Week 2 in Oregon City!

Hey family!

This week has been a great week! Elder Quinton and I were able to visit a lot of less active members and investigators and share a lesson with them! This area has so much potential and I am so glad that I am in this area with Elder Quinton. This week we were able to teach a young guy named Jimmy. He is a great guy. His brother was recently baptized and his extended family are members of the church. He really knows that baptism is the step he needs to take, but right now he is overcoming some addictions like smoking and coffee. He knows he can get over them. This week he came to church with his brother and his daughter. He is a really great guy. He reads his scriptures everyday and he genuinely wants to just be a better person. He has a baptismal date set for June second. He even set it himself. We are very excited for him.

On Saturday night, I got a call from Elder Follett back in the Columbia Ward. He told me this story about a new investigator that they were working with. I don't remember her name, but she a one of the *YW's friends who came to church when Elder Follett and I taught the *YM/YW for the 5th Sunday lesson. The Young Women's president called us earlier in the month wanting us to teach the 5th Sunday of the month about missionary work. She knew that we did the Bible study classes and that we knew the youth well. So Elder Follett and I decided to teach a lesson on the **"Restoration" for the 5th Sunday. We gave each YM/YW a restoration pamphlet and we were going to teach from that pamphlet. We told them we were going to review this pamphlet with them so that they could feel more comfortable in talking to their friends about the Restoration. Not only that, but we told them that we would like them to role play with the person next to them for the last ten minutes. It turned out to be a great lesson with lots of participation, and the role play turned out well too, and now after her own personal experience with the gospel, she wants to be baptized! Amazing.

I know the Lord is preparing those to hear the gospel. In the Oregon City 3rd Ward, we have so much potential and it's amazing. Today we have 4 lessons planned starting at 4:00 and ending at 8:30! We are really excited to get missionary work rolling!

Thank you for your prayers and everything you do for me!

Love,

Elder Morgan

Mom note: 
*YW=Young Women: The purpose of the Young Women organization is to help each young woman, ages 12 through 18, "Come unto Christ" (Book of Mormon, Moroni 10:32)

*YM=Young Men: The Aaronic Priesthood is the basic organization for the young men of the Church ages 12 through 18. The Young Men organization strengthens the work of the Aaronic Priesthood in the ward and gives support to the parents and the home. 

**Restoration - click on the link to learn more.

The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ

Hello Oregon City!

Hey awesome family!

This week I finally finished studying the Book of Mormon for the first time on my mission. I felt so happy to accomplish this. I wish I would have read it more as a kid. I know because of the things that I learned in the Book of Mormon I can be a better missionary, person, brother, and friend. This book is amazing! I look at my Book of Mormon as a journal. I used a pen and four different colors: pink, green, yellow, and blue. Now, I used all the colors not just one when I found things that stood out to me in the Book of Mormon but each color meant a different thing. I really loved commenting and writing down in my Book of Mormon my thoughts and my feelings when I would study it. I know this book has blessed me immensely. The Book of Mormon has changed my life.

Well, on Saturday night I got a call that said I was going to be transferred out of Troutdale. For that reason I was sad. I have met so many amazing people in Troutdale. I grew up in Troutdale.  I made really good friends with both the people I was teaching, and the people from the ward I was serving in. I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve in Troutdale. I learned A LOT. Not just as a missionary, but as a person. I know a lot more about myself. I know what some of my strengths are and what some of my weaknesses are. I know that I can care for people I don't even fully know. I know that I am doing what I am supposed to be doing. As a missionary, I learned that it's not all about me, it's about teaching others the gospel so that they can have the blessings that I enjoy. Elder Follett was a great companion. We were able to do a bunch of work for the last 6 weeks despite our sicknesses, and our bike problems.

BUT GUESS WHAT?! I am now the proud driver of a 2012 Ford Fusion! I'M IN A CAR!!! I got transferred to Oregon City! More specifically Oregon City 3rd Ward! My companion is a great guy. His name is Elder Quinton...and he's from CANADA!  He's a foreigner! Ha ha!  He's really cool and he seems like a great person. By first impressions, and even a little more, (we've been together for almost 27 hours) it seems like we will have a great time together. Elder Quinton has only been in this area for 6 weeks, but that's okay! He's been out for about 14 months. Anyway, RIGHT after transfers he said, "We have an appointment in like 15 minutes. It's  with a P.I. (potential investigator) that I have never met.  His name is Robert. We'll be teaching about the restoration."

I'm not gonna lie, I was kinda nervous. I just met Elder Quinton, I didn't know what to expect. But when we came into the house, I felt calm. I felt that everything would be okay. And guess what? It was a GREAT lesson. Robert really truly wanted to find out about the gospel.  He also wanted to pray to Heavenly Father, at the end of the lesson, to find out if our message was true, and if the Book of Mormon is true. It was great,  even without talking much before hand, not even knowing each other, Elder Quinton and I were able to teach and work well with each other. We talked WITH Robert, not TO Robert. We had another church member there too and he gave great insight. I felt so thankful to my Heavenly Father that this lesson went so well.

I am grateful to be continuing on in my mission. I know that the Lord has great blessings in store for the people in Oregon City and I am just His instrument in making that possible.

Love to all,

Elder Trevor A. Morgan

Helllooooo! 4/23/12

Hey there family!

Well this week has been another good week in Troutdale, OR. I'm sorry your weather has not been super warm, but like you say on weather.com our weather in Portland has been great! There were some days this week when it was raining, but when I end (or start) a week with sunshine...I'll always remember it as a good week of weather.

This week has been a great week. On Tuesday, we had *Zone conference and I really learned a lot. One of the biggest things I learned is that I need to pray with more diligence. In "Preach My Gospel" there is a chart that teaches you about prayer and how to make our prayers better. (I wanna say like page 96, but don't quote me). I realized that I need to have my prayers be more specific. I want to pray for so many people, but I just feel like I have been getting lazy. I will admit, sometimes when I am really tired at night and in the morning I will say something like, "And bless all of my investigators in whatever they stand in need of"...that's not how I should pray. If I want specific things to happen to each individual, then I need to pray specifically. In the Bible Dictionary it states that "Prayer is a form of work." Prayer takes energy. It also says prayer is when the will of the father come in correspondence with the will of the child. Heavenly Father WANTS to bless us, our friends, our family, and the people I am teaching, BUT it is predicated on us asking for those blessings....specific blessings. I learned we are blessed when we pray with diligence.

I have been trying to do everything I do with diligence. I'm not perfect at it, but I know that when I study, pray, teach, find, and even exercise with diligence the Lord will bless me. Even more, if I start everything with a prayer God will, as he states in 2nd Nephi 32:9, He will "consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul". I know as a missionary he will not just bless my performance, but he will bless individuals with the SPECIFIC needs that I pray for and/or he will bless their performance. (which always includes all of you too).

Love,

Elder Trevor A Morgan.

*Mom note: Zones

Missionaries are divided into zones, each led by one or more missionaries assigned as zone leaders. The zones may be geographically large or small depending on the mission. The number of missionaries in a zone also varies widely. The zones are divided into districts, each being led by a missionary assigned as a district leader. A district usually has two to four missionary companionships. The zone leaders and district leaders train the missionaries, see after their welfare, conduct interviews, proselyte together, and share successes.

Hola family! 4/16/12

Hey! Sorry if this letter is a little short, I don't have a lot of time to write this letter because we have a dinner appointment in about an hour! This week has been a slow week in missionary work. Elder Follett has been getting over a sickness and then another sickness takes its place. Also, we had to go to downtown Portland to visit the doctor twice. It's a bummer because the problem is that Elder Follett has been sick for about 2 weeks now. I was sick also but only for a few days. We took it easy, but we both wanted to go outside and actually work because as a missionary its almost hurts you to just do nothing. We tried to just do a little bit of work, but it made Elder Follett really tired...and even a little more sick. Because our days have not been super structured, we forgot to call our Ward Mission Leader a few times. We also had to cancel going to a few important meetings. We really want to get back to work this week, but still Elder

Follett has a pain in his knee. We're kinda stuck in a hard place because Brother Nordstrom, our Ward mission leader, told PEC that he was a little concerned for us. Now, I know he knows what Elder Folett and I are going through with multiple illnesses. It's just discouraging to see our leader be concerned about our lack of progress when we're just not able to do everything we have been doing in the past. This week we're going to go back to work, not to impress or show people that we can work, but because we know that it is the time to go out and work harder so that we may fulfill our calling.

Also on another note, today we realized we've had a homeless man sleeping right next to our door for the last couple of days. We have seen trash right next to our apartment door right under the stairs that lead to the apartment above us. Today, coming back from our exercises at the church we saw the homeless man sleeping by our door. Now the reason he is doing this is because there is no rain where he is sleeping, AND we think also because we have pictures of Jesus Christ all over our windows. Now, we wanted to make sure we were safe, so we called our apartment complex managers and let them know, and we turned up our hymns music in our apartment so that he would wake up and leave. We didn't do that right away because we know he probably needed a place to sleep, but at the same time we still wanted to make sure we were safe. We decided we are gonna put a Book of Mormon our there so if he comes back we can talk to him about the Gospel... and also tell him that he shouldn't be sleeping there.

Anyways, can't wait for this week! We have zone conference and me and some other Elders in the district our singing "Joseph Smith's First Prayer" for it. We're way excited for it!

Thanks for all that you do for me even when I am not home. I really appreciate it.

Love,

Happy Spring! 4/9/12

Hey there family! 

I'm glad to hear everything is going well. It seems like there is always something interesting going on back home. Thanks for letting me know. That's way cool that Blake is going to Nashville soon! I would love to go there. Andy Raoufi went there on vacation with his family and they loved it. I might be wrong, but I think Capri Lofaro goes to school in Nashville. If you see her tell her I say "Hey!"

So, Meghan is moving out and Melissa is moving back home while she goes to grad school... That's cool that there is always going to be another sister for Blake to annoy... did I say that? I meant to say, "hang out with." haha.

I was thinking about home a lot this week. Both Elder Follett and I were sick for the last few days. This was the first time I was sick on my mission. I remember the first time I was sick at college, both times I really wish I was at home and mom was making me some food and I could be watching T.V.(haha) Elder Follett has walking pneumonia and bronchitis. I just have the flu. For the last few days we have stayed in. It has made for my mind to wonder quite a bit. We have played monopoly 3 times, cleaned the whole apartment, moved all the furniture, slept, and watched one of the 2 approved movies "17 Miracles"... 3 times. It's a great movie, it really is. If you haven't seen it, I would suggest watching it. Just makes sure you don't watch it on an 5 inch DVD player...not as cool as you think. But even so, it's amazing to see the miracles that the saints were given from God because of their dedication to the gospel.

Even though I was sick this week, I really enjoyed the opportunity to celebrate Easter. As missionaries we always teach others of Christ, but this week was a special week because of what happened a little less than 2000 years ago. The atonement is something we ALL needed. Without it, we couldn't return to live with our Father in Heaven. But because He loves us so much, he sent his begotten son into the world to pay for the sin, temptation, iniquities, sorrows, and much, much more than we can ever comprehend. Not only did he break the bands of spiritual death, but he broke the bands of physical death. Just as Jesus Christ was resurrected, we all will be resurrected, and now we have the opportunity to be perfected through Christ so that we may return to our Father in Heaven and live with Him again. What an amazing blessing! If you have the opportunity to listen to Bruce. R. Mcconkie's  last General Conference talk, you should. It is an amazing testimony of Jesus Christ.

Also, another blessing for all of us is that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized on April 6, 1830. We have the opportunity to thank Heavenly Father for the blessing of the restoration of His church. Through the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ we can live with our families forever, use the atonement to its fullest, and have the blessings of the Temple. I am so humbled to have these blessings in my life. Despite any challenges that I face in life, the joy that the gospel brings will always bring me eternal happiness and love. I don't need to worry. If I do what I am called to do, I will be just fine.

I love you all. Thank you for your prayers.

Love,

Elder Morgan
p.s. By the way, my ward mission leader became our ward mission leader RIGHT AFTER HE AND HIS WIFE GOT BACK FROM SERVING A MISSION IN BULGARIA! Literally, right after they left, the mission took in Turkey! I know my ward mission leader will want to talk to *Aaron. What's Aaron's number so I can have them communicate with each other?

Mom note: *Aaron Foechterle is a friend of Trevor's from the Herndon Ward. Aaron just received his mission call, and will be serving in the Bulgaria Sofia Mission, leaving June 20, 2012.  He is assigned to speak the Turkish language. Turkey is a new area of the world that has been opened to LDS missionaries and Aaron may be one of the first to serve the Turkish people.

He Is Risen