November 18, 2013

Where do I even begin! What a week it has been. I think this week instead of by day I am just going to share some experiences that have happened! 

Wednesday night there was a huge wind storm/ frozen rain/ ice storm. It knocked down several power lines. 90% of our area was out of power for three days! We were lucky enough to not loose power. Man people were freaking out. Everything was cancelled including: school, work and church activities. Because it was dangerous outside our mission president told us that we had to stay in. The four elders that live around the corner from us were out of power. They stored all of their stuff at our house and slept in Fairbanks each night. It was a wild adventure. Grandpa Morrison. I know what you are thinking. Did you go out looking for people when everyone was home? I wasn't allowed to. It drove me crazy!!!!!!!! We were stuck inside for two days. 

You can call me a lumber jackie (a woman lumber jack). There was a man in the ward next to ours that needed help moving wood into his garage. Us and two elders moved 7 quarts of wood in -4 degrees. Look up how much 7 quarts is. It's a LOT of wood. Surprisingly I think I am starting to develop some muscles. It's pretty cool. Didn't think that would ever happen in life. 

Our ward really loves Sister Hewitt and I. People are always asking us to come over and share a message with them and their families. They want us to help show them how to do missionary work. It's pretty much the best. Don't worry. We only stay for like 20 minutes in each home. They say we bring a rocking, positive, motivation for doing missionary work in their homes. They talk about us all the time. To each other, in sacrament meeting, in Sunday school and in relief society. Oh, we're pretty popular in primary too! You know me. I always like being the teachers pet, so everyone liking us is pretty much a HUGE blessing. Hopefully we will start seeing a lot more miracles from these active member lessons. I know we will, it just takes a lot of faith!!!!! 

We went out to lunch one day because of no power. There were six of us missionaries. At the end of us eating we went to pay and the waiter said he covered it! We were shocked. The total bill was like $60. We thanked him and gave him a Mormon.org card. He texted us later and said he would be open to discussing religion. Hopefully we can meet with him this week. Miracle right? 

Here is another Miracle. My companion was speeding through a neighborhood and BAMB! Out of no where this cop pulls out of his drive way and starts following us. Oh man were we both nervous. He followed us for like 5 miles and eventually turned around. Later that night we drive by his house again and my companion goes... Let's go knock on his door and thank him for not pulling us over. I said. No way, no how. That is way too awkward. She said okay. Well as we were driving out of that neighborhood she stopped the car in front of his house and she got out of the car. I was mortified, but since I was her companion I had to go with her. We ended up talking to this cop and his wife for like 45 minutes. At the end we asked if we could come back and share a message about Jesus Christ. They said sure! I said how does Tuesday afternoon sound. They said great! Oh my gosh guys!!!!! We finally have someone to teach in our ward boundaries. I really really hope the accept the message we have to share with them. Missionary moments can happen in the coolest ways. Look for them! I feel bad I doubted my companion, but look at that amazing miracle!!!! 

We are still teaching Connie. We taught her all about the Plan of Salvation. She loved it. We can't get her to come to church. I don't know why? We think that because she is so old she just likes us coming over to chat and keep her company. She doesn't realize we are there to teach her about the gospel. Any suggestions as to what to do? No matter how many times we tell her she doesn't get it. 

Oh my gosh I just LOVE the Book of Mormon! I had a wonderful and powerful experience reading it this week. I am in Mosiah and for some reason the stories just came alive. I literally feel like I can't put the book down. That's a miracle. I hate reading. How did this happen? It is totally true! These people were real. I just want everyone to know it! Man I love that book. It is SOOOOOOOOO good.

My district is the best. Every night we call each other and tell each other the miracles that happened. It is the best! We are all fired up!!!!! We are turning this "dead" area into as alive as it can be!!!!! I love being a missionary! It is the best thing ever!!!!!!! 

Love you! Do missionary work. It really does make your heart more happy than words can explain. Keep praying for the north pole and I'll keep praying for you!!!!!!! 

November 11, 2013

Hi family and friends :) 

What a week it has been!!! 

Monday: P-DAY!!!!! Yep.. I already know. You are waiting for the injury. We were playing basketball and all of the sudden I was knocked straight to the floor. An elder in my district went to block the ball and slammed it right down on my nose. I tried so hard not to cry, but when something impales you that hard in the nose it's kinda hard not to. My nose was only swollen for about a day. Sorry I don't have any pictures of it. My ankle is feeling a lot better, but is still pretty sore. We played sports at the stake center for p-day again. Here is my nerd alert moment for the week. One elder brought the Quitich game that he invented. You know? Like Harry Potter Quittich? Yep. I definitely "flew" around on a broomstick(a log) for 45 minutes.Never felt so nerdy in my life. That night we shared the ward mission plan with two families and then met again with a less active family, the Sirrine's. They are doing everything right just not coming to church. Man they are so solid we just need to figure out how to get them back! 

Tuesday: We went to a members home for breakfast. She had us french toast with coconut syrup! Man was it good. We then had district meeting. We talked about how we can incorporate Christ more into our daily lives. After that we had a little potluck and ate typical missionary food like: pizza, cup noodles, and punch. After district meeting we started chopping wood for this lady in our ward. Holy cow... We had a little machete and chopped it in her front living room. We were making her kindling for her fire. My arms have been sore for days. It is hard hard work. We then continued the night teaching people the ward mission plan. 

Wednesday: What a jam packed day of appointments. We again shared the ward mission plan with more members. We again chopped wood for Sister Hardt again. Okay, so we had dinner with this family, the Meyers. They are literally obsessed with Harry Potter, even down to the point where they served us butter beer (non-alcoholic) for dinner. After our appointments our mission president gave us premission to go and watch the northern lights! We could stay out as late as we wanted, but had to wake up at 630 the next morning no matter what! Oh my gosh they were amazing. We stayed out until about 1130 watching the lights dance in sky!!! 

Thursday: We had training up in Fairbanks. It was fun see the other missionaries I came out with on Skype! After training my companion Sister Hewitt and I went to the bank to cash a check. Well, we started talking to the front desk lady. We ended up teaching her about the Book of Mormon and all about how she could do her genealogy for FREE. She about died of excitement. After Fairbanks we again chopped more wood and then went to dinner at a families house. Turns out they invited a non-member!!! His name is Zach. We started sharing a spiritual message with their family and asked Zach if wanted to learn more. He said yes!!! So technically we have our first investigator!!! Hallelujah! The work is starting to pick up!!!!!!!  After that we went over to a families house to teach them the ward mission plan. It was so cute they had the fireplace running and the place all warmed up just for us. The mom is a health nut and made us Chia seed coconut cookies and this herbal tea stuff. She said she wants to make sure our bowels were functioning properly! hahah It was so funny. Dont worry, but that night they were functioning a little too well. After our lessons we again were able to watch the northern lights. It got really cold Thursday. We watched the lights in about -8 the entire time. In case you were wondering.... my nose hairs were frozen solid the entire time. 

Friday: We had another lesson with this lady Connie. This lady is so smart! We gave her the Book of Mormon last time and she already figured out how to use the footnotes. We taught her the whole first lesson. She loved it and asked the perfect questions. The spirit was so strong!! It was great!!!!!  We finally finished chopping wood. The lady fed us dinner. Guess what was for dinner? Caribou. Yep... I ate caribou. It was actually pretty good. After dinner we visited a less active lady. We just knocked on her door and she let us in. We soon found out that she was more drunk than words could explain. After got attacked by her 10 chihuahua's we quickly got out of there! 

Saturday: We helped clean the church in the morning. We deep cleaned the kitchen. It was so gross but I am glad that we got it done. We then taught a lesson to a husband a wife. They are new converts and are 20. They were so immature. They had their dog running around chasing a laser the entire lesson. We again went tracting that night. We got all sorts of responses, from: "get off my property!!!!!!!", "why'd you let the mormons in?" to "sure you can share a quick message". It makes me sooooo nervous. I guess practice will hopefully make perfect. Just about everyone in the ward called us to warn us about freezing rain. It's kind of like hail, but different. It created HORRIBLE road conditions. If it gets too bad we are going to have to stay inside for the day. So far so good though. 

Sunday: We woke up to about 6" of fresh new snow.  So apparently I have taken up sleep walking a talking. Last night my comp said I woke up waving my arms and screaming, "Come on... Let's go to the restaurant". I then got out of bed and ran out of the room. Apparently, something like this happens on a nightly basis. I kinda wish I had my iPhone so that I could use my sleep talking app. We went to church and continued teaching more active members the ward mission plan.

Love you all!!!!!! The church is true!!!!! 

North Pole Pictures

November 4, 2013

Hi everyone! I love you all! 

Thank you for your prayers. Keep them coming!!!!!

So... this is what happened this week :) 

Monday: 

P-day!!!! I was playing basketball and while running down the court I randomly tripped (surprise to anyone?) and cracked my ankle pretty bad. I have had a huge and swollen ankle all week. Hopefully it will get better soon! <--- See the nasty picture. As a zone we all carved pumpkins for Halloween. We had dinner that night at the Freeman's. There little girl has the same thing Tucker does, just on the left side. She has almost died a ton on times. It is really sad. We then went over to a less active familes house. They told us how that they were waiting for someone to come and help them get back to church. We have another appt. with them tonight. Hopefully, they will be to church this sunday. They are amazing people. 

Tuesday: 

Our lesson with our investigator got canceled because Connie got really sick. She had to go down to Anchorage for some medical help. Hopefully, she returns soon. We would love to teach her more! Since we had no appointments we went around looking for less actives. We met a few and had lessons with them. Hopefully, we can strengthen their testimonies and get them back to church.

Wednesday: 

More less active work. We met this lady that has been suffering from pancreatic cancer for the last 13 years. Oh my goodness she is in a lot of pain. I just can't even imagine. I feel so so so bad for her! 

Thursday: 

Happy Halloween!!!!!!!!!! I went tracting for the first time. Holy smokes it is scary, but I survived. Nothing came of it, but hopefully we planted some seeds in people's hearts. We had our Halloween party! So many people brought their non-member friends. It was great. We went around meeting people and introducing ourselves. I think the members are starting to trust us in the ward. It's awesome! We had to be in by 7 on Halloween night. We were grateful to be able to rest a little bit after a long couple of weeks. And in case you were wondering... it snowed late Halloween night, so I think the record was broken!!! Woohooo

Friday: 

We had zone meeting in Fairbanks. It was great. We basically learned how to strengthen our companionship and how to be more obedient. It was great. After Zone Meeting, our district got permission to go to Santa's house again. Our whole district bought these santa claus footie pajamas. They are so funny! Friday afternoon we started presenting our ward mission plan to active member families. They all seem very excited about. Hopefully, the work will pick up soon! 

Saturday: 

Our district goes to the church every morning to play basketball. Saturday we all showed up in our Footie pajamas! It was soooo funny!!!! The rest of the day we presented the ward mission plan to more families. 

Sunday: 

We went to church and then presented the plan to more families. Oh... and I can't forget the extra hour of sleep we got! It was awesome!!!!

Fun facts: 

1. I have been out for a month!!!!!!!

2. Sadly we still dont have anyone to teach, so pray for the North Pole. We are trying so so so hard! 

3. I finally got my wallet back, and new cards! Yay!!!! No I can eat and buy warm clothes. Warm clothes are necessary considering it's only a high of 9 degrees today. 

4. oh...everyone is home schooled here.  It is weird.

5. The snow here is really dry. It's like powder. You can't even make a snowball which is totally lame. 

6. Hannah Bowen....your cousin is in my Zone!!! Pretty cool!!!! 

I love you all! Keep teachin' and preachin' the gospel to all :) Pray for missionary opportunities. They are important!!! I love the letters I have got! Keep them coming!!!!!!

Sister Morrison

October 28, 2014

Monday: We had P-day! Our district went to Santa's house and all tried on Onesie's. It was hysterical! 20 of us missionaries all met together at the stake center in Fairbanks. We laughed, played some basketball, and played dodgeball. It was WAY fun. That night we had FHE at the Hale's home in our ward. Turns out they were in Grandma and Grandpa Carey's ward in Cool when they were newly weds. Do you remember them G&G?  It was nice to be able to connect with people.

Tuesday: We had a wonderful District Meeting. We talked about how to hasten to work in the North Pole. It was very powerful. There are 8 of us in our district and all of us are on FIRE to spread the gospel. Great things are about to happen here in the North Pole! 

Wednesday: I taught my very first lesson to an investigator! It was awesome! We taught her a little bit about God and then pulled out the BOM. We explained it a little bit and she very excited yelled, " Can I read this?!" We of course said yes. We have another appointment with here this week. It was so awesome! She is ready to hear more. I am just so excited!!!! 

Thrusday/Friday: We had Zone Conference. It was basically just a very spiritual experience. We had wonderful training and played fun games. The sister's in my Zone (Mom....one happens to be your friends daughter! Sister Harrison, she's awesome!) went with our mission president and his wife out to lunch and got to go shopping at Santa's house with them! It was awesome. We are a little more spoiled than the Elders haha. 

Saturday: We volunteered to help a family stack wood. We had no idea what that entailed. Man.. you could basically say I turned into a lumber jack. We chopped trees down, chopped into fire wood size and then stacked it. I felt so cool!!!! Most Everyone up here heats there house by wood. We had weekly planning Saturday morning. Surprise... I HATE IT!!!! It just takes too long, and then you have to have companionship inventory which is like basically awkwardly talking about how you feel about each other. Good thing it's only once a week. 

Sunday: It was our Ward Primary Progam! It was awesome! The kids were just so cute! Tucker...I thought of you each time the kids started to sing. We had a meeting after church with the Bishop and Ward Mission Leader. We almost have our ward mission plan finalized. It is so great!!!!! 

Here are some fun facts!!! 

1. I finally got new mattresses! Thank goodness! I could barely  sleep at night thinking about sleeping on nasty dump mattresses

2. Wednesday it was a high on 10. I wanted to die. Seriously it is sooooo cold! I can't wait for my new cards to come in so I can buy some long johns. I guess normally there is 3 feet of snow on the ground this time of year. Lucky for me there is none. If it doesnt snow until after Halloween then it will be the first time since 1930 that there hasn't been snow on the ground since Halloween. Crazy right? 

3. My district plays basketball every morning at the church. Watch out Alex... I'm going to be better than you when I get back... haha jkjk. We have to get super physical in the mornings or else I am going to start getting real fat fast. For some reason every person's house we go to feel obligated to make us a dessert. I don't even like dessert. Eating four pieces of cake a day is getting old real fast. 

4. It is getting so dark here. Literally...it doesnt get light at all until about 1030. It is pitch black outside until then. It's just so crazy! 

5. I got a black eye. Yep... There is some kind of sist growing on the inside of my eyeball that is making my eyelid turn funny colors. I am sure with time it will go away. Oh... well. 

I love you all! Keep teaching people about Christ! I am praying for you all! Keep up the hard work that all of you are doing. Less than 60 days until skype!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE

Sister Morrison

October 21, 2013

Oh my gosh!!!!! 

Think Santa Claus, Jingle bells, real reindeer, st. nicholas lane, candy cane light posts!!!! I am serving in the NORTH POLE!!!!!!!!! How did I get so lucky!!!! Holy Cow!! I will be here for the next twelve weeks at least. Best part is... I'll be here for Christmas. Yep! You read that right! I will be in the North Pole for Christmas! I just realized I forgot my cord that connects my camera to the computer, so I am very sorry no pictures again this week. 

Well...I left the MTC last Monday and arrived at the mission home. I met my mission president and wife. They are seriously the best. In fact they look a little like Santa and Mrs. Claus haha. Our first night out we had to go out tracting. It was a little nerveracking, but I survived. The next morning we went down in the basement of the mission home and met our trainers!!! My companion is Sister Hewett. She is from Las Vegas and is a dancer. She is super fun and is by no means a fumpy missionary. She has been out for seven months and we will both be getting through our first winter in Alaska together. She is seriously so awesome. 

Tuesday night before we headed out to the North Pole we stopped by Walmart to grab some long johns, food and wool socks. Sadly, while at walmart my dumb wallet was stolen. I am was so scared, frustrated and mad. I cried a lot actually. I didn't think that would ever happen. Literally my life was in that wallet. We went straight back to the mission office and Elder Thomas called you Dad. It was so hard hearing your voice and not being able to talk to you. After freaking out for a little I figured it would all work out and maybe the person that stole it needed it more than I did. Thanks so much for canceling my cards Dad. 

Wednesday we drove 9 hours up to the North Pole. It was a beautiful drive!!! Literally National Geographic the whole entire way. We pulled off the freeway into the North Pole and would not believe it! There are Candy Cane light poles throughout the entire town. Everything is covered in Christmas! I just love it. We took over our apartment from some Elders. Sisters haven't served in the North Pole for over 40 years!!! The apartment was rancid!!!! Our fridge didn't work and all of the food that we bought with my tiny amount of money went bad. Then...we turned on the water. For some reason our water smells like rotten eggs and sulfur and there is nothing that we can do about it. Some elders in our area came over the next day to inform us that the elders before us had picked up our mattress from the dump early that week! So we are sleeping on who knows whose mattress!! Sick. But things are starting to work out. We cleaned the apartment as much as we could. We got a new fridge. New mattress are being ordered! Sadly, we will just have to smell like rotten eggs for the next 12 weeks. 

Okay, our ward is amazing! We have a great bishop and our ward mission leader is awesome. The elders before us left nothing in the area book, so we have no one to teach or to contact. So....we are just contacting literally everyone in ward and setting up appointments with all the members. Mom and Dad you would be so proud. I am making all the phone calls!!!! Yes...I am calling people I don't know. We go into members homes and share a little message and get to know them. We are in and out in about 20 minutes usually. Don't worry I plan on baptizing Santa Claus. It's going to happen. We are telling everyone that we are here to work hard and help people share the gospel. I hope it goes well!!!! 

The spirit is so strong when you are on a mission. It awesome. You just pray all the time. I already love the people here. Most of the people living in the North Pole are in the Military. I swear I have met so many people just like Grandpa Morrison. It's pretty cool. I feel like I can kind of relate to the people. Sorry I don't have much about missionary work. We have been trying really hard though. I absolutely love all of the planning that we do. It is right up my ally!!!!! 

The Knife.....ya it's for protection. Pretty cool right? There are tons of moose and wild dogs. There are tons of red necks here! haha

Best news ever.... I called Walmart one last time last night and some one turned my wallet in. I am so so so happy. Sadly, the stole all the money out of it and I still need new cards, but my license is in there, so that's great!!!!!!! Miracles happen. 

I love you all so much! You are seriously the best family ever!!!!! Love you love you love you!!!!!!! 

October 9, 2013

Happy Hump Day! 

Today is my P-day!!! Finally! haha

So right when Brooke and the Barnes dropped me off I was immediately put on a bus and shipped to West Campus, so I am not at the main MTC. I hear West Campus is way better though. Between me and three other sisters we have a whole apartment to ourselves. We have a full kitchen, living room and two rooms. It's way nice. Our classroom is also in an apartment. We are in the back room. Sadly, the air conditioning does not work and our classroom is sweltering hot. Literally, everyone is dripping by about three in the afternoon. 

So.... My district is so awesome. The first day I recommended that we all match everyday, because ya know it is pretty fun!!! And.... since the first day we have matched everyday!!! It's way awesome. Every district pretty much wants to be just like us :) My whole district is going to Louisville, Kentucky except for my companion and I. I am going to miss them a ton. Everyone is very excited to be out on missions. I am grateful everyone is super enthusiastic about learning! We all love each other :) There are four elders and four sisters in our district. Fun fact of the day... I am older than all of them. 

The food....Like I mentioned in the last letter everything, I mean everything is covered in gravy and is so good. If we compare it to Weight Watchers points I would not be surprised if every plate was a good 18 points. Don't worry though, I have been eating lots of fruits and veggies. 

Everyday we get up at 630 and are to our classrooms by 700. We literally have class for 16 hours a day. It is intense, but I love it so much. My teachers are awesome. They really challenge us to do hard things. The MTC is way hard!!!!!! Since conference was going on we have to cram two extra days of learning in. I thought coming in that I knew a lot about the gospel. I was totally wrong. I have been learning so much. It has been tough though. Most everyday at one point or another our whole district just burst into tears, but then we laugh it off and say, "We can do hard things". I think it is interesting that they teach us that we have to be our first converts, but not to focus on ourselves and turn outward, but pray for others. It's kinda a huge spiderweb effect. We are all trying to learn how to be better servants of Jesus Christ. 

We have had our first fake investigators. I am grateful for the opportunity to be able to practice with them. It seems so real when we are in lessons. We already committed on of our investigators to baptism which is pretty exciting. The spirit here is just so strong! I love it. Everyone is so nice and I love talking to all of the missionaries. 

For gym time I usually play four square. They didn't call me the queen of four square for nothing in elementary school... I pretty much own the game everyday! It's way fun!!!! 

Were you all able to watch conference? I love it so much!! I feel like they were talking all about missionary work and how we can do hard things if we trust in the Lord. There were a few times I thought of  you family! When there was a fly that kept swarming around Terence M. Vinson's face. I just pictured you all  sitting on the couch dying laughing. I also thought of you when Kevin Hamilton talked about how we need to attend all three meetings at church. I was like, Oh MAN!!! Good thing we went to all three hours for my farewell. I don't know if you heard or not, but Elder Ballard committed everyone to bring someone to church with them before Christmas. You better find someone and do that. The Lord will bless you if you do.  I loved how he also said... It is impossible to fail when we do our best. I just loved that! 

Well, my flight leaves Monday morning around 830, so you can expect a call from me sometime before that! 

I miss you so much. Missionary work is HARD! I know that if I keep trying to do my best the Lord will help me!!! I love the MTC so much, but I can't wait to get to Alaska! 

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! I know this is exactly where I need to me in life. You all rock. You can do hard things. Exact obedience truly does bring miracles. Love you love you love you. I can feel God's love for me and know that He loves you too. 

Behind the Provo Temple right before we dropped her off!

Sorry for the blurry picture, I loved how you could see how happy and excited she was.

Last time seeing her for 18 months as she enters the MTC.

WRITE ME PLEASE!!!!!

Hey folks!!!

Feel free to write me while I'm gone :) I would love to keep in touch and hear from all of you while I'm gone for the next 18 months!

Until Oct 14 write me here at the MTC: 

Sister Kelly Anne Morrison

OCT 14 AK-ANC

2023 N 900 E Unit 828

Provo UT 84602

If you send a letter through Dearelder.com it is FREE and same day delivery to the MTC!!!! 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

After Oct 14 write me here: 

Sister Kelly Morrison 

3250 Strawberry Road

Anchorage, Alaska 99502

Send all mail through the USPS mailing system. UPS and Fedex will take 4 times as long for me to receive.

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I am also allowed to email!!! Feel free to email me at: 

kelly.morrison@myldsmail.net

Dear Sister Morrison...

June 20, 2013 I opened my mission call to the Anchorage Alaska Mission. 

I cannot wait to serve the people of Alaska!! I report October 2, 2013