Interesting...

Well... this will be an interesting email. 

I got permission to have my mission extended one week! Sorry,  but I have got one more person to baptize! We didn't have the marriage or baptism on Saturday so we will be having it next week. I am glad I get to stay. You guys should be getting my new flight info today. 

Just kidding... 

See you guys Thursday!!!

It is very surreal that it is all coming to an end. P-day was switched to Tuesday because the government recognized Easter Yesterday and nothing was open. I have two more appointments and then all the departing missionaries have a departing devotional all day Wednesday. So the work is pretty much done. I guess we will just see if I can convert anyone on the flight over..... 

I would definitely like to see those letters from President Mehr. Speaking of him, I did have my departing interview yesterday... he definitely plans on staying in contact, he loves the missionaries! But what kind of a mission president doesn't? 

The plans you guys have made sound great! 

I think that is it from me. See you all Thursday! 

Love,

Elder Schroeder

This is just like him, trying to get a rise out of mom, haha...very funny:) Next post will be pictures of his arrival home!!  This has been an amazing time in Kyle's life as he so selflessly served by teaching others about Jesus Christ. He has learned so much!! We have all been so blessed and loved watching him serve through his weekly emails. We are so proud of the person he has become. Perry and Robin 

One of 84,000...

3/30/15

Most of my clothes are pretty well done. I will be giving them to members or missionaries .. I will bring two slacks home a long sleeve shirt and a short sleeve shirt. My shoes are all done... lets just say they are holy shoes.... 

It is so strange that it is all coming to an end .... 

Being one of the 84,000... It has been a wonderful time serving the Lord with all my faculties, at times the work can be hard and at times the opposite but the overall feeling has been a full one. I can truly say to myself I have served the Lord with all my heart these past two years and I know I have trusted in him to convert those I have taught. 

You really can feel the work hastening, being right in the middle of it. I have only had two years to compare but I see it moving upward quickly. I had a conversation with the President of the Carribean area (of the Seventy) He said "the time is soon coming when we will not be moving and teaching from individual to individual but from congregation to congregation." we will be teaching the masses soon enough. It has happened in the past but now it will happen on a much greater scale and I feel it. I have been part of the preparation for that great time. The missionaries of the future are going to have to be something great! That is for sure, but the Lord is saving his elect and they will be brought forward, if they have not already. I am excited to see the great things I have done by the power of God as they grow in the time to come. 

This week was just normal we had plenty teaching and we should have a marriage and a baptism in between sessions of conference on Saturday! yes! So look for pictures!!! 

I think thats it for me this week.. I have got a good handful of souvenirs but a couple more things to get .. and I will definitely be cooking for your guys some curry and bus-up-shut..

Things I will need: 

flour

plenty oil

baking powder

butter

Inions

garlic (fresh cloves)

salt and pepper

potato

chicken (bone in) leg and thigh would be perfect

I will make one very spicy so you can see what thats like, and one without for the babies.... 

I will bring everything else :)

and tell scott I will be bringing some trini pepper sauce for him.

You guys can decide what to cook when I get back.

Love, 

Elder Schroeder

All is well...

3/16/15

Wow! Sounds like you have everything planned out for me when I get home.

Looks like Walker is a ladies man all he seems to have is girls for friends... Uhh ohh...

Wow! tons of weddings... I guess it's kind of like when Casey's group all decided to get married haha!

The registering for classes did'nt work out too well sadly... I had everything planned out and it was good but when I went on this morning my plans showed up as void ..... ugh! so I had to try and get some things together. I let Connor know and I trust he will figure it all out for me.

This week was quite interesting though.
One of our star investigators has been planning on getting married and went to the marriage office and everything (multiple times) Longs story short, they got the marriage license, they will be married soon.

Another couple we are teaching that have been planning on marriage but could just not commit themselves are now going to be having a child together and decided they want to be married before they have a child. So we will help them get that figured out.

So that is mainly what I am going through right now. We had a baptism set for this weekend but he did not come to church this Sunday so I do not think that is going to happen. Maybe next week....

All is well over here though.. Today I have to submit a bunch of pictures and answer some questions for a returning home thing the mission does.

Love,
Elder Schroeder


3/23/15
WOW I feel like I don't even have anything to say...
Glad registration for school worked out!

This week was zone conference and it was great! Elder Cornish of the Seventy was our main instructor. He mainly spoke on the atonement and applying that to ourselves. He went through a huge list of scriptures and spoke about all of them... Makes you wonder what the prophet is like, or I should say receiving instruction from the prophet.

After that this week was really really slow... We had so many appointments fall through and it felt like nobody was home. That's alright though we still got 20 something lessons and we will be having a wedding soon. I probably would have been able to tell you the date but the investigator to be married got stuck babysitting on Sunday so she couldn't talk to bishop about a possible date. She does want to be married before I leave though so it will happen. Hopefully we can squeeze a baptism in there too!

We also had ward conference this week which was great! The last hour President Gould spoke about self reliance which was fantastic. Definitely something the people need. (myself included) haha!

We were supposed to have members out with us numerous times this week but pretty much all of it didn't work out. Which stinks to say the least, but next week will be better!

Not too much from this end except you guys might want to go online and buy my books for my classes. They are really cheap if you can get them used and they are available right now.

Love,
Elder Schroeder

p.s. love the leprechaun pictures!!! haha how did you get the footprints so good!!!

Great week!! Sad to leave:(

3/9/2015

That service project looks like alot of work! good job. Too bad you injured your hand again(as the west indians would say- your hand includes your whole arm) 

Sounds like a fun little cruise .. I can't believe they have been married that long! That is wild! It is weird to think that is the point I could be at in 10-12 years... Crazy! 

This week was great! We had 7 investigators lined up to come to church 2 were there on time! 2 others showed up just over an hour late, and the last three ride's fell through, sadly... but that  shows you how many sweet people we are teaching right now! We should have some baptisms very very soon and you will get some pictures of those! 

The most solid one coming up is "J"! The  21st he should definitely be ready by then! I am excited for him. The others will probably fall a bit later .. perhaps even after I am home, so I might get some pictures later on of those! 

Elder Haderlie and I are having a blast though .. we have got plenty work to do these last couple months and I am glad Elder Haderlie is the one to kill me. I wouldn't want to be with anyone else. To tell you the truth if I was with anyone else I think I would probably be super trunky! He  is definitely keeping me focused! 

I am excited to see you guys but sad to leave.. I am going to miss this very much!!  

Love, 

Elder Schroeder

Staying focused!

2/18/15

Wow! Casey is having a girl! .. or i should say Joy is having a Girl! ... I bet you are all already going nuts about names! That is super cool you got to sit next to Russel M Nelson! I bet that was fun .. and you served him! haha... This week was actually really good! We had several commitments for baptism with some people that we are teaching. 

Carnival was pretty fun actually .. Monday we had a sports activity with the ward (president gave us permission) and we played cricket and football (soccer) and got absolutely fried by the sun! I have got blisters on my bottom lip ... it is soo bad.... but it will heal soon enough. On Tuesday, we had to stay in and just played a bunch of card games and stuff, it was very relaxing. 

One sweet family we have got right now is the "J" Family .. I think I wrote about them last week. We just taught them the Plan of Salvation and they understood most of it. We will probably try and watch some videos with them next to keep the whole family a little more involved. Another couple who is soon to be married went to the beach for the weekend so hopefully they were able to avoaid some of the wickedness out there... It seems that what most trinis do to avoid the whole carnival thing.. either that or they just stay inside. 

Something  a little different this week .. Elder Brown (my past companion and now zone leader) was Emergency transferred on Sunday so now we are in a Tri-panionship for the meanwhile...that means I am now in a car! yay! Back to a car! Our ward mission leader has been doing a good job of arranging splits for this week so that we each can work in our area so it shouldn't effect us too much this week. Things will be back to normal soon anyway, cause transfers are just around the corner.

I think that is it form me...

 Love, Elder Schroeder

2/23/2015

wow .. I got my travel plans .... super trunky..... But staying focused:) 

This week was great! 

It was a little slow kick starting our area after not being in it for two days but we have now got it back up and running. This Sunday was great! We have 3 investigators at church and we made leaps and bounds with them. The two I am most excited areca couple that are planning on getting married probably in about two weeks! Then they can get baptized! yes! 

We are going to begin teaching our landlady again this week. She had family in town and could not meet with us cause they had tons going but now they are gone and she has got plenty of time. So let see if we can baptize our landlady before I go home.. she might take a little more time though but we will see. We will be teaching her about baptism this next time. She is pretty curious about it cause she really doesn't know anything about it. Once she learns about it she hopefully will be gung ho! 

One thing I think I forgot to mention is that we have a new key indicator .. we no longer report our number of contacts or member referrals but we now report less actives reactivated. That is quite the change right at the end of my mission. A less active reactivated is defined by a less active having at least attended twice for the month and is in communication with the Bishop ie. interview, visit, etc. The goal is for the missionaries to shift their focus a bit towards retaining recent converts and reactivating less actives. The numbers will be small but it should help us turn our attention towards that a bit more. 

Elder Haderlie and I are having a blast down here, getting along great and having some good fun! It should be a fun last transfer with him! 

By the way, I love that name for the baby!  I couldn't imagine any other name! 

We did have a baptism .. the zone leaders baptized two. One younger child in a part member family and a sweet 26 year old named "P" he has got to be the most prepared baptisee I have ever met! We took him out teaching yesterday and he was already teaching and testifying to everyone he met! He is great! and he know the strangest stories from the bible! 

Wow Hunter has already got a kid .. that is weird.... 

i think thats it from me!

Love, 

Elder Schroeder

3/2/2015

Thank you for all the birthday messages and things! 

I don't think I have too much to say this week and the space bar on this computer is driving me nuts so it might be a little short today. 

business-

Good news about registering for classes! the registration for classes opens march 16th at 6:00 am that happens to be on a Monday! and since there is a time difference I don't even have to wake up early. So I will be able to register for classes right on time! 

Wevdid meet this awesome guy this week named K" he is a cricketer from Barbados! He is down in Trinidad for cricket and he is awesome! We shared the restoration with him and you should have seen his face. He was awestruck and he is excited to find out it is true. We will be teaching him for the second time tonight and he has invited a friend to join us that he thinks will be interested! That's what I'm talking about! 

Sadly, this week many of our baptismal dates have dropped off. We have tons of great people to teach, it has just been proving very hard to meet with them this week. Hopefully, things change this next week and we will be able to meet with them. 

The next baptism I think we will be having is "J" he is 14 and is very excited about the gospel. It seems he has got great support around him. He is excited! 

Just working hard finding and teaching!! 

I think that is it from me.

Love, 

Elder Schroeder

Lots of Teaching!!

1/26/15

That's  too bad about dads tooth! Modern medicine is a miracle! A couple hundred years ago he probably would have died! We have got so much to be thankful for! 

I am also glad Joy is feeling better too being sick for that long sure would stink.. I bet she never wants to get pregnant again! 

This week has been awesome! Elder Haderlie and I have taught tons of people this week! We taught 32 lessons this week! We did have some slow days however .. from about 1-3 pm couva is a ghost town! Everyone is working! I just wonder how the missionaries in the states feel! 

Our ward mission leader in couva is on fire .. he has been organizing and matching members with our investigators like no tomorrow! In fact the sunday after this one he is organizing for all four of us missionaries to go on our own split after church. He is on fire! We taught 7 member lessons with him yesterday alone! I am excited to see what kind of fruit the Lord will bless this ward with because of his diligence! 

Sorry, i would have more to write but  I forgot my little note sheet back home.. you would think that since i m the one who created the emailing notes i would be able to recall all of my ideas but i guess not.... 

Carnival is coming up soon! That will be a fun two days with 6 Elders in my apartment .. I wonder what will happen....should  be fun. 

Here are some pictures.. :)

Love

Elder Schroeder

1)bedorrom and bathroom

2)weights! 

3)elder haderlie!!!!! and our kitchen

  

2/2/15 

This week was a great week! Elder Haderlie and I have been to business down here we had 34 lessons this week! All the other numbers were about the same, so we are getting some great work done down here! 

We have some sweet investigators that are coming up on baptism .. We have got one that should be baptised on the 14th of the month and two are three that should be baptised the next month! booyah! 

This Sunday we had a special broadcast from Church headquaters specifically to the Carribean area. I found it interesting what they spoke about .. they spoke a lot of marriage and faith to perform your callings. The young womens president spoke and Elder Anderson of the Seventy along with Elder Holland and Boyd K. Packer. It was good to say the least. We had four investigators there to see it!  

The bikes we have are actually petty good they are in the about $400 dollar range made by trek. We couldn't get my seat to move up until just the other day when a guy with a pipe wrench lent us a hand ... that was fun .. only problem now is that it is just a smidge too high haha. 

About room up at school if Scott and Sid are still up there I wouldn't mind living with them, if I have a moed of transport. Then again, I would really like to live in an apartment. I asked Connor what he thought so I guess we will see ... I think i would rather live at some housing .. I did like somerset. But if you can find a deal at a nicer one (close to school) I am fine with that, roommates possible Ryan Payne .. thats all I can think of right now. possibly Christopher Esteves .. I don't know if he will be at school then? 

 

Love, 

Elder Schroeder

 2/9/15

It is just a two man apartment me and Elder Haderlie. I don't really know what the 6 of us will do but we have been approved by president Mehr to go to a sports activity our ward is having just down the street from our apartment. That will be carnival Monday so that is what we will do that day .. the next day .. no idea probably just lime in our apartment Due to carnival we will probably be emailing Wednesday, I am not too sure though. 

Toby is getting married in the temple .. this is the same Toby I know?!?? wow props to him! Very Exciting!!! 

This week was really just normal .. there was one thing out of the ordinary.. I got an email listing "pre-depatrture Questions" ughh.. I think you can probably expect an email this week with an itinerary....... 

We do have 9 dates set this week! 6 of which we set yesterday with an awesome family. I will just say the the father, mother (married) :) about 6.5 million children, a brother and his best friend ... Wow! so that was exciting. They keep telling us that they have wanted to get baptised for a long time they have just not really had the opportunity. So we explained the entire process along witht the doctrine of baptism and they all seemed very receptive and excited! 

We have some others that we are teaching and have commited to baptism 

The last date we have is a rasta man .. I really want to baptize this guy! I have yet to baptize a rasta man! that is definitely on my missionary bucket list! 

Other than that not much to say! All is well down here, we had a busy week! 

Love

Elder Schroeder

yes!! hammock in the Caribbean 

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!

Catch up post!! :)

 

Ugh!! Sorry everyone:/ I'm a little behind with posting for Elder Schroeder. This will be a long one... Robin

11/25/14

You will be surprised to know that Elder Beck and I when we went to the mall to get something were interviewed by a couple people about Christmas in Trinidad and we made it on their video.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/izZsFRnMMqE?wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1&autoplay=1&origin=http://www.lizbliz.com/home/

Pictures of a meeting with all the zone leaders in the mission! You should be able to find me, if you look hard enough.

Sorry, I have neglected to give advice to the young men!  It has slipped my mind each time I email. 

So here it is:

Just go and just love it! It's not hard to go and it's not hard to stay! If you know the Restored Gospel is true, then do your best and serve the Lord! If you do not know its true, do you best find out because the greatest thing that will ever happen to you is knowing the gospel is true. A mission simply provides an incubator, you will grow and develop in ways you never even imagined! Never even imagined!

Now to you guys! 

We finally got moved into our new apartment.. we still don't have all the furniture yet but we should be receiving it shortly! During the moving of the apartment, I got to drive the mission van! One of the wishes of my mission!!! It's a 15 passenger Nissan, right hand drive with a standard transmission. I mostly just wanted to drive a right hand drive stick! I thought that was fun! Sadly, I didn't get a picture of me driving it, oh well! 

We also had Thabksgiving  yesterday at the mission home! Thats why I didn't get to email cause we had to get to the mission home early and didn't have time to email. As part of our thanksgiving we also went to a local food court and sang Christmas hymns. We gathered quite the attention (40+ white missionaries) Elder Beck and I were also invited to the Wilkes for Thanksgiving on Saturday. They are an American couple who live in our ward, they are great! 

We did have a great lesson with "K"and her family! We taught the plan of Salvation and did not get past the fall of Adam and eve since they had so many questions! They were loving it! We just have to get them to church!!!!! They will come, I know it! 

Transfers is next week I really hope I get to stay one more, but I don't think it is likely.

1) my closet (elder beck has his own too) 

2) bathroom walk in shower and unlimited hot water!!!!!

                  Caroling at the mall

12/01/14

Congratulations Sidney!!!!!!!! I am glad all went well! I had a little apprehension about that. I just wonder how I am going to feel when it is my own wife and child. I will probably die of nervousness. 

 

Papa Scott and Mama Sid! wow.. they will be grandparents soon...haha

 

My week down here was great!  Probably not as great as yours .. it is hard to trump a new baby! 

 

Another moment you have all been waiting for....... I am being transfered to ........... nowhere.

 

I get to stay in Diego Martin for one more at least! Booyah! Christmas in Trinidad! I am excited especially since I know all the members so well down here. We have already got 3 appointment lined up for Christmas! haha... can you believe that? Talk about planning ahead.

 

Another interesting thing. As of now, I will be the oldest Zone leader in Trinidad.... Wow! That is weird to think. Everyone is counting down my days... I don't even have to do it, cause everyone is doing it for me. 

 

Some great experiences this week though.

 

A family I am super excited for the mother and father are already married and strong in the Christianity. The mother doesn't  really feel the spirit at the church she is now attending so she is looking for a little bit more. She has encountered a great deal of skepticism. It seems that the negativity has made her more curious. She has tons of questions, sadly the man of the house is a little more elusive but he apparently is really interested also. We have only been able to teach him once, we will pin him down one of these days. 

 

I forgot to menion about this last Saturday (the thanksgiving at the american couples house) it turns out that they basically invited everyone from the ward to their house. Well, not quite the whole ward but alot. There was at least 30 people there so we had a real thanksgiving with kids running around and everything! It was great and the food was spectacular!!! 

 

We also had an great success this friday. We travelled with a young man, well not so young ~30, to the sports night we have at the church every friday night. He really enjoyed it and made some good friends at church. So hopefully you hear more about "S", in the time to come! 

 

That is about all for the week! We have got some great plans for Christmas sodon't  worry about that, it should be great! 

 

Love

Elder Schroeder

 

ps. If you really do want to send a christmas package the only thing I can think of, is black or grey nike socks (mid calf)

12/08/14

Wow he is tiny!!!!! 

 

The house is going to be totally different when i get home.

 

I will really have to check out a nativity set made here .. they had them in St. Lucia but I didn't think to get one.

 

This week was really great! We had a sweet lesson with the "F" family (an awesome recent convert family with super strong testimonies!) We taught them about the 5 different temple coventants and they loved it. Bro "F" had about a 30 minute lecture on chastity and virtue, it was incredible! It is awesome to see people embrace the gospel so fully! To come out of such darkness and to behold such light! 

 

Right now, the mission is focusing on Balanced Effort Real Growth, so Elder Beck and I are teaching the Zone about that tomorrow, should be fun. I really love teaching missionaries, it is so much easier! 

 

Church was great on Sunday, there were about a million return missionaries there because they were having a return missionary conference. The self reliancy people (I don't know what you would call them) from the church held a seminar for the return missionaries on being self reliant. It is really cool that the church is reaching out to the countries where that kind of training is not available. There will definitely be many more successful members because of this. 

 

I don't really have much else to say about the week. Except that Elder Church one of the new missionaries in the Zone is awesome an you will probably hear more about him! He will probably replace me in Diego since he was already a zone leader. 

 

Hope you each have a great week! I love you all! This holiday season I am reminded of you.. to think it has nearly been two years since I have seen you.. wow .. 

 

the zone .. i wish i had time to give you everyones name

 

oh yeah it is trinidadian but they say "trini" usually 

 

Love,

Elder Schroeder

 

P.S about the skyping home thing .. We can probably do it pretty much any time .. I will talk to the members about it tonight and see what time works best for them. Let me know next week what time would work best for you guys, and we will see what we can do!

12/15/14 Exciting News!!! 

Chrstmas will be good down here! I will be skyping you between 1-4 my time ... our location has yet to be determined that's why we can't  give a definite time but it should be around then. too bad the Todds won't t be there for it... 

 

Some exciting news though... here is a quote form my mission president the assistants called us this week with the exciting news and President emailed us today about it. 

 

"Dear Elders and Sisters,

I have been authorized to announce by the First Presidency that as of July 1, 2015 the West Indies Mission will be split. The new missions will be named Trinidad Port of Spain Mission and the Barbados Bridgetown Mission. 

The Trinidad Mission will consist of Trinidad, Suriname, Guyana and the ABC islands off the coast of Venezuela.

The Barbados Mission will consist of the Islands north of Trinidad already in the mission including French Guiana that is part of the Guadeloupe District.

I will received from the missionary department further instruction on what to do to prepare for these changes and I will let you know as soon as I do.

Please continue to work as you would normally do. 

I sure love you all,

President Mehr"

 

So that wont effect me, but it is exciting nonetheless... I will have served in an extinct mission! Happens to tons of people though. Connor should try and serve in the barbados mission ;) 

 

The baptisms we have set for December have all pretty much fallen through, so that is sad we just continue to work hard. 

 

Love,

Elder Schroeder

 

12/22/14

I am excited to talk to you guys! 

 

Today is going to be a sweet day! We are going to a mall to do caroling and then off the the mission home for dinner after that. We are also going to a senior couples house for a movie. We chose to watch frozen. 

 

Christmas should also be good!! Christmas eve we have a dinner appointment with Donna a recent convert. Then we are going over for smores at another converts house. They have never had smores, so it should be awesome! 

 

Christmas day we already have 4 meal appointments .... I plan on gaining about 10 pounds that day! I also have 2 workout sessions planned that day, so I can be as hungry as possible! 

 

I will be keeping my eyes peeled for a natvity ... I haven't seen one yet :/ I really would like to get one... Thank you so much to everyone who sent me money! I am most appreciative! You all might get some souvenirs also! I will definitely be bringing some traditional trini foods to make for you when I get home. Curry, Mauby, Malta! It will be fun for you guys ... You can taste what I have been eating for the past two years! You might also be able to experience the other end of the business, if you know what i mean..... 

 

This last week was great, we had zone conference and the missionaires are hard at work. We have been having almost every appointment for the past three days fall through, as Christmas is drawing near. The Trinis really celebrate Christmas well! I was surprised to see how many people have trees and lights and stuff! It is really cool. Christmas here is definitely better than St. Lucia. It actually kind of feels like Christmas. Especially since I am used to a warm Christmas. 

 

The baptismal dates we have had set have been falling through.. I think cause everyone is so busy during Christmas! 

 

We should be doing some Christmas souvenir shopping next monday! Hopefully, there are alot of things on sale after Christmas! 

 

I think that's it from me this week.. 

 

Love,

Elder Schroeder

 

Talk to youThursday!!! 

 

PS the call will probably come closer to 2-3 my time on thursday

Heart attack...disappointments and miracles

11/3/14

Wow, sounds like a fun week over there! It also sounds like a fun couple weeks to come!!

Ideas for a Christmas gift... all I have to say is if you are planning on sending a package don't send candy, we have got too much of that here in Trinidad and it is all dirt cheap. There are a couple souvenirs that would be good.. some of them can be quite pricey though. I do want to buy an Indian style shirt they call it a Kurta (i don't know if I spelled it correctly)  and it comes with pants too. Other than that I don't really know. I am good on pretty much everything.

I have got one interesting story this week for you guys. 

Elder Beck and I just drove up a large hill (very large hill) to go teach a young man and when we parked and got out of the car. An older man was sitting down in the shade he asked us for a ride down the hill into St. James (it's about a 10-15 minute drive from there) We quickly said sorry we can not, he responded short of breath telling us he recently has had two heart attacks and he is experiencing shortness of breath. He said he feels like he is dying and he wants a ride to the hospital. We asked is he has called an ambulance yet? He said, he did but they can't send one because they are all occupied. While we are talking to him I could hear wheezing in his speech and breath he called the ambulance again and they said they will send one as soon as they get one. Since we couldn't take him he said "are you just going to leave me here to die?"  We didn't want to break the rules so we quietly waited with him for a couple minutes and then decided to call President Mehr. President asked a couple questions after we told him the situation and he said go ahead take him, we can't leave him there to die. So we got him in the car and drove him to the hospital... that 's a little different than the regular everyday missionary experience.

I have got another story but I think I will wait to tell you that one until I get home. I wrote it in my journal so don't worry about me forgetting it. 

I told you I would have pictures this week but I didn't take any pictures. Elder Beck took some pictures though I will see if I can get them from him! 

Love,

Elder Schroeder

11/10/14

I am excited for Sidney and Scott and for their baby to come! I better get pictures the moment you see it.. I know I don't have to worry about that though.

This last week has been the best! we have set 9 baptismal dates! Most of them are really solid too. Some may have to be pushed back later on but most will get baptised. 

I am very excited for one family!! They should be getting married and baptized on December 6th! I really hope I will be here for that! They are great! They have two children who are not quite baptism age, but one day they will be right. The parents have been progressing greatly towards baptism.. they do family home evening more often than the average Mormon family they will be a great strength to the Ward!

Another person I am excited for. I believe I wrote about last week is a 13 year old boy. Extremely prepared!!! He has already read almost to the end of 1 Nephi and he understands it super well! This last Sunday he traveled to church but got lost along the way so he obviously didn't make it .... We will be traveling with him to church to show him the way next time.. which should be interesting because we don't even know how to travel to church! (taxis)

We met a guy this week and you should have heard him. We asked him about his view on religion and he went off on a huge tangent about the great apostasy. How none of the churches on the earth are true right now, and that he is waiting for God to call a prophet so the truth can be brought back! Needless to say we shared our message with him... He should be baptised in the coming months...

It has been a great week and I am excited to see the fruits coming up! Sorry, I didn't take any pictures this week... I have been slacking on that...I will carry my camera around this week.

Love,

Elder Schroeder

P.S. we may be moving into a new apartment... and that reminds me you will get some pictures of my current apartment next week! (where i have been living the past 6 months) and possibly pictures of the new apartment.

11/17/14

Sounds like exciting times back home!!

The week went by very fast in a slow way. Tuesday and Wednesday was occupied with meetings. We had MLC - Mission Leadership Conference and all of the Zone leaders in the whole mission were present. We also had to house a few missionaries, that was pretty fun. We got to house a missionary that I was around in St. Lucia. I don't know if you remember me telling you about Elder Larson. He is just about my favorite missionary in the whole mission, so that was fun!

This week we also had to coordinate the logistics of moving apartments. It is much more difficult to move apartments in Trinidad than in St. Lucia... I can only imagine the logistical nightmare of moving houses... I look forward to that day... kinda. We should be moving over the space of tuesday-wednesday. Our new apartment is very nice... And when I say very, I mean very very nice. You guys will get pictures of the move next week. Too bad, I won't be able to benefit from it for to long (probably)

With a combination of those two things this week was a pretty slow teaching week. I do have to say that we did experience one of the greatest miracles of my mission this week! If you can remember a couple weeks ago I spoke of The 13 year old boy, well we went to teach him on Thursday and his parents said that we can no longer teach him... sad day:(  That was a bit depressing and Elder Beck and I expected he would be baptized.  A couple days we really wanted to teach and prepare someone for baptism in November, later we took out a Priest age young man to go teaching and as we were speaking to him we got on the topic of a girl who recently started showing up at church with a member family. I had met her a year and a half ago when I was first in Port of Spain and she used to attend regularly so I thought to myself that she was a member. Elder Beck however asked if she was baptized... Nope was the response. When we heard that you should have seen the look on our faces haha!! We both just looked at each other in awe. With a little more investigation we found out that she has never even been taught by the missionaries! We went by her house that night had a great member lesson and she is going to be baptized on the 29 of November! She already knows everything is true and loves the church. Great stuff! 

That was the miracle for the week, that we found someone prepared for baptism.

Another great thing (not so missionary related) that happened this week is that we got to go to a five star restaurant again. The one owned by the Cofones. Idon't  know if you remember me telling you about that a long time ago. So that was nice! 3 course meal of Calamari appetizer, Some pasta (I don't remember the name) and HagenDaz Ice cream to finish it off. yes ma'am!

It was a great week, and another great one to come.

Love, 

Elder Schroeder