Pictures!

...ahem

This week was elder Lopez’s birthday. Some members gave him cake and we ate well this week. There’s a tradition here that when its your birthday and you have a cake that someone gives you, you have to take a direct bite of it, and someone usually pushes your head into it. So that happened about 4 times to elder Lopez, (and I laughed every single time.) 

We also had another baptism this week! Nicol Arrellano, a nine year old of a less active family. That was cool! I’ll send pics. 

Other than that, things are well. We have been working a bunch, and having fun. Trying to get by without exhausting ourselves. Fun stuff!

Also, here’s a little comment: I DIDN’T SAY IT WAS OK THAT JACK AND BEN AND LUKE STOP WRITING ME! I need the looooooove ( I know I don’t respond but hey its the thought that counts and I think about you guys all the time!) 

What else...OH YEAH there are some people that sent you requests on my Facebook and they sent pictures and stuff sooo you should accept those (at least from people with the last name Hernandez.)   

Gotta go!  Busy!  LOVE YOU!

Here are pics to make up for it!

So they DO get snail mail in Mexico!

Hey! I’m here! So this was a pretty calm week. Elder Lopez got really sick (still is, a bit) and we weren’t able to work a lot. He was having...well, everything issues. For the past 3 weeks he’s had bad headaches, and this week he was up early in the morning vomiting. And he has diarrhea. So yeah, yuck. He’s starting to feel better now though.

We also had a conference with one of the area seventies, President de Hoyos. He was pretty good, I was happy to see my generation of Elders again, we shared stories and it was fun. In your Little Facebook group, see if you can find an Anderson, Shipley, Nelson, Wolsleiger, Kellgren or Sonntag. Those are the elders from my generation that I know. Especially Elder Shipley, we basically talk all the time when we are together. I don’t have a lot to write about this week. It was last week on Monday, I believe, that we got our first rain, and me and Elder Lopez enjoyed walking through it all the way to our house, which was way across town. So that was fun! OH! Also, I got the Valentine’s Day package…very much appreciated the cookies and candy!!  The cookies were very much, still delicious!

Another thing is that I’m losing weight. Like a lot. My estimate currently is almost 25 pounds. So that’s a thing. I really hope this trend continues! So how are you guys?!?!?

We just had transfers, and I’m staying in my area with my companion for another cycle because we are in training. To answer Mom’s question:  Yes, I do get sunburned sometimes, but I’m wearing my sunscreen a lot.  (Insert response email here from mother lecturing him on the utmost importance of sunscreen.)

My feet are fine now.  Give me a minute and I’ll take a picture of my companion and I right now!

Also, tell everybody I sent emails and WOULD LOVE to hear back from them!

Love you!

Max

Visas and a Baptism.

This week has been a full one. We started out the week with me getting my visa on Tuesday. That was certainly interesting. We went early in the morning to get to the office building bright and early. There I saw a lot of my friends that I came in here with, and I learned that I probably have the best Spanish out of all of them. We separated from our companions and we went to the Visa building. My companion went with two other missionaries to their area. When we got to the building, they gave us minimal instructions and sent us in. We had practically no idea what we were supposed to do. When we got called up, we were all told that our pictures on our Visas were too far away, and that we needed to take pictures closer up. We went out of the building and there was no one waiting for us, so someone called the mission president and he called the secretary that was in charge of us. He came and we went to take pictures in an other place, went back to the original building, and gave our fingerprints and our signatures and Bam! Suddenly we all have visas for the next 3 years?  By the time I got back into my area with my companion, it was already seven in the evening; we had missed four of our fixed appointments. That was a bummer. We had expected to return at 1 in the afternoon or something. But oh well. We still had our last fixed appointment, a guy named Daniel Clemente. He is also they guy that I baptized last Saturday! He's really cool. He works as a newspaper photographer. Before his baptism, he had an infinite amount of trials. His wife wants a divorce; his kids are sick, and many more things. But he stood strong and I got to baptize him. I don't know if I'll meet anyone this prepared for the gospel again in my mission, man it was really cool! And afterwards, his brothers started asking about the church and wanted to learn more! They are not in our area, but it doesn’t really matter. It felt awesome. 

We were also supposed to have a baptism next week too. Supposed to. Unfortunately, he had problems with the word of wisdom, and relapsed last Tuesday. We asked him why he wanted to be baptized, and all the answers weren't involved with his own desire. He mainly wants to be baptized because his wife wants to go to the temple with him. After the lesson, his wife messaged us and said that we shouldn’t waste our time, and that we all plainly saw that he has no desire. We responded that we know that he can be baptized, and we know that if we work with him, he can find that desire. So that was basically the trial of the week. 

Yesterday we got to sing for the ward. We were going to sing Divina Luz which is “Lead Kindly Light” In Spanish (which is my favorite hymn by the way,) but the Hermanas wanted to sing something about missionary work, so we sang “Called to Serve.” It was still cool, and the people in my ward commented that I have an amazing voice, which was also real cool. What isn't real cool is that the ward isn't exactly motivated for mission work. The ward goal, for reference, is 10 for each companionship. We don’t get any. We keep trying to find ways to inspire references.

Today one of the sisters in our ward had a birthday, and we celebrated in the chapel with cake and stuff. That was real fun. Then we went to the store, bought some food, got our haircut, and now I’m here writing. It’s awesome here! I hope you guys are having fun. Oh, and also, my p days last till 6 now. Its great!

Con Amor, Elder Schuhmacher

An "all right" week.

We had an all right week. We should be having a baptism this week too, should all go according to plan. My feet are consistently getting better. Anyways, I’m doing fine. I received Omi’s letter last Wednesday, and that was nice. The money was still there, all that jazz. I used it to buy a bus pass for the day. 

Anyways, could Lisa possibly send over the recipes for her bread and cookies and such? I got a less active member who would really like to make some of that stuff. 

And yeah, the week was good. As for stories, there isn’t really anything to share. I’ve really been reading a lot into the parables of Jesus. One of my favorites is the one about the lost sheep. It’s in Matthew 18:12 through 14.

12 How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?

 13 And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.

 14 Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.

If the joy of one person coming back to the path is so great, how big is the joy of multiple?

You asked about my stomach.  My stomach is great! The Hermanas in my district, not so great. Apparently since I eat spicy that helps the stomach not get sick? I dunno.

Also tell J to look up something called "Pokémon Reloaded" on the computer. I think he'd like it. One of the member’s kids told me about it. 

Love you! 

Here are some pictures from the MTC that I forgot to send over.  I hope you like them!