This Past Week There Have Been Multiple Times When We Are Teaching And He Said "Its like you are reading my mind."

Hello everyone!

We had a fantastic week this week. It sounds like you had a great thanksgiving. Ours was great too! We ate dinner at a members home. It was sooooo great! It was just like being at home. The people we ate with are very kind and treated us like family. We had a good time eating and talking with them. I have met some of the nicest people here in Tabor City, that is why I love it here. Everyone is really down to earth and humble. We visited a few other families on Thanksgiving day and also did our weekly planning and other "office work" things. It was good to get some of our area book organized.

Tabor City is still doing great! Most of the people here are in their 60's or older. There is about 90 active members with 15ish youth and 8 in the primary. It is very small compared to other area's I've been in. Because we have a large area we have a car full time. I have not rode my bike since I've been here. Elder Persinger is great! So far we are working well together. Like I said before, he is a great singer and loves to sing any chance he gets. We have sang for a couple of the people we are teaching and they have all loved it so far!

The missionary work this week went really well. We did not find any new people to teach, but had great success with the people that we are teaching. R-- is doing great! We had some really, really good lessons this week. R-- is very intelligent, and understands everything we teach him. He usually has a lot of really thoughtful insight on the things we share with him. I learn a lot from his insights. In church we had learned about the temple and how we are able to do baptism's proxy for our deceased ancestors. He had a few questions that he said had been bugging him for a few weeks now. He had great concern for some family members that were good people, but were never baptized into the Lord's church. He wanted to know what happens to them. We were able to teach the doctrine behind the spirit world and help him come to know about the hope that is there for his family. He said he wants to get their names to the temple so he can "unlock the door" for them. This past week there have been multiple times when we are teaching and he said "its like you are reading my mind". The spirit has been very present in our lessons with him, it is great to see it work and help us discern his needs and teach the doctrine that he needs to understand. His girlfriend comes to church, but is not interested in getting baptized... YET... They have a 13 year old daughter J-- who also comes to church. We are working on them and trying to help them have more of an interest in the gospel. In church during our priesthood lesson R-- told everyone that he is going to get baptized and that he is fully committed to doing whatever it takes to get to that point. R-- is a man of his word and I know he will get baptized soon.

Do you remember Michael and Snow from Lumberton? I got some exciting news from the missionaries teaching them! Back when I was in Lumberton I had suggested that Snow name here future child after someone in the Book of Mormon. I found out on Friday that she did just that! She named her son Heleman! I was so excited when I heard that!

Its great to see that y'all are happy. I pray for you every day. I hope everything continues to go well this week. I hope you know that I love being a missionary. I love it more and more every day. Every day just gets better. I love y'all so much. Have a great week!

Love Elder Mortensen