Biloxi Mississippi June 20th
Tuesday June 20, 2017
We arrived in Biloxi, Mississippi last night around 9:00 pm. The Lord blessed us with dry weather so our household goods in the back of our truck stayed dry. Monday we decided to go and eat some good sea food. Kevin Quast had told us to go to Bubba Gump’s for sea food. We went downtown Biloxi and found it. We didn’t realize it was in the middle of a gambling casino. It was a little embarrassing walking through the casino with our missionary badges on going to Bubba Gump’s. We ordered shrimp and salad. It was good. We came home and spent a few hours unpacking. Diana stayed up until 2:00 am unpacking. She is such an amazing energizer bunny. On Monday we woke up early (6:30 am) and continued to put things away. President Chris Morgan, Branch President of Keesler Air Force Base, texted us and said he wanted to take us to breakfast and have a biscuit. Diana and I thought, wow, people just go and have biscuits for breakfast. President Morgan picked us up and said we will stop at Hardee’s and have a biscuit. Again we thought, we don’t want just a biscuit for breakfast. When we got there President Morgan spoke to an older man and said how are you? The older man said, “I am doing fine, I just came by for a biscuit.” All of this conversation is taking place with strong southern accents. When we go to order everything is on a biscuit. Mom and I got a bacon and egg biscuit. It was a fun introduction to Biloxi, MIssissippi. After we had our biscuits we went over to the local Biloxi Ward chapel. It is a beautiful chapel. It was built to sustain a class 4 hurricane. It was only 1 of a few buildings that survived hurricane Katrina. The chapel was used as a refuge for community members during Katrina. The church provided food, water and shelter for thousands of people after Katrina. We met with our mission President Olson and he shared some guidance on what he wanted us to do. After our meeting with him President Morgan took us over to Keesler AFB and gave us a nice tour. We met some Chaplains and Air Force personnel that work with the Chaplain’s office. We came home and were greeted with flash flood and tornado warnings. We have seen a lot of rain. On Tuesday we woke up and went to exercise. Our apartment complex has a nice fitness center and swimming pool. We studied our scriptures, exercised and got prepared for our district meeting with Elders Hubert (District Leader; has scholarship to play football at University of Utah;m from Las Vegas), Pierre-Louis (from Haiti, speaks French, Spanish, English and two other Haitian dialects), Giblette (Montana and Maughn (Arizona). We also have 4 Sisters in our District. Sisters Hansen (Montana), Goold (Utah), Weaver (Washington) and Lamb (Missouri). Our District meeting was great. We had all 8 missionaries and us. We are under a flash flood and tornado watch and tropical storm Cindy is in the Gulf of Mexico heading our way. Sisters Hansen and Goold are on bikes. They said, “Oh we are okay riding bicycles. We just wear our rain coats.” I told them we have a truck and will take you or come get you anytime you want. They said thanks. In our District meeting we had opening and closing hymns, prayer, spiritual thought, Preach My Gospel training, statistics from the District Leader on each companionships baptisms, investigators and teaching. Elder Giblette then provided training on following the will of God. Each missionary shared a personal experience of how they were blessed by following the will of God. This is there experiences.
Elder Giblette: God’s will
Shared story about a recent military convert, Airman Matos. He failed one technical test 3 times and was going to be taken out of the electronics career field if he failed the test one more time. Through faith, blessings and prayers he passed the test on the 4th try.
How have each of us followed the will of God?
Sister Hansen: Working in Montana. Couldn’t get a job so prayed about it. After praying had impression to go live with Grandparents in Utah. Through this I was able to attend temple regularly. This helped me prepare me for my mission.
Sister Goold: Wanted to complete 2 semesters of college. After attending 1 had the impression to help my parents. This was a blessing for them and myself.
Sister Weaver: Not my will to serve a mission. I did not want to go on a mission. Through impressions from the Lord I decided to serve a mission. While in the airport got to talk to my parents. My parents said my older sister who was not active decided to start coming to church because of my decision to serve a mission.
Sister Lamb: While in high school was selected for a higher choir group. I decided to run for student senate. My Mom told me to do choir instead of student senate. I thought my Mom was wrong but decided to pray about it. I too felt impressed to do choir instead. It blessed my life. I was selected for state choir. In student senate there were a lot of trauma and drama so I would have had that challenge.
Diana shared how through Ancestry.com’s DNA program we met a niece that we never knew (Grace) that wanted to meet our family. Diana called her and spoke with her, along with Granny speaking with her. With tears in her eyes she thanked Diana for accepting her for who she is and welcoming her into our family. Diana shared that she knew the Lord loved her and wanted her to meet our family because we could share with her the gospel.
I shared a story of when we were in San Antonio and got accepted to graduate school at NAU. I went to Flagstaff to find us a home to rent. I was impressed to rent the house on Arrowhead. As I was leaving I had another thought come into my head that said, “Don’t rent the house.” I thought that was odd because my first impression was to rent the house. I started to go back and tell them know when I remembered that the first impression is most often from the Lord and the 2nd thought is from the adversary trying to get us confused. I didn’t go back. When our family moved into our new home we became friends with all the neighbors. One of the friends was a Navaho sister whose husband was not a member of the LDS church. We became great friends. Our son Shaman took classical guitar lessons from her husband. After being there for several months this Navaho sister told Diana that before we moved into our house she had been praying that a good LDS family would move next door. When they lived in Mesa her husband had a really bad experience with LDS members and he didn’t want anything to do with the church. Since we have been their neighbors her husband has changed his opinion about Mormons. He said if they could all be like the Morris family he would want to be part of them.
Elder Vaughn: I was not active part of my life. I returned to church on my own and decided to go on a mission all on my own. My family loves and supports me. I now have a stronger testimony of Jesus Christ.
Elder Hubert: I was in 5th grade and had recently been baptized. I was in a corn maze with friends. I lost one of my shoes running in the corn maize. I went home without a shoe. The next day was Sunday and I didn’t have any shoes to wear. After church we went back to the the corn maze to find my shoe. My Mom asked me if I had prayed. I said, no, the Lord doesn’t care about my shoe. I said okay, I will pray. After my prayer I walked right to my lost shoe.
Elder Pierre-Louis: My aunt is not a member of the church. I was living in Florida. My Dad was concerned that my aunt would not be willing to take me to church. My Dad asked me what I thought about moving to Mesa Arizona because we had active members in Arizona. Because I followed the will of the Lord I was blessed. Elder Pierre-Louis is world famous and a great missionary. This is a little bit about him. Elder Pierre-Louis is awesome! He is from Haiti but has lived with a few different foster families here in the U.S. for about 4 years now. He speaks 5 languages and loves to play soccer.He has been a member his whole life. His parents were converted before he was born. He was actually electrocuted when he was younger and has been getting medical treatment from doctors here in the U.S. that’s why he has been with Foster families. One of his friends flipped on the electric meter outside of their house and got electrocuted and then another friend touched him and then he touched his friend and got thrown back and so it sounds like it was a pretty scary story. He has a great testimony and has a lot of success here in the mission.
Elder Giblette: Went to a computer convention. My friend decided to run for an office at the convention. Through my help with computers I helped my friend win. This friend and I went back home after the convention. A few weeks later one of the major sponsors called me and asked to help with web sites and other computer things. I was blessed through doing this.
We arrived in Biloxi, Mississippi last night around 9:00 pm. The Lord blessed us with dry weather so our household goods in the back of our truck stayed dry. Monday we decided to go and eat some good sea food. Kevin Quast had told us to go to Bubba Gump’s for sea food. We went downtown Biloxi and found it. We didn’t realize it was in the middle of a gambling casino. It was a little embarrassing walking through the casino with our missionary badges on going to Bubba Gump’s. We ordered shrimp and salad. It was good. We came home and spent a few hours unpacking. Diana stayed up until 2:00 am unpacking. She is such an amazing energizer bunny. On Monday we woke up early (6:30 am) and continued to put things away. President Chris Morgan, Branch President of Keesler Air Force Base, texted us and said he wanted to take us to breakfast and have a biscuit. Diana and I thought, wow, people just go and have biscuits for breakfast. President Morgan picked us up and said we will stop at Hardee’s and have a biscuit. Again we thought, we don’t want just a biscuit for breakfast. When we got there President Morgan spoke to an older man and said how are you? The older man said, “I am doing fine, I just came by for a biscuit.” All of this conversation is taking place with strong southern accents. When we go to order everything is on a biscuit. Mom and I got a bacon and egg biscuit. It was a fun introduction to Biloxi, MIssissippi. After we had our biscuits we went over to the local Biloxi Ward chapel. It is a beautiful chapel. It was built to sustain a class 4 hurricane. It was only 1 of a few buildings that survived hurricane Katrina. The chapel was used as a refuge for community members during Katrina. The church provided food, water and shelter for thousands of people after Katrina. We met with our mission President Olson and he shared some guidance on what he wanted us to do. After our meeting with him President Morgan took us over to Keesler AFB and gave us a nice tour. We met some Chaplains and Air Force personnel that work with the Chaplain’s office. We came home and were greeted with flash flood and tornado warnings. We have seen a lot of rain. On Tuesday we woke up and went to exercise. Our apartment complex has a nice fitness center and swimming pool. We studied our scriptures, exercised and got prepared for our district meeting with Elders Hubert (District Leader; has scholarship to play football at University of Utah;m from Las Vegas), Pierre-Louis (from Haiti, speaks French, Spanish, English and two other Haitian dialects), Giblette (Montana and Maughn (Arizona). We also have 4 Sisters in our District. Sisters Hansen (Montana), Goold (Utah), Weaver (Washington) and Lamb (Missouri). Our District meeting was great. We had all 8 missionaries and us. We are under a flash flood and tornado watch and tropical storm Cindy is in the Gulf of Mexico heading our way. Sisters Hansen and Goold are on bikes. They said, “Oh we are okay riding bicycles. We just wear our rain coats.” I told them we have a truck and will take you or come get you anytime you want. They said thanks. In our District meeting we had opening and closing hymns, prayer, spiritual thought, Preach My Gospel training, statistics from the District Leader on each companionships baptisms, investigators and teaching. Elder Giblette then provided training on following the will of God. Each missionary shared a personal experience of how they were blessed by following the will of God. This is there experiences.
Elder Giblette: God’s will
Shared story about a recent military convert, Airman Matos. He failed one technical test 3 times and was going to be taken out of the electronics career field if he failed the test one more time. Through faith, blessings and prayers he passed the test on the 4th try.
How have each of us followed the will of God?
Sister Hansen: Working in Montana. Couldn’t get a job so prayed about it. After praying had impression to go live with Grandparents in Utah. Through this I was able to attend temple regularly. This helped me prepare me for my mission.
Sister Goold: Wanted to complete 2 semesters of college. After attending 1 had the impression to help my parents. This was a blessing for them and myself.
Sister Weaver: Not my will to serve a mission. I did not want to go on a mission. Through impressions from the Lord I decided to serve a mission. While in the airport got to talk to my parents. My parents said my older sister who was not active decided to start coming to church because of my decision to serve a mission.
Sister Lamb: While in high school was selected for a higher choir group. I decided to run for student senate. My Mom told me to do choir instead of student senate. I thought my Mom was wrong but decided to pray about it. I too felt impressed to do choir instead. It blessed my life. I was selected for state choir. In student senate there were a lot of trauma and drama so I would have had that challenge.
Diana shared how through Ancestry.com’s DNA program we met a niece that we never knew (Grace) that wanted to meet our family. Diana called her and spoke with her, along with Granny speaking with her. With tears in her eyes she thanked Diana for accepting her for who she is and welcoming her into our family. Diana shared that she knew the Lord loved her and wanted her to meet our family because we could share with her the gospel.
I shared a story of when we were in San Antonio and got accepted to graduate school at NAU. I went to Flagstaff to find us a home to rent. I was impressed to rent the house on Arrowhead. As I was leaving I had another thought come into my head that said, “Don’t rent the house.” I thought that was odd because my first impression was to rent the house. I started to go back and tell them know when I remembered that the first impression is most often from the Lord and the 2nd thought is from the adversary trying to get us confused. I didn’t go back. When our family moved into our new home we became friends with all the neighbors. One of the friends was a Navaho sister whose husband was not a member of the LDS church. We became great friends. Our son Shaman took classical guitar lessons from her husband. After being there for several months this Navaho sister told Diana that before we moved into our house she had been praying that a good LDS family would move next door. When they lived in Mesa her husband had a really bad experience with LDS members and he didn’t want anything to do with the church. Since we have been their neighbors her husband has changed his opinion about Mormons. He said if they could all be like the Morris family he would want to be part of them.
Elder Vaughn: I was not active part of my life. I returned to church on my own and decided to go on a mission all on my own. My family loves and supports me. I now have a stronger testimony of Jesus Christ.
Elder Hubert: I was in 5th grade and had recently been baptized. I was in a corn maze with friends. I lost one of my shoes running in the corn maize. I went home without a shoe. The next day was Sunday and I didn’t have any shoes to wear. After church we went back to the the corn maze to find my shoe. My Mom asked me if I had prayed. I said, no, the Lord doesn’t care about my shoe. I said okay, I will pray. After my prayer I walked right to my lost shoe.
Elder Pierre-Louis: My aunt is not a member of the church. I was living in Florida. My Dad was concerned that my aunt would not be willing to take me to church. My Dad asked me what I thought about moving to Mesa Arizona because we had active members in Arizona. Because I followed the will of the Lord I was blessed. Elder Pierre-Louis is world famous and a great missionary. This is a little bit about him. Elder Pierre-Louis is awesome! He is from Haiti but has lived with a few different foster families here in the U.S. for about 4 years now. He speaks 5 languages and loves to play soccer.He has been a member his whole life. His parents were converted before he was born. He was actually electrocuted when he was younger and has been getting medical treatment from doctors here in the U.S. that’s why he has been with Foster families. One of his friends flipped on the electric meter outside of their house and got electrocuted and then another friend touched him and then he touched his friend and got thrown back and so it sounds like it was a pretty scary story. He has a great testimony and has a lot of success here in the mission.
Elder Giblette: Went to a computer convention. My friend decided to run for an office at the convention. Through my help with computers I helped my friend win. This friend and I went back home after the convention. A few weeks later one of the major sponsors called me and asked to help with web sites and other computer things. I was blessed through doing this.
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