May 25 Canadian Chocolate!

So excited to get some Canadian Chocolate from my Grandma!!



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My new comp, is from Oaxaca, she seems super nice, it's gonna be good for me to have another latina to master the language a little better. We have a ton of finding to do. It's hard because we aren't seeing anyone progress right now.

We had an AMAZING devotional this week though, Elder Nash from the Seventy came and spoke. It was so good,exactly what I needed honestly.

May 18 Super Sick

Just a few updates from this week....

Tuesday we had to say goodbye to Cesar Omar and Jesus, they both went to Costa Rica for a tour, (Jesus is in a band and Cesar went with him). SUPER SAD, since intercambios are next week and we don't know if one of us are getting transferred out. But Cesar wrote us little letters, I can't even describe how much it made my entire three months of the mission.  First of all, he starts it off with 

"Libro de Omar" and in the corner there's a little " 1 OMAR 1:1-5" just like in the scriptures hahha, and the entire thing is written in little verses, just ridiculous. I don't know where he comes up with all this stuff, but it was the sweetest letter I've ever gotten. Honestly, I can't believe how blessed I've been out here. We come out to try to change other peoples lives, teaching them about the gospel of Jesus Christ, but I feel like it's me changing . These people mean so much to me, because they are incredible examples and I've learned SO MUCH from them. 

<3

 We were sick on Wednesday... funny story... 

So we decided to take a taxi towards the house, because we were super far away and my companion was like ya I'm done, we gotta go back home. We were in the taxi, just contacting the driver like, hi were missionaries, the whole deal. and then we pull up and my companion  just opens the door and pukes all over the street, a lot, and I'm just like here, here's a few extra pesos, this is why we are going home, continuing to talk to the taxista while my companion keeps throwing up.  The taxi driver thought we were psychos. 

So we had intercambios the next day, I was still feeling pretty crappy, but I worked with Hermana Thornhill again and she's awesome so we still had a blast! pics attached....

she has two luchador masks. We had a lot of fun that night.  

we didn't sleep at all, so that made the next day more difficult. 

We are still just looking for nuevos to teach. and just getting through the week, it felt pretty long.

That's basically it, the highlights of the week.

love you all the much!

ps the picture is of us doing the mexican "gracias" hand thing. It's so funny because now it's like a habit, but it just looks like an angry gesture. maybe not that funny but it is for me.

May 11 Cinco de Mayo

Corn with mayo and chili powder

 

I hope everyone had a good week!

So our Cinco de Mayo was very laid back, its not a big holiday in Mexico, but everyone gets the day off work, and that's pretty much it. The big holiday is Mother's Day!  I feel like in the states everyone just does some small celebration with their moms at home. but no, here its a huge party!

On saturday night it was super funny, the house next door got a mariachi band to play to celebrate all the moms, and it was an all night dance fiesta. haha so classic, all the women just dancing a ton inside, and the men drinking and just chillin outside the house. We thought it was hilarious, until it was like 11 and you can't sleep because of the trumpets and fantastic mariachi singing/yelling, but we got a good laugh. They started playing the cucaracha, and I was just laying in my bed sweating because it's so hot at night, and I just thought to myself, "this can't be real, it's so classic"

This week was a little slow.. We haven't had a huge success in finding new people to teach, it´s tricky when everyone is so stuck on the Virgin Guadelupe. We have a ton of work to do this week, finding people who are truly ready to hear the gospel.  I love the work so much though.

Ahh what else happened...

I got pooped on by a bird. That was annoying.

A crazy man on his bike yelled at us for like 5 minutes straight when we were walking in the street. I had my pen ready to stab if he tried anything hahahah. 

Oh, talking to the family was AWESOME!  I love you guys so much, it made me super happy to see your faces again!

Sunrise Devotional

Oh and today we got up at 5 and went over the the familia Garcia Zermeño´s house at 6. We got them all out of bed, made some hot chocolate and all went up to the roof. We did a little devotional as the sun was rising, and I think they really liked it.  We based the lesson off the talk by Deiter F. Uchtdorf, "The Love Of God"

SUCH a good talk, I recommend it to ALL: but here's just a few quotes..

"When we truly understand what it means to love as Jesus Christ loves us, the confusion clears and our priorities align. Our walk as disciples of Christ becomes more joyful. Our lives take on a new meaning. Our relationship with our Heavenly Father becomes more profound. Obedience becomes a JOY rather than a burden."

"No, God does not need us to love Him. but OH, how we need to love God!

for what we love determines what we seek

what we seek determines what we think and do.

what we think and do determines who we are-and who we will become."

Those were just some of my favorites. Love you all!!!

Hermana Schneider

The only sisters in their Zone!

May 4 Oscar's baptism

Oscar's baptism

Okay, I decided to send out a Little update from this week :) it was a really good one 

so Monday we spent basically all pday hanging out with the familia Garcia Zermeño. They bought us Dominoes so we basically just ate pizza all day. Such a blast, so chill, and it made my week honestly.

Tuesday i went out on intercambios with Hermana Thornhill. SUCH a blast! shes another from the AZ crew, shes from Tempe, and we just got to know each other and we connected pretty good . She loves baby mama, so we quoted it all day between contacting and lessons.

and she let me try on her luchador masks so i basically went a Little psycho with her that night. Such good missionary fun ,but seriously it was awesome. I learned a ton from her as well, she has an awesome work ethic, and i want to be a missionary like that.

Wednesday we met the CRAZIEST lady.

She calls herself "la Maestra Conchita". basically just SUPER beyond catholic, and she like raps about Jesus and I'm not kidding she can talk for like two hours and you cant say a single Word. Its like shes constantly putting on a play right in front of you. she can't talk sitting down, has to stand up and act it out, like straight Shakespeare soliloquy. i cant even explain how funny and entertaining it was to just listen to her talk.  we met with her again on Saturday  but we wont get anywhere with her because she wont let us teach.  But it was an experience.

Jueves and Viernes we were both a Little sick. kinda sucked.

Sábado it rained a ton! It was super fun, we just ran around soaking wet. and then at 9 pm we had to go out to the church and clean the baptism Font, that was a Little hard walking back in the rain, but just another funny experience.

and Sunday was the best!! Oscar´s baptism, the last of the siblings of the familia Garcia!  Ah i cant describe how happy they make me. Seeing the changes in each of their lives, even though its been super hard. It was fast Sunday and Cesar fasted and on Sunday asked me where he could pay his fast offerings, could have cried I was so proud! And Ivan is looking into serving a Misión already, he's the oldest, 24, but he really wants to.

I am so grateful for the blessings we saw this week. The little miracles of each day, and the Little things i get to experience here and learn from. But most of all I am grateful for the knowledge that we have of our Father´s Plan for us.  It is precious and we HAVE to share it. I never really understood how blessed we are until i got to the misión.

love you all, that's basically what went down this week :)

love Hermana Schneider

April 27 Four baptisms

Hola!  This week was a lot of things!  Mostly trying to get Cesar and Ivan totally ready for their baptism.  But it turned out great.  A little chaotic but all that mattered was that they were ready and felt the spirit!  

Okay, well Tuesday I hit my three month mark out here.  Crazy!, I feel like it's been so long since I left, just because my life is so different out in the mission I guess.

Nancy gave me a book of all the pamphlets that she made!  so stinkin cute, I'll send a picutre, she's so awesome and she knew i wanted one.  Nancy is perfect, we just want her to break up with her loser boyfriend for good.  They broke up this week but then got back together, it's okay, we all have bad taste in boys at age 17 right?

It's been super hot this week.  We've been working super hard to meet the pisos,(the weekly mission goals) and I'm drained.  But pretty content at the same time.  I've been having a blast with Hermana Wailes-Putman.  It's nice having a companion from the states to joke around with and tell funny stories.  But it's not as good for my spanish.  I'm still struggling with grammar and I don't want to have a bad American accent.

Okay so the baptisms-  On Saturday we got to the church at like 5:30 a.m to start filling the font.  We ran back home and got all ready and then went back looking for Nancy's family, well mostly Ivan and Cesar to get them going so they wouldn't be late.  We finally got everyone to the church at 9:30 when the baptism was supposed to start.  Okay but let me explain, there's a primary program going on too, so everyone is setting up for that and the plan was to do the baptisms and then everyone goes over to the primary program.  We were baptizing 2 children as well.  The family was a little less active but now they're coming back to church.  Maximino is 9 and is blind and a super cute kid and their daughter Andrea is 8.  Okay so basically the primary president wasn't there, she left for like an hour and didn't want us to start without her and Maximino and Andrea didn't get to the chapel until like 10:20.  But here's the worst part.  We show up and President and Sister Whitehead are waiting and everything is straight chaos.

Anyways it was a little crazy but it ended up being awesome.  Cesar was crying after and it was so cute I just wanted to give him a hug.  I love this work.  I love this family.  I'm loving Mexico with all the weird little things that happen.  I LOVE IT!

"We don't obey because we're blind, we obey because we see" Boyd K Packer

Ivan told us on friday

"ever since you have walked into my life, I have seen things start to change. suddenly I have a great job, I'm way happier, and getting along with my family more.  I know that these are blessings" ah it was so great to hear that, hes awesome!

love Hermana Schneider

April 20 New Companion from Wyoming

My new companion Hermana Wailes-Putman

 This week felt so long, I feel like so much has happened!  It probably felt super long because it was all new again!  But it was so good!  I love my companion Hermana Wailes-Putman straight from the farms of Wyoming,  She is blast, a great teacher and I've got tons to learn from her.  And she is goofy so we are having a blast.

I love this AREA!  I've met some amazing members and we are teaching a family who are just so much fun.!  We call them the familia de Nancy - Nancy is 17 and she was the first to get baptized.  It's Nancy, and her 3 older brothers - Ivan, Cesar, and Oscar but they have like a few other friends living there too.  It's just a giant party house.JK it's not a party house but it's always super fun and crazy.  They have lots of problems, but it's been AMAZING this week to start to feel the changes and to feel the spirit working with them.  The mom and dad, Bianca and Jesus, still aren't sure if they want to accept the Gospel and be baptized, it's hard when Bianca works a ton and can't be there for the lessons.  We've got the baptism date for this week on Saturday for Cesar and Ivan.  We are so excited and doing everything possible so they will be ready!

I just can't describe how much I love them.  We all get along really well already.

Okay I wanted to tell you about my area.  It is so cool, I'm in the D.F. now as I was in the estado de Mexico before.  There's a huge Plaza call Plaza Toreo.  The ward is called Loma Hermosa and Stake Culturas.  There is also a cemetery called Pantillon Frances.  So you can look it up on a map if you desire.  It's awesome, a little more sketch than my area before but shouldn't have any problems.

My favorite thing right now is the pan.  They've got panederias on every corner and you're walking by and it always smells so good HEAVEN.

Oh, we worked with President this week, so casual, He sent us a text saying "Hey can I work with you guys today?"  We were kind of freaked out.  But it went super well.  Just contacted and had him meet the familia of  Nancy and everything was fine.

We went to the temple again this week to go to the doctor for Hermana Wailes-Putman.  She has problems with her legs.  She's supper tough about it though.

I am just getting to know the families and trying to learn the  language more.  Love you
Hermana Schneider

April 13 Transferred to a new Area

So excited to open her package on the bus

I got the package!  Thanks so much for the Easter candy and letters!  It Made my week hearing from you and all the family! 

We had cambios this week, so I just arrived in my new area.  Don't know anything about where it is yet so I can't really help you find it on google maps yet! but give me a few weeks!

This week we had a few great lessons- the Familia Acosta.  I don't think I've told you about them yet but they are awesome.  Yasmine, Cesar, and three little girls, and Luis Miguel is the brother of Cesar who we baptized this week!  But it was a great experience.  Yasmine essentially testified that she knew the church was true and I learned that in reality we as missionaries don't teach anything.  It's just the spirit because I'm still not a very good teacher and can't speak perfectly but it doesn't matter, as long as your investigators can feel the spirit, they will learn and know of the truth.

Baptism of Luis

Chili Relano so delicious

It was way hard leaving the area.  I'm super sad that I won't be able to see the investigators that we have in progress but I know there's a reason that I'm in my new area.  

I had the best food yesterday!  Chile reneno!  Seriously I'm going to make it for you when I get back.  I got the recipe and everything!  We have to come back to Mexico together and eat all this incredible food K!  

Read the ensign this month, it is amazing!  There's a few awesome talks, one about women and it made me think of you!  "Our spiritual strength and influence are vital in the progression of the work of Salvation"

love you Jenna

Hermana Aurora is the owner of our house and she does our laundry and feeds us. I am going to miss her! 

LaKris love her and her Mom Hermana Arletti

Hermana Correa, she is a mom to all the missionaries

April 6 Humberto's Baptism

Favorite graffiti wall

oh my gosh I'm actually dying laughing at the weapons thing.

On Wed, Apr 1, 2015 at 11:33 PM, Sharalee Schneider <sbschneid@yahoo.com> wrote:

We have enjoyed reading with Mason.  We liked this verse and Mason was reading it and had five weapons in his shorts and Dad was bugging him about it and so when he was reading it he said "this is the weapon" instead of "way"

"And now, behold, my beloved brethren, this is the way; and there is none other way nor name given under heaven whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God. And now, behold, this is the doctrine of Christ, and the only and true doctrine of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, which is one God, without end." 2 Nephi 31:21

Yesterday it was funny because when he was reading he said "Santa" instead of "satan"

 hi mom!!!

Conference is amazing in the mission. It was a little tricky in spanish, you understand the jist of everything but the words don't impact you like in English. I don't remember a lot of quotes but here are some of my favorites...

"Yo puedo enseñarle a bailar, pero usted tiene que oir la musica" that wasone of my FAVS ah 

"el servicio que mas cuenta.. solo Dios lo conoce"

The amazing thing about conference in Spanish is that I was able to listen more with my heart to the promptings of the spirit than to just the words. I received so many answers to every one of my questions, for my investigators, for me and for how to be better in the mission. its amazing and spiritually reviving.

Humberto's Baptism

We baptized HUMBERTO! such a cool experience mom. He has such faith and such a determination to change. he perfectly fits the description in D&C 20 I think it is that talks about what you need to be baptized, just a willing heart. I love him so much, and I'm just praying for his wife and family now, that their hearts will be softened as they see the example that he is.

I'm glad you had a good weekend. congrats to the boys on the chess, yikes they really are gonna be chess masters  love you all so much.I'm thinking about you tons.

I loved that talk about the spouses too, the questions, it made me think alot about what I need to do now to be a better mother and wife in the future.

There's such a focus on families in all the talks, satan really is attacking hard. we HAVE to defend the family. everywhere here working with investigators we see the effects. Famliy prayer, FHE, scriptures, we gotta do it. 

jenna

Love American Chocolate!

March 30

Okay so this week was kinda crazy!

Wednesday was the GREATEST: we got up at like 4 am to go to Toluca, for the reunion de los nuevos! I saw my hermanas again!! so so so so so happy. We  cried. they're all doing really good. Gallacher and Hardy are out in little pueblas, and hma Erikson is in Toluca.

I'm the only one out in the ciudad. but ah I'm litteraly going to pray sooo hard that by about 9 months hma Erikson and I are comps because that would be crazzy sick.}

Oh my gosh though I was so stressed Thursday. we had intercambios, and I stayed in my area. Literally the most stressful 24 hours of my life. Because I barely know where I'm going, where the houses are of the investigators and members, and how to get home  but I made it alive. and the capacitadora helped a lot, shes really cool, Hermana Jimenez. I learned a lot, that's for sure.

we found four new families this week! I'm not sure that all will progress, but we've got faith!

We have three futura fechas, good ole Humberto, Luis Miguel, and Jasmine. Hopefully more coming soon, ah its a marvelous work!

I don't want to change areas, because we've found so many new people to teach, and with the minimum of 5 asistencias to baptize, I need to be here next cambio! but I'm always down for a change too, so we will see.

The women's conference Saturday was INCREDIBLE right-!   I loved how much the talks focused on FAMILIES:  we need to strengthen our families against the adversary, because man he's working hard, so lets work harder. I loved the analogy of the pop cans. When our homes are full of light and truth of the gospel,Satan will not be able to have any effect on us. 

and I LOVE the primary song "The family is of God" I used to cry in primary when the kids would sing it. I definitely thought of home a lot during the conference, and of the new families that we are teaching.  but I hope you guys liked it too!

and I hope everyone is STOKED for conference this weekend. YESS I can't wait. 

love you all, have a good week!

Hermana Schneider

March 23 Two Months in Mexico

HOLA everyone!! 

So this week was awesome! Tuesday we had an incredible lesson with our investigator Humberto. We started teaching the plan of Salvation, and it was so good, It's awesome to see how prepared he really is to receive the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He has such a desire to experience this change in his life. We all felt the Spirit and during the lesson my companera and I started talking about the importance of Baptism. I don't remember what I said but we committed him to be baptized. (I was super nervous but after I was freaking out) Then he started essentially sharing his testimony with us. Talking about why he knows that God lives and how he can see his faith growing. He said He feels super good and that we convinced him... But he told Hermana Quiroga and I that we were like angels, sent to help him. At this point I'm crying, but it was an experience I really needed. THIS is why I'm here, I kept thinking over and over again. 

The whole week was full of ups and downs, but that definitely was a high point of the week.

Another awesome experience was yesterday, Sunday, the baptism of Rene!

Rene

He is great, so willing to do whatever it takes to follow Christ. HE works a ton, he's 23 and has a crazy work ethics and his job is everything in his life. But he decided not to show up to work on Sunday so he could be baptized this week. He has an incredible testimony. 

I have a lot of work to do, and a ton to learn but its been a good week!

Well, I made it two months!!! only 16 left to go  jk I can't think like that or I might cry. 

but I want to share a quick scripture with you all...

2 Timothy 4:7

"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the Faith"

Pizza and Coke hi-lite of the week!

Wow I love that. not only do I want to be able to say those words at the end of my mission here in Mexico, but at the end of my life. We have to try to do a little better every single day, keep working to be more like Christ, and make time for the little things.  THAT'S enduring to the end.

So yeah, mission life is way different, it's difficult at times, but SO worth it. I miss home, i miss a lot of things, like normal music , it's bad, but I'm so glad to be out here.

LOVE YOU ALL

Hermana Schneider

March 16 We moved Casas!

HEY!!

We didn't have the baptism, but definitely next! We had stake conference too, it was way stressful trying to get our investigators over there. 

Ah I miss you guys tons whenever I think about all of us together here in Mexico, which is pretty often because there are LOTS of familiar things. like whenever I see a Mega(grocery store), or a little moto, or things like that.

I'm glad you had a good stake conference! I'm getting PUMPED for general ah so excited.

This week was emotional. all over the place. I was super stressed out, the language and teaching, I want to be better than I am. and it's just hard to connect with and get to know the members super well when you cant speak very well. ah but it will come in time, I need to learn PATIENCE.  Ah but there are so many promises that the words will be there if I have the spirit with me, so I was super discouraged the other day. and its hard when you go to an appointment with members or investigators and they don't talk to you at all, just to my companion its frustrating. 

So I had a little breakdown the other night when we got to the casa, but I just decided to work harder to speak and not have any fear, and already things are getting a LOT better.

We moved casas! That was another stress of the week, The member who we rented from before is kinda psycho, and didn't want us to leave,.. for the money. but the house was a mess so we moved in to the new one today and its super nice! I'm super happy, with all my experience moving it went super fast. my comp was super stressed, but I was like nawww this will be cake I'm a missionary I barely have anything. 

We went with a member to a super nice mall today with an awesome view of the city°!!°! 

What a view!

We have an AWESOME new investigator!!!  he's so great, Humberto, about 75, so interested in the gospel. The first lesson we showed up at his house (after contacting him in the street the day before) , and he had the restoration pamphlet all ready on the table with two sprites for us and everything. He completely understood the restoration and basically taught the whole lesson to us. ah so awesome, and then the next day when we stopped by to drop off the Book of Mormon, he had a list of all the books in the Book of Mormon with all the page numbers and summaries that he printed off from the internet. ah how cool is that. he's reading, and went to conference with us and loved it. I'm stoked.

Kristina so cute and wants to be a cheerleader and her Mom gives us good food!

This week I also felt super thankful.. Just being in this country that is so different from home, the way of life and the standard of living. I feel so grateful for everything that the Lord has blessed me with, my family, my home, and especially this chance to serve as a missionary. 

love you  LOTS! 

Hermana SChneider.

March 9 Feel Like a Puppy

Okay so the field is great.

I don't have a ton of time, but iI could tell you stories on stories.  I'm in a super nice area, Santa Monica, and it's very "fresa" fancy, for Mexico at least, and one of the safest, so no need to worry about that.

It's been crazy overwhelming honestly. my spanish sucks, but I'm learning patience out here, because it's good enough for one week I guess.

New Companion

My comp is awesome. Her name is Hermana Guiroga, super nice and we get along really well. I have to buy a camera cord so I can send pics sometime.

It's just frustrating because I am NO help to her, she basically does all the work and I follow around like a puppy trying to learn everything.

My teaching skills aren't great either, but yeah I have a lot to improve on.

The members area awesome!!! so nice, feed us tons, very welcoming! except the obispo, I guess he doesn't really like the sisters for some reason and wants elders, but we are working on improving that relationship!

We have a baptism for next Sunday! which is awesome. and hopefully we have a family that will progress, they work a ton so we can only teach them on Saturdays, familia Costa, but the first lesson went super well. The dad is in the military so I guess he works on Sundays too, but hopefully we can get her to come to church anyway. ah I love them, I already love the people tons!!

My house is actually really crappy it's funny. We live in a rich area so the rent is WAY expensive, therefore a tiny apartment. but it's an adventure I love it. 

We do our dishes in the bathroom, which doesn't have electricity and stack all the clean ones on the toilet. nasty but funny and its just one room and the bathroom. but its fine, and we actually might be moving into a way nicer one, without the mold and spiders haha which rocks. we find out this week. 

I haven't been sick yet, which is a blessing, but I don't wanna jinx it

Saturday we bought street tacos... one of the highlights of my week YUMMMMMM

I hope everythng is going well!! i miss you all TONS, but im SO grateful to be out here. It's a weird kind of happiness I'm not super entertained, but I'm happy.

have a good week!!

hermana schneider 

March 2 IT"S BEEN OFFICIALLY 2 HOURS IN THE FIELD!

President  and Sister Whitehead

Wow, okay Mexico is going to be wild. and I guess I'm in a pretty nice area of the city. and my companion seems super sweet, she's from Argentina.

I HATED saying goodbye to my district, it was SO sad, they are my family out here. I learned to love them all so much, it's so weird that we won't be together anymore. The last few days of the CCM were AWESOME though. ah I loved it so much and saying goodbye to Hermana Erikson and my comp Hermana Gallacher was the worst. We've been together since the airplane, it's going to be so weird.

Some of my favorite teachers

My mission president seems really cool, they are VERY strict in this mission though. they took all my music, it has to be motab or have the official logo of the church.

I think I'm here to learn obedience. seriously, because I think I have a little rebellious streak in me, idk because little rules bother me. but today I've been praying for help and I know that obedience WILL bring miracles.

Before we all left, the elders in our district all gave us priesthood blessings. what an amazing experience. I am SO excited to work, to learn and to get accustomed to mission life.

In the blessing he promised that I would be able to work miracles, and bring families to the gospel, if I am obedient.  I am so excited!

It has been a very overwhelming past few hours, I don't know how I'm EVER going to find my way around this city. but I'm definitely ready to learn. AH I love you , I'll have more to tell next week I'm sure!!!

have an awesome week mom, and tell everyone I love them!

Hermana Schneider

February 25 LAST WEEK IN CCM!

Hey guys!!!! okay this week has been psycho crazy actually!!

Soooo Friday was the greatest day of my life...

I got letters from my family and from Alex! okay I'm not kidding I've been praying for mail to come like every single day, missionaries always say its the greatest thing ever, but I'm not kidding it's actually the GREATEST thing ever.

Saturday was the best actually, we had 70 volunteers for TRC! I don't know if I've really explained what that is yet, but its the freaking bomb. We get to practice teaching members or less active members or just people off the streets. So cool, it made me soooo excited to get out in the field!! So a whole stake of primary kids showed up for a primary activity, so we got to teach like 5 "families" each. OH MY GOSH the kids are the CUTEST. so funny, I can barely understand them though because they talk like 50 miles an hour and super quiet haha but let me tell you, it was a blast. It´s a whole different thing to teach kids instead of just adults, but wow it's so fun. I love how simple the gospel really is, and it was awesome practice to be able to teach doctrine simply so that kids can understand it. Ah it was so fun. Plus they drew us pictures and stuff so that was way cute.

OKAY so Saturday I was doing TALL... (the worst part of every day.. its spanish stuff on the computers, but its SO boring.) But someone had downloaded Glorious by David Archuleta on the computer and I was going hard all during TALL. That song was a sign. because in the afternoon we started hearing the rumors... David Archuleta was at the CCM!

Yeah you can imagine the craziness that caused, sister missionaries running around trying to find Him it was hilarious, the most exciting thing that's happened since I've been here.

Okay but we heard that he was going over to reception, which was very interesting because in fact we needed to run over to reception to ask them for a key to a different casa so we can have hot water in our showers (yeah I showered in the freezing cold, it really wasn't that bad, I was pretty proud of not having to be high maintenance) But since my roomies had to go to reception to ask about the water situation ANYWAYS, we figured we might as well go and if we happen to run into David Archuleta, then I wouldn't be mad. It was so funny, we were chillin at the reception desk talking to the lady and yep the entire MTC Presidency walks in with David Archuleta and that Awesome boxer girl from Costa Rica from Meet the Mormons. Then get this, President Tenorio, who is the coolest guy on the planet, is just like "hey girls, you want to meet David Archuleta" (you gotta picture him saying this in his goofy accent haha) and were all like uh yeah! obviously. So we got to talk to them, I LOVE that girl, her name is Carolina, she's in such good shape it's ridiculous and she's so cool. We just talked about what missions we are going to and all that. AH so so fun. It's funny because we are actually such good friends with the MTC presidency, they LOVE us. Like I've had interviews with President Call a ton, and I talk to Sister Call a bunch, since day one at the CCM... and then Hermana Erikson knows Presidente Tenorio super well, it's just funny because they wouldn't have welcomed us over like that if we weren't super close with them. I love it. 

Sister Erickson

My Friend Sydney Holt from AZ!

So that's about it for Saturday, then Sundays are always the absolute best. Mi compañera and I got to teach sunday school which went super well, We talked about obedience and I shared the story about the Kite, I was super sad because I didn't have the actual poem, but it was okay. 

Some of my favorite quotes from Sunday :

"the price you pay to become acquainted with God is a privilege to pay"  Someone talked a little about the pioneers and this is a quote from one of the early saints who crossed the plains. I love it. but its great and all to marvel at how faithful and how courageous they were, but like Elder Bednar said, "So what? What are YOU doing NOW?" I love that.

Sister Gallacher

OH my gosh, we watched a talk by Jeffery R Holland, the greatest. It was about true conversion, how missionaries have to be converted BEFORE investigators can be, and the importance of enduring to the end in our lives. He Talked about the apostle Peter, and how after Christ died, the apostles returned to their nets, they went back to fishing. They went back to their old ways. Christ visited them again, and asked Peter three times, Do you love me? when He replied yes, The savior commanded, "then feed my sheep". We need to continue on the path FOREVER. to Feed His sheep FOREVER, not just on our missions, or just for a few years. By being baptized, we have left our old ways behind, and all of us need to keep following the example of Christ, until the very end. I loved it, plus Elder Holland is such a powerful speaker.

The rest of the week has been great. Except I've been way sick, pretty bad stomach issues, haven't eaten much the last few days. But its still good, learning lots, the whole deal! 

I hope you all are having a FANTASTIC week!!! 

Love you all so much,

Hermana Schneider 

February 18 Happy Valentine's Day

Mason's birthday wish

SO heres the update for the week, nothing too crazy happened! 

Happy Valentines day!

Wait, Oh my gosh k so I have to tell you about one of our presidentes here at the CCM. He is the COOLEST guy ever, I LOVE all of his devotionals and all that. But not only are they super good and spiritual... he straight up sounds like GRU from despicable me. ITS HILARIOUS. and my hermana Erikson does the Perfect imitation of gru... its so funny. we basically all speak like gru when we aren't talking in spanish. So everything he talks about is always based on the temple and the Holy Ghost. Ah its so awesome. 

But its SO funny, because he's like " Do you know about Patrick Henry" and were all like yeah.. and he's like "Give me the temple or give me Death! that is our motto! because without the templo, no eternal life!"

idk you have to just say it in a gru accent and it's the funniest thing.

So we went to the temple today!! it isn't in our mission, and we just rode a bus over there from the CCM, but oh my goodness it was gorgeous. We couldn't go in sadly, because they are renovating, but it will be rededicated sometime during our mission so hopefully we will all be able to go in then!!

We have LOTS of pictures, and the visitors center was super nice, and we got to do a little shopping so I bought a SICK backpack. I'm going to wait till I get into the mission for scripture cases and all that but I'm way excited. Plus its fun just getting out of the CCM, and taking in all the crazy sights of the city. so that was awesome

The Temple

Our favorite latinas who lived in our casa left this week, that was super sad :( we had a lot of fun with them.

And we are in a new zone! They dissolved our old one, so that's why we have the new schedule and p day. but our new zone is BOMB. there are TONS of hermanas, which rocks, and we all have gym time together, so we go into the bike room and throw on some sick primary songs kids bop version and workout together. 

It's been a good week, honestly these weeks are starting to fly by. the first two were SO LONG, but the last two went really quick. that gives me some hope haha.

I'll try to send lots of pictures! Thank you again for that package, it made my ENTIRE week and valentines day! and I can't wait to get your letters! love you all the much

Jenna

Her Package from Home on Valentine's Day

February 12 WE MADE IT HALF WAY THROUGH THE CCM :)

Look out Mexico here we come!

Hola Everyone!!!

Everything´s moving along over here at the Ce Ce Eme.  I'm still loving it, time is starting to move faster haha its only been three weeks but the first two felt like two months. I can´t really remember life before this, it´s so weird. 

Our lessons were great this week, we have two "investigators" who are actually our teachers but they are way awesome, and it's crazy how you can feel such an awesome spirit as we try to help people come closer to Christ.

Thank you everyone for your emails, they make me sooo happy hearing from you all and it means more than you know.

Okay let me talk about the food for a second.. you know me.  The comedor has some AWESOME stuff, I literally just make awesome tacos every day, like lunch and dinner, I can't get enough.  

And we go to the tienda every day and buy a ton of crazy good cookies and the greatest juice on the planet.  AND MANGOS.... I live on them they're that good here. yummmmm. honestly I can't have a bad day here because the food makes me so happy. 

So yeah, the days are starting to fall into a solid routine, and the Spanish is rolling. We have the CUTEST latina girls that live in our casa, they´re so funny, and they´ve been helping me learn a ton. It´s just good to talk with native speakers.  There are certain days when we are supposed to speak "solo español"... those are the worst, its annoying to not be able to express anything in English with my compañeras. 

OH but the other day I was with my hermanas and this guys who works here asked us a question, and I started answering but he gave me the WEIRDEST look, I was like oh crap like I'm saying something totally wrong. But then he told me he was shocked because I sounded like a latina! That was the GREATEST compliment I´ve ever ever gotten hahaha.

Last Sunday was incredible. Sundays are the greatest because we get to kinda focus on ourselves and just relax and learn from the spirit. As missionaries, we are trying to become as Christlike as possible, to be good representatives of Him. Sunday we talked a ton about patience, and you should all go read the talk by Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "Continue in Patience". It's awesome, so this week I've been trying to focus on "patient persistence", on continuing through the difficult times, and not getting easily frustrated with others around me and especially myself.  Yeah I have a lot to work on though!

I love the scripture in Alma 26:27-30 

OH and on Sunday it´s movie night, the GREATEST, we watched Meet the Mormons this week, haha it´s funny how much you enjoy just ANY movie as a missionary. 

After Sundays you get to look forward to Tuesdays, Devotional night. Always great speakers, and no night class, AND pizza for dinner. Three good things make your day.

Then you just have to make it to P day, today was way awesome. 

We had a little district jam sesh on one of the pianos, that's always a blast, and I love just being outside in pants in the sun :) And I had to do some standing tucks today, (mom I was forced to because I didn´t want to get showed up by the Elders, don't worry, my ankles are fine) So that was fun, it made me kinda miss cheer though.

I hope you all have an awesome week!!! Love you all

Spanish joke of the week :

¿How many stars are in the sky? 

- cincuenta (sin cuenta) jajaja 

you gotta know spanish for that one. 

OKAY this week we got two...

-Como se dice un zapato en ingles??

       ....        "a shoe" (say it in an accent)

- Salud. 

hahahah

"The Lord will give you the capacity, YOU just gotta do the WORK" 

Love you all!!!!

Hermana Schneider