No car, terrible bikes, and goofy helmets!

Oct 22, 2012

Dear Family,

We aren’t able to drive a car anymore and are now walking and riding bikes.  This area is huge so we have been relying on the members to drive us to all the far places that we need to go.  Hopefully the members will remain patient with us.  We also got some bikes!  I opened my suitcase to get my heated blanket the other day and there was two fold up bikes in there.  I pulled them out and unfolded them and now we are able to visit all the people within Lebanon, haha, just kidding.  We actually got our bikes from the Hershey Elders because Hershey used to have a walking area but that area has since shut down.  They are pretty terrible bikes.  We need to get them tuned up because every time I go up a hill the gears start changing on their own which causes the chain to slip.  I will have to take a look at it today and try and fix it with the little tools that I have.  I feel that by riding bikes every day for the next while my legs with get enormous and my clothes and shoes will become very worn.  The only bad part about riding the bikes is having to wear the goofy helmets, haha.  I will have to send you a picture.  I look more like dad than ever when I am wearing a helmet.  When I first put the helmet on it reminded me of the time that we went skiing with Brady and he rented the silly looking helmet, haha.  Ya, you better take that off if you want to ski around us haha...  Dad you crack me up.  We found a really good deal on a couch at Ashley Furniture.  We will be getting it soon but for now we are just sitting on hard chairs. 

Grandma is such an inspiration to me.  I am glad to hear that she is doing really well.  Tell her the sooner her hip gets better the sooner we can go wake boarding!

I received a card from Aunt Bonnie this week that was very nice.  I really hope that her muscles and her nerves can re-heal and she can get back to normal and not have to feel self-conscious about her face.  I know the Lord will bless her because this was a trial that he placed in front of her and she dealt with it very well so now she will be able to recover fully. 

We had a good lesson with Sambo this week.  She brought up a concern that she has with the church and that is dealing with the baptisms for the dead.  She doesn't believe that we need to be doing that and she doesn't believe that temples should be closed to the public.  We will have to try and figure out a way to address this because we have already told her the reason for temples and baptisms for the dead but she is not accepting of it.  Rebecca went to the temple for her first time this week and did 7 baptisms for the dead.  She loved it she said and could really feel the Spirit.  She had done some genealogy, so she was able to perform the baptism of her mom and one of the young men did the baptism for her late husband and her father.  She had a good time and I am thankful to the ward for taking her and making it a good spiritual experience for her. 

We are supposed to be going to dinner with Rebecca, Sambo, Sam, and Sambo’s kids tonight so that will be fun but I don't like how she asks us to come and she feeds us all the time when she doesn't have much money.  I want to do something special for her before I get transferred from this area but I am not sure what.  Maybe you can help me figure out something. 

I made pumpkin cookies and took them to Rebecca and her family the other day.  They were really good but my first batch got a little burned because our oven is pretty bad but the rest were good.

I love you and I am glad you made it home safely from Tennessee!

Love,

Elder Mouritsen

We Teach Correct Doctrine

October 15, 2012

Hi Family,

Things are progressing kind of slowly with our investigators.  We did have some good lessons this week but they were in English which is kind of a bummer.  Our best lessons are usually in English.  We received a referral from Salt Lake City a couple weeks ago and finally this week we were able to meet with her.  She had been given a pass along card from the missionaries some time back and as she was flipping through her bible she found the card again and felt that she should get in contact with the missionaries.  This was surprising to me because rarely do people call the number on the card.  Actually I have never had it happen on my mission so this was a cool experience for me and it let me know that there is a purpose to giving out those pass along cards.  We had a really good lesson with her.  She had been in prison for two years of her life and she is now trying to get her life back together and find Jesus as she says. We shared with her and her fiancé the story of the restoration which I felt they understood really well.  We had a member there with us who bore a great testimony.  We also bore our testimony they both said that they would read the Book of Mormon and be baptized if they came to the knowledge that it was true.  The member that went with us to that lesson had just bought a new Acura tsx which was really nice and I think dad needs one, haha.  

Last night we had dinner with some members of the ward.  They had invited a non-member friend to come have dinner with us.  The member had been talking with her friend about the church and had given her a Book of Mormon, so this lady already knew a lot about the church.  We had not planned on teaching a lesson to her but she started asking about missions and what we do as a missionaries.  We told her that we were called by a prophet to teach the restored gospel.  Then she became very interested in prophets and started asking us lots of questions.  We ended up sharing the whole story of the restoration with her but focusing on the prophets and the apostasy.  She couldn't accept the fact that we have a prophet on the earth today or even see the need for a prophet.  She attends a Brethren church which has taught her that God has the authority and has given it to everybody and everybody has the power to baptize.  I think she could feel and see the truth of our message.   At one point she even asked me to stop using the word “authority” because she didn't like that word.  I think it is because she realized that her church doesn't have the authority.  It was a good lesson that sparked an excitement in my heart and mind that this is the true church on the earth today and that we teach correct doctrine.  I hope that she sincerely prays about our message and will accept that there is a prophet and that they are necessary. 

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

Elder Mouritsen 

Conference Changed Me!

October 7, 2012

Dear Family,

Conference was awesome!  I was able to watch all the sessions.  We watched all the sessions except for the last one at the church.  I really enjoy watching conference at the church because there are no distractions and I can feel the Spirit so strongly.  The announcement made by President Monson was very surprising but I think it is a great thing.  At first, when I heard this I thought, why are they changing the age now?  I felt that the age should have been changed long ago but then I thought to myself how I could be done with my mission if this had happened a couple of years ago.  I was a little frustrated because I would've loved to go on a mission right after high school but then I thought about all the things that I learned in that first year of college that I wouldn't have learned if I came directly out on a mission.  Because of college I know how to study better and now that I am on a mission I have figured out better ways to study that will help me be more proficient.  I feel that I learned many lessons in the first year of college and I feel blessed that I was able to have that year of college to learn about myself better.   

Conference changed me!  I have been having so many questions lately and with this conference I could feel a burning within me and I could feel myself changing.  I could feel my testimony grow and I can truly say that I have gained a deeper conversion than ever before in my life.   The topics that were touched on were what I needed to hear and the spirit that those men brought let me know that this is the true church, the Lords Kingdom reestablished on the earth.  I am grateful to be a missionary to be able to give of myself fully to the furthering of the work.  I know that the Prophet receives revelation for everyone and knows what's best and what will bring us happiness.  Conference was a blessing that changed my life and I would hope changed the lives of many others.  It is not every day that we get to hear from a real life prophet of God.  

Things are going well.  I feel that I never have any time to do anything because I am either studying to teach district meeting or working with Elder Lozano in the training program and trying to practice Spanish.  It has been hard trying to balance all these things but I am learning a lot.  This week we will be without a car so we either have to walk or ask people for rides.  I am also dealing with a cold.  At least I think it is a cold.  We had a lesson with this lady the other day and she had three cats and when I came out of her house I was having horrible allergies.  From that point on I have had a stuffy nose and a sore throat.  Hopefully it goes away soon. 

We tried really hard to have Sambo watch conference with us at a member’s house but she couldn't because she had to go to her son’s football game.   We did have a lesson with her on Friday though and we watched some mormon.org videos that had some of the apostles talking so they would know who the apostles were.  The videos were all very good and by the end Sambo was crying and I asked her if Thomas S. Monson could be a prophet and she said yes, but kind of under her breath.  The best part was at the end of the lesson when she offered the closing prayer for the first time.  It was a great prayer too.  I really pray that she will accept the gospel.

Sam is Rebecca’s son and he came and watched conference with us at a member’s house.  He said he enjoyed it but didn't understand much of it, maybe because of a language issue.  I don't think Rebecca understood really any of it either because Sam can speak better English than her.  I told her to go and listen to conference in Cambodian when she got home because they have it in Cambodian on lds.org.   We had a fun time though.  We watched the last session of conference and ate some good sandwiches at the Whitney's house.  He is a Jockey and only 5'1 107lbs.  Can you believe that!  Crazy!

We teach a lot in Spanish but none of our Spanish speaking investigators seem to be progressing and no one comes to church.     

I called the Kenley the other day and they are doing really well.  Elder Rivas is working hard and will send me letters every now and again.   

I just wrote a letter to the Kramer's this week.  Kevin has been passing the sacrament and is getting ready to receive the Melchizedek priesthood.  Kim is teaching primary.  They really love church according to the Kenley's.   

Love you,

Elder Mouritsen

PS.  I have included some pictures.  Rebecca on a bike.  She is still a kid at heart.  Me and Elder Lozano.

Focusing on Teaching in Spanish

September 24, 2012

Dear Family,

This week we have been working really hard finding new people to teach really focusing on the Spanish speaking people.  It is kind of sad because we will see an English speaker and not talk to him or her because if we do then they might end up being a great investigator and take up a lot of our time when we have a goal to open a Spanish branch.  I know we are supposed to talk to everyone but we are both Spanish speaking so we try to speak Spanish as much as possible.  It seems to be working too.  Almost all our lessons this week were in Spanish and we had 14 lessons.  At the beginning of the week I went on exchange with Elder Broadbent from Hershey.  It was really fun but it ended up raining all day which was bad because I really wanted to get Elder Broadbent motivated to find new people.  We still ended up going tracting in the rain and we found some really cool people for the Hershey elders to teach.  One lady was a Cuban and at first she was not willing to listen to us but then we started talking to her and asking her inspired questions that caused her to think and feel the Spirit and by the end of the conversation she offered us a drink of water.  Within minutes, it was really great to see her change towards us and our message.  Elder Broadbent and I work really well together and I wish we could serve together sometime, because I feel we could do some great things.  We are very similar.  I think that is why it is so easy to teach with him because we think the same way, haha.  We also both have the first name Tanner, which is crazy.   Being on exchange with him is so stress free that it makes it hard to go back to my own area.  We exchanged back on Wednesday at district meeting.  I taught district meeting on prayer and the atonement of Jesus Christ and how they work together.  I feel that it went well but I am still trying to figure out how I can motivate Elder Broadbent and Elder Kunes.  They are both old in the mission and Elder Kunes is a little trunky.  This causes Elder Broadbent not to work very hard either.  I am glad to be with Elder Lozano and this week we will be speaking only Spanish so we will see how it goes. 

We had a lesson with Rebecca this Friday and, as usual, when we got there she had lots of food prepared; fried chicken, carrot bread, corn, rice, lasagna and some other things.  It seems that every time we go over there she gets more and more fancy with her food choices, haha.  She is great!  Anyway, we ate and talked and then after we ate we started teaching the rest of the plan of salvation.  Sambo was there and ready to learn.  She asked us as soon as we got to Rebecca's house if we were going to finish our lesson that we had started last time.  We started teaching by first finding out what they remember about what we had taught last time and they all remembered a lot, even Rebecca.  Sometimes, I'm not sure if Rebecca fully understands what we are talking about because it is hard to understand English but she knew quite a bit about the plan of salvation which made me happy.  After testing them and reviewing, we started teaching about the atonement and expanding on it then we moved on to talking about the spirit world. They were all intrigued with the spirit world especially Sambo.  We used these fancy pictures that Elder Lozano had received from a missionary serving in New Jersey who had a talent for art.  We finished out the plan of salvation talking about the Resurrection, judgment and the three degrees of glory.  It was fun to teach and Sambo kept asking inspired questions.  I wish she would follow her heart because I know that she knows it is true.  She is just holding onto the worldly things.  I have faith that she will be baptized one day.  Rebecca finished the lesson with a great prayer that brought the Spirit.

The Lebanon ward is helping us out a lot but they are hardly feeding us!  The members are starting these things called cottage meetings where they are supposed to invite their friends to their house, teach a short lesson and then work to develop friendships.  It sounds like a good idea but we'll see how it goes.  Tonight is our first night that we will be having the cottage meetings. 

We have two investigators that we are preparing for baptism, Linda and her daughter Christine.  They have been to church once but we haven't been able to get them back or teach them this week.  Linda has a very busy work schedule that makes it hard for her to come to church but Christine doesn't really have an excuse.  We should be having a lesson with them this next week and we should be able to set them with a baptismal date.  They know it is true because they have told us that they know it is true.  I only worry that they will struggle with the word of wisdom and tithing because Linda likes to drink coffee and tithing might be hard because they kind of live check to check.  We will be teaching them the word of wisdom in the next lesson and I hope that they will be willing to accept it and be able to come to church this week. 

I hope everything is going well at home!  I love you!

Elder Mouritsen