As We Talked About How God Really Does Love Her And Is There To Help, Tears Came To Her Eyes

Hello!! 

Well first things first, i am jealous you all went to the cabin! Even just seeing mountains in a picture is exciting. The mountains came up in our conversation last week because there are some youth that were going to go hike Badger Mountain (badger bump) and we were talking about how it isn't even a mountain at all.   We bet that when a plane flies to Utah and is full of missionaries that when they see mountains that everyone just starts to cheer! I wouldn't be too surprised if it really happened!   But it looks like it was a fun week! Its weird to think that school is already out! the school here goes for another two weeks! there was like 7 snow days they had to add on. It is crazy. Summer is here! it for sure feels like it! it was like 95 yesterday! It was soo hot. Someone was saying they think it is going to be a really hot summer and reach 120. So we will pray that doesn't happen. I really liked that analogy about keeping a testimony burning and always doing things to strengthen it. that is so true. One thing that i always think of for a testimony or conversion is its like rowing a boat up stream. It you arent working hard enough you wont go anywhere but if you arent working at all you will go backwards. The reason that living the gospel takes hard work is because that is faith! The first principle of the Gospel. Faith gets us to act, to do things that we otherwise might not do. To gain more faith you have to do something hard, you have to do something that requires faith. So if we want it to be easy we are to focused on ourselves and not focused on others, and for sure not focused on Christ. Being a missionary has been so amazing! i love it so much. We get to just go around and help everyone that will accept it. 

We did a lot of finding this week. Our focus was to be more diligent in working and we were able to do that. It was hot but we were able to get out there and work more than the weeks in the past. It helped that we didn't have to many meetings or anything. On the hottest day we found a bunch of potential investigators! Yesterday we went back and had a lesson with one named T--. She is in a really humble spot in her life. She was in a really bad relationship for 8 years. her oldest child was able to roll it off his shoulders but caused lots of problems for her middle child. also her youngest one has leukemia. It is just her and her three children. So its been hard. She doesn't have any religious background. She prayed with her aunt until she was about 5 then that was it.  So we first talked about Jesus Christ, then how God loves her and her family and that he will bless them. As we talked about how God really does love her and is there to help, tears come to her eyes. If i were to guess i would say that she hasn't felt that love from anyone for a long time. It was a really great experience to be able to help her feel that spirit. We then focused on prayer and taught her how to pray. We invited her to pray and ask if God loves her, also to pray and ask if he is there and if he will help her and her family. We are very excited to be able to go back and continue to help her grow in her faith and learn that God really is there for her. It was a really amazing experience. I was feeling the spirit really strong as we were there. 

G-- has been hard to find time to have a lesson with her. She is doing really good still. She reads the Book of Mormon everyday and prays everyday and she really does know that it is true, she just needs Sundays off so she can come to Church! She went on vacation this weekend which is good. She said she hasn't done that for like 4 years. She works too hard. But we do have a lesson with her this Wednesday at the old stake presidents house! it is going to be sweet!

Well that is kinda this week in a nut shell. Well i guess we also taught C-- and C-- this week. They are doing really good and accepted an invitation to be baptized! We are going back Wednesday again to teach them! This area is just doing really great. I have loved being here. 

I hope the First week of Summer goes great for you all! enjoy the sun! and Jaxsen, make sure you start shrinking. I love you all!!

Elder Mortensen

A picture from a District Council!

We, for some reason, had the idea to make a barricade so the Elders couldn't get in. It worked!! For a little. And it only took like 5 minutes! It was fun.

This was our District! one of the pictures at least.

Also you got to love being in the country!!

L--, The Seminary President Got Baptized!

Hey again! 

Well this week was a pretty good week! We had a few good lessons, we found two new investigators and we had a baptism! The new investigators that we found were a referral from some other elders. their names are C-- and C--. They said they wanted a Book of Mormon. So we went by and talked to them last week and gave them a Book of Mormon. This week we went to teach them. They talk a ton so the first time we didnt really teach to much. But they both read! C-- said that he had a hard time putting it down! He read into 2 Nephi and C-- read into 1 Nephi 8. His last wife was a member and he went to church with her for a while. She got offended and they didnt go back. Then later they split up. When C-- was young her family joined the church but she was a teenager and she wasnt very interested then. But now she is super interested and he is also. So it was really cool to teach them. They had a bunch of questions that had to do with the Plan of Salvation, so that was what we taught them! They liked it a lot.  They are awesome.  This Sunday we just had baptism for L--! It was super awesome! there were like 100 people there! It was the most people i have ever seen at a baptism! it was crazy! Like half were youth. He is the Seminary president so a bunch of the seminary students came. It was a super good baptism. G-- is doing pretty good. She has been sick so we didnt teach her. But she hasnt smoked any!!! i told her it has to be a blessing in disguise! And that she needs to take that as a start to not smoking any more. She is doing really good. We have a lesson with her tomorrow. 

So funny story. This happened like two weeks ago but i dont think i told you about it. So one night we were sitting in our room on the floor and Elder Shumway had a cup of milk and it was right next to the phone. I put the phone across the top of the cup and looked at him and told him dont do anything stupid. So he looked at the phone at tried to smack it off but hit it straight up and it dropped right into the milk! We both just kinda looked at it amazed that that just happened. then quickly grabbed it out of the milk and i ran out trying to figure out what to do with it. I didnt know if i should rinse it off or dry it or something. I was so confused. So we just threw it in a bowl of rice. Now when anyone asks why we need their number we have to tell them it fell into milk. So they get a laugh out of it. We called the lady at the mission home to get a new one and she said she expected that out of her 3 year old granddaughter, but not us! Oh also how do you like our new mission car? all the members always tell us how lucky we are! we have had it for like the last month. It is awesome. 

Well i hope the last week of school is fun! its not really school so i am sure it will be. I hope the summer will be a good one. I feel like it is going to be a hot one. It had been hitting 90 already. I dont know if i am ready for that. But its coming either way. Its good to hear dads neck is doing a lot better! Well i love you all! thanks for writing again!

Elder Mortensen

L--'s Baptism with Elder Shumway, L--, Elder Mortensen

We found a big bee hive or something like it and we of course threw rocks at it:)

Our new mission car.  Haha ya we are lucky. There are 2 in the mission, ours and the Assistants drive the other. It drives super nice. there are a bunch of dirt roads in our area and now we dont have to go super slow anymore! its great! 

Surprise Text

We got this surprise text and pictures from Sister Christensen:

"Having dinner with your missionary!"

Thanks Sister Christensen!

Surprise Facebook Post

I found a picture of Elder Mortensen posted on the Washington Kennewick Mission Page by Summer Schaefermeyer!

Service Assignment in Hermiston, OR.  Can you spot your hardworking missionary?

We Learned How To Guard The Flame of Faith

Hi again!! 

It was super awesome talking to you all yesterday! It was super fun. It was weird though. Its always kinda weird to take a break and just talk to your family. Its good to hear that you are all doing really good though.  Especially that dad got some help getting his head screwed on right and it is feeling better. Hopefully this whole not being able to exercise thing gets a little weight on you! I have to catch up some how! Its cool to hear about all the things that are happening back at home. It seems like it has been a lot of fun the last while. 

This last week i already told you mostly about. We also had Zone Conference. President White trained us on Guarding the flame of faith. How it has to be a constant thing or it will burn low or burn out. Its something that we have to do with ourselves. It is also something that we have to do to help our investigators. Lots of the time the best way we can help our investigators is getting a small chance everyday or every other day to get to talk with them. When Ginger was trying to stop smoking we stopped by everyday at her house or at work just to see how she was doing and give her a little more support. There were times that it was really hard for her and she said that if we didn't come she doesn't know if she would have been able to not smoke. So it was cool to see that we were brought over at just the right time. We also had some training on helping our investigators over come problems with the Word of Wisdom. In the last two months here in this Zone there were 16 people who fell off date to be baptized because of the word of wisdom. That is so much! so we have a little more focus on that and need to make sure we are teaching the doctrine behind it, because there is actually a lot of doctrine behind it. Its pretty cool. Well i dont know what more to say! sorry its short today, but at least we got to talk yesterday! i love you all! have a great week!

Elder Mortensen

Pictures from Zone Conference! 

The one is with Elder Corral and his sweet glasses! 

This one is a picture of all the missionaries that are from Lehi!! its crazy how many there are! And thats just two Zones! I dont know who there are so many from Lehi, but its pretty cool.

Mothers Day

One of the best parts of the mothers day...face timing with Josh.  It was filled with lots of laughter, some tears, and lots of inspiring moments.  Brayden & Hillary weren't able to face time with us on Sunday, but were able to talk to Josh for a few minutes on Saturday night when he called to confirm the time.   I love my family. Can't wait to have us all together again. Only 2 more months.

It Is Amazing To See How The Work I Was Able To Do Or The Work Of Any Missionary Really, Just Spreads

Hi again!! 

This week was crazy!! It was super awesome! I dont even know where to start. I guess with the not so fun stuff. We had interviews. Those aren't bad, other than they ran almost 5 hours behind because the sister missionaries talk a ton. So good thing that we didnt have a dinner planned that night because that wouldn't have happened. We had MLC and that was super good. It for the most part was training on how to help people over come problems with the Word of Wisdom. In the last 2 months there was been 50 people in the mission that fell off date for baptism because of the word of wisdom. So it is by far the biggest thing that keeps people from being baptized in this mission. So after that we went to teach A--. We taught the Word of Wisdom. She is living it already!! After that the thoughts that went through my head were like, What now? i didnt think this ever happened. So we just went for it and started teaching other things with it. It was awesome. She is doing really good. She says that she is just ready for this.  Her boyfriend in the past really didnt like us and was causing some problems. But now he likes us!! he actually likes her meeting with us too. We are hoping that now he will meet with us. This last Saturday we also went to the Temple! There was a guy named B-- that went through for the first time. It was someone back in Prosser that Elder Shumway taught and baptized. It was a year ago. The really cool thing about it is It was a referral from T--. So in Prosser we found and taught T-- and she was baptized, that was amazing enough! But a little after her baptism she sent the missionaries to B-- to go and teach him and he was baptized not long after. Now B-- has helped others be baptized as a ward missionary. It is amazing to see how the work i was able to do or the work of any missionary really, just spreads. More and more people learn of the church and live the Gospel. Just to think how much more it will happen through the generations. This is an amazing church and it definitely contains the true Gospel. It is so amazing to be out here as a missionary. All the time i am just sitting there in the apartment in the mornings or nights and just thinking. Then it comes to me how much i love being a missionary. It is super amazing. There is nothing i want to do more then be here right now. This week i also had my testimony of prayer strengthened. I learned you need to be careful with prayer! So G-- was living the Word of Wisdom until her boy friend J-- came home. He caused her to stress a lot and she started smoking again. Because she was so stressed she had really bad migraines. Then we weren't able to find her for a while. She would be sick sleeping or at work. we thought she was embarrassed maybe for falling back into smoking or something. We really had no idea. She kinda just disappeared. So we decided it was time to teach her the law of chastity because that will help her stop smoking and it will all be much better after that. So we have been praying for the last week of how we can teach her that. She has been with him 10 years and we just dont know how to help her with this one. So we finally found her Yesterday. She hasnt been doing very good. J-- kinda went crazy and blew up.We were talking with her asking what we can do. We talked about reading and praying always. She has been doing both everyday!! thats awesome. We are going to fast with her wednesday. She said that J-- if for sure leaving she wont let him stay. When she said that my heart kinda leaped for joy. It was really sad but i couldn't help but think it was an answer to our prayers. Things with her will get better. Our prayers were answered this far and i have no worries that those blessing will stop coming. It is what you call a miracle in disguise! She will live the law of Chastity here soon! we are excited for her in that way. So that was the big part of the week! oh, also our dry Mormon/seminary president friend is finally getting baptized!! The weekend of the 20th there is no baseball for him and we have the green light! i am soo excited for that!  It was just a week of miracles. It was a great week!

I really hope dad gets feeling better! it kinda looks crazy. i will keep praying for you! Thanks for the update on everything. Sorry i dont have much more time. But i really do like hearing about all your week. I hope this next week is also a great one for you all. I love you all!

Elder Mortensen. 

We dont have a set time for Skype yet, but it will for sure happen. We are trying to find the best place to do it. We will for sure have a place though. we are thinking doing it sometime in the evening. I will also get to call for just a second on Saturday to set it all up 

Surprise Facebook Message

We got a surprise message from Sister Hartsteen:  "I fed your son breakfast for dinner tonight!"

Thanks for the picture Sister Hartsteen!

We Had A Lot of Finding Time and It Felt Really Good

Hello again! 

This week was awesome! It was kinda hard to find a time to teach some of our investigators but it was still really good. A-- is doing really good and is working again. This last week we had a lesson set up and she ended up not showing up! So we called her and she didnt answer. So we gave her a day or two and stopped by. She fell asleep!! for some reason she has been really tired and sleeping a lot, so that was why she didnt show up. But we have a lesson Wednesday and we really hope that it will work this time. Also we had one with G--. She ended up having to work late. She is a manager at Dominoes. Then we rescheduled and she got sick with the flu for a few days! Also last Monday we found 3 new investigators! well i guess Monday it was 2. A dad and his son. D-- and I--. It was a super good lesson. I-- was taught before by some missionaries and kinda just disappeared right before his baptism. but now his dad is back. He has some problems that he is trying to work out. But he is really cool. Then on exchanges Elder Shumway and a different elder went and taught them again and taught the mom, L--! and she is super awesome too! so that was awesome. Then we had another lesson set up. But that got canceled! A little before we came over for a lesson their drivers window got bashed in and their windshield cracked so they had to go file a police report. So we weren't able to have a lesson. Later that night we stopped by and they were playing soccer outside. so we talked to them for a little and kicked a ball around. They are super cool and we are going back tonight to teach them again. So this week was a weird one but a lot of good things happened. We went to visit G--. She is really sick right now and just isnt dong very good. So she needs a little more time before she can meet with us. She said she would be reading though. We also did some service for this old lady that was moving from one apartment to another. For some reason she looked familiar to both of us. We never figured out why. But we are going to go back because we think that we are going to be able to teach them. It was her and her grandson that is living with her. He is 10 and was super cool. He just followed us around the whole time kinda helping but just talking with us and messing around. There was also this other lady, we dont really know if she was related or not or just a friend. But she was super cool too. Her grandparents are members that live on the same street as us. So we are going to go find them this week and hopefully start teaching them.  Well that was kinda our week this week. We had a lot of finding time and it felt really good. sometimes there isnt to much of that with all the little things that we have to get done. 

It looks like it was a good week down there in Utah! Me and Elder Shumway got a kick out of the picture of Jaxsen and a bunch of kids with shovels in the middle of nowhere! I actually did guess what they were doing though. I am sure it was a lot of fun. sounds like prom was fun for Ali! sorry you had to go with a goober like him!! Haha the Curtis's are sweet! Well i hope that the week goes really great for all of you. For sure that dad can finally get his neck worked on. So good luck with that. I will be praying for you. I really love you all!

Elder Mortensen

Some times we get kinda bored in the apartment. I dont know how things like this happen, but they just seem to happen.