It smells like pumpkin and burnt chicken - September 21, 2015

Quote attributed to one of my favorite companions and one of the best people I've met on my mission, Hannah Wooten.

So. Transfers. They're whitewashing our area and I'm going to McCammon. Wooten is going to Ammon. I do not want to leave Tyhee. I don't want to leave my companion. I absolutely do not want to leave Pocatello. This town, this dinky, dirty, old town, is my favorite place in the entire world. We got calls on Thursday around 4 and I sobbed on the couch for an hour. I don't want to leave at all. This has been the most fun, most enjoyable, greatest six weeks of my life. I love Pocatello with everything I have and it literally feels like my heart is being ripped out and smashed to pieces. Well, not really. But. Yeah. That's what transfers this go around feel like. And I only have four left. They go by so fast. I'm going to miss the everliving heck out of Pocatello, Sister Wooten, all my friends here, the people in my area, Bob (who's doing great, by the way!!!), all that stuff. Yeah. That's kind of how I feel right now. 

But you know, I'm grateful for the time I had here. I didn't exactly enjoy Poky west. So I feel like Tyhee was my second chance at loving Pocatello and I did it this time around. I learned how to love something that I didn't want to. So I'm incredibly grateful for that. I'm grateful for everyone I've met here. I'm grateful for all the companions I've had here. I'm grateful for my other missionary friends I have here. I love the Hermanas, the north sisters, everyone. I love this place, and Tyhee has definitely made my mission. It's been my favorite area. 

On a different, not so depressing note...

Bob is doing so well! I'll be able to go to his baptism!! He asked me to play violin at it. So. I have to go now :) Haha. We finished lesson four with him yesterday and went over the baptism interview questions. He passed with flying colors :) At least, with us. So all he has to do is be taught the last lesson, actually have his real interview, and he's set. Guys, he's made so much progress and it's been one of the coolest miracles to see on my mission. I've loved being a small part of that. We didn't really do anything, but it was cool to be a part of. 

Anyway. Wish me luck this week. It's going to be hard to leave. 

Love you!

"Every Country Song sounds the same...

It consists of about 6 things - a girl, beer, tractors, fishing, momma, and something about a railroad."

- Sister Wooten

September 7, 2015  "Did I tell you about the time I shut down a 6 lane freeway?"

Quote attributed to Sister Brown. She's funny. She's one of the spanish sisters in Pocatello.

Anyway, this week has been a pretty good one! So, the past few weeks, we've been teaching a 76 year old man named Bob. Bob's wife is a member, but less active. Last year on Easter, she wanted to go to church, so he went with her. And he's been going with her ever since! Missionaries have taught him for a while, but he just started progressing a few weeks ago. Yesterday, we were teaching him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ (faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end). And....HE SET HIS OWN BAPTISM DATE!!! He just brought it up himself and asked if he could do that! Uhhh...ABSOLUTELY. So he's getting baptized on the 29th at 5:00!!! If you could, and I would seriously appreciate it, pray your guts out for him. He needs it. He's an awesome, awesome man. I'm so excited for him.

This week we also visited another part member family. The wife is a member, and they have 4 children all under the age of four. They all used me as a human jungle gym. Good gracious. At one point, I had one kid on my arm, pointing a toy gun into my eye, another was on my other arm, sawing it off with a plastic toy saw, and another one was hanging onto my ankles. It was so funny. They were adorable. I asked the four year old how old he was, and he responded, "Nine o'clock." HAHAHAHA. I laughed so hard. He was also really intrigued by my watch. I wish I could have as much energy as they had...good gracious. 

OH OH OH I burned stuff for my year mark this week! I had a holey shirt (seriously, those holes were huuuuuge) and my cast because that thing STANK to high heaven. Good gracious. It was disgusting. So I burned them in celebration of spending one year as a missionary. BEST YEAR EVER!

We're going to Yellowstone next week! We're leaving at like, 5 in the morning and we'll get back around 6. I'm so excited. I'll probably email at some point during that day, but I don't exactly know. Anyway. Love you guys! I love my life, I love the work, and I love the gospel. It's the best and I'm excited for these last six months I have. 

September 14

Quote attributed to mylovely compa, Sister Wooten. (the quote is the title of this entry)

This is an early email! We're on our way to Yellowstone at the moment. I am SO EXCITED. We woke up at four and left by five. We're on our way to Jackson right now. So that's going to be fine!

Also this week a sister who I trained for a week cut and dyed my hair. She was a cosmetologist before the missionary she did a DANG good job! I'm blonde now and I look fabulous. 

So this week was pretty awesome! A lot of cool things happened. We got to do a big service project at a farm and I picked sweet corn! Oh man. That was SO much fun. We were riding over to the corn field in a little trailer thing, and I was sitting next to Sister Vargas (coolest person ever) and we were eating raw corn, laughing our heads off, getting mean mugged by then kid sitting in front of us. And then we picked a ton of corn and we got to take some home. I love corn. 

Bob is doing AWESOME. we taught him yesterday and he lesson went really well. He is getting really excited. It's cool to see this happen, but we literally did nothing. Nothing. It wasn't us that helped Bob get to this point. A bunch of people from the ward have talked about it to us, but we haven't done anything except teach him. It's not me, it's the Lord. And that's the best part :) 

It's been a great week. I love my life, I have the best friends, I know the church is true. I love yall!

Morgan

Ps. Sorry about the yall....when you spend 24/7 with someone with a strong southern accent, it happens.

Morgan's new, blond makeover

One the way to Yellowstone

On the way to Yellowstone with Sister Wooten

Someone texted me this picture this week.  I have no other explanation!!

"I could spend eternity with him! He's not my first cousin..." - September 1, 2015

Quote attributed to my companion, Sister Wooten. She's my favorite. I love that kid. 

I didn't email yesterday because we had a zone conference/mission tour thing in which a member from the quorum of the seventy came and talked to us.

This past week was kinda momentous. I'm sending this email to several people because I have a ton of thoughts about that..so yeah. 

I've spent the last year of my life as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. And I'll be honest with you, it's been the hardest year of my life. I've never cried so much (ha! see? i'm not a robot!!!), felt so low, been through so much heartache, yet I've never felt so much happiness, I've never felt so loved, and I've never felt like I've been doing something so incredibly worthwhile in my entire life. This has literally been the best year of my life. Not only that, it's been the best year for my life. I'm glad I've got six more to be able to give everything I have and work as hard as I can. I honestly can't believe it's gone this fast. 

I'll be honest again, I really didn't like being a missionary until about 5 or so months ago. About that time, a wise friend counseled me to just forget about myself. I did just that, and I've never been happier. I made the decision to just work, and I completely forgot about myself and I forgot about the whole decision until like 4 weeks after that. I still make mistakes, I still make a lot of mistakes. I make mistakes like, about 1000 times a day. But I'm getting there. I'm working on it. And I have the time to work on my weakness by forgetting about myself. And that's a miracle. 

I absolutely love being a missionary. I love the gospel. I love my life. I feel so sorry for everyone who doesn't have my life, because my life is AWESOME. My mission has completely changed my life. This year has been the absolute best year ever. I'm so tired, all the time. I'm so flipping tired. But I'm so happy! It's so weird. I'm so stupid happy all the time.

Anyway. Those are my thoughts on being out a year.

So here's the stuff from the week. 

So......we picked up a cat on Saturday night. Hahahaha. After dinner on Saturday, we saw a kitten by a fence and I called to it..and she came to me. Wooten told me to pick it up, so I did..and we took it with us. We drove off. We fled the scene of the crime. We kept her with us for a few hours and then took her back. See, it's against the rules to keep pets, but we didn't keep her...so..yeah. That works. She was so adorable though. I miss that kitty.

To celebrate my year mark, my comp and I decided to do something incredibly stupid. We went to Pizza Hut (mistake #1) and ordered this pizza with basically pigs in a blanket as a crust (mistake #2). And then we ate a slice (mistake #3-7). I highly recommend NEVER doing that. EVER. EVER. Don't ever do that. We had fun though....so that's what counts. 

I can't remember too much..it's been a long week and I'm still pretty tired. But we had fun. 

Love you! ALSO HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD!

ONE YEAR CELEBRATION!!

This steak is as big as my head!

Zone Conference

We found a kitty!!

Pocatello Mortuary, would like to deliver a body today or tomorrow? - August 24, 2015

Quote attributed to my daughter, Sister Bell. Love that kid.

This week has been pretty good! We've been super busy. We've been walking around, talking to everyone, doing fun stuff, proselyting at garage/yard sales, stuff like that.

We saw Juan this week! He and his daughter were outside. She kept asking for stickers, but we didn't have any. But. We had pictures of Jesus! So we gave her one and she proceeded to ask for seven more to give to all her family members. Haha. It was so cute. 

We're also seriously teaching this guy in one of our wards named Bob. He's 76, he's been meeting with missionaries for the past few years, and I don't know what's different this time, but something's starting to click with him! He's progressing towards baptism and it's so cool to see. So dang cool.

I hit my year mark this week...I'm not sure how I feel about that. It's weird. I only have six months left, and then I have to go back to the real world... I don't really know how to be a normal person anymore. I don't. And it kindof freaks me out knowing that this whole thing will be over in six months. It's gone wayyyyy too fast. But, it's been the best experience of my life and I'm happy to be here.

Love you!

have a good week

Confession. I slept for 20 minutes in the closet when I went upstairs. - August 16, 2015

Quote attributed to my new companion, Sister Wooten. She's from Georgia and she's about the funniest thing that's ever walked the planet. I've never laughed so much as I have in the past few weeks. She's been out 10.5 months and we're co-training Sister Bell (who's also the funniest person to walk the planet and from Kansas City, Missouri) and at the moment, we're covering both the Pocatello North stake and Tyhee. Boy howdy. We've basically had a party the past few days. We've worked hard, seen some cool stuff, and had SO MUCH FUN. Dang. 

So it was kind of hard to say bye to Sister Samanez. I absolutely love that kid. She's an amazing missionary, an amazing person, and she has the strongest testimony ever. She's one of the greatest people I've ever met on my mission and I really enjoyed serving with her. I learned so much from her.

Covering two stakes has been fun. The other day we were just walking around this trailer park, laughing and talking to everyone we saw. Not too many crazy things happened, but it was cool. We met a girl who had been going to mutual for nearly 8 years and wanted to go to church and maybe be baptized. We met a guy who's wife just died and wanted us to come back later. We got a referral for a 9 year old that wants to be baptized. A lot of amazing miracles have happened this week, and it was so cool to be a part of. We've had a lot of deep conversations (in my companionship) and we've learned a lot from each other. It's been such a fun week, I can't even right now. 

I love you all! you're the best

Morgan's new trio - Sister Wooten and Sister (Hermana) Bell - not sure why Morgan is training and Hermana.

They will teach ANYONE!!  This mannequin is pretty gross looking - his hand???

Not sure why there were so many packing peanuts, but they enjoyed them

With Journey - saying goodbye to Sister Samanez.  Journey is Morgan's cousin!!

.

I'm the Queen of Pocatello. And I'm a Mom - August 10, 2015

Thats right, i'm staying in Poky! And i'm training (well, second half training) a new missionary! That is..until another sister comes back to the mission. But i'm training nonetheless!! I'm so happy i'm staying in Pocatello. I'll miss the junk out of sister Samanez, but i'm happy i'm staying here. I love Pocatello. Out of all the missionaries that got here in February, I've been here the longest. Well, I have to stay at least one more transfer after next. And then I'll be the queen of pocatello. YEEEEEEAHHHH!!!!

In other news, Sister Warren is going home today..I don't want to talk about it. I was doing pretty well until this morning. When your best friend goes home, it's like...the saddest thing in the world. So. There's that. 

I just keep getting reminded how little time I actually have left. I've got five transfers, and they go by soooo fast. This transfer has gone by so fast. I absolutely love my mission and I never want to go home. My mission is the best thing that's happened to my life and I don't want it to end at all. Its been such a great experience. I love it. 

This week was kind of a downer, work-wise..a few people dropped us, our investigator couldn't get baptized because her anti-mormon family got super mad at her, among other things. But. It's been good. I still love being here. 

Anyway. I love you all!!

TWO WEEKS OF POSTS FROM MORGAN - July 27, 2015 and August 2, 2015

Greetings from Jenni (Morgan's Mom).  We were on vacation the past 2 Monday's so today's post is her last 2 communications with us.  Also, remember that she is not emailing much due to her cast.  However, she is handwriting us and that letter is included here also - so really you are getting 3 different communications from here in this post!   YAY!!  Also, Rozzie was traveling to Salt Lake City to meet up with us and she spent a night in Pocatello at Aunt Karen's house.  She was able to see Morgan and go with her to meet and teach people.  Rozzie enjoyed her time with Morgan so much.  Karen reported to us how much she loves having Morgan in her area and that Morgan visits with them each Monday and teaches lessons to Karen's granddaughter, Journey.  Karen says that Morgan is a great teacher for Journey.  What a great blessing for all of us!!  While we were at our family reunion, we took some time to write to our family missionaries:  Morgan and Tyler Smith (Guatemala).  Morgan got 26 letters in the mail and it MADE HER DAY!!!

Hand written letter dated July 20, 2015

Hey Mom!

So really though.  This week was been SO CRAZY.  I have never laughed, cried, felt so happy, and laughed so much in my entire life.  

Wednesday was one of the best days of my mission.  The Spanish sisters didn't have a car, so we drove them to their lessons.  On was in Spanish.  OK.  I had no idea what was going on.  Literally, no idea.  We were reading from the Book of Mormon (in Spanish) and I really wanted to contribute.  So, I prayed real quick, and when it was my turn to read, I could read perfectly!  It was amazing!  I still had no idea what was going on, but it was cool :)  We then went to this Filipino lady's house was it was so low (the ceiling) that I could tough it without reaching.  Score.  Earlier in the day, we had a church tour with one of our investigators.  We talked a lot about our own experiences with baptism, the Church, etc. and it was one of the most spiritual experiences of my life.  It was so cool.

So, here's a story.  On Saturday (again with the Hermanas), we went to help this one lady they were teaching who was moving into her newly remodeled garage/house thing.  There was so. much. junk.  Oh goodness gracious.  (I interject here to say that this is an example of the pot calling the kettle black.)  We cleaned so hardcore.  We threw away about 5-7 rusted cheese graters.  And several moonshine bottles.  But we made the place look good.  The lady we were helping was...pretty fried.  She was on a ton of meds and you could tell she had a hard life.  As we served her though, I came to love her.  She was kinda crazy, but she was awesome.  I mean at one point, we even went out and found her a lighter to use because she was freaking out becuase her lighter wasn't working (by freaking out, I mean freaking out).  She was awesome.  We left around 3 so we could get some things done before dinner.  The Hermanas went back that evening to check on her (she had been having some crazy health problems earlier), and she had passed away a short while after we left.  Like, we had just seen her.  That was quite the shock.  There were a lot of tears, mostly because it was a crazy shock to all of us.  

I realized something that night, and it was the hardest realization I've had on my mission.  I cannot change people, no matter how hard I try.  The lady we served - we tried so hard to serve and love her.  But...we couldn't change her.  We couldn't have prevented anything.  With everyone I've ever taught, will teach, and am teaching, I cannot change them unless they choose to do so.  I don't know why I felt/realized that when I did, but I do know that even though I can't change people, and people's choices will always have consequences (both positive and negative depending on the choice), I still serve people because, 1) I love them, and 2) I'm happy because of it.  I couldn't change the outcome of this lady's life, but I could serve her and come to love her.  I could, for a few hours, help her have a fantastic few last hours on this earth.  And that is what true happiness is.  I absolutely love my mission.  I love figuring things like this out.  Even though it's been hard, heart-wrenching, and emotionally draining, I love my life.  I love my mission.  I've never been happier in my entire life.  This experience is changing me.  I'm consistantly out of my comfort zone, but it's how I'm growing.  I love you guys and I'm so thankful to be sharing some of the experiences with you.  

Love, Morgan

PS - The Talberg Family Reunion shirt you sent is AWESOME!  THank you!  I have it on P-Day and SIster Vargas asked me where I got it.  I said you (mom) sent it, and she replied, "Dang, your mom is swag!"  Haha

Yo No Habla Espanol - July 27, 2015

Yet, everyone thinks i do. Somehow, i got roped into singing at a SPANISH baptism in SPANISH. somehow, it worked out. somehow, people think i'm fluent in spanish and..i'm just going along with it. 

this week has been awesome!! it was cool seeing roz. it was really fun being able to go out with her. she did a good job talking to people. and i'm glad she could meet my friends...even though they're kinda crazy. haha. i love them. 

i'll send you a real letter this week! just know that i'm super happy and i love my life and i love being a missionary and my hand doesn't really hurt anymore!

love you!

I LOVE MY LIFE - August 2, 2015

hi smith family this is sister samanez, your beautiful daughter companion's and i just want to tell you how much i love her and how greatful i am to have her her im IPM

That was from my awesome companion. she is AWESOME.

So! This week has been pretty dang good. We did a ton of service, which is my favorite. I also have two more weeks left on my cast...so that's good! 

But we've cleaned out someone's shop, volunteered at a basketball tournament, cleaned someone's house, cleaned someone's backyard, etc. So much service. but it's been a lot of fun. So that's good :)

We should have a baptism this saturday! im so excited, and she's so ready! her name is elsa. She is super spiritual and she loves coming to church. So, hopefully (and with a ton of prayers) everything will work out this saturday!

anyway, have a good week! love you! I LOVE MY LIFE

Celebrating a birthday with the Hermanas at Buffalo Wild Wings

Rozzie visits the Sisters and Hermanas

Sisters (literally)

WHY DO WE NEED TO TOUCH THE TARANTULA????