Blessings

The most important aspect of our patriarchal lineage is that it ties us to the covenant made between God and Abraham. Whether his children directly through bloodline or through adoption, we are heirs to both the blessings and responsibilities of the Abrahamic covenant. S. Michael Wilcox covered this topic in detail in the January 1998 Ensign in his article “The Abrahamic Covenant“. It is important that we study this promise and its attendant responsibilities so that we can know what is and will be required of us.

Each tribe is named after one of the sons of Jacob, and carries with it certain primary duties. We will be expected to fulfill the duties of our tribe both in this life and the next. Most of us will be named as members of the tribe of Ephraim, as it is the primary responsibility of this tribe to spread the word of God through missionary work and service that it might be heard by all people throughout the earth. Members of other tribes, however, hold different roles and responsibilities.

The blessings do follow our bloodlines, but we each have many different bloodlines running within us. Our patriarchal blessing names the predominant bloodline to which each individual will be held accountable, and so it is not uncommon for members of the same family to be declared of different tribal lineages. The naming of tribes other than Ephraim has been rare, but is becoming more common as the word is spread abroad, more people are coming into the fold, and more Priesthood duties are becoming necessary to be fulfilled.

President James E Faust has shared some excellent insights about patriarchal blessings. 

“Since families are of mixed lineage, it occasionally happens that members of the same family have blessings declaring them to be of different lineage. There has been an intermixture of the tribes one with another. One child may be of Ephraim, another in the same family of Manasseh, Judah, or one of the other tribes. The blood of one tribe, therefore, may be dominant in one child and the blood of another tribe dominant in another child, so children from the same parents could belong to different tribes.”

Like Ephraim’s descendants, the tribe of Manasseh is heir to all the blessings and obligations given to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. A study of those patriarchs will show that regardless of which tribe you fall in, your blessing is bounteous. Studying Manasseh specifically, you will find that he is often mentioned in company with his brother Ephraim. Even centuries later, he is still mentioned alongside his sibling. The latter day duty of Manasseh is probably best described by Moses as he blessed the tribe of Joseph: “[Joseph’s] glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.” (Deuteronomy 33:17, see 13-17).

Along with Ephraim, Manasseh is responsible to gather the other tribes. Ephraim is to head up this great work, but Manasseh is to roll up his sleeves and be there at his side. As Manasseh does this, he will reap the blessing of the patriarchs with visible results. This grand outpouring of bounty is a sign of the times. The children of Lehi (a famous Manassehite) will prosper as proof that the Lord is speeding His coming. “But before the great day of the Lord shall come, Jacob shall flourish in the wilderness, and the Lamanites shall blossom as the rose” (D&C 49:24).

Now, the tribe of Judah has many revelations specifically tied to it. Most of them concern their gathering in Jerusalem before the Savior returns and the building up of their temple. All the tribes will be gathered during the Millennium and will eventually then return to their individual lands of inheritance. Ephraim and Judah, specifically, are to be joined and Zion and Jerusalem are to be capitals of the world when the Savior comes to rule and reign. While the primary responsibilities of Ephraim are to spread the gospel, the primary responsibilities of Judah are to maintain and keep the records. It was also promised specifically to Judah that he would be a ruler and overcome his enemies-

“Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee.

Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?

The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.” (Genesis 49:8-10)

study the writings of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Joel, Jeremiah, and Zechariah. These prophets wrote many things concerning the last days, the gathering of Israel.

New 8th Ward Bishopric

Dear Benjamin/Elder Soutas

Did things work out for Nuno?  I have been praying that he would be baptized this week.  It was cool to read about how you invited him to read the scriptures and he received his answer.

To answer your question, your package has not come yet.  Hopefully this week, the holiday schedule has everything behind.

this Week the kids did go back to school and it was really hard to get up and get going.  I finally cleaned the house and put away all of the Christmas stuff and I like it when it feels nice and clean again.

Dad was sick this week with the stomach flu - no fun at all. 

So the BIG NEWS it has been a crazy week.  Dad and I have actually known about this for a few weeks now, but we were not able to say anything.

Today was Stake conference and the entire stake was realigned   There were tons of changes because of that.

First of all, Dad was released as the Bishop of the 4th ward....but hold on ...he was called as the Bishop of the 8th ward.!!

Crazy huh   all of the boundaries are different. We don't even know most of our ward now.  It was interesting for Dad to try and call new counselors.  He was choosing from the new ward so that there would be unity.  But he really didn't know anyone.  The Spirit guided him to 2 names he felt good about and now they are his new counselors.  They are Brother Bennett (he had been serving on the High Council) and Brother Orton ( I believe he has a son your age, also a son Jordan's age and a son Tyler's age and a son Jenessa's age....etc..  He has 11 kids!  I think you might know the son Dallin?..   Jordan knew the one his age.

So crazy-  our old 4th ward is now a part of three different wards.  Lady Dove area stayed in the 4th ward with the new bishop as Kris Yates (of course not a big surprise) but the rest of their ward includes Hearthstone.

Our old neighborhood is now apart of the 5th ward, which includes Memorial Drive area.  The new Bishop is Bishop Oniki

Our 8th ward includes all of our neighborhood down to 2700 West - with South Pointe Road and all of those circles and the other circle over by the Dimicks  also the area 1 street to the North of Southpointe Road...if you know where Dana Geddes sister lives - she is now in our ward too.

Dad will be going crazy trying to fill all of the callings this week.  There are vacancies and duplicates.  For example, the old 8th ward has their relief society president, but sis Fernelius was our 4th ward president and now they are in the same ward - so who to Keep??

Dad is at his old bishop's office meeting with Bishop Yates right now to fill him in on all the details of those members.   

Yes - even our building changes - we now will attend at the Stake Center at 1:00!

President Nielson told us that this was an inspired change.  Mostly to do with better unity - since some people (example -Sweet Blossom)  live across the street from each other but do not know each other.  Now no homes that face each other are in different wards.  also he testified that this will help with the missionary rescue effort.   It's still going to be very difficult to not have such great friends we have loved for so many years in our ward anymore...the Fergusons, The Lamberts, The Yates, The Husseys and so on.  It's going to be difficult for some people to accept.  President Nielsen asked us to not murmur and to sustain the action.  There will also be better chances for more people to serve since the size of the wards will be smaller because they created a new ward - the 6th Ward.

We also had a great spiritual meeting last night where they taught about Family history work...that temple work is a 2 part blessing and unless you do both parts you are missing out on part of the blessing.     Going to the temple is one part, doing the work for your own ancestors is the other part.

We also had Stake Temple night on Thursday and that was a great chapel session also.

I have felt the spirit so strongly this week.  This morning I woke up with a song going through my mind...I didn't know why.  then as I was waiting for conference to start in the chapel, I was writing a journal entry about how the song was on my mind..just then, as conference started, Brother Church stood up and started singing that very song as the prelude song.  the song was "Our Savior's Love" and it testified to me that our Father is aware of us and how much he loves us and the Savior also.  I know that the Savior's atonement heals us and I feel his hand so strongly in my life.  He knows us, He is aware of us.  He has blessed us so abundantly this week ... I love my Father and Heaven and my Savior.

I'm looking forward to hear about your week too.  Work hard and be happy. :)

Love you forever, Mom

Mission News

Jordan had an awesome week.  We have been praying for this.

So It's so wonderful to receive Jordan's email that Eduardo was baptized!

Hi Momi,

Well this week was pretty awesome! Especially the weekend.

On Saturday Eduardo got baptized! It was great. He has changed a lot even just since I got here. It's cool to see the spirit work with him. On sunday after he was confirmed he bore his testimony and it was super powerful. He was into drugs and alcohol and partying before and the gospel has totally changed his life and now he wants to go on a mission. He bought an old bike this week just so he could come out and teach with us! He's super awesome.

Carolain should get bapitized soon. They are just making sure they have all the right legal papers to get married so she can get baptized. They are such an awesome family.

And yesterday was insane! I got a call Saturday night from the assistants and they are llike, "Have you ever translated before?" I hadn't. "Well we need you to translate tomorrow. Elder Gifford Nielsen of the seventy (yes the former BYU/NFL Quarterback) is coming to your spanish meeting and he doesn't know spanish."

I was a little more than nervous.

So he got there and we got all the stuff set up. President Saylin was there too just to add to my nerves. Luckily he speaks spanish so I didn't have to translate for him. So Elder Nielsen puts on these headphone things and I'm up front with a little headset mic thing and am speaking into his headset. It was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life! But I did pretty well. There was a prayer and then the sacrament. Luckily I didn't have to translate the songs ha ha. And then Eduardo bore his testimony which was awesome. So everthing is going great and I'm feeling pretty cool about myself..Then this guy named Hno. Tellez gets up and pretty much just reads a hundered miles an hour out of the Liahona and I could not keep up that's not even humanly possible without a translation in from of me or something ha ha. So i just told Elder Nielsen, "I'm sorry there's no way I could translate this." He understood. But boy did I feel dumb. But he came up to me after and said some nice things. He was especially very impressed by Eduardo's testimony.

So that was a pretty cool experience. It was humbling for sure. ha ha. It's one thing to understand spanish and an entire other thing to hear it, understand it, and translate it back into english at the same time.

Then last night we found the sweetest couple ever. They are from Bolivia. We actually OYMed the husband on friday and he knew a lot about the church so we went to try him on saturday and his wife answers and starts crying when she sees us. So we're just like, "what the?" she invites us in but her husband wasn't there so we had to leave.

But last night we went back and saw them and it turns out she was baptized forever ago in Bolivia but hasn't been to church in forever because she doesn't know where it is and the husband isn't a member. They are so nice, probably about 60 years old. We taught a super powerful lesson and He agreed to be baptized. It's funny because I actually accidently invited him to be baptized on February 10th when I meant to say March 10th but he still accepted to be baptized Feb 10th! We'll have to change it to Feb 25th probably because that is too soon, he still needs to come to chruch and stuff but it was awesome! They're named Eliseo and Mery. I love them to death already! ha ha.

Other cool thing that happened this week. I went on an exchange with Elder Woodland. It's so cool to see how much he's grown spirtually and his missionary skills, and his spanish since I trained him.  He said, "You'd always told me that someday I was going to actually like being a missionary and I always thought you were nuts but you were right." ha ha. He's awesome. Love that guy. He's doing a great job of being a senior companion.

Well thats about it for this week. I love you so much! I hope you have a great week. Thanks for the stuff about sanctification and justification. I've actually been studying that this week.  I love you!

love,

Elder Soutas

On Sun, Jan 29, 2012 at 5:16 PM, <http://www.blogger.com/> wrote:

Hola Jordan/Elder Soutas

It sounds like you have a lot of good work going on in Houston 1!  We have been praying all week for those who have

committed to be baptized will keep their commitment.  How did things go?

This week was our Stake Conference, so we have been filled with spiritual messages.  On Thursday was Stake Temple Night and we

had a chapel session.  The thing I remember most from that message was President Neilson spoke on Priesthood Power and then taught

us to focus on the last 20 words we say in the endowment.

He said in Faith their is Power. In Priesthood there is Power.  When these come together the Power of God comes to us.

other things President Neilson taught us this weekend

It is better to prepare and prevent rather than to repair and repent

Use Soft voices in the home

He told us to Pray for missionary experiences each day

he promised us that if we will index names each week, "The power of the atonement will strengthen us"

He promised that if we attend the temple each week, "the Lord will provide the miracles we personally need in this life"

Patriarch Skobye spoke on Grace, Justification and Sanctification.  

Justification is being cleaned up.  Sanctification is being filled up.  Justification dumps out our container of stuff and polishes it

and cleans it up.  Then at Baptism, taking the Sacrament, feeling the spirit, we are made clean each day.

Sanctification fills us through the love of God through his Grace and Mercy.  As we fill our lives with good things, eventually God is 

willing to seal our container.

I have been reviewing my notes all afternoon and marking up my scriptures.    President Nielsen said our scriptures should be a "mess"

well mine are.  They are written all over and falling apart at the seams.  I guess that is a good thing :)

I'm trying to think of the rest of the week:  Ty had 2 basketball games one he didn't play in and they lost.  It was against Lone Peak.

The other they let him play and they won....I wish the coaches would see that pattern.

the Lone Peak varsity game was a blow out (they creamed us) but it was fun to watch Nick Emery (think Jackson's brother) and TJ Haws 

play.  They really were amazing and they have both committed to BYU..  Nick is a Jr and TJ is only a soph

I helped in Kaitlyn's class  they were studying the pioneers so we did some pioneer activities  I was in charge of sewing  ha ha

Now Bishop Ferguson and brother Alvey are coming over for home teaching.  

Then we are going to Kelly's for Miranda and Ben's bday, although Ben will be late because it's his turn to be at the Cannon Center for dish duty...(remember how you just had to work 2 times a semester)

Since I need to go I will close this letter with another thouht from conference today....

"When we enjoy the Holy Spirit, when we are trying to live our religion here on the earth, we are the happiest people on God's footstool, no matter what our circumstances may be. I do not care whether we are rich or poor, whether in happiness or affliction, if a man is living his religion and enjoys the favor and Spirit of God, it makes no difference to him what takes place on the earth. There may be earthquakes, war, fire or sword in the land, but he feels that it is all right with him. That is the way I feel."

I pray you are the happiest missionary on earth.

Love forever, Mom

I know Jordan will always remember translating for Elder Gifford Nielsen as one of his mission hi-lites!

We love that number 14

This was last week's letter:

Hola mom,

I'm excited that Ben almsot has his mission papers in. I can't wait to know where he's going. tell him that I'll give him some ties when I get home. I have over fifty ties now ha ha. I left with like 7 haha.

It's about time that ty got his liscense. When is basketball season over?

Well here was my week last week.

Tuesday: after emails we weekly planned until about 5pm. Then we had a dinner appointment with a less active member named Hermano Tellez. Well they aren't really less active they are just getting used to the new church that is way further away. all the boundaries in the stake changed recently so now Houston 1 is HUGE. This area used to be Houston 8 and the church is way further than the old one used to be in. But the stake president said he won't sign anybodies temple recommend if they don't go to the right ward. Drama. But Bro. Tellez came to church yesterday so that's good!

Wednesday: We rode our bikes around a lot. We had a lot of appointments fall through. we had an appointment with another member trying to get their feet under them to go to the new building named the Benitez family. They went to church too ayer. So yeah we're having to activate active members.

Thursday: Another day of lots of riding around. I talked to this one lady in the street who let us in her house but told us she prefers to party than go to church so that was lame...

Friday: We had an amazing zone conference with president saylin. It was about discipleship. I wish that I could show you how amazing of a speaker president saylin is. He could seriously convince me to do anything ha ha. I learned a lot about commitment to the Lord. There is nothing that the Lord could ask me to do that I wouldn't do.

Saturday: Saturday was a great day! We taught Mina again. She is doing really good. Unfortunately she goes to the Jehovah's Witness church with her daughter sometimes. I won't go off about JWs right now...I'm trying to be Christlike towards everyone.

We also found some new investigators named Timoteo and Florina. We didn't have a lot of time because we had another lesson really soon but they seem cool. Then we went over to Selvin and Carolain Osortos and received some great news! Selvin's divorce went through and so now they can get married this week and they are going to try and have Carolain get baptized this week! So we might have two baptisms this weekend!

Sunday: That brings me to why sunday was so great! Eduardo stood up during priesthood and announced to everyone that he is going to be baptized this Saturday! It's so exciting. He's made so much progress and he has been talking about how he is going to go on a mission. He's a little different. He loves Lady Gaga that should explain him a little bit and he has some maturing to do but he is awesome and will be an awesome member and missionary.

We also found an amazing investigator yesterday named Leticia. Her daughter is named Ana and she is eleven. I guess she, Ana,  had a few dogs die and so she is really sad and thought that God was mad at her. But we were able to tell her that God isn't mad at her and that we have trials to make us stronger and talked a lot about the plan of salvation. She also wanted to know if she could live with her family forever or if she has to live alone when she dies and we were able to bear testimony of eternal families.

Then Leticia asked us why there are so many churches! So we talked about the restortation! We were there for almost two hours but they kept asking so many questions and it was awesome!

And that was our week. So hopefully we have two baptisms on Saturday but if not we'll have back to back baptisms. I'm grateful that the Lord is pouring out blessings on this area. We still have a lot to do though to be better to live up to the potential this area and district have..

Well that was my week. I need to email president saylin now but I hope yall have a great week. I love you mom! thanks for everything you do for me. I miss you lots! But I love serving the Lord in Texas.

love,

elder soutas

On Sun, Jan 22, 2012 at 10:45 PM, <http://www.blogger.com/> wrote:

Hola Elder Soutas

That is so great that you were transferred back to Houston 1.  And especially that Hector and the Perez Family are doing so well.  I still have the picture you gave us for Christmas of the Perez family...I keep it by your pix in the living room.  So it's so great to know that Sis Perez is now the primary president...how cool is that?

I'm glad you have investigators to work with already and I'm so glad you have another great companion to work with.  You have been really blessed in that area, to have good, hard working companeros.

We celebrated Ben's birthday this weekend.  He came home yesterday and we went to Famous Daves for dinner.  then back to the house for cake and icecream and presents.  He got all missionary gifts - a suit, shoes, tie and a camera.  It's coming again so soon!  Tonight Dad completed all of his paperwork and submitted it to President Neilson, so only a few more weeks and we will know where he will be going.  I would say it will probably be another month because this week is our Stake Conference and so Pres Neilson will be busy.  Ben still has to have his interview with him too.

Today at church was Jason Hunsaker's talk.  He is excited to be going soon,  He leaves the end of Feb.  Ben said that today was also Lauren Christiansen's "farewell."  You probably know about that from Ashlee.

After church Dad and I had a Stake Emergency preparedness meeting.  Still working on trying to get our ward prepared.

Other stuff I did this week:  On Monday since it was a holiday we went to a movie, Tyler had 2 basketball games which they let him play and they won, I went to the Temple with Kristi Lambert to do an endowment session.  Friday I took Tyler to finally get his drivers license.  They were out of school for end of the term and this has been the first day he was able to go because of basketball  everyday evenduring Christmas break.  so after waiting there forever he finally go it.  But, he has no car to drive, so he's not really going to go anywhere :)

Friday I also had an activity for my other church calling - Activity Day Girls.  Dana Hussey and I are the leaders so we do 2 activities each month.

We made choc chip cookies and took them to Bro Lowell and Sis June Sorenson.  Bro Sorenson is mostly bed-ridden now and so they were happy to have some visitors, even if it was 12 giggling girls.

Well once again, everyone else is in bed / Another week is ahead.  I pray you will have a great week and be happy.

I hope your new investigators will know the truth you are teaching.

Love you forever, Mom

Thanksgiving Blessings

Jenessa wrote about our Thanksgiving Day service and I loved hearing it in her own words:

For my project I wanted to do something special. I thought doing it on a holiday would make the project even more meaningful. What I decided to do was to deliver meals to the poor on Thanksgiving. My whole family ended up going, and it turned out to be a wonderful experience. At around 11 o’clock on the morning of Thanksgiving my family headed to Salt Lake City. I was really excited for what we were about to be doing for others. I was hoping to learn something from this experience.

 The organization we were doing the service project through was Salvation Army. When we got there we had to wait in a long line, because many people were also lined up to serve others on this day. When it was our turn, we grabbed about 5 meals a person. We had to load up a plate of food. The food that we were going to serve to them was just about everything that made up a Thanksgiving meal. There was turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, rolls, and even a pumpkin pie. Everyone seemed to be really happy and ready to serve.

After getting all the meals we needed, we put them all in the trunk of our car, and drove all around the valley to deliver these meals to those who were less fortunate than ourselves. Some were up in Ogden, and some in Sandy. One family I went to did not speak a word of English. We got to their shabby looking apartment, and knocked on the door. A young girl, around 18 or 19 answered the door. Following  her up to the door were five little children, all with big, brown eyes. I felt sorry for all of them. It must have been difficult for the girl to have so many children. There was no husband in sight. We told her to have a good Thanksgiving, even though she didn’t understand us. Then, we set the meals on the small table and left.

Another house we delivered the meals to was in Draper. This was the smallest, dirtiest, saddest, run-down house I have ever been in. The woman had about six yapping dogs in her tiny yard, and the house looked like a shack. We went around to the side of the house were the door was. Outside of the house were old televisions, lamps, sofas, you name it. This woman was a hoarder. She wouldn’t throw anything away. When we got inside, the house smelled of smoke. The wood floors were rotting.  The woman had only two children that I knew of. One of them was a little autistic boy wearing superman footy pajamas. He was really cute and was very thankful to receive the meals.

Seeing these people and how they lived was an amazing experience for me. Doing this service on Thanksgiving made it even more special. These people taught me to be more thankful for what I have been given. I have been given so much. I know now that some people are carrying many burdens and have many hardships. We should try to do more to lift the burdens of the poor and needy by helping and serving them. Doing this service taught me so much. It made that Thanksgiving the best one I have ever had.

         

 

Temple Blessings

Since I had surgery two and a half weeks ago I have been recuperating at home.
Today, however I was able to go to the Temple again.  Each week, as I go to the temple
I feel peace and I feel my Savior's love.  Today as I again entered the beautiful rooms
I felt so happy to be back.  One blessing in particular I received while I was in the temple, is that I will
be completely healed from my Nephrectomy (kidney removal)  and that my remaining kidney will
be healthy throughout my life.

Not so lovely hospital pix

I am so relieved that my week in the hospital is over.  I do feel so blessed to have made it through and I know I was watched over by my Heavenly Father and lots of earthly angels too.  Chris, my family and ward family were so wonderful to help me

My ugly laproscopic scar

still I'm grateful it wasn't a long incision!

Day Before Surgery

Well I am quite nervous but at the same time I feel peace that everything will turn out well with my surgery.
I will have my kidney removed tomorrow (Nephrectomy).  I was given a priesthood blessing by our Stake
President, President Neilson,  and I was promised that I would recover and that in fact I would later find
out that the surgery would save my life.

Since that blessing, I have found out that if I were to leave the kidney in and then if I were to get
hit hard in that area or be involved in an accident, I could bleed to death.
I do know that I must go through with this surgery and I will be so glad when this next week is over :)