July 9, 2015
To whomever
it may concern,
Kiddin'.
Hi friends and family! (: It’s been a roller coaster. So, my 'rents
bunted me out of their car (with a lot more affection than that last sentence
would suggest), and then I was a missionary. I was excited and ready to
take it because I've always thought missionarying would be easy for me.
I'm a good kid and stuff. But, SURPRISE! It’s not actually as easy
as one might hope. I got pretty discouraged the first few days and couldn't
place why. There was just a shade of emptiness in me that I couldn't get
rid of, even though I was in such a spiritual place. I kept thinking
about what I could be doing wrong, what I could change, how I could become a
more Christlike person... and then it hit me during a wonderful lesson by my
mission president.
I came
to the conclusion, that in trying to be the missionary The Lord wants me to be
I had just completely turned into myself and thought only of myself. I
mean, how many times was the word "I" in those last few
sentences? My thoughts were confirmed when the next lesson I heard (a
video of a talk only for missionaries by Elder Bednar) was all about the same
thing. The talk was on The Character of Christ. The basic idea is
that when Christ was discouraged, rather than turning in and thinking of
himself, he turned outward and helped others. (Look through the
scriptures, its everywhere. When he sent an Angel to John immediately
after being tempted by the devil after a 40 day fast, when he healed a guard's
ear while the same guard's regime carried him to his death, when he cried out,
"Lord, forgive them, for they know not what they do.") Anyway, in
conclusion, frequently in an attempt to self-diagnose and become more
spiritual, we become more selfish. That was my first lesson here, and an
extremely hard one to learn. BUT
NOW! I'm doing great, thank you for asking (:
When I walked into my classroom for
the first time, I shook the teachers hand and then turned around to someone
saying, "Elder Stout! I'm your companion!" It was Ben Clark!!! Lone Peak's student
body president and its Drum Major are companions. Man, I'm freaking
lucky. Actually, I'm not. My guess is that the Lord just knows that
I was going to have a super hard first week, and giving me a trying companion
would've killed me (; Really, I am so grateful. He is so righteous and
smart and diligent and ripped. The two of us pray at least 20 times in a
day, and lift most mornings (he's training me cuz he actually knows what he's
doing, and I'm willing to do it with him to stay healthy and not get fat.)
My district family has kind of
become my family at the MTC. We eat together, play together, study
together; they're the best. We're blessed to have some Shimaitachi
(sisters,) in our district, and they are amazing. One of them is a
Tahitian sister (who's first language is French and has Chinese ancestry and
speaks 5 languages.) Shina Shimai is the funniest person on the planet.
Aside from the fact that she has a hysterical sense of humor, she also just
doesn't speak perfect English just yet, so she'll say things like, "Vy do
Americans use so much... eh, vat do you call it? Pancake sauce?"
(referring to syrup.) The other companionship are amazing too, I'll tell you
more about them in later emails (: We have two converts (Elder Harolson and
Sister Riggs,) who have such powerful testimonies, one boy who definitely has
the gift of tongues (Elder Trane) a super funny brother who acts EXACTLY like
cousin Ricky (Brother Murakami,) and a really sweet football-playing giant of
an Elder who we called Ooki Chourou until we decided that it was probably
offensive. Sister Morr has a super powerful testimony and came on a
mission at age 23 because of some intense revelation, and then there's
me. I'm just me.
Actually, I know TONS more Japanese
than anyone else. On top of that, I really feel my patriarchal blessing
manifesting itself as I teach. Concepts that our teacher can't convey to
the Chourou and Shimai, I somehow just know exactly what to say. We all
compliment each other so much, it was definitely inspired that we be a
district.
So, my P-Day is today (Thursday.) I
didn't get one last week, which is why I didn't have a chance to respond to any
of you. As for letters, the people who sent me physical or Dear Elder
letters are the bestest ever. I can read those any time, and without them
I would've had a much harder time this first week. Feel free to send them
lots (hint hint) because each one is like a Christmas present, they make my day.
I have lots of other things to say,
but as for now, I just love all you guys. Especially my mama and papa and
family. And everyone else...
Please pray
for me! I may be good at the language, but I'm not that good!
-Elder Stout
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