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