Sister Schroeder's Mission Blog

John 15:13-14 – “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.”

This week was a weird week, but good.

On Tuesday, we went and decorated the 1st sisters’ door with Christmas stuff. We just bought some stuff from Dollar Tree (cause we’re poor missionaries), but it looked pretty darn good! We didn’t put our names on the door or say anything, but they knew it was us anyways (probably cause elders wouldn’t’ve made it that awesome). We also went and got frozen yogurt with some members that night and food is always appreciated as a missionary so we enjoyed that.

Wednesday was the temple trip! We left at 6 in the morning and didn’t get back until 6 in the evening (our mission temple is the Los Angeles Temple). I love the temple. It’s so peaceful and I can just let myself relax and spiritually recharge. The only downer was that I started feeling really sick toward the end and all the way home. But….I got to see Sis Jackman!!! It’s been awhile since I’ve talked about her because I haven’t seen her since the MTC 3 months ago. We talked for almost 45 minutes and it was so fun to catch up. She was emergency transferred (which means she switched companions sooner than 6 weeks, which is unusual) and is now in Lancaster, which is why I got to see her at the temple. I didn’t get to see Sis Sandorf because Bakersfield’s temple trip was on Thursday. Sis Jackman really makes me laugh and I was sad to see her go, but I know I’ll see her again someday so it all works out.

We had an interesting experience on Thursday. We had an appointment set up with someone we met last week and she had told us she couldn’t do Fridays because her boyfriend was around then and he didn’t want anything to do with the church. However, he was there when we went on Thursday. We hadn’t texted and reminded her because when we do that people sometimes cancel and we really wanted to met with her. We knocked on the door and when no one answered we rang the doorbell. We heard voices inside, one of which was male, and figured her boyfriend might be over but we had an appointment so we decided to knock again. The we heard quite clearly and angrily, “And now they’re knocking!” We decided to scram before we got yelled at so we booked it to the car. Everyday you hope that random people you’ve never met don’t yell at you just because you wear a name tag with Jesus Christ written on it. Ah, the glorious life of a missionary!

Friday was pretty low-key. We made sugar scrub with a member and then went around to some of the youth in the ward who were speaking in church and asked them to invite a friend to come hear them speak. I was so proud of them because at least two of them invited friends who came and there were probably more who I just didn’t see. One kid even said he’d invite his friend next week because he couldn’t come this week! And then we had tons of ward members bring friends to the inter-faith nativity night. It started at 6 and went until 9, but Sis Taylor and I only stayed until about 7:45. In the gym there were over 150 nativity scenes set up and everyone could walk around and look at them all. It was fun because Sis Hawkins (the lady in charge of the activity) came up with a scavenger hunt, which made looking at the nativities that much more interesting. I didn’t know there were so many different types of nativities! Some were on ornaments, some were etched in glass, one was Native American themed and had a tepee, several had a propeller on top and would spin as you blew on it, one was rubber ducks, and so many more! It was a fun night and the Spirit was so strong and the whole room just felt peaceful.

Sis Gillespie got sick on Saturday so we did emergency exchanges and I stayed with Sis Gillespie in the morning while Sis Taylor and Sis Parcell went out to teach lessons. Sis Taylor and I were back in our area for the afternoon and dinner, but we did exchanges again that night so I could go teach with Sis Parcell. And then transfer calls happened!! We were with the 1st sisters when Elder Pitcher called so we all got our news together. Sadly Sis Parcell is leaving, but happily Sis Gillespie is staying! And as you might recall, my last transfer call with Sis Sandorf was quite traumatic so I was pretty nervous for this one, but also calmer. It’s hard to describe transfer calls because there are very mixed emotions happening. So Sis Taylor and I… are staying together!!! I’m so excited cause I love her so much and we only had 5 weeks together (it was a weird transfer). We’re the only companionship in Ridgecrest that’s staying together and it might honestly be because President knew I might run away from the mission if he did something crazy again.

My favorite thing that was said this week was when Sis Taylor and I were doing the 12 days of Christmas one day. She goes all out with jeans and her jacket cinched around her face and tennis shoes and so she asked me if I had any gloves with me. I told her I didn’t and her response was “Do you think they’ll recognize my hands?!”

That’s a wrap for this week. Everyone have an awesome and magical Christmas!

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

Photos:

Our beautiful door decorating skillz:

Sis Taylor and me being proud of our decorating skillz:

Sis Taylor’s attitude at 7 in the morning:

Diana’s attitude at 7 in the morning (Fallgatter and her drove us to the temple– Diana does not do mornings):

LA traffic:

How close the fire got to the highway:

The LA temple:

The temple grounds:

My adorable companion:

Me and Sister Jackman!

Me and Sister Taylor:

Our Chick-fil-a lunch (or as Diana calls it “Fickin’-Chickin'”):

Our amazing stop at Bed, Bath, & Beyond on the way home:

Laughter is medicine for the soul

This week started out with Sis Taylor and I hanging up Christmas lights (YAY!) and doing exchanges with the other sisters. We did some missionary work and then went shopping for our companions (if you want to buy something for your companion you have to do it on exchanges cause otherwise you’re stuck together like velcro). Sis Gillespie spent too much time trying to decide what to get our companions, but it’s ok cause we found a new investigator earlier that day! Her name is Vicki and her ex-husband is LDS, but she doesn’t have any bad feeling toward the church. She was on pain meds cause she just had surgery, but she was definitely lucid enough to know what she was getting into, I promise!

We went out to lunch with Larry on Wednesday ($1 tacos at the Mexican restaurant!) and he shaved his beard off so it was kinda weird. Now he just looks like an old man and not a happy troll. It’s ok though cause he’s still funny! We went to the McFarlanes for dinner tonight and Anish (a convert of about 2 yrs) was there too and Sis Taylor and I practiced teaching them the Restoration of the Gospel. They said it was good and gave us some things to work on. The best part was when Tim pulled out his mission stuff from Germany and taught us the Gospel of Jesus Christ in German!

On Thursday we saw Larry again, and Diana came with us. They spent a lot of the time talking about the “good ol’ days” when Diana used to run a racetrack with her husband. Our lesson with Larry was on the Atonement and they both said they’re very grateful for it because a lot of their fun in those days needed repenting of. They both make me laugh!

Something really cool happened on Friday in District Meeting. We were talking about people we (the missionaries) are teaching, and who could use some extra prayers, and a man walked in. The room we were in is connected to the gym so we could hear his footsteps echoing across the gym as he walked toward us, so by the time he walked in the door we were all staring at the doorway. We asked if we could help him with anything and he asked if we could pray for him. Elder Pitcher (our zone/district leader) handled it very well and we said a prayer for him and learned that he was a member who hadn’t been to church in about 10 years. Since we had all the missionaries in Ridgecrest in one room we were able to set up an appointment for some of the elders to go see him and help him out. It was so weird and so cool that someone walked into the room needing a prayer right as we talked about prayers. God knows what he’s doing.

We also had a cool experience Saturday night. Sis Taylor and I have both been struggling a little and so has the missionary work in our area so we asked one of our members to give us a blessing. He said yes and asked why we wanted a blessing. We told him we felt like we were struggling and stuff and he ended up giving us a 20 minute pep talk about missionary work and how awesome we are. It was really cool and Sis Taylor and I both felt better after that. The best part though was when I got the actual blessing. It definitely strengthened my testimony of the power of the priesthood because I felt the Spirit so strongly. I started to cry as Bro Rosser spoke because it didn’t feel like it was him talking to me. I could tell that he was saying what Heavenly Father wanted me to know and it felt as though Heavenly Father was speaking directly to me. I am so grateful to be a part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

I’m going to end my email today with a few funny things that happened this week:

1) We were at the bishop’s house and we were going to watch day 9 of the #LightTheWorld campaign with him and his family when a Lindsey Stirling video popped up on YouTube. Sis Taylor got super excited because she LOVES Lindsey Stirling, so the bishop played the video for us (I’m not sure if that’s really kosher so please note we did not ask him to). Disappointingly, Lindsey was not dressed modestly. It was so awkward so sit there with the bishop and his whole family (including teenage sons and a 4 yr old daughter) not sure if it was ok that we were watching it while Lindsey danced across the screen in a leotard. It wouldn’t have been so awkward if Sis Washburn hadn’t looked so disappointed and slightly horrified. We texted them later to apologize. They just laughed it off and said it was fine, but it was probably the most awkward 3 minutes in my whole mission.

2) We were at a member’s house and he asked me how I said my name (people always have trouble with Schroeder). When I told him he said “Ah, Jews and their weird pronunciations of stuff” so I said “Actually it’s German”. His response was “Well I was on the wrong end of that joke!”

3) We asked Elder Pitcher to tell us a joke: “What did the wasabi say to the bee?” “Wasabee!”

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

Photos…

Me and Sis Gillespie shopping:

Sis Gillespie being a little baby crazy:

Diana being upset that I didn’t have a picture of Sis Sandorf and I with her:

The great goose gathering in La Mirage:

Our Sunday night surprise from the 1st sisters and 3rd elders:

1st sister’s note:

3rd elder’s note:

Our Christmas tree!

Our other Christmas lights:

Awkward and Onward

We started our week off in an interesting way.

On Monday night we went over to give a less-active member a priesthood blessing. We were in the sketchier part of town and were a few minutes early, but we didn’t want to stand outside in the dark and the cold while we waited for Tim and Bro Perry so show up to give the blessing. So, Sis Taylor and I parked a little ways down the street (we also didn’t want them to see or hear us coming, because they have a habit of seeing us out the window and not answering the door) and turned off all the lights. We just sat in the dark watching their house for about 5 minutes. We didn’t feel like creepy stalkers at all… hehe. I have to say that missionary life is not what I thought it would be like at all.

On Tuesday we got to help some members of the ward paint their new house. They just moved in so they don’t even have carpet yet and they’re living out of boxes. We painted their baseboards and door jambs. It was exciting stuff, as you can probably imagine. We then had a lesson with one of our investigators named Inabeth and we brought a recent convert named Jason with us. He is super awesome and probably one of the most prepared people I have seen in my life. He knows so much about the church and his testimony is so deep, even though he’s only been a member for less than a month. The Spirit was really strong as he was talking to Ina about how he felt when he was baptized. She finally started to get why being baptized with someone holding the priesthood authority of God was so important. Jason used to be a Baptist minister before he became LDS, and Ina is a Baptist so it was really cool to have him testify to her about Christ’s restored gospel. Tuesday night we also got to spend time with Bro and Sister Sturgeon (the cutest old couple I’ve ever seen) and spend time studying the New Testament with them. I love them so much and it was really cool to talk about Christ and his life with them.

Wednesday we went over to the Chandler’s to help them sand some things they 3D printed for the interfaith nativity night that we’re doing in a few weeks. We’re just so popular! Serving the members is one of my favorite things to do because it makes me feel useful and we get to know the ward members better.

Friday was zone conference! President and Sister Layton came over to Ridgecrest and talked to us about members and missionaries working together. It was pretty awesome and got us all excited about working with members. One of my favorite parts was when President wanted someone to read a quote by Thomas S Monson (the president and prophet of the church) in their best Thomas S Monson impression and one of the elders nailed it! He sounded like the guy that did the “apostles and peanut butter cups” video (if you don’t know what that is you can look it up on YouTube). President was so impressed he asked him to do it again. After zone conference we had interviews with President, which is when he checks in with us to see how we are doing. I cried in my interview with him and he told me that I was going to give him a bad rep when everyone saw that I’d been crying. It was a really good interview and helped me feel so much peace and comfort about being a trainer in my second transfer. He is so in tune with the Spirit and I know that he was called of God. We then jetted over to our ward party and spent most of the time setting stuff up and cleaning. Amy was so appreciative of us because she is pregnant and had to be on her feet for so long and we made the process go much faster. It felt good.

Saturday and Sunday was stake conference and we had a member of the Seventy come (Elder Acosta). President and Sister Layton also got to speak and I was so proud that they were my mission leaders. All of the talks were awesome and I really felt the Spirit.

That’s all I have for this week. We’ll be doing a lot of tracting this upcoming week so my next email will either be really exciting or really boring (just like missionary life).

Ciao
Sister Schroeder

Photos:

Sis Taylor and I with our reindeer antlers (it was a struggle to keep that piece of candy in my mouth):

Sis Parcell and I climbing at the Pinnacles:

Our Sister Missionary picture (the one without our hair in our faces– it was really windy):

Me and my adorable companion:

‘Tisn’t the season

HAPPY LATE THANKSGIVING!

Everyone says that holidays are the best when you’re on a mission. I am here to tell you that they lied.

Tuesday morning Sis Taylor and I got to go to St Michael’s and help with taking people through the food pantry. It was a really cool experience and it felt good to help people that couldn’t really help themselves. They have all the food set up in a room on shelves and people are allowed to take one item per shelf. The lady that is in charge of it is amazing and she was in the paper a few days later because of the food pantry. There was a picture of her and they copied word for word what she said when she was talking about the food pantry. It was really awesome because she gave a huge shout-out to our church because the sister missionaries in our ward have helped her so much! We also got to shelve books at the library on Wednesday. We also got to dust someone’s house that day so it was a week full of service!

Thursday was an interesting day. As I said before, holidays aren’t really the best days to be on a mission. Hopefully Christmas will be different, but Thanksgiving was hard! Everyone is with their families and no one wants missionaries to knock on their door while they’re making dinner. Thankfully we had weekly planning so that took up most of the morning and some of the afternoon. We then went to a member’s house at 2:30 and ate some of their feast. It reminded me of “A Bug’s Life” when the ants are talking about the grasshoppers and they say “They come, they eat, they leave!” We definitely felt like grasshoppers after that, because they wouldn’t let us help with dishes or anything else, so we just ate their food and left. Oh well, they’ll get blessings for feeding the missionaries!

We then tried to go see a few people in the ward, but we got rejected, so we went to Diana’s house and begged her to let us in. We were there until dinner watching her and Fallgatter make pie. It was quite entertaining and no one was murdered, although there were a few close calls. We then had Thanksgiving at a member’s daughter’s house. We again felt like grasshoppers because they wouldn’t let us help clean up either. It was a great day, but I developed an eye twitch that lasted for a few days from the stress of finding somewhere to be. It’s hard when you want to be a good missionary, but you aren’t sure how.

We did exchanges on Friday this week with the 1st ward sisters. Sis Taylor went out with Sis Gillespie and I got to go out with Sis Parcell. It was a lot of fun. We drove around to some less active members’ homes and some people on the ward list who no one knew anything about, and tried to find stuff out about them. We went to about 12 houses and only 2 or 3 people even answered their doors. Our dinner appointment also cancelled, so we had to find somewhere to eat, which ended up being Charley’s Philly Cheesesteaks. By the end of the night Sis Parcell and I were so done and so tired. The solution was obvious: laugh hysterically until you cry. And we did just that. We just started laughing about missionary life and we could not stop. The other sisters thought we were crazy when we got back to the apartment and were laughing so hard tears were coming out of our eyes. It was a good night.

Saturday I got a huge headache so we extended exchanges and Sis Gillespie and I stayed in and napped while Sis Taylor and Sis Parcell went out. I started feeling better around dinner, and then our dinner appointment canceled on us again. Sis Taylor and I actually had a great time making our own dinner (pasta, corn, garlic bread, soda, and cookies). It was pretty entertaining because we had to boil our pasta with bottled water since the lady next door was getting her shower fixed so the water was turned off. We felt very accomplished when everything worked out!

Well, now I have to go shopping and get me some food. Stayed tuned for the awesome stuff that’s going to happen this week!

Ciao
Sister Schroeder

Photos…

Diana and Fallgatter making pie:

The face that describes our day:

Sis Taylor and me:

More pie making:

Sis Parcell and me:

Our exchange picture:

Our amazing dinner:

A selfie with our dinner (not sure why my eyes are closed):

“Thou shalt cry, and [the Lord] shall say, here I am”

This week was….yeah.

So Tuesday morning Sis Sandorf and I drove down to Bakersfield and I dropped her off and then picked up my new companion Sis Taylor! It was really hard to say goodbye to Sis Sandorf cause I love her so much and we were together 24/7 for 6 weeks so it was hard to imagine being a missionary without her. I know that God’s in control though and she’s doing amazing things in her new area so that made it easier.

Wednesday was an interesting day that I’m not going to get into. It was just hard to adjust to being the one in charge and having to train someone completely new. It’s sufficient to say that Sis Gillespie (the STL in my area) is amazing and helped me feel better about everything. I know God knows what He’s doing, but sometimes I wish He’d let me know too!

Thursday was planning day, which is always a long day, but it went pretty well for my first time being in charge of planning. We still have some stuff we’ll have to work out in daily planning, but so far so good. It would be easier if the people we’re teaching would keep their appointments and answer our texts and the door when we knock (we can hear them inside and see them peeking out the windows-super sleuths they are not).

We’ve mostly been doing a lot of tracting and seeing members so I don’t have a whole lot to report this week. We were at Diana’s a few days ago and we got to hear stories of when the Elders used to live with their family years and years ago and they were pretty entertaining. She also told us about the time that her and her husband were doing a carnival game thing and they had to beat each other with pillows to make them fall off a log. She said she didn’t know how close to boiling point she was until she had that pillow in her hand and her husband right in front of her. Note to self: pillow fights in marriage might be a good thing.

Well, this week is a new week (wise words, I know) so you’ll get to hear all about my and Sis Taylor’s exciting missionary adventures.

Ciao
Sister Schroeder

Photos:

Sis Sandorf looking adorable in her Care Bear onesie:

Our second to last picture together:

Our last selfie together (silent tear):

The loving note Sis Sandorf left me:

Me and Sis Taylor, my mission child:

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

This week was a crazy weird hard stressful week. I don’t really remember what happened earlier in the week because of what happened later, but I’ll do my best.

It feels like not much has happened this week because all of the people we have lessons with have been canceling on us. That usually happens at least a few times a week, but it feels like we haven’t taught anyone in forever because we only taught a couple times all week. Thankfully we filled our time with good stuff and we never didn’t know what to do. It’s mind-boggling sometimes how blessed missionaries are.

We had cleaning checks on Tuesday (they happen once every 2 transfers) and I think we did well. We just talked to them for the 5 minutes it took them to look over our apartment and silently judge us on a clipboard. We asked Sister Rosser the next day how we did (her and her husband are the people that are in charge of the missionary apartments in Ridgecrest and they’re in my and Sis Sandorf’s ward) and she said she was very impressed with everyone. I was impressed how she distracted us enough that she didn’t have to answer the question. Sneaky sneaky.

We went to the Family History Center Tuesday night so that I would know how to do it (I’ve only done it once or twice before) and Jason was there– he’s the guy who was just baptized that’s moving into our ward next week. He is awesome and Sis Sandorf was so excited that she finally got to meet him (all the sisters had except her). The 1st sisters are passing him off to us tomorrow to teach him recent convert lessons and I’m really excited!

Friday was tamale day! Larry fed all of the missionaries in the Ridgecrest zone (there are 10 of us) homemade tamales. He didn’t make them, he just knows a girl. It was awesome! He wanted to thank the 6 of us who helped him clean out his garage, but he ended up feeding all of us cause he’s just so cool. We told him he was the coolest kid on the block and he just laughed.

On Saturday we had a baptism!! Jason was baptized into 1st ward, but he’s moving into our ward next week so we’ll get to teach him the recent convert lessons (people who join the church get taught all the lessons before and after they’re baptized). He is so strong in the gospel already so he’ll probably be teaching us instead of the other way around. Tim and Sis Rosser gave the prayers (they wanted people from our ward there so that Jason knew a few people) and we had a great time waiting for the baptism to start (the person baptizing was 20 minutes late). It’s so exciting to have baptisms and we’ll get another one in a few weeks!

Mostly this week has been us trying to get lessons with people and then tracting when they don’t work out. I hope next week is better and more productive, but it will probably be a little bit of a struggle week.

In order to understand what I’m about to tell you, you need to have some mission background info. When you first get into the mission field, you have to do something called “12 week” (it just means you have to be trained for 12 weeks) so the first and/or second companion that you get is also your trainer. The trainer is the one who shows the newbie how to be a missionary. You have a companion each transfer (sometimes you have them for multiple transfers) and transfers last 6 weeks. The third piece of info you need to know is what an STL is. An STL is a “Sister Training Leader” and it means that 1 or 2 sisters look out for the other ones in their zones and possibly surrounding zones (it depends on how many sisters there are in an area). They are the ones who set up and go on exchanges with other sisters. Got it?

So Saturday we got transfer calls aaaaannnnnnnddddddd……..Sis Sandorf is leaving! We knew something big was happening when we saw after dinner that we had a missed call from President and a text that said “call me”. We called right away (when President says call, you call) and he didn’t answer but texted that he’d call us back in a few minutes. He did and the first thing he said was “Sister Sandorf, I want you to know that you have done an amazing job serving in Ridgecrest” and right then we knew she was leaving. He then told her that the Lord wanted her in Bakersfield as an STL. As soon as we hung up, we started to cry and Sis Sandorf started to freak out (which wasn’t great since she was driving). We tried to hold in the tears until we got to the apartment, but we weren’t very successful. It’s crazy how much you come to love your companion in such a short amount of time. I am going to miss her SO much! She’s my mission mom and my trainer and my missionary inspiration. I know I can do it without her, but I don’t really want to. The Lord knows what we need though so I know He’ll take care of me.

And the news is not done! Not only is Sis Sandorf leaving, but I am training! If you were paying attention to the background info, you’re looking at the words “12 weeks” and your brain is trying to calculate how long I’ve been out. I’ll help you out and let you know that I’ve only been out for 6 weeks. I get to train myself and someone completely brand new! We got back to the apartment to cry over Sis Sandorf’s news when the phone rang again. It was the APs (assistants to the President) and they said that President wants me to train. I didn’t breathe quite right for about 10 minutes after that phone call. It’s scary and exciting and I have no idea what’s going to happen, but like I said before, the Lord will take care of me and help me do what He’s asked. In 1 Nephi 3:7 it says that “the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.” I know that the Book of Mormon is God’s word so I know that He will prepare a way for me to do what He’s asked. I’ll let you all know if I survive this first week of transfers in my next email.

Ciao
Sister Schroeder

My adorable almost ex-companion:

A blurry picture of an amazing sunset (we were in the car when I took it):

One of our last companion selfies:

A sign in front of St Michael’s church (this picture is a little overdue):

What a cutie!

Sis Sandorf and I at the playground (It’s new and really fun– we put a timer on and she went down the slide and I went down the ladder and we had to jump over a wall):

Our slide entrance selfie:

The super sketchy van by our apartment:

Yep, it was an ice cream truck:

We were aghast that anyone would buy ice cream from this guy (Sis Sandorf might just be sneezing, I’m not quite sure)

I LIVE! Sis Sandorf and I did not die this week, which is great news for our futures. We have a few lingering random coughs and snot that comes out of no where, but we feel fine.

Halloween did not feel like Halloween at all. We had to be in our apartments by 6 to plan for the next week and Halloween is a holiday that is mostly celebrated at night. Sis Sandorf did wear her care bear onesie for 10 min during planning, but she started to roast so she took it off. Sadly, I haven’t gotten a picture of her in her onesie yet, but I hope to send one soon. She is just so cute! The word we came up with to describe your companion as a cutie is “computie”. We tell each other we’re cute all the time because we are the cutest. We did face masks after planning and I could not stop laughing, which caused her to laugh. We just looked so amazing.

We went and saw Sis Sturgeon this week (who is just the cutest, sweetest lady I’ve ever met) and while we were there, their dog Buddy bit Sis Sandorf. Her words in her journal were “he just jumped up and freaking bit me”. It was so random because we stood up and walked toward the door and Buddy did just jump up and bite her (he’s less then a foot tall so he had to jump to reach her hand). His teeth scraped along her finger and the wound isn’t bad, but it bled so much. Sis Sturgeon was really worried because he had never done anything like that before and she didn’t want Sis Sandorf to get an infection. She called the people who were feeding us dinner (the Judds) and asked Sis Judd, who is a nurse, to look at it and make sure it was fine. Sis Sturgeon is such a sweetheart!

We had to plan on Thursday too because we spent 2 of our 3 hours of planning laying in bed and talking (we’re trying to be better, I promise!) so that took up our whole morning. Thursday was also the day of 3 ice creams. Amy (our ward mission leader’s wife) is pregnant and they found out that it was a girl that morning, so Sis Sandorf had the brilliant idea of getting a strawberry flavor swirl cone from the drive thru dairy and giving it to her (it would still mostly taste like vanilla, but it would be pink!)

Unfortunately, we didn’t think about how it would start to melt as we drove to her house so by the time we got there it had dripped on me and the pink was droopy and ugly looking. Fortunately, she wasn’t home so we got another one later (this time it was night so it didn’t melt as fast) and the second one looked cute and she loved it. Sis Sandorf told me to eat the first one, and being the good, obedient junior companion that I am, I dutifully ate it. We then drove to Baskin Robbins to have ice cream with Diana Pearson (my second cone of the day). It was kinda sad cause Sis Sandorf and I always get a scoop in a cup with a cone on top and the kid that gave us the ice cream said her cone (a sugar cone) looked like a party hat and my cone (a cake cone) looked like a lamp shade. I felt very partyless and cried a silent tear as I ate my 2nd ice cream serving of the day. The 3rd ice cream serving was at dinner for dessert. It was a great experience that I never want to repeat (the ice cream wasn’t lovin’ me back).

I’m running out of time to write so I’ll tell you all the highlights of the next few days. We have someone with a date to be baptized! We found this girl, who’s 10 yrs old, through a less active member. Her name is Maddy and she is so excited about the gospel and being baptized. She is adorable and I love being around her. We also picked up 2 new investigators in a cool way this week. We were early for a lesson so we decided to go knock on the door across the street and a guy in his 20s answered it and I started asking him about his family and what they mean to him and what it would mean to him if he could be with them forever. He was super interested and wanted to learn more so we set up a time to come back. The amazing part was, I felt myself asking these questions, but I never thought them, they just fell out of my mouth. The words I was saying were not my own; I was just the mouthpiece. It was really cool to see how I can be an instrument in the Lord’s hands.

This last story is a little sad, so prepare some tissues if you love animals. We were driving home Friday night and we passed a white bag in the street and Sis Sandorf said “I think that was a dead cat”. She seemed really concerned about it so we flipped 2 U-turns to drive by it again and sure enough, it was a dead cat. We pulled over and got out of the car and stood on the sidewalk wondering what we should do. We called the 1st sisters, but they didn’t pick up so we texted the zone leaders and asked what we should do. Their first response was “did you kill the cat?” We were slightly offended by that, but then we remembered that the Bishop elders hit a dog the week before, so it wasn’t an unreasonable question.

We ended up calling Diana (she LOVES animals and would know who to call) and she informed the people that needed to know. Sis Sandorf and I then got out of our car, put on gloves, and proceeded to move the cat’s body out of the street. I was literally in the middle of the road and we didn’t want anyone else to hit it so we put it by the sidewalk. That might’ve been a mistake though, cause we were told it was going to be taken care of and it was still there when we drove by yesterday. Now we’re just seeing how long it takes before someone comes and removes the carcass.

With that uplifting story, I bid you now adieu.

Ciao
Sister Schroeder

Pictures:

Sis Sandorf and I smiling while wearing face masks (a truly terrifying thing):

A picture that Cece McFarlane colored for me:

Flowers we hand picked for someone who was sick (yes, we had permission to pick them):

A kid in a fat suit we saw on Halloween:

Another picture of us in face masks:

A picture of the dead cat (because we’re horrible people):

A selfie of us being sad and Sis Sandorf looking like a man because of the dead cat (again horrible people):

Sis Sandorf and I looking adorable on a very windy day:

Sis Sandorf checking to see if I’m smiling (there were several pictures taken before where I was not):

And should we die before our journey’s through…happy day?

Sickness is running rampant through the sister missionaries!

Early this week, Sis Sandorf started the dying cycle and passed it on to Sis Gillespie and then to me. Sis Sandorf and I played hooky after church yesterday and napped and watched “Legacy”. I think it was good for both of us so I don’t even feel guilty.

Last P-day was a teensy bit stressful because we had to share 2 cars between 3 companionships. The zone leaders went up to Bishop to do exchanges, and they usually give the 4th Ward elders rides to their appointment, but since sisters can’t give elders rides, they had to have a car of their own. It was mostly stressful because Sis Sandorf and I felt like if we did what we wanted, we would be inconveniencing the 1st Ward sisters because we were sharing their car (the elders took ours). It worked out fine but it was not the relaxing day off we were hoping for. We did get our naps though!

On Tuesday we did exchanges with the 1st sisters again and I was with Sis Parcell this time. We talked to some of their investigators and tracted a little bit. We didn’t get much done because their area is in the boonies so the houses are really spaced out. We had to hike through the desert to go from house to house. I totally felt like a pioneer.

I got to meet one of their investigators (who’s going to be in our ward in a few weeks!) and he is really cool. His name is Jason and he used to be a Baptist minister before he decided to become LDS. When I met him the sisters had only taught him one lesson, but it felt like I was talking to a member. He completely accepts the gospel and believes that it’s true. He’s getting baptized on November 11. His baptism will probably be the first one I get to see and I’m so excited!

On Wednesday Sis Sandorf was feeling pretty bad so we laid in bed listening to conference talks until 11, which is when we go shelve books at the library for service. We were going to do service in the afternoon with all the other missionaries, but that plan fell through so we sat in front of the 1st sisters’ apartment for a little bit before going and helping Larry clean out his garage.

We met with one of our investigators in the evening (his name is Joe) and I asked him to be baptized and he said… no. He wants to be baptized someday, but he wants to read the whole Book of Mormon first. He’s been having missionaries teach him on and off for about 20 years, so progress is being made! He’s a man of few words, but Sis Sandorf and I are pretty sure he likes us (apparently he hasn’t liked other missionaries in the past).

Not much happened Thursday either, because we did weekly planning and that always takes hours upon hours. We had a lesson with Larry at 4 and then went out to dinner with him. After dinner we handed out Trunk-or-Treat invitations to everyone we could think of, including 2 random girls on the street who probably thought we were crazy. It must’ve worked though, because we had so many people come to the party Friday night! (including a random guy we met that day while talking to our investigator Inabeth)

Having so many people at the party was great, but also stressful. Sis Sandorf and I were asked to judge the pumpkin-carving contest, so we spent most of our time doing that because people kept coming in late and bringing more pumpkins. We only got to say a quick “hi” to people we knew in between stuffing our faces and crushing childrens’ dreams (we made a kid cry because he didn’t win). I hope the members were making everyone feel welcome.

We did have an awesome experience after the party though. One of our investigators, Dana, came to the party and brought her mom, but no one really said hi to them (except Larry) so they left early before the Trunk-or-Treat part. We wanted to check up on her and see why she left, but we didn’t want to be creepy and stalkerish. We drove out of the church parking lot and then decided to pray about what we could do for her, so we parked on the street right behind the church and prayed. Right after the prayer Sis Sandorf said “if only there was something we could bring her” and I heard myself say “her crock-pot!” She had brought soup, but because she left early she forgot to grab it. We got out of our car and literally ran back into the church and lo and behold, there was her crock-pot! We said the biggest thank-you prayer ever.

Saturday was when Sis Gillespie was burning up with a fever, so I went out with Sis Parcell to some of their appointments while Sis Sandorf stayed and tended her. I don’t remember most of what happened because my throat started to slowly get more and more sore throughout the day, and I was thinking about how I was going to die like Sis Sandorf. I didn’t sleep very well that night and only got about 2 hours in. Being sick isn’t very fun, but being sick on a mission is the worst because you have stuff you have to get done that day so there isn’t really time to rest up. It was lucky because the only lesson we had planned canceled on us, so we could afford to take the day off. Hopefully I will get better quickly and I won’t spread my germs to anyone else in the district. That is not the kind of legacy we want to be starting.

Well, I have to get going because we’re about to go carve pumpkins as a district. And by that I mean everyone else is going to carve pumpkins and I’m going to pass out in a corner somewhere since I’m dying just a little.

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

Pictures:

The awesome door Sis Parcell and I came across while tracting (We left a Jesus pass along card and Sis Parcell made a joke about Him being the “Sun” of God– we laughed for a good 5 minutes):

Sis Sandorf and I on our way to the not-service project:

Larry and his trunk that we decorated for the Trunk or Treat (and my shadow):

Service at Larry’s:

My cute companion:

The “candid” picture Sis Sandorf took of me:

Sis Sandorf and I in quarantine at the McFarlanes:

Amy and Tim McFarlane looking cute and in love (this picture was taken right before she bit him):

Sis Sandorf and I dying Saturday night:

Helaman 13:14

Thank you so much for the package!! I loved it and was so happy to get my blanket! Sis Sandorf was so excited that she got Silly Putty and has been playing with it all the time so good call on that. I’m going to put the picture of Sis Sandorf and I on the fridge. I sent a reply email to Dad, but I wanted to make sure that you record picking up Alex!!! I was getting all teary eyed last night when I was talking to Sis Sandorf about him coming home so I really want to be there through video.

You guys should send me more pictures of stuff and of you. I love getting pictures, but Alex is pretty much the only one who sends me pics of what’s going on in her life. I’m so jealous of the new couches and want pictures of the track lighting cause I have no idea what that looks like. I also just want to see your pretty faces!

Can you send me Emily Mc’s email? She hasn’t written to me yet and I want to ask what’s up.

We got some sad news today. Transfers were supposed to happen the day after Christmas, but they moved them up a week. It’s so dumb because Sis Sandorf will most likely leave (we’re not sure if she’ll move this transfer or not– we’re praying for not) but it’s super unlikely that she’ll stay in an area for 5 transfers in a row. That means I could be moved somewhere else too. I will either be with a new companion that I don’t know or new members in a new area that I don’t know. It makes me want to cry and ask what the heck president is thinking! If he doesn’t want us to transfer the day after Christmas then extend them a week! I know I shouldn’t go against my leader, but it’s just frustrating because it’s hard enough being away from our families on Christmas so it’ll be extra hard for missionaries to be away from anyone they really know on Christmas. I know God will take care of it I just wanted to get that off my chest right now.

I wish you guys were on you emails right now cause we’re allowed to do the little chat thingy and email text, but you guys aren’t here right now. I think we’ll be emailing around 12 next week (today was weird because we’re having to share 2 cars between 3 companionships) so you should look and see if I send anything. I miss you guys and want to talk to you! I love you both lots!

Your favorite sister missionary

Delight in fatness

This week started off on a great note known as food. Every Sunday we have to meet with the Ward Mission Leader, Tim, after church and I’m very hungry after 3 hours of church, so Tim started to bring us snacks. We have decided to make after-church snacks a tradition and he became one of my favorite people that day.

Last week you got to hear (technically see) all about our trip to the Pinnacles on Monday so I won’t retell it. It was a lot of fun and us sisters only almost died once. It threw off the rest of the day though, because Sis Sandorf and I were really tired afterward. We got some ice cream with Diana Pearson (who is one of our mission grandmas) then went to dinner and had a game night. The game night was totally kosher because we played with the McFarlanes and a less active recent convert. We played a card game and Amy (Sis McFarlane) and Anish (the less-active recent convert, LARC) got really competitive with each other. Tim (Bro McFarlane) told us that it happens a lot with them. It reminds me of 2 other people in my life I’ve played games with…

Most of Tuesday was zone conference. President and Sister Layton came over to Ridgecrest and the elders from Bishop came down and we met from 9-3 (interviews with President went from 9-10). There was some good stuff said, and President was really excited about his Brother of Jared object lesson (he had a light that he shined on 16 clear stones) and he told us to plan like the Brother of Jared (see Ether 2:22-3:6). After zone conference we went and picked back up a family and started teaching them again. After dinner we went and talked to a lady that we “tracted into” last week (tracting is where we walk around and knock on doors– the quotation marks are because she was actually a referral from a member who works with her, but she doesn’t know that). Sis Sandorf told the young women this week that being a missionary is basically being licensed to stalk people and it’s true.

We got to be part of a miracle on Wednesday, which was so awesome! On Tuesday we heard about a member’s dog who got really sick. We had ice cream with her that night and learned that the dog couldn’t even hold herself up: she was so sick and the doctor didn’t know what was wrong with her. There was a very high chance that her liver was failing, which would mean they would have to put her down. They were all really upset (especially Sis Hamlin) because Duchess (the dog) is only 2.5 years old. She told us that she would call us on Wednesday and tell us what the doctor said. We were all praying really hard that Duchess would be alright. That family has been through a lot and Sis Hamlin does so much and works so hard. She called us Wednesday night and, lo and behold, Duchess had a weird pancreatic disease and is going to pull through! Sis Hamlin just has to stay by her side forever (St Bernards get really attached to their owners and will make themselves sick if they get left alone too long so that’s what Duchess did). It was really cool to get to see that happen!

On Wednesday morning we got to teach a new investigator and it was awesome! Her name is Susan and she is already super spiritual and has a really firm belief in God and she agreed with everything we said because “it makes sense”. She said she needed peace in her life when we first tracted into her last week and she can see that she started to get that after she talked to us. The gospel really does bring peace into people’s lives and it was great that she recognized that! It was a little sketchy when we first met her though, because when she opened the door Sis Sandorf said “Hi we’re the sister missionaries and we felt inspired to be in the area to share a message about Jesus Christ” and Susan said “I bet you did, come on in.” The way she said it either meant we were about to have an awesome lesson with someone really prepared, or we were going to die. Thankfully our bodies were not discovered later this week. The only sad part is that she’s in the process of moving (she honestly might’ve already moved cause we haven’t been able to get a hold of her), but it’s in the Lord’s hands so he’ll take care of it.

Thursday wasn’t very exciting. Sis Sandorf and I went to the young women activity because some of them said they were going to bring their friends (that didn’t happen) so we wanted to be there to casually meet them as people and not missionaries. We played a game called Loaded Question and one of the questions we had to answer was “who in the room has a quality you want– name the person and quality”. I didn’t put this, cause I wasn’t sure how it would be received, but I thought about putting “Sierra-black”. I thought it was so funny and when I talked I talked to her and her twin afterwards I told them I thought about putting that down (which I thought they would find funny) it was just super awkward. Apparently we don’t quite have the same sense of humor. But we talked about Marvel movies, especially Civil War, and they’re huge fans of Captain America so I had redeemed myself by the time we left. *fist pump*

We had lunch with Larry on Friday and later that day he texted us to thank us (cause he’s a cutie) and he said “thanks for lunch and help with nemesis phone”. He has an iPhone but cause he’s old and can’t see very well at all he hates it, so when we see him we try to fix whatever new problem he’s having. He says that some day he is going to run over it to get his revenge. We then went and made cookies with Ginger Rosser (who our car is named after) so give out to investigators. It totally worked because we brought some to a LARC family and picked up 3 new people to teach. At dinner that night the Morans took us to some neighbors that had just moved in down the street to deliver brownies. I wish more of the members would introduce us to people. I think they don’t understand that we can be people too and not just missionaries (we can talk to people without giving them a Book of Mormon or asking them to be baptized in the first sentence).

Sunday Tim brought us snacks again (he is definitely my favorite person between 12 and 1 on Sundays) and we got to teach a lesson at 3. The people we are teaching having a tiny dog named Cupcake that I can hold in one hand and she is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen! We had dinner with the bishop and his family and their neighbor. They call their neighbor Grandma Tammy and she is super cool. She told us that when she was younger she would play in the woods behind her house and sometimes her and her sisters would find baby bear cubs and try to get as close as possible. This, of course, would make momma bear angry so they would climb up a skinny tree (the best way to get away from a bear because they can’t grab it to climb it) and the bear would shake the tree and they would pretend they were in the rodeo. Now that is someone I want to hear more stories from!

I have to put a little blurb in here about Sis Sandorf because she is amazing and makes me laugh. She said she has gained a lot of weight on her mission so she doesn’t fit into her skirts very well. This week she decided to wear them to show herself that she needs to do something in order to fit into them again. The only problem was she had to unzip/unbutton them when she sat down so that she didn’t cut off circulation to the bottom half of her body. We’re going to go clothes shopping today so that she can find a few skirts that fit her. We decided we’re both going to be better about our eating habits. She also makes me laugh whenever we pass people in our car. She’ll look at people that are walking or the person across from us at 4 way stops (which is a really big thing in Ridgecrest) and say “do you need the gospel? That’s a stupid question…everybody needs the gospel!” Now she says the question and I say the answer. We’re so cute together (something we tell each other constantly)!

That’s it for this week! Sis Sandorf and I scheduled in naps today and I am so excited!! Missionary work is hard work, but it is so worth it! “I am convinced missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience.” -Elder Holland

Ciao,
Sister Schroeder

PHOTOS

Sis Sandorf and I dressed for the cold weather (61 degrees):

Me opening my package:

Sis Sandorf and I with the bishop’s kids:

Our after-church snack with Tim: