Jordan: 12/26/2011

Well, it´s been a really long time without talking to you.... hahahahahaha. Well, what to say.... about the phone call on Mother´s day.... There is absolutely no way that i´m going through that fiasco of yesterday again. I´m going to use Skype. So, if the family doesn´t have a web cam, which i think we don´t, have that on the mind to buy one before mother´s day. because i´m not going to play that game again. It was miserable, and it also wasted over an hour of my day. so i´m going to use skype from now on.
Well, seeing as we didn´t really talk about what was happening here as far as the work goes, i guess i´ll tell you what´s going on... on tuesday, we found this awesome guy. he was just sitting on his front lawn (he´s very rich, he actually has a lawn...) but yeah, he was sitting there and i went to talk to him and he just started asking questions. At least 15-20 questions, then he went and got chairs for us to sit down and we ended up talking with him for 1.5 hours about. And we really didn´t teach much, but at the end, i taught the Restoration in 5 minutes, and invited him to get baptized, and he didn´t say yes, but he didn´t say no. He said, i´ll need more information, but I think so. So we went back the next day and taught him the restoration. And at the end, we really invited him to be baptized and he acepted. He´s super golden. He has so many great questions. His only problem so far is 1. he already told us he doesn´t see himself ever going to church, and 2. he thinks that any church is true, if it teaches about Christ and teaches good principles. So we´re working on getting him to see the importance of going to church and the fact that there really is only 1 true church. But he´s golden. I´m excited to teach him tonight.
Another cool thing that i did this morning... we went to the area of missionaries in my district to help them clean up a house that burned down. A member family in their ward had a fire and it completely destroyed their house. There was literally nothing left. So we helped clean up the ashes and everything. It was pretty fun work, but really, what it did, was made me greatful again for all that i have. I just counted again all the blessings that the Lord has given me. Maybe my house here in Paraguay isn´t as nice as my house in the U.S. but at least i have a house. And what this house looked like before burning down, before my mission i would have called it a box, not a house. So it just made me grateful again for all the things that the Lord has given me.
dad- sometime between now and mothers day, i need you to set me up a skype account and keep a hold of the password and username for me, so we don´t have to play this ¨"phone call game" again. It was miserable, so to avoid problems, i need you to set me up a skype account.
Mom- the dirreaha thing... it´s not a problem. my salt balance is fine. If you ever feel like you lacking salt, just come to Paraguay. The food has so much salt you can hardly eat it sometimes. Salt isn´t a problem at all. Really, my physical health isn´t a problem at all. But, like we know 2 and 2 makes 4, 112 degrees, 95% humidity, and 9 hours walking in the streets= losin weight. It´s inevitable. don´t worry, I´m fine.
Austin- thanks for the advice.
Tasha- how was christmas?
Shaylee- what´d santa bring you?
Well, i seem to get from reading all of your letters that you all got the feeling from the phone call that i´m not happy. sorry to scare you all so bad. i´m not going to lie and say that i was "Mr. Smiles" during the phone call from the disaster that happened before, but i guess i wanted to let you all know that I really am happy. I´ve never been happier in my life. Yeah, there are hard days. I´m not going to lie, but i´m happier than i´ve ever been. I´ve seen peoples lives change for the better everyday. if i don´t see the change in other people everyday, i at least see it everyday in my life. I become a better person everyday. I´m not perfect, but that´s impossible. Jesus Christ was and will be the only perfect person to ever walk the earth. I´m not perfect, but regardless of what you all felt from the phone call, I am happy. I get to share the Gospel with others every day, all day. Sure, the heats terrible, the members are a little difficult, but I am happy. I was a little stressed out about the whole phone call thing, and that probably made me come across a little grumpy, but i´m not like that everyday. I´m happy. I know the church is true. Jesus Christ lives and loves us. This is HIS church. I know that it is true. Joseph Smith really did see God the Father and The Son, Jesus Christ. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and it contains the truth. I have no doubt. It changes my life every morning, and really every moment of every day. I love you all.
Love, Elder Jordan Schouten