Special Message

My parent's were sent this picture and text message from Travis' mission president:
"We are in interviews here with Elder Mortenson and he is doing great! What a joy it is to have him here! He is truly a wonderful, faithful Elder and we love him! He is also a happy, obedient missionary as well! Thank you for raising this remarkable young man who we appreciate so much! He honors your name in every way. Love, the Cannon's CMM Canada Montreal Mission
P. S. he sends his love!"

I just have to say how much I appreciate this mission president and his wife! They are so considerate in sending little images or messages home to reassure us all that Travis is doing well. I blame it on being the hormonal pregnant sister, but each time we get something like this my eyes water a bit and my heart grows in love for the people who are watching out for my brother. The Lord really does take care of His children, wherever they are.

Love,
Jessi

Week 26 in the Field

"So it is kind of crazy to me to think that a year ago I was at BYU watching conference... 6 months ago I was in Montreal... and now another 6 months has passed and I watched conference in St. Lazare. It always seems like so long in between the conferences, and yet it flies by. I have now watched 2 of the 4 general conferences that will be shown during my mission. That's a crazy thought.

"This week was really cool in that we worked with Brother Stothart (the 1st counselor in the Branch Presidency) to use his ipad and projector and speakers to then stream conference live at our little building. On Saturday we didn't have very many people come (just a few members) but on Sunday we focused on inviting our investigators and some member families to the sunday morning session. It was super cool when we ended up having about 12 members there, 4 missionaries (us and valleyfield), and 3 of our investigators! Andre and Elizabeth came and they had a hard time concentrating on understanding the english for the 2 hours, but they enjoyed the messages about the family - they want to come to the activities put on by the church now and just just church! It's crazy. I hope we can start teaching them seriously! Manny came too, he was a little late, but he said that he connected with a couple of the messages that were given and that he was going to review the part of conference that he missed! That was really neat. He wanted to meet just the next sunday at church, but we talked him in to the possibility of meeting during the week. It was awesome to see how the members just went over to the investigators and welcomed them, got to know them, and just included them. We were really happy with the turnout and reception.

"I learned an important lesson about not procrastinating this week! So each week we have a district study and we assign a team to be in charge of the district lunch afterwards. They then make assignments to the other teams to bring specific items. Ha so this week we were assigned to bring the dessert. We remembered to buy a dessert as we walked into the store on monday but by the time we were checking out, we had forgotten all about it. Ha Fast forward to wednesday morning right before the district study - elder cowling and I are hustling through the store trying to find a dessert and get to d study on time. Here's the lesson I learned - just because there's a picture of something on the box, doesn't mean that that is what you are actually buying! Ha There was a picture of this pie crust with a whole bunch of fruit in it - so I thought that it was those little fruit cups - so I bought two boxes of them thinking that that would be sufficient for our district. We then went to d study, and had great trainings and a great lunch. To my horror, when we went to get the dessert, we open up the boxes to find 4 pie tins with a dough placed in them ready to bake... I was so embarrassed that I was just laughing. Ha I promised to bring extra dessert the next district study.

"In terms of conference, it was just really good this time around. Like always. It was crazy to me when twice (in particular) I just stopped and stared because I felt a personal epistle just to me. I really can't wait to get the ensign and read over these talks again. I've been trying to write down the miracle of the day or the hand of god in my life as well as a lesson that I have learned throughout the day - and the hand of god was definitely in general conference.

"[While being on a split with the district leader,] We had a couple of miracles that night. When we were trying to buzz in to this apartment building, this lady came down and we waved to her, so she talked with us in french. It was funny because she was telling us that she didn't really want to hear us out and she didn't think that it would be a good idea for her to let us in because a lot of people there didn't like people knocking on their doors. So then Elder Neff asked if he had buzzed her apartment just to make sure he didn't do it again.. well she stopped and then said 'well I guess I can let you in this once!' Ha so she let us in and then we went up to the top floor. it was funny because we were trying to get a vibe on which kind of people lived in this apartment building - 1st door - People from India... no go. 2nd door - older quebecois man... no go. 3rd door - younger black man with younger white girlfriend... try back another time. 4th door - Mom and son from pakistan - Christians - Let us in and we taught a lesson on the restoration! Ha it was just funny how different those first three doors were and then really neat to be able to teach that mom and son. I hope they become investigators for kirkland soon."

Week 25 in the Field

"So we busted out the bikes this week a couple of times so that we would be able to save some kilometers... and also to enjoy the good weather. However it was quite lame when we were coming back from a member's house and I hit something in the road that gave me a flat tire! So we had to walk all the way back home - probably 5-6 kilometers.

"So we've been asked as missionaries to give thank you cards to the members who feed us or do nice things for us, etc. Elder Cowling and I went over to Sister Rutledge's to take pictures for that and it was fun because we ended up with the idea to use some food coloring and then put it on the snow having it say "Thank You" and then we stood next to it and took some pictures. It was a lot of fun and just in time too since the snow has really melted these past few days! It has been really sunny and nice, but today it's raining. The rain is fun though! Free car wash, yeah?" (The perks from a missionary's perspective ;))

"A lot of the times when we go door to door, we'll talk to people and then ask them for referrals. Usually we'll say "hey, by chance do you know anybody in the area who might be interested in our message?" Ha and sometimes they tell us to go see their neighbor, sometimes they say that we just have to knock on their doors and find out, and other times they just say they don't know. So the other day we asked that same question and I expected just a normal response, ha but he said (in french) "I don't know, maybe you should ask Jesus and he'll tell you." Ha I'm not sure he understood that sometimes Christ works through people... like himself... to help other people, like us! Either way it was funny.

"Ha another funny thing that happened this week is when we were still sharing a car with the valleyfield elders . So we went to pick them up from their knocking session and they only had a few more houses left - so E Cowling and I decided to just help them out and finish the street. As we finished it and were walking back to the car and we saw this car come around the corner... slow down... and drive slowly - eventually working its way past us. As they drove past us we saw two older guys in shirts and ties. The four of us were joking around later and were saying "Hey did you all see how we totally stole the Jehovah's Witnesses' turf today? That's right! I'm sure they were thinking 'those dang mormons are multiplying! Now there are 4! not just 2!"

"Another cool experience came when we just stopped by a potential investigators' house. About 2 weeks ago we were out tracting and we saw these two ladies trying to move luggage into the car and so we just decided to help out. At first they resisted but then they agreed and we were able to eventually set up a return appointment with the one that lived there. Well when we went back at the designated time, she wasn't there. So we left a note with our number on it. Well fast forward, so the other day we went by her house again and this time she was there! It was cool because she said that she still has the book of mormon in her car and that she has our note on her counter meaning to call us, but just keeps forgetting. Ha another thing she said was that we were like her angels the night that we helped her move her mom's bags out to the car. Her name is Yandi and she is pregnant and so she couldn't really do any lifting, and her mom was really old and so it was hard for her to carry the things - so then came two 20 year old guys just offering to help. It was really special for her - and then for us when she told us!

"Another cool story this week was with manny - the cop who said he was going to come to church. Well he ended up not coming to church, but we did visit him after church and had a long chat with him. He told us that he had surgery on his neck on tuesday and was just still in a lot of pain and so that is one reason he didn't come. But then we were able to just hear his story - what his expectations were of us - and then we were able to give our expectations. It was neat because he said that he doesn't often let strangers in his house, let alone his office in his house, and yet he let us in both. He was saying "Seriously, you guys have an aura about you, God is with you!" It was way cool. And it was cool because we mentioned a little bit about the word of wisdom and then he was like "well I'll start looking for alternatives" and then at one point he asked "Do we believe in angels in the church of jesus christ of latter day saints?" It was just neat to see him including himself in that question. We invited him to conference this coming week and he said he's coming."

Week 24 in the Field

"...we are just trying to invite as many people we can to come to church and take book of mormons. It was a lot of fun this week in a couple different ways. The first experience this week that was crazy was when Elder Cowling and I were out knocking in St. Clet. We had book of mormons in the trunk in different languages and normally we carry just French and English bofms. Well there happened to be an italian one in the trunk and elder cowling accidentally grabbed it and forgot to put it back. He told me he had an italian bofm and I thought that we would see one tracting but then I just forgot about that thought. Turns out that a little while later we knocked on this door and started talking to the people at the house. We end up discovering that he was one of the few english people in that town AND an Italian! We were beside ourselves! Ha We were trying so hard to give him a book of mormon and he was trying so hard to refuse it. Ha it got to the point that he was so frustrated he just said 'A Bible! A Bible! I've already got a bible!' Ha no joke! Ha it was ridiculous and I wanted to show him 2 Ne 29:3 but then I just decided to not show him but use the next few verses from memory to form my next question. I ended up asking him if he liked the words of Christ to which he obviously said yes, but then I asked him why he was against having more words of Christ. To which he didn't really respond exactly to my question and kept calling the bofm a bible and we corrected him on that - alas he never accepted the Book of Mormon but it was crazy how he fulfilled prophecy and how God uses us to reach out to his children and just how mindful he is of us.

"Second cool thing that happened this week was this sunday when we passed by an investigator's house and were able to get in and talk with him and his family. It was Rob and Suzanne and their 3 boys Mackenzie, Robby, and Jesse. They are such an awesome family and it was really cool when we were talking to them because we were all in the kitchen and Suzanne was preparing some food and then the 3 boys were sitting at the center island by Rob and all of them were just talking to us and having fun as a family. It has been hard getting in touch with them because Rob travels to South Africa a lot for business and so they're just busy, but we were able to get in yesterday, share a spiritual thought about easter and then set up a return appointment for this friday! They seriously would be such an awesome family in the gospel.

"Third amazing story this week was when we tried passing by a potential yesterday. So about a week or so ago we knocked on this house and a kid around our age answered the door. He was bhudist and we worked really hard to get him to accept the book of mormon - we even said a prayer for him to want to take the book of mormon - eventually he did and we were able to then get his number. So we left and tried getting ahold of him a few days later, but we weren't able to contact him. So we just decided to pass by yesterday. Turns out he wasn't there but when we knocked on the door, another guy answered the door and said 'Guys! What's the good word? Come on in!' We ended up talking to him and he was just asking us about the church and told us that our visit was really timely because just the other day his wife and him had been talking about God and how they want to kind of start going back to church and things along that line and then we show up. It was funny at one point because Elder Cowling was doing most of the talking with him and I was trying to listen to them while also listening to his six year old daughter Everest as she was trying to get me to play with her and her puppets. Ha It was funny because then he, Manny, asked everest, 'everest what did we tell you to do when adults are talking?' To which she answered shyly 'to raise our hand' "That's right' And then she asked, "But, but you were talking to that one (pointing to E. Cowling) but I didn't think you were talking to this one (pointing to me)" Haha it was so funny and everyone was laughing. You've got to give her credit for her reasoning! Ha so then we kept on talking with Manny and he was wanting to know when and where church is. It was just an amazing story - turns out that the guy that we talked to before, Simon, was from nepal. The way they know each other is because Manny climbed Mount Everest and one of the guides on that trip became like a father to manny. So manny told that man that if he needed anything to let him know. So a couple years later he gets a call from that man and was asked to house his son Simon while Simon went to college. So manny said yes and now simon is apart of their family. We had given simon a book of mormon and so we mentioned that with manny and were able to give manny a book of mormon too! And Manny asked us if we had any specific assignment for him and so we gave him one and he committed himself to reading it that night! And he kept saying that we would see him at church this sunday! Amazing story. I hope it goes well. He told us to call him saturday and go from there."

Week 23 in the Field

"This week has been really good! My new companion is Elder Cowling. He is the normal age of 19 and he comes from Caldwell, Idaho. Ha It's kind of funny to have a companion from the states again. I like it though. He's a really great elder and I have had fun as I've started to train him. Ha I'm definitely learning a lot from him as we go along. The MTC really teaches them how to be good missionaries - and some of the things that we learn there get lost overtime in the mission field, so it is really good to be learning them again. He is eager to learn and to improve and that is awesome. Ha it was funny because I was standing at transfers waiting for him to show up and then all the new missionaries got there. Ha he came up to me and was like 'Elder Mortenson, I think your my new companion' - when that was confirmed he just busted out in some Creole with me 'eh sak passe!' Ha I hadn't heard creole from anybody since I was in Hochelaga - let alone from a missionary straight from the MTC. He's a really good elder though and it shows through his desire to teach people and find people. I hope I can train him well.

"One of the coolest things that happened this week was when we went over to the Roys house (the family that moved in about 2 weeks or so ago) and we had dinner with them. So that was saturday night. Also there were the dad's sons (who normally live with their mom, but visit their dad and step mom about every 2 weekends). One of them, Nathan, was pretty interested in the gospel and so we were able to set up an appointment for the next night to come and watch the restoration video with him. We also left them as a family with the commitment to read Alma 18 because we read Alma 17 together with them. So Sunday night rolls around and we go back over there for dinner and then we were able to watch the video with Nathan. We talked a little bit about the restoration and some background information that led to the restoration. Ha then we gave him a soft commitment to baptism and he accepted. ha and we also set up an appointment to come by tonight and teach the plan of salvation! We're super excited about teaching him. He's really a great kid and we hope that he read in the book of mormon last night like we asked him to and prayed about it! We'll find out though!

"This week we were also able to teach Andrea Wilde! She's been an investigator for a few months now and we've only been able to have one lesson with her since she has just been so busy! We've set up a couple but then they've just been postponed - or she just doesn't answer our calls. So finally we were able to have a lesson with her and it went pretty well! She is interested in the gospel and I think willing to act on the things that we are asking her to do - like read and pray. Her husband is less active and she has a 7 month old daughter and seriously it would be so awesome if we could help her to join the church and get the husband to come back to activity. We're going to try and bring some of the women in the ward to teach with us this friday when we see her - hopefully by so doing, giving her people to relate to and friends to associate with. It was really exciting when we were trying to suggest the time for our next appointment and she said 'oh maybe same time in about 2 weeks?' And then having to push aside my fears I suggested 'well maybe we could meet next friday instead?' And thankfully she agreed! Ha I feel like I have had to put my fear of rejection aside a couple times this week - and as I have done so, only good things have happend! Ha that was something really cool this week.

"Ha a funny story this week - So normally when we knock on a door, we'll give our little introduction and then we ask if we can share more. If no, then we ask for referrals. Whether they give them to us or not, we then ask them if there is anything we can do for them - maybe like shovel their walk or something. Ha Normally they say 'oh no- that's why i have kids. They're do that.' Ha so this week we knocked on a potential's door and the son answered. We asked if his mom was there - no - when she'd be back - I don't know - so we're like 'well ok, maybe we could shovel this walk for you?' (it had snowed the night before) Ha and then he was like 'Wait, like for free??' Ha 'Yeah' 'Ha uh.. yeah for sure! Thanks!' I thought that was funny just because Had we asked the adult, they would just have put the responsibility for that on their kids - but since it was the kid, for sure he was going to accept our service!"

****
I wrote Trav this week and told him I love that his P-days are on Monday; It makes Monday a happy day rather than a back-to-the-grind-stone day!
I am a sentimental shmuck, and all who know me just have to get over it or endure my endless amounts of mushy spewage ;) I get so giddy to hear from Elder Morty. Sometimes it feels like forever since the last letter, but even though we don't get to talk a lot I do feel our bond of friendship is still strong and our love as family is deepening. It is a definite blessing that comes from being on the Lord's errand. I am so glad Travis is my brother. I'm thankful to see his heart in the right place and his mind developing. I'm pretty sure all the other spirit brothers and sisters felt a little jealous in the premortal life because they weren't going to be apart of the A Team Family ;) j/k, I'm super partial to my family!
Only a few more months until Travis hits his year mark, and if it goes like Brad's last year Travis will be home before we know it!
Love,
Jessi

Week 22 in the Field

"So I think the biggest thing on your mind right now is what happened during transfer calls! It just so happens that you rightly guessed that I am staying in Valleyfield for the next transfer. However, Elder Freeze is being transferred to Alma... so that's way north and east from here. It's about 500 kms to get there... I am going to be training again! Ha except for this time it is with a green greeny - not like elder freeze and how he was a 1 transfer greeny. I actually won't know who exactly my companion is going to be until I show up to transfers on wednesday. Ha They only tell you that you are training because sometimes they make changes to who trains who after President Cannon has had a chance to interview the new missionaries on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.

"So this transfer will be different just because it is 3 weeks instead of the normal 6 weeks and at the end of this 3 week transfer is when Valleyfield will split into two areas - so the two branches we cover will both have their own set of missionaries. I wonder what will happen in 3 weeks and if I will stay or go or what will happen... but that is 3 weeks down the road.

"A funny story for you all is something that happened last monday after I wrote you all. (not to mention that it is also funny that I am using hand motions and facial expressions as I am writing this story in the email) Anyways, we were at the mission office to hopefuly get reimbursed for some things (another story for another time) and while we were there I was talking with Sister Arhets - one of the senior missionaries that works in the office. When I served in Hochelaga/montreal east I was around sister arhets a fair amount and we became good friends. Ha so she said to me 'Elder Mortenson! I can't believe that you embarrassed me the other day!' Ha to which i was really confused. I thought it was because I had written her a thank you note for some things she had gotten me. Then she continued, 'the other day a missionary called and was like 'hi sister arhets! Guess who it is! It's your favorite missionary!' Ha to which she responded 'Elder Mortenson?!' Ha funny thing was... it wasn't me who had called. Ha so she felt a tad bit embarrassed.

"Out of the blue this week we received a call from a guy that we didn't know before and he started asking about the english class that we do. And then he also asked about church and what time it started and what he needed to wear, etc. Ha So we answered his questions and told him when church was and left it at that. We were in St. Lazare for church yesterday, so we asked Brother Brochu to keep an eye out for the guy at church. Ha he totally came!"

Week 21 in the Field

"In our french branch we have a lot of less active members who live really far south from us. They don't get visited very often because it just takes too many kilometers to go there. But we decided that we needed to just swallow the kilometers and visit them. So we made a day of it and went all the way down to the US border. It was really neat to visit with these people because one didn't know that the church was even near her, some others were excited that we had come and want us to come back more often, and others were at least nice to us. It was crazy to think that we were pretty much touching the United States this week when we took a picture of being at the border. It was cool because we visited a part member familiy that has 17 huskies. Ha they use them for dog sledding. Super cool. It was neat to be able to get to know them and teach the wife who isn't a member. We visited with this one family who has 10 kids and one car. So they say that it is hard to get everyone to church because of that...

"as we were finishing up our trip down to the states, we came back through valleyfield and were able to meet with one of our investigators - tristan. He was the only one there and we had a really cool lesson with him. We went outside and told him how the holy ghost can be like coke and mentos. if you relate how it says in 2 ne 33:1 that the holy ghost will carry the truth of the message unto the hearts of the children of men, but not necessarily into. That's where we come in. We have to open the door for it. Ha So we had a bottle of coke and then the mentos in a sleeve up top with a little stopper - so then we had tristan 'let the holy ghost into' his heart.

"This weekend we had a really awesome part member family move in. We spent several hours helping them move in on saturday and went back yesterday to help a little more and tonight we've been invited to dinner there. Ha it is cool because they live literally a minute from our house. The parents have been baptized for about a year and a half now. They're great. We're hoping to be able to work with some of their kids.

"This week we taught seminary 3 days and it would have been 4 but we had that trip to the [less actives] by the states. It was really fun to have to prepare the lessons and teach the seminary kids, but I am also grateful that it is over now too. Ha We had a lot of fun with that."