December 21-27, 2010: A White Christmas

Well hey long time no talk!

It was fun to hear your voices on Saturday. I hope everybody's Christmas's were stellar! Bailee, how did your talk go? Send me a copy! I would love to read it.

Elder Mouritsen and Elder Kennington preparing to deliver letters and packages to the missionairies in their zone on Christmas Eve.

Well, not much more to report on except for the baptism. It was real nice! President and Sister Beck came and there were surprisingly a lot of people there for it being on Christmas day. I baptized Stefi and Kennington baptized Dustin. It was way funny, we went down into the water and as I was telling her how to hold my arm and plug her nose then she just started falling backwards without letting me say the prayer! Luckily, I caught her before she hit the water and I told her that I needed to say the prayer first. Haha she responded with a quiet, nervous "oh well I'm ready whenever you're ready." Haha it was funny but it went well! The member of the bishopric who was conducting called upon President Beck to come up and speak afterwards. There were about 14 other missionaries there as well so we got a big zone picture with the two baptizees and President and Sister Beck.

Of the Most Worth
By President Ezra Taft Benson (1899–1994)
Ezra Taft Benson, "Of the Most Worth", New Era, July 2002, 46
Originally printed in the June 1989 New Era.

It is not enough just to be members and go to sacrament meeting. The Lord expects us to be missionaries and to help build up His kingdom.

Missionaries are engaged in the greatest work in all the world—saving the souls of our Father in Heaven’s children. There isn’t anything so important, so precious, so enjoyable, so soul-satisfying. Through the Prophet Joseph Smith the Lord proclaimed, “The thing which will be of the most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people, that you may bring souls unto me” (D&C 15:6).

As members of the Lord’s Church, we must take missionary work seriously. If you are laboring as you should, if you love this work, you will be helping to save the souls of the children of men.
No person can read section one of the Doctrine and Covenants, realizing that the Church accepts it as the word of the Lord, and ask why we send missionaries into all parts of the world. The responsibility, and a major one it is, falls squarely upon the membership of the Church, for “the voice of warning,” says the Lord, “shall be unto all people, by the mouths of my disciples, whom I have chosen in these last days” (D&C 1:4).

One of our best missionary tools is the sterling example of members who live the gospel. This is what the Lord meant when He said to the Church, “Zion must increase in beauty, and in holiness; … Zion must arise and put on her beautiful garments” (D&C 82:14). The Lord will sustain members in their missionary responsibility if they just have the faith to try.

What the Lord expects

It is time to raise our sights, to get a vision of the magnitude of this great work. The Lord expects it of us. It is not enough just to be members of the Church and go to sacrament meeting. That is good—but that is not enough. The Lord expects us to be missionaries, to live the gospel—yes, wholly, and to help to build up His kingdom.

You will not be an effective missionary until you learn to have sympathy for all of our Father’s children—until you learn to love them. People can feel when love is extended to them. Many yearn for it. When you sympathize with their feelings, they in turn will reciprocate goodwill to you. You will have made a friend.

How long has it been since you have invited a neighbor to sacrament meeting or to a stake conference, or to come into your home for a home evening? How long has it been since you had a real gospel conversation? These are choice experiences.

I encourage you not only to read the biblical account of Christ’s Resurrection, but to read and share with a nonmember acquaintance the Book of Mormon account of Christ’s personal manifestation to those in America following His Resurrection. Give them or lend them a copy of the Book of Mormon, even your own copy if necessary. It could bless them eternally.

The Book of Mormon is the great standard we are to use in our missionary work. It shows that Joseph Smith was a prophet. It contains the words of Christ, and its great mission is to bring us to Christ. All other things are secondary. The golden question of the Book of Mormon is, Do you want to learn more of Christ?

The Book of Mormon is for both member and nonmember. Combined with the Spirit of the Lord, the Book of Mormon is the greatest tool which God has given us to convert the world. If we are to have the harvest of souls, we must use the instrument which God has designed for the task—the Book of Mormon.

Better-prepared missionaries

And reading the Book of Mormon is one of the greatest persuaders to get us on missions. We need more missionaries. But we also need better-prepared missionaries coming out of the wards and branches and homes where they know and love the Book of Mormon. We need missionaries who have a burning testimony of its divinity, and who, by the Spirit, can challenge their investigators to read and ponder its pages, knowing with complete assurance that the Lord will manifest the truth of it to them by the power of the Holy Ghost. We need missionaries to match our message.

Give me a young man who has kept himself morally clean and has faithfully attended his Church meetings. Give me a young man who has magnified his priesthood and has earned his Duty to God Award and is an Eagle Scout. Give me a young man who is a seminary graduate and has a burning testimony of the Book of Mormon. Give me such a young man and I will give you a young man who can perform miracles for the Lord in the mission field and throughout his life.
Remember, young women, you may also have the opportunity to serve a full-time mission. I am grateful my eternal companion served a mission in Hawaii before we were married, and I am pleased that I have had granddaughters serve full-time missions. Some of our finest missionaries are sisters.

To succeed in sharing the gospel, whether as full-time missionaries or as member missionaries, you must have a burning testimony of the divinity of this work. Your first obligation is to get that testimony through prayer, through fasting, through meditation, through study, through appealing to the Lord to give you the testimony, and through responding to calls when they come to you. You must know that God lives; that Jesus is the Christ, the Redeemer of the world; that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God; and that the priesthood and authority of our Heavenly Father is here.

Not only should sharing the gospel be regarded as a priesthood duty, but we should all look forward to this experience with great joy and anticipation. The real purpose in sharing the gospel is to bring souls unto Christ, to teach and baptize our Heavenly Father’s children so that we may rejoice with them (see D&C 18:15) in the kingdom of our Father.

I love that talk! Every person and every member of the church has a piece to play in this concert to "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man!" How can we find our piece and purpose? I believe everyone's is different and can be magnified/altered just as Captain Moroni did in Alma 43:11... a.k.a he altered the management of affairs of his kingdom. How can we... alter the management of affairs in our own spheres of influence?

I'll leave you with that. I love you very much. Thank you for all the memories and traditions I've been able to reminisce over this great Christmas holiday. Have a happy, fun, new years!

Love,

Elder Mouritsen

December 14-20, 2010: Receiving Revelation through Church Attendance

Dear Family,

The Currant Bush by Elder Hugh B. Brown (1883–1975)

"You sometimes wonder whether the Lord really knows what He ought to do with you. You sometimes wonder if you know better than He does about what you ought to do and ought to become. I am wondering if I may tell you a story. It has to do with an incident in my life when God showed me that He knew best.

I was living up in Canada. I had purchased a farm. It was run-down. I went out one morning and saw a currant bush. It had grown up over six feet high. It was going all to wood. There were no blossoms and no currants. I was raised on a fruit farm in Salt Lake before we went to Canada, and I knew what ought to happen to that currant bush. So I got some pruning shears and clipped it back until there was nothing left but stumps. It was just coming daylight, and I thought I saw on top of each of these little stumps what appeared to be a tear, and I thought the currant bush was crying. I was kind of simpleminded (and I haven’t entirely gotten over it), and I looked at it and smiled and said, “What are you crying about?” You know, I thought I heard that currant bush say this:

“How could you do this to me? I was making such wonderful growth. I was almost as big as the shade tree and the fruit tree that are inside the fence, and now you have cut me down. Every plant in the garden will look down on me because I didn’t make what I should have made. How could you do this to me? I thought you were the gardener here.”

That’s what I thought I heard the currant bush say, and I thought it so much that I answered. I said, “Look, little currant bush, I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. I didn’t intend you to be a fruit tree or a shade tree. I want you to be a currant bush, and someday, little currant bush, when you are laden with fruit, you are going to say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down. Thank you, Mr. Gardener.’”
Years passed, and I found myself in England. I was in command of a cavalry unit in the Canadian Army. I held the rank of field officer in the British Canadian Army. I was proud of my position. And there was an opportunity for me to become a general. I had taken all the examinations. I had the seniority. The one man between me and the office of general in the British Army became a casualty, and I received a telegram from London. It said: “Be in my office tomorrow morning at 10:00,” signed by General Turner.

I went up to London. I walked smartly into the office of the general, and I saluted him smartly, and he gave me the same kind of a salute a senior officer usually gives—a sort of “Get out of the way, worm!” He said, “Sit down, Brown.” Then he said, “I’m sorry I cannot make the appointment. You are entitled to it. You have passed all the examinations. You have the seniority. You’ve been a good officer, but I can’t make the appointment. You are to return to Canada and become a training officer and a transport officer.” That for which I had been hoping and praying for 10 years suddenly slipped out of my fingers.

Then he went into the other room to answer the telephone, and on his desk, I saw my personal history sheet. Right across the bottom of it was written, “THIS MAN IS A MORMON.” We were not very well liked in those days. When I saw that, I knew why I had not been appointed. He came back and said, “That’s all, Brown.” I saluted him again, but not quite as smartly, and went out.

I got on the train and started back to my town, 120 miles away, with a broken heart, with bitterness in my soul. And every click of the wheels on the rails seemed to say, “You are a failure.” When I got to my tent, I was so bitter that I threw my cap on the cot. I clenched my fists, and I shook them at heaven. I said, “How could you do this to me, God? I have done everything I could do to measure up. There is nothing that I could have done—that I should have done—that I haven’t done. How could you do this to me?” I was as bitter as gall.
And then I heard a voice, and I recognized the tone of this voice. It was my own voice, and the voice said, “I am the gardener here. I know what I want you to do.” The bitterness went out of my soul, and I fell on my knees by the cot to ask forgiveness for my ungratefulness and my bitterness. While kneeling there I heard a song being sung in an adjoining tent. A number of Mormon boys met regularly every Tuesday night. I usually met with them. We would sit on the floor and have Mutual. As I was kneeling there, praying for forgiveness, I heard their singing:

“But if, by a still, small voice he calls
To paths that I do not know,
I’ll answer, dear Lord, with my hand in thine:
I’ll go where you want me to go.”
(Hymns, no. 270)

I arose from my knees a humble man. And now, almost 50 years later, I look up to Him and say, “Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for cutting me down, for loving me enough to hurt me.” I see now that it was wise that I should not become a general at that time, because if I had I would have been senior officer of all western Canada, with a lifelong, handsome salary, a place to live, and a pension, but I would have raised my six daughters and two sons in army barracks. They would no doubt have married out of the Church, and I think I would not have amounted to anything. I haven’t amounted to very much as it is, but I have done better than I would have done if the Lord had let me go the way I wanted to go.

Many of you are going to have very difficult experiences: disappointment, heartbreak, bereavement, defeat. You are going to be tested and tried. I just want you to know that if you don’t get what you think you ought to get, remember, God is the gardener here. He knows what He wants you to be. Submit yourselves to His will. Be worthy of His blessings, and you will get His blessings." End of his talk.


I love that talk! Every Tuesday night our ward has a Book of Mormon class where one of the bishopric member’s wives teaches. Two Tuesdays ago she read that talk and I loved it so I decided that I was going to share it with you.

That sounds like it was a phenomenal party!! Dang, not one I'd wanna miss with mom planning it! What a good idea to have a talent show, and have the adults do the nativity. I bet that made it that much more serious and helped everyone to understand fully why we celebrate Christmas. I'm trying to decide what I would have done for the talent show... Maybe like, teach a lesson or street contact somebody? Nah, I'm not even good at that yet. haha Seven as One... I love that! Madison you lil' song writer, that is sweet! Man, I hope that whole deal got put on film so I can watch it in a few months. That beats out any movie I may miss.

Zone Meeting and interviews this week went well. We had two people give talks: Sister Williams (spoke on truly loving the people) and Elder Buttars (on overcoming adversity). They did awesome. Kennington then addressed our skills training with a little motivational intro from his wrestling career in Star Valley. We then practiced teaching Receiving Revelation through Church Attendance. That took about 45 minutes and left me with around a half hour to give my little shpeel on the Parable of the Wasatch 100. I handed out a sheet sort of like the one you gave me with the "Race Items" on the left and the "Missionary Likeness" on the right. The Missionary Likeness boxes were empty though and I required them to fill out what they think that item could represent when applying it to missionary work as I described the race. I really wish I was more knowledgeable about the race because it would have gone more smoothly but I think it did the job. The missionaries were astonished as they listened to me describe one person running 100 miles non stop, with all the elements, preparation, and desire that it takes to succeed. At they end, I opened it up for discussion as we discussed what each item could represent. We then established what we as a zone need to work on to improve. A few of them include; staying consecrated in and out of our apartments, not blaming the members when work isn't going well, and being consistent with our goals especially contacting 140 people a week. I hope the point was driven. We are also trying to come up with a "Zone Vision" which will get the missionaries to focus more on areas that we feel need more attention. We are hoping to come up with something really creative and are having a hard time doing so. Haha. Any suggestions from anyone?

It was kind of cool that the focus this week was on Receiving Revelation through Church Attendance. What are some true reasons we go to church? The number one reason of course is to partake of the sacrament but is there anything else? In my youth I never really realized that being in the church setting was a place that I could regularly receive powerful personal revelation. As Brian Regan would say, "I know now!" I've come to learn that as promptings come, it is mandatory to write them down somewhere because they will be lost with the slew of other thoughts that may enter your mind. I've learned that one the hard way this week. Yesterday in church Sister Schlofman gave a talk and it helped me to understand what I need to do to recognize and remember promptings that I receive. As she spoke, I wrote down what came into my mind. It is almost like personal scripture that the Lord is providing me with to help me become a finely tuned instrument in His hands. Some things that Sister Schlofman talked about were: How do we become instruments in the hands of the Lord? How do we get Him to trust us? One of the answers to those questions was to write down promptings. It was funny to me because I had been doing so prior to hearing that but it helped me to never suppress a prompting to write a prompting down. She also asked the questions: Have I ever wanted a prayer answered? Or what about, Have I ever wanted to be an answer to someone else’s prayer? Of course we all like our prayers to be answered, but how cool would it be to be an answer to somebody else’s prayer because you heeded to the promptings provided from the Holy Ghost. I would way rather be the answer, or the instrument for the answer.

Another thing I've noticed about being here in Phoenix is that the members of the church seem to remind me of a member I know back home. I swear to you, I've met the look alikes or act-alikes for Jill Figgins, Julie Muir, Grandma Georgia, Grandpa Brent, Dylan Barker, Keegan Betterton, Sister Archibald, Bishop Taylor, Carson Garrett, Justin and Melynda King (oh wait... that was the real them), Talor Figgins, Cina Cummings, Becky Simonsen, Tanner Mouritsen, Devin Jensen, and many more. It's crazy! This church is true. It doesn't matter where you are in the world there are people who are members of the church who will remind you of members from back home. Just a funny little insight.

Anyway, I'm going to talk to you on Christmas so I'll leave some other things to talk about for then. How does 9:00 a.m. sound? Talk to you then!

I love you all very much.

Love,

Elder Colton Matthew Mouritsen

December 6-13, 2010: One thing led to another...

Hey!

Great letter! Yes, how ‘bout that quote by Elder McConkie. It's actually one of the recitations that we have to memorize in the mission. Probably one of my favorite quotes ever!

My Missionary Commission
By Elder Bruce R. McConkie
My 1963 Missionary Commission.

I am called of God. My authority is above that of kings of the earth. By revelation I have been selected as a personal representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is my master and He has chosen me to represent Him—to stand in His place, to say and do what He Himself would say and do if He personally were ministering to the very people to whom He has sent me. My voice is His voice, and my acts are His acts; my doctrine is His doctrine. My Commission is to do what He wants done; To say what He wants said; to be a living modern witness in word and in deed of the divinity of his great and marvelous Latter-day work. How great is my calling!

About Elder Schneider... I can't remember what I told you before. But Monday he saw a chiropractor who told him that he had a collapsed zygomatic arch, Monday night he saw the mission doctor who told him that he would be fine and he would heal up on his own, but that he needed to get an x-ray just in case. Tuesday he and Kennington went and got the x-ray and it turned out to be at LEAST a fractured zygomatic arch and they would have to go back to get a CT scan. After they read the CT scan they noticed that the zygomatic arch was fractured and was pushed inside his face so that it was hindering the movement of his jaw. There were also two other fractures, one below the eye in the eye socket and then another one just below that on the bottom part of the eye socket/cheek bone. His mother was informed like three times and she actually came down for the surgery. This is because if he went home for the surgery, he wouldn't have the adequate medical facilities. He's from Bonner's Ferry, Idaho. He is also a MAJOR hunter... but that's beside the point. Anyways, he had surgery on Friday and they had to put an incision in the top of his head so they could go down and pop the zygomatic arch back into place and then they had to go up through his mouth and put a plate in his face to fix the other fractures. His companion has been with us in a threesome and we've had to cover both areas as well as Elder Schneider's district leader stuff. His mom is his companion here and they are staying with some members in Schneider’s first area. It was so funny when he saw her for the first time in the hospital. He didn't know what to do! So, in essence, one thing led to another, and a missionary who ran into a Samoan sister missionary, had to get plastic surgery. :D

Yes, by the way, I got your package. Thank you so much! Yeah our "scripture books" were probably not as cool to you as they were to us. We got such a kick out of them! I'll send you the funny pictures though sometime soon. Yes, I am feeling much better now and it's all thanks to pumping vitamin C, airborne, nyquil, and other necessities. MADISON IS NOT PLAYING SOFTBALL!?!?!?!??!??! GET OUTTA TOWN... I DUNNO IF I CAN SUPPORT THAT. I MEAN LAX (lacrosse) IS COOL... BUT... COME ON. Get serious. The phone call home will probably be from the Bagley's home around 8:30-9:00 in the morning. Listen to this, Elder Kennington's family is leaving for Fiji on Christmas day and said that he has to call before ten in the morning because they have to be to the airport after that. He also said that the week after he entered the MTC, his family went on an Alaskan cruise. He's questioning whether he is even going to call at all. HAHA Please don't do that to me... I just want to hear from you guys and anybody else that would like to be present that's cool too! It's up to you. Oh by the way, the Bagley's have a super nice sophomore age daughter who is looking for friends to go to EFY with her. I told her that the twins would love to go. :/ Her name is Celest Bagley, she said she would try to add them on Facebook.

Well this week has been extremely... different compared to most. I've been on exchanges with Elder Waynick (Schneider's companion) most of the time because Kennington had to take Schneider to all of his appointments. He's a brand new missionary. He's awesome and does really well, but he's in the middle of reading the Book of Mormon for the first time and has a hard time teaching certain principles. We had a baptism on Saturday and of course Elder Kennington baptized her so Elder Waynick and I had to do the intermediate message. It's crazy how different everyone is and how weird it feels when you teach with another missionary! Sometimes you just get used to the way others do things and when change happens it blows my mind! It was a great baptism though. Her name was Tiffany Schmidt and she just walked in to church about a month ago. Crazy eh?? The funny thing is last week, another lady named Karolina (from the Czech Republic) just walked in and has been coming to all of the activities as well. I guess when you have to spend so much time doing other things during the week, the Lord just brings His elect to us! She is awesome and wants to be baptized but says that soon for her would be in like half a year... Those Europeans. haha

Oh! Funny story. Well not funny. Crazy. So Waynick and I were street contacting down on 19th Ave and Northern (which has been told to us to be one of the most dangerous intersections in the nation...). While we were talking to some people on the corner, a mass of high school age kids started walking out of a nearby restaurant coming right toward us. They were following after a Navajo looking kid and it looked like they had just been in a brawl with him or something because his face was all bloody. He was back peddling to get away from the kids and when he got about ten feet away from us, one of the high school kids came up and roundhouse punched him in the face! The Navajo kid was knocked right out and fell backwards slamming his head on the asphalt and landing right in the middle of 19th Ave. My adrenaline leaped! All the high school kids scattered and Waynick and I were left there with a few older people that we were already talking to. I ran out into the middle of the road before he would get squashed by a bus or something and dragged him on to the sidewalk. Meanwhile, he's bleeding profusely from his mouth... you know how I love blood. It turns out he was just plastered with alcohol (which may have been a good thing cause wasn't it you that was telling me that drunk people survive a lot more accidents and falls?) haha The cops were called and finally when he came to, he tried to sit up but I told him to stay down and that help was on it's way. He looked at me and said some very choice words as well as some obscene suggestions with a certain finger. Waynick then sat down by his side and as the kid looked over at him, he spit a chunk of blood right on his tie and white shirt. Yeah, after that we just left him and stood back. A lady came up to us, gave us a brownie, and told us that we were angels sent from God to that specific place at that specific time. Haha She at least made us feel like we did the right thing...

So next week we have interviews with President Beck and a Zone Meeting during the same time. I love that kind of stuff so I've taken it upon me to plan out what we are going to do. I read through some of your previous letters and decided that the Parable of the Wasatch 100 was a great place to try to find some missionary application. I think what is going to happen is I'm going to give a synopsis of what the race is and some of the main items involved and then allow the other missionaries to apply each item to a part of missionary work. Then, we'll let them decide where we need to improve. That way it's not us telling them where we need to do better, it's themselves committing themselves. For example, maybe watching weight/staying focused/hydration/keeping your mind on the race could be consecrating your heart, might, mind, and strength on the work. Then afterwards, we'll collectively as a zone choose three or four and focus on them over the next transfer. I'm kind of excited but it's going to be tough!

I recently read the talk from the October conference by Elder Scott. I love the quote: "We become what we want to be by consistently being what we want to become each day." As a missionary, I've noticed that it's easy for people to tell when you are putting on a face and trying to act like someone you're not. As long as I/we are the same person in the apartment that we are out tracting, we won't fool anyone. It's hard to do sometimes when you get four missionaries together in an apartment! I do want to become a good missionary. But it takes consistently being what I want to become to make it happen. Sometimes it's hard to be myself out here and that's what I've really been trying to focus on recently. Whether it's with members, missionaries, or investigators it's got to be the same Elder Mouritsen! haha Being around the members of the singles ward is different because it feels like I'm just hanging out with friends sometimes. We're all so close to the same age already! It's a blast though. Anyway, that's my short lil’ message. Just be yourself. haha

Well I hope that all is going well back home! I love ya'll so much! Thank you for the letters. Oh by they way the continuous feed paper with everyone's little message was such a great idea. That was awesome! Man, it was so cool to read. I haven't opened up the presents yet…I promise. But I couldn't resist leaving Madison's CD till the 25th. Nope, not gonna happen. It's amazing Madison, keep up the good work! I found a freakin' sweet suit at Goodwill that fits me perfectly for like 25 bucks so I'm going to buy it next time I get the chance (a.k.a. when it's half off). Brian Regan released a new album?? SWEET! I bet it's good. Thanks for the shirts too! Very much needed.

Love you.

Elder Colton Mouritsen

November 30 - December 6, 2010: Hinderment or Instrument?

Hey family,

Sorry I am finally just barely getting to email. Today was very hectic! Your letter was extremely heart warming though... tears filled my eyes as I read the words about Devin. It's not that I'm extremely sad but it's just so cool to hear how strong the family is and that each of them are still able to bear their testimonies and share what they know to be true. They are definitely more powerful than I am. Also, that mom and Madi were able to bear their testimonies. And all the kids singing, speaking, and showing their support. That's what brings tears to my eyes.

This week we had our first Zone Leader Council. I feel so inadequate and small! This meeting is where we get instructed by the assistants and Presi
dent Beck as well as have a skills training. We had to practice teaching President Beck. Probably one of the scariest/most intimidating moments of my life. We then went over our numbers for the past month and set goals for the month to come. Wednesday was the Christmas Zone Conference. President was extremely emotional (which is very rare) as he shared stories from his youth regarding Christmas traditions he had when they would give what they could to families that were in need. He shared other stories of missionaries who did the same. It was very powerful. Elder Kennington & Elder Mouritsen with Santa

We then loaded up in the fleet of cars and drove to the Mesa temple. Kennington and I were the drivers of our truck and we had six in a little tiny Chevy Colorado. Of course, being the smallest of everyone, I was stuck in the front middle seat with one cheek on the seat and the other lifted and pointed at the elder in the passenger seat. He didn't like that much... We were able to have an awesome devotional in a chapel at the temple and then had the opportunity of doing a session. It was unbelievable to see all those missionaries praying in the Celestial room. I haven't experienced something like that in my life. We were then allowed to walk around the lights and take pictures with people. I ran into Elder Riley Landsaw while he was stationed on the temple grounds to contact and get referrals from anybody that came into his area. It was cool to see a familiar face. Then I just happened to run into the Kings again. It was neat to see all the girls - they are all getting so old and tall! I think each of the older ones are taller than me...

The rest of the week was just normal... haha The airborne couldn't have come at a better time because Friday night I came down with a terrible sickness all of a sudden. Nyquil, airborne, vitamin C, and ibuprofen have been my best friends.

Today...We planned a zone activity. Of course, we decided to play softball. We scrounged up a whole bunch of gloves and bats and a ball and then had a nice game at the Country Gables building. You know what they say though...It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt. haha Here's a play by play. Elder Choules hits a fly ball to center field. Elder Schneider (district leader in the South district) runs to catch it. Sister Pilimai (super athletic Samoan girl) takes off for the ball as well. BAM!! They meet in the middle smashing in to each other face to face. I have the picture in my mind and it was pretty funny until we noticed that Schneider wasn't getting up. Pilimai jumped right up and was all worried about Schneider. He had a major bloody nose but said that he was good and we needed to keep playing. Like a minute later he's like, "umm... No we all need to stop... my face/jaw is not working." You have to know Elder Schneider to think that's funny but needless to say we stopped the game. As we examined his face, we noticed that there was a gaping hole/divot in the side of his head in between the ear and the eye ball on the right side of his face. We called Sister Beck, who instructed us to go and ask Doctor Cathcart. Me and another elder gave him a blessing and then we drove him to Cathcarts who gave one look at him and then cringed as he said that he thinks he collapsed his zygomatic arch... Yeah I don't know what that is either but it's something that connects your main skull to your jaw bone. He's with us right now at the moment and his eye is starting to black up as well. He got owned by a Samoan sister. haha It's sad but I would feel a lot worse if she got hurt. Cathcart said that he will probably need surgery by an orthopedic or plastic surgeon where they cut a little incision in the face and then stick a balloon in and then inflate it to push it back in place. Anyways, it put a real damper to a good game of softball but I think everything will be fine!

We have several baptisms coming up in the singles ward in the next few weeks. One girl, Tiffany, is here living with her young daughter while her parents live in Cincinnati, Ohio. Well if you remember, President and Sister Beck are from there. So we called them to see if any of their kids could give Tiffany a ride to church. Amazingly, we told them Tiffany's address and it just so happened that the home she would be staying at was in the Beck's home ward! As a matter of fact it was right down the street! She was going to go to church with them, but Sister Beck's daughter never called her... darn... Quite a coincidence though eh?? Nah...

I've made a decision that I am going to prayerfully consider a topic each week to write a talk about. This week the topic that came to my mind for some reason was Living Worthy to be the Giver. I don't have it with me but I thought it was cool. I wrote about being worthy to be the giver by being worthy of Priesthood authority and being worthy of promptings from the Holy Ghost. I asked the question of: Am I a hinderment, or instrument for the work of God? and Who from the Book of Mormon is an example of a hinderment? An example of an instrument? Of course... my answer for the hinderment was found in Mosiah 27, Alma the Younger. As I sought to find an answer for the instrument, my mind turned to Mosiah 28 and Alma 29, Alma the Younger. I thought it was cool because at times we may fall short, we will make mistakes, but because of the atonement of Jesus Christ there is always hope for us to come out on top and become an instrument in the hands of the Lord. Alma the Younger was one of the vilest of sinners, and on the flip side, one of the most powerful missionaries. That's the gist of my talk. Of course a few testimonies here and there and personal experiences/stories but you get the flow of it...

I hope you have a phenomenal week! I don't know if you've seen any of the Christmas cards yet from family members and some ward members... But you will have a few coming soon. Just you wait. :)

I love you very much. Thanks for everything. It'll be weird to hear your voices in less than three weeks. haha Hopefully I'll have mine back by then!

Love,

Elder Colton Mouritsen