Happy Christmas

This week was pretty rad! We have been doing a lot of service for the Salvation Army lately, and this week we were able to help give out everything that has been donated, it was really cool!  Being able to be on the other side of that bell was really awesome!  The people there are so great and there is so much love! Every time we went to help out, I got so attached, I dodn't even know the people that I was gathering stuff for but I loved them so much and wanted what was best for them.  It was actually pretty hard not being able to do more for them.... I am honestly so fortunate to have the things that I have and I don't ever give the thanks that I should, I need to do better at recognizing the things the Lord has blessed me with and give thanks for them.

We were also able to visit with a few investigators, there is so much potential, it's awesome!  This one guy, named Jesse, is so solid!  He had a bcd at one point, but didn't stop smoking, so we are working with him now.  He had a dream about the 3 levels of heaven, and knows that "as man now is, God once was, and as God now is man may become."  This guy is so profound as well.  H has been through a lot in his life and always says "something learned through pain will remain" because he learned a lot of things the hard way, but now he has never forgotten them.  Anyways, I am super excited to teach him and help him to receive the blessings of the gospel in his life.

We had a half mission Christmas Conference on Friday, it was so good!!  I really love seeing all of my missionary friends.  Plus there was some great insight that was given and there was an amazing Christmas program as well.  In the program, there were so many amazing musical numbers and I have realized that I absolutely love music!  Like so much!  I honestly feel the Spirit with good uplifting music.  President Smith sang and played the guitar for the song "Little Drummer Boy" and it was incredible, it is now my new favorite song because I now understand the meaning of it and I love it!!  One cool insight I gained from the conference was something that President Smith said, "It doesn't matter how bad life is, or how hard it rains, The Book of Mormon is still true, and Joseph Smith still saw God the Father and Jesus Christ, and nothing will ever change that!"

I love you guys so much and I am so thankful for all of the support that you have given me and all of the wonderful letters and packages.  I am so thankful for my Heavenly Father who loved me enough to sacrifice his only begotten Son, so that I can become clean, become stronger, and return to live with Him again.

Keep on keepin on and enjoy your week!

 

-Elder Skippy

 

 

Out With The Old, In WIth The New

Wow, this week has been so crazy! We spent most of the beginning of the week saying goodbye to all the people that Elder Abrams has come to love so much. He was here for 2 weeks shy of a year, so he got very close with a lot of people and they loved him so much too. Hopefully by the time I leave here, I will have made some great friendships, because this place is great! The ward is honestly amazing!! It is the most missionary minded ward that I have ever seen and everyone loves the missionaries. We are very fortunate and get fed just about every day, we have lots of members that are always telling us about their friends that they are trying to share the gospel with; I really hope to be a great member missionary when I get home and share this amazing gospel and it's blessings with my friends. 

The rest of the week was just craziness! I got my new companion, Elder Burch, he is such a stud! He and I are getting along so well, it's awesome! He is very mature and has so much wisdom, so I am really excited to learn from him; I feel like I already have learned a lot! Since we moved into a new apartment, we had to clean it up #eldersaremessy, and then unpack everything, it was nuts! But now our apartment feels like home, it's great! Honestly, I hate clutter and messiness so much, it stresses me out and makes it so I can't work.

Since Elder Burch and I moved apartments, we also switched our proselyting area from the west side of Lynn Haven to the east, so we basically know nothing about the less actives and investigators in our area... it's really cool though because Elder Burch and I are really having to work together and rely on the Spirit with everything and we feel that the two of us together are going to be able to do great things, so a fresh start is perfect.

One thing that our mission is focusing on is service, and so we have been able to do a lot of cool service projects lately. My favorite one thus far has been going to the Salvation Army to sort our food and gather gifts for children and families that will be going without if it weren't for these amazing donations. While there, I honestly feel so attached to the people that we are getting the things ready for, it makes me love them so much, and I haven't even met them before. It's amazing how service helps invite the Spirit into your life and helps you love people. One thing that I want to do when I get home is to have a monthly service project with my family! Before the mission, I didn't really like service, but now I love it and always want to get out and help people!!

Church this Sunday was absolutely amazing!! The primary got up and sang two Christmas songs, anytime the primary sings, it kills me, they are so cute and so pure, I love it!! Then we had the Richardson family do a musical number, the mom was on the piano, Audrey (16) was singing, and Arlee (return missionary of 2 weeks) was doing sign language, it was AMAZING!! Audrey's voice was incredible, and Arlee put so much passion into the sign language, the spirit was most definitely there! I do know that my Redeemer lives.That brief, sweet sentence does bring such comfort to me, and I wish everyone could have the same knowledge. Who wouldn't want this kind of peace and love in their life?

Now, for the best part of the week, Panama City Beach Sisters had a baptism this Saturday for an absolutely wonderful 72 year old lady named Pamela Hale, it was the MOST powerful baptism that I have ever attended! This sweet lady, is 4ft nothing, is on oxygen, and can hardly walk, but has a Spirit of a giant! We sang two songs at the baptism and she was singing her little heart away, even sang a solo of a song that she created, it was absolutely amazing! This baptism made me think of the parable of the laborers in the vineyard and how the people that came to work in the last hour got paid the same as those who worked all the day long. This experience made me realize that it is never too late to change, it is never too late to accept the Savior's love into your life, you have never gone too far to come back to the fold, our Heavenly Father loves everyone equally and wants them all to come and accept the blessings of the gospel, all it takes is one act of faith, and if you take it, your life will be changed for the better for ever!

I love this gospel, and am so happy that I am out here in Florida serving the Lord, learning and growing, and helping others find what they are searching for. With Christmas being this week, I am especially thankful to my loving Heavenly Father who sent and sacrificed his only begotten Sn, so that we can find true joy and happiness in this life, and eternal life in the world to come. I would encourage y'all to take 10 minutes to just sit and ponder the wonderful gift that our Heavenly Father gave to us, remember the reason for the season.

I love y'all and hope that y'all have a happy Christmas!!

Elder Schipaanboord

3502 N Jenks Ave 

APT 6106 

Panama City, FL 32405

 

 

Transferred

So this week we just had a lot of exchanges, it was a crazy one!  I learned so much though!  Elder Sturdevant is such a stud, he is such a loving, kind, full of joy, and has such a love for the work.  Being with him made me want to be that much better.  No matter what he goes through or what happens to him he always has a smile on his face, it's absolutely amazing!  I also went on one with Elder Gogg and not much happened.  We found out that this lady had been taught before but she was confused on a lot of stuff.  She told us that she thought that God gave Joseph Smith golden dinner plates with writing that was invisible to everyone except Joseph Smith.  We taught her all about The Book of Mormon and what it really is, it was pretty cool, so we are going to start teaching her all the lessons again to make sure she understands it all. Then I got to go with Elder Smith on an exchange, man I love this guy so much!!  He is one of my favorite missionaries ever!  The funny thing is that every where we go people think that we are twins, we basically are, just separated at birth!

We got the call this week about transfers and Elder Abrams is being transferred to Tallahassee, while I am staying here and my new companion is Elder Burch!!  I served with Elder Burch over in Crestview, so I am super excited!!  He is 26 years old and a very very consecrated missionary, so there is going to be a lot of growth and learning, as well as miracles, I am so excited!  Sadly, Elder Smith is leaving, I love him so much,  hopefully we will be able to see each other again, and maybe be companions!  But he is going to train in Crestview, so after the mission, we will be able to come back together and visit 2 of the same places!!!  Even though that I'm not getting transferred, I am moving apartments because there are sisters that are coming to Lynn Haven and are taking our apartment, so my new address is  

 

3502 N Jenks Ave APT 6106 

Panama City, FL 32405

The cool thing of the week was that all of the elders were stuck at the church because of tornado warnings, not one touched down but we just hung out the whole time.  While hanging out we came up with a way to be more obedient with our language and music, so we made a contract.  Our contract said that anyone who doesn't call people by their correct title (elder, sister, brother, president, bishop) or if you use a swear word, or a replacement word, we have to do 10 push ups, let's just say that we are getting pretty big chest muscles.... its crazy how these things have just become part of our nature, so I am really glad that we are stopping this, and it has helped out so much!!  I love it!

I love y'all so much and hope you have a great week!! Keep on keepin' on!!

Elder Schipaanboord

 

 

 

Light The World!

WOW, its December already!?  Here in the 850 it is just now starting to look like the beginning of fall, it's so weird!  We still use the air conditioner sometimes hahaha, sorry(; but I actually really do miss the snow so much!  The Christmas season isn't complete unless you have snow.  This year for Christmas, the church has put out another amazing video to help us become better individuals, it's called "Light the World."  The big push this year is for service and because the Savior served and was an amazing person, we can too!  I know that every time that I turn outwards, take a few minutes of my day and serve those around me, I am filled with so much love and joy and that is all that our Heavenly Father wants for each of us.  I encourage all of you to go to mormon.org and check out the video and Light the World with the Savior's light and be filled with his light in return!

We had a second MLC this transfer, which is crazy because it was all the way in Crestview again, so we used so many miles (miles are the most annoying thing as a missionary, and especially a zone leader, cause everyone is always wanting more, but we only get so many as a zone)!  But it was a great meeting and well worth the time and miles, plus I was back in the view, aka Zion!  This MLC was focused a ton on the white hand book.  As missionaries we are to read 3 pages from the white handbook every day, but hardly anyone really understands what they read because it's just a habit now, so they shared a scripture that put things into perspective for us.

 

 "And whatsoever they shall speak when moved upon by the Holy Ghost shall be scripture,  

shall be the will of the Lord, shall be the mind of the Lord, shall be the word of the Lord,  

shall be the voice of the Lord, and the power of God unto salvation." 

 

So the white hand book is basically scripture that we should be reading and studying so we can become better and more obedient missionaries.  Every time that I go to a zone meeting, or a MLC ,or whatever, I always get a little glimpse of this amazing missionary that I can and want to become, it's awesome how much the spirit can teach you if you are willing to learn.

Sisters, can i just say something? y'all are amazing!  Elder Abrams and I had the opportunity to teach in Relief Society on Sunday, which was pretty strange being the only guys in a room full of 30 women, but it was AMAZING! we were able to teach about #LIGHTtheWORLD and were fortunate enough to feel of their sweet and tender spirits!  Everyone always talked about how amazing the sisters in the church are but I never fully grasped that until I was able to stand in front of them and hear all of their incredible comments and testimonies.  Thank you sisters for all that you do and the spirit and light and love that you emulate, it doesn't go unnoticed!  I am convinced that the number one thing that my wife must have is a firm testimony in the restored gospel and an understanding of how it can bless our lives, beauty will fade, and personalities will change over time, but one thing that will stay constant is a testimony of the savior.

So funny story from church yesterday.  We had this guy in our ward get up to bare his testimony, and all he talked about was how the scriptures say not to celebrate pagan holidays (because they don't focus enough on the Savior) and to keep the feasts of the old testament, so he testified of how not celebrating Easter and Christmas has blessed his life.  He then proceeded to say " Don't get offended if you say 'Happy Christmas' and I respond with 'Happy Hanukkah.'"  It was so awkward, but funny at the same time; I am just thankful that no investigators where there, that could've been bad.  Now, for the ironic part, later in the evening the church had their world wide CHRISTMAS devotional and talked about how we need to celebrate CHRISTMAS and how it is a time to remember the Savior and feel of His light and love in our lives.

I love the Christmas season and am so happy to be serving my God, especially at this time of the year.  Even though the work is really slow right now, I am so happy!  Mosiah 2:40-41 is such a true principle!  I love y'all and hope y'all have a great week!!

Elder Schipaanboord

 

 

 

Again??

This week was pretty rad! We went on exchanges with the assistance and I learned so much!  Elder Beutler is such a stud of a missionary, he literally talks with everyone that he sees, has complete faith in God and that God will answer prayers of knowing whether or not the BOM is true, he asks very inspired questions, and has a love for the work and the people.  Looking at Elder Beutler, he is the type of missionary that I one day hope to become!

Thanksgiving was this week, and you know what that means? TURKEY BOWL!!  Man, there were so many people at the turkey bowl, it was crazy!  We had so much fun but paid for it the next day.... we could hardly even walk, it was bad.... but Thanksgiving was great, we ate at the church with a bunch of different members, and then went to the Cornelious' to play some games and help out with their horses, it was so fun!

Now for the teaching side of things, not much happened.  Most of the people we are teaching were out of town, so we didn't get to go and visit with them, but are hoping to see them at least 2 times this week.

The highlight of this week was also the lowlight.... on Saturday night we went out to eat at this place called Po Folks, which was super good, but later in the night, my stomach was killing me.  I went to bed and slept just fine.  Then Sunday morning we were getting ready for ward council and I couldn't hold it back any more, and up chucked!  Then up chucked again, and again, and again.... remember that time I was with Elder Renslow and we got food poisoning?  Well it happened again.... and I had the same symptoms all over again, so I am sitting here with a sore neck from throwing up so much, and doing my best to hold of throwing up some more.

Anyways, work is slow right now, but all is well!  The sky is blue and the church is true!  Keep on keepin on!!

Elder Schipaanboord

 

 

Love For The People

This week we went on exchanges with the Chipley Elders, in Chipley, so I got to see a lot of the people that I grew to love so much again!  While there, I had a realization of how important love is in the work; because I loved the people there and hadn't seen them in a while, I WANTED to go and see them and I WANTED to help them receive the blessings of the gospel.  I really hope that I will be able to take that same attitude, love, and diligence with me the rest of the mission, because it made teaching so much easier and much more powerful!  It's crazy how much I love the people here in the south!  Everyone always says that the greatest thing about the mission is the people and I never understood that until I actually got out here; I leave a piece of my heart everywhere I go and with every person I talk with.

We had a zone training this week, so that was fun!  It was 4 hours of us being in charge of teaching 24 missionaries, it was very humbling, but also very fun!  We did some preparing, but honestly, we just went mostly by the Spirit, it was pretty sick!  Even though it is stressful being one that everyone looks to, I enjoy it because I get to know the other missionaries so much better and I learn more than I ever would have!  I always say this, but it's true, without the hard times we wouldn't grow.

Other than that, not much happened.  Basically everyone we are teaching is being prepared by having loved ones pass away, so it's been hard being able to get up with them.  Travis Bynog's father in law is having really bad health problems but loves The Book of Mormon and is already in the Book of Jacob (as of last Thursday)!!  Lisa's dad passed away and is wanting to learn even more!  That one member family that just moved back has like 3 more people she wants us to teach!

The work is great, the sky is blue and the church is true!

Love you guys!!

Elder Schipaanboord

 

 

 

NINE HOURS

This week has been the most stressful week of my entire life!  On Tuesday, we had district meeting and planning for teaching in zone conference that took up the whole day.  Wednesday, we went to Crestview for MLC (missionary leadership council) and that took up the whole day.  Thursday, we had zone conference.  Friday, we had interviews, and found out we are to have a zone training each transfer as well as zone conference, we also had to deal with a broken car in the zone, so now we are in a car share with the other elders.... anyways, it has just been a very very stress filled week!! 

Even though we only had 9 proselyting hours this week, we taught a total of 9 lessons and set 4 baptismal dates!!  Last week I talked about how a member wanted us to teach her friend and we taught her the plan of salvation, well this week we taught her the restoration, and she asked "what makes your church different from the rest" and so we brought up the priesthood authority and committed her to be baptized and she accepted!  Then her son said "What's baptism?" and she taught him about it and  he wants to be baptized as well! AND this member has more people for us to teach, they are amazing!!  They have been moved in for 2 weeks now and have gotten us so many people to teach, I hope to be like them when I get home!

THEN we went to taught another guy, Travis Bynog (not the guy that came to church), and his wife, with their friends, who are members, and taught the plan of salvation.  We talked about the celestial kingdom and ways that we get there (church pray baptism, read, service) and then asked them what they would be willing to do to get there and they said "anything!"so we committed them to be baptized, and they want us to teach their two kids as well!

I have recently learned that I am a very very VERY small part in this work.  All I do is show up and teach, but the Lord is preparing so many people to receive the gospel!  All the people that I have had the opportunity to help get to baptism have just been incredibly prepared, and this is no different for these 2 families!  The Lord is doing the preparing and all I have to do is be diligent and be patient.  I think that's how it is with anything, if we are diligent in doing our best, then the Lord will take care of the rest!  He has a perfect plan and wants to bless us, we just have to show him that we are willing to receive the blessings.

Even though this week was super stressful, it was amazing!  The Lord is working wonders in the Panama City area and I am so thankful that I am able to be a part of it!

I love y'all and hope you have a great week!

Elder Schipaanboord

 

 

Progression

This new transfer has already been so much better than the last, and it's only been 5 days!  Elder Abrams and I are working super hard and we feel like there is so much in store for us this transfer as long as we serve with all of our heart, might, mind and strength, and we have seen it already!  A few weeks ago we talked with this guy named Travis, on the side of the street, and when we got talking to him, he wasn't interested because he thought we were Jehovah's Witnesses.  He was really nice and shared some cool stories with us and then we gave him a card and he looked at it and said "Wait y'all are Mormon's...?" with like no emotion whatsoever, so we were super scared that he was going to go off on us but we said "Yes sir, we are."  He proceeded to tell us that he actually likes our food storage and being prepared beliefs and has actually been wanting to learn more!  So on Friday we texted him and asked if there was a time that we could visit with him and he said "Sure, when does church start?  We can do it after"!  So he came to church this week, participated in the lessons and really liked it.  We then shared the Restoration of the Gospel and talked about The Book of Mormon and he was really interested and wants to find out for himself and he said that there is a very good chance of him coming back!

Then, we had a dinner appointment with a member and they told us that they invited a friend and her son that wants to learn about the gospel, cause her mom just died, and her dad is nearing the end of his life as well. This member asked if that was okay..... OF COURSE THAT'S OKAY!!! IT'S EVERY MISSIONARY'S DREAM TO HEAR THOSE WORDS COME FROM A MEMBERS MOUTH!  So w taught her the Plan of Salvation and she loved it!  She didn't know about a lot of the stuff but said it all made sense and she wants to learn more.  We found out today that she is so excited for her next lesson!

Yesterday was daylight savings, and let me tell ya, it's the worst!!!!  So here in the south, once it gets dark, everyone goes to sleep, and doesn't want to visit, so there isn't much we can do in the night time hours.  Before daylight savings, it got dark at 6:00 then we would have dinner, and then we would work from 7:00 to the end of the night without much success.  Well now it gets dark at 5:00, so our whole evening is pretty much shot now.  We are trying to set appointments at night, so we don't feel useless, but until then all we can really do at night is be diligently ineffective (walking the streets trying to talk with people) for 3 hours..... 

Even though last transfer absolutely sucked, I know it was for my own good and I know that the Lord really is preparing people for us to teach, we just had to pass his test, and I sure am glad that we did!  There are great things that are going to be happening this transfer, we are so excited!

shout out to my Uncle Shon who sent me this awesome quote, hope y'all like it!!

"The longer I live the more I realize the impact of attitude on my life. Attitude to me is more important than facts. It's more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than success, than what other people think or say or do. It's more important than appearance giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company, a church, a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past, we cannot change the fact that people will act a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the string we have and that is our attitude. I'm convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you we are in charge of our attitudes."

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Elder Schipaanboord

 

 

Love For The Gospel

This week was better than last; we still aren't teaching a lot but we are definitely putting in the work and finding joy in it.  We went on 3 exchanges and I went with two elders who are going home this week, so it made me pretty trunky and miss home a little but I am so glad to have time to serve the Lord because they wished they had more time, I am so lucky!!  I know it's hard and sucks but I'm learning a lot from this!

 

Elder Smith and I kinda got in a bible bash this week.... well the guy was trying to bash with us but we were very calm and collected and didn't try and prove him wrong but it still wasn't the greatest environment.  This guy was trying to talk about the trinity and all this other stuff and then basically told us that we don't know God and that we don't search the scriptures and understand them but we totally defended ourselves and just said that we read every day and pray and that we know God, it made him mad but we weren't going to sit there and take it any longer, I hate when people tell us what we do and don't believe without even asking us, it's so annoying!

 

Church this week was so amazing!  We had a PEC (priesthood executive comity) and the leaders talked a lot about the progress of the youth and they got very emotional about them and seeing them grow; it really touched me and made me think about all the amazing people who are all around me helping me and have gotten me to the point that I am at in my life.  There have been incredible ward members, family and friends that have changed my life forever; there is a saying in the south that I love "it takes a village to raise a youngin."  So I want to thank all of you that helped raise me, I love you all!  In sacrament meeting there were amazing talks given about not judging others because the way we judge others is the way we are going to be judged, but what really hit me was watching the Bishop and his counselors, they have such a love for the members here as well as for the gospel, I think it is something that all bishops have and it really inspires me to do better!

 

Transfer calls were yesterday and for the first time, I was the one that did the calling, that was pretty cool! Abrams and I are staying together, but Elder Jensen is leaving.  I'm gonna miss that guy, we got pretty close but we will see each other at the Christmas half mission conference!  This zone has 4 greenies in it now, and that means more exchanges!  This transfer we will be going on exchanges with every companionship in the zone and with the AP's, so a total of at least 9 exchanges!!!  I am so pumped!!

Anyways, love you guys and hope you have a great week!!

Elder Schipaanboord