February 27, 2017

Mark Owen Vickers	1:49 PM (3 hours ago)
to me

Hey Padre!

Sorry, just getting to where I can sit down to email.
It's going pretty well.

Earlier today some missionaries in our zone did a Habanero challenge
and it was probably one of the funniest things I have ever seen. They
were pretty desperate for relief after a few minutes.

Other than that just adjusting to my new companion.
 We just went to the store for groceries.
I've found that the most cost effective option with past companions is
for each person to get what they would like and then split the cost
down the middle, sharing food throughout the week. Surprisingly this
has worked pretty well and made it where there is a better variety of
food throughout the week as well. Elder Brown was trained by a
missionary where they ate out quite a bit spending all of their money
within the first 2-3 weeks and then starving the rest of the time or
using personal money from home. Elder Brown got an email from his
parents this last week saying he still has 20 months to go and really
needs to watch the spending. Anyway we ended up spending about 50
dollars a piece today but now we have food!

I'm back to the Hafer Road building for P-day actives and District
Meetings; where I was at for my time in Westfield.

More coming. Love ya!

-- Elder Mark Vickers

Mark Owen Vickers	3:13 PM (58 minutes ago)
to me

Yep, he's on the left. Elder Apaui is on the right. They came out together and I helped Elder A with his Restoration outline during a training meeting. He's a great kid. 

Mark Owen Vickers 3:46 PM (30 minutes ago) to spencer.vickers, me (Iconic graffiti)    Pictures from the Field 3 Inbox x Mark Owen Vickers 3:45 PM (32 minutes ago) to spencer.vickers, me

Melbourne Ward February 20, 2017

Weekly Update 02.20.17

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Mark Owen Vickers	Feb 20 (3 days ago)
to me, bcc: me

Hola!

I've been transferred to the Melbourne ward! We cover the Southeast corner of our mission boundaries. It's going to be an interesting few months. Earlier in the week we went to go follow up with a couple they have been teaching here. As we came up to the door we hear a low growl. To our horror two pit bulls on chains came chasing after us. After my heart made it's way back to it's proper location the couple came out and we talked to them for about 10 minutes. They have great potential. Both Elder Brown and I had a hard time concentrating with all the adrenaline going through our systems. Oh yes, Elder Brown is my new companion. He is from Idaho Falls and just recently finished training. Melbourne has amazing sights, the rich and poor, and some awesome food! I have been called to serve as a District Leader this transfer. I work with three other sets of missionaries to help the work move forward in our larger area. We have the Cypress Creek Elders, the Ponderosa Sisters, and the Westfield Elders. I am back in the Houston North Stake! It's only been 4.5 months since I left Westfield but it's good to be back. I look forward to all the great things that will happen here. As I was studying this week I was impressed by the account in the New Testament where the Savior is teaching and many of His disciples choose to no longer follow after Him. He asks those closest to Him, 'will ye also go away?' They respond, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.' It is never an easy path to follow the Savior however it really is the only path to true happiness.

Love you all,

-- Elder Mark Vickers

   

Monday, February 20, 2017

Member Involvement

To the Missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

We love the great work you are doing. As we are immersed in this great work, we want to remind you about the need to never lose sight of the vital role the members play in the process of referring, fellow shipping and shepherding our investigators to church, to baptism and to the temple. It is vital that we earn their trust. Just this week we received an email from a local bishop raving about a Sister in his ward who was getting transferred. This is what he said:

"I wanted to take a second and share with you my feelings of gratitude to the Lord for the exemplary service that Sister _________ has rendered these past few months that she has served in the our ward. We are sad to see her go.  The ward has been the blessed recipient of the consecrated efforts of this exceptionally diligent, humble, and talented sister missionary.  We cannot express enough how instrumental she has been in building up the Kingdom in this wonderful part of the Lord's vineyard. She has been a sweet and enthusiastic influence for growth and we will do our utmost to maintain that light going forward. Thankfully, she leaves us with a high quality teaching pool of investigators, which I'm confident her companion and the new companion will successfully care for.

"There have been many sweet miracles experienced by our ward with Sister __________  working with us. She loved the people she taught, and worked with determination to ensure they had every chance to hear the truth of the restored gospel, be fellowshipped by members, come to church, and progress toward full conversion.  God bless her for her work and sacrifice. She has been one of the most successful in working in an integrated way with our ward members - she understands that vision well." 

We have received several similar emails. We hope these kinds of things can be said of each of you as you are found ministering to the members as you encourage them to assist you in this great work. Ours is the duty to build faith in everyone with whom we interact. With this in mind, we have a couple of requests as you work with members in your areas:

1. Always be aware that you are being observed. Be sure that your actions are reflective of one who represents the Lord.

2. Quickly respond to texts and calls from members.

3. Quickly (within 24 hours) follow up on referrals from members and report back to them immediately on how things went.

4. Never teach a member's referral without inviting the member to participate.

5. If a member is going to participate with you in a lesson, be sure you counsel with them about how you would like them to participate and explain to them the objectives of the lesson (commitments). They don't understand the Doctrine of Christ as it relates to progressing investigators. You do!

6. When asking a member to reach out to one of our investigators, set them up to succeed. Let the investigator know they will be calling so the member has a positive experience. This will increase their desire to help in the future.

7. Praise members for every attempt to help.

8. We very careful to keep your relationships purposeful. Members may allow you to over stay your your visit, but they will lose respect for you if you aren't obedient.

We love you and we are excited by the fact that we are on track to keep our commitment of 630 so far as a mission!

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen

February 6, 2017

Mark Owen Vickers	10:04 AM (11 hours ago)
to me

Mornin!

Was this everyone watching the Super Bowl together? Ellie bean being
mischievous?

We had some pretty neat experiences finding yesterday during the game.
I'll include them in my weekly update.

How has the week gone for you guys?

Love ya!

-- Elder Mark Vickers

DEANNE VICKERS <deannevick@gmail.com>	Feb 6
to Mark, Rachel, Spencer

My endowment day

Spencer Vickers	Feb 6
to me

This is the day that you got your endowment taken out?? That's so cool! 

On Mon, Feb 6, 2017 at 2:35 PM, DEANNE VICKERS <deannevick@gmail.com> wrote:

My endowment day

DEANNE VICKERS	Yes!!!	Feb 6

Mark Owen Vickers	Feb 6
to me

You were endowed today how many years ago? That is so cool!

-- Elder Mark Vickers

DEANNE VICKERS <deannevick@gmail.com>	Feb 6
to Mark

1981

Mark Owen Vickers	Feb 13 (10 days ago)
to me

That is so awesome! I'm in Alma as well, ch. 36. I really enjoyed reading again Alma 32-34 as a cohesive whole. So much meaning to reading it that way. I've made it a goal to read something from the Book of Mormon all the days of my life. So far so good!

-- Elder Mark Vickers

Mark Owen Vickers	Feb 13 (10 days ago)
to spencer.vickers, me

Some of my favorite people in Spring Ward, the Barba/Batz family and
the Hill family

Some of my favorite people in Spring Ward, the Barba/Batz family and

the Hill family
   

Sister Leavitt 'died' this transfer.

Mark Owen Vickers	Feb 13 (10 days ago)
to me, laura.crum1988, b.crum1984, skylerbrooksby, nataliebrooksb., vickers463

We volunteer here every week and spend about 2 hours typically playing
games, throwing a ball, etc with adults that have intellectual
disabilities. This is Aaron. He remembers literally every missionary
that comes through the area. One of my favorite people from the
mission thus far.

Weekly Update 02.13.17

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Mark Owen Vickers	Feb 13 (10 days ago)
to me, bcc: me

My last week in Spring Ward!

Got the news last night that I will be heading to a new area and Elder
Troy will be staying here in Spring. He'll do great things here, I am
sure. I have really appreciated the opportunity to teach and leave
from Elder Troy. I'm excited to find out where I will be going.
Tomorrow morning all the missionaries going to new areas will gather
at the Hafer Road building by the mission office and then go to their
new areas to meet their new missionary companions. I have a feeling
I'll be going to a bike area. I'm excited because the last time I was
on a bike, the start of my mission, I lost a ton of weight. Not so
excited as things are already warming up here in Houston and us
gingers don't like the sun too much. I'll let you know what I find
out. Spring Ward has truly been a time of growth. During my time here
I was called to train a new missionary and also support the growth of
15 other missionaries. I didn't feel up to the task at first and know
I still have a lot to learn. I hope to be able to apply what I've
learned here about helping people feel loved and accepted to my next
area and beyond the mission. Not too much of an update this week. Just
some nerves waiting to hear where I'll be headed off to.

Love you all!

-- Elder Mark Vickers

Monday, February 6, 2017

Agents to Act

To the Missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

We are excited by the opportunities that the revised reporting structure will give us to learn to exercise our agency to choose righteousness. This is one of the great doctrines taught in 2 Ne 2. Lehi instructs his sons about agency and how it works. One of the great lessons learned as missionaries is that we don't have to be enslaved by our circumstances, emotional states, or any other circumstance that would seem to "cause" us to fail. We are empowered to choose righteousness in spite of all of those conditions. That IS the reason we have been given agency (Moses 7). As President Russell M. Nelson taught in our last general conference, joy is the reward of those who understand and act in righteous ways. 

We want to remind you that along with the opportunity to exercise our agency, the scriptures teach that we will be judged according to our choices. This is the principle that Alma tried to teach Zeezrom (Alma 12). So, as there is greater freedom to choose, there is also greater accountability for those choices. We expect that any area falling beneath these standards will get the attention of their leaders so we can help each other succeed. 

We hope you are each taking the time to plan to achieve the standards of excellence each week. If we are planning to find at least one new investigator everyday and teach two lessons, and hold ourselves accountable to those commitments, you will find that the work will be more rewarding and we will be entitled to greater success. We are excited to see it. 

We promise you that as you use your agency to act in righteous ways IN SPITE of your circumstances, the Lord will bless you openly and bless those you serve in ways that will build your faith and shape your future in ways that will astonish you.

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen

We had Mission Leadership Council last Tuesday and enjoyed a wonderful council with these amazing leaders. We feel so blessed to learn from them!

We attended Zone Meeting last Friday in the Woodlands Zone. It was such an inspiring meeting and we were filled with the spirit as discussed how we will adapt to the new changes to the key indicators and the daily schedule. We feel the Doctrine of Christ permeates the things that we do personally and with our investigators.