Week 18 - New Companion

  Well, last week were transfers, and we knew that Elder Schaff was not being moved from his area, but that he would have a new companion. That switch happened last Tuesday, and I have been wondering all week how he and his new companion were getting along. Thankfully, they are working hard and doing well together. This is what Elder Schaff wrote for the blog this week-

  "Merry Christmas everyone! I realize I won't have the chance to say that again until the 26th, but then it's too late! The holiday then becomes "Schaff Family Game Day." Maybe I'll find a way to play a game of chess or checkers next preparation day to celebrate the family tradition....

    So, last Tuesday I received a new companion, Elder Lopez! He is from Honduras originally, but now lives in the state of Georgia! We have been getting along great, and told one another upfront that we would strive to give advice as to how we can improve at all times, and not take offense in receiving the news of things we need to improve. By doing so, we are honing one another's teaching skills and are really finding great success in the work. 

   We flipped through our area book when Elder Lopez came in, and I read through all of our investigators with him. I realized that many of our "investigators" were people that only had received one lesson and had lost contact with us. We decided we would give everyone a chance to come into personal contact with us, but if they were not interested in being taught after that, we would have to drop them. We also decided if we visited over 5 times with no results we would drop them. We have to focus on people that are ready to hear our message; we want to honor people with hard schedules, but decided to recognize that every minute of a mission is the Lord's time, so we better be using it helping people with a sincere interest.

   This week we focused on "Mia", Matilde's daughter "T," and "G." We worked some miracles. "Mia" got to church and is preparing to be baptized at the end of December. She said she is starting to feel peace in her life after being troubled for a long period of time.

    Not much happened with "T" because she got sick and doesn't think she can understand reading the Book of Mormon while she is sick, so that's been a slow-go.

  "G" was a small miracle this week. She hasn't come to church this whole time we've been teaching her, because she babysits her grandchildren on Sundays. That's a bit crazy, because that's been since mid-September, (October since I arrived) and she has heard almost all of the missionary lessons. She says she knows the Book of Mormon is true and has felt the Holy Ghost confirm those truths. The miracle was that she came to church!!! She could only stay for the first hour, but cried when she received the water for the Sacrament, said she felt the Spirit, and knew she needed to come back for all 3 hours next week, so how about that!

  Our new companionship is doing the right things and getting the miracles. Unfortunately, I have run out of time, so this is it for this week, until the 26th!

Merry Christmas,

--Elder Schaff