Thank you so much for the care package! I haven't gotten it yet but I should be able to pick it up tomorrow or Wednesday. I forgot to tell you I need athletic socks too.. they are definitely missionary socks..... real Holy.....
The razors are holding up great! No complaints about that, they are super good!!!
(Helpful Hint: For any of you wanting great quality razors for your missionaries or for yourself at a fraction of what you will pay in the stores, follow this link for 15% off. http://dorcousa.refr.cc/S5CNZVB We sent our missionaries out with a 2 years supply. Best ever!! Robin)
(Helpful Hint: For any of you wanting great quality razors for your missionaries or for yourself at a fraction of what you will pay in the stores, follow this link for 15% off. http://dorcousa.refr.cc/S5CNZVB We sent our missionaries out with a 2 years supply. Best ever!! Robin)
This week has been great! Here is one stellar highlight for you guys!
You may remember the first week I ever emailed home from the mission field, the very first Saturday I was here, the "M" family was baptized. They returned on Friday night from a temple trip to Santo Domingo! It was incredible to see these people in their infancy in the gospel and now as endowed members!!! Brother 'M' is even the ward clerk! It sure is incredible! I don't think there are too many missionaries who get to see that.
We also have a baptism coming up on Saturday! It is a 9 year old girl - "K" (her parents are recent converts) so we were able to teach her.
Also, another baptism in a couple weeks! Another 9 year old girl form a recent convert family! Talk about working with members! This 9 year old did not really want to get baptized until just a couple days ago. So now that she wants to it is a thumbs up from the parents. Get this- the parents actually went to the beach with their daughter and played a game --- the game was "lets practice baptizing her. Haha.. and she wants me to baptize her because she is scared that her dad will drown her. ... Not happening... he is definitely going to baptize her!
One more thing from the week .. this was quite interesting... on Thursday morning I woke up just as normal as ever worked out, showered, and ate breakfast (hash browns). As I was tying my tie - I got a strange feeling you get in your throat when you are going to vomit. I did not have a stomach ache or any thing, I finished tying my tie and the feeling became so intense that I knew the expulsion was imminent. I ripped my tie off and proceeded to empty my guts into the toilet. It was not even that violent... I just threw up, blew my nose, brushed my teeth and was done. I did not feel sick at all or anything .. super weird... Well I started to study and about 15 minutes went by and I felt plainly exhausted... I then slept for about an hour and then we had to go cause some conundrum with the car. After that, we came back and I continued to sleep for about 3-4 hours... I was a zombie... I do not even know what it was. I continued to be a zombie for about a day and a half and now I am fine... very strange...
We got an awesome referral this week, she is the Mother of one of our recent converts. We are now teaching her. She is taking all of it very seriously just because she has seen the great change in her son. Talk about a great example. We are excited to see her get baptized!
That is it for the week!
Love,
Elder Schroeder
8/11/14
Thanks for telling me about Sister Marius... Great lady!! We actually used to visit her about twice a week to read to her. I heard that she had passed away already. She is a famous woman throughout the mission. I actually used to call her Grannie. She could never pick a favorite missionary but I would like to be able to say that I was her favorite. She was buried with a picture of all the missionaries that gave her pictures, she had a 10x12 picture of me :) She was also buried with one of my name tags. She really loves the missionaries!
Sounds like you have got some fun things going on back home. We have got some fun things happening down here too.
We had a baptism on Saturday! There is a small picture in the newsletter it is the "B" family it was a part member family... was... good stuff!
On another good note. I'm helping my companion with a diet and workout program and he has already lost 6 pounds! He is looking good! So that is great! Also, it was his birthday on Saturday... gave him a tie.
More about the work .. we have members out with us everyday! It is a little hard not to bring them out, honestly everyone wants to come out with us, all we have to do is give them a time and go pick them up. It is great! We have fellow-shippers for all age groups. Right now we are really focusing on part member families and it has been working out really well. We have baptized a good amount of younger people because of it. The younger ones seem to get lost in the background when the missionaries first come over. We have also had some good success with the older people. Of course older people just have more reservations but it is coming along great!
We should have about 4 more baptisms before the transfer is out. Elder Babb will probably be leaving this transfer or so we think, he has been here 6 months.
Highlights for the week-
We had mission leadership council on Wednesday so we got to hear from President Mehr. He wants to focus on flooding the earth with the Book of Mormon. As we shared that with the missionaries we have seen a great amount of success. Contacting with the Book of Mormon really sorts out the elect. The field really is white down here we are seeing loads of success the mission had 60 baptisms last month and 30 of them happened in one day! So things are looking up we should hit our goal of 600 baptisms for the year!
Anyway, I think that is it for the week. I love you all and thank you for the shoes you sent! They will get used! Great selection.
Love,
Elder Schroeder
Beautiful sunsets
Elder Babb, Mikalai (who is actually on a 3 week mini mission right now), Elder Schroeder
8/11/14
Thanks for telling me about Sister Marius... Great lady!! We actually used to visit her about twice a week to read to her. I heard that she had passed away already. She is a famous woman throughout the mission. I actually used to call her Grannie. She could never pick a favorite missionary but I would like to be able to say that I was her favorite. She was buried with a picture of all the missionaries that gave her pictures, she had a 10x12 picture of me :) She was also buried with one of my name tags. She really loves the missionaries!
Sounds like you have got some fun things going on back home. We have got some fun things happening down here too.
We had a baptism on Saturday! There is a small picture in the newsletter it is the "B" family it was a part member family... was... good stuff!
On another good note. I'm helping my companion with a diet and workout program and he has already lost 6 pounds! He is looking good! So that is great! Also, it was his birthday on Saturday... gave him a tie.
More about the work .. we have members out with us everyday! It is a little hard not to bring them out, honestly everyone wants to come out with us, all we have to do is give them a time and go pick them up. It is great! We have fellow-shippers for all age groups. Right now we are really focusing on part member families and it has been working out really well. We have baptized a good amount of younger people because of it. The younger ones seem to get lost in the background when the missionaries first come over. We have also had some good success with the older people. Of course older people just have more reservations but it is coming along great!
We should have about 4 more baptisms before the transfer is out. Elder Babb will probably be leaving this transfer or so we think, he has been here 6 months.
Highlights for the week-
We had mission leadership council on Wednesday so we got to hear from President Mehr. He wants to focus on flooding the earth with the Book of Mormon. As we shared that with the missionaries we have seen a great amount of success. Contacting with the Book of Mormon really sorts out the elect. The field really is white down here we are seeing loads of success the mission had 60 baptisms last month and 30 of them happened in one day! So things are looking up we should hit our goal of 600 baptisms for the year!
Anyway, I think that is it for the week. I love you all and thank you for the shoes you sent! They will get used! Great selection.
Love,
Elder Schroeder
Beautiful sunsets
Elder Babb, Mikalai (who is actually on a 3 week mini mission right now), Elder Schroeder
8/18/14
It is great to hear about Courtney and Megan leaving on their missions! How cool!
This week has been great! We got fed a lot... I feel full just thinking about it... and we have a dinner appointment tonight too... wow... it's awesome!
One new thing is I remember the suggestion you had for me on using my drawing ability on my mission. I have decided to do that I am going to draw a little bit every once in a while. I am almost finished laying out a very cool drawing of the tree of life. I just have so many ideas it seems a waste to let them go undrawn. It would be cool to publish something in Deseret stores or something one day.
I recently received a blessing from my bishop over here. President asked us a long time ago to get a blessing from your local leader whenever you come into a new area. Something he said that really stood out to me is "You will be the change that you want to see on your mission" I felt the Spirit strongly when he said that. He also proclaimed that, "At times things will not go the way you would like them to" and I don't remember the exact wording thereafter but there were many promises of resoluteness in the face of adversity.
It has felt like that a good deal recently, definitely a very inspired blessing! Great guidance and comfort from an inspired leader. I really admire Bishop Regis.
I have felt the Lords hand amid my life more than ever on my mission, it is truly an incredible experience. In spite of my unworthiness as an unprofitable servant, I know that the Lord loves me and trusts me with this great call. Oh it is so hard at times and the burden heavy. I can only imagine the weight of the other calls to serve in the future. I do slightly relish in the strain of the load though ... it really does allow you to grow and move forward.
This week has felt really slow but we have had so many great lessons and opportunities before us. I really love serving with Elder Babb he is such a strong person. I don't remember if I told you this but he has only been a member for three years, he knows so much about the gospel already. It is incredible!
We went to Maracas falls again today for Pday. I went just about a year ago. So here are some pictures for you guys, so you can still see I am healthy and alive.
Love,
Elder Schroeder
1) Here's a close up for you
2) We were all supposed to be flexing but anyway...
3) I don't know how good you can tell but I am cowering under the rock to shield me from the waterfall
4) That's us climbing across, getting soaked so we can be behind the waterfall
5) Interesting close up of some moss type stuff on a tree
