May 24-30, 2011: Member Missionaries & Baptism Challenges

Hello family!

Sounds like one of the craziest weeks! I bet everyone in the home is extremely excited with the construction being finished and school being out in a week. Send some pictures of the finished work! The Super Activity sounds like it was a major success. I remember how much we all loved sitting around the camp fire till late in the evening with you and other leaders. What fun! Hopefully you will plan a super activity next year so that I will be able to attend with you. :)

This week was a crazy one in Phoenix as well. We had a stake report due on Sunday morning. We were teaching/training the combined Priesthood and Relief Society in the Bethany Home ward at 11:00 on Sunday. Two baptisms this week. Dominique Teas and Lisa Wiley. Oh and last week for P-Day we played a made up game called... Quidditch. It's in Hallie's letter haha. It was a blast and we were all so muddy.

So for the training. We were given 30-35 minutes to teach how they can all be member missionaries. We used the outline that we normally train the Ward Councils with. Also, President Morris (1st counselor in the mission presidency) helped us and created a video called the Griss Mill. It's just a clip that shows the functions of a water mill and goes to the music of Called to Serve by the Mo-Tab. At the beginning of the training, we asked them to watch the video and try to apply it to themselves as ward members and missionary work. The obvious answers all arose and they said that all pieces need to be working together to get the wheel rolling. Hmmm... HMMM!! haha Yeah. Correct. It's been a struggle for months to get people to understand that there is a better way to do missionary work. President Hinckley said it best when he spoke a few years ago about Feeding the Lambs, Feeding the Sheep. It went pretty well. I decided to go through the Book of Mormon and created an analysis/case study of Alma the Elder. What was he like? What were some of his characteristics? Well, he first was a wicked priest, probably rich, maybe prideful, yet humble enough to believe Abinadi, a convert, believer, missionary, Priesthood holder, baptizer, organizer, prophet, teacher, etc. I raised the question: How many here are converts? Few hands. My response was well I hope that everyone in this room has become converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If so, we can all apply the life of Alma the Elder to our lives as converts to this church. Mosiah 18: How many souls does Alma baptize? 204. About the amount of a modern day ward is it not? He probably called it the "Waters of Mormon 1st Ward". He then organized his forces by appointing one priest to every 50. Just like in our wards we have auxiliary leaders and organizations. Those priests then went out and taught the gospel to everyone and invited everyone to invite their friends. The church grew. Many were baptized. Then my favorite verse in the chapter, verse 30. Those people loved the "Mormon" area because it was the place that they came to the knowledge of their redeemer. This is so applicable to our lives. Where is our "waters of Mormon?" Where were we, who was involved, and how did we gain our testimony? I think the place and people that helped us are forever engraved into our memories just as the Waters of Mormon was for these people. Also, after we have gained our testimony, how cool would it be to invite others, just as Alma's priests did, and have them answer those questions with our name. I would have to say that there is no greater feeling than to have another person come up to me and say, "thank you for helping me come to the knowledge of my Redeemer." I would hope we are always looking for opportunities to help others come to the knowledge of their Redeemer. The opportunities are everywhere.

Thursday night we had the baptism of Dominique Teas. She asked me to baptize her. It was awesome! She got up to bear her testimony and talked about how thankful she is to those who have been there for her even though it's taken her a long time to get to this point. At the end she said, "thanks for welcoming me into your church, THE RIGHT CHURCH!" Saturday was Lisa's baptism and she asked me to baptize her as well. It too was awesome! It is so crazy to me to think just how far Satan goes to try to get people from entering the waters of baptism. They endured the trials though and overcame his grasp. I love to see that!

Sunday after church we had a lesson with another investigator named Nina Padilla. We knew that she has been praying about baptism and has a testimony of the church and the Book of Mormon, but we just didn't know what was holding her back from being baptized. She started talking about this other "church" she was attending and how she loves how fellowshipped she is. She said that even when her mom died several years ago they were so good at helping her through it. Then she said something that caught my attention; "It's not really a church, but a community where we learn about lots of other religions." With that, I responded, "Nina, do you believe that there is one true CHURCH on the earth today?" She said yes. "Do you believe that the Book of Mormon is true?" She said yes. "Have you prayed about it?" She said yes and that she had also prayed about baptism. She paused, and went on to say that she feels she has received an answer. Without even telling us that it was a 'Yes', I replied, "Well Nina I want you to know that we have been praying about you, we've been praying a lot. (I sought heaven's help right at this moment) And Nina we feel that you can be prepared to be baptized on June 18th. Would you prepare yourself to be baptized on that date?" She got this huge grin on her face. Her eyes went big and she responded with major enthusiasm, "No way. That's my mom's birthday! That is so crazy. Yes I will do that!" It was so neat! She has been texting us and telling us who she wants to baptize her and do other parts of the baptism. All of a sudden she has taken all nervousness to excitement!

Well, tell Bishop Hanson to 'Take Luck' if he has luck. He is going to be awesome. I want you to know how much I love and appreciate all of you! I pray for you daily. Saturday I was watching a baptism and during the intermediate message by the missionaries they were teaching the restoration. As they started talking about the Book of Mormon I had this major spiritual epiphany about the Book of Mormon. It was like an overwhelming feeling about how much I love it! I know it is true! It is the keystone of our religion.

I love you all!

Love,

Elder Mouritsen