Life is Moving Right Along in Montgomery Village!

Hey everyone!

This week was an interesting one for us! We had a lot of good meetings with our investigators, I guess I will start with the young woman we've been teaching. We met with her on Thursday, and like I said before, it was kind of strange for me because she is the first person I have taught that hadn't had a concern about anything. Going into our appointment with her, we both kind of felt as though something wasn't right, and the 29th was creeping up closer and closer, so we felt that she didn't have enough time to be fully prepared for her baptism. So I won't go into details, but she unfortunately will not be getting baptized this Sunday, but we are still very hopeful for her.

As for the young man we are teaching, he is doing really well! He has been coming to church, and we met with him yesterday! It has been pretty cool to see the changes that he has made in his life, and definitely a testimony builder for me! He told us yesterday that he didn't watch a football game because he was trying to keep the sabbath... and we hadn't even taught him about that yet! He is awesome, I don't know what else to say.

Other than that, we have been doing our best to meet with the lady that just moved into our ward. One of her daughters came to mutual last week! And had a really good time. We called her on Saturday night to remind her about church, and she assured us that she would be there. So we waited and waited, but she didn't ever show up.... so we went over to her house afterwards to find out what happened, and it turns out that she had gotten ready and dressed to come, she was on her way out the door, and then one of her friends showed up at her house, and brought stuff to make her lunch to cheer her up, and Sheri didn't feel like she could turn her down. So we are trying! The ward is really anxious to help, but it is hard for them when they haven't seen her at church! Hopefully she will be there this week!

Well, transfers are coming up this next week... there really isn't any use in trying to predict what is going to happen, because I am usually wrong, so who knows. Logic would say that I will be leaving, but I have been wrong before. I feel like I am ready to move on, but I have had a good time here, but again, who knows? Anyways, I love you guys! It is so good to hear from you every week! I am grateful that all is continuing to go well back home, and thanks for all you guys do! You are the best family I could ever ask for! You are the best! Love you!

- Elder Schaap

Many Investigators...and Ice Skating Too!

Another week already! Crazy... Well where to start? The confirmation of our new 10-yr-old convert was on Sunday, and it went great! I don't remember if I have said this before or not, but it has been awesome to see the change that the gospel has made in that family! It is hard to even describe, but they have come a long way, and they are continuing to do better.

There was a "Why I Believe" fireside at the VC this last Sunday, and we were able to go with another investigator, she really enjoyed it, and is still doing great! We taught her about the Plan of Salvation last Thursday, and we will be going over again tomorrow for another lesson. It has been really strange, because she is the first person that I have taught that has not had any concerns... hopefully it stays that way!

We weren't able to meet with the young man we've been teaching this last week either... it looks like we are going to have to postpone his baptism for now at least. He is still very interested, and in fact, he met with our Bishop on Sunday for over an hour! And it went really well, he had a good experience! Hopefully we will be able to meet with him sometime this week.

We didn't really have a formal lesson with the young lady that just moved into our ward this week either, we stopped by a few times, but it is just hard because she is still trying to finish moving everything from her old house to her new one, hopefully soon though things will settle down.

Other than that, the weather here is still very mild, maybe getting down into the 40's on a cold day... it is weird! Is it the same for you guys? I keep telling Elder Salanoa to prepare for the cold, and then it keeps getting warmer, I don't know what's going on! Things are going well though, we have a zone activity today, that is why I am writing so early, but we are going ice skating haha I think it has been 10 years or so since I have been ice skating so it should be fun/interesting. Maybe I will take some videos for you!

Love you guys! Have a good week!

- Elder Schaap



Pic - Elder Salanoa gave me a Lava Lava! Sweet!!

A Very Successful Baptism and Another Great Week!

Hello Family!!

Well first things first! Everything went well with the baptism! This last week was a little hectic, just with trying to make sure everything was ready, and contacting everyone on the program and things like that, but everything went pretty smoothly! And we were very grateful for that, baptisms are stressful enough when things go right! So it was good.

Other than that, we were able to meet with the young lady that showed up to church last week just randomly, and she is awesome! She loves everything that she has seen of the church so far. We invited her to be baptized on the 29th of January, and she accepted! We are meeting with her again tomorrow, and a side note on that is that we took a kid in our ward who is deciding whether or not to go on a mission, and he hasn't stopped talking with his family about the experience he had!

There was another cool thing that happened this week. An investigator that lived in a different ward moved into our ward this week, and we were able to help her out. She is really excited to be working with us now because she has a son that is 19 and is kind of struggling to find direction in his life, trying to figure out which way to go. The sisters in her other ward were sad to see her go, but I think that everything will work out. Hopefully we will be able to be an influence for good on the whole family.

Man... I can't believe that Sam and Jess are home! That is so crazy! Pretty soon it will be Jordan! And then.... weird!

I love you guys though, sorry to hear that your weather has been similar to ours - Dry and Warm - I want snow! I don't know if you guys feel the same way... but I want some snow! A lot of snow!

Anyways, I love you guys! Thanks for all the updates! Have a good week!

- Elder Schaap

Happy New Year! Baptism this Sunday!

Wow, where to begin this week. I guess I will start with how we celebrated our New Year's since everyone seems to be dying to know what missionaries do on New Year's Eve haha. You are probably going to be disappointed, because we didn't really do anything fun. We were in our apartment around 7, and I went to bed somewhere around 11, and that was about it haha.

Moving on, we had an awesome experience at church on Sunday, two different people showed up just randomly... how crazy is that? One of them was a young man, who we met with on Monday, and found out that he is very interested in joining the church and changing his life for the better, we set a goal with him to be baptized on Feb 5th! So we are really excited about him. And the other one was a young lady, who we haven't met with yet, but we will be tomorrow!

As for the people that we have been working with for a while, our cute litte 10 yr old investigator is getting baptized this coming Sunday! And they asked me to baptize her! So that will be really cool, we have been going crazy trying to figure out all of the logistics for the program and all the things that go along with planning a baptism, but so far things are going well!

And then our other investigator who is a young father, we didn't get a chance to meet with him last week, but he came to church on Sunday, and set up an appointment with us! So things are going really well, probably the best that they have ever been since I have been in this ward! And we are staying busy!

Well I got the package! Thanks! But those were the shoes that I was talking about that we bought right before I left... they have like foam soles, and they aren't very durable, they are comfortable and light, but I am going to save them for after my mission. Hold off on the shoes though for a bit, there is a family out here that is helping me, and if we can't find anything, then I will tell you guys. Sorry, I probably didn't give a very good description... Anyways, thank you for everything! I hope you guys have a great week! Love you!!!


- Elder Schaap

Pics from DC 3rd Ward!

Many thanks to Brother Kerry Harding from the DC 3rd Ward Bishopric for sending me these pictures today of the elders in the DC 3rd Ward when Robbie served there last year. What a nice thing for Bro. Harding to do!