Elder Vance: “I lost 15 pounds!”
Sister Mounteer: “Well I found it!”

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVE!!! I’m so excited for Christmas tomorrow! We get to talk to our families and we’ll be going out to breakfast and eating lamb for lunch. It should be a party!

This week we went caroling on the Blvd as a zone. We sounded kinda good, but mostly bad. It was a lot of fun, though, and we handed out some candy canes and Light the World cards to those who stopped to listen. We went twice, but the second time, not many people were there so we didn’t sing as long. We have such an awesome zone! We’re all really supportive of each other, which is a big help in missionary work. We all go through the same things and we all have the same goal. It’s nice to have friends who understand the good and bad, and are there for you through all of it.

We also went to a wedding this week. We helped set up the day before and then we helped serve cheesecake at the actual wedding. It was for someone I knew in the YSA ward, and Rachel and Keely were there! It was fun to see them again. It was a good wedding, but it’s weird to be at a wedding when you’re a missionary.

That’s all I have for this week. Have a Merry Christmas!

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

Our beautiful piano display:

Artistic shot on the Blvd:

Zone pic:

Comp pic:

There was a guy dressed like Spider-Man on the Blvd so of course the elders had to take a picture with him:

Keely and Rachel at the wedding:

Lunch at Blaze:

“God only made a few perfect heads…”

“The other ones he covered in hair.”

Well… I’m not sure what happened this week. Sis Mounteer and I were both sick, although she did not throw up and I did. That was not my favorite part of this week.

My favorite part of the week was the Christmas Morningside. We got together with every missionary in Lancaster, Palmdale, and Santa Clarita and watched “It’s a Wonderful Life” and did a gift exchange. It was super chill and fun. President talked about the people who were chosen to first testify of Christ in his lifetime. It was all people of low class who weren’t anything in the eyes of the world. However, they were the most humble people and that’s what mattered. It doesn’t matter how much we have, or what our job is, or how much money we have. What matters is the desires of our hearts and how much we try to be like Christ. It matters if we serve those around us and help those in need. That’s what Christmas is all about.

That’s all I have for this week. Have a wonderful week before Christmas!

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

We donated clothes for Light the World:

Watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” (Sis Williams and Allan are in the background)

Random picture with some sisters we ran into at the temple today (I only knew Sis Jackman and Sandorf)

Selfie with my cute comp:

The nativity scene they have at the Los Angeles temple:

Sis Mounteer: “I’m going to look through your Facebook”

Elder Vance: “Ok, but don’t blame me when you fall in love.”

We have some good times with the elders in our zone. They’re pretty witty.

This email is going to be short as well. Sorry everyone, it’s just been super crazy around here and we were in Palmdale today, which is 20 minutes away from Lancaster.

This week we had our ward Christmas party, and Sis Mounteer and I were Santa’s helpers. Our bishop was Santa and he was so funny! He such a friendly guy and knows and loves everyone. He doesn’t actually live in our ward boundaries, but he’s the bishop because he speaks sign language. We have a lot of deaf people in our ward, which is super cool. I like to watch the interpreters during church and at the activities. I hope if I watch enough I’ll be able to learn more (I know a tiny bit from Sis Ottley). This week I learned how to say “Merry Christmas” and “ward”. We’re hopefully going to start learning sign language from a member so that we can interact more with the deaf members. There a quite a few that don’t come to church and we want to get them back.

In other news, it rained in Lancaster this week! And not like the baby sprinkle I got in Bakersfield. It was full-on rain. We thought there might be flooding because Lancaster is not built for rain, but it didn’t do any damage. I did jump in a puddle and it was awesome, but I definitely wore the wrong shoes for that so my feet were wet for 6 hours. That’s wasn’t as awesome. And then we drove through this huge puddle of water, and it sprayed up on both sides of our car, and I felt like Moses crossing the Red Sea. The next day the chance of rain was 0%. Guess that one day was it.

Well, that’s it for the week. Sis Mounteer is still awesome and we’re still the only sisters in Lancaster. I’m getting more used to it though because the elders are actually super nice to us. I feel like I’m living the charmed life!

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

Our fancy decorations (it took us 6 hours to put them up)

PSA: don’t bring playdough and rice to primary:

Santa and his amazing elves:

A cute cool pic a member took of Sis Mounteer:

Us posing with our favorite zone leaders, Elder Busdicker and Elder Rindlisbacher:

The ugly sweater cookies Sis Mounteer and I made at FHE last week (mine’s on the left)

I love Elder Holland (one of the Apostles) and today is his birthday. I have no idea how old he is, but I’m grateful he was born.

This week has been crazy, sometimes very literally. I’m back in the AV with Sister Mounteer, who is SO awesome! Nothing has gone the way we planned or expected it to, but I guess that’s why you spell missionary F-L-E-X-I-B-L-E. We ended up going to the psych ward this week, which is where the literal crazy comes from. Sister Mounteer said she saw a girl run at the door when it was open, and someone grabbed her shoulder when we were leaving and told her she had pretty eyes. Some lady also told me I had pretty hair. We got ice cream afterwards because it was a tiny bit stressful. But we made it out, and there’s only a slight chance we’ll have to go back. Man, nothing can prepare you for a mission but a mission prepares you for anything.

That’s all I have time for this week. Have a fantastic week and I’ll give you more detail next time.

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

My cute new comp making cookies:

Putting up our Christmas tree:

When you’re the only sisters in the zone, you have to act tough:

Getting ice cream after the psych ward incident:

Elizabeth’s baptism!