James letter 3-18-13

This last week was great. We had the great opportunity to be able to teach a great amount, and to be able to serve back in the Market Street branch for the next week or so. Monday started off on a good note. We were unable to email, because the library is small, and there were no computers available, so we ended P-day early and went tracting. We didn't find anyone that wanted us to teach, but we did find some service opportunities, which may open the door to future teaching opportunities. That night we met with Nathan and Brian. Brian was again antagonistic, and I asked him what his intent was. It was a bold move, but he got the message that we were there to teach, and he doesn't want to try, then he's not going to learn, and we weren't there to amuse him. We are meeting with Nathan again tonight, and I'm not sure if Brian will be there. Nathan said that he didn't know what our whole message is, so he was still listening.
Tuesday we met with Merone, we had a member scheduled to come, but they cancelled on us at the last minute, and we had to teach her outside. Luckily for us it was a nice day. We taught her the Plan of Salvation. She liked it, but said that it was different from what she had been taught. We invited her to pray to know, and set up a lesson at the Visitor's Center. We were able to do a little bit of tracting, but not much.
Wednesday we tracted, had a lesson cancell, tracted some more. Taught a lesson tracting, and set up a return appointment. We didn't count the lesson, or the investigator, until we meet with him this week, to be sure that he is a real investigator. We met with the Browns to go over some of the people that they had been teaching, so that we are up to speed with who we will be working with this week. That evening we taught Moe, and he had read 8 chapters in the Book of Mormon, and wanted to keep reading. We had a really good first lesson with him. He is very smart, and picks things up quick.
Thursday after our interviews we met with Theres. We were a little late, but we had a great lesson with her about the Restoration, and we really helped her to see the importance of the Book of Mormon. We also taught her outside, because we didn't have a member. After that we went and taught Dirk. We talked about our relationship with God, and how to best utilize the scriptures. We brought sister Scroggs with us, and he really liked her. We also met with the Rivers, she is looking so much better, we didn't have much time, but shared a quick lesson on the Plan of Salvation, and encouraged her to keep going. We went on splits as well, and I was able to get in with a part member family. We talked with them for a while, and got to know them. Before we left I shared a message with them, and there was a great Spirit in the home. WE left with a prayer as well, and they seemed appreciative. The member I was with was their home teacher. We told the EQP about it, and they are going to be invited to be taught through the Focus 5.
Friday we taught a lesson to Ahmed. We also didn't count that one, and we didn't set up a return appoinment, because we found out that he was Muslim, and weren't sure if we could teach him. He was really curious to know what our message was, we left him with a Book of Mormon, and three pamphlets. If there is a time that you have available we could try and set up a lesson that you could come to, so that we may be able to teach him again. He is a British citizen. We were going to go to the Portland Ensign Choir, but the people we were going with were unable to go. We were able to teach Clancy instead though. We talked about service, and read Alma 17. He said that he would be a home teacher, and he has been assigned. We also met with the Lyons. We taught the Plan of Salvation to them as well. The mom is really scared of death, and of the spirit world, and of not being with her children because she isn't married. She said that they are coming with her no matter what. We tried to help her understand, but I don't think she did. They are a great family, but she is hard to teach, because she has a lot of concerns stopping her progress. Our mext lesson with them is going to focus on scripture study, and how to learn to gain a testimony, and to overcome her concerns.
Saturday we had our coordination meetings, and we squeezed in some tracting as well, we were able to give a Book of Mormon away, and he asked for the address to the Church as well. There is a member that lives down the street from him, and we are going to have them do some fellowshipping. We also were able to give a Book of Mormon away to someone we found while looking for a less active member. Hopefully we will be able to see him this week. We had a lesson with Shawn and Kristian, we taught the Restoration. Kristian said that the Book of Mormon was helping him, and he told us things that he liked about what he read. The lesson went really well. We set a baptismal date with him for April 27, and the members we brought with us to the lesson were able to give them a ride to church. They stayed for all three hours, and they really enjoyed it. The members did a great job of introducing themselves, and making them feel welcome.  That night we also met with Nathan M, he was a disfellowshipped member, but has just recently been reactivated. He was really cool. He was going to come with us to a lesson, but the lesson cancelled.
Sunday we met with Mary D, we taught the Restoration, or tried to. Our WML tried to take over in the beginning, and then when Elder Lott tried to start, she was confused at where we were because of what our WML had been talking about. Elder Lott got flusterred, and the lesson didn't have a very good flow to it. I was able to explain where we were, and why, but Elder Lott wasn't confident in his teaching anymore, and it didn't go smooth. We were able to squeeze in about a half hour tracting before dinner, and after dinner we were able to meet with Howard M. We talked about our desire, and asked him what he was expecting to get out of this. We asked a lot of thought provoking questions, and really got him to ponder. It was a good lesson.
This week we have two lessons set with potential investigators, and we have some service set up as well. It looks to be a good week.
Interesting news about the new missions. The Oregon Salem mission is taking the Keizer, Forest Grove, and McMinnville stakes from us, and the Washington Vancouver mission is taking the Portland, Portland East, Gresham, and Rainer stakes from us. I didn't think Vancouver would affect us, especially didn't think that it would take Portland form the Portland mission. All I know is that this is inspired, and I will go and do what the Lord commands. There is a chance that I could get sent to one of the new missions, and if that happens I would restart on their transfers, and come home three weeks later than I am now. We will see.

The package from the activity days was letters asking about the mission. The most asked questions are: Where are you? and What do you eat? Sorry to say my annswers aren't very exciting. I eat normal food, and I'm in Oregon. I like to think that I've been blessed to not have a culture shock. I did get the cash you sent.

Thats great news about your job, especially 4th grade, I know thats one you liked teaching. Blessings always come, sometimes at times we don't expect, sometimes in ways we don't expect, but they do come.

Transfers are next week, so my email will most likely be on Tuesday, because I'm pretty sure that either Elder Lott or myself is being transferred. No garuntees though.

Love Elder Schultz

This last week was pretty great. Monday night we were able to meet with Nathan P. His two friends Matthew and Brian were there again, and we counted them as new investigators, as it was their second lesson, and they are going to continue coming. The lesson went much better. We were able to teach about Christ's Ministry, and help them see the Book of Mormon testifies and teaches of Christ, and that is one of the roles of a prophet. Brian is still a little antagonistic, and at the end of the lesson I asked them to think about their intent, because if they have no real intent then they will not receive the answer. Just like any math equation, if you skip a variable you will get no answer, or a different one. We also met with Tyson O again, and had another great lesson. We discussed faith, and what it means to us, and how the Book of Mormon can help to increase our faith. We invited him to read from it everyday, and he said that he would.

Tuesday we did a fair amount of tracting. The first street we knocked every door answered. It was incredible. We were able to offer our message to everyone on that street, and a few of them said that we could come back at another time. We also met with a woman named Merone. She is from Africa, and has been in the states for 13 years. She has one daughter, about 3. She is a caretaker for a member in our ward. The member asked us to come by, and we were able to teach her about the restoration. It was really neat. She is very curious, and open to learning more. Later that night we met with Clancy G. We also taught him about the restoration, and missionary work. We talked about the imprtance of sharing this, and inviting others to learn more.

Zone Conference on Wednesday was incredible. I felt the Spirit, and learned things that I could improve on. I am especially focusing on my studies to try and make them more effective. If I truly learn, and understand this Gospel, my desire will increase, and everthing else will improve. After Zone Conference we squeezed in an hour of tracting before we had to go to Cedar Mill for the baptismal interviews. That was such a sweet experience. I was able to share with them the importance of the step they were making, feel the Spirit as they bore their testimony, and I bore mine, and teach them what they could do to endure to the end. I found them both ready, and they were baptized on Saturday. We finished that night with a lesson with the Williams. They are moving to Tennesse in April, and have no real desire to change at the current time. They have excusses to not come to Church, and they are going to keep with those. It is sad to see.

Thursday we taught Dirk R again. We read through 2 Nephi 31, focusing on God, and his love. He gives us things we can understand, and even though there is only one way back to him, he sent his son to show us they way, and gave us prophets to teach us the way, so that everyone could do it. He doesn't want any of us to be lost. We did splits that night, and I went with the Bateman to see Howard M, and we talked about what God has done for us in our lives, and read through 1 Nephi 17. We all came to the conclusion that God does a lot for us, and we can choose to be like Nephi, and recognize it, and be grateful. Or we can be like Laman and Lemuel, and ignore God's hand, and murmer and complain. While I was teaching Howard, Elder Lott went with brother Sasse to visit some less-actives and potentials. He was able to find someone after looking for someone else, who let him in, and they were able to teach. His name was Moe. he is from New Zealand, and we have an appointment with him tonight.

Friday I had my exchange with Elder Auwen in his area. The only thing to really report is Elder Auwen is disobedient, and doesn't care. He complained about Elder Bishop most of the time, and we didn't go out and do anything. I feel bad for Elder Bishop for having to deal with that. I know that he is trying to make it better, but you can't do it yourself, I told him a few things that helped me when I was with Elder Fifita, but I don't think that he will do them. He is in the "wait it out" mode, and is just going to unhappily deal with it untill he gets transferred.

Saturday was much better. We were able to go out and work. We tracted, followed up on potentials. The most notable thing from that day is when we were visiting potentials, we decided to visit the Rivers family in the same complex, and sister Rivers looked the best that I have ever seen her. She was healthier, and happy. We talked to her mother on Sunday, and she mentioned the change that had taken place. It was really cool to see.

Sunday was awesome. We had three lessons cancel. That may sound like it was less than optimal, but if the lessons hadn't fallen through then we wouldn't have had such great success. We were able to do some tracting after the first one, and we gave away two Book of Mormons to jewish persons. We went to a different street, and a man named Todd let us in. We gave a Book of Mormon to him, and taught him a little, before his wife came home and told us that Jesus didn't teach about Church. We went to see a less active member, and were able to leave a Book of Mormon with a nonmember roommate, and set up a return appoinment. And, to top it off, we went to see some members, and were turned down by both, but as we were leaving the complex, we decided to knock on a door that we had tried multiple times before with no luck. This time someone answered, and was willing to hear our message. We taught him the entire first lesson on the doorstep, and left him with a copy of the Book of Mormon as well. His name was Paul, and he has been searching for himself and for God. We are meeting with him on Friday. It was a great end to a great week.

 

Also, I bought some industrial strength rubber glue on Monday, and was able to glue my shoe back together, and it is waterproof as well, so I won't need to send them back. They will hold up till I get home, and then I won't need them anymore.

 

I am having a hard time remembering who the Toones are. Are they the people that moved in across the street in that tall house? I may have a face, but I'm not sure.

 

Did you put more money on my card this last week? Or is that from the start of the month? I have been keeping better track of what I spent, and $99 seems too much.

Love,

Elder Schultz

James letter 3-5-13

This week was good. We were able to see a lot of good things happen, and the coming week has a lot of great potential, I am excited to see how it will work out.

Monday we were able to see Nathan P. He had three friends over, who sat in on the lesson. For the most part they were nice, but one of them was more interested in proving us wrong than he was in learning more. It would have been real easy to give way to that and start an arguement, but we stayed calm, and tried to teach. We have another lesson set with them for this evening, and if they try to do that again we will bear simple testimony, and leave it at that. There is no point in meeting with them if they don't want to learn. After that we saw Tyson O, he is an inactive member who is finishing up medical school, and he makes his own beer. We met with him, his girlfriend, and their friend. We talked a lot about prayer, and we are meeting with them this week as well. Hopefully we will be able to start teaching his girlriend.

Tuesday our Training and Practice was on our purpose as missionaries. It is important to know why you are here and why you are doing what you are doing. We have also set some District Goals to help us stretch, and improve. That evening we met with Clancy G. He has been doing really well, and this week we are going to train the ward missionaries on their job, and how to teach, and then we are going to turn Clancy over to the ward missionaries, so that they can fulfil their calling.

Wednesday we tracted into a man who said he loved mormon music. We had just heard about a BYU performance that we had tickets for, and we were able to invite him. Saturday we dropped off the tickets, and he was really grateful, and we set up a time to come back and do service. That evening we met with Howard M, he is slowly coming, but is difficult to teach, because he isn't very open. He has opened up a lot to us, but its still rough.

Thursday night we were finally able to have splits work out. We have a schedule for it, but people have always cancelled on us. We did a ward missionary blitz, and so I participated in that, and was able to teach Scott F, and Elder Lott went with a priest, and taught a home teaching family, and then visited potentials.

Friday I was on exchange with Elder Hehl. He is an interesting guy. It was interesting to see the differences in approach between Elder Lott and himself. Elder Lott's method of teach and testify is a lot more effective than Elder Hehl's "Can we have a moment?" That night we had a lesson set with Shawn G and Kristian. Shawn stood us up, but we were able to sit down with Kristian, and get to know him more, and teach him more about faith, and what he can do to know for sure. He is a really neat young man, and he is open to learning more about the gospel.

Saturday I had my first SPC. We talked about the ward mission process and how it was going in each of the wards in the stake. It seems to be going well in each area, and has definetly improved since Elder Hansen came and visited all of the bishops and stake presidents. The focus of the ward is changing, and there are going to be a lot of opportunities to teach from this.  We met with David and Melissa and went over the story of the tree of life with them, and talked about the importance of holding to the rod. We committed him to read everyday, and we divided up the chapter assignment into verses, and he didn't think that would be hard at all and agreed to read a few verses a day. That night we stopped by Sydney's house. We had tracted into her(shes about 15) and few weeks ago, then we followed up and saw her sister(about 12) then again and saw her brother (about 17). We finally were able to see their father, and we set up an appointment to meet with all of them this Friday. That is potentially four new investigators.

Sunday we were able to meet with Mary D, the first person that has been invited from the ward mission plan to hear the missionary discussions. This was the first time on my mission that I had seen this process work. It was really neat to see. We taught Mary about the Gospel, and she was really knowledgable, and eager to learn, and improve. We gave a blessing to sister Richmond, and will be able to teach her caregiver on Tuesday, and we were also able to give a blessing to sister rivers.

This week I am excited for Zone Conference, though I am a little peeved about the day, we now have to cancell our lesson with our golden contact Valorie, but it will work out I'm sure. I have an exchange set with Elders Auwen and Bishop, and am glad to be able to talk to them about how they are doing. Elder Auwen doesn't seem too happy with his current situation. I hope to help him see what it is that he can learn from this, and how he can make his situation better. I remember when I was with Elder Fifita. That was hard for me, and I know that I could have done better in some things, so hopefully I can teach him those things so that he won't have to miss out. I also get to do my first baptismal interview this week, in fact I have two of them. I am nervous and excited. I am praying that I will have the Spirit with me and that they will both go well. I have been studying on that topic to make sure that I am prepared.

Love Elder Schultz

 

PS. I will send my shoes when I can, which will probably be next week, I'm not sure if we will have time today. I havent gotten the package yet, but when I do I can send a thank you letter to you for them. Thats so cool that Lily prays for me, did they get the christmas card I sent them? I may write them a letter as well.

 

So we have an infestation of ants in our apartment now, and in order to keep them down I would prefer if you done send any hard candy. Things like lifesavers and jollyranchers I can't eat fast enough to keep the ants out. Chocolate is still good, and other things like that, but no hard candy. Thanks.

James Letter 2-26-13

This week was rough, both for the work, and for myself. In the last little bit we have been dropped by seven investigators. The start of this transfer was like the start of the last one with the reduction in our teaching pool. One of the most disappointing though, was Tuesday we got a call from Dirk R, saying that he no longer wanted to meet with us. So thats how the week started, and I will admit I was a little less than excited about going out for a few of those days when we had no lessons scheduled. Elder Lott really helped me a lot though. He had been studying on patience(probably the reason this happened, because it did teach us that.), and he was optimistic, and grateful the whole time. What an example to me of keeping your head up, and trusting in the Lord. I have seen such growth in him, and I know that because he isn't the strongest, he is stronger than most, because he relies completely on God.

Monday started off great. We had a lesson on prayer with David and Melissa, as well as the Lyons. Both lessons went fairly well. We discussed how faith applies to prayers, why we pray, and the blessings it can bring. I definetly know that prayer is a powerful tool, and something we overlook all to often. I know from experience that whenever I have forgotten to say prayers, or justified not saying them, I have gotten myself into dangerous territory with temptation. Its no wonder Christ told us to "pray lest ye enter into temptation". It is a real protection for us if we use it.

Tuesday we had two lessons fall through. One with Theres I, which was weird. We were meeting at one, and sister Henrie, Theres' friend was already there. They opened the door, and she didn't let us in because her friend was there, and sister Henrie didn't even suggest that she invite us in. She also didn't invite her to church again this week, despite her mentioning that she would like to come. We are trying to work with Theres, but her member friend, is not helping, and even hindering the progress. We have another lesson set with Theres this week, and sister Henrie doesn't even want to come. I wish members could just see how important they are in teaching and helping others to accept the Gospel. Her friend is prepared, but she can't see that.

Wednesday we did a lot of tracting, and I have to say I wasn't super excited. It was pouring rain, and it reminded me of my first week when we tracted in the rain like that. I thought then what I thought now, "this stinks, what did I get myself into". But, even though I didn't really want to do it, I knew that I had to, if for none other reason than obedience. Also I know that the only way to gain a desire to do something is to know it's true, and you come to know its true by doing it. So, we did it. We then went to go teach Kimi, the jew. We took brother Haslam, who is the stake patriarch, and Kimi stood us up. Back to tracting we went. Dinner cancelled on us, and that evening our lesson with Howard M fell through as well.

Thursday we were able to teach Nathan. He gained a testimony of God and Jesus Christ by studying the Bible, and great example of the importance of scripture study, we shared with him how he could do the same with the Book of Mormon. We went over the first part of the restoration, and we talked a lot about prophets. Its amazing to me how insignificant people think prophets are, or how little the understand. Without a prophet there is no priesthood, and without priesthood there is no authorized baptism, and therefore no remission of sins, or access to the Atonement. What a huge deal. Our dinner cancelled again that night too.

Friday we did more tracting. We went down by the river, and knocked over there. There was a Kingdom Hall on the street, the first I had seen in this area, we almost knocked on it, because we didn't realize what it was. After we finished the street we went to visit some of the unordained in the area. One of them, Dennis M let us in, and we were able to talk with him. He said that he went his own way, and was going to another church, now he doesn't even go there. We shared a message with him about the importance of Christ, and the Book of Mormon. He then invited us to check out other churches. He was a really nice guy, but he didn't want to come back. After more tracting we went  to dinner with Bishop Smith, his son had a nonmember friend there, and we were able to talk with him a little. We had our lesson with the Rivers fall through, but we were able to see Shawn G, and his nonmember friend Kristian sat in on the lesson, and participated. WE are going to meet with both of them again this week. We Kristian a Book of Mormon, and invited him to read and pray about it.

Saturday we did a lot more tracting, and a little bit of service, and that evening we were visiting potentials and we decided to stop by Dirk, and say goodbye in person. He let us in, and we talked with him about how he can know. We bore testimony, and he agreed to continue meeting with us. I was so happy I could hardly stand it. After our lesson with Dirk we went by to follow up on a potential that we had found in the areabook. She was found in 09, and the note said "golden contact", and she had never been followed up with. We knocked on her door, and she was home, she was excited to see us, we gave her a Book of Mormon, and a paphlet. We set up a lesson, arranged to meet her at the Visitor's Center. She was golden. We came home that night so happy, and grateful for the blessings that we had been given. 

Sunday I spoke in church. My topic was "when good plans don't work out", a fittin gtopic for this week. I related the story of Nephi getting the brass plates, and Alma preaching to Ammonihah. Both of these stories they had tried and failed to do something, and when their plans didn't work out they relied on the Lord, and he helped them. 2 Nephi 25:23 say that we are saved by grace after all we can do, meaning that even though we can try our best, we can make all our plans we will fall short. We will fail. And after all of that He will save us. No matter how many times we fail, if we trust in Him He will help us. After all our plans, we can't return to God, but it doesn't matter that we can't do it on our own, because we don't have to. I am glad to know that I have a Savior who can help me through hard times. A Savior who knows what its like, and knows how to help. I am grateful for the blessings that I've seen this week, and I know that if you focus on the positive, you can truly see the tender mercies of the Lord in your life. Amidst all of the hardship and struggle He will always love us.

 

Some of my favorite scriptures about faith are in Hebrews 11, Alma 32, 1 Nephi 4. Good ones on the Atonement are Alma 7: 11-13, Ether 12: 27. For the Plan of Salvation I like Alma 11, Alma 40, 2 Nephi 2, Mormon 9

 

I did get the package this week.

 

Is there anything you can do to fix my shoes? Will MrMac replace them if I send them back, or am I out of luck?

 

Love Elder Schultz