Weekly letter from Josh

Hey family! This week.....was the most interesting. I'll tell you at the end of this letter :)

So this week a few things happened that are worth mentioning. One thing is that I did splits again with some other Elders in a nearby area. It seemed like I was hardly in my area this week, I just worked in another area (Constancia, it's called). It was interesting because the first time I went with a new elder, he has about 4 weeks in the mission field, then the next time I went with his companion who is going to complete a full year in may. I really was able to see the difference in experience, BLESS THE HEART of the new elder, but he has a lot to learn. But, that's the same with all of us isn't it? 

Right now, in our area, we're working on the unity of our little branch. So in this week, we planned "Family Home Evenings" with several families. We're hoping that if this branch is more unified, we'll see more of them at church, one of the problems here is that not too many people want to go to church. However, this week the members took a trip to the temple which personally I think is so amazing! All the members went to the temple, which is about 3 hours away, and did baptisms for the dead. We talked to one member the day after their trip, and she said it was one of the best experiences she has had in a while. I think that this temple trip strengthened the testimony of the members, woo hoo!

Other than that, my companion and I have been working hard to strengthen the faith of our branch, trying to find new people to teach and baptize, and fulfill our calling really. Oh! We found some new people to teach thankfully! We're going to see them this saturday, Jesus and Carlota. Jesus is the son of Carlota, Jesus is a grown man, so therefore Carlota is fairly old. One interesting thing is that she is missing a left leg. That, wasn't a big surprise for me, I have seen so many people missing limbs and different sorts of problems like that. Another thing to be grateful for: my health. 

So yeah! Another quick week of doing the work of the Lord! 

Love you tons!

Elder Morrison

From Josh

Another week flew by! Seriously it feels like I wrote to you guys 2 or 3 days ago! I'm guessing that's a sign that I'm losing myself in the work? I hope so :)

That's really sad to hear that our ward is having health problems, like Bro. Meeks. It's sad to hear that his time could be cut short, it's really difficult to deal with that part of God's plan for us. However, learning from the plan of salvation, I've grown a strong testimony of God's plan for us. Hey dad, remember that story you told me of when you were in your mission, and you taught this one old lady about the plan of salvation, because she lost her husband and was told that she was never going to see him again? And you stood in proxy for her husband and she seemed like she was glowing? That story, I feel like Bro. Meeks should hear that, it would help him a lot I think :)

Anyways, my heart goes out to everyone in the ward, whether they be healthy or sick, and those who are sick are going to be in my prayers :)

That's really cool that you're going to be a temple worker soon! I feel proud to have a dad that works in the temple! It's so cool!

So! About my week, there's been some fun things this week. This week, an elder got really sick so we had to do splits twice this week. The first time, me and his companion Elder Perez (who has 4 weeks in the field) worked in my area, and 2 days ago the both of us worked in his area, which is called Constancia. Even though he only has been in the field for 4 weeks, he can teach very well! I was a bit surprised, and it's great to know that the MTC is good at what it does haha :P

This last thursday, we had the opportunity (Elder Zavala and I) to watch a movie about the Restoration and Joseph Smith with our investigators, it was really fun! The movie was planned to help them realize that Joseph Smith went through a lot in order to restore the church. The challenge we have with our investigators right now is that they're afraid of being rejected by their extended family, who are catholic. We're trying to give them a testimony of enduring to the end, and we're trying to help them get rid of their fear of being rejected from their family. It's a work in progress, but we're making good progress I feel like :)

This saturday, we watched Meet the Mormons with a member family that wanted to see it. The original plan was to have our entire branch watch the movie in our little church house, but that fell through. Apparently there was a huge party in Rosales that everybody planned to go to, even though we invited them before the party was even organized, it was sad. So we ended up watching meet the mormons in the member's house, it was still fun though! We're planning this activity again in May, and we're hoping for the best!

So those were some of the highlights of my week! I'm continuing to learn more and more each day, of Spanish and of the Gospel, and how to teach. Really, we never stop learning. Even my companion who's going to leave in 2 weeks now, he still learns things every day! That's really interesting to me, I still have much to go, but I feel like I have already learned a lot in these past 3 months :)

So yeah! There you go :) Tons of love!

Elder Morrison

From Josh

Hey family! Wow mom, that is a crazy story with that student! Just one crazy thing after the other, how funny! I saw the pictures you took from Easter, it seems like you had a great time! It´s good to see your faces as well :)

Ahhh conference weekend!! Definitely different here than all the times we've seen it together. We broadcasted conference in our little 'casa de oración' as we call it, it's a little tiny building in between two houses. On saturday, we didn't watch any of the sessions, but we did watch priesthood session, that was awesome. On sunday, i watched the first session in english. but i had to watch the 2nd session in spanish because the internet wasn't strong enough to maintain the connection for english and spanish. So i decided to sacrifice watching conference in english so the members could watch conference better. Thankfully! the Church puts all of the talks online, so I can read them while I'm on here :) Another reason the Church is awesome!

Ah so last friday I got Steven's package he told me about! I was so happy, I couldn't wait to open it! I saw all the ties he told me about, they are really cool and a bit hilarious because of their patterns. He also sent me a book called the Missionary Pal, it's this little black book that contains tons and tons of scripture references to tons of different subjects about the Gospel. I honestly think that little book is so much better than the ties! Don't get me wrong I love the ties, in fact I'm wearing one of them right now, but the Missionary Pal is so cool! Thank you a ton Steven!

We didn't do anything too exciting this week, although this transfer we got two new missionaries, I'm not the newest missionary anymore! It's a bit nice, although I feel the most inexperienced still, haha that'll change though, I know it :) Their names are Elder (of course) Perez and Elder Alcazar, Perez is from Pachuca and Alcazar is from Oaxaca! They're really cool guys and really good missionaries too! Fresh from the CCM hahaha. Last tuesday, Elder Perez and I went on splits together, so I had the chance to get to know him better, he's really nice and friendly, and I can tell that he loves the Gospel, I'm grateful for that opportunity I had. 

Today, we (Elder Zavala and I) went with two other companionships to the Liverpool mall, I don't know if you remember me telling you about this mall, but this mall is legit! (Forgive me for my slang Dad ;) ) It's just like any other mall in the US which is weird, and really cool, for me. Anyways! We all went to this mall to meet a member and her 3 kids, this member is a convert of Elder Zavala. They're all really nice and awesome. Everybody I meet here is just so fantastic!!! So we ate with them in the food court, then we went for ice cream..in the mall, and we took pictures while riding up and down the escalators with the member's Ipad. That was so funny! I, being the tallest, was chosen to hold the ipad up and take this pictures while we were riding and descending up and down the escalators. It was so fun!

Other than that, we've just been visiting with the people in our area, sharing messages about the Gospel, and walking A TON, and learning more and more each day :) I've noticed that my spanish is improving quite a bit, today I've been noticing how well I can understand people, I'm not too bad in my own opinion. However, I still have much to learn :) As always!

So yeah! That's all! Oh! So the Wells Fargo card expires this September, I took out 1500 pesos the other day so...yeah, the church bank card is from Bank of America and that lasts my entire mission.

With tons and tons of love,
Elder Morrison

A little scripture for you guys since it was Easter Weekend,
John 15:13
Nadie tiene mayor amor que éste, que uno ponga su vida por sus amigos

It's about how Christ gave his life for all of us, because of his immense love for us, how awesome is that?