10.26.2015

Hello again.

It sure is crazy how fast weeks go by! Last P day was a blast! We rode the bus into the city where we joined a couple other missionaries at the Carnegie Science Center. That place is so awesome, I could have spent the entire day there. I beat a robot in a free throw contest, tried a gravity defying thing, and did so many cool science experiments. After that we went to Point Park and played ultimate frisbee and football with a bunch of missionaries. I was so grateful the the weather has warmed back up a bit because last week was a little miserable. 

This week we had zone training which was great. We talked a lot about goals and planning, and this week when Sister Birch and I did our weekly planning it was legit. Our goals are great for this upcoming week and we are ready to go and kick some mission butt! I love / hate weekly planning. I feel like it goes on forever, but once it is done, you feel so relieved and your upcoming week is a million times better. After the meeting we went to a park and played ultimate frisbee and soccer. Sister Birch and I got matching Mormon Helping Hands shirts from the church so we wore those bright yellow shirts at the park. We were pretty sure all the other missionaries were going to think we were goobs for matching, but most of them thought it was awesome.

This past week we did a lot of contacting with less actives and really leaning out our area book, so it wasn't crazy insane like the week before, but we were expecting that so it was all good. We walked so much this past week, and one day it was raining outside and my feet were just killing me. It was towards the end of the day and we were in a dark alley and next thing I know Sister Birch stepped in a pot hole and ate it. My instant reaction was to start laughing and I felt really bad once I realized she really hurt herself. She sprained her ankle, but she's putting on a brace front even though I know she is hurting.

So we met this lady, J last week on the streets. We were able to get a return appointment with her, and we met with her twice this past week! The first time it was on the side of the street I a swarm of mosquitoes and I was super paranoid the entire time, but you could really feel the spirit so I just fought through my mini panic attack. The second one we actually went inside her home thank goodness. She loved everything we taught her and she really recognizes the spirit. We even committed her to baptism, and she is set for the 28 of November! We are so excited for her! 

We have been working with the R family a lot, and last night we called to check in on them. The Lord sure lets you end your days on a good note because E said that they have said family prayer together for three nights in a row! How great it that?!? It's baby steps for now, but slowly but surely they are getting better and better. I really love their family.

Ok, so funny dinner story of the week. We were eating dinner at some member's house and the dad was playing with the cat a little bit towards the end of dinner. He was holding it and walking around the table and I saw him put it up against Sister Birch's back. No my head I was thinking "please don't do that to me." Well, all the sudden I feel this cat up against my back and before I could do anything I blurted out "I hate cats!!!" Oh my gosh, missionaries should not be telling people that they hate their animals but I seriously could not controls it. Thankfully, everyone at the tab,e just started laughing and they didn't get offended or anything. It could have been a lot worse that's for sure. So, now the cat's out of the bag that I hate cats. Little do they know I hate all animals, hopefully I won't blurt that out anytime soon.

Sister Morrison

Me outside the Steeler's stadium. Sadly we can't go to sporting
events, so this is as close to watching a game as I can get.

Group of missionaries at point park

Sister Birch and I matching at zone training 

J, our investigator!

10.19.2015

Another week has come and gone

This past week has been great! Sister Birch and I get along so well,

and we pump each other up all the time to be legit missionaries, it's

great! This week we were able to have twenty one lessons, five new

investigators, and hand out eleven copies of the Book of Mormon. One

perk about being in a walk area is that you are constantly talking to

people on the streets and sharing the gospel. Our main focus this

upcoming week is to have follow up appointments with everyone we

contacted this past week. Hopefully they'll want to hear more!

We got to teach the local cop, J, one night while he was clearing

out the park. I guess that the police around here really like us since

we aren't running around causing trouble or doing bad things like

other people who roam the streets. We were also able to teach the

mailman while he was on his mail route. It was kind of fun walking up

and down the street while answering his questions. It just goes to

show how much people don't know about us. Another cool teaching story

happened this week. We were walking by the park and saw some sort of

pizza party. We went by and a group of people who were starting up

their own church was having a pizza tasting contest where you could

vote for the best pizza in town. We ate pizza, voted, then were able

to learn what they believed and share a little bit about what we

believe. That was a fun lesson, who doesn't like eating free pizza?

Every Tuesday we volunteer at an old folks home. This past week was an

ice cream social and karaoke. We passed out sundaes and cuzoos to

them. It was a hoot watching all these old people cuzoo along to the

songs. There is one man named Brian who would sing and dance to every

song, and tried to get fresh with all the ladies around him. He is my

favorite.

I learned another word this week. Shlup. It pretty much means anything

you want it to. With that word along with ynz, yous, and the way they

pronounce Carnegie, Sewickley, Steelers, and downtown, I am

practically learning a new language. Needless to say, people can tell

I'm not from around here.

We helped our neighbors help box up an elderly lady's who who just

moved into an old folks home. She had so much stuff, and we came home

with some treasures! We were able to get a nice winter coat, gloves,

blankets, and our Halloween costumes! We got some pretty ugly dresses

and are going to be frumpy missionaries from the 90s. We even got some

of those hush puppie shoes to go with it!

J, the lady who got baptized last week is on fire. She is so happy

and like a new person. It was cool to see that transformation.

Yesterday we went to a fireside where another missionaries who is

Native American did a little presentation on how her heritage ties

into the Book of Mormon. J loved it, and it was cool to see some of

the tribal dancing and stuff. She came from the Ute tribe in Vernal,

Utah, and I never thought I would say this but, I actually love a Ute!

That sure means something since I practically despised them while at

BYU.

There is a family who we have been teaching who have been going

through some rough patches. Even though there life is a little chaotic

it's cool to teach them and have them learn about how the gospel can

change their lives. They know the church is true, and when they commit

they said that they are jumping in full force. Helpfully we'll be able

to help them get to their commitment point!

It got pretty cold this week, In fact, the first snowfall happened

right as church was ending yesterday. It didn't stay long thank

goodness, but it definitely shook me and got me nervous for the

winter. Hopefully the bitter cold won't come for another month!

Sister Morrison

The Beaver District. Me, Sister Birch, Wyasket, and Ludwig. Elder Redd, Redford, Tengberg, and Bryant, along with President and Sister Johnson.

Teaching the mailman!

Sister Birch and I at the pizza contest 

Elder Redd is from Canada and loves the snow, I on the other hand do not.

10.12.2015

These shoes were made for walking

Oh my goodness, it's been a weird week. Last Monday we went to a

trampoline park with some of the elders in our district. We had free

thirty minute passes, but the employee let us stay for and hour and a

half for free. Talk about a miracle! It was a blast. Definitely one of

the better P days so far.

Before we headed off to the transfer meeting I was able to go and say

goodbye to Cindy. I was pretty sad to leave her because she has

progressed so much and she is amazing. She kept telling me one of her

angels was leaving which was bitter sweet for me because I'm also

going to miss her a lot, but it was good to know that I was able to

help at least one person during that transfer.

Transfers came, and let me just tell you, I almost had nervous

diahreah that I was going to get sent out to the vortex, everyone in

the PPM calls the eastern part of the mission the vortex because once

you get assigned over there you never make it out. I saw Cameron

Ashton at the meeting which was kind of weird because we both knew

each other growing up as normal people, but now we are both

missionaries in the same mission. At the same time it was col because

it was like a mini Murrieta flashback. I got transferred to the other

side of the Ohio River. I am now in the Avalon walk area which covers

part of the Pitt 4th ward with Sister Birch. The ward is covered by

two sets of missionaries, one walking and one driving set. So far it's

been great. I know live in an attic with slanted walls that makes me

feel like a giant. I swear, I never felt very tall until my mission. I

have short companions and short apartments. I don't mind though, you

know how I love feeling tall :)

Bishop Hoke is a retired Steelers player, and apparently does the

postgame analysis, so that's pretty cool. I swear this ward knows so

many people that I know from back home. Sister Nobbs lived in Lake

Elsinore fifteen years ago and knew the Freeman family, and it turns

out that Sister Hale is Maddi Baugh's aunt! It sure is crazy how small

of a world it is, especially in the Mormon community.

We had a baptism for a lady named J on Friday. We went early to

clean the font and make sure the water was warm. Unfortunately, the

water heater wasn't working so we thought that she was just going to

have to be baptized in cold water. Thankfully ten minutes before the

baptism was going to start some elders were able to turn on the warm

water, and the font was able to be heated. That was another miracle in

itself. The baptism was great and Jean was so happy. The spirit was

strong the entire time.

Saturday we went and helped a hoarder in our ward clean out her house.

Apparently she doesn't only hoard clutter, she also hoards people.

Sister Birch said that up until two weeks ago she was letting a

homeless man live in a tent in her backyard. People out here are crazy

and weird, but sometimes you find a gem. Thankfully I didn't have to

spend much time inside since we helped her clean off her porch, for

the fourth time.

The weather is starting to turn. The trees here are full of color and

beautiful which should only last for a couple more weeks. It's also

gotten a little chilly which freaks me out a bit since I don't really

have warm clothes and I'll be walking everywhere. I'm now on the

lookout for warm weather clothes. Pray I don't freeze before then!

Sister Morrison

Trampoline park fun

C and me

The activity days girls in the Pitt 4th Ward

Sister Birch, J, and me

10.05.2015

The Upset

Holy guacamole, it has sure been one heck of a week! This week the

weather has finally started to change. It hasn't even started snowing

or getting super cold and I already am unsure about this whole skirt

thing. My legs are going to die. It rained a couple days this past

week, and let me tell you, it was coming down more than I have ever

seen rain come down. When it wasn't raining it was gloomy and

sometimes foggy. I felt like I was in the Rise of the Planet of the

Apes movie and Caesar was going to pop out of the trees with his ape

buddies and start flipping cars. Our apartment heater doesn't work so

it's been 61 degrees at home, but somehow I am surviving.

Conference was great, and for the first time I didn't fall asleep! I

guess it's cause we watched it with adults that don't have that

problem, and I didn't want to look like a slacker missionary. It

always is a nice treat to hear from our prophets!

The Fort Pitt Tunnel is one of the main tunnels you go through to get

into the city. Every time we drive through it we try and hold our

breath. When the traffic is bad it's impossible. Well, last Monday on

our way out of the city there was no traffic and I was finally able to

hold my breath through the entire thing! It took us one minute and

twenty seconds to drive through it. Ok, that story was probably really

lame, but I was excited haha

This past week we had lots of lessons, with some normal people, but

also some normal ones. There was a cat hair ball on the top of a man's

head the entire lesson where he told us we were the antiChrist, one

person let out a fart during our lesson, and a cat jumped up on the

arm rest of the couch I was on and I could sense it staring at me

which caused me to start laughing. I played it off like the whiskers

were tickling me, but no, I was just getting stared at by a cat.

We met with C and her daughter A was with us as well. We were

able to give Ariel a Book of Mormon and Nashe asked if we could give

her a scripture to read about humility. We also asked C if she

would like to be baptized. Boy oh boy was I nervous that she was going

to kick us out right then and here because she is pretty devoted to

her church. Instead she said that she was really going to pray about

it because it's a big step and she has been going to her church for

the past 40 years. I've never prayed so much for someone in my life.

Hopefully this next week we will get some good news.

We also taught B at his office again. It's crazy to see grown men

open up completely and share their worries and desires with three 20

year old girls. It is really cool to see him have that desire to

change his life around and try to get right with God again.

M had her baptismal interview with President Johnson on Thursday

and she passed! She is going to be baptized October 17th!! She was so

nervous for the interview and got all fancy to impress President;

heck, she even put her fake teeth in! When she came out of the

interview she was all grins, and couldn't stop hugging everyone and

smiling. I'm so excited fore her!

So you know how in March Madness there are upsets that happen where

the #1 seed looses to the #16 seed in the first round? It's so

unlikely to happen that no one considers it an option, but there is

still the tiniest chance of it actually happening. Well a similar

thing happened to me this week. Saturday morning I got a call from the

zone leader and I am being transferred. Trainees usually stay with

their trainers for three mons, or two transfers until they complete

the twelve week training course. I'm sort of the odd ball. I guess a

sister had to go home for medical reasons, and one sister is coming in

instead of four which made the supply of sister missionaries low. They

have just enough sisters in the mission to fill all companionships

without any trios, which means that I was the lucky one to have to

move. President called us twice in the past two days to make sure we

understood the situation and make sure we were ok. Funny thing is, I

think I'm the one that is the most ok with it out of my and my two

companions.

One good thing out of being transferred is that I was sad to leave the

people who were have been teaching. That may sound odd, but trust me,

it was a blessing. I have been so stressed because I felt like I did t

really love any of the people that's we met with, and that I was not

being a genuine missionary when I told them that I care about them.

Well it turns out that that was a lie. I really do love those people,

and I'm sad that I won't get to see them progress.

Sister Morrison 

The Pittsburgh 6th District

M right after her meeting with President

This is L. We had dinner at her house the other night. Sister Malo had to use the bathroom but when she went in there she discovered growing things on the toilet. She ended up peeing in the bathtub.

P, one of the recent converts, and her granddaughter G who didn't want to be in the picture. 

09.28.2015

The rise of the TIWI empire

This week has been really busy and a lot has happened. Last Monday a

family in our ward took us out to eat at a Mexican food restaurant. It

was amazing!! No one out here cooks a big variety of food, so it was a

nice break from the usual beef and potatoes.

Tuesday we had a zone conference that took up almost the entire day. I

love being around other missionaries, and it was a great spiritual

day. We got TIWI installed in our cars. TIWI, aka "black boxes," are

pretty much monitors connected to the car that checks speed, braking,

turning, bumps, who is driving, and seat belts. If you are speeding or

do an "aggressive" maneuver then it talks to you and says stuff like

"check your speed" or "aggressive maneuver." It is also recorded and

sent to your mission president. At the end of each transfer you are

assessed by their system and given a grade based on your driving. So

this basically means you have to follow the speed limit and be a very

cautious driver. If I wasn't on my mission I would honestly hate this,

but I LOVE TIWI! I can finally get a good driving rating and evaluated

on something that is within my control. It also has made me feel a lot

safer as a passenger, so the overall driving experience has gotten

much better for me.

There was an update for our iPads, and unfortunately when I updated

mine it crashed and I had to restart my iPad. It kind of stunk because

for two days I couldn't access our area book, I brought my paper back

scriptures with me everywhere (I know, cry me a river), and I lost all

my pictures from the past month. On the bright side, I was able to get

most of my pictures I had from my companions so there wasn't too much

damage done.

As part of training we had to take a stress assessment test for how we

were feeling during the past week. I thought for sure that I was going

to do fine because I had been feeling better than I did at the

beginning of my mission. Well, the results came back and it said I had

a high stress level and was on the verge of having a breakdown. I was

kind of surprised but I could only laugh because knowing me it made

sense since I thrive off of stress.

Ok, so now some of the people we are teaching. We taught B again

and we had Sister K come along with us. B has so many good

questions that it's hard to stay on topic or follow a lesson plan, and

even though we managed to talk about everything in the Restoration

except for Joseph Smith, it was still a good lesson. Sister K had

some great life experiences that B could relate to, and I now

understand why it is so important to have members come to lessons with

us. He opened up a lot about some of his struggles, and I hope that we

will be able to help him more next week.

We had one of our young women come out with us Saturday morning and

she was able to go to two lessons with us. We were able to have our

regular lesson with C. We taught her about the Restoration and

asked her if she believed Joseph Smith saw Christ and Heavenly Father

and she said yes! She even agreed to come and watch a session of

General conference and take a church tour with us this upcoming

Sunday! I'm hoping that she will be able to recognize that even though

we teach her lots of things that are similar to her church, that our

church brings the spirit more and that this is the true church.

We also met with G. Last time we met with her she voiced some

concerns about where she is going once she died, which fit perfectly

into the second lesson, the Plan of Salvation. She already believed

that we lived with Heavenly Father before we were born, we were able

to help her understand the spirit world and how people will be able to

continue to learn about Christ during that time. She said that it made

so much sense and that it made her happy to know that others would be

able to have the chance to learn about the gospel. Sister Malo invited

her to be baptized and she said that she would when she felt ready! We

assigned her Alma 40 to read and learn more about the spirit world and

as we were leaving she said "I have a feeling that this book is going

to answer a lot of questions that I have that the Bible cannot

answer." That was music to my ears, I was so happy when she said that!

We testified that it would and that it would bring her great peace.

She is seriously so ready for the gospel, and she feeds off everything

we say.

Anyways, that's about all the big news that has happened this week,

sorry I don't really have a funny story to share with ynz, but Mom,

I'm sure you're happy about that :)

Sister Morrison

Had to carry around my paper back copies of everything.

This is M. She has her baptismal interview next Wednesday!

This is G and I. In case you wanted to know this picture was taken just moments after I spilt cool aid all over the floor. Whoops!

This is Zeus a 200 pound dog. I was terrified when we rang the doorbell and he came to the door. Good thing he is a gentle giant, although he still really freaks me out.