IDAHO IS AMAZING!

AMAZING!

Below is Elder Andrew Schwartz's first email home from the field.  Here is his address for packages and letters:

Elder Andrew Schwartz

576 B Pheasant Ridge 

Chubbuck, ID 83202

His email address: andrew.schwartz@myldsmail.net

He'd love to hear from all of you.

Hey Family!

 

Welp, First thing I wanna say:  IDAHO IS AMAZING!  I never thought I would ever say that in my life.  I love it here.  Pretty much everyone knows who the missionaries are, and are familiar with the LDS church.  The members are fantastic.  We get fed dinner everyday and everytime we go out to eat, it's paid for.  It's awesome!  So yes, I am in a trio of missionaries.  How cool is that?!?  Instead of just one trainer, I get two!  It's such a blessing!  Their names are Elder Aiono and Elder Cappelen and they are fantastic trainers!  Elder Aiono is from Long Beach, CA, and Elder Cappelen is from Milwaukee, WI. They are hilarious and at the same time they work really hard.  I'm so lucky to have them as my trainers.

With Elders Cappelen and Aiono

 

So, this first week in the field has been great! I left the MTC on a bus with other missionaries who are both waiting for visas, and some assigned to Pocatello. It took us a few hours and we arrived at the mission home to meet the mission president, his wife, and the rest of the presidency. President Brinkerhoff is my mission president and he is a very spiritual man and an overall great guy! I love him already!  We spent the day doing some orientation and that night we found out who our companions were.  Since I am serving in the town right next to Pocatello, my trainers came that night and we moved my stuff in the apartment. I got to know my trainers, and we hit it off instantly.

 

With President and Sister Brinkerhoff

A lot has happened in the past week.  We spent most of our time helping me get to know the members, the area, and our investigators.  My first day at work we took one of our investigators, Jeff, on a tour of the church, and I got to know him a little bit. He is an older man that Elder Aiono and Cappelen have been teaching and he has been progressing really well since I got here.  Another guy that we have been working with recently is a less-active single guy named Andy who sent you guys the picture of us at Ruby Tuesday's.  He is really inspirational and spiritual I wouldn't have guessed that he was less active, if my trainers hadn't told me.  He has a lot of great insights about life, but it saddens me that he has so much potential that he is not using by not participating in the gospel.  He is really friendly to us, and loves missionary work.  Next time we see him, we plan on asking him about his lack of participation, and figure out how to better help him come unto Christ. 

With Andy and conpanions out at dinner

 

Every day we have had dinner with a family, and shared a message with them to help get them pumped about missionary work.  The work in this mission is really focused on member help and getting referrals.  The members are so fun to work with and they are all super nice!  I invite all who are reading this to help out the missionaries AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE!  Whether it be giving them referrals, feeding them dinner, teaching with them, or just a simply chatting with them; do it because as a missionary; I know how much it helps.

 

It has been great to hear that everything is going well with everyone. I'm glad that my brother in Chile is loving his district and that my brother in the AmeriCorp is tearin' it up on the east coast. Keep me updated with everything because I would love to hear from everyone!

 

I love you all!

 

Elder Schwartz