Opportunities, Learning and Practice

5/15/16

Thank you for starting all of this for me, especially for the semester override. That is really good! It is a possibility to get into Med school but there are some challenges I'll have to work out- First, taking all of the classes to get a BS in Psychology while also fulfilling requirements to get into medical school would require me to take an extra 20+ credits on top of my degree. Second, yes BYU provo has better credentials. I would like to go to a really nice medical school, so that I have more options for residencies once out of medical school. If I were to stay at BYU idaho I would probably switch my major to chemistry. I don't think BYU Idaho has a biochemistry major. Maybe minors in Bio and Chemistry? 

It is a hard decision.... I am not sure but I need to decide soon right... If I were to stay at Idaho, I could have a full tuition scholarship next semester, I am pretty sure... 

I will think about it this week and let you know what I want to do.

I am excited for going to Alaska! That sounds like a ton of fun! You have no idea how excited I am for that. 

The work is going well in the area. Elder Hernandez is doing well and we are working hard. We were able to get some investigators to church this week! We had 4 at church and 2 seem really interested. One of them is for sure going to be baptized. The problem is that she lives pretty far away from the church and it is hard to be able to get out there and teach her, but I think it should work out. We are just going to have to spend a lot of time out there and it should be really great! We have been seeing good success in some areas of the work but been having a hard time with the other areas. I think the branch missionaries were afraid of me at first because the branch president told them that I was a former assistant and they thought I would have a rather rigid personality... so they were afraid to work with us.... But I think they are finally starting to realize that I am not like that, and we have a few ward missionaries that are really enjoying working with us now. 

Oh on another side note, This week at church I got to confirm a sister who was baptized this last week which was a really great experience. I was also able to be the last minute concluding speaker becuase the speaker didn't show up. Then I got to teach gospel principles. I really got to participate in the Sunday meetings well this week. That was a great learning opportunity. I can see how the Lord is teaching me teaching skills and allowing me all the practice that I need. 

I am excited for the trek too! It should be lots of fun. I remember when we did trek. Can you believe that was 4 years ago already! Is it going to be at the same place? 

It was a really good opportunity to be able to confirm someone a member of the church and to give them the opportunity to receive the holy ghost. I could feel the spirit guide me and help me in the blessings that were given to her. The priesthood is real and the power guides and directs the work of salvation and exaltation in this Church

Love you!

Elder Schroeder

Here are some pictures. Teaching Elder Hernandez how to safely pick up a jellyfish, a coconut orchard, and the bat we caught in our house this week

Insight on Revelation

5/8/16

Hello Family!

Thank you for sending the pictures! Looks really good! You both look really good and young and all that. 

That is a strange coincidence that you wrote about the chairs that santa brought last year... I remembered them last night as I was praying. It is odd that you remembered them too and wrote about them. I will get to sit down on one of them again here in a few months. Are they holding up well still? 

I don't really know what to say today because we just spoke yesterday. And it was great to see you!! 

 I am doing well and enjoying the time I have to serve. It is great to feel the spirit in such great abundance every single day! I hope that I can always have the spirit with me every day for the rest of my life. It is hard even as a missionary sometimes. And it is even harder when not on a mission. I would challenge you always strive to have the spirit with you every single day.

This week my spiritual insight is about prophecy. From accounts dating back to the earlier days of the church, many people often recall members prophesying great things in meetings and gatherings. Sometimes I feel like the word prophecy scares us, like it is something reserved for only apostles and prophets. It is true that they all have the gift of revelation and prophecy, but as members of the restored church, we are also entitled to a certain amount of revelation and prophecy, within specific bounds. If you listen carefully in sacrament meetings and other gatherings, you will hear those that are spiritually mature deliver prophetic messages. By prophetic, I do not mean that they are prophets or entitled to become one, but prophecy and revelation are spiritual treasures that we can all receive. Listen carefully to those that are seasoned spiritually and you will hear it. You will feel that it is true. Because we always have a presiding authority (either a key holder or someone acting under the authority of such) at church meetings, we can rest assured that these spiritual promptings taught, will be correct and true, unless corrected by the presiding authority. We do need to be careful when delivering a message or testimony of this nature, but we do not need to be scared to do so. The spirit will always guide us and help us to know what is truth and what is not. 

I am very excited for the future of the church here in Palawan. I have served here for almost 10 months now and I have seen the church grow so much! I have seen groups start, a branch formed, a branch split, and the day is fast approaching for Puerto Princesa to become a stake. I have spoken to some of the very first members here on Palawan and helped baptize some of the newest. One individual that we baptized in my very first area is on a mission, and another individual that I interviewed for baptism left on her mission just last month. The church is growing fast here. I can see the day when there are branches and wards are scattered all throughout this island and penetrate the hundred of islands that have not yet even heard the gospel yet. It is great to be part of such a great and marvelous work!

I hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Schroeder

Prayers...

May 1, 2016

This week has been another great week! Bad news though... Elder Hernandez has some sort of leprosy on his feet... So we have not been able to work. We actually don't know if it is leprosy. I was just saying that to scare you. He is taking antibiotics and is being taken care of well. His feet look a lot better than they did before so we should be able to start working this week. Your prayers for Elder Hernandez would be much appreciated so we can get out and start working. 

I have been able to work with the elders that are in our bordering area though which has been nice. I am really able to teach these Elders a lot. It is a great blessing to be able to help them to learn. The oldest missionary in our district excluding me has been out 9 months, and there is only one filipino. So they have a lot to learn still with the language and culture, but they are all great missionaries. We really enjoy being able to serve together. I may be conducting exchanges with the Rizal elders here in the next week or two. I am excited for that.

About the mothers day call. I will be calling on Sunday at about 1 or 2 our time. So you can expect a call around that time. We have permission to check out email on Friday if you need to change plans... and we can make the call any day on Saturday, Sunday or Monday here. So we are pretty flexible. We will check our email again on Friday to make sure everything is all good still, otherwise, just expect the call at that time. 

Interviews this week were really good. I got to teach the budgeting class to the narra zone and I think it will really help. I am also helping Elder Hernandez and the other Elders in our house to learn that better as well. It is going to help a lot. 

I am still praying for Joy's mom. It is really sad to hear that it may be that close. I hope she is taking it well. It is so great to have the gospel and to know the Plan of Salvation. I know that we will be able to see her again if we live faithful. 

For BYUI,  I cannot think of anything that you need to ask. Just be sure to mention that I am preparing to go into a bachelors degree program for Biochemistry. 

Sorry, this email was a lot longer.... but the computer lost internet connectivity and I lost about half the email. So I am all out of time. The draft that was saved did not return all the way. I had a cool spiritual insight on here but now it is gone and I have no time to rewrite it. 

For the school stuff. Just make sure that I get classes that will prepare me for biochem. Also bio 180 and chem 101 or 105 with a lab Is what I would like to take. Please do your best to make sure I get good professors. ratemyprofessor.com is what I use. Sid can help you out with this if you need help. Sorry this email is sort of lame... I wrote a lot more earlier but its gone now:/  have a great week!

Elder Schroeder

I love you! and thanks for the recipes!

New Area- Quezon, Palawan

4/24/2016

Hello Family!

So I am not really use to emailing here in the field. The computers are a lot slower so I don't get as much time actually typing. So I am running short on time and this email may be a little shorter than regular. 

My companion is Elder Hernandez. He is from Las Vegas and is Hispanic. He is super nice likes to joke around. We have already been able to have a lot of fun and are going to keep having lots of fun in the next few months. It is weird to think how close I am to going home. The thing is that I don't have any time to really think about it because I am busy training and working hard.  I'm going to help  Elder Hernandez's with learning Tagalog. I hope to be able to help him out a lot. 

He is great though and it is a lot of fun to be his companion. 
This week was great. Yes,  I stayed an extra day to help with training and orientating the new missionaries. I got to drive the departing missionaries around all day too, which was great. And then on Wednesday afternoon I went to Palawan and escorted two new missionaries there where they are also going to be trained. 

It is really great to be back in the field. The word must have gotten out because the whole branch knows that I was an assistant. It is super awkward but it will stop eventually. It is a big part of the culture in the church here. Filipinos often aspire to be assistant when they find out that you were an assistant.... It's a big deal for them anyway, just an interesting fact here. 

The area is about 3 to 4 hours away from puerto and you have to take these shuttle vans. They pack you in pretty tight and the air conditioning isn't quite strong enough but it is not too bad. It is about the same size as santa monica and there are a lot of people that live here. I am really looking forwad to the work here. 

One thing that is not so good here is that there is no running water during the day. This is because there is a drought right now and they do it to conserve water. So we have to stockpile water in buckets and bottles and stuff to be able to have enough water to shower at night. I really like it here though and we are going to get a lot done and have fun. 

Sorry, running out of time to email!

Love you! 

Elder Schroeder

I hope you had a great birthday!

I have been to taytay before too by the way! It's awesome theybordganized a new branch! 

I am sorry you didn't get that job :( I was praying for you. 

We are going into puerto for interviews this week. Staying in a hotel called GoHotel

Here is a picture of Me, Elder Crowder, Elder Erwin and Elder Hernandez (left to right). 

The next picture is us 4 assistants after our day of orientation (right before I left to palawan). 

New Assignment

4/17/2016

Hello Everyone!

I have an announcement! 

I am transferring... any guesses? Paranaque? Bonifacio? Manila? Pasay? nope! I am going back to Palawan! It should be my very last area. I am excited needless to say. I think I am the only missionary to ever be assigned on Palawan 3 times. I will be there for a whole year in total. I am really excited to go there. I am going to be serving on the more southern part of the island, where I have never been before. I have seen the whole northern half, now I will get to see the whole southern half. I will be a district leader in a branch called quezon. I will also be able to conduct exchanges with the furthest south part of the mission that is open for missionary work. It is called rizal. So that will be a lot of fun to be able to do. I will get to see the whole island basically. 

There have been two new assistants called to replace me. Elder Whittle will be in a threesome with the new assistants. Elder Leofo (Samoan) and Elder Garcia (Filipino). They are both really great Elders and are going to be able to do a lot of great work in their area.

Congratulations to Casey! Is he going to start looking for work somewhere or start a business? 

Happy birthday too to Cathy! It is weird that Kyle has been home for a year now already. He sent me a picture of Cathy grinding a metal propane tank. I guess they are making a BBQ or something like that... it should be interesting. 

Yes, you should really start getting in shape for trek. I guess I need to do the same thing... I am in shape and all just not as in shape as I could be. Anyways, I am excited to be able to go on the trek with you. It will be a lot of fun! 

For the voucher, I don't know where else I could go to... the problem is that I really wouldn't have anyone to go with. It doesn't really matter to me. I was possibly thinking that I could go up to college a little bit early to be able to look for a phlebotomy job before the semester starts. I don't know if you already had plans about how I was going to get up to Idaho or anything though. I would like to visit the east coast sometime and see all the historical stuff over there. Or go see the sacred grove. That would be fun  or I could fly over to Arizona and visit summer's family. Maybe I could arrange a ride along with Glen? Well, I think that is enough of ideas. Alaska would be the best though! 

How much was my scholorship/grant for?  just curious

I am glad dad has been doing well with sanding jobs. I miss getting my hands dirty.

I hope you can get the new job as a Behavior Technician. That would be really great! You would do really well. 

You may have noticed that I withdrew last week from my account. Just letting you know that it was me, not some crazy person that robbed me. 

This week was really good. Things always seem to kind of just stay busy here. Nothing really ever winds down here in the office. Interviews are coming up though so the new assistants will be super busy. They got me to teach a class though when we have interviews on Palawan. So I am not really quite out of it. President's expectations for the work in Quezon are really high. He is expecting the whole branch and district to catch on fire. I really hope that I can do well.

As for my spiritual insight this week... It comes from what I shared in our meeting earlier. I was chosen (since it is my last few days in the office) to give the spiritual insight for the beginning of our meeting. On preparation days, I have been reading the book you sent me Patience Loader Rozsa Archer and it has been great!

I shared this scripture and it brought immediately into my mind all the stories that I have read so far from her journals. It is in Alma 34 when Amulek is teaching the impoverished people among the Zoramites who have been casted out of the churches and synagogues and not allowed to worship like the more well off affluent zoramites. 

He says, 39. Yea, and I also exhort you, my brethren, that ye be watchful unto prayer continually, that ye may not be led away by the temptations of the devil, that he may not overpower you, that ye may not become his subjects at the last day; for behold, he rewardeth you no good thing. 40. And now my beloved brethren, I would exhort you to have patience, and that ye bear with all manner of afflictions; that ye do not revile against those who do cast you out because of your exceeding poverty, lest ye become sinners like unto them;

41. But that ye have patience, and bear with those afflictions, with a firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions.

I remembered the story Patience wrote about a general that wrote everything into her name in his will... and she gave all of it up on the call to gather zion. Before that, she lost a job at a hotel and was persecuted by her own sister as well as other friends and acquaintances around her. After giving up what was accounted to be a large fortune, she made the trek with her family across the ocean in the which her cousin died and was buried at sea. Later (in the part I haven't read yet) she suffers hunger, fatigue and the loss of her father to be obedient to the call of God. During the whole time, she would always say she was so blessed to have found the true church and to have a loving Heavenly Father. You can just feel the spirit as you read her words of her heartfelt testimony. I am sure it was not easy at the time she actually experienced these things, but in her later years, she could not help but thank God for how much she was blessed throughout her whole life. Patience had a testimony in the words of Amulek that one day, if we bear with patience our afflictions, we will be able to rest from all. 

Thank you for the email! I love you!

Elder Schroeder

P-day Malacañan Palace

4/17/2016 

Here are some pictures from our trip to Malacañan Palace this week!

It was really cool to go there and learn some more about the History of the Philippines. The tour guide was impressed because I answered a few of his questions and things about the history of the presidents and things like that. 

It is pretty amazing! The palace was actually built by America (using Filipino laborers). It has become the symbol of executive power in the Philippines. America has really contributed a lot to the development of the country. 

 

Sending you another email in a bit. Have a mtg., then I send it. 

  

Unique experiences...

4/10/2016 

Hello Family! 

We just finished an office staff meeting and our meeting with president. We just started planning training for interviews that will start again next transfer. We also talked about some other things and it seems like I am going to be transferred. President of course said that he does know yet, but it really sounds to me like I am transferring. Enough talk about that though, it is not for sure yet. I could be staying here. Wherever I am needed, there I will go. 

This was a good week and I enjoyed being able to watch conference. Conference was super good! If I had to pick one thing from conference that I got in general it would be this: We need the power of more members entering the new and everlasting covenant to protect us from the increasing influence of the adversary. Everything we do as members should point to preparing those who have not yet become part of this covenant to become ready, and for those that have entered into the covenant, to continue to live worthy to receive the power available through the covenant. (you may think that means I want to get married, but its not). All the efforts that we do as members point to that moment where two individuals enter into the most powerful, sacred and binding covenant. This covenant is eternal and supernal, and all who area an appendage of it have the opportunity to receive the power to become like Captain Moroni, an enemy to the Son of the Morning, able to make Satan tremble at the very thought. Our eyes and minds need to be centered on the temple.

I feel like the brethren have really been focusing on this in preparation for the coming days and all the diverse forms of temptation that will cause many to be lost in strange paths. 

I don't think I would ever want to run for president. 

Thank you for taking care of all my school stuff!

Yes, I got some answers to some specific questions. It was pretty cool actually. I don't remember if I told you, about last conference. I had written down a question I wanted an answer to which was, What should my career be? And in the conference three doctors spoke back to back all sharing experiences from their careers. I thought, oh maybe that was just a strange coincidence... So I had the same question this time around, "What should my career be?" And the very first speaker that we got to listen to was Russel M. Nelson, who shared another experience about his profession as a surgeon. I have been praying about it, and I am getting more and more sure this is what I should do. So that has been a really good experience for me. It may be good also to note that I have not just been expecting some sort of sign or miraculous vision or anything of the sort, but I have been praying earnestly for a long time, and the spirit has told me in silent ways and confirmed it in my heart and mind. He has also used His servants to tell me in another small way, that I should pursue this course. That has been a unique experience to me seeing how God works through both His servants and His Holy Spirit. 

I love you all! Sorry my email is short.

Elder Schroeder

4/12/2016 

Proud mom moment!! 

A post on Facebook from Sister Ostler:

"The Hansens just sent pictures of our wonderful assistants' apartment!  Wow!  They are a great example!  Having three couples helping with housing checks has really improved the quality of cleanliness throughout the mission.  Apartments that pass inspections get free cleaning solution and even treats sometimes!  :)  You moms should be proud!" 

I recognized Elder Schroeder's belongings all neat and orderly:) Way to go Son!!!