Quotes of the week - Sent from Elder Colton Mouritsen

Lately I've been thinking a lot about the "absolutes" I've learned on my mission. Some come from one-liner quotes, others are single principles. You will probably recognize some. Here's a few:

"There is no comfort in a growing zone, but no growing in a comfort zone."
"You are as happy as you are obedient."
"The Atonement of Jesus Christ is real."
"Our potential is incomprehensible."
"Submitting to the Father's will, obedience, and righteous actions breed spiritual and even temporal/professional education and knowledge."
"Callings are seldom convenient...they come first."
"It's a choice to be happy and to get along."
"Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of Heaven."
“The opportunity of a lifetime can be missed by not seizing it in the lifetime of the opportunity."
"We are saved by grace, after all we can do."
"Attitude is everything."
"The Lord's hands are in the details."
"The church is true."

Elder Mouritsen's Mission Timeline

Elder Mouritsen's Mission Timeline

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

October 18-24, 2011: Bad things happen to good people





Hello family!

Sounds like a good hunting trip... :/ haha It's funny how you described it because Laken just wrote me and said that his elk hunt was a bust as well in Star Valley. In three days of horse back hunting through the mountains, they saw a few does, a bull moose, and absolutely no elk. Where are all the animals? That makes for a very frustrating hunt. I'm glad you and Madi look at the blessings that come from the time spent together. Let's face it, how many people get to say, "Today, we get to go hunting" or "Today, we get to eat at Maddox chicken." I would love to be able to say that... haha We don't eat much here in the YSA. Family ward members are helping us out though. I love the members here. I'm guessing the girls had an absolute blast in St. George! They had 80's, we still have mid-upper 90's here. Fun stuff!

With transfers this week we were pretty busy. We have a stellar new district leader named Elder Perkins. He is one of the former assistants to the president. The work is going to take off. Elder Brayden Henrie replaced him as assistant. Cool!

We had a pretty crazy experience this week. On Thursday we were heading over to a lesson with an investigator named Mark Coleman when all of a sudden someone driving next to us rolled down their window and said that our truck was leaking something real bad. We stopped at a red light and another person told us that it was radiator fluid. We pulled right over and immediately the engine started steaming all over. We popped the hood and noticed that the heater connector that takes coolant through the firewall had snapped and was just dangling there. Elder Buttars and I know nothing about cars so we called one of our investigators (Nick) to come help us. He came right away and in the meantime we told Mark that we wouldn't be able to make it to our lesson. He said he would come and help us as well. So there we were with two investigators, working on our truck to try to get it running. Nick found the solution and started calling Autozones and O'Reillys to find the correct part. Of course, none of them hold parts for vehicles made in 2010 because they are too new. Frustrating. So we called Pep-Boys, and some more places until we found out that we could use a different model's part that is the same size. Nick, who was driving his friend's car, went and picked it up for us. He got the part and on the way home, didn't notice that there was someone in the median and rear ended them. Oh man this was devastating. He swears that it is the story of his life to do what he can to help somebody out and then get the shaft himself. He just barely received a temporary license and needs to pay off a probation fine or else his probation can't be waved. It was terrible. The car he hit was also a very nice Volvo. Bummer. We got the part and headed back to our truck to put it in. We ghetto rigged it up and got it to work but noticed that after we drove about a mile, the truck still wouldn't cool down. It was overheating realllll bad. So we stopped and checked to see if the coolant was going down to fill the radiator. It was so we added more. We tried to drive a little further and same story. So we sat there. By now it had been about 4 hours of car problems. Nobody would answer our calls and it was way past time we needed to be home. We finally got a hold of some other missionaries who came and picked us up and took us home. It was 10 o'clock by then. We were so dang tired! The next morning we got a hold of the vehicle coordinator and he hooked us up with a new vehicle. Heck ya baby we got to drive a 2009 Chevy Silverado! It's about the same size as the truck you have. It was fun and brought back a lot of good memories. We have to take it back and pick up our Colorado tomorrow. :( sad day.

Anyway, I've thought a lot about this experience and why so many ridiculous things have to happen to such a good person (Nick) at one time. He changes his life by quitting all addictive substances he had done, comes to church, wants to get baptized, makes great new friends, etc. And the girl he was liking who was a member, tells him off, he finds out he can't get baptized because of probation, gets in a wreck, has his $500 TV stolen from him by his cousin, and many more tedious things. Why would such things happen to someone who is striving to make such needed and good changes? I think that Heavenly Father knows the strength of one’s testimony and He also knows what we can handle. He won't put us through things that we won't be able to get through. Nick has a super strong, powerful testimony. When the day comes that he will be able to be baptized it is going to be greatly meaningful and exciting for him because he has been through so much to get there. I wish that before my mission I didn't take such things for granted such as the opportunity to be baptized at 8 years old. I don't think the significance of that ordinance is made as apparent as it needs to be. What about the opportunity to repent? How are we at being thankful for that? The Book of Mormon? A modern day prophet? I'm grateful for the knowledge I have.

Dad, I've been thinking a lot lately about the leading and lagging indicators of a successful mission. I drew out a little graph that shows a few leading indicators to becoming a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th missionary. The lagging indicators are also there. I realized just how important the first three months (trainee months) are to a missionary for the rest of his mission. In those three months he learns the importance of: waking up at 6:30, studying, exercising, having only 1 hr for lunch, daily planning, going to bed at 10:30, being in the apartment by 9-9:30, etc. All the basic rules of obedience during the day. Also, all things you can see and monitor from the outside looking in. Having a firm habit of each of those, will take a "green" missionary and help them to become: consecrated, optimistic, enthusiastic, happy, living their purpose on a daily basis, prayerful, grateful, humble, etc. All things that are measured inwardly. As a missionary follows the leading indicators, the blessing and benefits will be immense. This is a short version of what I am probably going to be training on tomorrow in our zone meeting. Hopefully it goes well. Thanks for all the info you have given me. If you have any more cool info like that I would love to have it!

Well sorry for the short email. Not much more to say. Thanks for all that you do! Yes the bumps in my arm pit have gone away. The antibiotics worked I think.

I love you all so much. Sorry I am not good at writing letters. There just is no time. Please tell Grampa Roger of my love and appreciation for him. When you said that even though he hasn't been to Dingle the past few times you have been there physically, but you can still feel him through the whole house, that really touched me. Grampa, I love you. Thanks for being who you are. I love the stories and find myself recalling an experience that I've had with you very regularly.

Love,

Elder Colt Mouritsen
Posted by at No comments:

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

October 11-17, 2011: Hunting parables

Good to hear from ya!

Yes transfer news has come and once again I am staying in the Phoenix North Stake. I'm pretty stoked about it. I am hoping to be here for Christmas now because it would be rough having to get comfortable in a new area right before the Christmas season. We'll see though! That would also mean that I would have spent my entire 2011 mission year in one single area. That would be nuts! I don't know any missionary that has ever done that.

Well it sounds like the hunt has been a drag thus far! Hopefully things will cool down and the bucks will come out of hiding. I won't lie I often think about what one of our hunter's education instructors said: "If all you see are does, are you truly hunting bucks? Or are you just out there hunting does?" (something like that). As a missionary the bucks can be likened to the elect children who are ready to listen to the message of the restoration. What are we doing to find them? Are we just going through the motions and finding a few does who get our attention on the immediate sight? Though there are often times when a trophy/elect investigator will be out there in the open waiting for us to teach them. Like the 1999 buck. Or the 2000 buck that was running with the elk. Or my first buck. If I remember right, several of those were on the last day of the hunt after wanting to give up and come back next year. I'm glad that we stuck it out, kept the faith, and succeeded when the opportunity arose. I know that the hunt can and will be successful whether you come home with one or not! I can't believe that your tag is good for a cougar or a bear though. That would be crazy! That adds a whole new thought to the back of your minds I bet. In the past, predators other than maybe coyotes never crossed my mind to be out in those hills. Be careful!

Dad I wish you could come and teach our gospel principles class! We could use one of your powerhouse lessons.

This week has been one of ups and downs. Nick hasn't quite paid his dues to society after a mistake he made several years ago. Because of this, he can't be baptized until he does so. It's part of the repentance process. That was a heartbreak. He is taking it better than we thought though and is continuing to strengthen his testimony. He was pretty upset and shed many tears because of the news. I'm grateful for his strength and dedication. Here are some photos we took with Nick at the Mesa Temple.



We had a couple other cool experiences. Friday night we were tracting in this wealthier apartment complex and came across a young lady named Angel. She said that she was the daughter of several "Mormons" who had just recently been baptized. I asked who they were and she responded by saying that they were two individuals that got baptized into our stake a few months ago. They are one of the most solid recent convert families I've ever been around. They have since moved to Washington D.C. though and Angel has lived here in the mean time with not much contact with them or the church. She has quite a different lifestyle and hasn't been too interested. When she saw us, she immediately let us in and started pounding us with questions that had been plaguing her mind about the LDS church. It was just one after another. We helped her to understand the need for the Book of Mormon, prophet, restoration, etc. She seemed to agree with all of it. Her testimony is based a lot on factual evidence and a little on faith. There is not much room to grow without more focus on faith. The logical answers to faith-based questions were good for her to hear and she began to open up to us. She said she was moving out of her apartment the very next day and we volunteered to help her. She was very grateful. We on the other hand, weren't too excited when we saw we would be moving three massive TV's into her small 2005 Honda Accord. The years of dad teaching me how to pack the car (tetris method) helped this situation greatly. Thanks dad! We hope to continue to teach Angel when she moves back into our stake at the end of the month.

The morning we helped her pack her car, we went back to the same apartment complex to tract. The very first door that was opened to us was a lady who swung open the door, saw our white shirts and ties, and made a sound as if to say, "I knew you would come." Her name was Linda, and she is a less active member who was baptized up in Utah after being ridiculed to pieces in her youth by LDS people who knew she wasn't of our faith. It's a miracle she was even baptized after such rudeness. Regardless, she moved down here to Gilbert, AZ. She is married to a non member and has two non member children, one of which still lives at home. While in Gilbert, she had been meeting with the missionaries to help her become active in the church again. The day before we knocked on her door, she was thinking about them and how she would be able to get in touch with missionaries in her new area. She invited us in and told us all about her story in Utah, family, and where she is at now with the church. It was really cool to see the Lord work in such ways that some would call chance, while others tender mercies or miracles.

With the theme of hunting season still going, this experience reminds me of 2005 when we went up to the top of Home Canyon for the first time at first light. The evening before, we went up and scouted around. We found tons of tracks, droppings, and other signs that just screamed "prime" country for a nice buck. The next morning, we went back to the same place. While Madison and I were watching two bull elk on the hillside, Dad had spotted a nice buck about 1000+ yards across the canyon. We pulled up the spotting scope and came up with a plan to get within shooting distance. After hurrying several hundred yards down the hill to get within distance, we had but a window in the pine trees to shoot out of and made it work. There were two bullet holes within several inches in the neck of that buck if I remember correctly. I think it was the next week we went back up with L-Mo this time and Dad got that "big" two-point. Like this hunting experience, we found success one evening at an apartment complex. The very next morning we went back and found more success. Hopefully we can go back there later this week and find success once again. The Lord works in mysterious ways and I'm excited to see what He has in store in the coming weeks.

I continue to be in awe about the progress of my shoulder. The past week and a half I have started doing strengthening workouts. My therapist said that I am so far ahead of an average person after a surgery like this it's not even funny. I've had a lot of atrophy in my left arm so it is still pretty weak but there is no pain whatsoever. Yesterday I actually started doing inclined push ups. I had to beg her to let me try them. It feels good to be able to work out again. Last week she had a student there who was doing some hands-on training. The student was dumbfounded at the fact that I was recovering so fast and asked my therapist why? Buttars and I looked at each other and smiled while the therapist tried to give some logical reasons as to why I was recovering quickly. "Well he's young. He's athletic. He wants to do the workouts.." blah blah blah. Why not the power of God? Is that unreasonable? I think not.

Sunday we had another pretty neat experience. There is a girl named Marissa from Ogden who lives down here and goes to school at GCU (Grand Canyon University). She has a non-member boyfriend that she lives with. She wants to start to better her lifestyle and has told him that she wants him to follow. His name is Todd and he is a national champion wrestler from GCU. Marissa was at church. I've only ever really shook her hand once and heard her name from others. When I saw her, I greeted her at the door, calling her by name. She smiled and said hello. After sacrament meeting, we were called out of our Sunday school class by a member of the bishopric. He and his wife were in a classroom talking to Marissa. They told us about how she wanted to change but she was torn cause she didn't want to lose Todd but that she would rather live a good, clean life than to be with him. She started to cry in the room when she told us about how she wanted us to teach him. She said that for the past couple weeks she has been wanting to talk to us and get some ideas about how to go about this. She said that her prompting was solidified when she walked into the building and I called her by name. She was like, "wait, how does he know my name? Must be a sign.” Call me a creep for knowing her name but I wanna believe it was the spirit! haha We set up a dinner in the bishopric member’s home for the very next day. We just shot the breeze for a while, broke the ice, and talked a little about the Book of Mormon. Earlier that day, Todd got another concussion and wasn't feeling too well from it. Marissa had told him about the Priesthood and mentioned that he should get a blessing. We did so and it was a great experience. Moral of the story is that there is power in our names and people love when they are called by their personal name. We should do what we can to remember the names of those we come into contact with because it leaves a lasting impression on someone when you see them again and remember their name. This was a unique experience for me because I am so terrible with remembering names. I am so quick to forget. I would hope that we would also not forget the name that we bear and our Heavenly Father's name that we bear as well. We represent our families and our Father more than any sports team or jersey. Hopefully we are at the forefront of the battle.

Well I love and appreciate all that you do. I'm grateful for each of your testimonies. Hopefully I will get some time to write back a letter or two in the next coming P-Days. I can't believe the holiday season is almost here. Crazy!

Love,

Elder Colton Mouritsen

P.S. My apartment number is #W294 if you want to send mail straight here. Sorry I didn't say that earlier.

Oh...and is there any other news about friends getting married back there..? I wanna be updated on that! That's big news! :)


Here's a photo of how cold it was here one night last week.
Posted by at No comments:

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

October 4-10, 2011: A Mighty Change...Finally

My family amazes me. I love you all!

Please let Grandpa Roger know that I pray for him daily. He is loved and well appreciated down here in Phoenix.

I can't believe Madison got in Lake Fiesta. That is disgusting! I went one time and played some football and I think I was really lucky that I didn't get some major infection. haha. I can't believe how grown up everybody is getting. Those pictures are amazing! When I pulled them up I may have said something under my breath to the effect of, "dang my sisters are grown up..." Little did I know that there were two other missionaries behind me who saw what I was looking at and they responded, "Yeah they are!!" Creeps... haha.

Dad I really appreciate the update and your experience this past week. Thanks for being such an example for me.

This week has been a great week. My eyes have been opened to the reality of the power of the Book of Mormon, atonement, and gospel of Jesus Christ. The power they have to change lives is incredible.

I don't know if you recall me talking about a man I taught in the Country Gables ward by the name of Tom. He was baptized a week after I left that area. He had struggled for years with many of the commandments we teach that the rest of the world doesn't seem to have much of a grasp on. I get the impression that the only reason he was getting baptized was because he wanted to be a good example for his son, but didn't want to make the change in his own life. He "said" he was good with all the commandments, passed his baptismal interview, and went through with the baptism. It was a great event! Still, I felt in the back of my mind that something wasn't right. He was coming to church, saying that he was reading his scriptures (even though I'm pretty sure he wasn't because he knew very little if anything about the doctrine), saying prayers but not taking it too seriously, etc. On the outside it looked like he was doing the right things. But the feeling just wasn't there when we were around him. Because I was one of the missionaries to originally teach him, he grew to like spending his time with me and would call frequently to have a lesson or grab a bite to eat. He was still his same profane, perverted self and I didn't like to be around him. It didn't feel like he had a "change of heart" at all like the scriptures tell us. Months passed. We were pretty sure Tom was still back in his old ways. One night while Tom was watching some of his friends’ kids, the cops showed up at the door. Now I don't know the whole story, but I think I know the gist. No one knows exactly why the cops showed up at his door but regardless, they did. I have heard that Tom had had a few drinks that night and may have acted irrationally by pulling out his pistol he carries with him just in case it was someone else at the door that he would need to protect himself from. When the cops saw the gun, they too went too far and long story short, Tom was lucky to have not received a 9mm bullet wound to the heart. He was hauled off to Lower Buckeye Jail. There he witnessed some of the most brutal, demonic, disgusting things. He said that for the first time in his life he needed to change. He wrote to Salt Lake and asked for some scriptures. They sent him all that they could. Over the next 2-3 months he read the triple combination, twice. He said that while in jail, he was offered many of the substances he was addicted to before but would not give in. He would find himself on his knees praying like crazy many times during the day. Other people in there would mock him and scourge him for being so religious but when it came to the guards, they wanted nothing to do with him. Tom began to teach other cell mates what he had. He wrote to Salt Lake again and they sent more books for the other guys he was teaching. He taught them from the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the New Testament. His knowledge of the scriptures grew substantially. While he would teach, the guards would come up to him and try to take away whatever they were studying but when he would stand up, he would hold the Book of Mormon out in front of him almost touching the guards’ chest with the cover. When they saw what it was, they literally began to cower and would nearly fall to the floor at the sight. Tom gets goosebumps everytime he tells this story because his testimony of the literal power of the Book of Mormon is so true. The guards wouldn't mess with him. He became the spiritual giant and light for the cell mates during such a time of physical and spiritual darkness. His reputation spread throughout the jail. Many times he thought he was going to be killed by another cell mate. He said he didn't care, because he knew where he was going. He stood firm in the face of affliction. After 3 months, his case was finally reviewed. It turned out that the one of the cops that arrested him, had accidentally left on the mini camera that was on his vest, and it proved him to be innocent. The cops overreacted like crazy. That's all I've heard since. We had several lessons with Tom this last week. He wanted to tell me of his experience. I was in shock. He is a different man with a different spirit. He cut his foot and a half long hair, isn't too vulgar, no more perverted comments, and loves and lives the Book of Mormon. I was amazed at how detailed his descriptions of the stories in the Book of Mormon were. He talked about the Brother of Jared and the barges he built, Nephi and his brothers cowering as the Lord commanded him to stretch forth his hand and shock them. That story reminded him of his experience with the guards in jail. I was nearly brought to tears as I witnessed the change in him. He was one person that I honestly thought would NEVER change in such a way. I'm glad that I was proven wrong. I asked Tom the question, "How has this experience helped you gain a testimony of the power of the Book of Mormon?" and "Do you feel that this experience was needed to help you?" He answered that there is no possible way that the Book of Mormon isn't true, and yes he does believe it was necessary to give him the spiritual kick in the pants to help him change.

I think that often times we are given such adverse conditions to help us realize the power and benefits of the gospel. I'm grateful for trials and the testimony and satisfaction that comes from overcoming them. Just as President Packer said many years ago, we really have no need to fear in this life because of all the knowledge we have. It's such a short time in Father's eyes.

I am addicted to the talk by Elder Holland. I love his forceful way to get his point across to the young men AND women preparing to serve missions. I'm grateful for sisters who are such great examples to me for realizing the fact that "We are at war" and that we "cannot play for the adversary whenever temptation comes along and then expect to suit up for the Savior at temple and mission time as if nothing has happened. That... [we] cannot do. God will not be mocked." Leah, I'm so impressed. Not surprised at all, but impressed. Thanks for your example. Madison, thanks for your dedication, persistence, and work ethic. I wish there were more missionaries like you. Bailee, you are so good at magnifying your talents. Remember the scripture to always magnify your talents and go to the Lord with gratitude for them. As you do, He will trust you and give you more that will bless the lives of those around you. Your friends need you and your example for good will not go unnoticed! I promise you that! Hallie, you have always been the hilarious, fun, always get your way by repeating "I'wan'sombody'to'hol'me" over and over again. You have such an ability to make people laugh and smile. Keep that trait! Optimism, happiness, and smiles are contagious. Mom, thanks for being my mom. You remind me of the mothers of the stripling warriors who "could not doubt their mothers knew it." I know it's cliche but seriously thanks for everything. I love and appreciate you more than you can imagine. Dad, thanks for your spiritual power and determination. I have yet to find someone to put themselves through more adverse conditions (Wasatch 100) because they know that the blessings and satisfaction in the end will outweigh what happened during the journey. I brag quite often about my dad and what he does. That goes for my entire family though. I have a photo album of all my family pictures in our apartment and it is being shown quite frequently to those who stay there. That is because I love you all and am so thankful for who you are. You help me to keep pushin' on when things are tough!

I am well, even though I am now on antibiotics because of some random, scary, lumps that are in my armpit of the same shoulder I had surgery. They are quite painful but I think they will be gone in a few days. I hope at least! My shoulder is great. We are actually playing softball today for a zone activity. I don't think I will swing...hard :) but everything else is perfectly fine.

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

Love,

Elder Mouritsen
Posted by at No comments:

Monday, October 3, 2011

September 27 - October 3, 2011: "Teachin', preachin', baptizin', and seein' miracles right before my eyes"

Dearest family!

Thank you for all your key learnings from General Conference! Dad, I too had a hard time keeping back the tears while thinking that you were in Montpelier watching the exact thing that I was in Phoenix. It hit me while we were all singing the congregational hymn. Also, Saturday morning before the first session, there was a song that kept going through my head. This Time, by Waylon Jennings. I can't even remember the lyrics and I don't know what caused me to remember it but the line "this time will be the last time...this time should be anything like the other times, this time will be the last time" kept coming to my mind. (I don't even know if those are the correct lyrics but those are the words I made up in my head haha). I can't believe that the mission has flown by as quickly as it has. October is my favorite month of the year! You are back home huntin', watchin' the Yanks', girls are dancin', (by that I mean the twins are going to homecoming :/), goin' to corn mazes, haunted houses, and General Conference! There can't be a better time of year! Unless that same time of year were spent teachin', preachin', baptizin', and seein' miracles right before my eyes. "This time will be the last time" continues to haunt me as I say goodbye to the last time I'll see an October. general conference, etc. It's impossible to comprehend. To me, things are the same back home. I even feel like I am the same person. But when I hear things like Uncle Trevor saying that Jessica is looking to move into her own apartment, that is crazy! "You've all changed!!" haha for the better...

Anyway, I absolutely loved the talk by Elder Holland. I also went back and listened to the talk by President Uchtdorf from the Women's conference. That one was amazing as well! I loved how blunt Holland was. I've been waiting for him to throw down on us Priesthood holders. I like how he started by saying, "I'm going to be speaking rather candidly tonight brethren..." The other missionaries and I around all looked at each other and at the same time went, "OHHHHHH!!!!" haha. I also love how chill President Monson is. The first thing he said when he got up to the pulpit on Saturday was, "Hello!" We laughed pretty hard. Can you believe there is going to be a temple in Star Valley, Wyoming!!?? Elder Kennington was at the session when he announced that. He said he about fell off the balcony. And another temple in Provo?! Crazy! It seemed like a topic of the conference was to endure trials because we are definitely going to face them in this life. I think it was a perfect topic. I just wish that every person, member and non member would have watched the entire thing. So many times as we come across people they talk about how there is no way that they can believe that God would allow such hardships and trials to happen to such good people. I just think that often times we don't recognize just how much His hand is in our lives. That is one thing that I can bet that we are going to be surprised about when we have a perfect knowledge of our lives once we return to Him. He knows we go through these certain trials because we are strong enough to make it through and will come out stronger in the end. In every circumstance, I strive to tell myself that something good is going to come from it. Whether it's an untimely sickness, death, loss of job, loss of possession, etc., something good will come. Whether it be a strengthened testimony or something that takes place on the other side that we don't have the mind power to comprehend, something good comes. I thought it was crazy how different Elder Hales looked. I shook that man's hand one year ago! It seems his mortal body is just that, mortal. But his testimony and spirit, immortal. He is a powerful man. He also has extremely soft hands. Dad I too liked the talk by Elder Callister. I wish all the investigators would watch that talk. The concerns of "I think every church is good, there isn't just one that's true" or "All we need is the bible" or "All we have to do is believe in Christ and we will be saved" would all be resolved. Over all I think it was a phenomenal conference.

We taught Nick again about the Plan of Salvation this week. We knew that this one was going to be a tough one for him because of the passing of his dad about five years ago. As we taught, the spirit once again was extremely strong. The Plan of Salvation is my absolute favorite thing to teach. I love it because of the intense focus on families. I can't stop bearing testimony about the fact that I love my family so much and am so grateful for the opportunity to live with them forever. We talked about the creation, pre-existence, earth life, spirit world, and life after death. After a lengthy discussion, Nick looked at us and said, "Wow, you know every doubt that I had at one point has now been eliminated. You guys fixed em' all." It was amazing. I forgot to mention that two days prior to our lesson, we were at our ward FHE activity. During the opening exercises, Nick stood up and said that he has an announcement to make. He told everyone that he is planning on being baptized on October 22nd. Immediately, the entire ward started cheering and clapping upon his announcement. I looked over at Nick with a smile on my face and noticed a few tears slide down his cheek. He is an amazing man.

This week we also started teaching Oscar. He is extremely shy, loves hunting, fishing, and the Book of Mormon. He likes us to come over on a daily basis to help him understand what he reads. Last week he prayed right in the middle of one of our lessons and received his answer that it is true. He is planning on being baptized on October 29th. Hopefully as we go over the commandments he needs to follow this week that he won't have any major concerns and he will be good to go.


Zone Leader Council




Mormon.org activity




Phoenix North Zone

Car inspections.


Interviews with the President this week were great. President Taylor is extremely personable with every single missionary. In my discussion with him I told him of my desire to stay in this zone at the least until Christmas. His response: "I will tell you what my mission president told me; 'I am willing to take suggestions, but I will then just turn around and throw them in the trash.'" haha Hopefully the inspiration he receives from the Lord doesn't go against my desires haha I can see it happening though, I think I'm going to be out of the Phoenix North stake for the first time in... well ever. haha

Elder Cichy goes home next transfer. I can't even believe that! He's got less than two weeks left! When he was training me, he was a little over 7 months out! Here's when the next transfers will be just so you know. October 19th, November 29th, January 10th, February 21st, April 3rd, May 15th.

I love you all! Thanks so much for everything you do! By the way, the doctor told me on Wednesday that I can't go running. Little does he know, I ran 3 miles that very morning... Oooooooppsss. Feel great though. Just need to get my strength back. There has been some major atrophy. Oh, and I haven't seen Justin or Melynda in a while! The chiropractor I go to is President Cathcart from the stake that they attend and apparently he went to the lake with Justin and Justin told him to say hi to me, so he did.

Love you!

Elder C. Matthew Mouritsen
Posted by at No comments:

Monday, September 26, 2011

September 20-26, 2011: "Sanctify Yourselves"

Hey!

Great email. I love how much you write. All the other missionaries near me barely get to read anything from their families back home. I love to look forward to a nice update week after week!

Well this week has been one of the best yet. That kid who came to church last week for the first time with one of his member friends is probably the most legit person I've been able to teach my entire mission. His name is Nick. He has the most sincere desire to leave his past life and change himself for the better. Our first lesson with him was on Wednesday while eating dinner. As we talked, we found out a little about him. Five years ago his dad died of a sudden heart attack which took a major toll on him. Nick turned to drugs, alcohol, and other commandment breaking to try to get away from the pain. As he told us this experience, tears filled his eyes as he said, "I just want to see my dad again. I want to live a life that is pleasing to him." A few weeks ago he was covering his shift at Subway when one of his best friends walked in the door to grab a sandwich. Tyler (his friend) is also a member of our ward. They had been friends since they were six years old. They played football while growing up on the same little league team and then on opposing teams in high school. After graduation, they each went their separate ways. Tyler went to Tucson to the U of Arizona to walk on to their football program and Nick moved to Phoenix. While Tyler was in Tucson, he received his answer to serve a mission. He did so faithfully in North Carolina and returned home two years later. About two and a half years after returning home, he found himself living in Phoenix, working at a Mexican Tile company on 19th Avenue and Greenway. This brings us to now. Nick worked at Subway on 19th and Greenway just across the intersection from Tyler and had no idea that Tyler worked so close. Tyler just happened to run into him at the Subway a few weeks ago and they were reunited as best friends. That night, Nick committed to stop smoking and drinking, and quit everything cold turkey. One thing led to another (haha) and Nick came to church. It is an amazing story. During the lesson, while Nick was tearing up, we testified to him of the healing power of the atonement, promised him the blessings of repentance and baptism, and his face lit up as we invited him to do so. He was beaming from ear to ear when we asked him if he would prepare himself to be baptized on October 22. Nick is awesome, hilarious, super sincere and emotional. We set up another lesson for Sunday morning where we were going to have breakfast at Tyler's home. We did so and taught him about some of his concerns (which aren't much if anything). We then went to our meetings and met up again at church. After church they asked us to come over for dinner and have another lesson. Yeah, Nick just loves to learn and wants to soak everything in. This time we taught him about the Restoration. He believed it all. Towards the end it turned into one of the most spiritual experiences of my mission. Nick started to share is newly found testimony about how God's hand has been in his life. He talked about his best friend, Tyler, and how if it wasn't for Tyler in his life he would still be doing all the bad stuff and could possibly even be in jail. He asked a question that many faithful members of the church even ask. "How do I know if God is answering my prayers? If I'm seeking answers regarding my career, school, friends, girls, how do I know?" I remembered reading an article earlier in the week about how to receive personal revelation if we aren't too good at recognizing the answers. I shared my experience with my mission call, about how I prayed my heart out up on the mountain but received no answer...yet. Then I went home and realized my answer came through my awesome mom who was so inspired to share with me her learnings from her scripture study. I told him that often times we receive answers in ways that are far from what we expect. And to learn how to receive answers, we have to ask the right questions. First, it would be good to ask Yes or No questions and often times make our best decision and take it to the Lord. Then it can be confirmed to us. Tyler then shared the experience when he found out he needed to serve a mission. Through it all, Nick was in tears. For a while, there was a long pause of silence. I think the spirit touched each of us in the room. Nick broke the silence by looking up, and through his quivering voice said, "I love you guys." We've only known each other a week, but the spirit has bound us together as eternal friends. He stood up and gave each of us a long, drawn out hug. It was a neat experience.
Wednesday we had one of the greatest zone meetings I've ever been to. We showed the video from LDS.org called "Sanctify Yourselves." I would highly recommend you watch it if you haven't already. That set the tone for the rest of the meeting. Elder Buttars talked for 3-4 min about The Power and Authority of Our Calling. Then, Elder Tameilau shared an experience about how he knew that he was sent at the specific time, to the specific place, to a specific person. Next, Elder Hamblin got up and shared his conversion story that I shared with you last week. He is amazing. He brought the spirit so strong. I had prepared a slide that showed the history of the Phoenix North zone. It's been crazy to have been in this zone for the entire year and to have seen where we have been and where we've come. I hope to be here the rest of the year. Over the past couple months the key indicators (investigators at sacrament, members present at lessons, new investigators, and investigators with a baptism date) have all gone progressively down, while baptisms have gone up or stayed around the same. The zone members realized this. We told them that we will be transitioning from being a number-oriented zone and mission to a people-oriented zone and mission. We had each companionship give us two names that they are planning on baptizing in the month of October. They then went out of the room and planned for 30 minutes what they are going to do over the next few weeks to help those specific people get baptized. I think this effort is going to greatly help the work. We've already seen a major attitude change. Several missionaries came up to me after and said, "This was awesome. This was the spiritual rejuvenation that I needed to boost my spirit of missionary work." It made me feel so good. A wise missionary once said, "It takes a really good meeting to beat not having a meeting at all." I think it was one of the best. Following the planning session, a missionary shared his departing testimony. He went around the room, called each missionary by name, and said something about them that he loved and appreciated. After, I got up and shared my testimony about the power of miracles. I talked about my shoulder. It was impossible to hold back the tears. I talked about how this focus of two people per month per companionship getting baptized might seem miraculous. But I know that miracles happen. I am a direct recipient of one. I said, as we sanctify ourselves, are obedient to the promptings of the spirit, and immerse ourselves in the work, people will be immersed in the water. It's such a good feeling to be an influence in the life of another who desires to change for the gospel's sake.

I think back to what Nick said: "I want to see my dad again. I want to live a life that is pleasing to him." He was speaking clearly about his earthly father who has passed on. I say the same thing about you dad, but I think we can all apply this comment to ourselves by constantly living a life that would be pleasing to our Father who is in heaven. We will all see him again, this is true. But how will He see us? I hope that we will be able to lift up our heads, look Him in the eye, and wash His feet with our tears as He speaks; "Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord."

I love and appreciate all that you do! Thanks for having such strong testimonies and examples for all to follow. I hope to receive a key learning from general conference from everyone!

Love,

Elder Colton Mouritsen
Posted by at No comments:

Monday, September 19, 2011

September 12-19, 2011: Thrills, scares, chills, prayers, and miracles

Hey family!

Sounds like it was a great week for you! I bet sacrament meeting was stellar. Megan Leah, I bet your talk was amazing! It sounded good as I read it but I bet your testimony, spirit, and emotion made it so much better. I bet the song was great as well! Madison I can't tell which number it is... You should send me a copy of you singing the words to the song. That would be great :) haha.
I can't believe that it's general conference in two weeks! This is honestly my favorite time of year. The Halloween stuff is already out at Wal-Mart and haunted houses are advertising for their opening days. The regular season of the majors is coming to an end and apparently the Diamondbacks are doing quite well this year and will be making it to the playoffs. Exciting time! This is my favorite time of year. Oh and don't remind me, it's another hunting season where I miss some French dip deer sandwiches in Dingle while watching the Yankees. Good stuff! I guess for me it's been hunting season for the past 16 months and will be for the next 8!

Staying along the topic of the fall season, missionary work has it's thrills, scares, chills, prayers, and miracles. Last week we had some scares with a couple of our investigators. Ryan, who had decided to be baptized on October 8th, who also has quit nearly every addiction imaginable, called us with some bad news. Apparently his mom told his dad that he was going to be baptized into the LDS church and his dad wouldn't have it. He told Ryan that he WOULD NOT be getting baptized, in fact he wouldn't even be going to church, meeting with the missionaries, or even reading the Book of Mormon. Ryan was quite devastated. He said that he has finally started having a good relationship with his dad. His dad said that if he made this decision, there was a good chance he would disown him and never speak with him again. Ryan said that he is going to keep his Book of Mormon so he can read, but out of respect for his dad, he won't be coming to church or getting baptized for awhile. This was heartbreaking for me to hear...

President Beck would always say, "There is no such thing as coincidence, only tender mercies and miracles." The next day would have to be considered a tender mercy. A young man came to church for the first time with one of his friends who is a member and asked us if he could start taking the lessons. We were so excited because it has been so hard to find people that would be considered YSA's. A few weeks ago, he went to a homecoming talk of one of his friends and after the meeting he went up to them and said, "How can I be part of this?" He then went to ward softball and his friends invited him to come to church! We have dinner and a lesson with him on Wednesday. Things are looking good!

Today we were at the chiropractor and one of the receptionists there isn't a member and she is YSA age and has decided to start learning more. Well she happens to live in our stake! We set up an appointment with her as well. I felt that this was another miracle.

Another miraculous thrill was when I received an awesome package from you! That was the best package ever! Thanks! I've needed all those things. I was out of small envelopes, chap stick, deodorant, and I had been debating on buying that sweet pen for like the past three weeks! Literally the exact same pen! It was so good to hear from you as well mom. I really appreciate your letters. You too Halls.

I went on an exchange this past week with a missionary who has been out about two months. He has an amazing story. Seven years before he left on his mission he fell severely away from the church. For those seven years he worked, played, moved around a lot, and lived a very different lifestyle than the one he lives now. While he was living and working in Colorado, he got a random knock at the door. It was the missionaries and he talked to them for a bit about how he was already a member but just didn't have the desire to be active. He thought it was funny that they happened to knock on his door but didn't think much about it. A few days later he moved to Fort Collins for school. Not two days after moving in, there was another knock at the door. Once again, the missionaries were there. This time he was shocked and thought that his mom who was living in Wisconsin at the time had sent the missionaries. Upon their departure, he called his mom and confronted her about the whole deal. She went on to tell him that she would never do that because she wants the decision to be his own and she wouldn't shove it down his throat like that. He moved on with the lingering thought in his mind about why and how they had come by each time. Well that semester went by and in the winter his sister gave him a call (she was living in Florida). She told him that he should take a semester off and go down to Florida and live with her for a few months. He agreed, transferred jobs, and flew to Florida. He got all settled in and once again, not a few days after settling, another knock came to the door. The elders were there and this time he invited them in to talk to him and his sister. He interrogated them on how they knew he was there. They went on to say that they had just felt inspired to tract in that place on that certain day. He told them the story of the other missionaries happening onto him and couldn't believe that it was just coincidence. He started turning his life around and because of this experience with the missionaries both he and his sister are now active in the church. They are the only active kids of the 6 children in his family. He is now serving a mission at the age of 24 and has one of the strongest testimonies I've heard. I learned a lot from this elder. He could look at the missionaries around him, including his trainer who is an arrogant 19 year old, and see them as young kids who haven't had as much life experience as him. Instead, he's humble enough to try to learn something from each person he comes across. He would ask me advice on certain aspects of missionary work and asked many questions about the doctrine. I am far from being a scriptorian so we learned together throughout the exchange. I realized just how much missionary work can affect the lives of those around us, member and non member. I would hope that we wouldn't get caught up in the way of the world and sink to the level of the same. It is amazing how the Lord's hands truly are in all things. This was made apparent to me from the experience I shared with you recently when experiences from my childhood to now flowed through my mind as I prayed to strengthen my testimony. I know that the Lord's hands are upon our heads more than we can know. He's always there!

Well I love and appreciate you and all you do. Please keep safe and don't do anything stupid!

Update on shoulder: it's doing so well that the physical therapist only wants me to have physical therapy once every other week until we can start doing some intense work outs. The range of motion is better than ever.

Love you all.

Elder Colt Mouritsen


Leaving the James'!
Posted by at No comments:

Monday, September 12, 2011

September 6-12, 2011: The Book of Mormon makes it right

Wow... That's all I can say!

I got emotional reading about dad and Dave. That is unbelievable! Man I bet the feeling of being at that finish line was intense. I want to do that race! Before I never in the world thought I would even want to do something like that but now I think it would be a good, fun, wholesome, slightly insane goal. :)

Who do we live with now? Elder Smith got transferred. His companion, Elder Griessmann, didn't. Elder Griessmann is now training a HUGE football player from Maryland named Elder Miller. He's pretty legit. There were a whole bunch of other changes as well. Elder Tameilau, who was trained by Elder Cichy right before I got with him, is back in the Country Gables/Campbello area. Tameilau is a 6'4" Tongan who played Olympic rugby but gave it up to come on the mission. He is planning to go to Utah or BYU after the mission and play Defensive End. We consider our zone to be "stacked" now. haha Some of the "herbies" were transferred and I am extremely excited! Yes I refer back to that letter you sent me a while ago frequently. So that was transfers.

Wednesday I went to Physical Therapy. There were some questions about which insurance I should use (home or missionary medical). The home insurance would require me to pay a $35 copay each visit which would be a lot of money. Missionary Medical only has a ten dollar copay but I just want to know how many visits I will be able to get. That is the decision I'm left with I guess. I got back there and they asked me several questions. They sat me down on the table and wanted to figure out how much range of movement/flexibility my right arm has so that they will know how far they can go with my left arm. I will have you know that when they were measuring my right arm they asked if I was a pitcher for a baseball team because it was abnormal compared to most. That made me feel reeaaallll good. :) They took the measurements, then went to the left arm. I was lying on my back and she told me to just relax my body and let her stretch my shoulder. She lifted my arm up away from my body so my arm was at a 90 degree angle with my body and started to take it back along side my head. She told me to tell her as soon as I started feeling pain and she would stop and measure the angle. She said normally, two weeks after surgery, people will only be able to go back about 10 degrees from the 90 degree point. Oddly, I felt no pain and she went further, and further, and further making comments like "this is nuts." "This is extremely abnormal." "When did you have surgery again?" until my shoulder was back as far as my right was measured. I felt a little twinge of pain when she took it that far. It was amazing! She then did the other stretches and measurements and the same thing happened. Originally, I had planned to have 2-3 visits a week from week 2 after surgery till the end. Now I will be only having 1 visit a week until I get my sling off or even after. It's a miracle! She even made the comment that I probably wouldn't even need my sling but to keep it on until the surgeon told me to remove it. It's amazing that I have no pain. The priesthood is real, prayers are answered. Nuff said.

We had a good lesson with a former investigator named Ryan Reardon. He was taught a couple months ago but went back to some of his old ways and fell away from the teachings. He committed himself to start doing better and is now wanting to get baptized. He has seriously quit every addiction there is that has to do with the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity. He's committed to baptism for October 8th.

Another "elect" person just showed up to our church on Sunday. His name is Gabriel and he is from Iraq. He says he has only been in this area for 5 days and he doesn't know English very well at all. He said he had been researching the church for a while and was just waiting for someone to give him an Arabic Book of Mormon. Wow... We just happened to have one in the truck so we ran out and got it for him while he was sitting in Gospel Principles class. When I handed it to him, he looked at me and said, "This is the best gift I have received in the entire time I have been in the United States!" That just made me smile. He started flipping through the pages which to me looked like chicken scratches and smiled every time he came to a scripture he wanted to finally understand. This is how I want to end my letter. The Book of Mormon is such a powerful testament of Jesus Christ. I swear whenever things are going rough either Nephi, Alma, Mormon, Moroni, Abinadi, etc know how to make it right. It truly is the best gift we can receive! It helps one feel the spirit, which helps one gain a testimony, which helps one repent, which helps one to be baptized, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end. It is true!

Well I love you all. I love this work. I think I will get the package tomorrow when they train the mission on the mormon.org boom that is coming to Phoenix. I don't know if I told you but Phoenix is getting nuked with advertisement starting October 1st so hopefully it boosts the missionary work.

Dad you are amazing. I love your testimony and your determination to endure trials because the end result is so worth it. Through the hard things we learn how to cope with harder things that the Lord would have us do in the future!
Love you!

Elder Mouritsen
Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)