Week 97 - Birthday Week

  Elder Schaff turns 20 this Friday. I sent him a birthday box earlier in the month, hoping he could pick it up at the last transfer hub. It contained 20 things for his 20th birthday. I asked friends on Facebook to email him and wish him a happy birthday on his preparation day yesterday. He said he had a lot of emails and it was great, so thank you everyone.His dad has been extremely busy at work the last several weeks and they have not been able to write back and forth much, so his comments were mostly directed to his dad this week. Also, we received his flight plan to return home on July 25th, so we are just one month away! Here are the emails that his dad and I received. I had taken a screen shot of his forecast, it is so HOT there compared to western NY, and this was his response. 

  "What, 101º? If we keep to that, we'll rejoice! The car thermometer keeps reaching 107º!"

  "Dad!

Thank you so much for that. That is a wonderful email. (Mom also noted that you were busy and let me know you might not have enough time. I would've lived without it, but I'm very grateful for your message!)

The days do indeed speed away. Sometimes they seem slow when the heat becomes tangible, but we get through them none-the-less. We figured we might bike more, but as we talk to everyone we meet, we mostly have appointments and potential enough to keep us busy all day! We started an initiative to strengthen the youth here as well, which was well-received by the Ward.

I have become a much better man. The change has been gradual, but Elder Schaff 2018 form is a much stronger individual than Elder Schaff 2016 form. Your emails have often lifted and inspired me, and I'm really just infinitely grateful for you and mom and our family.

Interesting that you note happiness, kindness, and other lessons. I have learned all of them. But I know you have not forgotten them. Even though you cite a time in your life when you didn't do as well, I bet you were aware of it. I remember you telling me as a kid: "I found out recently that optimists live longer son, and I realized that I don't always do that, so I've been trying to change the way I think." For whatever reason that little tid-bit of information permanently recorded in my mind. You've always been a good example of setting goals to accomplish something better in life, whether actions or character adjustments.

I pray for you often that work will be well. I know you can manage it! I'll contribute what I can to helping the family while I'm there! I think I can teach Sydney and Maura a thing or two!

The Lord surely has blessed us. I am bound to have a wonderful birthday after all the love I received today in email. Many people contacted me.

It is uncertain if I will make it to send mom an email. Hopefully I will. If not, express my love for her and keeping me posted!

-Love you Dad!

--Elder Schaff

  "Thank you so much Mom!

So many people emailed me today!

Dad did manage to email me, (more than he usually ever does!) So I focused my response more to him.

Know that I love you equally though, but I have run out of time here! We have to get from Madera to Fresno to fellowship the rest of our Zone playing sports there today,and attending to Elder Royce's district meeting, his 1st one!

Thank you for that quote!!!!! I wrote it down and I have plans to use it already. Know that that was a significant boost for me.

I love you Mom!!!!"

--Elder Schaff

Hayden's birthday package, hopefully he saves it until Friday!

20 Items to mark his 20th birthday- from 20 sticks of gum, 20 pieces of candy, 20 pens, 20 stamps, to $20 cash and a $20 gift card to Subway, plus some party supplies and cake mix that bakes in a mug and 20 candles too!

More Photos from Yosemite and the Hike to Vernal Falls from June 4th, 2018

Week 96 - News from Madera

  It was nice to receive more than just a few short lines of email from Elder Schaff today. The new companionship is working well, they are busy and happy and found some new people to talk with and teach this week. Here is the missionary news from Hayden in Madera-

  "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."

"Good-byes to Elder Wyne and Elder Tapia. We got matching ties for the final day. Madera 2018!"

Matching ties, signed and dated.

Elder Fuller and Elder Schaff

"The Ward Party on Saturday for Father's day: Mustaches and cowboy hats."

"The new ingenious solution to the drip from the coolers..."

"Elder Lyman sweeping the floor, because that's what the missionaries do at parties!" 

Elder Schaff in his mustache and cowboy hat.

--Elder Schaff

Week 95- Final Transfer and Companionship

  We are getting down to the end of Elder Schaff's mission. This week he begins his final transfer. He had to say good-bye to Elder Wyne this week, they had been serving as a companionship for 12 weeks and had worked well together. He also said goodbye to Elder Tapia, who had been with both he and Elder W the last 6 weeks, and was the other Zone Leader with Hayden. Now he has a new companion for this final transfer, Elder Fuller, who he is training as a Zone Leader. There is a lot of training and teaching on missions! This was his abbreviated news this week.

  "Well, I ran myself out of email time.. sorry about that Mom.

I will write more next week, and try to put it into more detail. I expressed some thoughts to Dad.

My companions got transferred, I will be training a new Zone Leader, Elder Fuller. He came in when I was in the mission office.

Here's this week in a few photos. This is a really bad job, but I'll write more soon!"

(Not too satisfying of a read, and I have no explanation for the photos, but here is the email that he sent to his Dad...)

 
  "(Michael had thanked Hayden for sending him a birthday card last week) You are welcome Dad. We have grown a lot together. My mission has really helped me to find myself and my course, and I am confident in my future.

Sorry, I'm really getting distracted in this email lab. All the missionaries are here today, and there is an active discussion ongoing.

There are some activities going on, so I'll be brief and try to write more thoroughly next week. It's been a great week though. The companionship did wonderfully, and one of our investigators, "C", began to progress. That's hope for the future! 

Both Elder W and Elder T got transferred, which is what I expected. It would be too easy to have either stay, but Elder W couldn't stay in a Zone Leader area, so that was inevitable. 

I am getting Elder Fuller. He has been out for 11 months, came in when I had entered the mission office. I'll be training him to be a Zone Leader. A fitting conclusion to the mission. The Lord has not failed me in providing challenges.

I'm glad you all watched the youth devotional. I printed out the copy and read it on Saturday. It was really inspiring and filled me with the joy of the Holy Ghost. I was going to suggest that you and the youth make sure you watch it, because it was so powerful; I'm glad you were able to have that experience. President Nelson is very clear about his invitations.

I love ya Dad!"

--Elder Schaff

Week 94 - Yosemite!

  I am always amazed by the photos that other missionaries post of spots they have toured and visited. It is awesome that some are able to take in the history, culture and scenic locations within their mission. Elder Schaff has never really had that opportunity, but this week he was able to go to Yosemite National Park on his preparation day. He was so excited to have a change of scenery. I challenged him to take a lot of pictures, he told me that he took about 90! He sent one, of the group that went to Yosemite, so far. I am so happy that he had the opportunity. Of course, Yosemite covers more than 1,100 square miles, so I am sure he would love to return in the future. You can only see so much in a day.

  "Well, I finally made it to Yosemite. What a trip it was! It's a lot of driving for us poor missionaries, since we had to go up and down in a single day. It's 5 hours of car time. Despite that fact, it was well worth it. It was a nice adventure! I feel energized and fulfilled. It was also very peaceful.

   There was so much to do up there though! We hardly did any of it! The park is so huge you could go there dozens of times and hike new trails or do new things. I attached a few pictures. I took 90!

   This week has been one of growth and reflection. We had the Temple trip on Tuesday, my last one before departing. I felt impressed that we needed to work with our members more to find the success we are seeking. We are working on employing that.

   I did two exchanges with our Elders in Madera, Elders Meyer and Vargas. We had some good experiences growing together as we served. Elder M just began his mission, and we had a good discussion on how to make it worth the while and enjoyable. The first exchange was Wednesday, the second Friday. Elder V was on Friday.

He did a nice job with his teaching, and we discussed being motivated by charity instead of just duty. This and many more things did we do, but I grew from it.

  On Thursday we did yard work for a member, because her husband's job makes it hard for him to be home. We mowed her lawn, weed whacked, raked grass clippings, and pulled weeds. She was quite grateful for our service.

  Friday was Mission Leadership Council, and we had some excellent teachings come from the Assistants and President. Also, a training from the Sisters on how Elders and Sisters can better serve together without being awkward or inconsiderate. (President assigned the topic.) It is now being called the "How to talk to girls teaching." XD"

-Elder Schaff

Yosemite National Park
June 4, 2018