Keeping it Real in GV2

It's Sister Lee's Birthday soon and the AP's are making her a book with pictures of all the companionships saying "Happy Birthday"

Hello everyone! 

This week was transfers and I made it to my new area in the Gainesville 2nd ward!! 

Cute signs on people's doorstep

A few fun facts about Gainesville
-Our area is a mix of country and super super nice houses. It was a little bit of culture shock since I've been in the ghetto my whole mission but I'm adjusting and learning to love it 
-It's a bazillion degrees hotter here than Jacksonville because no sea breeze (RIP)
-We are in a car share which means we are biking or walking most of the week which is fun but exhausting 
-The ward is SO amazing! Everyone is so supportive and they are always willing to come to lessons and feed us yummy food 
-There's two families in our ward from Farmington!! Which is crazy! It’s the first time I've met anyone on my mission that's from NM

We rescued a baby turtle this week..I wanted to take it home with me 

We worked really hard this week and we were able to find 4 new investigators, which was exciting! One man was named DanBo and he let us right in and told us all about his LDS friends he had growing up. He said they were always so friendly and happy and he always wanted that. We were able to share a scripture with him from the Book of Mormon and share our testimony of how the gospel has blessed our lives. He was really interested in our message and we are going back to see him this week! It was an awesome miracle! 

Right now we are working with the sweetest girl ever named Barbra. She is 16 and is getting ready to be baptized in about a month. We had a lesson with her Wednesday night and she has SO MUCH faith. She opened up to us about school and family struggles and basically bore her testimony to us of how much the gospel has blessed her. She came to church on Sunday and stayed all 3 hours. She is so amazing and so cute and I just love her so much! After her lesson on Wednesday we got to go with her to mutual and they had a nerf gun war. It was intense and super fun haha! Not something I planned on doing on my mission but we had an investigator with us so it worked out haha! Our ward always has fun things planned so I'm excited for that! 

We got caught in major rainstorm but it was worth it bc rainbows

I'm a Super excited for this transfer in Gainesville!! I know we are going to see a ton of miracles!! :) 

I love y'all! Have a blessed week <33

xoxo
sister morrow 

-Weekly Moss Moment-
Saturday we were planning on going to the church to do a service project for one of the members. We didn't have the car so we were biking. It's about 6 miles there but I figured we would be inside for the service project and would get a break from the sun so I didn't put on any sunscreen before we left (bad idea I know! I forgot!!) We ended up being outside the whole time then we ate lunch outside and then we had to bike home. So after about 4 1/2 hrs out in the sun I was dying. It was SO hot outside and I got super burnt. I have an awesome farmers tan on my arms from my service shirt and my watch tan line is getting real good. Summer is here for sure!! I'm buying extra sunscreen this week haha

Helping out with an Eagle Project

Halftime/G-ville

My new companion Sister Pennock!! We took this at the Brad Wilcox devotional before we even knew we were comps haha

Hi!! 

I hope y'all had a blessed week and an amazing mothers day! It was so awesome to get to talk to my family for a bit yesterday :,) So some exciting news this week! We had our transfer call and...I'm headed to Gainesville!! I'm sad to be leaving Arlington, Sister G,  and all of our amazing investigstors and ward members but I know there's good things waiting for me in Gainesville! It will be weird to be so far from Jacksonville but im excited for the change! My new companions name is Sister Pennock which is crazy! We served together in the St Augustine district for 3 transfers and we are super good friends so I am so so so excited! Another crazy thing...I hit 9 months this week. WOW! I can't believe I'm already halfway done with my mission! Time is flying by way too fast! 

VICKY AHHHH!!! I love her so much! 

This week was crazy busy! We had interviews with President Lee, a baptism, a special Brad Wilcox fireside, and the transfer call. It was stressful at times but it's always nice to be busy! 

Thursday Vicky got baptized!!! It was the most amazing thing ever. She has changed so much and I have loved seeing the person she has become as her faith grows and she lives the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She was crying during the baptism and the spirit was so strong in the room. She was confirmed on Sunday and she got emotional again when she was talking to us. She is ready to embrace this new life in the gospel and I couldn't be more excited for her

We also got to see our favorite member from SA sister sonney!! She's so sweet

Friday night we drove out to Orange Park for the Brad Wilcox devotional. He's like an inspirational speaker that's a member of the church. We had a special musical number with the all missionaries that was super cool. We don't get to be together as a whole mission very often so it was fun to see friends and people I used to serve with! :) After we finished singing Brother Wilcox got up and said "as I was watching these missionaries walk up here to sing I just thought that when the apostles were assigning  all of their calls they must have said 'if they're good looking send them to Jacksonville Florida'" It was funny haha! He gave a really good talk on grace and what it really means to be saved by grace. It was super good! I am so thankful for my Savior Jesus Christ and His sacrifice. Definitely blessed. 

Well I love y'all! I hope you have a blessed week!! 

xoxo

Sister Morrow 

ps here's my new address!! :)

13200 West Newberry Rd.

Apt. F-32
Newberry, FL 32669

 Fam  <33

Elly and Lorraine

Happy Monday!! We had such an amazing week here in Arlington!! 

First off...Elly and Loraine got baptized!!! Yay! The baptism was great. We had so many people from the ward come and their whole family was there too. They just had the biggest smiles on their faces the whole time and it made my heart so happy! The spirit was so strong throughout the whole service and it was just amazing! We went to see them the next day and asked how they felt and Elly said, "I just still feel so clean!!" It's the best feeling!" I just love them so much and am so happy for them. We are still working with Elly's husband George and he will hopefully be getting baptized soon :)

Elly and Lorraine aka my favorite people ever!!! It was such a perfect day! 

This week we had a tradeoff with our Sister Training Leaders and I got to stay in Arlington with Sister Koener! I was supposed to go to Hendricks with her but I was asked to give a talk at a baptism for one of the elders’ investigators last minute so we switched the plans around. It ended up being really great though! While we were out working in an apartment complex we saw a couple that seemed to be struggling with their car. We went up and asked if they needed help and they explained they had locked their keys inside. We offered to help but we weren't able to get it unlocked haha they let us teach them about the Book of Mormon while waiting for the locksmith and they were super interested and open to it. It was a total miracle. After the baptism that night we had some time left and we weren't sure what to do. It was about 8:40 so we decided to try one more person in the area. We knocked on Regina’s door and she let us right in! She does family history at our church twice a week and used to meet with the sisters regularly. We read some scriptures with her and talked about how important our families are. She was the sweetest lady ever and we are going back to see her this week! 

Lorraine being a goof

Vicky is doing great. We were able to take a member with us to see her this week and they totally hit it off! She was at church again yesterday and as soon as she walked in the door she asked us where the envelopes were so she could pay her tithing. She is so amazing!! They announced her baptism in sacrament meeting and she had so many ward members come up and tell her how excited they are for her and welcomed her in. She is so so so prepared and we can't wait for Thursday!! A few months back our ward had a special fast for missionary work and we are still seeing the blessings from that. Our ward will have had 6 convert baptisms in the last 2 months, which is AMAZING! I'm at thankful to be serving in a ward where the members have such great faith and are so willing to support missionary work! It really makes all the difference 

REAL FLORIDA ORANGES! A member in our ward gave us two huge bags of oranges from the tree in their backyard. We used them make homemade juice and it was super yummy 

I have been studying this week about the Holy Ghost, and how I can be more in tune with the promptings I receive. I was studying Elder Rasband's talk from this last session of Conference called Let the Holy Spirit Guide. In it he said 

"Our Father in Heaven knew that in mortality we would face challenges, tribulation, and turmoil; He knew we would wrestle with questions, disappointments, temptations, and weaknesses. To give us mortal strength and divine guidance, He provided the Holy Spirit, another name for the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost binds us to the Lord. By divine assignment, He inspires, testifies, teaches, and prompts us to walk in the light of the Lord. We have the sacred responsibility to learn to recognize His influence in our lives and respond." 

I am so thankful for the Holy Ghost. It is so essential to this work. We have to rely on it to tell us where to go, whom to visit, what to teach, and a million other things. I know as we learn to recognize the Holy Ghost we will see how much our Heavenly Father cares for us. He wants to give us that help and direction and he does that through the Holy Ghost. I love being a missionary! It's the best thing ever!! 

I love y'all!! Have a blessed week and a happy mothers day!! 

(Talk to you in 6 days mom!!!)

xoxo

Sister Morrow

Regina had these awesome cat pillows all over her house and I had to get a picture because they were so creepy and great 

-Weekly Moss Moment-

This is one of my favorite moss moments. So we went to visit a LA one day that is known to be a kook. We were sitting in her kitchen visiting and she left us for a few minutes to get something from her room. While we were sitting there we noticed a strange jar sitting in the middle of the table. It had a weird powder in it that looked like hot cocoa powder maybe so sister g picked it up and began examining it. She opened it, shook it up a bit, and smelled it. She informed me that it didn't really smell like anything and I just shrugged and said I didn't know what it was. She closed the jar back up and sat it on the table again. When the member came back she noticed us looking at the jar and said, "Oh that's my girlfriends ashes. Her husband gave them to me. I thought it was kind of weird but I didn't know how you say no when someone offers you something like that" sister g and I exchanged a look of horror from across the table. Miss Cathy continued talking and I had to do some fake coughs so cover my laughing. As soon as we got in the car sister g just looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, "I smelled a dead person." Lessons learned...Don't smell weird jars sitting on people's table and don't keep ashes in your kitchen hahaha!

We found this cat and named him woody. He followed us around for a few hours while trackting 

Arlington is Still Rad

Hi y'all! 

This was a good and busy week! 

We have Elly and Loraines baptism this Wednesday so we have been doing a lot to make sure they are ready to go. It's so amazing teaching families. I love seeing how they grow together as they apply the gospel of Jesus Christ into their lives! Last night was Loraines birthday so we went over to see her really quick. They were having a big party with their extended family and so we just stayed long enough so sing happy birthday then headed out. They are so excited for their baptisms and it's all they talk about. It's so great!! 

Vicky is also doing great. We taught her the Word of Wisdom and she had no problems. We asked her if she would be willing to give up coffee in order to be baptized and she just paused and looked at us and said "I can still drink juice though right?" We thought that was pretty funny. We assured her she could still drink juice and she said she wouldn't have any problems then hahaha! She's so excited for her baptism next week :)) 

We had Stake Conference this weekend and it was so amazing! The whole conference was focused on the temple and encouraging members to go. Sunday morning they had a children's choir that was so precious and then they had some of them give little talks. Brave kids! One little girl gave a talk about when she went to the temple and took a tour of the grounds. She gave some fun facts about the temple then bore her testimony of the spirit she felt when she was there. She said "The spirit was so strong I wanted to cry. I didn't cry on the outside but I cried on the inside." Hahaha it was adorable! I love hearing the sweet/pure/simple testimony of little kids!! They're the best. 

The work is so amzing in Arlington! With transfers coming up I'm just soaking up every minute! I love being a missionary!!!! 

I love y'all! Have a blessed week <33

xoxo

sister m

-Weekly Moss Moment-

This week we went to farmshare to do some service with the YSA Sisters and the sister serving in Mandarin. After we finished we went to grab a quick bite to eat and decided to go to Arby's since it was close and cheap. After we got our food we were sitting at the table getting ready to pray. I had a fork in my hand and it was still in the plastic wraper. Without realizing it while I was getting my food all situated I got sauce all over the fork wraper. When we went to pray I put my hands up by my face and got sauce all in my hair. The worst part is I didn't even realize it until one of the sisters told me a few minutes later...gross! They helped me clean it up as best we could. We had to run straight to a lesson after that and then we were running all day so I had to deal with nasty sauce hair all day. Classic moss 

I'M A SLACKER AND DIDN'T TAKE ANY PICTURES THIS WEEK I'M SORRY :( :( :(

Spring has SPRUNG!

Ward Easter Egg hunt(last week) with our recent convert Taylor     

Hello everyone! 

This was such an amazing week!! 

Our investigator Vicky is doing so great. She came to church again yesterday and stayed for all 3hrs!! She seriously loves church now. It's amazing to see the change that has happened in Vicky. She is so excited to be baptized and to be involved in the ward. She is already inviting people to her baptism and it's so sweet! Her faith has grown so much over these last few months and it's helped my faith grow just seeing her amazing example!! More to come on Vicky because she's the best! 

 

Loraine!! The sweetest 7yr old ever!! I can't wait for her to get baptized :)

Elly and Loraine are doing great too! We were able to teach them a couple times this last week and we are just tying to squeeze all the remaining lessons in making sure they are ready for their baptism next week! It was a great feeling to see their whole family there for church yesterday! I know the Lord has been preparing them for a long time and it's exciting to see all the pieces finally fall into place! We just have to make sure we are doing all that we can to help them progress and trust that in will all work put in the Lord's timing.  I am so excited for them to get baptized :) 

Mastering the art of camouflage on the mission 

One tiny miracle I wanted to share...back at the beginning of last transfer we met a lady named April. She is so sweet and super interested we just haven't been able to meet with her regularly because of her crazy work schedule. We decided to drop by this week and she ended up being home! She talked our ears off and we did our best to direct the conversation back to Jesus Christ. This woman is hilarious though and we were mostly just laughing at her random stories the whole time. It was getting time to go and Sister G asked if we could show her a video before we left. That morning during companionship study we had recorded ourselves doing a 30 second version of the first lesson we teach people. Mostly so we could go back and see where we could improve. We ended up showing one of those to April and the spirit was so strong and she started crying. She opened up about a lot of questions and we were able to have a really amazing lesson after that. I love the simplicity of this gospel and I'm thankful for the Holy Ghost. I know we could teach people without it. Hopefully we will be able to teach April more in the coming weeks 

I love being a missionary! It's the best job ever!! 

I love y'all! Have a blessed week <33 

xoxo

Sister Morrow 

-Weekly Moss Moment- 

Sunday after church the ward had two kids getting baptized. Our ward mission leader and the elders were trying to get everything organized during third hour so they gave us the responsibility of watching the font and turning the water off when it was full. We sat and watched it for like 45min and then went to turn it off. We turned the valve and the water stopped so we locked the door and went to the last little bit of Relief Society. We came back to help out with the baptism and realized we must have not turned the water off all the way because it had started filling up again and the font was SO full! We were slightly panicked because the baptism was for two 8yr olds and we were worried the water would go up to like their shoulders or something haha! We had Brother Dains come check it out and he figured out how to fix the water and got it all worked out. Blessings. Other than that the baptism went off without a hitch! Moss brain for sure though haha!