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