18 May 2009

Hey family so guess what we just got back from a really cool Preparation day activity. We went bike riding through prague!!! It was so cool we rode through a few parks and rode our bikes on the bridge just across from Charles Bridge! It was really exciting i'll post the pictures next week for you all to see. The coolest thing that happened this week was that after many hard days (about 2 weeks in all) we have had really low amounts of success in our contacting and everything altogether. We were really starting to get down and our faith was hurting a little bit, but we said "no more!" to low faith and we each got down in humble prayer on our own and also together. We went to a park on thursday morning sat on a bench, said a prayer.
The Lord is always watching over us. he sees our struggles and hardships. He sees our faith being tested as we journey through the trails of life, and as we show forth our faith in the midst of those hard times and put complete reliance on him, he blesses and not just little blessings but great blessings! I am a witness of that. This mission is teaching me a whole lot about that absolute faith in and reliance on the Lord.

I Love you all so much and am very thankful for your letters. Oh and by the way about singing on Namestis (town squares) we do it every week!!! A lot of people really enjoy it too!! We use it as a way to find people!!!! We have had some good success from it too.

Well take care of yourselves and keep the amazing missionary work going forward!!!

Love your son,
Elder Nowland

Elder Price and Elder Nowland with Mr. Petr Spirit. Aren't they a handsome group. Petr was baptized on May 2, 2009

This is Starsi' Nowland and Marcelu at her baptism - May 2, 2009

4 May 2009

My Family!!
So guess what this week was quite a blessing and as you said our prayers have been answered. So i just got back from spending a few hours with Elders...well Brothers Trost and Johnson who were past missionaries here. Elder Trost was my Assistant when i first got in the country so it was really awesome to see them here and to spend some time with them. Elder Trost is awesome and brought me some whoppers!
So as you know 3 people got baptised this past saturday. It was a very hectic week for us because we were trying to get the baptisms organized while also preparing to go to Plzen on exchanges with the district leader there.

Elder Price and i have been doing very well at not only working on our spiritual strength but also our physical fitness. Both of us noticed that we were starting to "Let ourselves go" and so we have really been getting up in the mornings and getting straight to exercising. We have started running to Charles Bridge every morning which is one of the most amazing runs ever. It is so peaceful in the morning and really offers a time to relax and rejuvinate while also releasing stress through excercise. I'm so blessed to be living in the country and serving in the city that many people dream about coming to.

So we got a referral from the elders in Brno. We didnt contact it right away, when on saturday night we really felt like we should give her a call. She answered the phone and we asked if we could visit her. She said, Absolutely im so glad you called i really need some help with some problems im having with my computer. We went to see her and see ended up telling us that she had been thinking to herself that she needed some help but didnt know who to call and then she thought of the missionaries that she had talked to in Brno. Right as she thought this we called her and came to the rescue. How amazing is that!! She is now a new investigator and has commited to start coming to church. She has already given us a number of one of her friends and is calling another to ask that friend if we can come visit as well. It so awesome how well Referrals work. It is a very big key in bringing more of our brothers and sisters unto the gospel. we need to share the message of faith and divine help with our friends and family and then invite them to receive their own spiritual experiences as well through meeting with the the missionaries.

I love you all a ton and look forward to talking to you this sunday on Mother's Day!!!!
Here are the questions:

Did you get your package? yes, thanks a ton!!!
Did you like the surprise item that I sent? yeah super sweet ...i have two now so i will be set for sure (frisbees)
Do you need me to send anything? not at the moment.
How is Elder Price? Super we get along very well!!! He says thank you sooooo much for the PMG(mini Preach My Gospel). and thanks for the popcorn and pictures and frisbee.

take care this week and always remember that your one and only son Morgan
loves you

This is the view from their apartment in Vysehrad. It is a suburb of Prague. Really beautiful area. He says they go jogging every morning now that the weather is getting nice.

Elder Nowland has always had this thing about cleaning his ears. His companion, Elder Price caught him in the act and took this great picture and sent it to his mom, but told her not to send it to me. Well you know how moms are and we know every picture we can get of our missionaries are always welcomed. So being the great mom that she is...she sent it to me. I loved the picture and decided you might get a laugh too.

Vysehrad - The City where Morgan is currently serving.

Elder Nowland and Amka.

27 April 2009

Hello Rodino!!!! Jejda! I’m really excited to hear about all the good fun that you all are having. It has been a fun filled week here as well.
We were able to spend some time with Petr this week and get him completely prepared for baptism. He is doing so well and it is really exciting for me to have been involved in a great part of his life.
We also had a few meetings with a nice lady this week and we taught her.
We took some time through out the week to devote to preparing for Zone Conference. We trained on introducing the Book of Mormon with power and with great testimony to help the investigator to understand what we expect them to do (Study and pray to receive their own testimony). When we do this we don’t end up with a bunch of investigators that aren’t willing to progress. Also, we found that when an investigator has a testimony of the Book of Mormon you can overcome any concerns that they might have in the future. The training seemed to go over really well. The missionaries responded really well to what was taught. Now we will be looking to see what comes of the training as the missionaries put it into action.

Elder Price had his birthday this past Saturday so he is now 21!! He said thank you so much for sending the mini PMG. It will make a great birthday present.
My testimony of the importance of having a great loving supportive family that are members of the church has grown by leaps and bounds.

I love you all more than I could ever repay. The best thanks I feel that I can give to you all at this time are to serve with all my heart, might, mind, and strength. Thank you for the way that you raised me.

There should be three of our investigators getting baptized this weekend. We are really excited about that!! So we will see what happens, keep them in your prayers.

Well that is all the magic that happened this week. One cool experience, we were talking to an older man that we had contacted on a bench when a little while later a drunk young man came walking down the sidewalk being very loud and rude. As he approached where we were, he moved closer to where I was standing and shoved me off to the side. Not the nicest thing he could have done, and he probably wouldn’t have done it if he weren’t drunk. But it was pretty cool after I thought about it that, that was the first time I have ever received some sort of physical abuse since being on my mission and it felt good that I could be a small part of the scripture that says “blessed are ye that are beaten for my names sake…”or something to that effect.

I love you all a lot and I look forward to Mother’s day!!!
When you are deciding on a time pick the soonest time that you all can do it because Elder Prices parents are two hours back so it will be best if you all call first and then they can later. we get home from church at about 2pm our time.

Take care this week and have a lot of fun. All my love,
Your one and only son,

Starsi Morgan Nowland

20 April 2009

Dobré Ráno!!! Rodino moji. So, things are starting to look really great this transfer. Elder Price is awesome, and we are having a lot of success. About taking more pictures we will get on that because Elder Price and I both like to take pictures so that should result in some pictures being taken. We are actually going out today to specifically take pictures. The weather is really starting to warm up so that is a great blessing. Elder Price and I have started to put a greater focus on our health, so we go running every morning, and we are cutting back on what we eat and how much. I feel a lot better and more joyful. Being healthy is a great blessing especially on the mission because being sick puts a real damper on the missionary work. We have Zone Conference coming up on Friday and we have to have a training prepared. We are going to be training on the Book of Mormon and powerfully introducing it to our investigators to create a greater desire for them to read it and develop a stronger testimony on it that will help them to progress at a more stable rate towards baptism. With a strong testimony built on the Book of Mormon, any concern imaginable can be overcome.

It sounds like things are going well there in Georgia. I heard some weird things about Texas this past week. Keep having fun!

Here are the answers to your questions:
What are some things Elder Price and you have in common? We like the same style of music, photography, we have similar personality, and we like to be missionaries!
Are you getting along well? Yes, very well things are going great!
Does he like to work hard? Absolutely
Did you get the Easter package? Yup!!!
Which Elder did you share the other Easter basket with? Elder Price
Did you like the "book" that I sent? Yeah I did! I like it sooo much it is perfect! And everyone is super jealous they all ask were I got it and if it’s possible for them to get one as well. .
Is there another Czech food that you really love? Svickova, segedensky gulas, ovoce knedliky, and vepro-knedlo-zelo.

I love you all so much and wish you the best this week. You are always in my prayers. Say hi to the people in the Ward whenever you get a chance. Let Whitney and Jeff know that I love them, hope that they are having a blast together.

All my love, your son,
Starsi Nowland

13 April 2009

Well this week, even though it was transfer week was a great one full of success. I have very limited time so i will share the most important parts. Anyways we go to a meeting that we set up for friday. Right when Elder Price and i get there, our investigator asks, "What made you call me? i said we pulled your name out of our area book. He says how long before you actually called me did you find my name? I said about a week before, why? He push a calendar over to me, and written on the day of our first scheduled meeting, was written, One week ago i prayed that God would send me his messengers. So that was a really neat experience for me to know that God does answer prayers, and quite quickly in fact. He looked at us and said im not baptised yet because i havent kept my end of the deal with God. He said, I am coming to church on sunday so i can get ready to be baptized.
Cool story Number 2. While hurrying through the metro Elder Price saw a young man reading in the New Testament. We talked to him and he got really excited. He gave us his number and name while jumping onto the metro car. We texted him our number and names. About 20 min later he calls us and invites us to his home to talk with him about the gospel. We go on Saturday and teach the most powerful and bold lesson i have ever taught on my mission. I have never been so amazed by the spirit and its power to teach.

Family i love you so much and am so thankful for what you are doing. i apologize for the shortness of this letter.
Ill try and make up for it. All my love,
Elder Morgan Nowland

6 April 2009

Z Prahy, S Laskou! From Prague, With Love. Another week has gone by, and it has been the final one of this transfer. I’m looking at staying here in Prague as a Zone Leader and my new companion is going to be Elder Price from my MTC group. Elder Barker is heading back to Brno. I’m really excited because I have never yet served with an elder from my MTC group so that is going to be so much fun. I’m excited because he has never been a Zone Leader before so it is going to push me to have to take more of the lead this transfer instead of just riding comfortably in the back seat. I’m really excited for what the future holds. I’m super excited to be in Prague for the summer months. I have never been here for the beautiful blossoms and contacting in the parks and in the town squares. Elder Price is a super cool elder that loves photography, and playing bass guitar, and he is from Idaho.

I am at a loss for words to say as my mind is taken away to thoughts about the coming transfer and what I am going to do to help bring this zone into a new state and vision. So I am going to be putting a lot of thought into how we can raise and increase. I know it is going to have a lot do with two words that I have mentioned and talked about before when I was in Liberec, and those words are faith and fire. How can we bring the Zone into a greater sense of Faith, and more Fire. I’m excited for what the transfer will bring serving with Elder Price.

Let’s get to the questions:

Pres. Obama was supposed to visit Prague last week. Did they visit? Yes, he had a speech on Sunday so I did not go, but unfortunately some investigators went instead of coming to church.

Did you hear that they were coming? There are many posters up all over in protest to the missile base that the U.S. wants to put here

Well that is all for this week i will let you know next week how things are going with my new companion. I love you very much, keep up the great missionary work!!

Love you one and only son,
Elder Morgan Nowland

30 March 2009

Nedokazu si predstavit kolik zabavy mate! I can’t imagine how much fun you all are having. Thanks a ton for sending me the pictures of the house. I have felt pretty homeless not knowing what my home even looks like. (Moms note: we sold our previous home and are temporarily in another home while we build a new smaller one for us empty-nesters).

I really hope that the pass along card activity goes over well. That seems like it would be a lot of fun. I guess it all depends how you look at it but it would be a lot of fun to be able to accept the challenge and then to accomplish it. Good idea. I would like to thank you both for the letters that you sent, I really needed to hear about just committing oneself 100% to the work and then seeing how that Lord blesses us. I know that I’m not perfect, and even when we are having success here, there are days that I lose that 100% commitment. I know that it works, all a person has to do is try something and they will see if it works or not.
We had a really neat meeting this week with a guy that I have never actually met. It was a really good meeting, because I had a really great love for the gospel built up within me and I was talking to him to get to know him, and it was really interesting because everything he mentioned about himself was making a connection in my head to the gospel. It was so neat because I was able to look at him and thank him for sharing all that with me, and being lead by the spirit I said to him, “it is interesting because the message that we share has a lot to do with the experiences that you have had in your life.” I told him about the gospel of Jesus Christ and how it relates to his history. The purpose of the meeting was very clear; we were trying to help him towards baptism. It was nothing secret, It was so neat because that is how a meeting is supposed to be, it just felt so right and pure, and he was very open and excepting of what we had to say. When you put boldness and a love of the gospel together with an open heart you will see an individual progress towards baptism. That was a really good learning experience for me. I learned that we need to have our focus always on baptism, and to allow the spirit to lead the discussion. What a wonderful experience to see an open heart accept the words that were coming from the spirit. That meeting really humbled me, and now it is my duty to take what I have learned and apply it to every lesson, contact, and aspect of missionary work.

I was looking back the other day on what miracles that I have seen since serving as a missionary, and I found that there are many things that I have been so privileged to see since serving and amongst all the cool little stories the thing that probably means the most to me is that I have seen my family as a whole take huge strides in coming closer the Lord through missionary work. It touches me so much that my family is serving right along side of me. I am so indebted to the Lord for the most beautiful blessing that I have ever received from him, which is the blessing of a family that is so loving, so willing to serve, and so obedient to everything that they have been asked to do. That is my family! I want to thank you for raising me in the gospel, thank you for the lessons you taught me, for spending time with me, for helping me up when I struggled, for never giving up, and for always being living examples of what you believe. I'm going to commit myself to working harder this week so feel free to follow-up on me next week.

I can't express my gratitude for you all. I love you and i will be talking to you next week, so take care until then. Let me know how the Sundae party went. And also the Pass along card activity.
Love you family,Az se napiseme zase, Until we write again.Your one and only son, Elder morgan nowland

23 March 2009

So it sounds like things are going swimmingly there in the Brainerd ward. I think dad might need to serve a second mission before the one as a senior couple. I’m really glad to hear that the work is starting to pick up there in that part of the Lords vineyard. Also that will be really nice to get elders back.
In Prague, we had a really sweet week, Amka got baptized!!! It always just increases my faith to see someone enter into the waters of baptism. Just seeing how their life changes, and the progress that they make is truly amazing.
We are looking forward to committing more people to baptism this week to help our investigators have something to work toward. We are going to put into action the training that we got from the Assistants at this past Zone Conference. We are going to work at raising our investigators to the goal of baptism by using parables like Christ used when He taught, instead of lowering the goal so that they will accept it.

I love the mission right now! I’m really enjoying being here with these people. In every work no matter where we are, one of the great indicators of success is based upon the amount of Love that we give to those with whom we work, whether it is in business, service, marriage or friendship. I’m looking to increase my Czech speaking ability because I feel that I’m beginning to tapper off. I want to make a greater push and improvement in my abilities.

I love you all and wish you the best this week. I have a quick question about dad’s new vocabulary that he is using, “Stoked” is a cool word but it is way funny to hear it from the mouth of a boy raised in Virginia….ha-ha… No it’s good though, I like it. My family has got to be the coolest!!! I’m glad you all don’t mention the time that I have left because I know that some missionaries parents are more “trunky” than they are and write them all the time mentioning how much time they have left. I love you all so much for the emails you send, they always motivate to do more.

Love always, your one and only missionary son,
Morgan

3 March 2009

Hey Family guess what your praying paid off!

So this week we had a meeting with a former investigator. His name is Petr, what happened with him truly is something that you read about in the Ensign. So he hasn’t had contact with the missionaries for around two years now. Three weeks ago he felt a really strong impression to pray. As he prayed he asked that heavenly father would send him someone that he could talk to about his beliefs. A week after this prayer we called and set up a meeting with him. When we showed up to his house he was very excited and sat us down and began sharing with us how he had prayed for us to show up and then there we were. He began to relate to us everything that had been happening over the past two years,. He talked about how he had been studying the Book of Mormon everyday. He bore such a strong testimony of the book of Mormon that I even felt myself becoming converted to it all over again. The spirit was so strong as we discussed all these things. I looked over at my companion and saw him sitting there in awe. Neither one of us had ever had an experience like this before where someone’s prayers brought us to them. It was such a humbling experience. I began to feel promptings from the spirit to talk to him about baptism. This is not something that is normal to do during the first lesson with an individual. I told him that when an individual knows that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and is a true book, the next step for them is to be baptized. I asked him if he had ever thought about baptism. He got quiet and then quietly said that he had indeed thought about baptism, and that he had made a promise a while ago with the Lord that if ever he met missionaries again that he would be baptized. He then said, “And now you’re here.” Well you can just imagine the look of utter joy and shock that was spread across our faces. I sat there at that little kitchen table thinking to myself is this really happening, this is the kind of story that you read about in the “New Era’”, or the “Ensign.” Before leaving we committed him to pray about a date to be baptized and that when we return we will discuss what needs to take place before an individual is baptized.
Well his is part 2 of an amazing day; we hurried to the church building where we had a meeting with the guy that I had contacted on the metro that called back on a pass-along card. He became a new investigator, and then with another investigator, we committed him to baptism. It was an amazing day, one that I will remember for the rest of my mission. There were so many things that I saw that had been put in preparation for this day; little things that if we had not been worthy, they would never had happened. Our Zone did something truly amazing as well by surpassing standards of excellence and finding 32 new investigators this week, and also teaching 97 lessons !!! we broke the standards of excellence for finding new investigators as a whole mission the standard is like 128, and we found 145 never done before!!!!!!!! So it was a great week we went from 5 baptismal dates to 11 this week as well. Things are going very well. Im truly greatful for what the Lord has done to help this mission.

But now it is time for questions.
How did this past week go after your zone conference with one of the general authorities last week? really well. The mission did really well
Do you feel it made a difference? absolutely!
How did it impact the other missionaries? They seem to be very excited to work! and reach higher goals
Are you getting to teach more? yes and no we already teach a lot more than is normal so we are focusing on helping others get to this level rather than just continuing to grow our area
Did you finally get our package? not yet actually i dont know what is up.
Do you teach anyone in English? all the time here in prague.
Is it getting warmer? a little bit
Do you need anything? if you could send berts bees chapstick and maybe a bunch of black dress socks.
Tell us something about meeting with Elder Neuenswander?he is very good at teaching by the spirit. Everyone heard what they needed to hear. Whether it be following rules or just having patience it was a really good meeting but he put Elder Barker and i on the spot. It was a humbling experience.
Well that is all for today, i love you family spring is coming hopefully and im really excited,keep up the missionary work, you all are doing really amazing things there.
Love your son,Morgan

23 Feb 2009

Hey family well it was a rather successful week for us in the vysehrad area and also in the zone the number of lessons being taught and new investigators being found is increasing so that is a bit of good news. We are still struggling to figure out what needs to happen so that we can help everybody to see that they can accomplish more than what we are currently doing.

Quick question while im thinking about it or rather a request, would you keep my drums and guitar in the house where it is air conditioned if at all possible so that the wood wont warp as the temperatures fluctuate outside. That would be amazing and would save a lot of money.

The work is starting to become more and more exciting, about one week ago i was riding in the metro when a missionary challenged me to speak with a young man probably about 27 years old, of course i love a little competition and challenges, so i talked to the young man and began to enter into a discussion about why im here as a missionary. In the midst of our conversation i realized that i needed to hurry and get off the metro so i handed him a pass along card and as i told him that i needed to get off he mentioned that he was also getting off at that stop and that he also needed to change to the next metro line so he walked with me. Our conversation continued as we rode up the escalator. It was a very real conversation, we were both very sincerely interested in what the other had to say. He was heading in the same direction as us. He talked with me as i traveled all the way home, and here comes the sad part, i got off and said goodbye without getting his number or his name from him. Needless to say i was a bit upset with myself because i saw in him a really great young mens president. So there i was a week later at church when something amazing happened, he sent me a text!! unbelievable! I have never had someone respond back to a handout. It is a really great testimony strengthener for me that pass along cards do actually work. It may not be everybody that will respond or call, but the ones that truly are prepared will call. Needless to say it was a tender mercy for me. His name is Lada. So that was the coolest thing that happened this week for me, the work here is fun but we are looking to make it better, so stay tuned.

Now for questions.1. How is church in Prague? bigger there are about 80-100 people that attend every sunday
2. Have you had to speak in church there yet? yes actually i did yesterday i gave about a 5 minute testimony about missionary work.
3. Have you used any other stories that I have sent? not yet i havent actually had the opportunity i dont teach directly as much anymore but i think we will be changing that and start having district type meetings with our district leaders.
4. Do you need any clothes or other items sent to you? no i think i should be alright, you could send "Berts Bees" chapstick if you would like
5. Did you ever sell or give away your yellow backpack?yeah i actually traded it for another backpack it is a Dakine backpack its nice for p-days
6. How is your new backpack holding out? it is holding out very well
7. Where have you travelled to as ZL? brno and that is it so far we had a training meeting for Zone leaders with Elder Neuenschwander of the 70

Well family i love you more and more everyday it is a wonderful experience being a missionary. Im really learning so much about the gospel and also about myself. The mission is an eye opening experience.Keep the missionary work alive, i have a testimony that missionary work brings a whole new level of blessings to the lives of those that are a part of it. i have been blown away by how happy missionary work makes me. i wish you a great week,
love your son,Elder nowland Morgan

16 February 2009

Hey Family how are you all doing?! it sounds like you have had a really exciting two weeks there with moving and all that stuff going on. Im am really excited to be a Zone Leader it is a lot of fun but it is such a different responsibility. Im really nervous because i want to make sure that we make amazing things happen here but it is very difficult trying to motivate so many missionaries.we have 18 in our Zone. A really big pressure is that president expects the prague zone to be leading the mission in every aspect so its a lot of pressure for us to make things happen. Since it has been a while since i last wrote, and since you all have a lot of questions i will answer those and that will probably get out everything i would othewise write. So questions:

How were your investigators in Liberec progressing before you left? one should get a baptismal date this coming week. Other than that i dont know if anything else is going on. If they get baptized, will you being able to attend? Absolutely if they come to Prague, i will not be able to leave prague though
How's the new companion? Awesome!! He is really cool and very gung ho otherwise he wouldn't be a Zone Leader. So it makes it easier to work.
How's the new teaching pool? Diverse we are teaching people from every end of the Globe
How does the work differ as a ZL as opposed to a DL? At lot more to worry about but we have a really great area full of people to teach. we had 10 investigators at church this week just from our area.
Have you seen any of your MTC companions? yes
Are you living in the Mission Home? no
If not, what is your address (so I can google earth the building) i live on " na Pankrac " street What is this apt like? it is nice and comfortable. We have a nice kitchen.
Where is your new comp Elder Barker from? Alpine, Utah
What things do you have in common? music, easy going, like to work, like having fun.
Did you have to go and get your visa renewed yet. I know you just passed your year mark. How was that experience? that was a lot of fun but it was really easy.
Did you get your package? not yet maybe today though
How long was the wait in line for your visa? like 30 min. it was next to nothing, it was soooo easy.
Who else went with you? my MTC group and the AP's
What do you like the most about being ZL? two missionaries that have the desire to work hard
What do you like the least about being ZL? Being adequate. I dont feel like i have what it takes to help each missionary in their individual needs, it is very difficult.
Is it getting warmer? it snowed two inches last night. Not much warmer.
Do you need anything? not really, i have to get an international drivers license though but im going to do that here
How is everything in your new position? it is a lot for me to handle but i know that as i look to the Lord for help and advice that i will be able to overcome. For now though it is going to be a very humbling experience.
Is it much faster paced now that you have so much more to keep up with? yes days are really just whipping by like hours
Do you like being back in Prague? yeah it is really cool
How are the investigators and all doing? Investigators are making progress. We are teaching mongolians, ukrainians, bulgarians, afghanistanians, iranians, slovakians, Afrikans from the Congo, and finally czechs. It is crazy!!!
Any Baptisms lined up yet? yes for the 7th of march

Ok well i think that that is everything. I'll start getting better at these as things settle down. I Love you all, im pleased to hear you'll be in chattanooga for a least a bit longer. Keep up the amazing work at home with the missionary work. I know that that is why we are being blessed as a family. All my love ,
your son,morgan

2 February 2009

Well as you very well know today is transfers and im really excited so here it is. Im going back to Prague whre i will be serving as a Zone Leader with Elder Barker. Isnt it crazy!!! Im totally shocked and it is going to be so hard but im really excited for it. I dont have a lot to say other than im really happy that i have this opportunity.

Question: Have you used any of the devotionals that I sent to you? If so, how? I have, i got one translated to czech by a good friend here he is very rich and pretty good at translating i then used it for a talk that i has last sunday

Well family i love you so much. im serious you always give me so much strength and hope. We played laser tag today, it was a lot of fun. also, the talk i gave on sunday went over really well. i gave it on the atonement and used touch of the masters hand as a story, it is the story that i got translated into czech. It was really great i enjoyed myself and it turned out that the Lord was with me and helped me to speak czech well enough to give the talk.

Well that is all for today. we have a busy day because i have to pack and get ready to leave for Prague on wednesday. I love you family you are the best.

Love your one and only,
Morgan

5 January 2009

Hello to my family of four (thats not counting myself)! it is good to hear from you all. your emails are always so sweeet! they always build me up and give me renewed strength to go out and serve! This week was a cool week to be in the czech republic, we had new years and that was a lot of fun. We went sliding down a mountain on sleds and all sorts of cool stuff. Not to metion we had a good week for teaching lessons and seeing an individual enter into the waters of baptism. We really had a successful week and we were able to find to new investigators. The Lord is a champ! He is leading this mission so well. He is walking people right into the missionaries, it truly is fantastical. We were actually contacted by an individual as we were walking home one night from tracting. he gave us his number and so we will be meeting with him sometime this coming week. Missionary work is pretty crazy but a whole lot of fun. People are really fun and really unique. I really like talking to people, i remember back when i used to be sooo shy, i still am of course but im learning how to get over it and so im really starting to see my personality change to where i can carry a conversation with people without a problem. I hope that everyone of you back home are finding life to be an enjoyable adventure because this life is a very shortime that we have to prepare to meet our Father in heaven. And if the time we had wasnt one of joy then it would not make for very good stories in the next life. I can picture big groups of people all sitting around nephi or noah or moses and listening to them sharing the stories of how they got the plates or parted the sea or saw the earth fill with water. So go out and make your life into one that you will love to share stories about.

Well lets take some time to get to some questions:
How's your companion doing? my companion is a stud, all of my companions have really been quite amazing i have been blessed on my mission to have had such good companions. He is very motivated to speak and learn czech and to find and bring people unto the waters of baptism.

Are you getting along okay? We are getting along just fine, no problems, Im learning a lot from him.

Did Pepik get baptized yesterday? Yes he did!!! on saturday that is he did get baptised and comfirmed on sunday.
If so, Who performed the baptismal ordinance for Pepik? he had requested that i do, I told him that we prefer for members to perform the ordinance because they will be here the whole time to provide strength and support whereas missionaries leave, but he wouldnt have it. He insisted that i perform the ordinance so i gladly did it. It was a really great experience.

Do you think you will be transferred during the next transfer? Im not quite sure, im feeling about 50-50 right now so we will just have to wait and see.

Do you need a new pair of jeans? It is possible,
Can you buy them there or do I need to send you the pair you left here? if you wouldnt mind sending the ones you have there because i like how those ones fit. but if that will cost just as much money to buy them here then i can just do that. Just let me know, its not a big deal.

Alrighty then. Im going to end there i will wish you all the best of lives this coming week. Thank you again for the wonderful emails, it really means a lot to me. Happy new years!!!

Love, your one and only son ,morgan