November 2-8, 2010: "Works his heart out in a good cause"

Hello dearest family,

Yes I did get the massive pack of letters! That was awesome! Thanks for the pictures as well... Everybody ALREADY looks different than they do in the photo from last spring that we took as a family. That's nuts! I can't believe it's already been six months by the way... I feel like we were just barely at the Christmas party up in Tremonton and Kyler was a few weeks in the MTC oh and Jill just crying her eyes out cause Kyler was gone. haha. Well that stud of a missionary has nearly been out a year now! This year has flown by!

So Monday was November 1st of course and what was the temperature here? Oh just 93 degrees. When you are outside, not thinking about what the date is but just basing it on the temperature, it feels like it’s the beginning of August. Then when you realize that it’s November - it's the weirdest feeling! It feels like the year has gone by so much faster. Fall has totally been blown over and I still feel like I'm going to wake up one morning and have to go scrape the ice and snow off a windshield. Monday night we had a baptism for a young lady in the ward whose step mom is a member and was a good influence on her to decide to be baptized. She is extremely shy though so nobody was invited to the baptism. There were literally seven people there. Her immediate family, Bishop Johnson, the ward mission leader Brother Rodriguez, and the former Bishop, Brother Hunter. The step mom bore a powerful testimony and then I was asked to baptize her. Elder Nelson gave a little spiritual thought and then Brother Rodriguez and Bishop Johnson said some words. It ended up being a very uplifting experience.

Tuesday was when I spoke at the Zone Meeting. I thought it was going to be in front of the entire Zone Conference (two zones) but it ended up just being our zone, which happens to be one of the biggest in the mission, if not THE biggest. I was the last person on the program so I had less than ten minutes to give a fifteen to twenty minute talk. haha I've come to realize that you have three different talks every time you speak: the talk you prepare, the talk you present, and the talk you wish you would've presented. Maybe I'll send ya the hard copy of my talk but I don't really think I used it much when speaking, it was more of a discussion. As I read through Preach my Gospel, I found the pages where the previous prophets of this dispensation have quotes regarding missionary work. I noticed that the words "responsibility" and "duty" are used nine times and I pointed out how not only is it our purpose as missionaries to bring the gospel to all the world, but it's our responsibility. Then there's some quotes about how every member is a missionary. You can make the connection. In my talk I actually used the "Hope Poem" except I called it the "Sense of Urgency Poem" this time. I'll send you the hard copy...

After zone meeting I went on exchanges with Elder Sentman. He's a 27 year old college graduate who is with a brand new 19 year old missionary named Elder Buttars. It's funny when we talk about how when Elder Buttars was born, Elder Sentman was getting baptized and already making covenants with the Lord. It went well and then the next day after district meeting we switched back. Then, that same day I went on exchanges with one of the Assistants, Elder Westbroek. He happens to be from Grandma Connie's home ward. The reason for this exchange was so that he could go over all the leadership responsibilities and roles of the district leader on a more personal level. We were then together the rest of the night and had some awesome lessons. Elder Nelson was with Elder Choules and they had each of our bikes so Elder Westbroek and I had the truck that the mission provides for the assistants. We went to our lesson that night with Crystal and her daughter Ellie at the apartments on 35th Ave and Bell. We had a great lesson and then on our way out to the truck we noticed that it was no longer parked in the place that we had left it. Actually, it was no longer anywhere in the parking lot at all! We had no idea what was going on and started freakin' out a bit. Since it was already 8:30 and very dark outside there were not many people out. We walked over to the leasing office and of course it was closed. We seriously had no idea what happened. The only two solutions were it was stolen, or towed. We were parked in a perfectly fine spot with no handicap sign, no number for a reserved person, and it wasn't even a covered stall! We sat down on the curb, dumbfounded and Elder Westbroek called the Spanish Assistants. They laughed their heads off of course but told us to try to find a number for a towing company or the non-emergency police. We had neither of course. We called and talked to Elder Skonard (the vehicle coordinator in the mission) and he said we probably needed to call the police. We decided to walk over to a more secluded area and say a prayer. As we walked over, we went under some covered stalls and noticed a sign posted to the top. It said, "No Head Out Parking!" Yup, that was it. The place we parked was just a whole lot more convenient to back into... The number for the towing company was located next to the sign. Of course we called, and they had the truck. They had taken it all the way down to south Phoenix. We continued on with our prayer. The Spanish Assistants still came and got us and took me back to Elder Nelson and then had to go with Westbroek to get his companion. $120 but he got his truck back. Hahaha We laughed about it but the cool thing was that Elder Westbroek and I ended up getting to just sit and chat about missionary work and favorite memories. It ended up being a very humorous, yet awesome experience.

Saturday was a great day. I called Sister Mock to see how her Uncle Howard's (82 year old investigator) appointment for his knee surgery went. She said it went well and then said that Uncle had something to tell me. He got on the phone and in his cute little east coast sounding accent, he said, "I...Wanna get baptized." It was so cool! We planned the day for November 20th and it is now set in stone. He's very excited! Later that night I got a call from Chris Baird (recent convert since August 28th). He asked me an odd question: "Hey, I have the priesthood right?" Well yes...why? "And with that priesthood I'm able to baptize?" Yeah what's going on?? "Well... My son Adam wants to be baptized all of a sudden." NO WAY!! That seriously is nuts! Adam is married to a member but has never really been interested until his dad became a member. He asked Chris to baptize him. Ahh man it's so cool to see families come together in the happiness that the gospel provides. It's even cooler to see them express that through gratitude to their Father who has provided them with it.

In my talk since I was short of time we focused mainly on the part of the Lombardi quote that says "works his heart out in a good cause, and lies exhausted on the field of battle,-- Victorious!" We read Helaman 5:4,14-21. We talked about how Nephi and Lehi dedicated their lives to the Lord in His great cause. About how they took it upon themselves all the remainder of their days to preach the word of God. They went from city to city, baptized 8,000 people. I asked them how many contacts they must have had to baptize that many people. Tough crowd. Verses 14-21 talk about how Nephi and Lehi taught with power and authority in this great cause. They didn't quit even after all the success they had, they knew there were more souls to save. At the end, I quoted Vince again and asked, "Elders and Sisters, is there any greater cause than this?" There are people out there, who are "only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it" (D&C 123:12). It's my testimony that we’ll do all that we can to lie exhausted on our fields of battle, wherever they may be, -- Victorious.

I love you all and I'm so thankful for your prayers and all you do. Yes a jacket would be great! It's still very warm during the day but who says one shouldn't be prepared. I could also use maybe 1 or 2 more long sleeved, fitted 15 1/2 white shirts! :) That would be great.

I get letters throughout the whole week! Not just on P-Day. They immediately forward it to me as soon as the mission office gets it.

Thanks again! I love you so much. I too pray for your safety and success in whatever task may come.

Love,

Elder Colton Matthew Mouritsen