9/29/14... HUMP DAY..I am officially on the downward slope to Thailand. CRAZY!

FAM!! Or should I say WORLD TRAVELERS!!  Pen yangray bang?!!!! 

Oh my goodness, so fun to hear about what is going on!! It sounds like everyone is doing great and that you are all so busy! 

I love getting all the details... Especially thinking about the whole pushing into the bushes incident... I can picture the whole thing going down and it makes me miss you guys so much! hahaha I love it! 

Another great week at the MTC... Can you believe it, HUMP day was 2 days ago! I am officially on the downward slope to Thailand. CRAZY! But again, another FULL week, so I will give you some of the highlights. 

On Tuesday we had our devotional with  Elder Ballard, and again it was AMAZING. It was so cool, he opened it up and just said, "tonight I want to give you some advice the way a grandpa would give advice to his grandchildren." He gave so many good insights on how to have a good mission, but one of my favorite things he said was that we should "PLEAD for the SPIRIT, and LIVE for the SPIRIT" It really got me thinking about how with every choice, every thought, every action, we are either inviting or driving away the Spirit from influencing us. Not only should we ask Heavenly Father in our prayers to guide us with His Spirit, but we need to consciously be LIVING for the Spirit so we can be receptive. I love that, because wouldn't it be cool if the Lord knew that when He needs something done, He can count on us because we will be living in a way that we can recognize His Spirit when He sends it? The coolest. Being in the presence of one of the very apostles of Jesus Christ not only strengthens my testimony of the reality of the Savior, but strengthens my testimony of a Loving Heavenly Father who is mindful of and wants to give love to His children. At the end of the Devotional, before Elder Ballard left, he turned around and went over to the missionaries sitting on the stand who had offered the opening and closing prayers for the meeting. My heart was so full of tender happiness as I watched the small, humble Sister Missionary from the Marshall Islands weep upon shaking hands with an Apostle of the Lord. It was such a testimony to me that even though their calling is over everyone in the world, like the Savior, they truly love and care for the individual. How grateful I am this week for the Prophet and his apostles... I am SO excited to hear from them next week!

Wednesday was Elder Frodsham's birthday and I had promised him I would sing him happy birthday in Dutch on his birthday, but it turned into a multi lingual serenade where I started in Dutch (loud and proud for the VanSlootens... especially on the hip hip hoorays! hahaa) then it went into Sis Lor in Hmong, Sis Beuchter in Korean, then Eld Slabaugh in Italian, then Eld Magera in German, Eld Choi in Chinese (probably the funniest thing ever cause he is completely tone def... we love him so much) Eld Raleigh in Spanish, then everyone in English. Elder Ridings parents sent him this voice recorder so we recorded it and it was ridiculous.. we have been having endless fun with that thing. My district is great, and it was super fun having a "party". They are definitely my little family right now, and I am so grateful we have each other. 

Thursday we started out with our service assignment and this week we were planting flowers. When we were done, the grounds keeper called us all over to his truck, and with tears in his eyes, thanked us from the bottom of his heart for our service. He told us that in 1 hour we had done what would have taken his crew an entire day. We were just following our daily schedule and doing what was assigned to us, so we were definitely taken back, but it was such a good reminder to me that you never know when doing something you think might be small, will impact someone more than you know. So a challenge to everyone who still reads my letters... Do a random act of service today! Later that day, we got the rest of our shots! Then I went up to the Dr. to fill them in on my podiatrist appointment, and I told them how the brace they gave me was making my foot swell up and was so painful, and the lady was so nice and insisted that I go back sooner than the next scheduled appointment. So she called right then and Sis Coates and I left like 30 minutes later! We take a shuttle to and from the Dr. Appts and we keep having the same shuttle driver and I am pretty sure if I keep having appointments one of these times he will actually break down and take us to Cafe Rio. hahaha. I ask him every time. But the appt was good, he gave me a smaller brace, and it has definitely been feeling a little bit better. TYLER, I think he called me in a prescription to the BYU health center... Can you maybe check on that? THANK YOU!! 

Grandpa, THANK YOU for the Doughnuts too!! :) Everyone loves Floyd and Phyllis here!

Friday was the best day ever because I got two packages!! Best family ever! DAD... I don't even know where you got that cake but it was like a work of art!!! Everyone loved it, the treats are like the hightlight of the week!! You are the best, but it is going to be hard to top that in the coming weeks. I believe in you though. haha.  And MOM... I can't even say how perfect your package was... I loved all of the inside jokes (I haven't eaten it yet, but you KNOW I will be eating that Kettlecorn in one sitting!! My companions don't understand how popcorn can be a favorite food group the way you do **HINTHINT anyone wanting to send love to their favorite Sister at the MTC** haha) and my companions LOVED their treats! When I read the note I definitely went a little crazy thinking you guys were AT THE MTC!! So close to me!  THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

Aside from that excitement, we are learning so much with reading Thai! I seriously love it! Heavenly Father is helping us so much, because somehow, I can make sense of the squiggles that once seemed impossible to understand. There are all these random rules though, like if two consonants are next to each other there is an invisible "o" and sometimes it is an "a" and we will just know? The tones are also crazy! We did this exercise where we read from the english Preach My Gospel and every syllable switched between the 5 tones... you feel so dumb doing it, but it was really helpful! Our teachers are so amazing.. it is weird to think that we are like babies trying to learn how to read... in one of our books that we practice the alphabet we totally laugh because at the top of each page is a little picture of a baby with a pencil.. it is slow and steady, but it is coming! And FAMILY, that card from President Senior with the vowels and consonants and tones totally makes sense now... who would have thought?! On Friday we also taught Saang, our investigator, about the Plan of Salvation, and it was a super good lesson. I am grateful to get to prepare these lessons and study these topics in depth. Such a good reminder of Heavenly Father's love and goodness toward us, His Children, that He has a perfect plan laid out, and all we need to do, is enter in by the way.

This is what Sarah is learning to read!!!

 Saturday  AKA HUMP DAY!!! We were all just so giddy and in morning at the gym (there is a weight room here that is super good!) my companions decided to lift weights with me, and it was so funny... They think I am like the work out queen and they had all these other Sisters asking me questions about how do push ups and about what work outs are good and stuff. Haha good times! I am whipping my district into shape though, 25 push ups every morning is one of the new district goals. Later, we taught at the TRC again, and it is such a help to hear their testimonies in Thai and converse with them! And..........I officially opened my Thai Book of Mormon!! I dont know why I hadn't taken the shrink wrap off until then, I think I wanted it to be some significant day or something, and I feel like HUMP DAY was the perfect occasion haha. I read 2 verses, and that may not sound like much, but it probably took me 20 minutes. So basically at this rate, I know that Nephi was born of goodly parents, and is righteously seeking after truth. HAHA. But the teachers really say that reading is one of the best ways to get the tones, learn new words and grammar etc, so I am going to read from the Book of Mormon out loud as much as I can.

Sunday was fast Sunday and it was a great day! My companions and I got made the new Sister Training Leaders so that will be fun! It is like the Sister version of the Zone Leaders type of thing. The Cambos and Viets all leave next Monday so our Zone is going to be SO small until the new Thais get here on Oct 8th! I am going to miss them, so many cool Elders and Sisters! But it was awesome, while the Elders were practicing their song for General Conference next week the Sisters in my district and I watched a documentary on Thomas S Monson and I totally had my heating pad and fuzzy socks on (Mom you would have been so proud!) These buildings are SO freezing here!!! Then at the Devotional, the speaker opened up and asked everyone serving in Thailand to stand up cause he and his wife had just been there! He had pics with the Seniors that he showed and he just said it is the most amazing place and the most amazing people... WOW I am SO excited to serve there!!! 

So many experiences this week where I have just felt SO full, I think that is one of the greatest blessings of the MTC, just feeling full to the brim of the Lord's goodness and spirit. I testify that He loves us. I testify that His son Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. I love Him and I love wearing his name on my shirt everyday. And I also love that I can finally actually read it :)

Love you SO SO MUCH!!!!

Ty Brad and PJ, I asked Bro Yuen what the equivalent of "Keep shredding!!!!" would be and he said it is "SUU SUU"..... keep fighting

So, suu suu, love you guys, and keep up the good work!!!

All of my love,

khwaamrag thii sud,

SISTER MORGAN

9/22/14... To reach a goal never before attained, one must do things never before done.

PEN YANGRAY BAANG?!!!!!!!!!!

Family! How is it going?! I LOVED your letter Mom, thank you so much!

This week has flown by, but it has been so so great! I can hardly separate the days and what all happened, but I will do my best to give you guys some good highlights! 

...at the temple with the CUTEST sisters from Thailand
who will be serving on temple square

So on Tuesday, Richard G. Scott came and spoke to us for our devotional! He spoke on personal prayer where we can really TALK with our Heavenly Father. It was so powerful. At the beginning of his talk though, he was giving missionary advice and he said, "To those of you learning a new language, to reach a goal never before attained, one must do things never before done." I love that... I  feel like there are goals in school that I have had and worked really hard towards, but I want to learn this language SO much more than I have ever wanted any of those because of my purpose behind it. I am doing my best to give all of my best effort to the Lord, because I know that is the only way that He will step in and make up the difference. I am grateful to Him for His help with the language. I testify that the Gift of Tongues is real. The other day, I really wanted to finish memorizing all of the consonants from the Thai alphabet, and I had 12 left and a short amount of time remaining before the day was over. I knew I needed to pray specifically that my mind would have the capacity to remember the things I had studied previously, and be able to memorize these 12 new consonants. I prayed, and I know that the Lord hears our prayers, is concerned with the details of our lives, and wants to help us achieve our goals. There is so much power in saying, "yes, maybe I could do this on my own, but I KNOW that with the help of Heavenly Father I can achieve so much more." 

On Wednesday, we got to host new missionaries! It was definitely a cool experience watching these families willingly let their kids go at the curb, and being able to play a part in helping the missionary and family feel a little bit more comfortable about the whole situation at the MTC. Like "Ok look people, just look at me, I am still alive, and I  have been here for 4 WEEKS and by the time I leave this place, your Elder is going to be like 3 transfers into his mission... it is going to be ok" haha just kidding. My companions and I always joke about how we secretly hate everyone that is going somewhere in the US that comes to the MTC for 12 days or even the ones that come for only 6 weeks. But for real though, the MTC is the place to be. It is amazing, and I am grateful for 9 weeks here. Also we don't hate anyone. 

Thursday we got a bunch of new teachers since the Phii Thais are gone, and they are all SO cool! One of them, Bro Chamberlin was actually in the MTC with Tyler and has a class with him at BYU! So everyday I am like "Hen phiichaay koong Sidtee waanii?!!!!!!!" Which means did you see the brother of me today? Haha, I asked him to take Tyler a message from me, and he said he couldn't, but he always says Ty is happy and I am glad to know that. We are learning so much about how to teach from all of our teachers. I am so grateful for all of them and the different perspective they bring. Plus they are way funny and always get on me about my tones! 

...with my khuus, Sister Smith & Sister Coates

On Friday we had some really good experiences with our teaching! We are discovering a lot about how to teach to our investigators needs, and my companions and I had a very powerful experience with one of our investigators where we truly learned the power that comes from good preparation. I have a testimony that in order to teach by the Spirit, we must PREPARE by the Spirit. We really focused on devoting our personal and companionship study to the needs of Saang, our investigator who is Buddhist (our teachers all make up their investigator "profiles" based on people they taught in Thailand), and it made all the difference in our lesson. It is way cool how even in these settings of "mock" lessons, the Spirit can dwell and teach truth the same way it does in real situations. I am grateful for the processes at the MTC that allow us to have these experiences. The methods here are inspired. 

Saturday we taught at the TRC and it was soooo good! We first taught the cutest Thai girl EVER who is studying english to get accepted into BYU. Her testimony and conversion story were amazing, and it was so fun to be able to understand everything she said and be able to keep a conversation going. Also I asked her to tell us if there are any cool things that everyone says in Thailand and she hooked us up. Then you will never believe it... our next lesson was with EMILY STEELE, the girl who's blog we read every week after I got my call! She was the coolest, and so so nice. Having a missionary conversation with Sis Steele was like surfing with Jack Johnson. hahaha our teacher Bro Hunsaker was like "you guys have to teach a lesson to them, you can't just talk!!" Then that night, it was crazy, I found the letters from Tyler and Chris at the bottom of that package you dropped off and I was so stoked!! I don't know how I didn't see them until now, but it was so fun read them. For real people, letters and little updates from anyone and everyone make you so happy on the mission! 

Sister Coates and I in our classroom that is the size of a shoebox
and the temperature of the produce room at Costco!

Sunday was the best! In the morning we got to witness the re-dedication of the Ogden temple, and it was so special. If there is one feeling I could experience over and over for the rest of my life, it would be the feeling of singing "The Spirit of God" in a room with 2,500 servants of the Lord, having just witnessed the Prophet of God commune with the Lord before our eyes. Seeing the beauty and magnificence of the House of the Lord on the screen, I had such an impression of the happiness and pure joy that exist in the eternities with Him. This is His Church, of that I am sure. I love my Savior and Heavenly Father. Later that day, I gave a talk in sacrament meeting on Recognizing the Spirit! It is crazy, every Sunday, everyone writes a talk on the topic for that week, then after the Sacrament, the President just stands up and assigns whoever he feels inspired to ask. I am grateful for the chance to do that, because every week I learn so much about the different topics when I study them in depth. 

So in general an awesome week! Other random updates:

I am going to the podiatrist today! I don't know what I am more excited about, venturing outside of the MTC gates or finding out about my foot??? Haha, but really EVERYONE, thank you so much for the prayers on my foot, they have been felt. 

Thank you again for the packages! Mom, the supplies were SO cute, I love them. Dad, the treats are always a highlight! and Grandpa, the donuts are awesome!! 

Whole family: Will someone please tell me if any of you are getting my letters?! Send me pics please! Also I am glad you guys liked my drawing of the family, I have big shoes to fill Elder Morgan always hooked us up with good ones. 

Dad: I am so happy to hear the calling is going well! I wish I could be there. How is work? Who is sterilizing?  

Mom: Wow, you are still wonder woman! I am so stoked on your job! How was the first day? I am glad to hear about your tennis. Hit some backhands for me!!

Tyler: Are you alive?! Did you get my letter??? How are classes?? 

Brad: So happy to hear about you and your friends! I can totally picture it with the mega phone and everything. When is homecoming? What color are you wearing? How are you doing your hair? What car are you driving? How many people are in your group? Who is in your group? .... haha I figure if I ask you lots of questions maybe you will actually write me!? jk I LOVE you

Parker: Glad to see you are keeping that social calendar up, I wouldn't want it any other way! But don't forget that if you are never home Mom and Dad are going to get lonely! (unless they have a dog to keep them company or something??? :)) jk, feel better though deej and thanks for the Dear Elders, they MAKE my day! 

Also a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Nate Heiden! I hope you guys had some cake and ice cream and sang Longs a salafin.... and that Dad kept his hands to himself while you sang.... HAHA 

Well, I love you all!! I am grateful to be one of the Lord's missionaries. Please know I pray for you all and am so thankful to have you in my life.

KHID TXNG!!!!

Sister Morgan 

9/15/14... Sarah's MTC Letter #3--Please pray for her foot!

FAM!! Sabaii Dii may kha?!!! It sounds like everyone is doing SO great! I loved the pics mom, thanks so much! 

So as you might have guessed this week was CRAZY full! Lots of Thai, lots of teaching and learning, just how it should be! I had more friends from school come in this week and it is always SO fun to see people from life before the MTC... Almost crazy to think there actually was life before the MTC! :) hahaha but it is the best place to be. Sorella Brunson leaves tomorrow and I am so grateful to Heavenly Father for the tender mercy of having one of my best friends live 3 doors down from me in this new place where a familiar face is so needed sometimes! He is SO aware of us, I can testify of that. I will miss everyone that leaves this week... The Phii Thais leave today at 3 pm and I am definitely sad to see them go! Its way funny cause we got here, and they had already been here for 6 weeks, so in our eyes they were so far above us (we were like ropes hanging on the Goodyear blimp.... no one ever gets that reference but I will always use it because What about Bob can never be quoted enough HAHA... watch that movie for me people) Anyways, you just think that they are like 25 years old or something and you have so much respect for them reading Thai script and answering your questions, then after you get to know them, like all of the Elders are at least a year younger than me! haha they are going to be such great missionaries. It is amazing to me the faith and dedication of the Elders and Sisters here, especially when I see these Elders, fresh out of high school who have chosen to do the Lords Work. Wow. I am constantly in awe at the amazing people I am surrounded by. My companions have been such a strength to me. From Sister Smith I learn so much about being a good friend. She genuinely loves and cherishes people, and has a talent for making things light hearted. From Sister Coates I learn so much about the importance of loving who you are, then letting that shine outward to the way you treat others. She has a glow about her that is contagious. I love them! 

So Tuesday night it was pretty funny, we were all POSITIVE we were going to have a General Authority come talk to us. One of the Elders in charge had briefed us at our Sunday night devotional one how we act (when to stand, sit etc) when an apostle of the God is in our midst, and we were like so for sure that Tuesday would be the day... Well it wasn't, it was Elder Sitati from the Quorum of the 70, and it was a wonderful talk. The rumor is though, that RICHARD G. SCOTT is coming tomorrow night, and I am pretty excited. After we are done daily planning and we are just talking we will go around and say something we like, and since we were speculating on which apostle might be coming this Tuesday, we were saying who our favorite apostle was.... and I just really started thinking about how much I love these men. They are called of God. They love us and lead us. What a blessing that in God's perfect plan, we have a Prophet and his Apostles to show us the way. If anything, they are a huge reflection of God's love for US, His children On that note-- I am so excited for General Conference! Still no word if there will be a missionary choir there, but we will see! 

This week my testimony has grown so much, and I am so grateful for the experiences the Lord has allowed me to have. A few things that have stuck out to me.. 

Mom, Tad Callister was our Devotional speaker last night!! It was an amazing talk on the Plan of Salvation... but one of the things he started with was an experience he had while he was a mission president. He said one of his best, most diligent missionaries asked him "President, how can I be a better missionary?" It really got me thinking that if I am here trying to give the Lord my best, there is ALWAYS something more I can be doing. I am humbled and ready to be a better missionary this week than I was last week. I think that it can really apply to any area of life, especially the areas that we think we are doing great in. I am a good scripture studier, but what can I do to be a better scripture studier? I am a good friend, but what can I do to be a better friend? The mission and life are ongoing progression, I am glad there is never a point when we can just say, "I am as good as Im gonna get... now what?"

at the end of his talk, I went up and told him I was Chrissy Morgan's daughter and he had nothing but GREAT things to say about you Mom, and Grandma and Grandpa! 

The choir director here is so great... he is SO funny, but he also has these awesome insights on the gospel and one of the things he said yesterday during choir while we were practicing "Be Still My Soul" was "do we realize that God is as PERSONAL as he is GRAND?" I started to really think about that... If He is as personal as He is grand, we cannot even number the stars in the heavens, the vastness and the beauty of His creations, so if He is equally as personal, what a relationship that can be. He knows our hearts, our sorrows, our wants, our needs. He wants us to reach out to Him, and enjoy the peace and happiness that comes from that very personal relationship with Him. He is our very Father, of that I know. The painting can never become the painter, but the begotten child can become like his father. 

Last night, we watched the Joseph Smith movie, and I cannot adequately express my love for what he did. I couldn't help but think of Parker, a 14 year old boy with a pure loving heart, as I watched the scene I have become very familiar with over the years of young Joseph Smith humbling kneeling before God to know the truth.  One of the things he says in the movie as he is calling apostles and they are unsure if they are cut out for the job, is "The Lord calls us in our weakness, but qualifies us for this work." I can testify that this is true. The Lord is using a very imperfect, unqualified 19 year old girl, and I can feel Him molding me into the servant that He needs to bring His light and gospel to His children. Every time I see this movie, I cannot help but KNOW more than I already did, that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I love him for all that he endured for the cause of truth, I love him for the work he began that I get to be a part of. At the end of the movie, after the prophet is shot, a martyr for the cause of truth, the screen says "Shall we not go on in so great a cause?" With my missionary badge on, this had a whole new meaning, and I can't help but feel a desire to feel somewhat of what Joseph Smith felt in submitting to the Lord and enduring all that He sees fit to carry on the cause of truth. I love this gospel with all my heart, and I know that it is the truth.

Dad-- I am so happy to hear about you getting set apart!!!! WOW my dad.... A Branch President... one Sorta Good Man.... HAHA but really, I am so excited. you and the branch will be in my prayers constantly and I will think of good activities for you. Idk why but when the lady at the Dr was on the phone with you the other day I just wanted to rip the phone out of her hand and talk to you. I love you so much and just watching her reactions to you responding to her questions, I could imagine your voice! And of course I loved when she said, "Hi, Joi, this is so and so calling from the MTC... cause I knew without a doubt she was hearing "Grandridge Dental, this is Joi, how can I help you?" HAHA I love that, tell the girls at the office I say sawadii kha and that the word for dentist is pronounced "maawwwfan" Thanks for your email and package! Have you been getting my letters in the mail???

Mom-- Wow it sounds like your job is going great!! I can only imagine how busy you are... give me details! Also I can only imagine how stoked the girls in the branch are to have you in there.. you are going to be perfect!! I am so proud of you and dad. About my foot, I am seeing a podiatrist next Monday (sad its not with my favorite podiatrist), and we will see how that goes! I actually have been in a lot of pain, but luckily my branch president is a dr, and I talked to him, and he thinks I have tendonitis in my achilles tendon... and possibly have extra bone or something where the tendon inserts. Its all good! I love you so much!!!  Have you been getting my letters in the mail??

Tyler-- OMG SOMEONE PLEASE DEAR ELDER ME TYLERS MAILING ADDRESS ASAP!! I have had a letter to send to you for a week since I have like no time on the computer! I love you and thank you SO much for the emails and dear elders!!!!! I want to hear about life! Also I meet SO many people here from Birmingham! and I met an Elder from Cardiff yesterday and I told him you served there and in Swansea and he was like "Wow Swansea would be  a terrible place to serve, its all beaches, it would be torture!" I was like ya you have no idea.... haha I hope you still have the Aloha Spirit and are riding the waves in your heart while you are in Provo

Brad-- Dear Elder me!!! update me on your life!! send me pics of your hair!! Clean your room!! Do some laundry!! Chew with your mouth closed!!! hahaha jk, Brad I love you and I can only imagine how you are just the life of the party with all your homecoming plans... good choice on wanting to eat dinner at our house, that was always fun! But for realz send me a pic of your hair cause I bet you look so cute! <---- I only said that cause I know how much you hate it when I say you are cute :)

Parker-- Mr Social life!!!!!! How are the friends? How are the parties? How are the girls? What are we going to name the new puppy is the real question!? Dear Elder Me!!! I can just picture you being so smooth with all the ladies in the singles branch... HAHA

I love you guys SO much........ thanks so much for the support and love!!!!

talk to you soon

Phraphuupencaw pen prabidaa bom sawan kccng raw le phrayeesuukrid song mii chiiwid yuu!!!!

God is our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ Lives!!!!!

<3 Sister Morgan

9/8/14... Letter #2 from Sarah!!!

Sawatdiikha!!! It is so good to hear from you guys... It sounds like everyone is killing it and life is good!

Mom: I am so excited for you with your new job! you are gonna be so good at it, and look so good in the outfit. please let me know how the studying goes! I will pray that you get it all memorized!

Dad: Way to go with the tennis, and you have no idea how excited I am for your new calling. You were made for it.

Tyler: Living it up down the street from me with all the other heathens..... JK Im so happy that you are down here and I hope school is going well!

Brad: You are the man... I am stoked for your homecoming plans and even more stoked to see pics! 

PJ: I know with just a little more work you will have a puppy in no time! I will def keep that in my prayers too ;) and idk if it changes moms heart at all that her sister missionary daughter is all for it. hahaha

So this week was great, and definitely CRAZY fast! It is so true what they say here that "the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days" cause we do SO much each day, but then you turn around at the end of the week and go wait it's over already??? 

So I will just give you a run through of the week with some highlights and stuff! 

Tuesday: We had a devotional by Don R Clark of the Seventy and it was AMAZING. My favorite thing he said about missionary work was "The day I care more about the people than myself, is the day I will be happy" I am excited for the opportunities the mission presents me with the find happiness thinking of what others need.. it is the best. Also DAD! I have so many good points from his talk that will be crucial in your new calling... Be stoked to hear them!!! :) Also on Tues before the Devotional, we went to choir... my companions are both pretty musical... and the choir director said they arent sure if we will be singing in General Conference, but we will know soon. So basically they are taking the "most chorally experienced Elders and Sisters" and I think it definitely counts that I was in the Southgate Elementary Chorus for 2 years right? hahaha but really it would be amazing to sing for the Prophet of God, so I pray it will all work out. I will keep you guys posted :)

Wednesday: Pretty usual day, I will explain a little bit of our Thai learning schedule. So basically we all sit at our desks in this tiny classroom and we have a 3 hour lesson with our teacher where we practice different things like testifying, sharing scriptures, praying, inviting, or other key grammar principles like use of the words "thii" or "waa". We have 2 of the 3 hour class sessions, an additional hour of language study, 2 hours of "additional study" that we usually devote to Thai, and it makes for one super Thaied-out day.... But the Lord is with us of that I am sure, because there is no way we would be able to 1. Learn all we have learned, and 2. Be attentive and receptive for that long each day! The Lord is too good to us. He is helping me so much with my memorization as well... Like on Wednesday I had been studying these certain phrases that morning while working out, and later that day I was trying to explain something to our investigator Ice Cream, and some of the words I had just memorized are the exact words I needed to teach. Also I have the baptismal invitation memorized now which I am way excited about!

Thursday: So about every morning I go running with one of the Phii Thais, Sis Ong and she and her companions were doing an "english fast" that day so when I met her in the hall, she had a note that explained and so the entire run I tried to speak Thai (mostly Thaiglish) and understand what she was saying and it was way good for me! Every Thursday we have a service assignment, and ours is to clean the 17M residence halls, so we cleaned the toilets on two floors! My companions were like so confused when I said we would do the toilets, but then they realized it was one of the fastest/ least gross jobs. hahaha. Then later that day, when we were teaching our investigator, we committed him to get baptized! haha super funny though, because he asked how he could prepare and We were like read the Book of Mormon, Pray, go to church. and I was like ok ya I want to make him feel super welcome, so I wanted to add "go to church WITH us" but instead I said "go to church OF us" and my companions and I were laughing so hard, and even Ice Cream was trying super hard not to laugh. 

Friday: We play volleyball in the mornings as a zone some mornings which is SO fun! Ice Cream our investigator became our teacher today! His name is actually Brother Hunsaker, and he just got back from Thailand a few months ago. He talks SO fast, but again blessings from the Lord, because I feel like I understand a lot of what he is saying. But definitely sometimes we just look at him like ok what? or we have to say "phuud iig" over and over which means "say again" It is definitely stressing some of the Elders and Sisters in my district out to have him teach us now because it is SO much faster and way different than Sis. Stolworthy our old teacher (who is literally a thai speaking angel), but  I think it will just take us a little while to get used to it. 

Saturday: Another normal day! I have to say though, sometimes it is so hard for us to want to study as a district when we just want to talk and joke! We do basically everything together and have become such good friends. It is definitely inspired the way the mission is set up, because your district, and even your zone, become your "family". Also highlight of the day.... I did win the wall sit competition between all the Elders and Sisters in my district... HAHA. good times

Sunday: The best day! Its crazy, you are spiritually fed all week, and then sunday comes, and you just add too it! There is nothing better! Since it was fast sunday we had Mission Conference, and it was SO amazing!! One of my favorite things from it, was when Pres. Nally said that submissiveness is key to the mission. I am learning more and more that this is not my mission...it is the Lords. I am willing to submit to whatever He has in store, and just hope that I can be a vessel for him to work through in whatever way He needs. It is empowering to think of the mission in this light, because then it turns from "Oh my gosh, I hope my mission is as good as my brothers, or I hope I baptize a lot of people, or I hope I find myself while I am here etc etc" to I am here to be a tool in the Lord's hand in WHATEVER capacity that is. I love the Lord. I hope you guys know that. He truly is with His missionaries. 

Monday: This morning we got to go to the temple and I am so grateful! What better way to start your  day than in the house of the Lord. I love the Spirit that I feel there, and the more I learn of the gospel, the more I see how important it is to go to the temple. We make covenants with the Lord. We learn in His way. I am so so grateful. 

Other stuff: 

I am absolutely loving the Book of Mormon. I have SO much time to be in it, and it is so special to get to literally FEAST on the words. Study challenge for the fam: Read 1Nephi Chapter 1 with this question in mind: "Why did the Lord choose to have this be the first chapter in the most important book to mankind?" Notice all of the different relationships in the chapter and it really is so powerful.

Also! I cant say thank you enough for the Dear Elders, Letters, and Packages!!!!!!!!!! Mom and Dad, thank you SO much for the packages! Grandpa, thanks so much for the doughnuts! Wow, I really have been just completely overwhelmed lately with gratitude for the family and friends I have been surrounded with my whole life. When we are done with our daily planning at night, we go around as a district and say different things about ourselves and we talked about our families last night. Whenever I bring you guys up, I talk forever, because there is just so much I love about you guys. It brings tears to my eyes to think about what great people the Lord has blessed me with. 

On that note, as selfish as this may sound, I will request that the packages and letters keep coming :) there is literally nothing better than studying all day, and then getting a letter with some solid office quotes or a little update on life! :)

Choog dii!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sidtuu rag raw!!!!!

(best wishes/goodbye/goodluck!!!!!!!!! I love you!!!!!!!!)

<3 <3 <3 Sister Morgan

9/1/14... Sarah's First Letter!!!

Family!! Hello hello hello

Ok so I am officially a missionary and life is G-O-O-D!!!! Did you guys get my letter? I hope so. Side note-- I LOVED the Dear Elders and letters--- keep them coming, walking into the classroom after lunch and seeing mail on your desk is like walking into Nordstrom and seeing something you love-- BUT BETTER. dumb analogy but you get the point, PJ and Mom I almost cried when I read your little Dear Elders, you guys are the Best!

I am just going to write, I dont want to run out of time, so just try to make sense of whatever comes next :)

So I got here Wednesday, and I went down some halls and through some rooms and picked up my NAMETAG and keys etc. while my host took my bags, then I went and got my books-- SO MANY BOOKS!! Ty, you were not kidding. Everyone was pointing at me and asking, where the heck are you serving?? Cause even the spanish speaking Elders and Sisters don't have nearly as many books. haha. Then I had another host take me to drop my stuff off at the Residents and it was straight to the classroom! Our teacher Sis. Stolworthy is SO amazing, you can literally just see the light of Christ in her eyes and she is SO good at Thai. So literally we get there, and she is only speaking Thai to us, and we are trying to make sense of it, and it was just super crazy. hahaha. Then we did some other missionary activities later with all of the new missionaries, like an introduction from the MTC president and we sang "We'll Bring the World His Truth" but instead of "We will be the Lord's missionaries, we sand We are NOW the Lord's missionaries"... so powerful!!!!!!!!!!!!! On Thursday I got the Japanes Ensephalitis shot in the morning, and in class we learned how to pray in Thai!! This language is seriously crazy, but so awesome. I am just gonna say it, I love learning Thai. haha. On Friday, we taught our investigator, Ice Cream for the first time!! HAHA can you believe it--- day three?? So there were definitely some long silences, but we used the phrases we knew and tried to use the Spirit. Our biggest trouble was that we did not know how to end it!!!! So I just said "Raw rag khun le Prapupencaw rag kun!" which is We love you and God loves you! hahaha kind of creepy maybe, but it was all I had. On Saturday, we taught him again and it was SO much better, but still not great! I think we prayed three times in the lesson that was probably 10-15 min. hahaha. I have so much room to grow and improve in my teaching, but I know when I listen to the Spirit, I remember things that we have learned. The Spirit is so key!! Then Sunday--- The day everyone says "Just make it to Sunday and you will be ok!!" Haha so somehow we survived until Sunday and it was great! We studied in the morning, I studied the Atonement and finished my talk (we all have to prepare a 5 min talk for Sundays and the Branch Presidency randomly selects people to give them! Scary... I offered to give the closing prayer, partially because I wanted to and for the blessings, partially to dodge speaking the first Sunday ;) jk) Then we went to Music and the Spoken Word, then to Relief Society where the RS Gen Presidency 1st Counselor addressed us...so good! She really drove home the idea that the Lord needs us as Sisters to aid in the work because of certain attributes like love and nurturing that he has given us as women, which is a super great thing to think about.Then we had Sacrament with our Branch, and side note!! Craig Callister's dad is in my branch presidency!! He is on vacation in England right now, but Bro Penrod told me he is a dentist in Payson and has a son who is also a dentist there, so way cool! At night we had a devotional by the old President of the Alabama Birm. mission-- probably knows Jaxon Munns-- but it was SO good. He talked about the importance of starting a study journal now in the MTC so we can learn how the Lord reveals things to us, so in the field we will be able to recognize when he is revealing something to us about investigators etc. To keep a study journal also shows the Lord that we treasure what He is teaching us, and then He will want to bless us with more. Then we watched the movie for the night, which was a talk by Elder Bednar called "The Character of Christ".... can I just say... WATCH IT, READ IT, LIVE IT, LOVE IT!!!!!!!!! So amazing. One of his main points is how the character of Christ is to turn out when the natural man would turn in. He talks about how we are like the cookie monster... I WANT COOKIE NOW!! or I want things my way... I want the mission to go my way.... I want investigators now.... I am definitely a cookie monster in a lot ways, and I am excited to renew my focus to TURN OUT. that is just one of the things from the talk, but please read it!

So I feel like I didnt even give a portion of what we do... But let me just tell you that we STUDY A LOT!! We have morning class instruction for like 3 hours, lunch, 3 more hours of class instruction, additional study time, dinner, personal study, companionship study, language study, more additional study, then planning then bed!

We also have gym time in the mornings at like 7:35 for an hour so I have been able to work out which is great! They offer a 6 am work out class for Sisters as well, so my companions and I did kick boxing on Friday morning, hahaha. The other mornings I have been able to do an "exchange" and go running at 5:45 with one of the Phii Thais (Thai speakers who has been here for 8 weeks) Sister Ong... it has been way fun!!! She is from NYC and went to BYU.

Also we eat breakfast at 7... Lunch at 11:30... and Dinner at 4:30.. Weird right? haha and the food has been good! There is this room that you can get stuff like grilled chicken or salmon, vegetables, hard boiled eggs for breakfast, so I have been ok!!!!  

And guess who my khuus are?!!!!!!!!!!! Sister Coates and Sister Smith who I had already met on Facebook! They are AMAZING-- we have so much fun together, and we are definitely all super different about some things, but way the same about a lot of things which makes it fun. We balance each other out well. Sis. Coates is the one from Murray, and Sis. Smith is from Arizona. Like the third night we all just layed in bed laughing SO hard... that night bonded us and I am so grateful! I love all of the Thais sooo much. We have 2 districts that just came in at the same time as us, and everyone is so great. Sis. Beuchter and Sis. Lor are the other Sisters in our district, and they are awesome. Our district leader is Elder Frodsham and he is from Kaysville and went to Davis! Then in the other district is Max Hall's little brother... Elder Hall if you didn't guess that. haha. Also! Jourdan and Lisa, tell Todd and Brenda Elder Nelson is in my zone! He is really cool besides the fact that he is a hardcore U of U fan. haha. But he was talking about the guy you guys were with when you went to Thailand who served his mission there and now teaches English. ALSO HE LOOKS JUST LIKE BRAD....... LIKE IT IS FREAKY. my companions were looking at the pics of our family (thanks so much mom I LOVE THEM!!) and Sis Lor was like Oh my gosh is this Elder Nelson?????

I have seriously seen SO many people I know here... everyone in my district is like what the heck and my companions play the game "count how many people Sister Morgan knows" haha. There are so many people from my ward at BYU here! Also I ran into Luke who makes our salads at Costa Vida... But lets not talk about Costa Vida right now or I will just get sad. haha. Then Sis. Daly who is the daughter of your roommate from college Mom. Then most random one was I kept seeing this kid everywhere and I was like umm that is Elder Peterson who I grew up with in Kentucky!! So I went up and introduced myself and we took a pic and I dont think he knew exactly who I was, but I told him that I recognized him because I like hoard and study our Christmas cards HAHAHA... Which my companions let me know was probably creepy, but he promised to make sure his family starts sending us Christmas cards again. His family lives in Shanghai now and he is going to Texas Spanish speaking!

Well there are a million things I still want to tell you but i think I am running out of time!!!!!!! 

I know Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer and I love him!!! I have so much to learn and I know that this is the best place for me to be right now to do that. The mission is amazing. Please know that I am happy. SO SO happy. and feeling so grateful that the Lord helped me know that I needed to be here right now.

How are you guys?!!

Brad way to go on the Senior girls, you are the man. Now just talk one of them into going to Homecoming with you which is coming up! haha

PJ how is school?? I am sure you are killing it, especially in leadership. Did you have some fun assemblies to plan and stuff? I loved that about leadership. 

Dad, I am so happy you are doing well with your calling, I want to hear more about it!!! write me :)

Mom, you amaze me with all you do. Thanks so much for the letter, I love it cause the way you write helps me hear your voice in my head. 

I love you guys so much!!!

I am out of time for the qs but I will answer them later or in a letter. 

love, Sister Morgan

ps I brought way too much stuff and I will send pics soon!!! 

Mom scripture study... study 2 Ne 32.... Doctrine of Christ :)