Week 13 in the Field

"We`ve had an interesting time with these past 2 weeks because in each of them we have found 7 new investigators. The hardest part about it is turning them in to progressing investigators - like we found a family my first week here and then the time we had an actual lesson with them... they dropped us. So that was lame, but we are super excited with these investigators we are finding! The spirit of Christmas totally has a lot to do with it. We have continued to share our spiritual thought about the gift of Jesus Christ for us and so I have been struggling to find ways to turn it from a non-denominational Christmas message to hey, you should learn more about the gospel of Jesus Christ. It sounds fairly easy to do.. but for some reason it has been tricky. However last night it was really cool because we were talking to this family and were teaching the littler kids about Jesus Christ and the bible and the older siblings were helping us and it was cool because then the older sister asked us what Church we were from - so we told them and then she was like ``oh I don`t know too much about that Church`` to which obvioulsy we were like ``perfect! That`s why we are here!

"I haven`t heard the infamous èh` basically at all on my mission - but last wednesday when we did a split I went to kirkland (so the west island of montreal) and I heard it quite frequently."

Week 12 in the Field

"THis week has been a fun one that is for sure! It was crazy being transferred... but it worked out and I am loving Valleyfield! So Valleyfield is the name of the area, but we actually cover a bunch of littler towns like Saint-Lazare, Vaudreuil-Dorion, Valleyfield, Rigaud, Hudson... and a few more. They are all pretty small and it reminds me a lot of La Grande or Klamath because it is largely a farming community.

"The Church is relatively small actually. We cover two units - the St. Lazare branch is English and then we cover the Valleyfield Branch which is French. The goal for the Valleyfield Branch is to have an average attendance of 50 members by the end of next year. and it is bigger than the St.Lazare branch. Unfortunately, french people aren`t too receptive to our message, so most of our investigators <(all but 2)are English. But French is coming along still fine. I usually make the calls to members of the French ward and for the most part I get what they say. It`s exciting, that is for sure!

"So it has been fun because for some reason or another, people here know german. Ha I had written on my planner `Dem wahren shoenen guten`` and so it was fun to show them that and see if they knew it! Ha it was hard trying to explain what that meant in french because I know it best in English. To the True, The Beautiful, The Good - I think it is something like ``a la vrai, la belle, le bon`` but I definitely felt silly trying to explain that yesterday."

Week 11 in the Field

"So this week was pretty good! Unlike last week, we were able to have our Baptism! It was a super neat experience that I had to baptize Chelsea myself. She is a great girl and when she came up our of the water she was just beaming! Her little sister and her little brother were both just so giddy and happy for her throughout the baptismal service! It was really neat because the font wasn't warm... it wasn't cold, but it was a long shot from being warm, however when she was asked if it was warm she was like "yeah, totally." ha Thank you for the spirit!

"First off, to Aunt Linnie and Grandpa I wish a happy birthday! It was really funny having my birthday yesterday. Ha first one away from home! So some funny things that happened were among these: I had saved the cards that I had received during the week and opened them up at 6:30 after I woke up. I opened up the big one from mom and dad only to find beach music playing. haha it scared my comp on the couch and also reminded him that it was my birthday. Ha it was such a funny card! Ha the only mention to my birthday/happy birthday he gave me was around 7 am "Hey birthday boy, are you gonna take a shower first?" hahaha And then everything else was normal. It was really fun because at church, Soeur Pace showed up since she had servec in Hochelaga too. That was a fun time seeing her and her mom again. Then in the English branch I gave a talk! Ha it was way fun. I made my talk about covenants with the intention of it being for Chelsea... but she didn't show up. Oh well. It was still fun. As I was contacting on the metro after church, somehow the fact that it was my birthday got brought up with this one lady and she was incredulous that I would be working on my birthday! Ha "you should be taking it off! it's your birthday" Ha to which I said, "uh.. I guess, but I'd rather be doing this work anyways!" ha so that was good. Then we went up to Sister Battani's house where we found out at the house that we were going to be eating there. It turns out that one of the Recent Converts, Mary-Lisa, in our branch was there too and it was her birthday as well! Ha so we got to celebrate my birthday with Kus-Kus and a "heart" cake. Ha as we cut the cake, mary-lisa said "you're breaking my heart" almost simultaneously with me singing "don't go breakin my, don't go breakin my heart!" ha so that was for sure a funny moment.

"So this experience actually happened last week, but I forgot to mention it. Last Sunday Elder McMurrin and I decided to pass by one of our investigators and as we got of the metro at Pie-IX, apparently a football game had just finished or something because there were about 3-4,000 people in the metro. Ha so an STM worker started clearing a path for us to walk through the crowd and it felt so awesome. Picture just so many people on both sides of you, and then you're in a suit wearing the tags saying that you're a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ and every now and again people are razzing you or saying something at you which you just ignored and kept on walking - ha oh man! It was like I was about to step out onto the football field or soccer pitch or even like the battlefield against satan and get things started! It was awesome!

"Elder McMurrin and I are trying to pick some [Creole] up. Also, one of our investigators is a foreign exchange student from germany and it was really neat giving her a book of mormon in german yesterday at sister battani's. ha I love the saying "dem wahren shonen guten." I wrote it in my planner. "To the true, the beautiful, the good." so yes, I have been trying to pick up some german now too. Ha granted, I can not communicate with anyone in German, Creole, or Spanish, but it's fun to be able to say something and get them to laugh or like you a little bit more than they did before. Haitians love it when you speak creole with them."

Travis' Birthday and Address

Hi all!  Travis' birthday is this coming Sunday, the 25th.  If anyone would like to write to him you may do so at the following email:

Travis.Mortenson@myldsmail.net

You can also send a handwritten letter through the post office, but it takes a week for letters to get to him and the postage is over 80 cents.  Still, if you would like to do that, I'm sure he would appreciate getting letters in the mail.  His address is:

Elder Travis Lee Mortenson
Canada Montreal Mission
470 Rue Gilford, Suite 300
Montreal, QC  H2J 1N3
Canada

If you send an email he can get that within the week.  We love getting his letters and look forward to them each Monday morning!  We received a phone call from one of the men who helps the missionaries teach English up there in Montreal.  It was such a wonderful surprise to hear from someone who actually works with Travis on a weekly basis.  He told me to not worry about Travis because he was watching over the missionaries and they would be alright.  I wanted to cry and to hug him all at once!

He sent us these pictures a couple of weeks ago.  They look like they were taken on a computer.  WE think he looks GREAT!

love,
Anne (mom)

Week 10 in the Field

"we have a baptism planned for this saturday! I feel confident that Chelsea will be able to get baptized this saturday! Again, the interview is tonight and so we will have to see... my fingers crossed! She came to church again yesterday! She really is dedicated and just is so awesome!

"The other day we were over there teaching Chelsea and then they fed us Greole and plantains! Some good creole food for you! Ha I've been trying to improve my creole for them! Sak pase? Ha it always makes them laugh when we try to speak it with them! Ou Fut means - You're crazy. Ha As does Tu eres nueces in spanish and Tu est fut in french! Both of the sisters who we share Hochelaga with speak spanish and so "Tu eres nueces" has become a joke between us.

"We really have a high number of people committed right now! It is crazy. I'm not so sure if every baptism will go through, but there are those that look really promising - like Chelsea and Jackson. So that is always exciting and makes us happy to see how willing they are to take these steps and follow Christ.

"Ha so a couple of funny things happened this past sunday. The first being that in french sacrament meeting, it was nice and warm... I was relaxed and kind of tired from trying to comprehend everything in french and so I sort of slipped into sleep. Unfortunately for me I had a dream where I had accidentally fallen on somebody and so in my dream transitioning to real life I jumped a few inches off the bench and threw my hands in the air with a sharp intake of breath! Ha it was "slightly" embarrassing to say the least! Ha the bishop saw it on the stand and was laughing.

"It was interesting this past week. We taught this one Haitian lady with a Quebecua member here. The lesson was going well, and then she asked "why are there so many qua's that don't believe in God?" To which he was really passionate and sincere about. He told us that really, they do believe in God, they just are hurt by all the things that the catholic church has forced them to do or has done in general in the area. He personally had been raised catholic and his family had been asked to have more kids than they wanted (more than 8) and because they refused to do that, his mom wasn't forgiven of her sins. It was really touching and just made me grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ in my life.

"Today we are playing dodgeball and volleyball for our zone activity. And Soeur Pace (my MTC teacher) is in town and so I will be able to see her today too! It's exciting for sure!

"Oh - another fun thing was that on wednesday Sister Arhets (a senior missionary in the office) asked for help setting up her Satellite TV (like directv) and so I was able to render some service and set that up for her! Ha it was fun to mess around with cables again! "

*****
There is nothing in life that brings greater joy or happiness than seeing the people you love most grow and prosper. Life is full of challenges, and it fills me with pride to see my brother courageously stepping up to the plate to face them.
My heart is grateful that we have a loving Heavenly Father who carefully watches over us and our loved ones. It brings a great measure of peace and hope to my life. I am also thankful for the sincere inspiration He grants us to help us reach out and help our family members. Speaking personally and in confidence, my heart has been overwhelmed by the sweet spirit that has directed many of my letters to Trav lately. It is a beautiful, precious experience to know that God is so mindful of my baby brother that He will inspire my mind and pen to orate His specific message and love to a boy in Canada. Truly our God is a loving God who knows and remembers all of his sheep- wherever they are.

Love,
J.

Week 9 in the Field

"It's odd here in the fact that no thanksgiving isn't on the same day as it is in America. Ha it is actually in October. A few weeks back we had a Thanksgiving dinner for our zone activity. I'm glad that I was born in America for the simple fact that because of that, my birthday falls on a holiday!

"That's super exciting to hear that Cole Phair got ordained to the office of a deacon! He is just so great! Great family and great person!

"Jackson is now only a few days away from his baptism! Tonight is the baptismal interview with the DL. It is great to see him make progress!

"This past week we went over to Adelard and Marie-Claire's house and they served us Fu-Fu! it was really good actually. Ha my first Congolise dish! I think that they are really taking to the gospel but the fact that they haven't been coming to the church is the only thing keeping them from truly making progress! Hopefully that can be remedied in the upcoming weeks.

"We've had zone conference and zone study this past week. Both were great. Ha elder mcmurrin and I were asked to give a training in zone study about Less Active work. It was definitely good to get our thoughts organized on how we ourselves want to work on LAs. The training went pretty well. (It just so happened that that was the day after the elections and I was needless to say not in a good mood that morning... until after the training). Zone Conference was the next day and it was really cool because we talked a lot about KALDT. Know the Person Ask inspired questions Listen Discern Teach. This really helps us as missionaries get down to the problems and it is such an important thing. I really feel like if the youth in the church understood this principle before going out on their mission - they would be so much further ahead and just that much more prepared. The way we break into the spiritual realm is by asking questions that get them to reflect and give a response that can be highlighted by a gospel principle."

Week 8 in the Field

"This week has been a crazy one. No doubt about it. So we had the intent of really focusing on less-actives this week. All of our key indicators were low and we had a really high less active number. Ha Turned out that this week was the opposite of that.

"So we started out the week by teaching the varne (with the accent mark - so varnay) family. They are great. That's the family from the bahamas and most all are members except for the two oldest daughters. They became new investigators this past monday and we set up another appointment for this past friday. In this last appointment chelsea accepted a commitment for baptism on the 24th of this month and Tainia almost did too, but she wants to think a little bit more on it. I seriously love this family. Gary is 12 and he is just so much fun to be around - is really funny, and just seems like my little brother. Ha so as we left their house on friday I gave gary somewhat of a hug and then his 11 year old sister wanted to give me a hug too.. ha so I awkwardly gave her not really a hug but a hug back while stammering (more to myself than anyone in particular) "uhh... I can't.. uh give you a hug..." ha it was super funny and 'slightly' awkward. We have an appointment to see them tomorrow night. They didn't make it to church like they said they would, but I hope that changes this next week.

"So obviously we still have to respect the agency of the people here and there is a chance that all [investigators] fall through. But I am excited to go forward and try to help these people on their quest to come closer to Christ and receive his gospel.

"So we have planned a fireside for this thursday and the topic will most likely be the restoration. I am way excited for it! It will be a little tougher trying to give the lesson in french.. but the french isn't actually too bad. I've had a couple lessons where I have been excited afterwards about my french!

"Hurricane Sandy - I heard that we were supposed to get rain and the aftermath of it... but really it was like a drizzle if anything. However it is getting colder here and you know it is winter time because all of the "Qua" Shacks are up (kind of like car ports).
Oh - and President Cannon said that our mission is estimated to double very soon."

Week 7 in the Field

"One of the coolest things that has developed this week is that one of our investigators who we thought was kind of wishy-washy is now solid and wants to be baptized (or so we have heard). Jackson is engaged to one of the members of our ward. They came to church last sunday and at church his fiancee told us that he wanted to be baptized!

"We have really tried to focus on the less-actives this week and that has been tough just because we have tried passing by their houses and so many aren't there. It's kind of like for every 10 houses we pass by, 1 or 2 let us in. So that is always lame but it has been good to try and talk to them and get to know them.

"So one day this week I decided to try a new way to study the language. I had a jump rope and so I went outside and just tried jump roping while going through all the different tenses and conjugations for different verbs. Ha it was good and fun and it felt good to get the exercise... the only thing that was bad was just that the next day I was really sore and so it made it hard walking up and down the escalators for the metros or just any stairs for that matter.

"Oh and a crazy thing I ate this week - the Aussie burger at the Durand's home. It's a burger with a fried egg, guacamole, pineapple, and tomatoes, and cheese! It actually wasn't too bad! the worst part was just that it was so big and it kind of fell a part on me!

"Halloween is definitely different here, but in many ways it is the same! Ha we aren't allowed to go proselyting this wednesday because of it. Ha there are a lot of people who deck their houses out and it gives people an excuse to dress less modestly than normal (not saying much). ha And it just fits in with their superstitious culture. But oh well. We don't have to dwell on that. "


*******
I am sure Travis experiences a bit of culture shock as he gets used to seeing different type of people- people that he has not seen because of his life's circumstances. His experiences will definitely broaden his understanding and maturity.

"Choose Ye"

Life is full of mile stones that center around age. For members of the church, our milestones look something like this: 8 years old you are baptized, 12 you join young men's or young women's, 14 you can go to dances, 16 you can date and drive, 18 you graduate from HS and attend college, and now at 18 for young men, 19 for young women, you can serve a mission.

Between all of the age mile stones, personal growth and development take place, and you are hopefully found where you want to be when the opportunity calls you to be there.

I have been impressed by the importance of personally developing, especially developing spiritually. Along life's course, our testimony's transform from external influences to internal drive. At what point that is depends primarily on the individual and their personal choices.

Joshua teaches us in the Bible to "choose ye this day whom ye will serve..." I love his clarity. Choose today, not tomorrow, next week, or when you aren't in the middle of something so important. Choose today.

It's important to know early "whom ye serve". All of life's choices hinge on that personal declaration and decision. So much of life's misery stems from being in opposition to the creator of our souls, but not wanting to subject our will fully to Him. It is difficult to separate yourself from "worldly" trends and fads. It is difficult at times to stand out as different, especially when that difference finds you alone. But, it is worth it.

Every personal sacrifice to be found on the Lord's side is worth it. In comparison to the ultimate sacrifice, that being the atonement of Christ, our sacrifices are minimal, and if there are any damages they are not ones without eternal repair.

To the follower and believer there is significant and real change to the deep happiness felt in your life. It may be dismissed or undervalued to persons of disbelief, but it is a real guiding force that naturally brings peace, happiness, and comfort during all situations of life.

To choose faith in God is a consistent choice. It is a choice worth making every day. The results aren't hidden; it is the choice that brings fulfillment in this life and peace in the eternal life.


With the new opportunity for more young people to serve missions, this choice will be given to many more seekers of truth. It is humbling to realize the implications of this. The gospel has filled my life with joy and direction, and though not all will accept it, so many more people will have the chance to hear it and choose for themselves.

While I will not be going out and serving a mission any time soon due to personal circumstances (being a wife and young mother), I know I am not missing out on the opportunity to be involved in missionary work now. Through my faith, the way I live my life, and my personal attentiveness to seek after and do what I can for individuals who have strayed from the path or never found it, I can be an instrumental member missionary. I can help people "choose this day" to slowly come back to the source of all happiness and direction.

Our personal decision to have a working testimony can enable us to be an angelic minister of God. While our actions may seem like day to day living, our opportunity to good enhances, and we can find ourselves being inspired as to how we can help others.

May the challenge be given: "Choose ye [each] day whom ye will serve... "

And the decision be made: "As for me and my house we will serve the Lord."




Love,
J.

Week 6 in the Field

"Last week I told you that I was not expecting Elder McMurrin and I to be transferred. However, after much mission gossip and one AP and one ZL asking me if I was ready to train... the last thing on my mind was that Elder McMurrin and I would stay together and that the other to elders in our 4-man would stay together as well. But that is exactly what happened. Which is good because we are really wanting to start a more member-centered approach to the missionary work here and it just makes it that much easier that we have 2 up-to-date elders working on this instead of some other combination.

"With the flush continuing (but winding down) we had to open up a couple new areas and so the west side of the island for french got split into two. So that adds another team to our district which is cool. Because of that though, our car was taken away (well... it shouldn't have been there in the first place, it was just an extra car and so they let us have it for a little bit). This will complicate things a little bit, but it will be fine. We will do the work we need to solely on metro bus and walking... ha there are times (several I might add) in the past few days that we have had to walk an extremely long ways and have actually beaten the bus! Got to love power walking! (It's what you do when it's really cold outside to just stay warm!!!)

"We had a couple cool stories this week! So as we were walking to find a less-active's house, we heard a sound that was really weird. Turns out it was a car that had just gotten a flat tire. They were going the opposite way as us and weren't stopping. So we didn't help them. But as we crossed the road, another car had the same thing happen to them and they pulled over close to us and so we went back and helped them. We spent about an hour trying to get the tire to fit properly on the wheel again but to no avail. It made matters worse when we saw a huge hole in the tire. So essentially we couldn't help them... but it was a neat family from the Dominican Republic and so we got their number and we are hopefully going to see them this week!! It was really cute because as we were working on the tire, the back of their van was open and then all their little kids were there just saying Hello to all who passed by! Ha super funny.

"The second story comes from church yesterday. There weren't too many people in church to start off, but after the sacrament passed and the doors opened up a whole bunch of people came in! And one of them happened to be our investigator with his finacee! We didn't really think that he was going to come and yet he did! That technically means that he has gone to church three times and meets the requirements for baptism! But we'll see about that in the coming weeks!

"Third story - again at church. There were a whole bunch of people that came in that we didn't know. It turns out that one of these families is from the bahamas - moved here a month ago and they speak english. Ha but they were at the French ward. So they are all members but for some reason they have 2 daughters (16 and 20) who aren't members. So if they start coming to the english ward they will become our investigators and will be super awesome! They have a 12 year old boy in the family and he only speaks english - so E. McMurrin and I took him to the English branch with us and he is just super cool! I loved being somewhat of an older brother to him! It was really funny to see him use his sweatshirt as a pillow and sleep during sacrament meeting. He slept right through the closing song and prayer and even a little bit of us trying to wake him up by talking next to him. Such a great family.

"Fourth- we recently got in touch with a less-active from our french ward. It's really neat because I just took my communications class at BYU and so I still remember the things we talked about then. Turns out he is a technical director for one of the TV stations here in town and so we had a good time talking about all sorts of TV things and cameras and video cameras and editing programs. It was really neat to talk with him about all those different things and also made me miss the wonderful Canon 7D. Hopefully he will start coming back to church soon. He was really strong for so long! He really wants to go to the temple again.

"So we have had some hiccups in the changing of knocking to trying to work with members and help them in their missionary efforts (like how they can share the gospel - or ideas of how, how we can help them in their ward mission plan, all sorts of things like that). Hopefully those will be taken care of as we just keep going and keep doing what we can to be better missionaries."

Week 5 in the Field

"Can you believe that transfer calls come this Saturday! My goodness! I highly anticipate Elder McMurrin and I to have the next transfer together! It will be great if that happens. We're trying to do a lot with this area! As has been said a little bit before, we have a struggling French stake right now. And we really want to remedy that problem and help them out. Our plans are not formally finalized and so I will spare you the details right now, but I am very very excited about what we will do and hopefully success will follow. One thing I can say is that we are going to be doing Fireside type deals every week starting the 8th of November. The purpose of these firesides will be to bring less active people who don't come to church because it takes too long and introduce them with our members - and even to bring investigators to them. They will be used to build unity with the area and for sure to spiritually strengthen our members here.

"We really want to work with the members and get their support and trust. That is for sure the most effective way to do missionary work.

"So President Cannon just got back from a mission conference and he wrote the mission saying that it is basically confirmed! We are going to get a lot more missionaries - especially sisters! Ha It will be a great help to have more missionaries for sure!

"This week was splits again - so I went over to our district leader's area and worked with him! It was so great to see how he does the work and I definitely came away from that experience with a lot of ideas for how to help our area grow. It was really exciting to me to feel like I am doing something positive for the area and that I can receive revelation for this work. I'm excited to see what impact the ideas have.

"This week has been filled with crazy people, lessons, progress, friendship and so much more! Elder McMurrin and I definitely became better friends this week as we worked and tried to get on the same page! There really isn't a lot of time to tell you all of the things that happened. I might be able to send more later on, but that is a maybe - and I wanted to tell you the most important things - That I am doing well and that this area of Hochelaga is great! I love the letters and support I get from all of you! It seriously helps me continue on and be better!"

*********
There is a young man in our ward here in Vegas that reminds me so much of Travis (they look so much a like!) As I sat behind the organ (I'm the chorister...) waiting to take the sacrament, I looked over at "Travis" and felt that sting of missing my brother. I felt great joy though as I watched this young man administer the sacrament and remembered that my brother is administering in another way.

It is impressive to hear of Travis problem-solving. One unique aspect of a mission is that it deprives you of the immediate counsel you would seek from people like your parents, siblings, or friends and forces you to take that counsel to the Lord and even problem solve with a companion you don't know as closely. I am sure this is part of the Lord's design to help our young people of the church learn where to turn for direction in all circumstances of their lives.

I'm thankful for the blessing of having a brother on a mission.

Love,
Jessi

Week 4 in the Field

"Can you believe it! It has been a month. Ha General Conference was for sure amazing, as always! I loved being able to watch it and hear what they had to say. It was for sure crazy to hear that the age has changed to 18 and 19! I think it will be really good though. Obviously there will be more situations that arrive, but I think it is also showing just how much more we are being trusted and that we ourselves need to take the next step to do better and be better. A lot of friends at BYU told me how jealous they were that I could go on a mission at 19 and that they had to wait until 21. Ha I guess we'll see how this plays out in the next few months! It reminds me of the mormon messages given by Elder Bednar about light and how he says that receiving light isn't always easy and how that is probably because "He trusts us." I feel like the same thing applies here. "He trusts us" to act our part and be missionaries.

"I really like the area I'm in right now. Hochelaga and Montreal East are great wards/branches to be in and the people here are always nice!

"It's been really neat to get to know more and more of the people in our wards. Because of conference, we've been able to eat with the members at the church for the last two days and I can definitely tell that there is a change in our relationship with them and I totally feel like it is for the better! Yesterday we ate lunch with the French bishop and his family and it was funny because we were just talking and they were asking about our talents. So I said that I really liked to play sports and especially soccer. Ha they were so excited with that because they like playing it too! Elder McMurrin said that he likes to play it... but that he isn't very good at playing it. To which the bishop responded "C'est en vous. It's in you. It's a gift from heaven to play soccer!" Oh goodness I loved it.

"This past week we've been trying to focus on getting ourselves organized and prepared if we do have people smurf us - so we've been color coordinating our ward lists, making appointments to see them and also coordinating who lives close to which investigators so that we can go see them if our appointments fall through. It's been good to go see these families who are less active and see how we can help. Each time we have gone they have been way friendly to us and have offered us food.. so obviously as missionaries we love that! It feels good to share a spiritual thought with them and then just feel the spirit there testifying of the truthfulness.

"The people here are a mix. There have been times when we have had someone come up to us and say "I respect you and your religion. But leave it as soon as you can!" and then ride his bicycle off. Ha There are some really unfriendly people who you say hi to and then they don't really notice you, but there are also others who are also nice and are really excited to talk to people "Who bring the good word." For the most part, African descent people are the nicest. But there was a really nice man who is Qua, he is from here and whatnot but he was way nice! He gave us a ride the other day all the way back to our house. We went back this week and had an appointment with him, showed him some mormon messages and where he can watch general conference. It turns out he is one of the most friendly people ever and a great benefactor to the people here. He has a farm for the mentally ill where they can be around animals and have space. Another business that helps kids who don't have money. And another which funds those two."

*********
"The missionary opportunity of a lifetime is yours. The blessings of eternity await you. Yours is the privilege to be not spectators but participants on the stage of priesthood service" (Thomas S. Monson).

How wonderful that so many more young people have the opportunity to serve a mission, and the added emphasis to prepare for it early!

Love,
Jess

Week 3 in the Field

"So some cool things that happened this week - we had an 80 year old investigator who we were kind of ready to drop because we just didn't think he was too interested or accepting of our message - we got smurfed on our return appointment - but we decided to pass by the other day. It turns out that he has read all of the book of mormon up until Mormon 2 (at the point we visited with him)! Can you believe it? It was only a week in between appointments! We committed him to baptism and even wrote it on his wall calendar. Nov. 10th is the date. We still have almost all the lessons and commandments to teach him but it was way cool to see the change in just a week!

"So it's funny to hear my trainer call me out on "still being a greenie"! Like we'll be crossing the street and a car will be coming and so I will run to the other side of the road to get of the way (like we do in small towns) and then he'll casually stroll across the street. Ha he tells me that I haven't learned the way of montreal yet. Or we'll be in a crowded bus and he tells me my face looks so funny and just like I'm sending out a beacon that I'm not from there. It's funny - especially because it just reminds him of when he was a greenie and doing the same things - like making most all contacts awkward! But hey - at least I'm trying!

"So with that said... it is way funny because we had true greenie splits the other day! Elder Foster and I (both only 2 weeks out) took control of Hochelaga and Montreal East! Ha We got lost a few times - walked a lot farther than we had to in search of a bathroom - spilled soup at the dinner appointment on ourselves (me) and the table. Chased after busses! Taught a lesson on the bus... which made us miss our stop by a long ways and made us lost - tried teaching lessons... couldn't understand the questions - and had a lot of fun!!! Ha it was seriously the classic greenie split. But we did get home on time. And slept very well that night.
I definitely think my legs will be in great shape by the end of my mission. We have walked and walked and walked... a lot like the pioneer children! We have tried singing and walking... usually doesn't happen for too long though.

"Another funny story is that when we're on the bus sometimes I will bump in to people on accident and I will say sorry in french to them. So they say "C'est correct" which is to say - no big deal - it's correct. Ha but at first I was taking it literally and was thinking "Wait, it's correct that I'm sorry? Ha that's not cool!! Lame!" But then I realized they were actually being nice and not mean! Ha

"It's been good this past week. I've really felt like my comprehension of the language has improved. I've been really happy with that and felt blessed. I still have a long ways to go, but I think it would be cool to compare my level now with my level at the MTC. Some things - mostly the easier things to say in French - are becoming a lot more automatic."


****************

I am grateful to hear that Travis is continuing to progress in his mission. I laugh because as he is asking for sweaters and warm hats, we are sitting in 95 degree heat!
While he is not meeting instant success, he will have much to be grateful for when he does come in contact with those who are ready to receive truth.
The gospel is true and such a joy.

Love,
Jessi

Travis' Address in Canada

Hey y'all!

I thought we should give everyone Travis' address in case you want to write to him in Canada.  You can send a letter to the following address:

Elder Travis Lee Mortenson
Canada Montreal Mission
470 Rue Gilford, Suite 300
Montreal, QC  H2J 1N3
Canada

I'm sure he will appreciate hearing from you.  Thanks for taking an interest in him.

hugs,
Anne (Travis' mom)

Week 2 In The Field

"It's been good to get that extra week under my belt, I felt like I've come closer with the ward and our investigators and it has been good. I've really tried to contact a lot of people... usually getting rejected but there are times that I talk with them and get their info so that we can pass it off to the Spanish missionaries or YSA or French Sister missionaries that work the same area as us... and ever so occasionally US! Ha I feel pretty confident in my ability to speak french well and clearly with the people (well, usually I do) but then when it comes time for them to respond to me... that's when it all goes down hill. Usually I look at Elder McMurrin to have him help me when I try to make the calls or when we're talking to somebody on the street. We were actually talking to a member at church this past sunday and I was having a hard time understanding him and I looked at Elder McMurrin for help but for whatever reason he didn't help me and I was glad because it forced me to really really apply myself and figure out what was being said.

"It's really funny to hear mom say that in argentina nobody had a cell phone, let alone a land line. In Montreal, most everyone has a cell phone and that's really crucial for us in our work. We ask every person for their number so that we can give them a reminder call before our appointment. If we don't get their number, the appointment never works out and we get smurfed (we show up, they aren't there). And that is very very frustrating!

"The thing about Canada is that most members here are 1st generation members. It's beginning to be 2nd generation members, but they're not quite that far in their progression. It's really up to the missionaries to keep them going and help them out.

"So Molly made mention of this - the work is definitely hard in the mission field! I've actually thought about this since being here. The MTC is great and I love the teachers that I've had (Soeurs Pace and Cutler and Freres Magre and Wilcox) they truly taught us how to be good teachers and missionaries, but there is nothing that can be said for on the job experience.

"So a lot of times we start stating our purpose as to why we knocked on their door and a lot of people say no. So we ask if there is any service we can do for them. The way we say that is «Est-ce qu'il y a quelque choses nous pouvons faire pour vous aider?» But what I said on this particular instance is est-ce qu'il y a quelqu'un nous pouvons faire pour vous? So is there anyone we can do for you? Then I hurriedly changed it to Quelque choses!!! My comp was trying hard not to laugh!

"Then a few days later we were at a D.A. with a less active, Daniel Bolduc, and the less active's best friend who is not a member. I asked what bezu bezu bezu meant. I had heard my comp say it on the phone. They said kiss. So that brought up another question. «Then what does baiser mean? I thought that was to kiss. They laughed so hard and then explained.... that it was a vulgar way of how you make a child. And it all made sense as to why Soeur Pace was like «you don't need to worry about that !!!!» when I asked her. Ha definitely was embarrassed.


"We were tracting the other day and knocked on the door and a man answered. He was muslim and was not the nicest to us. I asked if he had friends that might be interested in our message and he was like «Well, we are in Quebec, nobody is interested!» And went on and I couldn't really understand him. So we left his house and then were knocking the floor below him when we heard him come out and say something. We couldn't understand him and so he had to come to our level. It was really nice of him because he had just washed two apples and was giving them to us. There are a lot of muslims here in Montreal that we knock into and while they do not want to hear our message, they are nice to us."


***********
Again, it has been refreshing to get an email from Travis. Rich and I were talking yesterday about how differently you feel when it's your own sibling serving a mission. In my mind I still picture Travis as the cute 8 year old who would wear his "Future Missionary" tag to church each Sunday. It is thrilling to see him grow and get more life experience. I can only imagine how frustrating it must be to have appointments fall through and people not caring to listen to their message; but this will teach Trav valuable lessons- ones that will help him for the rest of his life.

It is such a blessing to know of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Much of life presents trials and obstacles to over come, and the gospel makes taking those challenges in stride possible.

I am so thankful Travis has made the personal choice to serve a mission.

We love you, Trav!

-Jessi

Week 1 in the Field: First Area

Elder Mortenson's new P-Day is Monday, so we can all look forward to emails and updates then :)

"You all are probably wondering where I am and who my trainer is... as was I until last Wednesday. My trainer is Elder McMurrin, he's a cool guy from Arkansas and we are in the Hochelaga/Montreal East area (HO/ME). So Hochelaga is French speaking and Montreal East is English speaking. Which means that on sunday, we have 5 hours of church to go to since we cover both branches. It's kinda crazy. It's been bad cause I've just super tired with all the walking and things that we've been doing that I was definitely nodding off once in at least 4 out of the 5 meetings. But it is good here. Our area literally covers the East half of the island. So that is way crazy and the missionary who was here before me was REALLY trunky (he went home and I'm taking his spot) and so we've been having to just try and build up our base again and find places to tract and teach. And because of how things are here, only the Africans and the Hispanics will really talk to us. We have some pretty solid investigators here and so I'm hoping that we'll end up baptizing a couple in this transfer. We've looked through the area book and have found a couple families that may have fallen through the woodwork and so we're going to try and contact them today (oh and by the way, Monday is my new P-day)

"So things are looking promising but there is for sure a lot of rejection that goes down day in and day out and I've only been here for 6 days. Ha it was funny because I thought that I would be starting my mission out in either Ottawa or a really far north area like Chicoutimi or Alma... but it turns out that I took the metro for 10 minutes to my first area. We share an apartment with the Zarahemla elders (spanish) and so that is nice. It's fun to go home and have others to talk to. We ride the metros here like crazy and so it is just kind of interesting and definitely not what I am used to. Running for busses and riding the metros in a big city... can you say paradigm shift? ha Klamath Falls is no where even close to this but it's been good thus far. I've taken some pretty good pictures here. I forgot my chord today but hopefully next Monday I will remember to bring the chord and I can send them to you. Today I got a really cool picture of me and Elder McMurrin in the Botanical Gardens and so I'll have to send that to you soon. I guess we're going to go to Vieux Port today as a district which is like the old part of the city and hopefully I can also get my first putin.

"We do this thing called Metro contacting here where if the car isn't too packed or too empty we'll each start on an end of the car and just talk with everyone. The first contact is always the hardest but then it gets easier and it can be fun at times. I've had an Asian tell me that is name was Jesus before... I think he was just making fun of me as I was getting his number. But oh well. One time we were on the platform and I saw this black guy standing there and I wanted to contact him but I didn't know how to start the contact (he was fairly young and was looking down.. kinda appeared not too happy) so I asked Elder McMurrin how we should start the contact (in english) and we were talking and saying that we'd wait till we were on the metro to contact and so forth... then he just walks away from us and we're like "did he hear us?" and so I looked at him right as he looked directly at me... "so yup... he heard us." Elder McMurrin then said "dang bilingual people!" ha the guy made here he walked at least a car and a half length away from us and we were left standing there just feeling super awkward. Got to love it. My French is actually fairly good when I'm the one asking questions or talking... it's a whole other story when I'm the one listening. I can pick up phrases here and there but it is difficult to understand people especially since people have a Quebecua accent or are from Haiti and so they mix in Creole with their french. But I've been able to get around thus far and it has been good. I'm glad that Elder McMurrin can understand what they say... normally I just have to read body language and can get the general feel of how the conversation went. I'm trying to learn it all though. All the signs are in french and the metro is in french and whatnot. There is a fair amount of english here and when I can't understand people on the metro, those who can speak english take pity on me and are like "Parlez-vous anglais?" "Oui oui!" "oh, ok. Just speak that to me" and of course I feel like a dwebe but it works out.

" It was neat yesterday because as we were trying to find a place to teach, we walked by this one apartment complex and could see a guy with grocery bags and a crutch type thing and so we knocked on the door to ask if we could help him. At first he said no and then we started talking to him. We ended up teaching a first, placing a bofm, and actually helped him with taking the groceries to his apartment and set up a return appointment for this friday. He's from Haiti. Pretty much everyone we teach is from Haiti. I really hope it pans out with him because he is really cool. He got in an accident of some sort and so now he has half of a prosthetic leg. We'll see how it all goes down.

"Don't forget to pray for me.
Thanks, Love you all
Elder Mortenson"


************

It was a pleasant surprise to get this lovely email today :) I wasn't sure when his new p-day would be, but it's nice that it's on Monday now!

Rich has shared quite a bit with me about his mission over the years, and it is interesting to see Trav have similar experiences. It is evident that he is growing and learning; especially assimilating to a new culture and climate. I love hearing the real stories of what it is like for him to contact people. I can only imagine the courage it must take to strike up a conversation (about the coolest, most important thing in life: the gospel of Jesus Christ!) in a foreign language.

The gospel of Christ is truly incredible. We are so blessed to know of our Savior and are blessed by the power and protection of covenants with God.

I came across this beautiful article by Elder Holland about the importance of uniting with other Christians and strengthening our faiths through our common ground. If you have a minute, I definitely suggest incorporating this into your daily gospel study :)

http://www.lds.org/liahona/2012/08/standing-together-for-the-cause-of-christ?lang=eng&query=compassion

With much love,
Jessi

More Pictures

 Below Elliot Wedam is pointing to his mission in South Korea, while Travis is pointing to duh, Montreal.  Elliot is from Klamath Falls, too.

 How's this for a language lesson?!

 I'd say someone was hot and tired!

This tie tac was Travis' Grandpa Roy's, so it has special meaning for him.

Long Awaited Pictures!!!

Travis sent his memory stick from his camera home so we could download the pictures he's been taking in the MTC.  YEAH!!!  It's so fun to see him and his district.  I'm going to try to upload quite a few pictures so you all can see him, too.  Notice the newbee stickers on their nametags in the first picture.  The last picture must be his entire district.

5 AM Phone Call

Travis flew to Canada yesterday! He woke up bright and early to get to the airport, and during his lag time he got to call home- yay! It was incredibly good to hear his voice. If I could bottle it up and replay it every now and then I would... Such a little piece of treasure :) Trav is doing really well. He said a little somethin somethin to me in French, and I couldn't tell you what on earth he said, haha. He is really excited to get to speak with people in French and is working on how to introduce himself in a different language. He wrote us a short email and said that it was cool to hear people speaking French and to see signs in a diff language. He has an eager spirit, and is willing to do the work requisite to be an effective missionary. I hope for his sake that he gets along well with his comp and that the members in the area love him and treat him well (he'll have to earn it...).
Talking with Trav felt completely normal, just extra special. I was happy that he had time to call me and that we could share a laugh or two together and got some quick questions answered. He is rock solid, I just love my baby bro!
I'm dying for some pics! We're still working on that one... But they'll come!

-Jessi

Week 8

The beginning of Travis' email cracked me up. He has true blue blood! Still keeping track of his Cougs while on the mish :)

"Speaking of montreal next tuesday, I have indeed received my travel plans... and we were as giddy as logan and shaff for micky d's! We were all shouting and exclaiming our joy! Come to think of it, I couldn't have told you about that last week because we got them on Thursday - the same day BYU played WSU and dad had to rub it in my face that he was there and I wasn't! I heard we won 30-6 and that Alisa is the starting RB..."

Travis flys out really in the morning to Detroit and then on to Montreal. "I've heard that we probably won't do any tracting that first night and I'll meet my trainer the next day. So excited to see who he is and what he is like. I hope to be like Kirby Heyborne in the best two years and work our tails off. Here we go! I will probably have time to call some family in SLC, but not very long and at 6 in the morning or so. Give me some feedback, yea nay?" (Is that a question? YEA!!)

"So the crazy thing that happened this week is that a few minutes after finishing my letter to you I ended up running into an Elder Thackery... yes, none other than the Thackery's that used to live in Klamath and were our great friends. I thought it was cool to see him (not sure if it was preston or logan) and he said he was going to Chile. Anyways, I continue on my way to choir practice when all of a sudden I ran into another Elder Thackery! Turns out that the second one is in my zone and is going to Lyon. I've been able to talk to him several times since then. He saw me speak that first sunday and has wanted to say hi but didn't get the chance. It's been way neat to catch up

"So I spent about 6 hours in the emergency room this past sunday.... not because of any injury to me. hahahaha one of my comps has a history of epilepsy and it was the worst storm combining against him this past sunday. He hasn't had a seizure in about 7 years, but he hasn't been getting enough sleep (9 is the best for this case and for him) and then we were fasting, and then we were also singing our special musical number in front of the entire branch. So we all had nerves (Brightly beams our father's mercy was the song) and i was shaking a little bit but then I see my comp's music really shaking and then he was still shaking but was sitting down and whatnot. So we finished the song, said the prayer and then we were just trying to figure things out. He initially thought it was a seizure (which is way bad because he'd have to go home for 6 months and make sure the problem was stable before he could come back out) and so we gave him a blessing. It was really neat having the opportunity to give him the blessing and just feeling the power of the priesthood work through us as missionaries. We then took him to go get some food and then I went with him to the ER. The doctor gave him an IV and did a CT scan on him and everything turned out normal and the doc thinks it was more of a fainting episode but he had to talk to the doctor at the MTC and now he has to go talk to a neurologist. This might set back his departure date for canada. I don't know. I hope it doesn't but it was scary. We're fairly certain that it wasn't a seizure but the stakes are high.

"To respond about my french talk - it actually came pretty easy. I mean there were times when I didn't know how to say things and so I either said them in english or tried to find a different way to say it. Overall, if I really want to have a conversation in french or write french here, I can do that with a fair amount of ease. I still have a lot to go and I'm sure that I'll get a big slab of humble pie come next tuesday, but I'll keep trying my best.

"Also - just some quick thoughts since I'm over time already. I love going to the celestial room because I can always receive revelation there! It was neat today. As I read in mark 4 I realized that we need not have fear that we will perish in the storm so long as christ is there with us on the boat. If we stand with Christ, we stand on solid ground that can't be torn asunder. There are also some great scriptures in Helaman and the latter half of Alma. I'm in hel 13 right now. I'm hoping to finish the book of mormon soon so that I can start 2 other bofm's with the emphasises "We were strengthened through the Lord" and "The Character of Christ." Also - in a talk elder Bednar gave he said - Christ turns out when the natural man turns in. 2 Cor 4:8-18 is also very very good!"

*********

This week's letter has me super excited for Trav! I know he will do wonderful out in Montreal. I can't believe he goes so soon... His faith is an example to our family. Travis has always been the type that wants to succeed and do better than his predecessors (a virtue and a vice because some times he forgets that age, maturity, and personal experiences carve the individuals road a much as personal desire and zest). I think this drive for success will quickly lead him to the Lord for help and guidance. I think he will have many tender moments with the spirit that buoy him up and give him a testimony that will never leave him. I am thankful for his example and friendship. He's truly one of the great youth sent here at this time to be a marvelous servant to the Lord.

Love you, Trav!
Jessi

Personal Application

I came across this scripture and thought of my awesome missionary brother.

The Lord was talking to the sons of Mosiah after they prayed for help and the Spirit, and He said, "Go forth among the [Canadians], thy brethren, and establish my word; yet ye shall be patient in long-suffering and afflictions, that ye may show forth good examples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls" (Alma 17:11).
"And it came to pass that the [heart] of [Elder Mortenson], and also those that were with [him], took courage to go forth unto the [Canadians] to declare unto them the word of God" (Alma 17:12).

I love the personal application of scriptures!

Love-
Jess

Week 7

Little does Travis know his chastisement in this weeks letter has already been taken care of! I recommit myself to keeping weekly updates of dear Elder Morty on his beloved missionary blog ;)

WEEK 7

"So every sunday an elder and a sister are called on to speak in sacrament meeting. Just a 3 or so minute talk in french. Not a big deal. They assign a topic and we're each supposed to prepare a talk because we don't know who is speaking until right after the sacrament. So I haven't prepared a talk... just gotten scriptures picked out in my mind before. This week I thought I was safe becasue I only have 2 weeks left and they had picked the elder and the sister from my district last week! However... guess who was called on to speak. Yeah me! I hadn't even thought about a scripture to use and so while the sister was giving her talk I was definitely feverishly looking for scriptures on faith! It was really neat because I had never thought about faith being a principle of power before but that is what I was able to give like a 7 minute talk on (or so I was told). It was amazing and amazingly true at the same time. I really focused on Mor. 7:33 and Alma 48:13,17 as my references with captain moroni being my key example. Really cool, needless to say and also a lot of people said they enjoyed my talk! So that was cool. But yeah, the french is coming well and it is really neat to be able to speak and read in french with relative ease. I still have a long way to go, but I can communicate when I need to and that is really positive.

"I think dedication is huge! Like the dedication mom and dad and gpa/gma have given to the pear farm this year. That is amazing! Thanks so much for stepping it up and being willing to serve like that. In some ways it is like our ancestors who gave everything they had just to go to the temple to be sealed as a family. They recognized the importance of it and so they completed it. Obviously it's not the same situation, but it is similar and they require similar efforts of Dedication. So thanks!"

**********

I am excited for Travis to send home some fun pictures! It will be great to see how he looks and to see glimpses of the experiences he is having.

Not that you'll read this Elder Morty, but your family is sending you a virtual hug. We miss and love you!!

Weeks 1-6

Here are some updates from Trav week by week:

WEEK 1

Sadly I can't find the email in my overly jammed inbox, but Travis got dropped off at the MTC by Jena and her family.

He sounded good and strong, and was totally filled with nerves like every other missionary!

WEEK 2

"I've been playing soccer a lot lately and I'm always on the ground because I'll try to make a hard cut and I always slip without cleats on. Anyways, yesterday I was playing outside mid and the ball was near the goal I was trying to score on and so I sprinted to block the elder from clearing it, stuck out my foot and blocked it just as he kicked it... only problem was that I wasn't in a good position to withstand the kick and so I went down hard core and skinned my arm by my elbow up and everything! Crazy awesome!

"It makes my night being able to get mail and read it that night when we get back to the room. It's funny that you mentioned getting locked out mom because the other day my companionship left the room and the other companionship was taking showers and we ended up locking them out on accident. ha thankfully they could just page the front desk and ask them to bring them a key. I've been asked to play the piano a lot lately! It's been a lot of fun but I feel bad that I only know a few songs and fewer of them are actually in french! It makes it hard to play when they sing in french but it is ok!"

WEEK 3

"So I want to start off this week's letter with a phrase that I really like in French - "J'irai et je ferai" otherwise known as "I will go and do" Just thought it sounded really cool and I was thinking that maybe it would be a cool phrase for the nephews and nieces to learn and have it guide their lives ... in french!

"So classes are going well here! Soeur Pace is a fantastic teacher as is Frere Wilcox. We are definitely comprehending more French than we used to and can speak it better as well, now the next step is to speak it more frequently than we now do! But classes are great. The food is pretty good too! It's about par with the cannon, maybe a step lower but it is really nice to not have to fix anything to eat! The worst part about this week is that I have been sick and didn't really feel like eating until like Saturday. But now the sickness is pretty much gone. However, I did have a major bloody nose last night at about 5:30 am! It was ridiculous. Not too fun, but it stopped. However later on the other nostril had a bloody nose. Hopefully I will be able to stay bloody nose free for awhile.

"I was able to see Josh on Wednesday by chance, but it was way cool! I totally went to leave the items for Jena at the front desk before breakfast, but after a long confirmation process, they told me I couldn't do that. So then at dinner I get called down to the frontdesk and they tell me that Josh came for them and to go grab them and they would call him back and give them to him. Well as I went to go grab them, Josh spotted me as he was leaving, and so I was able to chat with him for a few minutes! It was way cool to be able to do that. Unfortunately my companions wanted to go eat and so I couldn't stay long.

"So tomorrow I am going to be the senior companion. Kind of cool, kind of weird."

WEEK 4

"My companionship is working well. There are definitely difficulties coordinating schedules... especially bathroom times throughout the day, but we're making it work and we're trying our hardest to be obedient and do all the things we need to do to have success while we are out on our missions! It's crazy that we have been out for almost half our stay here at the MTC!

"This past week I have been the senior companion. I'm just trying to love and serve my companions and make sure we are doing what we can to prepare for our investigators and whatnot. I have 2 more weeks as the Senior companion.

"We had a really really neat companion study this week where we really deciphered where we wanted the lesson to go and then what scriptures we wanted to challenge them to read. It was awesome! The lesson that resulted from that study with Jean went really well. It was one of the best lessons we have taught so far. But the lesson with Daphney was a little less than triumphant cause she just threw a tough question at us and it just is breaking our hearts that she isn't just jumping on board with the gospel. I learned that in those events, the best thing you can do is just bear pure testimony! We're gonna try to do all we can to help her though.

"I've been playing basketball this week and it has been some of the best basketball of my life. The best game was when I helped us win like 9-7. It was a really intense game that was really drawn out, but we finished her off and it was such a great feeling!

"Going to the temple is great. I love doing that on P-days and our temple walks on Sundays."

WEEK 5

"Elliott [Wedam] did arrive last Wednesday and I was so excited to see him right as he got here that I gave him a huge hug and then told him I would talk to him later because his host was taking him on a tour. I've been able to see him twice now at meals and it is always way fun to see him. It's hard to call him "elder wedam" rather than elliott.

"This past sunday we watched the Joseph Smith movie in French! It was way cool and I could understand a fair amount of what was being said. I just remember thinking of how both William Young and Clara Black (I think that was her name) both testified that they saw Joseph and that they both knew that he was a divine prophet of God. It was just a neat perspective to have as I watched the things that happened to our first prophet - knowing that my ancestors were right there being true and faithful.

"Since it is over halfway here I just can't wait to get out in the field! It's crazy how this month has flown by and yet the days have felt long! I'm just ready to preach the gospel and to work hard with tracting and finding and just being a solid missionary. But I am also trying to work hard here to invite the spirit, to be obedient, and to learn French.

"I'm so happy to welcome Leah into the family! I'm way excited for another neice!

"I have pictures of me and Oaklie and I always say to other elders that are my friend "hey, you want to see a picture of my girl?" Then I show them me and Oaks and it is just really funny! And then I love the one of me and Shaff and Logan in front of the temple, I look at it frequently!

"My congrats goes out to Brad for finishing Dental School! Congrats my bro! You better be in klamath when I get back! "

WEEK 6

"The MTC is a blur - things that happen days ago happened today and things that seem like they happened today happened several days ago. Days are like weeks and weeks are like days. But nevertheless I am on my 7th week in the MTC and only have 3 remaining! Amazing! We leave on the 11th of september and there are 6 of us in my district going to Montreal with me and more in our zone. This being the 7th week, my time as senior companion is now over and it is Elder Ritchie's turn to finish us out at the MTC. We are all ready to go. We (all 3 in the companionship) made that comment after Sunday night's devotional! It's crazy. But we can endure 3 more weeks.

"All your stories of rafting are killing me! I wish I could go with you, but it's ok. I need to be here doing this work. That's one of the things that stuck out to me during the temple time we had today. It's been amazing being able to do a session every week the past few weeks. I read in 2 Ne 32 and it was a marvelous answer to prayer. The book of mormon is amazing. As I have come to hear more of the teachings from elder bednar, the more I love, admire, and respect him. "In the strength of the lord" is a marvelous talk from him. I'm now trying to read the rest of the BOfM before I leave the MTC (I'm on Alma 36... I started a couple weeks ago on Mosiah 18 or so). Also, I'm taking Elder Bednar's advice and bought a cheapo bofm and now I'm marking all the phrases that are related to "and the Lord did strengthen us." Hopefully I can get through both of these goals quickly enough that it can be of mighty inpsiration to me.

"I love the stories of my nephews and nieces. When I heard of Shaff and his teeth, I cringed and was weeping with you and then when I heard of Logan saying "We're gonna buy uncle travis LOTS AND LOTS of presents" that made me so happy. I love them so much and they really do inspire me to be and become better. I have them in my scriptures constantly and whenever I need a pick-me-up I look at them! So I definitely need some pictures of Saige and Will."


*******

These are just a few excerpts from Elder Mortenson's emails. Every week when Tuesday rolls around I find myself anxiously awaiting his emails to pop in my inbox. It's comforting to hear that my brother is doing well, and to hear of the experiences he is having. Because I am the mother of a boy now, when I hear from Travis and see the sacrifices he's making, I can't help but become teary as I think of the tremendous example he is to my sweet William. I picture William being in his place and realize the deep sacrifice it is for these missionaries and their families to serve for two whole years with little communication.

In then end of Mosiah and beginning of Alma, it talks about how the Lord promised Mosiah to keep his sons safe while they serve the Lord on their missions. "Let them go up, for many shall believe on their words, and they shall have eternal life; and I will deliver thy sons out of the hands of the Lamanites" (Mosiah 28:7). It then explains life threatening or spiritually burdening experiences the sons of Mosiah went through and how they were delivered from such terrible situations because of the Lord's promise to their father.

I apply this to my brother, and hold on to it as a promise for the future when I send my own son out to the mission field. I am thankful for the tremendous comfort it is knowing that while Travis is in the Lord's service he is also under His protection and care.

-Jessi

Called to Serve

This post is about missionary opportunities, although not directly related to experiences Travis has had.


When Brad served a mission back in 2003-2005 (I believe...), I became a lot more gung-ho about missionary work. Every day I would pray for a missionary opportunity, and every day I would be blessed with one or more experiences. It was incredible! I had two friends come close to embracing the gospel, which made me so happy and excited, as well as devastated and heart sick when they didn't accept it: not for myself, but for them because the gospel is so wonderful and would have continued to add a lot to their lives.
I have yet been the instrument in helping someone join the church. I have often wondered what makes it so hard for people to become members of our church. To me, the gospel is the most wonderful blessing in the world! To me, the principles taught are light and truth that feed my soul. To me, it is freedom and hope. To me, the gospel radiates goodness. That's why it is so hard for me to understand the negative slur our church has, as well as people's hesitancy to join.
I am sure I would understand better if I wasn't a life-long member what people don't understand about our religion. I am sure I would see their stumbling blocks better, and be able to teach more clearly. The group of friends I hung out with in high school were incredible. We all had a lot of fun together. Six of them have served full time missions. Not all of the friends in our little "group" were members of the church. I remember talking with one of my non-member best friends about what she thought about our guy friends serving missions. She expressed that she didn't really like them trying to teach her about the gospel because she felt like they didn't think she already had good truth. I have since thought about that a lot. I think that is a lot of what makes people hesitant about the Mormon church; they feel comfortable with the truth they already have, and don't necessarily feel like they are missing out on anything. I think it also comes across as an insult, in some situations, to them when they are taught that they need things like proper authority for marriage because they believe they already have something good, as well as authority from their church. If this is often the case, I wonder how to share the gospel without being offensive but adding to the good people already have? (I have had several, what I felt prompted, experiences in sharing my testimony that have not gone so well... So you can see my concern in wanting missionary experiences to be uplifting rather than contentious).
Despite me not knowing clearly how to be a good missionary without hurting people's feelings, I want to be better again at praying for and receiving missionary opportunities especially because Travis is serving a mission. This go around will be a little different though because I'm no longer a high school student interacting with my peers all day, but I am a wife and
mother interacting with my family every day. But I think I can still have positive missionary experiences a long the way. For instance, last Saturday we ran to the park as a family for some good exercise. While we were there splashing around on the splash pad, we met a woman with a little boy close to Will's age. She told us how she and her husband are moving to Montreal (her hubby is from there), and we excitedly told her that Travis will be moving there too! We explained that he'll be serving a mission for our church. While we were chatting, her little boy dropped her key down the hole in the center of a park table. It fell all the way to the bottom! We spent the next hour getting it out for her (Rich was a super hero with his tool box!) At the end, we exchanged numbers and names, and she told us she would have to get together with our brother. Instances like this make me hope that a good seed has been planted! They are also the ways I think I'll experience missionary moments now.
I mentioned above that not all missionary moments go the way we (or I...) want them to go, and yet I have still felt prompted to share certain parts of my testimony with other people despite their lack of interest. Jena and I have talked about this, and why it is that we could feel prompted to share the gospel and yet have the person reject it kindly, or become verbally defensive. We both have been baffled by these experiences- why the prompting? Why the rejection? Our answer we found is simple and has given us direction for ourselves (people always have their individual agency to choose their reactions). We read in Doctrine and Covenants 6: 29-30, "... If they reject my words, and this part of my gospel and ministry, blessed are ye, for they can do no more unto you than unto me. And even if they do unto you even as they have done into me, blessed are ye, for you shall dwell with me in glory." These verses give us a lot of comfort to know that even though our good efforts don't produce any fruit, we haven't lost anything at all by trying to follow a prompting. Granted we'd love to experience what is described in verse 31, "but if they reject not my words, which shall be established by the testimony which shall be given, blessed are they, and then shall ye have joy in the fruit of your labors," and some happy day we will experience this! But for the mean time we (and I in particular) have faith that our sincere efforts will be magnified in Heavenly Father and He will bless us with the right opportunities at the right time.
I have been tremendously blessed by having the gospel in my life. I said early, and will repeat it again, the gospel is light, hope, and happiness to me. It is the essence of everything good and true in this world. I am so, so grateful to know it. Christ has given His life so that we might all come back to live with God again; what do I have to lose by offering up my testimony of this (even if it costs me feeling embarrassed or sad)?

How do you feel about missionary work, experiences, or being taught the gospel?

Con much amor,
Jessi

Brad & Molly say good-bye

It was awesome to have Brad, Molly, and Saige here for the week-end.  They got to hear Travis speak before he left for the MTC, and they got to give him lots of good, sound advice.  It was extra special having them here.
Posted by mom
(Since we can all get on and post, and since they all say "Posted by Elder Mortenson", maybe we should say who really does the post.)

Farewell

Yesterday the kids and I (Jena) got to take Elder Mortenson to the MTC. He flew in from Medford the day before and we were fortunate enough to be able to pick him up and have him stay the night with us.
It was nice to have some good one-on-one time with Uncle Trav before he left.
Logan was especially enamored by him and kept asking if he could go with Uncle Trav on his mission. (I'm sure that day will come all too soon.)
Elder Mortenson was very happy about going. You could tell he was a tad bit nervous but who wouldn't be?
It was hard to say goodbye but he did so without any tears! As for me..I held mine in until I got in the car.
We love you, Travis and know that you will be the best missionary. You have strength and power and courage like no one else. We will miss you but we are grateful for your good example and faith!
"Be still [thy] soul, the Lord is on thy side."

The Value of Missionary Service

I came across this MormonMessage today. It makes me so happy Travis is doing what the Lord and prophets have asked him to.
Take 5 minutes and watch :)

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3aKU2rkvFQU

To the Medford Airport

Tuesday 10 July 2012

We took Travis to the airport in Medford so he could fly to SLC where Jena picked him up.  Before we left home Lynn gave him a beautiful blessing.  It was full of love and help.  Travis' grandparents were there for the blessing, and they went with us to the airport to see him off.

As we were getting him packed up and ready to go I was thinking what an amazing thing it is that young men are willing to take 2 years of their lives and give up their comforts of home, friends, girlfriends, music, TV, movies, cell phones and every other techy gadget we have become so dependent upon, put their school and career plans on hold, and at substantial financial expense give themselves to serving others.  It's a miracle, really, that they can do this hard thing.  And it's a miracle that these young, innocent, largely untrained kids don't destroy the church.  Instead, the church moves forward and these boys come back so much more mature, unselfish, tolerant, full of love for people they hadn't known, capable, and independent.  The whole thing is a real marvel!

Lynn and I got to talk to Travis this morning before he entered the MTC, and it was SO GOOD to hear his voice.  That's got to be the hardest thing - not being able to talk whenever we want.  We miss him already, but are so thankful he is willing to serve.  We are praying for his good success and happiness.