Chaucito... :(

My wonderful dear family,

I feel like Ive blinked and my time here in Colón.. in Argentina, got stolen away from me. I have learned so much and only pray that I will never forget the things that I have learned... the things that have changed me and brought me closer to the Lord.  Ending is exciting.. Im going back to a whole world that is more familiar to me than the world I came to year and a half ago.. but its terrifying at the same time. Ha.. I havent let myself worry or think about it up until now but its what is staring me in the face. I´ve reflected on my time here... my first and second areas...now.. sometimes we never see the fruits of our labors but I have no regrets. I gave my all and the Lord put in what I could not. Last night I called the missionaries from my first area to get a couple numbers..  there are 4 sisters serving in Esperanza now. Hno Spies, who Im sure you all remember me talking about and pleading for prayers, received the Melchizedek Priesthood yesterday along with Hno. Telmo who was baptized in February.  I thought I was going to pass out of pure joy.  Point is, progress is happening becuase this is the Lord's work and every one of us who work for Him, as full time missionaries and as members, plays an important part in the progress.  We may not see how or why but He does.  and gosh, He loves every single one of His children here on the earth.  Im so grateful for the opportunirty I have had to serve Him and His children here in Argentina.. in Esperanza, La Paz, and Colón.  To feel that love and to feel the trust that He has in me to be an instrument in His hands.  It will be hard leaving but there are people more capable than me that the Lord has now entrusted to carry on the work
here. And my life as a missionary is just starting.

All of my love,
Hermana Lyndsey Morgan

Guau..

hey family...

truth is.. im going crazy.  today is transfers so everyone that was "leaving with me" is gone. we didnt end up getting put in a trio like we thought we would because no more hermanas came.  it works out well for em but who knows what will happen to my companion when i leave.  members from the branch are slowly finding out that Im leaving so theyre wanting to have us over for dinner and next week we were already even booked for pday. ha, I dont really mind. But it reminds me why I didnt want to tell anyone.. they talk about me going home more than I do.  I feel like to them the prospect of being facebook friends is better than me having them sitting in their living room. ...así es..

This past week was great though.. we ended up spening 17 hours of the week on a bus which was... annoying to say the least but a few highlights,  we spent pday in Concordia, had an awesome zone mtg where i had to give my farewell testimony for reals  (and super funn yside story -- so we went up in companionships and your comp said something about you first and then you gave your testimony. ok so i may have teared up a little and my mascara, which yes was bought here in argentina, like.. got in my eyes and apparently im allergic to it because my eyes started BURNING.  luckily i already had my glasses on our that would have been a real disaster but seriously, i couldnt even open them. i tried to ignore it and keep talkign but i finally jsut havd to close and sit down becuase my eyeballs had caught fire in their sockets.  something thewould happen to me)  we had 3 days of hard work in colon before leaving to finish up tramites in rosario again (im legal!) and it ended up being a little mtc district reunion which was so much fun.  we even got mcdonalds to celebrate. big stuff.  our bus back ended up being full because it was friday so we didnt get back till 730 the next day after traveling all night long.  haha we jsut kept going though and it was truly a miracle how we werent even tired. miraculously this past week we had just as many lessons and what not as others and im continually amazed at how much i continue to learn and the miracles i am blessed to see as i focus on the Lord work.  Asistence was higher than usual with 39 and im singing next week. :)

I love you all so much and want you to know that this church is true.  Christ lives and everything happens for a reason. 

Hna. Morgan 

Mac and cheese paint

district mtg in gualeyuaychu

one of the 8000 pictures we took at the monument

 amo Colón

Fotos

Hey family. :)  Just a few fotos for now. :)   the district, the most miraculous miracle of the week (wonderful hot waterrrrr), and my comp and I at church.    I LOVE YOU ALLLLLL    ....and i suppose I will be seeing... whoevers there at 9:44am august 24th.  weird.  but cool!

Chaito,
Hna. Morgan

Hola

(Last week's email)

Hello family,

Thanks for writing! Seriously, hearing from everyone always makes me smile. :)

This week was great.  Flew by as usual but that usually means were working hard. The biggest event of the week was the youth activity that we had on Friday night.  We had all put a ton of work into inviting everyone and planning it all out so that they would have a opportunity to enjoy themselves and feel the spirit at the same time.  It was great and weve decided to have one once a month. More and more kids will come as it becomes a normal thing. :)

..Its weird how sometimes evrything goes by so fast that the memories even blur... Ive learned a lot just in this past weekend. The incredible power and importance of charity.  Without charity, everyhting else that we have doesnt even matter... 1 corintios 13.

I love this gospel and how it always gives me ways to improve. to be better and to use the atonement in my life. :)  

Keep smiling and try not to count down hahaha. Me falta muuucho. 

Love always, Hna. Morgan

:)

Hello Family from a wonderful and absolutely crazy week in Argentina. :)

As you know this week I was called to train and had to make it into Rosario by Wednesday morning to pick up my companion. From La Paz we had to leave at 1 am which was exhilirating and we got to the mission home jsut as everyone was waking up. My old comp and I went up to the Hnas. apartments and it was just so funny how desperately she wanted to know who was going with who and where and everything even thouhg she wasnt even a full time missioanry. The two sisters that ended up coming in were from teh states and from Mexico. I used my didactic skills and knew I would be with the one from the states (because the other hna. would be whitewashing in mi querida Esperanza with an hna that goes home in one transfer. ... and the one from mexico already had 5 months in the field and was training already in her reassigned mission in mexico. wow) But after getting ready we went down to breakfast and we seperated from them. I went in for breakfast with the other missionaries that were trainng and after a small capacitación we finally went to the "transfer mtg." Trainers sit on one side of the room and the newbies on the other and it was crazy thinking back to the what seems like a few short months ago that I was on the other side. AAaaannyways, because youre all dying to know, I was right! My new companion is named Hna. Mueller from Seattle Washington. She served in Richmond Virginia spanish speaking for 2 transfers and only had 6 weeks in the mtc but speaks AWESOME. Wow. Huge blessing. I am literally jsut so excited though. Ha, we ended up having to stay in the mission home until Thursday morning because of bus times to La Paz and even then we were dropped off por la ruta which was a nice little surprise. But, this short week that weve had together was maybe one of the best that Ive had. I cant even describe it. Her humble desires to learn and her awesome attitude despite not understanding everything... something that I couldnt say for myself when I first got here... We're learning together and I love it. Each night I just go to bed amazed and the htings we did and the miracles we saw... and the power of a good attitude and a smile. :)

Know that I am doing well. That I am happy and safe. And that I know with everything that I am that the church is true. That Christ leads and directs it and that He lives and loves us. :)

All my love,
Hna. Morgan

transfers

Hello Family,

This week has been.... dreary. Ha. That sounds sad but more or less fue así.  

For starters, yes mom.  The cold came this week. and wow did it come.  Out of no where and were are in the 60s who knows.. maybe colder.  Lets just say the thermals you sent me came just in time.  On top of that it was rainy all week so we had lots of mud and fun things like that. 

On Wednesday I got deathly sick and spent a day throwing up and falling asleep in front of the heater on the ground. It was frustrating because I didnt even eat anything weird.  ..just more pasta.  But it cut out a ton of our week and between that and the rain I just felt horribly unproductive.... pero bueno.

Sunday I called my best friend in the mission because she is going home - Hna. Velasco.  I felt so silly crying for someone that I was with for 2 months and who since then I have only talked to maybe 3 times but she changed my mission completely.  Its actually no fun becoming really good friends with someone who lives so far away because I dont know when I will ever see her again. 

And today we were told transfers and I have been called to train. I feel like my mind is blank with everything that is happening.  Like I just want to keep crying. ..or go to work.  Probably the better option all things considering. But tomorrow morning I will be traveling to Rosario with my companion to pick up my new companion and say goodbye to Hna. Morera.  I learned so much from her truly and am very grateful for the time that the Lord gave us to work together and learn from one another. 

Well thats about it on my end. Sorry if I forgot to let everyone know about Tuesday email this week but you probably figured it out.  I love you all.

-Hna. Morgan

:)

Dear Family,

Wow. It was so great being able to talk to yall yesterday. Despite the choas of how the call started, it worked out and I loved getting to see all of your smiling faces (especially all the ones that I didn't even expect.)  I am truly so blessed to have the family that I have.

As for this email I dont have much more to say that what I said yesterday.  :P  I do however have some pictures that I want to send to I will be doing that.

All my love,

Hna. Morgan

p.s. i think yall jinxed me because i was asked to give a talk on Sunday today.... 

kitchen

bathroom

bedroom

closet/workout room

bag yogurt/milk

april?

Hello family. :)

remember that time when April was almost over and it was almost moms birthday!?!  ha, ya. crazy stuff. 

This week was great. sufficiently stressful but great, igual. :)  The other branch had a baptism so we brought our investigator family to come watch.  It´s always kind of a problem though because their uncle lives with them and cant leave his wheelchair so the mom has to stay home... so essentially we ended up carting 80 thousand kids to church..  really only 5 but it made me seriously reconsider how many children I want.  ...not really but... maybe. ha. They loved it though and all want to get baptized now. They even came to church on their own on Sunday (rather with a member that lives close by) because we had to tell them that we couldnt anymore.  Really our hopes were that their mom would come.  Honestly she will one day. I have faith in that. But she still seems to be a little traumatized from the the Evangelica church that she went to last time with yelling and crying and pushing people down.. ?   Sometimes investigators are like puzzles though Ive realized.  And  when we dont 100% rely on the Spirit its like trying to jam a piece in so that it fits.  For a little bit we feel like we´ve made progress but when we follow the Spirit and ask inspired questions we realize that we have to undo a few pieces and fit them well.  Ha, i dont know if my metaphor even makes sense but the point is that Monica is progressing. 

Hmm... Thats pretty much it for the week.. no really but that was the excitement. :)  But hey, know that I love you all a ton. keep smiling and building your faith.

Hna. Morgan

all of monica and her family when hna carlson left

mis gurises  (the words for niños or nenes here in Entre Rios :)

testifying power of the spirit

My family,

This week has been long.  Not really. It went by just as fast as all the rest but I dont think ive ever managed to stress myself out as much before.  Ha, there is just so much to do and literally no time.  On top of that the schedule changed so we have all studies in the morning and work during the siesta which just makes eveything more difficult.  Its still hot enough to be summer (but not blazing middle of summer) but it now gets dark at 7ish and the sun doesnt come out til 7ish in the morning.  una porquería.   Pero bueno.  My companion is slowly getting used to mission life and the area and Im excersising my patience ha. Mas que nada its the fact the I have to make a lot of the decisions by myself which is.. stressful, as mentioned.   

Our wonderful family is progressing but slowly.  I dont even know if Ive mentioned them before but its a mom and her 8 kids.  3 older girls and 5 between the ages of 6 and 11.  They all came to church with us last week and this week we were hopin that one ofht e older girls or the mom would bring them but... no such luck.  its hard teaching them because they all have such different needs but love listening together..   if that even makes sense.   we tr to focus on different groups each time we go which is working but like I said, slowly.  I constantly wonder if Im doing the right thing but weve had a few amazing moments and I know that the Spirit is working..   if they dont keep progressing... I dont think it will be my fault.  Either way, its those moments taht make all the other stressfull crazy ones worth it.  The moments when the Spirit in the room is so strong that nothing,  not even barking dogs or 89gazillion mosquitos and no off, can drive it away.  It amazes me and brings me to tears.  One of their daughters, Fatima, that came to chuch with us last week wanted to get up and bear her testimony.  she has 9 years and had me go up with her.  "Hola, Yo me llamo Fatima Gamarra. Quiero decir que siento que esta Iglesia es verdadera.  En el nombre de Jesucristo. Amen."  I stood at the pulpit jsut ... amazed as i watched her take her seat and look up at me with a big smile.  tears filled my eyes.  Christ tells that we need to humble ourselves and become as little children.. and that is why.  Because they can feel the power of the Holy Ghost and believe. Sin dudas, sin preocupaciones. It{s what i long and strive for.  

I hope you all have a wonderful week.  Be happy and smile.  And be as little children.  Open to feel, open to believe.  "all things denote there is a God"  He loves us.  I have never felt that more that i have since being here. 

Con cariño,

Hna. Morgan

transfers

My family,

Last week of the transfers.  (hence my writing Tuesday)  Time flies. News of the transfers because Im sure you are all dying to know.   Im stayng in La Paz and a "mini misionera" is coming.  I still dont know where she is from... mini misioneras are 17, 18, or 19 year old who are waiting to go on a mission themselves or .. jsut willing to come and try it out for 6 weeks.  Im kind of nervous seeing as these missionaries dont have any experience much less MTC training but a lot of the times the have a lot of animos and ganas.  Ive jsut decided that were going to see miracles and learn a ton..  asi es. No me queda otra.  (como dicen acá)  :)

My comp is actually going to train in a whitewash which was a little shocking to hear after spending 6 monhs with her but the Lord knows and maybe its what she needs to end well and regain a little of her faith that La Paz seemed to suck out of her. haha. 

Conference was awesome although nosotros tampoco were able to see the Saturday session as we did not have any investigators what were able to come with us.  ... to be honest there were only 3 members that went ...out of 2 full branches that exist here in La Paz.   We dont quite understand but it seems that even though the church has existed here for over 40 years the members are really aware that there are 2 DAYS of conference and that the prophets and apostles (who speak the word of God) speak at all of them.... 

Goodness... I jsut feel like so much goes on.  Transfers always bring butterflies and stomach cramps... but I always learn so much.  The Lord works in incredible ways. I  know without a doubt that this is His church and His work.  Sometiems it may seem to be at a standstill but its not. it is ever moving forward. Nothing I or any missionary does is in vain. Everyone needs this gospel. Everyone needs to feel the love of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  He gave his life so that we could ahve ours.. so that we could change. so that we could have the strength to face our challenges and learn from them. to be happy. to learn to love.  

Have a wonderful week.

Hermana Morgan