John 2/28/2011

Well sorry for the short letter last week. I didn't have very much time. The library has a time limit of 40 minutes but if no one reserves the computer after you, you can get a 20 minute extension until someone reserves it. Last week was only 40 minutes and the previous ones have been a little longer. So in case I only get 40 minutes I'll get to the meat of it.

So we were going to have a baptism next Sunday, the 6th, but we found out Suzanne, the one with smoking problems, is in a common law marriage. Basically when you live with a person unmarried for something around 7 years the gov. gives you all the benefits and tax breaks of a married couple. So as a result she has always called him her husband so we never thought any more of it. We were going to teach the law of chastity the next time we went and saw her. So... basically long story short we have to push the date back. How far? I don't know yet. But I do think she is doing better with smoking. She doesn't have quite as short a deadline now with the bap. date pushed back. With the date on the 6th Sunday would've been the last day but now she has a little longer if she messes up.

So this week was a decent yet rough week. We didn't get near as many contacts that we should've gotten. Both my comp. and I are both reserved and it's hard to just get up and talk to people. So as a result our contacts suffered. I'm working on it though. I know I can do it. I've done it before. I just need to put my mind to the fact that I'm talking with everyone that I possibly can. It's just tough because it always seems that when I put my mind to it that I'm talking to everyone I either talk to someone who is a jerk and that kind of throws me off the horse or I get mad at something or something happens where the spirit is lessened so it's harder to find that motivation. But I just need to man up and do it regardless. The only way people can find true happiness is through the gospel and they probably wont find the gospel unless we start the conversation. I also need to contact people because it will help E. Morgan not stress as much. Whenever we have low contact numbers he kinda freaks. So if I contact more people it will help him to not be as stressed. But a really good unexpected blessing happened this week. So we went to a less actives house because we were experimenting. It seems that whenever we go to see them during the week they come to church that Sunday but when we don't they don't. So we decided to go and see them on Thursday. So when we went there we found out the fathers sister, or some relation, had just died. So as a result we taught him the Plan of Salvation. When we got there his little daughter was sitting on the couch looking bored/unhappy. So as the lesson went on she came over and started listening. So E. Morgan thought she looked sad so he asked her a question and we eventually Incorporated her into the lesson and she started asking a whole bunch of good questions like. "How come we can't see Jesus all the time?" & (after we had talked about the kingdoms of glory) "Which one does Satan go to?" & a whole bunch of questions like that. It was really awesome. We asked her how old she was and she said that she was 9. We then asked her if she had been baptized and she said no. So we gave them a gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet for her and her parents to read, because her dad said that he and his wife would need to talk it over. We asked if she wanted to be baptized and she said yes. So they are going to talk it over and we're going back to see them next Thursday. This could be a really good chance to get her father more actively coming. In a way to light the fire back under him and get him active. I hope so.

Packages. I got them both. Thank you so much for everything. Yes Natasha I got your yellow squishy and yes I like it. I really like the calendar. I like all those pictures of Christ. Simon Dewey is an excellent painter. I got the package from Deseret Book with the 1st edition Book of Mormon. Thank you. It is really really awesome. I really like listening to the tapes and following along in it and seeing the minor grammatical changes and such. It is really awesome. Thank you again for everything. I really appreciate it. Thank you again.

Hooray for BYU.

Oh I forgot. Pictures. I'm working on sending you some. I want to be able to keep my memory card so I can still look at the pictures so I'm thinking about copying them onto a flash drive and sending that to you so then you can have the pictures and a back up and I can still look at the pictures too.

Dad- Have fun dodging light poles. Luckily Philly isn't really that bad. The worst thing here is everyone smokes and there (Hooray 20 minute extension!) is a lot of cussing. (This can be to everyone but I'll just put it in here because it fits.) The city is very worldly as well. There are more hair cutting/braiding shops than I've ever seen before. They're everywhere! There are also a ton of phone shops. Everyone here has a big TV, some sort of music playing device, and a phone. But I like the city. I like the people a lot. Some of the people here are really friendly. Some are not and wont even say hi to you or acknowledge your presence. That's cool that you're taking the Clipper pictures.

Mom- 12 hours working on stuff for the musical?! That's ridiculous. I would've gone crazy. I also would've been killed. (Probably because I can't sew to save my life. So Ms. McGuire would've slaughtered me for messing up her costumes. That would be no bueno.)

Jordan- Thanks for the advice. I'll see if that can help. I've kind've already told him some of that but I'll give it a whirl. What do you think of the Jazz's trade? Good? Bad? Meh?

Austin- Are you excited for the play? Are you on the stage for very long? Do you have lines? Any news on further dates? You've got 1 that I know of. Your deadline is coming up. I call in April or May, I don't remember which, and you still have 4 dates left. You better step on it. There aren't going to be 4 dances between now and then.

Natasha- What play were you in? I didn't hear about it. You went skiing just recently right? So this time wont be your first? I hear from Breanna that she sits right in front of you and talks to you a lot and never gets caught? Is that true? That sounds like fun. Well that's pretty much it so................................................................................

Shaylee- I'm sorry you didn't make Annie. I didn't get a chance to say that last week because my time ran out. I liked your joke. I have a joke for you. What has 3 feet, 2 eyes, a ruler, 5 fingers, and a pet penguin? ( Answer at end of email in parentheses.)

Well I love you all and I think that's about it for my email. We'll see you soon. Have fun. The church is true.

Love,
Elder Schouten

(I don't know).