Hi Mom,

You are a genius. My mind is completely blown.
 I hardly understand
what you are talking about. I kind of get it. You kind of lost me there on the whole stone thing. So if I 
understand correctly, you are saying that Christ is the stone upon which we should build. The tower of
Babel was built out of bricks which don't last kind 
of like how ultimately the
kingdom of the devil will fall, and great will be the
fall of it! So I'm still trying to wrap my head around 
the whole Bethel thing. So Bethel was considered
one of the most sacred spots in
all of Israel (according to the bible
dictionary). Beth means House and El means God. 
House of God. The temple. The temple should be 
made out of stone, not brick because it will last.
 Families last forever.
The temple is built by the sons of God and there we 
become HIs sons and his daughters.
And so if I am understanding correctly, the temple is
compared to a tower made out of stone
 (made of Christ). We are also temples as Paul
says and we are meant to reach heaven.

I really like the whole tower
symbolism. If i am right, it sounds like
often in the scriptures it talks about
watchmen upon the towers. These
watchmen are the prophets. You mentioned King
Benjamin and Samuel, Shem but also one that comes to mind is Nephi upon his tower. I think
Jesus gives a parable about that too. These men are
high priests/prophets who are high so they can see 
the problems that will arise. It reminded me of a 
scripture that is repeated about 4 times in the book 
of  mormon by Abinadi, and Jesus quoting Isaiah: 
"Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice 
together shall they sing; for
they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall bring
 again Zion" 
(Mosiah 12: 22, Mosiah 15:29, 3 Nephi 18:20, 3 Nephi 20).
 When I read this verse I wonder what the phrase
 "they shall see eye to eye" means.
It sounds to me that
it's talking about the apostles, and when they
make decisions they have to be
working in unanimity. Maybe that's what
it means. What do you think?

Well,
all of this talk is very appropriate for general 
conference coming up this weekend. And I am 
curious to see who the 3 new apostles will be. 
I wouldn't be
surprised if one of them was my old mission
president, President McCune. I am
no prophet though. We taught a guy
the other day though on exchanges who
thought he was a prophet though
haha.

So a quick recap of this week:

It was ok. Unfortunately, none of our investigators
 made it to church.
We started teaching one investigator, Cheryl, who 
accepted to be baptized this Halloween.
She has had a rough life and has been abused
really bad lately. There's a lot of other things she is
 dealing with too. We've finally been able to teach her
now that her abusers are
either in jail or living elsewhere. We met up with her
on Thursday
outside of a motel where she is living. She is a really
god-fearing woman, and is just truly 
poor as to things of the world, as well as poor
in spirit.
We are having a hard time right now getting in with 
people.  Most people don't keep their appointments, and we rarely get members to come
help us out because we live 30 minutes away from
 most of the ward members. The
sisters live closer to all of the members and they 
have way more success than
anyone in the zone. Both the sisters and we
cover the same area, but they live
closer to the members so they have
an advantage. We also only get so many miles
to drive per month which
plays a huge factor. Working witht the members is
 the best way to find
people to teach. When I become senior companion, I am probably going to do things a bit differently. 
Elder Lovik is great though. We are both
trying and being obedient, but not a whole lot is 
happening at this very moment. Things will change 
though. I mean we do have someone
on date for baptism so that is good!

Also this week, we had a zone leadership training
meeting where
President and Sister Morgan came. I got to play 
"O How Lovely Was the Morning" (the first Paul 
Cardall song I ever learned and my favorite one 
probably)
as an intermediate musical number. That song is 
really special to me because my testimony of Joseph Smith is reaffirmed everytime I play it.  I kind
of messed up and the piano sucked which kind of
 made me mad, but it went okay.
 We got rebuked a little bit, but also got a lot of 
council of how to improve. For instance, 
Elder C. Scott Grow came to the mission last
week  and talked to all of the stake presidents who in turn passed it on to all of
the bishops, that ward council meetings need to be
changed. Ward Council should be all about people 
who need their next ordinance. It's not a place to 
bring your own agenda for Relief
Society or what not. It should be all about helping
PEOPLE. And now, the missionaries are supposed to 
be an integral part of ward council.
They are to stay the entire time and use our progress report to kind of guide the meeting. This way will 
hasten the work of salvationbecause
the best way to find and support investigators and 
less actives/part-member families is through the 
members. Just think, members are more likely to
 help out with investigators that they know
and care about. Using the ward council
the right way is critical to missionary work. Hopefully our ward is doing ward council the way they
should.

Okay, I have to ask you a question now and I
hope you will be able to respond because everyone 
else I've asked can't answer it.
So I was reading the other day in the book of mormon and came across a few verses. They all have to do with eternal life and who qualifies for it I guess.
I will do all caps for emphasis.

Mosiah 15:24---And these are those who have
part in the first resurrection; and these are they that have died before Christ came, IN THEIR IGNORANCE, not having salvation declared unto them. And thus
the Lord bringeth about the restoration of these; and they have a part in the first resurection, or HAVE 
ETERNAL LIFE, being redeemed from the lord.

-so
to me here, it sounds like those who died in their 
ignorance will have eternal
life. Eternal life is the highest glory in the celestial
kingdom, and they highest degree only correct? In 
other words, exaltation.  correct me if i am
wrong

Okay, another scripture

-Mosiah 3:11 "For behold, and also his blood
atoneth for the sins of
those wh ohave fallen by the transgtression of Adam,
WHO HAVE DIED NOT
KNOWING THE WILL OF GOD CONCERNING THEM, 
OR WHO HAVE IGNORANTLY SINNED."

So here, again, those who died in their sins ignorantly
are redeemed.
And redeemed in the sense that they have eternal life

Okay--another one

D&C 137:7-9- " All those who have died without a 
knowledge of this
gospel, who would have received it if they had been
 permitted to tarry,
shall be heirs of the celestial kingdom of god; also all that shall die
henceforth without a WITHOUT A KNOWLEDGE of it, who would have receieved it
with all their hearts, shall be heirs of that
kingdom. For I the lord will judge all men according to their WORKS, according to the DESIRE of their
hearts.

Okay now here's where I get confused.

D&C 76:71-79

"And again,
we saw THE TERRESTRIAL WORLD, and behold and lo these are they who are of the
terrestrial.....behold, THESE ARE THEY WHO DIED
WITHOUT LAW. And also they who
are the spirits of men kept in prison
whom the Son visited, and preached the
gospel unto them, that they
might be judged according to men in the flesh; WHO
RECEIVED NOT THE
TESTIMONY OF JESUS IN THE FLESH BUT AFTERWARD RECEIVED IT.
These are they who are honorable men of the earth, who were blinded by the craftiness of men."

So do you see my dilemma here. The first few verses
i quoted say that those who die without law receive
 eternal life and celestial glory.
While this verse says that those who die without law are of the terrestrial glory.
So which is it? And how does temple work play a factor into this? Why
would we do ordinances such as sealings for people if they couldn't
obtain eternal life in the first place? Because those of
the terrestrial aren't sealed to their familes, correct? I seem to be missing something/ not understanding 
something here and it's bothering me. The reason
why it does, is because some people that I have/will
teach have loved ones who have passed on who 
didn't receive the gospel in this life. What do you tell a person who has had a spouse pass on
who wouldn't join the church, or who didn't
really have a fair chance because of their 
circumstances? Do they still have achance at eternal
life? Or what about those who never heard the 
gospel, are they heirs of terrestrial or celestial?
 
If you could help me understand this
please, it would be great.
Perhaps you could send it to me by letter so I could
get it sooner. If
not that is okay. But I have prayed to understand this but I haven't found an answer yet.

Anyways, that's just a question that has
bothered me lately.

Sorry this is a really long letter. But the week has
 gone good.
Yesterday I had a tough day and wanted to give up. But the Lord always
seems to pull me through if I just pray to him. It's 
seriously the most despairing feeling though that I 
get every once and a while.
Right now I feel great though. So don't you worry.

Well I love you (all of you) and I know the
gospel is true because of
the fullness of his blessings that he pours out upon
me. I do have a
hard time understanding how he answers my prayers though. I couldn't
exactly tell you how he answers my prayers exactly. I need to work harder on my prayers. Like people say how they pray and they receive an
answer and know what to do. For me though, 
I kind of just make a decision out of who knows what
Does that make any sense? Maybe you
could enlighten with me
some wisdom on that because i have a hard time
with that??


The gospel is true. as Lehland (the black guy who 
lives in the basement) always says.

Love,

Elder Soutas


P.S. I can't believe BYU lost that bad. It
ruined my day when someone in the ward texted me the half-time score
haha.
P.S.S. Tell people to send me letters. :)








My response:




Dear Ty-

Hope this helps - a good outline of the degrees of glory - my personal thoughts are in RED




1. The Telestial glory is for those who do not receive the gospel of Jesus Christ or the testimony of Jesus or the prophets of God, and who live sinful lives (see D&C 76:81–88, 98–103).







Requirements for the Telestial Kingdom

 • they who received not the gospel of Christ, neither the testimony of Jesus (v. 82)

 • they who deny not the Holy Spirit (v. 83)

 • they who say they are some of one, and some of another—some of Christ and some of John, and some of Moses—but received not the gospel, neither the testimony of Jesus, neither the prophets, neither the everlasting covenant (vv. 99-101)

 • they who are liars and sorcerers, and adulterers, and whoremongers, and whosoever loves and makes a lie (v. 103; Rev. 22:15 adds murderers)

(See D&C 76:99-101)










2. The Terrestrial glory is for the honorable people of the earth who are deceived and for those who are not valiant in the testimony of Jesus Christ (see D&C 76:71–79).







Requirements for the Terrestrial Kingdom

 • Died without the law (v. 72)

 • Visited by the Son in the Spirit World, received not the Gospel in the flesh but did in the Spirit World (v. 73-4) “they felt it by the Spirit” (See D&C 137) - they felt it was true

 • Honorable men of the earth (v. 75)

 • They receive His glory, but not the fullness of His Glory (v. 76)

to me this verse (76) is key - Christ visited with them in the spirit world but they chose not the ordinances (fullness of Glory to me means Temple and all the ordinances necessary for the celestial kingdom)
Only question - why would they still refuse after gaining a testimony?- My opinion - agency is still in play here-not valiant-
I guess it’s kind of like people on earth today who still consider themselves mormon, know it’s true yet still never go to the temple (I know a lot of people like that) 
The more I study-and I study A LOT :) the more I see how the temple is the key and symbol of the atonement of Christ and you need to be built on that rock = temple :) !!!!!!!
therefore:


 • Not valiant in the testimony of Jesus (v. 79)

Melvin J. Ballard said: “Now those who died without law, meaning the pagan nations, for lack of faithfulness, for lack of devotion in the former life, are obtaining all that they are entitled to. I don't mean to say that all of them will be barred from entrance into the highest glory. Any one of them who repents and complies with the conditions might also obtain celestial glory, but the great bulk of them will only obtain terrestrial glory.” ("The Three Degrees of Glory," by Melvin J. Ballard) 

lazy, indifferent - didn’t want to Do it every day of their lives…prayer, scriptures, FHE, temple attendance….renewing covenants  Not enduring to the end  Unfortunately we all know a lot of people who do this.  Hopefully we can teach them why it is so important.




3. The Celestial glory is reserved for those who obey the commandments and receive the ordinances, overcome all things by faith in Jesus Christ, and become pure in heart (see D&C 76:50–70). 




by the way pure in heart = again a temple image :)  Psalms 23 - Who shall ascend to the Hill (Mountain) of The Lord,or who shall stand in his Holy place?  He that hath clean hands and a pure heart

I really comes down to the temple!!




Requirements of the Celestial Kingdom: =(Doctrine of Christ)

 • Receive the testimony of Jesus (v. 51)

 • Believe on His name (we might say faith) (v. 51)

 • Baptized (v. 51)

 • Keep the commandments (v. 52)

 • Receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost (v. 52)

 • Overcome by faith (v. 53)-endure to end (I believe is to partake of ordinances weekly-sacrament and temple)

 • Sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise (v. 53) (a temple ordinance)

The doctrine in D&C 137 in light of the Celestial Kingdom:







In these verses the principles upon which the doctrine of salvation for the dead rests are announced for the first time in this dispensation. They are:




 • first, that the doctrine applies only to those who “died without a knowledge” of the gospel;

 • second, that God must read the hearts of those concerned and affirm that had the gospel come to them in mortality they would have accepted it;  see D&C 137:7-9

 • and third, that God must judge that not only would they have accepted the gospel but that they would have done so “with all their hearts,” meaning that they would have endured valiantly and faithfully to the end.

Week 2 - Centralia/Carlyle

Hey fans!

Not too shabby of a week. We didn't get in with very many people but we still at least tried. 

It started off great. After emails last monday we met Ken, who is having lots of troubles. He's about 38 and has a Chicago accent. He's kind of gangsta. He hates life right now and wants to leave Centralia. We gave him a book of Mormon and talked outside the library for like an hour. He was hopeless before we talked to him but after he had some hope. Unfortuantely when we met him Friday he told us that he got really buzzed and then passed out in the middle of the street. Also his parents, will kick him out of the house if he continues to read the book of mormon and continue meeting with us. We were saddened to hear all of us but then talked for like 30 min again especially about the word of wisdom. He is not sure if he is willing to learn from us anymore. He said he was coming to church yesterday but never showed up.

On tuesday we got another investigator named Pat. She is MIke's Grandma and has heard lots from Mike and is now very curious. Mike didn't come to church this week :( Mike will be moving in a couple of weeks so we probably won't be able to baptize him. If he comes this week though we may be able to if he is ready of course.

On Wednesday we drove many miles to Okawville to talk to an old single guy named Bro. Barfield whose wife passed away. He is less active right now but after talking with him he might come back to church soon. hopefully.

We visit a 90 year old every thursday and give her the sacrament after church. Her name is Sister Slininger. She lives in a nursing home. soon I am planning on playing the piano for all of the old timers there. I'll have to find some music that won't put them to sleep for good.

On Thursday we had a mission conference where Elder C Scott Grow of the 70 came. He spoke about a lot of things. We have a lot of things we could improve at.

On Friday morning, I had the privilege to give a priesthood blessing to one of the Sisters' investigators named Lori. She is very poor and has injured feet as well as her brother just died. It was a good experience. One of the better blessings I've given.

On Saturday we went to a hog roast hosted by the ward. A hog was roasted over a fire and the members had a pickup football game. We are not allowed to play sports with people besides missionaries. It stinks. We are allowed to go on hayrides though. That's what we did after, and when we left the relief society president gave us a 5 gallon bag of chocolate milk which is now in our fridge.

Yesterday at church we were asked last minute to teach the 13 year old sunday school class. We taught about why we have commandments. It was a really good lesson expect for Lucas who would interrupt saying things impertinent to the lesson. Also the Atwater family had me accompany them while they sang Teach Me To Walk in the Light.

From this week's experiences I have learned to stay positive. Not everything went super well like we had hoped this week, but we still have hope. I also have a lot more confidence it seems like..for the most part. 

I've been reading in 1st nephi 20-22

10 " And I would, my brethren, that ye should know that all the kindreds of the earth cannot be blessed unless he shall make bare his arm in the eyes of the nations.

 11 Wherefore, the Lord God will proceed to make bare his arm in the eyes of all the nations, in bringing about his covenants and his gospel unto those who are of the house of Israel.

 12 Wherefore, he will bring them again out of captivity, and they shall be gathered together to the lands of their inheritance; and they shall be brought out of obscurity and out of darkness; and they shall know that the Lord is their Savior and their Redeemer, the Mighty One of Israel."

I've seen this week how the gospel brings light to people's life. I also see people who don't have the light. For instance, this one old lady on her porch told us how bad she felt for us because we believed that God had a body of flesh and bones. She was pleading with us to think about what we were doing and to stop. She said she would pray for us which I highly doubt. 

I know the Savior Lives. The fullness of the gospel has been restored and is the only true gospel that can make us perfect and bring us the fulness of light to our lives. The Book of Mormon is true. The more I read it, the more I love it, and also the more questions I have! Joseph Smith is who he said he was. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever and he communicates to us by revelation to his prophets "for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ"

Love you all!

Elder Soutas

Centralia

Cornfields

Chocolate milk

Week 1 Carlyle / Centralia

Hi everybody!

So I wrote like half of this email but then my time was up so it all got deleted. This will probably be shorter than usual sorry

The mission home experience was fun. It was really humid and hot when we arrived. I placed a book of mormon in the airport actually with an African-American lady named Charmaine who is from St. Louis. Then had a friendly conversation with a guy named Kevin from North Dakota. I beat Elder Fa'Alogo in ping pong. He will be playing for BYU volleyball when he gets home from his mission. President and Sister Morgan are cool. I still don't know a whole lot about them.  

So I'm serving in southern Illinois out in the boonies. There are cornfields everywhere, and not a whole lot of people, but it is really green and beautiful. There are bugs called cicadas that are super loud and annoying. They are gross and sound kind of like a cross between a rattlesnake and a cricket. You can here them everywhere you go.  

Anyways, we stay in the a member's basement in Carlyle. We have another member named Lehland who lives with us. He is the most hilarious person. He reminds me a lot of Donkey on Shrek. He just talks and talks and says whatever he wants. And he is really animated, makes a lot of funny faces, tells random stories. He also does this one thing where he moves his eyes left and right really fast back and forth. It's kind of hard to explain, but he just cracks me up. He has a gap between his teeth and has a wide smile. He also interrupts our studies a lot but I can't help but just laugh. He's my favorite.The poor guy has had kidney stones the last week and has been to the ER a couple of times. He made it to church but started barfing in the relief society waste basket so we had to get somebody to take him to the hospital while we were in coordiation meeting. He has 50 kidney stones to pass. I thought I had it bad with just 1. So we gave him a blessing the other night. Hopefully he gets well soon.  

My companion is named Elder Lovik from Port Angeles, Washington.  He has been training me up pretty good. I like him a lot. We don't have a lot in common but we get along pretty well.

We cover a lot of towns around here. We spend most of our time in Centralia which Sister Schow and Oldroyd cover as well. Sister Schow is from Riverton and a really good missionary. other towns we spend a lot of time in are Nashville, New Minden, Belrosa, Salem, and I'm sure there are others. 

We didn't get to teach a lot of lessons since I've been here, but we have done a fair share of tracting. I think tracting is fun. Most people aren't interested, but most are at least cordial about it. We met this old lady named Jean the other day. She has gone really deaf and is partially blind, but whenever we stop by she wants us to pray for her. She just talks and talks and talks but is just the sweetest old lady. She talks a lot about how she plays bridge and how she used to golf everyday. The first time we gave her a restoration pamphlet and when we walked by later she was still reading it. The next time we gave her a book of Mormon. She also said that since we prayed for her the first time, her hearing has improved. She can't really understand what we say though still, so we tried writing down questions like "Will you read the book of Mormon" and she was like "well of course, I love reading." We are not entirely sure if she is accountable enough and so we are not sure whether to give her the lessons. we probably will though. 

One of our investigators, Mike, who is 18 finally made it to church. He is Lutheran and really knows his stuff. He knows the bible super well and feels like the book of mormon has increased his understanding. He is really skeptical and got into some anti mormon stuff, but has since come to believe (well at least is 95% sure as he says) that the Book of Mormon is true and Joseph Smith was a prophet. He's been meeting with missionaries since May and finally made it to church for the first time this sunday. He prayed at the end of the lesson that his parents would let him go to church and they finally gave him permission. 

We had a lesson with this guy named John who has pretty bad ADHD. He has a hard time focusing. He's a southern baptist.

The other night we had dinner with a family from the Ward. They are extremely poor. We had sheppard's pie. Yum. It was actually by far the worst food my tongue has ever tasted. I reluctantly took a few bites of it and just couldn't do it. Dad, I remember you have said before that Grandpa Bob grew up eating something called smuggledung. I wouldn't be surprised if that's what it tasted like. It was so bad. But I felt bad for the family since they are really poor.

I've had allergies or something since I got here. It might just be a cold, but I've had it the last 4 days. Also, until Saturday, my hearing was a little faint. Like it felt like my ears were full of water for a couple of days. I was saying "What?" all the time and couldn't hear what people were saying. But they have since popped. now I just need to get rid of this cold. It might be allergies though.  

What else has happened this week? I'm having a hard time remembering to be honest. But we mostly have just been trying to find some new people to teach. We've got a few people say they would allow us to come back so we will see what happens with them. 

The gospel is true. I believe my Savior Lives and that he is mindful of me. I believe that the book of Mormon is the word of God and "whoso should hold fast unto it..will never perish."

-Elder Soutas

I'm here in Carlyle/Centralia, Illinois. We cover more than just those two towns. There's a bunch of other small towns we cover like Nashville (Illinois). They call it the boonies out here but there's still quite a few nice areas. Yes, it is very very green. It's very beautiful. The weather is perfect right now. The hot humidity is gone until next summer which is nice. My companion is Elder Lovik. He is from Port Angeles, Washington. He is from like a native American tribe-Mcaw or something. He's a great trainer. We live in the basement of the McAdoos. A hilarious black guy who is a member named Lehland also lives in the basement with us. The poor guy has had kidney stones this last week. He was in the ER Thursday and Sunday. Poor guy. He makes me laugh a lot though. He reminds me of Donkey on Shrek because he just talks and talks. Well I'm glad to here from you

Ready for MO

Hi Mom,

I have a few minutes to write something short. Elder Oaks actually came and spoke to us on Tuesday. He talked a lot about Preach My gospel stuff and teaching by the spirit. I can't really remember what he said specificially. My memory doesn't work that way. It's terrible. I actually bought a calling card and so I will get to call tomorrow morning for like 30-45 minutes. I'm not really sure how long. There's 26 of us going to St. Louis tomorrow. I still need to pack, but it'll probably only take me an hour. 

It's good to hear about Kaitlyn. I should probably write to her and brycen more. You should have Kaitlyn write to me every week (or email). It could boost her testimony or something. It looks like we both share a common thread in how hymns make me feel the spirit. I feel the spirit the strongest that way. 

I would really like to hear from Brycen as well. They could both just do it on their iphones really quick since they spend so much time on that anyways. 

Well I heard about the BYU game. Sounds like we got really lucky. Of course that happens when I'm not watching it. Too bad Taysom is done. 

Well I guess I am ready to leave tomorrow to MO. I've learned a few things here in the MTC. i'm not sure exactly what but I took copious notes. I'm really tired right now. The MTC food is making me feel really queazy right now. I'll talk to y'all tomorrow. 

Love you!

Elder Soutas☺

MTC week 2

Dear Mom and Dad

Today is our Pday. We went to the temple this morning. It was a bloody experience. literally. It was a freak accident. So Mom, you know that little FAith stone you gave me? Yeah, so right before we entered the temple, I accidentally dropped it out of my hands and it shattered. I didn't think anything of it so I just put it in my pocket. But after we got past the front desk I reached my right hand into my pocket and felt a prick. I didn't realize I was bleeding until like 20 seconds later. Blood was just dripping from my finger all over the temple floor. Fortunately, there was a trauma surgeon that came to do a session and so he cleaned me up and super glued my finger. I probably could have had stiches but the glue has been working. We did end up doing an endowment session still. When we got back to our dorms, I cut my other finger. It wasn't as bad, and I'm still not sure how I even cut it. 

It's been pretty fun here at the MTC. We have taught a little bit. We are teaching a gang guy named Dreazo, a Lutheran named Josh, and another named Ashlee. My district has 8 of us. Half are going to Eugene, Oregon (Elder Hicks [who Jenessa knows from Bingham-he was on the football team], Elder Wright from Provo, Elder Martin fromn Salem who is a goofball. so hilarious!, Elder Webb from Lehi,  and half to St. Louis (Elder Clark, Elder Henrie from Pennsylvania, and Elder Zollinger from Kaysville. In my dorm are Elder Hancock from Highland who's good at basketball. A different Elder Webb from West Point, UT. A lot of people from the MTC are from Utah. 

Tonight we have a devotional. I'm not really sure if there will be a general authority tonight. there might be. Elder Clark and I have been asked to usher. Oh, but In the MTC though you get to listen to a recording of  a talk by Elder Bednar called the Character of Christ. It's only available in the MTC and you can't get it on LDS.org. It's all about how Christ put off the natural man and always focused outwardly rather than inwardly. It's a mindblowing talk. I felt really selfish after and it kind of made me discouraged I'm not going to lie. I did see Elder Green after that talk as everyone was trying to be christlike and helping put things away, I've seen him a couple of other times too like at meals. The food is nothing to complain about. I'm fasting today though. The last couple of days I've been struggling so I'm fasting. I'm not totally sure why I was so unhappy. But our Brand new teacher (sister Johnson) pulled me out of the class into another room because she could tell that I was having a hard time. I bawled like a baby in front of her and my companion and felt so stupid. They were both really kind though and shared some scriptures with me. It helped a little bit. 

Oh, on our sunday walk I ran into Elder Dallen Milne who is going to ecuador.!

I enjoy the classes quite a bit. I'm getting more comfortable teaching and I like the way they show us how to study for our investigators. They emphasize the Doctrine of Christ a lot. We are supposed to tie that in with like everything we teach. 

That's so crazy ben is engaged. I hope he is happy. 

Well my laundry is done and I need to get it out. Don't worry too much about me.  I'll talk to you next week. My flight leaves at around 7:30 on Tuesday!

Love you all.

"For the Natural Man is an enemy to God, and will be forever and ever unless he yieldeth unto the enticings of the holy ghost and put off the natural man, and becometh a saint; submissive, meek, humble...I can't remember the rest haha. 

-Elder Soutas