Wow...Busy Week!

Hi Everyone, 

    This week was good and it went by really fast. sounds like yalls week was great. im glad alyvias birthday party turned out well, i forgot it was her birthday, cause on that calender you sen tme last year it had all the birthdays and everything so if you could send me out another calsender, that would be fantastic. Give alyvia a hug for me. and thats a good thing dad took a day off to hang out with grandma and grandpa. tell them hi for me too. i miss them.

   so this week we met a ton of the less actives, got stuck in the rain. again, esplin called me at 1 in the morning, deep cleaned a peanut butter factory, got yelled at by and old man that called the sheriff on us, met a new family we're teaching now, taught Anthony and his whole family, met a lady that traced her family history back to Adam, 5 different ways. it was a pretty good week. 

   A family in the ward told us about their friends and about the son doing scouts so we went and stopped by to meet them and they are really nice. i guess the mom had come to church a couple time a year ago and the son Sterling wants to get his eagle scout so me and elder ward are going over to Sterling's twice a week after school and helping him with scouts. He came with us to scouts on wednesday and he said he liked it a lot so im excited for that. while we were looking for their house (the adams house) we walked up to a guy to ask him if he knew where a street was and this was a guy that threatned to call the sheriff on us. he freaked out on us. i jsut started laughing while he was freaking out but it was funny i thought. then later that afternoon we got stuck out in the rain on our bikes again so we found the bridge we sit under while it rains haha.

   So the story about Esplin, He called me at 1 in the morning (12 his time) to tell me he got his first kiss. He had never kissed a girl adn i told him that when he got his first kiss that he needs to call me so he did haha. He was as excited as a fat kid in a candy store.  He is doing well back home and working lots it sounds like. On wednesday we got to go to the church's peanut butter factory, i guess its the only peanut butter factory the church owns and its right next to our mission office but we got to go and deep clean everything in it. i was on the steam pressure washer washing everything.   so with Anthony, we taught him this week with a recent convert in the ward (Kardaryl) and so both of them are black so we both thought it would be a good idea to take kardaryl with us. the lesson went alright. Kardaryl was so excited to teach with us and so he was jsut talking away about everything haha. i wasnt even upset cause anthony was getting it all, Kardayl was speaking his language or something.  But we went over again on saturday night just to say hi and met the rest of his family. He has 3 boys and his fiance is living with him and when we stopped by saturday night Anthony wasnt home but his fiance Lola was. Lola said that Anthony really enjoyed us coming over and we had planned to go over tuesday afternoon but Lola wanted to be there so we're planning Tuesday night teaching the whole family. the ward is doing good and im enjoying them. they sure keep us fed haha 

    well everything is going great, we have a few meetings this week but all is well. Our fast and testimony meeting was interesting yesterday haha glad to hear yours was good. all is well here. hope yall have a good week this week. love you all. 

elder brian schofield

Another good week in Texas...

Hello Family, 

       It was another good week in Texas. So you know how our area is doing some new pilote program thing that President Pingree has come up with? well yesterday during sacarament meeting and the 3rd hour Ward and i talked about it and explained what we were trying to do. during sacrament meeting we just bore our testimony and told them about ourselves but hten in the combined third hour we explained the pilote program and what it really is. It all went great and i think the ward is catching on to it a bit. nothing really has changed but our focus from finding to bringing back less actives but still finding through them. ya know what im talking about?! haha So this past week Ward and i vistited a ton of members and less actives and one Wenesday we were in the "ghetto" of our area, (and its not really ghetto, the whole area is nice) we were contacting less actives and aton lived in this apartment complex but we see this guy taking out his trash so we go and talk to him and we ended up talking with him outside for an hour but we have planned to go back to his apartment this week. so we had dinner with the releif society president on saturday and we told them this story and she was like supper excited haha i guess this ward has never really seen missionarys teach investigators or anything but after yesterday the ward is really into it now. Remember the Lopez family? we are seeing them this week too. we also found some cool bike trails along the bayous here. all the dirt that they moved from making the bayous, they put on the sides and people have made mountain bike trails on them, and they are pretty legit. it reminds me of the trail curt, landon and i rode the monday before i left. haha remind landon of that crash he had haha 2 20 year old guys mountain biking in dress pants, white shrit and tie. Oh so we did something that i never ever thought id be able to do. i mowed a lawn in January. and the grass was green and i got sunburnt a little.... in JANUARY!! haha. we were just doing service for a guy in the ward and mowing his lawn in on our to do list so everyweek we mow his lawn. i still have the touch to mowing lawns haha ;) that reminds me, how is agnes wilson and lilian stahlecker doing? is dad still mowing their lawns and helping them out? 

       Esplin called me on friday and we talked for a bit. he was at the grocery store with his mother while we were talking. i laughed at him, but he is coming back to texas in march sometime to go to that month long houston rodeo. 

   so i have something to talk to you about mom and  dad. let me know what you think. so last night at dinner we ate with an awesome new family in the ward and they are about 30 and have 4 little daughters. all the ages of my nieces and nephews but im getting off topic haha okay so when he was newly off his mission he started doing vending machines and gumball machines. so this is what i want to do becasue i have like 4 months in between me getting home and going to college so i was thinking about getting like 5 or 20 gumball machines and putting them around buhl and twin and then jsut managing them. he said they make lots of money. jsut a though id let you know about. ill be the candy man ;)
    well its been a good week here and things are starting to roll along. tell the moyes family hi, glad you got in touch with them. tell everyone hi and i hope eveything goes well when your office starts getting patients. well we be fixin' to take off. love yall

your son,

elder brian glenn schofield

Zone Conference Dinner with Elder Choi and his Wife

 Pictures from the Texas Houston Mission Blog

 Where's Waldo in each of these pictures? 

  Looks like they are busy and doing well!

Things Are Really Heating Up Down Here!

Hey Family

so we had a good labor day yesterday, we still had our regular pday but everywhere to email was closed so we are doing that today. so we went to the sinclairs for pday yesterday and sis sinclair will probably email you the pictures.

 on sunday Scott and Nessa and their kids came to church and stayed for all three hours. i was way excited to see them and they were happy they were there.  we are meeting with them again tonight to finish our lesson from last week. they are still doing great and moving along. We’ve gotten like 4 referrals this past week from different members and so we are staying really really busy with covering both wards.

 president Pingree came and talked to me again in our training this morning and said its still all good for amy and brady to come and take us out to eat. so just have amy and brady email me their plans and when they think they can take us out, just so we can plan for it. it really wont be a distraction either. when i saw him that one night with chad and also bill and diane, after we left, i felt like it was a motivation and i felt really good. im excited to see them.

 so the the fires here are making the sky really smokey. i guess the major ones are in san antonio but there are fires not to far from where we are and its been sooo dry, everything is just going to light up and burn. Last night, after we got in for the night, we moved our couch on the patio and jsut sat out there for a little bit because its been so nice here lately. is been 92 past couple of days and when we wake up to go run, it feels so nice. i guess this summer has been the hottest summer on record and the average temp was 102 so i can say i survived texas' worst summer.

well i hope all is well back home. everything is going great in conroe and in the mission. im loving it and mom, i really am happy. thanks for everything. have fun back at school mom and dad.  And dad, i hope you like the new school you’re working at, im sure you will but just so you know, I’ll never wear Filer red :)  !

 have a great day. love ya'll

elder brian glenn schofield 

Helping People Find the True Church

thanks for sending Julie and Garrett an emial. julie texted us telling me that she had gotten an emial from my mother and father haha ;) thanks.  after i confirmed Julie in sacrament meeting, she turned and gave me another big hug infront of everyone and i guess from what a couple of members said, i got pretty red in the face but i was smiling :):), it was an awesome expereince for them, especially for her.  she she was so happy after that. definitely stay in touch with her and garrett cause i sure will.  we are going to lunch at garretts school tomorrow. i guess he is getting bullied pretty bad but we will go to lunch with him. Sis Sinclair loved your email you sent her yesterday. she texted us when she got it yesterday haha.

     so last monday night we had a wild pig barbq and we were expecting that to finish out the night but we get a call from someone in the ward and they are like "we have our friends over and started talking about the book of mormon and they want to be taught tonite" so we are like okay we will be over in like 30 minutes so we go and teach them and then again on thursday.  Their names are scott and nessa maddox. i asked scott on Thursday what it means to him to know that Joseph Smith restored this church for us today through the power of God and he says "well it means that i actually have a shot this time to find the true church for me and my wife." it was pretty cool and we are seeing them again this week. so last night when we got back from college station, we went to the Candy Cane Park and every night there are lots of black kids playing ball. we have been to play with them a couple of times and they know us pretty good but last night we show up with our missionary attire and just sit and watch them. we are trying to teach a guy name Andrew that writes childrens books and poems hahah and then we met a way awesome Jamaican named Donavan, i thought he was like 22 but he said he has 3 boys that are 17, 16, and 12, he is actually 40 but i told him i had a friend that is a missionary in Jamaica right now. Who knows, we might end up teaching them. well all is well here. i might be meeting up with brady and amy. Pres. Pingree came and told me that brady had emialed him and he said it would be okay for them to take me and espling out to dinner. OOHHH YEAHHHHHH. well everyone, take it easy, whereever you are. have a great week.

love y'all haha yup, im getting the texan "yall" down haha bye

Love,

elder brian glenn schofield

Elder Holland

so yup, Elder Holland came and talked to us. Me and Esplin sat right by the door that he walked in so we were way close and then we all got to shake his hand. his and Gifford Nielson, the quarterback Giff. haha But Elder Hollands’s talk was so legit and awesome. He would be laughing and joking with us and then just like that he would be  yelling at us but in a spiritual way haha. one thing that he said was "well your adults and we expect you to act like adults so here is some grown-up doctrine, Every road to Salvation leads to Gethsemane" meaning everything we do on our mission with those we teach and work with isn’t going to be easy like we want it to be. his talk to us was legit and esplin recorded it on his ipod so we can hear it again.

A Special Letter From Julie

August 29, 2011

HEY There Kathy and Lani!!! WOW! What a wonderful surprise it was to see a note in my inbox from you.  Perhaps a better introduction is in order.  I'm Julie  and my son is James .  We have had the honor and privilege of meeting and visiting and learning from your son.  What an outstanding young man!  My son has been so inspired by both your son and the other Elders we have met.  We're originally from Louisiana and moved here to the Conroe area 2 years ago while my older sister was going through chemo.  After she passed away last year, we needed to move on and get our own thing going.  Fortunately, I met this "crazy" old man (although he's not as crazy as he would like people to think) who is heavy into food storage and he talked me into working at the cannery down in north Houston so we could buy some home food storage items.  Couple that with the brief discussion I had with a very good and longtime family friend about her faith and I was super interested.  I researched, I dug, I investigated, I asked questions, I didn't think there was a place for me.  Everywhere I looked, there was something that didn't feel right as far as a church home went.  So, while I was at the cannery, I asked a few questions and they got my phone number and I figured.. yeah... well.... I'll probably never hear from them.  WRONG!  Sure enough, your son called me and introduced himself as one of the missionaries and I agreed to meet with him and his companion, Elder Maughan, at the church.  What a turning point that was for me!  
You should be and VERY proud of your son!  It takes guts to get out there and meet strangers and seek out people like me who don't know where to look and are very skeptical of the whole "religion" thing.  It's great that I love doing research on any given topic so it was important for me to distinguish the facts from the rumors and find out the answers for myself. His answers were backed with scripture (something I was looking for) and his demeanor was kind, patient, and caring.  It wasn't something I expected in the least.  Believe me, I used to see these young men riding their bikes from time to time, wherever I lived, and thought.. That's CRAZY!  How wrong I was.  What I feel now is: How Inspiring! How motivating! How awesome is that!!!
How blessed I am to have met your son.  His courage is admirable!  What a role-model he is for the younger boys!  WOW!  
I cannot gush enough about how he has inspired me.  
As far as my son, he really does look up to them.  I know he has connected with your son, but he has also connected well with your son's companion, Elder Esplin.  He considers them his older brothers.  He said that the other day.  He said: Mom, they're like the big brothers I never had.  When they leave, will we ever hear from them again?"  I told him that they're our brothers forever and they'll always be welcome in our home!
Anyway, they took him fishing once already and asked if they could go have lunch with him at school.  Talk about an ego booster for a kid who has been dealing with some significant and serious bullying at school (and yes, they've only been in school for 1 week).  
Well, I commend you on raising such a fine young man and I wish and pray that his future is blessed with an abundance of all that is good! 
We will talk again sometime soon.  I'm sure of it! 
Many hugs and lots of love back to you!
Julie

You Know Enough

I love this comment from someone who watched this video--I've been doing a lot of soul searching as of late. I don't know that I can ever place faith beyond what I can see and touch. But I will say, I have nothing but absolute respect for the LDS church. What is it to truly be bold in your faith? I think it is more than just standing for what you believe in. I think it is also responding with patience, understanding, and forbearance to others when they seek to tear down your faith. If God spoke once, why not twice? Why not a thousand times?

True Happiness vs Worldly Happiness

so Julie and Garrettt  got baptized last night.  Julie and garrett are awesome. so after the the baptism, i thought about a letter curt wrote me a couple days before i left and he said something about how "nothing is sweeter than bringing someone into the waters of baptism" i read that the first time and thought, nah. i mean it will be cool but winning state and things like that are just awesome and i felt awesome. But after the baptism i re-read that letter and honestly, nothing is sweeter than that. after julie got baptized and we were standing there above the stairs, she turns and gives me a big hug. the rest of the night i felt so good and was so thankful that i had a chance to meet them and help them. Bishop evans gave julie an opportunity to bear her testimony and it was so cool. everyone there, (and there was lots of support) was so happy for her. im soo happy for her and garrett,  just think about someone bigger than all of us and how happy He is for her. she was talking about garretts mission in the future and everything. so one more thing i realized last night, i really havent experienced true Godly happiness until last night  and last week i think. i sure have seen a difference from worldly happiness and yeah i was happy during all my sports and High school stuff but i knew it wouldnt last but last night it was so different. so yeah, yesterday was a special day. 

thanks for everything. i love you all. i hope you got the pictures okay and you will hear from me next week. tell dad hi and for him to get feeling better. love ya'll

elder brian glenn schofield

Fantastic Week!

Hey Family :)

Okay, so why didnt you tell me dad had an accident? cause the week him and grandpa was gone i got a feeling something had happened and then your email after that nothing was said so i was just like, everything went great. so is he okay?? moving around? i hope so. you better take care of him, all of you! ;)

    so this week was awesome. we were able to do a lot of service around our area and also take garrett fishing on saturday morning before service. he loved it, he had never caught a fish before

So guess who is coming our way on friday to talk to us!  Elder Holland is coming to speak to the three missions in Houston friday night :) me and esplin were on our way to an appt and we got a text about it. its going to be legit and then 3 days later, (next monday) Elder Choi of the seventy is talking to us at college station. im so excited. so next monday wont be our pday. its going to be next tuesday. just so ya know and dont freak out cause you dont get an email.

    so everyone here is getting back to school. lots of buses going around. Tell bertrand hi for me!  in their ward they got a new elder, big big somoan and i went fishing with him this morning and he brought his ukalale (the little hawain guitar) and we jammed. thats one thing i have learned since ive been in conroe haha. he sang and i just played away while we fished.  bro martinez's son, diego has been teaching me how to play it and he is only ten. we are actually going out to his house today for a wild pig bar-b-q and its there we do all the fishing. lots of bass there haha. being here in conroe with Esplin is so much fun, i love it. you be sure to tell sis Sinclair that.

     

Real Life from Conroe Texas

Hey Family and Friends,

okay, im glad dad and grandpa got back home safe, i seriously prayed extra for those two this week. who knows what horses can do sometimes,. we actually had to catch some horse this week at a ranch we do service at. yes mom, im a cowboy now ;) jk. im still the same boy ;)

     so this week was so crazy and busy but good. we had to go and try to meet all the 1st wards friends and try to see where they are at. we had to go to this trailer park that they had 4 friends they have been teaching but while were walking around there, we see this mexican yard sale so we go and look and they have their DJ system set up so esplin and i are like " we need to liven this yard sale up" we crank their system up, find a mexican staion and their house is just bumping and people are all coming over and buying stuff. it was so funny. we actually got invited in by their daughter casue she speaks english and got her and her family set up with the spanish elders. that reminds me, a brand new spanish elder is here in conroe and he is from rupert idaho and he wrestles. tell micheal mcdonald and allen compton that Garth Crane lives like 5 minutes from me. they will know him he said.

 so yesterday we had to go to both sacrament meetings and it was long but in the second meeting, the ward im usually in we got a break. after sacramemnt bishop evans gets up and tells everyone to go home cause the bathrooms were all closed in the buildings, but we still taught julie and garrett after that. their baptism is planned next sunday adn 6:15. im going to call chad and taylor and invite them to it. its going to be awesome.  we went and hung out with garrett this saturday. sorry this email is so off the wall, thats kinda how are week went.

elder esplin is awesome. so glad he is here with me in conroe. legit. well all is well here and we're still progressing with the areas. im like 5 pages away from finishing jesus the christ. and im wanting to finish the book of mormon by my year mark. its coming up soon!! thanks for everything family and friends, and yes mom, id love the emails printed off and sent with my tie, i actually need that tie this week.  thanks. tell dad hi and give him a big hug. i miss that guy :) a lot. love you all.

Elder brian glenn schofield

Things Are Really Cookin' in Texas!

im glad dad and grandpa are going on the fifty miler together. as long as there is a schofield father and son duo on the hike haha. i hope they have lots of fun together.

  well this week was crazy. it was really busy and it flew by. first off we got transfer calls and they are combining the two conroe wards so one set of missionaries will be covering it. im the only one staying here and the other 3 are all leaving to different places. My new comp is elder Esplin and i meet him on tuesday. he is way cool. im excited but its going to be way crazy covering these two wards cause they are so big but oh well!

  We were able to meet a couple of new friends this week and teach them. we met a girl named Katie Ellis on tuesday and were able to teach her a couple of times throughout the week.

Julie and Garrett are still doing great. im going to invite chad and taylor to their baptism, its either going to be the 21st or the 20th, still have to figure out the best time but they are excited and doing great.

Elder Burton and i were actually able to see kenneth and amy this week. we biked up to Willis which is like 20 miles just one way and it the day we biked up there it hit 107. but it really wasn’t as bad as your thinking it was. we made some stops and it was all good. we even saw a really really big snake on the road while we were going up there haha

This week was good and all is well here still. its going to be pretty busy this week and with a ton of things to do and lots of people to visit. have dad send me an email when he gets back on saturday. tell everyone hi. i love you all! have a great week and keep praying for me. oh about the tie. can you just send it to the appt address. im staying there for at least another 6 weeks haha so you can just send it there. 

we are going to lake conroe today for pday and playing beach volleyball so that will be awesome. love you all and talk to you soon

Elder Brian Glenn Schofield  

The Work--A Nashville Tribute to The Missionaries

Lani and I were able to see this group perform in Twin Falls on August 5th.  What an amazing group of people!  This is only one of the missionary minded songs from their new CD.  It was a great night...enjoy this one and then buy their CDs!  Their first one was Joseph--A Nashville Tribute to the prophet.  Then they did The Trek--a Nashville Tribute to the Mormon Pioneers.  Good Stuff!  They have quite a story behind their music.  

And The Work Goes On.....

Wild Times and Wild Alligators!

this is your boy elder schofield :) this week was a good one. we did a lot of cool things but than there were a lot of cool experiences. so your camping and travel trip sounds way cool. it reminds me of when you, dad and i went up to sun valley for a couple of nights and went to the hot springs up there. those seriously were the best times and i loved doing that all with you two. but this trip you and dad seems way more legit and we also had a cool outdoors thing. Okay so there is a place called camp stake, a boy scouts camp, and we did service there on wednesday. they have like 4 natural ponds/ lakes in there so for lunch we went out on the dock and sat there and say like 6 alligators swimming around. soooo cool. a couple were right close to us. First time i had seen a wild alligator. so that was cool. :)

   Julie and Garrett are doing awesome. they loved church again yesterday and garrett is loving to come to young mens, he is coming this wednesday. we met with both of them last thursday and gave them a baptisimal date for the 14th of august. they were really exctied about that and willing to pray about it all. Montgomerys ward had a baptism saturday for a kid the same age as garrett and julie and garrett both came to that. they were talking to the montgomerys bishop and telling them how she was going to do the same thing in august.  they are both really solid and im really happy about them. On saturday we were also able to give blood for a kid in the ward that is diaognosed with cancer so we helped out with that and also gave blood. really cool an im glad we did that.

   sorry my emaill is just a bunch of rambling, hope it makes sense haha. so a cool story. on Friday all four of us went up to willis to help soemone move out of a pretty gehtto apartment complex. so we were in our service clothes, just some gym shorts and a shirt and so elder burton, another elder in conroe. we came out together at the same time but he is way cool and i hope i can serve with him some during my mission. se we moved a couch in the uhaul and say some cool cars and so we decided to go and look at them really quick. we take a different route and while we were walking we see a young guy sitting on his porch with his daughter and joe (elder burton) says man he would be awesome in the church. we keep walking for like 5 seconds and then we both look at each other and just turn around. we go up and intro duce ourselves and didn’t say anything about hte church at all. we went up and introduced ourselves as brian and joesph and just talked with him about things. then the church got brought up and we had the coolest lessons with him and his wife. their names are kenneth and amy. Amy asked me "so there are soo many churches out there for me and my family, how can i find out which one we need to go to"? it was soo cool to jsut talk with them and see how everything made sense for them. We were just Brian and Joseph during all of this too. it was soo cool. they have 3 kids. one a little baby, a 14 year old boy and a 13 year old girl. we are meeting with them on tuesday. me and joeseph haha.

 it was really cool and i jsut had fun doing it. yes mom, i am still writing in my journal everyday. i miss a bit a few months ago but since june 1st, its been everyday.

    can you send me my temple tie i sent back a while ago. jsut the tie please. we have the temple on thursday this week and then transfer calls this saturday. me and elder burton are going up to willis on tuesday to visit kenneth and amy :) im excited. all is well here. tell todd hi and good luck! tell camden hey. 

 may go and see the alligators again this wednesday ;)

 I love you all and thanks for everything. thanks for the updates :) have a great week. love you

elder schofield

Gotta Love "Solid" Friends!

Hey family :):)

 so it sounds like everyone and everything back home is still good :) glad to hear. this just popped in my mind, can you send me a couple of pictures of sydney? i was talking about labs and bird dogs yesterday with a member. thanks adn also some rasberries you picked this morning ;)

   so we were able to meet with Julie C. on Wednesday at the church with the relief society president. Okay she is way awesome. the lesson went great and the pamphlet we gave her, she came back to the church for another appt on saturday and she had the whole thing marked up, studied and answered all the additional study questions. she is way awesome. We did set up a church tour for her and her 13 year old son on saturday and the last place we went was in the baptisimal font room. There we taught the restoration to her and her son. it was awesome and they both came to church yesterday and stayed for all 3 hours. we went with Garrett (her boy) to priesthood and we switched the lesson up for him and we talked about scouts. he was like way excited to get involved and everything. it was just a really good day yesterday! we also met a new guy this week, His name is Alex Martinez, just a neighbor of one of our members. He had so many questions about missionary work cause he is 22 years old and had been in the navy but got in a way bad car crash and then he realized he needed religion in his life. he is a cool kat too.

   So all four of us elders got ot have dinner at the Gates, the guy that reminds me exactly of a 40 year old Jake Bartcshi hahah. he is sooo funny and looks just like him.

  so we had a birthday party for maughan on saturday and the sinclairs had us all 4 over for cake on wedensday. We made the cinnamon adn sugar mixture for my bread.

well all is well here, we have interviews with president tomorrow in our apts. so looks like we have to clean before he comes lol. we had a good pioneer day yesterday, last night we went to the new stake center for the fireside and we watched the stake trek they went on last month. it reminded me of when we went, :)

 but i hope you all have a great week. smile lots. thanks for everything, love and miss ya!

elder brian glenn schofield

There Just HAS To Be More....(...there is!)

so guess what happened last night. we got a call from a senior missionary that works at the cannery down by the office and he called us and said a lady had been coming and helping that isnt a member and wants to join and for the missionaries to get over to her house. I called her last night and we talk for about 30 minutes just about how she has been looking and that there just HAS to be more than just the bible. she kept telling me that there was no way Jesus could just do his thing over in Jerusalem and that be the end of it. she seems really really neat and we will be meeting our new friend at the church on wednesday. Her name is Julie. 

this week was a good one and im glad to hear it went well for you all back home. its raining really really hard here today. first time it has for like 3 months. its pretty cool. well have a great day and week. i love you all and ill talk to you soon.
love your son, brother, friend, and uncle haha
Elder Brian Glenn Schofield
oh and now doubt i come from a good stock. i mean im related to the ricks. pure breds haha thanks for everything mom and dad.

We Treed A Possum!

so guess what happened on saturday. we do service at a ranch here and while we were walking to the stalls to go clean them, we see a possum and so we chase it up some tree and me and elder burton, my good ole pal. started to climb the tree. but after like 10 min of throwing a rock, the owner of the ranch came and saw what we were doing so she goes and gets here gun, it was so freaking funny to see a real texan in action, she was sure glad we treeed the possum and set it up so she could kill it. she says they eat like all of their food. that was a crazy experience hahaha and funny at the same time. 

They Are Our Friends!

hey mom and dad and family!
so this week was pretty crazy. on tuesday i got to go on exchanges with the spanish elders. they live just on the other side of the highway but i spent the day with them. i learned that i can understand spanish better than i thought i could. pretty crazy huh. i wouldnt have mind coming to houston spanish speaking. they serve in the same city but it is soooo differnt than our area and where we work. that was a fun day. we met a couple of new friends we are going to start teaching. i decided im not going to call them investigators, they are our friends that are checking out the church or investigating it but they are our friends first. elder maughan and i decided to do a missionary fireside for some less actives and for our friends. it turned out really well for our first time doing it. We are starting to do it once a month so give me some ideas for things we can do to make it a really good fireside. mix it up a little bit ya know.

we got called on thursday and told us that a kid was being baptized on saturday and we had to set it all up and even talk at it. this is how this ward works haha. just a little offf the wall but the baptism went well. i jammed my thumb pretty bad on saturday at baskeball but it is all good tho. im almost done with jesus the christ, i seriously have started to love to read, haah its crazy cause i was never like that. i read jesus the chirst for 30 min every night before i go to bed. its good and im learning a ton!!  

Things Are Good...

    well everything is going good. im really loveing this ward. Bro Bean is the young mens leader and he is the one that wnats to take us to an astros game. he is legit. his whole family is. i play basketball with him and his boys and the spanish missionaries and a couple other guys from the ward every tuesday and thursday morning at like 5 in the am. But all is well here. im loving the book jesus the christ. i am learning sooo much from it, i want to have that read and the book of mormon finished again by my year mark. im almost done with alma and half way done with jesus the chirst. well thanks for everything mom and dad. i love you both so much and the family that we have. things are good with your son. just keep working hard and loving the work right. talk to you soon and tell everyone hi at annas little barbq. oh by the way you need to update the blog with all those pictures you have recieved haha. well this is special agent elder bri schofield signing off now. catch ya on the flipty flop family. love you all.

elder brian glenn schofield

Rice Pudding! Yeah!

Howdy family :)

   this week was really good. everything went well. we were able to meet a couple of new people and they are really cool. the baptism went good this week.

 sounds like you all had a really good week this week. thats good to hear. tell anna happy birthday for me, i sent her an email but she probably won’t respond haha but whatever lol.

    things are getting better with elder maughan trying to be relaxed and not stressing about the little things. we actually got a surprise visit last night from president Pingree, he called us and asked if it was alright if he just came up and talked. so he came and we all just talked like we were chilling, it was sooo cool. he really emphasized just loving the people and doing the best for them. i respect this guy soooo much. he is on our level and talking to him last night reminded me of just talking to dad. he wanted our input on music and the gym. he was really opened with us. we asked him about going to an astros game with the young men sometime. he was really open and chill with us. i respect him and its people like that, who truly love the people who he associates with, i respect them a ton more because of that. He knows what is important on missions and how to make the most of. elder burton and i have been having conversations about this latley too. it just all confirms it all.

    so we did have a double dinner last night, the first one was with the Bonnets and we had the rice pudding. Mom, you have absolutely nothing tooo worry about with me not coming home cause of the cooking here. it wasn’t even in the same category as your rice pudding.  nothing is as close to as my mother’s :):) but i really really appreciated them and what they do for missionaries. they are awesome.  our next dinner was with the Beans, this is the family that reminds me of the Gillins so much. like identical and everything. we helped clean the church on saturday and i told Lofton how much they remind me of the gillins back home. tell camden that lofton is going to add him on facebook. 

New Mission President and Mission Blog!

Saying good-bye to President and Sister Hansen was hard for the missionaries of the Texas Houston Mission.  Brian really learned to love and appreciate President Hansen and his leadership and love of the Gospel.  But the Lord has certainly left them in good hands.  Here are some photos of President and Sister Pingree and their family and  bio from the Church News:

John Cannon Pingree, Jr., 44, and Anne Pugsley Pingree, five children, Texas Houston Mission; Valley View 7th Ward, Salt Lake Valley View Stake. He is a former stake president, high councilor, bishop, elders quorum president, gospel doctrine teacher, seminary teacher and missionary in the Massachusetts Boston Mission. Vice president, Community Benefit, Intermountain Healthcare. Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to John Cannon and Carmen Sweeten Boyden Pingree.
Sister Pingree is a former counselor in a Primary presidency, Primary music leader, Primary teacher, Young Women adviser, Young Women secretary, Cub Scout leader, achievement day leader and missionary in the England Coventry Mission. Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Philip Cannon and Margaret Walton Pugsley.

 What a beautiful family!  Brian has already grown to love this man in the short time they have been in Texas.  They have also started a new Blog site for the Texas Houston Mission.  It is texashoustonmission.blogspot.com   I am sure they are all in for a wonderful experience!

Good Friends from Idaho!

Seeing Bill and Diane was sooooo good. I love them so much and their example. Seeing them just kinda gave me a boost and made me excited about things and where I was at. Painting went well. I’m going to try to get transferred to chad and taylors ward at the end of this transfer. They only life like 15 minutes away from us. I’m also glad the Bonnets called you for that rice pudding recipe haha, they are in the other ward but they are way cool people, He came up to me on Sunday and told me that he had talked you my mother. That made me smile too. we have a baptism tonite so im really excited about that. it will be great. all is well here mom and dad. we get to meet the new mission president tomm. up at college station so that will be good and exciting.

Im so glad to hear everything back home is going good. I hope landons birthday week was good too. thats way cool about brady, tell him congrats form me. and give him a big hug, dont let him get away from not getting a hug haha. 'Ill anwer those questions on a separate email after this one. 

Just so you know, I thought texas would have had a legit 4^th of july celebration, well it wasn’t very good at all. They didn’t have anything as a matter of fact. I missed the good ole buhl sagebrush days, I really really did, our town is legit by the way. Well all is well here. I kinda went on today in my email and didn’t have too much structure but oh well haha  have a great day today, and thanks for everything mom and dad, I love you both so much and im soooo lucky to have the family that I have ;) talk to you soon

Your son,

Elder Brian Glenn Schofield

Happy 4th Of July--Texas Style!

Howdy y'all!

Well this week was good. i don’t really remember a whole lot of it but i know that it was a good one.  A lot of families had early 4th of July barbqs and we went to plenty of those. You know the Ashtons that i was telling you about? They had one on saturday. This family is seriously so legit. i love being around them, They have a boy that is six and two older girls that are like 8 and 10 but their boy Trey loves me. We played pig on a couple of weeks ago and i let him win but we made a bet before the game that whoever lost owes the other one a candybar.  so on Sunday, his family came in a little late so they were in the very back and we were sitting in the front and he walks up to me and is like " do you have my candybar!" haha it was pretty funny and then he sat next to me for the rest of the meeting.

 im loving this ward a ton now. before they just seemed like they didnt care about things but i looked past all that but there are 3 families that i will definitely be in touch with and be coming back to visit. a lot of the ward texted me on tuesday morning wishing me happy birthday before most of them left on trek. its been really really good latley. My companion is still really stressing about things like stats and numbers and its kinda hard. my view on it is truly love the people and things like that will come i guess. But if you show the ward members that you care and that you’re happy to be there, they will get excited about the work too. Being stressed about things won’t help at all. There is ALWAYS something better we can be doing, like different things to do on your mission but if you have a good attitude about what you’re doing with a smile on your face, it will make it that much better and the spirit will be with those you associate with. Elder Maughan was getting frustrated that we were at the Ashtons Barbq on Saturday and I told him that.    So overall it’s all good.

We were able to pass the sacrament on Sunday. That was my first time since my very first week in Rexburg for that summer semester. That was the highlight of the day on Sunday.

Happy Birthday Brian and Bob!

 tell bobby clark hi for me and that i was thinking about him tuesday morning. i told elder maughan about him and what our tradition has always been.

sounds like buhl is just as good as ever. thanks for updating me up on everything there. you be sure to take care of sydney. i love that dog and by the way, when i move out and get married, she is coming with me, just so you know ;0 hahaha 

Happy Birthweek!

so this week was a little slow. wills baptism date was pushed back for a little bit. he isn’t progressing as much as we were hoping but we are still working with him. i had a migraine last week but it was the first in like 3 months so that was great. so maybe the next one won’t come until 6 months from now haha

im glad you were able to read my letter in sacrament meeting yesterday. im also glad that it actually affected some people that were able to hear it.

   so my birthday party /dinner was legit, dinner was way good and we had a good time.

im glad to hear about the reunion and that it went great and you got to see caitlin.

thats soo cool about heather and jesse. im happy for them. (Brian's cousin and her family were sealed in the Rexburg Temple.)   jesse is a pretty cool kat. and that means cool guy if you didnt know lol

 i hope your week goes great, sorry this is so short. things are still going good. we are still working with the same ppl. hope your week goes great. my birthday will come tomm. and then it will go in the past. hahah. tell landon that i hope he has a great birthday. and that i will be thinking about him. love you all so much and thanks for everything you do.

love,

elder schofield

Wonderful Quote...

“I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are the Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our great eternal head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him?”
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

Hope You Had A Happy Father's Day Dad!

hello mom and DAD!! Happy Father’s day dad!! hope those kids back home took care of you and if they didn’t, you let me know and I’ll take care of them for you. love you dad!! you’re the best.

  well this week was another good week. we got transfer calls and found our we are staying together for another one in conroe which im excited for. this one will be for 7 weeks instead of 6 because of the new mission president coming in or something. and the first week in july we get to meet him for the first time up at college station. it should be fun. sounds like the weekend sounded fun from what i heard from emily and landon. and the skunks haha, "stinkin" cute hah get it? stinking cute hahaha.

so this Saturday a couple people from the ward are throwing a birthday party for me at the ranch we do service at.! they are cooking up chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, and corn, :) my favortie meal. and both the ashtons are having us over too this week and having big barbques. im way excited. im staritng to love this ward a lot more now. maughan and i had to give prayers yesterday at church.

   so this week went great. we gave a baptismal commitment to jeff wimberly and right now he is praying about what date. we are able to met will's twin brother and both want to take the lessons and kinda be a support to each other with is awesome and the phillips family we have been working with are doing good. so we made our final visits for the week too all of them and all said they would be at church and for our sunday school class but no one showed up. it was so disappointing. but it was still a great fathers day in conroe. i stilled enjoyed church. the investigators we have a way cool. i enjoy them and love being with them. hopefully this week will be another good one with them able to all come to church.

   so this week i finished mosiah in the book of mormon, and i never realized how the war chapters in there are so legit. im in alma now but seriously, i loved it all and could put it down. just seeing what everyone had to go through to even keep this record for us, its pretty crazy and how the pride cycle works in people. my testimony in the book of mormon is growing soo much!!

   jd emailed me and told me how everything is going and his life haha good to hear he is doing good. i actually called him on mothers day. i know i shouldnt have but i just felt like i need to talk to him. im so glad he is staying out of the party scene. he is a good kid and he keeps reminding me that im going to be is best man at his wedding. i love that kid. 

  well im glad my father got his card and letter and picture. haha i miss him. too bad i could talk wiht him for a bit. have a great week family. and i will try to do the same. love you all and thank you soo much for everything.. love youuuu mom and dad!!!!!!!

your son,

elder schofield