Week Seven

Dear family,

 

Yesterday was my first Sunday in my new branch. It is tiny. It makes our ward in Rosepine look huge! I love it though. It has a lot of personality. We had a Fall Festival on Saturday, which we got to go to! It was a great way to get to know the people in the ward and the members took President Monson's challenge to heart and brought nonmember friends!

 

Sister Brown, my new companion, is fantastic! She is such a hard-worker and has really helped me improve as a missionary. She really loves exercise, so she drags me out to run nearly every morning. We run around a graveyard! I keep envisioning the convict from Great Expectations to appear, but alas he and his money are refusing to make an appearance ;)

 

We had a heart-breaking moment this week. The Horne family dropped us. I was completely devastated. They seemed so elect! I didn't know it would hurt so bad to be dropped. I had loved that family and envisioned them all dressed in white at the baptism and at the temple. I know how important this is for salvation and to hear someone say that "We aren't interested" is the worst thing that has happened on my mission so far. I was so dejected all night--thinking about what I could have done or said differently. I know I shouldn't but I couldn't help but think it was my fault. Sister Brown cheered me up though. I am so lucky to have her! The Lord blessed us with a miracle moment the next night. We had already made plans to visit another city in Lake View, but the Lord had a different idea! He sent over Sister Weatherford, who was positively certain that she made a dinner appointment with us (she didn't!), so we scratched our plans and decided to stay here so we could do out with the Weatherfords. We had the most amazing lesson with Dottie and Larry Walter! We met them after being chased by that dog, remember? We taught them the Restoration. Larry who was reclined and appeared to be only partially paying attention at the beginning of the lesson was at the edge of the couch by the time we got to the First Vision! Dottie said the prayer, asking if Joseph Smith was a prophet. She said she wanted to know with "all her heart, mind, and soul!" The Spirit was so strong during that lesson! I think I felt the Spirit more strongly in this lesson than in any other lesson on my mission and I think they felt it too!

 

Sister Weatherford is the Relief Society president, who lives right down the road. She takes care of us missionaries! Our phone wasn't working this week. It wouldn't receive texts or calls and we couldn't call or text anyone. I guess the Elders got worried and called Sister Weatherford, who rushed to our house immediately to make sure we were okay. She even gave us her husband's phone to use, until ours was fixed! I just thought I would share this in case Mom ever gets worried about me :)

 

I loved Lexi's video! I am glad that she is having so much fun. Gosh, I miss that girl!

 

Pops, I loved the poem, "If." It is one of my favorites. I am quite the fan of Rudyard Kipling :) I am glad your job is a little more relaxing!

 

Mom, I love personality tests! I remember that mine changed in college, but I can't remember which one it is. Introvert was definitely a part of my personality both times :) It hasn't gotten in the way of being a missionary. I know the Lord has strengthened me in order to bear the mantle of being a missionary! I don't get nervous to talk to people or anything! Now that is a miracle!

 

Love you all!

Sister Daniels

Week Six

Hello family!

 

This has been one crazy week, but I think it has been the best one so far! Every Friday before transfers President Holm looks to see if we attained our visas and then he calls those that did. I think I was the only missionary in the state of South Carolina that didn't get their visa to Brazil! I'm secretly grateful. I just love South Carolina. I love my new area and I love my new companion. I think that God is keeping me here for a reason. Hopefully, I can discover just what that reason is! I think this will be my last transfer here though, because I got an email from Church Headquarters saying my visa is almost complete!

 

I don't even know where to start... Yesterday, we had planned to Jessica, James, and their family, but they were not home. We knew that God must have led us to their neighborhood for a reason. Sister Brown had already knocked every house on the street, but she asked me if there was one that I really felt inspired to visit again. I prayed and felt the impression to visit the house across the street. There was a kind, elderly man there who said that he believed in Christ and that he had already been saved. (This is a huge problem in the South. People do not understand "works" or "priesthood authority.") He was nice, but definitely not interested. As we were walking down the street towards the car, I kept feeling like we should go back and knock his house again! I kept brushing it off. I mean we had already knocked his housetwice and he wasn't interested either time. I tried so hard to ignore it, but it wouldn't go away. I voiced my concern to Sister Brown and she said that she was feeling the same way! We prayed to know what to do. We didn't want to give him a bad taste for Mormon missionaries, but the Spirit was rather forcefully telling us we should go back and talk to him. I think the Lord was really trying to make a point. He even put a huge dog in the middle of the road, blocking us from going anywhere but back towards his house! Taking it for a sign, we walked back. We stood outside his door for what seemed like an eternity. I was never more scared to do anything in my whole life! It took everything I had just to knock that door. I waited anxiously for him to come to the door and give us a barrage of verbal abuse, but he was really nice about it! I explained everything--how we felt that God wanted us to come back and even about that gigantic dog. I also shared a quick message about prophets being called today. He was really nice and seemed more open to us. He suggested that we go through his yard and take another street to get to our car. We did and guess what? We met the most amazing family! They are looking for a new church, since they just moved here. We would have never found them! We wouldn't have knocked that area again for a long time, but God wanted us to find the Walters. It was so amazing to see the hand of the Lord guiding this work, and I think I learned a powerful lesson. I think God was testing us to see if we would follow Him even if what He asked was hard. He did it with Abraham and his son, and I think--in a much smaller scale-- He did it with us. It was terrifying, but so rewarding at the same time!

 

I live in Latta now. It is a small town that reminds me a little of Salado. There is a total of three restaurants- none of which are known franchises. I am still mustering up the courage to check out "Little Tokyo." Somehow South Carolina and Japanese food do not seem to go together!

 

Oh, I almost forgot! We got stopped by the police!! We were knocking late at night and someone, I guess, thought we were prowlers. It was all very exciting. He asked to see our IDs and then called "headquarters" to check our records. He didn't bring out the handcuffs, which is really too bad. Think of the photo opportunities! We did end up sharing a message with him and giving him a pass-along card, which is admittably even better than a possible mug shot :)

 

Love you guys so much! I hope everything is going well.

 

Congratulate the boys for me on cross country! Looks like we got some demon dogs in the making :) Good luck with school and being Relief Society president and being a mom! Thanks so much for the poem, Pops! I love it!! I love that you are going on splits. We are in a branch and it is super hard to get members to come out with us, but it makes all the difference to the investigators.

 

Love,

Sister Daniels

My new companion and district! We got to do a session!

 Here I am picking okra! Never heard of it before, but people down here are crazy for these funny looking "greens." I felt like a bonafide South Carolinian.

Our house! Well, technically it is more of a trailer, but it is darn cute!

1st Transfer

Betty Rose showing off her "pocketbook"

I just got transferred to a new area with a new companion. I had to say good-bye to my old companions, Sister Houston and Sister Jackson. It was so hard! I had grown really close to them over these past 5 weeks. It was also difficult to leave Florence. I didn't know just how much I loved it until I had to leave it. I am especially going to miss Betty. I don't know if I have told you about her or not, but she is a woman in her sixties that is on permanent investigator status. She loves the missionaries and calls us about seven times a day (not exaggerating). She calls for anything. In the last week she called because she wanted us to find her a ceramic witch and another time she called for us to pray for her to find her purple necklace! She is the sweetest thing though! She just loves so easily and so readily. She is almost child-like. Anyway we called Miss Betty Rose to tell her I was leaving. At the end of the conversation, I said, "Love ya Betty," like I always do. She usually responds, "Alright. Bye, bye," but this time she said "I love you" back! I just wanted to break down right there in Bed, Bath, and Beyond, but I tried to hold things together. I just felt that my heart was breaking!

Week Five!

Oi familia! 

I got all of your letters! And the packages! I felt so loved! Thank you so much.  That birthday package was incredible. You guys spoil me too much! I am embarrassed to admit it but I might have cried while opening up the Jane Austen address book :) Who knew I was so sentimental?? I just thought it was so sweet that you individually wrapped them. I also cried when Dad started sending me bits of books in his emails. Family and literature! My two favorite loves all in one place! That polka dot purple skirt is my new favorite! It is so comfortable and cute :) 

This week was a bit different than most. We had a leadership training meeting up in Columbia that lasted 2 days which means....SLEEPOVER! It was so fun being able to meet other sisters and hearing about their experiences. Being sister missionaries makes for an almost instant camaraderie. I love it. We also got to listen to president, who taught us about being executing the things we learned in the conference. He told of planes that land on those landing strips (not the exact term but hopefully you get the gist!)  in the ocean. I guess there is a hook on the back of the plane that they hook to the end of the barge to slow the plane down. The hook is relatively small and so they immediately thrust the engines on landing in case it doesn't hook. Otherwise they wouldn't have the speed they need to take off on such a short landing and would go straight into the ocean. Anyway, it takes years of training and practice assimilation to master. He said that missionary work is very similar. We plan and practice during personal and companionship study, but sometimes things don't go as planned and we need to be ready to take off immediately and not get discouraged. I think this analogy can apply to families, too! Parents teach their kids correct principles--how someone can hook themselves to the gospel--but if the children make mistakes and miss than the Lord has provided a way for them to come back and try again! It is a bit of a stretch and I think it made more sense in my head, but there it is :) 

This week was a hard one on our companionship. We became frustrated with each other. I didn't know how to fix it. None of us did. We tried a couple companionship inventories, which helped but didn't solve anything. The Spirit just couldn't be there and the love we usually had for each other was just gone. Luckily the Lord knew exactly how to fix it! In every transfer we have one companionship exchange with another companionship. One person leaves and another person comes. Anyway Sister Jackson left for Conway and another missionary, Sister Anderson, came to Florence. I know the timing of this exchange was inspired of God. Those sisters could have chosen any week for the exchange, but this was when it was most needed. Usually companionship exchanges are to help inspire missionaries to work harder or give them ideas on things they improve on, but this time it unified our companionship! Sister Anderson is a sweet girl, but my goodness! She made Sister Houston and I really appreciate each other. Our frustrations immediately vanished and our companionship has never been more unified! I just love Sister Jackson and Sister Houston so much and I am glad that things are back to normal. 

The miracle moment of the week happened yesterday. We were looking for Regina, a former investigator, that Sister Houston had been trying to find for 3 months. It turns out that Sister Houston had been knocking at the wrong address the whole time! Anyway we went unknowingly to this wrong address and knocked. No one answered. Frustrated and disappointed we turned and started walking back towards the car. Then two kids--who came out of nowhere-- ran over and said that we had been knocking on their door and told us to follow them. They led us to their mother who was across the neighborhood and guess who she was talking to?? The long, lost Regina! We set up an appointment with her and then her friend, Tammy, requested that we visit her too! That scripture that says, "And a little child shall lead them" took on a whole new meaning" :) 

Anyway, I love you guys so much! I am going to try to write a handwritten letter every week, too, so I can keep you more updated! I plan on writing those crazy boys too! So hopefully I'll have time this afternoon. 

Love, 

Sister Daniels 

P.S. Oh my goodness. You won't believe this. I JUST got a phone call from President Holm and I am leaving Florence and my companions. DEVASTATION. I wasn't supposed to leave for a few more weeks, but I guess one of the sisters in Marion went home and President Holm said he was inspired for me to take her place at least for the week until transfers. I only have a little while to pack all of my things and say good-bye to my companions. I am just in shock and don't know what to think!

4th Week!

Hey everybody!

I finally received your letters! I was so excited! It turns out that Dear Elder takes longer because it sends them from Provo, Utah. Who knew?? Anyway feel free to write nice long emails or handwritten letters. I would much rather read than write :) Sister Jackson's family writes on Monday and then it gets to her by Friday. So maybe we can try that? 

I can't believe I have been on my mission for over 2 months! The time just flies by here. I think it is because I am always so busy! I also can't believe I am 20. Time is just going by too fast!

Anyway this week has been crazy. One of our investigators called us--completely wasted--and asked us to come over. We went over to cheer her up. It turns out she spent the night in jail and now thinks she is a bad girl. I have never been around a drunk person for very long and was surprised by how childlike she acted. When the alcohol had robbed her of social cues and boundaries, it was interesting to see what rational thoughts remained. Her night in jail, her drinking problem, whether or not we were her friends, Jesus Christ, and the question "Why are people so against the Mormons?" were the subjects that stayed. It was so interesting that Mormons were on the forefront of her thoughts. She said her sister had told her to stop meeting with us and had taken her Book of Mormon away. It was a crazy and out of the ordinary experience and I am not even sure if she will remember any of it, but it got me thinking. What would I say if I was that far gone? What thoughts would the alcohol be unable to erase? I hope it would be Christ. I hope I would talk of Jesus Christ with the love and trust that Jeannie did. Jeannie has her problems--mostly alcohol--but she has such a strong faith in Christ. I wish I could just take the alcohol away and force her to give it up, but I can't. I bet it is so hard for Heavenly Father to see some of the choices we make with our agency. It is hard enough for me!

One of the miracles that we had this week happened on Friday. During the afternoon we got stuck. Appointments had fallen through and our back-up plans didn't feel right. We pulled over and said a prayer that we would be guided where we needed to go and who we should see. We sat there for a few minutes after the prayer. Eventually I felt prompted to suggest Sister Brown. There was no logical reason. She is an active member and we had already received a bunch of referrals from her last week, but Sister Jackson and Sister Houston said they were thinking of her too! So off we went to her apartment. As we pulled in, we didn't see her car. I was so disappointed, because I thought this is where the Spirit had prompted us to go! But then in the parking lot we met Glenn! He is a professor of psychology and is looking for a new church. WHAT?! He wants to learn more about "Mormonism" as he puts it. We talked to him for almost an hour right there in the parking lot! If we hadn't felt prompted to go right then, we would have missed him completely. If we had pulled in even a minute later or five minutes earlier we would have missed him! We had already knocked those apartments and it is unlikely we would knock them again for a long time, but I guess God really wanted us to meet and talk to Glenn! 

Anyway I love you guys! Have a great week!

Sister Daniels 

 Morgan's first baptism.  Her name is  Taneychia (TT) and she has these adorable girls.  Morgan said they actually love her even though the picture does not convey that!

 Morgan's companions Sister Houston and Sister Jackson.  She said they are exactly want she needed.  She is learning so much from them.

The Florence library and one of her favorite buildings in Florence!

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!