Absence makes the heart grow fonder
This week was a crazy weird hard stressful week. I don’t really remember what happened earlier in the week because of what happened later, but I’ll do my best.
It feels like not much has happened this week because all of the people we have lessons with have been canceling on us. That usually happens at least a few times a week, but it feels like we haven’t taught anyone in forever because we only taught a couple times all week. Thankfully we filled our time with good stuff and we never didn’t know what to do. It’s mind-boggling sometimes how blessed missionaries are.
We had cleaning checks on Tuesday (they happen once every 2 transfers) and I think we did well. We just talked to them for the 5 minutes it took them to look over our apartment and silently judge us on a clipboard. We asked Sister Rosser the next day how we did (her and her husband are the people that are in charge of the missionary apartments in Ridgecrest and they’re in my and Sis Sandorf’s ward) and she said she was very impressed with everyone. I was impressed how she distracted us enough that she didn’t have to answer the question. Sneaky sneaky.
We went to the Family History Center Tuesday night so that I would know how to do it (I’ve only done it once or twice before) and Jason was there– he’s the guy who was just baptized that’s moving into our ward next week. He is awesome and Sis Sandorf was so excited that she finally got to meet him (all the sisters had except her). The 1st sisters are passing him off to us tomorrow to teach him recent convert lessons and I’m really excited!
Friday was tamale day! Larry fed all of the missionaries in the Ridgecrest zone (there are 10 of us) homemade tamales. He didn’t make them, he just knows a girl. It was awesome! He wanted to thank the 6 of us who helped him clean out his garage, but he ended up feeding all of us cause he’s just so cool. We told him he was the coolest kid on the block and he just laughed.
On Saturday we had a baptism!! Jason was baptized into 1st ward, but he’s moving into our ward next week so we’ll get to teach him the recent convert lessons (people who join the church get taught all the lessons before and after they’re baptized). He is so strong in the gospel already so he’ll probably be teaching us instead of the other way around. Tim and Sis Rosser gave the prayers (they wanted people from our ward there so that Jason knew a few people) and we had a great time waiting for the baptism to start (the person baptizing was 20 minutes late). It’s so exciting to have baptisms and we’ll get another one in a few weeks!
Mostly this week has been us trying to get lessons with people and then tracting when they don’t work out. I hope next week is better and more productive, but it will probably be a little bit of a struggle week.
In order to understand what I’m about to tell you, you need to have some mission background info. When you first get into the mission field, you have to do something called “12 week” (it just means you have to be trained for 12 weeks) so the first and/or second companion that you get is also your trainer. The trainer is the one who shows the newbie how to be a missionary. You have a companion each transfer (sometimes you have them for multiple transfers) and transfers last 6 weeks. The third piece of info you need to know is what an STL is. An STL is a “Sister Training Leader” and it means that 1 or 2 sisters look out for the other ones in their zones and possibly surrounding zones (it depends on how many sisters there are in an area). They are the ones who set up and go on exchanges with other sisters. Got it?
So Saturday we got transfer calls aaaaannnnnnnddddddd……..Sis Sandorf is leaving! We knew something big was happening when we saw after dinner that we had a missed call from President and a text that said “call me”. We called right away (when President says call, you call) and he didn’t answer but texted that he’d call us back in a few minutes. He did and the first thing he said was “Sister Sandorf, I want you to know that you have done an amazing job serving in Ridgecrest” and right then we knew she was leaving. He then told her that the Lord wanted her in Bakersfield as an STL. As soon as we hung up, we started to cry and Sis Sandorf started to freak out (which wasn’t great since she was driving). We tried to hold in the tears until we got to the apartment, but we weren’t very successful. It’s crazy how much you come to love your companion in such a short amount of time. I am going to miss her SO much! She’s my mission mom and my trainer and my missionary inspiration. I know I can do it without her, but I don’t really want to. The Lord knows what we need though so I know He’ll take care of me.
And the news is not done! Not only is Sis Sandorf leaving, but I am training! If you were paying attention to the background info, you’re looking at the words “12 weeks” and your brain is trying to calculate how long I’ve been out. I’ll help you out and let you know that I’ve only been out for 6 weeks. I get to train myself and someone completely brand new! We got back to the apartment to cry over Sis Sandorf’s news when the phone rang again. It was the APs (assistants to the President) and they said that President wants me to train. I didn’t breathe quite right for about 10 minutes after that phone call. It’s scary and exciting and I have no idea what’s going to happen, but like I said before, the Lord will take care of me and help me do what He’s asked. In 1 Nephi 3:7 it says that “the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.” I know that the Book of Mormon is God’s word so I know that He will prepare a way for me to do what He’s asked. I’ll let you all know if I survive this first week of transfers in my next email.
Ciao
Sister Schroeder
My adorable almost ex-companion:
A blurry picture of an amazing sunset (we were in the car when I took it):
One of our last companion selfies:
A sign in front of St Michael’s church (this picture is a little overdue):
What a cutie!
Sis Sandorf and I at the playground (It’s new and really fun– we put a timer on and she went down the slide and I went down the ladder and we had to jump over a wall):
Our slide entrance selfie:
The super sketchy van by our apartment:
Yep, it was an ice cream truck:
We were aghast that anyone would buy ice cream from this guy (Sis Sandorf might just be sneezing, I’m not quite sure)
