A Few Years Back One Of The Apostles Came To Lumberton And Promised That There Will Be A Lumberton Stake. That Is What We Are Trying To Do Here

Dear family and friends,

We have had a real busy week this past week. We are teaching a lot of people right now. We have about 20 investigators so that keeps us very busy. With the sisters coming in we will be giving some of our investigators to them. We will also be receiving new investigators from the other Elders who are now going to focus more on the English work. We will actually have 9 missionaries in Lumberton because there will be a trio companionship. It is really crazy that there is so much work going on here. There is a lot of potential and 9 missionaries is not enough to fulfill all of the work that could be going on. A few years back, one of the Apostles came to Lumberton and promised that there will be a Lumberton Stake. That is what we are trying to do here, build it from a branch, to a ward, to a stake!

I also found out some other exciting news!! I am going to be training again! Elder Cluff is leaving and I have the opportunity to train. I am so excited and I think training is one of the funnest and rewarding things that I have done on my mission so far.

Our investigators are doing well. Oo Meh is still preparing to be baptized. It will either be on the 4th or 11th of May. She is coming to church and doing everything else she needs to in order to be prepared for that day. She is also very excited but also nervous. She is not sure if she wants all of those people watching her get baptized. Our other investigators are doing well. We are going to have the Sisters teach Beh Meh, Lu Meh and Da Meh now. Hopefully they will be able to soften their fathers heart so they will have permission to be baptized.

Here in Lumberton we have Family Home Evening with a lot of our investigators. It is always really fun because there is usually a big crowd. Yesterday we had two FHE's. The first was with Te Wa Lay and Ma Mehs family. It was really fun! We shared a message on how reading the scriptures together as a family will bring us closer together. After that Te Wa Lay fed us some really good food. We also played UNO with them. It is always really fun playing UNO with them because the Burmese get really into it. It kind of reminds me of my family. We also had FHE with Eh Taw's family. They are very funny. They have a great sense of humor and love to joke around with the missionaries. They are a very musical family so for FHE we usually play the guitar and piano and sing church songs. I really love it here and and am very happy that I have the opportunity to serve here. Lumberton is where all of the missionaries in the mission want to serve. Those who serve in Lumberton ask President to keep them here for a long time. I am truly blessed.

Now I will answer some of your questions. We do a lot of service for our investigators. A lot of it is interpreting between them and either the DSS or some other service that they need. We are around them a lot so we can understand their broken English fairly well. Because we speak to the Burmese a lot, we have to use a lot of broken English. Sometimes that broken English creeps into my conversation with English speaking members. It is a habit that I hope won't follow me into other areas. We usually have at least 4 investigators each week at church. There are usually 20-30 Burmese people there and about the same amount of English people. Our branch President is from Idaho. His name is President Riks, he has been really good for the branch because he also loves the people here. We do not get fed a lot here by members because there are 6 ( soon to be 9) missionaries and few active members. Although I have gained a weight, everything still fits me well. I think all of the weight is going straight to my legs, thankfully not my waist.

Congrats to Bri on the BYU scholarship! That is soo exciting. You are a real hard worker and are super smart! You will be a great missionary! Its also good to hear about everything that is going on back home. When do they call the new Stake Presidency?

Thank you for all of your support. I love you all. Have a great week and I really look forward to hearing from you next week.

Love Elder Mortensen