Dear Family,
Great letter! I was wondering, does mom attend the Davis Park with you or does she stay in the Hidden Valley Ward? The bishopric members here have their wives come with them to church. That may be because each of them are quite old and at least one of them is retired. No offense but I guess that's how "normal" singles ward bishoprics are. Haha Nah I'm kidding, I think a young bishopric would be awesome to be around!
Yesterday, two recent converts spoke in sacrament meeting. One of them was Tiffany Schmidt, who was baptized in the beginning of December. I can't imagine standing in front of that many people and speaking about something that I haven't even learned much about yet. She did amazing though. And on top of it all, she was scheduled to speak on February 13th, but the 2nd counselor in the bishopric texted her the night before around midnight and said that they had a cancellation and asked if she would move her talk up to yesterday! She said, "of course! Because then if either of the elders get transferred they will be able to hear it!" It was really neat to hear her relay to us her conversion story. She was so humorous, yet so humble and strong that it kept everyone on the edge of their seats. Her experience in coming to know the truthfulness of the gospel opened my eyes to a few things.
1. Satan will stop at nothing to cause us to feel miserable just as he is.
2. God places people and experiences in our path (opportunities to succeed) to help us along the way.
3. We need to do all that we can to recognize the miracles which we have received already, and that we receive on a daily basis, and give thanks for them.
I think we will be pleasantly surprised just how much our Father in Heaven's hand was in on our lives when we return to His presence. In a recent dinner appointment I shared the scripture in 3 Nephi 2:1 which I think I have told you about before. The context of the Book of Mormon at this point is when Christ is now on the earth in Jerusalem, the sign of His birth has been given, and yet many people are becoming wicked despite the teachings of the prophets here in the Americas. The Gadianton Robbers are becoming very ferocious to the point where Nephites and Lamanites have to join sides in protecting themselves. Many people among the Nephites and Lamanites slowly but surely become wicked as well and I love how in verse one it says this: "And it came to pass that thus passed away the ninety and fifth year also, and the people began to forget those signs and wonders which they had heard, and began to be less and less astonished at a sign or a wonder from heaven, insomuch that they began to be hard in their hearts, and blind in their minds, and began to disbelieve all which they had heard and seen—" The people had SEEN miracles, and I can only imagine the magnitude of some of those miracles. How about the sun going down but the world not becoming dark? The new star arising in the sky? Even through these powerful miracles, which caused multitudes of people to fall to the earth as if they were dead, Satan continued to do all that he could to deceive the onlookers. 3 Nephi 1:22 "And it came to pass that from this time forth there began to be lyings sent forth among the people, by Satan, to harden their hearts, to the intent that they might not believe in those signs and wonders which they had seen; but notwithstanding these lyings and deceivings the more part of the people did believe, and were converted unto the Lord." Even when they had PROOF of the prophecy being fulfilled Satan tried to make them believe it wasn't true. In our lives we might witness miracles that seem to be at the magnitude of something such as this, but more often than not they are going to be little experiences or happenings that we often don't even recognize. Just a few years after "the more part of the people...were converted unto the Lord" they "began to forget those signs and wonders which they had heard, and began to be less and less astonished at a sign or wonder from heaven." I hope we can continually be watchful of those things which the Lord blesses us with on a daily basis. I know that in my experience as a missionary I strive to recognize each experience I have. It's hard at times because sometimes the same spiritual experiences happen and sometimes I become numb to how powerful they should be, but I strive to never forget to thank my Heavenly Father.
Just like the people in the Book of Mormon, Tiffany was blessed with miracles in her life which led her to the Church of Jesus Christ. Even after much study and contemplation on lds.org and mormon.org, somehow she was led to sites which held "anti-mormon" material. She expressed the feeling that came from mormon.org being one of peace and comfort, and the anti sites being "weird." This hindered her focus and caused her to put off the decision to come to church. Then, all of a sudden one day she received the prompting to just up and go to church. She looked up the nearest one on mormon.org and it happened to be our singles ward. So she came. She loved every minute of it. Her testimony is extremely strong! She's already performed baptisms for the dead and is planning on getting her Patriarchal Blessing in the next few weeks. She is also serving as the Relief Society Secretary. It is so cool to see people change for the better!
Sunday morning we had our monthly stake report with the stake president, high counselor over missionary work, and a member of the mission presidency. We were able to have President Beck in the meeting. The goal was to try and see what they wanted us to focus on when we train the wards on missionary work. It turns out that they aren't going to enforce auxiliaries to attend coordination meetings but that we still will be focusing on the five names program. Despite the discouragement of changing from what we did last year, we felt good about what would be happening and that we could finally see what direction the stake was going in. President Beck encouraged us to focus on the things which we can control and serve with love, asking how we can be of service to our leaders in this part of the vineyard.
It's so good to hear about the update on the girls! I hope everything goes well with their athletics! Today for a zone activity we are going bowling. It's like a dollar for shoes and a dollar per game on Mondays so why not right?! Haha
Thanks for all you do! You should watch this video and maybe even show it to the YSA ward when you talk about missionary work sometime.
https://lds.org/youth/video/inviting-all-to-come-unto-christ-sharing-the-gospel?lang=eng
It's on that site. Amazing!
I love you very much! Thanks for all you do!
Love,
Elder Mouritsen
Monday, January 31, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
January 18-24, 2011: Alma the Younger & other conversions
Well hey!
A little insight on all our investigators/recent converts:
Timothy: Big, BIG guy. Baptized on November 27th. Doing really well and loves to share the gospel. He always has something to share in elders quorum regarding a way that he is building his testimony and/or sharing the gospel with others.
Erika: Smart, witty, outgoing girl. Baptized on November 20th. We had a new member lesson with her on Sunday and she told us about how she is a nanny for this family in Scottsdale. She showed us a picture of the family and then went on to tell us the guy's name is Eric Chavez, and that he used to play for the Oakland A's. ERIC CHAVEZ!?!? You gotta be kidding me!! He's the third basemen I would always choose for my fantasy drafts when I would play Xbox! He's legit! She told me she would do all that she can to get him to sign a baseball for me, or maybe a tie or something haha. He has a mini baseball field in his backyard for his kids to play on.
Tiffany Schmidt: SOLID! Single mother of a young daughter. Baptized on December 4th. She's already been to the temple and done baptisms for the dead and her daughter has received a baby blessing. She's very excited to meet a worthy priesthood holder and get sealed in the temple.
Stefania: Baptized December 25th. Ward photographer.
Dustin: Baptized December 25th. Fuels air crafts in the army. He told us about a ship he fueled once that cost over $100,000 to fill up! That's a lot of gas!
Will Wight: Grown up a Jehovah's Witness his entire life but has had friends who are Mormon. Met a girl in our singles ward and have now been dating about a year. He wanted to get baptized awhile ago but wasn't 18 yet and his mom would not allow it. He had his first Christmas this year, spent with his girlfriend’s family (because Jehovah Witnesses don't celebrate holidays) and then was baptized on January 22. He can't wait to receive the Priesthood and go on a mission.
Those are the recent converts. We have several that are very close to baptism. Ken Law was hoping to be baptized next week but has not been able to give up the cigarettes. He tries every once in awhile but he just can't get over that 72 hour hump. He gets so angry and unpleasant so he is now shooting for February 12th and has bought himself a nicotine patch to try to release some of the effects of quitting. He's solid and has lived a very tough life. We've been able to watch him to go from a depressed, uncaring, unfaithful druggie, to a happy, loving, outgoing, hard working saint. He shared with us that his mom is a less active member of the church living in Wisconsin and that each of his brothers have been killed in various ways. His mom is so heartbroken, that she told him that if he was ever killed that she would kill herself. Ken got so depressed at one point that he wanted to end his life, but felt that his mom has taken that option away from him because of that promise she gave him, of taking her own life. Since then, a new light has entered his life and he has begun to fall in love with the gospel and the happiness it brings. It's truly the most fulfilling feeling, seeing somebody's life change because of our Savior and the gospel. We are teaching these twin girls named Vanessa and Dominique. They are... NUTS! haha so much energy! Last week we had a lesson with Vanessa, the crazier of the two. She is so funny and is actually quite smart but I have the feeling there is something that keeps her from being able to focus very well. We took a girl from our ward over there named Amy Huff and she was so good with them. We had a very simple, yet spiritual lesson focusing on our Savior and what he's done for us.
There are a few others we are teaching but at the moment we are struggling to find people who fit the category of a young single adult. We are pushing the members very hard to try to prepare their friends to learn more because it's really hard for us! Preach My Gospel says that anybody who has ever been on a mission knows that there is a better way to perform missionary work than just tracting, and that way is through the members!
We did have an unbelievable experience this week. We have an awesome Stake President who has an awesome family. One of his sons has gone off the deep end for about 6 years though and the family has tried to help him out of his misery numerous times. I will call his name Jeff. Several years ago Jeff broke his leg pretty badly and was given some pretty powerful pain killers. After several refills of the pill, his brain started to make him think that he was still hurting when he had no pain at all. By the fourth refill, his doctor told him no more because he knew there was no reason he should need them. By now Jeff was addicted and couldn't help himself but to make weekly drives to California and buy pain killers by the thousands. This addiction went on for many years. He also was caught in a bad relationship with a girl while he was away at college and began drinking and smoking as well. He tried to get help from rehab centers but the craving began to be so bad that he would have friends bring him drugs, while he was there. Finally, he would just run away. He ended up fleeing back to his parents and told them that he wanted to take a semester or so up at BYU. They were extremely pleased by this and thought that this decision would help him to get back on track. Not at all. He hated BYU, hated going to church, still was involved in many wrong things, ended up homeless in Utah, bummed a couple hundred bucks and a ride off some friends to Las Vegas, went to a dentist in Vegas complaining of a tooth ache where he was prescribed pain killers, went to a casino, got drunk, and burned all of his money gambling. He now felt the misery, pain, and sorrow he was bringing himself. He would cry himself to sleep nightly, trying to find some help. He found himself back in Phoenix where he came and visited our singles ward. He still was taking pain killers though and couldn't get himself off them. Saturday, January 15th, he went over to one of our Bishopric member’s homes for a potluck before the ward was going to go to the temple. While there he looked across the room at a guy named Michael Jacobsen. Now, Michael is slightly mentally handicapped but hasn't been that way his whole life. I guess Michael was in the Navy and was brutally abused by some other people there, leaving him the way that he is today. When Jeff saw Michael, he said that Michael was beaming with light that hadn't been there before. Jeff went up and asked him what was going on and why he was beaming so much. Michael responded, "I've finally been able to forgive those people who abused me so badly and caused me to become the way that I am." Jeff said that it was as if the entire world had just stopped and a load of bricks fell on top of him. For some reason he realized that finding God in His life was the only way to get himself out from all the misery and sorrow. He ended up going to the temple with the ward, but not inside of course. The next couple days he said that it was as if he had no energy. He couldn't even bring himself to his knees to say a prayer or read his scriptures. He just slept, not able to get up, for around 24 hours. Does this sound like anybody familiar? The next day we got a call from him. He asked us if there were any appointments he could come with us to. Surprised, we answered that there were. He is pretty much now in our companionship, calls us daily, comes street contacting, sets up his own appointments and finds us new investigators. He street contacted a guy last week who was a street sign holder dressed up in a statue of liberty costume and has now taught him by himself and prepared him to learn more about the Book of Mormon from us. There was something very powerful about this experience that has touched me very much. As he was relating this experience to us while we sat in his car, we told him that his entire story was in the Book of Mormon. We read with him Mosiah 27, and Alma 26. The story of Alma the Younger's conversion. Tears came down his face as we read. It was unbelievable the correlation! Going about destroying the church, gall of bitterness, sorrow, misery, angel-Michael Jacobsen, dumb for three days-asleep for 24 hours, immediate desire to share the gospel. Wow. He is now preparing himself to serve a mission. It will be awesome to attend if I am still here in this stake when that comes around. He is 23 years old.
We also had a zone conference this week that was great. The focus of course was finding the Lord's will in our planning and in all that we do. A very good "skill" to have in all of life I believe.
I'm grateful for you and the experiences we've shared together. Dad, I hope that when I return we can make some more trips up into the Wind Rivers or the Uintahs and relive those experiences we shared back in scouts. I had my first couple run-ins with scorpions this week. They are scary little things. We had to clean off our porch and one was hiding underneath the stuff that was being stored out there. You girls would love them! Maybe I'll send one home in one of my next packages... Be afraid. :)
I love you.
Elder Mouritsen
A little insight on all our investigators/recent converts:
Timothy: Big, BIG guy. Baptized on November 27th. Doing really well and loves to share the gospel. He always has something to share in elders quorum regarding a way that he is building his testimony and/or sharing the gospel with others.
Erika: Smart, witty, outgoing girl. Baptized on November 20th. We had a new member lesson with her on Sunday and she told us about how she is a nanny for this family in Scottsdale. She showed us a picture of the family and then went on to tell us the guy's name is Eric Chavez, and that he used to play for the Oakland A's. ERIC CHAVEZ!?!? You gotta be kidding me!! He's the third basemen I would always choose for my fantasy drafts when I would play Xbox! He's legit! She told me she would do all that she can to get him to sign a baseball for me, or maybe a tie or something haha. He has a mini baseball field in his backyard for his kids to play on.
Tiffany Schmidt: SOLID! Single mother of a young daughter. Baptized on December 4th. She's already been to the temple and done baptisms for the dead and her daughter has received a baby blessing. She's very excited to meet a worthy priesthood holder and get sealed in the temple.
Stefania: Baptized December 25th. Ward photographer.
Dustin: Baptized December 25th. Fuels air crafts in the army. He told us about a ship he fueled once that cost over $100,000 to fill up! That's a lot of gas!
Will Wight: Grown up a Jehovah's Witness his entire life but has had friends who are Mormon. Met a girl in our singles ward and have now been dating about a year. He wanted to get baptized awhile ago but wasn't 18 yet and his mom would not allow it. He had his first Christmas this year, spent with his girlfriend’s family (because Jehovah Witnesses don't celebrate holidays) and then was baptized on January 22. He can't wait to receive the Priesthood and go on a mission.
Those are the recent converts. We have several that are very close to baptism. Ken Law was hoping to be baptized next week but has not been able to give up the cigarettes. He tries every once in awhile but he just can't get over that 72 hour hump. He gets so angry and unpleasant so he is now shooting for February 12th and has bought himself a nicotine patch to try to release some of the effects of quitting. He's solid and has lived a very tough life. We've been able to watch him to go from a depressed, uncaring, unfaithful druggie, to a happy, loving, outgoing, hard working saint. He shared with us that his mom is a less active member of the church living in Wisconsin and that each of his brothers have been killed in various ways. His mom is so heartbroken, that she told him that if he was ever killed that she would kill herself. Ken got so depressed at one point that he wanted to end his life, but felt that his mom has taken that option away from him because of that promise she gave him, of taking her own life. Since then, a new light has entered his life and he has begun to fall in love with the gospel and the happiness it brings. It's truly the most fulfilling feeling, seeing somebody's life change because of our Savior and the gospel. We are teaching these twin girls named Vanessa and Dominique. They are... NUTS! haha so much energy! Last week we had a lesson with Vanessa, the crazier of the two. She is so funny and is actually quite smart but I have the feeling there is something that keeps her from being able to focus very well. We took a girl from our ward over there named Amy Huff and she was so good with them. We had a very simple, yet spiritual lesson focusing on our Savior and what he's done for us.
There are a few others we are teaching but at the moment we are struggling to find people who fit the category of a young single adult. We are pushing the members very hard to try to prepare their friends to learn more because it's really hard for us! Preach My Gospel says that anybody who has ever been on a mission knows that there is a better way to perform missionary work than just tracting, and that way is through the members!
We did have an unbelievable experience this week. We have an awesome Stake President who has an awesome family. One of his sons has gone off the deep end for about 6 years though and the family has tried to help him out of his misery numerous times. I will call his name Jeff. Several years ago Jeff broke his leg pretty badly and was given some pretty powerful pain killers. After several refills of the pill, his brain started to make him think that he was still hurting when he had no pain at all. By the fourth refill, his doctor told him no more because he knew there was no reason he should need them. By now Jeff was addicted and couldn't help himself but to make weekly drives to California and buy pain killers by the thousands. This addiction went on for many years. He also was caught in a bad relationship with a girl while he was away at college and began drinking and smoking as well. He tried to get help from rehab centers but the craving began to be so bad that he would have friends bring him drugs, while he was there. Finally, he would just run away. He ended up fleeing back to his parents and told them that he wanted to take a semester or so up at BYU. They were extremely pleased by this and thought that this decision would help him to get back on track. Not at all. He hated BYU, hated going to church, still was involved in many wrong things, ended up homeless in Utah, bummed a couple hundred bucks and a ride off some friends to Las Vegas, went to a dentist in Vegas complaining of a tooth ache where he was prescribed pain killers, went to a casino, got drunk, and burned all of his money gambling. He now felt the misery, pain, and sorrow he was bringing himself. He would cry himself to sleep nightly, trying to find some help. He found himself back in Phoenix where he came and visited our singles ward. He still was taking pain killers though and couldn't get himself off them. Saturday, January 15th, he went over to one of our Bishopric member’s homes for a potluck before the ward was going to go to the temple. While there he looked across the room at a guy named Michael Jacobsen. Now, Michael is slightly mentally handicapped but hasn't been that way his whole life. I guess Michael was in the Navy and was brutally abused by some other people there, leaving him the way that he is today. When Jeff saw Michael, he said that Michael was beaming with light that hadn't been there before. Jeff went up and asked him what was going on and why he was beaming so much. Michael responded, "I've finally been able to forgive those people who abused me so badly and caused me to become the way that I am." Jeff said that it was as if the entire world had just stopped and a load of bricks fell on top of him. For some reason he realized that finding God in His life was the only way to get himself out from all the misery and sorrow. He ended up going to the temple with the ward, but not inside of course. The next couple days he said that it was as if he had no energy. He couldn't even bring himself to his knees to say a prayer or read his scriptures. He just slept, not able to get up, for around 24 hours. Does this sound like anybody familiar? The next day we got a call from him. He asked us if there were any appointments he could come with us to. Surprised, we answered that there were. He is pretty much now in our companionship, calls us daily, comes street contacting, sets up his own appointments and finds us new investigators. He street contacted a guy last week who was a street sign holder dressed up in a statue of liberty costume and has now taught him by himself and prepared him to learn more about the Book of Mormon from us. There was something very powerful about this experience that has touched me very much. As he was relating this experience to us while we sat in his car, we told him that his entire story was in the Book of Mormon. We read with him Mosiah 27, and Alma 26. The story of Alma the Younger's conversion. Tears came down his face as we read. It was unbelievable the correlation! Going about destroying the church, gall of bitterness, sorrow, misery, angel-Michael Jacobsen, dumb for three days-asleep for 24 hours, immediate desire to share the gospel. Wow. He is now preparing himself to serve a mission. It will be awesome to attend if I am still here in this stake when that comes around. He is 23 years old.
We also had a zone conference this week that was great. The focus of course was finding the Lord's will in our planning and in all that we do. A very good "skill" to have in all of life I believe.
I'm grateful for you and the experiences we've shared together. Dad, I hope that when I return we can make some more trips up into the Wind Rivers or the Uintahs and relive those experiences we shared back in scouts. I had my first couple run-ins with scorpions this week. They are scary little things. We had to clean off our porch and one was hiding underneath the stuff that was being stored out there. You girls would love them! Maybe I'll send one home in one of my next packages... Be afraid. :)
I love you.
Elder Mouritsen
Monday, January 17, 2011
January 11-17, 2011: Missionaries need ward mission plans
Hey Family!
Well this week was reeeaall nice. Monday night-Tuesday was exchanges with the AP's. I was with Elder Tripp this time. He's a big 6'4" football player from Washington and a great missionary. He helped me out a lot with how to better myself and those within my stewardship. Wednesday we had district meeting, and then planned for our Zone Meeting and Ward Training for the next day. It turns out that the wards here are falling off the face of the earth when it comes to what we've been teaching them with how to work with the missionaries in their ward. They are supposed to be holding weekly coordination meeting with the full time missionaries, ward council, and ward missionaries. Many wards have decided to not do this anymore because the handbook says that ward council doesn't need to be there. Well... okay, that's fine but then it just all falls on the Ward Mission Leader to make all the assignments that the full time missionaries have for the Ward Council pertaining to their investigators. It seems as if each ward is taking their own stand as to what they want to do and it makes it very confusing in regards to what we need to train. President Beck has counseled us to just take it lightly and respond with, "Ok Bishop/Stake President, we are here to serve you. What would you have us do?" Many missionaries aren't even allowed into Ward Council on Sunday anymore to see if any of the assignments they made were followed up on. It's quite ridiculous. After a year of training on this specific thing, the whole stake has just gone haywire haha. Specific thing meaning: Weekly coordination meeting with ward council/missionaries, recap of assignments in Ward Council on Sundays, and then the five names plan presented by Elder Perry. Maybe it's too much work? I don't know! haha I like the quote you used, "Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty & well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, totally worn out & proclaiming, Wow, what a ride!” Service in the church is a life long process where we are always progressing! Our purpose here is to prepare ourselves to meet God right? (Alma 34:32) And in preparing ourselves we strive to pattern our lives after the perfect example of our Savior Jesus Christ correct? Well did Christ give up and decide to change His teachings/gospel? The plan that the mission/brethren have for each of the wards to participate in has been working extremely well! It's too bad that all of a sudden it all gets changed when it was going so well. Oh well, now I'm just venting haha but in regards to that we had a training meeting with the Country Gables ward on Thursday night. You know, my old stomping grounds. I knew all the people who were there in attendance and the new ward mission leader was a man I know very well. He's quite stubborn when he doesn't get his way and he will speak his mind in any situation. Well, President Morris (member of the mission presidency) came with us and ended up talking for 90% of the meeting on handbook 2 and what should be going on in the ward to make the missionary program work well. We then had about 15 minutes (we were supposed to have around 45 haha) to talk about how to use the five names in the ward mission plan. It went pretty well on our part! But the ward mission leader didn't think so. As he was walking out the door, he threw his hands up in the air, shook his head and said, "this is NOT how this was supposed to be." We had taught on everything within our sphere of influence and I think he was looking for a nice little work shop on how to be a ward mission leader. haha So that was a neat experience for a first time training... especially since it was one of my old wards whom I love so dearly.
Zone Meeting was awesome. We held it in the high council room which has a sweet table where exactly 18 people fit around the outside. We talked about mormon.org, receiving personal revelation, and our high councilman over missionary work was supposed to speak on member involvement but forgot and ended up telling his conversion story...haha dang. Then we trained on how to find the Lord's will in our planning. In everything that we do, we should ask: “Is that what the Lord would have us do?" or "Is that what the Lord should have us teach that investigator?" We have to realize we are on His time and His children's salvation are at stake so it's probably best that we do what He would have us do. It ended up being a great meeting.
Alright so, as you know we are only allowed a set amount of miles to drive in a month with our truck and that amount is 1,000 miles. We have driven a ton at the first part of the month so on Saturday we decided to bike the entire day because we didn't have very many appointments set up. We set up this route that we were going to take which would take us from our apartment (19th ave and Thunderbird) to 7th Street and Coral Gables, then South on 7th OVER THE MOUNTAIN all the way down to Bethany Home Rd, then west on Bethany Home to 19th ave, then north to Union Hills, and then back to our apartment. And the title of this adventure was going to be called, THE HELL SHAKER, courtesy of Alma 48:17. We were pumped! And then we started... Yeah, that hill on 7th Street... Well we haven't ridden in awhile and I remember you telling me from all of your running that you just have to keep your momentum as you are going up otherwise you will never get going again. So we pumped, and pumped, and pedaled, and nearly passed out in the bitter 70 degree weather. Finally, we hit the top and went downhill in what became the most fun, scariest, greatest adrenaline rush of my mission. We were FLYING!! It was so fun. We passed other bikers as if we were in cars and they were standing still. But, what goes up must come down and eventually, this "up" in regards to the fun which we were experiencing, came down once again once we hit the bottom. We talked to a lady on a street corner, and then collapsed in the dirt because we thought we were going to barf... We were there for 30-40 minutes, just laying there. We sure got a lot of weird looks, but nobody even stopped. We looked like a couple of bums on the side of the street. Eventually, we got up, the legs were so jello, the eyes were so blacked out from getting up too fast, so we sat back down. Haha, but finally the queasiness dispelled and we went on our way. Well, before we even reached our apartment on the trek up to Union Hills, we had 98 contacts (we needed 90) so we just stopped it there. We've planned to ride the entire outskirts of the stake though sometime in the future... sometime. It was fun and very intense. We met a stake president for the RLDS church. Crazy! I was so bewildered. Needless to say, it made for an eventful day.
Dad, yesterday we also had a munch n' mingle in the young single adult ward! They are the best! At least we get meals two times a month because of those! I think you will love the singles ward. Yeah I was very surprised as to how many attend the ward council meeting. It's a lot of fun though. It'll be cool for you to be there when young men that you worked with in our ward will start coming home from their missions!
Well I hope you all have an awesome week! I love you very much!
Love,
Elder Mouritsen
Well this week was reeeaall nice. Monday night-Tuesday was exchanges with the AP's. I was with Elder Tripp this time. He's a big 6'4" football player from Washington and a great missionary. He helped me out a lot with how to better myself and those within my stewardship. Wednesday we had district meeting, and then planned for our Zone Meeting and Ward Training for the next day. It turns out that the wards here are falling off the face of the earth when it comes to what we've been teaching them with how to work with the missionaries in their ward. They are supposed to be holding weekly coordination meeting with the full time missionaries, ward council, and ward missionaries. Many wards have decided to not do this anymore because the handbook says that ward council doesn't need to be there. Well... okay, that's fine but then it just all falls on the Ward Mission Leader to make all the assignments that the full time missionaries have for the Ward Council pertaining to their investigators. It seems as if each ward is taking their own stand as to what they want to do and it makes it very confusing in regards to what we need to train. President Beck has counseled us to just take it lightly and respond with, "Ok Bishop/Stake President, we are here to serve you. What would you have us do?" Many missionaries aren't even allowed into Ward Council on Sunday anymore to see if any of the assignments they made were followed up on. It's quite ridiculous. After a year of training on this specific thing, the whole stake has just gone haywire haha. Specific thing meaning: Weekly coordination meeting with ward council/missionaries, recap of assignments in Ward Council on Sundays, and then the five names plan presented by Elder Perry. Maybe it's too much work? I don't know! haha I like the quote you used, "Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty & well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, totally worn out & proclaiming, Wow, what a ride!” Service in the church is a life long process where we are always progressing! Our purpose here is to prepare ourselves to meet God right? (Alma 34:32) And in preparing ourselves we strive to pattern our lives after the perfect example of our Savior Jesus Christ correct? Well did Christ give up and decide to change His teachings/gospel? The plan that the mission/brethren have for each of the wards to participate in has been working extremely well! It's too bad that all of a sudden it all gets changed when it was going so well. Oh well, now I'm just venting haha but in regards to that we had a training meeting with the Country Gables ward on Thursday night. You know, my old stomping grounds. I knew all the people who were there in attendance and the new ward mission leader was a man I know very well. He's quite stubborn when he doesn't get his way and he will speak his mind in any situation. Well, President Morris (member of the mission presidency) came with us and ended up talking for 90% of the meeting on handbook 2 and what should be going on in the ward to make the missionary program work well. We then had about 15 minutes (we were supposed to have around 45 haha) to talk about how to use the five names in the ward mission plan. It went pretty well on our part! But the ward mission leader didn't think so. As he was walking out the door, he threw his hands up in the air, shook his head and said, "this is NOT how this was supposed to be." We had taught on everything within our sphere of influence and I think he was looking for a nice little work shop on how to be a ward mission leader. haha So that was a neat experience for a first time training... especially since it was one of my old wards whom I love so dearly.
Zone Meeting was awesome. We held it in the high council room which has a sweet table where exactly 18 people fit around the outside. We talked about mormon.org, receiving personal revelation, and our high councilman over missionary work was supposed to speak on member involvement but forgot and ended up telling his conversion story...haha dang. Then we trained on how to find the Lord's will in our planning. In everything that we do, we should ask: “Is that what the Lord would have us do?" or "Is that what the Lord should have us teach that investigator?" We have to realize we are on His time and His children's salvation are at stake so it's probably best that we do what He would have us do. It ended up being a great meeting.
Alright so, as you know we are only allowed a set amount of miles to drive in a month with our truck and that amount is 1,000 miles. We have driven a ton at the first part of the month so on Saturday we decided to bike the entire day because we didn't have very many appointments set up. We set up this route that we were going to take which would take us from our apartment (19th ave and Thunderbird) to 7th Street and Coral Gables, then South on 7th OVER THE MOUNTAIN all the way down to Bethany Home Rd, then west on Bethany Home to 19th ave, then north to Union Hills, and then back to our apartment. And the title of this adventure was going to be called, THE HELL SHAKER, courtesy of Alma 48:17. We were pumped! And then we started... Yeah, that hill on 7th Street... Well we haven't ridden in awhile and I remember you telling me from all of your running that you just have to keep your momentum as you are going up otherwise you will never get going again. So we pumped, and pumped, and pedaled, and nearly passed out in the bitter 70 degree weather. Finally, we hit the top and went downhill in what became the most fun, scariest, greatest adrenaline rush of my mission. We were FLYING!! It was so fun. We passed other bikers as if we were in cars and they were standing still. But, what goes up must come down and eventually, this "up" in regards to the fun which we were experiencing, came down once again once we hit the bottom. We talked to a lady on a street corner, and then collapsed in the dirt because we thought we were going to barf... We were there for 30-40 minutes, just laying there. We sure got a lot of weird looks, but nobody even stopped. We looked like a couple of bums on the side of the street. Eventually, we got up, the legs were so jello, the eyes were so blacked out from getting up too fast, so we sat back down. Haha, but finally the queasiness dispelled and we went on our way. Well, before we even reached our apartment on the trek up to Union Hills, we had 98 contacts (we needed 90) so we just stopped it there. We've planned to ride the entire outskirts of the stake though sometime in the future... sometime. It was fun and very intense. We met a stake president for the RLDS church. Crazy! I was so bewildered. Needless to say, it made for an eventful day.
Dad, yesterday we also had a munch n' mingle in the young single adult ward! They are the best! At least we get meals two times a month because of those! I think you will love the singles ward. Yeah I was very surprised as to how many attend the ward council meeting. It's a lot of fun though. It'll be cool for you to be there when young men that you worked with in our ward will start coming home from their missions!
Well I hope you all have an awesome week! I love you very much!
Love,
Elder Mouritsen
Monday, January 10, 2011
January 3-10, 2011: "Fast Start" 2011
Hello Family,
Well Mom it sounds like you had a good birthday! What is it now...your 14th anniversary of your 29th birthday?? That's how President Beck described how old Sister Beck is. haha! That's awesome about Madison's YW Recognition! Way to be!
Well this week has been sort of a blur. Tuesday was Zone Leader Council where we met with the 20 total Zone Leaders and 4 assistants (2 Spanish and 2 English). We went over all the numbers from December and set new goals for the month of January. President Beck and the assistants came up with a program for 2011 called... "Fast Start" 2011. Haha real original right? It's sweet though. In January we are focusing on "Finding the Lord's will in our Planning and in what we do." We then practiced how our daily planning sessions should be like so that we can then go and tell the missionaries. It should be more of a "What would the Lord have us do with that time?" or "What would the Lord have us teach that investigator?" It's more the way that Preach My Gospel has made missionary work become. More lead by the spirit, as opposed to memorized or certain discussions that must be taught in a certain order. The only way to truly receive that inspiration and revelation is through obedience as we learn in the 130th section of the Doctrine and Covenants: Verse 20 There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated— 21 And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.I am a firm believer in this and it's been a struggle lately with a companion who thinks that he goes home really soon when he has six months left! That's so much time! In other words...he's trunky haha. He's awesome though and we get along well. As for the rest of ZL council, we just went over our Zone Visions and talked about how we are going to have a "Fast Start" 2011.
The next day, Wednesday, was Leadership Meeting with all the District Leaders and Zone Leaders. It was fun to see elders such as Elder Cichy (DL in Peoria), Elder Halligan (DL in Prescott), and Elder Henrie and Elder Johnson. We again went over the "Fast Start" program and President Beck also talked about how our mission is now being given an extra hour each week to be on the internet. That hour is to be spent between the days of Tuesday and Friday and only to go to mormon.org or boncom.com/mormon. This is because of the churches massive advertisement boom so that we will be able to use the advertisements in our teaching. He also talked about how we need to get our members to create mormon.org profiles so that our investigators can look someone up who they may admire and click with. You can also link mormon.org profiles to your Facebook or twitter and so far referrals that have come from mormon.org have an 80% chance of getting in the home and teaching a first lesson. So, all you people back home, get on there and create a profile! Two of our investigators who just walked in to church one day found the nearest building located to them through mormon.org. It's sweet! So we are given that extra hour per week to get on and research what we think would work well to our investigators’ needs.
Church yesterday was Ward Conference for us. Bishop Grizzle and Stake President Hettinger spoke to us. They are phenomenal men and President Hettinger is an amazing stake president. He's so funny and so personable. He spoke about four things that we should do weekly to have the spirit in our lives more abundantly. 1. Hold morning and nightly kneeling prayer. 2. Daily study of the Book of Mormon. 3. Consistent Family Home Evening. 4. Invite a nonmember friend to take the missionary lessons. Of course they are things that we hear all the time but how many times do we really bear testimony about what we know to be true to nonmembers, and invite them to take the missionary lessons? I know that before my mission it was something that never even crossed my mind. Not just because I never really came across non members, but that I still didn't invite those who were struggling with attending. I hope I will be better at that as a returned missionary.
This week Kennington and I had a really neat discussion as to when we truly received our testimonies. It ended up being us sharing experiences from our lives as to when we felt that "change of heart" occurred. I feel that my testimony of course stemmed from you as my parents, but that at an early age I learned what I would need to do to develop a testimony of my own. There are many experiences that have strengthened my testimony throughout my life and it's hard to name one certain time when I found out that the Book of Mormon was true or that Joseph Smith is a prophet. But it's one thing that I can say and will never deny. We also talked about what we think were the parts of our lives before the mission that prepared us the most. Of course both of us mentioned our parents, because without them we would not be here. Next I talked about callings in the church and leadership in the deacons, teachers and priests quorums, Scouts of course, baseball, and striving to hit my goals as a student in school. All these things I feel have helped in certain, specific ways to prepare me for this service.
I'm so thankful. Sorry this email is so short, not much more to report on. Hope you have a good week! Thanks for everything.
Love,
Elder Mouritsen
Well Mom it sounds like you had a good birthday! What is it now...your 14th anniversary of your 29th birthday?? That's how President Beck described how old Sister Beck is. haha! That's awesome about Madison's YW Recognition! Way to be!
Well this week has been sort of a blur. Tuesday was Zone Leader Council where we met with the 20 total Zone Leaders and 4 assistants (2 Spanish and 2 English). We went over all the numbers from December and set new goals for the month of January. President Beck and the assistants came up with a program for 2011 called... "Fast Start" 2011. Haha real original right? It's sweet though. In January we are focusing on "Finding the Lord's will in our Planning and in what we do." We then practiced how our daily planning sessions should be like so that we can then go and tell the missionaries. It should be more of a "What would the Lord have us do with that time?" or "What would the Lord have us teach that investigator?" It's more the way that Preach My Gospel has made missionary work become. More lead by the spirit, as opposed to memorized or certain discussions that must be taught in a certain order. The only way to truly receive that inspiration and revelation is through obedience as we learn in the 130th section of the Doctrine and Covenants: Verse 20 There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated— 21 And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.I am a firm believer in this and it's been a struggle lately with a companion who thinks that he goes home really soon when he has six months left! That's so much time! In other words...he's trunky haha. He's awesome though and we get along well. As for the rest of ZL council, we just went over our Zone Visions and talked about how we are going to have a "Fast Start" 2011.
The next day, Wednesday, was Leadership Meeting with all the District Leaders and Zone Leaders. It was fun to see elders such as Elder Cichy (DL in Peoria), Elder Halligan (DL in Prescott), and Elder Henrie and Elder Johnson. We again went over the "Fast Start" program and President Beck also talked about how our mission is now being given an extra hour each week to be on the internet. That hour is to be spent between the days of Tuesday and Friday and only to go to mormon.org or boncom.com/mormon. This is because of the churches massive advertisement boom so that we will be able to use the advertisements in our teaching. He also talked about how we need to get our members to create mormon.org profiles so that our investigators can look someone up who they may admire and click with. You can also link mormon.org profiles to your Facebook or twitter and so far referrals that have come from mormon.org have an 80% chance of getting in the home and teaching a first lesson. So, all you people back home, get on there and create a profile! Two of our investigators who just walked in to church one day found the nearest building located to them through mormon.org. It's sweet! So we are given that extra hour per week to get on and research what we think would work well to our investigators’ needs.
Church yesterday was Ward Conference for us. Bishop Grizzle and Stake President Hettinger spoke to us. They are phenomenal men and President Hettinger is an amazing stake president. He's so funny and so personable. He spoke about four things that we should do weekly to have the spirit in our lives more abundantly. 1. Hold morning and nightly kneeling prayer. 2. Daily study of the Book of Mormon. 3. Consistent Family Home Evening. 4. Invite a nonmember friend to take the missionary lessons. Of course they are things that we hear all the time but how many times do we really bear testimony about what we know to be true to nonmembers, and invite them to take the missionary lessons? I know that before my mission it was something that never even crossed my mind. Not just because I never really came across non members, but that I still didn't invite those who were struggling with attending. I hope I will be better at that as a returned missionary.
This week Kennington and I had a really neat discussion as to when we truly received our testimonies. It ended up being us sharing experiences from our lives as to when we felt that "change of heart" occurred. I feel that my testimony of course stemmed from you as my parents, but that at an early age I learned what I would need to do to develop a testimony of my own. There are many experiences that have strengthened my testimony throughout my life and it's hard to name one certain time when I found out that the Book of Mormon was true or that Joseph Smith is a prophet. But it's one thing that I can say and will never deny. We also talked about what we think were the parts of our lives before the mission that prepared us the most. Of course both of us mentioned our parents, because without them we would not be here. Next I talked about callings in the church and leadership in the deacons, teachers and priests quorums, Scouts of course, baseball, and striving to hit my goals as a student in school. All these things I feel have helped in certain, specific ways to prepare me for this service.
I'm so thankful. Sorry this email is so short, not much more to report on. Hope you have a good week! Thanks for everything.
Love,
Elder Mouritsen
Monday, January 3, 2011
December 27 - January 2, 2011: "The Christ-Driven Zone Vision"
Phenomenal letter. Lunch with Lars was great. It was fun to talk about mission life with them and especially because I probably wouldn't have seen Tanner for over three years. The day after Justin and Melynda took us to lunch too. It was a good week! :) Make sure each of them know I'm thankful for them. Sounds like you had a good New Years. That's cool you got to visit with Dave and all the members of your family. There is nothing greater than this time of year and the power that comes from visiting with those whom we love.
Grandma Beryl: What a sweetheart. If I live half as good a life as that woman I might as well just be translated. haha Tell her that the family she has raised has been the greatest blessing in my life that I could ever imagine. It all stems from a worthy, powerful, and loving mother as herself. 90 years young and still goin’ strong! I love her!
Well this week has been a blur. We've been trying to type up a Zone Vision and in doing so we thought it would be cool to go outside the box and have the rest of the companionships write up "Area Visions." That way each of them will be held accountable for what they put in their own personal visions, and not just the one we create, which might not always be accurate for each of the wards in the stake. Last Monday I was trying to think of a clever title and something that we could focus which could all tie back into missionary work. I came up with, "The 'Christ Driven' Zone Vision." Corny, I know, but in reading a talk by Neal A. Maxwell it opened my eyes in seeing that in every single aspect of missionary work, Christ was the ultimate example of how to carry out that aspect. The five points we have (at this point, they may be altered) are:
1. Receiving Personal Revelation.
2. Selfless Service/Leadership.
3. Using Time Wisely.
4. Working with Members and
5. Responsibility/Accountability.
Under each of those points we gave "Preach My Gospel Power Statements" as to how we will accomplish our goals regarding the five key indicators. Hopefully it works out well. I wish you were here to critique the work we have.
So our New Years Eve was a blast. We had to be in by six o'clock. haha It was mandatory, we couldn't even have appointments with solid investigators in members homes. We had to be in. I guess lots of people like to shoot guns into the air and it's happened before for the bullets to come down in random places and people have been killed from it, even while sitting in their homes. So, what did we do to stay sane? Played the game of life that a member gave us. Haha actually, 2 games of Life! We decided that whatever the outcome of the game was, determined what would happen to us in real life. Oddly, I was a Lawyer in both games and made millions :). Kennington was a Teacher, then lost his job and became a hair stylist, then lost his job again and became another Teacher. Needless to say he was swamped in debt and barely paid his way out to retire. Uh oh. We tried to stay up but called it a night as we lay in bed and chatted until around 11-11:30.
For Christmas, President and Sister Beck gave us all a paperback copy of the Book of Mormon. Weird right? Because we don't have enough of those already. This one we were given to read and mark in the next sixty days. They gave us a schedule which we are all to follow, and mark every time Christ is mentioned in one color, the words of Christ in another color, and then when Christ's ministry is mentioned in another. It has been awesome to read personally in the same chapters with the other elders in the apartment and then discuss what we read afterwards. I have also started reading Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmage. Wow. All I can say. He's quite the writer, and Christ was quite the man. haha My testimony is strengthened daily. In reading the Book of Mormon, we had a question of, why is it that Nephi was able to be so obedient and powerful, while Laman and Lemuel were not while they were all taught the same things from their parents? Our answer came in 1 Nephi ch. 2. After Lehi had been commanded to leave Jerusalem, you can imagine that the whole family was pretty distraught about the whole decision, even Nephi. But in verse 16 he says, "And it came to pass that I, Nephi, being exceedingly young, nevertheless being large in stature, and also having great desires to know of the amysteries of God, wherefore, I did cry unto the Lord; and behold he did bvisit me, and did csoften my heart that I did dbelieve all the words which had been spoken by my efather; wherefore, I did not frebel against him like unto my brothers." First, he had the desire to know the mysteries of God, then he took that desire and gained a testimony of his own and didn't need to rely on the testimony of his parents anymore. He knew for himself that what his father was telling him was correct. Lamen and Lemuel had KNOWLEDGE that they were commanded of God, they saw and angel for heck's sakes. But they still didn't have that desire, nor testimony to further themselves in coming to know the mysteries of God. It takes the same exact steps for us as members, for those investigating, and anybody who desires to know the mysteries of God. I've applied this key learning to myself and have found that if it wasn't for my parents’ righteous lives, I wouldn't have been placed on the right path in coming to know of these things for myself. I am grateful, for a family who continues to strengthen their own testimonies, because they have their own testimonies and don't have to rely on others to receive spiritual guidance. Thank you.
I love and appreciate all that you do. Have an amazing 2011!
Love,
Elder Mouritsen
Monday, December 27, 2010
December 21-27, 2010: A White Christmas
Well hey long time no talk!
It was fun to hear your voices on Saturday. I hope everybody's Christmas's were stellar! Bailee, how did your talk go? Send me a copy! I would love to read it.
Elder Mouritsen and Elder Kennington preparing to deliver letters and packages to the missionairies in their zone on Christmas Eve.
Of the Most Worth
By President Ezra Taft Benson (1899–1994)
Ezra Taft Benson, "Of the Most Worth", New Era, July 2002, 46
Originally printed in the June 1989 New Era.
It is not enough just to be members and go to sacrament meeting. The Lord expects us to be missionaries and to help build up His kingdom.
Missionaries are engaged in the greatest work in all the world—saving the souls of our Father in Heaven’s children. There isn’t anything so important, so precious, so enjoyable, so soul-satisfying. Through the Prophet Joseph Smith the Lord proclaimed, “The thing which will be of the most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people, that you may bring souls unto me” (D&C 15:6).
As members of the Lord’s Church, we must take missionary work seriously. If you are laboring as you should, if you love this work, you will be helping to save the souls of the children of men.
No person can read section one of the Doctrine and Covenants, realizing that the Church accepts it as the word of the Lord, and ask why we send missionaries into all parts of the world. The responsibility, and a major one it is, falls squarely upon the membership of the Church, for “the voice of warning,” says the Lord, “shall be unto all people, by the mouths of my disciples, whom I have chosen in these last days” (D&C 1:4).
One of our best missionary tools is the sterling example of members who live the gospel. This is what the Lord meant when He said to the Church, “Zion must increase in beauty, and in holiness; … Zion must arise and put on her beautiful garments” (D&C 82:14). The Lord will sustain members in their missionary responsibility if they just have the faith to try.
What the Lord expects
It is time to raise our sights, to get a vision of the magnitude of this great work. The Lord expects it of us. It is not enough just to be members of the Church and go to sacrament meeting. That is good—but that is not enough. The Lord expects us to be missionaries, to live the gospel—yes, wholly, and to help to build up His kingdom.
You will not be an effective missionary until you learn to have sympathy for all of our Father’s children—until you learn to love them. People can feel when love is extended to them. Many yearn for it. When you sympathize with their feelings, they in turn will reciprocate goodwill to you. You will have made a friend.
How long has it been since you have invited a neighbor to sacrament meeting or to a stake conference, or to come into your home for a home evening? How long has it been since you had a real gospel conversation? These are choice experiences.
I encourage you not only to read the biblical account of Christ’s Resurrection, but to read and share with a nonmember acquaintance the Book of Mormon account of Christ’s personal manifestation to those in America following His Resurrection. Give them or lend them a copy of the Book of Mormon, even your own copy if necessary. It could bless them eternally.
The Book of Mormon is the great standard we are to use in our missionary work. It shows that Joseph Smith was a prophet. It contains the words of Christ, and its great mission is to bring us to Christ. All other things are secondary. The golden question of the Book of Mormon is, Do you want to learn more of Christ?
The Book of Mormon is for both member and nonmember. Combined with the Spirit of the Lord, the Book of Mormon is the greatest tool which God has given us to convert the world. If we are to have the harvest of souls, we must use the instrument which God has designed for the task—the Book of Mormon.
Better-prepared missionaries
And reading the Book of Mormon is one of the greatest persuaders to get us on missions. We need more missionaries. But we also need better-prepared missionaries coming out of the wards and branches and homes where they know and love the Book of Mormon. We need missionaries who have a burning testimony of its divinity, and who, by the Spirit, can challenge their investigators to read and ponder its pages, knowing with complete assurance that the Lord will manifest the truth of it to them by the power of the Holy Ghost. We need missionaries to match our message.
Give me a young man who has kept himself morally clean and has faithfully attended his Church meetings. Give me a young man who has magnified his priesthood and has earned his Duty to God Award and is an Eagle Scout. Give me a young man who is a seminary graduate and has a burning testimony of the Book of Mormon. Give me such a young man and I will give you a young man who can perform miracles for the Lord in the mission field and throughout his life.
Remember, young women, you may also have the opportunity to serve a full-time mission. I am grateful my eternal companion served a mission in Hawaii before we were married, and I am pleased that I have had granddaughters serve full-time missions. Some of our finest missionaries are sisters.
To succeed in sharing the gospel, whether as full-time missionaries or as member missionaries, you must have a burning testimony of the divinity of this work. Your first obligation is to get that testimony through prayer, through fasting, through meditation, through study, through appealing to the Lord to give you the testimony, and through responding to calls when they come to you. You must know that God lives; that Jesus is the Christ, the Redeemer of the world; that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God; and that the priesthood and authority of our Heavenly Father is here.
Not only should sharing the gospel be regarded as a priesthood duty, but we should all look forward to this experience with great joy and anticipation. The real purpose in sharing the gospel is to bring souls unto Christ, to teach and baptize our Heavenly Father’s children so that we may rejoice with them (see D&C 18:15) in the kingdom of our Father.
It was fun to hear your voices on Saturday. I hope everybody's Christmas's were stellar! Bailee, how did your talk go? Send me a copy! I would love to read it.
Elder Mouritsen and Elder Kennington preparing to deliver letters and packages to the missionairies in their zone on Christmas Eve.Well, not much more to report on except for the baptism. It was real nice! President and Sister Beck came and there were surprisingly a lot of people there for it being on Christmas day. I baptized Stefi and Kennington baptized Dustin. It was way funny, we went down into the water and as I was telling her how to hold my arm and plug her nose then she just started falling backwards without letting me say the prayer! Luckily, I caught her before she hit the water and I told her that I needed to say the prayer first. Haha she responded with a quiet, nervous "oh well I'm ready whenever you're ready." Haha it was funny but it went well! The member of the bishopric who was conducting called upon President Beck to come up and speak afterwards. There were about 14 other missionaries there as well so we got a big zone picture with the two baptizees and President and Sister Beck.
Of the Most Worth
By President Ezra Taft Benson (1899–1994)
Ezra Taft Benson, "Of the Most Worth", New Era, July 2002, 46
Originally printed in the June 1989 New Era.
It is not enough just to be members and go to sacrament meeting. The Lord expects us to be missionaries and to help build up His kingdom.
Missionaries are engaged in the greatest work in all the world—saving the souls of our Father in Heaven’s children. There isn’t anything so important, so precious, so enjoyable, so soul-satisfying. Through the Prophet Joseph Smith the Lord proclaimed, “The thing which will be of the most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people, that you may bring souls unto me” (D&C 15:6).
As members of the Lord’s Church, we must take missionary work seriously. If you are laboring as you should, if you love this work, you will be helping to save the souls of the children of men.
No person can read section one of the Doctrine and Covenants, realizing that the Church accepts it as the word of the Lord, and ask why we send missionaries into all parts of the world. The responsibility, and a major one it is, falls squarely upon the membership of the Church, for “the voice of warning,” says the Lord, “shall be unto all people, by the mouths of my disciples, whom I have chosen in these last days” (D&C 1:4).
One of our best missionary tools is the sterling example of members who live the gospel. This is what the Lord meant when He said to the Church, “Zion must increase in beauty, and in holiness; … Zion must arise and put on her beautiful garments” (D&C 82:14). The Lord will sustain members in their missionary responsibility if they just have the faith to try.
What the Lord expects
It is time to raise our sights, to get a vision of the magnitude of this great work. The Lord expects it of us. It is not enough just to be members of the Church and go to sacrament meeting. That is good—but that is not enough. The Lord expects us to be missionaries, to live the gospel—yes, wholly, and to help to build up His kingdom.
You will not be an effective missionary until you learn to have sympathy for all of our Father’s children—until you learn to love them. People can feel when love is extended to them. Many yearn for it. When you sympathize with their feelings, they in turn will reciprocate goodwill to you. You will have made a friend.
How long has it been since you have invited a neighbor to sacrament meeting or to a stake conference, or to come into your home for a home evening? How long has it been since you had a real gospel conversation? These are choice experiences.
I encourage you not only to read the biblical account of Christ’s Resurrection, but to read and share with a nonmember acquaintance the Book of Mormon account of Christ’s personal manifestation to those in America following His Resurrection. Give them or lend them a copy of the Book of Mormon, even your own copy if necessary. It could bless them eternally.
The Book of Mormon is the great standard we are to use in our missionary work. It shows that Joseph Smith was a prophet. It contains the words of Christ, and its great mission is to bring us to Christ. All other things are secondary. The golden question of the Book of Mormon is, Do you want to learn more of Christ?
The Book of Mormon is for both member and nonmember. Combined with the Spirit of the Lord, the Book of Mormon is the greatest tool which God has given us to convert the world. If we are to have the harvest of souls, we must use the instrument which God has designed for the task—the Book of Mormon.
Better-prepared missionaries
And reading the Book of Mormon is one of the greatest persuaders to get us on missions. We need more missionaries. But we also need better-prepared missionaries coming out of the wards and branches and homes where they know and love the Book of Mormon. We need missionaries who have a burning testimony of its divinity, and who, by the Spirit, can challenge their investigators to read and ponder its pages, knowing with complete assurance that the Lord will manifest the truth of it to them by the power of the Holy Ghost. We need missionaries to match our message.
Give me a young man who has kept himself morally clean and has faithfully attended his Church meetings. Give me a young man who has magnified his priesthood and has earned his Duty to God Award and is an Eagle Scout. Give me a young man who is a seminary graduate and has a burning testimony of the Book of Mormon. Give me such a young man and I will give you a young man who can perform miracles for the Lord in the mission field and throughout his life.
Remember, young women, you may also have the opportunity to serve a full-time mission. I am grateful my eternal companion served a mission in Hawaii before we were married, and I am pleased that I have had granddaughters serve full-time missions. Some of our finest missionaries are sisters.
To succeed in sharing the gospel, whether as full-time missionaries or as member missionaries, you must have a burning testimony of the divinity of this work. Your first obligation is to get that testimony through prayer, through fasting, through meditation, through study, through appealing to the Lord to give you the testimony, and through responding to calls when they come to you. You must know that God lives; that Jesus is the Christ, the Redeemer of the world; that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God; and that the priesthood and authority of our Heavenly Father is here.
Not only should sharing the gospel be regarded as a priesthood duty, but we should all look forward to this experience with great joy and anticipation. The real purpose in sharing the gospel is to bring souls unto Christ, to teach and baptize our Heavenly Father’s children so that we may rejoice with them (see D&C 18:15) in the kingdom of our Father.
I love that talk! Every person and every member of the church has a piece to play in this concert to "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man!" How can we find our piece and purpose? I believe everyone's is different and can be magnified/altered just as Captain Moroni did in Alma 43:11... a.k.a he altered the management of affairs of his kingdom. How can we... alter the management of affairs in our own spheres of influence?
I'll leave you with that. I love you very much. Thank you for all the memories and traditions I've been able to reminisce over this great Christmas holiday. Have a happy, fun, new years!
Love,
Elder Mouritsen
I'll leave you with that. I love you very much. Thank you for all the memories and traditions I've been able to reminisce over this great Christmas holiday. Have a happy, fun, new years!
Love,
Elder Mouritsen
Monday, December 20, 2010
December 14-20, 2010: Receiving Revelation through Church Attendance
Dear Family,
The Currant Bush by Elder Hugh B. Brown (1883–1975)
"You sometimes wonder whether the Lord really knows what He ought to do with you. You sometimes wonder if you know better than He does about what you ought to do and ought to become. I am wondering if I may tell you a story. It has to do with an incident in my life when God showed me that He knew best.
I was living up in Canada. I had purchased a farm. It was run-down. I went out one morning and saw a currant bush. It had grown up over six feet high. It was going all to wood. There were no blossoms and no currants. I was raised on a fruit farm in Salt Lake before we went to Canada, and I knew what ought to happen to that currant bush. So I got some pruning shears and clipped it back until there was nothing left but stumps. It was just coming daylight, and I thought I saw on top of each of these little stumps what appeared to be a tear, and I thought the currant bush was crying. I was kind of simpleminded (and I haven’t entirely gotten over it), and I looked at it and smiled and said, “What are you crying about?” You know, I thought I heard that currant bush say this:
“How could you do this to me? I was making such wonderful growth. I was almost as big as the shade tree and the fruit tree that are inside the fence, and now you have cut me down. Every plant in the garden will look down on me because I didn’t make what I should have made. How could you do this to me? I thought you were the gardener here.”
That’s what I thought I heard the currant bush say, and I thought it so much that I answered. I said, “Look, little currant bush, I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. I didn’t intend you to be a fruit tree or a shade tree. I want you to be a currant bush, and someday, little currant bush, when you are laden with fruit, you are going to say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down. Thank you, Mr. Gardener.’”
Years passed, and I found myself in England. I was in command of a cavalry unit in the Canadian Army. I held the rank of field officer in the British Canadian Army. I was proud of my position. And there was an opportunity for me to become a general. I had taken all the examinations. I had the seniority. The one man between me and the office of general in the British Army became a casualty, and I received a telegram from London. It said: “Be in my office tomorrow morning at 10:00,” signed by General Turner.
I went up to London. I walked smartly into the office of the general, and I saluted him smartly, and he gave me the same kind of a salute a senior officer usually gives—a sort of “Get out of the way, worm!” He said, “Sit down, Brown.” Then he said, “I’m sorry I cannot make the appointment. You are entitled to it. You have passed all the examinations. You have the seniority. You’ve been a good officer, but I can’t make the appointment. You are to return to Canada and become a training officer and a transport officer.” That for which I had been hoping and praying for 10 years suddenly slipped out of my fingers.
Then he went into the other room to answer the telephone, and on his desk, I saw my personal history sheet. Right across the bottom of it was written, “THIS MAN IS A MORMON.” We were not very well liked in those days. When I saw that, I knew why I had not been appointed. He came back and said, “That’s all, Brown.” I saluted him again, but not quite as smartly, and went out.
I got on the train and started back to my town, 120 miles away, with a broken heart, with bitterness in my soul. And every click of the wheels on the rails seemed to say, “You are a failure.” When I got to my tent, I was so bitter that I threw my cap on the cot. I clenched my fists, and I shook them at heaven. I said, “How could you do this to me, God? I have done everything I could do to measure up. There is nothing that I could have done—that I should have done—that I haven’t done. How could you do this to me?” I was as bitter as gall.
And then I heard a voice, and I recognized the tone of this voice. It was my own voice, and the voice said, “I am the gardener here. I know what I want you to do.” The bitterness went out of my soul, and I fell on my knees by the cot to ask forgiveness for my ungratefulness and my bitterness. While kneeling there I heard a song being sung in an adjoining tent. A number of Mormon boys met regularly every Tuesday night. I usually met with them. We would sit on the floor and have Mutual. As I was kneeling there, praying for forgiveness, I heard their singing:
“But if, by a still, small voice he calls
To paths that I do not know,
I’ll answer, dear Lord, with my hand in thine:
I’ll go where you want me to go.”
(Hymns, no. 270)
I arose from my knees a humble man. And now, almost 50 years later, I look up to Him and say, “Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for cutting me down, for loving me enough to hurt me.” I see now that it was wise that I should not become a general at that time, because if I had I would have been senior officer of all western Canada, with a lifelong, handsome salary, a place to live, and a pension, but I would have raised my six daughters and two sons in army barracks. They would no doubt have married out of the Church, and I think I would not have amounted to anything. I haven’t amounted to very much as it is, but I have done better than I would have done if the Lord had let me go the way I wanted to go.
Many of you are going to have very difficult experiences: disappointment, heartbreak, bereavement, defeat. You are going to be tested and tried. I just want you to know that if you don’t get what you think you ought to get, remember, God is the gardener here. He knows what He wants you to be. Submit yourselves to His will. Be worthy of His blessings, and you will get His blessings." End of his talk.
I love that talk! Every Tuesday night our ward has a Book of Mormon class where one of the bishopric member’s wives teaches. Two Tuesdays ago she read that talk and I loved it so I decided that I was going to share it with you.
That sounds like it was a phenomenal party!! Dang, not one I'd wanna miss with mom planning it! What a good idea to have a talent show, and have the adults do the nativity. I bet that made it that much more serious and helped everyone to understand fully why we celebrate Christmas. I'm trying to decide what I would have done for the talent show... Maybe like, teach a lesson or street contact somebody? Nah, I'm not even good at that yet. haha Seven as One... I love that! Madison you lil' song writer, that is sweet! Man, I hope that whole deal got put on film so I can watch it in a few months. That beats out any movie I may miss.
Zone Meeting and interviews this week went well. We had two people give talks: Sister Williams (spoke on truly loving the people) and Elder Buttars (on overcoming adversity). They did awesome. Kennington then addressed our skills training with a little motivational intro from his wrestling career in Star Valley. We then practiced teaching Receiving Revelation through Church Attendance. That took about 45 minutes and left me with around a half hour to give my little shpeel on the Parable of the Wasatch 100. I handed out a sheet sort of like the one you gave me with the "Race Items" on the left and the "Missionary Likeness" on the right. The Missionary Likeness boxes were empty though and I required them to fill out what they think that item could represent when applying it to missionary work as I described the race. I really wish I was more knowledgeable about the race because it would have gone more smoothly but I think it did the job. The missionaries were astonished as they listened to me describe one person running 100 miles non stop, with all the elements, preparation, and desire that it takes to succeed. At they end, I opened it up for discussion as we discussed what each item could represent. We then established what we as a zone need to work on to improve. A few of them include; staying consecrated in and out of our apartments, not blaming the members when work isn't going well, and being consistent with our goals especially contacting 140 people a week. I hope the point was driven. We are also trying to come up with a "Zone Vision" which will get the missionaries to focus more on areas that we feel need more attention. We are hoping to come up with something really creative and are having a hard time doing so. Haha. Any suggestions from anyone?
It was kind of cool that the focus this week was on Receiving Revelation through Church Attendance. What are some true reasons we go to church? The number one reason of course is to partake of the sacrament but is there anything else? In my youth I never really realized that being in the church setting was a place that I could regularly receive powerful personal revelation. As Brian Regan would say, "I know now!" I've come to learn that as promptings come, it is mandatory to write them down somewhere because they will be lost with the slew of other thoughts that may enter your mind. I've learned that one the hard way this week. Yesterday in church Sister Schlofman gave a talk and it helped me to understand what I need to do to recognize and remember promptings that I receive. As she spoke, I wrote down what came into my mind. It is almost like personal scripture that the Lord is providing me with to help me become a finely tuned instrument in His hands. Some things that Sister Schlofman talked about were: How do we become instruments in the hands of the Lord? How do we get Him to trust us? One of the answers to those questions was to write down promptings. It was funny to me because I had been doing so prior to hearing that but it helped me to never suppress a prompting to write a prompting down. She also asked the questions: Have I ever wanted a prayer answered? Or what about, Have I ever wanted to be an answer to someone else’s prayer? Of course we all like our prayers to be answered, but how cool would it be to be an answer to somebody else’s prayer because you heeded to the promptings provided from the Holy Ghost. I would way rather be the answer, or the instrument for the answer.
Another thing I've noticed about being here in Phoenix is that the members of the church seem to remind me of a member I know back home. I swear to you, I've met the look alikes or act-alikes for Jill Figgins, Julie Muir, Grandma Georgia, Grandpa Brent, Dylan Barker, Keegan Betterton, Sister Archibald, Bishop Taylor, Carson Garrett, Justin and Melynda King (oh wait... that was the real them), Talor Figgins, Cina Cummings, Becky Simonsen, Tanner Mouritsen, Devin Jensen, and many more. It's crazy! This church is true. It doesn't matter where you are in the world there are people who are members of the church who will remind you of members from back home. Just a funny little insight.
Anyway, I'm going to talk to you on Christmas so I'll leave some other things to talk about for then. How does 9:00 a.m. sound? Talk to you then!
I love you all very much.
Love,
Elder Colton Matthew Mouritsen
The Currant Bush by Elder Hugh B. Brown (1883–1975)
"You sometimes wonder whether the Lord really knows what He ought to do with you. You sometimes wonder if you know better than He does about what you ought to do and ought to become. I am wondering if I may tell you a story. It has to do with an incident in my life when God showed me that He knew best.
I was living up in Canada. I had purchased a farm. It was run-down. I went out one morning and saw a currant bush. It had grown up over six feet high. It was going all to wood. There were no blossoms and no currants. I was raised on a fruit farm in Salt Lake before we went to Canada, and I knew what ought to happen to that currant bush. So I got some pruning shears and clipped it back until there was nothing left but stumps. It was just coming daylight, and I thought I saw on top of each of these little stumps what appeared to be a tear, and I thought the currant bush was crying. I was kind of simpleminded (and I haven’t entirely gotten over it), and I looked at it and smiled and said, “What are you crying about?” You know, I thought I heard that currant bush say this:
“How could you do this to me? I was making such wonderful growth. I was almost as big as the shade tree and the fruit tree that are inside the fence, and now you have cut me down. Every plant in the garden will look down on me because I didn’t make what I should have made. How could you do this to me? I thought you were the gardener here.”
That’s what I thought I heard the currant bush say, and I thought it so much that I answered. I said, “Look, little currant bush, I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. I didn’t intend you to be a fruit tree or a shade tree. I want you to be a currant bush, and someday, little currant bush, when you are laden with fruit, you are going to say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down. Thank you, Mr. Gardener.’”
Years passed, and I found myself in England. I was in command of a cavalry unit in the Canadian Army. I held the rank of field officer in the British Canadian Army. I was proud of my position. And there was an opportunity for me to become a general. I had taken all the examinations. I had the seniority. The one man between me and the office of general in the British Army became a casualty, and I received a telegram from London. It said: “Be in my office tomorrow morning at 10:00,” signed by General Turner.
I went up to London. I walked smartly into the office of the general, and I saluted him smartly, and he gave me the same kind of a salute a senior officer usually gives—a sort of “Get out of the way, worm!” He said, “Sit down, Brown.” Then he said, “I’m sorry I cannot make the appointment. You are entitled to it. You have passed all the examinations. You have the seniority. You’ve been a good officer, but I can’t make the appointment. You are to return to Canada and become a training officer and a transport officer.” That for which I had been hoping and praying for 10 years suddenly slipped out of my fingers.
Then he went into the other room to answer the telephone, and on his desk, I saw my personal history sheet. Right across the bottom of it was written, “THIS MAN IS A MORMON.” We were not very well liked in those days. When I saw that, I knew why I had not been appointed. He came back and said, “That’s all, Brown.” I saluted him again, but not quite as smartly, and went out.
I got on the train and started back to my town, 120 miles away, with a broken heart, with bitterness in my soul. And every click of the wheels on the rails seemed to say, “You are a failure.” When I got to my tent, I was so bitter that I threw my cap on the cot. I clenched my fists, and I shook them at heaven. I said, “How could you do this to me, God? I have done everything I could do to measure up. There is nothing that I could have done—that I should have done—that I haven’t done. How could you do this to me?” I was as bitter as gall.
And then I heard a voice, and I recognized the tone of this voice. It was my own voice, and the voice said, “I am the gardener here. I know what I want you to do.” The bitterness went out of my soul, and I fell on my knees by the cot to ask forgiveness for my ungratefulness and my bitterness. While kneeling there I heard a song being sung in an adjoining tent. A number of Mormon boys met regularly every Tuesday night. I usually met with them. We would sit on the floor and have Mutual. As I was kneeling there, praying for forgiveness, I heard their singing:
“But if, by a still, small voice he calls
To paths that I do not know,
I’ll answer, dear Lord, with my hand in thine:
I’ll go where you want me to go.”
(Hymns, no. 270)
I arose from my knees a humble man. And now, almost 50 years later, I look up to Him and say, “Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for cutting me down, for loving me enough to hurt me.” I see now that it was wise that I should not become a general at that time, because if I had I would have been senior officer of all western Canada, with a lifelong, handsome salary, a place to live, and a pension, but I would have raised my six daughters and two sons in army barracks. They would no doubt have married out of the Church, and I think I would not have amounted to anything. I haven’t amounted to very much as it is, but I have done better than I would have done if the Lord had let me go the way I wanted to go.
Many of you are going to have very difficult experiences: disappointment, heartbreak, bereavement, defeat. You are going to be tested and tried. I just want you to know that if you don’t get what you think you ought to get, remember, God is the gardener here. He knows what He wants you to be. Submit yourselves to His will. Be worthy of His blessings, and you will get His blessings." End of his talk.
I love that talk! Every Tuesday night our ward has a Book of Mormon class where one of the bishopric member’s wives teaches. Two Tuesdays ago she read that talk and I loved it so I decided that I was going to share it with you.
That sounds like it was a phenomenal party!! Dang, not one I'd wanna miss with mom planning it! What a good idea to have a talent show, and have the adults do the nativity. I bet that made it that much more serious and helped everyone to understand fully why we celebrate Christmas. I'm trying to decide what I would have done for the talent show... Maybe like, teach a lesson or street contact somebody? Nah, I'm not even good at that yet. haha Seven as One... I love that! Madison you lil' song writer, that is sweet! Man, I hope that whole deal got put on film so I can watch it in a few months. That beats out any movie I may miss.
Zone Meeting and interviews this week went well. We had two people give talks: Sister Williams (spoke on truly loving the people) and Elder Buttars (on overcoming adversity). They did awesome. Kennington then addressed our skills training with a little motivational intro from his wrestling career in Star Valley. We then practiced teaching Receiving Revelation through Church Attendance. That took about 45 minutes and left me with around a half hour to give my little shpeel on the Parable of the Wasatch 100. I handed out a sheet sort of like the one you gave me with the "Race Items" on the left and the "Missionary Likeness" on the right. The Missionary Likeness boxes were empty though and I required them to fill out what they think that item could represent when applying it to missionary work as I described the race. I really wish I was more knowledgeable about the race because it would have gone more smoothly but I think it did the job. The missionaries were astonished as they listened to me describe one person running 100 miles non stop, with all the elements, preparation, and desire that it takes to succeed. At they end, I opened it up for discussion as we discussed what each item could represent. We then established what we as a zone need to work on to improve. A few of them include; staying consecrated in and out of our apartments, not blaming the members when work isn't going well, and being consistent with our goals especially contacting 140 people a week. I hope the point was driven. We are also trying to come up with a "Zone Vision" which will get the missionaries to focus more on areas that we feel need more attention. We are hoping to come up with something really creative and are having a hard time doing so. Haha. Any suggestions from anyone?
It was kind of cool that the focus this week was on Receiving Revelation through Church Attendance. What are some true reasons we go to church? The number one reason of course is to partake of the sacrament but is there anything else? In my youth I never really realized that being in the church setting was a place that I could regularly receive powerful personal revelation. As Brian Regan would say, "I know now!" I've come to learn that as promptings come, it is mandatory to write them down somewhere because they will be lost with the slew of other thoughts that may enter your mind. I've learned that one the hard way this week. Yesterday in church Sister Schlofman gave a talk and it helped me to understand what I need to do to recognize and remember promptings that I receive. As she spoke, I wrote down what came into my mind. It is almost like personal scripture that the Lord is providing me with to help me become a finely tuned instrument in His hands. Some things that Sister Schlofman talked about were: How do we become instruments in the hands of the Lord? How do we get Him to trust us? One of the answers to those questions was to write down promptings. It was funny to me because I had been doing so prior to hearing that but it helped me to never suppress a prompting to write a prompting down. She also asked the questions: Have I ever wanted a prayer answered? Or what about, Have I ever wanted to be an answer to someone else’s prayer? Of course we all like our prayers to be answered, but how cool would it be to be an answer to somebody else’s prayer because you heeded to the promptings provided from the Holy Ghost. I would way rather be the answer, or the instrument for the answer.
Another thing I've noticed about being here in Phoenix is that the members of the church seem to remind me of a member I know back home. I swear to you, I've met the look alikes or act-alikes for Jill Figgins, Julie Muir, Grandma Georgia, Grandpa Brent, Dylan Barker, Keegan Betterton, Sister Archibald, Bishop Taylor, Carson Garrett, Justin and Melynda King (oh wait... that was the real them), Talor Figgins, Cina Cummings, Becky Simonsen, Tanner Mouritsen, Devin Jensen, and many more. It's crazy! This church is true. It doesn't matter where you are in the world there are people who are members of the church who will remind you of members from back home. Just a funny little insight.
Anyway, I'm going to talk to you on Christmas so I'll leave some other things to talk about for then. How does 9:00 a.m. sound? Talk to you then!
I love you all very much.
Love,
Elder Colton Matthew Mouritsen
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