Can You Hear It?

Hey y'all

I hope y'all had a lovely week! Hopefully this year the Leprachaun left you something nice or decided to clean up your entire home. After all, we can all change through the Atonement of Jesus Christ ;)

On Saturday, we had plans to go to Hawkinsville. We planned on dedicating 2 hours to the Lord in one spot, but on our drive there we realized we were driving without a specific destination in mind. We were listening to a missionary rap song a past missionary wrote (it is awesome) and sort of expected inspiration to just come to us. I realized I couldn't hear the still small voice over our music and we had not yet asked God where He wanted us to be. So I pulled over and turned off the music and we prayed. Something so simple it's incredible we even forgot. We continued to drive until we felt good about a place to pull over. We decided on a little dirt road off to the side. As we walked up to the little trailer, a woman came out. She knew exactly who we were. She told us the Elders had just came yesterday! She actually has been to our church before and knows 2 of the members.

We drove home after that and dedicated the two hours to a nearby neighborhood. We met some people on the way and shared the message of the Restoration and it just never fails to amaze me to see the light that shines from people when they recognize truth. I love It! But anyway, when we got to the first house in the neighborhood a girl answered, she was babysitting. She had just moved from a town over yonder 2 days prior and her sister asked her if she would watch the children in her place. She had never met the family before then, but God always puts us where we need to be with who we need to see when we seek Him first. She also used to have an LDS roommate, who shared a little bit with her. 

We ran into several people this week who told us the Elders came by the day before haha, I love the see the way the spirit works through unity. It feels good to be in tune with the Holy Ghost!

I thought about the Holy Ghost a lot during church this week, I decided a small sacrifice I can give to be more spiritually sound is music. We are limited to what we are asked to listen to, but we have the privledge to choose for ourselves. Sometimes it's not just the lyrics we listen to, but the tempo and beat can also disrupt our spiritual sensitivity. 

Galatians 5
"22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another."

I love all y'all beautiful imperfect children of our loving heavenly Father. Have a blessed week :)

Sister Morrill 

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Here are some pictures, sorry I neglected y'all last week. The picture of a dog is from Saturday, it followed us around all day long. We called him "dirty marshmallow". 

Miracles of Training

Hey y'all!

This week was wonderful & full of miracles! Sister Smith is so awesome & dedicated to hard work. I'm so grateful for the fire she has brought into the mission and entrusted to train her. 

Our goal last week was for her to invite someone to be baptized. We has 3 set appointments with some awesome children of God. Unfortunately, 2 of them fell through and we had about 15 minutes before we needed to be at our next appointment. We decided to try several houses beforehand. The first house we knocked had a small dog out front with the teeth & attitude of a lion. Oh my heck, the owner even came outside and apologized but told us she just put him out to do laundry and then she headed back in. As we were walking back, we both felt really good about the house across the street. There was a tall man standing on his driveway, as we walked up we realized he was talking to someome on his phone. We waved and embraced the awkward moments before he hung up. We introduced ourselves and began talking about the importance of our message and how it can help us improve the quality of our lives. He said "I'm listening", haha!  We began to share the Restoration and he listened so intently. We shared Joseph Smith's first vision with him and he said "I know that is true!" We invited him to read and pray about the pamphlet we left with him and he committed himself to read it, he was so awesome. We were able to deliver a Book of Mormon to him two days after as well! 

So on Saturday, Sister Smith still had not had the opportunity to invite someone to baptism, so after a day of knocking I asked her if she will enter a covenant with God and invite the next woman we met to be baptized. She said she would! So we were walking back to the car to go visit someone. On the way over we had passed a large group of people sitting on their lawn, but continued to drive. The woman we came to see was not home so we walked over to the yard full of people. The Lord is so aware of us. I recognized one of them because we had previously taught her. The woman we were looking for was actually inside of their home, but avoiding us. Sister Smith wanted to share a message with the group, I was so moved by her dedication and desire so I pulled up two chairs and Sister Smith began to share the Book of Mormon. One of the women asked a few questions, and told us she used to meet with missionaries in Atlanta! They lost contact and she has not seen them in her neighborhood since. We got her contact information and sent it to the missionaries who are currently serving where she lives. As we finished, Sister Smith invited her to baptized as she came to know for herself the Book of Mormon is true!!! She said yes! Little tender mercies :)

On Sunday, we went out after church. Our plans for the day fell through, so we prayed for direction as to where God wanted us to spend our evening and we were led to an apartment complex. The first door we knocked on was a little woman who invited us in right away because it was raining. We talked to her about the importance of our message and she asked us to share it with her. So we sat down, prayed, and taught the message of the Restoration and shared the first vision with her as well! It was so amazing, we asked her to pray about the message we shared and to ask God if Joseph Smith was a prophet so that she may know for herself. Seriously as soon as we invited her she closed her eyes and began to pray! Her Faith is inspiring, she joined her husband's church about a year ago but wants to better understand the Bible when she reads. 

We have been focusing on the importance of specific prayers, as a district (us and the surrounding 3 sets of missionaries) in just one week we have 6 people on date! Y'all specific prayers get specific answers! I promise you that. The Lord loves to hear from us. Take the time to talk to Him, and you may be surprised what He has to say to you. 

Jacob 7

"22 Now, this thing was pleasing unto me, Jacob, for I had requested it of my Father who was in heaven; for he had heard my cry and answered my prayer.

23 And it came to pass that peace and the love of God was restored again among the people; and they searched the scriptures, and hearkened no more to the words of this wicked man"

I love y'all so much! Have a blessed week :)

Sister Morrill

9 months out and PREGNANT!

Hey y'all!

Transfers were this morning and I am now serving with Sister Smith! She was born in Florida, raised in Virginia, and spent the last three years in Colorado. How cool is that? She grew up in the Chesapeake area. She just came out and she has a beautiful desire to work which just makes my heart smile so big. The Lords work is so important y'all!

This week has been awesome! On Saturday, a sister the Elders are teaching was baptized! She is so amazing, she read the Book of Mormon in three days and is in the midst of finishing the Doctrine and Covenants! She is so smart. On Sunday, both she and our recent convert received the gift of the Holy Ghost! My heart was full, and on top of that it was fast and testimony meeting. Later that day we headed to the mission home where we dropped Sister Felt off to return to Idaho and I stayed with Sister Christensen and Sister Clark in Macon. I love to learn from other missionaries, so I was grateful for the time we had to work together. 

On Monday we went out and most of our plans fell through. We were walking back from an appointment when we saw a girl out by her car. She was listening to some music and had a cool shirt on. We went over to meet her and she asked us what we do. We began to talk about faith in Jesus Christ and she mentioned she wants to learn more. Her mom came to the door while we were talking and walked over to get into her car, we asked her if she would be interesting in learning more about our message as well and her whole demeanor changed. She opened up to us and told us she had been struggling and looking for a church to join. It was her moms birthday and she had recently passed. She wanted to increase her faith, but she was headed out to an interview for a job she had applied to. So we scheduled an appointment with her and prayed before we left. Prayer makes all the difference, as well as acknowledging everyone who is present.

Speaking of which, the office sisters asked us to visit a less active member for them. Their schedules conflicted with each other, because she works and the sisters can only proselyte for an hour. Anyways, we were more than happy to go visit her. We went to see her and caught her at the perfect time!  She had just pulled up with her boyfriend, who was on his lunch break. We went inside and read the Book of Mormon together! At first he was sitting in the kitchen, so before we began we invited him to join us. He pretended to speak Spanish (ha ha), but he ended up coming in and was happy to read with us. We all took turn reading a passage in 3 Nephi 18 and talked about the importance of the Sacrament. We invited her to come to church, and she said she knew she should and she wanted to. Then she invited her boyfriend to do it with her! They are very busy on Sundays, but little sacrifices for our Lord bring great blessings.

I am excited to be staying here in Cochran, I love our little Zion :) I am looking forward to the miracles and blessings that await. 

Always remember to look outward and pray. Sometimes the greatest blessings we receive come from serving those around us. He loves y'all and so do I!

Sister Morrill

Moroni 7:45

And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and enviethnot, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 

Just A Closer Walk With Thee

Hey y'all! 

This week was awesome! On Thursday we went out with the Bishop and his wife to visit a family! They made contact with the Bishop because he went over to install a refrigerator haha. Anyways, they are an awesome family! They attend a Pentecostal church and have 4 boys. When we went over there the boys were listening to "Adventures and Odyssey". I have never heard of it, but apparently its really good. When we went over there and their church had given them guitars for Christmas, so one of them brought theirs out and let sister Felt play and it was so awesome. She played and sang "Sunshine In My Soul". It really brought the Spirit and I am just so grateful for those who use and share the gifts and talents Heavenly Father has blessed y'all with. We all have something special to contribute to the world! I left her oldest with a picture of Christ with our phone number and she texted us saying we have such "friendly living spirits". My whole heart was full, she was just wonderful and their home felt so pure. They live on the outskirts of our area, but are moving and the Bishop is working on getting them a home here! We are praying that everything works out and that we might be able to teach them if it does. 

On Saturday the mother and the daughter that we tracted into last week were able to come to our church on Saturday! We had a pot luck and then a dessert auction. She went in half with the Bishops wife for an art piece of a horse haha. It was pretty cool, she really enjoyed the fellowship and was happy to see so many kind, warm, loving people.

The members in our ward here really are so awesome. They take care of their community and seriously have such a wonderful reputation here. We are grateful for their love for God and people, it makes it easy to talk to everyone because people know who we are and respect our willingness to serve. 

This week our investigator was baptized! She is 10 and so intelligent. She lives with her grandma and brother, and her grandma is so helpful and we are just so grateful for her testimony. Her mom and step dad came to her baptism and said that they would be coming to church this weekend to see her be confirmed. Her mom is less active and her step dad is not a member, but they were also very supportive and happy to see her make the decision to be baptized. 

On a side note, today someone from our ward took us to lunch because this is Sister Felts last week, and one of the women saw me when she got out of the car and said, "There is my strange combination of a women and a little girl" and then she grabbed my chin and ah ahahah. So there's that!

Here is my quote for the week, we are made to do hard things y'all. I say it all the time, but only because it is true and a reminder never hurt nobody!

"When you think you've reached the end of your rope, tie a not and hang on"

I love y'all, I hope y'all have a blessed week.

Love,

Half woman-half child

Patience Is Key To Finding Peace

Hey y'all!

I hope your week was full of love, roses, chocolate, and Christ!

This week was great. On Wednesday, we went tracting and found a mother and daughter who moved to Cochran from South Carolina last August. They have been through a lot and moved here on a whim, but they believe God has led them here and led us to them! They have been through a lot and are so grateful for everything they have. They are awesome! She invited us right in when we first met them, so we taught them about prophets and the priesthood. We went back on Monday and shared the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. She really appreciated our honesty and patience with them, she felt forced to go to church growing up and wants more for her daughter. She was raised in the Pentecostal church, but has studied many different religions. They are excited to learn more about the LDS church! I love them!

We had exchanges this week and I went to Macon with Sister Boyer! Our exchange began with an elderly man calling us over and proceeded to ask us if we were looking to give him some love.. so I told him we are always seeking to share the love of Christ. There is far too much to go around for us to keep it to ourselves! After several minutes he drove off haha there is something interesting in every day! All of our plans fell through for the day, but God is in charge and His plan is not typically what we have in mind. It was an awesome exchange though, I am really grateful for Sister Boyer because she is a wonderful missionary. She goes home in about two weeks but is still working hard and a great example to me.

I am studying about "long suffering" right now, and I have been learning a lot about patience. I think long suffering is important because nothing lasting comes quickly. I have been trying to understand how to find peace in stressful situations. A scripture I came across during my studies helped me a lot, I love it because it helps me put into perspective God's plan for us. 

Hebrews 12:1

"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,"

I'm grateful for our Savior because I know that He blesses us as we seek to understand and follow Him. 

I love y'all! Have a blessed week!

Sister Morrill

God Is Love

Hey y'all,

Happy Valentines Day! I hope y'all treat someone special tomorrow (and always)!

We had an interesting week, we were able to have dinner and a lesson with two people. We taught a Spanish speaking man (he is awesome) in a members home after dinner on Saturday.  He has been reading the Book of Mormon for a while and has a beautiful testimony of Jesus Christ. We taught him and the family the gospel of Jesus Christ and it was so fun. We constructed a 3 layer cake, each layer represented another step. The candles on top represented the Gift of the Holy Ghost "by fire" and then we had a plate with a slice for "enjoy (endure) to the end". He was able to better understand the concept of the Holy Ghost and repentance. He loves Enos because it captures repentance so well, but I love that he mentioned that chapter because we had left that with him several weeks ago and it stuck with him. We are grateful for our Spanish speaking member and her willingness to translate for us. She is awesome, but we were able to exercise our Espanol and he said he was impressed haha! Muy bien! 

We invited a different man who had been taught in the past by other missionaries to dinner at another members home. We had seen him a few weeks ago and left him with the Book of Mormon and several passages to read. He texted us and said he had been reading and found an interesting truth he felt like God had presented him. So on Sunday we all ate together and then went into the living room to learn about the Restoration. It was a very good learning experience for me. The family we were with is so faithful and intelligent. The man questioned more than he was willing to listen, but the father bore sincere testimony and told him the only way to know whether or not Joseph Smith was a prophet of God is to read the Book of Mormon and pray to ask God. If the Book of Mormon is true, then Joseph Smith was a prophet. He was very straight forward and the man accepted our invitation to read the account of Jesus Christ when he visited the people in the Americas. He told us he only reads out of the four gospels in the Bible, so that is the "meat and potatoes" in the Book of Mormon. 

I know the gospel truly does bless families. I am grateful for the wonderful spirit it can bring into a home and I am grateful for those who are faithful and obedient in following God to have it present. I love the Spirit because I feel peace no matter where I am when it is with me :)

One of the many perfect characteristics of Christ is long-suffering. We live in an instant world, but all great things take time to develop. I don't know why things happen, but I do know that we are each accountable for the way we respond to situations. Patience in all things is the easiest way to endure, but the most challenging. I know that God doesn't give any of His children any trial we can't overcome. He loves us so much!

I love y'all so much too, have a wonderful Valentines Day! Help someone feel love :)

Sister Morrill

D&C 112:11

I know thy heart, and have heard thy prayers concerning thy brethren. Be not partial towards them in love above many others, but let thy love be for them as for thyself; and let thy love abound unto all men, and unto all who love my name. 

Faith, Our Individual Journey

Howdy hey!

I hope y'all enjoyed the weekend! Someone told us its "Sister Super Bowl Sunday", but hey we live in a world where we can make up our own holidays and choose whether or not we want to participate! However God's work doesn't stop, even for football.

This week we had our Zone Conference on Tuesday in Macon and we had the privilege to hear from Elder Claudio Costa on Saturday! Elder Costa is a convert of 41 years and his conversion story seriously inspired me. He didn't want missionaries to teach him, but after he overheard Sister teaching someone else in his home he went in his room and took the challenge they had left with the person they had taught. He told us after reading, pondering, and praying about each individual paragraph in the Joseph Smith history that he knew without a shadow of a doubt that he was a prophet called of God. If I remember correctly he said it took him 14 hours. He went on to talk about how grateful he was for the gospel and how blessed he felt. He still faces challenges, as we all do, but in those 41 years there has not been a single day where he did not feel happy. He knows God's plan for us :) 

This week most of our appointments fell through and one of the people we were teaching moved to Atlanta with her mom. But hey, can't have a rainbow without a little rain! This weekend we were able to fast with a woman for a Sunday she can have off of work, so she can be baptized and confirmed. We taught the girl who's on date for the 18th about the importance of daily repentance and used a tool that one of the senior couples shared during Zone Conference this week.

1. Hope

2. Remember 

3. Act

Faith is belief put into action! Faith without works is dead, even Satan believed in Heavenly Father (actually he had a sure and perfect knowledge of him), but Jesus Christ was willing to act on His faith and I know I have been blessed because of Him. We can hope for a better tomorrow, because we remember yesterday, and through Christ we can find the strength to overcome all things!

At the end of our Zone Conference, Elder Costa emphasized the importance of a spiritual lesson rather than a social lesson. I really loved that because we are here to build the Kingdom of God, rather than to preach what is comfortable. The Gospel of Jesus Christ afflicts the comfortable, and comforts the afflicted! I absolutely love it from either end, because this life is all about progression. 

I really appreciate all the support I receive from y'all, I feel so lucky to have such wonderful friends and family! Y'all are a blessing to me and I love ya! Have a blessed week,

Sister Morrill

Alma 5

"15 Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you? Do you look forward with an eye of faith, and view this mortal body raised in immortality, and this corruption raised in incorruption, to stand before God to be judged according to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body?

16 I say unto you, can you imagine to yourselves that ye hear the voice of the Lord, saying unto you, in that day: Come unto me ye blessed, for behold, your works have been the works of righteousness upon the face of the earth?"

He Lives!

Hey y'all!

I hope your week was peachy!

This week was interesting, as they all are. Sister Felt and I went tracting and we came across this man who came outside and shared his story with us. He was so curious about how we knew about God's plan for us. He asked us where the information we shared was in the Bible, so we shared a scripture and then his wife came home. They invited us in and placed one chair in front of their couch and asked me to sit down. We began to share our message with them and they were listening pretty intently. They would ask where in the Bible it said that, so we directed them and then we would move on to the next point. After we finished they began to share with us things that they have read about our religion, and we just boar testimony of Jesus Christ. I am not entirely sure what their intentions were when they invited us in, but they were very kind. We prayed and then stood up to leave, as we were walking out Sister Felt commented on their piano. The wife asked her if she cared to play a song. She looked at me like she was unsure, but I wasn't! Sister Felt plays the piano beautifully and literally has the voice of an angel. She sat down and contemplated which song she would do. She decided and began to sing and play, "I know that my Redeemer Lives". The entire atmosphere shifted and the wife moved to the side of the piano to watch. We all had tears in our eyes, I just felt so much peace and joy. They asked us to come back and see them and she invited Sister Felt to her piano whenever she wanted. Haha it was pretty cool, we brought them a dessert someone gave us the following day. 

On Saturday, we invited a woman who has known missionaries for about 10 years now to come to church. Sister Felt was playing the piano for someone and we wanted her to come hear her play! She was more than glad to come, but called us the morning of and said she couldn't make it. She had been up all night with her husband and was feeling very tired. She sounded sad, so after church we went to visit her. She let us in, so we went into the living room with her husband and his friend. When we sat down, his friend began to ask us a lot of questions. Mostly about food storage and families, but then he asked us how we know when God answers our prayers. He decided we are in tune, and then things began to escalate towards politics and guns. Religion and politics are like oil and water, so I just asked if I could share with them what we learned in church before we left. The room went silent, so I read Alma 41:10 and talked about agency. Her husband is Hebrew and disagrees with a lot of our beliefs, so he began to say it was wrong. I was able to share my testimony and I am so grateful for the Spirit because I could see that he recognized truth. His wife began to share that she was grateful I read out of the Book of Mormon. She said she learns very slowly and wants to understand, but we were only the third set of missionaries to read out of the Book of Mormon to her. She wrote down the scripture and we invited her to read the chapter after we left. She said she would! Then we asked her to join us later that night at the elderly home to sing with the residents. She was so excited. She is so awesome, she has been hurt by so many churches she basically just withdrew from attending churches. When she wants to speak with God, she mows her grass and talks to him. She said the only church she has ever been to that has made her feel good is the Mormon church, but she thinks shes been burnt too many times. She really is so giving and kind, she is always doing something for someone! 

I really didn't love going to the Elderly homes before I came out on my mission. They just kind of scared me, but now I cant even remember why. The Spirit is so strong and they are all just so cute and excited to sing about Jesus. Haha I just love singing with them so much! Sister Felt plays the piano and another member of our ward plays the violin. Its a good ol' time.

One thing is certain, we will be held accountable for our own choices and how we treat those around us. Sometimes its difficult, but I imagine it wasn't too easy for heavenly Father to sacrifice His only begotten Son.  

Mark 12

30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

33 And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.

We can do hard things y'all! Lean on the Lord, He will never lead us astray! I love y'all so much! Sister Morrill