They're super down for Jesus

Dear Reader,

It's been almost 5 months, and frankly, I feel like if I was forced to go home early, (I would have to be forced,) I would be so very much sad to taken away from my experience as a missionary. How could the Lord possibly bless me more? Allow me to enlighten you.

That being said, I am very sad to leave behind my Cumberland family. 

But let's get into our blessings now! 

First of all, Woodstock is absolutely gorgeous. This area is full of green and trees and I feel right at home among the flora. 

The people are awesome! Lots of spunky and quirky people all helping to make the world go round. I absolutely love it already! My companion is a tender, sweet little thing. Basically the exact opposite of me. She's soft-spoken, gentle, kind, thoughtful. I got blessed with a graceful ballerina, and I think she's real-life Barbie. 

In the few days I've been here I've already seen tender mercies and miracles from the Lord! We were trying to find our friend Stephanie and accidentally knocked on the wrong house, but the lady was super sweet and bore a firm, powerful testimony of Jesus Christ and His atoning power. She was so awesome! Then we met a lady who lost her dog on the way to Stephanie and she was, understandably, upset. As we were finishing and setting a return appointment with Stephanie, we heard a rustling in the leaves and it turned out to be a very cute and lost little puppy! 

We quickly snagged it and ran back to the lady! She was very happy to find her dog and we had an awesome discussion with her! 

I'm excited to see the people I'm meeting progress and come closer to their Savior, Jesus Christ. Honestly, if only one person listened to us and was changed, I'd be so happy! The Lord has said, "And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!" (Doctrine and Covenants 18:15.) 

And yet I'm SO blessed that I get to see MANY souls come to Jesus Christ. Just like verse 16 says, "And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!" I love this gospel so much. 

Why do I smile and stay happy and positive and laughing? THE GOSPEL OF JESUS  CHRIST! So simple. So pure. I can't even begin to express how it has helped me and change me and purify me. And it continues to do so! 

This week I want to challenge you all to say one prayer of Thanksgiving every day. That's one prayer of nothing but giving thanks to God. I promise that as you do, you will see His hand in your life and recognize the many many things you have to be grateful for!

Have a blessed week and a very Happy Thanksgiving! I love you all!

Love, Sister Morrison 

Onward and Upward!

So long farewell

Hey Everybody!

Well, it's official. My time in Cumberland is up! Now I'm on to Woodstock, Virginia! I'm really sad to leave behind Sister Case. She is an amazing missionary and I am beyond grateful that I go to learn from her and be able to work at her side for these past 6 weeks. She's a blessing! 

I'm also sad to leave behind the Cumberland Ward! Yeah, I said it! I love these people! They are like my new family and I have grown close with them as we all work towards becoming disciples of Jesus Christ! They are the sweetest! I had my "farewell" talk this past Sunday. I opened it up with expressing my gratitude and love for them and I really should have waited until the end to do that because I cried as soon as I started telling them how freaking amazing they all are. They make me happy. It's crazy how a few months ago I never knew any of these people, and now I have grown to love them all so deeply it's crazy! I just pray that I had at least a little bit of the same influence they had on me. I've grown a lot since being here!

Well anywho, let's talk about the baptism because it has been all I could think about for the past week! Chris was GLOWING y'all! He was jittery and nervous and pacing before the baptism and asked us about everything and made sure that he was doing everything right and he hadn't forgotten anything. It would've been funny but I was much the same way! I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off! As soon as it started I was so excited! It was like Christmas! I got actually giddy! That is until I had to sing! I don't know why, but no matter how many times I have to sing in front of anyone, I get sooo super nervous! So I stood up there to sing "When I Am Baptized" Ac Capella and I about died. I was shaking and knees knocking and voice warbling. But you know what? The Lord makes up for our weaknesses! So the Spirit was there and Chris bawled through the whole thing! I almost cried too, so I had to look away. It's amazing to meet such a sweet and sincere child of God. He is such a humble and precious guy! He was glowing when he was baptized, but the next day at church when he received the Holy Ghost, man oh man! He was positively radiant! I don't I've been happier for anyone in my life! 

Anywho, life is just dandy! I love everything about my mission. We just got a new handbook called "Missionary Standards for Disciples of Jesus Christ" and I LOVE it! It is amazing! I just love that the Church is progressing! Because you know what that means! The Lord trusts us enough to give us more! I am so grateful that he trusts us enough to give us new challenges and new tools to use. Our entire purpose of our life on earth is the same as His goal for us. To "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life" of each one of His children! How awesome that we don't have to be stuck with the same repetitive things, but new and BETTER things! And, let me be clear, the Lord is stuck with working through imperfect people. EVERYONE is imperfect! SO obviously there are going to be bumps in the road! But it's not like we are working with some flimsy, half made bicycle. No sir! We have the biggest, strongest truck on the road. There will be pit stops and improvements made, but that's a part of life anyways! I cannot even tell you how glad I am to have the gospel of Jesus Christ on my side when times get rough or even when they are amazing! 

I wish I had more to say, but this week was a whirlwind and I don't remember much. Thank you for all your prayers. I definitely feel them daily! You are all the sweetest! Don't forget that you have the Lord on your side! You're powerful and have so much potential! Your Heavenly Father loves you!

Love, Sister Morrison

Onwards and Upwards!

Panic mode but good panic mode

Ollo,

What a fat week it's been. So crazy and soooo super awesome! I hope you all actually read this one because the Lord has shown us so many tender mercies this week! 

In my previous email, I told you about the tornado warning (hopefully it was the last email,) and that fun lesson in the trailer! Well, that same guy wants to be baptized! But, the catch is that he wants to be baptized ASAP, so this Saturday we're having a baptism! It has been a crazy and exciting week full of all kinds of miracles! We're frantically trying to get stuff done and make sure he's 100% ready. We've been having to go over there or video call every single day because we now have to fit all of the lessons into a week. Not so very hard, but mostly planning the actual baptism is the hardest part! But we're so very very excited for him and his commitment! I am so humbled and blessed that I get to be here to see one of God's children make covenants (promises) with Heavenly Father so he can receive all the awesome blessings that will be available to him! I'm almost bursting with excitement and happiness! I think I may have scared him when he first told us that he would like to be baptized. I basically vomited my joy on him and I couldn't stop gushing about how amazing and spiritual it's gonna be. My poor companion was sitting there in shocked silence because we only had one week to plan and prepare, and I just couldn't shut up! Hahaha! 

And it's the best thing ever! I was singing some songs for him to hear to pick out for his baptism, and when I sang "When I am Baptized" he stopped and almost cried! He said it was a beautiful song and he would be honored if I sang that at his baptism! I was so flattered! It was really the sweetest thing ever!

Another blessing and tender mercy is that our awesome bishop has been working with someone we're teaching who was struggling and helped him pick out a date to be baptized. He is now excited as can be and even asked us to be the opening and closing prayer. I'm so so so happy for him and his decision! 

It's really cool to see how the Lord has helped me to plant seeds and now I get to see those seeds grow and I get to reap some of the rewards. And if any of y'all know me, I love some good hard work and the feeling of exhaustion is the feeling of success. But the feeling of helping someone have eternal blessings is like none other. It's pure joy my friends! I can't stop smiling! 

Oh, some other fantastic news! We had interviews with our Mission President! I seriously love that man. He brings a huge smile to my face and I am just so blessed to have him on my side. He gave me some amazing advice on how to do the work even better here. He is happy and energetic, and as he says, "I'm strong and powerful! Like a giant dolphin!" I've probably said that before but I love it. It's hilarious! I also invited him to the baptism this week and he said he will be there! I promise some amazing pictures next week! Its gonna be awesome! 

Y'all, I'm just blessed beyond belief. I have an amazing companion who I love, a beautiful area I get to serve in alongside amazing members, and meet the elect of God's children all the time! There is no place better for me! I can't believe that I'm a missionary! Woohoo!!! How awesome is that??!!

Have a blessed week, my friends! Keep turning to the Lord. Trust in Him!

Love, Sister Morrison 

Onwards and Upwards! 

p.s. I have a talk in sacrament meeting this Sunday so pray for me :) thanks for all you do! 

Tornadoes in Cumberland

Hello my beloved,

I hope you are all doing wonderful this fine Monday afternoon! Strong and powerful like a dolphin, as my mission President always says! 

What a week it's been! Lots of crazy crazy things! We started off the week with lots of amazing and powerful lessons. It's always a good feeling when you teach someone about something you're a bit nervous to introduce, and then you discover that God has prepared them far more than you had thought! We had a beautiful lesson with one of our friends and when we finished we asked if she had any concerns and she said "Nope. This all makes perfect sense." YIPPEE! That's always a good feeling as a missionary 

I will admit everyone, it is getting a wee bit brisk around these parts. When we get to our car, we often have to sit and defrost! Winter is upon us! Halloween night was especially fun. We had dinner with our dear friends (pizza and chicken wings! Yum!) And as we were eating the TV went off and told us to expect some twisters! The wind was whipping around all day and it rained a bit, but we were definitely not expecting that! The best part was we had a lesson that evening in a trailer park, when it was supposed to reach its climax. I'm here to testify that the work of the Lord continues, come rain or shine or tornado! As soon as we walked in, the power shut off! So we lit up some flashlights and had a spooky lesson for Halloween. The trailer was shaking and blowing around all night! We could feel gusts of wind that found their way through and everything. It was so much fun! On the way home, we managed to get around the trees that had fallen and debris that was covering the road pretty well. Most of the city had lost power. The next day we picked up branches and limbs that had fallen and everyone was in cleanup mode. 

On Saturday we got to have another tea party with our friend. She's the sweetest. We also got to give a church tour to another person we're teaching. He really loved it and how simple and sincere it seemed. Hopefully, we can get him to come to church! 

We actually did get quite a few people to church on Sunday! We had beautiful testimonies and a fabulous lesson so everything went great! I even got to stay after church to direct the choir because the usual sister was gone! That was quite the experience! We have started our Christmas music and luckily for me, they were all easier to lead! Still stressful, but luckily they're all very nice and forgiving 

In other news, we hope to be seeing a baptism very soon! I will keep you posted but it should be wonderful! 

Let's see....Christmas music and decorations are already going up, so it's gonna be hard to keep back the tide until after Thanksgiving. That poor, forgotten holiday. There's actually a lady around here that has a Santa picture up all year round, so...

OH I wanted to let you all know, Homecoming is BIG around here. Apparently, everyone is obsessed with high school sports and not college sports. For homecoming, everyone decorates their porches and home and the moms have to go into school and decorate their kids lockers. Like The whole front side and even inside they do shelves with candy and food and snacks and lotions and perfumes and whatever guys like other than food. Money and stuff. But like, it's huge. And we were in the area for the game and that stadium was jam packed with fans. EVERYONE went. Even if they don't have kids in it anymore or never did. They all show up to support. People build miniature replicas of the stadium in their front yards. It's insane! I don't know, maybe my school was too rich to be bothered but.....wheird. 

Anywho. No one has to worry about lil ole Sister Morriosn in Cumberland because she is thriving, loving life, and living large. If anyone wants to send sweaters or shoes, I wouldn't be mad....just saying :) 

You guys are the bestest ever! I love you all and I'm grateful for y'all every day! 

Love, Sister Morrison

Onwards and Upwards!