Hello family,
That is awesome about Tanner! I'm so excited for him. I know several people from down here that served in Pitt and they loved it! My MTC teacher actually served there, well Harrisburg, but those missions combined I guess and Pitt has both areas or something like that. That's too bad about Nick. I can't believe how many missionaries have back problems. There are several in our zone including myself, at times, but I just say "accept the pain" and go on with it. Thanks for sharing your talk with me! That is awesome. I can't believe I haven't had a single chance to speak in a sacrament meeting for the first year of my mission. For the first time I've really wanted to and it just hasn't happened!
Tuesday this week was a full day. We had Zone Meeting for two hours in which we prayerfully considered the topic of "simplicity." We felt that many of the missionaries are putting a lot of pressure on themselves and looking beyond the mark as opposed to just focusing on the essentials and the basics. We had one of the district leaders speak on Elder Uchtdorf's talk from the October 2010 conference called "Of Things That Matter Most." The other DL spoke on Alma 37:6, "by small and simple means, great things are brought to pass." Both of them go home next week so it was cool to get some last minute advice from two well seasoned elders. Elder Schneider has been a DL for about a year now. He was the DL when I came to the zone actually and I went on several exchanges with him as a greenie. He is phenomenal. I love the kid so much and it is going to be so hard to let him go. Also, he is an unbelievable hunter. He lives in Bonners Ferry, Idaho and hunts like crazy. He's had several encounters with bears while bow hunting and it is so fun to be with him because he just rattles off story after story. He says we will keep in touch so he can hook us up with some good hunts when I return home. :) For our skills training at zone meeting we had each companionship text us some crazy questions their investigators have asked them that they would need help answering. We wrote them down and cut them up on little slips of paper and passed one out to each companionship. They were questions like: 1. If you believe in God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, and that we can all become Gods, wouldn't that mean you are polytheistic? 2. How is Jehovah, Jesus Christ? 3. Why isn't Joseph Smith in the bible? Why did God tell Adam and Eve to multiply and replenish the earth before He told them to not partake of the fruit? Was He just setting them up for failure? 4. Why wouldn't someone accept the gospel in the spirit world? 5. If I can repent in the spirit world, why would it matter what I do here? etc. Yeah, hard questions. They literally came from our investigators. Each companionship got several minutes to devise a plan of attack for their certain question and then teach it to another companionship. Then, they presented the doctrinal evidence they had from the scriptures. The point was that the questions and the skills training were extremely difficult and not simple. We can be worthy of the spirit as we do the "small and simple things" and then it "shall be given you in the very hour that portion that shall be meted unto every man." Don't forget to focus on the essentials when facing adverse conditions, as stated by Elder Uchtdorf. I felt like it was a good meeting.
Tuesday evening was cool. Vanessa got baptized right after the ward Book of Mormon class. She asked me to baptize her and confirm her. I was just thinking about it, I used to be SOOO nervous to confirm someone in front of the whole ward in sacrament meeting. I've now done it now about 7 or 8 times and it is so awesome! Remember when I gave you that blessing for your race? How frazzled I was. So embarrassing... I love it now! The power of the priesthood is so great.
Friday night we had dinner with a family from the Campobello ward, the Justices. I think I've talked about them before. They are so awesome! They are thinking about moving up to Utah so it'll be cool to be able to stay in touch with them. The location is still up in the air but the possibilities are Vernal or Farmington.
Oh, by the way my mormon.org profile is finally up! I guess they wouldn't approve it when in the beginning it said: "I'm a son, a brother, as stated in Alma 48; 'a Hell Shaker!' and I'm a Mormon." Haha It's pretty good though so you'll have to check it out! Just type in Kaysville, or Arizona Phoenix Mission and it should come up.
I can't believe it's already been five months since the last phone call! A year from now will be my last one and it'll be two days before going home! Crazy! Too fast...
Our zone ended with 9 baptisms this month which is great but we are going to have to step it up for the summer months. Last year those were the high baptizing months. June, August, and September (the months that Cichy and I tore it up :D) haha. Well it is very good to hear from you.
The picture is of me after going over the handlebars on my bike into the dirt... It was awesome! Luckily, Birch got it on camera. Nothing hurt and no damage haha it wasn't even that bad but it looked hilarious with my cards and white handbook out everywhere (that's called Greenie Puking). I got pretty dirty from it but nothing like sliding into HOME PLATE! haha Mom I've gotten pretty good at laundry and doing dishes. Just so you know!
I love you all very much! Thanks for all you do.
Love,
Elder Mouritsen
That is awesome about Tanner! I'm so excited for him. I know several people from down here that served in Pitt and they loved it! My MTC teacher actually served there, well Harrisburg, but those missions combined I guess and Pitt has both areas or something like that. That's too bad about Nick. I can't believe how many missionaries have back problems. There are several in our zone including myself, at times, but I just say "accept the pain" and go on with it. Thanks for sharing your talk with me! That is awesome. I can't believe I haven't had a single chance to speak in a sacrament meeting for the first year of my mission. For the first time I've really wanted to and it just hasn't happened!
Tuesday this week was a full day. We had Zone Meeting for two hours in which we prayerfully considered the topic of "simplicity." We felt that many of the missionaries are putting a lot of pressure on themselves and looking beyond the mark as opposed to just focusing on the essentials and the basics. We had one of the district leaders speak on Elder Uchtdorf's talk from the October 2010 conference called "Of Things That Matter Most." The other DL spoke on Alma 37:6, "by small and simple means, great things are brought to pass." Both of them go home next week so it was cool to get some last minute advice from two well seasoned elders. Elder Schneider has been a DL for about a year now. He was the DL when I came to the zone actually and I went on several exchanges with him as a greenie. He is phenomenal. I love the kid so much and it is going to be so hard to let him go. Also, he is an unbelievable hunter. He lives in Bonners Ferry, Idaho and hunts like crazy. He's had several encounters with bears while bow hunting and it is so fun to be with him because he just rattles off story after story. He says we will keep in touch so he can hook us up with some good hunts when I return home. :) For our skills training at zone meeting we had each companionship text us some crazy questions their investigators have asked them that they would need help answering. We wrote them down and cut them up on little slips of paper and passed one out to each companionship. They were questions like: 1. If you believe in God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, and that we can all become Gods, wouldn't that mean you are polytheistic? 2. How is Jehovah, Jesus Christ? 3. Why isn't Joseph Smith in the bible? Why did God tell Adam and Eve to multiply and replenish the earth before He told them to not partake of the fruit? Was He just setting them up for failure? 4. Why wouldn't someone accept the gospel in the spirit world? 5. If I can repent in the spirit world, why would it matter what I do here? etc. Yeah, hard questions. They literally came from our investigators. Each companionship got several minutes to devise a plan of attack for their certain question and then teach it to another companionship. Then, they presented the doctrinal evidence they had from the scriptures. The point was that the questions and the skills training were extremely difficult and not simple. We can be worthy of the spirit as we do the "small and simple things" and then it "shall be given you in the very hour that portion that shall be meted unto every man." Don't forget to focus on the essentials when facing adverse conditions, as stated by Elder Uchtdorf. I felt like it was a good meeting.
Tuesday evening was cool. Vanessa got baptized right after the ward Book of Mormon class. She asked me to baptize her and confirm her. I was just thinking about it, I used to be SOOO nervous to confirm someone in front of the whole ward in sacrament meeting. I've now done it now about 7 or 8 times and it is so awesome! Remember when I gave you that blessing for your race? How frazzled I was. So embarrassing... I love it now! The power of the priesthood is so great.
Friday night we had dinner with a family from the Campobello ward, the Justices. I think I've talked about them before. They are so awesome! They are thinking about moving up to Utah so it'll be cool to be able to stay in touch with them. The location is still up in the air but the possibilities are Vernal or Farmington.
Oh, by the way my mormon.org profile is finally up! I guess they wouldn't approve it when in the beginning it said: "I'm a son, a brother, as stated in Alma 48; 'a Hell Shaker!' and I'm a Mormon." Haha It's pretty good though so you'll have to check it out! Just type in Kaysville, or Arizona Phoenix Mission and it should come up.
I can't believe it's already been five months since the last phone call! A year from now will be my last one and it'll be two days before going home! Crazy! Too fast...
Our zone ended with 9 baptisms this month which is great but we are going to have to step it up for the summer months. Last year those were the high baptizing months. June, August, and September (the months that Cichy and I tore it up :D) haha. Well it is very good to hear from you.
The picture is of me after going over the handlebars on my bike into the dirt... It was awesome! Luckily, Birch got it on camera. Nothing hurt and no damage haha it wasn't even that bad but it looked hilarious with my cards and white handbook out everywhere (that's called Greenie Puking). I got pretty dirty from it but nothing like sliding into HOME PLATE! haha Mom I've gotten pretty good at laundry and doing dishes. Just so you know!
I love you all very much! Thanks for all you do.
Love,
Elder Mouritsen
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