Teaching update

Dear Family,

Another good week is in the books. I got pretty homesick talking to all of you on skype. Sorry you had to watch me break down in tears. I just love you all so much. I've never felt so much love before. I'm very grateful to have you all in my life. I can't believe Ben is getting married this week. That is so weird to think about. I wish I could be there. Oh well. 

Thank you everyone for sending me packages and letters. Thank you Mom & Dad and siblings for the new shaver, sweater, and goodies; Feil Family for the Christmas card; Grandma Lynne and Grandpa Bob for the sweet BYU sweater;  and Grandma Elaine and Grandpa Allen thanks for the awesome tie!

We had a few experiences this week that are worth sharing. On Monday we ate a dinner with Fransisco. He cooked us some kind of mexican soup that was really good. After we talked to him about the importance of reading scriptures everyday. He said that he doesn't read very much because he is pretty illiterate. But we told him that it would help him a lot in his life if he would even just read a verse every day. Fransisco is one of the most faithful members of the ward. He drives us around a lot, too. He doesn't quite understand everything because of the language barrier, but he is doing his best. Plus, we found out that he is 1 of 19 siblings in his family.

On Wednesday Mike F. dropped us. He had been reading anti-mormon literature for the last little while. The thing about anti mormon literature is it's primary goal is to get a person to "look beyond the mark" as Jacob describes. Mike had so many concerns about things that are so unimportant such as, why is it that in the pearl of great price it says nothing about Abram changing his name to Abraham, but in the Old Testament it does. Or, it can trick a person to taking things out of context. Mike told us that in Galatians 1:8 it says "Though we, or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed." Mike took that to mean that the Angel Moroni ministering the gospel to Joseph Smith was a fulfillment of that scripture. Personally, I don't see any angels from Heaven giving me false information, maybe an angel of the devil from hell (see Alma 30:53). There's a reason why the Book of Mormon is the most correct book on the earth, and the Bible is not. The Bible is still pretty good though :)
It was disappointing to see Mike make this decision especially after he knew the book of mormon was true and wanted to be baptized. At one point, he wanted to be the bishop his own "Mega-mormon" church. Of course we told him he couldn't do that, but that just shows how much he really enjoyed the gospel. But for now he will be a Lutheran. Perhaps one day he'll change his mind. He'll be held accountable.

Also on Wednesday we talked to a guy named Ben. He is a former army guy. He has severe PTSD. He cussed the f word so many times while we were there. He knows the gospel is true, he is just afraid of being around people because of his anger problems and PTSD. He told us while we were there that he tried commited suicide several times but got wouldn't let him. He pulled the trigger to his head with a loaded gun a couple of times and the gun would just click. Also, in the army he told us how God preserved him after being in an explosion. Turns out, in the convoy he was in, his commander had him switch his seat to where he normally sat. The place where he normally sat was his friend, who was killed in the explosion. So Ben has obviously been preserved by God. No  question about that.

On Christmas Eve we had district meeting. We each bore our testimonies. It was a good experience. We all pretty much expressed that missions are super hard, and God's grace is sufficient to magnify our efforts if we surrrender our will to him. Be completely dependent on him.

Yesterday at church was a music program. I was asked to accompany singers on the piano 4 different songs (O little town of bethlehem, beautiful savior, the first noel, and He sent his son). In one of the songs, the Bishop sang O Holy Night since he has a really good voice. His daughter got up there at pretended like she was playing a hard piano piece, but really it was just a cd playing the song. It was pretty funny. I don't know about that one though. 

AFter church yesterday all of our plans fell through, and so we walked around in the rain for a while. The wind broke my umbrella. We did find a guy in his 20s who said he was going to come to church. He was pretty interested. We didn't drive our car to church that day to save on miles, and so we tried to figure out how to get back home. While walking in the rain I was dreaming of eating a delicious honey baked ham. A few hours later we got a call from one of the members of the ward inviting us to their late-Christmas dinner since their father worked christmas. So, we got a ride back to their house by Lehland and got to eat one of the best christmas dinners I've ever had. They had goose, smoked turkey, and ham. Remember how I was dreaming of eating a honey baked ham? The Lord answers prayers. The food was delciious and I really want to eat some right now. After dinner we shared a message about hastening the work of salvation. We seriously need help from the members to find us people to teach. There's know way the work will hasten on our efforts alone. Tracting is super unaffective. Elder McMullan finally realized that yesterday. He looooves tracting. It's okay I think. There is a much better way of doing missionary work though and that is through the members. The members here don't like coming out with us that much though. Our new ward mission leader, Brother Cox, is determined to change that though.

Well I better wrap this up. I know that Jesus Christ is at the head of this church. The Book of Mormon is definitely the word of God. Any person who reads it with an open heart will know that it is true. It is impossible to find the Book of Mormon to be false if your heart is open. It's okay to have doctrinal questions, but they can be resolved through prayer and study, not looking at Anti-mormon literature. Elder Andersen said, "Studying the Church … through the eyes of its defectors,” Elder Neal A. Maxwell once said, is 'like interviewing Judas to understand Jesus. Defectors always tell us more about themselves than about that from which they have departed.'” This week I have also come to know how important it is to write down spiritual impressions that we get so we know how God is involved in our life. i've been keeping a little notebook in my pocket to do that.

Also, since it's almost New Years, take a look at this video when you get a chance.
http://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/new-years-look-not-behind-thee?cid=HP_MO_12-28-2015_dPFD_fMRMN_xLIDyL1-A_

Love,

Elder Soutas

Oh my goodness, BYU! It's so hard to be a BYU fan. I'm so glad I didn't have to watch it. I'm so happy for Jordan and Alex!

My letter this week is going to be pretty short.

Our mission has been pushing to reach a goal of 375 baptisms for the year. Unfortunately, our area isn't going to have any baptisms. I'm not sure if there is something we are not doing or if it's just the agency of others. It's kind of frustrating. This area is such a huge area and is so hard to juggle so many things at once. 

However, we did get 2 new investigators up in Vandalia which is really far away from where we live. Brother Gleckler takes the missionaries once a month up there to do his hometeaching visits. We got an online referral a couple days before. A lady named Mary stumbled upon mormon.org somehow. She had been praying to get her life back on track. She didn't expect us to show up at her house. She and her husband Troy are willing to have us come by every Sunday now.  It was a cool how we were an answer to their prayers. We were also an answer to someone else's prayer too. This guy named Will who was a referral, has anger issues and one night he was praying for help. The next day we showed up and set up an appointment. A few days later we had a short discussion with him and towards the end he realized that we were an answer to his prayer! He is willing to meet with us after the holidays because he will be out of town. It was cool to see how God will send help to those who really seek Him. I studied a little bit about prayer this week. It's been pretty hard to have meaningful prayer lately. I wake up most mornings super beat. But prayer is a form of work. I learned that praying in the name of Christ isn't just something we say at the end of a prayer, but it means that we surrender our will completely to him. Then we cannot ask amiss. My whole life I haven't relied on prayer all that much. I would always do it without fail every morning and night, but I didn't really try to recognize God answering my prayers. I still struggle at that honestly, and I'm not really sure how he does it,  but it's something I will be working on.

Well I've got to go. Look forward to talking with you on Christmas. it will probably be around 4pm. 

Christmas Talk

Hey Everybody,

fyi, when it says "you" I am referring to my mom because I copied and pasted this from my email I sent to her because emails take way too long.

This week was cool. All of our investigators who were on date dropped their dates for the 26th which was a bummer. We got one more on date for Jan 9 with Beau (see Dad's email for details.) Jose who was the most ready to be baptized wants more time to read the scriptures before he gets baptized. Mike Y. needs more time to pray about it. Mike F. is looking at anti material and will probably have to be dropped because he won't commit. It a hard situation or him though. We will see what happens with him. 

In other news, we had a less active member named Bryan come to church this week. He really wants to change his life around. He also brought his friend Lisa who is kind of our investigator. She kind of just sits in. Bryan also brought her 7 year old daughter Lily. We were glad about that. In other news, Brother Barfield is doing super. He has now not only finished the book of Mormon, but the doctrine and covenants and most of the pearl of great price. we will see him again tonight. Next we are going to have him get to the temple to do baptisms. He passed the sacrament again this week. In other news, our bishop was shouting loudly over the pulpit basically forcing people to sign up to do merit badges for the boy scouts since someone quit their calling. I'm not sure how our investigators (Mike, Beau, and Lisa) felt about that. Luckily the rest of sacrament meeting was better. And just out of curiosity, how are the ward councils back home run? Are they effective? because our mission president has been stressing this a lot lately to hasten the work of salvation. Our ward council is pretty ineffective at this point. People just don't get it. 

We were asked to talk in church. I was the last speaker though and so they ran out of time. Which means I didn't have to speak. I had mixed feelings about that.   I gave the lesson in the YSA class 2nd hour of church about what I originally planned to give in my talk. 

I was going to speak about the things you sent me in your last email about building a stable family foundation. I couldn't really remember all the things you said about each of the nativity characters so I sort of came up with my own. 

Mary- she was a pure chosen vessel who was virtuous. She also bore a lot and that's what mothers do. They hold the family together. 

According to Jeffery R. Holland from last conference,  "You see, it is not only that they bear us, but they continue bearing with us. It is not only the prenatal carrying but the lifelong carrying that makes mothering such a staggering feat...Thank you. Thank you for giving birth, for shaping souls, for forming character, and for demonstrating the pure love of Christ.” 

I reecho the words of Jeffery R. Holland to you, mother. For the first time on my birthday this year I realized that I shouldn't be the one being celebrated for, but you should have because you carried me for 9 months. I appreciate your love you give me and I am starting to tear up as I type these words. 

If you are crying now, I'd give you a tissue if I could.

(yes I started to cry when I read this)

Joseph--like you said, he was a just man. Alma 13 (which is a chapter all about the priesthood) talks about how just and holy men were given the priesthood. Also about Joseph, he presided, provided, and protected for Jesus and Mary (see Family Proclamation). He heeded the angels warning to take them to Egypt when Herod was going to kill the newborn babies under 2. He surely provided for Mary as they made the long trek from the city of Nazareth to Bethlehem. He is a good example of what a father should be like. 

Shepherds-- what do shepherds do. They watch over the flocks and prevent their prey from entering in. Likewise, in our families we must watch and pray always as families so temptation and contention doesn't creep into our home. The Shepherds also "came with haste," which means we need to be quick to observe, to obey our parents when they ask the first time

Angel-- a stable family reaches out to other families. They don't keep to themselves. The angel brought "glad tidings of great joy unto all people." As families, we can't be content with just having the gospel for ourselves, but must bring these glad tidings to other families, especially those in the ward that are struggling. The angel of the Lord also said "Fear not." Likewise our home should be a place where we need to learn faith instead of fear. The home should be a place that is sacred and holy where we can enjoy peace and rest. 

Jesus-- Lastly, but certainly not least, Jesus represents Charity of course. The pure love of Christ. Christ must be at the center of our homes. If there is not charity in our homes then our families are useless. Jesus also represents humility since he was born in a manger. Members of a family must be humble enough to forgive each other and look past their idiosyncrasies and shortcomings. 

Another thing I learned this week is that you need to be careful not to misinterpret the scriptures. I was reading in the bible dictionary under "dispensations." It says in there that "there are things reserved for the fullness of times that have not been revealed previously (see D&c 121:26-27). And so I read that which says:

26

God shall give unto you knowledge by his Holy Spirit , yea, by the unspeakable gift of the Holy Ghost, that has not been revealed since the world was until now; 

27Which our forefathers have awaited with anxious expectation to be revealed in the last times, which their minds were pointed to by the angels, as held in reserve for the fulness of their glory; 

So I read that and my mind was blown. You see, I read it thinking that it meant that they gift of the holy ghost hadn't been revealed until Joseph Smith. I thought to myself, how could this be? In the book of Mormon it talks about how they got the gift of the holy ghost. As well as in Acts 2 and acts 8. So after rereading ( and I actually prayed to know the meaning behind all of this) I came to realize that the verse was talking about knowledge that had not been revealed before. It wasn't referring to the holy ghost, it was referring to knowledge. The way it was phrased was kind of tricky. So yeah, kind of neat study experience. 

Yeah so send me any cool study insights you get while you read this week. I'll try sending you a separate email every week from now on.

I love you! all

Elder Soutas

A good week

A lot of good things happened this week. 

 Transfers were Wednesday. My new companion is Elder McMullan. He is a funny guy.  He is from Maryland and will be going home pretty soon. He is really good at getting referrals from people because he asks everyone. We got like 10 referrals since he's been here.

On Wednesday we tracted accidentally into a less active family named the Sliningers whose grandmother passed away a few days earlier.  We took the sacrament to Sister Slininger every week. It was really good timing that we tracted into them. Brother Slininger has been inactive for quite some time now. He is divorced and living with his 7 year old daughter and his brothers and sisters. He also has a non member friend named Lisa living there who is willing to take the lessons now, though she says she is Catholic and never changing. They are all coming to church this next week though.

Jose is doing so good. It's looking like he is going to be baptized at the end of the month at this rate. He loves reading the scriptures. He is solid. 

Mike F still isn't coming to church. He wants to but he has to ask his parents but his parents aren't supportive. They won't even let us meet inside his house ever. We tried buying a pizza for the family to see if they'd let us in. Didn't work. Good pizza though. Don't know what we will do about him.

Mike Y came to church! He asked us if we could come back later and have a testimony meeting with him. He shared us his whole life story and told us everything. We'll see what happens with him. 

We had 3 people come to church yesterday! One of them was unexpected. Our investigator named Beau who I was talking about last week came to church! On tuesday he was so desperate and so I bought some pretty nice boots from him for 40 dollars since I need them. I may have given him 10 more dollars which I'm not supposed to do that. It's hard to follow that rule when people are desparate. Like do I just turn them away? But anyways, Fransisco let Beau stay over at his place for a day and took him to church. He enjoyed church he said.  He is going to meet with us Thursday. I've been praying for that guy a lot. Unfortunately, he moved back in with his girlfriend yesterday and still is jobless. We will see how things go.

So that's pretty much what happened this week.

I'm ponderizing this week James 3:17-18

 17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

 18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

have a happy week!

Elder Soutas

6 month mark

   Nephiting (He didn't explain) :)

Heyo!

Another fantastic week!

Thanksgiving was nice. Dinner was excellent. The Pecan pie was my favorite. They eat a lot of pecans around here. Today I learned how to crack them with my bare hands. Like this!
Also on thanksgiving, We got to play football with the ward! Normally we aren't allowed to play football with members or nonmembers. But just for Thanksgiving we were allowed to. We also were allowed to watch football, except the game we watched was super boring (Dallas vs. Carolina). Only watched the 4th quarter. Football really isn't all that important I have come to realize. But it sure excites me though!

I'm glad my cougars are doing pretty good! Way to blow out Utah State! That's how it should be.

Brother Barfield received the Aaronic priesthood yesterday! Ordained a priest. When he got to church he told me that he had been writing down the sacrament prayers to get familiar with them. He was really committed to receive the priesthood. His grandfather played a key role in his conversion. Growing up, his grandfather would take him to church sometimes. Over the years he fell away (not really sure why) but he always admired his grandfather. He wanted to get the priesthood to make him proud. He's quit drinking, and he also finished the entire Book of Mormon in 2 months is all. He already has started reading the Doctrine of Covenants. I love that guy! I teared up during his ordination.

We found out that one of our investigators who we've met with a few times is homeless somewhere! He sent us a text saying he had a horrible thanksgiving, he contracted pneumonia. His girlfriend kicked him out! Poor dude. I was really looking forward to teaching him. Beau was a nice guy. Actually....just 10 minutes ago Beau ran into us at the Library. I had prayed that we'd be able to still meet with him. God answered my prayer! Pretty cool. We talked with him outside of the library just now. He's in a bad place, you can just see it all over his face. He is looking for work but hasn't found any yet. Doesn't help that he has a criminal record. He is a little disappointed in God right now because he doesn't realize that the choices he's made have led him to where he is now.  He still wants to try to meet with us though so we will see what happens. He's still homeless.

Also this week, Mike Frost got on date for baptism December 26! Had a great lesson with him at the Rhiner's home. He and Jose are both set for the day after Christmas! Mike's been kind of flaky lately. So we'll see if he progresses and COMES TO CHURCH! He rarely comes. He's afraid of what his dad thinks.

Yesterday in church Lehland and I did a special musical number: "If the Savior Stood Beside Me." Before we started he came up to me while I was sitting on the piano bench and said "may the spirit be in your fingers." Haha I got a kick out of that! I changed a few notes here and there of the song to jazz it up a little bit. Turned out magnifico! Lehland really wanted to oooooh at the end but he said the spirit constrained him. That guy is so funny! He wants to get sealed so bad to Sister Fisher but she won't marry him until he finds a good job. He's been looking really hard too but no one is hiring him. He wants to be a police officer.

Anywyas, this week is transfers. I'm staying here and Elder McMullin is replacing Elder Lovik. I think Elder McMullin has been out for a while. Elder Lovik and I had some good times together.

As always I will try to end with something spiritual. I was reading this week a talk called "The Fourth Missionary" by Elder Lawrence E. Colbridge. I haven't read it all the way through, but from I have read it's definitely one that makes you self-evaluate yourself. You'll have to find the talk online. I can't find it on lds.org. It breaks down four different missionaries. The first missionary is super disobedient and ends up going home. The second, is pretty disobedient but manages to complete his mission. The third missionary is obedient, faithful, enjoys the spirit, surrenders his might and strength, but withholds his heart and mind, does what the lord wants to do, but does what he wants to do as well. Though the third missionary does many great things, yet surprisingly he is NOT changed by his mission. Elder Corbridge quotes 1 corinthians 13 and Moroni 7 which say:

1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 

 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

6 For behold, God hath said a man being evil cannot do that which is good; for if he offereth a gift, or prayeth unto God, except he shall do it with real intent it profiteth him nothing.

 7 For behold, it is not counted unto him for righteousness.

 8 For behold, if a man being evil giveth a gift, he doeth it grudgingly; wherefore it is counted unto him the same as if he had retained the gift; wherefore he is counted evil before God.

 9 And likewise also is it counted evil unto a man, if he shall pray and not with real intent of heart; yea, and it profiteth him nothing, for God receiveth none such.

These truths are an eye-opener. You can be doing all of the right things. Going to church, saying your prayers, reading your scriptures, fasting, being a missionary, and yet if you are doing them for the wrong reasons then it doesn't do you any good. "Good will be done, the poor will be fed, the truth defended, but the good that you do will do you no good unless your heart is right and you have charity." It's so easy to go through the motions, but even doing the right things will do you no good if you have not charity. Ponder that one. 

So how do we have charity then?
"Charity, like faith, leads to action. You will develop charity as you look for opportunities to serve others and give of yourself." (Preach My Gospel)

"The Savior wants you to receive His love, and He also wants you to share it with others. He declared to His disciples: “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:34–35). In your relationships with family members and others, look to the Savior as your example. Strive to love as He loves, with unfailing compassion, patience, and mercy."

"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure”

It takes a lot of prayer in order to increase in charity, that's for sure. I invite you all to evaluate the things you do. Are you doing them just to check them off of a list, or are you doing it out of love.

So will you all commit to have charity? 

YES!

Well I know the Lord will help you out as you forget about yourself and focus more on others.

(That's what we do as missionaries. Leave commitments). Maybe I'll start doing that every week.

Have a good week!

Share the Gospel

Afternoon, family,

It's been yet another challenging but good week. I have gained lots of weight since I have left. Just kidding, I have actually gained zero weight which is good. I'm very suprised about that though, since Lehland always brings home cake for us to eat. Yesterday I had icecream after we broke our fast. Neopolitan. Very good. We eat pretty good for the most part here. Haven't had any baby back ribs though.

I'm having a hard time thinking of anything interesting that happened this week. Let's see...

Well this past week Elder Lovik put me in charge of most things. I got to lead out in planning sessions and lessons and such. I also I got to drive around for a couple days this week because he had pink eye or something and also because it was exchanges.

This week has been cold! It's only like 35 degrees but it feels like 10 because of the humidity. I  have to wear my white shirt, a sweater, a jacket, and my new coat or else it will go right through me. I also need to buy a beenie that keeps the cold out. I bought some long johns though which kept me pretty warm. This is a bone chillin place though!

Our investigators are doing pretty good. Had a good lesson with Mike F. He had stopped reading the book of mormon as much as he used to and so we shared "Faith is not by Chance but by Choice" with him. He now says he is going to read the book of mormon from cover to cover like we invited him to. He says he has been in a lot of confusion for a while, and that's because he hasn't been reading the book of mormon. So if you are reading this and are confused about something, read the book of mormon. It will help.

Mike Y. is doing pretty good too. We met with him 4 times this week. He came with us one of the times to another lesson we had with a less active guy named Hunter. He is an interesting fellow. He loves God and will go to a lot of YSA activities and church functions. He is willing to help people with their home teaching too. He feels like the book of mormon is probably true, but wants to read it all the way through before deciding on baptism. He needs to read more then or it's going to be a while.

Jose injured his eye while at work this week. He got some kind of chemical in it so we weren't able to meet with him. He came to church though. Jose is the best. Such a humble guy. I've had to work on my spanish a little so we can communicate a little better. Good thing we have Fransisco. There is a special place in the Celestial Kingdom for people like fransisco. He'll drop everything to help us out. And he is a convert of only a few years. He fed us Talapia tacos with his homemade guacamole. He is the best. I learned yesterday that he is the middle of 18 other siblings from the same mom!

Brother Barfield is doing oustanding! He is in 3 Nephi! It's only been almost 2 months since he started reading it! Granted, he is retired. But still. Also he said he is done drinking beer. The bishop said that this week he could have 3 more beers (last week was 6), but Brother Barfield said he is just going to quit now! I wish we could be there while he drinks his last beer. We could drink root beer while he drinks his last one! It would be so funny. He accepted a call as a ward missionary which is going to help us out a great deal.
His faith is so amazing! He doesn't question anything, he just does it! I'm so happy that we found him. Meeting with him is like the highlight of the week. I always have so much joy seeing his progression!

The more I'm out here, the more I realize how much time I wasted back home. I could have spent a lot more time serving and trying to share the gospel with other people. I hardly ever did. I didn't think that people could change. Sharing the gospel bring more joy than anything. Said President Eyring: 

"Few joys in life are sweeter and longer lasting than knowing that you have helped others take the restored gospel of Jesus Christ into their hearts. Having that joy is the opportunity of every member of the Church. When we were baptized, we made a promise that we would “stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that [we] may be in, even until death, that [we] may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that [we] may have eternal life” (Mosiah 18:9).

All members accept part of the charge given to the Church to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world, wherever and as long as they live. The Lord said it clearly: “Behold, I sent you out to testify and warn the people, and it becometh every man who hath been warned to warn his neighbor” (D&C 88:81). Full-time missionaries are to have the power to teach those who are not yet members of the Church. Members of the Church are to have the power to find those the Lord has prepared for the missionaries to teach.

We need to exercise our faith that the Lord has prepared people around us to be taught. He knows who they are and when they are ready, and He can guide us to them by the power of the Holy Ghost and give us words to invite them to be taught. The promise the Lord gave to a missionary in 1832 is also the promise He gives to us in our charge to find people ready for teaching by the missionaries: “I will send upon him the Comforter, which shall teach him the truth and the way whither he shall go; and inasmuch as he is faithful, I will crown him again with sheaves” (D&C 79:2–3).

And the promise of great joy for the faithful missionary is also ours as faithful members who give our hearts to missionary work:

“And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!

“Behold, you have my gospel before you, and my rock, and my salvation.

“Ask the Father in my name, in faith believing that you shall receive, and you shall have the Holy Ghost, which manifesteth all things which are expedient unto the children of men” (D&C 18:16–18).

In addition to the Holy Ghost to help us recognize and invite those ready to be taught, the Lord has called and trained leaders to guide us. In a letter dated February 28, 2002, the First Presidency placed increased responsibility for missionary work on bishops and wards. ¹ With the help of the ward or branch council, the priesthood executive committee develops a missionary plan for the unit. In that plan are suggestions on how members can find those ready to be taught by the missionaries. There is a person called as the ward or branch mission leader. That mission leader has close contact with the full-time missionaries and their investigators.

There are many ways you can better meet your personal obligation to help find people for the missionaries to teach. The simplest way will be the best.

Pray to be guided by the Holy Ghost. Talk with local leaders and missionaries, asking for their suggestions and promising them your help. Encourage those involved with you in this work. And be a witness at all times in what you say and do that Jesus is the Christ and that God answers prayers.

I testify that the Holy Ghost will direct you to those who seek truth as you pray and work for that guidance. And I know from experience that your joy will be lasting with those who choose to take the gospel into their hearts and then endure in faith."

I hope that you all realize that life isn't about being entertained everyday but reaching out to others. Share the gospel at least by example, and "if necessary with words." 

Love you all!

Have a good week! Enjoy your thanksgiving. I will. I get to play football and actually watch football just fort thanksgiving. Can you believe it?

Elder Soutas

Brother and Sister McAdoo who Elder Soutas lives with

Fan your flame of faith

We had a really good week. We are continuing to make progress with Jose. He is committed to living the word of wisdom. He was already keeping it in fact. Mike is doing pretty good except he was out of town for the weekend do go to some Lutheran witnessing camp. He still says he wants to be baptized thankfully. He needs to exercise more faith though since he got his answer. This week, we are thinking it will be a good idea to have dinner with him at our bishop's house and have a testimony meeting afterwards. This kid needs to get baptized so bad! The timing needs to be right though. As for our other investigator named Mike, he found out that he will be able to get Sundays off for the next month so he can come to church! We are excited about that. We also found a new investigator this week named William. We had a great member present lesson with him. He had a kidney transplant recently and so he has been humbled. We knocked on their door during exchanges. They were a potential last transfer but never answered their door. But we felt we should knock on their door again and this time we talked with William's significant other named Brittany. We shared with her how the gospel blesses families and now she is willing to come by and teach her, William, and their two daughters. I remember praying a few weeks ago that we would be able to find a family to teach and I feel that this will be the family. Last night, we found a young single mother named Kaitlyn while tracting in Carlyle. She recently got separated from her significant other and she is left with a newborn of 3 months. We ran into her while she was at her families house. We were actually looking for her brother Thomas that we ran into a couple days ago, but he moved. Since she actually lives in Centralia, we referred her to the sisters. Kaitlyn was very receptive and eager to know more about the gospel. I wish we got to teach her, but it will work out better with the sisters since she is single.
As for our less actives, Brother Barfield came to church for the 5th week in a row! During sunday school the Bishop pulled him aside and extended a calling to be a ward missionary! He accepted. We  think he will be instrumental in helping us in the work in the Nashville and Okawville areas. Another less active member named Jennifer  came to church for the 3rd week in a row. She is getting ready to go to the temple. From what we've talked to her about, she sounds worthy to go to the temple, but she thinks that she isn't for really small reasons like drinking caffeine and watching shows like Vampire Diaries. She recently got a calling as a family history consultant which she loves. That will keep her coming to church.
The Centralia Ward is doing awesome! 

As you are aware, I was in a doubting mind set on Monday. I'm not sure where it all came from. But I'm doing much better now. This week I ended up reading a lot of good talks about believing and faith. Also, for sacrament meeting, I accompanied the Sisters in I Believe in Christ. I think the Lord is trying to tell me something about believing.  We finally got a copy of this month's ensign to finally read all of the conference talks! The first talk I read was "Lord I Believe" by Elder Holland. I like how he said that it's okay to have questions  as long as we don't lead with our unbelief. We should all say to ourselves "Lord I believe, help thou mine unbelief." I also read Neil L. Andersen's talk "Faith is not by Chance, but by Choice." This one was cool because it explained how faith is an actual "substance" of light to our spirits that we obtain by our obedience. Our faith never remains stagnant, but is either increasing our decreasing. He said that "Faith never demands an answer to every question but seeks the assurance and courage to move forward, sometimes acknowledging, 'I don’t know everything, but I do know enough to continue on the path of discipleship.^'"

^{Our faith is like a fire. It can become extinguished if we allow doubt to take hold of us. The fire of our faith needs to grow because  "} The difficulties of mortality blow against [us], and evil forces lurk in the darkness, hoping to extinguish our faith" 

The other talk I read was by Whitney L. Clayton "Choose to Believe". He said: "We will not accidentally come to believe in the Savior and His gospel any more than we will accidentally pray or pay tithing. We actively choose to believe, just like we choose to keep other commandments.Sometimes progress in spiritual things can seem slow or intermittent. Sometimes we may feel that we have lost ground, that we have made mistakes, or that our best efforts to find the Savior are not working. If you feel this way, please do not give up—ever. Go right on believing in Him and in His gospel and His Church. Align your actions with that belief. In those moments when the light of your faith has dimmed, let your hope for the Savior’s love and grace, found in His gospel and His Church, overcome your doubt. I promise that He stands ready to receive you. Over time you will come to see that you have made the best choice you could possibly have made. Your courageous decision to believe in Him will bless you immeasurably and forever." 

So I like these talks because it's okay if you don't know some things. I BELIEVE many of the things of the gospel and there are many things which I of course now KNOW. But you should always focus more on what you do know than what you don't know. If we desire our beliefs to work within us then as Elder Holland has said: "what was once a tiny seed of belief [can] grow into the tree of life. so if your faith is a little tested in this or any season, I invite you to lean on mine. I know this work is God’s very truth, and I know that only at our peril would we allow doubt or devils to sway us from its path. Hope on. Journey on. Honestly acknowledge your questions and your concerns, but first and forever fan the flame of your faith, because all things are possible to them that believe. Never apologize for only believing. The Lord said "Fear not, only believe."

Love you all! I'm going lazer tagging again today. Yay

Elder Soutas

Hi Dad. Those are some really scenic pictures of California. At first I thought you were in South America. How come you are traveling so much? What's the deal? You should travel to southern illinois. Just kidding. There's nothing to do here except harvest corn and soybeans. There's no mountains that's for sure. The highest point around here is 500 feet above sea level. Lame. It's getting a little frio here. Good thing I ordered a coat from this catalog this guy gave me at Subway the other day. We went there the other day hoping to run into Brother Mills. He is an old man known as the "Mayor of Subway." He and his cronies go there like everyday and they heckle people.
Is there really a tornado coming this Wednesday?! Sweet! I'm not aware of any tornado shelters around here but I think we will figure out a way to be safe. I hope I get to see one so I can have some cool stories to tell. 

Hopefully BYU wins by forfeit because it sounds like they don't stand much of a chance against Mizzou. My companion always wears his mizzou shirt since he served in columbia. 

This week went pretty well.

Here's a quick rundown of all of the people we taught this week:

Jose- Met with him twice. We use Fransisco to translate for us. He is on date for baptism december 3. The challenge will be the word of wisdom. 

Mike F. - 18 years old. He's not progressing. He found out the book of mormon is true but having a hard time making the next step. His dad doesn't support him which doesn't help.

Mike Y. - 28 Came to church this week. Usually works sundays, but is trying not to. Hasn't been reading a whole lot from Book of Mormon. He comes to YSA activities a lot. Family is really important to him. He's pretty cool and looks like Bruce Springstein. His ex-girlfriend is in a coma. Has an 8 year old daughter. We're having dinner with him and a family tonight.

Bro. Barfield (LA)- Came to church for 4th week in a row! Trying to quit drinking and doing a great job at it! 

Hunter J. (LA)- didn't come to church. He's less active from church for 11months now. 

Jennifer S (LA).- came for 2nd week in a row! 

John M.- probably going to be dropped at some point. He's set in his baptist ways. He likes having "bible study" with us though.

Gene- new investigator. Seems promising. 

Beau- Has a lot of issues to work with but really respects us. A few poor decisions has led him to where he is now. He's really a cool guy though.

So that's basically a rundown.

Have a good week! 

Elder Soutas

HapPpy BIrthDaY Elder Soutas

Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes and packages! It was a really good birthday. The weather was perfect (71 degrees). Couldn't have asked for better weather. At church people sang me happy birthday, and when we got home later the family we live with fed us really good chicken and gave me a birthday cake.

It was a good week. We didn't get in with a whole lot of our investigators, but made some progress with some less actives. We helped a lady named Jennifer come to church this week. She is a single mom who works lots of hours and has to deal with really rambunctious kids so it is hard for her to make it to church. She has really been wanting to go to church so we were glad she was able to make it.

Brother Barfield is still going strong. He fed us dinner AGAIN. Lasagna. He is such a great guy! That's 3 weeks in a row that he's come to church. He is really appreciative of what we've done to help him.

This week was the ward's Fall Festival at the Mooth's farm. There was a corn maze, chili cookoff, and such. One of our investigators, Mike the older, (not to be confused with Mike the younger) brought his 8 year old daughter Aubrey to the party. He helped us mummify our car with toilet paper for the trunk or treat they had and we went through the corn maze with him. Apparently he looks like Bruce Springstein. I should know who that is, but I don't. We also had a good law of chastity lesson with Mike. He says he really wants to get married to a Mormon and doing so would solidify him being baptized Mormon. He kind of wants to set his own date to be baptized. Great guy.

That's pretty much it for this week. It went pretty well. Thanks again for all of the birthday wishes!

Scripture for the week:

I'm redoing the one from last week. Since I didn't do such a great job of ponderizing it.

Mosiah 24: 14

"And I will ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders,that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions."

Thanks,

Elder Soutas

Made a fruit Boquet for Sis McAdoo

very creative :)

Love This one: 

Watch out Elder!

No, I am not piling out. We already finished planning and Elder Lovik was just bored and waiting for the zone leaders to call. 

Hogs and Halloween

A kind member texted this picture on Halloween

The hogs we were with are our former ward mission leader, Brother George McKinney. He is a farmer. We helped him fix his pig trough and after were testing it out. Pigs are filthy creatures. 

Teaching and Raking leaves

Hey everyone,

It looks like the Halloweeny party was pretty cool. I really enjoyed looking at all of your costumes. Here in Centralia, they do trick-or-treating on Oct 30 because they do a special halloween parade on Halloween.

It also looks like Sandy Eggo was cool. I'm really happy Brycen got to go with you. I really like his black and green shirt. If you send me a tie for my birthday I would like a green one. Green and silver perhaps or just anything that's green and cool. I have too many blue ties. Also I will be needing a coat pretty soon.

So this week was transfers. I'm still here of course. So is my trainer of course. We got a couple new missionaries though. We've got another missionary from Riverton/Texas named Elder Hatch and a new sister missionary from Blackfoot Idaho named Sister Williams. They both will make some good contributions to our district. They cool.

This week was cool. We got two new promising investigators. One is named Beau. He's cool. We ran into him yesterday. He has a solid Christian background, but is pretty interested in our church since his best friend growing up was LDS. He was invited to his friend's wedding in Utah but never went to it. He knew he was married in the temple, and so the conversation just went from there. He really likes the picture of the Salt Lake temple on the invitation his friend gave to him and wants to show us. I really feel like the Lord has been preparing him quite some time.

We got another potential investigator in Okawville named Lucinda. When we knocked on her door, she just got off the phone with her daughter who's best friend got news of cancer. The daughter's best friend was like another daughter to her so she was pretty upset. We read some good verses from the book of mormon with her to shed some hope and now she would like to meet with us again sometime. The Book of Mormon works better than anything else. It's the most powerful tool in missionary work!

Brother Barfield is doing amazing. Sure, he is still struggling because of his wife, but he was already in 2 Nephi 9 when we met him on Friday! That's exactly what chapter I'm in right now. He came to church yesterday again and he told us he really wants to get the priesthood! We are so happy for him. The ward is treating him so well which is good.

We raked a lot of leaves and mowed a few lawns this week for some less actives--Hunter and Ryan. I think I might buy a rake because it would be a good service opportunity or a way to talk to someone about the gospel. I raked Ryan's whole lawn with half of a broken rake. My back was pretty sore the next couple of days from bending over.
  Hunter is a recent convert who hasn't been to church once this year.  Such a nice fella. We showed "The Gift of Grace" by Uchtdorf  to him. I studied that one a lot this week. I like it.

We met with John M. on Thursday. He is Korean american. He was going to drop us because his preacher doesn't like us meeting with him. Luckily, our ward mission leader Brother McKinney talked some sense into him to keep meeting with us. Something cool happened in that lesson. I had a thought to turn to Moroni 7 to address a concern John had. Turns out, Elder Lovik had the same thought to turn to the same scriptures we shared so it must have been the spirit. John is no longer going to drop us, in fact he said in his stuttering voice that he really felt the spirit and that he will actually pray to know if the book of mormon is true. We hope he does. He's not quite all there so we will see if he follows through. I pray he will.

Another cool thing that happened this week. We were visiting the Velasquez family who have been less active for a little while because of some family forgiveness issues/gossip. Halfway in the middle of our conversation the sisters walked in without knowing we were there. They kind of took over and sang a song which inspired Sister Velasquez to come back to church. The new sister missionary, Sister Williams, has an extremely amazing voice. For our district meeting with President and Sister Morgan this week, I will be accompanying the sisters in I am a Child of God. Anyways..Sister Velasquez and the family came yesterday and the whole sacrament program was centered around forgiveness which was exactly what the family needed to hear. Cool huh? After sacrament it looked like a lot of members talked with her and forgave each other.

Mike didn't make it to church this week. Good news for us though, he will be staying for at least 3 more months so he will most likely be baptized here! We are hoping for November 14. He still hasn't stood up to his parents yet like we've been encouraging him to do.

Jose came to church. He is very hard to meet with. His baptismal date is Dec 3 because of that. He has come to church consistently every other week because of work on Sunday for the past 3-4 months.

This week was pretty good. Saw some cool miracles happen. 

My scripture for this week: 

Mosiah 24: 14-15

"And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions. And Now, it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his bretheren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord."

If I were you I would read this verse along with Elder David A. Bednar's talk he gave last year, 'They Did Bear Their Burdens With Ease"

Love you all. The gospel is true.

Elder Soutas

Bro Barfield

Carlyle District doing the President Morgan pose
Elders Keller, Serage, Soutas, Lovik, Sisters Schow, and Oldroyd.

This week went by so so fast! The highlight of the week was this:

We've been teaching a 60 year old man who lost his wife 3 months ago. His named is Brother Barfield. On Tuesday, he invited himself to church for Sunday!! We were taken aback when he said he wanted to go. We didn't even have to ask! He hadn't set foot in the church for 20 years! He also hadn't gone much before then since he doesn't even have the aaronic priesthood! But he came Sunday, and the ward welcomed him back with open arms. It was really cool to see! He came in a slick looking silver suit as well. His face just lit up like a jack-o-lantern (he is missing a few teeth) while everyone was saying hi to him. He felt the spirit really strongly. There were a couple of really good talks by our bishop, Bishop Kretschmer (who is probably the most entertaining bishop out there), and one of the Sister Missionaries, Sister Schow, who is such a great missionary here but is leaving and becoming an STL in O'Fallon. The sisters get work done in Centralia and now we Elders need to step up our game since she is gone. But I was so glad that church was a great experience for Brother Barfield! We had a lesson on family history work/temples in Sunday school which was exactly what he needed to hear since the passing of his wife. He was pretty emotional the whole time, but it was really amazing to see how welcomed he was. Many people have stopped attending church because they don't feel welcomed.

Bro Barfield:

Well other than Brother Barfield, not a whole lot happened. We didn't meet with Jose this week, or one of the Mikes. But the other Mike didn't come to church which was disappointing. He could have been baptized next week if he came this week, but now it's looking like he isn't ready to be baptized here in Illinois. He still wants to be baptized, but it probably won't happen until he moves to Clarksville, Tennessee. Luckily there are 3 wards in Clarksville so he'll be taken care of.

Well I am all emailed out for today, but I will just close with my testimony.

My first 6 weeks in the field has been quite an experience so far! I have come to enjoy getting to know so many wonderful saints and future saints in the area. I have learned thus far that best way to get through hard things is to call down the powers of heaven through prayer, and to lose yourself in selfless service. Also, I am learning that it can be hard to be kind to certain people sometimes, but it is possible if you ask the Lord to help. I know that Heavenly Father is helping me and I'm sure that he answers prayers that are heartfelt. I'm still learning to become better at prayer, but I at least know that it helps. I know Jesus Christ went through a lot of pain but he did it out of supreme love. He loves us all unfathomably, and even when you are not sure if he is really there you've just got to believe he is or else things only get worse. He is the light of the world which can never be dimmed. He showed us the way to eternal life. The Book of Mormon is true. It completes the bible, and I have seen in people's lives how without the Book of Mormon and the restored gospel life is incomplete. And of course Joseph Smith is a prophet and helped bring about this great and marvelous work. He saw the Son standing on the right hand of The Father. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true.

My scripture for this week is:

3 Nephi 18:24
" Therefore, hold up your light that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up—that which ye have seen me do."

Love you all,

Elder Soutas

The Gospel shall roll forth

Good evening,

I don't usually send emails this late in the day. Normally, p-day should end at 6, but I guess in our mission as long as we get 3 proselyting hours in, then it's fine to do emails after 6, though it's not preferable. I would have sent an email much earlier but we got a call from Brother Lefferts to help him load/unload a bunch of junk he had been keeping in a storage unit. Brother Lefferts is a recent convert, vietnam veteran, and just a funny old guy. He's like another grandpa to me, though he could never replace Grandpa Allen or Grandpa Bob. He helps us out a ton by fellowshipping for our investigators. He also drives us around a lot so we can save miles. He usually will take us to our lessons with Mike in New Minden. Speaking of Mike, he is doing excellent. Mike is pretty much ready to be baptized, just needs to come to church more consistently. He could get baptized as early as October 24. We are going to talk to him about this week. He is moving to Tennessee at the beginning of next month so we will see what he wants to do. He came to church for the 2nd time this week. It was Stake Conference in O'Fallon which is a good hour away from here. Stake Conference (saturday and sunday) was really really good. Elder K. David Scott from the Seventy came to speak as well as our mission president and wife, President and Sister Morgan. I can't really remember a whole lot what they said at the moment. A lot of it had to do with hastening the work of salvation and having the missionaries and members work in unity. Elder Scott did a neat demonstration where he had a recently activated gentlemen come up to the pulpit and share his reactivation story. Then he had all of the people who influenced his coming back to church come to the pulpit as well. There were over like 15 people who played a key role. There were others as well. His demonstration just goes to show how important it is for members to help out as well, because missionaries can't do it by themselves. I think most members do a pretty good job at that, but in order for the work to hasten it would certainly help if people sought for more missionary opportunities. When I return from my mission, I can't wait to keep bringing people back to the fold. There is no greater joy than saving a soul. There really isn't. Don't believe me? Try it :) 

I really like this verse in Dand C 65:2  "The keys of the kingdom of God are committed unto man on the earth, and from thence shall the gospel roll forth unto the ends of the earth, as the stone which is cut out of the mountain without hands shall roll forth, until it has filled the whole earth." The work of salvation is hastening. The stone is rolling like a snowball and is growing and growing. Elder Scott said something pretty cool. He said that it's not too far distant that there will be a numerous amount of people joining the church because of the increasingly wicked world. They will have nowhere else to turn to, no other church to either. Eventually the decision to either join the church and follow the lord, or follow the devil will be pretty black and white. I thought that was interesting.

Anyways, Our other investigator, Jose, said yes to being baptized on December 3. Kind of a long time from now. But there is a language barrier between us so it takes us longer to teach him the lessons. Thank goodness we have Francisco help us translate everything. Bless his heart. He is the most humble, willing Mexican man I'll probably ever meet. He'll do anything for us. Jose is the best. He gave us homemade horchata afterwards. Muy sabroso (I think sabroso means tasty)! Aparently those 3 years of spanish didn't do a whole lot for me. 

Jose also came to stake conference on Sunday! He probably didn't understand much, but at least he came. He's actually been coming to church every other sunday for quite some time now. 

But anyways, after stake conference, as we backed out of the parking space, the axle (or something) to Fransisco's minivan came completely off! It was such a blessing that it did in the parking lot rather than while we were going highspeeds! The Lord was looking out for us, except poor Francisco still has his van in the church parking lot. He asked us this morning if we could drive him to O'fallon but we aren't allowed to because of mission rules. Unfortunately, he drove all the way there but we were unable to find anyone to go with him so he could bring his mini van back. Poor Fransisco.

It was a fairly fruitful week. We had another lesson with Brother Barfield, an inactive gentlemen of about 40+ years! We taught him the gospel of Jesus Christ, and before we even got into the bulk of the lesson, he basically invited himself to come to church this coming sunday! It really is a miracle. He has a lot going for him right now. His wife died a few months ago so he is still grieving over that. He is pretty lonely, but is such a good-hearted individual. He loves his St. Louis Cardinals, that's for sure! A lot of people around here like the Cards except for a few who are Chicago Cubs fanatics like our Bishop, Bishop Kretschmer. He took us out to pizza the other day. We also went to his house for a halloween party where we played a fun game called "Would you eat your neighbor?" I don't have time to explain, but you should look it up. It would be fun to play for my annual halloween party. We also played a mummy game where the first person to wrap their teammate up into a mummy using toilet paper wins. We won. I was the mummy. We were tempted to take all of the toilet paper home because we are low on it. we didn't though because that's kind of weird.

How has your ponderizing all been going? Last week my scripture had to do with being humble. And so whenever I needed to humble myself that scripture would pop in my head. It works!

My scripture for this week is D&C 123:17:

" Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed."

Check out these links i found on lds.org I wish I had time to read it, but at least you all can.
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/answers-to-personal-questions?cid=HP_WE_10-7-2015_dPTH_fGC_xLIDyL2-3_&lang=eng