Easter and Passover

To the Missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

We thoroughly enjoyed seeing you at our mini zone conferences this last week. We hope you found the training to be helpful and we look forward to hearing about the wonderful experiences you will have as you begin to teach others to do their own family history.

With Easter here, we have been reflecting on the significance of the Passover. The Passover is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the Hebrew exodus from slavery in Egypt. It is also the celebration that took place in Christ's day right before His crucifixion and resurrection. 

We invite you to read Exodus 12 in your personal study that explains the way that the Lord institutes the Passover. It is rich in symbolism. Unleaven bread means without yeast so that the bread doesn't spoil. There are things that we indulge in that can spoil our spirits. Perhaps the most important symbol is the blood of a lamb that is male and without blemish. The children of Israel were commanded to take the blood and, "strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses" (v. 7). The reason for this was that the Lord promised to pass through the land to smite/destroy the firstborn of Egyptians, but would "Pass over" those who had the blood of lamb upon their doors. This would ultimately prepare the way for them to be delivered from bondage by the Lord. 

We hope you can see the application of this symbolism in our day. We too depend on the Lord for deliverance. If we will allow His atoning sacrifice to permeate our lives, we will be delivered from our sins as well as those calamities foretold by the prophets of old. It is interesting to consider the counsel by Prophets in our day to observe the Sabbath in this context and the value of the sacrament as we consider its protective influence in our lives.

We love you and hope you have a very Happy Easter!

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen

Sister McClain teaches one of the Family History Modules during our mini zone conf.

We held the 8 week Follow-up training for the missionaries who arrived last January. We were inspired by their desire to be great teachers and their willingness to try and to practice teach. What a wonderful opportunity to be together again. We love them all!

Lunch with our favorite people

President Mortensen spoke at the Houston North Stake Youth Conference last week. This group of youth committed to invite over 1000 friends to church or a church related activity. Wow! They are amazing.

Easter Season is Upon Us!

To the Missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

We hope you had wonderful experiences with family names in the temple. We are eager to hear about your experiences. We are so happy for you. We have never had the opportunity to do all of those ordinances in a day for one of our ancestors before. What a blessing for you!

We are coming upon perhaps the greatest Christian holiday that is celebrated across the world. For Christians, the Easter season is a time to celebrate Christ rising from the tomb, overcoming the bands of death and giving hope to the world for life after death. It was this victory over death, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that caused Paul to write to the Corinthians:

55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? (1 Cor 15)

As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we have an expanded understanding of this victory, or the Atonement of Jesus Christ, that is critical that the world understand.

Over the next two weeks we hope you will work with members and leaders diligently to use the #Hallelujah initiative and invite commit the ward/branch leaders to encourage members to invite friends to church for an Easter service this coming week as well as to listen to General Conference (including the women's general session this Saturday evening) the following week so they can hear from those whom God has called as Prophets, Seers and Revelators in our day. Some of our greatest memories are when we have invited friends not of our faith to participate in these events with us.

We promise you that as you work diligently to invite ALL members (children, youth and adults) to use this initiative and invite their friends, we can help many turn their hearts to God and receive the blessings that He has in store for them.

Because of the promise of the resurrection, we are excited to about this week when we can roll out our Family History curriculum to help us be more effective in helping those we teach (members and investigators) deepen their faith in Jesus Christ as their hearts are turned to those who matter most to them.

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen

These wonderful sisters provide food for the needy in our community

The Cypress Zone was recognized for their community service 

We held a fireside in the Woodlands tonight and were blessed to have the Jeppsons as our keynote speakers. They shared some of the faith filled experiences they've had since losing Jazmyn in a car accident last month. We all loved hearing about our dear Sister Jeppson and left with a greater resolve to be a little better and to "be the Hero in our own story".  It is wonderful to have them here with us. 

These five former companions of Sister Jeppson performed, "Each life that touches ours for good" There was not a dry eye!

They comforted us

"I Will Go Before Your Face" by Ken Turner
Brother Turner painted this for the Jeppsons

Developing the Faith to Find

To the Missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

One of the challenges in missionary work is when we have so much success in teaching and baptizing, often the commitment to find is weakened. Finding is an act of faith. The problem with this is that the faith required to find is like a muscle. When it's not used, it's weakened. In this context, please read Moroni 7:37,38 to remember what the Lord requires before He performs miracles through us. What does that mean for our efforts to find? Our commitment to find is what leads to miracles.

We are creatures of habit. We sometimes fall into ruts and forget all of the other options available to us. We would like to extend to each of you an assignment to read Ch 9 of Preach My Gospel in personal study over the course of the next 4 weeks and discuss it during companionship study. We hope you will pay particular attention to the "Ideas for Study and Application" at the end of the Chapter.

We promise you that as you study and carefully listen to the promptings you receive, you will be directed in your efforts to find more effectively and more regularly. Finding is an act of faith. We love the statement at the end of Chapter 9: "No Effort Is Wasted". Every effort, every prayer, every invitation will all contribute to the process of bringing souls unto Christ and accomplishing our missionary purpose.

We love you and for the great efforts you are making to bring to pass the Lord's work!

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen

Love these two sisters!

Puzzle balls while we wait to go to the temple

Indoor basketball

Departing Missionary Testimony Meeting

Last hugs good-bye

We will miss you Sister Ita'aehau!

We are going to miss these wonderful missionaries!

Parting words

Hard to believe they are on their way.

We are so grateful for such diligent Assistants

Here come our missionaries from the Mexico MTC!

We are so excited they are here! What wonderful missionaries!

They're finally here! Wild weather delayed the planes.

Here are the new missionaries that came to us from the Provo MTC

Real Texas BBQ for dinner!

 The following pictures are of the new missionaries and their trainers. They are all in good hands!

President Mortensen and I attended District Meeting in the Bear Creek District. It was wonderful to be with them again and feel so uplifted by the training and spirit there.

Elder Brasher is a thoughtful District Leader and he's doing a great job

Role plays

Darling sisters!

What a treat to be able to see Elder Oaks

Elder Oaks and Elder Hallstrom were in town for two special stake conferences. We were so blessed to learn from them and feel of the wonderful spirit they bring.