HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUSTIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, this week was a pretty slow week, I´m not going to lie. With our baptism last week, we literally have 0 investigators. We actually have 3 investigators, but none of them are really showing any signs of progression, and if they don´t start doing something, we´re not going to be able to teach them any more.
Yesterday, we had Stake Conference. It was an amazing meeting. It was a little weird to me, because our Stake Conf. had about as many people as our ward in Centerville usually has. But all of the talks were awesome. He had a member of the Seventy visit us. I don´t remember his name, and it was a super weird spanish name, and I have no idea how to spell it. But his talk was great. It was hard to understand cuz people from Argentina have this terrible accent, but his message was great. It was about not getting offended by other members of the church. The BIGGEST problem for the church in Paraguay is that everyone gets offended and stops coming to church. So he talked about how no one can offend us, that it´s always our choice to be offended. He read Matt 6:14-15 (I think) that talks about if we forgive others, then the Lord will forgive us, but if we don´t forgive others, the Lord won´t forgive us. He said he´s only found 4 or 5 scriptures that say we´ll be forgiven of our sins that aren´t about baptism. He said there´s a lot of scriptures about forgiveness of sins when it´s talking about baptism, but about other things, he says that he´s only found 4 or 5. He said that when somebody does something that offends us, we should be super super happy. We should say to ourselves, "thank you for doing something that offended me. I´m so excited for the opprotunity to forgive you, and recieve forgiveness of my sins. It was such an interesting concept. I´m a person that really doesn´t get offended by anything, but i´ve never thought of that as a blessing that i get, and that i recieve forgiveness of my sins everytime i don´t get offended by something and forgive someone else. It was an interesting idea that i think we all should consider, and study in the scriptures.
This morning, in my studies, and started to study ch. 9 in PMG which is about finding people.I was feeling pretty bad because me and my companion are really struggling to find new investigators. I thought that maybe it was because i was doing something wrong. I was going to just read the whole chapter and hope that i could find one new idea to find investigators, but i only ended up reading 2 pages. At the end of 2 pages there was a box of scriptures that were about talking with everyone, what we should teach and missionaries, and what blessing we´ll recieve. I ended up studing that box for 20 minutes. The was a verse in D&C 33:13 that talked about a missionary that the Lord in pleased with will have power to resist the Devil, and the gates of hell won´t have power over him. I realized in that moment that I am doing what the Lord wants, because there were a lot of temptations that were really really hard for me before the mission, and in the mission, I have the same temptations, but these things really don´t even bother me anymore. I realized that I am doing what the Lord wants and he´s pleased with me, because i have the power to resist these temptations. I´m not saying that i´m perfect, because I can always improve and get better, but I felt that the Lord is happy with my work, and we´re not finding because he´s teaching me to rely on Him more, not because I´m a lousy missionary.
Question: Grandma and Grandpa Schouten sent me an email that said that Laura Staheli (i think i butchered the spelling, but i think you know who i mean) is engaged. Is this true? Because you told me about Cami Schouten but didn´t say anything about Laura.
Kyle Shegrued is coming to my mission!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That´s awesome. The only advice that i´d give him on things to bring is if he uses contacts, bring a lot of solution. I know they have solution here, but if he´s in the middle of now where, i´m sure it will be super hard to find. Also, for his clothes, bring about 15 pairs of
garments, and only buy Dri-Lux, with the low cut shirt. It´s so hot, and mesh is terrible. And for his church pants, don´t get pants with hems in them. My suit pants have the hem thing, and it gets all full of sand every time that I were them. Just buy pants that go straight down. and for help with spanish, learn all the dumb words, like days of the week, months, numbers, stupid little things like that, because there´s no time to learn them in the MTC.
Dad- good luck with the Set. Sounds like a monster. Have fun.
Mom- my package.... I think it got here. Today i got a paper that says i have to pay 2 dollars to get a package. and unless someone else sent me a package, i think that´s it. did you happen to send a copy of the ensign with the package, cuz i got the Ensign today. I sounds like your week was a little bit better than normal. Hopefully they continue
peacefully. Healthwise, i´m fine. I had dirarreha (the nasty bathroom disease, if i butchered the spelling too bad) but i´m fine now. I´m actually surprised i lasted over 3 months with out it. Elder Wistisen got it his 2nd week. I´ve been lucky.
Austin- HAPPYBIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! case you didn´t see it the first time). Maybe you´ve gone partially blind in my 5 months away from home. hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Tasha- SUPER lazy. But that´s alright, sometimes. sounds like a fun week. Keep on having fun. i want to see a picture of my room that you stole and changed up.
Shaylee- i want to see a picture of your room.
John- keep working hard, and the lord will bless you. And you´ll keep learning and learning in the Gospel is great. Baptize a full ( in spanish, a full means a ton)
Well, the church is true. God lives. He loves us. We´re literally his children. He´s knows everything that we do, and wants nothing more than to live with us again. I read Alma 36 yesterday morning, and it talks about how we will prosper in the land, according to the degree that we keep the commandments. If we want to prosper 100%, let´s be 100% obedient. If we only want to prosper 40, 50, 70%, then only be 40, 50 or 70% obedient. But as for me, I´m going to be 100% obedient so i can prosper 100%, and live with my Savior and my family once again.
Joseph Smith was a prophet of god. Through him, the Church was restored, and the priesthood was placed in the earth once again. Only through priesthood ordinances, we can live together, forver. The Book of Mormon is the word of God, and the GREATEST book in the world. I love to read it. It carries a Spirit stronger than anything else that I´ve found in the world. Read it.
Love,
Elder Jordan Schouten
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