9.12.2016

Transfers, chicken, and service!

You know it's football season here in PA when everyone has their black

and gold corn hole games set up in their front yard! It constantly

amazes me how loyal people are to their sports teams. This past

weekend was the PennState vs. Pitt game, and you would've thought the

world was going to end with all the excitement in the air. I love it!

So in mission world people always refer to their trainers as mom/dad

and their trainees as son/daughter. I think it's the most stupid thing

in the world, and I just want to gag every time people talk like that.

But, in the spirit of transfers tomorrow I thought I'd tell you what's

going down by saying I'm expecting my second child! 😷 In normal

people words, that just means that Sister Maya is getting transferred

and I am training. I'm a little nervous, because I don't know the ward

as good as I would like, but now I can play the "I have a new

companion what is your name?" card haha. This past transfer hasn't

been the easiest either, so this change is a bit of a relief for me.

We had a bunch of chicken wings in our freezer (over 100), and they

were taking up a bunch of space, so we decided to cook them up for

district meeting. So, Tuesday night and Wednesday morning our kitchen

looked more like KFC than anything. No to brag or anything, but I

would say we did pretty good considering the fact it was our first

attempt at making wings and they fell off the bone as we ate them!

We have been volunteering at the local food bank that is run by a

ministerial association for about a month now. We had dinner at the

D'A's this past week, and Brother D'A is part of the

association. He said that it is a miracle that we are welcome to serve

there because for years the association didn't want any donations from

our church, simply because we are Mormon. Brother D'A said his

company started to donate some money to the association before they

knew he was a Mormon, and sort of tricked his way into it. Slowly but

surely they have been warming up to us, even though everyone is still

very distant with us and looks at us strange. I often forget how much

of a representative for the church I am at all times. Representing

Jesus isn't the easiest thing to do at times, but it's definitely

rewarding!

This week's OYM (street contacting) success story is pretty awesome.

We were walking down our street and stopped to talk to two ladies who

were sitting on their porch watching little kids. Well it turns out

that L said she sees us each week at the food bank. Not only that,

but she has a Book of Mormon that she's read a couple times. Her

sister A was very receptive and open to reading the Book of

Mormon and said how she wanted her son to be raised in a church. We

are meeting with them next week and I am excited to see how it goes!

No went to the hospital on Saturday from a severe asthma attack,

and apparently her body isn't releasing all the CO2 it creates causing

it to build up inside her lungs. We were able to visit her, and make

her laugh a little because it's not the happiest news to hear. But,

the good news for us is that she even said herself that she has to

give up smoking now. One of her concerns was that she knew she had to

quit smoking, but didn't want to. I guess that problem is solved!

We were talking about opposition and the need for it in Sunday School

yesterday. Here's a quote that stood out to me by Elder Oaks: "The

Lord [does] not make it easy, but He [does] make it possible."

Hopefully I used those brackets right haha. We really do need trials

and hard things in our life because how else are we going to stretch,

rely on Him, be humble, or learn? Of course it's never fun being

tried, and I've had more than my fair share of meltdowns and stress

freak outs because of it, but in the end I am grateful for those hard

days because without them I'd be a stupid, arrogant person.

Sister Morrison

Phillipsburg District. Don't mind the tacky orange

vests. We cleaned the side of a highway.

On Monday we went and hung out with the Ridgeway

sisters. I was so happy to see sand, even if it wasn't the beach.

So I let them burry me!

We love Phil!!!!

Our little chicken frying party.

9.05.2016

Food poisoning + post-op scene = barf

I don't even know where to begin with this week. Holy cow, so man

things happened both good and bad. Sadly, we dropped all but one

investigator so we are starting from scratch, but I'm pretty excited

to get some fresh people to teach. This past month has been brutal, I

thought I was done having major struggles after I had gotten used to

being a missionary about a year ago, but I'm pretty sure God thought

that was funny so he decided to throw stuff at me that I would've been

happy not dealing with. But, sometimes we can't choose what we need /

want to learn. I've learned that all I am expected to do is to try my

hardest. If I still fail, it doesn't matter because I gave it my all.

(I know, if I had said that in high school I'm sure my mom would've

fallen over dead from shock haha) But it's true, not everything is

meant to work out how we want it to, but that doesn't mean you won't

learn other lessons from that experience. I've also learned how rockin'

my parents are. The commandment to honor thy mother and father

shouldn't be taken lightly cause they always seem to know what's up.

I made it a goal this past week to really step up my game when it

comes to finding. I had gotten a little lax, and sometimes would let

people pass me by and just say hi to them. But, this week to really

tried to talk to EVERYONE! Friday we were out tracting to find the

referral given to us by a member and after not having much luck we

were walking back home for dinner.  I did a good job at talking to

everyone along the way until the last person that was about a block

from our house. I knew I should go talk to him, but for some reason I

didn't. Until, he said hi to us. Then I knew that I needed to talk to

him, and it turns out that he is a former investigator who attended

church for about six months last year! As we got to talking with him

he seemed a little interested, so we asked him if he would like to

take the lessons again and he said yes! I am really excited to start

teaching Brandon, and I am grateful that he said hi to us first, that

rarely happens!

No, the less active that we have been working with for about a

month finally came to church yesterday! That was really exciting, and

although she only stayed for sacrament meeting she really enjoyed it.

Fast and testimony meetings here are a little comical. This month's

funny testimony came from a man who told us to not throw away our

bulletins because they give you spiritual experiences during the week.

I guess it's probably just a had to be there moment...

Every week we go and read the Book of Mormon with a less active

family. This week we were over for less than five minutes when

S's parole officer decided to pay a visit. Let me just tell you

how awkward that was: soooo awkward! At one point they stepped outside

to give her a drug test, and when she came in she was upset because it

came back positive for meth. She kept saying "I don't even know what

meth looks like, it's some thing high school kids do and I have no

idea what it is!" Her mom kept trying to tell the parole officer that

she just switched medications, and something must've triggered the test,

but he wasn't really having it. All in all, it was weird and sad all

at the same time because if she gets tested positive again then she

will be put in jail.

Saturday we spent the day in Dubois. We had Taco Bell for lunch, and

afterwards it didn't set too well in my stomach. I just felt really

car sick, and so I figured that is what it was. Well, about two hours

after lunch we went to pay Brother B a visit. About a month ago

he was hit head on by an SUV while he was on his motorcycle. On one

leg all this ligaments got torn, and on the other it was basically a

mess of bones. He is immobile and going crazy from sitting around all

day, so a visit was in our eyes a nice break for him. Well, when we

went into his room to see him he had his leg up, and two metal rods

sticking out of the bottom of his foot to hold some bones in place. I

got a good look at that, and knew I was going to be in big trouble

within a matter of minutes because me and anything medical don't mix.

Well, sure enough, within two minutes I was super hot, sweat was

dripping from my face, my knees were giving out so my balance was

terrible, my vision was starting to cloud over and get bright and

fuzzy, and my ears were ringing so loud that I could barely hear

anything. I then asked if I could use the bathroom which was right

next to where we were. I went in, sat on the toilet and prayed that I

could get through this visit. After a minute I was feeling better, but

the minute I stepped out of the bathroom it was back to how it was

before I went in. I tried to play it off like nothing was wrong, when

all the sudden I could feel myself about to vomit. And vomit I did. I

was thankfully able to put my hand over my mouth to hold it all in

while I sprinted to the bathroom. I made it to the sink just in time

for vomit reflex #2 to hit. I felt like such an idiot, but all I could

do was laugh. So I guess now I will be known to the sister who threw

up at their house. At least I was able to make their family laugh a

little!

Sister Morrison

Nice view of the "mountains" from someone's house.

The hammock looked pretty great as well :)

Stole this from another missionary, but here's a

sunset picture of the Susquehanna River.

8.29.2016

This week had so many highlights which was fantastic! It was a breath

of fresh air and I am always super grateful for weeks like this one.

Although the rain continues to terrorize me, I've somehow managed to

stay fairly dry :)

We started off the week with exchanges, so not only did I get to go

back to Lock Haven for the day, but I also got to spend it with Sister

Thompson! It was like when Sister Durfee and I got put as companions

again because we already knew we liked each other and it was

comfortable and easy. We went rollerblading for morning workout, and

got ice cream from the Ice Shack, so it couldn't get much better haha.

Plus, I got to see just a few of my favorite people which meant a lot

to me! I'm not going to lie, it was a little weird though. I no longer

was entitled to revelation for that area so I felt a little out of

place, but I think it was good for me to see that Brookville is where

I belong.

Wednesday we had a meeting in Harrisburg for the eastern part of the

mission because Elder Perkins and Meurs from the seventy came and did

a mission tour. It was really good, and they brought a special spirit

with them. The training was all based on finding people to teach and

how we can gain the faith to find the elect. It was really good, and

it definitely helped rekindle the finding fire. It's weird because

finding is practically all we did in Lock Haven, so you would think

that I have gotten pretty good at it, but in all honesty, it burned me

out a bit. But, I am super excited to jump back on full force and find

super awesome, legit people to teach! At the end of the meeting they

had a special girls only meeting. These things are always a bit over

the top for me, and too much emotion, but I survived. They just told

us how we are never alone with Relief Society, and then we all had a

big group hug and said I love you. It was soooooo corny, but are you

really a sister missionary if you don't do those things every once in

a while?

I have become such a firm believer in setting members with a date to

help us find someone to teach, and in Lock Haven it went great! Here,

it's been a bit of a struggle and not all the members are peachy keen

on it. I absolutely HATE tracting and will refuse to do it. Sister

Maya thinks it's hilarious how against it I am, but I don't care who

knows it! Well, when we asked a family to help us find people they

said "you may want to go tract Sayer Street because my secretary lives

there, but we want it to look like you just happened to knock on her

door." So, it looks like I may be doing some tracting next week, and I

am not really looking forward to it, but I want to find that darn

secretary!

We had a great lesson with Do as well. Last time we taught her

the plan of salvation, and to be honest, I thought it was a bit rough.

We were unsure if she comprehended a lot of it, and since she still

hasn't been to church we were unsure if she really knew the importance

of it. This week when we went back she said she has already ready

through 2 Nephi! Plus, when we started teaching her the Gospel of

Jesus Christ she referenced things we taught her during the Plan of

Salvation! It was such a comfort and a relief for me to see how she is

soaking everything up! Hopefully next week we can get her to church!

Da also got baptized and confirmed this past weekend! I figure I

should probably give some background info on him since I don't think I

did before. Missionaries in the Knox Branch were teaching some people

and they said that their younger brother may be interested. That's

when the sisters here got ahold of Da and worked their spiritual

magic. It was great because three of his family members who are still

investigating the church got to come see him get baptized and they

were so happy! They said they needed to take it a bit slower, but it

was cool to see how far they have come and how they also want to be

baptized. The baptism itself was a little weird. I was leading the

music and accidentally started singing the wrong verse and I pretty

much made everyone else do the same. Awkward! There also were only

eight people from the ward who showed up, but what are you going to

do? I was just happy his family came to see him!

Sister Morrison

Finally had the opportunity to take a nap in the car,

it was amazing haha #noshame

Went shopping and found the purrrrfect dress.

Monday night dinner.... Two frosties for fifty cents!

I got to see Sister Q while on exchanges.

I spy Sister Morrison

Da after his baptism!

Meet Do

8.22.2016

Bugs and Rain

This past week has been hard for me, and it's never fun to feel like

the minutes drag on like years, but thankfully there were still a

bunch of good things that happened! As much as no one likes to have

bad times, in a way they are a blessing because when the good times

come rolling in they are even better!

For about three weeks straight it felt like the sky was trying to

personally stretch itself to see how humid and disgustingly hot he

could make it before it would start to rain. Those weeks were a bit

brutal, and I felt like sweat was constantly dripping down my face,

back, and stomach. Gross, I know, but that's what happens when most

people you meet do not have air conditioning. At the beginning of the

week it finally decided to rain, and I don't think it stopped for a

good part of the week. I honestly didn't know it was possible to rain

that much, but thankfully it made the weather cool down a bit. I'm

glad the super humid phase is gone. Hopefully.

Sister Maya got a little car sick on the way to Punxsutawney, and it

was probably the greatest blessing ever. We stopped by to see an

investigator who is been a little MIA. We were in her house for less

than two minutes when I leaned back on the couch and saw two bugs

crawling on the back where Sister Maya was sitting. I had never seen

that kind in person before, but from pictures I knew they were

bedbugs. In a panic, I wrote Sister Maya a note saying we needed to

leave because she had bugs, and since she was feeling sick it gave us

the perfect get away. Now the only problem is that we have to go back,

and there is no way to tell her we know she has bugs without it being

awkward. Maybe we just won't tell her...

We taught a lesson to Brother G about temples this past week and

explained to him that our goal is for him to return to the temple.

Well, it turns out that he never went, except for baptisms. We knew

that he was in the District presidency (districts are smaller than

branches) back in the day, so we naturally assumed he has been through

the temple. Well, I guess the were so short staffed that they called

him and got special permission to do so when he only had the Aaronic

priesthood and was not endowed. Crazy! But he did say that he is ready

and wants to get back on track. He was thinking how he had lost a lot

of time not being active, but is ready to make up for it. It's cool to

see how dedicated he is and how much he wants to change.

Thursday we had a day full of finding, but thankfully it was

successful! We saw a less active family, and the daughter asked us if

we could co e back and help her. That was cool because sometimes we

see less actives and they don't want to talk to us and that's how it

goes, but this time we saw some success! I am excited to help Becky

come back to church, and hopefully she will bring the whole family

along with her.

D is excited to be baptized, and really liked the temple when we

talked to him about it! He lives in a group home and somehow our age

got brought up. Right after Sister Maya said she was 23, P, a lady

who sometimes sits in on our lessons asked how old I was. I was

assuming she was going to say 15 or something because I get that a

lot, but she took a good look at me then said 40. We died laughing

because there is no way I look 40! She didn't really know why we were

laughing which just made it funnier.

Sister Morrison

PS sorry, no pictures this week. We were lame