Single as a Pringle

This week I’m saying hello from the AV! Since we’re in the Young Single Adult ward, we get to go to all the activities and it is a blast… kinda.

Naw I’m just kidding. The activities have been great and I like the people I’ve met so far. My favorite activity this week was Institute. Institute is kinda like seminary for kids out of high school, and it’s in the evening instead of the morning, and it only happens once a week. This past week we talked about where the Book of Mormon might’ve taken place (not important, but interesting) and then we spent an hour in Helaman chapter 5. It was so cool and the teacher, Brother McFarlane, is so awesome. He’s entertaining and funny and spiritual, which is a good combo for any teacher in the church. There was a game night on Saturday as well, which was also pretty fun, but the group was kinda big for the game we were playing so it took FOREVER and everyone just sat and stared off into space until it was their turn.

The best part about being in the AV is our investigators. We’re teaching someone named Keely who’s getting baptized on April 7th! She’s adorable and we’re going shopping with her today to help her find a dress for her baptism. She loves learning about the gospel and she wants to be friends with us, which is the coolest thing ever. We have another investigator too who’s really cool. Her name is McKenzie and she’s had some hard things happen in her life, but she really wants to change. We brought her some cake the other day and we were her favorite people because she LOVES cake.

The sad part of our week was that we lost one of our investigators. I would say she dropped us, but she didn’t… which was the kinda funny part of the whole thing. She lived in a retirement home (not sure why, because she was in her 20s) and we went to go see her and one of the workers told us she didn’t live there any more so naturally we asked why. We were then told that she had been arrested. The cops had “finally caught up with her”. Both Sis Williams and I just stood there for a minute. I don’t know what was going through her head but I was thinking “can we teach people in prison?” When we told our district leader he was like “…….that’s a bummer”. Someday though, someday.

And last but not least… my new companion Sis Williams. She is awesome! She is really funny and a really good missionary and we already get along so well. She’s a little more conservative than Sis Evans was though, so I’ll have to get used to that! We get along really well so I’m excited to be with her.

Well, there wasn’t much else this week. I hope everyone has a happy Easter!

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

Photos…

Had to say goodbye to some of my favorite people (Persa should be in there too, but I couldn’t find the picture with her in it):

Our last ice cream cone together:

Our last selfie together:

My first selfie with Sis Williams:

I look like a potato, but Sis Williams looks cute so…

It was really cold when we took this picture:

… And really windy!

Look who’s back! Sis Jackman is in my district!

Leaving the ‘Shire

This week was an awesomely crazy week!

As Sis Evans and I were walking down a random street on Tuesday, a ward member drove by and stopped to tell us that the girl who has been living with her had been asking a lot of questions about how she can be baptized! She had been taught before, and Sis Evans said she has changed a lot and completely given her life to God. She said that God has given her everything good in her life so the least she can do is to do what He asks of her and be baptized and follow Him. It was really cool and inspiring. That’s someone who has had a “mighty change of heart”.

The second cool thing that happened the same day was we went to see a part-member family who the missionaries had been teaching. The man is a member and his wife had gotten interested in the church, but then stopped talking to the missionaries. We went over and she was outside, and we talked with her for a little bit and then asked if there was anything we could do for her. She asked us to come have a lesson with her! It was really cool and really unexpected.

And then, we got a referral for someone that wanted a Bible and said they would accept a Book of Mormon, so we went to see her Saturday afternoon. We gave her a Book of Mormon and started telling her about the Restoration of the gospel and when we told her about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appearing to Joseph Smith, she said she felt something she’d never felt before that went from her head to her toes. As we continued and talked about what the Book of Mormon was, she said she had the same feeling in her heart and her gut. We told her that it was the Holy Ghost testifying to her that what we were saying was true. And then when we hugged her goodbye, she said she got chills. It was such an amazing experience! It really strengthened my testimony of how true the gospel is and that Joseph Smith really did see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and he was called to be a prophet. It was a really great way to end my time here in Bakersfield.

Yep, I’m leaving. I’m going to Lancaster and I’m going to be in a YSA ward (Young Single Adults, ages 18-30). And the crazy thing is that Sis Evans is leaving too! She’s going to Palmdale, which is right next door to me. We are getting blue washed, which means that they’re taking out the sisters in our ward and putting in elders! There are going to be 2 sets of elders in Berkshire now. Some of the members were really upset because they’re single ladies, so elders can’t come visit them unless they have a woman with them, which means they can’t do random stop bys; they have to set up appointments. I’m not sure how the elders are going to do it, but I hope they can work it out so they can see everyone who needs them. Sis Evans and I have been packing like crazy and cleaning our apartment and writing down everything that the elders need to know about our area. It’s pretty stressful when there’s a completely new set of missionaries coming in. But I’m sure it’ll be great!

Well, I’m off to pack my life up and play games with my district!

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

Photos…

Gorgeous sky:

Happy St Patrick’s day! (When Sis Evans had her hair down, she totally looked like an Irish man and it was great)

Our crazy day saying bye to everyone:

Us with our investigator Steve and his son Brad:

Our selfie with the Michael, Mati, and the elders:

Me and the Morales fam:

Us and our investigator Kayla and her little sister (not sure why sis Evans is sneezing…)

The Berkshire crew (the fun sisters and boring elders):

Me and my adorable almost ex-companion:

I feel like all I talked about last transfer was being sick and getting sick and continuous sickness. Well, it has struck again. I’ve had a constant cough for about a week and everyone is telling me I probably have bronchitis. Yay!!

We stayed in on Tuesday (except dinner at Olive Garden!) because I had a fever all day. The rest of the week we went out, but I just wasn’t feeling it that day.

Friday was game night and Steph and Persa brought like 7 non-members. It was so awesome! Our recent converts are doing more missionary work then the lifelong members cause they are on fire! We also got to go to the temple with them this week. It was amazing! We went down with the youth, which was a little crazy, but fun. We got a tour in the visitors’ center that’s right next to the temple and it was pretty fun. We didn’t get to stay to see the whole visitors’ center because our ride had a concert to get to, but what we saw was really good. It was raining that day and Sis Evans and I didn’t bring jackets so we got a little soaked. I love going down to the temple. It’s so peaceful there and I always have my best discussions with God there. We had a good chat and I feel spiritually recharged for this week. It’s going to be a great week!

That was the most exciting stuff that happened this week. We just did missionary stuff like walking around and talking to people. The usual. This weekend is transfer calls so next week’s email will either be full of anxiety or pure joy, depending if one of us gets transferred or not.

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

We’ve gone a little crazy with the selfies…

This email is going to be really short because my brain is so dead. My throat started hurting yesterday and I’m in so much pain that I only got 2.5 hours of sleep last night… yeah.

We went to a baptism on Saturday for a man named Joe and his daughter. It was really cool because Steph (who’s been a member for literally a week) bore her testimony while they were getting changed and it was so powerful and amazing! It seemed like she had been a member her whole life. And then she got up and bore her testimony in sacrament meeting! She is so amazing!

Also at the baptism, the guy that was baptizing accidentally made Joe hit his head on the wall (Joe has bad knees so they had to lay him down in the water). Someone then made the joke that baptisms for the dead can only be done in the temple.

We also went on exchanges this week. I was with Sis McMinn, and Sis Evans was with Sis Weaver. It was raining the whole time. Sis McMinn said that maybe someone would stop to talk with us to ask what was so important that we were walking in the rain in skirts. No one did, but it was a good hope.

Every day the STLs ask us a question to get to know us better, and during exchanges they asked, “If you could go to space with anyone, who would it be?” Sis Evans said “A bed salesman” (she always says something related to sleep) and I said “My pot dealer” (cause I’m from CO). We were on the couch laughing our heads off cause we think we’re so funny and I think the STLs didn’t know what to do with us. Sis Weaver didn’t even want to tell Sis McMinn what we said. Oh well, at least WE think we’re funny!

Well, I’m gonna go try to get some sleep now. Pray for me.

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

Service for Steph:

Ice cream break (courtesy of Diego):

Diego and his yellow flower (and Takis):

PJ day!

More ice cream:

Sis Evans, Persa and clothes from the dead sister’s closet:

Diego in a skirt (The bag is so it can never be proven):