September 8, 2014

September 8, 2014

Hi, howdy, hello, hola,

Well I'm just dandy!  How are all you fine folk doing?  Well this week has been pretty good.  We had quite a few good things happen.  Before Sunday we had 10 investigators with baptismal dates.  Two of them fell because they didn't come to church though- E. was one of them.  He has to finish high school, but he has to take his classes on Saturday and so his job is making him work on Sunday.  If you could pray that he can find another job it would be much appreciated.  R. has his baptismal interview this Saturday and his baptism is programmed for this Sunday if he passes his interview.  Also, if you could keep him in your prayers it would be much appreciated.  We have been blessed to find so many good investigators these last two transfer cycles.  If they keep progressing like they are progressing now I feel that many of them will be baptized.

We definitely found a couple of interesting people this week.  We found a family that we started to teach.  The mom is like 70 something and we taught her and her daughter the first time.  The second time that we taught them her husband was there...and he was basically wasted.  He was a super funny nice drunk though.  He did many sporadic things that ranged from all of a sudden leaping out of his chair and starting to dance to running into another room to bring a book that he wanted to show us.  He told us that he had a very important book about Christ to show us and brought in an art book produced for Reader´s Digest.  We had to pretend like it was really a book about Christ and that it was very interesting.  It was pretty hard not to laugh.  Needless to say we couldn't teach them much so hopefully he is sober the next time that we come.  We also taught a 90 year old Jehovah´s Witness.  He definitely had some interesting things to say as well.  

I´m glad that you guys have had a good week.  That´s really cool about Cheryl.  I´m glad that she had a good time with you guys.  She´s kind of like a 3rd grandma.  I hope that she and her animals are doing well.  I´m sure that she will really like to go out with you guys from time to time.  That´s cool about the 5K.  I hope that you guys destroy your last times!  I´m excited about the music dad.  I definitely miss music some times.  I´m excited to hear all of the new selections.  Also, I had companionship exchanges with my district leader and he likes a lot of the same movies as our family.  It was funny to be able to talk to someone that has seen some of the really strange movies that I have seen.  I even told him about Santa Clause Conquers the Martians haha.  Thanks for the advice and all.  It means a lot.  Love you all!!!!

Elder Schow  

September 1, 2014

Sept. 1, 2014

Sup everyone.

Well this week was good overall.  I don´t have any big news or stories to tell, but yeah it was good.  For whatever reason we didn't find too many people to teach this week, but we kept working with the families that are listening to us right now.  We had the chance to take 4 investigators to the visitors center of the temple yesterday. Unfortunately, some of the transport routes were closed due to a marathon so we only got to stay for an hour, but all four of them really liked it.  One couple especially liked it and are excited to get married and prepare for their baptisms.  We have a baptism planned for the 14th of September- a young man named E.  A girl from the ward invited him to institute dance on Friday night and he really enjoyed himself.  In fact he didn't get home until 2:30 in the morning because he was talking to her for a super long time.  We joked around with him quite a bit about that.  If something works out between them though we just might open up a matchmaker service haha.  To be honest I really don´t have too much to say this week, but I can say that something that I am learning more and more every day is the importance of deciding to make the most of our situation.  There will always be challenges in life, but we always have the agency to choose how we will respond to these challenges.  Well I love you all.  I will try to write something more exciting next week.  Better yet, I will make something exciting happen.  Adios!

Elder Schow   

August 18, 2014

August 18, 2014
Hey!!!!

Thanks for all of the birthday wishes!!! It was a good day. We didn't do anything too out of the ordinary, but we happened to have key lime pie at lunch and my companion bought me cookies! Thanks for the package everyone! It was a fun thing to share with my companion. He was super excited to have rootbeer because it is super hard to find here. We enjoyed it. Well I'm glad to hear that everyone is doing well. It sounds like you guys had fun at the cousins reunion and Madeline with Lauren and Cam. I am happy to hear that. It sounds like you did a lot of fun stuff! It´s crazy that it´s already the middle of August. Ella will be here before we all know it. It sounds like the baby shower was a success! It´s a good thing that you all got inside right before it rained. It has been raining like crazy here too. There has also been a ton of lightning. The thunderclaps have been literally ginormous. I have never heard thunder so loud before. One night this week I woke up to an earthquake and a huge thunderstorm at like 5 in the morning. It was like the second coming or something haha. It was pretty cool. It was just a baby earthquake though. That´s a really cool story mom! Something similar did happen to us.

Well this week was good. We had a zone conference this week and our Mission President talked about the importance of really studying the scriptures. He talked about when Nephi was commanded to build a boat and helped us to analyze his obedience and all of the work that he did that sometimes we don´t really see when we read the scriptures. This week was pretty good. We are teaching several good families right now. R should also be getting baptized in about three weeks. If you want to keep them in your prayers they are the C. family, the T. family, the B. family, and R, O, and A. We have been blessed to be able to find several new people to teach these last 2 months. Some of them have obviously gone cold, but they have been the means of finding others.

We are working really hard to excite the ward about missionary work. It has not been easy. We are finally seeing some changes. Our bishop finally talked to our investigators this Sunday for I believe the first time ever. It is a small thing, but it is improving. My comp is really good. We are trying to work really hard, but have fun at the same time. I really like a quote that he always says,¨ I´m so optomistic that I go after Moby Dick in a rowboat, and I bring the tarter sauce with me.¨ Well that´s all folks. Love you all a ton!

Elder Schow

August 25, 2014

August 25, 2014
Hey everyone,

Well from the sound of it it has been a pretty eventful week. So you finally broke down and bought a new fridge, eh? Hopefully dad didn't blow up the old one so that you can still get a bit of use out if it haha, assuming that it still works of course. Ah...and the blue couch is gone. That´s too bad. That´s crazy about Jimmy´s house. I had no idea that he had alarms etc. Crazy. Good luck with the 5K. I´m so proud of you guys for going for it. I hope that it goes well. Where is it going to be held? Sounds like you've had a lot of rain. We have too. I´ll be honest. I´m a bit tired of getting wet...and staying wet, but it´s alright. Just part of the job description I guess. Yea dad from the sound of it the city has changed quite a bit since I left. It´s crazy how much can change so quickly.

Hmmm... what to say about this week? Well all in all it was a pretty good week. Like every week in the mission it has it´s ups and downs but over all it turned out well. We had a good turn out at church yesterday. Many of the investigators that came were coming for the first time. We started teaching a family this week named the G family. They had gone to church with one of their family members that lives a couple of hours away a few times, and several of them are very well prepared. Three of them accepted baptismal dates yesterday for the 28th of September. We also started teaching a woman named R. She is 18 and has 2 children. She had her first child when she was 14. Super sad... She came to church with us though and we think that she really liked it a lot so I will keep you posted on what happens with them.

I am grateful for the mission and all that I have been able to learn so far. I can definitely see personal growth in a lot of areas as well as a lot of room for growth in others. Right now I am learning the importance of setting goals. Without meaningful goals it is hard to progress. I an also learning the importance of patience. It is probably something that I have struggled with the most on my mission. I know however, that when we are obedient and work as hard as we can that good things come. Thanks for all that you do. Love you guys a ton. Talk to you all in a week!

Elder Schow  

August 11, 2014

August 11, 2014

 

Hello there everyone!  Well, there is some groovy techno going on in this internet cafe so I feel motivated to type faster haha.  Hopefully I will have more time to write to some of you today because of it.  Sorry that the last few weeks I have been a bit short on time.  Thanks for all of the birthday wishes!  To be honest I doubt that we will do anything that exciting haha.  I haven't really told anyone that it is my birthday so it will probably just be a quiet, normal day.  Thanks for putting money in my account, though I really don't need it.  How much were you wanting me to take out?  Also, the package got here.  I will open it on Wednesday :) !  I`m glad that you had a good time at the wedding and that it was a nice time.  That`s also nice that you got to visit with so many members of the family.  What?  Kim Barker got married?!  That`s crazy haha.  I thought that she was a lot younger.....Now I feel like an old fart haha.  Like dad said, time is a really strange thing.  It goes super slow until we stop and look backwards and realize how fast it has gone.  So I think that the beg bugs are gone.  Last Monday we stood my matress up and punched it a bunch and I prayed that night that we would not have more problems with them.  We haven`t received any new bites like all week, but we will see what happens.  I'll keep you posted.

So we had transfers this week.  I said goodbye Elder Mendoza who is now in his house (CRAZY!!!) and I recieved Elder Martinez.  He was Elder Patey`s trainer....so in mission terms my grandpa is now my companion.  He's a really really hard worker.  He goes home in 3 months so I'm guessing that I will leave the area the next time that we have transfers so that I don`t end up staying here for 9 months.  That would be a ton of time in one area.  He`s a really good missionary.  He's a bit bossy haha....it`s sort of a I know everything about the mission and we are going to do things my way sort of attitude, but I have a lot to learn from him.  We made a huge map of our area this week.  It`s like 6 feet by 3 feet.  We marked all of the members, everyone that we are teaching, and all of our future investigators with different colored stickers.  Hopefully it helps us to plan a bit better.  

We found a few new people to teach this last week that are really great.  I'll don't know them super well yet so I`ll tell you more about them later.  We had an entire family come to church on Sunday.  The C. family.  I think that I told you a little bit about on of them.  The ex-Jehovah's Witness.  We were super surprised that they all came.  I'll keep you posted on thier progress.  We are still working with R. and M. and the T. family.  We have several that have a lot of interest and we are receiving a lot of names of new people to teach.  Things are going well!  Love you all!

Elder Schow

August 4, 2014

August 4, 2014
Hey everyone,

I'm glad to hear that you all are doing well and that things are exciting as ever! Well yep I am going to be receiving a new companion....but I have no idea who. I am staying in Independencia though. Our president decided to change how he does transfers. The only thing that we are told is if we need to bring our suitcases or not. No one is told if they are training, DL, ZL, etc. I guess it will be kind of a surprise. I think that there must have been a problem with people complaining to other missionaries about their new companions. It should be good to see who it is though.

Well to be honest I don't really remember much that has happened this week. It has all kind of been a blur. We have been really busy teaching etc., and trying to get everything ready Elder Mendoza to go home. He has been pretty sad this week, but I think that he has finally come to terms with everything. It will be the start of a new adventure for him.

We did find several new investigators this week to take the places of several that has fallen of the face of the earth. We are finding a lot of new people to teach, but they have not been progressing very well. R. is still progressing really well, but we are feeling very rushed to teach everything that we need to before his baptism. I want to stop teaching him in his house though. I have bed bugs now, and I'm pretty sure that I brought them from his house on my clothes. I have to figure out how to get rid of them. My companion hasn't been bit, but we found a big one in his bed. Maybe we can start teaching him in the house of a member so that we don't keep bringing more. We also have another investigator named M. that has come to church 5 times. The problem is that his visa expired so he has been living here illegally and he needs to get married to his girlfriend but he can't without a visa. We are trying to see what we can do to fix that situation. Things have been pretty normal for the most part. I did however find out this week that eating pineapple on a hamburger is really good! Who knew haha?

I've had some good study sessions this week that have really helped strengthen my testimony and help me to have a clearer vision about why I am out here. It really is going quickly. I almost have 10 months already. I really want to make the most of the time that I have left.

Thanks for sending the package mom. I´ll let you know when I receive it. Thanks for all of your love and advice everyone! I love you all. Have a rip roarin' week!

Elder Schow

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