September 1, 2014

Sept. 1, 2014

“Happy Anniversary [Daddy], I’ve got you on my mind. Happy Anniversary [Mommy], I’ve got you on my mind.”

A little Little River Band for you. So I forgot to wish you a happy anniversary last week, so I’ll do it now. Happy Anniversary! I hope that you had a good day, a good dinner and that here in three weeks a good getaway.

So I’m down to my last companion, Elder P., from Terra do Fogo, Argentina. He has about five months on his mission, and he just got transferred out of a really crappy area where he didn’t have much success, so I’m hoping to get him a couple of baptisms while I’m here. Elder P. is from Ushuaia, where you, Dad, went to interview a couple of people and write some articles a few years back. If I am not mistaken, you wrote an article about a lighthouse and another about temple marriages. Elder P. kept the articles and has them with him to this day, and when he found out that it was my dad that wrote them, well, he thought that was kind of cool.

Elder A. was transferred to Passo Fundo, to the area that I guessed he would go to. He is a district leader there, which is cool and good for him, but I really am missing him. Elder P. is good and all, but Elder A. and I had a closeness that few of my other companions had. We got along perfectly and worked very well together. Elder P. is still kind of green, so I’m going to have to train him a bit, something that I didn’t have to do with Elder A.. Oh well, it’s my last transfer anyway, so I’ll try and help him out a bit.

On a sadder note, Thursday morning I got a call from a brother in my first area informing me that J., the son of that family that was sealed last week, had a heart attack and passed away. Brother M. invited me to attend the funeral, so we caught a bus and took the 40-minute trip from Neópolis to my first area, where we attended the funeral. Brother M., the guy who called me, spoke at the funeral and talked about missions, purpose and God’s timing. I had the opportunity to give the closing prayer, and afterward I spoke with the family for a bit and did my best to comfort them.

Walking back from the burial, Brother M. said, “Elder Morris, think on this, you came all the way from the United States to find, teach, baptize and seal this family. You saw and helped J's mission start and finish (he served faithfully in his priesthood calling passing the sacrament every Sunday in a wheel chair), you helped him fulfill his calling in life. Few people, few missionaries have the opportunity to do that.”

It was a sad day and it seems like death has a nag in following me around, but I find comfort in the fact that less than a week before his passing, J. was sealed for time and all eternity to his family, that he has only been “transferred” temporarily, and that soon he will be together with his family, perfected, for ever.

So we found this cool couple here, C. and D., that are super excited about the Church. We are going to marry them and then baptize them in a couple of weeks. They might end up being my last baptisms as a missionary. How we found them was pretty cool. One day we passed in front of their house and I felt like I should knock there, but we were in a hurry so we kept going. The next day I contacted D. on the street, and we went to visit them shortly thereafter. They went to church and started to read the Book of Mormon (C. already has read up to Alma), and they are both super excited about the Church. So it is plain to see that I still have work to do here. I’m going strong, but it is difficult. I’m almost done though and as President Wright likes to say to me, “Keep going, soon the mission will just be a memory.”

So that is about it for me. I love you all and I am super excited to be coming home. Be safe!

Love,

Elder Morris