Finally an email that had nearly all positives in it! What an emotional roller-coaster this kid is sending us on! I just hope these positive experiences can keep him buoyed up for the trials he'll yet face. So, without further ado, here's today's email:

Well to start things off I just have to say… I am eternally indebted to you, Mom and Dad. I mean that… Why? Because I don’t know if I will ever have the opportunity to play the piano so beautifully and perfectly as I did in front of an apostle of the Lord. Yes, that’s right I played the prelude in front of Elder L. Tom Perry...Little bit of advice to Conner, Garrett, and Riley. This is from the Book of Elder Mortensen…. “I said unto thee, Conner, Garrett, and Riley my precious servants… what art thou doing with thy time upon the earth? Get thee hence off thy butt and go sit on the hard wood bench and let thy fingers play upon the keys of the ivory…” LOL!!! Don’t know where that came from…. But in modern terms. Garrett, Conner, and Riley. Seriously I can’t even begin to describe the joy that I felt from playing the piano with 250 people watching me and having and apostle of the Lord look at me and smile. WOW!! Seriously! I would hate for you to go on your missions and someone asks to play piano and you had stopped playing… It's not hard to put down the Wii and play the piano for a half hour. You will be so blessed, as you just read. Thank you so so much Mom and Dad!!! I love you forever for making me stick with it! I was playing prelude for about 45 minutes before because I love to play and the church has a freaking killer piano! Awesomeness! The joy that I felt when I turned around and saw Elder L. Tom Perry looking at me and smiling is indescribable. After the meeting started I went and sat back down with the other elders, and I was sitting dead center in the third row. And when Elder Perry got up to speak, he looked at me and said…. “Elder! Thank you for that beautiful music!! That was wonderful! You must have a strong mother to keep you playing for all these years huh? I said YES SIR! (Really I did) and he said "I can tell because all the Elders that I know that can play the piano all have strong mothers who kept them playing when they didn’t want to. You must be a very good producer… “

FREAKING HANNAH!! AN APOSTLE OF THE LORD SINGLED ME OUT!!

How freaking awesome is that? I got a handshake with him too! Twice… I feel so blessed to see and hear from two apostles in 6 weeks.

Oh, so I finally realized that I can do this [serve a mission]!! I had the coolest experience of my mission on Friday. So me and Elder Mason were waiting for a phone call back because we didn’t know where the address of a house was and this lady was finding it… But then this guy walked up and said “Yo man! You got a light?” I said, "No, I don’t". But he came up and asked me if we were out witnessin [Jehovah's Witnesses???] Um…lol. I guess that’s what you call it. Just then, the lady called back so it was just me and this guy named Darwin Delacey talking as Elder Mason took the phone call. Elder Mason started with Darwin on the subject of prophets before the phone call came. And so I asked him, "Well how do you know if President Monson is a real prophet or not?" And he looked at me and said, "Very good question, well I would have to pray or see for myself." And I said, "Well, one of the 12 apostles is going to be here on Sunday would you like to come and find out for yourself?" (I’m so bold I love it!) And he said "Ya I’ll come and find out. I was expecting him to flake out. He said I have run into you Witnesses before… I said "woah, we’re the Missonaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints"… "Oh, the Mormons"…. "Ya". And he said" well I have run into you before and I know about Nephi and all that fun stuff"… "I said so you have a Book of Mormon?" He said, "It's in my storage place"… I said. "Well, if I were to give you one would you read it before Sunday?" “Ya Man I’ll read your book!” So I gave him my first copy of the Book of Mormon the one with my testimony in it! And I told him that this book was a very sacred book and it meant a lot! He said "oh, I’ll read it and take care of it!" Then we found out that he was homeless and lived in a tent on private property, he didn’t say where because he didn’t want the feds to come and raid his tent…. So yesterday came and Me, Elder Mason, and Brother Lentz. (Coolest Man in the World) (Well out here) (I’ll talk about him later) [Not sure who he is, he didn't reference him "later". I'm guessing a ward mission leader] went to go pick up Darwin at the library where we met him, and sure enough he was there reading the Book Of Mormon! Awesome!!!!!!
He said he liked conference a lot! He is going to try and come on Sunday to regular church.

The reason this story meant so much to me is because it was the first time I had the courage to talk to someone, usually Elder Mason has to introduce me because I’m scared, but I finally got the courage and talked to someone and I felt so good about it!! And I gave out a Book of Mormon!! Awesomeness!

So just a few facts about the mission,
· I put on 8 pounds in the MTC. Ask Nate and Aaron. They can testify about the all-you-can-eat food…
· Out of the 5,000 poisonous snakes in the world… 4,998 live in North Carolina… Ha ha (GULP)
· I am freaking huge in muscle I work out with a bicep bar every morning, and I woke up weighing 150 dead even. Yes, John Spence, I finally hit the 150 mark. Proud? Ha ha.
· The food here, well read Jeremiah 4:19 and that’s what I feel like every night…. LOL!
· For p-day we usually go email, then play ball, go shopping… so forth. Fun stuff. Today we’re playing ping pong. SWEET!
· There are 144 missionaries here….
· I bike one week and car share one week

Thank you Ethan and Hailey for the notes!! Thank you all for the packages!! I absoulutely LOVE THEM! That helped so much! For some strange reason your packages and letters come at the right time! I will treasure those words for the rest of my life! I started to cry because they were so powerful!

Sorry I’m terrible at writing people back! I’m trying! But p-day is very short….

Thank you so much for all the letters and emails! They help a lot!

Sunday 10/18/09

Well, it's been a while since I've given an update. Last Monday's email "failed" as it timed out or something. We're still not sure where he's emailing from or how much time they get to spend on the computer. He sent us snail-mail, which we received on Friday. We also heard from his mission president, President Thomas last Monday. He said he'd spoken with Brad and he was doing much better. Brad had re-committed to giving it his all and their companionship had had a good "finding" week. We're grateful for all the thoughts and prayers on his behalf. We know he's being watched over and the blessings and rewards will come after some time.

His letter was good. He still has some concerns about being there, but they have had some good experiences and he appears to be getting along with his companion well.

Here are a excerpts from his letter:

So this week has been, cool, spiritual, sad, funny, and terrifying. So Wednesday was a terrifying / funny day . We went head-to-head with a pastor of a Lutheran church . Elder Jackman [prior companion to Elder Mason, Brad's companion] and Elder Mason ran into his wife and they scheduled a return appointment to go back and see her husband when he was home. So we go back and talk with them. Ugh. I could tell this was not going to go good, because he wasn't arguing about religion, he was arguing to save his family and career, so he would lie if he had to. I know there was no way that we would go out knowing we got a baptismal commitment or anything like that. He tried to take control of the situation and get us to mess up so that he could go to his congregation and take more evidence he has that missionaries and our church are false and he has the correct church. Some of the funniest moments came from him. So he was looking through this book trying to find this quote and it was a book called "Speaking the Truth to Mormons". We asked who it was by and he said "A non-LDS person, actually a Lutheran pastor from Salt Lake City". Wait, what? Are you kidding me? [I think he means how does a Lutheran pastor become an expert on the LDS faith.] We ask to see the book and it has a Mormon-ese dictionary in the back. Some of the definitions were pretty funny. Elder Mason and I chuckled at a few. We asked how this pastor knew so much about our religion, and he said "Oh, he lives in SLC" We both chuckled again. Then we were talking about Joseph Smith and I busted out "I saw a pillar of light" (perfectly for the first time! It was awesome) and he looked at me and said, "Oh, so he saw two personages in the same body." "No, he saw two separate beings." Pastors! On the way out, he looked at my nametag and said, "Mortensen, huh, that's a strong Lutheran name." On our way to the next appointment we were talking about that because the author lived in SLC, we were going to say "Abernathy?, that's a popular bishop's name", but we were too nice.

On Saturday...(way spiritual) Elder Mason was taking a nap because he didn't feel good, and I was on the couch reading my scriptures and the phone rang and it was Sis. Holman. I answered and it was LeGrand [relative] he he was crying. The only thing I could understand was "blessing", "713 C Sandalwood Court", and "dying". So when Elder Mason woke up I told him and we tried to go find it. But our 15 year old street map only found a neighborhood called Sandalwood Ct., Circle, so we don't really know how to find the apartment complex and so we head back to the house again and Elder Mason just stares and stares at the map. He said it's there so we went to this spot on the map that he's been staring at for a while and we go there and it's not there, but as we came out of the neighborhood, it was right there! How cool! We knocked on the door, a lady asks us to come in, and as we walk into this little apartment. She starts to explain the situation. Her friend is anorexic and she is afraid her friend is depressed and ready to die. Wow, what do you say to that? We gave her a blessing and now she has questions about our religion, so we taught her lessons 1 and 2. We were in there about and hour and a half. We haven't heard back from her yet.

Elder Mason is from Idaho and is 19. He's been out for 6 months. He looks Jewish so we always make jokes about him, and talk Jewish. It's way funny. I'll send a picture of him home soon.

Well, that's the bulk of his letter. We're encouraged by what he shared. There were still some comments regarding him not "feeling like a missionary" and sometimes thinking he could be more productive at home, going to school, working, etc. President Thomas said the stake where Brad is serving is having stake conference (today) and Elder Perry was to be there. We hope he gets some encouragement from his talk as well. They're having a Zone Conference this week, so hopefully, he'll get a bit more "feeling like a missionary" if he's around a bunch of missionaries.

I'll write more after tomorrows email. Thanks again for your letters, cards, packages, thoughts, and prayers.

Oh, his area is Newton-Conover, Northeast of Charlotte. The address at the left is best to use as the mission office forwards on letters to the area where the elders are currently serving.

Blake

So, funny story. But you'll need a bit of history first. A couple of years ago, Kristy (Brad's mom, duh!) went on trip with her sisters back to North Carolina (Raleigh and coast side). Long story, short, she'd picked up some North Carolina T-shirts for the boys, but while on a layover in Chicago, thought she should have picked up something for me...So she bought me a Chicago T-shirt from the airport...Not very meaningful as a souvenir from North Carolina! Anyway, we've had fun over the past couple of years giving her a bad time about the "great" souvenir. ;). So, back to the present day. It's Kristy's birthday tomorrow (10/9). If you'll recall, Brad had a layover in Cincinnati...(those of you with foresight, hold back the laughter). Yes, you guessed it, Kristy got a package in the mail yesterday for her birthday from her missionary son...Inside: A T-shirt from Cincinnati, with a note: "Happy Birthday Mom, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

10/05/2009

Well, he finally made it. We were able to speak with him on the phone last Wednesday morning before he left Salt Lake City. He sounded nervous and excited at the same time. He sounded as though he had matured greatly while in the MTC and was excited to move to the field and get rolling. We received his first email from the field today and he was much like many other missionaries their first few days in the field...A bit homesick and discouraged from the lack of people jumping to hear his message. We hope and pray this will pass soon. His mission president mailed us a letter today with this picture and said his companion is Elder Mason from Idaho Falls. He describes him as a positive and always smiling training Elder who will get Brad started on the right foot. From pondering on his email throughout the day, I think is must be a big change leaving 2800 missionaries and teachers all with the same values and love of the Gospel to a place where people are about their everyday business and not immediately receptive to hearing the messages these Elders have been so excited about for 3 weeks! We hope to flood him with encouraging letters and reminders of what a great work he is doing and how there are those out there waiting to hear what only Brad can say and do to touch them!

The mission office said it's easiest to send letters directly to the office and they forward them out to the field. If you have time, drop him a note and tell him to keep up the good work!

Thanks,

Blake

Elder Mortensen and Elder Harris, from his district.

Zone Leaders, Elders Bowman and Doxey with Brad.

Email 9/23

Well, this day has been rough!! This week has been very humbling.... Probably the most humbling week ever!! I have been fasting, and praying and reading. and going to the temple. and still no answer to my prayers. I have been wondering what to do about my companions and other Elders. Heavenly Father knows i want to hit the ground running !! So why am I being tested so hard?

So choir yesterday was way cool!! We sang "Behold The Wounds In Jesus Hands!!!" With 588 choir members!!! I sang tenor. It WAS SO SO SO SO cool. So the Referral Center is Awesome!! I'm going to talk to a teenage girl that is very interested in our church. We talked on Sunday for a good 45 minutes. I feel bad for her situation!! Her family won't take her to Church and they won't mention the Bible and talk about Christ. so she is going to her friends house to chat with me. Poor girl. :( I don't know about Joe [Brad wrote a letter talking about a guy who called the Referral Center with questions while reading the Book of Mormon]. Elder Stoker got him on the phone and didn't know it was him until he got off the phone. I'll write you tonight after I get off with this girl and let you know how it went.

So I'm nervous for Wednesday. I don't know why.... I'm excited but sad to talk to you on the phone. it is going to be very hard.
I can't believe how fast my time has gone in the MTC!! I feel like it was yesterday when I got set apart and was saying goodbye!!! Especially when I see new Elders come in every Wednesday!! Its crazy that i have been here for 2 weeks! I can't believe it! Where has the time gone! I want to stay here but at the same time i want to get out there! Oh, cool thing that I thought of today. So Grandma Mortensen sent me a card and 10 bucks and with it I bought 3 Book of Mormon's and I'm going to write my testimony in them and try and give them out on the plane!! :) I'm excited! I'm obviously very excited to hit the ground running!! I can't wait to get my trainer and start working. This is boring here. I don't like teaching fake investigators and knowing that they already have been baptized and confirmed and sealed... its not the same.

Thank you so much for supporting me so so so much,

Love Elder Mortensen