August 18, 2014 - The Doctrine of Christ - Preach My Gospel Ch. 1

Apparently my sisters are now demanding that I ask them questions, because heaven forbid they have to think of something to say on their own. They've got 168 hours in a week, just like me, why not go do something worth reporting in it? I actually had a relatively slow week. Elder Ferrar was a little upset as we added up our numbers at the end, it is the lowest I believe he has ever gotten, which I would take as a compliment if not for my knowledge that the Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away, praise be the name of the Lord.

We just got canceled a lot this week, disturbingly enough many times it was the members canceling or "fonging" us. I don't know exactly why but the past few weeks we've not had as much luck, but I still feel pretty happy because I don't feel like we've slacked off at all or been disobedient. It's interesting how living decently softens any blow. If you're doing what's right it'll be okay, anything bad that happens is from God not you. Not that I'm perfect, I also view this as a time to crack down on any weaknesses and figure out how to improve.

Only a few things to report. One, Chai Wan is getting sister missionaries. We have 11 sisters coming on Tuesday, and they are creating some new companionships, so they bought an apartment in North Point, stuck the Causeway Bay sisters and moved the TKO (I don't know how to spell it) sisters in. We've been helping them adjust this week. They have no one to tell them about where to find, no investigators except for the ones we're turning over to them, and absolutely nothing in their apartment. No rice, pasta, rice cooker, paperwork, nothing. Fun. As a result of them coming, Chai Wan is likely to lose one set of Elders, so 2 of us are probably leaving. I do not speculate as to who.

Elder Ferrar had his first two visits to member's houses yesterday. I've been a bit lax, and the culture of Hong Kong is not really that of inviting people over to visit, so he's never been before. The first visit was a really nice lady in our ward who loves missionaries and often goes to visit Utah, and who invited her returning to activity friend and her whole family over. Pretty cool. The second was at a fairly young family's house. Their whole house would fit into the antechamber downstairs, and they have a 1 year old son and a border collie dog thing. Pretty nice people, their son is like the ward baby. Literally everyone just picks him up and takes care of him during church.

I've been having a really great time studying chapter 1 of Preach my Gospel recently about what the Doctrine of Christ really is. I challenge all who read this email to the same challenge we gave at the first visit on Sunday; Read 2nd Nephi 31, and 3rd Nephi 11 and 27, ponder on what the gospel really is according to the Savior, then ponder what the gospel really is to you in your life, then pray for how to share it with your friends.

Abby,

How did you like swim team this year? You mentioned that you were sad to miss is and not work out, did you endure to the end on that? Who are your new teachers? Which class is your favorite? You're taking French, right? I loved German but I think that Mom could help you a lot more than Dad can. No offense, Dad. Has your favorite color changed? If so why? You should just skip school until you hit 104 days. It'd be fun.

Becca,

I remember really loving Outdoor Youth Adventures (OYA), I felt that OYA helped me really feel that spirit, and it was super fun as well. I think that it's amazing that you have 2 friends with so much potential. Like you said about your friend at camp, she may have started to learn about the gospel because of having a lot of LDS friends and going to camp, but I think the main function of these things is to give her an invitation, a chance. You mentioned the spirit you felt there. I think you're right when you said that the spirit changed her. Social groups and friends can influence people, but only the spirit can really convert them. That being said, PMG teaches that people rarely change without an invitiation. There's already been a lot of success in that she was invited to the camp, invited to read, invited to pray, etc. Now capitalize on the testimony that is starting to grow and invite her to come to church, or see the missionaries. Same with your other friend. I will pray for them, and for you to have success. I am so proud of you!

P.S. Same school questions as I asked Abby

David,

Your emails, they have a certain chronological weakness to them. Nay, weakness does not describe it, for that would imply the need for change and improvement. May I describe it as a sort of chronological and logical freedom? A lack of restrictive times and orders, an unbounded propensity to depart from traditional requirements, a refreshing lunacy...

As I recall, I alone amidst my friends enjoyed A Sand County Almanac. You are not alone in your dislike of the book. (David is reading this in prep for AP English.)

Joseph,

Apparently you seek to eclipse me physically and socially. Dad implies you have stolen the hearts of the elderly women in our ward. But listen to their praise and I doubt not you shall still detect the reverent reference to the one who came before, the progenitor, he who shall return and in a firestorm of rhetoric and righteous invective set aright any confused minds relative to the order of supremacy in the House Morrell. I reference my homecoming talk. Prepare yourself well...

And keep up the work outs. You'll have to show me the Krav maga place, it sounds pretty cool. I've thought occasionally about doing Judo, something about the reliance on flips and holds appeals to me.

I recommend you find some time to go to the temple. I really do understand more how the influence of the temple can stay with you if you attend regularly enough. That remains my largest regret when I think of pre mission time.

Dad and Mom,

Sorry, I have little time. I really am happy to hear about the scripture reading and praying and Family Home Evening. I know that I probably sound a bit presumptuous counseling about that. It's just that I literally spend all my time thinking about how to get people to be doing more of those things. I get a mindset of trying to save people, to get them up to the required level of activity necessary to develop testimonies and get baptized. Then it bleeds over into you guys.

I may still be with Elder Ferrar after this transfer. In our mission we often will be together 4 months. That's probably the short average, though some are shorter and some are longer.

Sometimes people, especially the old ladies, sound really angry when they speak when they really aren't at all. Mandarin might be different; I think it's a bit harsher, at least in my ears. If you hear z or sh or urr sounds, it's probably Mandarin.

I love the story about Joseph and the bread. Pretty hilarious. Sorry, I am out of time. Keep being perfect or you shall all stand condemned. (Joseph had to run home after Sacrament Meeting started yesterday to get a loaf of bread. When he got home there was not a full loaf so he constructed a half a loaf with different bread and then raced back to church.  We had to sing a few extra verses of the Sacrament Hymn, but there was plenty of bread in the end.  He called it a Frankenloaf.)

August 11, 2014 - One Year Mark, and He's Doing Great!

Hello my loving lovely loveable family. I couldn't see two of the pictures you sent because they linked to Facebook, I think, and wouldn't load, plus as a paragon of exact obedience I do not go to these heathen websites. But in the ones that I saw, I noted that dad looked grizzled and chubby, and Rebecca seems to have grown. A lot. I guess that happens after a year or so. But it shouldn't.

This week was pretty great. We had a mission tour, which sucked up all of our time on Friday. At the beginning of my mission I would have been nothing but happy to have a chance to just sit and listen to people training us for hours. Now my desire to hear them has increased a lot but my desire to go out finding has increased even more. Never enough time in the day. I really have seen that change quite a lot. When I was with Elder Tong, for a while, I really dreaded arriving at our area and starting finding. Now I still feel tired often, but I enjoy finding a lot more, and we have a lot more success in that finding. The last 3 weeks we've managed to get 7 lessons on the street (not quite Elder Bennett's 29 total lessons with 18 new investigators, but hey this ain't the south, y’all).

I have spent a lot of time reading and thinking about the Missionary Purpose in Chapter 1 of Preach My Gospel, which you should all be reading on your own, as per prophetic counsel (see Elder Ballard's last conference address and repent). It has really helped me start to study deeper into the individual lesson points, specifically how do they help invite people to come unto Christ and what is the relevancy of the information to the average Hong Kong person. Why does it matter? This has yielded some great personal studies. I like how in the last Liahona (because I'm abroad) Elder Christofferson (I've spelled that 3 different incorrect ways in the last half hour) talks about the missionary purpose in terms of members, not just full time missionaries. I would encourage you all to read that Chapter 1 as a part of your scripture study. It truly is the key to happiness, as Dad understands.

Nothing else too special. Our investigator Brother Chong is fast approaching his date and needs more faith.

Dad,

I often have the same problem with not knowing what to say in companionship inventory, where I know that there is something good about my companion, and there are definitely things that are bad, but I can't recall either. It actually was a problem for a bit with Elder Tong and I because neither of us could think of anything and we'd take up all the time trying to think of something. Elder Ferrar and I, despite having the largest teaching pool I've had on my mission, managed to fit our planning into under 2 hours this week. Do you recall at all your weekly planning?

I have noticed a trend with my zone leaders, which is that they always seem to be in some tough area or having a tough time. Usually their example comes from hard work and innovative ideas, not success.

I can't say that I'm really indifferent of my surroundings. I have a definite and fairly specific aesthetic that I enjoy, but I think the biggest thing for me is just that it has to be clean, and hopefully have enough space. My desk often irritates me if I have anything on it.

I sang in a choir at the mission tour, as I mentioned last week. After emails we went to go practice. I have learned a lot more about singing and gained a much greater appreciation for it in the MTC by participating in the choir there, but I still am not really especially talented. So Elder Ferrar, Elder Lee, and I all practiced the bass part of “How Great Thou Art” for a week before the practice last week. Then we got there and found out there was only one more Elder singing, Elder Little, and he didn't know how to sing any parts. But we had enough sisters for a pretty full alto and soprano section, and the song sounded really weird with no tenors, so they made me and Elder Little do the tenor section. All that practice wasted. But I am actually really glad, because I love the tenor part of that song, and I'd assumed that I wouldn't be able to do it. Pretty freaky being in a 13 or 14 person choir as one of two tenors in front of 2 zones, but I'm pretty happy with it.

Mom,

I haven't much advice to give you for the renovation. Just don't go too crazy. Remember that all us kids are almost grown up and soon you and Dad will be finding some smaller house with a big backyard and all this work will be for naught.

Can you send me any of Caroline's emails? I haven't got any since she started. I might have her email wrong.

Next transfers are next Thursday. Temple day, ngoh jauh mh ji, or I don't know. I did a lot of SYL with the summer missionaries who left today, and one of them last night said he didn't believe I'd only been out 1 year. I said August for my return date and he thought I meant a few days away. As for things that I need, I always like candy, I could use some more deodorant and soap (solid soap).I don't really use much of anything, to be honest. Cooking food is a burden when I could be reading Jesus the Christ. Macaroni. Oh, I made tuna macaroni salad this week again, bought two giant cucumbers just for it. Pretty good. I'm going to need to buy more shirts eventually, mine are getting a bit gross.

Joseph,

I don't have too much to say to you either. I hope the extended essay is going well. I had a thought recently that if I'd done mine on the debate between nuclear power I would have been much happier. I advise you to really throw yourself into the last school year. You won't regret the effort.

I've been having a really great time reading Jesus the Christ and the Book of Mormon recently. I never realized how important that was until I got out here in the field. It's not the first time I've said this, but I really recommend you get really serious in studying the Book of Mormon. It can lead to a lot of happiness and a lot of preparedness. And Jesus the Christ is a great read.

Keep it up with the widows and orphans.

David,

You don't even need to really say anything about your week to make me chuckle. If I could only tell you some of the weird things people do when finding. I don't know if it's Hong Kong, or us, or maybe just that I never really spent that much time out interacting with random people before, but they do funny things. This week some lady, when approached by an affable, tall, blond, blue eyed gentlemen in a white shirt saying hello, raised her umbrella into an unmistakably aggressive stance and shouted "Jau Hoi!" meaning go away. One lady just said, in pretty good English, you don't need to proselyte to me, I know Mormons. I said we wanted to talk as she raced away, she shouted back. "No, I know Mormons, you are all very racist". I finished with a pathetic "No, we aren't." I don't think she heard me. Alma 19. End of the chapter, middle of the left column on the right page.

Rebecca,

You really have grown a lot. I'll need to start calling you Miss Morrell. What classes will Miss Morrell begin taking this next year? I presume she will study the art of dance and possibly the flute. But what are her other electives? And for that matter what subjects does she really enjoy? Her esteemed brother recalls that at that time he had never really managed to get an A in math. Fascinating, isn't it?

We saw some girls coming from a ballet camp on the train a bit ago, and I said, "Hey, my sister dances better than you," and they were like "Nuh uh, what's her name?" and I was like, "Rebecca Morrell" and they all got pale and scared and ran away.

Abigail,

Is that not spelled right? It should be in the spell check, it's a Bible name. I really enjoyed Midvale. It was a lovely time in my life. That school is one of the more segregated schools I know. The SALTA crowd has few if any opportunities to interact with the non jumpers (Salta means jump in Spanish). You will have a lot more chances to excel, you will also hear a lot more swearing and bad jokes. I recommend you keep a hymn in your head, put up some good pictures in your locker, and stay with good friends. And rely on your Father's Blessing.

Good luck on the Faith in God thing. That is a really good opportunity to grow that I regret not taking more seriously. Don't give Mom a hard time on it.

I will tell you a secret. It's what I want you to buy (but not send to me) for Christmas. President Hawks wrote a book about engineering principles. Find it. I love you all.

Good bye

August 4, 2014 - "I Know that the Message We Share is True"

Hello my family! We started emails a little earlier today because we are going to go practice music today for an upcoming mission tour/conference with the area presidency. They want us missionaries to sing “How Great Thou Art”, so we've been practicing that in our companion study every day for a week. Mom and Dad will be proud to know that while my voice is not particularly nice, I am not great at playing the piano, and I don't have very perfect pitch, I can at least hear when I'm wrong, I can read music, and I can figure out the bass part to a song if given time. So that'll be fun. It is taking up all our time today, which is a pity, because we have an apartment back in Shau Kei Wan that is in need of serious cleaning.

This past week we've had 2 summer missionaries, Brother Yeung and Brother Geung, ages 17 and 16 respectively, who've been with Elder Yim and Lee, respectively. They've been pretty fun. It tends to shake things up a bit when you have new missionaries, and our apartment now has 3 bundei speakers, which has done wonders for my opportunities to SYL (sorry Elder Ferrar, but I still have to explain everything I say in English). The drawback: 6 people using one too small kitchen to cook meals that have to be finished in one hour. 6 people using one bathroom in the morning. 5 people who take evening showers. Lots of shoes to bring dust in. Lots of food being eaten over the floor because our only table is being used as an office space. Very messy.

The work has gone on pretty well this week. We haven't been quite as crazy as we had been a few weeks ago, because people got baptized or became a bit busier. But we still have had a ton of chances to teach recently, and really think about how to teach better. I feel like my teaching now is definitely more powerful, shorter, more relatable, more sincere, more scriptural, etc than before, and a lot of that is because of training Elder Ferrar. We spend a lot of time going over the fundamentals, which I unsurprisingly still have a lot of room to improve on.

The longer I have been on my mission the more and more apparent the importance of the spirit has become. I have come to realize that in a lesson the most important thing that we can do is not actually teaching the doctrine that we have planned on, but rather helping the investigator feel the spirit, essentially have a spiritual experience, and through commitments and follow up help them to have more spiritual experiences on their own, a full understanding of the gospel is helpful for investigators and eventually essential for salvation, but not the first or most important step of conversion. Take the father of King Lamoni, who was converted pretty thoroughly after the first lesson he heard. He definitely didn't understand all that Aaron and his brethren taught, but he felt the spirit and the spirit that he felt gave him an intense desire to be reconciled to God and put off the natural man, to gain the happiness that Aaron had testified of. It was the spiritual experience that he had and later continued to have that converted him. When we teach, if we are not helping people feel the spirit and calling them to repent and thereby continue to feel the spirit we are going to have a really hard time getting them to progress.

Sorry for how wordy I've become. I started reading Jesus the Christ again, which always seems to have this effect on me.

Your email has just arrived, I shall respond shortly. I know that the message we share is true. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I have spent a lot of time on my knees asking if it is true. I still haven't seen an angel, but I know it's true. Nothing false could make such an impact in my life. I know that the atonement of Jesus Christ is true. I've felt it work in me to the remission of my sins, and I've been privileged to see it work in others. I know that Heavenly Father loves us and that as we live the gospel unashamedly, unwaveringly, and untiringly, we are walking back to Him.

Your oldest and most handsome Son,

Elder Morrell

I should add a bit about our 65 in July goal. We got 48 people baptized. I am proud to say that I was a bit surprised we didn't make it. I won't go into too much detail, because it's hard to describe how much that goal has meant to our mission and to me individually, but let me say that while we failed, we didn't fail. The average baptisms for August is somewhere around 20 something. We more than doubled it. We set a mission record for people baptized on one day, the 27th of July. 30 people. And there was a great remission of sins. But we still didn't make the number. The thing is that the main miracle of this goal was not the number. It was the desire to be more obedient, to do more; to be better that it gave us, or at least me. They have set a new goal for 65 in December. I was so happy when I heard. Goals have an amazing power. That goal changed me. I am so grateful for it.

Not too much time, other things to write.

Dad,

I would say that I don't have vacation, but while my hours are actually higher than yours, I get paid directly in eternal progression and happiness, so I think it's in my favor. I think my relation with the ward is pretty good. I always try to be super positive to them, and participate a lot in class, so at the very least they know my Chinese and gospel knowledge is good enough that they can ask me questions when no one is talking and it gets a bit dead.

We go to Ward Council and one of the companionships goes to PEC as well. The members definitely love us, though I really do feel that there is so much untapped potential in the ward that I really haven't started exploiting well enough. I want referrals to come from them and get baptized. That'd get them excited.

Mom,

I almost typed Barbara for some reason, maybe because that's what Dad would write. Stan sent me one email once about his research, I think about the phrase 'even that to' which I found quite fascinating. I think we could go on some bike rides when we get back. Obviously not mountain biking, but it's nice just to ride around. And by the time I get back people will be getting more independent, you'll have more time. I feel like the mom in our apartment sometimes, I clean a lot. And I'm the go to guy for English advice because I find the grammar really interesting.

I'm almost half way done on my mission but honestly I keep forgetting. Pretty weird. I don't feel bad about what I've done so far, and I feel excited for the future. So you should too!

Joseph,

I know what you mean. After we went running all the time in Ma On Shan I realized that I could actually run and it wasn't too hard. Very surprising for me, to be honest. I hope we'll have a chance to go running or hiking when I get back. You always hated it before but now maybe there's potential. Finding is interesting because it is sort of a mental and physical work out. Obviously you're walking around in the hot sun, but the toughest thing is that you can't let yourself get distracted or go off on conversations. When you do your mission, remember that you only have so much time to think per day, and you can't waste it on daydreaming about games or movies. It's tough.

David,

Your wording has a pleasant twist to it which Joseph also contains but is expressed more ridiculously through you. A career as a writer or other writing related careers is not too far out of it to consider. Alas, I am caught lacking sufficient time to word my thoughts. Perhaps in the future our correspondence will be more effulgent. Repugnant. Once in the Book of Mormon.

Rebecca,

What is this, taking breaks from swimming?! You have a legacy to consider. It is clear Joseph will not take up the mantle, and David, though amusing, is rather too wooden to swim. There can be no breaks, my dear sister, for yours is an inheritance of grandeur and liquid. Get too it.

Also, locked doors breed locked hearts.

Abby,

I love the Artemis Fowl books. Top class. I am glad I have so many likeminded readers in the family. And obviously the missionaries are coming over to see you. Duh. Also, why would I come home now? That question concerns me...

July 28, 2014 - Another Amazing Week in Paradise

Hello family.

We had another amazing week in paradise. I don't think anything too crazy happened this week, so I won't be too long, but I'll just let you all know that things are still going very well. I think that God is testing me to see if I will become prideful. I will explain why.

Recently we really have been having a lot of success. I thought about it, and since I've been in Chai Wan we've had a baptism that I was involved in almost every month. That is a very high, unheard of number. Granted, Ida was already taught and super prepared, Frankie was only taught by me once while we were in Tri-panionship, and KK, well KK was pretty good. We've been getting a ton of lessons this last month. In Tai Wai a good week was 5 or 6 member presents, and 4 or 5 other lessons, maybe 2 new investigators. This last week we only had 5 member presents, but we've been averaging about 7 or so this month, with a total of 25 MP and 25 other lessons (mostly street lessons). That is pretty good. In district meeting we see our district numbers, and we're doing a pretty large chunk of them. When we find we just happen to find a lot of people, we got 13 new investigators this month. Again, many of them don't really become investigators, and a lot were Ida's friends or family (her son, who is going to Switzerland to study, was with us at church yesterday, and her friends from mainland last week are really cool, one wants to get baptized in August.) but that's still a lot. But, here's the thing. I don't know what we're doing different to have this success. I really don't think that it's me, or us. Before I used to assume that I would become better and then I would have success, but now it's more like the Lord just gives us tons of success. I attribute it to 3 things.

1) Elder Ferrar, because new missionaries always bring magical baptism success dust from them from the MTC (unless they're me, I am too clean for that).

2) The 65 in July Goal (which we still don't know the results on) and a thing President Hawks gave us at the beginning of my mission, "Drawing on the Powers of Heaven" which I have only recently used successfully.

3) We are not perfect, but the 2 of us are very obedient and hard working.

Life is interesting. None of the things that we did directly gave us success, they just got us out of the way to have the Lord do the work. There is a quote on the Powers of Heaven thing, "The elect of God are those who maintain a vision of their dependence on God even when they are not faced with adversity". So that's what I'm trying to do.

Abby,

Your letter last week was very long, I will give you that. And it sounds like your past week was very stressful. Scraped knees, disgusting Bear poop, and bats/chipmunks/other large and unidentified possibly mammalian animals above you as you sleep in the cabin. I will share a few of my corresponding experiences.

I haven't really been hurt badly on my mission, but one time I tried to play basketball and jammed my finger horribly. Actually I have been remarkably well protected in this regard. I have suffered almost no injury despite falling occasionally.

Once Elder Tong and I entered a bathroom and saw that someone had declined the seated toilet option and opted instead for the squatting over the floor option. Enough (and probably too much) said.

Once in Chai Wan with Elder Ferrar we got in the elevator and some other guy boarded with his dog, which he sort of pinned against the wall a bit. As we were ascending I said "Hey, puppy", at which the Dog began growling and barking furiously. I was relieved to get out. It was a small elevator and a large dog.

Becca,

Quickwater Girls Camp sounds sort of like Outdoor Youth Adventures (OYA), and also a lot like missionary life, except we do exercise first and then 3 HOURS OF STUDY. And ACTUALLY 4 BECAUSE I HAVE TO TRAIN ELDER FERRAR. And to answer Mom's question every morning we run about 200 yards down to a park next to a basketball field. Elder Lee and Elder Ferrar shoot hoops with a soccer ball, and I do calisthenics while Elder Yim mostly sits on a bench. I have bulked up quite a lot on my mission. Though my weight is still the same...

I think that it's interesting how if we go to church by the time it finishes it feels like we've been there forever, but if you do things like Quickwater or a mission and you're more immersed in the gospel, you start to really enjoy it. It maybe helps that you remove all the useless distractions like TV and video games. Sounds fun, you should keep up the daily study. That's a super useful habit.

Joseph,

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. How are the Books coming along recently? Also what do you plan on doing with all that money? A mission? Be serious. I remember you saying that you bought me a laptop for when I get back. I hope you're keeping it in good condition.

I have been cursed with tons of cool ideas for stories or books or stuff that I don't want to let distract me. I'm going to try to telepathically give them to you this week. Focus. Oh, flash back to Becca. In Hong Kong the old people do Tai Chi every morning. (Rebecca learned how to do Tai Chi at Quickwater.) The Chinese word is taai gihk. Pretty relaxing looking.

I have learned over my mission the value of pondering a bit before you go to bed. I think that evening scripture study, though maybe a bit too easy to fall asleep during, is still pretty useful. Obviously the best is morning and evening. I ponder about questions from my prayers or investigators before I go to bed. I'm not great at it, but it gives God a chance to answer you. You could try that for Brett/Brad?

David,

The sand in your future cannot match jsut. When I get back I'll have to write a book describing what that idea is. JSUT.

You should be warned, I shared about you as an example of the gospel blessing families. I shared about how mom was willing to put in so much effort to help you with school stuff, and now how you've progressed. So better not retrogress or you will make me a liar. Just kidding, I am proud of you. There better be some weird stuff (hopefully games) created by you when I get back.

Dad,

I initially thought that I wouldn't end up ever feeling like you mentioned in regards to short perfunctory letters. But I will admit I feel slightly perfunctory today.

It is extremely odd to think that next week I'll be 1/2 done. But honestly I don't feel too bad about that at all. I really love all you guys, and I'll be really happy to see you all again, and I really feel excited for the future. But the biggest reason is that I can honestly say that I feel happy with what I've gotten done so far. I have been very far from perfect my whole mission, but I'm not as far now as I was when I started, and I think that's kind of the point. I don't think that I've been lazy too often, I don't feel afraid of being half way done. How did you feel?

One of the Elders in our area (Mandarin speaking, but he helps with our English class) is a big physics guy. Elder Luke, he said he wrote some really cool undergrad paper on magnetism, I think at BYU. He and I have a pretty good time not exactly discussing physics but hinting at it during English class. He tried to test me with some childish bird in a box on a scale question. My first question was to clarify if it was a gravity based scale or some sort of oscillating spring scale.

Mom,

To Sister Corallo's question, the answer is yes, I do play the piano on my mission, though not too much. The very first evening in the MTC I actually had to play “Ye Elders of Israel”, so that was convenient. Since then, I haven’t played as often as you might think. The problem is that every missionary's mom thinks that her child needs to be able to play as well, so about 1/3 of the missionaries play, most better than me. But at church I occasionally do a single hand for priesthood or Sunday School, if it's one I know I obviously will volunteer. Our ward has some 15 year old girl who can play all the hymns. Pfft. Oddly enough Elder Barker almost always would conduct the music, though his main qualification was bravery and willingness to serve more than musical experience, so with his departure I have donned that mantle. I had to conduct at KK's baptism. That was pretty fun.

My cooking continues to improve. This week I finished off almost all my leftovers (by necessity, I accidentally left a key chicken steak out over night one day, little short on materials) so today I bought 160 something dollars of food. We have been cleaning like demons today, and it will continue on our returning home. You would be proud.

Last thing for the family. I had a weird dream that Elder Bennett, Elder Lee, and I were getting plane tickets to head home from some camp, and when I woke up I seriously thought that I was home. I think that that is about as trunkie as I will get on my mission. I also had a dream that the assistants were bringing a fax machine into our apartment, so I think Elder Yim is going to be zone leader.

July 21, 2014 - I Plead for your Faith on Behalf of the 65 in July Goal

Helllllo my Rebeccaless family. There was a definite lack of sarcasm in this email, though Joseph always does his best. This week was an amazing week. Really, really amazing. We didn't have any one crazy miracle, but the whole week was just nice. We have been able to teach a lot of lessons recently, this week we got 8 member presents and 7 other lessons, which I think is probably the highest total lessons on my mission. KK was confirmed, gaining the Holy Ghost, and helped us fellowship a lesson with 2 of Ida's referrals from Mainland. As always KK surprises me with how mature and deep her conversion and testimony is. And Ida continues to be Ida. She really has been prepared by the Lord. Her background was Catholic, so she can tell about the differences between our church and others, and she is a little acquainted with the Bible, she's got a lot of time to do callings or activities, she is super social and just influences a huge network of friends. Really cool.

We had one investigator, Justin, who is one of the coolest guys I've met. He does construction, and previously had no religious experience, and when we taught him, it just seemed obvious to him that all the commandments we shared were true. He didn't immediately know that the Church was true, but he's humble and read scriptures diligently and now he knows. Here's the only sad part. We have our 65 baptisms in July goal (pray for it) and I wanted to move his date from August 24 to July 27 because honestly he's ready and I felt inspired to do it. But we found out that he's already scheduled some school course to get him able to go to college. He had them scheduled before he even met us, and the last 5 weeks have been a sort of a break in between semesters. But starting next week he can't go to church for 1/2 a year and a bit. We asked him to pray, and this is the sort of cool part. He said he talked with his mom, struggled for hours over it, and then woke up and KNEW that God wanted him to be baptized next year after school. I don't know why, but that was God's will, I'm sure that it was a real answer. I don't know why, but that experience (though sad a bit) was really cool. And he's still meeting with us every week. SO...

The other cool thing this week is that we've just had a lot of success on the street. I bear testimony that God is preparing people to receive the gospel, and the Holy Ghost really does guide us. Sometimes it’s hard to believe when you wander around for a couple hours not talking to people, but it's real.

Abby,

This was your longest letter to date. I'm glad to hear you liked the camp. I always have felt like camps, activities, etc, often seem really annoying before you do them, and sometimes (like the young women's camp that got rained on) seem annoying while you're doing them. But they are always worth it when you get back.

I really like Archery, I've always thought it's super fun. I hate horses and horseback riding. I don't like knowing that this giant stupid animal could probably kill me any moment, and they smell. I would rather go archery shooting. There's a place in Sugar House nearby the pool over there that you can go archery shooting at.

Abby, you are basically a Parthian. Ask Dad what that means. PARTHIAN CAVALRY!!

Dad,

I remember way earlier in my mission (which, if I was keeping track, is growing disturbingly close to half way...) you mentioned about a zone leader who had just figured out that missionary work can be amazing and successful, and it really helped him. I feel like I've really realized that in Chai Wan. Like I said, sometimes we find and it just feels ridiculous. No one stops, and after a while you get to feel like if someone did stop you wouldn't know what to say. But then you go finding for 40 minutes on Sunday before an appointment with an investigator found 2 days before (who now has a baptismal date) and you find and teach another guy in the same place as the first. I wish I could figure out the secret, but I'm afraid it's just the Lord. I've had a couple times where I realize that our companionship right now is that successful companionship I used to look at jealously and feel slightly annoyed at their humble downplaying of their role. Now I realize that it's true. If you have success, it's because the Lord wants you to. It isn't us.

Becca,

I don't believe it. (Becca is out of town for a couple of weeks & David wrote something silly for her part of the letter.)

David,

I remember when I became a priest, I was super nervous to say the prayer, so I just made myself say it every week for a few months. I think that you really understand the importance of the sacrament more when you say it. Passing the sacrament helps you respect it more, but it also sort of occupies your mind. Focus on it. I think it's more important than I realize.

Honestly, I've been thinking a bit about Wolfire, mostly because I've got this really cool idea about a totally non electric non technology house made out of all stone and metal and wood (prompted because we found a way to be comfortable without the air conditioner for the past 2 weeks, and ever since learning about thermodynamics I can't look at air conditioners the same) and I've been thinking about making it in that game's modeling engine, but I actively resist such thoughts because I believe they distract from missionary work.

Mom,

We went to pick up Elder Ferrar's official ID card today in Sham Shui Po, which reminded me of going there my first day here. So many things have changed since then that it's hard to imagine. But the weather is about the same, same street stalls, same wait in the lines. Quite surreal. I'm sure President Hawks's letters are purely perfunctory (I still speak English). Elder Ferrar has been progressing a lot. It's cool to see him change. I made Tuna macaroni salad this week, though I didn't have any cucumber so I used peppers instead. Pretty nice. Eating food like that always makes me a little trunckie, but I'm really so happy these days that I don't mind. Make sure everyone does evening scripture reading and goes to the temple. I worry all the time about Recent Converts or investigators doing those things, it's weird to think that when I finish I'll be needing to worry about myself doing them.

Oh, just received Jeffrey Bennett's wedding invitation. Could you inform him I can't be there in time for the ceremony, though I might make the reception. Congrats!

Joseph,

There's an Elder named Elder Howell. He's sharp and witty, but I agree, don't pick that name for your main character in your book. Pick a cool one like CYBERWOLV or xxwizardmage67qq. Pierce, but that's overused. Silver. That goes well with pirates and smart people. North. Tanneson. Paine. Corely. I don't know. CYBERWOLV is probably the best.

I always thought those principles; the sort of physical tactics of martial arts were the coolest thing. The strategy involved in each individual movement is pretty cool. The running is pretty awesome too. I have a goal to get down to a 6 minute mile by the end of my mission, but Elder Ferrar doesn't exactly like running.

Relinquish power. Ha. Insert ironic snort. Insert embarrassed wiping of nose and computer screen

Keep it up with Brad. I think that this opportunity is a lot bigger than you realize. You have authority to receive revelation for him, but it takes effort. Do film making for the church, man. I'm telling you.

Thank you, my loving family. This week was amazing. I plead for your faith on behalf of the 65 in July goal.

July 14, 2014 - KK was Baptized!

Hello mine dear family.

This was a pretty great week. Why, you ask? Because a person was submerged in water for a second or two. And not by me, though that was what I was expecting last week. In our mission we really try to have a member do the baptism, because the missionaries obviously will leave but the member can stay there and have that good connection with the convert for the rest of their lives. KK really wanted me to do the baptism, because I had been there at the very beginning, and last week we sort of planned on having me do it, despite my protests. Then on her baptismal interview (which she passed easily. She came out and said "wow, so easy") we talked again and I explained a bit more. I was feeling guilty because that morning President Hawks had texted us about how we should have members baptize people. KK decided that would be fine, so I got the assignment to do the talk in the baptismal service instead. It was really great. KK has worked really hard, changed a lot, and really become more happy. She wouldn't really do much at all before, and now she has the self motivation to read scriptures, go to church, pray, etc. And she brought her husband to the baptismal service. He is a bit reluctant, largely because he went to Christian schools and found them very boring. But KK said she'd work on him, and Ida (who was at the lesson) shared about her experience. Ida had been attending a Catholic Investigator class for over a year before she ran into missionaries, and though she believed in God didn't feel anything from it. So her sharing was perfect. Andrew may become an investigator soon. We'll see...

Aside from that this week has been pretty cool. We have some investigators who are just super prepared for the gospel. There's one guy with a date in August who works in construction, which typically has a lot of word of wisdom or law of chastity problems, but when we taught him he had absolutely no conflicts at all. Miracle.

Our numbers this week were actually very low, but it was because of the baptism and something called the Peak Service, commemorating the dedication of Hong Kong to the preaching of the gospel. That was pretty cool, we had some investigators there, and I could understand the Chinese better than the English translation for the most part. The last time it was held was in 1993, and who do you think was Area President at that time? I forget, someone whose name begins with a C, maybe about cars, I don't know.

One cool experience I had this week was while on an exchange with the soon to return home Zone Leader, Elder Staehli. We saw a guy sitting on a bench, so we talked to him. I'm pretty bad at guessing ages. He looked about 20 or 30 years old, but he was probably 14 or 15. A form 4 student. Usually we wouldn't contact kids that age, just not the most useful use of time. But he was okay, and his two friends came up a bit later, then we taught them all, and scheduled them for church. 3 new investigators. None of them came, but I contacted all of them later and they all had legit excuses, and we are rescheduling them. Church was a bit optimistic anyway.

Elder Ferrar had a fun time learning how to do phone calls last night. I made him call potential investigator sheets a couple times, but last night we used a lot of language study time practicing (harshly) and then I made him alternate with me doing calls for 1.5 hours. I don't think he liked it but it was pretty useful. Calls were ridiculously hard for me at the beginning. I would just hope that every call would ring for a minute but not pick up so that I wouldn't have to talk to people. That's where Elder Ferrar is now. But he's a great Elder, learning fast.

I have to send this one right now and then re-check in, continuing shortly.

Mom,

I do a pretty good job of keeping a journal. Most missionaries are not great, but I write basically every day. Sometimes I'm short on time but usually I am pretty great. It was easy, already having that habit before my mission. Thank you Miss Rickart. One of the missionaries in our mission got attacked by a fighting dog and apparently has been in the hospital for a while. But he is okay, just has to recover. As far as acne goes, I am doing much better. There is still acne on my face, but this is the hottest and most humid time of year, I have more stress as a trainer, and I'm still pretty under control. We don't need the pills anymore so should be cheaper. I saw the guy today so will try to send the bills to you soon.

Sounds like things have been pretty cool back home. I really have been happy recently. It is a good place to be. My half way mark is in a month. That's super weird.

David,

I would love some time to do some death rides. I have only ridden a bike once on my mission, a P-day back in Tai Wai. I think I mentioned it.

Joseph will be interested to hear that before doing emails Elder Ferrar and I toured this BMW showcase place next to the chapel. Pretty expensive place. They had one that was a concept car turned commercial, hybrid with a full electric option, sports car, about 250,000 USD. Pretty cool. Elder Ferrar really likes cars, much more than I do. Electric is the future man, look at what the components of an internal engine are, then an electric one. Duh. Occum's Razor, that which is simplest is often right. We just need batteries.

Tell Abby that 500 yards is a great distance for a warm up swim.

ABBY!

I wasn't going to mention this but I have a sore throat and a cold too. Don't worry mom, it's not bad at all. But sometimes on a mission you wish you could just rest for a day. But I'm grateful; I think it's a test to see how diligent I've really become. You can do it Abby. I'm happy to hear you talking about getting in shape. Keep it up!

Love you all,

Elder Morrell

July 7, 2014 - Diligence is Working Hard When You Don't Want/Need To!

My dear family, I am sorry. I very specifically told you all that I would be emailing on Wednesday last week, because we had a special chance to go to the temple on Wednesday and see the newest temple film. Then President Hawks changed it because the Mission Department wanted all the missionaries to do some survey and we needed it by Monday. So we ended up having P-Day on Monday and Temple Day with no P-day which doesn't happen often. I felt all graceful and long suffering as I wrote about how it was okay that you guys didn't email me last week, and then I felt like an idiot when Elder Yim reminded me that we had warned you all. He got out fine because one of his old young men's leaders works in our chapel. Natives. Psh.

SO Sorry. Especially to mom. In Hong Kong we would say, gau cho. Which means dang, or seriously?, or come on.

This week was pretty interesting. It wasn't the best week I've had but we had some pretty cool experiences. Because of our weird temple visit and our zone training meeting on Friday, we really had almost no time to find this week. That was pretty painful, we only taught 3 street lessons. We have been getting a ton of member present lessons recently but mainly because we have 3 really cool investigators who are willing to meet often, and we've been trying really hard to schedule people a lot. It was funny last week, we taught one guy the first 3 lessons in a single week. The danger with this is that when those investigators drop out (whether through baptism or lack of interest or being unavailable that week) our numbers and success and basically effectiveness kind of disappear. So I'm really hoping to find some new investigators soon. Finding is still fun. Just this past day or two Elder Ferrar has really started working hard to contact people on his own. I know that that was extremely hard for me at the beginning, so I've really been encouraging him to work on that. He's an awesome Elder, very humble and a lot more willing to listen to advice than I was. He is very artistic, he plays guitar and bass very well, and draws probably better than I do (which is saying a lot). Cantonese is really hard for him, but when we get chances to teach in English he's really great. Cool guy. I always accidentally write gut instead of guy.

KK, who is actually named KiKi (apparently) is progressing amazingly. It is so interesting to see the change in her. Her knowledge of the factual doctrine of the gospel is shallow at best, and sometimes I get a bit worried at stuff she forgets (or, when asked what is the difference between Thomas S. Monson and the Pope, she responds that one is older and has a weird hat instead of a suit. That prompted its own lesson) but then she'll give some answers for basic doctrines or why she does things that blow me away. I asked her why she wanted to get to church on time. She said it used to be for us missionaries. But now it is because when she prays, she doesn't want to make Heavenly Father disappointed. She is ready to be baptized. And she wants me to do it, so next email I write may be after my first time baptizing someone.

Last cool experience for the week. On Thursday we left ward council early to teach a lesson that was okay, but not amazing, then got back with almost no time and a ton of calls to make and just too many things to do. I was feeling pretty frustrated and a bit upset, especially because I have to do all the calls right now. I make Elder Ferrar answer the phone and struggle for at least a few minutes but making him call people is a bit unrealistic. We planned, I was grumpy. We finished, I just wanted to get ready for bed and put it off till tomorrow. But diligence is working hard when you don't want/need to, not when you do, so I did some calls. Nothing too crazy happened, but they were some really successful calls. Just reminds me how much better you can feel when you work hard, how much you can get done by being diligent. Missions can really change you. I'm afraid I won't be able or willing to do half the stuff on the list when I get back. But at the same time not too worried.

David,

My young brother, the roads will never be safe again. (David just turned 16 & got his driver license.)  You know Matthew has totally forgotten about the jsut thing. I will have to remind him.

Your emails have a certain element to them that no others can really imitate. I really did want to see Pacific Rim, but from what I heard about it and from what I had seen, I kind of figured it would be mediocre. The idea was cool, though. Good old fashioned giant robots fighting Godzilla monster. Though honestly, if you're going to put so much effort into it, I would just build a giant rail gun and snipe them all from a couple miles out. Honestly.

YCC. I have come to realize that if you want to really get the nicest scholarships and get into the best schools, YCC is a necessary evil. But frankly I can just read books on my own, find all the really smart professors and somehow befriend them into teaching me without going to the schools. Is it worth it? I don't know.

Happy Birthday. You should know that on the 4th of July we were in an apartment with a Brit and a Native Hong Kong ian who is technically a Brit. Grim. I want to learn more about the Revolutionary War now. Argh. I just want to learn more about everything.

Mom,

I really am sorry. I know that that sort of thing is hard for you, because I feel like you probably worry more about me than Dad does. But I was fine.

The Girls Camp sounds a bit exciting. Alma 53:8 One big blessing that I think I'm getting from my mission is a really somewhat ridiculous familiarity with the Book of Mormon. It makes it very easy to relate experiences to it. And yet each time I read it I still get something out of it. Sometimes it rains, honestly I tend to side with dad a bit. Your perspective changes when you look at food as real survival rations. You leave the box as it were. But that's more of a Glen Morrell thing. I think you lean more towards clean, civilized, and artistic.

I feel like I understand a lot more how important it is to magnify callings now. Keep it up in the Young Womens. I've seen a lot of really amazing sister missionaries on my mission (and one super awesome one before hint hint France *cough*) and they all have to draw from experiences with the spirit. I've noticed as Elder Ferrar and I have done some of the more basic training stuff how important it really is to focus on giving people a chance to be changed by the spirit. We really just need to put them in the situation to be influenced by it and then not mess it up.

One of the sister Training leaders in our zone training had a really interesting idea. Pray only in gratitude for your evening prayers for one or two weeks. Only thank God. I'll admit, it is really hard as a missionary (and probably as a parent as well) I felt like I had to ask some things or God wouldn't bless our investigators. But I've been trying it, and it is a wonderful experience. Try it.

Dad,

It didn't kill me too much to not get a letter, but I think my attitude is a little different from yours because my only life not on a mission has been with my family, so I do really enjoy emails.

I always joke around with our ward and say that the bravest teachers get put in primary. I remember when you were my primary teacher. It was pretty awesome. Do they give you that book, Teaching No Greater Call? I have it. Weird.

Bear in mind that if Adam and Eve hadn't eaten the fruit we wouldn't have sickness or disease and your job security would take a significant hit. No government's going to give grants (I learned the Chinese for that today) for medicine in the millenium.

I really like the new temple movie. Have you and mom seen it yet?

Joseph,

Not much time, sorry. I heard about Google Fiber before I left. Makes a lot of sense, doesn't it? Fiber optics. I prefer google to apple for some reason, I just can't wait until I am driving my google cart down to google mart to by some google fruit juice for my new google child simulade's birthday.

Read Elder Scott's talk from last conference. Love, consistent effort, prayer. I don't remember what calling you have, but if you're in the presidency you have authority to receive revelation for him. Biggest thing would probably be Book of Mormon. Yeah, that I think would have the biggest effect. Book of Mormon can stick in people more than you would think. Find ways, take chances, get him reading or read for him.

And read more yourself.

And go to the temple. The basics.

Becca,

I saw that same ad again. It was freaky. But it was slightly immodest so either you are going to go less active (unlikely) or you have a long lost time traveling twin who is not in the church. FIND HER! SHE NEEDS YOUR HELP!

Abby,

Abby, I don't have any time. I think that you and Becca actually have a big opportunity to help the twins and their family. Just remember that they will notice what you do and say, and if you are really righteous and become the best person you can, you could help them in the future. They will remember your example. Read the scriptures. I was about your age when I started reading the Book of Mormon on my own. And pray for them.

Love you all family. When next we write, it will be next week!