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