Do All Missionaries Eat Raw Turkey?

Hey Everyone,

First of all, I want to wish my mom a HAPPY BIRTHDAY today! She's the best mom and I love her very much. 

I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving! We had a fantastic Thanksgiving as a Zone. Each companionship was assigned a few items to bring. We were asked to bring mashed potatoes and drinks. One set of elders brought a RAW turkey. One set of elders brought a turkey with the plastic mesh still on the turkey--yup, I'm not lying. And one set of elders brought a very well done turkey that we all ate from. Haha...good times! I guess you could say this was a side dish type of Thanksgiving. We had permission to watch the Disney movie CARS and it was also the first day we were allowed to listen to Christmas music. 

After we ate and cleaned up, three companionships in our district went to a park and we pulled out a folding table and chairs and played UNO for hours. We actually had one UNO game that lasted over 30 minutes. That's the longest game of UNO I've ever played. We then moved the game to our apartment and you'll see a picture of us in today's email playing our classic UNO game. 

This morning we started our P-day off cleaning the apartment and then met my Uncle Alan for breakfast. He had business in Kansas City and flew in from SLC for the day. It was great to see him. He brought a gift box from my parents, and took me and Elder Paul shopping for our weekly groceries and then paid for them. Much appreciated and I loved seeing and hugging an extended family member for the first time since my mission started.  

Elder Paul and I have been working hard and found several people this week. In fact, we tied the Zone in finds this week so that's impressive. We also put Lori on date for baptism for December 17th. Transfers are December 15th so it remains to be seen how this will play out and if one of us will be transferred. The longer I am out serving the more I appreciate how the investigator works to prepare for their baptism day. It shouldn't matter which missionary does the actual baptizing, the blessing comes knowing an investigator took the step of baptism. It's a blessing to know that I've found, taught and helped investigators become converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

A few of the new finds this week are Emma and Gerald (not in the same family). We are really excited about teaching them the first few lessons in the coming days. 

We are connecting well with the Branch members and they are continuing to feed us and support us. We share messages with them as often as possible. One family who lives in our Branch has parents who live in the Woodland Ward which was my last ward before here. The Sharps (from the Woodland Ward) were visiting their daughter and they fed us dinner last night. Sister Sharp told me that the work and effort Elder Midgley and I did while serving in the Woodland Ward is still ongoing and flourishing. I was happy to hear that the seeds we planted are growing. That's the beauty of missionary work. 

This week I studied the book of Jacob. Please read that book again and really digest what is being taught. The purpose of Jacob's writing was to persuade everyone to come unto Christ. The book also covers the teachings between Jacob and his people, which includes the Parable of the Olive Tree--which is an allegory of the scattering and gathering of Israel. It almost seems that the moment that Nephi dies, the Nephites start to get wicked. Jacob prophesied about events which would be fulfilled at the end of the Book of Mormon, when the Nephites would have completely fallen away from God. The book has a powerful message for our day, please read it and ponder the teachings. 

Elder Mortensen

Pictures this week: 

Great bacon wrapped side dish

Our Zone Thanksgiving

Never ending UNO card game

The Battle of Lexington monument

Our apartment Christmas tree