Dec 3, 2018

Hello Everyone! I guess I probably should apologize once again for promising that I am going to improve at emailing and then of course not doing so...but unfortunately you are all probably used to it at this point! Anyway, here is what the past couple weeks have looked like.

A few weeks back we had the awesome opportunity to go to the temple and all I can say was it was amazing! I really miss the temple and I really regret not taking advantage of it when I was home but I'm making a promise to myself that after my mission I will make sure to go to the temple as much as I can!

We have been able to have a couple great lessons with Gerardo these last couple weeks. He has some great questions that are always fun to answer. He's progressing for sure, not as quickly as we would hope he would but we are hoping that we will be able to help him out this next lesson with progessing a bit quicker.

Two Mondays ago we had the incredible opportunity to have Elder Weatherford Clayton of the Seventy come and tour our mission and conduct our Zone Conference! He and Sister Clayton gave us some incredible Council that I know will really help our mission to take it to the next level! Such an amazing Spiritual experience for sure. The day after that we had an awesome Zone Preparation Day activity at Golfland Sunsplash (Basically the equivalent of Boondocks)

Thanksgiving here in Rocklin was truly stuffed full of good stuff. We had 4 appointments that day so I can definitely say that I put on some weight haha! We also had the chance to share the #LightTheWorld initiative with most of those families so that also made it a really awesome day.

Last Monday we spent a majority of our Preparation Day helping set up a Stake Nativity Exhibit in Granite Bay which was still tons of fun! And the finished Product was even greater! We had the chance for 2 of the 3 days the Exhibit was going on to be hosts and to invite people to church on the 23rd Of December! Also I saw many people from Roseville 1st ward so that was also so so amazing!

Tuesday was transfers and both Elder Nettleton and I are staying together. I can't say I was too thrilled about that happening since I struggled a bit with Elder Nettleton but I know there is a reason for it. I just hope we can continue to see growth and progression in the area. But on the bright side, Elder Johnson, who took me out tracting on my 1st day in the mission field, is in my district so I was really excited about that!

Wednesday the Young Men in the Rocklin 1st ward had a really cool missionary activity where the leaders invited non member friends and neighbors to come be taught the missionary lessons by the young men. It was a really awesome activity and many of the non members who were a part of it really enjoyed it and some even were interested in meeting with us! It was so sweet and to top it all off, Elder Molipeli was on an exchange with us and he shared his conversion story and it was so so incredible!

Anyways, even though Thanksgiving has passed, I just want to let you all know how grateful I am for each of you. I'm grateful for you all supporting me over these last 13 months. I love you all and I'd really love to hear from you! Hopefully I'll be able to improve at emailing in the near future! Have a great week and I'll talk to you next week!💙

Elder Riley Schneiter

California Roseville Mission
8583 Watt Avenue
Antelope, CA 95843

 

Nov 14, 2018

Hey everyone! I just want you all to know that I love you and miss you so much! Thank you for all your support and I'm especially grateful for all the birthday wishes from a couple weeks back! It really has meant a lot! Anyways, here's a summary of the past few weeks.

The members here in Rocklin are so amazing and they seriously helped so much in making my birthday just an amazing day! We also met this awesome lady named Becca who was interested in us coming back but not for another month until her new puppy is done with its training! The following day was both the ward Trunk-R-Treats and they were so successful in getting a ton of non members there! And then the day after that we were in a Trio with Elder Comans (One of our Zone Leaders) and we helped out Gerardo with a fundraiser event for his Humanitarian Project he leads so that was so much fun and we were able to meet so many awesome people and introduce them to the church!

Halloween we had to be in early so we stayed in and watched some classic church movies such as Johnny Lingo and The Phone Call. If you haven't seen either of those movies, they are definitely recommend!

Last Wednesday we had interviews with President Ward and it was just what was needed. I seriously love President Ward so much and I really couldn't have asked for a better mission President! He really just wants us as missionaries to be the very best we can and to give the Lord our best and have all we do focused on his work! Thursday we had exchanges and I went with our District Leader, Elder Schreiner! We had such a great time and we were blessed to find 2 new people to teach in our area! One of them is named Alex Schneider so it was a pretty interested conversation between the 3 of us who all have similar last names😂 That was also the day we learned about the devastating fire up in Paradise which really hurt Elder Schreiner because he served up there for 3 transfers! Please please please pray for all those who lost everything in the fire, they really need the help!

This weekend it was Rocklin's Stake Conference and it was so great! All the speakers did such a fabulous job and really brought the Spirit to all who had the opportunity to listen!

So that's basically it folks! I love you all and I really will try my best to be better at emailing! I'd love to be able to receive a personal email from y'all so please if you get the chance, it would mean so much! And I promise I'll do my best to reply!😂 Love y'all have a great rest of your week and tune in next week to learn more!

 

Oct 22, 2018

Weekly...about time (haha)

Hey Everybody! So here's a recap of the past few weeks!

So Keith who we were teaching, unfortunately his father is not in good health and lives in Chicago so he left to go be with him until he passes away so it stinks that we aren't able to teach him anymore. We are hoping to send the missionaries in Chicago out there so he is still able to learn!

About 3 Sundays ago, Elder Batchelor and I had a really neat opportunity to sing a musical number in Sacrament Meeting. I was sort of nervous seeing as though I'm not the most gifted when it comes to musical ability, but it went so great! I also got to speak in Sacrament so it was a really awesome sacrament meeting!

A few weeks ago we actually lost the car so we have been on bike, so it's been really nice because I think I really need to watch my figure😂 I'm just kidding but it has actually been really nice to be back on a bike...but also sort of painful.

One day when Elder Batchelor and I were walking we met this lady from Massachusetts who started talking to us about Mitt Romney and one thing led to another and she accepted to have the missionaries back in Massachusetts to come and teach her! It was so awesome. Also that same day while my bike was getting fixed up, we went into this burger joint and got some food. Our server, Gerardo as we were paying the bill starting asking us questions about what we believe and then we ended up getting his info and he told us that he was super excited to learn about what we believe! He is so awesome! I'll get to him in a sec.

We had Zone Conference that next day and it was great as usual! So much Revelation that is very much needed. It was also really great to see my brothers Elder Hannemann and Elder Semeatu!

Now Holy Cow! General Conference was so stinking amazing! So crazy that church will now be 2 hours! But I think that it is super beneficial because it means that we as individuals and families need to learn and teach the Gospel more in the Home! Also, YUBA CITY TEMPLE!!! That came as such a surprise for all of us in the mission, but we are all so very excited! And I can't wait for the day that I can come back and go see the temple there! Man, General Conference as a missionary is just as good as Christmas!😄

A couple Monday’s ago for Preparation Day we went to Sunsplash, which is basically the California equivalent of Boondocks/7 Peaks, and had a ton of fun there! And since it is owned by a member of our Mission Presidency, it was free! And they also had Iceberg Shakes there so it was seriously like Utah in a cup! So awesome!

I got to go on Exchanges with one of our Zone Leaders, Elder Comans and Elder Ellsworth. We had such a blast on the exchange! Costa Vida for lunch is always amazing! We were supposed to have a lesson with Darlene Belton, but Darlene flaked which was super sad since I haven't seen her since her baptism😢 But we still had a great time! Also as we were talking to this Lady at the park, this random guy came up to us and did some weird thing where he almost grabbed the lady we were talking to so after that we ended up walking away from the park and the lady told us that we were her "Guardian Angels"! Interesting encounter, but it happens as a missionary haha!

Well this last week was transfers, and unfortunately Elder Batchelor is being transferred back north up to Cottonwood to be a District Leader! My new companion is Elder Nettleton. He is from Payson, Utah and he's been out for 18 months. Elder Nettleton is very quiet and he doesn't seem to have the greatest desire to work and serve, but I'm going to give him my very best and I'm going to just love him and help him! 

But going back to Gerardo! On Wednesday we had our first lesson with him and we thought it would be a really great idea to give him a chapel tour...and holy cow it was seriously so amazing! He just kept telling us how desperately he wanted to learn about our beliefs and the Book of Mormon! He said he felt so much peace as we walked around the chapel! He also said that he always wanted to come to our church and always found the corner the church is on to be a very peaceful place! He is seriously so Golden and so amazing! I love him so much already and I can't wait to move forward with him!

So this week I hit my 1 Year mark and my 20th Birthday. It's really crazy to think that my mission is half way over. It has been the most challenging year of my life, so many ups and downs. But it has also been the happiest year of my life! I love my mission. There is seriously no where else in the world I'd want to be then right here in California representing the Lord Jesus Christ and sharing his Gospel! I've made so many wonderful friendships and memories! My hope and prayer is that over this next year I can give the Lord all I have to give him! This Gospel is true. The Book of Mormon is the Word of God. Jesus Christ is our Savior and it is only because of his great Love and Sacrifice that we are able to return to Live with Our Father in Heaven as we obey the Laws and Ordinances of the Gospel! I love all of you and I'm grateful for all your love and Support! I hope you have a great week and I hope to hear from you soon!❤💙❤💙 

Elder Riley Schneiter
California Roseville Mission
8583 Watt Avenue
Antelope, CA 95843

Sept 17, 2018

Hello Everyone! 

It seems like it has been like a million years since you've heard from me so I guess I'll give you a synopsis of these past 6 or so weeks!

In Weaverville we started teaching this man named Robert Tschögl and he is so solid! He got introduced to the Gospel by his Girlfriend who is a member in the ward. I guess she pretty much told him that she wouldn't seriously date him unless he was baptized so that made us a little hesitant but in our first lesson with us he made it very clear that he recognizes that something is missing from his life and he is doing this for himself, so that was a major relief!😅 We also had a super crazy miracle where we finally were able to have a lesson with the Hainsworth's and as we were talking about Prophets they asked us how they could be baptized and then the next day Jason made it to Church! Also that same day we had a lesson fall through so both Elder Gardner and I felt impressed to go and visit this less active member and so we made the trek out to his home and he was there and let us right in! He told us that he was praying 3 days earlier and that after he finished praying, he knew that we would be coming by soon! It was so incredible. 

A couple weeks back we had transfers and the day finally came...I have been transferred! I loved Redding so much and it will always have a great place in my heart and I'm just so very grateful for the past 6 months there! I have been transferred to Rocklin 1st and 6th Wards and I'm companions with Elder Batchelor! We served for 2 transfers together up in Redding so we know each other quite well. He is from Idaho Falls and has been out for 8 months. He's a stud and loves to work. What's awesome is I'm only like 3 minutes from my 1st area in Roseville! But the work here in Rocklin is very challenging. It is a very wealthy area so people here aren't the most humble and receptive to the Gospel, but there is definitely work to be done! Some of the highlights so far I guess have been: As Elder Batchelor and I were trying to visit someone who had interest we saw their neighbor doing yard work outside and so we thought we would ask her if she wanted help and she told us it wasn't a good day so we just kept talking and then one thing led to another and we invited her to church and so fast forwarding to church that Sunday, we went to her house and reminded her of church and she asked us to wait for her to change so she could follow us to church so this lady (Sherry is her name) came to church and she loved it! We had our first lesson with her and it went okay but we were able to learn more about some of her concerns so we can know how to help her out moving forward. 

But that's pretty much about it. I'm loving my time serving the Lord and while this has been the most challenging 11 months of my life, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else! I love and miss you all and I'd love to hear from you!💙

Elder Riley Schneiter
California Roseville Mission
8583 Watt Avenue
Antelope, CA 95843

August 13, 2018

Hey Everyone! This week was pretty spectacular.

We had a good lesson with Tonja on Faith and the Holy Ghost. It was well received but Tonja just needs help on exercising Faith, not just understanding it. Wednesday, we went and took Sister Hook's dog for a walk and it was great. Sister Hook's got very emotional as we were leaving because she was so grateful for all we have been able to do for her over the past few months. It was small and simple thing, but I know that it meant so much to her, so that was a neat experience. We also had a lesson with a part-member family and it went so well. They enjoyed the lesson very much and the wife, Debra, who is not a member, said that she was totally open to us coming by and having more lessons.  We are looking forward to teaching her! We received some very unfortunate news on Saturday that TJ had been incarcerated once again. It was pretty devastating for both Elder Gardner and I, but we have been able to recover, and are hoping that we will be able to write him soon!

But the highlight of the whole week was definitely Sunday! We drove 2 hours from Redding to Gridley to go and listen to President Dallin H. Oaks!!! Holy Cow! It was so amazing! The Spirit was so amazing during that meeting. He had a pretty great sense of humor as well. It was cool to see that even someone who is as close to the Lord as President Oaks is still very human. But I was able to learn so much and that experience really helped me to remember who I chose to serve and who I represent.

Love you all and hope you all have a fantastic week! I'd love to hear from y'all!

1- Carr Fire damage

2- Weekly Planning selfie

3- Elder Unsicker sure is a happy guy:)

4- Roseville boyz

 

August 6, 2018

Hello my peoples! I'm just going to say I may never get good at this whole emailing thing, so I apologize. I hope you will all remain patient with me! Just know that I still love you and miss you all! Anywhos, nothing all too crazy has gone on over these past 3 weeks but I'll give you the major highlights!

July 19th was 5-Week training in Gridley. It was super nice being able to see Elder Rowe, since he is a Zone Leader in Gridley. As well, I was able to get my bike back. You could tell Elder Colton has put a whole lot of use into! 2 flat tires and a bunch of the gizmos and gadgets were missing, but oh well. But 5-Week was super awesome! I learned a lot of things that will definitely help out in training Elder Gardner. It was very interesting because it was super-hot, so President Ward allowed us to take our suitcoats off. And it was just super weird seeing President Ward without a suit! It was seriously the most casual I had ever seen him act before.

July 24th was transfers and it was definitely a sad one😢….19 missionaries went home and some of them were the mission legends, including my brother Elder Shetlin. I'll miss so many of those Elders, but I know I will see many of them in the future! Luckily, I'm still with Elder Gardner here in Redding! It was actually a very interesting day because Elder Gardner and I learned how to do family history since neither one of us had really done it, so it was quite neat! We are hopeful it will come in handy in the future for spreading the Gospel!

Well, here's where the past couple weeks have gotten super interesting! This is an excerpt of my email I sent to my mom on Thursday, July 26th: "Thursday morning we were having our personal study and just about started our daily planning when one of our ward mission leaders called us saying that we should evacuate to the Zone Leaders apartment because of the Carr fire. We packed up some stuff and headed to their apartment. Not too much longer afterwards, it seemed that everything was fine, so we headed back and went about our day as normal. While we were having a lesson at our dinner, the Bishop knocked on the door of the members house we were having dinner and he was there to tell them the mandatory evacuation line was only a mile away. They didn't live too far from us, so we took that as our sign that we should get to the Zone Leaders!  We went back to our house and grabbed a few things and headed to the Zone Leaders. We made it there and not too long after we got there, we looked out of their apartment balcony, and we could see the fire, so we called President Ward and told him. We saw that a lot of people in their complex were leaving so President Ward told us to go to the other Elders Apartment, so we did!

The Fire was able to jump the Sacramento River so that was no bueno! We spent the night, the 6 of us Elders, in one apartment!!  In the morning, after the Zone Leaders talked to President Ward, he asked all 8 of us Elders in Redding to pack up and head south to have 4 of us Elders stay with the Elders in Cottonwood and another 4 with the Elders in Anderson. And so, we have been here in Cottonwood since Friday morning." What was funny was 2 of the Elders we had spent the night with on Thursday were brand new missionaries! So that had a very interesting introduction to the mission field ha-ha!

So, yeah, it has just been a complete madhouse here in Redding for the past couple of weeks! Unfortunately, quite a few members in our Wards in Redding lost their homes and some are still unsure if their homes have even made it! But it has been really cool to see the help everyone has received from fellow Ward and Stake members! That's what's so great about this Gospel and Christ's Church! No matter where in the world you are, you will always have family!

Anyways, I'm grateful to all of you! Each one of you has always loved and supported me and for that I am eternally thankful. I love you all and hope you all have a great week. Love to hear from you, so please send me some letters, emails, packages whatever ha-ha 

Also, you should really pick up and read the Book of Mormon sometime, I think it's pretty great!

Elder Riley Schneiter

California Roseville Mission
3771 Greenhaven Lane
Redding, CA 96001

 

July 16, 2018

Hey Everyone,

I don't have much to talk about, so I'll keep it short for you!

Tuesday was Zone Conference and it was as great as it always is! It was again all about working with members and how important it is that they utilize the natural events in their lives to invite others to feel of the Spirit and learn more about the Gospel. It was just a complete Revelatory Bomb! Thursday, we had a super awesome lesson with Norman and it makes me so happy because the past few lessons with Norman have actually been super productive. He's actually taking steps forward!

Also, Elder Gardner and I took some time that evening to learn how to do some family history so that way we'd actually be able to help out some investigators and recent converts with it. I now can see how people can get way into Family History. It was actually tons of fun! Friday was just so stressful! I don't know why, but I was just feeling super stressed. It also didn't help that we had dinner with a very staunch Catholic family and our spiritual thought afterwards didn't go so well, but it is what it is.

Saturday, we had a solid lesson with the Hainsworth's. We talked about the Restoration and they explained to us how they feel a strong need for a Prophet, especially in today's world! I wish we had more time to talk about how we do have modern-day Prophets, but we were short on time. I'm excited and hopeful to see how our next visit with them goes! Also, it was a bit interesting because outside their house, sitting on a chair was this little plant......and it ended up being a Marijuana plant....so yeah. Also, that evening we were able to help out with some service at this anniversary dinner and it was actually tons of fun! 

Anyways, that was pretty much the week. Nothing too crazy. I love you all and miss you and I'd love to hear from you! Have a fantastic week!

Also, go read Ether Chapter 12! Holy Cow! What an amazing chapter!

1- Shasta!!!

2- Zone Selfie

Elder Riley Schneiter
California Roseville Mission
3771 Greenhaven Lane
Redding, CA 96001

July 9, 2018

Hey Everyone! To be honest, these past couple weeks haven't been all that exciting, but I'll give you some of the short and sweet highlights!

Not last Monday, but the one prior, we went and hiked Whiskeytown Falls with the Zone Leaders and the Assistants.  It was super sweet.

 District Meeting has actually now changed to "District Council" and I'd like to say I like it tons more than before. Now, most of our time is spent discussing our investigators and how we can help them to progress towards baptism.  It now makes things much more exciting!

 2 Fridays ago, we were supposed to have our TIWI in our car replaced, so Elder Gardner and I waited, and waited and waited.... but the guy never showed up!  We just sat there for an hour and a half and nothing! A tad bit frustrating, but oh well. But on a good note, last Sunday was Sierra's Confirmation! t was so amazing!

Tuesday I went on an exchange with Elder Batchelor and it was a really good time! He's such a good man and we both are very similar in how we do missionary work.  It was great!

Wednesday, we celebrated the 4th of July by going to the Sundial Bridge and handing out some water bottles with the Zone Leaders. It was a pretty good success. Afterwards we just spent the evening watching the fireworks with them.

Thursday, we helped these old people out with some service and they offered to feed us dinner, so we were super excited! But I did smash my finger and that hurt a bit.

Saturday, we had a super solid lesson with TJ where we just re-established our purpose for our meetings and it went so well. We were able to find out what TJ is interested in learning and making changes in his life. It has rekindled the hope we had for him previously!

Ha-ha Funny story….. We were supposed to have a lesson with this family, but we showed up and their son answered the door and said they couldn't meet because his dad was in the back of the house giving himself a tattoo!  And then he walked out and said sorry for forgetting and he showed us what he was working on. It was interesting to say the least. 

Anyways, not much else to talk about. I guess the lesson I have learned these past couple weeks is just how powerful prayer is and how it really does work as we have the faith that Heavenly Father will answer our prayers! I've been praying so much lately, and it is what has kept me going and pushing through the good and the bad.

I love you all and I'm grateful for each and every one of you! Have a stellar week my friends!

Elder Riley Schneiter
California Roseville Mission
3771 Greenhaven Lane
Redding, CA 96001

June 4, 2018

Hey Everybody! Hope y'all are doing good! Holy Cow! All I can say is this past week was just a complete miracle! Heavenly Father pretty much grabbed the firehose and started raining down the miracles!

Tuesday we had Zone Conference and it was so great! It was weird because typically at Zone Conference there are multiple zones there, but at this Zone Conference it was just our zone.  It was super small, like only 20 missionaries, which was really weird for me, but it was still amazing! It was all about working with the members and how important they are to the work!

Wednesday was District Meeting and it was good, as usual. Later that day though we, along with our fearless District Leader, Elder Herman and Elder Batchelor, headed up to Weaverville for Oogie, Coby and Miley's Baptismal Interviews! They passed and that's all that matters! Also, The Zone Leaders came by that evening and we began our exchanges!

On Thursday, Elder Fernald came to our area for the exchange and it didn't go too terrible. We did a lot of service, which is always great! We had a lesson with Norman........that's about all the details I'll go into with that. But I had a great time with Elder Fernald! He's super fun and just hilarious so it was a good ol' time.

But Saturday was the day of just insane miracles! First and foremost, Oogie, Coby and Miley were all baptized! And the coolest thing about that, was Shawn, who was baptized last week, was able to baptize Oogie! It was so awesome to be able to witness that! I had the great privilege of baptizing Miley so that was so cool. The baptism was just amazing. The Spirit that accompanies a baptism is just so awesome! But many of the miracles came after the baptism. Some Elders in our zone brought an investigator to witness the baptism, and afterwards, they were talking with him and they were able to get him to commit to a day to be baptized! It was sweet. But that night, while we were in Weaverville, we met with Sierra, who was at the baptism, and we talked with her about it. Elder Semeatu and I were a bit concerned because Sierra's main fellowshipper had been telling her to wait because he felt she wasn't ready, but at that lesson, he came out and said to her, "Sierra, while I was sitting at the baptism, the Holy Ghost kept prompting me by telling me that you are ready!" And that had been Sierra's biggest reason for not already committing to baptism, so after that, we asked her to fast and pray, along with the Jones family about a date.

On Sunday Elder Semeatu and I were able to witness Oogie, Coby and Miley be confirmed. I was able to confirm Miley, so it was wicked awesome! After Sacrament though, Sierra came up to us and said, "Affirmative on June 30th!" So, after Church we met with her and discussed a date and she committed to June 24th! So, like I was saying, the baptism led to some insane miracles! Also, that evening we were able to meet with Jimmy Coats, a less active member and we committed him to come to church next week! As well, the Redding 2nd ward was dissolved, so they changed up a couple of the ward boundaries and changed the name of all the Wards, so now we cover the Sundial (1st), Mary Lake (5th), and Weaverville Wards!

Anyways, that was my week. I hope you all have a great week. I love and miss each and every one of you! I hope to hear from you so send me some emails! 💙

1: My good buddy Elder Powell!

2: Selfie with Our Fearless DL and the Batchelor

3: Baptism!!!!!!

Elder Riley Schneiter
California Roseville Mission
3771 Greenhaven Lane
Redding, CA 96001

 

May 28, 2018

Well hello my friends and family! I guess it's been a while since you've heard from me. I'm sorry about that, just staying busy is all. I apologize for being so terrible with emailing. I can't make any promises, but I will sincerely try and make an effort to improve at it! To catch you up on what's happening here in good ol' Redding, I'll give you a brief synopsis of these past few weeks!

May 7-13: Wednesday we had interviews with President Ward. They were great as usual. Also, that day we were supposed to have our first lesson with a man named Brad but then he left us the Book of Mormon we left him and a note. You can see a photo of that note below. It was a really sad thing to see but it happens sometimes. Thursday, we went and played some basketball with some members of the ward, the Zone Leaders and some of the members non-member friends so that was great. Also, we had a great lesson with Norman. He explained how he struggles with exercising his faith so it's good to have learned that, so we can now help him. Saturday, we headed up to Weaverville and had some great lessons with Shawn, Oogie, Coby, and Miley. Also, Elder Semeatu talked to his family because of the time difference to Australia. Sunday there was a Hymn Invitational in the 5th Ward so that was something I'd never experienced before, but it was cool. After Church I was able to call my family!! That was like the best thing ever!!!

May 14-20: On Monday we went thrift shopping. I got this sweet hat and some brand-new roller blades for dirt cheap so that was so amazing! Not much else happened this week, it was actually a little rough because we haven't been able to find any new people to teach, but you hit these rough patches occasionally, you just have to continue to look forward with faith that it will get better! Saturday was actually an amazing day! We were once again up in Weaverville for Shawn and Bonnie's Wedding! And it was so amazing. It was actually the first wedding ceremony I've ever been to. After the wedding, we had a lesson with Sierra and it was so great. She is so close and continues to progress with each time we meet with her. Hopefully she'll soon be ready to make the full commitment! Sunday, we had a lesson early in the morning with two of our NEW investigators, Natalie and Jason Hainsworth! They seem awesome and hopefully they will be willing to keep commitments we leave them because that seems to be a major struggle for many people we teach. It's frustrating but what can you do?? We also were able to go to mission prep and talk about our stories before the mission and what we did to prepare. It was great to be able to help others out with that!

But this week was so Uber fantastic! On Monday we went on a hike to Black Butte, which is right up by Mount Shasta. It was so so cool! On the drive up to the hike, we saw the original Black Bear Diner so that had me super excited for some reason. We had dinner with Bishop Wilson and his family and they were telling us a funny story about how they were talking about Elder Semeatu and I and Sister Wilson called me, "Elder Shi-Tzu" So that was funny…. I guess. On Tuesday we had such a great lesson on the Plan of Salvation with TJ! The Spirit was very strong during the lesson. It stinks because we are always having such great lessons with TJ, but then he never ends up coming to church, so we just need to help motivate him to do so! That night we also went and visited Gabe and he let us know that he slipped up on the Word of Wisdom and he had been drinking coffee lately, so that was a bit of an issue, but we will keep on helping him out because he needs to get to the temple! On Wednesday we went up to Weaverville with President Paulson, President Ward's counselor, and had Shawn's Baptismal interview. It was such a great time up there and Shawn passed! That was a major plus! Thursday we went on Exchanges with 2nd/3rd Ward. Elder Herman came to our area and we had a good time together. We unfortunately didn't see any of the so-called "Exchange Miracles" but we both did learn a lot. Plus, we ended off the exchange having all the Elders in the district meet up at the Schaub's for some Cider Shakes! Also, Aidan and Lilly had their baptismal interviews that day and they did great. Friday, we planned and helped Brother Martin move an organ. That was fun! Also, a guy in the stake named Brother Prusse taught the Zone Leaders and us how to do some insane self-defense moves so I wouldn't mess with me anymore.. ha-ha.  Just kidding, everyone could still probably beat me up. We also spent nearly 2 hours that evening cleaning the baptismal font and that was a fantastic time! But oh boy! Was Saturday spectacular! It was Shawn, Aidan and Lilly's baptisms!!!! Holy Cow, the Spirit was so strong, and they were just so fantastically awesome! They are all such amazing people and it is so incredible to see them all making their first covenant with our Heavenly Father! And what was awesome was Gabe came to Shawn's baptism and the Spirit literally sucker punched him! Also, to add on to that amazing day, we were able to do some service and at the house we were cleaning, there were these super sweet ninja swords, as you may see by the picture below! Sunday, we went up to Weaverville and were able to witness Shawn's Confirmation and not only that, but to witness him receive the priesthood! It's going to be so cool to be able to see him on Saturday baptize Oogie! Shawn pulled Elder Semeatu and I aside and told us about his personal experience of his Baptism and it was so cool to hear about it from his perspective. He told us that after having had that experience and witnessing what he did, he knows that this Church is true! And all I can say in response to what Shawn told us, is that I know this Church to be true as well!!!

Anyways, I love you all and miss you dearly!

Make sure to email me! And I promise if you do I will email you back (eventually!) ❤❤❤

1- I'm sorry I'm such a nerd

2- Zone Selfie!

3- Shawn's big day!

4- Me with Shasta! 

5- Skoy boys

6- Not every selfie is pretty

7- Neat view

8- OG Black Bear Diner 

9- Sweet Thrift shop pick ups

10- Our note Brad left us:(

11- Shawn and Bonnie's Wedding!

Elder Riley Schneiter
California Roseville Mission
3771 Greenhaven Lane
Redding, CA 96001

 

 

April 23, 2018

Yoooooooooo! What's up everyone? I hope everyone is all having a great day and that life is going well! Now, let's catch everyone up with what's been happening here in good ol' Redding!

Well a couple weeks ago we had some great times! I went on an exchange with my glorious Zone Leader, Elder Hannemann. He's a great man. Not much really happened on our exchange, but it was still a great learning experience we had together. We grew a lot closer that day so that's good. Wednesday was Zone Conference. It was by far the best Zone Conference ever! We got our smartphones all set up so that was cool, except they are these crappy Samsung’s, so it made me realize why I'm forever sticking to Apple!

Brothers Tanner and Gonzalez from the Missionary Department came and were just teaching us about the importance of planning and finding. It was so insightful and it's really going to benefit the work! Also, that week I went on exchange with Elder Robinson who was in the same MTC group as me! He also happens to be my mission nephew! (Which means his trainer and I were both trained by Elder Dixon) Not much happened for us except we did have an awesome, super spiritual lesson to end the night with this girl named Nikki, even though the lesson was intended for a recent convert! But it was such a great experience. That weekend we were in Weaverville and it was so great! We had a couple great lessons with Sean Williamson and his kids. They are so awesome and they are so ready for baptism! Just a few weeks away! We attended Sacrament meeting in Weaverville because it was Ward Conference and it was amazing! Afterwards, they had a potluck and the food was so dang good! That week was a pretty solid one!

This past week wasn't too bad either. On Monday we started teaching these two siblings of a recent convert named Aiden and Lilly, who are 10 and 13, and they are just great! Our first lesson was awesome and they are now preparing to be baptized on May 12th! Total miracle! On Wednesday we helped the Zone Leaders and the Redding 2nd/3rd ward elders move apartments for about 4.5 hours so that was tons of fun. That night we had a super solid lesson with the most recent convert in the Redding 5th Ward, Gabe Rocha. Gabe is so awesome! He's been working hard at getting himself to the temple to receive his endowment.  He fell back into an old habit with drinking coffee, but when he got there he hadn't had any for 3 days! He's so awesome and I know that he'll make it to the temple soon! Thursday, we had a very long and frustrating lesson with good ol' Norman that was nearly 2 hours and basically zero progress was made.......I honestly don’t know how he can talk so much!!!! Friday, we started off the day with our first lesson with Venus Palmer and her son O'Rian. We basically just talked about the Book of Mormon and challenged them to read it and they said yes! We had a good lesson with our main man Todd. The only challenge with Todd is that he has a lot of health challenges and he holds a lot of anger towards God for his struggles, so it makes it a little difficult, but we still have great faith in him! We concluded our Friday evening at the Schaub's home with the Zone Leaders drinking some dang good Apple Cider Shakes! Saturday, we had a couple good lessons with TJ and Jimmy and that's about that. Sunday was a good day of 7 hours of church so that's always fun! 

Anyways, I think that should catch y'all up on my life. I love you all and hope all of you have a fantastic week! Also, don't forget to send me some emails! I'd love to hear from all of you!💙

#1- I may look stupid, but the mural is pretty cool!

#2- Elder Johnson and I! (Elder Johnson was the 1st Elder to ever take me tracting)

#3- Our beautiful home surrounded by a forest of weeds