FELIZ NATAL, ERRBODY

Itttt's CHRISTMAS. 

Where do I begin?

This week has been phenomenal. And hard. But whatever. What's new? Jack was BAPTIZED on Saturday. It was wonderful. We've seen so many miracles in their family and it's been bringing their family closer together as well, SO happy for them all.

We spent a TON of time with Jack and his family this past week.. We still had a bit to teach him and Chris made us Cap'n Crunch french toast (Best. EVER.) before the baptism.. and oh, we had to teach 13 year old Jack about the Law of Chastity. MISSIONARY LIFE DOES NOT GET MUCH MORE AWKWARD GUYS. It's whatever though, I've made the family feel awkward often enough that it's just funny now so it's cool. Hakuna matata. 

Did I tell you Kelly is getting baptized on January 4th? that was the original date we set, then we jumped to Dec 28th, then we bumped it back to the 4th. So i dunno where we were at last week when I emailed yall.. but there ya go. So Kelly is like 52 and he is just soaking everything in, he's awesome. We had a lesson with him yesterday, f a n t a s t i c. He's so ready to make changes in his life, and he KNOWS that the gospel of Jesus Christ is exactly what can help him do that. He knows what baptism means and how special this time in his life is. He still feels like he's stuck and he's not in a great place in life right now, but he's completely allowing the Savior to take over and guide him. It's been so amazing to see it affect his life. 

We had to go caroling with the ward missionaries and it was probably the best worst experience of my life. We went with the other real missionaries a week ago and had a blast.. But this time everyone else (heck, I probably was too) was out of tune AND they had 2 people playing french horns in the back. KILLER, MAN... But amusing at the same time. 

I don't know what else to say right now BUT I'M SKYPING WITH MY FAMILY IN LIKE AN HOUR AND A HALF AND I'M PUMPED. 

 

OH OH OH..

QOTW:

[sorry I've been stingy with these lately... Apparently they're a hit. I'll keep em coming.]

"Ugh I have a pit in my stomach.." 

      -silence-

      -10 minutes later-

"I FEEL SO SICK. IT'S A COMBINATION OF GUILT AND THE HOT DOG I ATE FOR DINNER." 

-Sister McLelland

Oh, and here's a golden quote from our Plan of Salvation lesson with Jack's family..

"Do you get to choose what your body looks like after the Resurrection?" 

 -Jack

"..........He wants to be black." -Kelle (his mom/my favorite person here)

yep. Jack loves basketball and in another life he would be a tall lurpy black man. #livingthedream

Okay well we're off to a fabulous Christmas brunch with a rockin' awesome family, buuut Feliz Navidad, prospero ano y felicidade.. I WANNA WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS, WITH LOTS OF PRESENTS TO MAKE YOU HAPPY. I WANNA WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEEEAAAAARRRTT. Sorry I just stinkin' love that song. 

PS thanks for all the Christmas cards and packages and letters yall are sending, I've been loving it! 

Amo voces, Feliz Natal!

Love,

Sister Morrill

TRANSFERS TRANSFERS

HEY YALL

First of all TRAAAANSFERS!!

We got transfer calls last night....

SISTER MCLELLAND AND I ARE BOTH STAYING.

I'M PUMPED.

This week has been fabulous. It's actually been harrrrd trying to meet with people and it's been slow, but we're working our tails off! It's been rough, but the weeks that are hard like this always end filled with miracles LIKE THESE....

Jack is getting baptized on SATURDAY. It's gonna be a white Christmas in Bass Lake!

So excited for him. He's 13, his mom is basically my favorite person in El Dorado. Sister McLelland and I have gotten TIGHT with their family and I'm so excited for the doors this will open for them. 

Alsoooo, we had a POWERHOUSE lesson with Kelly yesterday... He went to church with us again on Sunday and BUSTED out after Sacrament meeting, we were worried that something happened and he was done with the church thing and didn't want a part of it and we just came to allllll these conclusions, but we talked to him yesterday and found out that he just didn't realize that the Sunday school classes were every single week.. SAFE. On top of that, it turns out he thought that the priesthood blessing he got  the week before was supposed to be his baptism.. Soo we made to talk that out and now he wants to be baptized on January 4th. SUCH a miracle. He's hurting hardcore with everything going on around him, looking for a job, trying to pay rent, keepin a roof over his head... He's struggling but he's recognized the importance of the gospel in his life and he is SO humble and prepared for this. He needs it and he knows it's going to change his life. Our lesson was incredible, we just listened and addressed his concerns and somehow we got a baptismal date.

After struggling hardcore for 6-7 months to find and teach people we are seeing SO many blessings. There are so many prepared people and I'm so blessed to be here. Especially with Sister McLelland. We're besties. So glad we're serving together for 6 more weeks. 

Like I said, this week has been slow.. so I don't really have anything else to tell ya but we are LOVING it here in Bass Lake, havin' fun and workin' hard ;)

LOVE YA ALL.

TCHAUUUUU

Hello, I am an awkward missionary and I have a problem.

This week has been INSANE. In a mostly good way. I've made a fool out of myself multiple times, the members think it's hilarious but I have lost every particle of pride that I may have had. We have seen MIRACLES this week, yesterday especially. Oh, and we had an emergency transfer.. on the OTHER missionaries end FYI. haha since we're in a trio they tend to pull us out for ET's.. So Sister Twitchell was transferred to Carmichael and Sister McLelland and I are basically shotgunning the area now and trying to get to know everyone and everything on our own. We miss her but we're pumped for her at the same time, this is her first transfer out of this area and we are having a blast here!

Okay so awk story of the century..

So we have 2 investigators, Jack (kid) and Chris (kid's mom's boyfriend) We had a lesson with said family. It was a great lesson. After the lesson we were saying goodbyes, and I hugged Chris' girlfriend (member of the church). Then Chris came up (not having a clue about mission rules and the no hugging the opposite sex thing) and tried to give me a hug. I could have stayed calm and been a normal person, but instead.... word vomit. He goes in for the hug, and I just flail my arms around, yelling "UHH I DON'T DO HUGS"... Pretty sure I scared Chris. A lot. Jack's mom tried to explain to him (after tears of laughter on everyone's part but mine) the whole shebang... Still awkward but still funny (to everyone else..)... there's more to the story too but I'm out of time.

MIRACLE: 

We went to visit an inactive lady and her husband. Had a rockin awesome conversation with them, and on the way out they asked us if we knew anyone who could use a Christmas Jar, they've made it a tradition to save up their change all year long and give it to someone in need, and they didn't know who to give it to this year. We were able to tell them about Kelly and how he REALLY could use it. Instant answer to our prayers. We've been praying for help for him to pick him back up. He's had SUCH a hard time the past 4 months. He came to church on Sunday, and EVERYTHING, talks, lessons.. all of it was exactly what he needed to hear. And he was given a priesthood blessing afterwards and the spirit was so powerful and we were all in tears. We're working with him and we feel like he's going to be our white Christmas baptism :) I really am super excited and feeling SO blessed to be a part of all of it, I'm just out of time to email and I gots tuh GO.

PS Sister Lewis asked me to be an angel for the Nativity we're doing during our Christmas devotional. Like I said, I have no pride left. I have to wear a costume and get in a picture with all the other missionaries who probably get to be normal. WHATEVER I'M OVER IT. 

Okay no time, BAH. LOVE YOU ALL TALK TO YA NEXT WEEK BUH BYE.

Bass. Lake's. Back. ALRIGHT.

Please sing the title of this email to the tune of Backstreet's Back okay? 

Thanks. Kudos to you if you caught that before reading this. 

Okay sorry, starting this out a little ridiculously. 

Carrying on.

It's only been like 4 days since last P-day... Probably not too much to talk about.

BEFORE THAT THOUGH I JUST REALIZED THAT WE GET TO SKYPE/CALL OUR FAMILIES ON CHRISTMAS.. LIKE IN  A FEW WEEKS. WHOOOOOO.

Okay, really now. 

So maybe yall forgot, but I'm in a trio. Trios are a pain and I don't recommend them, but at the same time the companions I'm closest with always come out of those trios, so I guess it all works out. Anyways we're making breakthroughs in our companionship, so that's nice. It's definitely a process and we'll be working on it for the rest of the transfer, but we're making a lot of progress.

MOVING ON 

We had a roughhh day on Saturday. We were absolutely seeing miracles in the morning, finding people to teach and being missionaries and what not, but then later in the day no oneeee was answering, we had a Temple Tour set up at the Sacramento Temple with an investigator and we were SO EXCITED.. We got to the temple, waited for our investigator... and waited, and waited... and waited.. And she never showed up. We were bummed because we were pumped for her to see the temple, aaand we had some Elders come to meet her, and we just used a ton of our miles to get us all there, and we waited forever and couldn't get ahold of her. We were all pretty discouraged as we drove back to our area and tried to decide what to do. We made a few visits. 2 of them told us they weren't interested at all and shut the door in our face, and 2 more didn't answer.. Sooo we got in the car about ready to call it a night. At the temple tour Sister McLelland saw one of her investigators & old comps from her last area and I saw a bunch of the missionaries from my last area and we were in a bad mood and we missed our past areas and we were DONE. But we decided to say a prayer and ask for some direction before we headed home. We sat and thought and flipped through our planners and area books, and I thought about visiting our investigator, Cathlina. We were all a little nervous because our last lesson kinda sounded like the end. After LOTS of debate, we decided to go and see if she was home... and then we had a MIIIIRRAAACLE. Cathlina was there. Her husband answered the door. We finally met him, he let us in and we all got to sit down and talk to them as a family, it was so neat. He told us about his experience with the church and their faith and we got to really understand where they were coming from.  He is actually a member of the church but hasn't gone since he was 18. They're suuuper cute together and I am so pumped. They're all up for us coming by and they want to have us over for dinner. They have so much potential and I know we're going to see miracles in that family. I love em both a stinkin' ton. 

Welllllllll that's the news so far. Next week I'll have a full week to write about, so buckle up. We're going to see miracles this week :) 

PS Sister McLelland watched Miranda Sings pre-mish too and she has the perrrrfect Miranda imitation.. In case you all wanted to know that useless information. If we weren't besties already we sure as heck are now! t i g h t. 

Okay really now, see ya, wouldn't wanna be yaaaa.

Um abraco, 

Sister Morrill

Helloooooo beautiful people!

Where do I even begin? It's been a busy, exhausting, beautiful, crazy 10 days. It doesn't feel like Thanksgiving. Maybe it will at dinner in 2 or 3 hours, but right now it feels like I'm a missionary and I'm going to be busy doing missionary work and I'm not going to get enough sleep tonight whether I'm in bed on time or not (I absolutely will be, but it sure won't feel like it)... But that's how it should be! I AM a missionary right now. I don't want the holidays to feel like I'm at home, because I'm not. I'm out here with a message of hope to share with everyone I meet, a message that can bring hope and comfort and peace. The message we share as missionaries has the ability to change lives. I know that because I let it change me, and I've seen the change it makes in the hearts of those who let it in. It's a message of our Savior, that no matter how hard things get or how low you feel, He is there to lift us up and put us back on the right path. I am out here in California right now, inviting these people to come closer to Christ, our Savior and Redeemer. 

The past week has been filled with Zone Conference for us missionaries, where we were all humbled IMMENSELY and inspired to be better, to work harder, and to stretch further than we ever have before. We were blessed to hear from Elder Baxter, from the Seventy.. This man does not sugarcoat a THING. He's Scottish and he's got the accent, and he's tall and bald and he's got an icy stare that will paralyze you on the spot... He is also wonderful and wants us to reach our greatest potential and he is a representative of Jesus Christ and I love him.. But MAN, he is intense. He spoke to us at the conference, gave us 16 commitments (yep, we're all feeling a little overwhelmed.. But that's okay. Builds character.) He made sure we all knew that we needed to get stuff D-U-N DONE. Here's a couple of my favorite least-intimidating quotes of the conference: 

"You don't almost, hopefully, or usually 'do it'.. You just DO IT." [at this point I tried to imagine him being Yoda so I wouldn't be so intimidated.."Do or do not, there is no try."]

"Find out what the Lord wants you to do, and DO IT. Find out what the Lord wants you to say, and SAY IT."

Basically we need to stop being comfortable with where we're at, we need to be bold, we need to get out and get things done. 

Sister Lewis (the Mission President's wife.. whom I love a whole lot) spoke as well, and gave us this parable of the King's Son...

The King's Son is having a birthday, and some father in the land told his son to go bring the king's son a gift. His son didn't want to, but the father made him. He traveled to the castle and spoke to a guard at the gate. "Why are you here?" said the guard. The boy replied, "To bring a gift to the king's son." The guard then asked, "Why did you come?" and the boy replied "My father made me" the guard sent him home, he would not allow those who came against their will to enter into the kingdom. Another father asked HIS son to bring a gift to the king's son. The son resisted, but the father bribed him with a few dollars, so he too made the journey to see the king's son. The son got to the gate, and again the guard asked, "Why are you here?" and the boy replied, "To bring a gift to the king's son." The guard asked "Why did you come?" "My father paid me" replied the son. The guard sent the boy on his way, for he would not allow someone who came to see the Son for his own gain. Another man said to his son, "you should go, and give a gift to the king's son." and the boy replied "I would love to. I love the King, and I love his son." A third boy took his journey into the kingdom, and once again, the guard stopped him and asked "Why are you here?" The boy replied, "To bring a gift to the king's son." "Why did you come?" the guard asked. "Because I love the king, and I love the king's son." and this time, the guard allowed him through the gate to give the king's son his gift. 

It's a simple story, but it speaks volumes. Why do we do what we do? Why am I serving a mission, why am I spending 18 months of my life on the other side of the country, when I could be going to school and working and being with my friends and enjoying my own life? I'm here because I love the King, and I love His Son. I know the power that comes through knowing and living the gospel of Jesus Christ, and I want other people to know of that same happiness. It's like hearing a new song on the radio or seeing the newest Doritos commercial, you love it and you want to share that joy you experienced with everyone else. 

Okay, on a lighter note.. This week has been wonderful. We've had some wonderful lessons, we had EXCHANGES last Tuesday. I stayed in Bass Lake with Sister Twitchell and Sister Dees came to join us, while Sister McLelland was in East Sac with Sister Maughan.. It was a long day but Sister Dees is the sweetest and we had a lot of success :) We had a lesson with Cathlina and it kind of turned into a drop lesson (basically we broke up and it broke my heart). She's been taking the lessons because her in-laws are LDS and she wants to understand where they're coming from, and she felt like we had answered her questions and that was about it. I was pretty upset because I love her a lot and I know she sees what the gospel can do for her, but we've gotta wait for God's time and I know every little thing is gonna be alright. 

Oh we have an investigator named Kelly and he is wonderful and I don't remember if I've ever told yall about him, but we finally taught him about the restoration and I invited him to be baptized and he said yes and that's the first time that's happened to me and I kind of asked him twice because I didn't think he actually said yes but uh, yeah so that happened and the spirit was super strong and I'm so excited for him. Wow rambling, sorry guys. 

IT WAS SISTER MCLELLAND'S BIRTHDAY ON MONDAY AND I WAS MORE EXCITED THAN SHE WAS and I don't even know why but I just love her a lot and I love that I got to celebrate with her and eat all of the powdered donuts that her bestie sent her. It was a good time.

Ugh there's so much more to tell but we are way out of time for email and I JUST REALIZED WE LEFT OUR MILK IN THE CAR WITH THE REST OF OUR GROCERIES AND WE NEED TO GO PUT IT IN THE FRIDGE AND I DON'T KNOW WHY I'M TELLING YOU ALL BUT IT'S A PROBLEM AND WE HAVE TO GO TAKE CARE OF IT OKAY I LOVE YOU ALL, WRITE ME OKAY? PEACE AND BLESSINGS, BUH BYE.

Okay one second.. QOTW. Can't resist.

We have an investigator who is 17 and his mom nicknamed him turtle, and she told us that turtle was at work.. walking back to the car this was the conversation as Sister McLelland was discovering that turtle was NOT their pet turtle.

McLelland- "Uh their turtle has a job? That's awkward."

Me- "...Maybe he works at the Shell station."

WE'RE HILARIOUS OKAY PLEASE LAUGH

Really now, tchau tchau, loves.

6 months, 6 months.

HI EVERYONE

So as of today I have ONE YEAR LEFT as a missionary, and I officially hit my 6 month mark on the 22nd (THAT'S HALF OF A YEAR, PEOPLE). How crazy is that?! I feel like I just got out of the MTC, but suddenly a third of my mission is already passed. 

Okay, before I get started I'm just letting yall know that next week we have P-day on Thanksgiving, so I won't be on email on Monday, just Thursday. Maybe Wednesday, not sure how that's gonna work yet. But throwin that out there so ya don't freak out. 

Last week. Sister McLelland was sick at the beginning of the week. Then she got over it and it passed on to me. Now I'M recovering and hoping that Sister Twitchell doesn't get sick. Sister McLelland stayed home sick on Tuesday and Wednesday, so we were makin' it on our own :( IT'S HARD GUYS. I DON'T LIKE MISSING A COMPANION. Then as soon as she was getting better I got sick, so we've all felt awfullllll this week. But we had 2 lessons with Cathlina, SHE IS SO GREAT. She writes down notes, asks perfect questions, she is the perfect investigator. I love her so much. We taught her about the plan of salvation, and we got to come back on Friday and talk to her again, she takes it all in and understands it and loves it. At the end of the lesson she asked us how this gospel can help her now, when she's already following Christ and trying to stay close to him and reading the gospel. She thinks it's so good, she just needs to act for herself and see the blessings it brings. I love her. Did I mention that I love her? 

We had an AWESOME All-faith devotional last night, I don't even know what to say about it right now, I'm still getting over being sick and mission brain on top of that so my head is all foggy and now I'm just rambling. THIS IS SUCH A SHORT EMAIL I'M SORRY. 

WAIT NO, FUN STORY.

So two nights ago Sister Twitchell got a letter from one of her college professors.. The backstory is that Sister Twitchell has been writing her on the mish, and recently sent her a Book of Mormon... She replied with STACKS of copied pages from anti-mormon literature.. We humored ourselves a little bit because everything she sent was SO WRONG. Sister Twitchell was a little bummed that the teacher didn't immediately have the desire to be baptized, but Sister McLelland and I thought it was HILARIOUS. This is the epitome of a mission story right here. The lady proceeded to write a 3 page (front and back) letter about how we are so wrong and that we are a cult (I promise you all we are NOT. Errbody needs to calm down). Anyways so we are taking advantage of being in El Dorado and finding a nice wide open space to burn said copied literature. WHOOOOOO. Missionaries at their wildest, right thurrr.

Well, okay I'm tired and out of emailing time, but WRITE ME I LOVE YOU ALL... THIS INCLUDES EXTENDED FAMILY. I thought my aunts and uncles were like my besties but DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME NBD. 

Kidding, but really. 

Okay I should really go. Have a fantastic week, y'all. TALK TO YA ON THURSDAY.

Com amor,

Sister Morrill

Soooo i'm wrapping up my first week in Bass Lake. Last Tuesday after I wrote yall, we had sushi with Sister Clayson (one of my favorite people ever in my last area) and it was great. She's the cutest and sushi was delicious. We spent a lot a lot a lot of time packing, I had to say goodbye to Larry (thought it would kill me, but hey, here I am), we had dinner with another one of my favorite families, said goodbye to a few families in the ward, and said goodbye to Donna. That was sad. She was super upset that I was leaving and I was sad to leave her. She always calls us her kids and she'll call herself "momma donna". "Grandma Donna would be more appropriate, but whatever floats her boat. I love her to pieces. 

Bright and early Wednesday morning we went to the mission office for Sister Zenger to get her new companion.. She's training another visa waiter haha, YEAH BOY. And Sister Barker drove me up to El Dorado. We got up there and all I was just instantly in love with the area. The hills are basically mountains, there are trees EVERYWHERE, the leaves are all turning color and I just want to take photos of all of it, it's perfect. I don't want my visa yet, I love Bass Lake too much. We had to build our own bunk bed since there's 3 of us now, SUCH A PAIN...Then we had to build an office chair... and a desk.. and a dresser. My heart goes out to parents everywhere who have ever had to make a bunk bed for their kids. They are ridiculous.

COMPANIONS. I am in a trio again. I was dreading it from the minute I got my transfer call, but it's immensely better than I thought it would be. I am LOVING Sister McLelland so so much. She's from Highland, Utah. We get along wonderfully and she's keepin' me sane :) we're TIGHT. But trios are hard. I don't recommend them. It's great when it comes to teaching, we are so unified and it's easier not to talk too much and to pass it on to someone else, but other parts of a trio are not so easy. I know they're helping me learn and grow so much though. Slightly different scenario than in the MTC, but I'm always blessed with a ROCKIN awesome companion that keeps me laughing through the rest of it. My other comp is Sister Twitchell, who I honestly really DO love. I do. It's just a little harder for me to do it sometimes. She just finished her training and this is her 3rd transfer here, so Sister McLelland and I are follow-up training and trying to learn the area and the people as fast as we can haha. I learned my last area so quickly because we were full time bike, but we're still figuring out and working hard!

These people are SO great! The members here are all SO missionary minded and they're so welcoming to everyone. Our ward mission leader has coined the phrase "Just LOVE EM UP!" For everything. Love the missionaries. Love the investigators. Love the random weird ones that walk in every so often. Just love em up. We just added a ROCKSTAR of an investigator, Cathlina, and she's great! We taught her on Wednesday for the first time, came back two days later and talked to her about the restoration of the gospel. It was THE most spiritual lesson any of us have ever been in. She's taking the lessons more for informational purposes because she has family members who are LDS, but she asks all the BEST questions and the spirit is so strong in our lessons. I love it. She's a sweetheart.

The bishop and ward mission leader here are FUNNY. Sundays are such a blast. We were in ward council and we were just cracking up the entire time. They're all so much younger than my last ward or my home ward, Bass Lake is BUMPIIIN'. Brother Lyons (the ward mission leader) is hilarious and just spews of these jokes the whole time and I was dying. I want to stay here forever. 

We are living with members again, I LOVE IT HERE! We live with the Duffy family and they are the sweetest old couple. They're so great and I don't feel like I'm infringing on their territory haha, so that's nice.

There's so much to say about this area, I could go on forever but I gotta go. Love yall!! 

Um abraco,

Sister Morrill

LEAVIN' MY CALI HOME

This week has been fantastic and hard and wonderful and exhausting..... You know, just like the rest of my mission basically. I'm going to stop using the phrase "hardest part of my mission thus far" because every time I say that, I'm pretty sure that God laughs and just throws something to me, saying "Oh? Well what about THIS?" BAM. TRIAL. 

But that's okay. It builds character. 

Before we get into all of that though, it is TRANSFER WEEK.

Sister Zenger is staying in Northridge and TRAINING A GREENIE :') I'm a proud companion...

But that means I am leaving the area :'( 

So so so upset. I don't want to go. I love this ward so much! I know I'm needed in my new area though, so I'll go and I know I'll come to love the people there just as much :)

I am going to the hills, El Dorado hills! I'll be in the Bass Lake ward.......in a trio.........bah. I'm nervous about the trio after the MTC, but I know it will be a good experience and that there's a reason we're together. Maybe I'll even have a visa comin' in, who knows. My companions are Sister Twitchell and Sister McLellan. I don't know them yet, so that will be an adventure!

Everyone loves El Dorado, and we get to do REAL tree cutting, hard working, get your rear in gear service. I am PUMPED. I know it will be so good, I am just super sad to leave all these people that I have come to love so much haha. HARD HARD HARD.

So Thursday was Halloween. Halloween was the worst day ever. And I love Halloween. It started with a MIRACLE in the morning and then someone had to rain on our parade. I don't want to go into it because it's long and sad and complicated, and I was upset and sad and frustrated and mad and confused and all kinds of things. But basically Larry is still a champion and his heart is all wrapped around the gospel, he loves it and he does everything he needs to. He is the best missionary in the whole ward, without a doubt. He shares it with everyone and he'll clear up any misconception anyone could possibly have about mormons. His wife and step-daughter went to the LDS church in their area last week and we think they're meeting with missionaries.. I am so excited for him. He is NOT afraid to open his mouth and talk to anyone. He is the greatest. Anyways, Larry is still doing wonderfully but Thursday things came up and he's got a few things to work through before he can be baptized. That was hard. I cried. I don't ever cry, dang it. It will be a while but I know he's going to stay so strong. I can't wait to come back after the mission and see all these people again, I just love em all. 

AFTER all of that, we had a zone activity for Halloween! We got to watch Ephraim's Rescue and had dinner and zone training. Missionary life at it's best. Holidays and church movies.

Pretty sure I have been the worst influence (in the best way) to Sister Zenger. She's the perfect proper, (not always but often) quiet missionary, and my wild side has been rubbing off on her and it cracks me up because now she says things that just catch me so off guard with her cute put together self. She's still the best missionary ever but she is FUNNY FUNNY FUNNY.

Time for ZENGER'S QUOTES OF THE WEEK

Z- "I didn't shave my legs for halloween"

M- "I did a few days ago idk"

Z- "I didn't... Like FREE PETTING ZOO OVER HERE. Normally you have to pay but this is completely freeeeeee"

           ...that's mah girl.

"OH MY GOSH MY HAND IS ON FIRE" -Sister Z in trying to stay calm in PANIC MODE.... we get bored sometimes, don't worry about it.

M- "what kind of drunk do you think Sister _____ would be?"

Z- "Depressed, definitely depressed"

Disclaimer: These conversations are not nearly as exciting in context but those few funny moments have to be shared. 

I AM SO SAD TO LEAVE SISTER ZENGER. It's taken us 4-5 weeks to really warm up to each other but I just adore her and I'm so sad to leave. It will be wonderful though. She is going to be the best trainer ever. 

Well we have a lot to do and no time, so we're OUT, but I love and miss you all. The mission address is still the same so feel free to write letters... lots of em maybe ;) AMO VOCES, TCHAU TCHAU.

Com amor,

Irma Morrill

I PASSED MY 5 MONTH MISSION ANNIVERSARY

I PASSED MY 5 MONTH MISSION ANNIVERSARY HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE. 5 down, 13 to go. 

Okay before I continue, I realize that I forgot Zenger's QOTW last week, so here it is.

"I hate brushing my teeth... and washing my face... but I have to or I'll get acne.. and cavities... and ovarian cancer."

I love her.

Transfers are NEXT WEEK and I think I'm leaving the area because I've been here forever and I still don't have a visa and I LOVE THIS AREA I DONT WANNA LEAVE EVERYONE. 

but I'll go where ever the heck the Lord wants me to go, so I guess it doesn't matter what I want. 

So this week was actually pretty uneventful until Friday....Friday was fun. Let me tell you about Friday. Normally I hate Fridays because we do Weekly Planning on Fridays. I hate weekly planning. BUT after weekly planning, we had a lesson with our newer investigator, Lorraine and we taught her part of the plan of salvation! Basically talking about where we were before earth and what our purpose is while we're here. It was a goooooood lesson. Sister Barker got to come along and I adore her, and she is so wonderful with Lorraine. Lorraine is probably in her 70's, she doesn't say a lot so we're never sure if she understands everything haha, but she says she's piecing it together soooo we'll see. She's hard to read. She loves what we've been teaching her and it makes sense to her, so that's nice! 

Okay so after the lesson Friday got fun.

We met with a crazy black lady named Marsha.

We met her LAST Friday, and she told us to come back same time the next week, so we did... 

IM SO GLAD WE DID.

She is crazy, don't get me wrong. And this week we discovered she is even crazier. But she loves God and has a great relationship and faith in Jesus Christ. It's great. We were talking and she started talking about mates and she asked if people chose our spouses... and we were like uhhh no no no. But she looks at Sister Zenger and she's like "Do you know somebody loves you?" and went in talking about someone back from Zenger's home loves her and Sister Zenger is just like YEAH, OKAY. But she looks at Sister Zenger and she's just like "YOU DIDN'T KNOW THAT??" and Sister Zenger is just standing there speechless. She was talking about how he wanted to tell her but didn't because he was being obedient or something.. And she keeps going and Marsha looks at Sister Zenger and says "I can see your childrennnn" and starts talking about how she's predicted like 400 babies being born, and how God isolated her in Sacramento because she was praying over over too many people where she was before. She is nuts but so fun and I kind of love her. We're going to see her again next Friday. I'm pumped. 

Saturday we got to do SERVICEEEEEE. We got to work around a member's house and it was so hard and so, so fun. I love service. We got to paint outside and cut wood and do all kinds of fun stuff. 

And Saturday night was the wards halloween party and I went as Sister Zenger, and Sister Zenger went as me... Really we just switched name tags... LIVIN ON THE EDGE, YALL. 

Okay, wow, so after that wonderful weekend, Sunday happened. Sunday was insane. 

We had a meeting with the ward missionaries and our mission leader that morning, and there was a bunch of drama and this lady just told us off for everything she didn't like about one of the classes at church. I wanted to yell back but I am a missionary and I'm supposed to love everyone so I stayed quiet. It was ridiculous. 

Then we had ANOTHER meeting with other people in the ward, and everyone vented their frustrations about everything there too. Time to goooooo I was so over it before it even started. All I can say is I'm so thankful for Brother Barker and some of the other members who back us up and TELL PEOPLE TO RELAX. That's about all I've got for the week wowwww. 

But next week is transfers so I'll be emailing on Tuesday instead, and yall will get info on if/where I get transferred! Bummed to leave but glad to work in a different area haha, it's needed. We'll see. Love you allllllllllll, miss you. Fique suave.

Ate mais,

Irma Morrill

Uma semana loca

This week has been busy and crazy and we're actually making some PROGRESS here. YES YES YES YES YES. It's a great week. We had E X C H A N G E S on Tuesday. I absolutely dreaded exchanges on my first transfer, but I love them SO much now. Seriously my favorite part of the transfer. I always learn so much. We actually thought they were supposed to be the NEXT week, but we were at a lesson with Donna on Monday night and Sister Maughan and Sister Acker called us and told us they were at our house....oops oops. So we rushed home and I packed a bag and headed of to East Sac with Sister Maughan and Sister Acker stayed here with Sister Zenger. We planned together and in the morning we had a lesson with  one of their new investigators! Her name is Lisa, she had been in a really bad car accident a few years ago and had total facial reconstruction, she looks completely different than she used to! She was pronounced dead after the accident but here she stands :) She has such strong faith and she knows that God kept her here for a reason and to raise her kids. We taught her about the restoration, how our church is the exact same church that existed when Christ was on the earth, and how that same authority was restored through Joseph Smith. She was so eager to learn and open to what we had to say.... that alone was a wonderful change compared to what we've been dealing with in our area haha. But she is so wonderful. I wish I could have stayed in that area for the rest of forever just to teach her more and watch her progress. I love her so much.

Later that day we were able to meet with the Lamb family! They are members in that area and I just automatically loved them a whole lot for about 100 reasons. For one, uhhh well their last name is Lamb, and it reminded me of my favorite people on the whole entire earth back home. So there's that. Two, they have a HUGE Doberman. I appreciate anyone with a big dog. They have 4 adorable kids. And Sister Lamb served her mission at Temple Square, AND served outbound in the FL Tampa mission, and her husband served in Brasil. So basically their family just tugged on every single thing that I love and miss. But it was great because we clicked instantly and had a great lesson with them! I want to serve there next haha, but that's where the Sister Training Leaders' area and I have 0 desire to do that, soooo too bad. I love getting to know the members, it's so fun and they really do become like your family while you're away. I already can't wait to come back to California after the mission just to visit everyone. It will be wonderful. 

FRIDAY.

Friday was a great, great day. We didn't find anyone to teach. No one answered the door. We flew through our plans and sat in the car, wracking our brains thinking of who else we could see.. We had joked about going to the hospital in our area earlier, and goign in and talking to people... And we decided to actually go. I hate hospitals. Needles. Surgery. Sick people. Dying people. Needles. Needles needles needles. No. But we went, we wandered around the hall that our investigator, Annie, was in after she broke her arm...and leg....and ribs. So we found a door open and talked to the lady laying there... Turns out she was already LDS. Classic. So we wandered around awkwardly and eventually wandered into the chapel there.. We walked in and saw another lady sitting near the back. I found some song books that had every churchy song under the sun, so I grabbed one and flipped through it as we sat down. I found Be Still, My Soul. We sat there, and suddenly a woman walks in just sobbing uncontrolably. She came in and sat a few rows behind us, and the other woman there just walked over and comforted her immediately... I am seriously like a guy when it comes to tears.. I have no idea what to do or how to respond or if I should ignore it or leave or what. I hate when people cry. But I looked at Sister Zenger and we looked down at the song book in my hand, and we started singing Be Still, My Soul on the spot. The comforting lady told the other woman to just listen and the room was silent as we sang. There was just an overwhelming sense of peace as we finished and looked back at them. The crying woman just thanked us and the one who was comforting was tearing up, and I just sat next to the crying one and we talked briefly. We found out her name was Veronica, and she had just lost her little brother. She just told us she KNEW that things would be alright and that God was aware of her and that he was there to lift her up, and we all left so she could have some alone time. 

Those brief moments in that chapel were so powerful. I feel like I had learned more in those few minutes than I had in my whole mission thus far. I learned what it's like to feel the spirit flowing as you testify. I didn't pull out a "Plan of Salvation" pamphlet and spend an hour teaching her right there, but I was able to share a part of my testimony through a song that I love, and she was able to feel that and feel of the comforting power of the Spirit. Through that song I was able to convey that I KNOW that our Savior knows us, and he knows Veronica and He knows her brother. He knows how we feel and He knows that we can make it through those hard times. He knows because He had to suffer those things, too. He's already been there, so that we can overcome that and move forward. The lady who comforted her walked away and looked at us saying "I'll never forget this, really." And I just smiled back, but I know that neither will I. It was something so simple but so, so powerful. I'm so thankful for those moments. I'm so glad to be serving the Lord at this time. 

I'm so thankful to be here in California. Nothing could replace the experiences I'm having and the people I'm meeting. I just love every moment. 

Ate mais!

Com amor,

Irma Morrill

People here DON'T MESS AROUND with their halloween decorations!

California Halloween Deco

Milagros em nossa area!

So I am getting more exhausted every single week, but we see more and more blessings every week too, so I guess you're just supposed to keep going until you die and get crazy crazy blessings. That's what I've learned this week. I don't remember what the talk is called, but an AWESOME lady who served in our ward sent me a talk a while away by Elder Jeffrey R Holland about staying in the mission no matter what, even if it takes everything out of you or you don't think you can do it.. So I re-read it this week and IT'S SO GOOD. It's so important for me to be out here, I know that. I adore these people. I can't use my portuguese much, but that's okay. That will happen in time. I can't see myself being anywhere other than exactly where I am right now. I was meant to spend these past (almost) 4 months in the Northridge ward. And I was meant to have the companions that I've had. And learn the lessons I've learned. I know that everything, every door slam, every bible basher, everything.. is preparing me for something else. I love it here, and I wouldn't change a thing.

My companion, Sister Zenger, is a rockstar. She is. We get so frustrated with each other sometimes because we are SO opposite, but she is so fun and she is SUCH a great missionary. She keeps me in line ;) haha. We are working so hard. This week I thought I was D-U-N-N DONE DONE DONE. I was out. We've been working and nothing was happening and I was ready to quit. We had worked all week long. Sweating, praying, searching, and just about BEGGING to find someone for us to teach, all week, all MONTH, with 0 success. Saturday came around, the only people that would talk to us we found out were already members of the church. We had exhausted everything we could think to find anyone. So Saturday evening we tried one more door before dinner, and they told us they weren't interested and what not, so I decided I was done for the day (that was a joke) and headed back towards the car. Sister Zenger called me back and started walking the other direction towards this obnoxious chihuahua (I hate little dogs. They're gross. They're almost as bad as cats.) and starts talking to some lady in her garage.. She stared at us for a minute and she had tats up and down, facial piercings, smoking a cigarette, and I thought she was going to yell at us and tell us to get OUT.. Sister Zenger asked her name and she just said "Shannon... Are you guys Jehovahs Witness?" We said no, and suddenly she was just so open and started talking to us, talked about how she's had such a bad experience with JDubbs and we talked about our beliefs a little about how important families are, that we can be together forever, and what happens/where we go after death.. She was so nice and actually INTERESTED, and we got a return appointment with her for TOMORROW. I SPY A MIIIIIIIRACLE! We walked away from her house and I thought I was going to cry like a little baby. God's lookin out for us, no doubt :) 

OKAY TAKIN A BREAK FROM SERIOUS STUFF. 

ZENGER'S QOTW!

My companion cracks me up. She's noticing all these things that she would NEVER see at home in Utah, and she's just like "WHAAAAT?" In FL there are sandhill cranes and big birds just all over the place, so nbd. We were driving down some road and this herd of wild turkeys is just casually walkin down the street, and she FREAKED OUT. She was so excited. She swerved and yelled out "TURKEYS!" "AHHHHHHHHH" -slam breaks, pull out camera- "omg turkeys are just walking in the street. I need a picture." ......It scared me so bad. So funny, but the scream caught me off guard big time.

Larry's doing great! We cleaned his pool earlier this week, chatted it up, helpin him figure things out.. We're pushing for baptism on the 19th haha... One day, one day. 

OH. I USED MY SPANGUESE AGAIN. Last Monday. With a guy we tried already. We were looking for someone else again and he answered, and this time we legitimately communicated and it worked. We discovered that he lives alone and the lady we were looking for does NOT live there. He said he was "consolo" (single in spanish i guess, maybe em portugues tambem, nao sei) and I asked him a question and said casado (married) on accident instead, and basically rubbed it in his face that he wasn't married, oops. He wasn't too upset baha. but we got a referral and spanish speaking sisters are going to try to visit, whoop whoooooop! 

Sunday we worked and were having trouble finding anyone to talk to again, and after coming home sliiiightly disappointed, we got a call from the YSA Elders who talked with someone in our area and added us a new investigator! WHAAAAT. Winna winna chicken dinna. Two new investigators in a week :') miracles miracles miracles. I'm so excited to have people to teach, we've been struggling with that since I came to this area.

Remember in the MTC when everyone in my district thought I was ridiculous because I was getting a bunch of mail? Well, my zone is figuring that out now too.. Constant joke of the mish. But that means yall are doing something right.. THANKS GUYS KEEP IT UP. AMO VOCES MUITO. TEM UMA BOM DIA!

Com amor,

Irma Morrill

It's gonna take WORK

HEY YALL.

Has it seriously only been a week? This has been the busiest loooongest week yet. But it's been wonderful. We are working HARD. Everything we do revolves around our purpose as missionaries, which is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them to receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end. (wow that was hard to say... I know it better in portugues.. weird.)

ANYWAYS, so here's a recap of our week. 

Monday night (post P-day) we went to visit Annie! She's our 80 or 90-something year old investigator who has been healing from a fall at a care center.. She's about healed and can walk now and everything, so she was being discharged. Which is great for her, but she is also moving away to South Sac.. So we lost her :'( legitimately cried walking out the door. We had a GREAT last lesson with her and talked through so much. She has had a HARD life and it's so hard to see her hurting. Sister Zenger and I were saying there should be an age limit for trials.. She's been through rough stuff and she does notttt deserve the things being thrown at her in her life right now. I miss her so much! Hopefully some missionaries in South Sac will take good care of her. 

We have 2 investigators in the area, one is Larry (who has been taught everything and legitimately just needs to be baptized) and Donna, whooo we might have to turn over to the Roseville mission :((( long story. But we have been struggling hard core to find people to teach. We stay out all day long and we're talking to everyone we can, but it's still been such a struggle. I know there are people and I know we can find them, we've just got to work a little longer and a little harder, I guess.

On Tuesday we finally got to teach Sandy again! She was baptized in July and this is the first time we've been able to sit down at home with her since. She is a rock star. She's just so excited to have the gospel in her life and it shows through her eyes when she talks about it. 

The previous week we found two new investigators and we were SO PUMPED ABOUT IT.. And we went back to see them.. One of them being Janine... The one that prayed with us and told us we were confused... Well, we visited her and her neighbors that go to her church were visiting too... and it started out as a good conversation with the neighbors, then Janine came in and tried to bash for an hour... BASHING IS RIDICULOUS. DON'T DO IT OKAY. She would bring up a subject and expect us to deny it or contend or whatever, and we would just back it up and explain why we believe it and how it comes into play.. and she would just sit there quietly for a minute and think of something else. But it came down to the fact that she believes we are a cult (she told us we are a cult to our face. She was lovely.) and she pulled out anti mormon literature and all kinds of fun stuff, so we bore our testimony and told her the only way she could know if it was true or not was to read the Book of Mormon, and we smiled and got the heck OUT. She was seriously a sweet lady and we probably be friends if she didn't know what religion we were.. but hecka no, man. Not trying that again. 

The other one was a guy named Tito... he is 16 and he's a champ! We were contacting people and ended up at his house looking for someone else.. So we started talking to him, and Sister Zenger just asked him if he'd like us to teach him more about Jesus Christ... and he said YES. Totally caught me off guard. Everyone slams the door or just smiles and says "thanks but no thanks".. and he said yes. He wanted to hear. I WAS SO EXCITED. So we tried to visit again on Tuesday, and his mom answered... She was sweet.. But she said they're catholic and didn't want us confusing him.........and another one bites the dust. NOOOOOO. That was hard. Hopes crushed. But that's okay. I know there are people who are ready and really WANT to receive the gospel, we just need to keep looking.. a lot.

So I'm 99% sure that I broke my big toe like 2 months ago playing scatterball... And it hurts less as the week goes on, and then I play sports again on the next p-day.. and it hurts again.. but it's just a toe and you can't do much for it anyways, and sports are fun and it's not affecting my ability to do anything else so whateverrrrrr. I am just beating myself up out here. 

I ALMOST USED MY SPANGUESE AGAIN. We were contacting moooooore people that previous missionaries had spoken with before, and we came to this one apartment with three ADORABLE little girls who came out and talked with us for a while. Their mom only spoke spanish and she stayed inside, but I got to talk to the girls with a little portuguese/spanish mix haha. They knew english so there wasn't a lot though. I'm definitely not fluent and it takes me a while to say things sometimes, but it's so cool that I'm at least able to use principles of what I know to speak [not-so-great] spanish! I love it.

Oh hey guys, so everyone go to Youtube, or Spotify, or whatever other new technological junk is out there that I can't use any more, and look up "Tell Me Why" by Reba McEntire. Do it. Now. 

Now......TELLLLL ME WHY HAAAVEN'T I HEARD FROM YOUUUUUUU?!

A few of you have been fantastic at writing and I love it and it's my favorite. You can stop listening to this song when you please. But there are others of you who have not and it is sad because I THOUGHT WE WERE TIGHT YALL. Past YW leaders, friends by the name of Russ Osborn (yeah I know you're still out there.. Still waiting) and other friends who will remain nameless. Just know if I spent time around you or your kid (if that applies) or both it's because I love you a lot and I would love to hear from you. I'm only calling you out because I love you guys. (Russ, sorry to throw you under the bus buuuut you told me a letter was coming and uhhhhh, still waiting. CAN'T WAIT FOR IT.)  

Well it's time to go, but please enjoy some of the best quotes thus far from my lovely Utahn companion. I love her to pieces. 

Com amor, 

Sister Morrill

Week 1 QOTW:

Z: "Somebody lost some balloons!"

Me: ".....that's an airplane."

Z: "........oh. it looked like balloons."

Week 2 QOTW:

Z: "Smell that?:

Me: Ahh... Lovely

Z: Marijuana.....ew

Me: .....uh nope pretty sure that's a skunk

      [continued]

Me: "No sister, skunk and pot are very different"

Z: Pot and Marijuana are the same thing?

Me: Sure thing, Utah! :)

I love her.

"Everbody's changing, and I don't feel the saaaaame"

Hey y'all.

So this has probably been the best, longest, most exhausting, rewarding, stressful week of my entire mission thus far. 

As ya know, we had beloved TRANSFERS. I thought I'd be a little bummed or something, but I am just loving it all. Sister Kittel (just one of the best members ever, that's all) drove us from Fair Oaks down past Manteca and Tracey to drop Sister Hale off in her new area... And I left my trainer there... yeah that was weird. Then we picked up Sister Zenger in South Stockton (every CALI  SAC missionary's dream.. Stockton is straight up ghettofabulous. But the people are so humble and it's so great to be able to teach them) and took her back to good old Citrus Heights up in here :) We're both trying to figure out how the whole mission thing works without our trainers haha, but it has been SUCH a wonderful few days. We have stayed SO BUSY. We're up at 6:30 for exercise and getting ready for the day. We have studies from 8-11 (Pessoal, companheirismo, e lingua), then lunch, and then we stay out working from then til after dark. We come home and plan and we're soooo exhausted, so as soon as we finish planning we just crash til 6:30 the next morning.

We have met so many wonderful people already. I just love everything about where I'm at right now. We were out on Thursday night I think, and we met this lady and her friend (here comes a little story time. My favorite.). We met them pulling into the driveway of her house and started talking. She has a suuuper super strong testimony of Christ and her church. (Which is great). She started talking to us and as we spoke we got that she believes in the trinity, that God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are all one (Which is also great, lots of people do.) We explained that we believe that they are 3 separate beings who are one in PURPOSE. She kind of stared at us with that "you poor thing, I pity you, you don't know anything" look. (Thanks for caring, but I mean we kind of know a little something) And we started talking about scriptures and before we left she asked to pray with us. (That's cool. We pray all the time. We love praying. Let's do it.) And along with our different beliefs, obviously people pray differently too. In our church we know that we make prayer special and reverent. We close our eyes, fold our arms, stay quiet while someone offers the prayer... Ya know. Not tonight! The lady and her friend grabbed our hands (Again, that's great. Prayer circles are great. Loved the days  in FCA at Charlotte High for See You At The Pole. It's wonderful) and basically the lady gave a prayer and basically asked that we could learn truth and find our way and not be confused and all this good stuff, and she's shaking my hand all around and her friend was just talkin away through the prayer like "Yes. yes. yes. YES." agreeing.. that's nice but it was just awk awk awk. And when it was over she hugged us and looked us in the eyes and told us how young we were and how much life we had ahead of us and how we need to be enlightened and find truth.. Fabulous. Totally appreciate the concern. She was a sweet lady.. But like I said, we know a little somethin too haha. I'm so glad that I have such a firm testimony of this gospel. I love that I learn something new every single time I open the scriptures, there really is no end to learning. I'm so thankful for my Savior and the knowledge I have of Him. And I think overall I'm so glad to have the knowledge of WHY I'm HERE, and where I'm going. It puts everything else in perspective for me. The gospel is just so great. 

LARRY!

Larry is just the greatest. We've gotten to know each other so well in these 3 months and I just love it. I've probably said it before, but honestly.. My investigators are my babies. NO ONE MESSES WITH MY KID. I WILL TAKE YOU OUT. (In the most Christ-like way, of course).. So Larry is solid. He's doing everything he needs to do. He knows everything he needs to know from us. He's sharing about the church and what he's learning with EVERYONE that he talks to... Literally, everyone. He tells us stories of conversations he has with some guy on this street corner or at the store or the park... EVERYONE.  And yet he has had such a tough week. We gave him a surprise visit on Saturday and he told us a little of what's on his mind.. and he wasn't planning on coming to church or even going forward with it all until we stopped by. He felt the spirit and was reminded of it, and he's trying to get rid of the negativity in his life and move forward. He is a champ. We had a great great chat, saw him at church yesterday, and talked to him on the phone last night. We talked for a while and he just went silent and I could not get him to respond to anything.. He has some health problems so I was concerned and tried to call him back and nothing, and probably 10 minutes later he called me. He had a seizure while we were on the phone and I was the first person he called when he came out of it, he was super slow and his memory was foggy and I just kept talking to him to help him get back. I honestly have never been so worried in my life. I know he has seizures and he's had a few since I've known him, but none while we were around or talking. I love Larry so much and it is the WORST to hear him when he's not feeling 100%. We know each other really well, and he knows it and he knows that I know when he's off, if that makes sense. If he's upset, I know it, and last night when he had a seizure, I DEFINITELY knew it. I just want him to be perfectly healthy and happy and have no worries or negative things affecting him in his life and I want him to realize that he's ready to be baptized when he wants to be, is that so much to ask? Larry always looks at me, points and says "You're something else, ya know that?" I always shrug it off, he thinks I've helped him, but what he doesn't realize is how much he has done for me. I have learned SO MUCH from Larry, I don't even know where to begin.

I'm just so thankful to be exactly where I'm at right now. I love being right here, in the Northridge ward, in the Carmichael stake, in the California Sacramento mission. There is no place I'd rather be right now. I've had so many experiences here and lessons that I KNOW I would not have learned any other way. I just love it all. 

Love always,

Sister Morrill

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OH BTDUBBS

This just in:

My new companion's name is spelt Z-E-N-G-E-R... not A. 

That is all. 

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TRANSFERS TRANSFERS ERRRBODY TRANSFERS

The transfers are coming! The transfers are coming!

I am actually so excited. 

For real. 

We got transfer calls yesterday.

We move in & out and all around tomorrow.

Sister Hale got her call at like 6:00 and I had to wait until 8:30.

LONGEST DAY OF MY LIFE I TELL YOU.

So here it is mmkay?

(drum roll please)

badadadadadadada

Sister Hale is going to Manteca and opening a new area.

I am staying here in Carmichael and my new companion will be Sister Zanger.. Zenger? one of those. 

I AM SO EXCITED. 

Sad to leave my "mama", but it's been a long 3 months and change is needed haha. We're ready to move. 

Sister Zanger came in with me, so we're both on our third transfer and I love her already. I didn't get to know her suuuper well before but she's fun and just so excited to be here. We're gonna get stuff DONE :)  (and ya know, maybe baptize Larry and Donna) That'd be great.

I know I've said this like 10 times already but really, I. Am. So. Excited. I'm ready for a change.

ummmm shoot I didn't bring last transfer's planner. I don't even remember what happened this week. We did missionary stuff, taught people, preached the gospel, invited others to come unto Christ.. ya know, the usual. Just bein' missionaries and what not. 

OH WAIT DUDE (I'm not supposed to say dude, whatever. it's out there) 

We had our Open House on Saturday! IT WAS GREAT OKAY. Last year our ward and La Sierra did one, and they had like 3 people show up... So I was really nervous about this haha. But there was a great turn out and we got to talk to a bunch of people and there was free food and cotton candy and popcorn (you can't go wrong there) AND THERE WAS PEACH COBBLER. I LOVE THE BOY SCOUTS IN OUR WARD. 

We're going to the Sacramento temple today!! I am pumped. First time since the MTC in Provo, yeahhhh boy! Well transfers are really the most exciting thing that's goin on right now so THAT'S ALL FOLKS. 

Wait PS it rained on Saturday and it was great. Except it was cold rain, which was weird. I love the rain. It doesn't rain here in the summer usually. WEIRD. I don't know why I'm so excited about the rain but whatever. Thought yall would like to know I guess. OKAY PEACE OUT WRITE ME LOVE YOU ALL WRITE ME. Did I mention write me? I love mail. Letters are great. Write me.

Okay that's all buh bye. <3

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Semana 12 no campo da missao!

Hay hay hay!

This week hasn't been too crazy sooo sorry if this gets boring.. Ummm we've been visiting Annie, Donna and Larry a lot. Donna's other bird, Rosie, tried to kill me.. that was cool. He attacks black shoes and we came in and saw that he was out of his cage.. so I flung my shoes off and crawled on Donna's rocking chair.. I kinda looked like a fool, but i don't really care because I didn't want to lose a foot to a cockatoo.. I thought I'd be safe without my shoes on so I chilled out, but Rosie kept looking at me, and he just randomely RAN at me (yes, cockatoos can do that.. and they're fast) and tried to take off a toe.. so I jumped on to Donna's couch so Donna could protect me. I can handle spiders and gators and whatever the heck else you wanna throw at me..but throw in a stupid loud bird and I lose it, man. 

We got to help one of the best couples everrr paint, remove wallpaper, put up sheetrock and all that jazz, in their new house on Saturday... I am the master wallpaper remover.... and Elder Johnson did a fabulous job at destroying a wall when he was trying to remove wallpaper. It was a good time. 

Ummm we had two dinners AGAIN last night. But this time we were prepared so we didn't stuff ourselves the first time... The members love to feed us, that's for sure. PS this ward has the greatest members ever, I love them. I do nottttt want to leave these people!

We have an open house at the church this Saturday.. Hoping hoping hoping that it goes well! Transfers are NEXT WEEK. This transfer has flooooown by, I am not diggin it. Sister Hale thinks she'll be transferred and I'll be in charge of the area... yeah that's terrifying. But we'll seeeee. 

PS our Pday is on Tuesday next week because of transfers... don't get all excited because ya don't get a letter on Monday. and we're going to the Sacramento Temple then too! I'm psyched. 

I really don't have anything else to say about the past week... That's sad. This one will just be short and sweet I guess. LOVE YALL. If you read this ASAP I'll be on email for like another 20ish minutes maybe... you should say hi.. I don't care who ya are. It's currently 12:32 PM California time.. 

Alright I miss yall, love ya... tchau tchau.. ate logo!

Saudades, 

Sister Morrill

Also random tidbit- my portugues has turned to crap at this point and I am terrified to go to Brazil and try to understand everyone speak it there.. and reply. Uhh ohhhh spaghettios. But I really don't care at the same time... because IT'S BRAZIL AND I'M PUMPED... whenever it is that I get there haha.. No visa yetttt!

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Peace and blessings yall, peace and blessings.

HEYYYY ERRBODY! 

This week was SO GREAT. So, so good. I'll tell ya the small not so funny things first and get it out of the way..

First of all, along with my newfound peanut butter craze, I LOVE SPAM. I hate myself for admitting to it, but for real. You can eat it with anything. It's wonderful. And it's cheap. 

We went to visit a member that just moved into the ward, and we knocked and he didn't answer, but this black guy named Peetey opened the door on the other side of the apartment and started talking to us..He was high as a kite but we asked him if he knew this guy, and he's like "oh yeah, he's mah homeboy... from Utah." We asked what his name was (we didn't know the first name) and he's just like "uhhh i dunno! He's mah homeboy!" .....Yeah, I think you lose all credit as a thug when you say your homeboy is from UTAH. I met Peetey before when I was on exchanges though haha, he's a funny guy :)

We had TWO DINNERS in 1 DAY on Tuesday..... NO WAY MAN, NEVER AGAIN. We had dinner with one family and it was great.... But then as we are pulling out from their house, we get a text from Sister McConnell saying that dinner would be ready in a few minutes... So we called her and we're just like "hey! so dinners ready? yeah?....Wait are you serious?" ....she was. There was some miscommunication about our dinner calendar and Sister McConnell is supposed to feed us tomorrowwww instead. But we drove to the McConnells and ate dinner with them anyways since it was all prepared haha... AND she had carrot cake for dessert. I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DIE. Sister Hale and I had to roll each other back to the car. And even better, we had dinner leftovers from a couple days earlier for our lunch that day... Tooooooo much food. #StatesideMissionaryProbs 

This weekend was THE BOMB. First of all, I got a bunch of mail on Friday, and a package and a letter from one of my best friends in the entire world. It was better than Christmas man. But Saturday was fabulous. We had studies in the morning and went to a soccer game!....With good cause, don't worry. There are like 6 kids from our ward that play on this team and Jack REALLY wanted us to see him play, so we dropped by to support everybody haha. Ahh, I miss my soccer days. But that was cool. Then we went to visit Annie in the old folks' rehab home... We went for a lesson and later Annie wanted to go play bingo with all the senior citizens, so we brought her up to bingo.. and the old people all rounded us up in their wheelchairs and made us stay for a little while while they played. OLD BROKEN PEOPLE ARE SO FUNNY. Seriously it was a greattt time. There was this huge guy named Norman who was making jokes and kissy faces at this lady, and she would just look at him all wide-eyed saying "Ohhhh DON'T YOU DARE KISS ME!" I was crying laughing, they are so so sooo funny. That lady was trying to tell us a story and forgot what she was talking about, so she's just like "ohhh shoot, I suffer from CRS... Can't Remember Shhhh...Squat." Love ittt. Then after THAT, we had a lesson with LARRRRRRRRRYYYY. He's progressing sooooo sooo much. He's not goin' for baptism on the 14th haha, buuuut some day :) I stinkin love him. 

I got attacked by Donna's bird earlier this week.. That was fun. His name is Peek A Boo and he was sitting on my shoulder, and I was reading a scripture and he just chomped down on my ear... it's all in one piece still, but it HURT.

Sister Hale and I had to speak again on Sunday.. I do notttt dig it, but I guess it went well. OH, Paul Hansen just returned from his mission in Pocatello Idaho, and he gave his homecoming talk with us.. but Ian Weir was his trainer!! SMALL WORLD GUYS. PS, I LOVE YOU WEIR FAMILY. HI. I have some funny quotes, buuuut I'm outta email time. 

Paz e bencaos!

Com amor,

Sister Morrill

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Haja o que houver

HEY ALL YOU LOVELY PEOPLE. 

How is normal life out there? What's goin onnnnn?

So last week I don't remember if I told you, but the week BEFORE that we had exchanges.. and it was AWESOME. I was staying here and working with one of the sister training leaders Sister Acker, and Sister Hale was going to East Sac with Sister Loli.. sooo I was leading the area and in charge of everything. Planning, leading the way, doing ALL the talking with people I've never met in my life, and ALL of that.. and I was honestly terrified. The night before I was just sick to my stomach because I thought I was just going to ruin the entire day and that Sister Acker would think I'm a terrible missionary, and allllll this stuff was just running through my head. I didn't think I could do it at all. But Sister Acker came Tuesday night (a couple weeks ago), and we were together all day Wednesday and it was actually WONDERFUL. Sister Acker hardly talked at all so I thought I was screwed at first, but it turned into the BEST day I've had on the mission thus far. We worked SO hard, we talked to so many people, added an investigator, and just saw so many great things happen that day. It felt so good. I did it and didn't mess anything (or anyone) up :')

At that point I felt like I was finally figuring out this whole "missionary work" thing. I felt great about what we did and everyone we saw, and what I was able to do on Wednesday, and that it would be relatively smooth sailing from here on out.... Ha. Good joke.

Then last week happened, and EVERYTHING flipped. I went from the bestttt day the week before to the HARDEST week I've had yet. It's been a loooong week. Especially Wednesday, I just couldn't do anything right. I can look back and see the humor in it, but I was SO frustrated all day Wednesday. We went to see this lady that I met on exchanges at some apartment, and I knocked on one door thinking it was the right door, but some other lady opened the door and I just said hi and froze, looked at my companion, looked back at the lady, and nothing was coming out of my mouth.. I just kinda looked back and forth like an idiot, so Sister Hale threw herself under the bus with me and asks the lady "Are you Johnnie?" and the woman who answered the door just looks at us like........no. and Sister Hale continues "Oh, we're looking for Johnnie. I'm Sister Hale!" and the lady was just like "uhhh that's great, hope you find her!" AWKWARRRRD. 

    So after that we tried ANOTHER door, that I was SURE had to be Johnnie's...and no one answered.. Which was crazy lucky for me, because I later found her apt number WRITTEN IN MY PLANNER, and the second door we knocked was also the wrong apartment... Sweet. 

    But wait! THAT'S NOT ALL! We were walking out of the apartment complex to the car, but there's this girl next to her boyfriend getting in the pool, and I SWEAR she looked like Johnnie. She saw me and smiled and said something to me so I thought "OH! It's Johnnie! She didn't answer cause she was in the pool." So I went to the gate by the pool and start talking to her. I was just rambling like "Heyyyy how are you?! We were just trying to see you! I wanted you to meet my companion since we were on exchanges last week!" and allllll this stuff, and the girl just smiled and went with it like "oh cool! I'm good. blahblahblahblahblah" and then she asks me what my name is and I told her, I figured she only met me once so I wasn't surprised she didn't remember my name.. and then Sister Hale introduces herself and the lady is like "Cool, I'm ALEXA" ALEXA. NOT JOHNNIE. She was probably terrified because we told her we were just looking for her and I was so gung ho about her meeting my real companion and I didn't actually know the girl. So I tried to play it off like "Welllllll, we'll let you go swim then.. It was nice to meet you kjasdfoiejakje" and as we walk away Sister Hale was like "...........did you know her?" "nope" "did she talk to you?" "....nope... she smiled and waved like she knew me, so I started talking" "But you didn't know her?" "nope....................I thought it was Johnnie" Sister Hale just laaauughed and laughed and laughed. 

   It's funny now, but that day I was SO done. MISSIONS ARE AWKWARD GUYS. EMBRACE IT. 

Yeah I was about ready for the end of the transfer... or for Brazil.. or something. 3 more weeks of the transfer and WHO KNOWS how long until I get a visa... I've got some time here! It's great though, I love it. Some days are hard, but the lessons that come out of it are so worth it. 

We had zone conference on Friday and it was fabulous! it was a long long looong day and we sat through most of it, but we all got a spiritual round-house kick to the face, it was AWESOME. I learned so much and it was awesome to see President and the other zones around us :)

Oh BTDubbs, LARRY'S GETTING BAPTIZED.......he just doesn't know it yet. We talked to him on the phone last week, and we asked him about baptism again, and while he went over the river and threw the woods trying to talk around it, he said "ya know, I feel like it's just going to happen [some day]" ....So I took it into my own hands to just "make it happen". We're planning it all out, reserving the building, making a baptismal program and all of that good stuff.. and we'll get a lesson with him some time this week and break it to him.. We all know Larry's getting baptized at some point.. it might as well be September 14th, yeah? 

Well well well, time to peace out..

Hope yall are doing well.. WRITE ME LETTERS. I LIKE HEARING FROM EVERYONE. LITERALLY. EVERYONE. 

Com amar e saudades,

Sister Morrill

Larry-ism of the week:

"I'm dressed up in here as tight as a peacock!"

   -talkin about being dressed in his Sunday best!

.....what, Larry?

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I'm diddly-wack cuz I'm spirituallll

Hey yallllll!

I've been out of the MTC longer than I've been in it.. weeeeeeird man. I can't lie, I miss it haha.. but I'm lovin' it here in the CALI SAC MISSIOOOOOOOON. One day I'll actually get to Brazil buuuut I'm not worried about it. I'll get there when I need to be there. I feel like my letters have been really lame lately, sorry if I'm boring everyone haha.. No crazy stories... or nothing that I'll admit to while I'm in the field :P Juuuuust kidding. We don't get TOO crazy. 

I've hated peanut butter foreverrrr, but since I've been on the mish I seriously have an unhealthy addiction. I can eat it on anything. One of our members introduced me to peanut butter on waffles, and it's fabulous... They don't have peanut butter in Brazil. Of course.

Our ward had a pool party on Tuesday! Obviously we couldn't swim, but we went for food and everything.. classic. Sister McConnell kept trying to throw Sis Hale and I in, buuut we won that battle.. She couldn't get us in, so she took someone's baby out of the pool over and over and just sat her on us or let her drip all over until we were basically SOAKED. Sooo funny, but we were so, sooo wet. 

We had exchanges on Wednesday! I was leading the area with Sis Acker and Sis Hale went to East Sac with Sister Loli... I was SO nervous because Hale always leads and knows everyone and talks alllllllll the time, so I felt like it was just being thrown at me.. I thought I was going to bomb it. But we planned our day out the night before and it all turned out SO GOOD. We got to see a bunch of people and added an investigator. It was seriously one of the best days we've had since being in the area. It felt greatttt haha. 

We went to this families house... won't freak ya out toooooo bad, but basically a guy was killed in this house and we visited the family that saw it happen, and basically we were freakin out the whole time and we're pretty sure we saw old bloodstains on the wood floor. Creepy creepy creepy. Missionary life. I don't recommend it.... That's a lie.. Missions are the best. DO IT. Builds character.

Our zone isn't fun anymore :( I miss everyone from last transfer!

I don't have time to write everything else ughhhh, but basically I was thinking of before I left and I had posted something about how I was "putting my life on hold" and serving a mission and blah blah blahhh, and I remember one of my awesome leaders trying to make me realize that that definitely WASN'T what was going down. But on the mission I've realized that I've left a lot of things behind and I'm not doing all I did before, but I definitely have NOT put my life on hold. Time is flying faster than ever! I'm so glad to be here and it's soooo good. I know I'm here for a reason. Love love love my mission. 

Okay Sis Hale is walking out on me.. GOTTA GO LOVE YOU ALL

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Corrected address :)

Here's Jordan's corrected address...apparently she had given me the wrong zip code..No worries..She has still been getting her mail.

This is the correct address with the CORRECT ZIP CODE.  :)

Sister Jordan Ashlee Morrill

8267 Deseret Ave

Fair Oaks, CA 95628

 

Thanks for your letters!!! She LOVES mail!!!

Black tag on my chest, like a bulletproof vestttt

Ola!

We're one week into transfer numba TWO! Whaaaat? We have had an AWESOME week. Nothing crazy has happened, but we have been working HARD and stayin' busy. We're having fun, I love my comp! We had to say goodbye to the Zone Leaders and Elder Judd last Tuesday, it was suuuper hard. Our zone isn't the same with out them, we just aren't so close with these new people as we were with the ones who left. It's great though, we're getting to know each other and hopefully we'll be close as a zone again!

We picked up our car on Wednesday and it has been glooooorious. We're still half bike, buuuut biking is a lot less appealing after having a lil time with a car haha.... It's nice. '

We did service at Larry's and we chopped wood.. Well Sister Hale and I watched while Elder Koerper, Wong and Morley chopped wood... ha. Good times. We're trying to figure out how else we can help Larry, but i dunno man. Some people are thinking we should drop him.. We've taught him everything, he's progressing and learning more on his own and he goes to church every sunday.. But he won't commit to a baptismal date. I DON'T WANNA DROP LARRY. We need a miracle, that'd be nice. Yup. I love that guy! 

I ate anchovies and quail eggs on Saturday.. the quail eggs weren't bad, but anchovies are actually AWFUL. I don't recommend them at allllll. 

I really don't have much else to say this week, lame. I'd looove to hear from yall.. I miss everybody haha. I'm loving it here, absolutely. Buuut I'd love to hear from yall, and family.. Like Chace (my cousin) said, I might actually love and miss my family... All you Utahn aunts and uncles out there, you should write me. Amo voces, tchau tchau!

Com saudades,

Sister Morrill :)

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