Super Busy

                                                                                                                                  09 January 2012

Hi family,

I was glad to talk to you last Wednesday.  The spirit has really been helping me through grandpa's passing because I haven't even been able to dwell on his passing since the day we talked.  The spirit doesn't let me.  Even when I try and think about him I can't.  It's weird but I think it is good for me. 

The weather was really cold on Wednesday and snowed a little bit but not much at all.  After Wednesday it warmed up a little bit and became bearable.  On Wednesday it was so cold that it just went right through your coat, having a coat almost felt pointless because it would go right through it.  I was shivering pretty badly.  It was weird but we were able to talk to lots of people. 

This week has been super busy as far as missionary work goes.  Chester has a baptismal date for the 28th and he attended church for his first time and he loved it.  He felt the spirit very strongly as people bore their testimonies and he said he could relate to them.  Jim came to church and he bore his testimony, which was so cool to see and I think it gave him a lot of confidence.  Oh, and he also shaved his face but he left a mustache so now he looks a little cleaner.  I love him.  Who knows, maybe he will shave everything for next week.  Bert also came to church and her daughter bore her testimony so hopefully we can have a great lesson with Bert this week and we can set her with a baptismal date.  I don't know if I have told you too much about Chester but, he is a black man with a super deep voice and we have been teaching him for about two months now.  Elder Stewart and I found him and he turned out to be a real winner.  He has to stop smoking so we plan to do the stop smoking program with him this week.  We were able to see Loannva a few times this week and she is doing really well.  She says she gets a lot of crap for joining a Mormon church because the blacks think the church is only a white man’s church but Loannva knows the truth and she loves it. 

 

One crazy thing that happened this week that showed me that Satan is real and that he uses little tactics to not let people know the truth.  We were at our new investigators house.  His name is Jacob and he is sixteen.  We were talking about our missions and we read a chapter in the Book of Mormon with him.  After that, we decided to watch the restoration DVD with him.  We started the DVD and we were all watching it until Joseph Smith started praying asking his question.  Right when God and Jesus were going to appear Jacobs’s phone rang and he left the room.  We paused it and he came back a minute later saying that his girlfriend was almost to his house and that we would have to finish another time.   If we had five more minutes then we would have been able to finish but no, Satan had to interfere!  That always happens during that part of the movie.  If there is a baby in the room it will be completely silent until that part of the movie and then it will just cry for no reason.  It is so frustrating!   

I met with Elder Kenley twice this week and we were able to do some Spanish study.  It was nice.  Sister Kenley fed us some breakfast while we were studying.  I think I am going to try and meet with him about two or three times a week to work on my Spanish.  On Thursday night we went on splits with Brother Piercy and he speaks Spanish really well and he gave me a great pep talk on how I can study Spanish and what I need to do to become more immersed in my language.  He told me to watch lots of videos in Spanish and always be listening to Spanish music so that I could constantly be hearing it. 

We taught Cathy this week with Brother Piercy and he did most of the talking but I did contribute as much as I could.  Brother Piercy was able to explain the gospel really well and I was able to ask her if she would be baptized.  She said she would but she is a little hesitant because she is totally illiterate and can't read the scriptures.

I have been a little down these past few days, a little because of grandpa but mostly because I feel like I could be a way better missionary.  I feel like I am trying to give it my all but the fire that I had when Elder Stewart was here is not here anymore and I have been trying to find it again.  My new companion is taking some getting used to.  He is way funny and I love him and I am working really hard to be a good example and trying to keep us super busy.   

I love you guys and will keep you and especially Grandma in my prayers.

Love Elder Mouritsen