July 28, 2014: The best week of my life! Jordan got baptized!

Hey! What's up? :)

Thank you so much for all of your emails! You guys are so amazing and inspire me to be a better person every day. Thank you! Like I said this week was the best week yet! Jordon got BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was the best day ever. And a funny story. He had his interview on Wednesday over Skype which went well and then we were setting everything up for Saturday. The baptism was scheduled for 9 am. He said that he wanted to be baptized in the font instead of the ocean. :/ Haha. And the font hasn't been used in MONTHS. So on Thursday, Sister Mashabela and I decided to clean it out. It. Was. Disgusting. We lifted up the drain and there were tons of cockroaches, beetles, 40 leggers and every other bug. And then there were some live lizards! Oh my goodness. Sister Mashabela is brave and killed them with a dust pan. Poor guys. So we were down on our hands and knees having to clean out this nasty spider-filled drain. Ugh. We had to hike up our skirts and stuff. We had to use a pan lid and dust pans to clean it out. So the drain was clogged and we had to pull the water out with the tiny pan lid and put it into a bucket of water where we would then carry the water up and out into the bathroom where we would dump it into the toilet. haha! Yuck... Yeah it was funny. We definitely took pictures. :) The dust pans again reminded me of you Colt when you had to clean up your honey mess. ;) But the baptism happened on Saturday. Jordon is amazing and is one of the strongest people I know! He loves the Gospel and was so prepared when we met him! I gave a talk on baptism which I think went well haha. He was telling us after about what he thought about the baptism. He said that when President Johnson dunked him under the water, everything went quiet and he didn't want to come back up. He is amazing! Then on Sunday he was confirmed a member of the Church. Totally made me cry. Then during Priesthood, Brother Vance told us to sneak in and listen to Jordon receiving the Aaronic Priesthood! haha! Made me cry again... It was just a cry day with everything going on.

On Saturday morning we received transfer calls. Sister Coleman and Sister Mashabela will be going back to Jam. Sister Coleman will be going to Linstead and Sister Mashabela will be going to Boulevard, Kingston. :( Yeah that totally made me cry my eyes out. I will miss her so much. But we will be receiving Sister Llewlyn and Sister Lewis who are both Jamaicans. Sister Lewis will be my companion. I can't wait to meet her!

Other than that, the week was really slow. Zone meeting was fantastic as well! President Brown skyped in with us. We talked a lot about enduring. But not just enduring, enduring well. They shared a story about how if we stop doing service and enduring here on Earth the angels in heaven stop building our mansions. So don't stop enduring! You want to have a roof on your mansion right? ;)

Well I hope that everything went well with you all. Sorry this letter is short and not too detailed. I don't have much time. I love you all! Have a great week! I pray for you daily!

Love,

Sister Mouritsen

P.S. The following email was sent from a couple who visited Leah's branch on July 27th. A picture was attached.

Dear Bro and Sis Mouritsen,

My husband and I attended your daughter's branch yesterday while on vacation here in Grand Cayman.  She looked so beautiful and happy!  I thought you might enjoy seeing a picture of her and her companion.
I have a son who is currently serving in the Argentina, Buenos Aires Mission.  We missionary parents have to stick together!

Tonya White

July 21, 2014: I'm almost done training! Three months down! :( :)

NOW you decide to take a trip to California?! Nosah! That's funny... I remember when I once wished to go there one summer... it's fine.... I'm dealing with it. I guess I will just have to function somehow with my white sandy beaches here in Grand Cayman... Don't worry about me.... ;) Totally kidding sorta. I hope you all have a great weekend! That sounds like so much fun and I'm almost jealous! ;) Oh Mads... I'll be praying for you. Of course I pray for you all everyday but I'm sorry about your tonsils. Sounds like you all had a very eventful week. Thank you for all the emails! They make me so happy to hear how life is going for you! It sounds so different even though it's only been a quick three months.

This week was kind of slow but awesome! And super super stressful. We have been visiting Jordon a lot. His baptism is on Saturday and he has his interview on Wednesday! We are praying that everything goes well! And we CANNOT WAIT for Saturday and Sunday for the Confirmation!!! AH! :):):):):) Jordon is the coolest kid. I love him to death and I can't wait for him to be a member and to have the Holy Ghost! :) He is such a great kid! I wish you all could meet him. Soon come. ;) We had some really great spiritual lessons with him and he is still reading the Book of Mormon and loves the Gospel so much! His prayers are some of the most sincere heartfelt prayers. You really can tell that he is having that two-way conversation with our Heavenly Father. He is amazing! 

We had a great district meeting once again. We read in Moroni 7:26-29. And I love specifically in verse 27 when it asks, 'have miracles ceased because Christ hath ascended into heaven?' What do you think? No way have they ceased! It answers that question in verse 29. Because they are the same yesterday today and forever. So why would they cease? I have seen many miracles in these past three months and I know that through much much prayer and fasting and scripture study, they have happened. This gospel is so amazing! Oh my goodness I love missionary work!

We went and visited a less active, Sister Chambers, and when we got there, her brother who is a minister was there! Jeez! It was like a set up! He chastised us so bad about how we believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God! Apparently it is just the word of man and only the Bible is the word of God. Psh. Nosah. There was no convincing him. He just kept saying how in the Book of Revelation it says that we shouldn't add any more scripture to god's word. haha! But that is just talking about how we shouldn't add scripture to the Book of Revelation. Even though the Book of Revelation is the last book in the Bible, that doesn't mean it was the last one written! I mean Acts was written after it! Yeah I dunno... There was just no convincing no matter how hard we bore our testimonies to him. Soon come. He will change. :) 

On Friday we had our weekly branch activity. It was a games night. We always have a spiritual thought at the beginning which is great! We didn't get to hear this week's though because we had an appointment. :/ But it was awesome! Jordon came! :) He is so awesome! And so dedicated already! 

On Saturday.... President Brown and Sister Brown flew in! It was so stressful.... I love them so much though! I just eat up everything that they have to say. Holy cow! We all had interviews with him on Saturday and of course, he just radiates with the Spirit so I was just bawling. I was a mess. haha! I thought this mission was controlling my emotions but.. nope. haha! Man he is amazing and so inspired! 

Sunday was fantastic! President Brown taught us in our Branch Council meeting about how we need to work together, members and missionaries, to bring back and get more members into the church. Then he and sister Brown spoke in sacrament which was AMAZING! and we also had three investigators there! Jordon, Nick who is married to a member, and Tyrone who brought his two adorable kids. :) And each of them totally felt the spirit when President and sister Brown spoke. Man it was great! :) 

I can't wait to hear about how all of your weeks went. Thanks for the emails! I pray for you all daily! Have a great week! Keep recognizing the Spirit :) It is such a blessing to have and I love thinking about when I was confirmed myself. I love you all so much! Have a safe, blessed week.

Love,

Sister Mouritsen  

I never wanna leave!

Hi Family!

 

Thanks again for all the emails! You all are amazing and it sounds like everything is going well up there. :) I love hearing from all of you. :)

 

This week I was reading in Preach my Gospel one day and found a precious gem haha! On page 152, close to the bottom of the page Dallin H. Oaks talks about fishing and having our fishing line out in the water as long as possible. He says that "None of us should be like the fisherman who thinks he has been fishing all day when in reality he has spent most of his time getting to and from the water, eating lunch and fussing with his equipment. Fishing success is related to how long you have your line in the water, not to how long you are away from the apartment. Some fisherman are away from home for twelve hours  and have their line in the water for ten hours. Other fisherman are away from home for twelve hours and have their line in the water for only two hours. This last type may wonder why they do not have the same success as others." This hit me hard and I want be a missionary with my line out as long as possible. No matter how hard it gets!

On Wednesday we had our open forum meeting where the Branch Mission Leader is in charge and anyone from the ward, or investigators, can come and ask any question they want about the Gospel. Tyrone came! It was great! Or so we thought... As the night went on, we talked about how children can't be baptized until they are 8. He disagreed with this which made me sad. He has  7 and 10 year old daughters and he wanted to get baptized with them at the same time. And there were like 4 members who were just talking over each other and you couldn't tell what was being said and it was just overwhelming and frustrating. So we went to see Tyrone on Thursday night to help clear things up and some of his friends stopped by. As we were talking about it, his neighbor named Earl was debating us on how children can be baptized whenever and then his friend Whemsy chimed in and started arguing how they can't get baptized until 12 and we couldn't even get a word in! Jeez! It was maddening! We had to leave in the middle of their argument because it was almost 9 pm. So then yesterday we went over and saw him and talked about it again. We really cleared things up and he feels much better about things. We went over the baptismal questions and the spirit was strong! We had a great lesson with him!

So do you remember me talking about Duke? Also known as, Beardman? haha! That was a nickname from Sister Mashabela and I because we didn't know his name for awhile... But he invited us over to see is place... haha! He lives on the bank of the canal, where he brought in sand and made his own beach, planted coconut trees and everything! He even built his house which is two stories and really well built. We were amazed! He kept talking to us about how our lives must be so so hard because we are ministering all day long and never get to relax. And then he invited us to go paddleboarding and swimming whenever we wanted. haha! I wish. He is really funny though! He kept commenting about being Amish (is that how it's spelled?) and how awesome they are. haha....

Sister Coleman and Newcomer gave us a referral this week and we went and visited him. His name is Jordon, he is Caymanian. He has been in a foster home and pretty much lives by himself now. He is 23 and has had a really hard life. It was amazing that we were able to meet him! The other sisters met him at a less active's house! But he is soooo humble and loves the gospel! We had a branch movie night on Friday that was well attended and he wanted to come! We watched 'Heaven is Real' which is a really interesting show. Yes, President Brown let us watch it haha! We were so happy that Jordon came though. Then we had a lesson with him on Saturday. We talked about the Restoration, and gave him a Book of Mormon. He LOVES this! And says that he trusts us so much! Which is awesome because he doesn't trust very many people. But he has been reading and praying and he even came to the whole three hours of church on Sunday! Such an amazing person! We all clicked so much and I know that we will be friends for a long time! We definitely were friends in Heaven haha! I'm so glad I chose to come out here! Meeting all of these people has made me so happy and I would be sad if I hadn't of been able to meet all of them!

That is pretty much everything that happened this week. It was great but also a hard week. Not much happened. And Satan really hit our investigators with baptismal dates hard. They don't feel like they are ready enough. :/ But they are! It will all work out though. :) This Gospel is true! I love you all so much! Have a blessed week!

Love,

Sister Mouritsen

I love missionary work :)

Hi Family!

Sorry about the delay. We had a huge Mormon Helping Hands service day yesterday and it took up all of our time. So we are emailing today. The service project was awesome! We had to drive like freaking 35 minutes to get to the spot haha! One of the members is building in Northside, WAY out in the bush!! The spot they bought is just trees, bushes, weeds, big rocks and all that. So we just started hacking away with our machetes. We did some great work! I'm so happy for them! They have a great spot and the house plans look awesome. :) I got a little sunburned and my hair is turning blonder ha! Looks like  a natural melt. Who needs dye when you have Grand Cayman sun? :)

Last Tuesday we had a great lesson with a Jamaican named Raymond. We taught lesson one, gave him a book of Mormon and committed him to church. He seems really receptive! And the Spirit was so strong again! I love the feeling of the Spirit. He wasn't able to come to church though. He had a family emergency I guess... We are praying hard for him to come next week though. I also read a talk called Missionary Work and the Atonement, by Elder Holland. Oh. My. Goodness. Read it. Just go read it. It is A. Mazing! Even though you may not be a missionary with a nametag it will still hit your heart. Wow! 

Wednesday we had District Meeting, and we talked about 10 things to happiness.

1- Commit to living a Christ centered life.(PMG Christlike attributes) 

2-Obedience

3-CHOOSE to be Happy

4-Be flexible and Adaptable, follow the Spirit

5-Work Hard

6-Always have a Purpose, Goals short and long

7-Take care of your physical body. Make it a place for the Spirit to dwell

8-Control your thoughts, Proverbs 23:7. If our thoughts are negative, so is our heart. "When you think you've been beaten, You have."

9-Have a forgiving heart. Accept people's imperfections

10-Serve others. MODEL THE SAVIOR.

What more can I say? :) Haha.

We also had a lesson with Fitzroy who is Jamaican. He is awesome! I hope he continues to let us teach him. I know this can help his life.

On Thursday we saw Ice T. He is the one who mixes music. Most hilarious person ever. One of his recording artists was there and we got to talk with her. She is so prepared! Just like Ice T! The experiences that she shared with us just showed us that! She had even met the missionaries before but it was when just the Elders were here. She said they were like hitting on her and then gave her a Book of Mormon. haha! We told her more about it, gave her another one and we hope she reads it before the next time we see her. :) Her name is Renee and she is part of a cool band known as Sweet Elite. We also visited a less active who just got out of the hospital with a near death experience. She had been struggling ever since she had been in the church with baptisms for the dead. We had a break through lesson and she is going to start coming back to church! Everything really does happen for a reason. :) I love this Gospel! 

Friday we did service at a member's house out in West Bay. His name is Jack Henry. I love that guy. Funniest person i've ever met and we have the best relationship. :) I am really going to miss my family out here in Cayman.... Good thing I'm here for another few months. :) But he is building a shed and we helped him with it. And in turn he fed us pigs tail with spindler dumplings. :) yum! 

Saturday we had a great lesson on the Restoration and the Book of Mormon with Mel, he had a couple of his friends, PJ and Kevin there too and PJ seemed really interested! I hope they read the Book of Mormon. We invited them to come to church as well but they didn't come. :( Hopefully next week. 

Sunday was GREAT though! We had four investigators there!!! Raymond from Honduras who we met while teaching a different family, Marlon, Arnel, and Nick! Aw man it was awesome! I love seeing them there. It makes me so happy to see that they make an effort to come and learn more. I KNOW that this Gospel will bless their lives if they keep letting Christ in. :) 

Thank you for all of the emails! It makes me happy to hear from all of you! I'm glad everything is going well. I love you all more than anything! Have a fantastic week! 

Love,

Sister Mouritsen :)  

Questions and answers between Aimee and Leah: 

Aimee: From the Internet Hallie found out that July 7th was Constitution Day in Grand Cayman, which we thought would stop you from being able to find a place open to send emails.  Is that really true?  Where do you go to write your e-mails?  

Leah: Yes it was Constitution day. :) But that's not the issue. We email at the church so holidays aren't a problem. We had a HUGE Mormon Hands service project and didn't have time for anything for p-day so President Brown said we could move it to today. :) He's great :) THere are SOOOOO many holidays here. 

Aimee: What else do you do on your P-day?  

Leah: P-days are awesome. Last week it just poured rain so we took naps. :) I'm setting up a day with one of the members from Honduras to go Iguana hunting. And then he is going to cook it for us. WOOHOO!! I"m stoked!! 

Aimee: Did your tummy get feeling better?  

Leah: Yes my tummy is fantastic. :) 

Aimee: What is the main thing you eat? 

Leah: The main thing I eat is rice, chicken, fish, dumplings, green bananas, plantains. All that. I'm going to definitely miss all of the fruit here. It's SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good. Especially star fruit, mangoes and macopa. yum!!! 

Aimee: Have you been able to find things that you liked to eat  back home?  

Leah: I've made danish pancakes and French toast a couple times which makes me happy. :) But they pretty much have everything here. It's just SUPER expensive because EVERYTHING is imported. I miss your cooking so much..... I wish I could cook like you. 

Aimee: Is it hard to stay in the budget they give you each month?

Leah: No, It's not too hard to stay in budget. Some months it is but it hasn't been too much of a problem. I'm good at just buying the things on sale. :)