Well folks, the email this week is going to be a short one. We had big things planned, and then life got in the way.

Missionaries in a YSA ward can only teach people who are 18-30 so it’s very hard to find people to teach by just walking around, but since we don’t have anything else to fill our time, we walk around. If we talk to anyone outside that age range we have to give them to other missionaries, but we’re hoping that karma will come around and other missionaries will give us people to teach that are 18-30. We’ve found a few people that we’ve passed off to other missionaries and karma must be working its magic because the zone leaders gave us a few people to teach. If it wasn’t for the zone leaders, we wouldn’t have anyone to teach.

The reason our week was thrown off was Sis Williams. She is just a problem child that I have to deal with. Naw I’m kidding she’s the best! But she was the reason. She may have internal bleeding and colon problems, so we spent many hours in the hospital and at doctor’s offices. On Saturday we waited for one doctor for 3 hours; she yelled at us and basically said we were dumb for waiting so long to go to a doctor (we went right away so I don’t know what she was talking about) and for not going to the ER. So we went to the ER and waited for 6 hours for them to do some blood tests and then tell us to go back to the first doctor we talked to. We didn’t get home until 12:30, but the zone leaders brought us ice cream because they’re the best. I don’t think anyone really knew what they were talking about.

We’re going to go down to see another doctor in Santa Clarita this week and a real adult is going to come with us to make sure the doctor does what she’s supposed to do. I’m buckling up for another exciting, crazy week! And the best part was when Sis Williams had to do an ultrasound and drink 32oz of water and hold it for an hour (she does not hold her bladder well) and she was practically dying so we drove to the place and I had to talk for her because she was just in so much pain. The lady told her to go to the bathroom and then start over. While she was gone the lady came over to me and whispered “is she special needs?” I told her no, and she gave me paperwork for her to fill out. I thought it was so funny and when I told Sis Williams she was very offended.

The summer weather (average of 108 degrees) hasn’t arrived yet so I will live another week! I’ll end with some food for thought that I heard in district meeting this week: “a person all wrapped up in themselves is a very small package”.

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

* A member was appalled that I had never had a banana split before, so she made me one and then everyone watched while I took my first bite

* I had a really bad headache so my awesome companion hung up a blanket with tape to block the light (it fell down rather quickly, but it’s the thought that counts)

* When you feel sad so you stuff your face with froyo and jam out to the radio

* We like to spice things up when we video chat Mckenzie and read scriptures

* About 10:30 pm in the ER waiting room

* We finally got called… so we could wait in the sketchy curtained room that allowed you to hear all the moaning and screaming of other people

* A few selfies of us at district meeting

* A few selfies of us with Mckenzie 🙂

* Me enjoying myself at Olive Garden

This week was full of missionary work. Who’d’ve thunk?!

It started out with us not being able to leave our car one night. We have a 2017 Malibu and it has a button to turn on the engine. We were all ready to get out, and Sis Williams turned off the car and it said something about it not being able to detect the key. We then realized the engine was still on. Sis Williams started the car up and tried again with the same results. We called the zone leaders (because they also have a Malibu) and asked how to turn off the car. Thankfully Elder Kraft had had this happen to him before so he knew exactly what to do: put the key in the bottom of the middle console and then turn off the car. Sis Williams and I were skeptical, but we tried it, and lo and behold it worked. Thank goodness for the zone leaders or we would’ve been there all night!

The only other exciting thing that happened was we got to play volleyball on Saturday. We were supposed to play softball, but there were some do-gooder Scouts doing a blood drive or something on the softball field, so we just moved indoors. I didn’t really want to play at first, but Sis Williams convinced me and I had a lot of fun. We played king of the court for a little while and my team did pretty well. We came, we won, we left. We weren’t the annoying people that no one could beat, but we held our own. After the games we went to a baptism. Mckenzie and her mom both came and said that it was really peaceful and calm, which is 100% true. If you ever want to feel peace, go to a Mormon baptism.

That was mostly it for the week. There were ups and downs, but c’est la vie so I’m just keeping it going. I’m just trying to enjoy the low 80s weather before the fire of a thousand suns rains down on me. Good times are ahead!

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

At zone conference (feat. Sis Jones)

When the car kidnapped us:

When you make your companion laugh so hard doing squats that she falls over:

My strange companion hugging my legs during planning:

Sis Williams’ excitement for volleyball:

This week was awesome for 2 reasons: we got to go to the temple and it was Mother’s Day!

We worked with Keely for several hours this week so that she could get family names to take to the temple. She took 5 names and one of them was her great-great grandmother who she’s heard a lot about. She was nervous to go, but the temple worker was so nice and everyone was so helpful. Keely said she had an amazing time. We also go to take Mckenzie with us. She’s totally cool with doing her own thing so while we all went inside she walked around the temple and took pictures and then went to the visitors center and fell asleep in a booth that talked about the Book of Mormon. I love her! It was really great to get to go to the temple because that’s the time that I get to spiritually recharge. There is just such peace at the temple and I know it’s a peace that can only come through God. The temple is His house on earth and I’m very grateful to live in a time where we have almost 200 temples on the earth. I’m thankful that I have the gospel in my life and I can feel the peace that comes from God not only at the temple, but every day as I try to become more like Jesus Christ.

Mother’s Day was exciting because I love my mom and it was my 8 month mark (shout out to myself for making it!) Oh yeah, and I got to talk to my family! My family is the best and I miss them a lot. I’m was surprised because this call was better than the last one. Not that the last one was bad, but I didn’t feel as sad when we hung up this time. I really miss my family, but I know that I’m getting blessed and they’re getting blessed while I’m out here on a mission. And I have the rest of my life to be with those weird goofballs so what’s 9 more months?

We also had exchanges this week with Sis McMinn and Sis Parcell. Sis McMinn and I were really struggling with what to do because it was so hot outside so we decided to test our faith and pray to find someone specific. I was the one who said the prayer and felt impressed to pray that we would find someone wearing man flip-flops (the ones that are made with dark brown fabric and the straps are thick and kinda torn looking). It was such a weird thing to pray to find someone wearing “man flip-flops” and we both laughed every time we prayed, but we were able to find someone who wanted to learn more because we went to talk to a guy wearing flip-flops. It was a good experience because it showed my that the Lord really is aware of us and He has a sense of humor.

Well, those were the most exciting things in my week. Chick-fil-A did bad things to us on Tuesday so we just felt sick all week. It was such a great time! It can be summed up in a statement from Sis Williams who said, “between me and you, we’re destroying this toilet.” I’m so glad I have her in my life. She makes me laugh so much!

I hope y’all had an amazing Mother’s Day and showed your moms or mother figures how much you appreciate all that they’ve done for you!

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

All my favorite people at the temple:

Me and my adorable comp:

The snail we see on our morning walks (we haven’t named him yet so we’re open to suggestions):

The reason I’m going to die in the summer:

What we did while Sis Williams was dying:

Sis Williams got blisters:

Jamba Juice after exchanges:

This week was good 🙂 We were able to help one of the people we are teaching clean up her room and move some of her beds around. She is so awesome! She is very funny and makes us so happy! We have started reading through the Book of Mormon with her. She really likes it! She thought the chapter where Nephi goes to get the plates was super intense! We just read about the Tree of Life chapter and she thought it was so cool! She was very interested to see what everything represented. We helped her understand that the Tree of Life represents Jesus Christ, or the love of God, and the iron rod leading to the tree represents the word of God, or scriptures. She was like “That makes so much sense! Because you have to read the scriptures to come closer to Christ!” I love her so much! I love the story of the Tree of Life so much! It really shows the love God has for us. He has given us the help we need to follow the path back to him and feel of his love.

This week was May the 4th! Sis Williams and I wore our Jedi robes (aka super large cardigans that we found left in our apartment) all day. We had building cleaning that night at the church so we wore them to that and took pictures with the dusters as our light sabers 🙂 Fun times!

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

[Captions provided by Jeff, since she didn’t include any in her email]

Sis Williams throws a gang sign:

Olive Garden lunch party:

Surprise! The world just went monochrome:

Happiness is a big bowl of chili and a gigantic blue bib:

Rocks… dirt… Lancaster sure has it all:

Making bagels is worth a selfie:

You say old sweater, we say JEDI ROBES!

“These are not the dusters you’re looking for…”

“Always two there are… a master, and an apprentice.”