November 17, 2014

Apparently the Lord likes to answer my prayers. Who would have thought? Surprisingly, it is November 17th and it still has not snowed. It is seriously a miracle. It is getting pretty cold outside, but I can deal with that. He must be keeping the roads pretty clear because he knows that people from California cannot drive in the snow.

Life is pretty great as a missionary. Are you all ready for some miracles?

1. We are teaching a lady C and her kids. This week we taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Right before the lesson she texted us asking us if her sister-in-law, T could sit in on the lessons too. We of course said yes! The spirit was so strong in the lesson. C is loving the Book of Mormon and the gospel. T and her kids all came again to church this Sunday. C told us this week that she just feels like she in on the right path. We assured her that she totally was. Things are happy with C! Turns out that T had a friend that was less active living in our ward boundaries. Because of T we were able to find A and invite her to come back to church. It is really cool how non-members can be source of referrals. It is the best.

2. Our investigator J came to church again!

3. We were told like a month ago by some elders in a different ward to go and visit what we thought was a less active family. We have been trying to get in with them for weeks. Finally we were able to yesterday. Turns out they are not even members! We were able to teach the Restoration to the mom, M. It was so cool! The Lord truly prepares you for miracles. We are now teaching M and she is coming to church with her two sons on Sunday.

This week our ward hosted a Wild Game Dinner. Basically, we all know that everyone hunts and fishes and all that jazz. Well, Tuesday night was the night that everyone brought their best Wild Game food dish that they could make from this past hunting, fishing or gathering road kill season. Guess what I got to eat? bear, dall sheep, wild boar, caribou, moose, duck (nasty), deer, and salmon. I think my favorite was the bear. It was delicious. By the time we got to the line all of the porcupine meatballs were gone. That would have been really cool to try. We also had 14 non-members there! It was the best seeing everyone fellowshipping each other in the ward!

This past Monday we climbed a famous mountain called, Flat Top. Well, almost climbed. We had to turn around towards the top because there was too much snow. As we were coming down the mountain, a rock flew from the top and came rolling / flying  onto my little finger. Man, I thought I broke my finger. It is doing a lot better, but still hurts pretty bad. It has been black, blue and swollen all week.

This week we also had Zone Conference. We focused on the theme, "Don't just walk where the Savior walked, walk as he walked." We talked a lot about becoming a consecrated missionary. I am excited to put this into action this week and for the rest of my mission. If anyone wants to read a super good talk, read, "Becoming a Consecrated Missionary" by Tad R. Callister. It will changed your life. This week we are traveling to Wasilla and possibly Juneau for Zone Conferences there. It should be a busy week. We are also doing exchanges with the Palmer and Soldotna sisters.

Well, that is the week for me and Sister Ogden!

Hope you all had a fabulous week. Remember to look for opportunities to become the Lord's servants in your life.

Love you all to pieces!

Sister Morrison

Hiking up Flat Top

Sunset from the top of Flat Top

Flat Top Mountain

Sister Morrison's poor finger 

Sister Morrison and Ogden

The beautiful sunset that Sister Morrison gets to see every night!

November 10, 2014

Hello friends and family !

What a busy week it has been. This week Sister Ogden and I spent many hours at the mission home with the AP's and President planning zone conference. The first zone conference is this Wednesday. The theme is, "Don't just walk where the Savior walked. Walk as the Savior walked." I think it is going to be a great theme for our mission to follow. We then were able to spend all day Thursday participating in missionary leadership council. We all discussed different ways our mission could improve and how we could implement the needs into the mission. It just amazes me every time a group of missionaries between the ages of 19 and 23 get together and discuss gospel topics. Where else in the world does this happen? No where! Truly an amazing opportunity to be able to serve a mission.

We were able to teach our investigator C the message of the Restoration. She is amazing! She loved it so much. She is Native Alaskan and so when we told her that the Book of Mormon was an ancient record of her ancestors she was filled with joy and could not wait to read it. We saw her again later in the week and informed us that she had been reading and had lots of questions. I cannot wait to meet with her again this week.

Our investigator G is doing super well. She can't wait to get baptized on Dec 6th! It is fun to see the enthusiasm for the gospel that converts have.

We also, met with J, our investigator who came to church on Sunday. That was a big miracle. We are grateful for his efforts he is making to progress!

Okay, we had an awesome experience last night. The kids of a family in our ward attend a Catholic school. I am not really sure why, but they do. Well, this family being awesome missionaries decided that they would invite one of the Catholic teachers over to have a discussion about our views of life after death. They invited us over to lead that discussion. It was incredible to see as we were testifying of the truthfulness of the gospel these people started to have a change of heart. Things were starting to make sense to them. Questions were being answered that they had had their whole lives. I just know it!

I had the wonderful opportunity to go on exchanges with the lovely Sister Dill. I surprised her by arranging for the K's to be at the temple on our exchange. Sister Dill and I were able to go to the temple with the K's to go baptisms for the dead. Seriously, one of the best experiences of my whole entire life. The spirit was so strong, the smiles were so big and I know there were angles around us rejoicing. Nothing better than seeing a convert family walk into the doors of the temple. This is what the work is about!!! They loved it so much. M, just emailed me this morning telling me that she got her first calling. She is 2nd counselor in the Mia Maids. I can't stop smiling.

The work is true! The gospel is true. God is preparing individuals for us to find and bring to the knowledge of the truth. I love being a missionary so much. Nothing could be better! The spirit is working in our lives. Are you paying attention to it and following its guidance?

I love you!!!!!

Sister Morrison

Sister Morrison with her convert family at the temple!

Sister Morrison and Sister Dill.

November 3, 2014

Happy I hit 13 months. I feel like after 9 months time has just flown by!

Okay, so this week started out crazy. It was transfer week. Sister Hallmark, me, President and Sister Robinson and the AP's all met at the airport to greet the new 7 missionaries. It was so fun welcoming them to Alaska. They all had the greenie fire , but looked scared to death. It was pretty funny. We spent all day with them going through orientation and all that jazz. There was only one new sister, so we got to sleep at the mission home with her that night. It was pretty fun! We then woke up the next morning and headed over to the transfer meeting. It was really fun seeing everyone, sad to say goodbye to the departing missionaries, and pretty stressful organizing all of the sister's luggage. After transfer meeting Sister Ogden and I were responsible for putting on a two hour sister training. It was all about integrity and went super well.

Okay, so Sister Ogden. She has been out for about 4.5 months. She is from Layton, Utah.  She is 19. She has blond hair and super cute clothes which I love to borrow. :) She is a fabulous missionary and is excited to work. We are already best friends. Sadly, she does snore at night which kinda disrupts my sleep, but that is what ear plugs are for right? 

On Wednesday we met with Sister Robinson, President and the A.P.'s. We planned Zone Conference and exchanges. Turns out with everything that we have to do this transfer we are going to only have one normal missionary day. It is just crazy busy, but I love it so much.

Okay, lets move away from all the organizing stuff and get to the good stuff! MIRACLES!!!!!

We recently started teaching a mom and her four kids. On Thursday we had a lesson where we taught the Plan of Salvation. The spirit was seriously so strong. C's dad is about to die and we were able to teach her that her family can be together forever! She started to cry and we were able to testify of the love that she was feeling from her Father in Heaven. We invited her to church and sure enough her and her four kids showed up. It was just fabulous. The Lord really does prepare people. It was really cool to see that all of the lessons were on family at church. It was seriously just what she needed. Miracles!!!!!!!

We got a new ward mission leader this week who is just fabulous. He has the missionary fire and wants to help our ward as much as possible. He is great at sharing the gospel and we are excited to the ball rolling!

Halloween was kinda the pits. We had to be in at 7 so we didn't run over little kids. We had a big list of scriptures to read and went to bed early. It was funny how it didn't even feel like Halloween... Oh well! On the bright side. 53 days until I can see you all at Christmas!

Sorry, I don't have much to report on, but I love you all! Keep working to be the example Christ and our Heavenly Father would have you be.

I love you!

Sister Morrison

Sister Ogden and Morrison

Happy Halloween!