6 week’s already!!!

Hello, friends! 

Sister Hansen and I can hardly believe that this is the last week of the transfer! Thankfully our odds of staying together are pretty high, so we most likely don't have to worry about being transferred next week. :) I would be happy staying in Zanesville for the rest of my mission. ;)

This week was another great one. We have found more people to teach and are slowly getting a good teaching pool. Loma is doing super awesome! She said the prayer at the end of the last lesson and expressed to Heavenly Father how excited she is to be baptized. :) She also expressed to us how much she has grown to love the Book of Mormon. She said that it brings her peace and she has been happier ever since she started reading it everyday. :) I know that reading the Book of Mormon daily has the power to make you happier and to make life less stressful. It has that power because it testifies of the Savior and tells us how we can draw closer to Him. :) 

I am so grateful to be here in Zanesville, Ohio. I am grateful for the opportunity to share the happy news of the restoration of our Savior's church. We are so lucky!!! :) 

Thank you all for your prayers and the emails you send. Love you lots!!

Sister Morris

There is sunshine in my soul today....

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I am going to start this week's email with a song from the very intelligent and sophistated scholar, SpongeBob.

"Mr. Sun came out and he smiled at me. He said, "it's gonna be a good one you just wait and see" It's the best day ever!!!"

That is precisely how I  have felt the past few days. :) The sun has decided to make an appearance again, and has warmed up the beautiful land of Ohio!! :) I will tell ya, I am so happy to not be wearing tights for at least a few days. :)

We had an incredible zone conference yesterday and I feel as though I need to share some of the things the Spirit taught me with all of you. President Stratford talked a lot about involving the members with missionary work, and it answered SO many of Sister Hansen and my prayers. Members are so important for so many reasons. You all have heard them so many times, but let me share with you something I didn't know until President Stratford told us. He made us aware that neither he or us holds the keys to missionary work--bishops, stake presidents, branch presidents, or district presidents hold those keys. It is them and the members who are responsible for missionary work. The keys he holds as mission president and the keys we have as missionaries are the keys to teach and to baptize. That is why it is so important that members are involved in the work!!THey are the ones who should be doing the majority of the finding and all of the fellowshipping. We are here to teach people with the power of the Holy Ghost and to baptize. Sister Hansen and I are so excited to help the members here get more confidence to share their testimonies and the joy that the gospel of Jesus Christ brings. I hope each and every one of you pray for opportunities to share the gospel. There is someone in each of your lives who is prepared or being prepared to accept the fulness of the gospel. :)

The other thing we covered a lot at zone conference was the atonement of Jesus Christ. I love my Savior so much, and spending so many hours discussing the sacrifice he made for each of us was so special. They prepared an object lesson for us to understand the atonement of Jesus Christ a little bit better. They "foreordained" one of the elders to represent the Savior and pulled out a bag of truffles. They said that each of us needed a "truffle of salvation" in order to enter God's presence again. They then walked up to each missionary one at a time and asked if we wanted a truffle. With each missionary, the elder had to do 5 push ups in order for them to receive their truffle. One elder said that he did not want his truffle, so the elder asked the other, "Elder, will you do five push ups so that this elder can have the truffle he doesn't want?" The elder doing the push ups (Shaking from fatigue at this point in time) smiled, nodded, and did five slow push ups for the other elder. The longer this went on, the more tired this elder became, yet he did not stop until he had done five push ups for every single person in the room. Our Savior came and suffered the atonement as a gift for each of us...whether we accept Him or not. I plead with you, if you have not gained a testimony of who Jesus Christ is and what he has done for YOU, please please do whatever it takes to gain one. I promise with everything in me that He loves you. He is there with open arms ready to embrace you in a hug and free you from any and all sorrow, guilt, regret, anxiety, depression, anger, whatever it may be. I testify that he came to succor us. I know that  he lives. I know that he can give us more joy and peace than anything this world could offer. He is my best friend and can be yours as well. :) 

Thank you all for your prayers. I love you all so very much! Have a wonderful week, and do all you can to know your Savior better. Your life will be made forever happier. <3 

Love,

Sister Morris

Lost and Found:)

This week was super great. I am in awe with how much help the Lord has been providing. We have been finding so many awesome people to teach. Our investigator, Loma, is doing AMAZING with her word of Wisdom goals. We had 3 investigators at church again. I know all these miracles are happening because we are receiving so much help from the Lord. :)

One thing I learned this week is that I know what my answer is to President Nelson's last conference talk--"The Book of Mormon: What Would Your Life be Like Without it?" Not just the Book of Mormon, but all the scriptures. I lost mine. We called the member who we thought they might have been with but she didn't see them anywhere in her house. I was SO scared and so sick to my stomach. I felt homesick for the first time while being on the mission really, and I felt like a part of me was just gone. I prayed and prayed that they would be found. As I was praying I was reminded by the Spirit of the power of fasting, so I decided to fast the next day. There is power in fasting and prayer! About halfway through the day we got a text from that same member saying that she had found them!! I danced around and cried tears of joy. :) life would be absolutely horrible without the Book of Mormon, and without any of the scriptures! I pray that i will never ever take advantage of having them. I hope that you all will give your scriptures a hug and truly appreciate them. I promise that if you study them daily, the Lord will answer your questions and help you in any difficulty. :) 

Sorry if my grammar is going down hill...it happens when you're surrounded by hillbillies all the time ;)

Sister Hansen and I are being very blessed everyday. :) thank you all for your prayers, they really help more than you'll ever know! Love you all!! Have a happy week fully of chocolate and flowers and hugs 😊💟

Love,

Sister Morris

The Gospel is good:)

Sister Hansen and I had another week full of absolutely incredible miracles. We have been blessed with soo many teaching opportunities! Haha I think we have taught more lessons in the first 5 days of February than in the whole month of January! :) we have a family of 5 that we are teaching, and they are just the best. We got to a lesson on Monday and the 12 year old son came running down the stairs yelling, "I read it! I read Nephi 1!" Haha it was soo awesome! They are so enthusiastic about the gospel it is awesome. :) 

We were planning on 3 investigators coming to church on Sunday, but last minute every single one of them canceled due to snow. :( Sister Hansen and I prayed before leaving for church to somehow have at least one investigator show up to church. Well...the Lord hears and answers prayers! We had 3 investigators we weren't planning on coming show up!! It was soo amazing! 😊

We went on exchanges yesterday and I got to be with my mom again!! Sister Gibson got transferred to be our STL for her last transfer in the mission! It was so nice being able to catch up with her and be her companion for a bit. The STLs are in an area a lot like Dublin so it was very much a throwback haha. 

I love being a missionary so much. It is a strange thing how we can go all day trying to talk to people who really don't want to talk to us, and still be completely filled with joy. :) I have know that is because of how close I have come to my Savior. ❤ Serving a mission is the best decision I have ever made...it has not been easy by any means, but the strength it has given to my testimony is something I wouldn't trade for the world. 

I invite you all to make a goal to study and ponder the Book of Mormon and the Bible more intently. I promise that you will gain a deeper and stronger testimony of Jesus Christ. You will feel more at peace. You will be able to have a smile on your face even when nobody seems to like you ;) 

Have an amazing week! I love you all! Look for the sunshine in each day. ☀️

Love,

Sister Morris

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