3 Nephi 11 is the crowning event in the Book of Mormon!

August 13, 2012

Dear Family, 

This week was pretty hectic.  On Wednesday we had exchanges with Elder Gerratt who is the AP and served in Lebanon for 7 1/2 months.  He mostly came to check on the members that he baptized because everyone he baptized is less active.  We spent most of Wednesday going around trying to talk with all those less actives.  We had some good lessons with some of them and some of them were flaky, telling us that we could come by but then when we got there no one answered the door.  Typical.  That is the way missionary work is sometimes and it can be frustrating.  We will set an appointment with someone and lately it has been with single women and in order to meet with single women we need an adult male with us.  So we will call one of the ward members to come out with us and he will come and we'll go to our appointments.  But then no one is home or answers the door!  This happened three times last week.  One day we had two appointments and another two people that we could try to visit and no one answered.  So, we just had to tell the member to take us back home.  Even Elder Gerratt said he forgot how the people can be in Lebanon.  Flaky!  It was nice to have Elder Gerratt there with us.  He and I were able to speak Spanish because he is a Spanish speaking missionary. 

Wednesday night we had a lesson with our new investigators Linda and Christina.  It was the highlight of the day.  We were able to read 3 Nephi 11 with them which became a very spiritual and uplifting experience for everyone that was in the room at that time.  If you haven't read 3 Nephi 11 in a while I invite you to read it.  It is the crowning event in the book of Mormon and there is a lot that you can take out of it.  I feel that Linda and Christina could be our next baptisms.  They already said they would be baptized if they found it was true and I think they have found that it is true.  We need them to come to church though.  Also, on Wednesday night we had dinner with the Coopers because it was Elder Blake's birthday and Elder Gerratt wanted to have dinner with them.  So I called and asked if we could have dinner and secretly told Sister Cooper that it was Elder Blake's birthday and what his favorite cake was.  It was a good dinner and I hope Elder Blake enjoyed his birthday cake.  We had a good time with Elder Gerratt.  He lived on a dairy in Idaho with 5000 cows so he knows how to work hard.  That's probably why we both got a long so well. 

On Thursday we had a zone training meeting where President Topham came and we all sat around a huge table in the Gym learning about the common key indicators.  After the meeting, I talked with President Topham about golf because I found out he likes to play golf every week.  After the meeting we found that we would be going on exchanges with one of our zone leaders.  Elder Henriksen is his name and he is from Canada and loves hockey.  We had a good time and we both saw a side of Elder Blake that we didn't know about.  We laughed a lot and I think it was good for Elder Henriksen because he had three hard weeks.  

The Coopers will be moving to St. George at the end of this month.  I will be sad.  They are a great family but I am also glad for them because they have had their house up for sale for a year and it finally sold. 

That is sooo cool that Tess was called to New York speaking Spanish!!!  I know she will pick up Spanish really fast.  Elder Rivas came from that area and he said that the missionaries there have a lot of Spanish work to do and they have Spanish branches.   

I heard Elder Stewart was really sick for two weeks and had to go to the hospital.  He found out that it is his gall bladder and he now needs to get it removed.  He lost 20 lbs in two weeks.  I hope you all start feeling better and are able to get back in the swing of things.  It is no fun to be sick in the summer.  At least when you are sick in the winter you get to miss school but summer just stinks.   

I bet Braydon Bishop and Ben LeBaron did really well on their missions.  Who is the next missionary to come home from our ward?  Is it AJ? 

I think that is all my news this week. 

Love you family,

Elder Mouritsen

The Hershey and Lebanon Elders on exchanges

There's a bat in the laundry room!!!

August 6, 2012

Dear Family,

  

Wow what a great week!  I can't believe it's been a year!  It's been a long time and I have done a lot in that time but I still have so much more to learn.   John, who was an investigator entered into a rehab, which is his first step in getting back to the straight and narrow path.  Rebecca was baptized August 4th and confirmed August 5th.  I also had a run in with a bat, which was quite exciting. 

We went and visited with John multiple times this week trying to offer some help.  We even went with Brother Cooper who is the addiction recovery teacher.  It was clear that John wanted help but his attitude hadn't changed and he was still facing the same problem that he has had much of his life; alcohol addiction.  Friday night John called us over to his house.  We went over and he had an AA friend there who had been off alcohol for eight years.  We all talked to John trying to give him support and telling him what he needs to do.  I then decided that it would be good to share the story of King Lamoni and King Lamoni's father with him.  I related it to him and told him that he needs to give up everything like King Lamoni would have in order to receive the great joy of eternal life.  It went really well.  Elder Blake and I acted out the whole scene starting from King Lamoni and Ammon traveling to Madoni and ending with King Lamoni's father being struck by the Spirit.   We acted it out as I read the scriptures.  John understood and so did his friend who was there.  His friend said this is similar to the bible.  I said exactly!  John knew what he needed to do. 

The next day Sted, John’s friend drove him to a Rehab center in Shippensburg which is very close to Chambersburg, where he will remain for about seven to ten months.  I am so happy for John.  Alcohol has ruined his whole life so far and now he is doing what King Lamoni's father did by giving up everything to feel clean of his sin and to have that eternal joy.  I have been able to witness the effect of alcohol and I can tell you that there is nothing good that comes from it.  It is a powerful tool that Satan uses and it should never be played with because you never know the effect it will have on you and the people around you. 

Rebecca was baptized!!!  It was a great day, the baptism was at ten and about 20 people came to support not including her family.  After she had changed into her white clothes she called everyone into the cultural hall to get a picture.  After that we started the program.  I had the opportunity to baptize Rebecca and confirm her, which were both very spiritual experiences for me.  After the baptism, Elder Blake, Nathan Johnson and I went to lunch at Hoss's (a restaurant here) with Rebecca and her Family.  It was very nice.  We were able to talk a lot with her daughter Sambo and her two sons.  I really think her children will follow her example in time.

The next day on Sunday, Rebecca was confirmed and she also bore here testimony because it was testimony meeting.  She talked of her life in Cambodia and all the death she had faced in her life.  She shared her feelings about the gospel and her baptism which really brought the Spirit.   I think it was the highlight for many people in the congregation.  It was the highlight of my day.  Rebecca is a survivor of the Thailand camps in the 1970's where two of her children were killed and also her father. 

After lunch with Rebecca’s family on Saturday we came home and I needed to wash my baptismal clothes.  I walked into the laundry room and set my clothes on the ironing board and went to go grab more dirty clothes that I needed to wash.  When I entered in the laundry room again I heard a small screech and as I was walking out I looked down and saw a bat crawling on the floor.  I hurried and ran out shutting the door and yelling to my companion "there is a bat in the laundry room"!  He came running and we both grabbed our cameras and slowly opened the door.  The bat was still lying on the floor.  I had stepped on the bat when I walked in the first time not realizing it and crushed its back.  It was still alive but couldn't move.  We got some pictures with it and then it eventually died.  We buried it in the backyard and I think Elder Blake cried a little. 

I love you family!!!

Elder Mouritsen