Thanksgiving Letter!

Howdy Family!

This week has been another great week in Troutdale, OR. Let's see, last Monday Elder Rowley, myself, Elder Dixon, Elder Jensen, Elder Barret, and Elder Winterton went bowling on p-day! It was really fun! It was a nice way to spend time with other missionaries. It was also really nice because when bowling you can release some stress. Not that I had too much, but bowling always make me feel better. I'm grateful that I bowled as a kid, for a bit, cause I don't really have to worry about staying in the lane. I just bowl and it's fun! We then went to an ice cream shop and just chatted for a bit. All those Elders are really great people.

Elder Rowley and I have a Bible Study class that is going well. We had a record of 5 people come! I know the more it gets rolling, more people will show up. I really like the lessons. We taught about Jonah and the whale the other day. We talked about how even though we mess up, God wants us to pray and repent when we make mistakes. 

Tuesday night turned out great! We have been teaching this family and they have really been interested in the gospel, and Tuesday night we set the date for their Baptism on the 17th of November! There are 3 who can be baptized! Another really great thing is that they have a person who is living with them who is already a member of the church, and they are all trying to read The Book of Mormon together! They are a great family.

Thanksgiving was GREAT! I had 2 dinner appointments! I was soooooo full! The first one was with younger married couples and their kids, at the church. That was really fun because they are all so nice. Their kids are a lot of fun to play with. We had A LOT of food there. The next place we went was to the Kniff's home. Their food was great! All the food was just the typical thanksgiving food, BUT, I loved it! Sister Kniff's daughter (the daughter is like in her 40's) gave Elder Rowley and I some music that we are going to sing at the ward Christmas party. It was a great day! (By the way, I'm singing Gesu Bambino for the Ward Christmas party...thought you guys would like to know!)

Just like every day, we start out reading our scriptures in the morning. Well, on Thursday morning (Thanksgiving) I was reading *Mosiah Chapter 2. It was the perfect chapter for Thanksgiving. At the end of verse 19 it says "Oh how you ought to thank your Heavenly King!" That really hit me. Heavenly Father has given me so much. It then goes on to say in verse 20, " I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace with one another..." I really began to think after reading those verses, that God created me so I could become like Him. He has given me EVERYTHING!!. Being on my mission makes me really treasure my family, friends, and home (wherever that may be) even more.

Another thing I came to realize is how grateful I am that God gave me my body. That is something I needed to have so that I could have all the blessings that God wants to give me. And because of God's plan for me...I have a body!! In *Mosiah Chapter 3 it continues and says, "And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and had granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him. And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and will be, forever and ever; therefore of what have ye to boast?" From these scriptures I realized that thankfulness and humility are directly related. We can develop humility by being truly grateful for what God has really given us. Nothing is really ours, but because God gave everything to us...we need to use it wisely and share it with others.

I am so thankful for you guys! I love my family! I'm so glad you had a great Thanksgiving!!

Love,
Elder Trevor A. Morgan

p.s. I did get all the packages in the mail that you sent! Thanks! AND if you try to find where I live on google, try typing in Reynolds High School. I live in the apts. right behind the fields. Oh, AND ALSO, I bought some rain pants, and a University of Oregon hoodie, and maybe a few other bike things. But, Go DUCKSSSSS!!!!!

* A note from MOM... The Book of Mosiah is found in the Book of Mormon, which is a collection of books written by ancient prophets on the American Continent. Mosiah was one of these early prophets. The ancient prophet Mormon compiled these ancient records and recorded them on gold plates which were preserved by God's direction, until He brought them forth in the 1800's. The latter-day prophet, Joseph Smith Jr., translated the record which God had preserved for our day. It is another testament of our Savior Jesus Christ, and it is a companion to the Bible; both being holy scripture that teach and testify of Jesus Christ and his gospel.

Hola!

Hey Family!

This past week, I've had a hard time getting started on time. Basically, it was because BOTH Elder Rowley and I got sick this week. It seems like EVERYONE in Portland has been sick in the last couple of weeks. We had a lot of motivation for missionary work, but we were told to sleep and gets lots of rest. Because we were sick, we didn't have a "precise" time for doing things. Last week we scheduled our lessons for this week, so we would still try to go to those. Even though we were sick, we still managed to teach 20 lessons! We would even set our alarm clocks for 6:15, wake up, say our companion morning prayer, then our personal prayer, but then we would just turn back over and get some more rest. I could tell though that if I had started my day by reading my scriptures, it would have been a better day. 

There was a talk given by Richard G. Scott in General Conference in which we talked about the power of scriptures. He said the scriptures could spiritually heal us AND physically heal us. I know that to be true. I would make sure I still would read my scriptures everyday when I was sick (it just wasn't in the morning). I knew that if I was reading the scriptures, the word of God, I could be healed by the word of God. While I wasn't healed from the headaches and congestion, I was ALWAYS given the energy to do missionary work.

This week Elder Rowley and I have focused a lot on making sure we obey the small rules. We were teaching our Bible class this week and it was on "David and Goliath". We were talking about what are our "Goliaths" that we face. Elder Rowley said complacency. I totally agreed. We also talked about what the high schoolers "Goliaths" were, Some of which are: the world, music, classmates, forgetting things, forgiving, and others. It was a really neat class because we only had 3 people (who were all high school age members) but I really think they took something out of the class.

At the end of the week we talked about how we can be more effective missionaries for next week (which is now this week) when we are no longer sick. We talked about what we can do better personally, and as a companionship, to make us better missionaries. We talked a lot about making sure we follow all the rules, no matter how small they may be. We really wanted to focus on starting study times EXACTLY on time, getting to appointments on time, leaving appointments on time, and be effective missionaries. We also thought about "raising the bar." 

As missionaries we have developed a great relationship with the ward. They appreciate everything we are doing and want to help us out as much as they can, but we almost have become as there "kids." Sometimes we have gone over (but not much) on the time that we spend with members in their homes. (Really only the people who have kids or had kids on missions know how long we should be at their houses.) SO, Elder Rowley and I thought that if we set the expectation for what we want to do, and how long it should take, and we let the members know, they will help us make sure we get going by the time we told them. They care about us a lot, and like I said before, they want to help us any way they can. As missionaries we need to be sure were are using our time most effectively. Even though I am having a good time with ward members who are active at church, or less active, or even sometimes investigators, I need to be cautious, because I'm not on the my time, but the Lord's time for the next 2 years.

We also wanted to stop by members houses more (for about 15 minutes) so we could leave short messages with them and ask for referrals. By doing that we want to show the members that we care about them, but by telling that we'd leave a short message it shows that we are still busy doing missionary work. It's awesome because the ward really does care about the missionaries. We are fed every week, we are giving rides occasionally, and people are willing to come to lessons with us. The Columbia ward takes great care of their missionaries. You have no need to worry, ha ha.

I love being a missionary.

If there is anything I can do for you, let me know!

Love,

Elder Trevor A. Morgan

Welcome to Herndon, Elder Mooso!

After learning about Elder Morgan's greenie dinner in Oregon. We decided to welcome our newest Herndon missionary, Elder Mooso, from Meridian Idaho (in the white shirt above). Elder Mooso has joined Elder Barrett to serve in Herndon. He comes directly from the MTC in Provo, Utah and this is his first area in the Washington D.C. South Mission where he will serve for the next two years. We hope all the good people of Herndon will welcome Elder Mooso with a warm handshake and a listening ear... and maybe a glass of water :)

Great Weekend!!! 11/7/2011

This weekend has been a great weekend! This weekend is what makes being a missionary awesome! On Saturday, Carolyn, one of our investigators was baptized! She was confirmed on Sunday at church! She has been investigating the Church for two and a half years! She knew this was the right step for her life, so she finally made the decision. At the Baptism, Elder Rowley and I sang "Amazing Grace." Elder Rowley played the guitar and sang the melody, and I sang whatever harmonies I wanted to. It was a wonderful experience, and really brought the spirit into the baptismal service. It was a great baptism, and after she was baptized, Carolyn bore a powerful testimony that she knew this was the right step for her to be taking. She was crying a lot, but they were tears of joy.

Later that night, Dakota, another potential investigator, started texting us! We've been trying to contact him for 3 weeks. He told us that he has been in the hospital for 3 weeks. He was in a major car accident due to drugs, and the person next to him died...but he was still alive and barely injured. In the past month, he has had some trials in his life that I can't even imagine. AND HE'S ONLY 19! Anyway, he told us he was glad that we were so persistent in texting and calling him. His phone was actually at home for those 3 weeks, but when he got home, he was touched when he looked at his phone and saw we had been texting him, and calling him for all those weeks. He said he was grateful we didn't give up on him, because he really wanted to meet with us. We tried to meet with him that day, but he could meet with us. We then texted him and asked him if he wanted to come to church with us....but he didn't respond UNTIL we were asleep in bed. At 1:30 in the morning (on Sunday) he texted us back and said he wanted to go to church, but he didn't know where it was and he needed a ride.  We ride our bikes to church, so making the arrangements for his ride was going to be a challenge for us with such little notice....

BUT, Sunday was ANOTHER amazing day!  We tried to get a ride for Dakota before we went to some morning meetings but nothing worked out.  Then, we asked someone in our meeting, right before church, and he said he could drive us to pick up Dakota. So, at 8:40 we called Dakota (church started at 9:00). We woke him up when we called, but he said we could pick him up and we could take him to church! WE DID!

And Carolyn received the *gift of the Holy Ghost at church on Sunday, and was confirmed a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!

This Sunday was our Fast and Testimony meeting, and I had a feeling it was going to be a good one!  I knew I was going to bear my testimony, and just before the meeting started, I saw another one of our investigators who decided to come to church! Her name is Theresa. She is a west African lady who loves to have Elder Rowley and me come to her house! We have invited her to church many times, and she's always said she can't come, but this time she came to church!

My testimony from the pulpit was focused on the doctrines of Jesus Christ: faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and also enduring to the end. Those 5 points are  what we try to teach others as missionaries. Anyway, as I was bearing my testimony, Kim, a less active member we have been working with, stood up in the VERY back and yelled (while I was up at the pulpit), "Elder Morgan, I'm here, I'm here!! Your hard work paid off!!!" I was so happy she was here at church! BUT, usually a person doesn't yell from one side to the other during church. It was awesome though. This lady hasn't been to church for 37 YEARS!!! I was so happy she came! We meet with her all the time and she said she knew she needed to go, but she would never show up. She even got to the point of telling Elder Rowley and I not to call or text her. BUT, when I saw her at church, she was SOOOO happy.

After I bore my testimony, she came up and told everyone that if it wasn't for Elder Rowley and me, she wouldn't be at church. She was filled with joy. She knew this was the right thing for her to do!

I'm running short on time, but basically the next hour elder Rowley and I taught the "Gospel Principles" Sunday school class. We had everyone introduce themselves because there was an unusually large amount of people in the class. Basically, this turned into a class of investigators, less active members, and recent converts talking about how Elder Rowley and I always come knocking on their doors. They were teasing us, but it is true. BUT, IT'S IMPORTANT! WE ARE HERE TO SERVE THE LORD AND HELP OTHERS COME UNTO CHRIST! AND IT WORKS!

Love, Elder Morgan

---

A note from Mom:

*The Gift of the Holy Ghost - A gift from God to man, bestowed by those with priesthood authority upon newly baptized members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In simple terms, the gift of the Holy Ghost is an enhanced spiritual power permitting those entitled thereto to receive it, to receive a greater knowledge and enjoyment of the influence of Deity."  (President James E. Faust, former 2nd counselor of the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) 

Short Message, 10/31/2011

Hey sorry this is gonna be a little short and maybe sloppy. I've been trying to send you a lot of pictures this hour, so hopefully you'll get them!

This week has been great! I'm continuing to learn what it takes to be a missionary. I love the chance I have to read the Book of Mormon every day. When I read the BOM, I know that my day will go much better.  I love that I have a hour to study personally, and then I have an hour (sometime 2 because I am a Greenie) to study with my companion. I am so blessed to be able to have that time.

In companion study we have talked about talking simply. I love that and I need that.  I am learning sooo much. We have simplified the lessons so that we can say that when we approach someone at the door.

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!

Love,

Elder Morgan