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!

 

I Work Because I Love The People And I Will Always Work Harder Because I Love the Savior

Hey everyone!!

If anyone was wondering my mission has been great!! i love it so much even though it is for sure the hardest thing that i have ever done in my life already. i am excited for it to come but i don't anticipate it to get any easier, but i am up for whatever this place has to throw at me.

But ya with the car, the only thing i get to do is back up my companion, so thats fun. he always drives. i dont know if its a rule but thats just how it is. but i am fine with it. it gives me a lot of time to mess with him. Not being mean but he is probably one of the worst at parking that i have seen. haha its funny, i always say its alright the parking spaces must be different here then they are in Honduras. so ya i guess that shows we are getting along well. it is working out to be a good companionship. we work really hard because the work here hasn't really picked up that much yet. its hard with Spanish missionaries here because the people all work like all day and we always find Americans that want to hear. we have had a lot of referrals for the other missionaries, more then we have had for ourselves. but what is really important is doing the work and helping the lord out. that is one way that i think of it to make it easier to work.

I do get time to workout every morning at 6:30 to 7. its kinda a hard time because you just want to sleep. but i have found ways to get my self out of bed and start to work out. i do a lot of push ups and ab stuff. i don't know what i want to do to stay thinner, because that is my goal, but we will see if it works. that's about all though, i haven't ran much. i only time i really run is on preparation day. we get together as a zone and play games. last week we played ultimate Frisbee, that was a lot of fun. especially because i am kinda new and i haven't gotten that much out of shape yet like the other missionaries. so that makes it even easier for me. i kinda just ran circles around them. someone also had the idea to go back to our little kid days and play tag. haha that was fun to, no one could catch me.  that really makes me feel like i am in 3rd grade when i say that. we Play some soccer. today we are playing chair soccer, and thats a ton on fun.

we haven't gotten any more meals. they are trying to be worked out with the zone leaders and the wards but i dont know what is up with those. its all good though. less time for me to get fat from actual food. the two meals that i have had, one was fresh caught fish from Mexico with the bishop. the other was pork chops with the young mens president. they were both really good. i am thankful for those kind of people that are so willing to do that for us.

so we work in the meadows and sandstone ward boundaries but all the spanish in the stake boundaries goes to hermiston ward. so all our investigators come to hermiston ward as well. we all just sit in the back and one of the missionaries translates through head sets. so that will be fun when i am the senior companion and i have to do that maybe. i hope i don't turn anyone from the church because of what i am saying. because i don't know if its always what i am actually trying. but at least i am trying.

the biggest challenge is talking to everyone. but its also where you see the blessings come from and find success. when you do this you talk to so many more people. i have faith that for the people that the lord is preparing, part of it is them being out side and us finding them. then it is just our job to talk to them. this week we found someone that is being prepared i feel. his name is H--. we found him in a small house. when we met him he hides his Book of Mormon because it is so important to him. when we meet with him you see so much love and charity in him. he takes care of a homeless guy and calls him his best friend and wants us to go try to help him and teach him. he has been an example to me of charity and how important it is. it is one thing i know everyone can always work on.

life in lehi sounds great! it sounds like there is just always a lot of good things going on and happening. i am glad to see you are all having a great time. i remember those good times.

i am so excited for general conference. i hope that i learn from it being in spanish and all that. it should be good though. i am excited to hear about the new apostles! its too bad three have to be called because we have lost three. but i am excited to hear about all the things that the lord need his people to hear and learn. this all really is a great time and an amazing privilege.

my favorite about this week is the Book of Mormon and reading it from a new perspective. i am reading it looking for humility. that is the thing that i have been trying to develop this week. i need to forget about my will and follow the lords will until my will is in line with the lords. its important to not just change behavior but to change your personality and how you think. if you change how you think you will change how you act and you will be a better disciple of the lord. i was reading at the beginning and i really liked how much humility nephi had. i never thought about how humble he really is until i concentrated on it. he does everything because it is what the lord wants him to do. he follows the lords will and because of that he receives so much power and sees so many miracles. that is what i hope to have. i need the power and authority of god to have any success in bringing his gospel to his children.

thanks for writing. i love all of you so much. i loved you all a ton before i left but being here i have found so much more love. i will never forget how to love because that is how i stay motivated. i work because i love the people and i will always work harder because i love the savior.

Elder Mortensen

sorry i dont have any other pictures of here yet. but these are my mtc teachers. they helped me so much. one is hermano sanchez and the shorter one is hermano caranza

Elder Mortensen and Hermano Caranza

Elder Mortensen and Hermano Sanchez

I Love The Book Of Mormon So Much And Hope To Love It Even More

HELLO!!!

wow before i read Briannes letters i think my life is crazy, but really, no its not at all. i don't get to drive a broken bike around or anything like that. i drive a 2014 Chevy Cruz, so its kinda like a upgrade. the down side to a car is i think that i am going to get fat while i am here. it hasn't started yet, i don't think at least, but i can feel it coming. But ya my area has a lot of English, we talk a lot in English. when we tract we bring English and Spanish Book of Mormons. when it is an English person i do mostly everything but when it is in Spanish my companion does more than me. because my Spanish is still struggling. its mostly driving around and looking for the Spanish communities.

if you didn't find the place my next hint was going to be we live under a smoker and next to a goat! but glad you found it though. me and my companion are getting along really good. i lucked out that he is a native spanish speaker. i think he might be getting sick of always helping me throughout the whole day, kinda being my walking dictionary. hey but it helps me! so i am happy for it. he is from a place called el progresso. i dont know where that is, i just know thats what it is. we have two dinners with the ward. because we are new and the bishops are still confused, we haven't been getting them, but we should a lot more starting this week. its all good if we dont because i make some pretty amazing food!! what i have everyonce in a while that i like a lot actually is, i make a sandwich with a few slices of ham, a few of turkey, some cheese and you cut two hot dogs the long way way in half, cook them and put them on the sandwich. its pretty good. i expect you to try it everyone! or at least Jaxsen.  i eat lots of sandwiches and eggs and cereal. i did have spaghetti today for lunch though, and that was good.

ya we have a walmart like right up the road so that is really nice and makes it super easy. so i don't ever struggle with having food to eat. i hope it will be like that always. even though these two weeks have flown so fast, i only have been here for two weeks so we will have to see how it works out.

but thats nice of you to send a package. you didnt beat the peerys though. but ya send it through the mission home and they will forward it to me.

the boundaries are weird i serve in the sandstone ward and the meadows ward, but us and all our hispanic investigators go to the hermiston ward so i guess i am in the hermiston ward. its pretty big we almost fill a normal sized chapel. they have a lot of really good members here that's for sure. i love them all. especially the Spanish members. i am convinced they are for sure the nicest people i have ever meet. its so awesome. maybe i will pick up on some of that. that would help me out.

my favorite thing was like the weirdest thing of the week. we were tracting and we knocked on this door and there was two kids, a brother and a sister. they were Hispanic but spoke english. but they were catholic like the rest of the people we talk to. its so crazy when someone says they arent catholic it really throws me off. but we talked to them for 2 hours on their door step!!! it was the longest thing and it was so cold. then she gave us a water bottle because she was worried that we needed some because we have been talking so much. i am thankful for nice people but, my hand i think just about fell off. and this had to be on like the only cold night of the whole week. but it was awesome. we talked about so many different things. i had time after time to answer their questions and testify what i knew to be true. at the end we said a prayer and the spirit was so strong. it was hard for them to accept it for sure but we are going back sometime later. i gave them a book of mormon and they are going to read and pray about it so that's a good start. another favorite part was we knocked on this door and a guy answered it. we were invited into his house. we learned that he  talked to a member like two years ago and he got a Book of Mormon. he was hoping that we would be able to show up again eventually. he never read the Book of Mormon but he said pointing to a locked up chest, thats where i keep everything that i have that is important to me. he hasn't even read it yet! and he knows it is so important. it made me think what i thought about the Book of Mormon. how much do i really cherish it? from this i know that when i read in this book i need to love it more then i do now, because it really is so so important. i love it so much and hope to love it even more.

this is all for today but thanks for writing i love you all so much.

Elder Mortensen

Sister Bartholomew and Elder Mortensen at the Mexico MTC

Elder Mortensen and Elder McIntosh at the Mexico MTC

Hermiston, OR

She Told Us That She Knows God Sent Us

hello family

wow! what a great letter!! those are a lot better to receive than to have to try to write. but thanks for that. its always fun to receive a throw-up letter, i guess you could call it that. The west mountain cabin sounds fun like always. you said that you don't know why the bear tracker stopped working, well i do!  it was missing its driver! i am over here in Oregon!!

but Thanks for that quote. (Note from mom.  Here is the quote:  "We are in a period of stress across the world. There are occasionally hard days for each of us. Do not despair. Do not give up. Look for the sunlight through the clouds."   --Gordan B Hinckley).  its kinda how being here has been. me and my companion Elder Laffiteau, from Hondurus, are opening up a new spanish area. so there was no work for us to start with. we had to go knocking, looking for for Hispanic people.  but the work has been a ton of fun.  one of the best things is talking to everyone. it doesn't really sound like me before the mission but i have learned to love it because its where you see the miracles. even though there have only been a few people that have wanted to hear more and most of them were english so we wont even teach them, but its fun. you always know that you are doing what you need to. the hard thing is trying to follow the spirit. a cool experience is we were stopped at a 4 way stop wondering where we should go next. my companion asked me what i was feeling and this one house kept standing out to me. i told him we should go over there so we did. we knocked once, nothing happened. so we knocked again and i was so excited because i was thinking that this is the person we are going to teach because its where the spirit told me to go and i was sure of it. so the guy opened the door and said through the screen door, oh no i have already tried you. i don't want it again, and shut the door. not going to lie i was a little disappointed. but we walked down the road and followed it around a corner. we came to this lady that was on her porch. we said hi to her and started talking to her. after we talked to her for a little, i bore my testimony and she told us that she knows god sent us. she said, how else would my new car have broken down, and i have to make a call so i am sitting here on the porch. i knew that that was the reason that i was told to go to the house that we got shut down at. it was to point us in the right way for this lady. her name was F--. she was less active and wanted to start getting into church again, and this is how she is going to she said. i gave her a Book of Mormon, my first one and that was a good feeling.  it helped me feel more confident and a few minutes later we talked to a 16 year old and he said his family talks to the missionaries some but he didn't pay attention. he said he would read the Book of Mormon after i gave him one and pay attention to the missionaries. i hope it all works out for them both. i learned that this work takes the spirit and confidence. with that it will all be okay.

my area is Hermiston Oregon. its a nice little place. because i know you stalk the missionaries here is some help. i live in a place called south gate village just off of first street. i am in the south east apartment on the bottom. in the corner of the u shaped apartment complex. you are welcome.

but ya i love it here. i hope you are all doing great. i pray for you all all the time. love you all

Elder Mortensen

PS i did get the doughnuts on Friday, thanks a ton they were amazing and i did see spencer a few times

Elder Mortensen and Elder Laffiteau