Hello there!
This week has been phenomenal. Regarding a coat, when it gets below 65 degrees we have to wear our suit jackets so I think a better alternative for some reason would be to wear some V-Neck sweaters underneath for warmth. The coat would be great, and I think if I were serving up in Cottonwood or Prescott I would say definitely get it! But since down here it won't get unbearably cold, a few dark sweaters would be great. Mom, you got great taste for that kind of stuff. I know it!
That's too bad you were sick! Don't forget to pound the Airborne, that stuff is magical. We had Stake Conference this weekend too. Our stake president, President Hettinger, is one of the coolest guys I've ever met. A few weeks ago he was in his church meetings one Sunday and all of a sudden his vision in his left eye disappeared. He couldn't believe it so he talked to some neurosurgeons in the stake and asked them what he should do. They told him he should go to the hospital immediately because there could have been some issues with the occipital lobe in the rear of the brain. He did so and came to find out that he had had a minor stroke in the right occipital lobe which affected his left eyesight. He was there for several days and while he was there he had his wife bring him two essential items, a toothbrush, and his scriptures. She also brought him some music that he loves by a group called Jericho Road. They sing the song Amazing Grace which he especially loves. Ironically, his nurse’s name was Gracie, and she came in the room and noticed the scriptures and asked him if he was Mormon. He told her yes and she then told him that she lives on 35th Avenue and Thunderbird and has been meeting with the missionaries in the Country Gables ward named Elder Mouritsen and Elder Nelson. President Hettinger was thrilled and they ended up talking for quite a long time. He then invited her to dinner at his home a few weeks later (which we will be going to this Wednesday). Well, when we met Gracie we were riding our bikes in the parking lot of her apartment complex and she stopped us as she rolled down her window and asked us, "Hey do you guys teach lessons?" HAHAHAHA WHAT?!?! No.. well uhh... umm. yeah sometimes? YES! We were flabbergasted. She is solid, except for that she is single and in her twenties so we will be passing her over to the YSA elders. Needless to say it was cool to get a shout out from the stake president in stake conference. He applied it to the fact that Heavenly Father has a plan for all of us in this life. He had a plan for him to run in to Gracie because of a minor stroke. He had a plan that we as his instruments were there in the parking lot to meet her that day she talked to us. Everything Happens For A Reason!
Yesterday, the state of AZ all had a broadcasted stake conference from Salt Lake. President Monson, Elder Cook, Bishop Burton, and Sister Barbara Thompson spoke. It was kind of crazy to see that each of the topics were quite different.
Another cool story: A few days ago we were contacting and ran into this woman named Rayanna. She said we could come back in a few days and talk with her more so we got her address and left. Two days later we went back to her home, knocked on the door, and a man with answered the door. We asked him if Rayanna was home and he said that there was no Rayanna that lived there. His name was Doug and despite the fact that we were quite bugged that we had just knocked on ANOTHER false address that was given to us, we started talking to him about the Book of Mormon. We left him a copy and then committed him to read and pray. 2 Nephi 31-33 came to mind and he said he would. We set a return appointment for yesterday and had one of the most spiritual lessons of my entire mission. We went in, and in his soft spoken voice he told us that he had read what we asked him and he was intrigued to learn more. We sat down and began reading the intro to the Book of Mormon, talked about it and committed him to pray. The spirit was penetrating, and nobody could deny what was present in that room. With that, I said How about we say a prayer right now? He said yes and we knelt down and I offered a prayer asking Heavenly Father to please help us to know that the Holy Ghost was with us and that the Book of Mormon was true. At the end of the prayer we just sat in silence and let the Spirit speak for about 15-20 seconds (which felt like eternity). We asked him if he would like to come to church with us, his response was, "Well... uhh... I'll have to see if I have clothes." It was so sincere and we let him know he would be fine in the clothes he was wearing at the moment. It was seriously one of the greatest nights and it just so happened that the bishop's son was on exchanges with us so he was able to witness it as well. He's 17 and preparing for a mission.
Well. I just received news that I am being transferred. I'm quite astounded because being a DL and a trainer for one transfer and then leaving so that Elder Nelson can take over the area is quite unheard of. I wonder what the Lord has in store for me now. Pretty nervous and shaking at the very moment I write this. One of the Zone Leaders in the zone is getting transferred as well and then another elder named Elder Schafer from our district. It's nuts and I can't believe it! I'll have to let you know at a later time where I go and what happens.
Girls. As for you and your diligence in choosing for yourself that you will do what Heavenly Father has asked and go to church, you will be blessed. I promise. You guys inspire me. I've seen lives change here and people exercise a little more faith and perhaps even leave their comfort zones to do what God has asked. Tom Hughes, the man who used to hold the Book of Mormon in one hand, a beer in the other, and a big lump of chew in the lip, is now getting baptized on November 27. We gave him a Priesthood blessing a few days ago and it was amazing to see tears flow into his eyes as he witnessed the windows of heaven pour down upon him. I promise this church is true. There is nothing like this work. It's the most fulfilling, devastating, loving, and fun work in the world.
I love you all very much. The weather is getting very...cold down here. :/ It's like 75 for the next couple days. Crazy. Nights are kinda chilly though but Mom the blanket you gave me keeps me perfectly warm! Oh and sorry I didn't write anybody back last week. We had a zone activity and played death ball (dodge ball with only one ball. Everyone against everyone just running frantically around the basketball court. Champion 2/3 times. That's what’s up. Haha jk.) so we didn't have much time to do anything during that day. Hopefully I'll get time today.
Love you
Love,
Elder Colton Mouritsen
P.S.
President just called. I have been called by the Lord to be a Zone Leader... I'm quite nervous at the moment and am shaking uncontrollably.
Love you.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Monday, November 8, 2010
November 2-8, 2010: "Works his heart out in a good cause"
Hello dearest family,
Yes I did get the massive pack of letters! That was awesome! Thanks for the pictures as well... Everybody ALREADY looks different than they do in the photo from last spring that we took as a family. That's nuts! I can't believe it's already been six months by the way... I feel like we were just barely at the Christmas party up in Tremonton and Kyler was a few weeks in the MTC oh and Jill just crying her eyes out cause Kyler was gone. haha. Well that stud of a missionary has nearly been out a year now! This year has flown by!
So Monday was November 1st of course and what was the temperature here? Oh just 93 degrees. When you are outside, not thinking about what the date is but just basing it on the temperature, it feels like it’s the beginning of August. Then when you realize that it’s November - it's the weirdest feeling! It feels like the year has gone by so much faster. Fall has totally been blown over and I still feel like I'm going to wake up one morning and have to go scrape the ice and snow off a windshield. Monday night we had a baptism for a young lady in the ward whose step mom is a member and was a good influence on her to decide to be baptized. She is extremely shy though so nobody was invited to the baptism. There were literally seven people there. Her immediate family, Bishop Johnson, the ward mission leader Brother Rodriguez, and the former Bishop, Brother Hunter. The step mom bore a powerful testimony and then I was asked to baptize her. Elder Nelson gave a little spiritual thought and then Brother Rodriguez and Bishop Johnson said some words. It ended up being a very uplifting experience.
Tuesday was when I spoke at the Zone Meeting. I thought it was going to be in front of the entire Zone Conference (two zones) but it ended up just being our zone, which happens to be one of the biggest in the mission, if not THE biggest. I was the last person on the program so I had less than ten minutes to give a fifteen to twenty minute talk. haha I've come to realize that you have three different talks every time you speak: the talk you prepare, the talk you present, and the talk you wish you would've presented. Maybe I'll send ya the hard copy of my talk but I don't really think I used it much when speaking, it was more of a discussion. As I read through Preach my Gospel, I found the pages where the previous prophets of this dispensation have quotes regarding missionary work. I noticed that the words "responsibility" and "duty" are used nine times and I pointed out how not only is it our purpose as missionaries to bring the gospel to all the world, but it's our responsibility. Then there's some quotes about how every member is a missionary. You can make the connection. In my talk I actually used the "Hope Poem" except I called it the "Sense of Urgency Poem" this time. I'll send you the hard copy...
After zone meeting I went on exchanges with Elder Sentman. He's a 27 year old college graduate who is with a brand new 19 year old missionary named Elder Buttars. It's funny when we talk about how when Elder Buttars was born, Elder Sentman was getting baptized and already making covenants with the Lord. It went well and then the next day after district meeting we switched back. Then, that same day I went on exchanges with one of the Assistants, Elder Westbroek. He happens to be from Grandma Connie's home ward. The reason for this exchange was so that he could go over all the leadership responsibilities and roles of the district leader on a more personal level. We were then together the rest of the night and had some awesome lessons. Elder Nelson was with Elder Choules and they had each of our bikes so Elder Westbroek and I had the truck that the mission provides for the assistants. We went to our lesson that night with Crystal and her daughter Ellie at the apartments on 35th Ave and Bell. We had a great lesson and then on our way out to the truck we noticed that it was no longer parked in the place that we had left it. Actually, it was no longer anywhere in the parking lot at all! We had no idea what was going on and started freakin' out a bit. Since it was already 8:30 and very dark outside there were not many people out. We walked over to the leasing office and of course it was closed. We seriously had no idea what happened. The only two solutions were it was stolen, or towed. We were parked in a perfectly fine spot with no handicap sign, no number for a reserved person, and it wasn't even a covered stall! We sat down on the curb, dumbfounded and Elder Westbroek called the Spanish Assistants. They laughed their heads off of course but told us to try to find a number for a towing company or the non-emergency police. We had neither of course. We called and talked to Elder Skonard (the vehicle coordinator in the mission) and he said we probably needed to call the police. We decided to walk over to a more secluded area and say a prayer. As we walked over, we went under some covered stalls and noticed a sign posted to the top. It said, "No Head Out Parking!" Yup, that was it. The place we parked was just a whole lot more convenient to back into... The number for the towing company was located next to the sign. Of course we called, and they had the truck. They had taken it all the way down to south Phoenix. We continued on with our prayer. The Spanish Assistants still came and got us and took me back to Elder Nelson and then had to go with Westbroek to get his companion. $120 but he got his truck back. Hahaha We laughed about it but the cool thing was that Elder Westbroek and I ended up getting to just sit and chat about missionary work and favorite memories. It ended up being a very humorous, yet awesome experience.
Saturday was a great day. I called Sister Mock to see how her Uncle Howard's (82 year old investigator) appointment for his knee surgery went. She said it went well and then said that Uncle had something to tell me. He got on the phone and in his cute little east coast sounding accent, he said, "I...Wanna get baptized." It was so cool! We planned the day for November 20th and it is now set in stone. He's very excited! Later that night I got a call from Chris Baird (recent convert since August 28th). He asked me an odd question: "Hey, I have the priesthood right?" Well yes...why? "And with that priesthood I'm able to baptize?" Yeah what's going on?? "Well... My son Adam wants to be baptized all of a sudden." NO WAY!! That seriously is nuts! Adam is married to a member but has never really been interested until his dad became a member. He asked Chris to baptize him. Ahh man it's so cool to see families come together in the happiness that the gospel provides. It's even cooler to see them express that through gratitude to their Father who has provided them with it.
In my talk since I was short of time we focused mainly on the part of the Lombardi quote that says "works his heart out in a good cause, and lies exhausted on the field of battle,-- Victorious!" We read Helaman 5:4,14-21. We talked about how Nephi and Lehi dedicated their lives to the Lord in His great cause. About how they took it upon themselves all the remainder of their days to preach the word of God. They went from city to city, baptized 8,000 people. I asked them how many contacts they must have had to baptize that many people. Tough crowd. Verses 14-21 talk about how Nephi and Lehi taught with power and authority in this great cause. They didn't quit even after all the success they had, they knew there were more souls to save. At the end, I quoted Vince again and asked, "Elders and Sisters, is there any greater cause than this?" There are people out there, who are "only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it" (D&C 123:12). It's my testimony that we’ll do all that we can to lie exhausted on our fields of battle, wherever they may be, -- Victorious.
I love you all and I'm so thankful for your prayers and all you do. Yes a jacket would be great! It's still very warm during the day but who says one shouldn't be prepared. I could also use maybe 1 or 2 more long sleeved, fitted 15 1/2 white shirts! :) That would be great.
I get letters throughout the whole week! Not just on P-Day. They immediately forward it to me as soon as the mission office gets it.
Thanks again! I love you so much. I too pray for your safety and success in whatever task may come.
Love,
Elder Colton Matthew Mouritsen
Yes I did get the massive pack of letters! That was awesome! Thanks for the pictures as well... Everybody ALREADY looks different than they do in the photo from last spring that we took as a family. That's nuts! I can't believe it's already been six months by the way... I feel like we were just barely at the Christmas party up in Tremonton and Kyler was a few weeks in the MTC oh and Jill just crying her eyes out cause Kyler was gone. haha. Well that stud of a missionary has nearly been out a year now! This year has flown by!
So Monday was November 1st of course and what was the temperature here? Oh just 93 degrees. When you are outside, not thinking about what the date is but just basing it on the temperature, it feels like it’s the beginning of August. Then when you realize that it’s November - it's the weirdest feeling! It feels like the year has gone by so much faster. Fall has totally been blown over and I still feel like I'm going to wake up one morning and have to go scrape the ice and snow off a windshield. Monday night we had a baptism for a young lady in the ward whose step mom is a member and was a good influence on her to decide to be baptized. She is extremely shy though so nobody was invited to the baptism. There were literally seven people there. Her immediate family, Bishop Johnson, the ward mission leader Brother Rodriguez, and the former Bishop, Brother Hunter. The step mom bore a powerful testimony and then I was asked to baptize her. Elder Nelson gave a little spiritual thought and then Brother Rodriguez and Bishop Johnson said some words. It ended up being a very uplifting experience.
Tuesday was when I spoke at the Zone Meeting. I thought it was going to be in front of the entire Zone Conference (two zones) but it ended up just being our zone, which happens to be one of the biggest in the mission, if not THE biggest. I was the last person on the program so I had less than ten minutes to give a fifteen to twenty minute talk. haha I've come to realize that you have three different talks every time you speak: the talk you prepare, the talk you present, and the talk you wish you would've presented. Maybe I'll send ya the hard copy of my talk but I don't really think I used it much when speaking, it was more of a discussion. As I read through Preach my Gospel, I found the pages where the previous prophets of this dispensation have quotes regarding missionary work. I noticed that the words "responsibility" and "duty" are used nine times and I pointed out how not only is it our purpose as missionaries to bring the gospel to all the world, but it's our responsibility. Then there's some quotes about how every member is a missionary. You can make the connection. In my talk I actually used the "Hope Poem" except I called it the "Sense of Urgency Poem" this time. I'll send you the hard copy...
After zone meeting I went on exchanges with Elder Sentman. He's a 27 year old college graduate who is with a brand new 19 year old missionary named Elder Buttars. It's funny when we talk about how when Elder Buttars was born, Elder Sentman was getting baptized and already making covenants with the Lord. It went well and then the next day after district meeting we switched back. Then, that same day I went on exchanges with one of the Assistants, Elder Westbroek. He happens to be from Grandma Connie's home ward. The reason for this exchange was so that he could go over all the leadership responsibilities and roles of the district leader on a more personal level. We were then together the rest of the night and had some awesome lessons. Elder Nelson was with Elder Choules and they had each of our bikes so Elder Westbroek and I had the truck that the mission provides for the assistants. We went to our lesson that night with Crystal and her daughter Ellie at the apartments on 35th Ave and Bell. We had a great lesson and then on our way out to the truck we noticed that it was no longer parked in the place that we had left it. Actually, it was no longer anywhere in the parking lot at all! We had no idea what was going on and started freakin' out a bit. Since it was already 8:30 and very dark outside there were not many people out. We walked over to the leasing office and of course it was closed. We seriously had no idea what happened. The only two solutions were it was stolen, or towed. We were parked in a perfectly fine spot with no handicap sign, no number for a reserved person, and it wasn't even a covered stall! We sat down on the curb, dumbfounded and Elder Westbroek called the Spanish Assistants. They laughed their heads off of course but told us to try to find a number for a towing company or the non-emergency police. We had neither of course. We called and talked to Elder Skonard (the vehicle coordinator in the mission) and he said we probably needed to call the police. We decided to walk over to a more secluded area and say a prayer. As we walked over, we went under some covered stalls and noticed a sign posted to the top. It said, "No Head Out Parking!" Yup, that was it. The place we parked was just a whole lot more convenient to back into... The number for the towing company was located next to the sign. Of course we called, and they had the truck. They had taken it all the way down to south Phoenix. We continued on with our prayer. The Spanish Assistants still came and got us and took me back to Elder Nelson and then had to go with Westbroek to get his companion. $120 but he got his truck back. Hahaha We laughed about it but the cool thing was that Elder Westbroek and I ended up getting to just sit and chat about missionary work and favorite memories. It ended up being a very humorous, yet awesome experience.
Saturday was a great day. I called Sister Mock to see how her Uncle Howard's (82 year old investigator) appointment for his knee surgery went. She said it went well and then said that Uncle had something to tell me. He got on the phone and in his cute little east coast sounding accent, he said, "I...Wanna get baptized." It was so cool! We planned the day for November 20th and it is now set in stone. He's very excited! Later that night I got a call from Chris Baird (recent convert since August 28th). He asked me an odd question: "Hey, I have the priesthood right?" Well yes...why? "And with that priesthood I'm able to baptize?" Yeah what's going on?? "Well... My son Adam wants to be baptized all of a sudden." NO WAY!! That seriously is nuts! Adam is married to a member but has never really been interested until his dad became a member. He asked Chris to baptize him. Ahh man it's so cool to see families come together in the happiness that the gospel provides. It's even cooler to see them express that through gratitude to their Father who has provided them with it.
In my talk since I was short of time we focused mainly on the part of the Lombardi quote that says "works his heart out in a good cause, and lies exhausted on the field of battle,-- Victorious!" We read Helaman 5:4,14-21. We talked about how Nephi and Lehi dedicated their lives to the Lord in His great cause. About how they took it upon themselves all the remainder of their days to preach the word of God. They went from city to city, baptized 8,000 people. I asked them how many contacts they must have had to baptize that many people. Tough crowd. Verses 14-21 talk about how Nephi and Lehi taught with power and authority in this great cause. They didn't quit even after all the success they had, they knew there were more souls to save. At the end, I quoted Vince again and asked, "Elders and Sisters, is there any greater cause than this?" There are people out there, who are "only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it" (D&C 123:12). It's my testimony that we’ll do all that we can to lie exhausted on our fields of battle, wherever they may be, -- Victorious.
I love you all and I'm so thankful for your prayers and all you do. Yes a jacket would be great! It's still very warm during the day but who says one shouldn't be prepared. I could also use maybe 1 or 2 more long sleeved, fitted 15 1/2 white shirts! :) That would be great.
I get letters throughout the whole week! Not just on P-Day. They immediately forward it to me as soon as the mission office gets it.
Thanks again! I love you so much. I too pray for your safety and success in whatever task may come.
Love,
Elder Colton Matthew Mouritsen
Monday, November 1, 2010
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
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
Monday, October 25, 2010
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
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
Monday, October 18, 2010
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
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
Monday, October 11, 2010
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!
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
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
Monday, October 4, 2010
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
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
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