Mom,
My apartment is good. It is new and clean and HUGE! We have one of the biggest houses of anyone in the ward, and there are only two of us. But it’s nice. The only problem is that the nozzles in the bathroom pop off every once in a while and the entire bathroom gets soaked while you try to screw it back on. Other than that, and the long walk to the downstairs bathroom in the middle of the night, I love it!
The food here has been good. We have been fed well by the members here. We usually get at least three meals per week, but lately it has been more. This week we got fed last night, and have a dinner appointment with the bishop tomorrow, dinner on Friday at the Flores family, Lunch Saturday at the Ortega Family, dinner Saturday at the Kabunkal Family, and dinner Sunday at the Weller Family. YAY FREE FOOD! We have been cooking a lot at home, and last week for the first time, we bought no canned food. That was great!
Francois, the rich guy from France is good. He wants us to come over so that he can record Elder Mera playing a song on the guitar, but the problem is he just started working every Wednesday at the temple until almost 5. Wednesday is p-day and it ends at 5. But we are going over there today at 4 to play. Hopefully he gets home early.
Our investigators are doing well, they just need to come to church. They always have things that come up that keep them from coming. We have one, Rescy, who really wants to come, but every week is either sick, or her baby is sick, or some other unavoidable unexpected problem arises. Last night we watched Finding Faith in Christ at her home. That was great. The spirit was so strong and both she and her member brother Resly were touched. We had a great discussion after which we shared some scriptures about Christ and then bore our testimonies. I loved it.
We have another investigator who is the daughter in law of an inactive family. She has had the lessons before and is super excited about the gospel. She studied her assignment and could almost quote the answers to our questions from the lesson 1 pamphlet. That was great.
Thanks for all that you all do. Sure love you!
Elder Schenk
Dad,
That’s great that you got to hear from the missionary about Elder Clark! I love that guy! We had a lot of fun together. If you get a chance to talk to him, tell him I said hi and that he needs to write me. Tell him also that I followed his advice and am not bugoy. He will be glad to hear that. He had a big impact on the way I do missionary work, even though we were only companions for a short time.
I am so glad that Eric gets to go to conference! I loved those trips. The Sunday morning session at Bishop MacKay’s mother’s house where she cooks breakfast is amazing! He's going to love it. I miss those good ol' days.
Thanks for all your encouragement dad. Sure love you! I was looking through pictures last night and saw a picture of you and Eric and Bishop Atkinson at Britney’s farewell party. I respect those three men so much. You mean so much to me. Thank you for always being the good example for me. You always held your priesthood with honor. That is a problem here. Even some of the very first members here who have been sealed in the temple would rather have the missionaries bless their families. It is so sad to see them miss out on those great experiences. If only they knew the joy that would come. You were always ready. I'm so glad that I had that great example in my life. Thank you Dad. See you in a year and 2 months!
Love you tons,
Elder Schenk
Eric,
It is so good to hear from you. You are becoming a man and not just the little kid I call my little brother, nor are you little anymore. I can see it in the way you write and in how mom and dad talk about you. I don’t read a lot in D&C so off the top of my head I don’t know. My advice would be to spend time each day in the Book of Mormon. All the standard works are important, but a prophet said we should know the Book of Mormon better than any other book. Maybe you could read a little of both. My all time favorite story in the Book of Mormon is Moroni and his time period. He was the captain of all the armies and Teancum and Helaman and Lehi were some of the other leaders. To fully understand their story you would have to read Alma 48-62, but that would take a long time. But you can read about the invisible army. Read Alma 56:56; 57:25; 58:59 about the army of Helaman and Alma 49:23 and 62:26 about the army of Moroni. Then read Alma 56:47-48; 57:20,26; and 58:40. That should excite you. Then apply it to your life. Next week I’ll give you something to read in D&C.
Keep learning in physics. You will need that knowledge if you are going to create worlds someday, And if you endure to the end you will end up with that opportunity. You will have to learn it sometime. Now is a great time. I love to learn now. Elder Mera and I spend all of our free time reading the different church books we have, treasuring up knowledge continually (D&C 84:85). I love it.
Take care buddy. Good luck in you soccer. Enjoy General Conference. I won’t get to hear it until the next week, because Saturday here is still Friday there.
Love you!
Elder Schenk
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
March 22, 2011
Mom,
Thank you for your letter. One of the great problems among missionaries is motivation. For two years you do the same thing every day, and have the same exact schedule every week. The only change is new people and new companions and new areas. It is so important to grasp the importance of the work. When Elder Cook was here he talked about the serious responsibility that we have here in the Cebu Philippines Mission because of the temple that is here, and that we need to take this responsibility seriously. We have been successful in this area, but really it’s not hard. The lessons and golden investigators just come. We can meet all of the standards and not even work that hard. There is so much room for improvement in my work. I need to continually keep myself focused on the work and remember to do it for the Lord. Each of the people here will eventually have the opportunity to receive the gospel. I want as many as possible to hear it from me.
We had an experience teaching an investigator last night where we asked what she had learned from her reading assignment. She taught us almost the entire lesson we were going to teach her! She had learned so much from her reading and understood it really well. After she was done I looked at Elder Mera and he looked at me and I said, well that about sums it up. We can close now. We did teach her and she did end up leaning. She really is a golden investigator. That was amazing. We also gave her a blessing last week. When she recovered from her illness she thanked us for healing her and said that if she hadn't received the blessing that she might still be sick. Her testimony is so strong, partially from watching the change the gospel has made in the life of her brother, who I was able to baptize in February.
Could you please find out the address for the California Rosevil Mission for me? I met Elder Mulleneaux in the mtc and I want to write him, but don’t have his address.
Sure love you all! Tell the third ward thank you for sending me the Valentine ’s Day package. I loved all the letters. It is good to hear from them all. The Big Brown Heart was great! And brother and Sister Wilson, those chocolates were amazing!
Love,
Elder Schenk
Eric,
Yes you go and get some dinner. It’s weird to think that you just sent this 6 min ago and I am about to have lunch on your tomorrow. It’s 11:23 AM here. I’m glad your soccer team is doing so well. Good luck! Let me know when you get that goal. I’ll be cheering for you from the Philippines.
I’m glad you are excited about your mission. You will learn so much, especially if you go foreign like me. Everything is different and the adjustment changes you into a much better person. As you come unto the Lord you can see your faults, and then have the opportunity to work on them and slowly become like Christ. Keep up the good work. Sure love you buddy!
Elder Schenk
Thank you for your letter. One of the great problems among missionaries is motivation. For two years you do the same thing every day, and have the same exact schedule every week. The only change is new people and new companions and new areas. It is so important to grasp the importance of the work. When Elder Cook was here he talked about the serious responsibility that we have here in the Cebu Philippines Mission because of the temple that is here, and that we need to take this responsibility seriously. We have been successful in this area, but really it’s not hard. The lessons and golden investigators just come. We can meet all of the standards and not even work that hard. There is so much room for improvement in my work. I need to continually keep myself focused on the work and remember to do it for the Lord. Each of the people here will eventually have the opportunity to receive the gospel. I want as many as possible to hear it from me.
We had an experience teaching an investigator last night where we asked what she had learned from her reading assignment. She taught us almost the entire lesson we were going to teach her! She had learned so much from her reading and understood it really well. After she was done I looked at Elder Mera and he looked at me and I said, well that about sums it up. We can close now. We did teach her and she did end up leaning. She really is a golden investigator. That was amazing. We also gave her a blessing last week. When she recovered from her illness she thanked us for healing her and said that if she hadn't received the blessing that she might still be sick. Her testimony is so strong, partially from watching the change the gospel has made in the life of her brother, who I was able to baptize in February.
Could you please find out the address for the California Rosevil Mission for me? I met Elder Mulleneaux in the mtc and I want to write him, but don’t have his address.
Sure love you all! Tell the third ward thank you for sending me the Valentine ’s Day package. I loved all the letters. It is good to hear from them all. The Big Brown Heart was great! And brother and Sister Wilson, those chocolates were amazing!
Love,
Elder Schenk
Eric,
Yes you go and get some dinner. It’s weird to think that you just sent this 6 min ago and I am about to have lunch on your tomorrow. It’s 11:23 AM here. I’m glad your soccer team is doing so well. Good luck! Let me know when you get that goal. I’ll be cheering for you from the Philippines.
I’m glad you are excited about your mission. You will learn so much, especially if you go foreign like me. Everything is different and the adjustment changes you into a much better person. As you come unto the Lord you can see your faults, and then have the opportunity to work on them and slowly become like Christ. Keep up the good work. Sure love you buddy!
Elder Schenk
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
March 16, 2011
Mom,
I am doing great here. We did have our two baptisms this last week! So success gihapon. We have another really good investigator, Rescy, who is progressing very well. She came to church this last week. She was sick yesterday and we were able to give her a blessing. I would have rather taught about repentance, but I’ll take what I can get. I’m glad you all had fun at Epic sliding down those big slidy slides and swinging on the swingy swings. It sounds like a great place to work. And I’m glad Eric had fun in the snow with Dallen.
That’s amazing that all of the missionaries are ok in Japan. It got hit really hard. Did they pull them out, or what happened? The mission president assures us that there is no radiation headed for the Philippines. That’s nice to know. I sure feel bad for all those people who lost everything and have to start all over again. It makes me really want to focus on my work so that if that ever happens here, the people will have been warned and prepared. They need the gospel now as we are close to the second coming. Joseph Smith said that they were living in the 11th hour. That was almost 200 years ago. That, to me means it’s coming fast. We need to do all we can to prepare ourselves and our families and everyone we know, and even the ones we don’t know. I try to invite 10 people to learn each week. The last 2 weeks we have had over 140 i2ls's (invite to learn) which is the mission standard, and this last week the mission had an all time high record, and average of 135 i2ls per companionship! That’s great! We also were able to teach 29 lessons last week! That is my second highest.
Tell Eric I wished him luck before his game even though he won’t know till after.
I sent you a DVD with all of my pictures on it on Monday. You should be getting it sometime in the next month.
For Easter, well I’m not a huge fan of peeps, but my companion is a huge fan of chocolate. M&M's are his favorite. I’m afraid I can’t blame him. Peanut m&ms are mine. That’s what I want.
Thanks for everything
Love you all!
Elder Schenk
Sorry dad, not a lot of hot sunny weather around here. Everyone talks about how it’s going to get hot really soon and it just doesn’t. Today it was in the 20's Celsius and rainy. The rain has let up quite a bit lately, but the heat hasn’t come on yet. I’m grateful. I don’t like sweating from sun up to sun down.
Tell Eric congratulations and that if he didn’t miss his goals that it would have been a blow out! So some advice, if they go in the net you are much happier! You should try that. I tried, and made a fool of myself, but you are much better than I was. I am content with teaching people in Visaya. I can do that alright.
Sure love you all and love hearing about your great experiences.
Love,
Elder Schenk
I am doing great here. We did have our two baptisms this last week! So success gihapon. We have another really good investigator, Rescy, who is progressing very well. She came to church this last week. She was sick yesterday and we were able to give her a blessing. I would have rather taught about repentance, but I’ll take what I can get. I’m glad you all had fun at Epic sliding down those big slidy slides and swinging on the swingy swings. It sounds like a great place to work. And I’m glad Eric had fun in the snow with Dallen.
That’s amazing that all of the missionaries are ok in Japan. It got hit really hard. Did they pull them out, or what happened? The mission president assures us that there is no radiation headed for the Philippines. That’s nice to know. I sure feel bad for all those people who lost everything and have to start all over again. It makes me really want to focus on my work so that if that ever happens here, the people will have been warned and prepared. They need the gospel now as we are close to the second coming. Joseph Smith said that they were living in the 11th hour. That was almost 200 years ago. That, to me means it’s coming fast. We need to do all we can to prepare ourselves and our families and everyone we know, and even the ones we don’t know. I try to invite 10 people to learn each week. The last 2 weeks we have had over 140 i2ls's (invite to learn) which is the mission standard, and this last week the mission had an all time high record, and average of 135 i2ls per companionship! That’s great! We also were able to teach 29 lessons last week! That is my second highest.
Tell Eric I wished him luck before his game even though he won’t know till after.
I sent you a DVD with all of my pictures on it on Monday. You should be getting it sometime in the next month.
For Easter, well I’m not a huge fan of peeps, but my companion is a huge fan of chocolate. M&M's are his favorite. I’m afraid I can’t blame him. Peanut m&ms are mine. That’s what I want.
Thanks for everything
Love you all!
Elder Schenk
Sorry dad, not a lot of hot sunny weather around here. Everyone talks about how it’s going to get hot really soon and it just doesn’t. Today it was in the 20's Celsius and rainy. The rain has let up quite a bit lately, but the heat hasn’t come on yet. I’m grateful. I don’t like sweating from sun up to sun down.
Tell Eric congratulations and that if he didn’t miss his goals that it would have been a blow out! So some advice, if they go in the net you are much happier! You should try that. I tried, and made a fool of myself, but you are much better than I was. I am content with teaching people in Visaya. I can do that alright.
Sure love you all and love hearing about your great experiences.
Love,
Elder Schenk
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Pictures from Devin!
Family,
Here are some pictures! Sorry I don't have more. I'll have to get them developed. I haven't found a good place to get them developed here. I'll keep looking and send you some more.
Here are some pictures! Sorry I don't have more. I'll have to get them developed. I haven't found a good place to get them developed here. I'll keep looking and send you some more.
Elder Schenk, Elder Mera January 2011 Carcar
Elder Schenk, Resly Racho, Elder Mera January 2011 Carcar
Elder Mera, Elder Schenk, Rosalina, Nephi & May - members
Felix- investigator
January 2011 Carcar
Elder Schenk January 2011 Carcar
Danao, Cebu Philippines
Elder Schenk January 2011 Carcar
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
March 9, 2011
Dad,
Sorry I didn’t have a chance to read your email. The internet wasn’t working this morning and we have little time now. This week is going great. We have two baptisms this Saturday, our apartment is clean and I really like my companion and my area. We have some really good investigators. One has a sister who was baptized a little over a year ago who is semi active, and a brother who we just baptized last transfer. He is a really good convert and helps us teach her the lessons. When either of them talk about the gospel or Jesus Christ the spirit is really strong. Yesterday she prayed fervently that she would be able to come to church this week for the first time, amidst the temptations and trials of the devil keeping her from coming. I love teaching the gospel and I love my mission. There is nowhere else I’d rather be.
Love you all tons! Take care
Elder Schenk
Sorry I didn’t have a chance to read your email. The internet wasn’t working this morning and we have little time now. This week is going great. We have two baptisms this Saturday, our apartment is clean and I really like my companion and my area. We have some really good investigators. One has a sister who was baptized a little over a year ago who is semi active, and a brother who we just baptized last transfer. He is a really good convert and helps us teach her the lessons. When either of them talk about the gospel or Jesus Christ the spirit is really strong. Yesterday she prayed fervently that she would be able to come to church this week for the first time, amidst the temptations and trials of the devil keeping her from coming. I love teaching the gospel and I love my mission. There is nowhere else I’d rather be.
Love you all tons! Take care
Elder Schenk
March 1, 2011
Mom,
How ya'll doin' up yonder in the snowy country? I miss that white fluffy stuff. This week is transfers, and for the first time in 6 transfers, I am not going to transfer meeting because both Elder Mera and I are staying in Carcar! We just moved into a new apartment on Monday because our contract had run out in our last one and the owner wanted to do some repairs. So we got to talk the new owner through the contract and get him checks and so forth. That was interesting. Usually Zone Leaders take care of that, but they live an hour away and can’t come down to Carcar multiple times in a week. I learned a lot. Our new apartment is in an actual apartment complex and is new. The problem is that it is right on a main road and there are noisy motorcycles going by all the time. And there are lots and lots of ants that come out of the walls by the hundreds if you leave out food. We have a great bug killer that the mission provides. I don't foresee any more problems. The new apartment does have a great shower! I like that. I haven’t used a shower for almost 5 months. We just throw a bucket of water over our heads and call it good.
The work here is going great. Philip and Kesha Lana were confirmed on Sunday. We have two baptismal interviews this Saturday for Angel Diapera and her friend Jocelyn Ferando. Their baptism is scheduled for the following Saturday. Angels mom was inactive for a long time, and with the help of the ward we reactivated her two months ago. She started bringing her daughter to church (the building is less than a block away) and one Sunday they brought Jocelyn who had been taught by the missionaries before and was super enthusiastic about the gospel and wanted to be baptized. It is like a competition in our lessons between the two of them to see who knows the assignments better. They want to know more about the gospel than the other. It is great to see the work spreading here. We also have 3 other good investigators with baptismal dates, but because they haven’t been coming to church, their baptisms have been postponed. They are really good investigators though and all want to be baptized. I am excited for this next transfer!
I don’t really miss driving. Gasoline here is even more expensive than in the states. It has been over $4 for a long time.
I have just about filled up an sd card, so I’ll probably load it onto a cd. The problem in Carcar is that there are no new good machines to do it on like where Sister Robison was. She was in downtown Cebu and had the two biggest malls in the Visayas in her area. I’ll try to have a member help me out so I can send some home. Sorry, so many computers here have viruses and I don’t want to lose 9 months of pictures.
Thanks for everything. I sure love you all! Take care in Wisconsin!
Love,
Elder Schenk
How ya'll doin' up yonder in the snowy country? I miss that white fluffy stuff. This week is transfers, and for the first time in 6 transfers, I am not going to transfer meeting because both Elder Mera and I are staying in Carcar! We just moved into a new apartment on Monday because our contract had run out in our last one and the owner wanted to do some repairs. So we got to talk the new owner through the contract and get him checks and so forth. That was interesting. Usually Zone Leaders take care of that, but they live an hour away and can’t come down to Carcar multiple times in a week. I learned a lot. Our new apartment is in an actual apartment complex and is new. The problem is that it is right on a main road and there are noisy motorcycles going by all the time. And there are lots and lots of ants that come out of the walls by the hundreds if you leave out food. We have a great bug killer that the mission provides. I don't foresee any more problems. The new apartment does have a great shower! I like that. I haven’t used a shower for almost 5 months. We just throw a bucket of water over our heads and call it good.
The work here is going great. Philip and Kesha Lana were confirmed on Sunday. We have two baptismal interviews this Saturday for Angel Diapera and her friend Jocelyn Ferando. Their baptism is scheduled for the following Saturday. Angels mom was inactive for a long time, and with the help of the ward we reactivated her two months ago. She started bringing her daughter to church (the building is less than a block away) and one Sunday they brought Jocelyn who had been taught by the missionaries before and was super enthusiastic about the gospel and wanted to be baptized. It is like a competition in our lessons between the two of them to see who knows the assignments better. They want to know more about the gospel than the other. It is great to see the work spreading here. We also have 3 other good investigators with baptismal dates, but because they haven’t been coming to church, their baptisms have been postponed. They are really good investigators though and all want to be baptized. I am excited for this next transfer!
I don’t really miss driving. Gasoline here is even more expensive than in the states. It has been over $4 for a long time.
I have just about filled up an sd card, so I’ll probably load it onto a cd. The problem in Carcar is that there are no new good machines to do it on like where Sister Robison was. She was in downtown Cebu and had the two biggest malls in the Visayas in her area. I’ll try to have a member help me out so I can send some home. Sorry, so many computers here have viruses and I don’t want to lose 9 months of pictures.
Thanks for everything. I sure love you all! Take care in Wisconsin!
Love,
Elder Schenk
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