I am so glad to hear you are doing well :). Looks like you guys had a GREAT week! jax you're almost as tall as ali! i'm glad you guys got to have some fun together :) It is crazy to think that Josh leaves this week....and i am SO excited for you josh! :) you are going to be an amazing missionary and i am so excited to hear your experiences :). mom be sure to forward me the emails! haha :) and yes of course, just write one to the both of us :). you guys drop him off at the airport right? and then how long does he stay at the mtc? do you know? Ah i'm so excited for you josh! :).
haha yes we did make icecream, and it turned out alright! but we just stuck it in the freezer, so it was kinda frozen solid. but still delicious :). haha and about climbing the coconut tree.....i'm not really sure! it was just me and sister geraldez and nanay gabuya there.... and i wanted to try. haha. thats all. :)
as for what stl's do.... i'm still figureing that out for myself :). Luckily my companion is SO WONDERFUL, so i just follow her example :). We go on exchanges with the sisters and do whatever we can to help them :). We also go to mission leadership council. but this last week we went on exchanges with the biliran 2 sisters! and i got to work with sister acama :). We live with them and so it was fun to be able to work with her and get to know her better :). She is so maupay! such a great missionary, and i really felt how much she enjoys the work. All the people we taught love her as well :). I learned SO much from working with her. goodness i am so lucky to be surrounded by some WONDERFUL people :)
This week we had a little... set back with one of our IBDs. Brother O-- is an investigator who we have been working with here for a while. His wife is a member, who returned from being less active last month! Some of their kids are members, and there's one who we're hoping to help be ready to be baptized with her dad. We've finished teaching him the lessons, and have just been reviewing and helping him to overcome his word of wisdom problems. He has a HUGE desire to stop, but has had lots of temptations by friends and at work and such. But this past week, everytime we go to visit, he wasn't home. And when the kids went to go call him home, they wouldn't come back as well. Finally on Saturday, when we visited he was home. But, one of the kids came out and gave us a note from him, saying that he was giving up. That he was sorry, but he can't continue anymore, and that we shouldn't come back to visit him. He said hello, but wouldn't come out to talk to us. That was hard.... we were so sad for him. When sister comes back home later today, we are hoping to go back and talk to them both and figure out what happen. He was doing so well! And then this happened. We aren't sure if he's just frustrated or feeling guilty or what. But we're not gonna give up on him :). He knows it's true, and knows the WOW is a commandment. And we know he can do it! Even though it is HARD. I can only imagine how hard it must be. But I was reading in 1 Nephi today about how Laman and Lemuel gave up and just wanted to return back to Jerusalem. But Nephi doesn't let them, he teaches them and reminds them and does EVERYTHING he can to keep them there. Because Nephi knows how important it is to follow the Lord, just like we do. So that's what we're going to do for Brother O-- too. Do everything we can to remind him and help him to have that hope :). We're praying for Brother O-- allll the time now, and I know the Lord will help him and he'll be able to overcome this :).
The work is going good here in biliran :). I'm learning over and over again that everything is in the timetable of the Lord. He has a plan for all these wonderful people here in biliran, He has a plan for me, and He has a plan for you. I'm so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who is patient with us and continues to guide and bless us, no matter what. I'm so grateful for you all as well and for your love and support and your examples for me :). I love you!! And I know our Father loves you :).
Talk to you next week!
LOVE, sister Mortensen
 |
| Sister Mortensen and Sister Geraldez |
 |
| Happy one year! These sisters are so sweet! |
 |
| Nanay Gabuya, the lady that works with us almost every day, and her family working in the rice fields. We did a service project and help them last week! So fun |
 |
| One of our areas. On our way to Villa Enage. It is so beautiful! I love it so much. |
 |
| Vills Enage |
No comments:
Post a Comment