Jordan: 11/26/2012

From: Jordan

Sent: Monday, November 26, 2012 7:03 AM
To: Mike Schouten; schouten.julie; John Schouten
Subject: my letter 11/26/2012

 

Well, this week was really good. It was kind of hard, but really good at the same time. We had some really good things happen, and we also had some hard things. But, that´s how every week is, so it´s not really a surprise.

 

Well, i´m glad everyone had a good thanksgiving. It was like any other day here. I honestly forgot it was thanksgiving until about 3pm or so. But, i´m glad you all enjoyed your weekend.

 

We had a pretty good day at church yesterday. We had 4 invest. come. It was really awesome. 2 of them are ladys that know that the church is true, but they´re not married to their husbands, but they´ve been living together for over 20 years and have kids and everything, so they can´t just seperate, but their husbands don´t want to get married. So, we´re working and praying a lot for them, but at least they´re coming to church, which is the most important part. The other 2 people we had is a young couple that we found this week. It was awesome. They live really close to the church, so we told them we´d come by right before church to go together, but we had a meeting right before church with the bishop and his counselors about missionary work in our ward, and it ended late, so we were about to leave the church to go get our invest. late, and as we were leaving, our invest. walked in the door, on their own. It was amazing. I was blown away, because they said "if you come to get us, we´ll go with you." but they came on their own. So, that was amazing. The only bad part is that this morning (monday) i called the guy to set up an appointment to visit him and i asked him how church was and he said "it was alright." there was something that he didn´t like about the women in the church, but there was a lot of static on the phone so i couldn´t hear very well, so we´re going to find out tonight what it was that he didn´t like. But, they´re going to progress and get baptized.

 

I did divisions 2 times this week. I went on divisions with a missionary from Brazil. His name is Elder Da Silva. He´s from northern brazil. He was pretty cool. he´s a pretty good missionary. He´s pretty new in the mission, and he´s kind of unfocused sometimes, but it was cool to be with him. I told him that Grandpa served in Brazil, then was a mission Pres. in brazil and the the MTC Pres. He thought that was awesome.... The other kid i did divisions with is named Elder Moffet. He´s from Sandy UT. He´s really cool. He works in the mission office as the finance secretary of the mission (the Elders in the mission office are part of my zone). It was fun. He´s a good missionary and really loves the people.

it´s cool to hear that you saw Pres. and Sister Callan in the Temple. If you see them again, tell them hi for me. I´d like to write them a letter, but... i lost their address. They gave everyone a business card with their info before they left, but, i lost it. So, if you could get me their address, i´d like to write them.

 

Also, i got a letter from Kyle Lemperle this week. If you could tell his parents a few things, i´d appreciate it. 1st, i´ve written him 2 or 3 times, the letters have just never gotten there. Paraguay´s mail system is terrible. 2nd.  if he still wants to room with me after the mission, i want to room with him. He asked in the letter if we were going to room after, so ask his parents to ask him if he wants to room with me still.

 

Also, i got an awesome surprise on saturday. when i was in Encarnacion, (my last area) there was member that always helped us out. He´s my favorite person in paraguay. And he has a friend that´s in my ward here in Asuncion. (i don´t know how they met, but they did.) So, the member from Encarnacion came to asuncion on saturday to go to the temple. And, before he went to the temple, he went to his friends house that lives in my area and then, his friend called us and asked us where we were and they came to us. So, i got to see this member from encarnacion. It was really cool. And he told me that a kid that i was teaching right before i left Encarnacion just got baptized!!!!!!!! So, it was super awesome.

 

Also, today, i finished the Book of Mormon for the second time in Spanish. And after i finished it, i knelt down and asked the Lord if it´s true.

 

And, He answered me again. I have no doubt that the BoM is true. I know by the power of the Holy Ghost that the BoM is the word of God. The Book is either from God or the devil, and i think we all know that the devil would never write something that teaches so much about Jesus Christ. I love the BoM. It´s literally changing my life.

 

Mom- i´m glad you had a good holiday weekend. Don´t think or worry about me. I´m gonna be home sooner than you think. (unfortunately, in case you´ve lost count, i hit my 1.5 year mark yesterday. Wow, time flies by. I still remember the day i went into the MTC like it was yesterday.) So, don´t think about me too much. I´ll be home sooner than you expect. I´m glad you enjoyed everything that happened over the weekend.

 

Dad- how was thanksgiving and everything?

 

Austin- so, are you going on a mission?

 

Shaylee- are you alive?

 

Tasha- thanks for writing me. You´re the best. i´m glad you enjoyed thanksgiving and had a good weekend. Don´t watch too many movies.

 

John- so, i hear you´re doing pretty week in school now. Keep it up. school really isn´t too hard if you know how to study, and that´s one thing that every good missionary learns during the mission. So, obviously, you were a good missionary, because you learned how to study.

 

Well, the church is still true and it will always be true. I know that the BoM is the word of God. Nobody can take that testimony away from me. the Holy Ghost is the only real teacher and what he teaches isn´t easily forgotten. I love the Gospel. It´s so simple but it brings soooooo many blessings. I´m so thankful for all of you and for your love and support. Jesus christ is our Savior and Redeemer. This is His church. He leads and guides it today. I love you all.

 

Love, Elder Jordan Schouten