Week of September 26, 2016

Texas Houston Mission

 

Sunday, September 25, 2016

Confidence and General Conference

To the Missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

It was wonderful to see you at the Mission Conferences with Elder and Sister Echo Hawk. They were so impressed with you individually and as a group. They couldn't say enough good things about you. In fact, they sent us a text Saturday morning that read:

"We love your self-assured, confident missionaries. They drew us in immediately!"

Sister Mortensen and I have reflected on the great blessing it is to serve with you which is made more great by someone who doesn't know you at all who can notice the light in your countenances. Our great hope for you for now and throughout your lives is that your "confidence (will always) wax strong in the presence of God" (D&C 121:45) as the prophet Joseph Smith said it would if we will be the kinds of disciples we ought to be.

Part of becoming those disciples is by humbly following the Lord's anointed servants. We have another opportunity to listen to prophets, seers and revelators teach us what the Lord would have us know. We hope you will approach conference with a sincere desire to know what the Lord would have you do to be able to draw nearer to Him. Please be sure to invite as many of your investigators as you can to watch with you and with members where possible.

We are so proud of the work you are doing. We are not done. We must stay focused so we can achieve what the Lord would have us accomplish!

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen

Week of September 19, 2016

Mark Owen Vickers	1:15 PM (6 hours ago)
to me

Greetings from The Lone Star State,

Another great week here in Westfield. Elder Yanzon has been on of my favorite companions. He is always focused on how to help those we are teaching and our fellow missionaries progress. He is one of our district leaders and works closely with 2 other sets of Elders and a set of Sister missionaries in the surrounding area. I love being here in this ward. Last night we had the opportunity to visit with Bishop McBride in our ward at his home. Elder Yanzon will be speaking in church this next week before he goes home in a little over three weeks. It's been a bit odd sending two missionaries home in a row but has given me an opportunity to evaluate where I want to be when the time comes for me to return as well. The lessons I have learned serving the Lord are something I will be forever grateful for. I have met so many amazing people and experienced first hand just what can happen when we put our trust in Him. 

We have been teaching a man by the name of Jason from Jamaica. I have seen his faith grow so much in such a short time. He is scheduled for baptism mid-October. 

What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus Christ? What characteristics should we be looking for?

 John 14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

Matthew 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

Luke 18: 22 Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.

We learn from these versus that as disciples or followers of Christ we me do the works that He did, learn of Him, and follow Him.

I love you all. Let me know if there is anything I can do for any of you. 

Haha.  Since Bryan has been going to the U we have to like them a little:).  If he gets accepted there to medical school we may have to like them a lot!!!

Mark Owen Vickers	3:27 PM (4 hours ago)
to me

Nope we love Bryan. Not where he goes to school. Haha :)

-- Elder Mark Vickers

Mark Owen Vickers	3:28 PM (4 hours ago)
to me

Yeah that is super neat they will be able to many great things. He probably won't have dictation like he expects though. That is typically restricted.

-- Elder Mark Vickers

DEANNE VICKERS <deannevick@gmail.com>	3:35 PM (4 hours ago)
to Mark

Haha dads saids that you're right

DEANNE VICKERS <deannevick@gmail.com>	3:48 PM (4 hours ago)
to Mark

Oh:).  Is that speaking out loud and having it write.

Mark Owen Vickers	4:23 PM (3 hours ago)
to me

Yeah it's available through Siri but typically disabled in the mission iPads.

-- Elder Mark Vickers

DEANNE VICKERS <deannevick@gmail.com>	4:56 PM (3 hours ago)
to Mark

Oh:).  I'm still not very technology savvy

Texas Houston Mission

 

Monday, September 19, 2016

Mission Tour Assignment

To the Missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

It is breathtaking to witness the hand of the Lord as He works through you to work great miracles across this mission. We commend you as almost all of you accepted the challenge of 6 days of at least 15 ITLs and the fruits of been amazing. We want to give a special shout out to the College Station West zone for not being content with mission minimum standards and finding 50 new investigators last week. The Lord does His work as we willingly do ours. There is a disproportional increase in fruits as we do more than is expected.

We have more baptismal dates (at this stage of month) for next month right now than we have ever had for an upcoming month. Your faith, your fasting and prayers are leading to great blessings.

We look forward to the opportunity to gather with you and learn together from Elder and Sister Echo Hawk. In preparation for part of that meeting, we would like to request that you read Genesis 37,39-46 which is the account of Joseph who was sold into Egypt. We would like you to pay particular attention to the events that take place in Joseph's life and would like you to reflect on the following questions:

1. What did Joseph do to deserve the experiences he was asked to endure? Can you think of other faithful people who endured similar circumstances?

2. Why does the Lord allow faithful people to endure such circumstances?

3. How did Joseph respond to those circumstances?

4. What can we learn from Joseph's reaction to these events that can prepare us for any difficulties that we may encounter?

We trust you will gain valuable insights from pondering over these questions and counseling about them in your companionship studies after reading these chapters and any others that related to them.

We love you and are inspired by you!

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen

We held the 8 week follow-up training for the missionaries who arrived last July. It was a big group and it was an outstanding group. What wonderful missionaries already! Great teaching and a powerful spirit. Here are some pictures I took at that training.