July 29, 2013

Hey family!

How are all y'all doing?! That's so good to hear, haha well I am doing Fantastic! So, so great. I need to say once more...I love my mission. It has been a week of a LOT of learning for me, a lot, a lot, a lot. haha, I have seen that after every trial...there is a miracle, we just have to open our eyes. That's all! I have learned how much we need to trust in the Lord as well, that we aren't just doing this for the Lord, we are doing it WITH the Lord. I have seen that so much this last week.

Ok some cool updates for this week. One, it is now an official mission rule worldwide...Backpacks are now NOT allowed. WHAT?! Ha good thing I have had a shoulder bag now for 2 transfers, one step ahead, suckas! Haha but isn't that crazy! Like it has been that way since the dawn of missionaries. And also...very soon, very, very soon, iPads are coming to the mission. It's so gnarly, dang yo. The times are changing. 

Also, our area got a new car. SUP. 2013 Ford Fusion. It had 10 miles on it when we got it. Haha it's so cool.

Well, I just have some really cool quotes I would love to share. 

"Doesn't it seem foolish to spoil sweet and joyful experiences because we are constantly anticipating the moment when they will end?" 

We shouldn't wait to be happy until we reach some future point, only to discover that happiness was already available?" 

Soo cool! I have learned to much from those two quotes. It's awesome, sometimes we need to just relax and love life. That's when we see the miracles. 

I love my companion, he is great. I have learned so many things from him, and I know I will learn a lot more. We are doing great, working as hard as we try. It's great. I know that we can get things done with the harmony of a good companionship. It's great. 

Well fam all is going well here! I love it and I also love to get all y'alls mail! I can't wait to hear from y'all next week about all your cool stuff that y'all are doing! 

Love y'all! 

Elder Schooff

 

July 22, 2013

Hello family! 

How are y'all doing!? Well let me just first off say that I love my mission and I love this area too. We had the opportunity to have another baptism yesterday. With the family that we have been working on, the Mother has a baptismal date for next week, she is a little iffy but i think she will do it. 

I have realized the power of a wonderful testimony, That's one thing that our Mission President, Pres Tew, has told us to take VERY seriously. He is an amazing president. I can tell there is a reason that he is my president. I love the times in my mission when we just contact on the street and bear a very small but powerful testimony. It really helps me more than I think anyone knows. I have been really trying to push myself harder and harder everyday to make sure I will always be the missionary that I need to be, and I love the ability to be that missionary speaking Spanish too. 

So Ash, as you told me last week to look out for an Elder Jensen, well he is in my district! haha He is the coolest guy ever! I'm not training him, but I had the opportunity to go on splits with him this week twice. And we really wanted to make sure he has a normal start to his mission, unlike me! haha So I took him to a park and we contacted for a while, he has great Spanish and he will be a leader in this mission one day! 

It's crazy to think that I am now done with 6 months of my mission, I have done soo much! And I really now have seen how much progression that I have made. It's weird to think that like one day I'll hit a year and then on! It's weird, I have been waiting so long to serve my mission and now I'm here! And it's slowly going away, it's sad in a way! That's why I will never take advantage of even one of the days of my mission! I love it! 

How is everyone else doing?! I hope all is well with everyone. But I am fine, more than fine. I have grown a testimony that trials are for a reason, God trusts us and that's why we have them, we NEED them to make our life interesting and to make us grow. I have seen trials in my mission, but with these trials come miracles. we just have to open up our mind and see them. Like Elder Utchdorf says, "It would do us some good to slow down and look around and see the good." I love that! 

That's what I am doing right now, love life. 

Well I love you mission!  And I love you all! 

Elder Schooff! 

July 15, 2013

Well, whats up family! How's it all going?! Sick! 

Well, one more transfer has been completed. Cool. I really thought that my companion and I would be together this transfer again, but...Nope! So we got the calls on Wednesday night and he is going to be a DL in my old area of Cerritos andI'm  staying to train! Yup, I get my own little greenie. Cool! But  what it is a little different, he has been here for just a little bit. But this will be his first real transfer, he has been in the field for like 2 weeks of less, because I think he is fluent. Not sure, or something, but now I'm Senior Comp, that'll be cool. Now that's for the rest of the mission. Cool,I'm  really excited for this. Now our zone is completely young! I'm training, Ruiz is training again and Cardenas. I'm the 2nd oldest in my zone. What the heck?!?! haha cool though, I love my mission! 

This transfer will be a bit more difficult, we are going to have to find like crazy! It will be cool, I love it! The mission is the greatest thing ever! 

Also...this week I got hit by a car! Sick! Haha it was so insane, it completely screwed up my bike. So now I have a ghetto bike. Sick! Well, let's see. It was cool, and I have no damage to me. Don't worry about me! 

But other than that, nothing too amazing has happened this week. It will be better next week. I just cant believe that I am already done with 1/4 of my mission. What the heck? Wow. It has already flown by, it's sad to think that one day it will be over! But that's in a while so it's cool! I LOVE MISSION! 

How are all yall doing? Is it all good out there in the world? Ash, how is Gavin and Ava? Bryson thats sick about your trip out of the country. Cool, Kay..i knew it. haha I love you! 

Y'all are the best, I love to get all your emails and letters especially! Have a good day! 

Elder Schooff 

Ok, wait I have more! haha this week President wanted to interview all of the trainers and it was awesome! I LOVE President Tew. He really is meant for this mission. He is great. This week I also love how I got to see all the other elders I know from around the mission, I was able to see so many of them, like all the first district. Its so crazy to see how fast and easy it is on a mission to make such amazing friends! I LOVE MY mission. It's mine, I hold it sacred, I know this gospel is true! I love you all! 

July 8, 2013

Well hello Family, 

I just need to say that I love you all so so much, so much. And I LOVE my mission, I have really learned that it is something very sacred to me. I LOVE it, LBC truly is the mission for me. Great times here. Also transfers are this next Tuesday so we find out what is happening this week. Should be cool haha. 

We had some really, really cool miracles happen this week, that truly have changed my life forever. Some are just way too personal to say over email. But I'll try to tell some other cool ones that happened this week. 

It was last Monday night and we were just getting out of a Noche de Hogar, (FHE) and we had a about 30 minutes to kill until we needed to go inside. So we decided to knock for just a little bit, in this one apartment complex that we have been wanting and feeling we need to knock and that that night was the best time to do it. 

So we go over there and it's all gated up, but luckily a car was just leaving while we were trying to get in. Miracle 1. haha, But yeah we knock around and see this one door open upstairs, and we decide to go talk to the people with the door open. We look in their house and it is just full of boxes. Tons and tons of boxes, they were about to move, so naturally as missionaries we asked if we could help. And amazingly they said yes! Miracle 2. haha, No one ever lets us actually help. They told us to come back the next day at 12. We did, we got well accustomed and started to talk with all them, and it was 4 elders helping and the family has a mom and 2 children, and they had to move out that day because of the lease being up. So this was the LAST day to move them. The mom is about 60 and the daughter about 25 and the son 20. The son is deaf. Yes, deaf. It was very humbling to move boxes and have to communicate with him. We got to talking to him (we were writing on paper and using our hands trying to speak) and he told us that he has just really wanted to change his life, and that he thinks that we are the answer. We told him to come to church with us. So he asked his mom through signing in sign language. About 3 minutes of them signing and dead silence and us waiting for an answer, we saw him and the mom start to bawl their eyes out. The spirit was so strong in the room. I have never felt so calm but still have no idea what is going on. 

The mom eventually told us why they cried. 

20 years ago, when the mother was pregnant with her son the doctors told her that the son would probably be a miscarriage and she should abort. There is a list of people you can call to have come pray with you in the hospital so she picked one and called...it was the missionaries in LB, this was 20 years ago, keep that in mind. The missionaries came and prayed with her and gave her a blessing about 2 weeks until the baby came. Well he is still here and the only thing that is "wrong" with him is that he is deaf, she said it was because of these prayers that the son is here. But after she had the baby she lost contact with the missionaries because she went home.

She said that we was praying Sunday night, stressed out because they had to be moved out and she knew that she could not do this alone with just their family. She prayed asking God for help, and then the next night...we showed up. It was a very, very powerful time in my mission. Now we need to try to find out how we can teach them. He is deaf and can understand English sign language and Spanish but the mom only signs in Spanish.. it's gnarly. But if there is a will there is a way. 

So yes that was just one the amazing miracles that happened this week. One day I'll share all that happened, after the mission :) haha. 

4th of July was awesome and so great. I loved it and I thought of you Ash and Kait the whole time, wondering how many pics did Kait take of the fireworks and instagram them. hahaha, love yall! 

Let me just say that I KNOW with all my heart that this gospel is true, it is. There is no denying this. It has been so amazing to have another baptism this week, this our other investigator, when I baptized her and she came out of the water her knees buckled and cried, because she was so overcome with joy, I had to like hold her up! haha It was great. 

I know that this is the work of God, and this week I was really, really missing mom, but I KNOW that she is there. She knows what I am going through and that she is amazing. I love this gospel, everyone talk to the missionaries! 

Love y'all, 

Elder Schooff 

July 1, 2013

Hello hello hello hello! 

Well, hello family and friends! How are you all doing today? Cooool. Well this week truly was such an amazing week! I loved every minute! So great. We just had tons of success and it was fantastic. Well, we had a baptism yesterday too! For our investigator, she is LEGIT! We found her 3 weeks ago! And we started teaching her only 12, on the 18th. Wow. That is amazing, she truly was ready for this gospel and the Lord was putting her in place to prepare. It's a pretty cool story, we were knocking one morning and had NO success so we tried knocking in an apt complex, but hers is super hard to get into. But luckily right as we were passing by, a car was leaving and the gate opened, so we sneakily snuck in. ha. And we decided to start at the end. Well it was her door, the first one we knocked on! And she answered and said, "Oh I know yall, I talked with yall like 10 years ago, but then the missionaries left and never came back!" So we were like uhhh ok! Well, can we talk with you more? And at first she said no because the old elders that spoke with her spoke Spanish and they were cool, we told her that we spoke Spanish too! Haha and then we set an apointment with her next week and told her to come to church and she did! She is so legit! Haha so we taught her everything in 12 days and had the most powerful lessons with her over this last little bit. It came down to this last Thursday and her interview was on Friday. She basically told us that she wasn't ready because she didn't know if Joseph Smith was a prophet and Thomas Monson too. So she kinda wanted to postpone it. We were pretty bummed to say the least. Because it was sad. We really felt like the 30th was her date! We prayed about it and everything, so we went to dinner and told the other elders what was happening. Elder Sudweeks (he came out with me) thought that we should just go on a night split and talk with her, so he and I went back to her house that night and watched the Restoration Video  about Joseph Smith. It was so powerful, I  love that movie so much! And after we just testified to her, it was truly the most powerful lesson ever! And Elder Sudweeks said something really cool, "The people that think about baptism the most and say they aren't ready...those are the ones that are." It's so true, and what's crazy is that we taught her all about Joseph Smith all on the anniversary of his marder too, the 27th of June. She was really, really thinking about it! And it turns out that she knew she was ready, it was so powerful. So, so powerful. I LOVE MY MISSION! haha, and we had the interview this last Friday and the baptism yesterday! She asked me to do it, and of course I said yes! haha. 

That was so fun to baptize her. It was so so spiritual and great. My first time, and I was super nervous but really excited, I remember just getting into the font and doing it, but after I remember just standing there about to change and just had the most wonderful feeling of peace. And thought about a lot of things, especially Mom. I miss Mom so much and think about her always. Being on a mission I really do my best to make her proud. I love my mission. 

Well that's awesome, I love yall so much and I'll talk to you next week! Woot woot! Another baptism next week too! cool! 

Love y'all 

Elder Schooff

Hey also we have a new President this week, cool. We talk to him on Wednesday.