First off I'm surprised nobody said anything about the hurricane that just rolled through Delaware and the whole east coast. Did you not hear about it or did you just not worry? The hurricane was kind of a let down. I guess the news and all that just blow things like that out of proportion. We stayed inside from 1:30 Saturday afternoon until around 11:30 Sunday afternoon. It was pretty much done after we got in bed. The only thing that made this different from a regular storm out here on the east is that there was a lot more water. We have a retention pond outside our apartment to help stop flooding and it was almost overflowing. (I'll send pictures.) But don't worry I'm all safe and fine. We didn't even lose power which everyone was expecting to. The whole experience was actually pretty fun. I can now say I've been through a hurricane (even though it wasn't as epic as I thought it would be) and the missionaries in Cambridge Maryland came up to our apartment because the mission president evacuated the more southern missionaries and they came to our apartment. It was fun to have more missionaries there. We were also able to do twice as much work as we would've been able to do in the first place.
Jordan- I'm glad to hear you're doing better. I liked your pictures. You should take more and send more if you can. I hope that you'll be able to find some more new investigators who really want to learn. Keep working hard and do what you know you need to do. Don't justify slacking off. It wont make you happy. (I don't think you will but I just thought I'd say that. I've learned that obedience is the only way to happiness.) In PMG ch. 11 on the first page it says something to the effect to "as missionaries you desire the salvation of souls. The way to fulfil these desires is to cry repentance to God's children and help them make commitments to be baptized and receive the Holy Ghost and endure to the end." I read that this morning and I gathered from that that the way that we will be truly happy on a mission is if we are out doing our job, crying repentance. When we do that we will be able to bring people to Christ and then we will have happiness. Doing anything other than that wont make us happy.
So I have a few things to say before I tell you about the investigators. First off, I did not get transferred and neither did Elder Arnett. So you can send me things in Harrington for at least another month and a half. Second, president called me last night (Sunday) and asked me to be the district leader. That was kind of a humbling experience. The most I've been as a leader in my life is I led a lawn mowing crew a few times and I've been a senior companion in the mission field. Luckily the first 9 months of my mission I spent as a district leaders companion so I know a little bit about how it goes. So I think I'll be fine but I'm definitely going to need the Lords help on this one. I'll definitely have to trust in the saying "The Lord qualifies those who serve Him." Because I've never been a district leader before so I'm going to have to rely on Him to help me know what I can do to fulfill what the Lord expects of me. So in a nutshell this has been an exciting week. First a hurricane then I get called to be a district leader.
Renee Washington- Advice to all missionaries, past, present, or future, taking someone on a tour of the church works! WE took Renee on a tour of the church a few weeks ago and when we saw her this last week we talked to her and she ended up telling us that she was going to join the church. The reason why is because when we took her on a tour of the church we showed her the baptismal font and she told us, this last week, that when she saw the font she knew that was where she needed to be. The spirit testifies of truth and being baptized into God's church would definitely be something the spirit would testify of the truth of. It was pretty neat.
Tim Robinson- He's still struggling with smoking. He's pretty much been taught everything and he has a bapt. date on the 18th of September. His only real hang up right now is the smoking but he said that he's going to be getting a patch. (Nicotine patch)
We recently got a media referral for a couple named Germania and Barclay Knorr. They drove by the DC temple and have always thought it was beautiful and they had some extra time so they went to it and went into the visitors center and they referred them to us. They are really cool. They seem to have a desire to really learn. The husband, Barclay (clay), seems to want to know. He definitely used to be VERY skeptical of God and things like that but I think he really wants to know what he needs to do. He said the closing prayer and he asked God to show him the way. It was a good lesson. I really hope that they progress.
Alan Lavere- He wasn't able to be baptized yesterday (Sunday) because of the hurricane they cancelled church. So his baptism will probably happen next week. I'm excited. He's been interviewed and everything. All we need to do now is pick out some baptismal clothes for him.
Dela (Rosalie) and Clarence- They are doing well. They have cut back on the tobacco and they haven't had any coffee for two weeks ish. We weren't really able to teach them because the hurricane cancelled our appointment.
Mom- Be grateful that your heat isn't combined with humidity. When it gets up to 95 degrees out here the humidity soars up there too and you just about die. It's miserable. So count your blessings that there isn't any humidity out in Utah. By the way the weather here has been very pleasant. We've been very blessed to have cool temperatures. Scripture study is awesome when you really come to it with the right attitude huh? I know that the days I really try to learn from the spirit those are the days that I learn the most. (huh when you want to learn you learn more. Hmm interesting). Also thanks for the pictures. I really like receiving pictures. It was interesting to see the changes in Natasha and Shaylee. I have a feeling when I get home I wont hardly recognize them. I also realized that I was really skinny before I came out and I was PASTY WHITE! I'm surprised people didn't come up to me and say "You look like you've seen a ghost" I was nasty white. That is why I liked mowing lawns. It was a great antidote for pastiness.
Dad- That good that you can run again. I'm sure you are just bouncing off the walls right now. Good luck with your new calling.
Austin- How do you like being a junior? You are a junior right? Work hard and get good grades but also make sure you have fun in high school. The school is rather easy so enjoy it while it lasts and have fun at the same time.
Natasha- How long have you had your own email address? I don't remember Mr. Lacy but the name is familiar and I had Mrs. Bradford for 7th grade English. I also had Mr. Plant for a little bit of 8th grade English. They're good teachers. Have fun at school and don't grow up too fast. You already look a lot different than when I left for my mission and then mom sent me pictures and you look different.
Shaylee- You look different too. Do you like your braces or whatever you have in your mouth? How do you like school? Is it fun?
I love you all and I know that God loves us and if we rely on Him then he will help us through whatever challenges we have. Lots of time we're given challenges to humble us so that we have to rely on the Lord. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. (Philippians 4:13) We're given challenges to make it so we have to rely on the Lord so he can lead us. He isn't going to give us something that we can't do without Him. Is anything too hard for God? No. God wants us to succeed. He wants us to return to Him and he wants us to be able to be happy. If we truly seek to follow Him and be 100% obedient we will be happy. Jesus Christ died for us and because he died for us we can repent and bring our lives into closer alignment with God's will. I know the Book of Mormon is true and it is the word of God and that it was translated by Joseph Smith through the power of God. No man could've written that book. I know that President Monson is God's prophet today and that he leads us and guides us. I'm SO grateful for all the many things God has blessed us with. If we're ever feeling down the hymn #241 comes to mind. Count Your Blessings. If we count our blessings then it will surprise us what the Lord has done. He truly has done so much for us and we can't even comprehend it. The least we can do is strive to follow Him and have the faith to do the things that we know we need to do.
Love,
Elder Schouten
Jordan- I'm glad to hear you're doing better. I liked your pictures. You should take more and send more if you can. I hope that you'll be able to find some more new investigators who really want to learn. Keep working hard and do what you know you need to do. Don't justify slacking off. It wont make you happy. (I don't think you will but I just thought I'd say that. I've learned that obedience is the only way to happiness.) In PMG ch. 11 on the first page it says something to the effect to "as missionaries you desire the salvation of souls. The way to fulfil these desires is to cry repentance to God's children and help them make commitments to be baptized and receive the Holy Ghost and endure to the end." I read that this morning and I gathered from that that the way that we will be truly happy on a mission is if we are out doing our job, crying repentance. When we do that we will be able to bring people to Christ and then we will have happiness. Doing anything other than that wont make us happy.
Now for the investigator part:
Tim Robinson- He's still struggling with smoking. He's pretty much been taught everything and he has a bapt. date on the 18th of September. His only real hang up right now is the smoking but he said that he's going to be getting a patch. (Nicotine patch)
We recently got a media referral for a couple named Germania and Barclay Knorr. They drove by the DC temple and have always thought it was beautiful and they had some extra time so they went to it and went into the visitors center and they referred them to us. They are really cool. They seem to have a desire to really learn. The husband, Barclay (clay), seems to want to know. He definitely used to be VERY skeptical of God and things like that but I think he really wants to know what he needs to do. He said the closing prayer and he asked God to show him the way. It was a good lesson. I really hope that they progress.
Dela (Rosalie) and Clarence- They are doing well. They have cut back on the tobacco and they haven't had any coffee for two weeks ish. We weren't really able to teach them because the hurricane cancelled our appointment.
Mom- Be grateful that your heat isn't combined with humidity. When it gets up to 95 degrees out here the humidity soars up there too and you just about die. It's miserable. So count your blessings that there isn't any humidity out in Utah. By the way the weather here has been very pleasant. We've been very blessed to have cool temperatures. Scripture study is awesome when you really come to it with the right attitude huh? I know that the days I really try to learn from the spirit those are the days that I learn the most. (huh when you want to learn you learn more. Hmm interesting). Also thanks for the pictures. I really like receiving pictures. It was interesting to see the changes in Natasha and Shaylee. I have a feeling when I get home I wont hardly recognize them. I also realized that I was really skinny before I came out and I was PASTY WHITE! I'm surprised people didn't come up to me and say "You look like you've seen a ghost" I was nasty white. That is why I liked mowing lawns. It was a great antidote for pastiness.
Dad- That good that you can run again. I'm sure you are just bouncing off the walls right now. Good luck with your new calling.
Austin- How do you like being a junior? You are a junior right? Work hard and get good grades but also make sure you have fun in high school. The school is rather easy so enjoy it while it lasts and have fun at the same time.
Natasha- How long have you had your own email address? I don't remember Mr. Lacy but the name is familiar and I had Mrs. Bradford for 7th grade English. I also had Mr. Plant for a little bit of 8th grade English. They're good teachers. Have fun at school and don't grow up too fast. You already look a lot different than when I left for my mission and then mom sent me pictures and you look different.
I love you all and I know that God loves us and if we rely on Him then he will help us through whatever challenges we have. Lots of time we're given challenges to humble us so that we have to rely on the Lord. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. (Philippians 4:13) We're given challenges to make it so we have to rely on the Lord so he can lead us. He isn't going to give us something that we can't do without Him. Is anything too hard for God? No. God wants us to succeed. He wants us to return to Him and he wants us to be able to be happy. If we truly seek to follow Him and be 100% obedient we will be happy. Jesus Christ died for us and because he died for us we can repent and bring our lives into closer alignment with God's will. I know the Book of Mormon is true and it is the word of God and that it was translated by Joseph Smith through the power of God. No man could've written that book. I know that President Monson is God's prophet today and that he leads us and guides us. I'm SO grateful for all the many things God has blessed us with. If we're ever feeling down the hymn #241 comes to mind. Count Your Blessings. If we count our blessings then it will surprise us what the Lord has done. He truly has done so much for us and we can't even comprehend it. The least we can do is strive to follow Him and have the faith to do the things that we know we need to do.
Love,
P.S.- by the way I made bread Saturday when we were inside. It was pretty good. It was the real legit bread with yeast and kneading and rising and everything. It was really good. I still have some left.
P.P.S- I sent some pictures. Lots of them are from after the hurricane. Explanation: The one with the big guy with long brown hair is Brother Grant Ireland. He is an awesome guy. He is partly active but is really trying to come back. He is soooo cool. The close up of the red head is Elder Larson. He was one of the elders who came up from Cambridge for the hurricane. The one with the elder in the sports coat and PJ bottoms is Elder Hancock, the other missionary who came up from Cambridge. He was going to run outside and let the hurricane pound him in those clothes but the story wasn't very strong when we went out there. The one with all the water bottles and Elder Larson is his makeshift chess game. He wanted to play chess so he made it up on our kitchen floor. The other 3 are of some of the minor flooding that happened.
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