Hey all,
Well I like the idea that my mom does to start from the most
recent and then write going backwards because I think that makes it a lot
easier to remember everything that I have to say!
So I want to start off talking about a leadership council
that we had with President Mecham yesterday. We only have them once a month and
they are by far my favorite part of my new assignment! There are 23 people that
participate in this council, the 14 zone leaders, the 2 assistants, the 5
sister training leaders, and then President and Sister Mecham. This week we
just went in praying about ways to help the mission find the people that the
Lord is preparing and help them to follow the gospel of Jesus Christ in their
lives, and how we as leaders can help the missionaries in the mission to do
that better. It turned out to be one of the most spiritual experiences of my
life, where we truly learned that if we do all that we can, the spirit WILL be
there to testify of the truthfulness of these things, it doesn’t matter if were
about to go home and have 23 months of experience, or if we were in our house
yesterday, but we have to do our part, of obeying the mission rules, studying,
and preparing to teach these people!
Then President just started talking about the vision that he
has for the mission, he told us he is kind of scared for the future, of what
will happen, because looking around that room, when my generation goes home,
everyone else will have already gone home that was on that leadership council.
He just started to cry and tell us who much he needs and loves us, and how much
he has learned from us. Then he said, you may not have known it, and I can’t
say this just to any person, but every single one of you is in my journal, and
I will never ever forget you. It was an incredible meeting that helped me just
leave ready to serve even better in the work of the Lord! What an opportunity!
Fast and testimony meeting from yesterday. Yesterday was the
best Sunday that I have had in my entire mission (and maybe even my entire
life), Elder Penrod and I noticed a couple of weeks ago how Sundays are usually
super stressful because we have to help all of the investigators that come to
church, we usually end up teaching classes, we are helping the bishop, we are
worried about all of the people who don’t come to church, we are just always
super stressed, so this week we decided to enjoy church. I have never been so
uplifted by the testimonies shared as I was this week. Pretty much every deacon
(all 3 of them) got up and shared their testimony about the brotherhood that
they feel in their quorum. Jose Armando (from the pics last week) got up and
bore his testimony about Elder Penrod and me. He just got up there and was like
´´this week Elder Stout and Elder Penrod came by and taught us the coolest
lesson on the armor of God, I just wanted to share it with you...I can’t wait
to be a missionary, I want to be like them.´´ I was full on crying while he
said that, I just feel the pure love of Christ so much right now! I just love
every person that we are teaching, and every person in this Ward, the Lord is
blessing me so much! 
Also, Ana, and Valeria Ortiz Muñoz bore their testimonies
which is super cool! This family all got baptized right before I got to this
area, and they are incredible (the pic is with them) and Valeria is preparing
for her baptism as well (she’s the only one left). This week we had so many
people come to church with us! Azul and Tamara and Rubi all are still working
towards their baptism dates, and had a great time there. Also, America and her
3 daughters were there! I love that family!!! If all goes well they should be
getting baptized next week!:) They even signed up to give us dinner today in
church. Also, I included a picture of how Zoe decorated me during church, haha
it was awesome!
Last week we had a really cool experience with Tamara and
Rubi too. We asked them so like how have you liked all of this so far? And
Tamara said, if you had told me all of this 6 months ago, I wouldn’t have
blinked an eye or thought twice, But that was because the Lord had not finished
preparing me. I am so thankful you two found me, I am so excited for what you
have been teaching me, and I just want to do what God has planned for me in my
life. This is the most beautiful message I have ever heard and I have felt and
know that it is true!
Wow, what experiences I had this last week! I am hoping to
have even more this next week!! I hope the best for you all as well!!
Elder Stout
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