Letter from Elder Morrison

hey family. it's been a pretty good week. i guess i'll start off with the spiritual experience that happened this week. we were out tracting and were crossing a street. a guy crossed after us going another way. i had the impression "that guy needs to be contacted". so i turned around and contacted him. it turns out that he's in the same position as young Joseph Smith. very confused about religion, and is trying to find the right one. he was very excited about the message of the restoration, and we'll be teaching him more this week. his name is jason.
well, i'm really missing spring-fest. i'm really excited to be able to go next year. no fun run for me though. good job ty and kevin with that. no way i could keep up with that. it's hard to find some exercise that wont hurt my knees too much. we've been getting on the bikes a bit lately, but we're staying away from it the last couple days due to rain. today, we gave up part of our p-day to help brother ward and brother reynolds put some tin roofing on brother reynolds's house. it's a heck of a job, and they would have been up a creek without a paddle without us today. elder parkinson was able to climb all over the roof pretty well, and me and brother reynolds were cutting peices. brother reynolds just turned 81, but he's pretty able with that stuff for his age. i'm also pretty stoked about the waterpark. i'm way excited to get on that and give it a whirl. ty looks like he's doing pretty well on it. are they not letting people stand up?
you're gonna have to show me a picture of the new car. in st. louis, gas is up over 4 bucks, but we're lucky out here. it's only 3.69 :-P well, summer is definitely coming up on us quick out here. the humidity is already getting way uncomfortable, just like when i first got into missouri. we had a day in the 90s on sunday. that was not fun at all. the church building was way hot too. luckily, we'll have our own building in july hopefully. i'm pretty glad i only have one summer left. i'll be getting home before it gets way bad out here.

well, i guess i'm about out of stuff to say. hopefully i have some good stories for you next week. love you!

Elder Morrison

The Surf

The Race is On

Kevin & Crew came up for the Memorial Weekend. Ty & Kevain ran in the 5k fun run. Ty took 8th in his class and 28th overall, Kevin took 3rd in his class and 68th overall. Craig took pictures and had more class and didn't run at all.

Obviously this picture was taken before the race ran. There are some rules on blogspot that don't allow pictures after the race. Now I understand why.

One Year Anniversary

One year out... one less shirt!

Congratulation Kenz only 365 more days!

Letter from Elder Morrison

well, this week has been a pretty good one. we've found a few new investigators this week. we also started looking for some service to do here in boonville, so that we dont have to go to columbia so much and use all our miles. we found a recycling center that can use our help, and the employees there are mostly developmentally disabled, and that's essentially the purpose of this company here, is to give them jobs. last weekend we helped brother ward and his father in law (who is from Royal City) do some yard work. we mowed the lawn. but this is a little different. the lawn was mostly weeds, and some of them were up to 3 feet tall. we used a weedeater to get a lot of it, but it was a pretty good sized job. the missouri summer is starting to set in too, which means plenty of humidity. sunday we had a potluck after church, which was way good. cant turn down free food. the reason we didnt email on monday was that we helped brother ward's parents move. they are moving back to south jordan, utah. what we thought was a 2 hour job turned into 6 or 7 hour job, and we were way tired after it. we figured we'd go shower and just work that day and then take p-day today, since we had nothing planned. the Elmer family let us use their computer for this, so that is nice. sometimes you have to live the spirit of the law to meet circumstances. it also gives me a chance to get some of my pictures on cd's, since my cards are nearly full. you're going to have to send me some pictures of the flowrider. i'm excited to see those kids on there. next year, i'll be able to try it out for myself.
well, i cant think of any other updates.
as far as your questions go, my new companion is great. we get along really well. we've had some good times. his dad is not ray, and he doesnt think he knows a ray parkinson. and i did buy some shoes in columbia. yes, dad i did get your card. thanks a ton. and i was a little surprised at the rock, but i know that only you would send your missionary son a smooth rock. maybe i can trade it for an eval kneval motorcycle! lol.
well, i'll be sending some pictures through g-mail.
love you, and keep it up on the bom. i'm in alma, but hopefully i'll finish within a month.
Elder Morrison

letter from elder morrison

i guess i covered most everything yesterday. although i forgot to tell you that if my shorts are the ones that are the Roca brand, dont send them.
they're not very good. i saw tyler's special musical number. it was way funny. i'll send you some pictures from gmail too. hope you're all doing well still. love you,
Elder Morrison

The Shriner's Report

Deb & Tyler went to Spokane this morning for Tyler's 6 month visit with the back surgeon at Shriners Children's Hospital. The news is good. For the past year now the curve of his spine has remained the same. In the doctor's words, "surgery would only help cosmetically". Tyler has been able to control the pain with meds and exercise. So... at this point his name has been taken off the perpetual appointment schedule and no restrictions have been placed on him. Obviously, mowing the lawn, cleaning his room, taking out the garbage and homework will continue to hurt his back, but his parents will have less guilt making him do it.

Letter from Elder Morrison

well, it sure has been another week. i cant believe May just decided to come up. it's like i just got here 2 weeks ago. we do have transfer info though, and Elder Thomas is going to be transferred. he will be training in florrisant, which is close to st. louis. i'll be getting Elder Parkinson, who has been out about 6 months. this week has been somewhat productive. we had some really good lessons with Jonathan and Christina. they are very sincere, and are asking very sincere questions. we had stake conference this weekend, so i dont know if they were there or not. there were a lot of people. it was a really good conference though. we had some really good talks by the stake leaders, as well as the st. louis temple prez/wife and president and sister turley. presiding at the meetings was Jay E. Jensen of the Seventy. he was a really good speaker. there was a lot of talks on spiritual healing and emotional healing. it was way good. we've been in Columbia for the last 3 days to save miles. with stake conference over 2 days, and p-day the next, there was no sense in driving back to boonville (25 miles each way).
this week there was a big festival in boonville, too. they had some live music (in a place about the size of noon moon (when it was open) and a bunch of kids activities. they also opened the old county jail from like the 1800s for tours and such. me and elder thomas took our own tour, and got some good pics.
sounds like coltin did pretty dang good at the derby. i really like the picture of him playing derby on mac n' cheese. that sounds like something missionaries would do. except we wouldn't have that many boxes.....lol.
so the missionaries there just call and say 'we're hungry'? wow, they have some guts. there's no way i could do that out here. maybe it's just different back home than out here. but that is sad that donna moved out. you'll have to let me know about the new neighbors.
as for tyler, holy crap! have you cut your hair since i left? looks like you're enjoying the high school life. you'll have to write me about the prom date, and all that good stuff.
so amanda came over huh? we've been writing still, and we're getting to be really good friends. of all people i wouldnt have imagined i would stay in touch with her. but i'm really glad i have. i didnt send you that skirt pic because i either forgot about it, forgot my card at the library that week, or was at a library i couldnt send it, and so i forgot about it. that's pretty cool she stopped by though. i got a couple pics in here. one is in the car last night. clockwise, starting with me, its me, elder thomas, elder jones, and elder cloward. i'll also send you a video of when we were driving and had a couple guitars in the car. elder jones and elder cloward were playing the back seat. i think you'll like it. but that will come from gmail.
well, i think that's about all for this week. i guess i'll talk to you on sunday, and i'll probably call around 1 your time. i say around, give or take a half hour, so you dont get mad at me if it's not on the dot. cant wait!
love you,
Elder Morrison

Dark Star Orchestra - A Near Dead Experience

Spencer & I went to Portland, Oregon for the weekend to see Dark Star Orchestra. It was like traveling in a time machine back to 1988.

Dark Star Orchestra is a tribute band that recreates Grateful Dead shows. The show we saw was origionaly performed by the grateful dead on July 30, 1988 in Monterey, California. They reproduced this show using the same equipment and the same setlist. For my own information and any of those who care the setlist was:

Let The Good Times Roll-> Feel Like A Stranger, Loser, Minglewood Blues, Row Jimmy, Memphis Blues, When Push Comes To Shove-> The Music Never Stopped-> Don't Ease Me In Victim Or The Crime, Touch Of Gray, Estimated Prophet-> Eyes Of The World-> Drums-> Space-> Smokestack Lightning-> Goin' Down The Road Feelin' Bad-> Wharf Rat-> Throwin' Stones-> One More Saturday Night.

This picture is of us in front of our KOA Kamping Kabin in Cascade Locks, OR.

The Yellow Submarine

Tyler borrowed the Walker's yellow submarine for prom. He and his long lushes locks were really stylin'

Just Another Day in Tylerville

For young men's activity tonight Tyler is going on a 6 mile run. As he was headed out the door he decided to pick up the ukulele and favor us with a special musical number.

Kevakin Can't Get Enough Derby

First Place

Fourteen scouts, four tracks... one winner!

Tyler's New Sunday Suit

Deb took this picture as soon as we got back from church. He purchased the suit at the Senior Center for $5.99, yes prom is this weekend. I'm sure his date will be totally impressed.

Letter from Elder Morrison

hey family!
this week has been a pretty good one. things have been about the same, though we've picked up a few new investigators. one of our investigators moved out on his girlfriend, so we dont know where he is, but we're going to teach his girlfriend. maybe we had to talk to him so we could talk to her? we'll see what happens.
i didnt get a note from dad. so i dont have any idea what you're talking about with the Jasmans. i'm guessing one of their kids passed away. that's really sad to hear. i hope they'll be comforted, and that you will do what you can to help them. i know you will.
That's exciting for Brett. tell him to be reading Preach My Gospel. he'll have a huge head start in the MTC.
i'll let you know what's going on for the Mother's day call next week. i'm assuming we'll be using the Ward's phone, since they're right next door. i'm really excited for it. who would have thought that i'm already coming up on the 2nd phone call home. almost a year out.
oh, by the way, i thought you'd find this interesting. everyone thinks my name is a girls name, well, there's a missionary in our district named Kelby. so is Kelby a girls name or a guy's name? lol i havent talked to jeanne too recently. i need to call her. she's been on my mind for a few days, but i havent found the time to call her.
i dont have any new pictures this week. i'll work on getting some this upcoming week. transfers are in a week and a half, and elder thomas will probably be transferred. i'll let you know what happens with that next week.
well, that's about all this week. sorry there wasnt much of great importance this week. we've been doing a lot of tracting, cuz you gotta find so you can teach.
love you all,
Elder Morrison

Anyone Can Play Softball !

Tyler, the official assistant captain of the Moses Lake 4th Ward Softball Team. He is the envy of all his team mates.

Letter from Elder Morrison

this week has been a pretty slow one, teaching wise, but a pretty good one. we spent a lot of time in columbia this week. saturday, we did a big service project for the Central Missouri Food Bank. Mizzou has a fundraiser called the black and gold game, which they split the team up into 2 teams (possibly 1st string vs. 2nd string) and play a game of football. entrance costed 3 dollars or 3 cans of food for the food bank. our job was to take the full barrels of food, and put them in a moving van. i was way tired after that. we did it for about 6 hours. yesterday we had a good day at church. we got a referral for a part-member, and we'll start teaching tomorrow. last p-day, we played basketball and football, and a member had all of us for a bbq, which was way nice. we've been getting out on the bikes a little bit this week. we biked to New Franklin on the Katy Trail. that was pretty cool except it was freezing. yesterday we biked to a richer neighborhood to tract because they're all home on sunday. we met a jewish guy that showed us his music collection. he has over 72,000 records, tapes and cds. it was ridiculous how much music he had. he is going to make us a few copies of some cd's by a group called the Deseret String Quartet, which i think dad will probably enjoy. i'll probably send those home to you once i get them.
i'm really glad to hear that ty is going with the missionaries. in St. Peters we had a kid getting ready to go on his mission that would always go with us, and it was really nice to be able to have a teamup anytime.
speaking of investigator prayer stories, recently we have been working with a guy who just isnt getting it. but he wants to learn about us. we threw down a lot of testimony and read 2 Nephi 29 with him (you should probably read that). at the end of the lesson the spirit was way strong, and then we asked him to pray right there if the book of mormon was true. he did, and the spirit was so strong. i dont know how he doesnt know if its true after that experience, but it built my testimony more, and allowed me to strongly feel the spirit.
our mission has recently started reading the book of mormon together. i'd encourage you all to read the book of mormon. i know 2nd nephi can get kinda tough. so can jacob 5. but when you read more than a verse or chapter a day, you get so much more from it. you know me, i hate reading, but i've been loving reading the book of mormon. we read 8 pages a day, and sometimes i read more than that. it really helps you feel the spirit, and ty, if you're going to be going on a mission, you need to have read and sincerely prayed about that book. i didnt realize that until in the MTC, which is too late. you really need to read the book of mormon, as a family, and individuals.
i didnt feel that earthquake from st. louis. and i havent talked to jeanne in a while. i need to call her. i was going to last night but things got pretty busy after we came in for the night.
This morning we taught seminary. ty, a class of 15 in seminary is nothing. try teaching 2 people, one of which doesnt really care to be there. and then add to the fact that we were teaching old testament, which is hard to understand a lot of the time anyways. we got up a half hour early to do that.
one of the youth in the branch (1 of like 7) has loaned us a guitar, and so me and Elder Thomas play pretty often. i bought a pair of drumsticks a while ago, and i set up some thick books and binders that make a really lame, but fun, drum kit. every now and then we rock out. maybe i'll make a video and send it to you.
well, that's about all i have this week. i hope you all are saying your prayers and reading the scriptures, especially the book of mormon. i love you all, and i'll send some pictures next time. i hope you got pictures of the minigolf in the church. i want to see that.
love you,
Elder Morrison

Letter from Elder Morrison

well, it's been a week in Boonville now. i'm really liking it. there's a lot of work already happening. we have the potential of setting 3 dates this next week. we're way excited for that. we got 4 referrals last week, all from members. there's so much to do that we havent even contacted everyone that we need to. things are going really well though. we're in Columbia, MO today. we were up here for conference, since the Fayette branch doesnt have a church building, we couldnt watch it there. there are about 30 active members (so we're told) that go to church. they meet in a hall that splits into 2 rooms, so they only meet for 2 hours, Sacrament and Sunday School. hopefully by june they're going to be moving into a bigger building, but not an actual church building. i think it's more of an office building, but that's fine. Conference was really good. i especially like Elder Holland's talk, as well as all of President Monson's talks. It was pretty cool to be in a Solemn Assembly. that doesnt happen very often where you get to be part of one. we stayed the night friday, saturday, and sunday with other missionaries in Columbia to save miles on the trip to and from boonville. it's about 25 miles either way, 50 roundtrip.
I did get to visit Jeanne, being so close to her place when we were in the mission home. it was really fun and we got to visit with her, ron, and her son Chad's family. we had a really good time. i'm really liking where i am though, now, and me and elder thomas are getting along really good. i feel a little like an outcast here, just because the other missionaries talk about things i dont know much about, like music bands that i've never heard of. today we're going to play flag football at the Missouri University practice field. it's a nice campus. I dont have pics this week, but i'll send some next week, probably.
yes, i did get the cd from Grandma. things have been really hectic lately, but i do love it. i listen to it when i go to sleep. tell her thank you for me.
Well, i guess that's about all thats happening here. i hope you are all doing well. i love you all and miss you tons. i'm almost half way done though.
Elder Morrison

Letter from Elder Morrison

hey there family!
well, this week has been an interesting one for sure. right now i'm in the mission office, getting ready to hit the road for fayette. we finally found a place to live. so i guess here's the story:
me and president turley went to sullivan to pick up the bag i forgot there. then we went straight to columbia (4 hours of driving by now) and then a little further to a place called booneville, a town of about 8,700. we stopped in a grocery store to look at ads and the little 'for rent' booklets. we sat down on the bench there and 2 members came up to us, and said 'hey, you guys look like missionaries'. we told them we were coming back into the area (it has been closed for 6 months) and we were in need of housing. the member said 'my brother lives just up the road. i think he might have a place. follow me there.' we followed them there, and that's where we're living. the Lord must really want us there. we hear that there are a few people waiting to be baptized there already. we're way excited.
ok, for the questions:
My comp is Elder Thomas. he's from Sandy, UT (yep, my first Utard) and has been out for about 14-15 months. he plays the guitar, and sings pretty well. he's really fun, and i'm going to get along with him well. i'm really excited for this transfer. alex is still in poplar bluff. he'll probably be moved next transfer. maybe he'll come out to fayette? lol.
thanks creesh and ty for the emails. creesh, you really brighten my day with your spelling. funny, funny.
here's my new Address:
Elder Morrison
c/o Brother Ward
711 E. Morgan St
Boonville, MO 65233
i got to see jeanne a couple days this week, since we didnt really have anything to do. we did go help with flood cleanup in Eureka. that was pretty cool. i didnt get any pics, because i couldnt carry a camera with me. it would have gotten destroyed if i had. it was a good opportunity. floods are pretty devastating. dad, what years did you serve again? there was a flood about 82 or so, but i couldnt remember. we also went to a baptism for a couple that Elder Thomas was teaching in Lake St. Louis. it was really good.
well, i better let Elder Thomas on here so we can get out to Booneville.
love you all. and no creesh, i'm not gonna kiss girls to come home. i'd like to, but i cant, so i wont.
pics should come next week.
Elder Morrison

Letter from Elder Morrison

well, beggars can't be choosers. the call has come, and we're getting whitewashed out. that means that both of us will be leaving, with a new 2 coming in. i'm pretty upset about leaving sullivan, in that i only had 1 transfer in which i could go anywhere without worrying about what my comp might have said, but i guess i dont really have a choice. i'm going to Fayette, MO, just west of Columbia. i'm going to be with Elder Thomas, and we're opening the area after it has not had missionaries for about 6 months. elder thomas is a cool guy though, and i'm excited to be working with him. it's going to take a couple weeks to get over the shock of probably wanting to be out here, instead of constantly wanting to be home. this week has been CRAZY though.
Tuesday, lots of rain. imagine a hefty rain in ML going for about 48 hours. this caused some crazy flooding. i'll email one from GMAIL to show you some pics. president turley told us on wednesday night not to go proselyting on thursday, and to wait for someone to call and need help. we just sat in the apartment, and did nothing, basically. friday we had a special zone conference with the area seventy out here. after that, we went with the washington elders to pacific, MO, where we helped make sand bags for the flooding. pacific got it bad. lots of stuff ruined there because of the river. saturday, we went to lonedell, MO to teach Ida, who we set a date of April 27th with. she also had us over for Easter dinner yesterday. her husband is a really good cook and made a delicious ham, and lamb roast. very tasty. we got the transfer call while we were there, and she was/is really upset. it's going to be hard for her to get new missionaries. she doesnt deal well with new people and large crowds, so it will be tough. also yesterday, we had lunch at Pam's house (pam is grama ethel's daughter). she cooked a really good ham too, and some veggies. it also snowed like crazy here yesterday. there were flakes the size of half your pinky falling so thick you could barely see for a couple minutes. it snowed a lot of smaller flakes throughout the day, but nothing stuck. getting another cold spell here for a little bit.
yes, i did get the package, and thank you. most of it's gone, but dont worry, there were plenty of people in the branch that kept it refilled. lol.
dad, thanks for giving me the crappiest picks for a bracket possible. really appreciate it.
as for keeping ty busy, tell him to go on teamups with the elders. have him and chandler go tracting. he'll need the practice.

well, i guess that's about it. i'll let you know how transfers go next week. love you all, hope you're doing alright.
Elder Morrison