Priesthood Power

To the Missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

We attended a stake conference last night and were reminded by one of the speakers that those who heard the Savior teach were astonished (Matt 7:28). If we also read in Luke 4, we learn a little more about why they were astonished:

32 And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power.

The Savior taught with power that astonished. As representatives of Jesus Christ we must also strive to cultivate power in our teaching. This is a process. We begin through our own preparation and study to "obtain the word." (PMG ch 2) Revelation comes more abundantly as we think deeply about what we are learning and how we might apply what we are learning to those we have been entrusted to teach.

Once we have learned WHAT to teach, we need to learn the skills to know HOW to teach effectively. These are found in PMG ch 10. Learning to ask questions to find out what people understand and then listening carefully to their answers (rather than what we want to say next) will invite revelation into our minds and hearts as well as theirs. Once this happens we can testify boldly and promise the blessings that the Lord has already promised all who will "come and see." (Jn 1:39)

Even with these skills developed, the effective missionary will understand that power comes from being connected to The Source of Power. Teaching with power is much more than teaching with boldness. With this in mind, we would like invite you to read two talks on this subject:

1. Power of the Priesthood by President Boyd K. Packer. Pay particular attention to the last six paragraphs to understand why learning to teach with power is so vital to you both while you are a full time missionary and later after your mission.

2. The Price of Priesthood Power by President Russell M. Nelson. Pay particular attention to the last 11 paragraphs. To read about how to cultivate Priesthood power.

Even though these relate to some degree to men, when Sisters are laboring under Priesthood authority as you are, you are entitled to the same power. This power can only be received as we become more like the source of that power even Jesus Christ.

We love you and love to see the quality of teaching that is beginning to define you.

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen

We will sure miss these smiling faces

And these

Departing missionary temple trip

Departing missionary testimony meeting

Elder Dean and his dad are reunited

Signing the flag

Airport time

We will sure miss these wonderful missionaries!

Last good-byes

Hermana Lowry is the last to depart

President Mortensen's right hand man

Here come our new missionaries!!

Welcome to Houston!!

New missionaries from the Provo MTC

Our wonderful Assistants 

Here comes Elder Blackford from the Mexico MTC

Finally with Elder Baker from Canada and Elder Blackford

Some training with the Senior Couples

Happy clean up crew!

They are going to love Texas with the Blue Bell ice cream

Writing letters home

President Mortensen explains that we need to keep the temple as our goal for those we teach.

Elder Lives is awesome

Excited to meet their trainers

So happy together!

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

 President Mortensen and I attended District Meeting in the Woodlands District last Friday.  We enjoyed being with the wonderful missionaries there and learning together. Elder Burch provided great leadership.

Elder Burch in action

Invitations to Church

To the Missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

We are grateful for your continued faith in finding. We are teaching a great number of people as a consequence. In recent weeks the number of people attending church has dropped. This is obviously a concern because if we can't get people to church effectively, we will struggle to accomplish our purpose at the continued level where the Lord would have us be. With this in mind, we wanted to review some important principles,

1. A week ago, we role played "How to end teaching" during district meetings." One thing we noticed is that we talk about coming again without ever giving them a reason to want to have us back. So instead of ending by simply saying, "We are going to be back in the area on ________" which assumes that they want to see us again because of our charm and great looks :), we need to give them a reason to want us back. Instead we could say something like:

"You will find the Book of Mormon answers the questions of the soul like 'Where did we come from,' 'What is the purpose of life,' and 'What happens after we die?' Have you ever wondered these things? These questions are important questions the Lord would have all of His children understand. He has prepared a plan called the Plan of Salvation that we would like to share with you in another visit. How do you think knowing these answers would bless your life/lives? In preparation for that discussion, we would like to give you a reading assignment... We will be back in the area on ___________"

Now people have a desire to have us return because they know what they can look forward to. We need to come up with similar incentives at the end of other lessons. The chances of them reading and us having a follow up lesson will dramatically increase if we do this (We have modified the How to end teaching outline accordingly).

2. An invitation to church needs to be extended at the first lesson similar to the way we discussed it.

3. Members need to reach out and be the inviters to church. We should NEVER teach a second lesson without the RIGHT member present who can provide fellowship and follow up. This is KEY to getting people at church.

4. Teach the why of church on the Saturday before they come to firm up their commitment to come.

If we can do a better job of following these principles, we will see a greater number of progressing investigators and a greater number coming to church.

We love you and are grateful for your faith and efforts to build up His kingdom here!

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen

Houston Temple during the flooding last week

Unedited view of the temple

We held a mission president's, "Why I believe" Fireside last night in the Houston West Spanish Stake. It was a wonderful evening full of beautiful music and testimonies. We are so blessed with amazing missionaries who are very talented! We loved meeting many of the investigators afterwards.

Sister Pena leads our choir so beautifully!

Every Companionship, Every Month

To the Missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

The first quarter of this year has been the best in decades in this mission. This last round of interviews was perhaps the best round we have had since we have been here. Their is great unity of faith and purpose in our mission. This is an important foundation for us to see continued miracles. To sustain the success we have enjoyed, the focus on our purpose needs to remain foremost in our minds. We will be talking more about that in our next zone meetings.

For now, please remember that if we are going to are going to rise to the next level of discipleship and see every companionship baptizing every month, our commitment to finding needs to define us. A commitment to find is really a commitment to believe that the Lord has prepared many of His children. He tell us that is the case in D&C 123 when He says:

12 For there are many yet on the earth among all sects, parties, and denominations, who are blinded by the subtle craftiness of men, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, and who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it—

13 Therefore, that we should waste and wear out our lives in bringing to light all the hidden things of darkness, wherein we know them;

We are inspired by some of the great miracles we are seeing because of your faith. This last week, despite having fewer missionaries that this mission has had in years, we found a record number of new investigators. We would like to give a specific shout outs to the following companionships and their remarkable success in finding last week:

Westfield Elders: 17 New investigators

Gulf Bank Hnas: 10 New Investigators

Crighton Elders: 9 New Investigators

Copperfield, Traditions, Fairfield, Brazos, Inverness Elders and Walters Hnas: 8 New Investigators each

Many others of you found well above the minimum standard of excellence. This is where we need to be if we are going to accomplish what the Lord would have us do.

Given the storms that have come, please be safe first and foremost. We need to limit unnecessary travel especially in the cars. Be aware of investigators needs and rally to help them and check on the welfare of potentials. Let's use this opportunity to do a lot of good.

We love you are are inspired by your faithful efforts!

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen

Mormons 101, taught by President Mortensen at the LDS Institute in College Station

What a great turnout with some great people!

 President Mortensen and I attended District Meeting in the Klein District Friday. We felt a great spirit there and enjoyed the training by Elder Mattson. We learned from each other.

Elder Mattson provides great counsel

Role plays

Elder Mattson does it all! 

The Klein District

So fun to see so many of our missionaries at the Woodlands Stake Conf.

How to Begin Teaching

To the Missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

One of our favorite things to do is to attend district meetings with you. We hope you are coming away from those meetings edified. The chances of that happening will largely be determined by how much you invest in the meeting. We hope you are actively thinking about ways to improve and sharing ideas with the other companionships so that area reports and trainings feel more like a counsel where more experienced missionaries can share suggestions with younger missionaries.

It seems like every time we attend, we come away with ideas of how we can do better and how we can teach better. We particularly loved to see you this week begin to use the role playing time as a time to sharpen our skills from the toolkit. You will notice that we will continue to rotate through these skills so that we can stay sharp and avoid becoming robotic.

After this weeks role play, we would like to share a couple of observations:

1. We need to remember that the most important thing we can find out before we begin teaching is what they desire for themselves or for their family so we can relate what we teach to what they desire. Our message becomes relevant.

2. As important as it is to find out their desire, we need to remember that we need to guide them in helping them think about longer term desires. For example, some may say their desire is that they want to be happy. Instead of just saying, "that's great and our message will help you to be happy." It might be better to say, "That is a righteous desire. Have you given any thought to what you want for your family longer term, even after you die?" We want to help them think about questions of the soul. We can then say, "Do you want to be together forever?" Undoubtedly they will say yes. We then might say, "Have you considered how that is possible when most people are married until 'death do you part'?" Now we can say something along the lines of, "the Lord's intent is that our families are together forever. The good news we bring is that it is not only possible for you, but it is what our loving Heavenly Father would have for your family." Then we can go on and tell them that, "As we share our message, you will find that you will have greater desires to..."

We will update the toolkit to reflect this.

The mission is doing great and your teaching is great. Those two things are related :).

We are impressed by the great things you are doing and glad to be able to witness the miracles that result!

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen

President Mortensen and I attended District Meeting in the Fairfield District and we had a wonderful experience with the missionaries serving there. They are working hard to achieve their goals and increasing in faith. 

Elder Toolson is a thoughtful and inspired District Leader

Sister Ray and Sister Pinster model how to teach family history.

Fairfield District

 The following are pictures taken at a baptism on Saturday. It was a very spiritual event and we were so happy to have been there with our children.

Elder Pablo teaches about the priesthood power while we wait for the service to begin again.

Elder Alder bears a powerful testimony

Loved meeting the Hoyers

Wonderful baptism 

Darling sisters