Merry CHRISTmas

Hey y'all!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to the New Year! I don't have too much time so I just want to share a quick story from my week. 

We visited an investigator who has been taught by Sister missionaries for several years now. She is in high school and I think she is just so awesome. She has a testimony and knows the Book of Mormon is the word of God, the Sisters even used to have her teach them! Haha because a good way to see how well someone understands something is to have them explain it them self. So we went over to teach her, and we began with a prayer to invite the spirit. We taught her the Restoration, and we invited her to pray about something she can do to be able to gain permission to be baptized. She is in a situation where she needs permission from her great aunt, but I know that as long as we do everything we can on our end and go on with faith.. Heavenly Father will always provide a way to help us. We ended with a prayer and before we left she said, "The sisters who began teaching my always prayed in the beginning and at the end of our lesson. I didn't realize how much I missed that. After a while it kind of stopped... and now you come along and I just really like when we pray before". My whole heart just filled with love because I just love the spirit so much. 

I just thought that was sweet and I love that she could recognize the power of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is how we learn and we can't teach without it! The Spirit is SO important!! Prayer is the greatest tool we have to speak to our Father in heaven, so we really do gain so much faith when we use it. 

I am grateful I was able to see my family yesterday, and for those I did not get to see.. thank you all for the Christmas love you sent me! I appreciate it, and I love y'all so much! Have a blessed week.

Sister Morrill

Alma 26:12

"Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever."

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HIGH HO

Hey y'all! 

This week consisted of a lot of surprises. Sister Felt and I came home to a ton of Gnomes on our steps, guarding a tin of cookies. The Elders here left that one for us, so now we have 7 guard dwarfs! The bishop here also called and asked us to speak last Sunday on something pertaining to Christmas, and then we were asked to teach the young women haha. I spoke on the greatest gift I have ever received, the Holy Ghost! It truly is such a blessing to me to have the constant companionship of the Holy Spirit. I am so grateful for the peace, comfort, love, and guidance I receive from it. We also had our ward Christmas party on Saturday and then our stake Christmas concert Sunday night! Pretty hectic and exciting first week!

I quickly discovered two things as I arrived:

1. My companion is very musically inclined, she can even play the trumpet with just her mouth.

2. The ward here is huge and somehow almost all of them are related through marriage, so there is a lot of love floating around my new ward family.

My favorite surprise this week though was from a woman we knocked into on Thursday. She had what sounded to me like a Scottish accent, and mentioned she is Jewish. We were talking to her and when we asked her what she believes she said, "people suck". Haha definitely at times, but we're all just trying to do our best while we're here to figure this life thing out. Perspective is a choice, I feel happiest when I strive to see the best in people! I kept thinking about something we could do for her, so we brought her a card. It said, "We all suck sometimes. We're grateful for the Gospel, Mosiah 2 helps us understand how we can suck a little less". We left it in the Book of Mormon with our testimonies, placed 3 lollipops on the top of it and left it on her front step! Well, we came home that night to a letter on our door addressed to the LDS Sisters and she thanked us for the lollipops! I just love people so much, and that was just awesome to me.  

John 1:4-5

"In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not."

Always have good intentions, and your actions will reflect who you are. People recognize character! I love y'all! Happy Holidays! :)

Sister Morrill

Adios Emanuel County, Hello Cochran!

Hey y'all!

This week was so much fun! We traveled to Macon for the weekend because Elder Stevenson was going to come, but due to mother nature he couldn't make it. I was pumped for him to come though because his analogies and perspective on the concepts of the gospel are just beautiful and so well understood. He gave the "Spiritual Eclipse" talk at the last General Conference. But, we ended up staying in Macon anyway with four other sisters at a members home! It was a lot of fun, and we had a small mission meeting for the missionaries who had already traveled there. Later that night we had transfer calls, so I am now in Cochran! Cochran gets the nickname of "Zion", because there are so many members in this small town. My new companions name is Sister Felt and I am excited to serve here with her. She has been out for 14 months and is from Rexburg, Idaho. I have been avoiding all thoughts of leaving Swainsboro by convincing myself that I will be back here next Christmas! I love Swainsboro with my whole heart and all of the people I have met. There is a special spirit that dwells there and I am grateful to have been able to be part of it! 

I really came to understand the influence and power of example while I served in Emanuel County. People are always watching, we notice the things people do because its our human nature to be aware of our surroundings. We learn best by observing! So the better example we are, the better impact we will leave. Whether we realize it or not, the people we choose to surround ourselves with will influence the person we become. So I guess that just leaves us with the decision of who we want to be. 

I mean look at our greatest example, Jesus Christ. He is perfect! And because of His willingness to do our heavenly Fathers will, He has changed every single one of our lives. Which is why I am a firm believer that there is most definitely hope for every single person in this world. I am eternally grateful for Jesus Christ's obedience, love, and gospel. His teachings are a blessing in my life :) 

I love y'all! I hope you have a wonderful and spiritual week! 12 days until Christmas!!

Sister Morrill

2 Corinthians 10:7,11

"Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? If any man trust to himself that he is Christ’s, let him of himself think this again, that, as he is Christ’s, even so arewe Christ’s.

Let such an one think this, that, such as we are in word by letters when we are absent, such will we be also in deed when we are present."

Knowledge is Power!

Hey y'all!

I hope y'all had a wonderful week! 

Yesterday we met a lady at an apartment complex, and she was so cool! She was brought up in a religious home, her mom is a Jehovah's witness and her dad is a Baptist. She was so excited after we shared the Restoration with her, because she didnt think there was actually anything new that she hadnt already heard before. She was raised with her mom, so she grew up attending church with her. After she moved out, she mentioned she strayed away from religion because it was never something she did for herself. Then she told us that lately she has been feeling like something is missing from her life, and she was considering going back to church so it was interesting how we showed up. When we asked her what she hopes to gain from learning more about our message, she said she wants to have peace of mind and to learn more about our Savior.

I just love that so much! Our Savior is so wonderful and His gospel is seriously so cool! No day here has been quite like another. I think the only consistency is my desire to understand His gospel. I seriously love it so much, I just learn so much when I study and knowledge is power! I feel so much peace and joy when I read it and I get so excited to share what I learn.

I studied in Revelations because I wanted to learn about the previous 6 folds, since we are in the 7th. It is so interesting to me! The first fold began with Adam, then Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus Christ, and now Joseph Smith. Joseph being the prophet of the last dispensation. I'm just fascinated with the concept of the way history repeats itself. Every ending of the previous dispensations had occured because all of the people became wicked and the rejected the prophet and his teachings. The people before Noah were so wicked, they were literally washed off the earth. Lucky for us, no matter how wicked we become, His gospel is here to stay! The Second coming is close and we're commanded to study scripture, so we can understand the things we need to do in order to obtain righteousness and carry out God's work.

We also met a man who told us he wasn't interested. I felt very confused considering we had not even said anything to him yet. We kind of just stood there for a minute, and then I asked him what he was not interested in. We stood there another minute and I think he was confused too. He asked if we were Jehovah's witnesses, so we told him we represent the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He invited us back! That was cool to me, very humbling. I love questions because they help me understand others perspectives. We can't know until we ask!

I love y'all, have a happy & blessed week!

Sister Morrill

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Revelation 14:6

"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people"