Let’s Get Digital

We got smartphones this week!! We had to go to the church Tuesday morning to set them all up(which took about 45 minutes for most people) and then we got them on Wednesday at zone conference. We’ll everyone except me. On Tuesday it took 3 hours and 5 people to get my phone set up and then it turned out it wasn’t actually set up. So everyone got their new smartphones….and I got a loaner phone….on Friday. President said “I know this is like Christmas” and my thought was “a super lame Christmas!” I’ll be getting my new actual phone this week though so it’s all good! It’s really weird being on Facebook as a missionary cause I can see the outside world but I can’t be in the outside world. I’m allowed to talk to family and friends about the gospel of Jesus Christ, but that’s it. I’m good with it though cause the whole reason I’m on a mission is to teach people about Jesus Christ and bring them closer to Him.

I’m going to skip the rest of the week and go right to the end cause that was the most exciting part! WE HAD A BAPTISM!!! Actually it was 3 baptisms cause a family was baptized! Stephanie and her daughter Persephone(12) and her son Diego(9). They are the best! It was such a cool experience. Seeing  someone be baptized makes all the hard times as a missionary worth it. Persa was smiling so big when she came out and she said she felt really happy. You could see the light that came into their eyes and it was just amazing! The Spirit was super strong and it reaffirmed my testimony of the gospel and how true it is. Jesus Christ really can and does change lives.

Well, that was my week. Short email today cause I’m typing on my loaner phone and my fingers are tired. Also We’re going to the mall today(party music) and it’s already 11 so we need to get going. I just want to add that my companion is AWESOME! I love her so much. She is tons of fun and really spiritual and is already one of my best friends. Also she just cut a mole off my face and if that isn’t true love I don’t know what is!

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

Photos…

Lots of selfies of Sis Evans and I:

  

The baptism!

Making cookies with our RECENT CONVERTS!!

Desserts, Death, and Driving

This week’s email is going to be short. It was kind of a tiring week and the keyboard I’m typing on is dumb so I have to push really hard and my fingers are already tired 2 sentences in. Apparently I need to do more finger exercises to strengthen them.

We have a family that’s going to be baptized on Saturday!!!! They had their interviews this week and they’re getting so excited. Stephanie said she was going to start telling people and announce it on Facebook. I’m so proud of her and her kids. I love them so much!

On Valentines Day we got to go out to dinner with a single lady in the ward. She took us to a fancy steak place (the steak was AMAZING!) and we got to ride there in her Tesla. If you know anyone with a Tesla, have them give you a ride. She hit the accelerator and you can literally feel your head being pushed back into the seat you’re going so fast. It was awesome and Sis Evans and I decided that all the missionaries should start getting Teslas. Sometimes we’ll hit the gas in our car and pretend we’re in a Tesla. But it’s just not the same.

We also went to a cemetery this week. We’re having trouble finding people to teach and one of the finding ideas is “put your name on lists at hospitals or funeral homes as clergy who will talk to people in crisis” so we decided to try it. We went in and asked if we could put our names on a clergy list and the lady told us to write our names down. While Sis Evans was writing our names down she saw that the lady was filling out death certificates so she whispered “are those death certificates?” The lady looked at her like she was mentally unstable. I don’t think she put our names down for clergy to help people in crisis.

Sis Evans and I decided this week that we were going to eat better so that we could be healthier. We went a whole day without sugar! Then we had a rough day so we needed some ice cream. And then the next day we went to town and had ice cream and chocolate and chocolate pie and candy and cheese cake. Eating healthy officially down the drain. We had a good run though.

Well that’s the scoop. We’re getting smartphones this week so look forward to hearing about that next week!

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

Photos…

My mission’s namesake:

Diego in his new Cub Scout gear:

My adorable companion at the cemetery:

Me and the cemetery:

Sis Evans with her Valentines Day balloon (yes she did hit me with it):

Picture in the car:

Sis Evans is adorkable:

Up to our eyeballs in love:

Selfie by the window:

Sis Schroeder pose selfie by the window:

Me in Captain Jack’s hat (one member is a serious Pirates fan):

To grandmother’s apartment I’ve gone

Well, I’m here. Bakersfield California. Where the smog comes sweeping through the air. Sis Taylor and I could literally see the layer of smog over Bakersfield when we came driving down from Ridgecrest. My first thought was “I’m going to be breathing that air”. But I haven’t died yet so maybe I’ll be ok.

It was really sad to say good-bye to everyone in Ridgecrest. I love the members and investigators we had there. I’m especially going to miss my child, but I know she’ll do awesome with her new companion. I’m hoping that if I wish that for her it will happen to me. Sis Evans is… a missionary. She is super serious and doesn’t really laugh at all. It’s taken me a little while to get used to her, since we spend a lot of time in super awkward silence, but I know if I pray hard the Lord with help me love her.

Just kidding! I LOVE Sis Evans! She is so much fun and absolutely hilarious and we’ve already clicked. I don’t even know how to describe her, but I’m sure you’ll get to know her a little better over my next few emails. We’re pretty much the same person except she’s an extrovert and I’m an introvert. It’s kinda weird because she knows everyone in Ridgecrest because she served there, so she always knows who I’m talking about. So about the subject line, Sis Evans is my mission “grandma”. She trained Sis Sandorf (my mom), who trained me (me), and I trained Sis Taylor (my child). We tell everyone that she’s my grandma and they all look really confused so we have to explain. It’s fun here in Bakes and I love the Berkshire ward! There are so many funny members. I haven’t laughed as hard as I have this week in a long time.

One of the best moments from this week was when Sis Evans got pepper spray in her eye. It was on Tuesday (my first night here) and she threatened to spray a member (he was a teenager being a brat) so she whipped out her pepper spray. She didn’t spray it, but she accidentally touched the hole. She had sprayed it before to see if it worked so there was some residue left on the opening and then she accidentally touched her eye. She couldn’t open it for like 10 minutes and I was laughing so hard. The members were laughing really hard too, but I don’t think Sis Evans was. She laughs about it now, though, so it’s all good.

Now some spiritual stuff. We have a family that’s getting baptized in a few weeks! It’s a mom (Stephanie) and her two kids, Diego (9) and Persephone (12). They are so cute and I love them so much already! We also picked up a new investigator named Kayla this week. She is super awesome. We had a lesson with her this week and Sis Evans played a song for her called “To the Dreamers” that pretty much described her life and then talked about what an amazing feeling it is to be a believer and how once you feel it, you’ll never forget it. I felt the Spirit so strong and I almost started crying (music affects my emotions easily). It was a really amazing experience.

Well, that’s all I can think of right now. We’re going to Cafe Rio for lunch today and I’m so excited! I didn’t realize how much Ridgecrest doesn’t have until I re-entered civilization. The missionary life is awesome!

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

Photos…

Pic with Bishop (and he took his eye out for me!)

Our picture with Cotton (apparently it’s a thing):

Diana and Fallgatter (and Nick):

Me and Sis Taylor:

Us and the church:

Pic with Michelle:

Me and the Sturgeons:

Me and Sis Applequist:

Me and Ina (she has a baptism date!)

The McFarlanes (CeCe cried when she heard I was leaving and it made me feel so special):

The McFarlanes made us Chick-Fil-A lemonade!

My last comp pic with Sis Taylor:

Our missionary family (Sis Evans, Sis Sandorf, me, Sis Taylor):

My first comp pic with Sis Evans!

I’ll Go Where You Want Me To Go

Not too much happened this week. And by that I mean so much happened I can’t remember much, but I do remember the fun and spiritual things and that’s what counts, right?

Saturday was the most eventful day that we had this week, so that’s what I’m going to write about cause I’m short on time. We had to get a tire changed in the morning and we just sat and waited while they did what they did and the show “Swamp People” was on and it made Sis Taylor and I sad because they kept shooting alligators and killing them. Sometimes I’m glad that I don’t watch TV. Then we went and talked with our new investigator (party dance!) and then went over to Lugo’s for lunch. We used to go and eat with Larry at Lugo’s every Saturday so we decided to do it one last time in memory of him (he is now living by his daughter in Elk Grove and isn’t coming back to Ridgecrest). We were in kind of a slump because transfer calls were happening that night and both of us were nervous because we thought I would be transferred out of Ridgecrest, but we weren’t sure (the mystery of transfer calls is SO stressful!). We decided to text the 1st sisters and see if they had any ideas of fun missionary things to do and they ended up joining us at Lugo’s and suggesting we go draw with chalk.

We went to an area in our ward where we weren’t allowed to tract and drew the Plan of Salvation on the sidewalk with some questions of the soul and our phone number. For those of you who don’t know what the Plan of Salvation is, you can always talk to a member or the missionaries! The questions of the soul we wrote were “Is there life after death?”, “Does God know me?”, and “What is the purpose of life?” Hopefully someone will call us to learn more and we won’t be arrested (we’re not sure if it was totally legal for us to draw in Heritage Village cause it’s a private community) so we’ll see what happens. The elders promised to post our bail if that happens so we’re covered! It was so much fun to do and I felt like a little kid again. One guy asked us what we were drawing as he went by and all 4 of us just looked at him for a second, not knowing what to say. Here were four missionaries kneeling on the ground with pieces of chalk in their hands and all over their clothes. Finally Sis Crowley spoke up and just said “there is one guy who always has a plan” and walked away. Missionary work is weird!

We finally got transfer calls at 9:30 at night and……………………… Sis Taylor is staying in Ridgecrest and getting Sis Denver. Sis Crowley is also staying as an STL, but Sis Gillespie is leaving to Bakes with me. I’m going to be in the Berkshire ward in South Bakes. With Sis Evans. Now that might not mean much to you, but it’s significant to me. I was trained by Sis Sandorf, and Sis Sandorf was trained by Sis Evans. Sis Evans used to be in Ridgecrest and everyone in the ward loves her. I’ve met her once and she’s got a lot of energy and she’s really funny so I’m excited! I’m sad to leave my child though. I love Sis Taylor. She makes me laugh and she’s a great missionary. We’ll see each other again, though, so it’ll be ok.

Whew, that was a lot for just one day! I’ve mostly just been packing and saying good-bye Sunday and Monday. I’ve already said good-bye to the bishop and I got to see him take his eye out. It was kinda weird, but kinda cool at the same time. I also said bye to Diana and Fallgatter and I’m really going to miss them. They make me laugh every time we’re over there. Now Sis Taylor and I are off to say bye to everyone else and to finish packing all my stuff (I’m not sure how it’s all going to fit yet…). I’ll let you know how life is in Bakersfield next week!

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

Photos:

Our chalk drawings:

Soul question:

The artists:

I was very proud of this part I did:

Pictures of our district… don’t even ask about the last one cause I have no explanation:

This is the story of how I died

Well, I guess it isn’t the story of how I died, but how Sis Taylor died. Or mostly died. She was mostly dead, which is partly alive. She didn’t get the plague that’s going around, but she was definitely struggling. We were in contact with Sister Layton all week and she made Sis Taylor get every cold medicine known to man (literally made Sis Taylor go broke) and sent us to the urgent care to see if it was the flu or strep. 3 hours later, we learned that Sis Taylor did not have the flu or strep, just a bad cold. We did see 2 ward members and the friend of an investigator while we were waiting though, so I guess it wasn’t a total waste (just mostly a waste).

We were told to take medicine and push through so that we could do missionary work and that was interesting. I was trying to push Sis Taylor as hard as I could without making her cry or killing her and trying to figure out when she really did need rest. It was a little bit stressful on my part since I’m the senior companion and the trainer so I call a lot of the shots (I promise it isn’t a dictatorship… much). I’m really proud of her because she pushed through a lot, even if she wanted to kill me at times. She is an amazing missionary and person, and I’ll be sad when I get a new companion.

We did exchanges on Tuesday and I was with Sis Gillespie again (Sis Crowley was also sick this week) and we had a great time driving around and trying to see people that weren’t home. We did get to talk to one lady for about a minute! We had fun though and she told me about the time some guy answered the door naked when she was tracting. I am very thankful that hasn’t happened to me and I hope it never does.

On Friday we went and saw Diana and Fallgatter, and all of us y’all y’alls had a little bit of a struggle week (Fallgatter said he asked a group of women what they prefer to be called, i.e. women, ladies, gals, etc, and one lady said “y’all y’all”). Fallgatter decided that we needed some way to unwind so he laid on the floor and we all threw marshmallows at him. We didn’t really want to do it at first (marshmallows would get all over the floor), but we finally agreed to get him to be quiet. It was so much fun! If you have any pent up emotions, I would suggest throwing marshmallows at someone, cause afterward we all felt wonderful. Fallgatter told us to apply the sign at the gate to Diana’s house. It says, “What you see here, what you hear here, what you do here, let it stay here when you leave here.” I figured that it was ok to tell y’all cause as long as it doesn’t get back to the bishop we’re all good!

Sis Taylor and I had some fun this week doing things for the other missionaries. We snuck into the 1st sisters apartment (we have a key) and cleaned their kitchen and living room. We were almost hoping that they would come home while we were there so that we could sneak out like secret agents. We had a plan that we would go out the sliding glass door to their backyard while they were unlocking the door and then jump the fence and run away. But they didn’t come home so we’ll have to be secret agents some other way. We also sticky-noted every companionship’s door with scriptures and quotes. It was a fun way to give them some inspiration and motivation (and test how well they know the movie Megamind– I promise it was mostly spiritual with just one or two from the movie). One of my favorite quotes that we put up was from Elder Jeffrey R Holland (the “I” is Christ): “What I need are disciples– and I need them forever. I need someone to feed my sheep and save my lambs. I need someone to preach my gospel and defend my faith. I need someone who loves me, truly, truly loves me, and loves what our Father in Heaven has commissioned me to do. Ours is not a feeble message. It is not a fleeting task. It is not hapless; it is not hopeless; it is not to be consigned to the ash heap of history. It is the work of Almighty God, and it is to change the world.” It makes me so excited to do missionary work and to be the best disciple of Jesus Christ I can be.

I’m going to end with one last sad tale: Once upon a time there were 2 sister missionaries. They were good missionaries, but they had strayed a bit (as had their waistlines) and decided it was time to pull themselves together. “No more junk food!” they vowed. “We have had more than enough and we’ve started to ooze out of our clothes!” One week went by, and then two. They started to work out in the mornings, walking to the park or doing squats and push ups in their apartment. It seemed as though they would keep the promise they had made to themselves and each other and be able to fit into their clothes again! But, alas, there was something preventing them from succeeding. Its name was… ward members. There was dessert at almost every dinner and boxes of cookies being given to the missionaries every time they left a house. In one evening they had brownies, ice cream, cake, cupcakes, and pudding. They just couldn’t seem get away from the sweet sugary goodness that was being given to them. They finally decided to accept their fate and said they would just get in shape after their missions. The struggle is real!

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

Photos:

Sis Taylor trapped behind a window at Randsburg:

It gets so windy in Ridgecrest!

Our trip to urgent care:

Picking up the marshmallows from our fight:

TOAST

Why do awkward things happen to good people? Sis Taylor and I have been doing good work and trying so hard, and still the awkwardness descends like manna. At least 3 times this week Sis Taylor and I have been talking in our car outside someone’s house before getting out to go up to the door. There isn’t anything unusual or awkward about that, except when they drive into their driveway. I don’t know why, but it’s super awkward when you’re sitting outside someone’s house and they come home. Sis Taylor has now started slowly reclining her seat until she is out of sight.

No one warned me that missionary work is awkward. This brings us to my first line above. TOAST stands for Thrive On Awkward Situations Today. A returned missionary in our ward said that’s what they use to say on her mission and since it is so applicable, Sis Taylor and I are bringing it back.

I’m not going to do a day-by-day run through like I usually do cause I honestly don’t remember what happened on what day. It wasn’t a very exciting week so that’ll make this email pretty short too. We’ve been going to the park with the 1st sisters every morning this week and it’s actually been a lot of fun. Sometimes we work out, sometimes we walk, and sometimes we just play on the playground. Last week Sis Taylor was the only one who tried on leg day and she walked like a grandma the next day. I’m a little scared for this week because it’s been getting colder and since this is the desert the nights are freezing which means it will be cold when we go. I guess we’ll have to work out now to stay warm.

Some sad news from Ridgecrest is the several of our peeps are not doing great. Diana has been having some health issue and Larry has been in and out of the hospital and ER for several weeks and he can’t use his legs any more. So that’s been kind of stressful cause we aren’t really sure what’s going on with either of them so Sis Taylor and I have been pretty worried this week. Thankfully they still have a good attitude and they are still their happy selves.

The most exciting thing that happened to me this week was that I got to go to Trona with Sis Crowley! It’s such a weird place and I will never live there (even though I picked out a house). Half of the houses are abandoned and have broken windows and boarded up doors and the other half aren’t in much better shape. The best houses though are probably the ones that burned down, and the mutilated appliances are sitting there amidst the rubble. It’s not sketchy at all. Thankfully the people we visited were really nice and I had a fun time. Sis Crowley and I went with the Relief Society president in their ward and she was hilarious. And now I can say I’ve been to Trona (I’ve just been hearing about it for the past 4 months)!

Well, that’s it for this week!

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

Photos:

My Trona house (it’s turquoise and I saw a fox go in there so it was the obvious choice):

Sis Crowley and me with our shakes:

Sis Crowley and me with our burgers and fries (it’s the only place in town so they have everything, but we decided burgers would go well with our shakes):

The reason why Trona is a thing (they mine minerals):

Such is Life

I don’t think I have words to describe this week.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious is the only word I can think of that describes this week because it is completely random and kind of complicated and a little stressful and long, but also fun and it makes you smile. Basically this was another weird week.

On Tuesday I was sick (thankfully not the plague like everyone else) and I was just crying because I didn’t want to stay in because we had things to do. Sis Gillespie and Sis Crowley made us stay in and sleep (Sis Taylor was feeling a little sick too) and then Sis Taylor and Sis Crowley went out to our lesson that night while Sis Gillespie and I stayed in and I had an emotional breakdown. I just felt like I was disappointing everyone because we haven’t found any new people to teach. Sis Gillespie made us call president and we talked to him for a while and I felt better (although it kinda freaked Sis Taylor out when the first words she heard when she got home were “try not to be too loud cause we’re on the phone with president”).

That night I felt totally fine. Being a girl is so fun!

Wednesday and Thursday were pretty uneventful. We did have a blitz on Thursday though. A blitz is when all of the missionaries in a zone/district go to one companionship’s area and tract to find people to teach. We found some potential investigators so it was fairly successful and Elder Pitcher found someone who knows his aunt so that was fun.

Friday was the day Sis Taylor died. Well, not really but she said she honestly thought she was going to die 10 days after the Prophet and no one was going to remember her death and all the angels would be talking to him and she’d be stuck outside the gates to the spirit world cause no one would be there to let her in. She felt super nauseous, especially during district meeting, and she had a migraine. Then on Saturday both of us were super angry and frustrated all day (me at God and her at I don’t know what) so we’ve just been doing really great this week!

Everything ended up working out and being okay though. I know the Lord lets us go through trials so that we can learn and grow. I just wish sometimes that we wouldn’t have to go through hard things. But because Satan sucks, c’est la vie. I did come across an amazing scripture this week. It’s Romans 8:35,37-39 (36 is just kinda random). It really made me feel better and it is now one of my favorite scriptures.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

But to end on some happy notes, Sis Taylor and I embraced the little children within us and played on the zip line at the park this week. It was actually so much fun and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. We made sure that we did it when it was dark out, so no one would see the missionaries acting like children. We also got stuck in someone’s yard because we couldn’t get their gate open. We struggled for a few minutes and then just climbed over the fence. It wasn’t very high so I just stepped over, but Sis Taylor is 6 inches shorter than me, which means she has shorter legs, so she got stuck and I had to help her. Of course it was after we already got over that the lady came out and showed us how to open the gate. Being a missionary is hard work, but super fun as well.

Well that’s it for now. Hopefully this week will be a little more normal and I’ll have some good stories next week.

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

Photos:

Sis Taylor getting ready to push off:

Sis Taylor going down the zip line:

Me getting ready to push off:

Our Taco Bell lunch at the park (where we saw a drug bust go down):

Sis Taylor next to a giant aloe vera plant:

Praise to the Man

We started this week off with Zone Conference on Tuesday. There was some really exciting stuff there. Like 2.5 hours of watching videos of how to do missionary work with smartphones. Riveting stuff, people! It’s actually really exciting that we’re getting smartphones. In the words of one of our recent converts “we’re being brought into this century”. I can’t wait until we can stalk our investigators on Facebook!

Not much else happened this week. Or at least that I can remember. I feel like I’m 80 sometimes because people will ask us at dinner what we’ve done that day and I can’t even remember. We did have exchanges on Friday with the other sisters. Sis Taylor went with Sis Cowley and I went with Sis Gillespie. It was pretty fun because we did a picture scavenger hunt during exchanges, which spiced things up a little. It was a rather normal exchange though. Nothing crazy happened, at least to us. Sis Taylor and Sis Crowley talked to some lady we now refer to as “crazy drug lady”. Apparently she got really close to Sis Taylor’s face and started stroking her hair and telling her she’d make a “beautiful, holy nun”. Sis Crowley said she was afraid that she was going to bite her. Being a missionary is fun!

This week was fun too because Sis Taylor got so many comments about how young she looks. She’s only 4’11” and she’s pretty tiny and everyone thinks they need to make a comment about it. One of this week’s comments was pretty great because a member said they thought she was 10. At church, they wondered where my companion was and why a child was sitting with me. We made the mistake of telling a recent convert, Jason, about this and our whole lesson with him was full of “when do you get out of grade school again?” comments. He’s such a funny guy and I’m pretty sure that hour with him was the most I laughed all week.

The sad part of this week was that President Thomas S Monson died. The other sisters texted us around 11:30 Tuesday night, but we were already in bed so that was the first thing I saw Wednesday morning. It became quite dramatic when I told Sis Taylor and she said “The prophet is dead?!” I must be a horrible person because I started laughing. It was because it sounded so dramatic and if anyone’s seen the movie Legacy, there’s a part in there that it reminded me of. In all seriousness, I’m really going to miss President Monson. He was an amazing person and an amazing prophet. There was a quote he said that keeps me going almost every day out here on my mission. He said, “Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says ‘I’ll try again tomorrow'”. I’m sad that he’s gone, but glad that he can be with his dear wife again.

I wish you all the best this week!

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

Photos:

Posing like the walking sign:

Our high quality crowns (cause our Father is a King):

The best picture of the night (I didn’t know it was zoomed in):

A sign with Sis Gillespie’s name on it:

Placing a pass-along card in a store (we thought we were so funny!):

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I’m starting off this new year’s email with what I got for Christmas. What I got was…..fat. I got fat. Or at least am getting fat. We got so much candy, which is greatly appreciated cause I definitely have a sweet tooth, but there is no way we can eat all of the sugar we have and not weigh 300 pounds. I’ve included a picture below that we took on Christmas, so it doesn’t include the other sweets we got later this week. Sis Taylor and I said we were going to eat healthy after Christmas, but it looks like we might have to wait awhile.

Christmas day was pretty great. We had dinner at the Rosser’s at 1 and were so full we didn’t have to eat for the rest of the day. We did stop by the Litton’s for some chocolate pie later that evening so we were very well fed. We ended the day by stopping by the Sturgeons. I love them so much! Whenever we need to feel a little love we go see them. It was a good day, but it didn’t feel too much like Christmas because we didn’t do the things we normally do on Christmas. But now we know what to expect next year!

When I was in the MTC (Missionary Training Center) I got to be a new missionary host. When we had the presentation the guy said, “Don’t tell them dumb stuff like ‘the days are like weeks and the weeks are like days'”, but I totally think that applies to missionary life and life in general. Some days this week seemed really long, but the whole week went by really fast. I can’t even remember most of what we did this week, but I know it was a good week.

There was a scary moment this week when Larry texted us and said “checking into the hospital”. He got cellulitis in his arm and it looked really bad. It was super swollen from his fingers to his shoulder and it was really red and there were huge blisters on it. I would’ve taken a picture, but his daughter was there and I didn’t want her to think Mormon missionaries are insensitive (I don’t think she really would’ve cared but it still felt weird). Thankfully he was only there for 3 days. He still has to go in and get antibiotics for a week, but he’s home now and his arm looks so much better. So far on my mission I’ve been somehow connected with a death each transfer and I was going to be upset if Larry was the death of this transfer. I’m so glad he wasn’t! I wish you all could meet everyone I know down here because they’re the best!

Every day this week has been filled with shocking things. And I mean literal shocking. It is so dry here that it seems like we can’t touch anything without getting shocked. The doors shock us when we get out of the car, our blankets have lightning in them, my hair crackles when I brush it, and my relationship with Sis Taylor is electric (we were folding a tarp and every time our hands touched we got shocked).  I am so tired of being shocked and looking like a lizard (my skin is so dry it’s cracking and peeling). Ridgecrest makes Longmont seem humid!

New Year’s Eve we had to be inside by 6 to avoid all the crazies out there. Our dinner appointment canceled on us so we made pasta (and by that I mean Sis Taylor made pasta and I sang Christmas songs) and then decorated gingerbread houses. It was a little weird cause New Year’s Eve felt more like Christmas than actual Christmas did. I haven’t decorated gingerbread houses since I was in elementary school so I had a lot of fun. Now I really want to run over our village with our car (which we named after the harlot Isabel, who Corianton ditched his mission for). I just have to see if Sis Taylor will let me.

I hope you all have an amazing start to 2018!

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

My cute companion’s candy excitement (that isn’t even all of the candy):

My Christmas spoils:

Most of the candy we got (it takes up almost half of our table now):

Our Christmas Day selfie:

Another adorable Christmas Day selfie:

Our New Year’s Eve dinner and the lovely chef:

Our gingerbread village from 3 different angles:

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you’re all having the best day of the year (cause that’s what Christmas is!)

I don’t remember a lot of what happened this last week because my brain is fully on Christmas today and the fact that I get to talk to my family!! I’m probably going to cry, but I’ve accepted it and am going to bring a box of tissues with me.

Sis Taylor and I spent a lot of time ding-dong ditching people this week….in a good way. Who doesn’t like finding nativity pieces or cookies on their porch? Sis Taylor is so cute and goes all out when we did it (jeans/tights and basketball shorts, tennis shoes, jacket scrunched around her face) so I decided to go all out as well on Saturday night. We delivered cookies for 2.5 hours to 13 different people! It was so much fun and some of the houses were really intense because we could see people inside through the glass in the door and so they might be able to see us. We were both in jeans and jackets though so I don’t think they really would’ve recognized us anyways. The only awkward part was we left cookies and one member’s house and he didn’t answer, but we decided to leave them there because it was still fairly early in the evening so he might just be getting home late. Then I remembered at 9:30 that he’s in Chicago and won’t be back until like the 2nd week in January… and we haven’t gone back and grabbed the cookies again. They honestly might just sit there until he gets back because we keep forgetting to get them. Oh well!

The other most awesome day this week was Thursday. We had an eveningside with President and Sister Layton and it was a blast! We got to watch “It’s A Wonderful Life”, which Sis Taylor had never seen before, and then we opened presents and had dinner. Sis Taylor’s present was a hygiene kit (toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, body wash, deodorant) and she was like “is someone hinting at something here?!” The presents were random though so I don’t think there was any hinting (well, at least not from the people down here…) Dinner was at a place called Gape Leaf and both Sis Taylor and I got super full super fast. I finished most of my dinner, but she couldn’t even eat more than half and I had to take it away from her so she didn’t throw up from eating too much (she didn’t want to be rude since Pres had been so nice to buy dinner for us). It was really good food though, and it came with the announcement that the California Bakersfield Mission is getting smartphones!! It will be exciting to be working in the digital age again and not the 1800s. We are supposed to get them sometime in the next month-ish so we’ll see what happens.

Sunday night we got to go to the McFarlanes’ house and open presents. They got us chapstick, water bottles, chocolate, raman (for me cause Amy heard that I eat it raw), sticky notes, and mac ‘n cheese cups for lunches. We got them beef jerky (from Texas, where Sis Taylor is from) and tea (from Celestial Seasonings, cause the plant is in Boulder). It was fun to just sit with them and chat for Christmas Eve.

I will give you all news about Christmas next week, but first I have to go live it!

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

Photos…

We found a smoothie place (it’s all healthy so it reminds me of Colorado):

Sis Taylor going all out for ding-dong ditching (she only tripped once, which was super hilarious):

The suckers they gave us at the eveningside were very colorful (my lips, teeth, and tongue were dark dark blue for almost 2 hours):

Our last district meeting with these peeps: