Baptism: The Gate by Which We Should Enter

To the Missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission!

One of the growing trends in the Christian world is the idea that baptism is not a commandment. This doctrine was a predictable outgrowth of the doctrine taught by many that all we need to do is believe in Jesus Christ to be saved. It was, in fact, the Savior himself who taught that baptism was a condition of salvation (John 3:3-5, Mark 16:16).

In our recent specialized training, we reminded each other that to fulfill our Missionary Purpose we must:

1. Boldly invite people to be baptized in every first lesson after they come to know our message is true. 

2. Remember the Doctrine of Christ which tells us that all must exercise faith (accept commitments) unto repentance (keep commitments) before they are prepared to be baptized. If they haven't repented (read and prayed about the Book of Mormon: THE tool the Lord has prepared to gather Israel) they aren't prepared to be baptized.

3. Follow up to ensure that commitments are being kept so they are prepared to receive an invitation to be baptized on a certain date.

4. We must plan with the Spirit to help us prepare for the lesson where we will teach the Plan of Salvation and then boldly explain that to live as families forever, we must first be baptized by someone having the proper Priesthood authority.

As we follow this pattern, the Lord will bless us and many more of our brothers and sisters will come unto Christ and be saved! As of the end of this week, we have almost doubled the number of people with baptismal dates and this is only the beginning!

We carry the only message that will heal souls and bring peace to those who seek it. Have faith and be bold. Miracles will follow!

We love you!

President and Sister Mortensen

Sister Laws and Sister Harrison looking joyful after the baptism of their investigator

Zone leaders Elder Shinn and Elder Thomas showing great leadership

We held our second Mission President's fireside in the Houston North Stake. It was another great success! Many investigators and members were present to feel of the great spirit brought to the meeting through musical numbers and testimonies. Sister Carbajal and Sister Liljenquist each sang beautiful solos, and the missionary choir was powerful again. I don't think I will ever tire of seeing our missionaries march into the choir loft while singing "Called to Serve". It is the best thing ever. What an exciting time to be a full time missionary!

The winner of our first monthly zone competition is the Klein 2 Zone! We had a great time playing laser tag and bowling together at Main Event in the Woodlands. The Sister Training Leaders and Zone Leaders did a great job making sure each companionship was motivated to keep super clean apartments, be responsible with the cars, and to be great inviters to church. We saw dramatic improvement in all the zones in these areas. Great job!

Elder Spragg and Elder Young

Repentance: More than turning from sin...

Elders and Sisters of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

Several years ago when I started coaching soccer I remember a game where I learned an important lesson. Our team was up by a goal and in an effort to preserve the victory, I brought my stronger players back on defense to defend the goal. The things that happened next taught me the lesson. Because I didn't have strong players to advance the ball down the field, the other team was able to take shot after shot on the goal. I don't remember if that game ended in a tie or if we lost, but I do remember that the decision to only defend was a bad decision and I also learned that the best defense was an attacking offense.

Sometimes when we think of repentance we simply feel that we are supposed to turn away from sin. These feelings are best exemplified in our thoughts when we justify ourselves in our minds by saying things like, "at least I'm not doing things as bad as so-and-so" or as missionaries, we may think, "I'm not a bad missionary, because I'm not doing bad things." Clearly that is important, but that is not all the Lord requires. When King Benjamin had finished speaking to his people in Mos 4, we read their reaction when they state: "the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent...has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually." (Mos 5:2) True repentance not only turns us from sin, but also turns us toward God. In True to the Faith we read that "It is a change of mind and heart that gives you a fresh view about God, about yourself and about the world."

PMG states that "Sincere repentance brings several results. We feel God’s forgiveness and His peace in our lives. Our guilt and sorrow are swept away. We feel the influence of the Spirit in greater abundance." (p. 62). With this greater influence of the Spirit, we have desires to do good. In fact the Lord declared in the introduction of the Doctrine and Covenants, "Nevertheless, he that repents AND does the commandments of the Lord shall be forgiven;" (D&C 1:32).

The Lord's desire and Sister Mortensen's and my desire is that your confidence wax strong in His presence. That requires that we have broken hearts and contrite spirits, that we seek to do His will and not our own. Only then will His peace be upon us and we will find joy in His service. 

We love you all and love serving with you!

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen

Sister Ostvig and Sister Sievert teaching investigators Family History...
the new age of the Work of Salvation

Elder Diaz and Elder Wildman model our new service T-shirts

Klein 1 Zone 

Klein 1 Zone unites after an uplifting zone meeting

Looking sharp in matching ties

Sister Hutchings and Sister Kyles get an upclose look at a Homecoming mum.
Real Texas Cultural. 

Acting in Faith

Elders and Sisters of the Great Texas Houston Mission!

What a wonderful conference weekend we've just enjoyed. It is a great privilege to be in the service of God during this pivotal time of the gathering. Great miracles are happening and will continue to grow both in number and frequency! 

We ask you, are we qualified to participate in these great miracles?

We read in the Book of Mormon, "...for it is by faith that miracles are wrought; and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men;" (Moroni 7:37). Are we exercising the kind of faith that will allow us to witness the miracles promised to the faithful? In PMG p116 we read: 

"Faith leads to action, including repentance, obedience, and dedicated service. When you have faith in Jesus Christ, you trust the Lord enough to follow His commandments—even when you do not completely understand the reasons for them. You accomplish what the Lord wants you to accomplish. You help bring about good in your own life and the lives of others. You are able to do miracles according to the Lord’s will. Your faith will be manifest through diligence and work.

"Faith is a principle of power. God works by power, but His power is usually exercised in response to faith." 

Elders and Sisters, are we acting in faith? Are we setting goals and making plans after inviting the Spirit of God to direct us? Meaningful goal setting and planning are acts of faith (PMG p146). Do we extend commitments in faith, believing that what we are inviting people to do will actually be accompanied by the Spirit of God? Do we believe that as we do so with the power, the Spirit can soften hearts? Do we believe that the message we carry will bring greater happiness than anything else they can do? If so, let us be lovingly bold and invite in faith, testify with power and fulfill our Missionary Purpose as never before!

Be great!

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen

We are so excited to have a new senior couple serving in our mission! We are so grateful for them.

Elder and Sister Johnson from Montana serving in the Crockett area

The following pictures are from Mission Leadership Council last week. We loved counseling together and learning from each other. What an impressive group of leaders!

Houston North 1 Zone

Cypress Zone

Houston North Spanish Zone

Houston North 2 Zone

College Station 2 Zone

Houston West 1 Zone

Houston West 2 Zone

Katy Zone

Klein 1 Zone

Klein 2 Zone

Spring Zone

Meet the Mormons

We had the great opportunity to watch the motion picture, "Meet the Mormons" as a mission. We felt the tremendous spirit of this film and know that it has the potential to open many doors.  We highly recommend seeing this film on the opening weekend, October 10th, 2014 and encourage you to take a friend or neighbor. All proceeds, less production costs, will go to charity. It's a great time to be a full-time missionary and we as a mission are grateful for each day we get to proclaim the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Missionaries in the Klein Stake following a baptism. Our favorite occasions.

The Conroe Missionaries after the "Life of Christ Fireside"
An inspiring night with music and the spoken word all about our Savior Jesus Christ

Darling sisters

Elder Croft has his first taste of Blue Bell's Buttercrunch. He's a believer!

We love to see companions serving one another.
Elder Brito nurses Elder Duvall back to health after surgery to repair his broken arm.
Elder Duvall barely missed a beat and is back at it.

The First Mission President's Fireside

 We held the First Mission President's Fireside in the Cypress Stake yesterday. It was a wonderful event! The missionary choir was beautiful and they invited the spirit in a powerful way. The fireside began with the missionaries filing into the chapel and choir loft while singing called to serve. What a sight! We also heard testimonies from new members of the church who bore witness of the truthfulness of the gospel. Then there was a special musical solo, "Come Thou Fount" from Sister Butterfield, accompanied by her companion Sister Fullmer. We were then pleased to hear two more musical solos, "I Have Not Seen, Yet I Believe" by Sister Quist who was accompanied by her companion Sister Possin, and "Savior, Redeemer" by Sister Davis who was accompanied by Pres. Chappell. It was such a treat to listen to each of them. Many members brought their friends and missionaries brought investigators as well. The turn out was great and all who were present were uplifted. We are so grateful to the President and Sister Chappell who made it all possible. They put the whole fireside together including organizing the missionary choir and numbers. A special thanks to Pres. Vasquez of the mission presidency for his support as well. What did a tremendous job! I can hardly wait for the next one.

The following are pictures taken at the fireside.

Sister and President Chappell with President Lauck (Cypress Stake President) 

We had torrential downpours last week. The California Mortensen boys were getting acquainted with heavy rain.

To the Missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

We love you and pray for your faith and success daily. We are inspired by all of the great things you are doing and lives you are touching. We love the way you are helping each other live up to your divine potential. 

As we have pondered over those things that will be of greatest value for you it has become clearer and clearer to us that one of our challenges is that while, in most cases, we are contacting the right number of people and teaching the right numbers of lessons, we aren't progressing people as well as we could. One of the reasons for that is that we haven't mastered the principles taught in Ch 8 of PMG. Sometimes we think we have accomplished our objective when we have committed our investigators to act. The reality is that is when the work begins. The day they commit and everyday thereafter we need to be planning for what we are going to do "today" to help them keep their commitments. 

As we share this revelation with you, we can't help but think of the days when we helped our children learn to ride a bike. In most cases, they weren't at a point where they realized how much they would benefit by knowing how so we had to commit them to do it. Can you imagine what would have happened if we would have left them to figure it out once they committed only to check on them in a week to see if they had figured it out? What if we would have told them where we wanted them to go in a few days on their bike and told them we would meet them there? Is there any doubt in your minds that they would have failed in keeping their commitment? Why? In this example, it's clear that they would have failed because they didn't know how to succeed. When you help someone learn to ride a bike you do it by holding on to the bike while they peddle at first. Sometimes you need to hold the seat and the handles. In time, you can start move from walking to running and when you see them balancing well, you can let go. The point though from commitment to riding confidently requires a lot of assistance.

As crazy as that example seems, isn't that how we operate many times with our investigators? We know the Book of Mormon is the key to conversion, but are we following up with them regularly after they make the commitment and then even after the 2nd and 3rd lessons to help them succeed in reading? Are we helping them understand what they are reading? 

What about attending church? Are we brainstorming EVERYDAY about what we can do to help make sure they get there? Do we have them meet us there beforehand so we can take them on a tour? Do we arrange to have member reach out to them and express their enthusiasm and offer to have them sit by them at Sacrament meeting? 

What about baptism? Are we brainstorming EVERYDAY about what we can do that day to help them be prepared? Do we begin planning their baptismal service with them? 

Elders and Sisters, in our planning sessions are we asking ourselves, "What can we do TODAY to help our investigators progress" as we seek the influence of the Holy Ghost and then act in faith? We can do much better!

We'd like you each to spend the next week or two reading from PMG ch 8 and watching the District 1 DVDs. Look for what you're not doing in your planning sessions. Emulate what you see and watch how the work grows.

We know that as we do these things, the Lord will reveal to us how He would have us carry out His work and bless His children. May the Lord bless you as you do so!

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen

Elder Thiery before departing to Sao Paulo, Brazil. We will sure miss him!

September Transfers/Finding and Teaching using Family History

To the missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

I attended a couple of productive and edifying district meetings this past week. As you prepare for this week's topics in your upcoming district meetings, I want you to consider a couple of Fast Facts about Family History research in the U.S.:

1. 60% of the U.S. population has expressed an interest in tracing their family history, according to a poll by Maritz Research.

2. Ancestry.com is among the top five largest paid subscription sites on the Internet with over 850,000 paid subscriptions. 

3. According to Nielsen NetRatings, genealogy is the most popular lifestyle category on the Internet for older adults.

4. Over 60% of Americans have embarked on a genealogical journey by discovering who their ancestors were and how various forces shaped their pastAccording to the USA Today, genealogy if the second most popular hobby in the United States (after gardening. It is also second on the category of websites most frequently visited.

5. According to the USA Today, genealogy or Family History is the second most popular hobby in America. 

6. There are TV shows like "Who do you think you are?" that show some celebrities being taken on the journey to discover their ancestry (usually filled with emotion). These shows are growing in popularity.

We know that these trends aren't by coincidence, but rather of a fulfillment of the prophesy we find in Malachi 4:5-6. The Spirit of Elijah is really just a manifestation of the Spirit of the Lord. Those who are feeling a growing interest in Family History are going to be more prepared to receive the message of the gospel because they are feeling the Spirit already. 

It will be important that we review PMG p. 163-165 in our personal and companionship study this week to know how we can use family history as a finding and teaching tool. 

It is important that we know how to answer the question "Why does your church invest so much effort into this?" One place we might begin answering that question is by referencing the answer Jesus gave to Nicodemus in John 3:3-5. This answer has confused religious scholars for centuries because without an understanding of the Plan of Salvation, this answer condemns the great majority of people who have ever lived on the earth. Only the gospel as found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can give an answer that soothes the soul. This is the "Good News" that we carry! 

It is a wonderful time to be a missionary! We love you and are grateful for all the good that you do!

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen

Two Bountiful boys

Testimony meeting 

The mission home sounded heavenly

At the airport with the departing missionaries

We are going to really miss these servants of the Lord

Last goodbyes

Just a couple hours later we welcomed our new group of missionaries straight from the MTC

We love them already

Don't they look great and ready to work?

A real Texas BBQ meal

Testimony Meeting 

The next several pictures are of the new missionaries and their trainers

 They are in great hands! We are excited to hear the great things they accomplish together.