What a great letter! Sounds like the family is doing great and I bet all the girls are just heart breakin' head turners to all the boys. :/ . No dating till I get home. Nope, none. That's really cool that me and Kyler both finished the Book of Mormon and took the challenge. He's an awesome missionary. Well transfers are today and we hear in about an hour so I'll have to let you know through a written letter what happens. That's too bad about Hallie and her bone chip. She's super tough though and knows how to "accept the pain!" My ankle is... eh.. I've rolled it probably two-three times out here and it hurts bad but then after about 4-5 days the pain subsides. It is still all wobbly and it hurts to bend side to side so I'm trying to look for a brace that will be good to wear for tracting and playing sports. If you find a nice one let me know and I'd love to have it sent out!
This week has been pretty great. It was one of the longest weeks yet because of the anticipation of transfer news. On Saturday we were blessed to be a part of two baptisms: Alana Cortez and Alicia Scott. We were reading the teaching record of Alana and the missionaries found her in April of 2008 and gave up three months later because she wouldn't come to church and her less active mother wasn't supportive. Now, two years later we were able to contact her in July, commit her to baptism, get her to church with her young women's leaders, and develop friendships in the ward so she'll be excited to go to mutual, which she has been going to for a while now. On Friday we were getting information to fill out her baptismal record and we needed to know who she wanted to baptize her. Of course, being a young 12 year old she couldn't decide so her mom told her that she needed to choose one of us. That made it even worse. So after a few minutes of contemplation, her mom looked at Cichy and asked how many he had done and he said one, then looked at me and asked and I said zero (on the mission). So that settled it and I was able to baptize her! It was nothing like raising the blue oven mitt to the square (to cover my cast when I baptized Hallie) but it was still a very neat experience.
Saturday night we visited Teddy and Genevieve. I don't know if I've mentioned them before but they are a Mexican (teddy) and Navajo (Genevieve) couple who have shown some interest in being baptized. Back in June, Genevieve prayed about baptism and even received an answer for July 10th but then didn't follow through because she moved up to the reservation to be with family for about two months. Saturday was the first time we've seen her in about that long. We went inside and began chatting and there were two other people sitting in the room that we didn't know. The discussion went on and Genevieve was just kind of like, "ehh, yeah, ahh ok, yeah whatever cool" kind of attitude. Then all of a sudden, the woman who was sitting off to the side raised her hand and we were like, "oh do you have a question?" She replied, "yes actually I am Genevieve's sister and I was baptized with my daughter back in 1993 and I'm looking for the church around here so that I can attend." She then went on to bear a very powerful testimony about how the Holy Ghost has been a comfort to her even through all the tough trials she's had in her life. It brought Genevieve to tears and the spirit was very strong. Teddy, that jokester, never gives us straight answers and lies to us all the time. Even he began opening up and saying that he was going to talk to his Catholic priest and ask him where is authority comes from and then he was going to go talk to our bishop and ask him where HIS authority comes from. HAHA. It ended up being a very good lesson and we ended when Genevieve's sister asked if we could close with a prayer where we all hold hands and make a circle. Very odd, yet very powerful.
The next day, Sunday, made for a very interesting and bizarre experience. So bizarre and scary to me that I don't really want to have to describe it until a later time when we are face to face. I'll just say this, there are two powers on this earth, God's and Satan's. Both are real as you and me. God's power brings light, Satan's brings darkness. No darkness can reside where there is light. The power of the priesthood can and does work miracles as I saw with my own eyes and felt with my own hands. Satan's power is one thing that I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemies and I'm so grateful that God's power is able to overcome all darkness. I recorded this experience in my journal and will have to tell you about it in person. I have the chills and am near tears right now as I write and think about it and I just feel that it wouldn't be good to tell at this time.
Stand in the light, but if circumstance arise, light up the darkness. It's cheesy I know but it's been a major topic lately. People see your examples whether you like it or not and they can physically see your light radiate. Never underestimate the power of the priesthood but on the flip side, don't tamper with the power of the adversary. It is extremely real as I stated earlier. But yes dad, like you said exercising Priesthood takes practice and twice this week I've had the opportunity to be a part of blessings with consecrated oil for the benefit of the sick and the afflicted and I love the opportunities given to exercise it because that's what it's meant for, blessing the lives of others.
I love you all very much and I applaud you girls for showing your faith in the priesthood and allowing dad to give you a father's blessing. Oh how I wish I could receive one as well. In due time.
Say hi to Parlay and Brer... :/ not. haha jk. Let me know how the first week of school goes!
Love,
Elder Mouritsen
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