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