so much to say and so little time. literally we have so much work to do here in this new part of the area we got doubled into its unreal and the absolute best! seriously. we are running from appt to appt and finding prepared people left and right. we also are seeing less actives that we have never seen at church our past 3 months here coming to church after just one visit! we are involving the ward and making the steps necessary so they can come back and get the priesthood and get callings!
its hard to narrow down a few good moments so i will leave it to numbers. we had 5 investigadores at church and we have 7 on date. june is gonna lookin up :) we are so excited. Something that is cool about the mission is being able to rub shoulders with missionaries who are such spiritual giants. since we are in morristown, we have to exchange often when missionaries are sick and about to go home. So we had a sister from Brasil stay with us for 2 days. she served in the spanish program and she is such a work horse. i want her for a comp one day. she would tell us how they did missionary work in brasil and its was amazing to see how different the missions are world wide. we have the same purpose, but its quite different there. she said she baptized many without knocking a single door... what? hahah but anyway, she has dealt with major health (knee) probs for years and she still just works through it. she wants more than anything to complete her 18 months. i could tell when she would walk up stairs she would hold back tears but not once complained. she wouldnt even lip. she didnt want to impede the work by limping. (i love brasilians, she is so tough) it made me so grateful for the heath i have and for it permiting me to serve. i learned so much with her as we taught together and she told us about the tecniques they use in brasil. (she served there for 5 months, had surgery and then come the nj) I am praying she comes right back here.
We had a mission leader council where we were talking about changing the mindset of the mission. we set a baptismal goal for the months of june and people stared talking about how you have to do A. B. and C. in order to get a baptism and how people dont baptize for X and Y and the whole time something was bothering me. as i was looking around the room and saw the one of the very best elders in the mission (who happens to be my zone leader) who hasnt baptized his whole mission and goes home in one transfer. I mean seriously, you feel the spirit so strong when he speaks and walks into the room and you can just tell he works so hard by looking at his shoes! president posed the question, "what would Christ say to us if he were here as we discuss the new goal for baptisms this month" one elder raised his hand and said that Christ would tell us that we need to change our work ethic and went on to expound. okay folks. the hairs on my neck raised up. it was an electric, spirit yelling me my head "NO! Christ would not say that. Raise your hand sister mortensen and speak up" I normally dont speak too much at these. so i raised my hand and said that I think that Christ would simply remind us that he in the one in charge in this work. He is the Lord of the vineyard and we are his servants working along side him. when his disciples returned to fishing after he had ascended to His father, did he come back to tell them to change their work ethic?? NO WAY! He came back and asked his beloved disciple Peter if he truly loved him three times. I think Christ would ask us if we truly love him and are willing to trust him. If we trust him, than we know that HE knows what it will take for us to grow closer to him and come to know him. Baptisms will happen because its his work. but at the end of the day, he knows his elect and we are here to find them. as i was talking, i felt so overcome by the spirit and it was confirmed to me that Christ would say that. President stood up right after that and tearfully thanked me for what i said and powerfully closed the meeting with many promised blessings of what is to come in this mission.
Now a year ago, I couldn't have told you what he would say. But the greatest blessing and one that i will always treasure is coming to know my Savior. I truly love Him.
love you all!
Hermana Mortensen
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