Letter from President Mortensen

      I received the following letter today:

Week 39

On Thursday i hit 9 months and then on Monday will be 9 months from when i go home! Because yeah my flight will probs be on Wednesday the 27! i Can't believe it! It seriously still feels like a dream sometimes! I can not believe that i have been out for almost 9 months. 

I have to say i am so glad last week is done. It was probably the hardest week for me and my companion. She you know adjusting to missionary life and then me i was just feeling stressed and it was just a really stressful and hard week for the both of us. but we also saw so many miracles. Besides the lessons that we had with members we had a total of 23 lessons. This includes member presents, other lessons with investigators and less active lessons. It was such a good week. We also got more baptism dates! Olga for the 9 of may. But we just found out that she might be moving so we will have to see how that goes. And then the velasco family has a date for the 16th of may. Then last night we had a really great plan of salvation lesson with a family of 5 and they said yes to baptism but they didn't feel comfortable putting a date on it. But they are praying to know and so hopefully on Thursday when we see them again we will be able to talk to them a little more about it. The kids will definitely be baptized we just have to work on the parents. i love the family so much! 

so we have some really good news!! We get to go to the temple this week! President gave us permission to go with Lourdes (the lady whose daughter died) we are going with her on Wednesday and since we are going in the morning he told us it doesn't have to be our p-day!! We were so happy! 

We finally got in with an investigator who i had never met before! and she is so sweet! We are so excited to start teaching her again! We finally found a less active who is in the English ward but she doesn't speak much English so her husband asked us to go visit her about a month ago and we finally found a time when she was home! She just has so many questions on the book of Mormon and if the gospel is really true. We had a really good lesson and we are hoping for the best with her! We magically had time to weekly plan on Thursday. The past couple weeks we've had so many appointments that we couldn't plan till Saturday or so. But we got to do it and it was so good! Friday my baby went on her first sleep over! She went over to Louetta and Buno who is the other STL came here for exchanges. sometimes i think i'm bad luck for exchanges because on every exchange i go on all the appointments cancel. We went to the relief society activity and we were only planning on being there at the beginning because we didn't think that any of our investigators would come but we got one of them to come and so we stayed for the whole time. It was so awesome! And then we finally saw a less active and had a really good lesson with her! she came to the first 2 hours of church on Sunday! Normally if she comes it's only for the first hour! but this time she stayed for two and she told us she was going to come to relief society but when we turned around she was gone. Sunday seriously was the best day ever. We've decided to fast every Saturday night till Sunday after church and we definitely saw the blessings from it. We came home and broke our fast and then we went to our dinner appointment and then we got in with less actives who we haven't been able to see in a long time and we had a great lesson with them, we got in with our family of 5 investigators and taught them the plan of salvation and we were outside but then the rain/ice/hail storm started so we finished it inside. They asked so many good questions it was amazing! then we went and saw olga she said she didn't have time to have a lesson but we managed to sneak on it. we talked about faith and asked her to read a scripture and then we got in with another inactive and it was the most powerful lesson i have had with him. he started crying and talking about how he knows he needs to change. After we said the first prayer i felt i should ask him how his prayers are and he told us that he hasn't been praying and that he feels satans powers are just too strong. I had found a scripture earlier that day when i was looking at the tabs that i have in my book of Mormon and i found one about prayer and so when he said that i was able to reflect back onto that scripture and we shared it with him and he really liked it. it's really sad because he served a mission but his family who some are members but they don't like the church and so they give him a lot of problems about it. But he has such a strong testimony and that was the best lesson i have had with him. It was a huge blessing. Yesterday everything we wanted to do worked out. We saw everyone but one person who we had planned to see and the only reason why we did see the other person was because we ran out of time. 

Like i said in the first paragraph this week was a little rough for the both of us emotionally. But we made it through. God really does inspire companions. I am able to use some of my experiences and advice I've received to help my companion. She tells me almost every day that she doesn't think any other missionary could have been with her. I've struggled with some of the same things that she is facing right now. But she's never faced them before so she doesn't know what to do. On Saturday (which was a rough day for both of us) she finally talked to me about it and we had a nice talk while we were driving. It made both of us feel better. It seriously is like De Ja vu because so many things that we talk about is what i talked about with my trainer. It's so great! I've been able to notice when things aren't going so well but i'm just trying to make sure she knows i love her and that i'm always here for her and when she's ready i know she'll talk to me. it's definitely just like being a real mother. haha speaking of which before our exchange on Friday we were talking and she was saying "man what am i going to do with out my mom tonight" and i was like "what" and she just looked at me and then i realized what she had said haha she calls me hermana mom sometimes because i'm hermana m. So i'll call her mija. haha it's so much fun. We really have a lot of fun together. 

We've had a few small struggle together but i know that it is just going to get better from here because we've been able to talk about them and work things out. 

so no one came to the Spanish ward but Laura's kids went with a member in the English ward which was really awesome. Over all i would say our investigators are doing well. We just have to really work on them progressing especially those who have baptismal dates. Speaking of which Rosa who has a bap date totally disappeared to Peru last week. Her son told us and he said she should be back this week. So hopefully we will get back in contact with her really soon. 

Over all this week was so good. I definitely learned a lot! I am so grateful for the privilege that i have to be a trainer and to work with a new missionary and to help her learn how to become the best missionary she can be. I love seeing the change in people's life! This week is going to be pretty exciting. We got a lot of plans coming up this week! 

haha right now at the library there are 12 computers in a rectangle and all but 1 are filled up with missionaries. We are taking over the world!!

When we were driving here to the library we were listening to conference talks. And one of them was called "it's true isnt' it? then what else matters" i don't remember who the speaker was but this gospel is true and as long as we follow it, nothing else matters. The storms can come the rain can come. But this gospel is true and God is our loving heavenly father and he is always here to help us when we need him. i know that the promise in moroni 10:3-5 is true. I have seen it in my life and i have seen it in the life of the people i am teaching. I am so grateful to be out here on a mission at this time in my life. there is nothing else i would rather be doing. I hope you are all doing well. and remember there has to be rain before there can be a rainbow!

#graciasaqueelvive 

yo se que este iglesia es verdadera. Dios es nuestro padre celestial y nos ama. El sabe todo. y siempre esta aqui por nosotros. Podemos recibir mucho consuelo cuando leemos las escrituras y orar sobre de las cosas leemos. Dios es su padre, Jesucristo sufrio para usted. Nunca olvide esto. 

Cuando ponemos nuestra fe en dios todo esta posible!!! Nunca olvide que dios le ama! Dios es siempre con nosotros, tengamos que buscar por el. le amo mucho! Gracias por todo de su apollo!

P_day! We went to a golf course and played golf

P Day cont-- we did some other fun things and then we ended the day at chick fil a! yumm!!!

haha this sign! Beware of the dog and it's a little cute puppy!

Yes i held another bunny :)

we got soaked one night running from our car to our apartment

I love this street sign!

The sky was so pretty!!!

well the other day we had a huge ice/hail storm...looks like snow!!! Closest thing I'll get

we washed our car today! We brought soap and water down from our apartment and cleaned our car

#soaked

 

It's a....Girl!!! Week 38

So I've basically made it through my first pregnancy (mission talk folks, not a real one). My baby was born a couple weeks before a full term pregnancy of 9 months (when you train someone on your mission they are your 'baby'). I'm super excited to be training! And i know that it is going to be great! Next week is my official 9 months!!! I'll have to think of something creative to do since I've already taken baby pictures!

Rupp was sad to go but I think she is pretty happy where she is at now. She is with hermana Woodard and they are finishing up a training of a missionary who has been out 1 transfer. They combined 2 areas and so they have a ton of work right now. Monday was pretty crazy trying to say goodbye to everyone. We left the house super early and then went and saw everybody that we could. 

So Carbajal and Gayler came to transfers and they came to oakcrest with me. We went and saw an investigator and we taught a lesson to her, and then we went back to my apartment and I finished cleaning some stuff, they both fell asleep while I was cleaning, haha. We wrote notes to hermana Bohn and then decorated her desk. We were all hungry after so we went and got pupusas. The Rodriguez had their baptism interview and it went really good! We taught English class that night and then we drove back to Hafer got their car and drove up to the woodlands for the night. I had a little bit of a panic attack and it's a good thing I was with carbajal because she was able to talk to me. But because I had a panic attack I couldn't sleep and so I didn't go to bed till 430 Wednesday morning. On Monday night I was up talking with rupp and so I went to bed at 1. So, in 2 days i got about 7 hours of sleep total.  On Wednesday we went to a farm and did some service. I got to help feed the horses and lead them to their stalls. I got to have a really cool experience I got to put the halter on one of the horses and hold him as still as I could while she put medicine in his mouth and then gave him a shot. it was so sad he ran away as soon as I took the halter off. Another horse really wanted the hay that we had on the cart and so using his nose he pushed like half of it off. It was so funny. We then went back to their house and changed. We all ended up taking a nap. Mainly me because I was really tired. We slept for about 1-2 hours. It was really nice and then we finished changing and getting ready and then we went to English class in the woodlands. I got to see Hugo and Edilma! I was so happy to see them! I got to talk with them a little bit. One day they will be baptized! I have faith! I got a blessing from someone in the woodlands ward just to help calm my nerves about training. We then made two music videos in the car with the elders and they were hilarious! Then we went back to the house and planned and took baby pictures haha those were so funny I was laughing so hard. Especially when they wanted to make them as awkward as possible. That was a blast! then we stayed up late talking and laughing. 

Then on Thursday morning at 915 we were at the training and the split us up and the trainees went to one room and we stayed with president and talked with him a little bit. There were only 2 Spanish hermanas coming in. So i mean i felt pretty special and good that i had been chosen to train. The other hermana that trained has trained so many other times. I've been out 9 months and never trained and yet I was still chosen at this time to train. It made me feel pretty good! We then got our companions and I love hermana Bohn. It's pronounced Bowen.   She's kind of from a couple different places. She was born in Idaho, and has lived in New Mexico and California. Near San Diego. 

How’s her Spanish?  Her Spanish is super good. She was supposed to come out Last July when i came out but she got injured and so she had to wait. So she had a really long time to practice Spanish and in that time she read the book of Mormon in Spanish. so she is pretty good at Spanish. And her teaching is really good. haha man she was already taking over and starting lessons on her first day here. I remember my first week i barely spoke! She is so great!

How have things gone with her the past few days? It's been really good. she is such a sweet heart and is so ready to work. We have made so many good goals for this transfer. Really I think I might learn more from her than she will learn from me. I'm definitely learning different ways to work and how to really work harder and be productive. it's a little stressful training because I'm so scared to let her down or..i don't know how to explain it. I've been out longer and so i know that when you knock doors and if people tell you to come back they might just be being polite. And then when you try to visit them again they ignore you. I'm just trying to find the balance of telling her how a  mission is without making it sound bad. But it's going so good! i love her to death and she's already told me multiple times how grateful she is that I'm her trainer. 

 Is it weird being the ‘senior’ comp? it's a little weird yeah, because I'm trying to figure out some things by myself now. But really we are both in this together and she knows that. She says she doesn't want me to have to drag her around and so she's working as hard as she can. I'm so grateful to be training her. i am defiantly going to be learning a lot this transfer. 

Did you have your baptism on Saturday?  Yes! and it went great! Rupp was able to come! The Elders, Bohn and I sang a child's prayer in Spanish and the spirit was so strong! So many people showed up to this baptism! how lucky is my companion! Her first week in the field and she already had a baptism!

On Thursday we invited one of our investigators to be baptized and she said yes! Right now her date is for May 9th! We have a lot to work on with her but hopefully it will all work out! She was going to come to church yesterday but she got sick so she couldn't come! we have two appointments set up with her this week so hopefully we will be able to help her move forward a little more! I extended the baptismal invitation and it was the first one I have ever extended! My companions have all done the other ones so it felt really good to invite someone myself! We did a lot of tracting Thursday night and we met a couple potentials so that was pretty awesome! We  had district meeting Friday and that was really fun. By the time we left it was down pouring rain. We got soaked just by walking to our car. the member who we were going to eat with canceled but she gave us money to go eat so we took some time and we went to Denny and I got the peanut butter cup pancakes. it was so good! I took the eggs, hash-browns and bacon home and ate it for breakfast the next day. We went and saw one of the potentials we met Friday night and we taught the restoration. it went really good. After we were done both hermana Bohn and i felt that we had met him before and that he seems so familiar. We have another appointment with him this week so hopefully that will be good!

Saturday we spent most the day planning because we had to do weekly planning. it took about 3.5 hours. But we made some really good goals and talked about all of our investigators and the people we need to see this week. We had the baptism and that was really awesome! the spirit was so strong. We tried to go visit Lourdes but she wasn't home. we caught frogs though! It was so much fun!

Sunday was a normal Sunday. We really wanted to try to find someone to go to the temple tours with us but after we called the world no one was able to come. we went to visit a member and try to get referrals and i had a feeling to look at the phone and we had a missed call and a couple texts from a member saying that her mom (who isn't a member) wanted to come to the temple tours. So we wrapped it up with the members we were at and we drove to the temple. It was so great! We had been praying all day that we would be able to find someone to come with us. We made a goal to start inviting members to invite their friends and get more than one person to come with us for the tours next month. Let's do it! Every morning when we wake up we shout "the field is white! let's harvest it!" we have  miracle wall where we write a miracle every day. it's so good! i'm so excited for this transfer! i'm especially excited to be working with hermana Bohn. She is so eager to work as hard as she can. I love her to death!

I can't wait for mothers day! it's going to be so great! 

Aww i can't wait to have a webkinz night with zurgy too (Shay is the best big sister and is always have 'special' nights with her sibs--Zurgy=Zane)! He is such a sweet heart!

I love that coley sleeps in my bed! I miss all of you and I love you all so much!!!

Love this old man!

We all have the same dress!

in mission terms this is my family haha my papi mami brother and sister

hermana Haslam!

Bye hermana Rupp!

Service on the farm :) Haslam is now in my zone!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the  horse that i got to put a halter on, hold him while he got medicine and while he got a shot. It was a great experience! Poor horse ran away once we let him go

​This little boy became my new best friend!​

Grandma, Aunt Mother Daughter :D

Baptism!!!

This baptism was about 10 years in the making

We caught frogs! my camera died right after i got the picture so we weren't able to take a better one but we will soon!

Blue Crepes to end our fast

Houston Temple

Probably the most disturbing picture I've ever seen!  --Aly

Happy Easter! Week 37

I'm so glad you liked the picture! Lourdes always tells us that if we ever want to send a picture or a small message to our parents she will gladly do it and so we took her up on the offer and sent a picture :) Her son is on a mission  in Washington. He left around the same time i did. Her daughter died at the end of January. Her brother was sick and she drank something out of his cup and then she got sick and then like two days later she died. We don't really know what happened but it was not expected.

Yup, Rupp is leaving, so is elder mitchell, Hermana Cross, Hermana maxwell and Elder Morgart. Murdock and I both want to train. And Carbajal thinks that I will either train or Haslam will come here. But really anything could happen. We'd know tonight if we are training...supposedly. But we will see, what ever God needs to happen will happen.

Yes I got the package! I love it all! Last night we took pictures with the lady bug and butterfly headband. I loved the skirt I wore it on Saturday to conference and the other hermanas really liked it. It is so cute! Yeah it fits me but I just can't gain any weight. Last I checked...about a week ago, I really haven't gained much but my stomach has definilty expaned. ughh And I've been really bad at working out. I need to start doing that again. My only goal weight wise is to not be in need of buying bigger clothes.

I would love to have my own copy (Meet the Mormons)! that would be super awesome! In a few weeks we are doing a missionary activity with our ward and I think that is the movie we are going to watch. It's just an activity where the members can invite their friends and maybe we can get some referals from that.

Sounds like conference was a lot of fun! I'm so jealous  you got coffee cake! MMM I was thinking about that on Sunday. But it's ok we got handmade tortillas, scrambled eggs with some other stuff in it, bacon, beans, and fruit. :) but I can't wait till next April when I'll get coffee cake again!

That's so nice that she is so willing to take the kids places! I'm so happy about that. I will definitely pray that all will be well! (her bros and sis are on spring break and now that I'm working it will be interesting to see how they do.)

hmmm this week..haha where do I begin...we had some interesting moments this weekend, but i'll just start from the beginning of the week. On Monday we went to a park and played socccer and the louetta sisters threw a surprise party for Mitchell. His birthday was on Wednesday on April fools haha anyways we had pizza and cake and then we played with waterballoons. It was so much fun! our dinner appointment canceled but they ended up giving us some money instead so we went to Chick-fil-a. i love chick-fil-a so much! It is the only place i like grilled chicken sandwhiches. I try it other places and it doesn't even compare.

On Tuesday we finally saw one of our investigators who we haven't seen since the end of February. That was interesting. Her brother is a JW (jehovah witness) and she has been having those missionaries come and see her too and since we haven't seen her in a while it's really created a lot of confusion between the two religions. I learned a lot about JWs in this visit. She told us that she doesn't like the book of Mormon. (a few weeks ago in zone meeting we learned how to act when an investigator tells you that, basically you tell them it's your fault which in some cases it could be. tell them you didn't teach it very well. and you are supposed to be really sad) so anyways after she finished talking, it was seriously like a brick to my heart. I just looked at her and I told her that we were so sorry and that we haven't been good teachers and we haven't explained things well. We asked her if we could restart and re teach the things again so that it can help her more. she agreed to it. I've always known i have a testimony on the book of Mormon but sometimes i just wonder how strong it is. With this experience that i had I know that i have a strong testimony. Because i literally felt my heart break when she told us that she doesn't like the book of Mormon. It's always nice to have those experiences that help strengthen your testimony even more. 

I made cake pops for Mitchell for his birthday. I ate some of them haha they were good.

Wednesday was April fools, the only thing i did to my comp is that I put food coloring in something that she eats, but she hasns't noticed it yet because she hasn't eaten it!!! So that was a big fail! since it was mitchells birthday we ran to the store and picked him up a few things. and then we went and decorated their apartment door and then visited people. We went to a members house to eat and the elders were way late. but we ate and had cake and it was fun. We then all ran over to another members house, Murdock blindfolded Mitchell while they were driving so he didn't know where they were going, we got there first and so we got with the family and hid in the house and once the elders came in we yelled surprise! We had more cake and we played pin the tail on the donkey and we did it multiple times and all three times i got it in the same exact spot! how does that happen??? i was blindfolded!! So one thing Hispanics do that I think is super cool and i want to do it when i get home. They take eggs and crack it so it is in half they fill it with either confetti or flour and then you put tap on the bottom and then it the birthday person in the head with it and crack it over them. at the second house we all got 3 and we had a fight with them outside and it was so much fun!

Thursday nothing exciting happened. We were stuck in traffic most of the day because we went up to magnolia and we got stuck in traffic on the way there and on the way back and then after heading to a lesson after English class. That was fun.

Friday...oh man we ate 4 times. After district meeting we went to see an investigator and they gave us pie, and then we went to a less active and they gave us ribs and something else, then we went to our dinner appointment and we went to fudruckers, and then we went to our investigator and we ate seviche. I don't know how to spell it but it is the most disgusting thing ever. At least the way that people from Peru make it. Because people from mexico say they make it differently. it's uncooked talapia. well it's in lemon juice and they say it cooks it..but it doesn't. and there were huge pieces of onion in it. Rupp managed to put most of hers in a napkin but I ate it all. we both felt yucky all weekend and I don't think my stomach has recovered just yet.

Saturday was conference and it was super awesome!! We went to the stake building in Louetta and it was just us missionaries there no one else was. During the break we ran to the mall and then picked up lunch for us and the elders and watched the second half all together but this time there was a young couple in there and it was just really funny. we had to run to the mission office after to drop off our gas receipts, and then we went and got pupusas from a pupusaria. I need to learn how to make pupusas. It's so funny sometimes being the only white people in a restaurant like that. The waiters when they speak Spanish to us almost do it mockingly like testing us to see if we understand them, and like everyone stares at us. but haha oh well. Ok so here are the two most interesting things that happened Saturday. When we were driving back to an appointment we saw we had three missed calls from a private number. All one minute apart. They started calling again, Rupp answered and it was just quiet for a minute and then all of a sudden this lady gets on the phone and yells "you're going to die Bi#######. We both flipped out and Rupp hung up the phone and a minute later the phone started ringing again but stopped before we could answer it. But don't worry we haven't received anything else like that. It was jut really weird. Then once we got to the trailer park where our investigator lives, we parked across the street like we normally do. (outside the trailer park) and we prayed and we were about to get out when this guy drives up next to our car and motions for rupp to roll down the window she did, and he was really creepy just smiling at us and asked if we were looking for someone we said no, and then we asked is it ok if we park here (there is a little office building) and he said like two times "yes it's fine, you can park here" then he drove down the street. we both looked at each other and i started the car again and we drove into the trailer park by our investigators house. Haha we were both weirded out. But don't worry! We are safe i promise!! 

Sunday we woke up to a religious group across the street from our apartment singing christian songs. at 630 with a microphone. It was so loud! It was so funny though. We watched conference at lourdes house, we got breakfast and it was super fun. We then stayed after hanging out with her younger son Daniel and he turned on big hero six so we saw a little bit of that. And then a member called us and told us the elders were over then and talking about transfers and she wanted us to come over so we left and went over there. We ate dinner with them and talked and then we got the call that mitchell and rupp were leaving. Super sad but it will be good! 

Today we are having a BBQ with our district and then we are saying goodbye to a ton of people. 

 How are your investigators? our investigators are good. The baptism is this saturday!! finally!!! We are so excited. None of our investigators are progressing besides the two getting baptized. Hopefully we will be able to figure something out soon. 

 Do you ever hear about Hugo anymore? i know that the elders teach him on saturday but i really haven't asked Carbajal about him. I should though...she called earlier and i was going to ask but then our elders called and so we hung up. I'll ask her tomorrow when i see her.  

I thought i opened my call friday night?  was it Saturday? I don't remember haha. :) but i can't believe it's been a year and I've already been gone for almost 9 months! I am so glad that i decided to serve too!! It's seriously been the best decision of my life. I feel I've changed so much. When my companions hear me talk about what i looked like or what i did at home they think i am a completely different person. They all say that no one is going to recognize me when i get home. I found a picture from before my mission and holy crap...i do look different. I have grown so much on my mission and i am only going to grow more! *hopefully spiritually and not side to side or outward...haha* but anyway it seriously has been so great! (This Saturday marks one year since Shayln opened her call--4/11--and yes, last year that date was a Friday.)

I love you!!! I hope this week is great! I can't wait to tell you about my new companion next week! Maybe this week we will go see Lourdes and i'll have her send a picture and another message :) that way you can know sooner! I love you so much!!!

PS you know how I said mitchell was getting transferred...well this just shows how fast president changes his mind. He's not leaving anymore!! haha that is super interesting!

visiting the demer family​

decorating the door

Bunny!!

Bunny!!

the confetti egg

Elder Mitchell's birthday party

we live in front of the fire station

trip to magnolia

trip to magnolia

trip to magnolia

pupusas!!

dying eggs!

my eggs!

having fun with the spring stuff :)