This is the story of how I died
Well, I guess it isn’t the story of how I died, but how Sis Taylor died. Or mostly died. She was mostly dead, which is partly alive. She didn’t get the plague that’s going around, but she was definitely struggling. We were in contact with Sister Layton all week and she made Sis Taylor get every cold medicine known to man (literally made Sis Taylor go broke) and sent us to the urgent care to see if it was the flu or strep. 3 hours later, we learned that Sis Taylor did not have the flu or strep, just a bad cold. We did see 2 ward members and the friend of an investigator while we were waiting though, so I guess it wasn’t a total waste (just mostly a waste).
We were told to take medicine and push through so that we could do missionary work and that was interesting. I was trying to push Sis Taylor as hard as I could without making her cry or killing her and trying to figure out when she really did need rest. It was a little bit stressful on my part since I’m the senior companion and the trainer so I call a lot of the shots (I promise it isn’t a dictatorship… much). I’m really proud of her because she pushed through a lot, even if she wanted to kill me at times. She is an amazing missionary and person, and I’ll be sad when I get a new companion.
We did exchanges on Tuesday and I was with Sis Gillespie again (Sis Crowley was also sick this week) and we had a great time driving around and trying to see people that weren’t home. We did get to talk to one lady for about a minute! We had fun though and she told me about the time some guy answered the door naked when she was tracting. I am very thankful that hasn’t happened to me and I hope it never does.
On Friday we went and saw Diana and Fallgatter, and all of us y’all y’alls had a little bit of a struggle week (Fallgatter said he asked a group of women what they prefer to be called, i.e. women, ladies, gals, etc, and one lady said “y’all y’all”). Fallgatter decided that we needed some way to unwind so he laid on the floor and we all threw marshmallows at him. We didn’t really want to do it at first (marshmallows would get all over the floor), but we finally agreed to get him to be quiet. It was so much fun! If you have any pent up emotions, I would suggest throwing marshmallows at someone, cause afterward we all felt wonderful. Fallgatter told us to apply the sign at the gate to Diana’s house. It says, “What you see here, what you hear here, what you do here, let it stay here when you leave here.” I figured that it was ok to tell y’all cause as long as it doesn’t get back to the bishop we’re all good!
Sis Taylor and I had some fun this week doing things for the other missionaries. We snuck into the 1st sisters apartment (we have a key) and cleaned their kitchen and living room. We were almost hoping that they would come home while we were there so that we could sneak out like secret agents. We had a plan that we would go out the sliding glass door to their backyard while they were unlocking the door and then jump the fence and run away. But they didn’t come home so we’ll have to be secret agents some other way. We also sticky-noted every companionship’s door with scriptures and quotes. It was a fun way to give them some inspiration and motivation (and test how well they know the movie Megamind– I promise it was mostly spiritual with just one or two from the movie). One of my favorite quotes that we put up was from Elder Jeffrey R Holland (the “I” is Christ): “What I need are disciples– and I need them forever. I need someone to feed my sheep and save my lambs. I need someone to preach my gospel and defend my faith. I need someone who loves me, truly, truly loves me, and loves what our Father in Heaven has commissioned me to do. Ours is not a feeble message. It is not a fleeting task. It is not hapless; it is not hopeless; it is not to be consigned to the ash heap of history. It is the work of Almighty God, and it is to change the world.” It makes me so excited to do missionary work and to be the best disciple of Jesus Christ I can be.
I’m going to end with one last sad tale: Once upon a time there were 2 sister missionaries. They were good missionaries, but they had strayed a bit (as had their waistlines) and decided it was time to pull themselves together. “No more junk food!” they vowed. “We have had more than enough and we’ve started to ooze out of our clothes!” One week went by, and then two. They started to work out in the mornings, walking to the park or doing squats and push ups in their apartment. It seemed as though they would keep the promise they had made to themselves and each other and be able to fit into their clothes again! But, alas, there was something preventing them from succeeding. Its name was… ward members. There was dessert at almost every dinner and boxes of cookies being given to the missionaries every time they left a house. In one evening they had brownies, ice cream, cake, cupcakes, and pudding. They just couldn’t seem get away from the sweet sugary goodness that was being given to them. They finally decided to accept their fate and said they would just get in shape after their missions. The struggle is real!
Ciao,
Sister Schroeder
Photos:
Sis Taylor trapped behind a window at Randsburg:
It gets so windy in Ridgecrest!
Our trip to urgent care:
Picking up the marshmallows from our fight:
