3rd week in South Carolina!

Hey everybody!

So I think most of your letters got lost in the mail. I have only received one! The zip code is 29063. I don't know where the other letters went but hopefully they find me eventually!

This week was such a good one! It started out with zone conference, which includes a bunch of training, role playing (aka the bane of my existence), and talks. My favorite part is when the mission president spoke to us. I wish he would have just talked the whole four hours! He started off saying,"There are two of us: the person who is and the person who can be." Isn't that incredible? I want so badly to change and to become the person that God wants me to be. "Trust Him that He will make of you, immeasurably more than what you will ever, ever, in all eternity, make of yourself. He will create of you a masterpiece. You will create of you only a smudge. You will create an ordinary man; He will create a God." Hopefully, I will be a totally different person by the time I get home! Missions are a real refiner's fire. Missions bring all of my weaknesses out in the open. Some I didn't even know that I had! But that is the great thing about missions, too. They are the perfect opportunity to change and to make them into strengths! So hopefully the Morgan Daniels you saw get on that plane back in July will not be the same Morgan Daniels that gets off the plane!

I guess it is tradition for a basketball shootout after lunch at zone conference so they divided up the sisters and the elders and we played knockout. You won't believe this... but I actually won! So you are now writing to the reigning champion for the sisters. No big deal :)  I had to take a picture holding a basketball with President Holm, like it was some NCAA championship (I'm not sure what the equivalent of the super bowl is for basketball but NCAA sounds right...) I was pretty much humiliated. I hate being the center of attention! That and I'm sure the audience got a good chuckle from my "basketball form" which I am sure is anything but flattering. Oh well. Who knew I would ever use the skills I gained in 7th grade basketball on my mission??

I love my mission! I love South Carolina, and to be honest I don't want to leave it! I'm actually hoping it takes a long time for that visa to go through :) I really think the Lord is watching out for me, because visa waiters can't drive!! Talk about a miracle right? I guess my driving record is in Brazil and all the insurance information, so I shouldn't be allowed to drive the whole time I'm here. So no worries on that end!

Yesterday we had the primary program. It was so perfect! We had two investigators, Shannon and John, there. They were such a miracle. She actually called the church and requested the missionaries! She had already bought a Book of Mormon and read 1 Nephi before we even met with them. God has truly prepared them! They have so many questions and have such a desire to grow closer to Jesus Christ. I don't mean to get ahead of myself, but I just want them to get sealed in the temple! I guess we will have to focus on baptism first though :) Anyway they loved the program. John kept clapping after the songs. (Even though no one else was!) He clapped the loudest after "Families can be Together Forever" and had so many questions about that after the meeting! I loved how the primary president arranged everything. During "Families can be Together Forever" she had two families come up and sing the first verse. It was so powerful and really made the words more meaningful. 

Congratulations on doing so well in school! Open note tests are usually even harder because they expect you to have taken good notes so the questions are tricky! I am so proud of you for going back to school. I loved that quote about the Atonement and Christ refusing to use his "bulletproof vest of divinity." I shared it with my companions and they loved it! I think I am just now beginning to understand even a glimmer of the Atonement. I just don't think my mortal mind will ever completely understand it! But the more I learn the closer I grow to my Savior. I love that the boys are in cross country! It seems like all the good boys in high school did cross country rather than football. I also love that they get to compete and push each other.  I will never forget that one cross country race where Mom cheered Lexi on to beat me! :) Pops, take consolation in the fact that you can still run circles around me even if the boys beat ya! I loved that story about the monkey and the peanut! Last week was particularly bad. It was just such a rough week and I didn't think I was doing any good. I was also really distracted and frustrated because I hadn't received any letters (Which isn't your fault at all! I know you sent them!) and felt really alone. This feeling of gloom stayed with me all week! I just couldn't let go of that stupid peanut so I think the adversary nabbed me! It wasn't until last P-day that I could let go off the dark feelings that I harbored in my heart. It was a conscious decision to just let go off myself and my petty wants and just go to work. President David O. McKay once said, "The greatest battles you will ever fight will be within the silent chambers of your heart." I think that is so true! I let go of the peanut and I had the best week yet since I left for my mission! I have witnessed so many miracles and have learned so much about myself!

There is just so much to talk about! Do you want to hear about my investigators, my own personal study and what I've learned, or more about what I actually do every day?? I feel like I am just a rambling mess with these emails, so let me know if there is something in particularly you want me to write about!

Love you all so much! I pray for you every day!

Love Yogi 

Short Letter This Week!

Hey everybody!

Oh! I didn't get your letters. Do you have the right address for the mission home? It is 110 Oak Park Dr Suite B, Irmo, SC 29063. I hope the letters come soon! I miss hearing from you all. I miss my letter a day :)

This week was full of small miracles, especially last Tuesday! Our plan was to go to an area about 45 minutes away to visit the less actives, and guess what? We didn't end up visiting a single one! We did end up visiting with their neighbors though and had some really great lessons! We gained two new investigators that I know God placed in our path for a reason. We had come for someone else, but we found them instead. I just love that! It was just so amazing to watch the work of the Lord unfold. When we went to Loreen's, she initially wanted nothing to do with us and said she had just had surgery and wasn't feeling well. As she was about to shut the door, Sister Houston asked if we could pray for her and her quick recovery and she said yes! We came in and said a prayer and just got to talking. I really think the Spirit was guiding us. Somehow we got to talking about her brother who just recently passed and how she was worried he would go to hell because he didn't attend any church. We told her about the Spirit World where people would get another chance to hear and accept the gospel. She was so interested and invited us back to teach her! What started out as an almost door slam turned out to be a miracle moment! I am learning more and more that God is in the details.

I love you guys and hope you have a great week! The boys looked super cute (and nervous!) for their cross country meet, but I bet they did amazing. Can't wait to hear about it! I LOVE your hair cut. So cute! How did Dad's exam go? Gah! I hate being in the dark. Those letters better come soon! I prayed for patience, so I guess this is what I get :) How does Lexi like her classes? I bet she is acing all of them! Love you!!

Love, Sister Daniels 

Who wouldn't want to open the door to these cute girls!  

That is our little missionary in her sparkly shoes!  She had to have cute shoes and only took one pari of sensible ones.  I know she is with a group of three girls so not sure where the fourth one fits in.  I still cannot believe my shy little Morgan is now Sister Daniels.

1st week in South Carolina!

Oi family!

I don't even know where to start! This has been the craziest and the longest week of my life. Those first two days in the mission were ROUGH. I came home and for the first time, since I left on my mission I had thoughts like, "I don't want to be here," and "I can't do this. I am wasting my time here." I was just so bitterly disappointed that I cried myself to sleep the first night. I can't remember ever crying myself to sleep! When people talk about their missions, they talk about all these amazing people that they taught and baptized, these great stalwart families who were trying to go to the temple. And I had a very rude awakening. I just didn't realize that this wouldn't happen every week! We have visited so many less actives this week and it breaks my heart to know that they were baptized and just left. I got so discouraged. What was the point of baptizing all these people if they were just going to fall away from the church? They didn't seem to change. They still smoked and broke the law of chastity. I came here to change myself and others as we all grow closer to Christ and it hurt so much to see that people would change just to get baptized and then go back to the person they were before! But I am learning that there are people out there whose lives arechanged after hearing the gospel and being baptized. We have two recent converts, KK and Chyna, who are just solid. You can just see it in their eyes and feel it when they speak. They will not fall away and they give me hope. I have also learned to look for the little miracles, and there are so many! God's timing is perfect and we have met so many people that it would seem we found only be happenstance. But it was not a coincidence! God is guiding us to people who are ready, and I just hope I am worthy and obedient enough to follow his promptings!

Things have gotten a lot better! My trainer is Sister Houston. She's a visa waiter, too! She is supposed to go to Curitiba, Brazil as well, but has  been in South Carolina for 6 months! So it looks like I might be here for awhile :) She is very blunt and straight-forward. She doesn't beat around the bush or sugarcoat ANYTHING. This surprised me at first! I expected a sweet-tempered, soft-spoken missionary to be the trainers, but that is just not Sister Houston. She is exactly what I needed though. She forces me to be bold and to do things that are way out of my comfort zone. I have another companion, too! All visa waiters start out in a three-some. I don't know why! But my other companion is Sister Jackson. She is the cutest and sweetest person I have ever met! Seriously. I want to be Sister Jackson when I grow up! She has such a special spirit about her, and when she bears her testimony it feels as if I am being hit with the Holy Ghost: it comes on that fast and that powerful! She really takes care of me, so don't worry on that end Mom :)

I am in the city of Florence, South Carolina! I love this place so much, and God has really blessed me with charity and love for the people. I don't know what has changed! I didn't know my heart could hold so much love, let alone for people I do not know! But it does. I walk into the most appalling of circumstances. We have visited the projects and places that should have been condemned a LONG time ago. I have grown accustomed to the smell of smoke and to the sight of tobacco, and yet I love these people so much! My heart aches for them, for the people that in another life I would not have bothered to associate with and in fact would probably have gone out of my way to avoid. I can see them as children of God. I can see them as the people they could become. And that makes all the difference! I think people can sense it. I think they can sense the love and the Spirit we have with us.Within just a few minutes after we meet them they just open up. They tell us all about their lives and their problems. They ask us to pray for them. I noticed this first in the airport and on the airplane to South Carolina. We were instructed to pass out pass-along-cards and we did. We met a guy on the airplane who literally after we just introduced ourselves as missionaries told us so much about his life. About his father passing away and his funeral. About his kids and their most recent vacation. He even pulled out his Iphone and showed us about 20 pictures of his kids at the beach! I was shocked. This happens daily! I really think people can sense the truth and can sense that we have it. They do not want us to leave their houses. One of our investigators even said that he felt a void when we left! AHH! I just pray constantly that people will feel and recognize the Spirit we have! That is they only way we are going to convert anyone, including ourselves!

Sorry this letter was so crazy and sporadic. I want to write for hours about my investigators, that incredible trip in the woods, the miracles I see daily, and the change I feel inside me, but I do not have the time! I'll just have to let you read my journal when I get back! I bet Mom will just love that :) Anyway they don't want us giving you our address, since it changes so frequently. They want you to send all packages and letters to the mission home and they will forward it to me! You can also still use DearElder, but I only get them once a week instead of daily! It will probably save money on postage though :) Oh and if you can tell people to write me letter and not emails, I would really appreciate it! I had about 20 emails today-which I loved!- but I used up most of my letter writing time just reading them! So if you could send them via snail-mail that would be awesome!

I love you guys so much! I love being a missionary and I love South Carolina!

Love, Sister Daniels 

Morgan with Elder and Sister Holm, the mission presidents.  I am so excited to get her first letter and to hear all the wonderful things that have happened her first week!

Brazil by way of South Carolina!

Morgan has been temporarily reassigned to Columbia, South Carolina while she awaits her
visa from Brazil. She is super excited and will be flying out 7 am Monday morning.  We are expecting to get a phone call from her sometime early that morning!!

Week Five!

Oi everybody! 

I get my reassignment this Friday! I am so excited. Almost as excited as I was for my first mission call :) They let us email our family and tell them so expect an email on Friday from me! We also get to talk to our family before boarding the plane, but I will give you more details when we get our travel plans! Oh and technically I did send one picture last week. I sent a picture to Ginger of me and my package so maybe she could send it to you? Anyway I plan on taking quite a bit more pictures in the field, but right now I spend about 99.99% of the time in a classroom. Which is important, but not exactly "picture-worthy" :) I absolutely loved the pictures you send me though. It means a lot. I was able to print them off, so I can look at them anytime I get homesick! It made me realize how important pictures are so I will be sure to take more in the future! I hope you are having fun with Little Lou! I bet you two are having a blast with all that girl time! 

We had TRC again! I love it so much. We were able to talk to a returned missionary who went to Brazil and who is currently attending BYU. His name is Blake. Just found that a little interesting :) We also taught an older woman named Sister Rice who was actually called to be a TRC missionary and help other missionaries prepare for their mission. She had to learn to speak Portuguese and everything! She was born in Mexico and speaks Portuguese, Spanish, and English! What was so amazing is that although we had planned the same topic for volunteers, the lessons turned out completely different! Hopefully that means the Spirit was prompting us! With Blake, I felt prompted to share an experience-about how the Book of Mormon had given me confidence because I could feel the love that Christ and that God had for me. I invited him to share any experiences he had during his life and he shared some really touching ones about his mission. I really felt like we connected and at the end of the lesson his comment card said that he felt the Spirit really strong when we both shared our experiences! YES! I am improving each day when it comes to recognizing and acting on the Spirit! When we taught Sister Rice, I felt the prompting to just share a simple testimony. She was so sweet that I just never wanted to stop talking to her! At the end of our message, our teacher said that Sister Rice was very touched by our message and that she wanted to be more like us! She also said that she had really felt the Holy Ghost as we testified of the Book of Mormon. I just love teaching real people! I am getting more excited and more nervous to go out into the field every day!

This week one of our teachers, Irmão Buttars, taught us a lesson that has really stuck with me this week. He said that 60% of returned missionaries go inactive within six years after coming home! I couldn't believe it. I have already had such faith promoting experiences here and I haven't even gotten into the field yet! Irmão Buttars said it was because those missionaries have never been truly converted. They may have had strong testimonies and amazing experiences, but it was not enough. Having a testimony is not enough. As I was evaluating my own life to see if I had been truly converted, I read in the Bible Dictionary that conversion is "a conscious acceptance of the will of God." It is a conscious decision! This last week I made the conscious decision to change. I want to be someone who has diligence and charity. This last week I prayed morning and night and all during the day for these Christ-like qualities. I am really striving to develop them. Some days are better than others and I make a lot of mistakes, but I have faith and I have hope that Christ will help me develop these qualities as I earnestly seek for them. It helps to repent daily and evaluate my efforts daily. I know that it is going to be a long process. I want so much to be a different person than the one I was when I came here. I want to change and become more Christ-like. I want to be truly converted. I think if I work as hard as I did this week for these goals, then God will bless me. I can become the missionary and the person I want to be! It says in the Bible Dictionary that "To labor for the conversion of one's self and others is a noble task." Wish me luck on this noble task! I'm going to need it! 

AHHH! I'm so glad that Rachel got such an amazing job! I am sure it was an answer to prayers! We went to the temple today and I put Dean's and Shane's names in the prayer box. Those are some powerful prayers so hopefully it helps! 

Caden! Congrats on your awesome STARR scores! Who knew little "pokey-puppy" would be the one to come in first for the ACT?? :) How was your first day of 7th grade? And good luck with basketball tryouts1

Blake! How was your first day of 7th grade? You sounded a little nervous in your letter. I don't know why! You are going to do so good, especially in reading :) "You is smart. You is kind. You is important." You should also read "The Help" :) Your career class sounds like fun. I wish I had taken it since I have almost 20 and STILL have no idea what I want to be when I "grow up." Congrats on the new fish! Hopefully she lasts a little longer than your first one ;) 

Lexi! Sorry I didn't get to send you a separate email this week. I don't know where the time went! But I think you definitely should open up an ETSY shop. Feel free to treat me as a walking advertisement. I live with a lot of girls who I am sure would love some personalized art work! That and I wouldn't mind to have some personalized art from my dear irmã! Mom sent me some pictures of you and Taylor and you guys are of course adorable. As always! Also sent some pictures of that thing with Christian.How was that? It looked like fun hanging out with the old ward! Oh, and what classes are you taking for fall? You know I'm dying to know. Some things never change :)   

Pops! It sounds like you are having fun with the boys! Sorry it took so long for you to get that "boy time!" I love how you talk about Mom. So sweet! I also loved your advice--as always :) I think I have been truly blessed with the language and I think it is coming along pretty well. Our teacher challenged us to speak only Portuguese for the remainder of our stay here. Today was our first day and it was hard. Most of our vocabulary deals with teaching the gospel. I am afraid that our every day language is severely limited, so I have to walk around with my dictionary and am forced to look up words like "to print" and other words that are not included in Preach my Gospel or the scriptures! It makes for some very choppy conversations, but it is definitely giving me the opportunity to work on verb conjugations! 

Mom! I really appreciate all the letters. I look forward to them every day. I love that we have a family motto. I think that is a great scripture to chose! I want you to know that I think of you every day. We had someone suggest that we be "the missionary you're mom thinks you are." So I am really trying to be the missionary you deserve for your daughter to be! 

I love you guys so much! I love every letter and I'm sorry if I can't respond as well and as detailed as I want to, but I hope you know that I would if I could!

Love Sister Daniels

Ginger sent Morgan a package "full of sunshine" that she adored and was so grateful for!