4.25.2016

4.25.2016

 

This week was so much fun! We went on exchanges with the two sets of

university sisters, so I got to serve a day on the Penn State campus.

I thought BYU's campus was big and beautiful, but it pales in

comparison to Penn State. It was so much fun being in a walk area

again and taking the bus; it was a nice break from the car. At first,

it was a little intimidating talking to really smart people my age,

but I got over that pretty quick. It was cool to be a missionary on

campus rather than a student. Finals are about to start for them so

everyone had this look of panic and stress, but I just had a big smile

on my face while I tried to get them to listen about Jesus. 

When the other exchange I stayed in Lock Haven with Sister Chuah, a

Temple Square sister from Malaysia who has served the past three

months in our mission. She had never been out of State College, so I

felt like a tour guide showing her what "real" Pennsylvania was like.

Lucky for her, we got to see a horse and buggy on the street, as well

as a few Amish kids. You would've thought we were on an African safari

spotting cool animals based on her excitement level when she saw them! 

We had a lesson with J this past week. We had planned on doing

some yard work with him, then have a lesson at the end, but when we

got there he basically had it all done. I think he felt bad though so

he let us ride his lawn mower around the yard a few times. Sister

Chuah had never driven one and it was hilarious to watch her drive it

while J was trying to chase her and tell her what to do.  I was dying

laughing! 

The lesson afterwards went pretty well, he just has a lot of baggage

and that might be a holdup, but hopefully we will be able to help him.

He wants more than anything to be closer to Christ, and we are good at

helping people do that! 

We had a lesson set up with an investigator and we arranged for a

member to come along. Sadly, they didn't answer the door which is a

missionary's worst nightmare. We apologized and suggested seeing a few

other people, and it turned into a whole morning of trying old people

in our records with Sister M! It is so great when members

don't mind coming out with you just to knock on a bunch of doors.

Those are the ones who missionaries love. There wasn't any success

from the people we tried, but it was nice to get to know Sister

M better.

Spring is finally here, and all the tress are getting green again. It

sure is beautiful out here!

 

Sister Morrison

 

Sister Moore, a former missionary came here to visit the branch.

It turns out that she trained my trainer's trainer.

Confused? Well, I don't like to use this term often but she is

basically my great-great grandma

 

Me and the university sisters while on exchanges.

 

Tulips are everywhere!

 

Not only did I get to ride the lawn mower, but I also got

to use the outhouse in the background :)

 

Me, Sister Chuah, and J

4.18.2016

🌾🌾🌾👭🌾🌾🌾

 

Clinton county is the poorest county in Pennsylvania, so there are a

ton of programs that are set up to help those in need. We volunteered

at a shoe drive over the weekend which have kids a free new pair of

shoes. Earlier in the week we helped at a food drive. It was fun

helping people go through the line to get their food, and the other

volunteers were super friendly. At the end they let us missionaries go

through the line to get food, and that was icing on the cake. Free

food is a fast way to win my heart, so the Methodist church is high on

my list right now! Of course they are still not as high as our church

:) 

We had exchanges this past week, and I got to go to Mansfield. I heard

a lot of rumors like dead animals in their apartment walls, or no one

around for miles and all you do is drive around. Well, this whole zone

is pretty spread apart so the few people thing was true, but

everything else was a joke. That area is so awesome, and I'm glad that

I got to witness first hand how no matter what area you are in, there

is work to be done.

We had another lesson with R and taught her more about baptism.

She asks really good questions which is so refreshing as a missionary.

She genuinely wants to understand things which is awesome! We

explained to her that we would have to teach her and then she would be

interviewed to see if she is ready for baptism. Most people are scared

about the interview, but she was completely opposite. She said that

was a good thing because then she would know if she was ready, and

that she would be confident in knowing all that was expected of her

after baptism. I never thought I'd hear that one!

I've talked about the M family a little bit before, they are a

returning less active family with twin boys that are preparing to be

baptized. We usually work with the twins, teaching them the lessons,

but this week we also met with Sister M's. She was assigned to

talk about her conversion in sacrament meeting, so we basically helped

her formulate her thoughts. She has such a sweet testimony about

eternal families, and life after death. You can tell that she is on

fire right now, and the branch loves the family. The other week we had

a lesson about the word of wisdom and I was surprised at how hard it

was for nine year olds to give up coffee. Well, since the weather has

warmed up again, and every missionary mom loves to send their child

hot chocolate, we cleared a whole cupboard shelf and gave them a bag

full of hot chocolate so they can give up coffee. You should've seen

the kid's faces. It was as if we were Santa bringing them toys! 

J, our investigator who watched General Conference, came to

church yesterday despite the fact that we have yet to teach him a

legit lesson. When he first had his initial contact with the

missionaries he didn't get a Book of Mormon, and we didn't realize

that. So at the end of Sacrament Meeting he said that he wants a book.

We rushed out to our car and gave him one. He immediately started

thumbing through it and asking a bunch of questions. He was so excited

to sit down and really read it because he already sees the good that

it's going to bring. Thursday we are planning on doing some yard work

with him and finally teaching him a lesson! 

We had a lesson with E, and LHU student we met on campus. She is

so cool! She is from Kenya and wanted to get a better future so she

came here from school. She already knows the bible super well, and at

the end of our lesson we asked her to pray about the Book of Mormon.

We all knelt down, and after a while of us kneeling is silence I

realized we forgot to tell her to pray out loud because she was

praying silently. As we just chilled in silence you could really feel

the spirit. That was a cool experience. The semester is winding down,

and everyone is getting super busy, so hopefully we will still be able

to fit in her schedule. 

Besides all of that, we have been doing a ton of area book cleaning

They had just finished putting in all the paper records of people into

the iPad before I got here, so we have been visiting a ton of people

seeing if they still live at the address, or if they are still

interested in learning more about Christ. The weather has been super

nice though, so I don't mind. We just go to an area, park the car, and

walk around. I sure miss being in a walk area, and I think Sister

Durfee can tell because all the time I just suggest that we walk, even

if it's a bit of a distance.

Sorry I've kind of turned lame and boring. I don't really have any

funny stories to report about. The funniest thing I can think of

happened on exchanges. We were teaching their Book of Mormon class and

the whole time my stomach was making super loud noises. Honestly, it

sounded like I was about to blow up a toilet even though I didn't have

to go! It reached a point where I had to apologize for how loud it

was. Bad decision, because then I was the victim for quite a few

bathroom jokes. Oh well, I'll never see those people again, so if they

think of me as the exploding bathroom sister then so it goes.

 

Sister Morrison

 

 

Saw a horse and buggy for the first time!

 

 

Salty pie after our lesson with R, A & W

 

 

 

4.11.2016

From the land of no cell reception 📡

We had zone training this week, and the stake president came and gave

us a mini pump up about our zone. He told a story about a previous

mission president who had a revelation one night about how there are

5,000 prepared people in the Williamsport stake ready to be baptized.

That was over ten years ago, and since then there have been maybe 400.

He basically said that this is true nowadays more than ever, and that

we just need to find them. That was crazy to hear such a thing, but I

believe it. When I was on the west side of the mission most people

referred to the Williamsport zone as the vortex of no return because

we are so far away from practically everything. Needless to say, I was

terrified to get assigned here, but now that I'm here I am realizing

more and more that this place is the mission's best kept secret! There

is so much work going on, and there is a fire about the members.

I finally attended church, and it's way different from anything I've

ever seen. I counted and there was a total of twenty six people

including Sister Durfee and me. I already have an assignment to speak

in church and got thrown into the usual grew month rotation haha. They

also don't have anyone to play the piano; they have an electronic

piano that can play about half the songs in the hymn book. I played a

little bit of prelude music and even though I was super rusty and

honestly not very good, I was looked at like a superstar. They kept

saying how there's just something different about a live pianist.

Honestly the difference is that the piano doesn't make any mistakes

and I will had my fair share. I never thought I'd need this talent in

the U.S. but I was wrong! Hopefully they don't mind singing the four

hymns I know over and over!

The members here are much different. Honestly, I think they are a

little burned out since the numbers are so small, but they are hard

workers. They really want to see missionary success, and are great at

giving solid referrals to us. They want their branch to grow. That is

a really nice change and a missionary's dream. Their coordination with

us missionaries is a little strange though. From what it sounds like,

in the past the missionaries and the branch were not on the same path,

but they are in the middle of streamlining the efforts to make it more

effective. My last area was great at that kind of thing, so it's weird

to see the contrast.

We had our last week of forums at LHU and they were a huge success. We

decided to just go up to people instead of ask them if they have a

minute (we should already be doing that), and we got to teach so many

lessons and pass out about thirty Book of Mormons, get a ton of

potentials, and six new investigators over the four hours that we were

on campus. It felt great to talk to a bunch of people in that short

amount of time; it's a rare occurrence out here. This upcoming week we

are going to be meeting with a bunch of the students, and I hope we

can teach a few before their semester ends.

The M twins are continuing to do great. Tuesday we taught them

the Word of Wisdom and they had an uproar about not drinking coffee. I

didn't think that would be a problem since they were nine, but boy oh

boy was I wrong! Thankfully when we went back on Friday they were cool

headed and said that they hadn't drank coffee since. They really want

to be baptized.

We had a lesson with R, who watched all four sessions of General

Conference last weekend. We taught her about the Plan of Salvation and

she really liked the idea of us all being one big family in Christ. We

invited her to be baptized and she said yes! She understands it's a

big commitment and wants to make sure she is prepared, but that's what

missionaries are for.

So the last story is a bit of an ironic one. Last time I was with

Sister Durfee we got TIWI installed in our cars that tells us if we

ever do anything wrong while driving. Well the TIWI in this car hasn't

been sticking to the windshield, so they tried duct tape. That didn't

even work, so we called our fleet coordinator and he said to unplug it

till he sends out some glue. That means we can speed or not wear out

seatbelt and no one would ever know haha. Don't worry, we are still

driving safe. Sister Durfee and I just think it's funny because of how

much I loved TIWI when we first got it because it made her less of a

crazy driver. TIWI has really conditioned her over the past seven

months so it's not bad without it, thank goodness!

Sister Morrison

Wendy was baptized a little over six months ago and has already read

the Book of Mormon. These are the notes she took! #fatstack

We have district meetings in Williamsport, PA. Home of the Little

League World Championship!

LOOKIN' GOOD SISTER MORRISON!!!!!

4.04.2016

Hello from Lock Haven!

Well, I am no longer in the city, but in the middle of nowhere. It's a

little weird, but slowly I'll get used to it. The "cool" things for

the area is the diaper factory, the Susquehanna River flows through it

(the same river  that Joseph Smith was baptized in, and where the

priesthood got restored), and there's a city called Jersey Shore.

Sadly I haven't seen Snooki or other stray tanned people yet haha.

Being here with Sister as urged is great! It is such a relief to not

have to go into an area where everything is 180 degrees different from

your last and also worry about trying to build a relationship with

your companion. It made the transition so much more comfortable. 

The branch here consists of twenty active members, and the building

doesn't even have a legit chapel. We just meet in a room that is like

a classroom. Crazy. But from the people that I have met already, and

from what I've seen they are all super missionary minded and really

want to grow their branch. I am very excited to work with them! From

what I gather there is a lot going on in this area which is nice to

come into. Hopefully Sister Durfee and I can get things done and kick

butt together! 

This week I feel like I've been in a car more than I have been in the

past seven months. Tuesday was transfers so I spent a lot of time just

getting to my area, then Friday we had MLC, so we travelled a lot for

that as well. I think that's going to be the biggest adjustment for

me. I loved being in a walk area where you could just walk and talk to

people.

There is a small university in the city and we got to do a forum this

past week. Basically we have a table and try to talk to people as they

walk by. We were able to give out some Book of Mormons and get a new

investigator! She was super excited to read the Book of Mormon and I

am pumped to teach her next week!

MLC is the missionary leadership council that happens monthly and all

the zone leaders and STLs attend. Well, you all know how I hate being

late... The car I drove in went to the wrong chapel and we ended up

getting there an hour late. Totally not the first impression I wanted

to send, but there wasn't much I could do about it. The meeting was

really good and I learned a ton. I learned how important forgiveness

is in the atonement. Without it we are toast. Basically, I need to be

better at forgiving others so that I can be forgiven. 

General Conference was awesome! I learned so much, and one of my

favorite quotes was to "choose the harder right than the easier

wrong." One of the sessions we watched with a returning part member

family whose two sons are going to be baptized later this month. They

are awesome! Two other sessions we watched at a member's home. Brother

G invited people over, so we were able to spend it with some of

the recent converts here. We also got two of our investigators to

come! R is so cool, and she watched all four sessions. J

only came for the Sunday afternoon session, and since he recently had

surgery he was passed out asleep for most of it, but he still came! He

said he is excited for church next week so that was cool to see. I

guess the spirit can also touch you while you are getting sleep! 

Besides that, I'm just trying to get acquainted with the area. Hope

you all have a good week!

Sister Morrison

Part f the Ptt 6th district from when I first got out here: Sister Durfee, me,

Elder Ibarra and Elder Gehrke. Don't mind out duck lips selfie ;)

Forums at Lock Haven University!

I've really had a great welcome here! This is W, one of

the many awesome people here.  

My two mission "moms" aka trainers.

3.28.2016

My final week in paradise

This week has been so amazing, but also pretty hard for me. We got the

temple square sister, Sister O'Reilly on Wednesday afternoon, so we

have been in a trio for the past week. It's weird and a little hard to

end a transfer with the person that is replacing you right beside you.

I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, but that's just the way things had

to be.

Saturday morning I got a leadership call from President Johnson. I am

going too be an STL which means that I now get to go on a lot of

transfers, and I know am part of the MLC. Honestly, I just feel like a

normal missionary who still has no idea what I am doing. Oh well, I

guess I will figure it out and fake it till I make it! 

I am being transferred to Lock Haven which is on the other side of the

mission, in a little branch that could fit my current Ward boundaries

in it about five times. I am terrified. It definitely will be a big

change from what I am used to. The craziest part is who my companion

is going to be. I a, back with Sister Durfee! I was not expecting that

at all, but it will be good. I will get to redeem myself and be the

companion that she deserves to have. I'm relieved that there's at

least one familiar thing where I am going. Plus, it will sure look

pretty during the spring! 

Saying my goodbyes to everyone here has been really hard. I honestly

can say that I hated Pennsylvania when I got here, but because of the

people that I met I have come to love this place. People here are so

loving and kind, and it will be hard for me to leave so many great

people whom I have formed great relationships with. Thank goodness for

modern technology because now I can email them and them after my

mission! 

The Relief Society broadcast was awesome! E and S came which

was really cool, and there was a dinner before hand so they had some

time to socialize with the ladies in the Ward. It's so cool to see

them interact with the members, and see how far they have come. The

broadcast itself was also really good. The main takeaway that I got

from it was that I need to go out and serve everyone with love, and

love is "when you make room in your heart for someone." Hopefully I

will be able to go out and serve the people of Lock Haven with that

kind of love! 

I don't know if many of you remember me talking about A, but he is

a former investigator who dropped us right before Christmas. Well, we

saw him walking down the street about a week ago and had a really

pleasant experience. Since then I've really wanted to officially say

goodbye to him, and thankfully on Wednesday I got the chance to! We

instantly just started talking and laughing with no awkward tension or

anything, it was great! We also asked to show him the Easter video,

and he loved it because just like the Christmas video, it was all

about Christ. When we told him about the website he got super excited

because he loved it during Christmas time. I even saw the Book of

Mormon on his table! This to me was like Christmas because even though

he didn't want to learn more about the church a few months ago, he has

no hard feelings and still recognizes the church as a force for good.

We invited him to come to church and although he didn't come I am

hopeful that the sisters will get a chance to see him next week. 

So you all remember H right? The one who just walked into church

a week ago and what like "hey teach me!" Well, she is in the elder's

area so they get to teach her, but she came to Book of Mormon class on

Tuesday and afterwards, the four of us missionaries got to teach the

Restoration together which was such an awesome experience. She was

asking questions the whole time, and really just soaking it all in.

She kept saying how it made sense and cleared up things that she

learned growing up in a Methodist church. It was a little different

having four missionaries teach together, but I personally think we did

a great job at following the spirit. At the end of the lesson Elder

Masina invited her to be baptized and she said yes without any

hesitation! Dude, that never happens!!! She was so excited, and now

she is getting baptized on May 7! 

Last week we saw a less active, K P, and that was a crazy

lucky thing. We decided to try again this week and this time she

opened the door and invited us in where we got to meet the whole

family! It was so great and we really got to build a good relationship

with them. It was so good that her husband invited us over for dinner

the following night. We went over again and had a great dinner and

this time they even let us share a spiritual thought. When we

committed them to reading their scriptures as a family each night

their kids were super excited. I was so happy to see this miracle and

the change of heart that has happened with the Pearson family.

Hopefully they are back on the road to coming to church!

We also got to teach J why we celebrate Easter. She didn't know

what it really was because she "studied with the witnesses" before and

they don't celebrate holidays. It was cool to teach her about why we

celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the importance of his

life. As I've reflected this past Easter I can't get my favorite

scripture out of my head: D&C 76:22-24. Christ lives and we will all

live again, and through Christ, we can all live with our father in

heaven again.

 We had ten less actives at church yesterday. I guess people really do

understand the importance of Easter, and make a special point to get

to church. It was great because it mainly consisted of people we have

been working with, and people who Bishop has wanted us to see, but we

haven't been able to contact them. It sure was a great day at church,

and the icing on the cake was the organist. He went all out for the

closing song and I felt like we were in a Cathedral listening to a man

go a little cray cray on the organ. I can guarantee that everyone was

awake and energetic during that song!

We had Easter dinner at the H's home with the M family, and

it was so much fun! Those families are both amazing, and have done so

much for us missionaries. We got to hide the eggs for the Easter egg

hunt which was fun, they had a big backyard so I felt like I was

running around like a crazy chicken dropping eggs as I went. When the

kids started their hunt it was as if they were searching for eggs

containing $100 bills. They were out for the kill, and there was no

mercy shown. All the adults were up on the patio cracking up.

Sister Morrison

Group Selfie in Pittsburgh S/O to 7-11

Judy at her scripture study desk!

Sister Kwasney had never had a shamrock shake from McDonald's

so we got one to celebrate St. Patrick's Day!

Just playing a little after the service project. Balance is not out forte. haha

Milkshakes with D! I have never met anyone who loves them as much as her!

After our lesson with H! She is golden!

I got my farewell hug from Brother McCauley! They were the kindest

couple and would have us over for dinner whenever we didn't have a

meal. We always ended with a game of SkipBo, my favorite!

The M Clan! I got super clos to S, J, and L while I was here. I am going

to miss them and their funny stories.

R selfie! They are one the highlights for me in this area. This family

is "all in"!

Easter dinner group photo! These families sure treat the missionaries well.

3.21.2016

Happy almost Easter 🐣🌷

This week the church put out an Easter video, and we've been showing

it to everyone that we possibly can. It really is a great video and

brings the spirit like no other. We have seen so many miracles from

showing the video, and it does a fantastic job at testifying of the

savior. You can see the video at followhim.mormon.org. 

We saw J this past week and when we got to her house she was super

excited to show us her desk. She cleared off all the junk that was on

it and had her scriptures front and center. She said she studies the

Book of Mormon there every single day. That made us super happy to see

because we have really been pushing everyone to have daily scripture

study. 

The R's came to church this week. I was so happy!! I feel like they

have turned a new leaf and are ready to get back "all in." On Saturday

they came to a service project with us and the Ward did a great job at

making them feel loved. That night they texted us and invited us along

with the elders to have cake and ice cream. We have really created a

great relationship with them, and I love how comfortable they feel

around us. They know that regardless of their struggles or what they

are going through that we are there for them and that we want to

genuinely help them. While we were there, E pulled out his boxing

gear and Sister Kwasney boxed a little bit. It was pretty funny, and I

accidentally punched her in the face a gave her a little bit of a

black eye. We all got a laugh about that!

We did a lot of service this weekend, and helped two families clear

out their backyard of wood that was from fallen trees. It was so much

fun to get in some jeans and do service. It blows me away how there is

so much wood here. People don't know what to do with it so they just

chuck it beyond their property line to get it out of the way. At one

of the houses they had a rope swing so we had some fun on that. The

highlight was when Kwasney and I tried to do it together and she

needed up falling to the ground. I'm so glad I have a companion that

likes to do things that sometimes does stupid things with me because

it sure makes the mission an adventure! 

We went on exchanges this past week, and I finally got to leave my

area! I went with Sister McDonald who came out with me, and it was a

blast catching up with her. It also was good to know that no matter

what area I am in, I can still be a missionary and bear my testimony

to people. And speaking of other areas, I am the one lucky missionary

out of 200 who got a preview of the transfers that are going out next

week. How do you ask? Well, President Johnson gave us a call Saturday

night and said that we will be in a trio starting this Wednesday.

Temple Square missionaries get an opportunity to serve a three month

proselyting mission, and they often get called to Pittsburgh. They

also come a week before transfers, and this time they are coming to

the Pittsburgh 4th Ward. President said that he trio will be short

lived, because I am getting transferred. I knew this was coming since

I've been here for six months, but it still made me sad to get the

official news. I love this place and the people that are here. At

night I didn't sleep at all and it was terrible. Hopefully this next

week I will be able to get some more sleep because if not, then it's

going to be a rough week. 

Ok, so ready to hear the most amazing story for a missionary. We were

at church about to go into the chapel when a lady named H walked

up to Sister Kwasney and asked if she could sit with her because she

is visiting and does not want to sit alone. Oh, and she also said that

she wants to take the missionary lessons. And she is normal and has a

car!! This NEVER happens. Like ever. Her boyfriend is a member and she

wants to see if the church is true because they are getting pretty

serious. But her intent is totally there and we are all sure that she

is going to be baptized really fast. The only down side to this

wonderful fairy tale is that Heather is in the elder's area, so they

get the opportunity to teach her. It's alright though because we are

all on the same team. 

Our area is still struggling to find investigators, but we have gained

a great relationship with some less actives and they have been

starting to come to church which is wonderful! It makes me so happy to

see them improve their lives and become happier through living the

commandments of God. 

Sister Morrison