Some Old Pictures

This looks like an oyster, yuck!

Kade sent these pictures a while ago, I just haven't put them on here until now, sorry!

July 26 E-Mail and Pictures!

Well this was a pretty good week.  The work was sort of slow, but we did have our baptism last night.  It was way cool to see work finally go all of the way through.  And I got to baptize her so that was cool.  She has really bad arthritis so the Elder's Quorum President stood in the font and helped out because she can't bend very well.  But it was way cool and the spirit was so strong.  There were a lot of members there too so it was awesome.  The ward here does so good and bringing new people into the church and welcoming them.  Today not much is going to happen.   That's okay though because I woke up with a sore throat so hopefully I can take a nap later on.  I had a pretty crazy story that happened on Saturday night.  I almost got eaten by a dog.  I don't think I have ever been scared of a dog until this one.  We got out of the car to go up to the door step of this house and he was growling and sniffing us.  Well he ended up licking us and all was well.  Then he went to the other side of the house.  So we figured it was safe.  I took one step towards the house and the dog came at me going full speed just growling and barking.  He was definately in attack mode.  So yeah I didn't really know what to do other than just stand there.  So I threw my bag in front of me to try and maybe protect a little bit of myself.  Well he got within about an inch of my hand and immediately stopped and just went balistic growling and stuff.  It was so nuts.  My companion was ready to kill it.  It was probably like four or five Kimber's put together.  So we got out of there.  Then the next house we went to there was a huge rottwiler.  Luckily he was sort of chained up because he wasn't to happy either.  So that was the scary experience I had this week.  With the little dogs you can just sort of kick them a little or throw little rocks at them and they take off.  But the big ones it's a different story.  When my companion lived in Bolivia he had 4 pet bears.  So he usually doesn't get scared with animals.  But he was pretty worried this time.  But other than that it has been a pretty good week.  We are still struggling to find people at home.  But it's okay.  Mom  you asked if we will stay together another transfer.  I don't really know what's going to happen.  A lot of spanish missionaries are going home the next couple of transfers and a lot of new ones coming in.  So any of the older spanish missionaries will be training.  So I have no idea what's going to happen.  It's just crazy that it's already week 5 of this transfer.  It's flying by.  Dad asked about Carne Asada.  They should have it in any of those Mexican stores back home.  It's just really thin sliced and it's usually being marinated in something.  A lot of times there's a slice of orange in the package with it.  You just throw it on the grill and cook it.  It's way good.  Probably one of my favorite meals I get.  I usually eat to much of it though.  I think that's about it for this week.  I'll attatch a couple of pictures with the e-mail.  I know this is the true church and that it is the only way to return to live with our heavenly father again.  His son Jesus Christ did so much for us.  And all we have to do is have faith, repent, be baptized, receive the holy ghost, and endure to the end by obeying the commandments.  That's all he asks of us.  That's not to much compared to what he did for us!!  I love you all so much.  Have a good week!!

July 19 E-Mail

I'm glad you got to go to Jace's farewell. Man it's crazy, I remember he got his call and I was thinking dang he has to wait for like 3 months. Well here it is now. So this week was a better week then the past few. We got a lot more support from the members and we had some good lessons. Elizabeth, one of our investigators came to church yesterday. She is supposed to be baptized next Sunday as long as she comes to church. She met a lot of good member so I'm sure she will be there. It's exciting to see the people who really are ready for the gospel. You can usually tell within the first five to ten minutes you talk to them. Mom, you said you hoped the smell here wasn't as bad as the dog food plant. The dog food plant smells like an airfreshener compared to this! This place stinks bad. I'm getting used to it though and it doesn't really bother me. And yes, I did get your letter last week. It came right after I wrote my e-mail. Tell Linda thanks for the stuff for the talk. I knew she would take care of me. You know how bad I hate speaking so we will see how that goes. At least there isn't as many people in the ward here as our home ward. We heard there are about 600-700 members here in the ward. I think only 150-250 are active. So I shouldn't get to nervous. But, I know I still will! I'm glad your youth spectacular thing is done. It sounded like that was taking quite a bit of time. I always thought those things were kind of boring. But this one was probably pretty good. I liked the pictures dad sent me of the cars from Logan's Run. That yellowish creamish truck was sweet. It was my favorite. Dad said there wasn't any chevelle's. I hope you only meant 65's. If not he needs to be going to the eye doctor. Cause there was a 67 in the background of that picture.( white with a black top. It's there dad) Hopefully he isn't going to crazy on me. Mom you should have sent some mountain dew with the Spencer's. I'm sick of pepsi and coke. That's all the people here drink. But oh well. I've been drinking a lot of water. So those propel and lemonade mix things were way good. Thank you! Thank goodness I hung around grandpa a lot when I was younger. We've been doing our dishes downstairs in the bathroom sink. Well the other day I realized that there wasn't a disposal there ha. Well right when I thought that it got clogged. I didn't want the member's to know. So I had that sink wripped to pieces in about a minute. My companion was like what in the heck are you doing. So I'm glad grandpa taught me that one when I was younger. So it's fixed, and the members have no idea. It's so crazy to think this transfer is already half over. Time flies when you are with a companion that likes to have a good time. We are still getting along great and working hard. It's hard to keep a positive attitude in these little towns. But we are doing a good job. You tend to knock on the same doors over and over. But a lot of the times it's different people. A lot of the hispanic people just rent one room from houses. So sometimes there's like 10 different people living in one house. All they need it for is to shower and sleep. The only other thing they do is work. The harvest season is coming up so people are going to start working even more. A lot of them work 15-16 hours a day 7 days a week. Just to provide for there families that are still in Mexico. It's sad. But it's good to see the love people have for there families. We got to do a couple service projects this week. One was moving a piano with a couple old guys. They didn't do to much. That was on Saturday. My back still hurts today. But I know I'm being blessed because it doesn't hurt like it did at home. Then we got to mow this old ladies lawn. She always takes care of us and makes us lunch. And homemade tortillas whenever we want. I gotta start being a little more careful now. I've gained 35 pounds now. That was as of Saturday. And I think I ate like 2 pounds of hamburger yesterday!! Ha it's crazy. I couldn't gain a pound at home. If I keep going at the rate I'm going at, we are going to have some problems pretty quick! I'm not to worried about it. Over all it was a good week. We are really looking forward to have even a better week. We need to start teaching some more spanish lessons because that is the best way to learn. Although it is getting a little better, it's still tough! I know this church is true. I'm grateful to see the rock solid foundation it provides in peoples lives. And I know it was brought back to us through the Prophet Joseph Smith. I love you all so much!!!!! Have a good week.

July 12 E-Mail (Sorry I am behind!!!)

First off tell dad the ramps are probably up on the loft. I really can't remember where I put all of that stuff. But there sure was a lot of it. We had zone conference last Friday and I got to see Elder Heiner. That was cool. It was pretty weird to see a familiar face like that. The changes that are happening are we will only have zone conferences every 3 months now. Along with interviews from the President. They are also going to start doing a new way of training missionaries or something. They don't start it until like March in the Mtc, but they want to get the missionaries in the field trained on it as soon as they can so it's not a surprise for us when the missionaries start coming out. So it will be good. We had another pretty slow week here. We have spent a lot of time tracting. We have also been trying to get to become friends with the members to get more referals, and more support. It's hard because the spanish branch and the english ward are at the exact same time. So we have to choose which one to go to. We always go to the spanish branch because it's so small. And I guess because that's how my last companion wanted it to be. But now we are going to start alternating. Because we are strangers to a lot of people in the english ward. Since we have been trying harder to build trust and support from the members we have seen a difference. The other day it was way hot and we were leaving a dinner appointment. We asked the lady for a bottle of water for the road. Well she gave us a whole case. And 3 loaves of bread. And some pop. And her husband works at a dairy so they give us 2 gallons of milk every week. My last transfer we were just strangers to all the members and it made it hard. Because members really do help out so much. So I'm excited to be taking a different approach on things. Yes mom, I have worn my boots. We have been helping our bishop put carpet on his porch for service. He is pretty old so it's a big help to him. Then the other day we got to help a guy fix his van. I'm not really sure what I did, but I fixed it, so that was good. We have to talk in sacrament on the 8th of August. Yay, my favorite!! So maybe between you and Linda Gubler you could send me some stuff on the atonement. And also on service. Just send whatever she has and whatever you can find. I would really appreciate it. That's crazy that Jace's farewell is next Sunday!! He will do great. And I think Nick leaves the Mtc this week yeah? It's so crazy. And half my friends are going on 6 months already!! Time really is flying. It's just so awesome to think of all the examples I have in my life. I meet people all the time who constantly remind me of those examples. It's awesome. I'm very very lucky to have the friends and family I have. So thank you everyone!!! Oh yeah, and I'm still gaining weight ha. I've gained like 32 pounds now or something like that. I feel like all I do on some days is eat. We go from one house to another and people always give us stuff. We are probably going to start jogging in the mornings. My companion wants to lose a lot of weight cause he goes home in December. So I might as well do it too. I think that's about it for this week. Not a whole lot happened. Because of zone conference and we had p-day last Tuesday, it's been a short week since I last wrote. I also spent a day in Othello with a brand new missionary too. It was weird not to be the youngest one in the mission! So I really didn't get to spend a whole lot of time here in my own area. Hopefully I will get to be here this whole week. I know this church is true and I love you all so much. Because of this gospel we can all be with our families after this life!! And for all eternity. And I know that is true and I know that it's only through this church that we can do so. Have a good week. I love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

July 6, 2010 E-Mail

So it seems like it has been a long week but a good one.  Lots of people leave here in the summer time or all they do is work or sleep.  So we have spent a lot of time tracting lately.  My new companion is Elder Oliver from Bolivia.  He is now from West Jordan though.  But he is way cool and we have a very good time together.  He is helping me with my spanish too.  So right now I am extremely happy about that.  Lunch last p-day with grandma's relatives was good.  It was weird to get a hug from a lady that's for sure!  But she passed it down from Grandma.  They are very nice people.  That kid that died didn't look familiar to me.  I'm not sure who he is.  That's cool you got a new job mom.  Maybe you will stay a little more busy with this one.  Thank you so much for all the stuff you sent back with the Spencer's.  We were shocked.  I don't think we will have to buy food for weeks.  The ties are way cool too.  Especially the wedding one.  So thank you so much!!  I guess patriarch Heiner's grandson is here now.  I haven't seen him yet, but I will on Friday at zone conference.  He isn't serving to far from here.  That will be weird to see someone I went to school with.  But it will be pretty cool too.  So the fourth of July was pretty good.  We basically just worked all day and spent a lot of time tracting.  But one of our investigators had us over for carne asada right after our dinner appointment.  We were starving cause we had been fasting, but by the time we were done eating we just felt sick.  They always feed me hot sauce and say it's not hot.  Then they just start laughing after because it really is way hot.  Dad would love it.  But supposedly it will make my spanish better so I guess I better keep eating it.  So overall it was a good day.  Tons of people were doing fireworks so we sort of got to see a few.  So that was nice.  It sounds like you guys had a good day!  I'm jealous you went to the car show.  Dad better have got some good pictures.  Was Elite there?  Sounds like Grandma had quite the BBQ too!!  I can't believe my dog is sick!!  Just don't let her suffer that's all I'm gonna say.  There are only like 3 Schnauzers in this town that I have seen so far.  The rest are just mutt's that bite your ankles.  And the owners don't really do anything about it, but you can't kick the dogs right in front of the owners so that makes it hard too.  Yesterday was an interesting day...  We were finally teaching some lessons and feeling pretty good.  Well most people tried teaching us.  It was bad.  One guy was saying how Obama is the second Joseph Smith and stuff.  It was just plain crazy.  I couldn't help but laugh.  Then we went to an appointment last night and it just happened to be during these peoples bible study.  They just preached to us for about an hour and a half about how Jesus is God and all that stuff.  It was all in spanish and I had a hard time understanding the guy.  My head was hurting pretty bad after.  It's starting to get hot here and I'm starting to get red, so thank you for the short sleeve shirts.  The Spencer's were glad they got to spend some time with you.  I can't remember if I told you this last e-mail or not, but when it gets hot here, this town stinks so bad.  It's cause the potato plants.  I can't even explain the smell!  But I'm getting used to it.  That's about it for this week and I'm starting to run short on time.  I guess there are gonna be some changes in the mission coming up.  We will find out more about them on Friday at zone conference so I will have to let you know.  I miss you all but know that this is were I need to be at this time.  I love this gospel and the blessings it brings to all of our lives.  I know that it is the foundation that we all need in our lives.  To all my friends, I love you all and thank you for all your examples to me!  It's crazy to know we are all doing the same thing, but just all over the world.  People are shocked when I tell them I have missionary friends all over.  It's awesome.  So thank you so much for all of your great examples and keep up the hard work!!  Have a safe and good quick trip to California mom and dad.  I love you all so much!  Thanks for everything!!  Have a good week!

Love Elder Schvaneveldt (My nick name from my companion is Elder Sanchez because nobody can say Schvaneveldt)

June 28, 2010 E-Mail

So our baptisms didn't go through.  The guy is ready, but as of right now it will cause problems in his home.  So it hasn't happened yet.  But the good news is I'll be here for another 6 weeks.  And we are going to have baptisms.  My companion Elder Tapia is going to Othello as a Zone Leader.  So I will still see him a lot.  And my new companion is Elder Oliver from Bolivia I guess.  I think he lived in Salt Lake before he came out.  But I'm way excited about that.  I meet him tomorrow.  And he doesn't have a license.  So I finally get to drive!!!!!!!  Yeah, I'm a little excited.  That's way cool Brady got his call.  That will be a way sweet area.  And Jen had her baby, that's exciting.  I better be an uncle by the time I'm back.  HINT HINT.  I'm not sure if I knew that kid who died.  Send the obituary and I'll look at it.  So I got a call at the first of the few week, and now I am going to meet grandmas cousins for lunch today.  I think it's her cousins.  But they seem really excited to meet me.  I think I met them once.  But I was way young.  So that will be fun.  And yes mom, I'm taking some pictures.  The Spencers have my memory card and they will be there tonight or tomorrow.  So take the pictures off and send the card back with them.  Put the pictures on cds too just in case that wonderful computer you have crashes.  I saw a wedding picture that had a new computer in it.  I was hoping dad finally let you get a new one.  But I'm guessing not.  That photo booth thing looked pretty cool.  And tell dad I got his mexican cookies in the MTC.  They were alright.  There were tons of them.  And yeah, here, I'm still gaining weight.  Crazy huh.  I dunno how much I weight now.  Like 169.  But all my clothes still fit ha.  The best way to get my e-mails from my friends is how you're doing it.  That's exciting that you might get to go to Dominican Republic.  That would be way fun.  You'll have to let me know how that is.  And hopefully Ty and Bree will be able to sell there place and get into a house.  I think I have written back to everything that you guys have said.  I dunno, I can't remember.  But this week was a little rough as far as teaching and finding went.  We worked our butts off too.  But last night some good things happened.  A group of people asked us to come play a friendly game of volleyball with them so we did.  It was a rough crowd of people I think but we became friends.  And that's what this is all about.  Just showing people you care.  So it was good and it will for sure open doors for in the future.  Then we ran into a guy just sitting out on the front of his little apartment.  He is chosen to hear the gospel!  We taught like a quick 10 minute lesson, set up an appointment for next Sunday.  And the best part with no hesitation he said he would be at church on Sunday.  The Jehovah's Witness missionaries were out yesterday and so every house we would go to would say the missionaries were already here today.  So we had to explain we are different.  I bet some people get so sick of us beating on there doors.  Oh well.  Cause that's how you gotta find the people.  This last week I took over the area on exchanges.  I'm glad it's a pretty small area cause I knew it pretty good.  And it's good because starting tomorrow it's basically all on me.  My new companion served here as his first area.  And only for one area.  So he knows the area a little bit.  I guess he got a long really good with this kid and almost had him baptized.  Well he left and the kid kinda quit everything.  Well we tracted into his dad my first or second week here.  His dad really likes me.  So we are for sure going to try and work with them this transfer.  We had two people in church yesterday.  Guadalupe, the one who is all ready for baptism.  Then an older lady named Elizabeth.  She is reading the book of mormon and says she believes in the things we do.  She said she will be back to church next Sunday.  So that is looking really good too.  My companion was getting burned out here cause he has been here 6 months and that gets rough in a little town.  He has almost knocked every door.  So I'm excited to start fresh with someone.  And it will be good that Elder Tapia is still in my district and zone.  Well I better get going pretty quick.  We need to get going to Othello to meet the Holmes for lunch.  Sorry it's short, not a whole lot happened this week.  I guess I do have one more story.  So there is this member who goes to a different church.  Well we go visit him once a week or so.  He's got cancer and is in bad shape.  We went to his house the other day and there was a sign that said by appointment only.  Well we had an appointment.  So we knocked on the door and this lady came up, like a home healthcare lady and chewed us out.   So we left.  I called him later to see how he was doing.  He said not to bad and told us to call later.  Well later the phone rang and it said it was him.  So I answered.  Well it was the lady!  She wripped me a new one asking me my full name an everything.  So I finally got pretty upset and just said why in the heck does it matter to you?  At that point my companion took the phone (you know how my temper can get :).  So she told us not to come back and stuff.  It was sad because the guy loves us to come visit him.  But she totally had to ruin it.  So I learned a little bit about patience that day.  And also yesterday at church.  We also learned about scripture study.  So keep studying your scriptures cause it will bless you all so much.  We challenege our investigators to read for 10 minutes a day.  So I challenge you all the same.  Only for 10 minutes.  And you will notice a difference throughout your day!!!  I love you all so much.  Have a good week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111

June 21, 2010 E-Mail

Well it sounds like you all had a pretty crazy week huh.  I bet you're glad to have the wedding over with and to relax a little bit.  Before I forget, did Brady get his call?  I've been waiting to hear.  It was a pretty good week here.  The weather has still been up and down, but that's nice because it hasn't gotten to hot yet.  I hope dad liked the father's day card.  I hope everyone had a good father's day.  It was a little rough here.  Even our dinner appointment was a no call no show.  I was ticked!  I look forward to going and getting some good homecooked meals.  But that's okay.  We still had some good lessons.  But we didn't have anyone to church because of father's day.  So now the only person we can get baptized before transfers is Guadalupe Reyes.  Pray for him please.  If he comes on Sunday then he can get baptized on Sunday night.  It's hard though because I don't quite think he is ready.  And we don't want to baptize then just have them go inactive.  I got to eat a raw oyster this week.  That was pretty gross.  Just cracked it open, put some salt and lime on it then ate it.  It was interesting.  Then I found out that one of my favorite burritos from this place we go to is full of cow tongue and cow brains.  It's actually pretty good.  Then I was on splits in Othello.  Well over there they teach pretty much all in spanish.  I wish that was the case for me right now cause I would learn a lot more.  But oh well.  So anyways, this guy told us he had seen a vision and he was a prophet and stuff.  I didn't think I understood him.  So after we went out and I asked Elder Davila if I understood everything correctly and all he said was yep.  It was crazy.  He is starting his own church right there in his little trailer.  The house that the Elder's live at in Othello is awesome.  The members always give them mountain dew haha.  I felt right at home.  To answer your question mom, during the harvest people work pretty much 7 days a week.  But even if they don't it's still hard to get them at church because they go to work at 4 or 5 in the morning on Saturday so they just want to sleep in on Sunday.  But it's good to see the ones who come because that shows which ones are dedicated.  This last Saturday we went to Moses Lake to listen to Elder Pearson from the 70.  It was pretty good.  He talked about a ton of things.  Especially about blessings from going to church.  I thought that was funny because that's what I talked about last email.  So read D&C 59: 9,13,16,23.  I think.  Those are the four promises from going to church.  I also got bit by a couple of dogs this week.  They were just little but yeah.  But then this boxer almost attacked Elder Davila.  That was crazy.  He has a dog tazer he carries with him but he didn't have it at the moment.  He also has a universal tv remote so if people don't come to there doors but we can hear the tv's, he just turns the tv off from outside.  It's pretty funny.  We still had a successful week.  I think we taught like 34 lessons.  But we just need to get people to start keeping commitments!!  That makes all of the difference.  I'm looking forward to that package with those oreo things.  I'm sure I'll love them.  I know this church is true.  Follow the words of the prophets.  Can you believe I actually read the ensign now?  I'm getting a little weird, but not to weird.  By next p-day we will know what is going on with transfers.  I know that this gospel brings so much happiness into people's lives and that it provides a foundation for families.  So stay strong in the church always!!  I love you all so much.  Thank you for all you do for me and have a good week!!