Well
this past week was a big week for the ASL program out here, as you know
from my message to you. I didn't get to go to the meeting on Saturday,
but I did type up a proposal that I sent to President that hopefully
was well-articulated and able to drive home some important points. It
was, at the very least, a base from which we can continue to gather
ideas and make informed decisions with. President Cooke informed me
that the meeting went well, and that Elder Gerrard was very supportive
in making things happen. We met with the ASL branch leaders, President
Cooke, and Stake President Windley on Sunday morning to make sure we are
of one heart and one mind. The big part was, "how do the members feel
like the ASL missionaries can be used most effectively?" We decided
that strenghening the core, the branch, before reaching out to other
groups that have started up, is most important. One of the main ways
that missionaries will be most successful in strenthening, retaining,
and baptizing in the ASL program is to have STRONG language fluency. I
personally wish I would have not had that time when I was not interested
in signing, but I wish I would have worked hard to be more fluent and
able to communicate. One way that the branch wants to see the ASL
missionaries continue to improve language fluency is to have them stay
in the area for a lot longer, and to have them cover different areas,
and to transfer them between each area. The ASL branch and the two
Presidents agreed on regular meetings to continue the effort and to get
the ball rolling in where the branch wants and needs to be headed. I am
very excited and supportive of this effort, and know it will yield
great results.
Ok
wow... enough about that! We did some other things this week too. We
taught Brother A two lessons and we decided to have his baptismal a
little farther out, actually right before I come home, so that we can
make sure we meet with him and have all the lessons and everything. He
is really excited, turns out for the past few weeks he had a lot of
family members in town and was very busy entertaining them. Darn family
members getting in the way of a baptism ;) We had a snow day on Tuesday
where we got about 5-6 inches and stayed in all day. We planned and
studied and cleaned and when we got bored we played in the snow! It was
really fun. We are busy getting ready for... iPads this week! We are
excited to see how they will help us out in our preselyting efforts and
to create new ways in which they can be used. We are also busy
preparing for Zone Activity next week where we will be playing dodgeball
and eating pupusas. This morning we actually had a dodgeball fight in
our apartment..... as you can imagine 6 Elders+15 dodgeballs= 1 messy
missionary apartment! But we cleaned up don't worry.
Well,
what can I say? I've been very emotional lately. I'm like one of the
many pregnant women in our ward. Super happy one minute to be "livin
the dream" and the next just super sad and dreading the day when the
badge comes off, permanently. It's helped that our transfer motto has
been "cry if you need to." I am doing very well and positively for the
most part though. I think that I would rather go out working hard with
all guns blazing and crying and
being-torn-up-inside-because-I'm-gonna-miss-this-so-much than ANY OTHER
WAY. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, and the end was never easy, but
it was also never the end. I am closer to the edge.
I LOVE YOU TO THE EDGE OF THE UNIVERSE AND BACK AGAIN AS MANY TIMES AS THERE ARE POLITICIANS IN DC! Elder Schoemig
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