Week 34: I have been praying so hard for a miracle to happen.

Ok this week was amazing! 

Monday we pretty much just hung out with the elders from Vietnam after studies. It was fun. They went back to their areas and are happy now. We had a lesson with some members so I thought it would be a prime opportunity to spring the lesson on the new guy, Elder Quoach. I know, I’m a meanie… but that's how you learn. He did awesome anyways! I just supported his thoughts, and it all went great.

Tuesday I shared the district meeting lesson on The Holy Ghost and about recognizing the spirit; I also shared about the Light of Christ. I love learning about this subject… and it just so happens that one of my all-time favorite apostle shares a lot about it as well. Everyone should watch the 3 part video called Patterns of Light by Elder David A. Bednar.

Wednesday we had lunch at a member's house… and it was awesome. They are preparing to go to the Salt Lake temple when they go to General Conference. I am so excited for them. They are a little better-off than most, because the husband, Bun Ly is a big movie start/ movie maker here in Cambodia.

That afternoon we went over to a member family's house because our investigator is best friends with them. We had a really great talk about why the members are so important, and then we invited them to help bring the investigator to the waters of Baptism. They said yes. Things are really going great. 

Thursday was weekly planning. Everything went smoothly and we planned for yet another awesome week! Then we went over to our District President's house to kind of coordinate a little on the upcoming events for our Branch. 

Friday we went to visit a less active member and instead ended up sharing with her father. We shared the first lesson and I invited him to be baptized by the proper authority. He said he was interested in learning more, but wasn't sure yet if baptism was right for him. We will continue teaching him and see where that goes. I have high hopes :)

Then we found out that our Branch President's son had moved back home, and he has a new wife who happens to be Buddhist… and wants to learn, so we will start teaching her as well!

One of my favorite families in the world made a tough decision this week and it was difficult to hear about during our lesson with them. They have decided to let their kids stay in Vietnam to study, instead of living with them in Cambodia. They only want them to have a bright future, and know they can't have that here. I will miss their two children dearly. They are really special.

That night we went over to an investigator's house and his mother had come back to visit for the holidays. She is Vietnamese, but lives in America. She lives in a Viet community in Atlanta, Georgia,  so we had a lot to talk about. She made me promise that when I come home I will come visit her and eat at her restaurant. 

Saturday we had an awesome special training session from President Moon and sister Moon. They taught us about obedience and happiness. It was weird because we kind of talked about life after the mission too. President Moon shared an amazing quote. After that we had another meeting with the District presidency… and then another that evening with the Branch Presidency. Sometimes I feel more like an administrator than a missionary. It's really great though, I am learning a lot. 

“When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes our quest, in that moment God will endow us with power.”
― Ezra Taft Benson

Finally, Sunday! It was fast Sunday! I love fast Sundays. We went to Church and had an amazing fast and testimony meeting. Afterwards, I shared a lesson with the youth about Christ and how He is our example. How we need to let our lights shine and follow that example and share it with others. After we went home and studied, and then I had to go to Branch 6 to get some baptism papers signed! We had two baptisms in Branch 6. I am so grateful that I got to interview those two amazing people. Theirs were great baptisms.

I have been praying so hard for a miracle to happen. My companion and I even made it a weekly goal to have faith such that a miracle would happen for us. It came yesterday. I talked previously about the old lady by our house, who was really sick and had a big family… right? Well, we talked to another one of her daughters, and she wanted us to come and teach her a lesson. We went by there yesterday. She was on her way out, but she told us to wait a few minutes and she would be back. So we sat down with another man who was playing on his phone. We started with some small talk… which led to talking about the Gospel.

The man's name is Chu Long and he said he was baptized in 2006. He told us of how he was a teacher in the Gospel Doctrine class… and how he had had a disagreement with some members, so he left the Church because of it. He bore a strong testimony that he still knows the Gospel is true. I bore to him my testimony that this Gospel is true as well. This Church is the true church. And then the Spirit guided me to invite him to repent and come back into the fold of God. He said he wasn't sure.

By this time, the women we had intended to meet came back. We asked if we could share our message with her… and I invited Chu Long to stay and help teach with us. He accepted and we taught a great lesson on the restoration. He shared beautifully of the atonement and of how the First Vision really did happen. The spirit was so strong. I invited her to be baptized next month and she said yes. She prayed with us to know these things were true… and after the lesson, Chu Long pulled me aside. He proceeded to tell me how he hadn't felt that kind of love… and hadn't felt the Spirit like that in years.

Chu Long then asked if he could come back. I could barely hold back tears of joy as I promised him those feelings and his meeting with us was a gift from Heavenly Father. He said he would change his schedule so that he can help our new investigator (Chi Nhi) come to Church this Sunday.

I want to bear to you my testimony of the power of fasting and prayer. I know that this is His work. I also know that as we prayerfully and obediently seek them, we will see miracles. He has blessed me with the opportunity to see His hand in my life. This Church is true. This Gospel is true. I am so grateful for the mighty change that has… and is happening in my heart. I love you all so much and hope you have an amazing week!

Elder Morris

Week 33: The kid did NOT want to learn...

Well this week was interesting!

Monday we were pretty stacked so we didn't have any time to play soccer. :( But! We went to the mission home and I got some cool new ties. I will send a picture of them next week because I forgot. Then the new guy really wanted to take a look at New Market, which is just a huge market with everything a tourist would ever want and it all for at least half price. So we walked around there for a while. 

Tuesday I taught District Meeting. This one was pretty dry because it was about learning the language. This lesson always just makes everyone self-conscious and ashamed for not being more diligent (haha). I tried to keep it as upbeat as possible though. After that, we found out that the Burger King has a super whopper deal where you get two and one meal is for free. Those were nice. Then I think Elder Toan ate too much and he was feeling sick so we took him home and he slept for a while. I just started making a bunch of calls trying to set up appointments with less actives and lost members. It actually ended up pretty good. 

Wednesday I was invited to attend this English Class training meeting for all the English Class leaders. It was super cool! We finally got our Facebook page and website set up. A whole new program is being set up and I can't wait to get it started! Then after that we had a Mission Leadership Meeting with all the Leaders in the mission. That was so cool. I love being in discussions with other missionaries about the work. They are all so seasoned and have so many great insights. That was really neat.

After all that, we went out and taught a lesson and then went out contacting. We found this lady because this guy on the side of the road said there was one Viet lady living in the alley nearby. She was kind of asleep when we came. She woke up and told us that she has a serious hard problem and had been sick for months and will pass away soon. I felt like we needed to tell her who we were and that our message was what she needed. She took the pamphlet and asked us to pray with her. 

Thursday we had weekly planning. Well kind of. Some of us fell asleep and we didn't end up getting a lot of planning done. But we turned it around and got a few good lessons in for the day. I had an idea that we should do something for the members that are still in Cambodia for the Chinese New Years. Oh by the way, It has been like a ghost town the past couple of days because of the holidays. It sucks if you’re a missionary. 

Anyways, we went out and bought a bunch of bananas and stuff and I started making banana bread for our members. 

I don't want to brag but that banana bread was pretty good. 

Friday we made a butt load more bread and started our quest to visit all the members. We spent the day sharing messages with them and trying to serve others. 

Saturday I went on a mini exchange with the zone leader elder Tri. He is really cool and knows this language really well. We went and taught a lesson in the morning to one of his investigators. The investigator is like 10 and his mom is less active but helps in all the lessons. We came to their house the kid did NOT want to learn. His mom made him sit down with us and he started crying. 

It is pretty weird teaching the 10 commandments to a crying 10 year old.

Then later that day we went back to the sick lady's house to share a lesson with her. We went by and this other lady was there. She said she was her daughter and kindly asked us to sit down with her. We sat down at the table and there was a bible open and it looked as though someone had been studying. That made me happy until she said that she was a Jehovah's Witness… and so were the other 10 kids in the family. YIKES. I immediately started sweating profusely when the lady asked if she could share a few things she really liked out of the bible. It wasn't quite a bible bash, but we had to use a few scriptures to counter the crazy stuff she was saying. She got stuck when we shared about prophets and Joseph Smith so she said she had to go. It kind of sucks because she was really sweet to us. We will go back there and try and help them. 

Sunday was church! We didn't have very many people there but it was really awesome! Everyone was helping a lot and things went smooth. It was also the birthday of one of the youth. A girl named Nhi who just turned 19. She is preparing for a mission and will hopefully turn in her papers soon. I made her a Banana Cake which turned it out to be crazy, because everyone at church started saying how good it was and that they had birthdays coming up too! Ahhh!! Then that night we went out and decided to just find people to do service for. It was really fun and we met some really cool people. Love you all and hope you have an amazing week!   

Week 32: A Crowded House

Hey Everyone! 

This week was full of fun stuff. 

Monday we played some soccer...as usual, and then right after that we were told that President Moon would be coming to inspect our house to see whether or not we were following the simplified housekeeping challenge! I almost pooped myself at this announcement seeing as our house is not up to par. We rushed home and cleaned everything as fast as we could.  

It turned out that our house was one of the cleanest houses in the mission. We even got some cookies from sister Moon. 

Then we got some new ties at the mission home, they are nice. 

Tuesday we went to have District Meeting at the church only to find that the guard took the day off and no one had unlocked the gate to the church. We got to have our meeting at the stake center which is so cool! I shared a lesson on the Atonement and then we had a musical number, because one of our sisters was about to finish her mission.

Wednesday we got the baptismal date we had hoped for! Our investigator is so awesome and he hopefully will be progressing towards the first of the month. :) Then we went and helped out doing some translation work. I am really starting to like doing translations. I have finished a few Mormon messages and talks in Vietnamese, just in case anyone wants to check them out. ;) While we were helping with that, one of the Elders came across some really funny articles on this website called Millennial Mormons. It is borderline sacrilege, but a pretty entertaining read.

Thursday, I am so tired is all I have written down in the notes for the day. Thinking back, we did weekly planning. Oh we looked around for people to serve, and then hunted down a less active member, who has been dodging us like we're the mob or something. He is a nice kid though. He just loves the computer games. 

Friday we went out and taught a lesson in the morning to another investigator. Then we went out looking for the Lost Sheep. After that we had a good time translating the new hymn book for the Vietnamese Branches. Hopefully, we will be done with all of that in the next week or so. I am stoked. Then we biked out like an hour and a half to find a less active member. He is so great and promised he was going to start coming back to church and back to the path of righteousness… I hope so. 

Saturday was Transfer Day. Not really for my companion and I. We will be sticking together for another one. It should be fun. We also got a call that we would be taking care of not one, but three companionships. We have nine people in our house that usually has four. It has been a blast but it gets pretty cozy at night and all the food is gone. 

Luckily its p-day and we bought more food. We also got a new Elder in the Vietnamese program! He is awesome. His name is Elder Guoach I may have spelled that wrong though. He is part Chinese and half Vietnamese. He is from Australia. He is a big boy and very funny. Reminds me a little of Winnie the Pooh. 

Sunday we had Church and it was glorious. The sister who ended her mission on Saturday had her parents come to Cambodia to visit! They were super cool and they even bore their testimonies during sacrament. It was really special and everyone was moved. I was so happy because instead of teaching Sunday School this week, the other Elders said they would teach and we got to be in the gospel principles class with our investigators. I love that class. 

After all that we had a surprise birthday for one of our members who is preparing to go to the temple with her husband. It was really special. The thing that is so cute about birthdays here is that people always do two things: 1. They bare their testimony and thank everyone for everything. 2. Instead of making a wish, they say the prayer and bless the food for everyone. It is really special that they make something so fun and simple as a birthday party a spiritually uplifting experience. I love that. 

This was definitely a good week and I couldn't be happier. I love you all and hope you have the best week ever! 

Love 

Elder Morris

Week 31: I've really grown to love this language...

This week was a pretty good one. Monday we played some soccer and stuff. We had some misunderstandings and had to go home and talk them out. So even though there has been some stuff going on with my companion and I, I think this week went really well. 

Tuesday we had an exchange and I went to another area for the first time in forever. I went to Branch 6 and it was awesome. There are so many people over there and you can just talk to anyone. It was like a dream not hunting down Vietnamese people. We had some great lessons and did some contacting.

On Wednesday we switched back and had English class. The elders from Vietnam came for the leadership counsel and they slept over that night. It is never a good night sleep when the elders from Vietnam come over. They always keep us up with questions and awesome stories. I got to spend some time with my old companion Elder Cuong though. It was fun :)

On Thursday we had our weekly planning…and things were a lot better. We talked a lot of things out and I think it went well. My companion had an interview with the president and I did a lot of translation work. I have really grown to love this language through translating. It is something to work towards. 

On Friday we had a big leadership training from our zone leaders. They gave an awesome part about true love and how to show more love for others. I really like all the things we talked about.

On Saturday we had a meeting with the leadership of the branch to figure out our goals and how they should improve so that we have more progression in this area. It was a really productive meeting and I am so happy about the direction the Branch is going.

Then Yesterday was Sunday and things got interesting. At the last minute, the pianist told me that I had to play. I quickly recalled my four years of percussion…Honestly I didn't completely butcher the hymns. haha that was fun. 

We had the lowest church attendance I have ever had in my mission. I have no idea why no one came to church this Sunday, except that it was the Vietnamese New Year. Everyone goes back to their hometowns and stuff. It is a dark time for the missionaries. After that, we taught Sunday School and then Priesthood. I taught about charity and the pure love of Christ. I love teaching that class. The youth are amazing.

After church we went home and studied and then headed over to a member's house to get their help for a lesson. We all went over the lesson and then watched “17 Miracles” together. We then shared about sacrifice and temple work. It was super spiritual and they promised to come back to church... and that they wanted to go to the temple. 

This week I didn't have a ton of things to write about, but I know I saw miracles. I know that Heavenly Father is always there; He loves us and knows what we need in order to grow the most. I shared D&C 122: 7-9 with our less-active members. I know that everything will be for our own experience and benefit. I know that this Gospel is true. I know that Joseph Smith is the prophet of the Restoration, and that through him I am blessed by this Gospel. I know that... because I have been given much, (so) I too must give, and I am so grateful for this opportunity to do that. I love you all and hope you have an amazing week.

Love Elder Morris

Week 29: Sorry I haven't written.... "I just haven't got around to it okay?!"

Hey everyone!

Yes, I know, it has been way too long! I have been really lazy and haven't written an update in forever!

Monday was pretty simple. For the past few weeks, we have been organizing soccer in the mornings for P day. This helped me keep my sanity. I have missed soccer so much. After running errands all day we went to meet some of our less active members. They are great... and promised to come to church! ( which they did) :) and then we met with an investigator. We agreed that he needs to push himself a little bit harder, and drop some more things so that he can be ready for baptism. Then at the end of the night we had a big family home evening with the senior couple, Brother and Sister Bailey because sadly they had a family emergency and went back to America. Everyone in the branch was really sad. We had a spiritual thought and then we played a game. It was really cool. One of the mothers asked for a blessing before we started the FHE. She wanted Brother Bailey to give her one before he left. I was asked to translate. I had never done that before and it was really neat. I felt the spirit so strong during the blessing. At first, I was thinking of what needed to be said...but that didn't go very well. Then I began listening to the spirit and the words started to flow out. I knew that member was feeling the spirit because of the tears in her eyes as she thanked us for our service. I am so grateful for those opportunities.

Tuesday we had district meeting. It was really great. I truly felt prepared this time and the lesson went just as planned! I was pleased how it went, and everyone participated. Then we went to my old area and helped the Branch President there with some paper work that he didn't understand. That was neat to see how the church records work.

Wednesday we met with an "eternal investigator" who is really starting to show some progress! It is really great to see his desire to learn spark up again. After that, we had a really awesome lesson with our Branch President and his wife about how we can better serve others. Then we shared about the temple and what we can do to help others in the branch prepare to go. They agreed to start visiting the members and help them to prepare. Then we had English class! This is week two of the English class here in Branch 10... and we already have 9 people coming. It is growing really quickly and hopefully it will continue to get bigger.

Thursday was weekly planning and this time we did the whole thing in English, because my companion really wants to learn. Very weird... we even prayed in English. We had planned to have an exchange with the zone leaders right afterwards, so Elder Tran came into my area with me. We ended up getting stood up on all of our lessons we had planned, so we just contacted a bunch... which was a little embarrassing because whenever the zone leaders come, you always want to show them how much work you are doing. Oh well, it was still fun.

Friday was hard because Elder Tran had gotten food poisoning on Thursday night. Talk about a stellar exchange right? 

Yeah he was borderline dead and he like woke me up at about four in the morning saying, "Elder Morris, I think I'm dying".   Apparently was half asleep still because my reply was, "cool dude..." and then I fell back asleep. 

I felt bad about that. So we stayed in for a while. He slept and I planned and cleaned. Studying by yourself is like weird now. 

We switched back and my real companion and I went to a FHE that we had planned with some returning less actives. They are the cutest little family and I had prepared a movie that I wanted them to watch. We even got our branch president to come along. But he fates did not smile upon us that day, because the DVD player wouldn't read the disc... so we ended up just sharing what they would have seen in the movie. It was still good, but not the same. :(

Saturday, we went to play soccer in the morning with three investigators and all their Vietnamese friends. ;) I was given permission to play soccer as a means of finding... which is awesome! We had a good time! Some guys sitting around at the soccer place asked me where I learned how to play and they were actually kinda interested in the gospel too which was a real score. 

Yesterday (Sunday) was awesome. We had a great Church meeting and everything went well. We had some investigators come and said that they felt moved by the sacrament meeting, and the lessons given. I had to play the bad guy in Sunday School... which really stunk. Well, I am the teacher because none of the other members want to teach that class... because there are around 15 kids and they are pretty rowdy when they want to be. That was yesterday for sure. They had no intention of paying attention, which is weird because usually they are so good! I got a little bit frustrated and told them how we take time out of our busy schedules to plan the lessons for them... and that the least they could do was to listen. They apologized, which was cool, and we got through it. I passed out some candy from Christmas for them. 

The past few weeks have really flown by. I suppose that I am getting lost in this work. This is my excuse for why I haven't been updating the blog. I love you all and am so, so unbelievably grateful for all of  your love and support. It helps me more than you know! I love you all, and hope you have an amazing week! 

Elder Morris

Week 23: It is almost Christmas and I couldn't be more thrilled!

This week was good.

It is almost Christmas and I couldn't be more thrilled!

Monday, we had emailing and then went to help an investigator do some paperwork in English for a few hours. That was rough. I don't even know how to use Photoshop. Then we went to the mission home to pick up the Vietnamese elders who came in for Visa work.

Tuesday, we had District meeting and then ran splits with the Vietnam Elders. I went with Elder Hieu who is pretty close to going home. I was blown away at how good his Vietnamese was and how great of a teacher he was in our lessons. We went and taught a lesson to an old investigator, Chu Hai. He has been learning for close to five years now. We tried to get a lesson going, when he stood up and started yelling at us… saying that he didn't want to learn and that we were trying to force him to do things. We apologized for hurting his feelings and left. He was being a drama queen though in my opinion.

Wednesday, we taught a bunch of great lessons. We taught one to our Branch President, and then he set some goal with us for next year. He wants 15 baptisms and 90 people at church. He says he has faith that we can do it… me too.

Thursday, we taught a lesson to a new investigator, Chu Bao. He has the cutest little daughter ever. She was combing my hair during the lesson and tried to paint my nails so I could be "pretty" like her..

Friday, we just dropped off the Vietnamese Elders and taught a few lessons.

Saturday, we found a less active member and taught her a good lesson. She said she will try and make it back to church (so please pray for that). We taught a lesson to Anh Thanh at the church. During the lesson, members kept randomly showing up! By the end of the lesson, we had five members helping teach the lesson! It was kind of crazy… but also really cool that they stayed and shared.

Because they pulled the Elders out of Branch 3 ( my old area), my companion and I have been assigned to cover both areas. We went all the way out to Kilometer 9 and met with an old investigator Chu Thanh. 

He was so happy to see us. He told us that he thought that we had left back to America and he was heartbroken. I got pretty choked up. We taught him that he needed to continue learning and following God's commandments. He asked if he could be baptized this month, but we told him that he needed to prepare a little more… so we set the date for next month.

Sunday was fun. Our investigator Chu Long decided that he didn't want his kids to learn with us anymore. I am really sad right now about that, because they want to be baptized and come to church.  But he said that they are not ready yet. I hope his heart will change. Then at church we had a little bit of a mix up. At the end of the Sacrament Service, our Branch President announced the day for our Christmas Activity on the 20th. I guess that no one knew about it… and there was an uproar. People started yelling and pointing fingers. It was really crazy. Then, during the third hour, our recent convert brought in a giant Christmas tree and said that the people wanted one in the church. That was neat. 

This Christmas season is both really fun and super stressful. Organizing parties and things are really hard. (in spite of everything) This week was really good though. I am grateful how willing the members here are to sacrifice and help solve the problems that come up. This was a good week.

Week 22: They really do know how to hide…

This week was pretty rough actually. 

Monday, we did a lot of email stuff because a member asked us to start a translation for the Nativity for the Christmas Activity! After that we had an appointment drop, so we contacted for the rest of the night. 

Tuesday, we contacted all morning. After about two and a half hours, we found one person who was Vietnamese. They really do know how to hide… or something. But that was just the beginning. We decided we would try and find a referral from the Sister missionaries. We found him working up on some scaffolding. We climbed up there with him and talked for a bit. His name is Thien. It turned out that he was baptized in the Catholic Church about four years ago. He said he would like to meet with us again later in the week. 

Wednesday our recent convert gave us a call and told us that his older brother would like to join the church. We were pretty excited and went to meet them. His brother said that he was tired of the other churches and wanted something that had meaning. We will now be going to meet with him again this week and start teaching. The power of referrals is amazing. Also, a member of our Branch got his mission call. He was called to serve in Cambodia, speaking Khmer! We really could've used him in the Vietnamese program, but I am happy he is going to serve. 

Thursday was Zone Conference! We were taught a little more about how we can use our time more wisely and how to extend better commitments. We also talked about this Christmas Season and how we can better show our appreciation for the Savior and all He had done for us. We are now committed to find one thing we can sacrifice for the Lord, because He sacrificed everything for us. I know I have a lot that I can sacrifice. Next we met with our investigator Chu Long and his two children. We taught a little more about Baptism and what that means. At the end of the lesson, his two children said that they both want to be baptized and they accepted a baptismal date for the 28th of this month. I hope it all works out. 

Friday we met with a recent convert and his mom. His mom is not a member of the Church. We weren't sure what we should share and out of the blue she asked us about baptism. She told us about her husband and that he had died and was worried about his eternal wellbeing. We taught a powerful lesson on Temples and Baptism. By the end the lesson, she didn't set a date, but said that she wanted to be baptized… and for her husband to be baptized as well. 

Saturday, we did weekly planning since we didn't have the chance to on Thursday. We then went out contacting for 2 and a half hours. We did find 2 Viets… but it was hard. 

Sunday was Fast Sunday. I love fast Sunday because they are always so powerful. Our investigator, Anh Thien, met with us before Church at his Grandmother's house. He told us about his baptism some more… and how he felt like he was meant to find something greater. We shared a lesson on the Restoration and baptism and how we need the proper Priesthood authority. He asked if that meant that they both needed to be baptized again and of course, we said “yes”. They said ok, which was amazing… but not really the answer I would have expected. Thien has a baptismal date for the 28th of this month. 

This Christmas Season is the only time when nearly the whole world focuses on Christ. I know that OUR sensitivity to Spiritual things is heightened. Heavenly Father wants all his children to know of His love for us. I know that if we sacrifice a little of our time and share the message with just one person this month, miracles will happen. I love you all! Have the best week ever! 

Elder Morris