April 23rd. Making Pizza

I hope everything is going well at home! Well, I had a good week full of good times. Last week we had a fun activity in our chapel where we played games from a minute to win it. Then we did splits with some other Elders because one was sick. I went with a cool elder who is from Draper. His name is Elder Salazar. We had a good time talking about Sandy haha. 

We  had a fun FHE with a family this week. They gave us this candy called Gofio, which is just powdered corn and sugar. You put it in your mouth and say Gofio and the powder flys out haha it was super funny. 
We have been looking for new people to teach, but it is tough sometimes. My area is mostly made up of shops and stores for tourists. The search  and the work go on for us. 

On Tuesday, we had a member teach us how to make pizza. Not that I don't know how to make pizza. I was more in it to eat the pizza that he made. We had a good time. The pizza that they make here is a little different that what they make in the states.. Sometimes they just use catchup with spices as the sauce and they almost always put corn on it.. Haha, It was fun though.

 So we are hoping to have a baptism this Saturday, so we are praying that everything goes well. It has also been getting hotter and hotter every day down here. I feel like it is going to be super weird to come back to cold and dry Utah.. haha well that is pretty much all that we did this week. I hope that you all have a wonderful week! I love you all!
Luv Elder Morgan

April 15th... Happy 13th BIRTHDAY Olivia!

Heyo! First of all I want to give a shout out to my beautiful sister OLIVIA for turning 13!! Woo hoo Happy Birthday Liv! I love you!  I hope you are all doing well! 

This week for me has just flown by. I hit my 20 months a few days ago, it just shows that time flys! It has been a super low key week for us though. We are preparing a lil youngin to be baptized this next week.  I hope everything will go according to plan. 

We went to the flea market again this week, but I realized that it kinda sucks for me.. The thing that makes it hard for an American to live in a touristy area is that the people jack up the prices like crazy. For example, when my comp goes up to anyone and asks how much something is, they give him a low price right away.. Now when I go up to anyone to ask how much something is, they pause and think for a little, then throws me this super crazy high price that not even Bill Gates could afford.. Haha  I think I am just going to wait until I get home to get my clothes cheap at the D.I. haha.  

This week we also had to stay home for two mornings because our house needed some repairs. The
tile in our room expanded from the heat and broke. So we just studied and chilled a ton. I know it's not the coolest week that I have had, but it was a good one. I love you all so much and always pray for the
best!

Luv Elder Morgan

A Week of More Sweet Beans

I just have to start of by saying that this week was one of the most fun that I have had in a long time. On Friday we had a super fun ward activity where the members came and just spent the day chillin at the chapel. We got there early to help cook 60 lbs. of rice! Then they filled up a little pool for everyone to cool off in. It was just a super good day. I ate so much sweet beans, but it is soo dang good! Then of course conference was super great. It was kinda sad to think that this would be the last one in the DR. I think we all got the main
theme from this conference. GET MARRIED!! haha We were all laughing about that. 

On Monday we had a good FHE with two little old ladies.They are so awesome and I just love them so much! That's the thing about the mish, there are just so many loving people here that it seems like they really are my family. 

Today was transfers. Nothing happened with us but there were a few changes in the zone. But I G2G because we have to pick up the new missionaries! I love you all!
Luv Elder Morgan

Easter Week

April 1, 2015

Another week come and gone. This week up until now has been pretty awesome! Down here
 in the the super catholic countries everyone celebrated the Semana santa or holy week,
remembering the last week of Christ's life. I guess that it is like their Easter but there are no
bunnies or good chocolate candy. For most of the DR it is a time to drink and party... Haha
They all have a tradition to make something called sweet beans... It is so good! Look it up on
the Internet and make some if you can! The bad thing about it is that we get it offered to us like
5 times a day which means lots of Hershey squirts at the end of the day.

We have had a few FHEs with some families that I didn't really know before, but know are super
close. There are two little old ladies that we go and visit who have been members for about 25
years. The thing is that every time we go over they always have to give us something.. They just
 have way
too much love. On Sunday I ate mashed potatoes for the first time in about 14 months.. We ate
at some members house and they made us an American dinner. It was nice not to have rice and
beans for once. Their son left on Monday to serve in Mexico.

Today was a pretty chill P Day. We hit all of our goals for the month of march so president bought
us pizza and we watches a super good movie called Big Hero 6.. I know I probably sound stupid
because that movie came out a long time ago.. but it was new to me!  I am so excited for General
Conference! It is super weird to think that this will be my last Conference on the mission. One last
spiritual boost before I come home. Well I know its a short one but that doesn't change the fact
that I love you all so much! Happy Easter!
Luv Elder Morgan

P.S.  I found a poop stain on my back... its not from me!

The Clean Up Crew

Well it has been another great/fast week up here in Puerto Plata. Hahah we have been doing lots of fun stuff on the beach. Last Thursday we went to the beach to do some service as a zone. We went and picked
up garbage for a few hours. Haha the thing is that when people think of the DR beach they think of a place like Bora Bora with crystal clear water and clean white beaches.. The DR does have a few places like
that but the majority of beaches look like trash. Its not that people just litter, it looks like people haul their garbage to the beach to dump it there... it was a good service. 

The work is going good here. We have a few good less active families that we are teaching. We also are teaching a little kid who wants to get baptized super bad. I wish that everyone was like him. The other day we were at a less actives house and saw a drug bust across the street.. the thing that is sucky is that the cops here are the ones who run the drug business. Their type of drug bust is to go pull the guys who are selling out of the house so that the people think that they are working but the drugs still are being sold in the same place, the cops tell them to pay them something and they let them go.. It is a joke. 

Today we went to a sweet beach in Sosua. Beaches are great fun but when you are a missionary it kinda stinks... We just played volleyball and Frisbee for awhile. It was a pretty great day.  I feel so blessed to be a
missionary and love you all so much!
Luv Elder Morgan

"When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.” Mosiah 2:17

Well how has every ones week been. Its weird because I feel like I just wrote like 3 days ago.. So this week was a good one. I am getting used to all of the Zone Leader responsibilities. The thing is that on the mission
people want to be assistant or zone leader just to get attention. Really it shouldn't be like that, being a leader just means that you have more responsibility to serve others and it should teach us humility. I have been learning a lot about service being Zone Leader because I get to serve our investigators and less actives, now I also get to serve and help all of the missionaries in Puerto Plato. It has made me think more about the Saviors life, how he, the king of kings came down to earth to serve his brothers and sisters. I really love service. We have actually been focusing on service and showing the true love that we have for the people here. I think of all the times that we had service planned for mutual and I didn't want to go.. but after my
parents forced me to go I never regretted it.. Well we have actually seen lots of progress with the members and having them work with us. We have decided that we won't contact for the next few months so it will force us to work more with the members and depend on them to find new people. 
Today was a sweet Pday. We first went to an Amber museum. It was very interesting to learn about Amber and see lots of different types. There is actually a piece of Amber that is in the movie Jurassic Park with a lizard in it. Very cool. Then after we went to the old prison that they have at the point of the beach. it is super old and historic here. It is a good but sucky thing to see the beach every day. Its like when you put a bone on a string and hang it in front of a dog. Torture... Well other than that life has been great! I love the mission and I love the gospel of Jesus Christ. I also am so thankful for every one of you! I love y'all!
luv Elder Morgan

 The Amber Museum

Historic Prison

Empanadas

March 11, 2015

Well once again this week has gone by incredibly fast. The first thing I want to say is that the members here are super awesome. Last Thursday we helped a sister who has an empanada business. We stayed the whole morning helping her then in the end she re payed us with empanadas, yuca balls and quipes. I am going to get fat because it is like the fast food of the DR... all fried. 

We have been working super hard this week trying to find out how to get more references as a zone. I really feel that my area has lots of potential to progress. The first thing that we have to do is teach the members how to be missionaries. 

As of now I have enjoyed being a Zone leader, it is teaching me a whole lot on how to be a leader and how to take care of problems. We haven't had too many problems here in our zone, everyone seems to get along.  This week we have given a ton of blessings to members who are sick and also missionaries. It has been crazy to see how much my testimony had grown about the priesthood and many other things on the mission. I really can't even count the number of blessings the mission has brought into my life. 

Well I did get a call today from some sisters who got robbed last night.. They stole a dvd player, the gas tank and their hand bags and left the scriptures.. haha that is something that normally happens here.. luckily I haven't been robbed yet, but I don't want to jinx myself. 

I still haven't been to the beach to chill, I will next week. Puerto Plata is great and it reminds me of my first area because I see the beach every day. Well this is my little update for y'all. I love you all so much and wish that
you all have a great week!
Luv Elder Morgan