Baptist at the BBQ

Had a pretty great week. My favorite part of the week was helping out the Hunter family. They are an awesome family in the ward. Their dad is hilarious. His name is Cotton. We helped him lay down some wood floor in his new home office. We also trained their kids how to share the gospel. Our mission is encouraging us to do roleplays with members to give them an idea of how to share the gospel. I think it is a great idea. We did some roleplays yesterday that were hilarious. We had them pick the scenarios. The first one was me trying to teach Cotton while we were about to jump out of an airplane. The second one was me trying to rob a bank and their son Garrett was trying to share the restoration. That one was interesting haha. So they kind of took it to the extreme. Hopefully they learned something. We are encouraging them to share the gospel with their freinds that they are inviting to a BBQ at their house tomorrow for mutual.

Something funny about that happened too. So the Hunters' BBQ conflicted with a lesson already scheduled with our investigator Brandon. So we thought it would be funny to invite Brandon to the barbeque, and then we realized how funny that would be since he is baptist! His favorite movie is Baptists at Our Barbeque! I haven't seen it before, only heard about it. He always quotes it when we try to teach him. So now we have a baptist coming to our barbeque tomorrow. He thought it was pretty funny. 

On Tuesday we did the cake lesson with Nalani and Jacob. It turned out surprisingly well. I spent half of p-day trying to come up with it all. I should probably do creative writing now. Nalani seemed to enjoy the whole thing. While it was baking in the oven we talked about the family proclamation. They both had some questions about mormons and gays. That was interesting. They are so awesome! I hope she wants to get baptized soon. She trusts us a lot now so this transfer I think we will "push" her a little more to get baptized. i need to talk to Jacob and see what he thinks. HE is so solid. I hope he gets called as our new ward mission leader. Brother Terry is moving to california. 

Other than that, something worth sharing happened yesterday. We were getting home from church and we passed what looked like a family BBQ-ing something. I almost ignored the prompting, but I gathered the courage to go out of our way still in my suit. I thought since it looked like a nice family that we would give her a family proclamation. She was catholic, was friendly but not interested at all. She offered us a brat. It was good. who knows what difference it will make later down the road. Turned out she is divorced recently, so hopefully she will read the family proclamation. her name was Cary. Been out almost 23 months, but it still isnt' easy to put yourself out there. I"m glad I did it though. 

I'm getting a new companion--Elder Schrader. Its crazy, Last week,  I was emailing Joseph Kozolowski (my former roommate at BYU) and he told me to say Hi to Elder Schrader because that is his cousin. Now he is my companion. Pretty sure he is from Boise, ID. 

So as you know I've been trying to memorize the Living Christ. I am more than half way done now. One of the phrases I studied more into this week was "He also ministered among his other sheep in Ancient America." I then read a lot of scriptures about sheep. I particularly like the one in alma ch. 5.  and 1 Nephi 22:25:

 "And he gathereth his children from the four quarters of the earth; and he numbereth his sheep, and they know him; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd; and he shall feed his sheep, and in him they shall find pasture.

...a shepherd hath called after you and is still calling after you,but ye will not hearken unto his voice!

38 Behold, I say unto you, that the good shepherd doth call you; yea, and in his own name he doth call you, which is the name of Christ; and if ye will not hearken unto the voice of the good shepherd, to the name by which ye are called, behold, ye are not the sheep of the good shepherd.

I found it interesting that the Good Shepherd calls us in his own name. We know that sheep only listen to their true shepherd, and the shepherd also knows his sheep by name. The sheep recognize the shepherd's voice. This reminds me of a verse of "Dear to the Heart of A Shepherd." Such a great hymn by the way:

Green are the pastures inviting;

Sweet are the waters and still.

Lord, we will answer thee gladly,

"Yes, blessed Master, we will!

Make us thy true under-shepherds;

Give us a love that is deep.

Send us out into the desert,

Seeking thy wandering sheep.

Mosiah 5

 There is no other name given whereby salvation cometh; therefore, I would that ye should take upon you the name of Christ, all you that have entered into the covenant with God that ye should be obedient unto the end of your lives.

I think what all of this might mean is that only those who have or who desire to truly make covenants, who truly strive to become like the savior will be able to recognize his voice when he calls. And he is always calling us and seeking after us if we will but open our ears and our hearts to the still small voice in which he calls. I know from my own experience that whenever I give heed to His voice when he calls usually it is to a place where my natural self doesn't want to go--"over mountains, over the waters...out in the desert--" away from the security of the fold, but seeking out his lost ones and bringing them back to green pastures has been such a blessing, and sometimes  I can't help but rejoice.

Love you all. Have a good week,

Elder Soutas

Quick letter

So this week went really good. I should've planned out my time better while emailing. I would write more, but I am pressed for time. I have been trying to make this gospel "cake recipe" for our lesson tonight with Nalani. She is an expert on cake baking and so I am trying to use some creativity here. Ill send you part of it so you know what I am talking about. 

But this week was great. We have been working with the members a lot and getting lots of referrals. WE are encouraging them to reach out to all of the referrals we give them and it is working out really great. No new investigators, but we have a date with Robyn for the 29th for baptism! It may not happen because she is concerned of going under water with her brain injury (has to do if water gets in her ears). It will need to take miracles to get her baptized. There was a whole fiasco this week we had to deal with too with her roommate (the one that sent you that picture). They weren't getting a long, but now it seems things are going okay. 

I will send you a letter and write it today so you can get the update of this week.

Love you!

Publish Peace

Dear family,

Another week has gone by. We did a lot of service this week and we picked up a new investigator.

His name is Brandon. HE is the owner of a christian bookstore. He knows a lot about Mormons, and his favorite movie is Baptists at our bbq. He has seen many mormon movies for some reason. He is interested in learning the doctrine of our church. We had a church tour with him yesterday. He is a really nice guy. we met him through his son Azariah who we met 3 weeks ago (see previous email).

We did close to 14 hours of service this week. Every Tuesday we serve meals at the senior citizen center. The food there is actually pretty good. Low in sodium too. Not that I really care. I am still 175 pounds and so I haven't gained a pound on my mission. So that is good. We workout basically every morning in a place our apartment complex. 

We also spend a few hours helping Robyn and Diane refinish their floor and moving furniture. 

Robyn didn't come to church this week for some reason. She didn't specify as to why. She is still hung up on women and the priesthood. We haven't been able to talk to her much about it lately since she has been focused on her floor getting done. IF she would've come to church she would've been able to learn about it since gospel principles lesson was on the priesthood and we talked about women and the priesthood. We are meeting with her tonight though with the Wegescheides. The Wegescheides are an older couple in the ward. They fed us dinner last Monday along with their nonmember friend from Chesterfield who we also taught a lesson to. She is very receptive and is thinking about joining, but we will have to refer her to the Chesterfield missionaries. The dinner with them was fancy and we even ate artichokes.  

In other news, one of the missionaries in the Dardenne Creek ward got ETed so now we get the car full time! which is great because I left my umbrella in my last area and it is supposed to rain a lot a lot this month. I at least have a rain jacket, so I will manage with that. 

We spent hours of service this weekend as well helping the Stahls.  We manually tilled their flowerbeds with a pick axe. we also helped move drywall sheets by the dozen. And they fed us pizza hut, which I have had like 50 times on my mission. I still like it though, and their thin crust is where it's at. 

We also spent about 3 hours painting baseboards for Sister Wegescheide's family because they are trying to sell their mom's house. That was fun. 

unfortunately we didn't have many teaching opportunities through all of this service, and the ones where we did we didn't take full advantage of them. But at least they got to be touched by our service to some degree.

Yesterday at church was good. I spent a few hours this weekend trying to figure out a way to get the members of the ward to share the Easter initiative with their friends. I made a whole 3-fold poster board and everything. I like to get artsy sometimes. I enjoy doing crafts for some reason, must get it from Mom. I just love creating things.

Well so the idea I came up with for the poster board (Elder Gifford mostly cheered me on while making it) was in addition to sharing the Prince of peace video, to "Publish peace" (see mosiah 15:17) by sharing a testimony that they had with one of the #principles of peace (faith, compassion, etc.) Well right after ward council we dashed toward the chapel doors to set up the poster I made. I had like a sign up sheet so we could know who to follow up with. Though people looked at it, NO ONE signed up. But rather than getting discouraged (which I easily could have because it seems like my good ideas never work out)  I had a prompting to go talk to Sister Wilson the relief society president because she is cool. Asked her if we could set up the poster in relief society room because the women are a lot more artsy and might appreciate what I did. Sister Wilson is so awesome, she let us get up in front of everybody and explain during their opening announcements what our idea was. Later in the day, when we came back we saw that a whole 2 people signed up. Better than no one. Our goal is to get 7 referrals and 3 new investigators from this. We will leave it up for the next couple of weeks so hopefully that goal we can achieve.

Well that's about all that has happened this week. 

So I made the goal from conference to study and memorize the living Christ. I remembered that you (talking to Mom) memorized it a while back. So what I am doing is learning it literally line upon line. There are 33 sentences in the Living Christ (unless I miscounted)--one for each year of the Savior's life (unless he was 34). So I am memorizing 1 sentence per day. I study it while I shower and try to go more in depth during my free time of study, because I always study during my free time. I am a study-a-holic. So far I have memorized this far:

 "As we commemorate the birth of our Savior two milennia ago, we offer our testimony of the reality of his matchless life, and the infinite virtue of his great atoning sacrifice. None other has had so profound an influence upon all who have lived or will yet live upon the earth. He was the Great Jehovah of the Old Testament, the Messiah of the New. Under the direction of HIs Father he was the Creator of the earth. 'All things were made by Him and without him was not anything made that was made.' Though sinless, He was baptized to fulfill all righteousness."

Its been nice to ponder each of these statements throughout the week. I gained some insight of why the Savior's life was matchless and how he has had more of an influence upon all who have live or will ever live, as it says. If you think of some of the most renowned human beings in history and the influence they have had and compare it to Jesus, then it puts that statement into perspective. Besides the Lord, who else do you think has had the most influence on humanity? I would have to say it would be our first parents, adam and Eve. After all, their genetic makeup is within all who have ever lived upon the earth. Another person that I stumbled across this week that had a profound influence upon humanity was Johannes Gutenberg who invented the printing press. Because of that much of all modern inventions in regard to communication has accelerated. We now have a modern printing press in The Internet which can be used as a force for good (so prayerfully share the Prince of peace video if you haven't already!!!). Who else has had a major impact on humanity? Another one would be the early corrupt leaders of the catholic church (which unforunately isn't the great and abominable church  though it seems like it fits the description in the scriptures). All of Christianity stems off of the many corrupt decrees and practices of the Catholic church, which I have to deal with on a regular basis. I could go into detail but I won't. So those are just 3 examples. 

Now what about you? How can you have a profound influence upon others? What impact can your life have for the billions that will come after you? You won't know exactly until the next life, but just think about it. As President Monson said, "Decisions determine your destiny." your decisions also determine others' destinies for good or for bad. We will all be held accountable for the decisions we made that if we don't choose wisely the sins of others may be "brought upon our own heads." kind of a scary thought. Fear should never motivate us though to do a little better. IT should be out of love. Which brings me to the savior. The love he has for us is so profound. As he completed HIs Atonement, he saw in vision all of "his seed."

MOsiah 15 states;

10 And now I say unto you, who shall declare his generation? Behold, I say unto you, that when his soul has been made an offering for sin he shall see his seed. And now what say ye? And who shall be his seed?

11 Behold I say unto you, that whosoever has (1) heard the words of the prophets, yea, all the holy prophets who have prophesied concerning the coming of the Lord—I say unto you, that all those who have (2)hearkened unto their words, and (3)believed that the Lord would redeem his people, and have (4)looked forward to that day for a remission of their sins, I say unto you, that these are his seed, or they are the heirs of the kingdom of God.

12 For these are they whose sins he has borne; these are they for whom he has died, to redeem them from their transgressions. And now, are they not his seed?

13 Yea, and are not the prophets, every one that has opened his mouth to prophesy, that has not fallen into transgression, I mean all the holy prophets ever since the world began? I say unto you that they are his seed.

14 And these are they who have published peace, who have brought good tidings of good, who have published salvation; and said unto Zion: Thy God reigneth!

Now, not everyone meets those qualifications to be his seed, but does that mean that The Savior didn't bear the sins of those that weren't his seed?  Upon reading the rest of these verses in Mosiah 15, 16 and D and C 19, it becomes a little more clear.

26 But behold, and fear, and tremble before God, for ye ought to tremble; for the Lord redeemeth none such that rebel against him and die in their sins; yea, even all those that have perished in their sins ever since the world began, that have wilfully rebelled against God, that have known the commandments of God, and would not keep them; these are they that have no part in the first resurrection.

27 Therefore ought ye not to tremble? For salvation cometh to none such; for the Lord hath redeemed none such; yea, neither can the Lord redeem such; for he cannot deny himself; for he cannot deny justice when it has its claim.

2 And then shall the wicked be cast out, and they shall have cause to howl, and weep, and wail, and gnash their teeth; and this because they would not hearken unto the voice of the Lord; therefore the Lord redeemeth them not.

3 For they are carnal and devilish, and the devil has power over them; yea, even that old serpent that did beguile our first parents, which was the cause of their fall; which was the cause of all mankind becoming carnal, sensual, devilish, knowing evil from good, subjecting themselves to the devil.

4 Thus all mankind were lost; and behold, they would have been endlessly lost were it not that God redeemed his people from their lost and fallen state.

5 But remember that he that persists in his own carnal nature, and goes on in the ways of sin and rebellion against God, remaineth in his fallen state and the devil hath all power over him. Therefore he is as though there was no redemption made, being an enemy to God; and also is the devil an enemy to God.

16 For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;

17 But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I;

It appears that the Lord did prepare a possibility for redemption for every human soul, however those who persist in sin will make it as if Christ never paid for their sins because they will have to pay for them themselves, they must suffer even as He did (except not for all of the sins of humanity like Christ, just their own, for "men will be punished [only] for their own sins" So why then has the Savior had such a profound influence upon all who have lived or will live upon the earth? The answer I believe is because He is the Redeemer of us all dependent upon our choices , and since he is our redeemer all who will can overcome suffering for their sins. Because of our fallen state, we will all experience misery and death because "death is the wage of sin." But what great reason we have to rejoice because of the Lord we need not remain forever dead without our bodies or in our sins. I love the Savior and know that He is my Redeemer and that these things are true. We can declare this wonderful news with others and publish peace so that we and others may become his seed and be redeemed. 

hope you have a good week. 

Elder Soutas

p.s. If you haven't got the hint already, please carefully consider who to share the #prince of peace video with