They try to make me go to rehab, I said nooo no no

Hellooooooooo beautiful people!

Let's see.. This week.. Well, we've been playing futebol with Mexicans for the past 2 p-days and it's been a BASK. Brazil preparation, anyone? This week was good. Long. Still a struggle. Still not feeling at home. Still figuring the companionship out. But it was good. On Tuesday we contacted a referral from the Spanish Sisters, her name is Rhoda.. She kinda lives in the ghetto-ish part of our area, so biking there is a party. We talked to her and got ourselves a new investigator, and on the way home we met a bunch of guys across the street.. We started talking and THEY were the ones talking about Jesus to US before we could even get a word out. They're a bunch of sketchy-sketch lookin' guys, all tatted up and what not. Turns out it's rehab housing and there are like 4 duplexes full of em. We started talking about Jesus Christ and how He's helped them through their process, and before we knew it we were passing out Restoration and Gospel of Jesus Christ Pamphlets galore. We were giving them some reading and they were SO pumped about it "I LOVE READING THE WORD." "IMMA GO READ THIS RIGHT NOW." "Thanks ladies, I love me some gospel reading"... I've never met anyone so excited about reading a pamphlet about Jesus Christ, much less so MANY people. Haha it was neat. We're gonna stop by again. They're fun.

Sister Johnson got a flat tire, so I had to pull out my man skills and fix it for her, then Sister Poole (the lady we live with) tried to "fix" it herself, then I had to re-fix it, then Sister Poole touched it again and she popped the tube.  We spent SO MUCH TIME fixing and refixing that stink of a tire, and by the end we had to go to the bike shop and get a new tube. It was a looong day. While we're talking about man skills, the other sister missionaries here are such GIRLS. I mean cool, it's whatever. But on p-days their idea of fun is "Oh, we should go to the apartment and bake cookies and make valentines together and do other cutesy things and sew and stuff" and I'm just like "Can we go outside and kick a ball or rub our faces in dirt or something?" Let's do something fun guys. Come on. We need to play sports. I enjoy doing womanly things sometimes I guess, but let's live a little bit sistas. I'm not butch, promise. I just appreciate having a good time on p-days. That's all. There's a lot of estrogen in Manteca. 

HEY GUYS. I PASSED 9 MONTHS THIS WEEK. How crazy is that? Time is FLYING, I can't believe it. 

Wellllllll I've gotta go, but please enjoy a little news/requests/info/whatever from President Lewis + the mission office :)

Love ya guys!

Sister Morrill

Just a lil bit from the Sac Mission: Mail info and our mission fast.. feel free to join :)

“Boxes and packages should be sent 1^st Class or Priority mail, not standard post.  Use padded envelopes when sending small objects, not flat envelopes.  Use sturdy boxes and packages that will hold up in the mail process.  UPS and Fed-ex packages and boxes cannot be forwarded and are held in the office until the next monthly Mission Leader Council meeting when they are delivered to zone leaders for delivery to missionaries

Mission Fast:  Because we are behind in our goal to baptize 801 truly converted people during 2014 we held a Mission Leadership Council Fast on Thursday to petition the Lord to bless our Mission with more baptisms based upon our faith, obedience and hard work.  At the end of that day sister training leaders, zone leaders, assistants and Sister Lewis and I held a conference call so we could end our fast with a prayer together.  We also discussed and decided that we would like to invite all of us in the Mission to fast this coming Sunday, March 2^nd  to again plead with the Lord to bless our Mission with more baptisms based upon our faith, obedience and hard work.  We read Helaman 3: 35 “Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God.”    As a Mission we desire to become stronger in our humility, firmer in our faith and to yield our hearts to our God.  We desire to bring many souls unto Him.  Our 2014 baptism goal was inspired.  Now we must urgently do all in our power, including petitioning our Heavenly Father to bless us with sheaves upon our backs as we thrust in our sickles with our might all the day long as we labor with Him in His vineyard.  Will you please join us in this fast?  In addition we felt we should ask you to invite your families at home to join us in fasting on March 2^nd, a regular Fast Sunday, in our petition to Heavenly Father. 

HELLO HELLO

HI GUYS.

HOW ARE THINGS? 

Things happened this week. It was good. Missionary life is picking up. (watch my visa come now, BAH.) 

So last Monday all of our plans fell through after p-day. Bummer. So we were walking around the sketchy-sketch neighborhood in the dark and trying to decide who we needed to see or who would be around or SOMETHING. So we found these two guys chillin in their garage, and we decided to play dumb and ask how to get to a nearby street. (Yeah, we creep sometimes. What of it? We have eternal life on the line here.) So we asked them how to get there, and naturally the "What are you ladies up to?" follows. WELLLL, let me tell you. We're the missionaries. We teach people about Christ. Eternal families. Baptism. Peace and blessings. God loves you. Whatever the spirit leads us to say. Word vomit. They asked us questions. We gave them both a Book of Mormon. "Well this thing here will answer those questions" BAM. One of their names was David and the other was high, so I dunno. But he (David) wants to read and told us to come back. BEAUT.

Tuesday was ZONE CONFERENCE. My favorite. Well, mostly. We learned SO MUCH. Elder Baxter wasn't there so we weren't afraid to breath or look up or whatever. Everything was back to normal. I didn't have to dress up like an angel. No problems. BUT.... President has every missionary prepare a 2-3 minute talk about a certain subject, and he calls a couple of them up randomly near the end of the conference. I dread it. But there are like 60-80ish missionaries there, so I thought I'd be fine again. Haven't been picked yet, why not wait one more conference? Wrong. President liked it. He called me first. Naturally. So I had to share my talk. All the departing missionaries share their testimonies at the beginning of the conference, and I was chosen to finish it. Lovely. I was not amused. But I learned SO MUCH in preparing for this talk. I needed it. Definitely didn't want it, but I absolutely needed it. I needed to remember what I'm doing here. I got caught up in Manteca and missing the people in Bass Lake and how much work we had to do there and blahhhhh blah blah and all kinds of stuff. So much. But I had to remember the impact the gospel has had in my life, how the Sisters at Temple Square essentially changed everything I thought and believed and how much happier I had become since then. Now it's my turn to find those people who need that same uplift. I'm here to find the people who can replace me when I leave the mission. I'm here to help them receive the blessings by following the example of Jesus Christ. I forgot. This work is SO IMPORTANT. 

I'm out of email time. Got to go. But I love you all a lot, fique suave.

Love, Sister Morrill

IT'S THE CLIIIIIIIIIIMB

Things are slowly, slowly picking up here. It's definitely an uphill climb, but man it's STEEP. 

Things happened this week, buuut I still feel like I've got nothing to share. I'm not as excited here as I was in Carmichael or El Dorado. I love the area and I'm getting to know the people, buuuuut still different. None of our investigators really have legitimate direction orrrr serious motivation to really pursue the church or learn about it. They're kind of stuck in their lives and don't get it and we try to talk about it but they don't get it. It's hard. I've had so much more inspiration this week though to work as hard as I possibly can. I'm called as a missionary. I'm a representative of Jesus Christ, and I don't want to waste a SECOND of my time here. I have a purpose. I have people to meet and things to do and all kinds of things that I need to do people I need to search for. I don't know what else to sayyyyyyyy now. We were supposed to have exchanges this week, they got delayed :) SISTER MAUGHAN IS MY SISTER TRAINING LEADER. She was Sister McLelland's trainer. She is the beeeeeest. I've got a few great people around me. It's great. Well I'm out, there's a ukulele in the room and I need to play it. Love yall.

Tchau tchau!

Sister Morrill

HEY GUYS.

 

Well I realized that I emailed on Tuesday AFTER our miracle day, so I legitimately have nothing to tell you. Every time I say I have nothing to say, we end up with crazy long emails about nothing so I APOLOGIZE IN ADVANCE. I've still got 5 weeks in this transfer. It already feels like I've been here for 10... It's only been 2. It's been a SUPER slow week. Appointments fell through. Super Bowl AND rainstorm yesterday = no one is out. No one wants to talk. d e a d.

 

I legitimately have nothing to say. STANK. Are there still people out there? Do people still write letters? Has technology completely taken over yet? I've got a perfectly good mail box in front of our house that would LOVE to hold some of my mail. I'd love to hold some of my mail. I forgot what it looks like :P Welllllllllllllllllllll I've got nothin. I'm just rambling. Love you all. Tell me about your lives. And your kids. Or your jobs or families or the lack of any of the above. Let me know you're out there. Whatever you feel the need to write. I'll take it. I'M RAMBLING AND THROWING A PITY PARTY SORRY. OVER IT. I'm done. Bye guys. Have a rockin awesome week!

 

Love,

Sister Morrill