Friends and Family,
Well first things first... Happy Birthday Grandma!!!!! YEA! I am so
excited to celebrate with you when I get home and I already have the
perfect birthday present...all the way from Russia. Thanks for your
great example and all you do for your grandkids. i hope you have a
wonderful day!!!
I'm in PENZA! Seems really weird to me that I'm here in Penza but
things are going well. I've already fallen in love with the city. It
is beautiful and has lots of nice homes and gardens. We found a park
and although it isn't as cool as the park in Oktyabraski and there
aren;'t squirells to feed it is great. Well like I said last Monday I
went to Samara. Tuesday was our first zone conference with the new
presdient and at the end of conference they announced where everyoen
was going and what everyone was doing. As you all already know I am in
Penza with Sister Jackson. She is also from America and has been on
her mission a cycle longer than me. Tuesday night, much to my
delighted surprise, we got on my first Russian train to come to Penza.
It is about a 8 hour ride from Samara. We got on the train about 8 in
the evening and got here about 4 in the mormning. We were lucky enough
to have a little coupe to ourselves. it was so thrilling to FINALLY be
on a train! I've heard so much about them and it was finally my turn.
It really was fun and I loved looking at the Russia countryside. We
tried to sleep a few hours but unfortunately we couldn't figure out
how to close the window and so we were FREEZING (any hints....) But
overall it was a fun trip. We also really liked the conductor and had
a good discussion with him about the Gospel. There are also 2 sets of
elders serving here which is a good thing becuase they helped us with
all of our luggage on the train and to our new apartment. Elder
Swainston is our district leader and he has been here already for 7
months. (I would like to make a note, I have the record for longest in
an area). We got here as I said Wednesday morning and just went home
to sleep for about 2 hours and then hit the streets at 7 to see what
our area was like. It was definitley interesting. We then bought a few
groceries and worked the rest of the day like normal. The rest of the
week was pretty much just walking and figuring out the area. There
were sisters in penza a couple years ago but we didn't hjave an area
book and they were in different part of the city so we're basically
strating from scratch. We just immediately started calling members and
trying to get a feel for what the ward and area was like. We couldn't
wait for Sunday to finally meet all the people we had talked to and
meet the ward and it was no let-down. The Penza ward is AMAZING! It is
HUGE! I was so surprised. You know its a good ward when you have a 1st
and 2nd counselor and an Elder's Quorum President. They have a LOT of
Prisethood holders-- more than in any other ward. It was also a lot fo
fun becasue they have a primary-- my first one in Russia. Overall I
loved meeting the ward on Sunday and geting to meet the beatiful ward
members.
Our first day here we met Elena Makarova, one fo the ward members and
she has been fantastic. She has helped us get all registered with the
governemtn and apartment and everything. SHe has an amazing family and
her husband is the ward mission leader here so I'm sure we will be
working with them often.
We also had a great lesson yesterday with Baba Jena. She is 86 and so
hasn't been able to go to church for some time and the first Sunday
there they pulled aside and said we had to go visit Baba Jena. We read
with her from the Book of Mormon and were just able to pray with her.
It is so great to see the faith of these saints. I hope that I am as
strong as she is when i"m 86.
Like I said on Tuesday we had Conference and they announced a new
program where missionaries can teach members in their homes. Before,
it wasn't allowed to go to members' houses without an investigator and
so we are all excited to try the new program and work with the members
to get referrals. We will be giving them the lessons and asking them
for referrlas and really trying to help them invite their friends to
hear the Gospel. We met with the Branch President and his wife this
week and they were amazing! I think it should be a great week.
Well I hope everyone is doing well and all is well with your
missionary work. The church is true.
Sister Morris
Monday, July 26, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
When the lights go out!
Well... I think everyone has been waiting for it, and everyone knew it was coming one time or another, but... I got a transfer. Yes. A transfer. After 10 months in the most amazing ward in Russia, I got transferred. I know it is what is supposed to happen but it is heart-breaking to leave the area that has literally become HOME. You
know you're blessed when going to church every Sunday is like going home and your hazaika lives next door and brings your cirniki and zefir when you've been on your mission a year. But like everything---change comes and we move on. I am excited to be moving into a new area and even more excited that I get to open a BRAND NEW AREA FOR SISTERS. Seems a little crazy that I did that here in Oktyabraski but I am
excited to do it again. I still don't know who I'll be serving with but we will see on Wednesday. And now for the important part-- where.... PENZA! I have no idea what Penza is like, who is there or what kind of city it is but we will see. Right now I am in the Dachni apartment for about 2 hours waiting for the mission driver to pick me up and then we will drive to Samara. I think I will be there for a few days and then head to Penza on Wednesday with my new companion and we;ll start from scratch. I know it will be a great experience and as I said I am really excited to meet new people and see a new place. Although I know it will be hard I know it is exactly what the Lord wants and that great things will happen there soon. I will definitely
miss all of my friends here-- Natalya, Irina and her girls, LENA-- my love in Russia, Rinat, Valentina-- of course (who I haven't told because she is on the dacha and not home right now-- uh oh.), Sister Sorensen, CT. Redford and Sly who heard me whine and made me happy ;)and all of the other amazing and dedicated saints here in Saratov. But life moves on... I guess I should have had an inkling of an idea when
both of my siblings ended up moving this week as well, it's just a month of change for us Morris'. Speaking of... Sara your house is amazing! I love it and it is so CUTE! I am so excited to see it in person in a few months;)BUT on to the week. I have been on my mission officially a YEAR! yEA! It seems really really weird that a year has passed but it has been one of the most incredible and rewarding years of my life. I fell in love with Russia, the people here, and the Gospel even more. We had a
good week and had some great meetings with our investigators this week. One of our investigators Honi and her daughter Marina met with us this week in the park and then came to church on Sunday. It was fantastic! They have such great questions and we were so happy to be able to meet with them again after not hearing from them for about 2 months. They are truly amazing and I love their sincere desire to find
truth. We also had a great meeting with our investigator Tatiana and she is doing great. We even had a lesson with Lidia Timofeevna at 7:30 in the morning which was a first for me, but it was also great. We also had a great experience Saturday morning. On Saturdays we are on the street ( like everyday) at 7 and it is sometimes a little EMPTY. It's always a good time to get in a little time on the swings at the
park because no one is there yet, BUT, Saturday morning we started out our door and walked a little ways and ran into a lady crying. We tried to talk to her a little bit but she didn't seem very interested but we kept trying. We asked if she needed help or anything , or if she just needed someone to listen to her adn she said okay, let's find a bench. So we all walked for a little while and talked to her. She
was having trouble with her husband and sons and so we talked to her a lot about trials and why we have them. We were also to teach her about prayer and how we believe we can pray ALWAYS and anywhere-- we don't have to be in church, and we most definitely don't have to read or memorize a prayer. We were able to pray with her and she was SO grateful (she even bought us juice;) She wants to meet with us again
and just kept saying how "good" it felt to be with us and how calm she felt. We explained to her that that is the spirit and gave her the Plan of Salvation pamphlet. It was a great opportunity and a testimony builder to me that Heavenly Father really does put people in our paths to work with. He gives us all of the tools and all we have to do is open our mouths. I was so grateful that morning to be able to help someone just feel better-- whether she gets baptized or not-- it is
our job and responsibility as members to lift the heads that hang down, serve, and just help people know about their loving Heavenly Father, their blessings and that he is always ready and willing to listen. So overall it was a fantastic experience. This was a great week overall and things in Oktyabraski are doing fantastic. I loved my time being able to serve with Sister Sorensen and she is a great missonary and we had a lot of FUN together and got a lot done. My "birthday" was Thursday and like I said, Valentina gave us my favorite candy- zefir, and my cute companion gave me a few little gifts. As I said it is definitely weird to think that I have been on my
mission a whole year but overall things are great. I hope everyone had a fantastic week and continued to do missionary work. Look forward to news from PENZA next week and about the new area, ward and companion. This next cycle will be FANTASTIC and I'm excited to see what happens.
I love you all!
Sister Morris
know you're blessed when going to church every Sunday is like going home and your hazaika lives next door and brings your cirniki and zefir when you've been on your mission a year. But like everything---change comes and we move on. I am excited to be moving into a new area and even more excited that I get to open a BRAND NEW AREA FOR SISTERS. Seems a little crazy that I did that here in Oktyabraski but I am
excited to do it again. I still don't know who I'll be serving with but we will see on Wednesday. And now for the important part-- where.... PENZA! I have no idea what Penza is like, who is there or what kind of city it is but we will see. Right now I am in the Dachni apartment for about 2 hours waiting for the mission driver to pick me up and then we will drive to Samara. I think I will be there for a few days and then head to Penza on Wednesday with my new companion and we;ll start from scratch. I know it will be a great experience and as I said I am really excited to meet new people and see a new place. Although I know it will be hard I know it is exactly what the Lord wants and that great things will happen there soon. I will definitely
miss all of my friends here-- Natalya, Irina and her girls, LENA-- my love in Russia, Rinat, Valentina-- of course (who I haven't told because she is on the dacha and not home right now-- uh oh.), Sister Sorensen, CT. Redford and Sly who heard me whine and made me happy ;)and all of the other amazing and dedicated saints here in Saratov. But life moves on... I guess I should have had an inkling of an idea when
both of my siblings ended up moving this week as well, it's just a month of change for us Morris'. Speaking of... Sara your house is amazing! I love it and it is so CUTE! I am so excited to see it in person in a few months;)BUT on to the week. I have been on my mission officially a YEAR! yEA! It seems really really weird that a year has passed but it has been one of the most incredible and rewarding years of my life. I fell in love with Russia, the people here, and the Gospel even more. We had a
good week and had some great meetings with our investigators this week. One of our investigators Honi and her daughter Marina met with us this week in the park and then came to church on Sunday. It was fantastic! They have such great questions and we were so happy to be able to meet with them again after not hearing from them for about 2 months. They are truly amazing and I love their sincere desire to find
truth. We also had a great meeting with our investigator Tatiana and she is doing great. We even had a lesson with Lidia Timofeevna at 7:30 in the morning which was a first for me, but it was also great. We also had a great experience Saturday morning. On Saturdays we are on the street ( like everyday) at 7 and it is sometimes a little EMPTY. It's always a good time to get in a little time on the swings at the
park because no one is there yet, BUT, Saturday morning we started out our door and walked a little ways and ran into a lady crying. We tried to talk to her a little bit but she didn't seem very interested but we kept trying. We asked if she needed help or anything , or if she just needed someone to listen to her adn she said okay, let's find a bench. So we all walked for a little while and talked to her. She
was having trouble with her husband and sons and so we talked to her a lot about trials and why we have them. We were also to teach her about prayer and how we believe we can pray ALWAYS and anywhere-- we don't have to be in church, and we most definitely don't have to read or memorize a prayer. We were able to pray with her and she was SO grateful (she even bought us juice;) She wants to meet with us again
and just kept saying how "good" it felt to be with us and how calm she felt. We explained to her that that is the spirit and gave her the Plan of Salvation pamphlet. It was a great opportunity and a testimony builder to me that Heavenly Father really does put people in our paths to work with. He gives us all of the tools and all we have to do is open our mouths. I was so grateful that morning to be able to help someone just feel better-- whether she gets baptized or not-- it is
our job and responsibility as members to lift the heads that hang down, serve, and just help people know about their loving Heavenly Father, their blessings and that he is always ready and willing to listen. So overall it was a fantastic experience. This was a great week overall and things in Oktyabraski are doing fantastic. I loved my time being able to serve with Sister Sorensen and she is a great missonary and we had a lot of FUN together and got a lot done. My "birthday" was Thursday and like I said, Valentina gave us my favorite candy- zefir, and my cute companion gave me a few little gifts. As I said it is definitely weird to think that I have been on my
mission a whole year but overall things are great. I hope everyone had a fantastic week and continued to do missionary work. Look forward to news from PENZA next week and about the new area, ward and companion. This next cycle will be FANTASTIC and I'm excited to see what happens.
I love you all!
Sister Morris
Monday, July 12, 2010
MY MOM IS THE BEST and a little note on karma
First things first-- thanks mom for the amazing package!!! We were SO THRILLED! We are going to eat cake the rest of our lives. It is so fantastic. too bad I wanted to start my summer diet this week... But thankyou so much for all of the cake mixes, the tuna and candy. The peanut butter candies were a big hit with the youth at church yesterday. We just had to remind them to not eat the paper, but they loved them.
Well I think I'm going to go off of the 'good old' missionary letter this week and just give everyone a good old laugh. I guess the following story could also teach us a little about karma... Well, missionaries are always in need of a place to teach. For some reason or another, people aren't always really open to having strangers come to their house so they are more open to meet somewhere neutral or somebody elses house. (Hey that makes me think-- maybe I will give the old missionary letter a try and give everyone a challenge to invite the missionaries to teach a lesson at their house this week ;) Our favorite place to meet with investigator's is CITY PARK (gorodskoi park). It is a HUGE park in our area where all the squirrels are, is very centrally located, shady and has lots of benches. People are always comforatble to meet there, gylat a little and then find a bench and talk about the gospel. So we met an elderly lady in the park this week, sat on a bench and began to talk to her. Well about 10 minutes later I felt something on my head. I went to feel it and... i'm sure you guessed it... a bird pooped on my head. Klacno. So I laughed, explained what happend, and luckily I had wet wipes with me (like my mom always taught me) so I cleaned up a little and continued to teach. Well not more than 5 minutes later, a bird pooped on my companion's forehead. So again we laughed, cleaned it up and continued to teach. Luckily everyone was able to just laugh and we had a good time joking about it. I'm really glad that they didn't poop on our investigator. We went home at lunch and washed our hair again because it was pretty bad. Our investigator even asked about it at church and asked how we handled washing our hair out. I think it's pretty bad luck to have a bird poop on your head and your companion;s head and so I started to think, WHY!? Well, I know why. KARMA. The birds are always around when we feed the squirrels in the park. They are always trying to eat my sunflower seeds that are for the squirrels and so I always shoo them away and occassionaly give them the "pity handful". Well know I can say that what goes around, really does come around becasue apparently we got our "pity portion" as well. As the saying goes in Russia-- it's just really good that cows don't fly.
This morning we took a walk to Park Pobedi-- a really famous park in Saratov that has lots of machinery and monumemtns from World War II. It is also on top of a really high mountain and so you can see all of Saratov. We were sooooo lucky to have Lena- one of my best friends here come with us. We alll rode together there and then walked around and loooked at lots of tanks, airplanes, bombs, helicopters, missiles, rockets etc. It is definitely a "boy" park but the nautre is very pretty and the views AMAZING! We were so lucky to be able to go with Lena, eat a little picnic (in honor of my mom) and just relax a little bit. It was a good morning.
We also met our new president. We had interviews with him this week and it was GREAT! I love him already. He is really nice, quiet, and calm. His wife is also very very nice and I am very excited to be able to work with them in the next few months. They are great people and we love them! The members already love them as well!
Well have a good week, do some missioanry work and stay cool-- IT"S HOT HERE! I love you all, I love this work and I LOVE RUSSIA!
Love
Sister Morris
Well I think I'm going to go off of the 'good old' missionary letter this week and just give everyone a good old laugh. I guess the following story could also teach us a little about karma... Well, missionaries are always in need of a place to teach. For some reason or another, people aren't always really open to having strangers come to their house so they are more open to meet somewhere neutral or somebody elses house. (Hey that makes me think-- maybe I will give the old missionary letter a try and give everyone a challenge to invite the missionaries to teach a lesson at their house this week ;) Our favorite place to meet with investigator's is CITY PARK (gorodskoi park). It is a HUGE park in our area where all the squirrels are, is very centrally located, shady and has lots of benches. People are always comforatble to meet there, gylat a little and then find a bench and talk about the gospel. So we met an elderly lady in the park this week, sat on a bench and began to talk to her. Well about 10 minutes later I felt something on my head. I went to feel it and... i'm sure you guessed it... a bird pooped on my head. Klacno. So I laughed, explained what happend, and luckily I had wet wipes with me (like my mom always taught me) so I cleaned up a little and continued to teach. Well not more than 5 minutes later, a bird pooped on my companion's forehead. So again we laughed, cleaned it up and continued to teach. Luckily everyone was able to just laugh and we had a good time joking about it. I'm really glad that they didn't poop on our investigator. We went home at lunch and washed our hair again because it was pretty bad. Our investigator even asked about it at church and asked how we handled washing our hair out. I think it's pretty bad luck to have a bird poop on your head and your companion;s head and so I started to think, WHY!? Well, I know why. KARMA. The birds are always around when we feed the squirrels in the park. They are always trying to eat my sunflower seeds that are for the squirrels and so I always shoo them away and occassionaly give them the "pity handful". Well know I can say that what goes around, really does come around becasue apparently we got our "pity portion" as well. As the saying goes in Russia-- it's just really good that cows don't fly.
This morning we took a walk to Park Pobedi-- a really famous park in Saratov that has lots of machinery and monumemtns from World War II. It is also on top of a really high mountain and so you can see all of Saratov. We were sooooo lucky to have Lena- one of my best friends here come with us. We alll rode together there and then walked around and loooked at lots of tanks, airplanes, bombs, helicopters, missiles, rockets etc. It is definitely a "boy" park but the nautre is very pretty and the views AMAZING! We were so lucky to be able to go with Lena, eat a little picnic (in honor of my mom) and just relax a little bit. It was a good morning.
We also met our new president. We had interviews with him this week and it was GREAT! I love him already. He is really nice, quiet, and calm. His wife is also very very nice and I am very excited to be able to work with them in the next few months. They are great people and we love them! The members already love them as well!
Well have a good week, do some missioanry work and stay cool-- IT"S HOT HERE! I love you all, I love this work and I LOVE RUSSIA!
Love
Sister Morris
Monday, July 5, 2010
Proud to be an American
Family and Friends!
Well it's July! It seems really weird to think thatit is already July but time just keeps on ticking. Happy Fourth of July!!! I really did miss America this week as I thought about the holiday that was coming up. We are so fortunate to live in such a great countryand have so rights and freedoms. I love living in Russia and I love the people here but I can say that I am proud to be an American.
Well this week was pretty good. Lots of walking as usual and talking but that never hurt anyone. Summertime has definitely hit in Russia and everyone is heading to the beach and working on their tans. I can't tell you how many times this week we got asked why we haven't been on the beach, when we will be and why we don't be like "normal" teenagers and hang out on the beach all day. Classic. I am getting a little bit of a missionary tan so that is good. This week we had a great lesson with a referral from a member! It was fantastic. That is totally the way we want to do missionary work and so it was so nice to be able to sit down with someone who was 100% completely interested in learning more about the church and already had a good idea of what it was about from her friend. It was such a great lesson and she says she will read and pray to know if the church is true. That is the way missionary work is supposed to be! We need your contacts and your referrals. When they see us, they often think, Oh crazy fanatics that can't go to the beach etc.But when they know a member and see that you live real lives and that the Gospel truly blesses your life they are more open to hearing our message. So... give the missionaries referrals.
We saw the lady with the fashion advice and I dressed really cute and she loved it!!!! So all is well in Fashion land!
My companion this week had a visa trip to Kiev and so I was with a mini-missionary. I wasn't able to pick my mini-missionary, which is fine, but I was unsure who would be with me and so we said we would just meet Monday night right outside our house. All I had heard was that she was from the Colnichny branch, she loves the scriptures and the Gospel and if needed she could beat someone up. What? I was pretty excited to see who it wasand Monday night we met...ALLAH! She was fantastic! Alla is a grandma here who really does love and know the scriptures and I still think that she could probably beat someone up. She was so fun to be with for the day and we had a fantastic time! The weather was HOT but in Russia when it's hot they recommend you drink hot tea (I still don't know why) and so we had a great time drinking tea, contacting in the park, teaching a lesson to a mom, discussing scriptures, and talking about life in Russia. It was really fun to hear how she found the church and how it has blessed her life. She is a temple worker and so is right now waiting for the next temple trip to be able to work there. I am so grateful for her sacrifice to work with me for the day in the heat and walk about 7 hours. She was a TROOPER and became another one of my many heroes here in Russia. I LOVE THE MEMBERS HERE! i don't think I could say that enough.
Well thats enough for today! Thanks for the love and support! Keep supporting the missioanries and praying for them and for their INVESTIGATORS! I love you all and know the church is true!
Sister Morris
Well it's July! It seems really weird to think thatit is already July but time just keeps on ticking. Happy Fourth of July!!! I really did miss America this week as I thought about the holiday that was coming up. We are so fortunate to live in such a great countryand have so rights and freedoms. I love living in Russia and I love the people here but I can say that I am proud to be an American.
Well this week was pretty good. Lots of walking as usual and talking but that never hurt anyone. Summertime has definitely hit in Russia and everyone is heading to the beach and working on their tans. I can't tell you how many times this week we got asked why we haven't been on the beach, when we will be and why we don't be like "normal" teenagers and hang out on the beach all day. Classic. I am getting a little bit of a missionary tan so that is good. This week we had a great lesson with a referral from a member! It was fantastic. That is totally the way we want to do missionary work and so it was so nice to be able to sit down with someone who was 100% completely interested in learning more about the church and already had a good idea of what it was about from her friend. It was such a great lesson and she says she will read and pray to know if the church is true. That is the way missionary work is supposed to be! We need your contacts and your referrals. When they see us, they often think, Oh crazy fanatics that can't go to the beach etc.But when they know a member and see that you live real lives and that the Gospel truly blesses your life they are more open to hearing our message. So... give the missionaries referrals.
We saw the lady with the fashion advice and I dressed really cute and she loved it!!!! So all is well in Fashion land!
My companion this week had a visa trip to Kiev and so I was with a mini-missionary. I wasn't able to pick my mini-missionary, which is fine, but I was unsure who would be with me and so we said we would just meet Monday night right outside our house. All I had heard was that she was from the Colnichny branch, she loves the scriptures and the Gospel and if needed she could beat someone up. What? I was pretty excited to see who it wasand Monday night we met...ALLAH! She was fantastic! Alla is a grandma here who really does love and know the scriptures and I still think that she could probably beat someone up. She was so fun to be with for the day and we had a fantastic time! The weather was HOT but in Russia when it's hot they recommend you drink hot tea (I still don't know why) and so we had a great time drinking tea, contacting in the park, teaching a lesson to a mom, discussing scriptures, and talking about life in Russia. It was really fun to hear how she found the church and how it has blessed her life. She is a temple worker and so is right now waiting for the next temple trip to be able to work there. I am so grateful for her sacrifice to work with me for the day in the heat and walk about 7 hours. She was a TROOPER and became another one of my many heroes here in Russia. I LOVE THE MEMBERS HERE! i don't think I could say that enough.
Well thats enough for today! Thanks for the love and support! Keep supporting the missioanries and praying for them and for their INVESTIGATORS! I love you all and know the church is true!
Sister Morris
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