Special Witness to Christ

Hey howdy hey!!

Today finds me well. We just got done eating some shrimp ceviche which was made by Sister Hilda, and it was delicious. Also, we managed to fit naps into our day, which was excellent. Naps are always welcome.

This week was about the same as all of the weeks before. Trying and trying to find people, finding a couple and discovering that they have no desire to learn more about the Church, and then trying some more. But thus is life for right now.

Happy Father's Day to all fathers and fathers-to-be!! I didn't get to say so yesterday, so I'm saying it now. Thank you for all that you do to help your children grow up strong and to help your families be unified. Thank you for being examples to your children and loving your wives. Thank you for those who preside over their households in righteousness and strive to edify your households over gospel principles. Thank you all so very much!

Yesterday we saw a video about the prophets and apostles that are on the earth now. Well, rather, that were on the earth in 2000 (some have gone to greener pastures). It's called "Special Witness to Christ", and it is one of the more amazing videos I have ever seen. It really reinforced my testimony of the reality of prophets and apostles in our days. They all bore testimonies that were incredibly powerful and described every principle of the gospel with amazing clarity. While I was watching the testimony that Elder Jeffrey R. Holland gave about the Atonement and what happened in the garden of Gethsemane, I was amazed at how detailed and descriptive his explication was. I wondered how he could relate that occurrence with such clarity when I realized something: it's because he has seen exactly what happened in that garden. As a prophet, seer, and revelator (of which all of the apostles and the members of the First Presidency are), he has the ability to see things past, present, and future as the Lord deems necessary. He receives revelation and direction directly from Jesus Christ Himself. I continued watching the video and that fact was clearly evident with all the other apostles as well. They not only bear testimony of Jesus Christ, they bear witness. They have walked and talked with Him, just as His apostles of old did. It truly is something incredible.

I know that there are many of you who won't understand or believe what I have just finished saying, but I want to call your attention to two scriptures: Amos 3:7 and Ephesians 2:19-20. The first tells us; "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, ^abut he ^brevealeth his ^csecret unto his servants the ^dprophets." If the Lord is going to do something, He will first make it known unto His prophets so that they may declare that thing to all of humanity. Prophets are necessary on earth to act as guides and help us understand how to follow Jesus Christ in such a way that we will be saved by Him.

The second scripture teaches us about the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ in antiquity. "Now therefore ye are no more ^astrangers and foreigners, but ^bfellowcitizens with the ^csaints, and of the ^dhousehold of God; And are built upon the foundation of the ^aapostles and ^bprophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief ^ccorner stone..."

The Church of Jesus Christ was founded upon the foundation of apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ being their leader. The same organization is found in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There are 12 members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and a First Presidency, which consists of two counselors and a president, with the president being the senior apostle and the chosen prophet. All are called by Jesus Christ Himself, as was done in the days of old. They all have the same authority that Christ gave to His apostles in old. The Church is the same that He established, and the prophets and apostles of today are special witnesses of Jesus Christ to all nations and people. I know that with all of my being, and I know that every one of you can also know this if you will but ask God, in the name of Jesus Christ, if that statement is true. I leave you with my testimony of the truthfulness of latter-day prophets and apostles in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful week and that it's full of spiritual and temporal growth. I love you all and look forward to hearing from you in your letters and also in the weekly email. I love you!

Love,

Elder Schomburg

We can all go on...

To preface Elder Schomburg's letter, we are sharing the story we used to break some unfortunate news to him:

Once upon a time... in a land far, far away (from you anyway) there was a mystical, mythical creature known as "the Porsche."  Many brave knights had fought for their honor against the magical fellow.  Sir Andrew had taken the beast apart piece by piece in an effort to find it's heart and tame the amazing monster.  Sir Lee had driven it headlong into a guardrail and even attempted to drown the brute in a knee-deep rain puddle, but to no avail; the hellion continued to tease and tempt its drivers with its insistent "vroom vroom" and its heart pounding rumble.  Then one evening, Sir Jeffrey was at the wheel of the beast... lulled into a false sense of security by the monster's gentle purring, he ventured into the fast lane on I-25 to pass the lesser motorists.  In the blink of an eye, the creature began to growl and then screech!  A violent explosion followed as it commenced with belching smoke and spewing oil.  Heart racing and ears pounding, Sir Jeffrey gazed through the smoke-filled cockpit to find safety. He wrestled the dying, power-steeringless animal to the side of the road where it came to rest in a pool of its own oil.  With the oil pan ripped to shreds and a gaping hole in the side of the block from a hurtling connecting rod, the creature was dead.  Sir Jeffrey had slain "the Porsche."

The End.

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Not the Porsche!! Ahhhh!! ::anguish!!:: May she rest in peace. :(  [The Porsche was Andrew's first car.]

Well, all is well here with me. I am found in good spirits and with socks, so all is very, very well. Yes, more pouch! Oh, also, I received a Christmas card from the McKoons that was sent back in December I believe...welcome to Ecuador!! Thank you to all who write to me, who follow me through my blog, and who pray for me. I really am very grateful for all that you do to support me.

Things are looking a bit more up here. We're currently teaching a twelve-year-old brother of a member who recently moved to the ward, and he is not yet baptized but is probably the best investigator I've ever had. He understands everything perfectly, he always reads everything that he needs to, and the one time that he didn't remember what scriptures he needed to read he still read some of the Book of Mormon, so that's pretty cool. If only all of our investigators could be like Xavier. We're finally finding people here and there, and even some of the people that we contact in the street are a bit more open than earlier. It turns out that being obedient and diligent bring results. Huzzah!!

The missionaries here in Santa Ana are also starting to work a little bit harder. We had a mini conference this Friday and tried to get them excited. We had them write on paper all of the things that could impede them from working as hard as possible, and then we took that paper and threw it away. Maybe it was a tad cheesy, but I think it helped. There really isn't anything that can impede us, not even Satan. When we're impeded in the work, it's because we have decided to allow Satan to work in us and to put doubt or fear in our minds. We have to decide to NOT allow Satan to work at all with us, and it's a decision that we can definitely make. Sure, Satan can affect other people to try to hamper their progress, but my calling is one of God. I have received His authority and am a holder of His priesthood. Satan can have no power over me unless I allow him to do so. We're going to really try to help our missionaries see this fact, because when they really take that to heart they'll be able to work miracles. We all will be able to do so.

We're currently teaching a less-active family in which the mom passed away about a month ago due to cancer. The dad has been having a really hard time, and it's always kind of difficult to pass by there. But my mission experience has helped me to be able to relate to him a little bit. I don't have the slightest idea what it's like to lose a spouse (I'm not even going to pretend that being away from home and Michelle is anything the same), but I have learned how to endure and persevere through difficult times. Without a doubt the mission is the hardest thing that I have ever done in my life. I have never been required to give so much and to sacrifice so much, nor to gain so much experience in such a short time, and it is very true that there have been many days when I just wanted to stay home or take a vacation. But I haven't. Every day I go back out and I do what I have been called of God to do. Every day I put aside what I want (or try) so that I can do what the Lord wants. Every day. If you guys think that the Sabbath or P-Days are days of rest, you're very wrong. There has not been a day go by that I was able to work that I haven't worked. And it turns out that sharing this experience with Brother Andrade helped him realize that he can persevere too. Perhaps his wife isn't on the earth anymore, and perhaps his family is passing through a rough time, but that doesn't mean that he can't persevere. We can all go on. Christ suffered everything. Because of His suffering, we can all draw strength from Him and we can go on. As my companion is very fond of saying, "I can do anything in Christ which strengtheneth me" (Philipians 4:13). He suffered and died so that he could provide us with mercy, which is the enabling power of the Atonement. He gives us strength to overcome the things that we alone cannot overcome. And with that strength, I, and you, can do anything. I testify of that with all of my heart.

Well, my companion isn't feeling very well so I'll be off now so he can go rest a bit. I love all of you so very much. I hope all are still enduring and trying to walk the same path that Christ walked (that means every person that reads this blog). Have a wonderful week, and remember to put the things of God before your earthly pursuits, because what materials in this earth you gain you cannot take with you when you leave the earth. I love you!

Love,
Elder Schomburg

Ecuadorians love fútbol

Hello my happy family and friends!

I am doing rather well today. I got a bit of pouch, which is always wonderful (thank you Grandma!). I also got the invitation to Jeffrey's graduation party. I'm sorry to inform you that I don't think I'll be able to attend, but I hope you'll accept my sincerest apologies for my absence. ;) The picture of Jeffrey with the tank made me laugh a bit. Mostly because of the look on his face, but also because that photo was just so...Jeffrey. Thanks for the invite!

Well, we're still plugging along. We still don't really have any investigators, and things are getting a bit more difficult because the other missionaries don't seem to have the desire to work. They go out and work a little bit, but when things aren't improving they don't show the initiative to fix those things. It's frustrating especially because it doesn't matter how many times we tell them what's going on or how to fix things, they won't do it. And now we're out of ideas of how to help them. The assistants told us to not lose hope and to just trust in God, which is definitely all that we can do now. Things will get better at some point though, I know it.

The less actives are slowly reactivating, which is very good. The difficult part is getting them to stay active though. Activating someone doesn't just mean that they start coming to Church again. It means that they start preparing to go to the temple to be sealed to their families. It means that they gain a conversion. It means that they come back and lose all desire to fall away again. And then they have to act constantly on those desires. It's difficult but it is well worth all of the effort. It's incredible to see someone come back to the fold and really start living the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Also, our "abuela" is doing just fine. We actually just ran into her and she was going to the doctor for some rehabilitation, and in her hand was a copy of the Book of Mormon. :) She's awesome like that. It makes me so happy to see someone truly converted, to have lived Romans 6:6. It's incredible.

Congratulations to Jeffrey on starting to fill out his mission papers! That's basically the coolest thing since...well, I dunno exactly, but it's darn awesome. Keep going! You can do it!

Cultural info time! Ecuadorians love fútbol. They don't love so much when their team loses to Argentina. The eliminations are going on for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, and Saturday Ecuador lost to Argentina 4-0. It was almost as bad as hearing that the Broncos lost to the Raiders. But we'll get 'em next time!

Well, that's all for now. I hope that all is well with everyone and that everyone is still doing all that is possible to come unto Christ. I love you all very much. ¡Chao!

Love,
Elder Schomburg

Looks like the Angel Moroni to me!

A Wonderful Book Review

Hello!!!

GOOOOO JEFFREY!!! WOOOOO!!! You graduated and are now free from high school forever more!! Yeah!!!!! Good job! I'm very proud and happy for you.

I'm glad to hear that Jeffrey's graduation party went well and that a fun time was had by all. I would have loved to have been there, but...I'm a couple thousand miles away. Next time! (Rather, I really hope that Jeffrey doesn't graduate from high school again, though that'd be a story, now wouldn't it?)

This week was fairly good. We still haven't found many people that are willing to listen, but we did manage to baptize our "abuela" Hilda Salazar. It was a wonderful baptismal service, and her daughter was able to fly out from Utah to see her baptism. Hilda was so very excited and happy to be able to be baptized. I definitely teared up a couple of times. I would love to include photos, but the computer doesn't want to read my memory card, so next week a photo will be included.

This week has been the same as last week in terms of teaching people. We try and try to find people, but when we set up a date to go back to see them, they're almost never there, and if something comes up and we have to set up a different date because we can't make the first one, they're still not at the second appointment. It's a tad frustrating. It'd be nice to be able to find someone new and be able to teach them, but that doesn't seem to be happening. We're going to be working with the less-active members a bit more to reactivate them and then see if they have any references. A few of the less actives with whom we've been working say that they have some people that they're working with. Now to just see if they'll let us work with them.

The attached photo is of my greatest eating "fail" for a very long time. I don't know how well you can see it, but my tie and part of my shirt are covered with syrup. Here's the story: I was eating a very lovely breakfast of pancakes and vanilla syrup. My desk was a bit crowded (I was reading some letters from awhile ago), so my plate wasn't completely on the desk. I had been doing my absolute best to not move any of the pancakes to the part that was off of the desk, but I was cutting one that got away from me and, yep, to the part off of the desk. The result was a horribly effective catapult of a whole pancake onto my tie, which promptly rolled onto my pants and onto the floor. I had to completely change, and both my companion and I laughed for a good 5 minutes. So let this experience be a lesson to all!




I have a book review to give! It's just about my favorite book in the whole world, and it's been the most helpful book to me ever. It's the Book of Mormon. Many, many people have read it before and have feelings similar to mine. It's held for good and evil in every part of the world. Many, lacking information, believe it to be written by Joseph Smith and is nothing more than one man's thoughts on religion. Many criticize it for not having correct grammar, and many say that there is no possible way that it is scripture because "the bible says there can't be any more scripture" (side note: it says that for the first time in Deuteronomy, which would mean that everything after that book in the Bible is false). I give my fervent testimony that this book, the Book of Mormon, is truly inspired of God and proves that God loves all of His children in all parts of the world. The Book of Mormon was written by ancient prophets of the Americas and "contains the fullness of the everlasting gospel". It contains the history of the people who inhabited the Americas from 600 BC to approximately 421 AD, and it's purpose is to prove to people everywhere that Jesus is the Christ. I know that Jesus is the Christ because of this book. This book has helped me more in my life than anything else. I know of its divinity not because I have read and studied it several times. I know of its divinity not because someone told me that it was inspired of God. I know because I asked God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, if the Book of Mormon was true. He responded to my prayer, and I know with my whole soul that this book is inspired of Him. It does not try to replace the Bible; it complements the Bible. The Bible testifies of the Book of Mormon (Ezekiel 37:15-20), and the Book of Mormon testifies of the Bible. Without the other, neither of these books would be able to truly be the word of God (1 Corinthians 15:1). I would urge everyone to find a copy (missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints give them out for free) and put it to the test. Read a little bit and then ask God if it's true or not. And if you don't receive an answer the first time, read a bit more and ask again. Do so until you receive an answer, because it's impossible that you don't receive an answer. I promise that whosoever does this will not only find a good book, but will find the fullness of the everlasting Gospel.

I hope that you all have a wonderful week and that you are all happy, healthy, and busy! I love you!! Have a wonderful, marvellous week!

Love,
Elder Schomburg

Still in Santa Ana!

Hello everyone!

This salutation comes from...Santa Ana, Quito! No transfer for me, nor for my companion, so unless more funky shenanigans happen like what happened at the end of the Riobamba tour, I'll be here until July 1. I guess the Lord has more for me to learn here. I'll just try to plug along as best as I can and hope that that's what the Lord wants of me. 

Wow, my little brother is all growin' up and stuff and is going to be graduating this week. That's crazy. Congratulations Jeffrey!! I knew you could do it. And congratulations for graduating from Seminary! That's awesome, and you're certainly more prepared than I was for your mission. Just don't decide to get all lazy and stop the preparing. You should prepare for your mission right up till the day that you leave, because if you don't keep preparing, you'll lose all that knowledge that you've gained. Remember to read the Scriptures daily (that's italicized, bolded, and underlined, so it's really super dupe hyper immensely important) and to say your prayers daily. Endure to the...well, beginning, in this case...!!! I know that you have huge potential. Don't be afraid to unlock it. 

Mmmmm, rootbeer floats......if someone finds out how to send one of those over here without completely destroying the package in the shipping process, you should test out that method with me. 

Well, the man who randomly showed up at Church last week didn't show up for his lesson nor for Church this week, and we don't have any way to get in contact with him. Hopefully one day he'll be able to come back and truly begin the repentance process. But Hilda Salazar did come to Church!! She's so amazing. She's basically my "mission grandma" because she's 74 and always feeds us when we go over (twice she gave us candy corn, which doesn't exist in Ecuador, but luckily she has offspring in Utah that love her enough to send her candy corn, which she shared with us!!). She's such a sweet lady. She has a baptismal date for this Saturday, but she has to have an interview with one of President Ghent's counselors first. We'll be praying that she passes her interview and doesn't have to postpone her baptism for a later date. 

I think that you (meaning my parents) will be very glad to learn that I have learned obedience fairly well (I'm known in the mission for demonstrating exact obedience), so at least one of the attributes that I need/ed to learn has been learned. Now I just have to work with my patience, and I do believe that will take the rest of my life to develop. It'd be better if it came sooner than later, but patience never, ever works that way. With time and practice it will come. 

Well, that's about all that I have to say for today. I hope all is well with all at home. I love you guys very much, and I wish the very best for you! 

Love, 
Elder Schomburg

Crocodile's Prey

Hello to all!!

So, I am basically super-duper grateful for mothers, especially por la mía [for mine]. She is wonderful and amazing and incredible and every wonderful word that one could think of to describe a mother. Thank you for being mi madre, Madre!

In case you hadn't guessed, I got to hear from my wonderful family yesterday! My madre sounds healthier and happier than ever, as well as does mi Padre, Jeffrey's voice is almost as deep as mine I think, which really throws me for a loop, Elizabeth is growing up, something that is strictly forbidden, and so is Robby! Madness!! But it was soo good and reinvigorating to be able to hear to them. Also, in lieu of the photo which I recently received in the most recent email, ZZ Top wrote "Sharp Dressed Man" while in the spirit of revelation, having seen Jeffrey and Robby in their suits and ties (bow-tie=class).

This is the photo to which he referred.

So I had planned on writing something really spiritual about the Atonement, but then my Madre wrote to me and got me all to thinking (not to mention she stole my topic, so surely I can't write about that now, can I?). I really liked something that she said about fighting emotions. This is something that I've been doing my absolute best to do throughout my mission, but turns out that I'm the "crocodile's prey". She explained...well, Imma just copy down what she said, for she said it so well!


"The more you fight the feelings (which are natural and normal), the bigger they will be and the more likely you will be to get distracted from your purpose and your mission.  That is what Satan wants... he wants you to fight and fight and fight until you feel that you have to give up.  Then he wins. I call that the "crocodile death roll."  :)  A crocodile will grab its prey by the neck and try to drag it under the water.  When the prey begins to fight, the crocodile starts rolling over and over and over in the water in the attempt to drown its victim.  It continues to roll until the prey dies.  The only thing that will save the victim is for it to stop fighting and float to the top.  The crocodile isn't interested in prey that isn't fighting (usually) and they will just leave it alone.  The only way to stop the struggle is to allow the Savior to take it from you.  Just let go of the fight and float to the top where He will rescue you."

So, Imma own up to it. I miss a lot of people right now, and I'm a tad frustrated with the way the work is going right now. I miss Michelle a ton, I miss all of my family members like I'm getting paid to do so, and I'm really, really tired of hearing the phrase, "I'm busy right now" (the most uttered phrase while contacting and the #1 reason that we don't get in the door). BUT. This is a new week, is it not? Do I not have the wonderful opportunity to commit myself to the Lord again and to gain even more strength from Him this week? He knows that I need the strength, and as long as I'm trying to keep my covenants He will bless me with that strength. And it's all thanks to the wonderful Atonement which the Lord Jesus Christ carried out. If it weren't for His sacrifice, He would not have obtained the knowledge necessary to provide God's children with the strength to overcome the world. But He, the Saviour Jesus Christ, has conquered the world, and we can trust that He will give us strength to overcome the world as well.

As is stated in the third Article of Faith, "We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel." That last part is importantísimo. If one is not obedient, the Lord has no promise with us to help us, and His Atonement only works for those people who accept Him as their Saviour through obedience to His Gospel. How grateful am I that I can receive strength in the most challenging of my times because I am trying my hardest to be obedient! And we all have the same promise, if we are obedient.

Hey, something super spiritual! Yay!

Well, I think that's all I have for today. We didn't play futbol today because Elder Vega and I decided to clean the house and then be lazy (yay for rest!), but all is well! I shall get my working-out in during the week. Okay, well, I shall be off now. I love all of you very much, and I'm grateful for all that you do for me. If it can be spared, more pouch would be wonderful. I love you!

Love,
Elder Schomburg

The Refiner's fire

Hello all y'all!

I'm doing okay right now. A bit...down, or algo similar, because we currently have no investigators. Well, we have one investigator, but her baptismal date fell through because she wasn't able to attend church yesterday. But apart from her we have no one. So the logical thing would be to look for those people, ¿no cierto? Well, we've been contacting for a few days now, and we haven't had one lesson. No one wants to open the door, no one wants to listen. It's a tad depressing, but I shall keep swimming, for I know that there's someone out there who needs this message, so we just have to endure. It's tough, but the mission can't always be smiles and sunshine. I've gotta be refined here too, and that only happens with a lot of fire. So here we go, another week and another chance to learn.

Ah yes, the all-important Mother's Day phone call! So, I shall be calling this Sunday at...roughly...4 PM my time. I believe that'll be about 2 PM your time, and you should be out of church by then. If that time doesn't work, you should write me back and I'll be checking my email to see at what time will be best. I should be free at about 2:30 PM my time, so anytime after that will work well. But didn't I just talk to you guys the other day? It seems to me that these 6ish months have absolutely flown by. Snaps.

This Saturday we had a Talent Show in the stake, and us missionaries did a skit about when Nephi and his brothers go to Jerusalem to get the brass plates. However, this version had a little twist on it. In Spanish, "plates" is "planchas"; "planchas" also means "irons", as in the irons used to iron clothing...I think that was overly obvious, but oh well. The whole time we tried to make things funny, but the audience never knew that we were going to get the planchas-irons; they thought we were getting planchas-plates. So at the end we revealed that Sariah needed the planchas-irons to iron the clothes, and the audience got a kick out of it. It was really fun, and in the second picture is what we looked like.

And the other picture is a salad, as one can see, and it means that I'm trying to eat healthy now, and healthy is tasty.

Changes aren't for another 2 weeks, which basically means that they're tomorrow with the way time goes by.

So...I don't really have a lot more to say this week. Prayers would be very welcome, and any letters that anyone feels inclined to send will also be welcomed. I love you all very much, and I miss you too. I hope all are doing well and that you are feeling the presence of the Lord more in your life. Have a wonderful week!

Love,
Elder Schomburg