Things are great. My shoulder is a miracle. I've been able to do push ups, sit ups, racquetball, and deathball. Basketball is a little iffy though but if anything comes of it I will be talking to Sister Taylor and seeing about having the surgery done here. I have talked to the new mission president twice now. He is legit! We were on exchanges with the assistants on Friday and they were telling us about how they went tracting with him his first day here. Apparently he is just all about being personable and loving everyone. That was made apparent in his phone calls with us. To be honest, I would say he is quite opposite of President Beck. Think about this, a normal meeting with President Beck had a strict agenda with meaningful trainings for every fifteen minutes. President Taylor told us about the interviews meeting we would be having this Wednesday: Arrive at eight, President and Sister Taylor would introduce themselves. Each missionary would say three things about themselves, the district leaders would say one thing about each of their missionaries, and the zone leaders would say one thing about each missionary. Then, he would begin interviewing and all the missionaries would chat with Sister Taylor and their 16 year old son Braden. Then it would be over with a spiritual thought and a prayer. Haha when I heard about that I was just like, "man this is going to be different but awesome!" Can you imagine up and leaving your high school to follow your parents on their mission like their son Braden is doing? It's funny because it's a lot more chill in the mission home. Apparently they have "family Saturdays" where they don't even where a white shirt and tie. We know this because some missionaries in our zone saw them while they were visiting the Mesa temple visitors center. The missionaries didn't even recognize who they were because President and Sister Taylor didn't even have their name tags on. You can imagine how embarrassing that was fort them when Sister Taylor had to tell them that they were their new mission president and his wife.
Yes it is awesome to be able to see Elder Cichy. After he left Phoenix North, he went down to South Phoenix, then up to Peoria, now he is back in one of the wards he had down in South Phoenix. It just so happened that he is the missionary who received the referral from Daniel Bigelow. He is going to keep me updated on her progress.
We had our final Zone Leader Council with President Beck on Tuesday this week. I thought it would be different from all the others just because it was two days before President Beck was leaving. I was wrong. It was just as if it were a year ago. He did not skip a beat. I got a final picture of me, him, and Sister Beck that I will have to send next week because I forgot my camera. As he walked away from us down the hallway for the last time I was half expecting to witness the translation of a human being. He is an amazing man. The day after he got home, he baptized his best friend that he met with one time while serving as mission president. During that one visit, he committed his friend to baptism and set a date for July 1st so that he could be there. He has been an exceptional example of obedience and service to me and the rest of the several hundred missionaries in the APM.It's been a hot one this week as you probably know from your msn home page. We spent a lot of time tracting and street contacting this week and it has been super hard to find any investigators. Our normal "goldmine" apartment complexes are dead because all the YSA age people are gone home for the summer or are somewhere off on vacation. It's tough but we are striving to find the elect. Even those investigators we have been teaching are gone for a couple weeks so our time is very over run with being out in the sun finding. Roy Kelleners, the convert from Holland I have talked about a lot, has been on a road trip through New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, Montana and over to Iowa. We got a text from him saying that he is going to do all that he can to find a temple to visit and do baptisms in while on his trip. That was so cool to hear. I've never seen such a change in someone who had no idea about the gospel before we knocked on his door.
Yesterday in our fast and testimony meeting it was extremely sparse. Usually the pulpit has a line of 4-5 people waiting to share their testimony which I think is awesome! Yesterday was a different story though. It was still a lot more than a normal family ward but there was some time for the spirit to work on me and get me to stand up. For some reason the experience from youth conference several years ago where we were decorated in Nephite and Lamanite garb came back to me. I remembered what the stake presidency told us in a fireside before the conference; "we will know if this conference is a success if even one of you leaves with a strengthened testimony." I remember believing that promise to be true because my testimony was strengthened tremendously. I thought about that quote and how it applies to a mission. When I got to the pulpit I talked about how great it has been to serve along side so many great people. If I had to leave my mission right now, I would feel successful because my testimony has become strengthened from each person I have come into contact with. It seemed that the topic of the testimony meeting that coincidentally came up was that our Father in Heaven has plan for us in this life. I talked about a story that Sister Beck shared with us in her final talk called "The Rock." Here is a summary: A man was asleep one night in his cabin when suddenly he was awakened by a bright light that filled the room. The Savior stood at his bedside and told him that he had a work for him to do. The man was shown a massive rock, and was told by the Savior that he was to push against the rock with all his might. The man did this. Day in and day out he set his shoulder squarely against the surface of the rock and would return each night to his cabin very sore and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain. Seeing that the man was showing signs of discouragement, Satan decided to enter the picture, placing thoughts in the mans mind such as, "Why kill yourself over this, you're never going to move it" or, "Boy you've been at it here for a long time and you haven't even scratched the surface." This gave the man the impression that his task was impossible and that he was an unworthy and unprofitable servant because he wasn't moving the massive stone. He began questioning himself, "why kill myself" he thought, "I'll just put in my time, putting forth just the minimum and that will be good enough." That is what he planned to do until he decided to take his troubles to the Lord. "Lord" he said, "I have labored long and hard in thy service, putting forth all my strength to do that which you have asked me, yet after all this time I haven't even budged that rock half a millimeter! What is wrong? Why am I failing?" To this the Lord responded, "My friend...when long ago I asked you to serve me you accepted, I told you to push against this rock with all your strength, and that you have done. But never once did I mention unto you that I expected you to move it! At least not all by yourself. Your task was to push. And now you have come to me, your strength spent, thinking that you have failed and ready to quit. But is that really so? Look at yourself, your arms strong and muscled, your back sinewed and brown, your hands calloused from constant pressure and your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much and your ability now far surpasses that which you used to have, yet you still haven't succeeded in moving the rock, and you come to me with a heavy heart and your strength spent, I my friend will move the rock. Your calling was to be obedient and to push, and to exercise your faith and trust in my wisdom, and this you have done."
Sometimes we don't understand why we are doing some things but the Lord sees the bigger picture. I feel that these are the reasons we have some of the commandments. The world says it's ok to abuse the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity. But the Lord sees the bigger picture and knows how one little decision can change the rest of our lives. If we follow, we will be made stronger and more prepared for opportunities, struggles, trials, adversity, and anything that may come our way in the future.
I love you all very much! You are the best!
Your brother in the Lord,
Elder Colton Mouritsen
P.S. I don't know what your plans are today but we have to be in by six o'clock because we don't want to be outside when people start shooting guns all over the place. Wouldn't want to get hit by a stray bullet. :/
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