Just Roll Up Your Sleeves And Go To Work For Christ

Hello Everyone!!! 

Being on the mission is great. the time just Keeps getting faster and faster. it seems like weekly planning happens like every other day! its weird.  even though it is 5 hours of planning, even that goes by fast. everything else is expected to go fast, so that is all flying. But life back at home sounds really fun. I dont know what more to say about that other that just love it. Something i am starting to figure out even more, i tried always, but it is you might as well love all of everyday, because in some way it is for your best. God gives us life everyday and that is enough to be grateful. The best times for me are the times that i can see the lords hand the most helping me and pushing me to become more of what he needs of me and what we should want from ourselves. President Ware told us in his email that the lord wants you off balanced or uncomfortable because that is when you will learn to trust him. When i read that i was just like,  yep! thats me with Spanish! He gave us some awesome advice to help. he said  just roll up our sleeves and GO TO WORK FOR CHRIST! so that's what i have to do. If you are wondering what my week this week is going to be like, just know its all going to  be working for Christ. President Ware is an amazing guy. when he ends his mission you better go meet him. its like around the corner from our house.

But with the giant zucchini the other elders in our house brought it to some members and they are making bread for us! its going to be a lot so we plan on eating a bunch but bringing some to our investigators. at least for J-- thats the least we can do. there hasnt been one time that we have been able to leave his house with out him giving us something. J-- has been doing really good. He came to church again! that was awesome. he has been reading some in the Book of Mormon and said he will read more and pray everyday. he is an awesome investigator. He is like in his 50's so hes pretty old.

We did meet with G-- again and talked about the restoration. it was super spiritual and we know that he is feeling the spirit which is the best thing that could be happening in the lessons. He was going to come to church but he had to work. that is one of the big problems here. lots of the companies run 24/7 so hours for a lot of the Hispanics, its just crazy. its always crazy when you have to leave a lesson at 8 at night because they need to get to work. he is doing good and we have a lot of hope for him.

One awesome time when i saw the lords hand was finding a new investigator J--. We were out of plans of people to visit so we just went down the roads knocking doors. we knocked on a bunch before that just talking to people, but no one was wanting to talk to us. we drove to another place to do some more knocking. we always say a prayer before we leave to try to consecrate our efforts to the lord. the first house we knocked on this big white guy without a shirt answers the door. it was just like, oh no. but he invited us in. luckily he went and found a shirt. We talked about the Book of Mormon and some of the restoration. he seemed so interested and he really wanted to learn more. he was just one of those people that you want to have to be able to teach. But he was white so we were thinking we were going to just have to give him to the other elders. but he was telling us some stories and a trip to Mexico came up, so we were just like hoping his wife was Mexican. and it turns out she is!! and they both speak Spanish!! so that means that they are our investigators!! its was awesome. i am super excited to be able to teach them.see its the little things that matter.

Being on the mission you see the lords hand is so many things. even before the mission i saw it more that i realized. It is so amazing how much he really does for us. i know that every little happy moment is because of the lord. It is how i am able to have faith to keep doing all the work that i can. i really love this mission. I love you all as well. keep up all the good things you all have been doing and look for more to always do.  Love you all!!

Elder Mortensen

There Is No Growth In The Comfort Zone And No Comfort in the Growth Zone

Hello!!  

wow it sounds like you all had a super busy week. Thats always good i guess.  California sounded fun though, thats one thing that i havent done for a while. The best part sounds like going to the two temples! that would be so cool. I miss the temple so much. i didnt realize how much i didnt take advantage of it until i was not about to go whenever i wanted. But i am Glad that we get to go every other transfer to the temple in Kennewick. Transfers are this week too! Good to know that i am safe staying here in Hermiston. but my district got destroyed. We have 4 companionship and we are the only one that is not changing. 3 of the 4 are training also. the Hermanas are getting split up as well the district leader and both of them are training. the Hermana that is leaving was in my MTC district and the District leader is going to be a zone leader. the only normal companionship are getting doubled out. So its all kinda weird. that will be this Wednesday.

This week has been awesome for me. We have been doing a lot of tracting, like always. its hard but its one of the things that i really like actually. you meet a lot of weird and funny people that you just walk away laughing. once we were talking to this older couple. they were working in there garden. they didnt let us help that was to bad. but they said that they wanted to learn more about the Book of Mormon! That was awesome, we got to explain a little bit about it. some how the old lady started telling us how she isnt very strong and yesterday she got stuck halfway up and down her outside stairs. (there is only  like 3) so she was there for like an hour. she also said that the day before she was walking up them and here foot slipped and she fell into the little pond. she couldnt get out and was there for like 2 hours. haha i was trying so hard not to laugh. she was funny about it so it was alright.  i feel like they liked us because we left there with 2 massive zucchinis! It was hard to tract after that, thats for sure.

We had a referral but he wasnt interested but his brother in-law that was living with him was. We taught some lessons with him about the plan on salvation. his mom and brother died not to long ago. i cant believe how that is. it would be so hard, especially not knowing anything about life after death. His name in G-- and has been really receptive.

We are still teaching J-- T--, our ondate, and that has been good. He came to a baptism and would just say that is beautiful. he is an amazing guy. The lessons have been going good and we never leave his house without something in hand. its kinda funny. the Hispanic people are like the Nicest people ever.  i just wish i could talk more with them. My spanish is getting so much better though. President ware teaches us that if we are conferrable we need to repent and do something different. there is no growth in the comfort zone and no comfort in the growth zone. even though thats not always fun for me, that is how i have been trying to work. it is the only we us missionaries will be able to keep up with the quickened pace of the lords work.

A cool experience is i dont know if you remember but we were teaching a little crazy kid J-- G-- but we gave him to the ward because he is 8. but he got baptized!! it was awesome! we went to his baptism and i was able to confirm him. that is an amazing experience to use the priesthood. it was awesome.

Well this is pretty much my week. thanks for writing the great letter. Remember you are all always in my prayers. Love ya all!

Elder Mortensen

Elder Mortensen, J-- G-- (newly baptized member), Elder Laffiteau

Obedience Is Important And Brings Miracle

Hey everyone!!

Life here is so great! It just keeps getting better and better. This week some of the coolest things were lessons with J-- and also the one with Y-- and K--. J-- is a referral we received from the zone leaders. The first time we went over there he was just really happy to see us. He brought us in to his tiny house. He works in the fields but he is like 50 so his body is really beat up. But he is the nicest guy. He pretty much tried to give us everything that he had in his fridge! but we only took water. we taught about the restoration and there was an awesome spirit there. We invited him to be baptized. He accepted! He is on date for the 7th of November, so we are working hard to help him be ready.  He came to church. After every meeting he would just say that that was beautiful. its amazing to see how prepared people came be. We were walking through the church and my companion was a little bit ahead of us and J-- stopped to look at the picture of Moroni hiding the plates. It was hard because he only speaks Spanish, but i was able to share a little with him of what it was and what was happening. it was awesome to have him come. we also went back to visit him that week and he had a friend, M--, over. We talked to them for a little. He was also really nice. we had a good lesson and he committed to baptism. We didn't get a date for him yet but we plan on the 7th also. With Y-- and K--. Y-- is a less active member and hasn't been to church for like 3 years. She would always have an excuse. we had a Awesome lesson, probably our best one yet, the spirit was so strong. We committed her to come to church and she came!! with her 9 year old daughter, K--. we have been teaching her with hopes of baptism. Her mom wants her to be older when she does but we think it is because of doubts that her mom has about the church. That is what the last lesson was about. All these people coming to church made the day amazing! it was good to finally see a little more results to our hard work.

We use hermano c-- some but not a lot. we need to get better at using him because it is so important to always have them. To let you know alittle about this mission the worst part is called a tiwi! it is in the cars and it moniters your driving. you have to make sure you dont go over the speed limit by very much or it will call you out. "check your speed" its so great. you have to sign in every morning and if you dont you get a no driver warning and it sends it to saltlake and the vehicle coordinator gets a email from them. its funny after that, then Elder laffiteau gets a nice voice mail getting chastised. haha its funny. we have to sign in and out every time we get in the car so that takes for ever. and ours is almost broken and takes forever. we will drive down the road because its not on then slam on the brakes so we dont get a no driver. not going to lie it makes it entertaining. one thing that is special to our mission i think is we cant wear any logos. it distracts us and pulls our minds from the work. so its funny to see all the missionaries on preparation day wearing thiee shirts inside out. we were joking how we might accidentally make it a new style up here. We also cant call preparation day Pday. i dont now why but obedience is important and brings miracles, and we need all that we can get. President ware says its good to see this mission doesnt need any big changes. we Just have to now modify all the small things to consecrate us as missionaries. all the missionaries are hoping this is preperation to soon receive ipads. i dont know but that would be so helpful.

Life in lehi sounds great though. soccer especially! that is awesome good job you two! even though it wasn't a busy week enjoy them while you have them. because they always seem to disappear. but ali's hike picture was awesome. it reminded me on a sun set yesterday. it was the coolest one i have ever seen! it covered like half the sky! it was the biggest i have ever seen. to bad we were tracting and didnt have a camera. i dont know why its always the girls in our family that get stranded in the dark and have to get saved. but thats a fun story for sure.

i dont think that it is fair you are all going the the Philippines though! its alright, you will take me somewhere cool when i get home. thanks!

with the coat i dont know if i need it. it might get cold but i have no idea. i have that one small one that i havnt needed yet. but just whatever you two think. I hope life back home and wherever you all are is always great. love you all!

Elder Mortensen

Because of Jesus Christ All Things Are Made Possible

Hey Everyone!

Time has gone by so fast i cant even believe that i have been gone for more than 2 months. its great but its just so weird. thanks for everything your always write. i always enjoy hearing about everything. life in lehi sounds like a ton of fun.  i didn't know you got a new car? did you sell the suburban? it looks nice. conference this week end was honestly SO amazing! i loved it so much. sadly none of our investigators were able to come but at least that meant that we got to watch it in English! i was pretty happy for that. my Spanish is getting lots better thats for sure.  i would have not got the same things out of the talks i dont think. i had so many of my prayers answered. i was praying about how i can teach more effectively and have more of a knowledge on what i would teach. the talk about ponderizing really stood out to me. As i thought about it more i decided that i was going to start doing this. My verse is 2 Nephi 33:6. it says "I glory in plainness; I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell" this answered both my questions. he taught that doing this we will learn about the scriptures and become better at knowing them. then as i look through my scriptures this scripture was another answer. i have been thinking about how to teach with more power and help more people. I learned that i need to teach with plainness and truth. I need to help others know that Jesus has suffered all things for them. because of Jesus Christ, all things are made possible. i loved this specific answer to my prayers. It strengthened my testimony in so many different ways.

my spanish. its getting better. when we are tracting we talk about half in spanish and half in english. i try to do everything in english and help with the spanish. That is helping me grow and get better. even in english it is not easy, but you see so many blessings from it. you find so many more people to teach and help. you also just feel better doing it because you know its the thing you need to do. when we are in the spanish lessons i can understand most of everything. there is always some words that i dont know. so that makes it kinda hard to follow it sometimes, but it is just getting better and better. i always pray in spanish and i think that is helping a lot. my companion says that every prayer i say they just get better and better so thats even more reason to pray continually and thats what i feel like it is. its so awesome.

this week we had an awesome lesson with H--. He is so amazing. we left him a chapter to read in the Book of Mormon about the doctrine of Christ. when we came back he read it and we really just talked about that. we had a member with us, Hermano C--, he is so amazing. he is willing to come out whenever he is home. He is permanently in a wheelchair but he doesnt let that stop him. he says he is thankful that his mental capacity is not effected. he has so much faith. that lesson went so well because of him. He said that he has already been baptized, but thats not a problem. we are talking about the priesthood next lesson.

a little bit more about conference is one thing that i dont think is fair at all. The first conference i am on a mission, Elder Holland talks about mothers! thats just not fair. i loved his talk though and i know it is so true. the closest love on this earth other then jesus is the love my mom has for me. thanks for always being so charitable. you set an amazing example for me. if i try to be anything like you i will turn out alright. going with that, my love that i have that is closest to charity is for you mom! i love you so  much. thanks for all the things you did to help me out all the way up until now. i know you still do so much for me. i love you for that and everything else.

Dad i love you to dont worry about that. i miss being with both of you guys all the time. One thing i thought was really cool is dad you are as smart as elder Bednar! at least in one thing. his talk was about the last words of prophets and how they are so amazing and powerful and important.  that is one thing i will never forget that you taught me about. thanks for always teaching me about everything especially this gospel. i look up to both of you for everything.

four amazing things this week were first the Hermiston harvests. i almost missed it but we still get to enjoy a little watermelon. it is so amazing here. second i was finally able to go to the dollar store and pay with a one dollar bill!! that was like a dream come true. it always bugged me how you needed more then a dollar. third is the first time this has ever worked in my life.  we were talking about investigators to go meet or referrals to contact, we were talking about these two guys named Juan. not even noticing we said "wait witch Juan" or which one". i died laughing because i would say that before but it never worked. it made me so happy yesterday!! fourth because my companion is still learning English he sometimes says things funny and this was the best thing said all week maybe. were were tracting on a cold night and he was like i dont like this. i was like what the cold and he said " ya it makes me have desires to have to go to the bathroom." ahh i dont know why it was so funny but i about died!!

this was just an amazing week. i love it out here. I love you all so much!!

Elder Mortensen

I loved the greenie package!  Thanks mom.

Just enjoying some watermelon!