Another Responsability coming my way! - Email from Dec 17, 2012

Well, every change here in Pampa Grande has given me another responsability and this change isn`t different! (oxymoron anyone?) I have been given the calling of District Leader! Can you believe it? I`m very humbled by this opportunity to serve the elders in my district and hope that I can have a positive effect on them. This zone has had some serious struggles this change...President even sent a message through the Zone Leaders that we need to work harder! I hope that I can help be a part of the change for the better.

Well, my companion is doing great! He`s sick right now with a pretty intense cough...which scares me at times, but emotionally and spiritually he is doing a LOT better. We had a great talk last week when we went to a training meeting for the trainers, and I know that he`s going to continue on. I just hope to be able to help him become a great missionary, the way I know he can be!

This week in the training meeting a really realized what an honor I have to be numbered among these other trainers...they`re amazing! I hope to be able to help my companion become a great missionary the way they`re doing it. I know that God has been here with me many steps of the way...and I`ve felt words coming out of my mouth many times that really were not my own.

I`m excited for the call this week! Can`t wait to see all of you! I hope you know that I love each and every one of you, and I`m hoping that all will be well! Tell all those crazy shooters to cool it down a bit...the world`s going to end on the 21st anyway, why do we have to kill ourselves? ;) Haha, ALL of Peru is talking about the 21st. However, they just keep on drinking and smoking and all of that...funny how the Book of MOrmon phrase `eat drink and be merry` is taken so literally down here, as if they`ve read it themselves! Well, the 22nd should be quite a shock for some of them. ;)

I love you all so much...sorry this email is so short! We are kind of rushed today and I had quite a few emails to reply to! Thank you so much for all your love and support!

Love,

Elder Schofield

Is it Really Happening? - Email from Dec 10, 2012

This week has been a really crazy week for me! A lot of things have
happened and I just don`t really know where to start! So, I`ll start
with the most important things and see what comes out. :)

So last week Elder Huaman was sick. He was coughing and was worried
that it might be something serious. I honestly was not worried, it`s
just a cough, but I told him that it would be a good idea to call
Hermana Rowley. He agreed. He seemed to be pretty worried about it,
but I thought that a quick call would be fine and everything would be
good. Guess I was wrong!

When we went to call her, I was putting in her phone number but Elder
Huaman corrected me saying that he wanted to talk to President first.
I didn`t think anything of it, and just put in his number. After
talking to him for just a few minutes, President wanted an interview
with him! I was a bit worried, but we just headed to an internet so he
could call president through Skype. He ended up there for over an
hour...turns out my companion was wanting to go home!!! President
talked to me for about two minutes, just to tell me that we were going
to Piura to see him and that I had to make sure that my companion
didn`t bring his suitcases with him.

I was shocked! I did not expect this. Of course, we haven`t had a ton
of success here in this area, but we`re working hard and I feel that
we have seen some miracles here. I think Elder Huaman just got really
discouraged with this sickness, and he also misses his family just
like any other elder that`s beginning the mission. We talked a lot the
night before he left about why we`re serving. I felt the spirit
directing my words as I tried to help him see the many reasons that
we`re here.

On Wednesday we headed down to Piura. We were able to eat lunch with
President and Hermana Rowley before his interview. He ended up being
in there for 2 hours! Thankfully, everything turned out ok. Elder
Huaman talked to his family, and they also really helped him to see
why he`s out here serving for two years. With their help, he was able
to make the decision to stick it out.

President called me into his office for only about two minutes to just
tell me of the responsability that I have to help make sure that Elder
Huaman stays here in the mission. I felt really comforted by the way
he told me that Heavenly Father had placed me in this Elder`s life and
that the way I help him in these first few months will have a huge
effect in his life. I hope that I can follow through with his council
and really be able to help him.

The end of the week turned out fairly well. One thing President told
me to do was give Elder Huaman more responsability in the work and
make him feel like he`s actually having success and doing well. Friday
and Saturday I pretty much made him the Senior Companion and tried to
just follow his lead and take on a supporting role. He did super well!
I also kept his mind occupied while we were walking, quizzing him with
the lessons and scriptures, and really just not giving him the chance
to think of home.

I feel so honored to be here. This week has been tough. I know what
Elder Huaman is feeling. I know that he feels kind of useless because
we can`t see the success right in front of us. That`s frustrating, and
it`s even harder when we`re so cut off from our families. However,
this is such an incredible opportunity.

I know that we are here on the Lord`s errand. He has sent us here. We
have the chance to see His hand in the lives of His children. I`m
honored to be able to become an instrument in this work, bringing
others to Christ. He has helped me through some of the hardest
challenges I ever thought that I would face. I now know, as Ammon
knew, that I can do all things with his strength. I am grateful for
that knowledge, knowledge which can only be gained through trials,
experiences, and these two years.

Thank you for all your support. Thank you for your prayers, your
letters, and everything you do on behalf of me and the people of Peru.
Please include us in your prayers, especially my companion Elder
Huaman and the people of Piura and Tumbes. I know that our prayers are
heard and that miracles really do happen if we have the faith
neccessary.

With the Christmas season coming on, it`s kind of cool to see all of
the lights and trees! At the same time, it doesn`t feel like
Christmas! It feels like the 120 degree weather in Arizona! This
Christmas will be even more strange than the last, I think. We`re
planning to get together with the elders from our district on
Christmas Eve so that we don`t have to be just the two of us.
Hopefully Santa Clause will bring us a great time!

Anyway, have fun there in the states! Keep warm!!!

Love,
Elder Schofield

December Already? - Email from December 3, 2012

Wow...this week it`s December!! Can you all believe it?? I was talking
just today with Elder Martinez, who`s also from my group. Just one
year ago, I arrived here in the mission! I can`t believe how quickly
time has really gone by.

This week went fairly well for us! We seemed to be a little swamped
with meetings and everything, but it went great! On Friday, we had a
Multi Zone conference with President and Sister Rowley. It was a
really great conference where we talked about the Plan of Salvation
and how important it is to teach that lesson. I guess about 50 percent
of our mission isn`t teaching it! Like I told President, and feel like
our job as missionaries is to really teach about Heavenly Father`s
plan! The lesson about the Restoration is about how Heavenly Father is
helping us to reach our full potential in His plan, as well as the
lesson about the Gospel of Jesus Christ! I really hope to be able to
apply some of the things I learned.

The other thing we talked about was the importance of working with
members. Honestly, that`s one area I really need to work on. In my
other areas, I think that I relied way too much on our own efforts,
and didn`t get the members as involved as they should be. Here in
Pampa Grande, I feel like I really need to do that because there are
great members that could really do a lot for the people here! Just
think about it, one simple invitation can really bring a whole family
into the gospel. I really hope that I can help others get involved in
what we`re doing.

On Saturday, we had a great ward activity! It`s the first ward
activity that we`ve been able to have in a month! We planned a night
full of games, and it really turned out great! We had about 40 or 50
people come, and a few of them were less actives. Even if just ward
members come, I know that it`s a great opportunity for them to gain
confidence in us as missionaries as well as being able to socialize a
bit. I hope that we can continue having activities like that and get
investigators there too.

Today we went to the beach in la Cruz!! It was pretty fun, but I`m
super tired right now! We played capture the flag, and I almost felt
like the 14 year old scout out there running around again. It was fun,
especially when one of the Hermanas pegged Elder De La Cruz in the
chest with a stick! It was pretty hilarious to see him fall to the
ground, faking that he was hurt! I`m gonna miss that Limeño.

Anyway...hope all is going well with you! Have a great cold December!
The sun here is pretty much burning me like toast! It`s getting hotter
every day...

Love you all!
Elder Schofield

Thanksgiving? Christmas?? Is it really that time of year?? - Email from Nov 26, 2012

Is it really already this time of year?? I can`t believe it! Dad just wrote me and said that Chelsey has already finished her volleyball season...didn`t she just barely start playing?? Ugh...the mission is just flying by waaaayy too quickly!

So for Thanksgiving, our pensionista also put up her Christmas tree and lights! It made me think of when we would do that as a family. :) I of course got to help put some lights up on the post they have running through the middle of the room. I didn`t even need a ladder. :) It helps when you`re 2 meters tall!!!

This week really has been great for us! We`ve found some good investigators and are seeing them progress! One of them is named Grace. She is a nurse in the local clinic, she`s 23 years old, and super intelligent! We found her knocking doors with a member, Roberto. He`s really been a great help to us. Anyway, she is super catholic, but understands our doctrine really quickly! After reading 3 Nephi 11, she understood baptism! She also understood that Christ organized His church!! It was really great to teach someone that really could understand so quickly.

We did talk with her about baptism...and she`s got some doubts about that. Obviously, she`s been raised her whole life as a Catholic! However, I was able to bare my testimony about the Book of Mormon and how if she could read it and pray to know if it was true, she would also know that she should be baptised in our church. She seemed to accept that. We`ll just have to see if she`ll follow through!

We`re also still working with Carlos Huaman (crazy that he has the same last name as my companion, right??). He is really doing great! Last week he accepted the challenge of getting married and baptised! He seems really excited about it, and just accepts that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that this is what he`s supposed to do. Our biggest challenge is getting him to come to church. I honestly don`t know why he didn`t come this Sunday! We have a member family that lives right in front of him that is always inviting and trying to bring them to church, but this Sunday they failed to come again! We`re going to have to do something more to get them to come...I don`t know that that will be!!

On Sunday I literally witnessed a miracle. Well, a miracle for me. I attended the first effective Ward Council Meeting in over a year in the field! I was impressed, stunned, and really built up by the testimony that the church really is what I preach every day: organized. We presented a great mission plan that the bishop helped us devise, and then got the support of all the organizations, minus the YW and Sunday School presidencies. EVERYONE ELSE WAS THERE!! Miracle number one. Then, the bishop got up and talked about their own ward goals of going to the temple at least twice a year. Ward goals? Unity? Plan? I think there are miracles two, three, and four right there. Seriously, I was just overjoyed to see that, and feel like I can be a lot more help after having seen that.

I`m really just so happy to be here in Pampa Grande. It`s not the easiest area. The people reject us more than my other areas. However, we have great members that are willing to work with us. My companion and I are becoming the best of friends. It`s going to be hard to leave him in two months. I am enjoying the missionary life more than ever before. We just need to get a few more people into the waters of baptism! Then it would be just perfect. :)

I hope that you all know how much I love you! Please keep up the letters!!!! They really do mean a lot to me, and unfortunately I haven`t received any for a while. I`m pretty sure that it`s just because the mail system is slow...I have received some letters that date 4 months back before in my other areas! Anyway, thank you for all of your love and support!!!

Love,

Elder Schofield