"Know The Truth And Stand For It"

Hello Everyone,

Another week of missionary work has come and gone. We had some great encounters this week and I'm grateful for the time I have remaining as a full time missionary. 

I found a new investigator while making cold calls. Blake is very interested in learning more about the gospel of Jesus Christ but he lives outside of our area and we will have to transfer him to sisters serving in his area. 

This week we spent many hours in service as we cleaned all of the trash and weeds from a multisports complex. It took us over 3 hours but the complex looks a lot better and we hope the community enjoys the cleanliness.

We also were called by a ward member who is putting a hot tub behind their home. They called us to remove rock and a weed barrier and then to dig a round hole where the hot tub will be placed. We worked for almost an hour moving rock, shovel by shovel full and then we removed the weed barrier and the ward member came outside to inspect our work. He took a tape measure and decided the area he asked us to clear wasn't large enough for the hot tub and asked us to start digging and removing rock and the weed barrier in another area of his yard. We did it but thought it might have been a great idea for him to really know where the hot tub would work before we spent so much time and effort in clearing the spot. We finally cleared the second option and we were told that was sufficient. All in the day and life of missionary service. 

While we were tracking we stopped and talked to a gal named Mariella and she shared with us her love of scriptures. We shared several with her and then I asked if she would be interested in a Book of Mormon and she accepted a copy. 

We had an amazing lesson with Jordyn. We taught lesson 3, The Gospel of Jesus Christ, and she absolutely loved the teaching. I was able to share my witness of the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ and felt the sweet, comforting blanket of the Holy Ghost testifying what I was sharing is true. 

We had dinner at the Hastings home and Kara was there. We weren't able to give a lesson that evening but we invited Kara to the devotional by President and Sister Oaks last night. We all watched it at the Bishop's home and she really loved the messages shared. This week the Hastings are meeting with Kara's parents and officially introducing themselves and will discuss the gospel and baptism. We will see how things go and move forward accordingly. 

We dropped Jose and Marvin due to lack of interest. 

We had a lesson with John fall through. We found John about 10 days ago and had a follow up appointment with him. He was home but said he was leaving for an appointment. By the way, John has the same voice as Sean Connery so that's something. 

Saturday I had another exchange with Elder Shaw (my greenie) in North Kansas. We spent the day doing FaceBook work and checking in with members. His area has more teaching opportunities than Hodge Park does so it was good to have a change of pace for a day. 

This week we were invited to our ward youth night activity where ward members talked about their professional careers and what it took to get their jobs and what they do in their jobs. It was interesting to hear from a ward member who is an architect and builds stadiums. Another member is a chocolatier at Ghirardelli chocolate company and that was fascinating to hear about his job. 

We only had one ward to attend on Sunday because the ASL sister in the other ward was out of town so we weren't needed.

We had a call set up with an investigator named Brian who didn't pick up when we called. We will try him again this week. 

Yesterday we had an early dinner with the Parko family. They have a dog feeding contraption that was hilarious. They have a dog feeder in one room and a green foot pad in another room. The dog goes to the foot pad and presses the button and a doorbell chime goes off alerting him that food has dropped in the other room and he can go and eat. The dog must have gone back and forth for over 10 minutes until his allotment of food was gone. I took a video and will share it. 

Today we spent the day doing our intense early morning boxing workout, then we played pickleball for hours, shopped, cleaned our apartment, and are back working again. 

Last night we had the great opportunity to gather with ward members and listen to President and Sister Oaks' devotional. One of the things they shared was the importance of "Know the truth and stand for it." They gave guidance for marriage and dating and told us that Heavenly Father has a plan for His young adults. President Oaks shared a scripture from the Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 10:19 which says: "For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost." My takeaway was that the truth was spoken last night. Guidance and direction was given. I had answers to questions that I had been praying about. I really enjoyed the devotional and invite all of you to take time to watch and be uplifted by the messages shared.

Elder Mortensen

Pictures this week: 

Brother Campbell our boxing instructor

Cheesecake a ward member's daughter made us, she's the gal in the corner of the picture

The pond by the sports complex we cleaned trash

Dog eating video

Elder Shaw exchange and driving by the Kansas City Temple at night