July 27, 2017

First week in the field

Thank you all so much for those emails! I'm doing great out here! The first couple of days were hard because I didn't know much and I didn't know anybody. But I'm feeling better now that I've been out here for a bit. The tracting was the hardest part at first. Because we went to some crappy trailer parks and saw some pretty sad people and they wanted nothing to do with us. So that was hard but by the time I got home and ate some food I felt a little better haha. But now tracting is a bit easier because I've studied and done lots of training to make myself more ready and be a little more bold.

I can already  see how I'm getting strengthened and my testimony is getting stronger. I'm learning so much, my mind is like a sponge right now, it's crazy how the mission turns you into a spiritual bank. It takes a lot of work but it's very possible to see miracles happen. On top of miracles I'm spoiled! We stay in a members home in their basement, It's so nice. And we drive a nice Chevy Cruze, and I have this iPad, haha I have more stuff here than I did at home! The members feed us well and they are all so giving, it's a blessing.

My companion is awesome. He can be a bit rowdy and crazy sometimes but it's what I need when I'm feeling down. He's great at training, he knows what he's doing, I'm thankful for him. It's my preparation day today so I had some time to look back and see how things went, and to be honest, we didn't have much success all week. We only had 2 potential investigators out of 43 people we saw. But the strange thing is that I'm happy! Just doing the work brings joy even without much success. Being put in awkward situations and having to learn to just get over it and mature up makes the daily life challenges seem like a piece of cake. Cause if I can have a high old stoner man tell me to get lost I can definitely make my bed and do my laundry. (And cook my own food too, just for you mom). It's just getting over that hump that you have to be a big kid now is the hard part, and I think I'm getting over that hill already in just a few days. But like I said, I'm pretty spoiled so I haven't had it hard yet. And I still will have hard things ahead, I know it.

I see a lot of missionaries I know here. My MTC comp is in the area next to me and the missionary that took me to the MTC from the Salt Lake airport is in the ward next to me! So I love seeing people I know here. And there are a few of missionaries from Az here too. I met Elder Brock who is from the same ward as us in the valley, he's awesome, he's a stud haha. And I just got back from my first in home lesson with a lady named Jennifer. Wow. That was so cool. She was a prime example of how the Lord prepares people for us. She already said she would be baptized next month! She said she was looking for a religion to join and she didn't know which one so we told her the restoration and the Joseph Smith story. It perfectly applied to her, she started crying and she wanted to know more and she wanted to read the Book of Mormon too. It was so cool, it's hard to put into words, but it was so inspired of God, I just know it. So that was my first taste of success and its amazing. It doesn't always work that well but when it does, it's unforgettable. Ok that's all I have for this week, I love and miss you guys! You're all in my prayers. I hope things go well for you all this week! Keep staying strong!

     -Elder Schneider