A New Beginning

To the missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

We want to thank each of you for making this Christmas the whitest Christmas in many, many years in this mission. Lives have been changed, vision has been lifted and all of it has happened because we focused on our purpose: to invite others to come unto Christ and be baptized.

As the new year approaches, the challenge we have is that our nature is to forget the source and cause of our many blessings. We see this unfortunate pattern repeated over and over in The Book of Mormon. Mormon laments how slow we are to remember these the Lord in the midst of prosperity (Alma 46:8). With this in mind, I wish to restate the standard in our mission:

1. Invite someone to be baptized everyday (Really means teaching a 1st lesson everyday)

2. Finding everyday! We should especially be finding between the hours of 6-8pm unless we are teaching an investigator that we can't schedule before 6pm or after 8pm. This is when we will find families at home. We should not be visiting members during these hours.

3. No first lessons taught without a baptismal invitation extended.

4. No second lessons taught if those we teach are not keeping commitments/repenting (PMG p.196).

One of the great lines in PMG is that "Nothing happens in missionary work until you find someone to teach" (p. 156). When we have people to teach, nightly planning becomes more purposeful, personal study becomes more revelatory and companionship study become more productive. We need to be finding everyday. I would like you each to spend time in personal and companionship study this week reviewing the principles related to finding in Ch 9 of PMG. There is great wisdom found in this chapter that, if followed, can dramatically increase the number of people we find, teach and baptize.

We love you all and are eager to begin this new year fully resolved to finding those the Lord has prepared. With Fast Sunday approaching, let's also encourage members to fast and pray for opportunities to share the gospel just as the member of the church did in Zarahemla (Alma 6:6) that they may find joy in sharing the gift we are so blessed to have.

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen

Sister 'Aisea and Sister Lusk at their baptism. 

Inwood missionaries at their ward party

"He is the Gift" Tree in the Mission Office

THM christmas slideshow

Christmas Conference

To the missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission!

We were so happy to get together last week to celebrate Christmas together! We hope you enjoyed the conference as much as we did. We enjoyed the testimonies and the musical numbers. We thank those of you who submitted photos for the slide show and for Elder Field for putting it together so well. We are still so amazed the way Sister Lebaron (and all of her good helpers) was able to put together such a feast for so many and look like she is doing it so effortlessly :). It was also wonderful to sing together with all of you the hymns and carols of the season. We are so grateful to the Chappells for dedicating their talents to make the singing so enjoyable!

Two reminders: 

1. We are excited for each of you to be able to speak with your families this week. Please make sure you limit your calls to no more than 40 minutes and to your families only. 

2. Please remember to give out all the remaining He is the Gift cards this week and make the most of every finding opportunities as hearts are turned to God now more than at any other time of the year. Remember that the Gospel blesses families and families will be together over the next few weeks. Let's take advantage and find those the Lord has prepared!

We love you and are so proud of you for making this such a WHITE Christmas! So many lives have been blessed by virtue of your focused service. We are hoping to carry this focus and determination to find and invite into the new year. 

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen

Letters from home

Happy Birthday Sister Ardmore!

Sister Sievert and her beautiful work of art

Sister Ae and Sister Liljenquist perform their original song "Because of Him" 

youtu.be/DjgQOnC2gpw

Journey To Bethlehem

To the Missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

What an incredible time to be involved in the work of the Lord! This month is shaping up to be a very White Christmas. In fact we may need Rudolph because it is looking more like a blizzard :)! Right now it is possible that this could be the most December baptisms in history of the Texas Houston Mission!

We are impressed at the efforts you have made to find and to invite so many to come unto Christ and find greater joy in the season and in their lives. The Lord is certainly hastening His work and we are blessed to be a part of it.

We are looking forward to seeing you this Friday at our Christmas Conference and celebrating this Christmas season together. We are hoping for a great event. We will get started at 9am so please be in your seats by 8:45am. Please DO NOT arrive earlier than 8:30am however :).

We love you all and feel it a great honor to serve with you!

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen

We had the wonderful opportunity to go to Huntsville, Texas to an event called "Journey to Bethlehem". Many of our missionaries participated in the walk back in time to recreate the scene when our Savior was born. We loved it! It was great to see so many people from different congregations in the community come together to share the joyous news of our Savior Jesus Christ. The next several pictures were taken that night. 

Our beautiful greeters

Faithful shepherds

Basketweaving taught by our very own Elder and Sister LeBaron

And a "thanks for coming" by these beautiful sisters

The next are various pictures from my phone.

Last night with the Lindseys here in Houston

Senior Couples at the ward Christmas party

Pondering

These three just returned from planting tulips on the temple grounds