Transfers

Wow! Sounds like you've had a good and busy week! Thanks for the email:) and for sending Adam's email address. I didn't get an email from him today so, I will send him one.

It was stake conference this last Sunday for us too, and "M's" mom came to church and she loved it!!!!! We had a special meeting at 12:30 for new and returning members, it was a question and answer type setting. She made a few comments and was sitting right behind President and Sister Mehr. They talked to her after the meeting and they were so impressed with her .. So that was awesome!!!!!

For transfers ... I am getting transferred a little ways off to a little old island called Saint Lucia not too exciting or anything... Haha.. just kidding, I am super excited! The area I will be serving in is called Soufrière. This is the area that Elder Gutierrez (my MTC companion) opened up with his companion. Supposedly, it is basically in the bush and there are no members that live there so we will be having church in our apartment... crazy.. It will be way different than serving in the largest ward in the mission, but I am excited!! I leave Wednesday and my companion will be Elder Palmer. He is an ex military guy so we should get along haha. I don't know the mailing address for the area yet, but I am sure I will know soon.

That reminds me, I did get the package and the shoes seem like they should last real long and I do like the ironman sunglasses better, only cause I can take them through the wringer.

I am super bummed to be leaving... because of all the amazing people here, I have really come to love the them.  I am especially sad to leave the "M" family.  I have become part of their family... I am going to miss them a lot! Also, "S" and "R" they have just began to bloom and I wish I could stay and teach them .. but I know that they are all in good hands with Elder Jamison he is an amazing missionary. Wow! When I got into Port of Spain we had no good investigators .. and when I say no, I mean NO good investigators and now it is going really well. There is so much potential here... It is sad to leave knowing how much work you have put into the area..  I am super excited to hear about the success Elder Jamison will continue to have here.

Well, I think that's it for the week .. I spent my P-day today at the beach (Maracas) so that was nice. How many missionaries get to do that?

Love,
Elder Schroeder

Fishers of Men

8/12/13

Today for P-day I was able to do something relaxing.. Dad would have liked to do this, we went fishing!! We left in the morning and we hiked up and over a saddle and came down onto the cliffs on the north side of Trinidad. Instead of using poles we used a caster - just basically a plastic donut that you can hold your line on and get some leverage when you catch something. We didn't catch anything sadly :/ but it was super relaxing.

Trinidad Giant Snail

This week has been extremely successful! The Lord has definitely blessed us for our diligence. We went from having 0 baptismal dates set to 9! In one week:)

"M" should be baptised this Saturday, he seems like he really is doing very well and is very excited for his baptism... only thing now is for him to pick who baptises him ... so hopefully you will have some baptism picture next Monday and hopefully I will be dressed in white also ;)

"R" and his family didn't come to church on Sunday. They both got called into work at like 6 in the morning :( but they said they are off this Sunday so they will be coming. We have taught them the restoration for the past three lessons and now they are really beginning to understand! it is fun to see our investigators really become interested in the gospel and yearn after it!

That makes me think about the way we as missionaries have to teach here. Lets just say the peoples reasoning skills are not the best, when we teach we cannot afford to miss anything in our lessons. This is really is turning me into a great teacher (i think :/ ) haha..I can definitely see how I really have been called to seek out those who desire a testimony of Jesus Christ.

Well sorry, I wish I could write more but I have to go. I love you guys and I love hearing from you every week.

Love,
Elder Schroeder

This past week I got a call and email from a man who was on a business trip in Trinidad and he took his nephew along. His nephew was able to spend some time with Elder Schroeder and Elder Jamison.  He spoke highly of both missionaries, gave some nice compliments, and said it was a great experience for his nephew to get some missionary training. He also treated them to a traditional Trini meal of doubles.  Which I'm sure, Kyle loved!! It was so kind of him to contact us and let us know that Kyle is doing great!!  Robin

                                            
A small portion of his email: "Such a great time.  Poor kid--he was sweating like an animal as he was walking toward me.  His white shirt was saturated with his sweat." The Elders both commented that they loved having him along. They both treated him so well, and his testimony of missionary work was strengthened."

8/19/13
At the beginning of His mortal ministry, Jesus Christ walked along the shore of the sea of Galilee and called out to two fishermen, Peter and Andrew. “Follow me,” He said, “and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19; see also Mark 1:17). The Lord has also called you to His work, and He invites you to follow Him. The invitation to follow Christ is an invitation to follow His example and to become like Him.

We had a baptism this week !!!!!! booyah! "M" was able to be baptised on Saturday. It was actually quite a long story. He was prepared, passed his interview and received permission from both his Mom and Dad. Guess who got to baptise him ... yours truly! That was a great way to end the week. He was confirmed and got the priesthood on Sunday!





I was super excited to read about your missionary work at home! You guys are awesome! It makes me very happy to hear that you are making efforts such as those. You guys will definitely be blessed as you strive to seek out missionary opportunities. Keep it up !!!

About that special transfer, I believe that was because they got 10 new dutch speaking missionaries in the middle of this transfer. Their visas were approved.

Also, about the mosquito's I think I have found out the same bit of information that Connor did. We must both have a natural mosquito repellent cause some missionaries just get destroyed by bugs. I only get a few bites every once in a while, probably a bite or two a week or even less.

This week was an awesome week. We had zone conference which was amazing! President Mehr is a genius and a spiritual giant, we learned a lot, and I couldn't ever possibly explain it over an email. I really loved my opportunity to interview with President Mehr. It really is amazing that he remembers so much from our individual weekly emails. He is the best mission president!

We also were able to get 7 investigators to church this week! (we tried super hard to get them there and our efforts paid off) Only four of them were on time for Sacrament meeting though:/  Elder Jamison and I are really beginning to see the fruits of our diligence here in Port of Spain. There hasn't been a baptism here since October of last year! Elder Jamison and I broke the curse and we have about 5-6 people right now that are definitely entering the waters very soon!

Starting to see some great success here! I love you guys and look forward to hearing from you next week.

Love,
Elder Schroeder
and I will be able to pick the package up tomorrow. Exciting!

Lots of Teaching

7/29/13

Hi!
The video did work:) and when I saw it was very curious as to who was doing the jumping. I am impressed that you and Sid had the guts to do that.. very impressed. (video was of us bridge jumping)

The weather this week was pretty good, very little rain except Sunday. We had real rain Sunday (as they would say here in Trinidad) it started raining about halfway through our lunch in our apartment, so after lunch we waited about 30 minutes and it didn't look like it was going to stop so we went out anyway. We only had one umbrella so I let elder Jamison use it, he doesn't like getting wet. Lets just say the rain was torrential and that is to say the least. The sidewalks we usually walk on had turned into rivers so we were basically waking in the middle of the road cause everywhere else was flooded. It was insane! Basically after less than a minute outside I was soaked to the bone. It was really fun though, to get to see what the streets are like when it rains that much.

This email is probably going to be a little shorter this week I hurt my wrists today... its a long story, but to say the least it isn't the most comfortable to type.

We don't have too many really solid new investigators this week other than the ones you have heard of already. Elder Jamison and I have just been focusing on doing a lot of member work here, We have been going by to visit the members and do service for them to gain their trust. It is super fun to get to know all the members here, to come to church and feel at home. The members here are awesome they offer to feed us all the time and if they have time they love to go out and teach with us. They bring food to us for after church. It is awesome! A sandwich here is bread with mayonnaise and chicken gizzards, or sliced up hot dogs or something.

This week has been awesome! We taught about 20 lessons and hit most of our goals. It feels good to work hard, the Lord definitely fills you with energy you didn't know you had when you do his work.

For p-day today we went to an old satellite on the top of one of the mountains here and supposedly it is the first satellite to ever send and receive a radio signal or something. I would like to hear more about it so you should look it up for me ;)

Well it sounds like you are having a ton of fun and so am I, have a great week. Love you guys.

Love,
Elder Schroeder



rainbow boa I caught!


another picture of the boa


This is alled a chennette, they call them different things on different islands
they are amazing and they taste like candy just like the thing Connor talked about,
and I didn't catch the snake, it was a members haha

8/5/13
Well that's awesome it sounds like you guys are having loads of fun and that necklace you made is awesome and I have many other flowers that I plan on sending they have some cool flowers here. I just sent a cool leaf this last week from a wonder of the world plant. It is supposed to grow anywhere you plant it, so you guys can have a plant from my mission!

The pair of bass shoes I got for my mission will probably have a hole in the bottom in about a month. What lots of missionaries do is just buy some here ... but they are super expensive and they don't last long at all. The best shoes I have seen are the ones from missionary mall I think they just call them missionary shoes. anyway the missionaries that have them just use the one pair for their entire mission. Elder Kramer who is going home in about a month has used one pair of those shoes for his entire mission and they are still going strong so they are really good. Also sunglasses I would really appreciate a pair because my eyes are dying.. Lots of missionaries here use them just when we walk from place to place. So I don't know if you just want to send them with the shoes or send me money.. i don't know if the sunglasses here are any good. Well there is something for you to think about mom. (and I like aviator style the best ;)

Anyway this week was an awesome week sadly "M" was not Baptized this week because of some personal concerns however he still really wants to get baptized so we are helping him solve his concerns. I feel he will be baptized in about 2 weeks. So pray that he may be strengthened.

We taught a very interesting lesson .... let me just say ssssstttrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnngggggge!
(He relayed the experience, still a child of God but has some mental problems)

On a lighter note we taught a family of 4. They really are a sweet family and the Dad is a great father, you don't find that too often here. He actually rescued the woman (now his wife) from a very abusive relationship and took her and her kids in. He is awesome! We really hope to get them to church.

Another great story! My companion finally got to go out teaching with the Elders quorum president. He gets very excited when he teaches. He was a Pentecostal minister for 20 years so he preaches much like one. He kissed his Book of Mormon 6 times during the lesson haha! He is an awesome and super fun to go out with.

We got a ton of new investigators this week including a 3 woman named "D", "A", and "K" so maybe you will hear more about them in the future.

Next week I plan to give you guys a little more information on the slang they use here, it is definitely a whole new language.

Well another great week. Love you! Thank you for all your support and love!!!!

Love,
Elder Schroeder


Here is the necklace he was referring to that I made and love to wear!
It's two sided for both of my boys:)


Also, I think Kyle is so thoughtful:) He sent a letter to his Grandma with a small pressed flower enclosed she loved it! I am going to make a necklace for her with the flower in it.
A keepsake, it will be similar to these, so she can wear it.

Robin