It Is Really Cool To Be Able To Share The Simple Things Over And Over Again Because It Strengthens Your Testimony So Much

Hello!!  

This week was a crazy one!! I actually just had a kinda cool thing happen. We are at the Family History Center and the phone rang and i picked it up and talked to them. It is a family that has been looking for some help. They are struggling and were wondering if we could do anything to help. I talked to them that we are missionaries and would love to come over and talk with them and see what we could do to help. The cool thing is it is in an area where the missionaries are struggling to have people to teach. I really hope that this will turn up for them and that a miracle can happen for them. Its been interesting to see the Zone and how all the areas are different from another. From what I see is it all comes down to the missionaries attitude. A missionary that has a bad attitude and doesn't like being in Hermiston has had a really hard time. They have like 1 person to teach. Another set of missionaries that has been having a hard time but decided to get out and do a lot of work found a couple of new investigators and had 6 investigators at church! The attitude of a missionary is sooo important! It carries on to even more then missionary work too. It just seems easier to see as missionaries. 

This week we stayed really busy with Zone Conference, stake correlation, Interviews, a Stake missionary meting, and all the other things we had. Tuesday we had Zone Conference and that took most of the day, especially because we had to drive a little more then an hour to get there. Elder Shumway and I gave a training on praying with Investigators. With some people they are like children in the gospel so when they hear a "Mormon prayer" they dont think there is ever a way they could do that and they end up not praying and then they wont be able to come to know if it is true. So the training was on saying simple prayers then the whole purpose of the first visit is to help them know the role of  prayer and how that is the way they will come to know what we teach is true. It has been super amazing to teach like that. It has also really helped me in my personal prayers. Interviews were really good too. We talked a lot about the Zone and how all the missionaries here are doing and how we can help them. I am feeling a lot more able to be a Zone leader. At first i was kinda blown away and didnt know how i was going to do it. But i have stepped into it more.  This last Saturday we went to a baptism and we were the ones that were asked to teach when they were changing. We taught the Restoration as you taught us. It was really good. The spirit was there very strong. Using the pictures in the pamphlet to teach seemed to help a lot. It gave the people there something to look at to try to catch their attention a little more. I dont know if there were any investigators there but the Bishop afterward was grateful to hear the simple truths that we shared. It is really cool to be able to share the simple things over and over again because it strengthens your testimony so much. 

Our area seems to be doing pretty good. We have a lot of good people that are pretty much ready for baptism they just have some small things that they need to get over. They are feeling the adversity but they are all showing a lot of faith and doing the things we invite them to do. They are all doing really good.  There is a Lady named G-- and she just needs to figure out how to get out of work so she can stay longer at church. She is now Coffee free!! she just has to stop smoking now. We are going to do the 15 step program with here. It is a program to help people get rid of the desire to smoke. It take a lot of dedication, but it does work.  Another is named A--. She is so cool. She is having a baby today and it has been hard for her to do much but she wants so bad to meet with us and we have been teaching her. She wants this so bad. We gave her a priesthood blessing with her fellowshiper. She was really grateful for that. There are two kids M-- and M--. They are super coo. They came to church and they really like it. Their dad is to worried about bills to do much with us, or at least come to church, but they are doing awesome. 

Well this week was just awesome. It was also super busy. It was great to hear from you and i will be excited to hear from you this next week!! I hope you all have a great week and a great time watching General Conference!  Its like the Super Bowl for Missionaries!

I love you all!

Elder Mortensen

Its great to see Jax playing soccer again. I know there had to be part of his brain still in there.  He finally found out how to use it again. 

When they Cannons come just say thanks for me. I loved being down in Benton City. They helped me out a lot. I hope the trip goes good for them and that Benton City is still doing good. 

Surprise Text

From the niece of a friend in our Lehi ward.  She ran into him at the Zone Conference for the Walla Walla and Hermiston Zones.

"Here is your cute missionary today!"

It Is Only Through Prayer We Can Receive More Charity And It Is Only Through Diligent Prayer That That Love Will Endure

Hello! 

Its good to hear that it was a good week down in Utah! It was a pretty good week up here. We stayed super busy with all our zone leader responsibilities. It was crazy! We have correlation with Stake tomorrow so we have had to do a bunch of different reports for that and that took a ton of time. We never really had a time for weekly planning so that hasnt happened yet. We are just really busy. I know i said i felt a little bit like the district mom, but now its for real! and the family is bigger! There are lots of really good missionaries here. Some that i already know and others i dont. At times i feel super unqualified i guess to be a zone leader. It is really weird. The missionaries look up to their leaders so much and i feel like i need to be so much better as a missionary to be a zone leader people look up to. I dont see it as a bad thing i just know it is going to be the thing to keep pushing me forward.   There are some awesome people we are teaching down here. One that we have taught 2 times and she also came to church yesterday for her first time, her name is A--! She is super cool. She is pregnant right now so she isnt feeling so great and was only able to stay for the first hour of church. But she says she is just ready. A while ago she was being taught but just didnt feel ready. So she will be baptized but it will be in a couple of weeks. There is also this kid L-- that is totally a dry Mormon. He is the seminary president! His mom and dad separated and they made him make a promise that te cant get baptized into the church until he is 16 and old enough to make that decision. Well now he is 16 and we have a interview this week and are planning to have the baptism as a mutual activity.  Its going to be pretty cool. There is also a couple other people that we are teaching and it seems to be going super good. There is a bunch of solid potentials that we should have as new investigators here soon. 

Its fun to be here with elder Shumway. He was trained when i was in Prosser. He is about a year out. Just a little longer. I am over the same area but i was in Spanish before so now its a different ward because the Spanish meet over in just one of the wards. So i recognize some of the members. It is kinda weird to be in the same place. a lot of memories come back and i remember a lot more then i thought i would. There are a lot of houses i remember knocking on and people i remember talking to. Its a ton of fun. I might see some of the people i taught, but i am not sure. There are a lot of administrative things i have to do now. The ministering things are the same as a district leader its just with more missionaries and we work through the District leaders. Its kinda cool. Also the next transfer most likely will be 7 weeks, but i am not sure yet. 

Its fun to hear about all the fun things that you all are doing. It is all things that i never really did. I guess i was a boring person or something. Its to bad to hear that Dad isnt going on that humanitarian trip, but it was decided through prayer so it is for sure what needs to happen. Prayer is so amazing. We were studying and we were talking about prayer. I dont remember the scripture exactly but it is something like Moroni 8:26, maybe. But it taught us that through prayer we can receive more charity and it is only through diligent prayer that that love will endure. It is so important to pray for those we love and it teaches us why we should pray for our enemies or those that hate us. We will only grow in love and if we are full of love the scriptures say that it shall be well with us. Prayer does more than i can even imagine. It is how i have seen so many miracles in my mission. I am so grateful for it. 

Well i hope you all have a great week and stay safe!!  sorry its I love you all!

Elder Mortensen

You will like the Cannons. They are super awesome people. Its cool to hear that you are all doing that for them. I guess i have a pretty good family after all!

Make Sure You Are Doing What God Wants You To Do

Hello!! 

This was a crazy week! You are also right, this is transfer week! Sadly i am leaving. Its kinda mixed feelings. There are a bunch of awesome people i want to stay and teach but the city seems to be getting smaller and smaller and its hard to know where we should go to work because i have been everywhere here multiple times. So it is sad but i am also excited. I am going back down to Oregon! i will be in Hermiston again! That is where my first area was! I am going to be serving with Elder Shumway! I lived with him in Prosser and also in Pasco. So it is going to be a ton of fun. President might be going a little crazy, he asked if i would serve as a Zone Leader down there. So i guess that is what is going to happen! It is going to be another big change! I will be only be English work also. This transfer is also only going to be 5 weeks for some reason. 

This week we found two new investigators, C-- and L--. They are a young couple living in a trailer. They are like a year or two older than us. We shared very simply the Restoration and helped them build their faith that they can pray and God will answer their prayers. Sunday we went back and shared more about the Book of Mormon and introduced it to them and read a little with them and invited them to read. They said they would. They also accepted a baptismal invitation! they are preparing to be baptized on April 22! It is so awesome! they are super good. They are so humble and seem ready to be baptized. To bad i am leaving i guess, but its alright. Elder Bowers will be training here so it will be good for his new missionary to teach them. 

We had a church tour planned with R-- and L-- this Saturday. They said they liked the idea and it would help them feel a lot more comfortable to come Sunday for the first time. It ended up not working though. We had it all planned but R-- had to run somewhere to help a friend out with something.  They didnt make it to church either. It really is just to bad. they are super solid though. R-- is thinking of getting a new job and that will free up a lot of time. We are going back today or tomorrow to teach them and also to say goodbye. 

I am going to miss this area. Being somewhere for four and a half months it kinda starts to grow on you. The ward is great here. It is going to be cool to be back in Hermiston and hopefully i will see some of the people i know when i was down there the first time. It is going to be really fun. 

I hope dad is feeling a bit better and will just keep feeling better and better. Its good to hear that the week other than that went pretty good. Its cool that some of you got to see the face to face. I didnt see that one. I saw just now the new first vision video. I think that was when it was introduced. It was kinda cool. I am excited for it. Its crazy to think of all the different things that you are all doing. Keep having a good time. Make sure you are doing what God wants you to do and you will at least be happy. That is something i have learned. Its not always "fun", But it does bring a lot of Joy. We were talking this week about choosing to be happy. We decided that we cant just take every situation we are in and choose to be happy, but we can take every situation we are in, also learn Gods will and follow it, then we will always be able to choose to be happy. It all depends on if we are doing the things that we know to be right. 

I hope this will be a good week for you all. Dad i hope and pray that you will be feeling better. I love you all! Bye bye!!

Elder Mortensen

Some of my favorite people from Benton City.

A-- B-- with Elder Mortensen

Elder Mortensen with the F--

The Missionary Purpose Brought Down To Two Words Is Help And Invite

Hello!! 

This was a pretty good week. There was a lot of good things going on. Thanks for letting me know about the fast for Dad. It was for sure something that i wanted to be apart of. I really hope dad gets feeling better. 

During the week we stayed pretty busy. We are teaching not a ton but a good amount. We have a lot of super awesome people. Now we are needing more! That has kinda been our focus in the last little bit. To find new investigators. We also had a lot of meeting this week. Wednesday we had a District Council that went pretty good. Thursday we had MLC. Usually its just the Zone Leaders and the sister training leaders but this time they had the District leaders also. There was two of the representatives from the missionary department. It was a super good meeting. They taught us how to just be good missionaries simple enough. The missionary purpose brought down to two words is Help and Invite. They said in this mission we do super good at inviting. often after a first lesson we set people of date for baptism. But they said what we need to work on is helping people now. We need to have the focus of what we do and the goal of every lesson of helping people build their faith in Jesus Christ. The first thing is praying very very simple with them. Its kinda hard. Not saying thee or thou or any other Mormon words. Just a simple simple prayer. It was been really good so far. We had a Zone Council tomorrow that we, the zone leaders and district leaders will be giving all the information to the rest of the Zone. I am in charge of the church tour part of it. It is going to be good.  Then Friday we had a meeting to plan what we are going to share and how we are going to share everything from MLC in a meeting tomorrow. So it was good. 

The sister here had a baptism this last Saturday and it went really good. We had one of our investigators with us and that was awesome! He liked it. After the baptism we committed him to coming to church. He was totally going to come too! we called him in the morning Sunday and he was up and planning to come but his mom just called and invited him to breakfast. so he didnt come. There is also a less active guy that we met Saturday and he was sooo awesome!! he is like a big teddy bear. He wants to come to chruch but it is a big step for him and its hard. he has been reading in the Book of Mormon though. He was up and ready to go but he said that he chickened out. It was to bad. 

We had some good visits with R-- and L--. They are so awesome. They are doing really good. They have been praying and reading more and more. It is so awesome. He is super busy with work. But we are going over tonight. I am excited. 

I am just excited for this week. It is going to be a good one. I hope that you all have a great week. I hope you get feeling better dad! i love you all! sorry its short. There is four elders here right now and it is really distracting. so i hope that it all makes since!! If it dosent make sense, just know that it was a good week!!

Elder Mortensen