May 20, 2013

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.

 

May 13, 2013

Hellooo home!

It was great to be able to Skype home yesterday, the time went by really fast! The back porch looks nice. It will be crazy seeing all the changes at home in two years.Today should be a good day. We were planning to go to Staten Island because a member there that Elder Rose knows is opening his mission call today. He and a couple other missionaries that served there are going. But one of their companions called us last night to see if I wanted to go do something else with their zone or district or something. So the plan is that we'll do some exchanging and I will go to Brooklyn and go to the Brooklyn Bridge and get Grimaldy's Pizza. Apparently it's a pretty famous pizza place, so that will be exciting. I was told to charge my camera last night, so I expect that we will be taking many pictures. I'll be sure to send some home, and I'll send some of me and Elder Rose, and others of my new companion, whoever he will be. A lot of people in our district and zone are getting transferred, so it will be really different soon. I'm excited and nervous, just because there is so much unknown, but I know it will be the best for me. This week will have a lot of meeting time. Tuesday we have transfer meeting, which takes a while, then on Friday we have a Mega Zone conference with Paul E. Koelliker of the 70. We are all supposed to prepare two 5 minute talks and two of us will be chosen to give one of ours. That should be good.

I thought about asking you to send me some of my chopsticks, but I realized quickly that this is the place to get them. The Chinese elders have some.

Thanks Mom for the inspirational P90X quote. We've actually given blessings to all of the sisters in our district, mostly for sickness. They are all doing pretty good now. It's been good for us all to get more experience with the Priesthood.

I think that we will be able to get our own General Conference Ensign, maybe we will get it tomorrow.

This next transfer will stretch me a bit. I will have to take more of a leading role, I will need to remember important things about people that my companion doesn't know. I will also work on being more obedient. I think it's required to see the miracles that we need to happen in the work. It will mostly just take a lot of little changes and added effort in a couple areas. I'm excited to see what next transfer will bring.

I'm running out of things to say, so I'll finish.

Thanks for all the love and Prayers and support. Katie, I'll try to get a nice postcard in Brooklyn.

Love you all!

Elder Schenk

May 6, 2013

Dear Mom, Dad, and Everyone

The last week has been good, just like always. The good news is that we are finding more people to teach! Elder Rose and I started teaching them from step one, getting to know them. Our other investigators had previously been contacted and taught by the missionaries, and we just continued teaching. I had wanted to teach from the start, so it was a good experience. We had just studied about "How to begin teaching" in Preach My Gospel, so we used that, and it was good! one of the people we taught called about English class and asked if we could teach her and her son personal lessons, and she said she wanted her son to have good examples around him. So we agreed with enthusiasm. The first time we met her was on the street by the library, and she started telling a story that I could understand pretty well, but every time she asked me if I understood, she would ask me in a weird way, or there would be a lot of street noise, so every time I had to ask her to say it again. So pretty much she thought I couldn't speak spanish well. It was definitely a change from the norm, because people in the branch almost always complement my spanish. I figure I need humbling.  I think I mentioned them last week but we started teaching them this week. we had a lesson with them and then another day we shot hoops a little bit with the son. It was nice and I feel like we developed a stronger bond and trust with them. Last night we also had an investigator over to dinner at a member's house. It was really fun. Elder Rose and I squeezed into his tiny car with him and drove from his house to the sanchez's after visiting with him shortly. The Sanchez's always have friends from another branch and missionaries over for Sunday dinner, and they didn't hesitate to invite him to dinner too when we asked them about it. The people here are great and really welcoming. He had a good time, told everyone his stories that he always tells to new missionaries when they come over to his house, and I had a great time just listening. I also ate a ton of food. They make plenty usually and want you to eat up, so I was filling up and just about done when they pulled out some tamales for everyone. They are super filling, and I was already almost maxed out, but I was determined to conquer. They gave us two apiece, and I finished the first one (which was a little bit of a struggle) and was making very slow but steady progress on the second one before we left because one of the sister missionaries in our district needed a blessing. But dinner at the Sanchez's with him was a great experience. I feel like doing something fun and more relaxed with an investigator, or anyone, is a great way to develop your trust and relationship. After he dropped us off Elder Rose said that he felt like our relationship with him just jumped way higher. I felt the same, and we hardly even talked to him at the dinner. I just listened and ate. When we visited the sisters to give the blessing, they asked me to give it. I felt a lot more pressure blessing a person instead of just an area or apartment. But the blessing went great. It's really cool to use the priesthood. It's really cool to be directed so clearly and specifically to bless someone and put into words what God wishes to give them. The Gospel is sooo cool! I have noticed blessings of the Gospel a lot more in my scripture study and overall experiences recently as a missionary. All things in the Gospel lead toward blessings for us. I have "Blessings!" written on a lot of pages in my Preach My Gospel. Because it's what it's all about! God wants to bless us, so he gave us commandments so we can earn blessings, He gave us the Holy Ghost, scriptures, prophets, apostles, agency, families, the Priesthood, bodies, the church organization, activities, blessings, EVERYTHING so we can be blessed, and have happiness! Heavenly Father is the best.

This week we had interviews with President Calderwood. Mine was short because he was getting behind, but it was good. Whenever I see President Calderwood, he always makes me feel so loved and important. It's probably just me, but I feel like he seems particularly happy to see me among everyone else in the district or zone. He probably makes everyone feel that way. In the interview he talked about how we as a mission have gotten good at setting inspired goals, but haven't gotten good yet at planning daily and even more frequent sub-goals to accomplish these. I hope to be able to master this and conquer my goals. As a companionship and district we have some pretty high goals, but I know we can make them. We just need to do work.

Thanks all who have written letters of love and encouragement. I love them. Sorry I haven't written you all back, I'll work on using my time better. Katie, I am repenting and have tried to find a postcard at a couple of places, but they didn't have any. Today we shouldn't be too busy and I am determined to find one.

Love you all! Have a good week!

Elder Schenk

Hey Dad,

My week was great, as always. Elder Rose and I have a lot of fun together. Our personalities mix well, and we find a lot of funny experiences and situations that happen daily. It's great that you are looking for ways to share the Gospel. One way that I want to try to get members here more involved is to share a short lesson to bring in the spirit, maybe about the restoration, and then ask the members who they know that they want to have the gospel. What friends and family do they want to see in the Celestial Kingdom? And then I will ask them to pray about what they can do to best share the Gospel with them. So you could try that. If you want ideas of how to share the gospel, or copies of the missionary lesson pamphlets, or anything like that, just talk to the missionaries. They really want to help you with that kind of stuff. This plan to help the branch get more missionary active is a newer idea for me and I haven't gotten to use it with many families, but I hope it helps them. It's too bad I couldn't help out picking a basket for Mom! maybe next year you can shop for it on a Monday and send me pictures of the options and I will check my email and let you know which one is best. So we'll see. Give Mom a hug for me! and give her an extra good one on Sunday for me!

I'm learning more what it's like to use the priesthood and give blessings. I now know what you mean when you say a mission is worth it because of the experience you get using the priesthood on someone that's not your wife or child. I will be practiced and experienced when I get home. I'm really glad you are such a good strong priesthood leader Dad. Our home is a lot better off because of it. A couple of families in the ward don't have fathers with the priesthood, and it's really a bummer that they can't bless their families in that way. They just have to helplessly wait for someone to bless their wife or children. Thanks for being a powerful man of God. I've seen your example and that's how I plan to be.

Love you so much Dad! Thanks for your prayers.

Elder Schenk

April 29, 2013

Hi Dad,

Wow, its great to hear about everyone's missions so far. I'm excited for everyone, Carson especially. It would have been cool to go to his farewell. Last Saturday we had exchanges and it was a good experience. I realized that there are more than one way to do missionary work. Each companionship has their own culture and style of work that they do. I was getting fairly used to the way Elder Rose and I work, and then I had to plan the whole day of the exchange pretty much by myself and use the cell phone that day. And some parts of that day were pretty hectic. I had to do a ton of calling to coordinate something going on in the ward, calling the Sister missionaries, then trying to call people in the ward, except new Yorkers are horrible cell phone answerers, and our phone was dying, so I was trying to charge it at the same time, but the charger on it is very touchy. It was a little crazy but a good experience. On Thursday Elder Rose and I went to the mission office in Rego Park to pick up my packages and some other ones for the zone. I love the backpack, it has the northwest outdoorsy touch that backpacks here don't really have. The cupcakes were really good, and we have about three left in the freezer. I gave some to a family we visited, but they had already been informed of my birthday and brought out Ice Cream Cake! so that was nice. Thursday night we were supposed to play soccer with the branch but the member we planned it with forgot to call people and he didn't come either, but there were a lot of Hispanics playing soccer at the park we went to, so it was really fun.

Thanks also for the short sleeved shirts, they will come in handy soon. I wore one this week and it was nice, but some of the other days it was cooler outside, and today it's raining a bit. I guess I am a lot more used to spring-type weather than most people. It was overcast and probably in the mid to upper 40's or lower 50's and everyone was wearing coats. But I felt pretty comfortable just in my shirt and tie. You and I call it fresh, but nobody really understood that.

This week I gave a short workshop in our District meeting about being happy and enthusiastic. People told me that it was really good. I enjoyed giving it. One of the things on my mission that keeps me happy is realizing what I have been taught many times in the mtc and preparing to come here. I'm not supposed to worry about myself. It's not about you. It's about God. I understand that my growth is really important on my mission, but I fulfill that when I forget myself. When I actually realized that the other week, I actually cheered up. I didn't need to worry about my lost backpack, or other things. Maybe Ammon will realize that, too.

This week was good overall. I started to get a little bit worried that we weren't making enough progress towards our three month goal yet, but I feel like maybe things are picking up more. Our companionship three month goal is three baptisms. The last three months our whole zone got like 1 I think. But in the planning meeting for these three months, our whole district felt inspired to set really high ones. So we need to be working really hard to get this done. I'm a little bit worried that maybe we aren't doing enough to achieve it, so I'm trying to improve my personal obedience and worthiness and lead our companionship to do the same.

Yesterday we had a great step in the right direction. We finally had an investigator to church. He had committed to come the week before but an emergency came up in his work and a job took longer than he expected and needed to be done by Monday, so he didn't come then. But he came yesterday and I think it was really good. He wants to get baptized and is making steps toward it, so that's good.

I am feeling pretty good. I love my zone and district and companion. I love the branch, the more I get to know everyone the more I love them. One major thing that I have learned is how many blessings there are in the Gospel and living it your best. It shows how much God loves us that for every good thing we do, he does something (or multiple things) good for us. He's the Best.

Love you all, Hope you have a good week!

Elder Schenk

April 22, 2013

Mom,

I haven't gone to get my other package yet, so maybe Elder Rose and I will today. We did get the package with my shoes and rackets and Frisbee and the candy in it. The candy is all gone except for the peeps. We are going to have a microwave battle with them using toothpics. You put a toothpick inside each one and set them close to each other, almost stabbing each other with the toothpicks. Then you turn on the microwave and when they inflate, one of the toothpicks will puncture the other peep. We are waiting to do it with some investigators. One of them has a birthday this Saturday. So it will be a way to celebrate together!

Dedicating the apartments and areas was a good experience. President Calderwood told us that he received revelation about it one Sunday as he was taking the Sacrament. He had been seeking for an answer to something for a long time and that was exactly what he needed. I like what President Snow said about the priesthood. It reminds me a little of the workshop we had in our district meeting on Tuesday. One of the sisters gave a really good workshop on being bold. She has been out for two weeks longer than me, so her experience is still fairly minimal, but she is really bold and we all learned a lot. The workshop was mostly focused on our calling and the power, authority, and trust from God that it holds. We have so much given to us and so much potential, we are supposed to become just like God! we just need to start using our potential and let the miracles flow. And we have seen that so far. I need to work on being more bold. More bold with my companion, with the investigators, probably with other people too.

Today Elder Rose and I rearranged the apartment to try to liven things up and get a little bit of variety going. He's the kind of person that needs to keep things exciting, and I'm the kind of person who loves to take part in that. So our apartment right now is kind of a mess. But we'll fix it when we get back. I really like how close everything is in the mission. Especially in the City. Our District covers one branch, and our zone covers that branch and one ward, all divided over three languages. And we all meet in the same building on Sunday. It lets us see the missionaries around us a lot and I like that. We see each other all the time at the library on Mondays emailing home.

Mother's Day is coming up soon! I'm not sure exactly how the skyping home goes, but I'll find out. Maybe Elder Rose knows. But I'm not sure how we will get a computer with speakers and a camera. We'll figure it out though. This week we have interviews with President Calderwood. I am excited for that. I don't know what they will be like, but I'm excited to learn more from and about him and how he wants us to do the work here.

After losing my backpack a week ago I think I have learned and grown. I had prayed for a challenge in my life (but I also prayed that it wouldn't be something that would slow down my ability to work, like getting injured or sick) and that may have been the answer. I didn't really let it bother me and I've been able to keep a great attitude. I think with that, I learned to be happier daily. Some other missionaries mentioned that I had a great attitude about it. I just think that there's no good reason not to have a good attitude. It's not always easy, until you've made it a habit. Now I just really prefer having a good attitude over a bad one, so I make it happen. Losing my backpack also helped me remember that this mission isn't about me. That was the main though that came to my mind as I accepted that I had lost it. I was thinking "Aw man, I lost all those things and don't have my sweatbands or anything anymore, and that was a nice backpack" then I remembered what I had been told many times, that this isn't about me. Then I remembered why my life is really better than anyone else's, and those two things cheered me right up. I don't have to worry about myself or those kind of things, because this isn't about me. It's actually kind of liberating thinking about that. It's easier to do that also when all of your needs are taken care of too. Last week we were a little bit lower on food in the apartment than usual, but with some creativity and a lot of unplanned dinner appointments I ate better and healthier than I usually do. God takes great care of us.

Turning 19 will be kind of weird this week. I will be as old as a lot of the missionaries out here now. A lot of the people in my zone have said "you're only 18?! that's so weird!" Now I will have to remember that I'm not 18 anymore. I guess I will need to start acting like I'm a year older too now.

Thanks everyone for the letters! I will try to reply to them all today. And Katie, I will make sure I get a postcard in the mail pronto. Love you all (especially you Mom)!

Elder Schenk

 

Hey dad,

No, I haven't been able to teach the backpack stealer yet, but maybe we just have to wait a bit more. Or maybe they are from Corona at the other side of the park and contacted the missionaries there. Thanks for taking care of my credit card and license. Without a backpack or wallet I've been travelling pretty light recently and keeping it simple. And I haven't really missed having a lot of stuff with me, so I think I'm learning a lesson on simplicity. When I go get my backpack I'll have to simplify what I put in. I got the package with the rackets, and I loved the little add-on to fit the handles in. I love the shoes, and was really surprised when I pulled them out of the box. That was good timing. My other shoes are already well-used. It felt really weird wearing basketball shoes though. I haven't worn new shoes like this in a few years so I felt weird running before I got used to it. They are working great so far and I feel like they will last longer than the others. Maybe today we will go to the mission office and get the other package.

Everything is going pretty good here. I'm continually noticing miracles and improvements in the people since we dedicated the area. Our English class that we teach has had a lot more people recently, and we generated a lot of interest when we had an English Class fiesta and showed The Testaments. People here care about their homelands. They love it when we know something special about their home country, (usually we mention a food that they like) so when people hear that Jesus came to the Americas it is important to them. 

In the last couple of days I realized that I need to take a more leadership role in our companionship while we are out and about. I usually let Elder Rose lead out with most lessons or conversations or saying that we need to be home soon, so I am going to work on that.

One thing that I am noticing a lot is all the blessings promised in the gospel. As we study Preach My Gospel I see that all throughout are blessings offered when we keep a certain commandment or are faithful in a certain principle. Commandments are the way we get blessings, so the more blessings you want, the more obedient you should be.

Thanks for everything Dad, Love you!

Elder Schenk

April 15, 2013

Dad,

That's so exciting that the Castanis got baptised! Way to go Dad, you are like the ideal member for a missionary to work with. One thing that has really surprised me here on the mission is that we as missionaries need to start up the conversations and maintain them when we go over to a members house. I was really expecting to get a lot of questions from the people here, but really they don't ask them. But a lot of hispanics love to talk. Sometimes they will just go off on something and I get way lost. When people do that in English it's hard to pay attention and answer. When it's in spanish it's pretty much impossible. Elder Rose is really good with talking to people though. He is a people person, where I am not as good at keeping an interesting conversation going or connecting with people from the start. But that's something that I'm praying for help on and is just one of the few gifts I feel like God hasn't already given me. So I guess I deserve a challenge and should be patient and do my best.

For Thomas and Drew (and Andre when he gets home). Learning the language is not supposed to be an easy thing (I was just super lucky to have a lot of good Spanish experience) but one thing that I have no doubt of is the gift of tongues. On day one and the morning of day two at the MTC Elder Schenk was a-strugglin' with the language. I was getting better quickly, but being immersed in class was rough. I couldn't understand the conversations. The accents and speed were hard to pick up, so I could get the main point of each sentence, but I wasn't able to connect the thoughts and ideas. So I told Heavenly Father about that and asked to be worthy/ready for the gifts of the language that he promised me in my setting apart. Pretty soon we took a descansito (short break) and our teacher talked to me pretty simply and shortly in spanish just to see where I learned my Spanish. He was impressed with what I knew with only 3 years of high school. The descansito ended. And then the flip switched. In a five minute break, my spanish fluency honestly jumped from about 50% to probably a solid 75%. That afternoon I was doing sooooo goood! and we went to lunch or dinner and Elder Dominguez in my district said "Elder Schenk I'm so impressed with your spanish!" I was on cloud nine. I'd say my fluency now is about 80% and my comprehension of other speakers is improving. So tell them what my favorite mtc teacher told me. To be successful you need to do three things. Work hard (your hardest-that's a given). Be obedient (you start to understand this more when you get on your mission). And Pray often (God wants to give you every blessing, and some require you to ask. And you can get guidance of how to receive the others).
I haven't been able to go to the mission office yet and check for my package, but some other missionaries in my zone went and grabbed a package for me from Grandma Schenk with Conference Muffins in it! Thanks so much Grandma! Elder Rose was also extremely grateful, and so were a couple other lucky missionaries in my district. I will check for the package when I can. I think the sisters in my district are going to the mission office tomorrow so they can get it maybe.

I don't know what else I need for my birthday. I think I'm doing good so far. My indoor soccer shoes are already struggling. The concrete of the handball courts is doing a number on them. It's really weird thinking that I'll be 19 soon. Now that I'm on my mission as an 18 year old, I feel like I should just stay that old. Maybe I'll wait for a while before I turn 19. But now I'm thinking about President Packers talk about the experience of age and how it is better than youth. That resonated with me. So I will wholeheartedly accept my 19-ness when it comes.

So I have some groundbreaking news. I feel like a more real new yorker now. I got my backpack stolen today with my wallet in it, so can you cancel my credit card for me? I left it by itself and not where everyone else's backpacks were at the park and it disappeared. Hopefully whoever took it will read the Book of Mormon's inside (theres one in English and one in Spanish) and will feel bad and find my contact info and give it back, and then get baptized. That wouldn't be too bad. I think it would be quite worth it. So yeah, I am going to have to visit the mission office and get a couple things re-signed up for.

I'll finish by replying to mom's email.

Love you!

Elder Schenk

Thanks so much for the pictures and the scripture mom! I love them both! Elder Rose thinks the pictures look really cool. I feel smug about it. (Pictures of the tulip fields)

 

Thanks for taking care of my credit card. Elder Rose got his wallet stolen out of his backpack a couple weeks ago so we are just really unified I guess. We will need to both go to the mission office to apply for licenses and get temple reccommends. I thought that backpack was really cool and I had my sweatbands and ankle braces and first aid kit in there too, but worse things have happened, I've learned my lesson, to put your backpack/belongings in a better protected spot, I know not to do it again, and I won't let it really bother me. I'm supposed to forget myself anyway, and I can't really do anything about it now. But anyway, back to the good stuff. Today we played ultimate frisbee at our zone activity and I had way more energy than I've had in a long time. I did well, and my frisbee skills came back after working out the kinks for a little bit. I had so much fun!

About the video: yeah President Calderwood is fantastic. I think you guys would all love him. You should come pick me up from my mission just to meet him.

Our training from the mission department was really good. we all learned a lot about finding people and stepping up our mission a notch. We also learned about the making of Preach My Gospel. Our trainers were in the group led M. Russell Ballard that made it. They also told us to dedicate our areas and apartments if we feel inspired to. So we did that and that's probably helping a bit. I dedicated our apartment as well as the apartment for the sisters in our district. Priesthood blessings are very cool. Elder Rose and I also helped dedicate the Sister's area. Dedicating areas is cool especially because we go on the tops of buildings to get a better vantage point of what we are blessing. I enjoy giving those kinds of blessings because you really do feel guided and inspired in what to say. Sometimes I want to say more in the blessing, but I wait for something to come to my mind next and I can't think of anything. The Priesthood is a really excellent power.

Devin would be perfect for an I-group leader, I wish I could be in his group, but I suppose I've already done that for my whole life. It's someone else's turn.
The missionary work is accelerating I think after we had the training. Elder Rose and I are meeting more interested people and gaining more trust. Everyday we have studies till about 11:30 and we often have zone, district, or leader meetings. Then we will usually call people to make appointments for later on the day or later on the week. People are horrible with answering calls in New York. We have to call them a lot to get an answer. After that a lot of times we come here to the library to print english class cards to pass out or other various things. Sometimes we will go to a park with a member to play handball or something and try to meet up with a potential. Dinner appointments vary per week, but we usually get one almost every day, usually from the same families. Then we have English class tuesday and wednesday nights, FHE with the young single adults monday nights, or we street contact or have appointments the other nights. When we contact people we call it fearlessing. So we fill in a lot of our gaps in the schedule with fearlessing.

I usually don't think about taking vitamins, but I'm feeling fine. I guess I am having vitamin c's. I floss and use mouth wash if it won't interfere with me getting to bed on time.

Oh yeah! so my camera was also in my backpack... I haven't been taking a ton of pictures so it's not a huge loss. I kind of am used to keeping all my eggs in the same basket. And I think the greater lesson is just to take care of your basket. It's not fun losing any eggs, and you never know which ones you will need or when you will need them. But I think this is just teaching me a lesson to simplify. I'm used to packing everything I might need and being super prepared, but maybe I should balance with simplicity? we shall see.

Grandma Schenk, there is a letter in the mail heading your way. Katie, I will send a postcard and letter ASAP. Andre and Thomas, your letters should be on their way soon. Thanks for writing me!

Love,

Elder Eric Daniel Schenk

April 8, 2013

Hey Mom,

A new car eh? that's pretty cool. Conference was great! All the other missionaries and I thought that each session went by really fast. They were full of good things. And I'm really glad that they had Elder Holland and Elder Oaks start off the Sunday Afternoon session. I wasn't sure that I would be able to stay awake through it. But it wasn't hard once I heard them talking. None of the people we invited to conference came, and a few of them said they would, but that's the way it is. Next time we do something like that we will pick them up for it. Other missionaries had some investigators there and I know that at least one of them loved it. She was laughing at President Monson's story and we thought she was just another member there from the English ward.

I missed going to Grandma Schenk's house for conference. I was telling Elder Rose about conference muffins and when I told him just now that you guys had some left over he said "Send them!" I don't know if that will work out. Thanks for sending the package. I shall await it with excitement. Now that General Conference is over, so is suit season, so I will be ready for short sleeved shirts as soon as you can send them. People keep telling me the summers are too hot here, but the spring is nice. My companion had a car last summer so he didn't really know. He was in AC all the time. We watched general conference at our chapel. They showed it in Chinese and Spanish downstairs and English in the Chapel. the missionaries watched in English. It was mostly missionaries from our zone in the chapel, I think everyone else was watching at home.

When we play handball and basketball we change into sports clothes. The courts are across the street from our house at an elementary school. We are teaching lessons, but nothing yet from playing sports, although we met a couple people who play handball who have friends in the church and said that they would come to conference. So we might be able to teach them. Elder Rose really wants to get a baptism from handball.

So far we haven't really worked with the youth yet. Last mutual night we had dinner with the youth. I don't think there are that many.  Maybe about 15 youth total, but this way we can work closer with each of them and their friends.

I liked hearing about the guy singing in the blizzard. We have that song sung Motab on a cd here and I told Elder Rose we should use it as our alarm. So after conference he told me that story reminded him of me. Another missionary said that it reminded him of me a couple of weeks ago when we finished shopping and it was hailing outside. It looked worse than it was, so when I got outside I realized it wasn't horrible and said "Hey guys, it's not even that bad!" Then we ran home across flushing in a hail storm. Immediately after eating Five Guys. I'll send pictures in another email.

Love you!

Elder Schenk

 

Flushing Meadows Park

 

Friend from the branch.

 



 

View of Manhatten.

 

 

District 5 with mission presidency and trainers from the church missionary department.

 

Homemade fajitas!