Wasps...

Well one again I am writing super late in the week because of sucky power. IDK why but these past few months the power has been going out a ton here. All well... just don't take power for granted!!! We got to do some fun and crazy service this past week. My comp and I got to go with some members who own some land in the Banao mountains. The mountains here are super cool but very different than the ones we have at home. Everything is pure green on the mountains here. When we were hiking up it felt that I was an a tropical jungle with all of the birds chirping. We went to help gather up all of the fruits and vegetables they have growing there. His land had so much vegetation! The whole day we made super good fresh squeezed orange juice. I got stung by a dang  black Dominican wasp when I was up in a tree picking guanabanas. I freaked out like a little girl and almost fell out of the tree. All of the other guys were staring at me like I was a little princess who broke a nail. It freakin hurt though! As soon as I got down from the tree one of the guys had his pants half way down and told my to hold still... Yeah he tried to pee on my leg.. I kept on hopping around trying to do my best to stay away from this guy. He ended up peeing in a cup and dripped a few drops on the sting because he said that the venom of these wasps is very strong. My leg was swollen, numb and smelt like pee for the rest of the day. 

I also had my first Wendy's in six months and shaved one whole leg and stripes in the other because I was bored on Pday... yolo...not. In all honesty this week has been a very good and successful week with the missionary work but also one of the hardest weeks that I have had emotionally.We have found tons of new people to teach in such a short amount of time. Heavenly Father has really been answering mine any companions prayers. it seems that everyone that we have found in the past two weeks have lots of desire to know more. I have great faith and hope that they will keep on having us visit with them. Hearing about what happened last week to the amazing Trudy Budge really put me in a funk. Trudy Budge was truly the most Christlike person that I have ever known. She was practically my other mom growing up. I have so many memories of her turning boring or normal situations in to very fun and unforgettable memories. I feel like she has always been the greatest example to everyone, and has always had a positive attitude about everything in life. I have been so blessed in life by her and her family. I love the Budge family so much and know that they will all be strong through this. I know that God answers all of our prayers if we just have a little drop of faith. I love my mission and all of the great adventures I am having. I live my family and know that we can be together forever. I love you all!

Love Elder Morgan

 Show message history

Fasting With Faith Really Does Work

I had a very eventful week  these past seven days. As always we had our English class on Saturday. It is full of little girls of our ward. Sunday we had super good attendance in church so I was pumped about that. We also got three really good references as well. I have been praying for something like this to happen for awhile. Fasting with faith really does work! I think that this was the first time in my life that I actually fasted with faith. All of the other times I think I was just starving myself without much meaning. Pretty dumb huh?

Anyways then on Tuesday I went to the farmers market to go get a Duck to eat. They didn't have any so then we just got a rooster instead. If you have ever seen rush hour 2 it was just like when the crazy Asian lady is trying to sell the chicken to the dude with a knife in her hand ready to cut its head off. Right when we came up to them they went and grabbed two live roosters out of the cage slit their throats, defeathered them and gutted them in less than five minutes. 

Anyways this past Wednesday we got to go to Samana again. This time there was a huge cruise boat that was full of white people. It was so weird seeing so many people the same color as me. It was so nice to talk to people in English, but I'm not going to lie, my social skills in English suck! It was fun though. We met an elderly couple earlier this week who were ex mission presidents of the Columbia mission. They live in Samana for the winter in a private condo on the beach. We went there and ate lunch. It was the coolest thing!. I am going to miss the beach when I get transferred. Transfers are this next Wednesday. I don't thing that I will be transfers out this time. I bet I will stay for one more. Lots of other great things happened this week but I am way to lazy to tell them. Sorry, you'll just have to wait until I get back to hear them. Well that's it for this week. I love my mission and this gospel that we have! I miss you all!

Love, Elder Morgan

Bleach Could be the Magic Remedy...

Missionary time is really the weirdest thing. The saying ¨Days feel like weeks and weeks feel like days¨ is so true. Actually only the part about the weeks feeling like days. Anyways everything is going great here. 

Two days ago big green chunks of moss started coming out of my shower head when I was showering. Its annoying because we have to clean the water tank frequently because it gets dirty fast. We went and visited that old guy with the catheter yesterday. I told him about the moss in my shower and he said that we need to pour bleach in the water tank to clean it. He also said that he likes to drink bleach to kill parasites in his stomach. He also pours it on all of his cuts. I guess bleach is his magic remedy for everything. We had a zone P-Day here in Nagua. It was super fun. 

We just spent the whole day chillin at the beach. I claimed a coconut tree and got two coconuts down to drink. I kinda wish that I could serve my whole mission here in Nagua. I know I will miss the beach when I get transferred out. We also had a ward talent show the other night. There were just lots of little dramas that people did. I was in one of them. I played a policeman who got to beat up some robbers. Haha I guess I did a good job at beating up the bad guys (one was my comp) that some of the little kids started crying. 

Our work still is mostly focused on reactivating less active members. Sometimes it is really frustrating because lots of people are just lazy. They don't think that they are capable of going to church once a week for three stinkin hours. That's one thing that I don't get, God gives us 168 hours a week and some people cant even give him 3. IDK its just something I have been thinking of. So yeah that was the little update of my week. I love my mission so much! It is an has taught me so much about myself. I love the gospel and that I am a member of this wonderful and true church. I love you all!

Love Elder Morgan

Felines and Fellowshipping

Well the power was out again yesterday so here I am. I heard that it was super warm in Utah this past week. It got up into the 40s. Its been pretty cold here. I think one day it almost got down to like 80 degrees. I almost had to wear my long sleeved shirt. Haha jk. 

Well I got some bad news. That cat who keeps on steeling our bread got in last night and stole another bag. I am just going to poison the next batch I buy so I don't have to deal with this fool anymore! 

The work has been kind of stressful this week. We are really trying to focus on the less-active members now. It is super hard because the members of our ward are kinda lazy and not so nice to new members. My comp and I visited all of the less actives in our area last week and every time we would ask them what their reason was for not going to church anymore the stories are similar. There was another member that had offended them in someway. We just need to help them get back the testimony they used to have. Sometimes I really hate how Satin is really good at blinding people from the truth. 

One of the couples that were progressing pretty good randomly dropped us this week. We  think that their neighbor who is a preacher for a Evangelist church told them some things about our church and how it was all a lie. It just sucks. Well the news with Leonardo is that his wife is finally getting a divorce with her previous husband. We have to wait two months for the papers to process. 

I really think that going on a mission was the best decision that I have made in my life for my life. My testimony gets stronger and stronger every day. God has many ways to teach us what we need to learn. It might not be how we would expect it or how we would have wanted but in the end he knows all. It will always workout for your good if we just have faith. Check out D&C 14:7 if ya want. Well that's all for this week. I love you all!!!

Love Elda Morgan

                                          Nagua

Tender Mercies

Well dang. Another week that felt like a day... This week was a week full of tender mercies of the lord thank goodness!! First of all you all heard of all of the problems we were having this last week. About not having a fridge, the infestation of bugs and mice, no power and all of that good stuff. Well this week we finally got the office to bring us a new fridge. It probably wouldn't have come for another month or something because Nagua is the furthest area from the office. However I have the sickest mission president there ever was, and he called the office elders and told them that we better have the fridge this week or else haha. And the fumigator finally came after us waiting for him for like a month. Also about those dang mice, I caught 5 of them this week so I hope that was all of them. One problem that hasn't been resolved is somehow our bread is disappearing from out kitchen in the nights. I woke up this morning and stepped on a piece. I was like ¨What the??¨ then there was a trail of crumbs leading outside. After following it I fount in the corner of out porch all of the bread that has been disappearing with little bites taken out of every piece. I also found a little extra. There were little cat turds right next to the stolen bread. Now all of us need to come up with a strategy to get rid of this bread stealin turd poopin cat! It sneaks in our house every night and eats out food.... And suggestions?? i h8 kats. 

Dang i just wish that I could strap a go pro on to my head so you guys could see all of the crap that goes on here. 

Anyways other than all o that fun stuff. This week has been good for the most part. Leonardo (the one whose son died last week) is such an amazing example of one who is Christlike. So the next visit we had with him was awesome. He had all of these questions about what happens when we die. Now Leonardo isn't even a member right now but every week he comes to church. He pays tithing. He has even given money to people in the word who have had problems. The thing is, is that the people he has given money to probably have more than him. When we told him about all of the things that happens after death and how we can live as families for eternity if we go through the temple. He told us that he is determined to go to the temple one day and do all of the temple work for everyone that has passed away in his family. He has really been such a big example to me about what it really means to be selfless. I am now challenging myself and also all of you to follow the example of Leonardo in being selfless. I am going to try super hard this week to not thing about what I need but what others need. I am so lucky to be serving a mission right now and I give all of my thanks to God and my lovely parents. I really don't know why I have been so blessed in my life.

Love Elder Morgan

We are Given Trials..

Well this week has been straight crazy! Lots of good things and bad things have happened in this past week. So last week was transfers and we got two more missionary's in Nagua. They are really cool guys, one is from Brigham City and the other is a newbie from Arizona. I am really glad that they both speak English because its really nice to have good deep talks with them. It has been a little hard to fit them in our house because it is technically a two person house. 

This week lots of crap happened in the house..... First our fridge went out and the office wont be able to give us one until next Wednesday. Then the power has been going out a ton ( the reason I am writing this so late). Then we have been infested with mosquito's,spiders and mice this week. And the struggle goes on... but anyways something super sad happened this past week. So we have an investigator who is more than ready to get baptized but the problem is that he needs to be married to his girlfriend who  he has been with for twenty years. She was married to another dude who left to the states and never came back. So to get married they need like 60000 pesos to pay for a divorce. Well this past Sunday at church they said that their prayers have been answered because they found a guy who could do the divorce for only 7000 pesos (like $180). This was wonderful news! But something always happens... This past Tuesday we got a call from Leonardo saying that his son was sick in the hospital. We wanted to go visit them later that night. Then about 30 minutes later we got another call from Leonardo. He told us that his son Moroni had died. Moroni was 22 and suffered from sickle-cell disease. This was devastating news. That night we went to the house to help comfort the family. They had the viewing that night and the funeral was the next morning because they don't do anything to preserve the body. It just made me really think about our Heavenly Fathers plan for us, and that we really can be with our families for the rest of eternity. We are so blessed to have this knowledge in our lives. I love my family so dang much and am so excited to spend forever with them. I love my mission and am so grateful for all of the lessons it is teaching me about life. I love you allz!! 

Luv Elder Morgan

Feliz Navidad and Happy New Year

Wow where do I begin? What a crazy few weeks it has been. I hope that you all had a wonderful holiday season full of love, fun, family and snow... First of all I want to thank everyone who sent me a little care package or letter. It made my day when I got to open all of them. Two days before Christmas we got to go around to every members house and sing Christmas Hymns. Its a shame that I don't have the voice of Justin Bieber... My Christmas here was different but good. It was a wonderful privilege being able to talk to my family on Christmas day. There were tons of party's on the streets and a happy atmosphere. The only thing that I wish I could have had was a white Christmas haha. But instead I got a warm blue sky Christmas. That night it was like thanksgiving. We went to the ward mission leaders house and feasted. There were lots of weird traditional food that they had made. Most of it was delicious. 

We had kind of a lazy week of work. It was hard to make appointments with all of our investigators because most of them had left town to be with their families. So my comp and I just visited members to see how they were all doing. We went and partied at the grandparents house of the ward mission leader. His grandpa it the funniest guy. He is strait crazy! He has no teeth, four toes in total and has a catheter. Yeah he showed me it... all of it.....OUCH! And his grandmother is the most caring person that I have met down here. She was always asking if we were doing okay. It was a great and memorable night. 

Then last night was new years of course. I was so dead tired from not getting any sleep from the night before that I went to bed early and slept through it. I am finally done with my training and today is the first day of a new transfer. I am still with Elder Henriquez which is chill but we are getting two new missionary's in our house today. yay.. IDK how it is going to workout because our house is pretty small. Anyways that is my short update for these past weeks. I love my mission more and more every week. I am so lucky to have this gospel in my life. I know that family's can be together forever and that is just the sickest thing ever!! I love you all!

Love Elder Morgan