June 23, 2014 - Gangsters, Miracles and Birthdays

Hello Family! 

Well this week was an eventful one, before I start out I just want to say happy Birthday Dad! I love you and I'm grateful for you! 

Well this week was awesome and yes, I am officially 20 years old. Wow. So no longer a teenager, cool! Some really cool miracles happened this week and it was fun! Let's start out...

Tuesday was the beginning of this transfer! We got all the new elders settled in and we got to work! Had a great lesson with our investigator Jackir! And I  set up a Church Tour with him. 

Well, I went on exchanges with an Elder Navarro on Thursday and WOW it was the best exchange ever! I learned so much from him.

On Wednesday night we had such a cool miracle, we contacted this guy named Alfredo, and he is awesome, he is about 40 years old, and man, he seems like he has had a gnarly life, he has 5 kids, with 4 different girls, was born and raised in East LA in the Hood and has had a rough life, he is tatted up and pretty scary looking, but we knew we needed to contact him. We got into the contact and he was acting tough, cussing and cracking "wise-guy" jokes with his 2 friends that were there with him as well. But somehow he let us sit down with him for a bit and talk, we invited them all to talk to us, they all agreed. As we talked, we started to learn that really, he was a super nice guy has just had a horrible childhood and situations happen. We were praying our hearts out that something we said would change this man's heart, something that he has never heard of! Well, he started to tell us that he has lost faith in God, because for 3 years he has been asking God for an answer to a personal problem, 3 years. He said he read the Bible, talked to ministers, talked to preachers of all sorts of kind and no one could answer or give him a way to get his answer. We knew and felt impressed to teach about the Book of Mormon, and how if we pray before hand in the name of Christ, according to our faith, it will be given. As we were teaching and explaining about the Book of Mormon, one of the friends of Alfredo that we invited to talk with us, interrupted us. we were nervous of what he was going to say, because the Spirit was there and we didn't want it to leave. His friend got up, named Roberto, and said "Alfredo... everything they are saying is true, that book, the Book of Mormon is true, I have read it, I was bapitized and I KNOW it is true." Roberto, the friend, starts going in and telling the whole restortion story of Joseph Smith and how he knows the story is true. Turns out his friend, Roberto, was a ward mission leader in Washington 2 years ago, but had a falling away and moved to Cali, he later told us he wants to come to church! Coool!  We asked Alfredo how bad did he want an answer, he said he'll do anything. We committed him to read in the book before we came back. And we left, relying on God to give him an answer. 

Well, 3 days passed by and we go back. We bring a really good member with us from our ward that could relate perfectly  to him. And Roberto was there too. Well we come in and Alfredo looks 100% different. Same outer appearance, but a 180 degree flip on the inside, he was calm, and ready to listen. We start out and he looks at us and says, "I did what you told me to, read the book...it was interesting..that is a Book of God isn't it?" He goes on to explain that one night he did read the book and prayed beforehand asking, if this is a book of God, show me an answer, Well, he opened the Book to Alma 5 and read the whole thing, he was reading for almost 2 hours he said. He said after waiting for 3 years his answers were finally answered. WOW! He told us, he knows the Book of Mormon is true. 

SUCH a cool miracle, to see that no matter how hard your life is, how indulged in sin you are, how hard your heart can seem. God will answer prayers to his Children. 

Another cool miracle, is that we had the Church Tour with Jackie, she is SOOO cool! So prepared for the Gospel! we brought two of the hermanas in the ward, Maripaz and Adriana cuessey! They are both great members of the ward! Well they came and the church tour was awesome! We set a baptismal date and man, the spirit was so strong as Jackie prayed in the chapel for answers! Also, God made it possible for that tour to have the spirit, Jackie brought her little kids, but so did the hermana Cuessey so they just babysat while we gave the tour! Cool! 

Ok, so my birthday was awesome! I am so grateful for 20 years of life and l would rather be nowhere but here! In the morning my companion made me breakfast and then we opened all the presents that y'all sent me!!! Thank you alllll SOOOOO MUCH! I am so loved by y'all, thank you. 

After that, we had left because one of our investigators wanted to treat us to lunch, named Brother Ron. We only have had one lesson with him, but he wanted to take us out. We met up with him and walked to a restaurant. We forgot to bring our wallets, but Bro Ron told us he would pay. Well, we get there and we order and he doesn't...he says he has to go to the bathroom, and goes...well he  didn't go to the bathroom he just goes...away, HE LEFT!! Haha so we were in a sticky situation...we had no money and a big plate of food in front of us... well we prayed and asked God for help, oh and to bless the food :) .  Well we asked the waiter/owner how we was and it turns out he JUST moved here from Mexico 8 days earlier. We start to talk to him and offer him help if he needed it. He sat down and well, it turns out we taught him a full powerful first lesson, at the end we was so happy and grateful that he told us that the food was on him, and anytime we wanted free food we could go to his restaurant..COOL! The Lord watched out for us. 

In the night time the ward actually had a Father's Day activity and our investigator went! So we got to go and it was a blast, the ward surprised me with a cake and called me up and sang Feliz Cumplinanos! It was very nice and then the next day the Familia Romero had a Suprise Parry for me at their house! 

I am so blessed, thank you all so much for all you do! Time is flying and I'm grateful for all of you!

Have a good week! 

Elder Schooff 

June 16, 2014 - Being Spiritually Pushed

Hello family! 

Man, this week was a huge eye opener and I feel like I received a lot of personal answers to some questions I didn't know I even had! It's funny how God works in, "small and simple matters," to bring to pass great things, I see that in my own life. Little things happen and by the end of it, you learned a huge lesson that will help you a lot!

This week we had some cool miracles that happened along the way. I love to see that, there were a lot of things that needed to be attended to and I'm grateful that the Lord gave us so many miracles along the way. 

There was an elder this week in my district who was struggling a lot. And he really needed help, I was with him a lot this week, driving him to and from the office of President. Trying to be there as much as I could as a spiritual help, and man I have had a huge testimony builder of how important it is to have the spirit with us, we all received the spirit after we were baptized and it's so important that we live worthy to maintain it, I still remember my baptism and, Nam, you talked about the Holy Ghost and you brought a box all wrapped up that looked like a present and you gave it to us and then took it away, to represent that if we are worthy we can keep the gift of the Holy Ghost, but if we break a commandment the Spirit will "be taken away" or leave. I know how important it is, because there is a true difference of speaking with the spirit and without, you can feel the difference in speaking. 

I love being a missionary and getting to learn these things. 

It says in Helaman 5 :10, "That the Lord surely should come to redeem his people, but that he should not come to redeem them IN their sins, but to redeem them FROM their sins." 

I have learned more than ever now, that we have to accept the atonement of Jesus Christ, as it says in the Plan of Salvation pamphlet,
"In paying for your sins, Jesus did not eliminate your agency or personal responsibility—He will not make you clean against your will."

We have to choose to follow Him! And do everything we can to do that, my testimony grows every day of repentance. 

    

This week, like I said, I grew a lot! I want to say happy Father's Day to my wonderful father, you are simply the best, for everything that you have done for me, thank you. I'm grateful for you. I have seen as I go through my mission, how hard it will be to be a father, but man I know it's rewarding. Thanks paps! 

Transfers were this week and I am staying with Elder Beyer for a third transfer, gnarly. That like never happens, but I am happy for that, we work super well together! So we are pumped! I'm happy to be with him, without doubt he is one of the funniest guys I have ever met! 

I was about to go on exchanges with my Hijo (the elder I trained) one last time this week, he is leaving and going to Cerritos, I love serving around him! We had such a good night of success, it was so rewarding. 

I love to do missionary work, to get out there and get in the streets and talk to people, especially in Spanish. I love this language! 

So like 5 days until I turn 20 years....dang. I look back at 20 years, and I am happy. I love my life and I would be NO WHERE else but right here. 

Thanks y'all!

I am making a new goal to eat as good as possible! And man I love doing it,  you just feel better! haha Random but I am proud of myself for it!

Have a great week!
Elder Schooff

June 9, 2014 - This is MY mission

Hello family! How are y'all doing?

This week was an eye opener to how real the prophet's councils are! I love that Elder Ballard came here last week and that he gave us some really cool promises! But I'll get to that in a sec! 

Well this week started out with an exchange with Elder Peterson, he has been up here for 6 transfers or about 9 months and man he is a good elder with a huge smile on his face! We had a good time. We, in the nighttime, went on member splits, all the missionaries! So Elder Peterson and I went with a Hemano Ojeda. It was the scariest time of my life in his car. We were driving down the road and he missed the turn to the street we were going to so he just stops, flips a u-turn in the middle of the major road and starts driving down the wrong side of the road, while doing so he is laughing and said, "Caray, los hispanos son locos!!!" Haha yeah it was crazy, but we were spared...

Later on the week I went on exchanges with Elder Beck one of the Zone Leaders, man he is a boss elder! We had a good time and had some really cool miracles, found new investigator and got some cool lessons, we also passed by this member's house and got to go in his Adult Size Tree House, yes no joke he sleeps in it every night, it was running water and a sink, a fridge, a bed, a 48 inch tv and AC. Yeah it is gnarly, then he took us to In N Out. Score. 

Friday night we had a really good lesson with out investigator family! They are progressing right along, It is cool to see them start to make the change in their lives to be closer to God, it'll take time...but they are doing it! Cool! 

Well Saturday rolled around a we really wanted to find a new investigator! So bad! So we prayed our hearts out, and as praying we remembered what Elder Ballard told us, "If you speak to more people, you'll have more people to teach!" So we set out to do just that y we talked to as many people as we could, some things came up throughout the day that we had to tend to and by the end of the night we still had no new investigator to teach. So we prayed and were guided to our investigator Jose's house, but before we knocked on his door we contacted his neighbor that was outside gardening, we talked to him for about 15 min and while talking to him at the very end Jose's mom  pulls up in her drive way! So we finished our contact and went and talked to her! We saw our investigator and we had a nice lesson with her and went on our way, by the end of our lesson with her it was about 8:15, still we had no new investigator, so again we prayed, and we were guided to our recent convert's house, we didn't know why though but we trusted the Lord. So we knock on their door and no answer, so we knock again...no answer, a third time and...no answer. So we left but as we were leaving our RCs house, their neighbor was outside washing his car (I know right, at 830 at night??) well we go and contact him and he literally had NO interest what so ever, but as we talk to him for a couple minutes a car pulls up to our recent convert's house, it was the father! He gets out of the car and comes and talks to us and says, "Hey elders, wanna come in? We haven't really ever talked." So we go in and have a lesson with the father, who is not a member and we picked him up as an investigator! We have been trying SO hard to talk to him for SO long and we finally did it! And man he is so ready, he told he he knows with all his heart that the Book of Mormon is true already and he will progress just fine! 

The Lord gives us what we need in life! I love that, I heard a cool quote this week that says this, 

"Frequently we have weaknesses in the very place we are expected to excel." -Emmitt Smith

Cool huh! i I know that's true! God gives us our weaknesses to that we can be made strong (Ether 12:27).

I love my mission and I love all of you, transfers are next week, so we will see what happens! 

Elder Schooff

June 2, 2014 - Hello! Apostles and Dead Cats

Hello everyone! 

How are y'all doing, this week was another killer week and we had some awesome success, prayer is the best! Let's start out... 

On Tuesday I went on exchanges with an Elder Morelos, he is boss and he came out at the same time I was training, he was my greenie's companion in the MTC. The exchange was awesome! We had an awesome lesson with their investigator - in the middle of the lesson it was super powerful as we were speaking about the Holy Ghost, in the middle of speaking about it, 2 DOVES flew in and started walking right by our feet..wow! So she accepted to get baptized! It was an awesome exchange and I saw a car crash...cool! 

Wednesday night I got back with my companion and it was awesome! We found a family that we are now teaching and they are super solid! The mother's name is Alicia and the daughter Yori and Ramon! Alicia's dad was baptized in Mexico but she never was, she knows a lot about the church and has a belief that God can change lives! So cool! When we taught them, it was one of those experiences when you feel the Spirit guiding your words, not us! It was powerful! We really tired to implement the power of prayer of all things!! We prayed like no other! Haha it was cool! 

This week we had an awesome District Meeting and we had an obstacle course involved, we were showing the lesson of extraordinary prayer plus extraordinary effort equals extraordinary faith and results! It was super fun and there were doughnuts at the ends :) haha cool! I had a lot of fun and the mission president's wife came to see too! Cool! Well, it was fun.

 

After that, on Friday we wanted to get the members involved and take hold of Pres. Ballard's commitment to ask and invite members to share the gospel, so we did just that and we actually got a referral from someone and their neighbor! It was awesome, it was a POWERFUL lesson and by the end of it the man, (Angel) was asking us to come back and he told us, "Elders I hope I don't disappoint you, I'll do anything to get closer to God!" He didn't know how to pray, we taught him and he prayed, it was a powerful and beautiful prayer, it wasn't amazing huge words but you could tell that God heard that man's prayer! 

Saturday was the day we were waiting for, Elder Ballard came and spoke to us and it was fantastic! It was very powerful in the words he shared, we spoke of how to find and teach more! He said, "Don't be preachers of the Word, Be DOER'S of the Word!" Go out and get it done! Cool huh! haha, Then he opened it up for questions to the missionaries and it was a unique experience to talk to an apostle!  

Later that day we got a call from a member in the ward that lives near us and she said she had an "emergency service job for us" and we could come in pros. haha so we went...kinda nervous. Well we get there expecting something gnarly, it was...a dead cat. Yup, she asked us to come throw away a dead cat that she killed on accident, it was a trip. hahaha. 

Saturday night we had an activity and it was pretty good! And we really wanted to invite everyone! So we went out and started to contact everyone possible! Once again skateboarding came in play...haha like always, I finally know why I did it for so long...to share the gospel! haha, Well there was this kid skating in the parking lot of the church and we went and contacted him. Invited him into the church for the activity! I said if I do two kick flips he has to come in, well I did them and we talked for a little and it was a spiritual contact! But last second he chickened out and ran away. haha, But the experience taught me a lot! As we do EVERYTHING we can we will feel accomplished! No matter what the success number is! But your soul will feel light and free! Cool! 

Well family I love you and have a great week!
Elder Schooff