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.”

Hello everyone! This week was not very exciting so this email is going to be short and sweet, just like my companion!

We got to go see a play this week! Keely (who just got baptized) got her director to let us come see the dress rehearsal and it was AMAZING! Keely did such a good job and the play was very entertaining. It was a murder mystery called “And Then There Were None” and it was so intense. Some of the actors weren’t the best (they are high school students after all) so I had to try not to laugh at the super dramatic deaths, but overall they did a good job. The director was super excited for us to be there. Keely said she’s never seen him that excited about something so small. Sis Williams and I felt like VIPs.

We had transfer calls on Saturday, which is so stressful. We got the call around 9:30 while we were watching Jonny Lingo to try and take our minds off transfers. Elder Kraft (our zone leader… from Longmont!) told us that we should probably change our voicemail since it still says Sis Sandorf. Sis Williams tentatively asked what we should change it to and he said “probably Sis Williams and Sis Schroeder since you’re staying together”. Elder Kraft was my favorite person that day. He told us what was going on with the rest of the zone and after we hung up we started hugging each other and jumping around. Sis Williams has never had a companion for more than one transfer before, so this will be a new experience for her. She’s so lucky that I’m the one she gets to stay with longer! Actually I’m the lucky one because she is awesome!

We did some Plan of Salvation chalk art on Saturday to help us relieve some of the stress of transfer calls. It was SO windy and we’re pretty sure we flashed a lot of people (skirts+wind+busy road = lots of flashing), but we did a pretty amazing job so it was worth it. I’m going to be very excited if it stays this windy in the summer because it takes a lot of the heat off and I’m gonna need that. I’ve accepted the fact that I’m just going to be a hot sweaty mess all summer, but I’m praying for wind anyways. Missionary work is all about eternal hope. Like the hope that there will be a letter or package for you every time you open the mailbox… it’s often an empty hope.

New transfer, new me! Be excited for the exciting things that are going to happen!

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

Fancy name tag picture:

Name tag picture fail:

My adorable companion (she would kill me if she knew I sent this):

Blanket #1:

Blanket #2:

Blanket #3 (blankets are life):

Selfie with the stage:

Our VIP picture on set (it was very exciting):

Happy 6 month to Sis Williams:

Video filters:

We love Clear with a passion (we made a separate shopping trip just to get it):

Exciting things happened this week!

On Monday we walked in the pouring rain for an hour so that one of our
investigators would come to the activity that night. It started raining
right as we started walking (we parked our car at the church and then walked
to his house and then walked back to the church with him) so it’s a good
thing Sis Williams thought to bring an umbrella. It wasn’t too bad
though, and we got to get to know Jeremiah a little better, so it was for a
good cause. You know you’re a missionary when you walk 3 miles in the rain
to get one person to come to a church activity!

We finally got some service hours! As missionaries we’re encouraged to get
5 hours of service a week and in the past 5 weeks we’ve gotten a total
of… 0 hours. But one of our investigators had bed bugs that she
quarantined and tried to kill in her room, so we went into the danger
zone (we didn’t see any bed bugs so they’re mostly gone) and moved out all
the wood in there that they could be hiding in so that she can bed bug bomb
her room and kill them for good. We turned on some church music and got to
work and it was a lot of fun. I really love Mckenzie! Seeing her just makes
me happy. When we told her that transfers were coming up this Saturday she
friend requested President Layton (our mission president) and said she was
“going to have words with him”. We don’t know if President Layton will add
her as a friend, but we’re interested to see what happens because she is
pretty fiery. She told us not to worry though because she “wouldn’t mention
any names”. I love her so much!

We also had exchanges this week. Sis Parcell and Sis McMinn are our STLs
and I know both of them (Sis Parcell from Ridgecrest and Sis McMinn from
last transfer). I got to go out with Sis Parcell and we had a good time. I
was a little sad though because I missed 3 lessons with our
investigators (Sis Williams and Sis McMinn were in our area), but that’s ok.
Sis Williams got me all caught up on the crazy stuff that happened. It’s
sufficient to say that we are no longer teaching one of our investigators
and another one is praying about baptism! Sis Williams and I also raiding
the dead sisters closet in the STLs apartment (clothes that other sisters
leave behind when they leave the area) and we found some sweet green
cardigan things that we call our Jedi robes. We feel really cool wearing
them and you will probably see them in pictures from now on because they
are so comfy!

In other news, we might possibly be getting a new apartment or new locks on
our doors because weird stuff is happening again. You remember the old lady
calling for help and the DVD player being on when we got home? Yeah, it’s
back. A few days ago Sis Williams and I were looking at pictures and I
noticed she had a watch on so I was like “I didn’t know you had a watch”
and she was like “yeah I don’t wear it anymore” (we have very deep
conversations). Then about 30 minutes later her watch moved. She said she
went into the room to put her name tag on the dresser and made note of her
watch being on the dresser too (because we’d just talked about it) and then
walked back out into the living room where I was. I then went into the room
and grabbed my journal off the dresser and came back out. She walked back
into the room a few minutes later to grab something and when she came back
out she asked me if I wanted her to wear her watch. I was confused and
asked why she would say that. She said “well you moved my watch so I
thought it was you subtly saying you wanted me to wear it”. I had no idea
that her watch was even on the dresser. We both sat on the couch and
thought really hard about if we had moved it (maybe subconsciously) and we
are 100% certain that neither of us touched it. Weird that it moved on it’s
own… right after we talked about it.

But wait, there’s more. Yesterday we got a text from the sisters that live
below us asking if we had been home anytime recently. We were currently in
Tehachapi (which is about an hour away) so we asked why they would think we
were home. They told us they heard someone moving around in our apartment
and what sounded like our toilet flushing. We came home that night and went
down to their apartment to get the full story of what had been going on.
After they finished telling it, we sat in silence for a few moments and then
heard what sounded like cupboard doors opening and closing in our apartment
right above us. We thought it might be the apartment next to them or above
and over, but the sisters said they can’t hear anything that happens in
those apartments. Sis Williams and I decided to sleep with them in their
apartment that night and we got the elders to come and bless our apartment.
It’s weird though because none of us have a bad feeling when we’re in the
apartment like we would if there was something evil there, so we don’t
really know what to think about all of this. Not sure what’s going to
happen, but I’ll keep you posted!

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

Our district at mini-golf (the picture with the elders in it wouldn’t load):

Getting fro yo at the end of exchanges (Sis Parcell is in the bathroom):

Making signs for Mckenzie’s room:

Making lunch (obviously something weird’s going on cause our burner is
purple):

Video chatting with Mckenzie:

Movie date with Keely (watched Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration, which makes me cry every time):

Breakfast made by our amazing STLs:

Walking in the rain to get Jeremiah:

How we looked after walking in the rain for an hour (we were soaking wet):

My awesome companion and I at mini-golf:

Eating homemade chili:

My new hair cut from the back:

My new hair cut from the front (lots of layers and so much lighter!)

Sis Williams making a potato (in her Jedi robe!)

High-five in the Celestial Kingdom!

This week started off with us locking ourselves out of the apartment… again. Round 2 was a little different though, because it was Sis Williams that locked the door instead of me and we knew what to do. We were 85-86% sure that we had left the door to our balcony unlocked (remember, we learned from last time) so we called the elders and Elder Kelsey climbed the balcony and, lo and behold, it was unlocked! Thank goodness for the elders and their climbing skills!

Mckenzie, one of our investigators, had a birthday on Monday and because life is crazy on P-day (if anyone tells you P-day is when you get to rest they’re lying) we ended up not being able to do stuff with her. So, we had a picnic dinner with her on Tuesday instead. She is so adorable! We went and bought food from the store beforehand and she was like a little kid. She would say “oh have you tried this?” or “which one looks good?” and then get distracted by something else and run over to it. I just love her so much and I’m glad she had a good time. After we ate our food we went and played on one of the spinny things at the park. She said she loves to come spin and swing at the park so she made us do it with her and it was tons of fun. I haven’t played in a playground since Ridgecrest!

Wednesday was pretty exciting for Sis Williams because she got to go get a root canal! Yay! They numbed her up and when she came out she looked very sad because half her mouth didn’t move when she smiled and she kept touching her face saying, “I don’t feel anything!” She made it through, though! Thankfully she doesn’t need another root canal like the dentist thought– she just has to go back in to get a permanent filling, which they won’t even need to numb her up for (#blessings).

We had an awkward moment on Saturday when we drove to the church to park for a minute and figure out what we were going to do and there were lots of cars there and several missionaries standing in front of the church. It hit us that there was a baptism that day and we had totally forgotten to invite our investigators (we need to have an investigator with us in order to attend a baptism). The missionaries saw us and waved so we knew we couldn’t drive away without lots of awkward questions coming our way later. We decided to lie a little (all’s fair in missionary work) and so we got out and told them that our investigator couldn’t make it and we just stopped to go to the bathroom. We then snuck through the church (and a very dark chapel that Sis Williams was not a fan of) to get to the bathroom so that we didn’t have to answer “where’s your investigator?” to everyone we saw. We try not to lie too much: only when necessary. It was fun, but it would’ve been more fun to have investigators at the baptism. Good thing repentance is real!

Well, that was the gist of this week. We had some really amazing lessons with some of our investigators, which is always awesome. Nigal loves coming to all of the activities and Jeremiah has started to open up to us about what he’s really feeling! I feel like I’ve never gotten as close to my investigators as I have here. I think it’s because I’m finally starting to be myself and connect with people as me. Maybe I’m starting to get the hang of this missionary thing!

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

Photos:

Happy birthday Mckenzie! (she absolutely LOVES cake):

Our picnic (not sure why Mckenzie isn’t smiling… I promise she had a good time!)

Delicious frosted lemonade:

My sneaky picture of Sis Williams at the dentist:

Feeling great after the dentist:

At district meeting when we got to pretend to be random people who don’t really want to talk to missionaries (gotta help train those other missionaries):

Sushi (happy Friday the 13th and 7 months to me!)

Our chef chosen fishes (yes one of those is octopus and no it is not as delicious as it sounds):

Our fancy sushi eating devices:

Elder Robinson and I looking drunk at ward coordination:

This week was a good week. Lots of stuff happened and KEELY GOT BAPTIZED!!!!

I don’t know why, but I was so stressed out and nervous at the baptism. I woke up feeling a little nervous, because we wanted everything to go well and we had to put together the whole program ourselves, so that was a little nerve-wracking. And then one of the elders started stressing me out while we were setting up for the baptism because he kept saying that there was a meeting at 4, and so we had to go fast so we would be done by then (the baptism started at 2:30). And then our ward mission leader was nervous about conducting (which is understandable) so we had to run through everything with him while trying to keep Keely from freaking out. And then after the baptism, we realized the person who was supposed to give the talk on the Holy Ghost went to the wrong building and wouldn’t be at the baptism in time to speak. So Sis Williams, being the amazing person she is, gave an awesome short talk on the Holy Ghost with only 5 minutes to prepare. I had a very proud “that’s my companion!” moment.

Even though things were a little crazy, everything ran smoothly and Keely was able to get baptized and confirmed. I’m so proud of her and I know Heavenly Father is so proud of her for taking this step. She had the biggest smile on her face after she came up out of the water and in the changing room she was laughing so hard she was falling over. She kept saying “I just did that! I just got baptized!” And then after she got the gift of the Holy Ghost, she told us she felt weird in a really good way and kept asking if she did anything wrong. She is so adorable and I love her so much!

Keely’s baptism was definitely the highlight of my week, but the morning of the baptism was a close second because I accidentally locked us out of our apartment. Yay! I wasn’t feeling well that morning, and Sis Williams asked if I wanted to still do our morning walk, and I thought fresh air would help so out we went. Since we only go out for a few minutes to walk, we don’t lock the apartment so we can leave the keys inside. However, every other time we leave the apartment we turn the lock before going out. As we’ve already established, I wasn’t feeling well, which means I wasn’t thinking straight, so I locked the door behind us. I realized it as soon as the door closed. It’s been our fear every morning that we would lock ourselves out, and now our fear had become a reality.

We decided to walk around a little bit since there was nothing we could do, and then after about 20 minutes we knocked on the other sisters’ door to see if they had any suggestions about what we should do. They didn’t, but they made us waffles and eggs while we called the security people and the offsite number for the office. No one answered, so we called the elders to see if they wanted to come and break us in through the balcony. They said yes (cause they’re elders) and they arrived 15 minutes later. Elder De Buck climbed up to our balcony (which is on the second floor) and tried to open the sliding door but… it was locked. So they tried to card our door. That didn’t work. And our window was locked, so they couldn’t get in through there, and none of the random keys that the sisters had in a box fit, either. So the elders took waffles, said good luck, and went home to their nice unlocked apartment. Then the sisters said they were going to get ready for the day, so we went to the office to chill until the office opened… at 9. We left our apartment at 6:30. Since I wasn’t feeling well it was hard for me to sit, so I was walking around in circles for an hour and a half. Good thing I looked like a crazy person though, because a lady came to ask what we were doing and we told her we got locked out, so she went and found Jeff and got keys from him to let us in. It was quite stressful, but we didn’t let that ruin our day. Not today, Satan!

So Saturday was the most exciting day of the week, as you’ve heard, and we just did good ol’ missionary work for the rest of the week. We did more walking than usual and both of our feet were in pain by the end of each day. In YSA you don’t walk and knock doors like other missionaries, because you can only teach people age 18-30, but President Layton wants everyone to cut down on miles so we’ve been trying it out.

I’m pretty sure I’ve been scarred for life though, because yesterday while walking we got to experience the ugly side of the circle of life. There was a bunny colony right next to where we were walking (so many bunnies!) and most of them looked like teenagers so Sis Williams and I were talking about how cute they are, but we agreed that the really little baby bunnies are cuter. We kept walking for a minute, and we started to hear what sounded like an alarm going off. It was a really high pitched squealy sound that reminded me of a fire alarm. We looked around and it turned out not to be a fire alarm from the school, but a really little cute baby bunny that was in the beak of a crow. We watched the crow take off with the bunny, fly a few feet away, and then begin to eat it. Sis Williams and I had both unconsciously stopped to see this horrible murder, but started walking away quickly to avoid seeing the actual kill. Gotta love the circle of life.

We also got to go to the dentist this week and Sis Williams needs 2 root canals so this week should be exciting!

Well, that’s all folks. I hope you all have an amazing week!

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

When they forgot to give Sis Williams BBQ sauce for her chicken nuggets:

Sis Williams dying from walking (and an overload of remembering awkward moments):

She LOVES the dentist:

Keely’s baptism!

Also Keely’s baptism:

Waiting by the office to get back into our apartment:

Realizing we were locked out:

Trying to find a key that fit:

Elder De Buck trying to save us:

When half of district meeting was wasted with a failed video call:

How everyone felt about the failed video call:

When Sis Williams stepped on gum and became a 5 year old:

Who you gonna call? Satan Smiters!

This week was another week I don’t remember much of. I think the mission life has partially fried my brain because I’ve been having memory problems like I’m 80. But I can remember the gospel and that’s all I really need to know, right?

The most exciting a part of this week was Easter!! And with Easter came General Conference!! There were some amazing talks and we had the opportunity to sustain a new prophet, Russell M Nelson. He is an adorable old man and I know that he’s a prophet called by God. I think he really enjoyed announcing new temples this conference. He waited until the last 10 minutes of the Sunday afternoon session and then said “and in a major city yet to be determined…*pause for effect*…Russia”. For those of you who don’t know, there are no temples in Russia. This is such a huge and amazing thing! It opens up a whole new world, literally, to members of the church in Russia. For a hot second I thought he was going to say China, but I guess it’s good it wasn’t, because I’m pretty sure my brain would have exploded. It was already pushed to the breaking point when our 2 new apostles were sustained. Elder Soares is from Brazil and Elder Gong is from… California. Don’t feel bad if you thought Elder Gong was from Asia, I think almost everyone watching conference thought the same thing. I know I did at first, and then I thought “it’ll be funny because I feel like he was probably born in the US”. High five to me! There are a lot of amazing things happening!

For Easter we decorated eggs with the sisters below us, and then the people we ate dinner with made hard-boiled eggs for us to decorate. The Macfarlanes (the people we ate dinner with) also had us make tomb rolls. We took a marshmallow (Jesus Christ) and put it in butter and cinnamon and sugar (prepared it for burial) and then wrapped it in croissant dough (the tomb). We then put it in the oven, and the marshmallow disappeared. It was a fun way to represent Christ’s resurrection. They also gave us adorable Easter baskets full of candy. It was a good day all around.

And now last, but not least… our apartment is possibly haunted. Or we’re haunted. It all started with the sisters below us telling us they keep hearing something moving around our apartment when we’re gone. And then we were at the clubhouse a few days ago sitting in the conference room doing paperwork. The only other person in the clubhouse was an older lady who was in the movie room next door to us. Suddenly we heard a feeble old lady’s voice saying “whoever’s out there, help”. We looked at each other and then Sis Williams jumped up and poked her head into the movie room. The lady told us we could join her, but we said we just heard someone calling for help. She said that it was probably just from the TV. She was watching a baseball game. We went back to paperwork and heard the same thing 5 minutes later. We decided we should probably leave. A couple days after that happened, we got home and our DVD player was on and a movie was playing. That’s not creepy at all. We were talking to the elders that same night, and while we were talking to them, we heard scratching from the big cupboards next to the couch. Sis Williams and I both started freaking out and Elder McEntire made it worse by telling us all the things that could possibly be happening to us, ending with the possibility of Satan being in our apartment. Thanks Elder McEntire! I guess I should give him points for reminding us that we have the power to smite Satan. As a missionary we get the power of God on our side. Who better to back you up, right?

Well, that’s all for this week. Our investigator Keely is getting baptized on Saturday so my next email will have details of that. She is so adorable and excited. I’m proud of her for taking this big and important step!

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

Photos…

Our movie afternoon:

Easter!

Facemasks that don’t look creepy at all:

My adorable (?) companion:

What happens when we show up early to a lesson (aka car selfies!)

When you show up really early there are lots of selfies

Our beautiful Easter eggs:

Sis Williams 🙂

Easter dinner:

Gorgeous view from the Macfarlanes’ house:

Planning day (aka PJ day):

Dinner date at IHOP:

Driving to zone conference with the Juniper sisters:

Much needed frozen yogurt (we start no sugar tomorrow):

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):