Mom before I forget the zip code to Hatfield (the city I live in is 19440) so my address is 29 Poplar st. apt A-10 Hatfield, PA 19440. (If there are any differences from the address I gave you last week and the one I gave you this week take the one I gave you last week because Elder Morgan told me it as I typed and this time I just did it off my brain. Except for the zip code. The zip code is right. If the zip code is wrong then mormon.org told me the wrong zip code but that should be the right address so you probably don't need to worry about it.
Jordan- You mentioned last week that you knew that Lindsey longmore was going to ask Austin to a dance about a year ago. How do you know that? Did her sister tell you? I'm just curious. Well I replied to the latest email I have of yours last week. So I don't have really any specific except just how is that Sergio guy? Oh also, a while back you said that a super good food in Paraguay is empinadas (pardon the spelling if it's wrong). Well this week we're going to do service for a lady in the ward who is from a Spanish speaking country (I don't remember which one. I just remember it wasn't Paraguay) and she said she would make us empinadas. I'm excited to see if they are as good as you say. Also I think I asked you a while back but I never heard anything. Is Tyler Brown in your mission? You remember Tyler I assume. Hockey player, was in madrigals with me, Blond, drove around a big boat looking dodge intrepid?
Well I really like this new area. It was kind of like a breath of fresh air coming here. I liked Harrington but it was a tough experience. When I left Elder Morgan the last time when he left Upper Darby he mentioned how that area was really hard for him and he was ready to be out after 6 months there. I kind of felt the same way. Harrington was just difficult and I was glad to be able to go to a new area. But looking back I learned the most out of my time in Harrington than in probably all of my other areas. It was hard but I grew A LOT. Elder Morgan said that I am a completely different missionary now that I was 7 1/2 months ago. (I teach a lot more in lessons and other things.) But I really like it here in Souderton. It's a nice area and the members are really nice. The ward is really great. I don't know if it's coincidence or not but on, I believe, Wednesday morning we met a kind of going less active guy named Dan Jones and I have a lot in common with him. He just graduated high school. (so he's Alexis and Laurens age) and he only comes to church every once in a while. But when we went over there he talked about how he sings 2nd tenor in choir and how he can hit up to a certain note (I don't remember what one but it was around what I can hit) and how he was in some of the school plays. He also really likes basketball and he also mows lawns a lot. It was pretty cool. Him and I had a lot in common and it was pretty cool. When we saw his mom on Sunday at church Elder Morgan told her about how much we had in common and she said "Well I believe God puts missionaries in certain places for a reason. Maybe this is one of those reasons." So we'll see if anything happens. It may just be a coincidence but from being a missionary there aren't very many coincidences in life. We'll see.
This area is kind of sparse in the way of investigators. They just had 2 baptisms the Sunday before I got here and they had 3 other investigators with a baptismal date and one of them dropped us a few days ago, she was flaky and didn't want to put forth the effort, one is an 8 year old girl, named Alana, who reminds me a lot of Shaylee. (She looks a lot like her. She has a lower voice but there was quite a resemblance. Of course I'm thinking of the pre-mission Shaylee. Not the year and a half older Shaylee that you all know that I've only seen pictures of.) The other investigator with a date missed a few appointments with us this week and I haven't met yet but he should be coming to the FHE thing we have going tonight so he should be there. I hope so. We have another investigator named James. He's a pretty cool guy. We taught him the plan of salvation this last week. He could go somewhere. Other than that our teaching pool is pretty dry. We have a couple of flaky people who feed us a whole bunch of excuses and one thing the mission has taught me is not to just roll over and die when they give you an excuse. At least make it so that they don't have an easy way out. Don't take away their but make is so that they are really making the decision for themselves and it's just not their lazy self saying "oh you don't have time" or a plethora of other excuses they can come up with. So there has been a person or two that we've kind of called them on a excuse they gave us and asked them if they even wanted to still meet with us, (this investigator has been flaking on the missionaries for the past two weeks.) They said yes, but then they later said they didn't. So it's an interesting area but I'm excited to be here. There is a lot of good things that are going to happen but we're going to have to build up our teaching pool before it really starts happening.
Mom- I would also like to know how much money I have in my account. I think I have a good amount but apparently Jordan thought he had a lot too so I would just like to know. I'm glad to hear that you had a good week. From your email it didn't sound near as hectic as it has before.
Dad- So do you just volunteer as a set builder at Centre Point? It sounds like they use you a lot.
Austin-I don't think Jordan is stupid. Stupid isn't a very nice name to call anyone. From what we received it sounded like you have messed up your foot. Just because your foot got "shot" doesn't meant that a bullet went tearing through it. Mom and the whole family, technically the whole world, have a bunch of saying that don't really mean what the true meanings of the word is. For example... the phrase, "oh that's sick" doesn't not mean oh it looks like that animal is not feeling well. or that it is actually sick. it can mean "oh that is cool" or "that's awesome" so the saying he shot his foot could mean that you had done something else to your foot that wasn't too serious so you didn't write details but was worth mentioning in the email and since you knew that it wasn't a big deal and you knew what happened you assumed we would know also so you left out the details. So I don't think Jordan is stupid. (Jordan if you don't know what I'm talking about Austin sent me an email with the subject being "I'm glad you're not as stupid as Jordan" Not very kind huh? I think repentance is necessary?)
Natasha- I'm glad you had a fun week. To answer your question of "How you doin?" I am doing just fine. Are you excited that it is UEA this weekend? I am. Wait... it doesn't matter for me I'm not in school. Well have fun and be a good girl and listen to Mom and Dad. They know what they're talking about. I don't think you'll do this because you seem to have a pretty chill head on your shoulders but the rules set by mom and dad aren't stupid. They are to protect you. You may not have any problems with mom and dad's rules which is just fine but keep this in mind for the future if you ever do end up thinking a rule is stupid, it's not.
Shaylee- How was your week? Maybe some time I'll try to send you a picture of the little girl I'm teaching that kind of looks like you.
I know God lives and loves us. He sent His Son Jesus Christ here to die for us. It is because of Him that we can live with God again. The Book of Mormon is true. Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon through the power of God. We are all spirit children of our Heavenly Father. Something I've thought about just recently is the spirit world. We don't realize it but we are all valiant spirits of our Heavenly Father and we have a great work to do. We must push forward and do the work God has called us to do. The church is true.
I love you all. It's hard to believe that in a week I will only have 9 months left on my mission. Time flies so fast. Live every moment to the fullest.
Love,
Elder John Schouten
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