Mindsets and Disc Golfing

Hey Everyone!!

I had a great week! I'm grateful to be out here, the Lord is really teaching me some things which I am grateful for!!

To start out, we have a friend named Hallie preparing to get baptized on Saturday! We have really been having good lessons with her the past few weeks and we feel really good about it! She is from Chicago and has a pretty funny accent! She is really awesome and we are excited to have her join the Church. 

Other than that we have a few other people we are teaching, but some of the people we were talking to and really excited about totally ghosted us!! Its so sad! Things were going so well!

We are trying to meet new people over facebook which is a challenge that I am coming to love! It seems like we have great conversations, then I introduce the Gospel and book, they are gone haha. Definitely different from Sierra Leone, but I am learning to love it. I think that I am learning things that I could not have learned if I was still in Sierra Leone. It is very humbling and I really feel like I need to rely on The Lord more than I currently am.

On Tuesday we had a devotional with Elder and Sister Nielson. Elder Nielson is the Area President for this part of the country. He shared some great advice and some really awesome experiences with us. I was really grateful for Him and his wife. 

On Thursday we had a devotional with Bishop Waddell. He gave a great talk on why we are here at this particular moment. It drove me to my knees to repent and ask the Lord for a more positive attitude towards my new environment. I am really grateful for that. I have realized, as I always do, that it is just a mindset. Sometimes it takes me a little bit of time to get to that realization. Good thing the Lord is patient. I love Him!!

Fun Fact about Iowa: Disc Golfing and Golfing seem to be huge attractions here!!My new hobby is Disc Golfing! Almost every monday we usually go and throw a few rounds. Super fun, I definitely recommend it!

It has also been heating up, which I love! It is pretty humid, but nothing compared to Sierra Leone haha. I still wear a jacket in 80 degree weather here! I am excited to see what happens next week. I love it here!!

-Elder Morgan

Not Just Cornfields Here

Hey Everyone!

Well I had such an awesome week. I've learned ALOT and have grown because of it. I'm so grateful for Him!!

This week was a whole lot of sitting in the apartment as usual. The first week that I was here, it was a tough transition for me. I did not know how to effectively use facebook to proselyte, I had trouble feeling the Spirit because we don't teach as much here and there isn't anything spiritual about sitting in the apartment all day, and it was just tough to get my mindset ready for a mission again. 

After pleading with Heavenly Father everyday the whole week to help me and to bless me with the gift of learning, I have found some peace and success! I am so grateful that Heavenly Father answers my prayers, even though I sin, fail, and lose to the Natural Man every day. I stand in awe whenever I think I of His perfect and consistent love for the benefit of His children. It shocks me! He is the best!

I am getting more and more comfortable with facebook and have seen some small success. This is how we do it... we try to look for people living in our area and send them a friend request. Once they accept our friend request (if they accept it) we then try and to start a conversation. The whole goal is to become friends before we introduce the Gospel. It is a bit weird and unorthodox but I am getting comfortable. 

About a week ago, I found a woman named Robyn. After a few days of conversation she opened up to me about the struggles she is going through. We ended up meeting her over video call and having a wonderful lesson. We have had a few follow up lessons and she is excitedly reading the Book of Mormon and is really coming to know of the truthfulness of it.
It is awesome to see that the work goes on, no matter what the circumstances!
We have also committed one person to get baptized! If all goes according to plan, we hope to have 1 more by the end of the transfer!

Fun Fact about Iowa: Now this may be suprising to a few of you, but it's actually not ALL corn fields and farms out here! In the city it is very nice, with very green grass and lots of beautiful nature!! I'll attach a video of one of the neighborhoods in our area.

-Elder Morgan

Practicing good dental hygiene

Mission Part 2

Hey Everyone!

It feels a little bit weird doing this again, but here we go! 

I got to Iowa City at 7pm on thursday. President Sturm and His wife picked us up from the airport and took us to the mission home where we watched a devotional, got to know each other, and then went to sleep! We were all pretty tired from the trip so it was welcomed. 

Getting into Iowa!

The Mormon Handcart Park

The next morning we got up, had breakfast and then went to see the "Mormon Pioneer Park", it is all small trail that has some signs talking about the pioneer handcart companies that left from Iowa city. We then went to the mission office and received some training and I got my new companion, Elder Anderson. He has been serving for 20 months and is a good guy and a good missionary as well. We are in a 2 man apartment which is new for me as well. In Sierra Leone the average apartment had 4-6 missionaries living in it. 

The next day we began to get all of my things set up, mainly my Facebook page and some training on how to effectively proselytize on Facebook. THAT IS ALL WE DO!!!! We have a new schedule that we follow everyday that splits our day up for us. We stay in the apartment all day and proselytize from our phones on Facebook. We look for people in the area, friend them, and message them for a few days to become friends and then try and work the Gospel in somehow. It is a little bit boring because sometimes they don't accept our friend requests and don't message us back, but I am slowly getting used to it. 

It has kind of been a tough transition for me. It was so nice to be home with my family and also enjoying all the freedoms of a regular life. Then I came here and we still have the same rules but now all we do is stay inside all day and watch out phones. It is tough for me, because I feel I can be doing more effective things at home right now, but I know that when it comes down to it, I need to be here and it's the only places I'd like to be right now. Although it has been tough for me, I'm just trying to see the bigger picture and bright side of things. I know that the Lord is watching over me and I love Him for that! I'm grateful for Him and all that He does for me! 

Well thanks for listening! Talk to ya next week.
-Elder Morgan 

Mission Intermission: There And Back Again

(This was written by Eli a few days ago, but we wanted to wait for him to depart before sending it out.)

Hello Everyone!

Well it has been about 1 month since I have been home. It has been so nice to be home and around my family again. I have received a reassignment and will be leaving for Iowa City, Iowa Mission in two days! I will finish my last 6 months there, but could possibly be sent back to Sierra Leone if circumstances agree! In this email I'll highlight a few things that happened this past month at home.
Right after I got home I was in a 2 week quarantine in my house! I was able to watch some movies and spend some quality time with the family! My favorite movie that I watched was the new Aladdin movie by Disney! Other than that it was pretty boring.

Right after the quarantine I got to meet my new sister-in-law, KC! It was so great because I had never met her before. She is so awesome and fits right into the family. It was so good to have them here for a few days! 

I was able to get a job working for APSenvironmental. I really enjoyed working with the company, they treated me very well and I had a great time there.
I also connected with a lot of my friends again as well! I went on lots of walks/hikes, went to lots of fast food places and just spent some great time with really great people! 

Six days ago I got a call from my Stake President, President Johnson. It was about 8 o'clock at night when He called to tell me of my reassignment! At first I was a little surprised because we had not anticipated it to happen so quickly. Nonetheless I am very excited to get out there and finish my mission! I've had to buy some new shoes and some other pieces of clothing, such as some pants and now have to bring 2 suits to wear!

I really am very excited to get out there and finish what I started. It will be a bit tough to get back into the routine of missionary work but I am glad I already know how everything goes on. I am a little bit nervous to be serving in America, but I am ready to work on some weaknesses and make them strengths! The Lord knows me and what I am going through, I am very grateful for HIm and for His hand in my life! See you guys on Monday!

-Elder Morgan

President Johnson and Elder Morgan

Appropriate Social Distancing

Elder Morgan and the Fam

Soon we'll have 2 Elder Morgans! 

He'll be wearing a suit this time around.

Not sure if he's happy about having to wear a mask or take a picture

He made it to Iowa!