My Savior

Tonight I am so overwhelmed by my Savior's love for me. If makes me so sad to be surrounded by people who don't even have a slight testimony of him. I am so grateful to have him as my rock. I would be nothing without him. He makes me want to be better. I know that he died for me and he saw my face as he suffered and died. I wish people could see that there's more to life, and I wish they'd see how happy the gospel makes me. I love my Savior! I love him so much that I want everyone to love him just as much, if not more, than I do! This week I have received so many blessings, everywhere from getting 2 jobs through the school to having a girl from school be baptized. I am amazed at how his hand is in every aspect of my life. I hope the video below gives you something to reflect on, I know it did me... I sobbed the whole time. Have a great week! I'll be praying for you:)

Jesus Christ - His Hands

The Importance of Relationships

On Friday afternoon one of my friends brothers took his own life. When I found out the next day, my heart completely sank. How could someone, who gave and loved so much, have this happen to them? I am so thankful that I have an eternal perspective and know to be true that families are forever and that we can all live again. I think it is important that we are kind to our families and all people we come in contact with. Life is too short for spending our time and energy on offensive things that people have said or done to us. I think we need to serve and be charitable to one another so we can have the peace of mind knowing that we did everything we could when we are held accountable for our lives. I wish I had been more charitable towards my siblings growing up and am relieved that it's not to late. The moral of this story: Love the one you're with!

Follower Participation Needed!

Yesterday I walked into my room and thought to myself, "this has got to be the most boring room I've ever seen!" I decided that I want to cover my walls with goals and quotes and pictures that make me want to be better. So, here's what I've come up with so far, but it needs a lot, and I mean A LOT more work! I was wondering if anyone had some really good quotes or pictures or anything that either they could email me or send in the mail to help add some flare to my room, so I don't feel like I'm locking myself into a white walled prison cell every night. Hopefully this isn't too much to ask. I pretty much will hang up anything. cards, church handouts, pictures of friends and family, ANYTHING! Let me know if you are willing and able:)

Have a Positive Attitude

We can’t direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails. For maximum happiness, peace, and contentment, may we choose a positive attitude. 

Believe in Yourself

You can achieve what you believe you can. Trust and believe and have faith.

 Face Challenges w/Courage

Have the determination to make the effort, the single-mindedness to work toward a worthy goal, and the courage not only to face the challenges that inevitably come but also to make a second effort, should such be required. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says, "I'll try again tomorrow."

Instantly

recognize Christ  

Read & Study Scriptures

Pray more sincerely

Some food for thought, with a challenge

The first night I got back to NY from Christmas break I was struggled. I was homesick and I hadn't even been gone for 48 hours. After receiving a blessing from a couple of guys in my ward, I decide the best thing to do was look for comfort the only way I knew how, through prayer and scripture study. Which then lead to some personal revelation of what one of my goals needs to be this year. First I looked up faith in the Bible Dictionary and here are some of the things that stood out to me:

• "To have faith is to have confidence in something or someone. The Lord has revealed himself and his perfect character, possessing in their fulness all the attributes of love, knowledge, justice, mercy, unchangeableness, power, and every other needful thing.  Faith comes by righteousness.
• Faith is a principle of action and of power, and by it one can influence any number of circumstances when occasion warrants (Jacob 4:4–7). 
• All true faith must be based upon correct knowledge or it cannot produce the desired results. Faith in Jesus Christ is the first principle of the gospel and is more than belief, since true faith always moves its possessor to some kind of physical and mental action; it carries an assurance of the fulfillment of the things hoped for.
• The effects of true faith in Jesus Christ include (1) an actual knowledge that the course of life one is pursuing is acceptable to the Lord (see Heb. 11:4); (2) a reception of the blessings of the Lord that are available to man in this life; and (3) an assurance of personal salvation in the world to come. These things involve individual and personal testimony, guidance, revelation, and spiritual knowledge. 

And then I had the thought to look up "follow," which lead me to "sheep." 

• Shepherds still, as of old, go before the sheep, and the sheep follow, being apparently more or less attached to their masters, whose voice they instantly recognize.

One of my goals this year is to become as a sheep. I consider myself to be very much a leader, and I'm not going to illuminate that trait from my personality, but when it comes to trusting in Lord I have to do better. Our lives so easily can become cluttered, stressful, and then before we know it we are lost sheep, unable to hear our shepherd calling . This year I want to be able to "instantly recognize" my Lord and Savior in all aspects of my life, and not just at church or when I'm trying to find the positive. In order to do this I'm going to more sincere personal prayers and read my scriptures every day. I started doing these two things Sunday night, and I'm already benefitting, and far less stressed than I was before break. If you're reading this, I challenge you to do the same and make this your spiritual goal to instantly recognize Christ in all aspects of your life, to read, and study your scriptures and more sincerely pray. 

Home for Christmas

I am so thankful that no matter where I'm at in the world there is always a place to call home. These past two weeks were much needed. I was able to catch up with friends and family, sleep in (I had forgotten what that felt like) and even just sit around and plain old do nothing, but do you want to know what I loved the most about the whole break? Well, the night before Christmas Eve I started getting sick, and it didn't just end after 24 hours. One week later and I'm still fighting it, but do you know who was there with me every step of it, telling me to take more medicine, and to go to bed, and go get in another hot shower to "cook it out of me?" My mom. Man, do I love that women and for some reason it's almost harder to say good bye this time around than the first time I left. I'm so grateful I was home to have my mom take care of me. I do not welcome the day I get sick in New York. I also appreciate home because I don't have to filter ANYTHING! I'm kind of nervous to go back to New York because I'm a little sensitive to all of the language. Sure, everyone says, "you'll get used to it," but I honestly don't want to. I'm growing up so much. There are so many things to learn and I'm at the very beginning... [a very good place to start~Sound of Music] haha, I know, I'm a nerd but hey, it happens to the best of us, right? I honestly am so excited to find out what God has in store for me. As much as I'm enjoying New York, it is such a trial of my faith, but it's almost easy to stay strong. The hard part is sharing my strength with others. I get so tired of all the questions and missionary experiences. There was one day I had 4 in less than one hour! A word to the wise, if you've been praying for missionary experiences and they haven't really come, don't worry, He keeps a tally and will be sure to give you every last one of them. Being a missionary is so hard! I LOVE MISSIONARIES! Thank goodness for their service because little people like me sometimes need backup. Moving back out of Utah has been humbling. I don't know anything! (Yes mom, and all those parents out there reading this, I said it) I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING! You think you know quite a bit when you move out, but you really don't, not about the church, cooking, time management, and the endless list of everything you have to do by yourself. I mean, I'm still asking my mom for laundry sorting help, and I even did my laundry for the last year of high school! Laugh all you want parents, but don't think your kids won't be saying the same things as I am now, because it will be even worse! I'm not going to lie, compared to a normal teenager, I was easy. Sure, I had my moody moments, or weeks, but hey, who doesn't? And yes, I got mouthy with my mom a few times here and there, which ended about as fast as you can say "smack." But other than those minor things I think I was pretty good.  Needless to say I love being home. Please write me an email or a Facebook message, even if it's only to say hi. I'd love to keep in contact with as many people as possible. And on the plus side reading mail and writing people back will keep me out of trouble... nah! haha just kidding:) Goodbye Utah, See you in 6 months!

Love you all!

Morgan 

PS Pray for me

Foreign American

One of my classes, called Vocal & Speech Production, teaches how to speak in the American Standard dialect. Coming here I did not expect to come across a whole new way of writing things, but here it is... the american language that looks foreign:)