Thanksgiving!

Hello Everyone!

Sounds like there has been a bunch of stuff going on back there! Glad to hear that Thanksgiving went well! Sorry I missed out on the pies! They sound really good!

Our Thanksgiving was pretty fun, we played soccer in the morning (our Elder's Quorum tried to organize a turkey bowl the Sunday before Thanksgiving, and we didn't think too many people would show up, so we got like 10 people to come play soccer with us), and it was really fun, after that we were running around all day to different members homes to eat their food. I think that members kind of get a kick out of watching how much the missionaries can eat haha, because we would tell them that we were already going to someone's home for dinner and they would say, "Just come over, and you can have a piece of pie or something." I can't even tell you how many pieces of pie I ate, but it was a lot. Oh, and there is a member in one of the wards that doesn't want the missionaries to go with out having left over turkey for sandwiches... So he buys each companionship a turkey, has one of the members cook it for us, and then they just give it to us. They weren't small either, probably like 18 lbs each, so we had A LOT of food. I was missing Uncle Rick's stuffing though, and I didn't have any candied yams... I bet you guys did though!

That is sweet that you got to go to the Postma's homecoming! They are the best! I bet they did a great job! And that's sweet that you met Elder Vakalahi! Tell him that he better hang out with me when I get back!

Anways, as you can imagine, this last week was a little slower as far as missionary work goes, but it was still good! We met with two sisters last night, and it was amazing! I really feel like both of them are starting to understand how the gospel applies to them, they were both asking really good questions, and it was starting to click with them.

We have also been trying to do more with our members in the ward, so we have been teaching lessons at their FHE's, last week we were with our bishop's family, and on Monday we were with our EQP and his family! And it has been going really well!

It is crazy that the Festival of Lights at the Temple is starting up again... but it should give us a lot of opportunities, pretty much everyone around here, even if they are not remotely interested in our church goes to the Festival at one point while it is running.

Well, thanks for all the updates! You guys are the best family that I could ever ask for! I love you! and hope you have a great week!

- Elder Schaap

P.S. Talk to you in less than a month!!!




Pics - Biking in the rain ha!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello!

How is everyone? I would bet that you guys are already starting to cook for Thanksgiving! Eat some stuffing for me! We have been doing good though. It has been raining more and more the past few weeks, and I think that soon it will start to snow pretty consistently, which ought to be interesting because our area is huge! And my bike doesn't do too well in the snow... no worries though we will figure something out.

We had some cool experiences this week. President and Sister Matsumori spoke in our ward this week, on missionary work obviously, and it was really neat to see how the ward reacted to their talks. During Priesthood opening exercises, we told the ward that we wanted to start teaching lessons in FHE to families in the ward, and asked if anyone would be interested. Right after we had asked, two people got up and told everyone of the great experiences that they had had with the elders in their home, and then probably about 20 people rose their hands and said that they would like us to come over! So we actually had our first one on Monday night with the Bishop and his family! And it went great!

As for our plans for Thanksgiving, we are going to be going over to one of the members' home and spending most of the day with them. It should be really good, and she is a pretty good cook too! There are a few other members that we will be going to see throughout the day as well, so it should be fun! Oh... and instead of a turkey bowl, we are playing soccer with one of our less active members, and a bunch of his friends!

Well, I hope you guys have fun with Thanksgiving! Take lots of pictures! And I will too! By the way... I am totally entering the pie competition next year! Love you guys!!!


- Elder Schaap

P.S. My speakers broke this last week :( there was a short in one of the wires, I am going to try to look for some new ones, but if you guys could see if they still have them at the Simply Mac store, and find out how much they are that would be great! Thanks!

Elder Kearon, Having a Good Attitude, and Focusing on the Positive

The Kearons and Matsumoris

Hello!

How is everyone? I hope the trip is going well, and that you guys are having fun! Things here have been going really well, Elder Salanoa and I are getting along great! It has been an interesting experience for me to be teaching a new missionary how to be a missionary. I guess there is a lot of things that now to me are second nature, and I don't even have to really think about them, so I sometimes overlook the fact that he doesn't know what I am doing. Overall though, so far it has been really good, and I am doing my best to make Elder Salanoa's first few weeks of his mission good ones.

Unfortunately we have had another one of those weeks where our appointments just don't seem to hold. He had an interesting first week of his mission though, because it seemed like every single day other than Monday, we had a meeting of some sort to go to.

On Friday, Elder Kearon from the Seventy came and spoke to our mission, and it was a really neat experience. He and his wife covered a number of different topics, I guess the one that stood out the most to me was when he talked about our attitude. He told us straight up that missionary work is not easy, and that our attitude towards the adversities that we face can have a huge impact on our success or even happiness over the course of our missions. It reminded me of a talk given by Elder Wirthlin called "Come What May, and Love It."

We had a pretty cool experience the other day though. We were out checking on a less-active member, and they weren't home, so we turn around to go get our bikes, and we see this lady so we decide to go talk to her. Well we ended up spending probably about an hour and a half talking to her all about the gospel, we were able to clear up some of her misconceptions of our church, and she invited us to come back on Thursday!

I have noticed an interesting trend with conversations about religion lately, and that is that both participants in the conversation want to prove that they are right. It eventually gets to the point where people don't even remember what the original disagreement was on, and really they don't care, as long as they leave the conversation on top. If you think about it, that doesn't do anyone any good (and if this is the case, then neither of them are following the principles they believe anyways!). So I have decided to try a different approach when we talk to people.

With this lady that we met, we could tell that she had done some research on our church, and she had found some things that she didn't quite agree with (obviously right, or she would have joined :P), so when she talked with us about some of her concerns, we were able to see that they were mostly just misunderstandings, and come to find out her beliefs are pretty much in line with those of our church. Hopefully that made sense to you, basically instead of focusing on the negatives we tried to focus on the positives, and it went over a lot better.

Well, I hope all is well back there in Utah! It is raining here today, and I think that we are going to start seeing more and more of that, and that it will continue to get colder. How is the weather there? Let me know! Love you guys, have a good week!!!

- Elder Schaap

It's Transfer Day Again!

Hello!!!

Well it has been another crazy week here. I haven't been feeling the greatest, not terrible, but not great, and it has been this way for like 2 weeks now... so Elder Pound made me stay in bed all day on Thursday, it is really weird, it is like when I wake up I feel bad, but by lunch time I am all better... I don't know what the deal is, but the Nyquil and stuff that you guys sent has really helped, thanks!

So anyways, yes, transfers were this week, Elder Pound left, and actually went to my old area in DC 3rd. As for me... I am training!! Yep, I got a greenie! I was super nervous at first, but not as much any more. My companion's name is Elder Salanoa, he is from Samoa! We are going to have a lot of fun! He converted to the church about 10 years ago, and he is very excited to get to work, so that is what we are going to do.

This will be a completely new experience for me though... I haven't been with any really young missionaries, but it will be good. They have a pretty cool new program too for Trainers and Trainees that they just started in our mission last transfer, so assuming everything goes normally, we will be spending 12 weeks together. Should be fun!

As for our investigators, we were able to go to the Visitor's Center with one of our investigators, and he had a really good experience! He is moving, slowly but surely. Our other investigator is doing really well, not a ton to tell you about her though, as for now she is still planning on getting baptized on Christmas Day.

We had Stake Conference this week, Elder Cardon came and spoke, and it was really good, he talked a lot about teaching the gospel to others, he gave an awesome example of his strategy in teaching his son at age 15. I would tell you the whole story, but that could take all day, basically he didn't try to force anything on his son. He found something that his son enjoyed doing, and did it with him, and eventually Elder Cardon's son was able to teach himself gospel principles. I probably did a terrible job explaining that to you, but ask me about it when I get home, because it had a pretty profound impact on me.

Well I am pretty freakin jealous that you guys ate TRI-TIP and APPLE PIE with the POSTMA'S... but I guess there isn't a whole lot that you or I can do about that haha. Well, have fun on your trip! Tell Brad good luck, and tell him to practice up too, since I got these new shoes, I am a whole new basketball player! Ha! Just kidding... he would still light me up with one arm behind his back! Well, love you guys! Thanks so much for everything! By the way, there should be a package coming to you guys very soon... I sent it last wednesday, so let me know if you get it! Love you!

- Elder Schaap


Elder Salanoa and I at the VC!

The Schaaps and Postmas Finally Meet!

We had the Postmas over tonight for dinner - what a treat!!! They've been Robbie's second parents and guardian angels out in the mission field in DC while he's been there, and they just returned from their mission last Friday. We couldn't wait to meet them, and what a great time we had tonight laughing and crying and chatting over dinner. We love you Postmas! ---

Steve & Marcie

Mission Highs and Lows

Hello Everyone!

So good to hear from all of you! Things here are going pretty good, I can't believe that next week is transfers... crazy how fast time goes.

This week was a little rough to be honest, we had a lot of appointments, that we had members scheduled to go to with us, that fell through, and when that happens, there isn't a whole lot we can do. We have some things set up for the rest of this week, and Sunday is Stake Conference for us, and I believe it is Elder Cardon (I think) that is coming, and he is having a special meeting for Investigators and Recent Converts, so we are trying to get a few people to that, which should be sweet!

It was cool to have our sister investigators come to both the Trunk-or-Treat, and the Halloween party this last week! I think that they are really starting to get back into the whole church thing which is really good to see. I think that they are understanding more and more what the gospel is all about, and how it is here to bless our lives. We are meeting with them on Thursday, and hopefully we are going to get members to have them over for FHE's and stuff like that once a week!

Not really any other notable news unfortunately, we have been working hard this past week, we just were dealt some bad cards I guess, this next week should be much better though! Sorry for being so short this week! Love you guys! Looking forward to the package!

- Elder Schaap


Pic 1 - The first snow (Oct 29)



Pics 2 & 3 - We went to the driving range today, it was sweet! I gotta say, for the first time swinging a club in like 16 months, I did pretty well too...