Luke's Letter Dated January 27, 2014

Well hello! 

it feels like it was just yesterday that i had p day. The days are flying like crazy. The other day I realized that i already have 4 months out of the us. That's crazy! This week I want to talk a little bit about faith. 

The other day we got a call from our branch president. He told us that there was an inactive lady who called him and asked for a blessing. When we went to the house and got talking to the lady it turns out that it was her husband who needed the blessing. On christmas eve he had a heart attack, then he had another one on new years eve. On the way to the hospital for the second one he had a stroke. Somehow that left him with very little brain activity in one side of his brain. He was confined to his bed, couldn't move most of his body and could only speak very very faintly. This family was baptized like 40 years ago. They had been married in the temple and everything. They had been inactive for about 25 years. It was really impressive to me that in this difficult moment in their lives, they still held on to the faith they have. They asked, almost begged for a priesthood blessing. I was really humbled by the faith that this couple has. 

I hope that all of us can have the same kind of faith in our lives, in the priesthood and in Jesus Christ.

I love you all!!

Elder Morgan

Luke's Letter Dated 01/20/2014

Hey everyone!

Got the call on tuesday night Saying i was getting transfered. I was super surprised because my companion has like 8 months in that area, I was sure he was gonna leave. I packed all my stuff and got to bed about 12:30. The next morning I went to the transfer meeting and we all just kinda chilled and had a good time until the meeting started. As they were showing all the changes my name came up with an elder named Elder Peralta. I was so excited! I stayed in my zone, just moved my district. My companion is super super awesome! He's from Cordoba, he has like 3 years in total in the mission, this is his last transfer. We're killing it! And having so much fun! I love it!

I got to see the baptism of one of my investigators this weekend. His name is Leo. He changed his life completely! He was of the religion "un banda" Like a devil worship religion. Super sketchy. But he has such a strong testimony and loves the church! Really cool to see the changes that the gospel can make in peoples lives.

I love you all!

Elder Morgan

Luke's Letter Dated January 13, 2014

Hola a todos!!!!

This week flew by like crazy!! Time really is flying. Nothing too exciting happened this week, so I decided to talk about something a little different. 

In my house we live with two other Elders. Elder Streadbeck and Elder Paredes. They are the zone leaders for our zone. They have been tearing it up working with their recent converts to baptize the whole family. Recently they baptized 9 kids, anywhere from 8-12 years old. While many could look at this as something easy or even something "trucho" I got a different view of this situation the other day. 

I got to go to the area where these kids live, and most of them live with absolutely nothing. Some of them don't have parents and just live with those who will take them in. Most of them were on a direct course to nowhere. To a life of drugs, broken relationships, sorrow and pain. It was then that I realized what was happening with all these kids. As I was walking down the street with Elder Streadbeck I realized that he wasn't just baptizing kids. He wasn't just making more people members of he church. He is saving the lives of these young men. 

As I watched many of them pass the sacrament, and some of them enter the temple I realized that nothing can have a bigger influence on their lives than what is happening right now. 

I read in Preach My Gospel this morning something that Elder Oaks said. He said that we don't do missionary work for any reason but to "open the doors of the celestial kingdom." He goes on to finish with the declaration "Noobody else can do this!" 

I am filled with pride to be able to see and participate in this work of saving lives and helping people attain their eternal salvation. There is no greater thing on earth. There is no better cause, nor truer work.

I love you all. Have a great week!!

Elder Morgan

 We took all these kids on their bikes to play soccer. We had to ride with them like 3 or 4 miles. 

We got to go to the temple as a branch the other day. I love that place!

Luke's Letter Dated January 6, 2014

Hey everyone!

I hope you're all doing really well!! I have had a pretty good week. I have learned a lot this past week and My love for the lord and the gospel has grown a lot! This week's letter is going to be short, I wish I had a better excuse than I don't feel like writing a whole ton.

Today when I got on the computer I found out that My aunt Jeannette passed away on new years day. I am really sad for my family. Especially for my Uncle Joe and my Grandma Knight. I will be praying for them and for the family throughout this week. 

In this hard time for the family I just want to express my gratitude for the plan of salvation. I know that we will all see our loved ones again. I know that god has his hand in all things. I know that death is not the end of our existence and that we will grow and progress as a family still. 

I love you all and hope you have a good week!

Elder Morgan

Luke's Letter Dated December 30, 2013

This week was pretty awesome! We started out with our Christmas P day. Including a trip to the temple! The new video was really awesome! I think it'll be even better in English! 

On Tuesday we went to the Cepeda Family for dinner. We got there about 7 and hung out till almost 10. They had soo much good food!! I honestly don't know what most of it was called, But it was good!! 

At midnight here in Argentina they start lighting fireworks. I'm pretty sure some of these people save up all year to buy fireworks for the 24 th. It was pretty impressive! It sounded like some kind of war zone for about 20 minutes straight. After that we decided that it was time to get some sleep. 

On Christmas we just kinda did normal missionary stuff until the afternoon. We went to the family cepeda again and ate lunch there at their house. After that we got Skype all set up and talked with our families. My companion talked first, then me. The Cepeda family was really excited to see people that speak English, and to see snow. lol. Good stuff. 

Saturday we had the opportunity to see 13 Baptisms. We had one and the other elders had 12. (Capos) We Baptized a lady named Blanca. She is 79 years old. 

My companion kinda forgot how to baptize someone and had her plug her nose with the wrong hand, so she didn't go all the way under. After the first time she said NO!!! That's enough!! hahah. The mission president talked her into giving it another shot. After my companion trying all sorts of weird stuff to baptize her, he finally got it right, and everything went off really good. 

The other guy who was baptizing couldn't get the prayer right. He kept saying Cristo Jesus instead of Jesucristo. The mission president said " Well, He said the saviors name, I'm sure Christ will understand." lol

Overall everything went great! It was humbling to see someone change their life even when they don't have a whole ton of life left to change.

I love you all! I hope you have a great week!!

Elder Morgan

 The Cepeda Family

 And when I was little we used to make forts in the basement on Christmas eve. Well I'm not so little anymore, But I still do that (: The fort wasn't very impressive, just our four beds out in the main room of our house....

 We Baptized a lady named Blanca. She is 79 years old. 

Saturday we had the opportunity to see 13 Baptisms

Our Christmas Tree

Luke's Letter Dated December 16, 2013

Hello!!

This week was full of little miricales! I made a resolve this week that I would follow every single prompting from the spirit. 

On Saturday we had a ton of stuff to do, and we had lunch with a family wayyy outside our area. On our way there my companion's bike went flat. So we had to get a little creative. (I'll send a picture) We fixed the tire while were at lunch and went on our way. Well, we got on our way, and this time it didn't go flat. It exploded. Sweet. So we started the walk back into our area. We had planned to go to a little town called Jauregui (Pronounced kinda like how-ree) But at this moment we didn't really have time to go there. I felt like we needed to go, so we did despite the fact that it didn't really make sense and we didn't have time. Well, after going there and knocking (Clapping) A bunch of doors we found an awesome guy who was super interested. Just goes to show that when you trust in the lord, everything works out.

Next week i won't have time to use the computer, so I wanna talk a little bit about Christmas.  

This Christmas I hope that you all can take some time, personally or in your family and offer a prayer of gratitude for what Jesus Christ has done for us. I hope that as you go about all the things that you have to do this season that you can remember the reason behind Christmas. 

If you have a few seconds you should find the mormon message named "The Spirit of Christmas." 

Always remember to keep the Christ in Christmas

I love you all, 

Merry Christmas!

Elder Morgan

Luke's Letter Dated December 9, 2013

Hey everyone!

This week has been pretty good! Nothing super new and exciting. 

Transfers was this week, I am still with my companion. We fight quite a bit, but we're working it all out. haha. He has 7 months in the mission, and he is my district leader/ Senior companion. 

This week we had a really cool experience with Olinda, one of our recent converts. We brought one of her neighbors, blanca, to her house. Olinda started bearing testimony to blanca about the church, how it's changed her life, and how she needed to get baptized. The next day Olinda brought Blanca to church. It's really cool to have had a part in teaching such a prepared convert. Really a humbling experience. 

With Christmas coming up, I want to invite you all to think about the real meaning of christmas. If you can, look up a video on youtube called the spirit of Christmas. It's one of those Mormon Messages. Really powerful. 

I love you all. 

Elder Morgan