Well....HAPPY Halloween everyone!! Can’t believe everything for this point forward is the last ill have on mission…besides calling home. 

I hope everyone has a good, safe night while they go get some free candy that you'll so kindly send to Africa when you’re sick of eating it...hahaha

Another quick week has gone by. We were able to have both Emmanuel and Phillip come to church to Be confirmed which is good! 

I was able to go on an exchange this week with another missionary. 

What else…You know I’m starting to forget what we do each week because it goes by so fast. I don’t know what to talk about anymore. .

So I guess on Sunday after church we were going to find some people to teach and stop by some investigators that did come to church that day and we saw some ladies weeding in the front of their house. We stopped and asked if we could help out and they said yes. As we did they were so happy and kept saying it’s a blessing from God that we came to help. We finished in like 15 min but it was a great opportunity to meet some of Gods children to set a time to teach them. 

I’d say that’s the most effective way of finding people to teach is by doing service! What I love the most is how happy it makes us feel after helping someone! I feel of God’s love so much because as the Book of Mormon says Mosiah 2:17
"When ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God"

I know that to be true because of the joy I feel each time we offer service to someone around us.

I guess this week’s challenge to everyone is look of opportunities to serve those around you,

even if its someone you don’t know. Do it just because you know that’s what Jesus would do!

Well I think tonight I’m going to try my first Pepsi float. They don’t have Dr. Pepper or Root beer here so this is the best I can do.. 

I hope you all have a great week!! Thanks for your continued prayers and support!! Know that you're all in mine too.

With love,

Elder Morris

Elder Vincent Visits

WHAT A great spiritual week!!!!!!

First off we had our Mission Leadership counsel with the Area President Elder Vincent which was such a great opportunity to learn from a general Authority.. It was actually really cool. I was sitting right next to him in the living room at presidents house and we got to chat small! 

We had a mission tour with Elder Vincent, his wife and The Mission president etc.
Holy cow!!! Let me just say I hope one day I’ll be able to know the scriptures the way General Authorities do!! 

Somethings i really like was he talked about us as missionaries, while inviting our investigators to church, to help them understand the importance of the sacrament!! And it’s something that I applied to myself this last Sunday. As I came to church I felt that I really prepared myself for partaking of the sacrament and had a strong focus on the savior Jesus Christ. And all that he’s done for us! 

We were able to have the baptisms for Bro Emmanuel and Bro Phillip this last Sunday!! And that was also a great experience for me! Phillip asked if I’d baptize him and as I walked into the water I had such a great, peaceful, joyful feeling!! He was so Happy after the baptism. Even this morning he called us to thank us for yesterday! 

Little story:

This morning we got a call from one of the Young women in the ward that helps us go and teach. And she called to ask if we could give her a blessing, that she needed us to come over quickly.. Soo we all stopped washing and got dressed, rode our bikes over to see what was up and she walked out of the house and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Ghanaian that sad before. She was very upset. So we got chairs and sat to talk. She really opened up to us, telling us things are just going wrong in her life. Big long story, anyway...

Soo I had a scripture pop in my head that I felt impressed to share with her

In the Book of Mormon

Alma 7:11 &12

"And he (Jesus Christ) shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. 

12. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities."

What a comforting scripture to me.. That Jesus Christ has been through anything and everything we go through. No matter what pain, what affliction. Sorrow, suffering. Christ has been through it and because he has, he knows exactly how to succor his people.
Keep you heads up no matter what you're going through. know that God loves each and every one of you. And that Christ Atonement is for us all!! 

Find Joy in everything you do. And in everything that happens. 

White Man!

Another week gone by! I've had a lot of people yell at me...well okay, that usually happens each week but this week it seemed to be more. And I noticed it's starting to get to me! "WHITE MAN!!" I really don't like being called white man! 

Anyway, this past week we went on a exchange to a District in Nsawme which is somewhat in the bush. Anyway they have a branch there and it's very interesting because they have some Deaf members there as well.  The Elder I was on a split with has been there for 8 months and has been learning the sign language they use there. He's learned enough to be able to teach these members and other deaf people out there. So, I had a chance to use my old and rusty American Sign Language skills from 9th and 10th grade! ha ha All I could do is introduce myself. Not too helpful. 

I'd have to say one of the coolest parts of being a missionary would be getting to meet many General Authorities and members of the 12 Apostles. This last Sunday we had Elder Nash from the Area Presidency come to our Stake Conference. We were able to have a small conversation with him afterwards. This coming Wednesday,  we're meeting with Elder Vincent at our MLC meeting. It's always a treat to learn from these great men.

This coming Sunday we have baptisms scheduled for Emmanuel and Phillip. Both really cool guys. We're excited for them to join the church and they are happy to be getting baptized.

My small spiritual thought of the week:

I was reading in the Book of Mormon in Mosiah. Chapter 14 verse 7 reads:

"He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb so he opened not his mouth."

I made me think of myself after reading this scripture. As missionaries it's somewhat part of mission life to be laughed at or mocked and made fun of because of something you're doing.

And I thought to myself and reflected on how much more Christ went through than anything I've experienced. 

Chi, like I can barely handle what people say to me now...imagine what people said to Christ on the way to the cross!

So a lesson for me and for everyone reading this email, remember in time of struggle, pain or affliction...someone greater walked the same path you're going through. No matter what struggle it might be, no matter what pain, Christ CAN make it better for you and for me. He suffered all that pain and affliction so He would know exactly how to succor His people. Pray for His support and guidance this week as you face your challenges! 

I hope everyone has a great week!
God Bless til' we meet again

Elder Morris

Americans speak too fast!

What a quick week!! This week was very entertaining! 

I was able to attend my first MLC this last week. It was just like a normal meeting but it was great and one of the best parts was that Sister Simpson cooked for us! We had some AMAZING FOOD!!!!! 

To be honest the week was pretty normal! We're just preparing people for baptism and trying to find more people to teach. 

Crazy story of the week...

Sunday when we were at the church we had 2 american girls walk in with a nonmember. They were both in their 20's. They were visiting Ghana for a HEFY activity. So after not talking to a white girl close to my age for 13 months...I finally got the nerve to introduce myself and meet the non-member they had brought. As I was walking up to introduce myself I noticed I was speaking in a Ghanaian accent -__- Blew it!! ha ha ha

My companion and I talked with them for a little while and I was so supersized shocked as to how fast they were speaking! I could barely understand what they were saying! To be honest, I felt so scared . So I fear I'll have a hard time talking to anyone in the US when I get home!! ha ha That should be interesting.

In the coming weeks we'll have another MLC (Mission Leader Council) on the 19th but this time the training will be with an Area 70 President and then we have combined zone conferences with him throughout the mission. The next week is transfers but we are all pretty sure we'll be staying put where we are.

Elder Wiscombe (Elder in my area, from Utah) and I have began to work out again! We feel like we need to get ourselves back into shape since we've slacked for 8-10 months.ha ha ha Not to worry...I figure I'd rather go bald and stay skinny then become obolo (fatty)!

I hope everyone has a great week! You're in my prayers.

With love,

Elder Morris

JOY no matter our circumstance

HAPPY OCTOBER!!!! 

I hope everyone had a good week!! Mine was pretty good!

Here’s what happened

Well let’s see where to start. Okay story..

We have a young man in the ward named Kingsly. He 13 years old but he loves to come and help us teach. He’s also a great translator for us.
So we brought him along to a lesson. It was to teach a lady we had just met 1 day earlier. But the first time we met her she had a lot of questions about the church and about things we do in the church. "Why don’t y’all dance and play drum…Why don’t you pay collection…Do you believe in tongues?

We get these types of questions all the time here in Ghana and I didn’t really know how to answer all of them when I first arrived. I knew the answer but I couldn’t really put it in a correct sentence. So when we arrived with Kingsly she started asking him all these same questions she had asked us before to see if he would say something different. She was trying to confound him.

I was very surprised when Kingsly started to give answers to her....and it was the same answers we had given her a day earlier. It was such a testimony to me that the Church of Jesus Christ is a church of learning!

Story number 2...
We planned to meet this man, Bro Emma after the first session of conference on Sunday to teach him in preparation for his baptism. Emma is around 26 years old.

During the break, we grabbed some chairs to set up outside the chapel to have a lesson. As we did so some of the young men started to follow us and brought their own chairs so they could join us in this lesson. These young men ranged from ages 13 to 16.
We began teaching Bro. Emma the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We came to the topic of baptism. Bro. Emma joked the whole time telling the small boys that he was going to ask them questions and they would HAVE to answer. So he picked this small boy, Spencer. He’s 13. He said “Jr Pastor (nickname) what if I was already baptized in my former church?? Would I have to also be baptized in as a latter day saint as well?? This young boy replied..."let me answer that for you, YES you would because we believe that the Priesthood authority is found only in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints as it was given to the Prophet Joseph Smith during the restoration of the Gospel. And not in your former church so that’s why you have to be baptized!"

At first I was kind of worried about how strong-bold the small boy’s answer was towards Bro Emma. But afterwards Bro. Emma had a big smile on his face and kept saying "Amen little pastor, Amen!!"

It was so great to be able to see such a young youth testify boldly to investigators of the church of what we believe to be true. And to see him stand up for that belief!

General Conference was also great watch. I loved the talk about having JOY no matter what we might be going through! Peace or trials…it doesn't matter, we can CHOOSE to always have joy, if we have a positive outlook on things!

This coming week I will attend my first Missionary Leadership Council meeting (MLC).

This will also be my first time going to the mission home. It will be good.

Everything is going great!! 

There are only 2 more months to finish any goals you had for this last year! My goal is finishing the Book of Mormon before Jan 1st. Who will join me?? We've been promised that it will build us spiritually and help us grow closer to our Heavenly Father and his son, Jesus Christ!

Have a great week and keep smiling,

Elder Morris

Well I’d have to say this was the fastest week of my mission! If you keep yourself busy that is when the time starts to fly!

This week we did a lot of traveling! Tuesday was our only real full proselyting day and it wasn’t very good. We had a lot of failed appointments. Wednesday we had our District meeting, and another baptismal interview, then a ward party. It was great. A lot of members and lots of fellowshipping. Then Thursday we had exchanges with some missionaries in our Zone. Friday we had more interviews to do and Saturday was our temple trip. After that we had a Baptism for Bbro Agyman, and sadly no members showed up. We were disappointed but that didn’t stop the great spirit that was there. The temple trip was awesome!!  I love the House of God!!!! 

I’m so excited for this coming Sunday!! We'll have a chance to watch General Conference at the chapel this week. For those who read this and don’t know what General Conference is, tt’s a time where we get to hear from our Dear Prophet and President of the church as well as the apostles of Jesus Christ. You can watch it here (LDS.org) I believe every member of the church looks forward to this time of year because we are so spiritually fed by the word of God. 

It’s going to be so great!

Quick story of the week....It’s not too long but just so you can laugh of feel sorry for us.We live pretty far from the chapel. On Sundays we'll either ride bikes or take a tro tro. (car) We decided to ride our bikes. Well it was looking kind of rainy that morning but we decided it would take about 10 min to ride there so we left. As we were climbing this small hill, almost to the chapel, there was a down pour…it started raining hard. By the time we arrived at the chapel, it looks as if we just stepped out of the shower! We were dripping wet! Ha ha ha Not so fun but it’s all good. Well that’s about it.

I hope everyone has a great week! God bless y’all!

With love,

Elder Morris

Elder Kabwika, Pres. and Sister Simpson (Mission President) and Me

New Area Ofankor

Well First week in the new area!!  

So the place is called Ofankor. The apartment is really nice, although we have some cockroaches....We have an American shop by our house, the owner lady is from Alabama! There is peanut butter and Oreos!!! I’m loving it! Ha ha (He looooves OREOS)

My new comp is Elder Kabwika from DR Congo! He’s a really cool guy! He’s been out 18 months and we have a great time together. We're working on his English so he can take a test at the end of his mission. Everyday this last week has been filled with things to do so we we're tired small. (That must be how they say it in Ghana)

The mission conference was so great! Yes I was able to shake E. Stevenson’s hand along with E. Swarez  President of the 70... Soooo Cool! 

He mostly talked about teaching repentance to investigators. We do that by inviting them to keep commitments so we've been working on doing that this week! 

This last week I also had my first baptismal interview for one of the District leaders investigators. It was awesome! 

We have a lot of cool investigators we're working with. It is so great, we have so many more people we're teaching compared to the bush! We'll be having a baptism for this elderly man, Agymany, He’s 76! Isn’t that amazing…it’s never too late to find the truth! And on Saturday we'll be going to the temple! 

The new area is GREAT!!!! I’ve already made a lot of great friends with the youth. Now that I know how to build relationships with ward members, it’s becoming much easier. This week we'll be having a ward activity with dancing and games....soooo I’m about to make a lot more friends after they see this WHITE man dance! Ha ha ha just kidding!

I forgot to mention...I have another American in my apartment. Elder Wiscom from Utah. I haven’t been in an apartment with an American for the last 10 months. We're planning to make some banana bread!! It’s gonna be great!

Just a quick thought. As I was reading the Book of Mormon this week I read in 2nd Nephi 9:45 "O, my beloved brethren, turn away from your sins; shake off the chains of him that would bind you fast; come unto that God who is the rock of your salvation."

As we prepare for a new week I encourage all to turn away from not only sin but also the temptation of the devil. Chose beforehand when a temptation comes up what your action will be. Plan your defense against the evil one before he tempts you. As we do this we can avoid being bound. "Choose ye this day whom ye will serve" Lets strive to grow into the disciples that Christ wants us to be! I know the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ is true!! I love God and our Savior Jesus Christ! 

Thank you for the emails!! I hope everyone has a great week! 

With love,

Elder Morris

 #3 for Poots

 I met this missionary right before the mission when I went on a triple date with 

Ginger Spangler and friends

 When I first arrived in Winneba

As I am leaving Winneba today

 At the Temple

 My new companion, Elder Kabwika

Ofankor Night

 Ofankor Day

A view of our new area Ofankor