I Prayed With All The Energy Of My Heart To Have Charity Toward This Man

Hello everyone!

 

 

This week was great! We had a few unique opportunities this week that were great! Thankfully the weather hasn't been to bad so there were no hinderments to the missionary work.

 

 

We did a lot of work again with less active members this week. Thank you so much for sharing that experience you recently had mom. It makes me very happy when I hear of great member missionary work like that. Even though the things you did to help may have seemed small, that is exactly what someone needs in order to come back to church. They just need to feel the love of the members and their support and then they are more likely to return back. We have seen great success this week with a few less active members. B--  has now come to church 4 weeks in a row! It is amazing to see him make such a dramatic change in his life over the past few weeks. Another less active member named V-- also came! I think this makes two weeks in a row for her! When our branch mission leader read the report of our work we did this week he seems really happy that we are putting so much effort into reactivation.

 

 

This week we had a branch oyster roast/fish fry. It was soo great! There had to be close to 200 people there! We had a potential investigator family there, as well as a few other less active members. It was my first time having steamed oysters. They were really good! Overall it was a great night of fellowship and food! With that potential investigator family it was quite a miracle for them all to be there. The wife B-- really really wants to be a member of the church. She loves everything about it, but her husband does not have any desire to come to church. In the past he wouldn't go to any events that the church put on or anything. It was a miracle because not only did he come, but he really enjoyed it! He was able to see a few people that he recognized and make some new friends. We hope to teach their family soon!

 

 

We had the opportunity to eat with a few non members this week. A few days ago we talked to a nice lady when we were shopping. She had talked to missionaries before and was excited to see us again. She invited us over for dinner and we gladly accepted! The dinner was great! Her and her husband are wonderful people. She is a seminary teacher at a non-denominational church. She knew the bible incredibly well. Her husband was the same way. The whole time they were quoting scriptures as we talked about Jesus Christ. I learned a great lesson of charity that night. During our conversation after dinner, the husband started to share with us some anti-mormon comments. He went on and on about how some of the things we believed were wrong. As he was talking, at first I felt very frustrated, that he was disrespecting our beliefs. As it says in Moroni 7, I prayed with all the energy of my heart to have charity toward this man, because if I didn't, I might respond in a unpleasant way. As I prayed, my feelings of anger and frustration were turned to understanding and patience. I felt that because of that I was able to respond in a bold but Christlike way. In a very similar way with the preacher a few weeks, we told them that the only way to get reliable information about our church is to read the Book of Mormon with a sincere heart. It makes me sad that people base their opinions about us from information they receive from websites and books that are so unreliable that they couldn't even cite them in a high school level paper because they are not "reliable sources". At times like this, I am thankful for the spirit that bears witness of all truth, if we simply ask God with a sincere heart.

 

 

Elder Persinger and I also got to work on a pig farm this week. It was my first time. It was really crazy. There was hundreds and hundreds of pigs, which made for a very fowl odor. Ill send you some pictures. We had a great time with the member family afterwards. They fed us some really good tacos. They are a less active family so it was great for us to be there to try to strengthen them. We sure hope that they start coming to church. They are such wonderful people who live in such humble circumstances.

 

 

R-- is doing very well. He came to church this week! I think I told you of his little incident with a member a few weeks ago. He and the other member were able to talk at church and work things out. We feel like that was a big miracle, because previously R-- had been very upset at this member. I know that the spirit was there influencing him to love those whom he didn't necessarily want to love.

 

 

Elder Persinger and I will be staying together for another transfer! This will be the longest I've ever stayed with a companion. I am very excited for this upcoming transfer. We are going to continue to see a lot of miracles as we exercise our faith to the best of our ability. I know that God has been close to us these past transfers because of the optimism that Elder Persinger and I have felt despite difficult circumstances. I know that there are many more miracles to come this week.

 

 

I hope y'all have a great week! I love y'all so much!

Love Elder Mortensen

 

At The Pig Farm



At The Pig Farm
 

Wilmington Zone