July 21, 2014

What a week. What a week.

It started off by someone in our ward giving us some sea otter skin. One pelt of it is worth like $3,500 dollars. We just a little strip of it that kind of were in the shape of facial hair. Needless, to say we took lots of funny pictures with it. I'll send them over in a few. Did you know sea otter skin has 1 million hairs per square inch? It's probably the softest thing I have ever felt in my life.

On Wednesday we welcomed President and Sister Robinson to Juneau with a huge banner at the airport. If I have learned one thing in the Morrison household it is that banners/signs are a must to make people feel special. They were shocked to see us there, but so excited. I am pretty sure the two of them have more missionary fire than all of the missionaries put together in Alaska. I think it is just what the mission needed. They are so fun and happy all of the time. We had a meeting with them and then much to our surprise a little after the meeting we got a text that said, "Sister Robinson is ready for pick up." We were a little confused and then all of the sudden we realized that that meant she was coming out to work with us. I had a mini panic attack, because the mission president's wife was coming out with us and we had no scheduled appointments. I don't think I have ever prayed so hard for an appointment. We were on splits with the Sister from Sitka, so it was me, Sister Dall and Sister Harrison plus Sister Robinson. We were trying to figure out whose house we could show up to with 4 people and no appointment set. Finally, we got the impression to go see R. The lesson was pretty crazy. Kids and toys were flying everywhere, but we were able to talk about prayer. I was panicked that I had ruined missionary work for Sister Robinson, but after the lesson I could tell she loved it! As we were driving away a bear ran right out in front of us. I could totally tell that that was sign from Heavenly Father that we had been in the right place...plus Sister Robinson got to see a bear. It was the best! I love President and Sister Robinson!!!!!!

This upcoming week there is going to be a marathon in Juneau. The race director just so happens to be one of our investigators. This week we got to help her fold all of the t-shirts for the marathon. It was so fun. This weekend we get to help with the race, and I am so excited!

This week we got a new car. I know what you all are thinking. It is because they crashed their last one. Well, that is not true. They were already replacing it before it got it. So now we are sporting a brand new 2014 Black Jeep Compass. Honestly, it is the nicest thing I will probably ever drive in my life. It feels weird driving a brand new car, but hey I can't complain!

The Brinkerhoffs go fishing all of time. The King salmon are finally running, and this week I got to pick up a 50 lb salmon. To think that I thought those dumb rainbow trout were big..... Remember that one time I caught a dinky little fish and carried it all around the campground to show it off to the boys? Ya.. that was embarrassing. This week one of our less actives caught a 375 lb halibut. Talk about cool! We have lots of fish in our fridge. Can you guess what we'll be making it this week?

This week we had an amazing miracle with S. She likes our lessons so much that she invited a friend to come along. Her name is B. Turns out she used to go to church with a friend a while back and loved it. We taught them all about prophets and that we have a living prophet on the earth. B just about freaked out because she had just been reading about prophets in the bible and new that the "holy spirit" told us to teach them that. After the lesson B said, "Well, S I am inviting myself to the next lesson and I am totally reading the Mormon Bible." They then rejoiced together and said they just feel so much peace and comfort from the things we share. I am excited to see them progress in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Nothing better than the spirit that is felt during a lesson. It was truly a miracle. The Lord does prepare people for the gospel.

L and L. A cute old Filipino couple we are teaching came to church. The ward is just so great. Everyone was welcoming them. It was so cool as church ended we were in the hallway when High Priest let out. All of the old men came running towards us and said L has so many cool questions. He is golden, can we come to lessons with you? It was amazing because normally high priest are sleeping in the corner and don't want anything to do with missionary work, but they were pumped yesterday. It was so cool to see them catch the missionary fire! We did have a few others come to church that we were excited about too!

This week we were teaching a lady who has recently gone less active, but served a mission. For some reason Sister Dall had a brain fart about what scripture she was supposed to read so I kinda whispered it in her ear. This lady new exactly what was going on and just started dying laughing. It was so funny to teach someone that knows the missionary Lingo.

Anyway, Miracles are popping up left and right! Thank you for all of your prayers. As Sister Dall would say, "Spread the desire, to catch the missionary fire!" I love you all and hope you are having a fabulous week!!!!

Sister Morrison 

King Salmon that the Brinkerhoffs caught this week!

New Jeep that the sister missionaries got.

Otter skin that the sister missionaries got from one of the members

Sister Morrison with the new mission president, President and Sister Robinson.

Sleepover with the companions!

July 14, 2014

Well hello there!

How is everyone doing? Pretty much some crazy things happened in good ole' Juneau this week.

1. There was a flood. So the city of Juneau is basically like a giant valley at the base of a glacier. Over the past few years the glacier has been receading. Therefore, creating a lake at the top of the glacier basin. Well, this weekend too much pressure was built up at the lake and it it exploded. With the explosion came billions of gallons of water racing down the river that usually slowly flows through the valley. Thankfully, no one was hurt and only like 5 houses were destroyed. Everyone is good now, but it was a little bit of a scare. The only thing that happened for the worse in our ward was our bishops backyard being taken out by the river. Other than that everyone in Juneau is a happy camper.

2. Along with the flood Juneau is having record rainfall. In the month of June there was 7" of rain. That is one inch more than ever on record. Needless, to say Juneau is just a giant puddle. We decided to go tracting this week a lot, well.. to find more investigators. It just so happened that we planned to go tracting on the rainiest days ever. It was sooo wet. Even with our rain gear on we were one soggy mess. My toes looked like little raisens at the end of the day. I felt so bad going into to peoples homes. We literally left puddles everywhere we stepped. They weren't kidding when they said a mission requires some sacrifice. haha

3. I did something crazy today. I was sick of my hair so I chopped it to my shoulders. It was kind of embarrassing because when I went into the hair dresser she said, "Oh my gosh. You're hair is bad. I am so grateful you came into to get it cut!" So folks, I am once again back to shoulder hair length.

4. Bears bears bears. It is so funny to be driving/walking around and seeing bears just chilling on peoples front pourches. They really don't mind houses. In fact they go scavenging for food all through night trying to get into peoples trash cans.

 5. The Today Show came to Juneau! You should look it up. I think it was filmed on the seventh, but I am not sure. You can see what my ward bounderies look like. I think that show is following me because when I was in North Pole they came on Christmas morning. Looks like I am famous and I didn't even know it. haha Just kidding.

6. Not much happened this week as far as progressing investigators. We did have one cool miracle though. We are teaching a lady named S. This week she finally decided to pick up the Book of Mormon and try reading it. Well, she found the 17 questions for the soul in the front flap of the Book of Mormon where we  glued them in. She started reading all of them and their scripture references. She loved it. That night she had a dream about the Book of Mormon and new it was true. Oh man! That was so exciting when she told us that. Heavenly Father really does answer prayers. I am so grateful that I get to see the progress that people are making as they come closer to Christ. Seriously, nothing is better.

7. A whole less active family came to church yesterday because a family invited them. It really does work, member missionary work goes far more than an invitation from the missionaries. Get out there and start inviting people!!!!!!!!! This week for Family Home Evening you should all totally read the article tilted, "Opening the Door to the Gospel" found in this months Ensign. I think it will really all help you share what matters most....the gospel!

8. Our new mission president is coming to Juneau this week! Woohooo. I can't wait to meet him. We are also getting a new car. Not because our other one got in an accident, but because it is time for a new one. We are getting a brand new jeep tomorrow. They really do spoil missionaries. I am pretty pumped.

Well, not much from me this week, but I hope you all are trying to share the gospel. It will change people's lives!!!

Love you!!!!

Sister Morrison 

New haircut this week!

July 7, 2014

Offically half way done with the mission!! Man time flies. It is just crazy.

Part of misisonary training is something called 12 week. You basically spend an extra hour of studying and practicing principles from preach my gospel every day. It has been made known to be super annoying with the amount of role plays and practices you do, so we decided to make it fun. We played frisbee trying to memorize scriptures and practiced teaching people that were playing frisbee. They didn't say missionary 12-week had to be boring, so I decided to make it FUN learning.

Two senior couples work at the state archive center. This week we helped them pull out staples out of old documents so they could be prepped to be photographed. Who knows? Maybe the stuff you all end up indexing I will have put my hands on. Wouldn't that be cool?

We go an amazing refferal this week! They are a Fillipino coulple that have a daughter who is dating a member and they want to know more about the church. They seem pretty golden, so hopefully they start progressing. We are meeting with them again tonight. I am pretty excited. Pray that we can understand them. They have thick thick accents.

We taught W the second half of the plan of Salvation! It is amazing. Missionaries have been meeting with him for years and we finally are seeing him progress. He told us about some amazing spiritual experiences that he has had. We told him that if he prayed about what we were teaching him was true or not, he would have another very amazing spiritual experience. He took the challenge and we are meeting again with him this week!!!

So.. we were in car accident this week. Nobody get scared. It wasn't too bad. We were visiting a less active whos front door access is from a back road. We made sure to pull out of the road to park. We were in the middle of the lesson when a knock of the door came. A lady asked us if our car was the grey one outside? We said yes. She told us that she had just backed into us. She told that she not look before backing up and that is was her fault. A drunk man who witnessed the whole thing even offered to be our lawyer. Anyway.. our whole back bumper was pretty much destroyed. This week we have to work on geting it all fixed.

Fourth of July. Just another day on the mission. Except for the fact that my companions and I each took a color of the flag an each wore a solid color. I was the color  blue. It was pretty fun going out in Red, White and Blue. We did try to go out to the parade to talk to people,  but we barely missed it. We figured we would be able to talk to people about the church and patriotism, but everyone was too busy getting from point A to B, so at least we tried right?

We have a few other investigators that are slowly progressing. I don't have much of an update, but hopefully I will next week. We did have whole less active family show up to church on Sunday, so that was happy. Also, The whole K family fasted on Sunday. It was so cool seeing them continue to progress in the gospel.

They are building a new church in Juneau and it is almost ready! They are going to have church tours and all that jazz. Guess who they picked to be on the planning commitee to help with the tours? Yep, you guessed right. The Sister Missionaries! I am more than pumped. You know me. I LOVE planning things! Woohoo.

We got a new mission president this past week. I haven't met him yet, but he is coming to Juneau on the 17th. I kind of feel naked with out President Beesley. It is kind of funny!

Hope you all are doing great and sharing the gospel!!!!!!

I love you so much!

Sister Morrison 

Sister Morrison celebrating her half way mark already!

Sister Dall, Morrison, and Dill preparing the documents that will later be indexed at the State Archive Center.

Another bear on the side of the road!

Sister Morrison found a bald eagle on her hike this week, perfect timing for the Fourth of July!

The Sisters all dressed up for the Fourth of July!

Another picture from their weekly hikes in beautiful Alaska.

Sister Dill and Morrison on the dock.

June 30, 2014

Well!!!! Howdy from Juneau! This was a huge week in Juneau/Anchorage. 

Tuesday morning Sister Dill and I flew to Anchorage. Our flight was totally delayed. That would happen to me. I'm probably the only missionary in Alaska that is a time freak. So.. I was just so stressed that I was missing all of the trainer training meeting. Well, I rolled into the mission home right as they were saying Amen, so I basically missed all of the information, but that's okay. I guess I will just have to do a TON of praying to figure it all out. Soon after we got to the mission home they had all of the new missionaries walk into the basement where we all were. They then called them one by one and pointed to where they were serving on a huge map, then us as trainers got to run forward and tackle our new comp with a huge hug. 

So... drum roll please: My new companion is Sister Dall! Yep. you read that right. Sister Dall. I now have companions: Sister Dill and Dall. I should seriously have the last name as Dell or something. I now am sandwiched by two Sister D's. Sister Dall is from Salt Lake and is 19. She is a professional ballerina and is out here for the right reasons. She is so fun, funny and a very good missionary already. I got very lucky. Usually, it takes missionaries a while to start talking a teaching in lessons, but guess what? She just jumped right in and has a very powerful way of teaching. 

Sadly, we were hoping that it would be sunny in Anchorage, but it rained the whole time. Figures. Sometimes it is hard to imagine what life was like without rain. Haha. 

We met with a few of our investigators, but other than that we were mainly traveling, meeting the ward council and getting all settled. We did teach a few lessons on the Atonement this week. I am just amazed that every time I teach on that subject whether it be a 3 yr old child or 10 noisy people with dementia it always brings the most amazing spirit into the room. There is now way to deny the power of Christ's love for his brothers and sisters. 

This week I hit my half way mark as a sister missionary. I cannot believe it! It is just crazy. Everyday is so long as a missionary, yet the months just fly by. It is kind of weird. As I have done a little bit of reflecting this past week, I just can't imagine my life without this wonderful experience. You learn so much about God and Jesus Christ. You learn that as you follow the spirit and learn how to recognize it, miracles will start popping up left and right. It has been incredible how the Lord prepares people to come to the church. People's lives do change as they accept the  gospel that Jesus Christ established when he was on the Earth. The church is true. There is no way to deny it. As I have finished the Book of Mormon again this week I am filled with the love that our Father in Heaven has for us. The scriptures are truly a way that God speaks to us. He wants us to return to live with him and he has given us the way. All we have to do is follow it! 

I love you all! Thank you for everything!!!!!  

Sister Morrison and Dill hiking with some of the elders.

Sister Morrison and Dill at Nugget Falls

Sister Morrison, twenty-one years old and still enjoys playing in the sand!

All of the sister trainers

Sister Morrison and Dill got their new companion, Sister Dall!

The new "Dream Team" at the Anchorage, Alaska Temple

 All of the trainers and new missionaries outside the Anchorage, Alaska Temple

Showing Sister Dall around Juneau!