Abiding With Me

Hey y'all!

I hope your week was wonderful :)

We had a great week! Yesterday morning I was feeling less than energized and usually that means something great was bound to happen. We had District Council in the morning and sometimes we will role play teaching or contacting scenarios as a district. One of the Elders asked who would be willing to be the missionaries and all of tired me did not raise my hand. I glanced to my left, where I noticed Sister Stacey's hand practically hit the ceiling. What a blessing in disguise, we scooted our chairs up and one of the senior missionaries and an elder acted as a couple we just met. Sister Stacey asked how they have seen God's hand in their lives and Sister Booren said "child birth". Somehow the "couple" got off talking about when they don't feel God is there. It reminded me of Joseph Smith when he was searching for truth. He realized man's wisdom is confusing, so he sought God himself. We testified of the Book of Mormon and Sister Booren asked how we know it is true. Sister Stacey and I were both silent for a minute, it didnt seem like a scripture or testimony would answer her question. I silently pleaded for God's help, because I wanted to help her. It then occurred to me that she had experienced something too that I could not understand. I asked her how it felt when she gave birth, to which she responded "it hurt" haha. Then she said "well it felt like a warm blanket around me and it felt good because I knew He was there". We told her that was the power of the Holy Ghost testifying of Jesus Christ and that same feeling will occur as she searches for truth. Then we invited the Elder to read Moroni 10:3-5 with his name instead of "Ye" or "you". He chose the name John which was interesting because later that night we had an interesting contact with a man named John.

We are in the process of inviting everyone to an event on Sunday night, and we were in an area where we noticed a Sister Bueno lived. We had never met her, but we felt we should go see her. After we got out of the car, we noticed her house had a "for sale" sign and there was definitely not anyone currently living there. We turned to leave & saw a man on his porch across the street. We went over to him and he said that everyone on their street had to move 6 months ago because the owners were redoing the homes. So we asked what his name is and he asked what we are doing. We told him we teach the gospel of Jesus Christ and he was surprised because he didnt know people still did that haha. He hadnt seen missionaries since he lived in Virginia Beach years ago. He asked us what the difference between Latter Day Saints and Mormons are (one of my favorite questions). We explained Mormon was a prophet who lived long ago and because we read out of the Book of Mormon, people gave us that nickname. We further explained that calling us "Mormons" would be like calling people who read the 4 gospels in the Bible "Matthews". He eagerly gave us his number and commented that this is good because he has a lot of questions. 

Alma 1:25

"Now this was a great trial to those that did stand fast in the faith; nevertheless, they were steadfast and immovable in keeping the commandments of God, and they bore with patience the persecution which was heaped upon them"

Transfers are next week, so I find out if I am staying or going on Tuesday! I love y'all, have a happy week!!

Sister Morrill

A God Wink

Hey y'all! 

I hope my East Coast people are surviving Florence & all of its disturbances. Fortunately the hurricane dodged Beaufort, but what a warm welcome to the hurricane season!

This week was wonderful! Several experiences come to mind as I pondered what I wanted to share with y'all this week. So last week while Sister Stacey & I were planning we were pondering what we could do to gain more trust from the members here. Two days later in church a member was asked to speak on the tender mercies of the Lord. After she began speaking, I noticed she was glorifying specific people around her who have acted as the Lords hands in helping her since moving to Beaufort. I thought her language was beautifully aligned with how Jesus Christ taught everything for the sole purpose of leading others back to heavenly Father. She transitioned to commenting on how even several random texts from individuals have shown just how aware the Lord is of her. She concluded with an example of one text in particular from the Sister Missionaries. Her husband had been away for something with the Marine base & she was home alone with her 2 little boys for a few weeks. She said one night she had heard a noise that frightened her & she crawled into bed & played the general conference talk "Am I A Child Of God?" By Brian K Taylor. One specific sentence stood out to her that brought her the comfort she needed. The very next day, the Sisters (us) had texted her the exact quote from the talk and she felt an even greater confirmation through the Lords tender mercy. I was in awe, through her recognition of us we have gained so much more trust! We have some wonderful members here. :)

On Friday, after traveling to Statesboro the second time, we had a dinner appointment with a member there who I knew from Cochran. She invited us to dinner with 6 of her college friends, on condition that we wouldnt be weird and we could only share a Mormon Message video. Haha! We agreed. Missionaries go often and some of her friends know that we share a little video before we go and it was getting near that time, so one of her friends actually initiated it. Haha well fun fact about me, I know when God is working through me because I completely forget our game plan and run on solely Spirit. We introduced ourselves and explained how we came to serve a mission. Then I pulled out a Book of Mormon and testified that it is the most special book to me because it answers my real life questions. I shared a recent experience with them that helped me. Toward the end I told them we like to pray with people before we leave, but we like to pray for them by name. Haha y'all, I have never been great with names but I have gotten better on my mission. In that moment, I could remember 1 name and that was the Sister who invited us! I looked at my companion & felt so much confidence that God would bless her, so I invited her to offer the prayer. God works through both of us, y'all, she said every single persons name! They were amazed, I was impressed, and I knew that God had blessed her. Sister Stacey is incredibly faithful. 

Someone else we had brunch with said, tender mercies are just a wink from God. I loved that, I imagine heavenly Father winking at everyone who looks up to Him in their time of need & Him saying, "don't worry, I've got ya!". Haha in so many words anyway.

I love y'all! Have a great week!!!

Sister Morrill

Well Seasoned

Hey y'all!

I hope y'all are prepared & safe in case a natural disaster ever comes your way. Always better to be safe than sorry! We evacuated to Statesboro this morning and after Beaufort lifted the evacuation we drove back. 

Anyways, this week we had exchanges! It felt odd to me to lead our area, usually the missionary being trained will lead her second transfer. But that's okay! As always, God knew what he was doing. Earlier that week, I had a dream about a man named Ted. It was so strange haha I woke up around 2 and went back to bed. When I woke up again at 5 I completely forgot his last name, so I grabbed something to write "Ted" on & then went to bed again.

Curious me decided to check our area book for a man named Ted. Sure enough, there was one in there! We planned to see him Wednesday night, so we went to go see him but he was not home. As we walked down the trailer park, I noticed a man outside & all of me felt very awkward so we kept walking. I had this overwhelming feeling that we needed to talk to him, so we turned back & walked over to him. He looked like he was cleaning his car, but when he saw us he stood up and walked over. We asked him if he knew his neighbor Ted & he didnt. So we asked him what his name was & introduced ourselves. When we asked him if he has a belief in God, he told us he has a soft spot for religion. Realizing that was not the word he was looking for, he corrected himself with sour*. Haha, we asked him why & he told us something about the way he grew up. Then he told us he does believe in God though! He has been through the 12 step program 3 times and hopes he doesn't have to go through it again. Woo! Open window for conversation, I asked him what his favorite step was & he said 9! 

Step 9 is to make restitution. He said he loves it because its important to make things right with other people, including ourselves. I loved that because that really is so important. It reminded me of the unique message we share with the world, how God has restored truth through a modern day prophet. He was awesome! We were about to leave when he invited us back! He said if we couldn't find Ted, we could come back & see him. He would even help us find him! People are awesome. We asked if we could follow up with him about the pamphlet and he said absolutely. :)

The next morning Sister Going & I had about 40 minutes before our ride came, so we prayed about where we could go. We felt good about a family down the street. We got in the car & when we got about half way there, a car passing us kind of stopped. I rolled down my window & she asked if we knew where the apartment manager lives. Seriously two days before then, a different man asked us the same thing! When he asked us, we went inside to write down the address but when we came back out he had already left. Funny enough, I had a feeling I should keep the note and it was sitting on our desk. We told her we could give it to her, so she followed us back and when we came back out we found out she actually lives right next to our church building. We invited her to church & she wanted to come! She is looking to move next to us :)

On Friday we followed up with the man by Ted. A woman answered the door, she told us that he had read the pamphlet several times! She came out at that point and shut the door behind her. We talked with her and she really wanted to read the Book of Mormon! We shared our favorite scriptures with her & she invited us back :) she was super sweet!

On a less spiritual note, this week I experienced an "unpickled" pickle. Not entirely sure what you would call it. I left some cucumbers in my water bottle over night & ate one in the morning & I now know what a pickle without salt, vinegar, and whatever else goes in the jar tastes like. It was missing the flavor, but the texture wasn't too bad. 

I wonder if that is what it would feel like when we are ressurected if we haven't kept the promises we make with God in this life?

Not too bad, just completely missing our flavor. #Illpass 

Luke 14:34-35

"Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned?

It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." 

I love y'all! Be safe this week.

Sister Morrill