California is just down the road...

Couva is great! It's actually a ward, and from the mouth of our mission president, we have to best bishop in the whole mission and I confirm that statement! I have already met with Bishop "R" twice and he is incredible! He does so much and he is super smart! I am excited to serve with him we are going to get great things done! 

Elder Haderlie my companion is actually from Vista! We use to see each other at regional dances on occasion! He is in the Vista 10th ward back home. It is ironic that we are both from California and in our area is a place called California. So I have to make sure when I tell people where I am from I say "California in the states, not down the road" 

Elder Haderlie and I get along great! We have many of the same interests and work hard. He sure is a hard worker and we will have a great time here! Oh on another note abuot Elder Haderlie he went to seminary with Olivia .. it's a small world! 

My new apartment is great .. not quite like my last apartment but it is definitely one of the better ones in the mission! And I still have the weights from my last apartment... I will have to take plenty pictures this week so you can see where I am living and what I am doing. 

I do have a good story other than the usual .. So we were contacting in a relatively new area and we meet this very nice man. We are pretty sure he is Hindu because he has Hindu flags outside his house (i will also have to send pictures of that) Anyway he invites us into his gallery and gives us some juice (bajan cherry) One of the first things he says is "don't talk to me about God" .....Okay......... what do you expect me to talk about......... eventually We get him to talk  about God! haha but anyway just a couple minutes pass and he offers us some food. Of course I can't pass up the food so I say " yeah sure! that would be great" and he invites us in his house. As he is preparing food, we sit on the couch and talk more about his beliefs - Eventually,  the food is done and we sit down to eat. I will tell you that food was spicy! and on top of that every time you emptied your glass of juice, he would come back and fill it to the brim. So I had a full plate of food and about 3-4 glasses of juice. We finish the meal and now are going on our way so I get my shoes to put them on. As I am tying my shoes in the gallery, I suddenly stood up, (and quickly I might add) leaned over the rail to my left and proceeded to exhume the contents of my stomach, upper intestines, lower intestines, colon, I am pretty sure all the way down to my toes..... The strange thing is it didn't even hurt! It felt good... I am pretty sure I lost about 30 pounds in about 5 seconds..... just an exaggeration. I guess the food did not quite agree with me or something which is weird because I have eaten that hundred of times! Funny thing is, that the guy didn't even mind! He went off on some lecture about how it's good for you to do that on occasion.... haha! 

The rest of the week was just normal... just learning the area and stuff... I already know about half of the ward, so I did good in that regard! About 70 people attended church yesterday. 

Should get my travel itinerary this transfer. I will forward it to you when i get it..

Love,

Elder Schroeder 

pictures next week!

New area...Couva Trinidad!

Well I am being transferred to... Couva! with an Elder Haderly! Couva is just south of where I am .. it's about a half hour drive. I no longer have a car but I will be rolling around on bikes... miserable.... I just hope they have mud flaps and are in good operating order.. I will have to fix that if not. Apparently there are tons of Hindus down there and it is city like (very little bush) 

 

It is going to be fun for three months to have a little change of venue but I'm sure going to miss the members up here. All of them were saying "what you are leaving, but you have been here so long." 

I am pretty sure almost everyone said that. I really set up shop here it's like I was just part of the scenery. Good thing I have a great replacement! Elder Church - I have no doubt you will meet this guy later on! Definitely, one of my best buddies down here! 

 

I am also not a zone leader anymore, getting rid of the old ones, so they can call new ones. It has been a great and I was able to help a good amount of missionaries! I am glad I was ready to respond to the call. Now I have got a new one with Elder Haderly oh yeah I think he is also from California but I don't know what part, and he has only been out about 3 months! That will be quite the change... I hope he is a good teacher already..... 

 

President Mehr called and the first thing he said to me is, "you are coming to the end of your mission now" - it is very surreal that it all is coming to a close. It will be so weird to be a "returned missionary" 

 

I have got tons of work to go and many ways to do it .. this is the sprint time now!!!!!! 

 

Love,

Elder Schroeder

 

1- this morning with hopkins church and beck (not in that order)

2- studies at the beach this morning after a run! 

3- no explaination needed

Still have lots of work to do...

Hard to believe he will be home in 3 months 4 days... But whose counting? 

Mom is:) 

12/25/14

We love our Chrisrmas Skype call with Elder Schroeder!! He was thrilled to see the big brother shirt his nephew was wearing to announce another neice or nephew coming in July. He has not been feeling well all week:( Chickengunya was the culprit. Despite that, as you can see by the picture he looked good and was in good spirits. Love my son!

Robin

12/29/14

Wow! I didn't know everyone was going up to Idaho!!! That is super fun! They have already got a million feet of snow!!!!! Jealous....... Kelly Canyon should be fun! I have never been there. That seems like one of the greatest family parties on the face of the earth! 

 

Well, honestly I don't have much to say this week. Christmas was awesome! Although I wasn't feeling so well.... In fact the next two days after we didn't even go out. Well, we went out at night on Saturday. We couldn't handle being couped up for so long! I feel loads better now though I think I may be able to work out tomorrow for the first time after this Gunya thing. 

 

We did have one investigator at church but she won't be baptised for awhile though. The parents think she isn't ready so we are just waiting on the parents approval... 

 

I will probably be leaving Diego this next transfer.. I am excited to see where my last area will be! 

 

I will be doing some souvenir shopping today. You guys will like the things I am going to get but do you guys have any suggestions for things you want from Trinidad?

Love,

Elder Schroeder

 

1 and 2 - a member bought us all new ties in our favortie colors! Super nice! 

3- picture of me opening my gift from you guys! Love you!!! 

1/5/15

Wow! He really did a good job .. I bet that was fun! I'm sure it put a little damper on the night but I am glad everyone is okay!  

 

It seems you all had quite the adventure on the mountain! haha! Hearing all your stories is hilarious! I can only imagine!!!! Those stories will forever be engraven in my mind! haha!  I just wonder how everyone reacted when you went off the road. I bet Connor said something like, "well that sucks" I know that what I would have said anyway. 

 

This week was a good one! You can ask Diane how my new years was! I wrote her about it. We had 14 new investigators this week and we weren't even really tring for that. We were actually trying to not get so many new ones this week cause we already had so many to work with. But I guess the Lord had plans for us! 

 

We taught last night and it was pretty interesting. He is a great guy and wants to turn his life around, he has been involved in quite a lot. His sins are definietely begingning to be purged from him! 

 

I don't remember if I told you about this other investigator, he is a super humble guy who is very wealthy. On Saturday we had a lesson with him, he took us in his jeep up a mountain and we had a lesson up there. He said if he found out the Book of Mormon was true he would be baptised, and we didn't even ask him to be baptized yet! So that is cool! He would be a great strength to the church in Trinidad! I hope he has faith and finds out this is true! That would definietely be one of the wildest stories of my mission. Baptising a millionaire...... 

 

Well, I don't think I have much else to say .. transfer calls are on Saturday so you will hear where I will finish my mission next week! ..crazy that it is all coming to a close... interesting fact- I have baptised 20+ people on my mission .. I still have three months left, lots of work to do and tons of people to baptize! 

 

Love,

Elder Schroeder

 

ps.thanks for the pictures keep em' coming! I will try and have some next week!