The Spirit pricked my heart and I could not hold back.

November 5, 2012

Dear family,

You guys have had quite the week last week with illness and parties. I hope mom is feeling better and I am glad that the kids all behaved at our house after the Bingham Ball dance. 

I talked to sister Gillon yesterday.  She came up to me and told me that she had talked with my dad and that she really enjoyed talking to you.  She is probably my favorite person in the ward.  She is so nice and loves the missionaries.  She is like the missionary mom.  She is in charge of our dinners now and we have been having dinner almost every night since she has been in charge.  Sister Mastracola has been really sick and busy with work and hasn't even been to church for about 6 weeks now.  I hope she starts feeling better and she can figure something out with her work.  The Mastracola’s were probably hit by the storm the worst out of all the ward members.  They had two huge trees de-rooted and their huge barn door was blown into the barn and it was on some massive hinges, so the wind must have been pretty bad and they were out of power for a couple days. 

This ward is really great and I have been impressed at how the ward has been so willing to step up and help us get to the places that we need to go and always pick us up and take us home for dinner.  They have also been buying us bus passes so we can get out to Palmyra the farthest part for us in our area.  We have had members present at lessons more than ever since we lost our car.   We need members to drive us to our lessons and most of our investigators are woman which is great but, we need priesthood in our ward.  I can definitely see why plural marriage was practiced back in the day because there weren’t enough good men that held the priesthood.  There are lots of men in this area but none are willing to listen.  All they are interested in is drugs, sex and trying to get rich.  They don't care about families and the well-being of their children that they have.  It amazes me how many young people already have babies and have no financial stability to support that child or a family.  We have one young man that we have come in contact with because he lives with his grandma who is a member.  He has one child already and one on the way with the same girl and he has not even turned 18.  You think he would've learned with the first baby but no, and he doesn't really plan on getting married.  It makes me sick and sad for those kids and I can't even image how sad God is for these decisions that his children are making.  I am glad for your example that even though the odds were against you, you guys got married and worked hard to make a happy family.  I feel that you two did one of the best jobs raising us kids and I wouldn't have had it any other way.  I truly have the best parents!!

This week has been different mostly because of the storm.  On Wednesday we had to stay in after 6 so we spent a lot of time in our apartment this last week.  There were some very spiritual events that took place.  We have been teaching a lady named Elizabeth and we found her by knocking doors one night.  She speaks Spanish and English but we teach her in Spanish.  We shared the story of the Restoration last week and this week we watched the Joseph Smith DVD which she loved.  You could tell by the way that she was watching the video that she understood and was feeling the Spirit.  She is also reading to Book of Mormon and coming up with questions which is a sign that the person is progressing and being touched by the Spirit.  We have been trying to work hard on asking inspired questions this week and in this lesson I feel that we got to put that practice to use.  I hope we can schedule a date for baptism this week. 

We also taught another Spanish speaking woman that has 4 kids and one on the way.  She is a single mom and ready for the gospel.  We shared the story of the Restoration with her and she understood it and told us that everything that we were talking about sounded true.  She also has the same question that Joseph Smith had about knowing what church is the true church.  It was a good lesson and I could feel the Spirit.  We also helped her fix her vacuum which had a clogged filter. 

Sunday was a great day!  We had testimony meeting and one of the first people to bear their testimony was Rebecca.  I wish I could put into words the way I felt as she bore her testimony.  She had written her thoughts on a piece of paper and as she read she cried and bore testimony that she knows this is the true church and how she has felt it change her life.  I don't think I have been touched so much by another testimony in my life.  The Spirit hit me so hard that I began to cry and I don't think I have ever cried in a testimony meeting but I could not help it.  The Spirit pricked my heart and I could not hold back.  I love that lady.  She has probably changed my life more than I have changed hers. 

 I love you family SO MUCH!!!

Elder Tanner Mouritsen