Eighth Preparation Day

Mark Owen Vickers	2:00 PM (6 hours ago)
to me

Looks like the email list I have saved for my weekly emails doesn't transfer to the iPad version. I'll try to fix that for next week but could you forward this week's email to everybody? Thanks :)

Hey Everyone,

This was a great week to be a missionary; not that every week isn't great. Haha. So this week we started teaching the Ulloa family (pronounced oo-yo-ah). There were introduced to the church by the Bishop of one of the Spanish wards. He gave them 2 copies of the Liahona magazine and they read through them in quick succession. Sister Ulloa's family moved from Mexico City when she was younger and Brother Ulloa is from Mexico City. They have 3 children, Sabrina, Sebastion, and Oliver. This family is so perfect! The Spanish Elders had been teaching them but they decided to go the English route after attending our ward this last fast Sunday. As Brother Ulloa told us they don't want to isolate their family to only Spanish speakers and so decided it would be best for their family, especially the 2 younger boys to go with an English ward. Our first lesson with them we reviewed their Book of Mormon reading and they felt good about what they had learned so far but we're not sure if they had received their answer. We then invited Brother Ulloa to have us all kneel in prayer and pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true. After the prayer there were a good 2 minutes of silence. The Holy Ghost was tangible in the room. We opened to Galatians 5:22-23 to identify the source of these feelings. Right then and there this family gained their testimony of the Book of Mormon. We then opened to this paragraph in the Introduction page : "Those who gain this divine witness(a testimony of the Book of Mormon) from the Holy Spirit will also come to know by the same power that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, that Joseph Smith is His revelator and prophet in these last days, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord’s kingdom once again established on the earth, preparatory to the Second Coming of the Messiah."

The Ulloas have a baptismal date for March 5th. It is a privilege to share this gospel and I can truly testify of the scripture in D&C that speaks about "how great shall be your(our) joy if we bring one soul into Him" paraphrasing. 

We are being so blessed right now not only with the Ulloas but also with new people to teach. We found five new investigators this week. I would say more but my time is almost out for this week. 

-Love you all,

Elder Mark Vickers

Sent from my iPad

Dad and I couldn't be happier for you!!!!  February 15, 2016

This week I'm emailing from my iPad.  Can you tell I'm excited?

Mark Owen Vickers	Haha that's us on West Rayford. That Sister doesn't sound familiar. She's pro...	1:23 PM (7 hours ago)

Mark Owen Vickers	1:25 PM (7 hours ago)
to me, Spencer

That is so awesome about Natalie and Skyler. So pumped for them. I might need to wait to add skyler to my email list until next week :/ The iPads email client isn't to most user friendly. But the reception went well?

Sent from my iPad

Mark O. says, "She is so darn cute!!!"

Mark Owen Vickers	2:12 PM (6 hours ago)
to me

Our district first transfer

Sent from my iPad

This pillow case is so cool because when Mark was sat apart for his mission by President Livingston these words were in the blessing he gave to Elder Vickers!

A Great Loss

Here is a copy of the letter that President Mortensen and I sent to be read at Sister Jazmyn Jeppson's Funeral Service.

Brothers and Sisters,

We are so saddened by the sudden loss of our Sister Jazmyn June Jeppson. We know each of you love her as we do, but we want you to know the kind of missionary she was. She was one of the first Sister missionaries we met when we arrived in Houston. Our first recollection of Sister Jeppson, fittingly, was at a baptismal service in the first month of her mission. She made that scene a frequent occurrence over the course of her mission. She and her companion Sister Hailey Heaps had taught a young man who was getting baptized that day. We could see in Sister Jeppson a kind of focused energy. We came to learn that this focus was part of what made her great. It wasn’t long after this experience that she was training. No matter who she was with, she led out because she knew who she served and she was clear minded in her purpose. There wasn’t a companion who served with Sister Jeppson who didn’t come away from the experience a better person and a much better missionary.

She would ultimately train several missionaries directly and be the Sister Trainer Leader responsible for many, many more. Since her passing, several of them have mentioned that her influence changed their mission. She was an excellent planner and even a better teacher. Often we would role play in district/zone meetings. When we would see that Sister Jeppson was participating in a group, we would know that those participating with her were going to get the best experience because of the great listener and teacher she became.

While we are saddened by her loss, we hope all assembled here today will celebrate her life and count themselves lucky to have known her and to be positively influenced by her. We certainly have been.

We learn in D&C 138:57 that faithful missionaries like Sister Jeppson are “continuing (her) labors in the preaching of the gospel of repentance and redemption through the sacrifice of the Only Begotten Son of God, among those who are in darkness and under the bondage of sin in the great world of the spirit of the dead.” There is no more fitting destination for someone like Sister Jeppson who became a true messenger in every way. She loved bringing light into the lives of those who sat in darkness.  We know she will immerse herself in the work in that realm just as she did here. All of the blessings promised to the righteous will be hers. In that knowledge we find peace.

In the final night in the mission home we have each departing missionary write their testimony so we can preserve it for us and for them. Here is an excerpt of hers:

I am so grateful to have been able to serve at this time. I know the Lord is in the details of our lives and that He knows exactly what we need and we can know His will if we just ask. I feel I have just got a glimpse of how our Heavenly Father sees each of us and I hope I can hang onto that. I have seen a light so pure in so many of God’s children and it’s been such a privilege to help that grow brighter.

I have felt such an urgency to share this gospel with others. The gospel has become so clear to me because of the training I received and the many opportunities I’ve had to teach the principle of the restoration and the gospel principles. The most powerful experiences on my mission have been testifying of the restoration. I know the gospel has been restored. I am so grateful for Joseph Smith and the sacrifices he made to restore the church.

I know that I have a great responsibility to live the gospel…I will be faithful.

Sister Jazmyn Jeppson

We extend our love to each of you and challenge each of you to honor her life by being equally faithful in living the gospel as she was and she will undoubtedly continue to be.

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen

Seventh Preparation Day

Dear elder Vickers,

I love being able to say that. How has the work been going? We've loved being
able to put your investigators names on the temple roll and pray for them.
 Are you still with Elder Roper?  How has the weather been?
Sorry I'm just full of questions right now :-).
Don't know if you heard or not but the Broncos beat the Panthers in the
Super Bowl yesterday.

Look forward to your email today. Love you so much.  dad  

Mark Owen Vickers	11:04 AM (6 hours ago)
to me

Hey Dad,

The work is going well. Details to come in this weeks letter. Still with
Elder Roper for at least 4 weeks.
After that I'll likely stay and he'll be transferred out. The weather is doing alright.
There have been a few cold days, not too much rain.
There was a good storm the other night that woke me up which you takes some doing. haha
I heard.
Good for Payton, he needed one more, hopefully he'll retire now.

Now to get writing on that update. :)

Love you!

Mark Owen Vickers	11:06 AM (6 hours ago)
to me

I can definitely pray for Lance. I'll write him a letter. :)

There is a great talk that Elder Bednar gives in the MTC which
tells us that a testimony is not enough, that we must be converted and
continue to be converted throughout our lives.

Mark Owen Vickers

11:08 AM (6 hours ago)

to me 

Not sure yet! I haven't been able to get on a scale.
 Probably something like 20 pounds. :)

Mark Owen Vickers

11:36 AM (5 hours ago)

to 

Hey Everyone,

What a great week this was. 

We continue to help this family in our ward to paint their house.
 If you see a picture of us in yellow we are either painting or doing
some sort of other service. 

After emailing this last week we went to a park about 3 miles
from our apartment and biked around for a bit.
We came to this grassy area with a large pond and a sign which
informed us not to feed the alligators. Wait, alligators? Yep.
So that was a bit unnerving but made for a fun day at the park.
Oh also we saw this snake. :)

We are teaching this man named Jim who is in his 50's and loves
rock and roll. Most of the time we start our lessons with him by listening
to his latest song. He is a musician and loves his Gibson guitars. 

This next week will be focused on preparing me for my 8 week review where I'll be teaching fellow missionary trainers as well as our mission president. Quite intimidating but I know that with the Lord's help I'll do just fine.     With love from Houston

Mark Owen Vickers
10:48 AM (10 hours ago)

to me
Nice! Tell him I know it's not easy but to keep with it.
Braces are the best and the worst.












Mark Owen Vickers
11:37 AM (10 hours ago)

to me
Very nice. Tell Natalie and Skyler I am super excited for them and
proud of them. Wish I could be there!

All for this week. Love you all!

  Dear Sons,
Today, February 6, 2016 your sister Natalie went through the
Timpanogus Temple and received her endowments!!!
It was wonderful!  Bryan babysat Elly so Laura could come.
Skyler was there by himself, but what a special night!
It was kind of fun because I brought one of the names you did Spence.
Her name was Cora and she was born in 1883.    She was born in Texas
I loved being Nat’s escort.  
I told her she’s among the angels now
Skyler has moved his bed, TV, dresser downstairs so far.
I think he will get the rest of his stuff in there this next week
Lance is on a date tonight  I am just sitting here waiting for him.
It’s about 11:40 p.m.  I didn’t realize Utah has a curfew for teens under 18.
They are not to be out between the ages of midnight and 5.

Bryan is publishing on his own now!  He will have to tell you all about it.
We can’t wait to get the actual publication.

On The Texas Houston Mission Blog President Mortenson took this picture
with Mark and Elder Roper.

http://texashoustonmission.blogspot.com/




"We saw these wonderful elder today at church"

President Nelson

Texas Houston Mission    http://texashoustonmission.blogspot.com/


Sunday, January 31, 2016

Prophets, Seers and Revelators
To the Missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,

What a remarkable opportunity we enjoyed to be together and learn at the feet of President Russell M. Nelson this past Saturday. We were so proud of each of you as we saw you come forward looking so good with light emanating from your countenances. We hope your experience was as inspiring as we felt ours was. Having Prophets and Apostles on the earth is a knowledge that many of us have grown up with and have unfortunately taken it for granted for much of our lives.

Several years ago, we attended an Evangelical church sponsored activity in southern California. After some initial instruction, we were invited to get with someone not of our faith and discuss our beliefs. We identified a nice looking couple and started sharing our beliefs about the Savior, His early church, its foundation and fall. We told them of the prophecies of a restoration of that church and our belief that it has happened complete with a living prophet and apostles. The wife looked at us sincerely and said, "you mean to tell me that there are Apostles on the earth today?" We said "Yes." She then said with great enthusiasm, "where are they and what are they teaching?" We proceeded to have a wonderful conversation. We will never forget the look in her eyes when she discovered this great knowledge.

The blessing of prophets and Apostles is only beneficial if we follow them. Before our meetings this week, we encourage you to prepare by reviewing the notes you have taken and the impressions you have received so we can counsel about them together. We only stand to be blessed as we strive to make the necessary changes in our lives according to those impressions and counsel we have received.

We love you even more than before, if that is possible, after seeing you standout so impressively in righteous ways.

Love,

President and Sister Mortensen


Last Saturday we had the wonderful and rare blessing of having President Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in our mission as well as Elder Corbridge.  We gathered with the other two missions in Houston and were instructed and edified. Each missionary had the opportunity to shake hands and greet President Nelson. What a day!

Sixth Preparation Day....

DEANNE VICKERS <deannevick@gmail.com>
AttachmentsJan 31 (1 day ago)

to Geneene, Spencer, Mark
Today Brother Sidwell passed out in sacr ament during the first youth speakers talk.  The bishop, Brother Miller, and several others ran to his aid.  Lucily the fire station is so close and they came right away.   Then bishop suggested the little girl start her talk over😋

On a more spiritual note,  many people ask me how you two are doing.   Ok always say wonderful!    Brother Lewis gave the closing prayer.  It was so beautiful!   He specifically prayed over the missionaries in our ward.

Also the spirit whispered to me that as we honor our Father in Heaven He will honor us.  I am so happy when He is giving me a message.  I will often study
It in my morning scripture then later the same message will come.

One of the speakers today quoted
1 Nephi 7:12

12 Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten that the Lord is able to do all things according to his will, for the children of men, if it so be that they exercise faith in him? Wherefore, let us be faithful to him.




Mark Owen Vickers
Attachments11:22 AM (9 hours ago)

to
Greetings from Texas,

Another great week out here in Texas. Our interactions this week were really interesting. We first met a man named Austin who was apparently meeting with missionaries 8 months prior. We didn't have him in our records anywhere. We talked with him for about 45 minutes about a number of topics including why 'Mormons' wear garments, temples, prophets, the Book of Mormon, and why we as a church feel it so necessary to share what we know. Apparently with the other missionaries they would come and break bread with him and his family and answered questions but never sat down to hear the lessons. It was a great discussion and we hope to get back with him soon to talk in greater detail.

We met another man named Kevin while biking on a busy street. At first he was quite belligerent and rude. He was yelling "Jesus is deity" among other things. We responded in kind that we believe that as well. He rode off. We were headed in that same direction and so waited for a minute or two and then started down the path once more. He apparently decided to stop on the path and wait for us. He started up again and Elder Roper said "sir we don't want to argue with you". What could have easily gotten out of hand turned out really well. After a few minutes of discussion he invited us to his home for a bottle of water. We met his neighbor who is religious and prayed with them both. Kevin also invited us back to his home if we ever wanted to study the scriptures together or help him with his ministry to help the homeless. I'm thankful that cooler heads prevailed and now we have a new friend.

Last preparation day after emailing we went out for haircuts. It was long overdue. The owner was very kind and we had a great conversation of her home country of Mexico.

A family in the ward is working to get their home sold so they can retire. Elder Roper and I were able to go and paint a room in the home. They also have this bird that is basically their child. Maybe I can get a picture. :)

The best part of this week was a missionary conference where all 3 Houston missions came together to hear President Russell M. Nelson speak to us. Over 700 missionaries were in attendance. He spoke on a number of subjects but focused on using family history as a missionary tool in our work. The Spirit was so strong in that meeting and you could feel the love he has for each of us.

Love you all and thank you for your support,


-Elder Mark Vickers
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DEANNE VICKERS 11:37 AM (8 hours ago)
Awesome! You look great!!!

DEANNE VICKERS 11:37 AM (8 hours ago)
How much weight have you lost?






Mark Owen Vickers
10:34 AM (9 hours ago)

to me 
It's true!