James letter 11-28-11

This week has been super slow, but Thanksgiving was truly amazing. We had three dinners. Yes thats right, three. I ate so much I thought I was going to explode. Between dinners 1 & 2 is when Bro Wilhoit decided to call you. It was a little wierd, and I'm not totally sure it was allowed, but we played with LEGO's afterward so it was ok.

We put up lights on the home of a less active member as a service project. I felt kind of bad because the clips kept breaking and the side is not on very well. We are going back this week though so hopefully we will be able to fix it. We also put up lights in our appartment. Talk about sweet. We are getting a tree today to from members.

I was thinking of having you send out my nativity. You know the one in my bedroom that says faith. It's on the TV center, and the box for it is behind the right closet door next to the bookshelf.

I got three packages and two letters this wednesday. I was pretty excited. The other elders were jealous, but I shared some of the goodies so they were fine with it. It's wierd to think that there is less than a month till Christmas. It's an interesting thing being out here for it instead of back home, but the ward is sweet and the other elders are fun, so I think we can make something work.

Funny story of the week- we were tracting an appartment complex and we knocked on this one door( it was the first on that didn't have several dogs barking at us), and we heard a woman say "it's the mormons." A few seconds later came the reply from a man "tell them you'r in the shower." The woman replied through the door "I'm in the shower." We started laughing so hard as we walked away. Some people just don't seem to have any common sense.

Elder Fannin is sick now, so these next few days may be pretty slow as well, I hope he gets feeling better soon, but we'll see. Thats all for this week. Love you guys.

James letter 11-21-11

I'm glad you saw fit in your infinite wisdom to let me know how your cribbage game is going. I'm sure I really needed to know. Anyways...

This week I'm going to share with you a few stories. We have been doing TONS of tracting as we have no one to teach and I have seen the most bizarre things. So heres the scoop.

#1. Some people try really hard to avoid you. We were tracting a street in our area and this guy was in his front room watching TV. He was us coming through the window and he ran out side and jumped in his car. He backed out of his driveway into the street, waited for us to walk past his house, and then he pulled back in, and went inside. We laughed at that for a while, and then decided that if he put that much effort into avoiding us we should just leave him alone. I'm thinking now though that we should have gone back and said, "Hey we see you just got home."

#2 Now tell mom not to freak out about this, but we had a dog sicked on us. We knocked on a door and the dog started barking like crazy. No one was coming to the door, but we knew that if anyone was there they knew someone was at the door. So we knocked again, and the barking continued, then it got really soft until we couldn't hear it. It slowly got louder and louder until we realized that it was outside and coming at us from the side of the house. It ran at me barking its head off. I looked down at it and started laughing. It was one of those little ankle-biters, and I'm pretty sure I could have done more damage to it that it ever could have done to me. We looked at it for a while, and then we left. Some people just don't like us...

#3 The coolest door we've ever knocked. We were out tracting, again, and we came across this door with a gong outside. Next to the gong was a wooden sign that read, "We are home or we are gone to find the truth please ring the gong" We weren't sure about it at first, but we did ring the gong. It was sweet. I didn't have my camera though, so we are going to go back and take a picture sometime.

I hope you guys will be alright during the holidays. It may be tough for you without me there to keep things interesting. On the bright side though I do get to call home for Christmas. So you have something to look forward to.

I think I'm going to write Tyson a letter. I think that will do him good, just to know that he still has me for a friend and I'm thinking about him. I looked up his address on lds.org. Oh and I got a card from Hulets this week. You'll have to tell them thank you, because It may take me a while to write to them. Things here are going along slow and steady, hopefully we will be able to pick them up soon. I love you guys. Talk to you next week.

Elder Schultz

James letter 11-14-11

Well I have made it through my first transfer in the Oregon Portland Mission. It has been one crazy six weeks out here. The people in Oregon are...weird. And thats putting it mildly. Also do you know what today marks? This day, the 14th of November marks my 2 month mark. I have been out for two months, and it seems like I left forever ago. Time flies, but seems to drag on as well. At least I enjoy it.

I have been accumulating more ties since I've been here. You may say I'm obsessed, or sick, but there is only one way for us to express personality with our clothes, and that is through our ties, so I will continue to collect. I'm thinking a good Christmas gift would be another tie-rack and more ties.

Its great to see how the Lord works in everything we do out here. I have recently been studying my patriachal blessing, and I came across the part that said I will have great faith. Later in the week I read in Alma 58:10-11 that great faith comes through prayer. It was incredible to see that the Lord is teaching me how to acheive the promised blessings.

Elder Tingey in our district is being transferred today. He was a really great guy and I will miss him a lot. But, on the other hand his companion Elder Manwill will be training a new missionary, so I won't be the youngest one out here anymore.

I've been thinking a lot on agency this week. That is the one thing that truly is the deciding factor in teaching out here. We can be the best teachers on the earth, speak by the Spirit and prove these things are true, but if the investigator doesn't want to know, they won't. Agency is the most pivitol part of everything we do. It is involved in everything. It's no wonder it is always called God's greatest gift to man.

An Elder this week posed a question to me: in Alma 5:40 it says whatsoever is good is from God, and whatsoever is bad is from the Devil. So if we have bad thoughts they are from Satan, and if we have good thoughts they are from God. Where are our own thoughts? The answer is simple. And you've probably guessed that it comes down to agency. They present us with the option, and we, even if it is subconsiously, use our agency to make the choice. Were it not so we would be completely helpless and unable to change ourselves to follow God.

I'm excited to hear about Adam and Alic. You'll have to keep me informed, or better yet tell them to write me. It gets awful depressing up here when you don't get mail for two weeks. I'm glad to hear that they are both progessing towards their missions. I really hope Tyson will be able to go, It would help him so much, and he really deserves this opportunity. I hope they can figure something out.

That scripture from Bro Thorpe is one that he has shared with me before, and its true. We have so much in our lives. So many reasons to have joy, why not accept it into our lives and let the joy that comes from living this gospel truly infuse us with power. When something brings you joy you want it more and more, you never want to lose it. So it is with this gospel, if we truly make it a part of us it will bring us joy and we will never want to lose it.

I hope you guys are doing well. I think about you from time to time, usually on Sundays when we aren't very busy. I love you so much and I look forward to the time when I can bring you up here and introduce you to all the great people in this area. The Lord is with me, and with all of us. Listen closely and hear his voice.

Sacrifice

Taught a Sunday School lesson today about sacrifice. The Spirit was very much in evidence as I spoke about the blood sacrifices of ancient days and how the Sacrament replaced that series of ordinances with the inclusion of a broken heart and a contrite spirit. We spoke of how President Benson's father was called on a mission and how the family had to sacrifice to make that happen. We shared what we knew about farming and how every family member had that responsibility. We then remembered President Kimball's instruction from October or April of 1974 that every worthy young man should serve a mission. I remember how the draft had just ended and that made this work possible. I then recounted to them how I ran in college and after deciding to serve the Lord on my mission that my personal time dropped a full 3 seconds in a 2 lap race. I remember that feeling as if it was yesterday. The Lord approved my choice. I knew I would win that morning that I woke up. It was the most humbling feeling I had experienced to that point in my life. After the race I remember one of my friends who was not a member, but who had been working out with me the entire season ask me if I really intended to go. How could I not? The Lord had verified that I had made the right choice. Even when we are imperfect, the Lord loves us and will speak to us in his still small voice if we have the courage to listen and act with faith believing that he will be there. I know that he will be.

James letter 11-07-11

This last week was not the best. Monday was a waste of time. We had P-day until five, and then we had to spend the rest of the night inside because of Halloween. No costumes, no haunting, no fun. Sunday night a member gave us two bags of candy, which we were not able to give out, so this last week I ate almost three pounds worth of candy by myself. It is sickening to think about.

The work is grinding to a halt. Our golden investigator is not so golden. He won't come to church, and he keeps wanting the deep doctrine before the basics. He's looking so far past the mark that he's missing the truth thats in front of him. Our second solid investigator has also not been to church, and we have been unable to contact her all week. Things with her are not looking good. Our third investigator that is so close, is still stuck on the desire. If she would ask with the intent to know she would be there. It would help if she would come to church. The last two lessons with her have been short and powerful. The Spirit was there so much it was almost palpable. I know she felt it. Its sad to see them get so close and not go anywhere. We are still working really hard, and we did get one investigator to come to church yesterday, we will talk with her today, hopefully she will start progressing.

We have done a lot of tracting this week, as our investigator pool is shrinking. People are not very pleasant sometimes, although Sunday morning we did leave a family with a Book of Mormon. That was probably the most exciting thing that happened all week. Its hard when nothing seems to be working, but I know that as long as we're trying our best thats all that matters. We will give our hearts soley to the work, and the rest will fall into place. As we trust in the Lord, and he tests our faith, he will reward us with success.

The Book of Mormon is amazing. It changes lives. I have seen it work. Dive into it. Read it everyday.

It's crazy that you mentioned that video about the lightning and the blessing, I had just watched that on Thursday. Wierd. It's cool to see the power that each of us can have if we just believe in two things: the Lord, and ourselves. As always put the Lord first. Believe that He is. Believe that He can do all things. Moroni 7:33. But it is also important to believe in ourselves, for if we have no confidence in ourselves, the Lord's creation, how can we expect to have confidence in the Lord? We can do marvelous things with the Lord, but only if we believe we can. Have faith, and the rest will come.

Hopefully my next email will bring better news of the work. Theres always ups and downs and right now we just happen to be in a down. we won't be there for long if we can do anything about it. I love you both.

Elder Schultz