August 29

That is the word for "to vomit" in Albanian. For some reason that was in one of our workbooks that is like centered around the gospel. I thought it was pretty funny when I found that. I was thinking about how I would incorporate that into a discussion. "Many people feel the spirit in different ways. Some feel a warm feeling, others feel peaceful. For me, when I feel the spirit, I throw up." Maybe something like that. Haha that reminds me of Brian Regan when he's talking about the kid who threw up whenever he lied. Haha! I'm laughing just remembering Brian Regan's voice when he pretends to throw up. Haha, good times, good times (makeout reef).
So we welcomed in some new missionaries that are learning Dutch this week! There was supposed to be 3 elders and 5 sisters, but only one elder showed up, and he didn't get to the MTC until like 11 p.m. on Wednesday! So we didn't meet him until Thursday. But his name is Elder Robinson, and he is from Jamaica! He is the first missionary from Jamaica going to the Belgium Netherlands mission ever! He has a pretty crazy story. His dad passed away when he was 13, but he's lived with his mom and siblings since then in Jamaica. But so I guess communication was bad in Jamaica, and he didn't find out until Tuesday morning that he needed to be in the MTC on Wednesday. So he like gets all packed, gets a haircut, and says goodbye to his mom all within like 2 days. AND, he just received his own endowment today at the Provo Temple! It's craziness. This elder has so much faith. He's got it hard though. He's learning Dutch in a district with 5 elders, and he doesn't have a companion, because he is the only elder learning Dutch in the MTC in this transfer. It's been hard for him, but Elder Gardiner and I have been trying really hard to reach out to him as best as we can. I want to take a little moment here to tell you how much I appreciate Elder Gardiner. He is so kind and patient. I still have a little bit of a problem with timeliness, but he is patient with me. And in companionship inventory, he asked for some ways he can improve, and he's doing them! And whenever I ask him a question about the language, he helps me out, and he's actually really good at the language too! He memorizes things really well, and he's great at understanding, so it rocks to have him in lessons, because sometimes our "investigators" will say something and I'll kind of just nod, and not know what they said, and Elder Gardiner will know. He's great. I love my companion, and am so grateful that my first companion is one I can get along with so well. There has never been any contention between us, which rocks. Also, on a side note, the word for "member" in Albanian is anëtar, which literally means "one who sides with" or something like that! That puts being a "member" of the church into a cool perspective. As members, we have to take a side. We can't be on neutral ground. Pretty cool language, eh?
So I had a cool experience this week. I role played with my teacher as an investigator, and I actually pretended to be Dani from work, Conrad! You're supposed to choose to role play as some one you know, so I chose to be Dani, this friend from work. She doesn't really believe in God, and so in the lesson, near the end, my teacher asked me as the investigator if I would kneel in prayer and ask God if he was real. So we did, and it was awesome, because I said a prayer as somebody would who doesn't believe in God, and I remember saying something like "I don't if you are real, but I want to know." And in that prayer, I felt a confirmation from the Spirit that God is real. Even though I was pretending to be someone else, the spirit was still able to touch me and testify to me that God is real, which I thought was awesome. Also, we had TRC this week! Which is where we teach RMs from the ADS mission! Except instead of a role play, we actually teach them in Albanian. For example, this week, we taught them about receiving revelation through church attendance. It went really well, and I keep getting more and more excited to actually teach real people and go to Albania! I prayed for an increased desire to serve, and Heavenly Father has given it to me. He also has told me that I need to study the scriptures here more. Ironically, I feel like I have less time now than I did before for personal scripture study, and I have felt that distance that comes when you don't read your scriptures for a while, so I'm going to study more. Heavenly Father truly is merciful and gives liberally to those that ask. I can testify that that is true, and that when we ask God, he will answer us. :)
Dad, Bardledoo? Ah, I miss Korbi and the girls too! Tell them I miss them, and that I'll pray for them for school? How are they doing? How did seeing their Dad go? Didn't they have a trip recently? And she's moving right? Wow, this feels like so long ago! Haha, I'm really glad that Conrad was losing. I can just imagine you laughing and tormenting him as he punches you and gets upset! Ya know, I might be gaining weight! I need to weigh myself. I've been coughing a lot, so my ab muscles have actually been a little tired! But so did Claire's parents tell you they dropped off donuts when they dropped Claire off at BYU!? Yeah! They got me a box of like gourmet donuts! It was AWESOME!!! Best in-laws ever :) Jk. But so i might be gaining weight, because every night my district gets into or PJs, and then we all just eat straight garbage for like half an hour, because we've all gotten packages full of candy and donuts! Haha! So i definitely could be gaining weight. Haha, that sounds like Dan. He should just get those tattoo eyebrows so he doesn't have to worry about them anymore! So I think my departure date is like the 27th or the 26th or something. Saturday was the one month mark!! I've already finished one month of my mission!! Can you believe that!? That's crazy! We don't get our departure and flight plans until like a week before we leave, but I'll let you know when we do!

Momma, Haha! Are you sure that was from the Seminary Hot Chocolate chill? That was like in January, I think. Wow. I don't think I should say I'm sorry, because I actually think that's really funny! Yeah, I hear the camping wasn't the best. That is just the craziest that Dan is at school right now! I can't believe he is a freshman. I think he's gonna love highschool. Highschoolers someone like Dan to be a good example to follow. I'm so excited to hear about how he does! I miss his really long stories he used to tell me after school about how he hurt someone or about how he did something really smooth with some pretty girl. If you hear any of those, can you relay them back to me, please? :) Oh, and yeah! The zollingers sent me donuts! Best in-laws ever. Haha! Oh and I am feeling better! I've still got a little bit of a cough, but I'm almost done! How is work going? How does it feel working on real sick people and stuff!?

Jessie, How is school going? I'll pray for you. I can't believe this is your last year of classes. Holy cow. I'm so proud of you, Jessie. Is there anything you can't do!? Wow. Just so ya know, don't feel bad if you don't have time to send an email. I understand, and I won't be sad. I've got emails from some other people too. I love you so much, Jessie!
Conrad, Guess what song we sang yesterday in devotional. *Activate Pirate Accent* "The Day Dawn is Breaking, the world is awaking!" I thought of you in your pirate voice, and it made me laugh :) Also, I hear you really stunk it up playing cards while you were camping! Ha! Oh, so uh, what's the news with you and Janet? I mean Bridgette! Actually I don't remember her name. Wait... It starts with an "m", or it's Whitney. It's not Whitney. How is Mindy though? And how's work going? You're working through Christmas right? Are you wrestling Dan still? Has he told you any funny Daniel stories yet? If he does, I want to hear them!
Dan, How was your first day!? Did you hit anyone? Did you wear your white vans? How long did you take to do your hair in the morning? Was it weird actually going to school at Hillcrest? I can't believe you're going there already. It's so weird. Haha but I wanna hear how things are going!
Ok, so guess what! A week ago, there was a sister that left our zone that was called to Trinidad/Port of Spain mission, but her visa didn't come in time, so she got temporarily reassigned to the Idaho Falls Idaho mission!!!!! Her name is Sister Baker, and she's super funny, and she's got a low voice. I'll send a picture of her. If you can, you should try to find her and say hi, because she is super cool!
Anyways, I love you a lot family! I'm loving the MTC right now, and I am happy :) I'll be praying for you all! I love you!
-Elder Schneider
P.S. Is Gehrig still alive!? I haven't heard anything from him in over a month. I miss him, and I would really appreciate it if someone could contact him, and at least find out how he's doing for me, and if he's made progress on his mission papers. I'm worried about him, because I haven't heard from him in a month, but I hope he's doing ok.