Joseph's letter dated 26Sept2011

[Dear family and friends, I hope this letter finds you doing well. We are busy here in Michigan. Things are definitely cooler now -- we know that Winter is on its way. I hope we have a long and colorful Fall. We just finished with the River of Times -- where we reenacted the U.S./Mexico War of 1846. Julie and I demonstrated cooking over the fire. The tortillas we made were a HUGE hit! This year we added Mexican elements to our presentation -- along with our presentation about the Mormon Battalion. We are excited that Weston and Joseph get to see each other for a week before Weston leaves for Barcelona!

Let me know if you have any messages for Joseph. He LOVES hearing from you!

May you have a peaceful and productive week.

Joseph's editor - BWS]

Dear Family,

This week was interesting. We have been working very hard and found some wonderful people, taught some wonderful lessons, but nobody came to church and right now, we have no progressing investigators. We have been working so hard this week and giving so much of ourselves, but we still must be patient this week as I think we will start seeing the blessings of our work come around in the next couple days.

Here are some of the miracles that we saw this week.

Brother P, a boy we taught a couple weeks ago, but with whom we have been having a hard time getting a hold of, rode the same bus that we were riding last week, and so I was finally able to talk to him. It turns out that he has been reading the Book of Mormon that we gave him, that he likes it and thinks that it is interesting. We set up a meeting with him for this next week and are looking forward to that day. We rarely ride that bus, but it was just such an amazing miracle that we were at the right place at the right time.

Another miracle we saw was with a man we had met last week, and set up our meeting for this past week. He came to the meeting, told us he was firm in his own faith and that we would just waste our time with him, and then turned around to leave. However, we started talking to him, and after a few minutes of talking, convinced him that we still wanted to talk to him and explain more about what we believe. He turned out to have many questions for us, which we were able to answer, and we set up a new appointment for this next week. I was just so glad that we were so persistent with him and that because we were, he now has a copy of the Book of Mormon and is learning about the church from us, and not from the Internet/Wikipedia.

Also, I was on exchanges in Třebíč this past week and so I was able to see my old area. It is doing well and I was very grateful for the opportunity to go back and work there for a day. We saw some good things, and two people accepted invitations to be baptized. I also was able to see my old English class, as well as the Branch President's wife and their son. It was a good time.

Well, Got to go, but I love you and wish you a wonderful week,

Love,

Elder Schindler

Joseph's letter dated 19Sept2011

[Dear family and friends, here is Joseph's letter from this week. We hope you are all doing well. Things have turned to Fall here in Michigan. Fall is a beautiful time in our city! We are getting ready to participate in the River of Time -- which is a historical celebration in our town where different group represent different parts of our U.S. history. Our group is representing the U.S. Mexican War of 1846. This year we are adding some Mexican elements to our presentation about the Mormon Battalion!

If you have any messages for Joseph, pass them along and I will forward them to him.

Much love, Joseph's editor - BWS]

So this is the week's update:

This week we taught Brother J, our new investigator from last week. He is doing well and accepted the message and a baptismal date well. Unfortunately, the day after we invited him to be baptized he got a job in Germany (which is outside of our mission boundaries). He left yesterday for Germany and we are in the process of referring him to the missionaries in Germany. I am really excited for him, even if other missionaries are going to be the ones teaching him. Unfortunately, it will be harder to get so many member lessons this week, but we have lessons on our schedule and I am excited to teach them. For a while Brother J thought my first name was Elder, which reminded him of Haldir from the Lord of the Rings. He thought it was a cool name. I think I should stop telling people my name is Elder, it may not be the best since when someone asks for your name in Czech, they want your first name, not just your name in general. He is way cool though, and I think he thought it was funny at the end.

We also taught Brother D, one of the other new investigators from last week, who is currently preparing for baptism. He has just finished studying in college and is quite busy, and so making time for us is difficult, but he does sincerely want to know that these things are true and I think he understands that he will need to make the effort to come to understand. He knows he needs to read and pray, but this week we will need to teach him about the Sabbath and how he must begin attending church if he really wants to receive a witness of the truthfulness of our message. President Svoboda is planning to teach with us tomorrow and I think the lesson will go well.

So, I had been getting a little proud here in Jihlava, and yesterday I think I received the spiritual side-effect of pride. We were dogged several times [people missed their appointments], then it started raining, and I started feeling rather discouraged. However, Elder Weaver kept going well, and we taught one man we met on the Naměstí [I'm not sure what this is] and then had a wonderful lesson with the recently baptized family here in Jihlava. I came home feeling great. I realized that I need to remember that is not me, nor is it my companionship, who is doing the work here, but that it is the Lord's work and that I cannot be using it to gain glory or recongnition for myself. I need to keep working hard, of course, but I do need to return the credit to Lord. I am just the tool (I personally like to think of myself as an ax, strong, bold, sharp and powerful, but that is just a sidethought). The Lord is the Master.

We had a really good zone conference last week and came home very pumped up for the work. We are going to be reading the Book of Mormon together as a misison, ten pages a day, planning on finishing at the end of the transfer, which is the end of the first week of November. I am already enjoying it and very excited for this month, and for general conference.

Well, I am having a blast. Jihlava is wonderful and I am very happy to be back in this district.

Until next week,

and with love,

Elder Schindler

Sending Joseph a package!

Joseph has a new address!

If you are sending him a letter, use this address:

Církev Ježíše Krista Svatých Posledních Dnů

Elder Joseph W. Schindler

Badeniho 1

160 00 Praha 6

Czech Republic

If you are sending him a package (keep it under $28 value):

Církev Ježíše Krista Svatých Posledních Dnů

Badeniho 1

160 00 Praha 6

Czech Republic

If you are sending a package, do NOT include his name. In the bottom right hand corner of the package, put the number - #1132.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Joseph's letter dated 12Sept2011

[Dear family and friends, I hope this note finds you well and healthy. We are back in school -- everyone seems happy! Our big news for this week was Weston's mission call -- to Barcelona, Spain. He will leave for the Missionary Training Center on January 4. From Joseph's letter, it looks like they will be able to see each other before Weston leaves!

Yesterday we had a new couple who have moved into Bay City (into our Ward) over for dinner. It turns out that Julie and Kristen are 2nd cousins! After dinner we received a very welcome call from a Sister McConkie from SLC who had been traveling in the Czech Republic -- working on a service project -- and she met Joseph and was very impressed with him. She called to tell us how radiant he was! How is that for a couple of wonderful "tender mercies"??

We wish you health, happiness and strength for this upcoming week.

If you have any messages for Joseph, send them to me and I will forward them to Joseph!

Love, Joseph's editor -- BWS]

Dear Family,

Weston Start Learning Spanish Now! One of the only regrets I have on my mission is not working harder and earlier with the language. [We think that Joseph worked pretty hard from Day #1! - Just our humble opinion.] I heard Mr. Calvo has offered to help you out with that. Take advantage of that. Try to get as fluent as you can before the MTC [Missionary Training Center] and when I say fluent, I do not mean just a few words. Do as much as you can to learn Spanish. Study it, learn words, speak it and listen to it as much as possible. You will be that much more prepared then when you get to the mission field. So this is the only phrase I know is spanish, I hope you enjoy it. Somos represantanos del Senor JesuChristo, or Jsme zastupci Pana Ježiše Krista. Look it up, it will be fun. Also, ropa le puerta, which means "clothes the door". The first one is legit, the second is a joke.

So by the way, I will likely come home early to see Weston. I already talked to President Irwin, and he said that was fine. I will keep you posted, but we will most likely see each other. [How exciting!! BWS]

So this week was a lot of fun.

Elder Weaver and I worked hard this week. We did a lot of contacting, and when we were contacting, we talked to everybody. It was great.

Starting with almost nothing in the area has been quite an adventure, but we have taken advantage of it. We already dropped one investigator who would occasionaly meet, but has no interest in becoming a member of the church. Also, we have one left, Mr. C who is also putting off baptism, so we will see how he is doing at our next meeting with him in two weeks.

Our new investigators this week are amazing. The first, Mr. J, was found right at the end of the day and we set up a meeting for a couple days later. He came, took a Book of Mormon, and we have a meeting with him today in the evening with Brother D (one of the members), who, by the way, had a haircut last week. [I can tell there's a story behind this! BWS] Mr. D is a referral from our Zone Leaders and he is quite the guy. He just finished studies at college in Pardubice and he now working in Jihlava. He is a very normal, and appartently successful younger man and seems genuinely interested in the message. He does not really believe in God, but has many fears about his friends and family and we will be working on helping him learn how Christ and the church can help them and also help him understand why we are here on the earth. Our new Investigators number three and four are a married couple we found tracting when we had about forty extra minutes to go finding on Saturday. They answered the door and asked, "Are you Mormons?" We said "yes" and then the wife said, "well, we've been wanting to talk to the Mormons for a while now." We asked if we could come in and we taught a good lesson. They say they are not planning on being converted, but they are open to the message and I am very excited for them.

We have been so blessed this week and we have seen some simply amazing miracles and tender mercies. I cannot explain them all, but the Lord really does bless missionaries who take the command to "Talk to Everybody" seriously.

I love you all a lot. Thank you for your support and love and Weston, send me a note. I want to hear from you.

Love,

Elder Schindler

Joseph's new address

Joseph's mission home has moved -- and he has a new address!

Církev Ježíše Krista Svatých Posledních Dnů

Elder Joseph W. Schindler

Badeniho 1

160 00 Praha 6

Czech Republic

Let me know if you have any questions!

Brent

Joseph's Labor Day letter - 5Sept2011

[Dear family and friends, I hope this letter finds you safe, well and happy on this beautiful Labor Day, 2011. Our boys are starting school tomorrow -- for a new, exciting year! We were hoping that Weston would have received his mission call this last week. He did not -- so we're hoping for this week! We will let you know.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers on behalf of Joseph. Reply to this note and send a message - and I will forward it to Joseph!

Be safe! Joseph's editor - BWS]

Dear Loved People,

First of all I did get transferred and today is P-day [Preparation Day]. I am in Jihlava. It is in the same district as Třebíč and so I will be going back there a number of times this transfer. The two cities are in the same Kraj, which I think is the equivalent of the same "county", but I think the translation is "region". I already knew almost all the members in the area and I know the city, so the adjustment time has been very short. I am ready to work and to serve. Elder Weave is my companion and he has been out for six months in the country. The Pages are the Senior couple serving here; they are the Humanitarian Aid couple serving here. Then in Třebíč we have Elder Plaizier and Engstrom, who have each been out for four months. I will meet the two Elders in Třebíč tomorrow (I have met Elder Plaizer before, but I am looking forward to getting to know him better). This should be a good district.

My address is now:

Březinova 125

Jihlava 56801

Czech Republic

Keep sendïng any packages to the mission office in Prague. I sent the new address for that too. Enjoy. [I will include both addresses in the blog. ]

So, we are teaching no investigators here in Jihlava, so I have nothing to tell on that hand. This has been quite a shock going from the busiest time of my mission (maybe the same as Prague, I cannot remember), where it was hard to find more than an hour or two to find new people, to almost every day contacting. Already knowing the city has helped a bit, and I think the transition is already made. I just need to talk to everyone. It is so interesting how the best way to feel good about working hard is to work harder. It is so much easier to contact for several hours if you talk to everyone with whom you come in contact for the same time, while talking to most of the people. It is so interesting that working harder is actually easier and a lot more enjoyable.

I left ČBUD in good order. We had to drop a Catholic investigator, Tomáš, who is about eighteen. He has been meeting for a while but has decided he wants to remain in the Catholic church. We had a really good meeting with him my last day about the restoration and the Book of Mormon and the Spirit was very strong, but he said he may want to investigate again, just at this time he has so much going on and just wants to wait. I hope the missionaries look him up in the future. Brother Š is doing well. He still has terrible pneomonia, so we gave him a blessing last week. It means he cannot come to church and he still thinks it is too soon for baptism, but he is doing a lot of the little things (i.e., reading the scriptures, praying, etc.). I hope to hear good things from him.

Brother M (the investigator) is doing well. We changed his date because he will have to be in Prague for treatment that weekend, but he still wants to get baptized. He is a fairly intense man and he came into our meeting and said, "I have to tell you, the 17th will not work" . Thankfully he quickly explained why, and so we just moved the date. Brother M (the new member) is also doing great. He is blessing the sacrament and even teaching with us. He is a great new member.

We even found a cool new investigator last week named Sister D. She says she leans more to science , but she was interested in our message and very attentive. She says that she believe some things about God, but not others. When we first met her it was later at night and already a little dark, but still light enough to see. We asked her to read in the Book of Mormon though and it was too dark to see. However, I asked her if she knew what Boy Scouting was, and she looked at me and said "You are a scout?." I said yes and then pulled out the flashlight I carry around and said the we are always prepared. [The Scout Motto is "Be Prepared."] That is the second time in a year I have used it, but I think it is worth it. It was a little funny. Plus, she is prettier than the average girl, so the sisters were very surprised when they met her the next day. Apparently we do not teach as many women as the Elders do.

Also this past Saturday was the annual Walace Toronto foundation project in Jihlava. [This is a group of Americans who have ties to the Czech Republic and do service projects in the country.] Since transfers were early, I was able to come in the early morning and help out painting benches. I met some more members from around the country as well as the American members who are on the Board of Directors. It was a busy first day, but we managed to fill in some finding time.

Well, that is all for now. I love you and good luck with school and the whole bit. Keep me posted with the stuff going on out in Michigan.

It is raining right now, by the way.

Love,

Elder Schindler