Stake Conference

Hello. So the week`s been pretty good. We finished up Carnaval and were finally able to leave the house on Wednesday. We went out and visited all of our investigators and WOW!!! So there was a guy that we found the day before we got shut in the house. We gave him a Book of Mormon and then didn`t talk to him for 5 days. When we went back he said he had read a little. He said "I`m in Nephi, chapter 2, Verse 26" and we were like "hey that`s cool that you read a 3 pages" then he comes and and says "Oh, 2 Nephi chapter 26" and then said, "wait no, I finished that. I`m in Jacob" Then during our lesson about the plan of salvation he quoted scriptures and told us the TRUE story of Adam and Eve. WHAT!!!!! He said he already felt like God was talking to him through the book and wanted to go to church really bad. And guess what... HE CAME TO STAKE CONFERENCE!!!!!! Yeah buddy! There`s another investigator we found 2 days before that and he waits for us to come and assign him his chapter to read every 2 days and reads it like 3 times so he can discuss it with us. And guess what... HE ALSO CAME TO STAKE CONFERENCE!!! Double yeah buddy. So stake conference was good and our mission president spake along with a member of the 70 (Juan Ucera) and it was really good. On Saturday my companion got sent to Cartagena for the day to baptize an investigator he was teaching and I said I didn`t want to go because we had a ton of appointments, so they found me a mini missionary to go out with me. He`s a priest who got his mission call and didn`t open it because he had to come out with me (I felt bad) but we had a pretty good day. We were contacting and then I said it was his turn and he got scared but did it. I told him just to tell them that we`re representatives of Jesus Christ. So rather than saying hello or something like "how are you" first, he opened with yelling. "HI WE REPRESENT JESUS CHRIST" Then froze and stopped talking. It was really funny and later on he thanked me for the experience, but gally it was funny haha. Our bishop told us yesterday that since we don`t have a ward mission leader that the stake said it`s our job now to activate an inactive to be the next ward mission leader, and then find another to be the elders quorum president. So we`re working in that now haha. We found a guy who`s 99 years old. Then we went back and he said our church is of the devil... We`ll see when he departs this world in the next 5 minutes or so haha So that`s the majority of the week. Things are going well. We have a couple of solid investigators, but we`re working to find a whole lot more. Love you bye

More Carnaval Adventures

Woohoo what a week. So we`re here in Buena Esperanza working and contacting a lot because there aren`t a whole ton of investigators. Last Monday we were contacting at night and found a guy who let us in and said he has a student that gave him a Book of Mormon, but didn`t read it because the names were all different. So we explained why and he just said, "Oh, okay, now I understand. I`ll start reading it." Then his son came in and so we`re now teaching them both. Tuesday and Wednesday we did a lot of contacting and found some pretty good people, but the problem is that we had to schedule all of our appointments for the next week since it`s Carnaval right now. We found one guy in his house and he let us in right away and was really nice. I asked him what motivated him to listen to us and he said that he was praying super hard in the morning for God to talk to him. And then we came by and already feels like God answered him, so that was nice of him to say! Thursday we had Zone Conference from 8 in the morning until like 9 at night.... wee... but it was good. I learned a lot. Then after this day of zone conference we have had to wonderful opportunity of not being able to leave the house! Because it`s "dangerous" outside. Just kidding I`ve seen some "Negritos" which means little people who paint themselves black then go around asking for money, and if you don`t give them any, they hug or hit you with their painted body. I also saw a old guy walking down the street in nothing but a towel, but I think we`ll all get to that point eventually. Right? So yeah Carnaval is fun haha. The members are nice enough to bring us lunch, but not today (don`t worry I still have mashed potatoes). I want cool pictures of the Carnaval festivities but we can`t really see much from our house. We`re just sitting in the house studying all day. I get along well with this Elder that works in a different ward but lives in our apartment as a trainer to another Elder. His name`s Elder Palmer. He`s from Sandyish area and went to Brighton. I started watching a summary video of the WHOLE Old Testament. And hey, if that`s not fun I don`t know what is. We got to leave to go to the church yesterday! in taxi... it`s like a two minute walk.... But hey church was good. We`re the teachers for the Gospel Principles class and yesterday the lesson was on the fall of Adam and Eve. I drew pictures to help them understand, and it was super fun. Anyways, I hope that this week has been good for all of you. Leave the house for me or something like that. I love you all and thank anyone who`s sent me a letter (Addison - real bros, Lauren and Emmie) and a package (mom and family). The peanut butter you sent has been a life-saver. Love you buh-bye!

Transfers and Carnaval!

Woohoo! What a transfer! So two pdays ago Elder Davidson and I bought mashed potato flakes but we didn´t want to make them until the next transfer. So I told Elder Davidson on Tuesday morning that when they came to district meeting (after they saw the transfers because they´re the zone leaders) that he should tell me if we could have mashed potatoes that night. So when he got to district meeting he looked at me and said "Elder Morgan, you can open your mashed potatoes, haha. So all the day long I was thinking about what would happen in my area. All I knew is that I was staying. In the night time we saw the zone leaders and Elder Davidson just said he´d tell us so he did haha. He told us that I was staying but my companion was leaving to go be zone leader somewhere else. They told me my companion was an elder named Elder Cordero and I was like "whoa! I know who that is!" I saw him my first day in the mission. He´s from the Dominican Republic and speaks English because his dad is from New York. So then that night elder Silva and I finished our appointments and went home to plan and so he could pack too. The saddest part of the transfer is that Elder Davidson also left. So Wednesday morning we left for the bus terminal to send our companions off and wait for the new ones too. Elder Silva was great for a trainer and I can already see that I learned a lot from him, but I was glad for the change haha. After some time waiting my new companion, Elder Cordero, arrived from Cartagena. We left the terminal and went to the house for a minute and then it was off to work. I feel kind of bad because we really don`t have a ton of investigators and my new companion said that he left 2 baptisms waiting in his last area.. oh well!!! Time to contact haha. The ward was happy to see the new companions in english class that night. Everyone has told me that they`re glad Elder Silva left, but are sad that Elder Davidson had to go haha. So it`s Carnaval season here which means it`s just like a party every day, but Saturday there was a parade in the street in our area, so president said that we should probably head back to the house because it might be a little dangerous. So we went back to the house to study for a few hours, left the house and it was still a little rambunctious because everyone was now drunk. But we had an activity at the church so it wasn`t too bad. Sunday was a good day... kind of in that church was nice. But we finished our fast at the apartment and then my companion drank a whole bunch of juice and ate some sandwiches before lunch at the bishops house. He was super full and then she gave us a ton of food (not a good combo) after sitting for awhile (because he didn`t feel so hot) we left for this area that`s kind of far away to visit this inactive family where we now have investigators and we were close to the house when...... BARF in the street hahahah. He was so full that he just threw up right there in the street and people totally saw, but we kind of just kept walking and he sat down on the curb while I went and talked to some people. He got pretty sick so we had to go back to the house so he could rest for a little. BUT Elder Linder`s new companion was sick too so I asked Elder Linder if we could go out and visit some people and we did and it was good. We`re in the process right now of helping the ward become self sufficient. So we went and taught the 1st counselor and his wife and told him that really he should be coming to church every week on time (this place is so great haha). Our president sent an email today saying that for Carnaval we can go out Friday through Tuesday ONLY if we have a set visit before 5 and other than that we`re locked in the house because the people here are psycho. It`s rough because I want to find some more people, but I`ll get some good studying in! One other inactive family that we`ve been talking to here is super tough because the wife hates missionaries because one insisted that they get baptized on a certain so he rushed her paper work here for marriage and now her and her husband can`t leave the country if they want to (I guess I can see why she`s mad) but I can tell that the husband still wants to come back to the church. This was the day that my companion had just blown chunks all over the street so he was feelin` pretty lousy. I talked to the dad and the spirit was really strong there. I told him that Our duty as missionaries is to invite others to come unto Christ. For some that means coming to church and for the others that means an invitation to have a family home evening. We taught him how he can do a family home evening in his house and he said he`d do it, so hopefully that will work out really well. This next transfer is longer than the rest because something changed in the MTC or something. So I`m gonna be here in Buena Esperanza for at least 8 more weeks! Woo!!!! Let`s see what we can do haha. I love you all and bye!