June 23, 2014 - Chicago 5th

Hey hey hey!!
Another solid week here in Chi5. Nothing really huge happened, but we
had all sorts of little gems.

Monday. Taught Jorge again and got Bishop and his wife to tag along.
SOLID! #manisgettingbaptized

Tuesday. Went on exchanges with the lovely Stls in 'the loop', aka the
area I was doing exchanges in a year ago. Weird going back. They're
teaching this most PERFECT LADY IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD, that I got to
meet.  Made my week. I wish everyone in the world could meet her.

Wednesday. District lunch at 'Yummy Buffet'. Not so yummy, if you
catch my drift.  Later we had been walking for more than an hour
and a half trying to find some old investigators...and it started
POURING. It's one thing for it to rain while you're walking on a Main
Street....you can hide inside some business. But in a neighborhood?
Forget about it. Sooo, I say a little prayer that I wouldn't be soaked
and look too ridiculous for our next lesson, the one we were walking
to and like 8blocks away from. What happens next? Well Hna Teresita,
yes that's her name, rolled up and picked us up. I feel like in any
other area, this wouldn't be that crazy...but considering our size of
area, and the fact that about 5 out of our 20 or so people have
cars....I'd say that was defs a tender mercy.

Friday. Had a pivotal-ish moment with one of our long term
investigators, Jose. Sweetest old man! He's probably 75, mas O menos,
and is kinda sorta living with one of our active members, Juana. There
isn't anything there- they just take care of each other. He took care
of her a little while back when she was really sick with breast
cancer, and now she's taking care of him because....well, he's oldish
and needs help. He's been taught for about a year or so. He started
reading the Book of Mormon back then, and basically said he didn't
even want to talk about baptism until he had finished the book. Okay.
Well. He finished it two weeks ago. We asked him then what he was
thinking and if he was ready to get baptized. Yes, but no. He said he
wants baptism but in his own time. Woof, hate that answer.....WE WANT
IT NOWWWWWW!  Totally thinking about the Willy Wanka girl right
now. Anyway. This past Friday- he was all pumped about it. There was a
total change of attitude. Did I mention that he's only come to church
once in all the amount of time that he's been taught? He says he'll
get sick if he leaves the apartment. Mmhmm. Back to Friday. We had him
say the prayer, which he NEVER does. Best thing ever! Not only did he
give thanks for the restoration/book of Mormon/prophet (he's a pretty
advanced investigator) he said that he was going to church. AND
HE DID!!!!! Ah. Did my heart some good seeing him there. He even made
some Legit comments in Sunday school class.  Gold star for sure.
Next thing....wedding!

Saturday. The elders had a baptism. Bishop was the only member to
come, which was really disappointing....but it really didn't matter to
the man, which made it alright :) He was just so excited and ready to
get it done. Love it!
Later that night we did some service for Hna Teresita. This lady.
Serious. I should start calling her Mother Teresita. She cleans houses
for a living....houses for some VERY wealthy people up in my first
area. High wood/Highland area....where Michael Jordan and supposedly
Oprah have their houses. Nbd. Anyway. She's been with some of these
clients for a long time- and they just give her their old
clothes/random items. Why? SHE SENDS IT ALL TO MEXICO!  It's always a
little overwhelming at her house. She lives in a tiny basement and
there's just stuff. Everywhere. Normally I'd say she belongs on the tv
show "Hoarders", but she's got a purpose, so it's kinda alright. We
helped her pack these HUGE boxes. Toddlers, kids, adults. Whatever.
She has it. Again. Nice. NICE. Name brand stuff. The whole time I'm
thinking, 'wow....you could make a lot of money selling all of
this...", and then she throws out how the moms just cry in gratitude
when they receive the new clothes for their kids and family. Talk
about slap in the face! Sighhh, It was fun though! She had me climb on
top to pack the clothes in tighter. Smart lady!

All in all. Life is good.
-My foot is healing.
-Im starting to get a rockin new tan. The lady at PopEyes asked if I
had just gone to the pool...in a skirt? Nah lady. It's my SPF 100
sunscreen.
-We hit our record of steps this week. With an all time high of +18k
steps on Monday.
-from what I hear, Mexico is still in the World Cup.
-People are hearing the word. Changing lives. No biggie.

Love you all thisssssssssssss much! :)
Hermana Mortensen

 

Softball tournament from last P-day!  I hit and Elder Sheppard was
nice to run the bases for me #dreamteam #actionshot #homerun
#futurecub

 

 

Zone Picy pic! Don't ask me why missionaries HAVE to throw some sign
up with their hands. I don't get it either.

 

 

-TRUTH

 

-SERVICCEEEEE!