Lots of Snow in DC...and a Baptism Date!

On the bus....not moving!

We got like a Book of Mormon of snow! haha, oh man, I hope you think that's as funny as I do!

Notice there are only a few car lights on the left. Our bldg was the only one with lights - we got lucky!

All of our wet stuff out to dry

Heyy!!!

Sorry I couldn't email you guys yesterday, things were crazy here in D.C.!!! Like I said, I think we got about 8 inches or so of snow, and we were down by the Capitol when it started to come down! So we had to take the bus back to our appartment, we got on the bus just after 6:30, well by 8:30 we were still about 10 blocks away from our appartment, and the road was more of a parking lot than anything else, so we decided that we would just get off and walk home. While we were on our way back, we noticed that a lot of people were having trouble getting their cars moving with all the snow (because NO ONE has 4 wheel drive out here haha) so we thought we would try to help people get their cars going. It was pretty funny actually, because we were jogging most of the way, only stopping to help people get their cars unstuck, I bet people who saw us were like "Who are these guys?!" haha. And then as soon as we got back home, I didn't have enough time to email, so that is the story of yesterday.

Other than that though, things are continuing to go well, we were able to go to the Visitor's Center with our cute member and his sister this past Thursday, and it went really well. She was so happy just to get out of the house with her brother, she said that since he came home from the hospital that they haven't been able to do that. Now she has a baptismal date for Feb. 6th (I believe something else is happening on that date right? ;) ) [Steve's b-day] and she is really excited for it! They were also able to come to church!! And there were so many people that wanted to sit next to them that there wasn't room for either Elder Krugman or me, so she is pretty much already a part of the ward, now she just needs to get baptized!

We also had the opportunity to go to the Visitor's Center with another one of our investigators, who we have had a hard time finding what is holding her back, but the sisters at the VC were able to, at least a little bit, find out what is was, now it is up to us to keep working on that.

Well, it sound like you guys are doing great! Thanks for the package by the way!!! I was dying when I read the little letter inside! haha you guys are the best! And thanks for the updates! Keep them coming! I love you guys, and I will talk to you again next week!

- Elder Schaap

Pics from DC

So we went to the top of the Washington Monument last p-day, and I took some sweet pics!

Washington Monument

The Reflection Pool

In Pic #3 you can see the Temple if you look really hard in the upper middle part of the picture.

The Mall and the Capitol

View straight down from the top

SNOW!!

Hey everyone!

Sorry this is so late! But it has been snowing like crazy here, about 8 inches I think!! Crazy stuff, I will email you tomorrow, along with some pictures of the snow ok? Sorry, but it is past 9:30, and we just got back to our appartment! Love you guys!!!

- Elder Schaap

Helping Others

Hello Family and anyone else who may be reading this email!

So good to hear from you guys as always! Time is just flying by for me, in fact, it is going so fast that I forgot to tell you guys that transfers were coming up. No worries though, I am staying in the same area with the same companion, in fact my whole district stayed the same except for there were two missionaries in the South/East areas, but those areas are now split and they are both going to be training!! So we now have 10 Elders in the ward with two senior couples!! Yikes!! Its going to be sweet though, and I am way excited for this coming transfer! And since no one in my appartment got transferred, today is just a regular P-Day for us.

Things are going well for us here though, we had a miracle happen this week, well it was in the making before, but it was a miracle none the less. So we went over to visit one of the Recent converts in our area, he was baptized almost a year ago now, and he is a very solid member! Unfortunately, his health has started to go down hill, and his time here on this earth is becoming very short, and his sister is his full-time care taker. The first time we went over to visit them, his sister was very reluctant to let us in, because she didn't like missionaries or our church very much, but when we got in we found out that she had a lot on her plate, and she needed help. So that night we let the bishop know, and the ward has been absolutely amazing in doing anything they can to help her, from going over there to just talk with her, or just being there to stay with him while she runs some errands. It has been amazing!!

Yesterday Elder Krugman and I were over there, and she basically said that everyone in the ward's kindness has changed her, and she said she wants to join our church!!! It just goes to show you that sometimes the best way to reach peoples hearts is not by teaching them about the gospel, but by living the gospel, and reaching out to help those in need! She loves having us over now, and she told us that she even wants to apologize to the missionaries that she was rude to when her brother was being taught! We are so excited for her, and we know that she is going to make an excellent member of the church!!

Other than that though, MLK day was not really any different than any other day haha there is no holidays as a missionary except for Mother's Day, Christmas, and Thanksgiving. The Holocaust Museum was really neat, there is a very somber feeling in there, just because of the events that it portrays, but it was a good experience, you guys will like it (someday)! Glad to hear that the whole wedding planning is continuing to go well! Did you by chance plan sometime that you were going to get a cardboard cut out?!?! haha You have to do it!! But that is it for me today, LOVE YOU GUYS A TON!!!!

- Elder Schaap

Exchanges and Service Projects

Hello Family!!!

Man this week has been pretty crazy, with a couple of service projects, and being on exchanges a few times, I feel like I haven't even been able to work in my area hardly at all! It has been good though! On this last Thursday and Friday, I was on exchanges with Elder Rodriguez who is in the French program here in our mission, because his companion and my companion both had to go to leadership training, and things were crazy because we had things to do in both areas, but only the two of us to cover it. We spent most of our time though with a lady(who just got baptized this past Sunday!) and we were helping her get ready for her baptism. It was really cool too, because she asked me to stand in on her confirmation on Sunday as well!! So everything worked out in the end!

I don't have much time today, because we are going to go to the Holocaust Museum later today, and we want to have enough time to see everything there. But I will tell you a short story about this guy we ran into the other day. Elder Krugman and I met him just walking down the street we saw him, and Elder Krugman asks "How's your day going man?" almost immediately after that we could tell that he was in a very rough situation. It turns out that he lost his job, his wife of 21 years, and his house, all within the last six months, and he was just trying to hang on. We both could tell that he was very sincere, and all he wanted was just something to eat to keep him going. So Elder Krugman gave him his ear warmers because he could tell that he was cold, and I gave him what little change I had, and we said to him, "We wish we could help you more!" and he said back to us "You have done more than you think, just stopping and talking to me helped." We felt so bad for him because he was so sincere, so we asked him if he was still going to be there in about 20 minutes and he said he would. We decided that we were going to go to a grocery store near by and buy him just something so that he could have food for a couple of days. Anyways, when we came back, he was nowhere to be found, and we were stuck with these snacks that we bought him. I hope we see him again though, because we still have the snacks to give him!!!

Well I gotta go, but I love you guys a ton!!! And Hope you have a great week!

- Elder Schaap

P.S. Sometimes it is easiest for me to email in the mornings, so if you guys would start to send your emails on Tuesday night that would be great! Thanks!!!!

Happy New Year!

Well... to answer some of your questions to start off, no I didn't stay awake for the new year haha because it really wasn't any different than any other day, other than the fact that we had to be in by 7 and not 8:30. I am glad you guys had a good New Years though!!

Things have been going pretty well for us here though, I don't know if I have talked to you guys about one of our investigators and his family or not yet, but we had a visit with them on Tuesday, and pretty much the whole time he and his wife were getting into dumb little arguments that they just can't let go of, that went on for about 30-45 minutes, so finally Elder Postma says to them, "How about you guys come to church with us this week?" And they accepted! And all 8 of them showed up! It was sweet! and plus we had 2 additional investigators at church this last Sunday, and they all had a really good time and will all hopefully come back again! Keep your fingers crossed! The work is starting kick into gear here, so hopefully Elder Krugman and I will be able to keep up with it all!

I also had a cool experience this last Thursday, I was actually on and exchange with Elder Mataele (my roommate who is a greenie) and we met this guy for the first time who is from Ethiopia. He is probably the most humble person I have ever met, and he is having a rough time finding employment and a place to stay etc. and he was very open to just about anything we taught him. But there was one point during the lesson where he just broke down to us and started to tell us his whole situation and how he normally wouldn't ask for help but he had no other options at this point. It was about this time where we told him that we couldn't help with anything like that, but that we knew people in the ward that have a calling specifically to help people like that, it meant so much to him that after we told him that he just started crying and said to us "I have found my brothers." Holy Mackerel, I don't know if you guys have ever been in a situation similar to that before, but I had to try really really hard to not cry with him, it was a very powerful experience, and it just made it even more clear to me that my purpose for being out here is to help people like him.

Anyways, that is all I have for you guys this week, I love you guys, and have a good week!!!


- Elder Schaap