October 27, 2014

October 27, 2014

Even though the outward results of our work this week weren't impressive, we worked hard and that's what counts. We have really been trying to think outside the box in finding places to find people. Sometimes we have to try the tiniest clusters of houses. We also are working on finding through other means. Hopefully we can get some good ideas. We had a lesson with J.D. this week and are trying to figure out what keeps him from coming to church. We didn't get to meet with A. and D., but A. is making some progress. He has read in the Book of Mormon and said he believes it could be true. I guess he's still not quite sure how he wants to act on it. In his own study of the Bible, he came across John 10:16 and asked us if we thought the "other sheep" could be the people in the Book of Mormon. We said "absolutely" :). That was pretty cool. Like I told Maddie, we taught a brief lesson to a Catholic lady who said she was staying Catholic, but would be willing to listen to us. We gave her a pamphlet and a Book of Mormon and she actually seemed excited or at least curious to read a little bit. Even if nothing comes of it in the near future, I felt like it was an important seed that we were able to plant. On Saturday night, we had our branch chili cook-off and trunk of treat. It was pretty fun. The branch president's wife's chili took second place, but she told us afterwards she got it from Wendy's because she was too busy to make here own :) It was kind of funny. We're not sure what will happen with transfers this week, but I guess I just have to have faith that the Lord's will will be done. I definitely know this is God's work, even if it is difficult. I love you all and hope you have a blessed week! Thanks so much for writing and praying and being great.

Love,
Elder Schow

October 20, 2014

October 20, 2014

Being in a rural area is definitely different than what I am used to. Things are much slower here. Thankfully, though, we do have some good people to work with and some good members to help us. J.D. is still doing pretty well. The next step with him is to just come to church. Hopefully he can put it into his schedule. D likes us to visit but gives a lot of excuses. We have had a chance to teach a neat guy named A. this week who has started to read the Book of Mormon and wants to keep reading and pray about it. He is in a rock band and played a hymn for us that he wrote on his guitar. District meeting went really well this week. We talked about Christlike attributes, and I feel like it was uplifting for everyone. We went on exchanges with our zone leaders this week, so I got to spend a day with Elder Shields in the Hayden Run area, which is located in Hilliard, a suburb on the West Side of Columbus. I found out that J, who I was teaching in Marble Cliff has moved into that ward, and the missionaries there are teaching him, so that was kind of cool. I also found out a few weeks ago that M. that I taught in Marble Cliff is getting baptized in a different ward. Pretty neat. We got to go to the temple, which was really nice. We saw the third new film, which was neat. I'm really glad we had the chance to go.

I loved the pictures of Ella in her blessing dress. She was super cute. I'm glad to hear that the blessing went well!

I hope everyone has a blessed week!

Love,
Elder Schow

October 13, 2014

October 13, 2014

Well, it has been a pretty good week. Since the people in our area are spread out over such a large region, we have been trying to track down and visit some of the smallest communities on the map. Some of them only have 8 or 9 houses.We hope that doing this will pay off and help us find prepared people. Probably the most exciting thing that happened was when we went to a prison to visit a man there. A bishop in a nearby ward asked us to visit this man and put us in touch with the guy who coordinates the faith program at the prison. We were able to go in and teach the Restoration to this man and his friend, neither of whom are members of the Church. It was a special opportunity to answer their questions and to see how sincere they were. Due to the nature of the visiting program at the prison, we probably won't be able to go back, but there are other people who will. It was a really singular experience. We visited A. this week. She is really good friends with a member, but she is a strong Catholic, so the missionaries have been working with her slowly. We also had a lesson with J.D.. He has been pretty busy, but he is a good guy and has made some progress with prayer.

On Saturday, we got to go to M. baptism in Big Walnut Creek. It was good to see the missionaries and some of the members there, and it was great to see Michael. He was really excited to be baptized. I'm really glad I got the chance to go.

Today we had an activity with our zone. We basically just played a bunch of group games. It was fun. We get to go to the temple on Friday, so I am excited about that. We found out this week that we will be emailing every Monday, even on transfer week, so that will be a little different. I hope you all keep doing well! Have a blessed week!

Love,
Elder Schow