Jordan: 10/15/2012

 

From: Jordan Schouten

Sent: Monday, October 15, 2012 7:50 AM
To: Mike Schouten; schouten.julie; stringbeanjohn@gmail.com
Subject: my letter 10/15/2012

 

Well, first off.... We had our baptism this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was a really good  baptism. The kid was 9 yrs old so he was good to go. Little kids never have doubts or anything. They´re still too pure, but the awesome part was his parents. His parents are members but they were less active before we started teaching them. And they weren´t really living any of the commandments and they had a lot of doubts if the church was true or not. But, they were able to get over that and now, they have testimonies of the gospel and they´re living it better than ever. After Sebastian (the 9 yr old kid) was baptized, his dad got up to bear his testimony and the dad has always been the biggest problem. He always tells us that he doubts if the church is true or if Joseph Smith was a Prophet. But, when he was bearing his testimony, he said to his son that he´s proud of him for getting baptized and they he made a good decision because he (the dad) knows that the Church of Jesus Christ is true. When those words finally left his mouth, it was the most amazing thing for me. The Spirit hit me harder than ever, probably harder than any other moment in my life. We visited their family yesterday after church, and the parents were asking us all about what they need to do to go to the temple to get sealed. So, that was a huge miralce of this week. This family really did a 100% change of how they lived. They want to go to the temple. I told them that i want to see the pictures on Facebook when they get sealed and i´m done with my mission and they started asking me if they is any way that they could go to the temple before i finish my misison and go home. I said that i don´t really know. I know new converts have to wait 1 yr, but i don´t know the rules about less actives, but i told them that i want to see the pictures no matter what. So, that was awesome. They´re excited to go to the temple and to be faithful in the church.
We have a 20 yr old kid that we´re teaching named Edgar. He´s the friend of about 10 members and he´s basically a member, he just hasn´t been baptized. He knows everything, he just says that he´s never recieved an answer that the church is true. He says he likes the church and the people there, but he says he feels normal while he´s there. he can get baptized this saturday if everything works out well. We fasted for him yesterday, so hopefully, it will all work out alright and he´ll realize that he knows that the church is true.
Other than that, we don´t have any good invest. We´ll struggling to find good people. We´ve just got to work a lot harder. I know the people are out there, we just have to find them and get them to church so they can feel the Spirit.
Dad- how are things? How goes work and stuff? what´s your church calling again?
Mom- sounds like you had quite the crazy week. You just need to calm your life down. Don´t do so much. Relax once in a while. As for christmas... i need contact solution again. So, if you could send one of those Costco boxes of 3 bottles that would be good. Other than that, just junk food. I really liked the Pop tarts you sent one time. So, those would be nice. And, more seasoning packets. Especially tacos. We made tacos this week and it was AMAZING. Also, if you could send me garlic salt, that´d be awesome too. My last comp had some and it really made stuff taste better. So, basically, contact solution, junk food (pop tarts, chips ahoy cookies, etc..) and food seasoning stuff.
John- how´s college? How´s the marriage war going?
Austin- so, have you made any decisions about the mission and college? I don´t really have any more advice. I gave it all last week. But, don´t stress. Ask the Lord what He wants you to do.
Tasha- sounds like you had a fun week. The surprise bday party sounds like fun. How´s school? What´s your favorite class?
Shaylee- i liked Elder christensen´s talk too. It was really good. I listened to it in Spanish. You wouldn´t have understood anything. Luckily, i speak spanish. Have fun in school. I liked Pres. Monson´s talk in Priesthood session the best. Also, Pres. Eyring´s talk about putting pavillions between ourselves and the Lord.
I know that the church is true. I have no doubt. I know that Joseph Smith was a propeht of God. We have the Priesthood authority. It literally is the power of God here on earth to bless us and help us follow the Lord and have eternal families. I know that Christ is our Savior. I know that He´s our perfect example. I realized this week that i started slacking in my following Christ. I was thinking too much in myself and i wasn´t constantly trying to become more like the Savior. And then last night, it just kinda hit me that i was being dumb, and that i wasn´t as happy, because i was doing other things than the Lord wanted me to do. But thankfully, we can repent and change. One thing Pres. Monson said in one his talks was "i´ve been working with men for 50 years and men can CHANGE." I know that´s true. We can change. We can follow Jesus Christ better everyday. This morning i thought a lot about what i´d been doing and i realized where the problems were and i know what i´m going to change. I´m going to be better so the Lord can bless me and my invest. more and more. I love the Gospel. it´s such a blessing.
Love you all,
Elder Jordan Schouten