July 28, 2014

July 28, 2014
Hello ya'll,

I'm glad to hear that you are all doing well. From the sound of it it was a good week even though nothing too terribly exciting happened. It's normal though. That's what makes the exciting weeks more exciting. There must be an opposition in all things. Yeah in a lot of ways I can't believe that it's almost August already. It's crazy how fast that this year is going. It'll be Christmas again before we know it.

Well this week was a good week. We were blessed to be able to find a lot of new people to to teach this week. We have been following the counsel of Elder Johnston- the area seventy and have been seeing great results....more on the end of the investigators than the members, but hey we aren't going to complain haha. We have been blessed to find several families. There is one family that has a 17 year old son named Oscar. He is progressing really fast. He prayed at the end of our lesson a few days ago and said, "thank you for answering my prayers and helping me to find the truth through these young men that you have sent to me." He was super prepared. The story of how we found them is pretty cool. We contacted a woman on the bus and she gave us a name and an address. It is really difficult to write on a bus and we were not able to understand what my companion wrote very well. Nevertheless, we went to the address that we thought that he wrote and it just so happened that there was a woman with the same name, even though it wasn't the same woman on the bus. She told us that even though she wasn't who we were looking for that she thought we must be there for a reason and so we started teaching them. It was a cool experience to see that the Lord puts prepared people in our path in mysterious ways. R. is still progressing really well and his mom is still coming to church even though she isn't convinced about baptism,  she told us that she doesn't think that she has ever made a mistake. We'll see what happens with her. We are also working with a 21 year old named E. and his mom B. They both came to church on Sunday and he changed his work schedule so that he doesn't work on Sundays. It was pretty cool when he told us that. The B. family canceled our latest visit, and we think that we are going to have to drop them. They really aren't that interested. We'll see if we can visit them this week though. We also started teaching an ex Jehovah's Witness this week. We taught him that Jehovah is Jesus with several different scriptures in the Bible and he was like,  "I've been lied to my whole life."   It was crazy that he actually accepted what we taught him. We feel that he will be baptized. My companion goes home next Tuesday. It's really wierd. I'll know who my new companion is on Sunday night. It should be a good change though. Well love you all. I hope you have a good week. Talk to you soon.

Elder Schow

July 21st 2014

July 21st 2014

 

It was good to hear from all of you as always!  Thanks for your constant letters and support.  Well, this week was pretty good.  We are slowly but surely building up a decent group of people to teach.  A couple of them are progressing very well and they are helping us to find other people to teach as well.  It's kind of awesome  We aren't teaching Angel right now because he began working a lot and we lost contact with him, but we are teaching about 9-10 of his extended family members and we are going to start teaching more this week.  It would be so sweet if basically this whole family got baptized.  Three of them came to church this week: I., T., and G.  They really liked it, but the problem is that they are really attached to the Christian church that they are attending right now.  In fact, the day before they came to church with us T. invited us to come to their church with them.  We weren't really sure what to say, but I think that we will try to go.  She also asked us what we would do if we got an answer that their church is true.  They could be a bit difficult, but they are really great people.  We actually had a great turnout at church this week.  We had 6 people that we are teaching show up and two others people that live in our area that showed up with members.  R. came again and is progressing really, really well.  We taught him again last night and boy is he convinced.  We are trying to prepare him for August 17th, but it is a bit complicated because like Ethan said, we have to teach the fifth lesson now before baptism.  It is a worldwide change.  Well that's about all that is new here.  Not much, huh?

I'm glad to hear that you all are doing well.  That's funny that Caitlin was the brave one mom.  How old are they again?  That's nuts about the rain too.  Hopefully the damage isn't too bad, but I can imagine that it is significant.  That's super cool about the new temple movie.  I'm excited to see the difference between the three of them.  I really miss going to the temple.  I am very excited to go again when I get home.  It is a very special place.  From the sound of it mom you and Maddie are like the exercise queens.  Keep it up.  I need to follow your example.  I understand exactly how you feel dad, that early morning exercise is tough.  Way to go!  2 weeks straight is great.  That's great that you were able to choose a counselor.  I have no clue who he is haha, but I hope that everything works out really well.  Well, love you all.  Talk to you in a week.

Elder Schow  

July 14, 2014

July 14, 2014

Hello everyone!

Well this week was pretty good. We saw a lot of successes in many areas of the work. We had a zone conference on Tuesday for about 5 hours.   (way too long) But at the same time it was nice for a change of pace. Sometimes it is easy to get a bit bogged down in the everyday routine of things so it is nice to change it up every once in a while. Otherwise one could feel like they are living out the plot of the movie grounhog day haha.

Well we had several good things happen this week. We were able to find 11 new people to teach this week! Several of these 11 are part of families. It is sooo much better to teach families because they can support one another and help each other to remember to read, go to church etc. We feel that many of these people will progress really well. If you want to pray for them thier names are S, N, A, B, E, R, T, G, I, I (yes, like Nacho Libre), and S. It was a miracle that we were able to find so many.

We saw a lot of progress with R. this week. He came to church again with his mom E. They both really, really loved it. When we taught him last night we invited him to pray to know if what we had taught is true, and he told us that he didn`t need to pray because he already knew that was true because he had felt it. He is going to leave his work early a few times a week so that we can teach him and prepare him for baptism. He has been through a lot of hard things. His wife left him a while ago, and when that happened he let his house go to pot. We are going to organize a service project with the ward missionaries and the young men to help him to get everything back in order. We feel that it will be a nice surprise for him. He is a great guy. We are hoping that a few of our other investigators will start to progress like he is. A lot of them have kind of fallen off the face of the earth. Hopefully we don't lose them.

I'm glad that you guys had a good week. It doesn't sound like anything too exciting happened, but that's just the way it is sometimes haha. Have fun with your croquet set, and don't get too sunburned in all that heat. I'll try to send some rain your way because we have plenty haha. Love you all. Talk to you soon!

Elder Schow

July 7, 2014

July 7, 2014

Hello everyone!

Mom, tommorow it is your birthday. SO HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAHA. I hope that you do something really fun!!!! I know that you will have many many more to look forward to.

Thanks for all of your letter and emails and such everyone! It is always great to read them! I laughed quite a bit about that movie dad. I am intrigued to find out how Santa Clause defeated the martians when I get home haha. I`m almost 99% sure that it will go right up to the top spot in my top 10 list. Sorry for the confusion about my companion mom. Maybe I wrote it wrong, but he is from Baja California of i.e. Mexico. Thanks for the picture mom. You guys should send me more if you have time. I bet that you all are getting excited about the baby. I know that I am even though I won't see her for like a year! I'm glad that you had a decent fourth of July even if the fireworks were a bit lame. It sounds like you guys did some fun stuff. Pizza Pie Cafe...YUM! I like that place a lot. I have also heard that Captain America 2 is good from several people so we will have to watch it when I get home. Thank you for your testimonies, advice, and concern. I always appreciate it.

Well nothing overly noteworthy happened this week. We've reached the rainy season here in Mexico City and it rains every day...and hard haha. On saturday we were in the middle of a huge flight of steps when it started pouring. Walking down to the bottom was like walking down a mini waterfall. Needless to say we got soaked haha, but it didn't dampen our spirits too much, just all of our clothes. We're still struggling a bit to find a sufficient number of people to teach. We find some good people but they are tending to go cold quickly. We only have 4 people with baptismal dates now because basically no one is coming to church. Rafael and his mom Estella came though and another investigator named Manuel brought his wife- (they both came to church fasting even though we haven't taught them that yet. He also wants to pay tithing haha). The four of them are pretty great. The tricky thing is that they work a ton so it makes it difficult to teach them more than once a week. We will keep working with them though even if the progress is slow.

We have definitely found a lot of people this last week that need help. It is amazing to me how many downtrodden, sad, and bitter people there are in the world. It is easy to see that there is defintely the need for a Savior. I know that I need to do even more to lift up the heads that hang down and to strengthen the feeble knees. I am starting to see many of the people with more compassion. I just wish that there were more of them that would let us help them. I guess that the important thing to remember is that everyone has their agency to choose and all that we can do is our part and leave the rest up to them. My companion and I are excited to see what we can do this week to help bring about miracles. We are ready to keep working hard and giving it our all. Well I love you all! I hope that all is well!

Love, Elder Schow

June 30, 2014

June 30, 2014
Hey everyone! Well this last week was a good one. Elder Mendoza and I get along really well. He's a boss haha! It's kinda sucky that they transfered him to a new area his last transfer of the mission because he is completely lost, but it's been really good so far. He's a really hard worker which is also great! He's not trunky so we are working hard and taking names. He is planning to work really hard until the end of the mission and seems to be holding really strong so far. I am greatful for that because if he was trunky I can imagine that it would be really hard to focus. He has given me a lot of opportunities to grow this week. Even though he is the senior companion he is letting me take charge of basically everything so that I can be prepared for when he leaves. (I will most likely be in Independencia for at least one if not two more transfers after this one. My legs are crying in protest, but I am excited because we have seen a lot of growth in the area this week.) It has definitely taken me out of my comfort zone a lot, but it has been a great growing experience. He has helped me to increase my confidence a lot as well. He is always very good at emphasizing my good points and helping me to improve in the areas in which I need help. The language isn't too much of a barrier and we actually have a really good time together!

We have been working really hard this last week. We went from having 2 baptismal dates to 8. We have also found several new people to teach. About our biggest challenge is to help the investigators to get to church. It's a bit frustrating because we have some really spiritual lessons with them and them something comes up and they skip church. Oh well, haha gotta love them still. I have learned a lot these last couple of weeks about compassion. We have encountered some very humble people lately that are not exactly in the best place physically or mentally. I have learned a bit more about the love and concern that Jesus Christ feels for all of us. I would like to share an experience that we had yesterday with one of them. His name is R. We found him through his brother who contacted us in the street. We taught him a week ago and he started to cry at the end of the lesson. We weren't exactly sure why. We taught him again yesterday. He told us that the last time that we had come that he had felt something that he had never felt before in his life. We taught him about baptism and invited him to be baptized. He accepted immediately and told us that he will do whatever it takes (work less hours, come to church every Sunday, etc.) He knew and could feel that it was right. He re-emphasized to us once again that he had never felt that way before. The spirit was SUPER strong. It was an amazing experience that helped me to learn even more the importance of humility and submitting ourselves to the will of God.

I'm glad that the pageant was great. I'm excited to go and see it when I get home. That's awesome that the bishop helped you out so much. I hope that you have a great fourth of July and that you get to do something fun. I love you all so much!! Talk to you soon.

Elder Schow

June 23rd 2014

June 23, 2014
Good afternoon everyone!

Well yes we have transfers tomorrow...and the news is in.  I'm staying in Independencia 2, and I will be receiving Elder Mendoza from Baja California From what I have heard I am going to be killing him because he is apparently finishing his mission in 6 weeks. I'll know for sure tomorrow though. If that's the case though I will be staying in Independencia for at least 4 transfers so that I can teach someone the area after this transfer cycle. (3 more months of stairs haha) Elder Mendoza was the trainer of my last district leader and is apparently a really good missionary: hard working, obedient, etc. I was a little bummed that I am still junior companion, but I am also excited to be with someone that has so much time in the mission and that will be able to help me so much with my Spanish and my ability to teach. I will miss Elder Schofield. We have had a lot of fun together. I'll have to stay in touch with him. 

I'm glad that you all had fun in Sun Valley. It sounds like it was a very different ambiente, but it sounds like you were in a really nice place. I can also imagine that it was nice just to relax a bit more. I can't believe it's that time of year already. Like you said dad, summer will be over before we know it...It's almost July already. I hope that we continue to go when I get back. It's always a really fun time. That's funny about that croquet. It's a fun game. I'll have to challenge queen Madeline when I get home. Did you find a lot of gold at the Gold Mine or just a lot of fools gold?

Well, this week was pretty good. We found some really good people this week. Unfortunately several of them had to cancel the appointments that we had set, but we are going to try to find them this week. We actually had quite a few investigators turn up to church yesterday (8). Several of them were surprised. One of them is the 9 year old boy that is the brother of 2 girls that got baptized about a year ago. It was pretty apparent that he had not come by choice. He acted as if he were in a prison the whole time haha. I kinda got a kick out of it because we have tried to teach him a few times and he is a pill. Hopefully it didn´t torture him too bad haha.

We have several people progressing toward baptism right now. We just have to help them to understand a couple of principles better. We didn't have K's baptism. Her mom is giving us some trouble so stay tuned for that one. The names that we have been receiving from the members have started to peter out a bit. Hopefully they can start to think of more people for us to visit. It's been a little difficult to ask them for names because a few of them kinda fight us about it and claim that they know absolutely no one that isn't a member. We'll see how it goes with them this week. We have found a couple of good new people through the members though. We found Angel again this week! He is going to start listening to us again. We found out that he hadn't had time but now he is open to listen again. He came to church on Sunday again too which was pretty sweet. We are teaching some odd people right now. I'll have to tell you more about them in a week or so. They have really great hearts though.

Thanks for all that you do and for all of your advice and love. Thanks for checking my accounts etc. mom! Have fun in Manti!!! Love you guys.

Elder Schow

June 16, 2014
 Howdy everyone! Eight months as of today...can you believe it? Wow you're all in Sun Valley, eh? I can't believe it's already that time of year again. I hope that you guys have a great time! I always love the Sun Valley trip. Say "hi" to everyone for me and that I miss them all. Well, this week was a bit crazy, but it was really really good. We had a lot of really great experiences this week. As a mission we had the opportunity to have a conference with Elder Daniel L. Johnson of the quorum of the seventy. He is also the area president of Mexico. He came to help us to learn how we can start to reach the goals that we received at the beginning of this year. These goals are: to baptize every single week in every companionship, to teach between 40-60 lessons a week, and to find someone new to teach in every single lesson. These things have been giving most all of us a lot of difficulty. He shared something with us that impacted me a lot. He shared with us the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 88:73 which says for behold, I will hasten my work in it's time. He then said that President Monson has told us that that time has arrived. It did not begin with the first vision. It was not 10 years ago, and it will not be 10 years in the future. It is right now, and it began with the lowering of the missionary ages. We should have almost 100,000 full time missionaries within the next 2 or 3 months. We are ushering in this new era of missionary work; the hastening of the work. What a great time to be a full time missionary! The thing that I really learned is that we as missionaries cannot do this work alone. All President Monson said, ¨Now is the time that the members and the missionaries unite to work together in the vineyard of the Lord.    Elder Johnson gave us a promise. He said that we are in the land of the Book of Mormon - the land of the Lamanites. He said that in the last 50 years or so that we have seen great growth in the church in Mexico. However, he said that the promise given by Lehi to the posterity of Laman and Lemuel is only beginning to be fulfilled. He said that we can't even fathom the miracles and the growth that we will see in the church when the members overcome their fear to participate in the work of salvation (open their mouths) and work in complete harmony with the missionaries. This promise not only applies to the church here in Mexico, but in the whole world. The stone that was cut without hands is filling the earth, but the work is hastening. The second coming of the Savior is at the doors. I learned the vital role that all of us have to share the gospel. All that we have to do is open our mouths and invite and the Spirit will do the rest. If they aren't ready right now, it is okay because many are being prepared by the Lord because their hearts are open to receive his counsels. We don't have to prepare the people. We just have to invite.

Two days later he presided at our stake conference. He taught this exact thing to the members in the Saturday night session, and partly in the morning on Sunday. He said that as members they need to be prepared to give us names of people to visit. We are starting something new in Mexico. Every time that we visit a home, we teach at least one principle of the gospel, we testify, and then we ask who came to the minds of the members while we were sharing our message. He said that if we will have faith that the Holy Ghost will place names in our minds he will. He told them not to judge no matter how unlikely that they think it is that they will accept. He said that no matter who it is, that that name is there for a reason. We began this a few days ago. We have met with a bit of resistance and fear, but we have received 14 names with many more on the way (at least one in each house). The members and investigators are filling our schedules with names, and this is only the beginning! Through these names we will find more and more names.

I will be honest. When we first received these goals for this year I thought that they were impossible to achieve and I was very frustrated. Ever since the conference on Thursday I have been thinking, and I have come to the conclusion that if the Lord really gave us these goals and trusts us to complete them, then how can we fail?   My faith has grown a lot in the last several days, and I know that it will continue to grow.

How are you guys doing with sharing the gospel? I know that it is a little bit more difficult in the United States especially where there are more members, but I know that it is possible. Are you reading preach my gospel as a family or personally as we were instructed to do in Generel Conference? I realize that you all have a lot to do, but I also know that it will bless your lives. If not I would invite you to do so even if it is like one page a day. I know that the gospel changes lives and that we have the power to influence others. I love you all and pray for you every day.

Love Elder Schow