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

Hello Familia
ok so if this email is short forgive me, this is the third time i will be writing it now...... the comuter is having ´errors´......gooze fraba..... Ok well, im doing well. It was good to hear from home on christmas. It sounds like you had a very very white christmas this year, and from the last couple e-mails from home, itsounds like its only getting whiter. Enjoy the snow for me, be careful, but enjoy it. I sure miss it. BUT someone has to endure through 70 degree weather year round, it is a sacrifice i am willing to make. Today had been and outof the ordinarily sunny day. almost no clouds at all in the sky. so that should mean we are goin to have a BIG rain atorm this evening and probably through the night! I am excided for that. The thunderstorms are like notheing ive ever seen before. Since we are so high elevationwise, the lightning is always right there above us and there is almost no sound delay at all! i LOVE it! This week between new years and christmas has been interesting. Drunk people out in the streets making all sorts of noise all throughout the night, drunk guys passed out n the sidewalks, just step over them, and also drunk fights, at times very entertaining, always makes me feel better about myself. We were leaving the chappel friday afternoon and got stopped by a drunk man on the sidewalk. We talked with him for a while and helped him walk to where he said he lived. When we nocked the door a nice old lady came and we asked her if he lived there and she said she had never seen him before. So we kinda chatted with him about church for a couple more minutes then we left. im sure he doesnt remember any of it, but it was a learning experience for me. He reaked of beer, his arm was cut bruised and bloody, his lips were puffy and bloody. My guess is where we found his on the sidewalk is where he passed out and hit the pavement pretty hard. And then he woke up lost and saw us walking by. It is amazing to see hw many people are throwing their lives away for alchohol. It is very sad to see. He was very very unhappy, i wish we could find him at least half sober and teach him how he can actually be happy again. Thats waht we have as members of the church, we have the ultimate gift. We have the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, we know that Heavenly Father has a plan for us, the plan of happiness. Thats waht it truely is, the plan of happiness. I wish everyone we talked to would see that and accept that. it is amazing how this gospel blesses and changes live so much. There is no way that this isnt the true church of Jesus Christ.
We had FHE with the branch president last night, it was fun. We started with a lesson and testimonies, then played a couple little games. the losers of the games had to sing kareoke. I foung out im not half bad of a spanish singer. Especially when compared to the people here, they aret shy about singing even when almost all of them should be. It is just a completely different world. BUT i am actually used to it. I know longer hold my breath when on a bus ride or in a taxi (the drivers here are the craziest in the world, not just a few, but ALL of them). While walking down the street i am used to getting stared down be cause im one of 2 gringos in a town of 50,000. its all just a part of any other ordinary day to me. I love it here. I have really fallen in love with it. The work is a little bit slow because of the fact that my companion is a little preoccupied with some of the members here, but we are pluggingalong and i am really cracking the whip and having sometalks with him, and the members alike. So in time im sure everything will pick up. I guess there´s nothing gonna teach me some initiative faster than having to babysit my trainer. When we make contacts i am the one to start the contact and say the basics, i have come to the knowledge also that my companion is afraid of making contacts and teaching lessons, so i am doing better to bebold and get things going. Sunday for example we were having lunch with a family who has not been to church for a couple of weeks, be fore getting there i suggested to my companion that we use the talks we gave in sacrament metting as a lesson for the family. He agreed, but after the meal he was more contentwith watching tv. Finally i got tired of waiting for him to ask for the family to get togeter for a lesson, so i did it! And i started the lesson, he gave his quick part and it went well. I am getting alot more comfortable really fast with giving lessons, and spiritual thoughts. I am loving it. I am learning alot of lessons and growing so so very much. I have printed off a few different talks by apostles to study and it has been really good. I am just doing great to tell the truth of it. Without trials, how are we supposed to learn and grow?! thats the way you gotta look at it.
Love you all family. sorry i havent sent any pictures yet. its notworking on this computer, but i promise i will get some sent as soon as i can!
Elder Matthew Morris

Feliz Navidad!

Hola Familia!
Well we had a good weekend. It was zone conference so we went to Otavalo for friday and saturday. President Sloan gave some really good advice and i had a good interview with him. I told him Elder Castro and I have a couple of things that we need to work out and that we are making compromises for each other. I am goin to just try to have a talk with him myself rather than going to the president about it just yet. During our interview president let me know that the reason he put me in Tulcán, way way far away from anything, is because he trusts me and he knows i can handle myself and be a n influence on the elders up here. Like i have said before, there are two companionships here and the nearest elders to us are in Ibarra, a 2 1/2 hour busride away. So it really is just us and our 80 active members! haha. But we are doing good.
Christmas is comming up REALLY fast! Time flies by in winter when it is still 65 degrees everyday. Its hard to beleive that it is december! One thing that the missionaries in our mission are doing for christmas is, we are having members right their testimonies in Books of mormon and then giving us a referral of a family to give it to. We then visit the family, sing a couple of hymns and share a 10 minutes message about Christ, his birth, and atonement. Then hope for the opportunity to come back and share more. At the zone conference most of the missionaries said that the program was not working for them and they werent gaining investigators. BUT as for here in Tulcán where the "cold hearted" people live, we are having amazing success with it! Our secret, we meet up at the chappel at about 6 pm, then we split off as companionships with a half a donzen primary children who are wearing "feliz navidad" santa hats and holding candles, and the children sing "i am a child of God" we share the message, then the children again sing a christmas hymn. We have had some GREAT experiences. I know that it is all because of the wonderful spirit that the children bring into the lesson. It just shows why the savior taught we must become meek humble and innocent as little children are in order to enter into the kingdome of God. In the last week and a half we have had the opportunity to give 5 different blessings. One was just last night with some new investigators that came from the christmas program. We shared the message of the restoration with a man, his wife and their daughter. The man had cancer a few years ago, survived some kind of treatments that got rid of the cancer, but he lost the ability to talk. He cannot even mumble. It is a very sad situation, but we gave him a blessing and shared a few additional scriptures on faith. The spirit was so so very strong and i am so excited to be able to visit them again, i think tomorrow! The mother and daughter have so much faith in Christ already. i would bet within a month and a half they can be baptised. The people here really are amazing! They are all willing to help at anytime and they are just so nice.
For christmas.... well i dont know what we are goin to do. We have to be back at the house by 4 in the afternoon. If we have a dinner appointment with a family we are aloud to leave for that but then have to return back to the house when its done. (They drink ALOT on holidays here) We have the same rule for new years, but we dont have any dinner plans for christmas because all of the members are going to the temple in Guyaquil for the 25th and 26th. So we will just have to see how it works out. The work is great, dont worry about me. I do miss the snow quite a bit, but i am trying to enjoy paradise as much as i can for all of you! Love you all. Thank you always for the letters pictures and support!
¡Feliz Navidad!
Elder Morris

Hello Family!
All is well here in Ecuador. From the letters i got from home it sounds like winter has arrived in good old rexburg. I really miss the snow. it never snows here. We had a good rain storm the other day that hailed a bit. They say they get hail storms pretty often, sometimes the hail is the size of golfballs if not bigger. The ones we got the other day were just BB sized. I learned a lesson that day though, when it starts out really warm and sunny early in the day, it means a big old storm is going to hit just after lunch. Yes it does rain everyday. maybe for only half hour, or maybe half the day, but it rains EVERY day. Yesterday after church we went to a members home for lunch and when we got done with lunch we went out to get a taxi to go back to the church for the other branch´s meeting and it was pouring! Within 30 seconds outside we were SOAKED! The rain drops were huge and there was alot of em. But it was fun.
The church is in kinda rough shape down here. There isnt really any reverence at all in meetings, its sad. It really makes me miss the homeward and the challenge Bishop Purse gave us. I am so grateful for the reverenceand the spirit i could feel back home. There are only two branches here in Tulcán and in my opinion they should be one. Only about 40 people show up for church on sundays. Husbands dont come, usually only wives and small kids. Teenaged boys almost never come. Priesthood holders are on low supply here. So we have our work cut out for us.
Something Jared said to me before i came out is that i may be shocked at how many missionaries in the field are pretty much useless. WOW, how true that is. My trainer Elder Castro is a so-so missionary. He is helping me with the language and everything, but i am really working hard to get him to obey the rules. We are almost never on time getting home. He likes to chat with the members alot. There is a girl in the branch here who he just knows he is going to marry so we go over to her house to see her and her family often. So i am working alot with him trying to get out and around the city more. We decided to go knocking doors the other day after we contancted a referral. It was a bit of a rough area and everyone was calling me gringo so we left. We did get a couple of referrals though.
The average monthly income here is about $240. Most of the people here have little businesses out of their houses like , bakeries, convenient stores, mechanic shops, cabinas (phone booths), and thats about all i can think of. The wives usually stay home and run the little stores while the husbands, or more often boyfriends, go drive bus or taxi. There are alot of little cook stands on the side of the roads as well. little home made grills where they usually cook potatoes, pork, or bananas. We are not allowed to eat from those things though, and if we were allowed i still dont think i would! haha. The food here is getting better. I love love love the bread and all of the bananas. Saturday i had my first raw banana, it was really good. Before that i had only had grilled and fried bananas, they are really good too. We had some fish with our rice yesterday..... im still not sure about that. they eat every little piece of the fish here. And the flavor is a bit different but i will probably get used to it with time.
We hold our district meetings in a classroom at the churhc. There are only two companionships here in Tulcán. The other companionship is Elder Gonzales from Lima Peru and Elder Monson from SLC. No hes not related to President Monson. Bishop Klinger actually met Elder Monson when he came to Ecuador this summer. Elder Monson was serving in Otavalo and Bishop Klinger talked with him for a bit. ´
I cant think of anything i would really need for christmas. If you do send anything send it to this address and it should go to the mission home and they will send it here.

Dirección de la casa de la misión:
Robles 640 Y Amazonas
Quito, Pichincha Ecuador

also the pouch address is
PO Box 30150
Salk Lake City Utah
84130=0150 USA
Love you all. thank you for the letters.
Elder Morris