July Transfers

Elders and Sisters of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

As you know, we had transfers this week. It was hard to say goodbye to so many faithful missionaries, but feel so grateful for this new group of missionaries who are uniquely prepared and desirous to serve the Lord. Have you ever wondered if the Lord really needs us? Doesn't He have legions of angels at His disposal that would be much more effective to use than to use the "weak and simple (D&C 1:23)" like us? I think so, but if that's the case, why does He use us? Wouldn't it be easier for everyone involved if He just the the angels do what they do best :)? I think the answer to that is probably best expressed by a story I read several years ago:

There was a group of women in a Bible study that came to the book of Malachi. As they were studying chapter three, they came across this verse which reads: "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." It puzzled them and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.

One of the women offered to find out about the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible study. That week this woman called up a silver smith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest in silver beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched the silver smith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot--then she thought again about the verse, that he sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.

She asked the silver smith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left even a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silver smith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?"

He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy--when I see my image in it."

The reason the Lord uses us is because He is trying to help us become like Him. We need this experience!! "Losing ourselves" (which is what the Lord would have us do as missionaries) sometimes make us feel like we are in the heat of the fire. So anytime you are feeling the heat, remember that God has His eye on you. As I share that, it also reminds me of Alma's question in Alma 5:14 that asks, "Have you received His image in your countenance?" With this story as a backdrop for Alma's question, it gives a little more insight into what Alma is asking? 

Don't resist the refining process. Remember in whom we have faith and allow your faith to be reflected in your willingness to obey!

We love each of you and are thrilled by the miracles that are happening as a consequence of our collective faith!

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen

Transfer Meeting in Hafer parking lot

Departing Sisters. So beautiful!

The rain stopped just in time

Temple with departing missionaries

Sister Allred and her sister

Elder Dinnell and his mother

The flag tradition continues

Sister Burnham's flight left first

Departing missionaries

Departing missionaries

New missionaries

New missionaries straight from the MTC (minus Elder Lindsay)

Training for new missionaries

Writing home

We love our new missionaries

Beautiful new sister missionaries

The last few pictures are the new missionaries with their trainers. They are going to be great! 

Inviting all....

To the Elders and Sisters of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

It has been inspiring to meet each of you during interviews over the past several weeks. Each of you are uniquely gifted and, despite your individual challenges, your faith and determination to follow the Lord has been incredibly edifying for me. As you have committed to do so, one by one, by being as obedient as you can and extending at least 25 invitations to learn each day, we have seen remarkable things happen in our mission. As I shared with you in our initial zone conferences, our collective worthiness matters. Because it matters, our individual commitments to be obedient matter. I hope you will strive to always channel your inner Captain Moroni and care more what the Lord thinks than what men do. If we are found to seek the Lord's will daily by prayerfully planning each night and faithfully following the morning routine, we will invite the Holy Ghost to be with us and He, "will tell us all things that we should do." (2 Ne 32:3).

As I have visited with some of you about the 25 invitations to learn each day, I have felt the need to extend a small caution. In the Old Testament, we see the children of Israel forget that the purpose of "the Law" was to lead them to Christ. Instead, they became so consumed with the law itself that when Christ came to the earth during His mortal ministry and stood before them, they didn't recognize Him. I think sometimes we become a little Children of Israel-like in our obedience when we get more consumed with the "means" or the how of what we're doing and less focused on the "end" or purpose of why we are doing it. This can happen to us with anything routine that we do from saying our prayers, to taking the sacrament. In this same way, I can see that if we're not careful, we can forget that our objective in extending invitations to learn is not the "end", but the means. One of the great indications that we're remembering the "end" is that as we extend many more invitations to learn sincerely, the number of lessons we teach should dramatically increase. When this happens, miracles are sure to follow!

We love you all and look forward to seeing you again!

President and Sister Mortensen

Elder and Sister Cummings faithfully completed their service. They will be missed!

Farewell to Sister Parry. We will miss her!

Charming Texas

That Texas heat really wears you out!

Getting Organized and a Luau to Remember

A letter to the missionaries:

It has been so good to see so many of you again during interviews! Your commitment to the Lord and His work has been inspiring. I look forward to meeting with the rest of you this week. As you have more fully committed to searching out those who are seeking the truth, we've seen miracles poured out upon so many of our Heavenly Fathers children. It's exciting to see the fruits of our collective faith and obedience! 

As a Mission President is released, so are his counselors. So I have called two counselors to serve with me in the Mission presidency. They are President Rob Chappell who will continue his service in the Mission Presidency as first counselor and Jose Vasquez who will join us as second counselor. 

     - President Chappell has wonderful Priesthood Leadership experience (particularly with the YSAs) and is married to Sister Jan Chappell who is the regional public affairs representative. They will be wonderful resources as we begin to pursue more community service opportunities in the mission. 

     - Presidente Vasquez not only brings his hispanic heritage to our presidency, but he is also the engineer in the Houston temple. His connection to the temple is invaluable as we begin to do some things to elevate the profile of the temple in our teaching efforts.

We will be announcing more on these new, upcoming initiatives in our next MLC and then distribute this information through our established patterns to all of the mission. In the meantime, please extend the same respect and courtesy to these two brethren as you have to me. We are meeting every week to organize events that we believe will bless countless lives. 

Lastly, As you have been working so diligently to dramatically increase the number of referrals received in our mission, we have realized that we need to improve our referral management process. To accomplish this we are bringing in some additional resources to assign out referrals more timely and follow up on them diligently as well. So if you are getting texts about the status of referrals you've received, you'll know why :). Please do your best to follow up on any referrals you've received within the first 24 hours. 

We love you and look forward to continue working closely with you in the upcoming days, weeks and months!

President and Sister Mortensen

Here are some pictures we took from a luau that our Melbourne Ward Elders and Sisters put on for the ward. It was such a successful evening with delicious food, live polynesian entertainment and a spiritual message. The cultural hall was packed and everyone had a great time! We were so inspired to see what can happen when we take initiative and plan something for investigators 

A full house

Mortensen kids getting into the spirit of things

Elder Pauga was a great MC and showed us how to open a coconut with a rock

Elder Pongi showed us how to make fire

Fire! That was fast!

Elder Veamatahau on the Polynesian horn

Elder Veamatahau serenaded us

Elder and Sister Wolfley were a huge help. This may be the first time they sat down all night!

Hula dance performed by the beautiful Sister Tau and Sister 'Aisea

They were awesome!

Getting ready for the Hakka

Game face. Don't let them scare you. They are so kind.

Hakka with the young men in the ward

We loved the spear dance

We love the Wolfleys!

Farewell to the Pingrees

On June 30th 2014, the Mortensen family arrived in the Texas Houston Mission! Sister Mortensen will be updating the mission blog.

We spent a few short hours with the Pingrees and felt of their great spirit and love for the missionaries and this great work of salvation. We were sad to see them go and I know the missionaries were too. To their credit, we have felt the full love and support of the missionaries and their desire to "not skip a beat" with the transition. What a blessing!

Here are a few pictures from that day.

Mortensen Family leaving Orange County, California

President Mortensen and President Pingree in the airport in Houston

The APs with the Pingree and Mortensen kids

A real Texas BBQ meal with the office couples

The assistants, Elder Christensen and Elder Hillebrant getting to know President Mortensen

From the Mission Tour

We spent a few days the first week touring the mission and meeting the missionaries. We loved getting to finally be with the missionaries. They were awesome! We love them so much and feel it a great honor to serve beside such consecrated servants of the Lord.