Dear family and friends,
This week consists of an interesting swirl of ups and
downs for me. One of our investigators attended Standards night and felt
the Spirit so strongly that he told Elder Kelley that he wanted to be
baptized. He passed his interview yesterday so he's good to go! We also
got a car since Elder Kelley's knee still hasn't healed. It's sick! It
only had 500 miles when he first got it! It also has some pretty cool
features to it. Elder Kelley can hook up his external hard-drive and his
USB drive to it. We've been listening to some good stuff! Plus we can
talk to people through the stereo (kind of like Dad's bluetooth back
when he had the Acura XL). Elder Kelley's acquired so much awesome
gospel related stuff on his USB and his external hard-drive that I want
that I bought a USB drive (last week) and before e-mailing you all I
bought a 1 terrabyte external hard-drive. IT'S GOING TO BE AWESOME!
I figure that I'll be needing it for college after the mission so it was
a worthwhile purchase.
Our stake had an emergency preparedness fair this past
Saturday. It went really well! Elder Kelley and I helped the Andrews,
the people that we live with, set up their booth (ha ha). They primarily
dealt with food storage. The booth consisted of a "food storage
calculator" which is an Excel spreadsheet that Elder Kelley put together
that calculates the cost of a year supply of food based on the
dimensions of your family. It's pretty darn cool! It was a popular
feature. Other parts included eggs coated in mineral oil. Did you know
that if you did that your eggs could last a year without refrigeration?
We also gave handouts for how to get a year supply of
prescription medications. It is possible. It was really neat! While I
was there I came across a lady that I previously worked with back when I
was in North Glendale about a year ago. It was awesome catching up with
her! It felt really good to see her again. I've seen quite a few people
from my area in North Glendale here in this part of Peoria since it's
so close that neck of the woods.
I got a lot of mail from 4th ward this week and I am
extremely grateful for all the love and support. Any member of the 4th
ward that may be reading this will be interested to know that yes I am
coming back to Modesto and you will all be able to listen to me give my
"homecoming talk" (I hope so anyway as opposed to a homecoming
testimony). Thanks for the support!
Love,
Elder Boothe
The lady that Elder Boothe saw at the Preparedness was me, Shawna Schwarzmann. It was great to see him as well, we miss him so much. Let me tell you a little bit about our story. I have three children, and have been inactive for the past 15+ years. My oldest two children were baptized, but were raised in the church. In fact, at the time they were baptized I was not active. While my 2nd daughter, Christina, was home from school last summer se declared that she wanted to get married in the temple. I had been trying to get her to attend Institute for the past 3 years, and she would have nothing to do with it, so I gently reminded her that she wuold need to go to church if that was her goal. This still did not motivate her to attend church and I was at a loss as to how to help her. Then one day in June Elder Boothe and Ware knocked on our door, I was leaving for a job interview and told them if they could come back tomorrow, we would love to have them. I did not ask Christina if this was ok, I just did it! The following day they returned and started teaching us the lessons. They invited us to go to church; unfortunately I had just begun a job where I worked every Sat, Sun and Mon - which was non-negotiable. They asked Christina to go as well, but she was hesitant to go alone. Since they were teaching two Sisters they always had to bring another priesthood holder with them. One day they brought an Elder that had just returned from his mission, that Elder was Braden Montgomery. Braden offered to go to the Singles ward with Christina and the rest between them is history. I expect that they will be engaged in the next few months and a wedding early next year. However, there was still the matter of me - Elder Boothe encouraged me to have the faith to quite my job and know that Heavenly Father would provide a way. Since I had just graduated from X-Ray Tech school, and had struggled getting the job that I did, I was quite reluctant to just quit. Because there are 3 X-Ray schools here in the valley, the market is pretty saturated and the competion tough. I began to pray in earnest that a door would be open that would allow me to attend church on Sunday. In October 2011 the first of my prayers were answered when I found out that the Urgent Care I was working at was closing and I would need to find another job. The second part of my prayer was answered in April 2012. I was offered a postion at a Pediatric Orthopedic Surgeons office the hours were Mon - Fri, 8am - 430pm. I could not believe that I was selected. I was so happy and grateful to our Heavenly Father, and to Elder Boothe and Elder Ware for being faithful and serving the Lord. I received so many blessings because of these two young men. I did not think that I would get see Elder Boothe again, but my sister happen to be hosting one of the booths at the fair and invited me to attend. Although neither my husband, nor daughter wanted to join I decided to go alone - something I struggle with - but I am so thankful that I did. Mom, Dad, siblings - I have seen your young man grow on his mission. In his blog, in person. I have been blessed by his sacrifice to serve a mission. Be proud of him, he is a very special young man. I love him, as I know you do. He will always have a special place in my heart, and he will always be welcome into my home. Love Sister Shawna Schwarzmann
ReplyDeleteSo glad I read your comments, Shawna, reading about your faith is inspiring.
ReplyDeleteElder Boothe is a great missionary and a blessing to our family as well. We are family friends of the Boothes in CA and my husband is inactive. He has only set foot in church for our grandchildren's blessings and Elder Boothe's farewell. Glad to hear E. Boothe will visit Modesto as that will surely get him in sacrament meeting!
Hello Elder Boothe - First, do you get these messages? I hope so since I have sent several. How great to see an investigator want to be baptized so suddently! Your new electronics sound awesome. Loved the info on eggs coated with mineral oil. The mail from 4th ward is a loving special thing. I know they will look forward to your talk. Things here are about the same, but not as hot as Phoenix. Your plans for college sound right on. Love you. GmaB.
ReplyDeleteSister Schwarzmann, absolutely all of us need a helping hand from time to time. I am very glad that my brother was able to be a helping hand to you. Thank you very, very much for letting us know about his mission in a way we probably never would have otherwise. Sincerely, Ryan
ReplyDeleteGrandma: Yes, I send Elder Boothe all of your comments.
ReplyDelete