Mortensen, Camden

Hey Everyone, Happy Halloween ! We started the morning off serving the seniors at the local senior center by playing Pickleball with them. They have enjoyed our efforts to visit with them and play a round or two.  This has been a very trying transfer. One of the hardest of my mission thus far. It seems every corner we turn it's a dead end. Every ounce of effort we have given has been turned down. Even when inspiration strikes and we pivot and make changes we are not seeing success. I'm asking today for prayers. Please pray for me, our trio, and our area. Our fasting and prayers are not leading to finding new investigators. Please pray that we can find someone to teach. I need prayers. Thank you. We spent some time this week serving ward members and went back to the family who cut down tree branches all around their large property. We loaded branches for several hours and filled flatbed trailers to the brim. Bed bugs have struck our mission! Every single Zone in our mission has ...

Hey Everyone, Another week in Higginsville has come and gone. Rural areas are sometimes difficult to serve in but we are making the most of it.  This week we played pickleball at a senior center with some of the residents. It was a good way to get out and meet members in the community and get some exercise. The senior citizens were kind and enjoyed seeing us and playing a few games with them.  We had two separate good days of service for members this week. One family had cut down overgrown branches from all of the trees on their property and asked that we haul the branches and load them on a flatbed trailer. It was a long day of work but it was a good time.  We also helped a family move and stack logs for the winter. We are grateful some members took us up on our offer to help serve them in some way.   Our trio has been amazing and I enjoy having a third companion. My vote would always be in a trio, but I'm grateful to help these two young elders learn more abou...

Hey Everyone, Another week in Higginsville has come and gone. We woke up to a surprise call Tuesday morning telling us that we would have another elder in our companionship in a few hours. An emergency transfer was needed (I only know a little about what happened between him and his old companion) and this elder would be joining us here in Higginsville. We've welcomed Elder Paul and shown him respect and kindness and he is doing well so far this past week. Elder Paul is from Gooding, Idaho, and this is his 4th transfer out on the mission. I'm grateful President Ames has given me charge of these two young elders and I hope they will always feel comfortable and safe in our trio.  This week I felt inspired to change our lunch start time from noon to 1 pm. I also made the decision to go outside and walk the streets where people are out and about during the noon time lunch hour. That decision allowed us to actually see people outside and meet them, place Books of Mormon with them an...

Hey Everyone, Higginsville is a little bigger than I thought. I haven't been to Moose Market yet but they have a small, very small, Walmart but mostly nonfood items. We are finding our way around and meeting the members.  This week we had Zone Conference and we were asked to travel to Lee's Summit about one hour away. It was interesting we didn't hold it in Warrensburg, but you go where you're asked to go. President Ames focused on how we can find solutions to problems as we serve. He related it to Captain Moroni and we were all pretty engaged in what he had to say.  This week we taught another lesson to Kimberly. She has a 4 year old and an 8 month old baby. She is elect and is progressing and actually read from the Book of Mormon. She is interested in being baptized and we are working with her to set a date she is comfortable with.  We also taught Donna and her family (she has two teen children). One teen is also interested in learning more about the gospel. Donna fee...

Hey Everyone, Conference weekend was awesome. There were many talks and messages that pierced my heart and I look forward to reading and applying what I've learned. Elder M. Russell Ballard (Apostle) reminded us as missionaries that we are Modern Day Pioneers because we help others find the covenant path. I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve and find those to share the gospel with. Elder Ronald A. Rasband (Apostle) had to be one of my most favorite talks. Elder Rasband shared his thoughts about the Book of Mormon and how we need to pay attention to the counsel, promises, and teachings found on its pages. He asked us to renew our commitment to reading daily from the Book of Mormon and said "no other book is as important to my life and my testimony."  To wrap up my last few days in the Woodland ward, our apartment was fumigated for bed bugs and I did see a dead one after they allowed us back in to the apartment. I shook all of my clothes and belongings before I pac...