October 26 - November 1, 2010: A Sense of Urgency & 140 Contacts/Week

Whats up?!

Holy cow when did you girls get so dang cute? I don't know how to say this but when other missionaries see pictures like those they ask how old you guys are. Then they ask if anybody is writing you. I tell them that you guys are 10, 13, and two 15.5's. (I would think that that would make them not ask if anybody is writing you) But they come right back with the, "soo... is anybody writing them?" HAHAHA don't be surprised if you get a letter or two in the near future. I would love hard copies of those pictures though! One question, what the crap is L-Mo's pumpkin? The only thing I can get is a scary lookin' cyclops? or... A great white shark? Yup. That's all.

I would love for you to send me the letters you write as a hard copy as well! I only get barely even once chance to read them and there is so much good stuff in there I would love to read them again. I don't "need" packages though but if you feel so inclined they are always so appreciated! Elder Nelson has already gotten like 8 of them, hahaha it's hilarious! He averages about two letters a day too but he'll notice how that dwindles down to maybe one or two a week after about three months.

This last week was utterly insane. I haven't been so busy in a long time! Monday, was P-Day and we just wrote letters. So that was nice. The Zone Leaders and I talked and we committed everyone to get the goal of 140 contacts and 5 new investigators this week and some of them weren't too thrilled with that. Tuesday I was on exchanges with a missionary named Elder Johnson in his area. He and his companion's numbers have been quite low recently and I was going to see if I could spark anything to get them pumped. It's been really hard for companionships to get the goal of 140 contacts a week, especially for these guys. Last week they got a TOTAL of 21. When I got over to their house on Monday night we started planning for the following day. He told me what he had planned and it consisted of morning scheduling, street contacting/tracting, lunch, street contacting/tracting, dinner, street contacting/tracting and then splits. Geez! I thought that with all that street contacting there is no way they shouldn't get the goal. I told him we would be setting a goal and we weren't going to go in for lunch until we had gotten 20 contacts. His response was, "well then we probably won't be having lunch." Lunch was scheduled for 1:00 and we were done with morning schedule at 10. One thing led to another, and we had 20 contacts before noon. After lunch we continued to street contact and ended up finishing the day with 43. I made him commit to me that they would get 140 in the week. He now knew that it was possible and didn't ask any further questions. I also told him and his companion that they had to call in nightly to me and tell me how many contacts they got during the day. Later that night after we had switched back they had to visit the zone leaders and I guess both Elder Johnson and his companion Elder Schafer were just stoked about missionary work! They couldn't wait to get the goal and watch their numbers rise. It felt good to hear that.

Wednesday was a leadership meeting from 10:00 to 3:00 for all the district leaders, zone leaders, and assistants. This meant that poor Elder Nelson had to cover our area with another new missionary. It was so fun to pile in the Zone Leaders’ truck with all the other district leaders in the zone. Our relationships are so strong and we laugh and have a lot of fun together. We also get down to business and help each other out with how we can handle our districts. My district is the biggest but doesn't have any sister missionaries and I guess all the others do (there's three other DL's). There has been a lot of drama dealing with them which is really funny to hear them vent about. Anyway, the meeting went well and when I returned I found out that Elder Nelson had gotten like 38 contacts! He's a stud!

Thursday was another leadership meeting from 10:00 to 4:00 for all leadership and trainers. It was cool to see Cichy there. Once again it was very busy. Elder Nelson was with his third companion of the week. (Monday-Me, Tuesday-Elder Schafer, Wednesday-Elder Nelson (different Nelson) Thursday-Elder Buttars). He helped out Elder Buttars in his area and got them back on track to get the 140 contacts.

Friday I was on exchanges again with a guy named Elder Gibson. This exchange was totally different than the first. The entire day was filled with appointments and we barely had enough time to contact at all. They did well but this was just another day where Elder Nelson was on his own in our area. And he also had his fifth companion of the week, Elder Choules. I felt bad about being gone so much and I know he doesn't like it but the week still showed to be a good week with numbers. It's good to be with an awesome companion who loves to work.

Sunday was the day to get everybody's numbers. I was nervous to hear if there were any companionships that didn't get the goal we had set at the beginning of the week. Elder Schafer and Johnson had told me the night before that they needed to get 33 contacts on Sunday to achieve 140. It was a major relief to get the call that said they had done so. Ahh man it felt sooo good! The other companionships called in, Elder Buttars and Sentman-147 contacts, Elder Gibson and Choules-143, Elder Mouritsen and Nelson-143, and Elder Johnson and Schafer-140. The funny thing is the zone leaders Elder Kennington and Johnson...108! HAHA! They felt pretty dumb. Later that night I got a call from Elder Kennington. He said, "Elder Mouritsen, you inspire me. We've been praying to know who to have speak in our zone meeting on Tuesday and you are the answer. Your topic will be 'A Sense of Urgency.'" I'm grateful for the opportunity but did they know they told me a day and half before the conference and the next day was P-Day? I literally have no time to prepare haha, so last night I prayed fervently that my mind would be opened and thoughts and impressions would come to me concerning what I should say. I came to the conclusion that if you have a goal to sleep at night, don't pray for this, because I was wide awake for the next hour with a flush of thoughts and impressions pertaining to my topic. I got up to write them down several times so that I wouldn't forget them in the morning.

Some of my thoughts were flashbacks to when I spoke in Stake Conference. The quote by Vince Lombardi, "I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is the moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause, and lies exhausted on the field of battle, -- VICTORIOUS." A story came to mind from a man in one of the ward's here. He is from Sierra Leone, West Africa. He barely survived the brutal civil wars by running on foot to Liberia where he was able to be protected in a refugee camp. The rest of his family was not so lucky and were killed as they tried to do the same thing. It was a miracle as he was able to be sponsored by a group in the U.S.A. and be sent here with his wife. While in the refugee camp he met two missionaries. He said that they are the most influential people in his entire conversion and life. He said that if he had all the wealth in the world, he would give all he could to the cause of missionary work. I think he recognizes the Sense of Urgency that is required to bring this great cause to all the world. I thought about the Sons of Mosiah, who pleaded with their father to let them go preach to the Lamanites because "they could not bear that any human soul should perish...even the very thought that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble." It's true though, the Lord has told us that he is going to harvest His vineyard one last time and that time is now. There needs to be a great sense of urgency. Check out the talk by President Monson, The Rescue. I guess his Biography is titled with the same name as well. I think he knows how urgent we need to be.

Regarding the Holy Ghost, I can think of one talk from conference which was by Elder Bednar. He talked about how important it is to always be worthy of the Holy Ghost. I often remind myself to "never question [my] worthiness" because as it says in the Doctrine and Covenants, "if ye have not the spirit, ye shall not teach."

I better get on with it though. "If ye are prepared ye shall not fear" and I need to prepare for the talk tomorrow. President Beck is going to be there. SCARY! I love you all so much! Don't forget to send pictures! Maybe even some good hunting pictures, surprisingly there are a lot of hunters down here who want to see some. :)

Love you.

Elder Colton Matthew Mouritsen

October 19-25, 2010: "Seeing the life of someone change"

Hey there!

What a phenomenal letter. Your words are always so inspirational and motivate me to be a better instrument. Yes about my bike, a member of the church had lent us one of theirs that we have used whenever one of our bikes has had a flat and that has been what I've used this past week. I called and talked to the guy at CTR bikes and he said he would send me a replacement bike.

This week seems like it has been filled with meetings and conferences. Tuesday we had a Zone Conference from 10:00-3:00. Wednesday I had district leader training from 10:00-11:30. Thursday was weekly planning from 10:00-12:00 and then District Meeting was from 1:00-2:30. Despite having a good chunk of our time overtaken with meetings, we were still able to get some good work done. Zone Conference was focused on Receiving Revelation Through Prayer which I will expound on later. At district meeting I decided to focus on the importance of members in missionary work and receiving referrals from them. President Monson said that, "There is … no substitute for a member-oriented proselyting program. Tracting will not substitute for it. Golden questions will not substitute for it. A member-oriented program is the key to success, and it works wherever we try it.” The average in this mission is around 1 in every 39 investigators found by missionaries street contacting or tracting gets baptized, and 1 in every 2.6 member referred. Obviously, a member referral has an immediate support group, someone there to answer their questions when the missionaries aren't present. Whenever we ask people if they have anybody that we can teach the answer is almost always, "no I can't think of anyone at this time." People are generally very nervous to talk to their peers about the gospel. So, as missionaries asking for referrals we now take this route: Has anybody asked you a question tha has to do with the church within the past few months? It makes them think harder and very often they have been asked a question. We then ask, What was the question? What was your response? How did they respond to your response? Why do you think that question was asked by them (why is it important to them)? How are you going to follow-up with this person? How can we as the missionaries help you to follow-up with them? People are able to zero in on times when they have talked to people about the gospel without even knowing it and it helps to receive more referrals.

I will say that the most fulfilling feeling I've felt in my life up to this point is the feeling of being a part of the change in someone's life for the better. We had two lessons on Friday night that were superb. First was with Howard Emery. He's the 82 year old guy who has been taking the lessons and hopes to be baptized before the end of the year. He just doesn't like being pressured and will tell everyone on his own time when he wants to be baptized. He is severely dislexic and nearly illiterate because of it. He lives with his niece and her husband who are members of the church and they bought him the childrens versions of the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the old and new testaments. He is floored by how much he has been able to read in the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants. He says that he has never before been able to read so much and one night he read for like 13 hours straight because he is so happy. He is able to comprehend what he reads as well which he and the family considers a miracle. At the lesson we asked him questions about Joseph Smith, Nephi and others and he was able to describe to us what happened. There is nothing better than to see his face beam from ear to ear as he recalls what he reads. He also describes the feeling of the spirit as a warm sensation he doesn't want to go without. I can't wait to get a picture with him in white, you are going to think we are teaching Dick Van Dyke because he looks so much like him! After teaching Howard, we had a lesson with Chris Jordan. Chris is a man who NEVER would have been caught dead with a Book of Mormon, in a Mormon church, and especially with a desire to be baptized. He grew up Protestant and has a Catholic background and was severely anti-mormon during those days. He married a member of the church who is Less Active but one day she came and Chris was brought along with her. When we went up to meet him he was sitting at the back of the chapel with his arms folded, a massive frown, and looking as if he would rather be in prison than an LDS church. Well his ENTIRE countenance has changed in just a few weeks. He read a few chapters we gave him from the Book of Mormon and says he nearly had a "baseball bat to the head experience." Meaning, an immediate conviction that he needed to join the church. Since the first time we met, he has begun to take things on faith, to pray, and yesterday was the first time that he actually came to church by himself. The mean, old grump, who doesn't want anything to do with the missionaries, has become a smile from ear to ear, happy, best friend that everybody loves. He has a drinking and smoking problem and hopes to quit by the middle of December and he has already reduced his intake by half. He is the one I'm talking about when I say there is no better feeling than seeing the life of someone change because of the introduction of the restored gospel into their life. Howard as well.

So Zone Conference was focused on Receiving Revelation Through Prayer. I know that prayers are answered. People cannot and will not gain a testimony of what we teach untill they exercise their faith by praying and receiving the "evidence of things not seen" as I talked about last week. As a missionary it's so funny to see even the littlest prayers be answered. Last Monday we went to develop pictures and I had both of my SD cards, one in the camera and the other in my pocket in the case. Well I had no idea where the one in my pocket went and I couldn't remember if it was back home on the shelf or what! I didn't think much of it cause I thought it would just turn up sometime. Despite that, I prayed that I would find it so that I would have the peace of mind. Well the next day, I got a call from the lady in the ward who takes us to the chiropractor. She said that they had found my SD card in the creases of the chair where the chiropractor aligns your back. It had fallen out of my pocket while laying down on it! Haha and for some reason they were looking down in the crease and found it sitting there. Prayer answered. There have been many other times that are just small, simple things like that but it is just a testimony to me to know that Heavenly Father even cares about the small things in our lives. Even things that are non-important in the eternal perspective of things. If it's important to us, it's important to Him.

I read an awesome passage of scripture recently. It's the Abinadi and King Noah showdown consisting of Mosiah 11-20. What stuck out to me was pretty funny! After Abinadi had given his whole sermon, Alma baptized hundreds at the Waters of Mormon, there was a lot of turmoil going on back with King Noah and his people. Not many people were happy with him and a man by the name of Gideon went to kill King Noah and he ran to the top of the tower which was near the temple (the same tower King Benjamin spoke from I assume). Gideon persued the cowardly king and was about to kill him and then King Noah pleaded with him that he wouldn't because as he looked out over the land from the top of the tower he could see the Lamanites coming to take over the city. Gideon didn't kill him and the King ran down and started telling all the people to flee for their lives. Coward. He then noticed that the Lamanites were about to catch them, so King Noah commanded that all the men should leave their wives and children so they can run faster. SERIOUSLY? Coward. That made me laugh... Some men left their wives and daughters, but some stayed back with them. The ones who stayed back said that all the cutest daughters should go before the Lamanites and woo them into not killing them. It worked but I thought it was so funny, the opposite correlation between Abinadi and these people, especially King Noah. They definitely feared death and would have done anything, probably including denying their testimonies if they had one. Abinadi would "not recall the words which [he had] spoken unto...this people, for they are true." And he was killed for it but did not fear death. That is one thing I've noticed from teaching the Plan of Salvation, there is no need to fear as long as we are doing the things we have been asked to do and promised to do. President Boyd K. Packer recently said that from all his years as an apostle, he has witnessed every single emotion whether it was from himself or the other apostles. All, except for one. That one emotion is fear. We really have no need to fear when we have that peace of mind that we are doing the right things. I've noticed in my own life that you can truly tell when the spirit is with you always and that is how you can know that you need not fear. If you are worthy of the spirit, then you are probably doing the right things. :) I hope that I can keep myself in such a way so that I never have to question my worthiness of the spirit.

Anyways, I hope all is well back in K-Town! This email is super long I think and probably tough to understand because I'm typing like a mad man. Say hi to the ward for me and especially all the extended family! Let me know what everyone does for Halloween!

Love you eternally.

Love,

Elder Colton Matthew Mouritsen

October 12-18, 2010: "Faith is really an action word"

Well hey!

Awesome letter. That is so crazy Talor is getting married... Kyler sent me an email and this is all it said: "Talor?????? did you hear about our cuz???????????" hahaha That was back when I had no idea! That's really cool though. I bet he's a great guy. Yes, I did receive the letter this week along with the pictures. Thank you! I needed some new pics to put on scripture cases and what not. Now whenever I'm teaching about families or something I have a picture to show so that people don't think I'm just making stuff up about how amazing my family is. Often times when street contacting I use the tactic of...'despite the fact that I am hundreds of miles away from my family, I've really never felt the immense amount of love that I have for them as I've made the Book of Mormon and the gospel of Jesus Christ the central focus of my life.' (that sounds bad because that should be the central focus of our lives at ALL times but still you get the point.) For some reason that ends up hitting home with a lot of people and they agree to hear about our message or to read from the Book of Mormon.

Man! The day long yellowstone trip! If I could think of a heaven on earth and it wasn't Phoenix, AZ (as a missionary...) I would have to say that you saw it on that awesome drive! Dang! Sounds like you saw some good animals too. Surprisingly there are a lot of hunters down here and sometimes it gets tough to hear about their stories but I read Jeremiah 16:16 (Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks) and find that I am also a hunter and fisher at the moment as well. :) Kinda helps and relieves the salt to the wound. Haha jk. Gimme a few months and we'll be back in Hell Hole and/or Aghetter Hollow creating eternal memories.

So this week has been awesome! The first week was the pits, and this week has been uplifting. I know that if we don't experience the sorrows, we won't appriciate the good times either. Elder Nelson is awesome and has been growing and increasing in confidence very quickly. It's been weird though, this week we've had more people want to bash us and debate than I've ever had in my entire mission! I think it's been because I've needed to learn how to handle those sorts of situations. At first, I would get pretty contentious and mouth off scriptures and ask them why they believe certain things if the Bible says that it's supposed to be a certain way and the conversation would get pretty heated. That's NOT how it should be done haha. And slowly but surely after each person that wanted to "chat" I learned that's how it shouldn't be done. Now, after the discussion with a guy last night, I just smile at them, agree with everything they say, just respond with a quick "yup" or "sure" and they end up getting very angry. Hahaha Then, because they have studied so much about our religion, they try to tell us what we believe. That's when I come in with scriptural references to all their material regarding what they THINK we believe. Last night this guy was goin crazy! Just furious about how we believe that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are two separate beings. Man, Elder Nelson and I came out feeling good because we didn't retaliate at all except for bearing testimony and sharing references from his Bible. haha that's the best... As fun as it is though, it never really gets anywhere.

District meetings are getting fun! I often feel like the elders don't need to listen to me though because they've been out so much longer. So I do my best to just be good friends with them and then it ends up working itself out. There's a member of the district who used to be an office elder named Elder Sentman. Oh, he's 27 years old HAHA. He's awesome though and we get along really well. I have to go on exchanges with each elder in the district every transfer and last week I was with Elder Schafer in his area so Elder Nelson had to plan out the entire day in our area and take it over for a day! He did awesome! I wish I didn't have to leave our area to go on exchanges so much because of all the good stuff that's going on. A few weeks ago we tracted into a lady named Trish and she invited us back the next day. We went over and as we sat down with her she looked at us and said, "you know, there is something I forgot to tell you. About 25 years ago when I lived in Oregon I got divorced from my first husband and then two missionaries knocked on my door. I ended up getting baptized." Of course we were kinda disappointed (haha) because she seemed so solid but as we talked she said she wanted to get reactivated in the church. She said she lives with her husband who's not a member but he would NEVER be interested in coming to our church at all. Well we went over on Tuesday of last week and had a good chat with them. Terry, her husband, sat down and talked with us and we discussed the restoration, Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon and several other questions. He was really nice and towards the end of the lesson I asked them if we could help them clean up their house. They tried to blow it off but I insisted and finally they gave in. We ended up throwing away HUNDREDS, literally hundreds, of unpaid bills that were piled on their coffee table. It took about thirty minutes and then I moved over to the fireplace and mantle. There was literally a 1/2 inch to 3/4 of an inch of dust coating all their picture frames, mantle, fireplace, and everything that was placed on it. I grabbed a nearby vacuum and started sucking up all the dust. The whole place came a live with color! Seriously there were things that I thought were grey that after I vacuumed them, they turned out to be fire engine red. We cleaned up the room real good and then Trish looked at us and asked if we wanted dinner. Of course we were starving and she made us some tacos. So the visit with Terry, who we were told would never want to meet with us ever, ended up with him wanting to come to church and then also to come to the temple to watch the Joseph Smith movie. It was awesome and service can go a long way if you let it!

Another thing I've noticed is that soon after people meet with us, a whole rush of anti material all of a sudden becomes present in their lives. I know it's not coincidence. So now in lessons we have to talk about that. We tell them that "over these next couple days before we meet with you again, you are going to have a lot of random things show up that are against the church! You will have a lot of questions but just know to come to us to have those questions answered." It almost always happens like that. A girl named Gracie goes to school with a member of the church and stopped us one day in a parking lot and said she wanted to meet with us. We scheduled an appointment and over the next few days before the appointment she heard just about everything a person can say that is negative about the church. She asked us about the answers though and she was perfectly fine with what we said! We invited her to be baptized and her response was, "well of course I would! Why wouldn't I?!" Haha She is awesome and definitely the elect.

This week I studied a bit about faith and how "faith without works is dead" (James 2:17). I wanted to find a reference in the Bible that talked about what faith is and also what those "works" are that the book of James states. In Hebrews 11:1 it says, "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." To me, that's powerful..."the evidence of things not seen." A lot of people we come in to contact with think that all we have to do is BELIEVE in Christ and we will be saved. I just don't think it's that easy. I've noticed that for me the only way that I'm able to feel of the spirit and keep the spirit with me is when I do the "works" part in exercising faith. Faith is really an action word. I believe the works we must do involve consistent, sincere prayer, scripture STUDY, church attendance, obedience to the commandments, repentance (because we all mess up, and I have to repent daily out here haha nobody's perfect and repentance is such a blessing we have been given), the ordinances that Christ has told us we need to return to live with Him and the Father, etc. I found another scripture in Hebrews 11 that states, "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." I love how it says without faith it is impossible to please Him - without faith, without action, without work. With this new responsibilty as a trainer and district leader it's been awesome to see the help from Heavenly Father as I've prayed and asked as well as doing needed "works" to fulfill what He would have me do. I know, without a doubt, that by faith miracles are wrought (Ether 12:16, Moroni 7:37)

I hope all is going well for you! Make a cardboard cut out of me and Elder Figgins or something so that we can still be in the pictures at Talor's wedding! I love you all so much and if you ever feel so inclined to send pictures again, please don't be bashful. Haha I love them!

Love you all so much.

Love,

Elder Colton Mouritsen

October 4 - 11, 2010: "An immense amount of responsibility"

Well hello there family!

This week has been forever long! Monday: transfer news. Tuesday: transfers. Cichy got transfered out to Lavine to open up a brand new area and he is training while doing so. My new companion is from Idaho Falls and he is also fresh from the MTC. His name is Elder Nelson and he's a stud. I don't know if you got a letter from President Beck? I got a letter saying that I was going to be a trainer and DL and it said that it was being forwarded to you so I was just wondering if you got it. It is so crazy to go from relying wholly on my Elder Cichy to an immense amount of responsibility! I love it though and I can't wait to get the hang of things. Our district gained another set of missionaries as well. Remember Elder Choules? He and a guy named Elder Gibson took over one of the wards in the district so that now there are five total companionships. Elder Otto (DL) and Elder Wesche (ZL) both went home so there is now a new Zone Leader in our district as well. His name is Elder Johnson from Edmonton, Alberta. They are some awesome guys and I hope and pray that this transfer is going to be a good one!

Photo taken of Colton and other elders moving their gear on transfer day.

I don't know if you watched anything about the weather that we had down here but on Tuesday before, during, and after transfers there was a MASSIVE rain and hail storm. Many cars, homes, churches and other buildings were damaged from inch and a half sized hail. Me and Cichy got stuck out on foot and took cover under a covered parking lot in an apartment complex and luckily were able to get a ride home. The roads were literally filled with water and then as the hail came down it looked like people were throwing baseballs into the road because the splashes were so huge. We got a ride to transfers at about 1:25 cause we had to be there by 1:45 and it was cut close because of the storm. We didn't get out of there till about 6 and our ride was stuck in all the traffic again so we didn't get home till about 6:45. We pulled Elder Nelson's suit cases inside, grabbed our bags, and went out and started working. It is so weird to be on the opposite side of the spectrum! SERIOUSLY! It just boggles my mind because I feel that I will always be a greenie (someone fresh from the MTC). We went and visited Tom and his son Tom Junior. I wanted Elder Nelson to meet him. On the way we talked to several people at bus stops and it is so funny to see the look on a new missionary's face as we approach and talk to the very first person on their mission! haha I remember when I was in that exact situation. We got to Tom's and sat down in his apartment. The rain had stopped but the roads were still backed up because a lot of the sewer holes had filled and popped open and were flooding the streets. As we were sitting in Tom's apartment all of a sudden his roof began to leak and water was flushing out of his light fixture in the ceiling. His idea was to climb up on top of the apartment complex and see what was going on. So we did... As we got up there, there was an incredible lighting storm way off in the distance to the east and we just watched it for awhile. Despite big Tom being a bit drunk he talked about how awesome God's creations are and how small we really are compared to other things such as a lightning storm. Little Tom was terrified to be up so high but he seemed to grab on to my arm as we watched and he thought it was cool, but he wanted nothing to do with standing on top of a three story apartment building :/. As we stood up there, I requested we say a prayer as we were humbled by such a neat experience. Big Tom said the prayer as he held his son in his arms. It was awesome. As we climbed back down to the apartment, we knelt down because Tom Junior now wanted to say a prayer. In his prayer he asked that Heavenly Father would help him overcome his fear of heights. It was so cool to hear him ask for help and show his thanks for other things! Little Tom seems to have grown closer to me in recent visits and he's gotten a lot deeper in his questions. Mind you, he's nine years old and he asked me this: "Remember you saying that you are protected by Heavenly Father as a missionary? And even if people tried to get you, you would be protected? I want that." I told him that he can have that. It comes after he is baptized and receives the gift of the Holy Ghost. He thought that was pretty cool and he was more receptive to baptism than ever before. We ended up committing them to be baptized on October 16th but I have a feeling that it's going to be pushed back a few weeks because Little Tom's mom isn't very happy about it. Also, they need to be interviewed and taught the actual lessons. Big Tom told us that it's not a matter of IF for him, it's a matter of when but he wants to do it with his son. He says that he'll be able to stop drinking whenever he needs to as well... I hope he's right! As we left Little Tom wanted to say another prayer and he prayed that his dad would be able to be helped to stop drinking from Heavenly Father. It was a very cool experience! A good one for Elder Nelson to have on his first night!

It's been hard for me to decide what spiritual topic to talk about that has hit me this week. One could be the need to be happy. Another, the impact of the adversary upon people who are striving to come closer to the truth. I just read a quote by Heber C. Kimball; "The nearer a person approaches the Lord, the greater power will be manifest by the Adversary to prevent the accomplishment of his purpose." A few weeks ago, I told of an experience we had with the powers of the adversary and the power of the priesthood. That same guy (we'll call him John) who was having issues from that experience came to us again telling us that he's been having these negative thoughts pertaining to his past. Nothing of the magnitude of before, but that he just has a hard time removing the memories and problems from his past. He said that his father was a very terrible man, who beat him and his mother. These beatings had been going on for a very long time and one day after being beaten pretty badly, John told his dad that he wanted him to die because of how harsh he was treating him and his mother. The next day, his dad shot himself. Many people blamed the tragedy on John but he knew how bad he had been treated and that he was not the one to pull the trigger. Today, almost 40 years later, these memories of his father have become extremely vivid in his dreams and thoughts and he has no idea why. He says that there is just no way that he would be able to forgive his dad for things that he did. Well, I've never been one to give advice, AT ALL, so I had no idea what to say! I just shared with him that through fervent prayer, scripture study, and the power of the priesthood, these things can be overcome. I told them that sometimes we just have to hear ourselves say the words, "I forgive you." Through this whole conversation he was in tears and told us that he had never told anybody this before. We ended by giving him a priesthood blessing. As we left, the intensity of the meeting had become relieved, and the powers of heaven had been conjured and we let him know that through his faith, that the will of the Lord would be accomplished. I think he felt a little better...

Well, that's about it for this week! I hope all is going well for you back home. I love ya'll so much! Stay righteous and safe!

Love,

Elder Colton Matthew Mouritsen

September 28 - October 3, 2010: General Conference & Cichy Leaves

Hey Mouritsens!

Conference was unbelieveable. Saturday we watched it at Brother Baird's house with Elder Otto and Elder Buttars. I have never looked forward to listening intently and taking notes as much as I did this time. The Priesthood session was great, but yes I had the same feelings that I missed sitting next to you. I wondered what you would be thinking when Elder Nelson asked all the missionaries from around the world to stand up. I hope that you, mom, and the girls would stand up at that comment as well, because of the missionaries you have been in my life, in helping me hold to the rod. For some reason I loved the talk by Elder Patrick Kearon which was about following the commandments with EXACT obedience, with no actions of rebelliousness or laziness. He told the story of wearing flip flops instead of shoes while out camping in the desert. Because of this decision, he was stung by a scorpion. "Disregarding what we know to be right whether through laziness or rebelliousness always brings undesireable and spiritually damaging consequenses." I don't know if it was his English accent or what but I just loved that talk. I also loved Elder Holland's all about gratitude. It seemed so different compared to his normal blunt, penetrating and powerful words. Maybe he was told to tone it down... I don't know. haha

It also seemed like some major topics from conference were agency, the Holy Ghost, and the living prophet. On Saturday, two Elders gave the same 14 points about the prophet. Being missionaries, and being out in the middle of a lot of the world's problems, we tried to guess what the major topics would be because of the things we've seen. Our guesses were: Chastity, Family, and the economy. Those are some of the obvious ones we've seen. But as we listened to conference, we realized just how much more this world needs. There are SO many people that we talk to who believe there is absolutely no need for organized religion. I can't remember who it was cause I don't have my notes with me right now but there was one talk all about the necessity of organized religion. It also seemed like there were a lot of talks which were trying to give people hope to exercise their agency and repent of their sins through the atonement of our Savior. From talking to so many different people, that is a serious issue it seems with most because of all the heartache and guilt they hold on their shoulders. If they only knew the reality of the atonement and the power that it entails.

This week we taught Chris Jordan. He's got an issue with smoking so we proposed a way that we heard previously to dip one of his cigarettes in milk, let it dry, and then have him smoke it. A guy in the ward said that he did it on his mission and it made the smoker extremely sick but he never smoked again. Well, Chris smoked it and it didn't work for him for some reason... Kinda anticlimatic but he set a goal to stop smoking by December. We'll have to come up with another way to get him to quit sooner :).

It's so crazy how much people open up and tell us their whole life's story. On Thursday I started talking to a lady in the line at Wendys and she ended up sitting by us and telling us about her ENTIRE life. We were there for like an hour and a half! That night we were on our way home and we found a lady who was sitting on the curb in a park. We stopped and started talking to her. Her name was Michelle and she told us that she was there because it's where God had sent her. She spends most of her day praying and allowing God to lead her steps. She told us her life story as well. We sat there for an hour and a half just listening to her as she cried and told us that she still can't find the perfect man for her. It was crazy. I don't know what it is about us, maybe the black name tag has super powers or something that makes people open up.

Well we just got transfer news. Cichy is headin' outta here and I'm staying around. Sad, yet it has to happen sometime so it'll be cool to see who the new companion is. Maybe I'll send a quick letter or something letting you know what happens.

Sorry this is such a short and lame email. We have a lot to do today because Elder Otto and Elder Wesche are going home. Wesche is from Farmington so if you want to go to a homecoming from somebody who served in the Arizona Phoeniz Mission it's this Sunday at one o'clock. The address is 1395 S. 200 E.

I love you guys so much. Thanks for all you do!

Love,

Elder Mouritsen

September 21-27, 2010: Flaxen Cords

Dear Family!

This week has just flown by. Bailee is working on her bug collection eh?? Hmmm... Well we've found/killed like 4 cock roaches inside the church building so far and they are the most disturbing lil' creatures I've ever come across. They're huge! It's disgusting. Sounds like fun though!

Saturday night we were out riding around contacting people when we came across a young lady named Jenise who was just sitting by herself on the curb. We went up to her and started talking and she mentioned to us that she had just had a terrible day at work and was extremely stressed. She said that she is a waitress at Marie Calendars and gets constantly harassed by customers and also her manager. She said that she also works with a member of the church who puts up with the same crap as she does, but is always so happy and doesn't get stressed from it. To cope with the stress, Jenise smokes a few cigarettes. So typical for this area. I'd say almost everyone we contact smokes! We sat down next to her and began having a conversation about why she smokes. She told us that she hates smoking, but that while at work when the stress gets so bad all she can think about is a cigarette. She knows how bad it is for her and as we talked she threw the pack of cigarettes in the gutter. Well, being the good missionary that I am, I asked her if I could have them as well as her lighter. :/ She agreed and I placed them in my pocket. Haha. Such a weird feeling. We continued talking about the Book of Mormon and HOW it blesses our lives and she pretty much agreed with everything. It was a sweet conversation and hopefully something good will come out of it!

Today while visiting the Chiropractor, Dr. Cathcart (2nd counselor in the Stake Presidency of the Glendale Stake), told us a sweet story that happened last week while Elder Hales was visiting their stake for a special stake conference. They have a couple in the stake who has been questioning the truthfulness of the church. This is because the wife's father, who is a former bishop, has recently been "[lead]...by the neck with a flaxen cord, until [Satan bound him] with his strong cords forever" (2 Nephi 26:22, emphasis added). He has been excommunicated and is extremely anti towards the church. He has been providing the couple with loads of anti material which has slowly but surely bound them with the flaxen cord as well. The bishop of their ward now, as well as the stake president went over to this couple's house the week before Elder Hales came to answer their questions and see what they can do to help. After answering many anti-instigated questions, the meeting with them began to be extremely contentious. The Bishop stood up pointing his finger toward each of them, and told them exactly what Elder Holland so passionately said one year ago this conference regarding the Book of Mormon. "You and I both know that the only way for you to make your exit is to do so by crawling over or under or around the Book of Mormon to make that exit. I know, and you know as well, that you have felt the spirit testify to you of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and how can you deny that?" The couple sat their dumbfounded and wouldn't deny that truth. The bishop then invited them out to church the next week because and Apostle of God would be in attendance and he PROMISED them that the apostle would answer their questions. Most of their questions were regarding the trinity, which in my opinion is absurd. They made sure they were at the conference early and had prayed the night before that Heavenly Father would show unto them that this is the true church. When Elder Hales began speaking, he said that he had received a prompting from the spirit to share a few words about John 17, which happens to be all about the separateness of God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost yet the oneness in purpose. Their prayer was answered, and they confirmed the reality of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints being the true church.

I love that scripture in 2 Nephi. A flaxen cord is a thin string I often relate to a weak strand of yarn, easily broken. But Satan's plan is to bind us with a flaxen cord, and then slowly but surely add to it until the cord becomes strong, so that it will take some extra tools and power to be relieved. We all have these thin cords continually trying to bind us but what are they and how can we overcome them? I've seen flaxen cords be disguised as something as innocent as not reading your scriptures or praying. It all leads somewhere and that somewhere has no feeling of joy. I remember in my own life prior to the mission, when I was reading and praying, I was more apt to receive blessings of a positive attitude, retention of information I was studying, and also other personal needs that I desired help with. As I read now, I've noticed that Heavenly Father just wants us to put Him first in our lives, do what He asks, and as we do so the things we do next will be done with extra, much-needed help from His hands. As stated in D&C 11:21, "Seek not to declare my word, but first seek to obtain my word, and then shall your tongue be loosed; then, if you desire, you shall have my Spirit and my word, yea, the power of God unto the convincing of men." I love that as well, and in D&C 42:14 it says that if we don't have the Spirit, we shall not teach. Kinda scary but so true!

Here are my quotes for the week:
"Let us realize that the privilege to work is a gift, the power to work is a blessing, the love of work is success. Genius undoubtedly is little more than the capacity for hard, sustained work." - David O. McKay

"Work while you have the light. You are responsible for the talent that has been entrusted to you." - Henri F. Amiel

I love you all so much. If at all possible, I would love some more pictures of the family! Like some of those last ones that we all took together. I love those.

Love,

Elder Mouritsen

September 14-20, 2010: Living Water

Hello Family:

Man, what a good letter! I'll be sending the SD card home soon I bet. It's been holding a lot more photos than I expected though so I've been trying to fill it up. That's good you taught the deacons about Limewire! That is definitely a tough one for young people. You always have the best analogies! Running ones are superb. I love how you can apply anything to gospel principles and to people that you are communicating with. I really need that skill to rub off more on me.

I love that scripture in D&C 123. Verse 17 says: "Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed." It's our choice to do things cheerfully. We choose to be happy. Chris Baird (recent convert) said that he used to be the most negative, angry man around. Now, when people come to him with negative or angry feelings he just tells them, "You know, it's your choice to be that way. Why not choose to be happy and benefit other's lives? It's your choice." Words of wisdom. He's a phenomenal guy. But it's so true! We also choose to entertain unworthy thoughts. Sure, they may pop into our minds but it's our choice to entertain them. One of the toughest ones for me is accepting constructive criticism from someone who is around my own age. Ughhh, it's so hard for me to do! But I've learned that I can either choose to allow it to help me, or choose to make it ruin the rest of my day! haha

This week has been pretty good. We've been at a loll lately when it comes to baptisms and baptismal dates but there are quite a few people that are right there! On Wednesday we had dinner at the Mock's home. Brother and Sister Mock are members of the church (converts for over 30 years) and Sister Mock's uncle Howard lives with them. Howard came to church last week. I told you his whole story last week. We met with him and taught him the restoration lesson. He has a tough time though because he's severely dislexic and almost 100% illiterate. As we talked to him we told him about how important baptism is for us and also what it does for us in this life and also the life to come. "So is baptism important for us Howard?" "Well I'll say so!!" he said. We then committed him to September 30th. Brother and Sister Mock started asking him if he really knew what he was comitting to though. They didn't want him to feel pressured. He responded by saying it's something he really wants to do! Well, two days later we get a call from Sister Mock and she tells us that she just thinks that he was rushed and should go through all the lessons and make the decision for himself and not be committed. SISTER MOCK! If we waited for everybody to commit themselves nobody would be baptized. So we're going back over there sometime this week to teach him and hopefully they didn't scare him away too bad. He told us he really wanted to be baptized! Oh, and he's 82 years old so I dunno how much time we have to work with! haha just kidding.

Saturday was a pretty special day. We had a mission-wide conference where we were told that Elder Robert D. Hales, Elder Richard G. Hinckley, and Elder Michael Pickard (area seventy) would be attending. Our meeting was at two o'clock and then all the stake presidents and bishops in the mission had a meeting with them from nine to one. Of course, we got there around one o'clock so we could see Elder Hales, just in case he didn't come to our meeting. As we were sitting in the foyer, he was in the chapel greeting all the Bishops and Stake presidents and we of course were standing on our tippy toes trying to spy him. Sister Beck walked passed us holding her purse and her scripture bag and we asked her if she needed a hand with them. She said, "why yes I do!" And we snuck into the chapel right behind her! As we walked up onto the stand, Elder Hales was in the aisle and we brushed shoulders up with him. Of course, my heart was beating like crazy. We put her bags up on the stand where she would be sitting and then started back down. As we walked passed him again, he was talking to President Beck and Sister Beck and Sister Beck grabbed our shoulders and said, "Elder Hales! I'd like you to meet two of our missionaries!" We got to shake his hand and he looked us in the eyes and just said, "hello elders." And went back to what he was doing. Of course, my heart was nearly burning up from how fast it was beating. He had the softest hands I've ever felt! haha But seriously, the spirit in that chapel was thick and you could feel it as soon as you walked into the building. Apostles are amazing. It's too bad that he was too worn out from speaking to the Stake Presidents and bishops that he couldn't come to our meeting, but being two of the only missionaries in the entire mission that got to shake his hand was pretty remarkable. Two apostles down! 13 to go! Richard G. Hinckley was awesome in our meeting though. He told stories about his DAD just as if he was an ordinary man, haha but then we made the correlation and OH, he was just the prophet. No big deal. Give Richard G. a few years and some glasses and he'll look just like him! We got to shake his hand as well.

There are several families we are meeting with who are pretty awesome. Jacque, Reanna, and their son Gabe. They are native american (lamanite) and when we first met with them we thought they were baptized because of how often they come to church but it turns out that they aren't. They aren't even married for that matter! But it shouldn't take much time. They have two younger boys ages 3 and 4 who are hilarious. One of them modeled for the Eclipse movie. Down here they get a lot of people who are native american to play the werewolf parts or something like that. That's the word on the street at least. I told you that I'm serving in the ward that Stephanie Meyer used to live right? I think I did. Anyway, Jacque is like a 6'2" 300 pound guy so it's gonna take someone other than myself to get him under the water! The other family who is close to being baptized is the Martins. Rick, the Grandpa/dad is a member but has a smoking problem. His wife Jeanine is really interested in the church and wants all of her children to come to the lessons and church as well. They live in a small apartment with Jeanine's son and daughter-in-law and then their two sons and then four dogs. It's pretty hectic in there and it's hard to have a quiet, spiritual lesson but I think they will come around soon.

Spiritual experiences happen so frequently out here it's awesome. Friday we got a referral from Elder King and Elder McBride (yes that Elder McBride). A man named Alan works with a guy who is a member and has been showing a lot of interest in the church and especially the Priesthood. This is because his wife Tracy, who has battled breast cancer before, has now been diagnosed with a worse case than she went through in the past. We went over and visited with them. Taught them about the power of the priesthood as well as where it came from. They have faith and don't doubt that the power of God is on the earth today. So we gave her a blessing. The spirit was so strong. Tracy has to go to Michigan for her procedures for two weeks while her husband stays in Phoenix to work. They are awesome and there is a lot of potential there as well.

D&C 133:29 "And in the barren deserts there shall come forth pools of living water; and the parched ground shall no longer be a thirsty land."
A few months ago a missionary in our district named Elder Kennington was approached by a woman who told them that she had a daughter serving a mission in Fresno California. She told him that even though she's not a member, she still supports her daughter in all she does and loves what the missionaries do. Elder Kennington asked the lady if he could have her daughter's email address haha. He didn't know why he asked that but he did. Last February he emailed the girl and never heard back from her until a few weeks ago when he got a letter. The letter said that the girl had been praying that her mom would be found by the missionaries and that she has been telling her mom to feed the missionaries. Well it so happens that this lady, her name is Sister Seers, moved into our area and we decided to stop by last night and get to know her. We knocked on the door and her 11 year old grandson answered the door. Sister Seers was in the background making dinner so she said, "you know guys it's not really a good time right now we're about to sit down for dinner." She came to the door to say hello and we just responded with, "Oh we just wanted to stop by and introduce ourselves!" She said alright well right now just isn't a good time and started to close the door. She then reopened the door and asked if we would like some water cause we look really tired. haha We never turn down water if it gets us in the door so we accepted. As we were sitting on the couch with our water, she then asked if we had eaten dinner yet. We played it off and said we hadn't but that we would be alright cause we have some people we needed to visit. She insisted. So we finally gave in and it just so happened that she cooked more food than she and her two grandsons could eat! It was great. She continued to say, "geez what are the odds of this. You guys show up right at dinner time during the week that I was going to call you to come over." This Thursday is her daughter's birthday and she was very hurt that she wasn't going to be able to talk to her but said that she'll give her daughter a birthday present by feeding the missionaries. We did the dishes for her, cleaned up around, and then had a very powerful spiritual thought. She told us she was currently attending Calvary Church, one that is very much against the Mormons and has even gone as far as creating a movie called, The Bible v.s. Joseph Smith. Calvary members are usually very against LDS members but since she has been around the LDS church all her life she has no problems. We talked about where the Book of Mormon came from, who Joseph Smith is and all about his story. Her grandson, who is an extremely intelligent sixth grader, burst into tears because of how much religion has split apart his family. He was interested in learning more though. I have a firm testimony that the "living water," which is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, quenches a thirst that people didn't even know they had.

I love you guys so much. We're going to a zone volleyball tournament now so wish us luck.
Hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Mouritsen