The Resurrection

Well fam theres not a whole lot to say, changes are crazy but its almost over. just meetings and running errands from here on out. Stay golden and I´ll see you on Thursday. Peace, Love, Blessings. 

Elder Schriever

In December Drinking Horchata

   Well family it is now December, not that i´m trying to be super baggy or anything but that means that i´m coming home. Honestly there´s not much more to say. Everything is pretty normal, just working hard and trying to get everything done. Everything new that has happened I am planning on sharing with you guys in person. Including pictures, stories ect... I just had a couple requests, if its not too much trouble. I haven´t had good chinese food for forever, and if you could bring some to the airport that would be great! I want to have as much time with you guys as possible so make sure to set aside some time for me, just to chill and talk. 

    I look forward to seeing you all very soon! In the meantime check out this cool video: http://www.mormon.org/christmas?cid=HPFR112814529 Have a great week and I´ll see you soon! 

Elder Schriever

The Walking Dead (and Thanksgiving)

BELIZE!!!! was awesome, I´m not going to give too many details or send pictures so that we have stuff to talk about when I get home. It's my version of Dad´s "Radio Silence" I think that If i save some stuff to tell you guys the first few days we will have more to talk about! These past few days have been a whirlwind. We had a baptism on Sunday of the mother in law of one of the counselors of the bishopric, she is about 70 years old and has knee problems, and is afraid of water. It was probably one of the most difficult baptisms I have done as far as the ordinance goes. She stiffened up when she had to go back. I didn´t  throw her in the water but had to force her a little bit. But in the end she was happy. 

    I went to work in some of the zones this week and went to a few areas that I had never been to called San Juan Opico and Joyas de Cerén. It was really good, they are all teaching lots of families and its great to see. There is nothing better than teaching a young couple and realizing that if they decide to follow Christ that it will have an eternal impact on all of their children, and grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Its so great to see. 

   As far as mission work goes we had a successful week. We have been able to find several new investigators through recent converts and members. It was good to have more people in our teaching pool sometimes I feel like we just walk in the same circles over and over again. We need to break out and do something new. 

   This week has been hard to keep the bagginess away. Between all of you in your emails and the missionaries that call me every day and let me know the day and hour countdown, and realizing that there´s not much time left. I have resorted to finding out their countdown as well and everytime they remind me I remind them. For example this morning Elder K called me and said "Hey Schriever we have an emergency!" "What what happened" "You only have 15 days left, thats 360 hours" " Let me think just add that to the 98 other days that you have left.. thats only 113 days!!!" "Okay hey I gotta go" Its probably not the best way but I can't just roll over and take it. It's gonna hard facing my last full week but we´ll get through it. 

    I wanted to take some time talk about Thanksgiving. A grateful person is always satisfied. and when we focus on being grateful for what we have we are so much happier. I am so grateful for the time to be a missionary. and for the blessing of having the true gospel in my life. I have seen what a difference it has made. I am also grateful for the opportunites Heavenly Father has given me, to get an education, to have a good job, to have a great family. There are not many people in the world more blessed than me. I want to thank you all for taking the time to write me and letting me know how everything is going. I hope you all have a great thanksgiving and a wonderful weekend! 

Love you all!
Elder Schriever

17th of November

Wow what a great week!

    I am just super excited right now. We had a fantastic week. Monday started off pretty good, nothing too out of the ordinary. We just hung out, and had a few family home evenings. Tuesday was back to work. I went to go visit this zone called Puerto la Libertad, which is right on the coast. It was pretty good, we found a couple of new investigators, taught some of their positive investigators, and did a few baptismal interviews. It was soooo hot. I was about ready to tear the tie off, but luckily I didn´t. That part of the coast has a beach called "El Tunco" which I hear is ranked number #3 of best surfing beaches in the world. It's on my bucket list to visit someday. 

    On Wednesday and Thursday I was in Antiguo Cuscatlan working in our own area. It is always an adventure seeing what's going to happen. Most of the people we are teaching are pretty flaky so lots of appointments fall down. Sometimes we spent too much time running around and not enough time teaching lessons. But we´re working on that. What the Bishop has asked us to do is focus on working and getting a better relationship with the members. So instead of knocking doors we should visit the members and help them out. It has been great so far, we are working with the family members of the elder´s quorum president. It is so much more enjoyable working with members than alone. It's great. 

    Friday I went back to Izalco to work. I got to go to this place called San Julian, which is from my first district. It´s super rural with lots of farms, and sugar cane fields. It was way good. There was a relatively new missionary that I got to work with named Elder M who is super tall. I come up to his shoulder. He is a volleyball player and will probably play for BYU after the mission. Super cool guy, he´s just starting but he´s doing good. It was a flashback to back in the day when I was first starting. Weird. 

   The highlight of the week was Saturday with the sealing of J and L. R and P were there as well. As well as their mom who was sealed to her deceased husband and two of her children. It was a fantastic day. It was the best to be able to see the whole progression from talking to Jacob for the first time, to seeing him get married and baptized, to sealed this past week. There were many other missionaries who worked hard during this past year to make sure that happened, who weren't there to see it. It's humbling to realize that there is no one person that deserves the credit for the good that is done. It is an effort and achievment of many. 

    I am nervous about the cold it sounds like things are pretty chily up there, I am not to sure how well I am going to deal with that. I am too used to the heat. Thank you all for writing me and for taking the time to share what's going on. It really helps me feel connected and not totally cut off from the world. This week is going to fly by and then I will be talking to you soon. Next Monday I will be in Belize, so I might not quite get to write for the whole time. Have a great week!

Elder Schriever

November 10th

Well family this week flew by and I hardly know where it went! 

    We had a pretty good week. I feel like I learned some new and important things. one of them being that Papa John´s all you can eat doesn´t sound that good after ten slices. One of the other things was about the importance of daily morning Book of Mormon study.  Sometimes we leave the house at around 8 in the morning, and we don´t get back until late at night. I realized that I am starting to loose the habit of reading my scriptures in the morning, and was reading them at night. It's not bad exactly but its not the best. I decided that I need to make a habit of reading the Book of Mormon during the first hour that I am awake. It really has made a difference. I just feel like my whole day goes so much better. I also feel like I have some more material when I have to pull a lesson out of nowhere. It's a habit I want to have my whole life. 

    We had a leadership meeting this week with all of the zone leaders, President talked about a pretty cool topic. He talked about how the difference between stumbling blocks and stepping stones is how we use them. I always have seen the "Problems" of investigators as a huge issue and something that takes away from their spiritual experience. But it was interesting to realize that it depends on how the people take those "problems" that will turn them into opportunities. for example, I went to this area called Monserrat with some elders to teach a family. They are good people, just plain and simple, awesome family. But the dad does not want to get married, at all. He said "I feel that I have made a commitment with my wife in my heart, and that's what's important" he doesn`t feel the need to be married quite yet. We started to explain the law of chastity to him but it was pretty clear that we were going to get nowhere trying to convince him that marriage is for him. So in the end we just left the pamphlet, and committed him to pray and ask God what he should do. When I left I realized that this is the way it has to be. If he can receive an answer and overcome his doubts it will be a strong part of his conversion, and will be a source of spiritual strength for the future. So when I am walking through my area wondering who on earth I am going to teach, it helps to remember that "stumbling blocks can become stepping stones" We were able to find a bunch of new people this week to teach and we are having more support from the members. It's been great. This coming weekend J and L are going to get sealed in the temple. Its going to be a great week! I`ll be sure to take lots of puctures to send to you all. 

     Right now the mission just seems super dead, everyone seems to be tired and lifeless. So me and my companions are basically the cheerleaders right now, just trying to get everyone excited about missionary work and going out to get stuff done. This week we are going to be all over the place. Its gonna be great. I was looking at our schedule for the next few weeks and its going to be crazy. We have this week where we have a full week to work, then the next week will be basically all meetings. The next week we will be in Belize and then its the last full week before changes. So basically I have two full weeks to work in my area. We gotta leave it all on the field. We have found some really exciting new investigators and I really want to teach them. Today is going to be a chill day, I just want to relax for a few hours. Sounds like everyone is doing good, getting greared up for the holiday season. I love you all and hope this week is the best! 

Elder Schriever

P.S. The picture is the V family who I helped get sealed, they came to the mission temple activity!

Changes without much change

Hey family how´s it going?!

    This week was crazy, we had so much stuff going on! First things first. Changes. Nothing crazy big happened Elder R and Elder R went home. I was pretty sad to see them go. They are both great guys and were great companions. I am gonna miss them alot. They both seemed very happy and relieved to be going home. Maybe content is the better word. After two years of hard work and finishing with honor it is a big deal. This time it hit me hard, knowing that when the next changes come around, it will be me who is giving my testimony and packing my bags, what a scary thought. It just doesn´t quite seem real. I have six weeks to get as much good done as I can. I want to baptize another family before I go. That is the goal. My new companios are super cool, one is Elder G, from Mexico City, He speaks english and comes from a pretty well off family so he is almost like a gringo. He is a really cool guy and a great missionary we are going to do great! The other is Elder R from Utah, he is a cool guy too. he is pretty young and still has around six months to go, it has got to be hard being with a bunch of dying missionaries. Poor kid. 

    I have been driving lots this past week since I am the only one that has a liscence for the meantime. I have gotten lots better at weaving through traffic and getting places fast. Its pretty fun. There are basically no speed limits here. Its great. I have only killed one dog so far so I´m doing okay. 

    This week we also had the mission temple tour, I was in charge of leading the meeting which was crazy because I had to coordinate the groups and make sure that the timing was right. At one point there were like 400 people there and some groups were going too fast, others were behind. It was pretty stressful but it turned out well, we had everything color coordinated to determine the groups but some people still didn`t understand. But it made for a super stressful week. This week is going to be more relaxed we have several multizone meetings, and then the whole mission is going through a temple session. Its going to be a good, low stress week. Just teaching the gospel and talking to people, I can do that. This week one of our big focuses is going to be taking all of our recent converts to the temple to do baptisms. I think it will help them all feel the spirit and get a better apreciation for the temple. It's something that so many people don`t understand. This week Sister J came back to church for the first time in over twenty years it was great to see. She has some stuff to work out but she will get through it. 

    Well that is about all thats going on working hard and having fun. hope you all have a great week and I`ll talk to you soon. 

Changes

  Well Family I finally got a moment to write you guys. It just so happens to be at 1:30 in the morning because right now my companions are working on the changes presentation. I was doing it for about 45 minutes but i was starting to go crazy. And took a break. Sometimes on changes week I just feel like a bird in a cage. Because it just seems like endless meetings, and long lists of errands to run. I live to walk on the streets and talk to people, and to teach. Thats when I am happiest. This week will be pretty much office work, hopefully next week we will get back to the pavement. 

    This past week was pretty ordinary, not much to report. I did get some good news from Izalco. Do you guys remember the J and L? The family that I baptized with Elder S last October? well if you don´t they are super amazing people. Since then they have stayed super active in church and have worked hard to help others. J is the Elder´s quorum president, and is working hard to reactivate many less active men in the ward. L is the Relief Society President, and spends her time between her part time job, new born baby, and her calling. I was told this past week that They are going to get sealed on November 15th. two saturdays from now. I am so so so excited for them. And even more excited because I will get ot be there! We already have the Belize trip planned out and we are going the week after. That was my biggest concern. 

   As far as changes go I get a little bit of a sneak peak. The biggest news for this change is that there are now going to be a total of six AP´s, which seems rediculous, but actaully makes sense. Two of them are going to be in Belize, and will work with the different zones there to try and help them out some more. Its good because the whole country of Belize doesn´t get much follow up or support. They are basically on their own. And guess who the two new AP´s in Belize are...... well you don´t know one of them but the other is ELDER S!!!! I just about shouted for joy when I heard that. He is going to do great. He is obedient and a hard worker, just what they need. What that does mean is that normally now we won´t be flying to Belize for multizones, but we will be going for one last time for thanksgiving. Super happy about that. 

    Right now seems surreal. Elder R and Elder R are both going home. which means that I will now be the oldest missionary in the mission. I wan to make the most of my last change. talk to more people, teach more lessons, and learn much more! I am going to live it to the max! sounds like you guys are as well. Have a good week and I look forward to hearing from all of you soon! love you guys! 

Elder Schriever

Changes

Well this week is changes week so I don`t have enough time to write, we have lots of stuff to do. I just wanted to let you know that I am alive and will hopefully write you guys another day. Love you all! 

Elder Schriever

October 20th

Well family all is good in the neighborhood, 

     We just finished up a pretty crazy week! we had several baptisms of K, M, and J were all baptized. It was a little stressful making sure everything was okay, we had the plug stop break on us, a baptismal clothes mix up fiasco, Elder R had to baptize M four times. But at the end everyone was happy, and baptized. We had a really amazing story happen with M. Her husband died a little over a year ago from complications from diabetes, and so she has had a hard time. She didn`t have any food for her four children. So after we did the baptismal interview she prayed and asked "If this is the true church, and Joseph Smith was a true prophet, please let me know by giving my children something to eat." About fifteen minutes later someone stopped by her house and gave her a pizza. Now I don`t know the whole story, but I do know that where she lives is not the place where people would be walking around handing out pizzas. God loves his children and he helps them according to their needs and their faith. She is a remarkable woman. 

     Another cool experience from this week was with a guy we met named R. An former branch president works with R and has been sharing the gospel with him for over the past two years. He was big into his church before, and was a leader of a group of over 80,000 people. But due to some family issues he has been a little distanced from his church. Seven years ago his mother passed away. When he found out that it was possible for him to be sealed to his mother, It`s what has opened the door for him to learn more. He told us in the first five minutes that we met him. I know your church is the true church of God, and I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. He is going to get baptized on November 2nd. I know that the Spirit of Elijah is present not only in family history work but also in missionary work. 

    We are right now planning the tour of the temple. Its gonna be crazy, there is lots to do, but it should be fun. I will probably be the one who directs the meeting and starts the presentation. Last time there were over a thousand people that came over the course of the day. I just hope everything turns out well. This week is the last full week of changes. Which means that we need to clean the house, and get things ready for when the new missionaries come, and for when we move people from and to Belize. It is going to be a busy week as usual. Well thats it for now I hope you all have a good week and i`ll talk to you soon! 

Elder Schriever

October 13

Another great week come and gone! 

    This week was pretty crazy, we had lots of stuff to do and not much time to do it. But thats nothing new. We were really busy for the last few days preparing the wedding for the M and A. Which was one of the highlights of the week. Along with other things that I will tell you guys later in the email. 

    I was super glad to hear that you are all doing well, sounds like everyone is busy making lots of trips to Provo and Arizona. Staying busy with school and having fun. Our house is getting pretty baggy. Elder R and Elder R go home at the end of the change which is in a little over two weeks, They are both starting to feel it. Elder C and I finish the change after. So we are all basically in the same baggy boat. It doesn´t help that we are playing Christmas music already, I say if Walmart has Christmas decorations up we are allowed to listen to it. 

    It was a great week for the misson work here in our area. We had the marriage and baptism of M and A on Saturday and Sunday. At the end it was awesome but it was stressful planning everything. We had the time change about three times, changed lawyers once, and almost ripped out my hair for most of Friday. But we got everything ready and we had the support of some great members who helped us decorate, be witnesses, and just came to support. After being so stressed it was hard to relax and enjoy the baptism, but as M was standing in the baptismal font, while his wife watching from the stairs. It just hit me, an overwhelming sense of happiness and joy, knowing that they had made the right decesion and that heavenly father is happy which them right now. It´s what missionaries live for, and it was a great day, even if it started out stressful. 

    On Saturday morning we had a visit with K who we have been working with for a little over a month now. She knew that the church was true, and that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that she wanted and needed to be baptized. But for some reason she wouldn´t accept a date for her baptism. We were wondering what to do. But this saturday she told us "Elders I made my decision, can I get baptized on a Saturday?" We were super happy and said yes. She asked "is it okay if its this next saturday?" and we almost lost it. So she is going to get baptized on the 18th. on the 19th we are going to baptize a woman and her daughter that just came on their own to conference. They have a ton of faith and are loving church.  So basically we are super excited right now about how things are going. We just need to find some new investigators so that we can have investigators in November. Right now we don´t have anyone else. 

     I got to do some interchanges this week and I got to be with some great missionaries. I learned from one of them about the importance of being specific in prayers we got down on our knees to pray at the end of the day, and he asked for blessings in about every way possible for what we had done that day, for the reading assignments we had left, and for all of the people we have talked to. This missionary is super obedient and you can tell he has a great releationship with Heavenly Father. I am going to try working on that this week having more meaningful prayers, and trying to involve Him in every aspect of my day. I think that will make everything a lot easier. That elder inspired me. Well everyone I hope that you all have a great week, thats it for now! love you all!

Elder Schriever

October 6th!

   Well family today has been a very baggy day, this morning the travel secretary gave me a nice phone call asking which airport I want to return to. I think that he will be buying my plane ticket in the next few days... I couldn`t believe it. I don`t even feel like its that close, but he and the calender tell me otherwise. Changes week was insane. We had to worry about four groups, we had the news coming in, the old guys going out, the elders coming from belize to el Salvador, and those going from El Slavador to Belize. From Monday to Thursday we had between 15 to 25 Elders in our house at one time. They all had things that they wanted, their last pupusas, more toilet paper, water. We had spent all saturday night cleaning the house, we were up until around 2 in the morning scrubbing, mopping, and sweeping everything up. and now they left it worse than when we started. I think I unclogged about four different toilets. It was rediculous. next time we are going to ration out the TP and only hand them 10 squares when they get to the house. But the new missionaries were really cool, they were all excited to be in the mission and were really happy. 

     We also found a Smashburger about three blocks from our house. Its the only one in El Salvador and it is AMAZING. I had forgotten how much I love sweet potatoe fries. best hamburger I have had in two years. when they first brought out the burgers my companions were dissapointed because it looked small but once they took a bite they were convinced. It tasted so real. I was was worried because I had told them all that it was really good, and that it was worth the price. I am glad Smashburger didn`t let me down.

     General Conference was awesome! It was so different than most of the ones I have seen. They focused more on having a direction in life, and working hard to meet goals. Thats what I got out of it anyways. i realized that I need to set higher goals and work harder to meet them. I want to learn a third language, get good at guitar, minor in spanish ect... basically I am going to set higher goals and try to make more of my life. They also mentioned lots about following the prophet, and supporting our church leaders. It was interesting. I liked the new addition of having the general authorities speak in their native language. mostly because there are lots of them who speak spanish! I really liked Elder Cook`s talk from the Priesthood session about how our daily life should reflect our life goals. I definatly need to make some changes. but thats what it is all about.

     The Romero family (Moses and Angela) are going to get married on October 11th, and baptized on the 12th. They are just an awesome family! they told us this week that when we met them they were about to seperate. But now they are excited to be an eternal family. They are great. We showed karen jerez the Joseph Smith video and I think it clicked a little bit mroe. She says that she believes he was a prophet and that she needs to get baptized. But she is still missing something. Its starting to puzzle me a little bit. But we`ll keep working there. 

    it was so good to hear from all of you this week. I was bummed to hear BYU lost to Utah State. President Hintze graduated from Utah so he gave us all a hard time. next year... I love you all and look forward to hearing from you soon! have a great week! 

Elder Schriever

September Ends

Hey family! 

    This week that passed is difficult to describe, the best that I can think of is... bittersweet. I had probably one of the best moments in my whole mission, but also some of the saddest things that I have seen so far. But first the good part. This week on Friday, R and P A got sealed in the temple. I can still barely believe it! I got to be there and be R´s escort and witness for the sealing. They were both crying afterwards, and I´ll admit I was a little bit too. It really was the peak of what I have seen on the mission. R was one of the first people that I ever taught, I remember distinctly going from the house on my first day in Izalco to teach him the Word of Wisdom. I was so lost, barely understood Spanish, but it has been amazing to see the big change in him, and his wife. He is now the high priest group leader in the ward. I was basically floating on cloud 9 after going through the temple with them. J and L are planning on going through the temple in November, I am super excited for them as well! They have stayed firm and have helped lots of other people come back to church! I admire them a lot!

    The bitter part of this week was sending four missionaries home... the most awkward part was that they had to come and stay at our house for a few days before their flights home. One went home for medical reasons but the other three no. One of the elders had the same time in the mission as I do, 21 months, and got sent home dishonorably. It got me a little down just thinking about it. But everyone makes their own decisions, and we also suffer the consequences. But its still super sad. 

    This week in Elder`s quorum they talked about being self sufficienct, budgeting, and living within your means. It was a splash of cold water to the face realizing that pretty soon I will have to worry about all kinds of stuff like that. I love the mission. It is stressful being on the mission sometimes. Especially on changes week. To take the words from Forrest Gump "changes week is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you gonna get" We have four different groups of people to worry about, those that are coming from belize, those that are going, the new missionaries that are coming from the MTC, and the old guys that are leaving. They are going to be staying at our house so we were up until 1 on saturday cleaning, and preparing everything for them. We aren`t really going to be able to teach much on tuesday or wednesday because we are going to be driving around, doing errands and cool stuff like that. We arent gonna sleep much but it will be super fun. 

    I am also super excited for general conference! It has always been one of my favorite things on the mission. In my ward there are like 30 North Americans so I will for sure get to see it in English! It will be exciting to see if there are any new temples, new announcements, or just the usual gospel filled goodness. I will have to make orange rolls or something to keep up the tradition. I`m sure that we can find an oven we can use somewhere. We will make it fun. We went to Walmart this morning and they already had the halloween and christmas decorations. I think its a little early for all of that but, it was just another reminder of how close it is. 

    We have this awesome family we are teaching right naw that is named M and A, They have these two adorable boys named G and L. They are going to get married and baptized on the 11th of October. Super excited for them and for a couple other people that we are teaching. Thanks for all of your prayers and support it really means the world to me. Make sure to have a good week for me and I will talk to you all soon! 

Elder Schriever

Craziest week ever!

Okay this week was nuts. We started out with the Multizone meetings with Elder A on Tuesday and Wednesday. The meeting on Tuesday was out in Sonzacate so we had to get up at five to be there. We were up till 2 in the morning planning out what we were going to teach so that was an interesting day. But the lessons that he taught were way good! He taught about how we don´t need to beg people to get baptized. That we need to help them understand that they need to be baptized. He explained that by talking about the parable about the good samaritan. He asked all of us "what is the central message of the parable of the good samaritan" and everyone said things like service, love, caring for others. After listening to everyone he said No, it is about how we depend absolutely on the Atonement. He explained that all of the symbolism of the road from Jerusalem to Jerico is mortal life, that the robbers are temptation and the man who was left half dead is us. The priest and the Farase didn´t stop to help because they were in a hurry but because they were unable to help. Only the despised Samaritan was able to give "oil" and "wine" both representations of the atonement to heal the wounded man. My brain about exploded. He also mentioned that throughout the scriptures there is lots of symbolism that talks about the plan of salvation, and I have now been looking for it and it is true! Way cool. I have been reading a parable in Luke 19 and it talks about the three kingdoms of glory. Who knew?!
   Thursday morning we had  a meeting with all of the zone leaders. It was pretty normal. But after the meeting we went strait to the airport to get on a flight to Belize. It was literally a 40 minute flight but when I stepped off of the plane I was in a whole different world. El Salvador is full of short latin people, and Belize is full of tall, ripped black people. And the stench of weed is about everywhere. It is over 90 degrees with 100% humidity. I don´t know how the people deal with it all the time because about every other person has dread locks. When you are going down the street you shout "What you do do Brudda!" to say whats happening, yelling "We strait?" to ask we good? The Creole is super funny, its kinda like bad english but it is really its own language with different grammer structure. But it sounds super funny. They sell a bible in Creole and I think I am going to get one next trip. It was good to get to see old friends and get to know new places. I want to go back to Belize someday for sure!
   The mission work in our area took a hit because we were out and about basically all week but we should get back to it this week. We had a family in church, and another young woman who is part of a partial member family. All three of them have been pepared by the lord and are progessing. R and P A should be getting sealed any day now so that will be a way special moment as well! Overall it was a super great week and this week should be even better! Thank you all for taking the time to write me and I will talk to you all soon!
Elder Schriever

September 15

   Well family and friends I hope that you are all doing well, this week has been a crazy week for sure. This week started off... interesting. After writing you guys the zone went and played soccer at some small turf fields in our area. it was really hot since it was like 2 in the afternoon and I had on a pair of vibram fivefingers that i picked up here for $10. Anyways the ground was really hot and the thin sole of the vibrams wasn`t enough to protect my feet from the heat so i got one of the biggest blisters I have ever seen. I am sending a photo but I don`t know if you can see everything, but it was pretty darn big! I was walking with a pretty bad limp. but its all better now. I just need to remember to take better care of my feet.
    On Tuesday we spent basically the whole day driving. There were lots of errands to run and several missionaries to pick up from the airport. It was super weird being at the airport, its like the graveyard for missionaries, also the place where they are born. We waited for a long time because the misisonary we were picking up is from belize and didn't speak a word of spanish. He got lost in the airport, and got out like an hour and a half after his flight and after being questioned by the airport security about what he was doing there. Poor kid. He is going to serve his mission in the Dominican republic. If I remember right its the same mission as Elder Stark. It really was a blessing that that day I got to drive for most of it because If I would have had to walk all day I would torn up the blister more. God works in mysterious ways.
    The coolest news is that this week I will be going to the airport, to go to Belize. Elder Alonzo ( a member of the presidency of the area) is coming to tour the zone. So basically this week will be multi zone meetings and a quick trip to Belize. I am super psyched to go. I have heard that it is a way cool place. Super hot, but really "chill" but which the time that we have we are gonna work like crazy. The meetings are always stressful because we are in charge of making sure that everything runs smoothly. The sound system, projector, and no one gets there late. Some things are out of our control so that is the most stressful part. I don`t think we will have to present anything but if we do we need to be ready. So tonight we will probably need to prepare that...
    While driving Elder R and I named the emergency lights. Here in central america they don`t have the same meaning as in the states we call it the "I do what I want" button. Because any time you need to do something thats *ahem* outside of normal driving procedures you just turn on the IDWIW button and do it. everyone seems to respect that rule so it works out nicely. I don`t think it will work quite as well in the states but here it works well.
    This week I am going to be sure to take lots of pictures, and now that i finally figured out how I can attatch several of them to the email at once it will be alot easier to send them. I look forward to talking to you all soon!
Elder Schriever!

The "I do what I want" button

Elder R sleeping

Thug Life

Whats happening family?!
  This week was a blur, on Tuesday I had my trusy watch break on me. I was walking down the road and my hand snagged on a brick that was sticking out on a wall. and the strap broke. my watch was basically the only thing that I used to keep track of the date. So I have lost my perception of time. I woke up one day and realized wow its saturday again. We stay so busy that we never really have much time to think. The weeks are just flying by. I broke my first belt on that same day as well, that is far more disturbing. It was the buckle that fell apart all of the sudden so I guess that isn´t quite that bad.
  On wednesday I went to this place called Puerto la Libertad to go visit with the zone leaders. I parked the car on a really steep hill but left it running while they unloaded a few boxes. because of how steep the hill was no deisel got to the punp and the car died. and wouldn't start up after. luckily we were really close to the chapel so we pushed the truck over and went and got some more deisel. It was really embarassing. but in the end we got it started up again and had a good day. I was really nervous because the car is a 2013 and worth more than some of these people will make in their lives. we have to be really careful where we park. But so far we have never had any problems.
  We are also having more and more success in our own area. We have been talking to everyone and we have some new people to teach, and a few people that went to church! This area is a lot like the Cima. its a little tricky to work in but doable. We are trying to work more with the members becuase that will make it much more easier and enjoyable. we are teaching this girl named E, who is the niece of a recent convert. she went to church on Sunday and really seemed to like it. We also have a young couple that we are teaching. They couldn't come to church this sunday because of work but hopefully this coming sunday they will. They are named G and D. we are going to keep working with them.
  This morning a family from our ward invited our whole zone and President Hintze over for breakfast. Their house was rediculous!!! They basically own one side of the San Salvador Volcano, and their house is the biggest house that I have ever seen. needless to say it was a good breakfast. They are the R Famly. They told us that they are going to invite us over every fast sunday to eat lunch. I love this ward. other than that for today we have lots of stuff to do, a house to organize and clean. and errands to run. maybe we will play soccer if we have time. a pretty normal P-day. if possible I would also like to sleep. not sure if we are going to get all of that in.
   I am glad to hear that everyone is getting settled into school, and back into the normal routine. I was super happy to hear from all of you and to hear that everything is going well. Thanks for taking the time to write me and I look forward to talking to you soon.
Elder Schriever

September

Buenos Tardes a Todos!!!
   Sounds like there are lots of changes going on right now. School starting back up, people moving houses. I can barely keep my head around all of it. But for the most part it sounds like you are all doing really well. I am glad to hear that Anna is having a good time at BYU, exciting times. I heard a little from Jake and it sounds like he is having fun with the new car as well. It must be a party over in Provo right now.
  My week was really good. i spent most of it outside of our area. I went to visit the Los Heroes zone, Arce zone, and ...... Izalco!!!! it was cool to get to go back and work in my old areas. When I was in Izalco i got to see a few old investigators as they walked down the street. We were mostly in this place called Armenia but i got about two hours back in good ole izalco. I had forgotten how much i love that place. When we were there we had a really cool lesson with an investigator named S. she is getting really close to her baptism but she still feels guilty about the things she has done in the past. We spent most of the lesson talking about hte power of repentance and the healing power of the Atonement. She started crying, after a little bit. It took me a while to figure out wheither it was a good crying or bad crying. Its difficult to figure out women sometimes. But I came to the conclusion that it was a good crying.
  In Arce we also had some good visits but not that many because one of the Zone leaders got sick so we had to find a member for him to stay with. The priesthood quoroms in Arce are pretty weak so that took a while. But the missionaries are working hard, and they are having lots of success. There are still some Elders that are there from when I was in Arce, poor guys. They have like over six months there.
  Some of the other big news this week is that I got my license!!!! really it was kind of a joke, the practical exam was literally driving around the block, all right hand turns. That what it was possibly because the guy knew I could drive because I was a Gringo but it took about 5 minutes. the written exam was also a piece of cake. the questions were super obvious and i finished it like six minutes. its somewhat worrying that its so easy to get a liscense here, but I will just have to be really carefull. the good news is that we drive a pretty good sized truck so there isn´t much that could happen.
   This week we ahvea  ton of meeting we have to prepare for. Elder Duncan (area president) is coming on wednesday, which will be super crazy. and we have a  leadership meeting on tuesday that we have to prepare for. There are also several meeting we have to coordinate in Belize. But life is good. Well my time is basically up. I hope you all have a great week and I will look forward to talking to you all soon!
Elder Schriever

Welcome to Antigua Cuscatlan

   Well I got changed. My new ward is called Campestre, which is the stake center of the Los Héroes Stake. Our Chapel is beautiful. And the ward is really big. Around 200 people come each week. We live and work in a place called Antigua Cuscatlan, which is super safe and really cool. There are tons of huge houses but thats not that much different from La Cima. Campestre is literally right next to La Cima. My old area is a block away from my house. I sure didn´t go far that time! The good news is that I´m not far from all of my friends back in La Cima. I sure am going to miss all of them, but I hope to see them again some day, I know i will.
     My companions are awesome one is Elder Z, from Mexico. He leaves at the end of this change but he is a real hard worker and a great teacher. I will try to take a picture of all of us to send to you guys. There is also Elder R, from Guatty who is super crazy, but really funny and happy always. He works super hard and we get along really well, you know you have a good relationship with someone when you can joke around with them. My other companion is..... Elder R!!! I was super excited to find that out. I have been waiting to be companions with him my whole mission. People call us the "Boise Boys" and it fits. Its cool to be with someone who is similar to you. We were sharing pictures of our families and to our suprise our family photos were taken in the exact same place, at that farm out in Meridian. His Dad is also named Rodney. Small strange world. I took a picture of the two family pictures so you all can see that. It was really funny.
    Our house is huge. But super dirty. there is just old garbage everywhere. Our goal for today when we get back is to clean the place up. I have found some cool stuff though! like "the great apostasy" by Talmage and some ties that other missionaries have left behind. but I don´t think that we will ever really be able to clean the place all the way up, it is just too filthy. But we do have a gym super close to our house and we all love to go. So every morning we wake up at 5:50 to go lift weights and run occasionally. It makes me feel so much better and helps me stay focused throughout the day. I am going to try eating better and I think I will have lots more energy! I am going to get stuff to make sub sandwiches this week to change it up a little bit. with carrots and brocoli. we don´t really have time to cook, and we are barely ever in the house so I have to think of things that are quick, cheap, and healthy. Thats a pretty short list.
    Its weird thinking that this is going to be my last area. I don´t think of myself as an "old" missionary but I now realize that there is no other word to describe it. I am old, worn shirts, worn pants, worn shoes, But with a big smile. I am enjoying life and doing great. I am glad to hear that everyone is doing well and that everyone is getting back into the swing of real life. good luck with studies and work and I will talk to you soon!
Hasta Luego!
Elder Schriever (Chevere)

11th of August

   Well everyone another week has come and gone. This week was pretty busy, as usual. We have lots to get done here in the zone. Almost every night it just poured rain and got everyone and everything soaking wet but that meant it wasn`t that hot. Count your blessings. We had some good successes and some failures but I`ll tell you about that later. First off I want to say congratulations to Jake and Katie for finishing honorably their missions! Well done! You guys are the best!
   Okay so here in the Cima we realized that we need to look for more new investigators. So that was our big focus this week. We have been looking for references but for the most part we were unsuccessful. so we got to the point were we just decided to go tracting on Saturday. What a horrible Idea! we wasted a few precious hours going up to peoples doors just to hear them say, "we are busy right now come again later" or "we are catholic" or a five year old girl say "I`m here alone" after we had seen her grandma, when I called her out on it she went back to the good ole "we are really busy" excuse. Lame. After about two hours we gave up on that.
   The good news is that when we were visiting R H (who was confirmed on Sunday) her mom was there. We answered a few normal questions like "why do you keep the sabbath on Sunday" "don't mormons worship some dude" and questions like that. But we have an appointment to meet up with her on Thursday so hopefully that will go well. R really has a strong testimony, and is sharing it with all of her neighbors and family. She is awesome. E as well. He went to the temple last week to do baptisms for the dead and I think he really liked it. Overall they are doing really well, and we are hoping to be able to teach more people that they know.
    This past week while walking up by their house we saw a few of the national birds of El Salvador its called the Torogoz I couldn`t take a picture of it but lookit up on google. Its super cool.
    In other news we have an investigators named M, she spilled boiling beans on her feet last week but now she is all better so she could come to church. She really wants to get baptized but I want to wait a little bit to make sure that she understands everything. But she really wants to do it. I am just afraid that she will go inactive really fast without a strong testimony. So that is the job right now. Making sure she knows what she is doing. We are still on the hunt for more investigators, and trying to help out the zone with theirs. We have a family of 5 that is going to get baptized on the 30th in a ward called Campestre and we need to make sure that there is good followup there. Basically everything is going super well. My companion is awesome and this change has flown by. We are on week six which means it is almost over. hopefully I will know by next Wednesday if I am moving or not we`ll see what happens.Well thanks to all of you for writing me and I hope you all have a great week.
Elder Schriever

4 de Agosto

    Hey everyone how is everything going? This week was a great week. The last week of any month is always pretty busy, you work hard to try to tie up any loose ends from the month thats ending, and its the most important to get ready for the month that is coming up. We ended up the month of July with 7 baptisms in the zone. Not bad, not great but not too bad either. When you consider that we started the month with a potential of 1 (one person baptised with zero baptismal dates) we finished pretty well. Elder M works really hard and it lets us get alot done. I am super grateful to be his companion he is always happy and even when things don´t go as planned we can laugh and make jokes out of it. Life is just better when you are happy. Someone asked me when changes were and if I think that I will get changed. Changes aren´t for another two weeks, on August 20, but I have a feeling that I am going to get changed. I am just having too much fun right now to have it last.
    Yesterday we had the baptism of R H, which was super good we had it right after the the church block so that the members could come. When we try to do it on Saturday everyone is busy. It was a great experience all in all. After her baptism she bore a really cool testimony about how she had been praying to find someone that could help her get to know God better. And thats when she met S P, the member who gave us the reference, and then she met us. It was really cool to hear that.
    Right now we are pretty slim on investigators, we have a few that are progressing but we need more. Everyone that we had committed to come to church bailed on us. But hopefully next week we will be able to bring around three people. Tommorow we have a mission temple tour, which should be way good. We are hoping that in total around 1,000 people will come. It is going to take up most of the morning tomorrow but it should be way good. President Hintze always says that the best missionary in El Salvador is the temple and it is so true. You can
just feel a difference when you enter the temple grounds. I normally get to see some old friends as well so I will be sure to take lots of photos and look for as many people as possible. We are going to be really busy this week doing interchanges. Basically every day we are going to be doing something in other areas, its good because it keeps us busy and we get to work with all of the missionaries, and know them better.
    I can`t believe that Jake and Katie are getting home this week! thats so crazy! Especially Katie, since she started after me and is finishing before. I bet the Starks and McGregors are super excited! I am excited for them! Well my time is almost up, because right now is vacations here in San Salvador the temple is open today and there are a ton of people trying to use the computers.  I will be on for a few minutes more and try and send more photos. Thanks to all of you for writing me and have a great week Talk to you all soon!
Elder Schriever