Jordan: 1/28/2013

From: Jordan Schouten

Sent: Monday, January 28, 2013 8:34 AM
To: Mike Schouten; schouten.julie; John Schouten
Subject: my letter 1/28/2013

 

Well, mom, your letter was pretty much the most depressing letter i´ve gotten in my mission. Tell Grandpa to get better and to stop walking on the ice. I´ll be praying for him. 

 

Well, this week was interesting. I got my new comp on wednesday morning. his name is Elder Coggins. He´s from Corona CA, and he has 3 months less than me in the mission. So, he´s pretty "old" in the mission, but not quite as old as me. He´s 100% different from my last comp. He´s super super super super quiet. I can´t hardly get him to teach in the lessons. I look at him and he just kinda sits there. he told me that his last 3 comps have been latinos that LOVE to talk, and they´ve been pretty good teachers and so he just let them talk and he just kinda sat there. So, he´s kind of in a bad habbit, so, we´re trying to get him out of that. But, I like him. He´s way different from my last comp, but i like him. We just have to get used to each other. Another difference is that he is super super super serious. He never laughs or looks like he´s having fun. he just looks stressed out all the time. I try to do stuff to make him laugh and he just sits there. So, that´s something that we´re going to have to change ASAP because i´ve learned in the mission that if you never laugh, you´re going to be miserable. In the mission, there´s a lot of bad stuff that happens, but if you can learn to laugh and look for the good stuff instead of just being serious and boring, it makes life so much better. So, i´m trying to get him to loosen up a little bit. We´ll see how everything goes.

 

AS for our investigatros... i think i talked about Crispin last week. We´ll, he lost all interest in the gospel and doesn´t want to talk to us anymore. We don´t really know what happened, but he doesn´t answer our phone calls and he doesn´t come out of his house when we go by, so, we´re done with him. It´s kinda sad, but at the same time, he can´t get baptized yet anyways, because he´s on parol because he was in jail 6 months ago for attempting to rob someone with a knife. So, Pres. Agazzani told us that he can´t get baptized until he´s off parol, so, he couldn´t get baptized anyways, but it´s still sad to see someone completely change for the worse.

 

We really don´t have any other invest. that are progressing. We found a few people through member references on saturday and sunday, so that was really cool. They have a lot of potencial. We found a part member family that the wife is a less active member and the husband isn´t a member, but the wife really does know that the church is true. She just stopped doing the little things like praying and reading the BoM and she kinda feel off the path. But she wants to come back to church. Her husband who isn´t a member doesn´t really believe in God. He doesn´t go to any church and doubts God´s existince. But, we started talking about eternal families with him and it hooked him. He listened really well and committed to get baptized Feb 23. Going to church doesn´t really interest him yet, but if we talk enough about eternal families, i know it´ll interest him and he´ll go to church and get baptized. 

 

We also found a 9 yr. old girl whose parents are less active. The girl wants to get baptized WAY bad. She loves the BoM and she´s super smart and really nice. We didn´t meet the dad because he wasn´t there, but the mom is really nice too and i think she really misses the church. So, the daughter has a baptism date for Feb 17th, all they have to do is come to church. 

 

Other than that, there wasn´t too much very exciting news this week. I got a little sick yesterday and i´m still feeling it today, but that´s ok. I have a few hours to rest today, so that should help a lot. I feel asleep in church yesterday. I went out like a light. It was bad. But, i´m getting over the sickness and I’ll be fine tomorrow.

 

Mom- good luck in your interview. Hopefully it will go well. I´ll call the mission secretary about my eclessiactiacla (whatever) endorsement and see what´s going on. I called him a week or 2 ago, but this last week was transfers week, so, they didn´t have time to do anything. But i´ll call him today and see where it´s at.

 

John and Austin- get better. Don´t be sick.

 

Everyone else- how was your week?

 

Well, i don´t have much time. Sorry if this letter seems really lousy. it´s seems kinda lousy to me. It was just a weird week and i´ve got a pretty big headache from being sick. But, i do know that the church is true. I have no doubt. I konw that Christ lives and watches out for us. He Loves us more than we can imagine. I know that this is His church and is the only church on the face of the earth that has His authority to baptize and act in His name. I know that Jospeh Smith was called to be a prophet of God and that he was called to restore this great church. I know that Thomas S. Monson is a living prophet. He leads and guides us today and he holds all the Priesthood keys. I know that the BoM is the word of God. I have absolutly no doubt of that. I love reading it. It´s changing my life bit by bit, day by day. I love the gospel. It´s the only way to true lasting happiness. Obedince (the word that means to obey, i can´t spell anything) is the ONLY way to find happiness and peace. Disobecince just brings pain and guilt. I love my Savior I know He lives.

 

Love, 

Elder Jordan Schouten

 

Oh ya, this is for Annie, Lexie and Lauren... on your missions... you probably don´t want to use a backpack. Find a back that goes around your waist, that you can put on your hip. There´s a misisonary from Australia in my zone and he told me that it´s hotter and more humid than Paraguay, which means, you´re going to sweat a lot. And having backpack on your back makes you sweat 200% more. So, just a word of advice. It makes life a lot better.

 

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