Texas Houston Mission

Monday, May 25, 2015

Following Christ and May Transfers

To the Missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

As we have reflected on the many blessings we are experiencing as a mission, we are humbled. We were so inspired to see more than 300 people lining up to tour the temple grounds last Sunday and inspired again as many determined at the conclusion of the tour that they desired to be baptized so they can enjoy the blessings of the temple. This is the very reason why the Lord commands His children to stand in holy places (D&C 101:22) so that His spirit can abide with His children. It never gets old to see the change in the countenance of those you bring. Thanks for being diligent inviters. You are blessing lives!

Additionally, in this month of May we will see more of our Heavenly Father's children entering the waters of baptism and enjoying the safety of the covenants this month than there have been in any month in this mission in many, many years. We are grateful to be serving with you as we exercise our collective faith and enjoy the blessings of seeing the Lord's hand in this great work so clearly.

With the great blessings we have received in mind and as an indication of our gratitude and desire to draw more fully follow Him we would like to challenge each of you to join us in a 9 month effort on a personal and mission purification effort to "Follow Christ" more fully. At the outset of His ministry that Jesus told His disciples, “Follow me” (Matthew4:19). Elder Dallin H. Oaks has taught that, “Following Christ is not a casual or occasional practice but a continuous commitment and way of life that applies at all times and in all places.” It is in this context that we would like each of you to select one of the 9 Christlike attributes from Ch 6 of PMG each month for the next 9 months and focus your efforts throughout the month to learn about the attribute more deeply as well as to strive your very best to develop it within yourself so that when others see us, they will see the behavior of Him whose name we were on our tags. As we do this together, we will establish Zion more fully as we will become more "of one heart and one mind."

We love you and are are excited to see you tomorrow at the mission conference!

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen

And the winner of the Special Zone Activity is the

College Station East Zone

They braved the rain and toured the Prison Museum in Huntsville

Elder Spragg and Elder Serrano with the Red Hat Society

Lunch at Mr Hamburger! President can't smile and take a selfie :)

Beautiful sisters!

Transfers happened last week. We said goodbye to 17 wonderful missionaries that have labored faithfully. We will sure miss them. We welcomed 4 new missionaries to the great Texas Houston Mission. They are wonderful and we love them.

Temple Trip with the departing missionaries

All the sisters together

Testimony meeting with departing missionaries

Hermana Diaz leaves early in the morning. We will miss her!

Best laugh ever!

They call this an "Oreo" pic

Last goodbyes at the airport. We will sure miss them!

Elder Olson was the last to leave us.

Assistants brave the rain

Here come our new missionaries straight from the MTC in Provo

They are so happy and darling. We love them already!

We stopped by the temple on our way back from the airport to remind us all that the temple is the goal.

A little training and orientation.

Greatest clean-up crew ever!

Breakfast before meeting our trainers

The next several pictures are of the new missionaries and their trainers. These are going to be great companionships and we are so excited to hear about the wonderful work they accomplish with the Lord.

The Assistants

Sunday, May 17, 2015

Discipleship in the Digital Age

To the Missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

The long awaited moment has arrived! We are in possession of the mobile devices! It is the very fulfillment of a prophecy made by one of God's latter-day prophets, President Spencer W. Kimball, in 1974 when he said, "I believe that the Lord is anxious to put into our hands inventions of which we laymen have hardly had a glimpse." What a blessing it is to be entrusted such tools that can both assist in the hastening of His work as well as help each of us learn to use this technology in a more righteous, appropriate and measured way than we ever have before.

Sister Mortensen and I have been trained to understand how this new technology can bless us as well as those we teach. We are looking forward to meeting with you at our Mission Conference on May 26th to have Elder Brent Nielsen of the 1st Quorum of the Seventy as well as Kelend Mills, Director of all the International MTCs assist us in teaching you and presenting to you this miraculous resource. We will learn together how these devices can better help us fulfill our Missionary Purpose.

As with every great advancement the Lord makes, the Adversary would love to use it for evil purposes. The Prophets and Apostles understand this and choose to entrust us with it anyway because they know that the Lord has inspired its creation to hasten His work. To protect against the potential risks associated with it, we request that each companionship read the entire Missionary Handbook between now and our Mission Conference looking specifically for those rules/safeguards that will be beneficial to keep us safe as we begin to use technology. We will be calling on you as we discuss the things you have identified. Please be prepared. We encourage you to pay special attention to the "Never" statements and "Always" statements :).

Before you can receive a device, you will need to attend the Mission Conference, take an online special training, and diligently study the booklets that you will receive at the conference.

When you see what awaits and how this device helps "members and missionaries come together" as President Monson has asked that we do you will marvel. It's really amazing what is happening and we have the great privilege to be a part of preparing the world for the second coming of the Lord!

We are so lucky to be living in a day when the gospel is on the earth so we can be led by living prophets and apostles. It is inspiring that the Lord is enlightening minds to develop technology that enables the message of salvation to reach all of His children.

We love you and look forward to the seeing miracles and accomplishing our Missionary Purpose as we unite with the Lord in hastening His work!

Love,

President and Sisters Mortensen

We had another huge turnout at the Temple Grounds Tours this evening. More than 300 people attended and the rain stopped just in time for us to enjoy the event. Our missionaries did such a great job leading tours, directing traffic and escorting their investigators through the tours. We are so grateful for the outpouring of The Spirit we feel on the sacred temple grounds.