Teaching the Children and the Christmas Initative

To the Missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

In our role plays at district meeting I was reminded of three experiences that I have had which have helped me understand the need for us to teach the children when we are in the homes of members or investigators. The first happened shortly after I was called to serve as and Elders Quorum president. The much older high councilor assigned to trained me encouraged me to be sure to teach the children in the homes of those I visited. He counseled, "the fastest way to win the hearts of the parents is to take an interest in and love their children." 

The second experience took place when I was serving in a stake leadership role and a wise high councilor mentioned that we need to focus our invitations to the children because, he taught, parents follow children.

The last experience took place after we arrived here. Elder Bradley D. Foster of the Seventy, reminded us that when we attempt to start a fire, we start with the small wood (kindling) rather than the logs, but ironically, when we attempt to start a fire of the Spirit of missionary work in the ward, we attempt to start it with the logs (the ward council) instead of with the children. Commit the youth and the children to get involved and to invite their friends to church. The parents will follow. It was Isaiah that prophesied that "a little child shall lead them" (Is 11:6).

We trust you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We have much for which to be thankful, not the least of which is the opportunity and privilege we share to be serving in this great mission together at this time. As the Christmas season is now upon us, we hope you will familiarize yourselves with the Christmas initiative and challenge ALL of your members to get involved somehow. Remember that you can use past initiatives in your proselyting efforts as well.

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen

Departing missionary lunch

One last haircut for Elder Queen. Thank you!!

Temple trip with departing missionaries on a beautiful balmy night

Car full of beautiful sisters!

Here they are again :)

Tex Mex at the mission home

Testimony Meeting 

Mortensen kids all together for Thanksgiving

Elder Queen is greeted by his sister

And his dad

Former "companions"

Her smile shines through the wind 

Ready to go!

Howdy!

We will sure miss them! Including the group that left even earlier.

Last good-byes

Sister Packard is the last to depart

Here come our new missionaries from the MTC!

What a great group from the Provo MTC

Elder Carver was right where we needed him to be!

Greeting our two missionaries from the Mexico MTC

So good to have them!

Our last elder, Elder Miranda arrived from Peru. Now we are complete!

Texas BBQ at the mission home!

Elder Smith plays beautifully for us

Mallory leads us in a Spanish game

All of our new missionaries

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

Thanksgiving day lunch thanks to the Taylors. It was yummy!

Elder Berry, meet Elder Berry

President Mortensen attended District Meeting in Bear Creek

Thanksgiving!

To the Missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

We loved the outpouring of the Spirit we felt as we assembled with you at zone conference this week. What a blessing it is to understand that the great evidence of God's love for us is His willingness to give us "instructions" or commandments so we can safely return to His presence.

It has been said that the more often we see the things around us, the more they become invisible to us. Lest we be guilty of this, we need to take a step back and reflect upon the miraculous events of this year. We feel to exclaim with Ammon:

"Behold, the field was ripe, and blessed are ye, for ye did thrust in the sickle, and did reap with your might, yea, all the day long did ye labor; and behold the number of your sheaves! And they shall be gathered into the garners (the temple), that they are not wasted." (Alma 26:5)

Elders and Sisters, you are the sons (and daughters) of Mosiah! Due to your efforts and faith, we have seen an unprecedented number of souls "harvested" from the field and then taken to the temple (the garners) with their own names so they are not wasted! We are so grateful to be witnesses of these great events!

In this spirit of gratitude, we remind you that how important it is that we recognize the hand of the Lord in our lives daily. In our day, the Lord has said, "And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments." (D&C 59:21)

We are grateful for Thanksgiving holiday; a day set aside initially by President Abraham Lincoln in 1964 for the nation to remember the goodness of God. The key for us as children of God is to learn to live in a spirit of Thanksgiving daily. If we could learn to focus on the great blessings we have instead of worrying and stressing about those we don't have yet, we would find greater happiness in our own lives and feel greater love for others. One of the most important ways for us to show our gratitude to our Heavenly Father is to "willingly" keep His commandments and to serve Him with all of our "heart, might, mind and strength."

We close sharing Ammon's closing words to his brethren as if they were our own to you when he says, "Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is "our" joy, and "our" great thanksgiving; yea, and "we" will give thanks unto "our God forever.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! We are grateful for each of you!

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen

 Here are some pictures taken during Zone Conferences last week.

Fall birthdays

Fall birthdays

Fall Birthdays

Temple Days and Zone Conference Assignments

To the Missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

There has never been a better time to be serving in the Texas Houston Mission! It looks like we will be enjoying a White Christmas here in the South! We are having a remarkable November and already have more people at this stage of the month with dates for December than we have ever had for an upcoming month since we have been here! Wonderful things are happening as a consequence of your commitment to find and to use the the Book of Mormon as the powerful tool for conversion it was designed and preserved to be!

We have heard from many of you about the wonderful experiences you had taking your own family names to the temple this week. We are so happy for you and for those of your family who received the saving ordinances for which they have been longing.

We are looking forward to be with you this week during zone conferences. We would like for you to prepare for 5 minute talks with the following assignments:

Senior (longer serving) companion: 1 Samuel 15:1-23. Help us understand what is of greatest value to the Lord and what are the temptations we face to confuse or forget this.

Junior (shorter serving) companion: Alma 37:38-47. Help us understand the application of this teaching to our success as representatives of Jesus Christ in Houston.

We love each of you and look forward to learning from and being with you this week!

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen

8 Week Follow-up with the ASL missionaries that arrived last September 

District Meeting in the Klein Oak District

We had a Mission President's "Why I Believe" Fireside tonight in the Houston West Spanish Stake. We enjoyed beautiful music and testimonies and felt a wonderful spirit. We love these great missionaries!