Transfer to new area!

8/23/15

Hello Family!

 I have a surprise!! I got a text last night from President Ostler. I am being transfered this Thursday to Palawan! I am going to be assigned in Santa Monica Branch again! My first Area! The boundaries are a little different now but I will get to see all the people that I taught and met before. And the way it works out, I am also going to be one of the Puerto Princesa Zone Leaders. I am really excited to go over there. Being Zone leader there means that we get to do exchanges with TayTay and Roxas districts. So I get to go see the northern parts of the island! I can't tell you how excited I am to go out there. 

So obviously it isn't transfer day... so it will be part of an emergency transfer. Elder Dodini will be put in a threesome with the other companionship that works in our ward. So they will be covering two areas. I am sad I have to leave because we have some really great investigators that I love so much. And since I will be on Palawan, I will not be able to go to any of their baptisms.

Anyways, I will keep an eye out for the Haynie's... I would doubt it if they came to Palawan for part of a mission tour. I will definitely see them at some point.

Well this computer shop is about to do maintainence on the computers so I have to cut this short. 

I love you all!

This week was great! Taught a lot of lessons and are seeing some good progress with our investigators. 

One spiritual imprssion I had is about the Sabbath. We should spend more time in humble and fervent prayer on this sacred day. As we do so, we will show our respect to God and His sacred day. He will pour His spirit upon us in greater abundance. I invite you all to spend more time praying on the Sabbath day, and I can promise you, regardless of what you may be feeling, you will feel God's love for you.

Elder Schroeder

Baptism!!!

Sorry Everyone:/ I'm way behind on Connor's blog updates. I'll try to do better on setting the time aside to post his emails. 

Robin

7/19/15 

Hello family!

How does dad like his new truck? I wish I could drive it... make sure it works all right and such. The river trip sounds like it was fun. What do you think about kyle and cathy? How is that going you think? I could really go for a gourmet burger right about now. We actually have a burger place just up the street from us that is pretty dang good. I think they put somthing like cheeze wiz on it... not sure. 

The work in the area is going pretty well here. The baptism we had for this week is not going through becuase they were not able to go to church this last Sunday. But they are going to be baptized for sure. They passed their interviews already with the Zone leaders, they need to be interviewed by president  We have some other baptisms that could be coming up in a few weeks but we still need to work out things. 

As far as spiritual stuff goes, this week was pretty good, I have been learning a lot about what its going to take to be a parent. About correcting behavior of others. Lets just say there is a lot of room for improvement...

I just want to share a little bit about missionary work, which can also be applied to life in general and our progression and children of God. 

This work is not easy, we get lazy, we get tired, we get frustrated, and we fall victim to temptation like everyone else. But if we have a true understanding of our unlimited potential to repent and become like God, we can overcome. The power behind this work is always greater than the obstacle before it. Even if we are weak, and it seems like whole nations stand against us. The Lord has said, "Wherefore I call upon the weak things of the world, those who are unlearned and despised, to thrash the nations by the power of my spirit" (D&C 35:13). We are weak. Not one of us can deny it. Despite this weakness, we must all come to a solemn conviction, "that there shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent" (Mosiah 3:17). Coming to this conviction requires diligence in study, and and honest desire to know the mysteries of God. As the gospel of Matthew teaches, "watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation" (matt 16:41), we too must watch and pray with all diligence to obtain this conviction and overcome the temptations that so often lead to our downfall. Jesus Christ is the way, and I know it now more than ever. We can all obtain this knowledge, and receive power from on high "as the dews from heaven" (D&C 121:45) as we strive to work in this holy calling. 

I love you all and miss you all a ton! 

Have a great week!

Elder Schroeder

1. yes that is a kitten in my bag

2. A lizard I caught

7/27/15 

Hello Family!

The kitten was from the Temporaza's house. They got some new kittens and so I put one in my bag. It slept in there through the whole lesson. 

About the correcting as a parent, I guess I have gained a better understanding for what parents feel in that sort of situation. Parents don't want to do it, though they know that it has to be done... and if it is not done, then that bad behavior is going to repeat itself. As far as actually knowing how to correct, that's still a tough one... relying on the spirit is all I've got. and that the way you correct is different for each person and also dependent on the circumstances. But it is otherwise still a mystery to me. It is an endless pursuit, no doubt.

Wow everyone is losing weight! Way to go everybody. Dad should take up road biking... it is easier on the knees. well, he knows that. Make sure you all keep up the good work! I have actually lost 23 pounds too! I am looking great! nothing but skin and bones now! Haha.. Jk

Transfers are this wednesday, and I should be getting word within the next hour or so about transfers... but I am almost positive that I am staying here. Elder Dodini might get transferred but I am also pretty sure that he is staying. 

How is the young men's doing in the ward?

Really cool to see that Kelsey is married.. Bummed that I couldn't go to the wedding but I am glad that Kyle represented well. How are him and Cathy doing? Are you seeing her around alot now that Kyle is home?

Well, as far as the area going, the Temporaza family is still on their way to baptism. They are going to be interviewed by president before they get baptized which will be a great experience for both of them.  They are awesome! They feed us almost every time we go to their house which is super nice. Another family that is going to be nearing baptism here pretty soon is the Pana family. They are a part member family. But we are reactivating them (its actually two families) and going to baptize all the ones who havent been yet. So that is going to be a total of 6 baptisms here in the next transfer we are hoping. 

And for spiritual stuff, I have some insights from second nephi 26, verse 24. "He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world... wherefore he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation." It is so simple and needs almost no explanation. There is not a single thing that our Savior does that is not for our benefit. And there is not one being ever in all of existence that the Savior has not invited to receive salvation. Even Satan and all of his followers, in the depths of evil and despair, have been invited to partake of his Atonement. The mercy of the divine Plan of Happiness is unequivocal, and it reaches to all who are willing to accept it. On the other side of this plan, we face judgement. A perfect judgement and perfect righteous anger. As it says in 2nd Nephi chapter 20:21, " For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still." Mercy meets the demands of justice only because of the atonement of our Savior. And we can overcome all the demands of justice if we humble ourselves and come unto him.

I love you all! Thank you for all your emails and your prayers!

8/2/15

Hello There Family!

Sorry, I dont have much time this week. I will try to type fast. 

Stories from this week...So on Thursday we got a text from our investigators saying that there was a drug gang that took someone hostage and killed a guy in our area. We had appointments later that day in the exact same building complexes that it happened. I guess things got cleaned up fast because we didn't see anything. 

Also, another one of our investigators, while we were in their house, found out that a person they know was shot. We had just walked by there right before that appointment...Heard about a couple more hold ups but nothing super out of the ordinary. 

We are staying safe here so no worries. I've never felt threatened here yet. It's only the people that are involved with dealing drugs that get killed here. So being stabbed is probably the worst thing that could happen to us. We'll be good though!! I'm pretty good with first aid and so is Elder Dodini. 

Really don't worry though. People here know we are missionaries and we always have lots of people around us. So we won't be held up anytime. No worries

our area is pretty crazy though.

As far as investigators go, we are getting Temporaza  ready for baptism. They will be interviewed by presisdent this week most likely and are really going to be great members. They have challenges that have come their way now but everything will be okay as long as they stay firm in the faith. The scriptures are a huge help to us no matter what situation we face.

Another investigator, "K", is going to be baptized a week from Saturday. So the 15th I believe. Her sister is a member. She has been ready for the past few months. The last sets of missionaries here just didnt know who to work out her baptism. We had to get an exception to a rule for her with the boundaries. But it is all good now and she will be baptized very soon. 

Other than that we had 11 less active members at church today. I am getting back into the flow of things really well here and my Tagalog humor is back. It helps a lot with getting less active members back to church actually. We are going to have a lot of success with returning God's children back to him.

I love you all! Thanks for all your emails!

Elder Schroeder

8/9/15

That is really cool about the elephants! I bet walker had a really fun time there. 

I am super bummed I am missing all of these weddings and stuff. All the stuff going on makes me wish I was at home. It is a huge sacrifice to serve the Lord, but the work must go on! It is a challenge to deal with but I am being given strength every single day. 

Elder Dodini and I have three baptisms coming up this week and we are really looking forward to them. We actually had to go to the Buendia Chapel in Makati yesterday with our investigators to have them interviewed by President. It was a great experience for them. "B"was really nervous to do the interview in english so she asked if I could go in with her. So I translated during the interview which was a really cool experience. "B"and "R" are both looking forward to their baptism this week. Then we are going to start working on their temple preparation and get them some callings. "R"is also going to be able to baptize his son when he turns eight in October. It is really great to bring a whole family into the church. It makes me really happy that I am back here serving as a missionary.

The other baptism we have is a sister named "K". She has been taught by the missionaries for a very long time, but the previous missionaries did not know how to coordinate the baptism because she technically lives outside of our ward boundaries. So we got that all figured out and she passed her interview yesterday as well.  So we are really excited for both of these baptisms. 

Something I feel impressed to share this week is the importance of family history work, and the spirit that we will all feel as we participate in this week. I have been sharing my Family Booklet and about family history with investigators, less active, and active members. As I have shared this, I have felt a special spirit that is more tangible than I have ever felt before. Every single time I share about my ancestors, I feel this spirit in a greater presence than I have ever felt before. The work of Salvation will only ever be fulfilled through temple work. There is no other way through which it can be accomplished. We need to put forth an honest concerted effort to find more and more of our relatives, and we will be blessed with the spirit in greater abundance. 

Love you all!

Elder Schroeder

  Zone Conference 8/11/15 

8/17/15

Baptism!! Great week!! 

I baptized the two sisters:) 

Elder Dodini baptized the brother.

This is Elder Rosario and I crossing a river with a little girl on exchanges.

Pig face for making sisig. Super good!

Not a lot of time to write because it takes so long to upload pictures.

Oh and by the way, about that picture of the river crossing I sent. The river is black from trash and poop and pollution. It smells like fecal matter mixed with engine oil and burnt hair. Just shortly after we crossed, two school age teenagers fell in because they were messing around. 

I have a picture of them getting out of the water but didn't have time to upload it.

I love you all!!! 

Elder Schroeder 

Absolutely Loving it Here!!

6/28/15 

Me with some kids, and a mouse I found in my shoe

Hello Family!

That is pretty cool about the jumbo tron at the padres game. Last time I was there we tried to get on it too, but they didn't put it up...

The work here is going great and I am absolutely loving it! The "T" family has gone to church two weeks now and they know that everything we are teaching them is true. We just taught them the word of wisdom and the accepted it super easy. So we are teaching them to get them ready for baptism! Just yesterday the sister called the church "our" church, which was super great. She used the phrase "sa simbahan natin..." which means a lot more if you can actually speak tagalog. But that was super great!! They are so ready to become members. 

Oh, Elder Dodini has been out about 6 months and his tagolog is just fine. He has some improvments he can make but so do I. He just gets frustrated when he can't get his point across or when he asks a question and they don't get it. Then I can help rephrase it and they get it right away. But he is getting there. He can speak well and understand most all what everyone is saying. I need to help him better with his language study. He is a super smart guy and is going to be a great leader here in the mission.

Oh so we had one really awesome story this week. Well, we always have some but this is great. Elder Dodini lost his umbrella about a week ago, but he thought that he brought it home. So he kept looking for it and looking for it buthe couldn't find it. So we are walking to an appointment one day on Coral Street and out of nowhere I look back and see a lady standing bhind me and to the right. So I just go up and talk to her.... I am talking to her, just small talk and what not.... out of nowhere she just says, "did you lose your umbrella?"... and Elder Dodini says, "yes!" Turns out she saw him drop his umbrella one night. So she goes into her house and comes out with Elder Dodini's umbrella. We could'nt believe it! Out of all the streets we walk on, out of all the people we talk to (we have over 50,000 people packed into our area, I would guess)... I talk to the one lady who found Elder Dodini's umbrella. Looking back at it, there was no reason why I wanted to talk to this lady, I can't describe it, it just made sense. 

So that is a pretty cool story.

Oh and I got sick this week. Threw up one and pooped more times than I could count. But I am feeling good now. We almost reached our weekly goals still even without being able to work Friday night and all day Saturday. 

Thats all I've got for this week.

Love you all!

Elder Schroeder

1. me with the "T" family after church

2. a cop car in our area/15 

7/6/15

Hello family!

Wow that is terrible to hear about Dad's truck! Did he buy the new sander? Is that the one that was in the truck? or was it the small blue one? That is really a bummer. That would be super discouraging... We at least you are going to get a new truck. You could trade in the HHR too or sell it to help pay for the new truck. I'm thinking red, just to let you know.

If your wondering what up with the reference to dad's truck and work tools. Here is a picture of it. Sad day!! We have to look on the bright side...Thankfully, no one was injured!!! Stuff can be replaced. 

Wow! Joy looks ready to pop any time now. Hopefully everything goes well with that. I'm going to have a new niece here pretty soon! 

 Casey, Joy (due anytime now) & Walker

The "T" family is doing so great! They showed up to church this week wearing their sunday best! They went out and bought some new clothes just so that they could look more like members. All of their friends at church were fellowshipping so well. They really enjoy coming to church. They are super awesome and will be baptized very soon. We just need to finish teaching them all the lessons and they will be ready to go.

So another good story this week. We got flashed again by that same lady. We have one of the craziest areas. We meet people all the time that have old scars in their stomachs from hold ups and riots and a bunch of random stuff. So needless to say, Elder Dodini and I are being very careful. We avoid the really bad areas at night too, just to be extra safe. We always have people warning us to be careful. I know that God is watching over us and as long as we are obedient we will be safe here. 

Oh Elder Dodini was also sick this week. So our work was pretty weak this week. But he is feeling better now and we are already hard at work again. I got a lot of time to study and worked out in the apartment which was really nice. Elder Dodini and I are really good friends and we have a lot of fun working together. He gets frustrated sometimes with the idleness of the people here but has a ton of faith that those people can change. 

Oh and I don't know if you heard but a typhoon came through north Luzon sometime this weekend. So we are getting a ton of rain down here in Manila. Parts of our area flooded and we were pretty wet last night and this morning. It should let up pretty soon though. 

The district I have been assigned to has lots of work to do. I am really trying hard to be a good leader. everyone seemed ready to work and you could expect a lot from every missionary. So that is what I am praying for every day, that I can be guided in the correct way to help others and those I serve with to better themselves. 

As far as other investigators go in the area, we have some good ones. And they are solid. We just have a lot that can't get to church. Here in Manila people work a ton. It is the sole reason that most people come here. So it is really hard to convince most of our investigators to try and switch their day off. There are a lot of unique circumstances that we have to help people overcome. It is a challenge, but that is really where we can see the true desire and faith of those we teach. We are here to find the elect. No doubt in my mind. I remember something an Elder I knew said once. When he said it, it was just a joke, but it has stuck with me ever since. He said, "kaunti lang ang maliligtas"... in english, "only few are those who will be saved." It is so true. Even within the members of church. Of all the people we teach, only few will accept the message. And of all those who accept it, not all will be successful at living it. All those who live up to their covenants will be saved "after all they can do." If we do all we can, we will receive the greatest Gift of God. But we need to ask ourselves, "Is this all that I can do? Am I living up to my potential? Is this what the Lord expects of me?" God gives no commandment unto us that we cannot fulfill. "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." We can do it! Our potential is much larger than we can comprehend just as King Bejamin says in Mosiah 4:9. We cannot comprhend all things that God can comprehend. But we know, if He says it, it can be done. Strive for perfection in all we do, even if we cannot reach it now. Always have the goal to be better than you were yesterday. 

I love you all and miss you all a ton! Have a great week! I am praying for you all.

Elder Schroeder

sorry, I cant get this computer to upload pictures this week. Maybe we will try a different computer shop next week

Interesting Experiences... Change in Perspective...

6/14/15
Hello Family!

Being the "old man" in the mission is interesting. Mostly everyone that I know in the mission is going home either this transfer or the next. And all the people who are old in the mission, despite having a lot more mission experience than me, still sort of look up to me. It is a weird feeling and I haven't quite figured it out yet. I feel like my experiences are going to be a great blessing as I am able to help those around me to learn more about the Atonement. I get more emotional in my teaching now and it's strange. I find my eyes watering often when I testify of the Savior. I always thought that I wasn't one to cry but I guess that's changing a bit. I feel like I need to say something really manly now to make up for that last comment. The spirit is invited into my teaching much more now than it ever has been before. I can really relate well now to people that I meet who are dealing with challenging times. It is a huge blessing for sure.

That's cool that I got a letter from the prophet! It's funny haha, I am already in the mission when the letter comes. It's a pretty simple letter. Thanks for sending a picture of it. That's pretty unique.

This week has been...... interesting. Lots of stories. And I suppose that these stories illustrate the some of the problems that are typical to the Philippines. On Monday last week, we were walking down the street and a lady yells "yeahhh baby" to us from the side of the street (which happens pretty often actually).... but then as we look over we quickly realize that she was flashing us. We sped up our pace a bit and looked away. Lets just say that she was a rather large lady. And I'll leave it at that. Another story. We got on a jeepney going to part of our area and a little kid gets on to beg for money. We aren't allowed to give him any according to mission rules. So he keeps begging and the driver and barker both get mad. (a barker is the guy who stand outside the jeep and yells trying to get more people on the jeep). So the driver hits the kid with a piece of wood and the barker punches him in the back. (this kid is probably 14 years old). So the kid leaves. Then out of nowhere the barker gets hit with a big gulp cup full of pee. The kid then proceeds to get his butt handed to him by one of the barker's nearby friends.

There are a lot of problems here... but there is also a lot of good.

Elder Dodini and I were talking about this the other night. In America or any other first world country, there are many people who don't believe in God. They say, "if there is a God, how could he allow so many bad things to happen? How could He allow poverty in the Philippines? How could he allow a holocaust?" Or things like that. Those things aren't prevalent so much in the states. But when you come here to the Philippines (or in other similar countries) where those things are prevalent. Poverty everywhere, and low standards of living, you see that those are the people who believe most in God. They are the ones that are living the criticisms of first world countries and they see that God is real. Those who live in the states, or Europe, or wherever there is a lot of prosperity, have a very limited perspective. It destroys their faith in God when it should strengthen it. Our problems are little compared to those here. And those here still have greater faith than almost all that live in better circumstances. It really changes your perspective to live among the loving people of the Philippines. They have their vices too, just like Americans, but at least their faith remains in the face of difficulty and hard times.

Besides that, the area is doing well. God has really been working hard preparing this Area for Elder Dodini and I. I will let you know next week more about our investigators because most are still pretty early in the teaching. We have a lot of promising looking investigators though. It is going to be a fun transfer!

Love,
Elder Schroeder

Here are some pictures:

Me with a bunch of kids



Elder Dodini kissing a lovely dog



Picture of us in a crowd of people who are worshiping an idol.

I look pretty tired in the pictures but I promise I'm not. I'm doing good!!


6/22/15
Hello Family!

Happy Birthday Pops!!

This week was interesting. Have a lot more stories again. I don't think a week will go by in this area without having any new strange stories. I will spare you this one due to the nature of the story. Let's just say that it was something that no missionary should ever see and not appropriate to share.

Transfers were also this week. Elder Dodini and I are staying together for another transfer and we are both happy about that. We are pretty good friends now. We got two new elders. One American and one Filipino. Elder Calixto (the Filipino lives with us in the bahay) and Elder Barnes is in the other ward in our district. He is going home at the end of this transfer.

I also got to give a talk on Sunday in sacrament meeting. I spoke for about 15 minutes on fathers, families, and how we can better teach the importance of Christ in our homes. It was based a lot on an article in the June Liahona called, How we Preach of Christ in our home. (Link to the article )

I told the story of when Kyle and I caught the fort on fire and related it to how my parents taught me the difference between right and wrong. It was a pretty good talk, I think. Everyone was asking me how long I had been in the mission after the talk. I'm not sure if that means my Tagalog was good or bad. haha.

So as far as the work goes, we have some really promising investigators! I am going to tell you about three of them. 

The "T" family are super awesome!! They were being taught before I got here but are super nice and really intelligent people. They really love when we come to teach them and they went to church this week. Sister T was fellowshipped really well by the RS. Brother T enjoys speaking English to us, which is fun. They understand really well what our purpose is with them and realize the high possibility of them getting baptized. The only problem is that the sister is super busy with work. So we are working that out with her.

The next is a new investigator we have. Her name is "AJ" she has been prepared so well for our message. She was asking the perfect questions and I don't doubt that she will be baptized. She is 21 and is about to take her examination for electrical engineering, super smart. We are also teaching her family.

Lastly is "A". He is the husband of an endowed member. The first lesson we taught him he said that he felt something different when I showed him the pictures of my family. He said he had deja vu. Like he had seen those pictures before. He has been taught by many many many missionaries before and said he hasn't ever felt the Spirit but that he did when we were there. His only problem is that he is really really busy with work. He said he was going to go to church but he ended up getting home from work at 4am Sunday morning. So he was too tired to go. We just need to pray that the Lord will provide a way for him. He is a great guy and will be baptized I'm sure. It just may take a little while.

So I think that's all I've got for this week.

Remember that we all need to follow the Savior and Repent for all our sins like King Benjamin says in Mosiah 4:10 Read it, live it, and you'll be happier. Simple as that.

I love you all! You're in my prayers! Have a great week!
Elder Schroeder

p.s. That looks like the Sierra trip was a ton of fun!! We will have to plan a boys trip, when I get back.

Teaching... Lots of potential & Drawing crowds here in Tondo

Hello Family,

Wow! long email this week. Hopefully, I can write enough about this week to keep you wanting to read my emails. That is cool that Sister Chumbley lived in Tondo for many years. 

So this week was pretty good. I got sick which was pretty hard. Having to deal with being sick on top of the time change made it really hard to stay awake during studies for a few days. We didn't take a day off though. We just worked through it and it all worked out. I am feeling a lot better now though. 

We were able to teach a lot of lessons this week and commit a lot of people to read, and pray, and to go to church. We didn't have any investigators go to church this week but we had a ton of less active members go to church this week. We had something like 13 less actives at church, which was a great experience. I have never had so many less active come to church in one week in my whole mission. And that wasn't even all of the members that we had committed to go to church. There is a lot of potential for reactivation here in this area.

I really do like the mission vision that President Ostler has. I really feel like it will lead to very effective missionary work in all senses, and it will really prepare ALL members to enter the temple. The vision is more of a long term plan, and I can see how well it would establish the church when it is implemented correctly. 

So as far as the area goes, we live just a little ways down the road from the intersection of moriones st and nicolas Zamora (You can Google earth it) We live in our area, which is nice. I am learning the area super fast, probably the fastest I ever have. But our area is pretty interesting. We live right on the edge of the bay. There are a lot of squatters but we don't spend too much time over there. We have some nicer areas with nice houses and then most of our area is just pretty rough housing but not quite squatters. The hard thing about this area here is that since people are so poor, the head of the household is always working. So it is hard to be able to teach a whole family all at once, since there is almost always someone missing. But it is helping Eldee Dodini and I to learn how to schedule appointments better with poeple. Sometimes they follow through, sometimes not. But all we can do is show up when we say we will. Success in the inviting, regardless of the result. But it is nice to have good results obviously. 

We have a few families that we are teaching that seem pretty promising. All of them are still pretty early along in teaching though so it is hard to tell right now wether or not they will be baptized. Elder Dodini is still pretty new in the area too, only 5 weeks, but he is leading the area well right now since I don't know the area. There is a lot of work to be done  and we are having lot of fun together. We really draw the crowds here in tondo. 

I got to know the elders in my district a little better this week cause we had to do some practice teaching pass offs for them, which was great! Dad was right, I don't have any sisters in my district. Sisters don't get assigned here. 

Anyways, I think that is pretty much it for me this week. Hope you enjoy the pictures. I love you all!

Elder Schroeder

Here is a picture of a house someone just decided to make in a tree on a median in the middle of a road

picture of the controls for a toilet i used in japan. 

oh and also a picture of part of luzon from the air. That is the north east side of luzon i am pretty sure

Serving in Tondo...

With President and Sister Ostler 

     

Made it safe and sound after 39 hours... and assigned to Tondo in Manila. (Google it...so you can see where he is serving. Robin)

Hello Family!

Wow it sounds like you all had a pretty good week! Lots of fun and good stories. Yeah so my flight was interesting. I just slept in the airport in LA. It wasn't that bad. And yeah I was on the flight going from LA to Tokyo at 1:30 am. I am doing pretty well adjusting to the time. I just have random bouts where I feel really strange and a little dizzy but it wears off. Last night was the first night were I got some good sleep. I kept waking up in the middle of the night. A few more days and I'll be ready to roll.

My travels were pretty regular. I talked to a few people about the Church. A girl who thought drugs were philosophical, a rich Filipino, and several other nice Filipinos. Nothing to out of the ordinary though. I got my luggage fine. I made sure the airlines double and triple checked my luggage. And yeah! I had a pretty good 5 o'clock shadow going by the time I arrived.  I wasn't too wiped out when I got there. I was able to sleep a ton on the planes and while I was waiting around.

President had originally intended for me to send a quick email home but we got busy and I didn't end up emailing. President actually didn't end up picking me up since my schedule got all flipped around. What ended up happening was President Trask (the MTC president) and church travel were the first ones there to get me. Then as we were walking out we got intercepted by the assistants. Apparently there was a gap in communication and they sort of ended up fighting for me cause the MTC was apparently supposed to have me for 5 days. We got it worked out though and I ended up going with the Assistants. So Saturday, I worked with them and slept over at their apartment. Sunday, I went over to the mission home and had a good long talk with President. He said he wanted to meet me before he decided on an area. So then I had a few bowls of cereal while he made his decision.

Sunday I got my new companion. Elder Dodini from Gilbert, Arizona. Yes, I told him that Summer lives in Queen Creek. He said that he thinks his sister just moved there. He seems like a really good elder. Hard working but not too robotic. He is really excited to have an American companion. Our area we are assigned in is actually probably the roughest area in the whole Philippines. It is arguable. We will be safe though so no worries. I am pretty sure I can outrun Elder Dodini haha...Just kidding. Anyways, I heard the ward is nice but I haven't had the chance to meet many members yet. We are having a hard time getting members to work with us but we will see what we can do about it.

So our area seems pretty good to me. There are some areas with nicer houses and things like that. I met a lot of new people but can't remember all their names. One good one was an OYM that we had. It was two guys, One is a security guard and the other doesn't have a job. But they were really receptive to the restoration and we invited them to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. I am excited to see if they follow through.

I am pretty sure that I left my camera in my room or something. I may have lost it in my luggage but I don't think so. It is in a blue case. So if you could look around the house to see if I forgot that it would be great. I am a little hesitant to carry a nice camera in this area.

Well, that is all I have got for now. It feels strange to be back here but I am excited to serve!! I still need to get all the way back into missionary mode but that won't take long.

Love,
Elder Schroeder

P.S Apparently I am famous in the mission. People know my name. I hope that's a good thing and not a bad thing. I hardly know anyone, and after the next two transfers pretty much everyone that I know in the mission will be gone.

Excited to go back!!!

5/27/2015

Hi Everyone!! 

Some of you know that I served a mission for my church in the Manila Philippines mission but returned home about a year early. I'm happy to let you all know that I'll be returning to the same mission to finish the remainder of my service as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I am going to miss you all, but I am excited to be able to go back and serve amongst people that I have already grown to love. I will be leaving Thursday the 28th and will be gone for about a year. Thank you to everyone who has been supportive of me throughout my time while serving and at home this past year. Mahal ko po kayong lahat! Ingat kayo palagi!

Last stop before heading to the airport. Elder Schroeder with his Grandma Schroeder. She was beaming proud!!! 

Wednesday evening May 27th 

After travel delays... looks like he made it there in 39 hours. Poor Elder must have been tired... He was so happy to be able to return to the same mission to complete this 2 year assignment!!! We will get his first email Sunday night. I will update this blog as before with his letters and emails home. Love and Prayers for my boy and those he serves and serves with. Enjoy:)

Robin