Sister Morrison takes on the Steel City: 11.14.2016

Holy guacamole, this week was great!

This week was so awesome! There are so many highlights, and I felt like I was constantly smiling so big that my squinty Asian eyes were in full force haha. I hit my 15 month mark as a missionary, and I still feel brand new, but at the same time it's starting to hit me that the end is near. Before I talk about all the good stuff, enjoy the blonde moment of the week for Sister Terry: we were commenting one morning about how nice it is to have it be light out when we wake up. I told her it wouldn't last much longer cause as the days get shorter it will get darker in the morning. She thought it was the coolest thing ever, and couldn't believe that in Pennsylvania days get shorter. I didn't realize why she was so excited, but then I realized she thought the days literally got shorter by the hour, not by the amount of sunlight haha.

First off, D. We were able to teach her about temples and eternal families this past week, and she soaked it all up. Brother B, her fellowshipper / boyfriend, wasn't there this past week, and she told us that they are planning on getting married (we all assumed it would happen). So now she's planning on getting sealed next December! We asked how they met and she said that the first time she met Brother B there was this glow about him. As she came to church and stuff she realized it was the spirit. She told him about a month ago that they were destined to meet so she could join the church. We obviously wanted to make sure she was doing his for the right reasons, and not just for Brother B and she told us that if anything were to happen she would still come to church, probably at a different ward though haha. But hey, she is golden!

We started meeting with a less active, Sister M. Two weeks ago she expressed to us how she doesn't even know if she has a testimony. We decided it was best to start from the beginning with her, and as we were teaching the Restoration she was throwing down testimony left and right. It was kinda funny because we would point out that she did have a testimony, but she would discredit it every time. She is awesome and although she doesn't know it now, she's got a wonderful testimony.

We had exchanges this past week, and I got to return to Lock Haven! Thursday evening came and I got some sad news, which put me in a down mood. Even though I was excited to go to Lock Haven, I just wanted to stay with Sister Terry, but exchanges aren't something you can really cancel, so off I went. Within the first five minutes of pulling into the driveway we went and saw Sister N, which put me into the happiest mood ever! Sister N is so amazing, and I love her so much. The world needs more people like her because she is super smart, hard working, and tries her best to be a disciple of Christ. The next day continued to get better and better. We got to go and teach J. She is as awesome as ever, and it was a real treat to hear her testimony of the sacrament. For dinner we went to the M's, and taught a lesson while we were there. I've really missed that family, I feel like I'm at home playing with my younger siblings when I'm over there; it's great! The twins are so sassy, but I think it's hilarious. Plus, Sister M's makes some bomb food, so I definitely left the house stuffed to the brim.

Saturday was an unforgettable day, and hands down one of my top three moments of my mission. We had a mission wide conference here Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles came and spoke to us. Everyone always says how you can really feel the abundance of the spirit that they posses, and I wanted to personally feel that. So I prayed that I would, and wow, God answers prayers! We all stood up as he entered and I swear, right when he passed through the door jam the spirit hit me so hard, there was no way you could deny that he is an apostle of God. We all got the opportunity to shake his hand, and as she shook mine he thanked me. In my mind all I could think was "I'm only here for 18 months, why the heck are you thanking me? You're the one whose completely dedicated the rest of your life to Jesus!" The meeting was only two hours, but I learned so much during that time. I realized that I have been holding back on promising blessings to people because I lack the faith to do so. I also learned how much God loves and cares about me individually. I mean I knew that, but for some reason, while I was sitting there I felt like I could physically see and feel Jesus sitting next to me giving me this awesome hug. I've never felt that close to Christ before; it was like I had reached another level of absolute knowledge on my testimony ladder.

Seeing all my missionary friends was another bonus to our meeting. I was pretty scared to go on a mission because I knew in that time all my college friends would graduate, and I would come back to no friends. But, thankfully I've made some awesome friendships here in PA, so my stress level has subsided. It was so much fun to just laugh and enjoy each other's company.

The final highlight from Saturday was that we traded in our Corolla for a brand new 2017 Subaru Legacy! I was a little bummed that it was a Subaru at first because I felt like only lesbians drove them (kinda like how old people drive a Buick), but holy cow this thing is so nice! It's got these cameras that detect if you are drifting into a different lane, and when you do it beeps and corrects your driving. It also slows down when you get to close to the car in front of you, and a bunch of over things that I still don't really know how to work. For example, paddle shifters. I had never seen them before and driving back from the conference I started to play around with all the gadgets. Well, I pushed a button a few too many times and next thing I knew our car wouldn't move because it was in too low of a gear. Oops! Haha. As awesome as having a new car has been, it's been the most stressful thing ever. I'm still amazed they give young kids new cars. One other funny story, within a matter of hours I got the car stuck in the mud on some backroad that was blocked off by a fallen tree. I was turning around and the mud got a little too deep, so I had to have three sisters push the car as I stepped on the gas. Thankfully we made it out!

Sister Morrison