7/29/13
Hello Family!
This week has been full of goodbyes but we also met a new
lady named Ingra Morel. She was a referral from the West York elders.
They told us that she knew lots about the church and she had some good
questions. When we met her I quickly found that she knew nothing about
the church, so I began explaining to her that we have been called by a prophet
to come and share the gospel. As we were talking her friend came into the
room and said that she had talked to Mormons before but didn't know much, other
than a man named John Smith started it. I corrected her by telling her
that it was Joseph Smith and then I started explaining the importance of a
prophet and why the church needed to be restored. They were
both very inquisitive and kept asking questions about our life as a
missionary. I always love explaining our life as a missionary because you
can always count on their jaw dropping. Everyone finds our service as a
missionary to be an amazing thing which is pretty cool.
On Friday night we were finally able to get Kelly to the
church for a tour. We went over to his house for him to sign our journals
and to get a picture with him and after he was done writing something to us he
asked if he could go do the tour with us. It was awesome! He had
lots of questions and he found it very interesting. We invited him to
come to church with us on Sunday but he didn't show. Hopefully the other
missionaries will see him come to church.
We had a lesson with Ethan Specht on Monday where he told us
that he wants to be baptized on Wednesday. We were shocked that he wanted
to be baptized so fast, but we had to tell him that he needed to come to church
three times before baptism. He was pretty sad but we set him up for an interview
with the bishop. The bishop was surprised by Ethan's desire and
knowledge for only being an eight year old. Everything is good for Ethan
to be baptized except he needs to come to church and that is a problem because
his real mother has him on the weekends. He wasn't able to come to church
this Sunday but his dad, Adam, and step mom, Tami, were able to. It was a
great sacrament meeting as well and I think that Tami and Adam thoroughly
enjoyed it. They are both making great progress in coming back into
activity. I will miss the Specht family and their excitement to
learn.
It is pretty exciting to think that I will be seeing my family
this week for the first time in two years! It really hadn't hit me that I
am going home until yesterday when I started packing all my things into my
suitcases. I will be sad to leave the people of Pennsylvania, I have
truly learned to love them and I have loved being a missionary. It is
going to be weird when I wake up Thursday morning and I don't have to wear a
white shirt and tie. There are going to be so many things that are new to
me it will be quite the experience.
I want you to know that I am so grateful for a family that
is supportive of my missionary service. I wouldn't be able to complete
my mission if it wasn't for your loving support and genuine care. I
have learned many things on my mission but one of the most important things
that I have learned is how to love and the importance of family.
Yesterday I taught Elders quorum using Elder Richard G. Scott's last
general conference talk called For Peace
at Home. It focused on ways for us to center our homes on
Christ. As I was preparing I was able to think of all the things that we
did as a family to have a Christ centered home. I was surprised to find
how devoted parents must be to raise their kids in a Christ Centered home,
which led me to an even a greater appreciation for my parents and the
atmosphere you have been able to create in our home. The
little things that maybe felt small and insignificant to you have made a huge
impact on me and have helped shape the missionary I am today. My
mission has been the best two years for my life. I hope to build
upon the experiences and knowledge that I have learned here and
implement it into my home life. I look forward to seeing you
all! I love you!!!
Elder Mouritsen
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