March 13-19, 2012: Teaching people, not lessons

Hello there Mouritsen family!

Sounds like a good week! There is a member in the YSA here who got a job up in Draper and has volunteered to take a package home for me. I'm trying to get some stuff together to send. That way I won't have to spend $30-$45 next month trying to send a bunch of stuff through the flat rate process. I will give him your number and he will probably come by sometime next week.

Not much has happened this past week. We had a neat experience with setting a baptism date with Kolt. I've never taken the route that we took before. We have been putting a large focus on strictly teaching the doctrines of Christ in all the lessons. Whether it be the Restoration, Plan of Salvation, or Commandments - the Doctrines of Christ are the main focus, and the other info is just to show HOW we can strengthen faith, repent, prepare for baptism/confirmation and endure to the end. Even though we had been over it before with Kolt, we felt like it would be good to just go over those five principles in more detail. As we did, the spirit was very strong in helping us to know where to take the lesson. Elder Brothers still has those "new-missionary jitters" (Leah those "jitters" are just a way of life, remember an experience of getting to the plate might just be preparing you for future "jittery" experiences that you will know how to conquer) and thinks that he has to focus strictly on our lesson plan, as opposed to focusing on the needs of the person. I'm a firm believer in creating a plan for the lessons, but then going away from those plans as the concerns and questions come up. We came to the principle of baptism. I was reluctant to commit him to a date because we had invited him in each lesson for the past two weeks. We didn't want him to feel like we were pressuring him into it (though we know it's necessary) and then lose interest all together. Oddly, I felt like the spirit told me to commit him to another date. We prepped him regarding the baptismal interview that he would need to show him that he would even be ready for baptism. Though he has felt that he needs to read the entire Book of Mormon before being ready for baptism, we let him know that all he really needs to be able to do is answer the baptismal interview questions. I looked at him and said, "Ya know Kolt there will actually be a missionary holding a baptism interview on April 1st, would you prepare yourself to be interviewed on that day?" He responded yes. I then ripped out the sheet from my planner that had the questions on it. I handed it to him and told him to look over it. If there was anything he didn't understand we would teach him about it in the coming weeks so that he could be ready. The only question he had was regarding tithing. I felt like he finally realized that he really didn't really need to know that much doctrinally, but just needed a testimony of the gospel. I noticed his countenance change as he came to that realization and said, "Kolt, we will be holding a baptismal service on the 7th of April. After being interviewed, would you prepare yourself for that date to be baptized." His response came after a few moments of pondering with, "Well, I guess I'm getting interviewed anyways. So why not?" There is no greater sight than that of watching someone change in just a few weeks because of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is a very visceral feeling, to put it in Mark Coleman's words.

Yesterday we had a cool experience in our ward council meeting with the Sahuaro Ranch ward. We have been really struggling to find, teach, and of course baptize in that ward. As of right now we have one investigator. We have put a huge focus on working with the members, mainly the less active and part member families, to find those who are searching. When we got here, the ward had a list of about 8 people who were still living in the ward that were part member families. In our efforts to seek them out, we now have a list of 33 part member families. Many of which don't want much to do with the church but the bishop was extremely happy to see that we had helped him find them. We have also really cleaned up the roster in an attempt to develop trust with the active members and help them in reaching out to the less active. Each week we come to the meeting with names of those we have found that have moved out of the ward. I know it sounds bad, but it has made them very happy to find out. Next, we "geo-coded" the ward. The clerks haven't really known how to go about doing that so when they heard that we had already done it they were happy to receive all our information and plug it in to MLS. Yesterday, the bishop vocally thanked us in front of the entire ward council. He said that he had actually emailed what we had done to help him to the missionaries that were serving from his ward. He said that they should do the same to help the bishops that they are serving. In just two months, we have really felt a big change in the ward in regards to missionary work. When we first got here, we did not feel welcome and frequently got the cold shoulder from members. They also asked us if we could take the entire meeting on Easter to speak about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and then on the crucifixion/resurrection. My topic is the atonement. I see that as evidence that they are beginning to trust us and desire to help us with the work. Bishop has also expressed interest in having meetings with us to give us names to go and visit. The sad thing is that the names he gave yesterday, were names that we already knew a lot about. They don't have much desire in progression. We hope and pray that the work will pick up soon. We do have one investigator, a nine year old from a less active family. She actually came to church by herself yesterday. I'm amazed at how strong she is. Youth will need to be that strong if not stronger to be able to forge through the persecution that will come in the coming months and years of their lives.

Thanks for all that you do. If you have any cool stories that involve the atonement they would be greatly appreciated. I have some ideas, but more info is always needed!

I love you all! Have a great week. Get prepared for conference!

Love,

Elder Mouritsen

March 6-12, 2012: A Three-Act Play

Hello family,

To answer your questions:

I have not seen or heard from Bishop King for many months.  I think he is super busy with his new calling.  One of his friends from his mission is in the ward I serve in now, Brother Pearson.  He is awesome.   The Kings are an awesome family.

What will I do with my bike?  That is a great question.  I will probably either leave it with someone that is going to come to my homecoming, or just leave it here and I'll be able to pick it up at a later time.

The Easter Pageant is a great missionary tool.  We are only given permission to go to it once though so we are going to try to get as many investigators together that we can.  It's a great experience and many referrals are sent out because of it.  A lot of the Christian world here in Phoenix attends and finds out that the Mormons are actually Christians.  Weird.

Sounds like it was a great time in St. George for Leah's softball games!  This past week I was on exchanges with Elder Griessmann because we had to switch companions because of the leadership training meeting.  We rode our bikes past the Spring  Training field that the Padres and the Mariners play it.  It is unbelievable.  I hope to get a picture of it soon.  Each team has three practice fields that are each as nice or nicer than Lindquist field in Ogden.  Also, green grass is a rare sight here, so it blows my mind to see such immaculate green grass.  That will take some getting used to come May.

Yesterday I was waiting in the foyer for my ride to come to take me to our other ward.  Brenda's sister, Debra walked past and we chatted for a bit.  She showed me some pictures of Whitney and the baby.  She's pretty dang cute!  It sounds like all is well with the delivery.  That is good news.  Debra is dang funny too.  She reminds me so much of Brenda.

On Tuesday of this week I was on exchanges with Elder Freeman, one of our zone leaders.  We were in his area and had an appointment with some less active kids in his ward.  The situation is kind of hard to explain.  There is a ten year old boy, 13 year old girl, and 14 year old girl.  They grew up here in the valley but because of some bad decisions from their parents they were forced to move in with their grandpa who was living in northern Arizona.  The grandpa is an active member.  He took them to church during their youth and made sure that they all got baptized at eight years old.  Well now they have all moved down here to go to school.  They are living with their non-denominational Christian aunt.  They also have a Baptist grandma who comes to visit frequently.  There are also 6-7 other people living in the home.  Oh, and did I mention that it felt like we were having a lesson in a chimney with a fire going from all the smoke that was in the room?  It was hard to breathe.  The kids stopped coming to church since moving and haven't had much interest in it since.  The grandpa is worried, so he sent a referral to the missionaries to go over and help them. 

We walked into the house and I could tell immediately that there wasn't much interest in us being there from the feeling I got from the kids.  The ten year old was nice, but the girls just had no care in the world.  They were really snotty, acting like they weren't listening, and trying to do all they could to end each conversation we would start.  Elder Freeman shared a brief spiritual thought.  The grandma and aunt were in the room and talked a lot about how they wanted the kids to get involved in spiritual things in any way possible.  I could tell they weren't too firm in their own faiths.  The grandma then made an interesting comment.  She said to the 14 year old, "even though you might have a lot of questions and doubts, you still need to give God a chance."  Ding! Ding! Ding!  The light bulb lit in my mind.  I looked at her and said, "Look, we are here to answer your questions.  This is your opportunity to throw all your concerns out on the table and allow us to help you clear up your doubts."  She looked at me, looked at her grandma, back and me, did one of those snotty teenage girl shoulder shrugs and said, "Well alright then here goes...if God created the earth and created man, then where did God come from?"  Right then I had the feeling that she has been influenced by many other "popular" theories of the time.  Kids think they can confound and frustrate the works of God, or at least people who believe in God.  Someone who doesn't have a firm testimony in gospel principles may be very susceptible.  I looked at her, smiled, and assured her that often times we don't receive answers until the next life.  Our minds are so finite and focused on time and having a beginning and an end to all things that we cannot even comprehend eternity.  I then told her that even I have many questions that I have never had answered, and probably won't ever have answered until the time is right in my progression which probably won't be until the next life.  In a straightforward sense, I quoted the Prophet Joseph to answer her question; "As man is, God once was, and as God is, man can become."  She slightly understood but responded with another question; "Well if God loves me, and if He exists, why did he put me through so many hard times and trials while I was growing up?"  She said that she had prayed but never received any answers or comfort.  I thought for a bit, and told her straight up that she probably just didn't recognize answers because they didn't come the way she was expecting.  It was funny to watch the grandma and aunt during this conversation.  They looked back and forth from us to her (as if they were watching a ping pong match from the side of the table) and would pipe in with comments that agreed with our doctrine.  That is how I knew that they didn't understand or attend their own church very much.  haha.  Their comments backed up all our teaching!  In my mind, I thought this scenario seemed extremely backwards.  The "member present" wasn't a member at all and the "investigator" that we were teaching was a member!  

We talked for a while longer on that subject.  Then a random thought came to my mind.  I asked her if she had ever been involved in drama or acting of any kind.  She smiled and said yes.  I sighed with happiness and relief.  I then went on to describe how life is a lot like a three act play.  Act one is our pre-mortal life, act two-earth life, and act three is life after death.  The only problem is that we enter the theater of the play in the middle of act two.  We also aren't just a spectator, but an actual actor in the play.  You can imagine that if you were to act such a part in a play that you just popped in to that it would be very confusing and you wouldn't understand all the plots and subplots.  Life is a lot like this, many things happen that we do not understand because we don't remember Act one, and we haven't yet seen Act three.  There is also no "happily ever after" in Act two, that comes in Act three.  Sometimes we don't understand everything, but when Act 3 rolls around we will be able to see everything that happened and know exactly why.  I then went on to talk about Ether 12:27.  The reason she had such hard times in her youth could be because the Lord needs her to become strong from such trials so that she can lift someone else in the future.  We just don't know.  To my surprise, she agreed with everything.  She understood.  This is the shortened version of all the topics that were covered but what was supposed to be a 15 minute visit turned out to be a 45 minute discussion.  It was a good experience.  I was thankful for the promise that the spirit will fill our mouths with what to say as long as we are prepared with the doctrine in our minds. 

This morning I read a quote by Joseph Smith that helped me understand this experience.  "When you climb up a ladder, you must begin at the bottom, and ascend step by step, until you arrive at the top; and so it is with the principles of the gospel--you must begin with the first, and go on until you learn all the principles of exaltation.  But it will be a great while after you have passed through the veil before you will have learned them.  It is not all to be comprehended in this world; it will be a great work to learn our salvation and exaltation even beyond the grave."

Of course we know those principles to be: Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End.  But what is the significance of all those things?  Baptism is the power to remit sin.  Confirmation, the power to commune with Heaven.  Enduring to the End includes receiving the Melchezidek Priesthood, which is the power to act in God's name.  Receiving the endowment, the power to become like God.  And to be sealed for time and all eternity, which is the power to become God.

We have great potential.  Potential we cannot even comprehend!  I would hope that we would live life in such a way that we wouldn't hinder the blessings that the Lord has in store for us.  Each choice we make either pushes us further up the ladder, or slides us down.

The church is true! 

I love you all.

Love,

Elder Colton Matthew Mouritsen

February 28 - March 5, 2012: One of the best days of my mission

Hello "goodly parents," grandparents, sisters, friends, and family...

Great email dad. I'm very excited for the girls and all their accomplishments. I hope they know how much I look up to and admire them. It's just a blessing to be assured of their constant experiences they have which strengthen their testimonies. The adversary's tactics have become far too apparent in the lives of many of the youth down here. There are those who are stalwart, steadfast, and immovable. Then there are those who doubt, waiver, and disregard the illuminating feelings of the spirit that were once present in their lives. This contrast of experiences has caused me to NEVER have that feeling where the spirit leaves. I can't imagine life without it. I mean, life with it is still a struggle, but a struggle that we can always win.

One of the best days of my entire mission occurred this week. It was Friday, March 2nd. The night before I got a call from an old friend, Mark Coleman. He said that he had received his patriarchal blessing in the mail and he wanted to meet with me to talk about how awesome it was. We set the appointment for 7:30 the next day. Friday at 2:00 we had an appointment with Kolt. Kolt is the friend of a member in the YSA. I've talked about him before. He has been intrigued in the church’s stance on the family, and that "intrigue" has turned to an intense study of the other gospel truths that go hand in hand with our belief about the family. We had planned to teach him the Plan of Salvation, my favorite to teach. He accepted the things we spoke about. It went smoothly like any other lesson. We focused a lot on the fact that the blessings of the gospel are open to those who have already passed on from this life. This was because his dad passed away around 15 years ago. I think he enjoys that gospel truth; that families extend to the eternities if we but do the work for them here on earth. The end of the lesson came and I realized that he had never prayed in front of us before. We invited him to do so. He did not want to at all. At that moment the scripture in 2 Nephi 32 came to mind. "Satan teaches a man to not pray..." We insisted that he say the prayer. He continued to come up with bogus excuses as to why he didn't feel adequate, or able to pray. After a short battle, we bowed our heads, closed our eyes, and FINALLY Kolt began to voice the prayer. What then occurred was one of the most powerful feelings I've felt in my life. Immediately, the spirit engulfed those in the room. It felt like I was hit by a spiritual freight train. In the prayer, Kolt expressed gratitude for his family, for us, for his member friend, and then he paused. His eyes began to fill with tears. Once again the spirit hit so powerfully it was undeniable. He closed the prayer in the name of Jesus Christ and we just sat there in silence. That's all that I could do. I wanted to say something but I think the spirit blocked my mind from being able to come up with what to say. The silence was finally broken by Kolt, he said, "It feels like I've been hit in the chest with a baseball bat. It feels so weird it almost hurts." Once again the spirit was super strong. We sat in silence for a bit more until finally I felt what I needed to say. I testified of the power of the spirit, especially the spirit that was present right then and there. It helped Kolt to recognize it. We brought up baptism. He knows what he needs to do. I think he is looking for some miraculous burning bush experience. We assured him that what he felt was the Lord speaking to him. We left with the spirit still strong and he committed to come to church.

Later that night Mark Coleman met us at our church building. I was pretty stoked. He wanted it to be between him and me so Elder Brothers volunteered to just sit outside the door so we could talk. He wanted to talk about certain lines from his Patriarchal Blessing and other specific blessings the Lord has given him that have been already made known in his life. Of course he didn't read the whole thing to me. I made sure he wouldn't. It was amazing to hear. He said the majority of his blessing talks about his service as a full-time missionary. There is also a large chunk about who he was in the pre-existence. It was very apparent in the blessing that he had many friends in the pre-existence who would be waiting for him to come to them with the gospel in mortality. It reminded me a lot of my own personal testimony regarding the reasons that I came out on my mission; for those who were prepared by the Lord that only I could touch. Afterward, he went on to tell me that he had received a new calling. He is the elder's quorum secretary. He home teaches 10 different individuals who are all either less active or recent converts. He has also volunteered to help people in a cancer center. He told me that there is absolutely no way that he would be doing these things if it wasn't for the church. It was so soothing to hear. His testimony is so strong and I am so thankful for the opportunity that I have had to get to know him. I know that I knew him in the pre-existence. He was a friend of mine before we received our calls to come to earth. That has been made known to me on many occasions.

My studies lately have revolved a lot around the talk, "Cast not Away Therefore Your Confidence" by Elder Holland. Like I said earlier, it is amazing to me to see how many people have at one time been illuminated by the spirit, forgotten the feeling/illumination, and turned away from what they knew at one time was true. Lesson one from Elder Holland's talk is to REMEMBER THE REAL THING. Satan can hedge up the way, marshal Pharaoh's forces and dog our escape right to the water's edge, but he cannot produce the real thing. He cannot conquer if we will it otherwise. Before receiving answers, Satan strives to discourage us. Afterwards, he strives to cause us to doubt. His fiery darts never cease until we bind him by our own righteousness in such a way that he has no power, just as he won't have power during the millennium. We can all start the millennium early, in our own personal lives and ways. Lesson number two: Don't miss the opportunity of a lifetime by not seizing it in the lifetime of the opportunity. After spiritual illumination has occurred, Satan's greatest tool is fear. Don't fear nor forget the miracles that have gotten us to where we are. Resist the temptation to panic and give up. Yes, those feelings are temptations and choices we can make. At those times, fear will be the adversary’s strongest weapon. After we have received the revelation, "go forward...don't fear, don't vacillate, don't quibble, don't whine." Lesson number three. If God has told you something is right, if something is indeed true for you, He will provide the way for you to accomplish it. That is true with any worthy pursuit in life. Hence the reason Nephi was so sure that the Lord would provide a way for him "that he may accomplish the thing, which the Lord [had] commanded him."

Too often we forget. I would hope that steady, earnest, energetic effort in having spiritual experiences will help us to never forget the real thing. Constant impressions and spiritual illumination is possible. We might not be able to be the prophet of the church, but we can be the prophet of our own individual lives. It is a gift which those who have the gift of the Holy Ghost are all entitled to. It is called personal revelation. Joseph Smith has said that "salvation cannot come without revelation." He isn't referring to prophetic revelation necessarily, but individual revelatory experiences that help us to gain a testimony of the truth.

Thanks for all you do! I love and appreciate you more than you know.

Love,

Elder Mouritsen

P.S. Please apologize to those who have written me but I haven't responded to. At the library we have a very short amount of time to do our emails.

February 22-27, 2012: "It's because I trust you"

Good to hear from you.

I can't believe that Grandpa Brent is 70! In my mind he still isn't 60... Maybe it's all the fishing trips and activities he puts himself through that keep him so young. I bet that was fun! I can't believe how grown up people are getting. Lacey... a boyfriend?? Crazy how much time has gone by.

This week I have come to a further realization of how awesome President Taylor is. We needed him to perform a 2nd interview for Preston to be baptized. We scheduled the interview for Wednesday at 1:00. Preston didn't show up until 1:45. I was pretty nervous and felt pretty bad for having him sit there and wait awhile. At the same time, I was shocked at his response. We sat in the foyer and chatted about the mission, pictures that were on the walls, scriptures, and then the conversation turned over to his family and our families and then to sports. He was a sports writer for the Deseret News so he can definitely talk sports. It was so cool to see how personable he is. He also asked me if we could go into the chapel together and talk about some "district" stuff that I was dealing with. Of all that was said in our little interview, that which stuck out to me the most was when he said, "This is something I would tell only one, or two, or three missionaries in the entire mission. It's because I trust you." That line "I trust you" hit me so hard. I was nearly brought to tears hearing that my mission president trusts me. I can't even recall exactly what we talked about but I remember him saying that. I also remember not yesterday but the Sunday before speaking with him after a stake coordination meeting with the Peoria stake president. He pulled Elder Brothers and me aside to ask us a few questions regarding an investigator and the missionaries we live with. At the end of our conversation, he pulled me in for a hug and whispered in my ear, "You are a good friend." He has such a loving leadership style that emulates the Savior in all aspects. Every time I see him and Sister Taylor I get a smile on my face and can't wait to speak with them.

Yesterday was our stake conference. There were a few quotes from the speakers that stood out to me. I will share a few with you. "Until the Lord says, 'it is finished' - there is no holiday or weekend. The work goes on daily." "You never realize the blessings the temple brings until you are almost dependent on them." That was said by a YSA age girl whose mom was less active in the church and dad wasn't a member until she was about ten years old. She, her siblings, and her dad were all baptized and then sealed in the temple a few years later. Last year her dad was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer. "Those who honor others will be humble, and those who humble themselves will be honored." "[Jesus] lived in a time when His communication was limited. But He lives on today, and is the greatest person and figure ever to come to earth." "Jesus taught that sometimes it's okay to make a stand, like when he turned the tables in the temple, while sometimes it is okay to turn the other cheek."

Two weeks ago we started teaching a YSA age kid named Kolt. Yes, it's weird to teach someone with my same name. He loves the family values in the church. We had a very spiritual discussion based on the restoration of the gospel. This last week we decided to watch the movie Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration with him. We hoped to clarify some of the things he had heard regarding the prophet Joseph. The spirit touched him in a different way. There is a part in the movie when the prophet Joseph's dad is dying and he asks Joseph if he will see Alvin again. Joseph responds that he will. When Kolt was five years old, his own dad passed away. Tears were brought to his eyes as a similar experience was portrayed in the movie. We taught him, and assured him, that he would see his dad again. Tears continued to flow. We invited him to be baptized. He said that he hadn't yet received a spiritual confirmation that the Book of Mormon is true. In my mind I was thinking, "Dude what are you feeling right now?!?" I actually vocalized that now that I think of it. He pondered that for a moment and said that he just wanted to know for sure. He wanted to have a definite experience while reading the Book of Mormon. We continue to promise him that it will come. The problem is that he hasn't recognized the other answers that have already come. Often times the Lord answers our prayers with other experiences that we go through in life. Hopefully he will come to that realization soon.

We have been helping a less active family to become active again. It's a rough situation where they were severely turned off by a former bishop. Long story, but they have now been less active for a few years. When we knocked on their door they were shocked and invited us right in. They said they had been wanting to get back active for a while now. They also have a 9 year old daughter who we have been teaching and who will be getting baptized in the middle of March. Good stuff! Things are definitely looking up.

In a recent study in Doctrine and Covenants 43:25 I listed all the ways that the Lord calls upon us. Here are ways that I found; the mouth of His servants, ministering angels, His own voice, thunderings, lightnings, tempests, earthquakes, hailstorms, famines, pestilences, a sound of a trump, judgment, mercy, glory, honor, riches of eternal life, etc. I will finish with a quote that is on our fridge in our apartment. It's by Neal A. Maxwell. "The Lord does not send thunder if a still small voice is enough." We have to be in tune to hear it.

Thanks for all you do. I love an appreciate you all.

Love,

Elder Mouritsen

February 14-21, 2012: "The Lord wasn't punishing, but shaping me."

Hola familia!

It's always so good to hear from you. I can't believe all those who are returning home from missions. It's a weird feeling. I'm glad things are going well there!

This week has been pretty good. This past transfer has been a huge learning experience for me. Through the ups and downs I have learned a lot more about me; how I deal with them, how I prioritize, what to focus on, what to look forward to, etc. We learn in Doctrine and Covenants 18 that the worth of souls is great in the sight of God and that our joy will be great if we save but one soul in the kingdom of heaven. Of course we know that that "one soul" is ourselves, and once we've "saved" ourselves we can be used to save others. I believe that this last transfer has helped me to re-group and remember all that the Lord has done for me. Through the ups and downs, the Lord has helped me and saved me. These next two transfers are going to be "phenomenal!"

Last Thursday we had our district meeting. I was pondering a lot about what to focus on in the meeting. Early in the week when I was going over the numbers I compiled a list of questions that I was going to ask to the district to see where we are at and how to get on track. There are two missionaries in the district who love to pick and choose what to be obedient with. It's frustrating at times. While compiling these questions, I got all frustrated and was ready to CHASTISE at the meeting. I was ready to talk about the specific things that I had seen that were disobedient. They weren't big, but disobedience is still disobedience. The day of the meeting I had an impression to start off by raising the simple question of, "Why are you on a mission?" I gave each missionary a chance to stand up and bear their testimony regarding that question. The spirit came in very strong. By the time each missionary had a chance, the spirit was telling me a different route to go about the meeting. Instead of "reproving with sharpness" as stated in D&C 121, it became a meeting ran by love and desire to be better and do what’s right. I asked questions of, "How are we spending the Lord's time? Is it being spent with our own personal needs? Or His needs?" I shared a brief experience with them: Often times in this past transfer I have wondered why we haven't been finding those who are ready and willing to make changes in their lives. Questions like, 'Why wouldn't the Lord place them in our path? Are we not worthy? Are we not following the spirit? etc.' It was very hard for me to accept. Then a thought came into my mind, "Remember Zion's Camp." As I recalled the experience of Zion's Camp I remembered that what actually occurred on the camp wasn't what the men had first anticipated. They were thinking they would be fighting and defending the people. But the Lord had a different plan. His plan was of greater importance. My questions of why, why, why, turned to questions of 'what would You have me learn Lord?' We know that the Lord chose His leaders, who went on the lead the church, from those who endured Zion's Camp. What would He have me learn? There has been a greater purpose to the lack of work and success over the past few weeks and I finally have found that the Lord wasn't punishing, but shaping me. The work will always progress in one way or another, often times it's not in the way we perceive. By the end of the discussion, we turned to Alma 24:12-18 (the story of the Anti-Nephi-Lehies). We read through those verses about how they sacrificed and covenanted with the Lord to be better. I asked the missionaries, "What more can we sacrifice?" We then went around the room and each stated one thing that we would sacrifice to become more obedient, consecrated missionaries. It's been awesome to see the progression.

We have been making many visits to less active members over the past few weeks. We hope to save those who are lost and to find those who may not already be members. In my experience, I have noticed that many people become offended because of an experience they had with another member, a mere human being. My key learning from this experience is that people can have a testimony in either the people, or the gospel. Having a testimony in the people is having a testimony in something imperfect, and Satan can easily weave his way in to cause that testimony to shake. Offense, doubts, and blame become the excuses of leaving the church. Having a testimony of the gospel is having a testimony in something perfect. We often times tell people we meet who become offended that the church and the gospel are perfect, and the people are far from it. What are we going to have our testimonies rooted in? I read a talk this morning while taking a missionary to a counselor. President Monson made this comment; "Increasingly, some celebrities and others who...are in the public eye have a tendency to ridicule religion in general and, at times, the church in particular. If our testimonies are not firmly enough rooted, such criticisms can cause us to doubt our own beliefs or to waver in our resolves."

Last night was an awesome experience for me. We had our FHE activity. Our ward invited many of the surrounding YSA wards to learn how to Salsa dance by some professionals. Of course we didn't participate. When I walked in the door of the building, I noticed a familiar face in the foyer. It was Mark Coleman. I can't tell you how good I felt to see him! He spoke in stake priesthood meeting and was also sustained to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood. Yes, it's only been three months. He will probably have a leadership calling in the not too distant future. He is the man. While talking with him, a whole slew of members from the Phoenix North YSA rushed in the doors and all I heard was, "MOURITSEN!! MOURITSEN!! Where have you been?!" It was so good to see some familiar faces. We chatted the rest of the evening. We had one investigator come to the activity and I think that he enjoyed himself. His name is Kolt. It's weird to teach him and call him my own name... haha

Last night we had a long chat with all the missionaries in the apartment. We called it an "apartment companionship inventory." The other companionship has not been getting along. I shared an insight that you (dad) taught me as a child that I think I have shared with you before in my emails. I took it a step further though. The insight is to always have something to look forward to. In my youth, we always had either a vacation, a holiday, or a fun family party to look forward to. The excitement and anticipation helped to get through the work or school in between. As missionaries, we too need to have things to look forward to on daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly levels. If we don't, we will be miserable. I've noticed that I can easily tell where my heart is at by seeing what I am looking forward to. If I look forward to P-day, my heart is not in the right place. But If I look forward to teaching certain lessons, finding people to teach, and helping people come unto Christ, then I'm happy and feel worthy of the spirit. This exercise of finding what you look forward to is easy to see where your heart is truly at. I'm looking forward to baptizing people in the next coming months. I'm looking forward to teaching them and watching their faith grow. I'm looking forward to being an instrument in the Lord's hand to answer the prayer of someone in need. I'm looking forward to learning as adverse conditions and hardships come. It's a great day to be a missionary and I look forward to every minute of it!

I love you all and hope you are having a great week. One of the missionaries in our apartment is getting transferred...very good thing. We are excited with the work that is coming.

Thank you for the letters. I will try to get to writing to you asap. We got permission to play some baseball on a field near our church today... The field is immaculate. Also, I don't think I've told you but the Padres and the Mariner's play their spring training games right here in my area. I tried to get permission to go but it was a no go. Haha We will definitely come down next spring! :)

Love,

Elder Colt Mouritsen

Making contacts at Glendale Community College. And yes, people thought we were Disney recruiters.

An early morning hike with Elder Griessman

The Peoria Zone

February 7-13, 2012: One of those weeks...

Hello Fam,

That is awesome news about your cousin Tom and his sons. I bet that was huge for your Aunt D'Anne to experience. It's amazing how the gospel blesses families. It's no coincidence that that principle is the second principle we teach, only preceded by the fact that God is our loving Heavenly Father. That knowledge has pulled me through so many times during my mission. It reminds me of an experience with you dad, when I was in dire need of help up on the trail after rolling my ankle for the third time that summer. I remember sitting under the shade of a tree with tears in my eyes pleading with my Father in Heaven that He would send "someone" to help me. As time passed and the pain in my ankle increased, my pleas became more fervent. It was then that I looked up from my beaten state only to hear fast moving footsteps coming down the trail. I saw you (dad) come around the corner. You picked me up and carried me on your shoulders up and down those hills all the way back to the car. You don't know what kind of impact that had on me at that moment in my life. I remember being so grateful for an earthly Father who was in-tune enough to listen to the promptings of a Heavenly Father, who cared enough for one of His sons in distress. Thank you.

This week has been one of those weeks. "Those weeks" are necessary to appreciate the good ones though. It's all part of the plan. Can't know up, without knowing down. Tuesday was Zone Conference. It was fun to get together with a bunch of other missionaries in the west valley area. We were combined with the Surprise/Surprise North zone. We got to see a new part of the mission (not too different from the rest) way out in North Surprise. We were taught about the laws and ordinances of the gospel. President and Sister Taylor are amazing. I love spending any bit of time that I can with them. That's one downside to no longer being a zone leader.

Thursday was the day we planned to go to Glendale Community College and set up a table with supplies to hand out to passersby. It was so much fun! We didn't know how it all would pan out but we set up outside at one of the busiest parts of the campus. I can only compare it to the commons area at Weber just north of the Union building where all those water falls are. We talked to people for the better part of two and a half hours. It was good for Elder Brothers to get out of his comfort zone and talk. Our focus was on the Easter Pageant that will be happening in April. Luckily we received all the pass along cards at Zone Conference. Many people walked up to us and asked all sorts of questions. It's been amazing to see just how much people THINK they know about the church. I think the mormon.org campaign and Mitt Romney stuff has caused a lot of the other "Christian" churches around here teach their members all about our church. And you can imagine what they are teaching them. I've never come across so many people who verbally attack, bash, belittle, and demean us and the church than I have in the past few weeks. It makes sense though. Satan has got to have an answer when the church does something new. We were able to answer many questions correctly and help people to believe that we do believe in Christ (haha), that we are Christian, that we don't have 17 wives, etc. Following our time at GCC, we had a good lesson with the "golden" investigator that I told you about in the past. His name is Preston. We planned to teach him about the commandments. He ended up teaching us. Haha He is solid. He came to church on Sunday and walked up to the bishop and said, "Bishop I just wanted to let you know that I plan on getting baptized into your ward on February 25th." The bishop liked that.

Saturday we were on exchanges with the zone leaders. I was in my area and we had some great lessons with great investigators. One of which was a man named Rick. Rick came to church last week and absolutely loved it. We taught him about the restoration of the gospel and he totally accepted it, including the invitation to be baptized. We talked about primary for his 10 year old daughter and he was very interested in that. He said that he would be at church the next day with his daughter and wanted to meet her primary teacher. Rick has always been a man of his word. He ended the lesson with a great prayer and we went on our way. Church came on Sunday and no Rick. I texted him to see what was up and got no response. This was very odd because like I said, he had always been a man of his word and responded quickly to our messages. On top of the discouragement of him not coming, I had woken up that morning with a terrible pain in my sinuses. It has gone away since but I just felt terrible all day yesterday. Chills, runny nose, sneezing, congestion, headache, you name it. That night we planned to go and visit Rick and see if everything was okay. We knocked on his door, he answered and was extremely perturbed. He made the comment that someone from the church had come by his place unannounced before and he did not like that at all. He said he had been attending to some needs earlier that day and didn't want anything to do with us. He then slammed the door, saying he didn't want to meet ever again. We were shocked and dumbfounded. How could things change so dramatically in just a day? We left feeling quite rejected, depressed, and alone. It was a long quiet drive back.

Last night was a tough night. I found comfort in the scriptures and in prayer. The other elders that we live with came in our room and we had a very serious talk about the power of God and the power of the adversary. One of the elders has been struggling lately with some temptations and feelings that have been bringing him down. All of a sudden I felt a renewed strength and began teaching and helping him to buck up, take it in stride, see the good in life, and know that there will always be opposition. He asked certain questions about whether or not we are born with certain susceptibilities to sins and weaknesses. I remembered back to a key learning I had shared with you about what the apostles thoughts are on that. We might be more susceptible to things in life, but that doesn't mean that we are forced to fall. As Paul taught, we all have "thorns in the flesh" that are harder for us to overcome, but like Paul, we can pray fervently and act accordingly to know what we need to do to overcome. Paul talks about how the grace of the Savior is sufficient for all men, and all man can and will receive comfort through the midst or mist of adverse conditions when faith is placed in Him. The elder felt better. We proceeded to have what seemed to be an informal testimony meeting, talking about all sorts of questions we have about life and the gospel. It was a great discussion and the struggling missionary made a heartfelt needed comment of, "I feel the spirit." Once again, the feeling is enough. That feeling helped me and Elder Brothers overcome the experience of being rejected by what we thought was a solid investigator. We continue to press on and find strength in the atonement and the constant assurance that we are worthy of the spirit. That feeling is the surest indicator of worthiness and that we are forgiven.

The church is true. We find ourselves in adverse conditions. I found that to be true on many occasions. Thanks for taking the challenge to try hard things. I wish others in this area would do the same! :)

Thanks for all you do. I sincerely love and appreciate who each of you are and who you are becoming.

Love,

Your son and brother,

Elder Mouritsen

January 31 - February 6, 2012: "Do we do what we are capable of doing?"

Hello fam!

Phenomenal letter dad. I wish I could make sense of what I write half as good as you do! 100 days eh? That’s scary... I've been reading one section of the Doctrine and Covenants a day for the past 40 days so that I will be able to read the great section 138 when President Smith reveals the true doctrine of how the gospel is preached to those in the spirit world on the last day of my mission. With this, I realized that day 100 was hit on Saturday. It's an emotional feeling to think back over the past 20 some odd months. I never thought I would grow so close and become so attached to so many people in such a short amount of time. Also, I don't know if you remember this, but February 3 was the day that I received my mission call two years ago. Two fetchin' years! I couldn't believe it. And two years ago today (I think) I went through the temple to be endowed with power from on high. What an amazing experience the past two years have been. More experiences that breed growth have come in the past two years than the entire previous 19 years of my life. Just like when the gospel was restored to the prophet Joseph Smith in the early 1800s the world experienced tremendous growth technologically. There's no doubt in my mind that the Lord's hand was in that. There is also no doubt in my mind then when we each personally make the gospel a priority in our own lives that the Lord's hand provides further experiences that forge growth just as He did for the world following the restoration of His gospel. One funny key learning I've had regarding the time the gospel was restored: In the year 1830, the year the church was formally organized, the United States Patent Office in Washington D.C. closed because "everything that ever could be invented, had been invented." The rest is history.

My roller coaster has been up this week. Investigators and teaching opportunities have been coming out of the wood work. We've been really hitting the ward roster hard in attempt to regain the trust of the ward. In our quest to find less-active members and part member families, we have found MANY who have moved away. I know the Lord puts us in places He needs us at specific times and we have found that several of the inhabitants of the homes of the former members have been interested in the gospel. One man by the name of Sean was the most uninviting and uninterested from his outward appearance. He has tattoos from head to toe. Seriously, not a spot of skin shows through on his arms. His neck, chest, knuckles, back, you name it is covered in tattoos. We still talked to him. We found him to be one of the most sincere, humble people who has been searching for truth for quite some time. In a brief, 1 minute conversation on his drive way, we talked about the Church of Jesus Christ being restored to today in its fullness to a prophet. His friend who wasn't very into the conversation tried to crack a joke by asking, "So why did you guys choose to come to Arizona? Isn't there any other place you could have gone?" In all seriousness, I looked him in the eyes and said, "we have been called by a prophet of God to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people here. God has sent us and He knows where we need to be and who we need to talk to." I then talked briefly about the process of a missionary receiving his mission call. Sean overheard this conversation. He was amazed that I answered so seriously. For the next several days, he talked to co-workers and friends about there being a prophet on the earth. He would say things like, "Dude can you believe it? An actual prophet. A prophet like MOSES is on the earth...TODAY! It just blows my mind. I love it." We met with him a few days after that first discussion and taught him lesson 1 from Preach My Gospel. He seriously agreed with everything we taught him. We invited him to be baptized and he accepted. He works a lot and wasn't able to come to church but we are very excited to continue to teach him and watch him progress. He is one who will look good in white.

We received a very welcomed referral this past week also. The Lord is really blessing us. A young man by the name of Preston has grown up Catholic his entire life. He began to study the religion and realized that each pope would change basic doctrines taught in the church that he didn't really agree with. Well that didn't sit well with Preston. He began researching other religions and got his hands on a Book of Mormon. He thoroughly read through it. Around the same time he was talking to some girl on a free online chat room. She happened to be from Mesa and is a member of the church. They met up and began dating. Preston continued to research the church and referred himself through mormon.org. When we got to him, he was already in 3 Nephi and could quote certain stories better than most missionaries. He already knew it was true. He brought up baptism and requested that we help him get baptized. Obviously, though the invitation seemed a bit backwards, we accepted. He will be baptized on February 25th. Pretty dang sweet! It's true that angels are preparing the hearts of the children of men.

So we have been trying to find new "fun" ways to find people to teach. Glendale Community College happens to be in our area and we devised the bright idea to go see what we could do when it came to proselyting on campus. We didn't want to make our attempt unwelcomed so we just went and sat on a bench for a little while and said hello to people as they walked by. We had more success sitting on that bench while people came up to us to talk than we have had knocking doors. It was pretty cool. I then thought, "hmmm, I wonder if the administration would be opposed to us setting up a table with pamphlets and pictures to hand out to people while we talk to them?" We went to the administration building. The lady there told us that we would need to go to the Student Life services office and speak with the people there. We did so. The lady there told us that she would need to talk to another man who was able to give permission for such things and that she would call us the next day. She also said that usually it costs $50 a day for people to do such a thing. Well we were discouraged and didn't count on really hearing back so we walked around campus for a little while and then left. The next morning we got a call. It was the lady from Student Life telling us that it was totally fine for us to set up a table and that we would just need to tell them before we set up so that they can inform security before they haul us off. We were stoked! This Thursday we are planning to go do some "Dan Jones'n" at the commons area at Glendale Community College! We'll see what happens. Hopefully we don't start a riot and get killed by anti-mormon students. Gotta stand as a witness of God at all times, in all things, and in all places though right? Yeah...

Last night I was going through some old letters I got from you. One that I pulled out was one that you left on my pillow the night I was set apart as a missionary. As I read through it I realized that I had never answered a question that you raised to me. You said, "What would you like your family to accomplish while you are serving in Arizona?" Honestly, I feel you all have accomplished all that I could ever dream of because of your written testimonies and experiences that you share with me so frequently. I would have said that I would want you to have an experience each month that you could recognize and see how it has strengthened your testimony regarding a certain topic. Without me having to vocalize that 20 months ago, I feel it has been accomplished and continues to be accomplished. Thank you for providing me with such peace of mind that my family is well and that their testimonies are strong. This is a rough world in which we live and I think at times we take our testimonies for granted. I hope we can have experiences that cause us to not take them for granted. One "accomplishment" that I would add at this point in my mission, is to set a goal to do something hard. Do something you wouldn't normally do and work until you can feel successful. A quote I think of regularly is, "Do I do what I'm expected or what I'm capable of?" We are capable of so much. Sometimes it's undesired to rise above the expectations of the world. It's necessary. In my study I wrote this, "Stand up for what’s right when it's inconvenient. Call people out when they’re wrong and invite them to change." President Beck used to always say, "If you don't speak up when you see disobedience the very first time you notice, it's as if you put your stamp of approval on it and the person will never change." I listened to a talk recently and heard this story:

A stake president in Salt Lake City was speaking at a fireside with youth when President McKay walked in and sat a few rows back from the front. Upon making eye contact with the prophet, the stake president nearly swallowed his tie. Halfway through his talk he felt an impression. It had nothing to do with his topic. He followed the impression and said, "Brothers and sisters, before this world was formed each of you need to know that you served as captains and generals in the Lord's army." He kept going on with his talk. Afterwards, he sat down and noticed President McKay grilling him with his eyes. He went and asked him if he had gotten carried away and said anything out of line. President McKay responded, "not out of line, but inaccurate. There were no captains here tonight, they were all generals." He turned and walked away.

If we knew who we were before this life it would scare us. I don't think there is any coincidence that each of us have been born in these last days. We have no right to dink around with the dumb things of the world and not live up to the full potential God would have us achieve. In D&C 38:12 it talks about how angels are waiting the great command to reap down the earth, to gather the tares. At the time of the revelation, I believe we were there among those angels with that same desire, and that our future families are still there with that desire.

I hope you have a great week! I love you all so much! Write some letters!

Love,

Elder Colt Mouritsen