January 6, 2014

Hello, Family! 

How are all of y'all l doing. Also, i don't know where I say y'all from. I'm from Colorado, why do I say y'all? Why have I always said y'all? Maybe it's my Virginia amigos or the friends I had in college (thanks Wyatt).

Haha anyways, whats up y'all? This week has been a blast with some tons of new info! So check it, I am back in CERRITOS! And wow I LOVE this area, I totally see why the Lord has put me here again, as y'all know we are white washing the area. And it's super cool! At first it was hard, but I love it and the Lord has totally blessed us!  

We came into the area, with literally 0 investigators and 0 progressing and 0 coming to church. The area to say the least was...dead. But that did not discourage us, actually it made us want to work super hard. And we did just that! We have a pretty weak area book and that's what kind of makes it fun too, it really is like we are opening the area again! The Lord truly showed His mercy with us.

At the beginning of the week I was to say the least a little overwhelmed. I was pleading with the Lord for help. To have our hearts a little more open to the Spirit and to find someone in the area that needs our help, I knew that as we did our part the Lord would provide. He did just that. I love my mission. We had many miracles happen

Before I share this miracle story, a little background info. My 2nd transfer of my mission I was in Cerritos. We always were working in this trailer park with a bunch of potentials. One day that transfer there were some kids skating outside and we asked them if we could use there skateboard and if I did a kick flip they would listen to our message. I did and then they really liked our message, one kid had a TON of potential but I never got his name. He really loved the church, and wanted to come with us. But as luck has it, I got transferred out and then my other companion went home, so the kid was "lost" and no one knew about him. I remember when I was in Cyprus whenever we saw kids skating I would always think of the kid in the trailer park, and how I wish I could contact him. I knew he had tons of potential. Well.....Wednesday morning the first full day in the area white washing, we are looking through the area book and we see a record of someone that was found about a month ago named Jose. It was basically the most updated thing we had in the area book so we decided to go by. As we went by we were nervous and knew we had to make a good impression. Well guess what, as I walk up to the door I see a skateboard on the patio and we knock and the kid who walks out of the door (Jose) is the kid that was in the trailer park, y he instantly recognized me! We started to talk and it turns out the missionaries contacted him in the street about a month ago and he showed them a video he took of me doing the little trick on the skateboard to them y he said he really wanted to talk to us. He has the strongest testimony of the Gospel and Joseph Smith. 

This was such a testimony to me knowing that the Lord does keep watch over the people in the world and that he does love us all, Jose has a desire to learn more and the Lord will always follow through on His promises if they are worthy and desirous to learn more of Him. I am so excited to learn and to teach him more. So cool! 

Another cool miracle. We were at the office Thursday morning because my comp had and interview with President. While I was there we got a phone call from a man who lives in Huntington Beach, and he told us; "Elders, I called this number like 4 months ago to give some referrals to the other elders, I really felt like I need to call again and check up on if the elders have contacted them." We explained our situation how we are both new in the area and we don't think they were ever contacted, so he gave us all the info to three referrals again and now one of them is an investigator! He said he was cleaning his garage out that morning and found a piece of paper with our number and didn't know who the number was for, just felt like he really needed to call it!" How cool it that? The Lord truly does provide! I love my mission! Our new focus in the mission is to focus on prayer and to lean on nothing else but prayer to use it all the time! 

I have had so much fun this last week, and I love this area, I am so blessed to be here again and to see all the members that have helped me so much in my life and the beginning of my mission! 

I know this gospel is true! I am so grateful for all of y'all out there that are supporting me, and I love this time here! 

Have a great week! I encourage all of you to use the power of prayer, test your faith and ask God what you need! Love y'all! 

Elder Schooff