Kamusta ang akong pamilia!

June 23, 2010
Kamusta ang akong pamilia! - Hello family! Sorry if this email is a little jumbled. some of my keys don't work and some others work too well. ther is no enter and a double period if i dont remember to erase one.. :) How are you all? I am doing great here. It has its ups and downs, but over all I am learning a ton and the hard times make me grow a lot. This week the devotional was from Elder Snow from the second quorum of the seventy and his wi.. It was so good! I took 4 pages of notes. He talked about how we cannot teach without the spirit. He was a mission president and with all of his missions combined he has served for 10 years! So he really knows. This weekend is mission presidents weekend. All of the new mission presidents (132 of them and thier wives) are going to be here as well as every member of the first presidency and all 12 apostles! There will be lots of other church leaders too. Hopefully we will be able to hear from some of them. Maybe Ill see a general authority! I am excited! The weather here is hot. its in the 80's a lot. maybe even 90's. I dont know for sure, I am just glad I dont have to wear a suit coat in the Philippines. I have been getting all of your packages and postal mail. I just haden't recieved any dear elders. I now have a big pile. Thank you for that. The food is good. If you dont like one of their 3 main dishes you can go get left overs or a salad or a wrap. and of corse they have pp&j and cerial. I stuff myself almost every meal. Things have improved since you have been here Dad! I am glad. Bro Latimer, my teacher who was gone in the Philippines when we first got here has been back for a week and a half and is awesome! we all love him. He tells us all about the culture and food. He served in Cebu as well. He says balut (the 18 day old duck egg) is really good. He would eat one every week because he liked them so much. The blood soup isnt verry good though. He said the worst was octopus inc. Gross! but other than that he liked it. He loves their food and culture. My branch presidency is awesome too. President Johnson is a really loving guy and is always excited and happy to help. I love him. President Jensen has served as mission president and as bishop twice and as a stake president. Amazing. and President Tyler has been a bishop, stake president, mission president, and was over one third of the worlds church education! He was over Central America and one third of the US. He, in President Johnsons words, "Has the standard works memorized." and thats not too far from the truth. I love you all and hope you are doing well. Ayo Ayo! Elder Schenk My testimony in Cebuano. Nasayud ako nga tinuod and simbahan. Nasayud ako nga tinuod sa propeta ni Joseph Smith. Nasayud ako nga tinuod ang Basahon ni Mormon. Nasayud ako nga tinuod ang simbahan. Nasayud ako nga tinuod sa manluluwas ni JesuKristo. Sa ngalan ni JesuKristo.. Amen..

A Little Note from Mom

We have been writing to Devin using dearelder.com. But apparantly I didn't read the instructions very thoroughly. We were accidentally sending the letters to the Philippines instead of the MTC. BIG OOPS! I was so heart broken when I found out that Devin hadn't received our many letters last week and instead thought we just didn't write to him! Ouch, that hurts! We did our best to make up for it today when this letter showed up. We sent new long letters and re-sent the other letters. And even though a box of cookies was sent his way last week, it didn't sound like he had received those either, so we sent a care package through dearelder.com of yummy cinnamon rolls. We can only hope that he actually got everything today and that it helps make up for a week without!
Sorry Devin, we love you!

2 Weeks!

Hey Family!
I still love it here.  the language is hard, but I am learning a lot.  The older cebuano district is leaving next week so there will only be 6 of us that speak it until some more show up.  cebu is the only mission that speaks Cebuano so there aren't much of us.  The other companionship in my district got called to be the Zone Leaders.  I told you last week about dearelder.com but I havent heard from you since then.  You can email me and I will get it that day.  They print it out and put it in my mailbox.  DearElder.com.  And getting mail is really exciting, so that is a good way to go.

I havent figured out how to send pictures yet.  i cant load them on the computer.  Maybe ill print them out for you. 

We have class twice a day, except for sunday and p-day.  I can email during laundry.  That is from 8:30 to 9:30 on wednesdays.  I get to go to the temple today.  It will be closed for weeks after today.  My district got selected to help clean it on the 30th!  That will be fun.

I love you all.  Write back soon!  have a great day.

Elder Schenk

Our First Letter from Elder Schenk emailed June 9, 2010

So there is some good news. You can email me at dearelder.com and they will print it out and put it in my mailbox every day. That way I get to read it that day! And I only have half an hour to email before it kicks me off so I wont be spending my time reading emails. You can give that address to everyone. That way everyone can email me in the mtc. It wont work in the mission field tho.

So news. I am district leader! My district has 5 Elders and one Sister. I have two companions, Elder Allen, my senior companion, and Elder Seupule from Samoa. He speaks English, Samoan, Tongan, and is learning Cebuano! The language is comming well. We learn really fast! On saturday in two hours we learned how to conjegate verbs. That would take anyone else in the world days, if not weeks to understand! The gift of toungs is real! Learning by the spirit is real. We are encouraged to SYL speak your language. So we try substituting cebuano words for english words when we learn them. There is an older cebuano group that has 3 Elders and 4 Sisters in it. They have been here for 7 weeks and know a lot of Cebuano. One of them speaks it all of the time. and when we dont understand (all of the time) he translates for us. It is really fun to learn so fast!
Sundays we have firesides. they had members of the facutly give talks. And then tuesday nights we have devotionals. Last night Robert D. Hales spoke! It was really good. It was really neat to have a General Authority speak specifically to you as missionaries instead of a world wide church. After we had a district discussion on it. The Jensons, one of the members of the branch presidency and his wife, led the discussion. It was really good. The spirit was so strong. Almost noting can beat that, except the temple. The teachers are so good here. We only have two, but one is on vacation in the Philippines until thursday. So we have been having subs. In the six teachers we have, 5 of them are my favorite! they bring the spirit so strong. I love it here so much. I have grown so much already. If I went home now after just one week, I would come home a changed man. Tell everyone about the Gospel! It is to amazing to keep to ourselves! Everyone wants to be more happy. They would love to live with their family together. They would be so much happier if they had someithing good to work towards. The Gospel can bring them all of that. It will change anyone who sincerely tries. I cannot wait to get to the Philippines so that I can help the missionary work there. Because of the temple open house alone, 1400 people have reffered themselves to the missonaries to learn about the Church. I want to help them. I just cant talk to them yet. But I will!
I love you all! I hope you are all doing well. Write often. I love hearing from you!
Love,
Elder Schenk

Devin has changed his residence to the MTC!

We had to come early to get pictures.

The drop off came later, but it was quick. 

No time for standing around taking pictures!

Devin is sporting a new tie from the Missionary Mall.

He also met a couple heading to the Philippines Cebu

mission to run the office while shopping for ties there. 

They promised me they'd take good care of Elder Schenk!

A bittersweet time for father and son. 

We're sure proud of this boy.

Good Luck Devin!  We know you'll be a great missionary!

In Utah!

Devin, Diane, Mom and Dad did a session in the

Salt Lake Temple.  It was so beautiful, and very

memorable.  It was amazing to see the

work of the pioneers, and no surprise that it  took

40 years to build.  A wonderful experience.

Next, we took the opportunity to see once again the movie,

Joseph Smith, the Prophet of the Restoration.

So inspiring!

A wonderful day in Salt Lake City, but we sure missed

Katie, Josh and Dennis that day.

And now for the Pre-MTC breakfast of choice.  Could have had the

free IHOP breakfast for missionaries. 

Nope. 

Could've had the amazing

all you can eat french toast at Kneaders.

Nope.

Had to have homemade blueberry buttermilk pancakes with bacon.

Nothin better!

Preparation time...

Any experienced missionary mom knows, and now I know, that

a great deal of time and energy goes into shopping for two years

 worth of clothing and supplies.  Most of that was accomplished

here at home.  Medical supplies, perscriptions, toiletries and

electronics were mostly purchased at Wal Mart by Devin. 

That included his two year supply of Gold Bond medicated powder,

which was mandatory on his list, and interestingly enough,

unavailable to buy in the Philippines! 

Then came the 10 white shirts.  Devin heard about

the best shirt for his mission, available at  Eddie Bauer.

Luckily, we have an in there too, and DeAnn Findlay scoured

the whole Northwest part of the state to keep us informed

when new supplies showed up in Devin's size.

Suits, you say?  Well, sure, for the MTC.  But once you're

in the Philippines, NOT.  The plane ride over and back are the

only times he'll need a jacket over there. 

Some things just begged to be bought in Utah, and

 no missionary will want to miss the experience of shopping

at the Missionary Mall.  It seems so practical.  Grab your list, walk

in the door and just take one of each item as you head down the isle.

It's handy because there are so few decisions to make.

One brand, one size of most items on the list. Easy!

Devin already had all that stuff, but it was still fun

to see it all in one place, ready to go.

Ties, now that's important.  Here at the Missionary Mall

they have a wall of washable ties.  Devin picked up two here.

Speaking of ties, while choosing between green plaid or

green checked, we just happened to meet the missionary

couple who are going to the Cebu mission to run the

Mission office!  They'll be watching for Devin to arrive,

and will be counting on him to help them learn the language.

The biggest shopping challenge, we learned, was shoes.

We checked every store for just the right style and fit.

After all, missionaries spend alot of time on their feet.

And once again, we ran into people who had served

recently in the Philippines and had great suggestions about

the type of shoe he'd want in hot, wet, muddy terrain.

The most fun challenge of all, fit all of that stuff into two

suitcases!  No small feat!

Devin and his brother...then and now

Here they are back when Devin earned his Eagle Award 3 years ago.

And here they are now!

Little brother following in big brother's footsteps.

What a difference a few years can make.

Don't Grow Too Much Taller While I'm Gone!

Cousins, brothers, Friends. 

Open House

So many friends came to wish Devin farewell tonight!

It was fun to be surrounded by so many people we

love and care about.  We just loved having everyone stop

by and chat for a bit.  Devin thanks to you all!

Hey Mister Mailman!

Well, more exciting mail this week. Devin went down to the

mailbox on Wednesday to mail his acceptance letter, and returned

with another letter from the MTC. It's his visa application

to live abroad. He was given 3 days to get photos taken

and forms signed and mailed back to Provo. So last

night I trimmed Devin's hair, and this morning he went

to WalMart to get passport type photos. He's still wearing

his missionary attire here taking his application down to

meet the mailman. Next up: another form signed in front

of a Notary Public, sending in his passport to the MTC,

planning the day he wants to fly to Utah and requesting

a ticket for that, and...SHOTS. Lots of 'em. Oh boy.

Lifelong friends

The same day that Devin recieved his mission call,

Christopher Chord returned home from his mission

in Japan.  He has a wonderful spirit and bore a

powerful testimony, in Japanese!  It sounded so cool!

He and his parents brought back some very different

foods from Japan to share with guests at the open house.

Here these fine young men are reunited for a short couple

of months until Chris heads off to school and Devin heads

overseas.