James letter 12-26-11

I'm glad you enjoyed your phone call. I wasn't really looking forward to it, but it was really nice to be able to talk to the family. I guess next time I'll look forward to it a little more.

The temple trip sounds like a good idea, hopefully mom will want to go and you two can have fun together. Thats a good way to spend the rest of your break.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has never heard of a "third priesthood" I think they may have overheard something else, and then just made it into that by themselves. Who knows.

Well, I am with the Fanno Creek ward for at least six more weeks, hopefully more, but we'll see. I'm glad to be able to stay here. This ward is really great. It reminds me of our ward back home, how everyone is friendly, and knows and cares about one another. There is definetely more less-active members here, but that is to be expected. Tell everyone Thanks for the Christmas wishes, and that I love them.

James letter 12-19-11

Ok so the final word on the calls. I am going to call from our Ward Mission Leaders house at 1pm, that would make it 2pm there right? We are an hour behind, so I think thats right. If its not, I can hang up and call back later.

I'm glad mom likes the nativety. I thought it would be cool to send her something that would make her know I still love her and am thinking about her. That was the most unique one they had, so I picked it up along with several pictures of Christ to add to my "Wall".

So Judgement, huh? Pretty crazy stuff. Sunday night we had a "high priest" discussion about all sorts of doctrine. It's a "high priest" discussion because its super deep doctrine, and no one really knows what they are talking about. We talked about agency, and God knowing everything we are going to do, and how the two relate. If he knows exactly where we are going to end up, then it seems like we are just being pulled along, and our agency doesn't really matter.

Elder Matsumura also mention there being a "third priesthood", which I had never heard in my life, and he didn't have any references for it. He just said that its a priesthood that Christ has that we don't.

Friday we left our mission. We drove to Vancouver, Washington to see a concert. It was the Portland Ensign Choir, and we had free tickets, and were encouraged to go by our President. So even though we should never leave the mission, he encouraged us to leave the mission. Crazy, huh?

Anyway, thats about all of the noteworthy things that have happened this week. Talk to you sunday. Love you.

Elder Schultz

James letter 12-12-11

First off, did you get the pictures? I send a bunch, but this email seems to not like them sometimes, and you didn't say anything about it so I was just wondering.

I'm glad to hear that Paul is doing well, and his family are adjusting. That is a scary thing to deal with, but I know you are taking care of them. Did you get a new hometeaching companion, or are you by yourself?

This week has been very slow. Monday we played risk for like five hours. I won every time we played starting with 3 people, but have yet to win with 4. I'm not sure why that is, but everyone seems to hate me when we play with 4. We went and walked around some stores in the mall, and we found a clearance rack of ties that were only three dollars, so I got a couple. Nice three dollar ties is a deal to good to pass up.

Wednesday we had three appoinments set up with potential investigators, and all of them fell through. It's not very fun when few people care, and the rest shame them into not inviting us in. Its sad to see that they have the truth so close, but can't seem to grasp it.

Thursday I got sick, which is quite possibly the worst thing that can happen on the mission. We had to stay inside for 2 days and do nothing while I got better. Thursday I mostly slept, but friday I was feeling better so we played risk with the other elders that were also sick. It made a bad day bearable.

Sunday we had a Stake Christmas Concert, where the stake choir, and the ward choirs performed a special Christmas program. It was really good, and was a great way to finish the week.

Ok so here's the deal for Christmas phone calls. Make sure you talk to mom about this because I'm sure she'll murder you if you don't. We are not allowed to call home anymore....

I'm just kidding. Please don't hate me for that, but I wanted to spice up the email.

Our ward is combining with another ward for sacrament on Christmas day. The meeting will be at 11:30. I will be calling from our ward mission leaders house sometime either before of after that. Your church is at 11, right? I'm thinking I could call maybe around 1 or so. Let me know what time will work best for you, and we will make arrangements accordingly. I need to know by next week though, so decide on a time between 1-4, because that will work best for us.

I think thats it for now. I love you guys.

Elder Schultz.

James letter 12-5-11

Oh man it seems like all the exciting stuff happens when I leave. Nothing like that is happening up here, although, in the unlikely case that it snows it will shut down everything, and start mass panic. People here don't know how to drive in the first place, and if you introduce snow it is a dangerous mix.

You'll have to tell Greenwoods that I'm praying for them. That scary to hear about that kind of thing, but I know they will be taken care of. Make sure you let them know that you care for, and are there for them.

You know whats exciting. We have two full weeks(almost three) of dinners. Something about Christmas I think, it guilt trips them into feeding us or something, but hey, I won't complain.

So I did remember Mom's birthday, but as I can only write on Mondays she'll have to accept a late birthday wish. On the bright side though, I bought her a nativity today. I'll send it out, and she can have a Christmas/Birthday present from me. It's a sweet one.

So, something I learned this week: There are three main ways that Heavenly Father answers our personal prayers. The examples for which are found in the Book of Ether. Chapther 2:19 states the questions that were asked. 1.-There's no light. 2.-We can't steer. 3.-We can't breathe. Here's how the Lord answered. Verse 20-Here's what you need to do. Verse 24-Trust me, I will take care of you and get you there. Verse 23-What do you want me to do?

We are told that we need to "study it out in [our] mind"-D&C 9:8(Answer to question 1), but there are two other ways that answers come. "I will tell you in your mind and in your heart."-D&C 8:2(answer to question 3). But sometimes the answer is simply Don't worry about it I will take care of you.(answer to question 2)

This is important to know because if we know how the Lord answers, then we can know what to listen for, and we can recognize the answers when they come.

I'm glad Tyson is doing well. I hope to hear from him soon.

Love you guys.