Sister Morgan's Missionary Moments: I survived transfers!

Hello everyone,

This week I got a new companion, Sister Packer! She is from Gilbert, Arizona and has been out 9 months. She was previously in St. Petersburg. She is super good at street contacting so I am learning a lot from her. Its been a change, but I know the Lord puts different people in our lives so we can learn and grow closer to him.

Because she is so good at talking to people, we have taught more lessons and have many potential investigators. She got here and we were literally teaching like one person because we had dropped everyone who wasn't progressing- stopped keeping commitments that would help them come unto Christ. We are trying to find those who have been prepared by the Lord to be baptized. We have had a district commitment of knocking at least 30 doors a day. Not super fun in the heat and humidity, for about 9 or 10 hours a day, but we are being obedient and know we will be blessed for it.

We had a crazy experience with a man named Rudy. He has been in the gym with us when we exercise and he wanted to meet with us so we met him by the pool. Well, turns out he is 7th-day Adventist and just wanted to convert us. He kept quoting things, getting louder when we tried to talk, threw pamphlets at us and books and videos, you get the picture. It was not a fun first lesson for Sister Packer in Tampa 4. Needless to say, he hasn't been at the gym since we told him we weren't interested. We are here to teach, not be talked at.

I have struggled this week to be honest. I think of Ether 12:27 constantly. I have been faced head on with my weaknesses and pray to overcome them. It will get better over time, I know. We all wish that we could be prefect right now, change everything we don't like about ourselves. But if we did that, we wouldn't be able to learn. Trials are given for us to become stronger and choose the good over the bad, to grow closer to Christ or farther away.

Something I have been able to reflect on the past few weeks is the Sabbath Day. We are to keep the Sabbath Day holy, as commanded by God. Being out here has made me realize that I need to be better at this. It is a day to spend with family, to enjoy each others' time and build relationships. Its also a good time to do family history or indexing, praying, studying the scriptures, and listening to church music. Its a day of reflection on where you are at in life and asking yourself if what you are doing is influencing others to do good or bad. Don't save all your shopping for Sunday, and don't just sleep Sunday away either. Think of Heavenly Father and your Savior, Jesus Christ. Give that day to them.

Sounds like some exciting things have been happening at home. I am proud of my friend Crystal Hokanson for serving an honorable full-time mission in Tokyo South, who is home now. I also am proud of my friend Tesa Williams, for submitting her papers to go on a mission- she will be a fantastic missionary. I wish everyone a good week and enjoy your air conditioning. :)

Love,

Sister Morgan