Eeesh!

Herro!!

Today I am short on time. Our P-day is shortened because of Elder Holland's visit this Saturday. In order to not lose proselyting time this week, President decided to shorten P-day, but that's okay with me; it's not every day that one gets to meet an Apostle of the Lord.

This week was fairly good. We had two baptisms, Viviana and Cristian, but only Viviana was able to be confirmed. We're not sure what happened with Cristian because he usually attends Church with the Bishop's family and had even told the Bishop Sunday morning that he was coming to Church, and then he didn't show up. We'll have to wait until the 2nd of September to confirm him because this Sunday is a special Stake Conference with Elder Richard J. Maynes of the presidency of the Seventy. It's going to be a spectacular week.

I'm really, super-duper, incredibly excited to hear that Jeffrey will be turning in his mission papers soon. That's so crazy! I don't know how many of you have ever been away from your family/friends for a long time before, but it's weird to hear that everyone is moving on/growing up. I still feel like time should have stopped in the Schomburg home/United States, but it has not at all. It's a very weird feeling.

Right now we have to start finding a lot more people. We're going to be focusing on finding a family this week in preparation for Elder Holland's visit, which will help us be much more prepared to receive personal revelation during his visit. Also, we've basically baptized our whole program here, so we need to build a new program. Also, I realized this week that being a zone leader is a lot more demanding than I've been making it out to be. There are a ton of things that I should be thinking about but am not, such as how is the ward mission program in each ward in the zone and if the bishops of each ward are fulfilling their duty and taking charge of said programs. Also, we need to be verifying better in the nightly reports that we receive, we need to be thinking about activities to do as a stake to help the missionary work advance, we have to think about our less active members and the less actives of the whole zone...the list just seems to go on. I wish I could be better about verifying everything right now, but I know it will come with more time and hard work. Someday I'll remember everything that I need to remember, but today is not that day.

Another thing that I was thinking about today is the importance of members in missionary work. We missionaries are only two people in a whole ward, and wards in the States are huge. We cannot do the work alone. There are hundreds, possibly thousands of people that are ready to hear the gospel, and despite our best efforts we cannot meet all of them. But that's where you come in. The membership of a ward is much, much more than two. Your chances for interaction with these prepared people are much greater than ours. You have family, friends, coworkers, neighbors, all of whom you have daily interaction. You have relationships with these people, and they trust you. Have faith and confidence that this message which you have (and yes, you all have the same message which we share) is the most important message on the earth. This is the only true Church upon the face of the earth, the only Church that has the exact same foundation as the primitive Church of Jesus Christ. This is the only Church which has a Prophet called of God, Apostles, the priesthood of God, which is necessary to perform saving ordinances, revelation directly from God, and all of the Holy Scriptures which He has revealed. There is no other Church that Christ has approved on earth. And you are members of this Church. You have the duty, which you agreed to during your baptisms, to spread this gospel and help everyone who has yet to receive this gospel to receive it. You can be the means by which another child of Heavenly Father gains the opportunity to enter into His presence again. In missionary work the chances that someone will accept the gospel of Jesus Christ and receive a baptism are sooooo much higher when that person is fellowshipped by his friends and family in the Church. It's very rare that we find someone who will arrive at baptism just by knocking doors. Please, we need your help. If you don't know how to start a conversation with someone about the Church, have the missionaries over one night and have them teach you. If you feel too shy or timid, pray for strength. God has promised all of you the strength necessary to proclaim the good tidings of the gospel, but sometimes you must ask for that strength. You can do it! And I promise you that your joy will be greater than almost any other joy you have experienced in your life.

I love you all! You're all very incredible, and I'm grateful to know you all. I hope your week is wonderful and exciting (in good ways), and I hope that you all take a moment this week to read a little bit of the Book of Mormon and then ask, in prayer, if it is true. I'll do the same. Tell me your experiences! And if you don't have an experience the first time, try and try again till you have that experience. I love you!

Love,
Elder Schomburg