Baptisms set for May 14th

Hello!!!

Well we have had another really good week here in Bowie! We have been very blessed to be able to have quite a few people to teach, and most of them are progressing very well! The couple we've been teaching is doing well, unfortunately though, they didn't make it to church this last week which means that they cannot be baptized on May 7th, but its ok, because they are now scheduled to be baptized on May 14th!! So things are going really well with them. We also have the young lady we've been teaching, who is the lady who was just recently married to a member of our ward, she is actually from the Phillipines, so it is sometimes hard for us to communicate, luckily though we have a member of our ward who served his mission in the Phillipines, and is able to help her! She is also scheduled to be baptized on May 14th, and her husband, who has just recently been reactivated, is going to baptize her! So it is really exciting!

I don't remember how much I told you about our other investigator who is a recent convert that lived in Florida, but things are still about the same with him, although he is becoming more optimistic about the whole situation, and things are looking up for him!

Well thanks for all the updates!! Sorry to hear about Frannie's mom, give her my best! Glad to hear you guys are doing well though, Dani I got your letter, Elder Vakalahi and I are thinking of some good ideas and we will get that back to you soon! Love you guys!!!!


- Elder Schaap

From the bottom up:
Pic #1 - Chillin in our Easter ties!
Pics 2,3,&4- you will never guess who lives in our area.... yep, Travis Pastrana, this is his back yard..... ridiculous!!!

Crazy Elders

Elder Vakalahi found his camera...We helped a member in the ward move some stuff out of her garage and found some funny stuff hahaha

Good Things Happening in Bowie

Hey Everyone!!!

Things here are going really well! The Bowie ward is amazing! Haha I have yet to buy myself food.... people are always bringing us food, it is sweet!! And it is really nice to be in a ward again where the members actually come out with us to appointments! We had some cool experiences this week, we were able to go to the wedding of a less active member that got married to one of our investigators that will hopefully be getting baptized soon! We have also had the opportunity to work with a guy who was baptized in January down in Florida (not in Austin's mission, I already asked haha) but he is an awesome guy and he is going through a really hard time right now, it is a really long story or else I would tell it to you, but we have been going over every night to just keep him company and encourage him, and he is doing really well!

We were also able to meet with a couple and we had a lesson that went really well, and they are scheduled to be baptized on May 7th!!! They are very solid too, the member that came out with us to the appointment said that he may have worked with two families that were as solid as this one throughout his whole mission, so we are really excited!! And then another one of our investigators is a really funny older lady, a widow, and enjoys our company, we haven't really been able to teach her a whole lot because she is not so much interested in the church as she is in just enjoying our company, but we are working on doing something about that. We have helped her with some service and other things like that, hopefully we will be able to teach her soon!!

But that is about all for now, I am loving the new area, being back in a car is a little weird, but I guess it is nice now that the weather is starting to warm up! Elder Vakalahi is awesome! He is a really good missionary, and he has probably taught me more already in this one week that we have been companions than any of my others, and we are working really well together!

Mom - We are in cars in this ward, I think on that map that the Matsumori's gave us my area is actually two areas because the two wards were combined into one (Bowie/Crofton) so I think it is one of the biggest areas in the mission, and there are just two of us in the ward. Actually there are only two of us in the appartment, but we always manage to find something to do to keep us entertained haha, oh and I haven't heard anything about the Mother's Day call yet, but I will let you know as soon as I know!

Well I love you guys!! Thanks for all the updates!! Hope you have a wonderful week!!


- Elder Schaap


P.S. Sorry I don't have any pictures for you this week, they are all on Elder Vakalahi's camera and he forgot to bring it, but that just means that I will send a lot next week!!

Transferred to Bowie!

Hey guys!

So I think I forgot to mention last week that this week was going to be transfers (oops!), but I am in a new area with a new companion now. His name is Elder Vakalahi, he is from Texas and played football at BYU, I think he is one of the only missionaries in this mission that is bigger than me haha and I am in the Bowie (pronounced boo-ee) area. I was pretty sad to leave DC 3rd along with the Postma's, because our area was just starting to pick up, but this area sounds like it is doing great and I am excited to be here.

I don't really have much to say haha because I don't know a whole lot about the area, but it is interesting that I am here because I am in the same district as my first area, I know that probably doesn't mean anything to you guys though haha. It sounds like things are going well at home though! The homecoming sounds like quite an event!

Well, I hope that everything continues to go relatively smoothly at home! Sorry for being so short, hopefully I will have more to say next week! Love you guys!!!

- Elder Schaap

Pic #1 - This is a great sister in our ward and her two grandkids, we went over to their house every Saturday night for dinner
Pic #2 - My Roommates
Pic #3 - Our District picture

General Conference!

Hello Family!!

Good to hear from you! Man this week was pretty sweet! I absolutely loved General Conference!!! My favorites were probably Elder Oaks, and President Uchtdorf. All of them were good, but those 3 talks were ones that I felt applied to me the most, of course President Uchtdorf's always seem to apply to me. Oh and all the talks about marriage made me feel guilty, and I don't even have to worry about that for a while hahaha it was pretty funny to see some of the reactions of the missionaries to that one, especially some of the ones who go home pretty soon. Unfortunately we weren't able to get any investigators to GC, we had some that told us that they would come, but didn't end up showing.... That's missionary work for ya! haha We had a pretty cool experience this week, we were able to meet with a family we are teaching last Monday, and it was pretty hectic there, I won't get into details, but let's just say that Elder Howard and I along with the Postma's pretty much became marriage counsellors haha (seems like that happens way too often as a missionary!)

Anyways, we were able to leave on a good note, and we invited them to come to the Visitor's Center with us on Friday, as well as attend a session of General Conference with us on Sunday. Well come Friday, we called the dad and asked if we are still good to go with him and his family later that evening, and he told us that we were. So we went with the Postmas to their house, and it turns out that the kids went to the store and were going to be about an hour late, so we tried back an hour later, and then the dad told us that he isn't feeling up to going. So we decided that it didn't matter, but we wanted to take the kids, and they actually ended up coming with us! That may not seem like a huge miracle to you guys haha but I promise it is huge! Well I love you guys!!! Thanks for the Package, I got it today!!! You guys are the best!! As always!! LOVE YOU!

- Elder Schaap

P.S. The new photo above is courtesy of Sister Postma. She is the greatest! Marcie