Listening To The Still Small Voice

This week has gone by really fast, and we were able to get a lot done.
We were in Grand Rapids until Thursday morning, then we came back to
Aitkin.

Tuesday: I was asked to plan out our district meeting and then conduct
it. We focused on finding through faith. At the end we set a goal to
find two New Investigators in each area. Elder Harper (my district
leader) and I worked with each other. We went and taught a lady named
Deb about Faith and Repentance. After we stopped by a bunch of
potentials, but no one was home. Then a member of the branch took us
to a few people that they never get to meet with because of miles.
After he took us out to dinner, which was great.

Wednesday: Elder Vaughn and I worked together. We first visited and
eat lunch with a recent convert named Cathy. She has a lot of
challenges in her life, but still keeps her faith. We showed her the
Refiners fire video, and it went well with what she was going through.
After, we had nothing set up, so we stopped by a lot of potentials.
None were home, but most lived in apartment complexes. So we decided
to knock every door. On the last door, of the night, we met a lady,
and taught her the restoration, and said we can come back. She also
accepted the Book of Mormon. As we were walking to the car, a lady who
managed the place kicked us off the property ha-ha. She got all mad, so
we jumped in our car and left.

Thursday: We drove back to Aitkin, and on the way.  Sister Scheller
(LA) called us Saying, "Penny has had some really sad/bad family
issues." So we called her and said we would come over once we could.
We first went to sister Pieceks, and eat lunch, and took care of all
her leaves. After we drove to penny's, and kind of just tried to help
her through this situation. After dinner, I felt the impression, we
should stop by Penny's house again, and visit. It was good that we
did, so we can lighten the mood, before her son Andrew finds out what
happened.

Friday: After weekly planning, we went to sister pieceks to pick
something up, and then she asked if we wanted to stay for brunch. So
we gladly accepted, and I made everyone some eggs. Then later, Penny
and Andrew took us to Brainerd to go shopping, and to distract
themselves from everything. Elder Wilson and I both bought jackets,
which was great.

Saturday: After our studies, we went and did service for a man named
Steve. His building is being torn down, and they needed help moving
stuff away, since they are hoarders. After we came back, and got into
church cloths. The weather is so nice, we put on short sleeve shirts.
So we drove to Crosby, and our stop by's were falling through. So we
went over to a potential, who wasn't home. Then when we were walking
to the car I felt like we should knock on the neighbor’s door. So we
did, and a man named Louis opened, and let us in. He gave us pizza,
and we taught him the restoration. We also set a time to come back. He
said he won't be baptized, but it was still cool to realize a
spiritual impression, and it work out. Later, we met with Tammy, and
talked about tithing. She likes the whole concept of it.

Sunday: Tammy came to church, and three other nonmember did too, that
were invited by members. We had a broadcast from salt lake for the
North American central initiative. It was cool, and elder Rasband
spoke also. After the meeting, Tammy said, asked, what do I do with
the tithing? So we filled it out and everything. Then we were going to
give it to a member of the branch presidency, but the councilor didn't
realize that nonmembers can still pay tithing, so he would accept it.
But later got a call saying yes she can pay tithing. Sometimes I
wonder how these branches operate.

Well, that was pretty much the highlight of the week, the weather is
great. At the beginning of the week, I decided to listen to any
thought or impression I got. I've never been able to recognize weather
it is a thought or a spiritual impression, but I wanted to challenge
them when I would get one. And it has worked out. It just makes me
wonder, how many times I've had one before, and I didn't realize it.
Something I think we all do throughout our days.

Have a great week,
Elder Jason Schauers.

Killing Chickens

Well it's has been a pretty fun week. One of my favorite things about being on a mission, is being able to have so many different experiences. I'll talk more about that in my letter later ha-ha.

Tuesday: we taught a lesson to Cece, I can't really remember what about though ha-ha, so I'll move on. Later, we went to the DeCents, and cut wood for a few hours and had dinner.

Wednesday: we had lunch with Sister Piecek, and then got haircuts. After we went to the library and went to a meeting called virtues club. It's a place where a bunch of super weird people come, and talk about being more virtuous and how they can apply a specific virtue to their life. They try to fix all the world problems, it's pretty entertaining, but dumb at the same time. They really like us coming though.

Thursday: We went to Crosby, talked with Sister Schultz about president Uctdorf talk, and then entertained her daughter for a bit. Then met with Kyle, he is a crazy less active. Like he will say the worst things, knowing we are missionaries, at least he comes to church every once in a while. We had Dinner with the Rono's. Then we met with Tammy, and we went over the Commandments, and the word of wisdom, she committed to live it.

Friday: after weekly planning, we went over to Stan’s house, and helped him clean up his garage because he does a lot of wood work in it. Then we met with Cece again, and tried to set a new baptismal date, because hers has passed. She said she wants to think about the new day. Then that night, we stopped by Penny house, and it was really good, cuz she has had a bad week, so we were able to give her a blessing. 

Saturday: so the highlight of the week, was sister Piecek got four chickens for free. And we told her we will come by and help her take care of them. So it was elder Wilson and my first time killing and plucking chickens, and it was pretty entertaining.  It we now have a lot of respect for the meet that we eat, because of all the work that goes into preparing it. We stopped by John and Char, because we haven't been able to meet for over a month. So we met with them, and they said we are still interested, and said they will come to church. Then we went to Sister Scheller, and talked about the restoration, and it went really well. It's sad, cuz she knows what we are saying is true, and she knows the church is true, but won't continue to go to church every week. Next we met with Rusty. He still hasn't read the Book of Mormon, but says he will, but he is such a cool guy, and like has a lot of potential.

Sunday: I had to give a talk in church. It was my first time writing my talk on my own, and then it had to be 20 minutes long.  I talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and it turned out pretty good. I was able to learn a lot from writing this talk. So we had about seven people who said they would come to church, and two of them showed up. So we were kind of happy about that. Since so many people don't keep commitments. It was Tammy and sister Piecek. After church we met with Cece, and she set her date for December 10, so hopefully this one will work out.

A quote I found this week that I like, that applies to enduring to the end from President Howard W. Hunter says, “We will not be tempted beyond our ability to withstand. Our detours and disappointments are the straight and narrow path to him." 

I like this because it talks about our trials that we have are not something that we can't overcome. We have the strength to do it. 

Well I love and miss all of you, I hope you have a good week.

55 Lessons in One Week as a District

Hey everyone, this was a super productive week. We definitely saw a lot of miracles and were able to talk to people that we normally never get in contact with.

Monday- We were in Grand Rapids playing sports all day, once we got back we put a light bulb in for Penny who is blind.

Tuesday- We helped cut and stack wood for a member in the branch, and the visited Ron and Lisa. Lisa has recently found out she has a tumor in her brain which is effecting her sight. They are both members of the branch. Since they found out about the tumor, every doctor visit since has had good news saying that it's not a severe as they thought. Still very scary, but the power of prayer is real.

Wednesday- The zone leaders came and went on exchanges with us. We first had lunch with sister piecek, which she made me a birthday cake, which was very nice of her. After Elder Coon and I left to go to Crosby, we first helped Melanie in her thrift shop move stuff, and then taught a lesson about gaining a testimony about the Book of Mormon. Next we met a man named Brett, he has been taught before, but is willing to discuss more about the church. He kind of has some weird deep questions, that don't have any real significance. Next met with sister Scheller, we had a good lesson, the goal was to talk about president Uctdorf talk from this past general conference, but she likes to bounce around during the lesson. After dinner, we went to and investigators house named Tammy. We taught the gospel of Jesus Christ, and invited her to be baptized, she said yes, and is planning on November 19. After we went to a potential investigator named Darcy. They let us in, and after talking for a while, a man came out of the other room, who I didn't recognize. We asked if we could teach a lesson. So we taught the gospel of Jesus Christ, and it went well. Once we were leaving the man I didn't know came out side with us. And his name is Colton, and he said he would like to learn more, and is searching for the true church.

Thursday- We met with Cece, but we had to cut the lesson short since she had some family issues pop up. Next we met with Arlene, who doesn't want there to be a life after this, cuz she says it will be too much work, and she enjoys life here too much. So that was interesting, we helped her move stuff, and then left. Next we went to Jean, who is a lady we met while tracting. We taught her the restoration, she says she doesn't want to change religions, but wants to come closer to Heavenly Father. So she likes us coming and teaching. We later had dinner with Penny.

Friday- we went to Sister Morris home, and a less active family was there. They asked if would like to stay for dinner, so we gladly accepted. We taught them about president Uctdorf talk.

Saturday- I was asked to prepare a talk for church in case the high council man didn't show up. Elder Wilson got a call from the assistance saying he was being emergency transferred to a new area speaking Karen (yes I spelt it right, and yes our mission will ask you to learn a language) He got really sad, but five minutes later he got a call saying they were just messing with him. Later we met with Rusty, he said he hasn't read any of the Book of Mormon, but said he will this week, cuz he life gets back to normal now. Then we had a fall festival for the branch, and only 10 people showed up.

Sunday- I didn't have to give a talk. Elder Wilson did, and then I am talking next week. After church, we went and met with Cece sister named Kiela and her daughter, and taught a lesson. Next we met with a lady named Desire, she said she is super busy, but is going to come to church on Sunday with her mom. She wants to find a church to take her family too. Later, we met with a less active named Josh, and his wife's name is Karma, they are super nice, and we would love for them to come back to church. He struggles with coming, cuz the branch is all related, and because of that it has created drama in the past. He is super cool, and he said he would think about bringing his kids to church.

This was a super good week, in total we taught 10 other lessons 4 less active lessons, got 2 new investigators, and one super solid potential. Heavenly Father is definitely preparing people to receive the gospel, we just hope we can bring them all the way to the waters of baptism and activity in the church.

Elder Jason Schauers

P.S. Played another game of Monopoly and won. My record is 5/6.

Birthday Dinner at Sister Piecek

Less Active Branch Mission Leader

Hey everyone, 

It was a pretty good week. I'm not sure if I have told you this yet. But our branch mission leader is less active. Just something that is funny. Also our new second councilor is also less active. We will see if he becomes active from this new calling. Kind of funny how small branches work.

Monday- We went and hit golf balls at the range, which was very fun since it was the first time in about three months I've hit a golf ball. Later we mowed pennies lawn and did other things for her around the house.

Tuesday- We got the flu shot. Then we taught Cece. We read to her the talk from president Monson from the priesthood session about the word of wisdom. She liked it a lot. She has smoked less so that is good. We will continue to help her quit smoking. When we were leaving she yelled to us saying, “hey you guys stay young cuz health problems sucks." So I responded, “Hey love the word of wisdom and then they will go away". She just stared at me shaking her finger ha-ha. She is pretty funny.

Wednesday- The Grand Rapid elders came to Aitkin cuz one of them had a birthday and wanted a Sister Piecek cake ha-ha. She makes everyone cakes and loves to feed us. It makes her day. After we eat we mowed and lawn and prepared her garden for winter. While mowing small snowflakes started snowing. It was pretty cool. After, we went to President Franz house and helped them pack their home. We kind of had to restrain ourselves from pulling stuff out of the trailer because we didn't want them to leave. We also played monopoly and I won again. I'm 4/5 right now.

Thursday- We went to Crosby and were able to get in contact with a potential investigator that we have knocked on his door twice a week since I've gotten here. And he was finally home. We also met with a less active who would probably come to church more if she didn't have work on Sundays. We meet with her like every other week. Then for dinner we went to the Ronos. She gave me my birthday packages that my mom and Megan sent. She told me to open Megan's up and once I did, the package was ripped up. They said the mail man didn't put the package in the package spot, so their giant don't ripped it open and eat all my beef jerky. But Sister Rono nicely replaced it. After we met with Kyle and showed him the patterns of light video about receiving prompting from the Holy Ghost and recognizing who it was from.

Friday- My birthday. It was actually pretty good, I had low expectations for mission birthday, so I think that helped make it better. After weekly planning, we went to DQ for lunch, and got a five dollar lunch which comes with an ice cream Sunday. And then they accidentally made another ice cream Sunday. So they gave us another one for free. It was pretty great. For dinner we went to the Crowther’s and had a good lesson with them. The husband is the second councilor, and he is also less active, so we technically got a less active lesson. After dinner we drove to Grand Rapids to carpool to Duluth for stake conference and zone interviews with the president.

Saturday- We had a district meetings and during the meeting, we would get pulled out to have an interview with president. Nothing too exciting. But that night we went to the adult session of stake conference. They asked us to sing in a missionary choir. It sounds really good. It was really cool, cuz we kind of had a stacked line up of speakers President and Sister Forbes (my mission president), President and Sister smith (temple president), and A General Authority came. He is a 70 from Canada named James E. Evenson. He gave a great talk, and he is an awesome guy. He talked about all the talks from general conference, it was super cool how knowledgeable about the scriptures he was. That night, we all split up and worked in Duluth. Elder Harper and I went and visited a less active who I have met the last time I was in Duluth. We talked about the importance of setting goals and not making excuses to not achieve them. It went well.

Sunday- We attended stake conference and it was really good. After, we got a ride back to Grand Rapids, and we had dinner with the GR missionary’s mission leader. And played three flags up with the little kids. We met a family who is a mix of less active and non-member. Showed them the video about forgiving others. They accepted it very well.

Well it was a pretty crazy eventful week this week. The gospel is true. We had a person come up to us this week and ask if we are Mormons. He seemed nice at first, but then he asked us if we studied the Book of Mormon and its history. He then said, if we truest studied, we would know that it is all false, and that we have been fooled. We didn't say anything to him, but I was thinking later about how a man who goes around trying to tell other they are wrong, must not have much joy in his life. The gospel brings true joy, that I'm very grateful to be able to be a part of. I have two questions for people who try to bash the Book of Mormon. 1) Have you read it? 2) Have you prayed with a sincere heart to know if it is true? If you have done these two simple things, you cannot come and tell anyone that it is not the truest book on the earth today. The Book of Mormon is true, and I invite all who reads this to read and pray to know if it is true. Even if you already have, you will get the reassurance answer that it is true. No young man who has a 3rd grader education could have made it up. It's not possible. It's is true, and I'm grateful for it.

Have a great week.

Elder Schauers

Happy 19th Birthday Elder Schauers

Dog gone it ... dog ate my jerky!!!

Helping pack up Pres. and Sister Franz.

My Mom sent these little guys in my birthday box - thought i'd put them to work.

Catholic Mass

Hey everyone, this week was pretty good. It wasn't as exciting as the weeks before, but that's ok. The weather is starting to change her. We are starting to wake up to frost in the mornings. And I still haven't been able to find a winter coat, because Minnesotans don’t display coats until it starts snowing pretty much. So hopefully I can find one soon. 

Monday: We went and mowed lawns and then service tracting. We found out that people are just as mean to us when we offer to do service, as when we are trying to spread the gospel. It's interesting to learn people don't want free service. But we are going to try again.

Tuesday: Everyone in the district came to Aitkin for district P-day. We eat lunch at sister Piecek with everyone and then played basketball and football. We also played to games of monopoly and I won both.

Wednesday: Ee went to Brainerd to go winter cloths shopping, but didn't have any luck. Once we got back, we went and had a lesson with Cece. We read Alma 48:7-11. It talks captain Moroni commanding his armies to build fortifications around the cities to help protect it from the lamanites. We then related building fortifications to putting up barriers to help quit smoking. We talked about alternatives to what she can do to get her mind off it, and what to do when she is tempted to smoke. She said she just needs to find the will power to quit. We invited her to pray for the strength, and we have been praying for her also.

Thursday: We went to Crosby. We first met with Sister Schultz and daughter the gospel of Jesus Christ. Then went and met with a man named Jerome. He is pretty weird. He has many word of wisdom issues. Then he randomly decided to give me a hug, I don't think I have ever felt that uncomfortable in my life. But some people are here to teach us patience. After we met with Kyle and showed him the restoration video. He struggles with it a little. Last we met with Sister Schaller we read the President Monson’s talk to her about the words of wisdom, that he gave in the priesthood session. She really liked it, and said it is giving her more motivation to be freed from the bonds of addiction. 

Friday: We met with Sister Morris and discussed Elder Bednar’s talk about the four steps to coming closer to Christ. She really liked it. It was a good lesson for an active member family to hear.

Saturday: We went back to Sister Morris farm and helped her son cut wood. Then they started herding cows, so that was pretty entertaining to watch. After we headed over to teach John and Char but they called and cancelled. So we went back and finished cutting wood. Then they took us to DQ which was great. So we went back and showered. Sister Piecek invited us to go to catholic Mass with her. So we went, and all I can say is I'm very grateful for the restored gospel of Jesus Christ that we get to enjoy every day. The Deacon told everyone one that he won some alcohol in a competition and everyone just laughed. #theyneedthewordofwisdom

Sunday: Church was great, sister Piecek was the first non-member that I have invited to come to church that actually came. But even better was two less actives Kyle and sister Shultz came too. So we have three people come that normally wouldn't have. Also President Franz our branch president got released due to him and his wife are leaving on a mission to Germany soon. I'm sad to see them go, they were my favorite family in the branch. Our new branch president is President Halfner. He was the second counselor. Later we went to Crosby and met with Rusty. He said he lost his Book of Mormon, but he said he looked stuff up on the internet. At first I was worried he might have got into some anti stuff, but he found a semi good website that talked about questions and answers about our church. He has a lot of the same views we do about religion. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he said the closing prayer. He prayed exactly like the member of the church would have. It was super cool, all we have to do is convince him to stop drinking alcohol ha-ha, easier said than done. Next we went to Tammy house. We played chess with her sons, and then showed her and another man named Lawrence the restoration video. They received it very well.

Well that was my week, I'm grateful for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, it is the true church. Having the experience of going to another church just clarifies that to me even more. We aren't a church that is one day a week, we must live the gospel everyday of our lives.

I hope you all have a good week!

Duluth Zone

GENERAL CONFERENCE WEEK

The week was a really good week.  Our district goal was to pass out 14 Book of Mormons.  And at the time, we only had two left.  I started to get curious about what we have in the apartment, and I ended up finding seven more.  So that was definitely a blessing.  Elder Wilson and I passed out 6 Book of Mormons which we are very happy with.  Cuz our District Leader kind of gave us our goal.  And he said two.  So we beat the little goal that he gave us.  Also a funny note, when I came on my missioned I weighted 167, now I weigh 176.  Iv'e gained 9 pounds.  So I guess I'm going to have to stop eating seconds/thirds and start working out more in the morning.  HAHA

Tuesday: We met with an investigator named Patrick. He believe the Book of Mormon is true, and that Joseph smith is a prophet. But he doesn't believe that just one church is true. So when we meet with him, he just asks us questions that have no eternal significance at all. Somehow he found out about baptisms for the dead, and he firmly doesn't believe they are necessary. We always have some very unique lessons with him. Next we drove to Crosby and went to a less active sister in the branch named Sister Scheller, she has many word of wisdom issues but is a sweet old lady. I noticed the whole time that she was kind of making excuses for why she doesn't want to quit smoking and drinking. Her main reason is, she doesn't want to become like Heavenly Father. She believes it would be too hard. Then she said that she can't go to church every week because it's too far and has cost too much, also she only gets a social security check every month. I said to her as boldly as the spirit told me to, “don't look at the temporal challenges that are put in the way to make it difficult to come to church. Look at the eternal blessings that we receive from going to church. I testified that no worldly road block is too much of a sacrifice to go to church." The spirit testified the trust of what I said, and she started to cry a little, and then said, “Ok, I'll make the sacrifice". - This was the most spiritual experience I have had since coming on my mission.

Wednesday: Elder Wilson and I after having lunch and teaching a lesson to Sister Piecek. We went to family dollar and found a sweet deal for a good but cheap basketball and football. So that has made exercise time for fun. We met with a lady named Arlene and her fiancé Dennis. Arlene was trying to make us feel bad cuz we serve missions, instead of serving in the military. And say many other things that were stereotypical about us and other religions. Dennis was standing up for us because he has worked with members of the church and understand what we are about. Arlene is nice but just has some crazy thoughts, so we helped them move couches and then left cuz we didn't want to deal with her any more. 

Thursday: our morning started with playing Yahtzee with the old folks home. I enjoy doing that cuz these old people are super funny. Missionaries have been doing this for at least 10 years. We then met with Cece, once we got there she said oh you didn't get my text, I cancelled. But we then talked to her for about 15 minutes, and found out that her father is in the hospital and isn't doing well, we taught part of the plan of salvation, and it was good cuz it soften her heart a little bit. Miracle that we didn't get her text. Later we met with Tammy and once we got there, an old investigator that dropped us was there and another non-member. We helped the cook, and the showed them a video call our eternal life, and then gave one non-member a Book of Mormon. It was a miracle that other people were there so we could teach all of them. Next we went to Kyle’s house. And he is a giant less active man. He is nice to us and likes to meet with us, but is pretty rough. We showed him the same video about our eternal life, and he ended up opening up to us and said that he still believes the church is true. He also gave the closing prayer. That was a miracle. Last, we were driving home when we realized we needed milk, so we walk into a store and a young employee starts talking to us. He is 17 and wants to learn more about our church so we gave him a Book of Mormon, a pamphlet, and a card with our number on it. Hopefully we get a call from him. That was also a miracle.

Friday: during exercise time we went to the football field. I'm proud to say I kicked a 35 yard field goal ha-ha. Later, we met with two old catholic ladies and talked with them. We had to leave, but we gave them both Book of Mormons. They are nice people, hopefully we can make them another Sister Peicek, ha-ha just kidding. Later we met a guy named Eric who was atheist, he was nice and he said he would take us out to lunch. 

Saturday: we watched the morning session of Conference at Sister Rono home, her non member husband came in a watched for a bit. So that was cool, next we went to the Decents’ home and helped cut wood between sessions. We then watched the afternoon session with Tyler their 13 year old son who acts way more mature than 13.  We watched priesthood at the church

Sunday: we watched conference all day at the Youngquist’s, and they fed us a ton of food. Later that day we had a lesson with Penny and Andrew who are members, it was good.

Conference was great, it goes by a lot faster and is a lot more enjoyable on a mission.  I noticed a few things, first was how every subject that they talk about is so simple. The church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is a simple church, to live with heavenly Father all you have to do is follow the doctrine of Christ. I noticed most of the topics were the lessons from preach my gospel. Restoration, plan of salvation, doctrine of Christ, and commandment. When president Monson talked in the priesthood session, at the beginning I couldn't understand him, he seemed weak, frail, tired, but joyful. Half way through I saw a change in his countenance, he gained strength, he spoke clearly, and spoke with power and authority. I can testify that he is a prophet of god, Heavenly Father has called him to be a leader of this church, and has qualified him for the work. Has picked him up, gave him strength, and just like him, we are called to have responsibility in the church. We may feel inadequate, but we will be qualified for the call, cuz we have been chosen by God through revelation to serve in that calling.

"Mom, Dad it's him." I know this is the true church, and I am so grateful we have prophets and apostles on the earth today to lead and guide us. I say these things in the name of thy son Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love, Elder Jason Schauers 

Fall - Aitkin, MN

Deer Acting Like Dogs and Eating Ghost Peppers

Hello everyone,

This past week was really fun and different here in Aitkin. All of our investigator lessons dropped on us, but we mainly focused on doing service for people, so it was ok. The whether is cooling down a bit, the high is 50 today, and it's very windy. Also the leaves are changing colors, so I will be taking a picture of that soon, as the start to hit their peek. 

Tuesday: We had a district meeting, then went to sister Peicek. She knows my birthday is coming up, so she keeps asking me what type of cake I want. So I need to decide soon. That night we went to the Decents who have four kids and are all members. But we pull up, and we see a deer next too their house. Well it turns out, that it is actually a pet now. And you can walk up and pet it. They aren't controlling it from running away, but they do enjoy it's presence. It's name is Buck Buck. 

Wednesday: We had an appointment with a man named Stan. He has had a stroke, so he talks very slow. He a nice guy, but he mainly just wants the company from missionaries. He decided he wanted us to watch him filet some fish he caught the day before. It was random but fun to watch. After we mowed someone's lawn and then went to our branch president house to help him get ready for a move. 

Thursday: We drove to Duluth to go on splits with the zone leaders. Duluth is the city next to Lake Superior on the Minnesota side. I went with elder Larson, and we were able to also go into superior Wisconsin and teach a few people. We had a really good day, and I was able to teach a lot of people. We taught someone who is trying to quit smoking and we read to him Alma 48 7-11. Which talks about how Moroni prepared to go to battle by building fortifications or towers and walls to defend against the lamanites. It was cool, cuz we related the lamanites to cigarettes and the fortifications to the barriers that we can put up against smoking. We gave him a packet with a bunch of quotes, facts, pictures, and other things. That he can cut out and put up around his apartment to remind him to not smoke. We also talked about how when you get the feeling to smoke, go and do the things that get your mind off of it. And we made a list of activities he can do.

Friday: We had zone conference. It was fun to be able to meet people in the zone and listen to the mission leaders. A quote that president Forbes said, but he didn't make it up. Was "Guilt is pain for the soul" which I thought was very interesting about how we can have physical pain, but also spiritual pain. Later that day, we had a zone pday where we went to a place called Adventure Zone, which we played mini golf, laser tag, batting cages, and arcade games. It was fun to be able to relax. We drove back to Aitkin that night, and got home around 11:30. 

Saturday: John and Char cancelled on us, while we were driving to Crosby, but we had a good day planned out so it didn't affect us. We first met with rusty, and he said he hast been able to read the Book of Mormon, but he will this week, cuz he doesn't have to work. We had a good conversation about why we had trials. Then we went to sister Shultz who is very less active, but likes to meet with us. She owns, lives in a thrift shop, and is pretty crazy. But she listened to us about how we need to pray to have spiritual experiences in our lives. She also gave us a basketball, so we are happy about that. For dinner we went to the Decents’ again, but this time they all started telling us that we need to eat a ghost pepper. So the Ghost Pepper a few years ago was the hottest pepper in the world, now it's either second or third. So we gave in and both eat one. All I can say is for about 10-15 minutes we were in a crazy amount of pain. But worth it, to say we did it. I'll attach a video.

Sunday: Church was very good, during Elders quorum we talked about refuges and the talk that was given about them in this last conference called "Refuge From the Storm". They talked about how we need to have sympathy for them and try to help. Someone said that this transition from going from Syria to Minnesota or from hot climate to cold climate would have been extremely difficult. Then they all looked at me and started laughing, cuz that's what I'm doing ha-ha. After church Sammy one of our investigators got baptized, with one of the Decents’ girls. It was awesome to be able to see them get baptized, and be the witnesses for it. Also we shared the children's bible videos about baptism, which is really funny, cuz its little kids talking about the meaning and importance of being baptized. It was a really nice baptism.

Quote of the week: Cynics do not contribute, skeptics do not create, doubters do not achieve. President Hinckley Father

I like this quote because too many people put others down in the world, if you have a dream, you’re the only person that has the ability to either achieve it or not. Cynics, skeptics, and doubters don't contribute any good with their opinions. I ask you next time before you voice your opinion on a matter, ask yourself if I'm lifting others, or just putting them down.

I love and miss you all,
Elder Jason Schauers 

Here is Elder Schauers and Elder Wilson eating the Ghost Chili Peppers.

I received this pics from Sister Jantz  - the branch presidents wife. 

They are packing iup and heading to a mission of their own to Germany for 18 months.  They will be greatly missed.  Jason grew to love them very quickly.