Miracle At The End Of The Day And Two Said YES To Baptism This Week

Hello Everyone,

What a wild week this had been! The weather turned super cold (below zero) and the snow fell from the sky and actually created such havoc on the roads in this small town that Church was canceled yesterday! 

Teaching was tough this holiday week! Most of those we had made appointments with had canceled or asked us to come back after the new year. Yesterday, Elder Hancock and I fasted all day long. We had worked so hard and were so diligent in all of our efforts to find those to teach all week and we were getting pretty discouraged. We had one final lesson last night and it was with Jeannie (the lady with 2 dogs and 15 cats). We went to her home at our confirmed appointment time and she was there and we stood in her home for over two hours (because she doesn't have any place for us to sit) and taught her. We then invited her to be baptized and she said YES!!! We went back to our apartment and we both fell to our knees and thanked Heavenly Father for the Miracle at the End of the Day! Jeannie has a serious leg infection that is contagious and we can't be in the baptismal font with her at the same time. She is getting care for the infection and once it's cleared up we will put her on date. 

Then today we taught Emily the third lesson, the Gospel, and the lesson was going great. I had been praying all week to be close to the spirit and inspired to know what to say and when to say it when we teach. Elder Hancock and I were teaching and working well with each other and I felt the strongest impression to ask her to commit to being baptized. So, I went ahead and I asked her to be baptized and she said YES!!! She is on book to be baptized on February 12th. Following the lesson I immediately got back on my knees and thanked Heavenly Father for allowing us to find and teach Emily and for her willingness to listen, learn and be taught. I am so thankful to be able to recognize the promptings of the Spirit and follow through.

We had to drop Chuck because he was living with a family member in our area boundaries and something happened with the family member and they had to move out and are no longer in our area. And our appointment with Robert fell through.

We are still teaching Shauntea and eating meals with her and her husband. They are actively reading the Book of Mormon together. We hope to put her on date this week. 

This week I restarted the Book of Mormon after finishing it again last week. I am always amazed about the Tree of Life! This week I also did a Spiritual Discernment personal study and it was confirmed again to me as I studied that all good things come from God. If it is good, it comes from God. We can learn how God speaks individually to each of us. It's so important to take time to listen and learn how to communicate with our Heavenly Father.   

Life in the mission field is great! I am so grateful for my call to serve a mission at this time. I am grateful to be a representative of Jesus Christ. 

Have a great week everyone,

Elder Mortensen

Picture: Me on New Years Day, STANDING, and ready to proclaim the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Chirst to anyone willing to hear it!