September 22, 2011

Hi Mom and Family

My finger is doing well.  It hardly hurts anymore.  I just can’t play basketball because it does hurt pretty badly then.  I haven't received my flight plans yet.  I’ll probably receive them after lunch today so I will try and email you again giving you the low down.  Yes I got Syd's Dear Elder letter.  It was nice to hear from her again.  I think I will have enough room in my suit case but I just hope it doesn't top the scale.  I am trying to stock up on some stuff that I have run out of here because everything is so cheap at the BYU Bookstore, 40% off of everything.  Yes, I have been hanging out with Preston almost every night it is great to have him here and I will make sure to get a picture with them both (Preston and Nate).  I have been trying to get pictures sent to you but the black thing doesn't connect to these computers because they are set up to block that kind of stuff.  The picture printing machines in the book store are slower than our family getting ready to go to Dingle.  Jeremy Furner was here. He left this week but I got a picture with him and got to talk to him for a while.  I can’t think of anything else I need.  The perfect pushups are perfect.  I am already getting more ripped than ever haha.  Dad should get some for himself.  The Spanish book will work perfect thanks for that. 

This week has gone by fast and we have been teaching tons.  I teach 2 to 3 times a day either to my teacher or to another companionship.  It is very demanding and takes a lot of planning but it is also really fun and helps my Spanish because we have to speak Spanish in our lesson or else they can’t understand us. 

My teacher Hermano McPherson shared his journal with us this week and I am pretty sure he is going to be a prophet because his journal was unreal.  It sounded as if Nephi had been writing his journal.  It has totally changed the way I am going to be writing in my journal.  It was so profound and to the point that anyone that reads it will be amazed.  I hope I will be able to become like McPherson one day.  He knows the Bible and the Book of Mormon like the back of his hand and quotes President Monson and other prophets word for word all the time.  Every time I am in his class I want to be better and be more exact and obedient so I can constantly have the Spirit with me.  I am so grateful for the experience I have to be here in the MTC and have to best teacher.  Why am I so blessed?  I have so many blessing and love to kneel down and pray to my Heavenly Father and thank him for my blessings every night.

This week Elder Nelson came and spoke to us, the apostle not my companion.  It was such a cool experience.  He talked about the October Ensign that you should be getting soon but we got it early so we are sort of a big deal.  It talks about the Book of Mormon and how it is the best tool we have for conversion and having the Spirit in our lives.  He shared with us the history of the Book of Mormon which was very interesting.  He showed the changes that have been made over the years, not any doctrine changes, but how it has become easier to read because it hasn't always been in columns but it used to just be straight text to paragraphs, not much punctuation just straight text.  He also had copies of really of Books of Mormon.  He talked about the time it took Joseph Smith to translate the Book of Mormon He translated the whole thing in 3 months.  To translate the Bible into the King James Version it took 50 translators and over a span of seven years, they were able to translate one page a day roughly.  Joseph Smith with the power of God was able to translate 8 to 10 pages a day.  This is a huge testament to me how could a young man not educated translate a book to English from Egyptian where it took 50 well educated men to translate the Bible.  It is because Joseph Smith was doing the Lords work and the Lord was helping him the whole time.  I am so grateful that I was able to witness the testimony of another apostle and I feel so richly blessed.  Most people will not have the opportunity that I have had to see and hear the testimony of modern living apostles.  I love my Heavenly Father and know he is watching over me every second.  I love this church and I know it’s true.  I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and brings the Spirit into my life every time I read it.  I challenge all you that read this to read the Book of Mormon and to lose yourself in its words and your testimony will grow.  I know this for a fact.

I love you all and I pray for you constantly!  I am making some great friendships and loving the experience I am having.  I am so excited to finally get out of the MTC though and actually get out into the field and teach the people that are seeking the gospel. 

Love,

Elder Mouritsen

September 15, 2011

Hi Mom and family,

So we weren’t able to receive any dear elders for five days and no one sends me hand written letters:( haha.  So I haven't received a letter for six days now.  I feel like everyone has forgotten about me haha jk.  Yes Nate Gersberger got here yesterday.  He is in my building on the first floor next to Preston so we hung out last night a little.  He is only here for three weeks though and then he goes to the Peru MTC, lucky him.  This week has gone by fast except for the not being able to receive dear elders.  Your package was great last week though and I was able to eat all the jam before it started going bad and the grapes made it this time. 

Yesterday I jammed my finger way bad in basketball and we thought it may be broken because it is very big and bruised pretty bad and I couldn't even tie my tie so they sent me to the ER and they took an X-ray it wasn't broken just badly jammed so I can’t play sports with my hand for two weeks now:(  I think it should recover faster than that though. 

How is everything going at home?  Mom, I’m glad that you are finally becoming good at the iPhone.  You'll begin to love it and not want to live without it after you have had it for a while.  Thanks for looking for a Spanish picture book for me.  I was wondering if you could check and see how much Perfect Pushups are because I would really like some.  Preston is doing well and he says he loves being here and is having the best time!   We are the oldest district in our zone now and so we'll probably have to give talks this Sunday in Spanish.  I write a talk every week in Spanish just in case I get called but this week I definitely could get called.  Writing talks are becoming a lot easier now and I can write a five minute talk in Spanish in about an hour.  This week we all received the Ensign to read.  It is a special ensign on the Book of Mormon and is explains the Book of Mormon really well.  It is good for me because I don’t really understand what is going on in the Book of Mormon sometimes so it is helping to clarify things.  It would be good for you to read too mom because sometimes you don’t understand what is happening in the Book of Mormon.  It is pretty funny, I have never wanted to read an Ensign in my life or have ever read an Ensign all the way through but now that I’m here at the MTC it is awesome to read because the only other things we get to read is the Book of Mormon and Preach My Gospel.  Our whole district was pretty excited when we heard we would need to read Octobers Ensign.

On Tuesday night we had a fireside and Elder Ballard and his wife came and spoke to us.  It was pretty awesome.  I have been able to see two apostles while I’ve been here.  I am pretty lucky.  His wife bore her testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel.  It was nice to hear.  Elder Ballard talked about the importance of a mission and a little about his mission.   After Tuesday night devotionals we share our testimony in front of the some of the branch presidency and I was giving mine and I said Ballard not Elder Ballard and the president got mad at me and said its "ELDER BALLARD" haha.  I was like ok, sorry and then right after he said that I called my companion Nelson not Elder Nelson.  He didn't say anything about that one but I knew he was probably thinking something.  So this week I’m going to work on calling people Elder and Sister.  It’s hard to get used to because you feel kind of weird calling people by Elder when they are all your age.  Elder Ballard shared a story of him on his mission. When he first got to England on his mission they were having two missionaries speak in front of 500 people.  Elder Ballard didn't think he would get called because he was new and had just gotten there but, he was called.  He was super nervous and didn't really know what to talk about.  He decided to talk about baptism.  He got up and said everything he knew about baptism.  It only lasted a minute and a half and then he was done.  He felt so horrible that he had not prepared himself properly for a mission and he didn't take scripture study seriously.  He knelt down that night and prayed for forgiveness and promised Heavenly Father that he would work hard at learning the gospel and from that point on he would get up extra early and study the scriptures.  This was nice to hear because it lets me know that even apostles struggle and had hard times speaking and learning but, with hard work their weaknesses became strengths. 

I'll write you a hand written letter today. Fix my spelling and grammar in this e-mail haha.  I’m getting worse and worse at English after studying Spanish all day.

I love you guys so much and pray for you all the time!

Love

Elder Mouritsen

September 8, 2011

Mom and Family!!

Wow! Ya, this week went by way fast I can’t even remember what really happened.  I got my flip-flops. Thank you very much.  I had to borrow flip-flops from one of the guys in my district after he would finish showering because there was no way that I was going to stand in those showers bare foot.  They are way gross!!  It’s like everyone thinks its ok to just manscape in a community shower.  Not ok!  I haven’t heard anything about my flights.  We'll get our flight plans two weeks before we leave and, yes, I get to call you at the airport as much as I want or have time.  So, I’m hoping for a long lay over. 

Preston got here yesterday and I was so excited.  I saw him in the lunch room and talked to him for about ten minutes.  He seemed very excited to be here and then I found out that he is staying the same building I am.  I can go visit him every night if I want until he leaves.  I went and helped him unpack and he told me that you guys texted him the other night before he left.  He said he loves you guys.  He was also rocking a nice comb over.  I am too:) 

It sounds like dingle was a blast and a lot of people went up this year, even Sonnet!  When you were talking about all the food and the fish you ate in dingle it made me so hungry for some real food and not this frozen preserved food that I eat every day.  It’s really not that bad anymore.  My body is finally getting used to it but, I still miss home cooking that’s for sure.   It will be fun for you to go help Whitney move and get to see the sex of the baby.  It will be weird that I won’t get to see the baby until it’s a year and a half old. 

            This week is hard to write about because it went by so fast and I don’t really remember what happened because I was studying so hard.  One thing that happened is one of the elders in my district, had knee surgery and was sent home for three months.  It would be so hard to be here and then leave and have to come back three months later but I think it might have been a blessing to our district that he was sent home.  He was really loud and liked the attention on him so it was almost impossible to study sometimes.  He was only 18 so I can understand why he was a little immature but he was way funny and we had some great experiences with him in our district.  It was a bitter sweet goodbye. 

This week we also taught Juan and he asked if he should serve a mission but we didn't give him a very good answer because we could hardly understand him.  He talks so fast.  So, last night we talked to him again about missions and I think it went really well because he prayed about it right in front of us so that was pretty good.  This week my companion hasn't received a letter from his girlfriend so he's been a little depressed.  Hopefully he gets a letter from her today.  He's funny.  He only writes her and he'll write five of six pages to her every week.  His whole P-day is dedicated to her and an email to his mom.  I love him though.  He makes me laugh.  In gym, I play basketball and on Tuesdays we work out because gym is at 6:00 and we don’t want to play basketball that early.  We do pushups and stretch every morning too which is good because I am so stiff from my rock hard bed.  I’m not used to hard beds.  I’m used to really great beds with memory foam pillow tops on them:)  I’ve been spoiled haha. 

            I guess the mail is closing next week? Do you know anything about that? So send me everything that you want as fast as you can so I will receive it before the mail room closes.  I’m running low on M&M’s and I ate all my apples and oranges.  The jerky is a great treat too:) Oh, chips and salsa is something you could send me if you want to send me anything. 

Sorry this email doesn't talk about anything spiritual really, even though this week has been really spiritual for me! There was just too much to write about so I just didn't haha.  My Spanish is definitely improving and I love the scriptures.

I love you guys so much and pray for you constantly!!!!

Love

Elder Mouritsen

September 1, 2011

Hello family

So mom I am very sorry for not emailing you sooner I haven’t had time at all this week to get onto the computer I have been so busy with teaching investigators and learning Spanish that I have hardly had any time to go to the bathroom haha.  I did get the apple and oranges that you sent and I have loved them but the grapes got left in the box too long so they were sour when I got them because my district leader gave me my package slip too late so the package place was closed when I went to get the package and so the box spent a night in the mail room.  I was so mad at my district leader.  He's so sketchy about the mail and he forgets his responsibilities sometimes but he's doing his best and that’s all we can ask.  Thanks for that tie.  I am wearing it right now.  I was wondering where that tie went haha.  Only my companion and I are going to Pittsburgh and the rest of our district is either going to Oregon or Lubbock, Texas.  I hope Tyler’s wedding went well and I can’t believe he is married.  Kortney did send me pictures and I have them hanging up.  I am so excited for Preston to come to the MTC he will love it and I can’t wait to see him. 

This week has been crazy!  Probably the best week I have had here.  The first part of the week we taught Orfelio and we got him to commit to baptism!!  It was really cool.  We hope he keeps his commitment.  Also, I got a package from Debera full of Ookie Dukes (Snicker Doodles).  I had no idea who the package was from at first.  So last night we had to teach Juan and we have been struggling big time with Juan who is actually Hermano McPherson.  We had no idea what he needed but, we knew he was reading the Book of Mormon.  He wouldn't pray about it and wouldn't pray in front of us.  It has been hard not to just give up on him.  Last night we had to teach him and we decided we were going to teach him the third lesson but we weren’t as prepared as we should have been.  I thought it would be good to lighten the mood at first and let him know that we love him so I put some of Debera's cookies on a napkin and when we went to teach him I gave him the cookies.  He smiled and asked why we had these and I had to tell him my mom sent me them because I didn't know how to say aunt in Spanish so sorry Aunt Debera.  So, we started our lesson and he put the cookies on the floor.  The first part of the lesson went horribly and I had no idea what my companion was trying to say and what I was trying to say in Spanish haha, but then he started eating the cookies and things became more relaxed and somehow it started getting better.  I bore my testimony to him about baptism and it was the first time I have felt the Spirit when saying it in Spanish.  It was awesome and in the end we got him to pray!!  And he said he would eventually get baptized!  It was a good night!

Last night was cool but the best night was Tuesday nights’ devotional.  Elder Jeffrey R. Holland came and spoke to us!:)  Here are some of my notes from his talk. 

He loves us.  His mission meant everything to him.  Everyone struggles, even Pres. Monson.  Every dispensation has ended up in apostasy except our dispensation.  It will not end in apostasy.  This time we will endure to the end.  We are the chosen dispensation.

The prophets of old new that they wouldn't succeed but they did what they did for us! Our day is what every prophet priest and king has dreamed of.

If the there was to be a symbol that represented the Church it would be two missionaries.  Everyone recognizes the missionaries.

Everyone loves the missionaries and we don’t have the right to ruin the image that people have.  He got really emotional right here and then seemed a little angry saying we don’t have the right to ruin the perfect image of the Church.  It’s not ours to ruin so we need to always be the best and follow the rules and talk how we are supposed to talk.  The room was completely dead silent we he was talking about this.

Be a missionary for the rest of your life.  Don’t leave the church after your mission.  It is the one thing that pushes Holland’s buttons!  Our testimony needs to be strong.  Do not do something stupid after your mission and just walk away from the Church.  Have it change your life.  People have the right to think we are perfect.

Elder Holland then answered some questions that people had but I don’t have time to type them out so I’ll write them in my hand written letter.

This night was such a great moment in my life.  The Spirit was unlike anything I had ever felt or seen before.  From the moment he walked into the room, to the moment he left, the Spirit was so strong.  I have never seen a general authority speak in the way he did tonight.  No teleprompter, no paper, just his mind the scriptures and the Spirit.  The congregation was dead silent as I and everyone else in that room listened to a man of God bear witness to this gospel that I love so much.  I have never seen someone talk about Jesus Christ and God like he did.  He talked with a sharp tongue that cut into my soul.  He professed his love with power and emotion that was indescribable if you weren’t there to witness it.  I hope one day I will be able to talk with even half the spirit and power that he spoke with.  He is a man of God.  He knew what he was saying was true and I knew it was true and after tonight I will never be able to deny what I witnessed.  I know this is the true church without a doubt and I say this in the name of Jesus Christ Amen. 

I love you all and pray for you every night!!! 

Love Elder Mouritsen

PS. how is colt doing? Please tell people to send me more dear elders and regular letters.