18 Months Done, But I’m Still Cooking

Hey Everyone,

I hit my 18 month mark this week and it feels great to meet that milestone. If you follow me on Facebook you've already read all of my feelings, thoughts and testimony about where I started and how I am doing right now. The gospel of Jesus Christ is true and I am grateful for this brief time in my life to be a full time missionary and share the message of Christ.  

I am continuing to train Elder Shaw and I am grateful for the opportunity and challenges it brings. We continue to move forward and he is learning and growing every week. 

We had our apartment inspected by the senior missionaries in our mission. Our oven had an overspray of oven cleaner on it but other than that we got a gold seal of approval so that's good news. I think I've been through about 15 of these inspections and know by now how it's going to go down. 

The entire district spent some Pday time here at our apartment. We have the largest apartment with a basement and we seem to be the most visited. It's good to be around these good missionaries and play games, do laundry and eat good food. P-day's are needed and necessary for all of us serving. 

We had some interesting finds and placed several Books of Mormon this week. We stopped and talked to a man who lives in his car. He was grateful for a gospel message and a copy of the Book of Mormon. We actually have another appointment with him this week. A young waitress was another find and placement of a Book of Mormon. We have another appointment with her this week also. Marsha is continuing to progress but her Aunt got sick and she had to cancel our appointment this week. We will meet with her later this week. Juan is a pretty large man that we met this week. He is interested and we hope to make contact with him again this week. We are continuing to teach Althea Gray and family. They have moved in with a family member and we have given them several job referrals from members. We also heard from a branch member who is in law that there might be some religious discrimination against Lori's daughter who stopped her baptism. We will see if that changes things. We also spent 3 1/2 hours out walking the streets one afternoon and met many people and shared several messages. One guy, named Holden, was very interested in hearing more and he was given a copy of the Book of Mormon. 

We met the daughter of the Marr family in our branch, her name is Kahlan Bailey, and she is my age. She will be going to college this fall and has made a few choices and decisions that have kept her away from Church. When we ate with the Marr family she attended and we shared a message on prayer. The spirit was strong and very powerful. Following the message Brother Marr gave a priesthood blessing to a less active member's son ( who was also there for dinner and our message on prayer). The feeling of the presence of angels surrounding us as the blessing was given was palpable. We all felt it. What a blessing it is to serve these good people of the Concordia Branch. I have really grown to love and appreciate these wonderful members. Sister Marr contacted me later and told me her daughter felt a stirring as we gave our message about prayer and she is interested in continuing to be taught the gospel so we will add her to our teaching list. 

I came across an inspirational quote by President Hinckley from long ago which I think applies to missionary work. He said:" Nothing happens in this Church unless you work. It is like a wheelbarrow. It doesn't move until you get a hold of the two handles and push. Hard work moves the work of the Lord forward, and if you have learned to work with real integrity it will bless your lives forever." So, even though 18 months of service has passed, I am still cooking out here in the mission field. 

Elder Mortensen 

Pictures this week:

study time

Tag and 3 quarters of mission complete 

Cake celebrations

Clear puzzle (if you saw my FB story)

Lunch with a member friend 

French toast any time of the day

In the street