Good Week

12.28.2014

Dear Family,

So yeah, this email won't be super long either, since it has only been about three days since we talked!! it was awesome being able to talk to you guys, it had been a long time! Now just a little over 4 months and we will talk again.

So we got all the elders out to their islands and had a good finish to the week, we were able to go see a couple more investigators with the hopes that they would come to church. On Sunday, Elder Kjar (fairly new) and I got to go do church in Fono, because currently there are no missionaries there. It was fun, and I got to give a talk and pretty much told them what they need to do if they want to be a strong branch because I have quite a bit of experience seeing the ups and downs of building a branch. I told them that if they follow the commandments no matter what, even though they are a few compared to the island, that it will shine forth and that is where the real strength will come from. If they can, one by one, accept and welcome people into the branch and help them to be strong as well. They were really responsive, mainly because the missionaries that have been there the past few months aren't yet fluent in Chuukese so they really liked my talk haha. The group leader told me I spoke perfect grammar and pronunciation so that is a pretty cool compliment. That group leader is awesome, his name is __ and he actually served in jail for 8 years because he manslaughtered someone while he was drunk. And he has completely changed his life. It is really cool to see. and now he has the Aaronic Priesthood, hopefully he will get the Melchizedek soon as well.

That is about it for this week, now I am going to go play some ball. Congrats to Nick and Casaundra!! I always knew they would end up together. I love you all!

Elder Schroath

Stellar Week!

12.21.2014

Hey!

So this week was stellar, we taught quite a few more lessons than usual, and it paid off! First of all we had transfers last week, and the switches worked out super well, areas are starting to blow up. We are still low on baptisms, but we should be going hot into January.

At church we had a record-breaking 176 people come to sacrament meeting. It was even raining a little bit in the morning! But pretty much all the people that are off and on coming to church came at one time, probably for the Christmas party. But Elder Paulis and I also
had 5 investigators come so that was exciting. Two were actually in the Christmas program they did, haha.

It was standard the rest of the week, I did make it out to Udot again to do a baptismal interview for another one of my old investigators. It was Reileen, the sister in law of Keileen who was baptized last week. So that was exciting.

I am excited for Christmas here! We have our branch Christmas party on Christmas I believe so it should be fun. I love you all! Thanks for all the love!

Elder Schroath

We had a wonderful visit with Elder Schroath on Christmas evening!  The internet was being touchy so we just spoke with him on the phone.  He is growing and changing and becoming more like his Savior every day.  I asked him how his sandals and church shoes were holding up and he said that he gave his sandals to another missionary from Samoa who needed them.  

Here is a picture of us talking with Elder S.  I had my son Garrett (who is in Dallas) on speakerphone on my daughters cell phone and held it up to mine so he could hear as well.

A Good Long Email

12.14.2014

Hey!

So this week should be a good long email, as long as I can focus with all these other missionaries talking haha. Okay, where to start...

So I will talk more about the District Conference we had last week. President Ringwood and President Zarbock got here on the Friday and we had a little Zone Meeting where President Ringwood talked to us. He talked a lot about the Spirit of Revelation, the Spirit of Prophecy,
and the Holy Order of God. Pretty cool to learn and realize that we all have the spirit of revelation and spirit of prophecy. We just gotta act like it! Then one missionary asked what is the best way to help be obedient and stay obedient and President Ringwood brought up a
really cool point. That we signed the paper to come on a mission, the acceptance letter. Meaning that we already agreed to follow the rules and be exactly obedient. So even though we may not want to follow some of the rules or justify them, or if temptation comes, just remember
that it is too bad because we already agreed to follow the rules so we should just follow them! It's too late to back out now! Just like it is for less actives, we can help them realized that with their baptism, they already agreed to keep the commandments so now God is expecting them to no matter what! They can't back out now! It all goes in to fearing God, which plus we do it out of fearing God but he also gives us blessings for it so sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

Anyways, Saturday session was super good, we had a lot of people come. Probably 500 just on Saturday. Fono, the island barely opened in August, had 50+ people come on like 7 boats. Amazing, since most are nonmembers. Udot had a good show too, 4 boats full! It was good seeing them again. I translated one of the talks to President Ringwood, it was cool because President Ringwood would keep coming to me with questions and comments and stuff, I felt like I was pretty tight with him hahah but really though, I love that man, he is definitely a servant of the Lord. I was so blessed to be able to work with him so closely. In the Saturday afternoon session, the Sapuk branch had a musical number where they sang a song the branch  president's daughter wrote, and it was AMAZING. Like every single person went dead silent
listening to this musical number, complete with piano and all.  Chuukese people were like crying and they never cry besides funerals!! Honestly that is going to be something I never forget, because the Spirit was so strong. I can't get over it!

Sunday session was awesome too, the final count was over 1,000!! That was more than any STAKE in our mission, Guam only had like 500! And Pohnpei 800 or so. So that even put the attention more on Chuuk to become a stake, because we are proving we have the numbers for it! The talks were really good too, President Ringwood planned specifically for Chuuk District, everyone could tell. And he said exactly what we needed to hear. So hopefully this starts to help people out more! We had probably 200 people just from the Mwan branch alone, it was a huge
show. I am excited to work with all the less actives and non members that came.

This last week went pretty well, everyone was back in full force to work. We were able to meet with a few investigators, because we need them to come to church! Lots of areas should be seeing a lot more investigators after this last Dist Conf. On Friday we got to go to Udot to interview one of my old investigators who was finally getting baptized! Her name is Keileen, Sato's older sister. We also did an interview in Romalum, for a girl I found out is cousin's with Rodrick and them from Neao! Pretty cool. We did a baptism for a child of record, named Rentaleen. This super cute girl from across the street, her dad is less active but he came to the baptism.

Transfers happened yesterday, it fixed all the problems we had before, haha. We got a couple missionaries that had previously got transferred from Chuuk are now coming back so that is exciting. No trainers though.

We talked to President Wainis (dist pres) this morning because he barely got back from Guam at the stake presidents meeting which went super well i guess. He said Chuuk's spirituality compared to Guam and Pohnpei is way lower. He said we all need to take this a lot more
seriously and bring the Spirit in a lot more. Also talked about the branches and missionaries working better together. The one thing chuuk is missing is good organization/priesthood. So President will be working a lot more with the branch presidents and training them in exactness, starting it off in 2015 with a big meeting for all the branch presidents and their missionaries. I am excited.

I got the boxes mom, the three. Thank you so much! And that is exactly what I meant by junk food so thank you so much:) oh so you know the conference ensign, in the first talk by Boyd K. Packer, the second picture, those two missionaries are in our mission, in Saipan. The one
on the right is Sister Matisima, she is Chuukese and the daughter of the 1st counselor here in the branch I am working in. So a little bit of Chuuk for the world! Represent. I love you all so much, I look forward to talking to you on Christmas. I believe I signed up for 9am on the 26th, which I believe is 3 pm for you guys on Christmas. Good time or bad time? Let me know. I will call and confirm on Sunday probably. And we only get 40 mins, since we are exactly obedient now:) this is pretty much my last one, besides the mothers day which is right before I go home, so ask questions if you have them! Love you all!

Elder Schroath

PS mom if you could send a box full of candy to give out on New Year's
that would be awesome:)

Hey dad! pretty cool story, so the other day Elder Paulis fell asleep on the bed in one room which is not the one we usually sleep in so I figured I would just sleep in my usual spot in the other room and no big deal but that night I had this freaky scary dream ha and woke up at like 2 in the morning heart pounding and everything and just realizing I should have been in the same room as Elder Paulis and then all of the sudden I heard him move and he was in the same room! And it eased me so I went to bed right away. In the morning I found out he woke up randomly and felt the need to go in the other room, and so it
just strengthens my testimony that yeah even though the Lord chastens people for breaking rules or commandments, he lets us know that he is there to comfort us at all times no matter what.

Not much else exciting happened this week, Christmas should be fun, the Hardy's are planning some stuff. It will be fun to talk to you guys too! Good to hear BYU basketball is having a good year so far. I heard Boise State was in the Fiesta Bowl? is that still a big bowl?
Well, Love you dad!

Elder Schroath

Rentaleen and her parents and little sister after her baptism

People from Udot arriving at Conference!

Lifting the casket for a lady we took the sacrament to every week.  She had an amazing testimony.

Church on the ocean where also our house is
(the kid on the far left goes teaching with us a lot,
 his name is Nitik, he will go on a mission next year)

 Octopus! Super good!

Short email and pictures

12.8.2014

The internet at the church in Mwan was down last week so Elder Schroath wasn't able to email us.  This week we just got a short email because he didn't have time!  Chuuk had a District Conference and members from all over, including the outer islands, came to the church on the main island to attend. The church helped pay for gas so they could all come.  Elder Schroath and his companion helped organize the District Conference so I imagine it has been a very busy day for him!

The Senior Missionary Couple, The Hardy's, have emailed me a little bit and shared this:

"Elder Schroath has done a great job helping to organize conference!"
"We all love Elder Schroath! He leads with humble heart and a valiant spirit!"

Sis Hardy also posted some pictures from the District Conference that I have included below.

Here is Elder Schroath's quick email from today!

So I don't have a lot of time again because all the other missionaries are here. But this last week was district conference and we had a huge show! Like boats and everything. Probably 30+ boats. Sapuk had an amazing choir performance, so that was super cool. I want to write more but I don't have time, maybe I will write a letter all about it or just tell you about it on Christmas. I love you all!

Elder Schroath

If you click on the pictures below they will open up in a larger window.

District Conference.  Elder Schroath is the person standing up on the right.

Elder Schroath and missionaries from Chuuk Zone

Trucks the church uses to transport members.
Elder Schroath is standing behind the truck on the left.

Outer island members heading home.

Elder Schroath at Zone Conference.

Thanksgiving Dinner

11.24.2014

Hey! So not a long email again this week, all the islands were in so we could celebrate Thanksgiving! When we came back from Guam at the beginning of the month, we brought back to big turkeys and the Hardy's (Senior missionary Couple)made a wonderful meal for us. Half of our zone isn't from America
though, but it was fun getting together and having a meal anyway.

This week was good! Not as good as last week, we had more problems we
ran into. We have awesome investigators though, we just haven't seen them at church yet! But we are getting ready for the District Conference where we have already invited and re-invited every investigator like ten times haha so hopefully they show up! They get a free taxi ride too!

Sunday we got to have our first Branch Council Meeting in our branch and it was very successful. We got a few of them offering help in missionary work, because they have friends we can teach, and they offered their house to teach them in! So I am excited for that, because we can get strong member presents in a spirit-filled home.

This week we go to Guam again, and I think we will be reporting to a really good month in Chuuk. Right now we are at 25 baptisms in Chuuk, with one week left. It is looking to be a big week too so hopefully all goes right. The numbers have increased significantly as well for church attendance and lessons taught. It should be a fun mission leader council.

Hey mom Elder Rainey emailed me and said this girl he knows just got called to the Boise Idaho mission so if one of the sisters at our house is from Tennessee then ask if she knows my "mission pops"!!

Well, I love you all! I am thankful for all your prayers and encouragement!!

Love, Elder Schroath

Elder Schroath & companion Elder Paulis

30 lessons

11.16.2014

Hey mom!

This was a really good week for the Zone. And especially for us as Zone Leaders. Elder Paulis and I planned to explode this week and go for 30 lessons. The most lessons I had had as a Zone Leader so far in a week was 13...so I thought it was a stretch. But we went out and did it! Ended with exactly 30. We found 11 new investigators as well, 8 of them who are on baptismal dates and 6 are progressing well. One his name is Pito, he was taught by missionaries in 2010 and was almost baptized but then he moved to an outer island. Now he is back and we found him just by going to a house where we knew there were members...didn't really have anyone specific to teach but then it all just worked out!

We are also working with this Pohnpeian guy who went to High School with Elder Paulis in Pohnpei! He doesn't know Chuukese really, haha so Elder Paulis teaches him in Pohnpeian and I say some stuff in English. His name is Sanjer. and his dad is a less active who was in Elder Paulis branch back in Pohnpei! So we are working to reactivate him.

Another person we are working with is Erki, and her husband Nakich. They were taught a lot in Tonoas, but then moved to Weno and no missionaries ever taught them. So we found them and they are progressing really well! they just live far from the church so that will be the biggest problem.

Well, I am loving it here in Chuuk. Not too much snow here haha but that is alright. For my box, by junk food i just mean like oreos or cookies or chips or whatever haha but not like any of that hard candy haha or stuff like that. K i love you!

Elder Schroath

Happy birthday dad!!!

Cool story, the District President, President Wainis, also had his birthday today. He is 46! So since I can't really be with you for yours this time, I can try and make his birthday special and it will just remind me of you! So this week was good, we had 6 baptisms this week, 3 of them from my old area of Neao. Elder Garae is doing really good work as a trainer there! Considering when I got there with him he hardly knew any Chuukese or had never really taught anyone a lesson, he has improved a lot! He is the man. That brings us to a total of 20 baptisms so far this month, with two weeks to go. So I think we will be able to hit our goal! The goal we brought to Guam was 30 but we set it at 40 here in Chuuk. This week was stellar for numbers, where our zone averaged 33 total lessons and 20.8 average member present lessons. Super good, our goal we put was 30 lessons and 20 of them member presents! Our zone is doing work right now! I am so excited to become a stake. Elder Plocher and Barrus (the Assistants) came today
so it is cool to be able to work with them for a couple of days while getting ready for the District Conference. I hope you had an awesome birthday! I love you dad!

Elder Schroath

New Companion

11.10.2014

hey mom i don't have a ton of time today to email so i apologize, but
first to answer questions, yes i did get the box! And a box from
Grandma and Grandpa Pace so thank you and tell them thank you!! It
was like an early Christmas!

This week went super good, we had training on monday which I did by
myself, but it went really well and I think it was really effective
based on this weeks numbers. I got my new companion on Thursday, it is
Elder Paulis! We were in the MTC together, but he goes home the
transfer before me due to the fact he went in the MTC a month before
me. But we came to guam together and he was called to Saipan first and
after a year came to Chuuk and now he is zone leader here with me. He
is Pohnpeian, the neighboring island in Micronesia. He thinks he is
the first ever pohnpeian zl in Chuuk or anywhere actually haha.

We had almost 700 people in church in all of chuuk on sunday, which is
double what it was in July! So everything is keeping on the up and up.
This next week we are looking at 10-13 baptisms! I am excited to get
at least one of the new trucks tomorrow! I love you!

Elder Schroath

This week was amazing

11.2.2014

This week was amazing.

Well let's see first of all I did an exchange in Neao, with Elder Joseph Smith (from England) back in my old area! I was so eager to teach that we didn't have one moment where we were not teaching or walking to an appointment to teach. Elder Smith just kept saying that those two days went by super fast...I just told him that that is how hard work is! There shouldn't be any day not like that! Pretty much
what we did is we went and saw every progressing investigator and every less active family we could, mainly looking for potential Melchizedek Priesthood holders. And it was amazing how many miracles we saw and just seeing how the Lord is preparing Chuuk to become a stake. I have a list of 20 names written down for Elder Garae to start working with, and even I can work with them since it is the same branch!

We did some baptismal interviews on some islands of Friday, going to Uman, Tonoas, and Fono. I love being able to go to the islands and meet so many members. It really puts everything into perspective when I get to see the whole picture.

We have been having more truck problems, found out one ran out of oil and ruined the engine and now one had the front left suspension break. So those two are unusable now. And one has like no brakes...we are eagerly expecting those new trucks!

On Friday night, Elder Plocher got a call from the Assistants and turns out Elder Plocher will be transferred to Guam to be the new Assistant to the President. I will really miss him because we pushed each other to be the best missionaries we could be and really saw a lot of success. But I guess that is why he is in the position he is now! I will find out my companion on Wednesday night! Also meaning I have to do the Zone training by myself tonight because after mission
leadership council in Guam Elder Plocher just stayed in Guam!

Saturday though we had the baptism for Mienta, she chose me to baptize her so that was a cool experience! She was super prepared, and will be able to endure for sure. She goes to Seminary every day and is doing very well in high school where several of her friends (member friends) have dropped out. So keep praying for her she will be an amazing enduring member and go on a mission!

Which brings us to Mission Leadership Council in Guam, the meetings and trainings were awesome. We went in thinking we were going to get chewed out because chuuk only had 8 baptisms in October, lowest for a long time. But turns out the entire MISSION only got 20 baptisms total, the next closest zone to us with 4. Haha a bad month, but we were actually getting praised for it a little...but that is not the attitude I will bring back to Chuuk, because I know we can all work a little harder and plus I know we have a huge November set up. All of our numbers actually went up in October, besides baptisms and I know that these are all the blessings from exact obedience. It is working miracles. and we are seeing big steps on our way to becoming a stake. I am so excited to keep our zone going with obedience and with our goals. I could talk about this for an hour ha but I'll leave it at that!

To answer questions, Mito is like 30 probably, haven't had time to meet with him since last Sunday. Sammy and his family are members, just really less active. [Sammy is the boat driver that takes him to all of the islands] The new Book of Mormons we will be able to get to the members, I'm sure it will be really easy access to get them. I have not gotten the box yet, but we haven't checked since Friday so maybe it is here today. Well, I love you mom! And I love you dad! And I love you all! Miracles happen every day due to exact obedience to God's commandments. I realize it more now than ever!

Elder Schroath

Things are improving!

10.26.2014

[note: Elder Schroath sent us some pictures yesterday.  One of the pictures showed a lot of blood on their apartment floor.  I asked him what happened and at the beginning of his email he told us about it.  In case you were wondering what he was talking about!]

hahahaha okay first of all it wasn't my hand...it was Elder Fermanis'
and just a glass light shade fell on his arm. But it is fine now. It
was just a lot of blood!

So this week was another week of improving!! We got 12 full lessons
this week compared to last weeks 7. We are doing better and better
being able to plan and make time for lessons.

We are teaching a girl named Mienta, who should be baptized on
Saturday. She is making a lot of progress and the members she lives
with have a really good influence on her.

We also found a couple new investigators this week, one named Mymy,
who was almost baptized a long long time ago and now she really wants
to get back into church. The other is Mito, who actually lives right
across the church. he is quiet, but has never really gone to church
before and doesn't really have a religious background which isn't
normal for Chuuk. So it will be fun teaching him from scratch!

Other than teaching, we did a lot of fixing cars. Elder Plocher and I
probably changed 10+ tires this week...every truck had tire problems.
We are eagerly waiting the "new" trucks.

Oh, the senior couple came in as well! They are awesome!! So eager to
work and even learn the language!! They are super loving too and are
really going to help out the zone with holidays and skyping families
and all that jazz, so they will be a huge help!! They also told us
that the Book of Mormon in Chuukese (full version) will be here in
January. They will have a huge meeting for it. I am so excited. It
will bring that many more miracles to Chuuk!

This next week we go to Guam again, so I am excited to go and learn.
We had a rough October..only 8 baptisms. but we are gearing up for
November and we should have a killer month. So stay tuned. Elder
Plocher and I continue to work hard a motivate the zone to reach our
full potential so we can get a stake here. We got 108 people to church
yesterday!! And Sammy the boat driver and his whole family (and people
at his house) came again! I am so excited for Chuuk! I know this
church is true!! I love you all!

Elder Schroath

[note: I also asked Elder Schroath how many coconuts he ate per day while on Udot]

oh the coconut question...well when I was in Udot it was probably at
least 2 a day. Haha some days like 8. they are the best.

[email to Dad]
so yes, we were able to get in some teaching this week, even though I
still feel like it isn't enough. That is probably the hardest thing
about being a zone leader. It is really good to help out all the other
areas, but I wish I could just take a week and focus on only our area
and it would blow up! We did an exchange in Fono last week which is
cool. It is a new island so there are lots of people investigating in
the church. Do you remember Cooper? The ex-senator from Udot where we
would charge our phone and stuff? Well he moved to Weno and is now
taking coming to church seriously since there is actually a building
and he is going to bring miracles to that branch. He is bringing all
sorts of friends and stuff, he should be baptized on November 8! Well,
that is my miracle! Love you dad!

[Elder Schroath sent us a ton of pictures. Most of them are from February 2014-June 2014.  I will upload some to the blog this week, and also add some to facebook.]

A pretty good week!

10.19.2014

hey!

so this week was pretty good! Way busy. But that is normal. I am just
super happy to be here in Chuuk and not in Guam.

Everything is on the up and up in chuuk. Especially sacrament
attendance which is awesome for trying to become a stake. There are a
couple areas struggling, but most of the areas are doing super good.
It is nice not having to worry about areas just because we have huge
trust in the senior companions. We are looking to have a huge November
for baptisms.

Um enjoying being a Zone Leader? I guess there are some perks. Haha I
get mail right away. We get to go see most of the areas a lot. Take
lots of boat rides. Um we get to work with President and the APs a lot
and they are awesome. And just being able to help out the zone with
whatever is needed makes me feel good. But on the other hand it is a
lot of running around doing this and that. We only got like 7 lessons
in our area this week just cuz we don't have time. But, out of our
little teaching we got 4 less actives at church and 1 investigator at
church. Her name is Mienta and some of her siblings are members and
she has already been to church a ton. Hopefully she will be baptized
next week!

Days are so much different than being in Neao ha just because it is a
lot less teaching. It is hard to get close with people in Mwan because
we never get to go visit them! There are a couple families we visit
now and then though. The family across the street is amazing and our
boat driver, Sammy, fishes for a living so he always gives us a big
fresh tuna if he goes! I love that family. And tons of youth stay over
there because they go to school here in Weno (no high school on their
island of Romalum) so it is cool being able to help them prepare for
missions and stuff.

Next transfer is in just over two weeks. We go back to Guam a week
from Saturday for another meeting. Oh, other good news, the BoM in
Chuukese (full version) is done!! Just final revisions or something
then they will print it and send it! I am so excited. On Wednesday our
new senior couple (Hardy's) will fly in so it will be great to meet
them! We gotta make a good impression on them so maybe they will feed
us sometimes:)

Thank you for sending conference, I am looking forward to reading
them. I love you guys! Thanks for writing!

Love, Elder Schroath

Hey dad!

It is good to hear from you, General Conference really was awesome. I
think I will be able to watch it again here in Chuuk too haha. The
zone is way good! No obedience problems so it is awesome. Besides
Mienta (baptismal candidate) we have a kid named Detor, he came to
church while we were in Guam I guess. We have some people we have
talked to, but we haven't been able to meet with them quite yet. We
should have more time this week though to teach.

That is too bad for BYU...rough times with so many injuries. They
probably just weren't in it mentally! Or they need more faith to be
healed ha and too bad for Centennial too. So with you guys selling the
burb, are you gonna get another car too?? haha. crazy but I am down to
7 and a half months. That is going by too fast. I know the church is
true! Love you!

Elder Schroath

Back from Guam

10.14.2014

Hey!

So i apologize because this email will be pretty short.

We were in Guam all week...it was a good experience I guess haha. The
first few days they literally had us knocking doors. Well, there is a
better way to do missionary work. Thursday we went with some Elders
that had a lot of Chuukese investigators and recent converts. The ward
mission leader in that ward is Brother Tuitu'u, the one from the
district videos so he went teaching with us a couple times. He is way
cool!

We also got to watch General Conference! They showed it on Saturday
and Sunday and we didn't leave to Chuuk until Sunday night so it was
awesome! My favorite quote was by Elder Jorg something ha but he said
"Choosing bad over worse is still choosing wrong" which is so true.
Doesn't matter if I get up at 10 am or 6:10 am, it is still breaking
the rule.

Came back to Chuuk and got up yesterday morning and did a zone
conference, not a lot of time to prepare but it was awesome! I love
Pres Zarbock. So it was a good week, learned a lot!

For Christmas, not a whole lot I need. Maybe just a shirt or something
and for the hard drive if it could be a real hard drive it would be
cool but if not just a big thumb drive would be fine! Did you get my
request for batteries, razors, and pens? That would help!

I love you guys!

Elder Schroath

[note from Angela:  We checked Elder Schroath's bank account while he was in Guam and noticed that he was able to take a little trip to Subway and Taco Bell--his favorite! ha ha  Love that kid!]

Pictures from Leader Training

Elder Schroath's mission president posted some pictures on facebook from the training he went to while in Guam.  I wanted to share them with you all so here they are!

front row, far right with blue tie

2nd row of chairs 2nd from the left

I was somewhat shocked when I saw this picture.
He has lost so much weight I hardly recognized him!

Guam Visit

10.5.2014

Hey!

So yeah I am in Guam right now. We had a miracle and were all able to get into Guam for the training. No one had flights from Chuuk, Pohnpei, or Kosrae until the Thursday. So we almost didn't go. Not to mention there was a typhoon coming to hit Guam on Sunday night haha. The week was good, we finally got all the 14 missionaries (7 new trainees) to Chuuk on Wednesday and got them all out [to their areas] by Thursday morning. The new guys are all awesome! 4 are from Utah, one from Rexburg, one from England, and one from Wisconson. Elder Garae is training the Elder Joseph Smith from England, he has a strong English accent. Pretty cool. They are all super hard workers! And obedient. Which is just what our zone needs. Elder Robinson is going to Udot and I am super excited for him. He should learn Chuukese really fast since his trainer is Chuukese and he is the only white person on Udot. I am so excited for our zone, you guys have no idea. We are going to blow it up! It is a young zone, but that is exactly what it needs to be for the young ones to gain experience.

Elder Plocher is awesome, probably my favorite companion so far just because we bring the best out in each other and talk about a ton of things and we are just on the same page regarding the work. Companionship study is like my favorite thing now when I used to not like it at all haha. You pronounce his name Ploker. Like poker with an l in it. He is from Riverside California and will be going to UVU after his mission so I am stoked to continue our friendship after. He is two transfers older than me so we could be companions for a few transfers.

Guam has been good, the most favorite part of the weekend was definitely the meeting. Learned a ton of stuff. Just to help with the zone and all. We are on the up and up!! Big things will be happening in Chuuk. So since there was a typhoon warning, they cancelled all flights for today so we should be in Chuuk right now but they rescheduled our flight and we might not go back to Chuuk till Sunday...and it is shopping pday for missionaries in Chuuk so we might jump it to tomorrow and I am not sure how we will get gas for everyone to come in from islands...hopefully that works out! Well, I know this church is true, and I am so happy to be able to serve this zone. I know we can all apply the atonement and work as hard as we possibly can to be like Jesus Christ so we don't waste the amazing act he performed for us. I love this gospel. Thanks for all you do for me! The love keeps me going. I just want you to all know my life has changed...more than I ever thought it could. I wish I could live in Chuuk forever! But it is just a short time left to perform my labors so I am going to get after it. I love you all!

Elder Schroath

Angela's note: the typhoon has moved north of Guam so all is well!  The Zone Leaders usually drive a truck and pick up all of the outer island missionaries when they get to the main island for Pday.  The ZL then take the missionaries to the bank, and store to buy food for the month.  Hopefully the Elders worked something out to get where they needed to go!  The life of a Chuuk Elder!

oops..just got an email from Elder S!: actually to get the elders into the main island they have to take boats, we just have to send out the boats to get there. inner island have their own trucks!

Transfers

9.29.1014

Hi!

yes I am still here on Weno. It was definitely an unexpected transfer call. I was definitely expecting to leave Chuuk. I was one of the only odd men out so I thought it was a big chance. We were all together (6 of us in Mwan) for transfer calls cuz 14 missionaries were in Guam picking up trainees, 4 on outer islands, and a couple other in the areas. So we were at the District President's house eating dinner and then they called and Elder Plocher (the ZL) answered and put it on speaker phone. So somehow I ended up going Zone Leader here in Chuuk...not sure how ha I haven't even been District Leader. And all the district leaders are older in the mission than me. So it is definitely humbling and obviously the Lord sees something in me that I hope to be able to fulfill.

So I am in the same branch still as before, since Neao and Mwan both go to the Mwan branch. its awesome! So I still get to see all the people I helped in Neao, as well as help out Garae with his new trainee. Elder Plocher and I were already super good friends (he trained elder Daniels) so we get along really well and are ready to work super hard to help the zone as well as teach in our area. It is hard to get teaching in sometimes, from having to take boats to islands or do zone needs or if there are problems and stuff. but with good scheduling and planning we are hoping to get a good system going.

So not a lot happened this week, with all the trainers being gone. They will come in on Wednesday. I am excited to meet the new guys, seven of them! We got to house Elder Ferguson (from MTC) and his new trainee for the night and today they flew out to Kosrae. Today we also got an awesome opportunity to go to Udot and take pictures of the church that might go in a church magazine...Pres Zarbock got the request from Salt lake! Oh and mom, if you have any pictures of the church (the old one made of coconut leaves and stuff) maybe send them or even email Pres Zarbock about it. If they are good enough then they could be in the Ensign!

That is all for me, Saturday we get to go to Guam for mission leader council so that should be a fun experience. Well, I love you all! Miss you all too!

Elder Schroath

Here is a picture of the church 'building' Elder Schroath talks about in his email. It's in Udot, his first area and tiny outer island.  They now have a newer and better church building (it's basically like an army tent with walls, but still an improvement from before when the roof leaked every time it rained!):

Zone Conference & Pictures

9.21.2014

Good Morning mom!

This week was very eventful. I'll start with the Zone Conference we had.

It was awesome. Seriously President Zarbock is a very inspired man. He
had just what our zone needed to hear and we are now going 1,000 miles
an hour. We just talked a lot about exact obedience and the rewards it
does in fact bring. Not just obedience but we talked about a lot of
stuff in missionary work. I think it has changed a lot of my views in
missionary work. Then after conference we had interviews. Mine was
super short and sweet, just talked about how my investigators and less
actives were then he asked me about Elder Garae. And asked me if he
was ready to train. With needing to replace 5 elders this transfer, he
was looking for trainers. And I told him he should be ready! And if he
has anything holding him back language-wise then it would be a good
opportunity to learn it fast:)

So then Thursday we did an exchange, and I went with the Zone Leader
Elder P. One of the first Chuuk missionaries I met because he
trained my MTC comp Elder D. Elder P. is awesome. We were
already good friends but now we are even better, and I can tell how
focused he is on the zone and on working hard.

Saturday we had the baptism! We had 5 investigators and one child of
record. Akapeinna, Nimo, Nefon, Appison, and Katrin all got baptized
after all being way ready. The District President Matasio's daughter
was baptized as well so she joined in with our service. Also, Appison
(only 9) invited his non-member mom to come to his baptism and she
came!! And stayed for all 3 baptisms that happened.

Something interesting also happened Saturday night. We got a call from
the Assistants saying they couldn't get a hold of the Zone Leaders so
they had to call and tell us who will be trainers this transfer.
Everyone was expecting 5 but there are 7 training. 7. That is like
almost every area in Chuuk with a trainee including the 3 new last
transfer. And none of the trainers are white haha just two vanuatuans
(yes, Garae), one Fijian, one Chuukese, one Pohnpeian, one New
Zealander and one Tongan. The trainees are gonna think Chuuk zone is
just brown guys haha. This also means one other thing...that means one
or two might leave Chuuk because there aren't enough spots. And since
my comp is training I have like no where to go so I really hope it
isn't me. We will find out Wednesday night though. But just hold off
on sending boxes and letters till I know for sure!

Well, I love you mom! Thank you for writing me! I will talk to you
next week! Unless I am outer island...:)

Love, Elder Schroath

Hey dad! How is it going?

I am so happy to hear BYU football is 4-0! Man I am going to miss a
good season. Thank you for the update, it is always good to hear about
football haha I don't get a lot of it here. Thank you also for
teaching me so much about exact obedience, with the obedience changes
going on, I feel right at home with all the exact obedience talk haha.
But really it has helped me a lot and I know I can apply it here on
the mission too. I know the church is true, I know I am here to bring
others to Christ and that the Atonement can work for all of us. I love
you dad!

Elder Schroath

The mission president, Pres Zarbock shared some pictures on Facebook from their Zone Conference this past week:

Chuuk Zone - Elder S is right in the middle

Elder S!

Lunch time

Teaching

Studying

Role Playing

In other news....Elder S older brother Garrett just got engaged this past Friday!  Here is the happy couple...Garrett & Rachel:

Quick email

9.16.2014

Mom! So the internet hasnt been working all day and our pday got
switched from yesterday to today because of zone conference tomorrow.
And I don't have a ton of time but I will try to hit the basics.

Last week the assistants came to chuuk and stayed with all the areas.
Elder B. came with us on Friday. Turns out he was born in St Lukes
hospital and used to live on Julian St. And went to Summerwind but has
never heard of the summerwind skippers...haha but anyways now lives in
Rexburg. He is pretty cool, he is in the Marines. Anyways we had a
good teaching.

Um we have a baptism planned this week so that will be good. Hopefully
we get all 5. There is Akapeinna, Anisa, Nimo, Appison, and Katrin.
All super ready to be baptized. I am nervous I will be leaving Neao
next transfer but we will see. If I don't train I will probably be
leaving.

Well, Zone Conference with President tomorrow. We are going to have a
Zone dinner right now so I gotta go. I love you guys! I will reply to
Dad and the siblings next week!

Elder Schroath

Handwritten Letter

9.1.2014

Dear Family,
Well, the internet is down again today so I figured I better write a letter.  How are you doing?  I'm not sure exactly what's going on with you guys since I couldn't check email, but I am sure all is well.  It's amazing how the Spirit calms all worries while I am doing my best to do missionary work!

So, this last week was awesome.  Despite 3 baptisms falling through, we saw a lot of miracles.  We pushed really hard this week to find new investigators as well as teach as much as we could.  We ended the week with 42 lessons, 36 member presents.  Which is way above average.  But when I look at the number, I don't think of just getting high numbers, I think of how blessed Elder Garae and I were with the Spirit to be led to all these people ready to hear about the Gospel.

We have quite a few progressing investigators -- we have over 10 baptisms planned for September.  We put our goal at 6 and we really want to do all we can to reach it after falling short last month with only 1.  We have 3 young women very close to baptism -- Anisa, Caroline, and Akapeinna.  Cool story:  Anisa is Rodrick's older sister that lives across the street and we started teaching her and when we gave her a baptismal date, we told her it was the same day as another girl named Caroline.  She asked "Caroline who?" and we told her a girl from the mountain.  She just got quiet then told us that they were 'Promise Sisters' when they were maybe 6 or 7 years old when they went to school together and she hasn't seen her in a couple years!  So the next time we went to FHE w/ Caroline's family, we brought Anisa and they had a sweet reunion.  Hopefully they will be able to be baptized together as well on the 13th.

It's amazing how following the schedule to exactness can bring such blessings.  I was sick of using Chuuk as an excuse to have a bad schedule.  Even though chaos and coming in at 6 or just whatever, Elder Garae and I pushed to try and be the best missionaries we can be in all aspects.  And after our first day giving it our all, we saw the fruits of it because we met quite a few potential investigators, and I just feel happier which makes me more outgoing which makes me more willing to talk to random people and share the Gospel.  I wish I figured it out earlier...I probably missed out on a lot of blessings.  But not anymore, Elder Garae, myself, and the Spirit will be working harder as a team than ever before!

Things are also kind of hectic here in Chuuk Zone...one Elder went to Guam and another chose to return home, making things difficult for some areas.  Hopefully it doesn't affect me here, but we will need quite a few more Elders after this transfer because 3 more Elders finish their missions.  After this transfer, the oldest ones in Chuuk Zone will only be 2 transfers older than me!  Kinda crazy to think about.  If I'm gonna train on my mission, it will be next transfer.  Which would be awesome because that would mean I stay in Neao!

Well, just know I am still doing amazing out here and learning a lot.  I'm growing up.  Thank you mom and dad for raising me, I couldn't have asked for better, loving parents cuz you guys did a good job so thank you for all you've taught me.  I love you guys!

Love, Elder Schroath

P.S. Uwae oui kapwong me tong ngeni meinisin eknewe josih merika seni ennetin netipei!
(a return missionary from Chuuk translated the PS for me:  Give my greetings with all my heart to all the pretty American girls.  ha ha, he's still my silly son!)

A Way Good One

9.7.2014

Hey mom!

This week was a way good one. Started off on Monday with some service at Ezekiel's- a Melchizedek Priesthood holder that wants to reach the temple. We are just continuing to keep him strong. We have also been working with all of his kids to stay strong (or to come back) about 8/10 are members.

During the week we have been working with a bunch of our

investigators. Here are some ones close to baptism:

Akapeinna- she lives on the mountain and has been to church 3 times

now and the only thing holding her back from baptism is the Word of

Wisdom. She should be baptized either on Saturday or the 20th.

Anisa/Nimo- Rodrick's siblings. Anisa has been "out of town" for a

week and hopefully she will be back soon. They have a date for the

20th of September.

Nefon/Appison/Nana- Aston's siblings. They also have baptismal dates

for this month and they are leaving to an outer island without

missionaries at the end of the month so hopefully they can be baptized

before they leave!

Maria/Ande- husband and wife that used to go to church a lot in Guam.

They love the church, it is just a really far walk from them here.

Maria has been quite a lot, but the trick will be to get Ande there

too!

We have also had a few referrals we contacted this week so hopefully

we can turn them into progressing investigators. The APs come today so

one day this week one of them will be with Elder Garae and I and

hopefully give us some good tips. The transfer is in two weeks and I

am not sure if I will stay or go. But chances are I won't be with

Garae next transfer. Well, I love you!

Elder Schroath

Hey dad! the internet is working again this week. The APs will be here any minute now too and we will start pday activities. This week was a good one, filled with a lot of work both in the apartment and out. We have been doing a lot better in studies and planning which is helping Elder Garae a ton, because he might be a senior companion soon. After Elder Rainey and Elder Selander and Elder Peck go home on the 25th, no Chuuk Elder goes home until next march so we have a young zone again. It should be good though because we have a lot of obedient elders and Chuuk should explode. Well, I will write more to mom too! I love you!

Letter in the Mail

8.25.2014

Dear Family

So, the internet is down at the church.  But the new router should be here this week so I will probably be able to email next week.  But just so you can also hear about the past two weeks, I will write this letter.

First of all, we had transfers a week and a half ago.  Elder Garae and I are staying another one in Neoa, till September 25th at least.  We got 4 new Elders to Chuuk Zone – 3 trainers and one who was serving on Guam.  That Elder is Elder Hokao, from Vanuatu, who is actually cousins with my companion Elder Garae so that’s pretty cool.  They speak all their languages together, it’s awesome.  Him and Elder Selander (ex-Zone leader, last transfer) are opening a new island called Fono.  And it is possible I switch out Elder Selander after this transfer which I would love.  I is a tiny island with maybe 400 people on it only about a mile from Weno.  The other three trainees are cool too, 2 are from Utah and one from Southern California.  The ones from Utah just barely graduated High School, ha ha.  They make some good additions to the zone though.  We now have 26 Elders, and only 1 zone so it is a way big zone.  I heard it could be split soon though, so we will see.

In other news, we had a baptism on Saturday for a kid named Esner, who turns 11 tomorrow.  It is Rodrick’s little brother.  He is awesome and stays all three meetings at church and goes to Primary even if Elder Garae and I can’t go with him.  He is a stud.  Their older sister, Anisa, has been to church twice now and should be baptized on Sept 6th.

Oh, also, Elder Telona is back to my district.  So everyone I have or have had as companions are in my district.  It’s a pretty cool district.  Elder Rainey goes home this transfer though so that’s a bummer.  And I’m only 6 transfers after him.  We got a couple new investigators last week, one that came to church before we even taught her.  She is living with a really strong recent convert named Meysina, so as long as she doesn’t have word of wisdom problems, she could be baptized on the 6th as well.  We might get CN and JR finally baptized on this Saturday (30th) but we still haven’t gotten permission yet.

The 2nd counselor in the District Presidency got a new 32” TV his wife sent from America…pretty much no one in Chuuk has TV’s like that, if even a TV, so all the men in the branch were stoked about that, and a couple went over to his house after church just to check it out.  To Chuukese people, that TV is like a brand new car to an American.

We saw a miracle (well, heard) with the father of some recent converts on the mountain.  His name is Meisi and when I first met him back in May, he was in really bad shape and smoked and drink and couldn’t walk so he never left his house.  We do family nights with their whole family, and I never really thought he paid too much attention.  Well, the other day I was talking to a member (his daughter-in-law) and she said ever since we started doing family night, he has been trying to be better because he is jealous of how good his kids are doing in their lives and now, Meisi doesn’t smoke or drink and walks around and stuff.  And, the Protestants one morning came to his house to give him a paper that said to come to church to get his calling and he looked at it and just ripped it up ha ha and said his church is the Mormon church.  Super big miracle because if you can get the father/grandfather of a family to convert, it makes it 100 times easier for his kids/grandkids.  So this is huge!  Hopefully we see many more miracles with this family.

Well, I love you all!  Sorry internet was down!  Hope you get this!

Love,  Elder Schroath

short email this week

8.24.2014

hey mom

so the internet is down at the church and I guess they have to order a

completely new router so i am not sure if it will be fixed next week.

but I am just quickly emailing you at this place to tell you I will

write letters today. Sorry I didn't get to you guys last week! But I

am still in Neao with Elder Garae. Had a baptism on Saturday for

Rodrick's little brother. His sister should be following next week!

Good to hear from you guys! Love you mom! Talk to you next week!

Elder Schroath

Busy week

8.10.2014

Dear Friends and Family,

It was another busy week! But another fun week. This is the last full week of this 8 week transfer so we had to make it a good one. Just in case Garae or I leave. Monday was shopping for outer islands and Tuesday inner islands had to shop so we didn't get a whole lot done on Tuesday. But we bought some chicken cuz we have a freezer now. Oh and I also bought two big cases of milk:)

Wednesday was a slow day, it rained and Jimmy came over to fix the roof which has a leak in it and turns out he didn't really fix it. So to be continued on that.

Thursday we started to turn things up cuz our midweek numbers were bad...haha so we went and saw everyone we could. I made a huge list of
all investigators, recent converts and less actives that need to be taught the first 5 lessons. We were told that from now on we will teach the first 5 lessons before and after baptism and to all less actives. So on my list I can just check off the lesson if I teach it (like a mini teaching record). So we taught a lot of Recent Converts and it is awesome because they always have friends or family around which turn into new investigators or potential investigators. Friday
and Saturday had good results too from visiting less actives and investigators.

We are close with three investigators--JR, CN, and Esner. JR could have been baptized on Saturday but he told us he was going to Romalum and then ended up not going. So he should be good for this week. CN might have permission problems...it's on and off. Half the time he tells us his mom wants him to get baptized but half the time he tells us she doesn't want him to go to church Mormon so we will probably go straight to the source. Esner is Rodrick's little brother so he just needs to come to church one more time and he is good to be baptized. I am excited for these investigators and hopefully all works out well. And hopefully I just stay in Neao! The church is true, and we are blessed to have the full gospel and we know exactly what we have to do to return with him and bring others with us. I love this church and I love missionary work.

Elder Schroath

Chuuk life in pictures

Elder Schroath sent us some pictures and video earlier this spring.  He sent over 900 pictures!  Most of them are from last year and from Udot his first area. Here are a few of them.

Driving on the main island:

heading to the ocean for baptisms

Island scenery

Lots of boat rides

Food

oops...maybe that's not food, but friends

More friends...

basketball is everywhere

Church building.  Recently Elder S said they now have a tent instead, so it's more rainproof.

laundry