Austin: 10/4/2014 - Surprise!

Sent: Saturday, October 04, 2014 10:24
Subject: Surprise!

 

Hola Familia!

You must all be wondering why I`m writing on Saturday instead of Monday, and why I`m not watching General Conference right now. Well, thanks to some peruvian laws and a mission activity, I`m writing right now. I`ll explain, don`t worry.

In Peru, there is a law. everyone has to vote. If they don`t vote, they get a ticket, for 70 or 120 soles, I think, which is quite a bit of money. So one Sunday every year, there are no church meetings. And the elections happen to be tomorrow. So we aren`t going to be able to watch general Conference yet, we have to wait until next week. It`s super sad. One more week that I have to wait. So that`s why I`m not watching General Conference right now.

The reason I`m writing right now is because on Monday, for P Day, we`re going to have a Mundial (I think that`s called world cup in english...). All the mission is going to get together, to play soccer. We`ve done it one other time,and it was probably the funnest p day of my entire mission. We all have to be there at 9 AM, so there won`te be time to write on Monday, so president told us to write today. So that`s why I`m here!

So as for my week, it`s been really short, seeing as it`s only been like 5 days. There`s a lot of things I learned this week, from one short talk. Yesterday morning, I was reading the General Conference ensign from may. I was reading Pres, Eyring`s talk, called "leaving a heritage of hope" or something like that. He talked about the first member of his family that was baptized into the church. He talked about how every moment that we decided to make or keep a covenant with God, we are leaving a heritage of hope for our descendents. This man that was baptized left a heritage to all his children, grandchildren, etc. Thanks to him, we have one of the members of the first presidency. That`s how important our actions are. THEY EFFECT MORE THAN JUST US. They effect our families, and everyone around us, for generations. Because Laman and Lemuel wouldn`t obey, all of their people suffered and none of their children followed God. Thousands of people died, and never recieve the gospel, because their ancesters didn`t follow the Lord. He also talked about why we have problems. He said that we are always blessed with joy when we obey - with time. And we always are sad when we disobey - with time. The effects aren`t instant. If they were, it wouldn`t require faith to obey. If we always, immediately could see the blessing from our obedience, we wouldn`t have to struggle, there would be no trial, and our faith would not grow. That`s why we have to suffer and why it`s hard to obey sometimes. Without even asking for the answer, the Lord answered a question I`ve had for a long time. I`ve been asking myself, for a LONG time, "why? Why is it so hard? How long am I going to have to pass through this? Why aren`t I strong enough to overcome?" I haven`t been complaning, just struggling. and that talk answered my question. I have to pass through these trials so that I can strengthen my faith. why don`t I see any blessing from my obedience? Because I have to wait. I have to wait for my blessing so that I can strengthen my faith. It was a powerful experience for me to learn. It helped me realize, again, the hand of the Lord in my life. He knows what he`s doing, he knows all things. I just have to trust in him and obey so that I can later on recieve the blessings. And it also helped me strengthen my faith in living prophets that guide us. They know what we have to hear, because they have revelation from God. And it also helped me focus again in the eternal sight of God. He has a plan. And every little thing helps us and prepares us to reach the eternal end. Everything that helps us and our families have eternal life.

I hope you could all understand that.

This week we got a reference from a member. the guy`s name is Italo. He`s 21, and he`s awesome. He was talking to the missionaries from another ward, because he lives in the other ward, but they stopped teaching him, so we started to teach him. i don`t know if he`s our investigator, or if he`s the Zone Leader`s. But he wants to get baptized, I don`t know why the Zone Leaders stopped teaching him...I taught him 2 times this week. I only talked to him about the BoM and how he can get an answer through the spirit. It was powerful to teach him such basic doctrine and help him come closer to god. when he prays, it`s so humble, his prayer. He really talks to the Lord. He doesn`t just talk AT him, he talks WITH him. It`s so humbling to hear him. I`m excited to keep teaching him. I hope he`s my investigator...

 

I love you all, I know this church is true and that there is a plan for us that will lead us to eternal life and happiness. I love the Lord, and have to follow him. and I know that families can live together forever, if we strive to follow the Lord.

Love,

Elder schouten.

(I`m sorry this is super short...)