HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY FROM AUSSIELAND TO YOU!!! WE WISH IT WAS OUR BIRTHDAY, SO WE COULD PARTY TOO!!! HAPPY, HAPPY BRITHDAY MAY ALL YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE!!! WE WISH IT WAS OUR BIRTHDAY, BUT WE'LL JUST RIDE A 'ROO!!!
That's my bad attempt at coming up with something witty, but it is Mum's birthday today!!! Actually, it's her birthday tomorrow [it was Monday], but in Aussieland you've already turned 22, so I'm celebrating anyways! XD Wow, isn't this neat!? Mum's birthday!!! I'd do something special for you over here, but there's a lack of things to do in Broken Hill- go to the pub or go to the club, that's what there is in Broken Hill, neither of which I can do. XD But wow, today is just awesome! If my Mum hadn't been born and decided to come down to earth and face her challenges and battle her giants, then I couldn't have come down here either! And she knew she might get the most inwardly rebellious child there is and yet she did it anyways! What a courageous woman I have as a mother!!! I know that my Mum is the absolute best mother out there and no one can convince me otherwise! She has raised me and taught me heaps of things that I'm applying on my mission! She taught me to work and to be humble and to love and to always remember the God who created me. She's taught me to be a gentleman and to respect women, girls, and children, and she's just taught me everything ever! Even if I was rebellious and downright cruel with words, my Mum has always had the patience to not rip my head off and send me back to the God who created my soul. I can only imagine what that would've looked like: "Here (pulls off Elder Schomburg's head) you can have him back!" Haha, Sorry, I'm just excited because it's my Mum's birthday!!! Mum's are the best and mine is the best of all and no one can convince me otherwise. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!!!
On to what's happened this week! We had a Trunk-or-Treat party at the chapel, and 52 people came! Whoo! I went as the most terrifying thing there is- they knock on your door, chase you down the footpath, cross the street to say hi, and always wear a smile on their happy faces. You guessed it- I went as a missionary! Our investigators were present and wow, I'm excited. M has a baptismal date for Nov. 9th and he's stayed solid- hasn't smoked or drunk or done anything like that. He even bought a really nice suit just to come to church. Now he's invested- he's got to be solid. That does bring up a concern of mine though.
In the ZAAM they tell us to "catch the wave" which we've been told is to work with the members with our missionary work. We keep track of how much missionary work we do with members by recording the number of lessons we've taught with members present. Broken Hill has been smashing this Key Indicator (or KI's). We're also taught that finding on our own is the least effective thing we can be doing and should be a last resort. We should actually -judging off of how we make goals and set plans- see our less active members before we do our own finding. A really smart missionary will do his finding on the way to set appointments or less actives and whatnot. Having thus said as much, Elder P and I are a little on edge because our leaders, namely our district leader, is not shy about getting onto our case for our low number of potentials. The district has also implemented what is called "District Finding Time" in which Elder W will choose a set time that works for everyone and we will do our own finding for a block of time. In Darwin it was semi-effective; in Broken Hill, it is not. So, even though we have found very good success in WORKING WITH THE MEMBERS, our leaders are starting to question us for our low number of potentials. I know that President Carter is completely understanding- if we tell him that we go out and do our own finding and nothing happens, he can accept that we are doing our part, and that's all that's asked of us. Some missionaries in leadership positions get caught up with the numbers though and it probably is the one thing that is causing me the most stress right now, but what can you do?
That's about all I have to report I suppose- it was a pretty good week. I love you all and I hope to hear from all of you again soon! Remember to keep smiling!
-Elder Schomburg
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