Texas Houston Mission: Building Faith Within our Wards and Branches

To the missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

We have been so inspired by the miracles that are occurring throughout the mission and sincere desire that is being shown by you in your fasting and prayers. Lives are being changed and Wards and Branches are growing to levels they've never experienced before. The enthusiasm for the work is spreading to the members.

Elders and Sisters, we would like each of you to use sacrament meeting attendance as the great measure of whether we are succeeding or not in this effort. Please make sure you know what the goal is for the ward/branch in which you are serving and then find out from the ward clerk each Sunday what the attendance is. I would like each of you to report this to me weekly in your weekly letter. You can add it after your PIN.

Why should we be interested in this? Is it for "numbers" alone? Obviously not. Our great desire must be on inviting others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. Our tendency is to focus so much on baptism that we forget the Lord's admonition to his disciples was not only that they "should go and bring forth fruit," but that also "that your fruit should remain." (Jn 15:16) Why is this? The ONLY way for all of God's children to receive His power in their lives (which power comes by the Holy Ghost) and help them endure to the end is to have their sins remitted. The ordinance of the sacrament is the means by which this happens. Only by regular participation in this important ordinance will members be prepared to receive the blessings of the temple. It is in the ordinances of the Melchizedek priesthood that the Lord says "the power of Godliness is manifest." (D&C 84:20).

Please take an interest in ALL members. They have to believe that you care and that you can be trusted. I had a Bishop say to me this week, "Can you try to help your missionaries introduce themselves to investigators who come to church that they didn't bring." Elders and Sisters, the only way this happens is if we aren't getting to know the members are in our wards as well as we could. When this occurs, we don't recognize if those "new" faces we see are actually investigators or members. We have to immerse ourselves into the ward. Please remember the following:

1. We ought to work as quickly as possible to know the names of the members. If we don't know them, introduce ourselves and work to remember those we meet.

2. Actively text the members of the ward council about your efforts.

3. ALWAYS RESPOND TO MEMBERS TEXTS quickly. This shows trustworthiness.

4. We ought to go to ward activities long enough to determine if there are any friends there, introduce ourselves and work with the members on finding opportunities to teach them.

Lastly, we would like each of you to read the section entitled "The Importance of Members" in ch 9 in PMG and discuss as companions how you can do a better job building their faith in Jesus Christ as well as their confidence and trust in you.

We love you!

President and Sister Mortensen

We held our third Temple Grounds Tours last week. The forecast was for lots of rain but we were blessed when those dark clouds didn't leak at all. A miracle! We had about 260 people attend and many felt the spirit of the Lord.