Final Email

I cant believe it but this is probably my last email to you because next week i will be flying home. I cant believe that the 2 years has come and gone. It has been the wildest two years of my entire life. Within these two years i have had the highest and lowest points of my life. From them i have learned exceedingly many great things. These two years have taught me things that i could not learn anywhere else. Its like a mini life packed into 2 years. 

Above all things that i have learned the greatest thing i have gained on my mission is a testimony of my Savior Jesus Christ and the change of heart that has come as a result of it. I know that my reedemer lives. I know that This church is the church that God himself has established on the earth and continues to run it by living prophets. I know with all my heart that the book of mormon is true. I have read that book and disected it and pondered it and prayed about it so diligently for 2 years and i know through the power of the holy ghost that it is true. I know it. No one can or ever will be able to take that knowledge and testimony away from me. I will forever stay diligent and valiant to that testimony that i may sit at the right hand of God and look to him with a clear conscience of mind that i did what i could. I will bring my family and friends along with me. These 2 years have changed my life. They have changed others lives. I am heartbroken that i must leave. But i will follow the counsel given in a quote "Dont cry because its over, smile because it happened" Farewell Malaysia. God be with you till we meet again. See you soon!!!

Love,

Elder Schwemmer

3

Sorry this email will be short because we dont have a lot of time because we are traveling to singapore today.

This week was a great week. We have been able to move our new investiigator numbers up the line and get a few people on date for baptism and a few at church. My faith has increased in preach my gospel this week as i have been preparing trainings for zone conference. It has been hard to coorilate with Elder Mickelson over in bintulu having to call him each day. But we have got it all figured out and i am very excited to present our trainings.

This week we had a cool miracle where a chinese married couple wandered into the church on sunday. They didnt know where to go so they accidently joined the malay branch. But we were able to locate them and set up an appointment for this week!

This week we had a really cool day with members. So half of our branch list is this one family where all the aunts uncles cousins and everyone are all members. Unfortunately they are all also less active. But this week we found a way to softly warm them up to us missionaries as we invited them to a futsal activity. A lot of the less active cousins came and were able to have a good time and we started with a prayer and thought. It was great!

Love

Elder Schwemmer

4

This week was a pretty rough week to be honest. I was out of my area for 3 days which made things difficult. MLC was great though! I enjoyed it. My biggest take away from MLC was to really just love my zone members and to let that be my motivation for all things that i do. This week my prayers have included me asking myself how can i love my zone members. And not only the zone members but everyone in general. Chinese people, my companion, my family, everyone. When we are motivated in all that we do by love everything is just better. So i have been thinking to myself all week how can i love people more. My answer came during priesthood class on sunday. Elder childs made a comment about love. And he asked us who is the person in this world that loves us the most. We of course said our mothers. Then he asked us why? And i hadnt really thought about that but he explained that she loves us so much because of the sacrifices she has made for us. She has given up everything in her life for us and thats why she loves us. Christ loves us so much because he sacrificed literally everything for us. I love my mom and i love christ. I am going to apply the principle of sacrifice into my duties as a zone leader and missionary and see if that doesnt increase my love towards all.j

This week my miracle was that i was able to get back to Miri safely. Had some complications in kuching but all worked out. As for working with members this week we have some great activities lined up for the branch. Something that we did in kuching that was a game changer was we made the branch parties the best time of peoples lives. And not only that we brought 21 nonmembers. That totally impressed the branch and they all were gungho on missionary work after that. I hope to do the same in miri. We have gotten stuff set up this week for that to happen.

Love,

Elder Schwemmer

5

Hey,

This week has been great being reunited with my son Elder Johnson. He has improved a TON since i was first with him. Its crazy to watch how fast the lord can change someone who will let him. This has increased my faith in the gospel and missionary work and how it changes people. And as always every single day my faith skyrockets because of the book of mormon. My personal copy of the book of mormon is the most prized possession i have in my life. Yes, even better then my play station back at home.

This week we saw a miracle as we were able to meet a man who is now on date for baptism on august 12th (the weekend before i leave) and he attended church with us this sunday after our first time meeting us. He asks all the questions they teach you to answer at the mtc. Its great.

We have had some incredible miracles in working with members recently as we have been able to  reactivate the very first person who joined the church in miri. She was miris first baptism and was very strong before but has gone less active. But not any more! They are bringing in a good energy into our branch which was much much needed! 

Love,

Elder Schwemmer

6

Sorry for not emailing last week. Pday got a bit crazy. We went caving at the Niah caves with an investigator family. on the way back from the caves they took us to their long house in the jungle where we had to kill our own dinner. it was crazy. there was blood everywhere haha. i killed a duck. pretty fun. But this week was a great week! We are able to consistently find new investigators and people to teach. Me and elder barlow are working well together.

My faith has increased this week in faith. I have been learning a great deal about faith recently. In my pondering and studies i have come up with the following definition of faith in my own words. Faith is the thought that preceeds all positive action. So many times the scriptures tell us to "remember" christ. Why? Is because "as a man thinketh, so is he" As we keep our baptismal and sacrament covenants to remember the savior that floods our minds with positive thoughts which leads to positive actions. Every action we take is influenced by faith. We have faith that the water in our shower will turn on so we turn the knob. We have faith that the microwave will cook our food so we nuke it. We have faith that we can find 2 new investigators so we talk to everyone. Faith is a law of god and nature and the gospel makes so much sense to me. The book of mormon is amazing! I cant get enough of it!

Our miracle this week occurred last night. We were in a gold mine where gold was oozing through our fingers. We were invited to attend a family party of the very first member in miri. She has been less active for a long time now. We showed up at her house thinking it would just be us and their family of 5. But it turned out to be an extended family party. All of their cousins aunts and uncles were there. They were all related to members of the church and me and elder barlow went CRAZY talking to everyone. We got sooo many good potentials out of it and have an appointment with all the potential Melchizedek priesthood holders that were there for next saturday at 7! 

Love,

Elder Schwemmer

Zone Conference

This week was an awesome week. I really enjoyed zone conference and giving my first training as a zone leader. I am loving being a zone leader. It motivates me and helps me to push my hardest. 

This week i experienced a faith building miracle. As a zone leader you get a lot more stressed about your numbers. You want to lead the zone and be a model area for the rest of the missionaries. Well the week was half way over and will still had nothing and we didnt have anything coming our way. We were talking with everyone we could see but nothing was coming from it. So on thursday night i plead in full sincerity for the lord to be merciful to us. To bless us as we work our faith with 2 new investigators. The following day was friday. As you know friday is english class day. A new family of five walked into the door. we talked with them all throughout the class and then after class were able to meet with them and they became new investigators. The have the cutest little 5 year old down syndrome baby and down syndrome people have such a special place in my heart. The lord hears our prayers and if we knock he will open. I know that.

After our zone conference trainings we are going to try a lot harder to involve our members in the work. We are going to do this by feeding ourselves spiritually in our studies, then feeding the members, then teaching them how to feed themselves which will lead them to have a desire to share the gospel and they will bring their friends into the fold.

Sorry not much this week!

Love,

Elder Schwemmer

Gawai

SELEMAT GAWAI YALL! This week was the holiday called gawai. It is the new years celebration of the iban and dayak tribes. We got invited to a gawai party at one of the members houses. The party was crazy! She lives in a little wooden shack on stilts in the river. Like her house is literally standing over the river. The tradition of the iban is to drink a TON of alcohol but they made a mormon version and replaced it with corn juice. Haha i think the corn juice is probably a worse option lol. But we partied hard. Ate lots of good food. Learned Iban dances and iban songs. It was way fun!

This week was a bit of a tougher week. We had to dro a lot of investigators who werent showing progression. Dropping people is always sad but it is an act of faith to give you more time to work with those who will progress. Because the people that we had werent really progressing we have put more of a filter on the people we teach. If during the first contact they are not showing real intent and willingness to meet and keep commitments we leave them with a pass along card or something to read with our number on it, even if they were willing to give us their number. Also during the first lessons we could easily set up return appointments and make them new investigators but we have held off on doing that and reserving that for the people who show genuine desire and interest. Though our numbers may be smaller in the short run, this will all pay off in the long run. The amount of baptisms will be higher later down the road. And thats really what matters right? 

My faith has increased this week in the power of prayer. I am trying really hard to understand prayer and the power of it. I have found that our praying posture can actually have a big effect on our prayers. Being a super tired missionary sometimes we pray on our bed or sometimes my knees are on the floor but my upper half is just plopped out on the bed. This leads to falling asleep easily and hard to stay focused. The body and the spirit are inseparably connected. Hence the word of wisdom. The way our body feels can greatly effect the way our spirit feels. When i make an effort to stay sitting up while i pray it makes me more focused and keeps my mind on track. When i focus my body i also focus my mind. I also feel that it shows more respect to our father in heaven. I used to pray in the position that muslims do and my mom used to always say "no butts higher then heads" Now i understand so clearly why she would say that haha. 

The miracle we saw this week was how we have been able to find through outside of the box ways. For example this week we decided to try chess contacting. There is a park near by us that us FULL of chinese people and familys. On one of the picnic tables we set out chinese chess. And to our surprise people would just flock to us. With in a matter of minutes we have a group gathered around us to watch us. We challenge people to play us and use that time to contact them. Doing things like this makes the work so much funner and so much more effective!

This week our branch changed times to 11:30. Our branch president is hoping that that will make more people come. We are trying really hard to work with the members here but not much is happening. Our branch is small and struggling. I am trying to organize weekly youth activities to bring the branchs youth closer together and have more energy and to bring in those golden referrals!

Love,

Elder Schwemmer

Changes

This week was an awesome week. We were able to pull through a high number of new investigators again this week with 5. It was a good way for elder olsen to leave Miri. This week i got a new companion. Elder Barlow is so awesome! He is a way good missionary and we are way good buddies in great unity! We are gonna do some serious work here in my last 2 transfers of my mission. I love Elder Barlow!

We went to singapore this week for mlc. Due to visa issues we had to go in a day before the mlc in which president gave us permission to explore singapore! We went to the coolest place i have ever been in my entire life! It is called 'Sentosa" which translates to paradise. And it truly is paradise. I have no words to describe it you just have to experience it yourself. We went to the worlds largest aquarium which was there. It was incredible. Singapore is incredible. I am not able to describe it in words.

This week my faith increased at MLC. That was my first MLC and it was amazing! To unite with the mission leaders and discuss the mission and how we can all work better together was a really cool experience. I loved the counselling that accured. It wasnt just hearing a sermon but all were talking and counseling with eachother. My faith increased as i realized that revelation comes through counsels. That will be a great tool for me to know throughout my life. In the future i can have family counsels, and church cousels and all sorts of counsels. I am very grateful for all the wonderful skills that my mission has taught me! They will truly bless my life forever.

We had a pretty cool miracle this week. We have been teaching this family recently. It is a mom, dad, and 3 teenage boys. When we go over to meet them the dad never joins us because he is always out working on his car. It has been just the boys and the mom. This last week when we met with them the dad decided to join us. He came and immediately opened up all his concerns. My love for him grew as he expressed his lifes challenges through his tears. He knew we had something special and he reached out to us. He told us about how he feels like a failure father. He feels unworthy with god and that he has made too many mistakes. I am excited to see the joy that will come in his life as we help him understand that none of his worries are true.

This week we worked with members by having them perform the baptism of our investigator rather then one of us elders. I want to give the brethren here opportunities to excersize their priesthood. Its not about me. A lot of elders love to get dressed up in white but i would rather have the members use their priesthood. When they use their priesthood nothing but spiritual goodness comes to their soul.

This has been my first week as zone leader. I love it so much! I have a great vision for this miri zone! My vision is to bring unified ENERGY into the zone allowing us to have the faith and drive to find! When you find everything else starts rolling. Me and Elder Barlow were discussing how we want to 'light the zone on fire' We thought of the anatomy of a fire. I fire can start off big and huge but it is at its hottest point at the end when its dying. We want that to happen where this transfer we have the first lighting of the fire using 'lighter fluid' to get things going which will lead to a hot fire in the following transfers. A fire always starts with some sort of spark or something. Me and Elder Barlow are going to be that spark. Today we organized a pday luau in which we will attempt to bring the miri districts together in a spirit of unity!

Love yall

Love,

Elder Schwemmer

BIG NEWS

Today is transfer new day! I will be staying in miri as a Zone Leader! I will be finishing my mission here and i will be companions with my most favorite elder in the whole mission! His name is Elder Barlow! I am a bit sad because i will no longer be the handsome companion! He is a hunk! And we are already way good friends from zone conference and such.

I am speechless about transfers...... This transfer is going to be amazing. Where much is given much is required! I am am so ready to give it my all. I am going to light this zone on fire and bring in some serious energy! Transfer news has filled me with that energy!And i am going to really enjoy being with Elder Barlow! We are going to do some serious work here in miri! And dont be surprised when we lead the mission! I prayed way hard to have something that would keep me from dying! And this is absolutely it! That increased my faith that the lord does hear our prayers and he does care about us and our desires. And he wants to give us the things that will make us happy. I have learned that well on my mission. My plans for this zone is to cultivate an energy that will increase faith to find. Nothing happens in missionary work until you find someone to teach. And when we find, all the other key indicator numbers go up. I gained that testimony this transfer as when i came to miri we had 1 investigator. We now have 14 at the end and will get 3 more tonight. I am really excited to take this role as zone leader and am going to deliver my peek performance.

This weekend we have a baptism! We are baptizing a 18 year old named Adam! he will be a great addition to the branch here. He is a miracle. I have been praying sincerely that i could get one more baptism before my mission and the lord answered with adam. We worked with the members to really help jim out. He came to miri for studies and had 0 friends here in miri. But our branchs youth was able to help us out and now they are friends to the point where they hang out outside of church. That is both our miracle and how we worked with members.

Love yall, Love life

Love,

Elder Schwemmer

Caught this Biawak...then ate it

Mothers Day

Happy Mothers day to all you incredible mothers out there! Thanks for making the world go round! Especially my mom. With out her i would be nothing.

This week was an awesome week. We were able to find for the second week in a row 4 new investigators. Maybe i can expound a bit on how we are making it happen. So on my mission i have learned a lot of valuable things about myself, the lord, and his work. Among those lessons i have learned how the lord works with individuals and the talents and abilities that they have. Missionaries misunderstand what being a missionary means. It does NOT mean that you are a robot. That you cant smile. You cant laugh. That you cant be yourself. Infact just the opposite is true. The very reason the Lord puts us in the places he does is because the person that we are is what the people there need. I have learned how to do that on my mission. How to be myself in order to do the work. And it makes the work SO much better. There is an agony when you try to be someone your not. Missionaries also misunderstand the meaning of change. They think that on their missions they are supposed to change into some completely different person. Like they are supposed to fit into this imaginary mold of what a good missionary is. But thats not how it works. A good missionary is our best us. To change as a missionary doesnt mean to change into someone else but to change to a better us. 

With that being said i feel that because i have learned that, i have been able to apply it and find success from doing so. This week we met with some awesome people. I feel that the reason why they wanted to meet with us again is because they realized they we are human beings too with a message to share. They dont put up that "salesman" wall and autimatically reject us because they know what we do. Be we have just been ourselves, our best selves, in contacts, teaching appointments, working with members, and all aspects of missionary work. And it is making the work a lot more enjoyable and the unneeded burden of stress to be someone different is gone. We were able to find this incredible family by just being ourselves. We met this 25 year old guy and when we contacted him it wasnt the oh so terrible "hey wanna learn about Jesus?" contact but we were being ourselves. We joked with him, laughed with him, told him why were here and what we wanna do, and just made friends with him. Then the following apointment he met us and he brought all 6 of his family members along. It was an incredible miracle. We actually just met him again last night and he brought more friends! I truly feel that its because the experiences we are having with him are human to human not missionary to investigator.

Love,

Elder Schwemmer

Singapore

Wow i loved zone conference this week! Going to zone conference always recharges me spiritually and adds fuel to the fire beneath. I took a lot of things from zone conference. One of the things that impacted me the most was the talk by brad wilcox. I have heard and read that talk several times but each time i listen to it i learn something new everytime. That talk teaches marvelous things. In my missionary efforts sometimes i get down on myself for not being perfect. As you know i am a perfectionist. That is my least favorite attribute that i have been trying to change on my mission and that talk has helped a ton! Zone conference has, like always, increased my faith this week!

We had an awesome miracle this week where we were able to start teaching the family that i talked about last week! We used english class as our initial approach and that led them to be interested in us and what we are doing which led to them now investigating the church. My whole time in miri i have been praying very hard to find families and god has provided. It seems that my whole mission i have been teaching individuals or couples and hardly families. But finally ive found a good one! I am excited to see how they progress.

This week we coorilated with our branch president on the things we learned at zone conference. The biggest take away me and elder olsen had for our area was working with people 15-25 years old. So we sat down with our branch president and discussed organizing a weekly activity for the youth. Back in Kuching every saturday night at 7 pm the youth and ysa would play at futsal. They had up to 20 nonmembers attend! So we will be trying to get something like that going in miri to really work that age group!

Last Pday we went fishing in the jungle and hunting for Biawak's! Biawaks are monitor Lizards kind of like komoto dragons! At singapore we went to Marina bay and china town! Today we are going hiking!

Love,

Elder Schwemmer

Families

This week was an ok week. This week my faith to find has increased a bit. For some reason on saturday we were so well recieved. I dont know what was different but this last saturday we went out and everyone we talked to invited us into their home. We have been praying and searching very hard to find familys. We pulled up to a familys house and told them about english class. They heard that then invited us into their nice home. They were a nice full family. Mom, Dad, and 3 teenage boys. I was way happy and way grateful to meet them. It seems that my whole mission ive only been able to find and teach individuals but i just want to teach familys so it was an awesome miracle to find them and it increased my faith.

This week we worked with our branch president in helping us to find our investigators new jobs that would allow them to have sunday off and come to church. 

Sorry this email is so tiny i am not feeling very good. I am a bit light headed and may be coming down with a fever. Hopefully it will go away so i can be healthy for Singapore this week!

Love,

Elder Schwemmer

Working with Members

This week was a good week. Miri is growing on me. I tried hard to get to know the members and area better this week. Considering theres only about 20-30 active members it was not a difficult task to get to know most of them. This week i had a faith building experience. It was thursday, a rough day. Miri is a lot tougher area. I can compare it to sibu a bit. But i am trying to keep my faith high and strong to show god that i trust that he is preparing people here in miri. On thursday we did our normal weekly planning then got out to work. Everyone we talked to rejected us. Every person we tried to reach out to turned their backs on us. I was put in a bad mood. It killed my faith and i didnt feel like trying anymore. We had an appointment that night scheduled for 8. It was a bit past 8 and he wasn't showing up. It was putting a cherry on top of the bad day. we called him to see if he was coming. He answered and it was hard to hear but we think we heard "i cant make it tonight" and then our phone died right after we heard that! So that was frustrating. I layed there on the church floor expressing my frustration to elder olsen. As i was sitting there complaining, the investigator walked in! It was a bit of a surprise. We then taught him one of the best lessons ive had on my mission. At the end of it we taught him how to pray and he just went straight into prayer not second guessing how to pray or what and offered a beautiful prayer. He was asking god to show him the truthfulness of the book of Mormon. As he was asking a loud and clear thought came into my head "Oh ye of little faith!" A laughed at myself on how god just slapped me in the face. That actually ended up building my faith. God does have people prepared. Thats a fact. Preach my gospel states that there are people prepared in each area or else we wouldnt be there! 

We had a cool miracle in working with one of our members this week. We decided to work in an area that is on the opposite side of miri from where we live. We have a way strong member who stays there and that area is highly Chinese populated. We told that member that we would be going up there to work for the day and she immediately responds with 6 referrals! Then we spent the day following her around to all of her friends houses that she wanted us to teach! Missionary work is so much easier, effective, and fun when things like that happen. Members are the best missionaries!

My companion was sick all day yesterday and today. I was able to do a lot of meditating as he rested. It was nice. He is still sick today so i dont know if we will get to do much for pday. Last week we went to the beach. We got coconuts from the trees and sipped on them while we relaxed. Then we went bowling then shopping.

K love you

k bye

Love,

Elder Schwemmer

Miri

This week has been pretty stressful as transfers usually are. I was in kuching for a very long time and due to that i grew a love for that place and the people there more then ive ever loved anything else! I love the branch, my investigators, and recent converts there! Kuching has a big piece of my heart! Transferring to Miri has been a bit tough. I felt that the feelings im feeling are probably similar to what it will feel like in the future when i move houses for my job or something. On the mission you get so many experiences that prepare you for life that you couldnt get anywhere else. 

My faith has increased this week as i have reflected on my time in kuching and on my mission and saw how far i have come. I feel that my mission has done a complete 180 turn on me. The first half was rough but this second half has been the time of my life! I am thankful for the lord and all that he has done for me in these past 2 years. These have been the craziest 2 years of my life but they have been so worth it. My feelings are tender as i realize that i am coming to an end pretty soon. This week i have tried my hardest to get to know miri quickly so that my final months will be full of work and adventures! The members are awesome. There is a lot fewer then kuching but that ones that are here are amazing. My faith always increases as i hear and see the testimony of members. Its so much harder to be a mormon in a place like this then it is in utah! So i respect the members so much and are so grateful for their faithfulness! As for miracles this week, we were able to talk to a family that comes to english class. We invited them to a branch party that was on saturday and they came! English class is by far our best tool for finding as chinese elders! I love english class. This week Sister Montague who is the EUL here handed me the reigns and i will start to work my magic here in Miri!

Not too sure what were gonna do for pday today. Maybe go to the beach or something!

Love,

Elder Schwemmer

SURPRISE!!!!!

Hello every one. This week was the best week of my entire mission! The reason i title this email surprise is because this saturday we had a baptism!!! It was a way special baptism! Last year on christmas i wanted to make christmas a special day so we worked very very hard. What i decided to do was go give people the gift of the book of mormon. I got a back pack full of book of mormons and placed a silver ribbon on each of them. We went and talked to every person we could possibly see and sang them a christmas song and offered them the gift of the book of mormon. We were biking along when i see in the distance this chinese student. We went and talked to him and gave him the precious gift. We found out that he was from china and is here studying in kuching. We have taught him ever since and this last saturday was his baptism! His name is Y***. He has become best friends with my other recent convert J*** and have seen a light come into his life. When i first met him i never saw a smile appear on his face until he learned of the restored gospel and how it will help his family. I love Y***. The most special thing was that J*** baptised him. It was so special to me to watch my efforts, blood, sweat, tears, stress all work out and bear fruit!

The next most special thing that happened this weekend happened after conference. So ever since the very begining when i came into Kuching we started teaching a man named J***. I have mentioned him before. This weekend with him was epic! So last Sunday i was very bummed because i have loved johnson so much and he has so much incredible potential to be a leader and kingdom builder in kuching. He has been in a spiritual war at this time in his life as he has been seeking for truth. He has been investigating 2 churches. Ours, and a church right across the street from ours called "The bread of life" He has been struggling to make a decision and this last Sunday he told us that he feels so pressured that he wants to stop going to both churches completely. My heart sank as i heard him giving up because i knew how incredibly close he was to finding truth. Later in the week we went and visited him. We went and said "J***, Please just give it one more week. Come to conference this weekend and we promise you will find your answer. After that we will not bother you any more" J*** came to every single session of general conference. And a miracle that filled my soul and life with joy and rejoicing happened. After the sunday afternoon session J*** comes up to us and says "Elders, I want to be baptized at the end of the month" Oh what rapture filled my bosom. Oh what joy filled my soul. Chills ran up and down my spine as he turns to me and says "Elder Schwemmer you have impacted my life and salvation and i want you to baptize me" I cant put in words how i felt. All of the crap i have put up with for these years is turning out its reward and i am happier then i have ever been before in my whole life!!!

Well the news just came in..... I am transfering to miri. I could write my feelings but that would take years. Over all im an incredibly happy with what happened here in kuching. And i am most happy because of the weekend that i was able to end on. The Best week of my entire life!

Love,

Elder Schwemmer




These three boys are the most special boys in the whole world! These 3 boys are the difference that i was able to be a part of in Kuching. They are so humble. So Christlike and my life long and eternal friends.

Faith

This week my faith has grown as i have been working as if im not getting transferred. Satan is tempting me so hard to just relax in my work because im leaving anyways but i am not taking any of satans dirt. My faith is continually increasing in the book of mormon as i read and study and pray about it every day. My faith also increased this week when we had a cool miracle. We have been praying really hard to find families recently and this past sunday i fasted to find one. It was Sunday night 7:00, about time to go to our dinner appointment at 7:30 and still no family. It was pouring rain and we could have just thrown in the towel and gone to our dinner appointment a bit early. But we decided to show our faith and go to the only place that there would possibly be people which was at a supermarket. We talked with everyone we possibly could. We were about to leave when i felt a prompting that told me if i will wait till 7:30 we will find the family we are looking for. We talked with everyone all the way to 7:35. We decided it was time to go so we walked to where our bikes were locked. Right as we are leaving we see this cute family of a mom dad and their little daughter. We stopped them and talked to them about English class which eventually led to a gospel discussion which eventually led to a number, address, and specific appointment for this week. Fasting works! Faith works! God is real! 

Sorry this is short! We got back from our pday activity later then expected! We went golfing today! It was the most beautiful golf course i have ever seen right up on the ocean!


Love, Elder Schwemmer

Cover to Cover

This week was another good week despite several disappointments along the way.

This week we met an incredibly smart christian boy who knew the bible cover to cover. He wondered into the church wondering if he could meet with the elders. We knew something funny was up because that never happens. His object in meeting with us was to prove us wrong and dispute doctrines. I was having none of it and testified boldly that Joseph Smith is a prophet of god and that my testimony will stand as a witness against him at the last day. I felt the power of god with me and it helped me to really increase my faith in the restoration. We will not meet him again because that would be a waste of time but the one meeting we had with him was fun!

This week we saw cool miracles with a new finding idea we have. That new idea is when our plans fall through, then our back up plans fall through, we open the book of mormon. I flip through the pages and elder low tells me when to stop. Then we randomly choose a verse on the page. What ever that verse says is what or where we will go. For example we read one verse that talked about corrupt preachers. So we went to places where there would be corrupt preachers. We went to all the churches we could find. (not in or near the church as that would be disobedient) but in the area. And the first person we talked to during that became a new investigator this week. The book of mormon is true!!!

This week i tried as hard as i could to astonish the members with faithfulness by following up with them for all the things we invite them to do. Members seem to not do the commitments missionaries give them they just like to listen to the elders. But as weve been trying to follow up with all the members we have seen them do more of the things we commit them to!

Kuching is blowing up right now! We are working very hard and every week we are over achieving our standards of excelence! I am finding lots of joy and fulfillment as i meet challenges with faith and conquer them with the lord!

Love,

Elder Schwemmer

Elder Evans

This week was awesome! Me and elder Low are doing work! We have been able to over achieve the standards of excellence every week this transfer. And it feels good giving it your all. Ive never been happier on my mission or maybe even my life! I have been in kuching a long time and boy am i glad! I have built relationships with the people here that will last a lifetime and even an eternity. I feel that the work im doing here is my best work. And i am loving it!

This week Elder Evans from the quorum of the 70 came to tour the mission! It was awesome as after the meeting was finished i went up and talked with him just one on one me and him. It was awesome! We talked about missionary work. He is so smart! This week my faith increased during the mission tour! I think that everyones faith increased. I really loved the part where elder Evans talked about how ammon astonished people with his faithfulness. That has stuck with me and i have been striving to do that. Something i learned early in my mission was that when your thoughts start running away and run you into bad thoughts or sad thoughts or thoughts that will lead you to doing something dumb, that you can just counter it by saying a power phrase. My new power phrase is "i will be faithful!" It pumps me up everytime i say it and pushes me through the hard times. Learning to control my thoughts has been one of the most valuable things ive learned to do on my mission!

This week we saw a cool miracle. We were on exchanges with Elder Stratton and we had just finished the baptism. Then some 20 year old chinese boy wonders in the church because he was curious about it. We sat down and met with him. He is by far the smartest christian ive ever met. He was quoted bible verses left and right and telling us exactly what was the reference. And even crazier he started quoting book of mormon references! He was quoting the book of mormon! IT was crazy!! But he was open to hearing what we had to say. He was asking us all the deep doctrine questions and we roasted him with answers! :)

This week after the mission tour we took the Miri chinese elders on exchanges. Those were great as we took one of our members out who is still trying to decide if he wants to go on a mission or not. After we took him out for the day, for one of the first times i heard him say "i think i want to go!" haha it was funny. I love helping prospective elders just because i can relate so well to them!

This week i will be going on exchanges with the matang elders! Ill let you know how that goes!

Love,

Elder Schwemmer

Yolo

This week was another good week here in kuching. I gave my first district meeting training. It went well and i loved it!! I love being able to share all the things that i have learned on my mission to help other missionaries. One of the most rewarding experiences i have on my mission is when i am able to help someone who struggles by teaching them what i learned when i had the same struggles. It makes me realize how far ive come on my mission and all the priceless things i have learned.

This week my faith has increased increased in talking with everyone as this saturday was the baptism of one of the guys i found. When i was with my son Elder Johnson we were at a flat waiting for an apointment so we decided to talk with everyone while we waited. The only people in sight were 2 iban boys. I barely speak malay but i tried talking with them anyways. One of the boys spoke good english and we were able to contact him and get his contact info. Well this saturday that boy was baptized. Me and Elder taught him a few times before we decided to pass him to the malay elders. The incredible part of this is that this boy had really long black hair like one of those crazy metal rock bands. When i walked into his baptism i barely recognized him as he had cut his hair and now looks like a missionary! Its so faith building and special to watch peoples lives change in just a few months because of the gospel. I saw him smile for the first time at his baptism. He is special to me. This was both the faith building experience and miracle of this week.

We have been working the goldmine recently in which we began to teach one of our recent converts parents.

Being District leader has been so good for me. I am absolutely loving every opportunity i have to love and care and encourage my district members. We are on fire recently! The whole zone is on fire! It has been amazing to see how the energy of our companionship can catch on to the other missionaries. Attitudes are contagious! The matang elders found 4 new investigators this week! That area has not found new investigators for a few transfers! I am loving being able to lead and encourage these missionaries. It has been tough but so rewarding and has helped me to grow so much!

Love,

Elder Schwemmer

New Transfers, New Experiences

This week was an amazing week! I love my new calling as District Leader! I have never worked harder then i have worked this week. And i absolutely LOVE elder Low! He is so amazing. He is one of the best missionaries ive ever been companions with. I respect him so much. He joined the church on his own. His parents dont support him being here. He has to pay for it on his own. He left at a prime time in his life at age 22. He is incredible. He knows why hes here. He knows his purpose and is a fearless missionary. I have already learned so much from him! But this week me and him worked way hard and were able to surpass all the standards of excellence. Elder Lows faith and example have increased my faith. Now the the responsibility of district leader is on, im putting the pedal to the medal! I feel so good doing so! I have finally been able to see all my progress ive made as a missionary and wow is it a lot! I am feeling very satisfied with the person that the lord is making me. That he has given me the trials of my mission to help me change and improve. I loved this week and my faith is high!

This week at church we had some awesome miracles. Last week i spent some time redoing the english class flyers and signs which include the new website. And since then we have handed out a flyer to every single person we see. Well this week at church we got pulled out of class because a chinese family had wandered into the church wondering about english class. We gave them a church tour where they saw the sacrament meeting and classes and all. It was awesome. Then the other miracle at church was that one of our members brought a friend! The friend stayed for 3 hours and then we were able to teach them after!

This week we were able to get 2 new investigators from member referrals. One was the guy that came to church and the other was a less actives friend. One of our less actives loves playing basketball. So we set up a young mens/ysa activity to play basketball. Our less active brought a friend who were able to teach this week! The goldmine works! Members are the best missionaries! I absolutely love this branch and the people here! Kuching and its people have a special place in my heart and i will never forget them.

love yall, Email me!

love,

Elder Schwemmer

Good News

Heyy yall!

The time has FLOWN by and another transfer has come and gone. This last friday we had interviews with President Simmons. In the interview he informed me that i will be STAYING another transfer in Kuching! He has also given me the sacred trust to be the District Leader here! This will be transfer number 6 in kuching! The longest anyone usually stays in an area is 5 transfers. But we are making a lot of good things happen here in kuching so president wants to keep me here! I am so excited! Kuching and the people here will forever have a special place in my heart! I will never forget the time i have spent here and am grateful I get at least 6 more weeks here!

This week was a fantastic week! I have been able to increase my faith in finding this week as we have been given from the lord 4 new investigators. The lord does prepare people and is willing to let us teach them as long as we are ready to recieve them. Just like what the APs trained us about in zone conference. As my faith has increased so has my confidence. The more faith i have in finding the easier it is to talk to people. One thing i have been doing is something that Elder Macbeth taught me to do. That is to have a personal affirmation. So whenever fear comes to me, or temptation comes, or something i dont want to do comes, i recite to myself my affirmation. In turn my affirmation gives me confidence and the right thought channel to accomplish the task at hand. "as a man thinketh, so is he" or "commit thy works unto the lord, and thy thoughts shall be established" are my mottos. I feel that if you can control your thoughts you can control your life. And your mission as well. That is a very important lesson i have learned on my mission.

This week we saw a miracle in getting 4 new investigators. 3 of them was a family that we found on chinese new year! And the 4th was a way cool guy named J***. So jim is the son of a former investigator. When we first came in contact with him we talked a lot about life and his goals and ambitions and how his religion has played a part in that. He mentioned how he feels that the bible is missing something and that he wants to find. That is music to a missionaries ear! We presented the book of mormon to him and taught him more about it this week.

I am so excited to be able to stay here in kuching! I absolutely love this place and the people here! Especially the members! They were all surprised that i will be staying. I am hoping this transfer to baptize President Euros cousin. We visited them this week and found that their cousin is living with them. We presented our message to her with power and were able to get a return appointment. Referrals from members are so amazing! So many barriers are cleared when we teach a member refferel. They already have a fellowshipper, they have an example to view how the church has blessed their lives, they trust the missionaries more, they are more open and accepting, they always have someone to turn to for questions. The list could go on of why referrals are are so good.

Love Elder Schwemmer

Good morning

This week was great! All is going well and smooth. This week we moved into a new apartment with two other elders. It has been fun and makes life a bit better. This week we had to excersize some faith in dropping some investigators. With the new key indicators it is really helping me focus on teaching repentance and baptizing converts. Before, it was more of ok he didnt read the book of mormon thats ok, we'll come back just so we can get another member present. But now we are more in focus. If our investigators are not reading and always make excuses then im not going to waste the lords time working with them. I have gotten a bit more bold with the people i am working with. I tell them straight up what our purpose is and if they are not going to comply then we will not waste theirs or our time. We have an investigator who is very ready to be baptized. He is just not able to come to church because of work. Well this week we got bold with him. We said that he needs to ask for sundays off or quit his job. Never in my life have i asked someone to quit their job. But my faith is sufficient that if he quits it god will provide. I often think of how crazy what we are doing is. Here i am on the other side of the world asking a man ive only known for 2 months to quit his job he has had for years, completely change his life, and join a church! Thats crazy! But it has become so much easier to do that as i have increased my faith through the book of mormon. The other day we taught a pastor from one of the most popular churches in kuching. And i was straight bold with him! That only came through the spirit who was guiding me. But i know our message is true. Im not afraid of telling a pastor that we are the only true church on the face of the earth. The lesson we had with him was quite nice and he has already read the book of mormon to mosiah 2. This confidence in my message has only come through strengthening my testimony through the book of mormon.

A miracle we saw this week was that we found some guy who was read the book of mormon twice. We were advertising English class and we talk to this man. It turns out he is from new york but his wife is from kuching so hes living here. We did the normal missionary stuff with him then left. When we got home that night Elder Christiansen (who i absolutely love) walks in and tells us how he met a guy from new york today. We got excited as we realised we talked to the same man. But me and elder tan got to him first :) But i feel that when things like that happen where people come in contact with the missionaries an unusual amount of times that they are prepared and are someone god wants us to teach.

This week we had a FHE with one of my favorite families in the whole mission. We taught them a powerful lesson and they ended up confessing their sins to us. And for some reason, this week more then a few members have confessed their sins to me. Its always awkward when that happens but it gives us something to teach to and we can give them the commitment they need which is to talk with the branch president. I love malaysians.

Love,

Elder Schwemmer

Singarich

Whats up everybody,

This week was awesome! We went to Zone conference in singapore! Singapore is so amazing!! It is by far the cleanest place i have ever been! We had a lot of time before zone conference started in which president allows us to explore singapore. My companion is from singapore so i got a good hookup! We went to this crazy buddhist place which is not explainable through words just pictures. Funny story, we were walking through these stores when all of a sudden Elder Tans dad was right in front of us! They freaked out and hugged eachother and it was way funny. It was completely unplanned and 100% cooincedence. It threw elder tan off a bit tho :/ This zone conference reached the top of my list of favorite zone conferences! I really love the new approach that we are taking. Last year when they introduced the teach repentance and baptize converts im not sure if it really sunk in to my work very deep. But after this zone conerence it absolutely did! And i have seen it work so well for us already just in the 3 days since Singapore. The biggest take away i got was to include repentance and baptism in some type of way in ALL lessons. Thats lessons with investigators, members, less actives, contacts, everything. Of course with the members it would be Repentance and the sacrament. We had the chance to do that with one of our investigators named Felix who is very close to baptism. We have taught him everything, he knows its true, he wants to be baptized he just cant come to church because his work will not allow him. So we wanted to fast with him. Therefore we went and taught him about fasting but in a way that made fasting be a part of repentance. The lord has commanded us to fast once a month. And if we dont do that then we need to repent and fast once a month. So we taught felix to repent by fasting with us this sunday. We did so. Hopefully this week we will be able to see a miracle where he can get a new job that will allow him to come to work. He has been searching but yet to find one.

We had a cool miracle this week in working with former investigators. We went and visited a former investigator of 2 years. When we arrived at his house he was asleep but his 15 year old son was outside. We talked to the son for a while then we were about to leave. I felt prompted to stay just a little bit longer. It was getting awkward but as we were standing there some handsome chinese guy walks out the front door. Long story short it was the FIs other son. He was 23 and so PREPARED! We got talking WITH him about himself and his religious experience. He speaks perfect english which is who we are looking for and is well off. He began to express his feelings and said something like this "when i read the bible i just feel that something is missing. Like its not all there" We jumped on that with the book of mormon like a puma pounces on his prey. He is awesome and we are going to go hard on the book of mormon with him.

This week we were able to use our talents to increase our relationship with our branch president. Our branch President bought a quadcopter (my specialty) and was trying to figure out how to fly it. I was able to use my talent of quadcopters and teaching in order to help him and it made him like us a lot more haha. Through small and simple things. Im not saying he didnt like us before but that was able to increase our relationship. Also members have started coming to me asking me to fix their stuff for them. with the new schedule i have time every night to work on some stuff which is a huge stress relief for me. I have also been able to fix all of my companions broken lights and electronics and such. I love being able to use my talents to bless and serve the members here. It is one of the most fulfilling feelings in the world!

Love yall,

Elder schwemmer

bing shui

Hey yall,

This week was a great week! We faced opposition just like any other week of sickness, bike problems etc. But overall it was a good week! My faith continues to increase as i dissect the book of mormon. I have never studied anything harder or more in depth then i have the book of mormon these past few months. Back at home my passion and hobby was airplanes. Whenever i was bored or had free time i would just study airplanes. Over these past few months i have studied the book of mormon more in depth than i have ever gone into depth of studying my passion of airplanes. It has been so great too! I love the book of mormon so much! My testimony of it to my investigators is so much more powerfully and legit now! What marion g. romney said about how a power will flow into our lives is completely and 100% true! I have found greater power to resist temptation, keep my thoughts and actions in line with the savior, and ultimately discern and deflect satans lies which is huge for me! My whole life has been influenced by the lies of satan and that has been a huge mountain for me to climb on my mission. As i have read the book of mormon the mountain has become so much easier to climb! Nothing has increased my faith more then the book of mormon!

This week Elder Tan had some bike issues. His bike chain snapped while he was in the middle of the road and it through him off his bike. The first miracle was that he didnt get hit by a car and was protected. We fixed the chain immediately and then 2 days later it snapped while he was in a round about. The next miracle came when some random guy pulled over and helped us. Usually we are the ones helping people on the side of the road but this time we were on the other end! The guy was so nice and he took us to a bike shop right then to get it fixed for good. Now there are no more problems. The guy was super nice and spoke perfect english. We exchanged numbers and set up to meet this saturday. I am grateful that the light of christ is in all people.

I like eggs,

Love

Elder Schwemmer

XiN NIAN KUAI LE!

Dear President Simmons,

GONG XI FA CAI!! Happy chinese new year president! This week was an absolutely awesome week! Early on in my mission i thought that chinese new year was the time when the work absolutely dies for chinese Elders. But just the opposite is true! We were very busy! We had so many people to visit and so much rushing from appointment to appointment! All the chinese people during chinese new year have "open houses" in which they open their house to all people to come in and eat and celebrate chinese new year. We ate non stop. We also talked with people non stop. I love how friendly people become during holidays. There are just good vibes all the way around.  We were able to use that to meet a lot of people this week!

This week my faith has grown. My personal studies recently have been on fire! The book of mormon is so powerful! I read it every day and i just never want to put it down. I have dove so deep into it! It has taken me a few months to get to second nephi because i really study hard and ponder every word and apply it to my life. I have felt closer to god more now through the book of mormon then i ever have before! I am grateful for the power that is in that book and that i have been blessed with the gift of studying it. I know its true. There are no more doubts in my mind! I love it so much. 

A miracle that we saw this week was basically just what i told you about chinese new year. Lots of visiting, lots of teaching, lots of fun this week!

I feel that we could have worked better with members this week. We were too focused on the large amount of nonmembers we were able to meet but we could have brought members with us or something. But the branch is still doing good! Lots of good things are still happening and the ball is still rolling! 

This week our missionary lives have changed!!!! The daily schedule and key indicators have changed dramatically! Now we have pday from 830 am to 630 pm rather then 1230 to 630. We now have an extra hour in the morning to prepare ourselves. Planning sessions are no longer at night they are now  in the morning. and we now only have 4 key indicators rather then 12! It has taken a huge burden and load off of every missionaries backs! But at the same time it will make us so much more effective and efficient! I love the first presidency!

Love yall have a great week!

Love

Elder Schwemmer

Gong xi fa cai!!!!

This week was awesome! I am very excited about transfers! I am so excited that i get to work with Elder Tan! He is a great missionary and we already work well together. And its super nice that we both already know the members and area of kuching because we have been serving here. Were were able to just take off and work on wednesday. Its also very nice having someone who speaks fluent chinese as a companion. It takes a big load off of my back. But dont get me wrong i loved doing it.

This week we had a miracle where we were able to teach Jeffreys Sister! We have been trying to teach Jeffreys whole family for weeks now but the sister would always run away and hide in her room or avoid us. But this sunday we were finally able to convince her to stay and listen to our message! It was a simple message but it was powerful! At the end of it she even said a prayer! We have yet to get any of Jeffreys family members to pray until now! I love that family so much and i feel that the lord saw my dilligent obedient efforts to help them and softened her heart!

The members here are so awesome! One of our YSA members started to great things. This week for the first time in years he organized a YSA family home evening! The branch has grown so much since ive been here! When i arrived there were no young men or ysa or anything like that to be seen. But now we have been able to get the branch self reliant and no longer rely on the missionaries. The ball is rolling here in kuching and its got a nice down hill in front of it!

Well this week is chinese new year and i am so excited! Kuching goes so hard for chinese new year! I feel like im in new york city for the new year! This friday night rumor has it that my house will shake and i wont be able to hear myself think because of all the fireworks going off! I am excited! And also the tradition is that on chinese new year all the married couples give the unmarried people "hong bao" which is an envelope full of money! :) Missionaries arent supposed to accept money like that except for in our mission we have special permission because it is extremely offensive if we do not accept it. Im excited to see how much food i can buy after chinese new year! :)

K love yall!

Gong xi fa cai! Hong bao na lai!

Love,

Elder Schwemmer