like I said, that Elder Kiser and I ended up with the exact same number of lessons as last transfer. I think the focus of this last transfer was strengthening the recent converts. Finding came next. The funny thing about finding is that (at least in my mission) those that are found aren't really found they are given. We do finding activities all day long and don't find anyone but then we get a media referral or someone approaches us and that person is the one that progresses. So it was this transfer; a lot of work with no new investigators to show for it. That being said, I see a lot of potential for next transfer. Our pool is actually being built up. There is work to be done; now it’s up to me and my new companion to be diligent.
That's right, new companion. It’s hard to think of being in Terryville without elder Kiser... but that’s what is going to be happening starting transfer meeting tomorrow. Thursday night we got a text from the Zone leaders telling us Elder Kiser had an interview with president on Friday. A Friday interview before transfers in this mission means you are becoming a District leader, Zone leader, or training. Well I knew it wasn't DL or ZL, because Kiser has only had one area and is still young in the mission (transfer wise). Well that only left training. I was surprised because I was having the feeling that I would be training this transfer. However I was not asked to be interviewed. Well Friday during the interview, the door opens and president comes out and invites me to come into the room where the interview was happening... I walk in and it is made known to me that "the touch of Morris has been made known again" (or something like that). "Elder Kiser will be serving in the office for the next two transfers". Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha. Wow, so I’ve had 5 companions now who have served in the office. Well, Kiser left the room and president interviewed me. Not expected by me. He told me that I would be with Elder Moyers (an elder I picked up from the airport when I was an office elder). Elder Moyers has been in the mission for 12 weeks now and for the last 12 weeks he has been serving in the Korean program. Ha-ha. So in a way you could say this is my 3rd Korean companion. Well, he's actually a white kid (I know--disappointing. Ha-ha) but from what I remember when I picked him up, he is really nice, so hopefully we get along well. So there you have it, I am a trainer in a way because I'm training him to be an English elder now. President wants him to be in the English program now because we have one too many English elders and I suppose he wanted to keep the native Koreans in the program because Koreans are a little racist (at least the ones I've met! Ha=ha Jk, but seriously). I don't think Elder Moyers knows yet that I will be his new comp but I know. President told me essentially that he wants me to work hard and have a lot of fun with him and teach a lot of lessons (Moyers hasn't taught a lot on his mission so far). I guess president sees me as a guy who can work hard and have a lot of fun if that is my assignment. So that's a major complement I feel.
So that's the biggest news. Here are some interesting facts though:
I will be in Terryville for 3 transfers now. The only other place I have done that is Richmond Hill. I've never stayed in an area longer than that. Usually I am 2 then leave. I potentially could be here a long time. I would say the absolute longest would be until march and the shortest would be after this next 6 weeks (which would mean I would be in a new area for Christmas... that's no fun cause then you are at a strangers for Christmas. I think I'd rather be here two more transfers then leave).
I've never had a companion longer than 12 weeks.
As of next transfer I will have lived with Elder Ledbetter longer than any Elder. He dies this next transfer. I will really, really miss him. Kiser is lucky he gets to take him to the airport... But on second thought, that would be really hard for me, so I’m glad I’m not doing it. I will miss Ledbetter.
Cool story. We got a bunch of media referrals. We called one up, Cornel-- Long story short, he’s 6'3'' blond haired and blue eyed and looking for truth. He came to church before we even met him and LOVED fast and testimony meeting. He told me he believes in the "Joseph Smith Story"! So I’m way pumped to teach him, he seems way chill! I'll keep ye all posted.
-Elder Samuel Austin Morris
That's right, new companion. It’s hard to think of being in Terryville without elder Kiser... but that’s what is going to be happening starting transfer meeting tomorrow. Thursday night we got a text from the Zone leaders telling us Elder Kiser had an interview with president on Friday. A Friday interview before transfers in this mission means you are becoming a District leader, Zone leader, or training. Well I knew it wasn't DL or ZL, because Kiser has only had one area and is still young in the mission (transfer wise). Well that only left training. I was surprised because I was having the feeling that I would be training this transfer. However I was not asked to be interviewed. Well Friday during the interview, the door opens and president comes out and invites me to come into the room where the interview was happening... I walk in and it is made known to me that "the touch of Morris has been made known again" (or something like that). "Elder Kiser will be serving in the office for the next two transfers". Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha. Wow, so I’ve had 5 companions now who have served in the office. Well, Kiser left the room and president interviewed me. Not expected by me. He told me that I would be with Elder Moyers (an elder I picked up from the airport when I was an office elder). Elder Moyers has been in the mission for 12 weeks now and for the last 12 weeks he has been serving in the Korean program. Ha-ha. So in a way you could say this is my 3rd Korean companion. Well, he's actually a white kid (I know--disappointing. Ha-ha) but from what I remember when I picked him up, he is really nice, so hopefully we get along well. So there you have it, I am a trainer in a way because I'm training him to be an English elder now. President wants him to be in the English program now because we have one too many English elders and I suppose he wanted to keep the native Koreans in the program because Koreans are a little racist (at least the ones I've met! Ha=ha Jk, but seriously). I don't think Elder Moyers knows yet that I will be his new comp but I know. President told me essentially that he wants me to work hard and have a lot of fun with him and teach a lot of lessons (Moyers hasn't taught a lot on his mission so far). I guess president sees me as a guy who can work hard and have a lot of fun if that is my assignment. So that's a major complement I feel.
So that's the biggest news. Here are some interesting facts though:
I will be in Terryville for 3 transfers now. The only other place I have done that is Richmond Hill. I've never stayed in an area longer than that. Usually I am 2 then leave. I potentially could be here a long time. I would say the absolute longest would be until march and the shortest would be after this next 6 weeks (which would mean I would be in a new area for Christmas... that's no fun cause then you are at a strangers for Christmas. I think I'd rather be here two more transfers then leave).
I've never had a companion longer than 12 weeks.
As of next transfer I will have lived with Elder Ledbetter longer than any Elder. He dies this next transfer. I will really, really miss him. Kiser is lucky he gets to take him to the airport... But on second thought, that would be really hard for me, so I’m glad I’m not doing it. I will miss Ledbetter.
Cool story. We got a bunch of media referrals. We called one up, Cornel-- Long story short, he’s 6'3'' blond haired and blue eyed and looking for truth. He came to church before we even met him and LOVED fast and testimony meeting. He told me he believes in the "Joseph Smith Story"! So I’m way pumped to teach him, he seems way chill! I'll keep ye all posted.
-Elder Samuel Austin Morris
Happy Halloween
All right, so, this past week we had a lot of opportunity to do service. It was nice because we were able to gain more trust from the members and ward auxiliary leaders. We had a few switch ups that were different but not all bad. The one bad one was that our ward mission leader is out of town because of a family emergency concerning a grandchild. We pray for him. The rest however were good because we were able to work more closely with the leaders. We met with the Elder’s quorum president and he fed us amazing steaks and broccoli with cheese and apple cider. Then he showed us pictures and videos from his trip to Jerusalem and Israel and Egypt, way cool! ha-ha. Looked like lots of fun. He told us Petra is way cooler than the pyramids, (but both are cool). Then we talked about people in the ward and investigators and service projects and less actives. Basically we have a list of things to do that will be great things to do. Plus we are working better with the elders. Also we will be meeting with him every Saturday from now on and he will be feeding us! Score, his food was delicious and I was totally satisfecho. I hate feeling totally stuffed and uncomfortable and embarrassed that I can't finish the food, and offending people that I didn't eat enough. I'm a small guy! I'm done with that game!
We also tracted this week and were able to find some good service opportunities as well as potential investigators. We talked to one man (the last house we knocked on) for a half an hour. His name was rick and he is a long time practicing Catholic. We gave him a book of Mormon at the climax of our surprisingly intellectual and spiritual discussion, at which point he expressed a sincerity to actually read and pray about it. He told us that history is written by the victors and there are billions of Catholics so he wouldn't be surprised if there are other things out there.
I had a burger Saturday at Frank n' Burger! ha-ha. It's a Halloween themed burger place open all year round! What a gamble right!? Well he has been open a whole year now and has amazing customer service for New York, not to mention his burger was really good! It was Huge, i couldn't finish it. The bun was amazing! Big all encompassing bun! Hardly any drip-age or slippage of the innards of my burger. It all looked good (all the choices) but there was one (that I'm sure was tasty) that I just couldn't go for-- A zombie dog--it was a deep fried wiener with honey and whipped cream on it. All I could imagine when I saw it was eating some part of a zombie...... well you don't want to hear about that do you.
Halloween was an odd Sunday. We helped a man named Bob Lugo out. He is taking care of his dad while his mom is in the hospital and he himself really should be taken care of. His wife is out of town and he has an amputated foot from diabetes. He is a wonderful guy with a strong testimony. Well it’s tough for him to stand up and sit down repeatedly and walk around. Since its Halloween and not Utah there were trick-or-teat-ers. So we handed out candy, answered the phone, and attended to Grandpa Lugo while Bob took a break and did some things he needed to do. I was quite surprised how many kids didn't even dress up! Most did, but a surprising amount did not. The More surprising thing was that the kids had to be coaxed to say "trick or treat!" Can you believe that! We had to ask "What’s the magic words?" or something to that effect nearly every time! Ha-ha. Well we went home and spent the rest of the afternoon and night inside (mission rule not be out after 5 on Halloween). I felt bad we could stay and help bob out longer and so did he. But he was thankful for the time we were able to give him.
Love you peeps, chow.
We also tracted this week and were able to find some good service opportunities as well as potential investigators. We talked to one man (the last house we knocked on) for a half an hour. His name was rick and he is a long time practicing Catholic. We gave him a book of Mormon at the climax of our surprisingly intellectual and spiritual discussion, at which point he expressed a sincerity to actually read and pray about it. He told us that history is written by the victors and there are billions of Catholics so he wouldn't be surprised if there are other things out there.
I had a burger Saturday at Frank n' Burger! ha-ha. It's a Halloween themed burger place open all year round! What a gamble right!? Well he has been open a whole year now and has amazing customer service for New York, not to mention his burger was really good! It was Huge, i couldn't finish it. The bun was amazing! Big all encompassing bun! Hardly any drip-age or slippage of the innards of my burger. It all looked good (all the choices) but there was one (that I'm sure was tasty) that I just couldn't go for-- A zombie dog--it was a deep fried wiener with honey and whipped cream on it. All I could imagine when I saw it was eating some part of a zombie...... well you don't want to hear about that do you.
Halloween was an odd Sunday. We helped a man named Bob Lugo out. He is taking care of his dad while his mom is in the hospital and he himself really should be taken care of. His wife is out of town and he has an amputated foot from diabetes. He is a wonderful guy with a strong testimony. Well it’s tough for him to stand up and sit down repeatedly and walk around. Since its Halloween and not Utah there were trick-or-teat-ers. So we handed out candy, answered the phone, and attended to Grandpa Lugo while Bob took a break and did some things he needed to do. I was quite surprised how many kids didn't even dress up! Most did, but a surprising amount did not. The More surprising thing was that the kids had to be coaxed to say "trick or treat!" Can you believe that! We had to ask "What’s the magic words?" or something to that effect nearly every time! Ha-ha. Well we went home and spent the rest of the afternoon and night inside (mission rule not be out after 5 on Halloween). I felt bad we could stay and help bob out longer and so did he. But he was thankful for the time we were able to give him.
Love you peeps, chow.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Time
Time is odd... There's often not enough of it, but occasionally there is too much of it. In my case today I don't have enough of it.
Basically what happened this week was we worked with recent converts and less actives. We talked to part-member families and we looked up former investigators.
I had a lady lecture us (mostly my companion) and yell at her son and compare him to nasty things like serial killers for 15 min straight all because we sympathized with the 16 year old who in the closing prayer had the devil prayed out of him. Well needless to say he did what I would do and called his little brother who was praying a "homo". The 16 year old has no motivation because he doesn't find the support he needs from his parents.
Umm... no time.
PS
OK... ha-ha. Well I was kicked off the other computer because someone reserved it... so now I am on a new computer and I will now finish my email.
OK, well, the 16 year old from what I gathered is like any other 16 year old around here. He is a sensitive type though unlike his half brothers that are very outgoing. Well the entire lesson we had with them the mom compared the children and talked bad about the 16 year old and praised the others right in front of him. She even told us that if he ran away he would be doing the family a favor right in front of him to us (we only knew her for about a half an hour by this point). We felt so bad for the kid, yes its true he is probably up to things he shouldn't be but there is a difference between stern structured parenting and ruthless nagging and overbearing criticism (and not even constructive.) The only tactic she used was the "guilt trip" one. She told us he wasted all his talents!. Well In the hour I was at this home I learned so much about parenting and I remembered how amazing my parents are and have been. I have always had support from my parents. I have always felt loved by them.
Well, the mom suggested that if we knew anyone to take him and "deal with him" she would consider it. Well, we have considered taking her up on that. However we would like to try to heal the wounds of our relationship with the mom and then let our message do the healing in the family. We'd rather not separate a family, but if she keeps this up and won't let us meet with her then I'd like to see this 16 year old in a home where he can find support, in the home of one of the ward members.
I love you mom and dad. And thank you grandmas and grandpas for raising my parents so well. Thank you Jesus Christ for the gospel which can really truly apply to every aspect of our lives. Thank you Dad for always using scripture in our conversations and taking every opportunity to teach me. Thank you for teaching truth and correct principals and letting me then exercise my agency. I can't really express fully and accurately how I feel. I'm not as prolific as I think I used to be and my feelings are almost indescribable. The gospel really has all the answers.
We had exchanges on Tuesday. I went to the South Shore / Patchogue pad and went on exchanges with our district leader Elder Kirby. They have a guitar in their pad from a past missionary that is pretty dang nice. I was so relieved as I played it. Wow! It was so nice to play a real guitar again; even though it hurt my fingers like crazy since I have lost all my muscle memory.
I don't know what else to really say except for the fall colors are really starting to be diverse now and I am pretty excited. I'll be taking pictures this week for all of you to see.
PSS
Oh yeah, I forgot. This weekend was stake conference. It was amazing. I LOVED it! I felt the spirit so strong in the adult session. It felt so good. It was so peaceful and I felt so much love. It was crazy to see people from Plainview. I love that place. I feel bad though because I forgot a few people’s names. :S Its hard for me to remember everyone’s names cause I cram them when I am at an area and then when I go to the new area I never see the old names anymore and I have to cram new ones so I end up Recognizing everyone and remember none of their names. I wish I could be as good at names as all my companions have been especially Elder Kiser and Khang.
But yeah, Conference was amazing. I love President Hardman and I love President Nelson. Also an area 70 came Elder Lancing. He and his wife were just so classy and brought the spirit so well. They really made it easy to listen and they made you really want to support and sustain all our leadership.
Thank you Adolphsons for the package to say "I hope you feel better and we love you.” and thanks mom for the package as well! Kiser loved his light up pen and Halloween card. Thanks for the Carmel-pop-corn and the treats. We were pretty happy. We were really impressed with the Halloween cards. I still can't believe we still have computer paper from when I was 3 and 4. HA-HA!
Anyway, this is the real end.
love
--
-Elder Samuel Austin Morris
Basically what happened this week was we worked with recent converts and less actives. We talked to part-member families and we looked up former investigators.
I had a lady lecture us (mostly my companion) and yell at her son and compare him to nasty things like serial killers for 15 min straight all because we sympathized with the 16 year old who in the closing prayer had the devil prayed out of him. Well needless to say he did what I would do and called his little brother who was praying a "homo". The 16 year old has no motivation because he doesn't find the support he needs from his parents.
Umm... no time.
PS
OK... ha-ha. Well I was kicked off the other computer because someone reserved it... so now I am on a new computer and I will now finish my email.
OK, well, the 16 year old from what I gathered is like any other 16 year old around here. He is a sensitive type though unlike his half brothers that are very outgoing. Well the entire lesson we had with them the mom compared the children and talked bad about the 16 year old and praised the others right in front of him. She even told us that if he ran away he would be doing the family a favor right in front of him to us (we only knew her for about a half an hour by this point). We felt so bad for the kid, yes its true he is probably up to things he shouldn't be but there is a difference between stern structured parenting and ruthless nagging and overbearing criticism (and not even constructive.) The only tactic she used was the "guilt trip" one. She told us he wasted all his talents!. Well In the hour I was at this home I learned so much about parenting and I remembered how amazing my parents are and have been. I have always had support from my parents. I have always felt loved by them.
Well, the mom suggested that if we knew anyone to take him and "deal with him" she would consider it. Well, we have considered taking her up on that. However we would like to try to heal the wounds of our relationship with the mom and then let our message do the healing in the family. We'd rather not separate a family, but if she keeps this up and won't let us meet with her then I'd like to see this 16 year old in a home where he can find support, in the home of one of the ward members.
I love you mom and dad. And thank you grandmas and grandpas for raising my parents so well. Thank you Jesus Christ for the gospel which can really truly apply to every aspect of our lives. Thank you Dad for always using scripture in our conversations and taking every opportunity to teach me. Thank you for teaching truth and correct principals and letting me then exercise my agency. I can't really express fully and accurately how I feel. I'm not as prolific as I think I used to be and my feelings are almost indescribable. The gospel really has all the answers.
We had exchanges on Tuesday. I went to the South Shore / Patchogue pad and went on exchanges with our district leader Elder Kirby. They have a guitar in their pad from a past missionary that is pretty dang nice. I was so relieved as I played it. Wow! It was so nice to play a real guitar again; even though it hurt my fingers like crazy since I have lost all my muscle memory.
I don't know what else to really say except for the fall colors are really starting to be diverse now and I am pretty excited. I'll be taking pictures this week for all of you to see.
PSS
Oh yeah, I forgot. This weekend was stake conference. It was amazing. I LOVED it! I felt the spirit so strong in the adult session. It felt so good. It was so peaceful and I felt so much love. It was crazy to see people from Plainview. I love that place. I feel bad though because I forgot a few people’s names. :S Its hard for me to remember everyone’s names cause I cram them when I am at an area and then when I go to the new area I never see the old names anymore and I have to cram new ones so I end up Recognizing everyone and remember none of their names. I wish I could be as good at names as all my companions have been especially Elder Kiser and Khang.
But yeah, Conference was amazing. I love President Hardman and I love President Nelson. Also an area 70 came Elder Lancing. He and his wife were just so classy and brought the spirit so well. They really made it easy to listen and they made you really want to support and sustain all our leadership.
Thank you Adolphsons for the package to say "I hope you feel better and we love you.” and thanks mom for the package as well! Kiser loved his light up pen and Halloween card. Thanks for the Carmel-pop-corn and the treats. We were pretty happy. We were really impressed with the Halloween cards. I still can't believe we still have computer paper from when I was 3 and 4. HA-HA!
Anyway, this is the real end.
love
--
-Elder Samuel Austin Morris
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
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
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
Monday, September 6, 2010
Hurrican't
Well, I have to say I am very disappointed with all this hurricane business. Our mission president quarantined all the missionaries who were in Suffolk county while the hurricane was supposed to be pounding us category 4 style. We were in our apartment for 40 hours while it drizzled occasionally and subtly swayed a leaf on a tree with the breeze that was more non-existent than existent. It was all hype! Like some media scandal to get people to buy sandbags and bottled water to give the economy a slight boost. HA-HA. Literally the wind was stronger after the hurricane past than while it was close to us. I was sad cause I wanted to say I had survived a hurricane and say things like "we missionaries rescued people from the tops of their houses with our raft made out of a desk laundry bags and recyclables". But I suppose it was a blessing, not only did no one get hurt or nothing get damaged, but we were able to do some serious cleaning in our apartment and I was able to get some letter writing time.
So something funny; I sleep on the top bunk of our bunk bed. I noticed the other night that the railing that was at my head was way jammed into one bed post and that the other side was almost completely out and because it was not put together correctly the whole bunk bed frame was beginning to bow. I knew that this was not good; I wanted to save the bed and also a future missionaries life. so I called Elder Kiser. I knew that that piece could be pulled out because the bed support would be holding the bed all together (I guess I didn't take into consideration that the bed was a snap together bed and that it was not bolted together). Well I said, "Kiser, the head rail is jammed into this making it so that the other side is not snapped into the other side. On the count of three I need you to pull hard your direction on the poll while I pull hard my direction on the other piece." I was on top of my bed leaning over the edge gripped onto the frame when I counted "one, two, three!!!!!" I pulled, Kiser pulled, everyone else watched. It worked! We pulled the piece out, but the weight of my laundry bag I hung off that piece plus my own wait on a now unsupported end of the bed caused the whole thing to separate and pull me head first in between the bed and the wall onto where we Keep our luggage and a whiteboard. I was lucky that we had stuff there cause otherwise I would have fallen on my head probably! LOL instead I landed on the whiteboard with my hip and bent it over the luggage. Everyone was surprised and scared but then we all laughed and yelled things like "oh snap!", or "oh my gosh!" They say my face was priceless as I fell.
Well, the other elders found a clarinet left behind by a previous elder who I suppose didn't care about it (since he left it). Well, magically I can play it. I can play hymns with it and everything way easy. Ha-ha! All that recorder playing paid off. So I guess I can play the clarinet. Ha-ha.
Guess what is ridiculous and crazy to me!? Last night I discovered that this time TWO YEARS AGO I was starting my first year of college and in a few weeks from now it has been two years since I was apart of Nosferatu! That is crazy to me! I realized that I actually really miss college and being apart of theater productions. I didn't think I missed that. I wish I would have taken more advantage of my time there at UVU. No worries though because a year from now I'll be back at school.... this also is a weird thought but I am excited as well.
OK, let's get serious now. Elder Kiser and I are rocking the forest like Amazon loggers! We have amazing unity and we feel very trusted and blessed by the Lord. Miracles are happening. Things are working out how they are supposed to, like PMG (preach my gospel) style, yo! Members are being cooperative and trusting us, investigators are being set in our laps, lessons are full of the spirit, and our numbers are good. We taught 17 lessons this past week (this area has not taught that many lessons in a while). Every week we are together things get better and better.
Yesterday was very busy. We went to the church early to teach Harold (the 22 year old film making Colombian) He is awesome. Well the lesson was going well when the elder's quorum president came in and interrupted. He said someone had called on the phone and said that they wanted to know when church started and they wanted to know what they had to do to join the church. So elder Kiser went and talked to her on the phone and set up an appointment for 2:30 while I finished the lesson with the elders quorum pres. Then church started and basically all of our investigators showed up. Judy, Eugene, Harold, Stephanie and Carlos, and Wayne. Then we gave Wayne the gift of the Holy Ghost. There is too much that happened that would take too much time to explain because of back stories and everything but lets just say that fast and testimony meeting was perfect because it was like everything our investigators needed to hear. Especially for Judy, who Saturday night knelt down with us and prayed to know if the date we had chosen for baptism was what she should do (the spirit was so strong and revealed to us that she had gotten an answer; she had felt peace and she was smiling and she told us things like "I know" when we told her she was feeling the spirit and needed to be baptized.). Then the rest of the church we participated in a blessing, a baptism, another confirmation and an ordination to the priesthood! As if that wasn't enough success for one day one of the new couples in the ward, the Beus, invited us to dinner and Harold too! It was awesome! That's what diner appointments are really for and that's what we did! It was an amazing appointment we never had any awkward pauses in our conversation the food was awesome. We all had fun including Harold (plus the baby liked him). Then Harold ended up staying for an hour after we left! Brother and Sister Beus are both music majors and helped Harold select music for his thesis he is shooting from Film Graduate School. Bro Beus attended Julliard and is now at Stony Brook University.
Well we have 5 investigators with a baptismal date right now! There are just too many stories to tell. but no time. so I must go.
Peace Out!
--
-Elder Samuel Austin Morris
So something funny; I sleep on the top bunk of our bunk bed. I noticed the other night that the railing that was at my head was way jammed into one bed post and that the other side was almost completely out and because it was not put together correctly the whole bunk bed frame was beginning to bow. I knew that this was not good; I wanted to save the bed and also a future missionaries life. so I called Elder Kiser. I knew that that piece could be pulled out because the bed support would be holding the bed all together (I guess I didn't take into consideration that the bed was a snap together bed and that it was not bolted together). Well I said, "Kiser, the head rail is jammed into this making it so that the other side is not snapped into the other side. On the count of three I need you to pull hard your direction on the poll while I pull hard my direction on the other piece." I was on top of my bed leaning over the edge gripped onto the frame when I counted "one, two, three!!!!!" I pulled, Kiser pulled, everyone else watched. It worked! We pulled the piece out, but the weight of my laundry bag I hung off that piece plus my own wait on a now unsupported end of the bed caused the whole thing to separate and pull me head first in between the bed and the wall onto where we Keep our luggage and a whiteboard. I was lucky that we had stuff there cause otherwise I would have fallen on my head probably! LOL instead I landed on the whiteboard with my hip and bent it over the luggage. Everyone was surprised and scared but then we all laughed and yelled things like "oh snap!", or "oh my gosh!" They say my face was priceless as I fell.
Well, the other elders found a clarinet left behind by a previous elder who I suppose didn't care about it (since he left it). Well, magically I can play it. I can play hymns with it and everything way easy. Ha-ha! All that recorder playing paid off. So I guess I can play the clarinet. Ha-ha.
Guess what is ridiculous and crazy to me!? Last night I discovered that this time TWO YEARS AGO I was starting my first year of college and in a few weeks from now it has been two years since I was apart of Nosferatu! That is crazy to me! I realized that I actually really miss college and being apart of theater productions. I didn't think I missed that. I wish I would have taken more advantage of my time there at UVU. No worries though because a year from now I'll be back at school.... this also is a weird thought but I am excited as well.
OK, let's get serious now. Elder Kiser and I are rocking the forest like Amazon loggers! We have amazing unity and we feel very trusted and blessed by the Lord. Miracles are happening. Things are working out how they are supposed to, like PMG (preach my gospel) style, yo! Members are being cooperative and trusting us, investigators are being set in our laps, lessons are full of the spirit, and our numbers are good. We taught 17 lessons this past week (this area has not taught that many lessons in a while). Every week we are together things get better and better.
Yesterday was very busy. We went to the church early to teach Harold (the 22 year old film making Colombian) He is awesome. Well the lesson was going well when the elder's quorum president came in and interrupted. He said someone had called on the phone and said that they wanted to know when church started and they wanted to know what they had to do to join the church. So elder Kiser went and talked to her on the phone and set up an appointment for 2:30 while I finished the lesson with the elders quorum pres. Then church started and basically all of our investigators showed up. Judy, Eugene, Harold, Stephanie and Carlos, and Wayne. Then we gave Wayne the gift of the Holy Ghost. There is too much that happened that would take too much time to explain because of back stories and everything but lets just say that fast and testimony meeting was perfect because it was like everything our investigators needed to hear. Especially for Judy, who Saturday night knelt down with us and prayed to know if the date we had chosen for baptism was what she should do (the spirit was so strong and revealed to us that she had gotten an answer; she had felt peace and she was smiling and she told us things like "I know" when we told her she was feeling the spirit and needed to be baptized.). Then the rest of the church we participated in a blessing, a baptism, another confirmation and an ordination to the priesthood! As if that wasn't enough success for one day one of the new couples in the ward, the Beus, invited us to dinner and Harold too! It was awesome! That's what diner appointments are really for and that's what we did! It was an amazing appointment we never had any awkward pauses in our conversation the food was awesome. We all had fun including Harold (plus the baby liked him). Then Harold ended up staying for an hour after we left! Brother and Sister Beus are both music majors and helped Harold select music for his thesis he is shooting from Film Graduate School. Bro Beus attended Julliard and is now at Stony Brook University.
Well we have 5 investigators with a baptismal date right now! There are just too many stories to tell. but no time. so I must go.
Peace Out!
--
-Elder Samuel Austin Morris
Monday, August 23, 2010
Longwood
LOL. So the Library I am at right now is the Longwood public library. Ha-ha.
Ok, well here I am back out on Lon Guylan (long Island). I am in a place called Terryville. its in Suffolk county, so I am way out now. The place we live is in the middle of the forest! Ha-ha. It’s crazy how many trees there are. There are a lot of bugs and there are actually things like dirt and rocks... it’s weird. I still act like I’m in the city but I’m definitely not! One example, stopping when the light changes and being able to turn right on a red is a weird adjustment. Ha-ha.
My new companion is named Elder Benjamin B. Kiser. He is from Toole, Ut. (I forgot how to spell 2-ill-uh) He was supposed to go to Greece on his mission but his visa was denied so now he is here for good. he was in the MTC for 3 months! Ha-ha. So even though He hits his 6 month mark soon he is only on his 3rd transfer. :D ha-ha. It’s cool cause he can speak Greek! Neat right! he has taught me a bit of it too. In a way I’m his step pops but... he was with Elder Edwards for the last 2 weeks because Elder Teixiera his last comp when home a little early (cause his visa had expired, and his parents picked him up). If you remember Elder Edwards was the Elder I midnighted from ENY last transfer. All those trips to Terryville and all along I had no Idea that I would be living there. Ha-ha. I came here like 5 or 6 times. Ha-ha. Elder Kiser is of German heritage and looks it. He has quite the George Washington Profile but his eyes look like all the pictures you see of Germans and. He is a lot like me. We immediately got along and are already friends. He quotes Salad fingers and rejected cartoons and talks in different voices and says crazy random things and bottles up all his anger just like me! He loves movies and film (and knows more than I do) he is super funny and fun but obedient and hard working. He is exactly what I was hoping for. He has one down side though, kind of like elder Lim, he won’t let me buy stuff for him, and he insists on paying me back if I do. Oh well. I’ll have to find a different way to serve him.
Ok, a little about the area. We have an amazing pool right now, but we have some struggles finding. So things are great now but once these people are baptized or dropped we won't have a great pool. But right now it's fantastic. We had a baptism yesterday. His name is Wayne Duncan. He is solid. I look forward to teach him the lessons again now that he is a member. He had some struggles with smoking and coffee so we are praying hard he can resist temptation until he gets the gift of the Holy Ghost next week; and after too. :)
We also teach a family called the Claros'. They are fantastic. We taught them as a family for the first time my first or second night. The dad and the oldest son (who in the past have not been as open) were more open. The oldest son Fransisco said the closing prayer and it was obvious that the lesson had gotten to him. He said one of the most sincere and heartfelt prayers i have ever heard and it made elder Kiser cry. The spirit was really strong. When he finished the prayer he said "I really felt something just then. I haven’t felt that before." and we told him that was the spirit and then he told us that he wanted to be baptized. So Kiser said ok but you have to come to church. so he said he would. The two younger kids have dates for September and he will be baptized with them. The Goal now is to help the dad join the rest of the family (the mom is already a member).
If you remember last transfer how Elder Vargas and Saeyang were going to hand over their investigator Harold to us but then he moved out to long Island? Well you guessed it I am now the missionary who covers where he moved into. So I guess its fate. We taught him the other day and he had not heard about all the things we were telling him about the plan of salvation. So I was inspired to have us kneel down and have him pray. he did. He prayed about how he was nervous and how he wanted to know if this was true and if the church was true. Then he paused for a long while and his tone changed. After that he basically bore his testimony to God that what we told him was true and that the church was true. After that Kiser invited him to be baptized in September. His reply was "can't I be baptized in August!?" so we said yes. Ha-ha. Unfortunately he jewked us this morning and didn't make it to church earlier because he had to pick up a friend from the airport unexpectedly. So we will have to push his baptism. He is way cool though. He is a film student and he was excited to hear about our interest in film as well. He was excited Mom and Rach and Hilly were all movie makers too (or have been).
I don't have much time but I'll say a few more words. I'm back to Library computers and Laundromats... I’s weird but fine; also I am driving a small car now... that’s odd after being in a van in the city. Um, I live with 2 other companionships, so there are 6 of us total. I live with Elder Ledbetter again! I’m so excited I love him. He is our Zone leader along with an Elder Eaton. The other companionship is elder Edwards and elder Mitchell.
I am out of time sorry. But I am happy and well, even though a spider was in my bed last night. Ha-ha. Gross. :(
-Elder Samuel Austin Morris
Ok, well here I am back out on Lon Guylan (long Island). I am in a place called Terryville. its in Suffolk county, so I am way out now. The place we live is in the middle of the forest! Ha-ha. It’s crazy how many trees there are. There are a lot of bugs and there are actually things like dirt and rocks... it’s weird. I still act like I’m in the city but I’m definitely not! One example, stopping when the light changes and being able to turn right on a red is a weird adjustment. Ha-ha.
My new companion is named Elder Benjamin B. Kiser. He is from Toole, Ut. (I forgot how to spell 2-ill-uh) He was supposed to go to Greece on his mission but his visa was denied so now he is here for good. he was in the MTC for 3 months! Ha-ha. So even though He hits his 6 month mark soon he is only on his 3rd transfer. :D ha-ha. It’s cool cause he can speak Greek! Neat right! he has taught me a bit of it too. In a way I’m his step pops but... he was with Elder Edwards for the last 2 weeks because Elder Teixiera his last comp when home a little early (cause his visa had expired, and his parents picked him up). If you remember Elder Edwards was the Elder I midnighted from ENY last transfer. All those trips to Terryville and all along I had no Idea that I would be living there. Ha-ha. I came here like 5 or 6 times. Ha-ha. Elder Kiser is of German heritage and looks it. He has quite the George Washington Profile but his eyes look like all the pictures you see of Germans and. He is a lot like me. We immediately got along and are already friends. He quotes Salad fingers and rejected cartoons and talks in different voices and says crazy random things and bottles up all his anger just like me! He loves movies and film (and knows more than I do) he is super funny and fun but obedient and hard working. He is exactly what I was hoping for. He has one down side though, kind of like elder Lim, he won’t let me buy stuff for him, and he insists on paying me back if I do. Oh well. I’ll have to find a different way to serve him.
Ok, a little about the area. We have an amazing pool right now, but we have some struggles finding. So things are great now but once these people are baptized or dropped we won't have a great pool. But right now it's fantastic. We had a baptism yesterday. His name is Wayne Duncan. He is solid. I look forward to teach him the lessons again now that he is a member. He had some struggles with smoking and coffee so we are praying hard he can resist temptation until he gets the gift of the Holy Ghost next week; and after too. :)
We also teach a family called the Claros'. They are fantastic. We taught them as a family for the first time my first or second night. The dad and the oldest son (who in the past have not been as open) were more open. The oldest son Fransisco said the closing prayer and it was obvious that the lesson had gotten to him. He said one of the most sincere and heartfelt prayers i have ever heard and it made elder Kiser cry. The spirit was really strong. When he finished the prayer he said "I really felt something just then. I haven’t felt that before." and we told him that was the spirit and then he told us that he wanted to be baptized. So Kiser said ok but you have to come to church. so he said he would. The two younger kids have dates for September and he will be baptized with them. The Goal now is to help the dad join the rest of the family (the mom is already a member).
If you remember last transfer how Elder Vargas and Saeyang were going to hand over their investigator Harold to us but then he moved out to long Island? Well you guessed it I am now the missionary who covers where he moved into. So I guess its fate. We taught him the other day and he had not heard about all the things we were telling him about the plan of salvation. So I was inspired to have us kneel down and have him pray. he did. He prayed about how he was nervous and how he wanted to know if this was true and if the church was true. Then he paused for a long while and his tone changed. After that he basically bore his testimony to God that what we told him was true and that the church was true. After that Kiser invited him to be baptized in September. His reply was "can't I be baptized in August!?" so we said yes. Ha-ha. Unfortunately he jewked us this morning and didn't make it to church earlier because he had to pick up a friend from the airport unexpectedly. So we will have to push his baptism. He is way cool though. He is a film student and he was excited to hear about our interest in film as well. He was excited Mom and Rach and Hilly were all movie makers too (or have been).
I don't have much time but I'll say a few more words. I'm back to Library computers and Laundromats... I’s weird but fine; also I am driving a small car now... that’s odd after being in a van in the city. Um, I live with 2 other companionships, so there are 6 of us total. I live with Elder Ledbetter again! I’m so excited I love him. He is our Zone leader along with an Elder Eaton. The other companionship is elder Edwards and elder Mitchell.
I am out of time sorry. But I am happy and well, even though a spider was in my bed last night. Ha-ha. Gross. :(
-Elder Samuel Austin Morris
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Nunnigan Lumpurton
Druid Nope Artsy Lefty cow burp in the left part noggin forensic lump sum. Burm ton flop sip kill force rope-burn. Def cat lips not for leaf man. Gift John still bar gun fresh pump bum. Murphy Texas french cleft click door rumple fern possy.
Liken felt ingrown jail seven refuge camper youth. Kleptomaniac? nine happy sellouts. pen for a yen tour vex zeal sad. You man may mope more money meanwhile.
I don't know what to type. Ha-ha. So I just wrote random words.
Good news. The reason we couldn't get a hold of Vishnu was because he was in the hospital. So the next office elder and McFarlane will go see him Friday (that's when I set the appointment) I will be in another place by then.
I'm gonna miss people in Rego, Like Brother Noel and Yoshi Sato and Mark Shelton. I'm sad I never got to jam with the bishop (he plays guitar and bass).
Dilshad jewked us this week and never answered our phone calls.... I hope she is OK. We were planning on telling her to not sneak around to do this conversion process but to talk to her husband about it and to tell him that she felt that to be closer to God she wants to become Christian. So hopefully the office elders will tell me what happens with that story.
I wish I knew where I was going. I really don't understand why it has to be so secretive; but, whateves.
I love New York. I love the work. I hate my weaknesses, but I love that it keeps me close to the lord striving to do better. I can't wait to be a regular missionary again, but I'm also very scared. I've got a lot of plans and goals for what to do this next transfer. Wish me luck. Thanks for all your prayers. Its always great to hear that you all pray for me and put my name in the temple.
Well, I'm really excited to pick up the greenies and sleep over with them at the mission home. I'm really glad that is the last thing you do as an office elder. Its the best part of being an office elder. It will definitely help motivate and excite me.
Umm, my hair looks really good right now, I'm surprised that I don't have people all over me about it
Remember, I'm the President of the United States... Always,
-Elder Samuel Austin Morris
Liken felt ingrown jail seven refuge camper youth. Kleptomaniac? nine happy sellouts. pen for a yen tour vex zeal sad. You man may mope more money meanwhile.
I don't know what to type. Ha-ha. So I just wrote random words.
Good news. The reason we couldn't get a hold of Vishnu was because he was in the hospital. So the next office elder and McFarlane will go see him Friday (that's when I set the appointment) I will be in another place by then.
I'm gonna miss people in Rego, Like Brother Noel and Yoshi Sato and Mark Shelton. I'm sad I never got to jam with the bishop (he plays guitar and bass).
Dilshad jewked us this week and never answered our phone calls.... I hope she is OK. We were planning on telling her to not sneak around to do this conversion process but to talk to her husband about it and to tell him that she felt that to be closer to God she wants to become Christian. So hopefully the office elders will tell me what happens with that story.
I wish I knew where I was going. I really don't understand why it has to be so secretive; but, whateves.
I love New York. I love the work. I hate my weaknesses, but I love that it keeps me close to the lord striving to do better. I can't wait to be a regular missionary again, but I'm also very scared. I've got a lot of plans and goals for what to do this next transfer. Wish me luck. Thanks for all your prayers. Its always great to hear that you all pray for me and put my name in the temple.
Well, I'm really excited to pick up the greenies and sleep over with them at the mission home. I'm really glad that is the last thing you do as an office elder. Its the best part of being an office elder. It will definitely help motivate and excite me.
Umm, my hair looks really good right now, I'm surprised that I don't have people all over me about it
Remember, I'm the President of the United States... Always,
-Elder Samuel Austin Morris
Monday, August 9, 2010
All Things Must Come to an End
Well, I finished week 5 of my second transfer as an office elder and we were able to end it with 2 new investigators and 6 lessons. That's really great for us. :) we even contacted 4 referrals.
Cool story:
We had worked all day in the office and because of the nature of the day didn't end up going out because we helped the APs with one of their projects giving us only 1/2 an hour before we had to be home. Well, I was thinking to myself, "lets just go home a half an hour early" (I know slothful right!?) well as I was thinking this McFarlane said, "lets go fearless some people before we go in" I made some noises that said "I don't really want to but OK". I put on my back pack and got a great feeling, Suddenly I was excited to do what is right and then let the consequence follow (hymn reference). Well we went out and I saw a lady on the other side of the street preparing to cross the street. The spirit filled me with a motivation beyond any natural motivation that I normally posses to chase her down and ask an inspired question! Well, I caught up to her half way through the cross walk got her attention and opened my mouth. The question that came out was "Do you ever wonder what God expects of you?". To my should-be-non-existent astonishment she blurted with raised eye brows "YES!". We then walked her home saying only what things we felt we were supposed to and most importantly listening. She asked us the question that basically said why do I have so many trials? you would think God would see that I am doing my best and doing many great and worthy things and give me a break and some blessings! I remembered Our Savior, "Well, Jesus Christ was perfect and lived all of Gods laws and he had more trials than anyone else plus all of our trials." She had a light bulb turn on and she responded in a way to good to be true, "So what your telling me is that God sent us here to Earth to experience trials so that we could learn from them and grow closer to him?", "... ummm... yes! Ha-ha" it went on in this manner and every time we would answer a question she would respond with a summary explanation and then we would teach a more in depth yet still concise version of the principal. Well eventually she asked us why there were so many religions and we explained it to her and then told her that we represented the true church led by Christ with his legitimate authority. She then told us she used to meet with missionaries and that she was so happy she listened to the spirit because God told her to walk a way home she usually doesn't, and McFarlane was inspired to go out and I was inspired to talk to her. This is the lords work. Well we came for our return appointment the following day and there she was, waiting outside for us! then for our next appointment where we met her at the church she was waiting for us at the church gate! here is the tough part. She is Muslim and is afraid if she converts her husband who is a devout and strict Muslim she will be kicked out of the house or worse. :S She has been to church enough times she could be baptized this Sunday. She was dropped before because the ward and missionaries didn't want her to be killed or homeless or without family for joining. She asked me what she thought I should do and I told her to do what she felt was right and what the spirit whispered for her to do and then trust in and have faith in God and Christ for things to work out in a way that is best for her. Her name is Dilshad. She is Indian.
Um this week I had an awesome exchange with Elder Swain (who came out with me) because it was on the one year mark of being in New York.
Well the Adolphsons left back to alpine this week. I was sad though cause they didn't say goodbye to me.
A man gave me a tract that said that God is actually a woman, Aris to be exact and that it is actually a good thing to have discord and disorder and confusion in the world. Also it said that every man woman and child on the planet is a Pope. So there is a little cut out card that says "The holder of this card is an official POPE and should be treated with all respect. Right and Good." or something like that. It was funny.
This morning we had breakfast with John Gadd. It was great as usual. He was sad that I would soon be leaving. Also a punk girl saw me as we were walking back toward the subway and said, "AW-W-W! Your suspenders are SO SEXY!".
Yes, my office elder-ship will soon come to a close. I am so thankful it will end with a greenie pick up to pick me up. Then I shall once again preach full time. I'm a little scared to readjust to the old calling/assignment. I have no Idea where I'll go, but I sure will miss Elder Swain and Aldridge the fun opportunities to sing and the ability to drive anywhere in the mission whenever I need to.
This week I also took an elder to the air port to pick up his parents and family. That was an odd thing to wittiness; seeing an Elder see his mom again for the first time in 2 years is a weird thing when you are still a missionary. Anyway, his dad is a member of the 70 so he came to pick up his son and then was invited to speak to the leadership of the mission. We were allowed to be in the meeting because we were apart of the musical number. It was really good (the fireside and our music. haha).
Today we went to a modern Art museum called PS1. it used to be a public school and is now a gallery. Ha-ha-ha-ha. it was really odd. We had lots of fun and i'm glad I went but we all concluded that much modern art is.... well just an excuse to not learn art conventions. There was some really great stuff there. There was some really weird stuff to that left you feeling yucky. ha. One cool one was video feed of places in NY during 2001 and 2010 side by side. Its really crazy the difference in not only the buildings but the patriotism! It seems many have forgotten 9/11. The title of the piece was great "lost tribes, and promised lands". There was another video piece that made me laugh hysterically and really creeped me out at the same time. It was paper cut out cars covering the torsos of guys' legs wearing women's high heals that were too small and therefore taped to stay on. They were walking around in a rocky waste land and going up lattes and stuff. The sound was amplified so every movement was heard. the funniest part was when the car crouched down and pulled out packaging tape and picked up plastic googly eyes on the grown and then wadded it up in a ball and put it in its purse. I haven't laughed so hard in a while! anyway.
Well to bring things to a close I will say that every part of our life is orchestrated. I love it. I am so glad I chose this life. I know I am learning the things I need to for my eternal progression. Satan is trying harder to destroy me then he ever has before but God is also sustaining me more than I have ever felt before. Often the thing I fear the most or what I would have least likely guessed happening to me is what I experience and it stretches me and helps me to grow. It hurts, But I like it. (that sounds creepy! Ha ha). I know that my Savior Lives and loves me and atoned for me. I know that this test is more fair than we suspect, so don't give in to Satan's trap of comparison. I often fall into that trap, but I'm learning to avoid it. I love the gospel. It rocks.
love,
--
-Elder Samuel Austin Morris
Cool story:
We had worked all day in the office and because of the nature of the day didn't end up going out because we helped the APs with one of their projects giving us only 1/2 an hour before we had to be home. Well, I was thinking to myself, "lets just go home a half an hour early" (I know slothful right!?) well as I was thinking this McFarlane said, "lets go fearless some people before we go in" I made some noises that said "I don't really want to but OK". I put on my back pack and got a great feeling, Suddenly I was excited to do what is right and then let the consequence follow (hymn reference). Well we went out and I saw a lady on the other side of the street preparing to cross the street. The spirit filled me with a motivation beyond any natural motivation that I normally posses to chase her down and ask an inspired question! Well, I caught up to her half way through the cross walk got her attention and opened my mouth. The question that came out was "Do you ever wonder what God expects of you?". To my should-be-non-existent astonishment she blurted with raised eye brows "YES!". We then walked her home saying only what things we felt we were supposed to and most importantly listening. She asked us the question that basically said why do I have so many trials? you would think God would see that I am doing my best and doing many great and worthy things and give me a break and some blessings! I remembered Our Savior, "Well, Jesus Christ was perfect and lived all of Gods laws and he had more trials than anyone else plus all of our trials." She had a light bulb turn on and she responded in a way to good to be true, "So what your telling me is that God sent us here to Earth to experience trials so that we could learn from them and grow closer to him?", "... ummm... yes! Ha-ha" it went on in this manner and every time we would answer a question she would respond with a summary explanation and then we would teach a more in depth yet still concise version of the principal. Well eventually she asked us why there were so many religions and we explained it to her and then told her that we represented the true church led by Christ with his legitimate authority. She then told us she used to meet with missionaries and that she was so happy she listened to the spirit because God told her to walk a way home she usually doesn't, and McFarlane was inspired to go out and I was inspired to talk to her. This is the lords work. Well we came for our return appointment the following day and there she was, waiting outside for us! then for our next appointment where we met her at the church she was waiting for us at the church gate! here is the tough part. She is Muslim and is afraid if she converts her husband who is a devout and strict Muslim she will be kicked out of the house or worse. :S She has been to church enough times she could be baptized this Sunday. She was dropped before because the ward and missionaries didn't want her to be killed or homeless or without family for joining. She asked me what she thought I should do and I told her to do what she felt was right and what the spirit whispered for her to do and then trust in and have faith in God and Christ for things to work out in a way that is best for her. Her name is Dilshad. She is Indian.
Um this week I had an awesome exchange with Elder Swain (who came out with me) because it was on the one year mark of being in New York.
Well the Adolphsons left back to alpine this week. I was sad though cause they didn't say goodbye to me.
A man gave me a tract that said that God is actually a woman, Aris to be exact and that it is actually a good thing to have discord and disorder and confusion in the world. Also it said that every man woman and child on the planet is a Pope. So there is a little cut out card that says "The holder of this card is an official POPE and should be treated with all respect. Right and Good." or something like that. It was funny.
This morning we had breakfast with John Gadd. It was great as usual. He was sad that I would soon be leaving. Also a punk girl saw me as we were walking back toward the subway and said, "AW-W-W! Your suspenders are SO SEXY!".
Yes, my office elder-ship will soon come to a close. I am so thankful it will end with a greenie pick up to pick me up. Then I shall once again preach full time. I'm a little scared to readjust to the old calling/assignment. I have no Idea where I'll go, but I sure will miss Elder Swain and Aldridge the fun opportunities to sing and the ability to drive anywhere in the mission whenever I need to.
This week I also took an elder to the air port to pick up his parents and family. That was an odd thing to wittiness; seeing an Elder see his mom again for the first time in 2 years is a weird thing when you are still a missionary. Anyway, his dad is a member of the 70 so he came to pick up his son and then was invited to speak to the leadership of the mission. We were allowed to be in the meeting because we were apart of the musical number. It was really good (the fireside and our music. haha).
Today we went to a modern Art museum called PS1. it used to be a public school and is now a gallery. Ha-ha-ha-ha. it was really odd. We had lots of fun and i'm glad I went but we all concluded that much modern art is.... well just an excuse to not learn art conventions. There was some really great stuff there. There was some really weird stuff to that left you feeling yucky. ha. One cool one was video feed of places in NY during 2001 and 2010 side by side. Its really crazy the difference in not only the buildings but the patriotism! It seems many have forgotten 9/11. The title of the piece was great "lost tribes, and promised lands". There was another video piece that made me laugh hysterically and really creeped me out at the same time. It was paper cut out cars covering the torsos of guys' legs wearing women's high heals that were too small and therefore taped to stay on. They were walking around in a rocky waste land and going up lattes and stuff. The sound was amplified so every movement was heard. the funniest part was when the car crouched down and pulled out packaging tape and picked up plastic googly eyes on the grown and then wadded it up in a ball and put it in its purse. I haven't laughed so hard in a while! anyway.
Well to bring things to a close I will say that every part of our life is orchestrated. I love it. I am so glad I chose this life. I know I am learning the things I need to for my eternal progression. Satan is trying harder to destroy me then he ever has before but God is also sustaining me more than I have ever felt before. Often the thing I fear the most or what I would have least likely guessed happening to me is what I experience and it stretches me and helps me to grow. It hurts, But I like it. (that sounds creepy! Ha ha). I know that my Savior Lives and loves me and atoned for me. I know that this test is more fair than we suspect, so don't give in to Satan's trap of comparison. I often fall into that trap, but I'm learning to avoid it. I love the gospel. It rocks.
love,
--
-Elder Samuel Austin Morris
Monday, August 2, 2010
UMM....title
OK well. I don't have much to say. Most of what I did is not interesting to any of you. Ha-ha. but here are some highlights.
1. I took an anti-biotic this week and it only kinda worked. Ha-ha.
2. We had presidents interviews and he told me I have permission to say "its after 5, I can't help you I'm sorry" to anyone or anything that is office duty related if its during our proselyting time. So we will be doing more of that.
3. My companion told me that One of my Major character flaws is that in crucial times I can be too nice....
4. We had exchanges, I was with elder Aldridge. We got lost once. Every where we went no one was home. it was hot as well.
5. We got a new investigator with a baptismal date because he was over the border and couldn't be taught by the other elders any more.. but then he said he is going to move into that area, so we gave him back.
6. I cleaned up and organized many media referrals this week.
7. I got a hair cut this morning.
8. I bore my testimony yesterday.
9. The Ap's had a baptism. It was nice. I led the music.
10. We helped the Adolphson's with car stuff and they fed us.
11. we tried some new finding Ideas that didn't work very well.
12. We got a return appointment with a guy who loves the Book of Mormon and already knows its true!....for two weeks from now.
13. I threw up at a members house (but they don't know) because I over-ate.... Why don't people understand that I'm not gonna gain any wait by eating? it just doesn't work for me. If i am gonna gain wait I'll have to have a personal trainer bulk me up with muscle.
14. we moved a new senior couple into their house and got extra stuff from the sisters in Midwood.
15. I discovered that i can eat Habinero Hot sauce no problem. I also discovered that large burritos give me stomach aches.
here is my testimony
I Know my redeemer lives. We truly do have the fullness of the gospel! We have the true way back to our heavenly father. Bad things happen but through the grace of our lord Jesus Christ we can be forgiven of our sins, have our pains removed, our weaknesses strengthened, we can exercise the priesthood and do miracles and saving ordinances. The longer I live the more I realize how absurd it would be to live without the blessings of the gospel and the church that has it in its fullness; Our church.
Things will work out- trust in the lord, follow the spirit. :)
--
-Elder Samuel Austin Morris
1. I took an anti-biotic this week and it only kinda worked. Ha-ha.
2. We had presidents interviews and he told me I have permission to say "its after 5, I can't help you I'm sorry" to anyone or anything that is office duty related if its during our proselyting time. So we will be doing more of that.
3. My companion told me that One of my Major character flaws is that in crucial times I can be too nice....
4. We had exchanges, I was with elder Aldridge. We got lost once. Every where we went no one was home. it was hot as well.
5. We got a new investigator with a baptismal date because he was over the border and couldn't be taught by the other elders any more.. but then he said he is going to move into that area, so we gave him back.
6. I cleaned up and organized many media referrals this week.
7. I got a hair cut this morning.
8. I bore my testimony yesterday.
9. The Ap's had a baptism. It was nice. I led the music.
10. We helped the Adolphson's with car stuff and they fed us.
11. we tried some new finding Ideas that didn't work very well.
12. We got a return appointment with a guy who loves the Book of Mormon and already knows its true!....for two weeks from now.
13. I threw up at a members house (but they don't know) because I over-ate.... Why don't people understand that I'm not gonna gain any wait by eating? it just doesn't work for me. If i am gonna gain wait I'll have to have a personal trainer bulk me up with muscle.
14. we moved a new senior couple into their house and got extra stuff from the sisters in Midwood.
15. I discovered that i can eat Habinero Hot sauce no problem. I also discovered that large burritos give me stomach aches.
here is my testimony
I Know my redeemer lives. We truly do have the fullness of the gospel! We have the true way back to our heavenly father. Bad things happen but through the grace of our lord Jesus Christ we can be forgiven of our sins, have our pains removed, our weaknesses strengthened, we can exercise the priesthood and do miracles and saving ordinances. The longer I live the more I realize how absurd it would be to live without the blessings of the gospel and the church that has it in its fullness; Our church.
Things will work out- trust in the lord, follow the spirit. :)
--
-Elder Samuel Austin Morris
Monday, July 26, 2010
Hajji Morris
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
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
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
Monday, June 28, 2010
Week 5 of transfer 8
Week 5 of transfer 8
Hello. I am a missionary for the New York, New York south mission and I struggle to do what’s right. I know I am in the right place at the right time. I also know I have a lot to improve upon, but what a better place then in queens. I would not want to be anywhere else right now. I really miss some of you, but that won't stop me from trying to magnify myself and taking advantage of this one shot I have at being a NYNYC South missionary. I don't think my current numbers would reflect my hart. This week I got the lowest numbers of my whole mission. I don't feel that the fact I am an office elder, or the fact we had a busy week justifies anything. However I still have at least one more transfer to get balancing mission office work and missionary work.
I saw a dead bird the other day. The scriptures tell us that God knows that bird and that he knew when It fell and why it passed away. Like I told an 8 year old and a 5 year old member last night and like my Dad always taught me, "If God knows about that sparrow falling from the sky, then why would he not know who you are?" I think that statement was just as much for myself as it was the kids. I believe when someone speaks by the spirit the people listening and the person speaking are instructed.
You know the saying "whatever floats your boat", or "whatever tickles your fancy"? Well, I thought of another variation. :D "Whatever tumbles your tumblers"! I like it, what about you.
Well, The Hiltz boys are pretty much a no for baptism for a long while. There mom does not cooperate with us and the kids have very little desire to come to church. I don't know if I would either if I were in their shoes. They kind of use their mothers doubt and the fact that their parents are separated as their own advantage and they get away with a lot. Its odd to me that a legally separated couple would still live together in the same apartment and sleep in the same room..... But, it’s not really my concern I suppose. :S
Vishnu. :( Man, he has had bronchitis all week. When I called him to talk to him and see if we could help or maybe give him a blessing and coughed his lungs out and struggled to breath. He is on antibiotics but he still is struggling. We plan on bringing him a Nepali B.O.M. probably tomorrow, maybe tonight. We really do not want him to fall through the cracks, because we really were led to him, he really is prepared.
Well, this week we did a lot of service. We moved two families this week; the Bangeters (which mad me sad; Alpiners going home...) and this lady in our wards sister. Her sister had a mental breakdown because of an extreme case of bi-polar disorder (A time bomb of an episode apparently). It was a lot of work but It felt good to help. We sweated out of our eyelids it was so humid and sunny. This week we also took a missionary into Manhattan for a doctor’s appointment. Well, after the appointment the missionary found a news paper called Gay City. He read an article from it and all three of us were shocked. I thought you all might want to know the kind of things that are going on in the Homosexual community so you can know what kind of battle is in store for our families.
1. There are councilors that help the unfortunately heterosexual to become Gay. It is said that 85% of heterosexuals can become good gays or lesbians.
2. There is a church that believes that Jesus Christ won't return for the second coming until everyone is homosexual.
3. One woman praised Jesus for helping her to learn that girl-on-girl action was right for her.
4. One man expressed his joy that God was happy that he was Gay.
5. There was talk in a community of Gays that they were happy that they were all able to learn to be "full-humans" because of their homosexuality and that they felt sorry for those of us who are continuing to be heterosexual.
The missionary we were with said some hateful things concerning the people who wrote these blasphemies. I want to encourage you all, right now, DO NOT FALL VICTIM TO HATE. These things these people believe may be evil, the family is definitely under attack and yes we must defend it... But we have to remember that God loves all of his children the same regardless of their actions. We do not want to be the reason that some person hates the church. If we are seen doing or saying hateful things to people we will be viewed as the bad guys who persecute others and force our beliefs on others. We have to remember that the churches stance on Homosexuality is that it is a temptation for some people just like alcoholism or stealing might be for someone else. These people have believed their own justifications because it feels better than to feel the natural guilt that comes from doing what is contrary to the will of the lord. We all have the light of Christ. So, Love people. Love and serve them until they see our sincere desire for their well being. Hate the sin or transgression not the person, and realize that everyone has weakness.
Well, I have to go, my companion is getting restless.
I hope you all have a good week.
Love
-Elder Samuel Austin Morris
Hello. I am a missionary for the New York, New York south mission and I struggle to do what’s right. I know I am in the right place at the right time. I also know I have a lot to improve upon, but what a better place then in queens. I would not want to be anywhere else right now. I really miss some of you, but that won't stop me from trying to magnify myself and taking advantage of this one shot I have at being a NYNYC South missionary. I don't think my current numbers would reflect my hart. This week I got the lowest numbers of my whole mission. I don't feel that the fact I am an office elder, or the fact we had a busy week justifies anything. However I still have at least one more transfer to get balancing mission office work and missionary work.
I saw a dead bird the other day. The scriptures tell us that God knows that bird and that he knew when It fell and why it passed away. Like I told an 8 year old and a 5 year old member last night and like my Dad always taught me, "If God knows about that sparrow falling from the sky, then why would he not know who you are?" I think that statement was just as much for myself as it was the kids. I believe when someone speaks by the spirit the people listening and the person speaking are instructed.
You know the saying "whatever floats your boat", or "whatever tickles your fancy"? Well, I thought of another variation. :D "Whatever tumbles your tumblers"! I like it, what about you.
Well, The Hiltz boys are pretty much a no for baptism for a long while. There mom does not cooperate with us and the kids have very little desire to come to church. I don't know if I would either if I were in their shoes. They kind of use their mothers doubt and the fact that their parents are separated as their own advantage and they get away with a lot. Its odd to me that a legally separated couple would still live together in the same apartment and sleep in the same room..... But, it’s not really my concern I suppose. :S
Vishnu. :( Man, he has had bronchitis all week. When I called him to talk to him and see if we could help or maybe give him a blessing and coughed his lungs out and struggled to breath. He is on antibiotics but he still is struggling. We plan on bringing him a Nepali B.O.M. probably tomorrow, maybe tonight. We really do not want him to fall through the cracks, because we really were led to him, he really is prepared.
Well, this week we did a lot of service. We moved two families this week; the Bangeters (which mad me sad; Alpiners going home...) and this lady in our wards sister. Her sister had a mental breakdown because of an extreme case of bi-polar disorder (A time bomb of an episode apparently). It was a lot of work but It felt good to help. We sweated out of our eyelids it was so humid and sunny. This week we also took a missionary into Manhattan for a doctor’s appointment. Well, after the appointment the missionary found a news paper called Gay City. He read an article from it and all three of us were shocked. I thought you all might want to know the kind of things that are going on in the Homosexual community so you can know what kind of battle is in store for our families.
1. There are councilors that help the unfortunately heterosexual to become Gay. It is said that 85% of heterosexuals can become good gays or lesbians.
2. There is a church that believes that Jesus Christ won't return for the second coming until everyone is homosexual.
3. One woman praised Jesus for helping her to learn that girl-on-girl action was right for her.
4. One man expressed his joy that God was happy that he was Gay.
5. There was talk in a community of Gays that they were happy that they were all able to learn to be "full-humans" because of their homosexuality and that they felt sorry for those of us who are continuing to be heterosexual.
The missionary we were with said some hateful things concerning the people who wrote these blasphemies. I want to encourage you all, right now, DO NOT FALL VICTIM TO HATE. These things these people believe may be evil, the family is definitely under attack and yes we must defend it... But we have to remember that God loves all of his children the same regardless of their actions. We do not want to be the reason that some person hates the church. If we are seen doing or saying hateful things to people we will be viewed as the bad guys who persecute others and force our beliefs on others. We have to remember that the churches stance on Homosexuality is that it is a temptation for some people just like alcoholism or stealing might be for someone else. These people have believed their own justifications because it feels better than to feel the natural guilt that comes from doing what is contrary to the will of the lord. We all have the light of Christ. So, Love people. Love and serve them until they see our sincere desire for their well being. Hate the sin or transgression not the person, and realize that everyone has weakness.
Well, I have to go, my companion is getting restless.
I hope you all have a good week.
Love
-Elder Samuel Austin Morris
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