Journals=Annoying! And Tomorrw is my 3 Month Mark

Hey Everybody! So to explain the reasoning behind the title of
this email is that I have been a very bad missionary because I have
not been good on keeping up with my journal and I am disappointed in
myself for it! I was given small tidbits of advice from many people
before my mission and something that most people said was to make sure
that I kept up on my journal, and well I was great at it in the MTC
and most of my first transfer and then I just stopped writing...I
didn't write from April 1st till April 26. On that day I decided that
I would stop being lazy and to start my journal again! I have been
good at it for the past 4 days and I WILL be better at it the rest of
my mission! I just have to remind myself that they don't always have
to be 5 or more pages long! haha! I know how important it is to keep a
record of my daily life. Heavenly Father has taught that keeping
records is important to him, otherwise why would he require the
prophets to write down their prophecies or why would he command Nephi
and his brothers to return to Jerusalem after they had already left,
or why would Moroni bury the gold plates in the hill Cumorah if they
were not important. My journals may not be meant to teach nations
about Christ and Heavenly Father and the Atonement and the Gospel but
I hope that they will be of benefit to me and/or my posterity someday.
     Moving on: This week has been full of fun! Haha!  We got a whole
bunch of lessons and visits in during the first couple days of the
week and then we didn't really have anything to do on Thursday so we
decided to go out and visit some of the Elderly sisters in the ward
that live in nursing homes or assisted living centers. We met a Sister
Helga Piver. She is 75 and she is on permanent dialysis. So she has to
live in the center because she has treatment on Mon, Wed, and Fri
every week. She was born and raised in Berlin Germany and moved to
America when she was 21. She has a very very thick accent still and
she was so much fun to talk to and get to know. Her roommate was
asleep when we got there and through most of our visit. Then she woke
up and started to sit up. Helga looked at us and said, "Don't let her
kiss you!" and we were like, "okay." Margie, Helga's roommate, got up
and walked straight to Sister Chatwin and tried to give her a kiss!
haha it was so funny and cute. Sister Chatwin did was Helga said and
didn't let Margie kiss her but just gave her a hug instead. Margie has
Alzheimer's and never said a word to us except....as she was moving
away from Sister Chatwins arms she leaned back in really close and
said with a very distraught face, "I gotta pee!" So we escorted her
very quickly to her bathroom. We sat back down with Helga and chatted
then Margie came back out of the bathroom. She was trying to make it
back to her bed so we helped her along and she gave Sister Chatwin
another hug, (Helga said Chatwin looks like a family member).
Apparently Margie wanted to go roam the halls so we gave her her
walker and when she saw it she said, "well hello there" and she was
off, around the corner and down the hall! It was so funny, kind of sad
at the same time. Helga said that there is really only one other
person in the entire place that had a sound mind and that when Helga
tries to talk to her she doesn't really want to because Helga "talks
to much about Germany and that she doesn't like Germans." Helga said
that she tries to not talk about Germany but that is where a lot of
her life happened so its hard for her not to. Helga was very excited
that we were there and is even more excited that we said we would come
back and visit her this week.
     After we saw Helga we went to meet a referral that a member of
the ward gave us. Brother Faaumu was baptized a little over a year ago
and was recently able to go through the Temple. He and his wife share
a car so he does a lot of walking around while she has the car at
work. He is from Samoa and is a very very nice guy so he talks to
anyone and everyone! He told us about this really nice old lady named
Mary that he met that we should go and talk to. We said ok and so that
is where we were headed after Helga. We knocked on Mary's door and she
immediately let us in. It didn't take us long to figure out that Mary
was a few french fries short of a happy meal. (As Sister Chatwin would
say!) Mary was very nice BUT she definitely has an extreme case of
Alzheimer's or just insane. We visited Mary for about 20 minutes and we
had the same 7 sentences/thoughts repeated over and over again. She
had a bowl of baby carrots on the table and she would take a bite of
one and chop her teeth at us and say, "I just washed these up and chew
them up and they are good for my teeth! They don't have to be cooked
or nothing! Have you ever had them like this before?" We would say
"yes" and then she would say, "REALLY?!? Then I'm not crazy!" She also
liked to talk about 2 notes that she had on the wall by her telephone,
her dog named "penny or billy" the dogs tag said, "Matilda", she liked
that Sister Lush wore glasses just like she did and that we all had on
watches like her. She LOVES to sing, she sang Ave Maria for us a
couple times and I was scared that she might bite me if I got to close
while she was singing...She also talked a lot about how she was from
St John's Newfoundland Canada and when she asked me where I was from
and I said Oklahoma she said, "Oh that's where I'm from, Its right by
St. Johns Newfoundland Canada!" I really appreciated the opportunity I
had to meet Mary M. Bull...Her name was written on a pad of paper and
I asked her what the M stood for, She said, "I don't know its just
always been that way." There was one point that Sister Chatwin and I
could no long control our laughter and we laughed so hard that we had
tears running down our cheeks! I wish I could have recorded that 20
minutes of my life! Anyways, we left Mary's house and went to give
Brother Faaumu a report and told him that unfortunately we would not be
able to teach Mary about the Gospel but that she would get her
opportunity to hear about the Gospel in the spirit world.
     My time is almost up! Craziness! On Saturday we went up to Dayton
(an hour or so I think east of Walla Walla) to a service project for
our stake and two other stakes. The church owns a camp ground there
called Teancum Timbers and we were getting it all cleaned up and ready
for the coming summer of girls camps and scouting trips. It was a lot
of fun. The YSAs were in charge of blazing a new trail up one of the
hills/mountains. We three followed behind them making the path wider
and more walkable. While I was doing it I felt like Heidi in the Alps!
haha Its definitely not like any camp grounds back at home! I will try
to include some pictures from that fun day. We were all muddy, tired,
and sore! I got a big splinter in my hand which was a lot of fun! I am
finally able to stand up and sit down without wincing!
     Sunday/yesterday was great! The talks and the lessons were all
amazing and we had quite a few less actives that we teach and some
recent converts and an investigator there! It was wonderful! But even
with all the wonderfulness it was so hard to stay awake because we
were so tired from the day before!
     I need to get going, but I love you all and I miss you and I love
hearing from you! Keep up the good work and pray for missionary
opportunities as well as people that you know that are ready to hear
the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The missionaries in your area need more
people to teach, I can promise you that! Hugs and Kisses! See you
soon! Love you! The Church is True!
Sister Morgan Brox

 Giving Sister Chatwin a ride through the apartment.

 The Three Stooges

We taught this little girl and her family. She just turned 8 and this
is at her baptism on Sunday. Her name is McKenna Hart and she is the
sweetest little girl ever!

Howdy Everybody! Sorry there is not a funny story to start this
week out with, maybe I will think of one as I go. This week was
another good one! (They are all good...) haha! It was the same ol'
life of a greenie missionary! I do feel like I am getting the hang of
things though. Tracting doesn't scary me as much as it used to but its
not really my favorite thing to do either. One thing exciting is that
I have been able to start driving, woohoo! Its just like getting back
on a horse/bike/whatever you want to compare it to. So far so good! We
have a bright red 2011 Toyota Corolla with only 6000 miles on it!
Super nice! But I still look forward to coming home and buying a
crossover/mini suv...if I can afford it!
     Ummm...thats about it, haha! I don't really have much to say
today about this week. Although, I did receive lots of letters this
week and I LOVED IT!!!!! Please continue to show me the love!
Hopefully that doesn't sound to greedy! lol
      We did put someone on date for baptism this week. Its a family
that is inactive in the church. The mom and dad are already members
but they haven't gone to church since their early teens. They have two
boys, Kaleb 9 and Ryan 6. Kaleb is super excited to be baptized even
though he doesn't know too much about the church. So we are teaching
him so that he can be prepared to be baptized on June 9th. They are a
way awesome family and they have a pet tortoise that it is the size of
a basketball! and it will get bigger, I got to hold it! I should get a
picture with it! Yay!
     Last week I wrote about the guy named Cody that we are
teaching...He is a super nice guy. He has tatoos all over and his ears
are pierced, and he is very macho. We went by to visit him again this
week and we talked about the plan of salvation and his beliefs on
those types of things. He has had a hard life, he found out that his
son is not his, his dog (baby) got hit by a car and cost $4000 to fix
him, his car got totaled while parked in front of his house, he has
very few friends, he is a full time student, and other things, the
list could go on. We were talking about his life and he said how funny
it was to him that the missionaries or members always seem to come
around when ever he is having a super hard time in his life. He said
himself that it must not be a coincidence, and we assured him that is
was not! The Lord has his hands in all things and he knows when we are
ready and prepared and willing to hear the Gospel. We will be teaching
Cody again this week and I will let you know how it goes.
     We had almost all of our dinners cancel on us this week. Ususally
we are fed dinner every night which is absolutly amazing, but because
we are fed so much we usually don't have too much food at home, other
than left overs that people send us home with. So our dinners
cancelled and we were left to fend for ourselves. It was a lot of fun
actually. Sister Chatwin is an amazing cook and she can whip up some
yummy concoctions with whatever we can find in our cupboards! We are
not starving by any means! Anyways, after we found out on Saturday
that our dinner was cancelled that night and that Sunday night was
also cancelled we thought what food do we have in the house? We were
trying to figure out what to do for dinner for the next two nights
when a sister in the ward called us and said, "Are you girls alright?
For some reason I felt the need to call you and check on you." We told
her that we didnt have much food at home and that we didnt have a
dinner planned for Sunday/tomorrow night and we could really use
something. (We had enough to get by on Saturday) She said that she
would be happy to have us over after church for dinner. She was truely
an answer to an unsaid prayer. It was amazing and I love the tender
mercies that the Lord gives us!
     I think that is all I have for this week! I hope to have more
exciting things to write about this next week...I love you all so much
and I hope to hear from you soon! Keep up the good work. Serve those
around you: Mosiah 2:17 The Book of Mormon is amazing, share it! Their
salvation is worth the awkwardness...lol Lovin' Life!
--
SISTER MORGAN BROX

Friday the 13th!!!

 Howdy y'all!!! Long time no see! Haha, just kidding! So I have a
funny story to write about first, but you need some background on it
to start. At our dinner appointments, one companion always gives a
thought and then the other companion leaves a sticky note thank you
note on the bathroom mirror or something so that the family that fed
us can find it later. Well on Friday the 13th I was the in the
bathroom standing by the sink writing the sticky thank you note (and I
keep my sticky note pad on the inside of my planner) which is a
missionary's lifeline, and as I was pulling the sticky note off the
pad I lost my grip and my entire planner fell in to the toilet bowl! I
just about screamed NOOO!!! Haha! It was so funny and I was in shock
so when I started thinking again I reached down and grabbed it! Thank
goodness it was clean water! haha! I quickly squished out as much
water as I could and wrapped it in clean toilet paper, stuck it in my
bag, and wrote another thank you note (since the first one fell in the
toilet) on a piece of paper I tore off of something else. I was in the
bathroom forever! I walked out and we were ready to go. Some of my
goals this week have been to be less sarcastic and less "complainy" so
I told the other sisters as we were walking to our car that "I am not
complaining BUT I dropped my planner in the toilet..." We all started
to bust up laughing, it was seriously hilarious! (Hopefully this
didn't make it sound like I whine all the time, because I don't. Its
just a good goal because things don't always work out the way we would
like them to, so we have to rely more on the Lord and not worry about
ourselves.) When we got back home that night I had to transfer all the
information from my sopping wet planner into a new one. That's the end
of that story! Haha! Happy Friday the 13th to me!
On to another topic now, We had Zone Conference on Tuesday! It was
fantastic and very spiritually uplifting! There were only us three and
another companionship of sisters there and then a whole bunch of
Elders obviously. They apparently always have a musical number and
because we are limited on female voices we don't get the option of not
singing. So we got to sing for all the zone and it was great the first
time and then we got to sing it again for the closing hymn at the end
of the day. It was great then too, but it was right after the
testimonies of the departing missionaries (meaning Sister Chatwin and
some Elders) and so Sister Chatwin started to cry and she has an
AMAZING singing voice, so when she stopped singing the entire girl
side of the song kind of faltered. I looked at her to see why she
wasn't singing and then I almost started to cry. I didn't realize that
I would love someone this much after only knowing them for only 7
weeks. But that is 7 weeks of constantly being together and doing the
Lord's work, so it only makes sense! The rest of zone conference was
really great too! We had a lot of lessons and the main focus was on
teaching and leaning from the Holy Ghost.

     I am sending a video today (hopefully) of our apartment. I am
giving a tour, it is pretty dumb but I thought you might like it so
enjoy!

    A neat story about following the Spirit...we were out visiting
people and everyone that we were trying to see either wasn't home or
was too busy to let us in, plus we were over our mileage for the day
and we didn't know what to do. It was about 7:45 and we weren't
supposed to be home till 9. We decided to pray to know where the Lord
needed us to be. We sat in the car for a minute deciding on what the
Lord was trying to tell us. Someone suggested that we should go see
this guy named Cody. He lived farther away then what we wanted to
drive but no matter what we did, we were going to go over on miles
anyway so we went. We got there and he let us in right away. We were
able to talk about some struggles he had been going through lately and
how he doesn't know what he should be doing in this part of his life.
We told him that we would love to come back sometime talk more about
the Gospel and how it will bless his life. He had investigated the
church before and felt pressured to get baptized but he agreed to let
us come back and start teaching him again.
 I know that Heavenly Father guided us to Cody that night because
he knew that Cody was ready to receive what we are here to share with
people. Our appt is tonight with Cody and I am very excited to go and
teach him. The Lord will guide us in our path as long as we are
keeping his commandments and listening to the promptings of the Holy
Spirit.

     I have to get going now. Thank so much for the letters that I
receive! Everyone loves it when I get letters because they don't so
much anymore. I read them out loud like they are meant for everyone
and not just me. Its great! Thanks for your prayers and continued
support! I love and miss you all! The Church is True and I testify
that the Savior lives! Have a great week! <3

--
SISTER MORGAN BROX

Pictures

Funny Walla Walla T-shirts!

Entire Zone on P-day.

Accessories from Minute to Win it game.

Purple eye drawn by Sis. Chatwin.

Hail storm! Morgan and her companion were stuck outside while walking home for 15 minutes. They were wet and sore when thy got back to their appartment.

On General Conference Sunday.

Earplugs!!!

Thank goodness (and mother) for earplugs! Sister Lush SNORES big time!Its terrible! She told us right off the bat too! haha She said, "Just so you know, I snore." and we didn't expect it to be that bad, but its like a fog horn! Ahhh! Its pretty funny actually! Other facts about Sis Lush, she is super short, like 4'10" and she is pretty quiet but very funny. She has been out for about a year and has served mostly in trios. She was previously in a trio with Sis Chatwin's mama/trainer who went home this transfer and Sis Chatwin's other daughter/trainee.Sis Chatwin asks about them all the time, its good to know about the other sisters in the mission.We got a bunk bed so that we can all sleep in our room. Sister Chatwin is on the top bunk with me on the bottom and Sister Lush is on a single bed. Its a lot of fun! I was going to sleep on the top bunk but Sister Chatwin got scared because of the weight limit on top and didn't want to sleep underneath me haha it was funny. And fine with me because I tricked her to sleep up there! I didn't really want to sleep on top! Anyway, the first night, she got up there with the railings and everything, she said she felt like she was sleeping in a crib. It was so funny! We like to have a good time and we laugh a lot together.Sister Lush is a great addition to our duet and we make a good trio!

It is fun getting used to it though and telling the members in the ward about it. They act a little surprised and they get worried that Sis Chatwin or I will be leaving soon but we have to reassure them that we are here to stay for at least 6 more weeks. So they calm down.I never realized how much I would fall in love with all the members of the ward/branch we cover. It was hard at the beginning remembering everyone that we meet, but everyone LOVES the missionaries and they treat us so well! I love it!

We went out tracting last week and we stopped to talk to a couple on the street. They were nice at first and then they started arguing/yelling at us. We couldn't just walk away because that would be rude but he wouldn't let us get a word in. He kept getting close rand closer to us so we had to keep backing away. His wife kept trying to pull him back and he got mad at her. We finally got to explain somethings to him about why we need modern day prophets and the priesthood and why we worship on the Sabbath. He didn't really want to listen, but we could tell that his wife was so we kept trying and we are praying that her heart was softened by our example to not get into a bible bashing fight with her husband. Honestly this is the first time that someone has actually gotten in my face and told me that I was wrong and that what I know to be true is wrong. All I/we could do was testify and be examples of Christ. I know that we need prophets because God is the same yesterday, today and forever. Why would he stop needing a mouth piece to lead his people??? I just don't know why its so hard to understand...but that is why I am here, to share my beliefs and knowledge to those who are seeking it.

Tomorrow is zone conference and I am SO stinking excited! It will be my first one and supposedly they are amazing! I always look forward to seeing President and Sister Greer! They are amazing and if he is not a general authority someday then I will be very surprised! They are so wonderful and so loving!After emailing today we are going to go make lunch with a less active elderly sister in the ward. Her name is Sister Spottedbear, yes I did spell that right! haha! She is about 80 years old and has a heart of gold! She got baptized about 5 years ago and she doesn't have to great of health but we got and visit her every week and she is so excited for us to come over today to make and share lunch with her. She has a couple hang ups about the church (mainly because she hasn't prayed about them) but she has said that she would never have chosen to do anything else. Being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was the best decision she has ever made in her life.I love that little old lady!

We are teaching a girl named Maggie. She is 19 and she hasn't come to church yet, but she is amazing! She is super smart and has a strong testimony of God and Jesus. We have taught her about 5 times. We had a lesson last night and I think something finally clicked with her. We were discussing the Godhead and her beliefs on it. They were so similar to our beliefs that I think she realized that hey, maybe those Mormons aren't so crazy after all! haha She is so great and I hope and pray that she softens her heart and that she comes to know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the Earth.We are doing a Book of Mormon reading challenge. We are reading it from April 7th-June 30th. Why? Because these are the dates/time frame that is took Joseph Smith to translate it. It is 3 chapters of 7 pages a day and we are finding all of the people or groups of people that had a mighty change of heart. I invite you all to do the same challenge. Sorry that its a few days late...try to catch up! Its awesome!I'm not sure what else to talk about.

Sorry that my emails are so scattered all the time. That is pretty much how my mind is working these days. There is so much to do and say and I feel like I am going the good kind of crazy. I need to email the President and then its time to go. I love you all so much and I am so happy to be serving the Lord and preaching the gospel! I know that I said that I would send pictures of the apartment but I haven't gotten them yet. Maybe if I have time I will send a pic of the 3 of us!

Love Always,Sister Brox

Celebrate Good Times! Come On!

So much to say today! And guess what!? I actually have time to write today! Woohoo! :) So here we go...What to talk about, here's the list: Time; Transfers; April fools; Easter; Mother's day; General Conference; Etc.

I hit my 2 month mark on Sunday (yesterday), crazy huh? So much to do in the next 16 months! Ahh! I can't believe how fast time is racing by. It seems like just yesterday I was in the MTC and now I have been in the actual mission field for a whole transfer. Which takes me to transfers!
We get our transfer calls on Saturday evening and transfers happen the following Wednesday. We got kind of a shake up going on this coming transfer. Since Sister Chatwin is still trying to train me into being a perfect missionary (which is not an easy job) we knew we would still be together (because its a 12 week training program). But what we didn't expect was to be getting another sister in our midst! We are going to be a trio or in other words a tripanionship. Our apartment is pretty small so this should be interesting. I have been planning on giving a video tour of our apartment so hopefully I can send that next week (maybe)! Anyway, her name is Sister Lush and she has been a missionary for about a year. The only thing I know about her is that she is a little shy. Hopefully I won't make a bad first impression, with my "brilliant personality" ha-ha! Sister Chatwin and I are on a roll and its a little scary to have to add a new person to our duet but I know that this is what the Lord wants. We are also losing our District Leader and we aren't sure who the new one will be yet. Our zone is being split up into 2 different zones and one of our zone leaders will be our zone leader with an elder that was just released as an assistant to the president. So this should be an interesting transfer with such great leadership. The zone leader that we are losing is going to be training a new elder and therefore can't/shouldn't hold both positions. His name is Elder Aldous and his little brother just got his mission call. He goes into the MTC in June and my ZL Elder Aldous leaves here in September. So they won't see each other for about 4 years! Crazy! You might be wondering why I am telling you all about this but its because the young Elder Aldous got his mission call to go to the Oklahoma City OK mission! Cool huh! So keep your eyes open for an Elder Aldous around the end of July/beginning of August! I kind of know him but not really, ha-ha! Okay, enough about transfers.

Next is April Fools day. We didn't do anything mean to each other yesterday but we like to play small tricks on each other at other times. For example, a couple days ago, Sister Chatwin had the need to "short sheet" me! It was hilarious! I never knew what that was before it happened to me so this is how you do it. You tuck the top of their flat sheet into the top of their bed then pull the bottom up and fold it over and pull the blanket over that so it looks like the sheet goes all the way down. Then when they try to get into bed they can stretch their legs out because their sheet is short! Ha-ha! It was so funny. I had gotten out bed to brush my teeth since Sis Chatwin was in there first that night and I came out and turned off the bedroom light and went to get into bed, but I couldn't, I struggled for a second and then she started laughing. It was seriously so funny! I scared her a couple days later as she came out of the bathroom so we are all even for now!

Next: Happy Easter to everyone next Sunday! I am so excited to be out teaching people about Christ and being able to testify to them that He Lives! What a wonderful blessing it is to know that for a surety. Without doubt! Its amazing! Next: Mother's day, Its in 6 weeks! Crazy huh!? Its right before the next transfer the family will be able to meet Sister Chatwin and Sister Lush! I am so excited! We get to skype for an hour with each of our families! I don't know all the details yet, but I we need to start thinking about the arrangements soon!

Next: General Conference! Wasn't that amazing!? I love general conference now! I can't believe how many times I used to fall asleep before. I wanted them to just keep talking and teaching! The time went by way too fast! I love President Monson. I love that we have a living modern day prophet that teaches us about Christ and our Heavenly Father and how much they love us. When I see President Monson I can't help but smile and be happy when he is speaking. He truly is in my opinion as Christ-like as anyone can be in this life. I testify that without a prophet on the Earth today, all hope would be lost and that it would be nearly impossible for us to return to our Heavenly Father. I loved what Elder Holland said just before he closed his talk, "DON'T DELAY, ITS GETTING LATE!" Oh my goodness! What an exciting/scary statement! I know that as we keep the commandments and follow Christ’s example in all ways then there is no need to worry. I noticed that a lot of conference was focused on family and how important it is. I love all my family and I can't wait till I can come home and start one of my own.

I know Heavenly Father loves us and blesses us with families because they are so important to him as well. I anxiously await the day that I can be with my family and friends in the Celestial Kingdom of our God and his Son our Savior. Until next time!...See ya soon! :) Love y'all always!