LETTER: Sister Adrienne Schneider • December 16th, 2010

okay...can i get the list for you next week? that would be awesome! i haven't made one for thsi p-day and they aren't taking anything after the 22...which is next week...so we can just wait until i leave for argentina! which just blows my mind that i am going! nervous-excitement! i can't believe hwo strong the spirit is! we pretty much taught our last lesson completely in spanish to some investigators. i don't understtand exactly what they say...but you just need teh jist of it! i think i may have you get some good shampoo and conditioner to take to the mtc down there too witha squishy thing when you shower.

funny story...my roommates got me a razor ;) they were cheap but they got it as a joke. i was going to wait until someone said something....i shaved one leg and kept the other one hairy....just to see if anyone would notice. no one said anything for four weeks! but sunday came and i decided to shave since they got me a razor!

i am glad to hear about mikelle and mike! that was so neat for them to come and for chelsea to come as well! so fun!

and i didn't even know about Derek...i have heard he was dating...but i didn't know he asked for her hand!!!! how exciting!!!! yay!!!! please lmk how it goes!!!! i love derek! thatis neat about their movie too! bravo!

spanish is coming. most of the teachers comment on my spanish accent that it is really good...but i don't knwo fi that is because my congigation (spelling...sorry?) is so horrible that is the only compliment they can think of :) haha but it makes me feel good none the less. i told myself from the beginning i wasn't going to get discouraged about spanish....i think i have done pretty good. i have tried really hard not to complain on what i don't know and to concentrate on what i do. hermanas get way too stressed here! it is like when you get stressed mom, your stress brushes off on me....and so does the other hermana's stress.

i am signign 'silent night' with my deaf friend in the talent show. haha, i think i am learning sign language faster than spanish ;) but iti s fun! i love it!

p.s. i think my companion has the 'gift of tongues' because she can talk and talk and talk ;) haha so funny (i have to keep telling myself that! ;)

love you!

love always,

hermana schneider

LETTER: Elder Colton Nunley • December 14th, 2010

Subject: Elevad hacia mi todo pensamiento; no dedeis no temais.

hola familia!!

so this week has been super cool already i gotta tell you first off about this experience i had on our temple walk we take on sundays. so we always go walking to the temple on sundays and we were just hanging out with our zone and elder shaw and me saw this guy playing with his kid up on the hill above us and we were like lets go talk to him. so we went over and elder cluff came along too and we started talking to him. when he saw our name tags and that they were spanish he busted out in spanish so fast jaja( apparently they do jaja instead of haha in mexico haha i mean jaja) but it was so awesome because i understood like 75 % of it and i could answer him back with a little help. but it was so amazingly awesome because when he told us that the kid was his son you could tell just by how he called him his son that this man would do absolutely anything in the world for this little boy. the kids name was samuel but i didnt get the fathers name jaja que triste! but we talked to him for a while and he told us about his life. we found out he is a mexican he jsut moved to america like 12 years ago and that he served a mission in mexico as well. he told us something pretty funny jaja he said that in mexico there is a tradition that you cant turn down a glass of water even to your worst enemys jaja so he said that when him and his companion would see people starting to close their doors when they would walk up they would ask for a glass of water and then they would always let them in jaja how crazy!! so im definately gonna remember that one. so this man has had a crazy tough life but it was still so evident that he would do absolutley anything in the world for his hijo. so i've heard that mexicans are all about family and this jsut made me so excited to go to a place where familys are so important because the plan of happiness can bring so much well happiness to their lives. i was actually reading in moroni 7 (best chapter in all the scriptures in the world!!!!!!!!!!) jaja and there is one verse that says something like "they would be better off if there had been no redemption made" How unbelievable scary?!! no atonement no repentence NOTHING. i got to thinking about how terrible life would be if i didnt know that i could repent and be cleansed and how comforting it is to know that the Savior not only took upon Him all the sins of the world but all the pains sorrows and everthing else. he knows EXACTLY what i've been through because he's already been through it. whenever something is tough here like i have to work on patience or something with someone i like to think of how much more pain the Savior suffered and then it makes me feel like a fool and totally selfish because i know most of the things i will go through in this life will not even be a fraction of what he went through!! but then i realized most people dont know that theey dont realize how much the atonement can comfort them. so that scripture and this man ( el Padre de Samuel jaja) made me wanna work so much harder this week because i have only 3 weeks left in the mtc! oh yeah thats the other thing the mexico visas are so much better now. we had missionaries leave before they were supposed to last week!! that was the first time mexico missionarys have left on time in 9 months!!! how awesome!! but yeah i am gonna write you during my laundry today

love ya oh the subject is a scripture from D y C try to figure out which one it is.. it is awesome!!!!!!

LETTER: Elder Brayden Schneider • December 13th, 2010

ok so... guess who got an ENSIGN story for you!!! woot woot, its such a classical mission story! ok so on Sunday we were at church. And the sisters have an investigator that they have been teaching for about 2 months, and she is 23 and loves everything about the church and is getting baptisted next month. So she is pretty much the most elect girl i have ever seen. So i was sitting on a couch with Franjo and she walked in, and it was her first time at church in Maribor (my city) cause she usually goes to the Celje church (which is 1 hour away). So Franjo starts talking to her and asked about school, and stuff. Then she tells him about her baptismal date, and how excited she is. Then he says,"so how did you meet the missionaries." and she says actually him.... and she pointed to me!!!!!! I was like what??? are you sure?? haha then she tells me the story about three months ago she was walking down the street and me and my comp tried contacting her. She said, i asked her what is the purpose in life? (which is one of my favorite questions, i like asking deep question so if they dont stop then they will think about it) hahaha and she said she just walked past and told us she didnt have time!! haha (which is the usually answer).

So then later that day she went to lunch with some kid from Celje, and he is one of our stongest members. And she was like hey, " some Mormons talked to me today and they asked what the purpose of life is, and i have been thinking about it." hahaha so the member did a dang good job and taught her about the BOM and life and then she went to institute and loves everything. And now on January 23 she is getting baptisted!

haha then she admitted that she was sorry she didnt stop. hahaha i just laughed, and asked her if the question got her thinking!!! haha she admitted that she thought about the question alot. So i was pretty happy to hear the story, its just amazing how organized God is, and how he knows who he wants in his church!!

So score one for the Elders!!!

So i was pumped i got me an ensign story.

So things are good, kinda looking forward to transfers. hahaha, oh hey mom guess what?? so this week is my 1year mark and guess who wrote in their journal every single day!!!!!! yeah me!!! i know you should be proud, but now i got to get me a new journal to start this years. Well love you family!!!

ps... good work derek davidson!!

LETTER: Sister Adrienne Schneider • December 9th, 2010

hola,

mom and dad i send you diff emails...but it doesn't matter who reads it between the two of you. not sure how best it is to email people!

it is great! working hard! it feels like i have been in the MTC forever! i ti shard to see everyone leave the MTC before you....but then it is nerve-racking to think i am a third way done before i am going to need to be fluent in spanish and talking with local argentinians!

i have a friend who si deaf and i 'sign to him' haha...he is patient with me and awesome!!!

oh dad....i want that conversion story too! i read that from brayden and it sounds awesome! also...can i get a picture of the family possible sometime....elders laminated their picture and i think it will be so stinkin fun to show people what my family is like...haha people think it is crazy about our family!

GMA AND GPA: thanks so much for the christmas package! haha so fun! me and my roommates (and companion) were so excited about everything! especially the tree! haha it was sooo fun to have it! it all made our days!!!!

lestie----thanks so much for the letters! i got them! i wanted to write you but i only have a few minutes left! i love them and have used them a lot! same with my roommates who love them too! (yep...i share ;) love you!

bryce: of course i prank the elders ;) jk...they are really good to me...i barely touch the doors they are always holding it open!

lauren bangerter: your gold fish 'were' awesome ;) haha it was so clever and fun! thank you so much!

Matt: love to hear from you and your letters! iw ant to send you a personal one too! sometime ;) hopefully soon! and hermano millet ( who we went to hike with colton and everything...A.J. i think was his name) is my tutor! haha he is great and it is way funny he is our tutor! love to hear about what you are doing!

oh...p.s. i want an update on derek davidson too ;) what is going on there?!

missions are great!@

love you,

hermana schneider

LETTER: Elder Schneider • December 6th, 2010

so... i have bad news, the family.... we went to get with them but they said they had someone over, so we couldnt get with them. But next week hopefully they will!!!

ok, so wanna know something funny, well.. i still dont have my visa yet!!! i know crazy huh, so i am hoping the cops catch me and move me down to Bosnia cause i wanna serve there so bad! I was supposed to get my visa within the first three months of my mission. haha oh well.

So, this week was different. My comp went down to Croatia for a meeting so i went to Celje with a different missionary! it was way fun, we taught English class and i got to meet some of his investigators! it was fun to have a change cause in maribor we are so far away from everyone, i can only talk to my comp so its kinda boring!

Ok so another thing, we went in the moutains and cut us down a Chirstmas tree!! hahaha i know its against the rules, haha but the tree was just so pretty! haha we had so much fun. But it snowed all week and we have like 1 foot of snow and in Slovenia they dont shovel there sidewalks so it not the funnest to walk around!

The best thing happened this week though!!!!! so we have the draškovič family that has been inactive for like 1.5, but we still have family night with them. (this is the family i play risk with) well the dad is the best member we have and comes to the church ever week and cleans it. And the only thing he wants in his life is for his family to become active and go to the temple! so we have been getting with all the members in the family. Well... nothing has worked, but we just try random projects and stuff to try to get them reading. Well it worked, the family is reading.... and for the first time in like a year the whole family came to chruch!!! oh man when Adrej (the dad) walked into church he was just smiling so big, i would have thought he won a car or something! but he was so happy. I was one of the best memories i have had on the mission just to see him so happy! well we are going to keep working with the family and one of their sons, Žan cause he is 17 and so hopefully we can get him going on a misison!

well thanks for everything family!!! but i have a couple of questions

1. whats the word on derek davidson? (concerning marriage)

2. Dad, i just thought of this but next letter will you send me a message on how you were baptisted and stuff. (what was hard, why, what blessings have you seen, and what you thought about the wierd mormons before you were baptisted) ok thanks everyone!!

elder schneider

ps.. make sure you write Adri and Coltin, becasue the MTC is just toooo much fun!!! hahaha good times!

LETTER: Elder Jensen • December 5th, 2010

Hello beautiful mom. =) Yes things are going great still. Next week is are next transfers so I guess will see if I take of the area or not. I hope not though. Elder Soderberg is a great companion. I also have lots of new pictures and videos that I will try to get to you by christmas but im not making any promises. And Jordan is going to get baptized this saturday so I cant wait for that either. She is wonderful! =) Anyways our week went pretty great and we went to a couple churches yesterday. It was very very interesting. We first got up and went to the cathlic mass at 8:00. I felt like everyone was looking at us that whole time it was wierd. Well anyways we walk into the building and were the only ones dressed with a suit and tie so that was pretty much a dead give away there that that was our first time. Then everyone starts to go into the chapel and starts sitting down. We walked right in and sat down on one of the back benches of the room. The room was kinda like a U shape and everyone could see each other. So everyone was kinda looking at us as we just walked in and sat down. A few seconds later we notice others walking passed us and kneeling by the bench before they walked in and sat down. And they also did the cross thing with there hands when they entered the room. But hey how were we suppose to know that we had to do all that. Then after awhile the thing started and everyone started to go up for the sacrament but we weren't baptized so we had to move out of everyones way so that they could get passed us. So we had a full line of people walking passed us as we just stood there in the back having everyone taking turns looking at us. And man some of the things they teach there are just wierd. The priest gets up and starts doing is christmas talk. And he starts to talk about family and friends and so forth. " My brothers and sisters. Christmas times is coming around and it is a time Etc... And you dont have to love your friends. And you dont have to love your family. You dont even have to like them. You just have to respect them and be gentle with them..." Where in the world did you get that doctrine from priest man??! I can see why it is so important for this work to move on alot more after going to all these diffrent churches that day. We also went to some spiritual church right after and one of the parts we did some meditation. So during our awsome meditation with everyone in there being perfectly silent you could hear a pin drop. Our phone alarm started to go off... And hey they couldn't be mad at us we were the new guys. =) After being there a little while longer we had to leave so that we could make it to the next church meeting so we had to stand up from the front of the room and walk passed everyone to get out. I wish I could have gone invisable. But sadly the holy ghost didn't give me that power. So we then went to some christian church and that one was ok. It was a little bit more normal then all the other ones haha. But there was one thing in common from all of those churches that suprised me though. Everysingle one of them had Coffee and donuts at the end of church. I have now found out the way of there succses. Coffee and donuts! So we decided that our church should do the same thing, except were going to have some amizing hot chocolate and donutes. Will see how it works ;) But ya i'm running out of time now but things are going great mom and i'm glad brooklying and kambrea and the new comer Creed are doing so well and cute =) I will be calling creed "Jr." for now on though. I love you most greatest strongest mom in the world. =)

LETTER: Sister Adrienne Schneider • December 2nd, 2010

hola family and friends,

crazy here and can't believe i have been here for two weeks. i am now not speaking one language competely, but more like 1/3 fo each and it is very confusing to everyone i speak with ;) hagha! spanish, german, and english....for some reason the german keeps sneaking into my spanish and i get weird looks ;) but it is crazy! it is so fun to meet so many different people!

oh and p.s. i haven't gained any weight...yet...i think i have lost it if anything (more like my strong muscles...no worries, still pretty buff)

haha, i lost my voice and everyone makes fun of me. so i just started signing to people. i guess ia m not use to talking so much and teaching so much! so funny! so to the new sisters i pretended i could sign and got a pretty good laugh from it. it was interesting to see how a deaf person might feel! i actually did try signing to a deaf elder and he was super nice. pretty much all i could ask was if he knew sing language...oh well! it is great!

thanks so much for all the letters! it is so fun to hear from everyone! sorry i don't have everyone's emails yet: hope this is okay: (dad i assume you have them...and if you know them you should pass on the love ;) pay it forward ;)

dad: sorry about your teeth, i am sure your wisdom is still in there somewhere. i was thinking you have had some hard times lately, being so sick earlier and now your teeth! you are brave for going to the dentist! yuck yuck yuck! bleh bleh bleh!

megan--thanks for your letter ;)

whitney fuller--congrats on the wedding! ( i don't think you are married yet...i meant announcment!) i think that seriously was the cutest announcement i have ever seen! and i love your hair dark! that was so thoughtful to send it to me!

emilie wright: haha i see your sister here, i had no idea she was coming (i can't remember her first name..."betsy" always comes to mind...LOL) but i can call her hermana wright so i am okay. but thanks for your dear elder letter ;) haha....so funny!

lauren bangerter: keep going to the temple ;) it is a good place to be!

melissa palmer: that is so exciting about you serving a mission! do it! but make sure you WANT to do it before! for sisters, no one is making you be here, if you choose to come before, it will be so much better! it is the best thing ever though! i am so happy! thanks so much for you letter! so awesome! you will be great and let me know what you decide!

GILLET FAMILY: THANKS SO MUCH for the package! so so so awesome! it was the best timing! i hadn't eaten for two meals because my comanion had some health problems and i had to go with her to the health place. long story short i was sooo hungry! but i was able to pick up the package on the way...what a great 'care'

package that really took care of me!

all you young men...you want to and should serve a mission! DO IT! ;)

loves, gots to go

hermana schneider