Hey family,
I won't lie my heart sank a few
notches when you said that Kyler won't be there for my homecoming. That'll be a
good experience for him though and hopefully all goes well. It sounds like it's
been a good week back there!
Dylan’s been emailing me the past
couple of weeks. I seriously admire him a lot. His strength and testimony are
very powerful. As I read through his email, I couldn't help but notice that the
phrase, "the feeling is enough" is also very apparent in his life.
Especially in tough, very tough, decisions, the feeling is necessary to confirm
what needs to happen. He is a great example of one who seeks the Lord's help
and then acts.
This has been a pretty good week.
Things continue to come out of the woodwork. We got in contact with the Oaks family,
second cousins to Dallin H. Oaks, this week. We hope to teach and baptize the
12 year old daughter.
Our lesson with Kolt this week was
fantastic. He is so ready. He shared with us his experience of finding the
gospel. I'll summarize it the best that I can. He just graduated from high school
in 2011 and was pondering what he wanted to study in college. His first choice
was psychology, because apparently he has a Jedi's ability to interpret dreams.
Next was to be a pharmacist. And lastly, at the very back of his mind, was
music. He played a little bit of tuba while in high school but didn't think
there would be much of an opportunity to take it into college. The decision
drew nearer, and he realized he didn't really have adequate funds unless he
received some help from scholarships or grants. He knew the jazz band/music
professor at GCC a little bit and talked to him a bit about what he should
decide to study. The music professor had heard him play a little bit and
invited him to join the jazz band but to not focus on the tuba, but the
saxophone. Well new saxophones cost around $5,000-$6,000 so Kolt didn't know
how that was going to work. Little by little, things just started falling into
place. His spot on the jazz band bred a scholarship that required him to take
20 credits. Some other funds were given by other sources and all of a sudden
Kolt's school was entirely paid for. When he felt like nothing else good could
happen, his teacher then offered him a very nice, but old, saxophone for
$1,300. Kolt couldn't believe it! Of course he took the offer. Because of his
focus on music, he became great friends with a member of the church named
Melissa. One day after practice, they decided to go to lunch. The topic of
religion came up and Kolt joked around a little bit about religion in general.
Melissa invited him to church. She obtained a Book of Mormon from us and gave
it to him. He read a few pages. Then he met with us. We did what we could to
invite him to Christ. He felt the spirit, came to church, made changes in his
life that are in line with gospel principles, and is now getting baptized on
April 7th. After sharing this experience with us he made the comment that the
Lord had answered a prayer of his heart while he didn't know he was even
offering the prayer. It has been amazing to see him recognize the Lord's hand
in his life as he now looks back and sees just how much he has been led and
guided, though at the time being oblivious to inspiration from God.
The Lord works in mysterious ways.
His hands are in the details. I'm grateful for that and I hope that we can
recognize more fully in our lives just how much his hand has been there.
This week I have focused each of my
studies on the atonement of Jesus Christ and the doctrine behind it. I read the
account in Talmage's Jesus The Christ of the agony that took place
during the crucifixion. It became very real to me. It had never occurred to me
before that even after suffering all that he did in the garden, after being
strengthened by the angel that was sent from the presence of God, after asking,
"my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?", the suffering from
Gethsemane then recurred, only this time without the help of an angel to bear
him up. Through experiences on my mission, good and bad, some far too sacred to
even relate, I have felt the power of His atoning sacrifice and I know it's
real. I read the talk by Elder Bednar in this month's Ensign and I like how he
talks about how it makes a bad man good and a good man better. The atonement
isn't only for the sinners, but for the righteous. It is the power by which
even the righteous are given adequate strength to break the cords/bands by
which they are bound. The experience of Nephi, Alma and Amulek, and even Nephi
and Lehi in the book of Helaman, show that when we pray, we shouldn't pray that
the power of the atonement change our circumstances, but that we be given the
necessary strength to be made equal to our circumstances. My prayers have
changed since I've studied up on this principle. It has been my experience while
teaching people, that people often doubt the power of the atonement when they
pray for deliverance from certain circumstances and don't receive relief. If
God answered every single prayer of every single person in the world, there
would be no growth. Every trial and negative circumstance would be removed. In
a sense, agency would be halted. God is there to give us strength, but He's not
about to hinder us from experiences that which will make us stronger.
I love you all and I'm grateful for
your strength in the doctrines of Christ. You all inspire me.
Love,
Elder Mouritsen
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