October 31, 2014

(This is a picture taken on the day Morgan arrived in the Missionary Training Center with the other missionaries who arrived with her.  There are normally 200 to 300 missionaries at all times at the Training Center.)

Well i love halloween so I am kind of depressed that they dont celebrate it here but oh well.

I wish i had super funny exciting stories to tell you all but it is honestly the same here every single day. I realized that I havent really told you about the elders in my district so ill do that.Elder madsen and Elder Hesselgesser. Botha re from utah except H is a cowboy. Like straight up cowboy. He greqw up on a rach herding sheep and doing all that fun stuff moms misses. But he loves it and wants have his own ranch when the mission is over. He is our district leader and hes just great. He actually has Brazilian citizenship because his mom is Brazilian so you think he would know portuguese right? Actually no. His mom has been speaking it to him every since he was little but he just decided to tune it out so now that hes older he is really kicking himself. hes awesome. one of my favorite elders. His companion madsen is a blond blue eyed elder and hes absolutely hilarious. he is tall and as skinny as a toothpick but literally has the wittiest comments that just make my day. he isnt as strong in the gospel and he has admitted that he leans on us. i love this kid. honestly  best spirit. (these two were on my plane and madsens parents went through security with him. the one i told you about)

elder de coursey and elder de hoyos. De Hoyos reminds me of Jace. they look the same and they are both super athletic. He spoke spanish before the mission so he caught on to the language super fast im just grateful that he has the patience to deal with all of us asking him questions cause we ask  A LOT. omg his laugh? is probably the best think ive ever heard. Its so contagious. he is a drummer so he is constantly banging on his desk but i dont mind.......

his companion is a little weird. hes just one of those super nerdy intelligent guys so he doesnt really know how to interact with people. he just does stupid things like sing really loud while we are all trying to study. or hell walk around and try to figure out how everything is put together. he does pick his nose and eat is occasionally and ive full on witnessed it. he farts ALL THE TIME. and its alwasy him becasue hes the only one who doesnt own up to it or doesnt smell it. so gross. we all get on him for it. but he is a super nice kid and sometimes says the funniest comments ive ever heard. ill share them later. these two are our zone leaders.

elder skinner and elder mochawki. m is from South africa like my comp but they didnt know eachother before. he has the best accent ever and he is an awesome guy. he does have his eyes on mikah though so im watching him carefully.... No but him and i are close. He loes when i sing so i sing to him all the time. one funny thing about mochawki is that while he is speaking portuguese, in the middle he'll say "what is it". its hilarious. elder skinner is by far the elder who knows tha most port. he literally knew everything by the first week so he is ready to get out of here and into the field. I think he gets frustrated with us sometimes because we ask him everything but he has a lot of patience too. He loves peanut butter so were friends. thats all i need to say. no but hes one of those super smart kids too who loved spongebob. you can say any line from that show and hell know what your talking about. children these days.

eder sterling and elder nickerson. elder sterling is elder pride. this week it got bad so we went and talked to the president. but when we were about to go in hesselgesser and madsen walked out and we knew that they came to talk about him too. the president met with sterling and its been great so far so idk what the president said to him but its working. Our president is amazing. idk if ive said that enough or given him enough credit but he is great. and sterling really isnt that bad. yes he gets on our nerves but so does everyone in some way. him and i actually were the first to really click in our district because he knows every single disney song ever made. so we sing all the time and de hoyos joins in. we have a blast. elder nickerson is the elder who is struggling the most in our district. the language still hasnt come and we are all trying to be supportive but he isnt really trying to learn on his own. like he wont look up the words himself hell just expect us to know everything. he is the only boy of 4 girls so he is so babied. like ridiculously babbied. he recieves hand written letters every day ad one day he got 11!! and the other day he got 8. i kid you not in the time we have been here hes probably gotten 30+ letters. its actually pathetic. hes a farm boy like hesselgesser and the only phrase he knows is "i wish i could just do this in english"

i love my elders. i really do. we are close and i am so sad to think about how i wont be with them after a week. i will cry i already know it.

one really cool thing that happened this week was that i was in a slump like i was last week and a sister who i became close with talked to me in her room. we were just talking about random things and then she told me about this super awesome experience she had in the temple and she continued to tell me that she has this gift of reading people. like she knows things that theyve never told her. so i was curious and was like "do me do me". bad choice. ok not bad but she knew things that i havent told anyone here. and i was like how does she know that?? and what she knows about people are not bad things. they are just private. And there is only one way/one person who could have told her these things. Christ. She says that she cant do it whenever she wishes and she cant do it to herself. he only lets her do it when it lifts others and i was fortnate enough to be one of those people. She told me things that only I had told Him, that I had earnestly prayed about. Ive never felt His love for me so strongly before. of course i was crying.

here are some of the things He advised me through her:

Dont be afraid of people anymore. Trust with all your heart and those walls will come down. When you open your heart the language will flow, your heart will be overwhelmed with love and joy for the people. Dont just take a step into the unknown, SPRINT into it knowing that HE will be there to catch you.

Literally the Lord is amazing. in so many ways.

love ya, sis harrick

Morgan and her companion from South Africa, Sister Presence, on P-Day (Preparation Day)