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
