March 24, 2014

March 24, 2014

Hello everyone,

I'm glad to hear that your week was good and that you get to have spring break this week. Lucky ducks. :) (Sorry that doesn't include you dad). I'm glad to hear that your performance review went well at work and that Roger and Diana are going to be able to visit you guys in December. We must have been on the same brainwave this week because I was actually going to ask you about both of those things haha. WEIRD. I'm also really glad to hear that your talk went well mom. I can understand the nerves thing. I'm always nervous to give talks. It sounds like it went well though and that it was an interesting topic. I wish that I could have been there to hear it. I'm glad that you guys are going to go to IF to hang out. It sounds like it should be fun. My only question is...with all the respect I have...why are you guys going to the LEGO move hahaha?? I saw a poster for it and I was like it looks so lame. I would never have expected you guys to go. I hope that you guys like it though. Maybe it will be really great. I guess I can't judge a movie by it's poster.

Well this week was really good, especially yesterday. We had 100 people in our sacrament meeting!!! Granted, this is still really low considering that there are really like 500 people in the ward....butttt our first few weeks here there were only like 50-60 so we felt pretty great. Now that we have 4 missionaries in our ward we have been able to help reactivate several families of less actives. We also have like 5 investigators that are progressing really well towards baptism. They all were at church yesterday. Some of them are like the weirdest people that I have ever met, but their hearts are sincere. C. wasn't baptized this week because she didn't pass her interview, but she has another interview on Wednesday with the mission president. She should be baptized this Saturday. I'm pretty sure I'm getting transfered next Tuesday so it should be a good way to end my time in Cafetales. I'm not sure if what's going to happen this next transfer but it should be good. I will miss a lot of people though. Elder Patey and I also started to teach with a lot more unity this week so it will be a little bit sad to change. It should be a good experience though. If you want to you can pray for C., E., F., E., and A.. I would really appreciate it. Well that's about it. Take care. I love you all.

Elder Schow

St. Patrick's Day

March 17, 2014

Hello, hello, hello, sorry, I'm running out of ways to start letters. I'm glad to hear that you all are doing well. This letter is to reply to the letters of Maddie, Lauren, mom, dad etc. I need to write the grandparents. I'm glad that you got to see Mike and that his family is doing well. I'm also glad that all of the grandparents are doing well as well. I´ll keep praying that Cam can get his job. I don't want them to leave Poky but IF is very close so it's okay . I hope that Alicia Johnson enjoys her mission. I'm glad that the ward is doing well. Thank you for sharing your spiritual experiences too. I felt the spirit while reading them. Thanks for the tip about the stamps too. I will have to talk to a member. Maybe the member that we live with could help me out. Oh and I got your valentines. Thanks so much. I especially liked Lauren´s. It made me laugh.

Well not to much exciting to report this week. We just worked really hard like usual. We still have our baptism for C. this weekend, but we don't have anyone else with a baptismal date. She's so great. She's 78 years old and she's super super funny. We'll take pictures with her for sure. I also need to get photos with the A's. The only problem is that they haven't come to church since their baptisms....and they don't live in our area so we can´t teach them the lessons again. Our area is kind of dead. We are finding new people to teach but they are not progressing very well. I have started to lead our area, in the planning, teaching, etc.. The zone leaders told me that I need to start doing this so that I can be prepared for the future. I´m pretty sure that I'm going to train this next transfer. Aparently we´re going to receive 29 new missionaries. The zone leaders have told me several times that I need to be ready. I'm a little nervous for this but I also feel ready. I think that I could do a decent job training and that it would give me the chance to gain a lot more confidence, etc. I'm excited, we´ll see what happens though. Everything is going good. Oh and you'll be happy to hear that I am not a picky eater any more. I eat everything and like just about all of it. However, last Monday after I wrote you guys we went to eat tacos with a member....cow cheek tacos and cow intestine tacos. They weren´t actually that bad but they aren´t my first choice. I'm just glad that I didn't have to eat eyeball like he wanted us to. Love you all. Talk to you soon.

5 months in the mission. Wow time flies.

Elder Schow

March 9, 2014

March 9, 2014

Hey yall,

Well this week was a good one I'm happy to say. I feel like some aspects of the work are starting to click into place a little bit more for me. I feel that my testimony is starting to grow, and that I'm starting to lose a lot of my nerves to talk to others. I had companionship exchanges with the zone leaders this week. I went with Elder Yates to his area- Xochimilco (so-chi-milk-oh). It's a pretty sweet area. There's a huge canal that runs through it with a bunch of dug out canoes and little boats. Very beautiful. It was really nice to have a change of scenery and to learn from someone that has a lot of experience in the mission. We didn´t have a lot of lessons, but I feel that I learned a lot from him. He helped me out a ton with my personal study and making it meaningful. I'm sorry to say that for the first 4 months or so of the mission I don't feel that I learned much in personal study because it wasn't as meaningful as it could have been. He taught me how to use a study journal and how to study with questions. I've only been able to do it a couple of times so far, but I can already see a huge difference. He also taught me how to contact more effectively and without fear. When we were going to Xochimilco last night to report the numbers for our district I was able to put it into practice and contact someone on the bus. I had like a 10 minute conversation with him and got his address, etc. It was a really great experience and a huge leap of progress for me personally. I also felt very good when I was testifying to him. This is a testimony to me of revelation. I feel that what my zone leader told me and helped me with is what I really needed to hear because I can see a huge difference already in the work and in my testimony.

While I was on exchanges Elder Patey was in a bus with the other zone leader Elder Perez and someone sold him an acoustic electric guitar for 100 pesos, like 8 bucks. Super lucky, eh? The other wierd thing is that we're permitted to have small guitars. Which doesn't make much sense because our mission president is very strict. We aren't complaining though because we've had some fun with it. We were talking about music last night and to be honest dad I until then I didn´t realize how many songs of Cat Stevens that I actually like. I guess Elder Patey's dad likes Cat Stevens too...Long story short you might have a convert to your ways after all hahaha.

I'm sorry that the ward is kinda dead with missionary work. That's kind of how I feel about our area right now. We can't find new people to teach. We are looking everywhere. We only have one investigator named Celia with a baptismal date. If you could pray for her and that we can find new people to teach that would be great. I will do the same for you. I like that 40 day fast idea. We should do that here. I hope your ward council works better than ours does. Everyone showed up 30 minutes or more late. Including the bishop. This is starting to become a pattern. We hope that the stake president will call them to repentance :)

Anyways, glad you all are well. Sorry for the challenges with work mom. I know that things will improve. Thank you for all of your prayers and examples. Love you all.

Elder Schow

March 2, 2014

March 2, 2014

Sorry, I'm going to have to be a bit short today and write all of the family in one letter. I have like a million people that I have to write back and they are adding up like crazy. I really need to write the grandparents. I need to find a place to buy stamps though. So this week wasn't too exciting. We were in the appartment practically all week. Elder Patey's foot is still healing and he´s had what we think is the flu. Poor guy. They were some of the longest days of my life but surprisingly the week still seemed to go pretty fast. Weird how that works. I got to read a good portion of Jesus the Christ this week. It is a really amazing book. If you haven't read it I would highly reccommend it. It really has helped me to understand the New Testament better, and it has really strenghtened my testimony of Jesus Christ. I think that it was also good for our companionship to be cooped up together for several days. We have actually started to talk a lot more and we are starting to become better friends.

We had a zone conference this week that was really good. I love our mission president. He's so good in this calling. He is also so hilarious. He checked our area books at the zone conference and apparently they were terrible. He talked about the importance of keeping track of the work that we are doing not only for us but for the missionaries that follow. What really impressed me is that he corrected us all in such a loving and funny way.

Well not much else is happening here. Thanks so much for the pictures. I really loved them. You all look so great. You look so beautiful Maddie!!! You're growing up so much. If you could send me some printed pictures and some international stamps in an envelope I would love that. If not no worries though.

I'm glad that work is going well mom. Sorry if I forgot to mention that in my other emails. That´s really awesome that you found a little job to keep you busy during the day. That's awesome that you went out with the sister missionaries too. Thanks for all the work that you do as a bishop and for the family dad. I look up to you so much. Say hi to all of the grandparents for me. I really want to write them more. I need to figure out how I can make it possible. Love you all.

Elder Schow