Tyler's Eggsiting Christmas Time

The Kids and Their Snow Zamboni

Letter from Elder Morrison

wow, you really make me miss playing hockey. i'm way stoked to come back and play. i may even have to go to the tri-cities to practice my skating. well, this week has been a pretty good one. we had our christmas party this week. elder goudie and i did a musical number for the program. we combined 'silent night' with 'samuel tells of the baby jesus' or something like that, from the childrens song book. the piano was too loud, my mic was too low, and it just didnt work very well. so we're going to re-record it, and then i'll send you a cd or something with that on it. when we went to play volleyball, elder goudie hurt his knee again. he's been in pain for the whole week. i dont know what's going to happen, but me and brother stokes gave him a blessing. it was getting better yesterday, but today it's still hurting pretty bad i guess. if it's not really getting better by thursday, he'll get an appointment with the doctor. i talked to a dentist in the branch about my teeth being really sensitive. i didnt like his answer. he said i may have to have a root canal. problem is, is that the pain is in 4 different places. i'm going to schedule an appointment with him, and he'll take a look and see what needs to happen. i really hope i dont need to do that. with elder goudie's knee, we havent been doing much walking, so we havent been tracting really at all. apparently it is kinda hard to get new investigators here. goudie says there hasnt been a new one in like 6 weeks. i hope things get better. last night we had dinner at the stake president's house. they are a great family. he said he was going to call you, and by reading the blog, it sounds like he did. he had a ton of questions for me and i didnt have any clue as to who the mission president was, or who was in the mission or whatever. so he wanted to call and get his info. too bad he wouldnt do it while i was there. oh well. i got the packages. thanks. i did open them, and figured i didnt want to wait until christmas, so i just opened them all. thanks for all the stuff. it's really going to help. the fudge is really good too. i do love your fudge mom. i've determined that since you always send me sugary things that will make me more fat, i've decided what i want for my birthday. i just want some of your chocolate chip cookies. you know the ones. the weather has been pretty bad. yesterday, we were supposed to go to a zone meeting, but it was cancelled due to the weather. so our p-day is today. yesterday, we couldnt really go anywhere, so we played some games with the stokes' and did some cleaning. it's pretty bad today, too, but we'll see what happens. they told us to use judgment on the driving. i'll be going to the post office today though, to mail your package. i packed it different, so it's going to be your christmas present in the bottom, with my mail all around it. you can just throw the mail into a box or something, whatever you've done with my other stuff. i guess that's about it for this week. love you much!Elder Morrisonby they way, i didnt open my presents but one was torn. i may know about a pair of socks.

Elder Morrison Report

We just receive a phone call from Mackenzie’s Stake President, in Herculaneum, Missouri. They had the missionaries over for dinner tonight and said all was well. Sunday they had sunny 60 degree weather and today the high was 19 degrees. The Mission President had them switch their P-Day this week because they were to attend a zone conference today. Because of the ice storm and all around bad weather, the conference was canceled. Anyway he did not get a letter off to us so there is no update this week except to know that he is alive and well in Herculaneum, Missouri and President Sylvester helped add a few pounds to his already stout frame.

Tri-Cities Hockey

Wow, what a weekend... Hockey, Hockey and More Hockey. The video that I have uploaded is one of Kevakin's Pre-game warmups. Kevakin "dirtying up the crease" was just too cute not to post.

Neither of the kids won a game and a total of two points were scored the entire weekend by Tyler's Moses Lake team. Aside from a couple of small injures, the kids (and parents) had a great time. Tyler received the MVP award for 2 of the 4 games he played in. That alone was worth the trip.

For my information (and anyone else who would care) I'm posting a few stats here, just so I can go back and relive this weekend war.

Kevakin had 127 saves in 3 games (42, 35 and 50) and let 38 shots in.

Tyler had 181 saves in 3 games (50, 66 and 65) and let 28 shots in. Tyler's 4th game ended after 2 periods of play when members of the opposing team collided mid-ice. The game was called early because of this injury. No stats were taken.

As a comparison of "Shots on Goal" ... we attended a semi-pro game in Kennewick where the Americans and the Giants played. After 3 periods of play, Each team had 22 shots of goal. Tyler and Kevakin have that many in the first period.

Wild Time In Moses Lake

http://www.wenatcheewild.com/news/headline/index.html?article_id=78

Letter from Elder Morrison

well, the transfer went well. everything went smooth. i'm now with elder goudie, from murray, ut. he is a pretty cool guy. we have a lot in common.
he has been out about 15 months. he had to go home for 3 weeks a while ago because of his knees, and he had to get surgery. then he came back out. i really like the new area. the people here are nice. from what i can tell, most of the members like me. there was one family that commented to elder goudie that they really like me. they are a really cool family. we went to the choir concert for their daughter, who is 15. they did well. we live with the Stokes family, who have 3 kids, ages 4, 3, and 8 months. they're pretty cool.
for my court summons, i have to drive about an hour or 1:15 and we will take the mission car. president told me that he'd take the miles off for that, because otherwise "we'd have to hide you some place in Africa if you dont go". i love president turley. i dont know what i have to do, except that i have to take the updated insurance card for the car, and then show up. they didnt tell me anything else. i would probably expect a ticket though. the mission will pay for the expired plates. everything has been fine as far as that goes. the sister who got in a wreck a few weeks ago also lost her driving priveleges. when that happens, you get a black dot next to your picture in president's office. we both got black dots so we call ourselves 'black dot buddies'. i have a picture of us giving our keys to elder dandoy, my last companion, who is now the vehicle coordinator. i'll send that with gmail.
today we're going to go play some volleyball with the zone leaders and some sisters. it should be pretty fun. i like to play volleyball.
i dont know what's going on with christmas yet as far as a phone call. we're going to stay the night at a members house, and have christmas morning with them. then we're going to a couple other members houses. i dont know when that will happen. i'll let you know when i have more details.
as for christmas, really all i can think of is some t-shirts that are tall, and underwear. i cant remember what i may have told you, but that's about it. i dont really need anything else. i'm going to be sending a package home with all my mail for the last year, plus a few things that i just dont have room for. it will also contain the family christmas present from me. it is in some pretty crude packaging, but you gotta do what you can with what you have.
well, i guess that's about it. i may get to email a little later today, so you can write back. if i dont answer, then i will next week.
love you!
Elder Morrison

Hockey Night With The Pros

Last night the Moses Lake Hockey Association hosted a Hockey Festival for the community. The biggest part of the festival was that the Wenatchee Wild (the newest pro team in the northwest) came to town and helped kick it off. The Wild posed for pictures, played ice games with the youth and had shootout competitions. One of the highlights of the night for Kevakin was that he got to take shots from some of the pro hockey players.

The biggest highlight for Tyler was his amazing score and some pretty cool blocks.

Tyler was chosen as goalie while the Wenatchee Wild took turns showing off their "trick shots" to the fans. Tyler was very happy with his 100% blocked record! Not even the pros could get past him!

The shot of the night came toward the end. Mac Carruth (Wenatchee Wild Goalie) took his place in the net and let everyone shoot on him. He was also 100%. At least until it came to the "Goalie on Goalie" shot. Tyler skated down the ice toward the net. Just about 3 feet from the goalie crease he shoots... deflected of Mac's trapper and the puck goes top shelf into the net. Tyler threw his stick down, did a belly flop on the ice and swam a few strokes in victory. The crowd erupted in cheers and Tyler went home with a signed puck from team and a pretty big head. We just hope it goes down by next weekend so it will fit in his helmet for the tournament in tri-cities.

We won an autographed hockey jersey, 2 tickets to a game in January and went home a happy hockey family.... the end.

Brotherly Love

Tyler 89% in Tri-City American Game

Depressing Letter from Zac Matthews

Dear Friends and Fans of Hot Buttered Rum,
I am writing to let you know of my recent decision to part ways with HBR. This decision was by no means an easy one, nor a sudden one. After a great deal of introspection and band discussion, our separation emerged as the only viable way for everyone involved to move forward.
I want to take this moment to express deepest gratitude to you, the Butter Community, for your infinite love and support. This incredible community has always been as important to me as the music itself. You, more than anything, have allowed and encouraged me to pour my heart and soul into HBR, and you have given me great hope that people can make the world a better place. For this I offer sincere thanks.
If you feel sadness, I empathize with you over what is being lost -- the unique synergy between the five of us was indeed magic. But certainly music and magic live on. I hope you will share in a feeling of excitement for me and for HBR as we journey forward along separate paths. I continue to be an advocate for HBR's success, and eagerly await the new songs that my brothers and their future collaborations will yield.
I also expect this time of change to recharge my own creative reservoir for music and other endeavors. I look forward to channeling many incredible connections into fruitful collaborations.
Further down the road we'll meet again. But for now, this is it, high times...
Zachary Matthews
November 30, 2008
I should love to satisfy all, if I possibly can; but in trying to satisfy all, I may be able to satisfy none. I have, therefore, arrived at the conclusion that the best course is to satisfy one's own conscience and leave the world to form its own judgment, favorable or otherwise.
Mohandas K. Gandhi

Computer is Back

Thanks to Mr. Donovan (Again!) our computer is up and running great. We got a virus and things went bad. Anyway, long story short... It's back and now I can do some catchup posting.
TTFN, Craig.

Letter from Elder Morrison

hey, just letting you know that i got in a car accident today. i'm fine, and so is everyone else, but i may have to be paying for a ticket.
i was in an older car taking it to get looked at. this was one of our cars for sale and had expired plates by 11 months. the car has been sitting in the lot for i think over a year. i got the ice off the window as best i could, but some was still on there as we were going. then i found the windshield wiper on the drivers side didnt work, so i couldnt get the ice/water off the windshield. i was trying to figure out how i was going to get it off, and then i saw a stopped car in front of me. i hit the brakes just before i hit the car in front of me. our car had relatively little damage, but the airbag in the steering wheel deployed. the car in front of me was in bad shape though, and the 2 front airbags deployed. as far as i can tell, nobody was hurt. i went to bed early last night, around 9:00. i can no longer drive on my mission, so i dont know if they'll be transferring me or not. transfers are tomorrow, but it may be a late transfer. i got ticketed for 'failure to keep proper lookout', 'expired plates', and 'expired insurance'. the mission will cover the fees for expired things, but i may have to pay for my ticket.
i didnt get anything telling me the amount of the fee, if there is one, but i have a court summons on the 17th at 7 pm.
as for me, i'm doing fine. i havent had any effects, other than just being in low spirits and being a little paranoid when i get in a car. i'm sure these will clear up soon enough.
also just so you know, i went to the dentist last week, and had 9 cavities.
i got 5 of them filled this morning, and have an appointment for tomorrow for the rest
Love Elder Morrison
PS - I'm being transferred tomorrow.
here's my new address:
Elder Morrison
c/o Eric Stokes
527 santschi dr.
Herculaneum, MO 63048

Letter from Elder Morrison

hey family. that's too bad that the computer is being retarded. i hope it gets fixed soon. this week has been pretty intense. i've had to deal with 3 car accidents this week. 2 of them were not serious and they were not in the car. someone hit their parked car. at least we dont have to do missionary medical stuff. the 3rd one, however, was definitely not just a fender-bender. it happened with 2 of our sisters that were coming home from poplar bluff, mo. they got to farmington and decided to get something to eat and to stretch and walk for a bit so they could stay awake. well, they pulled off the highway, and at the top of the intersection they were turning left. they looked twice and didnt see anything. as they were turning, they saw some headlights, and got hit. they took some pictures that apparently show they were in their own lane, and that the guy swerved into them in the left lane. i have to get that fixed up this morning. the car is undrivable and will probably be considered totaled. on the bright side, everyone is ok, and the car was actually one that we were going to get rid of next shipment anyways.
i bought me some shoes this week to play basketball. they worked really well. i am really happy with them, and they are so much better than playing in the adidas shoes. we play every wednesday night with some college students that go to Logan college of chiropractic, here in chesterfield.
last week, we got a new bishopric. yesterday was our first meeting and we also had a separate meeting with the bishop. he seems really motivated for missionary work and is wanting to take it the same direction as we are. we are going to try and get the families here to create 'family mission plans' so that they can have monitored goals. we should be starting this in a couple weeks. the bishop even wants to be the guinea pig for the new program.
i heard the byu game went pretty crappy. the people we live with had a couple families over for the game, and they were pumped up with their chicken wings, cheese cubes, and other snacks. when we got home after the game was done, brother tenney looked depressed. i asked how the game went and he said 'not good'. that was all he said. lol.
today we have to go get a 2nd estimate on one of our cars for body work. when we are getting ready to put a car up for sale, we fix body damage and make sure it will pass inspections. one car has so much body damage from missionaries being stupid that our first estimate was over $3,000! so we have to go there this morning. i'll probably be back in the office around 7:30 your time, and will be leaving the office no later than 9:30 your time. so if you want you can email me back before then. if i miss it, i'll at least check tomorrow for anything i missed.
love you!
Elder Morrison

Letter from Elder Morrison

hey family. this week has slowed down a little bit. not much, but a little bit. we've still been moving cars all around the mission. halfway through the month and we finally have our own car. we got 4 new 09 chevy mailbus that we've been trading with people for their old cars so we can sell them. one car we had to take to macon, which is about 2 1/2 or 3 hours away. it's north of boonville. we also had to pick up some furniture in St. Peters and take it to mt. vernon, IL which is a good 2 1/2 hours as well. we've done a lot of traveling.
i did get to see alex last week, and he is still doing pretty good. he is still a zone leader in the cape girardeau zone. almost a month ago he hit a raccoon while he was driving and it broke out the bottom grill of his car, so we're working on getting that fixed up. we also have to get all the cars for sale fixed up with the body work before we sell them. i then have to call the insurance company to open a claim for them to pay for it. its really not my favorite. i think you know i'm not one for talking with people on the phone.
we had my first real teaching appointment in this area this week. we're teaching a kid named Andrew who is 17. he is really solid and is almost ready for baptism. there are a couple things stopping him, and we dont know what it is, but president turley knows. president will be talking to andrew today to see if he can help in any way. last week at church he came up to us all excited because he had his own set of scriptures that he bought at the temple and had his name embossed on the quad.
on saturday, it got really cold and started snowing. just a little flurry, nothing big. it didnt even stick on the ground. but we were out raking leaves for a recent convert. the conversion story for this family is amazing. one day, he took his family on a drive, and went to the temple. he was feeling pretty troubled, didnt know what to do or where to go, but he ended up in the temple. he talked to the person at the desk and said "what do i do to join your church?" they got the temple president, and he explained that he needed to be taught by the missionaries. a few weeks later, their family was baptized and since then, they have had a little boy, who they named Angelo Moroni Frazer. anyway, we spent 4 hours raking leaves and filled 28 bags of leaves. i'll send a picture of that. i'm also sending a picture of St. Louis as we were passing over the Mississippi River on the freeway.
we had our president interviews the other day. sounds like i'll be staying in the office until the end of next transfer, which is about the middle of January. then i'll be sent to my last area from there. by the way, i hit 18 months yesterday!!!! only 6 left! also, it's just over a month till i get to call home again.
well, i guess that's about it. make sure to get some good hockey videos you can send me. since we dont really get p-days because we're so busy, i only email at the office, so i dont get to see the blog or anything. i did appreciate the video on the camera.
love you much!
Elder Morrison

First Night of Hockey

Stick Saves! Coltin is the goalie in the St. Louis Blues sweater and Ty is white and red.

Letter from Elder Morrison

first things first, i didnt get the package. i imagine it will come today. we were in the office on sat, but we had to leave for a while and just left the bucket for mail outside the door. the mail guy came while we were gone, so he may have kept it so it didnt get stolen or something. this week, although it's only been a few days since i emailed, has been pretty crazy. we had our zone conferences, which were hectic. we had 4 zone conferences in 4 days, and we had to check windshield wiper fluid, oil, tire tread depth, and body damage on all of them. lots of work to do. plus they were all over the place. first was in Cape Girardeau, 2nd in chesterfield, 3rd in o'fallon illinois, and 4th in columbia. that is a lot of travel. the one in columbia was freezing, and i hadnt packed a jacket or anything because it had been so nice the days before. as i was filling up some windshield fluid, i splashed some on my hand and that was really really cold because the wind was blowing pretty hard too.
this weekend, we spent some time in the office catching up on the week, and then we had our several hours of church.
sounds like for creesh that birthday was pretty sweet. i wish i could have been there.
as for hockey, i'm really stoked to be able to play next year. you'll have to be sending me some pictures and videos of everyone playing.
i was reminded at church that there are some native moses lakers in the ward here. the Bowen family. he said they were just up there this week doing some salmon fishing on the columbia. needless to say i was pretty jealous.
yesterday at church we had a food storage/finance sunday. sacrament meeting was all about that, including the hymns "we give thee but thine own" and "because i have been given much". sunday school was divided so that one hour the high priests and their families were in a finance and food storage class, while the elders and youth were in their normal classes, and then they switched so there was no PH or RS. at the end they were giving away a few items for food storage, and nobody was taking it. we were just talking to someone at the front of the chapel and a guy in the ward just started handing stuff to us. so we each got 2 cans of chicken and rice soup, 2 cans of green beans, and a box of ritz crackers. this goes toward our 7 day food storage, while everyone else needs to get 90 days. lol.
and about the driving, you dont have to worry about me driving in spokane now. lol. i can drive in the middle of st. louis (which in case you didnt know is way bigger than spokane).
well, love you all. hope you're doing well, and i am looking forward to the package!
Elder Morrison

Letter from Elder Morrison (better late than never)

so do you remember the time i was getting packed to go to college and i was WAY STRESSED? well, here we are again. i think i've gotten in over my head. there's so much to know and so little time to know it. also, we've been WAY busy. i'm writing now because we didnt get a p-day this week. we were working in the office. i'm so tired all the time now. i was talking to the last elder that did the cars and told him i never thought he did any work, and that they never had to tract. well, now i'm finding that tracting is sissy work. lol. i'm really struggling with it though, and am trying just to keep up on top of things. at this moment there is stuff all over my desk that needs entered into the computer, and not coming in just one day will kill you in paperwork. we have zone conferences this week, and because i'm over cars i have to check all of them at zone conferences, so i have to go to all of them. so far we've done 2 and have 2 left.
so a week ago, i was playing basketball with some college students for church, and i sprained my ankle. ouch. it is still kinda sore, especially in the morning, but i think i'll be better soon. i can walk on it, so that's good.
for halloween, we went to a member's house for dinner. they had some good chili and some other stuff, but the cool part was that they had built a box maze in their basement. imagine being in pitch black, and crawling your way through a maze made of refrigerator boxes, but it's also multiple levels. CRAZY. it was a lot of fun, but it got really hot in there. this member has been doing a box maze for about 18 years.
we had to move a ton of cars around recently, and i had to go out to mt. vernon IL to swap a car. pretty long drive. then on the way back we had 2 cars (me and another elder) and he was following me and got lost. so i'm freaking out, and i figure the best way to find him is to pray. so i park the car on a residential street somewhere in st. louis, and pray. when i was done, i saw i needed gas. so i decided to get gas before i tried to find him. i turned onto the next street, and there was a gas station, and i just felt that was the one i needed to get gas at. i missed the entrance, so i circled around and went into it. as i pulled in, i saw the other elder standing outside looking for me. i knew that Heavenly Father was watching over us, and led me to find him.
thanks for the halloween. i really appreciated it.
as for tyler and the guitar, if there is a scratch on it when i get home...you're dead. but if you wanna chance it, go ahead.
my companion is Elder Dandoy. he is a pretty big guy, but not as big as me. i like him so far. he is from arizona. he's really good with computers and the like, and that's why he's been in the office since i was transferred to fayette and now he's still here. he's 23 years old.
well, i guess that's about it. as soon as i get a camera i'll try to send some pictures.
Love you!
Elder Morrison

Election Day

I just checked the BCS computer standing online and looks like Hillary still has a chance.

We had a few balloons left over from our Stake Harvest Festival last night so we are putting them to use tonight. We will be giving out balloons along with the candy. Kevakin thought he could take them outside and fly with them first... big mistake.

Ty on the other hand had a different use for the balloon juice.

Happy Halloween

Coltin made a robot costume and Creesh insists on going as a gangstahippie (if there is such a thing).

Hockey Birthday to Ty...

Hockey Birthday to you

Hockey Birthday to you

Hockey Birthday dear Tyler

Hockey Birthday to you!

18 years old with a big Montreal stick... what more could a kid ask for?

Little Debbie

Deb is in charge of pack meeting this week so she came up with this cool little pumpkin thing. I just had to get a picture while the creative juices were flowing.

Family Howl Evening

Letter from Elder Morrison

hey family! well, it's been a pretty good week. first off, yes, i did send ty and creesh cards, and i put 2 stamps on each, which usually covers it. oh well.
thanks for reminding me that i'll be missing hockey again. i'm really worried that in a year i'm going to be a loser, because i will have forgotten how to skate. we have a rink right next to the office, but i dont know if that will ever happen. i hope it will.
dad, i'm glad you do your home teaching. that helps the missionaries in the ward so much.
i would have liked to see president baker, but i'm sure he's only here for a short time and he doesnt have time. give him my regards.
i cant really think of anything i need from home for you to send in a box. if there's anything you think i should have, you can send it. actually, if you have an extra ipod cord laying around, i could probably use it. i did get the money you sent. thank you. it bought me a good meal before i left boonville, and also a shirt, which i painted on and has the super mario 3 picture on it. i think it looks good.
as for mom, i'm sure you had lots of church, but try going from 3 1/2 hours (including meetings) to 8 1/2 between 2 weeks. i was at the church building from 9 until 5:30.
it's really cool to be back in the ward, and that i already know people. it was funny to see who remembered me and who didnt. there are a lot of new people here since i left though. plus, this time i'm with a companion that a lot of people like. i'm living with members now. it's a little awkward, but it's really cool. today we had the parkway elders and the sisters over to play board games (kinda boring, actually). but sister tenney (who we live with) made us brownies and popcorn and breakfast too. it was really nice of her. already i've had more meals given to me than i did in the last 30 days in fayette. crazy. stake conference is this week. i'm pretty excited for it. me and elder dandoy are singing in the choir. should be good. i havent seen jeanne yet, but she is going to feed us tomorrow. hopefully i can ease some tension from Ron.
by the way, my address can be just the mission office.
745 craig rd. ste 306
creve coeur, mo 63141
as for gossip, i had heard of ryan and stephanie. fredericksens adopting and katey lamb were new. thanks for the update.
saturday, we had our trunk or treat/halloween party. they had a hot dog/chili dinner, as well as some games for the kids, a costume parade, and ended with the trunk or treat. it went really well, and there were several nonmembers there, which was really great.
i'm finding that the vehicle section of the office is pretty behind. i'm really trying to get things organized (like that's my strong point) and get back up to speed. it's coming slowly but surely.
well, i guess that's about it. thanks for all the support and love. love you, Elder Morrison

What A Weekend!

When I got home friday night, Deb demanded that I take her someplace expensive...so, I took her to this real nice gas station down the road..... And that's how the fight started....

Happy Teenage Birthday Creesh

Tonight Creesh's girlfriends celebrated her birthday by throwing her a surprise party at the house. Kevakin and his friend Zac couldn't resist joining in the Tie-Dye fun. I believe the best present she got was the BSU win over San Jose State University. The other presents she opened ran a close 2nd.

Creesh and the Zampona

When Tyler came home from Peru he brought back a Zampona for Creesh. Nobody could get it to work except her, so for "Young Women in Excellence" tonight she played two songs for the crowd. She did a wonderful job! What was most interesting to me was that she wrote down the music on a paper. This looks as foreign as the instrument. My congrats goes out to Hailey for spending the time to figure this out in her own way.

From 9 to 21 BYU says "bye bye" to BCS

"It's more disappointing than surprising," BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall said. "We knew they were a very good football team. But when you make mistakes like we made against a team like that, that simply is the result."

Wow! 47 Years!

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad... We Love You!

Letter from Elder Morrison

yep, i'm headed back to my birthplace in the mission, Chesterfield. my new companion will be Elder Dandoy. i'm way excited to be able to see Jeanne again. i'm going to be working in the office too. i'll be in charge of cars from what i understand. also, i guess there isnt much tracting that happens there. we work in the office, and then i think mostly we visit members and try to get referrals. i'm pretty excited though. as for this area, not much has progressed since last email, although we did find a couple new investigators. hopefully they'll progress.
this weekend, the elmers took us to the casino buffet on saturday night as a farewell for me. saturday night at the buffet is crab legs, frog legs, shrimp, prime rib, bbq ribs, and more. it was really really good. yesterday they made me talk in church because i knew i was leaving. i basically gave them a small talk on being doers of the word, and not hearers only. we also had our branch potluck after church so i think it was a good day to end on.
by the way, alex didnt get transferred. he is still in jackson, mo as a zone leader.
its going to be weird going back to a 3 hour block. i've gotten used to the
2 hour church after going like that for 7 months. i guess i have to get used to it again sometime.
i'm going to be sending a package home in the next couple of days. i'm going to put my camera in it. it's basically a bunch of things people have sent me that i dont use but i'd feel bad just giving it away or throwing it away.
i've got a couple of pics to send to you now. they come from elder graysons camera, since mine is broken. one is of my new shirt, and what i did to some pajama pants i had. the other is of the booth we set up at the festival of lights a few weeks ago. hope you enjoy.
this week we had Glenn L. Pace of the Seventy come to the mission. it was really good. i love getting to see general authorities when they're not at conference. you can really see their personality.
well, i guess that's about all this week. as for a new address, maybe i'll be able to get on at jeanne's house and give you my new address.
love you!
Elder Morrison

Ensign Ranch

This weekend I took Ty & Kevakin up to our Church Ranch for a ward wood cutting project. Kevakin got to fish and in his mind that was all that counted.
We are now home safe and noticing a few muscles we never knew we had.

At Kevin's Request...

A Mournful Day at the Funeral Home

Today I share sympathy pains with Kevin and the rest of my family as BYU takes their first loss of the season. Hopefully this loss will not lessen the excitement building around the BYU vs UTAH game next month, however I am still certain that CTR does not stand for "choose the red". Since I am a "cup half full" kind of guy, this does make it exciting for the Bronco Bunch...
GO BRONCOS!!!

Letter from Elder Morrison

hey family! sorry it's taken me so long. yesterday was columbus day, which apparently closes the library. so we didnt get to us a computer yesterday, and then when we came earlier today, their computers were all down. what a bummer. finally they got them back up, so this may end up being a little short.
well, first, we had our president interviews this week, and something interesting happened. in my interview, i told him that i had been here a while and that am starting to get burned out on this area pretty bad. then he asked me if i was good with computers. kinda threw me off guard, but i told him i havent been using computers much the last 16 months, but that i know how to get around on one. and then i said 'why, are you thinking of sending me back to chesterfield to work in the office?'. well, turns out that's what he's thinking. i may be headed back to the field of chester once again. i would really like that actually. it'd be pretty good to get off of my knees, plus i'd be in jeanne's ward again. i havent talked to her for a while because we've had our phones blocked for long distance because people were calling home. anyway, i'm just pretty excited to have a change. i've been with elder grayson plenty, and though we're getting along, i'm just getting tired. oh well, only a week to go.
this week, we have a special zone conference with Glen L Pace of the Seventy. it should be a good meeting. we have to leave at 6:15 in the morning to get there on time. it kinda sucks being on the borders of the mission.
yeah, i cant believe it's halloween time either. a year ago i was in my 2nd area with my 3rd companion, Elder Smith. crazy stuff. it's kinda weird to think that an entire year (minus 5 weeks) will have been spent in only 2 areas (here and sullivan).
not much else going on. just kinda plugging along, trying to stay motivated in this area for another week.
love you much!
Elder morrison
PS...
i have some bad news. my camera is broken. i dont know what happened, but it just wont turn on. i dont know what you want to do, but i cant really take any pictures if i dont have a camera. i noticed this about a week ago.
i also made a new shirt that (using elder graysons camera) i'll send a picture of for you. i think it's pretty good looking.

Picture Day

Letter from Elder Morrison

hey family things have been pretty good this week. we had a festival in boonville on thursday, and elder grayson and i set up a booth there to give out invitations to the open house for our building, and also other pamphlets and cards. it was pretty cool, except we were placed next to the musical entertainment (that wasnt great) and then the singer took a break and he came over to talk to us. he was like preaching to us, but we didnt get his point. oh well, i guess there are some things you just have to experience as a missionary. all of our baptisms have fallen through. they will still be baptized, just not in this transfer, which means i'll probably not see them.
i have mixed feelings about transfers. i want to leave, but i want to stay, too.
we are in columbia today. we have been here since friday night for conference. conference was so great. if you thought there was a big gasp for the rome temple, you should have been in the columbia stake center when they announced the kansas city temple. that was, to them, like columbia river was to us. pretty big deal. i also thought it was interesting to say the 'greater kansas city area', knowing that independence is in the KC area as well.
i really like conference. there were so many good talks. i hope you got to hear most of it on saturday. so many great speakers and talks.
i saw the picture of ty and kendra. looks like they had a lot of fun.
i'm glad grandma is doing well. i got an email from her, and it sounds like it's pretty stressful, but i can understand that. it is pretty intense to go through all the missionary lessons in one week, though.
this upcoming week, we have our open house. hopefully that will generate some referrals.
well, i hope you are all doing great. read the scriptures, and say your prayers...then ACT on the things you learn and pray for! that's what Elder Bednar has taught us.
i love you all,
Elder Morrison

Moses Lake Homecoming

Sister Burch

Well here she is... smiling like she is taking a year and a half vacation from her family. Hey, with a son-in-law like me who wouldn't classify it as a vacation.
It has been a hectic couple of weeks. Between the mad dash to Oakley, the family taking turns with the flu and an awesome Hot Buttered Rum show in Seattle, and a BSU game here and there I have not spent much time on the computer.
Conf. weekend will be a good time to get caught up on some things at the house, and some much needed family time.

Letter from Elder Morrison

well, it sure sounds like you've had your hands full this last week.
sickness is no fun. i cant believe i havent been real sick on my mission so far. i've had a few colds, but no throwing up or anything. so i'm really happy about that. watch, now that i've said that, i'm going to be getting sick here pretty soon...lol. just out of curiosity, how small is 3rd ward?
if they have 2 counselors to the bishop, they're doing better than us. lol.
we only have about 25 active members. soon to be about 27! andria, who is 9 years old is one of them. she is so excited about the gospel. this week, we went to teach her, and she had to clean her room before we could teach. her parents had tried taking toys, and taking down her hannah montana posters (she LOVES hannah montana) and all sorts of stuff. didnt even phase her.
they told her she couldnt take her lessons until after it was clean and that really got her going. each fast sunday for the last 3 she has had someone help her, and she always wants to bear her testimony. 2 times she had someone write it for her, and then the beginning of september, she had me go up with her to help her. it's so great to see her enthusiasm for the gospel.
the other baptism we have lined up is tonya. she's doing really well, and i believe she's been 2 days without a cigarette. she's making a huge step in her life. she's really solid too. in our gospel principles class one of the members asked her how she knows the church is true and she said something to the effect of "when i walk into other churches, i feel dread. when i walk into this church, i feel peace." SOLID!!! she's changing her baptism date to the 18th, the day after andria's. she wants to know what to expect before she get's baptized. she's pretty excited about it thought i think. she also has 2 kids that are 7 and 5. i think i was put here to help build the primary. lol. so far since i've been here, we have 4 new people in primary.
that more than doubles the amount we had to start with.
the weather has been pretty warm again lately. i cant believe september is already gone when it feels like august still. lol. i cant say i'm enjoying the heat, but i think it's supposed to start cooling down a little bit here soon. the leaves are starting to change now. i'm really excited for that. i love the fall in missouri. you'll never see anything like it back home. can you believe that a year ago i was in st. peters? i was in my 2nd area a year ago. about 7 1/2 months left. either i'll have 1 or 2 more areas. when you put it that way, i dont have much longer.
i got an email today from Russelyn Callahan. i guess she's decided to go on a mission. i'm way excited for her. she will be a great missionary.
as for my shirt, i made it with acryllic paint. elder grayson found the stencil, cut it out, and then i just used it with acryllic paint. i think it looks pretty cool.
well, i guess that's about it for this week. i hope you all get better if you havent already. love you lots!
Elder Morrison

Letter from Elder Morrison

well, sounds like everyone has had a pretty hectic week. ours has been sortof a downer, but i figured things had to be going too good. salt lake denied brittany's baptism, so she cant get baptized for 2 more years. she did come to church though yesterday, which was good. 2 years will be a good test for her. her friend, shreenia told us that she doesnt want to be baptized anymore. she said she is planning on it in the future, but doesnt want to right now. so we're down to 1 date instead of 3, but the 1 is pretty dang solid. her name is tonya, and she has a small smoking problem (1/2 pack a day, which is really low for missouri) but we're going to help her with that and she said that she's felt more peace since she's been meeting with us. she said she used to have anger problems, but they've gone down a ton since she started meeting with us. miracles happen, what can i say. anyways, that's really all that has been happening this week missionary work wise. elder grayson hit his year mark (which was also his birthday) on friday, so we bought an ice cream cake. New Franklin also had a little festival that reminded me of spring fest...except do it in the park by the funeral home. lol. really small but we got to listen to a country band that was pretty good.
this week, i made a couple shirts. they're of the same thing, but different colors. i like the gray and red better, but you tell me what you think. i'll send a couple pics.
the new place is good. it's an apartment, but that's fine. i've realized that i've been in this area forever. i was here before i hit 11 months. this last week (if you recall included the 16th) was my 16 month mark. i'll be home 8 months from yesterday. crazy huh? i also just got a cd from ashlie that had all of you guys on it. i was glad to get that. it's interesting that i've forgotten what it's like to be a real person, and be able to just hang out. oh well, i'm sure i'll have no problem getting back into the real world. ashlie had made the comment that she made the video just in case i forgot what she looked like. truth is, it wasnt what she looks like, it's what she sounds like. i've forgotten how a lot of people sound. pretty weird.
well, i guess that's about all this week. hope you're all doing alright, and for grandma (who i think should be in ML right now) good luck in the MTC. Sunday = Celestial Sandwiches and BYU Creamery ice cream. soak it in...lol.
love you!
Elder Morrison

Family Home Evening

Good family home evening. Not that most of our family home evenings aren't good, but this one will stand out. A lot of the time it is more like "family hell evening", but this time Creesh took the bull by the horns and prepared a lesson that would be meaningful to our family. She taught us Jacob 2-19 and hand wrote the scripture on a piece of paper for all to keep with a string attached for us to put on our finger this week. This is reminding us to be of service just like mom who is in Oakley serving Heavenly Father by helping Grandma get ready for her mission. She challenged all of us to do something this week to help Grandma Burch.

Letter from Elder Morrison

well, transfers didnt happen exactly the way i wanted to, but i'm still here. me and elder grayson are both here in the fayette area for another 6 weeks. we have a baptism interview this week for brittany, who has a date of the 27th. she has to be interviewed by president turley because she is on probation. she has really come a long way though. it's amazing to see people progress and to change for the better.
things have been pretty hectic this week. we had to get all our moving done while juggling all our appointments. we were pretty tired by the end of the week, but we got it done. when we got moved in on friday night, we found that there was no running water. wow, that is definitely something i've taken for granted. we had to go back to the boonville house on saturday morning to shower and brush teeth. then we cleaned up in that house. we finally got the water turned on saturday night. i think someone in the office dropped the ball with that one. oh well, its all worked out now.
someone left a piano at our apartment, so we have a piano. it's pretty nice to be able to play again.
well, it's good to hear that grandma is doing alright getting everything together. i know what it's like to close up a house and move. i just did it.
lol. lots of work, and not very much fun.
oh, before i forget, here's my new address:
102 Sulphur St. Apt. D
New Franklin, MO 65274
mom, get used to speaking. yesterday at church, a speaker didnt show up until half-way through sacrament meeting, and i was the backup, which i found out about 2 minutes before the meeting. luckily i didnt have to speak, but i've had to do it before. you'll find once you get doing it, it's not that big of a deal. as for talks, i remember the talk that rolan lybbert gave at my baptism, when he took rocks (sins) and put them in a backpack i was wearing. it started to get really heavy, and then the 'baptism' was able to take off the backpack. just an idea. maybe it wasnt rolan lybbert, but it may have been. it's been a while...
well, sounds like coltin had his fair share of fun getting out of school. i dont recall doing that that early in life. i know i did it a couple times in high school. ( note from craig: this comment was in ref. to Coltin playing sick at school, heating up the temp to get out of PE)
i talked to Alex this morning, and he is still in Jackson, which is a zone leader position. he's doing well.
weather has been pretty crazy lately. it's been generally pretty mild, except the last couple days it rained a lot. the missouri is flooding again, and it was so bad last night that we couldnt even get to boonville from new franklin because there was water over the roads. we went into the lower parts of franklin and people were being flooded out of their houses. they werent even able to drive to their houses, so they were just out chilling in an intersection, waiting for the water to go down. crazy stuff.
well, i guess that's about it this week. i'll let you know next week how the interview went for brittany. love you lots, and drive safe, those of you that are driving.
Elder Morrison

Sorting Pictures

I have spent the last several weeks trying to save photos that were lost on my hard drive. It's official, I've got 25.7GB of the 109GB I had. As you can tell, I was able to save the important ones.

Leaving On A Jet Plane

Deb takes off tomorrow to spend some one-on-one time with her mom. She will be helping her mom prepare for her mission (New Mexico). Wilma leaves for the MTC on Monday Sept. 29th.
The kids are already freaking out wondering what we are going to eat for the next week... I didn't learn to cook mac-n-cheese on my mission for nothing.

New Critters

Dwarf Hamsters. Just 2 more things to worry about.

Letter from Elder Morrison

hey family!
things are looking up here in boonville! we set 2 more dates this week, and will set another this upcoming week. if all goes well, we'll have a baptism every week for 4 weeks starting september 27! all seem to be progressing well. we had 3 of them at church yesterday.
transfer calls were supposed to be last night, but since things are being thrown off, they will be tonight. the most logical thing would be to keep us here another one together, but i'm kinda hoping that elder grayson will be transferred. the members dont care for him much, and he doesnt care too much for the area, plus i dont think he even wants to be on a mission. its making it hard for me to be motivated. we'll find out about our apartment today, after i'm done here i have to call the mission office to ask about it. i'm going to miss the old house, but i guess a change of scenery (at least a little bit) wouldnt hurt.
Elder Grayson has gotten me into origami. i've been making a ton of them in spare time. its really some pretty crazy stuff, but it's a lot of fun, if you know what you're doing.
as for the little girl that needs surgery, her eye muscles are too tight.
she's had the surgery before, but needs it again. it basically makes her eyes cross sometimes. the kicker is that they dont have insurance, so they have to pay in full before they can even schedule the procedure. i appreciate that you pray for them. i'm sure they do too.
man, nothing like getting grandma on her toes. going into the MTC early would be a big deal. i can only imagine if they called me a week after i got my call and said "ok, just kidding. instead of coming in 2 months, we want you here in 2 weeks." that would be insane to get everything in order. i'll make sure to drop Rick a line. i'm sure he could use it. i remember getting mail in the MTC. it is definitely appreciated.
sounds like the ball game was pretty good. i would have loved to go. i really want to go to a Mizzou game, especially since they're off to a good start. i guess i just miss doing regular people stuff, but only 8 more months until i can again. i suppose i'll be alright with that. lol.
well, i guess that's about all the news for this week. next week, i may be in a new area. i just dont know. transfer calls will be tonight. maybe i'll come to the library tomorrow just to write a quick email for you so you can be in the know.
love you all,
Elder Morrison

Letter from Elder Morrison

well, we've had a pretty good week. probably one of the best since i've been in fayette. this week we had an appointment with Brittany, and she now has a baptismal date of september 27. we hope that goes through, because there are some legal issues and stuff that have to be approved by president turley, and possibly the first presidency. i dont know exactly how that all works. but yeah, we have a date!!! also this week, we'll be meeting with the jacksons, and discussing a baptismal date for their 9-year old, so we'll set a date there this week. also, Tanya i think is progressing well, and we're going to try to set a date this week. i hope you've been praying for her. she really needs some financial help for her daughter. so yeah, we could have 3 dates this week! we had presidents interviews this week, and i told president turley that i'd like to stay here, especially since the jackson girl wants me to baptize her. but that i was kinda getting tired of elder grayson. he's not a bad guy, but he's kinda antisocial, and i find i'm doing almost everything myself. it's getting pretty tiring. president was talking about leaving me and transferring elder grayson, but he needs to pray about it first. next week, i'll be able to tell you what happens with that. transfer calls are this sunday, and then transfers will be next friday, which is a different day, but things happened that we had to move it a bit.
we found a new place, and got an application sent to the office to fill out. i need to call on how that's going, but i dont know for sure if that's going to work or not.
thanks for the package. i was pretty stoked to get all that stuff. you're right though, it doesnt matter what it is, as long as it's from home. lol.
that's really weird about the church. in fact it reminds me of an experience we had the other week. we went to drop off some missionaries in columbia late one night, and when we got to the apartment, the lights were off and the place was trashed. the thing is, is that there is another set of missionaries in that apartment that should have been home by then. we went to try to turn on the lights and none of them would work except the bathroom light. one of the missionaries went into the room across from the bathroom and we heard him scream. followed by laughter. the other missionaries had trashed their own apartment, unscrewed all the lightbulbs, and then waited for us to come in there, and pointed a knife at the first missionary to go into the room. it scared the crap out of him, but it was way funny. that was the night that we made that cake for the zone leader. i'm sending a couple pictures of that. elder swenson made the cake from a cake mix, and then did all the decorating from scratch.
well, i guess that's about all for this week.
hope you all have a good week. remember i love you!
Elder morrison

Been A While

Last week our computer hard drive failed and feared we lost all of our photos, music, video etc. And since for some reason I have a hard time posting on this blog without a photo, I have not posted anything for a while.
Last night I purchased a new hard drive and with the help of Kevin Donovan may be able to recover a portion of the lost pictures.
I'm just in the "hide and watch" mode.

Letter from Elder Morrison

well, it's been a pretty good week. while our numbers were pretty low, things are going really well. me and elder grayson are getting along now, and i dont know what fixed it, and i dont know what the main problem was, but we get along great now. now that we got that all worked out, it's time to get to work! i'm really excited about a few investigators we have. one is a young mother, possibly has a husband, and has 2 kids. she seemed pretty interested, and as soon as we can get an appointment, i think things will start rolling with her. we have a less-active member that really wants to get back into the church. she has 2 kids, 8 and 9 that are not baptized, and so the 9 year old will be under our stewardship. so we will probably be setting a baptismal date this week or next. real excited about that one.
this week we've done almost no service, which is really odd. in fact, i was almost at a loss of what to do. this week, we'll plan a lot better on using our time, without planning service. but if service comes up, we sure wont turn it down.
the wards came back to boonville to finish cleaning up their stuff and hauling what they could back to wyoming. they found a house in cheyenne, and are apparently doing great. brother reynolds will leave this week and then we'll be the only ones in the house. i found out it's only 5,000 sq. ft., not 8,000. but still, way huge for only 2 people. brother ward said someone is interested in buying the house, so at this transfer we're getting kicked out. prez turley said to start looking for another place, because i think he wants to keep us here another transfer.
we finally moved into our new building for church this week. it's really nice. there's so much room! lol. compared to other branches our size, we have i think double the room than we should. we got an electric piano, which we're excited about, as well as a potium with speakers in it. i'll have to get a picture next sunday. since we're leasing this space for a few years, it wont be dedicated, so i can take pictures. it's not completely finished, but hopefully it will be by next week. we'll be having an open house for the public in the later part of september, which the stake presidency wants to keep us here for that at least, hence the one more transfer.
this week, we had our zone conference, and in preparation for it, we had a special district meeting. it was way spiritual. i was so glad to have it. it was 2 districts, and the district leaders gave way good trainings and then we had a sweet testimony meeting. i think everyone but 1 person was crying at some point. i really needed that. i had kinda forgotten my purpose, and why i am here.
the weather has been pretty mild here this last couple of weeks. i dont know if we've even broken 90 in the last 2 weeks. there has been a share of humidity, but as far as heat in august goes, it hasnt been bad at all. it was funny to see brother ward come back and when we were outside i thought it was pretty comfortable, and he was sweating like crazy just from humidity. i guess you actually do get used to it.
i'm glad you got to see radiolake. i really miss playing with them. it was a lot of fun. maybe when i come home i'll travel to seattle a couple times to play with them.
well, i hope things go well this week for you. love you tons, and make sure you read your scriptures and say your prayers!
Elder Morrison