Monday, September 29, 2014

#didyouthinktopray

Hello Everyone!

#didyouthinktopray
So this week has been the longest week so far. We had a lot of appointments fall through and the areas that we have been tracting in are all super Catholic....not gonna lie, it has gets super annoying when people say "oh were already catholic so we're good". But I know that everyone still has their agency and can choose for themselves. There has been some good things also. On Monday I somehow got talked into going running in the morning....WE WENT 3 MILES!!!  I haven't run more than a mile since High School! So I was SUPER sore for the first half of the week. Then we were playing basketball with the zone leaders and I dropped an elbow right in Elder Halls eyebrow and split it right open! We decided that we didn't have time to go get him stitches, so we went to the store and just bought some super glue:) We met with a lot of less active members this week and have really been trying to get everyone into reading the Book Of Mormon. I think it has been working because a lot of them actually came to church this week! It couldn't have been more perfect since it was
Carolyn Morgan #didyouthinktopray
testimony meeting. The 7 year old kid Carter that I told you about in my last email got up at the very beginning and shared his testimony of the Book Of Mormon. It was such a simple and brief testimony but there was so much power behind it! There is not a doubt in my mind that through Carters testimony, the spirit was able to touch the heart of every person there, Member, non-member or less active. It was freaking awesome! Then we had Zone Conference this week, it was on faith unto baptism. I am realizing more and more what a huge part faith plays in everything that we do! We also talked about Elder Bednars message about sweeping the earth with a flood. I am extending the challenge to each of you to watch "I pray when" here is the link: http://www.mormonchannel.org/more-videos?v=3738361705001, and take a picture of yourself or your family and when you pray, then post it on facebook or instagram. Of course don't forget the #didyouthinktopray. The lord is truly hastening his work and even though you are not called as missionaries you can help spread the gospel through social media!

 I pray when I need peace. #didyouthinktopray
Thank you all for all of your letter and support and especially the prayers! I can feel them and they help me keep going everyday! I love and miss you all!

 Elder Morgan
 
To the Mogan Brady Family,
I would love to fill this page with photos of all of you taking Ryan's challenge. Please email your pictures to dstilson@comcast.net and I will update them on his blog.
Thanks, Shalise Stilson 
 

Monday, September 22, 2014

Faith, Prayer and Service


Hello Everyone!
 It has been a pretty good week with lots of service!! We had transfers this week and I am still in Rome with Elder Prestwich. One of Zone leaders Elder Bybee got transferred so we said bye to him on Tuesday and went and got ice cream at Nicki Doodles.  The we helped the Polands stack a ton of wood!! Everyone out here pretty much refuses to use a normal heater out here because it is so expensive! I'm sure that I will get to stack at least a whole forests worth of wood by this winter.  But the Polands are awesome! They fed us dinner after we helped them. While we were eating their oldest son, Carter he's 7, asked if he could share his testimony with us. He said that they just finished the Book Of Mormon and he did what Moroni told him to do. He said that after he prayed he felt the same way the people did after eating the fruit from the tree of life, he just felt all warm and happy inside. It is so cool to see how the spirit can testify to us at even such a young age! Then on Friday we got to go and help another lady in our ward paint her play room. Holy Crap did that take forever!!!!! After we got done painting we did a lot of tracting. We found one older guy, his name is Keneth.
I killed my 1st and hopefully only bedbug
He could talk your ear off. But he told us how ever since he was little his mom always taught them to pay no matter where they were. He is letting us come back today to teach him about the restoration and I am super excited about that!! Then on Saturday guess what we got to do.....yep,  more service! We helped a less active member get his pool ready for winter. It was pretty fun and I now no longer ever ever want to have a pool haha. After service we had planned to drive all of the way out to Camden, it's only 20 miles away but when you have limited miles, 20 miles is a long way! We didn't really have any set appointments so when we said a pray before we left our apartment, we prayed that people would be home and that we would meet new people in the area that we would be working. We didn't get to teach very many people but everyone was home!! We were able to set up return appointments on Tuesday when we go back up there with like 10 people!!! My testimony of Prayer in being strengthened everyday! It was funny ready Matt's email last week and he said that their Zone Conference was on having faith the baptize, turns out ours is on the exact same thing!! I never realized how much more meaningful things are when we have faith that our Heavenly Father will help us! Even just in simple things like praying that people would be home! I know that the reason we were able to see so many people yesterday is because we had FAITH that our pray would be answered!


It is starting to get colder here and the leaves are starting to change into the brightest yellows, reds and oranges I have ever seen!! I will make sure to send pictures when all of the trees start to change! I am starting to get used to the rain....except for yesterday, we had to hid under the garage at a fire station because it was starting to soak threw our "water proof" jackets! But I love it here in New York!!

I hope everything is going well at home! I Love and miss you all!
Love
Elder Morgan 
 

Monday, September 15, 2014

I made it through my 1st transfer!


Hello Everyone!

It has been a pretty good week! I made it through my 1st transfer! It went by so fast and I have a feeling this second one will be even faster with General Conference and Stake Conference! It is already starting to get cold here! it was like 30 degrees this morning when we went to the gym with our ZL's. It does make it nice though, especially since we have done a ton of tracting this week! We also had a baptism this week! We invited a few of our investigators but unfortunately none of them showed up....super frustrating
but oh well. We have had to work really hard at finding people lately. oh and we had a JW come out and start yelling at us this week and it was super funny! One of our Zone leaders, Elder Bybee, is getting transferred to a different zone which kinda sucks cause he is a super awesome missionary and we have gotten to be pretty good friends. We see them a lot because their apartment is like 3 minutes away from our. I hope everyone is doing well! I love and miss you all so much!  AND GOOD LUCK SHEALEIGH!!!!!! :):)
Elder Morgan
 
 
 
Day at the Utica Zoo 



 



 

Monday, September 8, 2014

Today we get to go to the Utica Zoo!


Hey everyone!

This week has been ok. We have had a hard time with investigators and less active members keeping their appointments which has been pretty frustrating but I know that it will pick up soon. Yesterday was awesome! With fasting and praying that people we were meeting with would have time, we saw 4 or 5 people that usually blow us off! and we set up return appointments with them for this week! So I am super excited for this week and I know that good things are going to continue to happen! I guess you could say that I am finally getting the hang of things cause I am now starting to have dreams about teaching people haha. We have return and report on Friday so I get to see everyone that I was in the MTC with and I am excited to see how everyone is doing. We are going to the zoo today with our district....not sure how the Utica zoo will be....but it will be fun spending the day with everyone. It's cool to see how fasting and prayer is helping out with dad. I know that when we pray with our hearts and have faith that they will be answered the Lord doesn't disappoint. I love and miss you all.


Elder Morgan

Unfortunately Elder Morgan forgot his camera cord this morning so I had to come up with my own pictures to post. Looks like a fun adventure, I hope they all have a great day at the Zoo!              -Shalise

Monday, September 1, 2014

Happy Labor Day

Hello everyone!


I hope everyone is having a good labor day! This week has been a pretty good week...well sort of. At the beginning of the week we had our hopes set pretty high with how many lessons we wanted to teach. We were able to meet with a few of our investigators but a lot of them canceled last minute on us or they just weren't there when we set up for an appointment, which kinda really sucks.


The Famous Mission Grandma!
 
I went on my first exchange down to Herkimer and met the missions famous Grandma! She has been feeding the missionaries for the last 30 years or so. I asked her if she remembered an Elder Brady and she said that she did! So I don't know if her memory is going or if she really met Justin, so you will have to ask him for me and find out if he remembers eating at grandmas. Since it was the end of the month we also ran out of miles for the car and I'm pretty sure that we walked like 40 miles the last 3 days so I am pretty beat. HOPEFULLY our week goes a lot better and I actually have some cool experiences to tell you about next week! I love and miss you all!
 

Elder Morgan

Some things never change... boys will be boys!!
Check out the frog!


I'm all out of my Swedish Fish!
We helped set up a wedding reception