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

Hi Family,

I certainly did get to watch conference. All 10 hours of it in our church building. It was really, really good. There are so many things I need to work on. The talk by Elder Lawrence about Pondering before praying and then listening was probably my favorite talk like yours was, Dad! I came to conference with a whole bunch of questions and pretty much all of them were touched on. I still need to restudy the talks though. I feel like every year I enjoy conference a lot but don't do anything about the talks they share. One of the things I am going to work on are my prayers because I'm not super good at hearing the voice of the Lord and recognizing that he is answering the prayers I give. I also want to be able to use personal experiences more when I teach, because I noticed that that is what the general authorities all do and it seems to get the message across easier. The only problem is I don't have a good memory at all, and I can't seem to remember any personal experiences that I have had. It's kind of a concern I have, because it's hard to say why you have a testimony when you don't remember any experiences to back up your testimony. Do you know what I'm sayin?

I also thought that the talk by Sister Marriot was good. It might as well have been Mom speaking because she always says "It will All Work Out." That seems to be our family motto as well. She had a cool southern drawl. I like southern drawls for some reason.

So here were basically all of the questions I took to conference, and now I will show you how they could have been answered possibly. I came up with a lot of these questions by reading my patriarchal blessing beforehand.

1. How can I go forward with great confidence and have great joy?

2. How is the Lord answering my prayers. How can I improve my testimony of prayer?

3. What do I need to change about myself?

4. What can I use to cope since I'm not able to play the piano as much anymore?

5. What do I need to do to be an unwavering defender of the faith?

6. How can I go about treasuring up the words of life continually so that I will know in the very moment what to say?

7. What exactly happens to those who die without law?

8. How can I have better self-worth?

9. How can I not get irritated so easily?

Now I will address how these things were answered. At this moment, I am still kind of trying to figure it out as I am emailing you. And also, if you have any ideas that you gathered from conference that answers my questions, please feel free to tell me your insights.

1. From Richard J. Maynes talk, it sounds to me that in order to have great joy you need to give up everything you possess like King Lamoni's father. In Vern P. Stanfill's address, he mentioned that the adversary tries to tell us that we have never felt the spirit's influence. When we do this, he says we need to remember our spiritual experiences. The only problem is that I can't really remember them because my memory sucks. He said that sometimes life is like a dark tunnel, and sometimes we must get help from others and rely on their light for a while until we see the light. Even so, I have the power to choose between belief or doubt. Belief brings in the light of Christ, and doubt dispels the light.

2. Though I'm not exactly sure how the Lord answers my prayers yet, Elder Lawrence I thought gave some great counsel on how I can be better at that. I felt like I should ask more questions when I pray, because answers won't come unless we have questions. He also said to ponder before you pray, which I am going to try. It's so true though, usually before you go talk to someone about something, you have to study it out in your mind first.

3. To know what I need to change about myself, I can ask "what lack I yet?" in my prayers. They holy ghost will give me customed counsel and I need to spend more times listening to what he wants me to do.

4. I still need to study more for this one.

5. They talked a lot about faith. from what I gathered, Randall K. Bennett spoke the most to me when he basically said that we need to keep trying after we fail and walking towards Heavenly Father like a baby learning to walk does. We only fail when we fail to keep moving forward.

6. This one was answered pretty clearly. Devin D Durrant said to Ponderize 1 scripture per week. I am going to do that. I'm excited for that challenge. Pondering is difficult though. He promised us purpose, protection, and power if we do it for the next 20 some odd years.

7. This one was mostly addressed by Mom in the letter she sent me, which I still need more time to think about so that it makes sense to me.

8. To have better self-worth, I just need to forget about myself and be more humble. President Uchtdorf once said: " humility isn't thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less." Another thing that can help is to smile more as Elder Bradley D. Foster mentioned. Life is just too short to put on a frown all the time. Gary E. Stevenson said how we should focus on things we are good at rather than on the things we are weak at. President Uchtdorf said that the Grace of the Savior is sufficient to help us be much greater. He said that Moses wanted to give up and die, but we should acknowledge that it's okay to have weaknesses.

9. To not get so bugged, I can focus on people's strengths more than their weaknesses. The same things sort of apply here in number 8.

So there you go. That's what I gathered from conference. I am a firm believer that if we go to conference with questions, we can receive answers that we need. Imagine if we did this same things when we went to church every week?

This week went pretty good. Mike finally decided he wants to get baptized. He got his answer if the book of mormon is true in probably one of the most simplest ways I have ever heard. Unfortunately, who was unable to make it to conference this week. None of our investigators made it. But it was a good week. 

Dad, That's so crazy to hear that you were so close to me. I looked at the map you sent me, and it looks like I was closer than an hour, because I was just outside of East St. Louis in Fairview Heights and Collinsville. I was on an exchange so I was even closer to you than you realized!!

Mom, that's really cool that Dad repurposed to you in the temple. How sweet.

Jordan, I hope you get into medical school. If not, it "will all work out" like in the conference talk by Sister Marriott. Good to hear from you though. Tell Alex hi for me.

Jenessa, be careful around them boys. You are getting mighty prettier each time I see a picture of you. be careful. Love you my fellow Jew. That's cool you got to do that shalom stuff.

Brycen, expelliarmus! avadakadavra. I Love you so much. keep being a good boy.

Kaitlyn, how is dance goin? Stay away from them boys too. Get good grades and read and pray everyday or else. I'll let you finish that sentence. Love you.

who else am I missing? I already responded to Lindsey and Ben. Sorry I am in such a hurry this week. My companion is waiting on me. We are going lazer tagging.

Love you all. Have a great week! Go BYU

Elder Soutas

in the photos are Fransisco, Brother Bunton, and Brother Gleckler some of the members of the ward.