October 10, 2016

A Great Opportunity

To the Missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

In our most recent General Conference, we were blessed to hear from those who we sustain as prophets seers and revelators. One of those messages that stands out was given by Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. We would like to request that each of you give prayerful attention to this talk and invite all members of your wards to do the same.

In that address, Elders Oaks said: "

As an Apostle of the Lord, I urge every member and family in the Church to pray for the Lord to help them find persons prepared to receive the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ."

For the believers, that may as well be called an Apostolic charge or mandate. Believers would be wise to heed this call to action.

If we were missionaries in a ward, we would encourage members to read this talk before we came over for dinner or to teach. We might ask them to look for how Elder Oaks describes our duty to share the gospel "(Sharing the gospel is not a burden but a joy. What we call “member missionary work” is not a program but an attitude of love and outreach to help those around us. It is also an opportunity to witness how we feel about the restored gospel of our Savior.")

As they read, ask them to be prayerful and listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost that will tell them "all things that ye should do" (2 Ne 32:3) and "show unto you all things what ye should do" (2 Ne 32:5). Help them understand that as the Spirit invites us to act, it is the way the Lord invites us to repent (PMG Ch 11).

Bear your testimonies to all members using the words of Elder Ballard who Elder Oaks quotes as having taught, “A most significant evidence of our conversion and of how we feel about the gospel in our own lives is our willingness to share it with others." If members will consider sharing the gospel the great "evidence" of their conversion, they will experience the blessings of joy mentioned by President Russell M. Nelson that is a gift to the righteous that can only be obtained through righteous acts as we do what the Savior would have us do.

We love you and are excited by all of the blessings taking place to the people who reside within this great mission!

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen

     


Just wanted to say hi. Elder Yanzon is headed for his exit interview in a couple of hours and then we should have more time to email. Until then here's a picture from this week. :)

October 3, 2016

  October 3, 2016 letter



 

Texas Houston Mission

 

Sunday, October 2, 2016

A Key to Progressing our Investigators to Conversion

To the Missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

What a blessing it has been to sit and listen to the words of those who we sustain as prophets, seers and revelators! We hope you enjoyed the messages that were shared. Even more importantly, we hope you will take some time in upcoming zone meetings this Friday to share with each other the key messages you heard.

There has always been a need for effective teaching so that others can know what to do (D&C 82:8-9). This is even more so the case with those who are just beginning to know what the Lord would have them do and striving to find the strength necessary to follow that counsel. We attended a district meeting this week where Sister Teasdale shared some great insight from the Book of Mormon that illustrates this point.

We see interesting parallels in both the way Ammon is described as teaching the people of King Lamoni, as well as the consequences of His teaching. In Alma 21:23 we read:

23 And Ammon did preach unto the people of king Lamoni; and it came to pass that he did teach them all things concerning things pertaining to righteousness. And he did exhort them DAILY, with all diligence; and they gave heed unto his word, and they were zealous for keeping the commandments of God.

Ammon, like us, was trying to help a people build their faith in Jesus Christ. To accomplish this, he was involved with them daily just as we must be. As a consequence of diligence, we read that the Lamanites became "zealous", or extremely faithful in keeping the commandments of God.

Elders and Sisters, the Book of Mormon is indeed a book of answers and written for our day! Please do all you can to be sure we are as diligent as Ammon so that those we teach may enjoy the same enthusiasm for righteousness that King Lamoni's people had. This requires careful planning, particularly after an investigator accepts a baptismal date. We ought to be planning for DAILY contact and WHO is going to contact them. If we will, we testify that our investigators will more successfully become converted.

The assistants are providing planning training for each zone to help expand your vision and deepen your commitment to plan the way the Lord would have us plan.

Thank you for your faithful service. We feel so lucky to be serving with you!

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen