Transferred to the Wilderness

Greetings from Hesperia, CA!  That's right, folks, Elder Morgan has been transferred from Chino.  I spent seven and a half months in Chino and I absolutely loved it.  It's time for me to move on, though.  So, President Hobbs, the mad man that he is, devised an ingenious plan to create the coolest transfer of my mission.  You see, I spent all five transfers in Chino with Elder Brown, probably my best friend in the mission.  We were in the same zone but never served together.  So President Hobbs took us both out of our Chino wards and whitewashed us into the desert together.  Whitewashing is when two missionaries leave an area and two new missionaries enter.  We live in an apartment with our zone leaders and it's pretty sick.  Still on bike, though.  I had heard a rumor that we'd be in a truck area, but that turned out to be false.  I'm okay with that, though.  I'd prefer to continue my mission as a real missionary, not a car missionary.  (Kidding, kidding...)

So I'm back in the desert for at least another transfer.  It's nice to return to my roots but man is it crazy weird.  I had grown used to the comforts of the valley.  The desert is super brown and super gray.  Not a lot of people here.  It's a completely different world.  Chino was everything you imagine Southern California to be.  Hesperia is... not, haha.  It'll be fun, though.  The people are super humble in the desert and very ready to hear the restored Gospel.

For those of you unfamiliar with missionary work, whitewashing is super hard.  It's so crazy going into an area where neither of you know anyone or anything.  It's also super weird because this ward, the Ranchero ward, had a set of sisters before us and some of the ward was, uh, not so happy to see them moved out for another set of elders.  That's okay, though!  We're gonna tear it up like bosses!  The ward will be forced to love us!  We're excited to get working.  There's not a whole lot going on in this area so it's a great place to start building.  We're super excited.

Saying goodbye to the Walnut Park ward was very hard.  I got a lot of nice compliments from those I labored with.  I will miss them all very much, but I know that's not the last time we'll all see each other.  That's the beauty of the gospel, we'll all see each other again if we hold out faithful to the end.

There's not much else I can think of at the moment.  Got to see a lot of my missionary friends at transfer meeting which was super fun.  My brain's a little jumbled at the moment with transfers so my thoughts are scattered.  I hope you all have a great week and wish Elder Brown and I luck!

Your friend,

Elder Carter David Morgan 

Look Mom--No Hands!

It's another fantastic email from everyone's favorite visa-waiter!  This week was pretty good!  The first week of the new transfer is always interesting.  The whole zone's leadership got switched up so we're all trying to get used to the new way of doing things.  I had the opportunity to run my first district meeting this Tuesday and it went really well!  I prayed really hard about it beforehand and the Lord definitely guided me on what to teach about.  We had a great discussion on charity and love and it really got the whole district thinking.  I love my district and it's great to be able to work more closely with them.

To try to find more investigators we teamed up with some of the sister missionaries in the stake and we drew the plan of salvation in sidewalk chalk at the park and left contact information.  You never know what might happen!

As we were biking this week a man ran out of his house with his shirt off, stopped us in the street, and pointed to his son and told us to put him on a mission.  We told him that his son would have to be baptized before we could do that.  Long story short, we're teaching the family now.  We'll see how this goes.

We went to a dinner with a member family this week.  They're a young couple with a toddler, a baby, and a Siberian Husky puppy.  I almost passed out from the adorable-ness of it all.  Needless to say, we'll be trying to get them scheduled for dinner more often.

So, I was biking home from church the other day and decided to race with my companion.  It was neck and neck so I started speeding up really fast towards the end and had just passed him as we pull into our gravel driveway at about fifteen miles per hour.  I prepared to slow down to celebrate my victory by pulling my brakes.  It was at this point that I noticed that BOTH my front and back brakes had given out.  I screamed "I don't have brakes!" as I plowed straight into my companion and knocked him over into the grass.  He emerged from the accident with a bruised elbow.  I, on the other hand, skidded across the gravel driveway and tore up my hands really bad.  Fortunately, I was wearing a nice suit so the rest of my body didn't take much damage.  Unfortunately, I was wearing a nice suit so my suit doesn't look too nice anymore.  One of the ladies in the ward bandaged me up pretty well at dinner though, so I'm doing just fine.

That's about all I can think of right now.  Make sure to read the Book of Mormon!  It's a good book, I'm telling ya!  Also,l if you don't have a copy of it then I'm sure your friendly neighborhood missionaries would be happy to give you one!  Heck, invite them in as well so they can explain what it is and how we got it.  You won't regret it, I promise.

Your friend,
Elder Carter David Morgan

More salutations from Chino, CA!  This week is the last week of the transfer and I always find it to be a time of reflection.  This has been one of, if not the best transfer of my mission.  I've had an absolute blast.  It's always a non-stop party here in Walnut Park when Elder Robertson and I are together.  Not since I was trained have I ever had this much fun with my companion.  It's always great to form those mission friendships that'll last for far longer than the mission.

C is being baptized this Saturday!  We're super excited!  She's still progressing really well and her testimony grows stronger each and every day.  She has so much faith in Jesus Christ and we're so proud of her!  Her baptismal interview is today and we've already gone over the questions with her and she passed with flying colors!  We're super excited to see her enter the waters of baptism.  Our ward mission leader will be performing the baptism and I will be performing her confirmation in Sacrament Meeting the following day.  I couldn't ask for a better way to end the transfer!

And as if things couldn't get better, we have ANOTHER super solid investigator and she's great!  She's very religious and has a sincere desire to know the truth.  She says the doctrines of the Restoration, prophets, and the Plan of Salvation were like the missing pieces of a puzzle in her life.  She said they cleared up so much about God's character and put such peace in her heart!  She came to church this Sunday and told us in a text afterwards that she had a fantastic time and she can't wait to meet with us this Wednesday!  It was amazing!  She wants to learn all she can about prophets and she constantly reads the Book of Mormon to find out it's true for herself.  It's so cool to watch her progress!

One of my good friends, Elder Bringhurst, just got his visa this week.  I'll be sad to see him go, but he's really excited to serve in Brazil.  I'm the eternal visa-waiter over here.  Oh well.  If it's the nature of my calling to labor all my days among the saints of Southern California then I shall consider myself highly favored and blessed.

We had an AWESOME district meeting today about the Savior.  Well, we almost always talk about Jesus Christ but this one was especially powerful.  Our district leader, Elder Tyler, did a great job with it.  I'm so grateful that I have the opportunity to devote all my time, talents, and energy to proclaiming our Savior's name wherever I go.  I even have the opportunity to wear his name over my heart every day.  How cool is that!

Read your scriptures, say your prayers, go to church.  Honestly, you'd be surprised how hard it is for some people to do that.  But trust me, it works wonders.  Do those things and God will always be able to help you along the strait and narrow path.

Your friend,
Elder Carter David Morgan

"How to Find People to Teach"

Holy cow.  May already.  How the time flies.  I can't believe I've been out for almost nine months.  And the best part?  I don't even want to go home!  I'm loving it out here!  Elder Robertson and I have been tearing it up in Walnut Park!  We've had a lot of miracles happen this week and it's been absolutely fantastic!

So, we've been trying to find new people to teach, like we always are.  So in order to find new ways to find people to teach I turned to Chapter 9 of Preach My Gospel, conveniently titled, "How Do I Find People To Teach?"  I then proceeded to take out a highlighter and highlight everything I wasn't doing as a missionary.  I found 37 things, haha.  There's room for improvement.  So we set out this week to apply the principles that we learned in Preach My Gospel and find new investigators.

Our first miracle began with a text message last Monday.  It was a referral from Mormon.org for a woman named C.  She had put in her information to meet with missionaries and wrote that she had recently gone through a loss in her family and was interested in LDS beliefs.  So we go to contact her on Tuesday and her husband answers the door and tells us that she's sleeping at the moment and that we should come back later.  So we're about to unlock our bikes from her house when we realize that one of the 37 things we weren't doing was to work in the neighborhood after contacting a referral.  So we decide to leave our bikes there and knock a few doors and help people put up their trash cans that had blown over since it was a windy day.  Well, while knocking doors we got a return appointment which was awesome, but that's not even the best part!  The best part is when we went to get our bikes we found C. sitting on her door step waiting for us!  After her husband told her that the missionaries had come looking for her she got up out of bed and looked outside where she saw our bikes.  Well, she figured that we had to come back sometime soon to get them so she sat down and waited for us to come back.  When we met her she told us about some of the trials she was having and asked who she had to talk to get more information about our church.  Uh... you're looking at them, haha.  We set up an appointment for the next day.  That appointment went over 90 minutes because of all the questions she had!  Then she set up an appointment for the next day!  She said that she believes that God has led her to our church.  She committed to read the Book of Mormon, pray about it, pray about baptism, and come to church!  She came to church this Sunday and asked tons of questions in class.  One of her concerns is that her sons don't know how to do laundry and she's worried about how that will affect them when they serve their missions, haha.  That's a a concern we can work with.

Along with C, we were able to get two of our investigators and their two girls to church for the first time this Sunday!  They've been investigating for a bit but have concerns about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.  The dad really lights up whenever we talk but the mom is a little apprehensive about some things.  They've been going to a born-again mega church and said that they want to go to church where the feel the closest to God.  We told them that they would only know if they felt closest to God at ours if they came and they did!  They almost got lost and went home but we stood out on the corner while sacrament meeting was going to give them directions.  When we brought them in through the chapel doors the ward was so excited!  It was a cool sight to see the missionaries bringing in a young family.  And they loved it!  It was fast and testimony meeting so the spirit was so strong!  They especially loved how a girl about their daughter's age was able to bear her testimony over the pulpit to the whole congregation!  The mom loved Relief Society and their daughter loved Primary!  The dad said he felt really welcomed!  We're hoping they continue to come.

Those are just some of the cool things that have happened this week.  With my new companion I'm finding that I have a lot more stories from my mission than I realized I did.  The problem is that we're so busy that we hardly have times to tell these stories so I find myself saying things like, "That reminds me of the time that my companion got hit by a car.  But that's a story for another time."  Then I realize how weird my mission CURRENTLY is.  For example, I'm currently teaching an old lady with a one-eyed Boston Terrier who has a drag queen son in San Francisco.  That doesn't happen everyday.  Oh wait, it does in Southern California.  Man, California.

It's great being able to serve out here everyday.  I hope that the rest of my mission continues to be like this.  Elder Robertson is awesome.  He has so many strengths and is helping me to be the best missionary I can be.  We're really hopeful about the progress of this area and we hope to be better missionaries than we were last week.  The work is true, the Atonement is real, and I'm so glad to be a part of all of this.

Until next time,

Elder Carter David Morgan

new companion

Greetings from Chino, CA!  Things are going great out here!  I met my new missionary this week, his name is Elder Robertson!  Fun fact, his dad and my dad both served in the Veracruz, Mexico mission around the same time!  Crazy!  Elder Robertson is super cool and is really eager to learn and be a great missionary!  We've already gotten a lot of good work done together and it's only going to get better!

One of my favorite parts of being a missionary is that we get to invite others to come to Christ at any place or at any time.  We've had a lot of cool opportunities to teach people in really unconventional locations this week.  We taught two young fathers in their garage about the Plan of Salvation while we sat in camping chairs, that was pretty cool.  We also met a man outside of a trailer park who talked to us for a while and he said that he wanted to get close to God but he didn't know how so we gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon and told him to read and pray about it.  He told us that he hadn't prayed in two years and we said that today was an excellent time to change that and he said his first prayer on the spot!  We also got to teach a man who said his first prayer with a Book of Mormon in one hand and a cigarette in the other.  It's been a really cool week!

We continue to make good progress with our investigators.  We're looking at some baptisms in the near future!  It's going to be exciting!  I'm grateful for this opportunity I have to be out here serving the Lord.

Your friend,

Elder Carter David Morgan

This car is making me crazy

Holy cow, talk about a whirlwind of a week.  Transfers are always crazy, but somehow this week seems like it was even crazier than usual.  I'll try to give you all a run down.

First off, due to some DMV shenanigans, we've ended up with one of the other ward's car for a couple of weeks.  At first I thought this would be totally awesome!  A car!  For the first time in my mission!  But now I'm seeing the terrible and dark side of the car.  "Elders, can you give us a ride?" "Elders, my tire popped, we need your help."  "Elders, a grizzly bear ripped off my companion's left arm and is using it for a baseball bat, can you drive us to the hospital?" Things like that.  Also, you can't talk to anyone while you're driving.  I miss feeling like a total stud missionary, walking down the streets with a Book of Mormon in my hand, calling people brother, and preaching the restored gospel to everyone I came in contact with.  It's different in a car.  Brigham Young didn't have a car!  Wilford Woodruff didn't have a car!  Parley P. Pratt didn't have a car!  Why do I need a car?  I'll be glad when we get rid of that thing, haha.

We had an amazing opportunity this last Saturday!  Elder Neil L. Anderson, one of the twelve apostles, VISITED OUR MISSION AND SPOKE TO US!  It was awesome!  I got to shake his hand!  He was super cool and super funny!  I learned so much from him.  He talked to us a lot about the Atonement and about Jesus Christ.  He wanted us to put even MORE of an emphasis on Jesus Christ in everything we do because, as he said, "This pure and perfect belief in Jesus Christ WILL fade from our society."  Right now we're fortunate to live in a country where a majority of the people still respect Jesus Christ and honor him as the Savior of the world, but he wants us to prepare for a time when that won't be the case.

Speaking of Jesus Christ, I started the Book of Mormon over again and decided that this time I would bold with my pen every time him or the Father are mentioned.  Spoiler alert: They're mentioned a lot.  Like, fifteen times a page a lot.  It's been a great reminder that the purpose of the Book of Mormon is to testify of Jesus Christ.  It's been great to read through it again.

I wish as a missionary I could put on a resume when I get back all the jobs I did while I was out here.  Marriage and family counselor, therapist, life coach, spiritual adviser, moving crew, maid, gardener, organizational consultant, etc.  But, unfortunately, it's not really me doing any of those things  I just pray a lot and ask for the Lord to help me and he does!  As for now, I'm proud to have the title of "Missionary."

Thanks for all the support you give me.  Please keep me in your prayers.  The church is true, the book is blue, folks.

Your friend,
Elder Carter David Morgan

March 10, 2014--a new companion

So apparently I've missed a few weeks updating Carter's blog:  Here are the latest entries…

Feb. 26, 2014

Greetings from Chino, CA!  You know those weeks where your brain has just kinda turned into mush?  Well, that's one of them.  This week has been so crazy, so busy, and so hectic that I don't even know what to think.  I don't even know if this letter will be coherent or not.  Bear with me, people.

First off, I GOT PERMISSION FROM MY MISSION PRESIDENT TO GO TO APPLE VALLEY FOR SARA'S BAPTISM!!!  Woohoo!  I'm so excited!  I will return to the land of my birth!  President's been getting a little nervous about missionaries from the valley going to the desert and vice versa but I was able to get everything organized and he gave me permission to go!  I'm so excited to go this Saturday!  The Ranchos ward was absolutely awesome and I can't wait to see everyone again!

Like I said, this week has been crazy.  A lot of stuff fell through so it was a lot of running around (sometimes literally) at the last minute to teach our investigators.  But hardwork, persistence, and groveling at doorsteps pays off in the end, it turns out!  We continue to lead our zone and to find more people to teach!  We're so excited!  And the ward is too!  Our bishop complimented us in front of the entire congregation and our ward mission leader told everyone that they should take advantage of teaching with us while they can because they won't have us forever.  It's cool to see that the ward is finally starting to trust missionaries again.

We had a super cool experience this week!  Last week we were walking out of a lesson and we saw a guy in his driveway holding a book.  We asked him what book it was and he said, "It's the Holy Bible, my friend!"  We asked him what we was doing carrying a bible at this time of night and he told us that every Tuesday they hold a born-again bible study at his friend's house.  He invited us back next week to hear the Mormon take on the bible.  So this last Tuesday we went to his house to study the bible together.  Turns out it was less of a study and more of a makeshift pastor audition, haha.  Several of the people stood up at the "pulpit" (which was really just a lamp without the lampshade) and read from the bible and gave little sermons.  After one of the preachers had sat down this big, quiet, Mexican guy who had been silent the whole time looks at me, points, and says, "Brother, the Holy Spirit has told me that YOU must preach next."  Now you all know me, I'm not one for making speeches...

Just kidding.  I love making speeches.  I wish I could give speeches professionally.  So I was up to the challenge of preaching to a bunch of born-agains.  The only thing is, I don't know the bible too terribly well.  I mean, I know it better than the average American, but not as well as a devout born-again.  I thought, "How on earth am I supposed to give a sermon without using the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, or Pearl of Great Price?"  Then I thought, "You don't.  Instead, use them."  So I did, haha.  I got up, explained a little bit about who we are as Mormons, introduced our different volumes of scriptures, and then explained that I would be using those as well because of the blessings they've brought into my life and I wanted to share it with them.  So I gave an impromptu twenty minute sermon on diligence in the ministry of Jesus Christ using both the Bible and Book of Mormon.  When I finished the big Mexican guy spoke up and said, "I like this Mormon book.  It elaborates on the bible and makes sense to me.  I like what it says about Jesus Christ."  I told him it was a good book and that he should read it sometime, haha.  We got invited back and we plan on giving another sermon tomorrow, haha.

The Walkupy Chino movement is a success!  This week we taught the most lessons out of the zone and the most this area has seen in over a year!  We were super excited!  I credit it all to being on foot this week, haha.  After initial hesitation from our bishop, ward mission leader, and zone leaders in our decision to ditch our bikes, we have proven our great experiment to be a success.  Take that, non-believers!

I wish I had more time to talk about everything else that happened this week!  It was so exciting!  We found lots of new investigators and had a great experience teaching all of them!  Hopefully I'll be able to talk about them a little more in the future.  In the mean time, have a good life and keep it real.

Your friend,

Elder Carter David Morgan

Carter and Elder Wagstaff 

March 3, 2014

Greetings from Chino, CA!  So, I just read through practically a bajillion emails and have no idea what to write or say or do.  Man, I'm confused right now.  Where am I?  California?  Why aren't I in Brazil?  Does Brazil even exists?  Are the prophets and apostles just playing a REALLY elaborate joke on me?  What's going on?  I'll try to write this email, but I'm not making any promises that it'll contain any of my usual wit or handsome charm.

In the most amazing news of the week, I GOT TO GO TO APPLE VALLEY FOR SARA'S BAPTISM!   WOOOOOOOOO!  That was a completely awesome experience!  Even though I'm here in Chino, Apple Valley is where a good chunk of my heart will always be.  I'll get to Brazil one day and just tell them how they weren't lucky enough to serve in Apple Valley, because Apple Valley is the best place on Earth.

Sara's baptism went great!  It was so fantastic to see her finally take those steps into the water.  I was asked to be a witness for her baptism and I witnessed with pride!  She had been investigating for about two years but started seriously investigating these past nine months.  She's more active than most of the ward, haha.  It was great to see her baptized and I'm so excited for her!  She'll make a great member of the church.  Also, if she ever goes inactive then she'll have a horde of missionaries show up at her door, haha.

Another great thing about Apple Valley was I got to see a lot of my old friends again.  I saw my best friend/ex-ward mission leader Johann "Joey Science" Simonds and his family again!  I also saw the crotchety old high priest group leader who hated everyone except for me Bro. Fergusson!  I also saw the Heywoods, Steve "Daddy Muffinbear Warbucks" Moffenbyer and lots of other friends!  I was even reunited with my last companion/trainer Elder Escamilla for a day.  It was a surreal moment to be back in the high desert but I loved every minute of it.

We continue to be ON FIRE when it comes to missionary work.  We teach more than any companionship in the zone and we're kicking butt, taking names, and scheduling return appointments with those names that we take.  Nothing can stop the dynamic duo of Elder Morgan and Elder Wagstaff!

Speaking of Elder Wagstaff, this week his parents sent a care package and included in it was a small frying pan decorated as a medal which read, 

"The White Knight Knocker Award

Awarded to Elder Morgan

For bravery above and beyond the mission call"

It hangs on my wall with pride, haha.

Your friend,
Elder Carter David Morgan

March 10, 2014

Greetings from Chino, CA!  It's transfer day today so it's been a little crazy.  I'm still here in the Walnut Park ward but Elder Wagstaff has left.  I'll miss that guy.  I'll miss all of his internet reference humor from 2009.  

My new companion is Elder Sanchez and he's the bomb.  This is his last transfer and he's from Veracruz, Mexico!  The same mission where my dad served!  Crazy!  He's super chill and a super hard worker.  We're gonna get a lot of good work done here.

Our giant less-active/part member family came to church for the first time in years this Sunday!  It was awesome.  Eight people at church who haven't been in years!  It was really rewarding.  We've been teaching them for a bit. For starters, all the kids are hilarious.  I feel like I'm walking into a sitcom when I enter their home.  They all have such huge personalities.  We really wanted them to get to church so we had a member drive us around early Sunday morning and knocked on there door.  We get to their house and there's little six year-old Katelyn in the yard with a giant pink bin of dirt.  We walk up to her and ask her what she's doing.

"I'm planting a flower."

So we look into the bin of dirt (which is really just sand, that flower will be dead within a fortnight) and see that she's got this tiny fully grown sunflower (I think it might've even been artificial) in this giant bin of sand.  

"Oh.  Why are you using this bin?"

"Because it's the only bin big enough."

We then look at the yard to see about thirty flower pots, all appropriately sized for a three inch sunflower, scattered throughout.  Deciding to leave her to her madness, we ask if she's coming to church today.

"It's Sunday?"

... Yes.  It's Sunday.  How do these kids not know it's Sunday?  After informing her about the proper day of the week we tell her that we want to see her at church.  She immediately agrees and goes inside to put on her dress.  While she's inside we find out that the rest of the house is asleep and there's only an hour to church.  Assuming that there's no way a family of six kids is going to get to church in an hour, we say goodbye and figure we'll try again next week.

And then they showed up.

When we asked the mom why they were there she simply said, "Because it's important for us to be here."  I couldn't have put it any other way.

In other news, Sara of Apple Valley has just gotten her first ever calling in the church.  She's the primary teacher for her daughter's class.  She'll be great.  I wish I was there to see it.

That's about it!  My trainer is now in Chino with me, which is sweet.  We'll tear it up down here.  I hope all is going well back home!

Your friend,
Elder Carter David Morgan