Yes the birthday was awesome! The Kings are so great. They made my favorite dinner which I recognized immediately, Apricot Chicken! Good stuff. Also, the chocolate cake with peanut M&M's just took me right back to the old days! It was a lot of fun to spend time with them. Heather and Tiffany were there as well. I got your package and it was so awesome!!! Oh man... I can't tell you how hard I laughed when I saw Bailee's card (Bailee that is so you) and then yours dad. Oh man that was great! I loved all of them actually! Super, super great birthday. You know how I love crazy core skittles too. :)
This week has been out-of-the-world hectic. Tuesday: Zone Leader Council from 10:00 to 3:00. Wednesday: Leadership training meeting from 10:00-3:00. Thursday: District Meetings 10:30-3:30. Friday: Specialized Zone Meeting 9:00-12:00. President Beck assured us that he won't be slowing down. He told us by using an analogy of him being an avid runner. "Do you know what the usual fastest mile ran by the winning marathon runner is?" he said. "From 25.2 to 26.2 and I just want you to know that I will not be slowing down but when I do go home, your new mission president will be faster than I am." Apparently the new mission president, President Taylor, has a photographic memory and he's already memorized all of the missionaries in the mission, and will be in the mission, by first and last name, where they are from, and how long they have served. Sounds pretty legit! Also, the major focus of this week has been "Extending and Securing Baptismal Dates." The assistants and President Beck created a "Path to Baptism" calendar that will be used now with every single investigator that has a baptismal date. This is where you sit down with the investigator and plan out the lessons you need to teach them, maybe a church tour, a baptism they can visit, a time to meet the bishop, some fellowshippers they can meet, etc. Immediately following Zone Leader Council we put it to work and tried it on one of our investigators. It worked great! Except for the fact that she has some pretty serious addictions that will be very hard to break. The calendar got her excited and willing to change though. We trained on the exact same thing in Leadership Meeting and then we took what we had learned and trained again in the District Meetings. That night, some members of our district used it with one of their investigators and apparently it went well again! On Friday, President Beck asked us to stand up and share our experience with its use. It was great.
In District Meeting I was also asked to speak on, "A Successful Missionary." I didn't really know what to say or what way to take this topic. I know that the district has been struggling with some things and I felt that I needed to address them boldly. Well, I was very bold. I'll try to give you the gist of what I said.
First I asked them why we go to sacrament meeting. Answers: Sacrament, learn, spirit, REVELATION. Yes, to receive revelation. How many have had an experience in sacrament meeting where they have received revelation? Several hands went up. Several also related their experience. I then asked why we go to mission meetings? (a.k.a. district meetings, zone meetings, transfers, specialized zone meetings, etc) They rattled off several answers again and finally said to receive revelation. I noticed that none of them had out something to write with or upon to write down those subtle promptings of what they needed to go and do. So, very boldly, I asked them to make sure they have something to write with for this meeting and for all meetings that follow. I didn't want them to take notes on my talk, but to take notes on what the spirit tells them to go do. So they did. I had to even call out names. It was embarrassing for them. But, I reminded them that we are not here to make friends, we are here to do what’s right. And by doing what’s right people will notice, and you will make stronger friends than you would had you not done what’s right. After they had pulled out something to write with I asked, "Why did each of you come on a mission?" Most of the answers were, well it's a priesthood duty, I know it's true, I felt I needed to, for the people, etc. On a piece of paper I had several quotes that I could read depending on where I wanted to take the meeting. I first said, when you entered the mission field, you changed from one phase of life to another. Back home, you depended a lot on family, priesthood leaders, and friends. Now, you are wholly responsible for what you do and most importantly for what you become. "You have a choice. You can decide what kind of missionary you will be. More importantly, you can choose what kind of person you will become." - Elder Corbridge. Elder Corbridge also said "your greatest work, your most important creation is and will ever be you." I told them that as we make the choice to work on ourselves and be a catalyst of the spirit, in turn it will effect those around us; i.e. investigators, members, missionaries, and even our family back home. I said it like this, "Through us, through changing ourselves or bringing ourselves more in line with the Lord's council, will allow the Lord to use us as an instrument in His hands. The one thing He doesn't have that we can give Him is our will." I then pulled out the quote by Elder Oaks in the recent general conference. The quote is: "Desire determines priorities, priorities shape choices, choices dictate actions. Actions help us become something." We then wrote each category up on the board: DESIRES. PRIORITIES. CHOICES. ACTIONS. We listed desires, then priorities, then a few choices, then the actions were left blank because those are left for each of us to act. Desires and priorities were things like: cool stories, be influential, confidence, light, leadership, eat, sleep, work, baptize, have the spirit, teach, etc. It was pretty cool to see them all get involved. We then read the story in Daniel chapter 3 about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They had righteous desires. Their priorities were the Lord’s. They made a choice to be thrown into the fire. Their actions followed with having the Savior at their side. That is something we all should in turn desire. I thought it was pretty good and I got several compliments following. Some missionaries, the guilty ones, hated it.
We also had to work on the stake report this week which made it just as much if not more crazy. Friday evening we were at President Morris' house when we got a text message from Elder Buttars and Elder Campbell. Elder Buttars was about to blow with anger towards Elder Campbell because of his low sense of urgency and willingness to work. I called President Beck because it had been going on for quite awhile and he told us to go on exchanges for the rest of the transfer. Oh boy. haha Elder Buttars and I came to our area and Birch and Campbell went to theirs. This meant that I had to finish the stake report, and then report it to the stake president pretty much by myself. It was awesome though! Elder Buttars and I were able to come a lot closer. He has overcome a lot from his mission and has had to use his experience to help almost all of his companions. We just got transfer news and both of them will be getting transferred. Elder Buttars will be Flush Training. That's where you go into an area with a greenie and both of the previous missionaries in the area get transferred and you don't know anything about the area. He'll do great.
Yesterday, Roy and Matt asked me to ordain each of them to the Aaronic Priesthood. It was so cool! That's only the third time I've done that in my entire mission, the first being the very first person I had ever baptized way back in June (Robert Jackson). It was a neat experience. I think the Lord blesses us when we have weeks where we just aren't able to work because of meetings and what not. A random girl just showed up at church yesterday that is not a member but has been going to church a long while and lives in our area. She is pretty solid and we are meeting with her on Tuesday night after our Book of Mormon class. I'll let you know how it goes!
Thanks so much for all you do! I bet I will be in this area for a long while, possibly till the beginning of 2012. Thanks again for all you do!
I love you very much!
Elder Mouritsen
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