Jordan: 2/6/2012

Hola!!!
Well, this week... what to say. It was rough. That is probably the only way to go about it. All of our investigators that we had dropped us, more or less. They either don´t want to listen to us more or they had problems happen and now they can´t meet with us. So this week were going to be finding. A LOT. The week was also a little rough because we had a lot of things happen that prevented us from being outside and working. Like we had interviews with Pres. Callan, and they were great, but we showed up at our appointed time and Pres. Callan was over 1 hour behind. So we wasted about 1.5 hours just waiting for our interviews. And then, i didn´t write this in my last letter, but my companion busted our refridgeorator last wednesday or thursday 2 weeks ago, and then on wednesday this last week, the repairman finally brought us our fridge again, but that took about an hour or more to get it moved into the house and all fixed up, so that was just a lot of time that we wasted, but there was nothing else that we could do. So that made this week interesting.

One thing, i don´t remember if i told you about this guy before, because i don´t remember when we found him, but i think it was just this last week. So what happened... we were in a park contacting people, and this guy came up and talked to us, and asked us if we were the mormons, so we said yes. He told us he wanted to talk to us and learn about the church. So we went to his house a day or two later and talked with him. His uncle gave him a Book of Mormon over 10 or 20 years ago. And he´s read the WHOLE THING. Already. But he wanted to know the history about it and where it came from. So we taught him the Restoration. The only problem was is that he asked a lot of kind of ridiculous questions, and then he wanted us to answer him with the Bible. So it was kind of interesting. Because we can´t answer his questions with the Bible, because the bible doesn´t have the answers. And he asked so many questions that there wasn´t time to really finish the lesson and teach him how to know that the Book of Mormon is true. But we´ve got an appointment for wednesday and we´ll finish and teach him how to know if it´s true or not. But i´m kind of worried because my comp told me that his old comp said that he taught a man here that has read the whole book of Mormon and just doesn´t think it´s true. So hopefully it´s not this guy, and he´s just playing with us again. But we´ll see.

Another weird story... we were in the street and we saw a guy that we had already contacted and he was walking to his house, so i went over to him, hoping to be able to teach him. But he was walking kind of weird. Kind of hunched over. And i went and talked to him and he was SUPER drunk. And i said that we wanted to talk with him. And he said, word for word quote, "i don´t have time. I have to go kill some people." He was walking hunched over because he was trying to hid a gun. And he had 3 HUGE bullets in his hand. So i told him "well, you probably shouldn't kill people. That´s pretty bad." and they we booked it out of that area of town. Hopefully he didn´t do anything but i don´t know. But kind of fun/scary/interesting story.

Mom- which one of your counselors walked out? Don´t worry about what happened. that´s part of life. It i got so upset that i quit as a missionary everytime that i have an appointment and it falls through, i would´ve lasted in the mission about 2 hours. It´s just part of life. Just apologize to your counselor and let it go. That´s my advice. Thanks for sending the emails of the talks. No, i haven't got my package yet, but i´ll let you know when i get it. $50 should be plenty, but if i need more, I’ll let you know.

Dad- i didn´t think the pic. of you hand was as bad as john thought, but then again, i sort of want to be a doctor, so that´s probably a good thing that i don´t get bothered by that.

Austin- i´ll be sending you a letter by mail. there isn´t enough time for it by email, so in a few weeks, you should be getting a letter. (and i´ll probably put a letter in there for Matt Bates to, so you´ll have to send that to him too. Just to save money. mail is really expensive here.)

Natasha- sounds like you and your friends are playing a LOT of basketball. That´s good. Keep it up. That way, it´ll be even better when i beat you after the mission!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hahahahahahahahaha

Shaylee- your letters are great.

Well, this is the true church. I know that. The Atonement is real. Jesus Christ really wants to help us. He can and will help us through any trial that we are having. I really know that. This week was rough. But Christ helped me through. I couldn´t have done it with out his help. But the Atonement really is to help us through trials just as much as to overcome sins. Joseph Smith was a Prophet. He saw God and Jesus Christ. I have no doubt. The Priesthood really has been restored. WE can and will be eternal families, because of the Priesthood. I love the Gospel. I love the mission. Being able to share the Gospel is the greatest blessing that i have ever been given. I love you all so much. Thank you for your love and support and prayers.

 

Love, Elder Jordan Schouten

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.