Hello Everyone!
I am doing well down here. I have a bit of a cold, it has been raining for 2 days nonstop. So its been pretty cold with all the rain and clouds, like 60 degrees! BRRRRR! haha. I have been doing good though. My comp and I had a little.... confrentation, sunday afternoon. He just doesnt really have much patience and he said a few things to me heavy on the sarcasm so I finally told him to get some patience and help out in the companionship. Needless to say there hasnt been a whole lot of talking in between us. BUT he is changing little things, little favors and such. So no worries there. I just figure little by little he will learn to live with me. I dont think I could have delt with all of thie before the mission. I cant beleive how much patience I have gained from being out here. We went bowling today for p-day, there was 8 of us elders there. It was fun, $3 for unlimited bowling, pool, and pingpong.
The main problem with our two sectors is that the sacrament meetings for the two start at the same time, so we are having to juggle them around quite a bit. But we went to the sacrament meeting of the ward on the hill side, Santa Anita, and we got like 5 family references from members. That was really good. We may have 3 baptisms in the next week or to, just waiting for the couple to get married! haha, The lady is Edit and she is living with a member and they have two little boys, her husband was baptised like 20 years ago but they cant find his name on the records, so when the two of them get the judges signature and get married we will baptise the two of them and the younger brother of the wife. He lives with his sisters family and just a week or so ago he started listening to the lessons and he is enjoying it! So that´ll be good. So the work here is moving alot, its a bit slow, the elders that were here before didnt leave us with really any investigators or anything but oh well! Its getting better day by day.
I havent been bitten by any dogs yet. So on the buses down here, every couple of blocks people get on to sell little things, they start out by giving their little speach in the front of everyone, they they will hand out what ever they have to sell, then go passed everyone again to either collect money of the product, or collect the product. So today a guy got on the bus and started talking all about the Love of God and was quoting a bunch of scriptures, then we walked around handing out a little scripted prayer for everyone to give thanks to God. When he got to me he got a different look on his face as he saw my nametag. Then he said (in spanish) ,So Elder, you know who José Smith was?! and of course I answered yes, then he rambled off a bunch of insults at me and about the church and Joseph Smith. I just smiled at him and when he was done I told him have a nice day. Then afterwards I was thinking about it and the thought came to my mind, does he think that those insults to me and my church demonstrate at all that Love of God that he was preaching to everyone? That is one thing about being here in the big city of Quito, the people are not as accepting and nice. Making contacs is really hard because there are hardly any real houses here. almost all are appartment buildings, alot of them in gated communities that we arent allowed into, but those that are in the road are nearly impossible to contact at. All of them are gated in so you have to ring a buzzer on the road where they ask by intercom who it is. When you say the missonaries, they sometimes just dont answer back. So we work mostly off of references. But its all good. I am really enjopying it here and learning TONS!
Hope all is well back home. I am loving it here. oh and by the way, 2 more weeks and im at the 6 month mark! aahhhhh! Time is FLYING by! Love you all! Be safe on the winter roads and all.
Elder Morris

Hola Familia!
Well my first week in Quito is over. It is so different here but im getting used to it. I had to give a talk on sunday about missionary work. It is a ward here of about 120 but there were only 86 people there, about the same amount as attended in the branch in Tulcan. But the talk went well. We dont really have many investigators right now, so this week that is what elder Benavides and i will work on. CONTACTING! Wahoo! haha, I dont mind it anymore, we had some extra time after church yesterday so i was like Hey lets go knock some doors, and so we did and we got one appointment out of the half our of it. So about my comp, He is from Mexico and doesnt know really any english, he is from the coast over by the gulf of mex. and so he has a coastal accent that it almost impossible to understand. He is pretty prideful against me and it makes it worse that im gringo. He doesnt really let me talk much at all in lessons but hes slowly getting better with that. He always has to be way in front of me when we are walking anywhere and he doesnt like to talk to me. But im not too worried about it. Probably by the end of this week all will be mostly worked out. Quito is huge city and our sector is the mountainside above the airport. Up in the santa anita sector we cant be walking aroud after dark, most of the people up there are black. And there are TONZ of dogs, dont anyone tell magnum i said this, i would hat for him to take it the wrong way, but i think i really just hate dongs now! We have been chased and almost bittin numerous times, i keep rocks in the bottle pouch of my back pack for quick access! Its not a real safe area, but we are working around it and getting days scheduled so it all works out. Dont worry, we are being safe and i know that the Lord is watching out for us. So my good buddy from the mtc Elder Stieber is the one that took my place in Tulcan and he wrote me today and told me everyone there hates him and thinks they got jipped out when i left and he came! Well he was obviously exaggerating a bit but it makes me feel god anyways. I miss all the people up there. Its just different here in Quito, the people, th accent, food, just everything. The food i have to admit is better here, more flavorful. Thats plus. Oh! It is SOO hot here! The first couple of days i thought i was going to DIE! I have been drinking LOTSof water though. Its probably about 95 when its sunny and then humid. But everyone says its cold here that the coastal area in the mssion is way worse!! So i need to be grateful. I lay in bed at night just sweating, its alot warmer than back home thats for sure. Well i will try to get some pictures sent hom next week. OH! We had lunch yesterday with the elders quorum president and he asked me what i miss most about home, i told him camping and hunting, so he told me hes gonna plan an activity next month for us elders to go with the elders quorum on a hike to see one of the volcanos here! im way excited.
Thank you all and i love you!
Elder Morris

Well today was a long day
I recieved news the other day that we were having emergency transfers and I am now in Quito. The BIG city itself. I bore my testimony sunday and had to say goodbyes after church and i just cried. It felt like leaving my family again. It broke my heart to have to leave our investigators too. I love the people in Tulcan and i will really miss them. So this morning I left at about 8 and got here at about 2:30. On the busride we got stopped at checkpoints a few times, and everytime of course they have to ask the gringo questions outside. I dont have my ecuador ID yet only a photocopy of my passport, before, it hasnt been a problem for me, but today i got threatened jail time and being deported a couple of times. A little bit nerve wrecking but they had mercy. So i guess the big news about this exchange is that President Sloan made me Sr companion. here is his words to me in a letter he sent this morning
Elder Morris,
It´s time for you to be a senior companion. You are coming to Quito, to a ward that needs a missionary who sets a good example and knows how to work. You will also help Elder Benivides learn how to work, set goals and exercise faith. You will have two wards to work and you will learn how to juggle the two. Gain the respect and the friendship of the bishops and leaders as quickly as you can. There is renewed interest in the missionary work and they have to be able to count on the missionaries which they haven´t been able to do so. I recently sent home two missionaries who served in San Carlos, so the work has to be picked up. They have references waiting for you. I know you will do well, Elder Morris. I have no doubt of it. Thank you very much for your faithfulness.
Un abrazo,
President Sloan
So the story in this area is that the last two missionaries here got sent home for a sexual activity with a member and the sector got closed for a little while. This happened i think about the time i got to tulcan. So Elder Benivides and I are now reopening the one sector along with the sector next to it that was still open. My companion has 6 months here and i only have 2. So I am pretty overwhelmed by this right now and a bit nervous but i know for a surety that i will have the Lords help. So because of what happened the members no longer help the missionaries. So we are going to have to work alot on that. Its sad how many elders in the past year in this mission have been sent home and even a few have lost their memberships. The trust gets broken so quickly and is so hard to get back. Thats what we were working on so hard for in Tulcan. For a few years Tulcan was the sector of the iniquos or wicked elders. The members had no trust. But the companionships of elders that were thier before me started to make the change and now the members love the missionaries. But about my sector. It is on the hillside above the airprt here in town. Its not too big of an area but there are TONS of people here. One good thing is the first couple days we spent in ecuador were here in quito and it was actually in my new house thatwe slept and my sector that we practiced a bit in so i remember a couple of the roads and how to get to the house. Quito is a HUGE city but i know i will figure my way around in a week or two.It is really good to hear all of the good news from back home. The baby boy, Cole Matthew Morris, yea, GREAT name. i support it. So congrats on that Jared and Krysten. I cant wait till he is born. And Lauras mystery baby too. I dont have alot of time here but just know im doing good and im loving it here! Keep up the faith back home! Youre all in my prayers.
Elder Morris

Hello!

Im Doing very weel in Ecuador still. We had zone conference this last week in Otavalo again. It was really good. President Sloan is SUCH a smart guy and he is a very powerful speaker. My interview went very well with him. He did tell me in the interview how appreciative he was for me working hard and being a good example to the other elders here. He also told me I probably wont be here in Tulcan much longer, he feels he needs me somewhere else in the mission but didnt tell me where. We have another 4 weeks left in this exchange though. But who knows, there are alot of elders finishing up there mission this next week so he may move me on an emergencie exchange. But either way, I love Tulcan. Elder McGary and I have picked up alot of new references and invstigators this week. Alot of the people down here think that mormons gorw horns and worship all sorts of wierd things, so we have had to clear up alot of questions this week during lessons. We sent some baptismal dates this week. We have a family of three, Mother son and daughter. The tow kids are 11 and 10 and they are loving the lessons and learning more. The mother doesnt really listen. We just need to show to her the importance and the difference of our church, that we arent just another church. But so the two kids have the baptismal date of feb 7th. So that is really exciting. I was there when we found them and have been there through all of the lessons so far. They are my first investigators with a date. I am really excited about it. The weather hasnt been so well the last few days. Rain rain rain. When the first storm rolled in the other afternoon we were walking from one appointmentto another and we could see the thick black cloud moving in. About two blocks away from the appointment we looked down the street to the left of usand could see just a wall of rain moving towards us within 50 yards. about a block and a half from the house it started to rain and we started to run. The rain drops were HUGE and there were ALOT of them. We got to the house of our appointment but in the 25 seconds it took us to get there we were as wet as if we had just jumped in a river. my socks were wet, my shirt, tie, pants, garnments, backpack. EVERYTHING. And it has rained everyday most of the day since. Not as hard though. I have been able to use that big trenchcoat Jared lent me, thats a blessing for sure! Havent been splashed by any dumptruck yet this week so thats good. Sounds like everything is doing well back home. Oh ya, Happy birthday to everyone who had a birthday this last week and the week upcomming! Gramma, Zach, Rachel, Krysten....Uncle Brian.....I think thats all of you but if I forgot anyone dont worry i still love you. Thank you for all of the letters. Love you all.

Elder Morris

Hola Familia!

Well at transfers last week Elder Castro got exchanged! He got sent to Santo Domingo over on the coast. The Elder that was there came here. Elder McGary from Kennewick Washington. And yes he is a first cousin of the McGary´s in Burton. His aunt is an office lady at the MHS and I graduated with one of his cousins! What a small world! So we are doing very good together. He is one for obeying rules and using time wisely. We didnt really get alot done last week because he had to go back to Quito for a couple of days for a District Leader training meeting, this week will probably about as slow because we have to travel to Otavalo for a couple of days for Zone Conference. Its really rare that two gringos get put together in this mission, but President figured he was the best for the situation.

The past week it has been fairly cold. It hasnt been real sunny at all and it has rained alot. One quick story about that. So when it rains the roads just fill up with water. So the other day we were walking to lunch on the sidewalk and I was pondering in my head about the fact of getting splashed by cars. And I thought, i havent been splashed in the time i have been here, maybe i can make it the WHOLE mission without getting splashed! And not 5 minutes later a dumptruck was comming down the road towards us at a fast pace. I didnt even think about it. i was RIGHT next to a big puddle. Well my reactions were surely not quick enough. So that night I put my clothes in the laundry basket to get washed.

It sounds like everyone is doing very well back home. And i just cant tell everyone enough how glad I am everyone waited till AFTER I got into the mission field to start having kids! That is just so nice. Well I guess the little bums will meet me when I get home. So ya Laura and Chance, Zach and Dad spilled the beans already, I know there´s a baby on the way. Dad said due date is sept 1st. So you better hope it doesnt come on the 3rd, I dont want anyone stealing my thunder!

As far as the work here, last week seemed to me like a episode of Good Investigators Gone Bad! We tried setting up a couple appointments and also simply visiting a few. For some reason people think we cant see through windows on doors or something. They try the whole be sneaky thing and act like they arent at home, then we wait long anough they finally come and then they lie about whose there. Oh well. We still have a few doing good, and we will keep working with all of them. We got a couple more references from a lady in the branch this week. In two weeks time she has given us like 5 differtent references. Its members like that that really halp us out and help the church progress!

As for the pictures I sent home. Yes the chicken head and feet are eaten here, not cooked for flavoring in soup. Its really quite a delicacy to have the feet. Im not such a fan though. We had a lunch the other day the was rice with some cow stomache. Ya youre right, it wasnt good. But stuf like that isnt really popular. More often than not its just soup, some rice and normal parts of chicken! Well I gotta get going but thanks for everything. I always enjoy hearing from home and getting news about stuff. Im doing well. No worries here. Be safe, do whats right!

Elder Morris

Hello Family,

So i have to start out by telling you all how much i loath computers! I just had a big old letter written out on here and now its gone, just gone. This seems to happen about every week to me. oh well. I had a couple fun expericences this week. On saturday us missionaries had a youth activity at the church and just before the activity another elder and i ran down the street a couple blocks to use some phones to call a few more members to remind them about the activity. as we truned one of the corners a bus stopped be hind us and some people got off. I had my back turned to them and all of the sudden i was surrounded! There were 6 kids ages 6-12 hugging me and yelling ¨Elder Morshis!¨ it was a group of member kids comming from the other end of town to go to the activity. When they saw that i wasnt looking they came from behind and suprised me. It was a big old confidence boost! Also earlier this week we were at a recently baptised family´s house giving a quick lesson. We read out of the scriptures and were going around one by one baring testimonies and then each one would look at the pictureof christ we had and would say to him as if he was there with us just whatever they wanted to say. Most of them said things like thank you for my family, the church, things like that. Then the mother went very last, but after her, the littlest boy who is only about 2 or 3 said ¨a mi, a mi¨ (my turn) and so the mom held the picture for him. He looked at the picture, got a big smile on his face, looked and us, then back at the picture again and simply said ¨Te Amo¨ (i love you), then leaned forward and kissed the picture. I couldnt help it, i cried. It was a very special moment and i sure learned a lesson. It was a perfect example of why Christ has always taught that we must become as a child to inherit th kingdom of God.

We got a couple of references this week to new families to teach. Both of the families are golden, I am really excited to get teaching them more. We have left some reading assignments with them and they are actually following through on their assignments. We have FHE with one of them tonight and we are planning on watching the testaments and reading from 3 nephi of when christ came.

A for our companionship, my patience is getting thinner with my companion. I am trying hared each day to try to be on time to all of our appointments and things but its rough sometimes. He enjoys being with member families and his girlyfriends family too much that it is really cutting into our teaching and effectiveness. We waist alot of time and its really getting to me. I have had a few talks with him about and hopefully it will start to change. As of wednesday i will have made it through my first transfer in the mission. So my companion may just get transferred this week, who knows. I will just have to wait to see. Dont worry about me, its just making me learn and grow stronger and faster.

As for thigns from home, i talked to the zone leaders and if you send anything that weighs more the 4.4 lbs it gets a green sticker and when it gets into ecuador it goes to mail jail, and i have to pay an extra 15-25 dollars to get it out, and the process has at times taken up to 7 months for elders. So if you send something under 4.4 lbs it gets a white sticker and goes to the mission home and they get it to me usually 1-2 months is the wait. So remeber not to go over 4.4 lbs on anything and send it to this address:

Elder Morris

Misión Ecuador Quito

Casilla 17-03-078

Robles 640 y Ave. Amazonas

Quito Ecuador

I got the letter from Jared and Krysten last week. Just to be clear on things you two, my dog is NOT for sale and neither are my guns! thank you, now i can sleep better. Thanks for that christmas card though that was nice to get. I am glad to hear that Caleb is doing well. I was a bit worried about him. Hopefully it will kepp getting better. Mary told me about taking him to Cabelas this week. I dont know if it was the thought of Cabelas again or the thought of caleb saying ¨fish¨but i teared up! I miss that little guy. One idea if anyone does send anything, send some postcards of the mauntains and stuff back home. I saw a book the other day at a members home that had a picture of the tetons as the cover! it was pretty neat.

Well im out of time but i love you all and thank you for everything!

Elder Morris

HolaSounds like it was a rough week. Dont worry at all I always remember our family in my prayers. I will surely remember Caleb in them. I hope everything works out ok. Mary took so long going into details on everything in her letter i started crying. I was just wanting to know if the little guy was safe and in the middle of the suspence she would start telling me about how interesting the technology was! But i´m glad to hear he is safe and i hope and pray the medication will fix whatever the problem is. It sure is hard to hear about something like that being so far from home, but i know that the Lord with watch over and protect him. This week i have been studying alot of different talks by apostles and one talk i just read this morning was by Elder Holland title Missionary Wory and The Atonement. It is a very very powerful talk and he gives a promise to the missionaries at the end of it that families will be watched over and protected. So that was what came to my mind when I read the letters this morning.
As for the work here this week, it has been amazing! I have had some great expariences. But first i have to tell you about new years. It was CRAZY! There were SO many people. We had to be in the house by 9pm so i just sat at the window and watched all of the people go by. The streets were completely crouded with people. We live on the main road going through town and for a few miles the road was full of people. Walking with families and friends, they got to one end of the party and would walk down to the other end. There was music being played everywhere. It was so cool. Tons of people walking around wearing masks and stuff. Once in a while there were groups of grown men dressed as women, all of them are straight though (still trying to figure that tradition out). And then they for new years have alot of dummys, they write on papers all of the things from the old year they want to change and then they put the papers on the dummies and midnight they burn all of the dummies in the streets and light of big fireworks! Like always, there were quite a few drunks but we just hung out in the appartment eating pizza. So it was fun i guess.
Anyways.. about the work. On friday elder Monson and i went on an exchange and visited a couple less actives and tried to contact some investingators but noone was home yet from holidays. So we were in an area where last week elder Castro and I rang the doorbell of a two story house. A lady came out and we asked if we could come by to give a lesson and she agreed. So friday elder Monson and i returned to give her a short lesson. Well noone came to the gate when we rang the bell so we waited for a couple of minutes. Then a car showed up. And the lady that got out we recognized! It was a different lady contacted us a couple of weeks ago because she has a friend that is a member and she wants to learn about the church, but she hadnt given us any information on how to contact her. It just so happened to be that she lived in the second story of this house we were at and she was returning home quickly to grab something she had forgotten when she left a while before! And we just happened to be there (not even knowing she lived there) when she came back. So we scheduled an appointment with her for later this afternoon. After that we went to district meeting an us four elders had a good talk about gaining respect of the members and us not just being friends. We set some good goals and really had a good talk about it. After that Elder Monson and I went to get our haircut by a member lady. When we got done she told us we should go visit her buddy that works across the street at some cabinas. So we walked over and began to talk with him. He has TONS of questions about the church. Alot of them about the plan of salvation, and alot about the restoration. Almost everyone ofhis quistions were questions that traditionally the missionary would ask the investigator in the lessons. Like ´who is God to you´ and ´how do you know if youre in the true church of God´ and alot more like that. So we answered as many question as we had time too and we scheduled a lesson with him for tomorrow! Juan Carlos _____ (he wouldnt give us his last name) not YET! I am SO excited to get to teach him! He is golden! ALSO yesterday at church they combined the to brachen again because people had stopped going when they split it. Abnd yesterday we had alot of investigators come to church. One part member family, an investigating couple, a few inactive families, it was just a great sunday! We got 5 new names of investigators yesterday alone! I also bore my testimony yeterday at church. It was awsome! I got up to the mic. and just opened my mouth and words just came out! Not only did they just come out, but they made sense, they were crystal clear, and through my testimony i didnt hardly make gramatical mistake! WAHOO!! I love spanish and i am so so so very blessed! Diligence is they key to success. Persevere to the end of trials, and you will be blessed and receive a testimony. Ether 12:6 and 2Ne. 31:20
Love you all, thank you for yur love and support, it means everything to me. Stay safe, do whats right, our family will be blessed and Celeb will be watched over. Keep up the faith!
Love you
Elder Morris