Viva Las Vegas

Changes came and went, and I am in Matagalpa, I just have another new companion, my boy Elder Melenciano done left me. He returned to the blessed land of Ocotal, and I received today Elder Smith, who is from Las Vegas. He was in Zona Leon when I was there, he is a really cool guy that has a genuine love for the people and is really outgoing!

As for the last week with Elder Melenciano, we put in work and got a lot done, still didn't have the quantity of fruits we would have liked, but we did have the quality of fruits nevertheless. We had a cool lesson with a man who has been through quite the ringer in his life. A month and a half ago I baptized his daughter, and his wife we reactivated. He fell a couple of weeks ago and broke his arm, so we came and gave him a blessing. We were inspired to bless him with health, and that he will be in a position spiritually to receive the gospel. After that he started feeling better, and even more miraculously his heart has been softening and he has been progressing very well (he is not a member... yet). The following day after the blessing we had a very powerful lesson where we literally told him to REPENT.

Two days later we pass by and he is dressed and ready for church at 6:30 in the morning. We will keep on working and striving with him and I know that he will get baptized soon. I learned something from him, very simple but powerful. I learned that living and loving the gospel make us happy. He is a very hardened and crusty man, hardness and crustiness no doubt caused by his difficult life that he has lead. He was very opposed to us and the church, but thanks to the Spirit that softened his heart he is accepting the gospel in his life and coming to church. And in church I saw him do something I had never seen him do before, he smiled.

Not only a little bit but a lot. It was really fulfilling to see him smile from ear to ear, as he listened to the hymns, listened to the gospel doctrine class and priesthood class. He was happy, the joy of the gospel is so stinking real in its effect and blessings in the lives of those who live it! It is awesome!!

I seriously am loving the mission right now, I don´t know why or how I have been blessed so immensely to have been born into this wonderful gospel, where families are together forever, and they are happy to be together! And being a missionary has seriously been the best experience of my life! I am so pumped to work my tail off these last couple of months on the mission! I want to make the most out of it!  I love you all so much, I hope you have just the best week, all of you!

Love Elder Morrison

Welcome President Nelson

Well this was quite the week if I do say so myself. We found over 40 new investigators, we worked like horses, but we had nothing to show for it Sunday. For the first time in months on Sunday I came up empty handed! Such a frustrating feeling, to have set a high goal that you know you can reach and then fall short. 

Not to say that setting goals are pointless, in fact I am grateful that I fell short, REALLY short, because it meant that I am capable of more, the goal I set to bring 15 investigators to church was never achieved, but in striving to accomplish it I was able to find and teach many new people about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and repentance. And that is a far more noble accomplishment than almost any other in this world! 

And I know that it will all get better soon, next week I will work smarter and more effectively in order to have better results, that is life! And I love it! 

We had a very different experience this week. We have been teaching a family and two of the sons were ready and pumped to get baptized, so we went to the father to get his permission, he consented but... he asked that we wait, so that he could get baptized with his wife and sons! I was really surprised when he said it because he had never shown any desire to get dunked, but now he does. We have helped him quit drinking he has been sober 2 weeks now, but now we got to work some magic,  because he smokes. BUT HE CAN DO IT!! I know he can and I hope he knows that. So we got a family of 5 getting ready for next month! It is gonna be quite the fight to get them dunked there is no doubt about that, but they are willing and really motivated to get it done. It is a family of seven, with 5 kids, so they have a special place in my heart, I kinda like families of 7;)

A lot of prayer fast and powerful lessons ahead to get them dunked,  but it can be done!

Love you all so much

Love,

Elder Morrison

6 MONTHS TO SEXY

Yeah tomorrow hits and I am home in six months, yikes! I seriously can´t begin to explain how intensely bittersweet that is to me! The mission keeps getting BETTER every day, every experience just seems sweeter and more real, back in Nam´when I was beginning it seemed like I was in a dream when crazy strange or insanely awesome things happened! Now it seems so real and I love it. 

I don´t like to bash on other churches, but one church, The Jehovah´s Witness, believe that we live in hell here on earth due to the transgression of Adam. That is so sad to me, I absolutely love my existence on earth! Yes it is not all easy, it is a grind, but contrast that belief to the message found in the Book of Mormon "Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have JOY." (2 Nephi 2:25) Just reading that I feel hope, true hope that I CAN BE HAPPY. The mission has been no less of the best, I have been tried, big time, and it has really been so difficult, but I realized this week that I smile a lot more, just walking down the street I smile! When I teach I smile, I love teaching, I get so wrapped up into the lessons I have with people. I feel genuine joy when I have a killer lesson. When the investigator literally says "Wow I needed to hear that, thank you so much!" 

This week we taught a family and when we taught them that families can be together forever the wife's jaw dropped and she teared up and her husband, who is a hardened man, cracked into the biggest smile! 

Or to a youth this week, we taught from Ezekiel 33:14-16   14 Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right; 15 If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die. 16 None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him: he hath done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live.  

The hope and the joy that ALL of our sins can become as though we had never committed them, is a reason for joy. And such forgiveness is only possible through my Master, Jesus Christ, and His all powerful Atonement. Our Joy is through Him. That young lady was impacted and happy to know she had hope to be better and have a future! and she has a baptismal date for February 3rd!

Love you all Love Elder Morrison

We Love President Monson

I am sure many of you heard that the beloved prophet of the world, Thomas S. Monson, passed away. Such a wonderful example of what a man should be! He will be missed, but it as always will be alright, God's work is one eternal round, it won't stop or slow down, it just keeps on plugging along! My vueltita here in Nicaragua is about to enter into the 4th Quarter, holy junk!

This Sunday before church we were able to baptize Marvin, he is a super cool guy, his family are recent converts and are super cool! They are working hard to get to the temple ASAP. Marvin changed the most out of almost any convert of the Lord I have taught on the mission. I was speaking briefly with the missionary that baptized his family and he was shocked when I told him we were gonna dunk Marvin! Truthfully, it was not the missionaries that caused the change of heart, the two most powerful people in a young man's life caused the change in him, his Father in heaven, and his mother on earth!

I love my mother so much just so you all know!

It was super cool to be a a part of his conversion, we fought (worked) and prayed and fasted a lot with him, spending many hours throwing la casaka trying to help him. And it paid off! He is a converted man to the Lord Jesus Christ with a firm testimony of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ in this dispensation!

We live in such a cool time in history! We have the Bible  in hundreds of languages, the Book of Mormon in over 120, over 150 holy temples through out the world, thousands of missionaries which are representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ preaching repentance to this earth, and the majority are young adults 18-24 years old!! And I AM ONE OF THOSE MISSIONARIES, I love it so much, we are so blessed to be living in this time! Not to mention a college football playoff!

Such a wonderful time we live in!!

Love you all Love Elder Morrison

Call me cashew cuz I look like a peanut

Well this week was a good time, we were able to find  a lot of really cool people in our area and bring a handful of them to church which was awesome, and this week I am pumped because Marvin is getting dunked!!

Marvin is a son of some recent converts that are super cool and nice, he hasn't been able to get baptized because he hasn't fully repented, but he is repenting and so pumped to get baptized! We have been working a ton with him and he has changed so much! We have worked a lot with him. He has a ton of potential to become a good solid member, a leader even in the Church here which is something that we always need!

I was pretty frustrated one night because of some stinkers that just fell through and what not, and that day I was pretty sick too, had junk coming out both ends, haha, and things just didn't go our way. I was on a comp exchange in another area, and at night Elder Ward called me after interviewing Marvin for baptism, and he told me that Marvin asked that I baptize him, because of how much I have worked with him (because I have had 3 comps in the same area) which surprised me because his step dad is a worthy priesthood holder and could totally baptize him. But I felt super honored and it really helped me because, darn sometimes this work kicks ya and you feel no gratification for all the efforts that you put in!

Sometimes though God sends you a little ray of sunlight that makes you feel good and that what you are doing is most definitely worth every drop of blood sweat, tears, diarrhea and vomit! (sorry if that is tmi for anyone).

New years day was nice, we worked up on some members in soccer which was a good time! I did good as goalie which was nice.

Love you all have a stellar year and Stay Classy,
Elder Morrison