WAHOO FOR ANDRIY

This week flew by! But it was such a great week. I can't believe it is almost September, and even more exciting, that the Temple open house is almost here! We have been working so hard at not only our area, but also the open house training and schedule. BUT it's all slowly coming together!

ALSO ANDRIY GOT BAPTIZED AND IT WAS THE BEST DAY EVER! All week the baptism was on again and off again but it totally happened! We taught him almost every day this week and he was SO ready. He flew through the lessons and already knew everything. He's so funny though because he was really, REALLY concerned about if he could still be baptized if he accidentally ran over a chipmunk....haha and every time we would say something about doctrine or about the church, he would say "that's good news!" ah we love him! So Sunday finally comes around, and we had about oh i dont know 3 days to plan the baptism, and so we were super nervous about attendance. the Baptism was supposed to start at 6, and when 5:50 rolled around we had about 8 people there. BUT Andriy's wife was there, which was HUGE because if you remember from last week, she was SUPER against him getting baptized until randomly a week ago. so we go out and take pictures for a bit, and then we come back to the room AND I AM NOT KIDDING THERE WERE 51 PEOPLE THERE WE COUNTED. it was a miracle. I am so grateful for the ward we are in and the support they show us. The relief society brought food, the program was great and it was so cool because his wife only speaks Ukrainian and we had Ukrainian fellow-shippers there (and they said the opening and closing prayers in Ukrainian) and apparently Tetiana (Andriy's wife) only let Andriy get baptized because a few weeks ago she had this really powerful dream where a man came up to her and boldly told her that she should not be stopping Andriy from getting baptized and that she needs to let him do this. What a HUGE miracle. How incredible is God. 

ALSO this week, we picked up a Russian investigator named Lyudamilla, who is SO sweet. It was also a huge miracle because she was supposed to be at work when we knocked on her door, but her car had suddenly broken down that morning! So we were talking to her, and out of no where she asks us if we wanted to come in! and we did! so we went in and taught her about the Book of Mormon and we will be getting her one in russian this week! 

Anyways we did so much more this week, but honestly, it's too much to type. All in all it was a fabulous week and I'm super happy. OH transfers came in and now we know what sisters will be here for the temple open house! woohoo!

-Sister Morley

ps sorry more pictures coming on another email

1. Sis. Holt "wait can you pose so we can see what this looks like in pictures?"

me: "of course" (que dramatic pose)

2. Our district sad b/c Elder Jacobson got transferred to Cape Cod

3. Us w/ Sis. Holt's old companion Sis. Halcom! 

4. Lunch woohoo 

4.

Girls Camp & Miracles

WOW I cannot tell you all how amazing of a week we had without writing a 8 page email so I will try to keep it (relatively) short.

Monday- ESPN We toured ESPN and it was AWESOME. Not like I've ever really watched it extensively, but it was still pretty cool! ( I have a lot of pictures from this week so it will definitely be on either this email or the next sorry oh well)

Tuesday- I got FOOD POISONING which kinda put a damper on the week, and we had appointments so I just dealt with it and taught people anyways (although I may have been slightly miserable) but I did lose 5 pounds of mission weight in one day #bonus

Wednesday- We handed out treats to the temple workers!! We also did our weekly planning and practiced a song that we had to sing for Zone Conference!

Thursday- AKA BEST DAY EVER so we had zone conference which was beyond incredible. We learned all about how this isn't a gospel of just doing, but it's a gospel of becoming. As we become the person that Heavenly Father knows we can be, we will find more happiness in our lives (which is awesome) ALSO sister holt and I got to sing at it, and although we were really nervous, the spirit was so strong! THEN we got to go to GIRLS CAMP and we had a blast and we sang with them and they all were SO excited to see us and it was awesome we were on a spiritual high for the rest of the weekend!!

Friday- TEMPLE meetings pretty much all day. it was awesome though!!

Saturday- We went on exchanges with sisters from another area and it was awesome, but I'm not going to write much about it other than we handed out 40 temple invitations, in order to save room for what happened on sunday!!!!!!!!

Sunday-This week was just as insane! Before leaving the house for Ward Council, we said our prayer and Sister Holt asked, again, for a miracle. But she changed the wording of the prayer to get a different miracle.She asked Heavenly Father to soften the hearts of those who had a desire to go to church and that they would be given extra courage to come. We left, had a great Ward Council, and then walked in to Sacrament meeting. 

The first thing we noticed were 2 men sitting on the back row in jeans and t-shirts with mohawks. They were rougher looking men. We had to take care of a few things and didn't get the opportunity to talk to them before the meeting started. During the meeting,we noticed ANOTHER man sitting with Elder and Sister Holbrook! Sister Holt mouthed to Sister Holbrook, "Who's that?" And with urgency in her eyes she said, "you NEED to talk to him!"  

WHAT

Sister Holt and I decided to tag team between the 3 men. She ran up to the Holbrooks and asked the Gentleman who he was. He didn't answer with a name, but instead he was just like "I want to be baptized." Mean while, I was talking to the 2 gentlemen who happened to be temple workers-- members from another state. So I go up and start talking with them. Turns out he moved from Ukraine to New York, and he met with Missionaries and got all of the discussions. He dropped his date a few times, but only because his wife was against him the whole time. Days before his long awaited baptism, his wife told him if he were baptized, she would divorce him. He cut all ties and quit talking with the missionaries. Well fast forward a couple of years and months... Andriy (our Ukrainian friend) prayed fervently for his wife's heart to be opened for him to receive the gospel. 

Saturday night, his prayer was answered. His wife told him that she doesn't care now if he joins our church???????? If it makes him happy, she's happy! What?! So we met with him and the Bishop. Andriy is so sincere and excited to come closer to Christ! We had a lesson after our interview and he knew it all. Tithing, Word of Wisdom, Moroni, and Joseph Smith. He wanted to be baptized literally that minute! It was incredible!  SO I CAN LITERALLY NOT BELIEVE what has been happening and he's probably getting baptized this week WAHOO!!

THE GOSPEL IS SO TRUE IT CHANGES LIVES.

stay posted for more pictures

MIRACLES DO HAPPEN

SO this week a few things happened

1. We had to close an apartment and it was pouring rain and we could NOT get the couches through our door (because we were taking the closed apartments couches) and we prayed for a miracle AND THEY FIT (shout-out to elder gray from gilbert az for helping us get those couches through the door) 

2. Exchanges! I went with Sister Morris to Bloomfield which was amazing! It was such a good exchange! I feel like we got really close and did good work! We were able to teach a potential they found and extend baptism for the 10th of September and she accepted! Sister Morris is an incredible teacher and she really is in tune with the spirit. I feel super blessed to be able to serve with her in the zone!

2. SO we on Saturday night (as in sister Holt at I) prayed for a miracle to happen on Sunday. We needed a new investigator and we knew we were doing everything we could, and that the Lord could provide a miracle if we had faith. And then as I was laying down to go to bed the thought came to my mind that I needed to pay my fast offerings. I have definitely not been the most diligent about doing it and I had just taken out $20 to make up for the few Sundays I didn't pay it. So I made sure to go and pay it on Sunday and hope for The Lord to do the rest.  AND HE DID. So we're sitting in Canton sacrament meeting and we look at our phone and get like...7 missed calls from the Waterbury Elders and we're thinking what?? but they said it was urgent so we slip out and call them back and they said that some woman named Mary called them and said that she has been looking for our church for months and she wanted to go to church TODAY and learn more and so we called her and gave her the address and she showed up RIGHT after sacrament meeting. So we decided that since our other investigators didn't show up and we didn't need to teach gospel principles we would just teach her the restoration! So we go outside to meet her and picture this: 69-year old super fit woman in a short denim skirt, hand sewn Japanese shirt, bright green cane, black floral sneakers, orange hair, and lacy socks. She was also wearing this blue necklace, and I complimented her on it and she goes off about how it's a "squashfasa" and how she's wanted one for years and how it's a special kind of necklace from the 60's and that her son got her one for her birthday last year and how much she loved it and it was good. So we took her to the classroom, and we wanted to get a member there so we tried literally everyone and NO ONE could. And we had no idea what to do, but THEN this woman named Gloria approaches Sister Holt and I, and starts asking how we are and sister holt just asks her to join us. And honestly neither of us knew why she asked Gloria to join the lesson UNTIL SHE WALKED IN THE ROOM AND SAYS "OH WOW I LOVE YOUR SQUASHFASA" AND THEY WERE THE EXACT SAME PERSON AND GOT ALONG SO WELL AND BECAME BEST FRIENDS INSTANTLY like I can not even tell you how many things they had in common because you would not believe me. And so we taught the Restoration (although it did take two hours because they kept going off and finding more things in common through the gospel) and at one point Gloria said "I wasn't planning on coming to church today because I have really bad diabetic nerve pain and it was really flaring up today (at which point Mary chimes in that she, too, has diabetic nerve pain) and i thought I had a perfectly good excuse to not come. But God would not let me stay home. I felt like i was literally being pushed out the door because the Lord needed me at church today, and now I know why" AND WE WERE ALL JUST ASTONISHED LIKE IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING RIGHT NOW. Anyways so we taught the restoration and asked her if she would be baptized on September 10th AND YOU KNOW WHAT SHE SAID? SHE SAID "oh that's my BIRTHDAY! I HAVE to get baptized on my birthday, yes of course I will be!" 

Miracles do happen.

-Sister Morley

fastest week of my life

WOW I cannot believe how fast this week went by! We had mission leadership counsel this week which was INCREDIBLE. The AP's and President and his wife gave trainings about church attendance and obedience and faith and honestly everything they talked about was what we needed! One insight that I'll share is that we need to CHOOSE to have faith. We can't just expect to have a desire and then BAM faith, but we have to actually choose for everything we do to have faith. On thursday we planned Zone meeting and District leader counsel and then on friday we actually HAD both of them and they were great! We talked about how we can receive revelation for our districts, and how obedience will bless us as missionaries and as representatives of Jesus Christ. On saturday we had the opportunity to go and take a recent convert named justin to do baptisms at the temple! it was really cool to see him so happy as he entered into the boston temple. He is a construction worker for the Hartford temple, and he does wood work, so he kept looking at the ceilings and all over to see how it looked. That's how he found the church was by working on the temple! It's a really cool story he got baptized just a few weeks after meeting the sister missionaries back in june! ANYWAYS we have a LOT of work ahead of us, and I think big things are coming our way! Love you all!

-Sister Morley

crazy crazy week

Okay so honestly this week wasn't as crazy as I think it was BUT we did SO much. seriously my week was PACKED. which was awesome. I feel like it is so much stuff that I can't even put it all in an email, so I will summarize.

Tuesday we had dinner with the CUTEST family ever. While we were eating dinner, one of their little boys named Sam asked me if I had any babies, I of course laughed and said "no I don't!" and he looks me dead in the eye and says "well you should get one!!" hahaha alright sam, we'll see. 

Wednesday ROCKED and we picked up two new investigators! We visited a referral, and she wasn't home, but her son was and we gave him a Book of Mormon and set up a lesson for sunday! (which ended up falling through but thats okay we"ll snag him eventually) We also had a lesson with Mikele and she FINALLY has prayed and felt that Jesus Christ is her Savior! She has been struggling with understanding the need for a savior for YEARS and she just said that she felt so much peace about it over the past week, which was HUGE. Sometimes I feel like we don't even realize how strong our own personal testimonies are until someone questions it. After that we met a former named Annie and she agreed that she wanted to be taught the lessons again! Her boyfriend is a less active member and her oldest daughter was baptized last year and her youngest wants to be baptized so bad!

On thursday we handed out treats at the temple to all the workers, but it was SO hot i thought i was going to die. (and by hot i mean like 96 with like 96% humidity so yeah) And then we had stake reporting and president gave us so much information about things to come in the mission and lets just say this is going to be a really really great summer!

On Friday basically our whole day was dedicated to getting more information about the temple open house. we had like a 4 hour long meeting and afterwords we just had to lay down because information over-load! BUT WE ARE SO EXCITED! THEN we had the BEST LESSON EVER WITH ANNIE AND HER FAMILY and wow the entire thing was inspired by the spirit because we had to change our entire lesson plan when we got there and we had no idea what to do and then suddenly an object lesson i had never heard of before popped into my mind and I knew how we should teach them the restoration and it was amazing. I stood up and told them all that i was going to start a church. I told them if they followed my commandments that they would be more happy than ever before. then i gave them all sorts of commandments like what colors you could wear on what days and you have to eat ice cream once a week but you can only have four toppings and so on and so forth. then i told them that i died and that they had to try to re build my church without them and they had to remember all the commandments! safe to say, those little girls racked their brains to remember them all (and they almost did) but we were then able to go into teaching the restoration. Then Annie and her daughter Bella committed to be baptized on the 3rd of September!!!! WAHOO!

I feel like this email is already too long so just know we did yard work for a woman on saturday (and actually got her husband to help!!!!) and yesterday annie came to church and we had dinner with the coolest family and i love every one in our wards!!!

THE CHURCH IS SO TRUE even though sometimes it sounds too good to be true i promise it is!!!

love, 

Sister Morley

OH also we went on exchanges with the elders! not really but they had interviews with president and we were there for stake reporting and it was a party also more pictures are coming.

I cant remember what order these pictures are in but i know one of them is sister holt and i after service so woo!

crazy crazy week

Okay so honestly this week wasn't as crazy as I think it was BUT we did SO much. seriously my week was PACKED. which was awesome. I feel like it is so much stuff that I can't even put it all in an email, so I will summarize.

Tuesday we had dinner with the CUTEST family ever. While we were eating dinner, one of their little boys named Sam asked me if I had any babies, I of course laughed and said "no I don't!" and he looks me dead in the eye and says "well you should get one!!" hahaha alright sam, we'll see. 

Wednesday ROCKED and we picked up two new investigators! We visited a referral, and she wasn't home, but her son was and we gave him a Book of Mormon and set up a lesson for sunday! (which ended up falling through but thats okay we"ll snag him eventually) We also had a lesson with Mikele and she FINALLY has prayed and felt that Jesus Christ is her Savior! She has been struggling with understanding the need for a savior for YEARS and she just said that she felt so much peace about it over the past week, which was HUGE. Sometimes I feel like we don't even realize how strong our own personal testimonies are until someone questions it. After that we met a former named Annie and she agreed that she wanted to be taught the lessons again! Her boyfriend is a less active member and her oldest daughter was baptized last year and her youngest wants to be baptized so bad!

On thursday we handed out treats at the temple to all the workers, but it was SO hot i thought i was going to die. (and by hot i mean like 96 with like 96% humidity so yeah) And then we had stake reporting and president gave us so much information about things to come in the mission and lets just say this is going to be a really really great summer!

On Friday basically our whole day was dedicated to getting more information about the temple open house. we had like a 4 hour long meeting and afterwords we just had to lay down because information over-load! BUT WE ARE SO EXCITED! THEN we had the BEST LESSON EVER WITH ANNIE AND HER FAMILY and wow the entire thing was inspired by the spirit because we had to change our entire lesson plan when we got there and we had no idea what to do and then suddenly an object lesson i had never heard of before popped into my mind and I knew how we should teach them the restoration and it was amazing. I stood up and told them all that i was going to start a church. I told them if they followed my commandments that they would be more happy than ever before. then i gave them all sorts of commandments like what colors you could wear on what days and you have to eat ice cream once a week but you can only have four toppings and so on and so forth. then i told them that i died and that they had to try to re build my church without them and they had to remember all the commandments! safe to say, those little girls racked their brains to remember them all (and they almost did) but we were then able to go into teaching the restoration. Then Annie and her daughter Bella committed to be baptized on the 3rd of September!!!! WAHOO!

I feel like this email is already too long so just know we did yard work for a woman on saturday (and actually got her husband to help!!!!) and yesterday annie came to church and we had dinner with the coolest family and i love every one in our wards!!!

THE CHURCH IS SO TRUE even though sometimes it sounds too good to be true i promise it is!!!

love, 

Sister Morley

OH also we went on exchanges with the elders! not really but they had interviews with president and we were there for stake reporting and it was a party also more pictures are coming.