Jordan update then John’s Letter below (don’t expect a letter from Jordan this week):
We talked to Jordan on the phone for over an hour yesterday while he was at the Dallas airport. It was great to hear his voice. He really is doing great and he is not stressed at all. His companion is doing really well too except he has a very bad sore throat that he got while in the MTC (missionary training center). When his companion called his parents while at the airport his companions mom asked to talk to Jordan. Jordan said that she thanked him at least 10 times for saving her son’s mission and talking and working so well with her son that wanted to go home from day one. His companion no longer wants to go home but still is quite stressed.
Also Jordan is VERY excited to get out into the real world to talk to real people and to put in to practice all he has been taught in the MTC as well as his life of learning. Somehow I do not think he anticipated all the council and help he would have to give while in the MTC.
This morning Jordan arrives in Buenos Aires for a 7 hour layover and then takes a 1 hour flight to Asuncion Paraguay.
He is on a temporary visa and in one month he will fly BACK to Buenos Aires and apply for a permanent visa and then he fly back.
In all he will only be back in Buenos Aires for about an hour and they fly back to Asuncion Paraguay. (Catch up on your breathing). No wonder his flight plans were SOOO confusing when we saw them. That's what is required to gain a permanent visa - crazy!
John’s Letter:
Jordan- You go to Paraguay today! Awesome possum. You excited. You'll love it down there. Well actually I don't know if you will because I've never been out of the United States, that I know of, maybe somebody kidnapped me took me to Germany and taught me German but then wiped my memory so I can't remember. Anyway, I do know that if you are obedient and constantly strive to be the best missionary you can be you will love everything about it. Except the humidity. I assume you will have lots of humidity down there but I don't know. If there is a lot of humidity down there all I have to say to you is HAVE FUN. Humidity is awful. It makes 85-90 degree weather here feel like 110. With the humidity you can't cool off as fast because the water doesn't evaporate off of your skin as fast so it is a lot harder to cool down so you have to sweat more. I'm not really a sweater as you know but I sweat a bunch out here where it's super humid. But again I went off on a tangent so I'll try to get back on. So be obedient and do your best to love every moment of it. I had this thought the other day. The mission is kind've like a trip to Disney land. You go and you have a fun time. You love it and you probably won’t be able to go back for a long time. While at Disney land you don't want to waste your time wishing you could do things you can do at home or just thinking about them a lot because that just wastes time and you can do those things when your short trip to Disney land is done. Those things will be there when you get home so be obedient and love every moment of it because the time will soon be gone and if you don't do as much as you could've then you'll look back and wish you had enjoyed it more. It's kind've like me when we went to Magic Mountain all those years ago and I was a pansy and didn't really go on any rides and now I look back and wish I hadn't been a coward and had enjoyed myself. So the moral of this story is be obedient and love the time you have.
Well this week has been super-hot. My little spiel previously to Jordan about humidity comes from experience. These last few days, from about Thursday to Sunday, have been disgustingly hot. The temperature has been around 90-100 and with humidity they say the heat index has been 120. (In other words it's felt like 120 degrees.) It has been nasty. I do not like the humidity. The heat combined with the humidity just makes you wet, stinky, and super tired. Thank goodness we have the refuge of a car. I like the dry heat where your sweat actually cools you down.
But anyway this week has been a somewhat challenging one. We had a few days where nothing really happened. Saturday was particularly bad. We had 4 appointments set up and every single one of them fell through, and how it worked out we spent the WHOLE day in Harrington. Harrington is already hard to find things to do because it all the doors have been knocked many many times and so it doesn't bring much success. So we spent a lot of the day Harrington walking around trying to talk to people but not very many people were outside because Saturday was the hottest of all the hot days this weekend. It was a scorcher. Saturday was definitely one of the days that make you appreciate the good days. It wasn't horrible but it just makes you appreciate the days where a lot of good happens that you can see. This whole week has definitely helped me see that this is the Lords work and it's to be done HIS way not part his way and part our way. I think I tried to mix too much of my own will in with what we did this week so we had some good and some bad. (The good was from God's way and the bad from mine.) I've definitely learned that I need to humble myself and do the work 100% the way God wants it done. not 50-50 or 60-40 or even 90-10 God's way. For it to be truly successful and to accomplish the things we need to it has to be God's way all the way. Elder Arnett and I have decided to really work on bringing the spirit into the lessons and letting the spirit be the teacher. Instead of us going in and teaching what we know and then stopping and letting the spirit testify and then jumping back in and saying what we think they need to hear. We just need to step back and let the spirit do his job. We are only the mouthpiece for the spirit. I have definitely learned a lot this week and seen some areas that definitely need improvement.
But besides that we were able to teach Alan, Angela's son. We taught the 10 commandments and keeping the Sabbath day holy. He was hungry and he's a 10 year old boy so he didn't really want to listen but he did. He's still on track for being baptized on the 14th of August.
We were also able to meet with Tim Robinson. He's a super super super quiet guy. It's like pulling teeth to get him to talk but this time it was actually pretty good. He opened up a lot more than he ever has before. I think part of it is because he's more used to us so he feels more comfortable. We taught him about the Plan of Salvation. He's doing well but he's got a ways to go so it's probably a good thing that he's on probation so he can't get baptized until September. He has a date on the 18th of Sept.
We also extended a baptismal date yesterday (Sunday) as well. We gave it to our Haitian investigator. Is name is Enrique (Eric). He doesn't speak very much English but he understands a little bit so we use the Book of Mormon in our teaching him A LOT. We figure that the Book of Mormon in his language can get the point across a whole lot better than us talking in our language and him trying to pick up pieces here and there and trying to put them into a sentence that makes sense. No brainer right? Yes it is. But he is doing well. The date is set for the 18th of September as well. We figured with the language barrier that we'd probably need about that much time to be able to finish teaching him and doing a good job.
We weren't able to see Renee this week because she forgot about our appointment and was at work or something like that.
Mom- Elder Arnett and I are getting along just fine. He is a whole lot more like me than Elder Baker was. He is more of a quiet guy like me. I kind've like it like that because I now have more chances to talk in the lessons. All of my companions previous to now have been talkers so it's been hard to talk a lot let alone lead the lessons. But with Elder Arnett I have a chance to talk more. I get to see how I do at leading lessons when it's up to me.
Dad- Those scriptures that you sent were really good. It is definitely true that most times people need some circumstance to humble them to help them want the gospel and all we can do is testify so when that circumstance comes along they might remember and think "Oh hey I remember that missionary that I talked to that one day on the street said something about this problem I have right now. Maybe what they share could help me. I'll have to check it out." All we can do is testify and hope that they take that to heart and have that help them toward Christ. Also the plainness scripture is definitely true in teaching. If we go in and try to bedazzle someone with our brilliance then they'll be left in the dust and will be scrambling to catch up. There is a quote in Preach My Gospel that says something to the effect of "It is true intelligence in a man when he can take a subject that is complicated and unfold it so that a child can understand it." There is also a quote that says something like "It's not a matter of teaching so people understand you but teaching so that they cannot misunderstand you." Plainness is definitely of God. I think when this life is all over and we see everything and how it works we'll kind've give our self a kick in the pants and say "duh how come I didn't see that before." Thank you for sharing those scriptures. I definitely learned something from reading them.
Also since when have you had an iPad?
Austin- What Jordan said about lawn mowing, ditto. (aka I agree and feel the same way) Just make your lawn mowing fun. Get to know the people you mow lawns with and have fun with them. It's not the physical cutting the grass that I loved so much about mowing lawns. It was the friendships I made while I had that job. If you make friends with the people you work with then you'll enjoy work so much more. If you have someone who feels the same way as you do about something that comes up then you can talk about it instead of keeping it inside. It's just more fun to talk to people. Actually I pretty much say ditto to everything Jordan said. Alone time is awesome. When I get home I'll probably have to take a drive off somewhere and go on a hike or something all by myself and have some alone time. The only alone time you have in the mission is when you're in the bathroom and that's pretty much the only place you have any privacy. Other than that you're with someone 24/7. Also study Preach My Gospel. Don't just read it. Study it. Please don't just blow off what Jordan and I say about this. We've been where you are and we know that studying it will help you be a much much much much better missionary. I don't know how to get the importance of this through to you other than just saying I KNOW that you will be soooo much happier if you know what you're supposed to be teaching the people. You still have time left before your mission. Don't just blow it off and say I'll do it later. Start now. Don't procrastinate. When I get home from the mission I'll help you study it, if you want. But just do it please. I probably sound like I'm desperate right now but I know how much it can help you and how much I wish I had done it before my mission. I can see how much better my mission could've been if I had really studied Preach My Gospel instead of just letting it collect dust at the side of my bed all those years. Well I'll get off my soap box now and I hope all is going well. You have free time in the summer. Instead of watching TV go on a few dates or something. I have 5 baptisms so far and you only have 1 date. You still have a little way to go. Your time is half up. On Thursday I'll be officially half way done with my mission. Your time is running out. Anyway enjoy your summer and have fun at the cabin and mowing lawns for me.
Natasha- I really enjoyed your play. Who are Shirley Lemon and JoeBobBilly Fisher? I've never met them. Does JoeBobBilly Fisher look a lot like me? Did he do a good job? or did he just make me look like a skinny little boy with a high voice? There were baby squirrels at the cabin? That's pretty cool. Also yes I am jealous that you got to eat peas, potatoes, and ham. Mmm Mmm. That sounds yummy. Have a fun summer. Do you have any more good jokes?
Shaylee- How have you liked going to the cabin a bazillion time lately? Have you missed not having your obnoxious oldest brother there? Were there anymore bats at the cabin or anything like that? Have a fun summer and listen to Mom. She knows what she's talking about.
I attached a few pictures. The one with all the people is my last district before this last transfer. From left to right it goes: Me, Elder Baker, Elder Darley (district leader), Elder Olavuson (yes he is taller than me), Elder Laird (who I knew from my early days up in Susquehanna and he just went home), and finally Elder Callaway (who came out with me and is now the district leader.)
The one with 3 people in it is Elder Laird, me and Elder Hylton (a missionary that I knew while up in the Scranton Zone). The next picture I'm with a brown haired guy. His name is Elder Bateman. He's from bountiful area. I think he went to South Davis Junior High. He just went home. Then the last one is Elder Johnson, my last companion, and I. (he has a yellow tie on). Elder Johnson goes home in 2 weeks. It's weird all these missionaries that I knew from the beginning of my mission are now going home. It weird to see everyone go.
Also, as I'm sure you well know, Thursday is my year mark. It's crazy that I've already been out for a year, and that I'm half way done. The mission fly’s by. The first 6 months were a little slow but then the last 6 months have just flown by.
God lives. He loves us and wants us to do what is right. He loves us so much that he sent His son Jesus Christ here to earth to die for us and pay the price for our sins. I'm so grateful that he loved us enough to go through with it and die for us. Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer and because of Him we can have eternal life. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is God's church once again established on the earth and I know that Joseph Smith is the prophet God used to restore his church. People may not believe or think that this could be God's church but it is. We teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ in its fullness. President Monson is the prophet today and through him we can know what God wants us to do that will bring us happiness. I know this is true. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God for us today. The Book of Mormon and the Bible go hand in hand to bring us the truth. God loves us and I know that he wants us to return to Him again and that we can if we will obey His will.
Love ya, see you all in a year.
Love,
Elder John Schouten
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