Sunday, January 6, 2013

The Spirit is key in a true conversion


December 31, 2012
Dear Family,
It was very nice talking to you guys on Christmas.  It made my day and my week.  You all look good and healthy.  It was nice to see grandma and see that she is walking around and having a great life full of activities, vacations, and family events.

This week has been really good.  We had an amazing lesson with one of our investigators named Paul.  It was a perfect lesson that could have been filmed and shown in the MTC for an example.  It was nothing that we did though it was all done by the Spirit.  We studied in preparation for teaching Paul.  We did many role plays as if we were teaching Paul and we made sure to use some powerful scriptures.  God had set our appointment up with Paul perfectly because usually his whole family is there, which usually is a good thing because we want them all to hear but, for this particular night it was good that they weren't there.  The house was free of any distractions and we were able to share our message simply and powerfully.  Our goal was to have him pray in front of us and ask if the Church and what we have been teaching him is true.  We started by talking about Adam, specifically the spiritual and temporal death.  Paul was amazed that Adam was talked about in the Book of Mormon and from that point you could tell that the wheels were turning in his head.  We then read in 2 Nephi 27 talking about the choices that we can make.  Then we turned to 2 Nephi 9:21-24, which is self-explanatory, and from there the Spirit took over.  We didn't even know what we were saying any more and the whole time Paul was asking inspired questions.  Eventually, it came time to pray and we asked Paul if he would pray and ask specifically if it was true.  He said “yes”.  We all knelt and Paul said “I don't know why I am doing this I don't really know what to say”.  He then bowed his head and started praying, starting off a little rocky and then he just started opening up to God, asking specifically if the church is true and he even said “I sincerely want to know”.  Meanwhile Elder Spohn and I were praying that he would feel the Spirit.  He then ended and we all stayed with our heads bowed in silence.  Elder Spohn and I then looked at each other with huge smiles seeing that Paul was still sitting there overcome by the Spirit.  He then raised his head and was speechless only saying "Wow".  He tried to explain what he had felt but you know how explaining the Spirit to someone is like it is like explaining the taste of salt, you can't do it.  We knew that he had been touched by the Spirit.  He said it was like a heavy but still really light feeling.  It was something he had never felt before.  He said the whole time we were sharing the lesson he had that fuzzy feeling you get when feeling the Spirit but then when he prayed the Spirit was taken to a whole new level.   My bosom was burning with the Spirit and that is when I asked him to be baptized.  He said that is a huge commitment but he would be taking our lessons and the Book of Mormon a lot more serious.  It was unlike any lesson I have had on my mission.  My testimony has grown because of this experience and I know that the Spirit is the key in a true conversion.      

I love you family!!!!! 

Elder Mouritsen

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