Jordan: 7/7/11

Hola!!!

Well, this week has been a really good one.  the issues between me and my comp. are pretty much solved.  We actually probably have the strongest companionship in our district now. we struggled at the beginning when everyone else worked well together, but now, we're woking really well together and all the other companionships are having some trouble. so me and my comp are doing really well and things are going really really well.

The biggest piece of news from this week is that one of the elders in our zone had to go home.  he had done some things that he shouldn't have before the mission and because of a lot of prayers and fasting in his behalf, he made the right decision to go home and fix up the things that he had done so that he can serve a mission later and serve it worthily.  He left on Tuesday night. Right before he left we gave him a blessing. That was one of the coolest experiences in my life.  It was sad that he has to go, but i know that he is doing the right thing and that the atonement can and will work for him. 

Another big thing that happended was since this weekend was the fourth of july and whatnot, the MTC presidency did a lot of indepence day stuff, and they let all the missionaries stay up a little late to watch the stadium of fire fireworks because we wouldn't have been able to sleep through them anyways.  I actually didn't see the fireworks because I was back at our dorm with the elder in my district that has mono, but i didn't really mind. Everyone said they were really cool though, and there was a devotional before the fireworks by some man that has been an advisor to three or 4 presidents of the United states. Everyone said he gave a really awesome talk. I'm kind of sad i missed that but someone had to stay back with the elder with mono, so I really didn't mind.  Then on sunday to finish off all our 4th of july stuff, we had a devotional by this lady whose name I forget. She is Dallin H. Oaks daughter and she is one of the top violinists in the world.  Like in the top 5 in the world.  I've always hated violions and that kind of music, but when she played it was amazing and i loved it. But the coolest part of the whole devotional was when her kids played "I am a child of God"  Her oldest kid was 9 yrs old, and the other were 7 and 4 I think. the 9 yr old played the violin the 7 yr old played the piano and the 4 yr old played the cello.  they were AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think they played 2 wrong notes the whole time and I'm not kidding.  the were almost perfect. the 7 yr old plays the piano better than I do.  it was one of the coolest experiences of my life.  after they finished the entire MTC gave them a standing ovation for about 2 minutes. it was so awesome.

I've got a couple of things I need.... first, could I get my priesthood line of authority. I was supposed to bring it but i forgot. it would be really nice to be able so show that to my investigators to show how i got the power of the Lord.  Also, can I get a refill on my face medicine.  I'm nowhere near to running out, but i figure if i have two sets of both creams that will probably last most if not all of my mission and it's much cheaper to send things to the MTC than to Paraguay.

Dad- I'm glad you loved trek. You're little line about how good it is to serve others reminded me of a quote. I think President Packer or Kimball said this: "It's really hard to be disobedient when you're serving others"  Not to imply you are disobedient, but I heard this quote a couple of days ago by my teacher or something, and I realized that that is 100% true. When we serve, we're not going to be disobedient.

Mom- I'm glad trek was an awesome experience for you. I'm glad that the peace you felt in the temple never left. That women's pull sounded like it was crazy hard. But isn't it amazing how the Lord answers prayers. That is probably the biggest thing that I've learned here at the MTC. My prayers before the MTC were pretty lousy. My life was pretty easy and I realied on myself more than the Lord, Which was a huge mistake. But now on the mission, I can't do anything without the lord. I can literally do nothing as a missionary with out the Lord, so I've come to learn that the Lord does answer prayers.  They may not be the way we like and we have to work our tails off to get that answer and help, but it does always come.

Austin- I think john sufficiently guilt tripped you in his last letter. Just refer to that again as my portion to you.

Tasha- Are you having fun at the cabin? I'm super jealous of you right now. That's honestly the only thing that I've really missed while I've been here. You're lucky, have fun

Shaylee- have fun at the cabin and swim in the lake. it's not scary. if you don't swim in the lake, I'll throw you in the lake when I get home.

John- congrats on Angela's baptism. Keep working hard and have fun. I really enjoyed your guilt trip to Austin about writing.

Well, my time is up.  The chuch is true. I know that for a fact. Chist loves us and with faith, nothing is impossible. We watched "finding faith in Christ" yesterday in class, and it was in spanish. So  i didn't understand much, but I understood that one line. "With faith, nothing is impossible." I know that is true. I know though Christ, we can do all things.

Philippians 4:13- I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. I know that's true

Love, Elder Jordan Schouten

 

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