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