School Thy Feelings

Hey everybody,

This letter will be short as I am running low on time, but I will still try to make it worth reading.

This week we had a cool guy named Than Hrang come to church. He is a recent convert from Burma and more recently from Idaho--a refugee. He speaks little English. He made some good friends from the ward, particuarly from another recent convert from Brasil, Andre. Putting those two together is really hysterical. We also helped some people move--The Renshaws. They are living together and both members of the church, but they have a desire to start coming back. We should be teaching them more as well as her sister-in-law's little girl who hasn't been baptized.

Isaiah is doing pretty good. He is still unsure about baptism, but we had a great lesson with him about applying the scriptures to himself. 

Jeff we have not been able to get ahold of. 

Other than that there are some other neat experiences. Yesterday was fast sunday. I got up and bore my testimony at the last minute which was good. It is not easy to do for me, even as a missionary just so you know. But I highly reccomend doing it if you haven't lately. 

Also there was a black lady who asked us for money yesterday. I didn't have any cash on me and Elder howlett had a little..i know he had more in his wallet but he only gave her a dollar. She was hungry and looking food for her family. She asked us if we could help her more. I was at first hesitant but then said sure. And so we walked with her for about a half a mile the opposite direction to take her to a place to buy food for her (it being Sunday which we don't really do but the ox is in the mire I guess. It was too far to get to a food place, but luckily we found an atm and so I got her a little money to go buy some food. It was a good learning experience to put into practice the words of king benjamin:

 17 Perhaps thou shalt say: The man has brought uponhimself his misery; therefore I will stay my hand, and willnot give unto him of my food, nor impart unto him of mysubstance that he may not suffer, for his punishments arejust—

 18 But I say unto you, O man, whosoever doeth this thesame hath great cause to repent; and except he repentethof that which he hath done he perisheth forever, and hathno interest in the kingdom of God.

 19 For behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not alldepend upon the same Being, even God, for all thesubstance which we have, for both food and raiment, andfor gold, and for silver, and for all the riches which wehave of every kind?

And I don't include this to boast for any reason whatsoever, just to demonstrate how wonderful it is to help others. 

As you may remember, this month is dedicated to being "not easily provoked." I hope you are all getting along with one another, and I'm sure you are. Already i have had to learn by experience from this. I have been listening everyday practicaly from Gordon B. Hinckley's talk in 2007, "Slow to Anger." I got angry at my companion this week after he got angry at me! I even swore at him! Can you believe that? I won't tell you which swear word it was. We have been trying to learn how to get along with each other and become more unified. It is not easy, and that is one thing that I am trying to learn on my mission since most of my companions I have really had a hard time learning this, and I suppose until I get it right it will remain that way. But luckily those principles I've learned from Gordon B. Hinckley have helped me a great deal this week and right now all is forgiven in my companionship. I have actually gotten upset at each of my companions at least once. 

School thy feelings, O my brother;

Train thy warm, impulsive soul.

Do not its emotions smother,

But let wisdom’s voice control.

School thy feelings; there is power

In the cool, collected mind.

Passion shatters reason’s tower,

Makes the clearest vision blind. …

School thy feelings; condemnation

Never pass on friend or foe,

Though the tide of accusation

Like a flood of truth may flow.

Hear defense before deciding,

And a ray of light may gleam,

Showing thee what filth is hiding

Underneath the shallow stream.

School thy feelings, O my brother;

Train thy warm, impulsive soul.

Do not its emotions smother,

But let wisdom’s voice control.

I have learned that anger, resentment, grudges truly do "make the clearest vision blind." The savior said in Matt 7 "4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out themote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

 5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye."

If we are to ever try to correct the flaw of another, we must first look at ourselves. A 'mote' is a very small speck. A "beam" is like a long piece of wood or metal. It is so easy to get offended by something so small like a "mote." For instance, Elder Howlett got offended because since he doesn't like riding bikes, I told him in a tone which I meant no offense to "deal with it." Something I should say of course. Elder Howlett said something mean to me while tracting and I chose to get really upset. Of course, it is not just those things that were said alone which cause us to lash out, but it is the accumulation of things we choose to become offended of that cause such anger. Said President Hinckley: "So many of us make a great fuss of matters of small consequence. Weare so easily offended. Happy is the man who can brush aside the offending remarks of another and go on his way.

Grudges, if left to fester, can become serious maladies"

It is so much easier to forgive as the savior has taught us. I know from experience that the Savior is quick to forgive us, and likewise we should do the same with those around us. Charity is hard, but if we pray for it with all of our heart we may slowly by each and every thought, word, and deed like little drops of water in a great sea become more and more like the Savior. 

Well i said this letter would be short, but I lied. 

I hope you all have a good week. The gospel is simply true. 

Love ya,

Elder Soutas

Grateful for the atonement and the sacrament.

Hello everybody!

This week was pretty good. We still aren't meeting with many investigators except we had a good lesson with Isaiah. He doesn't want to go to church though. We invited him to go on the ward float trip so hopefully that will be good for him if he goes. 

We had a crazy experience with a less active named Brother Guyer. His sister in law is threatening to kick he and his wife out of the house because of some will, and he also has had really bad phantom leg pains lately! Look that up to understand how painful it is becasue I can't really describe it to you. So he told his whole life story the whole hour we were there and then we helped our WML Brother Nevels give him a priesthood blessing. He is planning on coming back to church and said he would go to church Sunday but didn't for some reason. He also wants us to come teach him some more! I'm really glad that I acted on the prompting to call him the other day. He's hit rock bottom kind of. As we left his place Tuesday night backing up in the car, I could see the poor guy with his head down on the top of his swinging front door. i'm not sure if he was just really grateful or really sad. 

That was the highlight of the week. We have another less active family we will hopefully be teaching tomorrow, brother Araiza. He is native american and really cool. We taught him this week and said he'd be at chruch but didn't show either! Goodness gracious! It makes a huge difference getting people to church because then the members actually think you're serious about missionary work. They are kind of judgmental and they don't understand how it is. We have so many good families in our ward and I just don't quite to see how to encourage them to help us find nonmembers and build enough trust with them to turn their friends over to us to teach. It's tricky stuff. 

One thing I am grateful for is the atonement and the sacrament. Forgiveness for little misdeeds I am always grateful for. I become resentful really easily towards certain people but the Lord forgives me still. Maybe one day I will be able to overcome that. That is something hard to repent of. This month's charity topic is "not easily provoked: The talk included is Slow to Anger by President Hinckley. 

Hope you all have a good week!

Elder Soutas

Were all in Missouri together!

Hello everyone!

That's so nuts that you are all so very close to me! I hope you like Missouri! I'm sure you don't like the weather. You can't really get used to it. I lied last week when I said I was used to it. On wednesday we helped someone weed when the heat index was 105 degrees! I had to used a bandana to prevent the sweat from seeping into my eyeballs. Also, my advice, don't go outside right after you take a shower if you have any hopes of staying somewhat dry. Also, bring a sweat towell, which I still have neglected to do. 

This week has been pretty cool other than the weather. We picked up a family of 4 that was a referral from the Smithton Ridge Elders. They were taught while I was on exchanges and so I haven't met them yet, but they've had the missionaries over 20 years ago. Elder Howlett told me the first thing that was said when they answered the door was "come on in Elders!" 

The next day we were in a neighborhood and knocked on a door. The husband answered and said he wasn't interested. Then a few houses later a lady came running out from the same house and said "Are you Mormons? I'll talk to you!" Her name is Pam. She is a very enthusiastic Pentecostal lady. She apparently has healed many people which I am skeptical of and strongly believes in the gifts of the spirit. She has little conversations out loud with the Lord. I can't tell if it is all a fake or if she really is close to God. But she thinks she has the ability to make prophecies for instance she told us that one of us may have scoliosis and we may need to get it checked out. She asked me if I did and I said that I wasn't sure, but my Dad does! Sorry dad. 

After she kept talking and talking she asked us if we would lay our hands on her like she does with other people and heal her of her cancer. She questioned our faith though because we told her that she will be healed if it is the Lord's will. She didn't like that because she believes that it is the Lord's will that everyone should be healed. Maybe she is right about that, I don't know. But we gave her a blessing and afterwards said goodbye, but first she asked us if we would like a cucumber before we leave. We will have to visit her this week to see if she is healed of her cancer yet. 

Also this week we've been trying to implement our family history class. just today I reserved it in the public library for August 13 and Sep 17 on Saturday morning. We are also going to have classes between sessions at the family history library. We've been trying to coordinate with the stake to do it. At this point it is still up in the air because although they like the idea they are concerned that we wouldn't get enough people to sign up and so it might disappoint members who are volunteering for the classes if their preparations are in vain. That doesn't sound like faith to me! But it is a valid point though. We will have to make the first class really interesting in order to get enough people to come to family history center every Saturday. 

The topics vary and will hoepuflly be taught by members who are experienced in those particular topics. I hope it works out because I LOVE family history. The other day we were doing some and I found out on family search that if you go under the tab "search" and then under "wiki' you can learn how to do greek records. The family history ladies said that many people ignore the learning center on the familysearch webiste and just jump right into it without knowing the basics first. That's why we are doing this class. But I am curious to see if I can make any breakthroughs on our Greek line. 

Well that's about all that happened for this week that I can think of. Hope you all have a good, happy time whether your in Missouri or not. Just remember the adversary seeketh that all might be "'Missouri'-able" like unto himself. So be Happy. If you ever lose faith then something you can do is study about the atonement. On exchanges my district leader Elder Ward counseled me to do that since I've lost a little bit of desire along with me not being able to have my medication for a good week (which is another blessing, because I was praying that the lord would sustain me so i wouldn't have to have withdraw headaches or something. I've learned lately that having faith comes easier to some than others. It's a little bit harder for me but it is a gift we can all attain. 

” I would say to all who wish for more faith, remember this man! In moments of fear or doubt or troubling times, hold the ground you have already won, even if that ground is limited. In the growth we all have to experience in mortality, the spiritual equivalent of this boy’s affliction or this parent’s desperation is going to come to all of us. When those moments come and issues surface, the resolution of which is not immediately forthcoming, hold fast to what you already know and stand strong until additional knowledge comes. The size of your faith or the degree of your knowledge is not the issue—it is the integrity you demonstrate toward the faith you do have and the truth you already know. Brothers and sisters, this is a divine work in process, with themanifestations and blessings of it abounding in every direction, so please don’t hyperventilate if from time to time issues arise that needto be examined, understood, and resolved. They do and they will. In thisChurch, what we know will always trump what we do not know. And remember, in this world, everyone is to walk by faith.

So be kind regarding human frailty—your own as well as that of those who serve with you in a Church led by volunteer, mortal men and women. Except in the case of His only perfect Begotten Son, imperfect people are all God has ever had to work with. That must be terribly frustrating to Him, but He deals with it. So should we. And when you see imperfection, remember that the limitation is not in the divinity of the work. As one gifted writer has suggested, when the infinite fulness is poured forth, it is not the oil’s fault if there is some loss because finite vessels can’t quite contain it all.10 Those finite vessels include you and me, so be patient and kind and forgiving.

Last observation: When doubt or difficulty come, do not be afraid to ask for help. If we want it as humbly and honestly as this father did, we can get it. The scriptures phrase such earnest desire as being of “real intent,” pursued “with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God.”11 I testify that in response to that kind of importuning, God will send help from both sides of the veil to strengthen our belief.

I said I was speaking to the young. I still am. A 14-year-old boy recently said to me a little hesitantly, “Brother Holland, I can’t say yet that I know the Church is true, but I believe it is.” I hugged that boy until his eyes bulged out. I told him with all the fervor of my soul that belief is a precious word, an even more precious act, and he need never apologize for “only believing.” I told him that Christ Himself said, “Be not afraid, only believe,”12 a phrase which, by the way, carried young Gordon B. Hinckley into the mission field.13 I told this boy that belief was always the first step toward conviction and that the definitive articles of our collective faith forcefully reiterate the phrase “We believe.”14And I told him how very proud I was of him for the honesty of his quest.

Now, with the advantage that nearly 60 years give me since I was a newly believing 14-year-old, I declare some things I now know. I know that God is at all times and in all ways and in all circumstances our loving, forgiving Father in Heaven. I know Jesus was His only perfect child, whose life was given lovingly by the will of both the Father and the Son for the redemption of all the rest of us who are not perfect. I know He rose from that death to live again, and because He did, you and I will also. I know that Joseph Smith, who acknowledged that he wasn’t perfect,15 was nevertheless the chosen instrument in God’s hand to restore the everlasting gospel to the earth. I also know that in doing so—particularly through translating the Book of Mormon—he has taught me more of God’s love, of Christ’s divinity, and of priesthood power than any other prophet of whom I have ever read, known, or heard in a life time of seeking. I know that President Thomas S. Monson, who moves devotedly and buoyantly toward the 50th anniversary of his ordination as an Apostle, is the rightful successor to that prophetic mantle today. We have seen that mantle upon him again in this conference. I know that 14 other men whom you sustain as prophets,seers, and revelators sustain him with their hands, their hearts, and their own apostolic keys.

These things I declare to you with the conviction Peter called the “more sure word of prophecy.”16 What was once a tiny seed of belief for me has grown into the tree of life, so if your faith is a little tested in this or any season, I invite you to lean on mine. I know this work is God’s very truth, and I know that only at our peril would we allow doubt or devils to sway us from its path. Hope on. Journey on. Honestly acknowledge your questions and your concerns, but first and forever fan the flame of your faith, because all things are possible to them that believe." 

I Love the words of Elder Holland. I battle back and forth like the young boy trying to figure out if I "only believe" or like Elder Holland "know", and I'm still not sure, but regardless there is something about living the gospel that keeps me hoping and journeying on. 

Have a good week!

Elder Soutas

working in Columbia

Hello everybody!

this week was pretty good. We are still are having a tough, tough time getting in with anybody. We taught a couple of people though. we picked back up Isaiah. He apparently had been trying to get a hold of us, but we never got any call from him and he would never respond to our calls either. Our ward missionary, Bro. Kuhn who we go out with a lot had a thought to go visit him so we did. His mother was very happy to see us because he had been trying to get a hold of us apparently even though we never had any call from him. Confusing. But now we picked him back up and his friend Dante, but they will be busy this coming week so we may not be able to teach them. 

Also, right now we are trying to implement a family history class. It was just going to be at the ward level, but now it might eventually be with the stake! We talked to sister Pry, who is the representative over the family history center in Columbia. At first she was super defensive because we were jumping in too fast I guess and we are novices compared to her. But she then softened up and gave us a bunch of great ideas to teach the class on. She is going to help us get "experts" to come teach various classes on various subjects of family history such as pitfalls, internet usuage, indexing, vital records, uploading family stories, family trees, family group sheet vs pedigree chart, etc etc.  I hope it turns out well. This is all pretty much inspired by a returend missionnary in our ward named Bro Chapdelaine. He used a lot of family history on his mission in Flordai Tallahasse. He also gave us a way cool pamphlet they used and I am sending it hopefully to my mission president to see if he likes the idea. So far he loves that we are trying to do family history and is very supportive of us doing it which is good. It may not get started up until I have to leave to another area but I am happy to at least get it going. 

Other than that, not a whole lot happened this week. We taught a less family who has a lot of developmental problems so that was interesting. We sweat a lot. I'm really used to the humidity by now it doesn't even bother me. I don't every wear sunscresen either. maybe is should. I don't get burned though. it's weird. 

Elder Howlett and I are having fun though. He is a smart kid. Very inquisitive and we think similarly so we get a long pretty well. 

Oh yeah before I forget. We talked to this preacher guy in his mid 20s. He sat us down and said he had a few honest questions which eventually turned out into him spewing out a bunch of anti and even showing us a video on it to try to shake us from the faith. But we could not be shaken. He maid outrageous claims t hat I'm sure are not new but I'd never heard before such as Joseph smith didn't translate a single character right on the Book of Mormon, The book of Abraham was translated incorrect and is just a thing fromt he Egyptian Book of the Dead, their is no reference to the temple signs and tokens in the bible (which I know, Mom, you know much better than he does--if only he knew Hebrew :), there is only one God because it says in Isaiah there are no Gods before me or after----I wouldn't mind someone's interpretation on that one actually because I can see why he would think that) So yeah that was kind of a tough experience. WE just bore our testimonies and left after a while on kind terms. It was pretty sad to see how decieved he was though. The video was about people who used to be Mormon. Very deceiving video. But I still have my faith.

In fact I studied about faith this morning. I have never understood the principle of faith all too well. I never realized how we excercise faith every day with EVERYTHING, not just gospel related stuff. "Without faith you can do nothing." (D&C 8:10) but WITH faith, even as a grain as a mustard seed, "nothing shall be impossible unto you." (Matthew 17:20). I also seemed to finally make the connection between my faith and my prayers. Because I have always, and still do struggle with God answering my prayers, but now I realize that he empowers me through my faith to answer them. He just puts "packets of help" ---as Elder Richard G. Scott calls it----  along my path and as I HOPE and DO (because that is the definition of faith in my own words) God puts instances in my life where prayers are fulfillled. We all have heard the story of that man who said that god would save him from the flood. God sent people to help him but kept saying "it's okay the Lord will save me." Little did he realize that God was trying to save him and when he died and went to heaven he asked the Lord "Why didn't you save me?" Then the lord responded, I did you big dummy!" 

So God I think a lot of times helps us fulfill our own prayers if that makes sense. So I will have to work on that. 

Also I have a question for anyone. We studied in gospel principles about the gifts of the spirit. It says that one of the gifts of the spirit is knowing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. The other one is The gift of believing the testimony others.  I was told by a couple of people that some only have the gift to believe in the testimony of others. Does that mean that they don't really have a testimony?

Luckily, we can all have each of the gifts if we try our best to obtain them. I guess I am just not sure if I have the gift to believe in the testimony of others or if i do have the gift of knowing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.. Just curious what you all think.

Well I best be get going

Love you all!

Have a good week

Elder Soutas

Keep the Faith

Hello Family,

Well I don't have time to email much today. Since losing my wallet a few weeks back I haven't had a picture ID. Well, I take that back. I was given a printed copy of my drivers license by Sister Gore (The Financial secretary in the mission) but I left it in my apartment somewhere. You see, I need a photo id in order to get a new password and login to the public library where we do emails. So i only have had a few minutes of emailing and all of the other missionaries are being impatient with me.

But this week has been okay.

I like my new companion Elder Howlett. He is from Vegas. 

 It is incredibly hard right now to keep the faith when you are trying your best to do what is right. It is extremely hard to motivate yourself when you get no reward for your dilligent efforts. I'm trying not to get discouraged and not to doubt. it's hard though. When things aren't going right it easy to question yourself like you are doing something wrong or you have no testimony. Perhaps I am. I'm not really sure. But I'll just keep trying the best I know how. We are having a hard time catching fish right now as Jordan told me in his email. But that is okay. I sure hope that we draw a multitude of fishes sometime soon.

Unfortuantely I don't have time to share any experiences from this week. I can't really think of anything off the top of my head.

Have a good week

Elder Soutas

P.S. I need your prayers more than ever. I am confused. 

Dad's answer:

Sometime the Lord tests us with his silence. Keep the faith.

Remember my boat miracle story. The Lord is very aware of you.

Sometimes you are called to dig, but not to reap.

It's like putting in a garden or planting crops. First, the soil needs to be prepared.  It's hard work.  There are no immediate rewards for this work, for even after the seeds are plants, you still only have dirt to look at.

Be patient, eventually there will be a harvest --- but you may not be there to see the fruits of your labor and that's okay. 

Teaching and a New Comp - Elder Howlett

Hello everybody. 

This week's email is going to be very very short and I don't know if I'll answer all of your questions but i'll try. 

last week was pretty good. We found a few new investigators. Some people we found were from Burundi. We  also are planning on starting a free  family history class at the library and we found a new investigator named Debra telling her about that. 

We taught a former Lds man named Randy and his wife and  2 year old kid, Benjamin. That went well.

Unfortunately we weren't able to teach Hejin, Dave and Andrew. But we did meet with Nick, who is YSA age. We will probably send him to the YSA elders to teach so he can get more fellowship. 

Nothing too crazy happened this week. On the 4th of July we participated in the annual Parley P. Pratt run (now the Freedom run to include other denominations). I didn't run in it and instead flipped 100s of pancakes. 

Thank you for sending me the package Mom! I loved the indoors smores! Those are my fave. 

Yesterday was transfers and i got my new companion Elder Howlett from Las Vegas. We are going to do some good work together!

Remember that this month for developing Charity is "is not puffed up." So don't be prideful at all. 

"It is the comparison that makes you proud; the pleasure of being a above the rest. once the element of competition is gone, pride is gone."

--C.S. Lewis

So people let's not be prideful becasue if you can eliminate that then you will eliminate all evil from within you. Easier said than done, but possible by the grace of Jesus Christ. 

I love you all! sorry I probably didn't answer like any of your questions. We usually don't email on wednesdays.

Have a good week!