27 Oct 2008

Well Family i bid you all a big AHOJ! another week has gone by. Did anyone ever tell you that time goes by so fast. They shouldnt call it time they should call it "Fly", "lightining", "quick", "fast", or even "what just happened"...Hey can you tell me "what just happened. It is so amazing how quickly a week can go by. then before you know it youve got 9 months behind you.
I'm having a good time here. The work is moving pretty well things are starting to move faster, and people are starting to come unto Christ. Its so neat to watch someone make such amazing steps towards eternal life with God. I hope you are doing well at home there in Georgia. I hope the members are seeing success from this amazing work that we are all about. A quick word from the missionary. Do everything you can to help the missionaries in your area of the vineyard. If you do that you will start to see everything else like work, money and family fall into place, the Lord has commanded all of us to do his work, and i am 100% conifident that when the Lord gives a command he is willing to back the command with blessings, 100% of the time. As we do missionary work we will see our testimony grow, we will see our desire to serve increase we will see our temporal wealth increase and we will see our families grow stronger and we will see our children sustaining the faith and growing up to be like the strippling warriors of old. Momma daddy whitney Jeff, i love you all.
Well I am pleased to announce that Ivan Vasili Canga is the newest member of the Liberec branch (picture below) and that he is on track to receive the Priesthood this next week at church. I am very excited for him and the covenants he is making with the Lord. It truly was a great experience to see someone who was so prepared and ready to receive the gospel to enter into the waters of baptism. We lost a great friend and investigator Igor, he was reunited with his family and is now home in Slovakia. It is really sad to see him go because he was truly a great friend , but it is comforting to know that he is with his loved ones and, it is ok because he has not left us completely he has just moved to different teachers. I know he will be baptized. This was a strong week for the other elders. They were able to do some really great finding.
Our hopes are high and we are looking forward to an even better week. There is this really solid investigator named Lukas, he is a young guy and is the kindest investigator I have ever taught. He is the kind of person that I would be friends with back home. He is about 24 and already has a Christian background.

Baby steps: when the first step is prepared and then charted and then becomes a reality, then the second step follows kindly in place behind, and as confidence and faith increase the steps turn into a walk, and then a jog, and before you know it your running. That is what we are doing.

Questions:

Do you get to print your letters and read them later? no i always read them here im just always in a hurry so i sometimes miss some things.
What size of CTR ring do you wear? im not really sure does 8 sound like a normal size or 9
Who got baptized in Prague? That was our investigator Ivan, here from Liberec. We live about an hour outside of Prague if your taking a bus, so the members alsways prefer to have baptisms there or at a lake and it is too cold for the lake so we went to Prague.
Was it someone you had taught while there? Nope here in Liberec
Do they celebrate Octoberfest there, if so have you gone to the celebrations? no they dont. nor do they celebrate halloween or thanksgiving (of course). But they do celebrate christmas..yeah but it even is a bit different.
Did you put up your poster on the wall yet? not yet i have it laying out to get the curve out of it.
From daddy:How is your district doing? we are doing pretty well, we need to have a greater focus on getting people to church on Sundays, it is not so easy here because people like to leave town on the weekends.
Is everyone getting along okay? yeah we are doing awesome in that aspect
Are you having great success? i would say we are having good success I love the idea of being a companionship versus 2 sets of Elders in a district.
Is that concept having success? yeah its working pretty well we have a strong bond and high spirits
Do you find it to be more productive and uplifting? i think so and the other elders really seem to like it they too refer to us as a companionship so it is good they are very supportive.
Well you all have a good week. Find some new people to bring to the Gospel...i will be doing the same.
Love you so much, your one and only son,
starsi nowland

20 October 2008

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MOTHER! hodne stesti vam blahopreju!! That is how you wish a happy birthday here. It means lots of luck i wish you. That is also for daddy i know it is already way past but...I still hope your birthday was good dad. I figure it is better that i forgot because that means that in my mind you are still the same age...which means you dont get older! That is not the best excuse but i hope it makes you feel younger. Life is going pretty well here in Liberec. We taught 15 lessons this week 8 with members 4 without and 3 less actives. So a pretty successful week in that sense.

Well we had zone conference this week and it was a blast. I learned so much and am so excited that I got to see Prague again. It has been a long time since I have been back on this side of the country in bohemia. I have been given a great opportunity and am trying to figure out what I can do to improve our work here. It is wonderful to be able to look at what we are doing and see that as a district we are doing very well in a certain area like with member lessons and to be able to ponder now on what we can do to increase the other areas of our work. I'm going to see what we can do to increase our number of new investigators per week and members at church. I feel that if we can maintain our member lessons taught as well as members at church and new investigators than I really feel that we will see an increase in progressing investigators and baptismal dates. So we are going to do some research there and enlist some new goals to make these things happen.
I've never seen the members of the Branch so excited about one individual before like they were for Jvan this past Sunday. Everyone was talking to him and really congratulating him. It was almost like we were in a ward back in America. I think baptism is now becoming a reality here. It has been so long since they have seen a new person enter into the church.
What an amazing experience and joy it is for a person to find out that he can have a personal relationship with God, to try and have that relationship, and to know for himself that God lives and experience that relationship in all actuality and truth. It is amazing to see someone come into this great knowledge of truth that He lives and loves us and desires to speak to us in our hearts and in our minds.
The missionaries here are doing great. They have got the fire in them. We are going to go out as a district today and tract these panaloks that we found that are full of families. It is exciting to see success. It is exciting to see others lives change.

Questions:
1. Are you eating good? yeah.
2. Have you gained weight or lost weight? i have lost muscle and gained fat. I dont get to play frisbee as much to keep the fat off.
3. Do you need the shoes or extra pants that you left here? not yet i dont think im doing pretty well. You could send one pair of pants, black or grey. that could help a bit.
4. Which of the pair of socks do you like the best? well i like them all, its just that since i walk so much the fuzzyness gets like rubbed of and creates holes. i dont have holes yet in the new socks but i can see it being a problem.
5. What would you like for Christmas? a czech ctr ring and an oil valve mine broke my second transfer, a cool tie from that hole in the wall SUITMAN store one with paisleys and stripes.
6. What did you think of General Conference? Great but i watched in czech so i didnt get a whole lot from it.
7. What was one of your favorite talks? umm president monson Priesthood session. i saw that one in english.How about the announcement of the Rome, Italy temple? that is going to be sooo cool and a big help for the missionary work there.

Well the mission life is good. it gets hard sometimes but it is teaching me a lot and giving me time to really put my priorities in order. seeing so many people all the time really teaches you a lot about yourself and how to be a stronger more motivated individual. I love you a ton family but i will miss thanksgiving. They dont celebrate that here, so my companion and i will probably make something together.
Take care your son Morgan

6 Oct 2008

Hello Friends and Family,
Here is Morgan's letter from this week. He is in a new city called Liberec, Czech Republic. It is just below the borders of Germany and Poland in a mountain region. He said he wanted to go to a mission that had snow - well I don't think he really understands what he asked for, just wait for another month or maybe even sooner. He is going to see snow. His birthday was October 4th and he seems to not really believe he is no longer a teen-ager. Nor do I. Gosh, I sure love this boy, he is wonderful. Enjoy! Susan

Hello my most loving family. I'm in a new city, i just aged out of being a teenager (cant use that excuse anymore), I have a new companion, And somehow I'm supposed to serve as a district leader while also follow-up training a younger missionary......Life is good. Really it is. The worst part of all of that is that I'm 20, but i guess I'll get over it. I dont think I'll ever grow up. I love you all sooo much. I am so glad to hear that Michael was also assigned as District Leader in Argentina, he deserves it, he works so hard. I think the Lord just really thought I needed to be humbled......Well he did a good job. I will fill you in on some stuff later.
Liberec is a beautiful city, and it is full of so much potential. I'm looking forward to the opportunity that I have to work here. Elder Hadzik wants to have a new building here in Liberec. So we are working to increase the numbers here so as to make that happen. This area is really going to explode.

As a companionship, Elder Hatch and I are doing very well, Elder Hatch has a really good foundation and is often doing a lot to help me. He really cares for our investigators, and also the members here in Liberec. I am doing very well. I am trying to do what I can to figure out how I can best be of assistance to these missionaries here. They are wonderful though, they are very loving and supportive. We have decided that we do not want to refer to ourselves as a district but as a companionship of four. WE are doing this to strengthen the unity between us and also to provide a strong support group for each of us if ever we are getting down about the work or whatever it may be. We are young and are very excited! We have faith, now we are just working together to strengthen it and use it. We have high expectations and are looking to make those turn into realities.

I truly cherish this opportunity to grow and to serve side by side with these missionaries. The Work is hard but it is always worth it.

Questions:
1 - Did you get the 2 packages (box and tube)? no not yet but i will on Friday
2 - How did you celebrate your birthday? Umm.....I chopped and stacked wood, Got dogged by two investigators, played ping-pong for sports day and had a run in with a drunk man. But really it was all very enjoyable. We did end up buying some soda and and little baked goods for that evening.
3 - Tell me about your new companion? he is from Arizona, was a swimmer in high school, he is very nice and does a good job at making sure that i dont do anything too ridiculous.
4 - What do you like best about being District Leader? Getting to serve with such willing and supportive Elders
5 - What do you like least about being District Leader? Knowing that the Elders in this district are much more capable than i am. I'm not sure i deserve this. But i will try.
6 - How many investigators do you have in Liberec? about 6ish
Dads Questions:
How do you like your new area so far? it is beautiful, we are in the mountains, so it is really pretty , we actually live on the namesti area, Town square on this street that is a hill.

Is it as pretty as the area you just left? yeah it is
How's your new companion? super nice and willing to work and have success.
Are the Rusts in your new area? They are in Hradec Kralove which is where the Zone Leaders are.
Do you get to listen to the Saturday sessions or just Sunday's? We get to listen to both this coming weekend.

Life is good here. I'm sad i could not celebrate my birthday with you all but that is ok. I love you all tons and hope that the Lord blesses you all. I put some more pictures up. Sorry about the voice files. still isnt working.

I wish you the best say hi to everyone for me.
your one and only son

Morgan