Week 3

Well, another week down… 102 weeks to go but who is counting. Haha!

 

 

Let’s seeeeee… i do not have any crazy insane stories like my first email. I am settling in and am now known as a veteran cause I have been here for a week and a half, and all the greenies got here on Wednesday.

 

 

We had 2 new districts come into our zone, so 38 missionaries are now in our zone, Elders and Sisters, so that’s pretty cool. Elder Hatch and I got to go around and introduce ourselves and make sure everyone was accounted for. Gave them the ground rules and said just be obedient anddddd i don’t think they like us but who knows. haha.

 

 

Serving as a zone leader has been a blessing each and every day. It has helped me have a new mindset about patience and loving everyone one by one as the Savior has and to see the needs of each person. Speaking of one by one….

 

 

We had Elder Bednar and his wife come into the MTC on Tuesday! What a great experience to hear him speak as well as his wife about so many amazing things. Wow, talk about a man with spirit and power. It was so special being so close to an authority of the church. The second he walked into the room the spirit was so strong. He was called by God and i know that to be true. He talked about so many amazing things and I will try and be brief as I mention some things that stood out to me. I loved when he reminded us that Christ met with “the one”. He reminded us of our roll as missionaries and as disciples of Christ is to see and love “the one” like Christ did. Thousands came up to Him and instead of talking to a group he went to EACH AND EVERYONE PERSON ONE BY ONE and showed his love and compassion for them.

 

 

One thing Elder Bednar said before he started was, “don't be writing in your notes every single thing i say. Listen to my words and write down things that the spirit tells you, because if you are trying to write everything i say down you might miss something the spirit wanted to teach you. The spirit is the true teacher here.” I thought that was so special and true.

 

 

As i listened throughout the talk one of the biggest things i felt was “don’t try and be someone that you are not” and i thought that was so so sooo special because it pertained to me personally and showed me my ways and path of how to act and be as a missionary for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!

 

 

Another point he touched on that hit me hard was Matthew 11:30 and how it talks about “my yoke is easy and my burden is light”. Christ is my foundation and my rock and He is with us always carrying and pushing us through everything.

 

 

Another scripture he mentioned and told us to study very hard and ponder about it was 1st Nephi 14:14 and wow i invite all of you to ponder it for yourself and put it into your own words and put it into your life. Overall such a good talk!! So blessed to have that opportunity in my life to feast on the words from someone i look up to so much!! 

 

 

The food is still looking up…. chocolate milk is still overhyped by far. haha. Let’s seeeee… hahah, yes I’ve been trying to eat every food and every kind, literally every food and its been hard because i am a picky person, I will admit that. But I’m trying to both gain weight and get used to eating everything i am offered…. so I’m over here eating 2-4 plates of whatever is given and I’m trying to just pile weight on cause I’m small and I want to. Anyways, a week goes by and I am thinking I am gaining weight and we weigh in after a week of being here and I’ve lost 3 pounds hahahahah and I’m kinda giving up on that dream of getting bigger…

 

 

So that is about all that has happened to me throughout the week. My comp is amazing and is always there for me and relatable 100%. Since we are serving as zone leaders right now, we get our own room all to ourselves. I was getting lonely, I’ll admit, when we heard our district laughing in the rooms next to us so these past 2 nights we had a sleepover in their room and that has been fun (we’ve checked its legal). Sadly, I get top bunk in that room. Haha To make waking up a little more entertaining we will all set our alarms for 6:30am and put the most annoying noises and sounds on… and at 6:30 they all go off at the same time, with the worst noises ever, and we each have to come get our own phone off the table and turn them off ourselves. By that point we are all awake so it is smart! ahah. 

 

 

I fly out Tuesday at 8:05am to Texas...but have to wake up at 3:30am because i have to check out at 4:30 from the MTC which makes 0000000 sense to me but its whatever. ahha!

 

 

I love this gospel so much. I am ready to leave the MTC and meet people in Fort Worth. After hearing story after story of hardships and outcomes, it pushes me to be a better missionary. I like hearing this, it’s said a lot, you are called to the people, not the place. I can’t wait to teach others about the happiness of the gospel of Jesus Christ can bring to each of us.

 

 

-Elder Mortensen

johnathan.mortensen@missionary.org