Hail to the Prophet!

I get to say hello from outside the mission today! Our p-day was moved to today because we are on our way to the Los Angeles temple! In my mission we get to go twice a year (unless we go with our recent converts) and I’m excited to get some spiritual uplift in my life. Missionaries need to come to Jesus too.

This week was a good week. An optional summer schedule came out for us and we were able to find 2 people when we used it! Usually we get up at 6:30 and exercise, eat breakfast, get ready, and study, then leave at 10, but with the new schedule we get up at 6:30 and quickly get ready, then leave at 7 and do all the other stuff when we get back around 10. It makes so much more sense to go out early in the morning because that’s when the people are out and about. No one but the missionaries are walking around at 3 in the afternoon in 104-degree heat. I’ve seen more people outside in the past few days than in the past few months.

The summer weather is finally starting to hit us. I thought the last few weeks when it was in the lower 90s was bad, but my perspective has definitely changed. You know it’s hot when you say “Oh good it’s only going to be 98 on Tuesday so it won’t be too bad.” I’m attaching a picture of the weather for this week. The fire of a thousand suns has come.

We got to spend time with some really fun people this week. One lady we talked to (who we’re meeting with again tonight!) gave us turtle brownies when we left and they were amazing. She does cake decorating and so they looked really fancy. We also met with our recent convert Arlone a few times this week. She cracks me up! She was talking about how she found $20 and she was so excited because she “gets to give Jesus $2!” She loves the gospel so much and always says “if Jesus could save me, he can save anyone!” She wants to go and talk to the hood kids to try and save them and give them a better life because she recognizes how much the gospel changes lives.

We got to meet with a less active member this week and we somehow ended up talking about the ghetto bird. The ghetto bird is a helicopter that flies around Bakersfield at night with a huge spotlight looking for criminals and fugitives. Kitty, the lady we were talking to, said that one time the ghetto bird came right over her house because they thought someone they were looking for ran into her back yard. She said she was inside and when she looked out the window “it was so bright I thought Jesus had come again!” Good times.

Today, June 27, is a pretty powerful day for me. For those of you who don’t know, “Hail to the Prophet” comes from a hymn called “Praise to the Man”, which is about Joseph Smith. June 27, 1844 was the day that Joseph and his brother Hyrum were martyred. They gave almost their whole lives to restoring Jesus Christ’s church to the earth. They were persecuted so much and I don’t think I would be strong enough to go through everything they went through, but I’m so so grateful that they were strong enough to do what needed to be done. It’s because of Joseph Smith that I have the happiness and peace I have today. I can’t wait to meet him and thank him for everything he did. I know that the church Joseph Smith restored is the Church of Jesus Christ. The doctrine it teaches is true and the joy it brings is real. I love singing “praise to his mem’ry, he died as a martyr; honored and blest be his ever great name! Long shall his blood, which was shed by assassins, plead unto heav’n while the earth lauds his fame.” A lot of people are skeptical about Joseph Smith, but I KNOW he was a prophet called by God and nothing will be able to make me doubt that.

Well, that’s all folks! Talk to y’all next week.

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

I burned a shirt to celebrate my 9 month mark (I’m halfway there!)

Sis Desposorio falls asleep on the couch all the time (this is time 2 out of 6)

Selfie while waiting to pick up the other sisters:

That is 7:34pm by the way:

Triple digits all the way!

We went to Petsmart for our last few minutes of dinner one night and got to pet them through the glass:

The feel of the wind in my skirt…

I’m saying hi from Bakersfield this week! I’ve been in the Laurel Glen ward for 6 days and I like it here a lot. My companion, Sis Desposorio, is awesome, and when I got here I got the good news that we aren’t walking! We are on bikes, which doesn’t sound much better, but trust me, it is. We walked the first day because we had to get one of the bikes fixed before we could ride it, and it was 103 degrees. I felt like I was sweating lava. With the bikes, you have wind blowing on you, which keeps you a lot cooler. But the wind creates other problems. Bike+wind+skirts=not good. I’ve already accepted that I’m going to be a hot sweaty mess this summer so now I’m just working on accepting the fact that I’ll be a hot sweaty mess that flashes people. But I can now put “riding bike in a skirt” on my talents list! And we get a car 2 days a week (we share with the other sisters in our ward) which gives us a nice break.

It was hard to say goodbye to everyone in the AV, especially Sis Williams and Mckenzie. They’ve become some of my best friends and I’m really going to miss seeing them. But I know God will take care of them for me. Good-byes aren’t forever!

I don’t have much else to add. This week’s just been full of biking and getting used to my new surroundings. We have a lot of good stuff planned for this week so I’ll tell you all about it next week!

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

Sis Williams getting her hair cut in the parking lot (don’t ask)

Helping out at FHE with Mckenzie:

Last supper with Mckenzie:

Me and my new comp Sis Desposorio:

Our usual attire:

Popsicles on a hot day:

Sing we now at partying

This week was transfer calls. The zone leaders started out the call by saying “sisters, we’re about to ruin your night. Completely demolish it.” My first thought was “we’re both getting transferred, which means we have to pack and clean everything.” I was partially right. Both Sis Williams and I are leaving the AV and they are shutting down the sisters area for our ward, but we don’t have to super clean the apartment because the elders might move in here. I’m not sure if I’m impressed or sad that I’ve managed to drive the sisters out of 2 areas now. When I left Berkshire the sisters were taken out and elders were put in and this time they just dropped the sisters with no replacement. The next ward I’m going to (Laurel Glen in Bakes) has 2 sets of missionaries as well. I’m thinking I should call ahead and warn them.

On Friday we got to do some service (2 weeks in a row!) where we helped someone move. It was us, the elders, and two other people helping, and we got a lot done. We started helping at 8 and then ran home and changed so we were dressed for district meeting at 10:30. We looked and smelled amazing (there was no time to shower) so it’s a good thing we’re all friends. I’m going to miss this district. I’ve had so much fun down here in the AV. If my next district isn’t as fun I’ll just have to bring it.

That’s really all I have to report this week. I’m sad to leave this area and Sis Williams. She has become one of my best friends and I love her so much. She’s going up to Ridgecrest in my first ward!! She is going to LOVE it! But because she’s in Ridgecrest (aka isolation from the rest of the mission) I won’t see her for a while. I was going to put “sing we now at parting” for my subject line, but it auto corrected to “sing we now at partying” and I think that fits us much better. There was never a dull moment with Sis Williams and Mckenzie.

When we told Mckenzie we were both leaving she said “we were just having too much fun”. I know I’ll see Sis Williams in a few months though, so I’m not too sad yet. I’ll probably bawl at transfers, but I know the Lord has a plan for everyone. If I trust anyone it’s God. Out of all of us, He’s the only one who knows what’s going on. He probably feels like He’s herding cats most of the time!

I hope y’all have a fantastic week and show your dads how much you appreciate them next Sunday!

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

There was a fire close by:

Selfie after moving:

Playing phase 10 with Sis Williams:

Dinner at Applebees:

My delicious chicken dinner:

The physical representation of the past few days:

The elders… enough said:

We all decided to match at church because it was our last week:

Let’s start off with probably the most exciting thing this week… service at a horse ranch! We went with the zone leaders, and we dumped out and filled up water buckets, which was as glamorous as it sounds. The water pressure was strong, so sometimes the hose would shoot out of the bucket and scare the horses. I made sure that didn’t happen when any of them were in the pen with the horses though. I’m not that mean.

We learned that Elder Pixton is kinda prissy because he didn’t like the animals, and it made us all laugh when the donkey started walking toward him and he jumped the fence in one jump to get away from it. The lady who owns the ranch was like “Oh a city boy!” I hope we get to go back and help out more because I had a lot of fun. It reminded me of my days with the goats.

A sad part of this week was when Mckenzie’s cat died. He got hit by a car, so we went over and helped her bury him, and then we ate cake. Mckenzie LOVES cake with a passion so we brought her a tres leches cake that was really good. We got it all over our faces!

That was pretty much it for the week. It hit 100 degrees and we’ve been walking around a lot so there have been a lot of prayers said for shade. I have never sweated this much in my life!

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

Selfie with a horse!

He liked Sis Williams better

Keely graduated high school!

Sis Williams likes to sleep on my legs

Our cake faces (mine ended up inside my nose)