December 24th, 2012

Hey family :)

Wow dad I really can’t believe that you got the day off again!  That’s really awesome you must be living right ha-ha--in that case how about I call home around 2 pm--which will be 1 pm your time. I’m out of Christmas cards but I will see if I can’t print out a few more today I forgot about Pete and Jolene.  I’m glad to hear that Grandpa is still going to church and I hope he had a great birthday.  But yeah I got the Christmas card and a package from you and from Chantel.  Shaleece sent me one too which was nice.  We had Lyssa's baptism yesterday after church it was really good and I got to be the one to baptize her.  I will attach a picture.  Well I’m really excited to talk to everyone tomorrow :) and to open packages in the morning ha-ha.

Love,

Devan  

December 17th, 2012

Hey family :)

It sounds like you all had a really fun week!  I can’t believe that little Ava is already 1 year old.  I bet it was a fun birthday party ha-ha.  It sounds like dad gave another one of his awesome talks!  I will be glad to hear one when I get back.  That’s pretty crazy though about that shooting and especially how it happened in one of dad's areas on his mission.  The whole world just seems to be going crazy.  I’m glad that you liked the Christmas card I made.  I sent one to all my friends and also to Tyson, Natalie, Tyler, and Julie.  Christmas is just coming up so fast its crazy.  We have our mission conference this Thursday so that should be fun.  Thanks for mailing a Christmas package.  I’m sad to hear that dad has to work so long on Christmas.  I don’t remember him having that long of days did something change with his job?  Hopefully it’s a good Christmas though.  I will plan on calling at around 6:30 or so.  If anything changes I will let you know next week or last year they let us send a text message to confirm a time also.  I’m really excited to call home and talk to everyone :) will Chantel be there?  The ward Christmas party was really fun.  Mike's family came and they seemed to enjoy themselves.  We had a lesson with them earlier in the week and invited them to be baptized.  Their oldest daughter Lyssa who is almost 25 accepted right away but Mike and Tawn still want to be baptized and they love the church they just want to wait and make sure.  But anyways Lyssa is progressing really fast and now we are planning on baptizing her this coming Sunday.  It kind of came out of the blue but she is really optimistic about it and really wants to so hopefully all goes well this weekend.  We have a lesson with just her tonight in another members home so it should go great.  The district leader and his companion are riding down to Christmas conference with us so on our way back he will do the interview.  So that has been pretty exciting.  Also Madison is still on track for the 29th of December and she seems to be doing well.  We had a lesson with her before church and one of the young women her age also was there for the lesson which seemed to help out the lesson.  But yes we are all moved out of the Patty's and into our new place.  It’s nice I like it we didn’t really unpack anything since we will be moving out soon.  We went and took care of all the paperwork at the apartments and we are going to be moving in on January 8th.  Transfers are on the 3rd and so I really hope that I stay here.  This is my 3rd transfer here and my companion this is his first area and this is his 4th transfer so I think it’s his time to go but i guess we will see.  I really want to see the rest of Mike's family get baptized.  We think once they see Lyssa get baptized that the rest of them will want to.  It was really cool last week when we were checking out with our groceries a member of our ward saw us and paid for our groceries.  It was really nice of her to do that she is a really nice lady.  Sometimes it’s hard to receive from people but luckily that subject got covered during the 1st Presidency Christmas Devotional that we need to allow people to give to us and not try to give something bigger back.  Well Court I’m glad to hear that you're doing well in your basketball games! Keep up the good work.  It sounds like you both really enjoyed the Christmas Devotional you had i bet it was really cool.  I’m sure your both excited for Christmas and to have a break from school.  Well I hope that you all have a great week!  I love ya and will talk to ya next week!

Love,

Devan

December 10th, 2012

Hey family :)

Hope you all had a great week.  That’s really cool mom and dad that you got dads grandparents sealed I bet that was really neat.  You will have to tell me more about it during our call.  I’m glad the ward Christmas party turned out good it sounded like fun.  Candace looks really good as Cindy Lou I think she played the part perfect ha-ha.  We went to the Stake Christmas devotional last night it was really good.  The ward party should be fun this week we are looking forward to it.  Mike and his family came to church again yesterday and seemed to enjoy it.  They haven’t stayed passed sacrament meeting though their kids don’t want to go to primary ha-ha.  Their older daughter who is 23 stayed for all 3 hours yesterday and then came to the Stake performance also and she has talked a little about baptism so I think things are looking good for them.  The rest of their family is a bit hesitant for a date to be baptized but we have a lesson scheduled for this Thursday and they also signed up on our dinner calendar for Christmas so that should be fun.  Also the 12 year old girl named Madison is doing well.  We had another lesson with her after church and have another one for Wednesday.  Her stepmom really wants to make sure she is ready to be baptized so it might be the weekend after Christmas.  She came from a home where her mom was doing drugs and she just didn’t grow up in a good environment so it’s taking a little more time to get her on the right track.  It finally cooled off here.  It’s been warm and in the 70s and 80s until last night and today.  I think it froze last night or got close so now it’s more bearable to wear our suit jackets.  We have to wear them from Oct. to April even if it’s hot and we were really baking in them so hopefully it stays cool.  As far as the Christmas call home just let me know what your schedule will be like on Christmas like when dad will be home and when the best time to call would be.  Also yes just send the package to the mission office there in San Antonio.  We are having our Christmas conference on the 20th and that’s when they hand out the mail.  So I think to be safe the latest I would mail it would be the 15th.  We are moving out of the Patty's this Friday and we are moving to live with a member of the stake presidency who lives just a few miles away.  They are going to be out of town from the 20th to the 31st.  We are going to stay there and then hopefully get moved into any apartment the first week in January.  It’s going to be crazy getting everything moved over and then moving again ha-ha.  But oh well.  But if someone like Natalie or Tyson wants to send something and it’s too late to send it to be there in time for the 20th I’m sure they can just send it to the Patty's and she will bring it by or let me know.  But anyways I bought my boots last P-day--they are really cool. I will include a picture.  They fit really nice and are comfortable to walk in I really like them.  So, thanks for the Christmas present :)  I also got some cool pictures with a parrot this week that this member has.  It got on our shoulders and everything and could talk it was pretty neat.  This morning there was a scorpion in my shoe and it stung me when I put the shoe on my foot.  Luckily it was pretty small and here they aren’t poisonous or anything.  It didn’t really hurt either it just felt funny for a few minutes.  Today we are going to stop by Walgreens or maybe even at Wal-Mart and I’m going to make a Christmas card to send out so I will probably be mailing some home.  That’s really cool that Rachel Melling is going on a mission.  Well Monkey it sounds like you are still doing really good in your college classes keep up the good work!  You played the part of Cindy Lou really good ha-ha.   I’m glad you were able to make some extra holiday money babysitting I bet it was fun!  Well Court it sounds like you have been playing really good in your games!  Keep up the good work and keep letting me know how your games are!  I bet your both excited for the break when do you get out?  Enjoy the snow and be careful driving!  I’m sure you have the address for the mission office but here it is again:

Elder Morgensen

404 E. Ramsey Rd. Suite 105

San Antonio, TX 78216-4665

Also Sister Patty got us a small tree and gave us stuff to decorate it with so that was pretty fun. Well I think that’s everything.  I love you all so much have a great week! :)

Love Devan

December 3rd, 2012

Hey family :)

I’m glad that the house is all decorated and the lights are up!  I’m sure it looks really good.  Thanks for the money in the account that really helps!  Our mission president talked to us and wants us to move out of the Patty's by Christmas, I guess that was the deal.  The Patty's said we could stay but President Jones just doesn’t want to intrude on the members.  So we have been looking for an apartment to move into in the next week or two.  All the ones we wanted to move into are full or can’t get us in until January so it looks like we will be living up in Austin.  I can already see it will be a problem because all the members live in Buda.  So hopefully we can get things worked out with our housing.  Luckily our next transfer meeting isn’t until January 3rd so I will most likely be here for Christmas. But I can’t think of any CD's that I want from Deseret book.  I’m sure there are some good ones I just don’t know of any or what they are called.  But yeah as it gets closer we will figure out a time to call on Christmas.  We can do it in the evening so we don’t have to worry about 3 way calling.  As far as a gift card McDonalds or Taco Bell are probably my more favorite ones ha-ha.  Well Courtney it sounds like you are going to have a great basketball season!  Keep up the good work and keep me updated on your games and how you do!  Thanks for the message from seminary I really like that thought :)  Wow Monkey it sounds like you are doing great in your college classes!  That would be awesome if you graduated with your associates!  I didn’t know that you were taking that many credits that’s pretty awesome!  You must be pretty dedicated to be taking early morning seminary.  That’s real early in the morning I don’t think I could have done it ha-ha.  Well for this week we had dinner with Mike and his family and they seem to be doing great.  They didn’t make it to church yesterday because two of his kids had the flu, but hopefully we can get back there sometime this week and keep the lessons going.  I think it would be great to have them baptized by Christmas.  It might not work out but it would be cool.  Also yesterday at church we talked to a guy in the ward and he told us he has someone who wants to be baptized.  I guess it’s his 12 year old daughter that was living with his ex wife and is now living with him and his new wife.  The mom wouldn’t ever let her get baptized but now since she lives with them she can be and she said she wants to be baptized by Christmas.  We thought it was really cool how out of nowhere someone comes and wants to be baptized ha-ha.  It was definitely a blessing from the Lord.  So we have an appointment for Tuesday.  Well I hope that you all enjoy the ward party, ours is on the 15th.  We also watched the Christmas devotional last night it was really great.  Also mormon.org/Christmas is a great tool the church has been using this holiday season to help the members share the gospel with their friend.  It’s worth checking out!  That’s all for this week i love you all and I hope you have a great week!

Love,

Devan

November 26th, 2012

Hey family!

It sounds like everyone had a really fun Thanksgiving and a fun black Friday shopping time ha-ha.  Our Thanksgiving was great.  We got some good meals and got really full.  It was fun to just relax for the day and eat some good food.  I think the bishop took a picture of us and sent it to dads email so I don’t know if you got that.  Mike and his family came to church again yesterday so that was really good.  We have got an appointment on Wednesday and they also signed up to feed us on Saturday ha-ha.  They are pretty much already Mormons ha-ha.  That’s good that Chad and Michelle’s family stopped by and said hi.  I’m sure they are all so much older.  I’m glad that grandpa had Doug's family visit him and spend Thanksgiving with him.  How is grandpa doing is he still trying to give up smoking?  As for Christmas I can’t really think of anything that I need at all.  I do want to give the family that we live with something for Christmas.  Do you think that you could get me a CD for them it’s called "The Garden” my Michael McLean--I think.  But I don’t really need anything this year.  I was thinking I could maybe buy some cool cowboy boots for like $120.  I have a 20percent off coupon to a store here that sells boots so maybe I will just want some money put into my account.  But we have our Christmas conference on December 20th and so if you put that CD in my package then I can wrap it and give it to the family.  I don’t think I have even got a picture with them yet so I will have to do that.  They are the Patty family.  I think next p-day I will go to a Walgreens and make some Christmas cards to send out again.  Well Candace and Courtney it sounds like you had quite the time doing your black Friday shopping it makes me tired just thinking about it ha-ha.  I hope you got some good stuff.  Good luck on Tuesday Court let me know how your game goes.  Good luck on your new college classes Monkey!  Don’t get behind in your homework ha-ha.  I talked to James and he said his sister is getting kind of serious with someone so he is hoping he gets back before anything happens ha-ha.  He only has 6 weeks left ‘til he goes home so he is excited.  He told me he might drive down and visit you guys so I told him if he needs to stay the night then he can.  I just looked at my account and maybe you could put a few bucks in before Christmas--if it’s not too much trouble ha-ha.  I had problems with my card last week so I had to pay with groceries with my card.  Well that’s all I’ve got for this week.  I love you have a great week!

Love,

Devan

November 19th, 2012

Hey family :)

That’s really great that grandpa went to church!  I think about him sometimes so I’m really glad the bishopric reached out and is helping him get to church.  I really hope that he can stop smoking it would really help with his health. Well yesterday we had Mike and his family comes to the first hour of church again and we are going by on Tuesday to go and teach them and hopefully we can start going through the lessons.  Ken and Ashley didn’t come yesterday but I talked to her on the phone and she said she was just having some problems and so we are stopping by today after we email she lives close to the library.  But yeah I’m excited for Thanksgiving!  I’m sure it will be really good at Natalie's house.  I’m glad Chan gets to go down.  So for transfers we got the call last night and we are both staying.  This will be our third transfer together.  So who knows I might end up staying here for 6 months if he leaves next transfer and I stay another one.  But yeah we went to the Salt Lick last week with another set of Elders it was a really fun time and a lot of good food.  It’s really cool that it was on the TV for having really good food.  I think there is more than one but the one we ate at was the original one so that was cool.  So dad, are you going to just stop in St. George on your way back and hang out.  That works out pretty good if you’re doing that.  So speaking of David’s family how is everything going with them?  Yeah it’s pretty crazy how it’s almost December again.  Dad will have to put up the lights and y'all will have to go get a Christmas tree :)  Are you getting a lot of snow there?  That’s really cool Court that you get to be Cindy Lu for the ward Christmas play.  I’m glad you sold all your cookie dough hopefully mom and dad bought some ha-ha. I hope your freshman team does well this year I’m sure it will.  I will be excited to see the new Twilight when I get home :)  Keep working hard on your personal progress.  I sent a Birthday card for Chan to our PO Box cuz I don’t know her address there in Nephi so I’m not sure if it will get there before Thanksgiving, I sent it today.  We went to the ward campout and ate dinner on Friday night it was really fun.  Mike and his family came to that too and so that was good.  We left before they did cuz we had to be in for curfew but they didn’t camp a lot of people left around 9.  It got pretty cold that night its funny a lot of the people here don’t know how to camp and froze in the night ha-ha. Well anyways I hope you all have a great week and have a fun Thanksgiving!  Tell everyone I say hi. 

Love,

Devan 

November 12th, 2012

Hey family.

Yes I heard about the elections it was a real disappointment.  I thought for sure Romney was going to take it but I knew it would be close.  I think it’s just because I’ve been around a lot of people here in Texas that really liked Romney.  And yeah it was good light for the church a lot of people really liked and respect him.  But oh well hopefully Obama doesn’t do too much these next for years.  But yeah so many lazy and wicked people voted for Obama I think it’s a sign that the nations is just growing more wicked like in Book of Mormon times.  Well we had a good day at church yesterday.  Mike and his wife and two of his kids came to sacrament meeting.  It was really good to have them there I think that they enjoyed it.  We will have to see if we can’t keep teaching them.  This week we also met a dad and his daughter who is 23 and she's in a wheelchair since a few years ago because of a car accident.  And she has a 2 or 3 year old son.  Anyways we really only talked to them for like 10 minutes in their driveway and the dad said he really wants his daughter in a church and he said he's heard good things about the Mormons and so we gave them the time and address and they said they would come on Sunday.  So the 3 of them ended up coming also.  The girls name is Ashley and she really liked it and wants to come back she said.  In relief society they talked about a campout and the ward is having this weekend that’s close to the church and she said she would be interested in going to it and having the dinner but not camping overnight.  So hopefully that will go well.  The dad named Ken seemed to like it but I think it just took him time to get comfortable being in a place and around people he didn’t know.  He said he wanted to come to support his daughter and so we're not sure if he will keep coming.  But yeah anyways it was good at church yesterday.  This week was cool we were just knocking on doors and it was late and a nice Mexican family invited us in for a bowl of what’s called Menudo.  It was probably the most interesting thing I’ve eaten in my life.  It was basically pig stomach! Ha-ha.  We were both able to eat our bowls but it was tuff to make it seemed like we liked it ha-ha.  Then when it was all gone they wanted to get us more but we insisted we were full ha-ha.  But it was really cool we just shared a scripture from the book of Mormon and then left, they weren’t too interested in the church but enjoyed the thought.  Waxing the car last Monday was fun it did bring back good memories.  But I think I took a lot more time and did a better job on my car than I did on the mission car ha-ha.  But it turned out nice and shiny.   We haven’t talked to the Leatham's since then one night at dinner; he is the one who has the cancer.  We really need to get back over there.  But I’m glad that Beaver and it sounds like all of Utah got some snow.  Hopefully it will make up for last year.  I’m glad that Candace is a good driver and that her truck does well.  But yeah that will be a big project for us building that fence ha-ha.  Have you thought about the kind that you want?  It will be nice when it’s all done.  President Jones announced that transfers will be the day after Thanksgiving so that will be good.  Hopefully I get to stay I’m really thinking I will.  But yeah we are at least having Thanksgiving at the bishop’s house and I’m sure we will be to other people’s houses too.  It will be a fun day and it almost just a week away it’s crazy.  We will start seeing Christmas lights go up and listening to Christmas music.  That will be fun having Thanksgiving down in St. George.  What is Tyson’s family going to do?  What about Chan?  Bryce told me he's excited for a Thanksgiving meal since he hasn’t had one for the past 2 year’s ha-ha.  Well Court that’s awesome that you’re on the freshman team!  I’m sure you will have a great team and you'll have a lot of experience for next year.  Yeah they probably didn’t want to cut just one girl so this probably worked out best.  I’m excited to see how your season goes for you.  I’m glad your eye is feeling better too I was worried ha-ha and sorry to hear about your phone (LOL).  Hopefully you got my birthday card I sent I thought it was quite funny:) ha-ha. That’s cool that you have a new job I’m glad you like it.  The weather here has been hot lately but today it’s gotten cooler so hopefully it stays that way.  Well that’s all I’ve got for this week.  We are going on exchanges today so another Elder who is being trained is coming here and my companion is going with the District Leader.  We are thinking of going to the Salt Lick when they get here cuz it’s in our area.  I went their last year at this time when I was in Kyle.   So if we go it should be some good food :)  Ok family I love you and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Devan