Texas Houston Mission

Monday, July 25, 2016

"This is the Place"

To the Missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

On July 24, 1847, after 1,300 miles beginning in Nauvoo, Illinois and ending at mouth Emigration Canyon in the Salt Lake Valley, Brigham Young was very sick with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and was riding in the back of a wagon. After exiting Emigration Canyon and cresting a small hill, he asked to look out of the wagon. Those with him opened the canvas cover and propped him up so he could see the empty desert valley below. He then proclaimed, "It is enough. This is the right place. Drive on." The words, "this is the place," were soon heard throughout the wagon train as the Mormon pioneers descended into the valley, their long journey having come to an end.

None of us will ever know how profound the sacrifice was of the approximately 70,000 early saints who ultimately made this trek. We will also never understand the difficulty of the way. But all of us inherit the legacy left by these early Saints who became acquainted with the hand of the Lord in their extreme circumstances.

There is an interesting parallel between those early Mormon pioneers and those of us called to leave our homes and families to travel a distance and sacrifice our time and efforts for the gospel's sake. Our challenges are different, but the reward of coming to know and trust in the Lord that results from those challenges is the same. In our day, the Lord still admonishes that we serve Him with ALL our "hearts, might, mind and strength." It is the price of discipleship. It always has been and ever will be. It is only as we give everything that we qualify for the promise to inherit, "all that my Father hath" (D&C 84:38).

Joseph Smith taught, "A religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary [to lead] unto life and salvation." Understanding this then, let us willingly give our whole selves to this work that we might lay up for ourselves "treasures in heaven" and find the joy promised to the faithful.

We love you. The Texas Houston Mission is the place for us to labor to bring to build up His kingdom. We love our pioneer heritage and love knowing that as we develop our faith, our posterity will be blessed just like our lives have been blessed because of our "Blessed, Honored Pioneers.

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen

Lunch with Departing Missionaries

Temple Trip with Departing Missionaries

Wonderful Assistants

Testimony Meeting at the Mission Home with Departing Missionaries

Hermana George and her parents

Elder Bullinger greets his mother and family

It's Go Time!

We are sure going to miss these wonderful missionaries and those who departed on different days.

Final Goodbyes

Here come our new missionaries from the MTC! They look wonderful and ready to work.

Such an impressive group of new missionaries

So many new sisters!

Here come our five new missionaries from the CCMA! So happy to have them all together.

Training at the Stake Center

Texas BBQ at the Mission Home

Love our new kitchen help!

Singing happy birthday to Dane!

Lucky birthday boy!

Blue Bell ice cream fans!

Breakfast at the mission home

Elder Nelson cooks AND cleans!!

All of our new missionaries

Temple trip to remember to begin with the end in mind.

Elevating our vision

The following pictures are of the new missionaries with their trainers. They are so excited and ready to get to work!

Friday we attended District meeting in the Bear Creek District. We loved being there and seeing the great things that are happening among these consecrated servants of the Lord.

Elder Moray in action

Bear Creek District

Sunday, July 17, 2016

Unity--Part 2

To the Missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

It wasn't 5 minutes after we sent last weeks letter on unity that we received an email from one of the Bishops in our mission. He said this:

"Thank you for sending two amazing missionaries to our ward. They are diligent, kind, and just love this work. You have a commitment from the Magnolia 2nd Ward that we will do all we can to help reach the mission goal of 600 baptisms this year. Our portion of that is 6 and we hope to exceed that. We hope to do this by prayer and fasting among our members as well as having our ward and full-time missionaries in the homes of our members. There they will make bold invitations to invite each family to seek out those who are ready for the gospel in their lives."

This is unity. When we share a vision of what we are trying to accomplish and an understanding of how to accomplish it, we find unity and heavenly power. The Lord calls this Zion anytime hearts and minds are aligned in things of righteousness. This is what He wants for His children, particularly for those of us called to labor in the field together. Can you imagine what would happen if every Bishop, Ward Council, Ward Mission Leader were similarly committed? We want to thank Elders Chase and Whitaker for having the vision to not only share the mission goal (every member who lives within the boundaries of our mission is part of the Texas Houston Mission), but to break it down for their ward to help them understand how they can contribute. What an inspired Bishop to rally his people around this cause.

This feeling of unity is spreading across our mission. Last night we received a text from another Bishop who said:

"Hi President Mortensen. Just a quick note that the missionaries in the Traditions ward are outstanding! We just had our 3rd double baptism in, I believe 4 weeks. They are amazing. Every Saturday has been booked for baptisms with no end in sight. I just thought you should know."

Does your Bishop feel this way about you? We hope that you will look at the upcoming transfers as a way to recommit to be the best you can be and influence the area and the members in it in inspiring ways. When we think about what is happening in this mission and the reaction that is taking place among the members we think of Mormon's words in Helaman chapter 3 when he describes the prosperity of the church in his day:

25 And so great was the prosperity of the church, and so many the blessings which were poured out upon the people, that even the high priests and the teachers were themselves astonished beyond measure.

26 And it came to pass that the work of the Lord did prosper unto the baptizing and uniting to the church of God, many souls, yea, even tens of thousands.

We love each of you and we feel so privileged to be a part of this great work and witness the hand of the Lord at work within this mission. May He continue to bless you all in your consecrated service!

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen

We had the privilege of attending District Meeting in the Montgomery District on Friday. We loved the great spirit among them and learning under Elder Chase's leadership.

Elder Chase in action

Role plays with a local young man from the Woodlands

The Montgomery District

Monday, July 11, 2016

Unity

To the Missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

Toward the conclusion of the Savior's ministry, He offered the great intercessory prayer on behalf of the twelve and any who would believe on their words when He prayed:

11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.

20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;

21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

Elders and Sisters, we love to see the growing unity within our mission. We see it as we travel from zone to zone and district to district. This unity is resulting in an unprecedented number of miracles in our mission. It is exciting to witness the way the Lord hastens His work as we unite with Him.

Recently we have wondered if this unity is extending to our wards and stakes. Do they know the miracles we are seeing? Do we share with them the experiences of the people we are teaching and the successes we are having? We need to share these things to give hope and promote faith.

President Howard W. Hunter once gave a talk at BYU entitled, "Hope Maketh an Anchor to the Souls of Men." In it, he mentioned that despair and discouragement are among the chief tools of the Adversary. Many of you have likely heard some of the recent unrest taking place in our country. 10 officers were recently shot in Dallas (5 died) in response to what are believed to be innocent lives being taken by officers in other parts of the country.

We are living in the times prophesied of in the Bible (2 Tim 3:1-5). The message the world needs to hear (including members) is that the gospel is rolling forward. People are craving messages of hope. We have the privilege of carrying the message to them. Greater darkness provides a greater contrast for the light of Christ and the light that comes to those who believe.

There has never been a better time to be on the earth and to be involved in this great work. We love you and are grateful to work side by side with you in creating this unity of faith among our brothers and sisters in this part of the Lord's vineyard.

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen

President Mortensen and I attended District Meeting in Sealy last Friday. We loved being with the diligent missionaries there and feeling such a powerful spirit among them.

Elder McCrary provided wonderful leadership

And inspired training

Sealy District

President Mortensen's sister and her husband were in town! Happy Day!

A beautiful Texas sunset

Sunday, July 3, 2016

Independence Day, Patriots and YOU!

To the Missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

The 4th of July is typically referred to as Independence Day. A day when America finally became free. Growing up we read many biography books about the early American Patriots from George Washington to Patrick Henry, Francis Scott Key to Betsy Ross. Each of these people are patriots; they are people who loved and fought for their country. We love them, revere them and love this country that they sacrificed to make free!

In a similar way, each of you are patriots. The country you are fighting for is the kingdom of God and the war in which we are engaged is for the souls of men. Because of your incredible sacrifice in this cause, great blessings are taking place in our mission and in the lives of those who are gaining true independence--from sin.

In 1 Ne 16:29 Nephi writes, "And thus we see that by small means the Lord can bring about great things."

As most of you recall, we invited many of you to fast with us during the month of May to help us find and progress many of God's children to the waters of baptism. In June we have seen the fruits of these "small means" combine with your great effort. This past month we saw more of our brothers and sisters enter into the waters of baptism than any June previously in the HISTORY of the Texas Houston mission and July is looking to be even bigger! The Lord is indeed hastening His work and we are more fully qualifying for the privilege of participating in it.

It is important that we SEE and recognize the fruits of faith. When we do, we should all be sure to give thanks to Him whose work this is. What a wonderful thing it is be able to see the fruits of our collective faith and effort and to see the blessings promised in Isaiah 58 be realized right before our eyes.

We request that you make sure that you are doing all you can do to get people to church by using the church matrix in your planning. This will not only greatly increase the likelihood that people will get to church, but it will activate the faith of the members in your wards and branches.

We hope you enjoy Independence Day as much as your converts are enjoying theirs :)!

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen