December 18, 2017

WEEK….IDK…8 or Something

Hello Family and Friends!

I hope you are all doing fantastic and enjoying this time of year! As well, I hope you are all loving and participating in #LightTheWorld! Man, it has been such an eye-opener being out here during this time of year. Honestly, I do not really miss presents or that part of Christmas (besides the music HAHA) but I have learned to love and enjoy the true meaning of Christmas! And that is SERVICE and OUR SAVIOR! My hope would be that everyone remembers the real reason we celebrate this holiday! Remember our savior, Jesus Christ and serve as he did!

I guess I forgot to mention a couple things in my last email that I wanted to share.

We had Zone Conference on the 4th and Elder Dubé of the Seventy was there. It was seriously such an awesome experience! As well, for P-day a couple weeks ago we went to Top Golf as a Zone and that was flipping sweet! Only, I stunk for the first little bit but then I picked it up at the end and I won! (Thanks, Dad!)

This week was pretty good. On Tuesday, we had 7 lessons set and the first 3 ended up bailing on us, so that was a major bummer! We had a lesson with Peter O'Con, this cute, little 8-year-old who hasn't been baptized, but we showed him a video of Christ's baptism and he really liked it! It was our best lesson we had ever had with him because you can only teach him with videos......like literally only videos. We got him to watch the whole thing without bouncing off the walls! We also had a lesson with Paul Tuesday night, but it was really crappy because he heard some Anti-Mormon bologna and then stated looking it up on the internet.  BIG MISTAKE! Our whole lesson turned into him talking about Joseph Smith marrying a 14-year-old and Polygamy and all that stuff, so it was definitely not the best lesson. 

On Wednesday, we met with an inactive named Steve Thinger and we talked about practice teaching with him and he agreed and even said he wants his daughter to come along, so hopefully we will have a new investigator with her! On Thursday, we had a meeting up in Gridley, which is this little farm town but it was cool and I learned a lot that day! Oh, I also forgot to mention that on Monday we had a lesson with Mark at the Bishop's home and we went over the Plan of Salvation with him and it went so well! Also, he told us that he now knows that Joseph Smith was a prophet!

Friday was our Ward Christmas party and it was so awesome! We had one of our new investigators, Valerie Jacox, and her kids show up.  I legit ate like 4 cupcakes there! LOL (Sorry Mom).  Saturday was my first Exchange with Elder Brown and it was........interesting. We met this black man named Coach Daryl and I am seriously still trying to comprehend everything he was talking to us about because it was so flipping weird HAHA! Anyways, Sunday was Elder Dixon's 21st B-day so that was awesome! We celebrated it at a member’s house.  The members here take such good care of the missionaries

They made some major P-day changes this week so now we are not allowed to leave our area so that means no more Zone P-days.  That is a bummer!

I really appreciate all the letters and packages I have received, it really means a ton!

I love and miss each and every one of you!  I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and remember why we celebrate the day.  Take time to think about the Savior and give thanks for all he has done for us.

Elder Schneiter

(P.S. Don't use hangouts cause President Ward doesn't approve of it, so just use regular email!)

Santa!

Chill'in with Dixon

Biggest Fish Ever!

November 21, 2017

WEEK 4 – CALIFORNIA

Hey Everyone!

I hope everyone is doing awesome! I made it to the field this past Wednesday and it has been pretty cool. Leaving the MTC was honestly super hard because it was such a great experience! All my friends that I made there are now some of my greatest and closest friends. I know we'll never forget each other and hopefully we will all stay in touch!

Our flight was supposed to leave at 4:50, but it got delayed an hour and a half so we didn't end up leaving Salt Lake until 6:30! It was so weird being outside of the MTC…. in the real world!  We had Cafe Rio in the airport and it was freaking amazing! Especially after 3 weeks of cafeteria food! We got to Sacramento at about 7:00 and went to In-N-Out, so that was another bonus! We ended up staying at a hotel which I thought was super weird, but whatever.

Thursday, I met my companion. His name is Elder Dixon and he is from Ogden.  He's pretty sweet and I just happen to be his final companion. I'm in the Roseville 1st Ward. They are so totally awesome and the Bishop is in love with me and Elder Dixon! He is seriously one of the funniest guys I have ever met! The members are really friendly.  I am excited to get to know them better.

This week has honestly been super fun, but it has also been one of the hardest weeks of my life. I don't like biking everywhere and I just do not like contacting. I don't feel confident yet and I'm honestly too shy and scared to walk up and talk to people! But I know that as long as I rely on Christ and pray a lot, I can overcome these fears and strengthen these weaknesses I have. That is why I am out here, to grow as I learn to share the gospel with others. Through Christ, all things are possible. I am grateful for this experience!

 Anyways, I love and miss you so much! I'd love to hear from you!  I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving.  We have a lot to be grateful for!

Elder Schneiter

December 11, 2017

Hey Everybody!

Sorry it has been a long time since I sent an email! I have been so busy and working so flipping hard.  It's pretty crazy, but it is so awesome!  First, I want to apologize and say sorry for not emailing everyone back.  Please do not be afraid to email me, I promise I will eventually respond. P-days are so jam packed that it is hard to email everyone! But just know I love you all and appreciate the support SO much.  I am extremely thankful for everyone that has sent packages and letters! I'm going to try my best to summarize the most important and relevant things that have happened in the past 3 weeks, so here it goes:

My 2nd Sunday in the mission field, I gave a talk in sacrament meeting.  I wrote it in about 40 minutes, which is pretty normal for me. I think it went pretty well! I talked about Christ and the #LightTheWorld initiative. Which, if you have not heard about it, get on it right now. It’s such a great missionary opportunity.  As I am typing this, I'm realizing how hard it is to remember the past 3 weeks and summarize all of that into a concise email… LOL!

Elder Dixon and I were going to contact a former investigator when this guy that was living in the apartment complex stopped.  I nervously walked over to talk to him and he told us he had a super expensive bike he doesn't ride and he'd love to give it to us since we are spreading the good word of God! So of course, I said I would love to take it! Now, rather than spending $500 on a new bike, I got a free bike (with about $200 of repairs, but I still come out ahead!) Miracle #1.


It is time to talk about the INVESTIGATORS! Our #1 investigator is Mark Kraft. He has a very strong desire to be baptized but has some little things we are working on with him. We are planning on him being baptized sometime in January, before Elder Dixon goes home! We are super pumped for that! Our neighbor, Serenity Goodwin, we started teaching a couple weeks ago. She is a very nice lady and very interesting. She lives, legit, like 5 feet away from us, so getting to her home for lessons takes about .02 seconds. She has some issues with drugs and mental health but we have her on date for February 3rd! It's a long journey but we think we can get her there! Paul Sanchez is another investigator and he is a unique man. He loves the Old Testament and asks some very interesting questions, but thankfully, Elder Dixon has all the answers. I am still a greenie and without Elder Dixon, I'd be destroyed by Paul.  Paul's Grandma is a Catholic and is about 85 years old. She sat in on our last lesson and she was honestly helping us out a ton! She told us she just wants Paul to join a church that believes in Christ.  I think we are the church for him. I had a strong testimony building moment while teaching him. I was testifying of Joseph Smith and I got super emotional and had the Spirit testify to me that Joseph Smith WAS a Prophet of God! It was so amazing!


Miracle #2 was when Elder Dixon and I were just talking at a street corner, unlocking our bikes.  We were just about to head to a lesson with Mark when some lady stopped in the middle of the road and asked us if we were still preaching!? Of course, we told her yes! She then told us that her brother just lives down the street and could use some help. So, we went to meet him and talked to him for about 20 minutes! His name is Jonathan Shade and he was pretty interested! We couldn't get in a lesson with him but he came to church! We will be handing him over to the YSA Elders since he is 22. But he should be awesome to teach!

The ward loves Elder Dixon and me.  They are so good to us.  I am thankful for the great support they give us. I will say that the mission field has been hard and at times I just want to call it quits, but then I remember how much support I have and I remember how much the world needs this Gospel. The Spirit tells me this is where I NEED to be!  I am so grateful for the chance I have to help others. I promise I will send out an email every week so you all know how I'm doing. Anyways, I love you and miss your tons!  I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and remember why we celebrate it. I'd really love to hear from you so please email or write me!  It means more to missionaries than you know

Nov 13

Yoooooo!!!!!!!

It is my last few days in the MTC.  Hard to believe I have been here almost 3 weeks.  The days are super long, but the weeks seem to fly by.  I feel like I have grown all I can here in the MTC, so it is time to get to work.

     This past week was probably the best, saddest and most insane week so far!  We taught Berrett and Daryl for our TRCs. They were both super chill and so awesome to teach. Elder Rowe and I were able to teach 4 lessons to the both of them and I guess we kind of got them to commit to baptism, I mean, I'm not going to lie, our challenges we made weren't the best, but they both said they'd get on track to be baptized. But to be honest, they are both already members LOL. Most of the time with Berrett we talked about sports.  He was kind of our link to the outside world since we are literally in a bubble! 

     It was pretty sad because one of the Districts in our zone left for Portland.  All of those Elders were so awesome and I consider all of them lifelong friends, even though we've only known each other for a couple weeks. They will all do great in the field! It was super cool that Elder Matthew Hille just entered the MTC this past Wednesday. It has been awesome to see and hang around a friend from back home!

     The highlight of this week had to be our Tuesday Night Devotional! They flippin' got President Nelson to come and speak to us!!  It was insane! The moment he walked in the room, I felt the Spirit stronger than I ever have in my entire life! It hit me so dang hard, it was incredible! He talked about the purpose of Missionary work and how as missionaries, we can be walking Epistles of the Lord! That is so crazy to think about! Afterwards, we discussed the devotional with our Branch President, President Samuelian. He wasn't even supposed to meet with our district but he told us the Spirit told him that he needed to be with us. It was a crazy discussion and I realized how in tune President Samuelian is with the Spirit! We grew a whole lot closer as a District and it was probably the most I have ever cried in my life. 

     I'm excited to get in the field, but I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty darn nervous and maybe even a little scared! I don’t know why, I guess for a lot of reasons. I think it just hasn't truly hit me yet that I am a missionary, but I'm sure it'll hit me as soon as I enter the field and I am guessing it's going to hit me pretty hard. All I can do is remember my purpose and lose myself in serving the Lord.

Anyways, I love you all and miss you dearly! Please feel free to email me at riley.schneiter@myldsmail.net  Emails are the best medicine for missionaries.  Next time you hear from me I will be in CALIFORNIA!

Elder Schneiter

Nov 4

Hola Mis Amigos! 

I hope everyone is doing awesome! This past week has been a major upgrade from last week. Even though last week was only 3 days!

We started doing TRC’s. Elder Rowe and I met with Oscar and Aubrey.  Oh my goodness…. they are so awesome! Oscar was obviously a member, but hey, it’s alright!  He plays a pretty good investigator! We taught him 3 lessons and you could definitely see he was progressing after each lesson! In our last lesson with him, the spirit was seriously so strong.  It was amazing! Elder Rowe and I got really close with him and we are both extremely sad we are done meeting with him. But it’s kind of sweet because he is going back home to El Salvador to get married!

Anyways, with Aubrey, she is a legit investigator! Which makes it way more fun to teach her because we know she doesn't actually know everything we are teaching her. At first, she started out really shy but by our last lesson with her, she was super talkative and I'm so thankful that we were able to teach her because she is seriously so awesome! What’s funny is we started talking about memes with her and said we needed someone to hook us up with memes and she said she'd be our meme plug… lol! Also, she is on track to be baptized by the Provo missionaries!!!! It is so cool! We also got two new investigators named Berrett and Daryl. The surprising thing to me is the fact that Daryl is a girl!! They should be awesome!

This week I got super close with all the rest of our zone. They are seriously some of my closest friends now. Elder Sonne, Keddington, Benesch, Hunt and Stromberg are all some sick dudes and they are all gonna kill it!  The MTC is hard and exhausting, but there is nowhere else I want to be!

 I wish I had some funny stories to tell you but the only funny things that happened would only be funny if you were here witnessing them… haha! I love you all and miss you!  I'd really love to hear from you so please email me!

Love, Elder Schneiter

Oct 28

Hey everyone! What is happening? So, my first few days in the MTC have had their challenges, but overall, it's been pretty great! After arriving on Wednesday, the first thing I did was get my badge and that was really cool! But, after that, I was stuck waiting for 30 minutes to get my tablet set up, which made me late for my first class.  Not a great way to start things off.  I bumped into Elder Karris Davis while I was waiting. It was great to see him! My companion is Elder Rowe.  He is from Kansas and is 6’6!!  We get along really well!  We jumped into classes and it was seriously the most exhausting day of my life. Like for real! The greatest thing about the first day was finding out who my zone leader was......and it is your boy, Elder Patty Graff!! That was awesome! Him and I get to hangout all day together! The 2nd day was much of the same, only we finally started to get some teaching experience which was amazing. I realized I'm not that great of a teacher, but I know it will come.  Friday we started TRCS and that was cool! We got our first 2 investigators! Their names are Aubrey and Oscar. Aubrey, I found out is actually a non- member, hopefully she'll take that next step, baptism!!!

These have been some of the most exhausting days of my life, but it's chill. Also, to let you all know, the food is Meh. And for those future missionaries reading, DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT drink the juice, I'm almost certain they spike it with extra fiber so you take that risk, if you know what I mean! But, I highly suggest the cookies n cream milk! It tastes like melted ice cream and you all know how much I love ice cream!  Seriously, it's so AMAZING! 

Anyways, I love you and miss you all! Please write me, I'd love to hear from you! LOVE YOU!

Elder Schneiter

P.S. Sorry about no pictures, I'll send them all next week.