MTC Week 1

Hi i don't have much time, but just wanted to let you know I'm alive and well. The MTC is pretty cool. So far we haven't been tested too hard, but come tomorrow we start teaching real investigators. My companion is Elder Clarke from the Ogden area. He's very obedient, very well prepared missionary so I have zero concerns about him. Also my MTC teachers are Sister Wrubell who is the daughter of the Voice of the Cougars, Greg Wrubell. Kind of cool! She's really enthusiastic about it all so it helps me. Same with my other teacher Brother Rasmussen, who happened to play basketball for Bingham and Coach Dubach and ended up quitting. So it's a nice little tender mercy the lord gave me how I can relate to both my teachers. They're both wonderful. 

Well I gotta go eat some MTC food now. Bye Bye now. I love you all. hopefully you are all coping because I have no homesickness whatsoever. There are a lot of really pretty sister missionaries here though so that is a hard time to focus sometimes haha. It's all good don't need to worry. The MTC is cool.

Ty's talk outline

Speak Christlike attributes, a couple of which are patience, diligence and humility. 

Let me suggest that by developing these three attributes we become fully converted unto the Lord and we will never fall away. 

PMG says that “Patience is the capacity to endure delay, trouble, opposition, or suffering without becoming angry, frustrated, or anxious. it is the ability to do God’s will and accept His timing.”

SHARE FEELINGS OF PROVO MISSION CALL EXPERIENCE:

things don’t always play out the way you want them to, but…..

SUFFERING To KNOW JESUS CHRIST

I can’t help but talk of the Sons of Mosiah and their examples of patience, Humility, and diligence through their afflictions. 

Ammon, Aaron, Omner, Himni

Alma 17:11” Go forth among the Lamanites thy brethern, and establish my word; yet ye shall be patient in long suffering and afflictions 

A Hard mission for them 

“people delighted in bloodshed and the grossest iniquity” Hatred toward them

Their Afflictions:

“suffered every privation” They were deprived essentially

-cast out, 

spit upon, stoned, cast into prison

AT WHAT POINT WOULD YOU SAY “IVE HAD ENOUGH!”

They essentially wanted to Go Home and be done

But Again… the Lord counseled

Alma 26:27: “Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success.”

kind of interesting 2X.. learn a lesson of Long suffering!!! 

Of patience, Neal A. Maxwell said as quoted in this month’s Ensign, “Patience is a willingness to watch the unfolding purposes of God with a sense of wonder and awe, rather than pacing up and down within the cell of our circumstance.”  

We don’t just sit there and wait. Surely God wants us to do something. 

How do we show patience?

might i suggest EXCERCISING DILLIGENCE AND HUMILITY!

Alma 21:23—-And he did exhort them daily , with all diligence, and they gave heed unto his word, and they were zealous for keeping the commandments of God” 

not to mention, they searched the scriptures diligently and gave themselves to much fasting and prayer

What were the results of diligence?

as we know1000s .

King Lamoni, his Father, The king and all of his household. The Anti-Nephi, Lehies- buried weapons of rebellion

“Those that were converted never did fall away”ALMA 23:7

Ammon said:

“Behold, the field was ripe, and blessed are ye, for ye did thrust in the sickle and did reap with your might, yea all the day long did ye labor; and behold the number of your sheaves! …..

“And they shall be gathered into the garners, that they are not wasted… and when the storm cometh they shall be gathered together in their place…they are in the hands of the Lord of the harvest, and they are his.” ALMA 26:5-7

WOULD ANY OF THIS HAPPENED WITHOUT THE LORD?

of course not. 

Let’s go to Alma 26 where Ammon is “Boasting” haha

“I do not boast in my own strength ], nor in my own wisdom…I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things…blessed be the name of God who has been mindful of this people….blessed be the name of my God who has been mindful of us, wanderers in a strange land. Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people…Now this is my joy and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever.” Alma 26:12, 36-37

Notice how Ammon recognizes that God has been aware.

“No matter how many arms chop off, raise people to their feet from comas (like the sons of mosiah did), the credit and glory should always be given to the Lord”

Remembrance is the greatest sign of humility. Heavenly Father wants us to remember Him and His son Jesus Christ. It is our solemn responsibility to confess the Lord’s hand in all things and be mindful of Him from day to day.”

  The Lord “sends rain on the just and the unjust” to keep them in remembrance of him.

“… except the Lord doth chasten his people with many afflictions, yea, except he doth visit themwith death and with terror, and with famine and with all manner of pestilence, they will not remember him.” Helaman 12:3

Testimony of jesus christ and what i just said. 

Last Letter from Orem Mission

That's cool you all have found out so much about St. Louis. I haven't heard anything about St. Louis since my mission call. It looks like an awesome mission. I'm pretty happy I get to go there. You ARE a word nerd. That's not even an english word. You should try putting that in google translate and see what comes up. 

sounds like you are all just having a jolly good summer without me. I'll be there wednesday though and I am really excited to relax a little. I should probably stick to the schedule the best that I can though or at least wake up on time and do studies. 

So I just was able to read the emails you sent last week. I wonder what president nielsen meant by that? huh. 

well this last week has been pretty good. I don't really remember what happened  but we were pretty busy teaching 26 lessons which was our high. not that the number matters but just so you get an idea. we got a lot of referrals this week. That's what happens when you ask everybody you see if they know anyone we could teach. One of our investigators, Zack. is getting baptized this Saturday at 1 pm so I will probably drive down to see it since I told them I would. I honestly can't think of anything significant that happened this week. It was good though. Miracles happen everyday when you listen to the promptings of the holy ghost. 

I also heard an interesting analogy from a family we were eating dinner with. He said that sometimes it's really hard for some people who have grown up in the church to know if the holy ghost is speaking to them. He compared us to how as members we are like fish in water because we have been submerged with the gospel and the holy ghost since birth and we don't know of any other way. And so we take for granted the constant feeling of the holy ghost especially until we are like a fish out of water. For instance, some people don't appreciate the sacrament as much until they are unworthy and asked not to take it for a while. Now this doesn't mean that you have to go doing super bad stuff and then repent later, but it is just an example.  For converts it can be easier for them to feel the holy ghost because they were that fish out of water for most of their lives, but when they finally jump in it is refreshing to them and is easily recognizable. Tell me if I'm wrong, but that was interesting.

Like to be honest, I can't tell you a specific point in time where I knew the book of mormon or the church to be true. I've probably known it since being a sunbeam. But of course you still need to ask if the book of mormon is true, but everytime I ask I basically feel like the Lord is saying that I already know it is true for a long time. Also, I have a hard time recognizing answers to prayers. Like I couldn't tell you a specific time where the lord answered my prayers really because I have a super bad memory, but I know he does answer them somehow. I could get better at that. 

How did you come to know the book of mormon is true Dadda? Or I guess anyone who is reading this is welcome to share.Just wondering if you would like to share. 

Hey dad, I can't wait to see you very soon and use your hammock as well!

See  you wednesday at transfer meeting. I think you are supposed to pick me up at the transfer meeting which is at 612 west 100 south Lindon, UT. Come probably at like 10:30 I think. I'm not totes sure though. 

I love you dad😆

Love you mom

love you grandma lynne, grandpa bob, grandma elaine, grandpa allen

love you feil family

love you Laurie and Joe

Love you bennihannuh, jenessa, brycen, jordan, alex, kaitlyn,

On Sun, Jul 26, 2015 at 7:33 PM, Chris Soutas <crsoutas@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear Ty (Elder Soutas),

I wasn't sure whether to write you a letter or not since I'm not sure if your p-day is tomorrow on account of the fact that you are coming home on Wednesday.

So, I'll just write you a quick one...

First, do you happen to know when we are supposed to pick you up on Wednesday?  I'm sure the mission president will call us if you don't know yet.

Ever since you received the mission call to St. Louis, people have "come out of the woodwork" so to speak to talk about St. Louis.  Either someone has family there, or is from there, or just visited there, or the city just comes up in conversation.  Funny how that happens. By the way, this phenomenon is called Baader-Meinhof.

I guess you can let that be the word of the day. I guess I am still a word nerd. I have actually been looking for that word for a long time and Jordan found it a few weeks ago.

We had a fun weekend. On Friday, for Pioneer Day, Jordan and Alex, Ben, Mom, Brycen, and I went up to Brighton to grill some hamburgers and to do a little fishing over at Silver Lake. Alex caught one on her first cast. Jordan caught one too but it was very tiny so I didn't count it. Ha ha! Jenessa was up at the Jager's cabin so she didn't come with us and Katie went to Park city with the Green's.

When we got back, we all went over to Lindsey Lockhart's house for fireworks and to meet her parents for the first time.

She has a really cute family and her parents really seem to like Ben. Today was  Amanda Lockhart's talk in church, so Ben has spent the day with Lindsey's family. It would appear that things are getting rather serious for these two.

On Saturday, we went up to Smith-Morehouse Reservoir which is by the Jager's cabin. I caught a couple fish and we grilled some hotdogs and hamburgers. The kids went canoeing and attempted fishing as well. Later we went back to the cabin for more hamburgers. We didn't stay too long but we did get to ride the ATVs a little bit.

Dallin Thomas spoke in church today. Afterwards, we went to his house for treats. I think he leaves on his mission on 17 August. He is going to the Madrid Spain mission.

Braden Powell and Tiani Orr Enter the MTC this Wednesday. Braden is going to Farmington New Mexico mission and Tiani is going to the Baltimore Maryland mission.

Well, that is about all I have. I am looking forward to seeing you this week!

Love,

DAD

Dear Elder Soutas you are hereby called to labor

Hey Elder! 

Your mission president just called and said that we will be seeing you tonight at 8 o'clock to open your new call!

I'm sure that you have already been contacted and I know that you cannot answer my email, but I thought I'd let you know how excited we are to see you seven hours from now. Yay!!

Also, I am sure that wherever you are asked to continue serving that you will be AWESOME!

Love you,

Mom and DAD

Hey y'all

Sounds like FAther's day went pretty good (I mean well) <-that was for Ben.....Yesterday we ate  kraft mac and cheese for dinner since our dinner appointment had to cancel. And what the heck is cornbread salad? No offense, but that sounds nasty hahah. But I never tried it so I can't judge....

Dad, I'm sorry you hurt your ribs. When you said that all I could think is I haven't had a McRib in forever! (that was a Jim Gaffigan Joke). I guess I'll have to keep a lookout for Teressa's friend Lana. Probably won't though since they live out of my area. But guess what?!! I noticed while looking at one of the ward maps last week that the Gaskins who used to live next door to us at our old house live here! I haven't actually met them yet, but I looked on LDS tools and it says that Matt  is assistant ward clerk. Perhaps we should go stop by sometime, but they probably wouldn't even remember me. 

Mom,

I haven't really talked to President about my new mission call or anything. I'll try to talk to him at Zone conference tomorrow. I wouldn't be surprised if he becomes the next apostle. I'm really glad you are hanging out with Joe. Like you said, he really taught me to see the good in everybody and to always have a cheerful attitude about boring old life. So he's finally at the Bluegrass Festival? Good. Lucky you got to have jamba juice..I'm craving a smoothie right now. In my last area, Sister Andrews used to make us the best smoothies all the time!

So you went on a field trip through Eagle Mountain? Cedar Valley is pretty beautiful. Did you see any dust devils while you were out there? And do you know if they decided to move the prison there or not? that was a big issue while I was there. If they do put it there, the area will grow a whole lot. But there's so many hicks out there that want their land for rabbit hunting!

And  Did you mean Cedar Fort? because Cedar Hills is by Pleasant Grove--that's actually Elder Spiers prior area. I never actually got to go see that site where Johnson's Army passed through. We just played ping pong pretty much on p-days (that could be a tongue twister (: 

And you got DAD a HAMMOCK?!! No fair. Remember when I tried to make a hammock out of sleeping bags a few months ago? That failed. I can't wait to get back to the house so I can take a nap. That's one thing I miss: Sunday naps. And pretty much just naps everyday. Everyday after lunch we are all sooo tired and need a nap but we just can't. That's really cool that Jenessa got her young woman's medallion! What an achievement!! I never even got my Duty to God. Shame on me. 

Grandpa Allen and grandma Elaine,

Thank you for the picture you sent me of Grandpa's scarred-up head! That's a keeper. That's a pretty cool looking Scar, Grandpa! Have fun doing retirement stuff. Speaking of retirement, RM doesn't mean Retired Missionary. That goes for everyone! I'm sick of members who aren't missionary-minded. I'm not pointing any fingers at anyone in particular. just thought I'd throw that out there. I'm also venting frustration because there are so many people around here who just don't give a dang. 

On a more happy note....:)

This week went pretty good. I feel like I've grown a whole lot--spiritually that is.  I haven't grown an inch though since I've left unfortunately. Both of my companions are 6 foot 3 and 6 foot 4 so I am small compared to them....but the work here is good. This week we had a lot of cancellations though. Only taught 10 lessons. We are expected to teach at least 20 a week. A lot of missionaries teach over 30. It's nuts. 

This week we picked up a new investigator named Holden. His mom is anti-religion but she is allowing her son to make decisions herself. Something funny that Holden said is that he was worried that if he became a member that he would have to stop believing in ghosts. we then of course talked about the holy ghost and tied it into the restoration, committed him to baptism on July 27! We'll see how it turns out though since his family is not religious. 

Yesterday we got a door slammed in our face by a guy named Sam. We talked to him last week in his porch and he was super friendly and invited us back. But yesterday, he was a completely different person and was like "did you guys not get the message that I am baptist and not interested!!, ESPECIALLY ON MY DAY OFF! I appreciate what you guys do but its getting to the point of annoyance! "Then he slammed the door. We got our hopes up about him. 

Also yesterday we had a discussion with Majeed . He is a devout muslim from Ghana. Super super nice guy. He won't get baptized though. His wife is LDS and white and his kids go. They also had a relative from Gahna staying with them from st George for a while It was a really interesting discussion. Muslims don't  t believe Jesus Christ to be the savior, just a great prophet. He mentioned about how there is a lot of scripture in the Koran about the virgin Mary and so we talked about how christ was the literal son of God since he was born from a virgin. He said though that God (Allah) can do anything though such as turn trees and rocks into people. He also said that Adam and Eve were created out of the dust and so was Christ too but that didn't mean he was  the son of God. It really didn't make much sense. Muslims also believe Mohammed to be the last prophet. Keep in mind that they believe in prophets from Adam until Abraham, but that's where things split off. You see, They think that the real sacrifice of Abraham was Ishmael and not Isaac. As you know, the descendants of Ishmael are primarily Muslims. Since Majeed said that Mohammed was the last prophet, we asked him why there are no more prophets for Islam. This was an inspired question since he said he had wondered a lot about that before. We tried to explain the importance of prophets but he shrugged it off by rationalizing that all that is necessary is the Koran ( kind of like Protestants today who think all they need is the bible) to pull you through troubled times. We also talked a little about blacks and the priesthood. He said he didn't like the answer that it was just Gods timing. Personally if I were black, I don't know if I'd like that either. Whenever we are faced with an objection we should always turn to the scriptures so I turned to 2 nephi 26:33 " For none of these iniquities come of the Lord; for he doeth that which is good among the children of men; and he doeth nothing save it be plain unto the children of men; and he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile." But really he needs to understand that prophets receive revelation in behalf of the church. We also let him know of course that slavery could be part of the reason, but you have to be careful with that one because Prophets don't reveal things just to "catch up with the times" 

But enough about that. We just got our hopes up about him, too.  He's such a good guy. It was very interesting to see the similarities between Muslims and Mormons, and also how we are both stereotyped a lot. 

This week has been good overall though. My companions are awesome. 

Hope y'all have a good week. Sorry I say y'all a lot now. 

Love, elder soutas 

Dear Mother and Fatha,

That's really cool to what you learned from Elder
Evans. At first I thought you were talking about Jordan Evans and so I was confuzzled.
I've never thought of it that way so I will have to review that.

Well this last week has been a long one. I can't remember a whole lot since I got out of the habit of writing in my journal everyday. On Tuesday we went to Provo for the trainers meeting. Since I wasn't being a trainer I went with some other missionaries around BYU 

campus contacting. We passed out a lot of cards to people and talked for a while with this RM. He has fallen away from the church and says it's because of church history and stuff   After talking with him for a while he said he would think about talking to his wife to meet with missionaries again so that was kinda cool. I won't ever know what'll happen though since I'll never see him again.
My last day in Eagle Mountain we met with brother Tisdale. He went a whole week without chewing so now he is tobacco free! He and his wife can now start preparing for the temple.
I kind of miss that place but now I am serving in Leeha! (Lehi). Everyone that we are teaching right now is 9 years old basically, and people rarely answer their
door until after 5pm. We are serving in the western portion of Lehi and so unfortunately Blender Bottle is not in my area. But it is in my district so maybe I'll see Ben sometime unless he quit that job! I can't remember if he did.
We did get quite a few referrals this week that we will stop by soon.
We have 2 kids on date for Baptism.
I am in a trio..again! My follow-up trainer is Elder Spiers. He is a really good missionary. I like him a lot. He's from
 he South. Mississipp. Whenever people ask me where I'm from I tell them in my southern accent I'm from the south too....south Jordan!!!!
That's the thing that I don't like about being in a   new area though because I have to introduce to everyone where I'm from and they are like "WHAT? YOur not being serious! I've never heard of that before."And
 hen they have  to know WHY. It's annoying dag gum. 
My other companion elder brown  is from Texas. 
 He's funny. 
We had a few good experiences this week. My first day was kind of tough adjusting. I wasn't very
comfortable teaching people. I'm still kind of not but its getting better.  Elder Spiers is pushing me lot more than elder Fenton which is good. I'm still
kind of apprehensive.
I did however strike up a conversation about families
with a guy with a bushy brown beard from Idaho named  Sam. He said we could stop
by later in the week if we wanted to. On my first day we taught the mcBride family the restoration. They are part-member. I was kind of in a funk for most the lesson until It got to the part of the restoration
and it was my turn to speak. I got really emotionalfor some reason and the guy and his wife who is not a member did also. I felt really embarrassed because I was all weepy and could hardly even speak. But I guess    elder Spiers said it went really well. I don't know.
We had a really good dinner lesson this week as well  with a family.
We taught the doctrine of Christ (lesson 3)and related it to when Peter walks on the water.. It was cool. We showed the bible video. We like to do that a lot in this mission. We show "Because he lives" and "Because
of Him" a lot to people to try to get in their homes. Well right now we are playing a board game at the gamers Inn right now. It's actually kind of fun I guess.

Well I gotta go. See yall later.

Elder Soutas

Elder Soutas, Elder Speirs, Elder Brown

A Week of Learning

Hey everybody!

I really felt like I've grown a lot this week. I feel a lot more confident in doing missionary work. On Wednesday though I got really discouraged and wanted to go home. Some days as a missionary it feels like there is no hope or light to look for. I came across a talk from last conference by Elder Whitney L. Clayton called "Choose to Believe."  It is really good when you feel like you can't endure any longer:

"There may be times when we cannot see any light on the horizon, and we may feel like giving up. If we are willing to believe, if we desire to believe, if we choose to believe, then the Savior’s teachings and example will show us the pathway forward."

Though I read this only yesterday I basically applied this principle the other day when I really wanted to quit. The rest of the week went a lot lot better when I chose to endure and have a good attitude. The joyful feeling I get after I share the gospel with others is definitely worth staying on a mission. I couldn't let myself give up because I knew how disappointed I, my family, and God would be. 

This week we picked up 2 new investigators named Bert and Ty. Those are both good names(especially the latter). 

We sort of experienced a miracle with Bert because we were an answer to his prayer. Bert's water shut off in his house and so he was in panic mode. He didn't know what else to do and so he decided to pray for help. He told us when we met with him later that immediately after he ended his prayer I called him on the phone which he felt was an answer to his prayer. . We went over later and gave him a case of water to use. He was humble and so he let us teach him the next day. We taught him the Plan of Salvation since his mother is dying and asked him to pray if the things we were teaching him were true. He said he would and we are meeting with him again this week. 

Yesterday we taught Ty at Bro. Cloud's house who is one of our ward mission leaders  we work with a lot. We had to convince him to come over with powdered jelly donuts. Ty  knows pretty much nothing about God and has never prayed before. He is very open-minded though and humble. I think we have a pretty good chance with him. We answered some of his questions he had about Prayer and the nature of God. He said he is cool with us meeting again soon. He is really cool kid and is from New York. 

We went to the Payson open house again with a less active family, the Cooks. We hope that the mom will want to get sealed to her new husband. At the open house though we ended up talking with some Indians (not the Native American kind) named Alok and Needi. They are nonmembers who are married and attend BYU. They got really excited about forever families when we took them in the sealing room. We referred them to the sisters in their area and so i think they will probably join the church. So that was pretty cool! 

Saturday we taught an evangjcal family.At least we tried to, but it turned into a good ol fashioned bible bash! Our initial intention in going there was to contact one of our referrals named Shay. shay wasnt there, but her mom and dad sat us down in their porch to talk while they were barbecuing. The wife discredited just about everything we said with a bunch of stuff like the Dead Sea Scrolls.  The first thing she brought up was grace of course. We tried explaining things like repentance but she said of course that repentance isn't necessary as long as you confessed Christ. She told us that she knew her religion is right because of all of the scientific proof and historicity. She talked a lot about Hebrew words, primary sources, and transliterations   I told here that my source of know,edge is God, but then she of course ripped on the Book of Mormon. Yeah I got really heated, and I felt pretty stupid after because the spirit wasn't there because of the tone of voice I used. It was so frustrating, but it was a testimony builder for me though it didn't do a lot of good for the family. Elder Fenton knew what we were getting into when they told us they were Evangelical. His  grandpa is evangelical and told him that if he were to go on a mission he'd end up in Hell!  It was a good learning experience. 

After meeting with them I was really frustrated. We decided to go teach the Cloud family the restoration and bear our testimonies. I felt a lot better after that, and the Clouds were really appreciative of us teaching them because the prior sisters who would come over to their house a lot never would share a message with them. 

Elder Fenton got called to be the new ASL missionary for the mission. We visited a deaf family to learn some sign language. They have a way cool 18 year old son named Parker. I've picked up a little sign language this week since meeting him. It is really fun to do ASL, and I really want to learn more. Maybe I could be am ASL missionary, if not I would like to do some in college. Could be a cool career opportunity. Parker's father is not deaf but it is way cool because he can talk to us and do sign at the same time. For P-day today we took  Parker  with us to play basketball at the church. We taught him how to play the game 7 on the line and we also played 2 on 2. He and I beat Elder Fenton and this kid named Brandon pretty badly. Parker is pretty good at basketball and we called ourselves The Dream Team. It was his idea obviously because he had to show me the sign for Dream Team since he can't hear at all. 

We also took Parker with us to play soccer with the other Elders in our district to play soccer with a bunch of Hispanics. Yeah it was elders against them so we got creamed! I thought we'd be better with Elder Malster who is from England.

In other news, we had a baptism! How could I forget? Isaiah was baptized Saturday by his dad and was confirmed in Sacrament meeting. Elder Fenton and I taught The Restoration and it was really spiritual. It's awesome to see how happy not only Isaiah is now, but his parents too because when we first met them they weren't very sure about letting Isaiah be baptized. Isaiah's dad was also very nervous to do the confirmation in church but he did a pretty good job. 

So today I'll be going on exchanges for a day with Elder Wilcox, another new missionary. He's cool so it'll be awesome! 

Well I love you all! 

Godspeed, 

Elder Soutas