I'm Out of Ideas - Sorry... Week 100

Well that statement isn't entirely true, but the others ones need to be saved for later.

 

Howdy!

 

This morning finds me enjoying a rare and much appreciated 21C (70F) in Port Augusta, which is more than welcome as far as I'm concerned. Mild summer as it has been, no one really likes consecutive days of 40C (104F) and sunny. Thankfully it's not gotten much warmer than that in my own part of the world, but I do still envy that blizzard you're all experiencing, or experienced.

 

As far as updates go, we had a brilliant lesson with Phil and Lynny about the Law of Chastity, and President and Sister Armstrong were present for it. In fact, they did a lot of the teaching, which was fine by me- having been the older, senior missionary for quite a while now, it's nice to be able to remain engaged in the lesson yet let someone else do the talking. Do I sound lazy? I think I'm just tired of hearing my own voice- I talk too much during lessons. I prefer listening, and I think Heavenly Father does as well; just think about how much listening He does compared to actual speaking.

 

Anyways, Phil and Lynny are excited to continue progressing in their knowledge, but it sounds as though their minds are fixed. Despite the importance of such covenants, I've decided to not concern myself with it. I want them to make their covenants sooner than later, as I should, but I also respect their right to exercise their own freedom of choice and they have chosen to wait. All I can do now is continue to teach as powerfully and sincerely as I can, and the Spirit will do the rest.

 

We made a trip down to Clare this week. I like Clare because it's very hilly and covered in trees and even has a few orchards; it looks a lot like Mildura in some aspects, which might be why I love it so much. We went to church at the Clare unit which was an interesting experience. There were 20 of total, including the children, which is the most they've ever had there. Mostly because a lot of Port Pirie members came. There was some kind of excitement at the prospect of missionaries going out of their way to attend church in Clare. We thought we'd be gaining a new investigator, but that didn't really happen. Whilst in Clare, we had a good lesson with Alex again, whose missionary mate in the US asked him to wait until the end of the year so that he could baptize him.... (ask me how I feel about that one later; I don't want this to turn into a rant) so we'll be addressing that in, hopefully, a Skype lesson with Alex. It's not conducive to his spiritual progression to have one lesson a month with him, so we're going to attempt to expand our horizons and do something intelligent. But he is just as solid as ever, which is a good thing.

 

Now what have I been learning recently by way of spiritual nature? My Mum actually sent me something relevant to what I've been learning just as the week was ending, which is in regards to forgiving. 

 

I had an interesting dream last night, one that involved two very close friends of mine back home. I don't usually pay attention to dreams, but sometimes I feel impressed to, just because I've heard not a few tales of people receiving answers to prayers via dreams. I'll spare some details, but suffice it to say that it sparked some deep thinking. I'm going to end up seeing the family members of at least one of these old mates fairly soon, and I was just envisioning going by and dropping off a gift I procured for them. As this scenario played in my mind, I mused that I would probably be invited in for at least a short time, time enough to share a tale or two of the Never Never (outback, specifically the Outback). And I found myself disliking the idea because this friend in particular and I had a bit of a falling out and I'm still feeling a subtle sting from it; I wasn't partial to remaining in a familiar environment where lots of feelings were developed -that are now a bit damaged- for longer than necessary. And then I opened my scriptures to the very scriptures I had read whilst such a falling out was occurring, in Doctrine and Covenants 112, in which I was exhorted to not be partial in any amount of love displayed, but to love my friend as I love myself (depending on the day, that could be a varying amount of "love") and basically to love all people the same way and forgive.

 

Forgive. Well... I thought I had managed that already. My friend had never asked for it, but I was hurt, so I had to forgive anyways. But if I couldn't even fathom lingering at my friend's house for longer than a few moments, how could I say I had done any amount of forgiving? I pondered about when terribly bad things happen to others that are brought about by people, and how they were not exempt from forgiving their wrongdoers either; could a victim of abuse wish to forgive, yet desire to never see the transgressor ever again, and still say they forgave completely? Would it be a full forgiveness? I asked myself the question, "Is it possible to forgive, yet feel uncomfortable with the idea of visiting old places that bring about carefully hidden memories that I have no desire to access?"

 

I'm not sure. It sort of sounds like a grudge has taken hold, and yet I don't desire for anything bad or evil to occur to my friend. I hope my friend is happy, and is experiencing blessings from Heavenly Father and finding joy in every day. But even if I could see my friend upon returning, if it was an available option, how long would it take before I could actually do it, face-to-face? 

 

It's one of those things where I just need to square my shoulders and face it someday. I don't like being a dying missionary. I have 4 weeks left to soldier on and it seems that as the time passes, I keep getting distracted by various "soon-to-be's", whatever they are. It doesn't help that other missionaries are asking me how it feels (because even I haven't figured that out yet) and if I have any "potentials" or "investigators" that need to be taken to "the mountain of the Lord" in short time, or what it is that I'm going to do, what I'm going to study or what my career path will be. I don't rightly know the answer to any of those questions and sometimes I wish I wasn't asked about it. At the end of the day it doesn't bother me- this is just one of those days. I usually work through it by just concentrating on being where I am in the moment; if I am on my bike headed to a lesson, then that is where my mind is, too. I am currently in a library emailing home, thus that is where I am and am not at the same time... paradox? Hence the torn feelings.

 

But all is well. As I was driving in the evening hours from Clare back to Port Pirie last night, the sun was blazing in a brilliant display of gold, which splashed with almost liquid-like quality over the scores of harvested wheat fields that splayed over the surrounding hills. The clouds, storm clouds to our aft, were a glorious scene of power and darkness, which contrasted superbly with the blue skies and white, tempered clouds to our left. We were playing a rendition of "Nearer My God to Thee", and I can honestly say that sometimes I feel closest to Heavenly Father when I am immersed in His creations. I have been exceptionally blessed with being able to see a lot more of 'Stralia than your average tourist, and I did the driving, not some trekky. Getting a good glimpse at that scene -storms and calm clashing in the most mild of ways- spelled out an interesting visual lesson that we've all been taught before: God is in control. "All flesh is in my hands; be still, and know that I am God. My ways are higher than your ways, even as my thoughts are higher than your thoughts." That's enough for me to get past all of the uncertainties that lie ahead.

 

I don't want this to turn into something that just drones on, though, so I think I should stop there on that subject. I am excited to see you all soon, but I'm trying not to get distracted by those thoughts. Something I learned from reading all those military books before I came out is that soldiers start making mistakes just before an operation finishes; they take it easy as their helicopters come in to pick them up, or they let their guard down when they see the armor roll in, and that's when they usually get killed. Relevant to missionary work, I can see the "chopper" coming in- it's up to me to be aware that the "fight" is almost over and I need to get ready for whatever comes next after I get on that chopper, but it is equally important for me to "keep my rifle down range and watch my sector" up until the last second, because if I don't, I might botz it hard.

 

There's my geek moment for the day, as well- some things don't change ;D

 

Love you heaps and hug you heaps!

-Elder Schomburg

[The following message arrived about three hours after the one above.  It was titled, "MIRACLES!"]

MUM!!!!

Okay, sorry so this just happened and I needed to tell you! Phil and Lynny just called up and asked us what more they had to do to be baptized. I explained that we needed to teach them a few more things, and that because they were reading, praying, attending church, and committing to live gospel standards that they were qualified and would be qualified for baptism after their next lessons.

So then Phil asked, "So in order to lock that date in, March 14, we just need to tell you that's the day?" And I said, "Yes, that's it, and we'll take care of the rest in regards to making it a formal baptismal service." Then he asked who could perform it and we told him anyone with the Priesthood could (his mate, President Armstrong, missionaries, members, etc). Then he told us that he and Lynny had just been discussing it and praying about it and there's no need for them to wait. Then he made me feel guilty and said, "You've just been so great, Elder Schomburg, and we want to get baptized before you go home." so I very quickly said, "That shouldn't pressure you though!" and he said, "No, it's time- there just isn't a need to wait and the only thing we'd be waiting for is our friends and they understand." So right now we're looking at March 13!!! Mum, March 13!!!! March 13 because they just texted with some new information, but MARCH 13!!!!

Mum, thank you for your prayers!! Keep praying!!! I'm going to fast like every day this week!!! I'm so excited and nervous and excited out of my mind!!!

I LOVE YOU!!!!

-Elder Jeffrey Schomburg

Bounce-Back... Week 99

G'day!

So, this felt like one of the longer weeks, to be honest. The thing is, these weeks feel like months, and the days feel like weeks, and irregardless of how I perceive time to be passing, it's still passing and the clock is ticking. Anyways, a few updates are in order!

First off, I have decided to title this letter in particular "Bounce-Back" because as we were sitting in transfer meeting, it was announced that I would be training. Elder Prouting was sitting behind me and he casually leaned forward and shook my hand and whispered, "Bounce-back, eh? The bounce-back." and we had a chuckle because trainers are the most trusted missionaries there are. President had already told me he trusted me after a past mistake was made, but this was the physical evidence. That, and President knows that not being distracted and enduring to the end is going to be my struggle, so I need incentive to endure well. All the new missionaries have always asked me with hope in their eyes, "Does waking up at 6:30 ever get easier?" to which I have been swift to say, "No, it never does." and I can honestly say that waking up on time has never been SO. DIFFICULT. That it's not even funny anymore. But my body is quite tired, and my spirit must be quite tired as well- my soul unit is tired, and I've decided that I want a time to relax and sleep when I get home. Not oversleep, but just sleep enough to catch up on all the lost sleep and recuperate from the rigors of missionary life.

Anyways, my companion is Elder Duabe from the Philippines! He is the first missionary companion I've had with whom I need to do language studies, believe it or not, and he's in training, so he needs an extra hour of study in the morning in addition to his hour of language study, which basically means we spend half the day in the flat studying! And he's doing most of the studying! I feel a bit badly for him- all that study is just... too meke'. I've tried to design our days so that we study up until 10AM, work for two hours, eat lunch at 12PM, and come back at 3-5PM for the rest of the studies. We usually eat tea at about 6 or 7PM depending on how the previous day was lined up. The idea is to not get bogged down with too many "to do" list items and be able to actually do missionary work as well.

Because of the slight language barrier, I'm finding that talking openly with him is a bit difficult; I've subconsciously fallen into this habit of not speaking as much because I'm not sure how well he will understand me, and no one wants to be talking to -in essence- the wall. BUT he needs to learn English, so we had a conversation about it last night and we've decided that I just need to speak anyways so he can at least hear the language. We've also decided that I should prioritize teaching him American English as opposed to Aussie English because I speak a mixture of the two, the Aussie's just speak the one and he doesn't understand it yet, so it would be better to speak the version of English that is easier to understand, and that's American English- the Aussie English will come with time.

He's 26, by the way... training him is so strange. He's very humble because I know the language and have been the missionary for longer, but at the same time, I don't really like directing someone who is older than my older brother... ya know? When I was being delivered, he was in Primary School, or whatever the equivalent is in the Philippines.

So about Phil and Lynny. They came to church again, as per the norm (we don't even have to ask them, they've just made it a part of their lives, along with the rest of the gospel). Due to our week-long stay in Adelaide (didn't get back to Port Pirie until Thursday night at 9PM... oh, I should tell you what took place with the driving situation...) we had missed out on teaching them on Tuesday and had to push ourThursday lesson back to Friday. So we showed up on Friday and taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ by using the pamphlet in coordination with reading 2 Nephi 31. Then we asked them if they've put any more thought into when it is exactly that they want to be baptized. They admitted to not having discussed it together, but they both feel as though they're ready, but they want their friend Ben to do it... in April. Nevertheless, we invited them to discuss and pray about it together, even with Ben if they wanted to, and consider March 7th and 14th as possible dates. We explained to them that we had been tracking the lessons on the calendar and that if all went according to plan, they could be baptized on those days. So they said they would talk and pray and discuss and we left it at that.

Now I don't want pressure them more than necessary to be baptized, and I want to do it for the right reason (i.e. delaying covenant making with the Lord is not wise... but worded politely and optimistically), but in my particular situation, it's difficult to do that because it might come across like I just want to baptize them before I come home. That is true, but I know that it's my job to present them with their options and teach the doctrine well enough that they will use their agency correctly, and after that, the rest is up to them and I have to respect their wishes. They've assured us that they want to be baptized, but they just really want Ben to do it. In April. Bugger.

So anyways, after church yesterday, we called them up and asked if we could come by to fix Elder Duabe's bike (Phil has a bit of a homemade bike shop in his car park that he told us we could use at anytime if we needed it). I know it was the Sabbath, but it was a case of "the ox is in the mire" and you have a lot of that as a missionary; the bike needed to be fixed and Sunday afternoon was the only time that was going to work with them. So we walked up and Phil patched the tube- we would've done it, and we actually tried to the night before, but we didn't do it correctly. He had the thing patched in ten minutes, only because the glue had to dry. As he patched the tube, he took the opportunity to ask some questions unrelated to lesson content. He asked us what we used when we first approached people to talk to them about our faith, and we basically taught him how to do missionary work. You see, he has older children from a past marriage that he wants to get involved in the gospel, but he doesn't know how to share it with them. Then he brought up baptism, and it's only been a day and a half since we talked about it, and he said (paraphrasing), "I'm really actually pretty keen to be baptized in March; I don't see why we should be waiting, we're both ready for it. I haven't told Lynny yet, and it's just that we have a tremendous amount of respect for Ben, you see, but I don't think he would mind us going forward with it in March. But we'll see what Lynny says about it."

Well, here's Lynny's standpoint: the night we taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ, she said that she's finding more and more reason for not putting it off, and that she would be largely in favor of being baptized in March... but she also doesn't want to offend Bishop Ben by having the ordinance performed by someone else. Fair enough. But she was more keen to be baptized in March than Phil was. He switched her thinking pretty easily, though (sly dog) and by the end of that night they were both willing to pray and discuss it further, but were mostly decided on April with Ben. Bugger.

Now you might all be thinking, "Wow, Elder Schomburg is just a selfish missionary for wanting them to be baptized sooner." You wouldn't be wrong; I can honestly admit that I would REALLY REALLY REALLY LOVE TO SEE THEM GET BAPTIZED BEFORE I GO HOME!!!! But it's like I said, my job is to simply teach the doctrine and help them to use their agency righteously. Now I understand that they really want their friend Ben to do it, and who wouldn't? And being as solid as they are, why shouldn't they get to wait until April when Bishop Ben could do it?

All we did was explain the dangers of doing so.

1) An apex of progression will be met before March 7th, most likely, in which they will cease to progress in their knowledge and spirituality because they will have been taught everything they need to know before baptism and confirmation, and there will be nothing more to aim for because they'll be keeping all the commitments they can be before being baptized and confirmed. They will in essence be living a gospel-centered life, doing all the "Need to Do" things, but be lacking in a very crucial ordinance of baptism and confirmation, the gateway to progressing towards accessing more of Heavenly Father's blessings (i.e. temple marriage and sealing as a family [one of their main objectives]).

2) The more time spent outside of making covenants with the Lord, yet having a knowledge about them, the more time Satan is left to tempt, try, and pull them towards unrighteous living. We pointed out that Satan was going to do everything he could to distract them from being baptized, regardless of when that was going to take place (March or April). They even admitted that they could see Satan working on them- small tiffs after church turned into arguments, and even with just our postponed absence from them because of being in Adelaide, they mentioned that they could see a slight spiritual decline. They even slacked on their scriptures and prayers, which was absolutely jaw-dropping to me. To be honest, they seemed almost a bit anxious about us not being able to see them as regularly planned because of our absence in Adelaide. But they did notice the spiritual decline, and that is because Satan HATES what they are doing, with all the power of thirty raging suns... it sounded cool in my head.

3) With those times of spiritual decline mounting up, eventually they will get to the point where they find other ways of spending their time that seem to make more sense to them than building an eternal family. That's when Satan has got them- when they become so distracted from fulfilling their goal that they never accomplish it.

And these are the things we warned them of. We did so in a way that was not designed to scare, intimidate, or scorn, but rather, to inform and warn, as is part of an evangelist's mandate as put forth by Paul. They assured us that they wouldn't let that happen... but they did admit that they wanted to be baptized sooner than later.

So we'll see where it all goes.

For now, I've got to go.  This is the mission life! xD

Love you all heaps, let me know how you are please =D

-eLdEr ScHoMbUrG

Final Round... Week 98

G'day blokes and shiela's, mates and bro's!

As the title may have eluded to, this is the beginning of the end of Elder Schomburg's last six weeks as a missionary. Transfer information came last night and Elder Barnes is packing- I'm not sure who my companion is yet but I'll know by tomorrow morning.

First, an update of the week's events. We received a phone call this week from Sister Hannan, one of our office missionaries. She was calling in to tell us that we had received a referral from Church headquarters, which is about as rare as finding a cut diamond in your backyard. The man we were meant to contact was named Alex. He had been discussing various faiths with his two missionary mates (one serving in Argentina, the other in Alaska) and had finally decided to check out Mormon.org. He began chatting with a sister missionary who started brief discussions with him- nothing too in depth. Eventually she went home but continued to keep up with him, working on sharing the gospel with him regardless of her lack of assignment to do so. She referred him to our mission office, which she informed him would help him come into contact with missionaries in person to be taught properly.

That's where we come in. Alex lives about 10k's outside of a small town called Clare. It's about an hour and a half drive from Port Pirie to Clare, but after speaking briefly over the phone with him, my companion and I set up a time to go see him on Saturday. We departed Saturday morning, met him in a busy street in Clare's town centre, walked to a cafe, and proceeded to talk for the space of three hours. That's a lot of time to be talking, but I could tell you just about everything you need to know about Alex and then some. We taught the Restoration for about thirty minutes and the rest of it was spent mainly getting to know each other and swapping manly stories (Alex is 21, so that makes it a bit easier to make friends). Turns out he is the most American Aussie I've ever met; he likes guns, he likes trucks, he loves muscle cars, he wants to join the military and if he can, he wants to move to America and join our military. He is about the easiest guy there is to talk to and definitely easy to have a laugh with.

His interest in the Church was this: he had done a fair amount of church surfing (according to him, he had "attended every single church in all of South Australia) because he values a relationship with God. He was perplexed by how it was possible that so many different churches existed and stemmed from the teachings of a single compilation of the same scriptures (the Bible) and yet taught so many contradicting things. He got himself kicked out of one church because he wanted to date a particular girl, but apparently he needed the pastor's permission to do so and he hadn't obtained it, so he was excommunicated and they made repentance for him nigh well near impossible. That's when he started taking his missionary mates up on their offers to learn more about the Latter-Day Saints. At the end of our lesson, he committed to be baptized though we set no specific date- because of distance, we're not sure how often we'll be able to see him and teach him what he needs to know before baptism, but at least he is completely willing and accepting of the doctrine behind baptism. He's been baptized before into other congregations, but he understands the link between the Priesthood and saving ordinances very well, which made it easy for him to commit. We told him we want him to know the truthfulness of our message for himself by exploring it and asking God if it was true, to which he responded, "I'll do it, but just telling you now, the fact that you came all the way out here just for me shows me a lot about who you are and how important your message is- I'll believe whatever you say based on that." Sounds a bit like King Lamoni and Ammon, if you're familiar with your scriptures. So now we've got three investigators who are genuine seekers of truth... blessings.

We had interviews with President Carter over the phone this past week as well, and President and I have a pretty tight relationship. As in all my relationships, I'm fairly honest with what I say and how I feel about things (honest to fault, as worded by some ;D) and we got to talking on very real terms, President and me. He expressed his own experience with trying to remain focused even though he already has movers coming in and out of his home and he has to start thinking about taking over his past businesses once again (he departs for home in June, but we all know he'll be one of the Seventy). I felt it appropriate to tell him how I felt as well. At the start of my mission, I was so popular; everyone was writing me all the time, I got mail like it was nobody's business, and there was just a buzz of excitement. The mission life continued and only a few faithfuls continued to keep up with me, and now that the mission is ending, there's a buzz, and it's exciting, and everyone wants to get geared up for my long awaited return. I love it all, but I was a bit torn that morning during my personal study- do I study for being a missionary, or do I do what my mission has taught me and start planning ahead so that I'm not the guy that gets home and says, "Now what?" I told this to President and he gave me a challenge, invited me to do something: every P-Day that I have left, I am to take an hour or two and set goals and make plans for coming home. He told me there's no shame in that and it is not disconnected. The trick is, he said, turning those thoughts off the rest of the week and working hard until the next P-Day. Easier said than done, President, but I'm not one to back away from a challenge.

So as I was preparing my last planner last night, I decided to stick with what I have done my entire mission. On every planner there is a space to write where your current area is, and on every one, I have written "Round One" or "Round Two" or however long it is that I was in the area, starting over every time I went to a new area. I wrote on the small line in the front page of my last planner, titled "Transfer XVII" on the top of the front page, "Port Pirie (Final Round)". I shouldn't have put that down. Perhaps it was because it was nighttime and I give myself leeway to ponder on anything I want to, or perhaps it was the fairly solemn music that was playing in the background (that's what happens when you don't DJ) that provoked such thoughts, but irregardless of the cause, I felt a huge surge of... I'm not sure what. That heart crushing, overly excited, anxiously nervous feeling that splits your heart in two overtook me and I suddenly had that feeling that I did right before I left for the mission field. Nevertheless, I went into one of my studies this week and asked the Lord, "What more would You have me do before I leave this place?" and I got this most calm and gentle reassurance as I turned to my scriptures. Basically, I learned that my service has been acceptable to the Lord, and that all there is left to do is to do what I have been doing to the very end. I intend to. And thus I can sleep easy at night.

I love you all and will write again soon.

-Elder Schomburg  

Elder Callahan and Elder Schomburg
Wentworth Dunes near Mildura

Wentworth Dunes - Mildura

Art Shot

Fish 'n Chips

Elder Schomburg and Elder Barnes

Goofy Elders
On their way to a service project

It's what Elders do

Off they go...

More Miracles and the Most Repulsive Thing I've Ever Laid Eyes On... Week 97

How's that for a subject title!? My Mum and I are running out of ideas (104 weeks is a lot of weeks to title, and it's not even 104 yet xD).

So I just finished writing my mission president, and what I wrote him best sums up what I was going to write home in the first place! So you get to read what I wrote to him, and hopefully it turns out alright. Sorry it's not tailor-made but time is so precious! This is in regards to the new investigators we have, btw.

"We went over to their (investigators Phil and Lyn and children) home and ended up teaching them about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon in the same night. That is a completely unorthodox thing to do but we felt so impressed to do so- they've had eight years of exposure to a bishop being their best mate in Queensland, and Phil and Lyn told us that they have morning prayers themselves, then they hold family prayers with their little ones, and they even held their own FHE (Family Home Evening) this past Monday, at no suggestion from us or anyone in the Port Pirie Branch. They actually had the Book of Mormon on electronic format, so really we were just teaching them about it according to the manner of missionaries and giving them their own hard copies for study. We taught them how to STUDY the Book of Mormon, not just read it- they looked at me and my companion's marked scriptures and it made them want to study their own books in such a fashion. They had a notepad and pen right there to ask questions, and they ask VERY good questions. I meant to ask you about one because they actually asked us a question that I wasn't sure how to answer, and that hasn't happened in a while (mainly because teaching is rare and good questions are even more so).
"I know you've been a mission president for longer than I've been a missionary, but in my service thus far, I haven't seen anyone so prepared as these investigators- "Bishop Ben" as we know him by did a REALLY good job with this family. Phil has a lot of questions, but none of them are nit-picking; he is a perfect example of what it means to be an honest truth seeker. Lyn is sold; she is the driest Mormon I've come across and both of them want to be baptized. Our lesson was so unorthodox, I've never taught anything like that before. They were asking us how many lessons there were, how much time we had to teach, what needed to be taught first- they were basically setting it up for us to design the overall discussion process and conversion experience with them. We told them that as missionaries we could help them to prepare and know what they needed to know to be baptized in 3-4 weeks time, but if that didn't suit them, we would follow their lead. They want their bishop in Queensland to baptize them, but the soonest he could come to Port Pirie would be in April. Phil and Lyn are discussing it, but that's why they're not on date- we're leaving it to them to decide on when they want to make such a covenant because they already want to make it.
"They came to church again and we attended the Gospel Doctrine (Sunday school) class instead (Elder Barnes and I felt that they felt a bit... out of place and uncomfortable? when they were in our Gospel Principles class; everyone else was in the chapel learning and we were in there with our branch mission leader.). They had good questions and the whole branch was sympathetic to their learning. There's a buzz in the branch now and everyone wants to get to know them and take them in and support them and answer questions- it's been a miracle to witness the branch adopt them as their own. Honestly, President, if you came down here and came to church, you wouldn't be able to tell Phil and Lyn apart from anyone else. Well, you could because I know you're inspired like that, but no one else could.
"Sorry to go on about that for so long- I love golden investigators, they get me so excited! Elder Barnes and I are doing very well- he's young but he's willing to learn and he's taking in a lot. He's grown a lot since when I first met him and he'll be a sharp missionary in your quiver and the Lord's. He studies the Book of Mormon religiously -as he should- and he's always looking for ways to improve. He's easy to get along with, he has standards and lives by the mission rules, and he loves the mission."

So you have a glimmer of what went down this past week. Phil and Lyn are my new best friends and I love them! And they love us, too, which is great! Straight up, I've never really had investigators like this before. Mick would be the only one who I can say was up to par with Phil and Lyn as far as actual desire to learn and change goes. I haven't had many investigators who have been baptized, but I know that Mick and Phil and Lyn will all be those ones that will help build up Gods' kingdom on earth, because they are just that solid.

And now onto this most disgusting thing ever- I received my flight information today... ask me how I feel, I dare you. For the next 20 minutes I will continue to have this gut-wrenching feeling, and then I think it'll switch to a trunky excited, and then it will switch back, and so on and so forth until it is time for me to give President a hug, step on that plane, and come home.

I love being a missionary. I love getting to do crazy things like walk down the streets, approach random strangers, spark conversation and God-willing, teach some Words of Life. There is nothing better that I could be doing right now at this point in my life. But I am excited to come home and catch up with everyone I need to... I love you all and I hope this is somewhat spiritually uplifting!

-Elder Schomburg