The end of August

August 30, 2016

Ok, We are over the hump for the MTC. Which is super exciting because now I am really getting pumped for the field. A couple of weeks ago I thought I would never leave this place and that I would be stuck here, but now I am sad because I am realizing that my time here is quickly coming to a close and that means I will have to say goodbye to my district shortly which is sad because I love these guys. They are all just super good guys with strong testimonies and a strong desire to do the work.

This week not much has happened since last week, every day is more or less the same just a ton of study of the language, how to teach, what to teach, and actual "real" teaching. But our teacher let me and my companion watch the other Elders in our district's lessons, which was pretty cool and hilarious. Some of them are so awkward, but I sure I am too. Some are super serious, like me, and others are the absolute opposite. Trying to find a balance is key I have realized, and that is something I for sure need to develop. But obviously the most important component of any lesson is the Spirit and all of the guys in my district can for sure bring that, despite at times our lacking in Spanish abilities, however my Spanish is growing in leaps and bounds they asked me to tutor some of the Hermanas in the other districts.

We had some guy, can't remember his name, but he is like one of the main authors of Preach my Gospel, so he is kind of a big deal, but he came and gave our devotional and it was super cool! He gave a super well prepared interactive talk. He is super crazy smart. He talked about focusing on our purpose: "Invitar a las personas a venir a Cristo y ayundarlas a que reciban el evangelio resturado mediante la fe en JesuCristo y su expiacion el arripentimiento, bautismo, la recepicion del don del Espiritu Santo y el preservarar hasta el fin" He taught that the best missionaries become obsessed with their investigators and keep their purpose in their heart and put it into practice. It was pretty powerful, pretty much what I felt was an overwhelming desire and love to be in Nicaragua and teaching and seeing real people. I am super jacked. We were looking at the stats of the church In Nicaragua and it was super cool because in the past five years alone church membership has more than doubled which is super exciting to me!

The lessons are getting easier to teach every time we do them, however I have realized I get super bad tunnel vision in lessons so I need to slow down and listen to the spirit a little better.  I am pumped to be out there though. Evidently in The North East part of Nicaragua there is a group of people that speak an ancient language called meszquito (spelling is off but it sounds like mosquito a little bit) anyway I really bad want to learn that language because who knows? maybe it is what the Lamanites spake? Either way it would be cool to be like on in 2000 people to speak an ancient language!

I have been reading first Nephi a bit too, one of my favorites, first and second Nephi I have been trying to help my companion pick through the Isaiah chapters for his first time. Kinda hard to teach and do, but I have always enjoyed it and found great knowledge in it. He is a good guy, him and I get along real well. Really all of my district is solid all of them are studs and feel more and more like family to me, we all get along super well. Last night one of them, Elder Nelson, who I absolutely love, was really sick and tired all day so we made him go to bed at around six. He did and he woke up when we got back from study around 9:30 and he singled me out and asked that I give him a blessing. I said I would be happy to and did it, it was my first one and I was kinda nervous but it felt right and I said what I felt directed to say and today he is said he was feeling a 110% so I was happy that it helped him. Elder Nelson is going to the Managua North Mission with me. So I am sure that him and I will be seeing each other in the field.

I am super pumped to be in the field the only part that kinda sucks is that most of the guys in my district are heading to Argentina and I won't see them for a while but I am confident that we will see each other after the mission since most of us are planning on attending BYU.

Other than that I am doing good, leaving here will be bitter sweet, but that's okay!

Love Elder Logan Morrison (its funny listening to native speakers pronounce my last name they always roll the rr's and emphasize the i)

Week 3 Half way done at the MTC

August 23, 2016

My district is tight we get along well and we also hang with the two neighboring districts in our zone a lot. All of them for the most part are solid guys.

This week has been pretty fun. Tuesday night the general young women's president Sister Oscarson came and talked to us for the devotional, it was really good. It's funny listening to the difference between the sisters and the elders. Sisters have the upper hand for sure. They have a deeper love for the people than the elders can ever have. I think they just use us for the priesthood. Kidding of course everyone is needed and all have their strengths and weakness. I have been blessed with an awesome district, where what I lack in, for example, that is the ability to unwind myself and joke around, they can do so just enough to keep me from going insane.

Elder Richey is a tall blond kid from California, he is easily one of the funniest humans I have ever met. He has said some things that I have been laughing so hard I am crying my eyes out. Elder Nelson is a goofy guy, his voice cracks every other word even if he is almost twenty. He is very intellectual in many regards but lacks some social skills, which I love because half the stuff that comes out of his mouth is so honest and yet so awkward .For example he  was teaching a lesson, and he asked the investigator "Do you think you can do more than Jesus?" It killed me. And when we sing in class he is the only one that sings the lower part, so when the words like seperate he can be heard by himself and he is an awful singer! Alot like me! But I love it because it cracks me up every time. He is my favorite, he too is going to Nicaragua North with me, I pray we can be companions in the field it would make my life complete. Really I wish all the guys in my district could be my companion but most of them are going to Argentina. Seems like everyone and their mom is going to Argentina.

This last sunday for the devo. the Nashville Tribute band came and it was super cool, you could really feel the Spirit strongly as you listened to their music. Music though not something I have been blessed with a single ounce of ability in is super cool, some of the strongest times I have felt the spirit in my life was because of music. Like when we sang The Spirit of God in the Kirkland Temple or Come Come ye Saints along the shores of the Mississippi just outside of Nauvoo. Or in the MTC singing Called to Serve with almost 3000 other missionaries, or If You Could Hie To Kolob, yeah its pretty powerful. Or listen to Taylor Swift at any point in time, yeah that's amazing. I'm missing listening to my music back home, that and netflix, and elk hunting season. But it's fine, I have adjusted quicker and easier than I thought I would have, not that I don't wish from time to time to binge watch Parks and Rec, but I am fine. 

Elder Richey gets like a package a day from his family I swear, but one day they sent him nerf guns. So a lot of 18 year olds are turning into 10 year olds again and they have been running around and shooting each other at night. It's hilarious.

I hope everyone is doing great, I certainly am! 

Love, Elder Logan Morrison

Week 2

August 16, 2016

So week 2 has been great!

Remember how I said I was eating like crap just because I could? I learned a valuable lesson. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. After about three days I was taking a shower and I looked in the mirror and I almost screamed out loud. So now I am not eating any ice cream or any deserts I have completely cut out all soda and juice, I limit myself to one glass of chocolate milk a day. And I work out twice a day. Once during the appointed exercise time and again when we have personal time at night. I WILL NOT BE FLABBY. Luckily they have Watermelon strawberries and pineapple to eat every meal so I chow down on that. My stomach is now happy with me again.

Most days during open exercise time we go to the gym and play volleyball, and it is so much fun. Most of the time it is low key because most aren't that great at it. But every once in awhile there are some actually really good Elders and Sisters that play. I felt bad though because the other day I was frustrated until I finally got dished a good set and then I absolutely destroyed the ball, straight into some poor kid's chest! It flew off his chest and over the net and landed in on our court. It was hilarious but I felt kinda bad. Two days before that one of the guys in our branch and I were playing long toss with a baseball that we smuggled in and we were chastised for it. But the damage was done we already had got in a good long toss session in.

We have gotten to go to the temple twice now, once a week on P-day. I love the temple it is so peaceful inside. Although personally the Portland Temple is in my opinion way more gorgeous, and way bigger. However the I love the view of the mountains behind the temple here in Provo. 

The days here consist of in excess of 12 solid hours of class room time where we study, read, speak, and write in Spanish. Our investigator from the first week turned into our teacher this week. So now we have two teachers. Most days start with an hour of exercise, followed by an hour and a half of breakfast and getting ready for the day, then class for four hours, then lunch for forty minutes, then another near four hours of class, then forty-five minutes of dinner then class til nine thirty then personal time to go to bed. Toss in a lesson or two to an investigator and an hour of service one day a week and that's about it. Everyday two of those class periods are filled with a teacher, and the other is personal and companion study. Except for Sunday, where we have Sunday school, sacrament, a devotional, and then a "film." Last Sunday we went to Ephraim's rescue and there is a scene where this dude kisses a girl, two thousand missionaries started cheering, they are deprived!! This week we watched a talk by Elder Bednar title "Character of Christ" it is only available to missionaries, which is a huge bummer because it was life altering! It is so good, we are going to watch it again this Sunday, they give you like four options each week to go watch I may try to watch that every week.  

At the MTC they give us practice fake investigators. We started teaching 2 new "investigators" this week. The first one is Jose, he is from Guatemala and in our first lesson I was feeling it. It is super cool to feel how the spirit works and its power when you testify. My companion and I were pouring our hearts out and all of us could feel the spirit so strong that all of us were only slightly crying. However the other one is actually our normal teach Hermano Hicks. In class Hermano Hicks is amazing he is super cool! He is very powerful and has a true love for missionary work he is also huge, I found him on the BYU roster online he plays line. The new teacher and old investigator is Hermana Southard, and she is just as strong only she is about five feet tall! Although the other day Elder Nelson called her Hermana Hicks, I had to leave the room I was laughing so hard. It killed me! She turned bright red. It was during a prayer and after the prayer I exploded in laughter with two other of the Elders that picked up on it. 

The Elders in my district are awesome we have grown super close, we also hang out a ton with the district next to us. It's nice to be able to mess around and unwind with them because it feels like prison in here sometimes. If it weren't for the spirit and the fact that we are employed in the Lord's work and the fact that I get to read at least an hour everyday from the Book of Mormon I would have run away. 

Last Tuesday after I emailed I went to a devotional talk given by Elder Andersen, an apostle. So needless to say that was powerful! He had a simple and wonderful message. "Missionary Work is not complicated, but it's also not easy" It was super super cool to listen to him! All the devotionals have been pretty much legit, this one was especially so.

Elder Logan Morrison

First Week

August 9, 2016

Ok, honestly don't worry about me. I literally have never been happier, I absolutely love the MTC. It took all I had not to start bawling like a baby when they put my name tag on realizing this was happening and seeing "Elder Morrison La Iglesia de JESUCRISTO de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias" was super awesome. I know this is where I am supposed to be.

We sleep in a tiny room with 6 of the 8 elders in my district, and I love all of them, we have gotten super close to the other district that is next to us too, they entered the same day as us. We have been able to have fun and bond but still keep the Spirit with us. So that is super cool. Although I have heard one thing, how to tell if an Elder is from Utah. They all talk the same, it's funny, they all start sentences with like a "Bro, so check this right?'' I don't mind though, most of the guys I have grown close to are from Utah, they are all real good guys and I love them all. That might be the one thing I have learned, is how love and accept people. And it is a lot better, it brings a happier and better Spirit that is way more positive.

We have taught three lessons to a fake investigator and my Spanish is better than I thought not good enough obviously but the gift of tongues is a legit thing and I have already noticed a difference I have been getting better at trying to let the Spirit guide the lesson, it can be hard because I am stubborn and have it in my mind that I know what is best to say, but obviously I don't. Our main class teach is Bro Hicks, and he is super chill and teaches with a true love for the Lord and this work. I love the Spirit here. We have like four hours everyday for personal and companion study, I now read 95% of the time in Spanish with pretty decent comprehension. The Book of Mormon is so powerful I love it. Seriously, I get to read the Book of Mormon for hours EVERY DAY. It truly has a power and truthfulness no other Book has. 

Our P-day is Tuesday. Since there are almost 3000 missionaries they have to rotate the days. 

My companion is Elder Williams, he is a genius, and we get along super well. He's a real cool Elder. All of the Elders in my district are awesome. and they all genuinely want to be here and serve. 

The food is fine til' it hits your intestine, then it feels like a brick going through. I literally eat ice cream with every meal, and chocolate milk and Watermelon and Strawberries and cereal, why? Because I Can! They even brought Chik Fil A for dinner the other night, we are truly blessed.

I was having a difficult time the other day, because I was so bored and tired of sitting. And I knew my attitude wasn't right so I prayed for a little help, and literally I don't know how, but I felt like a jolt of energy and all the sudden I was able to share a couple of scriptures and stuff like that during the lesson and that was a super cool experience. I haven't had any second thoughts since then.

Love you All, Elder Morrison