Apostate songs are the best songs!

Hello, Hello! I welcome you today, Hello! 

Hope everyone had a fantastic week! :) the work in Dublin is going well! Loads and loads of seed planting...but somewhere there's someone ready :) haha I always heard that being a missionary makes you aware of weaknesses you didn't know that you even had. Holy cow ain't that the truth!! However it is so amazing seeing the promise in Ether 12 show to be true. :) 

Funny story. So the car we drive is some sort of new fancy car (no idea what kind...sorry) and it has a bunch of crazy confusing features that we are horrible at working. The Windows for example! They are impossible to get to cooperate! 😂 you'll push the button and it'll roll all the way down even if you just want it half way. Then if you try rolling it up just a little bit it rolls up the whole way! Lol it is so hard to use!! You also don't insert a key to start it...you just push a button! Well, Unfortunately the key stopped working last night right when we were trying to go home. Sister Gruver and I said a quick prayer that we'd get the car to somehow unlock and start, and that we would be able to make it home on time. Our prayer was answered! :) we were able to get in, but we were going to be late getting home. Then Heavenly Father gave us another miracle. Somehow we shaved 5ish minutes off the clock and were able to make it home on time! It was amazing. :)

We met a super amazing family this week! They were so kind and actually let us in to teach them!  The little kids were running around the house screaming and laughing, doing kung fu, dancing, etc. So it was very very difficult to teach anything. 😂 The mom was just sitting there completely chill as her younger child was crawling all over her and squishing her face. 😂  they had seen the Book of Mormon musical, and their children started singing one of the songs. It was actually pretty funny. :) they asked us to come back to give them a copy of the Book of Mormon! Yay! The mom said that she'd read it, but her husband just said, "I'm not converting". They don't want to take the discussions, but they wanted to read! Little do they know the Holy Ghost will be teaching them as they read :) meeting them was such a tender mercy! :) 

There was an old car show in Plain City this weekend, and it was so cool!! They had old music playing and it took every ounce of self control in my body not to sing along or dance. Haha I definitely did sing a little and tap my feet a few times. ;) sister Gruver and I are absolutely horrible at not singing apostate songs!! 😂 we actually came up with the song that describes being a missionary in Dublin. Any guesses? Lol... the song "Hello, Goodbye" by the Beatles 😂 particularly the line that says, "I don't know why you say goodbye when I say hello." 

Well that's about all I've got from this week. :) I love being a missionary. :) thanks everyone for all your prayers and letters! Also thanks to everyone who has sent me packages! It's the best surprise ever! :) love you all!! Have an amazing week!! Remember how much happy is in life!! 

Love,

Sister Morris 

Brad:

Here's another story Miki sent to us in her letter to Karcie and me that I thought I'd share.

Miki:

I had a really really neat experience the other night that i wanna share!! So we met this guy who said that he doesn't believe everything his church teaches. He said that he believes his church isn't the same that Christ established. He told us that we needed to pray to God and ask Him if the Church is the exact same one the Savior established. Pshhh.., a testimony building opportunity? Challenge accepted!! 😊 that night I asked Heavenly Father in prayer if the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints contains the f ulness of the the gospel. Well, I tried listening for an answer, but it didn't come within 2 mi tues and I fell asleep haha! Then in my dream I got the answer!! It was SO cool!! Throughout my dream I heard the MOTAB singing songs that bore testimony of the gospel (couldn't tell you which ones) and I heard/felt a voice say to me, "you know it's true." IT WAS SO COOL!! I had a normal dream, but intertwined throughout Heavenly Father put music into my head to answer my question. IT WAS cool because A. He answered the question and B. He used music knowing how much music means to me!! It's I ncredibke how Heavenly Father knows s so personally and will answer our prayers according to how He knows we will best receive an answer. 😊 it was the coolest experience! Definitely going back to that man to talk more. :) he definitely needs the gospel!! 

You would think I'm blonde or something...

Hello lovely people! :)

This week was very good, but nothing super crazy or out of the ordinary happened. Because of that, I am just going to tell a story that I read during personal study one day this week. It comes from the book "Our Heritage".

"A man who crossed the plains in the Martin handcart company lived in Utah for many years. One day he was in a group of people who began sharply criticizing the Church leaders for ever allowing the Saints to cross the plains with no more supplies or protection than a handcart company provided. The old man listened until he could stand no more, then he aros and said with great emotion:

"I was in that company and my wife was in it....we suffered beyond anything you can imagine and many died of exposure and starvation, but did you ever hear a survivor of that company utter a word of criticism?...We cam through with the absolute knowledge that God lives for we became acquainted with him in our extremities. I have pulled my handcart when I was so weak and weary from illness and lack of food that Icould hardly put one foot ahead of the other. I have looked ahead and seen a patch of sand or a hill slope and I have said, I can go only that far and there I must give up, for I cannot pull the load through it...I have gone on to that sand and when I reached it, the cart began pushing me. I have looked back many times to see who was pushin my cart, but my eyes saw no one. I knew then that the angels of God were there. Was I sorry that I chose to come by handcart? No.Neither then nor any minute of my life since. The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay, and I am thankful that I was privileged to come in the Martin Hadcart Company,:

Wow, right? I was in complete awe when I read this story. We all go through difficult times in life, but as we turn to our Savior during those times we will be able to see God's hand and we will find joy in the journey. :) 

I just thought of a story from this week to tell you all! Okay, this was SO COOL!! Sister Gruver and I have worked so hard this week to find new investigators, and one of them was the biggest miracle. So we drove to a neighborhood that we had in our plans, and we decided to say another prayer even though we had just said one not five minutes ago. After we said the prayer there was a man mowing his lawn and we felt like we shouldn't talk to him. Yeah...that goes against just about everything missionaries are supposed to do! However we followed the prompting and continued walking down the street. Suddenly we felt very strongly that we needed to change our direction and turn down another street. Despite how confident we felt about the street we were on, we decided to act on the prompting. We walked straight up to a random house and met John. We talked for probably ten minutes, and he was so kind! Sister Gruver bore a super powerful testimony after we did a brief rundown of the restoration, and then he said, "you know, had you been just one minute later, I would have been gone. I was just heading out the door when you knocked." WHAT?! Heavenly Father is so cool! :) We are going to teach him tomorrow, so please keep praying!! :) 

Okay, I also had a really dumb blonde moment this week at a member's house...I really had to go to the bathroom, and they told me it was down the hall to the right. So I walk down the hall, spin around about three times and couldn't tell which one the bathroom was! The one to my right just had a bunch of canned foods in it! Well...I turned around and asked them to clarify, so they said, "to your right." so I start walking into the room with a whole bunch of cans, and they say again "To your RIGHT." Yep. Nineteen years old and still get my rights and lefts confused sometimes I guess! It would have been less embarrassing if it had been a family I know well...but that was their first impression of me. LOL! Hope that story made you laugh a little. :) 

I hope you all are able to remember Heavenly Father in your lives despite what you may be going through. Remember He is there and that He does love you lots and lots. :) Thanks so much for all the support and all of your prayers! Be happy everyone!! 

Love,

Sister Morris

PS

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BROOKIE!!(Or Danielle...?) :)

PPS

If you have time you should read this story of my great great grandma :) It is super cool! 

7 days! Weeks! What?!

Hello hello hello!!! 😊

I was told that my email last week was not very informative, so I'll try to make this one a little better. ;) 

Well, seven weeks in the mission field FLEW by!! We are currently waiting to hear if either of us are going transferred...ahhh!! We probably won't hear until about 3 this afternoon, so you all will have to wait anxiously all week to see if the journey continues in Dublin or not. Sorry for the cliffhanger ;)

Okey dokey, where to start? Hmmm...well, I guess we can talk about a really cool tender mercy contact we had not last week, but two weeks ago. It was the end of the night and we hadn't met anyone who wanted to talk for longer than about 35 seconds, (besides a guy who was basically talking to himself while looking at us about why exactly he was athiest...haha he was a bit confused it seemed.) Anyways, we decided to knock on one more house and then we would walk back to our car. Well, a very intimidating man opened the door and just stared at us. Thankfully he was holding a baby so that automatically made him less intimidating. We started testifying of the Book of Mormon, and his whole demeanor changed. :) he got super relaxed and started talking back! What?! A real life human being conversation?? Yeah, we were surprised too. ;) he started explain ing that he is Catholic, but he has had questions that haven't been able to be answered by his beliefs. He said that he has been praying for years to feel an answer to this question, and just h asnt gotten it yet. Oh boy, we were freaking out on the inside! THE BOOK OF MORMON HAS THE ANSWER!! :) don't worry, we kept our cool...for the most part. We immediately started talking about experiences with prayer, and how we have been able to find answers through the Book of Mormon. We felt strongly to open up to a verse in Alma 36 and read it to him. Wow. God knows what people need to hear. At this point his 8 year old daughter had joined the conversation, and expressed how much she liked that scripture. The man loved it as well. He got a little emotional as we were able to testify that through Jesus Christ and His atonement, every bit of guilt we have ever felt can be replaced with joy so long as we turn to Christ and sincerely repent. He really loved that. We continued talking to him about more of what we believe, and he was very receptive. Haha as was his 8 year old daughter. She kept saying, "I like you guys. I like that you talk about Jesus." She was so cute! The man told us that ten years earlier a set of elders actually helped their family move into their current house, and he said he was very impressed by them. We offered to give him a copy of the BOM , and he accepted it because of the elders he met ten years earlier, and because of the impressionThe Spirit had while we were there as well. He said that he wasn't ready to change his religion, but that he was extremely grateful, and that he believes the BOM could also be the word of God.:) he isn't a new investigator, but it was soo cool to see how well the Lord has everything planned. The elders who met him ten years ago probably have no idea the positive impact they had on this man. Because of their diligence and charity, this man was more willing to listen to us, and the Spirit was able to speak to him more clearly. He saw a light, and because of the elders, us and espedcially the Spirit, he accepted a copy of a book that changes lives...it will change his. I have no doubt about that...even if Sister Gibson and I don't get to see that happen. :)

That was a super cool experience. :) unfortunately Dave and Brenda dropped us. :( but, they still want to keep in contact with us so they're feeding us dinner next week! Haha hopefully we don't get transferred...thay would be awkward for everyone! 😅 we are sad that they don't want to take the discussions anymore, but we know that they felt the Spirit, and they will feel it again at some point in their lives. :) 

The work in Dublin is going great! Miracles unfold every single day. We met about five people this past week who all said something along the lines of, "this is really cool. I want to come to church sometime to experience more!". None of them came to church, but they all have a desire, even if it is small! :) we are able to teach the restoration at least once a day, which is a HUGE improvement even from the first few weeks I was here. :) I love serving. It's the greatest privilege ever!! Haha also the scariest and hardest in some ways, but it is so rewarding and so incredible!! Thank you all for your prayers! They help SO much!! Hope you all have an amazing week!! 😊

Love,

Sister Morris

Wow Wow Wow

Hey hey hey, it's a beautiful day!! 🌞

How has everyone's week been? :) crazy that school starts up next week! The summer flew by! Hope you all made fantastic memories and enjoyed the sunshine :) well, there is sad news, good news, and fantastic news to share. Sister Gibson transferred to Marysville :( but, we are still in the same district so we will see each other every week at district meeting :) my new companion, Sister Gruver, is amazing. :) she's been out for fifteen months and is one of the happiest people I've met! It's insane how well she's able to follow the Spirit in contacts! Within three days we got six new investigators which combined with the other three from earlier in the week made nine! Nine new investigators in Dublin! 😄 it has been such a great week! The Spirit has been so so strong because of obedience, optimism, faith, and happiness! :) 

It was funny because on Saturday we started the day on bikes, and immediately the song "it's the best day ever" from spongebob came into my head. That was definitely Heavenly Father letting me know that it really was going to be one of the best days ever. :) we met so many amazing people, got new investigators, had fun, laughed a lot, and really felt the Spirit with us all day. :) funny how you can feel the Spirit so much stronger when you are being obedient AND super happy :) man...missionary work is so awesome!! 

Another super cool miracle is a new spiritual gift Heavenly Father has given to me. So in each area there is an assigned designated driver for the transfer, and I was the chosen one this transfer. I know what you're thinking, because I thought the same thing. "What?! I can't even find my way around Utah most of the time!" Haha I was super worried about driving because Ohio is SO confusing! There aren't even any mountains to help you know at least which way you're facing! Many many prayers were said to be given help with directions, and I'll tell ya, He has certainly helped. It's crazy driving or biking somewhere, and just knowing where to go! I am not familiar with this area really at all, yet I know how to get from point A to point B! That is all because of Heavenly Father's help :) 

Sister Gruver and I are super excited about all our new investigators, and are way excited to see their conversion...even if it's just baby step conversion. :) I love you all! Thanks for all the prayers and emails! I hope you all are able to stay happy and always find at least one thing to smile about and laugh about :) have a happy week!!

Love,

Sister Morris

Testimonies can be tried...

Hello Hello everyone!!

This week was a good one! It is amazing how every single day we run into people who try to diminish our testimonies, but also how many miracles God provides to help our testimonies grow. I had my first encounter with a serious anti-mormon this past week...and it was scary. Fortunatley the spirit backed up everything we said, so I know that she felt something whether she will admit it or not. The emotions that came after that contact were crazy...I first started crying because of how horrible it seemed, but then I felt completely at peace. I knew that what we had said to her was true. After that experience I can testify more surely that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth. So, that miracle was kind of disguised as a scary experience, but it was a great tender mercy. :) 

We met a man who looks a LOT like Santa Clause, and talked to him for a very long time. Haha he was so funny! We extended baptism to him (yay! first time doing that as a missionary!) and he said YES!! Haha it was a soft invitation, but we will go back to teach him more sometime next week. Iam hoping that he will still be willing to take the discussions, but if he isnt at this time in life I think he will be pretty soon. :) That contact was also a complete miracle from Heavenly Father.:)

Sister Gibson and I are getting pretty great at riding bikes in skirts ;)

Thanks everyone for your prayers! Love you all!! :) 

Love,

Sister Morris

PS

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY AMAZING DAD!!! :)