He wanted to get baptized, but the Branch President was a member of the KGB, so he couldn't get baptized.

April 17, 2017

Buckle up. This is a big one.

Alrighty, so let's start with Yevgen! Yevgen (which is pronounced Yevhen) is as I said before, from Ukraine! He's like 55 years old, and he's living as a refugee here in Tirana. He's been here for like 6 months now. He had a son and a daughter, and was married, but they got seperated, his wife is remarried, and his two children were killed by the Russian police, KGB. He says as well that the KGB is trying to kill him, because he is a member of a Ukranian Aktivist political party, and that since Albania was Communist, there are people here trying to kill him as well. The refugee camp that he stays in right now has about 10 other refugees, and it's pretty bad. They said they feed him stale bread, which he doesn't eat, and also which has caused him to have stomach problems now. For the record, he only has like half his teeth as well. This guy has got a really really rough life right now. So we met him about two weeks ago now, and we had a lesson on Wednesday, and he has commited to be baptized on May 13! So. How did we find him? Miracle #1: A few days before, we went to this area that was out of our area to meet someone, and he didn't show up. While we were waiting for the guy to show up, we did a little bit of street contacting, and got some people's numbers! Miracle #2: Normally we would have given their numbers to the elders in that area, but we didn't remember to do that until after we had set up appointments with those people that we got numbers from. So we got the meeting, and they don't show up either. Miracle #3: We now decide that we can go to the artificial lake to do contacting, and since we're out of our area, we try to take a backroad back into our area as a shortcut. Well, we end up kind of taking a longer road than usual, and we're walking in this backroad/wooded area behind the lake, and at this point, I feel a little bit guilty, because there were not a lot of people to talk to, and that was proselyting time. Well, after about 5 or 10 minutes of just walking in this really pretty forest, we hear someone running behind us, and we look back, and this scruffy-looking guy with white hair is behind us, and says in broken english, "I ran to catch you! Are you the LDS missionaries?" At this point, we're pretty taken back, but we tell him yes, and then for about 40 minutes, he tells us his story. Then we go and sit down somewhere else in the park, and he tells us more of his story. He also told us that he met with the missionaries before in Ukraine, and they taught him, and he wanted to be baptized, but (and this is actually what he said, I'm not making this up) the branch president was a member of the KGB, so he couldn't get baptized. Darn KGB. They're everywhere! So we tell him that we can continue to teach him and give him a Book of Mormon in Ukraine, and/or Russian, and we promise him that as he will build his life upon the foundation of Jesus Christ, he will not fall, and he will be happy. He also told us that he had not eaten anything that day, and I had a PB and J with me, so I gave it to him, and we agreed to meet on Saturday! We meet on Saturday, and bring a Book of Mormon in English, Russian and Albanian. We take him to the church, and we're small talking, and he tells us that he liked the sandwich, and that he saved a piece of the crust for later. Ugh. We set up the lesson with this American girl that is here for an internship, who speaks Russian! It was awesome. We taught the Plan of Salvation, and it was hard, because we spoke in English, and we spoke really really slowly, but he understood it well! We testified that we can be happy in this life, that he accepted this Plan of Salvation before this life, because he knew of the great joy that could come to him if he followed Jesus Christ, that our trials help us to have joy, that his children will have a chance to learn the gospel in the Spirit World, and that he can and will live with his family for eternity if he follows Jesus Christ in this life. It's amazing teaching someone like Yevgen who has nothing. Testifying of those blessings can be a little bit daunting, because it is so hard to see what his future entails, but I know that as we remember what the Savior endured, everything is possible. Even for someone in Yevgen's position. Also, he said that he has read the Book of Mormon, and knows it's true. Woot woot. So he accepts a baptismal date for May 13th, and we set up an appointment to meet with him again! We met with him on Wednesday, gave him some more food, which he didn't eat immediately, even though he again had not eaten anything that day, and said he would save it and this time we do a skype lesson with a missionary in our mission that is Russian! He speaks fluent Russian, and we were able to teach Yevgen the Restoration! Yevgen loved talking to him, Elder Bowen, the Russian missionary, and wants to meet him real bad! Anyways, we gave him a flashlight so he can read the Book of Mormon in his camp, because there is no light, and he said he would come to church! He actually didn't end up coming, but we have another lesson planned for Wednesday, so hopefully he'll be able to make it to that one! There's no doubt we were directly led by the Spirit to find Yevgen. None of the things that happened were planned to happen that way, but we ended up finding a very lost, distraught child of God.

Ya remember Ahmed? The cool Libyan kid? Well we miraculously met up with him again this week! We went to the lake for a lesson, he didn't show up, then we bought some ice cream, and we ran into Ahmed at a round-about... with our car! Just kidding. We only run into Albanians. Just kidding. We don't have a car. We just run into them with our bodies and heads. Just kidding again. But yeah! We met him there, and he said that he hasn't been able to answer his phone, because his dad took it away, because he got some bad grades, but we set up another lesson! And he came! Then we went to the church! It was super stinkin' cool. I think it was the first time Ahmed has been in a church. He's been in plenty of Muslim Mosques, though! Haha so we show up to the church, and our church doesn't really look all that much like a church, but he's like, "Can I go in? I still have my hat on and everything..." And we're like, "Yeah! No problem! Come on in." So we walk in, and he's looking around, and we go up some stairs that lead to the chapel, and he asks us if he can come up as well, (because i think in the mosque, the hoxhas (Islamic Clergyman) are only allowed in certain places) and then we go into the chapel, and we take some pictures there, because he likes it, and we explain what we do, and sing a hymn, and then we teach him the restoration! It was way cool. We taught him how to pray, and we told him about Moroni's promise. He loved praying, and when we read Moroni's promise, he got super into it, and loved it! He asked us afterwards, "Why does it feel different reading it here than it does in my house?" I knew the answer, but I didn't say anything for a few seconds, because I the Spirit was there, and I didn't want to rush in and distract the Spirit. We explained that the church is a special place, and it's a place where we can feel the Spirit of the Lord. He loved the lesson, and told us that he would like to become a Christian! We didn't extend a baptismal date quite yet, but next time we meet, we will. Way cool.

So Christopher. We had another lesson with him, and well... It wasn't quite as great as the other lesson we had. We planned to teach the Plan of Salvation to him because he asked about what were those plain and simple truths that were lost from the Bible. First off, he didn't read the Book of Mormon from the time of our last meeting. Instead, he looked up the three witnesses to the Book of Mormon on wikipedia, and read about them, and found some stuff that may have been true, but not uplifting about them. So that was a rough start. Then we start to talk about the Pre-Earth Life, and we tell him about our potential to become like Heavenly Father, and he starts talking about his objections again. In the end, we tell him that the reason he can know all these things are actually true is to read the Book of Mormon, but he's not willing to do that, because he believes it's written by Joseph Smith. He basically told us this time that we need to tell him why Joseph Smith was chosen and why he's significant. We understood something better about his needs after he left. We understood that in order to exercise faith, he must have hope. The hard part is finding what part about the gospel will give him hope that these things are true. He must have a desire to believe what we tell him, and hope that what we say is true, really is true, then he can exercise faith. So that's where we are. I'll let ya know how that turns out!

Easter was great for us. Elder Harris's dad served in our mission like 23 years ago, and we ate with one of the people he baptized for Easter! It was awesome. This Easter season, I've understood the Resurrection of Christ better. Before, I understood that the resurrection allowed us all to be resurrected as well, but that was basically the extent of my conception of the Resurrection. I understand better now, however, that without the Resurrection, Christ took all our sins upon Himself, and died. That's it. The fact that He resurrected means that he really did overcome everything He suffered! It's because of the Resurrection that all of the incredible blessings we have from Jesus Christ are available. I love Him, and I testify He lives :)

Gehrig, I cried several times watching you opening your call, and I'm stinkin' ecstatic that you're going to Texas!!!

Conrad and Katie, I'm just all bubbly and happy inside for you both. I cried, and couldn't stop smiling looking at your pictures :)

I love you all! See ya next week!

Elder Schneider

I hate it when my investigator's old branch president was a member of the KGB so he couldn't get baptized.

April 10, 2017

Man. My dang big brother's gettin' married tomorrow. What the heck. HAHAHAHA!!! That's a good "What the heck?" I just can't really believe it's happening! Being on a mission, it doesn't really feel like real life. Conrad said one time that it is like the Hyperbolic Time Chamber from Dragon Ball Z, and while I haven't come out of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber yet, I feel like it's a pretty good description. I'm pumped for them though. :)

Anyways, this week was way stinking cool, mostly because of the amazing people that we are teaching! First, 

Christopher, is an American, and is a theology professor here in Albania. He's like 37ish, or something like that. To explain his religious background, he was born a protestant I think, then when he was in High School, he became a Calvinist, and then he started studying in a university somewhere in Europe, I think, and he had a time when he was Atheist! Then he said that at a time in his life, he sincerely prayed to God to know the truth, and to find original Christianity. (When he told us this, I got really excited, because that's totally what Joseph Smith did!) Anyways, he prayed to God, and he said he felt that God led him to the Greek Orthodox church. And he now is Orthodox. Anyways, we met him about 3 weeks ago. We were doing street contacting, and I walk up to him, and he was in a hurry, and I say, "Mirëdita! Si jeni?" And he says something like, "I don't have time right now, I'm in a rush." And hearing English always throws us off a little bit, so I was like, "Where are you from?" And he says something like, "I know who you are, you're the Mormons, I'm a theology professor, I've studied your religion, I probably know more about your religion than you do, and if you would like, we can meet and I can tell you all the reasons about why religion is wrong! If you'd like, we can meet, and I can give you my number!" And then I said something like, "... Yeah! I'll take your number!" Hahaha! So we get his number, and he tells us that several members of his extended have been LDS, but now are not, and then I got his number, and he left! Anyways, we set up a lesson with him on Sunday, and we sit on this bench and have a lesson, kind of. We decide we wanted to do the Restoration but a short version. So before we start, we do some small talk, and he was kind of closed, and kept saying, "but you don't want to know that" or "but that's not why you came." I want to interrupt here and say that we did and do want to know the people we teach. These are our brothers and sisters that we have met in the Pre-mortal life, that we are now re-meeting, and giving them what they need to return with us to our Heavenly Father. So yeah, I love Christopher. I want so much that he will accept what we teach. Anyways, we ask if it would be alright if we start with a prayer, and he said we can start, but that he didn't think we pray to the same God. Anyways, we start, and start into the Restoration! We explain that God is our Heavenly Father, the Gospel Blesses Families, Prophets, Jesus Christ, and up until here, he mostly agrees with what we said. Then we start talking about the Apostasy, and Joseph Smith, and I'm saying the First Vision, and he cuts me off in the middle of the First Vision. Dangit. Here we go. He then tells us his objections and why he believes the Church can't be true. His objections were centered on these three: 
1.) God's Transcendence. God can't have a body because if He has a body, that means that He is dependent on the body, that someone created His body, and if someone created His body, then we should worship that God that created God's body, because He's the real God. Augh. Vjell. 
2.) God has always revealed His gospel to people through a long period of time, through a community of people through scriptures, through people, etc. And with Joseph Smith, it was not like this. 
3.) Why Joseph Smith? What is his significance? 
Whew. So we try to answer some of the questions, but then we gotta go, and we leave. We met him the week after, and we mostly just asked him to restate his questions/objections so we could study it better, so he did, and we wrote them down. Then. Meeting number 3. :) We met him on Saturday at about 4 or something. We realized as we were preparing for our lesson with him that he is still an investigator like anyone else that we teach, and while it may require more preparation to teach him, the principles are the same. If we just try to answer his questions without preparing, without using the scriptures, without studying, without the Spirit, there will not be progress. So last week, we asked him to study and pray about 2 Nephi 27 to know if it is true. We as well study this, and we come to the lesson prepared to finish the Restoration and to help him understand the events of the Restoration better. We use 2 Nephi 27, and explain how the Restoration unfolded, or rather, began to unfold. While we did this, we testified sincerely of what we taught. The difference in the lesson was drastically better. There is a reason we should use God's word rather than our word to address concerns and objections. I felt that I had always had Charity for Christopher, but we weren't properly preparing to teach him. After we taught him, he seemed to have a little different complexion. He also asked us what are those plain and simple truths that were lost from the Bible, and what is now restored from original Christianity that other churches are missing, so we're looking forward to answering that! Whew! I love him, and I love teaching him. I hope I can see him accept these things.

Yevgen, I'll tell y'all more next week, but he's a Ukranian Refugee! Crazy story! 

Dan, I love you to death. I miss the snot out of you also! I'm going to print out your email, and I'll respond next week!

I love you all! Woot! Wedding tomorrow! Woot! Woot!

Elder Schneider

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

"Be Careful! Don't talk to them! They're savage! Protect yourselves!"

March 20, 2017

Hey! How were your weeks? Mine was good. A little bit long, but it was good! Tirana is cool! So is Elder Harris! He's a good singer too!

Anyways, I don't have a whole lot of time, but Tirana is cool! I like it a lot! It's a little bit more developed than Durres, so that's cool. There's also a bunch of people. Like two bunches. It's a huge city. There's also like 16 missionaries in Tirana, or something like that, so that's pretty crazy. My district is still only 4 missionaries, but we see the missionaries that are in the other ward in the church building we use often. We play frisbee in the mornings sometimes, and we had a fun P-day together today, so that was cool! But it's cool! I feel like the people might be a little bit more closed off here, like it's kind of harder to get them interested, but maybe I haven't had enough time here yet. We'll see... Oh yeeesssss..... We'll see......... Ahahahahahahaha!!!!!!! We do more activities here also. On Saturday, we played soccer and frisbee with the ward, and we did service on Thursday or Friday. I'm not used to that, but I like it! It's nice to take a break from only doing street contacting, and teaching.

It's a huge city, but it's already a good start to this transfer. We found some really cool people to teach already, so we'll see how it turns out! :) One is named Xhulian. He's 19, and we gave him a book of Mormon yesterday, and he was really looking forward to getting it. It was way cool. Haha, it was a weird meeting though yesterday when we met with him. We met him in a park, first off, and we all sat on the same bench, and then this lady came over and asked us to help her change her ringtone, and that took like 5 minutes, because she couldn't decide which ringtone she wanted, and then we just sat and gave a small restoration lesson, and gave him the Book of Mormon. Then later this old drunk guy came over, and he's like, "Hey, you never gave me one of those books!" And we were like, "huh?" And then he's like, i got your number! And he pulls out his phone, and he's got the number for the elders in Durres! His name was Ivo Savo, and it turns out I had talked to him like 2 months before, but apparently he lives in Tirane! Anyways, then this old lady told us not to talk to him and to wash our hands because he was drunk and not very sanitary looking, and then she started telling us about the Orthodox Church, and then we invited her to hear our message, and we got her number, and then as we were leaving, we talked to some guys that were in the park, and they were like 8 kosovo guys, and then the old lady, was all like, "Be careful! Don't talk to them! Kosovar are savage people! Protect yourselves!" Hahahaha!!! Oh man. The elderly here are so funny.

I visited a cool Communist bunker today, which was fun. I'll send the photos and videos next week, but it was cool! I love you all! The work is rolling here! I know that we are capable of progression when we are obedient, and don't let the natural man take control. Love you all alot!

Elder Schneider

March 13, 2017

Ika!

Hey family!! I heard Katie had a bridesmaid's party! I can't believe Conrad's almost married. That's so weird. I don't think it will hit me until I come home and visit your appartment, but man! Craziness!

Anyway, the big news this week is that i'm being transfered to Tirana! It's the capital or Albania, and it has 4 wards in it! I'll be going to the 2nd ward (staying true to #2) and my companion is Elder Harris. He used to be in Jessie's singles ward in Pollman! He just finished his training, which means I'll be senior companion. I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of growth will happen in this transfer.

I bore my testimony about something special. I was reading in an Old Testament Study Guide for the 2nd coming, and recently, I've been thinking about the reality that God really, actually, exists. I read a part from that study guide that said that when Christ comes, many will be converted to the gospel, but still, missionary work will be happening, and not everyone will be converted. I've been thinking this week what it would be like testifying to someone in the time that the Savior will be on the Earth that He is the Savior of the world, the Son of God, and that He was crucified for our sins. I think my testimony will have a different spirit about it when that time comes. However, I believe that we can testify with that same spirit now. I testify that I have learned through the Holy Ghost that God is our Heavenly Father, that Jesus is the Christ, and that this is His kingdom here upon the Earth. I testify that I am His missionary. I testify and promise you that you can know these things and can always progress.

I love you all! I'm gonna go teach a guy named Lefter now! See ya next week!
Elder Schneider

Unë pashë një shtyllë drite...

Hey! This week rocked. You may have noticed that it is Wednesday... That's because yesterday was Tuesday, and the before yesterday, we had a mission conference with Elder Moreira from the Area Seventy! So our P-day is today! But anyways, the conference was sweet. I don't have a whole lot of time today, but I wanted to share our experience tracting yesterday. It was raining, so we decided to go visit one of our buddies that we taught, but he wasn't home, so we started tracting, and after a few doors, Elder Wilson is like, "We gotta get on the same page." He was right. Tracting has always been a little bit awkward for me, but we decided that we would share a 3-5 minute version of the Restoration at each doorstep. We saw it in a video at our mission conference, and it was powerful and clear, and brief, and awesome! The following is what I sent to my mission President today: When we watched that small video of the 2 returned missionaries teaching the Restoration in under 4 minutes, both Elder Wilson and I were touched. We decided to try that out yesterday as we were tracting. It was amazing. Unlike my past experience with tracting, I really felt the Spirit strong, especially as we shared the First Vision. This had a visible impact on our work as well. From about a 1 and a half hour session of tracting, we received 5 numbers and address from the people we contacted as we were tracting. Not only did we help people to understand the importance of our message, but Elder Wilson and I were ecstatic, and excited and almost giddy, because we were feeling the Spirit so much as we were sharing. That was the best block of tracting that I had ever done, and one of the most enjoyable sessions of contacting that I had ever done. It was incredible to see the difference that sharing the message of the Restoration has on people when we share it clearly, briefly, sincerely, and powerfully. I know it's true. I know Joseph Smith is a prophet. I know we have an incredible life-changing message. 
I love you, President! I love this work, and I love my Savior. I testify that He is a real. That in a way that I don't understand, He has taken our sins upon Him and made it possible that we can have joy. I love Him, and I love that we can know each other in this work.

Those things are true! I loved it yesterday! Also, Fation is going to wait a little bit to be baptized, which means I probably won't see him be baptized, because I'll probably be transfered next week, but that's alright! It ain't about me! :) I love this work! It's moving along here in Durres! I love you all as well! I testify that the Savior lives and that He directs this church! 
Elder Schneider

February 27, 2017

Mirembrema. Hey real quick! This is what happened this week. We met with Arian and his buddy Anri, and they're really cool! We also played soccer with them, and "it was good!" (-Seth) Also, Fation is on his way to be baptized on 11 March! Woot! I'll take a picture of him this week.

Spiritual Thought #1: I had an interesting thought about church a couple weeks ago. I was wondering why it's so important that we go to church. I was thinking about ordinances, and the covenants we have made, and about how the partaking of the Sacrament really helps us refocus and keep our eyes pointed towards the big goal of Eternal Life, and also the talks in church, and the friendship we have helps us to stay focused and to really be strong to keep the covenants we have.

The teaching pool is actually pretty good for the moment! We have one investigator named Fation, who is scheduled to be baptized on the 11th of March! He's cool. Also, we have an investigator named Zabit that is actually incredibly interesting! The first and second lessons that we had with him were pretty contentious. He has been taught by the Family Federation, I think they're called, or The Moonies. They have interesting beliefs. They believe that Samuel Moon, this Korean man is the Savior, and they also believe that the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden was sexual desire, or something like that. It's real messed up. But anyways, we met with him two times, and I would not have seen him progress in the least bit, but he came to FHE on monday, and we got a better relationship just being friends, and then we met with him again on Saturday. Before the lesson, I prayed that I would be able to love Zabit and be able to see him as our Father sees him, and teach him as if Heavenly Father was there watching, hoping that I teach in a way that Zabit would want to believe and repent. This lesson was 9999999 times better. There was love, the Spirit was there, we were meek, and we learned, and Zabit accepted commitments, and even came to church the next day! It was incredible.

I love you all tons. I'll take more pictures this week. I'll also try to get the pictures from Blerina's baptism. The person I baptized is named Blerina Lala. She's 24, and the sisters taught her, and now she's a member! Woot! Love you all!

Elder Shnajder




Did Gehrig get his call yet!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?