Sister Morgan's Missionary Moments: Leap Day!!!

Mi familia, mi amigos,

Hola! Okay, I'll talk in English. Happy Leap Year! This week has been fast. I think after you hit your halfway mark, the mission speeds by.

I actually have time to send a nice weekly email this week. I'll try to be more detailed for my mother's sake. :)

Monday: I think I had the most awkward experience of my mission. We were teaching a girl named Emmy, who is 16. We went over to have a lesson and to talk to her mom about baptism. Her mom is a pastor and actually baptized Emmy when she was younger so we knew this was going to be a little difficult, but we had faith that Heavenly Father would tell us what to say! Well, apparently, they had a fight the night before about who knows what and were on bad terms. We were talking to Emmy when her mom comes over and starts doing a regular mom thing- teaching. Emmy fought back at her though and told her that she didn't love her and that she hates her and her mom yelled back at her saying that she's a sinner and all this stuff (remember she's a pastor) and so Sister Judkins and I are awkwardly sitting on the couch as this yelling session is going on right in front of us. I have never felt more out of place and uncomfortable in my life. Sister Judkins was just trying not to laugh. Her mom sounded like she was preaching in a baptist church. Needless to say, we asked if we could leave and her mom said no, talked some more, and left Emmy crying with us. On the bight side, her mom said she was happy she was going to our church!

Shout out to Adina who sent me a wonderful letter this week, I got it on Monday. And to my mom for sending me one as well. :)

Tuesday: I started a 2-day diet that my family would do sometimes growing up. It wouldn't have been so hard except for the fact that people kept bring delicious treats to everything. But I held strong, I made it. :)

We had a lesson with Gabby, a 17 year old investigator. The elders were teaching her and now we get to. :) We taught her the restoration and she prayed at the end of the lesson! She was so scared to because she hasn't prayed in years but she did a great job! She came to church last Sunday and enjoyed it. I love teaching young women, because the more I am myself, the more comfortable they feel and are able to relate to me. The youth are the future leaders of our church and they are seriously so awesome.

I am going to send some pictures of some mansions we tracted, just for kicks and giggles with Deyeneira. They were HUGE! One answered and said they'd been to Salt Lake City and to a Mormon church before. They weren't interested but really liked our members.

Wednesday: We woke up feeling weird...and it turns out there was a thunder and lightning storm about to pass through! So we watched the rain as we did our studies.

We had the opportunity to do service at the Day Star Care Center again, but only for an hour. We helped put fliers in envelopes for some event coming up to raise money. I talked to the lady next to me at the table and she saw the Book of Mormon play the week before. Her husband I guess was part of the reformed LDS church, the one Emma Smith broke off to. So she knew a little bit more about our religion and is a Quaker herself. It was neat to hear what the Quakers believe, I read a book about them in middle school and that's all I know. If there is one thing you do learn on your mission, its of other religions and beliefs. I've never really cared before but I find it very interesting now.

Stephanie was in a play at her school so we went to support her and sat between her dad and Gabby, our investigator. They did a good job but you know media these days, its raunchy even if its Shakespeare...

Thursday: I felt sick in the morning- thought I was going to pass out but by lunch time I was fine.

We saw Peggy today, I love her. We are basically done with her after baptism lesson which makes me super happy but sad too because I won't be able to see her much. She is recovering quickly from her surgery and is doing great in her faith! She has a lot of time to read so that helps and she is always thirsty for answers. I will miss her but we are slowly convincing her to move to Utah. ;)

Friday: We did a lot of tracting with not many people home. Its hard during the day, everyone is at work.

Miracle for the week: We went to the church to watch Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration (you can find it on netflix and YouTube) with a few people, bringing Gabby. But she didn't show up. After 20 mins we decided to leave because we didn't feel productive (and after you've been a missionary for as long as I have you can't really sit in one place for that long anyways) so we walked out. We said a prayer because we didn't know what to do for the rest of the night. I had a thought that we should start walking, Sis Judkins thought we should go store contacting. Since our prompting wasn't the same, we prayed again. I felt that if we started walking up 4th street, God would place someone in our path. Sister Judkins said okay, let's give it a try. It was really cold so we didn't want to, but we did anyways. As we were walking, we said prayers with a few people but they would walk away right when we said amen so we had no lessons. Finally, we got to a stop light and decided it was time to cross and turn around. We pressed the button but saw a lady with a stroller coming down the road towards us. We asked if we could pray with her. She said yes. After the prayer we got talking and teaching and offered her a church tour and she said yes, that she had just been thinking she wanted to find a different church to go to. We speed walked to the church, which was 10 blocks away, and taught her the restoration on the way. She was very interested in there being a prophet on the Earth today (which there is if you didn't know) and wanted to know what he is saying now. We gave her a tour with her baby, whose name happens to be Joseph. (Not a coincidence). And best of all, she was actually normal! That sounds mean but its hard to find people who are in good living situations in my area. It was a pure miracle that came from praying and listening for a prompting of the spirit.

Saturday: The elders had a baptism that we went to. I lead the music and Sister Judkins and I gave a talk on the holy ghost.

The ward's ice cream social was that night and it was fun! We had a family feud game show and a newlywed game which was funny to watch all the couples in the ward try to guess the same answers. Stephanie came for a little bit, but had to leave early. We were suppose to have a lot of investigators there, but sadly none came. :(

Sunday: Yes, my notes are getting shorter. We went to the Festival of Praise at the First Presbyterian Church in St. Pete. The guest conductor was Mack Wilberg, the music director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir!!!!!!!!!! It was amazing! And I got a picture with him. He's basically famous. ;) He was happy to see missionaries serving here and asked if it was a hard area. I don't remember what we told him but he is very nice.

So that's my week, probably the most detailed weekly email home that I'll ever type! You are all welcome. :)

I am grateful to be a missionary here in Florida. I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is what brings us happiness. When we follow Christ, we are automatically on a path of peace and happiness. Yes, we still have trials and temptations, but we are stronger and able to fight them off easier. I love my Savior and I am grateful for this opportunity to serve Him full-time. I hope you all have a blessed week and look to the future with faith and hope!

Love,

Sister Morgan