“Just Keep Going—With Faith”

Hey Everyone,

Elder Carl B. Cook of the Presidency of the Seventy spoke during the Saturday morning session of General Conference. He taught that God can help individuals overcome discouragement and keep going--with faith. A few of the things he talked about were, "When faced with disappointment, painful experiences, personal inadequacies or other challenges, do not let discouragement overwhelm us."  "God will help individuals overcome discouragement and other obstacles if they look to Him, follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost, and just keep going--with faith." "When individuals feel weak or incapable, the Lord can strengthen their faith and increase their capacities."

I felt uplifted as I listened to all of the conference talks. I am grateful for the enlightenment and encouragement that I felt as a missionary to just keep doing the best I can in the situations I am put in. 

This week we had Zone Conference and were reminded by President Ames that our purpose as missionaries is not to have successful missions, but to "invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end." As missionaries, we have this Missionary Purpose memorized which is found in Preach My Gospel. President Ames gently reminded us that all missions and missionaries have different missions and we can't just count a baptism as a successful mission. While it's hard to accept at times, I know no effort is ever wasted. I have always shared this invitation and will always share this invitation.

In the past several weeks we have visited over 60+ people listed as grey dots in our area book. Only 1 person was interested and she is currently sick and we can't teach her until she is feeling better. 

I did send the link to General Conference to Andrew and he was able to watch a good portion of the talks before he had to go to work. He reported that he was impressed and felt good watching and listening to what was said. We continue to teach Andrew but will have to pass him off to the YSA elders soon. 

Our Stake President lives in our ward and his son just graduated from high school and we were invited over to their home for the party. While there we met a young 16 year old named Carson who asked us about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He asked us what we do as missionaries and he was interested in learning more. Because he is not 18 we need permission from his parents who will not give it. But, we did place a Book of Mormon with Carson and he was very excited to have the book of scripture. We explained what the Book of Mormon is and how it is another testament of Jesus Christ. He said he'd read it and so the seed has been planted. It might be a while before he can choose for himself what he would like to do but it was a great teaching moment for us this week. 

Our scheduled teaching appointment with Robert was cancelled by him at the last minute so we hope to teach him this week. 

For pday today our district went to Top Golf and had another good outing. We were able to shop and get our laundry and cleaning done. 

Another favorite talk this weekend was from Elder Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles who spoke about ministering. A few great insights he shared were: "Inspired ministering can bless families and individuals. It can also strengthen wards and branches. The Savior is the perfect example of ministering." 

Elder Mortensen

Pictures this week: 

Some meals I prepared

Top Golf with the District

Lunch party at the Stake President's home

A lake near our home

Platte City Zone