Jordan: 3/26/2012

Well, this week was really really good. We kind of struggled in all of the numbers during the week, but yesterday, at church, was AWESOME! we had 5 investigators come to church. It was amazing. That completely destroyed my previous high of 2 investigators at church, so that was great. We had really good meetings at church yesterday (maybe because me and my companion gave talks during sacrament meeting) (just kidding, us talking didn´t make it better than normal). But the spirit was really strong at church yesterday. We had about 65 people there, which was more than i´ve ever had here in Centro. So things are really starting to pick up. hopefully i won´t be like john and get transfered, because we have transfers next wednesday (the 4th of April).

 

Well, first off........ HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Let’s just say Jordan sent about 20 lines of that to Dad)

 

You´re super lucky, General Conference is on your birthday. And if that isn´t a good enough present, you also don´t have to fast on your birthday. You can enjoy your birthday eating. (i remember like 7 or 8 years ago my birthday was on fast sunday, and it was THE WORST) But anyways, that was 8 yrs ago. Happy Birthday!

 

As for my investigators.... The Cubilla family. They´re amazing. They´re progressing so well. They all came to church yesterday (they even brought their 4 yr old daughter, which usually doesn´t happen in paraguay. they usually leave little kids at home with the neighbor or a family member.) So that was incredible. They´re finally reading a little bit in the BoM, which they weren´t doing before. We used the "questions of the Soul" section from PMG ch. 5 to get them interested enough to read the BoM. So they´re doing really well. Their baptism will be april 7 if everything works out well. (they´re not married yet, so we´ll have to change that. We´re going to teach them chastity tomorrow.)

Other investigators.. Hugo Alegre- he´s got all the lessons other than tithing. He´s pretty well good to go. he came to church yesterday. The only problem is that we only teach him on saturdays, because of his work and college. WE´re trying to convince him to let us talk to him one other time during the week. But he´s doing really well. He wants to understand everything in the church and he´s acceptive to all the commandments we teach to him, even the ones that are hard.

Juan (John) Galeano... a 45ish yr. old man we found. he doesn´t actually live in our area, but he works in our area and he works from 7 am until 10 pm everyday, so he can´t talk with the missionaries where he lives, but he takes an hour break every couple of days to talk with us. He came to church yesterday, and he´s really progressing. Eternal families really caught his interest, so he listens really really carefully, because he wants to live with his family after death.

 

So, one question... can you give me an early birthday present of $25. I want to buy a waffle iron. They´re only $25, but i think that this might be my last area that has a waffle iron, because i´m in the city right now, but in the boonies there aren´t waffle irons anywhere. (also, with the waffle iron, could you email a relativley simple waffle recipie. not that complicated one that you use mom, but a simpler one.)

Also, congratulate Laura Staheli for her wedding, and wish her luck from me.

Dad- See above.

 

Mom- I’m glad young women’s worked out really well. Sounds like moving dirt is a PARTY!! 6 yards! that´s a lot. But that´s really impressive that you did it all. (i remember moving dirt and bark for Nathan and Doreene. That was fun. Not really. But it payed well.) I´m glad that you enjoyed the temple.

Austin- The Bio Trip?!!!!!! LUCKY!!!!!!!!!! Enjoy it. That was one of the best memories that i have from high school. Have a blast. go on all the rides and make friends with everyone there. Are you going to magic mountain? if so, go on X (i think it´s actually called X2 now, but whatever. Go on it.)

Tasha- Are you alive. I got you letter last week. I hope you feel better now. Don´t die. That wouldn´t be super fun. You life sounds busier than my life. (Not really, but you sound WAY too busy for a 13 yr old girl.) i also think it´s funny that you keep track of how much time i have in the mission closer than i do. 2 months until the year point. Yuck. Time goes too fast.

Shaylee- your letters are the greatest. they make me laugh every time. I loved it. Have fun running. running is the worst, but have fun doing it. (it just really is the least entertaining form of excercise. You just go and go and go and go and go, and you can never win. But it´s really good. Have fun.

John- the weather is awesome today. It´s like 60 degrees and raining. this last week cooled down a little bit, because it rained every other day. On tuesday it was around 90 degrees with 90% humidity, but this week really has been awesome as far as weather goes. Too bad you´re getting transferred, but everything happens in the Lord´s way in missionary work. They is always a bigger picture and greater purpose. I hope for your sake that you don´t have a comp that didn´t get trained very well. I had that. It was a rough 2.5 weeks until we got things worked out. But you´ll do great. Have a blast. Work hard.

 

Well, gotta run. The church is true. I love this Gospel. We have a living Prophet, in Pres. Monson. We have the AMAZING blessing of watching General Conferene this weekend. Don´t let it go by. (i know you´re going to watch it, but don´t let the opprotunity to recieve revelation and get closer to Christ go by.) Watch conference with a question or 2 in mind. It´ll help. Joseph Smith was a propeht. The Book of Mormon is true and testifies of Christ. I´ve been counting how many time the Book of Mormon says Christ´s name and in 99 pages, it says his name over 1200 times. it truly is another testament of Jesus Christ. We´re so blessed to have this book. We need to share it with others. We have the most important work in the world in missionary work. The chruch needs 14 million missionaries, not just 50,000 full time ones. Be missionaries, and the Lord WILL bless you.

I love you all so much,
See you soon,
Elder Jordan Schouten