Because He Lives

To the Missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

What a wonderful time of year this is as we look to celebrate the greatest miracle in the history of the world! All of hope in Christianity hinges on the resurrection of Jesus Christ; the Messiah, the Savior and Redeemer of the world. There is no greater message that can be shared to any of the children of God than that there is hope for each of us no matter our circumstance. 

We have been so inspired by reviewing the new video the church has produced at Helives.mormon.org as a family. We would encourage each of you to take every opportunity to share it this week and beyond. Speak to everyone you meet about this special Easter message. Role play in advance how you can do it effectively and prepared to transition that discussion to the good news that because He lives, He still speaks to prophets in our day; that there is refuge from the storms of life and reasons to have hope. 

The difference between this campaign and previous campaigns is that this one can be used continuously. We can order more pass along cards. Use this video. Also, help investigators realize the Mormon.org can be a great resource for them particularly after you teach the first lesson so that they know where to find an authoritative resource on what we believe. Ask each one you teach, who else they know who would benefit from this message of greater hope. When they give you a name, ask, "Who else?" 

We testify to you that He does live. He is the promised Messiah. He directs this work. He directs this mission. That it is only by Him and through Him that we can be saved. It is a great privilege to be in His service. All He requires of us is a broken heart and a contrite spirit. He wants us to be willing to follow. We challenge each of you to recommit yourselves to follow Him and His inspired leaders as we prepare ourselves to hear from them and promise you that your lives will be blessed in ways you've never imagined all because He lives.

We love you! Have a Happy Easter season!

President and Sister Mortensen

We had a nice visit from Brother Gonzalez and Brother Wade of the Mission Department last week. We held a special Mission Leadership Council with wonderful training from them. We are so grateful for all that we learned and felt inspired to implement going forward.

Brother Gonzalez teaching us

Brother Wade using a basketball analogy

Brother Wade role playing with Elder Sua

Role playing with Elder Christensen

Elder Morgart helping in the kitchen. Love it!

Sister Stevens and Sister Brighton our wonderful servers

We had a wonderful Senior Missionary Conference at the home of the Chappells. We enjoyed being together and learning from one another and eating delicious food. We are so grateful for the wonderful contribution the senior couples make in this great mission. We love them!

Here are some pictures taken during the conference

Sister Chappell delighted us with a beautiful musical number

Sister and Brother LeBaron

President and Sister Chappell

Charity is the Key

To the missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

I couldn't help but think of you as we were doing our family scripture study one morning this past week. As a family, we are coming close to finishing the Book of Mormon again and were reading in Moroni 7. If you recall, Moroni realizes that he has some extra time in life that he didn't anticipate so he shares with us some things that his father taught about faith, hope and charity.

He addresses his remarks to those he refers to as the "Peaceable followers of Christ." I can think of no better name for you who where His name upon your chests each day. He says this:

5 For I remember the word of God which saith by their works ye shall know them; for if their works be good, then they are good also.

6 For behold, God hath said a man being evil cannot do that which is good; for if he offereth a gift, or prayeth unto God, except he shall do it with real intent it profiteth him nothing.

7 For behold, it is not counted unto him for righteousness.

8 For behold, if a man being evil giveth a gift, he doeth it grudgingly; wherefore it is counted unto him the same as if he had retained the gift; wherefore he is counted evil before God.

9 And likewise also is it counted evil unto a man, if he shall pray and not with real intent of heart; yea, and it profiteth him nothing, for God receiveth none such.

Elders and Sisters, it is good that we are here choosing to serve the Lord, but if we are serving Him without real intent, or if we are doing it grudgingly it profits us little. So if we are finding ourselves working with a bad attitude, should we just not work then? That's what the Adversary hopes we will conclude. On the contrary, Mormon continues that we if we are finding ourselves in this condition, we ought to pray unto God for charity and concludes his invitation to us with this powerful invitation:

48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father WITH ALL ENERGY OF HEART, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure.

Our great hope is that you will actively plead for this great gift of charity so that your labors here will not only bless your life, but that you can fulfill the full measure of your creation by becoming like Him whose name you bear. We testify that you will if you do.

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen

Missionaries from the Woodlands District at a recent service project

 We had our 8 week-follow up training for the missionaries who arrived in January. It was so good to see them all together again and doing so well! Here are some pictures from that meeting.

Temple Tours and the Blessings of Elevated Vision

To the missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

Thank you to all those who were successful in bringing investigators to the temple on Sunday. We had about 240 people there and the tours were conducted by many of our mission leaders. They each did a great job. Sister Mortensen and I were able to visit with many of the investigators who participated in the tours and saw how they were filled with the Spirit of the Lord. Many determining again that they needed to be baptized. Others realizing that they needed to be married so they could be baptized and then sealed. All of these miraculous changes because they had felt the influence of the Holy Ghost and had their vision elevated to the things of God.

At the outset of this dispensation, the Lord revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith the qualifications to be called to His work when He said, "And faith, hope, charity and love, with an EYE SINGLE TO THE GLORY OF GOD, qualify him for the work." (D&C 4:5).

One of the things that the Adversary is very good at is that He gets us to take our eyes off of the Savior or off of the things of God. He does this in a variety of ways. I don't know that's it is useful to list all of the ways, but I do think it's important for each of us to be aware of the effect of losing focus on Him. I see it from time to time as I sit with missionaries who will say things like, "I just don't have the motivation anymore" or "I'm done". Elders and Sisters, the only way it's possible for these things to be said is if we allow the Adversary to turn our focus from the Lord to ourselves. The Adversary would have us seek our own and not the welfare of others. In the scriptures, this is condition is best described as an absence of charity.

The prophets through the ages have understood this subtle tactic of the Adversary. For this reason, President Hinckley has stated that, "“Every morning…, missionaries should get on their knees and plead with the Lord to loosen their tongues and speak through them to the blessing of those they will be teaching. If they will do this, a new light will come into their lives. There will be greater enthusiasm for the work. They will come to know that in a very real sense, they are servants of the Lord speaking in His behalf. They will find a different response from those they teach. As they do so by the Spirit, their investigators will respond under the influence of the same Spirit.” (PMG p. 94).

Please do all that you can to keep your vision elevated on the things you desire eternally. Keep your eyes single to His glory and we will qualify for the work!

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen

The temple grounds are always beautiful!

Our tour guides

Elder Halterman takes the first group

This great group came to tour the temple grounds from Huntsville

For Where Two or Three are Gathered in my Name

To the Missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

In the New Testament, the Savior taught: "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." (Matt 18:20) Do we really understand that? In our day He said to the prophet Joseph Smith, "But behold, verily, verily, I say unto you that mine eyes are upon you. I am in your midst and ye cannot see me;" (D&C 38:7). 

Elders and Sisters, this is the Lord's work. He wants to direct it and will if we will seek direction from Him. I have spent several evenings this week in planning sessions at night and I'm not persuaded that we realize that as we counsel together in His name and about His work, the Lord Himself is with us. Do we realize that He can open the eyes of our understanding so we have "eyes to see" if we will seek Him? Nephi teaches us that He will tell us and show us all things (2 Ne 32:3,5). This includes where the people are who He has prepared so we can go boldly to find them. 

We have concerns that the way we set daily and weekly goals in our planning doesn't reflect our commitment to God. If we seek Him as we prayerfully set specific goals, have them confirmed by the Lord through His Spirit, we should do all we can to accomplish them (PMG p146). Too often, we simply shrug and move on when we fail to achieve our goals. We cannot do that without weakening our own faith. In PMG ch 8, we read that "Goal setting and planning are acts of faith." We also read that we should "Do everything in your power to achieve our goals while respecting the agency of others." It's often the last door or the last 10 minutes that is the difference between succeeding or not. It's because our faith is being tested. 

We need to think bigger during our planning. We are often too content to just doing this work on our own. Think about the following:

1. How we can mobilize the Primary children and the youth and the other ward members. Let's get many more people to work with us and watch the miracles happen. 

2. Similarly, each of you should have a list of part member families in your ward (if you don't have one, ask for it this week) and then meet with each of your ward council members individually and find out as much as you can from each of them about these families and how you could best approach them. Watch the revelation you receive!

3. Look in your area books for recent converts and review Lehi's vision with them. Specifically focus on how Lehi desired to share the fruit with those he loved. Ask them who they would like to share it with. Once they give you a name, don't cut them off (as we usually do). Instead, ask, "Who else?". They will receive revelation and so will we. 

We are eager for your great success. The Lord is pushing us to move faster. This is an exciting time! We are grateful for the blessing it is for us to serve with such faithful servants as you. We love you for the goodness of your hearts. The Lord will bless you as you invite His guidance into this work!

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen

Here are some pictures from MLC last week

Sister Chappell delights us with one of her delicious object lessons

Sister Niedert participating in another object lesson. What a great sport!

Our MLC is shrinking a bit with the departure of many of our missioinaries

Elder Petersen and Elder Keith with President Mortensen at their baptism on Saturday

Sister Hassell (pictured with her companion Sister Sabin) returned home with honor a few weeks early to take care of an injury. We will sure miss this wonderful missionary! Love you