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

June 9, 2014

June 9, 2014

Well hey there everyone. Well it has been another exciting week in Mexico. There were several cool things that happened during the week. Number one, we were looking for someone to teach one day and a man yelled at us and ran up to us. We were just going to ignore him because usually when people yell at us it's because they don't like us. We ended up stopping though and he caught up to us. His name is R. We ended up teaching him this week and he is super prepared. He is having family problems, and he wants to change his life so that he can reunite his family. He told us that he is prepared to do anything to change. He has really shown us that this week. He has read everything that we told him to read, he even wrote down questions and then the answers that he found in the scriptures. He even came to church. Unless something unexpected happens we believe that he will progress really quickly. We also had a really good lesson with A. this week. He really, really wants to be baptized.   He is a really really great person. He is getting along really well with the ward members too. He is also fulfilling his commitments.

So we didn't have K.'s baptism. We are going to have to postpone it for 2 weeks. There is a problem with the plumbing in the church, and when the ward mission leader went to fill the baptismal font he found that it had backed up with sewer water. It smelled BAD. And I mean BAD. The water from the bathrooms and the street are draining into it. It will have to be completely fixed before we have the baptism. She took it really well though. We also found a new person on Sunday. Well we taught him for the first time. He is named W. and is from Venezuela. He has lived all over South America and in the U.S. too. He has quite a bit of interest. Oh and R. got kicked out of his house by his 'girlfriend' and has nowhere to live and doesn't have a steady job. Hopefully he can find somewhere to live. It really might be the last time that we see him though… :( Well that´s about it for this week on my end. I'm glad that girl's camp was a success Maddie! I'm glad that you got to go for a little bit mom and dad. It sounds like a fun place. I'm sure that it would work great for the reunion. What was formerly the red room looks great. I really like it and am excited to see it in person. You are quite the remodel crew. Thanks for your advice mom. I read that talk this week too, and I really enjoyed it. It was good to reflect a little bit on the loads that have helped me to have the necessary traction to arrive where I am right now. I love you all. Thank you for your support and prayers. Talk to you soon.

Elder Schow

June 2, 2014

June 2, 2014

Hola!

Well I am glad to hear that everyone is doing well. It sounds like you were able to do several fun things over the last week! That Wellness Center sounds pretty cool! Is it going to be a public thing, or is it a private entity? More tennis courts, eh? :) That`s funny about the moose mom. It's crazy that it got down so far. That's also really cool about Audrey. You`ll have to tell her congrats for me. Have you met her fiance? That's funny about the campout dad. It sounds EXACTLY the same as when Ethan and I used to go. I can`t believe that he is still in the same calling. I starting to think that he`ll be in charge of the 11 year old scouts until he dies. Don't worry about last week, as far as I can tell things have gotten better. Thanks for sending the stamps and the memory card mom. I will let you know when they arrive. I don`t think that you need to send me shirts. Some of them have a couple of little stains and such, but nothing major so I think that unless something drastic happens I should be good for at least another 4-6 months or so. Thanks for offering to send some more though. The one thing that I might need is a pair of suit pants. I have no clue how, but mine got some bleach stains on them? Super random. I have a couple of other pairs from J C Penney that look practically identical but that are starting to wear out. It might be hard to match them so if it impossible don`t worry about it and I will see what I can do here.

Well this week was a little bit better than the last week in terms of numbers etc. We were actually able to teach more lessons and find a few new people to teach. The thing that is giving us the biggest problem right now is that we have appointments every hour, but half of the people aren't home when we go to teach them. We need to work on making sure that they are going to for sure be there so that we don't waste a bunch of time for nothing. We found a new investigator this week named M. that we taught once and that seems really interested. I contacted him while we were waiting to talk to a doctor in our area that gives us references sometimes. He is catholic but has a lot of doubts about the Catholic church so we think that we can really help him. I am starting to try to contact more. It is really difficult sometimes, but the more that we do it the more confidence that we gain. Also, sometimes we can find some really good people through contacts. We just have to have the courage to open our mouths. I've also been trying to do better at exercising this week. It`s been killing me haha. I've been walking around like an old man all week. I'm really trying to get into a pattern so that I have more energy etc during the day. I think that it will be great in the long run. So we should be having K.'s baptism this Sunday. She is super excited. Her mom is also coming back to church again and the two of them brought another family to church with them this Sunday that aren't members. They're totally killiing it. We also had another investigator that came to church this week for the first time and loved it. His name is A. R. didn't come. We taught him the night before and he was super down. The more we get to know him the more that we think something is a bit off with him. We feel like he should go to a doctor, but I don't think that he has money. We offered him a blessing the last time we saw him and he was going to think about it. I feel like if we give him one that it will really help him. We'll that's about all from here in stairs land. Love you all. Stay safe.

Elder Schow

May 26, 2014

May 26, 2014
Hey everyone,

      I'm glad to hear that it was a good week for everyone. I'm glad that you had fun on your trip mom and dad. I can imagine that it was nice to get away, eat a bit of junk food, shop around, etc. I know that I always like to do that kind of stuff. That's so crazy that Stu is back. It seems like it went pretty fast. It sounds like you've got a busy month coming up with Sun Valley and all that good stuff. I always did like the Sun Valley trip. I hope that you all have a fun time and that you can find a lot of cool things to do there. That´s crazy that the Johnsons are moving. I´m glad to know that you would tell me if you were going to move though haha. That would be quite the surprise though. Like dad said though, the house might be a bit different when I get back. The open house sounds like a good idea. Hopefully you guys can bring it to life.

 

      We did have a few good things happen this week though. I don't know if you remember the family that we contacted a while ago in a taxi. The mom has been coming for a while now, but they all came to church this last week and they said that they are going to start coming to church together every week. They all have baptismal dates too. We also had another cool experience. There is a recent convert in our ward that is 14. She stopped coming to church for quite a while. We visited her and just asked her flat out what happened. She said that she likes going to parties and that she doesn´t want to miss out on all of the fun. We told her that that sort of stuff doensn't bring us happiness and that we had seen the effect that it could have on people. We were very honest with her. We didn't really feel like it sunk in though. We went to visit her a few days later and boy had she changed. She was actually happy and smiling, she had her young womens medalion on, she told us she was reading and praying and was going to talk to the bishop. It was a complete 180 degree change. Now she is coming with us and her sister to visit people on Sunday afternoons. It was a pretty cool experience. We still don't know R. very well. He is like an onion that you have to peel back a layer at a time. We don't know what to believe of what he tells us. I'll let you know when I know more though. He is a VERY humble man though. Oh and this area is super wierd. We've seen 2 Ferraris and several Lamborghinis here. This area isn't rich either. It's super wierd...maybe a lot of drug trafficers. Well that's about it for this week. Love you all. Thanks for all your advice. }

Elder Schow

May 19, 2014

May 19, 2014

Hey ya'll, sorry I'm writing so late. I had to go to immigration today for fingerprints and I just got back. Kind of a sucky preparation day haha, but it's all good. Well this week was loooong, but good. A few good things happened. We have a baptism coming up on Sunday for a 12 year old girl named K. We are working to reactivate her mom, and we are teaching her 10 year old brother a little bit. We are also teaching someone called R. He is one of the weirdest people in the world, but he has a really sincere heart. He did tell us in our first lesson that he had wanted to kill someone that same day so that sketched us out a little bit. He's a good guy though. He just needs a lot of help. We had a woman that contacted us in the street this weekend that seems to be really interested. We have an appointment with her on Tuesday. We'll see how it goes. We are also working with a couple of other references and contacts. We'll see how they pan out. Angel sort of dropped us this week. He told his friend that is a member that he doesn't have much time and that he feels like we are perfect. It's a bit of a bummer. We're going to try to get a hold of him this week and see if we can talk a little bit. That´s about all that's new here.

So Lauren and Cam moved eh? Sorry about that mom, dad, and Maddie. Like you all said though I'm sure that it'll be good for them in the end. Hopefully it works out really well. I'm really glad that I got to talk to you all too and to remember that you really exist haha. It was a little surreal to talk. I'm glad that you had a good Stake conference. It sounds like they talked about some important stuff. That´s nice that the school year is winding down too. Did you finish with your job mom? That's crazy that Stu gets home this week. Out of all of my friends it feels like his mission went the slowest, but it still went fast. If you see him you'll have to tell him hi for me. Well that´s about all for today. Love you all a ton.

Elder Schow