Hey!
Cool insights from those scriptures! I will definitely be using them. Yeah I finally got your email on Friday while we were working on our stake report that we had to discuss on Sunday. It was great! I am amazed about Dylan! I was sure he was going to wait for me to at least be there... I guess his mission president was right! Sounds like she is pretty cool though. I can't wait to get the invitation! Do you know what temple they are getting married in? I sent him an email but just in case he doesn't write back lemme' know.
Baptisms on Saturday went well! We didn't attend though because well, we don't speak Spanish. And, they were all three Spanish baptisms. We had another lesson in the stake president's home anyway. That brought our monthly total to 12, which is awesome! 10 more than last February. Not that numbers mean anything... President Beck seems to like them though. haha. Yesterday morning we had to meet with the stake presidency, high councilman over missionary work, and a member of the mission presidency to discuss the work from the month of February. It isn't nerve wracking to me at all anymore, which I think is because of the relationship I now have with Presdient Hettinger and his counselors. They are awesome! We went over the numbers, then the needs/progress of each ward, then each individual companionship’s progress records. It is really cool to be able to tell about (almost) every investigator that our zone is working with. I've noticed that between the two districts, all the companionships have a genuine concern for each other’s investigators. In district meeting we do something called district council. This is where each companionship gets up and talks about 2-3 of their investigators and asks for advice from the rest of the district on how to move forward. What is neat though, is that before a companionship even starts presenting, the rest of the district already knows about their investigators and asks questions regarding them. On Thursday we had to go on a brief exchange so that we would be able to attend each district meeting. I went to the North District. In the meetings, we had a discussion with the districts on helping us revise our zone vision. We realized it wasn't fair for us to create a zone vision without the rest of the zone giving us input on what we need to work on. I started out in my talk with a few quotes including one from Elder Maxwell that says, "God will not be content with us as we now are, because He knows the possibilities that we can become." I then shared the correlation between Mosiah 11:4 and Alma 49:11. I had one elder talk about the context in Mosiah 11 and describe the person in verse 4, who is King Noah. I think we all know about the kind of man King Noah was. I then had another elder talk about the man described in Alma 49, not Amalickiah but Captain Moroni. Once again, I think we can all agree on the type of man he was, a HELL SHAKER! haha We then read the verses and found the correlation between the two leaders. In each verse, it says they "altered/changed the management of affairs in the kingdom." Both were leaders of a certain part of the land. Both had power to alter the affairs. So which leader will we emulate and alter the management of affairs in our part of the kingdom? That's what I asked. I then went on to say that together we would be revising the Zone Vision and going through and voting on what would be the best things to focus on. Long story short, the district decided that: 1. Being consecrated in and out of our apartment. 2. Following the Daily Schedule. 3. Using Time Wisely. and 4. Having more meaningful street contacts should be the focus points. Elder Birch and I got together and combined the four from the south district with the four from the north district and came up with: 1. Being consecrated in and out of our apartments. 2. Following the Daily Schedule. 3. More Meaningful Contacts. and 4. Receiving Personal Revelation. President Beck loved that idea and we hope that it will be implemented well as we create it.
The girl we have been teaching in President Hettinger’s home is getting baptized this Saturday. She is awesome. Ken Law, who I have spoken of before, has had some miraculous changes in his life since his baptism. I think I talked about the accident he got in with his motorcycle. Well, we gave him a blessing while he was in the hospital and I think a miracle happened that weekend that he didn't tell us about. He was released from the hospital the day he got in, and came the church the following day. He wasn't able to do his normal construction job but came out with us to several lessons and has also committed to finding us five new investigators. He has already found one. I asked him if he would write down his conversion story for me so that I could have a copy and he did. I’ve done some grammar/spelling editing, but if the story was too graphic, don't blame me:
Ken Law’s Conversion Story:
"Before I converted I lost friends the closer I got to the church. After my baptism my friends I still had were so proud and happy for me. I had one worry and that was being tempted on my trip to visit friends and family. So, to get ahead of the adversary, I told my friends of my true lifestyle change for the gospel and for the LDS church. I told them I quit drinking but that was overlooked. They know I have a dirt bike which I race and when I ride I don't drink. I told them I quit cigarettes and they were happy for me. I think 90% of smokers want to quit but have trouble committing to it. When I told them I quit weed I think I heard their jaws drop through the phone. Going from the guy who smoked all day sun up to sun down and then some, that's when they knew that I had made a true change in my life. So the first thing I heard was congratulations. Then the next was always the same question; 'So, you’re mormon, that means you can have more than one wife right?' They asked that thinking of me and how I would go through girlfriends like socks. They were even more shocked when I said that I wouldn't be having sex anymore till I find my wife and after I'm married and then I would tell them about how I can be sealed in the temple and my family can be together for eternity. Then I related that to how it helped me come to terms with my brother’s death and to not only know that I'll see him again, but how I will soon be able to get baptized in the temple for him. Then that led me to talk about all our friends that passed away. My friend Becky told me that she would pray for sadness to go away and she would feel Stacy's (friend who died) spirit beside her as she prayed. I told them how the Holy Ghost would light me up inside during my prayers and the Holy Ghost would be close to my heart as it pushed sadness away. And at that moment I even felt that warmness inside as Becky asked if I could do a baptism for Stacy in the temple. I told her I could not but that I had a friend who I felt could do this honor for her and I felt touched as she asked me to do it, even though she isn't a member of the church. I think Becky even felt the spirit even though that conversation was through the phone."
What I felt at my baptism
"All day I felt something inside me. First, I woke up nervous and called the elders. Their words helped a lot but I was still on edge. I was told that the adversary would do all that he could to keep me out of the holy waters. He did try. The night before I got offered free drinks at the bar all night but that was easy to say no to. Later, my friend's truck locks broke so we had to 'jimmy' it open. Once we got it done, he then offered a cig to me for payment for the help I lent him. He too got a 'no' from me, but it was harder for me to say no to that. Then before I left school another friend came up and asked if I wanted to come over and hang out. Before I said yes, he added that it would be to smoke some weed. I gave another 'no.' I went to bed that night after having a long talk with the elders. When I woke up, I saw the coffee grounds sitting in the kitchen. So, I got dressed and went to a place where I hoped I wouldn't be tempted anymore to do wrong, the bike shop. As I waited outside for the place to open, my ex-girlfriend called to try to work things out with me. She left me due to the church and me wanting to be true to it. The two big pluses she saw from it were no drugs and no alcohol. I don't think that she knew that I had been giving them up before we met anyways though. She also encouraged me to stop smoking cigarettes. Those were all fine, but the law of chastity and paying 10% tithing was the deal breaker. I did not fall into her temptation. The adversary was trying hard to get me to fall so I texted a good friend who talked to me and then called and told me to read the articles of faith which are in the back of the Doctrine and Covenants. After that, I felt relief or at least ready again. I felt good but the closer I got to the time for the baptism I felt nervous so I called my aunt who is a Christian and at first was not very happy but I felt some pride when I took her 'half truths' on Mormons and put light on it and she soon became happy for me instead of the fear she had at first. Once I got into my white jump suit the butterflies came back but my good friend from class put most of them away with the opening prayer. Then, my boss talked on baptism. I felt better. Then lastly my other friend gave the holy ghost talk and with that combo of friends talking on my behalf, my family no longer felt 1900 miles way (his family lives in Wisconsin, he is here going to MMI) and I was ready and knew in all my heart baptism into the Mormon church was another step towards my salvation and start towards the kingdom."
My Path to Baptism
"I was blessed into the Mormon church as a baby. At seven months old, my middle brother passed away and my mother became mad at God and pulled away from the church. My dad, a non-member, became mad at my mom. They healed alone on my brother's death. So from what I knew and saw, they never healed right without each other or God to get them through that trial. So the way I learned of God and religion was through the TV. My aunt was the only person I had ever met that went to church and she would take me frequently. I would ask questions left and right. They gave me answers as if I were a 10 year old kid. When my dad went one time with us and heard the questions I would ask I got pulled aside and was told not to talk because I was wrong to put the men of the church on the spot. So I kept it in for years. This caused me to close up to church, religion, and people all together. Years after, only in my teens, I was falling apart after my move to Wisconsin from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I left all my friends and family I had ever known. I walked into church open minded and was turned away quick because I had a different look. So, I soon dropped out of school. The drugs and alcohol parties started every night which easily led to women and dealing. I got bored in my days and started to work and was lucky because I was a hard worker but the party nights went on and one day short after my eighteenth birthday one of my friends got into racing motocross. His first race back I went and watched and have been hooked ever since. My parties slowly stopped and the riding and track days began. In 2005, on my first bike, I tried a jump that me and the bike were not ready for. August 15, 2005 I had an impact that almost took my life. When I got home from the hospital I let a friend move in and when she did, I saw her bible. I asked if I could read it. She gave it to me to read but she seemed afraid I would hurt the book. I read parts of it but it was hard for me to take to heart. Soon after I healed and got back into bikes, I really began to get into racing. I gave up women for over a year and didn't even have a single date. On Sunday morning race days they would pray and now I know the warm feeling that would come over me those days was the Holy Ghost who helped watch over us on those days. Soon after, on September 30, 2007 I had another big crash, this time my head was ok but my leg had a compound fracture along with a shattered wrist. It laid me up fully for months. When I was able to, I rode again but was not the same and the more I backed out of racing, the less prayers I was in, the more anger I held inside, the worse I felt about myself. My father became sick, and I moved there to help him only to find that he had put himself in the situation he was in and I found that I could not do anything to help him. My older brother got me back to Wisconsin. Shortly after that move, me and him got into a big fight and that night he over dosed on drugs and passed away. I will carry that pain with me forever. I always try to remember the words 'God does not give you trials above that which you can handle.' After many down months I chose a path in my life to make my brother proud, school and MMI Phoenix. So, I left life as I knew it and drove 1900 miles away from all friends and family. In my months alone I found some friends and one asked if I would like to go to church with her. I went but to be honest, it was only to hang out with her but one time I loved the feeling I would get from the message. It got to the point where she would miss sometimes, but I would still go. I wondered why if I went to church every single week that the feeling I had would be so shortly lived and leave me as soon as I would return home. I took a trip back home and found out how easy I could replace the same feeling with my friends and a lot of bike time at the track. Soon, I came back to Phoenix and a short few months later, I found a card on my door from the Mormon Church and it had some missionaries’ number on it. I felt I needed to call them because the person they were trying to find didn't live in my home. After we talked, we set up lessons and immediately they started teaching me one to two times a week, which led to an invite to church. I went and when I did, I did not feel a warm feeling but a sick, sad feeling which made me want to quit attending. As I got up to leave, a woman shook my hand and said hi to me. I took it as just another person trying to be friendly and walked off as if it was nothing. She made it a point to find my number through the elders and called me that week. When I answered the phone, I heard a random woman's voice on the other end and she told me who she was and repeated she was not weird. I went along with it and answered her few questions she had. A few hours later I felt the need to call her back because if I had anything I wanted to know, she would do her best to help. After I called, I asked a simple but hard thing to answer; 'do you forgive or forget your past?' As she tried to answer she tiptoed around her example just as I did for my reason to ask the question. I came out and told her my past and when I did she felt relief instead of shame and we both fell for an action we had no choice in. We had gone through so much of the same things and she helped me feel closer to the church. She gave me scriptures which have now become some of the strongest things I've ever read. After a few weeks longer, I felt the church was right but still before I got baptized I had some edges I needed to smooth out. The elders told me somewhat about the commitment of what I would be getting into. Drinking was already over and so was smoking weed. Paying tithing was fine with me, I could do that. Smoking cigarettes was going to be tough, but I would start working towards that. Coffee and tea was ok and I thought it does go hand in hand with smoking. I didn't understand why we couldn't get tattoos but for the Lord, I would follow. Lastly, chastity. I looked at the elders and said, 'call off the interview that was just too much stuff all at once. They were like, 'what?!' I said, 'smoking, tattoos, and sex?!' We always went back and forth on the tattoos but told me that smoking I could work on and for sex, just get rid of my girlfriend. I said no. So what do they do? They walk out in the hallway at church and grab the cutest girl in the ward and introduce me to her. I tried to be polite and the next day the elders came over for a lesson and I got on them that it was not fair to introduce me to the most beautiful woman at the ward since I had a girlfriend. They told me they did that since she has a good heart and holds the church close to her and would keep me out of trouble. I told them to just leave that alone and I was happy but soon after I kept getting closer to being ready for baptism, I had one habit left to kick, smoking. The woman, who the elders thought would help me keep me out of trouble, was the same girl to help me kick smoking out of my life. So it was all down to one big question: Have I ever felt the Holy Ghost? I asked three people what it feels to them and they all gave me the same answer; it feels warm, love, peace, comfort, calm. So after asking, and then having a lesson about it, I knew I needed to feel it in my life, and only a little work was what it took on the smoking, and I would be ready for baptism on February 12, 2011. I will always be thankful to the elders and the three friends who played a major role in getting me ready and helping me see that God is my Heavenly Father, that Jesus did die for my sins, and knowing that this is the true gospel. Amen"
That is the story of Ken Law. I hope you enjoy it. He is going to the temple with the ward this Saturday to perform the baptism for his deceased brother. He has a calling as a ward missionary. He is hoping to get his patriarchal blessing soon. He is one of the reasons I am a missionary here in Phoenix, Arizona. I love this work and I love these people.
Sorry this email was so long. I love you all very much. Thanks for everything.
Love,
Elder Colton Matthew Mouritsen
No comments:
Post a Comment