Week 87

So another good week you could say. We are now on preparation day number 3 in a row so I can't complain, I love general conference. 

The first couple days of the week were normal. Until Wednesday when the assistants wanted to do exchanges with us. Elder David, from Colorado came with me in my area because he just really wanted to go to the gym hahaha. Unfortunately, it was closed on Thursday morning because it was a holiday. But he is going to train to become a Navy Seal and all of that stuff so we went and did a huge workout in the park anyway and had a big long chat about stuff. It was super cool and helpful. Let's just say that the vision that I have and the way that I now think have been changed. 

On Thursday, we had interviews with president and I talked to him a lot about what happened and he also helped me out a lot. I'll put the link to the talk in this email that Elder David shared with me. Its all about the mind and doubts and stuff, super cool. 

Anyway, on Friday we took our money out in the morning and then we had Fiorella´s interview that night. It was literally 10 minutes long because she was already a member, there had just been a problem with her baptismal registry and so she already knew everything. I was gonna have another interview on Friday from the elders in my district but the guy ended up not wanting to because he felt like he hadn't received an answer about the Book of Mormon yet, so we had to go and teach him and see if we could help him out. We will see how it goes. 

On Saturday and Sunday we watched conference. My companion had set a goal to watch it in English, so on Saturday we went to all of the sessions at the stake center to watch them in English and then on Sunday we watched them in Spanish because we had investigators go to our chapel to watch it. It was a super interesting conference. They mainly just talked about the changes that were going to happen in the organization of the priesthood and with the Home Teachers and then just about how everyone sustained the prophet, it was a good conference. I think my favorite talk was given by Lynn G. Robbins where he talked about developing Christ-like attributes and whatnot and how it would take us maybe a thousand or a million tries to get it right. A phrase that I really like was when he said that "success is GROWING from failure to failure with the same amount of enthusiasm." And I think that is super true, it's not just going from one to another but learning from then and progressing. 

I also thought it was interesting that there´s gonna be a temple in Layton now, and also one in India and in Russia, so that is cool. 

Anyway, all is well. This week my companion is going to the temple and having his last lunch with president on Friday so I will be on exchanges that day. On the bright side, I can tell that I am getting in better shape, so that makes me happy. Bye, until next week. 

Link to talk: https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/craig-manning_power-words/

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Elder Mortenson

Week 86

So good week this week I suppose. Haha idk why I even keep emailing you guys because it's the same every week. But anyway some really good things happened this week so that is exciting! On Wednesday we went with Juan, the father of the family that we are teaching, to the municipalidad(i have no idea what we would call that place in English because it isn't the municipality) But ya anyway we went and talked to the dude that's in charge of marriages and whatnot and we now know all of the requirements. Juan is super hyped to get married and he told us that on Saturday he felt like he finally really received an answer that the church was true and so now he is super decided on getting baptized with his family so we are just trying to hurry up and get them married. That was the first good thing. 

The second was that in ward council yesterday, the bishop told us that they weren't able to find any information about a girl in the ward and that she has to get baptized again. What happened was that she got baptized in Chiclayo when she was 8 like normal but there was a problem with her baptismal registry and she was never actually registered as a member of the church. Anyway they were looking for her information but couldn't find it so we have a free baptism this Saturday in between the afternoon session of conference and priesthood. 

Friday we had a district leader meeting in La Molina. It was cool I guess. All of the zone leaders went as well. It was like a huge leadership council pretty much but president presented some new software programs that he has been working on for converts and to keep track of all of the investigators and whatnot and that was pretty cool. We got free Krispy Kreme doughnuts so that was even better. 

On Saturday my companion got invited to a sealing of some of his converts that he had taught at the beginning of his mission. The parents were just getting sealed to their two children and so we got to go to that. It was pretty interesting. Elder Peterson and Elder Mayfield got invited too so that was sick to hang out with them all morning. And then we saw two white families and talked to them both and turns out that one was from Brazil but living in Utah. So they were excited to talk to us and she volunteered to send a pic of us to our moms so you're welcome, Trish. We also had a huge family home evening with the zone on Saturday night so that was cool. 

Sunday was a good day because like I said we have been visiting members and trying to work with them more and we witnessed a fetching miracle on Sunday. The super strong family in our ward whose children all served missions but are like 40 now and single, love to help us out and the daughter went back through all of her old journals and daily planners and whatnot and cut out every name, number, address etc. that she had ever written down of someone that had gone to church, or that the missionaries had visited, or that she personally had contacted. Hahaha she gave us a full bag of them and offered to contact all of them with us so that was what we were doing last night and we already have a couple of appointments scheduled with some of those people. So ya that's like the first time in all of my mission that a member has given us a reference so it's pretty sic. 

Other than that there is nothing new. Still going to the gym and getting wrecked by Hamilton(the member trainer) And just wrecking myself running a couple times a week. But ya that's about it. Thanks for everything, love you guys. 

--

Elder Mortenson

Week 85

So this was another good week! Kind of weird to think that I just started my 12 weeks over again because like in your training you have "the first 12 weeks" program that help you learn a bunch of stuff and now I have just started the last 12 weeks so that is kinda sad...

Anyway, nothing super cool happened this week. We didn't have transfers so there is no news there. On Wednesday in the district meeting we got to meet all of the new missionaries so that was fun. There are two brand new sisters in the zone and one of the elders in our room is new as well. He's from Argentina. 

On Thursday we planned a Movie Night in the chapel for the members and for the investigators to go and find friends. It was pretty cool, we watched Coco. It was a good movie. Hahah my companion cried, which was pretty weird, but he said that it reminded him a lot of his family so that was kinda awkward....But it made me just want to go Mexico even more and see a Dia de los Muertos celebration. 

On Friday nothing really happened and then on Saturday we went and did service for a member in the other Elders´ ward and it was cool. His name is Brother Bacon and we helped him like clean off his ghetto roof and stuff. There was one wall of his house that didn't have any columns in it at all and literally if you leaned against it you could see it wobble so that was super dangerous. Idk why anyone would build their house like that when they live in a place where earthquakes are super common but who am I to judge... Then, later, we went to El Augustino because my comp got invited to a baptism there and that was cool. I saw elder Hunt and got to talk to him for a while. They have a cemetery there that is sic! Well they are actually catacombs that are above ground and it is super cool and hugeeeeeeee.

But ya that is about all that happened this week. We went to the gym this week and got destroyed but it was fun. Everything is going well just chugging along. Love you guys. 

--

Elder Mortenson

Week 84

Ya so another good week! To start out, on Monday we went to some member's house in the zone and cooked up like infinity hamburgers and ate them and watched a couple of movies. We ended up not going to the abandoned church because they couldn't get us in but it was chill. 

Tuesday was a fairly good day. I gave my training in the district meeting on some sports psychology and how we can apply it to the mission. I talked about setting high goals and mentally visualizing them daily and then using some other techniques to help us achieve them. It was a pretty cool training.

Wednesday and Thursday were just normal days. We did divisions that night so that we could go to both the correlation meeting and to an appointment with the family that we are teaching so that they could go get their documents to get married. They ended not being home because that had to go to the dentist with their daughter. They are taking forever to get everything done because she is super scared of not being able to keep all of the commandments after she gets baptized. So we took this member from our ward with us yesterday and visited them and we talked them through their worries and it was pretty cool.  I think they could start doing better now. 

On Friday I went and did divisions with Elder Halls again so I could interview 4 of their investigators that were going to get baptized. I interviewed a little girl and then on Saturday morning when I was in the shower, the mom of the family that was going to get baptized(her with her two daughters) called and told Elder Halls that they wouldn't be able to do it for different reasons. So we went to her house and were trying to help her and whatnot and the other Elders came and suggested that she just have the interview so that I could help her out. So we went to the chapel, lets just say that I spent 2 hours trying to help her out. I ended up not passing her because she didn't even have a testimony.  It was interesting. 

Yesterday was kind of a sad day. This guy stopped us on the street and told us that he had family that was part of our church and that he just wanted us to read him a verse of the Bible. He told us that he was living in the street and that he just earned money to eat and to do drugs. It was really sad he was crying super hard while he explained all of that to us. Not that its the first time that it has happened to me, because it happens fairly often, but it really made me think about how there are people that literally live in a hell on earth and to see how strong Satan's chains really can be and how hard it can be to escape them. It was a testimony that the gospel really is freedom. 

Anyway, me and Elder Guanilo are staying together, no surprise. Today we are gonna go to Burger King and clean our room. Everything is going well. We are hitting the gym 3 times a week and I really am liking it. We try to run the other 3 days of the week. So that's about it. Shout-out to the little bro for getting his call to Arequipa!!! I'm gonna have to tell Elder Garate to be on the lookout for you. It should be a super cool mission! Arequipa is considered here to be a different country because it is the richest part of Peru. But I'm hyped that we will have served in the same country!! Time to get started on the Spanish...

--

Elder Mortenson

Week 83

I feel lucky to have gotten through this week. To start the week out on Monday we just watched a movie and made hamburgers. Tuesday was normal as well. But then on Wednesday morning was when stuff started going down...Idk what happened but we planned out the English class that morning and then went and ate lunch and then when we got back to the room I started feeling pretty funny and then we spent the whole day in the room because I couldn't get out of the bathroom. It was so bad. They told me to take all of these antidiarrheals and stuff but they didn't really help. I was like that all day until about Thursday afternoon I got to the point where I wasn't in the bathroom like every 10 minutes and so we went out and proselyted. hahha but ya now I'm fine, I ended up losing like 10 lbs so that's not good either. 

So anyway we went and visited the bishop on Tuesday and asked him where we should proselyte to be able to find the people who really want to know the gospel of Jesus Christ. Its a new thing that we are doing in the whole mission- considering the fact that the bishop holds the keys over the area. So he told us a specific little part of our area where we should go and so that is where we are focusing right now. We started out by visiting one of the really strong families of members there and inviting them to fast and to pray to be able to invite one of their neighbors to listen to us. The daughter is a ward missionary and she ended up doing it and coming to church with a whole list of references for us so that was pretty cool. We have yet to visit another one of the other really strong families that live there and then we are going to look for the less-actives and whatnot but I think it should go well. 

On Saturday I had to go interview a little girl that the zone leaders are going to baptize.  It was an interesting interview. She was super shy so I really had to focus in on things just to see if she had actually understood anything that she had been taught, but at the end she opened up more and it was fine. 

Yesterday we did a "zone attack" in an area of our zone. It was pretty interesting, we all did splits with some members and I was talking to the guy that I was with and he was telling me about his conversion about a year and half ago and I asked him what elder had baptized him and he said that it was an Elder from Utah and so I asked what part and he said Logan and then he told me that it was Elder Pearson. Hahahah I told him that I knew him and that he had graduated from SV when I was a sophomore and whatnot and the next thing I know he is handing me his cellphone telling me that Kolton is on the line. So ya, I ended up talking to him for a sec so that was weird but cool. 

But that's about it for this week. Today we are going to an abandoned church that some member owns hahah it seems sic and it has catacombs which should be cool. But ya that's about it. SKYBI out. 

--

Elder Mortenson

Week 82

I'm gonna shorten this email down because I don't have a ton of time. On Wednesday we did exchanges with Elder Halls again so he could interview our investigator. She barely passed, but she ended up getting baptized on Saturday which was good. Her baptism ended up being like 3 hours long because she couldn't decide at first if she really wanted to go through with her decision and so we had to take a member and she had to help us talk to her and then she had to get ready and take a shower and she takes forever to get ready so we ended up starting the baptism at like 7:30 when it was actually scheduled for 5...so that was an adventure. 

On Thursday we had interviews with president. They went well. We talked a lot about the future and what I wanted to do and be. 

Friday was normal as was Saturday. Sunday, we went to San Roque and had a zone attack there. They had taken all of the names of the part-member families and we went with a member to go visit each one of them. It was fun I guess. 

Today we are gonna cook up some hamburgers and idk watch a movie or something. 

We went and worked out with the member in my ward and it was fetching hard. I couldn't move my arms for like 2 days afterwards because we went super hard. I am doing well with the protein and eating a lot healthier so it's going well. But that is about it, I hope next week's email is more exciting.

--

Elder Mortenson

Week 81

We had our multi-zone conference on Thursday. President got there late and while our zone was waiting in the gym for a training he called me over telling me that he hadn't got the chance to say 'hi' to me. So he started talking about how I had asked for permission to go the gym, for like the 3rd time, and how it was against the rules. I told him that I really needed to start preparing to get back and he told me how he wanted to help me out and that was that. Then, when we started eating lunch, he looks at me from across the gym and points to the door out and then leaves waiting for me to follow and we went into a room and chatted about how he had called Blake that morning, ironically. He asked me what I thought about the conversation he had had and what I felt and I expressed to him my concerns and whatnot.  Then, he ended up using Tom Brady as an example for me telling me that if we were going to do this, that I needed to end up being like TB, the very best, and living a life according to the gospel(TB is married and is a better example than the majority) So ya, I now have permission to go the gym that a member owns in our area and work out. Pres. Amato took me yesterday to go buy protein and creatine and its going well. We went to the gym this morning and it was so fetching hard! The gym is a mix of those Power Plate machines that vibrate and weights and medicine balls and I did rope slams and stuff but ya I am super sore so that is a good sign. And then I am going to run the 3 days of the week that I don't go to the gym. 

On Wednesday we did an activity that, unfortunately, was my idea. Haha the sisters cut out some of those "kissing cam" type frame things and we took them to a super busy place and invited people to take pictures there and then offered them informational pamphlets and whatnot from a nearby table. It actually drew the attention of a lot of people, the only setback was that we just felt so dumb holding those things in public so we ended up just giving them to the sisters and they did it while we walked around and contacted. 

On Friday we went to the foot doctor and got our inserts. They are amazing. they are really helping my back and everything out so that is a good sign! 

On Saturday we had a huge Family Home Evening with the whole zone that turned out pretty cool I guess. We invited the family that we are teaching but when we showed up to take them, the husband wasn't home and so we waited. He ended up getting home like 10 minutes later and then had to shower and get ready and everything and we took a taxi and ended up walking in right as they said 'amen' to the closing prayer.... but ya we stayed for the games and refreshments so that's at least something. 

Also on Saturday, we got a call from president telling us that we were going to have emergency transfers! So on Monday, Elder Malca left and I received Elder Guanilo from Trujillo. He is super dope. He finishes his mission this next transfer so it looks like I will end up finishing my mission here in Surquillo as well, which is alright with me! But he came because his foot is messed up and he needed a bike and my area is like a bike-approved area or something so I'm with him. It is cool. 

That's about it this week. I got a package from Joyce Jensen the other week and that was a huge surprise! You'll have to tell her thanks for that. So I don't have a talk for you this week but the challenge is that you can all read 2 Nephi 29, its literally 14 verses so it shouldn't take long. 

#AggieUp

--Elder Mortenson