John 5/2/2011

First off I'm not getting fat. Don't worry I'm eating well. The members in the last area (Upper Darby) fed us often, and the members here feed us regularly, according to my compy. I'm not fat. Well at the end of my time in Susq. my legs were a little chunky but 3 months in a walking area took care of that. I only weigh 175ish. (that's a complete guess. I haven't weighed in the morning in 3 months but I weighed a week ago after dinner and I weighed 180 so I'm guessing I weigh about 175. The reason I look bigger is because I've been working out a lot. That's what a half an hour of exercise in the morning does to you when you've never had consistent exercise before besides playing basketball whenever I could. My last companion was a real big (buff big not fat) and he motivated me as well. I've been lifting weights. At the beginning of the mish I couldn't do a full complete nose touch the ground push up but now I can do 10 on perfect pushup thingys. (perfect push up thingys are harder than normal ones.) I would guess I could probably do 20ish. So no need to worry. I'm not letting myself go. I'm not going to be some fat guy that you have to roll me into the house when I get home. I've just been trying to build muscle. I figure I have a half hour to work out every morning I might as well make something of it and come home with some muscle on me. Don't worry. And that picture with the chicken foot I'm not as big as my shirt makes me look.

Speaking of looking different you're talking about people in the family looking different. Picture? I can't tell unless I can see it. and anyway I would like one anyway. If you could. And could you send me a picture of me before the mission. preferably something with lots of my body so I can compare past to present.

So I sent some pictures attached with this email so you should get to see some stuff. Explanation: a funny sign in Philly, a cheese steak, my ukulele, me and Elder Johnson with Suzanne, Suzanne with her caretaker/husband and her daughter, and me and Elder Johnson with our gansta hats and a ghetto license plate down here in Delaware.

I doesn't matter my pinewood derby car broke. I really wasn't surprised to hear that. It was lucky to make it down the track without breaking let alone be jumbled around next to some books.

Wowzers. Good thing you don't have to outfit a missionary everyday. Good thing you have 3 yearsish until Austin leaves.

Well this area is A LOT different than Philly. This area reminds me of rural Susq. but with a lot more people. There are some trees here and a lot of wheat fields. I like it so far. I think I like the city better though. (You don't have to worry about miles and junk like that) My companion is a bigger weirdo than I am. Yes I typed that right, weirder than me. He's weird like me but he's super enthusiastic about EVERYTHING. He found out one of his friends is coming to this mission and he was yelling and dancing and jumping around the apartment for about 15 minutes, and after that there would be sporadic outbursts of YEAH! or OH I CAN'T BELIEVE HE'S COMING TO PHILLY! things like that. If I didn't tell you before I'm greenie busting him (for those of you who don't know what that is, I'm his 2nd companion.) Man the saying that when you're a parent you always have a child just like you. He was kind of like me when I was greenie busted. Now I see why E. Erb and I had a little bit of a rough getting along. I was just super stubborn and didn't have much experience. I need to tell Elder Erb I'm sorry before he dies (he dies the end of this transfer). It's tough. I now see what areas that I could've improved in. I'm not bashing my comp. I like him. He's a good guy but being in this situation lets me see where I went wrong in Susq.

My companion is very straight laced. I guess a good way to describe it would be over zealous. He's kind of like Elder Morgan in the fact that he is letter of the law obedient which is a good thing but sometimes he takes it too far. He takes pretty much all of the rules 100% literal. Like for example one time we came in at 8:58 and he felt bad for coming in 2 minutes early. There wasn't time to go anywhere else. I'm not complaining I'm just saying that he still has that MTC fire and still is growing. He's a good missionary though. He is pretty good at teaching for only being out for 3 months.

Well this area is kinda slow right now. Kind of like Upper Darby was when I got there. We have 4 solid investigators and one of them is moving to Phoenix for the summer. It's going to be fun to build this place back up. This last week was kind of slow. We had a lot of appointments fall through. We would've had like 10+ member present lessons if all the appointments had held but instead we only had 4. But I think this area will really help me grow. The work is completely different here than it was in Susq. or Upper Darby. Susq. we had tons of miles and UD we had bus passes so we didn't have to worry about miles but here you have to do more tracting because you can't just go stop by somebody in a different neighborhood because miles wont let you. It's different.

The ward here is good. We have lots of members willing to go out with us which is nice so we can manage our miles.

Oh mothers day phone call. I didn't even realize that it's this week. Good thing you said something. Umm we have church from 10-1 here so 8-11 your time and we have an appointment at 730 our time so 530 yours. So I'll probably call at around 230-3 your time. That's what I'll plan on. My compy might try to be a nazi and say I can only talk to you for 40 minutes to keep it in break but I'll probably smack him and tell him that you don't have to fit it into break time. Anyway I'll probably be able to talk for an hour and a halfish or a little more so we'll see. And I'll probably end up calling you.

Dad- That float looks pretty cool. How long did it take you to build?

Mom- It sounds like you had another crazy busy week. Thank you for everything you do. Thanks for all the support and prayers. (that goes for everyone.)

Jordan- Are you excited for the mission yet? Does it seem real yet? Happy Birthday on Thursday!

Austin- I'm still holding you to 5 dates, but even if you can't reach that I've gotten 3 baptisms on my mission so you at least have 2 more dates by the end of the week.

Natasha- How has school been? Any good jokes? Any unusual happenings? Lost a tooth? Funny story? Got hit by a car? Kidnapped by aliens?

Shaylee- Happy Birthday on Saturday! I hope you had a wonderful day and didn't drown while you were swimming.

Well all I should probably wrap things up so I can write the mission president. I know this church is true and that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that through Him we can repent and become better people and better examples. I know that President Monson is a prophet and that he leads and guides the church today. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that he translated the Book of Mormon through the power of God. I know that when we humble ourselves before God and submit to His will everything goes better in life.

Well I love you all and I'll see you all soon. Thanks for all the love and support.

Love,

Elder Schouten