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.

11/3/14: It strikes again....

Hello Family!

Man! It sounds like Halloween was great for everybody! They don't celebrate Halloween here but I hear that Christmas time is unlike anything you can imagine. :) haha. Ganja (weed), fireworks, all night partying, MUSIC, oh wait... that's every other day of the year. I guess we will see what Christmas is like here. They say that there is no sense in having a car because of all the people on the streets... I can't wait!

Things have been great here! I just love Sister Garrett so much! She is such an amazing missionary! I probably said that last time but it is true! We have had some GREAT times together and I can't wait to see what more the Lord has in store for us :) 

We had another great lesson with Kimoya this week. She is scheduled and excited to be baptized on November 12th. She is amazing! And we can just see the Gospel lighting up her whole life. :) I love Kimoya. She is so strong and independent.We can absolutely tell how much the Gospel means to her.

Wednesday we had Zone Conference and drove to Montego Bay. It was great to see everyone in our zone again. :) We talked about making a better effort to find more families. We talked all about how we need to find more families to be able to make it to the temple together. The temple really is our ultimate goal and we need to keep it in our sights. Temples are NOT built to be empty. We have so many temples around the world and especially back home in Utah. I wish so badly that I had made a better effort to go more often even before I received my mission call. It's hard for the people here in Jamaica, and Cayman and other places, to attend because they have to get on a plane! All we have to do is put on Sunday clothes, jump in our nice cars, drive 15 minutes and there is the temple. We take the temple for granted. I know I did. I wish so badly that I could attend more and I even more wish that these people could attend more often. But I can see in the people who have been able to go how much it really means to them because that might just be a once in a lifetime experience for them. We are so blessed. How much does the temple mean to you? Just think of the Spirits in the spirit world waiting for you to open the door for them through baptism and other ordinances. What's more important? Think of the big picture. Fill those temples! :) I wish I could right now... haha. Soon come :)

Thursday we went up to the McNish family's house to help them do wash and Sister Garrett started coming down with pain in her body yeah... so the rest of the week she was in pain with Chikungunya. I felt so bad for her because I knew exactly what she was going through! 

But we will definitely be having a better week this week teaching wise. We have a lot planned and TONS of people to see! Sister Garrett is feeling much better! I can't wait to see what miracles and experiences will happen!

Thank you for your prayers and emails. I love you all with all my heart! Have a safe and blessed week!

Love,

Sister Mouritsen 

This is Sister Austin, one of the sister training leaders, who just left.

This is a generational picture: Sisters Mashabela, Mouritsen, Garrett

The is a photo of the trainees and their trainers.  

This is a photo of all the off-islanders.