May 21st, 2012

Hey!

It was good to hear from ya!  I really liked the Mothers Day call that was a lot of fun to hear from everyone!  It sounds like everyone is doing great.  Thanks dad for the upgraded TomTom. I really appreciate it!  I’m really excited to use it.  You’re all lucky to be back there when the weather is so nice.  It is really starting to heat up here.  The baptism on Saturday went really good and it was a good turnout.  He wanted the bishop to baptize him so it all went good and I will attach a picture.  But Austin is really fun so far.  Our district played some disc golf last

P-day and we are going to do it again today.  We are all going to go buy some nicer discs though of our own to use.  It’s really fun I didn’t know there were disc golf courses but there are all over Austin so that’s really fun.  And then one P-day we are going to go to a place called Zilkers Park.  There is some fun hiking and sightseeing there.  I guess with the spring it’s riding season again for dad.  That sounds really fun and I’m sure you will enjoy the ride down to Bryce.  But nothing too much in missionary work this week.  We are just out there trying to find people.  Thursday we had a zone conference it was really fun.  We got some really good trainings and a lot of new inspiration in how to work in our areas.  I’m sure everyone is excited to be getting out for the summer break that should be a nice relief.  It sounds like Courtney is still the smartest one out of all of us.  That’s good that grandma gets to call home.  She sent me an email and said she really likes the MTC.  I remember being there it was a lot of fun.  Well that’s all I’ve got for this week.  Love ya'll - take care have a great week!

Love, Elder Morgensen

May 7th, 2012

Hey everyone thanks for the birthday wishes!:)

For Mothers Day I will call around 2 pm Utah time.  Our church gets out at 2:30 so I will try and call around 3 pm Texas time.  I’m excited to call on Sunday and talk to you all!  My new area is pretty cool I really like the ward.  It’s been fun being able to drive a car!  It sure is warming up down here.  It’s been hitting the mid 90's.  When I turned on my GPS to use in the car it couldn’t find any of the satellites.  I left it on for like 2 hours so I called TomTom to ask what was up.  I guess they did something different with the satellites so I have to hook up the GPS to the computer and get an update or something like that.  The guy told me that the 2 devices are on dads email account and that mine would need my own and then to set up the account for it.  So I’m thinking about shipping it home and having dad do it and install the stuff on my laptop.  I think the guy sent an email to your account with what to do or something like that.  So I will probably end up doing that but we can talk more about it on Sunday.  The guy showed me a way that resets it and it takes about 2 minutes but it works after that until I shut it off again.  But anyways I really like it!  It's a really nice one and makes finding stuff really easy.  But the work here is going really good!  I’m sure the girls are excited to get out for the summer that will be fun!  It sounds like Courtney did really well in softball and at school!  That’s awesome keep it up!  And Candace will get to go down to St. George with the varsity that sounds really fun!  Hopefully you can have some money over the summer working at the DQ and don’t spend it all haha. I can’t believe Grandma and Raymond are leaving in one week.  Well, family hope you have a great week!  Love ya'll and talk to ya Sunday! :)

Love, Elder Morgensen

April 30th, 2012

April 30, 2012

Hey family!  Hope you all had a great week!  Well I’m up here in Austin now and it’s pretty cool.  I really like it and it's a little more exciting than San Antonio.  That’s really cool that Grandma and Raymond gave their farewell talk I bet it was good.  That’s weird that they are leaving but I bet they will like it.  My new companion is pretty cool and has been out for 20 months so just two transfers left so he will finish up in this area.  His name is Elder Black from a little town called Horseshoe Bend Idaho.  We live with 2 other Elders so there is less room in the fridge haha.  But other than that, it’s really fun having 4 of us.  The area is a car share so we switch between a car and a bike so that will be good.  I like the bike at times because you get more contacts but the car is nice just to get around.  This area is bigger than my last with weird boundaries so it will take some getting used to.  But yeah I can’t believe I am turning 20 either it’s pretty weird!  That sounds pretty old not a teenager anymore.  Sorry I don’t have a ton of time today the library had a 20 minute fire drill so we had to go outside and so a lot of my time was wasted.  That’s cool that Rhett and Shantel are married.  I bet they are happy.  But yeah I will call you on Mother’s day.  When will be a good time to call?  It is crazy how time is flying by.  I still remember calling at Christmas.  I like my new area and the members are pretty cool too so I’m excited to be here.  How has Dallin been feeling with his neck?  I hope he gets better.  But it sounds like the Monkey's are getting things finished up for the summer!  And Court finished out the basketball season strong.  And monkey is almost done with softball with hopefully no more black eyes haha!

Love ya family thanks for the birthday wishes!  Take care and have a great week!:)

Love, Elder Morgensen

April 23rd, 2012

Hey family!

Well it turns out that I am getting transferred somewhere else.  I was pretty sure that I would be but was hoping to stay for one more because the area is just really starting to pick up.  We had 6 investigators and 2 less active families at church yesterday so it was really good.  The bishop called us into his office after church and thanked us for the work that we were doing in the ward and said he felt bad that we were doing a lot of the work ourselves and that the ward has been dragging their feet.  But it’s not their fault they all have young families and are going to medical school so I can’t blame them too much.  But yeah we had Rollie and his family there and they really like it.  I’m sure that they will all be baptized in a month or two so that makes me happy.  There was a young Mexican couple that came also.  They have been semi solid they both left after sacrament meeting.  They seemed kind of bored in the meeting plus you couldn’t hear the speakers very well over all the crying babies.  I think they are used to hearing a sermon from a preacher.  And then there is this older lady named Sylvia who we are pretty sure will end up getting baptized.  She has a lot of family in Utah that are members and while she was visiting there one of the sisters on temple square got her contact info and so we got a text.  It was pretty cool I can’t remember if I told u but we got the text and went by a few days later and when we talked to her she had only been home for an hour from Utah and her suitcases were still sitting on the living room floor.  So we had pretty good timing.  We went by a few days later and my companion was feeling sick that day so we were just talking to her on her doorstep and Elder McMurray turned around and puked on her sidewalk haha  it was kind of funny.  But she was really nice and brought out some napkins and some water and a can of coke and some cookies she just made.  I sprayed off her sidewalk for her too.  It was a really hot day so she wanted to give us a ride home but we told her that we couldn’t so some other missionaries came and picked us up and our bikes and took us home.  He was ready to go again by the evening it was just a day thing so that was good.  So yeah the work here has been going good so that’s why I wanted to stay for another transfer but oh well I’m sure my new area will be nice too.  So I will email you next week my new address.  It’s pretty crazy I can’t believe I am turning 20 and that’s getting pretty old.  My teenage years are over.  I’m glad that the lawn is looking nice as usual.  We haven’t gotten any tornado weather lately.  I think it keeps missing us because sometimes members will tell us that a huge storm is coming and that we shouldn’t even take our bikes out and then it never happens so we haven’t gotten any here.  I will definitely pray for Dallin.  I hope his injury is not serious.  That’s crazy that he will be a senior in the fall!  It’s crazy how everyone is growing up so fast!  But I’m sure your all counting down the days until school is out for the summer.  Hopefully the girls can pull the 4.0 for the end of year.  Well that’s all I got for this week.  Tell everyone I said hi and thanks for everything!  Love you all and have a great week!

Love ya lots, Elder Morgensen 

April 16th, 2012

Hey Everyone!

Had a pretty great week.  It was weird yesterday though cause nobody was able to make it to church.  They all had something come up but oh well.  Rolando and his family are still pretty solid.  As for the part member family we were working with we have kind of dropped them they just arent progressing.  We will still try and stuff but won't really give them too much time until they come to church.  We are teaching a few other people who aren't too solid but still have potential.  We did a church tour this week which was pretty cool and then taught a lesson in the chapel so that was neat.  Nothing really too exciting happened this week (ha ha).  That's crazy that its snowing over there; Utah always has a crazy spring.  But at least the snow melts fast.  But yeah mom you will have to send me that invitation from Rhett; thats pretty cool that he's getting married. But yeah chances are I am gonna get transferred.  So if Grandma or someone is going to send me something just tell them to wait until I find out what's going on.  I will know Sunday so I will tell you on the next Monday if I am staying or going and then I won't be able to give you my new address until the next Monday. But it's okay; I don't care if it's a little late.  But yeah this is a great ward; it would be nice to stay but I'm sure if I go I will be going to where I am supposed to be:)  That's crazy that Grandma and Raymond are almost leaving; I bet that will be weird.  I'm sure once they get there and get settled in they will love it.  I'm sure that everyone is excited to get out for the summer! Of course I will be down here dying in the heat (ha ha).  Well thats about all for this week.  As for my birthday I'm not too sure of what I need (ha ha)  Love you all so much!

Take care!

Elder Morgensen

April 9th, 2012

Hey Everyone!

Well the baptism of Shaun went really well on Saturday.  We had it at 5:30 and had an awesome turnout.  There were about 50-60 people that showed up for it and the whole thing went really well.  I was a bit nervous to do it but everything went smoothly (ha ha).  And then he got confirmed by Elder McMurray yesterday in Sacrament meeting.  It was a perfect edition for the Easter Sunday program.  He texted me last night and said to tell you thanks for the card.  I don't even know what it said (ha ha) but he liked it so thanks for sending that.  The other picture is of us helping a member do some yard work.  We did it Saturday in the morning part.  We spread out a bunch of dirt on his yard with all of us working it took like 3 hours.  It was a lot of work but we were happy to do it cuz the lady cuts our hair for us (ha ha).  She is actually in the Spanish ward so the missionaries there asked us to come help so that was a fun way to start out the day.  Church yesterday went really good; Rolando and his wife and son were able to make it this time and they really liked it.  Everyone was telling us how he just seems like a member already. Our ward mission leader keeps joking around saying he is gonna be the next bishop  (ha ha).  His wife really enjoyed it and the other boys were nice to Bradley and he said he really liked it.  He hardly ever leaves the house so I think it was good for him to go to church.  I guess the doctors only gave him about 6-9 months to live and that was a year ago so hopefully his health keeps up.  But I'm positive that those 3 will be baptized in a month or two.  I probably won't be here for it but you never know; I could end up staying here another transfer but it's unlikely.  Transfers are on the 26th of April and we get the calls on the Sunday night before so the email I send you on the 23rd will let you know if I'm going or staying.  But Rolando really likes church and has solid fellowship and likes us too (ha ha)  He used to work at a high end clothing store so he has a bunch of nice clothes; so he gave me a nice sports jacket that doesn't fit him anymore.  It's a nice tan one and it's brand new.  I won't be able to wear it out here but it will be nice for when I come home.  I will have to have the sides brought in a bit but other than that it fits nice.  He said it's about a $700 coat so that was really nice of him.  But yeah he is really great. We always stop in for cold drinks or a smoothie whenever we are in the neighborhood.  There is a family we are stopping by tonight; this will be our third visit with them.  He is a less active member and his wife and 2 kids aren't members so we are trying to get them to come to church.  There is a few other potential people we are working with but that pretty much sums it up.  So it sounds like you all had a fun Easter!  Thats really awesome; I thought about being down in St. George a couple of times (ha ha).  But thanks for the package and tell Tyson and Stephanie and Natalie's family for the easter packages.  I was just wondering I can't remember for sure but is Tyson the ward mission leader?  I couldn't remember cuz I was just going to write them back.  That sounds like a fun hike you all went on; we will have to do it when I get back; it sounds really intense.  I could see mom not going on the scary part (ha ha:)  Well hopefully Monkey didn't feel too bad having to work on Easter.  I think on holidays they usually make them all work a short shift or something.  Well I love you all so much and thanks for everything you do for me!:)

Elder Morgensen

April 2nd, 2012

Hey Everyone!

Glad that you all really enjoyed general conference cuz I know that I did!  It was really good; I just love to hear all of their talks.  Elder Holland was one of my favorites and so was President Uchtdorf's and a few others.  But yeah Dad you were right about watching Shaun really close for this last week.  He almost didn't come to conference with us and he was acting kind of weird.  So the member and us finally were able to get with him and he said that his family has been discouraging him from joining the church and stuff. So he wasn't sure so we talked to him and he is back on track!  We were kind of nervous for a little while but we have got him set up for this Saturday to be baptized!  So hopefully when I email you back next Monday everything will have gone smoothly.  But yeah Mom if you wanted to do that it would be really good.  I think he would like that and I'm sure it would get here on time. We can check the mail any day of the week.  But Rolando wasn't able to come to church but we have got a time set up with him for this week.  They think that the son's brain cancer is acting up again so they had to take him to the hospital to get some tests done.  I guess that what he has is terminal so it will eventually kill him and I guess the boy doesn't know that; which is pretty sad.  But they still seem interested and willing to learn.  I hope Chan will be able to finish up school. Well I bet it's a lot of studying right now.  That will be good when she can be done with that.  I got a nice easter package from Tyson and Stephanie so that was really nice of them.  I really liked it and they put in some pictures of Tyson's trip to Machu Picchu; it looked really cool.  Well mom I'm glad that your interview and audit thing went well. That's really cool that they were impressed with your department.  I bet thats a big relief to have out of the way.  Oh and Shaun's last name is Johnson.  I forgot to thank you for the cd you sent me; it was really good I liked it a lot!  In the package could you send me a blank cd also.  It's so crazy that it's already April and I get to call home in like a month and a half!  That will be really cool.  It sounds like everyone is going down to St. George again for Easter that will be really fun.  I still remember last years when Chan told us that she was pregnant.  That was pretty crazy.  Since my companion is a district leader he had to go to Austin for two days this week so I was on exchange with another missionary that had a car and I guess he wasn't cleared to drive yet so I got to drive.  It was really fun; it felt nice (ha ha).  The freeway was a bit scary but my TomTom got us to where we needed to go:)  Well have a happy Easter!  Thanks for emailing me each week I; always look forward to hearing from the fam!:)  love you all tons!

 

Elder Morgensen