Austin: 12/1/2014 - Hi. How are ya?

Hola Familia!

I´d just like to say that my subject is supposed to be a quote from Sahara. Don´t know why I just thought of that, but it´s what I thought of. There´s that guy that always says it.

So this week was a lot better than last week, overall. There were obviously problems, trails, but we had a good week. We really saw a lot of blessings from the Lord.

This week, we had three different meetings in the morning. We had two district meetings, and a multi-zone conference. We had out district meeting on Tuesday and it was all good, really normal. There wasn´t anything all that special (which is actually really sad. We should feel really motivated after a district meeting, but this tueday we didn´t). We kept going with our day/week, working hard, doing all that we could. On Wednesday night, we got a call, at 11:00 at night, that we were going to have another district meeting with president and the assistents on Thursday morning. That was a surprise. Sometimes president comes, but he usually tells us ahead of time, but this week, no. They told us at 11:00. And they told me I had to train. Crap. I had to wake up early to plan my training. My training turned out alright. That was cool, but then after, the assistants trained. They mostly just showed our zone the importance of key indicators. In August, the zone baptized 20 people. This month, we baptized 5. That´s a serious change. And it´s not a good change. So they showed us the difference in our key indicators. Every single key indicator this month was WAY lower as a zone (like the average of the zone). So they taught us that we have to do better. It was really cool. I liked it a lot. I thought they were going to burn the crap out of us, and they did, but it was an awesome burning. I liked it a lot. It really motivated us to do better. So the end of the week was a lot better than the beginning.

And then on Friday, we had a multi-zone meeting. I LOVED it. Wow. President just trained us for hours and it was fantastic, and I could do a practice with my comp of lesson 2 (the plan of salvation), which is my favorite lesson. The training was so fantastic! When I get home, I´ll translate it into english and let you all study it. It was fantastic.

So on Sunday was when we saw the blessings from the Lord. We have been working with a recent convert that got baptized in june that isn´t going to church. We´ve been working with her for a long time, and FINALLY last sunday she came to church! WAHOO! We were super happy, because we had worked so hard with her. So during the week, we visited her, and she told us that she wants her dad to get baptized, and her dad wanted to get baptized. Her dad is 83 or something like that, and is blind. We didn´t know how that would be, if he really wanted to be baptized or how we were going to get him to church, but we had a blessing. One of the recent convert´s neighboors has a mini van that he takes to church and he was willing to take him to church. So we went to church on Sunday...and he was there! They both went to church! We had never even taught the guy! He just came! And then in the afternoon, we visited him at taught him, and he told us before we could teach him anything that he wants to be baptized in the church! So we were super excited! We taught him, and we´re going to keep teaching him this week, but I´m super excited! He´s a really good guy! And really smart! He´s not a crazy old man, he´s actually smart.

Lately, what I´ve been able to learn is how the Lord blesses us for our obedience. Mosiah 2:24 says that He will bless us instantly, but sometimes, we don´t feel like He blesses us instantly. We have to wait. Lately, we have been obedient, but we haven´t seen the blessings. But now, we are starting to see the blessings! In the "4th missionary" it says that the immediate blessing is a change in ourselves. We become more converted. I have recieved that blessing. I am not converted yet. I´m not even close, but I have started the path to conversion. I LOVE the scriptures. I LOVE to pray. I LOVE to teach. I LOVE to obey. That is the start of conversion. I´m starting. Before, I had never started. I believe that this process has started here in Comas. Because I´ve had some serious trails, but I have grown so much. I have become closer to Christ. That is the immediate blessing the Lord promises. But the physical blessings don´t come instantly. President Eyring taught that we have to wait for the blessings so that we can strengthen our faith. We have been waiting for the blessings, for a baptism, for a long time. And finally, we have 3 baptismal dates! we are finally seeing the other blessings that the Lord needed us to waith for so that we can strengthen our faith.

Yesterday, was a special day for me. I realized something. I was baptized November 30th, 2002. Yesterday, was my 12th birthday as member of the church! As I took the sacrament, I thought about that. I had read a quote this week that said that the sacrament is one of the most sacred ordanances of the church and that it needs to become more sacred for each of us. Yesterday, it was a truly sacred experience. I remembered the covenant I made with the Lord 12 years before. During the sacrament, the Lord spoke to me through His spirit. He said "hace 12 anos, me bautizé. 3 nefi 11:37-38 dice que debemos arrepentirnos y volvernos como ninos pequenitos. si no, no podemos tener la vida eterna. Necesito volver al nino que fui cuando me buatizé. Tal vez no sabia mucho, pero sentia mucho. Era humilde, era puro. Y ahora, tengo que volver al nino que fui 12 anos atras" (12 years ago, i got baptized. 3 nephi 11:37-38 says that we should repent and become as little children. if not, we can´t have eternal life. I need to return to the child that I was when I was baptized. Maybe I didn´t know very much, but I felt a lot. I was humble, I was pure. Now, I have to return to the child that I was 12 years ago) The reason children can be baptized at 8 is because they already have the ability to understand right and wrong, but they haven´t been corrupted yet. They are still mostly pure. What I am trying to do is become the child that I once was, humble, pure, so that I can return to the Lord. I am so grateful that for 20 years I have been able to go to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, and that for 12 years I have been a member of that church. I have recieved soooooo many blessings, and I know that I will continue to recieve the blessings, if I humble myself and come unto the Lord like a child.

Mom - Thanksgiving...crazy. That day, thurday, i fasted. jajaja. We fasted as a zone. it sounds like you enjoyed your break a lot! That´s good.

Dad - how are you doing? Random question. how tall are you and how much do you weigh?

John - how was your thanksgiving?

Jordan - QUE MILAGRO!!! wow. Una carta de Jordan. wow. thanks for the letter, even if it was short. I how all is going well. Question. When does fall semester at BYU start next year? It it august, september? The date?

Tashita - i thought you hated mokeing jay? Why did you go again?

shaylee - how was thanksgiving? I don´t even recognize you anymore from the pictures.

Random question. Do I have a pioneer ancestor that died crossing the plains? Just a question.
Also, Jared looks like a woman. what is his problem? Tell him to get a haircut, unless it´s for guadalupe.

Love you all, and I know this church is true!
Elder Schouten