August 17, 2015

August 17, 2015

Hey there everyone,

Well it is official, I am finishing my mission in Jardines de Iztapalapa…unless something crazy happens.  I am still going to be with Elder Bojorquez as well.  The problematic Elder got changed so that was a bit of a relief.  I can´t believe that it is my last transfer….It is a bit surreal.  I am excited in many ways and a bit sad in others.  I do know that I want to finish well…not trunky haha.  My companion made me breakfast on my birthday which was nice of him.  The other Elders also brought me a cake at like 6:00am on Saturday morning which was pretty cool.  The four of us ate it all in one day and then they told us that that particular cake is intended to be eaten by 21 people.  Can you say eating a heart attack?  I hope that you had a good day on Dad´s birthday as well.  Big shout out to you dad. 

We had some success this week.  We have been finding new investigators like mad.  (like 50 in two transfer cycles).  None have progressed too well so far though.  Please keep the T. family in your prayers- that their financial difficulties will not prevent them from progressing in the church.  I´m glad that Ethan gets home this week.  It will be really awesome for you to see him.  That´s cool about Brigham Larsen´s talk.  I could see a lot of applications in it to me personally.  I love you all.  Have a good one.

Elder Schow

July 13, 2015

July 13, 2015

Hey there everyone!

It´s good to be able to write you a Little bit once again.  Well we had transfers on Tuesday morning.  Much to my chagrín I am training again.  It was the one thing that I didn't want to do, but I guess the Lord has a sense of humor so that's what I am doing.  My new companion is named Elder Bojorquez.  He is from Meriada, Yucatan (Southern Mexico), and he is a convert of about a year and a half.  He is a great guy.  He has taught me some good things so far though.  I guess we will see if I ´´die´´ training him next transfer or not.  That's crazy that you have Ethan's itinerary.  If I remember correctly you should have mine in about 2 or 3 weeks.  Crazy, huh?  Well overall we are still having a bit of trouble generating work in our area.  For one reason or another it has been a bit difficult lately.  Church went alright yesterday.  The Rodriguez family that we have been teaching finally came to church yesterday.  Every week they have said that they are going to come, but they never showed up.  This time they finally did.  We also had several less active families come that we have been working with.  It is surprising to me how fast the new converts here can fall.  We went to visit one of them this week that was baptized about two months ago.  She didn´t realize that it was us and she opened the door smoking…she about had a heart attack when she realized that it was us.  We didn't say anything to her about it, but we can't get her to church anymore.  It has happened sooo many times in my mission.  I wish it was not that way.  I'm glad that you guys had a good week and that you were able to visit Lauren's exhibit.  That's really cool!  Sorry that the Minions movie was kind of a bust.  I've seen posters for it here and there, but I wasn't sure what to think.  I'm glad that things are going well.  I love you guys a lot.

Elder Schow

June 8, 2015

Hey there everyone,

Well it sounds like a pretty eventful week even though everyone told me that nothing happened haha.  I´m really sorry about your eye mom.  I hope that you recover soon.  It´s good that it didn´t do more damage to your actual eye.  Yeah dad, the Lord of the Rings movies are always worth a watching.  I will definitely watch them with you guys when I get home.

Well to be honest sometimes I feel like I run out of new things to say.  We had a decent week this week.  We were able to find a few new people to teach and put some goals with some of the people that we have been teaching.  Unfortunately nobody came to church for the second week in a row so we have some work to do in that department this week.  We have been able to stay fairly dry this week which has been nice.  It has been raining a lot, but more in the morning and at night.  I did break down and buy a larger umbrella though that isn´t riddled with holes haha.  I was a bit tired of getting wet.  We have actually had quite a bit of heat lately.  The area here is flat and it is probably one of the smallest wards in geographical area that I have had.  It is nice because we don´t use like any money for busses etc. so we can buy a bit more food.  We had interchanges with the zone leaders this week.  It was interesting.  For being good missionaries they are not very clean missionaries.  I was however able to learn some good lessons about how to contact in the street more effectively which was great because it is something that we need to do a lot. 

I read a talk this week that really had an impact on me.  It is called the fourth missionary.  It talks about how there are four types of missionaries, but that only the fourth type really grows on his mission and changes.  The others just kind of go through the motions and don´t really take advantage of the whole experience.  It motivated me to be better and to really just give these last few months my all.  Maybe I haven´t been the perfect missionary, but it is a process and I know that I need to be the best that I can be especially as I am finishing up. 

Thanks for all of your support and love.  It means a lot to me.  I know that you guys are always praying for me and I really appreciate it. 

Love,

Elder Schow

January 23 and 30, 2015

January 30, 2015

Hi everyone.

I´m glad to hear that you all are doing well.  It is crazy that it´s almost February isn't it?  Like you guys, I can´t believe it either.  I think that the older you get the faster time goes.  It sounds like you all have been staying busy with Maddie having the ACT, painting the house, Lauren with Ella, Cam with work, etc.  It sounds pretty good to me.  I´m sorry to hear about Andrew and Naomi.  I´ll be sure to keep them in my prayers.  Hopefully everything turns out okay. 

Well this week was pretty cool.  We had a lot of success finding new people to teach.  We were guided to a lot of prepared people.  We are teaching various members of three new families.  They want us to meet the rest of their families too so that should be pretty cool.  I wish that we had more time to teach.  It is difficult to have time to visit everyone that we need to see.  There is always something complicated that comes up too that takes away more of our time.  It will be good preparation for going back to school though.  I feel like I will be a lot more organized and that I will really take advantage of my time. 

We had a zone conference yesterday.  The church that it was held in is in my first area.  It was cool to get to go back there again even if I was just passing through.  Our president spoke.  I´m sad that he is leaving pretty soon.  It is strange that we will have a new president in like five months.  He is from Utah and his name is president Meacham.  If I am still here I will have to help him out a lot which would be cool. 

Well that´s about all that is new here.  I hope you all have a great week.  Keep doing what you know you should be doing and you will be happy.

Elder Schow  

Jan 23, 2015

Hey there everyone!  How are you all?  Well this week has been pretty good.  I´m glad to hear that you had a great week.  I´m also glad that grandpa and grandma´s anniversary went well!  It sounds like there were a ton of people there.  60 years is a ton of time.  That´s awesome! 

We found a super great family this week- the G. L. family.  We contacted the father In his taxi.  He felt impressed to pass for where we were waiting.  We were also going to use another taxi that we had flagged down, but there was a bit of confusion between us and another woman that was waiting on the side of the road and that taxi driver ended up leaving.  The next taxi that came up to us was the taxi of Brother G.  He has a wife and two kids.  He even came to church last week before we visited them.  Not too much has changed in the area other than finding them.  We've had very scarce time this week.  We have had to go to the airport several times, transfers, new missionaries, etc.  It has been crazy.  It has been fun though.  I am also glad that we get the opportunity to teach still too even if it isn't a ton.  I am also starting to feel a bit more comfortable in the offices which has been a relief.

Well that´s about all that is new.  I hope that you all are doing well.  I love you all.

Elder Schow 

January 16, 2015

January 16, 2015

Howdy everyone,

Well my new p-day is Friday, not Tuesday.  Sorry for the confusion.  I guess I get a double p-day this week because my companion hasn't had one yet.  From what they have told me I won't really have p-day anyway because we are always busy and whatnot, but it's alright- it should be pretty chill.  

So, from what I have seen so far we are in the offices from 10 to about 2:30 every day except Saturday and Sunday.  However, there are some crazy days when new missionaries arrive and the old ones leave.  I guess we are in the airport like all day because we have to pay for luggage, taxi's etc.  It should be a pretty fun assignment though.  My temporary companion is super awesome- Elder James.  I should be with him for about 3 to 4 weeks so that I can learn everything that I need to know.  He is a ton like Taylor so we get along really really well.  I'll be sad when we have to change.  When I finish my training I think that my new companion will be Elder Flores, the president's secretary that is in charge of vistas, passports, etc.  He lives with us right now and he seems like a pretty nice guy.  The mission home is super nice.  There are 7 of us living there right now.  It's huge.  I'll have to try to send some pics soon of the house, area, etc.    

Our area seems like it will be pretty good.  We are only able to be there like 4-5 hours on a normal day, but that still gives us a decent amount of time to teach 5 lessons or so.  Our ward is really big, but the large part of it is in a super-rich area so we are hardly ever there.  We ate in an enormous house on Wednesday.  I guess we eat there every Wednesday and they call it rich lady Wednesday haha.  We are usually in a colony called Santo Domingo that is a lot like my other areas.  Supposedly it is very dangerous, but it seems super tranquil.  I think that the bad stuff must happen later at night when we have left the area.  We should be able to teach some great people there.  Well that´s about all that´s new here.  I hope you all have a great week.  Talk to you next Friday. 

Love, Elder Schow  

January 12, 2015

Hey everyone!  I hope that you all are doing well.  It has been a good week this week.  We changed the way that we have been planning, and we were able to have a lot more lessons this week.  We also were able to find several new people to teach.  It is interesting to see that as we teach more lessons that we find more new people.  It shows that there really is a strong need in the mission for hard work.  It really was an awesome week. 

Sadly, I have special transfers tomorrow though so I will not be able to see them progress.  I hope that I get to say goodbye to some of the people here.  I am going to be the mission financial secretary so I will be changing to a new area tomorrow.  I am very excited for the new experience though.  I think that it will be very interesting to be able to help in the work in a different way.  I know that I will learn many new things.  I will also still be able to teach which will be really nice. 

I am grateful for this work and for the way that it is changing my life in so many ways.  I am grateful for Jesus Christ and for his atonement.  I know that he lives and that he loves us.  I love you all.  Thanks so much for your support.  

Elder Schow   

December 29th, 2014

December 29, 2014

Hey all you fans out there.  It was great to talk to you guys too.  It went so incredibly fast that I wish they gave us like two hours to talk.  That´s really funny about the accent because I don´t feel like I have one at all.  I guess that I am used to how I talk though so maybe it just changed little by little and I didn't even realize it.  I guess that must mean that I´m doing something right haha.  I am glad to hear that you all had a good Christmas.  I am sorry that Madeline felt a bit lonely on Christmas Eve.  So that she knows, I miss her too.  Our Christmas Eve was a bit interesting.  We ended up going to eat with one of our investigators.  It was a bit uncomfortable to be honest.  None of her family members or her friends that were there are members so they were all wanting to listen to music, drink, etc., but they didn't because we were there.  We felt awkward so we didn't stay that long haha.  Our renters brought a flan cake for Christmas and a member bought us pizza.  We had a pretty good Christmas, although it wasn't the same without the family.   It´s fun that you guys got to see a lot of the family.  That´s a bit of a bummer that Diana had to leave early.  I guess the positive thing is that it will only be for two more months and then she is back for good! 

We didn't have a ton of work this week because a lot of people haven´t been home, but we did baptize J., E's daughter, this Saturday and she was confirmed yesterday.  Gabriela and the O. family are preparing for January.  We really need to find a couple of new families soon.  I´m not really sure why, but we have been having a really hard time finding lately.  If you guys that fast could include that in your fast this weekend it would be much appreciated.  Well that´s about all that is new on this end.  I hope you have a great week!  I love you all!

Elder Schow 

December 15, 2014

December 15, 2014

Hey there everyone. Well it has been a good week once again. We had transfers on Tuesday. My new companion is named Elder Hood. He is from South Carolina. We are having a pretty good time together so far. He's got about 7 months in the mission and was trained by the same trainer as me. It has been a bit of a weird week. It was "Day of the Virgin" this week so everyone was celebrating "the birth of Jesus´s mother" by getting drunk and lighting of fireworks combined with the sound of loud music all night. Because of all the drunks we had to be home at 7:00 for two nights straight. It was kind of cool though because we got to know each other pretty well. My companion also has a guitar and is really good at playing so we just kind of chilled and waited out the noise.

The O. family are leaving town for Christmas so they will not be able to be baptized right now. They are so strong though it is amazing. She did not used to want to come to church at all and now they come every week without fail and stay all three hours. We are also teaching the 18 year old niece of a family in the ward that is going to get baptized in January. She told us last night that she knows that the church is true. If Sister H. keeps going strong without drinking coffee she will get baptized on Saturday. We found a really good new guy to teach yesterday- Brother H. He was a contact that we did with "He is the Gift" that we never found at home. We were passing his house yesterday and felt the strong impression to go and knock. He was finally home and he accepted us really well. He also gave us 12 pairs of new socks each. He makes socks so that's why he gave them to us. It was really nice of him.

I'm glad that you all are doing well. That's cool that Roger and Diana are back. That is a ton of pictures. I can't believe that. I need to follow that example because I hardly have like any. Thanks for all of your love and advice. I'm glad that you are getting better quickly mom.   I love you all.

Elder Schow

December 8, 2014

December 8, 2014

Hey everyone,  Well it has been a pretty good week.  Sadly, it's going to be my last day with Elder McEwan though.  They are changing him to who knows where.  I'll be staying in Espartaco with my new comp.  It'll be weird having a new comp for Christmas.  I'll miss Elder McEwan a lot.  We've had a lot of fun together.  I kind of hope that I get to train again, but I guess we will see what happens.  The O. family should be getting baptized on Saturday if all goes well.  (Well just 2 of them, the other 2 don't really want to listen to us yet, but it's a start).  We also found a new part member family to teach this week- the B. family.  They are interesting people haha.  It's pretty fun to be able to teach them though, they joke around a lot.  They get mad if we don't accept their food too.  They changed the church that we go to now. and it is like 5 minutes from where we live so it will make it a lot easier for the investigators to come which will be nice.  Sister H. should be getting baptized on the 21^st if she can give up coffee.  (It is giving her a lot of problems), and E's daughter on the 27^th.  It will be a really awesome month.  We taught M. A. again and he told us that he knows that the Catholic Church isn't true, and that he believes the Book of Mormon is true.  We're not really sure what changed, but it was cool.  "He is the Gift" has not been that effective here either yet.  Our district talked to 122 people about it last week and only 4 of them have become new investigators (not even 4%).  Hopefully we can find a more effective way to put it to use and that we can talk to even more people.  It is surprising sometimes how many people don't want to hear anything about Christ  or that don't know why we celebrate Christmas.  If they don´t listen here they´ll have to hear it in the next life.  Well that's about all on my end.  I hope you guys can get some snow for Christmas.  I'm glad that you all are well.  Love you all. 

Elder Schow

December 1, 2014

December 1, 2014


Hey there everyone,

Wow, I can't believe that it is December again...Time sure has flown by this year. I think that the fact that snow doesn't exist here makes it hard to believe that Christmas is right around the corner. I'm guessing that you guys might have plenty of that before too long. I'm glad to hear that you had a good Thanksgiving, and that you were able to visit with the family and what not. We ate really good on Thursday even though there is no Thanksgiving here. It wasn't turkey, but tacos are just about as good so I was happy. It sounds like a lot of things are changing with the house, everyone growing up etc. It will be strange to see all of the changes.

Well this week was pretty good. The church launched a new program for Christmas that we are putting into effect- it´s called "He is the Gift". I'm sure that you have probably heard of it. It is focused on helping the people to remember the real reason that we celebrate Christmas. It has been a valuable resource for contacting and talking to the people. We haven't found any new people to teach yet by using it, but we have several appointments lined up for this week with new people so it should be pretty cool to see what happens, especially ase we get a bit closer to Christmas. Well we have a few people that are still progressing really well. The O. family are doing really well. They are really excited to keep learning. They are accepting everything really well. We had a bit of a curve ball thrown at us this week with M. A. We have only taught him like 4 times and every time that we have taught him he has told us how much he hates the catholic church and how terrible it is. The last time we taught him we invited him to be baptized and he said no I would never get baptized in your church because I was already baptized in mine. We asked him which church he belonged to and he told us the Catholic church. I guess he hates it, but not enough to leave. It was a strange lesson. We started teaching another family this week that are just like him. It makes no sense, but I guess there isn´t much that we can do. All we can do is keep looking for others that are ready to accept the gospel. Well that´s about all for this week. I love you all. Talk to you soon!

Elder Schow 

Nov. 24, 2014

November 24, 2014

Hey there everyone,

Sorry that I didn't write last week, I was a bit indesposed, but I am back and that is all that counts. Well these last two weeks have been really good. R. got baptized last Sunday and was confirmed yesterday, and E. was baptized yesterday. Also, we are working with a few other investigators to prepare them for baptism in December. We are teaching the O. family. The boy is super funny. He's 10 and he hasn't been to church that many times, but he knows a ton. Sometimes he says some pretty profound things to his mom that really help her to see the importance of what we are teaching. We are also still teaching Sister H., and a man Señor G. among others. We have a really pretty good ward here. The members are super great with the investigators, new members etc. They are definitely some of the most charitable people that I have met. It's kind of funny, on of the counselors to the bishop is like the mexican version of Steve Martin. I hope I can find an excuse to take a picture with him before I leave the ward.  Haha.

Well I don't really think that I have any great words of wisdom to impart this week. The holiday season is coming up. Lately I have been trying to read a bit in the New Testament every day to learn a bit more about the life of Jesus Christ. I am impressed by his example and by his teachings. I am amazed at the love that he has for each and every one of us. I think every day I understand just a tiny bit more of that profound love. As we go into the holiday season let us remember the reason for the season.  Oh, and to answer the question that all of you asked, no, Thanksgiving is not recongnized as a holiday here. They call it the day of the action of giving thanks, but they do not celebrate it...so no turkey for me. It's alright though, I hope that you all have an enjoyable time with the family. And don't gain TOO much weight. Well that's about it on my end. Love you all.

Elder Schow

The asked us to tell you guys to not get on our Facebooks.

November 18, 2014

November 18, 2014

 

Sister Schow:

Elder Schow had diarrhea for two days we believe that he had dehydration and we saw that essential medicines were not working, so to avoid a major problem we send to the hospital only a preventive measure, the doctors decided to leave him in the hospital two days (Sunday and Monday) to make studies and to remove dehydration. According to the report by Doctor he has a gastroenteritis, so he gave him drug treatment and we will be observing your physical condition to decide what else to do.

He is better today, but we are waiting for him and his recovery.

Regards.

Nov 17, 2014

November 17, 2014

Hey, I think my president told you but I've been in the hospital so I couldn't write. I'm out now and seem to be doing okay. I had diarrhea and throw up at the same time so they took me in for dehydration and intestinal swelling. Hopefully it is all taken care of. I love you all and hope all is well.

Love Britton

November 10, 2014

November 10, 2014

Hello everyone!

Well this week was a pretty good one.  TIme is going super fast by the way.  It´s a bit strange.  Anyway, so, R. should be getting baptized this Sunday if all goes well!  She´s doing super great.  It has been hard for her to give up smoking, but she is doing so good!  If you could keep her in your prayers that would be great.  E. hopefully will be baptized the week after.  She couldn't come to church on Sunday because she lost her money.  As they were going to get on the bus she realized that it had fallen out of her pocket and she couldn't find it anywhere.  We are thinking that she can still get baptized though.  I will keep you posted.  The week after we should be baptizing a 9 year old girl named A. that is the daughter of a recent convert.  She and her little sister K. (3) are pretty funny.  It has been really fun to teach her!  It has also been very dificult becaues her little sister is super loud haha.  The last time we tried to teach her her sister kept yelling at us that we were salchchas- hot dogs.  We got a good laugh out of it.  We are also teaching a family called the Ochoa family that are going through some really hard times so if you could keep them in your prayers that would be great.  

We found a really strange guy this week named M. A.  He was a reference that we received.  We got to his address to find that there were about 20 door bells.  We just starting ringing door bells and we actually found him and he let us in.  He asked us a lot of questions (asking us in what would seem a very angry manner).  I guess we answered well enough his questions though because at the end he told us that he had enjoyed himself and to come back.  We'll see what happens this week.      

That's cool about the pictures that you are going to make.  I'm guessing that they are going to be similar to the Mickey Mouse ones that dad did right?  That's nice that you are getting to see Lauren, Cam, and Ella frequently.  It sounds like at least once a week or so. I bet that's really nice.  Wow, ISU won again.  That's a shocker haha.  That's cool about your temple trip.  I miss going to the temple.  Hopefully when the re-dedicate it we get to go!  I would like to work on geneology too when I get back.  I didn't realize that there was much left to do haha.  Well, I love you all.  Talk to you soon!

Elder Schow

November 3, 2014

November 3, 2014

Hey everyone!

Well it has been a good week. Well we had transfers and I am going to be the district leader. It’s going to be a great opportunity to learn and to serve. I’m excited to see how it goes. My companion is named Elder McEwan from Lehi, UT. I should probably start sending you pictures of my companions, huh? He has about a year and a half in the mission and has been district leader for like a year. He’s a really great guy- super humble, good teacher, funny, all that good stuff. It’s nice to be able to speak a little bit in English too. He’s here to show me the ropes. I know that I have a lot to learn from him. There are 4 sisters in the district and 2 other elders. One of the Elders was my last district leader and we have been in the same ward several times in the mission so that is kind of cool- Elder Wilhelmsen. We had companionship exchanges with the zone leaders this week which was really great. I learned a lot of things that I am doing well as well as a lot of things that I can improve on. The Elder that came with me is an amazing teacher. He speaks Spanish really well and he asks super inspired questions. I will also be able to learn a lot from him this change. I want to be able to learn to follow the spirit as well as he does.

Well not too much is new here. We found a couple of new people to teach this week, but no one is progressing super well. It doesn’t help that half of the world is sick either haha. It sort of killed our church attendance- it was like 50 people less than last week. Things are still going really well with R. She fed the four of us missionaries this week. She should be getting baptized pretty soon....like 2 weeks I think. She had a few small issues with the word of wisdom so we had to wait a little bit. We found a drunk guy that wanted us to talk to him in Portuguese a few days ago. That was interesting trying to explain to him that we don’t speak Portuguese haha. No matter what we said he did not believe us.

I’m glad that you guys were able to get away for a bit mom and dad. It sounds like you had a good time. You guys are a great example to me of a functional marriage that is based on love, respect, etc. I have seen so many destroyed marriages here. It’s a pretty sad thing. I know that if we base our families in the teachings of Christ that we will be so much stronger. I’m glad to hear that everyone is doing well. I like Ella’s costume. It’s super cute. There were actually a lot of people dressed up here on Saturday night trick or treating. Day of the dead was a bit underwhelming. It probably would have been more cool if we had been able to go to the grave yard. It’s all good though. I can look up a lot of pictures of it up on the internet after the mission. It’s a bit of an odd tradition. Well I’m about out of time, but I love you all. Talk to you soon!

Elder Schow

P.S. Were you guys able to get the videos off of my memory card too?

October 27, 2014

October 27, 2014
Hey there family :)

I hope that you all are well. It has been a crazy busy week, but a good one. Well it is my last day with Elder Cumbe...I will really miss that kid. We have sure had a fun time together, and we have learned a lot from one another. It will be interesting to hear tomorrow where he is going and with who and who is coming with me. I will make the best of whatever and whoever comes.

Three of our investigators are progressing so well. E. and R. are probably the most golden investigators that I have ever heard of. They show their faith through their works. They always read, they always pray, they do all that they can to come to church and as a consequence of their hard work they are seeing major changes in their lives. The teachings of Jesus Christ are changing them. He was not just a good man that taught beautiful principles. He was and is the son of God that came to this earth so save each and every one of us...Of course on the condition that we do our part. If we do our part and use His atonement we can be changed. It's not rocket science, but sadly, there are so many that just don't get it. As one of my companions always said, ¨I look around me at all of the people here and I see the need for a savior.¨ It is so true. There are so many people that suffer temporally and spiritually. All that they need to do to find relief is to come unto Him. I guess that is why our purpose as missionaries is to invite others to come unto Christ...not to invite them to come unto us, or unto the church, or to compel them - just to invite. These things help, granted, and they are essential parts of coming unto Him, but ultimately it is a decision that each and every one of us must take. To come unto him. I have been reflecting a lot about this lately. Have I really come unto Christ? Am I trying to be like him? Have I taken his yoke upon me? I know that I have a long way to go, but I can say that I am grateful for the progress that I have been able to make. I am grateful for the gospel and for my mission. I would invite each and every one of you to do all that is within your power to share this message of joy with others. I love you all so much and I think about you all often. Until next week.

Elder Schow

Oct 20, 2014

Oct. 20, 2014

Well I only have 5 minutes, but hello everyone.  This week has been busy but good.  We had a lot of companionship exchanges this week so I was outside of my area a lot and got to know several other people.  It was fun.  I got the letters from family home evening!  Thank you everyone!  It was so great to hear from you all!  We found a new family this week- the Ochoa family.  They are really great.  Only the 10 year old son came to church this week, but we are positive that they will all come the next week.  R, E, and E are still progressing really well, and are really seeing changes in their lives through the atonement of Jesus Christ.  I know that they are being prepared for the spirit.  The mission is going by so fast.  I am trying to do all that I can to take advantage of this special time that I have in my life to serve the people of Mexico.  It is a great work.  It is the Lord´s work.  I love you all.  I will write more next week. 

Elder Schow

October 13, 2014

October 13, 2014

Hello everyone! 

Well this week has been a long but good one.  We have just been trying to work really hard as usual.  We had a pretty successful week in several aspects.  We were able to bring a lot of members to lessons this week.  They have been a huge help.  They actually formed some great friendships with some of the people that we are teaching so that has been great!  Many of them have even asked us, Elders when can I come to appointments with you?  My jaw about fell off of my face when the first person asked us that.  I don´t think I have ever heard that question in my whole mission so it was pretty cool.  I know that the Lord has been helping us a lot in this area.  When I got here it was not in the best of shape.  It still has a long way to go, but the Lord has really put prepared people in our path.  We are still teaching a lot of the same people this week, and many of them are progressing muy bien.   I am really coming to love the people here.  It is hard to explain, and it was something that was very difficult for me in the start of my mission but things are definitely changing in that aspect.  Little by little I think that I am beginning to understand a bit better the love that Christ has for us.  I am also starting to understand much better the changes that he makes possible in each of our lives.  It has been really fun teaching E.  She is a character.  The last time that we taught her she was telling us about some experiences that she has had visiting other churches.  She said that once the separated her from her daughter that was about 7 at the time.  When the service was over she asked her daughter how she had liked church.  Her daughter told her that it had been fine, but rather than teach them anything that they had forced the children to prepare dough for doughnuts haha.  There were a lot of strange stories that she told us.  I'm convinced that there is something whacked out with our apartment.  We had exchanges a few nights ago and we were praying sitting down because our DL can't kneel down because he had knee surgery.  While I was praying I distinctly felt something tug on my tie a bit hard twice.  It was super weird.  We've been a bit on edge at night.  We know that nothing can happen, but it´s still a bit strange.  Truthfully though, things are going great.  I'm glad that you all are well. It sounds like it has been a good week.  If you see someone without a smile, lend them yours.  Love you all!

Elder Schow    

September 22, 2014

Sept. 22, 2014

Hey everyone! 

So it sounds like this week has been exciting!  Ella was born!  I can imagine that it was really fun to get to see her.  I´m glad that she was born without any sort of complication.  She´s very cute too!!!  I will wait with anticipation for more pictures soon.  Hopefully dad and Maddie don´t eat little Caesers too often haha.  Sorry about the car dad....that´s kind of a bummer.  It is really old though...I´m glad that the primary program went well.  It´s always fun to see!  That´s cool that the Moncurs are adopting another baby from China.  I´m very happy for them.  That´s cool too that Roger and Diana might be moving back to Pocatello.  It´s crazy how long they have been gone.  

This week has been good!  As you all know I got transferred to a new area.  I am currently in an area called Espartaco 1!  I am finishing the last 6 weeks of training for Elder Cumbe from Ecuador.  He´s a really good missionary.  We get along super well, and we've had a really fun time together so far  So it´s really a pretty cool area here.  It´s super chill, and sometimes it´s easy to forget that we are in the middle of the big city.  The thing that´s not so great is that the last several missionaries that have been here except for my comp. have been super lazy and there are like no investigators.  We have been working a lot on finding new people to teach.  We have been contacting like animals, okay not really haha, but we have been contacting a lot.  To be honest it´s something that I hardly ever did before.  I kind of regret a bit that I didn't do it more often before.  Hopefully it yields some fruits soon.  So I've decided that I like training.  It´s really fun.  This week I have really been able to understand better that we can be obedient, and serious about the work, but that we can also be a little bit loose and actually have a lot of fun.  It has been a good learning experience for me.  The ward here needs a lot of help. We really can do great things here if we can start to work with the ward.  I am really excited for this transfer.  It is not going to be easy, but with hard work it is possible.  This week I adopted a phrase that I really like: act as if it were impossible to fail.  I have really tried to internalize it, and I have seen some results.  Well I've got to go.  I love you all.  Talk to you soon!

Elder Schow 

September 15th 2014

September 15, 2014

Hey everyone,

Well my time in Independencia has come to an end...I am leaving tomorrow.  To where I don't know and with who I don't know.  My district leader saw something when he went to the mission offices a few days ago.  There is a rumor that I am going to an area called Ajusco.  It is way up in the mountains.  It's like 2 or 3 small outlying towns supposedly.  I guess I will see tomorrow what happens.  In some ways I feel ready to leave for a new area and in some ways no.  I will miss some of the people a lot.  R.  didn't end up getting baptized yesterday.  He couldn`t make it to his baptismal interview on Saturday because of his work.  Hopefully he will be baptized this Sunday.  I will probably miss him most of all.  He has been a really awesome person to know.  We were with him last night when the transfer calls came.  He was really sad.  He hadn't realized that there was a chance that I might be leaving.  He told me that he had hoped that I could be the one to baptize him and that I had had a very special effect in his life.  He really has changed a lot.  I hope that stays strong in his desires to change and that he goes forward with his baptism.  I know that the atonement can really change lives.  I am understanding that more now.  I am excited to go to my next area and to be able to use the knowledge that I have aquired here in Independencia.  I am leaving a lot of great people here.  There are some that I will never forget.  None of them came to church yesterday though so I didn't get to say goodbye to like anyone, but I feel that they will be in good hands with Elder Martinez.  Sometimes I feel like I didn't accomplish much here, but maybe my function has only been to help plant seeds in the hearts of the people.  So stay tuned.

So the baby still hasn't come, eh?  Now that is a big surprise to me...I thought that she was going to come like last Tuesday or Wednesday.  I guess it isn`t her time yet.  I hope that Lauren is hanging in there well.  It sounds like you guys have had a good week.  Sorry mom about the 5K.  I`m proud of you guys for doing it though.  It is pretty rare that we run in between appointments, but when we do let me tell you...I am dying haha.  I have been exercising a lot better in the mornings though so I think that some of it might have to do with the elevation.  I`m glad that you had a good family home evening and that you got to see everyone.  I`ll be excited to get the letters.  Thanks for sending the package!  I will await it with anticipation.  Good luck with the primary program.  I hope that it turns out well even though the practices are stressful.  Also, thanks for the quote mom.  It really is something good to think about.  I am learning a lot about the effects of choice in our thoughts and the difference that it can make to have good, positive thoughts.  Well I love you all!  I will talk to you next week....Hopefully Ella will be born by then!

Elder Schow