November Rain

Hey Everyone,

We had a much better week and found a few people to teach. We met Keith, a grey dot in our area book. We were walking on the other side of the street one afternoon when a guy came out of his home and started yelling at us to come and talk with him. He is a large man and we didn't have time to fully evaluate the situation as we were right there. We didn't feel comfortable approaching him but we still did. After a brief chat we learned that he has met with the missionaries before and he already has a Book of Mormon. We will meet with him again this upcoming week. We also found Kinzer on FB and will continue to teach her. We dropped all of our other investigators. 

We found a family who are not interested in being taught but have asked us to help them by doing service in their yard. We have another service appointment for them this week. We also dug a long trench for a member for them to put a drainage pipe in. 

We went out with our Branch Mission Leader this week and went to a long list of members' homes only to find that over 50% of them have moved from the area. We are cleaning up the Branch membership list for the new Branch Presidency and we spend a lot of time helping to get through the list. 

We were fed multiple times this week and even had two lunch appointments yesterday to break our fast. We had enough food to last all week and we were very grateful. We spent time in members' homes after dinner sharing a message with them. I am grateful for the Morgan and Scott families and their willingness to continue to feed us--I really appreciate them. 

Our Trio grew to a Quint for several days this week. Our DL and his companion had heating and AC problems in their apartment and received permission from mission headquarters to stay with us for several days/nights until the problem was fixed. Five missionaries in one small apartment with one bathroom and a small kitchen would seem like a disaster but it was a blast. I enjoy being around people and so having an apartment full of elders was fun. 

Transfer news....Elder Waterlyn is being transferred and I am staying in the Concordia Branch with Elder Paul. It will be odd to go back to a single companionship after this past transfer. 

We had exchanges this week and the ZL spent a day with me and Elder Waterlyn. I made a pot of taco soup for all of us and they really liked it. 

Several days this week it rained. Several days this week we were out walking and got caught in the rain. Fun times. 

Earlier this week I finished the Book of Daniel. I learned that Daniel taught us how to fully live the gospel even when those around us may not want to, or if trials and circumstances in our lives make it hard to fully stay on the covenant path. I learned that remaining faithful to God brings about earned blessings. The story of Daniel and the Lions Den impresses upon me that when Daniel was thrown in the lion's den, because he was loyal and faithful to God and put his trust in God he knew he would be safe. Daniel knew that by keeping the commandments and being obedient that we can be blessed daily. 

Elder Mortensen

Pictures/Video:

Lap dog at a members house

80's Corvette

Purple lighted street

Caught in the rain while street finding

Moon picture

Quint pyramid 

November profile pic

Elder Waterlyn, Elder Lewis, and I during exchanges