Jordan: 8/3/2012

From: Jordan Schouten
Sent: Monday, September 03, 2012 9:07 AM
To: Mike Schouten; schouten.julie; stringbeanjohn@gmail.com
Subject: my letter 8/3/2012

 

Well, first off.. question. something i´ve been thinking about for a few days... how did the olympics turn out? What was the medal count for the top 3 countries and then the u.s, if they weren't in the top 3 (i imagine they were in the top 3, but anyways..) so, yeah, i'd like to know that.. please.

Well, this week was weird. It was good and bad at the same time. The best part... We had a baptism!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Miguel got baptized. We've been teaching him for about 2 months now and he got baptized saturday. He's a really good kid. He's 18 years old and he was the boyfriend of a member, but they got married this week as well, so now, he's the husband of a member. (and he's a member too hahaha). Yesterday at church for his confirmation, it really was a miracle. He has to work every other sunday in his current job. He's looking for another job, but until he finds something, he doesn't want to quit. So, yesterday, he was supposed to work. But, on saturday, after the baptism, we told him that it really would be way better if he got confirmed yesterday, instead of the next sunday. So he said, "yeah, i want the Holy Ghost. I don't care if i lose my job. I'm coming to church tomorrow. It doesn't matter." So, that was AWESOME!!! That he'd be willing to chance his job for the Lord is incredible. He's a really great kid, and he should stay active in the church, because he's wife is a life long member and they have a lot of member support. So, i was really happy about that.

Other than the baptism, this week was pretty rough. Me and my comp learned a lot, though. We kind of got unfocused this week. Our first 3 weeks together, we were always asking ourselves, "who are we going to baptize today?" Even though we can't baptize someone every hour of everyday, our object was find peoplet to baptize every hour of every day. But this week, while we were in the streets we just talked about random things. He went to BYU before the mission as well, and this week, we talked a lot about BYU in the streets, and we got unfocused. And we didn't really have much success. Yesterday at church was the first time in about 5 months that i haven't had an invest at church. We had our confirmation, but we didn't have anyone else there. So, it was pretty bad. But, we learned an important lesson. We learned the importance of focusing ourselves always in the Lord's work and glory. So, we're going to change and work a lot harder and be more focused, and we're going to have a lot more success this week.

Nothing much happened this week. It was slow. Other than my comp. kind of offended a member that helps us a lot. Paraguayans don't understand sarcasm at all, and my comp is pretty sarcastic. And this member especially doesn't take sarcasm well at all. And my comp dropped a sarcastic comment and the member got really upset. He told me later to not call him for a week to help us out. But, turns out it's not a huge deal cuz this member has to move anyways. So, tomorrow, he's moving and wouldn't be around to help anyways.

Dad... what do you need to know about housing? i'd love to room with matt or kyle. it just depends on them. I don't want to live anywhere that i'd have my own room. I did that for 2 months freshman year when Kyle left on his mission and it was miserable. I like having someone in my room. It makes life more interesting... Also, Terry sent me that letter. He talked about a article in the New Era. Could you send it to me. The New Era doesn't exist in Spanish, so only 2 or 3 articles in the New Era get into the Liahona, so if you could send it to me, i'd appreciate it.... And, was there something special in that picture of Austin that i'm missing? it just looked like a normal picture to me

Mom... sounds like this week was crazy and kinda boring at the same time. It's too bad that Sister Butters died. She was a great lady. I always enjoyed taking the Sacrament to her house after church. Thank goodness we have the Plan of Salvation and we know what happens after death. A member here in my Branch died this week as well. I never really met him because he was super sick for months and months. But his whole family was at church yesterday and they all bore their testimonies about the Plan of Salvation. they were sad, but they all said "I know he's gone to a better place. I know he's resting now. The pains he was having are gone." it made me realize that we really are SOOO blessed to be members of the true church with the true knowledge of the Gospel.  And, thanks for sending the package.

John.. you have a boring life. Do something. I don't know what, but do something. Have fun.

Austin... you look older. It's weird. Have fun senior year. Mess around as much as possible. Get good grades, but mess around as much as possible. After senior year, you have to be responsible and stuff. College and the mission are a LOT different. Enjoy.

Tasha... i'm glad you're excited for school. Have fun. Don't work too hard. You're in 8th grade, so it doesn't matter tooo much yet. Don't be lazy, work hard, but don't kill yourself.

Shaylee... we're teaching a family and they have a daughter that reminds me exactly of you. She's only 4, but when you were 4, you were like her. So, i really like being around her. who's your new school teacher? What grade are you going into?

The church is true. Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. I've learned a lot this week about repentance. I know it's real. I know Heavenly Father forgives us of our sins, if we're doing all we can to become more like Him. I'm not perfect, but i'm trying. I know that God will look past our weaknessess and our shortcomings and our sins if we do all we can to follow Him and keep the commandments. I know the BoM is true. I love reading that book. It really has changed my life and it keeps changing me everyday. I love the Gospel. It brings so much peace and happiness. It's hard to live the Gospel, but it's so much easier to live it than to not live it. I know that families can be eternal.

love you all,
Elder Jordan Schouten