August 3-9, 2010: Baptism, Badminton, & Bad News

Phoenix flooding during a rainstorm.

Colton holding a cat that is fifth generation leopard.

Chris Baird at the Mesa Temple

"The standard of truth has been erected. No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing: persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, and calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth bodly, nobly, and independent till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the great Jehovah shall say the work is done."
-Joseph Smith

Hello family!

Madison and L-Mo phenomenal job with the softball! Man!! I better be receiving some pictures sometime soon. I'm not kidding. I can't believe you guys won the championship!! That's some serious stuff right there. Comp Softball is no easy task! Way to be!

Oh man this week has been filled. It feels like forever since the last time I emailed you but then at the same time it feels like this week went by faster than ever. As I think I've told you, Mike James was baptized last Sunday. He had a baptismal date since April because he wanted to be baptized on his wife's birthday, August 1st. And it happened, I just hope he was doing it for him, and not just for his wife. He's like 65 years old! haha The baptism was great. Brother Wisehart, the High Priest Group Leader baptized him. Brother Wisehart is a convert himself who did all that he could to prove the Book of Mormon to be wrong. He says that his conversion came from the bible, and also from the fact that he couldn't prove the Book of Mormon to be wrong. Cool story. Anyways: Since Mike is a bit older and larger, and Bro Wisehart is the same way, Mike wanted him to be baptized frontwards so that he would be able to stand back up and Bro Wisehart wouldn't drop him if they went backwards. Failure. Total Failure. He said the prayer and then began to lower him face first into the water and got to a point to where he just wouldn't bend anymore. And the back of his bald head, as well as his entire back was sticking out of the water, all the while Brother Wisehart grabbed the back of his head and began to repeatedly push his face under the water, making it look as if he were drowning him. HAHAHA That's all that was going through my mind, "Don't drown the poor man!" Well, the stake president happened to be there and he came up behind me (we were the witnesses) and asked me if it needed to be done backwards. I told him he was more comfortable this way but we'll probably be going backwards now because it just wasn't working out. Another thing that was going through my mind was the fact that we had several other investigators there and what the crap do you think was going through their minds as Brother Wisehart looked as if he was plunging something from a toilet as he tried to force Brother James under the water. He just wouldn't budge. So, he pulled him back out and immediately threw him backwards into the water. While Mike was down we had to tell Brother Wisehart that he needed to re-say the prayer and then baptize him. Finally, it was done correctly and the baptism was performed. HAHA I'll never forget that.

Mike James and his wife at his baptism. Brother "Wild Bill" Brown & Sister Brown (seated).

The next day on P-Day we had an AWESOME zone activity. Zone Badminton Tournament!!! President and Sister Beck were coming too because supposedly they were like professionals. Well we started off playing Elder Wright and Elder Harker who are two athletes and they barely beat us. Luckily it was double elimination and we still had a chance to make it to the championship but we were the very first team to be placed in the losers bracket. Poor Elder Cichy is blind in his left eye so you can only imagine the depth perception issues there is to hitting a birdie flying towards you. It was great though! There were so many companionships. It was legit! Our next three games we got up 6-0 and ended up destroying those teams. It came down to the wire in the fourth one though and the winner went on to play Elder Wright and Elder Harker to go to the championship. GEEZ! So much adrenaline rushing I couldn't believe it. HAHA Well we beat them and went on to play Wright and Harker. They got up on us 3-0 but we then went on a streak. After some major slams, spikes, and saves we battled back and won like 15-10. Championship game time and it was against the Zone Leaders who set up the whole deal and they were solid. Elder Wesche (from Viewmont, he knows Shaun) and Elder Kennington (from Afton, Wyoming). They got up 14-9 and it was game point and my serve. Very luckily, and nervously we got back to 13-14 but then they scored a lucky little drop shot and we lost :'(. Oh well, we battled. It was very fun though!
We taught Tom and Tom Jr. this week. There was some progression with Tom as he expressed interest in repenting but he also said that there are just some things that he knows he won't be able to quit doing. We told him that repentance in reality is change and if you are changing yourself for the better and continue to repent, Heavenly Father knows you are trying and will continue to forgive you. He then expressed interest in having his nine year old son baptized. We asked him about himself and he said, "I want my son to baptize me. I feel like that is the reason I had a son and I'm willing to wait 7 years for him to receive the priesthood so that that can happen." Immediately, I had a feeling of everything is going to be ok come over me, the same one that came back on the baseball diamond. I recognized the feeling, and couldn't deny it. The member who was with us got quite stern and pulled out the Alma 34:32-34 Procrastinate no more! scripture and Tom was set on his decision. He said that several years ago, he sat in his Uncle's basement (who is a member) and just prayed to know the purpose behind him having a son, and that is the answer that he was impressed with. After debating with the member who was with us he said this, "If you are here to help me through this, then help me, help him, as he grows up in the church and continues on worthily so that he'll be able to baptize me." I pulled him aside after the discussion and told him I felt great about the decision. I didn't know why because that's not the normal way of doing things. It'll all work out though. "...The purposes of God shall be accomplished.."

Wednesday night we were on splits. Cichy went with a Ward Missionary and visited Chris Baird and I went to the Mineers home and visited with Stevie. We talked about the Plan of Salvation and also some questions he had concerning the Book of Mormon. His knowledge of the Book has already exceeded mine it seems. He understand the Isaiah chapters as well as I understand the story of Ammon. hahah. We got to the point where we were talking about the reasons that Christ was baptized. Cause, if it's to be cleansed of all your sins, then why would Christ need to be baptized? Of course, the Book of Mormon describes all that. 2 Nephi 31:5-9. It's a commandment and Christ was obedient by humbling himself before the father and following His commandments. Stevie was then commited to baptism and set a date for August 14th! Awesome! He's already so powerful and was almost in tears when we visited the Mesa Temple and watched the Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration movie.

Yesterday was a pretty low down day. We were teaching Stevie the 4th lesson when we randomly got a call from President Beck. Cichy answered it and President said that someone would be coming to our house at 6:00 to pick us up and bring us to the mission office to talk with him. Immediately butterflies filled the soul and we began searching for clues about what it could be. We had been obedient! We had no idea what it could've been. As we rode home I got a sort of sick feeling that it had something to do with our families but I couldn't entertain that sort of thought and disregarded it. The Spanish AP's picked us up and drove us over there and as we got inside, President was waiting and he said, "Elder Mouritsen I'm going to be speaking with Elder Cichy for a moment if you just want to wait outside and study." I still had no idea what was going on. After about 10-15 minutes passed, President returned without Elder Cichy and let me know that Cichy's father had been diagnosed with a serious medical problem and that he was speaking on the phone to him. I felt some immediate sorrow and sadness for him as I couldn't bare to imagine what he must be feeling at this moment. Probably 25-30 minutes passed and he finally came out of the room and then President returned with him for another chat. He then came out and asked me to join them. As I went in I could tell that Cichy had been a bit teary eyed, but that was easily expected. He told me that doctors had just found a brain tumor about the size of a quarter in the frontal lobe of the brain but luckily its in the early stages and it's a miracle that they caught it so early. This tumor happens to be the same type that his dad's brother died from several years earlier, which makes it very scary. After talking about it, Cichy asked president for a blessing. The spirit filled the room as we both laid our hands on his head and President Beck gave comfort, reminders, and council regarding the current situation. On the way out, Cichy said, "I told you it wasn't your family." I replied, "Your family, is my family." From this experience, we are becoming more unified and strengthened as we improve our efforts and continue on doing all that we can to focus on the work and do as Elder Cichy's dad told him, "don't let this get in the way of your Heavenly Father's work." Easier said than done. Please pray for him and also for Elder Cichy, as their family goes through this tough time.

I hope all is going well for you guys! I love you all so much. I'm going to try to send pictures as soon as possible. I know I've been saying that but now I'm in the stake center family history center and I think it'll work. I love all your powerful testimonies and experiences you have from overcoming trials and going to the scriptures to find comfort. Never forget those feelings and experiences. You guys are amazing and thank you so much for the prayers. We have seen them answered as doors have been opened with people who are ready to hear the message of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Love you all,

Elder Mouritsen

July 27 - August 2, 2010: The Gospel Changes Lives!

This week has been sweet. Two weeks ago we met with a man named Stevie who is a friend of a guy in the ward named Brother Mineer. Now, Brother Mineer is about 6 foot 7 and MASSIVE. He's very persuasive and has a booming voice, one that you would normally hear announcing a sporting event. He's been bringing Stevie to church several times and then two weeks ago Stevie agreed to meet with us. The first time we met he told us he had many questions concerning the Book of Mormon, which was great cause we knew he had been reading. As we sat in the family room of the Mineer's home and discussed with Stevie, the spirit of contention just filled the room and it was actually quite scary. His eyes would get really big and wide and looked blood shot (i'm not even kidding) and he would stare at us as if he was looking into the depths of our soul. He would ask a question from what he had read and get extremely loud, angry, and vulgar. It was very hard to find the spirit but as we bore testimony and answered some of his questions, his entire countenance would change and he would recognize what he was feeling. At those points in the lesson, when he was feeling the spirit, we thought the contention would leave. Nope, wrong. He would look us right in the eye. Get all contentious again. Tell us that he has committed abominations in the sight of the Lord. And one of the most heart wrenching was when he said, "I'm not afraid to walk the halls of hell with the Devil! I don't fear him! I've murdered an unborn child! I committed abominations in the sight of the Lord!!" I'm pretty sure all color and expression in my face was gone. Several times this happened where it would be Spirit of Contention, then Spirit of Christ. Spirit of Contention=Darkness. Spirit of Christ=Light. No Darkness can dwell where there is Light and I saw that come to pass as the Spirit of Contention was immediately illuminated. Stevie kept telling us he had so many questions but they were all about deep doctrines of the gospel. He asked us if we ever have questioned our faith or doubted God. I said, "Stevie of course! The prophet Joseph Smith even did when he was in the Liberty jail! He said it himself as he said in a prayer, "Oh God, Where art thou?!" Even the prophet of the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ questioned his faith and God's plan for him. We all do but it can also all be overcome. As soon as we understand the basic doctrine of Christ which is faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end, then we have a shot at understanding all the deep doctrines! I myself am SOO far from understanding such things it's not even funny! But I can promise you that as you exercise your own faith and focus on the foundation that Christ taught, all things can be made possible to understand. I don't doubt God, He is perfect. But it's normal to often doubt myself. I'm human." It's funny cause that was one of the only times I said anything during the lesson and after that we said the closing prayer. We then watched the talk given by Elder Holland on the Book of Mormon and it almost seemed like Stevie was getting emotional. After the talk he said, "You can't deny the truth." That night we were discussing it and another member was listening to what we were telling him about Stevie and we began to think that he could be influenced by some demonic power. The member we were talking to said he had had experience with things like this and we were describing them to a T. We hoped it wasn't the case.

We saw him at church the next week and we met with him the week after again. It was unbelievable. I wouldn't believe the 180 degree flip flop that took place had I not witnessed it myself. He called us saying he was going to take things now on blind faith and that he would leave the negativity home. That week at our lesson, he couldn't stop smiling and showing tons of gratitude towards us and what we had brought into his life. Yesterday we had a baptism of Brother Mike James and Stevie came with Brother Mineer. At the end of the baptism he went up to the font and said, "I think I might just jump in right now." Are you kidding me?!?! haha no way did he just say that. Two weeks ago he was picking apart everything he could that had to do with the church and now he can't wait to be baptized. He's already borne his testimony and can't get the glow and smile off of his face. We are going to the temple visitors center with him on Wednesday. Can't wait.

I can't tell you how much power there is from the gospel being brought into people's lives. We have something that others need and it's our job to be the instrument that the spirit can work through in relaying the message. President John Taylor taught, "we are held accountable for those we WOULD HAVE taught." What if us sharing the gospel was their only chance to hear the message? What if they would've accepted? If all else fails just be bold and invite.

I woman requested a bible from mormon.org this week soo.... we gave her a Book of Mormon. haha. She accepted gratefully and the next day we followed up and she said she had read it and prayed about it and loved it! The week after we had a church tour and it was the first real time we met with her and taught her. Yup, she's committed to be baptized on August 21. It's amazing how through obedience and bringing souls into the waters of baptism, brings others into the pool of teaching. This is our Father in Heaven's work and he directs it. I would never think otherwise.

A quote by Elder Bruce R. McConkie

"I am called of God. My authority is above that of Kings of the earth. By revelation I have been selected as a personal representative of my Lord, Jesus Christ. He is my master. And he has chosen me to represent him, to stand in His place. To say and do what He Himself would say and do, if he personally were ministering to the very people to whom he has sent me. My voice is His voice, and my acts are His acts. My words are His words, and my doctrine is His doctrine. My commission is to do what He wants done, to say what he wants said. To be a living, modern witness of the divinity of this great and marvelous latter-day work. How great is my calling!"

I think it applies to us as priesthood holders and also members of the church. It's a blessing to have this gospel. It changes lives. Let it change our own.

I love ya'll so much.

Love,

Elder Mouritsen

July 20-26, 2010: Two Darts get it done!

Hi, How are ya?

Sounds like it was an awesome trip to Bear Lake! Man, the girls just takin' on the legacy, that's awesome! There's nothin' like free falling into a pool of water. Such an adrenaline rush!

This week has been crazy! The longest week by far. There was a training meeting Tuesday-Friday for all the District Leaders, Zone Leaders, and trainers so I was paired up with Elder Henrie this whole week to cover BOTH of our areas. Yes, Elder Henrie, the one I went to High School with. How cool is that?! We became really close and actually had one of the best weeks we've ever had! His area was phenomenal and was blessed with 17 new investigators in one week! SEVENTEEN! That's insane. In our area we got 7 which is a ton and for the first time ever (I'm pretty sure) we got the Standard of Excellence which is: 4 investigators at Sacrament, 7 member present lessons (we got 10!), 20 total lessons taught (we had 32), 10 hours of tracting (we barely got that), and 3 progressing investigators (we have 7). Now this all sounds kind of ridiculous, like people are just another number. But when your mission president is a major business man, and he runs the mission like a business, pretty much all he cares about is numbers. Haha. That way he knows you're out working. With hard work and dedication, the Lord finds time throughout your day where you can do what you never would think would be possible. This week has seemed like the longest ever, but when Elder Henrie and I (he's been out only one transfer more than me) had to cover 2 areas on bikes I never thought we'd be able to get as much done as we did, and it turns out that both of our areas had better weeks than we've ever had in the past.

On Saturday Zach Bonnell was baptized. It was so awesome, he's a little ten year old boy and his family has been less active for about a year. It's not that they were doing anything wrong, they just weren't coming to church and doing the other spiritual necessities. We've been meeting with them for about a month and not only were WE shocked to find out that Zach wanted to be baptized, but his parents were even more shocked! Saturday was his big day and there is nothing more special than seeing a family come so close together. In church yesterday his grandfather confirmed him a member of the church and gave him the gift of the Holy Ghost. I talked to him afterwards and he thanked us for the great meeting Zach's baptism was. I couldn't agree more. We got to talking and he asked where I'm from. I told him Kaysville, Utah and he went on to say he's from Idaho. I told him that my grandparents have a ranch in Southeastern Idaho. He said, "where?" I said, "Montpelier." He says, "NO WAY! I grew up there!" I said, "are you kidding me? Well the ranch is actually in Dingle but we just say Montpelier cause nobody knows where that is." He says, "That's where my ranch is!!" HAHAHAHHAHA oh man are you kidding me?? Another person from Dingle Idaho!??! WOW! His name is Brother Dixon and he says their ranch is like the Hunter Ranch up around those parts so ask grandma and grandpa if they know of it. His wife said there is no better mortician than Leonard Matthews and he thinks he remembers the name Mouritsen. How cool is that!? I told him that we needed to stay in contact so I could come visit him when we head up to Dingle after I'm home. We developed a strong friendship after having such a spiritual experience with the baptism of his grandson and then the common ground with Dingle. He's like, "Oh man, what a neet guy you are!" haha See if grandma and Grandpa can contact him or something!!

So Thursday night we had dinner at the Pectols home and afterwards, a correlation meeting at the church which was about a mile and a half away. As we left their home, we noticed that outside was not the usual hot, dry Phoenix AZ weather. Monsoon SEASON!! The rain came and let loose so much water its not even funny. We had to pedal our bikes down 39th Ave to get to the church and I'm not kidding, either that street is built for run off for flash fooding or something was wrong. The entire road was a river and as we pedaled our shoes were underneath the water. It was awesome! I was jumpin' off the curbs, making a wake, while cars flew past us spraying us with the dirtiest, gross water you'll see. haha We. Were. Drenched. But it was so much fun. I have pictures that I'll send hopefully today... When we got to the church we had to take off our shoes and dump the water out but it didn't do much because of how saturated our clothes were. Luckily the Pectols gave us garbage bags that they cut holes out for the arms and head so that we could protect our ties or else they would've been ruined. After the correlation meeting we had a lesson with Charlotte Hurley which went really well and we were still exceptionally uncomfortable from being soaked but it was all part of the experience.

So in part of the first lesson we teach to people, there is a section called; The Gospel Blesses Families. I've always had a hard time with this section in knowing what to say.. . . 'How.. how does the Gospel bless families?' I ask myself. I think that its different for every circumstance. If I've learned anything from this mission thus far, it's that even though I'm several hundred miles away from you guys, in reality I've never felt so close to you. Before my mission I took for granted exactly what family is and why it is the single most important social unit that Heavenly Father has blessed us with. I definitely do not take you guys for granted anymore and it's so crazy that not even being around you for the past few months has helped me to understand how important family is to everyone, but especially how important you are to me. I cannot say thanks enough and at times I feel that I should apologize for not spending as much time as I possibly could before my mission. The gospel truly blesses families. I know that, because I've never felt so much love as I do now. Studying the gospel, seeing the effects and results of messed up family life from people I've come into contact with, and being reminded of the immense love our Heavenly Father has for everyone, has blessed me with that knowledge.

Thank you.

I hope all is going well and make the most of these emails! haha You only get 93 more! hahaha

I love you all so much. Thanks again for everything.

Elder Mouritsen

July 13-19, 2010: Kitchen cleaning & Sonoran Dogs

Hi, How are ya?

Another solid week in the State of Arizona. There were some excessive heat warnings this week and with the monsoon season beginning its crazy with the humidity as well. I wouldn't mind sweating so profusely if it wasn't so gross when we entered people's homes. While riding the bike it's no big deal cause it's just like a constant hair dryer on your face and all the sweat evaporates immediately off of your skin. But as soon as you enter an air conditioned home, the sweat begins to pour. And by pour I mean like a bucket of salt, sunscreen, and water just got dumped on your head and soaks everything. It's all part of the experience though! Transfers were this week and nothing came out of it for me and Elder Cichy. We're still stayin' together. Our district got split though and our new District Leader is Elder Otto, Elder Henrie's companion. He's hilarious. There are only four companionships in our district now.

Last week Chris Baird dropped $120 bucks at Deseret Book on a quad (scriptures), scripture bag, and the $25 ten percent off deal for any future purchases. The man isn't even a member yet! haha. That shows some dedication. He knows he has so much to learn and we try to answer all his questions to the best of our ability. He is constantly reading and as of right now he is in the bible dictionary where he is reading it like a book. I never knew there was so much information and good stuff to read in there. We set a date for his baptism and as of right now it is August 28th, four days after the next transfer so hopefully I'll be here! After we committed him to a date, we asked him if he would want to go to the Mesa temple and see the Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration movie on Saturday. He said he would love to so we did just that! We had to have a member come with us so Brother Justice, his wife, and her son Ryan came with us. It was a great time and they had an art exhibit going on there that had a bunch of different types of art that were trying to make the museums in Salt Lake. It was so weird to think that I live in the place where all the paintings and sculptures originated! haha And after we got done they had us vote on our favorite one and the winner would be in the museum. Chris fed us dinner that night and we made some "Sonoran Dogs." Amazing, I'll never forget them and we'll be making them as a family for years to come! What they are: hot dog, wrapped in long strips of peppered bacon and pinned at the ends of the hot dogs. They are then grilled. He also cooked up some caramelized onions, peppers, and other goodies from his garden that tasted pretty good!

A few other cool things happened this week. A young man named Ramiro stopped us in an apartment complex parking lot while he was on his way to work and he was crying very hard. He said that his girlfriend is serious about leaving him and he doesn't know what he's going to do. They also have a daughter together. A few days later we stopped by and he was home alone in an apartment that was a mess. We talked to him for awhile and gave him what advice we could but then we came to the conclusion that what she would love the most is if she came home to a spotless clean house. We frantically began cleaning. While cleaning he went on to tell us that they have been fighting (literally fighting, like violence, punching, slapping, yelling fighting) for the past three years and it just hasn't gotten any better. I noticed that they had a very nice flat screen high def TV and a PS3 but the TV was shattered! He told us that one day he was so mad that he just slammed the TV and has never regretted something so much. haha. Anyway, we got to cleaning. I got the kitchen and I don't think those dishes had been cleaned in months. They were all over the counter with standing water and chunks of food still inside. Mom, at that moment I realized why you had me do the dishes each and every monday night because it taught me how to hold my stomach and keep from throwing up. haha! jk I couldn't stop thinking about that though and I have the feeling that I wouldn't have known how to properly do dishes if it wasn't for you harping on me all the time! Thanks so much I appreciate all you did/do! So I got done with the oodles and oodles of dishes and cleaned and organized the rest of the kitchen. It all looked great. Elder Cichy cleaned up the little girl's room and then we moved into Ramiro's room.... HECK NO! He said he was going to finish that cause it was atrocious. We helped him make the bed though. We knew she would probably love that. On the way out I told him that if she asks who cleaned the house, to tell him that we had nothing to do with it and he did it all himself. We were never there. We're going back over sometime this week to check up and see how things went.

A man from the bishopric in Sedona named Ellis Hyde talked to us while we were at Chris Baird's house on Wednesday (he's Chris Baird's step father-in-law) and he told us a cool story. He said he was on a church tour many years ago in Jerusalem and Legrand Richards was on the tour with him. The man guiding the tour wasn't a member of the church but he held a Book of Mormon in his hands for some reason. They were touring outside the wall of Jerusalem and they came to a "cavity in the rock." Remember where that is? Nephi and his brothers hid in a "cavity of a rock" when they were trying to get the plates back from Laban. The man said that there were some artifacts removed from this cavity which are now in a museum in Jerusalem. They were dated back to around 600 b.c. The man lifted up the Book of Mormon and said, "you don't understand what you have here!" Ellis asked Legrand Richards why that man wasn't a member if he had such a testimony of the Book of Mormon. Brother Richards said that he would lose his job if he joined the church and that he would be a better missionary if he weren't a member and that he'll receive his reward in the life to come.

Do all of us understand, "...What we have here?" Meaning the Book of Mormon? It's amazing to me to think that dozens of years have passed with scholars of MEN trying to disprove the Book of Mormon, but NONE have come up successful. It's true. And because it is true, this Church is true. Joseph Smith was a true prophet. He saw what he said he saw. This book truly changes peoples lives if they will just put it to the test and let its power work through them. It is at the foundation of my testimony and that is where it will stay.

Hope all is going well! I love you all so much and can't wait to hear from you again!

Love,

Elder Mouritsen

June 28, 2010: Perspective on a Mission Call

June 28, 2010. This is an awesome story Sister Beck read to us. You can use it in anything: FHE, Home Teaching, Visiting Teaching, talks, etc. It’s kind of the focus I’ve taken for my mission. I think we can apply it to all of our lives. Elder Mouritsen.

Author: Lynne Anne Rutter

The following event took place in a ward in Salt Lake City in 1974. It occurred during Sacrament meeting, and was told to me by a Regional Representative of the Twelve, who was in the meeting.

A young man, just before leaving on his mission, stood in Sacrament meeting and bore, in essence, the following testimony:

Brothers and Sisters, as you know, during the past few weeks I have been awaiting my mission call. During the time I was waiting I had a dream. I knew it was not an ordinary dream. I dreamed I was in the pre-existence and was awaiting my call to come to earth. I was filled with the same excitement and anticipation that I had before I received my mission call. In my dream, I was talking to a friend. He was a very dear friend and I felt a special closeness to him, even though I’ve never met him in this life.

As we talked, a messenger came and gave me a letter. I knew it was my call to go to earth. In great excitement, my friend and I opened the letter. I gave it to him and asked him to read it aloud. The letter said:
You have been called to earth in a special time, and to a special land. You will be born into the true Church, and you will have the priesthood of God in your home. You will be raised with many advantages and many blessings. You will be born in a land of plenty, a land of freedom. You will go to earth in the United States of America.

My friend and I rejoiced as we read my call. And while we rejoiced, the messenger returned. This time he had a letter for my friend. We knew it was his call to earth. My friend gave me the letter to read aloud. The letter said:

You have been called to go to earth in circumstances of poverty and strife. You will not be raised in the true Church. Many hardships will attend your life. Your land will be fraught with political and social difficulties which will hinder the work of the Lord. You will be born in Costa Rica.

We wept, my friend and I, as we read his call. And my friend looked at me with tears in his eyes and said, “when we are down on earth, you in your choice land and me in Costa Rica, my friend, come and find me.”

Then this young missionary, with tears in his own eyes, said, “Brothers and Sisters, I have received my mission call. I am going to Costa Rica.”

There is a sequel to this story. About a year after this Sacrament meeting, the Bishop of this ward received a letter from the missionary. The letter had one sheet of paper in it, and on that sheet, written in inch-high letters were four words:

“I FOUND MY FRIEND”

July 6 - 12, 2010: A 9-year old's first prayer

This week has been swell. It's so crazy how the days just flow together and it feels like you just barely taught lessons earlier that day, when it was several days ago. Truly, days are like weeks, and weeks are like days.

Some fun experiences happened this week: On Friday we were riding down 35th Ave and got to the Thunderbird intersection and passed two guys and a girl sitting on the curb on the edge of the sidewalk and road. One guy, (big tall black guy) seemed to be quite frustrated with the girl who was sitting down and he was standing up talking into her ear. The other guy was just standing up not really paying any attention to them. As we rode past, we asked if everyrthing was alright and the guy said, "yeah everything is fine." So we kept going. As we got up to the intersection where we stopped to cross the street, we looked back and the man had grabbed the girl, put her in a tight bear hug, and was yanking her around. She was repeatedly trying to push herself away by taking shots to his head with her fists. We saw this and turned around to go back to investigate. Nobody should treat a girl like that... We got up to them and again asked, "is everything alright." And you could tell the girl was quite frantic as her language soon disclosed to us. She was using words that shouldn't be used at all as verbs, adjectives, nouns, pronouns: You Name It!! Finally he let her go and we were already kinda nervous to be there and the guy let us know that he wasn't afraid of us and they were trying to each explain their sides of the story. It was quite funny. He was calling her unspeakable names and then he would say, "she ma baby's mamma!" "THEN WHY ARE YOU TALKING TO HER LIKE THAT?!?" We stuck around while they worked it out for about 45 min to an hour. The other guy who was with them was a short little 19 year old boxer named Oscar (like 5'2" 170 lbs) and didn't want to do anything to get in on the action. We started talking to him and told him he needed to get in on it, even if it wasn't the "cool" thing to do, it's still the right thing. He was way cool and was like, "yeah man you are right." We started talking about missionary work all of a sudden. He said he was from Oakland, that there is a lot of hope there but the place is just so messed up. He was really interested in our message and said he even wanted to come out to church on sunday. Meanwhile, he pulled out a roll of mary jane and lit up. haha He even told us that he needs to stop smoking cause it hurts his ability to box. It's too bad that he lives out of our area though, otherwise he'd be baptized for sure!! As we got done talking to Oscar, the other two had finally worked out their issues and the big guy (Jordan) came up to us and said, "Thanks guys you just doin' what a good man shoulda done in da' first place." And they went on their way. Oddly, we saw that guy two more times the next day and he was really nice to us and we chatted for quite awhile.

The next day, Tom and his 9 year old son Tom Jr., and their friends Caesar and Tyler, met us at the church for a church tour and lesson on the Restoration. Caesar is catholic, Tom is just kinda crazy, Tom Jr. has an atheist mother so he doesn't quite know if he believes in God and he's nervous to read fromt he Book of Mormon, but Tyler (long haired, spiked ear rings, 17 year old) seemed very interested. Well they all did but him in particular. We got done with the tour and sat down in the chapel to go over the lesson. It's so funny how reverent and respectful people are when in the chapel of a church. Tom's phone went off and he was about to cry because I think he thought he was going to be struck by lightening or something. It's kind of ironic because his ringtone is S.O.S in morse code. (Save Our Souls... get it? haha I just thought about that.) Anyways... we got going on the lesson and it was going really well, God is our loving Heavenly Father... The Gospel blesses families, God reveals his secret to His prophets in every dispensation, the Savior's earthly ministry and Atonement, the great apostasy, and then... The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was my turn to teach the principle (we alternate every other) and as I began talking about Joseph Smith I was reminded of a time up in the Uintahs when we were having a devotional and you (dad) got emotional when talking about Joseph Smith and especially about the first vision. I just about broke down but the composure was held. haha The spirit was unmistakeable though. We are asked to memorize the first vision and as I began to recite it, I could tell from the looks on their faces and their countenance that "something" was telling them that what they were being taught was true. It was so cute to see big Tom with his arm around Tom Jr. and really wanting him to listen and learn about what we had to say. After the lesson, they told us that they were going camping later that night into Sunday so they wouldn't be able to be at church the next day BUT... Tyler was like, "while we're out there, I'm going to go get my own mountain, and do what Joseph Smith did and ask to see if this is true." I couldn't get the smile off my face when I heard that, and then as Tom said they would read as they sat around the campfire. Caesar is the only one who was a little bit skeptical but I think when the others are doing so, he'll come along. As it came time for a closing prayer, we asked Tom Jr. if he would like to pray. He said he had never prayed before and that he didn't know how. We let him know that we would help him through it. He began the most sincere, pure, and inspirational prayer I'd heard in a long time. You could tell he was very nervous and we said: "say thanks for something...." "thanks for these missionaries, thanks for my dad and also my friends..." about a 25-30 second pause then occured which seems like an eternity while sitting in silence in a chapel... "ask for help with something.." "please help me to know what these missionaries have taught is true." another 25-30 second pause. "in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen." We all said Amen and he looked up and he said that he was extremely nervous and didn't know what it was going to be like but it was so amazing to me to see a little 9 year old boy pray for the first time when he dosen't even know if there is a God, while his proud father sits there with his arm around him just forcing back the tears. It was a very spiritual experience and has helped me to make my prayers better. Tom still can't deny that the Book of Mormon has brought those four...three in particular (Tom, Tom Jr., and Tyler) closer together than they have ever been before. They may be closer along than we think. Tom still has a major drinking problem but nothing the spirit can't help to fix.

Last night we sang in Stake Priesthood meeting as a district. The song was a Joseph Smith medley which I've talked about before but the verses are as follows: 1st and 3rd verses to Joseph Smith's first prayer, 1st and 6th verses to A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief, 4th verse of Praise to the Man (without the chorus) which goes right into... "Great is his glory and endless his priesthood." 3rd verse? and then finishes with a quiet... "Ohhhhhhh. How lovely was the morning." Very powerful...

Well my time is almost up! It's so good to hear from you guys and it sounds like the staycation was awesome! Lunch with Justin was great and he said they added a slide onto the house boat. I bet Cameron's farewell was awesome, what did he speak on? I can't believe his time is already here... He's going to be amazing.

I love you all. Thanks for everything and your prayers are felt daily.

Love,

Elder Mouritsen

June 29 - July 5, 2010: A New Zone Record for Baptisms

Hey family!

That is crazy to think about that Aunt Leah's house is no longer in the family. What a change! I bet that they just adore the iPad though. Dingle continues to become more and more of a theme park! Now internet access?! Geez... Tell the family I feel their prayers and I'm so grateful for all they do. I continue to pray for them as well. I know that the Lord works in mysterious ways but whatever that way may be, "come what may and love it." I can't believe it was the 4th of July yesterday! Happy Independence Day! I thought the whole day I would be thinking about what we've done as a family for previous 4th of Julys but it wasn't that way at all! Don't take offense to that because like you said before as soon as Satan gets you unfocused on something that you should be focused on, he wins. It's the whole good, better, best concept and like you said he can even take something good and remove your focus from something "best."

This week hasn't been the most interesting but still the work moves forward. We had interviews with President Beck who is normally a very low key, straight to the point, down to earth, strict kind of guy but when I walked in for my interview he was like all jolly and happy! Just screamin' and hollerin' and asking how I'm doing and how the work is! It was great! I think it was because our zone just baptized a new all time record in a month! The previous record was 24 and had been held for 34 months and we baptized 26! He was so happy and even sent out letters in the mail to each missionary telling them how happy he is and what not. We had a goal of baptizing 4 more in the month of July but it could only end up being one now because one guy (Chris Baird) set his date for the second week in August because the guy he wants to baptize him is going out of town for like two weeks in July. He's amazing though and will be baptized. The other day he called us and I answered. He said, "Mouritsen have you guys been praying for me?!" "Of course Chris! What's up!?" "I'm smoking my last cigarette as we speak and I can tell that you guys have cause I've felt them! I've gone five days without a smoke and now I'm having my last one so that I will be done for good! Have a good day now! Love you guys!" And that was it. We were so thrilled and I hope you will have the chance to meet him someday because he is awesome.

Tuesday night a girl named Charlotte Hurley came over to our Ward Mission Leader's (WML) house and we had a lesson with her. We were on splits that night so Cichy was off at someone else's house and I was with Charlotte. She has been investigating the church since she was 13 years old and was about to be baptized but as soon as she wanted to, her dad said no way. She is amazing, and I think she knows more about the gospel than me. Her dad's girlfriend bought her a Quad (scriptures) and she marks them up and reads them all the time. We watched the restoration DVD and the WML, his wife, and Charlotte all bore their testimonies on how the Book of Mormon is true. After the movie I gave a short ten minute lesson on the restoration. Then I bore my testimony about the Book of Mormon and how it is the foundation of my testimony. I shared the experience that I shared at my farewell and of course got emotional. She said she felt the spirit extremely strong that night and that now we are going to make it a habit of having lessons over there every Tuesday. Sunday came along and it was fast and testimony meeting. She got up and bore a powerful testimony and she's not even a member! In the other ward during testimony meeting, Brother Reid got up to bear his testimony. Now, Brother Reid had a stroke about a year ago and he's in a wheel chair and lost the ability to speak but his mind is 100% there. He speaks through a box that has a keyboard on it and he types out what he wants to say and then a computer animated voice sounds it out. He wheeled up to the side of the chapel and since he couldn't get up to the pulpit he just stayed over near the sacrament table. He pushed play on the box and said something to the effect of, "What a special day. I am so blessed to have the freedoms I do. I know the church is true. I'm grateful for the sacrifices people made in this country's behalf. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen." As he ended, he began to cry very hard. It was more moans and groans and sobs but as he wheeled away down the aisle of the chapel everybody was extremely touched by it. He's probably in his 70's. It's amazing how far people will go to bear their testimony. I know there is nothing more powerful than Pure Testimony and that if you EVER get the chance to share what you know to be true to not be bashful. Just read the 6th verse of A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief. I love that verse so much... he asked if I for him would die. ..... He asked if I for him would bear testimony to his children.... "I WILL!!!"

Well time is short. I'll write some letters if I get the time but it's crazy how insane p-days can be. One thing I've learned this week is just how important effective studies of the gospel are. In preach my gospel we learn that if Joseph Smith would not have performed an effective study of the gospel, the gospel may not have been restored at that time and many generations would have been lost without it. It makes me realize just how important effective studies are in my life and just how much it could affect the future generations of my own family.

Love you all so much.

Elder Mouritsen

I tell myself to "suck it up, we all have problems" all the time I love it!