New Companions, New Areas, New Opportunities...

To the missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

I have attended a few district meetings and love that your are focusing your area reports around your goal for setting baptismal dates this month. Great miracles are happening because we are focused on our purpose.

With the recent transfers, there is an opportunity to review your outlines with your new companions and take the best from both to create new outlines together. Then practice them. Daily. If we do our part and prepare, the Lord will entrust us with those who He has prepared. Part of being prepared is role playing. Many of you have said that since we have created outlines, you have had better unity in your teaching than ever before.

Other important ways we can be prepared that we don't often consider are found in Ch 13 of PMG. Learning these additional ways can invite revelation and direct our work in meaningful ways.

As we are going into interviews over the next few weeks, I would like you to study Ch 13 of PMG as a companionship and look for the ways our detailed preparation can help us accomplish our purpose of building up the church in our respective areas.

We love you and look forward to a year of great miracles!

President and Sister Mortensen

Temple Trip with departing missionaries

Sister Butterfield reunites with her parents

Sister Heyborne is the first to depart

Off through security

It is so hard to see them go...

Its been an honor to serve with these missionaries. We will sure miss them!

APs Elder Abadillo and Elder Halterman with Pres Mortensen

Brand new missionaries straight from the MTC. Nothing better. They will be great!

A little training at the church 

Writing letters home at the mission home

Elder and Sister Edwards, our french toast makers. Yum!

Trainers in a meeting

With such a small group of incoming missionaries, they all choose their own pew :)

The next several pictures are of the new missionaries with their trainers/companions

A New Year

To the Missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission!

We are in awe of the great work you are doing. Last week, as you have each committed to be finding, we found a record number of new investigators in this mission! We had many areas find more than 10 investigators! 15 new investigators were found in Conroe (shout out to Elders Wildman and Christensen) and 11 new investigators in Crockett (shout out to Elders Chavez and Rhodes)! Several others also had similarly great success. Perhaps the most noteworthy result from last week was that almost every area in the mission found new investigators! As this continues, many lives will be blessed forever on account of your great faith and wonderful work.

I couldn't help but marvel as I sat in several interviews and meetings last week and listen to person after person talk about how they will never forget the day that the missionaries "knocked" on their door. Finding is an act of faith just like searching ("finding" in) the scriptures. The answers we seek in the scriptures aren't always found in the text, but we are given them anyway because we've searched the words of the Lord. Similarly, when we seek for families by looking where they are, it's not always behind the doors we knock on, but the blessings may come by other means. Sometimes we're tempted to say to ourselves when we're passed a referral from a member (after having worked our tails off in the streets with little to show for it), "See, I knew we would should just work with members." In so doing, we fail to realize that the reason that referral came is because the Lord is blessing us as He sees us exercise our faith by our obedience and our works.

In Ch 9 of PMG, we learn that no effort we make is wasted. "When people choose not to investigate the restored gospel, your work is not wasted. Your consistent efforts in serving and teaching as many people as you can is one way God prepares His children to eventually receive His servants. He often reaches out to His children through you. Even when people do not accept the opportunity to learn the gospel, your service and words are evidence of God’s love for them and may plant seeds that future missionaries and members of the Church will harvest.

"When people do not accept the gospel, do not be discouraged. You have raised a warning voice. You have given them a clear choice. Disciples of Christ feel sorrow when people choose not to repent, but they maintain a vision of who they are and what they are doing. They continue to diligently move forward."

We love you and pray for your continued success. What a great privilege it is to be the bearers of this great message. With the new year upon us,  let us each resolve to be a better, to be more trustworthy and to raise our vision believing that we will find those who He has prepared!

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen

Last Friday we had a YSA Specialized Training at the Institute building at Texas A&M. Starting this month are going to have a presence on 16 college campuses instead of 2. We gathered all missionaries assigned to a campus and provided training on the most effective ways to work on campus. It is so exciting to feel the spirit of this great work!

Institute Director Brother Garlick with our Elders

Institute Director Brother Hull with President Mortensen and the Elders

Brother Garlick and Elder Barlow

Road trip back from College Station. Love a car full of sisters!

We had a wonderful dinner with these amazing sister missionaries! Hermana Coley, Hermana Willard, and Hermana Renteria invited someone to be baptized every single day for 5 and a half weeks straight. Their diligence and faith is an inspiration to all of us. 

Hermana Renteria, Hermana Coley, Hermana Willard

The next several pictures were taken at a wonderful baptism in the Bridgeland Ward.  It was a joyous event and we were so happy for these great missionaries and their investigators.

It's our wonderful mission nurse Sister Ziegenfelder and her husband. 

Remember to Relate to People

We have loved hearing about so many miracles of the people you have found this last week. I think we easily found more prepared, interested families this week than we did the last six months combined! The Lord is hastening His work and we are all so blessed to be playing some small role in it.

I had the chance to speak to many of you this week about your experience finding. As I did, I couldn't help but think of something I read in a book entitled "The Power of Everyday Missionaries" by Clayton Christensen. In it, he references a study done by the church several years ago where they did and extensive survey of new converts to determine what it was about the Church that initially interested them. These were the results, in order of frequency of mention:

1. The feeling of closeness to God that they wanted to experience.

2. Happiness and a sense of peace which they wanted.

3. They wanted a better sense of purposefulness and direction in their lives

They tended to see these attributes in the Mormons they new. Interestingly, only 9% of converts said that the doctrine was the main thing that attracted them to the Church. So it's not the doctrine that initially attracts them, but it is the doctrine that keeps them. The doctrine is critical, but it's typically not what they are looking for at least at first. If that's the case, think about how this knowledge should change our initial interaction with people.

We need to approach people with things that matter to them. At the bottom of p. 159 in PMG we read, "Addressing the importance of the family with those you meet each day will help you find people to teach. Most people have a natural interest in families." On page 160, there is a great example of how we can quickly relate a discussion on families to the Restoration of the gospel. Please review this example and practice it during companion study this week to see how we can better engage people on things that matter to them.

We are inspired by the great work you are doing! We are proud of you for your righteous desires and diligence. Have a wonderful week and may the Lord bless you for your willingness to sacrifice.

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen

And the winner of the special zone activity is....

The Houston North English Zone!

Loving the sites of Huntsville together

Antique shopping

Soccer and ultimate frisbee

We enjoyed another inspiring Mission Leadership Council last week. We felt uplifted as we counseled together and received inspiration for this wonderful mission. What a blessing to serve with such consecrated missionaries. We love them!

Our Mission Leadership Council

It wouldn't be MLC without some practical role playing

Elder Croft made us crepes for dinner. Delicious!