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.