First Baptism and MLC

December 12, 2016

This past week was almost all ups and downs. I received a nice pair of shoes in a previous package but I only use those for meetings and such, so my ‘work in the mud and rain’ shoes are my old ones. Those old ones completely fell apart haha! Huge holes and such. We went to a mall last P-day to get what they call Easy-Soft shoes which are very cheap and made of rubber. They are nice and water proof and should get me through the rainy season. I later figured out that the mall we went to is considered ginadili- that means forbidden or bad. It was HUGE and very worldly. It honestly was a very cool place but I can see why it is banned for missionaries to go to haha! Repent!

We found a ton of great hopeful people this past week. One was a referral from Church H.Q. Those aren't common so they are usually really good! We followed up with about four 18-21 year olds. They were really good and well prepared! We also found another 18 y.o girl who was taught up in Manila so we began teaching her as well.

As soon as I got our ward members to help and have fellow-shippers for them all, they ALL dropped us! The one 18 y.o girl’s drunk father was like "No we ain’t haven anything to do with them!" (Like you even worship in your own faith!) and that huge group of YSA’s dropped us like its hot! Their uncle came over right before we went to pick them up for church and told them no. C'mon! I understand that it is important to listen to your parents and such but when none of them care for you and try to control your interests... that would push me away from them! It is annoying but alas the work moves on.

We did have a baptism last Saturday. I helped teach him L2- the end of our lessons (so a major part) and Elder Espiritu baptized him. Si brother Kenneth is really good! He was a member in a ton of other churches but couldn't really find the right one. His testimony of the restored gospel is fantastic! He sees things like a well-seasoned member or even missionary (i.e that this is a CHRIST CENTERED church, the confusion from the Bible, etc). Next Saturday I will be baptizing the sister’s investigator. We have baptisms planned for 3 weeks in December so it should be great!

After the baptism, we met with each missionary to do kind of a "how are you doing" interview. Everyone seems to be doing good except an interview that lasted about 1 1/2 hours! It wasn't the previous companionship but a different one. They are facing the same struggles I am actually weighed down with in my current companionship. I won’t get into much detail about that (good thing I have it all written down!) but I pretty much told them to apply what I am doing in my companionship which is submissiveness. I actually talked to a lot of other missionaries about submissiveness. They are doing fine now haha.

The focus behind how I work is the "not my will but thine be done". Some missionaries are both wanting to serve very hard but may have other ways to serve so the point behind it is to follow what your companion would like to do because who knows that it may actually work! Elder Beretara wanted to randomly visit an active family. I thought it was stupid! We went in the end and received the referral of brother Billy John. I baptized him 2 months later. We dropped Mae Sasi cuz we couldn't work with her but then Elder Fernandez decided to ask the branch president to work with us. I was like "He is too busy and we are too far away but here is the phone; you ask him." I baptized her a few weeks later. With brother Kenneth, we taught him maybe 4 times before we baptized him. We would teach several lessons in one lesson because Elder Espiritu wanted to! I thought that we were rushing him and that we were shooting for numbers... until I heard his testimony. We baptized him last Saturday.Being submissive to others is a spiritual strength that allows us to get more ideas than our own. Don't be submissive to disobedience but support your companion’s righteous actions.

The past 2 days was great! We had MLC, my first:). The fed us pizza on Monday night (I ate a ton! Not numbered cuz of the greatness of the eaten slices). We then sat with the president and for three hours we just had a Q and A about anything we wanted to! I ALWAYS ask deep questions so I brought one up. It didn't receive an answer but there is one. I asked for a reference on how we know that the Lord was nailed in the wrist. Other deep questions were asked and that was fun.

The next day we had fantastic workshops! We were fed enchiladas:) and NACHOS! We then returned, took a leader’s picture in front of the temple and the new leaders were given a chance to bear their testimony. I went last, my testimony is interesting. I will have to share it in full (like I did) when I am home. It just doesn't work through email, it is sacred and needs to be felt other than read. Ether 12:23-25.

I made mention that I am working on a huge plan to implement in the work. Well everything that I felt inspired to put in was made mention and discussed, and I didn't even bring it up! #intunewiththespirit! From increasing Referrals and M3's and even the idea that I had on Monday. I told my comp and 2 other ZLs that maybe we should see if we can push having the BIG zone conferences (the Island sized ones) to be transferly instead of every other transfer. They laughed at that idea. Well guess what president stated at the beginning! #intunewiththespirit!

The new announcements are: zone conference and zone interview are each transfer instead of every other transfer, and the new mission baptizing goal is once a week baptism! There are other missions in the Philippines getting 250 baptisms a month with 85% retention! Cebu is at 37 last month with 45% retention so we are far behind. Changes will be made so that in a few years the work will hasten! Other than that I am good. Still alive and yeah... I wish you all the best! Love you! Amping!

- Elder Morris

First Official Full Week as Zone Leader

November 30, 2016

My dad told me when I was in Argao (my 2nd area) that being a leader is a lot of babysitting. Yeah... I'll get to that in a moment.

Last turkey day I celebrated real well! I ate a 16 day old balot:)  That's the boiled duck fetus. Mmmm... duck fetus. I got a picture.

I won’t get into much detail about this, but one person in the zone has been using the cell phone to contact others outside of the Cebu Island. He used up ALL of their load on the phone so they cannot call or text. That is a real problem in the work especially when your companion is the district leader. So we get a call from their neighbors phone (the DL calls) and asks us to come over because there is a problem. At 4 p.m. we leave and by 11 p.m. we get home. A.Ps were involved and we even went to President’s office to sort this out. I just remember the A.P going up to the one bugoy person and saying "E., E., pack your bags you are going home!" The problems were rather quite huge, but like I said I won’t get into much detail. I got it in my journal:) He didn't end up going home that night but we did go on exchanges; me with the DL and Elder Espiritu with the other.

My day with the DL in his area was a day that I haven't ever had before. We left at 10 to get to an appointment and as we were walking we heard a guy calling us over. He was very adamant about it so we went over to his house. He pushed all of his furniture around to make room for us. He then sat us down. He sent his wife out to get stuff and she came back in with a litre of Coke and a ton of tinapay (bread). He then grabbed a mango the size of a coconut (like this thing was HUGE!) and cut it open for us and then fed us! It is common to get food and such from the people but not like this! He then told us his name, si Lee. He explained how he is named after the assassin of JFK. He has a brother named Stalin, another named Hitler and so forth! I honestly was like "This man is going to kill us both Americans!!!!" He then said how he has been bouncing around from religion to religion trying to find the correct one. So we took the opportunity to teach about ours and he was very in tune especially at the part about Joseph Smith. He was really good to be honest (not living up to his name!). I am not sure what became of him because he is not in my area but the lesson was fun!

We continued in the work until around 5:30. We were supposed to go to the church for a baptism. It was for a Child of Record, but we were still supposed to support. Well we are both one week in our new area so neither of us knew where their church was! Not to mention the DL doesn't have load on his phone so we couldn't call... I remember E. Espiritu telling me that their church can be seen from the big round about in Cebu and so we went there. It then started to down pour and we were running around that HUGE roundabout looking for the steeple of the church. We decided to stop and pray for God to give us a miracle i.e guide us to the church. Right when we started the prayer our companions called us! I was like WOW! Well Elder Murdock answered and then hung up cuz he didn't understand them... I was like "NO! YOU HUNG UP THE ANSWER TO OUR PRAYER!!!!!!" So we ran around some more asking everyone we could if they knew where the Mormon church was until we stopped and prayed again. NO ONE knew where the church was. This time our answer came differently. I felt prompted to go down this one street and so we did. Got to the end of it and I felt prompted to go down another street and so we did. We got to the hospital. We kept asking everyone we could if they knew where the church was and still not one person knew. Well at the hospital we found a police (pulis) dude and asked him. He happened to be the only person who knew where it was! (Being guided to someone who knows the answer to our question was an answer to our prayers!). We jumped on a jeepney and went to the place they told us to go to. I saw the great white spire of the church and hooray! We were an hour late but still on time cuz those things don't start on time anyway.

Sunday we planned a baptism for this Saturday with one of the most golden investigators I have ever met! Brother Kenneth (Kent) is fantastic! He has a girlfriend fellow-shipper and his testimony about the restored gospel is exactly what it should be! He tells us how he feels that it is true. He feels that it is a hingpit (like whole, full, not missing anything) gospel. He was members of like 5 different churches but explained how this church has something that everyone else doesn't! He also went and saw Elder Cook last week so that ALWAYS helps (to see an apostle).

We also had a new L.A. come back to church. His last time at church was in 1993! His wife and child died last month and after being through the wringer this past month he decided to come back all on his own! No one knew about him but he just came by himself so that was a bit powerful!

Had a funny 2 FHEs. One we had a hair fight again haha! Maghairfight ta! We also had another FHE with a ton of mga bata, kids. At the end, one little 8 year old lost in the games so she had to do a talent. She chose to dance and then all of a sudden all these little 5/6/7 year olds started chanting "twerk it like Mylie!" and that little 8 year old girl started twerking it like Mylie Cyrus! I am not so sure where those little kids learned that but all of us older people were a bit... uneasy. She twerked real well too as if she had been practicing.

Other than that all is well. We saw a drug raid- left before the execution. Have been mocked by a ton of people this week too... My depression, for some reason though, has come back. I am not sure why but it just did. I almost always know the reasons for my depression but this week...inay.. I’m not sure. I am trying to be happier.

Christmas is coming up. I can't wait for that. Oh and I got mga package from home! THANKS MOM AND DAD and anyone else involved! All is well. I don't trust this place to plug in my camera but rest assured I do have lots of pictures. I have been going a bit picture crazy this past 4-5 weeks. I figure I can always buy more memory cards! I also have seen the huge blessing of writing my journal every day! EVERY DAY SO FAR! I can see how I was earlier in my mission and even now! I am grateful that my dad told me to do that! And also for sending me the camera in the MTC.

I am doing well, I hope you all are too! Love you all! Take care!
-Elder Morris

My Beginnings as a Zone Leader

November 23, 2016

What a crazy long week! So I said adieu to Elder Fernandez last Thursday (they grow up so fast! :' ) and I hit an early bus going to Lahug Cebu (that’s the temple here). I met Elder Espiritu, my new companion. We had to finish organizing transfers and such, making sure that everyone had their travel buddy (companion) and their luggage! We did find a big piece of luggage left at the terminal that we had to take to the temple; some elder forgot his suit case!

Friday was an interesting day. We had Bishop Waddel from the churches Presiding Bishopric, Elder Robbins and Elder Peirce from the 70s show up, all with their wives, to have a conference with all the missionaries. ALL of Cebu mission was there. That doesn’t happen btw! They spoke just briefly on “Teaching Repentance and Baptizing Converts” as well as “Begin with the End in Mind”. They then opened it up to a Q and A. Now I ALWAYS ask some sort of question or say an insight so of course I asked a question. My question really did quiet everyone in the chapel. After the conference a lot of people came up as commented to me about my question. One of the 70 (E. Peirce and even Sister McCurdy) even said some brief words such as "Oh so humbling!" and "Thank you for that!" etc. I asked "What advice do you have to give to someone who is overcoming depression?"

After my time on Siquijor, depression did hit, not hard but just enough to humble me. I overcome my depression by always working and serving. That was difficult to do on Siquijor. My thoughts as I reflect my past 1/2 year, 6 months, 1/4 my mission, last 26 weeks, whatever you want to call it are these:
* Siquijor is by far my favorite area
* Matthew 22:35-40 are some of my new favorite verses as I have been pondering lately (about the past month
* and... I miss it:'(

I did get word that sister Mae was confirmed last Sunday too!

Being a ZL is fun! Already heard of two problems in the zone haha. Had fun with a lot of meetings. Everyone looks up to you (literally and figuratively - haha). My comp has been sick lately though so we haven't been working as much this past week.

Other than that we are all fine! We have here some really good investigators. San Nicolas is very city and Central Zone (my new zone) is the most city out of any area! We have places from malls to squatters areas which are very dirty. I already get along with the members, and already have some new friends :D.

We are now devising a plan to present to the MLC. Lately the new mission implementations have just been "Raise the Bar" and that is NOT effective. The big problem with that is there is no plan on how to do that. So we are making a plan! Our focus will not be on just up the lessons and tracting but mainly focus on working with the stake and ward leaders to enforce the totality of this plan. I will email next week with how it goes and possibly what the plan is.

Other than that I am doing great! I am having a fun time here in San Nicolas (TONS OF PEOPLE AND BBQ). All is good. Love you all! See you soon:) :'(

-Elder Morris

Dali, Dali!

November 16, 2016

I am not sure how to introduce this email or where to start. This past week has been one of those "a lot has happened" weeks. I am in Dumaguete for a dentist thing for Elder Fernandez and so we missed a lot of our P-day. Tomorrow E. Fernandez returns with his follow-up trainer and I will continue on to Cebu City. In San Nicholas Cebu, Elder Morris was reassigned with his new comp being Elder Espiritu, Pinoy (filipino). I am a Zone Leader there. 

We had a totally fun transfer call last night. We set up candles on our stairs and a big tiki get up thing where we each cast votes as to who would be "voted off the island". I’ll send a pic. It was pretty epic! So yeah I am going back to the big city and will be a Zone Leader. It will probably be my 2nd to last area too. I am excited for this next transfer! 

 (Our voting game for the Siquijor Island survival!)

So, my mind is boggled by a miracle that happened yesterday (Tuesday). On Monday night we found out that our investigator, Mae, who I found my FIRST week on the island, isn’t moving to Dumaguete. I asked her if we could baptize her tomorrow and she said sure. So at 10 p.m. we called the Zone Leaders on THE OTHER ISLAND and they said sure to coming out to Siquijor. We had he interview at 8 A.M and I baptized her in the ocean at 2 P.M on the same day :DDDD. I would honestly write a lot more but due to time I need to be short and say that the girl who I found my first week, and the same one who I thought would actually be baptized WAS baptized on MY LAST DAY!!! After 6 months we had a baptism! Siquijor A hasn't had a baptism in 13 months and we finally broke the curse! I honestly feel super happy about that! I have baptized someone on all 3 Cebu mission islands!!! I am also happy for Mae, She is super cool and nice - haha! 

(Baptism with sister Mae :) 

 

Last night a farewell party was thrown for me. It was rather small, one family and Mae, but it was my first time to have a farewell party. The sister baked a cake and they all smeared it on my face! I woke this morning with loads of zits:/ but ok I still love them - haha! 

Hearing about America’s new president, eh IDK about that. There are positives and negatives to it. I am just glad to have spent all that time on a small 75 km circumference island - away from all the riots and evil! I wish the best for my friends and family back at home. 

Umm yeah, I have to be quick with this one so I will email next week! If I forget some other stuff at least I wrote it in my journal to share when I go home! 

Amping! 

-Elder Morris

Probably the Last Week of Mine on Siquijor

November 9, 2016

The work is still moving on. We have had some interesting experiences in the past week. We have cut down our investigators by more than half. We aren't teaching Juvy anymore:( We also had a really progressing investigator, si Allyssa, who we have been teaching for 2 months who texted us last Monday saying not to return to her, that she will stay with her family in the end. A few new investigators were put into "reserve" (dropped) and it just makes things a little more difficult but at the same time allows us to work out even further so we can spread the message to more peeps. 

Our main investigator right now is a sister Mae, I would send a pic but the computerhan won’t let me:( (computer-han: place of computers). She came to church for the 3rd time last Sunday, if she comes this Sunday then she is good for baptism! The only problem is she is not so sure if she will move to the next island over for school or not and she will find out this week... I really don’t want to lose my gators:( With Mae, at least, we can refer her to the Zone Leaders in Dumz to teach her.

We had a family who actually should be at the temple today to be sealed but something came up and they cancelled their sealing:( After 6 months of preparation and waiting for this week and... yeah. It is probably a big trial for them right now and I just pray that they can overcome this one. The last thing I want is for them to be insulted/offended or such like that. 

We had another death here in Laurena branch. In the past 10 months we have had 5 deaths, 4 Melchizedek Priesthood holders (that is really "ouch" for a branch!). We had the burial for the Tatay Tomogsoc last Saturday and dayon we caught word that a sweet old nanay Mary found her husband unresponsive. I am not sure what is happening here. Us missionaries think that it is Laurena Branch's "refiners fire" time; the time to really put the member’s faith to the test. Almost all members here are single - single as in widowed. Things haven't been easy for the church here but I can see a few shining stars emerging. The Branch President has been really hastening the work here and trying his best to help the branch. Also a few other members are starting to strengthen haha. We also found 2 new members in our area! After 6 months here and with one week left we find 2 new members. 

One is a sister I met when I first moved here. She told us she was moving to Cebu for work and did. As we were walking home last Monday from Allyssa telling us not to return, I stopped in front of her house and felt impressed to go and see if she was home. Well it turned out that she was home! Apparently after like 2-3 weeks in Cebu (last August) she quit her job and moved back! No one knew she was here and that impression I felt helped us to know that this sister was actually here for the past almost 3 months! She greeted us warmly and it only took like 2 questions for her to really open up with what is happening in her life. I will not share the details but I will say that the spirit really did lead us and push that impression to find her! I felt a little different when talking to her than most other people I've talked to. I see someone that is hurting inside much like I did before my mission. All I want to do is to give this lady a hug :'( 

The time is winding down. We have transfers next week. Like American elections, you don’t quite know what is going to happen - haha! I want to stay for the chance to baptize Mae and to help the new LA sister we found but I do want to experience new things in new parts of the mission, plus it is time for someone else to enjoy the island paradise of Siquijor - haha! 

I really have gotten close with a lot of peeps here. I have been taking a lot of pictures - haha! I have one memory card completely full with just Siquijor! It is going to be wierd haha but again I am kind of excited for the future! (Just watch that Hillary becomes president and I don't transfer! I'm calling it!) 

I have a lot of pics I want to send but not at this place so basin next week! I love you all at home! Take care!   #intheendeveryonewillacceptthemessage

-Elder Morris

And November!

November 2, 2016

Oh man this week was something else. I am sure there are times in everyone's missions where they are just ready to move on haha! That was me this past week. We haven't had great success with investigators this week as well as with most members. I will admit that I probably spent most of the week just more angry at the faithlessness of people than any other emotion haha. We seemed to have hit a brick wall in the work that makes the days hard to go through. 

About last Monday, I gave a workshop on charity. As we discussed charity this past District Meeting it made me see just what kind of an impact I am really having on the area. A grumpy missionary does no good. I focused on this the past 2 days and I kind of feel inside that a burden was lifted off in the end and that I just need relax and let the Lord guide this show and I am just the show monkey haha. I just need to be ready for when someone does chose to come unto Christ on their time and not my own. 

We have another death in the ward. A tatay Tumogsoc passed away Monday. Last Monday around 3 I felt impressed to go to the hospital to check up on Tatay. He had a fever the past week and has been in the hospital the whole time. When we got there we found out that tatay was discharged last Sunday night, the night before. So we continued on the day when at night time out housemates told me that tatay had died at home around 3 o' clock and no one knew till about 4. I find it a bit strange that at 3 I felt impressed to check up on him when in reality at 3 he had died. He was the 4th death in the past 10 months here in Laurena branch. All 4 were Melchizedek Priesthood holders. In a branch here in the Philippines you have a very small amount of Melchizedek Priesthood holders, so having 4 die within the past year makes things really difficult for the progression of the branch. There are only now about 6-7 Melchizedek holders on this island (other than the missionaries). 

It has been raining a ton lately! Like every day we just have sudden downpours! I took many videos of the downpours so that I can show you how insane they get here! And just random too! 

We had a couple fun activities with some of the members. I took a bunch of pictures but forgot to bring my camera to the internet shop! Sayang! 

Other than that we are still good haha! Still kicken. I am doing well; just been a bit humbled the past few days.

We met more Bible bashers. They are always fun. I try my best, like I really do, to not talk much, but after 12 years of hockey and 8 years of track, the competitive side of me likes the competition -haha. Anyone who talks to me and has a bone to pick with the church is like racing me in a 200m during my senior year of high school. Yeah, good luck! 

About 2 more weeks and then transfer calls. It will be very quick. My time here on this island will be very fast. The refiner’s fire is starting to cool off- haha, but no I do really love it here. Don’t get me wrong. 

I hope that all of you are still hanging in there! I love you all! If anyone wants a souvenir from Siquijor let me know! 

I would send pics but I left the camera at home! Love you all! 

-Elder Morris

Three to Go!

October 26, 2016

I have about 3 more weeks left on Siquijor; pretty fast if you ask me. These past 5 1/4 Months have been pretty insane haha! 

Our interviews with the mission president were pretty good. Nothing new. Nothing bad either haha!  

The main thing that w-  (OK I am going to make an intermission real quickly. While I typed that thing 4 hours ago we had a brown out where the power shuts off for unknown periods of time. This is typical. Sigi, balik ta!)

The main thing that I want to share with you is what happened last Friday. We had a great opportunity to go out to some far away place and teach. We got invited by a barangay (subdivision) leader to give a 2 hour presentation to about 200 people. They were students and their parents (and this was after school btw at the big b-ball court). The place took 2 hours to get to and was rather quite crazy to get to! We got to Lazi Siquijor on the other side of the island and had to walk about 7 km into the jungle to find this place called Po-o Lazi (I can see my dad making a joke out of the name...). We got lucky and hitched a ride with a construction worker to the place. 

These people sure were prepared for us! They had 2 rehearsed dances that they performed for us! The cooking students cooked food for us! And they were all sitting and waiting for us by the time we got there. It was pretty fun! We talked to them about stress management, spirituality as a student, good morals and values, and how to be a good student. It was a rather neat experience. I have a bunch of pics and videos of it! 

 (Me talking.)

 (The food!)

 (This is the dance group.)

 (Took a bunch of pictures with the people.)

(They gave us little pins as you see on Elder Badana.)

Going home at 5:30 we ran into a problem. There were no more vehicles at that hour and it started to rain. We were a good 15 km from our house and had a mountain to climb! We started trekking. As we neared a really rich house in the middle of nowhere the rain just down poured! Oh yeah I had no umbrella cuz mine got lost. So I said, "Alright time to be humble! I'm going to ask them to drive us down the mountain." As I walked over to the house this guy peered out the window and then invited us over. So we ended up getting a ride home! To be honest if we had walked we would have gotten home at around 11-12 at night so we were blessed with a ride! The Lord got us up that mountain and He sure did get us down! 

The rest of the week was simple. We had 1 person from my entire area make it to sacrament this week... No investigators which does mean that I will not baptize anyone here on Siquijor:( I did chastise a few people for that haha. 

 (There is the small town where our church is.)

 (Messing with sleeping people! She is a member btw...)

(This one is little Quinny Mae. She is a 12 y.o member and like the only youth in our area! )

Other than that we are still kicking! I did receive news that on November 18 we have a mission wide meeting. We have a special guest coming to speak to our mission! Si Elder Quinton L. Cook!!! Oh man I am excited to hear him and see him! I will try my best to take a selfie with him! He will be my second Apostle that I have seen in my life so I am excited! 

Other than that i am still good. I did hit the 24th again and this time it means that I am 16 months done (2/3) and have 8 to go:((((( Super fast.....:( 

Take care! Love you all! Vote wisely here in a few weeks! 

-Elder Morris