for when I get dementia

 Well, 10 years ago, I wrote my last blog post in the cold, southern Spanish town of Albacete. As much as I loved my mission, I don't mind currently writing in the warm, southern Georgian town of "Fort Benning." It's as glamorous as it sounds.

What prompted me to resurrect this blog, you may ask? Well, I'm a mommy. Mamacita? (iykyk). In fact, I'm a muscle mommy x4 as of recent! 12 weeks along tomorrow, and I couldn't be happier.

truly.

As I was lying nose to nose tonight with my two-year-old, Maggie, in her very small (but apparently sturdy) toddler bed, I had a flash. You know, the life-can't-get-better-than-this flash? It comes more frequently now, as I have clawed my way out of a survival mode that can only come with having a 3 year old, 1 year old, and a newborn at one time. Yes, I had three in diapers at one point, cannot say I recommend. Now they are the fun ages of 5, 3, and 2, and as hard and as long as some (okay, most) days are--it is not lost on me how blessed and rich my life is. I mean, come on, I walk the dog outside for 15 minutes and I come back a conquering hero. Complete with a chorus of "MOMMYYY!" and hugs all around. No one loves you more than your two-year-old kid. In fact, everyone should have their own personal toddler to remind you how deserving you are of love. Don't get me wrong--they also are innately good at humbling you quick. The other day, after bending down in front of her, Charlotte looked at me and simply stated, "I don't like your butt." Rude, but okay. One of my biggest insecurities-- it's fine. But MOST of the time, their mere presence is so healing to my soul.

But, alas, I know this age and this stage and this time won't last forever. And I wanted, nay NEEDED, to capture some of my favorite -isms before I forget and they become too sentient.

1. The way Sam says "WAYYYY" instead of "yay" or "hooray"

2. The way Charlotte hums SO loudly when eating anything especially delicious 

3. The way Maggie exclaims "YESTH" with her full mouth of adorable teeth

4. The way Charlotte says "blank-let" and "little tinyyyy"

5. The way a distraught Maggie puts on her brave face and says OKAYYY while holding in tears

6. NOT the way Sam has learned "six, sevennnnn" from school. Another iykyk for ya,

For sure all of these make more sense in person. If you haven't met my kiddos, these are barely funny or cute. But I needed to record these for me. For when I get dementia and need to unlock core memories of the happiest days of my life. 

FIVE THANKSGIVING MIRACLES!

What a whirlwind of a week! And hey, guess what? Five of our investigators have chosen to accept the invitation of baptism! 

The first was Isaac! Remember him? Our store-owner friend from Mali who was making the transition from Muslim to Christianity? Well we walked into his shop one night and were making small talk before sharing our message when all of a sudden he opens up a calendar on his computer and says, "Alright, so how about we do this baptism the 19th of December?" Whoa. It took all i had for my jaw not to drop! He was going to be baptized last month but got so scared and nervous that he didnt even want us to keep teaching him. But we´ve felt that he is ready so we were just trying to ease in again when he dropped this bomb on us! I just have say, I have a testimony of the power of prayer and fasting. I know God hears every prayer and recognizes every fast. Maybe our pleas aren´t answered right away but like in this experience, Heavenly Father helped Isaac realize that he needed this in his life. And I know that every person has their time. Isaac came to church again yesterday and I was really grateful for how all the members made him feel welcome! 

Then we have our amazing Bolivian family! We actually aren´t teaching their parents....yet :) because they work a LOT but we teach their three teenage/ young adult kids. We taught them the Plan of Salvation this week and at the end of the lesson, we felt the Spirit so strongly that we invited them to baptism with a set date and everything. That prompting really surprised me because we have been worried that their parents would not let them because two are underage. And we wanted to talk to the parets first before we set a specific date. But sitting there, i just knew it was the will of Heavenly Father and I knew that He will prepare the way. So we inviteed them and they each said yes! And it was so special. 

And lastly, JF is still preparing for January. We´re working pretty hard with him and Andry and its definitely not easy but they´re really good kids and we know that Heavenly Father has so many blessings prepared for them! We even focused with Andry this week on preparing for a mission! Wooohoo! Those are my favorite lessons. 

So those were my Thanksgiving miracles!! And speaking of Thanksgiving, we went to Alicante this Thursday for District Meeting and then afterwards, almost the whole zone got together and we had Thanksgiving lunch together! It was so fun! Hermana Swenson was even there and even though we couldn´t find turkey, we had lots of chicken and mashed potatoes and jello. I love my zone They are all such great examples to me and just amazing missionaries! So yeah--HAPPY THANKSGIVING! And like the quote my mom put on the wall in our house, remember to "Live in thanksgiving daily!" Alma 34:38. 

So yep this week has been pretty great! Even besides the fact I´ve been sick all week haha. Heavenly Father has been answering my prayers and is  giving me the strength to work as hard as I can these last couple weeks! And I am so grateful for it!

I love you all! Have a great week! The Christmas season is now here! Enjoy it! 

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

Love,

Hermana Morrow 

MORE MIRACLES

I. Am. Exhausted. I don´t think i have ever been so incredibly tired before. not in my entire mission. And its not just me haha I think I killed Hermana Buechter! But seriosuly though, we have worked so hard and walked so much.  I mean we even made like 5 batches of brownies to give away to less actives (Los brownies de los milagros work, people!) And just doing everything we can to help my comp learn the area and meet the members and as many investigators as possible. So, basically we´ve seen a ton of miracles. Likeeeeeeeee: 

1. Noche de hogar with a less active family in Hellin. Hellin is a pueblo (town) about an hour away if not more in car and for three months I have felt like we have needed to visit this family. We tried looking at the bus schedules, asking members to take us, but nada. Until last week when one of my favorite members just happened to mention to us that she was going! SO FINALLY we made the trip up and it was a really special moment for me. I have felt the Spirit working through me so many times in my mission but this time was the first time that I felt like we WERE the messengers and that we had a message to deliver. And I knew I wouldn´t have peace until I shared it with them. And this was the message: Heavenly Father loves you so much. He knows you perfectly and loves you more than you can imagine. And because of this love, He sent his Only Begotten Son, jesus Christ, to suffer and die for you and me. And no matter what happens in this life, no matter what we go through, our Savior understands us and will lift us up if we turn to Him. And we shared that they were missed and that Heavenly Father needed them, that the branch needed them and loved them. They didn´t come to church on Sunday and I´ll probably never see them again but let me tell you, The Spirit and love I felt there in that hosue is something i´ll never forget. And I know that they felt it. God´s love is so real!

2. JF and A came to church!! Like--willingly! We didnt have to drag them by the ear or anything! I think the big turning point was when we felt the impression to have a cita with A (he´s a less active teen) even though he´s super busy. We found him playing football with JF in a park and had the cita right then and there. We were able to talk about the Atonement and how even if we have made mistakes and sinned in the past, we´re never too far gone. And even if we have addictions or strong temptations, even if you simply have the desire to let them go, through Christ we can be freed. And the hope I saw in his eyes was something i´ll never forget. I think I forget sometimes that not all members automatically know about or understand the Atonement and how it can change their lives. And it surprised me with how sincerely surprised and hopeful he reacted. And we were able to build off this hope and faith and help him make a plan to come back to Christ. And he has! Already we´ve seen so much progress and its only been a week. I am just so amazed  of the Atonement and accepting Christ in our lives. It´s real. And so powerful. So yeah, he and JF (who we´ve been trying to get to come to church now for 3 months!!) came and it was the best. I love being a missionary. 

3. And well, I had a lot more miracles to share but I ran out of time and this email is already super long so I´ll let you all know another day ;) 

I love you all so much!! Have an amazing week! 

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!

Love,

Hermana Morrow

SEMANA LOCA

Sooooo this week? Well, I said goodbye to Hermana Swenson! The branch threw her a surprise goodbye party and we were invited to eat at like EVERYBODY¨S house. I dont think I have ever eaten so much in my entire life probably. And then Wednseday came and it was the easiest goodbye ever cuz I´ll get to see her tomorrow and the week after that and the one after that so yeah :) No worries! Wednesday I dropped her off at the train station and then stayed with a member all morning. We cleaned the church and i got to hear her conversion story which was a really tender experience for the both of us. i love her so much and I am just so amazed at the sacrfices some people had to make to be able to practice their beliefs. I am honestly SO lucky to have been born into an amazing family in a home full of support and love. I thank heavenly Father for that every day. And it just made me want to work harder than ever to help other families have that opportunity.

And then we went back to the station and picked up HERMANA BUECHTER!! My new spunky comp from Iberia, Missouri! She lives on a farm and everything. And its been cool to swap Midwest stories about Nauvoo and the St. Louis arch and stuff. She´s super funny and so hardworking! Plus, she´s really tall too so its been really nice to have someone in the house who can actually reach the food cupboards. haha. I thought it would be so hard to say goodbye to Hermana Swenson but I just realized how much I LOVE meeting new people and hearing their stories and watching how they interact with others and how they blend their personality into missionary work. We are already sucj good friends and I´m glad she´ll be my last comp (AH!) She´s exactly what Albacete needs and she´s already gained the confidence of the entire branch pretty much--they love her! And its really comforting to know that I´ll be leaving Albacete in great hands. Not that I´m leaving soon. IM NOT TRUNKY I PROMISE!

Anyways, the first couple days were AMAZING! We had lots of Noches de Hogare with members and our investigators and ate lots of food again and found lots of people on the street and then.....BAM. Lots of weird things started happening. We lost heat in our apartment for two days, all our citas started failing us (we had TEN planned one day and only 1 happened haha) and to top it all off last night by the weirdest cita I´ve had in my entire mission . Basically, our investigator got totally offended by what we were teaching for no reason and he yelled at us and insulted us in lots of ways. Yeah. But NO PASA NADA. We´re not discouraged and it´s going to take a lot more than that for me to stop working as hard as I can. i know Satan doesn´t want us to succeed but I know we are going to see so many miracles this transfer! 

Speaking of which, my favorite miracle from this week happened with jean franco! Remember him? Found him on the street like 3 months ago? Well we haven´t had a cita with him in like a month because he wasn´t progressing at all. But we had a Noche de Hogar with him and a less active family Hermana Beuchter´s first day. And we talked about the Book of Mormon and he shared his testimony about how he knew it was true and I was who, where did this come from?! After the NDH he walked with us to our next cita and asked us why we dont invite him to come to citas with him? A we were like WHat?  alright, done! He came with us to visit a family and shared his testimony about the Holy Spirit there and aftwerwards he told us he wanted to be baptized, but that hés scared. We talked to him about faith and Heavenly father prompted us to make him some pretty powerful promises. It was an beautiful experience and very special for me! ¡VAYA MILAGROS! 

Well, thats it. I love you all! Have an amazing week! Read The Book of Mormon! Say your prayers! Look for a miracle every day! Be the answer to someonés prayer today! 

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL! (never gets old. or any less cheesy)

Love,
Hermana Morrow

CHANGES

Alright everybody, here it is! A quick summary of my whilrwind of a week coming right up! First off, some huge announcements: Ahem. 

Numero Uno-- My best friend is leaving me! ("Why do you want to leave meeeeee?"--Name that movie) I´ve been singing that "Stay with me" song all weekend but nope. She´s still getting transferred. But its okay because guess where she´s going?? ALICANTE!!! Alicante? That sounds familiar right? That sounds like the city where we go to have our District meeting? Why yes it is! Out of ALL the places she could have gone in this huge mission she got sent to city closest to Albacete. WE´ll even still be in the same district! hahaha thats kinda like the biggest miracle/tender mercy ever for me. I knew I might not be able to finish my mission with her but this is literally the next best thing! Gosh i love her so much! We´ve had a pretty sweet run together. I´ve grown so much with her and we´ve worked really hard and well together and just have had so much FUN. I could honestly go on and on and on about how beautiful and funny and sweet and caring and just the ray of sunshine that she is but I won´t. Just know that I love Hermana Swenson!

And I should have known that it was coming because I have been praying really hard especially lately that Heavenly Father would squeeze everything He wanted me to learn and grow from into this last month that i have left here in Spain. And I know this must be part of the answer! 

And my new comp will be.......HERMANA BEUCHTER! I don´t know a lot about her but she was just comps with hermana Andersen so, small world! I can´t wait to work hard with her this month! Which we´ll have to do si o si because she only has 4 weeks to learn the area before I leave so yeah! AHHH.  We got a lot of work ahead of us! 

And so yeah, now that i´ve mentioned it like 10 times, I might as well just go out and say it! In exactly one month i will be traveling to the mission home for the last time. Not that i´m trunky--anything but! This last week its hit me like a gigantic boulder and I´m anything but ready to stop being a missionary. I can´t even let the little kids play with my nametag anymore , I don´t like taking off my nametag. I´m pathetic. 

Anyway enough of that. SO basically my week has been a mix of a midlife crisis and tearful goodbyes as we´re literally RUNNING across Albacete so that Hermana Swenson can get all her goodbyes in. Everyone just loves her, what can i say. Oh and I gave my last testimony meeting in my last Zone Conference this week too. That was something....I turned so red from being nervous and trying not to cry but I think I made sense. Also, Hermana Swenson and i sang "Nearer My God to Thee" in Sacrament Meeting which was an adventure for me because as you all know--i cant sing. But no one can here either so it was okay! haha. 

And yeah. Sorry--this is probably like the worst letter I´ve written home but know that I LOVE being a missionary. And that I´m grateful for the PRIVILEGE to be a missionary here in Spain. To be a representative of the Lord, Jesus Christ. And i will take advantage of this last month i have! 

I LOVE YOU ALL!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

Love,

Hermana Morrow 

THIS IS HALLOWEEN. . .

Well as of two days I guess. And even though Spain doesn´t really celebrate it we had a pretty awesome day! One of our biggest miracles of the transfer happened because we had a Branch halloween Party. We invited our amazing Peruvian family that is already completely integrated into the branch (except for on Sundays :( And they invited their friends--a family of four! They walked in and we were introduced to them and looking back now, maybe we seemed a little to eager--but we were able to give them a tour of the church! And then we sat down in a room and our Peruvian friend gave them a Book of mormon and we were able to explain it and even talk a little (alright A LOT) bit about The Restoration. And we did it right smack in the middle of the halloween party! And they didn´t think we were super weird! And we even said a prayer! And they want to learn more! Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat. We have an appointment with them set later this week, so expect more miracles. 

 And then we had another MILAGRO SUPER GUAY last night! Alright, rewind three days. We were in an area and we decided to call a man we had contacted like 2 months ago on the street to see if we could meet with him.  He couldn´t but we invited him to the Family Home Evening later that night, not expecting him to come, and ya está. BUT THEN he called us after the actual activity was over and we were still there so we showed him and his  friend that he brought the church and had a cita right then and there with a couple members who had come to the Noche de Hogar. And then we met with them last night again and read 2 Nephi 31. I have NO idea why but instead of going straight into The Restoration like we usually do, we focused completely on baptism and recieving the Holy Spirit. They had AMAZING questions and when we invited them to baptsim they were just like, "Why not? This all makes sense and it´s something i want and need in my life" BOTH of them accepted for the 21 of this month! Looking back, I am just amazed at how Heavenly Father guided us in every step so that we would have the impression to call him in the first place! And then guide us completely in the lesson--ah man! I still can´t get over how incredible Heavenly Father is and how He works perfectly. All we need to do is be in tune with The Spirit. 

And as for Marta, we are still working with her so that she can be baptized the 24th. We fasted with her yesterday and it was so cute! She gave us a play by play of how hard it was and how so many people offered her food or invited her to eat with them at work and she pretty much ran away from them because it was such a huge temptation haha! She´s just so great.A nd prepared. She´s thought of every way possible to be able to come to church--even resorting to going to work at 4AM so that she could finish in time for 10 Am church! She works so hard already, if I didn´t KNOW how much coming to church and entering the doors of baptism would bless her in her life, i wouldn´t ask this much of her. But I know this is what she NEEDS and I love her so much, i want her to expereince all the beautiful tender mercies and blessings I´ve recieved in my own life through following The Savior´s examples. Everything I have and the person i am is all thanks to a loving Heavenly Father and and His perfect Son and following His gospel. I know it, i live it, and i love it! 

So yup. That´s my three biggest miracles of the week! I´m so grateful. Hope you all see miracles of your own! 

I LOVE YOU!!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

Have a great! Sois los mejores. 

Love,

Hermana Morrow

GRATEFUL FOR THE PRIESTHOOD

Sorry for not emailing last week! Between working on BYU stuff ( talk
about TRUNKY) and other things that happened, I had no time. So Lots
to catch up on!

First off, we threw a party for our branch! An investigator
volunteered to cook Peruvian food for everyone with the help of our
Peruvian missionary leader and all we had to do was invite everyone! A
bunch of branch members came and even 10 nonmembers! Successsssss. My
favorite moment was when an investigator gave his friend a tour of the
church, including the baptismal fount. We didn't even tell him to!
This investigator even came to church yesterday for the first time in
months! Miraclesssssz.

And then we were going to have a baptism this week but it fell through
BUT we were able to set one with an incredible investigator for next
month. We read 3 Nephi 11 with her and she just understood everything
so deeply. She knew The Lord was inviting her to baptism. This is the
woman whose family in Columbia gave us her information after they got
baptized if you guys remember. The only problem is that she works
Sunday mornings. We promised her though that if she had faith and if
we united in prayers and fasting, that God would provide the way for
her to be able to come to church and that she would be able to be
baptized on the 24th of November. I know God can do anything and I
know shes going to be baptized.

So I'm so grateful for these miracles! But yes, these two weeks have
also had their challenges. I knew they were coming--life has been just
TOO good lately! First I got hit with an awful cold/fever that lasted
forever but I'm perfect now thanks to my angel companion. She rubbed
my feet every night with essential oils and pretty much did everything
since every time I opened my mouth I got a coughing attack haha. And
then we went through a really hard situation involving a
misunderstanding with some people we were teaching. We were so
spiritually low and tried to everything we could to get out of it but
nothing was working. We even talked to our Mission President about it
and those moments we spent together with him in an office were so
precious to me. I felt like I was in the room with the Savior. We
cried together and the love I felt from God was so tangible. I love
President Andersen so much, he is an amazing servant of the Lord and I
know he was called of God. But the real healing came when we had
District Meeting. After the meeting, our District leader who had no
idea what had happened came up to us and pretty much just asked us if
we wanted a blessing. Of course we said yes and he called his comp and
two other Elders from our District to give us a blessing. So we each
got a blessing, surrounded by four amazing servants of the Lord. I
felt the Spirit so strong, I thought my heart would burst and all I
could think was how grateful I am for The Priesthood. Something Ive
realized on my mission is that the priesthood is everything. The
Restoration wouldn't be complete, without it. We would not be able to
receive the saving ordinances of baptism without it. We wouldn't be
able to partake of the Sacrament. Neither would we be able to be
spiritually edified and healed throughout priesthood blessings. I am
so grateful for my dad, my brother, my friends, my leaders, and
especially these four Elders Who are all worthy priesthood holders. I
respect and sustain them in ever way.

So why did I share this story? I hope it didn't come across as a "wa
wa wa the mission is so hard-feel bad for me" kind of way because
those aren't my intentions. I just want to share this testimony I have
of the power of the priesthood, everything has changed for us because
of it. We are healed and have been working harder and wiser as ever. I
know God is mindful of me and I am so grateful for Hermana Swenson.
President Andersen frankly told me we were put together for a reason
and thats no surprise to me. Shes an amazing example--my rock and
simply an angel from heaven. I love her so much! This experience has
strengthened us and has been a changing point for me in my mission.
I'm so imperfect but I'm working every day to be better. I'm just so
glad for repentance and I feel indebted to my Savior who has made it
possible for me to change poco a poco every day!

And to end on a lighter note: my second favorite moment of the week
was when we were waiting for an investigator to finish talking to a
client in his store so we could share our lesson. Hermana Swenson got
tired so she sat down on a bag of rice and then this random guy saw
her and brought her a chair. So here is my companion, chilling in the
middle of a store full of customers, reading her Book of Mormon!
Picture included. Haha I love her so much.

And I love you all! Heavenly Father is mindful of each and everyone
one of you! And of your challenges. And he will help you look at them
as ways to build your testimony and grow stronger in the faith! Have a
week super GUAY.

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

Love,
Hermana Morrow