Hey
there family!
I
had a great time yesterday, talking to you all on the phone! It was really nice to
hear your voices....BUT, it's back to missionary work!...kinda, it's p-day today.
Today were going to play rugby with our zone! I have no idea how to play, but I'm
excited to learn. I love to work hard as a missionary, but sometimes it can be
stressful. I think Shingles may be an outcome of some of that stress. Now, I
don't really feel super stressed at all. I just see that there is so much
potential in this area, which I guess gets me stressed. This area is great! All
the lessons we teach are great lessons, guided by the spirit and we have great
ward members to come with us, to help us explain so that the investigator can
learn the gospel from a "regular person" too. The people we are
teaching all seem interested in truly knowing if the gospel is restored and if
the Book of Mormon is true. I love it! Our goal as a companionship is to get 25
baptisms and 20 less active members reactivated! It really is possible. As a missionary, each week
we have to fill out progress records to show to our WML (Ward Mission Leader) and
the ward council what we have done that week and how missionary work in the
area is progressing. Well, we are really blessed to have so many people we are
working with. We fill the front AND back of the page...and then make more room
on the page for more people. We have a GREAT ward mission leader in the ward
who fulfills his calling with excellence. I am blessed to be in such a great
area.
This
week was a great week for me. I gained a stronger testimony of what faith
really is. My faith was strengthened this week. I wasn't doubting why I was
here on a mission, but I was feeling like I was going day after day doing the
same thing for no reason. I got a little lazy and didn't do all the things I
would regularly do. It was hard because I was sick, but then as a missionary I don't
want being sick to stop the work from progressing. I wasn't tired, I just hurt
all the time. (MOM note: Shingles) I don't know why, but I felt my faith was wavering....The last 7
weeks I have tried to focus on the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I
wanted to know as much about it as I can. I wanted to feel comfortable with
teaching, listening, and talking about it. I shared it (and still do) with all
our dinner appointments, I share it for 5th Sunday lessons, I share it all the
time. But for the past 7 weeks I kept getting the feeling that I should also
study the Plan of Salvation more. I know I should have, but I never acted on
the thought that the Holy Ghost gave me. This week I felt like my faith was
wavering. In the back of my head I would always think, "Well why is the
restoration important?", " What makes you and your church so
different from any other churches?", "why are you so special?"...I
knew it was the adversary putting those thoughts in my head. But I couldn't get
them out. Each time I would teach the "Restoration" lesson I would
feel the spirit testify to me of the truth of these things, but I still had
these thoughts. I felt like my mind was wandering this week and I couldn't
figure out why. (MOM note: Shingles)
I
always look forward for the opportunity to go to church. This weekend was
another great weekend for me...not just because I could talk with you guys. On
Saturday, when we were doing weekly planning (usually we do it on Thursday, but
we did service at an inactive church member's home), I kept on getting the
feeling that I should review the Plan of Salvation this week. So we decided
that the people we were teaching needed to learn the Plan of Salvation. I was
still "iffy" myself on my feelings that week about myself and
missionary work, BUT I knew it was the right thing to teach about. A lot of
missionaries (me included) sometimes feel that teaching the Plan of Salvation
as a second lesson is sometimes weird because we sometimes feel that it is
giving them too much information to take in all at one. Since PMG (Preach My
Gospel [the book]) talks about giving us discretion on what should be taught
when, we feel like Lesson Three (The Gospel of Jesus Christ) would be good to
go over next. Well, I'm here to tell you, I (and all the other missionaries are
WRONG)! This Sunday I realized why. We talked about temples in both our Gospel
Principles class and our Elder's quorum class. We talked about why they are so
important, not just now, but FOR ETERNITY! That's it! THE RESTORED GOSPEL DOESN'T
JUST BLESS US NOW BUT FOR ETERNITY! That is why we need the RESTORED Gospel
of Jesus Christ. That is why the Plan of Salvation is so important! That's why
faith, repentance, baptism, the Holy Ghost, enduring to the end, Church, and
the Atonement are so important!
We
NEED to know the Plan of Salvation because that is what will bring us joy in
this life and in the life to come! I have always known that, but this week my
faith was increased in the Plan of Salvation. As a missionary we need to teach
others the plan of happiness! I am so grateful that I can do that.
I
love you. Thanks for your support.
Love,
Elder
Trevor A. Morgan
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