Yes, Ahmed, I do like girls.

April 3, 2017

Hello glorious family and buddies! Mom reminded me that I haven't done a group email in a while, or at least not one that is very thorough! Well, well, well... Those days are over! Yes! Heeng hwah cherfing snootsil! (Buckle up.)

Monday (27 March)- We met with this older guy named Bashkim! We met him on the road a few days prior, and he stopped us, and said, (in english), "Yes, hello. Will you please tell me the meaning of these two english proverbs? 'The second wife sits on the right knee.'" ... Uh... Haha we told him that we didn't really know what it meant, and then he asked us about another one, and Elder Harris gave his interpretation, and then he thanked us and started to leave, but we told him that we share an important message about God, and after a little bit of discussion, we got his number! We met with him on the 27th, and we shared a short version of the Restoration, and gave him a book of mormon! Way cool guy. He was really focused while we shared the message, and agreed with all the things we said, so that was way cool! Then afterwards, we met with a guy named Ahmed! He's 19 years old and from Libya! We met with him the day before, and gave him a book of mormon in Arabic! Which looks sweet, by the way. We met with him on the 27th, and we start walking and talking, and we talk about my mission, and he asks if we like the girls here, and we explain to him that we don't date while we're on our missions. Then he asks me if I have a girlfriend, and I told him I've never had one, and then he's like, have you ever kissed a girl? No. Then he's like, People in America think you're gay if you're like that right? Hehe. Oh man. Haha! I assured him I'm NOT GAY, and that I like girls. Haha, then we talk about the Book of Mormon, and he tells me he read it for about 30 minutes the day before, and I'm thinking, "cool! He read a little bit of it! Maybe like 2 or 3 chapters!" We keep talking, and we find out that he read the ENTIRE BOOK OF MORMON in 30 minutes the day before! We should have asked him some more follow-up questions, but we didn't... Oops. Anyways, we talked a little bit more, and he had a buddy with him that didn't speak english very well, so we were explaining what our message is about, and after we explained, Ahmed said that he would be interested in joining our religion! YEAAAAHH!!! I got excited and said that we could meet again, so we planned a meeting for Saturday at 8! Woot! He's a way cool guy :)

Tuesday- We taught a member named Sulejman! He was baptized about a year ago, but I don't think he had a firm testimony when he got baptized, because he has never read the Book of Mormon, and is now inactive, but we are helping to come to know that this church is the true church.

Wednesday- We did a whole bunch of street contacting! I met these cool two Iranian guys! And we're gonna meet with them next Saturday and give them copies of the Book of Mormon in Persian! Ha! Then later in the day, we met with Andrit. We had a lesson with someone, but he didn't show up, and we were walking, and Andrit, a street vendor selling some belts was like, "Hey! Will you give me one of those bibles?" And we're like, "Do you have 10 minutes so we can explain where it came from?" And he did, so we explained it, and gave it to him, and he started reading it when we left! It was cool!

Thursday- We go to this Dentist's work to give him a Book of Mormon! Cool guy. His name is Orgis. We also taught our last English Course for 2 weeks. English Course here is way fun! We teach grammar, and then play catch phrase, and tell them idioms, and then do a spiritual thought! It was cool.

Friday- We did some more street contacting, and we also sang at this boulevard and handed out some fliers for this fireside we'll have! It was way cool, because even President Weidmann came and did street contacting with us! He's so cool.

Saturday- We went out to the artificial lake, and gave this older couple a copy of the Book of Mormon! Then we went to a baptism! Way cool. The man who got baptized is named Nadir. He's also from Iran, and speaks Persian! Way cool. Then afterwards, ate out at Fast Xheni Fast, started our fast, and met with Christopher, which is an American Theology Professor here at a University in Tirana! Our lessons with him are pretty interesting! He himself is Orthodox, but he knows and has studied and been a member of several religions in his life. I'll tell ya more about him next week!

Sunday- We had lunch as our two districts in Tirana, and we had burritos! Yum. We even had real taco seasoning! Did I tell you about my black friend from Durres named Cleon? He's a missionary for another church, and he gave me "a ketchup" and some taco seasoning! Hah! When we were at his house, he was like, "Do you want a ketchup?" And well, how could anyone deny a nice black guy in Albania giving you "a ketchup?" So I said yes. We then went to have a lesson with this guy we meet who is pagan, but he wasn't there. Darn. We ended up teaching this group of like 10 crazy rambunctious Albanian kids the Restoration. This sounds way cool in theory, but they didn't really pay attention except for these 2 12-year old girls. So we gave them a pamphlet! Then we watched Conference, and HOLY COW! POCATELLO AND NAIROBI!! HOLY COW!!! Then we went to go meet with Ahmed! But he didn't show up, and didn't answer his phone, so we're hoping he still wants to meet with us...

Today- We played Football and Futbol in the morning! I'm down to about 176 lbs. Whew. Too many crepes. Then we got haircuts, and our barber agreed to hear our message, and then we cleaned up the appartment, went shopping, put our suits in the dry cleaners, and came here... after eating a crepe.

My spiritual thought for the week is below, (it's out of my email that I sent to my mission president):

This week was a slower week, but a great week nonetheless! One great thing that has happened this week is that my testimony of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ has been strengthened. As we have been showing the Prince of Peace video, I was having trouble seeing and understanding why the Resurrection of Christ has so much significance for us. I understood that because of His resurrection, we will all be resurrected as well, but I wasn't seeing the present application. I understood better this week that when the Savior conquered death, He also conquered all imperfection, shortcoming, sickness, sin, human frailty, sadness, and all other mortal difficulties. It is because of His resurrection that we have the ability, and hope to become something bigger and better than ourselves. It's because of His triumph over death that we can triumph over our shortcomings, our weaknesses, anything. I love my Savior, and I am really enjoying studying about Him.

I love you all! :) I'm sorry the email was a little bit scattered, but I hope you loved it! :) I know this is the work of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I testify that He lives, and that His Resurrection is for us. These things I testify, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Elder Schneider