The pursuit of easy things make men weak

Hellooo Family, 

Yes, I am alive. I know you all were soooo worried ;) 

Hermana Snelson couldn´t get into her email account on Monday, but it is fixed now and we have a few minutes before we have to head off to a lesson. I hope you feel special because I am sacrificing me eating today to send you some lovin´! Don´t worry, I am sure someone tonight will be sure to offer us a nice tall glass of neon orange soda! 

This week was fun. It´s always fun with Hermana Snelson. Also, she is such a stud. Yesterday, I had to travel to a small little city about an hour outside of Madrid and I left my baby companion all by herself in our area with a bajillion lessons to handle. She was with an other Hermana who only has one more transfer than she does and guess what, they rocked it. haha I love her so much. She is awesome and I love that I can leave her with all of our investigators for an entire day and not have to worry at all. She´s a natural. 

We have a few new investigators who are SO awesome! We met a girl last week from Peru named Kathy. She is 32 (looks 23) and will be baptized before the end of the transfer. She came to church on Sunday and always has really good questions when we meet with her. Her questions are always trying and a bit difficult to answer, but we love it because it means that she is progressing and her testimony is growing more and more each day. She has also been helping us come up with good ideas for our English classes! These next few weekends are gonna be sweeeeet. 

We also have a family! They are theeee best. Probably because they are from Ecuador and feed us yummy Ecuadorian food. Hermana Snelson and I love them. On Sunday we brought them each their own Book of Mormon with a hand written note and our favorite scriptures inside. After we ate dinner we sat down on the floor of their tiny living room and we watched the Restauration video together. 

I remember sitting there in the dark next to Hermana Snelson and at one point I look over at our family. I nudged my companion´s arm and whispered,  "Look."  What we saw melted my heart. We could see the outline of our little family of 5 all huddled together on an old tattered couch. They were all paying close attention and seemed to be hanging onto every word as the short video continued on. I just remembering the most beautiful feeling come over me and in that moment as I quietly testified  to Hermana Snelson, "This is what it means to be a missionary. These are the moments that make it all worth it."   

After the video ended, we did our best to maintain the spirit that was present. We testified of what we know is true and how from this day on their lives will be different.  As we knelt down together the oldest daughter (15) closed with a prayer and we headed home for the night. 

I am so thankful for moments like these. Moments when our Heavenly Father gives us a little celestial peek into the futures of our investigators. Moments when I can picture them in white standing outside of the temple or at the stairs of a baptismal font. There is honestly nothing better. I am so grateful to be here. I cant imagine being any where else!

I love you all so much! Oh, and I wanted to attached this talk that I friend sent to me last week. He told me that I might like it and he was right! I loved it. It´s by President Monson and it´s called Finishers Wanted.  It´s super good! This week my companion and I have a goal to be "Finishers" and to make a concious effort to do things that bring us outside of our comfort zone. We made a discovery that the easy road in life doesn´t get you anywhere! So, to my beloved friends and family, make it a goal this week to do at least one thing every day that makes you feel uncomfortable. Let me know how it goes :) I promise you that you´ll see miracles. 

Have a great week! I dont have any more time to answer emails BUT I love you all to Spain and back! 

Love, 

Hermana Scheu 

p.s. here's a few photos :)

Here is a photo of the little city I traveled to yesterday. There were MOUNTAINS!!! I was so stoked. It was definitely a little piece of heaven. 

 I also came across this little gem. You should have seen the smile that came across my face. Idaho, how I miss you <3

The happiest missionary you'll ever meet

I HAVE THE BEST FAMILY EVER. 

Ehem. This morning my companion and I (yup, I only have one now. I´ll tell you about that later) went on an exciting quest across town to go get my long awaited birthday package. My package arrived here in Spain about a week and a half ago, but it got stuck at the airport in customs (of course). It was quite the process. Lot of people telling me what I needed to do and where I needed to go, and a lot of me smiling and pretending like I knew what they were saying. Needless to say, it was a bit of an adventure, but 5 government bulidings later and plenty of help from lovely strangers, I finally got it :)  And let me tell you, it was SO worth the wait.

I loved EVERYTHING. Especially the millions of glitter and sparkles that decorated my lap when I opened my letter from Allie May. Thank you all! 

Anyways, now that I can´t stop smiling, let me tell you about my awesome week. 

First of all, we had some crazy changes go down Wednesday night. President called us after planning at like 11:00pm. Every time I see his number pop up on our caller ID my heart drops, because I know something is ALWAYS up. I feel like we are always the "go to" missionaries when he´s stuck in a pickle and needs an out haha It´s great though, I wouldn´t have it any other way.

 So he was calling us to let us know that a sister was sick an needed to go back to the states for more medical help (she´s fine. no worries)  and that we needed to have emergency transfers. He decided to have Sister Norton move out of our area to be with the other sister and that Hermana Snelson and I would stay in Barrio 2 and serve together. We´re not really sure why things ended up the way they did and how Hermana Snelson and I ended up being companions, but we are not going to question it because we are STOKED. I am so excited to be her trainer and work with her these next several weeks. She is so great and so far we have been working really well together. She is such a hard worker and every day we come up with more and more ways to improve. It´s the best!  Also, I know I´ve mentioned this before, but she is hilarious. I never stop laughing.

Welp, things are just going wonderfully and I couldn´t be more content. We have A LOT of new investigators and we are really excited for all the new people we have been blessed with. Our other investigators are theee best and we had an awesome turn out at church on Sunday, which by the way was SUCH a great day. 

We´ve still got so much more to learn, but every day we get a little closer to figuring out this whole missionary work :) I love it. This Gospel is so incredible and SO true! Oh, and by the way, just a quick side note. Guess who stopped by to speak to us on Saturday morning?? ELDER BALLARD!!! We are so incredibly blessed! I love the apostles. I love them so much! He had beautiful spirit wih him that left all 150 of us recharged and spiritually strengthened. 

A few quotes from Elder Ballard: 

 “Your success is directly proportionate to your desire.” If our desires are righteous, The Lord will give us success in His work.’

Elder Ballard said, “Your success is directly proportional to 

your desire.”

Then, he asked, “How much do you love The Lord? You might say that you love Him enough to die for him. But do you 

 

love Him enough to get up on time, to get out on time, and to reach out to the people you pass by on the street every day?"

He said that this had been a very busy trip for him. Then 

 said, “Frankly, I’m tired. Sometimes I ask myself, “What is 

an old 85 year old doing running around like this?” He then said that s

 ometimes he is tempted to get discouraged. When he 

does, he pulls out a small picture of the Savior that he 

always travels with, and looks into His eyes and says that 

 

he keeps going because he understands Gethsemane.”

All is well. My singing skills are improving, in case any one was worried. The church is true. I love Elder Ballard. My companion is the best thing that´s ever happened to me. Spanish is awesome. I have the best family ever. I played two hours of tag and hide and seek the other day and I can´t remember having so much fun in my life. Enjoy the pictures. Missionary work is THEEE best. 

Con mucho Amor, 

Hermana Scheu 

Birthday week

Hi Family! 

Just another week here in beautiful Spain! No big deal. Just loving my life. 

I had an awesome week! Seriously the best week. Would you like to know why? Well, I´ll give you a few examples: 

1) Tuesday, Hermana Norton and I got a new comanion!! We were supposed to get two, but my companion is still waiting for her visa in the States and we don´t have any idea when she will be arriving. Until then, I will be enjoying every second with Hermana Snelson because she is THEE BEST. She came straight from the MTC here in Spain, but is already such a pro. She´s pretty much training me. She is from Valencia California and I am so thankful for the new energy and faith she brings to our companionship. And she also has beautiful red hair and it reminds me of my mamma :) 

2) We have seen SO many tender mercies this week. We´ve met some of the coolest people and we have had some of the most spiritual lessons. We have decided as a companionship to work harder to invite the spirit in our lessons and we have seen such a change. Our investigators are progressing so much and we have two more with baptism dates! We also had the most incredible lesson with a couple from Ecuador at the temple. They are both young and are thinking abou getting married in the near future. We had a temple tour with them and at the end we had Carlos pray and at the end of his prayer we were all in tears. It was such a cool experience. I wish I could put it in words! I am really excited to see them progress. 

Carlos and Sarah!

3) Thursday, as some of you may know, was my birthday. This alone pretty much made my entire week. I was out of Madrid most of the day, so I didn´t get to spend a lot of time with investigators or my companions, but we partied the next day too! I had the opportunity to go to the mission home for a leadership meeting with all the Zone Leaders and Sister Training leaders from every area in our mission. It was an awesome meeting and I learned A TON. We talked about the needs of our mission and what we could do to improve. It lasted almost all day, but of course I loved every second. We have some pretty amazing missionaries in our mission and our mission President is so great. And his wife is the best cook (second best, mom) ever! I left so full of delicious food and full of the Spirit and news ideas of how to improve! 

4) Friday we had a zone meeting and Hermana Caballero (other sister training leader) and I gave a quick talk on a few things we talked about in our meeting. Real quick thing about Hermana Caballero. She is the best! I am sooo lucky to be working with her. She is from Spain and she teaches me fun Spanish songs and how to dance like a Spanard haha It´s the best. 

Oh, I could go on and on but I am running out of time. Just know that I am so happy and I love being a missionary! Also, I laughed harder this week than I ever have in my entire life. Okay, maybe not, but Hermana Snelson is just really funny. And something else that was great about this week is the amount of ice cream I ate. SO MUCH ICE CREAM haha Every one wanted to buy me ice cream for my birthday (i guess thats a thing here) and of course I couldn´t say no...so I ate a ton and I loved it all. We have a frozen yogurt place right near our house and it is SOO good. 

YUMMMMMM 

SO much chocolate and a cute new backpack from our recent convert! He is theee sweetest.

Today we went to a awesome park and climbed up on this crazy trapeez thing. Good times

I love you all sooooo much!!!! The church is true. We are seeing so many great things happen. Have an amazing week and know that all of you are in my thoughts and prayers. 

Love, 

Hermana Scheu

Photo updates

Hi Family and Loved Ones!

Oh, things are great. I am just over here in Spain and loving every second. Loving all the ups and downs and twists and turns of being a missionary. Life is so good! 

Yes, I had couple of crazy weeks, but guess what? It´s a new month, a new transfer, and I have new and exciting news! First though, here are a few updates (in pictures) of what’s been going on: 

MIGUEL! He is our miracle investigator. He stopped us in the metro and asked US where our church was. (Um, missionary dream right there). He is from Peru and is the sweetest! Mainly because he buys us ice cream and makes us yummy Peruvian fooood. We had a temple tour with him last week and it was amazing. He told us that he felt something urge him to talk to us that day in the metro and that he was begging to realize why. Love him. 

Here is a temple tour (LOVE the temple) we had with a recent convert of 3 weeks, Manuel, and a golden investigator, Jorge. Also, just in case I didn´t introduce Hermana Pilliza, that´s her. She's short and cute AND from Ecuador so that automatically makes me love her :) She was with Hermana Norton and I for the past 3 weeks while she waited for her visa to Argentina! She was a blessing and a complete answer to my prayers. 

 Happy Birthday to Jaime!!! Jaime is one of Hermana Giler and I´s recent converts. He´s the best. We celebrated his birthday with a few gifts and a traditional American dish, Rice Krispey Treats!! 

Just us, workin´hard...or barely workin´. Either one. 

Monica and baby Milton. She´s from Ecuador and I love her little family. She is a member, but her husband is not...just yet. I love working with them and I´ve had so many beautiful experiences with them. I can´t wait to see them sealed in the temple someday. 

 

Okay, so I had to introduce you to Isabella and her brother Joaquin. They are a HOOOT. A member from our ward takes care of them and although they are not members, they often join us when we go out to eat or have lessons. Joaquin kills me. He has a thing for whiskey and always "sneaks" it when he´s eating ice cream. Turns out it´s only apple juice hahahaha And Isabella is the biggest flirt I have ever met! She LOVES the Elders. She always tries to hold their hands when they´re not paying attention...poor elders. 

 Just me, being a missionary and all. We love the Book of Mormon :) 

My WHOLE week was made when I got a letter from Seth, Natalie, Peyton, Rilee, and my bud Dax! So cool. They are the best!!! Thanks Nat <3

Who knew finding a box of Mac and Cheese would be the best thing ever? Yeah, that made our day. 

 

Sooo...we no longer have a little furry friend living with us...haha I´m sure he´s happier in his new home

Temple trip! Best day ever. I am so grateful to have a temple in our mission. I don´t know what I would do with out it.

Meet Hermana Munden! Remember that one time when I lived in Ecuador and had an amazing roommate? Well, now we are in Spain together and in the same disctrict :) Heavenly Father loves us.  

My district! We probalbly most likely have the best district. Just sayin´. 

Oh, and real quick, some exciting news: 

I am staying in my same area, but I am getting a baby! I´ll be training this next two transfers and I am so excited. I´ll get to meet her tomorrow! Pray for me. I´ll need it. I can only hope to be a trainer half as amazing as mine was. 

Also, I was assigned to be the new Training Sister Leader for my zone. Woah. This is going to be a crazy few months but I am excited to step up into this new role and hoefully be a good example to all the other sisters. This also means that I will have a change to go to regular leadership meetings at the Mission Home and be involved in other mission trainings and conferences. 

 I pray for you regularly. I´ll get more emails off to everyone else next week, but know that I love you! 

The church is true. This work is amazing. 

Love, 

Hermana Scheu