Thursday, February 24, 2011

February 22, 2011 E-Mail

It was a good week for us here.  We finally found a couple of new investigators.  It's been a while since that has happened, and we have been working very very hard to find some.  Speaking in church went pretty well.  I was asked to speak on the things that matter most.  It was a talk that Elder Uchtdorf gave last conference.  Well the other two speakers were asked to speak on the exact same talk.  And the talk was only a couple of pages long.  Don't ask me why they did that.  I was up there all ready to speak then the youth speaker came and sat next to me and flipped open his notes and they looked about identical to mine.  So I pretty much had to wing it for most of the time.  Although a lot of things were repeated between me and the other two speakers.
For some reason our spanish work has really picked up over the last week or so.  Which is good because I hardly ever use my spanish.  It's almost all english.  So it's been fun to actually get to use a little spanish.  I haven't learned a whole lot since I've been here in this area cause I don't speak it much.  So I can't communicate real well, but it's still fun to use.  I truly have been blessed with speaking the language.  To know a year ago I didn't speak any at all, and now I can speak alright is crazy to me.
That's pretty cool that Bryce Peterson is coming to this mission.  And spanish speaking too.  I'm sure he will serve around me.  There are really only like three zones where spanish missionaries are for the most part.  It's always weird to see familiar faces from home like Elder Heiner, but that will be cool.  He will love the mission.
I think that's it for this week.  I know this church is true and that it is the same church that Jesus Christ Himself established.  I'm so grateful to be a part of it, and to have the priesthood authority.  I know that it is the power to act in God's name.  I'm grateful for the Book of Mormon.  I also know that it is the word of God.  Thank you so much for all you do for me!  I love you all!  Have a great week!  Make sure to tell Brody happy birthday!

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

February 14, 2011 E-Mail

We had a pretty good week this last week. It was awesome to be able to go to the temple again. I hadn't done that in a very long while. Things are going good with the big area. We have a lot of different areas to knock and a lot of less active people to visit between the two wards and the branch. This last week we had a pretty cool experience. One of our appointments fell through and we couldn't figure out why. So we went to our back up appointment and were talking on the porch just saying things like man there must be a reason why we are here right now. So we went in to visit this less active family. Well the lady was there but her husband was in the back sleeping because he has some disease. So we went and were just going to share a message with her. So we talked for a while then we had said a prayer and were just getting ready to share the message and her husband came out and asked if we would give him a blessing. So at that point, we knew that we were supposed to be there. That has actually happened twice since I've been here with the same family. Everything has fallen through so we go visit them and he has been in need of a blessing. So that was a pretty cool experience. I guess the other good news is that we are working with another really nice lady right now. Her and her daughter are preparing to be baptized on March 5th. It's hard for her to come to church though because she has an autistic kid. And Satan is really working on her. She wasn't able to come to church yesterday because on Saturday night her son had cut open his lip so they had to go to the er to get it stitched up so she was awake most the night with him. Satan is just throwing in every stumbling block he can. But this lady is so great. She keeps her commitments and she keeps progressing and she knows it's true. We taught her the word of wisdom the other day and the only thing she had a problem with was iced tea. But she just was like alright that will be easy to get rid of. So that was really cool to see the spirit work on an investigator like that. The bad news of the week is that our investigator Jorge who was supposed to be baptized this next Saturday decided that he was going to move to Idaho with the rest of the family. So he will be getting baptized some time soon over in Idaho. We were really bummed when we found that out, but then I realized that it doesn't matter if I baptize him or not. Just as long as it happens somewhere and some time down the road.


Yesterday we had a pretty cool experience. One of the wards we cover is named Rocky Reach. And the boundaries are huge. There is a little town about 40 minutes away called Waterville. Well one day they want to start a branch up there, but they need a few more priesthood holders first. Well they have decided to do just a sacrament service with a short gospel principles lesson up there once a month. It's like the second Sunday of every month at 5:00. But the coolest part about it was yesterday was the first one and it was just in a members home up there. I think there were only like 15 of us total, and the youngest kid was like 14. The spirit was so strong. The entire meeting was just silent because you didn't have to worry about babies crying or anything. But the part I really liked was the speaker got up and he said he was really thinking about the Saints back in the 1830's. He said just think, at one point in time, the church was as big as we were there in that home. Then he said how the Prophets prophesied that the gospel would be spread. Now about 180 years later, look how many members there are. But he was just relating to how that's how big the entire membership of the church used to be. Then the Bishop got up and talked about how he remembered meeting in many homes on his mission. Then he said 10 years later he went back with his wife and a lot of those areas had wards and branches. And he was saying how with Faith, that same thing can happen with that little tiny town. So that was really cool. And I think that was about it for this week. I have to talk next week in sacrament on one of Elder Uchtdorf's talks about just going back to the basics. When I was reading the talk it made me thing about how it doesn't matter what we have. None of our worldly possessions are going to take us to the celestial kingdom. Only the gospel will. I know that this gospel is true. I know that as we live the gospel and strive to be the best we can and more like our Savior Jesus Christ that we one day will have eternal life in the presence of our Heavenly Father.

Love Elder Schvaneveldt

Friday, February 11, 2011

February 10, 2011 E-Mail

This week we met twice with an investigator that was in our new area. When the other missionaries were meeting with her she wasn't able to come to church at all because she has an autistic son. But now her sister said she will start watching him on Sunday so that she can come for church. She was so excited. And she really wants to be baptized. So that is probably the most exciting news of the week. We had a pretty good week and did a lot of work. Between the two wards and the branch we do a lot of less-active work it seems like. But it's been going really well and we had a few investigators plus a couple of less-actives at church yesterday. It was an awesome fast Sunday.

This week we were also given permission to check out mormon.org. We are supposed to spend 3 hours a week on it and get familiar with it. We are going to be going in investigators homes and use it, and also members homes. It's pretty cool, you should check it out sometime. I was pretty surprised when I heard that we would get to do that. So the weeks are really flying by now by the time we do everything. It just seems like there isn't enough time in the day to get things done.

Jorge is still doing really well. He was sick yesterday so he didn't make it to church. But we are going out to see him today. Last Tuesday we taught him the commandments that he needed to be keeping in order to be baptized, and he accepted all of them. So he is good to go. Due to time I better end my e-mail there. Just know that I'm doing great and loving the mission! I know that this is the true church and this is the Lord's work. He has his hand in it all of the time. Without his love and help, as missionaries we could do nothing. I love you all so much, have a great week!!!