The Service Is What Makes Christmas As A Missionary So Great

Hello!! 

i dont really know what to write about this week. I am just sitting here and there are way to many thoughts going through my head about everything. But i guess i can start with the area. Its been really good for the first part of the transfer. Its been really good being here with Elder Stevens. It is the first time that i have been companions with someone that i knew when we got transfer calls. All the other ones i have never served around. So its been fun. He is a great Elder. He has a lot of charity and patience so i am sure this will be a great companionship. He is a little quiet and sometimes is fine not talking and letting me do most of it. So that is something we are going to have to work on. But its not going to be a problem at all. I am super excited! It is going to be a fun Christmas. We found C-- again. i think i told you about her. She is from Guatemala. We talked to her husband S-- and he is actually a member. He has been away from the church for a long time and doesn't know really anything about it. But they are both awesome. They were headed off to another church when we were talking so we didnt get much time to talk. But they are going to be reading the Book of Mormon and they want us to come back and teach them. So they have a lot of potential. We also got a good referral from the Sisters here. His name is T--. He is on date for baptism! so we are excited to go teach him. We are planning on finding him tonight.  The way we are working the area is treating it like we are getting doubled in. So both of us being new. The area has been worked kinda weird and we feel the area has a lot more potential then we are seeing right now. So we are kinda dropping everything and doing finding. There is for sure some people we are still visiting though. Its not the best time for finding, but it still works. This week we were walking around working and we got back in the car to warm up and drove around to a new area. When we got there it said it was 1 degree! so its been kinda a cold winter here. We got a little more snow but not to much.there is a member that gave me a pair of boots. so i have stayed pretty warm.  Its super funny when you knock on a door and they open up and say its too cold we need to go find a place to warm up, but are not willing to let us in. It makes me laugh every time it happens. 

We are excited for this Christmas. Especially Skype! The plan is we are going over to the Lloyds house at around 11. So that is pretty much the plan. i have the skype from last Christmas. its the user name of bradmorty and the account i am looking for is bradandlaurimortensen.   Then it should work from there. That is at least the instructions from last year. Wow that seems a lot longer than just a year ago. 

It sounds like it was a fun week. I have to agree, Dads sweater is the best! but the thing that surprised me the most is Jaxsen! he isnt so little anymore. Weird...   But i really liked the message dad shared at the ward party. Its been cool to also talk to the members about the things they have been doing. I think it is a great idea from the church and has for sure shared a lot of light! The service is what makes Christmas as a missionary so great, and now more people have been able to do more service and i am sure it has just been a great experience for everyone that has been able to do it. 

I hope you all have a great Christmas! Its exciting to hear about all the things that have been happening this Christmas season. I love how its not just a Christmas day and done. But that it is a season. Its even more of a reason to talk about and think of Christ more. Its makes it easier to keep our promise that we will remember him always. I hope you all can continue to remember Christ and share his spirit with those around you all with your example and words. i Love you all! i will be excited for the Sunday!!  Have a great week leading up to Christmas!!

Elder Mortensen!

Elder Stevens and Elder Mortensen

I Have Learned How To Accept Gods Will And Act Upon It

Hello!! 

This was a crazy week! The craziest thing probably is that transfers are already here! this transfer was only 5 weeks because they didnt want to have one right before Christmas. but i am still staying here! Elder Matalolo is going to Kennewick though. Its to bad, we really did have a good time here. But... Its going to be cool because i am with Elder Stevens! You probably dont remember him, but he was in my MTC district. We actually shared a room. He is from Alabama, so it is going to be a ton of fun. Also we have snow! there is like 4 inches. We were told that we cant drive to day yet until the roads clear up because there is already a crash in the mission. so we walked to the church. We got a lot of weird looks. Most people here have kinda shut down because of the snow. School is canceled today also. 

This week we went on another exchange. I was with an elder in Prosser! it was super cool we saw T--! she is the one that i baptized there! it was so awesome to see her again. She was excited too. It was weird to go there and see so many people that i knew. It was fun though. This week the coolest lesson was a lesson that in a way didnt end as we would hope, but it was a good one. We went to try to find a potential investigator, S--. We ended up finding him and his wife. We taught then the Restoration. Last week in Zone training meeting i gave a training of teaching the First Vision. Part of it was that as we share the first vision it should be memorized. We should try to use the words of Joseph Smith, then share our testimonies. As we were teaching it went pretty good. Spanish is for sure not easy for either of us but we were able to share all that we needed. Elder Matalolo is still working on learning and its been hard. But after i shared the first vision and bore my testimony he shared his. He struggled a little to share it but the spirit was so strong. to not worry about how you are going to say it and just speak and not worry about if it comes out perfect takes a lot of faith so it also invites the spirit very strongly.  As i was watching S-- you could for sure tell that he was feeling the Spirit. As we finished teaching they said that it doesn't really interest them to read the Book of Mormon that they dont really read the Bible either. But We know they felt the Spirit. We invited them to specifically pray about if Joseph Smith is a prophet. They said they will do that. So it didn't go perfectly in the end, but we really did do all that we could. it was cool to see the Spirit work with us and with them. 

Well that lesson kinda answers most of the questions. other then the one about the best thing that i have learned. That would probably be that i have learned how to accept Gods will and act upon it. its something that has been coming up a lot in my studies for some reason. It is something that isnt hard to learn, its just hard to live it. The way God helps us learn his will is his words, the scriptures, and probably more important, the spirit will tell us. As i have been in the Scriptures more and more everyday i have learned the things that i must do and as i go through out the days the spirit has told me what to do. As i listen to the spirit and act on promptings, the spirit either speaks more or i hear more of what he is trying to say. it is the most important thing i have learned and am still trying to do. the way i have been thinking about it is to move the Gospel into my Heart. To make sure that i dont just do what i need to do, but become who God needs me to become. 

So it was a great week! the funniest thing that happened was to see elder Matalolo in the snow! just think of a 6 foot 200 pound kid seeing snow and being in it really for the first time ever! its great! Haha he grabbing some snow then i started to run away because i knew he was going to throw it at me. I was coming up on the car and i unlocked it and was going to jump in. I looked back right as he lost his footing and fell flat on his back. haha then i threw some snow at him. it was super funny. It was right in the middle of the road. 

It cool to hear about all the things that are happening back at home. Its cool to hear about the Lower Lights concert! i have for sure listened to them. They have a CD that a few of the missionaries have. Its like the missionary pump up songs. They are fun to listen to. i hope you get more snow! Snow is the best! i hope you all have a great week! i love you all!

Elder Mortensen

PS: for christmas i am not sure what we will be doing probably Skype. our church starts at 9:30 so it will probably be some time soon after church. 

also i have thought some about college and that kind of stuff. In one of my areas there is a member that is a chiropractor and we talked about it a little. It interests me and has been something that has been coming to mind. I have also been thinking of SUU to start at. I dont know if that would be a good school to get started for that kind of thing or what not. But that is what i have been thinking. i would like to hear your opinion also. That  would be good help for this. 

 

District Council

One Thing That President White Has Counseled Us To Do Is Just One More.

Hello!! again!   

This was a pretty good week. It was kinda crazy. We had two different exchanges this week. One with the Zone leaders and the other I was with an elder in the district, Elder Yates. They were both really good exchanges. We were able to see great miracles in both of these exchanges. The exchange i had with Elder Torgersen was so cool. He is one of our Zone leaders, the other is Elder Van Wagoner, He is from Highland. He played soccer at Lone Peak. So it makes Soccer on preparation day even that much more fun. i get to beat someone from lone peak again! No, i mess with him a lot though. But the exchange! I was in there area. Which was Prosser! Not the same part of prosser that i covered when i was up there, but across the river. I will be back in Prosser in the same area i served in on exchanges this week though. We drove out to the country and stopped and prayed where we should go to do some finding. We felt we should go a little farther. So we went up farther into the country. The first door we knocked on opened right up and we had a good little conversation. He was actually pretty interested in learning. Then we walked up the street and talked to some other people. We didnt have much success. We got back in the car and felt we should go back down the road we were knocking on but the other way. So we knocked some doors up the road. It was time for lunch so we walked down to our car. As we were just getting in Elder Torgersen said lets knock one more. One thing that President White has counseled us to do is just one more. Just one more door, talk to one more person, invite one more person to be baptized, whatever it might be. So we walked across the street and knocked one more door. Then this older guy opened the door and told us to come in. He didnt really know what we did as missionaries but wanted to know. He had a stroke and had to relearn how to talk and then he found out that he has cancer, so he has a really hard life right now. We had a great conversation with him. He broke down a little and we were able to help him see how the gospel will help. We started to just talk about his family and he said his nephew is having a hard time to, just not getting put in to jail over and over again. Then before you know it that nephew and his mom came to visit. They walked in and the nephew M-- said, The Mormons! hey i am Mormon. He was baptized 15 years ago and just got pulled into some gang stuff. But long story shortish, J-- the old guy, and M-- his sister were both put on date for baptism on January 6th! They invited them over to dinner the next Friday. They said that they wanted to invite their whole family over and they taught all of them! and got Carne asada! It was so amazing to see that happen. M-- was so happy and had the biggest smile on his face when we started to talk about baptism. but the next day on exchange we didnt have much time in the morning we had a time to go help someone rake leaves. We prayed to know what door to knock on and we got out of the car and the first door opened up and we had a great conversation. her name is C--. They took the discussions somewhere in south America, i cant remember right now where. They want to learn! she invited us in but we couldnt because her husband wasnt home. But we are going back soon.  That night we finished working and we had to head back to the car to drive to Prosser to exchange back. We decided to knock just one more door. We walked past our car and knocked the house we were kinda parked by. Then D-- opened up! she is also super prepared to learn too! She lives part time in Idaho and the other part here. She said that he has been thinking of who God really is and she is curious about our religion. She has been around it and wants to learn more. Her Husband wasn't there but but she invited us back over tomorrow, Tuesday.  We are excited to go back and teach her! So it was a week of exchange miracles! it was super cool!  

We also taught J-- this week again. He is going through a divorce, i think i said that before, and its been really hard for him. Its just officially happening so he is really distracted. But he said that he feels satan is trying to make him lose his faith, but that he isnt going to loose his faith. The first time we came over he was wondering if God was really there, but now he says that he knows there is a god. He said he has been able to see him help him and his faith grow. Its been cool to see him be strengthened. We are going to keep visiting him and trying to help him. 

But yes we were able to watch the devotional with a less active guy named A-- B--. He is super cool. He is still ordained as a stake 70, from way back when they had those. i dont know what they were until he told us what they are. But it was really cool. It makes be happy to hear that you are doing the 25 days of service! We share that a lot! we have cards for it that we give to pretty much everyone! Its been cool. I really like the video and really like the ideas of service it has for it. 

It sounds like it was a great week for you all! Its so cool you were able to do the Live Nativity!! that is like my favorite thing! i hope that it went good and then no one froze! i am jealous that you got to sled on the roads!! and that you have snow!! we dont have any here. But speaking of here you did find the building i live in. Its the blueish one, The second one and its the top left room. 

real fast because this is super long already, but the funniest thing that happened was on exchanges. We went out to a dinner in the middle of nowhere. We couldnt find it exactly so we called the family but they wouldnt answer. It ended up that we had the home number and no one was home! Then we got a call form the sisters and they said they talked to this family we were eating with and they needed our number. so we got it and we called them. They said that we can break into their house and there is some lasagna in the oven. They were an hour out so we can just go eat. They told us to make ourselves at home and find and eat all we wanted. So, we did! it was so weird! it was funny though. We found some rolls and some cookies and milk! they got there right as were were finishing and we ate all they planned on us eating. So we didnt break into their secret stash or anything. Also i ate the weirdest food i ever have in my life! it was a Cow head. We walked into the kitchen and he had both hands in the eye trying to pull it out. So this meal we ate cow eyes, brain, jaw and tongue. So it was super weird, but it wasnt to bad. We both got it all down with out any problem. 

But i hope you have a great week! Sorry i dont have pictures but you do have a long letter. so i hope that makes up for it! i love you all!

Elder Mortensen

Ps i thought of something you could send in a package. my futsol shoes. i really dont know if i spelled that one right. my other ones ripped and i got some from Walmart that work good for everything except for sports. so i would appreciate that! that would be awesome. But for the other little gifts for members or what not, just whatever works really. I am not sure what it would be or anything. But thanks for doing that!

He Said Right When He Needed It The Missionaries Showed Up

Happy late Thanksgiving! 


I hope it was a eventful week! It looked like a ton of fun! I liked all the pictures! Its weird to think that that it was thanksgiving last week. It feels like it was for ever ago. Our day was good though. We went around before the meal at the church inviting more people to come. No one ended up coming that we invited that morning or the days before, but it was good. I dont know why people wouldnt want to come to have a free feast, but i guess they didnt. that is the only meal we had that day, other than little ones at our apartment, but it was good i only got really full instead of double that like last year. I dont really have any pictures from that but i know one of the members that took a picture of us as we were eating and had me write our your number, mom. so i hope it got to you! and if not maybe one day it will! There was about 40 of the members there. It is about what the expected so there was plenty of food. I couldnt say i had a favorite, it was all really good. but we did take some Cheesecake home! 

We had a few lessons this week, but not to many. One of the crazy ones was a lesson that we brought a member to. Elder Matalolo had taught him before and know that he really wanted the Book of Mormon proved to him, like Historically and everything would have to make sense. there is a member in the ward, Brother F--, that when he was baptized that is what he said he needed and wanted to know. So we brought him. we expected it to go kinda crazy but not how much it did! It was crazy! and super long. It wasnt arguing or anything there was just a lot of talking about so many different things and some of the things were really deep. It ended really good and the member really wants to help This guy, D--, so he is writing him a letter and he wanted his phone number so he could call him. The member is so excited, and is super cool!  We were talking to our ward mission leader and told him we brought Bro F-- and D-- is very similar to Bro F--. His response was, oh so you talked about how the weather cycles work on Kolob? so if that gives you a hint into who is Bro F--. He is a chemical engineer and a genius. But crazy. 

We are teaching this guy names J--, He is an MMA fighter, so its kinda cool. But he is going through a divorce and its been really hard and he said right when he needed it the missionaries showed up. He says that he never turns anyone down and he wanted to learn more about the Mormons and read the Book of Mormon. We had some good lessons with him. He is working at the school and training for his fights so he is really busy but God is something that he wasnts to have be a bigger part in his life, so thats why were are there i guess. We have a lot of hope for him. 

I hope you all have a great week!  i love you all! have a good rest of the time in school before Christmas break!! Bye Bye!!

Elder Mortensen

The Gift of Tongues Is Real! It Has Worked Miracles Here With Me!

Hi!!! Again! 

It is weird to be here in Benton City. It definitely is not the same as being in Pasco. Especially from being in Pasco YSA!  Haha. We had fast and testimony meeting this last week. The biggest difference is here the ward is full of old people! The meeting turned more into fast and testimony and story sharing meeting! It is weird being around so many old people. I am going to have to figure out how to do this kinda of work again. The area has a lot of people to teach, but not a lot of people that have been doing anything really. The last companionship kinda just kept teaching people even if they werent going to ever change. they just like to hear a message. So its a little different.I am not going to come in and change it super fast because my companion Elder Matalolo has been here for 3 months and it isnt right to just come and take control when i dont know how the area works. So we will have to see how it all works. The area book was not wrote out. i went through and cleaned that out. I had Elder Matalolo write the lessons that were taught to investigators and the things they have been taught. Also drop the people that have record but arent being taught and making record for the people that are being taught. So the area had a lot of work done in it, but it wasnt taken care of super well. We have some cool people to teach though. Benton is a little town and most of the neighborhoods are trailer parks. There is a lot of spanish and english work.  It has been really good for me especially for learning Spanish. I dont know why but before i have not really been good at speaking to people in Spanish, part of the reason is having companions that are fluent in Spanish so i never really need to carry a conversation, Just kinda be there and add things. But here we are both very much not fluent and i have have to carry the conversations. The gift of tongues is real! It has worked miracles here with me. It is the first time where i have not had to worry about not understanding and not worry about how to say it back. Spanish is just starting to work! it is great i still have a long way to go though. But i am so excited that it is getting better. 

Its been good being a district leader! i haven't had to do anything. I feel a lot more prepared again this time around. Just because i have done it before and i have only gotten better as a missionary. My companion is from St George. He is half Samoan and half Navajo. He is a really good missionary. Not much happened this week yet. we had a really good Zone Conference yesterday with Elder Zaballos of the 70. He taught alot about how to help our investigators. The biggest thing is doing the things to help them understand that they need to do certain things to gain a testimony. It was super good. But thats about all i have to write about today.

Its good to hear that things at home are still good. It was cool to hear the experience about ali and dads trip that didnt work out but at the same time worked how it needed to. That is really cool. I hope everything goes great this next week for all of you! i love you all!

Elder Mortensen. 

This is Elder Matalolo!!

Also Elder Laffiteau, my trainer is in my 

zone! This is his posterity. Mom if you 

don't know what i am talking about ask Brayden, he will know.

This is kinda cool. This is the Lehi clan that was at the Zone conference. Elder Tolman and Sister Daniels. I have been in school with Elder Tolman sense kindergarten. so its weird to see him. There are 7 missionaries total here from Lehi  It's weird. 

Last night in Pasco!

He Feels Like He Has A Family Now Here In The Church

Well Hello!! 

I dont even know what to say about this week. But it was awesome! M-- got baptized!! It was a great day!! it was super powerful!  We had a district council and right after we had to go and start filling up the font. The font looked pretty big and i was excited because M-- is a big guy. But of course it cant go perfect. when it was time for him to be baptized i walked into the water and then him. To my surprise, the water only went a few inches above my knees! the drain wasnt super tight and the water went down, but only a little, the font was just tiny! But it ended up working good. When he was under the water his knee came up, you cant blame him because the water was so shallow. So i somehow used my elbow to push it under. After i talked to the other missionaries and no one noticed that i did that! haha so it worked! After we changed and came it to the room, the spirit was so strong. Elder corral and a missionary that taught him before were teaching the restoration and sharing their testimonies. M-- was super excited after his baptism. He also said the closing prayer and thanked God for the chance that he had to be baptized. I cant even explain how awesome all this was.  This Sunday he turned and asked if he could go and bear his testimony. He was the second one up and shared the greatest testimony i have heard from a convert. He was still M--, he talked about how he loves to lift, but he shared that as he was growing up he never had a family really, he shared how he was taught how to live from being on the streets and in jail. He said that the only thing that got him to the point he is at right now is His father. From knowing him he was talking about God, he doenst know his Dad. He told everyone thanks for what they have done and that he feels like he has a family now here in the church. The spirit was amazing. Elder corral was almost in tears, i was almost in tears, M-- was almost in tears, and everyone we talked to after about it was almost in tears. It really softened the hearts of the members and they know that M-- really is there because he knows that it is true. I always knew M-- had made a lot of changes and he was prepared and has done everything he needs to be baptized, but after sacrament meeting i was able to see that he really has internalized the things that we have taught him. He also found a job and said it is all because of prayer and he was doing what god wants him to do. M-- is super awesome! that was the biggest thing that happened and not much more  happened. We did teach many people other then M-- this week. C-- had to work a ton and we didnt find him.

The other big part of news is Yes, transfers are this week. We finished nightly planning on Sunday and i was just like sweet, no calls that means no leadership for us this transfer. then as i was on my way out of the room i looked at the phone and saw we had a voicemail. It was President. So we called him back and well, we are both leaving this area! it sucks. I will be going over to Benton city. It is west of Richland near Prosser. I will actually be in the same Spanish group i was in when i was in Prosser! i will be in a Spanish and an English ward in Benton city. It is going to be super awesome. I will also be going back to be a District leader. So pray for my district, they are going to need it! Elder Corral is going down to Hermiston near where i started my mission. It is super exciting and weird that i am leaving. I am not excited to leave but i am excited for my new area.

it sounds like a great week end! I am jealous that you already had Thanksgiving! we already had plans to eat it with this super awesome family, but we will be gone, so that wont happen i guess. Its good to hear that Jaxsen did good in his race! that he didnt fall this time! It is so cool that Grandma and Grandpa are on another mission! They are great! i am excited for them.

thanks again for the Email! it is always a great time but also a very fast hour and a half. I will for sure have some new things to write about this week! i hope you all dong get to board of my letters!! but have a great week! i love you all!

Elder Mortensen

Elder Corral, M--, Elder Mortensen

He's looking like a Mormon!!

hello! 

It definitely sounds like it was a fun week! Haha the first thing that comes to mind is Jaxsen crashing in his race. I feel a little responsible for that. I might have jinxed  him from earlier. I told him not to crash! but i hope there was a GoPro on. Haha it makes me laugh that Brianne won all of the Shooting competitions! that is super awesome! For you dad, looking good. Its also kinda funny that Ali probably knows more of what she is going to do in college then me. I should probably put a little of effort into thinking about it. But good for her. 

this week here was awesome! definitely the greatest news i could tell you is we found M--! He is doing great! He is also getting baptized this week!! He is super excited. So are we. Its a little bit stressing though. Right now we are planning the baptism, and another interview with him, and the hardest part is finding him rides. He has to keep working so he can start to save up some money so he can get a car. So there is still a lot more work to do there. It has been really good to be able to see him progress to this point. If there is anything that i would ask for some extra prayers for it would be for that baptism to go good and especially for M--. Thanks for all the prayers that have been said for him already.  

C-- is also doing pretty good. We had a really good lesson with him on exchanges. He wanted more information and was trying to understand more about the gospel. We taught him the lesson of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He really liked it. It was a super good lesson. It was very different to teach with someone that has been on the mission for a while. My last two companions being newer and its just different. once you have been on the mission you start to think more a like. It probably is being more in tune to the spirit and receiving the same things more often. We still are focusing on baptism for him and helping him get ready for that point. 

For A--, she actually moved out to Spokane. So we aren't teaching her anymore. She needed a change in lifestyle. So she wanted to move somewhere different and get a new start.   That for the most part is the people that we are teaching. We are also working with this guy named J--. He is Less active. He is working a job that makes him not be able to go to church on Sundays. So he tells us we are his Church for now. he is also preparing for his Patriarchal blessing, so we are helping him keep learning and keep praying. He is doing good though. 

We did get a chance to do some service this week. We go every week to this place called Union Gospel Mission. We pack fruit and vegetables into boxes and they give them out some where. We have also been working with the City and working in their fields. That is ending here soon because of winter though. 

Well that is what i got for today! i might be more if this keyboard didnt suck. But is does, so sorry! I love you all!! Have a good week!

Elder Mortensen

Ps pictures!

This was on exchanges. Elder Somerville is from Lehi!

I recognized him but didn't know him.

I also carved a pumpkin!  I didnt have a light 

so I put a lamp in it. It actually worked!

Also getting read for the rain! Its been crazy! so it was 

time to pull out he massive jacket that makes me look funny.

We moved into our new apartment and there was a 

football on the roof right out side the window in front 

of my desk. It was to distracting for studies that we 

had no choice but to go get it. And I didnt fall!