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!

#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 

 

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 

 

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 

 

 

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

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