James letter 8/27/12

This last week was a little rough, we had a bunch of lessons cancel, and we had to make up for them with meber lessons to still reach our goal of twenty lessons. We made it, but it seemed to be more of a stretch this week.

The week started off great. We had four lessons last Monday, they were all MRLs. We started the evening with our dinner at 5:30, and then went from one appoinment to the next for the rest of the night. Tonight looks less promising, we don't have anything set, so our visits tonight will just be drop by visits.

Tuesday our District Meeting was cancelled, so we were able to get a couple hours of tracting in before lunch. We stopped by the Es at one to have a lesson with them, but they weren't home. We dropped by the S instead. They have been having some financial problems, and asked us what we could do to help. We referred them over to some of the members in the ward, and the bishop. They were a little reluctant to accept help, but agreed to at least talk to some people. We finished the night with a couple of MRLs.

Wednesday was a great day. I learned a lot from our meeting with Elder C. I took a lot of notes, and have been able to use some of the things he taught us about teaching since his visit. We taught a lesson at dinner. Had our lesson with a less-active member fall through, but as a testimony to back-up plans we were able to fill that vacancy with an MRL.

Thrusday we were able to meet with the E. They had thought that we were still coming on Wednesday, and were waiting for us then. We read through Mosiah 2 with them, and talked about what it means to them. The mother got a lot out of it, but they still were not at church on Sunday. We did more tracting, and to wrap up the night we had our coorelation meeting for Rock Creek ward. We shared with our WML, and our ward missionaries things that Elder C had taught us, and how we could use them on a ward level. We set some good plans, and have a clear focus now.

Friday we were able to meet with a new family. It is a family of seven. They are from a small state in India called Kerala. The family consists of two grandparents, two parents, and three kids. The grandparents don't speak any English, but they can understand a little. At the end of the lesson, the oldest daughter Keziah asked if we could get a Book of Mormon in their language, because her grandfather wants to read. I told her we would try, and let them know. I had a Hindi copy ready, but that is not the right language. They speak Malayalam; Saturday we took an hour for mormon.org, and I looked up the languages the Book of Mormon comes in on lds.org, and thats not one of them. There are a couple of languages from India, and we are hoping that one of those will work. After that we did some tracting, and were able to set up some appointments with some less-active members, a few of them seemed less that thrilled to see us, so we will see how it goes.

Saturday we took our mormon.org time, we had two MRLs, taught a lesson to G, who is reactivating well, and did some tracting. It was a long day.

Sunday was exciting. We had three sacrament meetings. Two for each of our wards, and then we had another at the Rock Creek Retirement Center. We have been trying to set this up for a while, and yesterday was the first time we had it. It went great. Bishop K came, and a few from the elders quorum, as well as a few priests. We were able to have several of the members living in the community come, as well as some of their friends. We also found out about a member we didn't know about, and an excommunicated member who says he wants to come back. We will be working close with the bishop as we proceed, but for now the schedule sits as 1st and 3rd Sundays we will hold a sacrament meeting, and 2nd and 4th Sundays we will hold a scripture study class. There is a lot of potential in this, and I am excited to see how things go.

Well this is the last week of the transfer, and in case one of us is transferred we are going to try and make this week the best week yet. Its going to be sad if we have to split up, I really enjoy serving with Elder A. He is a great guy, and he has changed a lot since I have been with him. He still has a ways to go, but then so do I. Its fun to see the change in people as you serve. Those around you change, and you change as well. I look forward to next transfer and the challedges and good times that it will bring.

This transfer has been good for me. I have been able to strengthen my testimony, and really come to understand my relationship with God, and the role of prophets. I have done a lot of study on both of those subjects recently, and have felt the Spirit guiding my learning. I look forward to the other things he will be able to teach me.

Love, Elder Schultz

james letter 8-20-12

Well, we had another great week here in the Rock Creek and Springville wards. We spent a lot of time in Rock Creek, but most of our indicators are pointing towards Springville. Hopefully we can start to see success in both wards in this upcoming week.

Monday started us off with three lessons taught. We had dinner and a FHE lesson with the Henstroms, we stopped by several more members after dinner, but were only able to catch two of them home. Those two were able to let us in for a quick lesson on missionary work though, so it was a night well spent.

Tuesday we started the day with tracting, and a lesson with the S in Rock Creek. They missed church for the last two weeks now, and we are not sure why. We shared a lesson on repentance, and the meaning of the Atonement. We also had one of the sons come with us to try and contact some potential investigators in the same apartment complex. After that we did more tracting, and were able to set up two appoinments for the coming week, one with an active family, and one with a less-active member and his son. We will see them both this Wednesday after our Mission Tour. We met with K that night as well, and were able to set up a program for his baptism.

Wednesday we had our Zone Meeting, it was a great meeting full of the Spirit, and I learned a lot. Elder A came without a part, and as part of our buisiness the zone leaders called him up and put a part in his hair. He looked really good with it in, but he took it out as soon as we got home from the meeting. We had a lesson with B and his mom, but we were not able to meet with C. We read through 2 Nephi 31 with them, and talked about the Gospel. After that we had another lesson with K. We talked about repentance. He said he feels that he has repented, and is ready to be baptized. Later that night though, he called and told us that God told him not to do it yet...I'm not sure why. We had a lesson with M F that night as well.

Thursday we were able to contact a referral we recieved on Wednesday night. We set up an appointment for this Friday at 11, and we have one of the priest in the ward scheduled to come with us to that lesson. We had a meeting scheduled with K and Bishop R, but K wasn't able to make it. We finished that night with three MRLs, and a less-active lesson.

Friday was an interesting day. We did some tracting in the morning, and had a lesson with the Sagain. We tried again to contact the two potentials in their complex. After our lesson we were planning on more tracting, but we got a call from a less-active lady in Springville. She wanted our help in moving what she said was a big heavy box. We called another member to come with us so that we could use his truck to help moving it across the street to her apartment, and when we got there, it was anything but heavy. It took us less than five minutes to move it for her, and afterwards we shared a quick lesson with her on the purpose of life, and what we can do to "have joy". We had another lesson with K, and we read through the Mediator with him. It was something that I had felt inspired to do a few days before, and it really helped a lot. As we talked about it he told us how he related to it, and what it meant for his baptism. He said that he didn't think that he should get baptized yet, because he didn't have a firm relationship with God, and he didn't want to be a "Sunday Mormon". What he was saying makes a lot of sense, and it also helps to give us direction with future lessons. We are going to focus on reading through the Book of Mormon with him, so that he can get into the habit, and establish that relationship.

Saturday was a fantastic day. I am so grateful for the chance we had to meet with Elder Nelson. I learned so much from our meeting with him. Things to help both our investigators, and myself. A few of the things I liked were "Christ believes in me", and what it means to be a witness. I also gained some different perspectives on studying, and plan to implement that into my studies from now on. After our meeting with him we had a lesson with G, who is on the way back to full activity in the church. For dinner we went to the Springville ward's Elders Quorum BBQ. It was a lot of fun, and we were able to get to know more of the members, and some of their nonmember friends. We had a good talk with Bishop R that night as well.

Sunday was good and bad. Church was great, but after church we had three lessons fall through. We were however able to stop by Rock Creek Retirement, and set up a sacrament service for Sundays, and also a scripture study class. This is something that we have been trying to do for a while, and we finally got it done. I'd say that thats proof that the Lord works in mysterious ways. We finished our night with members, and were able to teach two lessons.

This week looks to be just as good. We have several appoinments set up, and we have the Mission Tour on Wednesday. I am looking forward to recieving more revelation on how I can help to progress the work. Elder A and I are doing well together, and I can tell that he loves being busy like we are. We have had a few days were our days were already full of appoinments, and we didn't have to plan for anything but back-ups. Its nice to see that we are working hard, and it feels good to be doing what we are doing.

I got a letter from A this week, and it was great to hear from him. I can tell that he is going to be a great missionary. He seems much more prepared than I am. I have written letters to him and V, they got sent off this morning.

As for my package I did think of something else that I need. Stamps. I only have 5 left, and don't really have a way to get more. Although the rate that I have been getting letters those 5 may last untill the end of my mission...Can you guys send me J address. It seems that she is never going to write me so I figure I need to be proactive.

When we met with Elder Nelson he gave us an apostalic blessing, and he promised us that our families would be blessed. I truly believe that, and I know that mom will be able to find a job, and that you will have enough money to get by. I think its a good idea to look into work for the church mom, maybe you can be a receptionist for a seminary, or institute, or even a substitute teacher. I'll pray for you.

Love Elder Schultz

PS. rainbow ship cake with rainbow chip frosting is good. And if you could send some graham crackerks with some extra frosting that would be awesome.

james letter 8-13-12

Well this week went pretty well, we taught 24 lessons, and new personal best for both of us. It's crazy to think that this transfer is already half way over. Just three more weeks and its gone. It's also crazy to think that it has been almost an entire year since I have been out here on my mission. Time flies, and I'm learning to make to most of it.

Monday was quite the adventure last week. We had some members take us to the bike shop in Hillsboro, because it was cheaper for us there. The member got confused and instead drove to Beaverton. Then we decided since we were already way out of the way we could just go to Sherwood to the bikeshop there. It's owned by members, so we would get a discount. Its also the same place where I bought my bike in the first place. So we drive out there, and it turns out the the shop is closed. We turn around and go back to Beaverton, and go to a bike shop there. After almost two hours of driving we got the things we needed, and five minutes after we got home we had our bikes fixed. It was ridiculous. We had dinner with the Relief Society president in Rock Creek, and were able to get to know her and her family. We shared a lesson on the Plan of Salvation, and asked for things we could help them with, and if they had any friends we could go see. Later that night we had a FHE with the G in Springville ward, we talked about Ammon, and what it was that made him such a great missionary, and how they could do the same things. To wrap up the night we had a lesson with a less-active member. He is in the Army, and has been going down the wrong path with friends he has made there. Its sad to watch, but as we were leaving we found out that he also is friends with K, our soon to be baptized investigator, and so we gave him K's number, and they got together the next day. He needs some good examples as friends, and K is a great one.

For District Meeting on Tuesday we talked about studies, and how we can recognize and feel the Holy Ghost as we study. First, we have to remember when we have felt the Holy Ghost so we know what to look for. Second, we start our studies with a prayer, and ask for understanding and guidance. Third, we read the scriptures with our question in mind, and watch for the feelings of the Holy Ghost. And last, we close with a prayer, thanking Him for guidance, and the Spirit, and ask if there is anything else we need to know, or if we got the right answer. We talked about how to apply that to our investigators as we teach, so that they can have effective studies that will build their faith, and help them to find their answers. We shared that with K during our lesson that day. He wasn't sure that he should get baptized, and so we prayed together, and then read Alma 17-18. After we were done he told us that the reason he thought he shouldn't get baptized was his parents, but after we were reading he didn't think that was the case. He said he felt like he could do it know, or wait, and both would work out ok. I shared the story of the brother of Jared, and how when he was building the barges he got three different answers, and sometimes God does leave it up to us. It was cool to see him get his own revelation, and know that he recognized it.

Wednesday wasn't very exciting, we did some tracting in Rock Creek. In the afternoon we had a lesson with B, C, and then the S. We had dinner and a lesson with the S, turns out that they are from Plain City, and were actually in our stake back home. It's a small world.

Thursday we had a couple MRLs, and we tracted, that was the extent of our day. We got a few potentials to follow up on this week, but nothing really solid.

Friday we started the day with breakfast and a lesson with B, and then a lesson with C. C said his first prayer, and he did a great job. He still hasn't read, or come to church, but he has taken a good step. We had lunch with the Hs in Rock Creek, and talked with them about family history and missionary work, they have some sweet stories of both, we encouraged them to always share the Gospel, so that the stories will keep coming. We had another lesson with K that evening. We went over the baptismal interview questions, and the first vision. He believes strongly in the Trinity, and thinks that if God wanted to show himself has seperate he could, but he isn't really seperate. He said they can't be because if they were then, God being God, and Jesus being God would be polytheistic and blasphemous. I have been trying to figure out a way to explain it in a way that he will understand, but I havn't been able to find anything that we havn't already shared, and hasn't worked. Do you have any suggestions? After our lesson he came with us to help A and C move out from our home. We left the move early for dinner, and after dinner we helped the Kelepolos move in Rock Creek. It was a long day.

Saturday we had a lesson cancel, and then were able to use our back up plans to do service, and have a lesson with a less-active member. After that we went to the church and had another lesson with G, he took us out to dinner afterward. That night we spent trying to see members. We set up some appointments, and taught one MRL.

Sunday was great. I did some studies on Exaltation. This is another thing that K is struggling with, he doesn't believe that we could ever be like God. I found several scriptures in D&C and the bible. They are D&C 76:54-60, D&C 93:20-22, Hebrews 1:2-3, and Romans 8:17. Also 3 Nephi 27:27, if we are comanded to be like Christ, and Christ is like God, then we have to be like God. 1 Nephi 3:7 says that God will always provide a way for us to accomplish the thing he commands us, so he has provided a way for us to fulfil this commandment as well. The Atonement and the Resurection help us to be perfect, and become like God. That night we had three MRLs, we would have had four, but our dinner cancelled on us.

This week looks pretty good, although the zone leaders have thrown us a curveball. We have a zone meeting on Wednesday from 9-12. We also have an appointment at 10, which took us six weeks to set up. We are scrambling to try and firgure out how to make it work. It should be fine, but it may come down to the wire. I'm excited for Saturday when Elder Russel M Nelson is coming to meet us. Things are going great.

I can't think of anything I want in the package, except for maybe a cake mix and frosting. The cake Julie sent in her package was fantastic if I do say so myself. Thats about all I think though.

Love Elder Schultz

This week was a bit of a roller-coaster, but it was great. The total lesson count for this week was 23, and only ten of those were with active members. This tells me that the work itself is increasing, and the members are doing their jobs. This last week we were able to meet with all of our investigators in the Rock Creek ward, and we had members present at the majority of the lessons. Springville ward is coming along slowly, but it should be able to pick up soon.

This Monday started the week off really well, we spent most of our P-day with K, our investigator with a baptismal date, we played volleyball with some members, elders, and him. It was a great time, and afterward we had a lesson with him. He told us that he felt God was telling him not to take it easy on us, and that he was just going along with it, so he asked some really tough questions, like what prophecies have recent prophets made? You have to have a prophecy to be a prophet right? We then explained the role of a prophet, and the priesthood. He said we answered it well. We wrapped up that night by teaching two family home evenings, and trying to get referrals.

Tuesday in District Meeting we talked about how we could make a great district, where we are all close friends. We made a list of things we could do, and promised to do those things. That list includes: exact obedience, district tracting, district P-day, and effective studies. After lunch we went and had a lesson with our new/returning family, the S. They are a really great family, they are fun, and both Elder A and myself have a lot in common with them. They said they enjoyed the ward, and were looking forward to coming to church now. We did some service with a less-active member in Springville after that. We had helped her move some things into her appartment last week, and she called us to help her put up curtain rods. After we were done we taught her about the importance of scripture study. She said that she reads the scriptures, but she doesn't like some of the doctrince/ideas that the Church teaches, like exaltation. She was open to have us come back again though. At 5pm we had our first dinner. We ate with an partmember family in Rock Creek. We had taught the wife before, but hadn't been able to teach for a while now. It was good to get to know them more, and bring the Spirit to them. The food was fantastic. After that we had our second dinner, with a member family in Springville. We were able to follow-up on their missionary work, and encourage them to do more.

Wednesday was a little rough for us. After some miscommunication, and a half hour of wasted time we were picked up for a move. A new family from San Jose, California was moving into the Rock Creek ward. The father is not your average looking member. He has earings and a gauge, dreadlocks, and he ties up his hair, and wears a big black bead necklace. In Church yesterday he looked like a pirate. The really like the missionaries though, and seem like a sweet family. We had our first lesson of the day at 2pm with B and D E, and then one with C G. Then we had some mechanical difficulties, and had to stop at the bike shop. Elder A has had several flats the last few days, and today we are going to buy a new tire for him. I also need a new tire, because after our last exchange my tire was over-inflated, and now the seam is bursting. Thats the worst thing about exchanges, other elders use all of your things. After dinner we went out with our Elders Quorum Presidency in Rock Creek, to see some of the new move-ins, and people on the focus five. We finished the night with a couple MRLs.

Thursday we had a good weekly planning session. There is more and more to plan for now, and it makes it much easier. We had a lesson with K E at 1pm, then another lesson with K at 3pm. We had dinner with K as well, because the Relief Society and the Young Woman were having a mother-daughter dinner/party, so we had no one signed up for dinner. We did some tracting, and finished the night on splits with our ward missionaries in Springville. We had a successful night, and were able to see everyone we had planned for, and a few that we didn't.

Friday we started the day with tracting. We had another lesson with the S in the afternoon, then more tracting until dinner. We ate with Bishop R in Springville. We grilled burgers, and Elder A went back for thirds. It was a great dinenr, and we were able to teach the bishop and his family. He told us that he would be willing to come out with us on friday afternoons, because he gets off work early. We will be taking him up on that this week. We finished the night again with some MRLs.

Saturday we did more tracting until our lesson with G C, a less-active member in Springville. We then tried to drop by some members, with little success, everyone seems to be taking advantage of the nice weather. We were able to see H B though, and I havn't met with him since I've been here. We had some more bike trouble that night too, and after having a lesson with the G, a less-active family in Rock Creek, we got dropped off at our house.

Sunday was great. The Spirit was strong in both meetings. K was called into work, and wasn't able to come, but he called us and told us about that friday night. He will be at Church this Sunday though. After chruch Elder A fixed his bike. We went out to see some members, and his tire went flat again. We then had to walk home, and then call dinner for a ride. We had a few MRLs that night, and then came home. We were both exhausted.

Today we are going to the bike shop, so that we can get new bike tires, so we can avoid mechanical difficulty this week. We are also going on a tour of Nike.

I finished something called the 4th missionary,(I just mailed a letter explaining that more to you guys) and afterwards, Elder A and I were discussing it, I remember something I did with Elder F called the Purification Challenge. I shared that with him, and as part of our commitment to be the 4th missionary, we are doing a 40 day fast for purification. We had each made our list of things that poke at our Spirit, and are fasting from those things for the next 40 days. We started on Friday. It seems like it is going to be tough at first, but it will work out. We are going to be 100% obedient, not just 90%. We are doing great.

I am hoping to be able to write A this week if I have time. Thats all I have time for, we have to go to the bike shop now.

Love Elder Schultz

james letter 7-30-12

This week wasn't as good as last week, in that we did not teach 20 lessons, but it was a very successful week in that we were able to meet one of our goals, and we were able to get one of our investigators to sacrament meeting. We had a total of 16 lessons this week, of the 17 we had set at the beginning of the week we had 6 cancel on us. So, the events of this last week goes as follows.

Monday started us off with three lessons taught, and one new investigator. We had a quick dinner, and then went right out. We taught an MRL to the Campos family, then we stopped by one of our potential investigators around 6, and were able to teach her the first lesson. She seemed interested, but I believe that her 9 year old son has the greatest potential at the moment. She wasn't very enthusiastic on reading the Book of Mormon, but her son really wanted to. He talked her into giving it a try. She feels like God doesn't know everything because he lets bad things happen, and if he knew everything, then he would be able to stop those things. We talked about the principles of agency and opposition. I wonder if it would be good to share with her Amulek's story, when he and Alma witness the burning of the people. After our lesson with her, and setting a return appointment for Sunday we rushed to our next appointment, which was a family home evening with the L. We called to let them know that we would be late, and we also called the G, who we were supposed to go see after them. The G cancelled on us, which made the evening less rushed, but it was still disappointing. We had a great lesson with the larimers, we shared the story of Ammon, and how he was a friend to them, before he was their teacher. We challenged them to put up a mormon.org profile, and invite a friend to learn more.

Tuesday Elder A and I did the training and practice in our District Meeting. We taught the district on the importance of using members, and we taught them a basic MRL format. 1. Spiritual Thought. 2.Ask for Recent Missionary Experiences.3.Build them up, and relate their experience to the Savior, or tracting.4.Teach them about missionary work, and how to do it, i.e., mormon.org, or the visitors center.5.Help them to set goals on what they can do in the next two weeks to do missionary work.6. Follow up in two weeks. We commited them to teach an MRL at every dinner appoinment. After District Meeting we met one of our ward missionaries at the house of a part member family that we had an appoinment with. The member wasn't there, and her boyfriend told us they would talk to us later to set up another appointment. After that we went to a lesson we had with one of our potential investigators. No one was home there, and we don't have a phone number for her. Dinner also cancelled on us, and we came back that day with zero lessons.

Wednesday was much better. We did some service with a potential investigator, helping her put together furniture. We had a great talk about our missions, and why we do what we do. We weren't able to have a formal lesson, but we did set up an appoinment with her to come back and teach in a few weeks when she gets back in town. After a quick lunch we had a lesson with B E, we taught lesson two, and we also taught C G, also lesson two. With B he brought up some resentment for Adam and Eve, because if they wouldn't have fallen we wouldn't have to deal with any of the hard stuff, and sin. We explained that on the same token, if they hadn't fallen, then he never would have been able to experience all of the things that made him happy. He seemed to still be a little resentful, but I think he understands a little more now. That evening we went out with Bishop R of the Springville ward to a less active member. We read 1 Nephi 19, to help strangthen his faith in Christ. Bishop lovingly invited him back, but he declined, saying that he was comfortable with where he was at.

Thursday was amazing. We had a lesson with K E, we read through 2 Nephi 2, and set up another appointment to come back and teach the rest of lesson two. After that we took K D to the Visitors Center. It was an incredible experience. The Spirit was there, we taught him lesson three, and were able to hear his feelings about his experience thus far. He is still planning on being baptized on August 25. He told us that he would make it to church for sure on Sunday, we had one of his member friends join us. That night we had lesson four cancel. We stopped by a less active family for our appointment, and they had just left to walk the dog according to their daughter, as we were leaving though I saw their dog on their deck.

Friday we started the day with some tracting. We went for two hours, and only talked to a handful of people. We will try that place again sometime. We stopped by some members, and were able to set up two MRLs for this week, and teach one. We helped a less active member move some things into her appartment, after that we went home and ate, because our scheduled dinner couldn't have us over. That night we went out to see members in the Rock Creek ward to schedule of teach MRLs. We didn't teach any MRLs, but we were able to teach one of the families on the elders quorum focus five. They were very nice to us, and invited us to return this week.

Saturday we had a lesson with G, a less active member from Sprinville ward, and then we went to volunteer at the Party in the Park. We helped them to staff some inflatable slides and obstacle courses for the kids, and well as a rock wall, and a volleyball court. I was able to have several conversations about our church, and what we do as missionaries. It was a very neat experience, and was a lot of fun. We got free Tshirts, and were provided lunch. They were incrediblely grateful for our help. That night we went by to see our referral that we had recieved on Friday. We biked right to it, without knowing where we were going. They were excited to see us, they let us in, and then we found out that they were less active members and had asked for us because they wanted to come back to church, and didn't know how to do it. We taught them about faith, set up a return appointment, and gave them directions to the church. They were a great family. When we got home we had an MRL with the mebers that we live with.

Sunday we saw the S, the less active referral, they came to church, and enjoyed the fellowship of the members in Rock Creek. During Springville ward K D came, and he had a great experience. he has a lot of friends in the Springville ward. Our follow up lesson with J didn't happen, we saw her, and left her a chapter to read, but were unable to go in and teach. We will stop by again this week. We had our first dinner with a member family this week with the B, and taught and MRL with them, then we went over to Springville ward and had two MRLs there.

It was a good week, and this next week looks good as well. We have dinners set up for the whole week too, which will help. We have 17 lessons set again for this week.

Elder A and I are still getting along, and doing great. Its exciting to see his enthusiasm grow as we start to teach more. taching always brings me joy, and it is doing the same for him. Thank you for your support and prayers, they are much appeciated.

Love,

Elder Schultz