General Conference is the Best!

To the Missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

What a wonderful time of year it is to have the opportunity to hear from prophets and apostles as well as other church leaders. We hope you were inspired by the messages of this weekend. We also hope you took great notes. We would like you to be prepared to share the messages that made the greatest impact on you at zone meetings this upcoming week.

March has been another great month in our mission. It is a tribute to your sustained efforts that is related to your growing faith and commitment to the Lord. We thought of you when we listened to Sister Joy D. Jones speak. She spoke of "spiritual integrity." She defined this as living consistent with your vision. We can't think of any group with whom we have ever been associated that has had greater spiritual integrity than the missionaries in this mission. You know the vision and the goals, but more importantly, you are living your lives in ways that allows the Lord to bless you consistent with that vision.

We love you and are honored to be serving with you!

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen

Lunch with these amazing sisters!

Temple Trip with departing missionaries

The Assistants

Testimony meeting

Elder Jones and Dane playing catch :)

Airport with departing missionaries

We will sure miss these consecrated missionaries!

Last goodbyes

On this stormy day, after a detour to San Antonio, here comes Elder Conley!

Finally with the Assistants 

Sister Siri made it from the Mexico MTC

Wonderful new missionaries in the THM

The Assistants give some training

Sister Siri and Sister Kizerian

Elder Stubbs with his trainer Elder Whitlock

Elder Conley with his trainer Elder Williams

Sister Siri with her trainer Sister Taylor

We attended District Meeting in the Cypress District and were inspired by the great missionaries and leadership. Here are a few pictures taken that day.

Elder Myers is a great district leader!

Role Playing

Cypress District

#PrinceOfPeace

To the Missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

We loved being with you this past week during zone conference! We love the culture of this mission. You all look so impressive and conduct yourselves with such dignity and purpose. We hope you came away with a greater appreciation for the blessing of the restoration of the priesthood in our day. It is the very means by which we can return to the presence of God and enjoy eternal family relationships.

We are excited for this year's Easter initiative. As the world continues to deal with terror attacks, the work we are doing stands in stark contrast to that terror because it gives the promise of peace to those who follow Him. We couldn't help but consider this as we participated in "Faith Meets Families" this last Friday night in the Houston Temple.  We commend you all for the work you are doing to not only keep your commitments as zones to baptize, but also to get them to the temple. Almost 40 recent converts who had all brought their own family names to the temple for the first time. The baptistry was packed and the Spirit was the very peace promised by the Savior. Many of the recent converts were bringing names of their own parents, grandparents or siblings and the Spirit of the event was obviously so strong as to overcome many of our recent converts.

We hope you never forget that you are not only changing lives, but you are changing eternities for generations. Often, the reason behind these new converts being lead to the waters of baptism is because you are being led to them by their ancestors. Elder Melvin J. Ballard observed:

"It was made known to me that it is because the righteous dead who have received the Gospel in the spirit world are exercising themselves, and in answers to their prayers elders of the Church are sent to the homes of their posterity so that the Gospel might be taught to them, and that descendant in the flesh is then privileged to do the work for his dead kindred. I want to say to you that it is with greater intensity that the hearts of the fathers and mothers in the spirit world are turned to their children now in the flesh than that our hearts are turned to them. (Melvin R. Ballard, Melvin J. Ballard, Crusader for Righteousness, p.219)."

What a wonderful privilege it is to be involved in this work. We hope you are enjoying the blessing have being able to have your complete focus be on this work. The Lord is mindful of you and will never forsake you as you serve Him with all of your hearts, might, minds and strength. We will inherit the peace that is promised to those who seek Him.

We love you and we love serving with you in the Great Texas Houston Mission!

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen

The following pictures were taken at zone conferences this past week. It was edifying to be together and learn from the spirit.

 

Too beautiful not to photograph!

We attended District meeting in the Hafer District on Friday. We loved it and were very inspired!

Role play

Elder Vickers is an awesome District Leader

Doctrine of Christ in our District (formerly Area Reports)

Hafer District 

This picture does not do the temple justice! Faith Meets Families was a huge success! Almost 40 recent converts attended with their own family names (and I had to park on the grass)