01/01/2018 – Sister Schroeder's Mission Blog

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I’m starting off this new year’s email with what I got for Christmas. What I got was…..fat. I got fat. Or at least am getting fat. We got so much candy, which is greatly appreciated cause I definitely have a sweet tooth, but there is no way we can eat all of the sugar we have and not weigh 300 pounds. I’ve included a picture below that we took on Christmas, so it doesn’t include the other sweets we got later this week. Sis Taylor and I said we were going to eat healthy after Christmas, but it looks like we might have to wait awhile.

Christmas day was pretty great. We had dinner at the Rosser’s at 1 and were so full we didn’t have to eat for the rest of the day. We did stop by the Litton’s for some chocolate pie later that evening so we were very well fed. We ended the day by stopping by the Sturgeons. I love them so much! Whenever we need to feel a little love we go see them. It was a good day, but it didn’t feel too much like Christmas because we didn’t do the things we normally do on Christmas. But now we know what to expect next year!

When I was in the MTC (Missionary Training Center) I got to be a new missionary host. When we had the presentation the guy said, “Don’t tell them dumb stuff like ‘the days are like weeks and the weeks are like days'”, but I totally think that applies to missionary life and life in general. Some days this week seemed really long, but the whole week went by really fast. I can’t even remember most of what we did this week, but I know it was a good week.

There was a scary moment this week when Larry texted us and said “checking into the hospital”. He got cellulitis in his arm and it looked really bad. It was super swollen from his fingers to his shoulder and it was really red and there were huge blisters on it. I would’ve taken a picture, but his daughter was there and I didn’t want her to think Mormon missionaries are insensitive (I don’t think she really would’ve cared but it still felt weird). Thankfully he was only there for 3 days. He still has to go in and get antibiotics for a week, but he’s home now and his arm looks so much better. So far on my mission I’ve been somehow connected with a death each transfer and I was going to be upset if Larry was the death of this transfer. I’m so glad he wasn’t! I wish you all could meet everyone I know down here because they’re the best!

Every day this week has been filled with shocking things. And I mean literal shocking. It is so dry here that it seems like we can’t touch anything without getting shocked. The doors shock us when we get out of the car, our blankets have lightning in them, my hair crackles when I brush it, and my relationship with Sis Taylor is electric (we were folding a tarp and every time our hands touched we got shocked). I am so tired of being shocked and looking like a lizard (my skin is so dry it’s cracking and peeling). Ridgecrest makes Longmont seem humid!

New Year’s Eve we had to be inside by 6 to avoid all the crazies out there. Our dinner appointment canceled on us so we made pasta (and by that I mean Sis Taylor made pasta and I sang Christmas songs) and then decorated gingerbread houses. It was a little weird cause New Year’s Eve felt more like Christmas than actual Christmas did. I haven’t decorated gingerbread houses since I was in elementary school so I had a lot of fun. Now I really want to run over our village with our car (which we named after the harlot Isabel, who Corianton ditched his mission for). I just have to see if Sis Taylor will let me.

I hope you all have an amazing start to 2018!

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

My cute companion’s candy excitement (that isn’t even all of the candy):