Hello from the equator!!

So this week was a fairly good week. We got a lot of things done and had a lot of good experiences. As you all know (or maybe have forgotten, but this shall remind you!), the mission was paid a visit by none other than Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. It was a very good training session that he gave us. Part of it I had already heard before, but a lot of it was new as well. Something that he helped me see is the importance of missionaries. We have the sacred duty to help in the gathering of Israel, to bring the tribes of Israel back to the fold. The Saviour will not come again until missionary work is done and until everyone has had the chance to hear the restored gospel, and I am part of that force bringing the gospel to the world. It's incredible to me, as it is to Elder Holland as well, that the duty of taking this gospel to the four corners of the earth is put into the hands of 19-25 year-olds. Unless they were guided by Jesus Christ Himself, through His chosen leaders, how on earth could 19-25 year-olds accomplish such a great feat? They couldn't. That was something that I really felt was very important, and again it proves that this is the work of the Lord and that He guides us as representatives of Him and His Church. All in all the meeting was wonderful. Oh, and I got to shake Elder Holland's hand, so that was fairly nifty too. :D

And there were even more happenings this week! The Piñan family was married on Friday (there are photos, but the computer doesn't have a SD card reader), and then on Saturday after Elder Holland's visit they were baptized! It was very good and we were very happy to see them get married and then get baptized. Wooo!

Sunday was a special stake conference with Elder Richard J. Maynes, from the Presidency of the Seventy, and I'm sure it was a very good conference. Why do I say that like I didn't see it? Because I didn't see it. During the conference a lot more members than were expected came, and all of the rooms were filled. We missionaries were happily seated, watching conference (because we got there on time and such), and as time went on more and more people came. Eventually so many people were there that they decided to remove the missionaries in order to let the people who came late have somewhere to sit. It's something that I didn't quite understand, and still don't quite understand, but así es la vida. Everyone says it was a fantastic conference, so I'll just have to believe them.

In response to my challenge to everyone last week to share the gospel a bit more: I understand that some of you faced some opposition in this quest. I can certainly empathize (or is it sympathize?) with you. BUT I have something more to share with you:

"And blessed are all they who are persecuted for my name’s sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

And blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake;

For ye shall have great joy and be exceedingly glad, for great shall be your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets who were before you."

-Book of Mormon 3 Nephi 12:10-12 and the Holy Bible Saint Matthew 5:10-12

When you share the gospel of Jesus Christ and are looked down upon, spit upon, smitten, cast out, and trodden down, remember that you are sharing in the experience of One a lot greater than you. You are following in the footsteps of Christ. This is the true Church, and I will not be stopped from saying so. What Heavenly Father, the Eternal God, has revealed to me through His Holy Spirit is stronger than any word any man can say to me. I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true Church upon the earth, and I know that anyone who asks "with a sincere heart, with true intent, having faith in Jesus Christ" will come to the same conclusion. So call me what you may, throw at me any insult that you can think of, resort to physical violence if you want, but I will not deny what I know, and I hope that those who are also Latter-day Saints will not either. Stand strong, because the winds of opposition are strong as well. Keep the faith and always trust that Christ is your Saviour, the only One through whom comes salvation.

Also, I wanted to thank all of the people in the world, and especially the women, who dress modestly. Thank you for respecting your bodies and for respecting other people as well. By dressing modestly you are showing that you know that real beauty comes from within and that you respect yourselves as daughters and sons of a Heavenly Father. Thank you for those who choose to dress modestly in all occasions.

Well, I'm out of time for today. I love you all and hope that you will all do your absolute best to follow the example of Jesus Christ in every moment. I'm often reminded of a bumper sticker and saying that I saw a lot in the States: "What would Jesus do?" Think of what He would do in your situation, and do that. I love you! Have a fabulous week!

Love,
Elder Schomburg

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

Cambios ... nope!

Hi guys!!

So, here's the news about "cambios"!..........I'm still here in Atahualpa! And with whom am I? ......Elder......Valdiviezo! Nope, no changes for us here, which makes me happy. This will only be the second time that I've had a companion more than one change, and I hope that we can make it work just fine. As usual, with a new change I've also tried to make the commitment to work out every day, but I'm currently slacking on that commitment. Any tips on how I can motivate myself to work out every day? I really want to make it a habit for life, and I know that here in my mission is where I'll set the example for who I'll be after, so I gotta get into shape (aha, get it?).

This week went by pretty quickly until the last couple days. I'm getting really tired and a bit worn out. I feel like the mission is killing my body and I've aged a good 10 years here. That could be because I'm not taking care of my body like I should be, but maybe I really am just working really hard. I'll try to work out and see if that helps.

Next week we have one baptism planned and one anticipated, so hopefully Viviana (from the Granda family) and Cristian "Mormoncito" can be baptized without any problems. The following week we have a family that will be getting baptized, the Piñan family. They have to get married this week, but they planned it out for this Friday, so that's really amazing. I can't wait to see them married and getting ready to make that everlasting covenant with Heavenly Father.

Oh, interesting things that I saw today: 1) A 50ish-year-old man in a leather U.S. Army jacket with headphones practicing kung-fu on the train tracks by the bus station and 2) the blind leading the blind; literally one blind person using two canes leading another blind person who had his hands on the first person's shoulders. It was quite the sight. Moreover, they were making their way along very well. Both were very interesting sights.

I do not believe that Elizabeth is now going to be a junior and you cannot make me believe it unless I have physical proof saying, "Elizabeth Schomburg is a junior."

Yay for removing wisdom teeth without the need of an oral surgeon! That's actually quite surprising that Jeffrey didn't need to go to an oral surgeon, but huzzah!!

Huzzah for learning to ride bicycles! Go Robby! And yes Robby, we will definitely go on bike rides when I get back. To tell the truth, I've really been wanting to ride a bike lately...and also sprint, and do the triple jump...and go back to the track team...and such....

Well, I don't think that I have much else to say. OH. I got a package from my lovely and wonderful madre today! It was a wonderful package, and I was really excited about the music and the Captain America stickers. I was going to put the music on my flash drive today, but I forgot my flash drive in the house. Oh, speaking of memories, I need to buy another memory card to put in my camera because a part of the memory card got chipped and my camera won't read it now. Computers read it, but my camera won't, so here I go to buy another SD card! Wooooo....

I love you all and hope that you are all feeling Heavenly Father's love more. Keep doing your all to follow Him and you'll see the blessings in your lives. I love you!!

Love,
Elder Schomburg

Baptisms, baptisms, baptisms!

Hello my dear peoples!

This week was pretty darn good. There was the zone leader's conference, which is always edifying and fun, we had interviews with President Ghent, and then we had baptisms Friday and Saturday. How many baptisms did we have? Eight. I'm pretty sure we set some kind of record because no one in the ward has ever seen that many baptisms at once and the assistants told us that they can't remember seeing that many baptisms at once either. But I know that it's not because of our own strength, because there is no way that we could have done that without a lot of help. I know that because we are trying to be obedient and do Heavenly Father's will that He is blessing us. In fact, yesterday there were several people that came to the Sacrament Meeting and basically said that they wanted to be baptized, and they're people we've never seen before. We truly are seeing the hand of God at work here in Mariscal de Ayacucho.

[Because I can no longer post photos of new members, I just cropped the photos to show Elder Schomburg and his companions.]

 


And what is more, 3 of the men of the age to receive the priesthood who we baptized received the Aaronic Priesthood yesterday! It was pretty exciting, and they are all excited to be priesthood bearers now. It's just been a really good time here in the mission.

I have yet to get the package that you sent me Madre. It's possible that right before I leave I'll get it haha.

Oh hey, there's a bit of very exciting news in the mission! The 25th of August of 2012, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve will be visiting the mission. We get to receive guidance and counsel from one of the Twelve! Also, there will be a choir of missionaries, and it's very probable that I'll get to be in it! Wooooo!! I'm extremely excited and working overtime to be prepared for the conference. I know that if I'm properly prepared I'll be able to receive revelation to help guide me in my life and my mission. I'm really really really excited to see Elder Holland.

So, as my Madre tells me and as I have seen in passing in restaurants, the Olympics are in full swing, and it's kinda killing me. I love the summer Olympics, and it probably has a lot to do with my track background. Also, it's just amazing to see all of the things that the human body can do. Heavenly Father gave us marvelous abilities, and those athletes have fine-tuned those abilities to their maximum potential. It's incredible.

2009 Colorado State Boys 4A Triple Jump Champion

Well, I think that's about all that I have to say for today. Next week are changes, so we'll be seeing what happens. I love you all and hope that all is well with all!! Have a wonderful week!!

Love,

Elder Schomburg

Arise and Shine Forth

Hey howdies hey!

Today finds me relatively well. This weekend was good; we had two baptisms! Woo!! And this weekend we have 3 planned with 5 more anticipated (what's the difference? A planned baptism is when someone has already had their baptismal interview and all is good to go. Anticipated is someone with the date but not the interview. And now you know.). The Tigre and Granda families will be getting baptized, as well as the Huerta family. The Huerta family was a less-active family that we're helping reactivate, and none of the children are baptized, but they're going to be baptized this weekend. We're pretty excited.

We were able to talk with the zone about obedience and working hard and everything. We put on a whiteboard all of the numbers of the zone, which weren't too bad when our numbers were up too. But when we erased our numbers, the zone could see that something was wrong. We then shared some scriptures in Helaman 4 and Mormon 2 that talked about what happens when a group of people are collectively disobedient. The assistants (President's assistants) were there too, and today Elder Lamprecht said that they had been preparing a "machete" to help refocus everyone, but when they saw what we shared, they felt it was stronger and more effective than what they were going to share. After we told them how things were, we shared with them a theme that our zone has adopted, and some of you will recognize it: "Arise and Shine Forth" (D&C 115:5, and it's also the 2012 Mutual theme). We told them that now is the time to "arise and shine forth", and that now is the time to show to all that we truly are representatives of Jesus Christ. And this week was better. The missionaries had a couple of baptisms, found some more people, and are being a bit more obedient. We're still not perfect, but the zone is trying now. It feels good to really help missionaries reach their potential.

You may wonder, "Why is Elder Schomburg playing a flute in that picture?" And the answer is: because the second counselor gave me that kena. Also, I don't play it because it's horribly difficult to play. I imagine it's like playing the flute because you don't just blow, you gotta get your ombechure [embouchure] all right and stuff (I've never tried to spell that word before, so if someone could help me out that'd be great). I can get three distinct notes out of it on a good day. It's crazy hard to play.

Today I've just spent writing informes (reports? Also, that's one of the few words that the computer says isn't misspelled...because the computer speaks Spanish, not English). That's about the only less-than-fun thing about being a zone leader.

Well...what more can I say? Oh hey, Elder Pande and Elder Papworth are both zone leaders now too! Elder Papworth was promoted the last change and Elder Pande today. Woo!! Elder Miranda is...struggling a bit in the obedience sector I believe, but two out of three isn't bad!

Some days I just really want my mission to be over with. I miss a lot of you a lot, and some more than others, and when nobody wants to listen and no one does what you say, it seems preferable to just dwell on the "what ifs...". Thoughts like "Is Michelle still there for me?", "Am I being sufficiently obedient?", and such frequently enter my mind. But then we teach someone. We talk to someone and make them smile, or I feel a prompting and act on it, and the day changes. The mission is definitely the craziest roller coaster that I've been on yet, but I definitely wouldn't change it for the world. It's wonderful.

I love you all and hope that all is going well with all. Keep on trying to grow closer to the Lord every day. If you haven't yet read the Book of Mormon with "real intent", I would invite you to do so, for "a man would grow closer to God by following its precepts than by any other book." I love you!

Love,

Elder Schomburg

Double-duty Backpack

Hi everyone!

Today I am doing fairly well. We had a lot of investigators in Sacrament Meeting yesterday (12!!) and we have a lot of people with baptismal dates (13!!). We're really excited about that, especially because basically all of the families that we've been teaching came yesterday, including our beloved Tigre family and also a family of 6 (even though only 5 came and have baptismal dates), the Granda family. We're so darn excited, and President and the assistants are excited for us too. But, unfortunately, there is a dark side to this story. 

In our zone there are currently 16 people with baptismal dates. Now, if you remember how many I said are ours, you'll see a slight problem. If we weren't in the zone, there would only be 3 people with baptismal dates. How many families were found in the zone this week? 3. How many did we (Elder Valdiviezo and I) find? 3. It's very worrisome. We think that there's some disobedience in one of the sectors, and we know that the sisters are not doing so well right now. The training sister does not have any confidence at all and the sister-in-training is a rather timid sister, so that doesn't make for a good combination. We're going to try to see what we can do to get them excited about the work and to help the whole zone be more obedient and find those people that are prepared. It's going to be a bit tough, especially because when we do divisions with the Elders they act like they work hard with us, and then we leave and they don't seem to do anything. We call it being "lámpara" (lámpara=lamp; when the Elders are around a leader, they "turn on", and when the leaders leave they "turn off".), and we're going to have to find a way to change all that. It will involve a lot of prayer, I can guarantee you of that. 

Changing topics: The picture [there was no photo attached - oops] is what resulted of me trying to play with some of the kids at Church. One night, while waiting for some investigators to come, there were a bunch of little kids outside playing with some leaves (the leaves look like aloe vera leaves, except not as thick, and they come from trees). They were using the leaves as swords, and they started to attack me, so I decided to play with them a bit. As I was dashing about, I jumped and landed in a squatting position and heard a horrible tearing sound. Yep, those were my pants that ripped, the whole seat. I went about the rest of the night with my backpack handily cinched about my waist. Also, when I told the kids that I couldn't play anymore, instead of just running off to play-fight among themselves, they mercilessly whipped me and my companion with the leaves. I just thought to myself of the scripture in the Bible when the Lord says: "Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do." 

So, I only have 6 months left. Wow. That's only 4 transfers more. That's crazy. 

Well, I don't have a lot more to share for today. Next week we'll have two baptisms, which we're really excited for. I hope everyone is doing well and are doing their best to follow Christ. Oh, to answer a question that my mom posed to me; yes, I do eat popcorn, though I usually only eat it when it's served with the soups. Yep, Ecuadorians toss their popcorn into their soups, such as ceviche, encebollado, or any of the creams (cream of asparagus, tomato, etc.). I do have a way to make it...right there in a pot on the stove. None of that fancy microwave stuff for me! Okay, now I do have to go. I love you all, and I thank you all for your support. I sent a couple of letters out today, so maybe you'll be getting them sometime. I say maybe because I got a letter from my sister today that was dated in October. Okay, I love you! 

Love,

Elder Schomburg

Happy, Healthy, Strong!

Hello to all!!

This day finds me happy, healthy, strong, and in good spirits. All is well! Yesterday we had two more baptisms. Ana and Juliana, sisters of Samantha, who was baptized the last week, were baptized, and they were all very very happy. It's been quite an incredible thing to see all of the daughters of that family be baptized. The slightly silly thing is that we learned that they don't actually pertain to our ward, but to the neighbouring ward. We always teach them in the chapel, so we didn't know where they lived until the day before they were baptized. But all is well and things will be sorted out.

We were also able to find a new family, the Tigre family. And, in case you didn't guess by the name, "tigre" is "tiger", and the husband's name is Diego, just like the saber tooth tiger in Ice Age. His name would only be more awesome if it were Tony. Anyway, this family is wonderful. The wife told us that she had recently prayed to receive more guidance in her life, and then we showed up. In the first lesson, she told us that we had basically wiped her slate blank and she was starting all over again, but in a very good way. I know that the only reason that we were able to teach clearly to the family and help them see the truthfulness of our doctrine is because the Holy Ghost was able to touch their hearts. We absolutely love this family, and hopefully they'll be able to baptized the 4th of August.

Today we went to lunch at a way good Mexican food restaurant. That's what that photo of all of the missionaries is about. It was darn tasty food, too.

I don't think I have too terribly much more to say today. I hope that everyone is doing well and that all are strong and happy. There's a talk that I think would be good for everyone to go over again that President Uchtdorf gave this past General Conference. Here's the link: The Merciful Obtain Mercy Everyone should read this one again because it's wonderful. Have a wonderful week, and I love you all!

Love,
Elder Schomburg