Hey Mom,
Everything is going good, all this week I kept on thinking about
you all thinking about my new companion and you had no idea what he was like.
So finally you all get to know. His name is Elder Nisguritzer, and I couldn't
really remember his name the entire first day or so, but I've pretty much got
it down by now. His parents are from Argentina, so he's fluent in spanish,
which is kind of nice. I hope that this will speed up my learning quite a bit.
He came in seven transfers ago but tore something in his knee so went home and
came back last transfer, so he is just starting transfer 5 now and I am just
starting transfer 3. There are a lot of new missionaries and a lot of
missionaries who just got trained are training already! At transfer meeting the
brand new missionaries all introduce themselves. Because I came in mid transfer
I never got to do that, and last transfer meeting I wasn't sure if I should or
shouldn't introduce myself, so I didn't. I ran into President Calderwood
afterward and I mentioned that and he said "well, maybe we'll get you next
time." So last week I introduced myself to everyone and apparently it was
really funny! The missionaries that knew me or were in my zone looked really
confused when they saw me standing up at first. I just said "So, I've
already been here a while, but I never got to do this." Everyone enjoyed
it pretty well. I President and Sister Calderwood both told me later that they
loved it and thought it was great that I did that, and most the people in my
zone told me the same thing. So I suppose I'm already getting famous in the
mission. Our zone got changed around a ton! At transfer meeting, only the
leaders and those whose companionships are changing go, so generally there are
a few from each zone or maybe district that aren't there. Everyone in my zone
was at transfer meeting! The zone leaders are now a chinese companionship,
which has never happened before, so that's pretty cool. One of our old zone
leaders, Elder Henstrom, is now our District Leader, so we will have some great
leadership there. The other zone leader finished his mission and is now home.
It feels weird being around missionaries going home. It makes me realize how
mortal I am as a missionary, how soon my mission will be over. It makes me want
to make sure I get my work done while I'm here.
It's interesting having a new companion. Elder Rose and I were at
the climax of our friendship and knowing each other, and now I start over at
level zero with Elder Nisguritzer. So far everything has gone fine. But my
mission debit card hasn't come yet, so we have been low on food and I'm relying
a lot on the credit card you sent me, so could you make sure to check up on
that? thanks. Elder Nisguritzer is from Sandy, Utah. He likes playing soccer
but his knee needs to recover before he can run. We won't be doing as much
sports poselyting this transfer. I've been re-developing my love for Subway
(the sandwich shop). We've been relying on it recently as we haven't had much food
and the dinner appointment rules have changed. Now they are more focused on our
purpose as missionaries and follow what the mission president's handbook says.
They are supposed to be set up by the ward mission correlator now and are
supposed to be to help families that need strengthening. I guess President
Calderwood has gotten some angry phonecalls from members who want to stick to
the old way. I wonder how those phonecalls go. Part of the reason for this rule
is to change the mindset of the members from "help the missionaries by
feeding them" to "help the missionaries do the work of the
Lord." President Calderwood's method of leading the mission is really
good. He sets a foundation of obedience in one principle, then once we have
accomplished that, we move on to the next. The really cool part is that I will
have him all my mission, so as his leadership of the mission, and the mission
itself develops and becomes stronger, I will be doing the same naturally as a
missionary. When I hit my climax as a missionary, the mission will be doing it,
too! That will be really cool. Friday we had a mega zone conference with Elder
Koelliker of the 70. He talked to us about a lot of things. One thing that he
mentioned was Family History and using that as a missionary tool. Only one
district or zone at the mega zone conference was using it, and I think it's
because they are the one with the family history center. But they said it has
been really successful. We also had Stake Conference yesterday, broadcasted
from Salt Lake, and one of the talks (I think it was by either Elder L Tom
Perry or Boyd K Packer) also talked about family history and how important it
was. The church has just released a pamphlet about Family
History that we will be able to use as a missionary tool. I don't remember
what it was called.
One thing that I realized this week is how your style changes with
each companionship and how your obedience does, too. In some ways so far we
have been more obedient, but in other ways we haven't. Which means I need to take
the good parts of each companionship that I am in and fortify it into who I am,
and bring that to all I am around. I am going to work on being a really good
example to my companions. I've also been thinking about transfers and how
inspired President Calderwood is about every companionship and every area that
we are in. And I thought about myself and what if I was different, and how
things would turn out that way. So I decided that I would to my very best to be
exactly what God wants me to be, so that he has more options and ways to use me
and bless others through me. I've been thinking a lot about how these two years
aren't for me, and they are all for God. I think I have figured out in my mind
how that works with us being the biggest convert of these two years.
Because I had faith that they were both true, but they didn't click
together in my mind. I know that losing yourself is the best way to find
yourself and learn and grow, but that didn't seem to do if for me. So I think
that the answer is this: Every soul is precious in the sight of God. God wants
you just as bad as he wants everyone else, so while you are dedicating your
life to bring people to salvation and fortify them so strong that they don't
fall away, make sure you get yourself there. Besides, you can't convert anyone
more than you are converted.
Also, I forgot my camera, so sorry I can't send the pictures of
the Brooklyn Bridge this week. I'll try to remember next week. Today we are
going to the Barclay center in Brooklyn just to check it out and walk around,
so I'll try to get some good pictures there too.
And of course, Elder Nisguritzer and I, with comfort, focus,
effort, obedience, and inspiration.
Love you!
Elder Schenk
Katie, I shall redouble my efforts to find a postcard. So sorry
it's taken so long. I will look for more places and hopefully find one.
Hey Dad,
I sent a really long email to Mom, and I answered some of the
questions on there. Things are going pretty good. Yesterday we found someone
who could be a great investigator for us. His name is J and we
walked forever to get to his house because we weren't sure how to get there or
how far out of town he was. So that was exciting. It was also really rainy but
the things in my backpack stayed really dry! just the things I had in my pocket
were a little soggy. Elder Nisguritzer's way of work I think is more obedient.
It's more focused on following Preach My Gospel and doing things the way that
we are taught to do them. I think learning this way will be really good for me
to base the rest of my mission on. Our planning for investigators is improving,
our focus on using our time is improving, and we are more open in talking about
how we want to improve our obedience. I think that we can have a lot of success
together. It's just interesting examining the differences between my
relationship with him compared to mine with Elder Rose. I suppose that's part
of the learning we get from the mission experience. Elder Nisguritzer is also
Fluent in spanish, because his parents are from Argentina, although his
ancestors are European. So hopefully he will help me get more fluent in
Spanish. It has been going good so far.
I have a good story. We met a guy who is part of a new religion I
think, They follow the law of moses and wear the star of david, but they
believe in Jesus Christ as the savior and believe the whole bible. And he was
really good with the scriptures. so we were discussing beliefs and something
about kosher and the law of moses came up, and he was waiting for a response
about something about why I don't live it. I didn't know exactly what to say,
but I just said what came to my mouth and some things that I did know came to
my mind. I was definitely guided in what I said. I mentioned a story where
Christs apostles didn't wash their hands before eating, and the people got
upset at them but Christ confounded the people. I mentioned how Christ
fulfilled the Law of Moses, and now we follow the Law of Christ, which follows
the same spirit of the law, but a different letter. This man was really
impressed and although he didn't agree 100% with what I said, he really
respected that I wasn't shaken. A couple of days later in my personal study I
found a scripture that said what I had said to this man. I had practically
quoted scripture I didn't know (Romans 7). That was incredible. I know God
takes care of us misisonaries.
