Monte de Caparica

Great way to start a new Area!

Wow! Time goes so fast...it is a blessing! Mitchell is now serving in Monte de Caparica, across the river from Lisbon. He transferred there on September 29th, his comp was Elder Luebke from Orem Utah. They got along great! Two boys from Utah how could they not! They only had one quick transfer together. Elder Luebke is now in Madeira the southern most island in Portugal.

Mitchell is staying in Monte de Caparica, his new comp Elder Burt is from St. George. Mitchell is nervous to be a District Leader again and a trainer, Elder Burt is a greenie straight from the MTC.
Mitch says Elder Burt is much bigger than he imagined & way cool. He is fresh out of high school and knows a ton of music & movies that Mitch has never heard of! :) Elder Burt has also seen an Xbox 1 so his life is complete! Mitch saw his 1st playstation 4 yesterday, it blew his mind that they actually do exist! Haha

Mitchell was most excited that Elder Burt got to have Elder Quinten L. Cook visit their mission on his second day in the mission field! His favorite part was when Elder Cook gave a blessing to all of the missionaries families. The spirit was at it's strongest! He also gave a message about being who the Lord needs you to be, not who you are. It really made him think!

He says he misses snow so much, but it's all good rain is ok! He said he spent the vast majority of his last week with the elders in Costa de Caparica & slept on the ground. It was good, not too many spiders! HaHa! He and Elder Burt spent his first night on the Elder's couches so they would not be late to see Elder Cook!

They are excited to be in Monte most of the time this week & are excited for an awesome week!

What an example this kid is to me! I learn so much from his positive attitude! When I mentioned in my letter how nervous I was about the primary program, he plainly said it will all work out! He also basically said if I can do this for two years & eat octopus, you can make it through! He was right!

A friend of mine has a daughter serving in Spain...she is returning home in 21days! She has had an incredible mission! My friend found out yesterday, that her missionary had been hit by a car! THANKFULLY she is doing WELL. She amazingly has no broken bones, but did get pretty bruised & a nice blood clot under her skull that they are monitoring. She has the option to come home now, but is planning on staying the full 21days.

How BLESSED I feel as a missionary mom for my son's SAFETY & HEALTH!
I can also testify to all of you that as a missionary mom we feel your prayers & are so thankful for them!

THE AZORES ARE BEAUTIFUL!

I am sure you already know that the Azore Islands are beautiful, but Elder Schroeder doesn't get to enjoy the scenery that often. He is busy with district leader duties & helping out a lot acting as first counselor to the branch president. He avoids talking about the fact that he is coming up on his 6mths left mark. He still has work to do & time is going so fast! He is growing a ton through his challenges with others not liking his leadership style & his companion right now. However, he is as positive as always! (not sure where he got that, sadly not from me! :) They finally have a very strong investigator & hoping his baptism will happen this week! 
Mitchell has been so blessed his whole mission with good health! What a comfort this is to me! He did however have to go to the dentist! That was nerve racking for me, I am nervous about dentist visits here! But it turned out to be a small cavity & a simple fix $85 Euros later... to avoid the lecture, He assured me he is brushing his teeth twice a day many days 3 times and even more when he eats octopus!
Thank you again so much for your thoughts & prayers! 

WE LOVE THE THUMBS UP!

HE IS COOKING MEAT!

Check out the carb ratio! :)

District leader...we are proud!

Love that SMILE!

KID MAGNETS!

BEAUTIFUL PLACE TO SERVE THE LORD!!!

OFF to COLLEGE!!!

So we took Maridee up to BYUI on Friday! We had a great time & the process was so easy! Not what I remember when I went to the financial aid office, scholarship office & book store! She got moved into her new apartment, & met her cute roommates (no crazy or scary ones to my relief)! She also signed up for a choir audition! After the parent orientation she sent us on our way because she had plans with her roommates! Saturday Morning she had her choir audition & immediately got a second audition with the director. Her second audition when excellent & she made it into the choir! We are so EXCITED for her & PROUD!

So Ready!

Trunk Already Full!

20ish cars waiting to exit the Freeway!

1 yEaR mArK...tHe ISLAND AWAITS!!!

So on April 3rd Elder Mitchell Schroeder reached his year mark! When I commented that his hump day was bitter sweet, he respond..."yeah I don´t know if I say bitter sweet or just fast as crap. haha  the day rolled around and litterally I thought  Já!!!!!!  (already?) " 
We are so grateful that he is enjoying his mission & not ready to come home. However, grateful that the last year flew by! :)
We are so PROUD of his POSITIVE attitude. He did send an email a few weeks ago that was showing a little struggle here is a blurb...
Sometimes it´s hard to be a missionary. Conference was EPIC Elder Hollands talk was pumping and chiea de faca (Full of knife or telling you what you´re doing wrong) and preparation. so good!  Even with it freezing every couple of minutes and taking twice as long to watch, while also helping the members figure out why the satélite transmission wasn´t working and resorting to using the branch president's CP it´s was good and the spirt filled our little chaple to the brim.

Things with my comp still get heated at times kus our personalities just don´t mesh that well, but I´m working on not sweating the little things.. like him putting brocoli in everything and not liking the fact that I don´t like brocoli in everything. haha  also everyday we get more and more rules, but being obidient brings blessings even when you don´t understand why Disney music is band. haha  It's wonderful!

Two Elders from Cape Verde Africa

Hmm Food?

PIZZA & PEPSI!!!

Mountains Castelo Branco

The Island Awaits!!!

New Island Apartment

Ignoring that his bed is not made! :)

What a Blessing!!!

On April !4th he got transferred to the Azores. He is in a city called Ribeira Grande on the island of Sao Miguel. He says so far in his city Island life & the food is much the same as it was in Portugal.

We are so excited for him to have this opportunity. We miss him, but we are so proud of him!

We love this missionary so much! Thank you for your prayers!

Almost HALF Way!

Due to the Holidays, then our computer crashing, my update on Elder Schroeder is way over due!

Since he is coming up on his Half Way mark in 24days I should probably get on it!

So Elder Schroeder seemed to Really like Faro. They had an actual ward building that hosted many of the surrounding missionaries, so anytime there were baptisms Mitchell & his companion got to attend & often got to fill the font. They also get to help at the chapel when they have relief society, or Young men & Young Women activities. He enjoyed the primary program. He said it was just like home except it was in Portuguese & there were 5 primary kids.When we google mapped his apartment, we were able to virtually walk from the church building to his front door of the apartment! AMAZING!!!
He also got to go on splits with the zone leaders and several other missionaries. He even got to see his companion from the MTC, since he was in the neighbor area about 15mins away. They also got to go on splits with members which was fun & reminded him of home. The young men in Portugal also get to serve a mini mission in Portugal before leaving on their actual mission. It is a great training for both them & the full time missionaries.  Mitchell had the opportunity to sit in the hospital for a few day while his companion  battled some stomach issues. He also got to sit with his zone leader Elder Phillips for a couple of days while he was sick. The other missionaries passed up this opportunity due to boredom, but Mitchell said they took advantage to read, relax & study. He seems to find a way to put a positive outlook on every thing! WE ARE SO PROUD! We also feel so blessed that Mitchell has had really no illness while he has been out!
During these winter months it has rained a lot! I think Mitch would prefer snow. He sent us a 29 sec video showing the rain & his rain soaked pants, that were wet from the ground up to the top of his thigh! He also sent a pic of his soaked feet that had turned black because of his soaking wet black socks & shoes. However, he never complains...he just wonders how the population of Portugal are able to hide out inside ALL THE TIME, when it is raining! :)
Also while in Faro, they played Futball(soccer) every monday with some members & investigators. 
Due to my slacking there are too many stories of investigators to share. They did have a chance to teach a man from the Czech Republic english. He did teach a friend of one member that does not live in Faro. Mitch said he was one of the most humble men he has ever met, they gave him a book of mormon.  The week before Christmas he taught a Mom & her kids. The son plays many of the same video games that Mitch does. As he was showing Mitch all the new games he had just bought, Mitch said his Heart hurt a little! :) (this is most likely what He would have gotten for Christmas if he were not a missionary!) The boy invited him to come play on the weekend or on Christmas, when he & is mother found out that missionaries do not play video games & don't get weekend or Christmas off, they told them that is not right & they were going to die! :)
Him & his comp had a baptism on the saturday before transfers. He said it was bitter sweet. The baptism was incredible, but then all the missionaries in faro were being transferred on monday. The new sister missionaries would take over. The ward members had a huge party for all of them!
On January 20, Mitchell was transferred to Castelo Branco. It is in the center of Portugal, very close to the border of Spain. He is in the mountains. He still has not seen snow, but can see it in the snow capped mountains. He says it reminds him of home. His new comp was from Cape Verde Africa, and his native language is portuguese. Mitch says they still make fun of his accent, but he feels pretty comfortable with the language. His first P-day after transfers he traveled 4hours to Viseu to be comps with elder Harris while his comp went to Lisbon for district leader training. 
Castelo is remote, so they travel a lot. They travelled three hours to Combria for Stake conference, then they got to travel to Covilha where they got to attend a baptism of two young men. There is no font, so they baptized them in the river. He said it was very cool & cold! :)Unfortunately, Mitch's camera battery was dead, so he could not send pictures.
His birthday was February 8th. He celebrated his 20th birthday, the usual missionary way, by knocking doors! :) No cake, but we did send him Reeses Peanut butter cups because he can't get them in Portugal!
He informed us yesterday that Castelo was divided into two areas so he has a new comp Elder Barros.  
Not sure where he is from, but we are eager to hear about their great adventures!

Ward building in FARO

Mac & Cheese!!!

Futball!

Baptism In Faro

GoodBye Party Faro

Good Bye Party Faro!

Castelo Branco

View from Apartment Castelo Branco

We LOVE this guy SO MUCH!!!

Tracting in the RAIN!