T MINUS 7 DAYS!!

 AHOOOJJJJ!!!

WE LEAVE IN SEVEN DAYS! Like a week from right now, I will be on a plane to Dallas! Here is a brief overview of our flight plans:

FLIGHT 5095 (2 hours and 44 minutes)

- LV: SLC - 8:59AM - 23 APR 2015

- AR: DALLAS/FT WORTH DF - 12:43PM - 23 APR 2015

FLIGHT 1505 (9 hours and 15 minutes)

- LV:DF - 3:40 PM - 23 APR 2015

- AR: LONDON HEATHROW, ENGLAND LHR - 6:55 AM - 24 APR 2015

FLIGHT 862 (2 hours)

- LV: LHR - 9:50 AM - 24 APR 2015

- AR: PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC PR - 12:50 PM - 24 APR 2015

We have to be at the MTC Travel Office at 3:30 IN THE MORNING next Thursday! I'm going to die, also we have a 9 hour flight overnight. I'm really hoping I'll be able to sleep through most if not all of it, and we get dinner and breakfast on the plane! We also have two three-hour layovers so that will be nice. 

I hate to break it to all of you, but there will NOT be a weekly email next week. I'll be airborne over the ocean soooo... sorry. Haha. I will get to read my emails on Wednesday, so if you want to say anything to me before I leave the country, you can email me before Wednesday. I won't be able to respond, but I will be able to read them. :)

I will get to call home at the airport, so if you have any questions you want to ask me, tell my family and they can ask me on the phone. 

I also found out that I HAVE MY VISA!! So I'm going for sure, no reassignment for me! Unfortunately everyone in our district has a visa except Elder Oviatt. He's from Canada so his is taking longer. We're all hoping and praying that he'll get it before we have to leave. They didn't reassign him because they are pretty confident that he'll get it in time, but since he's not reassigned, if he doesn't get it, he'll just have to stay and wait at the MTC. So we are hoping and praying really hard that he'll get it.

Anyway other things that happened this past week.... On Sunday for the devotional BYU's Men's Chorus came and sang to us. It was really awesome and spiritual and super fun, they sang most of the soundtrack from Prince of Egypt and it made me kind of homesick, I love that movie!! They also (only some of them) bore their testimonies/shared mission stories and that was great.

Elder Lanham and I performed Consider the Lilies in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday, that went really well. That song always reminds me of my dad and grandparents. It was cool to be able to share that with our zone. (Shout out to Mom for sending me the sheet music, thank you!)

One cool spiritual story from this week, I was supposed to teach Relief Society on Sunday, and the lesson was supposed to be on the Book of Mormon. During Personal Study everyone was quietly reading and studying and I was on the computer reading talks about the Book of Mormon. I was looking for something, but I wasn't quite sure which direction I wanted to go. While I'm reading on the computer, Elder Oviatt turns to Elder Tingey and starts telling him about this cool section of scripture in 1 Nephi 13, and how it's about the Book of Mormon and the Bible and IT WAS EXACTLY WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR!! It was crazy! He just so happened to be telling Elder Tingey exactly what I was looking for for my lesson! God answers prayers everyone, sometimes you just need to be eavesdropping to get the answer ;)

Ah the HIDA scan, I almost forgot. I got a HIDA scan on Friday. They wanted to scan my gallbladder to make sure its functioning properly. EVERYTHING IS NORMAL. I got to sleep for an hour while they took a picture every minute to see what was going on, my nap was great! They basically just told me to keep taking the pills when I have pain, and that's pretty much it. But I feel a lot better and I think everything will be fine. 

On Sunday I asked Elder Oviatt (he's one of the elders that I'm closest too, in case you couldn't tell we're pretty good friends) to give me a blessing about my foot and my stomach and basically everything that's going on with me. It was a simple blessing and it was awesome to get a blessing from one of our own elders, and I felt so good afterwards. My stomach has been growling a lot the past few days, but there hasn't been hardly any pain, my toe hasn't really been bothering, I've just felt great! The priesthood power is real!!

Well all is well here at the MTC. It's actually kind of weird. Sometimes it feels like a ghost town. I don't know if I said this already, but a few weeks ago, for the first time in the history of the MTC, the sisters outnumbered the elders! 51% to 49%!! So that was cool and then this week we made history again, this is the fewest number of missionaries that the MTC has had since the age change. I think next week when more come in the number will go up again. So there's that, it kind of makes it feel a little empty in here.

I hope everyone is doing well. There hasn't been a lot going on here except getting ready to leave. My next email will probably be either really really good or really really bad haha, we'll just have to see. I don't know how you will all cope without my weekly email next week, if you want to, you can read 2 Nephi 2:24, maybe that will help you feel better. :)

I love you all, I love this gospel, and I already love the Czech people so much! I can't wait to get to the Czech Republic and start sharing this amazing gospel!

Talk to you in two weeks!

Sestra Schaerrer

PS. Pictures! Number one: Elder Lanham wearing Sis. Donaldson's skirt (our teacher, she changed into a different skirt and left that one in the classroom). Number two: Elder Oviatt's catapult he made out of two tourniquets, and some medical wrap that we brought back from the hospital.

More Pictures: Elder Oviatt with a medical glove on his head... yeah... And the sisters in our zone plus some of the other sisters in our building. :)

 

Hello Everyone! What an eventful week it has been!!

WOW! Just thinking about everything that has happened in the past week makes it feel like it's been an eternity!

First of all, I want to apologize for my incorrect grammar and spelling. I don't have a lot of time on the computers so I type really really fast, and my mind is being brainwashed in Czech, so bear with me :)

So conference. Amazing am I right? It was sooooo good. I was actually really scared and nervous to sit through 10 hours of conference in Sunday clothes on hard plastic chairs, but it was actually amazing! All we really did all weekend was watch conference, eat, watch conference, eat, I'm pretty sure I gained like 5 pounds... I had heard from multiple people that the MTC is the best conference experience you can get aside from actually attending a session in person, and they were right! It was so spiritual! I could go on and on about favorite talks and things, but that would take forever and I'd eventually talk about all of it! One thing real fast though, DAD!!! YOU DIDN'T TELL ME YOU WERE GOING TO BE IN THE CHOIR IN THE PRIESTHOOD SESSION!!!!! Can you even imagine the heart attack I had when I saw you on the screen???? (Sestra B, Sestra R, and I watched part of the Priesthood session on Sunday). I can't even describe how I felt, it was a weird mixture of happy and sad and excited and what the heck? Haha so yeah... Give a daughter a little heads up next time, my companions were pretty freaked out. :)

Sunday night, we were supposed to have a devotional, but since we had been listening to talks all weekend, the MTC presidency surprised us with a special treat: VOCAL POINT!!!! They came and sang to us and beared(?) their testimonies of missionary work and it was AWESOME!

Monday I went to the podiatrist again and picked up my orthotics. They both help and hinder. When I wear them I can tell that they help the broken bone pain go away, but they kind of replace it with there's-a-hard-piece-of-plastic-in-my-shoe pain. They're going to take some getting used to, but I think they'll help a lot, and hopefully I won't need surgery, or at least until after my mission.

Another thing that happened on Monday, during companionship study at about 10am, I got a side ache. That's not too weird and I didn't think anything of it, except then it lasted ALL DAY. So after dinner we talked to the MTC doctor and he said to just go to the ER to be safe. So Sestra B and I went to the ER and that's where we spent the evening. They did multiple blood tests, a urine test, and an ultrasound of my entire abdomen, and didn't find ANYTHING. While that's a good sign, I was pretty disappointed that they couldn't tell me what was wrong. Also, they gave me this painkiller in the form of a shot in my butt, and it was probably the MOST PAINFUL THING I HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED!!! GAH!

So the next day we went back to the MTC doctor, and he looked at the tests the ER did and decided to take some more tests. So they drew a lot more blood and did another urine test and still didn't find anything. So the doctor ordered a HIDA scan (no idea what it stands for but they're scanning my gall bladder I think) for Friday morning. So we'll see how that goes.

A really special thing that happened is that a few days ago, Bro. Knapp brought pictures from his mission to class. He showed us pictures of people and places and lots of things. He shared with us how much he loves those people, even if some of them may never get baptized, and it was just a really sweet experience. He bore his testimony to us and the spirit was so strong. I can't wait to get to the Czech Republic and meet real people, and help them change their lives. 

One last thing, we found out on Monday that our departure has been delayed. Instead of leaving on the 20th of April like we originally planned, we've been moved to the 23rd. I guess there is a mission presidents conference thing, and if we left on the 20th, Pres. McConkie wouldn't even be there when we got there. So we're leaving on the 23rd. 

Well that's pretty much it. I hope everyone is doing well and had a great Easter and Conference. I know this church is true, I've seen God's hand in my life soooo many times since being here! I can't wait to get to the Czech Republic and teach people the good news of the restored gospel. 

Until next week! I love you all!

Sestra Schaerrer

P.S. Here are some pictures, our district with the "presents" Sestra Bailey brought everyone from our trip to the ER on Monday, and the most I have seen of my dad in the past two (almost) months. Enjoy! :)

 

 

P.P.S. We got our flight plans!!! We leave the 23rd, our first flight is at 9am from SLC to Dallas, then a 3 hour layover, then from Dallas to LONDON!!, then a 3 hour layover, and then from London to PRAGUE!!! It will take two days of traveling to get there, the Dallas to London flight is overnight! So excited!! Love you all!

P.P.P.S. Sorry I forgot to put a subject for this email, I've run out of creative things anyway... haha

 

I'm really just out of puns...

Ahoj Everyone!

This week was pretty mellow, but it was good. Nothing too exciting happened, but it's just been dandy. 

Last Thursday after our P day was over, we went to class and had our LAST TRC! To be completely honest I don't know what TRC stands for, but it's just a program where we teach members in Czech, they're usually returned missionaries since they need to speak Czech to understand and communicate with us. But we had our last TRC lesson, and it went well, but we're not terribly sad it's over. It was fun to meet returned missionaries from our mission, but teaching them was stressful and intimidating. 

Since we had our last TRC, this week we got to Skype. That's right. Skype a real person in the Czech Republic RIGHT NOW! It was so hard! We did it yesterday (Wednesday) morning, since the Czech Republic is 8 hours ahead of us we did it relatively early in the day. It was kind of hard for me, because even though I speak better Czech than Sestra Bailey, it just seemed like the people all liked her a lot more. They would laugh and speak back to her, but when I talked I swear I could hear crickets chirping in the background. That was rough and I don't really know what I did wrong. But I'm glad Sestra Bailey enjoyed it. It was cool to hear natives speak, even though it was super hard to understand through the speakers.

Because of Skyping I was kind of down yesterday, but Brother Knapp (one of our teachers) told me something that really helped me feel better. I had coaching with him last night, coaching is just like a one on one evaluation type thing where our teachers can teach us alone what we need to work on. I had been working on pronunciation with Bro. Knapp. So last night we were working, and after we were done we left the room we were in and started heading back to the class room when Bro. Knapp told me he had one more thing to tell me. So we went back to the room we were in and he told me that about 90% of the Czech sister missionaries never speak as well as the elders. He told me that for some reason, the sisters are just never as good. But he told me that I have been doing so well, that I have the opportunity to really run with the language and become really good at it. He told me that the things we had been working on coaching are way more specific details than he hardly ever gets to with missionaries while they are still in the MTC. That made me feel really good, and made me want to just work really really hard so that I can be better than the elders!!

Well, the Slovenes, Croatians, and Bulgarians all left on Monday. It was sad to say goodbye, but we're really happy for them. The new Croatians and Slovenes came yesterday, but we haven't really had a chance to meet them yet. 

Alright, let me clear one thing up, and I apologize for not making this clear earlier: Our investigators are our teachers. Crazy I know, you might be thinking, "but they all have different names and are different people." Well, they are. Kind of. Our teachers take turns acting as a real investigator that they had on their missions, and we teach them. At first I thought this was bazar, role play was one of the things I absolutely hated in my mission prep class, but here it's different. Our teachers are so good at becoming these other people, that it's not like role play at all, we really are teaching Petra, Viktor, Jitka, and Lucie, even though they may be Bro. Knapp, Sis. Roubicek, or Sis. Donaldson. It's kind of weird, but it works.

I'll finish off this week's email with a funny story:

Once upon a time Elder Tingey received a package from home, and in this package were a bunch of dollar store toys. One of these just so happened to be a snake that if you let it soak in water for a few days, would grow like 6 times it's size. So we did this, in our classroom. When Bro. Knapp found out, he was a little upset, so he took Malcolm (for thus was the snake called) and threw him in the trash in the men's restroom. Without Bro. Knapp's knowing, the elders in our district snuck in and got Malcolm out of the trash. Later that same day, we put Malcolm in Bro. Knapp's backpack right before he went home. The next day, Bro. Knapp still hadn't found Malcolm in his backpack, but he did find him there before he left class. So he took Malcolm and threw him in a trashcan in a random classroom on our floor. Little did he know, we found Malcolm in the Norwegian and took him back out of the trash. We then kept Malcolm hidden for the space of a few days and waited until April Fool's Day. So yesterday, we put Malcolm in an empty Pringle's can (thanks Mom!) and put the can in Bro. Knapp's backpack. Before he left, Bro. Knapp found the Pringle's can and knew that there weren't Pringles in it, but when he opened it he saw Malcolm and just yelled, "HOW?" We had a great laugh, but unfortunately Bro. Knapp planned to take Malcolm home and dispose of him there. We then knelt and prayed to end class and I had the fortunate position to be right next to Bro. Knapp's open backpack (we kneel for every prayer). So right after the prayer, while the rest of the class was distracted, I pulled Malcolm (still in the Pringle can) out of Bro. Knapp's backpack without his knowing. It was really funny because no one in my class noticed either, and had no idea until I told them about an hour later. So Malcolm is still in our possession, and will probably make a reappearance sometime before we leave. 

Anyway, sorry for the long weird story, but Happy April Fool's Day! 

I love you all and I hope that through my weird emails you can see that I know this gospel is true. It has been such a blessing in my life and I can't wait to share it with the people in the Czech Republic. I'll end with a quote from Elder Teh of the Seventy, who came to speak to us on Tuesday. He said, "All of you are here at the MTC having the most spiritual experience of your lives, yet you are all looking forward to one day. The day that you can leave the MTC, and go out and share the gospel with those that don't have it." I thought that was awesome because it's true, we can't wait to get out of the MTC, but I hadn't really thought of it that way, that we are looking forward to the day we can really get to work sharing the gospel. 

I love you all and hope you have a great week! :)

Nashledanou! (Goodbye!)

Sestra Schaerrer

P.S. Here are some pictures from this week. Our companionship with another threesome companionship, each of us matched up with our twin. And our whole zone the day before we lost 10 elders and sisters to Slovenia, Croatia, and Bulgaria/Chicago (they are in Chicago visa waiting, the others went to their countries though). 

Czech Mate

Ahoj Everyone! (Ahoj is pronounced like ahoy btw)

Well this week has been significantly less exciting, but I'll try to make it sound interesting for you. BTW the subject of this email has absolutely nothing to do with what happened this week, I'm just running out of puns....

Lately we've been teaching with Sestra Ratcliffe more. Which is always interesting because she's learning Slovak and we're learning Czech, we can understand each other most of the time, but they are definitely different languages! We got a new investigator that we are teaching with Sestra Ratcliffe. Her name is Lucie (not pronounced like Lucy, but I don't really know how to explain how to say it... Loot see uh is my best explanation). She's really cool and it's nice to have someone else in the room that knows the language really well. Not that Sestra Bailey doens't know it well, I just feel like when we teach I have to know exactly what both of us are going to say so I can help Ses. B but with Ses. R I can just relax a little bit more.

The Croatians, Slovenians, and Bulgarians all leave on Monday! It's going to be so sad to see them go, but we're really happy for them. The Bulgarians didn't get their visas though, so they are going to the Chicago Illinois West Mission to wait for them. It's sad, but they are good sports about it. 

This week Ses. B and I had a really great lesson with Viktor. We've recently gotten him to (FINALLY!) start reading the Book of Mormon and pray. Our lesson the other day was going to be about baptism, and we were going to ask him if he was interested in being baptized, when the spirit just took control and we ended up spending the whole lesson talking about prayer. We asked Viktor if he knew why prayer was so important, and he didn't actually know. So we talked about that the whole time, and we talked about how we recieve answers to our prayers. I felt the spirit so strong, and Viktor is normally a pretty talkative guy, but he was quiet for a lot of the lesson. I think that means he was feeling the spirit too. After we left and got out in the hall Ses. B says "That was SOOO BAD!" I had no idea what she was talking about cuz I thought it was awesome! Turns out she had no idea what we were actually talking about the whole time. She thought we were talking about baptism like we originally planned, and when it was her turn to talk she didn't know what to say so she just started talking about prayer. The Holy Ghost is REAL people!! Ses. B had no idea what was going on in the lesson, and she was able to say things that fit in perfectly! It wasn't our best teaching job, but that is the strongest spirit I've ever felt in one of our lessons before!

Last thing, we got to host yesterday!! Our district was selected to be host missionaries for the new incoming missionaries! For hosting we basically just show the new missionaries where their bedroom is, where their classroom is, and help them get their books. I hosted 3 sisters yesterday and they were all going English speaking. One was from Colorado Springs, one was from Paris, France, and one was from Tonga. It was really cool to talk to them and help them with their first day, especially since my first day (almost 6 weeks ago!) is kind of a blur. 

Well that's all I've got for this week! I hope everyone is doing well, and I hope you all enjoy reading my emails. I try to keep things interesting, but it can be hard when you have the exact same schedule every day of every week. 

This gospel is true! I've seen miracles here at the MTC, and I'm sure I'll see many more! Jesus Christ is our savior, and I know he knows and loves each one of us. 

Mate dobře tíden každý! (Have a good week everyone!)

Sestra Schaerrer

 

 

 Sorry, here are some pictures from this week. :) One is of all the sisters in our zone right now, and the other is of our whole zone! We're losing 10 on Monday though! Enjoy!

Sestra Schaerrer :)

They Re-czech-ed the X-rays...

Dobrý Dén Každy! (Good day Everyone!)

Well, first things first. The doctor was wrong about my foot. I don't actually have three cezmoids. I have two cezmoids, like a normal person, one of them just happens to be broken in half. So there ya go. I saw the podiatrist yesterday here at the MTC, and he told me that I had snapped one of my cezmoids in half, and that it's actually really easy to do and not an uncommon injury. He told me that there are a few different options as to helping it heal. The first one is to wear a boot and hope that everything heals on it's own. The second option is to make some custom orthotics that will hold the bones in the right places so that they can heal easier. And the third option is to perform surgery to take out one of the bone fragments. 

So since we don't really know when I broke it for sure, we went straight to the custom orthotics option. Yesterday afternoon, we went over to the podiatrist's office (just across the street from my uncle's dentistry, that was kind of weird) and he took casts of both my feet to send in and get the custom othotics made. We're going to try the orthotics for a few weeks to see if they help, but if they don't then the only other option is surgery. If we do surgery, it could delay my departure, and I would have to stay in the MTC longer. The pain is bearable, just annoying, so I think that I would rather just live with the pain my whole mission (the injury wouldn't get any worse) and do surgery when I get back, than cause a departure delay. I want to get out of the MTC and into the field ASAP! But we'll see if the orthotics help and who knows? Maybe we won't have to do surgery at all. 

I hope this all made sense, my english skills are deteriorating fast.

Anyway, yesterday was my one-month mark!! And tomorrow is the half way point for my whole MTC stay. It's kind of rough because soon the Slovenes, Bulgarians, and Croatians leave in about two weeks. They've been with us this whole time so it's going to be really hard to see them go. It's also just crazy that we've been here a month! That's such a long time, but it doesn't feel like it's been that long. One month of my mission down, 18 more to go! We also found out that the reason that our missions (the Czech/Slovak missions) are 19/25 months is because our mission has 9 week transfers, instead of 6 week transfers.

Last Friday was Elder Oviatt's birthday, so we had a birthday party! It wasn't big, we don't have a lot of free time here at the MTC, but we had a pirate theme (since Hello in Czech is Ahoy) and Elder Lanham's mom mailed us a birthday cake! It was super fun and it was nice to make him feel special. Elder Oviatt is from Canada, so he doesn't get a lot of mail or anything, but he did for his birthday and it was nice to see him super happy!

On Tuesday we had a really great devotional! Don R. Clarke of the Seventy came and spoke to us and he gave us a list of 10 Things Every Missionary Should Know:

1. The Truth of Love - the day you'll be happy (on your mission) is the day you care more about the people than yourself.

2. The Book of Mormon Converts - there should never a day go by in your mission that you do not read from the Book of Mormon.

3. The Principle of Joseph Smith - know that it really happened.

4. Obedience - The First Law of Heaven - why wouldn't you want to be the most obedient missionary on earth?

5. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ - faith divided the Red Sea, it can solve your problems!

6. The Power of the Holy Ghost - your mission will be full of Red Seas, will you divide them, or will they divide you?

7. Family - The Most Important Organization in Time and Eternity - your mission will change your family's lives, but only if you include them in the journey.

8. Believe Who You Really Are - you have access to the priesthood, you have the power to heal others.

9. The Worth of Souls/Help Them Change Their Lives - "it does no good to bring people into this church to have them walk back out again" (Pres. Hinkley)

10. Enjoy the Journey - let people see it in your faces, "happy always, content never"

It was such a good devotional and I wish I could just send you guys everything he told us, but the 10 things are pretty much the main ideas. 

That's really all I've got for now! Just know that I know this gospel is true, and that the gift of tongues is definitely real! We've learned so much in the past month! I know that Joseph Smith really did receive revelation from God to restore this amazing church, and I know that Thomas S. Monson is truly called of God to lead the church and that he does speak for God. I love this gospel, and it's amazing to watch it change lives. I love you all!

'Til next week!

Sestra Schaerrer

 

 

Ahoj Everyone!

So first things first, my toe is NOT broken. On Tuesday we went back to the clinic because I had worn that stupid shoe thing all week and it didn't feel any better. So they sent us to the BYU Student Health Center (we got to leave the MTC!!!) and we got some X rays done. So nothing's broken, there aren't injuries that they can see. BUT there are these bones in your foot call cezmoids (don't judge, I have no idea how to spell that) and most people only have two of them, but I just so happen to have THREE. Weird, huh? They don't know for sure if that is what's causing the pain in my foot, so I'm meeting with a podiatrist next Wednesday to see what he thinks. 

Next, on Tuesday we had our regular Tuesday Night Devotional, only guess who spoke?? Quentin L. Cook!! It was so cool, and since it was an apostle the devotional was broadcast to a bunch of other MTCs. I don't know if it was broadcast to all the MTCs, but a lot of them. He spoke to us on how mission calls are assigned, the importance of our work, and just gave us a ton of advice, it was amazing! We also got to sing in the choir for the devo and we sang Mack Wilberg's arrangement of Praise to the Man, which is one of my favorites. My favorite quote from Elder Cook's talk was what President Hinkley once told him, "Tell the missionaries that if they have more faith, they will have more success." That just really touched me and made me realize how important it is for us to be confident and trusting in the Lord, and that the more faith we have, the more the Lord can work through us, and the more success we will have. :) 

On Sunday for Relief Society, Sister Carol F. McConkie, the first councilor in the Young Women's General Presidency spoke to us. She told us stories of when her husband was a mission president and she gave us a lot of great advice as well. 

One funny thing that happened on Sunday was during Music and the Spoken Word. We watch Music and the Spoken Word every Sunday right before Relief Society, and this week's was quite the adventure. While we were watching it on the projectors with all the lights off, this object came in front of the projector. Something was flying around the room and guess what it was! A BAT!!! A bat had crashed our Music and the Spoken Word party! It flew around the meeting for about 20 minutes and then it just disappeared. A lot of sisters were freaking out, I just thought it was funny!

One more thing about Sunday. Daylight Savings is like 100000000 times worse in the MTC. They give you absolutely no recovery time! I think the whole MTC was a lot more grumpy this week because everybody was definitely feeling that missing hour of sleep!

One of the more serious things that happened this week has to do with my companion. Sestra Bailey heard from her friend that an elder in her friend's district got reassigned to a different mission because he just couldn't learn the language. Sestra Bailey really took that to heart and was freaking out about getting reassigned because she's been really struggling with the language pretty much the whole time we've been here. She had a really hard time when she heard about that from her friend and I had to sit her down and talk about all the amazing things she's done in learning the language so far. She's doing much better now, even though she's still struggling. That was a major bump in our road this week. 

Overall I'm doing well. I'm pretty much over being sick, and even though my toe still hurts pretty bad, at least I know it's not an injury. And it's comforting to know that I can still wreck at foursquare. ;) I actually weighed myself this past week and was pleased to know I've only gained three pounds, which is a lot better than what I had thought!

We're still teaching our two investigators, Viktor and Petra. Sestra Bailey asked Viktor if he'd get baptized in our second week with him and he really freaked out. So we'll see where that goes. Petra is really interested in the Plan of Salvation, and we've had a few really good discussions with her about it. We have high hopes for her.

I also got a calling in our branch this past Sunday. I'm the music coordinator (I can almost hear you all saying "surprise, surprise") so I just have to pick the songs for sacrament meeting and ask people to play and lead. 

Well it's pretty crazy to think that I've been here just over 3 weeks already. In some ways it feels like I just got here, and in others it feels like I've been here for an eternity already. Our zone is kind of at a stand still right now. We got 6 new elders yesterday (4 going to Turkey, and 2 going to Bulgaria) and now we're completely full. So we're not going to get anyone new until the older missionaries leave, but no one leaves for 3 more weeks. And once they leave we will be the "oldest." 

A huge thank you to everyone who has written/emailed me, it really means a lot! I'm sending a second email with some pictures from this week. One is of me and Elder Fairborn, I still can't believe how many times I've seen him around, seeing him actually makes me really homesick, but in a good way. It makes me miss all of my friends that have already been out on mission for over a year, I can't believe they all go home this year! Another picture is of drawings of everyone in our district. Elder Page drew all of us on the board and I think they are pretty accurate! The last picture is of my companionship at the temple on Sunday, with my hurt foot. :P

I hope you are all doing well! I love you all and this gospel is true!!!!

- Sestra Schaerrer

 

 

This week seemed to go by both fast and slow, but I've been told that's how my whole mission will be. I'll try to tell you about all the important events of this last week.

Friday: We found ants in our room. Yup. It was gross, and we don't really know where they came from or why they were there. But we made sure to teach them the Plan of Salvation before we sucked them up with the vacuum. 

Sunday: We had mission conference, and I don't think I've ever been so sore from doing absolutely nothing. I mean I was paying attention and taking notes, but I've never sat in such and uncomfortable chair for such a long period of time before. It was rough. BUT we felt the spirit as the MTC Presidency talked to us about how important our work is.

Sunday Night: We watched the new (I say new because it was new to me, idk how long it's been around though) Joseph Smith Restoration Film. It was so spiritual and emotional. I wish I could have watched it over and over. After the film our district went back to our classroom and a few people bore their testimonies and everyone was crying, it was awesome!

This week we started teaching two new investigators, Viktor and Petra. It was kind of hard, but waaaaayyyy better than our lesson we taught on the second day here! I can definitely tell that we've learned a lot in the past couple of weeks.

Tuesday: I broke my toe. Well, kind of not really. It just started hurting really bad, so we went to the  clinic and now I have to wear this super attractive boot shoe thing for a week and if it doesn't feel better then they'll take an X ray. So yay!

Overall the MTC experience has been good. I've gained weight (surprise surprise, BTW I hope you all read the scripture I sent last week....) I've gotten pro at foursquare, I've learned how to be around two crazy girls 24/7 without going insane, and I've learned a tiny bit of this really weird language that kind of sounds like Russian...

Also I'm sending some pictures. One is of me and my long lost twin Sister Redding, and the other is of our companionship and our New Zealand/Australian friends that are preparing to go to the Phillipines! 

That's all I can think of for now! Thank you to all of those that emailed me this week, it really means a lot! And here's another random fact, if you want to email so that I can read it the same day, use DearElder.com, if you don't use that I can only read it on Thursdays.

I love you all! This gospel is true and the gift of tongues is for real! Trust me! 

Til next week!

- Sestra Schaerrer