19 Months To Go

Hey everyone! Hope you are doing awesome.....19 months of the mission down, and I still stink at sending weekly emails woooooo!

Anyways, these last 8 weeks here in Auburn have been so fantastic! We are teaching quite a bit and many of the people we are teaching are doing very well. Ernie is a total stud I have to say. He is 82, runs 3 businesses and will be getting baptized on June 22nd! This last week we met this lady named Terena who had talked with the missionaries previously and wondered why they stopped visiting her....but she still expressed her sincere desire to grow closer to Christ and be baptized! Another very insane story to share with y'all: 2 weeks ago we had transfers and my new companion is Elder Fahrni and he's so awesome. He's been out for 20 months and so it's been very nice to have a companion who is just as experienced as myself(not to say I'm a expert by any means at doing the Lord's work haha!) We were meeting with Bishop Hatch and his family to introduce Elder Fahrni and Sister Hatch and her daughter's were making Churros and out of no where.....BOOM! One of the churros exploded and hot oil got everywhere and burned Sister Hatch and her daughter quite badly We found out the next day they ended up going to the emergency room with 2nd degree burns.....so I now learned I never want to make churros in my life! Anyways I love and miss all of you dearly. It's so crazy to think how fast these 19 months have gone by. I wouldn't trade them for anything. I hope and am determined to give all that I have these last 5 months! Have a great week. I'd love to hear from you so please feel free to send a personal email and hopefully I will respond haha!

Well, to explain the picture in the dress....I completed my sister mission and so to commemorate that accomplishment...I got a sister picture lol Also, Elder Sollis in that selfie below graduated from Alta High so some of you may or may not know him!

January 28, 2019

Hey Everyone! I just want to let you know first off that I love you all and appreciate all the prayers and support! I'm loving my time out here serving the Lord and helping bring people unto Christ. Seriously, it is the greatest decision I have made in my life thus far! For those who may question whether or not to serve a mission....just do it! You will never regret it! Anyways here's a little update on the past few weeks for you!

3 weeks ago was transfers and I got transferred to the Santa Juanita ward here in Folsom/Orangevale. What is super awesome is Elder (Taylor) Ludlow is a Zone Leader here in the stake just boarding our area so hopefully one of these days we will bump into each other at the mission boarder haha! My companion is Elder Allen from West Haven, Utah. All I can say is that he has been such an incredible blessing! He just completed his training and he is a very hard worker with a strong desire to be obedient and just go out and serve. We have been working very hard talking with as many people as we can and we are starting to see some amazing blessings! Elder Allen has really helped me to step it up and be better. I know I will forever be grateful for him and he will be a true lifelong friend.

We've been teaching a couple really amazing people. One of them is named Cody Gerton. He's 19 and he is a total stud. He is committed to be baptized on February 16th and he is such an incredible example of faith and diligence. I'm so excited for him and I know his life is about to be forever changed. He's so excited to not only be baptized, but to be able to go to the Temple because that is how he first met the missionaries was he went to the temple grounds everyday for 2 weeks and then requested to meet with missionaries. Total legend. Another man we are teaching is Chris Gerber. Chris has 2 daughters who are members and so he decided he has wanted to learn more. We have had 2 amazing lessons with him and in our most recent lesson he was very touched by the Spirit as we were discussing the Plan of Salvation. And he made it out to church this Sunday! Seriously he's so amazing and so sincere. 

The ward here is incredible. The members are so supportive and love being involved so it has really helped us out. We are really working on helping the members get more energized in going out and doing their own missionary work so they can help to find people who are ready to hear our message. I'm hopeful that we will start seeing some results in the near future! All in all, these first 3 weeks here have been incredible and I've really seen a change within myself. I've really felt the Atonement of Christ change me and help me become the missionary the Lord needs me to be over the past few weeks. I'm really looking forward to these next few weeks and I have great faith great things are in store. I love you all so much and I miss you and seriously it would mean so much to hear from each and everyone of you! Have a great week and I promise to actually send out a weekly next week!😂 

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

Jan 7, 2019

Hey Everyone! Happy New year! Hope you are all having a stellar 2019 so far. Anyways not a lot to talk about this week but we had some really great things happen!

For New Year's Eve we had the fun chance of deep cleaning out apartment....yahhh! Haha we threw out a ton of junk so it was good getting the place all cleaned up. This Wednesday I went on an exchange with Elder Henderson and it was fantastic. He's a really great Elder and I was able to learn a lot from him. We had an awesome lesson with a lady named Phaedra and she later texted and said she's all in for baptism! Thursday we had a great lesson with our favorite man Gerardo. He always has some great questions and he is progressing well, but he is just struggling with getting Sundays off work and making it to church, but I have faith that he will make it to church real soon! Friday we had Zone Conference and it was so stinking incredible. We learned so much about planning and some other things that I really need to improve in so it was exactly what I needed. Also it was great seeing all my buddies from around the mission! Saturday we had our 1st lesson with a man named Joe Snook. He is the friend of a recent convert in the ward and he's come to church 4 times in the last 6 weeks! He loved the lesson and believes everything we have taught it true! He has some much potential and I have a strong feeling he will enter the waters of baptism in the near future! 

All in all it was a great week.  This Tuesday we have transfers and I have found out that I am being transferred to Citrus Heights. It's sad leaving Rocklin but I'm very much looking forward to be able to serve the people in Citrus Heights and to serve with Elder Allen. I don't know much about him but I know he just got finished being trained. I'm sure things will be great! Anyways, I love you all and miss you dearly. Hope you have a fantastic week and I'll talk to y'all soon! 

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

 

Dec 17, 2018

Hello there everyone! I hope y'all are having a very merry holiday and are spreading the joy of this time of year by Lighting the World! This time of year has really made me appreciate every single one of you and the great examples you are to me! I love you and miss all of you and would really love to hear from all of you, but that's not the point of this email, the point is to hear how things are going hear in California so let me tell you about it!

A couple weeks ago we had an amazing visit with Heidi. We only meet with her like once a month with her crazy schedule but she's still so amazing! It really stinks that her husband isn't a fan of the church so that keeps her from progressing but hopefully his heart will soften one day and will allow her to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ in its fullness! We had a great lesson discussing the true meaning of Christmas and tying that into the Light the World initiative. It was super awesome because one of the fellowshippers we brought, Sister Crutchfield, totally jumped in and planned out with her to Participate with her family in Light the World! It was so amazing😀

The following day we had interviews with President Ward and it was just totally amazing and exactly what I needed. President Ward is just amazing and I have so much love for him! He just knows exactly what you need to hear!

That same week we had a super awesome lesson with Gerardo where we were able to discuss some of the commandments such as the Law Of Chastity and he was totally all for it! We also invited him to be baptized and he said Yes! He told us that he knows that he has a need to be baptized so he's all for it!😲

Saturday that week we went to a baptism for Mya Salvatierra who is an 8 year old we have been teaching in the ward and it was so awesome! Always an amazing Spirit at baptisms!

This Monday we went to a Pig Roast for Elder Molipeli, who went home this last Thursday and it was a ton of fun! I tried Pig Brain and it is so gross. Just imagine meat flavored Pudding and there you go, Pig brain😷 Nasty! We as well had our first lesson with another 8 year old in the ward named Mia Leonard and it was so awesome! We taught the Restoration and she really loved it!

Tuesday we helped out Elly with raking her leaves and I seriously don't think I've ever seen so many leaves in my life! We also followed up with some families in the ward with who they are they have invited to church on the 23rd!

Wednesday we had our first lesson with a man named Larry. He is a retired judge and has previously met with missionaries. He loves meeting with us and has a strong faith in Christ. We had a great discussion about the true meaning of Christmas and also talked a little bit about the Plan of Salvation. We left him a Plan of Salvation Pamphlet to study but unfortunately he can't meet for another month!😑 But hopefully after that with the holidays being over he will be able to meet more regularly. We also helped out a member with moving some couches in their house. The Radovich family who we have been trying to meet with and teach unfortunately had to cancel because Tarah the mother got strep throat so that's a little understandable. Later that evening I had my first baptismal interview with a lady named Christie and she did so awesome! She has such a strong testimony already and I'm so excited for her. 

Thursday I had an exchange with Elder Williams and it was a really solid day! We had an amazing lesson with Gerardo on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Gerardo just loved it! He still has some questions about modern day Prophets and Apostles but besides that he is totally ready! He just needs to be able to find a way to get Sundays off of work!

Saturday we had the Rocklin 1st ward Christmas Party and it was so awesome! They had a few non member families there and they all really enjoyed and should hopefully be at church this next Sunday! 

Anyways, I'm loving it out here in California! I love serving the Lord and this truly is the best time of the year. I've really been able to recognize just how much Christ has blessed my life. I'm so grateful for the chance I've been given to represent him. I just hope that this next year I can do all I can to help bring others unto him. I love and miss all of you and hope you have a very merry week! Talk to you next week!❤💚🎄☃

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