This was one of the best weeks of my mission

April 23, 2012

Dear family,

My apartment is a lot better that our old one.  I will get to stay in it for another transfer.  I have been here forever but we had interviews with President Topham and he told me that after I am done training Elder Rivas I will be transferred to get a new experience.  By the time I leave I will have been in Chambersberg for 9 months.   

That is crazy that Trevor and Adam Staples won't see each other for four years as they serve their missions!  I am glad to hear that Michael Kowalk is doing well in his mission.  It sounds like his dad Mark had some pretty spiritual experiences while on his mission.  I think all missionaries go through some similar experiences.  I feel like the Lord prepared the people for me and that I have a specific purpose here.  There are people all around us that the Lord has been preparing. We just need to put forth the effort to reach out to them. 

My mission has changed my life and I have experienced many things that I would have never experienced if it wasn't for my mission.  The people here have changed me and I hope I have made an impact on them. I may never know.  I do want to share one experience that I had this week.  By the way, this was one of the best weeks of my mission.  We found and taught lots of Spanish speaking people during the week and I have been able to see the power of tongues in my life.  I have been working on my Spanish more than ever this week and I was able to see that work pay off when we went and taught a lady named Estela.  Estela is from Guatemala and she is trying to learn English so I could tell that learning English is very important to her at this time just as learning Spanish is important to me.  I could sort of relate to what she must be going through.  Elder Rivas started by explaining the Book of Mormon and the introduction.  Then, I started telling her of the importance of the Book of Mormon and I expressed that if she would read the Book of Mormon in her native language and then if she would read it in English that her English would improve immensely.  She was really excited about this and said she would read it.  I feel that it was something that I needed to say to her and that through the gift of tongues I was able to do so.  This was a cool experience but what made this week one of the best was what happened last night. 

Last night we had a lesson with Kim and Kevin.  We had a member with us named Bro. Wilhelm and we finished up teaching the plan of salvation.  After teaching we all bore testimony starting with Bro. Wilhelm and then Elder Rivas.  I followed up by expressing my love for them and my testimony that I know that this is God’s plan for us and that through Christ’s atonement we can make it back to live with our Father in heaven.  I then asked them the question.   "Kim and Kevin will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the authority of God?"  There was a pause and then Kevin said “yes, I will”.  Kim was a little hesitant because of her family all being Catholic but we quickly addressed that concern with strong testimony that God will provide a way.  After that, she gave us a definite YES!  I couldn't help but smile at this point.  I have been thinking about this family ever since I first met them and I am so HAPPY that they are following the example and being baptized.  We promised them the blessings that would come from being baptized and set them with a date for the 26^th of May.  After this, Kevin expressed his appreciation for us and what we do and how much he has already felt blessed by us coming and teaching him.  He then asked where he could buy a nice Book of Mormon and bible, haha.  Mom and dad, I can't express to you the joy last night brought to me.  This family will be so blessed and the Lord has been preparing them long before I talked to them.  I know God is preparing people for me to teach.  The field is white already to harvest and I have been called to reap. 

Thanks for all your love and support.  I love you all so much!!!!

Love,

Tanner

Happy Birthday Elder Rivas

April 16, 2012


Hello family,


This was a better week. Thanks for all your prayers. I know they helped. I think I have put on about 15 to 20 pounds of bulk. I work out every morning and yes, my legs and my butt are getting a lot bigger. My legs are starting to look more like dads but not quite. I still need to do a lot of calf raises before I get to that status. I am still taking Prednisone. I have been taking it for about 25 days now. I have been taking 8 pills a day for 3 days and now I am taking 6 pills for 3 days. The rash is starting to look better but if it doesn't fully go away this time I am going to go to an allergist. I don't take all those vitamins in the picture every day. I only take vitamin C and that is about it. I just thought it was funny how many vitamins and pills I have accumulated.


None of the recent Midwest tornadoes affected us but I heard about them a little in church. It has been really nice here. It is probably about 80 degrees today.


It was Elder Rivas' birthday this week. It was on Saturday so the Kenley's made us breakfast and had the other elders come too. It was a fun time and I really think Elder Rivas enjoyed it because he said this is the first time that he has ever had his birthday celebrated, which is sad but I was glad we could make it a special day for him. For dinner that night we went to Marks house (remember Mark?). He isn't a member and doesn't want to change his life but he likes us and so he had us over to celebrate Elder Rivas' birthday. It was very nice. They had made BBQ chicken and this amazing steak with asparagus and salad. Afterward, Mark brought out a chocolate cake and little Hagen Dazs ice creams for everyone. He bought sparkling cider special for us while he and his roommates drank their wine. It was very fun and Elder Rivas said it was his favorite most memorable birthday he has ever had.


This week was a lot better than last week. We have lost Jakie but the Lord has blessed us with a new family. They are named Kim and Kevin. They are so fun! They are foster parents for three kids and are a happy normal loving couple that is married and not just living together. Kim is Catholic but doesn't like a lot of things that the Catholic Church does. Kevin has never really been religious because he has always worked on Sundays but they are both interested in the LDS church and love us. They are amazed that we offered to help paint their house for free. Kim is trying to hook me up with her niece for after my mission but her niece is not Mormon and doesn't plan to be. Kim calls us her boys and is always happy when we go over or call her. It is a very different experience to teach her and Kevin than any other investigator. They are a normal intelligent family that understands why we are there and what we talk about, something I haven't experienced yet. I know that the gospel can bless their family!


This week I became a marriage counselor for Brett and Brittany who aren't even married they just live together. Mostly, Elder Rivas and I would sit there and listen to what was going on. I think they just needed to get their feelings out. She was having problems with the way that he was disciplining her children and he feels she needs to be stricter with her kids. In the end I gave them the Family Proclamation to the World and expressed my testimony of families and how the most important thing is to have love in the home to make it a place where your kids want to be.


This week in ward council I voiced my thoughts and opinions of the ward and that they need to put more effort in fellowshipping new members. I think they took it well and it opened their eyes to the root of the problem they are having.


I love you family and pray for you every day!!


Love Elder Tanner Mouritsen

There are bad weeks and good weeks

April 09, 2012

Dear family,

The rash on my face has been getting a lot better because I called the doctor again and he prescribed me more medicine. The rash looks really good but it is not completely gone. I am almost done with my medicine so I might have to call the doctor again. I don't know what it is. One lady that is a less active member who is a little crazy was trying to tell me it is MRSA. I know it is not MRSA but it is weird and I don't like it.

My allergies are better. I have been taking Zertec every day.

Todavia tengo la alergia al redador mi ojo pero esta es major. Yo pienso que esta es llegarando a ser malo otra vez porque ya casi termino con mi medicina y mi ojo es no completamente mejor. Asi yo necesito mas medicion de el doctor.

Si, Mi alergias estan mejor. He estado tomando zertec cada dia.

Elder Rivas want's to know why I take so many vitamins and still get sick. I said because my mom is Brenda.

We haven't set a baptismal date for Jakie yet. We haven't been able to see her this week she said she was really busy and didn't have time to meet with us but, she did say she would come to church. Yesterday morning I texted her to see if she needed a ride and she texted back saying she was going to pass on the church and she doesn't feel ready for the gospel right now. So I guess as of now Jakie is not an investigator. Yesterday morning was just not good. I don't understand Jakie. She was doing so great, coming to church, wanted to quit her bad habits and be baptized and now she sends us this text! I don't understand but this is missionary work, and it's not easy.

No tenemos la oportunidad a visitar jakie esta semana porque jakie nos dijo que ella estaba muy ocupado y no tenia tiempo a hablar con nosotros. Entonces ayer jakie envio un mensaje diciendo "no quiero que ustedes me visiten mas porque no me siento listo para continuar.

Easter was ok.. Nothing too special happened and Jakie dropped us pretty much, so no, it wasn't that great of a day. We did go to the Kennedy's for dinner to have ham and to hear Brother Kennedy tell us stories of coon hunting. After dinner we went to see the Kenley’s and met their grandson who lives in Pennsylvania and to get butter to make cookies with the other Elders.

Easter fue ok.. Nosotros tenemos cena con la familia Kennedys pero no tuve un huevo en todo dia y no tuve la oportunidad de tomar el pan en la santa cena porque yo ricibi una llamanda.

I did receive the package you sent. It was really nice. Elder Rivas and I enjoyed a nice dinner at Applebees on Saturday with the gift card you sent. We had a missionary date, haha. The ties were really nice! I wore the purple one the first night I got the package. I got something on it so I had to dry clean it the next day so I could wear it yesterday for church. Elder Rivas thinks you guys are great and was very happy to receive something for Easter.

We have some new Spanish investigators and most of our lessons that we taught this week were in Spanish which was cool. I am starting to understand the words and catch on to what they are saying a lot quicker. We have one Spanish investigator that Elder Rivas knew in New York. She is really nice and owns a smoothie shop and is a Mary Kay lady. When we go visit her she gives us a smoothie and she also gave us some Mary Kay cologne.

Si tenemos algunos investigadores que hablan espanol. La mayoria de nuestros lecciones son en espanol esta semana. Queremos tener mas investigadors en espanol asi estamos poniendo mas atencion en espanol.

Jim is gone and I don't think I will ever see him again. Loannva is doing well, we saw her this week and shared some Mormon.org videos with her about the atonement and Easter. She really enjoyed that but what she enjoyed the most were the banana cookies I made and gave to her. She says she was dreaming about them. She needs a friend in the church. If only people in the ward would make the effort to go over and talk to her or invite her to some activities. I think she is only active because of us the missionaries. If the missionaries stopped going to her house she might never come to church. She believes fully in the church but she is still young in the church and doesn't understand some of the things in the church. She needs a friend or home teacher to explain things to her. I don't think her home teachers have ever been to see her and she has been in the church for 3 months now.

You asked if I need anything. I need people to be baptized. I need Satan to stop working against our investigators and recent converts. I need many things haha.

This week has been hard for me because I have temporarily lost the excitement of being a missionary. Everything has started to become so monotonous and there is not much we can do about it. We find, we teach, we commit, they accept, we follow up, we commit, they accept, we follow up, we teach, we commit, they tell us don't want to see us anymore. We find we teach..... It goes through this cycle and usually nothing comes of all our efforts and when something does come of it they end up going less active or have a hard time coming to church because they are not fellowshipped by the ward. After being out for a while I have started seeing things in a different perspective than I did when I first got out on my mission. It is sad but true. It becomes hard to give it your all day after day after day when you don't see anything coming from it. I know I shouldn't be thinking this way but I just had to express my feelings. There have been very rewarding times on my mission but most the time it's a lot of work with little result. As I have been typing this paragraph complaining, haha, I was reminded of a talk that I heard in the MTC. It was about missionary work. We read about the olive tree in Jacob ch.5 and we underlined all the times it said perhaps. We do all that we can that perhaps we might bring forth fruit. Most of our mission will be work and more work but every now and again our mission will bring forth fruit. The fruit is what makes the mission worth it. It is hard to go day after day and not see any results.

Well family there wasn't much good from this letter but I am good and things will get better. There are bad weeks and good weeks.

I love you all and hope you get home safely! I am glad you had a great trip! You are in my prayers and in my thoughts.

Love,

Elder Tanner Mouritsen

PS We have a new investigator named Kim who reminds me of Aunt Debera. She is pretty great and she is a Survivor fan. We have been helping her quit smoking but now we are working into the gospel stuff.

Sloppy Joe, slop sloppy Joe!!!

April 2, 2012

Dear family,

It sounds like you had a long drive to California but it sounds like you had a good time. Sometimes I miss road trips like that because it was just time to think and to sleep. I did a lot of thinking on all our road trips and now I don't get the chance. I would kill to have a 12 hour car ride to take a nap, haha.

You stayed at the Hampton Inn near Whitney’s house? What? We don't stay at Hampton Inn’s. We only stay in Marriot’s. Remember?! The pulled pork sandwiches you had after baby Georgia’s blessing reminds me that I ate Sloppy Joes five times this week. We had Sloppy Joes on Tuesday with the Kenley’s for specialized training then that night we went to dinner at the bishops’ house and had Sloppy Joes. She gave us leftovers so the next day for lunch we had Sloppy Joes. That night we ate at one of our members houses and had Sloppy Joes again. The next day, Elder Rivas and I and Elders Ika and Crandell went and helped this family move out of their house (organized hording that is what you call this lady). Anyway, once we got done moving at least a hundred boxes of toys and a collection of Pampered Chef from their old house to their new house, we went back the old house and had SLOPPY JOES for the fifth time!!!! I called it too, as we were walking from the car into her house I said, "I bet they feed us Sloppy Joes" and they did, haha.

I still have the rash on my face as it has been for almost two months now. It was getting better and then we went to an investigators house which is pretty gross. The chairs are covered with a rug of cat hair (I am going to take a picture of it for you guys because it is nasty). After we had taught a lesson my eye started to flare up again so I now know it is his house that is causing this. Sister Kenley said we will have to start teaching him outside and he will have to be naked because whatever is in his house has to be on his clothes too. That would be an awkward lesson.,haha.

We got all moved in to our new apartment this week and it is so much better! It is bright in the apartment now. I can actually see my companions face now where before I only heard a voice. The paint is nice. Everything is white and we got a new chandelier with five lights instead of one dim light. We got rid of a bunch of crap so there is more room and it feels nice. Overall the new apartment makes life better.

Elder Rivas is doing great. He always wants to be working or doing something and I feel like I am learning more from him than he is from me. We are still working on the fundamentals of teaching and of missionary work so he is learning a lot too and it is a good recap for me. Elder Leavitt was transferred which is sad but Elder Ika is still here which is really good because I like him a lot and he and I can talk about anything together. Elder Ika has a new companion named Elder Crandell or as we like to call him Elder Crandaddy. He is cool he has been out for 21 months.

This week was the best.  We had lots of success with some of our investigators and it was conference weekend which made it really nice.

Things are great with Jakie! She came to the church with us yesterday to watch the first session of conference. She didn't really know what conference was about and had never really watched it but she came and she listened. The first talk was by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf about forgiving others. As I sat listening to the talk I looked over and saw that Jakie was crying. She leaned over to me and told me that she hadn't talked to her sister for 3 weeks because of some kind of grudge that they had been holding against each other. As Pres. Uchtdorf was still talking Jakie wrote up a nice text message to her sister telling her sorry for whatever she had done. This event really struck me. The talk that Pres. Uchtdorf gave was for everyone but at that moment Jakie felt it was specifically for her. I am sure many people felt that way during the conference, I know I did. The spirit of the prophet and apostles softens hearts and changes lives. I am so grateful for a prophet that leads us and guides us through this evil and confused world. I know that the prophet has been called of God to lead us in these latter days and I know that what he said in this last conference is scripture and we need to follow that guidance.

As we were watching conference I leaned over and asked Jakie when her son was coming to town. She said he was probably coming in May. Then I said that it would be great if your son could baptize you when he comes. She kind of laughed and then asked if he could do that. I said “Yes, as long as he has the priesthood, which he does, he can baptize you”. She said “Wow. Ya, I would really like my son to do that when the time comes”. So who knows when that time will be but she does want to be baptized.

I had a really cool experience this conference and a question answered. On Friday night after dinner we went to go get Thomas’ signature for his baptismal record. We didn't have an appointment but luckily they were home. Thomas’ father doesn't like people from the church to pop in but he let us in. We both acted very casual and I said we just wanted to get his signature. He let us in and had us sit down. I was surprised. Then Thomas’ father and I started talking as Elder Rivas and Thomas’ mother talked. I asked the father why he had started coming back to church. He told me that it was just for his kids. He wanted his kids to be baptized and serve missions. He has been less active for some time but has recently started coming back for his children to be baptized. He then told me that after 15 years he was going to become less active again. I was stunned, I asked why and he told me his reasons, mainly because he thinks church is boring and doesn't get anything out of it. To sum it up he believes in the gospel but not the church. I thought how is this possible? Going to church and renewing your baptismal covenants is part of the gospel. This man had served a mission and knew what he was doing was not right but he justified it as much as he could.

I felt like the conversation went well and I learned a lot about Thomas’ father and the mindset of less active people and reasons why members go less active but I felt that I had not been firm in the convincing power of the Holy Ghost and in telling him that church was necessary for your salvation. I didn't give him any motivation or desire to become active or to remain active. After we left I thought about this more than anything else. It was weighing on my mind immensely. I knelt down Friday night and asked my Heavenly Father what I should do to help this man and what I should have said to him. The next day was General Conference Saturday and a specific focus of conference was less active members! Elder Donald L. Hallstorm answered my question and told me what I needed to say and do the next time that I am faced with this situation. This was amazing to me. Just as Jakie felt the talk on forgiving others was for her, I felt this talk was specifically for me and many other talks that spoke of less active members. This conference strengthened my testimony more than I could have ever imagined. It is not just by coincidence that this happened but God knows us and He knows what we are going through and He knows what questions we have. Just like He answered my question He will answer yours if you allow Him. Pray to Him with a sincere heart and an open heart and ask Him the question that has been weighing on your mind and He will provide an answer to you. I know this church is true and that there is nothing else on earth like it. We are a select few and we should be proud of it! Bear your testimony on your chest and never be afraid to share it! The power of God is real and more powerful than anything else in this world. Put your trust in Him and you can do all things! This is my testimony to you this day and I do this in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

Love, Elder Mouritsen

PS. Watch the bible stories on Mormon.org. The videos on the atonement and crucifixion are very powerful.

Feeling better

March 26, 2012

Dear family,

On transfer day Elder Rudd and I drove to Pittsburgh. It was a long drive but it went well. I drove the whole way.  I drove there and I drove back.  That's one of the bad parts about training; your companion can never drive so you have to drive everywhere. We stayed with some other missionaries in a place called McKeys Port.  One of the Elders in McKeys Port is named Elder Jex and he was the office elder like AJ for 10 months.  He had tons of cool stories and experiences that he shared with us. I really wish they still had elders do the office work because I really wanted to be one, it sounded like it was a ton of fun and he got to experience things that most missionaries don't.  I also got to meet Elder Rudd’s new companion Elder Boam.  He was really quiet and shy where Elder Rudd is not, so they can balance each other out.

I got to meet my new companion Elder Rivas. He is great. He has already been helping me learn Spanish.  He is from El Salvador but he lived in the Queens New York area for 5 years. He has only been speaking English for a year so his English can use a lot of improvement but I can still understand him most the time.  He has only been a member of the church for 1 year and 2 months and he is the only member in his whole family so he doesn't have too much support.  He is 23 but I think it is awesome that he still decided to serve a mission.  He likes to clean and decorate.  He watched a lot of Aname (Japanese TV show very weird) and played video games before his mission.  He was really depressed for about four years before he met the missionaries.  The church has changed his whole life and he is working on converting his mom who still lives in El Salvador.

I am doing a special MTC program with Elder Rivas because he didn't go to the MTC and it takes up a lot of time, about 5 hours a day so it really interferes with teaching and proselyting time.  Luckily we are almost done with it and our schedule will become more normal. The first week of transfers is always hard because the new person doesn't know anything and you were used to doing things with your last companion.  So it takes a while but this coming week should be more normal.

This week was really slow because I was sick and no one wanted to talk to us so not much news on investigators.

I am starting to feel much better though. I still have a sore throat but it doesn't hurt like it did. I think it went away really fast because you guys fasted for me. The doctor said it would get worse before it got better but, since you fasted, it never got worse it just got better. It was the worst timing to get sick because Elder Rivas needed to learn so much and all I wanted to do was sleep or just sit and not do anything, haha. My body was achy all over and I just felt terrible. I have been taking vitamin C every day since I left home and I gargle every night but somehow the germs still got to me. I don't like it when I am sick and I am not at home because companions don't seem to care that much when you're sick they just expect you to keep going and usually I do but not this time. I admit that I wanted to be at home with my mom so she could take care of me, haha. Sister Kenley and Elder Kenley are the best! Sister Kenley made sure that I got the care that I needed. On Friday we went to York mostly to get my eye checked out but also to get tested for strep throat. The doctor told me I was having an allergic reaction to something either a pet or some product that I was using on my face. I don't think it was any kind of product because I have been using the same stuff I was using at home on my face, so it must have been one of the houses we went into. Some of the houses we go into are so gross! They have dogs and cats everywhere and it smells like straight up duky in some of the houses. It is no wonder I have weird rashes on my face, haha. The doctor gave me prednazone and it has been working great. The rash is almost gone and I am starting to look like my normal self again. After the doctors we went to the Stauffer outlet and I bought some animal crackers. Then we went to an old tavern for lunch. It was a place that the Kenley's had been to before and it had lots of history to it. The atmosphere of the tavern was really cool and the sandwiches were also very good. The tavern was 200 years old and it had a secret place where they would hide the slaves during the Civil War.

I have no idea what we are doing for General Conference yet. I want to watch some of it with Jakie and some with Chester but other than that we don't have a house to watch it at yet. I am hoping someone invites us over to watch it with them. It's weird to think this is my second conference while out on my mission.

I am jealous of you guys going to California for Conference. That sounds better than any kind of plan that I could come up with. That will be really fun for you guys and it is cool that grandma gets to go with you. She was telling me that she is really excited to go with you in her email.

We are moving into our new apartment today so that will be really good!  It has taken forever but it is finally done, not exactly the way I wanted it done but it is a whole lot better than the apartment we are in now.  The men that remodeled the apartment did a shoddy job and I was pretty mad but they aren't going to do anything about it.

Well I think that is all the new news I have for you.  But I love you and pray for you!!

Love Elder Mouritsen