It's Birthday time!!

Please help us make our missionaries birthdays extra special!! They will be 20 on March 1st. 

Let's fill their mailboxes with cards and letters. I know there are many of you who read their blogs that don't know Connor and Kyle personally. They would be thrilled to get more mail and a birthday card or letter of encouragement from you too:)
Please send to:

Elder Connor Schroeder 
Philippines Manila Mission
PO Box 1997
Makati Central PO, Makati City
1200 Metro Manila
Philippines

Elder Kyle Schroeder
West Indies Mission
PO Bag 543
Valsayn, Trinidad
Trinidad and Tobago

Thank you so much!!

Perry and Robin

I got their packages off in the mail today:) I love mymissionaryshipping.com they get it there fast and I can track it the entire way.

Transfer week...

February 3, 2014

Yeah twenty years old a fifth of a century ... don't think too hard about that one... it amazing how fast time goes by... soon I will find myself another fifth of a century down the road. The rate at which I have gotten to this point seems incredible. Life really is short...

Anyway as for birthday package a couple pairs of socks would be nice the ones we got at Clark's with the lifetime guarantee are practically bulletproof and your feet never even start to smell with them. Gray and black would be the needed colors the socks I have now are beginning to look sad they will probably last another 4-5 months.

Now that the business is over! The work this week has really been trucking along. Sylvia is doing great! She is a great missionary! She continues to share the gospel with all those around her! In addition to her we have found 13 new investigators this week. In the past couple months I have really noticed the difference between being obedient and consecrating your life to the Lord. The Law of consecration is real and the members of this church live that law in degree. Missionaries are really a great example of that. However distracted a twenty year old can get most really do sacrifice all of their time talents and energy to serving the Lord. (at least in this mission)

I really have been blessed to serve around the elect the missionaries here are so great! They all try so hard to do what is right and be obedient. I also feel our mission president is the best of the best, I am sure almost every missionary feels that way but I feel he is!

To tell you a little about what happened this week. We met a man with one leg this week named "P" and he seems like a great guy! You should have seen the way his eyes lit up as we shared with him the Joseph Smith story! We get to teach him again tonight for the second time. He doesn't live that far from the church so I hope he is willing to crutch the short distance to church.

We also met a lady named "C" who in fact was contacted by the missionaries north of us about a week ago. She seemed very excited to meet with the missionaries but when they tried to call her back there was some problem with her phone so she couldn't answer. She was sad that it didn't work out but a miracle happened and we sowed up at her doorstep! It is amazing that the Lord led us to her  great!!!

Well, I love you guys and I look forward to hearing from you next week. Have a great week and feel better mother or as Christ would say "Woman"

Elder Schroeder

February 10, 2014

Sounds like you guys are having a great time there! any rain yet?Exciting to hear about the bug I can't wait to see pictures! and drive it :)

It is transfer week and I am transferring. I am flying back to Trinidad on Wednesday and I will be the district leader in a place called Valencia... it is a relatively new area with 2 members and we will be holding church in our apartment again. Group leader, district leader, new area ready for the challenge! It seems as though I have been chosen to tread the hard path on my mission. I will have gone to three new areas now. New areas can be difficult, anyway I love it! Nothing less than a challenge would be fun. Oh yes, my companions name is Elder Brown never met him.

My address will just be the same one I had in Trinidad previously I believe it is PO bag 543 Valsayn Trinidad.

It is sad to leave all the places I have served in so far. I have loved this one the best.  It is sad to leave Sylvia but she is in good hands, Elder Pierson will do great! His new companion is Elder Smith who just came back from he States cause he blew his knee out a couple months into his mission.

Hopefully he does good with all of the walking in this area.

Well this week went very well! We taught a large amount of very good lessons to a lot of people. I am specifically excited for a lady we have been teaching, she is brilliant! She has picked up the Book of Mormon (on her own really) and read starting at the book of Alma all the way through chapter 5! She understands very well. Only problem is the law of chastity .... :(  well if she really wants it, she will change.

Another person I am particularly excited about is a lady named "C".  She basically lives up the staircase of doom. We have to walk up a million stairs to get to her house. Regardless she is awesome, we are helping her learn to use the bible better and we are also basically teaching her everything from the beginning. Just as Ammon taught king Lamoni we literally did start at the beginning, her understanding is limited but she has great faith and keeps her commitments! That is the most important thing! She will continue to progress if she keeps it up. Elder Pierson has got his work cut out for him. 

Ahh! I have one very interesting story for you guys... healed somebody this week! His name is "B" I think I told you about him a couple weeks ago. HE is a great guy and basically he hangs on every principle we teach him. Well about two-three weeks ago he fell sick.. really sick... he basically couldn't do anything he was in so much pain. He explained it as though it felt like there was something inside eating his stomach. So because he was so sick we didn't have a lesson with him for awhile, and then one day we stopped by and he was outside laying on a bench, we had a lesson with him (still sick) in the middle of the lesson (the plan of salvation) we talked a little about faith and as we were talking about him I felt the spirit tell me to give him a blessing and declare that he would be healed according to his faith in the name of Jesus Christ. So I did just that (this all happened on Wednesday) and we went back on Friday and he said his pain is totally gone. He woke up Thursday morning with marginal pain. Pretty cool!

Amidst all of this I have been studying a bit about when Christ healed people on many occasions he forgave the man/woman their sins first and then pronounced them free of their physical ailments. On a couple occasions he stated go and sin no more lest a worse fate will befall you -paraphrased, I hope he repents ("B" that is) I fear if not, a worse fate will overcome him.

Quite a great week .. sad to go but I must ... Christ actually taught some very interesting parables about how his servants will be required to move from field to field when they are called in their time of labor. He truly was and is a master teacher.

Love you guys so much and have a great week! Good luck with your surgery consultation.

Elder Schroeder

                                                               dock at pigeon point st. Lucia 

                                                               big cannon on pigeon point

                                     

Loving the work!

Jan. 13, 2014
This week has been super great! Elder Pierson and I have been more busy than ever!!

This week has been filled with loads of appointments and finding. We found 2 brand new less active families this week. The "L" family and the "B" Family all we had was opaque directions on where they live - at best. We found them and made great friends with them, we hope to see some great success getting them back to church.

Also with Sylvia, she has given us so many referrals and we can barely even keep up with her. She has referred us to family, friends, associates, people she met on the street and everything. It is seriously impressive, and now that she has the gift of the Holy Ghost she is learning more than ever! she is extremely smart! it is very exciting to see a recent convert just begin to blossom. She is making great friends with people in church it is a joyous time.

Here is a miracle story for the week. We got a contact during that huge storm on Christmas eve (we pushed their car out of 2 1/2 feet of water).  We hadn't called her yet, so we were having a slow couple hours on Tuesday so we decided to make some phone calls.  When we called there was about 1 minute of strait up elation! She was so happy we called! She actually was thinking about us that very day and how much she wanted to visit the church! ... She came to church on Sunday and immediately made friends with the Relief Society president because of a sewing project that will be happening. We hope to be able to visit her home this week and teach her.

President Mehr has got some new things for us to memorize, the Articles of Faith and another chapter of the Book of Mormon. If you haven't been keeping track of all this here is the list so far.

Articles of Faith, D&C 121: 34-46, D&C 31: 3-7, D&C 4, Ether 6: 3-12, 3 Nephi 12, Alma 33

quite a bit......wow! The last three are the ones I was able to choose, the others are what everyone has to memorize. You guys should do it too ;)
Just having a good time here in St. Lucia! Teaching and preaching the Gospel.

Love,
Elder Schroeder

and I have seen 101 cruise ships


Jan 20, 2014
Hi!
That sounds like a miserable weekend for Mom. I'm glad she is feeling a little better now!

About memorizing the scriptures, Heavenly Father has definitely given me a gift for memorizing (at least individual scriptures) multiple verses are hard. But that is going great! I have also decided to memorize Mosiah 14 among the list.

The work here is going great! We have about half a million of people to teach right now:) We had to during our weekly planing write them down on a piece of notebook paper cause we couldn't keep track of them all in our planners. Right now we are having a hard time getting people to act. As always... we invite and invite and invite but most of them just never act,  but hey sooner or later somebody will.

Sylvia is doing great right now. The branch president interviewed her on Sunday and called her to be the institute teacher! It is amazing! She is super excited! She has many visions and things and I am absolutely convinced that they are from God - you should hear them, she has some of the greatest faith I have ever seen in my life. The reason I say that is because about a month and a half into teaching her she said she was praying and she felt inspired that she was going to be a teacher soon. Well, now that is true! She is very ready! I am glad the branch has taken that step of faith to call her. Now she has everything she needs! A friend, a responsibility, and to be nourished by the good word of God. She also has become such a great missionary!

We just recently met two new people "C" and "B" we were only able to have a short 10-15 minute lesson with both of them (separately) but these are two extremely prepared people! They expressed to us just how confused they are by all that is out there and that they want to join a church that is true. "B" especially! She expressed that there should just be one church that is right for everyone! We read with her about Joseph Smith and the spirit was so strong, I am positive it bore witness to her. We get to meet with them both again on Wednesday!

It has been a great week full of much of the Spirit. I have also been doing a much better job at working out I think I am almost back in shape! Great time! Loving the work!

Love
Elder Schroeder

Jan 27, 2014
Sounds like you guys are doing great! Minus the arm, that really is too bad I hope it gets fixed too. If you were here you could just get some Panadol with codeine at your local shop... haha :/

My razors are holding up great they work really good, I am extremely thankful for them! As for a birthday gift there really isn't anything I need. I might just go on Deseret and buy myself the Articles of Faith by James E. Talmage.  I am going to do that after transfer calls though in case I get sent somewhere else. Calls are not this Saturday but next Friday-Saturday so you might want to hold off on a package until then. Truthfully though if you want to get me the best birthday gift ever you could just put money in my account to help with the ring fund. haha... but seriously

I wasn't even trying to get a rise out of you ... but it did that was fun!
It's very interesting you say that you were praying for your husband for a long time before. I have been doing the same (but for the wife) and I feel she is doing the same. Weird topic ... haha

I have one request for my birthday. I would like you to take some quality pictures from home and put them on my drop box... things like the pictures I have drawn (Harrison Ford, the barrel of the wave, the carnation etc...) I always want to show my companions but I don't have any pictures.

Anyway to the good stuff now the work this week has been busier than ever. We taught 34 lessons this week! I think I have broken my record, although it is not about number but that is how in part we measure our effectiveness. We had a pretty great week! Just working with all the new people we met last week. We have 5 baptismal dates right now, one for the 15 of February and one for the 22nd.

A family I am specifically excited for is the family of "E" she has a son who is about 23 and a daughter who's about 20. The way we met this family was really a great miracle. We were at Sister Marius' house for lunch (which there was none) and we sang a song for her. Just as we were about to start the lesson she stopped us and said "just now" she picked up the phone and called her neighbors over. When her neighbors came in she introduced us and then bore an extremely powerful testimony about how she joined the church and the truth of what we are here to teach. After that we had their utmost attention! We have spoken to her neighbors a number of times but they never appeared very interested. We taught them the restoration and since then we have taught them 3 times, they are tremendously excited to come to church (She had to travel to Martinique for two weeks so they are going to come when she gets back) anyway I am excited for them. It really is a great testimony to me of just how effective member work is. We never would have been able to impact their minds with the efficacy, we did with the aid of Sis Marius.

We also taught a man and his wife. He is one of those guys that just never listens to any religious people because of the great hypocrisy he has seen. In fact the moment we started talking his wife, he got up and walked down the street, but as he was walking down the street he felt a whisper tell him to go back. A spiritual experience in relation to us without ever having met us! As he came back he heard us talking that how one could find out the truth for themselves, the moment he heard this he knew we were different. He then came over to listen, we had a great spiritual experience with him and he now believes Joseph Smith is a prophet and everything. He has yet to pray about what we have said but he said he "knows the truth when he hears it" we are going to begin focusing on the Book of Mormon with him! It is great to see the many small miracles throughout the day!

Anyway those are a few stories for the week. I love you guys and hope you have a great week. Hope you feel better mom and I wish you luck with learning the new software Dad.

Love,
Elder Schroeder

I though I would share this link with you. We sent both our boys with a 2 year supply of razors to last their entire mission. Great quality and really good prices. http://dorcousa.refr.cc/XH5VJFM

Robin

Baptism!!

The Baptism worked out great! The flight came on time! It really was a miracle! We arrived in St. Lucia at 4:09 and since all the missionaries are legal immigrants there were no hangups at immigration (that has been a relatively new initiative of the mission) We ran to the church, got changed picked up the investigator and got at the beach at 5:15! Right on time!! We had a great baptism and "S" bore a great testimony about the workings of the Lord in her life. She said, " when I came to Church the first time, I felt like I had come home" that really is a testimony to me that the Lord truly is preparing people for the gospel. 

It is pretty funny now.. we have two recent converts that basically teach the gospel principles class. The first being "T" and the latter being "S". It is amazing how much they have come to know in just the short period of time they have been taught. Now we need to teach them both about eternal marriage and get them married in the temple!

Elder Pierson and I have a lot of work ahead of us... in this transfer. We hope to help her daughter and brother and friends. They each have a new years resolution to change their lives - towards God. One of them is a little more specific than that... hear this, his resolution is to get married and be baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!

All of this because of "S"! She is a great missionary! Oh yeah there is one more her sister and her husband, they are great people! It really is a testimony builder to me that those you associate with really do make who you are. Almost every night she gathers a group of people together in her little shop and talks about Jesus Christ and his Gospel. She is doing house meetings without us even telling her to. It is really quite fun because the group of people together come up with the greatest questions that they don't know the answers to, and then we are there to answer them. So it has turned out that this large group of people really look to us (two white missionaries) for guidance and wisdom, it is great! The missionary work is doing great here!

And about that miracle in the mail sounds to be a more Merry Christmas than you could have hoped for. That just doesn't happen on its own. That is a miracle! Really is quite picturesque .. you probably could make a movie about that. It nearly brought tears to my eyes reading that story. Just don't forget to thank the Lord and thank Him a lot, I am sure you have already!

Love you both have a great week!

Love, Elder Schroeder

Zone Conference in St. Vincent

 view out of the senior couples apartment

The Christmas Flood

December 24, 2013

I will Skype and can do 11am Christmas day (my time) very easily. I am only allowed 45 minutes but that is more than enough time. I can't believe I have been out for over 8 months! It is going to be fun to talk to you!!

I am going to see what I can do to get it approved for me to speak to Connor.  I know he is going to start at 10:30 pm my time but I will talk to the mission president to see what I can do. So maybe I will surprise you and show up while you are talking to Connor Christmas Eve.

  
Just to give a little information about the week, I know I will get to talk to you guys soon but never the less.

We have a baptism coming up on January the 4th! and if I am not transferred I will get to be there. The only problem is that Zone conference will be in St. Vincent so I will be in St. Vincent from January 2-4th getting back around 4:30 on the 4th. I think it will all work out though. She got an answer to her prayer that she should be baptized on that day so the Lord will make it possible. She also chose me to baptize her so I hope I will be here to do that.

We have been seeing a lot of miracles here in Castries the numbers we are putting out wouldn't show any difference in our missionary work but we have been having loads of miracles. I am super excited for the future missionaries here, they have a lot of great people to work with! I hope I get to stay and see more of them progress towards baptism.

This week has been a great week and my mattress has finally broken in enough so now I am sleeping like a baby. (brand new mattresses here are stiffer than a board) once they break in though they are the best! 

Ahh.. we had a branch Christmas party this week and I have got some fun quotes for you guys.
"I'm sorry we don't usually start late" circa 8:00pm - supposed start time 7:00pm

"We asked Brother Felix to be Santa Claus but he couldn't make it so you are stuck with me" - Brother Marquis (in front of all the children)

It was a fun activity!

Well, I have got to go now I will talk to you tomorrow (or tonight) love you all!
Elder Schroeder


We had a wonderful Skype session with Elder Schroeder Christmas Eve for just a few minutes when he was trying to surprise his brother calling us from the Philippines. It was so nice that President Mehr approved such a late evening call 10:30pm Christmas eve when he thought Connor would be Skyping us so he could talk to his twin brother. The problem was that Connor was calling 1 hour and 45 min later @12:15pm. Which was pushing it to 12:15 am for Kyle so it didn't work out this time around. We will try again on Mother's day! Lots of family and friends were here  when the call came in, so he got to see many people who love and care about him.   FYI- The missionaries live in an apartment below the Church and they use the computers at the church so it was convenient to Skype at such a late hour when they are supposed to be home per mission rules. It was home:) The locals refer to them as the pastors that live below the church. haha... this is not very common.

We had 5 different locations on at the same time at one point during the call.

Technology is GREAT!!! 

December 30, 2013

Sounds like you guys have had a pretty fun week!

I am staying here is St. Lucia another transfer that will make it 6 months in St. Lucia crazy! We are going to St. Vincent for Zone conference on Thursday and will be back on Saturday then we will have a baptism! exciting! Her name is "S" and she is amazing, she understands the gospel so clearly and is so excited to get baptized. I am excited for her!

As you guys know this week was a little bit crazy with the Christmas storm and everything. (Google St Lucia Christmas Storm) The storm did however keep all the crazy parties form happening which was good. I heard a great quote form one of the members here at church on Sunday. To give you a little background for this quote: everyone here (the locals) after the storm has been saying that God sent the storm to warn us and to punish the people here for their wickedness. Sister Marquis turned it the other way, she said "maybe the Lord this season sent the storm to teach us what Christmas is really about, helping others" I just think of the great destruction that occurred and how many people were affected by the storm. The people here truly did have to reach out and help others; that is what Christmas is all about anyway. More miracles happened from the occurrence of the storm than would have ever happened without. What prompted her to say that is actually of some interest, she said that she learned that because she heard of four missionaries out in their shirts and ties on Christmas eve pushing cars out of the water and helping people. One of those missionaries was me... it is incredible to know that I was a tool in the hand of the Lord to teach, not by what I say but what I do.

President Mehr has asked that we all memorize one chapter from the Book of Mormon. Yet again... a ton of memorizing. I chose 3 Nephi 12 I really just love the teachings that come directly from Jesus Christ, you could write a book about any one principle Jesus Christ taught. I am excited to know those teachings by heart, great power comes from memorization. The reason President Mehr wants us to memorize such long scriptures is to strengthen us, he wants us to do things that are hard for us and to - in the future, be able to draw form the experiences we have had. That is what fasting does, memorizing scriptures, repenting all of these things are common in the fact that they strengthen us.

This week has truly been a great week, Elder Pierson and I are having more success than ever we really are teaching the people what they need, not singularly but in unity. It is amazing to see the power evident in two united missionaries. Elder Pierson is a great missionary and I am excited to serve with him for another transfer.

A shout out to all those who put up with me in my young age. I love you all and thank you for your diligence, you each truly were great tools in helping me become who I am. If you look back on the times you may remember the frustration but just know that I remember the great spirit and love I felt form each of you. Your example of unequivocal love taught me more than anything else. I am thankful for all you each have done for me.

Love,
Elder Schroeder

They had 4 missionaries who live somewhere else on the island and couldn't get back to their apartment because the storm came fast and hard with lots of flooding. Many people were stranded and couldn't get home. They had 8 Elders in the Apartment at the church for Christmas eve.

Great week!!

December 16, 2013

Bishop Dye asked  Kyle to write a paragraph or two to share his testimony of Christ for our Christmas church service today. This is what he wrote: 

Firstly, to the ward- Hello to Everyone!

Everything in this world is evidence that there is in fact a God, and every word that has reached us from him, points to the fact that there was to be and is a messiah or savior. That savior is Jesus the Christ or by other names Jehovah, Yahweh, that great I am, and the son of man it is the same. I know that this man and all the titles he is spoken of is a witness of who he truly is. He is the Savior of the world chosen by the father to be a sacrifice for the sins of the world. I know he came to the world not to destroy the law but to fulfill it in every wit and that through him the sting of death is swallowed up.

I am a personal witness that the power found within Jesus Christ is real. I know that through him we each can be changed, wrought upon by the power of the Holy Ghost and that we can become the sons of God through him. As we exert all effort to follow the commandments, even though we are not perfect, we in the end can become clean through the blood of Jesus Christ.
Elder Schroeder

This week has been great!
Baptism on Sunday morning I got to be a witness. Where the water was waist deep we couldn't stand cause the ground was covered in basketball sized rocks. We had to walk out to where there was sand, at one point I was up to my neck in water. It was fun!

We have had quite a good amount of success this week we had "S" and his daughter come to church, we have been working with them for almost two months now and I think they will come every week now. They really enjoyed church! We also got an investigator named "B" to come to church he hasn't come to church in over a month so that was good, he actually brought all his kids and they loved primary! I hope we can get him to come each week now.

We also had a very successful youth activity on Saturday, we played basketball with the youth. It was really sad because we weren't very good but it was fun none the less. That reminds me something interesting happened this week.  President Mehr recently authorized the branches to use missionaries to help with auxiliaries so the Branch President took that as "hey I can call a missionary to an auxiliary" so I am now the young mens president.  I know weird... it's pretty good though because we have a group of about 5 investigators that are all around 15 and they are great! So now I actually have authority to organize activities for all of them, so that will be fun! We still have to check with President Mehr to see if that's alright but for now I am the Young Mens Pres.

This week has been a fun week with a lot of really good spiritual lessons. I have been focusing recently at improving my knowledge of the Book of Mormon. The work here in Castries is really picking up. I hope I get to stay here next transfer, we have got a lot of very good investigators! I am loving the work!

Love,
Elder Schroeder

The pumpkin pie he made from
scratch starting with a fresh pumpkin.

yeah we barbecue                                                                 

with Sister Gubler in Soufriere

Eternal Perspective and Dengue Fever

Dec 1, 2013
I just got your Christmas card! I love you guys thank you so much for that!

I also just heard about Great Grandma it really is a great loss in our family, she was and is one of the progenitors of all of us. My Mom told me that she was a faithful follower of both Connor's and my blog, I had no idea, and I'm glad you forwarded my emails to her. It really makes me think about how much she really cares for all of us in her family, I know that she loved us and that she still loves us. To have that knowledge is the greatest gift God can give us, knowledge truly is power. Imagine what it  would be like, to not have the knowledge you each have of the plan of salvation. I am glad you do, as I am glad that I do! What would life be like without eternal perspective?

I know I can't really offer any help but I do love both of you! Thank you so much for all you have done for me and my family, it really is likely more than I can comprehend. I can tell you what has helped me through my small trials is the scriptures, above all else. Contained therein is the WORD OF GOD I know that they are true and it truly is sharper than a two edged sword. Just as it has fierce power to judge and conquer, it has power to comfort. As you study the scriptures your faith will grow (Romans 10:17) and with that your knowledge of the plan of salvation will grow! When your knowledge becomes sure - when anyone's knowledge becomes sure, we gain faith and hope for a greater world.

You got a missionary letter haha.. but I do know that the things I said are true and that the plan of salvation can bless both you and your sisters. Grandma and Grandpa Evans are together again.

Love you grandma and grandpa and I am thinking about you guys especially you grandma (no offense grandpa) have a great week and don't forget to "doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith"

Love,
Elder Schroeder

Here is a link to the Plan of Salvation. God's Plan For Your Life & Happiness | Mormon.org
The above email was to his Grandparents after his Great Grandma Evans passed away Nov. 30th, 2013. In addition, the letter below was sent also. 

Hi!
I sent an email to Grandma and a Grandpa now I don't have much time. Elder Pierson is really becoming a great teacher now, it's cool to see your trainee progress. We had a great Thanksgiving President Mehr actually paid for a Thanksgiving meal for every missionary in the mission. We had a turkey and the whole shabang it was super good. the pumpkin pie turned out great ! In spite of the fact you cant get any allspice here it still tasted like super good pumpkin pie though. I made two pumpkin pies and a strawberry pie .. I took pictures but I don't have my camera today.

Thanksgiving was not the highlight of the week though. We did it on Tuesday cause that's when it worked out best and then we went out proselyting around 6:00 that night I became a zombie! I felt like the walking dead, it was horrible! We kept going though, I thought it was just cause I ate a lot. When I got home that night and just fell on my bed and went to sleep. I then proceeded to sleep for about 3 days, I had dengue, a very mild case though. Dengue feels super weird, your skin is super sensitive, your not hungry, hot flashes and chills ugh and tired like there is no tomorrow. I still don't quite have my appetite back but I feel better other than that. That was the highlight of the week.

Yesterday President Mehr came to the island to set apart a new branch president and he decided to go out teaching with us. Oh goodness, President Mehr  did most of the teaching. It is awesome to hear him teach. We had quite a few lesson this week which was great! Something funny also happened in Priesthood,  President Mehr volunteered me to teach the plan of salvation to the priesthood quorum "alright i can do that"  I got up and start teaching by drawing on the board,  it was interesting. He had lots to add and I feel he was was instructing us missionaries more than anything else. ... fun week!  Sorry I have got to go.  I wish I could email more but I spent all my time writing to grandma.  I don't have much more to say about this week cause I was sick for most of it. I will send pictures next week.

Love, Elder Schroeder
Also, I will be sure to get some of those leaves and also before you plant them you are supposed to press them in a book until roots start coming out of the leaf and then you plant it. and you will probably have to water it twice a day ... I had to water it every day down here when i planted one here.