It Was Amazing How Strong The Spirit Was And You Can See How The Lord Has Been Acting In Her Life To Help Her To Come Back To Church

Hi familly,

Thank you for the wonderful email and for all the pictures!  what a fun time :).  the snow is BEAUTIFUL!  wow.  josh i love reading your emails always, sounds like you are doing great and are so happy :).  You're 6 months now!  time really does fly, and it only gets faster haha.  enjoy it while you can :).  and don't worry, we'll get to share stories one day haha :)

This week i wanted to tell you a story about this WONDERFUL family :) we taught sister M-- and brother J-- for the first time this week!  She grew up a member but went less active a couple of years ago, but i'll have to save that story for another time :).  But after that, she wouldn't really talk to members or missionaries anymore.  she'd be nice but wouldn't have a real conversation with them ever.  She moved away to where her husband is from, san antonio, which is the island where there's no lds church.  then a couple weeks before me and sister russon got to allen, they moved back here to be with her mom who was sick and in the hospital.  We met her and would always talk to her, and at first she didn't really want to talk but would just leave us to talk with her other sister and her mom who are active.  then back on christmas eve, we were walking by, and she was selling balut!  and brother j-- was there as well.  and i told sis russon this is her chance to try balut, and she was kinda reluctant but is a brave soul and decided to do it :).  so we sat down and ate it and it's kinda weird to eat, especially for the first time, haha so they enjoyed watching us eat it :).  and we were all just talking and laughing and they just really seemed to finally relax and open up with us.  so since then we always stop by and talk to them, and finally set up a time where we could share with them, this past week.  and we sat down, and sister just completely opened up and shared everything, and said that she is ready now to come back to church!  she had everything ready and was planning to come on sunday :).  brother is a little reluctant since he is still catholic he says, but is so so friendly and he's interested.  it was amazing how strong the spirit was and you can see how the Lord has been acting in her life to help her to come back to church.  ah man i love this little family :).  they have a little boy that is so so cute! yesterday, sister and the little boy came to church :) i know the Lord is watching over this little family and guiding them back to His church. i feel so grateful to be here at this time where she is ready to come back and get to see and hear her testimony.  it's the things like this that make it worth it :).  am we are so blessed!  goodness i love being a missionary.  and as you guys have pointed out haha, that's gonna be over sooner that i imagined!  crazy stuff.  but i've been thinking about it, and even more than i love being a missionary, i love being a member of His true church and knowing that we have a loving Heavenly Father, and He has a plan for us to be happy and to live with Him and our families forever.  I love when we have opportunities to help others come to Him as well, not only as a full time missionary, but as family and friends and neighbors. we all just need to keep helping each other!  we're all in this together diba? haha.  i'm grateful for your help as i've been here and all growing up as well. you guys are the best, and I love you all so very much :)  hope you have a wonderful week!

Sister Mortensen