We stayed in our apartment the whole week...April Fools!!!

April 1, 2013, 

Dear Family,

Sorry I don't have much to say.  We stayed in our apartment the whole week.  April Fools!!!  

Actually, this week was full of great experiences. 

On Monday we drove down to Chambersburg where I spent the night with Elder Jones who I was supposed to be zone leader with, but not anymore.  We went to Chambersburg because Elder Collier had to drive to Pittsburgh that night so he could get his trainee in the morning. 

On Tuesday I spent the day in the Chambersburg 1st ward area with Elder Jones.  It was really fun. I was a little upset because I wanted to be companions with Elder Jones because he was Spanish speaking and he is awesome.  I was thinking that I would probably get another companion so I felt I had made a mistake by telling President Topham that I should stay in Hanover.  In Chambersburg we were able to have dinner with Mark, the guy that would come and take me out to lunch in Lebanon.  He took us to the Texas Roadhouse and we were able to have a good conversation with him.  After that we had a lesson with a Spanish family, all of whom speak English.  They are getting close to getting baptized so we shared 2 Nephi 31 with them.  After that, we went to the apartment where our new companions were waiting for us.  My new companion is Elder Adams who is from American Fork and is the biggest companion I have ever had.  He is 6’ 5” and over 300 pounds.  He served in Ecuador for 8 months before he tore his meniscus and was sent home then he was told that he needed to be in a mission with cars so he is now here.  He is a Spanish speaking missionary so we will get to work on our Spanish and start teaching in Spanish again. 

On Wednesday we had lunch with a member named Sister Witmer.  Her son lives on Pheasant Run Drive and his name is Bob.  Her son was our next door neighbor for 6 years!  Isn’t that crazy?  What a small world. 

That night we had the Book of Mormon class.  Our Book of Mormon class has been quite the success.  We have had around 10 to 12 people show up the last few times.  It was a challenge this time though because I was missing Elder Collier and the other 3 missionaries are all new.  Anyway, I ended up teaching about the apostasy and the restoration and the differences between a reformation and the restoration.  I used the Lego car that Kortney gave me for an object lesson.  I had someone try and gather up all the pieces and make a bat mobile car.  The Bat mobile looked a bit funky then I gave someone the instructions and told them to build the car exactly how it's supposed to be.  The instructions represented the authority.  It went pretty well except the video at the end didn't play. 

On Thursday we had dinner with an active Spanish sister named Yolanda.  She made us some authentic Mexican food and this really cultural soup with avocados and shrimp.  It was really good.  Al came with us even though he doesn't speak Spanish.  While we were eating, Sister Yolanda’s friend came over and got really interested in the Book of Mormon so we ended up teaching her the first lesson.  It was awesome.  Elder Adams and I really enjoyed it. 

On Friday we went over to Sherry's house to share with her family the true meaning of Easter.  They all found it pretty interesting, especially her oldest daughter.  I could tell that none of them really knew too much about the death and resurrection of our Savior.  It was fun to teach them because it was all pretty new for them and the Spirit is always present when you are talking about the power of the atonement. 

On Saturday we had a cool lesson with Pablo Sanchez and his cousins who were all interested.  We read over the Articles of Faith because Pablo had so many questions about our beliefs.  He told us that he is Catholic but doesn't know much about it because it is a tradition and you don't really need to know the doctrine you just go to church every Sunday.  He told us that he wants to learn more about the Bible and even the Book of Mormon and enjoys our visits.  He told us that he thinks it is weird that Catholics pray through Mary and saints.  We agreed with him on that and explained why he probably thinks that is weird.  He loves the knowledge that he is getting out of our visits and says he is going to start reading the Book of Mormon. 

Sunday was Easter.  We had lunch with the Fuhrman’s and dinner later that day with the Remington’s.  Both had ham and potatoes.  We tried to bring the Spirit to the Fuhrman’s but it was almost impossible with her brother there.  He was rude and disrespectful to us.  At the Remington's we all shared our thoughts about the Atonement which made it a very spiritual experience for us all. 

The best part of Easter was in the evening when we had a lesson with Paul.  We went through the whole story of John and watched 'He is Risen" on Lds.org.  He took it all in and really liked the part where Jesus says “touch me not for I have not ascended to my father”.  He totally understood that verse and understood that there had to be a spirit world or a place between death and the resurrection.  He is getting closer and closer every time we teach him.  He knows it's true and he can't deny it even though he wants to.  He has received an answer. 

I love you family!!!

Love,

Elder Mouritsen