Great Conference Week

Well I don't have time to write as long as I wanted to because the missionaries around me have 0 pateince and I am being rushed. I am just going to have to copy and paste my letter from my mission president. But this week went pretty great, especially this weekend. 

General conference of course was great. It always is. Favorite talk was either Holland's or Uchtdorfs. honestly I dno't know which was my favorite. But definitely the one that spoke the most to me was obviously Holland's? What can I say? I am a musician. I liked it because there are many times where I am unable to sing the song of redeeming love for some reason or another. I liked what he said that when that happens we should stay close to those who are on pitch. It is true. I was able to sing a lot better when I sang next to Elder Kama in church when I was serving with him.  I really am hoping to be more structured in the way I set my goals from conference this time. In fact, I decided I would mimick the vision/plan sheet for weekly planning and turned it into a vision/plan sheet. Maybe it would be good for the mission to have. I'd have to show it to you sometime. 
That was pretty awesome when Elder Ballard talked about many of the same things you taught us in regards to planning and goal setting. Its almost like he taught it to you. I'm guessing that he did. Either that or you are a really inspired mission president. Either way you are an inspired mission president.

This week was actually really good! 
We were able to do some service for our investigator Robyn. She is refinishing her floors all of a sudden and we were able to bring members to help us. She was really grateful for it. We were able to have her come to a session of conference at her fellowshipper's home. She almost didn't come because she said she had to get her floors done because she has a lot of things to get done by a certain time. But we testified to her that if she were to put God first by keeping the sabbath day holy and watching even just a little bit of conference that she would be able to get everything finished on time. She started to weep after we told her that. She has a very sensitive spirit. She came and enjoyed conference. She walked in just after the talk by the Australian who addressed specifically investigators of the church! We are planning on setting a date with her this week. She also got a roommate move in with her who is a member of the church--a recent convert from Alabama. 

Our investigator, Cora, is a work in progress. Right now her father is the hold up. Until this week, we were unable to figure out why he has been holding her back from being baptized. He is the gospel principles teacher. But I feel like we received a lot of direction from conference that would be helpful to their family and lead to their eventual baptism if they choose. 

We really took to heart Elder Rasband's talk about "always following your first prompting." When he came and spoke to the mission January 2016 he said the exact same thing. We  had a lot of promptings yesterday and we listened to most of them and it made a great difference. Like Nephi, sometimes the promptings of the spirit seem out of place or illogical, but they should never been second guessed like Elder Rasband said. I know that if we don't allow ourselves to become past feeling then we will be able to easily give heed to the promptings of the spirit.  As we were on our way to try a less active, I felt a promptingthat we should go try one of our investigators, Nalani, who we aren't teaching too often anymore, but are keeping our tabs on her because she comes to church every week with her recent convert husband, Jacob Taylor. Jacob is doing really solid and we now were able to get a return appointment with them tomorrow which is great because they have been so so busy lately. Our musical fireside is getting postponed and so now they both may be able to sing and play the piano in it. That's one of the reasons we did the musical firesides in the first place so that Nalani could feel the spirit through music. Right now she isn't sure if Jesus Christ was the son of god, but is just interested in the philosophy of the church. 

After visiting Nalani we felt prompted again to go across the street and visit with the Anconetani's, a part member. The husband is really nice and we have been working with him more and more lately. It turned out that we showed up at the perfect time because Sister Anconetani who is a more recent convert, was having what she called a faith crisis. We were able to share some things that hit her and she felt the lord's tender merices for sure. She and her husband were really nice to us and her husband is gaining trust with us. We are working with him slowly since he has met with so many elders before. They said they ended up watching the prince of peace video after we left and that they cried which was good. Hopefully Rick will get baptized here soon. There are a lot of part member families in the ward where there is an active spouse and a nonmember husband or wife that come to church but are unbaptized.

After visitng the Anconetanis we rode home on our bikes (which by the way the chain off my bike snapped earlier in the day but got it fixed). They told us to go a different way because they said the hill would be more fun. we didn't think much of it but did it anyway. At the bottom of the hill, was a lady in tears sitting on the curb. At first we passed her because it was dark and we were going too fast. But we decided we should go back. We asked if she was okay and if there was anything that we could do. She wouldn't reallyopen up to us, but she eventually accepted a prince of peace card. IT was a small and simple thing and a small and simple prompting but I believe that following even those promptings that don't seem to turn into a new investigator can have a great impact. And if it wasn't for Sister Anconetani being prompted (probably without knowing it) to tell us to go a different direction, we wouldn't have been able to try and comfort her. 

We are also having some plans to get family history rolling still in the ward. I was glad that so many prophets spoke on it during conference because I was wondering if I should keep trying the idea I have to help the ward. I feel like I should. It will be a simple way to get members more involved to do family history and also will lead to them sharing the gospel as well. 
I have plenty of finding ideas, just getting them to work is difficult. I really want to help people share the gospel more online through social media, creating blogs, etc. There is a whole list of ideas on lds.org about that that researched the other day. 

Well I have a lot to talk about but not the time. .
Have a great day!


Elder Soutas

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

Hello Fam,

its been an interesting week.

We had Nalani and Jacob Taylor come to a temple grounds tour. I wish I took a picture of the front of the temple. IT was cold outside and wasn't very well planned out so we didn't get a chance. Nalani needs to get baptized. She is so great. Her family is Buddhist. She is from the Phillipines. She also loves to crochet, which was no coincidence because before we knew that we went to a free crochet class at the public library two days before. So our plan now is to try to get some of the relief society there as well as Nalani where they can become well acquainted. Also it is a great missionary opportunity. The teacher of the class is named Laurie and is Jewish. 

Also, Jacob gave such a powerful talk on Sunday in sacrament meeting. He is about 24 years old. It was general authority good. He is a chemist. Very bright person. Part asian. Very humble and kind personality. I hope that Nalani felt the power of the spirit in his talk. She made it to sacrament which is good. 

Also we had a new investigator come to sacrament this week! Her name is Robyn. She is a former investigator, a referral of Brother York Bennett. She has a very sensitive personality, very kind. We had a few lessons with her and her son, Anthony. There is a little bit of tension between the two during the lesson. We were primarily there to teach Anthony since Robyn is desperate to help him get his life on track, but what has ended up happening is that she has gained more interest than Anthony. 

Robyn found it really fascinating that we live in the promised land. She also was intrigued that she could do baptisms for the dead for her grandfather. During the course of the lesson she apologized to Brother Bennett for misunderstanding our religion. 

When she came to church on Sunday she came in a little late, but the talks were wonderful which is always a relief. She left after gospel principles because she has a brain injury, and also she broke down in tears after the lesson that we taught about Prophets of God. There is a lot going on in her life right now. She used to be catholic and a choir music director (which is quite impressive for that church). But she had some bad experience there which caused her to not like the church anymore. She also realizes that the Catholic church took books out of the bible, which she found very interesting to her that it mentions that in the Book of Mormon. 

She is a work in progress. Hopefully we can get things rolling with her. I have thought that using music would be a great way to build a better relationship with her and help her recognize the spirit. 

well, it appears that I have to end earlier than expected. One of the missionaries in our district is going home early and so we have to drive him to the airport. Also, my companion this past week has had an MRI on his shoulder and will hear back results from Salt Lake at the end of this week. He may or may not have to leave his mission early, too for surgery. We will see. Pray for the best to happen to him. 

I'll close with a brief testimony. I know that Jesus is Christ, he is the Son of God and has the power to deliever us from death, from sorrow, and from sin. Joseph Smith is for sure a prophet of God, and The Book of Mormon is undeniably the word of God and is a marvel and a wonder to me. 

Love you all,

Elder Soutas

Becoming a Saint

Hello everyone! 

Don't have much time to email today due to President's day yesterday. I am so impressed with Brycen's shooting ability. I am also excited that your hebrew book is going well. I have thought recently about maybe going to BYU Jerusalem center some time when I get back. Who knows. You'll be a fine teacher of gospel principles Dad. Just go to the teaching in the Savior's way classes and study preach my gospel chapter 10 and 3  and you'll be good. 

Let's see if I can remember what has all happened this week. Well, we are having a hard time finding new investigators but are finding a few potentials. Last night we weren't able to find anyone to teach and so it was time to bike home. I prayed on the way back that there would be some people to talk to. The first person wasn't interested. But when we got to our apartment complex  as I raced around the corner I was still praying about who we could talk to and I saw a man walking his small dog by some cars on the grass there. His name was Keegan. He was about 30 or less. He actually had lived in Utah at some point. He wasn't a churchgoer because he felt like many of them are hypocrites. Indeed! He had heard about the book of Mormon before but never read it. We were able to give him a copy and he was interested to read it. He also thought it was cool that we had a prophet at the head of our church and we didn't get paid to preach. Didn't get his address though, so I may not see him again. I have high hopes for his next encounter with Mormons though. 

Let's see, what other positive things happened this week. Oh yeah! We have been helping Ken to quit smoking! Brother Bennett (who I need to send a picture of him home) is taking time out of his day to help him quit buying him all of the material for the stop smoking workshop and everything. We were able to give him a blessing! And also we invited him to come to a baptism held within the district! Ken is less active. He has had some unfortunate things occur in his life. His son got home from a mission not too long ago but he doesn't correspond with him. Same with his daughter. He isn't very self reliant either and relies heavily upon his parents who are nonmembers`. He lives by himself in our complex but I don't think he pays for it. He has some mental illness too. He is such a nice guy though and I really like sitting next to him at church and talking to him. He is very reserved and lonely. Good guy though and good things coming. 

Also, we have been serving and preparing food at the senior's center the past couple of weeks. I've decided to make the extra effort to share the gospel while serving and try to interact with the old fogies more. I've been trying to get myself out of my comfort zone and overcome shyness.  It's harder to share the gospel in this kind of setting, but I figured that that is how it'll be when I get home.

No one will recognize me as a missionary by the way I dress when i get home and so I am trying to learn how to direct casual conversations into gospel related stuff so when I return home I won't just return to "my old ways". 

Anyway, at the senior center usually the missionaries when we have breaks there go sit and study, but I decided that I should try to share the gospel the best I can even if I'm not terribly successful at it. Most of the older people there are all catholic and their minds are like cement (all mixed up at set in their ways) but I sure did enjoy playing "Mexican Train" (a dominoes game) with some of them the other day. I just hope that I can do some kind of good for when  they get to the spirit world and perhaps one of them could get baptized on this side of the veil. We'll see. 

Well there's a lot more that's happened this week that I am forgetting but I have to sign out now. I am very grateful for the atonement. Done some good studying on it this week. I know we can overcome the natural man (like being shy) by yielding to the enticings of the holy spirit, becoming a saint (which literally means holy, spotless, without blemish) and become like a little child. I know that because Christ was sinless he had the power to overcome death since death is the wage of sin. I understand a little bit more now that perfection takes a long time and through Christ I can become perfected in him if I deny myself of all ungodliness and Love God with all of my heart, might and strength. I can become a saint (holy and without spot) if I keep trying to overcome my individual sins and weaknesses. I just have to try and the Lord will accept my effort. 

Love,

Elder Soutas

p.s. challenge: compare mosiah 3:19 and moroni 10:32-33 and look up what it means to be a saint in the bible dictionary. See if you can find some connection between those two passages.