March 4, 2012

WOW! Thank you for all the birthday wishes!!!! I can't believe I will be 28 tomorrow!!! Crazy. This week was also kinda crazy. My companion was transfered and I got a new companion this morning- Sister Rombaoa! She is SO NICE!!! We've only been companions for a couple of hours so no pics yet, but she is by far the smallest companion out of the 5 other companions that I have. Yup I'm averaging about a month a companion. Ha ha! But seriously I think I was her size in 2nd grade. I'm excited for this week though. There is always an adjustment period with new companions and I have been in that phase since Sister Gallagher left. Needless to say, I am excited to get working with her!

So I have been doing a lot of thinking this past week. Last week it had been two years since I decided to start going back to church and really figure out if the church was true, and now I am a missionary. I really loved the talk last conference about climbing up the mountain and taking breaks to look back at the view and how far they had climbed. I realized this week that I have spent my whole mission so far looking up at the rest of the mountain I need to climb. I have been so focused on trying to become the missionary I want to be I haven't been enjoying the view and looking back at how far I have come. I did this week though and it's been so incredible. I honestly cannot believe the change in my life from 2 years ago, even just 6 months ago, and even in the last month. It has all been because of one person, Christ. When we focus on Him, not only does everything work out perfectly, we can be happy even through our roughest weeks. I am so so grateful for my mission and to be able to learn and most importantly apply so many important things to my life. I am so grateful for the relationships that I have been able to create and the ones I have been able to strengthen. These have been my biggest blessings. Most importantly I am overwhelmingly grateful for the relationship I have been able to create and strengthen with my Savior, and see lives change when they draw nearer unto Him. I love you ALL! and I am so grateful for all your love and support!!!!

MAHAL NA MAHAL KO kAYO LAHAT!!!

Sister Morton

Febuary 27, 2012

Hello!!!!

What a difference a week makes! :) This week started out kind of rough. I was sick, my beses friend went home and they dropped me off in a new area with new investigators and less active members, a new (and by new I mean different :) apartment with a new companion, and there was not any toilet paper in the "new" bathroom. It seriously was a traumatic flash back of my first couple of weeks in the Pines and that adjustment is pretty high on the list of "things megan NEVER wants to do again. ever." ha ha. BUT after a couple of days and and a normal temperature and my stomach going back to what i now call normal for it, :) I realized how far I have come in the 3 months I have been here. I can actually understand and speak Tagalog MUCH better than I could, I wouldn't call it every good yet, but progress is progress. AND the coolest thing- I'm learning how to rely on the Lord more and more every day. Missions are amazing.

I am so grateful for this experience. It's like progression on warp speed. Ether 12:27- It is happening. and I am so grateful. I prayed for my mission to be hard, and most days I wonder "ANO SA MUNDO was I thinking?" ha ha but I am so grateful for this experience I have to learn and grow. I am even more grateful for the opportunity I have to see the Spirit help people change their lives. It really is a miracle.

Time goes SO FAST!!!! Next month it will be my sixth month mark, I will have only a year left til i'm home, and I'll be 28!!!! CRAZY!!!! If the rest of my mission goes as fast as the last six weeks did, I feel like I'm going to be home in like four days ;) The last transfer was so great!!!! I learned so so SO MUCH and I am so grateful for Sister Gallagher. She is amazing. I miss her, but all the things I learned from her are really coming in handy. :) My new companion is great. Her name is Sister Villasis and she is from the southern part of the Pines. She has such a fun personality and loves to tease. She is a really happy person and a strong teacher! I am excited to spend the next 12 weeks with her. :) President Peterson told me not to come back to the next transfer day because I have been to every one so far. So we will see. He might change his mind and miss me. ha ha.

Well I hope you all have a fantastic week, and you read your scriptures :)

LOVE,

Sister Morton

Oh... PS.... we went hiking up a mountain today for pday and i'm pretty sure there is no word for switch back in Tagalog, because we hiked STRAIGHT up a mountain. no joke, and every time I hike i remember how much I don't like hiking ha ha, BUT the jungle is awesome :)

February Lindon 11th Ward Newsletter

Kumusta! Oh my goodness I am so tired! But so so great!!!! I'm sorry I am writing a day later than normal and I hope that you weren't too wor-ried that I was run over by a jeepney or something, ha ha. We had three appointments yesterday and with all the other p-day activities– grocer-ies, laundry, cleaning the apartment, we didn't have time for emails.

I cannot even begin to tell you how much I love Sister Gallagher! It feels like we have been companions for months. We have been working our tails off and had 10 more lessons this week than any other week since I have been in the Pines. I am so exhausted and I really don't feel like I should be so happy, but I am. :) I am learning so so much and Sister Gal-lagher is forcing me to speak Tagalog. I am noticing the language slowly start-ing to improve. The biggest/most im-portant thing I am learning from her is how to follow the Spirit. She is an amazing teacher and just knows how to follow promptings. I am so lucky to have her as my companion for her last transfer!!!!

Other exciting news- We had been teaching Jerwin at the church and this week we were able to set up an appointment at his house. We met his Sister Joanna and she is really interested and we have started to teach her as well. So cool!

We have also had some success with our less active members. Last night we had FHE with my favorite family in the Pines- I LOVE THEM! The mom and the 3 oldest children are members but all less active and then the dad, the 10 and 12 year old boys are non members and then they have a 6 and a 4 year old boy. They are so cute and I can slowly see them starting to come around. I met them the week after I got here and the dad wouldn't even acknowledge us, but now he is listening in on the lessons and participated in FHE last night. It was so funny. At the end of the night he was like "Okay I'm done now, in the name of Je-sus Christ Amen." Ha ha, at least we know that he is listening to at least a part of our lesson :) I love teach-ing them and I can see them becoming more and more united as a family.

Well... I've had a thousand other cool/new experiences this week, but not enough time to write. I have learned something so valuable this week though- no matter what happens, if we have faith and trust in God, and the do everything we can to do our part then EVERYTHING works out. It might not always work out the way we see it, but I've noticed if I really look for the reason things go the way they do, I find that it all works out much better than I could have planned. I have seen this happen multiple times this week, and I am so lucky to have Sister Gallagher here to help me see the good in everything.

I love you all so much!!! MAHAL KO KAYO!!!!

Sister Morton

February 19, 2012

Sorry it has taken me so long to get a mass email out! The last few weeks have been so great and SO BUSY! I am so so grateful for Sister Gallagher. I miss her so much already!!!! This transfer was amazing and I learned a ton. I can't believe another transfer is already over. This one seemed to go by ten times faster than the first.

The biggest news of the last couple of weeks- We had two baptisms! The first was a 9 year old boy named Demetrius. His dad was a less active member that started coming back to church and since he is 9 he needed to be taught by the missionaries. His brother who is 8 was also baptized. It was my first baptism and it was both mine and Sister Gallagher's first completed family. So GREAT! With this new focus of reactivation our mission has a goal of "completing" 200 families in 2012.

The second baptism was this past Friday and it was JERWIN!!!! It was amazing and watching his countenance and life change over the past 3 months has been so amazing. The Sunday before his baptism he told me he felt like something changed in his heart and a few days before his baptism Sister G. asked him if he was going to serve a mission and he said, "If it be the will of the Lord." I am so happy for him. I am so grateful to be a missionary!!!! It is really amazing what the Spirit can do when someone allows their heart to be softened and let the Spirit work on them.

After the baptism the rest of the weekend was kind of rough. All day on Friday I didn't feel super great. On Saturday I felt worse and had a little bit of a fever. It's not fun to have a fever in the Philippines- it's like one step above having frostbite in the Pines. HA HA... And Saturday Sister Gallagher left to go to visit her first area, so I had to say goodbye. I went to go work with Sister Osborn, who will also be returning home this week with Sister G., and her Companion Sister Guzman, who I will be spending the week with until transfer day on Friday. The rest of the day I got sicker and sicker. One of the older couple missionaries thought I might have had Dengue Fever, but luckily I probably don't. Sister G. got sick too with the same symptoms, so SAD that she is sick her last couple of days. I did get to have lunch with her today though and say our final goodbyes. I am feeling better today just a little weak still and not quite 100%, so no need to worry about me.

Well I am out of time. Hopefully I will be able to send some pics next week of the baptisms and MY NEW COMPANION!

MAHAL kO KAYO!!!!!

Sister Morton

February 6, 2012

Sorry no time for a mass email this week :( Too busy teaching Filipinos the gospel!!!!! :)

MAHAL KO KAYO LAHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sister Morton

January 29, 2012

Kumusta po kayo!!!
So I literally have no time. We have been so so busy and it seems like the last two pdays have been busier than all the other days of the week. It is really great though because we are working so hard. I have never been so exhausted and so happy at the same time. I'm so good!!!! The work is going so great! We had 5 less actives come to church yesterday and 5 investigators! The hard work is starting to have some results! I love it and I love seeing the people here taking the steps to make their lives better. Everything this past week has been so great!!!

I did get frostbite this week though.... no joke. I swear I am the only person to get it in the pines in the history of the pines. I filled an ice tray so we could make buko (young coconut) shakes and my hands were wet from washing the ice tray when I went to set the them in the freezer. Yup, my finger stuck to the metal freezer and I had to yell to sister gallagher to get a cup of water to unstick me. Hindi mabuti (no bueno :)!!!!! Sister Gallager was laughing her head off, and I was too in between crying a little (it really hurt!) But it's getting better now, the blister is almost gone. Yup leave it to Sister Morton to spend her whole life playing in the snow and then I come to, what I think is the hottest place on earth, and I get a blister from frostbite!!!! Ha ha, I swear my journal is turning into a comic strip :)

Well I hope everyone is well!!! I love you all!!!!
Sister Morton