Peder Has Arrived in Cape Verde!

I have gotten to the mission. Its been pretty chill. We arrived last
night at about 9:30 ish. We got to meet our mission president and he
seems awesome. So besides that things have been good. Weve been going
through training and I found out where I will be serving: Santo Antão.
My companion will be Elder Rodgers. Hes from Wales. So thats what's
happening here.
Love you guys,
Peder

Peder's Last Day in the Mission Training Center then off to Cape Verde

Familia,

 So this is my last day in the MTC. I leasve tomorrow morning at 6 which is insane. I really can't believe it. The MTC has gone pretty stinking fast. I have learned so much and it is just incredible. But here's the update on this last week. Basically we were just doing the usual thing. We would teach like two times a day and then just work on getting as prepared as we can to get to the field. It's actually crqazy to think how little I know about Cape Verde. No one really knows like anything. It's such a bummer. So on wednesday when I get there I'm sure there will be quite a culture shock but at least I know it's coming.

 So the thngs that really changed this week started on Friday. Friday we had this thing called in-field orientation. It was pretty chill and it was all about like working with members, finding and that sort of stuff. Gretch you probably remember this. It was a different change of pace but I think that I actually like normal class better. But it was good and I ran into some people from my freshman ward there. So that was chill.

 Saturday was pretty normal. We had class and then we had some study time later that night. That night though we had to practice for a song we were singing in sacrament. We sang Deus Vos Guarde- God Be with You. During the practice we decided that we were all going to have the whole zone sing the third verse and turn around and sing it to the branch presidency. It went way well.

 So sunday- not going to lie but I was pretty nervous about the song. But we went up there and it went awesome. The branch presidency really loved it. Sacrament meetings are always awesome. I really love them. We had a district meeting later that day where our Brother Hodges from our branch presidency gave his own little departure advice. It was awesome. Then after that we said goodbye to all our branch presidency. I'm going to miss them. They were all awesome. My Branch President: President Crosby, had the Spirit everytime he would talk and I could always feel his love for us. Brother Hodges was just a huge goof and he really liked to mess around and Brother Brough always gave the best counsel (although he was a little intimidating because he was way tall and really formal :) ).

 Overall though my time at the MTC has been awesome. I've loved how much I've learned and I'm ezxcited to go out into the field and work. I love my branch, my district and my companion. We worked on a lot of things but I've grown so much because of my companion.

 Eu sei que A Igreja e verdadeiro. Eu sei que O Livro de Mormon e a plavra de Deus. Eu sou muito grato pela felicade do evangelho. Eu amo minha familia. E eu digo estas coisas em nome de Jesus Cristo. Amem.

 Eu amo voces!!!

 Seu filho e irmao,

 Peder

Hola Familia--less than a week to go!

 So things are all pretty chill here in the MTC. We only have a week left here which is crazy. It should be way awesome. I'm way pscyched to get out into the field. I am trying to continue to stay diligent in the work though. It should be way awesome.

 So besides that we had the 50th anniversary at the MTC on tuesday. It was pretty chill. Elder Holland and Elder Nelson came in and talked about the history of missionary work and the fact that we are continueing to make the history of the church. It was way awesome. When apostles speak it is always so great and I can always feel the Spirit.

 So besides that my companion and I were able to teach a nonmember yesterday which way awesome. It made me feel so much better about speaking the language and I'm not as nervous to go out in the field. It really was an awesome experience. You know it's crazy that in a week I'll be out in Cape Verde. BTW I got my travel plans which are this :

 DEP: SLC @ 9:45 AM

 ARR: BOS@ 4:25 PM

 DEP: BOS@ 5:50 PM

 ARR: LONDON@ 5:15 AM

 DEP: LONDON @ 7:25 AM

 ARR: PORTUGAL @ 10:00 AM

 DEP: PORTUGAL @ 3:40 PM

 ARR: CAP VDP @ 6:50 PM

So yeah it's going to be a long flight. But I'll be going through Boston which should be awesome. I'm way excited. Besides that everything has been pretty chill here in the MTC. I love serving a mission and it's going way well. Oh I almost forgot, One member of our district got his visa and he left for Brasil this morning. I'm going to miss that dude but I know that he'll do great in Brasil.

 Mom: Thanks for getting me the driving record and insurance card. Thanks for always writing me and HAVE A GREAT BIRTHDAY!!! I love you and I hope that everything keeps going well.

 Dad: I hope that work continues to go well and I would love to hear from you. You may have to start e-mailing me though. :)

 Poul: I heard about the Pats, huge bummer. I was kinda depressed when I heard the news. I hope that work continues to go well and same with school.Also what did you think of the MTC while you were' here?

 Kirstin: Thanks for all your letters and I hope that everything continues to go well, I love the picture that Lucy drew for me. Just wondering, how was your MTC experience? We're you in Madrid?

 Johanna: How's the new semester going? How's teaching? I hope that everything continues to go well.

 Gretch: I'm so glad that we're serving missions at the same time and guess who I ran into: your roommate hermana cole ( I think that's her name). She just got in this week. :) It's been way chill.

 Andrea: How are things in Dallas? I hope that everything continues to go well and that you, Roland and the boys are all doing well.

 Geoff: What's up bro? I hear you are taking pre-calc. That class isn't as hard as long as you do the work. Just make sure to do the work.

 Well I love all you guys and next week that I'll be e-mailing you I'll be in Cape Verde. :)

 Eu amo voces!

 Elder Peder Schillemat

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

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 

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

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. :)