voice memos original file cannot be found. how do I find it?

I need help retrieving some lost voice memos. Here is my info:

iphone 6plus with ios 11.2.6

MacBook Air ( vintage at this point 2011)

processor: 1.7 GHz

Memory: 4GB

High Sierra 10.13.4

itunes 12.7.4.76

I have about 230 voice memos (VM) I was saving. Today I see a lot of vms with an exclamation point and I get the message:

The song “name x ” could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?

When I click yes it opens the finder in a file I created (I think) called docs and scans from my iphone. I see only pdfs.

Is there any other way I could find the original? I never deleted them and I have no idea how to search for the original file...

Thanks for any help!!