Elder Jayson Schooff: Hello!

Hello World!

Ok! Well hello family! Wow, I sure do have a lot of things to share with yall today! This week has been incredible! So I feel like I have done soooo much in just one week. Let's see...I'll start from the beginning!

So, I woke up at 3:50am in the MTC to get to the travel office by 5 o'clock, our flight left at 8:30 so I was able to call family and all for just a bit (so good to hear all yalls voices again, loved it!). So yeah we get on the plane and there are 32 other elders on this plane! haha So yeah, a very well protected plane! I fall asleep on the plane and the next thing I know I am looking out the window in CALIFORNIA! It is soooo greeen here! No snow to be found anywhere. We get off the plane and walk into the airport. And that is when I realize that this is real! haha, People gave us the weirdest looks ever! No joke! So yeah thats when it hit me. I AM ON A MISSION! Ahhh so cool! So we get like 3 huge vans to put all our luggage in and go to the church building with the mission office attached to it. Cool! We do some orientation and then (drum role please) we get our companions! They lined us newbies up in the front of the gym and started calling off a name one at a time! My companion's name is Elder Torres! He is great and he has been out here for a year now. And he is from Mexico!! So my Spanish will be gettting better, I tell him to speak Spanish to me as much as possible.

So after that I get in the car and we get our first area, (I know Bryson is wanting to know where I am serving sooo bad). Right now I am in the area called Cerritos. I live in an area which is called the One Ways, ever been there Bryson ! Haha, it's pretty freaking ghetto. No lie our apartment is pretty small and ghetto... I love it :) haha. So yes we go there and drop our stuff off and go to work!

Let me just explain something really quick- when I met with the President he told me that my first area is definitely going to push me to do my best. This is why...we came into the area (Elder Torres and I) both not knowing it, his old area was HBN. So this is all new for him, we both white washed this area. We asked the old elders in the area for any progressie investigatos or an area book. They didn't have any. They didn't even have an area book!! Or a map!! Hahah, so it really is all on us to reactivate this area! And let me tell you...it's so great! Yes, it has been hard. But it's soo awesome, my area is all hispanic! I only have spoken Spanish to like 1 person this whole last week. But the Lord has totally blessed us! We now have a ton of progressive investigators and have a lot of success for the most part! It's been great.

My Spanish is still iffy! Haha, I went to church yesterday and out of all the words said..I probably understood 5! Haha, but I am trying my hardest to go out of the way and talk to people, I LOVE my ward. They are all soo nice and happy!

I got my bike a couple of days ago, and yesterday...it broke! Haha so that is my task for today to go and try to get it fixed!

I am so grateful to be here in California, I am so happy to have a wonderful companion that wants to work really hard just like me! Thank you all for the wonderful support you give me. It really helps a lot!

A really cool experience this week, let's see...well we were going down one street knocking but having no luck, so my companion said we need to get on our bikes and go north...so we did. And he is taking all these crazy turns and I have no idea where we are. Then he stops, gets off his bike, and we lock up our bikes and he starts walking for like 20 feet. Then stops, looks at this pink ghetto house and starts walking to the back of the house! Haha I was freaking out because I wasn't sure if we were allowed to go into the back. But we did. He knocked on the back and then this little old lady answered the door. We started talking with her. She started crying, and didn't stop. She said she has not heard from her son for a long time - and she thinks he might be in jail or dead because he is in a gang around here. She said that she was looking for an aswer in life and we just happened to come over right when she needed us. So we prayed with her, and now she really really wants us to come back and to talk with her about our religion! So cool! I am so proud of my companion for listening to the spirit!

Welp up, that's about it! (also Clara if you are reading this I tried to write you back but I apparently sent it to the wrong address or it said you don't live at the address on your letter, can you get me your address again! Because I have to write you!!)

Here is my new address for all of yall:

Elder Jayson Maury Schooff

California Long Beach Mission

6500 Atherton St.

Long Beach, CA 90815

USA

So yeah well I love you all! Keep writing me and telling me how yall are doing, love to hear from yall! Until next week!

Elder Schooff