Well this week went by quick.

Not a whole lot happened this week. Robyn isn't progressing all to well. She is having a hard time focusing because of her medication and brain injury. She might be getting a craneotomy soon.  Also, her son Anthony who we were trying to teach moved out with his Dad. She was a little heart broken about that. We aren't really sure why he moved out. We finally got a hold of him on the phone and he still wants to meet with us and is planning on coming to priesthood session so that is good. We tried all we could to get Robyn to go to the Women's conference but she had other plans of moving all of her furniture and refinishing her wood floors. We helped her to move and reassemble her workout machine into her office (for some reason she wanted it in there). She was glad that we helped. She has been acting kind of funny lately, so we don't know what do do with her. 

Also, we have been working to get everything ready for the Easter Eve Concert scheduled for the 15th of April. A lot of people have said they would like to be in it, but no one is turning in their music pieces in time so it is making planning it very difficult. Also, it was ward conference yesterday and so we weren't able to coordinate many of the things we needed to with the ward council, so we aren not sure how we are going to get everything ready in time. Also, I spent the time making these inserts to put int he sacrament bulletin that were to help the members do family history but the copier in the printer wasn't working for Sister Logsdon who prints the bulletins, so hardly anyone got them. So I am a little irritated because the things we are trying to use to find people to teach are not working. 

I am sorry that you have to read this, but that's how my week has been. 

There was one funny thing that happened though. We went to physical therapy for Elder Gifford's shoulder on tuesday or Wednesday.  An old lady named Anna walked in and sat down with her husband. I noticed that she was crocheting something, and so I pulled out my crochet stuff that I kept in my bag from when I served in Paris, Illinois and did it along with her! Elder Gifford saw what I was doing and I could tell he was just thinking "what the heck!" 

Come to find out, the lady was from Yugoslavia but had lived in America for a long time. She showed me some tips on how to crochet better and now I can do it a lot better. 

Well, that's about it for the week. 

See you later

Elder Soutas

Sharing the gospel

hey everyone,

Things are going pretty good here in st. peter's missouri. I just looked on the map and realized I am only 2 hours and 30 min away from Jenessa if she is still in Sedalia. That's crazy. 

not too many crazy things happened this week. It was the first week of the transfer and so we got some new missionaries. One of them is Sister Higgins who is from South Jordan. Don't know if she is Jenessa's age or if she knows her?

Also this week with Robyn things are going a little slower. She is difficult to teach because she rambles a lot. Her head injury makes it a little difficult. She wasn't able to come to church this week because she din't feel to great. She is still progressing though. 

Its pretty difficult to find interested people by ourselves around this area. Most people are content. We did have some good conversations with some of the younger generation though. On Friday, we ran into a couple of 9th graders, one of them named Nathan. He was asking us a lot of good questions. One of the things he said was "don't you think its dangerous not to just stick with the bible?" He was asking these types of questions because he actually has an open mind and wants to know the truth. WE got his phone number and he gladly accepted a copy of the book of mormon, as well as his friend, who we think whispered to him to give us his MOm's phone number. lame. 

This other kid who had an interesting name--Azariah--flagged us down as we were biking past. I thought he was flipping us off, but it was just his other finger telling us to come here. He just wanted to sell us one of his christian Cds he made. He said he had watched the Singles ward movie somehow and thought it was funny. He kept trying to sell us a Cd and said he hadn't sold any all day. We exchanged numbers and told him I'd think about it. i probably will. its only 10 bucks. maybe he will have a better opinoin about mormons if I buy one and then I will try to sell him a book of mormon. just kidding they're priceless. 

What else did we do this week? one of the nights was pretty frustrating, but when I got home I had an idea to make what will be called a family history challenge that we will put as an insert into each of the sacrament programs each week. The point of it is to help members realize that they need to do their family history and its not as hard as they think. Its focused mostly on preserving their own family history rather than finding names and dates. I'll try to send an attachment of it. I have come up with several ideas and will give 3 or so suggestions each week to choose from. 

One of our favorite families in the ward who feeds us every other week or so is the Timothy's. She is a young mom, and her husband is Gifford Timothy who played on the Clemson football team (before they won the national championship). She proof-read the idea I have and gave some great suggestions for it. I presented the idea to the ward council Sunday and they were all over it. Just got to make a few changes and it should be a great way to get people more involved. i've tried using family history my entire mission as a finding idea, haven't found a lot of success from it yet, but I've been praying to think of something that would work. This will be my last effort probably.

There were some great talks given yesterday in sacrament meeting about Temple work and family history, which is defintely going to help with this idea i have. 

The first one I liked was by Sister Kell, who talked about the enthusiasm people had around here when the ST. louis temple was dedicated in 1997. She talked about how we need to be as excited to attend the temple as when it was first opened. We need to rededicate our self to attending the already-dedicated temple. She pointed out that the angel Moroni has not stopped blowing his horn. I never realized that the angel moroni is not just a signal for the second coming when Christ comes again, but it is a signal for all of us members of the church who take the temple for granted to come to the house of the Lord! It was really powerful. 

The second talk was by brother Raubach. He did a really great job of explaining salvation for the dead. Concerning baptism for the dead, he said something I really liked about how it isn't unreasonable to perform vicarious work for the dead as some people outside the church might think. Isn't that what Christ did for us when he vicariously did something for us that we could not do ourselves? WE can be savior's on mount zion, and we have been warned that if we do not these baptisms for the dead, then we will be "rejected as a church, thus saith the Lord." He also said that the mortal mind could not come up with something such as the salvation for the dead. It was revelation from God. I really believed that. These talks were timely I think. I am really looking forward when I come home to attend the temple more often and do more family history work. i am also looking forward to still being a missionary.

i've been reading in The Power of Everyday Missionaries book since I heard it was approved. I highly reccomend reading it. I read this this morning about sharing the gospel at work. The author says "because work is where we can most readily meet and engage in conversations about the gospel, Satan is very committed to stop this from happening." He then goes on to explain through a "conversation" that occurs many times every day between members of the Church and the demon who is trying to convince us not to do what is right.

"Wait a minute, I thought to Sharpfork. "What you're telling me isthat when I'm at work, I should not talk to anybody about my beliefs. It isn't politically correct, and people will be offended if I do. Religion must be a private affair. Do i have it right?

"Clay, you're exactly right," Sharpfork responded.

"But jesus Christ wants me to share His gospel with everybody--including those at work!

"OF course he wants this," Sharpfork retorted. "Who wouldn't?"

Well, the problem is this, I complained. "Suppose that I follow your advice, and don't talk to anyone about the gospel at work. For sixty hours each week (five days times twelve hours, including commuting), you are putting missionary work out of bounds. The problem then is that on saturday I'm supposed to spend my time with my family and they are all mormons. And on Sunday I spend my time with my family and at church, where everybody is a Mormon. So what you're saying to me is that except for those seven days every week, I can share the gospel with others. Do I have it right?"

"Exactly.That's the beauty of it!"

The author goes on

"...If the prohibition about talking about religion at work were a preference of exectutives, then different companies would have different views on it. And if the injunction against religious discussions were based in a worry that they would hurt employees' productivity, then discussions about other beliefs--like politics, ethnic differences, sports, and so on--would also be viewed as detracting from productivity in the workplaceThe fact that the prophiition applies only to religion, and that the ban on religious discussion seems to be in force at nearly every workplace, leads me to believe that this particular cultural belief is the work of Satan. i see no other plausible explanation.

"Why does it matter to Satan what we talk about when we're at work or school? It is a continued attack in the war that satan initated in heaven against God's plan of free agency.

..."far less that 10 percent of the saints of God are inviting their neighbors, classmates, and work colleagues to learn of the gospel of jesus Christ. People can't act for themselves if the latter-day Saints close their mouths, and this is exactly what Satan is acomplishing. This is a big deal."

Thought I'd share that. Something to think about. Satan tries to bind my tongue all the time as a missionary. But if I just be myself then the spirit will guide me if I just open  my mouth. I think every member of the church should own and read this book.

well I best be get goin.

love, 

Elder Soutas

Dear everybody,

This week has been pretty great. We've made some great strides with Robyn. We were unable to meet with her until yesterday morning, but that was okay because it worked out great. We brought brother Bennett with us who is like my favorite member I've met on my mission. A little about Brother Bennett. He loves to share the gospel, and is very very intelligent. He is also a raw foodist and puts raw chocolate on his salads. He is a goofy guy but isn't afraid of anything and makes friends with everyone he meets. I look up to him a lot. 

Anyway, we thought it would be a good idea to show a video called "Between Heaven and Earth" to her since she requested that she wants temple work done for her father who passed in 2015, as well as her grandfather. She feels her father close by to her and yesterday told us that he has been trying to communicate to her through the music player on her phone. There was a song that turned on by itself (she says that her dad did it) that was by Billy Joel that conveyed the message to her from him that he was okay. I believe her. It sounds like her dad is wanting is work done and so now she is contemplating and doing a lot of searching. For The video we planned to watch the 10 minute version but there was no remote to switch it to that so we had no choice but to watch the full-length version. The full length version goes way into depth about the ancient temple in comparison to the modern temples. Brother Bennett basically took over the entire lesson, but it was okay I guess and it worked out because the questions Robyn asked and the responses brother Bennett gave were exactly what she needed to know. We gave her a preisthood blessing afterward because she has a condition where the inside of her eardrum had burst and so she is sensitive to sound. She was a music chorister at the Catholic church for years and so being so sensitive to sound has been a huge trial for her. But we gave her a blessing and so hopefully she will get better soon.

So I had the idea to do a musical fireside for the ward since there are quite a few musically talented people in the ward. Both of our investigators really like to sing, and sing really really well. Nalani took college classes for singing (I am yet to hear her sing though), and Robyn says that she can sing as good as Cylene Dion or Adelle. So I thought it would be a great idea to put on this musical fireside and we got the ward on board. The bishop loves to sing as well and his wife is the music coordinator and can sing. Nalani's husband Jacob who got baptized a few months ago is an amazing pianist who took classes in college. He and I are doing a duet in church this coming Sunday. I let him borrow some of my Paul Cardall books too to see if he would like them. He and I are hopefully going to be lifetime friends. He is only 24 or 25 or so. 

I really hope that Nalani gets baptized soon. Jacob told us that she has a few hangups, especially about women's roles in the church and tithing. She just isn't sure of all of it especially because of the time commitment. She comes to church every week though. 

Robyn also has a concern about women's roles in the church but Brother Bennett is on top of it. Also, I had planned beforehand to print out the church essays about women's roles in the priesthood and other controversial topics beforehand and so I gave that to Robyn to study over. She asked us if women in the church could be prophets. Brother Bennett responded: well, yes and no...and then gave his shpeel. I think we will have Sister Bennet or Sister Voelkel come give her a good explanation next lesson. Sister Voelkel and many other sisters in the ward like Sister Wilson each had really good chats with Robyn during and after classes. She is getting great support and compassionate care from the ward. 

I also truly believe that Heavenly Father has placed me here to help Robyn, too. She is probably going to be baptized here soon if things keep going the way they are. 

Other than that, we are making slow progress with Cora and her Dad. Her Dad, Wayne, is still holding her back a little bit. We had a great lesson at The Hunter's house, and the husband whose name is Cotton, is very blunt and very funny and they are excellent fellowshipping family for Cora and Wayne. We taught her the word of wisdom lesson which was really powerful. I was reading in Ether about how the brother of Jared and his family fleeing from Babylon (the world) and how God wants us to live the words of wisdom so we are separated from the world. He wants us to stand out in a good way and be "a city on a hill that can't be hid," rather than the city of babylon that just wants to be seen for the wrong reasons, like pride. The Holy Ghost actually taught me that while I was teaching which was really cool. 

This week we also made some family history flyers to give to Sister Bennet so we can get lots of people to want help with family history. There was this one lady named Sis Bartnett  that we were able to connect with her by using family history. It is a really great tool for missionary work. I really love doing it. 

Well I have said enough. I have felt a lot of joy this week sharing the gospel. I have been trying not to treat the restored truths of the gospel as commonplace in a world that is always changing. The spirit taught me this week that we have to be careful not to be past feeling. This can easily happen the more familiar we become with something. President Uchtdorf said in his last talk: "It seems to be human nature: as we become more familiar with something, even something miraculous and awe-inspiring, we lose our sense of awe and treat it as commonplace....how could it ever be possible that we of all people would not be excited about attending our Church worship services? Or get tired of reading the holy scriptures? I suppose this could be possible only if our hearts were past feeling to experience gratitude and awe for the sacred and sublime gifts God has granted us. Life-changing truths are before our eyes and at our fingertips, but sometimes we sleepwalk on the path of discipleship. Too often we let ourselves be distracted by the imperfections of our fellow members instead of following the example of our Master. We tread a path covered with diamonds, but we can scarcely distinguish them from ordinary pebbles." 

So how then can we keep ourselves from becoming past feeling? I believe that we need to do what Pres. Ucthdorf challenged all of us to do:

My beloved brothers and sisters, my dear friends, does it not fill our hearts and minds with wonder and awe to contemplate the great plan of happiness our Heavenly Father has prepared for us? Does it not fill us with unspeakable joy to know of the glorious future that is prepared for all who wait upon the Lord?

If you have never felt such wonder and joy, I invite you to seek, study, and ponder the simple yet profound truths of the restored gospel. “Let the solemnities of eternity rest upon your minds.”5 Let them bear testimony unto you of the divine plan of salvation.

If you have felt these things before, I ask you today, “Can [you] feel so now?”6

I invite each of us to consider this question. What shall we give in return for the flood of light and truth God has poured out upon us?

Our beloved Father simply asks that we live by the truth we have received and that we follow the path He has provided. Therefore, let us take courage and trust in the guidance of the Spirit. Let us in word and in deed share with our fellowmen the amazing and awe-inspiring message of God’s plan of happiness. May our motive be our love for God and for His children, for they are our brothers and sisters. This is the beginning of what we can do in return for so much."

As I have tried to ponder these truths of the gospel I have felt within my heart a stirring to be better. We taught a recent convert this week named Bryan who recently had a heart transplant. I shared that same verse "If you have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, can you feel so now?" i think we all need to ask our selves that question and monitor our own spiritual heart rates. If we don't keep tabs on whether or not the desires of our heart are in the right place, then we are in jeopardy of experiencing spiritual death. Alma 5 is a good chapter to monitor our spiritual heart rate. Serving with a heart that is right and rejoicing in God's plan of happiness is what will allow us to experience a mighty change of heart. 

This week I also gained greater appreciation for the prophet Joseph Smith. As I listened to some music that portrayed his life history, the spirit bore witness to me as before that he is a prophet. He had such great love and devotion to God and for the saints that he laid down his life for his friends so they could escpae persecution, just as the Savior did for us as his friends. 

Hope y'alls have a good week,

Elder Soutas