New area- Diego Martin

6/16/14
This week has been a great week!

I got an interesting transfer call .. I am being transferred back to Port of Spain! Actually, the area is right next to the Port of Spain, it's called Diego Martin. I will be going to the same church building and visiting the same members so that I am excited for! My new companion's name is Elder Babb.

I am excited to go but, of course I am also sad .. I loved the area here in Sangre Grand and have come to love many of the members over here... I am excited to go back to Port of Spain though! That is sweet.

Elder Montgomery and Fiame are both staying and getting new companions they will do well in their areas.

We taught some really great lessons this week! I am sad to leave these investigators especially the "J" Family. they are husband and wife with one child and brother "J" is getting baptised not this Saturday but the next. He actually just fed us yesterday, I finally got to try iguana. It is a super tender meat, tastes pretty much like iguana haha... it was cool! I will send some pictures, anyway more about brother "J" .. this guy already mostly understands the whole concept of Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthood and he always has the best questions .. he will definitely be a great strength to Sangre Grande.

I am also sad to leave the "R's" they are also a sweet family. I have faith that they will be baptised and contribute much more strength to the ward. Last night, we taught them the gospel of Jesus Christ they ate it up! It is strange how you teach the same concepts every time and it never gets boring.

We have been working with a good amount of families .. that is our main goal as a mission.. Overall, we have baptised about 300 people in just this year already .. we area aiming for 600 baptisms by the end of the year!

Right now, I have been studying quite a bit about repentance and I stumbled across a talk by Neal a Maxwell. It is the best! The talk title is Repentance and the talk is in 1991. I also want to and look forward to reading the many books that he has written.

Love,
Elder Schroeder





Curried iguana close up!! That is curried mango next to the iguana, next to the mango is curried aloo (potato) and chana (chick peas/garbanzo beans) the tan stuff is "bus-up-shut" a type of roti





6/23/14

Well first thing I must say .... BLAKE !!!!! Actually received a wedding invite just last week...I am extremely excited for them! I still can't get over the fact that he married Maddison haha... that is the best!

I must also say about Sid the prego kid, She is looking good! and pregnant! I think it will be a boy. You should send one of those cupcakes to me so I can find out the same way ;) haha just kidding.

More about my new companion. Again, his name is Elder Babb he is from Guatemala (I don't know if I spelled that right) and he doesn't speak a lick of English.... it is very interesting, I can see why he is a zone leader but we can't understand each other very well, so that is difficult. It helps that I can kind of understand Spanish and also french he was transferred to the English side of the mission 1 transfer ago.... just kidding!! He is from Hughson California it is about 20-30 minutes from Modesto. He is awesome, we get along great! He goes home home just before me, in January. He is the outdoorsy type so that's good. He's also a competent driver so I don't need to worry about that. It's going to be a fun transfer with him.

The names of the missionaries in the zone are: Elder Shariatmadari, Rowley (i wonder if he is related) we look like we could share some blood, Evans, Eggbert (from driggs), Westbroek, Hazlett, sister Giles, Reddy, Edmonds, and Schindler. there it is ... the Assistants to the president are also in our area. They are all great missionaries!

Now .. about he fun stuff ... the members over here are the best!!! I didn't have to remind one member at church what my name is, they all remember me! booyah! It is good to be back. We have so many members to take out, it is ridiculous .. it is almost like they fight for spots or times to go out with the missionaries! It is the best! .. We are going to have loads of member lessons! Those are the best .. and plus it is way more fun to go out teaching with the members. We also have a ton of new members in the Port of Spain ward! Its great to see many callings being filled by the recent converts!

We have some sweet families over here I am excited to tell you more about them. I haven't met with too many people yet so you will hear more next week.. I expect to see some baptisms rolling along over here!!! I wish i had some picture for you guys but I haven't taken any yet...

Have fun in Idaho!
Love,
Elder Schroeder

P.S see if you can give Blake a shout out for me! please!


6/30/14

That is super exciting to hear IT'S A BOY!!!! wow that's going to be a load of fun .. little league games. etc. etc. Sid gets to finally learn everything that goes into parenting .. I can only imagine .... Speaking of that, what was the most difficult thing overall you guys have had to deal with parenting wise? just curious.

Sounds like you had some good fun up in Idaho.Probably not as much fun as we are having down here! I have been super tired the past week! But I am keeping it up! Elder Babb is a funny man, it's great to joke around with him. I also love that he is serious when the time calls! That is something I admire in him.

Not too many strange things happened this week. We have got some great new ward members down here and we have been teaching the recent converts a lot about family history work. The calling I received previous to my mission - family history consultant, has helped out so much down here. Truly an inspired calling! Thank you Bishop Dye or whomever received the inspiration for that. There are so few people down here that know about it. It has been great to help people get started with all of that! The spirit of Elijah is real and it is powerful. I know that family history work is going to be a huge part of my life in the future. Connor should get into it a little bit.

I had some questions for Grandma Schroeder
here goes ...

1) What was your most embarrassing moment?

2) What made you decide to join the church - I have heard the story but, I don't quite remember all the details

3) How did you feel when you had your first child?

4) If you could describe grandpa in 20 words what would it be? You can use a sentence or individual words or whatever..

5) If you could learn anything you now know (about parenting) before you were a parent, what would it be?

Love you Grandma!
So there is a small project for you Grandma .. I want long answers! You can have Connor be your scribe, if you feel so inclined .. how is that for volunteering!

Well, I think that is it for the week!
I Love you all, have a great week!

Love,
Elder Schroeder

Teaching...Love the people!

5/26/14

Trying to figure out the balance of these two areas. We did have some very good things happen this week though.

We met a man named "K" late last week and volunteered to help him do some body work on his car (it is a piece of work) but hey... so we went by to help him and he was pretty surprised that we actually came to help. He wasn't ready for us so he said we will have to do it next week, so tomorrow we are helping him change out the rear axle and dif. pretty excited to get my hands greasy! We did get to help him that day though, his other car ran out of gas a couple miles away so we drove some fuel over to his car to fill it up. It still didn't start but hey... I am amazed at the kind of work they do to their cars here. You should have seen this car... my goodness.... haha

"D"the one we have been working with for a long time is growing in understanding. However, he didn't come to church yesterday :( ugh... I wish he had more strength in the home... anyway... we are doing what we can for him. Truthfully, I just feel that he is a little apprehensive about how his friends will react to him being baptized.

Also, I don't know if I have written home about couple we are trying to get married. They are awesome people we went by Saturday night. I took a youth by on splits, his name is "J" and we got on the topic of marriage yet again. You should have seen this kid counsel these two on marriage it was a sight to behold!!!! haha... He was really good, he is going to be a great missionary!
About him (J) being a missionary,  I helped him submit his papers on Friday night. The ward clerk couldn't figure it out and asked me for help. So I was the middle man in all of that. I am glad I did my own papers, we submitted his papers on Friday all he has now, are his final interview with the Stake President! booyah! I hope I am here when he opens his call. That would be cool.

I think that is really it for the week,  plugging along over here. It can be saddening when people don't act on the truth they learn, but hey its got to be that way, right?

We are celebrating two sister missionaries birthdays today, it is Sister Bratt's (brought) birthday today and Sister Herrick's birthday tomorrow.

Well, I love you all! Have a great week!!
Elder Schroeder

A large field in Sangre Grande on the way to a members house.
Coconut shrimp!


6/2/14

We (the three of us) will probably be companions till the end of the transfer.

About transfers... I pretty much know I am leaving. President Mehr called me on Wednesday and called me to be a zone leader. I don't know where I am going but I do know, that I am leaving. So all you have to do is wait in anticipation. We have a big mission leadership conference on Tuesday Wednesday. That is where President Mehr flies all the zone leaders in to instruct them.

We had great week this week in the amount of lessons we were able to teach! We taught a total of 38 lessons! We have a zone competition going on (the competition is based off goal setting) and we crushed it!

As far as our investigators go, it is super hard to really focus on specific people when you are spread so thin, doing the best we can.

Recently, we have been doing really well at taking members out teaching with us. We have some pretty good bonds with the members in the area here. Bro "A" is one of my special favorites, he is a little outspoken kind of guy, but his experiences are a great help to the investigators that we have. Love the people here!!

Ahh.. this week the senior companion assigned to Sangre Grande (Elder and Sister Ray) had their family here visiting. It was super weird to see white people again. I feel like when I go to back to school I will gravitate towards the one black person... it is going to be super weird to go home.

As of now I would say my biggest focus is getting a couple married and also get Brother "R" to church. These couple families could be the best!!!!!

I really just don't have a lot to say this week. I didn't take notes throughout the week, I will this week though.


Love,
Elder Schroeder