Happy New Year!!!

С новым годом
Dear Family and Friends,
I hope that all is well and that everybody had an awesome Christmas! It seems really crazy that we are already heading into 2010 but I am excited for the New Year and to see what it brings. The New Year here is a HUGE holiday and so everyone is getting ready for it. It is fun to see Christmas lights getting put up, Christmas trees being bought everywhere and everyone preparing for the New Year. I have to say the best Christmas present I got was being able to talk to my FAMILY! I don't know how I got so blessed with my family but I did! They are truly amazing and I am so grateful that I got to talk to them. It was so great to just hear everone's voices and know that all is well at home. My Christmast was pretty uneventful. We just had a full day of missionary work and then I was able to call home around 10pm. Luckily it has gotten REALLY warm (-2) in Russia and so the weather has been really nice! We weren't freezing and so that was definitely a Christmas present to me:)
Well I haven't written for awhile so I'll just try to give the highlights of what has been going on recently in Oktabrasky. We had another transfer and mission conference and fortunately I am still in my area with my companion Sister Stolyarova. We are excited to be able to serve together for a whole cycle here and to really see the work move forward.
For all of the «fall story» fans out there I have a new fun one. We have a very large bridge in our area that anyone who is familiar with the area will defintiely know. We were crossing it one really cold night and we were at the top about to start our way down the stairs. My companion was a few stairs ahead of me and I was at the top about to start my way down. I had been so careful because I know my history and how bad my balance is, unfortunately I did not inherit my dad's «surefootedness», and about 2 stairs in I totally fell. I slid down a few stairs on my behind and needless to say it was a little painful. There were quite a few people on the bridge that just stopped and looked atme, I of course was laughing and my companion turned around and just totally lost it laughing. I looked up and realized my Book of Mormon was still at the top of the stairs and that I needed to walk back up and collect it and then come down the stairs one more time. Needless to say I learned my lesson and everytime we cross the bridge now I use the hand railing. It is especially dangerous now with the warm weather because it has completely iced over but we will make it! It is definitley an adventure to live in Russia in the winter:)
in other news we are still teaching Natalya and she is doing fantastic!We had a great lesson with her the other day and a fantastic member here, Irina, and we were able to talk about the Restoration and the blessings of going on a mission. Valentina is also doing well and still taking care of us which is a blessing! We need a mom here and she has definitely taken that role for us. It was so cute because we were awaiting the call to see if we were going to be transferred. We told her it was a possibility and she immediately got a little worried. She asked how it would all work etc. Etc. She told us that the minute we heard we needed to come and tell her, ANY TIME of night. We agreed that we would. Luckily neither of us was transferred and so we didn't have to go and knock on her door with the bad news. We had mission conference and had explained to her about how that works etc and so she was excited to hear about it when we got back. When we got back late Wednesday night we found a loaf of bread, amazing jam and some cream on our table from her. She is so awesome! She knew we were getting back that night and hadn't been shopping for about a week and a half.
The mission conference was good. I had a visa trip which was pretty tiring but overall good. We started it at 4 in the morning and didn't get back until 3 the next morning. We went to Lithuania and all worked out well, no delayed flights, no weather problems etc. The only problem was when the bus on the way to the airport blew a tire. Luckily another bus came and we made it to the airport on time and without any other delays. I think my favorite part was the airline crew's faces when we got off the plane in Lithuania, went through Customs (twice), checked in for our flight back to Russia and boarded the same exact plane, with the same crew we had just been on about an hour earlier. I;m sure they were a little confused why a large group of English speaking youth with name tags were just riding on airplanes all day but it all worked out. We then had mission conference the next day and that was fun. It was good to be with all of the other misionaries. Wednesday was also mission conference and we had a big ham dinner for Christmas and then watched some Mormon tabernacle Choir. We then got on the bus and headed back to Saratov. The bus drive was long because the roads were pretty bad but we made it back to Saratov with only one stop by the police to look at our documents:) Again the joys of living in Russia.
Well all is well! I only had one incident this week when the wind was so bad that it completely broke my umbrella but other than that everything is good! We are looking forward to the New Year and what it will bring to the Russia Samara Mission. I hope evryone had a wonderful Christmas and were able to be with family and friends. We are so blessed to have this life, to have the church and to have family. Count your blessings everyday and go and do some missoinary work. We have something that not everyone has! I love you all and am so grateful for the love and support and most importantly prayers! Thankyou!!!
Sister Morris

It's Cold and Snowy here too!

Hello Friends and Family!
Well another week has gone by! I love P-day because I get to hear from you and see how everyone is doing. It sounds like everyone is doing well and Christmas is going well!YEA! I can't believe Christmas is only in a week and a half. We are getting pretty excited for the Visa trip to... I don't know... and then to have an all mission conference! I think it will be pretty cool. Well first things first... we had an AWESOME baptism Satruday night and it was so fun! Sasha was baptized and it was a really cool experience for everyone there. He was baptized by Renat, a young man who just joined the church this summer and it was really cool to see him baptize someone for the first time. He did a great job and although he was really nervous it was really neat. The baptism service was really nice and a lot of members showed up which is always great and shows a lot of support for the new member. The confirmation was also a really cool experience and the spirit was so strong there. Elder Reshetnakov gave the blessing and it was so powerful! I also have to say there were cookies at the baptism which just made it all worth it:) Missionaries love cookies and sweets...hint...hint;) Also in good news Valentina came to church!!! Can you believe it!!! It was really neat to see her there and I thought it was really cool she got to see the confirmation of Sasha. The spirit was definitetly there so I hope she will come back soon. They forgot I was playing a musical number so after Sacrament meeting we went into a room and I played a few songs for her. My companion also can play the piano really well so we played her a duet. She really liked that!
It has finally snowed here which makes it a little warmer on the street. Yesterday on the way to church I only fell 2 times. The count has began because we all know how awesome I am at walking on slick surfaces:) Hopefully it won't be too bad!
Our diet has been going well, minus the cookies at the baptism and the treats Valentina brings us, AND the candy that Natalya bought us;) WE found a really awesome mountain in our area with a lot of houses on it that we like to hike so we'll see how that goes in the snow. I had a “missionary tender mercy” the other day. I was feeling a little down because one of our lessons fell through. We were walking down the street and a car drove by with the song “Jai-ho”. Needless to say I started skipping down the street. My companion thought I was a little crazy but I was just so happy to hear an American song! I know, probably not very missionarylike to want to hear music but it was fun nonetheless.
Well all is well here. As I said we are excited for Mission Conference next week and maybe a transfer? I don't know where I'll be calling from on Christmas but we will see! The church is true! Do some missionary work and have FUN! Merry Christmas everyone! Thanks for the love and support, missionaries NEED it!
Love,
Whitney

BRRRRR, it's cold in here... there must be a ...bear!?

Dear Friends and Family-
Well another week down and we are into DECEMBER!!! YEAH!!! I seems crazy that we are already into December and Christmas is just in a couple weeks. Also that I will be on my first visa trip in two weeks! Huzzah! Sounds like fun;) Well I hope everyone is well. As always, thanks so much for the emails and support. MISSIONARIES NEED IT! Especially this time of year.
Well it is winer in Russia. It is COLD! Like dad said, good thing we have borscht to keep us warm. This week has been good, HARD, but good. I have never been so TIRED in my life but I'm alive, warm and happy. We had some good lessons this week and we both just can't wait for the baptism this weekend. We planned the program with Sasha this week and he is so excited! He got to pick the songs, who would say the prayers and give the talks and who would baptize him. Renat, who I love, is baptizing him. Renat just joined the church this summer and is our ward missionary. He is so good to come out with us on lessons, contact with the Elders, and do this work. He is only 20 years old but he is dedicated tothe church and to his calling. When we first asked him if he would baptize Sasha he was a little weary but in the end decided yes and we are so excited!!! We are so excited and he is AMAZING. Just yesterday he amazed me again with his desire to be a member of this church. He came to church yesterday, completely by himself (his mom was sick)!!! He lives about a 30 minute martshutka ride from the church but he was there, in a suit, ready for Sacrament meeting. He came into the sacrament meeting, grabbed a hymn book and sat down ready for the meeting to start. He then stayed for all three hours and went back home again, AT LEAST a 30 minute ride, and he's only 13! It was so cool!
Well first things first, Sis. Pike we were losers and didn' realize there is a bear here! Yes, a real bear. It lives in the park. How did we not figure this out before, I will never know but luckily someone mentioned it and we found it in the park yesterday. In case you were nervous, it is in a cage but all in all there is a real bear in my area. Yeah. I can tell my grandkids that one day. I lived in Russia, with a real bear. How cool will that be! (I'm guessing dad's a little jealous right now:) Also my companion LOVES squirrels. Well actually all Russians do, come to find out. Everytime we're in the park and she sees a squirrel she squeals with delight. Oh the little things that bring you joy on a mission.
It looks like we will be having a conference in Samara right after our visa trip and then heading into our areas to work on Christmas. I am excited to go to the conference and get to see all of the missionaries and feel of the strength from that.
We had tea with Valentina this week which was so fun! I love her! She is so fun to be with and to talk to and she loves to have tea with us. We are hoping she will come to church next Sunday because I am playing a musical number in the ward. If anything can lure her there it is music so everyone pray that Valentina will go to church on Sunday! Also awesome yesterday was that Natalya went to church! Hurray! She is doing awesome and again I can't even express how much I love her!!!
Well I love you all! Thankyou so much for the emails. Ami- congrats on the baby girl! That is so awesome! I cannot wait for the next cousin camp with the new baby. Oh it will be so good, and I can't help but think that the beach sounds really nice right now:) Help the missionaries. The church is true!

Almost December!!

Dear Family and Friends!
Well I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving and Happy Birthday to dad again! Mom it sounds like you prepared a delicious Thanksgiving feast, way to be, hopefully you watched the Macy’s Day Parade. It’s just not Thanksgiving without it. Thanks everyone for the emails this week, Devin you always seem to know exactly what to say;) Taylor, stop fouling people, and K-dawg congrats on the engagement! So cool! I want to see pictures so send some.This week was pretty good. A little crazy but overall good. It turns out that my companion is now serving in Samara and I got a new companion. Her name is Sis. Stolyarova and she is from the St. Petersburg mission. She has been serving for over a year and she is a GREAT missionary! It has been really fun to serve with her for the last week and get to know her and see how she does missionary work. We had a great week with a lot of lessons and… we set a baptismal date!!! HUZZAH!Monday after we finished mailing the assistants called and said that I would be getting a new companion and I needed to be home and have everything done by 4 so I could let her in. We were out in Dochney and still needed to buy their food so we ran and got all of that done and then ran to my area, bought food and made it home just in time to welcome my new companion. She had been serving in Samara and her and my companion switched places. I am just glad to be in my area and to have a companion! That night we went and visited a less-inactive family and it was interesting to talk to them. Hopefully we will keep working with them and they will come back to church with us.Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty normal days. Lots of contacting and talking with people. We did have a great lesson with Valentina, our landlady, about the Plan of Salvation. She seems really interested in it and asked a lot of questions. I am very excited to see how she progresses. Thursday was Thanksgiving. We had a normal day of contacting and talking to people but I did make chocolate chip cookies for the special occasion and they turned out pretty good. We were able to convince Valentina to go to a concert at the Branch building with Luba the opera singer. She loved the concert and we were able to teach her before the concert which was great.The weekend was filled with contacting and tracting- every missionaries dream;) and then of course Sunday. Saturday night we did have a great lesson with our investigator Sasha and we set a baptismal date!!! He will be baptized December 12 and we are so excited for him. He is such a great kid and is very excited to come to church and participate. He is only 13 years old and reads the Book of Mormon and prays with his mom. I am so excited and it is truly a blessing from our Heavenly Father we were able to teach him.My companion did make me real borscht this week which was AMAZING and belini. She is an excellent cook and I am so excited to try lots of real Russian recipes with her. She is going to make piroshky today!!! I wanted to make pie on Thanksgiving but we just didn’t have time so maybe some time this week.As I think about my blessings from Heavenly Father it really is amazing everything that he gives us. He is so aware of us and what we need and sometimes…what will make us grow. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve on this mission. It is teaching me so much!!! Everyday I learn something new and I am grateful to be able to serve in Russia and with these Russian people. I love them! My companion and I also realized how thankful we are for P-day! Sounds funny but seriously. We had such a crazy, tiring week that last night we wanted to have a party because it was going to be P-day! Oh the tender mercies from Heavenly Father. Well I hope all is well with everyone! The church is true, help the missionaries and talk with your friends and family about the Gospel. Especially in this Christmas season it is so easy to talk about the Savior, our blessings, and everything we have. I encourage everyone to have a Family Home Evening with a family in their neighborhood and share the Gospel message. It changes lives. It is a gift from our Heavenly Father! I love you all!Whitney

Get a Haircut you Bumb!

Hello Family! And most importantly… HAPPY BIRHTDAY dad!!! YEAH!
Well another week has gone by in missionary world. All is well. It is getting a little colder here in Russia but overall it has been a VERY MILD winter. Huzzah. I think it’s all of the prayers going out;) thanks! We have had a little snow but not bad and so I am glad. My first comment for the email is Taylor, you are looking good in your pictures Maybe next time you should comb your hair though,or cut it? and yes I am very impressed with Missy’s picture taking. It’s too bad to hear about the football game but I’m sure next year…
Well big news first. My companion went to a conference this weekend in Samara and so I came to Dachney, a area in Saratov to serve with the Sisters here. We have been in a threesome since Thursday and no one knows when I will return to my area (I think I’ll be getting a new companion although I’m not sure). Although I miss my home and my area it is fun serving with the sisters here and seeing how different missionaries do things etc. It is also fun to live out of my plastic bag I brought, ha ha. The sisters here are Sister Tedrow, my MTC companion and Sister Averyanova, who was also in the MTC with us. She is from Rostov Russia and is an AMAZING sister! Holy Cow! She is good at this. Like I said it has been fun serving with them and getting to see a new area, new branch yesterday and meet all of their investigators here. I have to say the best thing so far was that at church there were treats. Why haven’t we thought of that before! One little Grandma brings treats and sets them out so as you come into church you grab a treat and then sit down. Genius! I was so glad to have that little refreshment right after sacrament to help me make it through Sunday school in a different language I also have loved the people in this area. They are so nice! We haven’t gotten yelled at once! Woohoo! One night we were out contacting and it was a little cold and really really wet, there was this strange mist in the air like snow and rain all mixed together, and we were talking to some ladies. They reached into their bag and gave us each these delicious pastry things because they saw we were missionaries and just said thanks and good job. It was so nice! Heavenly Father truly does look after his missionaries.
So I know everyone is probably awaiting the exciting news… yes I got my haircut. It was pretty shaggy and mullet and very big and so it was definitely time. Luckily, my companion was there to tell them what to do and what I wanted and I actually really really like it. It is different than anything I’ve ever done but it is good. And it is really easy to do curly which is good because I don’t have a straightener. I did get in trouble from Valentina, though I think that is inevitable. She looked at and asked where, how much etc. When I told her how much she just said, “kashmar” (nightmare). She said there was a place CLOSER and CHEAPER I should have gone to. But all in all she liked it. She is SO funny! She kills me with her comments.
This week we have been able to work with members a lot of nights and it has been so fun. I was also able to have a member be my companion yesterday which was a lot of fun. I have to say though that one of the members gets about 10 gold stars in my book for her courage and willingness to contact. She is in her 60’s I’m pretty sure and went out with us on a colder night. She was so brave and it was so fun to see how the Russians reacted to her. They actually reacted extremely well, a lot better than if it had been missionaries talking to them. She would just loudly say to people, woman, woman, we have a message for you. She would get their attention, introduce us as missionaries, and then say they have a message for you. After that is was all smooth sailing. We would just start into our message. How cool is that! She was awesome and I loved being able to work with her.
We met some interesting people this week and for the first time in my life, I rescued a cat? WHAT? Me? I don’t even like cats?! I guess I can truly say the mission makes me do a lot of things I wouldn’t normally do. The cat was on the sidewalk and had been in a big fight. It’s eye was all swollen and read and the tail was all mangled up. I just kept walking but my companion and the member we were with that night (Lena) stopped and were trying to find someone to take the cat in. We knocked on a couple doors of the houses around us to see if anyone would take the cat in but no one would. Finally we just took the cat into a warm proezd gave it some milk and the next day it was gone. Who knows what happened to it but you can’t say we didn’t try. We also met a very funny babushka on the street who wanted to be baptized. She said she was going to be baptized in the Russian Pravoslavny church but it was too expensive. They were charging 400 rubles and she didn’t have that money. She asked us at least 10 times how much baptism costed and each time we responded with It doesn’t cost. It’s free etc. She was just insistent that it had to cost something. We told her to come to church and see what it was like and then we could start teaching her and she could be baptized. She said she didn’t need to be taught she just needed the baptism. Oh good times. She unfortunately was not at church on Sunday so hopefully we will run into her again and be able to talk to her.
Well I love you all! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! This truly is a wonderful time when you get to think about your blessings and what our Heavenly Father has given us. Everything we have is from Him. Be grateful and go serve someone today. There are so many people in this word who need our help. As members of the church we should do more to help them see the light of Christ, recognize the love of God in their lives and feel of it! The spirit is so strong when we are serving and helping Heavenly Father’s children. HE loves each of us! The Church is true! Remember to help the missionaries in your area, even if you simply bring treats to church I love you all! Have a wonderful week and dad eat some delicious banana cream pie for me. You are the best, thanks for your love, support and prayers!
Sister Morris

Are we human, or are we dancer?

Friends and Family!!!
Holy cow! Another week down and my first whole cycle! I can’t believe that we are almost halfway through November. Can you believe that Thanksgiving is next week! It is really weird to be a missionary because you totally lose your sense of time. I merely know when weekly planning is and that’s about it. I didn’t even realize Thanksgiving is coming up so soon. Thanks for all the love and support. Because we had Zone Conference this week I got my mail and I have to say thanks Kubo and the crew for the letters and just to let you know, I am still a dancer! They were fantastic! Mom—I still haven’t gotten the package you sent? I did get the Dear Elder. Mail is funny here because we only get our mail every 6 weeks at Zone Conference so I won’t get my mail until Christmas again. I am still in Octobrasky which is great because I love my ward and I love my area. I will do this whole cycle with Sis. Semikolenova which will be great.
This week has been another good week. We have been busy with lessons and with trying to find people to teach but we had a couple great lessons this week. Last Monday we were able to buy me a warm hat for the winter and buy my companion a warm coat so that was fun. The Rinok is always an interesting experience and we were both just happy to get out of there unscathed and with all of our money (minus the money we spent) We had Zone Conference as I mentioned which was awesome and a lot of fun. We were able to watch all of the Apostles who talked at General Conference so I was able to see Elder Holland’s talk and it was amazing. It is true, the Book of Mormon is a huge source of power for our church and with no doubt in my mind, it is true! It is such a privilege to get to bear my testimony of it countless times a day to people and simply say, “IT IS TRUE”. I met a missionary who knew Hal and Patty and I need to say privet from him, Elder Hillaryanov. He was at zone Conference with the President. He hadn’t been set apart yet because they needed a fill-in companion for a missionary while the new missionaries were still coming.
Well I’ll start with the funny things I did this week first and then finish with the spiritual (I know, lame). 1. Usually when we got into the elevator and push the button it takes a few seconds for it to work so we got in and I pushed the button. Unfortunately the one time the elevator works right away an old man was trying to come in and yes, the door closed on him. I felt so bad!!! He luckily just laughed and said it was fine, but I felt like an idiot! 2. While putting my shoes on after a lesson at a member’s home I leaned up against the door to pull up the zipper on my boots and completely fell over, yep, stupid again. The door was not all the way closed and so opened when I leaned on it and I fell into the proezd. No we just laughed, the member thought I was crazy and we moved on. It’s always good to have things to laugh about while on the mission.
This Sunday in church I played the piano, hoping to lure Valentina to our Sacrament meeting. Although she was unable to come the song went well and the members really enjoyed the song so all in all it was good. We had a good lesson with my investigator Natalya this week about faith. We were able to watch the Testaments and then talk about how a faith in Christ is so important. WE also talked about the importance of the Book of Mormon and reading it everyday. I love her so much and would do anything for her!!! This week we didn’t have a lesson with Valentina but we talked to her many times as usual. She had given us some DELICIOUS apple jam and we finished the bottle. I returned the bottle and she just gave me an admiring look and said, Good job Morris. She then came back with 2 bottles of jam. Oh she is a funny one!
I think today will be my first Russian haricut which should be interesting. My hair is so long now I need to get it cut! Other than that things are well. The Church is true. I loved being able to hear conference and feel of the strength from each of the apostles. Each one gave such an inspired and amazing talk and I am thankful for prophets who are able to know what our world needs. Thanks for the love and support! Love you all!
Whitney

Russia Samara Mission with Elder Russell M. Nelson

link to the Church News article about Elder Nelson's visit:

One Cycle Down

HELLO friends and family!
Thankyou all again for your wonderful emails! The best part of p-day is getting mail and getting to hear from the “outside world” for a little bit. I have to mention to Jill that I find it interesting your cake didn’t work yet the brownies you sent me were amazing! What happened? Just think though, you still have 14 months to improve your cooking skills and cook me an amazing dinner when I get back. I loved hearing about Octoberfest and about mom’s fun trip to Virginia. HOLY COW Eva is HUGE! What happened! Dad thanks for your updates on the Idaho Outdoors. I do really miss those adventures. And Taylor all I can say to you is good job. Freedom is totally worth the price. Good luck with basketball tryouts this week, I know you we will be great and I hope that you have a coach;) SARA that is so exciting about your move to Las Vegas. That does mean that we will be very close to each other HUZZAH! And I’m sure mom is really glad that airfare is really cheap to Las vegas (and dad). Devin thanks for the poem. That is EXACTLY how I”ve been feeling this week.
This week has been good, a little colder and a little harder but good nonetheless. We’ve had some interesting experiences (meeting old grandpa’s while tracting) and some really good experiences. We had District conference on Sunday and so we were able to be together with all of the Saints in Saratov and with President Bennett. It was great to be with everyone and to see how the church is growing in Saratov. Our investigator Natalya was able to attend and I think she enjoyed the conference. It also was the end of a cycle!!! Hole cow! I’ve made it in Russia one whole cycle, hurrah! Think at the end of next cycle I’ll be on my first Visa trip, crazy. It looks like I will be staying in Oktabrasky with my mini-missionary Sis. Semikolenova. She is great and we have had fun serving together. I am just so impressed with her dedication to serve the Lord, she already served a mission and here she is on the cold Russian streets, getting yelled at, sworn at etc., all voluntarily. Wow! Because it is the end of the cycle and because we had district conference it means president and sister Bennett were in town this week. Sister Bennett unexpectedly dropped in the other morning for cleaning checks and we had an interview with president Bennett. It was great to be able to feel of their strength and get reenergized for the next cycle.
This week we met a lot of great people but I specifically wanted to mention a few. We met a young girl from Kenya the other week who wanted a Book of Mormon in English. She is going to school here and speaks English as her first language. We finally got a copy of an English Book of mormon and were able to deliver it this week. She lives in a dorm type place and so we waited for about 30 minutes for some girls to go up and get her because we couldn’t go up there. The wait was totally worth it though because she returned with about 5 of her friends who were also interested in the gospel. We had a great conversation with them and they asked the best question an investigator can ask, “how do you know the book is true”. AWESOME! In that situation all I could do was bear my testimony and challenge them to read it and find out for themselves. It was a great experience! I think they speak French with each other and so they were speaking in that and so I didn’t understand everything that was going on (devin, I needed you) but it was a great meeting and we are excited to meet with them again.
Here are some pictures from the week of my companion and I when we imagined going out in the cold! But in the cold is where people are! Thanks for all of your love and support. The church is true! Help the missionaries (are you sick of hearing that one yet). This week we had a wonderful member go out with us, after a long day of work, on the streets contacting. She was actually with us when we went and visited our Kenyan friends and was such a support and so sweet. The members here are amazing. She is at least 50 but was willing to give of her time, energy, support etc to help the missionaries. When we met her at our spot at 5 she simply said, “I’m yours tonight”. How cool is that. She was truly an instrument in the hands of the Lord and was willing to help out the missionaries on a cold winter night for 4 hours!!! WOW!!! Have a good week, eat some borscht (it’s delicious), drink some tea and think of me. Love you all!
Sister Morris

A Month in Russia!

Dear Mom, Dad, and Family,
Thanks again for all your emails. I have loved hearing about what’s going on and what you have all been up to. So good to hear about AMI! CONGRATULATIONS! And Congratulations Conrad. This week has been really good. I can’t believe that I have been in Russia one month!!!! I made it!!! Can you believe it? It seems really weird that I can say I made it a month in Russia, hopefully I’ll be able to make it…a few more;) It is definitely getting colder and occasionally you look outside and see small flakes of snow falling, I am just waiting to wake up to a white wonderland but if that is the case, we will be okay. Sis Pike did leave this week but fortunately I have a great new companion. Her name is Sis. Semikolenova and she served a mission on temple square. I don’t know how long she will be with me but it has been fun to have a native Russian companion. She has also cooked me some yummy Russian food and so that has been fun. Mom you will be very surprised and happy to know that I eat tomoatoes every day and love them! Ha, who would have thought. It just amazes me that someone, who already served a mission, would agree to come out and serve again, in the cold, etc. etc. etc. It shows the strength of the Russian members and their desire to serve the Lord. Cool. Well this week has been pretty uneventful. We have walked A LOT and been to some interesting places, including our fun little village up in the mountains of Saratov (and dad it does change color, but is changing everyday to more bare and gray).
Monday was P-day and we picked up my new companion. We then did our grocery shopping and headed home for the day. I made onion soup (thanks mom) and apple cobbler. It was pretty fun to think that on Monday night you were all eating onion soup too for Octoberfest We then went out contacting. Tuesday night we had a really great lesson with our investigator Natalya, who I am in love with! She is progressing so well and we are so excited to see how she is doing! We had a lesson with Valentina (our landlady) on Monday night and read from the Book of Mormon with her and it went really well. We had tea and cookies and ate the apple crisp I had made (she loved it!) She then came into our apartment and started doing our dishes, what? She is so funny! She has to know everything we are doing and how we do it and help us do it… I love her. Because we were in a threesome for a few days we had to put our mattresses on the floor and all stay in one room. In the morning we were running a little late and so were not able to put the mattresses away before we went out. When we got back in we were making breakfast and all we heard from the other room was “PIKE”. (Valentina loves to say “PIKE”) She was so mad at us for having the room in such a mess, as she said “our beds weren’t even made”. Needless to say we apologized, cleaned up and had her come over to check again. She luckily said that everything looked good, gave us hugs and kisses and said “I don’t know why I didn’t yell at you, I must love you or something.” Love her.
Fortunately I have not gotten spit on or anything this week so that is good. My boots are working well and I inherited Sis. Pike’s awesome winter coat so at least I’m warm in the cold weather. I have to give a shout out to Kubo for the line “It’s okay I’m rich”. I never knew that I’d say it in Russia, but I did. We were on a lesson with a really really cute member of our ward who is about 20, Rita. She is awesome and so sweet and nice to come with us when we need her. We were getting on the Marshutka to go out to a different area which was pretty far away and we were getting out our money to pay. Because she was coming with us we decided we should pay for her ticket there and so as I got out my money and she got out hers I just said, “it’s okay, I’m rich.” Good times. We laughed pretty hard.
So not much else to report which I guess is a good thing. The church is true, missionary work is HARD but really good. Help the missionaries in your area (you’re definitely going to sick of hearing that) and go to the temple. I miss being able to go to the temple but look forward to going when I am back lots (that means you Jill, Katie, etc.). I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week! thanks for the love and support! you are all awesome! Love,
Whitney

It's COLD!!!

Dear Mom and Dad ;)
Hello! Greetings from a COLD Russia! The last couple days have been cold here in Russia but it is exciting to see all the winter clothes being brought out. First things first: Sis. Pike is still my companion! YEA! Wednesday after she had all packed and we were about to go to bed, the AP called and told her she would be staying in Oktabrasky for a few more days after the conference. It was such great news to us because our investigators had been doing so well and so Thursday we headed off to the Conference and then she came back with me. We will pick up our mini missionary today in about an hour and then be in a threesome until Sis. Pike leaves maybe Wednesday or Thursday, we're still not sure. BUT all in all she is still here and we have had a GREAT week!
Thanks for everyone's emails, especially dad. It was awesome! So I'm not sure if I should start with the sprititual stuff or the boring everday stuff. I think I will start with the boring and end with the good spiritual stuff!
This week was pretty normal as far as missionary standards go. We had some great lessons with our investigators and had a really fun lesson with a less inactive lady we have been working with in our ward. I remember I told you about Luba (the opera singer in our ward) last week, but this week we took Luba and her boyfriend Artur (who was baptized about a month ago and is also an opera singer here). We had a great time singing hyms for the member and inviting her to come to church. She felt so special to have Artur and Luba there and as we were leaving Artur told her she could get her some tickets to the Philharmonic here if she would like to go (she's in her 70's and doesn't ever leave her house). Oh I wish everyone could have seen her cute face! She felt on top of the world to have a handsome young opera singer invite her to the philharmonic. The face was fleeting as she turned back into her normal self and said, 'hmph... I don't know.' It was awesome! I love missionary work!
We have continue working with Valentina and she continues to be as funny as ever. Just the other day we were at her house and had tea, afterwards we were doing the dishes for her. She then came into our house and did our dishes! What do we do with her! She also shared her 'big secret' for the week with us. She loves to know how we do things and what types of things we cook etc. Sis. Pike told her that in America we don't iron very many things. She asked if we ironed our sheets and we said 'NO!' She seemed a little apalled but a couple days later she told Sis. Pike very quietly, that very morning she had put her sheets on the bed, and didn't even iron them! Oh sweet freedom! I LOVE THE PEOPLE HERE!
Here we have many mnay people who are willing to be our mom's. Yesterday the weather was terrible. There were winds that were worse than Rexburg winds, cold cold cold pouring rain and just cold weather. By the time Sis. Pike and I got to church in a different area (Our investigator Natalya was going to church!!!!) Her boots were completely and totally soaked and she had to take them off. She took them off and her socks were all wet, she turned to me and said 'some babyshkas are going to get MAD at me and sure enough...our investogator saw, and being the mother she is,
made her take off the socks, put on some boots that were just lying around the church and, best part, hung her socks in front of the oven, on a broom, with the oven on all during church so her socks would dry out. She was so cute and worried about us being cold she gave us her pair of gloves (I had left my little mittens somewhere in Samara, whoops:() As we headed out she then wrapped Sis. Pike's feet in plastic bags and then had her put on her boots etc. The people here are so nice and loving and they just want to take care of you! It was great!
We had a lesson with her later that night and took a member of the church who is awesome. Renant was recently baptized and is our Branch Mission Leader. He is about 19 and studying here in Samara. I love seeing the dedication of these members here in Russia. They are so willing to go on lessons and help out with missionary work they really are an example for us and how we should be. Natalya LOVES Renant and so we had a good lesson talking about the tree of life etc. I love her and am so excited to continue working with her and see her progress. She went to church the first time this week and it was so fun to see her take the sacrament. I had to play the piano and so I watched as it got to her and she just winked at me and I just thought, this is why I'm here! The Gospel has just a powerful influence in people's lives and can change them! Oh it is so cool to be a part of this work! I am so grateful for the opportuinity to serve these people! I learn more from them about life etc. than I'm sure they learn from me about the Gospel but it so so cool to see the change that takes place and to see their love for this Gospel grow!
One last funny story! One day Sis. Pike and I had not had very much success at all! No one wanted to talk to us, it was cold, it was a little overcast and we were tired. Sis. Pike had just dropped her favorite earring off the balcony and so we were searching for it below in the bushes. There was a guy on his balcony smoking above us and as we were looking I felt something hit my head. I felt my head and sure enough, he had spit on me... awesome. Now I know he wasn't trying to, I think he just didn't realize we were down there but I just thought to myself...missionary work is awesome, I just got spit on and no one will talk to us. That is like the summary of a bad day in missionary work. I didn't want to complain and I knew that Sis. Pike was having a bad day too (her earring had broken) so I didn't want to complain and so I didn't say anything until last night. When I told her the story we both just laughed really hard for a few minutes and said I guess that's why its okay to have hard days, you get to laugh about them later.
Ok... time for the spiritual part. We had the conference with Elder Nelson this week and it was amazing. We were able to hear from President Schweitzer and his wife and Elder Nelson. We were also able to shake his hand and that was cool! I shook the hand of an apostle! YEA! He was so powerful and the spirit was so strong in that conference. We were able to sing Called to Serve and it was so neat to sing with all of us missionaries and an apostle, what we are doing here! While he was speaking I knew that this was WHERE I'm supposed to be and WHEN i'm supposed to be here. It is such a short time in the eternal perspective to give to the Lord. A year and a half and I'll be back home doing 'normal' things but right now I get to do AMAZING things. I get to talk about things that you can't talk about normally, I get to meet people and talk about their family with them, I get to testify about Jospeh Smith and the Book of Mormon on a regular basis and it is so cool! This truly is a once in a lifetime experience and I get to do it. I think my favorite thing that I learned from Elder Nelson was an answer to the question 'why me?' Why a 19/21 year old? His answer was simply, the Lord has always chosen the unlikely. Look at history. He gave the example of picking the army and the narrowed it down to 300 men judging by how they drunk the water (thanks dad! Those Old Testament FHE;s really payed off, I remembered that story!) Look at Joseph Smith. Look at Nephi. Look at Moses, David and Goliath, Abinadi, etc. We will always be in the minority but as long as we are on the Lord's side we will win. It was so cool to hear an apostle testify that it is the unikely, the people who can't speak Russian, the people who don't know what every scripture says (missionaries) that the Lord can bring about his grand purposes and bring about a great and marvelous work. He also talked a lot about finding common ground with those you talk to. He told the story of President Hinckly meeting Gorbachov(sp.) and asking if he saw the wood paneling in the room. He then explained that it was some type of walnut and it was actually the walnut from where Gorbachov grew up (I can't remember the name of the wood) but it is important to be smart and to talk to people about what they like, do etc. He also talked about the importance of questions and like a doctor asking the question 'where does it hurt?' Find out how the Gospel can heal them and teach that principle. Overall it was a great conference and I learned a lot about being a missionary and it got me excited to keep serving and doing this work. It is a great work! This is where I need to be and I'm doing what I need to.
Well time is up but I love you all! Thanks for the letters, the recipes, and all the love and support. You are all amazing! Do MISSIONARY work! Go out with the missionaries, invite them to teach in your homes, talk to their investigator's at church. The church is true, I know it! It will be exciting to work with my new companion and although it is sad to say goodbye to Sis. Pike she has served a great mission and is a fantastic missionary. I am so grateful for her example of how to make a mission fun. You don't have to be serious and intense with your investigator's. Love them, show them love and find out 'where it hurts' for them. That is the way to do missionary work!
Have a good week! Love,
Whitney

October in Oktabrasky

My Crazy Babushka socks!
My boots
Our tree of life that our landlady gave us! Little did she know there is a real tree of life...

Family and Friends,
SORRY!!!! I am so sad right now thinking about you not getting the email especially because it was the best one I have written on my mission as of right now. It makes me so sad to think you didn’t get to read about the interesting people I met while tracting and all the fun stuff that Sis. Pike and I have been doing! GRRRR! Oh well, we will continue. This week has been good as well and filled with lots of fun and exciting new things. Russia is beautiful right now with all of the leaves changing color and our weather is FANTASTIC! It has been so nice and I have loved being able to walk around and see what Russia is really like. We have continued to explore our area and have really been loving it. Our area is HUGE! And Saturday night we discovered we have “mountains” in our area. What an adventure! Anyway, like usual the best way for me to organize my thoughts is to just tell you what has been happening everyday.
Monday was P-day and we came to the mail and then went to the RINOK! YEA! The Rinok is just a really big market and it was really fun! We bought all of our fresh fruit and vegetables there. We also bought a lot of nuts and dried fruit and everything was so cheap. It was a lot of fun to be in the Rinok and see all the people and hear what was going on. Luckily Sis. Pike has been in Russia a year and a half now and so was able to deal with all of the sellers etc. It was a lot of fun but tiring! We also bought a pumpkin and hauled it home. We have been eating everything PUMPKIN lately especially pumpkin in our oatmeal every morning. It is delicious so everyone should try it this week. Monday was also interesting for another reason. As Sis. Pike and I were getting ready for the day we hear a big pop and then smoke started coming from my straightener. Needless to say it doesn’t work anymore so my hair has been… a little out of control. I think my favorite part of having it curly is the comment I received this morning. We have become good friends with the fruit lady outside our house and so we were there this morning buying some fruit and when she first saw me she just said, “Where are you coming from?!” I just laughed and she said she liked my hair. She then asked Sis. Pike when she was going to get her hair done. All in all I’ve gotten some awesome comments and looks for my big “80’s” hair.
This week we have worked with one of investigator’s Natalya who I LOVE! She is so sweet and nice and I am so excited with her progress. This week unfortunately her cat died and so we went out to her (she leaves in the outskirts of Saratov) and had a lesson. It ended up being a really great experience and we were able to teach her about the Spirit and how Jesus Christ is always there to comfort us. We also talked about having faith. She has said that she knows she needs to get baptized but that she just needs some time. I am excited to see how she will progress and am so excited to keep working with her! She is awesome and so sweet and humble! The people here in Russia are so genuine and care about you so much, I love it!
Our other investigator Valentina—who is our landlady—is in the hospital! It has been a rough week. We have been going to her everyday while there and singing hymns and sharing a message. Although she is in the hospital, it has given her a lot of time to read and she has started reading the last conference Liahona. She always has a lot of questions but she is interested in what they say. We also had a great lesson with her Friday night. She has been sneaking out of the hospital and going home to clean and feed her husband and so we found her there the other night. I think it is so funny that here you can just leave and it’s totally fine. I guess the doctor’s are only there on the week days and so EVERYBODY leaves on the weekends but she has been sneaking out other days to do stuff at home and then returning in the evening. I think it is hilarious! We brought a young adult from our ward, Luba, who is an opera singer here and we sang for her and talked a lot about the church and what we do at church. It was a great lesson and she of course loved Luba who is super sweet and cute and has an AMAZING voice. Hopefully we will be able to continue to work with her and have her read the Book of Mormon more.
We also have a new investigator who is a 14 year old boy named Sasha. His mom is an semiactive member in our ward and we taught them this week and will continue to teach them. They were both at church this week and it was so fun to see them! It is an amazing feeling when you see your investigator’s at church and when they continue to progress.
I think the best tracting story from this week (there were some good ones last week ) was when we accidentally tracted into the Reshetnakov’s house. He is the member of the 70 I was talking about. I was talking and we knocked and just said “we were taking a family survey”. The lady at the door just started laughing and opened it and said “I don’t know anyone else who would open the door for that accent”. They invited us in and we had a great meeting with them and their family. There is such a difference the Gospel brings into people’s lives that makes them happy and filled with purpose. We were able to get some great referrals from them (they know everyone and where everything is). We also helped him with his English, he is going to conference this next session (April) and so is working hard on his English. It was great to have him help me with my Russian and I helped him with his English. They are an amazing family and Sunday they brought me a really cute hat to wear. The night we tracted I wasn’t wearing a hat and so she was worried and brought me one. It was so nice! The members here are AWESOME and I love them and love working with them.
So yeah I think that is the highlights of the week. Sis. Pike and I continue to have a great time and are talking and meeting lots of people. We love our area and working with the people we are working with. I am really really really sad because she will leave the area on Thursday and work in Samara for a little bit and then head home. I will go up to Samara with her to hear Elder Nelson speak this week and then come back down with a new companion. We have heard that she is a returned missionary from the Temple Square mission who is from the Samara area and she will serve with me for a week and a half and then I don’t know what will happen to me. It will be interesting and I will just go with the flow. I really thought I would get to be with Sis. Pike until she left but unfortunately she is leaving me early I feel like I got cheated a couple weeks of a trainer but that is okay. I am excited to meet my new companion and to be with a Native Russian companion. I know it will really help my Russian.
Well all is well here. The church is true! Help the missionaries in your area! Write me emails (siblings). Love you all, thanks for your love and support,
Whitney
Finally a picture of Whitney pointing to the MTC map

Through the eyes of Sister Pike (Whitney's companion)

Tender mercy time - We didn't get an email from Whitney this week (not sure what happened) but I forwarded a picture of Whitney and Sister Pike to Sister Pike's Mom. She wrote me back and thanked me and included the last two emails that Sister Pike sent home, so we got to hear what Sister Morris and Sister Pike's week was like last week! She sounds like an amazing missionary and we feel so blessed that Whitney gets to work with her!

Brave Members and an Amazing Landlady
Monday, October 12, 2009 2:51:31 AM

As for the work- Our land lady is awesome! She always is bringing things over for us… serving us and making sure we are happy. Borsht, Kasha… pechenky… gorky shakolad (beet soup, warm cereal, cookies, dark chocolate!) We went over to her house and got to know her and her husband and we sang for them – my companion’s voice is so beautiful and she can sing any bottom line at the drop of a hat! They really enjoyed it. Her husband, Alexander Sergeovich, got out his accordion and played it for us while she, Valintina Petrovna sang Russian songs. We just love them! We thought of things we could do for them and so we made banana bread and gave her the plan of salvation pamphlet. She took it with her to her datcha and read it to her mother. They enjoyed it together, but she adds… we are Russian orthodox. Almost with my arms up I think I never asked you so become LDs.
We gave her the Book of Mormon and the family Proclamation and asked her to read 3 Nephi 11 she read it and liked it but because she was Russian Orthodox, she wanted to give it back to us. But she said I will keep this Family Proclamation… I want to read it to my son- I already read it to my daughter. (Later she had another set of twins who would now be in their thirties.) Earlier she had told us about how she bore twins when she and Sasha (Alexander Sergeovich) were newly weds. They both didn’t make it long in the world. We told her to read Alma 40 to answer some of her questions about where they are now.
She accepted and then the next day we didn’t see her. Then the day after that we saw her husband and he said she was having heart problems and that she is in the hospital across the street. We came to her and sang to her there and gave her the new Liahona which is all about temple work. Oh and a card which we wrote a verse of one of the hymns in it. She read the whole liahona. And said she will copy down the words of the hymn for her daughter so that she can read it to make her in a good mood as well. She said the words were so powerful they made her happy immediately. She wanted to know all about temples and we brought Katia Gorina a returned missionary (who is one of my favorite members here) and they just seemed to get along so well.
The liahona was all about temple baptisms and celestial marriage. She was worried about her twins that she had which died without baptism. She thought they were stuck in purgatory. Needless to say the plan of Salvation and the knowledge of temple work was the exact knowledge she has been waiting for. I know the plan of salvation is what each of us needs to study with in our lives if we want to know how to be happy. There is power in scriptural knowledge it will make us happy. I love this work. I love the opportunity I have to serve a little longer… to meet wonderful people like Valentina which helps me remember why it is all so important, so crucial, so something I never ever want to live without. I love you; Stand Tall go forward with faith, Sister Pike

PS we are now going on splits with members every night from seven to nine. These members are brave and bold. I love them and cherish our friendships. A fifty-five year old went trackting with me and was one of the best trackting partners I’ve ever been out with! We can all learn from the Russian saints. Make some time in your busy schedule to do some real and maybe even scary missionary work.

Email mix up

Whitney showing off her socks!
Whitney dressed to go out contacting! Isn't she so cute?
Whitney and Sister Pike
The only email we got this week, besides some pictures, was an email written for Whitney's mission president. I don't know how we got his email but she must have copied and pasted wrong or something. So it isn't much of an update like what we're used to, but at least we know she's healthy, happy, and working hard! :)

"This has been a good week as Sis. Pike and I have continued to get to know our area and meet with people in the Branch and area. We have met a lot of great people and we are both loving the area and working with the members. We have set goals this week to have more lessons with members present and to get more members to come out and teach with us. We will do this by calling more members daily and finding people to teach each night! I look forward to trying to get more lessons with members present! We had a great night of splits with a couple members and so are looking forward to continuing that. We will also continue to try and get members to every lesson we teach with investigators. Sis. Pike is a fantastic companion and I have loved serving with her and learning from her, I am just sad she leaves so soon! We will continue this week to find people to teach and work with our investigators!" Thanks for the love and support,
Sis Whitney Morris

Mother Russia

FAMILY and Friends!!!
OH WOW! I am in Mother Russia as many of you pointed out! Weird? yes Awesome? yes
So I thought I would briefly mention the first few things I love about Russia and then give a run down of my first week here. Things I love:
• All of the boots I see
• The produce and food- really good
• MY COMPANION
• My mission president
• the “Fall” weather (more like winter)
• My apartment—очень nice
• Our landlady—she is crazy and nice and motherly all at the same time
• The PARKS
• The juice—that one is for Devin, I know he will be jealous with all of the juice I get to drink
• The Marshutka’s (van’s like buses)
• The church here
• THE PEOPLE—everyone we have met has been very friendly and nice
Rundown of my week:
Well we got here and got of the plane and it was about 10 at night. The plane ride wasn’t too bad but I can definitely say I am grateful for the Native Russians we had with us when we got to Russia to help us understand the baggage people and all of that. Elder Kazakov (I think he was from NovoSibirsk) was awesome at helping us deal with the airport people. When we finally got to Samara the Bennett’s picked us up and took us to where we would be staying. My companion and I stayed with a Senior Couple, the Perry’s in their home. It was a short night for everyone because we didn’t get settled til around 12 and then were up at 6 to go to Zone Conference. Zone Conference was in Samara and all of the missionaries met at a really nice building there. It was really neat to be with everyone from the mission and to see what it was going to be like. We had some workshops and conference about preparing food, eating healthy etc. Then we heard from our Mission President. He is AWESOME! I really really like him and his wife and think this is going to be an awesome mission. He is very convicted in his feelings for missionary work and is very intense when speaking sometimes. I can definitely see how he threw a shoe He loves this work and loves the missionaries and I feel completely safe with him as a president and trust that he knows what is best and what we should be doing. We had lunch and then got our new companions. I definitely won the lottery with this one! MY companion is completely and totally amazing!!! Her name is Sister Pike and she is from California. The sad part is that she leaves in less than a month to go home. She leaves October 31! AH! I have just a little time to learn as much as I possibly can. She is super cute and super nice and just so full of energy and happiness. I love it! So we had more conference and then that night we went out CONTACTING. WHAT? First real night in Russia and I was contacting? Yep. And I did it! We met a lot of great people and got some phone numbers. We stayed that night at the sister’s apartment in Samara and then went to Zone Conference the next day as well. We had more talks and then heard from Elder Hurst. He and his wife are missionaries for the Eastern part of Europe and he goes around and talks about relationships, stress, eating, sleeping, depression etc. He was really awesome and cute. I really enjoyed everything he talked about. Then we got on a bus and went to… SARATOV. I am in Saratov this transfer in the Oktabrasky area (I don’t know how to spell it in Russian). It is a new area for sister’s but I am really excited to start serving here. WE had a long bus ride to get here and it was fun to see the Russian countryside and look at all the little towns on the way to Saratov. We stopped at a bathroom on the way and it was…interesting. Little did I know that bathrooms here are holes in the ground. Awesome! It just reminded me of camping and I LOVE Camping so Huzzah! We got to our apartment and it is super nice. We were also really lucky because one of the prominent members of the Church here helped us to our apartment and came with us in our taxi. Then he carried my luggage (not an easy task) all the way into our apartment! He was aweomse! Sis. Pike later told me he is in our ward and he is the first Russian to be in a quorum of the Seventy. Mom, you’ll have to look him up, he is an awesome guy! We are near a really nice park that we like to contact in and by a hospital and some other things I’m not sure what they are yet. We have a lot of really great fruit stands right by us so that is nice for carrying groceries. We also have a hilarious landlady. She is a perfectionist and comes in and tells us where to put things etc. On Friday night we had tea with her and her husband who is SO cute (don’t worry, they are OLD). The table was set so nice and everything was perfect. He plays the accordion and he was so excited to show us, he got it out and started playing all of these old Russian songs. It was so fun! She started singing and we had a good time. We taught them a little about what missionaries do and shared a thought from the Book of Mormon with them. It was really fun! We hope to keep teaching them about the church!
Our schedule here is different than I thought it would be but I have liked it a lot. We are out everyday from 7-9 because that is when people are headed to work. Then we go in from 9-12 to get ready, eat , do our personal study and companion study. Then we are back out from 12-2. At 2 we have our lunch and then language study and then are out from 4-9:30. It is a good schedule but the 4-9:30 block gets long but I’m sure I’ll get used to it. My companion has been amazing and prepared all of my meals for me. She reminds me a lot of Sarah P. She loves to cook beans and rice and stuff so we have had a lot of that but I have liked it. I have also had a lot of каша which is like oatmeal or any type of hot cereal. She also made me borsht which was really good. I liked it. I have eaten a lot of hot cereal, lentils, rice, borsht and fruit- it is so cheap here and really good. I have also tried the yogurt and juice which I really like and of course the CHOCOLATE. Delicious.
As far as clothes have gone I have been wearing my longjohn things (wintersilks) everyday and Sis. Pike has let me borrow a pair of her thick tights. I wear that and my wool skirt and I am pretty warm. When we go out at night I put on a pair of thick wool socks which is really nice. I have been wearing that blue coat that Grandma gave me everyday and I can’t even explain how grateful I am that I have it! It has been so nice and keeps me warm. Sis. Pike has also let me borrow a pair of her warm gloves so I have been fine. It gets cold walking around at night and sometimes in the morning but the day time is really nice.
So Saturday we went Tracting for the first time and it was…intimidating but okay. Sis. Pike is so good at being encouraging and pushing me to do “scary” things. In order to get into a building you have to call someone in the building to let you in so I talked on the domaphone for the first time and it was funny. It took about 7 people before someone let me in. No one understood me the first time I talked on the phone and they would always ask “what?” multiple times. Oh well. Then we would go up to the top of the stairwell and work our way down. Out of two stairwells we only got a couple people to talk to us but that’s okay. It was a good experience. We will go again tonight and hopefully I will be more brave! Saturday we also contacted a lot which was good. It is just a different experience to be a missionary and try to get people to talk to you. We met a lot of really nice people and a couple people who gave us their phone number so hopefully we will be able to meet with them sometime this week and teach them the first lesson.
Sunday was awesome! I met our Branch and the Branch President etc and it was really cool. I LOVE my BRANCH! They are all amazing. It was Fast Sunday here because they will watch conference this coming weekend. We were all encouraged as missionaries to bear our testimonies in church and tell the people of the reality of a temple here if the members will work with us. We are trying a new program where the members go on splits with the missionaries every night from 7-9 and teach and contact with us. People can also sign up to have their house open and if you have a lesson you can go straight to their house. There is a HUGE push here to have every lesson with an investigator with a member and I think it will be great. I bore my testimony and told them how excited I was to serve in the Branch. It is a big branch and everyone was so nice! I loved it. The member of the 70 was there and also bore his testimony. They also blessed two babies in the ward and it just made me so happy to see that these cute babies were born into the church and the church truly is growing in Russia. This Gospel is so great! It brings so many blessings into people’s lives. I love it! Well I’m almost out of time but everything here is good. I love Russia, I love the people, I love my companion, and I love all of you! Thanks for your love and support and for all you do for me. Keep praying for the missionaries and that people will be ready everywhere to hear the Gospel! It changes lives!
Love you all,
Whitney

She made it!!!

Dear Brother and Sister Morris,
I wanted to let you know that your daughter arrived here in the RussiaSamara Mission last night at 9:45 pm from Salt Lake City via Moscow. By thetime we got her and her group to the mission apartments it was well pastmidnight and so we let her get a good nights sleep so that she could awakefull of energy.
During our orientation day today and her interview with me she seemed to be doing extremely well and was excited to get to work with her new companion.I have had Sister Bennett attach a photo of the three of us, taken duringour orientation day.
Her Preparation Day is Monday, and so you should usually expect an emailfrom her most Mondays. Email here is sometimes somewhat sporadic; so if you don¹t receive an email, please don¹t worry. To ensure that she receives an email each week from you, we have found it works well if you send your email on Sundays as our preparation days can change due to transfers, zone conferences and visa trips.
Thank you for lending your daughter to us for a season. We have sent out a daughter and a son on missions and I know of the sacrifice that you are making. Our daughter served in the Ukraine Kiev Mission three years ago and we understand the uneasiness that you may feel in having a child serve in Europe East Area.
We are not sure what you have heard about the Russian Missions, but we have loved every minute of our time here, feel completely safe and we have fallen in love with the Russian people, especially the faithful Russian saints. Miracles are happening all around us and we know the Lord has prepared many of these souls to accept the gospel. We know that your daughter is one of the valiant ones reserved specifically for this time in this mission and Sister Bennett and I are honored to be able to serve with her. I will stay in close contact with her during her time here and will see her every few weeks in interviews and at zone conferences.
Thank you again for all you have done in preparing such a special daughter of our Heavenly Father and for having the faith to let her serve here with us.
May the Lord bless and keep you.
Love,
President Randall K. Bennett
Russia Samara Mission

One Week Left (Part II)

Here is the continuation of Whitney's letter. She had an email all written and the computer signed her off so she sent me a written letter:
"I am so bummed about my email. I had written the most amazing email - Seriously!! It had a ton of funny stories and then it closed. I was so mad! How are you? How's the fam? I'm sorry they all got so sick! Can you believe I leave this week? I can't! I'm kind of freakin out but at the same time - so excited!! Woo Hoo!! I'ts definitely time to leave but I have loved the MTC. It is such a good experience here. It is such a spiritual high!
So I told you Elder Holland was here. It was amazing! I love having apostles here because they have such a strong spirit. His talk was all about how awesome a mission is and how it will change you and influence you for the rest of your life. I loved how he said it will refine you. I also loved that he talked about missions and that they are supposed to be hard. He said they are hard because salvation never has been easy or cheap. I loved the quote , he said, "IF it was hard for Him, it has to be a little bit hard for you - or else you don't get to be His disciple - you're going to have to walk part of the road, cry some of the tears. The road to salvation always goes through Gethsamane." I loved it! I didn't get it exactly but that's the gist.
Also last week I went off campus - I think I told you in my email. We taught some Russians and it was really good. I'm amazed at how much I'm able to understand.
I am sending home a big bag with stuff with Jules (Emily's Mom). Either Emily will have it or it will be at the house. It will also have a CD with all of the pictures on it from here (or most). You can just get it the next time you're in Utah. Like I said, I don't know when I'll call you. We won't get to the airport til 5 am and then leave. Hopefully I can call from Atlanta. I am not sure but if we find out - I'll make sure and write you a quick note with when I'll call.
We have been teaching Dima, our progressing investigator and it's been going well. I'm sad to leave him. I don't know if I've told you but when I was teaching a native Russian one of them said, "When you speak Russian, you sound like you're underwater." I just said (something russian) and kept going. It was hilarious. Afterwards my compaion and I (CT. Birtcher)just died laughing! It was awesome!
I am so excited to talk to you! Today was our last temple day and it was so happy but sad to know it will be a long time before I go back. Keep going for me. We did sealings as a branch and it was really good.
Well, I hope all is well. I hope I will be able to write you when I can call. I love you all so much and am grateful for you!! If I get anymore news on traveling I'll let you know!!
The Gospel is true! Missions are awesome!
Whitney

One Week Left

well I had this really long and detailed email to send to you and my computer logged me out and now I only have 5 minutes so you will get a very shortened version of what I said.
This week has been good. We got our flight plans and our new tags which is awesome. I leave the MTC at 4 am and fly out of Salt Lake at 7. we get to Atlanta around 1 and then fly our of there at about 4 straight to Moscow. I arrive in Moscow 11am 29 Sept. From there it gets a little sketchy but don't worry mom. We are in a big group with a lot of Native Russians so it will be fine! Once we get there we will meet someone who will give us our stuff and then book us flights to Samara.
We heard President Holland talk on Tuesday which was fantastic. I will send you some of my favorite quotes later today. I got to leave the MTC campus this week which was pretty awesome. One of my rooomates had to go to the doctor and her companion needed to stay for something so we went on exchanges. It was so weird to a) drive in a van b) go out into Provo and c) on the way back our driver drove through BYU campus. WEIRD! I saw all of the students walking around with their backpacks and cellphones and it was really weird.
we have kind of started to pack which is fun. I hope I will make the weight limit but I think I will.
The TRC on Wednesday went really well adn I taught with CT> Birtcher. It was really really good. Well i am out of time but I love all of you and will write a letter later today, maybe mom you can put some of it up for everyone to see beacuse I have some really funny stories to tell you. AH!Well everything is good here.

Aerobics at the MTC?

Whitney wrote Dad and I this past week and shared some funny stories that I had to post on the blog:
"So I totally forgot to tell you my funny stories. So in the mornings they open the gym at 6 am for sisters to go and use. I have been going every morning with my roommate Sister Walker because I am awake anyway. This week they started an aerobics class so we went yesterday. SO FUNNY!! It's this cute little BYU girl who has 3 children. There were like 50 sisters there and we did aerobics - the best part was that it was to hymns! Picture 50 sister missionaries, doing aerobics to hymns that sound like someone just turned on the beat on their keyboard and played the melody over it. Needless to say - good times. My roommates and I laughed REALLY hard. I REALLY wanted Patricia to be there - she would have whipped us into shape!
My other funny story - yesterday we claimed the soccer field for a sister soccer game. It was hilarious. You have never heard so much screaming and yelling. Anytime the ball would fly towards someone they'd scream. My team lost - I think it's the Morris curse (thanks Devin) that the teams you like can never win. But it was really fun. Some of the Elder's just sat watching us and laughing. I have to say it was a bit ridiculous but fun. We've decided we will have to take over the field on Mondays as well. The Elders will not be happy but oh well.
Some thoughts from the Elder Hinckley devotional...
"It is in the ledger of your daily work that your greatness is shown - not in one flambouyant hour."
He talked about the importance of hard work and diligence which I agree is so important. He also talked a lot about having the faith to succeed. That was good for me to hear because I need to remmind myself I can be successful and I can do this work!
Another awesome thing about Sunday was that Sister Cheryl Lant of the Primary Presidency was our speaker (I totally forgot!). It was really really good and she focused on teaching children the Gospel, how to share scriptures with them and how to involve them in the lesson. It was really good! She also talked about how good it is to get children, even young children to pray.
Anyways, it's been a good week - the MTC is an interesting place and missions are CRAZY! Thanks for your support! I don't think I'll have time to write Sara and Sarah and Devin this week but tell them I love them and miss them. Tell them thanks for the packages!
Love, Whitney

Two Weeks and counting....

First things first- I was just in the temple this morning and guess who I saw... ALLISON! Yea! it was pretty awesome, it is so awesome to see people you know and to realize there still is a real world out there.
One more week down! It has been a really long week but altogether pretty good. It seem like the more time I spend here in the MTC the more I just want to get out and go to Russia. The lanugage is hard and yesterday started out two weeks of SYL. pure 100% Russian for two weeks. All classes, all studying everything 100% Russian. IT IS HARD! I've already made many mistakes and slipped in some English words but I know that it will be good for me to do. Thankyou so much for all of your letters and emails and packages. I got a package from Patricia this week that was AWESOME and filled with cute things to give to the kids and of course a Powerbar. I also got a package from Sara-- thankyou so much! best package idea ever was putting in some perfume! And thanks mom- I did get your package yesterday and all of my roommates loved your popcorn!
Well I guess I'll just summarize the week as usual and see how much time I have left-- it always goes SO fast!
Tuesday was our P-day which was really good. We had the Devotional and it was with Elder Hinkcley. It was FANTASTIC! It talked about a lot of things I needed to hear and again got me excited to go into the mission field and start serving people. If I have time this afternoon I will try and send you some quotes in a letter. Wednesday was of course the Softball game. Unfortunately I did not score any runs but it is okay. Our team still has not one the beautiful trophy I made so that's a bit of a disappointment but we're preparing already for the big game tomorrow and hopefully can win. Last week was "Dinosaur" themed. (Elders get really bored sometimes in the MTC and have to come up with things that seem funny:) My name for the game was Stegomorris. Yep. Also Wednesday our District was hosts for the new missionaries. When you get to the MTC you are assigned a host who takes you around to get your books and to your room and then shows you to your classroom. We had to do it last week and will do it again this week. It was really WEIRD! Standing there watching missionaries say goodbyes to their families was REALLY hard! It brought back really weird memories of the day I came to the MTC- memories I didn't realyl want to remember- but all is well. The missionaries are so excited and you can tell they are just ready to start serving. I got put with a group of Mongolian sisters which was definitely intersting because I don't speak Mongolian. They had a translator with them so I walked them around and helped them move their stuff into their rooms and showed them what all of the buildings were. I guess that Mongolian and Russian have the same alphabet and a lot of words were the same and so it was intersting to hear them try to talk to me. When I listened to them speak I was so glad I didn't have to learn Mongolian- it is crazy! They were really cute and sweet and I enjoyed taking them aruond and am excited to do it again tomorrow. It really is amazing the comfort that Heavenly Father can bring you when you are following his will and choosing the right. The sisters all seemed to be so happy to be here and so ready to serve and preach the gospel. Wednesday night we had the TRC and it went really well. We taught the 2nd lesson again- the Plan of Salvation- and our investigator was really good. we also taught about tithing which I thought went really well.
Thursday was service and our Large group meeting day. Nothing too intersting happened though. The weekend was good. We have started teaching a "progressing investigator" who just acts like a real investigator. You teach them and schedule return appointments. It is going pretty well. we have taught him, Dima, to pray and that God loves him and have talked about the importance of religion in our life. We have another appointment with him tomorrow so I hope that goes well. It is so hard to answer questions and explain things in Russian but I know that as I keep studying and praying, Heavenly Father will help me. We also started teaching Bro. Kjar (the clarinetist with the Dixieland Band). He is a evaluating teacher here and we taught him last night and it was really interesting. He gave us some great feedback and I am excited to teach him again on Thursday.
Sunday was great as usual. We went to the temple and took some pictures as a district with one of teachers Bro. Fisher. I will have to try and send those before I leave. We get our flight plans this week which seems really weird but I am so excited to see where I will fly to and when etc. I think once I get those I will know when and where from I will be able to call you. All of the missionaries that came in with us and were here for 9 weeks have left and so it weird! We are officially the oldest missionaries here. I know mom it seems like the MTC would be the perfect mission and I agree that it is nice that we get to eat, go to the temple, have nice rooms, hot showers etc. but I am so excited to go to RUSSIA! I am so excited to start meeting people who need the Gospel and who I can hopefully share it with. The church is true and I am so grateful for it. It has blessed my life and know it has the power to bless so many other lives! YEA! Well I hope all is well and that everyone is doing well. I will write one more time from here and then...Russia! Love you all and thankyou so much for all you do for me.
Whitney

3 Weeks left! What???

Oh I was so jealous reading your email! You got to do all of my favorite things all in one trip... play with babies, hang out with the family, watch good tennis, and visit NEW YORK CITY! Oh well, I guess a mission is pretty cool too! I didn't get an email from dad so when you get home you're going to have to tell him how mad I am... or just make him send me one on Dear Elder. It sounds like you all had an awesome trip and i'm so glad you had fun! give those babies lots and lots of kisses before you leave from me, they need to know who their favorite aunt is..:)
Well this week has been good. Another crazy week and only a couple more to go here at the MTC. It is strange to think that I will be leaving here so soon and actually in russia doing what I've been talking about for a couple months. It will definitely be an intersting experience when i first get to Russia and realize i don't understand a thing and I'm farther away from home than I ever have been but, oh well!
P-day last week was good. We got our laundry done and some letters written and then I studied a little bit for the TRC on wednesday. It was the second lesson 100% russian and i was really nervous because i hadn't even finished planning the lesson in Russian by the time Tuesday came around. We had a great devotional Tuesday night which i really really loved.
wednesday was again our 100% russian day which was hard but it is fun and challenging to see if you really can communicate what you want to in a different language. needless to say our classes on that day are much quieter than usual. we had our big softball game and i am pleased to announce I was got MVP. I caught 2 pop fly's and scored 2 times. looks like all of the backyard whiffle ball really paid off and thanks dad for playing catch with me. the elder's were very impressed by my catching skills and i wasn't too bad of a batter either! It was a fun game and the tournament continues. Another game tomorrow-- hopefully this time we'll actually win:)
Wednesday night we had our TRC which went okay. we had a native russian speaker who spoke faster than anyone i have ever heard. it was nuts! he would sit there and mumble and then laugh. AWESOME! we were teaching the word of wisdom and he kept asking if certain things were okay. he asked us a lot of things I didn't know in russian and so I just asked him to repeat it over adn over. finally i thought I understood and said yes, he then started to laugh and said I had just told him he could smoke. good times. He was a good "investigator" though and made me really work on my russian and listening comprehension skills. it was good to get someone who talked fast and acted like a real Russian would. He was funny and I'm looking forward to teaching tomorrow, the second lesson again (the Plan of Salvation) with tithing. It should be intersting, our District has set a goal to not use any notes at the TRC so we will see how that goes. I know that if I trust in the Lord and follow the Spirit, the lesson will go well and the investigator will hear what he needs to hear.
Thursday we served and i did a LoT of dusting and cleaning the drinking fountains. I have to say I've found my hidden talent here at the MTC-- cleaning the drinking fountains;) Not to brag-- but mine look pretty good.
The weekend was fine, not too many exciting things happened. Studied a lot, went to class etc. As a district we have also set a goal to teach in russian at least once a day so we have started doing that within our district. It has been helpful to practice certain parts in the lesson in Russian without looking at notes so i hope that as we continue to do that, we will become better teachers and our language skills will improve. Thanks for the BYU score-- saturday night my companion and I were walking around the MTC to take a break from studying and we heard people honking and screaming etc. we figured that BYU must have won the game because Provo did seem to be a little louder than usual.
sunday was Fast Sunday which was really nice. We had a mission conference in the morning and each of the Presidency of the MTC and their wives spoke. It was a really good meeting and I got a lot out of it. One of the wive's spoke about the Articles of Faith and how crucial they are to what we believe and what we teach. It was a great talk and I gained a greater appreciation for what they are and what is in them. we also had some great talks on teaching with the spirit, and finding people. We had the fireside that night and it was an MTC director and his wife who spoke. It was AWESOME! They talked a lot about just caring for the people. they told a lot of stories about when they were mission presdients and his wife told her conversion story. It is so important to remember that we will be teaching real people with real concerns and problems and things they need help with. We get used to just teaching missionaries here and don't always realize the power this message can have for real people in their lives. I loved that they really made the gospel seem personal and that is what we need to do as well. we need to make sure that we are caring about THEM and making them our first priority. I have been getting a little sick of the MTC but everytime I think about why I am here and why I do this, it gets me excited again. I am so excited to go out and meet people and teach them the Gospel and see it change their lives if they allow it to. This is about PEOPLE, not about how well I speak the langugage or anything else, it is about them understanding this Gospel and hearing my testimony. That is all I will be able to give them and then support them as they find their own testimony. It's cool to think that this is what I get to do everyday! find people and potentially change their lives!!!
Tomorrow is going to be a busy day for us! we are going to be hosts for the new missionaries coming in so that should be fun. It will be funny to see how scared they all look and remember back to when that was me! we also are teaching our new "progressing investigator". his name is Dima and he is a teacher here but you have to contact him and teach him just like you would a normal investigator. We contacted him saturday afternoon and he invited us to come back on Wednesday so we have an appointment with him tomorrow. We will probably just teach the first lesson and hopefully will be invited back for another lesson. This is another way to realize that these are real people, if he doesn't want us to come back he can say no thanks. The most important thing for us to realize is that we have to make it important to him. our message has to be applicable to his life and his concerns and his needs.
last night we taught the Native Russian missionaries which went pretty well but is always intimidating. they said we did a good job and so it was fun. They also taught us and I was so surprised by how much I was able to understand and comprehend.
anyone who served a foreign langugage mission and you have any tips for learning the langugage the last few weeks I would love them (dad and devin). I have so little time but I know that if I do all I can here, then Heavenly Father will bless me there. He will help me to speak "the language of their hearts" and testify to them in their native tongue.
Missions are great! I think this is the hardest thing I have ever done but I have learned so much and haven't even left the MTC:) I know this experience will bless my whole life! thanks for all the mail and support it really does make a difference and I love hearing what people are up to! The church is true!
love
whitney (sister morris)

Whitney's missionary plaque

New Missionaries this week!

Hello!
How is everyone! I am doing good, we just back from the temple and it was really nice. This last week has been ReALLY BUSY and crazy! I'm not good at writing these emails so i think i will just start from the beginning and go through the week. First though, thanks so much mom for the package! It was so awesome! it had everything I needed and needless to say i was the favorite roommate when it came because of the goodies. we ate all of them and were so glad for some treats from OUTSIDE the MTC.
Tuesday was P-day as usual, i got my laundry done and wrote some letters. Elder Scott was the devotional speaker Tuesday night which was a big surprise and also extremely amazing. i was really glad we had decided to sing with the choir that day because we had close seats. the devotional was amazing. He gave all of us a lot of really cool blessings including the gift of tongues and the gift of protection. it was so special to hear his testimony. As soon as he stood up I got felt the spirit and knew that we do have prophets on the earth today. We are so lucky to have that gift and it was amazing to see one right in front of me. he talked a lot about the adversary and how powerful it is but reassured us that no matter what kind of power the adversary can make you think he has, he has none. Jesus christ is the only source of power and he bore POWERFUl testimony to the fact that He lives, loves us and is watching over us. I have never heard a testimony so powerful or with so much conviction as that one. He ended his talk by saying "i know He lives because I know Him." that was so powerful to me because it recconfirmed to me His existence and His reality and help he gives us. overall it was a powerful and amazing talk!
Wednesday is speak your language day for our district (100% Russian all day) and the BIG baseball game. I am proud to say that i got a shout out in our last district meeting for my performance in the game. I ended up playing out in left field and actually caught a pop fly! I also got a couple of hits and got on base once. Basically I was a star and my elders were very proud of me. it was really fun and it has become a weekly tradition so we'll see how tomorrow's game goes. I was in charge of making the trophy and it turned out pretty sweet. I had very limited resources to use while making it. I ended up using a lint roller, a princess washcloth (thanks Sara), some ribbons from packages i've gotten etc. The elders loved it and hopefully we can get it back this week. wednesday in class we watched elder Holland's easter talk from last spring conference and it was so powerful again. As soon as it turned on i could remember exactly where i was sitting and what i was thinking. i hadn't made my decision to come on my mission yet and I just remember the power that talk had in my life at that time. It was a tender mercy from heavenly Father to be able to watch that again and to feel the same feeling that a mission is what I am supposed to do and that heavenly father will never leave us alone. that night was the TRC which went okay. It was not our best! The "market" part went fairly well and I bought a "skirt and a backpack". Dad you would be very proud because I even bargained with the guy for a minute (all in Russian) and got the two things for cheaper because i was buying two things. The lesson was okay but we had to end early because the next group was coming in. Hopefully this week will be better. We are already teaching the second lesson (the Plan of salvation) 100% in Russian. Wednesday the new missionaries came in and they are really cute. Aunt Patty- I met Svetlana this week and she is so sweet. When i told her I knew you she gave me a big hug and just talked about how much she loves you! it was cute, i am excited to get to know here better while here at the MTC. We will fly out together to go to Samara! It's weird to think that i will be leaving in four weeks but I am getting very excited. I also heard that my new teacher Brat Anderson ate dinner at your house this week. He also said how awesome you were!
Thursday, friday and saturday weren't too exciting. Just the same old class and trying to learn russian. we had a test on Saturday with Sister salash which was pretty hard but it was good to see what i need to study more and what i should be working on. Sunday was amazing as usual and the spirit was so strong. One of the counselors in my branch presidency was my stake president at BYU, Bro. Wilkey, and i just love HIM! he is so amazing and was one of the speakers in church on Sunday. It was an amazing talk on patience and accepting the Lord's will. (mom-- i think he has just been called as a mission president in russia, could you look and see if he has been somewhere? thanks) Sis. Clark and I played a duet in church and it went really well. Everyone seemed to enjoy it.
Some funny stories from this week... most morning i go to the early morning gym (6am) with one my roommates to run so that i can play volleyball during our scheduled gym time. (I usually go because I wake up and can't go back to bed:) One morning I was trying to be really quiet so i didn't disturb my other roommates and sneak out the door without letting in a ton of light from the hall. I was opening the door and trying to sneak out and banged my head on the door really hard! i got out into the hall and the light was super bright cause our room was so dark, luckily there was a chair just outside our door so I just sat down and held my head for a second. then my roommate came out of the bathroom and asked if i was ready and I just said "yep". i didn't tell them i had hit my head until a couple days later. I had a big cut above my eyebrow where my head hit the door and it was swollen for a couple of days. Oh well! My other funny head story is that I was doing my nightly push-ups and apparently was a little energetic cause i banged my head on the floor. everyone was writing in the journals and getting ready for bed and so heard this huge thud. I just started to laugh! luckily i was able to finish my push-ups that night, don't worry.
i'm so jealous that you are all going to Philly this week without me (and dad) we just have to work (and for dad pay taxes). that will be fun to go to that especially with devin and taylor. that is also cool that you will meet up with ronnie. tell all the babies hi and that i love them and miss them! sara-- thankyou so much for the pictures! i showed almost everyone I could how cute my nieces and nephews were. Other than that everything here is good. yesterday was a little hard for me because BYU started and I felt really sad that i wasn't in school. I loved school starting and being back at BYU with all of the people but I know this is where I'm supposed to be and will be back there shortly.
My other roommates are all serving in the Ukraine. I will be sad to see us split up but hopefully i will be able to see them sometime after my mission. I got a really fun letter from Ashely erickson last night- my friend serving in the Netherlands. I can't believe that she has already been out a year! it seems nuts. I also got a sweet package from Camille-- ThANKS! we busted out the propeller gun already and played with it last night.
overall it'sbeen a good week. Camping sounds like it was really fun and i'm sad I missed it! We will just have to make up for it when I get back by going lots and lots :) right, dad? well i hope you have a fantastic week and have fun in philly. give the babies lots of kisses for me and show them picture so they remember me. I love you all! thanks for your love and support! have fun! the church is true!
chief (sister morris)