January 4, 2011

Howdy All,
Erin is now the newest member in our ward---she was baptized on Saturday and is doing awesome. Her family is not supportive, even though she and her mom are close. I always find myself thinking when you just step back and look at what you promise to do at baptism, how can you not support it whether you are a member of the church or not. Erin is a stellar person and I'm so glad she made the choices she has for the right reasons. She has taught me a lot.

Well, along with Erin we have two other people getting baptized on Jan. 29th---one is the 13 year old daughter of a family who is becoming active again and the other 14 year old girl just last night decided to get baptized. It seems as though whether I wanted to slow down or not, that is not what the Lord has in store for me. We have these individuals and even more with great potential that I can see getting baptized in the near future. It is going to be a busy transfer.

I'm amazed at how great the relationships are between myself and the ward members and especially the investigators and recent converts. When I first got here I was scared and thought maybe the church in The Dalles was just a little less true than elsewhere, but it's not so...they just have a small town way of doing things and it works! It's the most accepting ward I've been to and a wonderful place to finish my mission.

Well, gotta go, but I love you all lots,
Elder Schroeder
Reported by Mom