Texas Houston Mission: November 2014

Sunday, November 30, 2014

We're dreaming of a White Christmas!

To the missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

We hope you all had an enjoyable Thanksgiving celebration. We are thankful for you!

We are excited to turn our attention now to the Christmas season particularly with the He is the Gift initiative kicking off! What a wonderful time of year this is! For missionaries, this is the best time of year to catch even the hardest of hearts with a Christmas message. I attended the Spring Zone meeting last Friday and was impressed to hear that some companionships had already begun committing large numbers of members to "Share the Gift". Elders Hilder and Gray had committed more than 26 members the day before to act and all received the challenge with great enthusiasm. Inspired by this, Elder Platt and Chatwin went out and topped that number on Friday and Sister 'Aisea and Lusk found a complete family by tracting and incorporating the "He is the Gift" into their door approach that night!

I'm sure there are great things happening in each of your areas as well. Plan how you will use this campaign to create the best exposure to this message as possible.

If you recall, I issued you each a challenge to find someone you could baptize in your areas during this month. I know it is possible if that is the desire of our hearts and we act according to it. Seek revelation particularly as you do the following:

1. review your area books with the Christmas and He is the Gift campaign in mind.

2. Work with your WMLs and Ward Councils to identify part-member families in your wards with whom you can share "He is the Gift" and encourage all to come unto Christ by rediscovering the first Christmas gift and committing to follow Him.

3. If you aren't buried with investigator teaching appointments, please do all you can to make the most of your time finding in the evenings. That's when families are home. It seems that we don't take advantage of this time nearly enough, but this is the time to do it. Please seek revelation and then be bold. The Lord will lead you to those who are searching.

We love you and are inspired by the great work that is taking place in our mission. We look forward to seeing you at our Christmas Conference to have the time to celebrate this season together!

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen

Here are some pictures taken last Sunday at the Mission President's Fireside in College Station. We enjoyed special musical numbers from Sister Carling, a mens group including many Polynesian elders, and of course our missionary choir. It was outstanding! The recent convert testimonies were so inspiring and we loved being with the people in College Station.

We had to say goodbye to Elder Nymeyer a week early so he can get his shoulder repaired. We will sure miss him!

The next several pictures were taken at Mission Leadership Council last week. They are an amazing group with some incredible insights. We love learning with them.

We had a wonderful Senior Missionary Conference at the Chappell's beautiful home. We enjoyed spending time together and getting to know each other better. We are so blessed to have so many great Senior Missionaries in the Texas Houston Mission!

We got to see ~~Sister~~ Macall Bowden and her groom-to-be at an Open House for the happy couple

Macall and Damon
They make a beautiful couple!

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Happy Thanksgiving & Zone Conferences

Missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission!

With the Thanksgiving Week upon us, we are thankful to be here with you! What a wonderful thing it is to have an opportunity to be with you at zone conference. We come away from the experience each time counting ourselves so lucky to be here with all of you!

On the last morning of the last day of zone conference I had an impression come into my mind of Oliver Cowdrey's experience in attempting to translate for the first time. Do you remember the experience? He failed miserably after having asked several times for an opportunity to do it. When he inquired as to the reason, the Lord responds to him in D&C 9 when He says:

7 Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me.

8 But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind;

When this came to my mind, I couldn't help but think that the Lord is saying this to us too! Sometimes we just show up to lessons thinking we can teach just fine without really having prepared; prepared spiritually or mentally to merit the powers of heaven to accompany us as we teach. We don't usually equate our lack of success to our lack of preparation, but it is a big factor.

Elders and Sisters, we must work at being prepared. In PMG we read, "The purpose of personal study is to strengthen your knowledge and testimony of the restored gospel and help you prepare to meet the needs of those you teach." We also read, "The purpose of companion study is to build unity in your companionship in order to teach by the Spirit and focus on the progress of those you teach." The only way we build unity in our teaching is by putting together our lesson plans/outlines and practicing them over and over and over again with the people we are going to teach in mind.

Lastly, to truly obtain His word, we must do His will (Jn 7:17). Obedience is the great key to gospel knowledge. When we are as obedient as we can be, His grace will be sufficient for us and for those we teach.

May we do all we can to merit the companionship of the very powers of heaven as we teach and then, "stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed." (D&C 123:17)

We love you all and wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen

We adore the Linseys

We love to see companions serving one another

The Stevens introduce themselves

Role Plays

Happy Sisters with a member after a baptism

More sisters at a baptism

Sunday, November 16, 2014

A Marvelous Work and a Wonder

To the missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

I wish each of you could have had the opportunity that I've had to read all of your reports this week. As you have become more focused on your purpose and have committed to be bold in trying to extend baptismal invitations daily, remarkable miracles have happened and they've happened throughout the mission in incredible numbers! So many of you have found people who are so prepared that it's almost as if they've been waiting for you. That's not coincidental.

As I've read your letters this week my mind has turned to Joseph Smith's prophetic statement from Liberty Jail when he said:

"For there are many yet on the earth among all sects, parties, and denominations, who are blinded by the subtle craftiness of men, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, and who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it." (D&C 123:12).

As Elder Corbridge mentioned when he was here, there are many in the "gray" area who, while they may not be actively looking, will respond to truth when and if it is presented to them accompanied by the power of God. We are seeing it!

We have been so inspired by the faith of so many of you have are committed to teaching the restoration daily and inviting people to be baptized. Many are accepting.

One companionship in particular has been inviting someone to be baptized daily for two weeks. They now have more than 12 people committed to be baptized and who are progressing. They called Sister Mortensen yesterday because one of them came down with the stomach flu. Sister Mortensen told them they needed to stay in and rest in order to get better. They were disappointed. My first thought was, that's too bad; they've worked so hard to keep this streak alive. To my surprise, last night I received a text from them saying that because they were told to stay in, they started calling every former investigator from their area book. They got a hold of one of man who had quit progressing, taught him over the phone, invited him to be baptized and he accepted. Would this have happened if this companionship wasn't so committed to fulfilling their purpose? Obviously not.

May we all elevate our vision to the potential that lies within each of us to be able to lead the children of God to His message of hope and happiness and experience the fulfillment of Joseph Smith declaration when he declares,

"Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed."

We love you and we are honored to be serving with you in this great cause!

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen