Man, what a good week. Yeah that is so crazy about the new YSA organization. It isn’t affecting us much down here because there aren't too many going to student wards. For those that are though, it'll allow more to come to our ward! This week was one filled with miracles. So much happened whether it was spiritual, physical, temporal, eternal, emotional, or even humerous-al. :)
First off, just a little story: A few weeks ago we were contacting some potential investigators in apartment complexes north of where we live. About 11th Ave and Bell Road to be exact. While there, we knocked on a door to contact a potential investigator but there was no answer. We started walking back to the truck when I heard someone in the apartment next to us jamming out to a song I remember from back home. I don't remember the name of it, but I do remember the band is called Paramore. I thought to myself, "hey, I remember that song, I kinda like it too. Let's knock on the door to see who's listening to it." So I did. A young girl answered the door who I thought MAYBE, just maybe, a long shot, but maybe would be YSA age. We talked for a while, asked if it was okay that we come back and share a message with her, and then asked how old she was. She answered with, "twelve..." AHHH! haha ooops. We left her a card and asked if it was ok for the OTHER missionaries to come back. She agreed and the next day they went over. We thought nothing of it because the girl smelled like serious cigarettes, weed, and anything else against the word of wisdom. Well we got a report from those missionaries, Elder Choules and Barker, that they had started teaching her dad! I thought that was so cool. Several days later, we got a call from them that he now has a baptismal date! No way!! All from recognizing a song that I had heard when I was back home. He is planning to be baptized in May, just working through some Word of Wisdom issues. Apparently the girl smokes 20 cigarettes a day, was kicked out of school for some crazy reasons, and is also hooked on marijuana. Crazy down here sometimes. So fun though.
Another story: Tuesday we were tracting down south of Dunlap in some apartments that house students attending Devry and the Art Institute of Phoenix. We knocked on the door of a young girl named Pauline. She was really nice and way into motorcycles and four wheelers. We invited her to come to the Easter Pageant (which I will talk about later) with us and the ward the next night and she said she would have to check her schedule. We get that answer a lot so we didn't think anything of it. We gave her our number and left hoping that she would contact us the next day. The next day we went back to contact some other people we had talked to and Pauline just HAPPENED to drive past us while we were walking across the road in the complex. She stopped us and motioned us to come over. As we did, she asked if that "thing" was still tonight and we answered that it was. She said that she would hurry and go get ready and meet us up at the church so we could all carpool down. It was awesome! The Lord sure works in mysterious ways and He is always keeping me on my toes. I just keep my nose to my toes and hope that He will lead me to where He needs me.
The Easter Pageant was amazing. I can't wait to come back with all of you. We met at the church and six investigators came with us, along with many of the recent converts. Roy, Matt, Lisa, Vanessa, Dominique, and Pauline were all the investigators. Tiffany and Heather (recent converts) were there as well. I think they were coming because they knew that Elder Kennington was going to be there too with his ward and they wanted to see him. We found our seats, chatted for a while with Kennington and then went and took some pictures by the temple. I'll send them. The pageant was amazing. I was very impressed. The life of Christ was depicted perfectly and the spirit was extremely strong. Words can't really describe it so you will just have to come the next time we are here! In fact, it was so strong that Vanessa felt that she needed to be baptized soon, and not wait for her twin sister Dominique. Vanessa will be baptized on Tuesday, after the Book of Mormon class. COOL! That will be three baptisms for us this month with a couple scheduled for May. After the pageant was over, I felt a tap on my shoulder and when I looked around I noticed it was a missionary. You might not know him, but he is one of my friends that is serving in the Tempe mission named Elder Tanner Rappeleye (sp?). It was so cool to see another familiar face. Pauline really enjoyed it, being her first experience with Mormons and she said that she would like to come to Roy’s baptism and learn more about the church.
Matt’s baptism was good. Spirit was strong and in his testimony he was so nervous and didn't really know what to say so when he got up there he looked at the crowd and quickly said, "I wanna bear my testimony. I know the church is true. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen." Perfect! haha.
Roy's was awesome!!! Hilarious! Elder Birch baptized each of them so I got to do the intermediate message. As another missionary and I were teaching about the Prophet Joseph, Roy came out of the changing room and immediately we noticed that he had forgotten to bring a towel, and a dry pair of undies. His crotch was soaking wet and you could see defined lines from his wet underwear! I was in mid-speech when I saw him walking down the aisle, my mind went blank and I'm sure everyone could see how hard I was working to hold back the laughter. It was so dang funny. We had to hurry and bear our testimonies and end before we lost it. Right then, Roy was asked to go to the front and bear his testimony as well. In his broken, Dutch-accented, English, he asked if it was ok that he bear his testimony along with saying a prayer. In his prayer he thanked our Father for providing him with the awesome opportunity to meet the elders and learn about the true church, he thanked Him for now knowing that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith is a prophet. Without even knowing it, he bore his testimony while praying. It was like the perfect example of how we gain a testimony in the bearing of it because the Holy Ghost comes when we speak truth and if we bear testimony while praying, the Holy Ghost will tell us it is true during the prayer. It was awesome. Sunday I had the opportunity to confirm Matt and I have come to love confirming people. I used to get all worked up and nervous about what to say and I feel that I've gotten to the point where I don't even need to worry because "it shall be given you in the very hour that portion that shall be meted unto every man." I love the Spirit.This week has been a true testimony builder on speaking by the Spirit and listening by the Spirit. In teaching appointments now, I try to do all that I can to not just say things to say things. That is when I get really mixed up and don’t make sense. We had a great experience teaching Vanessa and Dominique on Tuesday night. For some reason Dominique came storming into the room we were in at the church yelling and screaming at Heather (recent convert) and us because she thought we were going to have a lesson in a room down the hall. It was extremely contentious and I did not know how we were going to get out of it. So we sat down right there and had a lesson. First, I stated to them that our purpose as missionaries is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them exercise faith, repent, be baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. I asked if they were willing to come closer to Him and progress in the gospel. Yes, bold I know, but it needed to happen. Something told me that we needed to focus on teaching about the spirit and how the Holy Ghost can't dwell in unholy places. We opened with a prayer by Elder Birch and during the prayer it was as if something told me that we needed to study Alma 34. After the prayer, I opened to that chapter and noticed that the exact scripture I needed was there and I felt that we needed to read the 7 verses prior to it as well. We read verses 30-36 and each time we asked questions regarding what was being talked about and it was crazy that it was exactly what needed to be said. At the beginning of the lesson, Vanessa and Dominique both had angry, bitter, resentful looks on their faces. You could just see that they were troubled inside for some reason. It was cool to see that slowly but surely, a smile began to appear on their faces. Then a giggle, then a laugh. Each time I would ask if they recognized the feeling that they were experiencing and each time they said they did. By the end of the lesson, they were each apologizing and pleading with us that we would forgive them for acting so childish at the beginning. The crazy thing was we didn't teach anything that anyone didn't already know, but the difference was that the spirit taught, and when the spirit teaches, everyone is edified in ways we never thought we would. Heather and Tiffany were sitting in on the lesson and Heather said she was nearly brought to tears because she felt the same spirit that she felt the day of her baptism. Here's what they texted us after the lesson. Tiffany: "Tonight’s lesson was awesome! It was uncomfortable and awkward at first but I could totally tell when you just let the spirit take over! It was so cool!" Heather: "I learned so much from that lesson, it really humbled me. I'm so thankful that you guys are able to bring the spirit like that...Yes, when Elder Birch started talking about the Book of Mormon my testimony of it was so much stronger. You guys made me feel the spirit as strong as I did at my baptism. I was going to cry, but I held it in..."
I've noticed that the spirit doesn't talk to me the way that it used to talk to me. It used to feel like a feeling/voice coming from the outside. Now, I've noticed that the voice has come from my own voice and it's as if the spirit is speaking through me to me. It's so hard to explain in words. But I guess the only way to say it is that I recognize the voice more now as if it were my own voice. It's so cool and such a good feeling to feel the spirit because it just reassures the knowledge that you are worthy of it.
It's hard for me to explain in words how perfect this mission has been for me. Even though I feel that I’m the same exact person I was before, in some areas I feel different. I hope to be a change for the better upon my return!
Thanks for all you do!
Love you all.
Elder Colton Mouritsen
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