1.09.2017

Wedding prep is taking over my life!!!

Hi everyone! I cannot believe I actually get the opportunity to go to the temple today!! I thought that going through the Philadelphia open house was as close to it as I was going to get while on my mission, but miracles happen, and today I am going back to Philly! 

I feel like the past week and a half have been the most irregular weeks yet. Mainly because we've been doing lots of things in preparation for G and W's wedding this Saturday. It seems like every time we think we have things under control, something goes wrong. While most girls probably would love the task of planning a wedding, it's been a bit of a struggle for me, and quite frankly, it's making me never want to get married haha. The ward has been a tremendous help getting everything together. Sister C fixed our Monday wedding dress fiasco, Brother L got the music under control, Sister J got the reception down, and we've slowly got all the loose ends tied down. Holy cow, these things are exhausting!

I finally lost the battle with Mother Nature this past week, and pulled out my winter coat. I was secretly hoping I wouldn't need it this winter, but the time finally came. It's been pretty miserable for me, but all you can do is smile and keep going! People have been super nice to us though! They've been so concerned for our safety with the snow, and want to make sure we stay inside nice and warm so they've been cancelling lessons left and right. Sadly, their kind gesture backfires on us, because our backup option is to go finding out in the cold. So, it's been a struggle for us, but hopefully we can convince someone to let us in sooner than later!

Finding legit people to teach has been a big struggle for us. No one seems to be home or interested for the return appointment... but after five weeks Sister Piña and I finally taught the Restoration to an investigator!! We are pretty sure he isn't fully there mentally, but I was so happy someone let us in, and that we could teach that we celebrated with some Sheetz peanut butter hot chocolate after :)

We also had a super awesome lesson with a lady named S. I'm not too sure if I've talked about her yet, but she is a member referral and this was the first real lesson that we've had with her(she had met with the missionaries prior to us). All week long we were trying to figure out what exactly to teach her. We decided to read the Book of Mormon with her, but we couldn't seem to find the right chapter. Even the morning of we were having a hard time. It was super frustrating, and we had about five different lesson plans but none seemed right. We prayed super hard before we went to teach her, and right when we started the lesson the spirit took over, and we taught an amazing lesson! In the end, we committed her to pray about the Book of Mormon, and about the priesthood being restored. After the lesson, Sister D was saying how she was nervous for the lesson prior to it, but thought that it went super well. Thank goodness for the spirit!!! Even better, S came to church on Sunday! Mainly because we guilted her to come by telling her I was speaking haha. But, she came, and hopefully we can start getting her to come because she wants to, rather than politeness. 

I guess I should also report on how my candy binge went from the beginning of last week. Well, thank goodness I have a super tough stomach because I never threw up. But I think I ended up with a shopping bag stuffed full of wrappers by the end of the day so I think it was a successful day :)It doesn't seem like much, but let me tell you, it is. So here's to another year with no candy!

Sister Morrison

New Years candy stash

Wedding Prep

I'm still trying to train Sister Pina how to properly

buy from Sheetz. She's a slow leaner.

1.02.2017

Happy New Year!

This week we walked around trying to find people and it was great! The weather was great, and snow hasn't come yet, so I'm still a happy camper. In fact, one day it was so warm (and by warm I mean 50 degrees) that I didn't even need a jacket! Wooohoooo!!! We picked up a few new investigators, so hopefully next week we will get a few more lessons in, and less finding. But if not, then we'll find all the cool people this upcoming week!

We went over the baptismal interview questions with G, and you can tell that he has such a sincere desire to do the right thing. He is very reflective and spiritually in tune, and some of his answers floored me. It's so cool to see how genuine he is about learning and progressing in the church! He and Wendy are getting married in two weeks, so we've also started planning a wedding. I have no idea how to do that, but from what it sounds like, it's like every other Mormon event: small ceremony, and then food afterwards. So it shouldn't be too hard...right?? Ok yeah, everyone pray that it turns out ok haha.

We've been trying to meet with a less active, Sister H, but every time we go over something seems to get in the way. This past week she got a phone call that lasted a while, so we had to leave before sharing a message. But as we were walking out the door she expressed a desire to get back to church, so hopefully we'll be able to actually teach her next week!

Also, happy new year!!! Holy cow, I cannot believe 2017 is actually here! Sometimes I honestly felt like 2016 would never end, but it did, and lots of amazing things have happened this past year. Plus, I was able to achieve all my resolutions! In case you don't remember what they were, here you go:

1. No candy. I did it folks! It was super hard during Easter when those Cadbury eggs were out, but I powered through and lasted a whole year without eating candy.
2. Pass out 150 copies of the Book of Mormon. Not only did I achieve this one, but I set a new goal, and was able to pass out 200 copies! It was challenging but it definitely gave us a ton of new investigators over the year.
3. Love Pennsylvania and develop a more optimistic attitude. I can definitely say now that I love PA! And although I totally failed sometimes at having a super positive outlook, I think I did a pretty good job at getting rid of my perspective of always seeing he glass half empty instead of half full.
4. Write in my journal everyday. It's been a constant struggle each night, but I've done it my whole mission!

Now, here's a list of my 2017 goals:

1. No candy again. Of course I had to reward myself with candy one day before I start over again, and today is that day. The first thing I did when I woke up was ate a Reese's tree, and holy cow I died and went to heaven. It was amazing!!! I have not stopped eating candy since, and I am feeling so awful it's great! About five king sized candy bars later, along with lots of fancy chocolates, and I've had a few close encounters with the toilet, but nothing so severe to make me want to quit...yet. 
2. Read one chapter of the Book of Mormon each day
3. Foster the friendships at I've developed on my mission, and continue to develop new ones. I was super terrified to go on a mission because I knew that meant when I got back to college I'd have to start over with making friends. But, I've made some amazing friends here in the PPM, and I don't want them to end at the end of my mission. So, if I considered you a friend from my mission, sorry not sorry, but you are stuck being my friend now :)

Sister Morrison

As we were finding we passed a barber shop with some
funny hair cut pictures. We got a kick out of it!

12.26.2016

Merry Christmas! 🎁🎅🏼🎄

Sorry this week is going to be a short one! We did a ton of finding

this past week, and I figured that you'd get pretty bored if I went

into detail about people not being home or busy because of the

holidays.

Finding in a way was super good for this week though. At the beginning

of the week we had about 500 #LIGHTtheWORLD initiative cards, and I

really wanted to pass them all out. At first it seemed like an

unpractical wish, but as the week went on I was able to realize that

it we pushed ourselves it could be achievable. So, within a matter of

three days we passed out our entire stack. Although no Christmas

miracle of random people coming to church happened, I'm sure a few

people checked out the website, so I'm happy :)

Ward members sure love us here, so over the past two days we've had

lots of food in lots of different houses. Most the houses were full of

kids, which meant I got to play with lots of toys! I think I was

secretly more happy to play games and stuff than I was about being

fed. I was also fortunate to swerve on the Christmas ham! Before the

week even started I was hammed out, so it was a huge blessing that we

didn't get fed it once this week.

The highlight of my week was definitely skyping home to my family!!!!

It's weird to see how much old Jack and Tucker have gotten, but it was

fun to laugh and talk with everyone about funny stupid little things.

I didn't sleep much the latter half of the week because I was so

pumped and the anticipation kept me awake most nights, but it was

totally worth it!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and a have a great new year!

Hopefully this upcoming week will be full of good surprises so I'll

have more to report on!

Sister Morrison

#LIGHTTHEWORLD

Found another dinosaur to ride!

The elders bought us an octopus for Christmas

Matching Christmas PJs

12.19.2016

Referrals and split pants

To be honest, I have no idea where this week went. It's been really

hard to try and figure out a new area without any real references, but

thankfully the ward here is awesome! So going to church and church

activities have been my way of staying sane haha. We've tried

contacting a bunch of different people this past week, and it seems

like almost all the investigators we had to start with decided they

don't want contact with the missionaries for a while. So, starting

next week, Sister Piña and I really are starting from scratch. I'm

definitely learning patience in this companionship, and I'm pretty

sure that it's because God knew I came out with none of it, and He

finally sees that it's my time to acquire it haha.

Thankfully G is doing awesome and still going strong! We talked

to him about prayer and scripture study this past week, and he has

such good insights! It blows me away how prepared he is! And it's even

more awesome that he is helping Wendy return back to the church.

We did lots of finding this week, and on Tuesday it was snowing while

we were out and about. There was a little neighborhood with a bunch of

potential investigators in our area book, so we decided to try and

contact them all. None of them were very interested, but in the

process of contacting them we were given three referrals! It seemed

like each person told us "I'm not interested, but try my neighbor!" It

was so weird and uncommon, but it was great!

The youth in the ward had a soup kitchen service project that they

invited us. It was so much fun! I don't know if I was just oblivious

to it back at home, or if Pennsylvania just has a ton of homeless and

very low income people. It's sad, but it's also cool to see how happy

they are to get a warm meal. Right as we were about to start cooking,

Elder Robertson came up to me asking if I had an emergency sewing kit

because Elder Manley busted his pants. Luckily, we were only two

blocks away so we could go home and get a needle and some thread. When

he handed us his pants, Sister Piña and I broke into laughing

hysterics for a good five minutes because this was no dinky hole...our

head could've fit through it!! Slowly we got all our giggles out,

fixed his pants, and went on serving people. I think the funniest part

about it was that Elder Manley is the kind of person who doesn't seem

to catch a break no matter how hard he tries.

This week we also had interviews with President Johnson. It was nice

to talk openly and freely with him. He's the closest thing to a dad on

the mission, (minus the hugs) and knows just what to say when it comes

to teaching you and letting you know that he is proud of you. Although

this time around he did allude a little bit to me going home soon

which was weird. The closer it gets, the more and more I'm realizing

that I've turned into a freak out here in Pennsylvania 😅

Sister Morrison

Sister Pina found 23 family names to take to the

temple in one hour!

SkipBo with the district

Lewisburg District

After our lesson fell through and our finding failed,

I decided it was best to celebrate with Sheetz peanut butter

hot chocolate :)

12.12.2016

Scavenger Hunt Week

This week feels like I've been on week long mission scavenger hunt since we are both new to Berwick. Sister Birch just left here and she did a wonderful job at leaving behind notes and scheduling a solid week for us, but it still wasn't easy. Everyday we went from place to place not really certain of what to expect, so it was a little amusing! This upcoming week will definitely be our first "sink or swim" week because we had to plan it with our limited knowledge of people. But, it will all work out!

Tuesday Sister Terry and I headed to Green Tree for the trainer / trainee meeting, but before we made a mini detour to see Sister Montague! I babysat her kids when I was a beehive, and recently she moved to Wexford where Sister Kwasney is serving! It was a little weird to see how big her kids have gotten, but it was so fun to see a familiar face from back home. I was super happy that it worked out so I could see her. The meeting was also good. Before the meeting I was able to say goodbye to both my trainers, Sister Durfee and Birch. It was really surreal to see them go. During the meeting I got to be with my two other trainees, Sister Kwasney and Terry! It was so much fun to have both of them all day with me, and it was a little bit of a proud parent moment to see both people that I trained train. 

My new companion is Sister Piña, from Kentucky. I guess Kentucky is pretty similar to Pennsylvania, so the whole culture shock adjustment hasn't been too hard for her. I'm still trying to get a feel for her personality, so I don't really know what else to say about her. Sorry.

I'm still trying to get settled here, but from what I can tell he ward is great! People just walk up to us and said "Hi, I'm happy to come out and teach with you, so call me!" Plus they feed us like crazy which hasn't happened for me since Pittsburgh. I'm a little relieved because it will give us a chance to know more members, but at the same time, I have a higher chance of getting fat again... Pray that doesn't happen haha. Thankfully we had the Ward Christmas party this past weekend so I could meet a bunch of people whose names I have already forgotten. But on the bright side, I sort of remembered their faces at church the next day haha. 

One person we are working with right now is a man named G. He's engaged to a returning less active, W. G is getting baptized in January, and a week prior to it they are getting married! I've never had to plan a wedding before, so this should be interesting! We had he family History consultant teach G how to do family History to take names to the temple, and it was a success! So it looks like in early February G and W will be going to the temple! And even better, we are wishing the two hour limit from the temple, so we will also be able to attend!

I am also super humbled to teach M's. Their son, N joined the church back in July and from what I heard from Sister Birch, and all the other members here, he was amazing! He always invited people to learn more about the church, and knew the scriptures than most life long members. Unfortunately, he passed away a month ago, and his parents have rightfully been a wreck ever since. They had recently started to have the missionaries over, almost like a grieving session where they taught gospel principles like eternal families. We went over with a ward friend of N's and shared scriptures that helped us during hard times. Although we didn't teach the Restoration and commit them to being baptized, their hearts are slowly opened get up and becoming prepared to fully accept our message. I did experience "mourning with those that mourn" and trying to lift their spirits a little. 

Sister Morrison

W, G, and sister A doing family History!

 

Sister Montauge and me!

Last pic with Sister Terry :(

We met Santa!

My girls!

12.05.2016

Week of miracles, happiness, and a big surprise

Wow, this week was like a powerhouse week! So many awesome things happened that I almost couldn't believe. Thursday afternoon we were driving around and I just mentioned how blessed we are with the work we have in our area. I definitely believe that obedience yields blessings! We had four different members come out with us and each time we had amazing lessons that helped me relearn how important members are in our teaching. We had less actives come to church that I've been working with since I've arrived here. And our day of service to kick off #LIGHTtheWORLD was a blast and put a smile on so many faces :)

Buck hunting season started last Monday, and doe season started Saturday. Holy cow, these people don't mess around! It's such a big deal here that school and work are cancelled because no one would show up if it wasn't. It's been a little comical to drive around and see everyone in their camo and bright orange garb.

We taught a lesson to a lady named H, who was a member referral we received about a month ago. She has been super busy, and the first time she was taught I missed it because of exchanges. H is super awesome and so prepared! As we taught the plan of salvation she kept saying things like "this fits in and just adds to what I already believe." And when we showed her the Because of Him video she looked up and said "Wow, I just got the chills!" She is so prepared, and although she doesn't want to be baptized quite yet, she definitely is on the right track. She's so legit that we even got her to download the Gospel Library app so she could use the seminary manual to better study the Book of Mormon.

DD had her baptismal interview this past week, and she passed! We are so excited for Wednesday, and so is the ward. It has been such a blessing to teach her, she's the kind of person that everyone wants to teach. We would teach her commandments, and she would immediately commit to follow them, and she came to church religiously! Yesterday I was asked to lead the music for sacrament, and while the sacrament was being passed I looked over at her and she had tears coming down her face. It has been such a blessing to help her come to Christ.

Friday we were talking about how we needed to step up and do better with referrals. I kid you not, within ten minutes we got a media referral for a guy named N. It turns out that he is already a member, and wants to come back to church. We called him, set  up an appointment and had our mission leader come along. N is awesome! He is 23, served a mission, and the only reason why he went less active was because of moving back to Dubois and his conflicting work schedule. He came to church yesterday, and actively participated in Sunday School! Basically we had a super awesome member fall out of the sky, and a pretty easy activation over the next few months.  

We had our December Zone Conference on Wednesday, which I personally feel is the best one out of the whole year. I learned so much, and the spirit is soooo strong! I love singing our PPM song, even though it's super corny, I love seeing other missionaries, and I love being trained! Sister Birch gave her departing testimony and it was very surreal to finally have it hit me that my trainers are going home. Each year they make a mission video and is year was great. At the beginning it had videos streaming of the different Pennsylvania terrain and tears started falling from my face like a waterfall (and I HATE crying!). It hit me so hard that I love my mission and that it has been such a blessing to me. I get emotional just thinking about how it's going to be over soon. I can be such a stubborn person sometimes, and it took me a lot longer to really appreciate my mission because I kept fighting it. But, looking back over the past year I am start to see how much I have changed. At the beginning my mission was a sacrifice I was making to show God how much I loved him. The sacrifice has not even been a sacrifice because of how much I've gotten in return. All I can say is God is good!!

Ok, sorry about all that sappy stuff... now for my embarrassing moment of the week. One of the best things about the December Zone Conference is the musical numbers that missionaries perform. They always bring the spirit, and I have had a goal to do at least one musical number on my mission. I figured that I could play "O Come All Ye Faithful" on the piano. So I recruited some missionaries to sing it while I played, and I practiced for the past month on a keyboard we have in our apartment. With all the practice I should've been fine, but the ghost of bad piano recitals came back and nipped me in the butt. So there I was in front of 100 missionaries totally botching the song. It was overall such a train wreck that everyone was laughing. I got almost to the end when I completely stopped playing, and sat there thinking which would be worse: just standing up from the piano and sit down in the pew without finishing, or trying to finish even though by then it crashed and burned. In the end I played the last three notes totally fine, then did the walk of shame back to my seat in the chapel. 

So transfers came out Saturday night, and it looks like the Brooke in Brookville run is coming to an end. Whenever you get a phone call from President Johnson Saturday morning before transfers, you know that you or your companion are getting an assignment. So right there was my first clue I was being transferred because I figured Sister Terry was going to train a new missionary. I was right about that, but it turns out that I am also going to train...in Berwick. I am so terrified, nervous, excited, and overwhelmed. Training is one thing, but doubling into a new area where you know nothing is a whole new level of stress. But I guess that God really wants to make sure that I continue to work hard until the very end of my mission! So here goes the most stressful, and final 12 weeks as "Sister Morrison" back in the Wonky Willy (Williamsport) zone!

Sister Morrison

Las Pday at Bigler's Rock

Saying goodbye to the one and only, Sister Birch

Service selfie with Santa

I'm going to miss this diva. You can just see the

love she has for me in those eyes :)

J and D T

The C's! Sister C works at Sheetz and I sweet talked her

into getting me a shirt since I love Sheetz!

N

The "Brookville clan: ft. A & L

11.28.2016

Amish Thanksgiving 🦃

Happy (late) Thanksgiving! This year's festivities were totally different from last year, but it was awesome! Thankfully we were invited to join a member and her family for the feast. Sister T is an awesome, and feisty lady whose the only member in her family, and so we only really knew her going into it, but thankfully her family was ok with us coming over. We got to the house right as we were about it sit down, and about three minutes after we got there an Amish man walked in. Sister Terry and I were low key freaking out because of how cool it was to be eating Thanksgiving with an Amish man! He sat right across from us, and as dinner conversation was made we were starting to pick up on clues that proved that he's not some random friend of the family but Sister T's husband. Plot twist! Although, in a weird way it made sense because Sister T associates with the Amish a lot, and even wears their dresses to church. Can you imagine that combo? A Mormon married to an Amish haha. But, then he told us he is no Amish, but since he works with them he feels less ostracized when he wears their clothes and has a beard like them. So, I guess we didn't eat with a real Amish man, but I'm still claiming that I did! 

As we were planning we learned that there was a less active's husband who lives at the nursing home that we volunteer at each week, so we decided to pay him a visit after playing bingo. Oh my gosh, this man is crazy! K welcomed us in so we sat and talked to him. We asked him if he was ever baptized into the church and he began to tell us the craziest story. He said that as a teenager he went to a church camp with over 30,000 people. At that camp he was baptized into a river named Jordan (named after the river Jordan). While there, he decided to try to speak in tongues. He ended up speaking Isaiah for 5 hours in "God's tongue" where he told everyone "I am God, do what I say. I just killed 17,000 people, I'll kill you." There was a cross at the camp that you were supposed to stay 30 ft. away from but while praying his head was two inches away from the cross. When he stopped praying he looked up and the bridge, river, and cabins had all sunk to the core of the earth, and 17,000 had died.

Sister G and her family have really taken a man named A under their wing. A has some mental issues and even though he is 37 years old, his brain capacity is that of a 3-5 year old. He is one of the nicest people ever, and Sister G thought it would be a good idea for us to help A learn more about who Jesus is. This past week we went over and watched the "Lamb of God" movie with them. It's a little hokey, but A really enjoyed it, and asked us to bring another movie for next week! To top it off, we committed them to read a chapter of the Book of Mormon together every day.

About a month ago our Stake President challenged all of us to read the four Gospels, along with 3 Nephi before Christmas. Sister Terry and I have been doing that as part of our studies, and it's been so awesome! We focus so much on the Book of Mormon, that I forget how awesome the Bible is. I'm learning so much, and I really have come to appreciate Jesus even more than I have before. It's also made me really grateful for the good seminary teachers I had growing up. I remember how Brother Rushton did such a great job at making me get excited to study the New Testament every morning. 

Sister Morrison

We went to the local Christmas tree lighting, and got

a caricature drawn! We don't think it's super accurate, and

I feel like I look like an evil mom (the right one).

Last week's leaf raking crew

Featured Phil: Grow up Great

We may or may not have gone Black Friday shopping Thursday night...

11.21.2016

Satan, pie, and other missionary stuff

This week was about the same as all the others. Satan has finally arrived, which I'm not too happy about. Oh wait, I meant snow not Satan...they are basically the same, so I seem to get them pretty confused haha. I have no shame in admitting that when I woke up and saw even more snow on the ground the next day I had a mini panic attack. I have no idea how to function in precipitation of any kind, and so my morning consisted of me pacing the floor trying to figure out how to get ready for the day. I'm pretty sure Sister Terry thinks I'm a freak, but at least I start her day off laughing! 

We got to do lots of service for members this week. The day before it snowed the weather was sunny and 68 degrees so we happily raked some members lawn. Knowing that it was probably the last time I could wear shorts during service for the season made it even more enjoyable. We also helped move lumber, shingles, cement mix, and other home improvement supplies from a members living room to garage. Bundles of shingles weigh eighty pounds a piece, and we moved fourteen of them, so I was really looking forward to having sore arms the next day. Sadly that didn't happen; I guess I'm already swoll ;) 

I have to put another plug in for J because she is seriously the greatest! Last week we were talking about Thanksgiving, and of course the conversation lead to food and desserts. I mentioned how I love pecan pie, and Sister Terry loves apple. When we showed up to their house this Saturday, J had prepared both a pecan and apple pie for us! It was something so simple, that really meant a lot to the both of us. Especially because J is allergic to apples, and went completely out of her way to make it. Wow, she is seriously amazing! 

The good news for the week is that DD is ready for baptism! She has officially completed all the lessons, and we went over the interview questions and she is good to go! It's always a little amusing as missionaries to give the interview questions with people for the first time. I think they imagine it to be full of super hard questions, but when we ask the first question (Do you believe that God is our Eternal Father?) you can see the panic melt off their face. It was no exception for DD haha. Other good news is that she and Brother B are officially engaged! So now their temple marriage will give me another good reason to come back and visit PA in a year or so. It was pretty funny because Sister Terry and I both secretly think Brother B was more excited to tell us than DD haha. 

Sister Morrison

Picture of the entire mission from last week.

Featured Phil: Philatelic (probably my favorite statue in Punxsutawney)

Philipsburg district with the zone leaders.

Classy rural PA

The start of my dying