Elder Drew Schneider: 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