I have a great testimony of the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost

13 February 2012

Dear family,

Wow, I can't believe Colton was in the same area for about 17 months. That is crazy and unheard of. It is weird to think that he is already almost done with his mission it seems like he just left but then again I have been gone for 6 months and it has felt like one month, except for the MTC felt like two years. I thought I was never going to get out of that place haha.

I hope that I will get to teach Manuel more in Spanish because it is fun and challenging. We got a new district leader last week and his name is Elder Medina. He is from Peru and speaks perfect Spanish. At the last district meeting we all had an interview with Him and he and I were able to have the whole interview in Spanish which was way cool and I am glad that he is in my district.

Last night we were at a member’s house eating dinner and he was showing us some of the mormon.org and lds.org videos that the church has put out. They are amazing and they bring the Spirit so strong. I can't wait until the church lets missionaries have iPads so we can show everyone we teach those videos. I think people will feel the spirit so strongly when they see those. We had ward conference yesterday which was really wonderful. Our Sunday school class was about family night and I finally see the importance of family night. Everyone in the family goes to church and they learn different things then on Monday we all get to come together as a family and share and expound on those things that we lean. We would usually do this at family dinner on Sunday after church when dad would ask us what we learned. I wish I would have got more excited about this at the time but sadly I didn't but I am thankful for you dad. You always brought it up and asked us and I am now seeing the importance of that and the great example that it is to me. I think you guys should start holding a family night on Monday even if it is just for 10 minutes that would be great. Even if you watched one of the Mormon.org videos and talked about it after you would learn a lot and be spiritually fed as a family.

Wow, your cousin Tom and his family will be blessed more than ever for the choices that they made to be baptized. There is nothing like a baptism for someone that you love and hold dear because you realize that they are taking the first step towards eternity and knowing that you will be able to see them after this life is so incredible.

We have an investigator named Jacob. He is 16 and has had a rough life. He smoked his first joint at age 9 and has been smoking and selling it ever since. He was caught with possession and is on house arrest. We have been teaching him for about a month now. He has never been to church and doesn't know anything about the bible or God really. Everything we teach him is new to him and he soaks it all in. I can tell that he really thinks and ponders the things that we tell him although he doesn't always act on those impressions I know that he has felt the Spirit. After watching the restoration DVD with him he said he felt a natural high and I said it’s the Spirit. It has been fun to teach him. He has a bunch of tats already but we left him with 1 Nephi 18:16 and when we came back to see if he read it he said he wanted to get it tattooed on his arm haha. He is so innocent. We had to tell him that the prophet advised to have no tattoos. He is still a little boy (only 16) and he knows way too much about the evils of the world but it brings me joy that we are able to bring him a new way of life, a better way of life.

When I first got to my area we had one solid investigator named Leon. I never met Leon and he was soon dropped but since that time 4 1/2 months ago we have had two baptisms and we have 9 progressing investigators. The ward is finally starting to trust the missionaries again. After many years of disobedient missionaries, the ward members finally trust us enough to give us referrals. The work is really progressing and I am glad to be a part of it!

I need to call Stephen (Elder Nelson) this week and see how he is doing. I know he really enjoyed his last companion and it will be cool to see how he is doing with training and maybe I can give him some support, because training is not easy and it is not easy to leave your first companion. So I will have to call him and see how he's doing.

Wow! Mom, I can’t believe you are quilting! Only grandma's quilt, haha. Good thing you are going to be a grandma!!! Are you excited mom?

Chester- is going to be interviewed by Pres. Topham soon so he will be able to be baptized. Since he is on probation he has to be recommended to the general authorities to be baptized.
 
Jackie- She is doing really well. Although she didn't come to church last Sunday, she is still doing well. We watched finding faith in Christ with her and she was able to understand the atonement a little better. It will be hard to have her quit smoking and drinking but anything is possible. Chester quit and so can she.
 
Donna and Joseph- Where to begin with them? Their relationship is crazy. They need help but I am stumped at how to help them. They need to make some big changes and they will be a lot happier.
 
Jonathan- Jonathan is a referral from mormon.org and he is doing really well. He is 21 and it is always fun to teach him. He is reading the Book of Mormon and is already in Ch. 19 of 1 Nephi. Let me say that again, He is reading the Book of Mormon! That is why it is so fun to teach him because he asks us good inspired questions. We hardly get to teach a lesson because we end up talking about the Book of Mormon and answering the questions that he has. He prayed in front of us which he has never done in his whole life, he didn't even know how to pray. He is also like a sponge. He likes us to come over and will text us and ask us when we are coming over next. I can't believe how blessed I am to have these investigators and the experiences that come along with them.
 
Thomas- is 12 years old and is getting baptized this Sunday. His mom and dad are members but didn't pressure their kids to get baptized. We have been teaching Tommy and he wants to get the priesthood to pass the sacrament but he needs to get baptized first.
 
Loannva is doing great! She came to church with her granddaughter and Tweat yesterday. Tweat is handicapped and lives with Loannva. She is hilarious and she loves to dance.

That is about it on the investigators.
 
I just want to end be saying that I have a great testimony of the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. I can feel when I have the Holy Ghost with me and when I don't. I have tried the hardest I can to always have it with me but there are still points that it leaves because I am angry or annoyed or just down. Those times are the hardest for me when I have caused myself to slip and the Holy Ghost is gone. When this happens I feel like I can't do anything, I can't speak Spanish, I can't teach, I can't find the scriptures that I want to and I can't convince people of the truthfulness of the gospel. The blessing of the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost is real and we need to do everything in our power to have it with us. I know that it is real I can witness to you of its power. I know that God is all powerful and if we put our faith in Him and keep ourselves worthy to have His Spirit we will be able to accomplish anything if it is good. I know this is the true church and I cannot deny it. Yo digo esas cosas en el nombre de Jesucristo Amen!
 
Love Elder Mouritsen

Move Out of the Comfort Zone

6 February 2012

Dear Family,

I loved the package you sent me. It had a lot of fun things in it. It was probably my favorite package. Grandpa's stuff was all great and the iPod is nice to have. I love the Spanish music and George Dyer (he was my primary teacher)! It was nice to see grandpa's book again and to be able to read the memories of grandpa from his kids. I read those and cried all morning. It was cool to see the love that all of Grandpa’s kids had for him and all the things that he taught them.

Wow, I am glad the Giants won the Superbowl! Everyone hates the Patriots here and think they are overrated. We had to be in our apartment at six that night just for the Superbowl. Was the halftime show good with Madonna? You didn't have a Superbowl party with mom’s family? We usually do. Is it because I am not there? (Go my favorite sports team!)

Is Nathan Powell going to be ok? Does he have a really bad form of cancer? Colby Howt is going on a mission!? Wow! Good for him. I think Calgary is the same place where Jeremy Furner is but I’m not positive. Speaking of missionaries, Elder Tanner Morris was in Elder Rudd’s Zone and Elder Rudd got to know him really well. It was weird, I was looking at Elder Rudd’s pictures and Tanner was in some of them.

They are almost done remodeling our new apartment and we'll be able to move in soon. I didn’t get a new mattress either but, mine is fine though. As long as it doesn't give me back pains I'll be fine.

I have not given the recipes you sent to Loannva yet. She is not answering her phone or door so I hope she is ok and hasn't quit the church. She needs a friend in the church and I think the fact that she is the only black lady in the ward makes her feel uncomfortable.

Chester was not planning to get baptized on the 11^th because he is on probation for the next five years. He needs to be interviewed by President Topham and then he will recommend Chester to the First Presidency to be baptized. So, it might take a while but he loves it still.

The best part about last Friday was that I was able to teach the 1st lesson in Spanish all by myself to a man named Manuel. It was great! I have never spoken Spanish so fluently until that moment when I needed to. I have been studying Spanish a lot lately too so that I can be able to teach lessons by myself.

I found confidence is huge out on a mission. In life, if you don't believe that you can do it then you will never do it. If you feel like other people judge you then you will live in fear and never try new things. We have to move out of the comfort zone and be confident in doing so.

Love,

Elder Mouritsen

P.S.  I did get a new ankle brace so I can start being a little more active.

A letter to Aunt Debera (February 6th, 2012)

Dear Aunt Debera,

  This letter probably won’t get to you by the time you give your lesson on being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but I want to share some thoughts that I have about the subject.  I have been studying this subject and I think it is very interesting because I don’t think we realize how big a deal it is to be a member.  Something that goes along with being a member is the covenants that we make, baptismal and temple.

Baptism is the first covenant that we make with our Heavenly Father.  By being baptized we are promising our Heavenly Father that we will try to be perfect.  We know that we will always fall short but no matter what, we will try to be better.  As we keep our side of the covenant, God always keeps His.

Why is it that so many people fall away after being baptized?  Why is it so hard to have people fulfill their callings in the Church?  As I thought and studied these questions I found this.  In Alma 5:14, Alma asks his brethren if they have been spiritually born of God.  He also asks them if they have experienced a mighty change of heart.  Now to be Alma’s “brethren” we have to be baptized members.

I love this scripture because it explains it well.  We will not fully commit ourselves to anything in the Church until we have been spiritually born, until we know for ourselves that it is true.  So many people fall away from the church and go less active because they haven’t had a mighty change of heart.  When we have that mighty change of heart nothing will bring us down.  We will do whatever the Lord asks of us and we will do it to the best of our ability.

Why is it that people who have gone to the temple and have made those sacred covenants fall away?  In Isaiah 23:5 we learn that only people can break the covenant.  God does not break the covenant.  In the end it all comes down to faith.  If everyone that was baptized was obedient to all the commandments then their faith would grow and eventually they would become spiritually born of God and would do anything for the building up of the Kingdom.

These are just my thoughts but I wanted to share them with you.  It might not make sense but I do have a strong testimony that as members of this church we need to do our part.

Another thing that goes along with being a member is missionary work.  Members need to give referrals to missionaries.  Allow the missionaries to come teach your friends or family members in your home.  Also, help with fellowshipping new converts of the church.  New converts need a friend because if they don’t have a friend they won’t want to come because they haven’t been totally spiritually born yet.

Love Elder Mouritsen

The New Mattress

                                                                                                                                         January 30, 2012

Dear Family,

It is so crazy that it hasn't snowed that much yet in Utah.  Usually we have a ton by now and this is the best time for skiing and snowboarding but I guess not now. It has been weird here too.  Yesterday is was around 50 degrees and then last week it snowed but I'm not complaining.  I would rather it be warm here so I don't have to walk in the bitter cold.

I am sure Bishop Rosner and Pres. Bangerter's talks were great.  I have been studying about temple covenants a little lately and I have found some interesting scriptures that really make me rethink my commitment to my Heavenly Father. The covenants that we make are very powerful and very exact and we need to do everything that we can to keep our end of the commitments. I will send you some scriptures about it next week.

Dad, those audits at work sound like they make your company run better in the long run but, I am sure they are very stressful.  It sounds a lot like a mission, when we have exchanges with the district or zone leaders and even president Topham it really makes me humble myself and see the many flaws that I have and it shows me that I need to work harder and always work towards improvement.  Just the other day when president Topham came on exchanges with me he taught me something very important and that was how to simplify and intensify our lessons.  He always says that and stresses it in zone conferences but when he came with us I realized how to do it and that is by keeping the lessons short. Sharing with people one subject or principle of the gospel and then letting them ponder and think about that one subject, instead of sharing the whole lesson and talking way too much about things that people probably don't understand.  I realize now that the lessons that Stewart and I had usually went way too long but I am now working on it and it has so far been successful.  Constant Improvement!! That's what I'm shooting for!

My ankle is doing really well. I have started jogging and doing some cardio things that are strengthening it and it is starting to feel lots better.  I haven't gotten an ankle brace but that's because I haven't needed it.  I haven't been playing any sports but I'm going to go get a brace this week because I want to start being active again and playing sports but not basketball.  The ankle has really put a damper on my attitude and I think it was because I wasn't able to run or jump and play any sports on my P-day which stinks.  The air boot is really depressing and impossible to wear on a mission so I haven't worn it for a while.

I am staying very warm. I woke up the other night covered in sweat because the heated blanket was folded over and caused tons of heat which cause me to sweat. I only have to turn the heated blanked up to 4 and it stays really warm. Elder Rudd got a new mattress this week which I am sad about because it is super nice. It's my fault though because Elder Stewart had the better mattress when he was here and then when he left I switched mattresses with him so that I would have the better one and Elder Rudd would have my old one that was all springs.  You could feel every spring and it caused my back to hurt every morning. I thought I was just getting a good work out but instead it was just the crappie bed that I slept on for 3 months. After I switched, the next day I got a call from Sister Bowcut, the one that takes care of our apartments, and she asked if the mattresses where ok and I told her that Elder Rudd’s was really bad and so she said she would get him a new one. I didn't think she would've gotten a brand new one for him but she did and it is super nice. I am jealous but I guess I won’t trade mattresses again. I'll just ask for a new one.

Elder Rudd is doing well. He is realizing that there is a lot more to a mission than just having all your scripture masteries memorized.

Chester is great! He came to church yesterday and loved it. He was telling members that he is soon going to be baptized and be a member of the church. He is just enjoying life and he is really happy about quitting smoking. He was telling some members that he quit smoking yesterday too. So he is doing great and our lessons are fun. I love teaching him because he is willing to learn and already has a strong testimony of the church. This week we taught him the law of chastity and the law of tithing which he took really well and will do his best to keep both of them. He will be getting baptized on the 11th of February!!!

We have two new people that we are teaching named Joseph and Donna. I can't remember if I have told you about them. Anyway, we taught Joseph and Donna on Tuesday and they had a bunch or great questions and they are really excited about learning more and eventually becoming members of the church. We didn't get to teach too much of the first lesson because we were answering so many questions but, it was really good and they invited us to come back on Thursday for lunch and a lesson. So Thursday came and we had a great lunch (chicken and brown rice) and learned that Joseph used to be a chef. Then we taught the 1st lesson about the restoration and I used the red cup lesson that I made. They really enjoyed it and Joseph was asking about faith and how he thinks he has no faith but I told him that he was showing faith by letting us in his house. I have a lot of faith in Donna and Joseph and know they will make the changes in their lives so that they can become baptized.  

We have a new investigator named Jackie. Her son is a member and sent in a referral for us to go see her. She had just been in a car accident where her friend that was driving drunk and died.  She is at the lowest of the low in her life. She is now being charged with involuntary manslaughter because her friend was driving her car and she let him drive it drunk. So she is going through a rough time and we hope she doesn't go to jail or anything. I really love teaching her and she make me excited to teach and to prepare lessons for her because she is so emotional and has so many good questions. We did a fast for her yesterday so we are praying that nothing happens when she goes to court this Wednesday. She wants to make major changes in her life but it will be hard because she told us she has a lot of issues. She is awesome!

Yesterday we had to teach the combined lesson for the fifth Sunday. Well, we didn't have to, but we wanted to because we wanted to talk about member referrals and how the ward needs to be better about giving referrals and doing member missionary work. We wanted to show a video that showed a great example of how easy and effective member referrals are but the DVD didn't work so I ended up having to talk for 15 min about member referrals. It was very stressful because it was pretty much the whole ward except the primary children. So now I can say I have taught a lesson to over a hundred people.  It went well though. I feel I got the point across and they hopefully will give more referrals to us because as of now they don't give very many. Bishop said it was really good and Sister Reyes said she was trying to think of someone she could go and talk to and have them come to her house to learn from the missionaries.  Elder Rudd was a big help also and it was nice to have him up there with me.

Well that's all the stuff I can think of that you would like to hear.

Thanks for everything you guys do and I love you so much!

Love, Elder Mouritsen

P.S. A member got us Cafe Rio on Saturday and brought it to us at church so after church I got to enjoy a big chicken burrito!!