4/27/2015: Psalms 46:10 Everything happens for a reason

Koma nou ye m fanmi epi ami yo? :)

I think I said that right....

Anyway...

So... Sorry about yesterday... The power was going on and off and on and off all day on the island so we couldn't email. The poor electric company just suffers haha. The new hotel Bahamar has been getting built, which is MASSIVE and a while ago they tried to light it and shut down the power on the entire island for a few days. haha. Yeah.. You can imagine..... But yesterday it was just a sorta normal summer thing. When it gets too hot everybody turns on their air conditioning and it shuts down the power on and off all day long... So that was the issue yesterday. I guess we will see what the REAL summer brings besides sweat and sunburns. ;) 

We had a decent week though. Nothing too exciting once again. Oh wait, the definition of missionary work is exciting. :) In my opinion at least. Yes, I've officially been out over a year now. It's weird to think that last year at this time I was in the MTC in Utah. I remember it snowed and we were like WHAT the HECK? I've only got summer clothes.... 

This week we had a great lesson with Bencita. Her husband still seems to randomly disappear when we come over, but what can ya do right? He says it's okay for her to be baptized and soon come he too will be. I guess it depends on how long the 'soon come' is... But we had a lesson about the Holy Ghost and how to receive answers and recognize them. Brother Saint-Nutus and Camillot were able to be there to translate for us this time and it was a powerful lesson. We talked a lot about the Book of Mormon and she keeps saying that she doesn't need to pray about the Book of Mormon. She already knows it's true. But at the end of the lesson she really understood the need for it. The Holy Ghost is what testifies of truth and it's important to ask for it to bear witness to us. 

On Friday we had a lot of appointments fall through so we did a lot of walking and finding. It was great! As we parked the car, we saw a family heading towards us and we got out to talk to them but... they saw us and hurried and crossed the road... ha.. haha... So we tracked them down. Man they can speed walk haha. We caught up to them and they just snuffed us off. They wouldn't even take a tract! But we had felt strongly to follow them. So anyway we just continued to walk around their neighborhood until we came to a park and there was a man sitting under a tree at a table. We were a little bit apprehensive. We could see the Bob Marley weed shirt and the way he was slouched at the table. Too gangster for us haha... But we went and talked to him anyway. His name is Gregory and he ended up telling us how he stopped going to church. He just felt like there was more to life. He felt like after Jesus Christ died that his church he established was changed and corrupted. So we shared some about the Restoration with him and he seemed interested. He has his own ideas as well... but we are excited to see him again this week. It was a cool experience. It's always interesting how the spirit works. :) Alma 13:24 and Psalms 46:10 were very helpful to Sister Nelson and I this week. 

Alma 13:24  For behold, angels are declaring it unto many at this time in our land; and this is for the purpose of preparing the hearts of the children of men to receive his word at the time of his coming in his glory.

Psalms 46:10  Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

I love this Gospel and I love being a missionary. I know that it is true and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else at this time. This truly is the Lord's church and I am happy to be a part of it and to get to be serving the Bahamian/Haitian people right now. 

I love you all

Love,

Sister Mouritsen

4/20/2015: One down...

Good afternoon family!

Yes man! I've got 1 week in the mission field finished on Thursday. haha. I'm just kidding. I know it's 1 month. :) Time flies doesn't it?? Alright, alright... I'm in denial.... I admit it. But this has been the quickest year of my entire life...... I love being a missionary and getting to serve the Lord for 18 months. But now... It's down to 6 months on Thursday. Jeez.... Not cool. Not cool.

So Herdy! Yes indeed, he got baptized on Saturday and received the Holy Ghost on Sunday! Aw man it was just the greatest! It couldn't have been better. He has really blossomed. :) We almost forgot to fill the font for the baptism as well. hahaha! We had so many things going on.... But the good thing is it was filled. :) And the baptism was a great spiritual success. One that he will be able to remember forever. 

Herdy at his baptism! 

This week we finally got back in touch with Gislaine! After our last lesson with her about a month and a half ago, she wouldn't answer our phone calls or texts or anything and we had no idea what happened! But this week we were over at a member's house that is nearby her and we saw her! So we went and talked to her. She told us what happened and that she wanted to be taught the lessons again and that she is ready to be baptized. We were so excited! It's really great to see her again! Even if she didn't want to be taught the lessons again, that would have been her choice :( but it was good to see my friend again and talk to her. I missed her. 

I've had some great insights this week as I was spending some time with my other friends in the Book of Mormon. :) I was reading in Alma 11:21-23 when Amulek is talking with Zeezrom who 'was a man who was expert in the devices of the devil, that he might destroy that which was good...' and he  says, 'Will ye answer the questions which I shall put into you? (which Amulek knows they will be deceiving questions that he is trying to tempt him with) and Amulek says to him, which I LOVE, 'Yeah, if it be according to the Spirit of the Lord, which is in me; for I shall say nothing which is contrary to the Spirit of the Lord.' How many times do we have this answer when things arise? Do we ALWAYS think like this before we speak? I also love when he says the Spirit of the Lord is in him. He is Confident about it too. Are we confident that our personal temples are clean to have the Spirit with us? If not, what do you need to change? Verse 23 is awesome. Haha. THAT is confidence right there. He is confident in God and he knows where he stands in the battle against Satan. This scripture really helped me this week. Maybe it won't have the same effect for you, but I know that if you just spend some time in the Scriptures and specifically the Book of Mormon, because it is the Keystone of our Religion, you will find personal treasures for yourself as well. I can testify of that one with confidence! I want confidence like Amulek and Alma! Some of the greatest missionaries there are. 

I know that this work is a true work. I know that Christ lives. I know that he accomplished the Atonement for us out of love. I know the time soon come when he will reign. There is no time for procrastination of repentance (Alma 34). I know it all begins with Faith in Jesus Christ. I love my Savior. I have never felt so close to him. I've never been so sure in my testimony of Him and this Gospel. I know the work has been hastened (D&C 88:73) and it will leave us behind if we don't hasten with it. I truly know that the Book of Mormon is true and was translated by a Prophet of God, Joseph Smith. The prophet of the restoration. I know we have a living prophet on the earth today and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is led by Jesus Christ. He is at the helm. We have no need to fear if we keep our covenants. 

I know this is true.

I love you all. 

Love,

Sister Mouritsen

The morning run. 

Leah's mission photo is climbing the wall in the Stake Office.

4/13/2015: Another great week!

Koman ou ye? :)

This week was kind of slow but great. haha. 

Herdy, (Eddie)  had his baptismal interview on Saturday and passed! He was so nervous but did great. Yes the power went out for this one as well haha. Just at the end though. So he will be getting baptized on Saturday at 7 pm and we can't wait! He is super excited and so are we! 

We also had a great lesson with Bencita. She lives near Sister Blanc and her husband who invited her to General Conference. Well we got to her house and one of the first questions that she asked us was, 'So how long does it take for someone to get baptized?' haha.... Hold up... What? She had read the Restoration tract and prayed to know if it was true and felt that it was. She also understands now the importance of the priesthood and it was so cool! Sister Blanc was able to testify strongly to her and helped us out with some translating. We had an awesome lesson on the Restoration though and she loved church! We asked her if she had any concerns and her only concern was that she didn't understand how we sing the hymns in sacrament meeting haha! I can live with that! I'm excited for the next lesson we get to have with her. 

Other than that, that's pretty much all that's exciting that happened. Sorry it's not much. I hope you all have a great day. Thanks for the emails! I'll talk to you all next week. :)

Love,

Sister Mouritsen

A morning run with Sister Lewis

A morning run with Sister Lewis

4/7/2015: Easter Weekend!

Bon Jou Mwen Fami!

Man this was just the best week ever. I love Easter Weekend with Conference and everything! It was great! 

So on All Fools Day, we had District Meeting and right after District Meeting Sister Nelson and I had follow-ups with the Zone Leaders so Sisters Wint and Lewis left. As they were driving out they saw a family standing outside the gate of the church. Apparently they are members and they were vacationing in Nassau. Well it was their last day and the wife woke up and just had the strongest impression to find the church and the missionaries. So they went driving and they stopped someone and asked him if he knew where the church was and he said he knew one of the members so he gave them his number. They called the number and he referred them to another member who gave them directions to the church. And then lucky enough we were there! Which is pretty rare. They live in Japan but they speak Spanish fluently and also Japanese. They have two daughters who only speak Spanish and Japanese. The husband is teaching the wife and daughters English so he would translate for us. But they were SOOO excited to see sister missionaries haha! The wife just kept talking about how her daughters only ever knew of Elders and she wanted them to see sister missionaries so they would have a desire to serve missions as well. The husband taught at BYU as well. Well they wanted to take us out to lunch and it was about 1:30 and their flight was leaving at 3:30. So we went somewhere quickly and then they left. But it was a really cool experience as they were telling us about how they followed the Holy Ghost's promptings. It was definitely a testimony builder. 

General Conference was AMAZING! As always! We even had 3 investigators come all together well.... 2 1/2..... hahahaha. But one of them was Eddie who came to all 5 sessions! He is great and just loves loves the church!  Man conference was great! We watched it at the church online. It had to buffer a lot and we missed some things but that's the beauty of the Liahona magazine :) I can't wait to go back and read everything over again! I had so many favorites! One of my top favorites was definitely Elder Pearson. He's just so blunt and strong and straight forward. It was great. But I had SO many favorites! 

We also got transfer calls this week but nothing changed here in Nassau haha. But Sister Garrett is training in Cayman! I'm so excited for her! I'm a Grandma... haha! :) 

So the 1/2 investigator that came to conference, Ronale... yeah... We went and had a lesson with him yesterday and found out he is actually a MEMBER. WHAT!? We had even committed him to be baptized! What the heck. We flipped. So we had just had a GREAT spirit filled lesson on the Restoration and he says, 'so... what if I've already been baptized into the LDS church...?' Jeez man! This lesson totally just changed subjects. haha. He got baptized in 2000 when he was living in Florida but soon after went less-active. So he thought that because it had been like 15 years that his name was just written off the books haha! Ronale! He is so funny! So now we are shifting gears a little bit and still working on him coming to church but just with the mindset that he has been baptized haha. It was so funny though!

The Creole is coming a long well! I can pray and have been able to bear my testimony in lessons. I love it. A member said that he would give us lessons on Mondays as well. Sweet! Who knew I'd for real be speaking another language besides Patois out here. :) 

We have had some great lessons with Eddie as well. He is really progressing and has been reading the Book of Mormon consistently and like I said, just loves the church so much. His baptismal day is April 18th and we couldn't be more excited for him to get to make this covenant finally! 

I love this work and I can't believe I only have about 6 1/2 ish months left. Don't talk about it! Oh.... I brought it up. haha. Well I love you all so much! Mwen renmen vou! Stay strong, keep the Faith.

Love,

Sister Mouritsen

Birthday cake!

Cake in milk - yum!

The four of us!