Letter From Luke Dated September 30, 2013 (Luke's Birthday)

Wow. 

Finally here. It's nothing like I expected! This place is so much different than the states. I love it though! 

So I'll start from the beginning. Last week I said goodbyes to my district and everything back in salt lake. Sooo sad. I miss them already! 

I went to the SLC airport on wednesday morning. Got checked in and went on my way through security. (mine were the only bags that weren't overweight.) Met up with Sisters Walker, Bangerter, and Neilsen. They were all in my mtc district. 

We flew into Los Ángeles. I sat by Sisters walker and neilsen. It wasnt too bad! Kinda short. We had a little time in LA. So we made some phone calls. I wanted to call more people. But i figured i better give the time to the sisters. 

We then got back on a plane to fly all the way over to Atlanta. Longer flight this time. It was alright. I was able to sleep a little bit. I sat by the same two sisters. We just talked most of the time. Not too bad! 

We arrived in Atlanta a little late because of a water problem on the plane back in LA. So we ran across the airport to get to our next flight. There was a whole ton of missionaries there. Some visa waiters, some going to the mtc down here. We got on that one and got all situated. Sister Bangerter was sitting with us this time. We all got setteled in and sis bangerter said she had melatonen. (I know i didn't spell that right) so she gave me one. I slept most of the way there! 

It was soo nice! after 9 hours 45 min. We finally got to Argentina! It was soo nice to finally be here. After a pain in the butt process of getting through customs and immigration we finally got to our mission president. He greeted us and we were on our way. we went to the temple, took pictures, then went to the presidents house to eat some lunch, have interviews and be introduced into the mission. Soo good! 

(: We spent the majority of this day in the offices and everything just working on paperwork and all that! Kinda boring. But it's all good! 

We had oreo night. An experience I could spend a whole email on. Crazyness. I'll send pictures next week. 

On friday I got my new companion! Elder Barrenechea from Peru. He doesn't speak hardly any english. But we get along just fine! He's like 5 foot 4. Much shorter than me. It's a little funny to look at us! 

My area is the Marilo ward. The city of moreno.. I think. Or maybe the city or Marilo. Who knows! lol. It's a pretty humble area. Mostly dirt streets. The houses are generally small. I love it though! The people are so nice and loving! It rocks! I'm loving Argentina! And my mission!! (:

So. Mail I can get mail anytime, as much as you all can send. But as far as packages it's recommended that I only get 3-4 a year. Every package I get costs about 20-50 dollars to recieve on top of what you have paid to send it down here. Not too cheap. So they reccomend that I only get a few a year so I still have money to eat and stuff (:

The address for mail and packages is:

La Iglesia de Jesucristo de Los Santos de Los Últimos Días

Elder Morgan

Misión  Buenos Aires Oeste

C.C. 92 

1702 Ciudadela

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Hope to hear from all of you soon!!

Love you!! (:

Elder Morgan

Luke makes it to Argentina Finally 09-26-2013

Here is a letter from President and Sister Carter

September 26, 2013


Dear Brother and Sister Morgan,

We are writing to inform you that your son, Elder Morgan, has arrived safely in the Argentina Buenos Aires West Mission. We have enjoyed becoming acquainted with him and are confident that he will beco- me an effective instrument in the hands of the Lord in sharing the gospel.

We have assigned your son a companion who is an experienced, devoted, and motivated Elder. Missionaries understand that one of the greatest privileges available in the mission is to train a new missionary. This first companion will be a special person in your son’s life and will help him to have a great start to his mission.

We feel that our greatest responsibility is the care and welfare of your son. We want to assure you that we will be in close contact with him. We will be observant of his physical health, happiness and spiritual well-being. We will work closely with him throughout his mission to help him succeed and fulfill his calling as a representative of the Church and as an ambassador of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Please be assured that we will be in contact with you if we ever encounter any concerns that would call for your attention. We see you as a great asset to the success of your son while he is serving in the mission field and will work closely with you if the need arises.

Enclosed is a photograph of your missionary taken with us today. You may want to check in on the mission blog from time to time at buenosaireswest.blogspot.com There you will also find contact information for us on the tab beneath the header.

Thank you for the sacrifices you are making at home to have your missionary in the field. We have seen the Lord bless the families of missionaries who are serving in untold ways.

Appreciatively,
President Douglas B. Carter Hermana Debra Carter 

Luke's last letter from the states dated September 21, 2013

Hello!!!

So I'm going to Argentina in two days. It's crazy to think about it. I honestly thought it wouldn't come! But it's here! I can't wait to get down there!!! (: 

This week has been really really good. First things first. Leida (Lady). We asked her who she wanted to baptize her. She said me. I explained to her that it's better if someone from the branch baptizes her. She was cool with that, and she said she'd get back to us on our next lesson. So we showed up for our next lesson and she asked me to baptize her. I figured it was okay. So I said yes (: I got to perform the baptism on Saturday. She seemed so happy. I asked her how she felt afterwards. She said "New." Best answer I've ever heard! (: Pretty sweet! 

ON Sunday she went up to get confirmed, and the branch president asked her who she would like to confirm her. We had talked about the first counselor doing it before. But she pointed to me and said, "Him." So, then I had to figure out how to do a confirmation.(I've never done one before this moment) I did it, and afterwards I asked another Elder if I had done it right. He said perfect. So I was a little relieved. I felt bad that I did both the baptism and the confirmation. But it was what she wanted. So It's all good! (: 

On Saturday after the baptism My dad and Susan took my companion and I to Tucanos. I always walk outta there in pain. But it's sooo worth it!! (: It was pretty awesome!

I got a package from my mom this week. It was an airplane survival kit. It was pretty sick. My mom kinda rocks. And is hilarious!!!!

Well, I gotta go shopping now. I'm gonna buy all of one box of cereal to last me the day I have left here. Good stuff (:

Love you all!!

Elder Morgan

ps. I get a little trunky every time I see an airplane (: Just sayin

Luke's letter dated September 16, 2013

Wow. This week has been crazy fast! It's been awesome though! 

First things first. On Wednesday we were riding past seven peaks. They've been doing some kinda work there, and have put up giant shipping containers along the side of the wave pool, and have put up a green screen on the containers, and on some scaffolding that was set up on the back of the pool. I was a really curious as to what was going on. So we asked a man in the parking lot what was going on. He said it was a movie set for the church. They were filming a scene in the Sea of Galilee when Christ calms the tempest. He asked us if we had a minute that he could show us around. We of course said yes!! 

He took us on the set showed us around, introduced us to a bunch of people and showed us how they were going to film it. They do all the filming from 7 in the evening to 7 in the morning so they can get the lighting right. It was a spectacular sight! We were then taken over to the catering truck. We got a really nice meal and got to talk to a bunch of people. We got to see the people playing Christ and all the apostles in the boat. It was really awesome! 

The video is going to go in the Rome visitors center. So they're filming it in Aramaic and Italian. That was so cool! They're done now. Today is their last day. But it was awesome to see that!  

We have had some awesome lessons with our investigator Lady. She's super solid. She always asks the best questions in lessons, and is so interested and wants to learn! She will be baptized this Saturday. She's so excited! I dunno who's more excited, her, or me! She's going to be an amazing member of the church! I know that for sure! 

Genaro and Viate have been a little hard to find at home this week. The one time we did she was sleeping and he was outside. We tried to have a lesson with him. But he didn't really wanna hear anything about it. One funny part, his friend (Who is a member) and he were talking about bullets and guns and stuff. They said something about a 7.62 mm round. Then genaro said oh these white boys don't even know what that is. I then told him, well actually... I'm in the military. I know all about that kinda stuff. He said "Oh, I guess you do." It was a little funny! He thought it was pretty good! 

Haven't heard anything on my visa. The word from Argentina is that they're supposed to get about 40 visa waiters mid-transfer. Hope I'm one of them. 

Just as a friendly reminder, My birthday is September 30th. 

 

on a related note, my address is :

1046 W 1700 S

SLC UT, 84104

(: (:

Love you all!  Hope you have a great week!! 

Elder Morgan

Luke's Letter Dated September 9, 2013

Luke Wrote:

Just want you all to know. I, Elder Luke Young Morgan, am the first Visa Waiter District Leader in the Utah Salt Lake City Mission. Do I rock?? Dang right I do.

So.. this week has been pretty interesting. 

Monday night we got a call saying that Elder Colton was going to be moved up to Farmington. So he moved up there Tuesday.  

President told me that I was the Senior comp/ trainer for Elder Shepard. We thought that was pretty sweet. 

Most of this week we've been doing service for people. Some projects are a lot bigger than we should have taken on. But we did it anyways.. haha. We had to fix a hole in a lady's ceiling. Still working on that one. haha. We had to help clean out this family's backyard. While we were there the lady told us that her husband was going to get served with divorce papers that day. We got outta there pretty quick. Didn't wanna be around for that whole deal. 

One of our investigators, Lady, is super super solid. One of her friends who is already a member told us well, I'm pretty sure you've already got her all convinced. She will like read ahead on reading assignments, ask super super solid questions. All sorts of stuff. It's pretty tight. I love it. 

Genaro is still struggling with alcohol. His wife, Viate, still wants to get baptized though. They've been having a hard time coming to church, so it's gonna be put off a couple weeks. She's pretty much an angel though. 

Transfers are this Wednesday. We already got transfer info this morning. I'm staying in my same house. With my same comp!!! First time I've actually had anything at all solid in my mission!! (: (: 

And I got made District Leader. pretty sweet. No visa waiter has ever been made district leader in this mission. Pretty stoked. But kinda nervous. We'll see how it all goes. I have to call President at noon to talk to him about it. We'll see what he has to say! 

Love you all!

Elder Morgan

Luke's Letter Dated September 2, 2013

Wow. September already. Onion days this weekend. Birthdays like every single day. Crazy that I've already been gone this long. 

I'm loving it here. It's been tough to love at times. But I really do love it. I love seeing people change their lives every single day. And I love being part of that change. 

This week has been pretty good! We've had a lot of exciting things happen! 

So. Genaro. He's the old drunk mexican guy. Well. We had a lesson with him in his house. We planned to watch Joseph Smith the Prophet of The Restoration. But they didn't have a dvd player. So we went and borowed a tv from some tongans down the street. (I love tongans. It probably looked sketchy that we were carrying a tv down the street though) So anyways, we went to the house. Introduced the movie, and watched it. It's an hour and 20 minutes. After it was over, Genaro started yelling at us. He said that that whole movie was a bunch of lies. And that it wasn't true, cause it only talked about Joseph Smith. Not the Virgin Mary. And he also said it couldn't be true because god has never been in a video. 

Lesson learned. Drunk old mexican guys don't like movies. Check. Never doing that again. 

Later that day we saw them out walking, talked for a little while. Apologized, and we were all good. Somewhere along the line he thought we were there to fix his wife's citizenship papers. Yeah... not quite what we do. haha. Oh well. Everything's good now. And she's preparing to be baptized. He needs to quit drinking, but says he wants to get baptized too. 

Next story. 

Lady. That's her name. Lady. 

We were on exchanges and my companion was with some english elders. They went in this apartment complex called the seasons. As they were walking they saw a lady on her stairs crying. They started to talk to her. She had just moved from new york, And wasn't sure why she was here. She had gone outside to pray and ask god for help right when they showed up. They told her that they had been sent there by god. They didn't have plans to be there that night. But had some extra time and figured they would try their luck there, and they found her. 

The next day we had a lesson with her. We taught the restoration. Well most of it. She's super super receptive. And she accepted the baptismal invitation! She's getting baptized the 21st of september. 

When she picked that date she immediately asked what time it would be at. We told her it could be at any time. She then picked 10 am. Her member friend that lives with her then started planning all the food that they would have there! Pretty much it was a miracle find! I love when the lord shows us things like that!   

Thank you all for fasting for my visa! I appreciate that more than you know! 

Love you all!!

Elder Luke Morgan