Mom,
Happy New Year!
I was so excited to get to talk with you on Christmas! I hope you write me and tell me how everything went, preferably a dearelder so it doesn’t take forever for me to read. Thanks for the Skiing Santa ornament. It reminds me of home. I miss skiing, but there is no snow here, so not much of a chance. I’m glad to see that you got to go as a family! That is awesome! I wish I could have been there. That is my favorite Christmas tradition.
I have only received two of your packages, but I did receive one from Grandma Schenk. Tell her thank you for me. I got it in district meeting from the Zone Leaders, and the candy didn’t make home. But it was really good! The sweet hot mustard is amazing! l love it! So thank you Grandma! Also tell her I am praying for her.
I have been to the hospital 3 times in the last 3 days. The hospital is about 45 min away. My companion has an infection in his toe and needed surgery. We tried the ER Monday, but they couldn’t do it. So yesterday we went to the clinic and set an appointment for today. And then this morning he got half his toenail chopped off. Success! We get to go back Saturday and Tuesday for a check up and to get the bandage changed.
I was thinking about President Monson's call for more missionaries in General Conference and decided that I have the ability to help that call and to do more. Would you please donate the money I have in savings to the missionary fund for me? I don’t know how much is in there, so just leave enough that I can buy a few things here and there on my mission. I’ll try not to spend over my limit that they give me and only spend it on personal items. The money isn’t doing me any good here and if I could help just one more missionary, I would be satisfied. I was talking to the mission president’s wife today while Elder Felipe was in surgery and she talked about the importance of one missionary. If one missionary gets sent home, it has a huge impact. The area they are in gets closed and the work there stops. They want to open up some new areas here in our mission, but don’t have the missionaries until mid next year, and if anyone gets sent home then that will be bumped back and the Lords work stops moving forward there. One missionary is SO important. Try to get everyone on a mission you can. The Lord needs us right now. Christ cannot come until we prepare the people. So let’s get to work!
We have one investigator right now who is doing great! His original baptismal date was for Christmas day, but we were not able to teach him everything before then. So he got bumped back to the 8th of January. He was disappointed. He came to church this last week alone even though his member sister did not. That was a huge success as well. He always is prepared to learn. So many people here finish what they are doing before we can teach them. The missionaries really aren’t that special to them. But Restley drops whatever he is doing, grabs his Book of Mormon and is ready to learn. It is AWESOME! He is going to be a great member! I am excited!
Other than that our investigators are:
Kokoy (Restley’s brother)
Johnley
Leah
Noey
Macmac
They could use all the prayers we can give them.
Thanks for all you are doing. I love you all!
Love,
Elder Schenk
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
December 21, 2010
Merry Christmas Everyone!
I’m glad you got my package. Go ahead and open it. There is some food on the outside, some little things popular here. They use a lot of drink mix. All of them you can just buy at little stores people have at their houses where they resell food. There are usually a few in every neighborhood.
I have gotten two packages so far. Thanks! The only thing I can think to have you send that you wouldn't think of is dental floss. They have 2 kinds here and they are hard to find. They cost over $3 for a small roll! The one I bought was cheaper, but it doesn't work well. It won’t slide between your teeth. It is kind of sticky. Not good. Thanks for the umbrella. It is sweet!
So Carcar is much bigger than Carmen. It has some big stores, restaurants and some good stuff. A lot more Americans too. We have an American and a French man in our ward, the American is an inactive bishop and the French man is in the bishopric. We have a ward of about 100 active members. The spirit is so much stronger here than in Carmen. I like it. Brother Fransue, the French guy has a big sweet house and worked for some space company in France. He went to a shuttle lift off once in California for work. I discovered last night that he is a genius! He has a music studio with tons of guitars that he built himself with speakers he made. He writes music all the time and plays all the parts and sings and they sound like professional recordings. It’s amazing!
We have 3 investigators committed with a baptismal date. They are all for January. Hopefully they will all pull though. They are Johnly, Kokoy and Krisnel.
I am sorry to hear about Grandma Schenk. I hope she gets better. Tell her I love her for me.
And tell Katie and Josh Merry Christmas for me! I was going to send them a card, but 3 weeks ago I forgot. I could send one now but it wouldn’t get there till the end of January.
I am excited to talk to you all face to face in 3 days! Have lots of questions for me!
Love you all!
Elder Schenk
I’m glad you got my package. Go ahead and open it. There is some food on the outside, some little things popular here. They use a lot of drink mix. All of them you can just buy at little stores people have at their houses where they resell food. There are usually a few in every neighborhood.
I have gotten two packages so far. Thanks! The only thing I can think to have you send that you wouldn't think of is dental floss. They have 2 kinds here and they are hard to find. They cost over $3 for a small roll! The one I bought was cheaper, but it doesn't work well. It won’t slide between your teeth. It is kind of sticky. Not good. Thanks for the umbrella. It is sweet!
So Carcar is much bigger than Carmen. It has some big stores, restaurants and some good stuff. A lot more Americans too. We have an American and a French man in our ward, the American is an inactive bishop and the French man is in the bishopric. We have a ward of about 100 active members. The spirit is so much stronger here than in Carmen. I like it. Brother Fransue, the French guy has a big sweet house and worked for some space company in France. He went to a shuttle lift off once in California for work. I discovered last night that he is a genius! He has a music studio with tons of guitars that he built himself with speakers he made. He writes music all the time and plays all the parts and sings and they sound like professional recordings. It’s amazing!
We have 3 investigators committed with a baptismal date. They are all for January. Hopefully they will all pull though. They are Johnly, Kokoy and Krisnel.
I am sorry to hear about Grandma Schenk. I hope she gets better. Tell her I love her for me.
And tell Katie and Josh Merry Christmas for me! I was going to send them a card, but 3 weeks ago I forgot. I could send one now but it wouldn’t get there till the end of January.
I am excited to talk to you all face to face in 3 days! Have lots of questions for me!
Love you all!
Elder Schenk
This is a breakfast food, it's good. It tastes like tapioca.
The first page of the scrapbook.
A coin purse made by the mother of the YW president, and some pesos.
Dried, salted fish. You freshen it in water, deep fry it and dip it in vinegar and chiles.
Devin says it's delicious!
A "Where's Waldo" look a like tie Devin found bought from a street vendor. It's awesome!
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
December 14, 2010
Mom,
Merry Christmas!
So I transferred this last week. I am now in Carcar. It is bigger than Carmen was. It has a few good sized stores. My companion Elder Felipe goes home at the end of this transfer, so I am in Cebu right now. He just got x-rays. We have to come back tomorrow for zone conference. I think I will get to see some of my batch from the mtc there. That is exciting. I also love getting to learn from President Hansen. He is an amazing man.
I sent you an email about calling home from Sister Hansen. I will either call or skype around 11 am our time on the 25th, Christmas. I think that is about 5pm your time Christmas Eve. Next week in your email could you tell me if you are able to do skype. If not a phone call will definitely do just fine.
For our zone conference we were assigned to read John from the Bible. I finished last night. That was an amazing experience for me. There were a few parts where the spirit was really strong and I could really feel the Saviors love for the people. But I think the biggest impact was when I was done and thinking back. I have gained such a love for the Savior by spending just that little bit of time studying his life. He really did love everyone, and He is such a good example of following the will of the Father. I have gained such a love for him and everything that has done for me.
I also read Elder Jeffery R. Holland’s talk last night on being grateful. He is such a humble man. I feel I have need as well to be more grateful. So thank you all for all you have done for me. Thank you Mom and Dad for being the greatest parents. I don't know any better than you two. I have also heard Diane, Katie, and Eric say the same thing. In the mouth of two witnesses right? Well we have four. You are the very best. The only ones who could possibly be better are Katie and Josh, your offspring, but they aren’t parents yet. So you are still in the number one spot. Thank you to you Katie and Josh, and you Diane and Dennis for your great examples. For being married in the temple and living righteously, for serving missions and being worthy. I love you all. Thank you Eric for being such a great younger brother, a great example, and one of the best friends I could ever have. Thanks to my leaders of youth. To Kevin Allen, Jeff Komar, Ben MacKay, Kathy Thurmond. Each of you have played a part in shaping me into the person I have become. Each of you showed me the way to Christ by your example and teachings. Thank you so much. Thank you Grandma Schenk and Grandma Hart for being strong in the church and raising my parents in righteousness.
I am so grateful for this Christmas season and the opportunity we have to look towards the Savior. I love Him so much. He has done so much for each of us. I love learning about Him in the scriptures, and someday look forward to being able to learn from Him in person, to have that pure knowledge poured into me. I love Him so much.
I got both of your Christmas packages this week! Thanks so much! I now have a 2 foot tall paper Christmas tree on my table. It is great! So thank you for that.
We have 4 investigators with a baptismal date, one just had some hard issues to work out though, so that might be postponed. They are:
Johnley
Felix - Is having some problems
Resly
Popoy
They could use as many prayers as we can give them. Satan is always working double time on those who are trying to change their lives for the better. So let’s give them all the help we can from Heaven.
Thanks for all your love and support and prayers for me. I am really grateful for all you have done for me.
Sending Christmas love and joy from the Philippines,
Elder Schenk
Merry Christmas!
So I transferred this last week. I am now in Carcar. It is bigger than Carmen was. It has a few good sized stores. My companion Elder Felipe goes home at the end of this transfer, so I am in Cebu right now. He just got x-rays. We have to come back tomorrow for zone conference. I think I will get to see some of my batch from the mtc there. That is exciting. I also love getting to learn from President Hansen. He is an amazing man.
I sent you an email about calling home from Sister Hansen. I will either call or skype around 11 am our time on the 25th, Christmas. I think that is about 5pm your time Christmas Eve. Next week in your email could you tell me if you are able to do skype. If not a phone call will definitely do just fine.
For our zone conference we were assigned to read John from the Bible. I finished last night. That was an amazing experience for me. There were a few parts where the spirit was really strong and I could really feel the Saviors love for the people. But I think the biggest impact was when I was done and thinking back. I have gained such a love for the Savior by spending just that little bit of time studying his life. He really did love everyone, and He is such a good example of following the will of the Father. I have gained such a love for him and everything that has done for me.
I also read Elder Jeffery R. Holland’s talk last night on being grateful. He is such a humble man. I feel I have need as well to be more grateful. So thank you all for all you have done for me. Thank you Mom and Dad for being the greatest parents. I don't know any better than you two. I have also heard Diane, Katie, and Eric say the same thing. In the mouth of two witnesses right? Well we have four. You are the very best. The only ones who could possibly be better are Katie and Josh, your offspring, but they aren’t parents yet. So you are still in the number one spot. Thank you to you Katie and Josh, and you Diane and Dennis for your great examples. For being married in the temple and living righteously, for serving missions and being worthy. I love you all. Thank you Eric for being such a great younger brother, a great example, and one of the best friends I could ever have. Thanks to my leaders of youth. To Kevin Allen, Jeff Komar, Ben MacKay, Kathy Thurmond. Each of you have played a part in shaping me into the person I have become. Each of you showed me the way to Christ by your example and teachings. Thank you so much. Thank you Grandma Schenk and Grandma Hart for being strong in the church and raising my parents in righteousness.
I am so grateful for this Christmas season and the opportunity we have to look towards the Savior. I love Him so much. He has done so much for each of us. I love learning about Him in the scriptures, and someday look forward to being able to learn from Him in person, to have that pure knowledge poured into me. I love Him so much.
I got both of your Christmas packages this week! Thanks so much! I now have a 2 foot tall paper Christmas tree on my table. It is great! So thank you for that.
We have 4 investigators with a baptismal date, one just had some hard issues to work out though, so that might be postponed. They are:
Johnley
Felix - Is having some problems
Resly
Popoy
They could use as many prayers as we can give them. Satan is always working double time on those who are trying to change their lives for the better. So let’s give them all the help we can from Heaven.
Thanks for all your love and support and prayers for me. I am really grateful for all you have done for me.
Sending Christmas love and joy from the Philippines,
Elder Schenk
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
December 7, 2010
Family,
I have news this week! I am transferring on Friday to Carcar. It is in Talisay zone. My new companion is going to be Elder Falipe. So I will be spending Christmas down south. I don’t know exactly where it is. I haven’t been home since we found out in out zone activity this morning. Good news there too! We played Book of Mormon Jeopardy and my companion and I won! Sweet! Our prize was that we got to be the first to find out where we are transferring. We are both transferring actually. Sisters are going to be in this area. They were here once before, up until the beginning of this year.
Thanks for telling me about following the Prophet Dad. That is the same advice the mission President just sent me actually. I was talking about the new fundamentals of Preach My Gospel, the new teaching program for missionaries, and he told me that it is directly from the Prophet and that we need to make sure we follow it. It is amazing, but is hard to follow. There are so many parts that take time to adapt you to and make a habit, like asking inspired questions, and better following up on commitments. One of the new parts is to commit people to baptism on the first lesson. President Hansen says to commit them whether the spirit is there or not, simply because that is what the Prophet has told us to do. It works great. If people are just interested in listening and aren’t willing to change their life for the gospel, then we know in the first lesson and spend our time more effectively in other places. I hope soon I can fully apply all of the aspects. Some take so long to get good at. It is great to be learning all of these things. I love it!
We have one investigator with a baptismal date, his name is Rico Usabel. We have been teaching Leonardo, 16 years old, and his family, but haven’t been able to teach them lately because of scheduling conflicts.
We are also teaching Winda and her daughter.
We have many inactive members. These ones could also use your prayers.
Banzone Family
Brother Taoy
Sios-e Family
Ibanes Family
Juny Bentoy
Thank you so much for all of your prayers and mail missionary work or fulfilling your church callings or any kind of service you are doing. The Lord needs all He can to help bring in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ right now. Let’s all work hard for Him this Christmas season. Spread the greatest blessing we have and the richest gift we can give, the Love of Christ, His gospel, and the Book of Mormon which testifies of Him. If we do that, each of our Christmases will be filled with joy, peace and love. Dad, you said that the home is filled with a peaceful spirit right now. Imagine how much greater it could be if the gospel was being taught to your friends and family in your home. The Lord wants to bless us. We just have to do our part. Never under estimate the power of prayer. I had 12 different things I had been praying for answered on Sunday. The Lord really does hear our prayers and always answers our sincere ones, just sometimes in His time, not ours. Be patient. Blessings always come.
Love you all! Maayong Pasco! (Merry Christmas!),
Elder Schenk
I have news this week! I am transferring on Friday to Carcar. It is in Talisay zone. My new companion is going to be Elder Falipe. So I will be spending Christmas down south. I don’t know exactly where it is. I haven’t been home since we found out in out zone activity this morning. Good news there too! We played Book of Mormon Jeopardy and my companion and I won! Sweet! Our prize was that we got to be the first to find out where we are transferring. We are both transferring actually. Sisters are going to be in this area. They were here once before, up until the beginning of this year.
Thanks for telling me about following the Prophet Dad. That is the same advice the mission President just sent me actually. I was talking about the new fundamentals of Preach My Gospel, the new teaching program for missionaries, and he told me that it is directly from the Prophet and that we need to make sure we follow it. It is amazing, but is hard to follow. There are so many parts that take time to adapt you to and make a habit, like asking inspired questions, and better following up on commitments. One of the new parts is to commit people to baptism on the first lesson. President Hansen says to commit them whether the spirit is there or not, simply because that is what the Prophet has told us to do. It works great. If people are just interested in listening and aren’t willing to change their life for the gospel, then we know in the first lesson and spend our time more effectively in other places. I hope soon I can fully apply all of the aspects. Some take so long to get good at. It is great to be learning all of these things. I love it!
We have one investigator with a baptismal date, his name is Rico Usabel. We have been teaching Leonardo, 16 years old, and his family, but haven’t been able to teach them lately because of scheduling conflicts.
We are also teaching Winda and her daughter.
We have many inactive members. These ones could also use your prayers.
Banzone Family
Brother Taoy
Sios-e Family
Ibanes Family
Juny Bentoy
Thank you so much for all of your prayers and mail missionary work or fulfilling your church callings or any kind of service you are doing. The Lord needs all He can to help bring in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ right now. Let’s all work hard for Him this Christmas season. Spread the greatest blessing we have and the richest gift we can give, the Love of Christ, His gospel, and the Book of Mormon which testifies of Him. If we do that, each of our Christmases will be filled with joy, peace and love. Dad, you said that the home is filled with a peaceful spirit right now. Imagine how much greater it could be if the gospel was being taught to your friends and family in your home. The Lord wants to bless us. We just have to do our part. Never under estimate the power of prayer. I had 12 different things I had been praying for answered on Sunday. The Lord really does hear our prayers and always answers our sincere ones, just sometimes in His time, not ours. Be patient. Blessings always come.
Love you all! Maayong Pasco! (Merry Christmas!),
Elder Schenk
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