December 2023 was FULL of jollification and celebration and music! I loved it, was very busy but I was reminded over and over again there is a reason to be merry. We did get sick between Christmas and New Years but thankfully only had to miss a couple days of work. So very thankful for all our blessings past present and future because of Jesus Christ. First just a couple of pictures of Weston who celebrated his second Christmas in Brazil, and a beautiful email he sent at the end of December.
Dec 18, 2023 Whaaaat a ride ladies and gents. This week was full of mystical magical adventures.
First off, we're meeting a lot of families to teach, which is excellent! The only problem is that no one is married. For now we're working on helping the kids get baptized while helping each of the parents with the marriage process. Hopefully we'll be able to create some eternal families in the near future.
Multi-zone
Another epic highlight has gotta be the excellent Christmas multi-zone conference. I remember my first multi-zone was also Christmas themed. Kind of crazy thinking about the things I've been repeating since being on the ladder end of the mission. I'm not sure how to sound less cliché, but the time does sure flies by. As always, we had two very inspired talks by President and Sister Silva, as well as a training by the assistants, a musical presentation from each zone (ours was the best), and quite a few games including one that I won! We did a hot potato contest I managed to get the dub in a group of about thirty missionaries, literally one of the most exillerating moments of my entire life. I'll try to attach a video of the final round 😁 but as always, the best part of any multi-zone is being able to reunite with some missionaries very dear to me. It is amazing how strong of friendships are born from mission experiences.
Yesterday we had a very blessed sacrament meeting! Eight investigators we are teaching showed up as well as two others out of nowhere who we had stopped teaching. The messages were very inspired and I've been getting by playing the hymns 😅 I'm still not able to play perfectly but the branch still greatly appreciates my efforts.
We also finally had a baptism!🥳🥳🥳 Luciano had a drinking problem, especially after separating from his wife. But we were able to get him to quit after showing him the joy and curing that the gospel brings, his example of following Christ inspired us all.
Lately I've been thinking about how on a mission I literally learn new lessons about life or the gospel each and every day. The gospel is like an endless goldmine for each of us to discover nuggets of wisdom, and each spiritual nugget brings blessings and clarity to our lives. With this perspective it's almost ridiculous thinking about prioritizing any other worldy things else of less importance. When we have ears to listen and minds to receive, God teaches us. I invite you all to think about what God still has to teach you. Remember that we're on this earthly journey to learn.
So that's it for today, love you all and have a nice Christmas! It's just around the corner 👀🎅🎄
-Elder Schauers
Love and miss Weston! Thankfully we got to talk to him Christmas day. We missed Fiora too who celebrated Christmas in New Zealand with her new friends. She is safe and enjoying summer time and beaches down in the southern hemisphere.
Here is the list of what went down back here in Lindon UT:
*Many people came to see the gingerbread house and I loved every one of them! Thanks for enjoying my creation family and friends.
*Barrett Family Christmas party, gift exchange, and Nativity reenactment. Lots of chaos and lots of fun!
*Practicing every week several hours all of Nov and Dec to learn choir and piano pieces for morningside, Carols to our kind fireside, and the Christmas Even program at church.
*Jared's 46th birthday celebration, I took the day off work and we had a fun outing to Kneaders for breakfast, a goat hike with Savanna, Malawis pizza for lunch, and he got a horse ride in. We love you Jared!
*Early Christmas morning ("our Christmas) with McKay and Savanna before they left for Elko. Magical and spiritual!
*Spending Christmas Eve with the Schauers at our annual progressive dinner. Low numbers but so fun and so much good food.
*Christmas day at the current Timberlakes cabin with Wendy, Keith, and Todd.
*Kynsie's Bridal Shower Dec 30th. Thankfully Savanna is here to do my nails special for the wedding!
