"Hi Mom,
Things are going pretty well for me. Looks like that's a lot of construction on the house though! Wow, life will be brand new once I return!
I didn't really want to have transfers happen, but it was of course, a change for the better. I received Elder Fuller, and it has been a good week! We found these two guys named Salvino and Maldamar, just sitting on their porch. We asked if we could introduce ourselves and they invited us to sit down and talk. We did just that, and began to transition the conversation to our missionary purpose. "S" asked about why there were so many churches, and we explained the great apostasy. It really clicked with him and he became excited to hear more. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he's been reading it!
Because I had to lead the area, I ended up going to different places than where we usually go to. This was good for us to find more people to teach. I told Elder F to push me to talk to people, because I know I should, but it is a weak-spot sometimes. He did that for me, and we talked to almost everyone in our path, and it was awesome. We found so many people willing to hear the message. Madera has much greater prospects than it has ever had before.
On one occasion, we met a lady that attended Celebration church, but said she was looking for a new church, because their doctrines weren't consistent. She didn't want to hear our message though. (Probably heard stereotypes about missionaries.) We told her it was fine, that we wouldn't proselyte to her, but then asked what she was looking for. All the values she was looking for are in this church. It was amazing to see the scripture fulfilled,
"For there are many yet on the earth among all sects, parties, and denominations, who are blinded by the subtle craftiness of men, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, and who are kept from the truth because they know not where to find it." (Doctrine & Covenants 123:12)
The days do indeed go by fast. We have decided to call a companionship in the Zone every night to minister better. This makes the free time in the evenings even shorter. Everything has become one continual round of waking up, serving, and preparing for another day of work.
The only down side to this week was yesterday. I got sick quite suddenly in Sacrament Meeting. We think it was food poisoning, or something along those lines. I had a piece of weird tasting meat at the ward party on Saturday...I thought it was just too fatty, but maybe it wasn't cooked right? Anyway, I was in the bathroom 4 times that morning, and come Sacrament, I had chills, the start of a fever, and my limbs were weak and in pain. It was a miserable 3 hours at church. Then I called the nurse and she had me stay in for the rest of the day. I didn't want to, but I needed it. I'm feeling much better now, but my back is stiff and causing some pain. I think it's unrelated, but it's no fun either! The back stretches I know didn't help.
That's my week. I'm going to attempt to tell the story of the previous weeks with pictures, I have uploaded a lot this time.
Sorry I wasn't able to write much the last few weeks. Thank you for your emails and all your support mom, I'm very grateful."
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| "Good-byes to Elder Wyne and Elder Tapia. We got matching ties for the final day. Madera 2018!" |
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| Matching ties, signed and dated. |
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| Elder Fuller and Elder Schaff |
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| "The Ward Party on Saturday for Father's day: Mustaches and cowboy hats." |
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| "The new ingenious solution to the drip from the coolers..." |
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| "Elder Lyman sweeping the floor, because that's what the missionaries do at parties!" |
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| Elder Schaff in his mustache and cowboy hat. |
--Elder Schaff
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