“Be not afraid… For the Lord thy God is with thee”

I’ve grown up hearing stories about missionaries being chased by dogs or having to kick dogs or getting bitten by dogs, and so far on my mission I haven’t encountered anything but sweet friendly dogs. Until Saturday.

We were walking around a neighborhood and decided to go up to this one house and knock. I was in front so I started walking up to the door first, and out of the corner of my eye I saw something round the corner of the house and I thought “just a dog, no biggie”. Well, the fence to the backyard went alongside the pathway to the door and when that dog hit the fence, it moved about a foot toward me. I ran the few steps left to the porch and turned around to see the biggest dog I have ever seen in my life hanging over the fence trying to bite my face off. Sis Stockdale had seen the dog before she had started up the path, so she was out of the danger zone. I had two options: stay on the porch until the dog got bored and left us alone, or walk through the valley of the shadow of death past the dog to get to my companion. I gathered up my courage and inched along the side of the house as far away from the violently shaking fence as I could get. Thankfully, I made it safely out and I am here to tell you this story today. I have never really been scared of a dog in my life, but I could gladly go the rest of my life without seeing that dog again. I am now officially a missionary.

Another scary thing that happened this week is that Stabby McStabster might be back (that’s what Sis Williams and I named our ghost in our haunted apartment in Lancaster). Sis Stockdale and I got back last night and the gate to our backyard was wide open. I thought maybe the sisters left it open when they got the bikes out that morning, but Sis Stockdale distinctly remembered closing the gate after them and I didn’t remember noticing it open when we came back for lunch. So we went inside and I thought it was no big deal because the door to our backyard is locked… or so I thought. We got out our pepper spray and walked through the house opening every closet and turning on every light. No one was inside. It’s possible that the back door could’ve been left unlocked, but I remember locking it about a week ago and we haven’t gone out that door since. I don’t know what’s going on, but for now I’m chalking it up to forgetfulness and the wind. I’ll let y’all know if any other strange things start happening and we have the haunting part 2.

Other than that, the missionary life as been the same old same old. I was sick for a few days this week and sickness and bikes don’t go together so we used that time to draw a map of our area on one of our giant whiteboards. Sis Stockdale drew it and it looks fantastic. I don’t think I have a picture of it, but I’ll send one next week when it’s completely done. We’ve been spending a lot of time visiting members and letting Sis Stockdale get used to the new area. I’m hoping to find some more people to teach this week because we aren’t teaching anyone right now. It’s hard to be a missionary when no one wants to hear about how amazing the gospel is. That’s alright though because I know there is someone in our area just waiting for us to change their life.

As I’m sure a lot of you know, last week was my birthday. Although it was a few days late, I got an amazing present from Sis Evans who y’all might remember from a few transfers ago. It was around 10:20 Thursday night when I heard some voices near our apartment. I locked the door because I didn’t want to die that night, and a few seconds later someone knocked. I couldn’t think of anyone we knew who would be knocking on our door so late, so I got the pepper spray ready and Sis Stockdale opened the door. I can’t think of a single time my brain has gone completely blank from shock, but now I know what it feels like. Megan (aka Sis Evans) was standing on the other side of my door. I stood there for a hot second before running outside and hugging the snot out of her. She said she didn’t know what to get me for my birthday and thought “why not have the present be me?” She was going to come in the morning, but said she couldn’t wait. We talked for a few minutes before she left and then her and her friend Hailey took us out for lunch the next day.

I have a testimony that Heavenly Father loves me. There is no denying it. He knew that seeing Megan and getting a chance to talk to her would mean the world to me and so He made that happen. There are no such things as coincidences because there is a God in heaven who loves us more than we can comprehend. He has a hand in our everyday lives, we just have to have our eyes open enough to see it.

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

It was quite toasty on Sunday:

Me and my birthday present!

Megan also brought me a bundt cake when she came:

The tiny lizard that was on our door:

My new companion, Sis Stockdale:

Me and Sis Stockdale and the Williams duo:

Not sure if you can tell, but that dark thing in the shadows is the giant scary dog:

“I’m a Mormon!”

This week we went to see someone in the ward who wanted missionaries to come over and teach him and his daughter, and help them get back to church. When we knocked on his gate, he came outside and said he was busy at the moment, but asked for our number and as we were giving it to him, a lady came to the door and said “We aren’t Mormons”. The guy turned around and said “I’m a Mormon!” We left right after that, but I really want to know how that conversation went after we left.

Some crazy stuff happened this week. There was an ET (emergency transfer) and a sister in the ward right next to us got put in our companionship for a few days. Her name is Sis Williams, not to be confused with the Sis Williams I was with last transfer. We worked in both of the wards the past few days and she’ll go back to her ward tomorrow with her new companion, Sis Williams (the one I was with last transfer). I’m sure they won’t hear things like “Williams and Williams. Are you related?” or “Williams and Williams, that makes it easy!” all the time.

It should be tons of fun though because we’re in the same district so we’ll get to see each other at least once a week! I am sad though because Sis Desposorio is going to Bakes YSA. I love her and had such a fun time being with her. She’s going to BYU though so we’ll see each other at school next year! And she’s not going too far so I’m sure we’ll see each other around the mission too. I’m staying in Laurel Glen and will be getting Sis Stockdale.

We had a fun time on Saturday night following a prompting of the Spirit Sis Desposorio got. We had to run to the store for something and she felt like she needed to give this older couple a Book of Mormon. She dismissed it though, and we were driving away when we felt like we should follow her prompting. So we drove around the parking lot, at night, waiting for them to come out. When they did, we walked over to them and started talking to them. They did not seem interested at all and very clearly stated it. When we were driving home after that, we wondered why we felt prompted to talk to them when they weren’t interested at all and pretty rude. Now why would the Holy Ghost prompt Sis Desposorio to talk to them? I’ve had moments like that too where I feel prompted to knock on a door and the people don’t want anything to do with us. I used to think it meant it wasn’t a prompting and just a weird feeling I got, but I don’t think that’s it. I think that God tests us to see if we’re paying attention. If we will do small things for Him, like knock on a door or talk to a certain person, He knows that we will do bigger things for Him. He will know that He can rely on us for anything that He needs. One of my favorite quotes from President Monson is “I always want the Lord to know that if He needs an errand run, Tom Monson will run that errand for Him.” I want the Lord to rely on me that same way and know that if He needs anything done, I can do it for Him.

I hope y’all have a fabulous week and don’t get too hot! I’ll let you know how the first week of transfers went next week.

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

My birthday spoils – thanks to everyone who wished me happy birthday! I felt so special and loved

A box fan hiding in the hallway attacked me at 3 in the morning:

And I’m not sure how it bruised, but it certainly did

Our temporary trio:

Our district selfie:

A healthy breakfast before heading out for the day:

Pizza for lunch!

I stepped in gum 🙁

One day we were biking to an appointment that was on the other side of our area (about 20-25 minutes away on bike). It was very hot that day, as most of them are, so I just asked God as I was biking to let some sprinklers shoot onto the sidewalk. Sometimes we’ll bike past when people are watering their lawns, and the sprinklers will rotate further than the grass, which means we can get our feet a little wet when we bike past. It’s even better when the spray goes up high enough that we get almost our whole calf wet!

Well, I’m here to tell you that God loves us and knows what we’re going through and He will answer our prayers. I was biking past some sprinklers and the timing and rotation was absolutely perfect. The sprinkler hit me full on, from my face all the way to my feet. And it wasn’t just a quick spray that’s more like a mist– it was at least 5 seconds of cold water soaking my clothes, skin, and hair. It was the most magical moment of my month. And if you think it was a coincidence, Sis Desposorio was a little bit behind me and she said she didn’t get hit at all because the sprinklers weren’t spraying on the sidewalk that much. I love that God cares enough about me to hit me in the face with a sprinkler on a hot summer day.

Someone that we had been teaching since I got here dropped us this week, which was sad. I was a little upset at first because he said that he hoped our eyes would one day be opened to the true gospel of Jesus Christ (implying that we had been deceived). It’s just hard when someone tells you that you are naive when you know what you’re saying is true because you’ve felt its power in your life. But Sis Desposorio helped me see that he just cared about us and was giving us advice in a loving way. I hope someday other missionaries will find him and his heart will be a little more open to the Spirit. We’ve talked to a lot of people this week and have several return appointments, which is awesome!

Our mission started doing this thing called OYM 10/20, which means Open Your Mouth: 10 people contacted per missionary and 20 people contacted per companionship. Something that President Ballard said about how missionaries aren’t talking to people really hit President Layton, and so this goal of talking to 20 new people a day is helping us get out and talk to people. It’s hard to do though, and Sis Desposorio and I haven’t reached our goal yet. However, we’ve had some really good conversations with people about the gospel, and it’s definitely pushed us to open our mouths more.

Elder Holland gave a really good talk about this idea called “We Are All Enlisted”. There are a few lines from it that really help inspire me to open my mouth. He says:

“Apparently [Satan’s] effort to stop the work will be reasonably well served if he can just bind the tongue of the faithful. If that is the case, I am looking tonight for [missionaries] young and old who care enough about this battle between good and evil to sign on and speak up. I am looking tonight for missionaries who will not voluntarily bind their tongues but will, with the Spirit of the Lord, open their mouths and speak miracles. I ask for a stronger and more devoted voice, a voice not only against evil and he who is the personification of it, but a voice for good, a voice for the gospel, a voice for God. [Missionaries] of all ages, unbind your tongues and watch your words work wonders in the lives of those ‘who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it.'”

Elder Holland speaks right to my soul and gets me more excited about missionary work and the gospel than anyone else. I just want to shout our good message from the rooftops, but since that isn’t a very dignified thing to do, I’ll content myself with going from person to person.

I think that is all for this week. We had dinner with some members this week, we were talking about the Plan of Salvation and why God created it and everything. Sis Weaver’s response was, “Well, why did you have children?” They both looked over at their son with puzzled looks and said, “that’s a good question. Why do we have Caleb?” It was a good look into the minds of parents. I hope y’all are having a fantastic summer!

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

We both got stuff in the mail!

My cute comp taking selfies on my phone:

Me getting misted with sprinklers at a stop light (the second most magical moment of my month)

“Dresses and bikes?…that’s total beach wear!”

This week I had an experience I never wish to have again. I am forever going to be traumatized. We were having a lesson with one of the people we’re teaching and because he’s a man, we have to meet outside. We had a great lesson and the Spirit was there, up until the biggest fly I have ever seen in my life decided to dive bomb my head. The problem for him was that if he wanted to get to my head, he had to go through my thick, long hair first. Unfortunately for him (and for me), he did not make it to my head. At this point in time, I didn’t know that he was a fly. All I heard was a loud buzzing sound right next to my ear. Like the rational person I am, I started screaming my head off. I thought that a bee was stuck in my hair and there was no way I was going to get stung by a bee in the middle of a lesson. Not today Satan!

Sis Desposorio asked me what was going on and all I could do was flip my hair in front of my face and scream, “somebody get it out!” The member who had come with us to the lesson (who was a man) started hitting my hair to try and help. He got it out of my hair and it fell onto the grass, where I maliciously squished it with my phone. When I looked up, John (the person we were teaching), was looking at me like I was the weirdest person he had ever seen. Oh well, sometimes you do what you gotta do.

This week was the 4th of July, as I’m sure you all were aware of. We had to be in by 8 because President didn’t want us around the crazies. It wasn’t even close to dark, so we didn’t see any fireworks when we were out, but Sis Desposorio and I turned off all the lights in our apartment and just watched the neighbors set off fireworks through the window. I didn’t feel like a creeper at all.

We had a “cottage meeting” this week, which is where you invite all the people you’re teaching (member or not) to a member’s house and have a big lesson all together. Sis Desposorio and I were the ones putting it on, and I think we did a fantastic job, even though only one person showed up. Her name was Sue and she was awesome, so I say we nailed it. I think the other sisters are going to do a cottage meeting next and hopefully more people will show!

That’s all for this week. Apparently the weather is just beginning to get hot so I’m excited for this next week. Gorgeous tan, here I come!

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

My bike and I have been at war since I first got here (bike 5, Sis Schroeder 0)

Sis Desposorio and I on the 4th (sitting outside an old folks home– we party hard)

I made crêpes this week for Sis Desposorio’s 6 months left mark (also known as 6 months to sexy)

This kid’s response made my day!

Well not much has happened since Wednesday. The temple was amazing, as always, and it gave me a much needed spiritual boost. I’m excited for when I get home and can go to the temple whenever I want!

I’m not sure what else to talk about because really not much has happened. Sis Desposorio is awesome and she makes me laugh. We made dinner for ourselves the other day and it was a lot of fun. I made the dinner part and she made dessert. We’re a good team!

I know I promised exciting things in this email, but life has chosen otherwise. I did watch a really good video the other day:

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-07-006-the-hope-of-gods-light

I love comparisons of light and darkness, so this video really touches me. I hope y’all watch it because it’s really good! I’ll have more stories of the missionary life in Laurel Glen next week. Have a happy 4th of July!

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

The gorgeous temple grounds:

The beautiful roses!

It was a very bright day: