Monday, December 16, 2013

Yes, The Weeks Are Flying By, But That Is Because Everyday Just Gets Better and Better

Hello!


This week was a great one! Yes the weeks are flying by, but that is because every day just gets better and better! Everything in Tabor City is going well. I still love everyone here. Elder Persinger and I spoke in Sacrament meeting. Elder Persinger did a wonderful job! He spoke about how one of God's favorite things to do is be merciful, especially to those who least expect it. He shared some stories from his life and had a very powerful talk. I spoke on missionary work and how when our understanding of the Atonement increases, our desire to share the gospel will also increase. It went pretty well and one thing is for certain- the spirit was very strong in that Sacrament meeting.


We had a variety of great experiences this week. We were trying to contact a former investigator and decided to knock of a few doors around her apartment to find someone who would let us in. The first door we knocked on was M--'s. She is in her 20's and has 2 little kids who were a lot of fun! Unfortunately we were not able to go inside because there was not another man home, but we did get to have a good conversation with her about the gospel. She seemed very excited to talk to us, so did her kids! We are really excited to be able to teach her this upcoming week! After we were done talking to her, we knocked on the next door. The first thing that the man said when he opened the door was "come on in!" We were surprised but did just that. Turns out that he is a Catholic priest/monk named Father W--. He is a very nice man, we had a good conversation with him about the church and also about his beliefs. He is not Roman Catholic but is Anglican. There is not a lot of local members of the church here close, so he does a lot of his "church and work" via Skype and phone. He was very thankful for the time we were able to talk with him. We invited him to come to church with us, and HE DID! It was awesome. It was funny to see peoples reactions when they saw him come in his priest clothing (I can't remember what they are called). He said that he really enjoyed it. We hope he comes again.


It rained a lot this week. We were driving home on a particularly long day of work and it was pouring, and pouring rain. Right as we were about to get home, we saw a lady on the road trying to clear the road of some tree branches that had fallen. We got out to help here and shared a little bit about what we do as missionaries. Hopefully we will be able to teach her soon, but if not it was a great opportunity to help someone in the rain that night.


The Christmas season has been great so far! We have a Christmas multi zone conference up in Fayetteville tomorrow that I am really excited for! Brother Warren is going to be going with us to that! Elder Persinger and I have been taking the opportunity to sing Christmas carols to the people we visit. Everyone really enjoys it when we do that and it is a good way that we can bring the spirit into peoples homes. I am very grateful to have a companion who can sing!


Work with the members here in Tabor City is doing well. Our branch mission leader was gone this week though. He is in his 50's and has a great family. We are still trying to get in to teaching the part member families. I'm not sure exactly why a lot of them have not joined. There is a lot of anti-Mormon views out here. Not everyone has them but a lot of people have some very false ideas about the church. The people here are very very nice, but are oftentimes closed minded when it comes to religion.


Well, thank you so much for writing. I hope y'all have a great week preparing for Christmas and everything else. I pray for you often and am very thankful for your support.


Love Elder Mortensen

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