Service and New Beginnings

Hello Everyone!

This last week has been pretty crazy. We have had a lot of opportunities for service this week. We helped one of the former investigators in the area move out of her home and it was HUGE! It was such a cool house! She said it was built in like the 1840's too. I am so glad that she called us to help her move. We were able to get all of the heavy stuff out for her and she was so greatfull because her and her new husband never would have been able to do it by themselves! She couldn't believe that we wouldn't take money from her so she wrote us a super nice letter instead haha. We told her that there

would be missionaries in Tennessee where she is moving. Hopefully our service will help her want to meet with the missionaries in Tennessee. We also got a few referrals this week. They had the Book of Mormon play up in Syracuse this last week and the missionaries in that area handed out over 80 BOM's the 1st night! they actually ran out and had to tell people that they could request one on Mormon.org. We have already gotten two referrals from that! Also a few months ago we had a family history fair here in Rome. We had a room set up with a bunch of stuff about what we believed just in case people were curious. Turns out only one man walked through it. Just yesterday he contacted us and said that he wanted to learn more!! I know that the lord has blessed us and is trusting us with these new people to teach and I cannot wait to meet them later this week!!
This week is the last week of my 2nd transfer and it has gone by in a flash! I am staying in Rome but Elder Prestwich is going down to Delhi and gets to drive the new jeep. I am kind of jealous of the jeep cause I'm not a huge fan of our Corolla haha. My new comp will be Elder Cosman, and he's Canadian....So it will be an interesting few months.

Thanks for all of your prayers and emails! They really help so much! I love and miss you all and hope to hear from you soon.

Elder Morgan

Never ignore a prompting from the Holy Ghost

 

Hello Everyone!

I can't believe 3 months has already gone by! I love it here! This week we had stake conference. We were invited to go to the priesthood leadership and adult sessions because there were a lot of talks on hastening the work. There has been a really big push for members to start being missionaries! Whether it be online with social media, people at work or other members of their family, they have been challenged to share the Restored Gospel with them! I am so excited to see how many members will try and do this! I hope a lot of referrals come from it because it would make our jobs a lot easier, especially sense it is starting

to get cold here, knocking on doors kind of hurts your knuckles when your hands are cold.
The best part of this week has definitely been with a less active member that we have been trying so hard to get to church. One night we were walking by his home and just had a feeling that we should stop by. He let us in and his non member friend was there! It was perfect! We shared a quick message with him and had him watch a Mormon Message clip. The spirit was so strong and you could tell that this non member could feel it too. We asked him if we could continue to teach him and without hesitating he
 

said that he would really like that. Then without us even asking him he said that he would like to come to church some time and that he would get the less active member to take him! It was awesome! On our way out we told the less active member about stake conference and away we went. On Sunday about 20 minutes into the session in walks this less active member who has not come to church in years! He must have felt something during that last lesson, he drove 30 minutes to the stake center! I have a very good feeling that he will continue to come to church now and be able to take the sacrament!

I'm going to share with you the same thing that we shared with this less active member. Here is the clip that we had him watch. http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=3701964025001  You might have to watch it twice, once just to be able to see what this young man went through and how he was able to find the church. The second time pay attention to what the members did to help this young man on his journey. Through their example, friendship and acting on promptings from the Holy Ghost, they helped save this mans life. You never know when someone will be watching or listening. Never ignore a prompting from the Holy Ghost, that prompting may be an answer to someone's prayer. I know that through our examples and efforts we can ALL help bring others to Christ.

Thank you for all of your emails, prayers and support! I love and miss you all!

Elder Morgan

 

My 2nd transfer is almost over and it feels like it just started yesterday!

Hello Everyone!

Sorry I am on a little latter. The library was closed today because of Columbus day. We ended up going down to Utica to play basketball with the other Elders so we got to come in the family history center to email this week!

Time is FLYING by!! My 2nd transfer is almost over and it feels like it just started yesterday! The work is going great. We have been meeting with lots of less active members this week and trying really hard to realize why going to church in important! Unfortunately only one of the families made it this week but it was awesome to see them there!

We had ZTM this week and it was on how we can us the Book of Mormon to help those that we teach receive personal revelation. It was such a good training. We did some roll plays, which are usually super awkward, but even though you are just pretending to teach someone's investigator the spirit is still there and helps you SO MUCH! I just have to say that inspired questions are the coolest things in the world! Especially when there is a room full of missionaries and they all have the feeling to ask the exact same thing! The spirit knows exactly what the investigator needs to hear and we as missionaries need to be able to feel and act on the promptings from the holy ghost if we are going to help convert people!

I love being a missionary! During my personal study I came across a scripture that pretty much says what I am feeling perfectly. It is Alma 29:9 "I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy." I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to be an instrument in God's hands!

I love and miss you all!

Elder Morgan

Hey Elder, do we teach Catholics?

 

Hello Everyone!!

Not gonna lie, this week has been a pretty slow week. I think it may have been because I was so excited for conference! It has been really hard to find new people to teach. A lot of them think that what were are doing is great and they wish us luck but none of them want to hear our message. One of the members said that he had a comp on his mission that ran into a lot of Catholics, he said that one time when someone answered the door and said that they were

Catholic his companion replied " Hey Elder, do we teach Catholics?" his companions companion said "I think we do." He then turned back to the person at the door and said " Yes we definitely teach Catholics too." I am super tempted to give this a try haha not sure if it would really work, but it is what I feel like saying! We have had some awesome lessons with some of the less active members though. We have been trying to get a specific family to read from the Book Of Mormon every day together and they haven't been doing so hot. When we saw

The coat was a little small!

them on Friday, we felt that we should ask them how they 1st gained their testimony of the Book Of Mormon. Talk about an inspired question! They both bore their testimonies to us about the Book Of Mormon and of the Prophet Joseph Smith. The spirit was there and it was SO strong! Through a few more inspired questions ( I say inspired because I know that there is no way I would have come up with them on my own) I truly think that because of the feeling that they felt, they will read together every day! I am so excited to see them again this week and see how much they progressed! If I am this excited for them, I cannot even imagine how our Heaven Father feels! I'm sure that he feels that way every time any of his children succeed!

Conference was amazing! I actually really listened and paid attention to every talk haha. There were so many great messages that were shared. I know that a lot of them really hit home for me and made me want to change and become so much better! I hope you all got a chance to watch it! 

 

Yes, I'm tracting an out house...

New York is great! It is finally starting to get a little bit colder and I won't be surprised when there is snow on the ground in the next 2 weeks.  I love and miss you all!

Love

Elder Morgan

This is the doodle dumpster....don't ask me whats in it because I dont know!