Phenomenal letter. Lunch with Lars was great. It was fun to talk about mission life with them and especially because I probably wouldn't have seen Tanner for over three years. The day after Justin and Melynda took us to lunch too. It was a good week! :) Make sure each of them know I'm thankful for them. Sounds like you had a good New Years. That's cool you got to visit with Dave and all the members of your family. There is nothing greater than this time of year and the power that comes from visiting with those whom we love.
Grandma Beryl: What a sweetheart. If I live half as good a life as that woman I might as well just be translated. haha Tell her that the family she has raised has been the greatest blessing in my life that I could ever imagine. It all stems from a worthy, powerful, and loving mother as herself. 90 years young and still goin’ strong! I love her!
Well this week has been a blur. We've been trying to type up a Zone Vision and in doing so we thought it would be cool to go outside the box and have the rest of the companionships write up "Area Visions." That way each of them will be held accountable for what they put in their own personal visions, and not just the one we create, which might not always be accurate for each of the wards in the stake. Last Monday I was trying to think of a clever title and something that we could focus which could all tie back into missionary work. I came up with, "The 'Christ Driven' Zone Vision." Corny, I know, but in reading a talk by Neal A. Maxwell it opened my eyes in seeing that in every single aspect of missionary work, Christ was the ultimate example of how to carry out that aspect. The five points we have (at this point, they may be altered) are:
1. Receiving Personal Revelation.
2. Selfless Service/Leadership.
3. Using Time Wisely.
4. Working with Members and
5. Responsibility/Accountability.
Under each of those points we gave "Preach My Gospel Power Statements" as to how we will accomplish our goals regarding the five key indicators. Hopefully it works out well. I wish you were here to critique the work we have.
So our New Years Eve was a blast. We had to be in by six o'clock. haha It was mandatory, we couldn't even have appointments with solid investigators in members homes. We had to be in. I guess lots of people like to shoot guns into the air and it's happened before for the bullets to come down in random places and people have been killed from it, even while sitting in their homes. So, what did we do to stay sane? Played the game of life that a member gave us. Haha actually, 2 games of Life! We decided that whatever the outcome of the game was, determined what would happen to us in real life. Oddly, I was a Lawyer in both games and made millions :). Kennington was a Teacher, then lost his job and became a hair stylist, then lost his job again and became another Teacher. Needless to say he was swamped in debt and barely paid his way out to retire. Uh oh. We tried to stay up but called it a night as we lay in bed and chatted until around 11-11:30.
For Christmas, President and Sister Beck gave us all a paperback copy of the Book of Mormon. Weird right? Because we don't have enough of those already. This one we were given to read and mark in the next sixty days. They gave us a schedule which we are all to follow, and mark every time Christ is mentioned in one color, the words of Christ in another color, and then when Christ's ministry is mentioned in another. It has been awesome to read personally in the same chapters with the other elders in the apartment and then discuss what we read afterwards. I have also started reading Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmage. Wow. All I can say. He's quite the writer, and Christ was quite the man. haha My testimony is strengthened daily. In reading the Book of Mormon, we had a question of, why is it that Nephi was able to be so obedient and powerful, while Laman and Lemuel were not while they were all taught the same things from their parents? Our answer came in 1 Nephi ch. 2. After Lehi had been commanded to leave Jerusalem, you can imagine that the whole family was pretty distraught about the whole decision, even Nephi. But in verse 16 he says, "And it came to pass that I, Nephi, being exceedingly young, nevertheless being large in stature, and also having great desires to know of the amysteries of God, wherefore, I did cry unto the Lord; and behold he did bvisit me, and did csoften my heart that I did dbelieve all the words which had been spoken by my efather; wherefore, I did not frebel against him like unto my brothers." First, he had the desire to know the mysteries of God, then he took that desire and gained a testimony of his own and didn't need to rely on the testimony of his parents anymore. He knew for himself that what his father was telling him was correct. Lamen and Lemuel had KNOWLEDGE that they were commanded of God, they saw and angel for heck's sakes. But they still didn't have that desire, nor testimony to further themselves in coming to know the mysteries of God. It takes the same exact steps for us as members, for those investigating, and anybody who desires to know the mysteries of God. I've applied this key learning to myself and have found that if it wasn't for my parents’ righteous lives, I wouldn't have been placed on the right path in coming to know of these things for myself. I am grateful, for a family who continues to strengthen their own testimonies, because they have their own testimonies and don't have to rely on others to receive spiritual guidance. Thank you.
I love and appreciate all that you do. Have an amazing 2011!
Love,
Elder Mouritsen
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