Feb 17, 2014
Hello again family!
Alright. so I will have some good and spiritual baptismal pictures next week to send you all, but just to show you all the fun I have been having here while still working hard to serve the Lord. The Lord really blesses us if we will work in His way. He is so concerned with this work and will help us in any way possible if he can. I am really running low on time this week.... we spent a few hours golfing today. We golfed 16 of the 18 holes which took quite a while. I wasn't too bad, but I definitely was not any good. Makes me want to get good at it.
1. My Land Rover Defender 90, old school restored, haha... These things are everywhere here!
2. Me next to a Makati sign. This place really is the richest place in the Philippines...
I am super out of time. Love you guys! I hope you enjoy the pictures!
Love,
Elder Schroeder
p.s. thank you so much for the package. I will get it on Friday probably. We are going to pick up packages then. I love you all! Have a great week!
Feb 23, 2014
Hello Mom and Dad!
It sure is strange thinking that it is just you two and Grandma at home. I will send a couple emails this week so I can send more pictures
two children/ teenager from two close part member families. One of the Dads is working abroad and the other was too shy to stand in the picture.
Elder Woodburn, Jan Randolf Silvestre (future bishop), and me
Jan really is a great convert. He is definitely going to be future leader of the church. And he wants to serve a mission!
Yes this is a dog. Yes, it is in the church
Hwag kayong magalala. Lalago pa ang buhok ko.
(don't worry. my hair will still grow)
Yeah we got some good haircuts. You may have noticed it in last weeks pictures. This was one really quick week. Thursday we had 2 baptisms!! Which was great! Friday we had a zone conference and conducted exchanges. Then Saturday we finished exchanges and had to deal with a problem in our zone. To be shared another time, it's all worked out now.
So this is what I would like to share a little bit about in my email today.
When it comes to our calling as missionaries of our Lord and Savior, whether full time or not. Is there doubt in our minds, however small it may be, that we can be instruments in His hands to bring about His work? Do we feel that the Lord if before our face, on our right hand, on our left, in this great supernal work? Do we know, without the slightest shadow of doubt, that we are called and chosen representatives of the Master, that we have His divine authority on our side? When introducing our friend to the missionaries, does any doubt enter our mind whether or not they will be baptized? We need to make strong our faith in our Savior. To believe that He is more vitally concerned with this work than any other person who has walked the face of the earth. Will our faith be as the the mustard seed, having the capacity to command mountains to remove, or will we be driven about by the slightest breeze of doubt? We need to stand steadfast and immovable in our faith. That the Lord may seal us His. And that we may become instruments in His divine hands, to seal also our brothers and sisters to this great and immortal family. I know it is true. And I testify that, in this the eleventh hour, we can bring many souls unto Him if we have faith enough in our Eternal Savior, even Jesus Christ.
(Mosiah 5:25, Matt 17:20, Matt 20 and D&C 33:3)
I love you all! Lets all build our faith together. And we will receive more blessings than we could ever imagine.
Love, Elder Schroeder
p.s. got the package this week. thank you so so so much!!! My companion appreciates it a lot too. We are enjoying it together.
p.p.s. I hope those memories of us two growing up are mostly good ones... we'll keep fighting. Kyle and us both agree that if we didn't have each other, and such loving parents, we would not be where we are at now. Thank you for all the love and care you have given in raising us. I bet it was hard a lot of times, and we weren't perfectly obedient, but you both did a great job and put up with a lot. Kyle and I are so grateful for it! Love you!
March 3,2014
Hello family!
It sure is strange to see you with Elder Stephens parents way over there in America! I wonder what kind of food she is going to teach you to make... Adobong Manok is super easy... with pork is good too. One of my favorites is probably Tinola.... but I am not sure is you can get a hold of un-ripe papaya there. Anyways, let me know what she teaches you to cook. I would love to here what you guys are eating that's from the Pilipinas.
This week was great. There sure is power in Fasting. I had a good list of things to fast for this week, including my white handbook, because it had my two bank cards and temple recommend in it. All replaceable, but not very easily... And as I fasted for it, it showed up. phew. I was also fasting for a lot of members and investigators. God sure does bless us when we fast and pray for a righteous cause.
One good story this week of how God works in mysterious ways... so a Sister "A" in our ward that is less active has wanted to return to church for the longest time. She has been praying for it and been trying so hard to go, One night she was praying fervently to be able to return to church... and her husband has a heart attack! Not in the plan, right? So they go to the hospital, and use up every bit of savings they have for the treatment and medication. They return home after 4 or 5 days from the hospital. This was brother "L's" 3rd heart attack. The doctor at the hospital told them that someone at his age, after three heart attacks, should definitely be dead. But "L"is still running strong... the day after they get home, He says, "Why don't you go ahead and go to your church this week?" Out of nowhere, some change of heart came upon "L" and allowed sister "A" to be able to go to church. I know how much faith Sister "A" was exercising to be able to attend church. And now only in her day of trail, is her faith able to be strengthened by attending church. I know a change of heart will come upon her husband too, and he will be brought unto the waters of baptism.
Loving the mission. I am seeing lots of miracles happen in every ones lives here. God really does humble His people to bring about His great causes. The Lord ways are not our ways. But it is the only way.
Love you guys!
Elder Schroeder
p.s. Thanks to everyone for all the birthday wishes! Happy to no longer be a teenager, but sad to be getting closer to being "old" - which is still a FAR ways off I would like to add.
p.s.s this is for Joy. My companion was reading an old letter from his friend, sister Cambria Bitter. Serving here in the Bacalod mission now (not sure if that is spelled right). The letter said something like, "it is going good here in the MTC, my favorite teacher is brother Theobald. He is always fun." something like that. not an exact quote... thought that was pretty cool. She was learning hiligaynon (okay, that one i really have no idea how to spell)... but that's how it sounds. Anyway, thought she would like to know. love you guys!
March 10, 2014
Hello Mama!
You are not going to believe this. For our Zone Activity we went to Ocean Park. Super cool! We fed penguins, touched some rays, and saw a lot of cool fish and things. At the end we went to a sea lion show which was pretty cool. They picked one volunteer from the audience and it was me! So I gave it a hand shake, fed it some food, and gave it a good kiss! I have a video of the whole thing that Elder Woodburn took for me. Then after the show a random guy came up to me that is a member of the church. He had a really nice Canon and took a bunch on pictures of me during the whole thing. He said he would send them to me too. I also gave him your phone number so he could send them to you... because I couldn't quite remember your new email. But he said he will get a hold of you once he is back in America. Super cool! Who in the world out of all the missionaries can say that he or she has kissed a sea lion on their mission! Only yours truly. I can't believe it at all. Way cool! I also have a lot of pictures of us feeding the penguins, which is pretty cool.
On a side note, I am not sure I really want to email pictures anymore from here. It is super dangerous, cause they are computer cafes and missionaries get viruses on their cards here all the time. Elder Woodburn actually got his wiped two weeks ago. So I am trying to figure out if there is some way to send pictures safely. I can always print them off and mail them to you, it just takes a while. So that's one problem that I need to work out.
About transfers... Elder Woodburn is transferring to Palawan. He will be one of the Zone Leaders there in Puerto Princesa. My companion will be an Elder Clarito, he is super nice. I will be training him how to be a zone leader because he will just be new at it. I am excited though. I get to practice my Tagalog a little bit more than before. He speaks pretty good English as far as I am aware. It will be fun. It is hard to believe that Elder Woodburn and I have been together now for two whole transfers. Time sure is flying.
This week has gone pretty well. We didn't teach many lessons, but we are having a lot of success with our less actives recently. My testimony has grown a lot seeing how God humbles his people when they become prideful. Being humble really is a great attribute and one that we should all strive to attain. The Lord truly has great love for a humble leader. There are many many instances where pride is referred to and condemned in Holy Writ. There is no other attribute that leads to more sin than that of pride. If we all strive to be more humble in our day to day lives, we will see greater blessings poured out upon us then we ever have before. I know it is true. I have seen it happen. And it will continue to happen because God's ways do not change. We will be blessed only according to our obedience.
I sure hope Casey can get into that program. That would be such a great blessing to him and his family. I will definitely remember to include that in my prayers. I can't believe how big Walker is getting by the way. It sure is good that he can walk now, ha. He is going to be so big when I get back home. Time is flying by the way. I cannot believe how fast time really is going here... its like a month goes by in the blink of an eye.
I can't think of anything else to say. I know I am forgetting something good... I will email you again if I remember it. if not, Love you all!
Elder Schroeder
