Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Ola Familia

Ola Familia,
 So this last week has been pretty chill. The MTC  is just continueing on which is always great.Teaching is still going well and my portuguese has really progressed. So just review over a couple things. Last week I got to host which was awesome. I hosted one missionary and he's going to be leaving the same time I am. Isn't that kinda crazy to think? People that I host last week will leave the same time as me. But it's all good. Besides that teaching has been chill. Our two investigators are going to be baptized this next saturday which is awesome. And then I'll be getting even closer to getting out into the field which will be crazy. One thing that I need to focus on for our district is making sure that we continue to stay diligent. Especially because we are getting so close to working in the field which will require so much more work than were even putting in here. So if we prepare here the transition to the field will be so much better.
 So I don't know if I mentioned this last week but I love Sundays. All the meetings that we have and the Spiriti I can feel is just awesome. Sundays are really my favorite day of the week. My branch president, President Crosby, is awesome. Whenever he teaches I can feel the Spirit so strongly and I really hope that before I leave for the field that he will teach again.
 So next: why today should be pretty awesome- is it because I'm just at the MTC which is always great? is it because a new district came in that's pretty chill? Or there could be another reason- IT'S THE 50th ANNIVERSARY OF THE MTC!!!!. So straight up the First Presidency could be here which would be totally awesome. Honestly it should be pretty interesting and I'm really excited. And my district will be singing in the choir which should be awesome. I can't wait and Iknow the Spirit will be way strong.
 I'm so blessed to be on a mission. The church is true. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ. He died for us and He loves us. I know this is true. I know that God restored His church on the earth through the prophet Joseph Smith. I knwo that God loves everyone one of us. I know that He wants all of us to return to him. It is the greatest gift that we can give to everyone. The church is true and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
I hope that you don't mind but I'm going to say specific things to people in this e-mail as well:
Mom- Thanks for always writing. That's way weird about the weather in NH. The temple is always awesome. I'm going to miss that in the field a bit.
Gretch- I just want to echo what you said about prayer. It is everything. Without prayer investigators could never know the true, without prayer the mission would be so much harder, I don't think it could be done without prayer, without prayer Joseph Smith would never have seen Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father and we wouldn't have had the opportunity to hear the Gospel. I am so grateful for prayer.
Andrea- Thanks for your letter. Sounds like the boys are just a bunch of goofs. And that's awesome about your run. I'm glad that that went so well and I hope that you can continue to run. Running really is like us enduring to the end and I really liked the scripture that you shared.
Jo- Thanks for the package. The shirt though is a little small. I can't really wear it around too much but it's way comfortable. :)
Poul- There should be a letter coming your way soon. Sorry it's taken so long. But thanks for writing.
Kirstin- Thanks for writing me and I hope that Lucy and Jimmy are both doing well./
Dad- Thanks for always wrting me letters and letting me know how everything is going. I hope that work continues to go well. :)
Geoff- Dude, what's going on? I keep hearing about the Eagle Project and you singing and stuff but I want an update from you.
 
Well fam I love you and I hope that all continues to go well,
Ate proximo tempo,
Com Amor
Elder Peder Schillemat

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Less than one month to Cape Verde!

Family!,
 So here is the new updates for the week! First off I love Sundays. I love the Spirit I can feel on sundays and the talks that are given. My branch president, President Crosby gives the best thoughts and I absolutely love it. He came into our district meeting and started talking and then just went off with scripture references! It was awesome. Everytime he talks it is just such a spiritual experience. 
 After that our whole district had decided to join choir, which is crazy because truthfully I feel that I can't sing that well and I've never really enjoyed it. But choir here is pretty good. It's a really nice spiritual expereince and I can feel it the whole time that I'm there. 
 We also get to host new missionaries this week on Wednesday. It should be pretty fun. We've got quite a bit of people coming into our branch which is awesome so that we are not just a little group of 10-15 missionaries anymore. So it should be fun to welcome all the new missionaries to the MTC. 
 I'm down to less than a month left in the MTC which is crazy. In three weeks I'll be in Cape Verde so I've gotta make these last three weeks really worth it. Me and my companion are trying harder to make our lessons as applicable to the people we teach as we can and to continue to build each other up. Our district is solid and things are going well. We are getting taught as investigators twice a week which is pretty chill. It's quite a new experience. 
 So thank you all for writing me. Jo that sounds like it is freezing up in Colebrook. Just to give you some perspective I've been able to walk around in a t-shirt here. Also I heard about the Pats! That's way excitng, unfortunately me comp is rooting for the Giants so I'm really hope the Pats can pull it through. And Mom I don't really know how to help you with the chick flick night. Sorry. Gretch, it's awesome that we get to serve missions at the smae time. Everytime that I hear from you it's always way exciting and I hope that the work continues to go well. It's pretty awesome. Andrea, I hope that everything is going well in TX. And Kirst I hope that teaching continues to go well and that Lucy doesn't climb on to many things. Poul, dude you'll have to keep me updated on the Pats, also how is work and what classes are you taking this semester? Dad how is work going and I hope that everything is going well. Geoff let me know what's going on, i HEAR YOU SANG IN STAKE CONFERENCE? hOW WAS THAT?
 Sorry about the caps in that part. :) I love all of you and I love hearing from you every week. The Gospel is true and I know it. :)
 Eu amo voces!
 Elder Peder Schillemat 

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Peder's Latest Letter

Ola,
 So I really want to be able to talk to everyone and I'm going to try and do that by writing a mass e-mail to you guys- the fam. Sorry Dad that I don't have your e-mail in here. I was kinda wondering how much that you actuaLLY check your e-mail. So how's eveything going for evryone? Also please forgive my spelling.
 Here's the new junk in the MTC. So we are starting this week to become investigators. So that should be interesting to try to act like an investigator. I'm pretty psyched about it. Also all of our lessons are going pretty well. Elder Talbot and I teaching pretty well but we have to kind of work on makinh sure that we both really teach during lessons. But it's all good.
 Also this last Tuesday we had another apostle come to the MTC. Elder Russell M. Nelson came by and talked about the fact that we are fulfilling the Abrahamic Covenant. It was really awesome and I was super happy to hear it. It really made my purpose all the more clear.
 Besides that things have been pretty usual... I still get referred to as Matt Damon, the lessons are all going well and all of you know that I'm DL(District Leader). And thank you Gretch for your counsel. I am going to try to always keep humble and to always love everyone in my district, especially my companion because if I don't love them than how am I going to love the people of Cape Verde? So that's what I'm always going to try to work on so that my whole district knows that I love them.
 Well that's about it for this week. I love all of you and I hope things continue to go well. :)
 Com Amor,
     Elder Peder Schillemat

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Feliz Ano Novo

Mommos,
 So I'm not going to lie I was worrying about not hearing from you. But it's all good cuz I heard from you through the e-mail. BTW I sent a letter saying that ytou need to write me but now that you've writtemn men just tell the rest of the fam to write me. :)
 So that sounds like a blast back home. Liam sounds way fun and I'm glad that he's started to hug you. Why didn't he hug you before? And Landon sounds like a little awesome chunk. :) How's Lucy doing? She going to get walking soon? :) I'm glad that you were able to talk to people at work about the Church. That is awesome and I'm glad it went well.
 New Years was pretty chill here. There wasn't anything new that happened here though. We had a fireside tht was pretty goofy. There's more of an explanation of that in the letter though. But one of the things that I've been keeping in mind a lot is always trying to stay positive. You know the language can be hard and teaching maty not go as we would like but we still have the gospel of Jesus Christ which is the happiest thing in the world. I know that as I keep that in mind and always remember that I am a representative of Christ that I can make my mission great. So I'm going to remain happy as long as I can because the Church is true, and it's the Church of Christ.
 Sorry this is kinda short but I gotta peace. Love you Mom.
 Come Amor,
Peder
Btw if you could forward this to the rest of the fam that would be chill. :)