Some Of the Most Lasting Impacts A Missionary Can Have In An Area Is Helping The Members Of The Church There Have A Testimony of Missionay Work

Dear family and friends,
 

This past week was an exciting week! We have been very busy lately and are teaching a lot of great people.

Wednesday we had our zone conference! It went very well! It is always fun having the whole zone together. We have a total of 40 missionaries in our zone including two senior couples, it is a big group! There was a lot of god things that we learned from everyone that taught. Elder Thornton and I taught about being more effective in our finding by following the spirit. It went really well! Our teaching involved role plays of helping members identify missionary opportunities and inviting them to share the gospel with them. It went really well! President Bernhisel taught us about a few different things. He taught us about our important responsibility to help local leaders establish the church in the area we serve. Some of the most lasting impacts a missionary can have in an area is helping the members of the church there have a testimony of missionary work.
 

The H-- and B-- families are doing great! They all passed their baptismal interview and will be baptized this Saturday! There are six of them that are getting baptized. Their names are: C--(16), C--(12), M--(12), O--(11), M--(9), and M--M--(9). They are all really awesome kids and are a lot of fun to teach. We got to talk to them and play basketball with them a little bit at the church during their interviews. It is going to be a really special day for this family and also an exciting day for the Hope Mills First ward. We have had a lot of good lessons with them over the last couple of weeks. It seems like in every lesson the last 20 minutes or so we answer all of their questions. They have a lot of questions! They will all make really good members of the primary and youth program.
 

The P-- do not live with the H--/B families. They are a separate household and are not related. I may have made it seem like they were related in my last email. The P-- are doing well! Brother P-- came to church and seemed to really enjoy it. Sister P-- has not come to church yet but is reading the Book of Mormon a little bit.
 

On Sunday we had what we call a Cottage Meeting. We met in Brother Catlett's home, he is the high councilman over missionary work in our stake. Our stake president President Beal and also President Lockhart his second councilor were also there, along with 20 or so other people. There were a few investigators and less active members in that group. We started the meeting off by all of the missionaries there singing I am a Child of God followed by an opening prayer. President Catlett then showed a Mormon Message and shared a couple thoughts on it. After that Elder Thornton and I shared a message on the enabling power of the atonement. To close up the meeting we heard testimonies from a few people, including Sister V--, who was baptized a few weeks ago! After it was all over we had refreshments and got to talk and fellowship with the people there. It was a great night! We are hoping to have more of those more frequently because it would be hard for someone not to join the church after coming to that meeting.
 

Those were the highlights from my week! It sounds like y'all had a good week as well! Are y'all excited for the winter? It has started getting colder here. As always its good to hear about all of the soccer games! Also about Jax's BYU pow wow. I do remember those being pretty fun and enjoyable!  Thank you all so much for your support and example. I hope you have a good week! I look forward to hearing from y'all next week!
 

Love Elder Mortensen