Eli's Final Email

 Hey Everyone!

Well, this is it.... my last email!

I have had such a phenomenal experience as a Full-Time Missionary. My experience has been overwhelmingly positive. I love the Savior Jesus Christ. I have come to know Him as I have worked alongside Him in the field. He is the Son of God! He is the Savior and Redeemer of the World! 

I have loved this wonderful work for the past 2 years and now it is time to take what I have learned and use it for something else. Thank you for following along with me on my journey to help myself and others come closer to Christ. I have truly found myself. 

Love,

Elder Morgan

Much to be thankful for

Hey all!

We have had a really busy past 2 weeks!

We have been filming a video for the Iowa City Stake, which has been a lot of fun but really busy! We are going to different members and asking them to say a few sentences about the Book of Mormon. We have been travelling around the stake, sometimes driving up to 3 hours to get somewhere!!

We have completed the filming and are now editing it! 

Veronica and her 2 kids were all baptized on Saturday! It was such an awesome experiences to witness the baptism and take part in it. We are really grateful for them and their decision to follow Christ! 

This week we are getting together with our District and having a Thanksgiving feast! Elder Briggs, (one of the missionaries in my district) is a really good cook and offered to make it all! We are buying ingredients and gonna go help cook a bit! Should be super fun!!

Well, this is my last full week as a missionary which is pretty crazy. I am excited byt also pretty nervous to go home! Oh well, I'll get over it!

See ya next week!

Elder Morgan

Trying to Fit It All In!

Heyo!!

We have had a great time over the past two weeks! It has been super busy!

I have been going on a lot of exchanges with Elders in my District and Zone. I have been going on 2 every week so that I can get in all of the exchanges before the end of the transfer. I have really learned a lot from the missionaries in my district. They are powerful missionaries.

Veronica and her kiddos are progressing so well! Their baptismal interview will be this Saturday! We are super excited. Last night we were over at their house and asked them how their lives have changed since deciding to be baptised. Veronica said "The gospel has made me feel like I am worth something, that I don't have to be negative all the time or surround myself with people that made me feel that way. It has also made me feel free, like I can actually progress and be a better version of myself." That was really special to hear. They are so excited for their baptism, and so are we! It has been so fulfilling teaching them! 

Last night President Sturm called us and told Elder Harris that he will be transferred tomorrow. We were not expecting it at all! We have just gotten SO many projects from the mission and Iowa City Stake as well. We are filming a stake wide member video, we had just planned out when we were going to do it all!! We are also working on a few more projects, and will have to see how to work it out without Elder Harris being in the area! President said that he knows it doesn't make any sense because of all the projects that we have, but he really feels like it is the right thing to do!

Love you guys!

-Elder Morgan

Blessings from Serving in 2 Totally Different Missions

Hey All!

Man, this week seemed unusually long, but really awesome. I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve! As I think more about being reassigned, I see the hand of the Lord more and more. I could not have had the spiritual growth that I needed if I didn't get reassigned. There are things that I could not have learned in Sierra Leone, as well as people that couldn't have made a positive impact on me if I never came here. I have learned so much and I am so grateful for Him! I needed certain opportunities to grow and progress to become more like Him and am definitely enjoying those experiences. Words cannot describe my feelings of gratitude. My deepest desire is to serve Him until the end! And that is coming too quickly!

This week I went on the " Sprint Trip". It was such a fun trip! Monday night I slept over in Iowa City, while my other companions held down the fort in Belle Plaine. The next morning we drove 2 hours to Nauvoo, IL. where we met at Carthage Jail. We had an online tour of the jail and learned some really interesting stories of what happened leading up to the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, although we did not get to go into the jail, I still really enjoyed it! After about an hour there, we drove to the Smith cemetery which is right next to the Mansion House, so we got to see that as well! The cemetery was pretty neat because it is owned by the actual Smith Family, it is pretty small but really awesome to see. President Sturm told us a few stories about the cemetery and it was a really uplifting experience. From there we went to one of the churches and had a meeting about finishing our missions! We then went to the temple and took some pictures there and had the opportunity to take some time and think about the church history that had happened there. So cool!

This week we were able to choose a new baptisml date for Veronica and her kids. They are doing so well and really really preparing themselves for the baptism. I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to help them along the covenant path. They are so impressive with keeping commitments and striving to make necessary changes in their lives to become more like the Savior. Veronica even made us some sweet sweatshirts! She wants to add a few more things to them and so we are gonna get them on Tuesday! We got a sneak peak yesterday when we went over after church! They are so awesome! 

Other than that, we have just had such an awesome week. See ya next week!

-Elder Morgan

Congrats Mom you made it on the fridge!

A sneak peek of our new sweatshirts that Veronica made us!

Covid-Free and Snow!

Hey Everyone!

On Thursday we had a Covid19 test, then went back into quarantine haha. Friday afternoon we found out that we are all negative! We got right to work and have really had a good time since being out! 

It's snowing here in Iowa!! Sunday was the first day that we woke up to a little bit of snow, today it is really coming down! I am pretty excited because growing up in California, you don't really experience that! I am also really dreading it, because it is super cold haha. I bought a winter coat to keep me warm for these last weeks!

Tomorrow I am going on a "Sprint Trip". This is where all the missionaries in their last transfer go to Nauvoo for the day! We go to the Temple, Carthage Jail, and Joseph and Hyrum Smith's graves! I am really excited for it! I hope it all works out well. 

Other than that, I have been trying to figure out school. That is a whole ordeal by itself haha. Slowly but surely.... 

I am just so grateful to be a missionary. It has been my greatest joy this far in my life! I have learned so much about the Savior and His Gospel. I am really grateful for this experience!

We had a really cool experience with the family that is preparing to be baptized! We taught the Word of Wisdom and quickly realized that there will be some things that need to change. We have made an "Action Plan" so that they will be able to keep the Word of Wisdom. At first they were a little bit hesitant, but the Lord's commandments bring joy! After talking through it and explaining commandments, they were so excited to start keeping it! It is so awesome to see people change their lives. Such a powerful experience. Love ya guys!

-Elder Morgan

A Brush with Covid

Hey all!

Well, last week at the end of my email I described it as lame and boring! That switched up a little bit this week!! We have had a really exciting week! 

To start off the week, we had an exchange with some of the Elders in my District. Elder Rhea and I took Elder Byers, and had such a fun day! Elder Byers is a super funny guy and we had a really successful day! They slept over and we left early the next morning to go to Iowa City. President Sturm asked us to help him make a video. We ended the exchange in the driveway of President's house, then Elder Harris, Elder Rhea and I filmed! It was really fun and President says he wants to do more videos!

That night we put on a Missionary Fireside! Most of our Branch Members came and we even had a few of our friends come! We even had a few people join in on YouTube live. We talked about the Restoration, used a few examples and watched a short video. We think it went pretty well!! We were able to play basketball with a family that on date to be baptized after! It was a really good experience for them!

The next day is where everything kinda hit the fan haha. A member of the branch, Sister Gates, has us and a few members over for dinner once every week. We had a great meal and made plans to go to a different members house the next day for a lesson.

The next afternoon we went to his house and he came out and said he wasnt feeling too good. We shared a small message and gave him a blessing! Later that day, he texted us that he had been in contact with someone who tested positive for Covid. He was trying to get tested as well. We then called our Mission Nurse and she told us to start quarantine. 

The next day, he got his test result and he is positive! So now we are in a 2 week quarantine!! We all feel healthy and have no fevers. We are just bored to death!!!! Being stuck in a missionary apartment all day is no fun! 

Our last day before Quarantine!!

We have seen a few miracles because of it though. We have been truly blessed by the Lord!

Well, today starts the beginning of my last transfer on mission. That is pretty crazy. I still feel like I am 6 months old on mission!! I am excited and have some goals that I want to accomplish, well right after these 2 weeks!! Please send an email with some ideas to help us stay sane!!! Thanks!!

- Elder Morgan

Our exchange with Elder Byers!

2nd time with our favorite member, Dustin Polton! He bought a head stone for his Dads grave. But they cremated his body 20 years ago and spelt the last name wrong....a story for another time!

Iowa is Different than Sierra Leone and Exposed to Covid!

Hey Everyone!

I had such a good week! I am really enjoying this area and everything about the work! We had a lot of lessons this week and were able to watch the General Conference! It was so awesome!

We had all of our Friends come and watch General Conference with us! They were all edified and really liked what was said. We are planning to extend a few Baptismal Dates this week! We have really had some awesome lessons with the people we are teaching. We are teaching a few families and are really making good progress with them. 

This week we got the work orders from "Mormon Helping Hands"! We did a ton of service for Belle Plaine and now we are knocking on peoples doors and asking if they need anymore help and if they want some Salvation. No takers yet:/ They will literally look at you through the window and then not answer the door! In Sierra Leone, we had people calling to us to teach them but here it is much different haha. I am having a lot of fun with it though!

We are planning on doing a missionary Fireside on Wednesday! We are inviting all of the Branch members, all of our Friends, and asking the branch members to bring friends! We are gonna show the " Ask of God" video and talk a little bit about the Restoration. I am excited for it and hopefully people actually show up haha. 

Trying to get ready for the Missionary Fireside

Man, I feel like my emails are so lame now! In Salone it seems like I crashed on a motorcycle or ran from a monkey every single week haha. It is so different here, but I am seriously enjoying it! 

This picture was sent to me from a friend in Sierra Leone! This was in my last area!

Have a good week!

-Elder Morgan

We take a morning picture and send it in our Zone groupchat! This is an example of what we try and do!!

Since they got put in quarantine and hadn't gone to the grocery store, we sent them some pizza so they didn't starve. :)