Week Eight....drum roll please!

Dear Everyone,

 

Well, it was obviously transfers this week! I got in-zone transferred to the White River ward. I am whitewashing, which means neither my companion or I have been in the area. We have a completely blank area book, an apartment with no food, and no idea what we are doing. Oh ya, I'm training haha. :) 

 

When the AP's called me and asked me to train, I said yes but was panicking. I said a prayer and opened up my scriptures randomly to 1 Nephi 17:50. It gave me exactly the peace and comfort I needed. I can do all that the Lord commands of me!

My companion is Sister Hehl. She is so awesome! Straight from the MTC with a can-do attitude. We are gonna get along so great, I can already tell. 

Because I stayed in my zone, I am a Federal Way missionary! I was bummed about it for a bit, but I am excited to be a missionary in a new mission! We have some exciting stuff coming our way, I can feel it.

 

I don't have much time to write because we are going grocery shopping right after this. We have ZERO food. Woot woot for whitewashing! But I am loving life, doing great, and working hard. I love you all so much!

 

Love, Sister Morrow

Hello all! It has been quite the week! Up and down like usual. But here are some positives:

-We got two new investigators, both were referrals. Mikayla is a fifteen year old girl who was a referral from the White River Elders. She is in Lake Holm ward boundaries, so we are going to start teaching her. The problem is, her mom won't allow her to tell ANYONE her address. Literally nobody knows where she lives. And her mom is "too busy" to drive her places. So...who knows when we will get in touch with her. But she really really wants to get baptized, which is awesome. Our second investigator is a seventeen year old boy named Bailey. He is the grandson of some people in our ward. His mom didn't want to take care of him and his brother anymore so he got shipped to his grandparents house. He doesn't have the greatest life. But we taught him the first lesson and he is on date to be baptized on July sixth. :) He came to church yesterday which was great. So keep him and Mikayla in your prayers. They need all the prayers they can get.

-I got a really special blessing from my District Leader this week. I asked him for a blessing of guidance and comfort, and didn't really say anything else. In the blessing, he mentioned things that I had only expressed to Heavenly Father in prayer. It strengthened my testimony of the power of the priesthood. Some of the things he said in the blessing were:

1. The Lord is in charge of all things

2. Study the scriptures and pray as I never have before

3. The Lord has many great things in store for me, and this time is preparing me for those things

4. The lord keeps all of His promises, and He will keep the promises He has made to me

5. The Lord loves me

6. The Lord has felt it all and knows the things that weigh on my soul

7. Trust in the Lord, He knows all and is in charge

It was exactly what I needed. I got slightly emotional, and so did my District Leader. I'm so thankful for the power of the priesthood.

 

-I went on an exchange to Maple Valley on Friday til Saturday. I was companions with a sister from my MTC district, Sister Lee. She is a sweetheart. But it was interesting to be in a different area. We went to Maple Valley days and handed out mormon.org cards there and talked to people. Her area is only a mile and a half by a mile and a half! My area is HUGE compared to that. Like I said, it was interesting to be in a different area.

-As I was feeling discouraged this week, I thought of missionaries who have made a difference in my life, and who are examples to me.

 

1. My dad: His entire mission, for two years, he only baptized one person. He was working hard, he was being faithful. He may not have converted many people, but he converted himself. Because of the person my dad became on his mission, I have had the life I have had and I am who I am. I pray every day that these next 17 months will turn me into the person I need to be for MY children. I don't think I'll ever get a more important calling than to be a mother. If this mission will help me become the woman I need to become to be what my children need me to be--then I'll keep going even if I have to fake a smile.

2. Aaron: Ammon, Aaron's brother, was having a ton of success  among the Lamanites. He converted King Lamoni and was having hundred flock to the church daily. Aaron, on the other hand, was not. He and his brethren were cast into prison. (Alma 21:14) Finally, Ammon and King Lamoni came to rescue them. Now Aaron had suffered a lot--starvation, torture, nakedness, imprisonment--but as soon as he was released, he went out and taught again. Soon, the Lord blessed him with success. (Alma 21:17) Aaron had it pretty bad. I'm not being starved or tortured or anything. Sure, I get yelled at, but who doesn't as a missionary? Aaron endured his trials patiently, and the Lord blessed him for it. I need to do the same.

 

This is the Lord's work! Being a missionary is incredibly challenging but full of so many blessings. Thank you all for all that you do.

 

Love, Sister Morrow

Hey all!

It's been quite a week. Like usual. I've decided that it is easier to do bullet points rather than paragraphs because being the English major I am, I feel like paragraphs need to connect and flow. :)

 

• Me and my big mouth...ah man. I always get myself in trouble. Especially when it comes to authority. So...on Wednesday, we had District Meeting. The past little while, our Zone Leaders have been hounding us about numbers. Numbers numbers numbers. That is literally all they cared about. We had the goal in our mission to get 100 convert baptisms in May. (which didn't happen, we got to 84) So, the Zone Leaders were being stupid about it. I kept my mouth shut like a good Sister Missionary. At the end of the meeting as the Zone Leaders were walking out, they again said something about more numbers or getting someone baptized that day. I just light-heartedly said, "It's not all about the numbers!" That made them pretty mad. They called our District Leader and had him call us to tell us that numbers do matter. But our District Leader was 110% on our side. He said that the ZL's were getting too wrapped up in numbers and not caring about the people individually. So I told the DL to tell the ZL's that I apologized for being disrespectful. ( We aren't allowed to contact anyone directly without permission from our ZL's. We can only call our DL) Anyways. It was dumb, and I learned that I really just gotta keep my mouth shut. 
• I got kissed. On the cheek. By a three year old little boy. :) I was giving him a high five goodbye and he gave me a huge hug and kissed me on the cheek haha. It was pretty funny and cute :)
• Tim got baptized!!! WAAAAHHHOOO! It was incredible. We had over one hundred people show up for the service so we held it in the chapel of the Stake Center and broadcast the actual baptism from the Relief Society room to the chapel. It was so cool to see how happy the family was. He was so ready. As part of the program, while Tim and his son (who baptized him) were changing, we handed out 3x5 cards for people to write notes and testimonies on. One note said, "It's about d*** time!" Hilarious hahahahahaha. :) It was a great experience.
• So transfers are on June 18th, and wherever I am after that transfer decides what mission I am in. I am thinking I'll end up in Federal Way so Sister Mosbrucker and I are going to do our culture day next Monday. What's a culture day? I'll tell ya. The rule in our mission is that every missionary gets one day his or her entire mission to go sight seeing in Seattle. So on Monday, we are having some members in our ward take us. :) I'm stoked. But that means I may or may not get to email on Monday, so ya. :/ I hope I don't get transferred out of this area. I am really starting to fall in love with it and with our ward. I hope that Sister Mosbrucker and I just stay together. We are getting along really well and working together really well. I feel so blessed to have such a great companion!

I love you all, and I love being a missionary! Thanks for all that you do for me.

Love, Sister Morrow

"Bella" one of Rachel's current pets :)