Finding investigators

May 27, 2013

Hello family!

This week was full of finding investigators.  It seems like that is all we do these days but we did have some good experiences.  

On Tuesday we helped some members in the ward clean up their house to get it read to sell.  We wiped down the base boards and moved boxes.  We were rewarded with some pizza and Dr. Pepper.  We felt good helping but it did take a long time.  After getting showered and ready we went to the Olive Garden with one of the single sisters in the ward.  The waitress was taking a long time towards the end and the sister that took us got a little upset with the waitress so, after we all left, Elder Rudd and I went back in and apologized to the waitress.  We felt good about doing that and hopefully it had a big impact on the waitress and she will try and be faster next time.  

Wednesday we had an exchange and I stayed in our area and Elder Ramos came with me.  It was good.  We were able to ride our bikes down to the inner city and talked to all the Hispanics.  We ended up getting some good potentials but nothing too great.  This area has the more Hispanics than any other area that I have been in.  They will always listen to us when we stop them on the street but it is very hard to get a sit down appointment with them.  After walking the streets all afternoon we rode up the Queen Street hill to our dinner appointment with a man named Kelly.  Kelly is not a member and he wasn't even an investigator but we called him a few days earlier because he was a potential and he invited us over for burgers.  When we got to his house he was a little confused because he was expecting Elder Stevens because Elder Stevens was the only one to have met him.  Kelly quickly warmed up to us and we were able to have a good conversation while his nephew cooked the burgers.  He was very interested about the church he kept asking “how many people go to the church and how would the people perceive me”.  After dinner we were able to teach him about the Restoration which he found to be very valuable information.  A little later he drove us home with our bikes in the back of his truck.  He said he had been out to Utah a few times and he loved the way people lived there and he wants what they have in his life.  

We also had a Zone training meeting in Harrisburg with President Topham.  He told us that on June 8th Elder Bednar would be coming to speak to us.  We have been given three talks that we need to read and he will be discussing them with us.  President said it will change our lives.  After zone training on our way home we stopped by Three Mile Island which is a nuclear power plant and it is where they filmed the movie Wolverine.  

We had some other good contacts this week and we now have two investigators which is much better than zero.  

I love you family!

A bike blessing

May 20, 2013

Good morning family!  

It was great to read your letter and it sounded like you had a great experience with the Kenleys.  I’m glad you got a little taste of what I had experienced for 8 months.  Their son spoke in our ward yesterday; he is the 1st councilor in the stake presidency here.  He shared a funny story that reminded me of Elder Kenley's stories.  I am so glad that you finally got to meet Keaton Stewart.  He is a funny guy.  I was glad to have him as my trainer.  I am jealous that you guys get to go to the temple with the Kramers.  That will be so cool and I’m sure they will enjoy it.  We won’t even have to come back and tour my mission because you will have met everyone that I have associated with by the time I get home.  

This week, nothing too terribly exciting happened.  We did have our first lesson since I arrived in my new area.  It was with a 19 year old girl that has been investigating the church for about 9 months.  Her mom and brother are members but she is still trying to find out if it is right for her.  We taught her about the Holy Ghost and we shared a Mormon message called “Patterns of Light”.  If you haven't seen it I advise you to watch it.  She enjoyed the video.  She also shared a good experience that she had.  She came to the realization that she needs to pray more often and not just in times of need.  We will be going to see her again this week.  

Our ward mission leader has an exchange student from Venezuela that is staying with them until the end of the school year.  We went over there twice this week and I practiced Spanish with him.   He is a cool kid.  The first time we went over, he and I talked about his experience here and about his country and the different things that he like to do.  He comes from a very educated family that is Catholic but he is not religious himself.  Our ward mission leaders’ wife was smart though and told him that I would like to practice the missionary lessons with him.  When we came back the next time we started with a prayer, I taught the first lesson and he paid close attention to the information and to any errors that I made.  I had him ask me questions so I could practice answering common questions that people have and then I closed with a prayer.  It was a win-win situation, he got to hear about the restoration and I was able to work on my Spanish.  I don't know if he is very interested but next time we will go through the plan of salvation and maybe that will spark his interest.  

Story-

Wednesday night we had dinner with a family from the ward.  He is a recent convert and she is a returned missionary.  They are awesome!  They now live outside of our new area but they still invited us to dinner.  The other missionaries were going too but we decided that it wasn't super far so we would bike to their house for dinner.  Big mistake.  We start our journey to their house and I started speeding off because my bike is a little faster than Elder Stevens’ bike.  He told me that he would yell out when I needed to turn because I didn't know the way.  Well I got too far in front of him and couldn't hear him anymore.  I ended up going all the way down the hill when I was supposed to turn close to the top of the hill.  Well, Elder Stevens stayed up at the turn until he realized that I had gone way too far.  So he took off looking for me.  There was a fork in the road and I took one way and he took the other so now we were both separated from each other, breaking the rules, and I had no idea where I needed to be going.  So, I start going back up the hill searching for Elder Stevens.  We finally found each other after I asked a mailman if he had seen another biker go past.  Once we found each other we figured we would still be able to get to the members’ house from the bottom of the hill it just wouldn't be as fun.  So, we started our trek up the first hill which wasn't too bad but then we got to the second hill and it kept going and going so by the time we got to the top we were both sweating like no other but, we were close and there was only one more little hill to go.  I went first because I knew the way from that point on.  I got about 200 yards in front of Elder Stevens and when I looked back he was standing next to his bike.  I rode back and found that he had tried riding over some orange construction fencing and it caught his gear shifter and ripped it off.  The bike was completely broken.  We chained the bikes to a nearby tree and the other missionaries came and got us.  

After dinner the other missionaries took us to the church and from there we called one of the members with a truck and he came and picked us up.  We started telling him what happened and he told us “I'll do you one better than just pick up your broken bikes.  Why don't we go to Kmart and we'll get you some new bikes”. 

We said, “No, we don't want you to do that.  Our bikes just need repairs”.  But, he was persistent.  He ended up taking us to Kmart and getting us some brand new Schwinn bikes!  I couldn't believe it I don't think I have had a new bike since I was 11 years old.  These bikes are awesome and we feel so much safer riding them then those other bikes.  Both the brakes work and the back wheel doesn't twist into the frame like the last bike did.  We feel so blessed to have received new bikes.  In the last few days that we have had them we have put them to good use and my legs have never been so sore.  

That is pretty much it for my week.  I love you family!!!

Elder Mouritsen

I knew at that moment why I stayed in Hanover.

May 6, 2013

Dear Family,

This week has been a good week but also pretty sad because I have had to say good bye to all the people that I have been working with for the last 6 months.  I am being transferred to York this week.

We have been trying to see Jesi and Kaitlyn as much as possible this week.  They have both been spending a lot of time at the Mebius house.  The Mebius’s are the members that took Jesi in and they have also taken Kaitlyn under their wing.  Kaitlyn doesn't live there but she goes over to their house after school almost every day.  Sister Mebius is having Kaitlyn do some spring cleaning for her.  The other night, after Kaitlyn had finished cleaning, she and Sister Mebius had a heart-to-heart talk.  Sister Mebius told her that she has so much potential and she is a beautiful girl that can do so much good in the world.  Sister Mebius also told her that she loved her.  Well, a couple of days later we got to meet with Kaitlyn and she told us about this experience and she told us that she started to cry when Sister Mebius was telling her these thing because no one else has ever told her anything that nice before.  She told us that it made her feel so good and it gave her more confidence and helped her not to feel so self-conscious.  This really hit me hard when she told me this.  I have always had loving parents and people around me that have loved me and said nice things to me.  To hear a 15 year old girl say that no one has ever told her she was worth anything or that they loved her was pretty heart wrenching.  She says she wants to be baptized.  We just need to teach her everything and make sure she is in it for the right reasons, which I feel she is.  She said she is the happiest she has ever been and she has also started calling Sister Mebius Mom.  I know she is in good hands as well as Jesi so I am excited to see what happens with both of them in the future. 

This week we also went and met with one of our families.  We were supposed to meet with them last Sunday but the mother sent us a text telling us that they would need to change the appointment.  On Wednesday I sent them a text to see if we could stop by but they replied no, it was not a good time.  I was starting to get a little bit worried that something happened in their family but I wasn't sure what.  We didn't go over on Wednesday but on Thursday I decided that we better stop in and see if everything was alright.  We didn't text or call we just went over and knocked on the door.  Their son let us in and we went up to the family room where everyone was sitting.  We started shaking every ones hands and when I got to the mother I asked "how's everything going" and she said "not very good" she immediately began to cry while telling us that their daughter was pregnant.  It's hard to know what to do in those types of situations but what they needed was for someone to listen and that is exactly what we did.  We listened to everything that they had to say and we added some spiritual things and some personal experiences with them.  I shared with them the story of my parents and that seemed to help them gain some trust in us and let them know that our families are not perfect and we have gone through similar challenges.  We left and they were very appreciative that we came by.  They didn't want us there at first but then they realized that we are just there to give support and uplift them.  I was very glad to be a missionary at that time and I knew at that moment why I stayed in Hanover. 

We saw Mike again this week.  We just stopped by to see how he was doing and he let us right in.  We were able to talk to him for about 45 minutes.  He is still interested so I guarantee that Elder Adams will pursue that more after I leave.  I would have loved to teach him more and see his progression but I will get the scoop after Elder Adams has worked with him for a while.   

There is a guy in our ward named Brother Reid and he has a disease that has pretty much paralyzed his body.  He can still move his limbs, just really slowly.  He has trouble breathing but the doctors can't figure it out.  They have been doing testing on him for over 3 years now and they have only ruled things out but have not come to a conclusion of what is causing his condition.  It is really sad.  We had dinner with them this week and we talked about challenges that we face in life and why we have them, and he became really emotional about his situation.  I could feel the Spirit so strong and you could tell that this disease has really changed his and his wife’s whole life.   He is only 55.   

We spent most of Saturday and Sunday saying goodbye to people.  Sunday night however we were able to go and see the Gaylord’s one last time.  I had spent that morning thinking of what I would want to leave with them and I decided that I would share my conversion story and my testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.  We went to their house and after talking for a little bit and telling them I was leaving I shared my testimony.  I ended by telling them that I am serving my mission so I can share the gospel with others so they can have the joy in their lives like I have had in mine.  Jennifer said she knew they needed to start reading the Book of Mormon.  We ended the lesson with a prayer and their younger daughter agreed to say it.  She gave a nice simple prayer.  It was her first time praying out loud but she did a great job.  I love the Gaylord family and I pray that they can have the happiness I have. 

I love you family!!

Elder Mouritsen