Transfers...

Hello Family! 

I am having a great time serving here in Palawan! We had a hard time finding computers today so I am going to have to make this quick. 

Yes, meeting in a different church building was just for general conference and district conference.

This was a pretty good week. Not totally normal... but I don't think I have actually had a totally normal week since being a zone leader out here. Elder Burgos transfered early to receive the training he needed as the new assistant to president. So I was in a threesome with Elder Wake and Panugao until yesterday. Then I got Elder Eteaki becuase his companion is going home. So that is who I am with right now. He is a big Tongan guy. I tried to lift him up the other day and I could only get him about an inch of the ground. That's how big he is. He has a scholarship to play for Oregon State when he gets back home. I get a new companion on Wednesday, Elder Sorronda is his name. He was a district leader last transfer. I will be training him to be a Zone Leader. That is all I know about him really. 

We didn't have any investigators at church this week, which is a bummer. But we had a lot of less actives come today. I guess I am good at helping people come back to the fold. We will definitely have some investigators come this next week. I am excited! We are teaching a lot of really nice people. 

So here is my spiritual insight for the week. 

This comes from President Ostler. I have been trying to work on being less prideful. I told President in my last interview with him that this was one thing I was working on. This is a great quote he gave me to understand pride better. 

"The first trait of a truly great man is his humility. I do not mean by humility, doubt of his own power...[but really] great men... have a curious feeling that... greatness is not in them but through them... and they see something divine in every other man... and are endlessly, foolishly, incredibly merciful." - John Ruskin

To be humble does not mean that we have to give up the power that we have. We can still exercise the power we have been given. The key part is that this power has been endowed upon us and is the gift of God. Mercy is one of the greatest attributes of a truly humble person... For example, after cooking dinner, do we say to ourselves or others, "I cooked dinner, I don't have to do the dishes now." OR in other words... " I am so good because I cooked the food. Someone else should have to do the dishes now." The example is not perfect, but it helps us to see how we can have pride in even the most simple of things. I invite you all to see the pride you have, identify it, and try to improve yourselves, whatever it may be.

Thank you for all the emails! I love you all!

Elder Schroeder

4 Great Weeks!!

9/20/2015

Hello Family!

This week was another really great week! The work is moving fast and God is blessing us a lot! Sometimes we feel frustrated with the work and decisions of others, but it is just so great to be able to serve here again! I am loving every single day and feel very fulfilled in the work I am doing here.

Yes, I met the Wolcotts! They seem like a super nice couple. I have only talked to them for about 30 seconds so far but they were smiling and happy so that's a good sign.

Darn... I am just too sad, I missed out on cleaning the pool filters... next time I am there, I will help. 

Oh and about the choir. So they had callbacks (beacuse the list of those accepted needed to be revised), which I was a part of, but I couldn't get there since I am in Palawan. So it looks like I won't be able to preform in the Choir. oh well... haha. 

Yeah, Kyle told me that he has a heavy load this semester. He will do well though. As long as he has got half of what my brain is worth. Kidding. He will do well! 

Make sure you tell Grandma that I wish her a happy birthday. I love her a ton! 

I am really excited for Kyle and Cathy!! Make sure you take lots of videos and pictures and stuff so I can see what the wedding reception is like and everything. And I better get a wedding invitation even if I don't get to come. 

So as for the area, we are having lots of success. A lot of new investigators every week, a lot of oyms, a lot of work! We have two baptisms this week and I was able to interview another baptismal canidate in our ward this week. So we are going to have baptisms this week in our branch! We also have some other "conversion indicators" coming up that will be a great strength to the ward as well.

Elder Burgos and I are also going on exchanges this week up in Taytay, which is a 5 hour bus ride from here. So tomorrow we are waking up at 4 to get on a bus in order to get to taytay in time for their district meeting. I am excited because taytay is like way out in the jungle. It is like a province of the province. It is a small place. I am really excited to go work up there though. It will be a good experience. 

And for the spiritual thought of this week I wold like to talk a little bit about pride. 

One great scripture that I found this week is in Psalm 10:4."The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts" When we are prideful, we put our will over the will of God. We need to submit ourselves to the will of God and always strive in word and action to set ourselves parallel with the will of God. One great example of this is Ammon, as he rejoices in being made an instrument in the hand of God to bring about the great missionary work that God accomplished amoung the Lamanites. Here is an excerpt of what I sent to president this week. 

This week I learned a lot out pride and humility in my own personal studies, our proselyting and in church. One specific thing that impressed me is the words of Ammon in Alma 26. He says, "Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things." I hope that one day I will be able to proclaim this without pride in the works of my own hands. I see my own pride every day. When I was called to be a district leader, trainer, and zone leader I felt pride in my own accomplishments. Now I am trying to see that the work of the hand of God is the only way in which I was called to this responsibility. As I am trying now to remove my pride little by little, I am learning a lot about what true leadership means, and I am better able to see the endless number of improvements that I can make.

I invite you all to read Alma chapter 26 and ponder where your pride is. Do you have pride in being more humble than others? Do you study the scriptures to gain recognition from others? Find your pride and pray to God that he will help you to remove it, That you may glorify God as did Ammon.

I love you all and thank you for all your love,

Elder Schroeder

9/27/15

Hello Family!

I am going to be in Manila on October 1. The first Thursday of every month we go there.

We have a super super busy week ahead of us. We are leaving on Wednesday to Manila, coming back Thursday, then we have interviews with president Friday and Saturday back here on Palawan, and district conference meetings all weekend. So we will have very little time to work this week. Just Tuesday pretty much. 

The new senior couple out here, the Wolcott's are going to be working with Elder Burgos and I later today and I am excited for that. 

Oh and going up to Taytay this week was super great! total of about 9 hours on buses. We had district meeting in the meeting house up there which was great! There are two new missionaries serving in Roxas, so we got to do some practice teaching with them in tagalog. I am SO grateful that tagalog is easy for me now. I forget how hard it was in the beginning haha. They are doing great though and picking it up really really fast. 

So with general conference, we are actually watching it the week after next week (and we might be up in taytay actually.... not sure yet because we have an interview that we have to do for the district leader out there)... 

We had two baptisms this week! It was great! A mother and her son! Her husband would have been baptized as well but he got a job that doesn't allow him to be able to go to church. Since his wife has now been baptized and confirmed, this man received the strength and inspiration to be able to ask his boss to change schedules. So there is a high likelyhood that his schedule will get changed and he will be able to go to church again. We are really excited!

Sorry, I am almost out of time. For a spiritual insight this week, I want to talk a little bit about Works and faith. We all know that faith without works is dead as said in James 2:17. According to Ephesians 2:8-9, 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

We are not saved according to our works. But we are saved through the works of God, or in other words, the atonement of Jesus Christ. So what role does our works of faith play in our salvation? According to an additional scripture in James 2:20-24, 

20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith withoutworks is dead?

 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? 

22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?

 23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.

 24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

Thus we know that it is through our own works of faith that we are JUSTIFIED unto receiving the works of God unto our Salvation. We are not saved through the works of our own hands, but we are saved by our Master and Savior. But we are only justified to receive salvation through make decisions between good and evil. I invite you all to read these different passages and ponder the atonement in your own life. Additionally, read 2 nephi 25:23 and ponder the relationship of our works, the atonement, and the divine plan of happiness.

Love you all!

Elder Schroeder

1. Baptism!

2. Taytay meeting house

3. harvesting corn!

10/4/15

Hello Family! 

You got new furniture!? It looks good as far as I can see. 

This was a great week! Super super week. Busiest week! I think I have ever had in my whole life. So this is how it went:

Monday-preparation day and 2 lessons. 

Tuesday- district meeting and a few more hours of work. 

Wednesday-went to Manila and had exchanges with Elder Beagley and Elder Stratton. 

Thursday-MLC all day. We were supposed to go that day back to Palawan but the flights were getting delayed. As we were waiting for three hours, we talked to a ton of people in the airport and shared the gospel a little bit. We also decided we would get together in a group and sing a few Christmas songs, since christmas starts a little early here. So we went and got on our plane at 7:30 or something like that. And as we are sitting there waiting to take of we get an anouncement from the captain that we will not be able to go to Palawan because the airport in Palawan closes at 8:30 and it is an hour and 20 minute flight. So what we did instead, according to the words of Sister Ostler herself, we "partied" at the mission home that night. We got to play with some remote control tanks and helicopters and eat icecream and cookies. Slept with Caleb in his room with Elder Burgos of course. (oh and President and Sister Ostler, Caleb and the assistants were with us)

Friday-woke up at 5 to get to the airport for our flight at 8. Sang some more Christmas songs in the airport. Some people actually took videos of us haha. When we landed we went straight to the church and started the interview schedule a few hours late. So Elder Burgos, the assistants, and I had to figure out a schedule that would work for everyone to get everything done in time for meetings later that day. So we spent the whole day at church doing area books and other things. 

Saturday-also interviews. busy all day at the church doing training classes and checking area books, this time without the assistants help (they went back to Manila on Friday). Elder Burgos also gave a talk in a special training meeting for the district. 

Sunday-District conference, more meetings, and a few more interviews (me being the very last of all Presidemt Ostler's interviews). And then 2 hours of proselyting and weekly reports and follow ups. 

It was amazing that we got everything done this week.

One, we had one our investigators show up late for district conference (we knew she would be late because of her schedule). But she was too shy to go in by herself when she showed up late. We found this out Sunday nght when we went to go teach her. Member fellowshippers are super important to have to be able to progress this work! If she had a friend there then she would have gone in.

Anyways, for my insight of the week, it is about a series of quote things that i heard. This is how they go. It is about 4 different groups/audiences. Everybody, somebody, anybody, and nobody.

 "There was an important job to do, and everybody was asked to do it. Anybody could have done it, but nobody did it because everybody thought that somebody would do it. Somebody got angry because everybody was supposed to do it. It ended up that everybody blamed somebody when actually nobody asked anybody." 

Ask yourself, Where do I fit in this story? And what could each of these parties do to prevent the problem from happening? Could it be solved by one? Or does it take many? How and when does this happen in your life? 

I invite all of you to find out where you fit in this in a certain aspect of your life and do your part to fix the situation, regardless of what others do. 

I love you all!

Elder Schroeder

p.s. excited to watch conference!

getting off the cancelled flight waiting to shuttle back to the terminal

companion and other elders asleep on the plane.

 Elder Hadley (assistant) playing with a remote control helicopter

On the way back to Palawan (love my son's smile) 

Mission Leadership Council 

Singing Christmas Carols at the Airport 

Notice the 2 in the way back posing for the picture. Goofy Elders!! 

10/11/15

Hello again! 

I forgot to tell you last week, but we were walking on our way to catch a multicab to the church, and as I am walking I see something long and kind of shiny on the ground right in front of me.... then I realize... oh okay huge snake.... right as I halfway try to jump/extend my stride to miss stepping on it.... but it was all too late and just slightly too slow. I stepped on it. A four foot cobra just laying there right in the morning sun. I about gave everyone a heart attack when I jumped about 30 feet in the air after stepping on it. I think i sounded like this "woahhhhaghagaahhha!".... so that was an interesting experience. I dont know who was more surprised, me or the snake... I obviously didn't get bit or you would have heard about that story much much sooner... so I am all good. No worries though. (oh and the picture of the snake at the end of the email is a different snake. Just thought I would send it to try and set the mood for my story)... 

Other than that the work has been great!Haven't  had any investigators at church for the past two weeks, but we have some real potential. And the reason why they didn't go to church was mostly just because the last two weeks were at malvar chapel instead of santa monica. so people didn't want to take to time to go all the way down there. 

And we got to watch conference this weekend too! All 10 hours! It was so great! President had us prepare questions or concerns to have ready as we listen to the conference. So I came up with 3 questions and 3 concerns. All unique, and all of which could not be answered just by using the Gospel-only by revelation. Personal revelation received by me through the Spirit working through inspired men of God. It was a great experience and really uplifting to have the Spirit work through them and through myself to answer those questions that I had. 

Here is a small excerpt of my report I sent to President this week. 

One of the answers I received in this general conference is what I would like to share with you this week. I had the question, "how can I help more people?" Two experiences shared answered this question better than I could have imagined. One, David Bednar's experience when watching over Elder Hales' recovery, Elder Bednar learned from Elder Hales that as our physical capability decreases, we learn to do that which is most important. I still have great physical capability, but what he said taught me a lot about priorities. Also, the experience shared about a young Relief Society President. Her Bishop told her that the strong will be able to support themselves together, and that sometimes we need to leave the many, in order to go after the one, like in the parable of the lost sheep. I learned that I need to not worry about how many people I help, but who it is that I am helping. Similarly, I do not need to get caught up in how great my capacity is to help others, I just need to do all that I can and try my best, and the Lord will do the rest. 

And here is my insight for the week. 

A line from a hymn sung in one of the sessions impressed me. Praise to the Lord the Almighty (72)... it says in this hymn "Safely his Saints he sustaineth. Hast thou not seen How all thou needest hath been Granted in what he ordaineth?" Sometimes we tend to think that our needs can only be met by God himself. That there is no other way our problems in life may be solved but by a miracle from God. One thing that comes to mind when I think about this tendency that we all have, and this line of hymn, is the divine revelation in "The Family: A Proclamation to the World." It states, "The family is ordained of God, and is central to the Creator's Plan for the eternal destiny of his children." In every need, doubt, struggle, or lack we have, God has provided a way already through those that he has ordained, and for every one of us, part of that ordination is the family. If you are waiting for a miracle from God to right a wrong or to fix a problem you have, you may be looking too far. God is all powerful and certainly can do it if he so choses, but he has likely already provided a way. We need to love our families and be more united together with one another. As we do this, we will experience that miracle that we are all searching for to fix that wrong or to solve or problems. I invite you all to find one new way in which you can draw closer together as a family and to make it a tradition. 

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

Elder Schroeder

this is a picutre of a snake we found... i am not actually so sure if it was a snake or not... it may have been whats called a legless lizard.

This is how I cooked my breakfast this morning, we ran out of gas for our stove.

At the market, translates to ear of rat/mouse.

Blessed!!!

9/6/15

Hello Family!

I am having a great time here! Transfers are this week, and both Elder Burgos and I are staying here. There are a lot of changes though here in the zone. It is going to be a fun transfer. We have a lot of Elders and Sisters training. And over half of the whole mission is transfering this Wednesday. I really love Elder Burgos! He is one of my favorite companions that I have ever had! All of my companions have been great, but Elder Burgos is on the ball. He is a really talented missionary and does a great job with just about anything. So it is really great to have a companion that is this motivated.

Yeah, I know everything with Kyle will work out just fine. Great council from President W! 

Oh before I forget. If you send me a package for christmas or whenever, please put the Patience Loader Rozsa book in there. I got permission from president to read it. So I would like to be able to read that. 

Another thing. I met a person this last week on exchanges in puerto named Joseph Ople(pronounces oplay) He served in the same mission as Taylor and says he knew him.

MLC was a super great experience. It is a TON different than the MLC's with President Stucki. Both were great! I like them both. President Stucki and President Ostler just have a whole different spirit they bring into meetings. It was a lot of fun though. And It was interesting being able to travel all the way to Manila  for the meeting. So that was a really great experience and I am excited for the next one. 

One really cool thing here is that there are a ton of people here in the area that have been baptized since i left. Three people that I personally taught have been baptized since I left, and a lot of people reactivated. The branch has grown to the point where it could be split. So now we are assigned in santa monica branch 1 with 2 other companionships. In the other branch there are two more companionships. So the work is going to keep going forward really quick here. 

Sorry my thoughts are all over the place right now. I don't have much more time to email. So here is my spiritual insight for the week.

Repentance is the only way we can make permanent changes in our lives. It is only through using the Atonement that the changes we make in our lives will become permanent. If we accept the teachings of Jesus Christ and put forth and honest diligent effort to follow them, then we can utilize the atonement and become a more Chirst-like person from day to day. It is using the atonement every day to fix things, like not wanting to do the dishes or being angry at one of our family members, and become better people. We need to focus on the small and simple things. And as we change the small things every day, great changes will eventually come in our lives. I invite all of you to find one thing that you are not perfect at, and focus on fixing it every single day. I can promise you, that if you put all of your heart into it and pray for strength, that you will be strengthened and be able to fix that one thing, no matter how small, large, simple, complex, easy or difficult it may be.

Thank you all for your Love and prayers. 

Elder Schroeder

Pictures from

Mission Leadership Council 

9/13/15 

Hello Family!

This week has been super good!

As for the package, beef jerky. ummm, anything else, I am not sure, maybe spitz sunflower seeds, cracked pepper. And then watermelon sour patch is always a favorite of mine. Maybe a necktie that I could give my companion (somewhat skinny). And anything else that you want to send me. 

Elder Burgos is from a place called ilocos norte in a place called batac. HE speaks ilocano so is Taylor wants to tell him anything in ilocano, he can.

Speaking of singing, do you remember that choir that the philippines manila mission put on last year? They are doing it again. They had try outs for it last zone conference and Elder Dodini convinced me to try out. So I tried out and made it in the choir! I just found out today that I made it. So that is super cool! I am not sure how it is going to work out since I am in Palawan. But I should have the chance maybe to sing on tv. 

Good idea about bringing over treats to your new neighbors. Is it a family?

I am excited to hear about the volkswagen. I can drive it first thing when I get back in the states. 

Our teaching pool is getting bigger and bigger. We had 12 new investigators this week and 58 good quality oyms. So we are doing a decent job I guess you could say. We just changed the boundaries of our area so we have a lot more to work with now. It was really small before, so that is a great belsssing. 

As for our good investigators. We have a family and a ysa aged sister that are preparing for baptism in a few weeks. We also have a member getting ready to be fully active and temple prepared. (that is how our mission vision works). We are supposed to have a "conversion indicator" every week. These conversion indicators are baptism, full activity in the church, temple preparation, and temple ordinances. This is a super great plan and I love it a ton!

As for my spiritual thought. Elder Burgos and I were able to help the Hiatts to move 5 missionary companionships this week. We were also able to give training and leadership council on transfer day. Because of this, we missed two full days of proselyting. As we served with singleness of heart to those in our stewardship, not worrying about the lack of work in our area, we were blessed tremendously. We were able to teach 8 lessons on Thursday, and 7 on Saturday. We worked for 3 and a half days total of proselyting, and accomplished all of our goals except one. I know that as we serve others in our calling, we will be blessed greater than we can imagine. I invite you all to serve others in your calling. Don't get so caught up in the logistics of your calling that you forget the true importance of why you were called to that position-to serve others with love. 

Love you all!

Elder Schroeder

God loves you!!

Hello Family!

That is an interesting insight that Bishop Jacox had about Satan wanting to stop progression. Whenever, I think about not being there for Kyle's wedding, I am super sad. But it is true, that is what Satan wants. I have been working hard, and throughout the day I don't really think about it. I am busy which is helping. I have been praying hard and it has been helping me. I just need to continue doing what is right and continue to go forward in the mission. I know I am where I am supposed to be and that I have a lot more to do here in the mission. 

That is really great that what I said was able to be shared with those that were in attendance at the Stake conference Saturday meeting. The Spirit was there on that one. I admit that it is nice that I am being advertised by Sister Pyatt to a bunch of young women. haha. I'm not perfect though, but I can say that I am trying my hardest out here. 

My companion, Elder Burgos, is super awesome. I really really like him. He is a super nice person and really likes to have fun in the work. He is also super hardworking and is a great teacher! I dont have to wonder at all why he was made a zone leader. He has a lot of experiences that really help him to teach well and have a strong testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Well, I am running pretty low on time here. 

I just want to share one insight with you that I have learned from Elder Burgos' teaching.

God loves you. No matter what you are going through, no matter what you are feeling, no matter what mistakes you have made, God loves you. He wants you to be happy and to live with him again. He is our Eternal Father. He rejoices in our happiness and feels pain when we are sad. For this reason, He gave us His Son.

Love you all!

Elder Schroeder

 

P.S. We have an area in our zone that is 5 hours away on bus that we do exchanges with.... haha. Once a month we fly to Manila to be part of mission leadership council, which is this week. So I will be back in manila for a day and a half on thursday

Love you all!

this is the view from our apartment and the view from my seat on the airplane

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