July 20, 2015

*Pioneer Day is an official holiday celebrated on July 24 in the U.S. state of Utah, with some celebrations in regions of surrounding states originally settled by Mormon pioneers. It is the anniversary of the day that the first Mormon Pioneers entered the Great Salt Lake Valley.

Hello everyone!

Another week is done in Show Low! I'm holding up well! There is nothing too interesting or different going on. Missionary life is becoming normal and routine. The work keeps moving on and the days keep going by. (Highlights in red.)

Monday: I got my haircut and got to play dodge ball with the YSA's (Young Single Adults) at
FHE (Monday evening YSA activity). That was fun! We also got our car washed which is always fun!

Tuesday: We tried to take a new member family to the Family History Center so they could find names for temple work, but that didn't work out too well. We weren't as organized as we needed to be, the family history consultant did most of the work, and they didn't find any names...oh well! We cleaned up the backyard of someone we met on the street, and then we taught them about the Book of Mormon. It was a good lesson and they said they would read 3 Nephi 11 (Book of Mormon). For dinner, we went to a member's home. The father there is the band director of Show Low high school. We got talking and I may be able to help out with their band camp! We also brought a new YSA ward member to fellowship one of our YSA investigators and things are working out great with them!

Wednesday: Lesson with a less-active member, then Zone Training Meeting. The sister missionaries in our district gave a great training about being bold. The meeting went really long, so my companion and I gave an abbreviated training on how to use digital missionary pamphlets in lessons. Later that day, we went to the temple to do baptisms with our family ward youth and our recent converts. It was my favorite day of the mission so far! I love working in the temple. My companion and I got to do the confirmations which was very fun. After that we taught our ward mission leader how to better use the Gospel Library on lds.org and we gave a blessing.

Thursday: We did service in the morning, then made a lot of visits in the afternoon. We found out that someone we thought was a less active member is actually not a member, so hopefully we can start teaching him more. We had other good lessons that day.

Friday: We got our oil changed, visited less active members, and did service for one of them (we built a gate under her deck). I also tried some super hot chili extract, and lost my bag (but found it that night...phew). Also that day, we were asked to provide missionaries for the stake *Pioneer Day activity on Saturday which was easy to do, but we were also asked to find two musical numbers for that activity. And that is what we spent the rest of our free time Friday trying to do. In the evening, my companion and I came up with a cool arrangement of Come, Come Ye Saints (pioneer hymn) while he played the guitar and I sang.

Saturday: We started working on another patio, we helped a less-active member move, we performed our song and participated at the stake Pioneer Day activity (It was a week before Pioneer Day because they didn't want to have it the same day as Snowflake, AZ). We also made progress on our weekly planning.

Sunday: After studies, my companion and I had to go on splits. (To meet the need for missionaries in two places at the same time, the companionship splits and each missionary joins with a member from the ward as a temporary companion to cover both events.) We were to split for an hour because we needed to be two place at once: he needed to attend a confirmation, and I was needed at the YSA branch. Turns out the time for the confirmation was wrong, so the split ended early. I performed Be Still, My Soul in the YSA branch. We had church as usual and a nice linger-longer. (A social gathering after church where people visit and have refreshments. Very common in YSA wards/branches.) We also had a stake correlation meeting with our ward mission leaders and the high councilman over missionary work that was very good. In the evening we had a lesson with the family we introduced the Book of Mormon to on Tuesday. There was a daughter, mother, and grandmother. The mother and grandmother weren't interested in our message, but the daughter was, so we will try and teach her more. In any other remaining time, we did weekly planning.

Today: We played disc golf again. This time I scored 95 (lower my score by 9). I don't know what par is for that course. Then we went to Panda Express and shopping. Unfortunately, the internet is down in most of Show Low because someone cut the cable of one of Show Low's biggest internet service providers....whoops.

Spiritual thought: 1 Nephi 11 is the guidebook to how you can receive inspiration from the Spirit. My favorite part is verse 1-5. Nephi says "I sat pondering" (v. 1), "I desire" (v. 3), and "I believe" (v. 5). In order for us to receive that inspiration, we have to ponder what we read, learn, hear, etc., desire to hear from God, and believe that he will communicate with us. As we do, we will learn. Our branch president also shared a great talk about the story of the brother of Jared and ships (Book of Mormon). We must remember the we need to put in effort and do as much as we can, then the Lord will help us (especially if we ask Him).

I love you and miss you all! I hope you have an amazing week! You are in my thoughts.
-Elder Morgan