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.