Good stuff!! Fun stuff!! Experience of a Lifetime...

4/28/14
Hi!

I know Sid is definitely the perfect material to be a teacher. I am excited for her! It is quite the adventure I am sure. That really is a huge responsibility she holds in her hands teaching the future generation. If she fails... uhh ohh... I know she won't though.

This week really has been a great week. Elder Brown and I have met a good amount of very prepared people! The first being "B" .. we brought a member out teaching with us, he is about 30 and it turns out that he and the woman we went to see knew each other when they were little kids ... they were neighbors and played with each other and everything! Perfect fellow-shipper! Anyway we continued teaching her about the Book of Mormon (we taught the restoration the time before) and she is very serious about it. She is already very active in another faith but she said that she will follow, if she finds that what we teach is true. Quite the faith I have to say! She said, "this is my salvation,  I must find out if this is true" that's the best!

Another person we met is from Jamaica and wow this blew me out of the water; when we brought up the Book of Mormon she said, "I have always wondered, if God spoke to the people in the East, then why don't we have a record of him speaking to the people in the West?" What great joy it brings to know that Elder Brown and I were ready and willing to declare these great truths to our sister! and cause her to rejoice! Good stuff!

Here is one interesting story, last night Elder Brown and I went to an investigators house and they were having a big block party. A Caribbean block party... needless to say there was a lot of alcohol involved .. but everyone here loves ministers so we walk to our investigator and he invites us to stay for food.  Free food! Of course we are staying. We decide though since the food is not ready, to leave and come back. We left then came back and a super drunk guy nicknamed "C" hooked us up with the food. Two ministers just sitting in the middle of a bunch of drunk people that absolutely love us, it was strange, but funny.

Two other people that were just super prepared for us "S" and "K"... they are awesome! We are actually helping "K" do a fundraiser for her child he has got a heart problem where his heart keeps enlarging, eventually it will basically blow up because the walls of his heart can't keep up with the expansion and they get too thin. I can't remember what the name is .. but we are helping her raise money for the flight up to the states.

This week has been pretty good. We have been making some good efforts at reaching out to the members here as well, so we are excited to see the fruits of our labors.

Love you guys so much have a great week!
Elder Schroeder



5/5/14
First and foremost above all things I am super excited for Sid! That is very exciting I hope she handles pregnancy well. I am also excited that I get to be there to see his early life! That's the best! It is strange how much growth in family, makes us happy, I guess it is just inside all of us! We love life!

Now for transfer calls... drum roll please! I am going nowhere! I am enthralled to be here yet again, I love Valencia! Elder Brown however is leaving :( sad day .. he is going to Guyana. My new companion will be Elder Fiame. If you go back on the pictures of us zip lining in St. Lucia, he is the only Polynesian in the pictures. That is who I will be serving with. He is also from California, I think San Jose if I remember correctly. So that change will be fun.

Also, getting a license here doesn't really mean much of anything for transfers in the mission, we just need to get them to drive while we are here. I personally think I will probably be here the rest of my mission though. It seems to work like that. but hey who knows. I am super happy with that though I love Trinidad!!  Not a whole lot of sites to see but the people are the best! I guess the people are the best everywhere though huh??

Oh, I just remembered... I forgot to tell you last p-day we had a zone activity where the entire zone went turtle watching. The beach we went to is Grande Riviere and apparently it is the most concentrated leather back turtle nesting site in the entire world. These turtles are ridiculous! They are huge!!!! I even kissed one! yeah beat that Connor! I kissed an animal that perhaps could go extinct in our lifetime. I hope not... they are mighty cool.
My little nerdy insides were drooling when I heard we got to go see them. We got back from seeing them at 2 in the morning ... and yes we were expected to proselyte just like regular that day.. fun stuff!! We were all super tired  but definitely the experience of a lifetime. Sadly, I only have some poor pictures because flash photography is not allowed at this site. You guys could look up pictures though I am sure. We got to see them lay eggs and everything. Some people even ate some of the eggs that had been dug up... gross.

We finally had an investigator come to church!!!!! yay! His name is "D" he is the 15 year old son of the a great member family, their son has just not been baptized. We challenged him to set his own baptismal date so hopefully this week he will decide what day he wants to be baptized.

Other than that we did have one quite miraculous miracle this week (what else would it be) we went finding down this road 'pro pouche' rd. (oro pooch) and we taught a young man named "K" at the end of his lesson we asked if his mom would be interested in what we have to share. He very enthusiastically said, "yes!"  So we were pretty excited to come back and meet her. A couple days later, we went to see them and we met his mother, and guess what? She is a long lost member!!!! booyah! Her son was right, she would be interested in what we have to say, in fact she is so interested she is already a member! That was the best!  Now we have one more family to work with here in Valencia! Good stuff!

Well, I think that is it for the week! Still having a great time ... I realized this week that this mission  actually does come to an end and it is approaching quickly... I only have bout 11 months left ahhhhh! anyway...

Love all of you tons have a great week!
Elder Schroeder

Should be able to Skype you  for mothers day... About 6pm my time :)

This computer is acting funny I think it might have a virus, I will see if I can get on another computer really fast and send some pictures.

Zone conference

 April 14, 2014

Wow that is super weird (about Blake) getting married. I met Maddison on a couple occasions! Super weird..... anyway I am happy for them!

That sounds like a great opportunity for Connor! As soon as I heard about the FAFSA/scholarship papers I became slightly terrified! Just kidding, but it really is a little eye opener. terrifying prospect. (back to school next spring)

Zone conference was great this week!  It was focused on topics that I have been pondering a good amount about. One topic specifically was the law of consecration. My interview with president was great! He quizzed us all on our knowledge of the scriptures. We had to do a short role play with him, He gave us a topic and then we had to give a brief doctrinal statement, use a scripture, and leave a commitment. I got two super easy ones... He asked me to teach about the apostasy and then baptism. He said I have a good handle on things and that he hears good things about my teaching skills, so that is good. 

We got a few new solid investigators recently. The first goes by "A" He actually spent most of his life in the states,  he played basketball and football for a college in AZ and also boxed. He served in the Vietnam war (got shrapnel in his hip and head) and right now he is very sick, he thought he was basically dying and it has given him some great perspective. He just found out he is a Syliac (celiac)  I don't know if that is proper grammar and I am 99% sure I spelled that wrong. It's the disease were you can't process any gluten. So he is now on a new diet, hopefully he feels better soon. He is planning on being baptized May 17! We are excited for him.

I love you guys and hope you have a great week!

Love, 

Elder Schroeder

April 21, 2014

That's super cool to hear about  M. Russel Ballard, sounds like a great experience!

I hope you guys have fun in Idaho, and just curious how did connor manage to convince you to rebuild that bike? 

Sad to hear about Kim's little boy... it seems as though our two families are meant to bear one another's burdens.

As far as this week has gone. I recently have been pondering a good deal concerning the law of consecration and how that affects me. I have decided upon this - when we truly consecrate ourselves to the Lord it does not mean we give up worldly things for our Savior but that we subject our will to His. The doctrine behind the law of consecration is interesting. If you think about it -as we all came to earth, took upon ourselves a debt. A debt we knew that we could not repay, hence Christ became our creditor. What however does the Lord require on our part.... total and complete consecration. It is the only way back. Not consecration of our material goods but of our souls. We are his because he is our creditor, he can do whatsoever he pleases with us. If we do not consecrate our lives to him he has the right to make us suffer even as he suffered, and he has sworn that he will if, we do not repent. 

In relation to this I have realized that I have a great potential for good. A potential to lift everyone up. It is so easy to make degrading sarcastic comments just for a laugh or two but in the end it is just that .. sarcastic and degrading.... I am trying to flip the way I think around .. it is challenging but it's going well. It is hard to reverse your thought process. 

The work here is gong well...not as well as we would hope... we haven't had an investigator come to church for over a month. ugh it is hard but we are keeping our chins up and working hard. 

I am 2/3 of the way done with the teachings of the presidents of the church: Joseph Smith. Super good,  you should think about reading it. He truly was given a great gift to expound the simple doctrines of the gospel. I am going to try and send pictures, I hope it works.

I tried ... didn't work sorry :( 

I love you. Have a great week!

Elder Schroeder 

Love...

I did get to watch all sessions, L. Tom. Perry's talk rung out to me quite a bit where he spoke about who drives our team of horses. The Lord truly is the master conductor. I guess that's if you are an obedient horse or you could say if all of your passions are properly trained and bridled. I also enjoyed the talk about women and the priesthood it was interesting to hear him speak so frankly about it. That is one of the talks that will be referred to for many, many years to come as a source for much learning. April 2014 conference messages link

Before I go on, I need to see a picture of Madison, I also need Blake's email address!!!! Exciting!

My thoughts have really collected a bit this past week.  Elder Brown and I are still hard at work here. We still have a tremendous amount of Baptismal dates it is just so hard to get people to church. We do however have a great new family that should come next week and be well on the path to baptism. They all (especially the mother) have expressed a great desire to find a church to settle down into. After we taught them two times we called them to check up on them. You should have heard how excited they were to tell us that they read from the Book of Mormon. They basically exclaimed "we read what you asked us to, it was great, when you come back we will tell you all about it!!!" I am super excited for them!

Recently, I have been reading form the teachings of presidents of the church Joseph Smith and that book is incredible. Joseph Smith really was taught the doctrine of the gospel by angelic ministry. Powerful stuff. Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith

I also have been working on memorizing a many scripture references to points of doctrine. I will have to take a picture of the sheet I am using, its pretty good information!Elder Brown and I have finally been starting to work with members more in this area. We have finally found out how to work it out since our area is so far away from most of the members.

To Dad - Paul is also one of my favorites. He had one of the greatest if not the greatest missionary ministry among mortal men. He is a powerful teacher.  I quote him all the time!

A little update about me right now. Right now I am working on getting my Trinidad drivers license, fun stuff!!!! haha.. I stood in line for over an hour today. I think that was the longest process, I'll have to send a picture, when I get it. Of all the time I have been driving here you would not believe the amount of "close calls" we have had. When I say close calls I think of driving back home. If you passed someone on a surface street back home and there was oncoming traffic, people would call you nuts. Also, squeezing through a gap were you have less than three inches on each side of the car is a daily occurrence. I am glad I learned to drive in California! I could only imagine coming here as an Idaho farm kid. The car would never move anywhere, haha... being able to proficiently parallel park has helped a lot too. I have only fell into one of the ditches on the side of the road twice!(with the car) proud to say! haha!

What talks did you guys specifically enjoy? and also I need a picture of all of you guys together. I don't think I have anything else to say. Be strong and of good courage I love you guys loads! Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Schroeder



Tuesday April 1, 2014
The mission truly is full of magnificent ups and downs... right now is really hard.  I love you guys and I also love the people out here. That's really it.

I really am learning what it is like to have your heart constantly pour out to God. I mean I have done it before but not this intensely. I know that everything is perfectly orchestrated for our progression and this is -part of it all. I have learned so much the past couple days.

Firstly, I want to know how my Love for the people here can become as strong as my love for my brother. If that were so I would be so much the better tool in my Lord's hands. Oh, I love Connor and I know that together we are unstoppable (that was actually a bit of revelation I received at one point of my life) Connor and I were together during the war in heaven and together we withstood ALL the fiery darts of the adversary (I mean all). We had each others back and we came to the Earth together because separate we would fail. We do however have each other and we will succeed.

Just hard at work here with Elder Brown. Loving the work!

I send my love!
Elder Schroeder

P.S. We did have a p-day switch cause it was a holiday yesterday (some spiritual baptist holiday) so all the email shops were closed.

Awesome week...

Hi Everyone,

... we went zip lining again! haha

                                                                  Zip lining with the Zone 


Anyway this week was awesome Elder Brown and myself had 21 new investigators! The Lord truly is pouring out his blessings upon this area. This work really is great! I have just been pondering something recently .. Everyone at church and all around says that the reason they obey the commandments basically revolve around two things. That is so they don't get punished and so they can receive blessings. I have just been thinking to myself about what horrible reasons those are. They are mainly our driving motive though.... I just think we should be obedient because we love our Heavenly Father and all our brothers and sisters ... Easier said than done ...

I love this work and I believe I will give up everything for it.  I hope that conviction grows as I get older.

About the work! Elder Brown and I have been super busy this week. Among all of this the area seventy and President Mehr have given us an initiative, we are to visit every single youth and YSA in the Ward by March 22 and have a report on each and every one of them turned in by that date. And guess what I was the Lucky one chosen to write the report for the Sangre Grande ward! whoohoo! I actually am really excited. (don't worry I have enlisted the aid of my companion)

Other than that we should have some baptisms coming up on Saturday! Three possibly, I sure hope they feel prepared by then. They are doing a great job, they have been eating up the lessons! and two of them have quit smoking.  If they can but endure they will be baptized Saturday so pray for them and you receive some pictures on Monday of Baptisms!

After this baptism we hope to have one about every week, we have been working super hard at just getting out and getting as many people as we can progressing towards baptism! I sure hope we can do so. I guess you will find out just now huh?

I am super excited to be here in Valencia for a while, it is a great area and I hope Elder Brown gets to stay here with me! We are best buds and we get work done! I feel we both have great desires for the work here and we know that we aren't the best but we just trust the Lord with the rest.

Well, I have a ton to write this week just not enough time to write. Sorry we had a kind of crazy p-day today, we are crunched for time.

Love,
Elder Schroeder

The Lord schools me everyday...

Feb. 17, 2014

It is almost carnival time here. However my area is way out in the bush so there probably won't be any parties and we have a car anyway so we wont be on the streets. And yes,  I said we have a car it is a brand new 2013 Chevy Cruze! booyah! We get to go off-roading in it all the time because there is only one main road in my area really,  and all the rest are dirt.

Elder Brown is awesome he is about 5'9" and he weighs about 215 .. he is a big boy! His biceps are about the size of my thigh, probably a little bigger, but its alright cause my biceps are the size of his thigh... yeah.... right... haha.. We get along great! We both love to work out so we have some great workouts in the mornings. He is Polynesian and he is from Utah. We work well together... he was trained by a missionary named Elder Hatch I am pretty sure I told you about Elder Hatch earlier on. We got along great on the few trade offs we went on (teaching wise) so we can teach great together. I don't know if that made any sense...

Anyway this week has just been quite a bit of learning my way around and getting to know the members and investigators and thing (pronounced ting) they say that a lot here in the bush. Oh yes my area is definitely in the bush ... lots and lots of bush! It is sweet, I love it!

We have a great member named "W" who goes out with us all the time, he was baptized just recently and he is just getting a grip on teaching. It is fun to get to go teaching with members more!  I am sure I will be doing that a lot more having a car and all.

Among all the people we have been teaching there are two that really stick out to me the first is "R" He looks like he was once a rasta man but has since let that alone. We just started teaching him and we set a baptismal date for the 8th of March right off the bat. He is growing spiritually! Which is exciting to see! I just hope he continues to grow! The latter is actually a family, their surname is "P", There are 4 in the family and their friend "C" is also being taught. If they can make it to church the next couple Sundays they will be ready! They are a very bright family, I have a lot of hope for them!

I am excited for this transfer with Elder Brown! He is a great missionary we are going to have a lot of success together! Sorry for the short email this week the internet here is slow. I will just have to adjust, I should be able to write more next week.

booyah! and no I did not put that dent in it... never would I ever! .. and yeah it does go really fast ;)
Love,
Elder Schroeder


Feb 23, 2014
Haha...did it work? I am sure you are nervous enough just with me driving in the craziest place on earth ;) I am real used to driving on the left side of the road now. It's going to be weird when I come back home! As for who drives the car I am the one who drives all the time.

Elder Brown has been out 6 months about. He is a great missionary! Definitely knows what he is doing. He also is super focused its been the most spiritual couple weeks of my mission so far with him!

As for how carnival works down here, the whole weekend this coming week is going to be pretty intense as far as I hear. We are commanded to be inside all day Monday and Tuesday next week. That means I will be emailing on Wednesday next week. We also have been counseled by the members in our area to get inside before dark on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Apparently, there are obscene amounts of drunk drivers and ting out there. (yes i said ting - its a filler word used here) so President Mehr has basically left it up to us to decide if we should stay out or not.

To Dad....Great counsel. Thank you!

This week has been great! As before mentioned the past couple weeks have probably been the most spiritual couple weeks on my mission. Elder Brown and I are doing great keeping in tune with the spirit. We have 12 people with baptismal dates right now and ever growing! The Lord has truly blessed the people here in Valencia! I hope and have faith that he will continue to consecrate our work as we consecrate our lives to him. It's interesting how that works.

I am especially excited for a couple families, the first being a less active member in an area called Cumoto (komoto) which is a little way off the beaten path. Truthfully he has little support from the members in the ward.. very few know him. However we have made a strong effort recently to get over to his home at least twice a week. We have seen him -from the beginning, come out of obscurity, I hope it will continue! Just because we reached out and showed him a little friendly love, I hope he comes back to church and forms some new friendships! So his support will always be there.

Another man that I think fondly of is "F" we met him in an attempt to teach his daughter actually, and perchance we happened upon him.  From the start he seemed an austere man, kind of closed off from the world, that I accredit to his condition. He had a stroke and presently has cataracts- one severe in his right eye and less so in the other. We are making a bold attempt at getting him to the beach! While we were teaching he explained to us that he used to love going to the beach or I should say loves going to the beach to go fishing. He doesn't have much support so as he was explaining this to us I simply thought to myself, "if I was his age and could not get out or do anything, especially the things that I love... I would be miserable!!!" My bowels were moved with compassion (you may remember that from the Savior himself) and I wanted more than anything to get this man to the beach! To do what he loves!

Instantly, I realized that this is what true missionary work is! I knew that before but it hit me with stark contrast this time around. As I considered this instance further, I have come to understand to a greater degree how much mercy the Lord wants to extend to us. He understands us perfectly and desires to take away our afflictions. Previously this thought or concept had come upon me but this time it was profound!

One thing I have loved and continue to love on my mission is that the Lord schools me everyday! I have learned something new everyday, it is great!

Well,  that's it for this week. I love all of you!!!
Especially you MUM and POP
Love,
Elder Schroeder


March 5, 2014

Thank you for all the birthday cards and letters!! 

I did withdraw that money. I will take a picture next week with what I got... a set of real good hair clippers and a traditional cutlass with a leather sheath.

The wheels on the car look sweet! You have got yourself one sweet ride there, I can't wait to drive it ;) hehe

As far as how our carnival went, it was pretty fun actually.  We just stayed inside all day and actually our neighbor was so kind as to give us about a dozen or more coconuts! So we spent some good time chopping those open and drinking them. We even put some in the fridge and then drank them, it was the best! The first day didn't consist of much, we just stayed inside and talked and ate and studied things. The next day however was much more fun.. in nightly calls I found out that we were approved to go to an activity held at the church in Arima (about 20 minutes west of us) it was super fun! They had a bunch of games planned and we then had a huge water fight which was epic. That went from 10 am to 4 pm then we went home ate some brownies and watched one of the movies the church produced called The Testaments. It's a very popular movie among missionaries. That is pretty much what our carnival experience was like.

As for how my birthday went we actually got one of our investigators married on my birthday! It was awesome! We have a man in our ward named "Bro S" who does marriages in all of the east part of Trinidad. He is a fiery guy and we got to drive with him to the wedding. He was they first one to sing Happy Birthday to me, it was pretty hilarious! Anyway at the little wedding,  I got a slice of cake so that was my wedding/birthday cake haha. We did have a lot of brownies and ice cream during carnival though so no worries.

Anyway to the fun stuff! We have been super hard at work! We hit all of our goals this week which was great. We have so many people in our area that are interested in the gospel. Lots of promise. The only problem is getting them to church.  Our area is a pretty good distance from the church and it is a little more difficult than most areas to get travel into town for church..not impossible but difficult. I wish the people just understood the great importance of these things.. anyway...

We have a guy that we are teaching I am especially excited for... his father is a member and "D" hasn't been taking much interest in the gospel. Apparently the missionaries have been trying really hard for the last long time with him but to little avail. Recently though his interest has finally blossomed! He is very interested in everything now! He plans to be baptized. So he will probably be baptized a couple weeks from now! I am excited for him though... oh yeah he is 14 by the way.

Another couple people recently moved up to Valencia and the missionaries in Arima referred us to them. They have been investigating for some time but the missionaries there couldn't get them to set a baptismal date. The first lesson we had with them we set a date! They are awesome and they understand the principles of the gospel very, very well. They are even already married and they have referred us to their whole family!

Well, I think that is it for the week !
Love the both of you!
Elder Schroeder!


March 10, 2014
I got the Birthday package thank you so much!! I still haven't finished eating everything in it. I have found that I don't much like candy anymore, just occasionally. I am glad I like to eat healthy. I don't feel that that will ever be a problem in my life.

Anyway it is awesome to hear about that great opportunity for Casey I really hope he gets in! That would be awesome "Casey the air traffic controller" I could see that. He would need to get himself a sweet pair of nerd glasses though ;) just kidding

Sounds like Connor is having quite the time in the Philippines with the penguin and sea lion and such.  I hope your arm/shoulder does well in surgery.

This week was a sweet week! Elder Brown and I were all over the place ... I mean ALL over the place. We drove so much this week but it is all good. There are a few reasons why we were all over the place. Firstly, we had a conundrum with paying our apartment rent.  Usually the mission does electronic payment but our landlord is one of the few that does it a different way. In short half way through the week we had to drive to Valsayn 30-40 minutes away and pick up the check and then drive back to Sangre Grande about an hour away to deposit the check at his bank. After that we had to drive back to our area (about 20 minutes) so that was fun. All of the other driving we did that week was productive such as baptismal interviews.

About baptismal interviews. I have never had the spirit witness to me of another persons worthiness so strongly in my life. It really is incredible to see that the rights of the assignment are meted to you when you need them. We were able to attend the baptism of two people in our district this last Saturday. One of them was "M" She completed a part member family and made it an all member family! So that was nice. The latter was "S" he is a bachelor in his mid 20's and he also is great. I am excited for the both of them!

As far as how our teaching went this week I am especially excited for two people "T"and "D". They both plan on being baptized on Mar 22 and I firmly believe that they will be prepared for that day.  They both have come from pretty rough backgrounds but I can see the light within them waxing stronger everyday! It is amazing to see! oh yeah they are sisters by the way.

From Mar 22 on out we have a baptism planned for every weekend up until April 12. I hope we can help all those preparing reach the wonderful day of their baptisms. Overall we have 18 people with baptismal dates! Pretty exciting!

Another person I am excited about is "D" I believe I spoke about him a little last week His father is a member and he plans on being baptized Mar 29. If he receives a spiritual witness before then he will be baptized, he understands everything well. He needs to come to church and get and answer to his prayers. It is an exciting time for Valencia lets see if we can convert the whole area! haha. but seriously...
Thank you for sending the pictures by the way. Here are some for you:)
Love, Elder Schroeder

 little bit of birthday/wedding cake! 

 This mud came out of nowhere!

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