Hi, Hi, Hi!

Hello, lovely people! :)

Yep! I made it to the lovely, flat land of Ohio!! :) it really is very beautiful here!! :) let's start off talking about my trainer. Sister Gibson is amazing!! :) she's been out for 10 months, she's super funny, she is encouraging, she's a great teacher, and she's got amazing curly hair. It has been great getting to know her and learn from her! :) she has left me really nice and encouraging notes on random objects the past few days, which has made adjusting a lot easier. :) small tender mercies! We are in an area called Dublin. Let me set the scene for you. Okay, so picture yourself walking around the neighborhoods up around the Draper temple, add humidity, take away the temple and the church and members, take away mou rains and replace them with ginormous trees. Congrats! You're in Dublin, Ohio!! :) most of our area is like that. Haha I think 90% of the houses we knock on are owned by multi millionaires. So you can guess what happens when they open their door to see two missionaries smiling ear to ear at them. They frown, ask us what we want, then say to go away. It is so sad seeing people reject something so amazing!!! :( they this k they have everything they could ever want, but they have no idea what they are missing! :( it is heartbreaking when they answer their doors and tell you that they know enough about Christ, and for us to go away. You can never know enough of Christ!! Haha I'm starting to understand what missionaries mean when they say that they wish they could take people's agency away lol! THERE have been some people who will smile and listen to us, though! :) it's amazing when they do, because you can see in their eyes when the Spirit touches them. :) I'm so excited to find a millionaire that will accept Christ's message of happiness that we have to share with them. :) I know they are out there somewhere!! :) we do have some pretty poor areas in our area too, I'll tell a story about that area now :)

we are helping re activate a couple right now, and they are absolutely AMAZING!!! THEIR names are Tracy and Travis Hamm, and I could seriously go on and on about them! Travis grew up a member, and Tracy got baptized about three years ago. Unfortunately Tracy's family is extremely anti Mormon, and that caused some contention, and caused them to stop going to church. They have been visited by home teachers and visiting teachers and missionaries for the past few years, and have started coming back to church!! :D they said TO sister Gibson and me on saturday that they had talked to each other and decided that if they came back to church, they were coming back for good. :) they both quit smoking a week ago, and their countenances are SO bright!! Mom, if you heard the prayer Travis offered during our lesson with them you would have cried your eyes out!! ;) he was so sincere in expressing his love and gratitude for Heavenly Father and for all the missionaries. He is a super funny and sarcastic dude, but holy cow...his prayer was probably the most amazing prayer I have ever heard!! They both bear testimony all the time of how grateful they are for Heaven,y Father. :) it was so funny listening to Tracy as she was talking about her new dresses. She said, "we don't have any money to buy church clothes, so I just thought I was gonna wear my nicest jeans to church! Then mom came home with five dresses from the food pantry!! They never in all my years here have had dresses in my size!! Someone complimented me on this one and I said to them, 'thanks, Heavenly Father gave it to me.'" Haha it was so sweet!! They have seen Heavenly Father's hand in their lives multiple times every single day!! (They are in their 40s, but Tracy's mom lives with them:)) they are so happy to be coming back to church, regardless of family disapproval :) we are going over on Wednesday to teach them about family history so they can find names to take to the temple in a mknfh!! They are so excited, and so happy. I'll have to ask if I can take a picture of them so you all can see for yourselves how much they glow. :)

Also, I want to let you all know how hard it is to ride a bike in a skirt!! Haha it is waaay harder than you would think! At least way harder than I thought it would be 😂😂 it is very fun at the same time, and people look at you like you're completely crazy...which is not all false. ;) 

Ohio is wonderful!:) I really love it here, and am so so happy! :) thanks everyone for all of your prayers!! :) I hope you all have a happy week!! Love you all! 

Love,

Sister Morris 

 

 

    

First day in Ohio

Hello, lovely parents!! I hope you're having a great time in Powell! :) we are able to email you guys right now to let you know we are here safe and happy. :) today has been super great but exhausting! As soon as we got to Ohio, they took us to OSU campus, and we went contacting! I went with a sister and we handed out a BOM, and got two new investigators for her! The work is amazing!! Haha we did face lot of rejection though... and a creepy guy started hitting on us...that was less fun Haha! But regardless of rejection, it's so worth it because even if we get one person a day interested, they are closer to their Savior. :) my mission President and his wife are b ith way nice!! :) I love you both tons!! Thanks for being so supportive and raising all us in the gospel. My testimony and knowledge of Jesus Christ has saved me so many times,...and that's because of the way you two raised me. :) I love you both, and you're my heroes!! <3 

> 

> Love,

> Sister Miki Your Daughter

GO, GO, GO, JOSEPH

Hello, loyal readers! 

Week three...the final week. It was so great!! :) I can't really remember a ton of what happened this week. Every day is pretty much the same Haha! I Guess I'll share something funny from this week again. So we were hearing around that the Su day devotional speaker was a special treat, and we were all getting way pumped thinking one of the general authorities was going to come talk to us. But then as we were in the gigantic auditorium thing, his name popped up on the scteans... DONNY OSMOND. that's right, people. The man who played Joseph in the Amazing Trchhnicolor dreamcot came to the MTC. :) It was definitely not at all what any of us would expect a Sunday devotional to be like, but he got everyone laughing really hard, and a ton of people needed that, so it was actually really great. :) after the devotional, we chose an Elder Holla d film to watch...that was a bad choice in movies. It was this role play Sunday school class film, and it was super awkward and zoomed in on people's faces all the time. Well, as some of you know, sometimes I fall into a mood where I just cannot stop laughing, even if what's going on isn't funny...yep. I was in one of those moods during this film. Haha it was so bad! Whenever I would finally get myself h see control, this elder sitting next to me would start laughing, and I'd start allover again! Needless to say  I was extremely grateful when that film ended, because I could finally laugh out loud.  :) 

The time in the MTC went by SO fast! I've loved every single minute here...minus the times that my district wanted to go workout I'm exercise equipment,;) just kidding, even that wasn't bad, :) advice for anyone preparing to serve their mizsion: don't be afraid of the MTC. It seriously is not bad at all! I was told to think of it as "my time with christ", and I'll tell ya, even in three short weeks of being here ,y relationship with Jesus Christ has grown so much. So don't be afraid of the MTC! It is a super great time! :) 

I want to tell you all something. I have never been so happy and excited to do something that scares me to death. Talking to strangers is something that scares me SO badly, but I'm so happy to go and tall to dozens of strangers every single day about how much their Savior loves them. :) the gospel is SO important! I am so excited for all the adventures in Ohio over the next 17 months, but I'm most excited to see people find Christ in their lives, and to feel of his love for them. I'm so excited to grow closer to Him myself. :) I hope you all strive everyday to grow closer to your Savior. I promise that He loves you more than you could ever imagine! That's probably my favorite part about being set apart as a full time missionary--we are blessed with the ability to feel of Christ's love and Heavenly Father's love for complete strangers! :) It is such an incredible feeking...please believe me when I say that you are loved! :) if you don't know that for yourself, I invite (missionary Miki coming out, sorry!) I invite you all to pray to Heavenly Father to feel of His love for you. If any of you have an experience with that I'd love to hear!! :) 

Thanks everyone so much for all of your prayers! They help so so much! :) thanks to everyone who emails me! They put a smile on my face every single time! :) I hope you all have an amazing week!! LOVE YOU ALL!!

PS

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE SISTER SHAYLI!!!! Everyone stop what you're doing and tell shay happy birthday. :) (it's on the 21)

PPS 

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!! Thank you all you dad's for being the best 😊 especially my dad...Brad Dad/dadley :) 

Okay, bye for reals! Remember to laugh about stuff every single day!! Love you all tons and tons!! 

I'm a Boxer!

Hello, loyal fans!

First and most importantly,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SYDNEY!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!

This week was another great week in the MTC! :) (my tablet likes to autocorrect MTC to HTC, so if you see that, I meant MTG lol) I'm gonna tell some more funny stories and some more super incredibly amazing spiritual moments. :) there are lots of both on a mission. :)

I mentioned our investigator Jose last week. He's such an awesome dude! Sis Rolfson and I really connected with him, and we're able to work with the Spirit to draw him closer to Christ. However, on our lesson on Friday, he brought all his boxing stuff to show us and he was so excited! It was so so funny. Okay, so he got all his stuff out at the beginning and then started jumping around the Little room showing us different boxing moves. Hahaha it was so funny!! But wait, it gets better. HE then started teaching us how to box! So all you who made fun of my weak punches, you better watch out in 18 months. ;) haha it really was way funny! Don't worry, we also taught him a lesson. :) the lesson before he had given sister Rolfson and me a list of questions he has, and was wondering if we could answer them for him. Before bed the night before we were going to give him the lesson of his questions, I felt like I should read from where I was at in the Book of Mormon. I thought that would be a good idea, so I opened up to where I was in alma. The chapter was super great...talking about how awesome Moroni was, and then all of the sudden, there was an answer to one of Jose's questions that we had been having a hard time answering. The best part? The verse of scripture said word for word the main part of Jose's question!! Holy cow!! It's hard to type out these experiences, so I hope you all can still understand how great that was. The Spirit knows what he's doing, so if you feel like doing something that's good, DO IT!! When sister Rolfson and I shared part of that chapter with him and he saw his question answered, he was in awe. Not with us, but with the Book of Mormon! It answered his question directly! The book of mormon seriously is the greatest book. Even if it's hard to understand sometimes. 😉

Guess what?? We have movie night every week at the MTC!! :) every Sunday night after the devotional, they play about 7 different films for us to choose from. :) my district decided to watch a super duper awesome one this Sunday. Any guesses? No, it wasn't the new Wonder Woman movie...even better. We got to watch the Joseph Smith movie!! That is a super good movie, and I'm not just saying that because I'm a missionary. ;) I'd definitely recommend it to everyone! It's got the scary parts, a romantic kiss under a bridge (haha that caused the funniest reaction from all of us missionaries) crazy awesome spiritual goodness, and not too bad of acting! Plus, you get to learn more about Joseph Smith and the gospel, so that's a bonus. :) 

It's funny how growing up I've been taught different concepts of the gospel, and o knew that they were important, but it never really hit just how amazing they are. For example, we are given the opportunity to take the sacrament every week. Why is that so important? Because we get to renew our baptismal covenants and be cleansed of sins we have repented of. But why is the sacrament so amazing? Because it shows us just how much God loves us! He allows us to basically be baptized and cleansed every single week if we sincerely repent. Each week we are given a new slate and another chance to become more like our Savior. Funny how it's taken me so long to realize this, but I thought I'd share it with you all. :) 

I really hope all this has made sense...i hope it's not been too boring, because being a missionary is definitely NOT boring.:) well, I love you all and hope you all have a super happy week! Thanks to everyone for the prayers, they really help more than you could ever imagine! :) I hope you all take time this week to ponder about something, pray, and read in the Book of Mormon to find an answer from your Heavenly Father. HE loves you. I promise you that. HE wants all of us to talk to Him every single day!:) try and spread smiles wherever you go! :) remember that you are all loved. :) 

Love you!! Be so happy!! :) 

Sister Mimi Morris

 

    

 

   

Hey hey hey, everyone!! :) 

Well...the MTC is super 100% unlike I expected it to be! Don't worry, that's a good thing. :) I was expecting to be super stressed out, homesick, and exhausted. It's so not like that! The first day was hard until I got to the MTC and saw who my escort was...MY BEST FRIEND!! Now that's a tender mercy if I ever saw one! Sister Engstrom (more commonly known as Sarah) showed me around with a smiling face, and she was super excited...as was I. :) unfortunately we had to bid farewell after she showed me where my classroom was. Slowly our district started filing in, and we were getting to know each other. Wanna know something cool? We are an all sister district! :) four of us going to Columbus, (Sister Franks, Sister Bennett, Sister Rolfson, and mysekf) and four are going to Ogden, so watch out for them Lynn and Gordon! :) they are sister Sudweeks, Sister Ure, Sister Clapton, and Sister Mars. We have had a ton of fun with each other, and we all get along great!! My companion is Sister Rolfson, and she is just amazing. :) the funniedt thing was that as a new missionionary, they guve yiu a sticker on your tag, so literalky every singke oerson uou pass says, "Welxome to the MTC!" I learned lated that day that the same missionaries give that sticker is a "dork dot". Lol nedless to say, i was glad to tske it off that night. ;) dthr most stressful part of that first day was honestly putting our dinner trays onto this weird conveyer belt thing. I don't know why that was stressful, but holy cow...it was.

Alright, now for some stories. :) 

It is insane how quickly paced the MTC is!! We taught our first investigator on our second day! Sister Rolfson and I have a ton of different Interests, but we work really well as a companionship! :) but I guarantee that our lessons wouldn't go as well as they do without the Spirit. For example, we got two new investigators yesterday, and had planned on teaching them about the Restoration. We are given some background information on our investigators, so we planned around what we knew of them, and what we were feeling inspired to study. We had our first lesson with our investigator named Carrie. Sister Rolfson and I spent the first little bit just getting to know her, and then we started getting into the lesson. She really wanted a relationship with God that she could know for sure He is there, to feel of His love, and also to feel comforted. It was going really well, and then suddenly the Spirit prompted me very strongly to open up to John 14 and have her read a few verses. HOLY COW. LISTEN TO THE SPIRIT, PEOPLE!! As she was reading them, she just started crying. I was soo happy that the Spirit told me to have her read those two verses and that I listened, because she definitely felt our Heavenly Father's love. :) now hopefully we can make her aware of that tomorrow;) as we got up to leave, she hugged us and said with a huge smile on her face, "I feel like you guys are my sisters!!" 

Okay, story number two!! :) our second investigator is José. He moved from Cali, and doesn't really like Utah very much. Haha Sister Rolfson is from Colorado and could relate with him thankfully. The first ten minutes of the lesson I just sat back not knowing what to say as Jose was saying what he doesn't like about Utah and Mormons, and Sister Rolfson was agreeing with some, but trying to emphasize that the gospel is perfevt, but members most certainly aren't. She started gaining his trust, and he opened up more to us. He said that he has struggled with anxiety because of bullying and that it's been really hard on him. BOOM! Finally I could relate!!! I bore my testimony of coming to know for myself that Heavenly Father is there, and how persistent prayer was definitely the key. :) Sister Rolfson bore her testimony as well. Then he'd talk about something else, and we would be prompted by the spirit as to what to say to him. The only possible way to describe how it felt in that room was an insanely intense spirit. :) Heaven Father loves us soo much, and as missionaries we get the amazing privilege of feeling some of that love He has for others. Jose felt that spirit. He got emotional and said, "wow, I wasn't planning on telling you guys any of this when we first started talking. Ithink you're an answer to 8 dang (not the word he used) years of prayer." WHAT?! I wanted to explode with tears of gratitude and joy when he said that!!! Now, Sister Rolfson and I didn't hit hardly any of the lesson points we had planned, but as we are told everyday, we teach people not lessons. :) the Holy Ghost really is the best teacher! 

I am so extremely grateful to be a missionary. :) thank you all so much for your prayers! They really do help so much! :) I hope you all enjoy this beautiful summer weather! Don't forget to laugh, and don't forget that Heavenly Father loves you...SO much!! :) OH! Before I forget, I have been so happy because there is unlimited juice here!! Juice is the best!! :) alrighty...that's all I have for this week!! Keep on being you and keep on being haooy!! 

Sister Morris

PS

Thanks so much to the Engstrom family for the sweet note and packsgs!! You guys are the best!! Much love:)