Hello family,
It is so cool to be able to write one email and to have it be sent to two people instantaneously who are on opposite sides of the world. It sounds like things are going awesome! Dad, Turkey and Istanbul sound amazing.
This week was great. I can't believe how fast this transfer has flown by. Today we got news. Tomorrow is transfers. Once again I am staying in this area. On the phone with President Beck this morning he said, "Elders, you are both staying in your area. It's smart not to fix something when it is doing so well!" We had a stellar week around the zone and he was very elated to see the numbers boosted up in all the five key indicators. I'm very glad that I've been a zone leader at the end of President Beck's mission because apparently at the beginning he was extremely hard on the leadership of the mission. He and Sister Beck will be flying out on June 30th. Apparently as soon as President Taylor pulls into the boundaries of the mission it becomes his mission. He gets here on June 29th and gets to spend one hour with President Beck and then he takes over. I wonder what will stay and what will be changed.
There was a baptism on Saturday for a woman in the Campobello ward named Roxann Seers. I have probably told you the story about her before but I will try to remind you. About 18 months ago, Elder Kennington was tracting with his greenie in an apartment complex. They sat down at a picnic table to take a break and drink some water when a lady walked up to them. She told them that she thought they were awesome because she has a daughter that is serving a mission in Fresno, California. She also told them that she wasn't a member, but that she still respected them. Elder Kennington didn't really know what to say because she was moving and he couldn't get her address so he asked her for her daughter's email address. Why not right? haha So he emailed her and asked her about her mom. He never got a response for a very long time and then all of a sudden he got a package in the mail from her. It was all about what he should say to her mom to help her and it told Elder Kennington where she lived. She just so happend to move to the Campobello ward boundaries while me and Elder Cichy were there. Kennington gave us the referral and the first time we went and visited with her she opened the door, was pretty stand-off-ish, and pretty much just told us she wasn't really ready to change. She began to close the door and when it was about two inches from being shut, she flung it open again and said, "On second thought, Heather (her daughter in Fresno) told me that for her birthday she wanted me to have the missionaries over for dinner. Would you guys like to come in?" We of course didn't pass that up and we commenced with an awesome lesson with her and her grandson. Nothing really came up from it except for a few concerns and she never really let us over after that. Months passed and Heather came home from her mission. She started teaching her mom about what she did on her mission and her mom believed her. It was so cool to see her countenance totally change. She bore her testimony at her baptism and talked about how everything that has happened to her in her life has prepared her for this time. She could have been very bitter about not being blessed with the gospel earlier in her life but she loved that it was all in the Lord's timing. It was such a cool experience!
Oh yeah I forgot. So my shoulder was bugging me for awhile and I had to go to a dr.'s appointment on Wednesday. There was no fracture but they scheduled me an MRI for Friday. The Dr. told me that when you dislocate your shoulder, it breaks away a piece of cartilage which causes it to be super easy to dislocate in the future. He said that it would take a minor surgery to fix and I could just wait till after the mission to get it done. I haven't yet seen the pictures from the MRI and I am going to see them on this Wednesday. It's not bad though I don't have much pain at all anymore! Yes it was done on P-Day while we were riding as a district to go on a little hike thing. No fun!
Sunday of course was my talk. I didn't know that it was also a "farewell" for a girl in the ward who is leaving for the Swiss Mission. She had tons of non member and member friends and family there. It's so nuts that it was my first time speaking on my mission! I talked about how the last time I spoke I was sitting in the same seat as Sister Hunt is because it was my own farewell. Oddly, her topic was Hope which happened to be my same topic fourteen months ago. Speaking in church is a lot different compared to a district meeting or zone meeting because you can't ask people questions and have then be involved. It was a little bit harder for me because I haven't been used to it! My topic was, "if I were a member of the ward I am now serving in, what would I do to be a better missionary?" This was hard for me. I prayed for some inspiration on what to say and my thoughts turned to three points: 1. Know the doctrine (Know what you believe) 2. Be an example in all that you do. 3. Invite all to Come unto Christ. Yes I know, generic, but I put a little bit of a twist on it. At the beginning I talked about watching wildlife. I didn't want to mention hunting much so I changed it to taking pictures and shooting them with cameras. haha. I talked about how much I love animals and how often we would go into the hills to see them. I talked about Bear Hollow (I didn't mention the name though) and how the animals would come out in the open in the early morning and in the evening but during the heat of the day they would be hunkered down in the groves of trees. How would we then see them? We would have to go into the groves and either push them out or sit there for awhile and wait for them to come to us. Of course, flushing them out was more effective because it was being active on our part instead of waiting for the deer to be active and come to us. I remember making the comment, "I bet there are animals in every single grove in Bear Hollow, but we just drive right on past them without even knowing." The connection to my talk was that there are people in every "grove" of our lives. Every bus, airport, airplane, restaurant, neighborhood, school, jobsite, cubicle, etc. They are in every grove! We just have to get out and find them. We have to know the doctrine, be the example as Ammon was because that goes a lot further than will any worldly influence. And then we have to invite them. It's so true that there are three types of talks: The one you prepare, the one you give, and the one you wish you would've given. I know I could've done better, but I just hope that it got my point across.
We have a baptism this weekend for Nina Padilla! It is going to be awesome! The Lord has really blessed us lately with His elect children. I just hope we can continue to find them and help the members to do the same as well!
Thanks for all you do!
I love you!
Elder Mouritsen
It is so cool to be able to write one email and to have it be sent to two people instantaneously who are on opposite sides of the world. It sounds like things are going awesome! Dad, Turkey and Istanbul sound amazing.
This week was great. I can't believe how fast this transfer has flown by. Today we got news. Tomorrow is transfers. Once again I am staying in this area. On the phone with President Beck this morning he said, "Elders, you are both staying in your area. It's smart not to fix something when it is doing so well!" We had a stellar week around the zone and he was very elated to see the numbers boosted up in all the five key indicators. I'm very glad that I've been a zone leader at the end of President Beck's mission because apparently at the beginning he was extremely hard on the leadership of the mission. He and Sister Beck will be flying out on June 30th. Apparently as soon as President Taylor pulls into the boundaries of the mission it becomes his mission. He gets here on June 29th and gets to spend one hour with President Beck and then he takes over. I wonder what will stay and what will be changed.
There was a baptism on Saturday for a woman in the Campobello ward named Roxann Seers. I have probably told you the story about her before but I will try to remind you. About 18 months ago, Elder Kennington was tracting with his greenie in an apartment complex. They sat down at a picnic table to take a break and drink some water when a lady walked up to them. She told them that she thought they were awesome because she has a daughter that is serving a mission in Fresno, California. She also told them that she wasn't a member, but that she still respected them. Elder Kennington didn't really know what to say because she was moving and he couldn't get her address so he asked her for her daughter's email address. Why not right? haha So he emailed her and asked her about her mom. He never got a response for a very long time and then all of a sudden he got a package in the mail from her. It was all about what he should say to her mom to help her and it told Elder Kennington where she lived. She just so happend to move to the Campobello ward boundaries while me and Elder Cichy were there. Kennington gave us the referral and the first time we went and visited with her she opened the door, was pretty stand-off-ish, and pretty much just told us she wasn't really ready to change. She began to close the door and when it was about two inches from being shut, she flung it open again and said, "On second thought, Heather (her daughter in Fresno) told me that for her birthday she wanted me to have the missionaries over for dinner. Would you guys like to come in?" We of course didn't pass that up and we commenced with an awesome lesson with her and her grandson. Nothing really came up from it except for a few concerns and she never really let us over after that. Months passed and Heather came home from her mission. She started teaching her mom about what she did on her mission and her mom believed her. It was so cool to see her countenance totally change. She bore her testimony at her baptism and talked about how everything that has happened to her in her life has prepared her for this time. She could have been very bitter about not being blessed with the gospel earlier in her life but she loved that it was all in the Lord's timing. It was such a cool experience!Oh yeah I forgot. So my shoulder was bugging me for awhile and I had to go to a dr.'s appointment on Wednesday. There was no fracture but they scheduled me an MRI for Friday. The Dr. told me that when you dislocate your shoulder, it breaks away a piece of cartilage which causes it to be super easy to dislocate in the future. He said that it would take a minor surgery to fix and I could just wait till after the mission to get it done. I haven't yet seen the pictures from the MRI and I am going to see them on this Wednesday. It's not bad though I don't have much pain at all anymore! Yes it was done on P-Day while we were riding as a district to go on a little hike thing. No fun!
Sunday of course was my talk. I didn't know that it was also a "farewell" for a girl in the ward who is leaving for the Swiss Mission. She had tons of non member and member friends and family there. It's so nuts that it was my first time speaking on my mission! I talked about how the last time I spoke I was sitting in the same seat as Sister Hunt is because it was my own farewell. Oddly, her topic was Hope which happened to be my same topic fourteen months ago. Speaking in church is a lot different compared to a district meeting or zone meeting because you can't ask people questions and have then be involved. It was a little bit harder for me because I haven't been used to it! My topic was, "if I were a member of the ward I am now serving in, what would I do to be a better missionary?" This was hard for me. I prayed for some inspiration on what to say and my thoughts turned to three points: 1. Know the doctrine (Know what you believe) 2. Be an example in all that you do. 3. Invite all to Come unto Christ. Yes I know, generic, but I put a little bit of a twist on it. At the beginning I talked about watching wildlife. I didn't want to mention hunting much so I changed it to taking pictures and shooting them with cameras. haha. I talked about how much I love animals and how often we would go into the hills to see them. I talked about Bear Hollow (I didn't mention the name though) and how the animals would come out in the open in the early morning and in the evening but during the heat of the day they would be hunkered down in the groves of trees. How would we then see them? We would have to go into the groves and either push them out or sit there for awhile and wait for them to come to us. Of course, flushing them out was more effective because it was being active on our part instead of waiting for the deer to be active and come to us. I remember making the comment, "I bet there are animals in every single grove in Bear Hollow, but we just drive right on past them without even knowing." The connection to my talk was that there are people in every "grove" of our lives. Every bus, airport, airplane, restaurant, neighborhood, school, jobsite, cubicle, etc. They are in every grove! We just have to get out and find them. We have to know the doctrine, be the example as Ammon was because that goes a lot further than will any worldly influence. And then we have to invite them. It's so true that there are three types of talks: The one you prepare, the one you give, and the one you wish you would've given. I know I could've done better, but I just hope that it got my point across.
We have a baptism this weekend for Nina Padilla! It is going to be awesome! The Lord has really blessed us lately with His elect children. I just hope we can continue to find them and help the members to do the same as well!
Thanks for all you do!
I love you!
Elder Mouritsen
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