May 26, 2014: Holy cow this gospel is true!

Hi! How goes it?!:)

Haha! It's 80's there. Man life must be good! Yes the weather is awesome here! I have just accepted the fact that my hair will never not be frizzy and my face with never not look like I just jumped into a pool of water. Seriously though, I love it down here. :) Yes, I cool down, off islanders are so dang spoiled man. We have AC in our apartment. And washer and dryers. haha. Life is great here. We even have warm showers but... ugh. Cold ones are so much better. No, we don't all share a bathroom, it's two and two. Which is wonderful! Yes, I LOVE the other companionship! They are a hoot! Heck yes I keep everything clean! haha! You should see my section of the fridge compared to everyone elses! And my desk... and my closet... and my side of the car... ha!

It blows my mind that Josh's farewell is already coming up and Carter's papers are almost done! Wow! That's awesome! :) And I am sad that I am missing the Memorial Day Breakfast..... We are fasting today :)...  I'll be there next year! Oh wait.... haha. And yes, I email Tyler on preparation days. Letters take for freakin ever! It's not usually back and forth though. My first Preparation day was and that was so great! I love hearing from him and getting to relate and understand more of what is going on in his life. :)

This week has been fantastic! Except for all the rain. Last Monday the Branch had a BBQ at the beach and there was LOTS of Jamaican Jerk Chicken and Pork. Wow. I can't go back to regular BBQ chicken. Later we went to Matilda and Francine's house for an appointment but... they weren't there. Their next door neighbor was sitting outside his house though so we went and talked to him. His name is Raskitta, he is Jamaican, is Rastafarian and has crazy long dreds! And he pretty much only spoke Patoa... Ha. We could pick up a few words and would kind of go off of that when we were sharing things about the Gospel. We mostly just talked about Faith and prayer and such. And he invited us to come back and talk to him so that's a good sign! Man the Spirit is amazing isn't it?? Brother Hernandez and his family invited us over for dinner and they are crazy about crab. They had gone crabbing on Saturday and caught like 40 of them! Eating crab is hard! It's so much work for so little meat! I'll send pictures next week. 

On Tuesday we went to an appointment at Kayla's house and before we were going in to see her, we saw that her neighbor across the street was outside, so we went and talked to him. He is Caymanian and...... awesome. haha! He was in the military and is. A. Talker! He shared SOOO many stories about the military. Not one of them was a happy story either. Every time we would try to share something about the Gospel he would shrug it off and start telling us about how he has seen God and he is like a hero in Kenya because he told them that it was going to rain in three days because it hadn't rained in 4 years and it did! He said the spirit told him that. He told TONS of stories like that. They are all stories where he is the hero and he loves to talk about how amazing he is. But then he says that, you shouldn't praise yourself. Dude. He even offered us money! I was ready to explode! We finally got away from talking to him like two and a half hours later! We missed the appointment with Kayla and someone else! haha. His last name is Powell so we nicknamed him Preacher Powell. Later that night, Ghie and Ronald, who are Philipino and recent converts took us out to dinner at a Chinese restaurant. Mmm! There are a lot of philipino's down here and let me just say that they are not afraid to tell you if you are fat or you have pimples all over your face. Same with the Jamaican's haha. Patience is a virtue....

Wednesday we met with the Zandstra family again. Just their son Tyler was there though. John and Sheena were at the grocery store and came later. Anyway, We had taught them the Plan of Salvation last time and we asked Tyler what he thought about it. He is a devoted Catholic. He said, "Yeah I actually was way interested in it. I had never heard anything like that before! So I went and researched it on the internet." Ha. Seriously?? Because the internet is always right... We answered his questions and then he says, "So what is this whole Book of Mormon deal? They did a skit about it on the tv show called Family Guy." Oh my gosh! I don't even wanna know how they portrayed it on there! So we taught him the whole restoration and he was like beaming and sooo interested! At the end of the lesson, he says to us, "This is so cool! I love learning about all of this stuff! But... I don't think this whole Mormon thing is for me. But I would love it if you guys would keep coming over to talk religion with me." .....Javelin to the heart. Wow. I have hope though. I have been praying like crazy that he would see that this IS for him. They are an awesome family though. :)

Thursday...... oh boy. We went and saw Raskitta again and we brought Gabriel (from Honduras), a member with us to teach. We planned on teaching lesson 3, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Sister Mashabela and I could hardly get a word in! Gabriel had his own lesson planned! He wouldn't listen to anything that Raskitta had to say. He just went on and on about how our church has all different races and everything and he would totally belong there and then he started teaching about Thomas S. Monson and about the Twelve and he pulled out his Ensign of Conference talks and Raskitta was getting frustrated and confused and it was just bad........ and then Gabriel told him to come to church. haha. And then they started arguing about how Raskitta felt like Gabriel was being racist and all that. We won't be bringing Gabriel to see Raskitta anymore... haha! Gabriel is an awesome teacher though.

On Saturday we went to visit Sister Chambers who is a less active and is in the hospital. She wasn't in very good condition. She had sooo many tubes all over her, and an oxygen mask with like steam or something coming out. It was sad. That hospital just reminded me of the movie World War Z because we had to walk through these doors and yeah... it was scary. But It was great to visit with her and we shared a message about Jesus Christ. We also went and saw Preacher Powell again. Jeez. He fed us Jamaican Rundown. Ugh.... It had Red Snapper fish, and dumplings and mushy potatoes. I did not like it... But I had to eat it anyway. As we were talking the same thing happened as last time! We even shared the first vision!!! And he shrugged it off and started talking about himself! He never asked us one question in our two visits. And we have seen him for 5 hours total. Whatever. Haha! Gotta love Caymanians!

Sunday was A.Mazing!!! Laura came to church and she brought her husband! They loved it too!!! Laura is the one we have been teaching and that was the first time we had seen her husband. They told us that they would love to come back next week. Next week in Sunday School we are talking about Eternal Marriage. haha! They are gonna love it. Everything that was shared at church applied to them too! The Gospel is True!! I can't wait to see them again! I am praying so hard for all of these people that we have met!

I love this gospel with all of my heart. I have felt the Spirit like you couldn't believe and I have learned SOOOOOO much in the past month. I love getting to share the gospel with others and to see how it blesses their lives. The gospel is amazing. The church is true! I hope that you all have a fantastic week. Helaman 5:12. Study that this week. Yes, it's a scripture mastery. There is TONS of good stuff in there and I just picked it apart during personal study. You will learn a lot :) Also study Faith and Miracles in the Bible Dictionary. Man I love the scriptures! Be safe this week! Love you all!

Love Always,

Sister Mouritsen

May 19, 2014: If you don't know frustration....then you don't know joy

Hoe gaan dit!?

Happy Victoria Day! Haha. Cayman Holiday...

It's so good to hear from you guys! Being out here rather than at the mtc, I don't get as many letters or anything. It's great to be able to see what is going on in the world haha!

To answer the questions in your email Dad, The teaching and testifying is coming along. :) I am getting better. Lets just put it that way :) Driving Status: Pro. Except that there are always animals in the road. I have managed to miss all of them except a frog.... Just ask sister Mashabela. I was distraught... haha. There are always iguanas, chickens, frogs and last night a crab! haha. My tailbone is just fine! I can't even feel it anymore! I can sit! :):) Don't take for granted being able to sit... Yes I find myself praying for everything and everyone! Especially people we are teaching!

Not all of you may get this but I know that Madi will. If you don't then just ask her haha! So Sister Mashabela and I were looking at a map of the Caribbean and Cayman was so small that it was under the letter A in Caribbean! I never thought that I would be able to relate to Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs out here, but I did. I'm living in a place so small that it's hidden under the A in Caribbean. Haha! I was laughing so hard and Sister Mashabela was like.... What the heck? haha!

Okay, getting to business. This week has been GREAT! I refuse to let myself think or say things like, "today has been awful..." I am someone who gets discouraged really easily and that totally flared up in the MTC. Thinking like that is dangerous. It means you are only looking inward and you need to turn outward! Elder Bednar gave a talk all about that once at the MTC and we had the opportunity of watching it one Sunday night. I haven't forgotten it. He spoke with so much power. Turning outwards really does help you to lose yourself in His work. I can testify of that! I mean I have been out a month on Friday! Whoa. It's going too fast...

Alright, for reals getting to business this time... haha! We taught a lot of lessons this week. And we visited a lot of people! It was awesome! We have been really trying to get the members to work with us and it's going really well. I feel like the members really want to be apart of this work with us! And everybody knows everybody here so that definitely helps. :)

We taught a family named the Zandstras. They are from the States and they just moved here. We have been teaching them and they seem really receptive to our message. On Tuesday we taught them the Plan of Salvation. I love teaching that lesson. And most investigators have just asked tons and tons of questions. But... They didn't ask any. Haha. As we were testifying of it, Sheena, the wife, and John the husband just had tears in their eyes. It was amazing the spirit that was in the room. It makes me happy to see when people are touched by the Spirit. Tuesday was SUCH a great day! Only one of our appointments fell through.

Wednesday was a totally different story... It started out great though! We went to 7 Mile Beach and went running along the water. Man that place is beautiful!!! I could totally live in a place like this. Even if I have to give up my straight hair. :) haha! The rest of that day was hard. Every one of our appointments fell through.  

Friday was much better though. We went and taught a lady named Laura from Honduras at her work. We taught her the Restoration and asked her to be baptized. She said yes! She seems really interested and I can't wait to teach her again. We are going to her work on Friday. It'll be awesome!

On Saturday we had Zone Conference from 9-4. The Conference was in Nassau in the Bahamas. Everyone in Jamaica flew there and the missionaries in Turks and Cayman skyped. I was bummed that we couldn't be there but oh well. Maybe next time.

On Sunday President Johnson asked me to give a talk. I felt impressed to speak on President Packers talk, "Reverence Invites Revelation." Of course, I cried like always. President Johnson came up to me later and said that I did fantastic. :) and that I had people laughing, crying, and feeling the Spirit. So I was satisfied. :)

Spiritual Thought for the week, "What is Real Growth to you?"

2 Nephi 31: 19-21; D&C 14-7; 1 Nephi 13:37; D&C 29:43-44; and D&C 58: 7-12 will help you :)

I love you all and I hope that you have a great week! You are amazing!

Love,

Sister Mouritsen

Safe Arrival - A Letter from the Mission President

May 12, 2014: First week out in the field......Finally!

Hey wagwan mi dea azeen!!!

How are all of you?! Mother's day was great yesterday! It made me so happy to see some familiar faces! I love you guys! I hope all is well!

This week has been crazy! I left the mtc with Sister Oman, and Elder's Lambert, Davidson, and Sandmeier. We got up at 3:00 Tuesday morning, got on a bus at 4:30 and drove to the SLC airport where we flew to DFW airport in Texas, then to Miami Florida and then to Jamaica. We didn't get to Jamaica until like 9:00 pm.... Long day. President Brown and his wife and Elders Nelson and Daniels, who were the APs, came to pick us up. Then we drove back to the mission home. I don't know if any of you have ever actually driven (not in tourist areas) in Jamaica, but it is like death at every turn. Seriously. They drive FAST! And CRAZY! And the streets are TINY! And the steering wheel is on the opposite side of the car and they drive on the opposite side of the road. yeah. whoa. what?!? It's terrifying!

So we got to the mission home where they fed us chicken, salad, tomatoes and carrots and plantains, which are yellow-like bananas. They are almost better than bananas because they fry them on the stove. Delicious! haha! Then sister Oman and I slept at the mission home.

We woke up, had interviews with President Brown, who has the youngest family ever! The oldest is 13 and they have another on the way! I think there are 5 kids. They are an amazing family. It down poured that day too while we were driving to the transfer meeting in Spanishtown. While we were at the meeting, there were sisters from the Cayman Islands and the Bahamas on speaker phone, and then the power went out (a usual occurrence) so we just finished the meeting without all of those on the phone. We also got our assignments of where we are going to serve!

I am serving in Grand Cayman!!!! And my companion is Sister Mashabela and she is from South Africa! She is one of the most amazing people I have ever met and I wish that you could all meet her in person! Sister Oman got called to serve in Nassau, the Bahamas. Her companion was already there as well.  Our planes weren't scheduled to fly out to until Thursday morning so we went with some Jamaican sisters who were serving in Kingston, I think.  We taught a couple lessons that night. We walked to the investigators’ houses and it was just so different. Their houses were just right on the river and were made of boards and wood and sheets for doors. The houses probably weren't bigger than our living room and it was split into four rooms. That was eye opening. But they did have huge TVs. haha! 2 of them actually! Interesting.... Anyway the lessons went well. We taught them about the godhead and prayer and how to pray. Then we committed them to pray. I think it went well. :) After that we went back to the sister missionaries’ apartment. I took a cold shower, which actually was like the best thing ever because it was so humid. And then we went to bed.

The next morning the Sister Training Leaders drove Sister Oman and me to the airport. Our flights were at different times so it was weird to actually be alone and not have a companion... It was so weird! I got to Cayman around 10 am and the sisters who are serving in Cayman picked me up. There are only two sets of missionaries here. Sister Mashabela and I and Sister Coleman from Jamaica and Sister Tominey from South Jordan, Utah. The Elders used to serve here before sisters Coleman and Tominey but they got kicked back to Jamaica. Haha! It's the sisters turn! So sister Mashabela and I have the East side of the Island the others sisters have the west. It's great!

The companionships not on Jamaica all get cars, which is wonderful! So on Friday I had to watch a whole bunch of awesome, cheesy videos that took like 2 1/2 hours about how to drive and be safe while doing it. And then I had to call President Brown and he quizzed me on what I learned. Then I was able to drive the car! We have a new Baby Blue Toyota Yaris! Holy cow it's nice! The only issue is that the steering wheel and the roads are also all backwards in Grand Cayman. So the first time I got into the car to drive.... I got in on the left side.... Mashabela just laughed her head off at me as I walked around the car to the other side. Haha! I haven't done that since though! I have to really think when I drive because sometimes there aren't lines on the road and I start driving on the wrong side. But I am totally pro now. :) I won't be able to drive very well when I get back to the States....

We have visited tons of members and recent converts to keep them strong in the church. We have also taught several lessons. I think it was on Friday that we taught a couple guys who are Jamaican. Tyrone and Glen. They were asking TONS of crazy questions!! Questions like, "So why isn't Jesus Black??" Just stuff like that! In my head I'm like, "If you really did know the answer to all these questions, how would that help your spiritual progression to the Celestial Kingdom and living forever??" Whatever. It was getting frustrating. I finally got my chance to put my piece in and I bore my testimony about what I knew they needed to hear and it shut. Them. Right. Up. It was great:)

I have loved getting to meet SOOO many new and amazing people. Holy cow it is so cool! The people here are great! They feed us a lot........ And when I try to take small portions they just put more onto my plate. How am I supposed to deal with that?? haha! So the four of us sisters, who all live in the same apartment in Georgetown, run about a mile and a half every morning. And we pass the ocean sometimes, which is beautiful! I love it! I ate Barracuda the other day, which was really good. And hopefully sometime I will get to try Turtle. I've heard that it's really good. They also eat a lot of Iguana here. There are tons of iguanas! It's like in Utah where you see a dead rabbit on the road but here it is Iguanas. Sad... They just catch them, clean them out like fish, cook them in coconut oil and eat them. I can't wait to try it! Except for the fact that they have been dying unexpectedly and they say that they have been eating something strange that's making them die so I probably won't get to try it for awhile. They also make smoothies like none other! SO good! Especially the white ones. :) I also had fish heads the other day which was good and yesterday some members fed us ox tail. That was good too! You just have to watch out for the bones. haha! And they also eat a lot of rice. yum…

Sunday was awesome! There is only one church building on the island and it only has one hallway, like 5 classrooms, a room for the branch president, Brother Johnson, and then the chapel at the end of the hall. Oh and Cayman like doesn't have carpet anywhere. It's strange to see actual carpet. Everything is tile and rugs. haha! But the 'chapel' is so small. There are like 120 members but only about 60 are active. When we went to Gospel Principles there was a guy in there who was just so against the fact that we weren't supposed to drink wine and he wouldn't stop arguing with the teacher about it! It was kinda funny. Sister Mashabela and I just looked at each other and laughed. He was just not listening to anybody. Oh well. We'll talk to him sometime maybe. haha!

Well today for P-Day we are going to go to 7 Mile Beach and stare at the water haha! It'll be nice and relaxing. Gotta love sand, palm trees, blue sky and frizzy hair!

I love you all! I can't wait to hear all about how the week went! You are all amazing! I will try to get more details about lessons and stuff this week. This past week was just a blur! I love you all so much! Keep going strong!

Love,

Sister Mouritsen :)

May 11, 2014 - Mother's Day "Face Time" Phone Call

We learned that she is serving in Grand Cayman. Wow!

Her companion is Sister Mashabela from South Africa.

She had to fly from Jamaica to Grand Cayman without a companion. 

She is loving it and has already been able to share her testimony in a powerful way. 

Seeing her face, meeting her companion, and knowing that she is so happy was the best Mother's Day present that a mom (and family) could want. 

I love this gospel!!!

Hi Family!

I love you guys!
To answer your question, I don't really have that big of an assignment as a Sister Training Leader here at the MTC. We just kind of watch over the other sisters and report it to the branch president if anything is going wrong. We got to welcome the new missionaries that came in on Wednesday who were going to be in our zone. That was awesome. It was really nice not being the new missionary anymore haha! Sundays are so awesome! We have sacrament with our branch and you don't know if you are going to give a talk until they announce it at the pulpit. So we have to have talks ready. I was lucky to make it through last week without having to give one. Even though it'd be super easy. One of the teachers here was talking to us about the sacrament and they said something that hit me hard, they said that if you imagine the Savior giving you the Sacrament, it makes it mean a lot more to you. And it's true!!! I can totally testify of that because it made the Sacrament such a cool experience on Sunday! I would invite you all to do that! I know you will feel the same way I did and gain an even bigger testimony of the savior and what he did for all of us. :) Brother Stephen B. Allen came also for a devotional which was amazing and then we got to watch a talk that Elder Bednar gave to the mtc a while ago. It is called, "Characteristics of Christ." Literally every word of that talk struck us all. Sister Oman and the other sister companionship in our district were crying! I was on the verge. So don't think I lost my emotional self. Haha! I have just learned to control it, most of the time... No we haven't named the spiders.... We haven't seen any more and we don't plan to! The food is good but it makes me so sick! It just feels like it is ripping my insides apart! It actually got so bad yesterday that I needed a blessing from the Elders in our District. I love the Priesthood!! I have felt much better today. :) I love my district. We are one big family! They are all going to Baltimore, Maryland. We just have 3 companionships by the way. Sister Oman and I, another sister companionship and and elder companionship. They are all really musical and are trying to get me to join the choir... good thing Sister Oman isn't musical like me. :)

We leave for the airport at 4:30 on Tuesday morning. That's not the bad part though. The bad part is that we fly first to Texas Fort Worth, I know. I about had cow.... then we fly to Miami and then finally to Jamaica. We won't get to Jamaica until about 8:30 that night. Long day. The MTC has FLOWN by!! We will be flying with two elder companionships. So i'm happy we won't be alone!
Our Branch President encouraged us to read 1 scripture on Faith a day. I can totally testify of that as well that it will strengthen your testimony. Even when it's just one scripture. I invite you all to do that and i know you will see a difference in your lives. During a lesson by Sister McManama this week she shared something I liked. She said that we are always progressing but we are either progressing up or down. Imagine an escalator with a roller coaster on top of it that's going up and down. like the white roller coaster kind of. Haha. There are always going to be ups and downs in this life. So make sure you are on the escalator going up. I liked that. :)

Also it snowed this week!!!!!! Sister Oman and I looked out the window after teaching a lesson and about died!! We don't have any coats! It's been really cold! But today was a lot warmer. Thank goodness! My 3/4 sleeve cardigans really haven't been cutting it...
On Tuesday guess who came to our devotional??? Tuesday devotionals are when apostles come. Elder Christofferson!!! He is amazing. I love apostles. Haha! They are so inspired!!! He talked all about trust and how it is so important as missionaries.

We got to go do an endowment at the Provo temple this morning which was fantastic!!! That's officially the last time I get to go until next October... Sad. Oh well. Time to do work for the living. :) Tyler told me about a sister that was in his ward who came to this MTC and he wanted me to find her because he told her about me. Her name is Sister Kautie. Pronounced, Cowtie. haha. I found her and it was so funny! She told me about how he is such an amazing missionary and he helped her to learn about how to teach the Restoration because she was unsure. She also said the we are cute together. haha! I was jealous that she had gotten to see him in the last month.... Oh well.

That's pretty much everything that happened this week. Haha! Besides the fact that I have felt like they have been feeding me with a fire hose the past week and a half! I have learned so much and I know that this Gospel is true! I can't wait to share it with the people of Jamaica!

Thank you for your letters and emails. The Dear Elder letters are the best thing in the world!!!! I love you all! I hope everything is going great!

Love,

Sister Mouritsen (I haven't been able to get over how much I love saying that :) )