Week 3

Hola amigas y familia,

Welcome to the third mass mission email from the one and only...ME! YAYYYYY. Lots of things to talk about in this email and I truly believe this will be the most interesting one. Also I will try to make it too long because I know they get boring after awhile...don't worry I got you guys! Buckle up, here we go!

Okay so every Sunday they have a devotional and afterwards have amazing church movies and talks that you can go and watch. However, this last Sunday the MTC presidency requested that all the missionaries got watch one by David A. Bednar "Character of Christ" Anyways, so we are all watching the talk and afterwards the Coordinator stood up and announced that they had a surprise for us all. Can any of you guess what that surprise was? No? Okay fine I'll just tell you! He said "We have David A. Bednar here with us tonight and he is going to be doing a Q&A session with all of you!" ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!! DAVID A BEDNAR!!!!! (He is an apostle of the church and like a HUGE Mormon celebrity for those of you who have no clue who I am talking about or why this is even a big deal...). But just moments before this announcement I was thinking how cool it was that those missionaries got to be in the actual room with him when he gave that talk originally and then BOOM! Now I am one of those missionaries!!! Ugh it was so amazing and so powerful to see him talking with and answer 18-20 year old's questions! He was so genuine and ugh just so awesome! Like I am disappointed with words right now because I cannot find a way to express myself in a way that will convey how I really feel accurately....just know that it was such a motivating and spiritually strengthening experience!

Next, I wanna talk a little bit about my district. Man are they the greatest or what? Obviously, I will answer that with a big YES! We are always joking around so much and have all this spanish phrases that we always say! Plus we are all notorious for "speaking Spanish" in  american accents and for some reason it is like the funniest thing and super entertaining!! Our teachers are amazing! Hermana Perez is from Chile and taught at the Chile MTC for a while before coming here and then Hermano Nash is from Utah (so he is a gringo...) but he served in Chile and has a muy bueño accent! They are both so fun and such good teachers! I love them because we can joke around with the when it is an appropiate time and then other times times they are both so good at bring the spirit and making me so PUMPED to be a missionary...well I guess I already am a missionary now but it just doesn't feel real yet... It is so weird whenever we go to the temple because when we change into our temple clothes we don't wear our tags and I honestly hate it! I love wearing that black plague and just sort of standing out among all the normal folk haha!

Yesterday for exercise time, me and another sister ran the track and did lunges on the straight aways and we did it like 4 times...so you can all imagine how badly my legs hurt today. Like just imagine me walking but really struggling to bend my knees in the slightest and take any impact at all! It is quite a site to see and lets just say my comp has been laughing at me all day... Normally, we just play sand volleyball for exercise time which is so fun since tons of people play so it is just a fun light hearted way to get to know new people! Also for fun, I thought I'd give you all a glimpse into my schedule and life as a missionary. So we are supposed to wake up at 6:30am every morning however it ususally closer to 6:40 whoops! But we get ready in a wonderful church clothes and head to breakfast. Then from 8:30-11:30 we have spanish class where we are only talked to in spanish so sometimes it is a little difficult but we are all getting better! Then lunch, and then we have a 3 hour "break" but in this "break" we are expected to do personal scripture study, companion study (so like planning lessons, lessons, oh and more lessons...), AND our language study!!!! Annnnnd the we have exercise time for an hour which is so nice because it is a great way to just decompress and not think about you responsibiliies for a little while. Then dinner, and then we end the day with another 3 hour block of spanish class from 6-9. Now once we get back to our rooms around 9:15 we spend lots of time chatting, little us girls normally do and when "bedtime" hits at 10:30 that's when we starting doing our journal writing...so basically I have been getting to bed around 11:30 every night and getting on average 7 hours of sleep and I think at this point all my sleep deprivation is catching up to me because it's getting to be a REAL struggle! But hey! All for the experience right?!?! 

Basically, I love the MTC so much because it is just like hanging with your BFFs allll day! Plus every thing everyone says is so spiritual and so motivating! I miss all of you mucho and hope all of your lives out in the real world are going swell!!!! 

A very happy missionary,

Hermana Morgan

But now for the part you've all been waiting for....it's PICTURE TIME LADIES AND GENTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1)Here is my district --> District 25J RUULLLEESS! The girl in the middle with long dark curly hair is Hermana Perez and the guy on the outside left with the blue tie is Hermano Nash.

2) District temple trip this morning. Aren't we adorable?!

3) All us gal pals in room 321! 

4) Us sisters at the Temple

Waddup Waddup Waddup!

Family and Friends!

   Welcome to the second mass email from the one, the only...ME! This was my very first full week while here at the MTC and oh boy did it feel long! I mean overall I cannot believe a full week has gone by but during the week it seems like P-day never gets any closer...but now we are here and having a grand old time! Also you all know how everybody loves Friday because that means the weekend and a break from any responsibility right? Ha nope, not here! I have seem to lost the concept of knowing what free time even is. There is always something to study or prepare for 24/7! Also Sundays...you know the day where you go to church and then take a nap...absolutely not! Sundays are the LONGEST day of my entire life!!!! But enough complaining...now onto the good stuff...(disclaimer not entirely sure how exciting any of this will be for all you out in the real world)

So in my district there are 14 missionaries, 10 elders and 4 sisters. I know, quite the ratio. So because us hermanas are only slightly outnumbered the elders have quite the amount of inside jokes. And their most quoted phrase BY FAR is "Hey Elder remember when...ah nevermind we will talk about it later!" or "Don't worry sisters, you don't want to know!"....but don't worry everyone *high sarcastic voice* I am not bothered by it all *shrugs shoulders repeatedly*... I mean by this point it has just become a huge joke so it's all good! Plus the Elders seem like they always have so much more fun than us Sisters...They have so many weird pass down traditions that would be wayyyy to complicated to explain on here but just know I slightly envy the fun they are having. So if anyone has any fun crazy rambunctious ideas send them my way! 

Here is a funny "trying to learning Spanish" story for all of you. So our whole district was in the computer lab doing some boring "Technology Assisted Language Learning" and not staying very focused but instead just joking around...You know like teenagers do....and one of the Elders jokingly called me a liar for some reason and then tried saying it in Spanish; however he yelled "Menstruosa" when he was really trying to say "Mentirioso". Now, to save you all the trouble of having to google translate that what the Elder actually yelled at me was "Menstrating" which is DEFINITELY NOT liar...But hey we are all learning here! And in his defense he was pretty close. Haha

Next thing I want to write about it how my favorite part of any day in from 6-9pm. That is when we have scheduled "class" but it is really the time in which companionships take turns teaching an investigator and the rest of us "study" but in reality all of us are just goofing off and making jokes at each other just becoming good ole pals! Plus at that time in the day we are all so burnt out from everything we have already done and just want to take a quick little break and not have to think about learning spanish or teaching a lesson or anything else! 

BIG NEWS!!!!!!!!  So originally everyone in my district was not an iPad mission so non of us have  them while here in the MTC obviously. However, my comps mission was changed a few days before she entered the MTC and she found out it was an iPad mission this monday soooo since she gets an iPad that means we all get iPads!!!! Not sure when I will get it but hopefully by the end of this upcoming week. HOORAYYYYYY!!!! That means I can check my email whenever I want to but I still can't respond until Saturday! But chances are I will check it multiple times a day and every evening before I go to bed for those who coincidently want to be at the same place as me at the same time while I am here in the MTC....*shifty eyes*

Now for the stuff people actually care about and trust me I won't judge if you skipped straight here because I totally did that before....hehe but it's PICTURE TIME!!!!!!!!!!

​Me and Elder Dotson "working at a call center". This was when we were supposed to be studying....

​Me and my roomies!!! (from left to right) Sister Sylva, Proto, Gledhill, Snider, Seegmiller

​This es mi companera, Hermana Gledhill

cliche missionary picture of me

My prison cell

​What I wish missionary attire could be: sweats, t-shirts, and nice comfy lose skirt to add some class

​My favorite mural in the new buildings! It is of the Red Sea parting and it offer great encouragement to all us missionaries that we can do the impossible with the Lord's help:)

The Sparks, NV sisters!!!! Represent!​

Love a Slightly Seasoned Missionary,

Hermana Morgan

p.s. I am very embarrassed for signing my last email "Herman".... 

Welp...this is actually happening...

Hola amigos y familia!!!

***While in the MTC Saturdays are my Preparation Day so this is the day that will respond to emails

On Wednesday afternoon I made it safely to the Provo, UT MTC where I was given my missionary tag and a ton more papers and instructions on what to do next. My host (another girl who helped me with my luggage and where to go) took me to my room and I thought I would have some time to move in and get settled...NOPE! It was literally a luggage drop and grab all the books I needed and off to my Spanish class. Also once I arrive the teacher spoke only Spanish and absolutely no English. Zip. Nada. Ziltch. All of this was only slightly overwhelming but no biggie...The rest of the day was filled with meeting new people and learning how the MTC works. 

My companion's name is Hermana Gledhill and although we are very different in our personalities we are both very easy going so we get along great so far. She is from Provo and her house is actually like 3 houses from the MTC so that's weird! I really like my district (group of other missionaries that are in my spanish class)as well! Everyone is super funny and super nice and are practically all going to Argentina! I am sooo excited to get know everyone really well within the 6 weeks that I am here. Oh also on my second we already had to teach an investigator (who I am pretty sure was just another teacher acting but still) IN FULL SPANISH!!!!!! Do you know how nerve racking that is????? ANNNNNNDDD we have to have a 3-4 minute talk (which I know isn't that long) prepared for EVERY Sunday ALSO IN FULL ON SPANISH. You all know how much I hate writing talks and now I have to write and deliver it in Espanol if I just happened to get randomly called on. YAY.

It weird. I do not feel homesick in the slightest, which I kind of feel guilty about but also not so guilty...I honestly just feel like I am at a 6 week long church camp where I am learning Spanish and then I'll just head on head afterwards. I wonder when that feeling will disappear? 

I still feel like a noob here, which I mean I am,but I just want to already have the ropes down and be in the swing things. The whole learning spanish thing is actually going pretty well! Surprisingly a lot of my high school spanish is coming back , especially vocabulary and conjugation rules. Also come to find out my accent isn't as terrible as I already thought it has been. Gift of Tongues am I right?!

Sorry there isn't a whole lot of fun information in this email but this will be the first of many while here at the MTC. Well I guess only 6 but I think that classifies as many right? Anyways I am so incredibly happy to be here and to have the opportunity to learn a knew language and cannot wait to progress! I love and miss you all!

A very hopeful and excited missionary,

Herman Morgan :)

I MADE IT!!!

I was instructed to email my family and tell them that I made it safely to the MTC so that's what this is...

I am currently sitting at a computer wearing a tag that says "Hermana Morgan" and just slightly freaking out, no biggie! For those of you who know the MTC I am in the old buildings sadly but maybe ill get to venture into the new and improved side eventually, who knows!

Well i gotta got to my spanish class and try to not sound completely stupid...wish me luck!

I love and miss you all and cannot wait to get updates on your lives/update you on mine!

Love,

Recently named "Hermana Morgan"