Final Week

Hello from the MTC!  It's my last week here and I'm really excited to go out into the world and to preach the gospel!  Unfortunately for all Brazil-bound missionaries, Visas are incredibly hard to get so I'll be reassigned to the states for a while.  Our district will receive our reassignments this Thursday and we're all really excited to see who goes where.  We've all put our guesses on a piece of paper and tacked it to the bulletin board in class and we're going to have a little party when we open them.  It's gonna be great!

Tomorrow we have the opportunity to host incoming missionaries.  That means that we get to show the new arrivals around tomorrow and help them get their books and things like that.  I'm really excited to do it, especially because I know how hard it is to leave everything behind to come serve the Lord.  I'm excited to help other missionaries ease into the transition and to help them feel comfortable here at the MTC.

Portuguese is still coming well, but I'll admit that it's harder to focus on learning it when you know that you probably won't be speaking it for the next couple months.  I still study everyday though.  In fact, yesterday the elders in our district only spoke Portuguese for the entire day.  It was difficult, but I was able to learn a lot of new words and to communicate fairly well with other Portuguese speakers.  It made me excited to proselyte in Portuguese in Brazil.

Well, due to the way email time worked out this week I don't have too much time to write.  This letter is pretty short, but I'm doing well here in Provo and I'm excited to serve in the mission field wherever that may be.

Your friend,

Elder Carter Morgan

First Letter Home!!

Greetings from the MTC!

I'm doing great here!  The Spirit is incredibly strong and everyday I can feel my testimony grow and my relationship with our Heavenly Father and Christ deepen.  It's like living in a temple, except you get to laugh way too loud with your district.  It's such an amazing experience here and I'm so glad that I chose to serve a mission.  While it's been hard (some days harder than others), it's been the most amazing experience of my life and I'm excited to share the Gospel with the people of Brazil and probably Pocatello, Idaho because we're almost certain we won't get our visas in time.

I mentioned my district earlier and let me say that they're fantastic!  My district consists of Elders Steiner, Carter (I know, right?), and Thomas who are all from the South, and myself, Elder Grondel (our district leader), and Elder McCrea, who are all from the Northwest.  Elder Thomas is my companion and he's a big football player from Tennessee.  Needless to say we aren't exactly the same.  He's got a strong testimony though and he's great to plan a lesson with.  Our district also has four sisters!  They're Sisters Culp, Wood, Skidmore, and Araujo.  I've included pictures of them all in this letter.  I'm so glad that more women have decided to serve missions because the sisters in our district are such a blessing and they inspire us to be our best.  Everyone in our district has an incredibly strong testimony and it's an amazing opportunity to help each other strengthen and grow everyday.

We've been learning Portuguese from day 1 and I'm picking it up really quickly.  My district calls me the "all star" and I've been helping the rest of the missionaries learn it.  I'm learning so much quicker than I did Spanish in school.  We've only been learning for six days and we've already taught three 30 minute lessons in ONLY PORTUGUESE to an actor/investigator.  It's been really difficult because my companion still struggles a bit with the language and none of us can understand what the investigator is saying back to us, but we've had a lot of great moments where we've felt the direction of the Spirit.  I can already pray fluently in Portuguese and it's been a real spiritual strengthener to speak to Heavenly Father in the language of my mission.

We went on a walk around the temple grounds the other day and on route there was a protester with a big cross who was shouting about how he was going "to teach us the power of the cross."  It was my first experience with a real Anti-Mormon protester so it was pretty interesting.

We're on some weird old person schedule here at the MTC.  Since my whole branch is full of visa waiters we have to get up at 6:00 AM, eat breakfast at 6:30 AM, eat Lunch at 11:00 AM, and eat dinner at 4:00 PM.  Bedtime is at 10:30 PM.  Needless to say we get pretty hungry by then and our district has taken all the food from departing missionaries that we can get. 

If any of you are wondering, I've gotten "Elder Lautner" way too many times.  Also, everyone here thinks they're the first person to tell me that I look like Taylor Lautner.  Oh well.  I guess there are a lot worse people to look like in life.  Maybe I can convert some people in my mission due to my vague resemblance.

I know it's only my first week here, but I love the MTC and I don't want to be one of those missionaries who always talks about "just getting out into the field."  This is the only time in my whole mission that I have to focus on my training and my training alone.  I'm excited to be a missionary and a personal representative of Jesus Christ and I'm doing all that I can to give these two years to Him.  I have a testimony of this Gospel and I know that I'm doing the right thing.  I miss you all, but I don't miss you enough to want to go home because what I'm doing here is important.  Eu tenho um testemunho de Jesus Cristo e Seu evanglho.  Eu sei que o igreja e verdadeiro.

From,

Elder Carter Morgan

Parting Words From Elder Morgan

I leave for the Provo MTC tomorrow at 6:00 in the morning.  I'm thrilled to be off serving the Lord and can't wait to get started.  Before I left I wanted to make sure that I share one of my favorite scriptures which is 1 Nephi 11:16-17.

"And he said unto me:  Knowest thou the condescension of God?

And I said unto him:  I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things."

If you'd like to write me here's the address:


Mailing Address:
Elder Carter David Morgan
SEP24 BRA-SPW
2013 N 900 E Unit 301
Provo UT 84602

Email Address:
carter.morgan@myldsmail.net

Thank you all for all the wonderful support.  I'll see you in two years!

One Week To Go

Today marks one week to go until Carter leaves on his mission to Brazil!  He will be flying out Wednesday, Aug. 14th to the Provo MTC for 9 weeks or until his visa arrives.  For anyone interested, Carter will be speaking in our ward this coming Sunday at 9:00 am at the Hearthwood Building--any and all are welcome.

With the church's encouragement we look forward to sharing Carter's letters, pictures and testimony with all of our friends and family here on his blog.  Exciting times ahead!