Hem your blessings with thankfulness so they don't unravel!

So last Monday, we got a text that we had a new referral for someone named Doherty Sunders.  And we were like, is that a girl name or a boy name?  Guess we will find out!  So the next day, we looked up the referral and saw that it was a self-referral and they wanted a book of Mormon.  So we drove to the address and we were like, no cars!  Oh well,  lets go knock anyway.  So as we were walking up, I saw the TV on and got excited because someone was home.  When we get up to the door, we are about to knock when we hear someone start unlocking the door.  And all of the sudden this lady comes out and says, "I am so glad to see you!!  I didn’t know when you were coming but I am so happy!  Go around to the back and I'll be right there!"  So we walked around to the back trying to figure out what is going on here and she comes out.  So we asked for her name and it turns out it is Dorothy Saunders.  Her brother has been a member of the church for years and has been trying to get her interested, and she finally is!  So we started teaching her the Restoration and she was getting so excited because she has seen the Restoration movie and remembered a lot from what her brother told her and she pretty much taught us the Restoration lesson!  She is so excited to learn more about the gospel and she asked us if we could get a ride for her to church this Sunday and asked what we thought she should read in the Book of Mormon and asked if we could come back and see her next Tuesday and she is just amazing!  And she said that she would most definitely be baptized!  So Sister Tenney and I just walked away from that lesson on a spiritual high!  Best day ever!  Then, a few days later, we were in our apartment making lunch (well, I was actually baking sugar cookies...I couldn't decide what I wanted to eat!) when Dorothy called.  And she said that she had talked to the sisters on Temple Square again and they had told her to call us so that she could tell us she was getting baptized on Nov 15th!  Haha.  First time I have ever had an investigator call us and tell us when they were getting baptized! (By the way, I totally burnt those cookies I was making...yeah...I was so not thinking about cookies at that point!) So we told her that we would have to meet with her quite a few times between then and now and she was like, "sure, that would be great!" So we planned to have lunch and a lesson over at the Leinbach's after church.  (The Leinbachs were giving her a ride to church).  Then later, the same day, she called and talked to us about what she was reading in the Book of Mormon and she was talking all about how Lehi's dream of the tree of life is so amazing and how people try to mock us and turn us away from God.  And then she told us that she wanted to get to 2 Ne by tomorrow for church so that she would be prepared.  And she really enjoyed church!  Especially Sunday school; the lesson was on baptisms for the dead and she loved it because she discovered that we do baptisms for the dead because the dead don't have bodies anymore and they can't be baptized!  And when we taught her the Plan of Salvation at the Leinbachs, it was amazing!  We taught her about how Adam and Eve partaking of the fruit was part of the plan so we could gain bodies and she started crying because she had never heard that before but it made so much sense.  While we were talking about Earth Life, we also talked about commandments that God gives us like the word of Wisdom (she had told me during church that she smokes and she really wants to stop and since her baptism date is so soon, we decided we needed to address it now).  And as soon as we had told her about the word of wisdom, she told us she wasn't going to drink coffee anymore and she was going to stop smoking as well.  She is seriously the best investigator ever!  We hardly even teach her anything that she doesn't already know because of previous experiences in her life!  At the end, we asked her about the baptismal date and talked about how it probably wouldn't work that weekend because we have stake conference and we asked her if we could move it to the next weekend and she got really excited because then her brother will be able to come!  And when we told her he could baptize her, she started crying.  I seriously love Dorothy!  She is the best!  And this morning, she texted us asking if drinking hot chocolate was okay. :)  And she said she is struggling to not smoke so we sent her 1 Ne 3:7.  When God gives us commandments, he makes a way for us to accomplish them! Anyway, we are really excited about Dorothy!  Sorry so long!

Hope y’all are having a blessed day!

Sister Morris

 

my companion kind of scares me when she looks at me like that!

carving pumpkins

beautiful autumn!

we got wet again!

Pray always, lest you enter into temptation and lose your reward. D&C 31:12

So we got a great text from one of our investigators this week.  We asked her what she had been reading in the book of Mormon and her response was "Alma 17 lost king Lamoni flock -fear -found flock"  :) pretty good summary I guess!

So a few weeks back, I was talking to Sister Pam Neese about her in-laws who live in Summerfield ward.  And she mentioned that Mary Forrester had been moved into a rehabilitation center in our area.  So we went to meet her as i reported before and she was super excited to see us, and invited us to a welcome home party she was having! :)  So that was this last Saturday and it was soo fun because a lot of people I know from Summer field were there! yay!

We also had the ward chili cook-off/fall festival/trunker treat party! It was lots of fun!  We were actually supposed to be judges for the chilli but since we got a ride with the Leinbachs, we were late, so the elders had to do it by themselves.  Oh well.  I wouldn’t have been able to try all the kinds without bursting anyway.  I thought it was really funny that there were about 20 Anna’s and Elsa’s! Yay for frozen! :)

The elders also had a baptism on Friday.  That was really neat to go to-sister Tenney and I played the piano for it.  We didn’t get any of our investigators there though... But at the chili cook-off, Lyssa apologized and said she would have liked to have been there so she would know what it will be like :)

We also had Theresa at the chilli-cook off...She is actually the aunt of Lisa who got married last weekend and she was in charge of doing the decorations.  So we invited her to the cook-off and she came! :) She is super sweet!  Though she totally doesn't live in our area, we’re planning on having her come to the Leinbachs sometime for games and treats. :)

Anyway, hope y’all are having a great week!

Sister Morris

I just LOVE fall!

attack of the geese. . .yikes

oh this looks safe???

love the train tracks-especially when we

go over them at like 50 miles an hour!

ate dinner here and like 3 different people
walked by and asked about my boyfriend!

Is this where we all come from?

Trunker-treat! Brother Sweat is sitting 

down and is as tall as sister Tenney

"Our missionaries are not salesmen with wares to peddle; rather, they are servants of the Most High God, with testimonies to bear, truths to teach and souls to save" Thomas S. Monson

So we had a wedding this weekend.  That was certainly interesting because I haven't ever been to a wedding at a church before.  We helped set everything up the night before, and Lisa asked me to play the piano for their wedding.  So I was like, sure!  I can do that! And I told Sister Tenney that I was going to make her play too (she is really good at the piano).  So 15 minutes before starting time, there are like 2 people in the chapel, but I started playing prelude anyway. And ended up playing for almost an hour!!  Because everyone was really late!!  And I was running out of songs to play!  I kept thinking that we were going to start any minute, but those minutes turned into an hour!  Anyway, Bishop Aagard did a really good job with the ceremony. The closing song ended up being really interesting...We sang love one another for the opening, and then we were struggling to find another hymn that was appropriate....So we ended up going with 154 (Father this hour has been one of joy)  the only problem is, the song was written in a minor key!  And we didn’t realize that when we were looking at it!  Seriously, why would a song with those words be all sad?  Whatever...  And sister Tenney only had to play two songs before she was done with postlude!

Anyway, we got home and the Spanish Elders called us to see if we could come to their baptism and play the piano.  And we were like, we just got home!  But we went anyway, and Sister Tenney played.  Only that ended up back-firing because then they asked me to lead!  So I was up there leading the songs and trying to sing in Spanish.... Yep... I do not know Spanish just in case anyone was wondering.  Hence the trying.... Oh well, I am sure that I was pretty amusing!  It felt like we spent all Saturday at the church...That was pretty crazy!

Anyway, I hope y’all are having a great day!

Sister Morris

Sent from my iPad

"The most important thing in this life is a testimony of the truth, and there is no place on earth where you can have the opportunity to get a testimony like the mission field. I know--I have been there" Ezra T. Benson

So this week was super crazy!!  On Friday, we moved to Steeplechase apartments!  We actually had quite a few ward members come to help us! The best part was we all loaded up our cars and headed over to steeplechase.  Only by the time we got to the apartment, it was pouring rain!  So Brother Leinbach was like, guess we'll finish moving y’all tomorrow.  And we were like, WHAT?  Our mattresses are in someone's car!  Oh well.  Sleep over in the front room!  But almost as fast as it started, it stopped, so we got everything unloaded! :)  I am just really glad that it only rained for a little bit!  Really big blessing!

Last Monday, we had lots of fun tie-dying shirts at the church!  Don’t worry-we did it outside! And we all had weird colored fingers after we were done :) we also played chair soccer and I decided playing with Elder Flores is no fun!  He is way too good at soccer!

Also, we were not watching the time...So we went shopping in 6 minutes!! Ha-ha. People in Wal-Mart were probably wondering where the fire was... Since we have moved, we are now even further from the church.  And we used to meet at a library that is pretty close to the church with the elders to do a progress record on Saturdays.  Only now we are really far away...So we found a center point on the map, which just happens to be Taco Bell.  So we totally met at taco bell to do the progress record! :)  Then, right when we were leaving, it started raining!! So we totally stopped at Carolina Oaks (our old apt) and did some cleaning instead of going strait home.  The elders were less lucky-they got soaked!

So we also don't have a washer or dryer yet so we are over at a member's home right now doing laundry.  Sister Whitaker is the best! We are trying to convince the bishop to call her as a ward missionary.

Anyway, Hope y’all are having a great week!

Sister Morris

No matter how gifted we may be, or how choice our language--it is the spirit of our Father that reaches the heart and brings conversion of the divinity of this work! George A Smith

So this week was SOOO great!!!  We totally got to see “meet the Mormons”!!!  :)  My new favorite movie!  I love all the stories they share about their lives and how their faith has sustained them.  I think all the sister missionaries were crying at the end and some of the elders too.  My favorites were the candy bomber and the missionary mom!  I love how the candy bomber shows something that starts out so small with just one person changed the world!  And the missionary mom had such a hard start in life!!  But she rose above the hardships and is a true follower of Christ.  It also clears up a bunch of the Mormon myths that I hear so often out here.  Anyway, I definitely suggest seeing it!  All the proceeds from the movie tickets are being donated to the Red Cross!  So it’s even a great cause!  Anyway, it will eventually be on YouTube, iTunes, and Netflix!  Also, David Archeletta sings Glorious at the end of the movie and it is so great!!!  I love that song!  We are actually listening to it multiple times right now (you can find it online on lds.youth on the music page.  The version is actually sung by Russ Dixon, but it is a beautiful message!). So yeah. Pretty much that movie comes highly recommended from the missionaries in the Winston-Salem, High Point, and Greensboro Zones!  Also, I had a chance to talk to Sister Loosle— Michelle got baptized!!!  She was someone we were teaching just before I left! :) Yay!

Amy's mom is getting taught by the missionaries!!  (Like Amy who got baptized in Summerfield). But the High Point sisters, who also happen to be in our district and are our sister training leaders, are the ones who are teaching her! Anyway, that was my news...Now I can tell y’all about our crazy Monday!

Sister Jorgensen (one of my sister training leaders-

(in my district) and the lovely fish she caught!

Sister Tenney climbing up the Rameumpton!

 The diving platform none of us can jump off

So last week, we had a zone activity in Salisbury (about an hour away from us).  The Colfax Sisters wanted to come with us, so on the way, we stopped at Wal-Mart for the shortest shopping trip of my life, and then we drove about thirty minutes to get them and come back, and then the wonderful Sister Neese drove us and the elders to Salisbury. It was really quite fun! The members who were letting us play in their "backyard" are so great!  They have a lake, horses, a random box car, sand volleyball, etc. etc.!  Super fun!  Except we didn’t leave as soon as we were supposed to, so we had to call our dinner appointment and move it back.  Because once we got home, we had to take the Colfax sisters home, and we ended up driving to Sister Williams and making the elders come get the car there (they needed it to get to a dinner appointment).  And when we got there, we had about 20 minutes to eat and be to our appointment with Danielle and Robert at the Sweat's home.  But once we got there, Sister Williams started heating the soup up over the stove!  Finally, it was warm enough so we ate.  And then she decides to send some home with us.  So she goes looking for a jar.  Once she finds it, she has to wash it out and then slowly pour soup into it... Finally, we get out to the car.  And she starts backing up, except we were barely moving!!  She never actually hit the speed limit the entire time to the Sweats (I had my GPS out to direct her!!  She usually was about half the speed limit!) She was giving us whiplash though!  Cause she'd hit the gas too hard and slam on the brakes and then back to the gas... haha.  Yep.  Fun ride!  And we ended up being almost an hour late for our lesson!

On Friday, we went to go visit Sister Liverman who lives in a rehab center.  And we also went to visit a new sister, Sister Forrester who just got moved there (she is actually from the Summerfield ward!  I never met her though because she was in a rehab place in Siler City -which is about an hour away).  So we got to the door and she was talking on the phone and she goes "You will not believe who just walked in my door!!  Two Mormon missionaries!!  I'll call you back later!"  :) I loved how excited she was to see us!  Anyway, she is bed-ridden and her family disowned her when she was baptized back in 1991.  Such an amazing lady!  While we were there, Sister Forrester asked if we could get a tape measure to measure something for her.  So we went to the nurse’s station looking for one and we got to meet Marilyn!  She had just started working that day and she doesn’t actually live in our area, but we were able to talk to her about the gospel and she agreed to let the sisters come to her home!  As we were leaving, she gave us hugs with tears in her eyes.  I love being a missionary!

Also, wasn’t General Conference great?  I loved the Sunday Morning session!  We were watching it at the Leinbach's home and they had invited their neighbor Lissa over to watch it with them.  It was amazing how the talks were all perfect for her!

Anyway, I hope y’all are having a great week! :)

Sorry about the super long email!

Sister Morris

 

random cow we ride our bikes past all the time