December 19, 2016

Hey guys,
 

Wow, what a week. It's been a blur! 

Me and Elder Darner were super busy getting things ready to be doubled out. We wanted to make sure that the records were clean and up to date and that people were informed and ready for the change. We were doing something up until the last minute. 

Transfer day was quite the adventure. A few hours of driving and I was in Bozeman! I said my last goodbye to Elder Darner in Helena, it was bittersweet. We were both ready for the change and were super excited for our next areas. I will miss Fairfield alot. There were many people who have really touched me that I never want to forget about. The next elders taking over are great so I'm excited for them. And as for Elder Darner, he's gonna do great things in Billings, I'm excited to hear about it. 

We live in a sweet apartment in the middle of town. We live in Bozeman 2nd ward area because we don't really have an area because we are the YSA, so we are the whole stake haha. But I love the vibes. There is a busy spirit about this town. A lot of young people trying to get their life going. It's a polar opposite compared to Fairfield. Fairfield was a bunch of 3rd generational farmers, so it's kind of a culture shock. There are so many people to talk to, I don't even know where to start! The only tough thing about this area right now is the fact that school just got out so all of the YSA is going home so there won't be any members to work with. And in an area like this, members are everything. So we will be doing a lot of exchanges with other elders this transfer. 

We have some people we are teaching already so that's good. When I got in the sisters referred to us a sweet girl named Megan. She's the sweetest southern bell you would ever meet. She's from Georgia actually so she's got the cool accent and everything.  Holy cow she's a miracle. She's on date for the 31 and she has such a strong testimony. She started reading the Book of Mormon last week and she's already to the end of Alma. She's just a super happy person that we enjoy being around, she's super funny too. We are amazed at how solid she is after every time we meet. She just repeatedly tells us of how she knows it's true and how this is filling in all the gaps for her. The picture perfect miracle investigator that every missionary wants. 

Church at the YSA Ward was fun too. The thing that stood out to me the most was the sacrament. It was so reverent and sacred. Man the spirit was so strong because of that. That was the first time I had had a sacrament meeting like that so it just caught me really off guard. I'm looking forward to more of them so I can get that again. 

What's also fun about being back in Bozeman is that I see people I know all the time! Because I was in Belgrade for 6 months I run into people and it's so weird cause they give me a funny look like, I know you but I don't remember your name, and then i always break the ice and remind them and it's a happy reunion. I really want to see some of the people I taught while in Belgrade. I'm sure I'll get the chance. 

Christmas is this Sunday! I'm super excited. We have a couple of plans made so it should be a good one. My last Christmas as a missionary...(tear falling down my face) I better make the most of it. And I'm excited to FaceTime the fam as well :)

Well, most of all, I want you to know that the Lord lives. He's an inspiration to me. I enjoy reading the New Testament because I get to read the first person account of the life of Jesus. Never a dull moment for him or for those who followed him. And it's the same 2000 years later for me in Montana. Keep him in your heart! Love you guys, have a good week.

        -Elder Schneider

Letter from President Wadsworth, Zone Leader

My last pic with Elder Darner

Swag

Ping Pong during Blizzard

December 13, 2016

Transfer News
Hey everyone! 

First off, it's cold here which sucks. Up until Saturday the high of the week was a toasty 2 degrees. But it's ok cause I'm getting transferred!! Yup, I will be going to Bozeman to serve in the YSA Ward with Elder Daugherty. He sounds studly so I'm excited about that. With that as well, Elder Darner is getting transferred to billings to a Spanish area. So we are getting doubled out. But I think it's best for the area and us. I was getting pretty burnt out with Fairfield, I was running out of ideas. And Elder Darner just needs to go use his Spanish, so it's a good thing in the end. And some fresh minds will be very helpful for the area. I will for sure miss the people. And I know they will miss me too, they were sad to hear that we are both leaving, they were quite mad to be honest. But it's all in the Lords hands. 

Most of this week has been finding. Both of the wards have a lot of events for the holidays so we have been trying to take advantage of those to talk to people. We have seen some success come from it. It just gives us a good chance to talk to people in the right setting rather than on their doorstep. Hearts are softening. 

We also had a really sweet stake conference this last Sunday. Our mission president came and spoke to our stake and we heard from other stake leaders as well. The spirit was very strong. Our stake president also called up me and Elder Darner to bare our testimonies of Jesus Christ to the stake, it was a pleasant experience. And I'm not being sarcastic when I say that. It was easy, just say what I know and let them take from it what they want. I enjoy baring my testimony now so the more people who hear it, the merrier. 

We had a baptism this week. A very special one actually, his name is Richard. He is the Spanish man that Elder Darner and I have been working with. Mostly just Elder Darner though. Anyways, he had a lot of support. There was great talk and the whole nine yards. He bore his testimony in Spanish at the end, such a good guy. 

There really wasn't much to report on this week. Mostly just the transfer news and our sweet stake conference. Besides that it's just the normal grind. But the grind is gooood! I love you all and I hope your week goes great! 

        -Elder Schneider

Richard's Baptism

Best District Ever

December 5, 2016

Sorry,

Sooo I don't have an email this week.... but I will have a really good when next week I promise! Love you. 😊

        -Elder Schneider 

        -Mom 😞😞😞

November 28, 2016

Thanksgiving
Hey everyone, 

I hope your week was good, and that you had a good Thanksgiving. We have many things to be thankful for! My Thanksgiving was pretty good. We had pie for breakfast with the Pearson family as part of their family tradition. It's pretty fun and creative. You get to enjoy the pie more because you're not full. And then at 1 we went to the Schenks house for our first Thanksgiving dinner. That lasted till about 2:30 and then we went to our second Thanksgiving dinner with the McCombers. That lasted till about 4. Then we had the rest of the night free. I was happy to be done eating because two Thanksgivings is enough in one day. But guess what? We had two more the next day! Yup, the first one was at 12:30 with a non-member that invited us. That was pretty sweet. Free food and we now have another person to teach. So that was great, but then we had another Thanksgiving dinner at around 2:30 again. That was with the Nelson family. By this point, I'm not enjoying food at all. I didn't want to see or smell food for the rest of the day. But nope, we had another dinner at 5 after that with the Purcell family. But it wasn't a strait up turkey dinner this time. Is was leftover Thanksgiving made into a burrito. Which is pretty good by the way. But either way, it was still past the point of enjoyment and even comfort. It quickly went from a happy stuffed to a miserable stuffed. One of the families we visited butchered a 50 pound turkey while we got there. The youngest son chased his older brother around with the turkeys head and made creepy noises, it was pretty funny. Thanksgiving was a blast and I'm thankful for all the families that took care of us :)

We also celebrated Elder Darners birthday because his birthday was on Thanksgiving. We put up some stuff in the house and took a picture, it was quite the party. 

Once again, we had the opportunity to do more service this week. On Tuesday we put in some fence posts for Leslie, one of our investigators. She's gone on vacation right now so we thought it would be a good surprise to put the fence posts in to secure her wind break fence before she comes home and winter comes in with the strong winds and snow drifts. We had a member get all the tools for us so we could get it all done the right way. This project very quickly brought the realization to my companion and I that we are weenies. It took us about 3 1/2 hours when it only should have taken 1 1/2. To put the poles in solid you just shovel in some dirt and then with a steel rod with a flat round end you pound the dirt down in the hole around the pole. And you just do a little dirt at a time until you've filled it all in with packed dirt. It doesn't take a lot of skill, just work strength and coordination. Which I don't have much of and my companion has none. I'm not sure he knows how to use a hammer. So as you can well imagine it was quite the comedy. Me and my companion were pretty sore afterwards. Pounding that steel rod for a few hours can really tear you up. It was only about 40 pounds but by the end of the project it felt like 100. Nothing like some good ole farmwork to toughen ya up. We left feeling pretty accomplished. 

Our proselyting for this week went pretty well. We have been struggling to find new people because we are always stuck in Fairfield and can't go to any of the other towns we cover because we don't have miles to visit them. But we decided to make a trip to Augusta, which is around 30 miles away. And we just started Tracting, and we didn't stop for about 2 1/2 hours. The first person that answered had us come back an hour later. It turned out to be a young family that was awesome. They expressed some things that kind of hold them back but they invited us back for another lesson and dinner. It was a needed miracle. I honestly don't know how interested they are but they are letting us come back so we are going to make the most of it. Either way, they are awesome people that we enjoy. 

Now that Thanksgiving is over it's time to move on to Christmas! It's a great time of year to get out and serve. The church has come out with a new video called light the world that is pretty good at explaining that. I encourage you to go watch it. As you serve others your holidays will be better. I love you all and hope your week goes great!

        -Elder Schneider

Butcher Selfie

Thanksgiving Food Baby

Darners Birthday

Games

November 21, 2016

Dog Story

Hey, 

Well, it snowed again this week. It was kind of random because so far it's been a warm winter. Kind of freakishly warm. It's barely colder than Snowflake around here. But it was fun to get a snow day even though it melted quickly. We are all still waiting for winter to hit here honestly. I'm hoping it never comes cause the cold sucks.

It finally happened! I got bit by a dog! Now let me explain, because there is no need to worry. We were just walking down the street on our way back to our house and this little rat dog just came flying out of someone's house. It's legs were pumping so fast it tripped over itself as it was running in the grass. By the time it got to us I was already bored so I just kept walking. And then all of a sudden I felt a tug on my pants, the thing bit me! I could barely even tell if it did. I had to ask myself, "did it just bite me?", to make sure it wasn't just a gust of wind. I was so mad that my would've been cool story about being bit by a dog was now a joke to laugh at. But hey, I can't complain about being safe. We don't always need the cool scar. 

On a more serious note, we had the opportunity to do even more service this week. We go once a month to the local senior Center to help them prepare for an event they call Bring A Friend. It's just a big lunch with free entertainment. So we go the day before and help Michelle (the lady in charge) prep for it. My potato peeling skills from home have come in handy because I peeled quite a few potatoes. Proud of me Mom? But it's a fun thing to do. Michelle really appreciates it because it cuts her prep time by like two hours. And she feeds us lunch too sooo... you can guess why we come back. Haha no, we would do it even if she didn't feed us that's just a nice bonus. Some other service we did was help a member that's building his house. He has all the frame up so he wanted to finish the roof before the bad weather comes in. So we helped him staple on the weather sheeting to his roof so he can shingle it or whatever he's going to put on it. After we did that I realized that I've done just about every part of roofing now that I've been out. I can lay sheeting, tar paper, and shingles. Proud of me Dad? It's a good skill to have. And some even more service we did was help a less active lady move out really fast. It must have been an emergency cause it was done fast and sloppy. Oh well. But I think the most service I've done on my mission has been helping people move in and out. Not sure if I like it or not. But someone's gotta help so you can always count on the missionaries.  

As far as people we are teaching goes, it's getting better. We have two people on date for baptism. One is the Spanish man Elder Darner has been teaching and the other is an investigator that was already here but we just got things moving again with him. They are both being baptized towards the beginning of December so it's coming up here pretty soon. I'm really excited about  them both. The Spanish man (Richard) has really progressed a lot. It's been neat to see the changes the gospel can bring. And it's also fun to see the friendships the gospel can make. Even though there is a language barrier between him and us we still feel like he's such a good friend and we still have laughs and fun. And as for our other man on date (Ryan),  he's doing really good as well. He has been ready for a while, so he makes it easy for us. But I love his desire to be a part of the true church. He just wants to contribute and be needed and be able to help others like he has been helped. Which I think is something very valuable. The Lord needs disciples like that. There is much to be learned from him.

As Thanksgiving approaches I encourage you all to ponder what you have. We had a really good lesson in priests chorum this week that touched me. It was just about looking past yourself to see how small things can mean something big to someone else. You really never know how much a simple selfless act can do. I've learned that something good you can do for someone else always trumps a good thing you can do for yourself. Just like Mark tells us in Mark 8:35, "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it." Lose yourself in service and you will find yourself for who you really are, and that's a child of God! I love you all, I hope your Thanksgiving goes great. Bye :)

        -Elder Schneider

We rescued someone's dog.

Photobombed Elder Darner with a badger pelt

We shot a toy crossbow

November 14, 2016

Zone Training

This week was full of finding. We are getting busy because of it but it's taking a lot of diligence. I don't even know what to write about because it was a blur and there is no specific events that happened that I think I should write. Most of all, just how we have seen Gods hand in the work. 

My email will be better next week. I just don't always have good stuff to write. But I love you all! 

        -Elder Schneider

November 7, 2016

Finally!

Hi, 

There were some fun things that happened this week.

We did lots of service. One of the service projects we did was help a member load some wood. We filled a small horse trailer. It was fun. The guy working the chain saw was a guru with that thing. Cutting wood is his living though, so he's got a pretty good system. My and Elder Darner could barely load as fast as he could cut, it was good for me. We also had another service opportunity this week. We were getting ready to head up to Sunriver for the day and we felt that we should bring service clothes for no particular reason. And when we got there we went to a members house and he was working on his house so we offered to help. It was a good thing we followed the promptings of the spirit cause we couldn't have helped in our regular clothes. 

We also put someone on date, FINALLY! His name is Ryan. The missionaries have been working with him forever so we just went in there and asked if he was ready to be baptized and he said yes. But one of the things holding him back was that he wasn't married and now he's married so he can get baptized now. We were pretty pumped, and I think he's excited too. 

Random story. We had a mouse in our house and we killed it. We set a mouse trap and within 30 min he was gone. 

Last week we went to the Ward trunk or treat. We handed out candy. We just backed in our Chevy Cruze and popped the trunk and then put on some Halloween decorations. It was fun. It was about the only thing we could do that night because we can't go out after 6 unless we are with people so it worked out well. Then we just watched the restoration movie after. 

We also had the opportunity to give a "service" at the assisted living center here in Fairfield. We just shared a message about charity to all the old people. I don't know if half of them understood it but it was still fun. 

The best news about this week was that one of the baptisms we had in Belgrade went through the temple on Saturday. I wasn't able to go but I got some pictures so I still got to celebrate a little. But the temple is the crowing blessing of the gospel. It has definitely changed my life and its changing others! I'm very happy for Jennifer :)

That's all for this week. We've just been super busy. But the work is good and the Lord is blessing us. I can't deny that this message is true. It blesses lives. I hope you all have a good week! 

        -Elder Schneider

October 31, 2016

It's been quite an adventure this week! 
Halloween!

We had our last district meeting of the transfer on Wednesday, which officially made it feel like it came to an end. But it flew by I tell ya. 

We got transfer news this Sunday. Me and Elder Darner are both staying another transfer in Fairfield! I felt good about it because I still feel like I have a lot of things to do here. I don't know how Elder Darner feels about it, I think he's happy. I think he just doesn't know how to feel about it because it's his first area. I'm just gonna assume he's happy with it. 

This last Thursday was pretty unique. The stake hosted a dinner and trunk or treat in browning so we got invited to that. In fact, the whole zone went! It was huge! They advertised it in the newspaper, schools, radio, etc. We just set up a huge chili dinner that was big enough to feed 600 people and candy to go with it all. I was one of the street recruiters, which means I ran around outside pulling them in. Browning is a reservation so the people are a little more laid back so we could go grab random people and they would be like, cool, I like chili. We had a pretty cool miracle with one of the guys we brought in. When he told us his last name one of the missionaries then pircked up and asked if he knew another guy from Missoula. Then the guy he asked goes, that's my brother! This missionary knew his brother and even baptized him. It was a crazy story, and now the guy set up a time to visit with the browning elders. You never know! So we brought in around 500 people. We handed out 70-100 copies of the Book of Mormon and invited pretty much everyone to church, we will have to see how many actually come! But it was such a blast. I haven't been able to talk to that many people in a long time. Fairfield is great, but the same faces get pretty old. So this was a refreshing experience. 

On Friday the next day we had some fun too. We had another Halloween event. Except this time it was at the Sunriver church and was just a small community chili cook off.  I'm sick of chili by the way cause we had it for dinner on Tuesday a couple of days before our browning trip. But it was a good opportunity to meet lots of people that weren't members. We were judges for the chili and cornbread too lol. But we got to hand out candy at the trunk or treat so that was a blast. Not much else exciting about that though. 

The rest of the week was just regular work though. It's moving forward, just at a really slow pace. I want to teach more people but it's hard to find them! So, we will continue on. People are out there and we are gonna get them one way or another! I have to admit that this area has really been pretty tough. It's been good for me though. It's like they say, there is no growth in the comfort zone and no comfort in the growth zone. 

Well, that's all for this week. But I hope you all know that I know that this Gods work. He's behind all of it making it happen. It's fun to be a part of! I hope your week goes great, I love and miss you all! 

        -Elder Schneider

Swag costumes handin out candy

October 24, 2016

October!!

I didn't have much to write about this week so I'll just send you a quick update for you to give to the rest of the fam. 

We did a bunch of service for a investigator this week. Lots of leaf and stick raking. I'll send you a pick. 

We also had quite a bit of bike riding because we are almost out of miles on our car lol. Getting back into shape. Not really. 

I'll write a better one next week 😊  love you 

      

  -Elder Schneider

October 17, 2016

Put me in Coach!

Hey guys, 

It has warmed up a bit, yes! The snow melted pretty quick and now it's back to a normal fall. I still got my wool socks out though, you can never be too ready for winter. 

As for new things this week, not a whole lot. But we have seen some tender mercies and miracles. We taught our Spanish investigator this last Wednesday and it went well. I testified in Spanish, it was kind of scary but it was fun. They all thought it was great. Our investigator really loved it. He was like muy buen muy buen! Haha he's great. 

We also did quite a bit of working with the Ward this week. We have seen a lot of relationships growing lately. And I think it's just cause we are really trying to be good missionaries haha. They notice that stuff though. We even had a member text us and tell us she thought we were the best missionaries they've had in their home in a while, which was probably an exaggeration but she was just really happy because we brought the spirit into their home when they needed it. She has some sons that are close to mission age and so she's trying to get them ready. But the Lord magnifies your efforts when you just try your best! 

Tracting has been the method for success lately. It seems like it doesn't ever directly lead to people to teach but it somehow leads you to people who are ready. It's an amazing process really. And it brings the spirit with you when you're doing all you can to find people. 

Football season is in full swing here. And EVERYONE goes to watch high school football. On Friday we tried to see if we could do something else besides go to the football game but there was seriously no one around. Every door we knocked on they weren't there. So we finally just threw our hands in the air and said fine! And we went to finish our night by talking to people at the game. It actually wasn't a bad experience though.  We were thinking that members would be like, oh great, those kind of missionaries, but actually they were all like, hey it's good to see you. I guess it's better to be where the people are even if it doesn't seem like a "spiritual" place. Exposure is good. And plus it was fun to be in the atmosphere of Friday night lights. It brought back a lot of memories. I was like, coach, put me in!! Haha not really, but it's kind of how I felt. 

We had the Ward primary program in church yesterday. That was so fun to watch. I laughed so much. All the little kids have such unique personalities. And there is always that kid who practically eats the microphone and blasts noise through the speakers and makes the old man in front of you jump. Good times. 

Training is going great. Elder Darner is already so advanced, I don't really even know what I'm helping him with but he's turning out good so that's good enough for me. We just keep plugging along! 

That's pretty much all for me this week. The work is tough but worth it. The gospel changes lives, I've seen it. I hope it's changing yours! Have a good week :)

        -Elder Schneider

Hello Alpaca

October 10, 2016

Snow!
Dear Reader, 

It's been a good week. Lots of learning and great experiences. The work is really picking up. My companion has got a lot of drive so we've been going pretty hard. Lots of testifying and whatnot. 

This week we decided it would be good to just hit up a lot of the smaller towns that rarely get attention. Like Simms, Fort Shaw and power. We spent a full day in Simms just walking around and knocking on doors and talking to random people. It was a good experience. We found some potentials so we are hoping they are ready to turn into new investigators. 

We also got to do some service this week since the leaves are falling and there is lots of raking to do. I love service, it's too much fun. And you always feel better after you leave. 

We also had some fun experiences in Power. Some pretty interesting people there! One that made us laugh was an old guy that we talked to. He came out before we could knock on the door and tried to wave us off but we asked him a few questions, cause ya know, we tend to do that as missionaries… but he had really bad hearing so he kept giving us answers that had nothing to do with what we asked. When we told him we were missionaries he replied with something along the lines of, "it's ok I can fix my own stuff" as he pointed at his cars and old junk. And then I asked him if he liked to read at all and he replied, "I'll eat whatever I d*** well please!". So it was a good laugh, even though we felt kind of bad that his hearing was so off. 

Also, random detail of this week. I hit my first animal ever since being on my mission. Which is quite surprising actually. But I hit a pheasant. It flew in front of us and I couldn't miss it. But that thing was big, like the size of a chicken. It broke the plastic of the grill on our Cruze. Oops. 

Snow! We got our first snow this morning as well. Just a little layer of powder on the ground but still snow. I've never had snow before Halloween.  I'm used to being able to wear normal clothes. Ha all the little kids will be dressed up as the same thing, Eskimos haha. But the weather here is crazy! Yesterday it got up to about 70 right? And then we went to a lesson around 4 and when we came out an hour later it had dropped down to low 50s and then after that we ate dinner it was high 30s. And now there is snow on the ground today.. so it in less than a 24 hour period it went from 70 to snow. I don't get it?? Elder Darner is dreading it haha, but he will adjust. That's what I keep telling him at least, I hope it actually happens. 

We also had the opportunity to be at a very spiritual baptism yesterday. He wasn't a convert baptism but it was just as exciting. This little boys name is Mac. He has down syndrom. There was a lot of family and friends there to support him. We all knew that he didn't really need to get baptized but it was just a good spirit because he really wanted to so he could be like the rest of his family. Many tears were shed. 

Anyways, that's all for this week. The church is true, the Book of Mormon is the word of God. Enjoy it! Love you all!

        -Elder Schneider

Dinner at the apartment

Snow

Cruze damage

October 3, 2016

It's getting cold. Bleh
Hey everyone.

Everything is good and dandy in Fairfield. The temperatures are dropping and my companion is freezing because he's from Texas haha. Im getting used to it though.

Conference was super inspirational and it made me pumped. And the day before we had set a bunch of zone goals. We are ready to go. We were also able to watch conference with an investigator. He said he felt the spirit.

Training is fun, although the Spanish is hard. I don't know any of it. We taught a Spanish lesson the other day and I just sat there and smiled and shook my head like I knew was going on. But hey, he felt the spirit so my companion did a good job. I'm trying to learn to testify in Spanish and to pray but it takes time because it's never been a focus of mine. It will get better.

I hope you all enjoyed general conference and took notes. I encourage you all to go back and reread them all because there will be things you missed that you will appreciate. The church is true! I love you all. Have a good week!

        -Elder Schneider

September 26, 2016

Training

Hello,

It's been good, I got my trainee this week. His name is Elder Darner. He's a stud. He's from Austin Texas and he's ready to go! I'll be honest, he's whipping me back into shape! But he's got a really good reason to want to work so bad. He's a convert, the only one of his family. His story brought a tear to my eye, it's that good. But he's only been a convert for around a year so he's kind of fearless haha. 

It's been hard to adjust back to the long mornings of being a trainer. Plus the language study adds a new aspect. We don't ever get to leave the house before 1. But we already have a Spanish investigator so the Lord is answering prayers. 

It's been a blur, I really don't know what else to say. But we did have a baptism this last week. Tristan Allen was his last name. He was the son of a recent convert so it was kind of handed to us. But it was still a good experience. 

We also had a funky church this Sunday. We had it in a small town called Augusta. It was just sacrament and then a potluck after. It was super fun.  I really don't know what else to say because it's been a lot of time filing stuff that is boring. But next week will be full of detail! 

        -Elder Schneider

Elder Darner

September 19, 2016

Transfers

Dear family and friends,

Well I'm not sick this week so that makes life a whole lot easier! And we did some good things that I really enjoyed.

We had a lesson on Monday with Tristan Allen, the boy that's on schedule to get baptized next Wednesday. We also had a lesson on Wednesday and then our zone leader came up and interviewed him on Friday for the baptismal interview! It's all set up and ready to go! And his stepmom is taking care of all the program and stuff so it makes it really easy on us. Cause I've done baptisms in the past were we literally set up everything! So this one we can just sit back and enjoy. I'm super excited.

Since Wednesday this week we've been in a trio because one of our zone leaders finished his mission so our other zone leader has been with us and will be with us until Wednesday. So we have been having all sorts of fun. We did some service for a nonmember and it was so fun. We dug post holes for a few hours and it was amazing. Nothing better than getting some real physical labor in. Everybody in Fairfield loves our zone leader already because he's just a jolly farmer like everyone here so we've gotten more food this last week than this whole transfer! He's like, I wanna stay in Fairfield! Haha but unfortunately he can't.

Elder story is getting closer to the end of his mission. He goes home in December so the biking season is coming to an end which means he needs to get rid of his bike so he doesn't have to to pay a hundred bucks to send it home. So we went and pawned off his bike. He got $50 for it, not bad.

This Sunday was a super stressful one! It was transfer news day, we had to give talks in sacrament, and we had to give a fireside in Sunriver. That's a lot of crap to have on your mind in one day! But we made it through. We each gave a talk about Christ like service. It was good for me to study. And then the youth fireside we did was on missionary work. That was the first time I've done that so it was very stressful as well. The leaders said we did great but I wouldn't say we did great, it was more of an ok. But hey, it was our first time doing something like that. It was good for me. It takes some serious skill to be a youth speaker. You've got to somehow juggle being spiritual while having just enough fun to keep them engaged. It's an art really. But it was a success because I learned a lot from it.

Transfer news! So, it's kind of unexpected, but president called me Sunday morning and asked me if I would train a new missionary. Oh heck yes. I'm both nervous and excited. But this will be a chance to redeem myself since the first time I trained I was only 6 weeks out. But elder Wylie turned out ok so I'm hoping this one will too. And here's the catch. He's Spanish speaking... Yeah president was like, I don't know why the Lord’s sending a Spanish speaking elder to Fairfield but he has his reasons. So I will be helping him learn Spanish. Since I know Spanish, right? No, no I don't know any. But maybe I'll get to learn from Spanish from it? It could be a really neat experience. I will be getting him on Thursday so I've just got to wait anxiously until then. I'm sure he will be great. And that also means that Elder Story is off as well. He's going to Wyoming. That lucky punk. Both me and my zone leader love Wyoming so we were like you suck when we found out. But hey, he deserves it. And I will definitely miss him. He's been great. I've learned a lot from him. He was experienced and mature so I really enjoyed him.

All that's left for me to say is that this work is real. Not much else to it. It's led by the Lord and it's not going to stop! You can either jump in and help or get out of the way! Love you guys, I hope you have a good week!

        -Elder Schneider

Trio

September 12, 2016

Hear Ye, Hear Ye!

Well, it's the last week of the transfer! Crazy, time sure does fly. I'm kind of sad how fast this mission thingy I'm doing is going but if it was too slow I'd probably go crazy. I just have to look back and appreciate what I've done so far I guess.

I missed last week because my preparation day got hectic. This one shouldn't be so bad. But a few good things have happened.

First of all we had a couple of different people come to church. A guy by the name of Dan. He's pretty sweet. We had a lesson with him last night and he seems pretty solid. He mentioned how he wanted some changes in his life because he didn't like the way it was going right now. So maybe he will accept the gospel.

We also got the chance to do a bunch of service for a less active guy. We helped him paint the inside of his house. It was fun. My painting skills have improved, I could paint anything. Haha jk. But he really appreciated it and now he's having dinner with some active members this week.

Since our wards cover such a wide area we got another place to live officially for half of the week so we can work more effectively in both areas. We stayed there a couple of nights this week, it was fun. And the members we stay with are sweet. They are super giving. Almost too giving haha.

Well I'm sick today so my email is going to be short again. But I love you all. And I'm sending some pictures.

      -Elder Schneider

Elder Story bought a new chair

September 6, 2016

Sorry

Sorry, can't email this week! I'll get net week

       -Elder Schneider


Mom with sad emoji's  😢 😢 😢

August 29, 2016

Hey everyone,

It's been a busy week or something because I can't remember it all. But we did have some good things happen.

First off we had a new investigator come to church. He only came to sacrament because he had to go do stuff with his daughters but it was good to get some fresh people at church. We are hoping to get around 4 investigators next week. It's a big jump but there is just a lot of people that are so close. We just need to find more new investigators really. We've been trying to work with the people that were already in our area book but it seems like it's time for new people to get our teaching pool growing.

We have also really been trying to get our members to do missionary work. Well, I guess we have always been doing that but maybe this time we understand how to do it a little better. I don't know, but we are really trying to get our members to invite friends and family because when you're in a town of 800 people, EVERYONE knows who you are and and they already know what they're going to say to you before you can even get to the door. Soooo members can do things we can't. Anyway, we're hoping the effort we invest into that will give us great reward.

This is one of those weeks that I don't have a whole lot to say. Maybe I need to try more new things then. Yeah, I'll do that. But the mission is still good! I love the work, it's like one big miracle. I hope you all have a fantastic week. Bye :)

      -Elder Schneider

August 22, 2016

Spiritual Weekend

Hello hello,

It's been a great week. Once again, I never know where to start. But I can say that it's been fun. I got to meet some more of the people from the Sunriver ward this week. They are awesome. We are even getting a second place to live with some members in Sunriver since we cover such a wide area. Their name is the Nelsons. They're super cool. They have a sweet basement that they built to house old people but never got around to doing it so it's just been empty. They were happy to have us live there for a couple of nights a week.

I also met with the Ward mission leader of Sunriver. He's an awesome guy too. I'm always amazed at the caliber of members you find all over. Even the little rinkydink towns have amazing saints. But anyway, we discussed the progress of the ward and all of that good stuff. I'm excited to see the things that will happen.

Now the good stuff. So, this week were privileged to have Elder Christopherson come to our mission. It was so cool. There was such a buzz in the chapel as we were waiting for him. And when he walked in it just got silent and everyone's eyes were fixed on him, we all stood up at once. Haha he was so relaxed and comfortable compared to us. But he was very fun and easygoing, and spiritual of course. And he looks the same in real life as he does on TV if you were wondering. So that was a very special meeting. But wait! That's not all! The whole reason why he came up was to do a training for our stake president so he came to our stake conference as well. So I heard from him twice this weekend. All the missionaries from the stake got to sit on the stand behind him. It was sooo cool. It was interesting to watch him. I don't think he prepared a single thing for talk. All I saw him do was jot down a few notes from the previous speakers and then he got up there and gave a 45 min talk off his 5 lines he wrote. It was crazy. It's probably no big deal to him though, he's done way scarier things. And we all got to shake his hand after too. And then I went to the bathroom when it was all over and he was coming in the same time as I was going out so I held the door open for him as he walked in, pretty cool huh? I know. I'm just really glad I got to have that experience overall. My favorite part about it though was just how he's a normal guy. A very spiritual normal guy. It really made me appreciate him more just being able to see him at work and so on. And it made me glad that I wasn't an apostle because that's a huge deal! I'm happy to be where I'm at :)

So that was my highlight of the week. Besides that, not a whole lot to report on. The church is still true last time I checked and I'm still learning a lot so I guess that means I need to keep going. I miss you all and love you all!! Have a good week.

         -Elder Schneider

Me and Mac, he's a stud

August 15, 2016

Well, I'm in my new area!

I've only been in Fairfield for a couple of days but I'm loving it already. The town is about 700 people and about 150 of them are active members. Sooo there should be a lot of member involvement. We cover the Fairfield and Sunriver wards which include about 8 towns total. And of course they are all spread around so we will be doing plenty of driving.. That's how my last area was though so I'm used to it. But each little town is fun. They all think they're the best and they're just these little rinkydink towns in the middle of nowhere haha. I haven’t been to the Sunriver wards area yet so I'm excited to get a chance to do that.

The Fairfield Ward is awesome, lots of good people. The hardest part is just remembering everyone's names!! There is like 8 families with the last name of Pearson and 5 with the last name of Schenk. So I can't just go by "brother Pearson" or 8 different men will turn around and be like, what? It will have to be a first name basis for some of these people. They are all great though from what I can tell. So far it seems like they have a lot people we could teach. I mean, everyone is connected to each other in some way or another. I think if I could get a giant family tree of the town that would help me out a bit. There are so many part member families and less actives that hide in the cracks that we've got to try. I've just got to learn who everyone is! It will take some time.

The leaders here are awesome too. The bishop is a very loving and missionary minded guy. And the stake president is as well. This is the first time I've been in an area where the stake president is in the same town as me. We've already gone out with him to see a family, it was great. He's only been in for around 2 months so he's just very open minded and ready to help. It seems like all of the ward leaders are that way actually. We visited the relief society president and she gave us like 10 people to find, and work with. So I suspect some baptisms will come just from the attitude of the Ward and its members.

My companion is pretty cool too. Elder Story is his name. He's been out for around 20 months. He's got a lot of knowledge which is nice. He's humble and ready to work. He can get kind of distracted though. I can see why he's been a junior companion for most of his mission. He's like a bank of knowledge he just gets in his own way haha. But I like some of his ideas he's been giving me. He's already been in the area for 3 months so he's helping me memorize who people are and so forth.

And one other cool thing happening is that the apostle Elder Christopherson is coming to the mission on Saturday for a mission training! Not only that, but he will also be at the Great Falls stake conference on Sunday. So I will hear from him twice this weekend! I came to the right area at just the right time to hear from an apostle. Super pumped. It will be something to remember.

That's all I've got so far. I'm super happy with where I'm at right now and who I'm with. This will be a fun transfer. I got my training on how to be a district leader from the zone leaders so I'm a pro now. Ha, not really. But it's more simple than I thought. I realized it's nothing special haha. But it's fun to get to know other missionaries more personally now. The Lord is doing great things! This is the Lords work and the church is true. Simple as that. It's a fact. I hope you all have a great week. Love you all!

          -Elder Schneider

Me and Elder Story

August 8, 2016

Transfer News

District Leader

Sometimes the Lord moves us around pretty quick! We got transfer news yesterday. I'm getting transferred to the Great Falls zone to serve in the Fairfield and Sunriver wards! I served in my first two areas for six months and then this area for six weeks. Kind of random?  But I'm gonna be the district leader there so that will be cool. It seems like it's a pretty tough area though. Well, that's what I've heard at least. Doesn't scare me though. That's what was said to me when I got into Redlodge as well, and there are great things happening here. So I'm excited to start all over again in a new area. It kind of stinks to leave this area because it's so beautiful and I barely got to know everybody. And we also have a few people preparing for baptism so I won't be able to see that all the way to the end. I guess we will just have to do the same in Fairfield! My companions name is Elder Story. I don't know who he is, but I think he's been out longer than me? I'm not quite sure though. We will cross that bridge when we get there. And Elder Lankford is staying here and elder McMahon (my trainer) is getting transferred here! That's sweet! I hope he likes the area and gets some more things going. I'm sure he will.

There were some good things that happened this week. We helped a less active family move that was a in a sticky situation. Our branch mission leader actually told us about it so we all loaded up into his truck to go help this family. I will be honest, we were all pretty grumpy at first. Because they waited till the last minute to even start doing anything so they called us to get help. We got there and there was nothing packed. We just grabbed everything and threw them in the boxes, unorganized and all. But that's what you get when you need to be out that day and you have random people who don't know your stuff move you! But we ended being glad we did it. The family themselves barely even helped lol. We just counted it as an opportunity to help so we took it. They appreciated it and we got a free sweat in.

I'm gonna miss our service we get to do in this area. We do service at the wildlife sanctuary in Redlodge and that's always sweet. Cleaning the bear cage or putting up a fence for a bobcat. It's always something new. We also helped out at the old folk’s home in Columbus as well. We would play games with them on Tuesdays and Wednesday's. They love it. The old people appreciate the little excitement we bring in. I think they just like young people. It flatters them to see two young men take time out of their day to spend time with them. They are great people. And so hilarious too. I think I laugh harder from those people than anything else. Anything from old ladies that cuss in a bingo game to a guy who can't hear so just says random things that don't relate to anything anyone is saying. You get it all. I'll miss those people.

I must say that this transfer has been one of the tougher ones for me. But I can't deny that I've learned a lot. I wouldn't be ready for Great Falls if I didn't have this transfer to help me out a bit. I'm excited to meet my companion, I hope he's solid. Can't wait to get there! There's not much more to say! Love you all.

        -Elder Schneider

Zone Selfie

Bambi