Hello my wonderful peoples!
I don't have a lot of time today (or any of the other P-days for the rest of my mission it would appear) because there's a new rule that we can only be on the internet for 30 minutes on P-days, and I still have to write to President in that time too. So here go my fingers, flying across the keyboard!
So today we went to the Basilica, a very large Catholic cathedral here in Quito. It was really cool and fairly large, and very, very cold inside, which was weird considering that it's not a particularly cold day or anything. It must be the stone structure or something. It made me feel incredibly adventuresome, and I desperately wanted to go and look at the catacombs (I know it has to have some!) but of course all of the lower levers are locked up. Oh well, someday my Indiana Jones fantasies will be made realities. I took a whole bunch of pictures too, but due to time restrictions I won't be able to download them until the next week. It was a nice tour in all, and I'm glad to have been able to go.
After the Basilica, we went to a capilla to celebrate the birthdays of some missionaries, we played Uno, Signs, Judges and Robbers, and Ninja Destruction (all the missionary games that we knew), and ate pizza. Fun was had by all.
I don't seem to have a lot of time left in the mission. I mean, I still have the greater part of a year left, but that time is rapidly passing by. It's crazy. I also want to work harder than ever right now, but it seems like there are so many things that I can do better that it's hard to know where to start. I'm trying to find things that I can do to become even more like Christ, and I'm really really way excited for the upcoming General Conference. I just know that I'll find something in one of the messages that will help me know what I can do right now to become more like Christ and to represent Him even better.
Hey, happy early birthday to Robby and Michelle!! I hope you have wonderful birthdays that are full of love, happiness, and all things wonderful!! And how lucky are you two to have your birthdays fall on General Conference weekend!! Woooo!! Not everyone gets to have prophets and apostles give their revelations to the world on his birthday. Yay!!
Everyone should watch General Conference!! Who doesn't want to hear prophets and apostles, who have been called of God to represent Him and His Son in the earth, speak to us and impart upon us the things that should be most important for the next six months?? We live in a wonderful time! God speaks to His servants now! We don't have to wander about lost, relying on our own knowledge to try to understand the will of God. We can receive this knowledge directly from His earthly mouthpieces, and we can progress spiritually! What a wonderful opportunity that we have! See lds.org for more information on how you can witness this marvellous event for yourselves!
Well, I have to go now. I love all of you, and I am so very glad for all that you all have done for me by way of supporting me, whether they be by prayers or by packages, by loving thoughts or loving notes, I'm grateful for them all and you all! Have a wonderful week!
Love,
Elder Schomburg
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Monday, March 19, 2012
I know it's true...
Hey there y'all!
Well, this day has been a bit meh. I have a rather sore throat, a building headache, and we weren't able to do the activity that we wanted to do (go to a museum) because the museum was closed. How am I supposed to feed my cultural side when the museums are closed on Mondays? but hey, apart from that I'm doing fine. :)
What's the difference between a zone leader and any other missionary? Not a lot really. I just have more "office work" to do, such as write more reports and send in numbers and say why the missionaries didn't do something, etc. Other than that there really isn't a difference. I'm still a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ and invite people to come unto Him. I think that one of the most valuable pieces of knowledge that I've learned by being a zone leader is that I'm not different than any other missionary. I don't have a different purpose or anything, I just have to write more emails, give special training sessions every once in a while, go to more meetings, and keep people in line. But I'm liking it.
Family vacation! Dang! I hope you guys have a tonne of fun in San Diego! And, Madre and Dad, I am rather incredibly jealous of you being able to go to the San Diego Temple. They're always announcing temple trips in the wards/branches, you guys get to go to one of the most beautiful temples (not that there's an ugly temple, I just really like the San Diego one), and I have to wait another 10-11 months to go to the temple. You lucky ducks. [We just discovered that the San Diego Temple is going to be closed for maintenance while we are there, so we are not so lucky ducks as he thought.]
So, before I get on to the more spiritual message, I just thought I'd let you all know that I'm still "me", and being me comes with a range of desires involving motorized vehicles, though now, en vez de wanting a super fast sports car or something, I'm really, really craving a motorcycle. A Triumph Daytona or a Harley '48, to be precise. If only I hailed from a climate where 4-wheel-drive wasn't semi-necessary. Oh well, thus is life.
Okay, so lately I've been studying a lot more about the Book of Mormon and trying to put more emphasis on its use in lessons. And why is that? Because the Book of Mormon is so so so important to all of us. That bolded all means every person in the world, member and non-member alike. And why is it so important? Because if the Book of Mormon is true, and I, along with millions of others, testify that it is, then Joseph Smith truly was a prophet of God. If the Book of Mormon is true, then Joseph Smith truly restored the only Church that Jesus Christ had ever formed, and that church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and that Church is lead by a modern day prophet named Thomas S. Monson. If the Book of Mormon is true, that there is only one path that leads to the prescence of God and not multiple, as so many believe. The Book of Mormon either is true or it is not true. It can't be partly true or mostly true. It either came from God and is, as the prophet Joseph Smith testified, "the most correct of any book on earth". Those who come to know that the Book of Mormon is true will also know that "Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, that Joseph Smith is his revelator and prophet in these last days, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord’s kingdom once again established on the earth, preparatory to the second coming of the Messiah" (Book of Mormon, Introduction). The most important part of knowing that the Book of Mormon is true is the knowledge that one will receive that the Lord Jesus truly is the Christ, our Saviour and Redeemer. I have come to know who Jesus Christ is not through reading the Bible or attending church, but through reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. I know that Christ has provided me with the means to be cleansed of all of my sins, and I have the hope of being able to be part of an eternal family, because I have read the Book of Mormon and I know that it is true. I know, without one shadow of a doubt, that the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ is true. And that knowledge has helped me to know that we are guided by a prophet, called of God to guide us to eternal life. I know this, and I know that all of you can come to know this, and that this knowledge will lead you to more happiness and joy in this life and the one to come than any other knowledge that one can accumulate here on earth. I would exhort all of you to not settle for simply "good" in life, but to strive to achieve the "best". I would exhort you all to do your part and put to test the challenge that the Book of Mormon puts forth: "We invite all men everywhere to read the Book of Mormon, to ponder in their hearts the message it contains, and then to ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ if the book is true. Those who pursue this course and ask in faith will gain a testimony of its truth and divinity by the power of the Holy Ghost" (Book of Mormon, Introduction).
[To request your own free copy of the Book of Mormon, click here. Or ask me (madre), I'll get you one.]
Well, I think that's all that I have for this week. I am so grateful for all of you and what you have all done to support me. Please keep doing your best to grow closer to you Heavenly Father, for in doing such you will find more happiness than anything the world has to offer. I love you! Have a wonderful week!
Love,
Elder Schomburg
Well, this day has been a bit meh. I have a rather sore throat, a building headache, and we weren't able to do the activity that we wanted to do (go to a museum) because the museum was closed. How am I supposed to feed my cultural side when the museums are closed on Mondays? but hey, apart from that I'm doing fine. :)
What's the difference between a zone leader and any other missionary? Not a lot really. I just have more "office work" to do, such as write more reports and send in numbers and say why the missionaries didn't do something, etc. Other than that there really isn't a difference. I'm still a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ and invite people to come unto Him. I think that one of the most valuable pieces of knowledge that I've learned by being a zone leader is that I'm not different than any other missionary. I don't have a different purpose or anything, I just have to write more emails, give special training sessions every once in a while, go to more meetings, and keep people in line. But I'm liking it.
Family vacation! Dang! I hope you guys have a tonne of fun in San Diego! And, Madre and Dad, I am rather incredibly jealous of you being able to go to the San Diego Temple. They're always announcing temple trips in the wards/branches, you guys get to go to one of the most beautiful temples (not that there's an ugly temple, I just really like the San Diego one), and I have to wait another 10-11 months to go to the temple. You lucky ducks. [We just discovered that the San Diego Temple is going to be closed for maintenance while we are there, so we are not so lucky ducks as he thought.]
So, before I get on to the more spiritual message, I just thought I'd let you all know that I'm still "me", and being me comes with a range of desires involving motorized vehicles, though now, en vez de wanting a super fast sports car or something, I'm really, really craving a motorcycle. A Triumph Daytona or a Harley '48, to be precise. If only I hailed from a climate where 4-wheel-drive wasn't semi-necessary. Oh well, thus is life.
Okay, so lately I've been studying a lot more about the Book of Mormon and trying to put more emphasis on its use in lessons. And why is that? Because the Book of Mormon is so so so important to all of us. That bolded all means every person in the world, member and non-member alike. And why is it so important? Because if the Book of Mormon is true, and I, along with millions of others, testify that it is, then Joseph Smith truly was a prophet of God. If the Book of Mormon is true, then Joseph Smith truly restored the only Church that Jesus Christ had ever formed, and that church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and that Church is lead by a modern day prophet named Thomas S. Monson. If the Book of Mormon is true, that there is only one path that leads to the prescence of God and not multiple, as so many believe. The Book of Mormon either is true or it is not true. It can't be partly true or mostly true. It either came from God and is, as the prophet Joseph Smith testified, "the most correct of any book on earth". Those who come to know that the Book of Mormon is true will also know that "Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, that Joseph Smith is his revelator and prophet in these last days, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord’s kingdom once again established on the earth, preparatory to the second coming of the Messiah" (Book of Mormon, Introduction). The most important part of knowing that the Book of Mormon is true is the knowledge that one will receive that the Lord Jesus truly is the Christ, our Saviour and Redeemer. I have come to know who Jesus Christ is not through reading the Bible or attending church, but through reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. I know that Christ has provided me with the means to be cleansed of all of my sins, and I have the hope of being able to be part of an eternal family, because I have read the Book of Mormon and I know that it is true. I know, without one shadow of a doubt, that the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ is true. And that knowledge has helped me to know that we are guided by a prophet, called of God to guide us to eternal life. I know this, and I know that all of you can come to know this, and that this knowledge will lead you to more happiness and joy in this life and the one to come than any other knowledge that one can accumulate here on earth. I would exhort all of you to not settle for simply "good" in life, but to strive to achieve the "best". I would exhort you all to do your part and put to test the challenge that the Book of Mormon puts forth: "We invite all men everywhere to read the Book of Mormon, to ponder in their hearts the message it contains, and then to ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ if the book is true. Those who pursue this course and ask in faith will gain a testimony of its truth and divinity by the power of the Holy Ghost" (Book of Mormon, Introduction).
[To request your own free copy of the Book of Mormon, click here. Or ask me (madre), I'll get you one.]
Well, I think that's all that I have for this week. I am so grateful for all of you and what you have all done to support me. Please keep doing your best to grow closer to you Heavenly Father, for in doing such you will find more happiness than anything the world has to offer. I love you! Have a wonderful week!
Love,
Elder Schomburg
Monday, March 12, 2012
Miracle Monday
Hey howdy hey!
I am doing fairly well on this wonderful day in Quito. Wait, did I say Quito? Well, that's not a typo, because here I am in the zone Santa Ana as the junior companion! "What?!?" you say as you read junior companion in Quito. Well, I'm the junior companion because I'm the new zone leader in Santa Ana, and my companion, Elder Rodriguez, has more time than I do, so he's the senior zone leader, and I'm the junior zone leader. So that's a bit different. Last Tuesday I received the call that the next day I would be coming here to Santa Ana as a zone leader, and I almost fell off my shoes. It really came as quite a shock, and it was a bit frustrating too because now I won't know until April what happened with all of our investigators in Riobamba. But así is the mission. I just gotta go where the Lord tells me to go and do what He tells me to do. So, until further notice, I'll just keep doing the Lord's work here in Quito.
So, what do I want to say today? I'm not quite sure. Well, maybe I'll talk a bit about enduring to the end. That seems to be the hardest thing for me to do. There are so many things to do and they all have to be done all the time, and frankly it's hard to do those things all the time. Also, one has to persevere in his decision to leave behind past things. All of these things really start adding up, and it gets pretty difficult. The world can be so tempting sometimes, and as a missionary with higher standards to follow even the "regular" things are super tempting. TV, magazines, books, etc., they're all super tempting. Waking up on time can sometimes be difficult, too. It's always just the little things, but I know that by doing the little things one is bound to be blessed by the Lord. But Satan also knows that it's easier to get someone to stop doing the little things than to get him to do the big, wrong things (I'm pretty sure C.S. Lewis wrote a book about that called the Screwtape Letters). It's just so hard to stay firm, and the results of not staying firm scare me to death. But that's why in the Gospel of Jesus Christ it's not just baptism, receiving of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. First comes faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His atonement, then comes repentance. Part of enduring to the end includes constantly having faith in the Lord and in His atonement, and when one messes up then he can repent by exercising his faith in Christ. I am so incredibly grateful for the atonement of Jesus Christ. Without the atonement, none of us could ever repent. We could try and try and try, but it would never work. It would have no use. But because of the atonement, each and every one of us has the grand opportunity to admit our wrongness and the need to change our life and to really change our life and put it more in line with the will of the Father. We can forsake all of our sins and eventually return to the presence of God. We can endure to the end, having the hope that any mistake can and will be forgiven if we repent. So is enduring to the end impossible? Far from it. It's perfectly possible, and we must only rely on the Lord and have faith in His atonement in order to endure.
Less spiritual thought: The phrase of the day is, "Can you slouch down in the chair more? You're too tall." - The barber. That's something that I can never forget here; I'm a big guy. I'm reminded by it several times in a day, and it always amuses me. I guess I like being big.
Jeffrey, you hang in there! You know what is right, you know the truth, and don't ever be afraid to share it. Remember D&C 24:12; "And at all times, and in all places, he shall open his mouth and declare my gospel as with the voice of a trump, both day and night. And I will give unto him strength such as is not known among men." You shall be given strength as is not known among men to stand firm in your testimony and help bring others unto Christ, even before your mission. You're as much as a missionary as I am, and this promise is just as much for you as it is for me. You're doing an amazing job, and I am incredibly proud of who you are and who you are becoming. Keep on keeping on!!
I was a bit sad to hear that Bijou had to be put down, but I know it was for the best. Dang, me being on a mission seems to be bad luck for our pets. I'll miss Bijou, but I'm sure he's doing much better now that he's not suffering anymore. [Bijou was my 12 1/2 year old toy poodle who had developed diabetes and kidney failure - I had to make the decision to put him to sleep last week.]
Well, I think that's all that I have for right now. Oh hey, I got a bit (read: a lot) of pouch! Thank you so very much to everyone who has written me! I really am extraordinarily grateful for each and every letter that you all send me. Please keep on sending, and I'll keep on doing my best to respond. Well, have a wonderful day and week everyone! I love you all so incredibly much! Keep on doing your best to follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and if you don't know exactly what it is, you can refer to earlier in this letter or you can contact a local representative of Jesus Christ (i.e. Elder or Sister from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), though I'd recommend the latter. If you ever have questions, send them to one of my family members and my mom will do her best to transfer them to me. Or you can just write me. One of those two. Okay, I love you! ¡Chao!
Love,
Elder Schomburg
I am doing fairly well on this wonderful day in Quito. Wait, did I say Quito? Well, that's not a typo, because here I am in the zone Santa Ana as the junior companion! "What?!?" you say as you read junior companion in Quito. Well, I'm the junior companion because I'm the new zone leader in Santa Ana, and my companion, Elder Rodriguez, has more time than I do, so he's the senior zone leader, and I'm the junior zone leader. So that's a bit different. Last Tuesday I received the call that the next day I would be coming here to Santa Ana as a zone leader, and I almost fell off my shoes. It really came as quite a shock, and it was a bit frustrating too because now I won't know until April what happened with all of our investigators in Riobamba. But así is the mission. I just gotta go where the Lord tells me to go and do what He tells me to do. So, until further notice, I'll just keep doing the Lord's work here in Quito.
So, what do I want to say today? I'm not quite sure. Well, maybe I'll talk a bit about enduring to the end. That seems to be the hardest thing for me to do. There are so many things to do and they all have to be done all the time, and frankly it's hard to do those things all the time. Also, one has to persevere in his decision to leave behind past things. All of these things really start adding up, and it gets pretty difficult. The world can be so tempting sometimes, and as a missionary with higher standards to follow even the "regular" things are super tempting. TV, magazines, books, etc., they're all super tempting. Waking up on time can sometimes be difficult, too. It's always just the little things, but I know that by doing the little things one is bound to be blessed by the Lord. But Satan also knows that it's easier to get someone to stop doing the little things than to get him to do the big, wrong things (I'm pretty sure C.S. Lewis wrote a book about that called the Screwtape Letters). It's just so hard to stay firm, and the results of not staying firm scare me to death. But that's why in the Gospel of Jesus Christ it's not just baptism, receiving of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. First comes faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His atonement, then comes repentance. Part of enduring to the end includes constantly having faith in the Lord and in His atonement, and when one messes up then he can repent by exercising his faith in Christ. I am so incredibly grateful for the atonement of Jesus Christ. Without the atonement, none of us could ever repent. We could try and try and try, but it would never work. It would have no use. But because of the atonement, each and every one of us has the grand opportunity to admit our wrongness and the need to change our life and to really change our life and put it more in line with the will of the Father. We can forsake all of our sins and eventually return to the presence of God. We can endure to the end, having the hope that any mistake can and will be forgiven if we repent. So is enduring to the end impossible? Far from it. It's perfectly possible, and we must only rely on the Lord and have faith in His atonement in order to endure.
Less spiritual thought: The phrase of the day is, "Can you slouch down in the chair more? You're too tall." - The barber. That's something that I can never forget here; I'm a big guy. I'm reminded by it several times in a day, and it always amuses me. I guess I like being big.
Jeffrey, you hang in there! You know what is right, you know the truth, and don't ever be afraid to share it. Remember D&C 24:12; "And at all times, and in all places, he shall open his mouth and declare my gospel as with the voice of a trump, both day and night. And I will give unto him strength such as is not known among men." You shall be given strength as is not known among men to stand firm in your testimony and help bring others unto Christ, even before your mission. You're as much as a missionary as I am, and this promise is just as much for you as it is for me. You're doing an amazing job, and I am incredibly proud of who you are and who you are becoming. Keep on keeping on!!
I was a bit sad to hear that Bijou had to be put down, but I know it was for the best. Dang, me being on a mission seems to be bad luck for our pets. I'll miss Bijou, but I'm sure he's doing much better now that he's not suffering anymore. [Bijou was my 12 1/2 year old toy poodle who had developed diabetes and kidney failure - I had to make the decision to put him to sleep last week.]
Well, I think that's all that I have for right now. Oh hey, I got a bit (read: a lot) of pouch! Thank you so very much to everyone who has written me! I really am extraordinarily grateful for each and every letter that you all send me. Please keep on sending, and I'll keep on doing my best to respond. Well, have a wonderful day and week everyone! I love you all so incredibly much! Keep on doing your best to follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and if you don't know exactly what it is, you can refer to earlier in this letter or you can contact a local representative of Jesus Christ (i.e. Elder or Sister from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), though I'd recommend the latter. If you ever have questions, send them to one of my family members and my mom will do her best to transfer them to me. Or you can just write me. One of those two. Okay, I love you! ¡Chao!
Love,
Elder Schomburg
Monday, March 5, 2012
Miracle Month...
HAI GUYS!!
So why am I so excited? Because we had 9 people come to Church yesterday! It was wonderful and so amazing! It was a miracle indeed, and I'll be recounting the story, don't you worry. And I am doing very well today. We got to watch "Tangled" again, which is definitely one of my favorite movies, and I didn't get that trunky this time! Yep, that's good. Also, the Hermanas made a caramel-corn type popcorn, and it was delicious. All in all it was a rather enjoyable day.
Okay, so, miracle time. This month has been deemed miracle month by President Ghent. The miracle is that this month every companionship will baptize at least two people. It doesn't seem like it would be a miracle, but it really is because it's never happened before. Also, there's a norm in the mission that we should do our best to show our investigators the chapel before Sunday. Well, we recently found a family of 6 (the kids only) and they have a baptismal date. We showed them the chapel on Saturday, and half of them told us that they wouldn't be able to go to church Sunday, which made us really sad. We were fasting at the time, but we were still disappointed because it looked like their baptismal date would fall through. Well, Sunday rolled around and they weren't there for the sacrament, but after that....THEY CAME!! I was so darn excited and grateful. It really was a miracle, because all of them came! So we now have 9 people with baptismal dates, because another part family (grandma, her daughter, and the granddaughter) also has a baptismal date. Woooooo!! Seriously, I couldn't be much more excited.
Also, like I had said, this is the month of miracles, and miracles require faith. I'm so excited for this month because it will be a time when my faith will grow like it has never grown before. I will have to really realize that all that I am doing is only because the Lord allows it to happen. I will really have to step aside and tell the Lord, "Okay Lord. This is Thy work. Use me as Thou will so that Thy purposes may come to pass." I know that I will end this month with more faith than I even know what to do with. I am so excited for that. When I heard what the miracle would be and that it would require works with faith, I felt something blossom in my chest, and I know that even in that moment my faith increased a ton. "I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it!"
Congratulations Elizabeth in your role in the play! That's so awesome! I know that you'll do wonderfully in your part. You guys gotta film the play for me! I wanna see it when I get back. Also, keep on working on Aaron's Camp Jeffrey! I'm so proud of you for who you've become in the time that I've been away. Also, you're not so much becoming like me as that you're really finding your own testimony and have come to a point at which you are not afraid to let people know what you know. That's something necessary to be a missionary. Keep up the good work! Madre mía! Keep working hard, and keep praying for help, and the Lord will give it to you. You most assuredly know that already, but I just thought that I'd recalcar that. The Lord will help you in all things, even the temporal things, so don't be afraid to ask!
Also, is it Robby or Dad that does the talking in the sleep? And I'm sure we've all wished that we could have a dragon head at one time or another. [It's Robby - he was shouting, "I have a dragon head" the other night in his sleep.]
I sent off a packet of letters today, so many of you shall be receiving letters in the coming weeks. Thank you all for your support, and those that I didn't write to will be written to in the...future. I was going to say near future, and in the eternal perspective it is definitely the near future, but I can't very well say when that future will be.
Well, for now I don't think I have much more to say. I'm very grateful for all of your support, and for your prayers especially. I hope all of you have a wonderful week, and that you don't forget to search for the heavenly treasures first. The things of the world will only last for a time, and then they'll all go away. The things of heaven are eternal, and will bless you in all that you do. If you don't believe me, put my words to the test. Focus on God and on His Son, and you will see the difference in your life. I love you, and I wish you all the best until next week! ¡Chao!
Love,
Elder Schomburg
p.s. Oh, by the way, the picture of the wall is a mural that I found here that I have yet to make any sense of. I figured it was a nightclub when I first saw it, but it's a mechanic's shop. Can you guys make sense of it?
So why am I so excited? Because we had 9 people come to Church yesterday! It was wonderful and so amazing! It was a miracle indeed, and I'll be recounting the story, don't you worry. And I am doing very well today. We got to watch "Tangled" again, which is definitely one of my favorite movies, and I didn't get that trunky this time! Yep, that's good. Also, the Hermanas made a caramel-corn type popcorn, and it was delicious. All in all it was a rather enjoyable day.
Okay, so, miracle time. This month has been deemed miracle month by President Ghent. The miracle is that this month every companionship will baptize at least two people. It doesn't seem like it would be a miracle, but it really is because it's never happened before. Also, there's a norm in the mission that we should do our best to show our investigators the chapel before Sunday. Well, we recently found a family of 6 (the kids only) and they have a baptismal date. We showed them the chapel on Saturday, and half of them told us that they wouldn't be able to go to church Sunday, which made us really sad. We were fasting at the time, but we were still disappointed because it looked like their baptismal date would fall through. Well, Sunday rolled around and they weren't there for the sacrament, but after that....THEY CAME!! I was so darn excited and grateful. It really was a miracle, because all of them came! So we now have 9 people with baptismal dates, because another part family (grandma, her daughter, and the granddaughter) also has a baptismal date. Woooooo!! Seriously, I couldn't be much more excited.
Also, like I had said, this is the month of miracles, and miracles require faith. I'm so excited for this month because it will be a time when my faith will grow like it has never grown before. I will have to really realize that all that I am doing is only because the Lord allows it to happen. I will really have to step aside and tell the Lord, "Okay Lord. This is Thy work. Use me as Thou will so that Thy purposes may come to pass." I know that I will end this month with more faith than I even know what to do with. I am so excited for that. When I heard what the miracle would be and that it would require works with faith, I felt something blossom in my chest, and I know that even in that moment my faith increased a ton. "I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it!"
Congratulations Elizabeth in your role in the play! That's so awesome! I know that you'll do wonderfully in your part. You guys gotta film the play for me! I wanna see it when I get back. Also, keep on working on Aaron's Camp Jeffrey! I'm so proud of you for who you've become in the time that I've been away. Also, you're not so much becoming like me as that you're really finding your own testimony and have come to a point at which you are not afraid to let people know what you know. That's something necessary to be a missionary. Keep up the good work! Madre mía! Keep working hard, and keep praying for help, and the Lord will give it to you. You most assuredly know that already, but I just thought that I'd recalcar that. The Lord will help you in all things, even the temporal things, so don't be afraid to ask!
Also, is it Robby or Dad that does the talking in the sleep? And I'm sure we've all wished that we could have a dragon head at one time or another. [It's Robby - he was shouting, "I have a dragon head" the other night in his sleep.]
I sent off a packet of letters today, so many of you shall be receiving letters in the coming weeks. Thank you all for your support, and those that I didn't write to will be written to in the...future. I was going to say near future, and in the eternal perspective it is definitely the near future, but I can't very well say when that future will be.
Well, for now I don't think I have much more to say. I'm very grateful for all of your support, and for your prayers especially. I hope all of you have a wonderful week, and that you don't forget to search for the heavenly treasures first. The things of the world will only last for a time, and then they'll all go away. The things of heaven are eternal, and will bless you in all that you do. If you don't believe me, put my words to the test. Focus on God and on His Son, and you will see the difference in your life. I love you, and I wish you all the best until next week! ¡Chao!
Love,
Elder Schomburg
p.s. Oh, by the way, the picture of the wall is a mural that I found here that I have yet to make any sense of. I figured it was a nightclub when I first saw it, but it's a mechanic's shop. Can you guys make sense of it?
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