Man what a week... Last Thursday, during the early morning, me, Elder Walker, and the Lexington Park Elders all went to do some service by helping set up some big canopy tents for an event called "Park Rock," it is a concert like Warped tour except not as big of bands. Anyways, we did this and in return we wanted to be able to have a booth at the concert so that we could talk to people about the gospel, well we eventually figured out that about 90% of the audience would be teenagers that came for the music, and the rest would be security guards, not very good odds of finding new investigators... But it was still fun, and they bought us Breakfast and Lunch, so we didn't make it out of there too bad haha. Also, that night we had a lesson with Sara, I don't know if I have told you about her or not before, but she is in her late 40's/ early 50's, and she retired so that she could take care of her mom full time. She was raised Catholic, but is open to the idea that there could be prophets in the America's, she has been meeting with missionaries for about 4 months, but she can't ever come to church because she is always taking care of her mom. Me and Elder Walker took about an hour that day to prepare a lesson for Sara about prayer, because in the Catholic church, most of their prayers are just recited and not very meaningful. One of the biggest things we try and get people to do is read the Book of Mormon and pray about it to know if it is true. Sara had been doing the reading part, but not the prayer part, so we did a pretty neat scripture chase with her and made her understand the importance of prayer. It was awesome to see how she started to understand what we were saying, we pretty much laid it all down for her and told her that if the Book of Mormon was true, then that means that Joseph Smith was a true Prophet, which means that our church is true. She took it very well and told us that she would put it too the test! So that was very cool, unfortunately she can't meet with us this week, so we are going to have to wait until next week to see how it all goes, hopefully I am still in this area!!
Lexington Park had a baptism this last Saturday, and it was a very neat experience! It all went really really well, Elder Deklerk performed the baptism, and it was so cool to see how happy Marsha was after it was all said and done. I don't remember if I told you guys, but she quit drinking and smoking all within about 3 weeks, she is such an awesome lady! Unfortunately the Brennan's were not there... in fact we couldn't even get a hold of them, but I know he is busy, he is an attorney and has about 5 active cases right now I think, plus he was going out of town this weekend too. I am not too worried about them, we have another appointment with them next week, and I am excited to see how they are doing! A really good thing happened this week though, we had a Less-Active, Part-Member Family at church on Sunday! They had a decent time I think, I guess we will find out when we go and see them later this week though.
I had my first exchange this Monday with Elder Deklerk, it was way sweet, he is the DL, and a very good missionary. It was good for me to see how someone else does things. Well transfers are next week, I can't even believe I have been here 5 weeks already, it doesn't even feel like it has been half that yet, but they have a saying here, Hours feel like Weeks and Weeks feel like Hours, I probably wouldn't even have a clue what that means unless I was out here, but it really is true, the last 5 weeks have absolutely flown by. The good news is that it is more than likely that I will be staying here for next transfer, so hopefully I won't have to get used to another area all over again. Well I love you guys!!! It's always good to hear from you!! And as always, I miss you!!
- Elder Schaap
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Wow! My first transfer is going by way too quick!
This week has been a really good one for me, we still have tons of appointments cancelling, but I guess that is just how it is. I kind of lived the good life my first week here, we had one appointment my first day and three the next and all of them held and seemed promising, not so much now, but that's just how it goes. Well I love hearing from you guys about everything that is going on back home. Sounds like things have been crazy as usual haha I have heard about the hurricanes, but just from members in our ward, I am sure if it is going to be bad that the mission home will tell us, but as of right now, we haven't heard anything from them. I had my first Zone Activity today, it was pretty sweet, we played volleyball, ultimate frisbee, and basketball, and I played all three haha we played 5 games of basketball after we ate... I was pooped, I need to get back into shape.
Well for my story I have for you this week, we taught a whole family, the Brennan's, and they are very receptive! They were asking us about what our favorite stories were in the Book of Mormon, and asking how they could become involved and come to know for themselves if what we were saying was true. The father has looked into religion his whole life, he was born into the Catholic church, but doesn't really believe all of it's teachings, he has read the Koran, and all of the different versions of the Bible, pretty crazy stuff, and he told us that he would have the whole Book of Mormon read by our next appointment! He said he prays every night, so we told him to pray about his readings and to ask if they were true. It is very uncommmon to find a family like this, where both the husband and the wife are open to hearing our message, so we have to do everything we can to help them! Also, the Lexington Park elders (the ones we live with) have a baptism this week and the father told us he would come to that, SWEET! I have heard that investigators that come to baptisms are way more likely to be baptized themselves, so hopefully it happens!
It was a pretty funny day yesterday too, we started off not very good, we had 2 appointments just not show up, then we went and tracted an entire street and not even one person answered the door. As we were walking down the street we saw this lady in her front yard with her dog, as soon as she saw us, she jetted into her house, 2 minutes later we go knock on her door... no answer, haha people are interesting, but what can you do right?
Other than that, we are still working with the excommunicated member I told you about last week, he is doing so well!! The only thing that is holding him back is the paper work that has to go through church headquarters, hopefully in the next month he will be able to be baptized, because he is ready!
It has been 90's here this week, not as humid though, either that or I am just getting used to it haha. Well I love you guys!! Glad to hear things at home are going well, minus the fence haha that is pretty funny though, maybe you should put a gate on there that works this time...... just sayin haha. Dani, I know how you feel, kind of, this is definitely the busiest I have ever been, just keep going though, I know you can do it, oh yeah... and it is worth it!! Mom, not really any requests for the package, but I don't know if zucchini bread would still be good once it got here. Dad, dinner with members is great!! They feed us pretty well, I am not really losing weight, but I'm not gaining it either, so thats good, according to the scale we have in our appartement, I am between 200-205.
Sorry if I missed anything, but you guys are so awesome! And if you write me letters, I could probably respond to them better because I can read those all during the week, and reply anytime on P-day, we only have about 30 - 45 minutes on the computers, but definitely keep me up to date on everything, Love you!
- -Elder Schaap
Well for my story I have for you this week, we taught a whole family, the Brennan's, and they are very receptive! They were asking us about what our favorite stories were in the Book of Mormon, and asking how they could become involved and come to know for themselves if what we were saying was true. The father has looked into religion his whole life, he was born into the Catholic church, but doesn't really believe all of it's teachings, he has read the Koran, and all of the different versions of the Bible, pretty crazy stuff, and he told us that he would have the whole Book of Mormon read by our next appointment! He said he prays every night, so we told him to pray about his readings and to ask if they were true. It is very uncommmon to find a family like this, where both the husband and the wife are open to hearing our message, so we have to do everything we can to help them! Also, the Lexington Park elders (the ones we live with) have a baptism this week and the father told us he would come to that, SWEET! I have heard that investigators that come to baptisms are way more likely to be baptized themselves, so hopefully it happens!
It was a pretty funny day yesterday too, we started off not very good, we had 2 appointments just not show up, then we went and tracted an entire street and not even one person answered the door. As we were walking down the street we saw this lady in her front yard with her dog, as soon as she saw us, she jetted into her house, 2 minutes later we go knock on her door... no answer, haha people are interesting, but what can you do right?
Other than that, we are still working with the excommunicated member I told you about last week, he is doing so well!! The only thing that is holding him back is the paper work that has to go through church headquarters, hopefully in the next month he will be able to be baptized, because he is ready!
It has been 90's here this week, not as humid though, either that or I am just getting used to it haha. Well I love you guys!! Glad to hear things at home are going well, minus the fence haha that is pretty funny though, maybe you should put a gate on there that works this time...... just sayin haha. Dani, I know how you feel, kind of, this is definitely the busiest I have ever been, just keep going though, I know you can do it, oh yeah... and it is worth it!! Mom, not really any requests for the package, but I don't know if zucchini bread would still be good once it got here. Dad, dinner with members is great!! They feed us pretty well, I am not really losing weight, but I'm not gaining it either, so thats good, according to the scale we have in our appartement, I am between 200-205.
Sorry if I missed anything, but you guys are so awesome! And if you write me letters, I could probably respond to them better because I can read those all during the week, and reply anytime on P-day, we only have about 30 - 45 minutes on the computers, but definitely keep me up to date on everything, Love you!
- -Elder Schaap
P.S. The Pictures:
#1 - Dani this is for you, I knew you would like it haha, there is a street down here that I am pretty sure Shrek says the Muffin man lives on hahaha hopefully I will be able to get a picture of that one too
#2 - A way funny sign when you first cross the bridge
#3 and #4 - These are just pictures from the bridge that we have to cross, pretty sweet. The other night, we crossed it at sunset and I was so mad that I didn't have my camera!!! I will get one of that soon though
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Another week...zone conf...district conf...a missionary story
Well this week was pretty crazy, I think I told you before that we have been having a ridiculous amount of appointments cancel, and it didn't stop this week unfortunately, so we have been doing a lot of tracting. Good news is it hasn't been as hot, in fact yesterday it was really pleasant, about 70 degrees and not very humid. We gave one of our investigators a baptismal date this week, which was pretty exciting, but he didn't seem too thrilled about it and was kind of skeptical, we are still hoping and praying that he will continue to work with us and work towards the goal we gave him. I had my first district meeting this week, it was pretty cool, except we have to drive about an hour just to get to the chapel, we are so far away from everything down here, we have zone conference tomorrow and we are going to have to drive about an hour and a half... It was a little depressing though, at lunch after district meeting all of us were talking and most of the guys in my district have been gone over a year haha I am the youngest by far! Time really has flown pretty quickly, it is hard for me to remember what all happened during the week, I can remember church and the rest just seems like a blur, I have already been in this area for 3 sundays! I am half way done with my first transfer... weird!
So I know I haven't really given you guys too many "missionary" stories, but that's because I haven't really had too many. I do have one though, we have been working with a man who was actually excommunicated from the church in 2001. It is a pretty interesting story, I won't tell you what he did to get exed but I will say that after that time, his life got pretty much ruined. He lost his family, his job, and his health, pretty much everything he had. He was very involved with the church, he was in a stake presidency at one point, a ward mission leader as well, he was also employed by the church. Well I probably don't have to tell you this, but he was humbled, the hard way, and he came to the realization that it was not the church's fault for what he had done. Anyways, he is an awesome guy, and he can't wait to be baptized... again. Unfortunately for him and for me, it is a very long process for an excommunicated member to be baptized again and it is going to probably take around 2 months until he can get baptized, so it is doubtful that I will get to see it happen, but we will continue to work every week with him and we know that he will be ready for it when that day comes.
I think that is about all I have for you guys, Dani school sound crazy!! I know how you feel though, this is the most busy I have ever been in my life too!! Mom, the other missionaries in my appartment are Elders Deklerk and Nowlin. And dad, quit freaking me out with these headaches of yours! NO YOKE! Grandpa, thanks for the letter, it is always good to hear how things are going with you guys!
Well I love you guys so much, you really are the best family ever! Hope everything continues to go well! Until next week...
- Elder Schaap
So I know I haven't really given you guys too many "missionary" stories, but that's because I haven't really had too many. I do have one though, we have been working with a man who was actually excommunicated from the church in 2001. It is a pretty interesting story, I won't tell you what he did to get exed but I will say that after that time, his life got pretty much ruined. He lost his family, his job, and his health, pretty much everything he had. He was very involved with the church, he was in a stake presidency at one point, a ward mission leader as well, he was also employed by the church. Well I probably don't have to tell you this, but he was humbled, the hard way, and he came to the realization that it was not the church's fault for what he had done. Anyways, he is an awesome guy, and he can't wait to be baptized... again. Unfortunately for him and for me, it is a very long process for an excommunicated member to be baptized again and it is going to probably take around 2 months until he can get baptized, so it is doubtful that I will get to see it happen, but we will continue to work every week with him and we know that he will be ready for it when that day comes.
I think that is about all I have for you guys, Dani school sound crazy!! I know how you feel though, this is the most busy I have ever been in my life too!! Mom, the other missionaries in my appartment are Elders Deklerk and Nowlin. And dad, quit freaking me out with these headaches of yours! NO YOKE! Grandpa, thanks for the letter, it is always good to hear how things are going with you guys!
Well I love you guys so much, you really are the best family ever! Hope everything continues to go well! Until next week...
- Elder Schaap
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
One Month Down Already?!
Where to begin??? I guess a good place to start is with the weather haha it is so ridiculous, you Utahn's don't even know what it is like to have humidity, it has been in the low 90's here and around 80% humid this last week, basically you walk outside and you instantly start sweating. And to go along with it, almost all of our weekly appointments that we usually have cancelled on us this week, so we have been tracting a lot more than usual. So we are in a car area like I told you before, and we have a limit of 1550 miles a month, which is 50 miles a day, well a city in our area called Mechanicsville is 23 miles away, which means we could go straight there and straight back and only have 4 miles left for the day... needless to say, we are ahead of schedule for our miles this month, we have already gone over 1000, hopefully they will allow us more though.
Today is P-day, and we went with the Lexington Park elders, the ones we live with, and went to a members house to play ping pong and air hockey!! So much fun! It has been a while since I have played either, but I still remember how haha. It was good to hear that Dani's trip was fun! And that school is going well! Although I am still not totally convinced she is going to school, that is super convenient that it starts right after I leave and will end right before I get back.... haha
I wish I had more to tell you about my week, but we mostly just went tracting, some lady that we found tracting the first week I was here was a pretty promising potential investigator, and she cancelled on us 3 times this week... she is sick, so she has an excuse, it is just frustrating. Also, we ran into this couple that was very interesting to say the least, they were nice people, or at least they came across as nice people at first, and they tried to put us down, telling us that we didn't know what we were doing with our lives, and that we didn't know how to really work. That actually made me smile and just think to myself, she has no idea, because I can guarantee you missionary work is harder than any other work she has ever done in her life, and because I have never been as sure as I am about my life than right now, being on a mission.
Well, I love you guys!! Keep writing and telling me what's going on! Dani tell me how everything goes with.... everything haha too many things to name off! But I hope all is well at home! And I will write again next week!
- Elder Schaap
P.S. I got the package today! Thanks so much!!
Today is P-day, and we went with the Lexington Park elders, the ones we live with, and went to a members house to play ping pong and air hockey!! So much fun! It has been a while since I have played either, but I still remember how haha. It was good to hear that Dani's trip was fun! And that school is going well! Although I am still not totally convinced she is going to school, that is super convenient that it starts right after I leave and will end right before I get back.... haha
I wish I had more to tell you about my week, but we mostly just went tracting, some lady that we found tracting the first week I was here was a pretty promising potential investigator, and she cancelled on us 3 times this week... she is sick, so she has an excuse, it is just frustrating. Also, we ran into this couple that was very interesting to say the least, they were nice people, or at least they came across as nice people at first, and they tried to put us down, telling us that we didn't know what we were doing with our lives, and that we didn't know how to really work. That actually made me smile and just think to myself, she has no idea, because I can guarantee you missionary work is harder than any other work she has ever done in her life, and because I have never been as sure as I am about my life than right now, being on a mission.
Well, I love you guys!! Keep writing and telling me what's going on! Dani tell me how everything goes with.... everything haha too many things to name off! But I hope all is well at home! And I will write again next week!
- Elder Schaap
P.S. I got the package today! Thanks so much!!
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Dinner with the Members
Elders Schaap and Walker
Photo by Jeffrey Borgholthaus
Brother Borgholthaus sent me this picture yesterday via email. He's in the Patuxent Ward with the Elders, and they had the missionaries over for dinner at their home Sunday night. He took this picture and said he always enjoyed receiving pictures of his son when he was on his mission, so he thought that Sister Walker and I would enjoy this. How thoughtful! I love it! It's so nice to know there are great people like Brother Borgholthaus looking out for our missionaries!
-Marcie
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Keep on Tractin'!
Hello Family and Everyone else!
I am doing good, it is freakin hot here, but other than that everything is good! My first week out in the mission field was a busy one! We actually taught a lesson last week on Wednesday night a.k.a. my first day here so that was pretty exciting, we taught a man named Tyrone, he is awesome and has a lot of questions about the gospel, hopefully he and his wife will eventually be baptized before I get transfered! Thursday was a really busy day, we had 3 appointments with some other pretty solid investigators that all have a good chance of being baptized before I leave, so that will be good. There was an Elder here just before me, and he was here for I think 3 transfers and he only had 1 baptism, so we are doing our best to get that number up! Well the other day, I think it was Friday, I went tracting for the first time, man it was hot!!! I think it was about 98 degrees and 60% humid, Dani, would you rather..... Be in 98 and 60 here in D.C. or...... Be in like AZ and have it be a dry 110???? I don't know, but I think I am leaning more towards AZ haha
Anyways, I knocked my first door yesterday! Yikes! It went ok, I was way nervous though! I didn't know what to say!!! Hopefully I become more comfortable with that by the end of this transfer. Things are going good though, other than the fact that it is really really really hot. How are things at home? I had no idea Pres M's dad died, that is way sad, but yeah he didn't even say anything to us. Dani how's your freakin trips???? That's good to hear that Brad isn't a chump hahaha just kidding, I knew he wouldn't be. Well you should be on that one show, because you are having the BEST WEEK EVER haha seriously though... let me know how everything goes.
Oh, also yeah we get fed every night by members haha get this, they have a list at church that people sign up to feed us, yeah.... it's filled for the next like 3 weeks haha so awesome! One more thing, I don't know if I said this yet, but this area is way greener than I thought it would be! I thought it would be like all city and developed, nope there are tons of trees, way more than Utah. Well I gotta get going, but hope you guys have a great week, and Dad, freakin get better!!!!!! Love you guys!!
Elder Schaap
P.S. Also, tell Jake that's sweet!!! (Jake Nelson got his call to the Arkansas Little Rock Mission and leaves Nov. 10) And freakin tell him to email me!! haha Thanks
I am doing good, it is freakin hot here, but other than that everything is good! My first week out in the mission field was a busy one! We actually taught a lesson last week on Wednesday night a.k.a. my first day here so that was pretty exciting, we taught a man named Tyrone, he is awesome and has a lot of questions about the gospel, hopefully he and his wife will eventually be baptized before I get transfered! Thursday was a really busy day, we had 3 appointments with some other pretty solid investigators that all have a good chance of being baptized before I leave, so that will be good. There was an Elder here just before me, and he was here for I think 3 transfers and he only had 1 baptism, so we are doing our best to get that number up! Well the other day, I think it was Friday, I went tracting for the first time, man it was hot!!! I think it was about 98 degrees and 60% humid, Dani, would you rather..... Be in 98 and 60 here in D.C. or...... Be in like AZ and have it be a dry 110???? I don't know, but I think I am leaning more towards AZ haha
Anyways, I knocked my first door yesterday! Yikes! It went ok, I was way nervous though! I didn't know what to say!!! Hopefully I become more comfortable with that by the end of this transfer. Things are going good though, other than the fact that it is really really really hot. How are things at home? I had no idea Pres M's dad died, that is way sad, but yeah he didn't even say anything to us. Dani how's your freakin trips???? That's good to hear that Brad isn't a chump hahaha just kidding, I knew he wouldn't be. Well you should be on that one show, because you are having the BEST WEEK EVER haha seriously though... let me know how everything goes.
Oh, also yeah we get fed every night by members haha get this, they have a list at church that people sign up to feed us, yeah.... it's filled for the next like 3 weeks haha so awesome! One more thing, I don't know if I said this yet, but this area is way greener than I thought it would be! I thought it would be like all city and developed, nope there are tons of trees, way more than Utah. Well I gotta get going, but hope you guys have a great week, and Dad, freakin get better!!!!!! Love you guys!!
Elder Schaap
P.S. Also, tell Jake that's sweet!!! (Jake Nelson got his call to the Arkansas Little Rock Mission and leaves Nov. 10) And freakin tell him to email me!! haha Thanks
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Welcome to Patuxent!
Hey everyone!! I made it to D.C.! The flights sucked, but what do you expect when you leave at 1 in the morning? We got to D.C., and the airport here is huge!!! It has a train in it! haha but our luggage got lost because our layover in Georgia was too short for them to be able to get it into our flight to D.C. When we first got here, we went straight to the Temple, and I have to say, all of those pictures I saw of it, definitely didn't do it justice, it is unreal how pretty the Temple here is, definitely my favorite. I tried to take some pictures to show you how amazing it really is, but you all know how good of a photographer I am... After that however, Pres and Sister Matsumori let us sleep, thank goodness, I think I got a total of maybe an hour and a half of sleep on our flights, but I slept well in the mission home, so it was way nice. Other than that though, on the first day here we just went over some random stuff about what we should know, and things we need to learn about the area here. Sister Matsumori made some awesome food for us too, spare ribs for dinner, and this morning she made a breakfast casserole!Well I am an official missionary now, I didn't really count it at the MTC, but I am now! My trainers name is Elder Walker, he is from Spanish Fork, he doesn't know our cousins though. He is a pretty cool guy, and I think he will be an excellent trainer. The area I am serving in is called Patuxent, I think it is the 2nd most south area in the mission. It is very nice here, there is definitely a lot more trees and things here than I thought there would be, I thought it would be mostly city, but it really isn't. Oh, the humidity..... SUCKS!!!! Holy cow, it is bad, haha one of the kids that drove with us back from the mission home had his glasses fog up as soon as he stepped out of the car! All those people that were telling me that it is way humid here were definitely right. Hmm... I don't really know what else to tell you, the Matsumori's had all of us new missionaries do a session at the Temple with our trainers, so that was a pretty cool experience, we live within walking distance of the church, and there is a Five Guys and a bakery very close as well. We are about 2 hours from the mission home, so I won't be seeing much of the Matsumori's for a little while probably. My companion tells me that we get fed by members nearly every night, Score!! Well I still have to unpack tonight, it is weird, I am really here!
- Elder Schaap
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
