Hello "goodly parents," grandparents, sisters, friends, and family...
Great email dad. I'm very excited for the girls and all their accomplishments. I hope they know how much I look up to and admire them. It's just a blessing to be assured of their constant experiences they have which strengthen their testimonies. The adversary's tactics have become far too apparent in the lives of many of the youth down here. There are those who are stalwart, steadfast, and immovable. Then there are those who doubt, waiver, and disregard the illuminating feelings of the spirit that were once present in their lives. This contrast of experiences has caused me to NEVER have that feeling where the spirit leaves. I can't imagine life without it. I mean, life with it is still a struggle, but a struggle that we can always win.
One of the best days of my entire mission occurred this week. It was Friday, March 2nd. The night before I got a call from an old friend, Mark Coleman. He said that he had received his patriarchal blessing in the mail and he wanted to meet with me to talk about how awesome it was. We set the appointment for 7:30 the next day. Friday at 2:00 we had an appointment with Kolt. Kolt is the friend of a member in the YSA. I've talked about him before. He has been intrigued in the church’s stance on the family, and that "intrigue" has turned to an intense study of the other gospel truths that go hand in hand with our belief about the family. We had planned to teach him the Plan of Salvation, my favorite to teach. He accepted the things we spoke about. It went smoothly like any other lesson. We focused a lot on the fact that the blessings of the gospel are open to those who have already passed on from this life. This was because his dad passed away around 15 years ago. I think he enjoys that gospel truth; that families extend to the eternities if we but do the work for them here on earth. The end of the lesson came and I realized that he had never prayed in front of us before. We invited him to do so. He did not want to at all. At that moment the scripture in 2 Nephi 32 came to mind. "Satan teaches a man to not pray..." We insisted that he say the prayer. He continued to come up with bogus excuses as to why he didn't feel adequate, or able to pray. After a short battle, we bowed our heads, closed our eyes, and FINALLY Kolt began to voice the prayer. What then occurred was one of the most powerful feelings I've felt in my life. Immediately, the spirit engulfed those in the room. It felt like I was hit by a spiritual freight train. In the prayer, Kolt expressed gratitude for his family, for us, for his member friend, and then he paused. His eyes began to fill with tears. Once again the spirit hit so powerfully it was undeniable. He closed the prayer in the name of Jesus Christ and we just sat there in silence. That's all that I could do. I wanted to say something but I think the spirit blocked my mind from being able to come up with what to say. The silence was finally broken by Kolt, he said, "It feels like I've been hit in the chest with a baseball bat. It feels so weird it almost hurts." Once again the spirit was super strong. We sat in silence for a bit more until finally I felt what I needed to say. I testified of the power of the spirit, especially the spirit that was present right then and there. It helped Kolt to recognize it. We brought up baptism. He knows what he needs to do. I think he is looking for some miraculous burning bush experience. We assured him that what he felt was the Lord speaking to him. We left with the spirit still strong and he committed to come to church.
Later that night Mark Coleman met us at our church building. I was pretty stoked. He wanted it to be between him and me so Elder Brothers volunteered to just sit outside the door so we could talk. He wanted to talk about certain lines from his Patriarchal Blessing and other specific blessings the Lord has given him that have been already made known in his life. Of course he didn't read the whole thing to me. I made sure he wouldn't. It was amazing to hear. He said the majority of his blessing talks about his service as a full-time missionary. There is also a large chunk about who he was in the pre-existence. It was very apparent in the blessing that he had many friends in the pre-existence who would be waiting for him to come to them with the gospel in mortality. It reminded me a lot of my own personal testimony regarding the reasons that I came out on my mission; for those who were prepared by the Lord that only I could touch. Afterward, he went on to tell me that he had received a new calling. He is the elder's quorum secretary. He home teaches 10 different individuals who are all either less active or recent converts. He has also volunteered to help people in a cancer center. He told me that there is absolutely no way that he would be doing these things if it wasn't for the church. It was so soothing to hear. His testimony is so strong and I am so thankful for the opportunity that I have had to get to know him. I know that I knew him in the pre-existence. He was a friend of mine before we received our calls to come to earth. That has been made known to me on many occasions.
My studies lately have revolved a lot around the talk, "Cast not Away Therefore Your Confidence" by Elder Holland. Like I said earlier, it is amazing to me to see how many people have at one time been illuminated by the spirit, forgotten the feeling/illumination, and turned away from what they knew at one time was true. Lesson one from Elder Holland's talk is to REMEMBER THE REAL THING. Satan can hedge up the way, marshal Pharaoh's forces and dog our escape right to the water's edge, but he cannot produce the real thing. He cannot conquer if we will it otherwise. Before receiving answers, Satan strives to discourage us. Afterwards, he strives to cause us to doubt. His fiery darts never cease until we bind him by our own righteousness in such a way that he has no power, just as he won't have power during the millennium. We can all start the millennium early, in our own personal lives and ways. Lesson number two: Don't miss the opportunity of a lifetime by not seizing it in the lifetime of the opportunity. After spiritual illumination has occurred, Satan's greatest tool is fear. Don't fear nor forget the miracles that have gotten us to where we are. Resist the temptation to panic and give up. Yes, those feelings are temptations and choices we can make. At those times, fear will be the adversary’s strongest weapon. After we have received the revelation, "go forward...don't fear, don't vacillate, don't quibble, don't whine." Lesson number three. If God has told you something is right, if something is indeed true for you, He will provide the way for you to accomplish it. That is true with any worthy pursuit in life. Hence the reason Nephi was so sure that the Lord would provide a way for him "that he may accomplish the thing, which the Lord [had] commanded him."
Too often we forget. I would hope that steady, earnest, energetic effort in having spiritual experiences will help us to never forget the real thing. Constant impressions and spiritual illumination is possible. We might not be able to be the prophet of the church, but we can be the prophet of our own individual lives. It is a gift which those who have the gift of the Holy Ghost are all entitled to. It is called personal revelation. Joseph Smith has said that "salvation cannot come without revelation." He isn't referring to prophetic revelation necessarily, but individual revelatory experiences that help us to gain a testimony of the truth.
Thanks for all you do! I love and appreciate you more than you know.
Love,
Elder Mouritsen
P.S. Please apologize to those who have written me but I haven't responded to. At the library we have a very short amount of time to do our emails.
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