Easter Week

Hi everybody!

My letter will be short this week!

We had some pretty good things happen this week! We got a new investigator on exchanges with Elder Tolman. His name is Jamie. The lesson was really good. It was awesome how much we used the scriptures to address his needs. He is very willing to read from the book of mormon. Also, he said the closing prayer! In his prayer he said "thanks for sending me these two guys. i'm sorry I didnt' think that meeting with them would really work, but I was wrong." He is a cool guy. about 30 years old. has 2 kids. not sure if they are interested yet. 

this week we also had a rescue activity with the teachers and priests. we visited their inactive quorum members. Brother Inostroza, the young men's president,  is so cool. He is in his 20s and is from Chile. He is such a good guy. The activity was really successful. We went on splits in taylorville, but unforunately didn't get in with anybody. But the other group of kids got in with Tommy, a 15 year old who we have been teaching the last 2 weeks. Our lesson with him went pretty good on Thursday. On saturday, they visited him and gave he and his grandma a blessing. They both showed up to church yesterday!! Tommy hasn't been to church in a long, long time! The quorum rallied around him this week! Great activity well worth it! If you are reading this back home Dad, that would be an excellent mutual activity!! i'd even do it monthly, or bi-montly. As of right now, we are getting more missionary work done through our youngmen than our ward council for crying out loud!

Easter was pretty good yesterday! We spent it at the G.C.s. We got to do an egg hunt with them. We also had lamb for dinner which suited me well. We also had Brother West bring a person from his sober living home, named Casey. It was good exposure for him. He also came to church yesterday! He has questions and wants to meet with us some time. We have a lot of good potentials, we just haven't been able to make them investigators!!

Well my letter is short! It's because I was terrible at writing in my journal this week! 

I learned this week though that The Savior is the only source wherewith we can obtain peace. I felt a little dispair this week even yesterday on Easter, but being obedient to the savior can really bring peace. It is a night and day difference! I love the Savior, and I am trying my best to serve him for all of the right reasons and trying to understand his role in my life more rather than just giving him lip service. It's easy to know a lot of things about the savior rather than actually to come to know him. But I am trying to figure that out, and i'm growing quite a lot from my mission I think. It is great experience. I am 10 months out on my mission today! Oh goodness. 

love you all.

Elder Soutas 

HEY MOMMA!

HAD a pretty good week and Easter!  We had easter at the Giraud-Carrier's home (a bilingual family from New Caledonia).They speak French and english fluently. They are so awesome! We combined our dinner and lunch hours so we could do a egg hunt with them. They hide tiny choclate eggs so it was really fun! Also we had lamb and she talked about the passover! Sister Magali G.C. is in to a lot of things that you are! you would be really good friends with her. You should check her out on facebook or something. She loves old testament stuff. We also had Bro West over who kind of invited himself and a guy named Casey from his sober living home called the Liahona Home. Casey is a potential investigator for us. I felt bad we didn't really teach him anything while he was there since it would have been a great opportunity, but it was good exposure to mormon culture and living for him. 

I did get your easter package! I love the parable of the prodigal son(s). i need to read it over again. I never realized how understanding Jewish culture/customs could brings a whole new meaning to the parables. You should also check out a commentary of the parable of the good samaritan by Todd B. Parker, a professor at BYU. I learned from and Elder's quorum lesson  yesterday that it too is a "distilation of the plan of salvation."  Check it out. 

I did get the holy tabbs. it was actually the wrong size, haha so I spent time making my own that would fit. It's okay though, If I ever train or something like that I will give it as a parting gift. I definitely reccomend it!! Also, there is a sweet method for marking ISAIAH in the ensign. i'm not sure which ensign it's in though. i"m sure you could find it if you looked hard enough though.

Thanks for sending the holy tabs to me anywys This week I also recieved student manuals that I ordered on MOnday for the old testament, new testament, book of mormon, and doctrine and covenants. I am still trying to figure out how to be able to balance my studies without trying to do too much and still making time to study preach my gospel. The last month or so I am just super hungry and thirsty to know everything in the scriptures. There are just so many things to learn. like today I learned that in Genesis 49, it talks about Joseph being a fruitful bough and that his land of inheritance would be the americas, because it talks about how Jacob the patriarch blessed each of his sons with areas of land in Canaan. Joseph's seed, however, would be so fruitful that it's branches would overrun the land of canaan and would go to a distant land of 'everlasting hills' which refers to the rocky mountains and andes mountains probably. And of course, we know that Lehi was a descendent of Joseph who would fulfill this prophecy. I also learned that they arrived in the promised land via the pacific ocean. I always imagined them crossing the atlantic for some reason. 

It can be pretty easy to get all caught up with all of the cool interesting facts in the scriputres, but I learned from all of this that we should read our patriarchal blessing more frequently and use the blessings contained in there to achieve our maximum potential. I seriously need to read it more. I don't get so many of the phrases in there. It seems like I will have a pretty good life though.

Well, i'm glad that you are excited for conference. I am too! Also, I am going to the temple on Wednesday!!!!! So excited for that! 

LOVE YOU!!!!!!!

Elder Soutas

Is God increasing in Glory? Yes.     He is not increasing in knowledge - No

In the sense that His dominions increase.      You relate it to being a parent.  As my children grow, in knowledge and glory  it adds to me and to my happiness

Raising each child brings a unique happiness.  And just when you think you are done with your children - what will add to your happiness?  Grandchildren :)

Your Joy increases.  Your glory increases with each generation.     That is what the Plan is all about. An Eternity of never ending, increasing happiness.

Every single time God saves another child his happiness increases, his glory grows       The same is for our own children.

Every time one of his  Worlds become a Celestial Kingdom, His kingdom increases in glory.  

That is how He increases in Glory 

Teaching and Tornados

Hey all,

I'm glad to hear you all are doing so well! It seems like you go skiing every week! When I get off my mission, hopefully we can all go skiing with the Uhe's at their place they go to every year in Deer Valley! That would be the day! That's cool BYU has a shot at winning the NIT this year. Thanks for not telling me about march madness. Really so I don't get distracted. The provo temple dedication seems like it was wayyyyy cool! That whole Beauty for Ashes scripture theme about it was cool to me, and also it being on Palm Sunday. 

On Tuesday the temperature jumped up to 80 degrees--usually that means there is a possibility of a tornado. We are in tornado season just so you are aware! For pretty much the whole day it was clear skies and then out of nowhere the sky got really black looking west. We actually drove somewhat in the direction of where a possible tornado was because we had a lesson with the Uhes. As soon as we got there the tornado warning alarms went off and so we had the lesson in the basement. 

We missed meeting with the Uhes since they've been in Chicago for Leisel's swim competition which she took 7th place out of many elite swimmers her age or older. Have I mentioned before that Brycen should marry her someday? haha.  It seemed like we hadn't seen them forever even though it was only 10 days since the confirmation. We had a super long lesson with them about the Restoration. It's hard to make our lessons short with them since we love them so much! But we do need to be better at that because we informed yesterday that apparently our Bishop's wife who came to sit in on the lesson got a little annoyed we were there too long. The lesson was good though and they always ask really good questions like "what's the difference between a prophet, seer, and revelator?" also they told us on their trip they felt uncomfortable having to swim on Sundays. Since yesterday though, they won't have any more competitions on Sunday for a while. Towards the end of the lesson I felt impressed to kind of warn them that if they didn't read the Book of Mormon diligently they would eventually fall. I was pretty forthright with them, and I am not too worried about them. They even read on their trip. We challenged them to read the whole book of mormon by the end of the year! Afterwards we continued to talk at the doorstep. It's hard to want to leave. Leisel, Roger, and Ingrid asked me how long I will be in Springfield and they were kind of sad that I told them it would probably only be 4-10 weeks. it felt good to be cared about. That will be tough to leave them, but I am so grateful Heavenly Father has allowed me to be in their life!

Oh and we heard from people that the tornado touched down a couple blocks away from our apartment, except there wasn't any damage. Apparently it wasn't strong enough to do any damage. But i'll send you cool pictures that a member sent to my email. The lightning storms are awesome in the midwest! The skies are huge. 

We had a lot of good potentials cancel on us this week. We weren't able to meet with any of our investigators --Filip (phil-eep), and Charles. We did get to talk to the Israelite family but weren't able to set a return appointmet yet. They are a family of 6 and seem really nice.

In other news, we finished teaching the returning member lessons with Brother Burshears and he is planning on going to the temple. He set up an appointment with the Bishop to get a temple reccomend.!

Another cool thing happened while we were getting dinner at Chick-fil-a. We were talking to this really buff black guy named Kevin while waiting for our lemon freezees. He asked us how long we were going to be in springfield, and then he showed us some video highlights of his semi pro basketball team. We gave him our card, then he left, but with a card that I accidentally didn't have our number on it, so he came back in and asked us if he could have one with our number on it. He then said he wanted to invited us over for dinner sometime with he and his girlfriend. He knows about the church and missionaries apparently. It was really an unusual experience to be invited by a stranger to dinner. He showed me his  Jesus tatoo. Hopefully he is in our area book because we didn't get his number. darn. 

Saturday, we had the chance to meet a kid named Tommy, a 15 year old, who doesn't go to church very often at all. He'd just rather sleep. Elder Petersen says that he's sleeping his life away. He is a really nice kid though with a cool blonde mullet. He lives with his grandma who is pretty active and it's just the two of them so he's a little lonely. We've actually been trying to meet with him for a while. His grandmother was really grateful that he talked to us and she even started to weep a little. That experience made me pretty happy. We are going to meet with him more often hopefully. 

Sunday, we had a cool experience. We were driving to a less active's home, and I had an impression which sounded like in my head "maybe you should go see Bro. Wheeler since he came to church today." So we turned around to go the completely opposite direction to see him late at night at about 8:45. I wasn't really sure if this was a prompting or not, but 'nevertheless we went forth" hoping it was. Brother Wheeler welcomed us in. Like I said he came to church yesterday, and it was for the first time in a long while. He's a nice guy. He is from Kentucky and growing up he liked to hunt squirrels and eat them. He also knows a little bit of Hebrew which you would appreciate, mother. We shared him the #hallelujah video and asked him what the atonement meant to him. He said that he wasn't really sure what it meant to him anymore. I was pretty surprised at the response and didn't really know what to say to that. So Elder Peterson talked for a while and sadi some really good things that were powerful and authoritative. Brother Wheeler said that he believe everything in the church is true, but just had hard time believing in loving your enemies, and used some pretty harsh words. Our of nowhere, I had an impression to turn to the scripture that Paul talks about his "thorn in the flesh" in 2 Cor 12. I wasn't really sure where it was but I found it through cross reference in Ether 12. I shared the passage with him and then bore testimony about how with god all things are possible, and then used logic to explain that if he believes in everything else about the gospel is true, then that would have to mean that God would have to allow us a way to love our enemies. We wouldn't say something impossible to do. . We then invited him to pray about it and seek the Lord "that it might depart from him." (2 cor 12).  We kind of put him in a stupor and he thanked us for stopping and then we left rather quickly. Afterwards i turned to Elder Peterson and said "that was so cool!" and he was like "why?" I was just very excited that the spirit led us to his home and then prompted me to share that scripture because it was exactly what he needed to hear. The spirit is so cool if we just listen and follow, nothing doubting, even if we don't know beforehand if it's the spirit or not. 

Well I love you all.

I've got to go right now on lunch break. 

Beautiful Baptism

Heyo family-o,

We had a really great week with the baptism/confirmation and everything.

We had some other cool experiences that I'd like to relate first though. 

On Tuesday night, we ate dinner at the McChensney's. Brother McChesney was born blind. I also learned that he had his eyes removed and replaced with plastic,  eyes. He is really, really smart. He can quote like scriptures left and right. It is also way cool to see him read the scriptures, because it's all in braille, and he reads very fast! But after their daughter Laura (who has cerebral palsy) made us dinner, Bro. McChesney felt inspired to come with us to go see a man named Brother Wheeler who hasn't been to church because some unkind things were said to him and such. But Brother McChesney right from the get-go just started bearing his testimony and pleading for Bro. Wheeler to come back. He said that he isn't ready to come back yet though (sorry if that was anti-climatic), but it was really cool to see a blind man full of the holy ghost. Disabled people are very inspiring to me, especially Joe! 

The next day we had Brother Burshears drive us down to Virden and Girard to see some less active people. His like 75 years old recently reactivated member. He's a trooper! He drove us down in his awesome Dodge Truck. He also told us that he's won over 30 car shows with his yellow Dodge Charger. I wish we could have ridden in it. But anyway, he got in and out of his car several times to try to see some people. It took quite a while because he takes tiny little baby steps since he's pretty frail. It was very courageous of him. He is a very soft-spoken guy and very willing to do anything you ask of him,  and  he wants to make it to the temple soon. It was very nice of him to take us because we cover such a large area now and don't have any extra miles. 

Saturday, was the baptism. We woke up early to fill the font. We tried our best to keep the water warm, but it ended up being really cold. For the whole program, Elder Peterson and I just had to sit back and relax because we didn't perform any of the ordinances or give any of the talks. President and Sister Morgan and President Giraud-Carrier of the stake presidency attended the baptism. I did however get to conduct the music. Their good friend John Sorenson (who is a really rich guy who flew in on his private jet) baptized all 5 of them. He is a really neat guy, very spiritual guy. It was so cool to see them all get baptized. Elder Peterson and I got to be witnesses to make sure it was done correctly. They were all performed correctly on the first try. They all got goosebumps because of the water that was so cold though. It was touching to see Rob's eyes water as he watched his wife and kids get baptized (youngest to oldest). Rob reminds us as I've said before, "as a little child." He is so eager and such a great father. They are all just so pure. It was a very joyful experience for me. 

The next day was the confirmations. They all showed up! Had no doubt that they would. John Sorenson did all five of the confirmations and we got to stand in the circle. It was really cool and the spirit was very strong. . Other people in the circle were Vic Lundquist (also a very successful guy--the one who introduced them a lot to the church while skiing at Deer Valley), Kevin Anderson and Bishop Monsivais. Kevin, John, and Vic are all from Laguna Beach, CA. 

During the sacrament hymn I began to tear up and had a hard time singing. It must have been the spirit or something because I started to bawl again. The U family and their Methodist Grandma, Mary Ann, sat behind us. I could hear their grandma asking a bunch of questions which was good. 

After the sacrament it was testimony time. I got up after Elder Peterson and bore a testimony. I'm not really sure what I said but it must have been good because I lot of people told me after that it brought tears to their eyes. Sister U came up and told me how I had her mother  in tears almost. Before she told me that, Mary Ann said that she'd hope to see us again sometime. I think she will be a member some day. She has the light of Christ in her just like Gretchen. Also after the sacrament,  it was really cool because John Sorenson came up to me and said how much he enjoyed my testimony and he was getting really emotional. He said something along the lines of If I work my absolute hardest for the rest of my mission and don't see any more baptisms, you fulfilled your mission in baptizing such a wonderful family. He said "don't you get discouraged," and with tears in his eyes and grasping my arm and hand with both of his hands, he told me that "I been greatly touched by your service and I will never forget you. "You are a great example of what it means to be meek." I wish I could have remembered the exact words he said because it really meant a lot to me. I have seen how great an impact you can have by sharing a heartfelt testimony. Not only did it affect him, but there was also a man from Italy who recently moved to Springfield. He attended the sacrament meeting and wants to come again next week. We got his number and everything. Sister Giraud Carrier knows a lot of languages and talked to him in his native tongue. He tried speaking Greek to me and I him I don't know how to speak greek. We asked him what brought him to our church, and he said "Jesus Christ brought me here." Hopefully we will pick him  up soon. We called him on the phone and asked us if he had been baptized. He said "yes, but can I get baptized again?" That was really cool of him to say. Hopefully we will get to teach him soon. He wouldn't give us his address yet, but we know what street he lives on. 

Well I've got to go. People are waiting on me. 

I love you all. 

Elder Soutas