12/29/2014: Christmas in Jamaica

 Hello Family!

Man it was so good to talk to you all on Christmas! I wish it could have lasted longer but.. that's okay. I only have one more phone call. Wow. Time flies. 

This week was a pretty rough week. Nobody really wanted to see us at all because of Christmas but....That's okay. We made do. 

Christmas Eve we were walking around Ochi trying to talk to people. It was SO crowded! It literally was like being in Disneyland but 10 times crazier! And the party hadn't even started yet. The real party doesn't start until midnight... yeah. haha. You can imagine. Lot's of masquerade people.

On Christmas after I Skyped, we went over to a member's house, the Llewellyns, to help them Skype their daughter who happens to be in Cayman! Sister Llewellyn. And I actually got to see some of my Cayman Family! It was so great! Even if it was just for a few minutes. :)  

On Christmas the Hardy's also invited us over for dinner because our dinner appointment cancelled. Some of the Jamaican members cooked some dang good food too. So we still got our Christmas dinner. 

Friday was Boxing Day, which is still a huge holiday in Jamaica. That was a good day as well but still hard to see people. 

Saturday we had our Branch Christmas party... after Christmas... haha. It was so fun! Except for the fact that the power happened to be out. Not a surprise. So we ate our food in the dark with cell phones for flashlights. It was definitely a memorable experience that I will never forget. We also had a whole heap of investigators come too. That was great! And then we also had several investigators come to church! Which is a miracle because they had just used fare to come to the church on Saturday and still found some to come on Sunday. Lenny, Doreen and Crystal came to church. Crystal just had her baptismal interview yesterday so she is getting baptized on Saturday by her dad! It will be amazing! We can't wait!! 

That's pretty much all that happened this week... Sorry. I hope you all had as great of a Christmas as I did. I love you all so much! 

Love,

Sister Mouritsen 

Exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders

Tourist souvenir, courtesy of a member.

Beach Pics!

Christmas Cake!

Christmas Day dinner. From left to right: Brian Hardy, Javoni, Sister Mouritsen, Jaleem, Sister Garrett, Rohan holding Kiki, Elders Jones and Cox. (From the Hardy's in Jamaica Blog).

12/25/2014: Merry Christmas Skype!

12/23/14: Merry Christmas!

Hi Family!

We had a great week this week! Christmas time is the best right?? ESPECIALLY as a missionary. :) Man! This week did the rain fall too! jeez.

Tuesday we had such a great plan and it all fell through when the rain fell and didn't stop falling. We ended getting ahold of a less active that let us come visit but she lives WAY up the hill. As we walked up we were SOAKING wet. We literally thought we were walking up Dunn's River Falls. haha! We couldn't stop laughing and joking about how we were breaking the rules... but not really. :) Don't worry. Of course we took pictures. I think my shoes are STILL wet from it. Nothing has really dried out this week... It's been cold! 

On Wednesday we had District meeting in Port Antonio and then trade-offs with the Kingston Sister Training Leaders. So I went with Sister Thomson and Sister Thomson to Kingston, yes they are both Sister Thompson, and Sister Garrett stayed in Ocho Rios with Sister Wilkinson. Man Kingston is HOT. haha! I forgot how cold Ocho Rios is. It was so great though. I learned a lot from the Sisters Thompson. They are some dang powerful missionaries. It was scary driving to Port Antonio and Kingston because the rain had created a lot of landslides all over the roads. But we made it safely. :) I got back into Ochi on Thursday night. It was good to be home. :)

On Friday we finally got to see Lenny agian! Apparently he wasn't answering his phone and he didn't make it to church because the rain had made him sick. Too bad. We had a lesson with him about the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity and Sister Thompson (a member of the branch here) came with us. As we were talking about the Word of Wisdom we asked her how keeping the Word of Wisdom has blessed her life and she says, 'well, i really don't see the importance of not drinking coffee and tea. I think it's just fine...." and went on and on and on and on..... oh my. We sat there in horror. But we cleared it up and Lenny eventually said he would live it the best he can. He even accepted a new date to be baptized on January 10th. He is fantastic! 

We also met this guy named Raggy. That's his yard name but his other yard name is 'the white guy' haha! Because he literally just wears pure white all over! Hat down to long socks and shoes! So funny. So we have a new white investigator... what? Well we were talking to him about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon and we gave him a Book of Mormon and at the end of the conversation he said, 'So ya know how in school you can't just go to school once, you have to keep going and keep going and taking teachings? That's what I need. When is my next teaching?' HA! Sweet! It was so funny. I love our White Investigator! 

We also finally got to see Doreen again and had a great lesson with her! We talked about the Restoration and the Spirit was so strong! It really helped her to see the eternal perspective and why getting baptized is so important. She says that she knows she needs to get baptized and she said she would work towards January 10th as well. It'll be a good day! I pray everything works out.

Other than that, everything is still going great! I love you all! Have a great week! Merry Christmas!

Love,

Sister Mouritsen

From the Hardy's In Jamaica blog: After our last district meeting in Port Antonio, the whole district stopped to eat at our favorite cook shop. The zone leaders and sister training leaders were also there so that they could do splits. 

12/15/14: Missions are the greatest!

Hi Family!

Not much happened this week but it was still a good week.

So yes, this week we had Zone Conference. It was great! Wednesday we drove out to Montego Bay. We had been preparing all week to hear from Elder Martinez! He is Elder Cornish's first councilor in the Area Seventy. Man he is fantastic and so spiritual. He told us his story of how he was converted. He actually didn't really accept it in the beginning but his wife did. The difference was she was keeping commitments and he wasn't. haha. Wadayaknow. They were so fun to be around and so inspirational to listen to. I can't even express how much I learned and how much we were spiritually edified. :) 

After that we had the Christmas Party! One of the senior couples, Sister Whitehead, was in charge and she had asked Sister Garrett and me to do a duet of some kind. So she sang while I played piano. We did a medley of Picture a Christmas and When Joseph Went to Bethlehem. It was fun. Then we got gifts. No, I did not wait to open until Christmas psh! :) It was a great Christmas thank you! 

While visiting one of our members this week his daughter was there who is 9 years old. She doesn't live with him though, she lives with her mom, who is just about a 20 minute walk away. But while we were waiting for Brother Wayne, we were talking to Crystal his daughter and asking her if she liked church on Sunday because he brought her. She said she did and that she loves church! We asked her if she wanted to be baptized and she said no way. Haha. So we asked WHY NOT? Well, one thing led to another and we found out her concern was that she is afraid of the water. We ended up teaching her the Restoration and she just kept saying, it makes sense. I know this is true. (She is very, very bright.) We extended her a baptismal date of January 3rd and explained to her that she doesn't have to be scared. She'll be under the water quick, quick, quick, and she's not even in the ocean. It's a swimming pool. She ended up accepting it and is excited for it now! I'm praying that everything works out! She is so great!

We also got to see Judith and Taphirah again and had a great lesson with Judith. Taphirah is struggling and not wanting to give up Ganja and Girls so when he is ready to do that, we will be here for him. But Judith is so ready! It's just hard for her to come to church! It's about 500 Jamaican dollars ($5 US) there and back. I can't remember if I said that last time.... But during our lesson, she got a phone call and was laughing and talking to this guy and we could tell it was someone from a different church. Finally she hung up the phone and said something like.... 'UGH! I ALREADY HAVE MY CHURCH! STOP CALLING ME.' We were so happy. haha. She definitely is so converted to the Gospel. :) We extended her a date to be baptized on January 10th. We are just hoping she'll be able to find the fare to come each week once she finds a job. Gotta love it.... That's always the biggest issue.

Well I hope you all have a great week. Be safe. Thanks for the emails. It really means a lot! I love you so much!

Love,

Sister Mouritsen

Pictures on Wednesday, December 10, Zone Conference trip to Montego Bay

With Brother & Sister Martinez of the Area Seventy

12/8/14: The Gospel is Great! :)

Hi family! 

At church yesterday there was a funny testimony by a member, Sister Thompson who used to be a STRONG Pentecostal, then was less-active for a long while because she got offended by some members in Texas because they wouldn't talk to her. (Thank you very much Texas. :P haha jk Elder O'Brien. ;) ) And we just got her reactivated and she said in her testimony, 'when you pass people on the street, don't say Hello, because Hell is down there, say Hi because God is up High.' And then she closed her testimony. HA! It was so funny and totally got everybody laughing.

We had a great lesson with Judith and Taphirah on Tuesday. We talked about the Plan of Salvation. Judith was getting really teary eyed and the Spirit was really strong. She is pregnant with twins and they haven't been doing so well. She ended up having them on Thursday night around 10:30 and the next morning around 9 they passed away. It was really, really, hard on her. 

Thursday Sister Garrett woke up with some weird red circles, perfect circles, on her arms and hands and some of the members said it looks like Ring Worm so we called Sister Brown and she said that we should go check it out at a doctors office. So we sat in a doctors office all morning. They say you get Ring Worm when dirty water hits you. I had never heard of it before and it has been raining like CRAZY lately! Lot's of puddles and such everywhere so it's understandable how she got them. Poor Sister Garrett. Jamaica has not been nice to her. 

We had a fantastic lesson with Doreen that evening though. We talked about 2 Nephi 25:23, and about baptism and it was really, a great lesson. The Spirit was definitely present. I love the way the Spirit testifies to people :) She wasn't able to make it to church yesterday though. She didn't have any taxi fare. So we were really sad about that. Hopefully next week.

Friday we had an awesome lesson with Lenny. We talked about the Plan of Salvation and he has just been feeling like he is not ready for baptism EVEN THOUGH HE IS. So we invited him to fast on Sunday and we gave him several specific dates to pray and fast about to know which one would be right for him. It is so meaningful when investigators choose their own dates. It really is the coolest experience when they do. I love it! He came to church yesterday and he even bore his testimony! What? Yah that was kool! So we are excited to meet with him again soon to see how everything is going. I just love him! He's amazing! 

Saturday was a great day as well. We had SUCH a good lesson with a less active, Brother James. He has definitely been making some changes and reading the Bible and the Book of Mormon again. We felt inspired a few weeks ago to talk about the Priesthood because he has the Aaronic Priesthood. Ever since that lesson he has just been sparked again and wants Heavenly Father to be proud of him as he exercises the Priesthood. He came to church yesterday as well and stayed for all three hours. It was great to see him. :)

We also went with Elder and Sister Hardy to see another less-active member. Sandra. She has been really, really, sick and she asked for a blessing when we called her. So we called the Hardy's to see if he was available. It was an AMAZING experience. For about a  year now she has been avoiding the church and the missionaries and not wanting them to come over. (She has been baptized a little over a year...) So it was WAY cool when she let us come. She asked us right before we left when we were coming back! It made me just so happy!

Yesterday the teacher for Relief Society didn't show up so Sister Hardy asked me literally 2 minutes before class started if I would give the lesson... What?? Sister Hardy...... It was about individual responsibility and it actually went really, really well. I have gotten much better since the first lesson I ever gave by myself in young womens about change... haha. It's good to see that I maybe have grown a likkle big spiritually. :) hahaha. Maybe a little more than a likkle.... :)

Well I hope all is well with you all! I love you so much and I hope that you have a great week this week! I'm always praying for you all. I really do love you.

Love,

Sister Mouritsen

p.s. I was talking to a member on the phone the other day about something and she hung up and then called back and was like, 'Wait, Sister Mouritsen? Was that you? I thought this was a Jamaican!' It totally boosted my self-esteem. :)  

12/1/14 .....Yeah. Missionary work is cool. :)

Hello Family :)

Man! I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving. :) I know I did! It was my one.... and only.... Thanksgiving here in Jamaica. I told Sister Garrett all day on Thanksgiving that she is so lucky that she get's to have 2 Thanksgivings and 2 Christmas's here! haha. Honestly..... 

On Tuesday, the senior couple, the Hardy's, took us with them to Highgate where we used to have a branch that's now closed down. We visited a lot of the members and got to know them. They live about an hour drive from Ocho Rios so it's hard and EXPENSIVE for them to get a taxi to come to church. It is really hard to watch. They are fantastic people! 

Okay, I have to tell you what JUST happened as we are sitting here in the internet cafe. HA! This guy was here and started talking to us (obviously not wanting to know about the church) and asked for my number and wanted me to write it down on a piece of paper that he just handed me with his number on it as well. So I wrote, 'The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.' Then our address to the church and what time it starts, and my testimony. haha. Then I folded it up without him seeing what I wrote, handed it to him, and he awkwardly, rubbed my shoulder, puckered his lips as he passed by and walked out. Ha! I wish I could see his face as he reads it! It's definitely not what he's expecting. Gotta love ways to share the Gospel. Seize EVERY opportunity! This is kind of an everyday occurrence but usually we don't get to write anything! We'll see if he comes to church. At least he knows about it. I love Jamaica. 

Oh my, something else that JUST happened as we are sitting here, the lady here in charge of the cafe just started playing Justin Beiber Christmas music... What the? And it's pooring rain outside... And there is Reggae Christmas music blasting out there. One of a kind Christmas. hahaha! My life is fantastic.

ANYWAY, back to the week. :) It was definitely an interesting one. We invited some guys that came up and started hitting on us at the grocery store to institute on Thursday, not thinking they would show up and they did! Ha! Their names are Omar and Omar... They are cousins. Well President Hardy shared a powerful lesson about D&C 8-10 and the Spirit was so so strong! We even talked about the Restoration a little bit. It was great! We were talking to them after and one of them actually seemed interested and said that the Restoration just makes sense but the other was just straight up Rasta and trying to deter him from the truth. We'll see what happens with that though. It was a funny experience...

We had a GREAT lesson with Lenny who came to church again yesterday even though he lives about 40 minutes away by taxi. He has definitely been searching for this and is ready for it! He is so, so prepared! He still just loves the spirit that is felt in the church. We shared the Restoration with him and it lead to the fact that there is more than just being baptized into the church. We talked about how this is Eternal and such. He is great! We just clicked and the Spirit has just been so strong in testifying to him of the truthfullness. He isn't positive that he is ready for baptism yet though. We invited him to be baptized on December 13th but he kind of has a mindset that he needs to be 'perfect' before getting baptized. I'm excited to see him again though and have the spirit testify to him again. :) He also can't wait to read the Book of Mormon. :) Man I love Missionary Work!!!

I don't know if you all have heard about the He is the Gift video on the new website Christmas.mormon.org but CHECK IT OUT! This Christmas is going to be a different one and one that will help in promoting the church. We were also told that the church is taking over YouTube on December 7th. I wish I could see it. But man. The Lord is Hastening his work. :) Are you going to be apart of it? Just think about that.

I love you all! I hope your Christmas seasons will be great even though they won't be as great as mine. Sorry. Be safe and have a blessed week!

Love,

Sister Mouritsen

Leah was visited by Collin Nicholes, a friend of our family. His sister Pyper taught piano lessons for Colton, Leah, and Madi. He and his wife visited the branch in Jamaica and were able to take some photos of Leah during their visit together. 

In Collin's words on a Facebook post: "Sister Mouritsen looked great and she was very happy to be serving the Lord and His children in Jamaica! The kids in the branch kept playing with her hair throughout sacrament meeting. I guess her type of hair is quite a novelty down there."

Her message to the family was "Just tell them that I love them! I'm a girl of few words (said with a little grin). And tell them I'll see them next Christmas and Thanksgiving."

Thanksgiving dinner prepared by the Hardy's (from Sandy Utah). Their blog is at HardysinJamaica.blogspot.com  The 3 pound turkey cost $30.

11/24/14: Hold on...7 months?

Hello!

Not too many exciting things happened this week. It was a good, hard working week as always though.

We are still working with the Bell Family. They just love the gospel so much! It has definitely been a really cool experience getting to see their growth. I have loved it. 

We had a great lesson with a guy named Lenny. He was the one that randomly stopped by the church one day and then actually came to church. We saw him on Tuesday and we followed up on how he liked church. He said that he loved it. It was just so different the feeling he felt and the warmth of the Spirit. He said that he wants to get baptized. haha! Wow! We had a cool experience with him though. We were talking about something, I can't remember exactly what, but I was prompted to say to him that we have a modern day prophet and his name is Thomas S. Monson and that prophets are so essential for us now. God wouldn't have prophets back in old times and not now. That's just a little of what I said. It was really random compared to what we were talking about and he just stood there taking it in and was like, wow, you are so right. I want to be baptized. Honestly it was really cool! I didn't expect that. He is a great guy! 

We had interviews with President Brown this week as well and they were awesome. Like I've said before, President Brown is one of the most inspired people I have ever met. He always knows exactly what to say to me and exactly what I need to hear. :)

We were able to see Taphirah on Saturday as well. He has been gone working up in the hills for 2 weeks and he finally came back so we could see him! It had been too long. We had an awesome lesson about the Word of Wisdom. haha. He likes his Ganja way too much.... But he totally committed to live it because he knows it is right and what he needs to be doing. 

Sorry for the short email. I hope all is well and you all have a great Thanksgiving! Send me a plate of food please. :) Jk. The senior couple here from Sandy said they would prepare a Thanksgiving meal for us and the other Elders here in Ocho Rios on Friday because we are all from the states except for one Canadian. haha! I'm excited! I love you all so much! Be safe and have a blessed week!

Love,

Sister Mouritsen

11/17/14: Kimoya's Baptism

Hello!

This week was so wonderful! I just can't even express how AMAZING it was! 

Tuesday we had the semi-annual Sister's Specialized Training Conference. Wow. That's all I have to say is wow. It was all about keeping an Eye Single to the Glory of God and specifically one of my favorite scriptures, D&C 88:67. :) We were just so spiritually uplifted by President and Sister Brown, other sisters in the mission and also Elder Cornish who skyped in! I learned so much. It really helped with many questions that I have been having and how we can help the work move more powerfully here in Ocho Rios. We had to pick up the sisters in Linstead and then we drove to Kingston. We left around 7:30 am and didn't get home until around 8... It was SUCH a spiritually uplifting day! They even fed us mexican food. I can't remember the last time I had mexican food..... Seriously though. I forgot how good it is. 

Kimoya got baptized on the 12th! It was kind of scary though! We were meeting her at the church and going to talk about some things but she wasn't showing up and wasn't picking up either of her phones! We were kind of freaking out. We had arranged for the Hardy's, the senior couple, to pick her up and bring her because we can't drive people unless it's a member to lessons. But FINALLY she answered and said she was so sorry! She got held up at school and would be there soon. So she eventually got there and we drove to the Hardy's place where there is a pool. The Branch here doesn't have it's own building so it doesn't have a font as well. They have tried doing baptisms in the ocean but there is no privacy and it doesn't make it a very spiritual experience. The pool is the best way to go to help them have the most spiritual experience possible. So she got baptized and came up out of the water and looked around and said something like, "It's over already? can I just swim around for a second?" haha. So she did.... It was so funny. Most Jamaicans we talk to would NEVER go in the ocean. So when they get a chance to swim in a pool it's like heaven apparently. It was a fantastic day!

But..... She wasn't able to make it to church on Sunday....... She lives way up in Rio Bueno and said that she sat and sat and sat and waited for a taxi to come so she could make it and when she finally got one it broke down and she wasn't able to make it. It was so so hard. Satan is ridiculous. Sometimes I just despise him like nothing else. ha... She called us and was SO sad! We are praying that she will be able to make it on time next week though.

On Thursday we had called a less-active, Sister Notice, to see if we could go see her and when we got up there, she wasn't there. A young girl had come up to us and told us that Sister Notice wasn't home but that she wanted us to teach her. She wanted to learn more about God! It was so cool! She said that her name was Princess and she lived right next door. So we walked over there and started teaching her about the Godhead and eventually a neighbor came by and started listening as well. His name was Sheldon. We eventually got led in to talking about the Restoration by questions that they were asking. By the end of the lesson, Princess's mom Jennifer, her sister Kimoya, and her brother Prince were all INTENTLY listening. We invited them to all be baptized and they all said yes! Without hesitation too! It was so dang cool!!!!!! :) We were able to see them again on Saturday and we shared the Plan of Salvation with them. They LOVED the idea of having an eternal family. We invited them to be baptized on December 6th but they don't have much money though so we are hoping and praying that they will be able to make it to church next week. The only way for them is through taxi which is about 500 JD each or if they walked it's like 17 km (10 miles or so). I know if they use their faith, and do all that they can to make it there, that they will! They weren't able to come yesterday. :(

Well that's the most exciting stuff that happened. I hope you all have a great and safe week! I love you all so much! 

Love,

Sister Mouritsen

11/10/14 Another great week!

Wah Gwan ? :)

Sister Garrett and I had another busy great week this week! We are loving getting to serve together here in Ocho Rios. :)

We are still meeting with Kimoya and she had her baptismal interview with the District Leader on Friday, then she was able to come to church yesterday and is set for her baptism on Wednesday! We are just so stoked for that day! It's taking too long to get here haha! She truly is just so amazing and so prepared for the gospel in her life. She also has a big desire to serve a mission and yesterday at church was all about missionary work. Sacrament meeting Sister Garrett spoke along with a returned missionary, Elder Jones. They really brought the Spirit and inspired the branch to do more missionary work. President Brown also came to the branch yesterday. It's about a three hour drive from Kingston. Sister Brown wasn't able to come though because she is sick. Her baby is due the week before Zone Conference which is the 11th. President Brown is stressing haha. He is so funny. But he came to the Gospel Principles class where we were talking about the Second Coming. He is one of the most amazing speakers. There is not a dry eye. He talked about how when Christ comes again, he is not going to need a welcome party from us. No Sah. His angels already have their trumpets up and music memorized haha. In his words. But we are here to teach the gospel to the people when he comes. He said a lot more things that were just so amazing and really sparked something in each one of the members. He also said that sometimes we are just so focused on ourselves trying to make it up to heaven and sprinting to get there that we don't notice our brother or sister who is stuck in the mud trying to make it. He said that God would be proud of us for making it to heaven eventually but...he would ask, why didn't you lift your brother or sister out of the mud? Christ would have. And isn't that who we are trying to become? Everything President Brown says I just soak it all up like a sponge! He is one of the most inspired men I have ever met. I wish I could see him more often.

Tomorrow is the sister meeting that is held twice a year for all the sisters in the mission so we will be driving to Kingston and we'll get to see President and Sister Brown again! And it will be great to see all the sisters as well. Except for off-island. They will be skyping in. But I can't wait to be even more spiritually uplifted. :) 

We were able to set a baptismal date with Romain as well and we are so excited for him! He is great and is so spiritual. When we teach him it's just like everything just clicks and it makes sense to him. The gospel is filling a hole he didn't know he had. :) 

There was just so much that happened this week I wish I could write it all but alas.. there is no time. Gotta love it. Well I love you all so much! Have a fantastic week! And a safe and blessed one. :) P.S. Say hi to the snow for me. ;)

Love,

Sister Mouritsen

A sunrise outside our house. Awesome!!!!

It rained one day while we were doing our additional studies. A view just outside our house.

Gotta love spiders..... 

The other day we were hiking up to a members house.

It was Sister Garrett's one month mark!

The view from a members house :)

Braiding hair at St Ann's.

Sister Mouritsen with Brother Hardy, Sister Garrett, Elder Jones, Elder Hall, Elder Lewis and Elder Havili at the cook shop in Port Antonio.