10/15/12

Dear Mom,

Hi Mom! Things are going really well. I'm glad to hear from you :). This week was a great week.

It sounds as though things are getting very busy back home. I hope you are keeping the stress away."Sweet Sunday sounds like a great idea!| Glad to hear how everyone is doing.

Dad and James are only about a 10 hour train ride away, I think. How does it feel to have the entire family each in a different country at this moment? I am excited to hear about their trip. Believe it or not, but I can actually hold a conversation in German.  It is very similar to Dutch and the words that are different, I still remember from high school. I had the chance to use it this past week with a couple people visiting. It was messy but I got through, haha.  William is still alive and kicking. I am very happy to hear that! I worry about him being there in that country. Mauritania... oh boy. That sounded like a cool experience with the girls that went to church! That guy just does missionary work wherever he goes!  Good man.

Things here in Rotterdam are going really well. We should be having a baptismal service for G. on the 27 October 2012. He is super excited. I wonder if I will be staying for that. Transfers will be on the 24th. He has really taken off. He loves the scriptures and ever since General conference, he has been learning all he can. We had a really cool experience this past week. We have a LOT of Spanish speakers here in Rotterdam South. I was on exchanges with Elder Kunz here in South and we were walking along. I stopped this lady and she replied back in Spanish. I thought, "Öh great.." So I whipped out all the Spanish I knew.. just enough to say we are missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we share the Book of Mormon with people, what is your address." She shrugged her shoulders and said, " ök". She took my notebook and wrote down her address. We made an appointment for Tuesday and there were more hand-motions than words spoken. I wasn't exactly sure how positive she was or if the appointment would go through. We show up and she said,"I knew from the very beginning of talking with you guys that your message was true. We rescheduled another appointment and came back a few days later. She had invited a few friends and family members. Eight people in total that we taught during the lesson. It was a madhouse trying to keep everything in order. Luckily, my companion came back from the exchange of course. He can speak a little Spanish and we had a member with us who is fluent in Spanish. We invited them all to be baptized but did not set any dates. They should be coming to church this next week. If so, then we will work for a specific goal. I believe in the gift of tongues, haha.

A couple other things happened this week but I do not have a whole lot of time left unfortunately :(. I love you mom! Hope you have a great week. :)

Thanks Paige for your letters! The girls loved them! Thanks a ton!

Love,

Elder Schulte