Dear Loved Ones,

I'm comin' home. 

Love, 

Your favorite missionary 

God is Good

Hola Familia! 

So there seems to be a common theme creeping it´s way into my life and it goes a little something like this: "Dont cry because it´s over, smile because it happened."

In honor of my last email from the mission field, I thought I would share a little more insight on my personal learning process over the past 18 months. Also, I hope to express a little bit more of the love that I have for my parents. They are everything to me and are the number one reason why I have been able to serve. They have supported me, loved me, and have proved to be the "best" examples that I could have ever asked for. I hope that they are able to see, through the ups and downs of my experiences, that all that they have sacrificed in my behalf hasn´t been put to a complete lost cause ;)

May 4, 2013

"I think it is important for people to understand the there is so much more. So much more happiness, peace, and love then they could ever imagine. That happiness comes from understanding who Christ is, then who we are, and what our purpose is here on earth."

May 9, 2013

"Not one thing about Christ´s life was easy. If it wasn´t easy for Him, why should it be easy for me? If He was sick, mistreated, judged, ridiculed, and doubted, then I most likely will be too, but I´ll overcome and rise above just as He did. I didn´t leave my whole life and loved ones behind for 18 months for something that I think might be true or something that is just nice to believe in. I didn´t say goodbye to everything I´ve ever known and I didn´t chose to sacrifice so that I could teach people that Christ might be our Savior or the Book of Mormon might be true, or that Joseph Smith maybe  was a prophet of God. No, I gave up everything because I could never deny what I´ve come to know through the power of the Holy Ghost. I will never not testify of the truth of this Gospel."

May 11, 2013

"Another thing that I have come to recognize is my ability to love. I´ve been blessed with an open heart and love for everyone I´ve come across. I love eating with the member and catching a sneak peak into their lives. I love being able to feel the spirit in their homes and listen as the Lord works through me to bless their lives and to lift them up. I am truly beginning to see the importance of listening and understanding what people need and how I can be an instrument in His hands. There is nothing better than being a missionary!" 

May 16, 2013

"These past who weeks I´ve learned about the Atonement and to never look back on things that we have been forgiven of. I´ve learned that sometimes people struggle more than we realize. Life is full of really hard circumstances. And although I´ve still got a long ways to go, I´ve learned how to better listen to the Spirit and to allow myself to be guided. I´ve also learned that miracles do happen everyday and that God is so aware of each and every one of us."

June 16, 2013

"I want to make more of an effort to constantly be looking for ways to build up the people around me. Especially my companion. Each day I am surrounded by people who need rescuing. I pray that if anything else I can serve as a comfort for one of God´s children. Because I know, that if He could, He would be here doing the same thing."

September 28, 2013

"Today, I was studying about faith and what it means to fully trust in God. I realized that it means believing that He is there helping me even when He´s quiet. That´s when I remember that the teacher is always quiet during the test."

October 17, 2013

"I am still trying to figure out how I can use my study time more fully. I know that there is so much I still need to discover, but sometimes I have to remember to be patient. I guess that´s what they mean by ´poco a poco´." 

Nov 7, 2013

"...I know that this time is so short and that it wont last forever. Everyday passes so quickly! I cant hardly believe that I am already just about half way through my mission! Time flies...There really is nothing better than being a missionary. I know that I still have many wonderful things in life to experience, but right now I am here. Right now I have been given the opportunity to give the Lord my all. I dont have any other worries besides working hard in the Lord´s vinard. I know that any worries or troubles that cross my mind now and again will all be resolved and things will turn out perfectly. As long as I serve to the end with all my heart, mind, mind, and strength."

March 3, 2014

"This morning was rough. It was so hard to stay awake today! I feel bad, but I was really struggling. Most days I am loving personal study and I never want it to end, but today my eyes just wouldn´t stay open! Ugh. So sleepyyy. But hey, I still love the scriptures and I am so thankful for preach my gospel!" 

June 4, 2014

"...It made me think about how as missionaries there will always be many who believe what we teach and accept the gospel, but there will always be people who dont. I think recently I have been humbled and reminded to love all of God´s children, even those who have their own beliefs and refuse to accept the Restored Gospel. I think sometimes I get caught up in having to convince everyone....but I am beginning to see that I don´t even come close to having that kind of power. This is the Lord´s work. Not mine. God has a plan for each of His children, but he also respects their agency to choose. All I can do is teach with the Spirit and invite people to accept the Gospel and to love them no matter what. Even after my mission my role is to live and share what I believe and remind myself that God is in charge. I truly believe that as I live worthy of His guidance He will provide opportunities to love and share His message with others, especially my family."

June 23, 2014

"...A few things I learned from this week´s zone meeting: 

1) I need to always seek to be humble. Always remember that strength comes from the Lord. I need to always seek His guidance and not seek my own. Just like Alma. I feel that for me this is something very important to remember in order to be an effective tool in the Lord´s hands. 

2) Love changes everything. The moment someone feels loved or things are done in love, everything begins to work out. I´ve learned that the mission, and life in general, is just so much easier (and pleasant) when we constantly pray and actively seek to love others. Love changes every circumstance or difficult situation and solves any problem. It may not make it easier, but in the long run charity and love always lead the right thing."

July 3, 2014

"All of the things that I have been learning have been to help me become better in the future. I hope to continue to work towards becoming a "consecrated missionary" in all my titles including sister, daughter, student, member, wife, mother, ect. I truly believe that the principles from missionary work will never not be applicable in my life." 

August 10, 2014

"The most important of the Lord´s work you will ever do will be in the walls of your own home."

-President Lee

I guess I´ll be seeing you all soon and I cannot wait for that moment. Mom, keep it together, I´ll be squeezing you soooon! I love you all and I wish you all a happy week! 

The Church is true and if I could sum up the past 18 months into 3 words, it would be:  God is good. 

Love, 

your favorite missionary! 

Tour of a lifetime!

Hello loverlies! 

Well, it´s only 5pm and I´ve done more things than any island missionary could possibly imagine doing in one day! Our day started at 8am and we got a private tour of the entire island thanks to our sweet bishop. The man is incredible. We traveled through the mountains to the most beautiful remote places I have ever seen. Ah, it was amazing. I would send pictures, but who has time for that? I´ll show you in a few weeks :) Just know that it was breathtaking and we definitely need to come back and visit. There was still so much that I was dying to see. Next summer vacation?? 

After the tour we picked up our new companions from the airport! They are wonderful, of course. We are going to have so much fun and get work done! We´re excited. Hermana Hone is from Arizone (Lacy´s cousin!!!) and Hermana Thunborg is from Utah. They both have about a year in the mission. 

Alright, I now have about 2.5 minutes left to email and I have a cute little 9yr old monster waiting for me to reply.

All is well. We have been so blessed and I´m still working on finishing strong! Don´t get too excited, I´ve still got plenty of time left here ;) 

Have a great week! 

A few of my favorite things

Dearest Loved Ones,

Four words to describe this week: The Mission is Fun.

We´ve had a week full of soccer, hiking, teaching, and eating with members. It´s been a dream. We´ve been soooo blessed! Just know that life is good as an island missionary and my companion rocks. We´ve been busy, dead tired, but we´re still going strong.

p.s. President let us in on transfer calls a week early and this duo is about to be a fouro! haha Because Hermana Aagard and I are leaving our area in the middle of a transfer, President is sending in our replacements next week! We´ll have two and half weeks to train them, teach them everything we know, and introduce them to our investigators and ward members. It´s going to be crazy but we are so excited!

I´ll keep you updated....transfer calls on Saturday!

Love you all!

Have a wonderful week,

Hermana Scheu 

[insert catchy subject live here]

Hi Family! 

Oh, how I love the Islands. I would hate for you to all think that I am a very spoiled missionary, but I can´t help but think about how blessed I am to live here. It´s PARADISE. The weather has been absolutely perfect. The people are so funny. I love teaching them. Every day is exciting and always an adventure. Hermana Aagard and I have been working hard, but it somehow feels like we´re hardly working. 

This past week we had one of the most successful weeks on my mission and more times than I can count on one hand I thought my heart my just explode with love for our investigators. Yesterday we had a full sacrament meeting and miracle investigators at church! In our last hour we even had a random lady from the street just walk into Relief Society, sit down, participate in the lesson, and then tell us how she felt like for some reason she just needed to be there. 

Then, afterwards we had a lesson with Darín! He´s our Romanian investigator and he is GOLD. There really are no words to describe how prepared this man is and how excited he is to be baptized. He´s the most humble, intelligent, spiritual seeking, man I´ve ever met. For example, the other day we were teaching him about Christ and how we can become closer to Him through the steps of repentance. In the middle of the lesson, he puts his head down, looks up at us and proceeds to tell us how he feels that he needs to repent.- Up until this moment everything has been almost too "easy" with him, so we embraced ourselves for the worst.- He begins by telling us that sometimes at night he likes to relax by putting in a good documentary and popping a bag of popcorn. Confused, we asked him what the problem was with this. He then continued to explain that sometimes he, and I quote, "eats the whole bowl of popcorn." Hermana Aagard and I nearly died, but kept it together. He then confessed that one day he ate an entire watermelon in one sitting and afterwards felt guilty because "moderation in all things" is very important. Needless to say, we´re stoked to teach the word of wisdom this week! 

He´s a gem. And we love him. 

Everyone else is doing so well! We´ve had a few interesting lessons this week that ended with a very quick prayer and fast get-away. It´s been interesting for me to be able to be so much more sensitive to situations in which the Spirit immediately leaves. I´m grateful that I have a companion that understands the  "lets wrap this up and get outta here" look. Oh, I still love being a missionary :) 

All is well! Workin hard and still kickin. 

Love you all! Thank you for your love and support. The church is true! 

xoxo, 

A week of miracles

Dear Family, 

This week was incredible. Hermana Aagard and I have been SOOO busy and so very blessed. There are so many prepared people here who are ready to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

I have so much more to say, but out of time. For now, I´ll just leave you with a video that stole my heart. 

Mountains to Climb

I´m so thankful for the restored gospel. I love you all! Have a great week! 

xoxo, 

hermana scheu 

"Quick, name three things that make you laugh"

Dearest Family, 

Three fun facts:

1) I LOVE THE ISLANDS.

As hard as it is to compare to my first two areas, I have a feeling I will have a reaaally hard time leaving this paradise of an island. This past week was one of the best of my mission. (And that´s saying a lot.) Our ward is incredible. We have awesome summer activities that you can only get away with if you live in the Canaries. #anythinggoes Everyone loves my new companion and all of the sudden everyone and their mom wants to feed us food until we die. Life is good. 

2) I have been blessed with THEE best companions. 

Hermana Aagard is a BOSS. Best/most hard working companion I´ve had. We´ve had such an amazing week FULL of miracles and tender mercies. As much as I love training, I´ve decided that having a companion with the same amount of time as me in the mission has some serious perks. We both just wanna work and see our area take off. Getting work DONE. Feels soooo good. I couldn´t think of a better way to spend the next 7 best weeks of my life. 

3) This work would be impossible if the church wasn´t true. Fact. 

There is nothing I love more  than sitting in a tiny hot living room, surrounded by a sweet spanish family, and testifying of this Gospel. Honestly, could not think of anything more fufilling at this stage in my life. Last night we walked out of a lesson, blown away by the power of the spirit, we just looked at eachother and without even having to say a word we knew exactly what the other was thinking. This chuch is true. I´ve seen so many lives change and blessed. It´s a good thing I have an amazing family waiting for me at home or else I might never be able to leave this place. 

All is well. I hope everyone is enjoying the summer! Hermana Aagard and I definitely are. We still wake up every morning, look out our open window at the ocean and say to ourselves, "I can´t believe we live here." 

Thought of the week: 

The Savior Wants to Forgive 

Also, my all time favorite, once again. 

The Will of God 

Be safe. Make good choices. Know that I love you. 

Love, 

hermana scheu

#yesweactuallylivehere

Quickest hours of my life= Morning personal study

Hi loved ones, 

Happy Transfer day! Today is the beginning of my 11th transfer and let me telllll you how lucky I am to have the best companion ever. 

I just picked up Hermana Aagard (Utahian) from the airport this morning and we´re both still in awe of how we ended up being together for our last transfer. We both started the mission together and we´re so excited to finish strong and work hard to the end! I am actually soo excited about our little district and how much work we are going to get done these next 8 weeks! I couldn´t have asked for a better companion or place to finish the best 18 months of my life! 

There are a couple things that I read this week during personal study and wanted to share. 

First of all, I read the priesthood session from this last conference. So Amazing. It´s always the first thing I read when we get the General Conference issues of the Ensign. 

One of my favorites was an address given by President Uchtdorf which applies really well to all members of the church.

 Are You Sleeping Through the Restoration?

In his talk he gives three opportunities in which we might be able to be more fully involved in building up the kingdom of God here on Earth: Selfishness, Addictions, and Competing Priorities. 

Another talk that I really enjoyed: The Choice Generation by Elder Ridd

In his talk he mentioned so many things that made me really rethink the way I´ll use technology after my mission. One of my favorite things that I´ve learned these past 15 months is how to appreciate personal scripture study. That short precious hour that I have every morning to read and study the gospel has changed everything for me. Everything. It has strengthened my testimony almost more than any other aspect of my mission. My stomach drops a bit everytime I think about how much I took time for granted. 99% of the time those 60 short minutes go by way too quickly.

I am so thankful for my mom and her wonderful example to me. I remember coming down the stairs in the early early hours of the morning and finding her silently studying the scriptures. Now, years later, I finally realize how important it is to take time everyday to quietly appreciate the blessings that come from inspired words of the Lord. 

In his talk, Elder Ridd adds an interesting insight about the unlimited internet access that we have through our cell phones, tablets, and personal computers:

 "Right in the palm of your hand you have the wisdom of the ages- more importantly, the words of the prophets, from Old Testament days to President Thomas S. Monson. But if you dont regularly recharge your cellphone, it is useless, and you feel lost and out of touch. You wouldn’t think of going a single day without charging your battery.

As important as it is to leave home every day with a full charge on your cell phone, it is far more important to be fully  charged spiritually. Everytime you plug in your phone, use it as a reminder to ask yourself if youhave plugged in to the most important source of spiritual power- prayer and scripture study, which will charge you with inspiration through theHoly Ghost.

 It will help you know the mind and will of the Lord to make the small but important daily choices that determine your direction. Many of us immediately stop whatever we are doing to read a text message—should we not place even more importance on messages from the Lord? Neglecting to connect to this power should be unthinkable to us (see 2 Nephi 32:3)."

I also loved this quote and I am pretty sure my parents have told me this a million and one times in my life and I am just now starting to make the connection ;)  

"Young people, don’t do dumb things with your smartphone. You all know what I mean (see Mosiah 4:29). There are countless ways technology can distract you from what is most important. Follow the adage “Be where you are when you are there.” When you are driving, drive. When you are in class, focus on the lesson. When you are with your friends, give them the gift of your attention. Your brain cannot concentrate on two things at once. Multitasking amounts to quickly shifting your focus from one thing to another. An old proverb says, “If you chase two rabbits, you won’t catch either one."

I hope we all take a few minutes to really think about how we use our time and how we can use it more fully to our personal growth and benefit. That is something that I will really be trying to work on this transfer. 

The mission is "the best". I love you all! I hope you have a wonderful week and give goaty 1.5 a kiss for me! 

Love, 

Hermana Scheu