"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are". T. Roosevelt

Hi everyone!  Hope y’all had a fantastic Christmas!!

So this week we got to go caroling a few times!  We went with Sister Whitaker and the Elders around to some of our Less actives and Recent Converts.  We sang, read the Christmas story, and then sang again!  It was lots of fun and everyone was super happy to see us! :) We also got to go caroling on Christmas Eve in High Point and we had a wonderful time!  The weather was perfect and everyone got soo excited! We sang two songs and then shared “He is the Gift” with them and then one of us bore testimony about Gods love for them and asked them to share He is the Gift cards with others :)  one of the Elders had brought a speaker he hooked up to his i-pad so we even had great sound quality for He is the Gift!  Best moment: so we kept asking people who they knew we should go caroling to and they sent us to a house where they were clearly home, but were down in the basement.  So we were like, oh well, we will go somewhere else.  But one of the elders was like No!  They need this!  So he goes over and knocks on their downstairs window and motions for them to come upstairs!  ha-ha! Probably freaked them out a bit!  But they loved our singing!  (Okay, so I must admit, our singing started out horrible!  There is this one elder who is just so enthusiastic but cannot sing!  Our first song sounded awful!  But we got better when we did more reverent songs and kept reminding everyone to sing quietly and reverently.... :) Anyway, Christmas was really fun!  We had so many packages to open because the ward gave us all kinds of useful things!  (lotion, band aids, stamps, soap, paper, etc.)  So it kind of looked like a tornado!

Also, amazing moment: So we were doing weekly planning and I am writing on our white board with a dry erase marker.  And we were talking about some of our investigators and I am messing around with the pen, flipping it into the air and whatnot.  And then I threw it too far and it bounced off my finger, hit the couch, bounced back and hit me in the face, bounced off the white board, and landed behind me. Yep.  I am just skilled like that :)

Anyway, our investigators are all getting better! yay!  And Milford Keller came to church!!  He is the one with Cerebral Palsy and he got the SCAT bus to bring him to church!  And he loved it!  He said he is definitely coming back next week!

There was this random preacher that showed up at church this week.  Elder Kleinman and Sister Shepherd gave talks and he came up and was kind of chastising them after the meeting.... going on about how we shouldn’t classify ourselves as Mormon and whatnot (only neither of them actually ever used the term Mormon in their talks...)  And he was chastising cute Sister Aagard in Gospel Principles as well.  Good thing she is just amazing and rolled with the punches!  Ha-ha, only in the south do you get that though!  Random preachers showing up at church to offer correction!

So reading the Book of Mormon is amazing!  I have also started reading the Old Testament and it keeps just hitting me over and over how important Remembering is!  When the Nephites and the Children of Israel remember God, they prosper!  When they forget God, they stop doing the things they know they should and fall into wickedness.  When we remember, we are soo much better off!  President Craven told us that "if you read Preach My Gospel everyday, you will never fall away" When we remember God, we remember our covenants and we remember that we are His children.  We remember this life is NOT the end!  We remember that we want to live with Him again and be with our families for forever!  And then we can remember to make choices that will lead us back to Him!  As I have been reading through the Book of Mormon this year, I was marking every time the word remember was used and have been reflecting a lot on how important it is to remember the spiritual experiences we have and to remember who we are.  Christ is the perfect example of Remembering: he never forgot who He was or why he was here!  I love Alma 37:45 where Alma is telling his son to Remember.  Alma knows how important it is to remember! And he does not want his son to experience the pain of forgetting and sinning against God.

Anyway, I hope y’all have a most fantastic week!

Sending you lots of love from the Great State of North Carolina,

Sister Morris

Merry Christmas!  Lots of gifts from our great ward. . .

District unity! :). Haha the elders look like bodyguards!

we are such a great district!

it looks like a bomb went off in our living room

oh yes, I am soo ready to go!

ha ha tiny plate for a not so tiny pizza!

roasting marshmallows for smores 

look at this street

"It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air" WT Ellis

We have had great fun this week despite being sick (so I am still sick and sister Shepherd is now sick) and all our investigators are sick! But that gives us the chance to find new investigators like crazy!   Last week, the Harwards had driven us down to charlotte and before we left, they gave us a bag of soup and rolls—which we quickly threw in the freezer and went on our merry way.  Turns out, there was also a can of peas in there!  When we figured that out, we were pretty worried it would explode, so Sister Shepherd started soaking it in cold water and whatnot.  When she opened it, peas went everywhere!  Ha ha!  That was fun to clean up. Also this week, we went on exchanges with Guilford!  (which is strange because they are not even in our zone, and I used to go on exchanges there when I was in Summerfield!)  So sister Shepherd stayed here, and I went to Guilford.  It was lots of fun and we met some super strange people :)

On Friday, we had a zone conference in Winston Salem and had soo much fun getting there!  So I planned an extra 20 mins for us to get there early and we barely made it exactly on time!  First of all, I missed the freeway entrance, and then we got to Winston Salem and figured out the address the zone leaders had texted us was wrong.  At this point, we also discovered we had left the phone home.  So we drove around trying to find and LDS building and having no luck!  Then I remembered that my GPS has a place where you can search for places of worship.  Our churches are not always on there, but it was worth a try!  And it was there!  Yay!  Because the address we had was not close at all!  We never would have found it!  Anyway, the rest of that day was just super crazy because we thought the meeting was over at 1:00 and it really got out at 3:30 and Sister Shepherd and Sister pace had set up some appointments so we were running around trying to catch up all day!

Funny moment: So we are driving around and pretty stressed because we are running way behind, when I pull up to this four way stop.  And we are just sitting there because the other cars are not moving, and we are like, why are they not going?  So they finally go and it is at that moment when I realize it is not a four way stop at all!  They were waiting for me to go!   Ha ha, I am just skilled like that.  But it was really great because it was something to laugh about :)

Anyway, Hope y’all have a fantastic Christmas!

Love,

Sister Morris, NC

yay for Zone Conference!  So it totally threw me off to see President
Craven put on a fake beard....just seems so out of character!
The Cravens are great !!

“May we constantly nourish our testimonies of the gospel, that they will be a protection for us against the buffetings of the adversary.” President Monson

So this week has been crazy!  But fun –This Wednesday, Sister Shepherd and I drove to district meeting and we actually got there early, so we were really proud of ourselves.  And then we waited and waited.  And this is the part were we figured out we didn't have our phone.  But it is also 20 mins to get back home.  So we were wondering if it was canceled or something?  Eventually, the other sisters showed up and said that the elders hadn't gotten a ride so they had asked us to drive the car over to their apartment and then we could ride to the church with the sisters....yeah...too bad we didn’t get that text!  It was actually kind of amusing!  And I got to practice the piano. :)

There was also a RS activity this week and one of the sisters had made an edible table decoration.  Since she didn’t want to take it home, there was a drawing for it and guess who won?  Sister Morris!   We also got to meet Stephanie Jarvis there!  Stephanie is amazing!  Her brother, Brother Ashworth (a recent convert) referred her to us and we talked on the phone to her for about 30 mins.  When their mom died a month or so ago, Stephanie just got really depressed and didn’t want to do anything.  And then her brother gave her Finding Faith in Christ and she loved the DVD!  After that, she read whatever she could get her hands on.  She has already read the Book of Mormon and is reading Jesus the Christ.  She is so amazing!  We got to have a lesson with her on Sunday after church.  And we will be seeing her again on Tuesday!  Yay for amazing people!

So this Friday, there was a trainer/trainee meeting down in Charlotte, the Harwards drove us down there early in the morning.  The meeting was fantastic and then we got to go on a mini exchange with the Concord sisters.  The next morning, we had to get up early to get ready for our meeting.  Best meeting ever!  First of all, it was for the entire mission so I got to see all my past companions (and I got to meet Sister Soderquist, Josie :) and also, Elder Christofferson came to our mission.  It was just fantastic!  The only bad part was, I am still sick and cough a lot.  So during both meetings, I was kind of dying because I was trying to not cough so much.  And I was coughing anyway, and all the people sitting by me were asking if I was okay and trying to help me.  Yeah, it was really embarrassing!  The Harwards picked us back up from Charlotte again (they are the best!  Cause it is more than an hour to Charlotte!)   Sister Harward felt bad for me so she was giving me cough drops and brought me some cough medicine at church the next day.

We also finally got to see Dorothy (aka Sister Saunders) again.  Sunday afternoon, she had a bad fall, but she didn't want to break the Sabbath day so she wouldn't go to the hospital until Monday.  She also had a virus, but she is better now!  So we biked to go see her, and the bike ride is about 10 miles round trip with a ton of hills.  Poor Sister Shepherd just about died!  But we made it.

Also this week, Sister Shepherd (who doesn’t like Christmas!!  *gasp of horror*)

Sister Shepherd just LOVES santa soo much!

let me take a picture of her next to a giant Santa.  And Sunday night, there is a neighborhood that puts out thousands of luminaries.  The elders let us borrow the car so we could drive around and see them.  It was amazing!

Anyway, I hope y’all have an amazing week! :)

So this is a really bad picture of the luminaries I was talking about.
Everyone has them in front of their houses- it looks so neat!

NC Sister Morris

Picnic at the church!  The elders felt bad for us so they gave
us the last two pieces of pizza.  Guess they thought
our sandwiches didn't look very good...

Popcorn party!

Children at play...check!

Yay for North Carolina!

 I always wanted a pic next to this sign!

I love Toothless! 

"Some attempt to persuade or even pressure the Church into lowering God's standards to the level of their own inappropriate behavior, which in the words of Elder Maxwell, will develop self-contentment instead of seeking self-improvement and repentance. Lowering the Lord's standards to the level of a society's inappropriate behavior is - apostasy." Elder Lynn Robbins

So Sister Shepherd is really great –But she did not clean up her Facebook before coming on her mission (she did not have internet at home) so we have been trying to clean it up and it is taking forever!  I cannot believe how much she has posted on Facebook!  Also, we tried to do it over at our main office and the computers there are soo slow!  I thought I was going to start tearing my hair out or something. (But, I don’t need to loose any more hair)  We made it through alive ...mostly.... Also, my voice was so crazy this week!  I actually lost it at one point!  Poor Sister Shepherd had to take over, especially for ones that were later in the day because it got worse every time I was talking.  Oh well.  Just trying to keep life interesting for her.  Also, we got to teach Stephanie (a less active) and her two boys this week.  They are the cutest!  During the lesson, Hayden all of the sudden says, "wait!  I have to ask my mom something before I forget!"  Then he turns to his mom and says "I don’t want to go to grandmas this weekend so I can go to church with you."  and both of the boys prayed out loud for the first time at the end of the lesson.  They are so cute!  As we were leaving, Stephanie gave me some cough drops and Hayden got all offended on my behalf "Mom!  Why did you give them cough drops?  Those aren’t candy!!"  They did come to church on Sunday, but ended up going to our class with us and then we went to primary with them.  I think Hayden really enjoyed it though.  

Also this week, we were on a street looking for people to show the He is the Gift video to.  And it was freezing!  So we hopped back in the car, and then I was like, wait, we have to go do the house up there!  So we got out of the car and walked all the way up the hill and strait up to the door.  When we knocked, a lady from a car in the street rolled down her window and said, "Do you need anything?  That is my house."  So we went to talk to her and the missionaries had taught her 11 years ago!  However, her husband's brother passed away and they had gone to Mexico for the funeral.  Since they could not afford to pay the rent while they were gone, they moved right when they got back home.  So we have started teaching Betty :) and her kids since they kept coming home from school!  She has 5 kids and all of them came to the Christmas party on Sunday :)  

Stephanie and her boys also came to the Christmas party and it was lots of fun!  Even more fun was the set up we had to do though ...On Saturday, we built this wooden frame and then had to get this really heavy brown fabric to stay on it in order to make a stable.  So we used a whole lot of duct tape and staples.  Only by the next day, it had fallen down!  So brother Leinbach brought his staple gun the next day so we could get everything to stay up.  And figuring out the costumes was really fun!  Sister Shepherd and I played dress-up as we tried on all the costumes and tried to figure out what people should wear. Anyway, Sunday was really fun since it was fast Sunday but we were at the church when we could have been breaking our fast (brother Leinbach wanted us there at 2:30) so when everyone got there with their desserts and fruit, that was what we broke our fast with.  Super healthy, right? But the Bishop did a great job in the play.  He was King Herod and he looked kind of like Sauron :)

Also this week, we had gotten another bible referral we went to see and when she opened the door, she invited us right in.  Turns out she is RLDS.  It was kind of strange because you start talking about Joseph Smith or the nature of God, how we pray, etc and she is just like, yeah!  That is SO true!  It was really weird!  Definitely not the normal response we get!

Anyway, I hope y’all have another great week!

NC Sister Morris