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."