Jordan: my (last) letter 12/17/2012.... I put last because, according to EVERYONE in Paraguay, the world is ending Dec 21st. so, enjoy my last letter :)

From: Jordan Schouten
Sent: Monday, December 17, 2012 7:10 AM
To: Mike Schouten; schouten.julie; John Schouten
Subject: my (last) letter 12/17/2012.... i put last because, according to EVERYONE in Paraguay, the world is ending Dec 21st. so, enjoy my last letter :)

 

Well, first off, Mom, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! sorry for not writing it last week. I wrote it down in my planner and everything to remind me to write you, but, i didn´t pull my planner out while writing, so, i forgot. Sorry, but, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

well, this week was super awesome. We found 2 new invest. that are golden. Their names are Patricia and Belen. They investigated the church about a year ago, and they´ve come to church a lot in the past and we found their teaching record in the Area book the other day, so on monday, we went to visit them and we found them and taught them and committed them to be baptized Dec 22. We´ve taught them 2 or 3 times since then and they´re golden. They´re reading the BoM and they´ve prayed about it and they feel that it´s true. THey believe Joseph Smith was a prophet and everything. They only problem is that Patricia has a few problems with commandments but last night, we taught them and she committed to keep the word of wisdom. belen is patricia´s daughter and she´s 11 yrs. old so she has no problems but patricia is coming along. We´re going to teach chastity tonight. It´s gonna be a battle, because Patricia thinks that our bodies are just object to "be beautiful" as the world says, but, we planned really well and we have members to help us, so we´re going to help her accept chastity. But, on saturday night, the other missionaries in our ward had a baptism and Patricia and belen came to it and they felt the Spirit super strong and because of that, they want to get baptized. So, they´re gonna do it.

 

Also, this week, we found a 21 yr old guy named José. He´s golden as well. we found him thursday, and he came to church on sunday and the baptism saturday night. He´s said that he´s read part of the BoM and he prayed about it and he said that he felt a peace that he hadn´t felt for years. He always says that he feels like there is a lot of temptation in the world and that he´s always being attacked by Satan, but he said that while he read the BoM and prayed, he didn´t have those feelings anymore. So, he´s awesome. he has a baptism date for Dec 29.

 

We also have a 14 yr. old girl, Diana, that´s getting baptized this saturday, the 22nd, without a doubt. She lives with some recent converts and she accepts everything. The only doubt she has is that she´s afraid of going under the water for the baptism, because in the baptism on saturday, one of the people that got baptized almost drowned because the guy that baptized her had no idea what he was doing, so, now, Diana (who came to the baptism) is scared of going under water, but, we´ll get over that.

 

As for the christmas phone call... i don´t know anything yet. President hasn´t said anything. So, we called his secretary and the secretary is going to call us, but, just in case i don´t tell you anything this week, be at the computer in the morning on Dec 24. it would be 10am here which would be 6 am there. I know it´s early, but the internet place closes at noon on christmas eve, so be there, cuz we going to use skype again, because the phone call thing was a disaster last christmas. So, hopefully everything turns out ok.

 

Mom- i´m glad you had a happy birthday. I hope everything keeps going well for you this week.  I heard that Shaylee scared you quite a bit. that made me laugh pretty hard. I´m glad you liked the MoTab concert so much. Moments like that are cool. 

 

Dad- 1. i think this last letter was the longest that you´ve ever sent me before. 2. i´m glad too that our Heavenly Father gives us everything that we need to be able to live with Him again. More than anything, i´m thankful for His Son, because without Him, nothing would be possible. even if we had covenants, scriptures, teachers, prophets, nothing would be possilbe without Jesus Christ. He is the greatest gift that the Father has given us.

 

John- congrats on your 4.0. i told you school is that hard. It just requires a lot of work. I always knew you were smart enough to get a 4.0. have fun on the matinence crew for Davis school district. I think by crew chief´s name was Preston. He has nasty earrings and is ALWAYS playing with his Iphone, so, if you see him, don´t tell him hi for me cuz he won´t remember me. But, look for him.

 

Tasha- sounds like you had quite a good week. Have fun for Christmas.

 

Shaylee- i´m glad you could scare mom. that sounded pretty cool. have fun and enjoy Christmas.

 

Well, i´ve got no time left but the church is true. I have no doubt. I know that Christ is our Savior. He is the reason we celebrate Christmas. Christmas isn´t about recieving gifts, and really, it´s not about giving gifts either. it´s about remembering Christ and doing what he would do. It´s about serving and loving others like He loves us. That is the true Spirit of Christmas and that´s the reason why i´m here. So that others can find the truth and feel Christ´s love.

 

Love you all, 

Elder Jordan Schouten