It Was The Perfect Question

Monday December 17, 2012

Dear Family,

On Tuesday I had an exchange with Elder Leavitt in Fairview and that is who you saw in the pictures that the Kenley's sent you.  On Tuesday night after our dinner Elder Leavitt and I went to go visit a potential investigator that they had found and the lady said stop back by sometime.  As we were walking to this lady’s house we could see that she was standing on her porch with her friend and with her fiancé.  As we got closer she started laughing as if she was embarrassed that we had shown up.  It was a little awkward at first but then Elder Leavitt started talking and the fiancé started talking to us then the friend left.  We were a little confused on what was going on but then the lady, who was about 23, finally started talking with us.  We started by talking about where they worked and what they did and then pretty soon she started feeling comfortable with us and asked us “when is the world going to end?”  It was a perfect question and from that point on we were able to share the plan of salvation and even a little bit about the restoration.  After talking to them for a while we found out that they were both a little lost and both wanted to do what was right.  They knew that living together wasn't right and they both want to quit smoking.  After talking for about 45 min in the freezing cold they invited us in so she could check her schedule to see when we could come back.  She even asked if we wanted any shampoo or gel because she cuts hair.  It was a really cool experience and at first I thought that they were going to tell us to go away but we were blessed and Heavenly Father softened their hearts so that we could share our message.  

On Wednesday we did some service at a retirement center and then the Kenley’s came and took us out to lunch to the Applebee's.  It was nice talking to them and catching up on Chambersburg.  They said that Kevin Kramer is getting the priesthood and then this Saturday he is going to baptize Jonah the 8 year old foster child.  

On Friday we had Zone conference.  It started at 9 am and we were able to hear from Doctor Brower the mission doctor.  He shared a presentation on how we can stay healthy and what we can do when we are sick.  He shared a lot of great information but one of the biggest things that I didn't know was that you can buy the 88 cent medicine at Wal-Mart and it is the same as buying the $6 name brand stuff.  So, mom and dad never buy the expensive stuff you will just be wasting your money.  After his presentation we had some training from President Topham where he taught us what we need to be doing in our companionship studies so that we can become better teachers.  It was really helpful and Elder Spohn and I have been putting it to the test.  It truly has been helping us to have better companionship studies and also become better teachers.  We then had lunch and I was able to talk to Elder Lozano about Lebanon and he told me that Sam is going to get baptized this Saturday!!!!   After lunch, we heard from the AP's and then we had to do some zone leader training which I felt went really well.  We taught about rescuing.  Our new purpose is to find, teach, rescue instead of find, teach, and baptize.  We still want to baptize but we want to rescue all those less actives and by rescuing those less actives we can then get referrals from them.  We did a lot of role playing in our training which is what president told us we need to do.  He said that every companionship study time, every district meeting, and every zone meeting should have 30 min of role plays because that is where you learn the most.  It is true.  If you want to become good at teaching then role play it to someone and when it comes time to teach it to a class you will get all the stupid things you might say out of the way.  We ended Zone conference with the mission video which was pretty awesome!

Thank you family for all your love and support.  I love you so much and can’t wait to talk to you this Christmas!!!  Have your questions ready!  

Love you!!!

Elder Tanner Lars Mouritsen 

PS.  My new address in Hanover is 500 Frederick Street 2^nd floor, Hanover, PA 17331.  I might have given you the wrong ZIP before.