Spring Break

Dear Family,

It is spring break for the Gretna schools this week as well. I’m sure you will all enjoy this time to relax.

Are you all super excited for general conference? It is going to be amazing! On several occasions, I have prepared for conference by writing down a few questions that I would like Heavenly Father to answer during conference. And every time, He does. I know that if you write down your questions and pray for the Lord to answer, He will. Sometimes the answer will be clearly spoken by one of the prophets or apostles. Sometimes the answer will come through the spirit as a thought or feeling of what we should do. These spiritual promptings may not relate to the topics that the speakers addressed, but we will be more open to hearing them because we are listening to conference. One conference, I asked “What one trait should I try to develop?”and Joseph B. Wirthlin gave a very specific answer in his talk, “The Great Commandment.” After hearing that talk I knew I needed to work on love because that is the great commandment: to love God. That is just one example. Every time I try this, it works. So, I invite each of you to try it and tell me what you learn. It will make general conference that much more meaningful.

The work here is amazing. We set two more people for baptism this week! Sister Jolley came here on exchanges last Friday and we had a brief but powerful lesson with Dave. We shared Alma 7:11-13, testified of the power of the atonement, and invited him to be baptized. He’s very humble and wants to change so he accepted April 24th as his baptismal date. The next day, Jennifer (the wife of our recent convert, Jacob) came with us to check on Ty, another investigator who wants to be baptized. Well, Ty wasn’t home but his wife Jen was. We had never really spoken with her and were very pleased to learn that she would support Ty in getting baptized. Apparently she had been reading all the pamphlets we left with Ty and had a few questions for us. Her first question was perfect “How is this going to help Ty?” Jennifer was the perfect team-up because her husband Jacob just got baptized and it has strengthened their marriage so much. She was so helpful in relating with Jen and sharing how the church has blessed their family. We emphasized eternal families a lot. Jen asked “How can I know that I will see my mom again?” Another perfect question. We were able to testify that God answers prayers through the Holy Ghost. She believes that God will never give her more than she can handle but feels like God hasn’t answered her prayers. Sister Bleazard was able to show her that we were an answer to her prayer that Ty would be saved. We were prompted to come knock on their door and have been teaching Ty everything he needs to be saved. We also explained that we want those same blessings for her. She was a little unsure because she has been baptized before, but we explained how this baptism would be different. We also pointed out that the “spiritual uplift-ment” she was feeling as we spoke was the spirit testifying that these things are true. We invited her to be baptized with Ty on April 17th and she said yes! We are so excited for both of them to prepare for that together. It will be such a huge blessing to their family.

The most amazing thing about our lesson with Jen was how powerful the spirit was. At some points, I felt so warm that I thought I might get heat exhaustion or something. THE SPIRIT IS AMAZING! It told us what to say: exactly the things that Jen needed to hear. Afterward, Jennifer described it as “the most amazing night ever!” She also found herself saying things that she did not come up with on her own. I think that is one way that the gift of tongues is manifest. We opened our mouths and the Lord filled them. I feel so blessed to be a missionary. I really don’t do anything, it is all the spirit. It is the true teacher. I am just blessed to watch it work. It truly is a privilege to see the spirit work through us. There is no better feeling than knowing that I have been an instrument in the hands of God to bless the lives of His children.

Have a wonderful spring break!

Love,
Sister Bailey Mortensen