Orange You Glad I Didn't Say Banana

 Sis Haynie and I at Golden Corral 💖🤰

Another week is gone and Sister Esquerra and I are getting settled here in Orange Park! We had a super busy week seeing members, doing service, and finding some awesome new people to teach!! This week was sooo cold! We did a lot of biking and walking and I about died. It's supposed to be another cold week (the low is in the 20s one day!!!) it almost doesn't even feel like I'm in Florida anymore haha! I'm sorry for all of y'all out West dealing with colder weather and snow...I'm a wimp now haha! 


JAX West zone!! 

Tuesday we were able to do service at the clothes closet, which is a place that donates food and clothes to people in need! We organized stuff and hung up clothes and it was super fun! After service we had Exchanges with our STLs and I got to stay in OP with Sister Haynie!! It was loads of fun! We had a ton of lessons that day and so we were just running from one place to another. We had dinner with some of my favorite members, the Evans. They took us to Golden Corrall and I was pretty nervous because I've never eaten there before...it wasn't too bad haha! Sister Evans bought me and Sister Haynie bouncy balls from the little machines out front and we ended up getting matching blue ones! It was all very exciting haha 



We wanted to play tennis for morning exercise so when we got home that night we walked over to the elders apartment to borrow their rackets. On the way back it started POURING and we got drenched...it was worth it haha

We also had interviews with our mission President this week which was really nice! President Lee is so amazing and you can just tell how much he loves all of us. I always love getting to visit with him for a few minutes! The rest of the week is all kind of blurring together. We are really trying to build our teaching pool so we spend basically all day everyday finding. We met a man named Robbie and his daughter Rosa one day and they were super awesome! They told us about their experience with missionaries in the past and they were so open to what we had to share! We showed them a short video about prophets and they said we could come back this week! It was a tender mercy! 

 
Sisters Dinner to celebrate the end of the transfer! 

On Sunday we had a special regional stake conference broadcast! It was for about 5 states in the southeast and it was really good! A couple of general authorities spoke along with Elder Bednar. A lot of the talks were about the importance of the temple and families, and learning to apply the Atonement of Christ in our lives. Elder Bednar spoke about having faith unto repentance. He taught that having faith is not enough if it doesn't cause us to turn our lives to the Savior. He also talked about the redeeming and strengthening or enabling aspects of the Atonement. Christ's Atonement not only cleanses us from sin, but it is there to strengthen us in any difficult circumstances we are facing. This makes His Atonement for both sinners and saints. WE ALL NEED HIM! I am so thankful for my Savior and I know as we turn to Him we receive more strength, peace, and light in our lives! 

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



-Weekly Moss Moment- 

Sunday night we had a lesson set up with a lady named Sharon. We had never been to her apartment before and we were kind of lost. After a few minutes we found the right building and what we thought was the right apartment. We knocked on the door and waited....no answer. We knew she was expecting us so we knocked again and waited... still no answer. We looked around and r
ealized that we had knocked on the outside storage closet door instead of her front door. We went to the right door and she answered!! Super embarrassing! In our defence there were no apartment numbers on the doors and really no way to tell which is which! Luckily we found Sharon and she told us all about her life and her passion for playing the accordion! 

Orange Washing in White Park

All bundled up so we don't get frostbite :)

I've determined that white washing is just super awkward. All phases of missionary work feel like 10x more awkward because neither of you know what's going on! Usually when you get transferred your companion knows members and investigators and they have like an in with everyone...but now neither of us know anyone or what's going on and so we are just winging it haha! Always awkward but still super fun!

Our first night we got here around 7 and we were meeting with the Elders at 8 so they could tell us about the area. We decided to grab some dinner first and realozed they have a Freddys here!! I got to eat my fav black bean burger and knew it was a sign that I was going to love it here haha

Wow this was a crazy week! Tuesday we loaded up the car and I dropped off Sister Spangler and picked up my new companion and we headed for Jacksonville! My new area is called Orange Park and I love it!! It's a small area but super densely populated. It's on the west side of Jacksonville and just crazy busy 24/7! My new companions name is Sister Esquerra and she's the sweetest thing. Fun fact we are both from New Mexico which is crazy haha! We are the only 2 sisters in the mission from NM and we ended up together! It's funny whenever someone asks where we are from and we both say NM they are always shocked. She's been out a little over a year and she loves all things missionary. We've been working really hard these past few days trying to get adjusted to the new area and it's been a blast!

Our first full day was supposed to be Zone Conference but there was a major winter storm that hit Florida and so they canceled it! It was crazy! All of the bridges in Jacksonville were going to be closed because of the weather and if you can't cross bridges you can't make it very far here haha! It drops below 30 degrees and the whole city shuts down...it was really really cold though! It was rainy and windy and just freezing. I'm so sorry for all of y'all out west dealing with weather way colder but living in Florida has made me a wimp and I've been freezing all week haha!

Floridians 

We've mostly been going around trying to meet members and figure out the area. We've met so many people in the last few days it's hard to keep everyone straight haha! This ward is huge and the members love missionaries and are super involved in the work so that's exciting! I think we are going to see a lot of miracles as we finish out the last few weeks of the transfer :) we finally had Zone Conference on Friday and then we just visited lots and lots of people the rest of the week.

I was so sad to hear this week about the passing of President Monson. I had felt prompted the last few weeks to go back and read his conference talks from the last several years. It was such a comfort to fall back on the recent counsel he has given and know that he was God's chosen Prophet. One of my favorite talks he gave was called Obedience Brings Blessings from April 2013. In the talk he said,

"There is no need for you or for me, in this enlightened age when the fulness of the gospel has been restored, to sail uncharted seas or to travel unmarked roads in search of truth. A loving Heavenly Father has plotted our course and provided an unfailing guide—even obedience. A knowledge of truth and the answers to our greatest questions come to us as we are obedient to the commandments of God."

I know the God loves each of us so much!! He doesn't want us to feel lost or alone in this life so he provided a plan for us. He gave us a lot of things to help guide us, like our family or the scriptures, but one of our most important guides will always be the Prophet. When we make the decision to live the gospel with our whole hearts and to be obedient to the commandments and direction given to us through the Prophet we will be blessed beyond measure.

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

Here's my new address!! ✉

2121 Burwick Ave apt 1002
Orange Park FL 32073 

OP is the pace to be!

-Weekly Moss Moment-
It was hard to pick just one experience because this week was extra mossy...so I narrowed it down to 2 short ones :))

So when we got here we both decided we wanted to focus on working with part member families and families with overage unbaptized youth. We found a family that we wanted to try and so we knocked on the door and the dad answered and seemed to be busy but excited to see us so we asked if we could stop by a different day! He said Friday anytime after 5 would work for them. We had a dinner appointment at 5 that day so we came after thinking it would be okay but they were super salty because we were late and they thought we said we would be there AT 5 :/// it was one if those moments when I was like "ahhh I'm so sorry I'm so sorry ahhh" and they were just like -_- I wanted to cry. My brain has been total mush the past week and he probably did say 5 and we showed up almost 1.5 hrs late for our appointment. We (kinda) smoothed things over though and set another appointment for THIS Friday at 5pm. We will not be late haha 

We had District service this week for one of the Elders investigators. She had just ordered a bible online and so they didn't really know her and hadn't taught her very much but she asked if we could come help clean her house. So on Saturday we went with the Orange Park and Oakleaf elders and cleaned her house! It was literally a nightmare y'all. We walked in and she just showed us the kitchen and asked if we could help her sweep and put stuff away since she just had surgery. She went back to her room to sweep and we got to work. I went to start clearing the counter and I picked up an old coffee filter and literally 50 cockroaches scuttled out of it. I screamed and made one of the Elders throw it away. Upon further examination we found that the house was infested with cockroaches. It was impossible to clean anything without seeing like 1000 of them. They were even inside the clock on the stove. INSIDE THE GLASS. One of the Elders had the idea of vacuuming them all up so we spent the next hour hunting them down and vacuuming them up. I have never seen so many bugs in my whole life and I hope to never see that many ever again haha 

Merry Christmas

 We went out looking for Christmas lights one night and there was this awesome light show. All you can see is the Santa minion in the back but that's okay

I know it's been a quick second since my last email, but with Christmas being on Monday we have p-day again today! I don't have a ton of updates to give other than I love MacClenny! The ward is awesome and they take really good care of us! 

I wanted to send a little note about Christmas and my love for my Savior. This past month as I've been able to do the Light the World inititiative it has really helped me look at Christmas in a new way. It's not about the presents or the lights, it's about spending time with those we love and sharing the light of Christ with everyone that we can. I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us more than we can even comprehend. I've been studying a lot about Jesus Christ the last few weeks, His life and teachings,and wanted to share some of my favorite things I've found with y'all 

"And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!

For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father—

That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God” 

D&C 76:22–24

"We bear testimony, as His duly ordained Apostles—that Jesus is the Living Christ, the immortal Son of God. He is the great King Immanuel, who stands today on the right hand of His Father. He is the light, the life, and the hope of the world. His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come. God be thanked for the matchless gift of His divine Son."

-The Living Christ 

Festive study area...I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!

I also found this cute cheesy poem in an Ensign from 1997 that I though applied to my snowless, hot, Florida Christmas haha 

"Everywhere, everywhere, Christmas tonight!

Christmas in lands of the fir free and pine,

Christmas in lands of the palm tree and vine, 

Christmas where snownpeaks stand solemn and white, 

Christmas where cornfields stand sunny and bright...

Everywhere, everywhere, Christmas tonight!

For the Christ-child who comes is the Master of all;

No palace too great, no cottage too small" 

I can't wait to talk to my family on Monday! Give your loved ones a good squeeze and have a very merry Christmas!! ❤❤🎄

I love yall! Have a blessed week <33

xoxo 

Sister Morrow 

Transfers and Lots of Christmas Stuff

Merry Christmas from the Kingsland District!🎄💖

Transfers came and went and I made it to my new area, MacClenny! It's another small country town but its a little bigger than Callahan! My new companion's name is Sister Spangler and we've had a lot of fun so far! She's from Missouri and just got baptized a little over 2 years ago. The ward is awesome and the work is great and I think I'm really going to like it here :) 

We've spent a lot of time going around visiting members and investigators so I can meet everyone and get settled a bit! We have a few families we are teaching right now that are super sweet and show a lot of interest in the gospel! It's really exciting! 

My first night we were out trying some people in our neighborhood before dinner and we met this really nice part member family. The mom had a bunch of little girls over from the ward and they were doing crafts and eating pizza. She invited us in to eat since we didn't have a dinner appointment! It was nice to get to visit and meet a few people. We headed home after that to grab our car so we could go to a lesson. As soon as we pulled out we got a text from our neighbor, who is also our Ward Mission Leader, asking if we had forgotten about our dinner appointment with them. Whoops! Somehow we didn't know they had signed up to feed us so we turned around and had our second dinner for the night. I was stuffed and felt like I'd had a true MacClenny welcome haha


We didn't have a tree in our apartment in MacClenny so we decorated with some lights and a nativity and put all of our present around it! The Elders ended up bringing us an extra tree they'd found but I like our original set up! Sister Spangler and I opened each other's Christmas packages and wrapped everything so we could open it on Christmas it was pretty fun :)) 

We had a ton of Christmas parties this week. The first one we went to was the High Priest social for the Ward. They called and said our attendance was mandatory haha! The High Priests are typically the older people in the ward (sorry dad) so I didn't know what to expect.  We went and they had a bbq and they had 50s music playing and everyone was dancing. Everyone we talked to was reminiscing with us about when they were in High School and there was even some old year books on display on the stage. It was pretty fun but a little strange! The next night we went to a members house for dinner. His wife isn't a member and she wanted us to experience a tradition her family always did. She grew up in Mexico and so we had hot chocolate, this really yummy guava drink, and tacos! All her friends from church came and they had the little kids dress up as people from the nativity. Half the group stood outside and the other half was inside. We sang this song back and forth in Spanish which was basically them asking if there was room for Mary and Joseph at the Inn. The people inside told them there wasn't room and that they needed to leave. At the end of the song everyone came back in and we sang songs and ate and read some scriptures. Everything was in Spanish so I didn't really understand anything but it was still fun!! The next day at church we had the Relief Society brunch and that was really fun to! People go all out for Christmas here I love it haha! 

With Christmas coming up next Monday I'll have p-day again on Saturday the 23rd so I'll talk to y'all again in a few days!! 

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

-Weekly Moss Moment-
One of my first nights in Macclenny we went to visit a lady named Angie. The sisters have been working with her a lot and she is working towards getting baptized in a few months! We stopped by and she opened up to us about some recent struggles. We talked with her about the Plan of Salvation and the spirit was really strong. Angie was feeling it and was sharing her testimony when all of a sudden she put her head down...and she started talking slower and slpwer....and then she was asleep. She literally fell asleep in the middle of a sentence hahaha! Sister Spanger and I just looked at each other and we had no idea what to do. We just sat there trying not to laugh for a solid 5 min and she still was asleep so we wrote her a little note and then left. I've never had anyone actually fall asleep during a lesson so that was an interesting experience lol