Emails Monday, February 23, 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That is so fun I get you on your birthday!!!! I just love you ok!!! So what are you doing for your birthday? We are so simple. but we have so much fun!!! I hope your birthday is awesome!!! I Love you so much!!!

I got my package two days ago!!! I LOVED IT!!!!!!! thank you so much!!! It got here fast!!! I have really enjoyed eating that chocolate! ha ha. I LOVE my sweater too. I have worn it 2 days strait. ha ha. It´s perfect. Thanks so much!! I love how Kade sent me so many letters. I love them. Thanks Kade!!! Thank you everyone.

I hope you all had a fun valentines day. And I´m glad Hayley is going to the dance with Mitch and not the scary stalker guy. ha ha. Poor girl can´t help it. she´s just too dang cute. I am glad you liked the pictures.

What happens with the grapes is you eat one grape with every strike of the clock at midnight. kind of fun.

Hermana Swenson's name is Susanne. She´s awesome. I think we´ll do good together. We decided not to move. I feel bad because i wanted to help out the bishop and Stake president but we never felt good about it. so we decided to stay. And I feel really good about that decision.

I did hear that it was really hard to get packages to Chile. But if they didn´t say anything in her papers maybe people are exaggerating. I´m not sure. I just heard the mail system is really bad there and sometimes the package doesn´t get to the missionary. But I´m sending stuff anyway. I also heard putting religious stickers on the box makes people less likely to steal them. I don´t know if that´s true or not but hey, why not.

Elder Bednar was awesome!!!! I was in the front row on the left side of the chapel. He walked in and we all stood up and he is totally an apostle. His face is a lot softer and a little more aged than I thought. But he is still very young and one of my new favorite speakers. He came with Elder Oaks of the 70. He taught in a really interesting way. He would ask us questions. actually he reminded me a lot of dad. He would ask questions until he felt like we had answered it well. He wanted us to dig deeper and to be involved in the discussion. He told us the importance of asking good questions. he told us we are not the teachers, the holy ghost is. He told us....I need my journal. My mind just went blank. It was awesome though. I´ll have to write you a more detailed letter about what he talked about later today. But it was so cool. Oh and when he taught he invited Elder Oaks to get up whenever he felt like it to add anything to what elder Bednar had said. I´m running out of time so i think i´ll tell you more about the conference in a letter. But we all got to shake his hand at the end. Cool Huh!!!

I loved the snow pictures. I can´t believe how much there is. I am really liking Spain right now. ha ha. It looks like the dogs would like it here too. ha ha. That snow is as tall as them. I bet Kade loved it. Well I better run. I love you so much!!! I hope you have a great Week and that the snow melts soon.

I love you!! I hope you had an amazing birthday. You´ll have to let me know how it goes. I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,
Morgan

Hey dad!!!

How are you doing with all that snow out there?? It looks so cold!!!! So how are things down in Layton? How is work going? Did I ever tell you I talked to Monica a few months ago when I was still in Sevilla. She got our number from the elders in Cordoba and gave me a call. Fun huh. It was fun to talk to her. and in Spanish too. I loved it. She is so great!!! I really like her. if you ever see her tell her hi for me. I love the simple fun our family has. We have an awesome family and I have always been very grateful for that. I like what you said about getting every little bit of growth out of these next 6 months as I can. It has gone by so fast. I already feel like I´m not ready for it to end yet. Like there is still so much to do and to learn. I think one of my biggest problems is that if I´m not perfect I feel like I've failed. I realized
I just need to learn to enjoy the ride a little more. It´s work and it´s important, but I have to be better about not worrying so much about being perfect. I don´t want to come home with regrets because I didn´t achieve the impossible perfection I think I should have. I enjoy my mission more when I don´t worry so much. Just go and do and enjoy it. does that make sense? This mission is a great blessing and a great opportunity and this work is real. I just want to do it right. It´s a lot more fun now that i understand Spanish too. I thought about that the other day. In malaga I didn´t understand anything and now I am taking notes at church because the lesson was so good and I understood it all. What a miracle. The Lord really blesses his missionaries.

Well I better run. I´m out of time. But I hope you know that I love you! I often compare you to the missionaries of our mission. I know you were the best. You are awesome. Give mom a birthday hug for me. I hope you have a great day, and a great week. Thanks so much for my package. I LOVE IT!! I always do. You guys are awesome!!! I love you!!!

Love,
Morgan