Jordan: 11/5/2012

 From: Mike Schouten [mailto:mikesphotomm@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 2:01 PM
To: mikesphotomm@gmail.com
Subject: Jordan: 11/5/2012

well, so, first off, Tell Lexie and Annie congratulations for me. What are the odds that both of them are going to Australia? That`s pretty cool, but, not as cool as Paraguay. They got sent to the 2nd best missions in the world, after Paraguay Asuncion.  But anyway, congrats.

So, this week, i did get transferred. I´m in Asuncion again,  but it`s a different part. Asuncion is huge and there are 3 zones in it. i´m close to my old area in Centro, but it`s a completely different world here. it`s still crazy because there are a lot of huge businesses here but, there are a lot of houses and people to teach as well. And, for the 1st time in my mission, i`m serving in a ward instead of a branch. I´ve been here for almost 1.5 years and i`m finally in a ward. We have about 100 people that usually come to church here, so i`m excited. My new comp`s name is Elder Pastul. He`s from El Salvador. He finishes his mission in January. He`ll probably finish his mission with me. I am zone leader and this week has been absolutely crazy. every month the zone leaders have a meeting with Pres. Agazzani to talk about the mission and he tells us what he wants us to change and everything and we have to report about EVERYTHING that happened in the zone in the last month. and, it just so happened that the meeting was this morning, so all last week we were preparing for this meeting. It was nuts. Our zone has a lot of potential, but we`re going to have to work like crazy if we want to meet our goal for November. 

Also, this morning in our meeting with Pres. he called us all to repentance. He didn`t do it in an angry way, but there`s some things that we`re going to have to change. But, it`ll be good.

My area is good, but not great. We`ve got a lot of work to do. The unfortunate thing is that the new invest that we find now will get baptized in December, so there`s very little that we can do to change things for November. WE have 2 or 3 people that can get baptized in November, but we`re going to have to work like crazy. We found a really awesome lady the other day. She`s about 25 and has a little daughter. She said the prayer at the end of the lesson and the Spirit was really strong. I asked her how she felt after the prayer and she said "it`s like there is something beating inside my chest. I feel super good." Then, the next day, we went by and she told us that she had read the BoM and prayed about it and she felt good again. She`s gonna get baptized Dec 1, but if she`s really prepared, she can get baptized Nov 24.

I really like my comp. he was my zone leader in my last zone and we shared the same branch, so we saw each other all the time and we really had a good time and now, we`re comps.
also, who`s the new counselor in the bishopric?

Mom- sounds like you had a crazy week, but your weeks are always crazy. I`m glad you could finally exercise again. Keep getting better.

Dad- i hope everything is going well at work and everything else.
Austin- WRITE ME.

John- i`m glad you had fun on your date. Now, just go on 25 more. The conference with Elder Bednar was incredible. It´s a shame you never were able to have an Apostle come to your mission. it`s amazing. Especially Elder Bednar. I`m glad school and work and everything is going well

Shaylee- how are you? i haven`t heard from you for a long time.

Tasha- your joke was good, but not as good as the watson and holmes one. I`m glad you`re having fun and also, you probably shouldn`t call people queers.

I know that the Church is true. I have no doubt that the BoM is the word of God. I know that God hears and answers our prayers. It doesn`t always happen in our time, but he always answers. I`ve prayed for almost a year to have a comp. that really helped my become a better missionary. I`ve had great comps, but i`ve felt my whole mission that i`m fighting alone a lot of the time. And, God finally answered my prayer. It took a lot longer than i wanted, but He still answered. But, i had to change my will to His will. I always asked for a good comp. who`d help me. But recently, i asked the lord to put me with whoever would help me the most. And, i finally got a comp that helps me do my best and pushes me. I know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet and that if we obey the commandments, we`ll always be blessed. i love the Gospel and the happiness it brings. 

I love you all,
Elder Jordan Schouten