Aug. 20: Welcome to the South

Hello family!
   I am officially in Kristiansand (kri-juan-stad) and I LOVE it!! Oh
my goodness! I feel like I am in South America! I say this because
half of the branch are from Chili. I miss and LOVE Spanish people!
They are just so welcoming. I feel like Spanish and Swedish culture
are opposite.  I also feel like I am in South America because we have
SOOOO many investigators! Wow! I have never had so many people to meet
with at one time.  Syster Vistaunet and I have been running around
like crazy. Quite a few days we don’t have time for dinner or lunch. I
LOVE IT!!
    So my last day in Alingsås was just wonderful. We went to Göteborg
for P-day as usual. For my farewell to Göteborg we decided to go to a
restaurant that is known to have the biggest cinnamon rolls. They are
basically bigger then your face! :) I ate almost a whole one. It was
superb! I will have to take you there when you come to visit. I was
sad to leave Alingsås but I think it was time. A new Syster needs to
get in there and mix things up. I was beginning to recognize someone
everywhere we went.
   So Tuesday morning I headed out on a train and headed down south. I
am now in Malö zone... it is often referred to as "the dirty south".  It
has the reputation of not being a really great place to go. But our
zone leaders, and the stake presidency have been changing things up.
This place is blooming with missionary work! and the Members are a
huge part of it. It is amazing. Right now there is a stake challenge
for everyone to give a Book of Mormon away before the next stake
conference. I think it is a brilliant idea!
   I also must tell you about the amazing people I have met here.
#1. Sammy (changed name due to safety).  WOW. This guy is amazing.
Sammy is from Iran and he is a new convert as of two months ago. I
have never in my life met a new member so prepared and dedicated to
the Lord as Sammy is.  The first day I met him he said "Nice to meet
another soldier in Gods Army."  We were on the way to a member lunch
with Sammy and he wanted to know how to say a word in Swedish. Sys V
and I weren't sure how to say it. So he tapped the young boy in front
of us on the shoulder and asked him how to say the word. After getting
the word he proceeded to introduce himself and then said... "Let me
introduce these two ladies behind you. This is sys V and Sys S. They
are missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."
Sammy contacted someone for us! Well... we started talking to him.
Turns out he is Christian and he really would be interested in
learning more!  Oh my goodness. I couldn’t believe it.   Next day Sammy
texts us and says... "do you have a Book of Mormon in Chinese... I have
a friend I would like to give it to."   We got to meet this friend and
invited her to learn more and Sammy invited her to Church... and she
came!
   I LOVE HIM! We should all try and be like Sammy.
   Two other amazing people that I have met are Ingrid and Roland.
Roland was baptized into the church when he was nine but then his
family left the church. He is now in his late thirties. Sys V and her
companion were in the grocery store when he stopped them and started
talking to them. (This is very unusual to have a swede stop and talk to
you...but Roland is special :) So they ask Roland if they can come back
and visit him... he says yes of course. This guy is also one of the
most sincere people I have met and most reliable people I have met. He
is living with his girl friend Ingrid and she is also interested in
our message. Well. Right before I came they had an amazing lesson with
them and invited them to get baptized. and they said yes! or Roland
wants to come back to church and Ingrid wants to get baptized! So they
were about to set a date when the member at the teach was like...
uhh...Systers... what about marriage?? :) Oh! right! So we left them a
pamphlet on Chastity and said we would talk about it next time.  At our
next teach we follow up with them to see how it went... if they read
the pamphlet. Roland takes out the pamphlet and in all seriousness
says "Up to the point that we read this... we were living in sin."
Sys V and I were shocked. It was silent... you could hear the crickets
in the background.........  But then we came back and told them about
repentance. They had told the Systers before that they wanted a big
wedding for their family next year in July. So we offered the idea
that they could have a small wedding soon and then get baptized and
then have the big wedding next year.  They loved the idea! So!! we are
now planning a wedding :)   The ward is calling us the wedding
planners now.  :)
   There is way too much to tell about all the amazing things that
have happened and all the amazing people. But I have to end with my
AMAZING companion :) Syster Vistaunet is a bubble of sunshine with
crazy colors thrown in. that is how I would describe her.
Unfortunately she will be going home sept 20th. So we have decided to
have just work and laugh and sing till we drop! Oh yah! and guess
what! she mixes up the lyrics to songs too!
 I love you all !
 Syster Schneiber II

ps if you want to read sys V's blog you can check it out at ...
surfingonawildcat.blogspot.com  or you can look up Telisa Vistaunet on facebook

Aug. 13: Pictures

Me and Syster Talbot!

Mona

 Sunset on the roof

Christer Callgard!! (a less active who we have been meeting with.
He is awesome! and he came to church this Sunday.. what a stud!)

1. Anna and Algot

2. Me and Anna's family Alice and Algot (little girl with the curly
blond hair is just a friend)

Dead bones cremated at Lennarts work! (Lennart..one of my favorite
members works at a crematorium!)

 Bian and Leila at the Hägglunds! (most amazing miracle ever! Our
investigator Leila and her son Bian came to eat dinner with us at the
Hägglunds house!!)

 the couch (we didnt have a couch.. and anna didnt want her couch!
no problem with the help of some of the boys in the ward! Sys T is so
happy now :)

Aug 13: Can one have too many miracles in a week?? pshhh nahh Never!

It is always hard for me to come up with cool subject lines... hummm.
   Family! It was wonderful to hear from you all this week. I feel
very strange as a missionary right now. I am moving to my last area as
a missionary tomorrow. Kristianstan (Kri-juan(said spanish
like)-stad). I will be with Syster Vistaunet until September 20ish
when she goes home and then I will get a new missionary. Then I will
be with her for a little over 12 weeks... and my time is done as a
missionary. AHHHH YIKES!
    Yesterday was a wonderful last Sunday here in Alingsås. I love
this ward. I can't wait for you to meet them. I already told some of
them to expect to meet my family when I come back. :) Even though I
have been far far away from my family this summer Alingsås ward has
taken me in to their family. I'm going to miss these wonderful people.
      The most amazing part of yesterday was that Anna came to
church!!!  Anna is about 35 ish and she has two adorable kids. Alice
and Algot. Algot has Down syndrome and is about 2. Anna is a single
mother and we became friends through her friend Frida Mattson (who is
a member of the ward).  Anna is amazing! I love her so much and I have
loved getting to serve and teach her. This week we were over at her
house and we were talking about how it was going with Prayer. She has
never really prayed before and has had some negative experiences with
Christianity before hand... but now she wants to find out if there
really is a God. So she has been testing out praying. She said that
she finally just prayed and asked "Is what Frida is telling me... is it
all true?"  She then turned on the TV and a Mormon documentary was on
:)  That is not usual. She smiled and said... maybe that could be a
sign! :)
         SO! We rode our bikes over Sunday morning and helped the kids
get dressed and all loaded up in the car. I forgot how much it takes
to get a whole family to church compared to just little ol' me.   She
pulled into the parking lot... tons of other members in the parking
lot.  I couldn’t help but put myself in Anna's shoes and imagine
driving up into this parking lot with lots of other people all around
who know each other... and you know almost no one... I would be a little
nervous and not even want to drive into the parking lot.  BUT! Not to
worry we were there with her. We got out and Frida and her two girls
walked over to meet us.  We walked into the church... and it just went
perfectly! Everyone was so nice to Anna and Algot and Alice. They fit
in perfectly with the ward.  There was a baby blessing that day (The
Shrope family! I love them) and so there were a lot of visitors at
church.
       I leaned over to tell one of the members that it was Anna's
first time at church... His eyes went wide... He thought she was just
from another ward :)  YAY!! So I am very sad to leave Anna but I know
sys Talbot will take care of her. (I will send pictures of Anna)
   I was telling Syster Talbot during our personal study time that
there were toooo many miracles this week. I had a challenge getting
them all down in my journal.
 So... I will just stick with one more amazing story. Every night in my
nightly prayer as I "counsel with the Lord" (Alma 37:37) I try and
make two goals for the next day to try and be a little better. This
week a common one was prayer more often and more sincere.
  Saturday evening our lessons were canceled. We decided to head over
to this one area... but no one that we had wanted to see was home. I
felt pretty down. This was my second to last evening here in Alingsås.
I have been here for 5 months. Shouldn't I be with a whole bunch of
people who love me instead of out on the empty streets? So we had
about 15 more minutes till the bus came. We had one goal still
unaccomplished for the day.... we really wanted to get one more
investigator. We talked this over... but there was no one really out...
so we decided we could walk to the bus stop and start planning if no
one else was out. Well I had a silent prayer that if at all possible
we could reach this goal... and Almost more for Syster Talbot’s sake so
that she could feel happy and successful for the day.  We rounded the
corner about 2 meters from the bus stop and a girl walking her dog was
walking towards us. I turned to sys T and asked... should we contact
her... yah why not. We stopped and petted her dog and started talking.
   Turns out! Syster Erickson and Sprague helped her move into her apt
in March... and she knows one of the youth in the ward because she is
her teacher!! We asked her what she believes and if she would like to
learn more... she said yah! Sure... come back on Tuesday... WHAT!
       Please note. This is not normal in Sweden.

That was amazing! So Syster Talbot and Jackobs will be visiting her
next week :)  Heavenly Father answers prayers.
 I LOVE YOU ALL

Aug 6: Painting a House

We did some service for members this week and painted their house. They live out in the boonies! :) It is so pretty out there!

Posted with Blogsy

Aug 6: An old fisherman and helping home teaching

Hey FAMILY!
   What a wonderful day it is to be alive!  Glad to know you are all
alive. I can't believe how fast time flies. August has just begun but
it feels like it is almost over. YIKES! Christmas will be here before
you know it.
   Well.. lets just skip all the small talk and Ill just tell you
about some awesome miracles.
This week we had some great teaches with members. We have this
wonderful old man who lives in our house named Börje. He is probably
68ish and looks like a tough old fisherman. I think I might have
talked about him before. But we had our mission leader Thomas Hulldin
come. As we read a chapter in the Book of Mormon to Börje we talked
about baptism and why that is an important step. We had already talked
to Börje about Baptism and invited him to prepare to be baptized on
sept 1. So as we mentioned it he stopped us and said.. "I still don't
get why I have to be baptized again..."  Thomas stepped up to bat and
made a home run. He was a convert himself in his late teens and he did
a great job of explaining why he decided to be "baptized again."  It
makes such a huge difference when you have members helping in the
teaching.
   We also taught a young father named Alexander from Serbia about the
Word of Wisdom. He really likes our message and said he would like to
be baptized if he receives an answer. So as we taught him the 5 things
he needs to not eat/drink.. he said "I only have a problem with coffee
and smoking".  So I asked him how long it would take him to quit. I
was thinking maybe a month or two.. he says maybe three weeks.. and
coffee. No problem I can stop today. !! This might not sound so cool
to all of you. But one of my favorite things as a missionary is to see
these wonderful people that you teach start to take steps to change.
It is almost magical to see how they change themselves. Our biggest
problem here in Alingsås has been that people have not been wanting to
change.  But it is only when you do change that you can receive
miracles and gods help in your life.
  Another neat experience was being with the Holmberg Family. The mom
and dad left the church for a time and the mom was recently
reactivated. She also has a son who became a member. But the rest of
the family are not members. So we got invited to help home teach them
this week. That in itself was a miracle. Well as we were sitting there
talking.. it was only the mom and her daughter who has Down syndrome. I
had really hoped to have a chance to talk to some of the kids or the
dad. I all the sudden had a thought.. pray for help. So I had a little
prayer that HF would help me know how to best invite one of the sons
to an activity... how would I get the chance if I never saw him. Well!
After my prayer.. I thought.. I might as well just ask Elizabeth (mom)
if Viktor (son) would like to come to an activity for the young single
adults. She said.. I don you should ask him. He is downstairs in his
room playing on the comp. So with only 5 minutes to head out so we
could make our train--we knocked on his door and invited him.
    Now.. there are a lot of guys I have met who like to just sit at
the computer all day long.. and so my invitation could have been
accepted who knows how!  Maybe we would need to convince him.. he also
doesn’t really know anyone who will be there and he has never met me
before... But! He said yah sure. We traded numbers and he texted us
first and asked what time the activity would start.  ! YAY! We had the
chance to be there again on Saturday and invited another son to come
to family home evening with the young single adults. He said yes too!
SO we shall see what happens.
  Syster Talbot and I are having a good time together here in
Alingsås. I am really grateful that I get to be her companion. I have
learned a lot from her already. One thing that I really like about her
is that when something goes wrong and she gets upset... she never
stays upset for long. She doesn’t hold grudges and that is amazing! So
we had a little conflict during the week. It was a little tense for
about 1 min and then she was fine.. I was worried thinking.. yikes
what if she is mad at my the whole day. So the next hour I spent
worrying about it. haha Turns out after that one minute she had moved
on. I really have learned a lot in these short three weeks.
    But we got a call from president and it seems like I will be
leaving sometime soon. Unsure where but.. where ever it is it will be
my last area and I will be training a syster in sept. So! exciting way
to end the mission.

I just wanted to end with a little scripture thought. I love the book
of Mormon so much and learn so much every day. This week I was reading
in Heleman 5. WOW this chapter blows me away every time I read it. As
I was reading it this week I noticed something new. It said that as
Nephi and Lehi were surrounded by fire that they realized that it was
burning them and that the other bad guys couldn't touch them. They
received courage and started to teach.  It made me think... We don't
always know what God's plan is for us... maybe they could have died
like abinadi. But what we are to do is to follow the spirit with what
ever circumstances God puts us in. Nephi and Lehi realized.. Wow we
have a captured audience... they cant stop us from talking and we have
their full attention. Lets teach!!
    In our own lives we don’t always understand what God has up his
sleeve. But whatever circumstances we are in we should always stand
for what we know is right and follow the spirit. It will be ok. He has
it planned out.

Well!   Jag älskar er!

syster Schneiber II

July 30: Prayers Are Answered

Hej familj!
  Hur går det? I'm still here loving life as syster schneiber. Today
as we were riding the bus to the church to email.. I just couldn’t
believe it.. I'm in Sweden and I can speak Swedish and I'm a
missionary. Wow.
   Summer time is sometimes slow as a missionary.. and this week was
like that. But! There are always miracles to write down in my journal
each night. We went on a walk with a less active named Syren. I LOVE
THIS WOMAN. She has such a strong testimony but has a very hard time
getting to church. So as we walked I shared with her what I had been
reading in the Book of Mormon. I am at the beginning of Heleman. A war
just occurred and it was mainly because the Nephites were battling
against each other and then the Laminites were able to come in and
attack. I feel like this is a lot like our own lives. Often times there
are little civil war battles we face with ourselves. We might not know
where we stand on a certain principle, we have bad self-esteem, or in
our families we are having hard times, etc.  And then when we are weak
a bigger enemy has the chance to come in and take over.
   At first I couldn’t help but thinking.. if only the Nephites could
have been good and just stayed united.. then this battle would never
have happened. But then I realized.. when is life ever perfect? there
are always little battles. The most important thing is that even when
the enemy gets in.. as long as the Nephites turn to God for help--we
can win.  So in our own lives.. its ok that bad things happen and that
we make mistakes.. that’s life. It isn't meant to be perfect. The most
important part is what we do when there is a battle raging. Turn to
God and we can overcome.  :)  Well I shared this with Syren and asked
her about her life.  I didn’t think much about it then. It was just a
spiritual thought. But she texted us later that night and thanked us
for the message. It gave her hope and a new perspective on her life.
    I believe heavenly father leads us most often when we don’t even
realize it.  So it happened with Syren and that I just gave the right
spiritual message to touch her heart.
   There was another little miracle during the day. We had an
afternoon that was open and we decided after trying a few different
options that we would go to a less active. Well as we began walking to
her house I became very nervous. Sometimes working with less actives
can be the hardest part of our work. She comes from an active family
and... you just don’t want to do anything wrong that will make their
feelings towards the church worse.  So we kept walking and then I
thought.. it is such a beautiful day what are the chances of her being
home. She is probably at the beach or out with the kids.  It just felt
like there was a lot trying to make me turn around. But I had felt
like we really should visit her this week. So we kept walking and I
just kept praying that 1. she would be home and 2. that she would not
be angry with us and that we could get a return apt.  Well! we got to
the door and it was wide open. We knocked and her and her daughter
came to the door. Turns out her son was sick and that was why they had
to be home that day. We talked and shared a scripture and asked if we
could come back and maybe make American pancakes for the kids.  The
little girl thought that would be super cool. So hopefully we will get
to go back this week.
   Even though this story doesn’t seem so miraculous at all.. it was an
answer to my prayers.. and for that I am so grateful that we have a
heavenly father who loves us and cares about our simple prayers.  I
feel this way daily. I pray about such simple small things.. and I
can’t help but get excited and surprised every time my prayers are
answered.
   Now that I am the only one who really knows the area a lot of the
planning is placed upon me.  This can cause lots of stress and for
me.. one of the things I had a hard time at the beginning of my
mission was having open space in the day and not knowing what to do
with it.  But I have realized that I don’t need to worry about that so
much. Plan the best I can and when things fall through and our backup
plans fall through... it is because heavenly father has something else
planned. :)  That happened this week too. We invited a member to a
teach. We show up with the member and no one answers the door.  :(
that is not a good feeling. The member was super nice about it though.
So we decided well there is something else we need to be doing with
this extra time. We decided to stop by a few old investigators. One
named Kevin. We had gone by Kevin a few times and he never had time.
But this night he did! We sat outside on a beach and read the
introduction with him.  As he read it seemed to all finally click
about what the Book of Mormon really was. It was possibly one of my
favorite teaches in reading the book of Mormon. So! we are excited to
keep teaching him.
  That is all I have time for this week.  But I love you all. What
have you been learning in the Book of Mormon? How has God answered
your prayers this week?
  Love syster Schneiber

July 23: Trains!

Dear family!
     

  Well! Sys Talbot is here and sys Sprague has left in safety.
Sys Sprague left Wednesday morning. We had Peter and his daughter
Josefin take us to the train. We helped load her bags onto the train
and turned to jump off the train.... but the doors closed. Guess what,
once they close they stay closed till the next stop! So we ran to
find the conductor. We found her once the train had already started
picking up speed. She said, sorry! You will just have to get off at
the next stop.  Next stop was in Skövda... an hour away :) Haha   SO!
I got to stay with sys Sprague a whole other hour! It was a pretty fun
adventure. Peter said we are now Train friends.  Syster Talbot is
wonderful! She majored in piano at Weber state and is very ambitious
and likes to work hard. She has got a lot of energy and drive and wants
make it BIG.  I feel like being with sys Sprague helped me calm down
and learn to be more stable and happy about who I am as a missionary.
When I first came to Sweden sys E said I trained myself... I was
constantly wanting to go go go... I remember it being stressful on
sys E. But now that I've been out for a year I know how to be
effective and not waste so much energy in worrying and being stressed.
Sys Sprague helped me learn that a lot. Take things at a little slower
pace. Be happy and spread that joy.  Now that I am with sys Talbot I
feel I was running and all the sudden sys Talbot runs past me and is
keeping a faster pace and I have to keep up with her. It feels good to
be with someone who has big dreams, ambitious, obedient, and wants to
work hard. So now maybe I can keep this stable happiness AND run
faster. :)

There is something special about the Sweden Stockholm Mission. It is
called "The Second Harvest" While visiting a mission conference as an
apostle, Elder Hinckley addressed two Swedish missionaries who were
finishing their service. "Let me say a few words to you that I want
you to take home to Sweden." Then he lifted a glass of water and
pointed to it.
         "Sweden has for many years been like this glass of water —
not much action. In the middle 1800s when the first missionaries came
to Sweden, thousands of people joined the church. It was a great and mighty
harvest. When you go home, I want you to tell the members that there
will be a new harvest, a second harvest in Sweden, that will bring thousands of
Swedes into the church."

When the first missionaries came here to Sweden there were thousands
that joined the church and most of them moved to the states. But
Hinckley promised a second harvest… one greater than the first. We
have been working a lot towards that. When the temple was rededicated
Pre Monson prophesied this Second Harvest and said that it would come
when the members and the missionaries worked together. Sweden would
also be an example to other nations and help the harvest spread far
beyond Sweden.   SUPER COOL.  I really feel this prophecy beginning to
be fulfilled.  So that has been a big part of what I feel like my
mission has been. Trying to help the second harvest come to pass.
     Anna is the perfect example of this. Anna is our most positive
investigator. She is a member’s friend. We had dinner over at the
member’s house this week and Anna came with her daughter. We watched
the restoration Film and we talked about prayer afterwards. She heard
us say how we pray over daily things and she wondered... what kinds of
things do you pray for daily?? I can understand a big decision you
need help with... but daily small things? It was great to have the
members there to answer her question and I felt like it strengthened
the members too. If only every member could have a friend like Anna!
      Remember Alana from last week? She got baptized and we got to go
support her. Well what I forgot to tell you was that the total time it
took for Alana to meet the missionaries and get baptized. 1.5 weeks.
CRAZY!  So on Monday after Pday we went over to her apt and got to
talk to her about receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. Sys Sprague
and I feel like we got to really share in Alana's baptism and like we
got to be her missionaries too.  This woman is so sweet and humble. I
loved every minute spent with her.  I plan on keeping in contact with
this wonderful woman.
   Lastly! A quick super cool miracle. Saturday we didn’t have too many
of our plans turn out. We contacted a guy named Alexander with his
little baby son during the morning. We just contacted a Greek woman
before us and she said we could come back and give her a BOM. So when
we talked to Alexander and he said.. ya sure I'd like a BOM.. we were
really excited! Two new possible investigators!  Well we said we would
come back on Sunday to give them their BOM. We ended up back in
Alexander's neighborhood trying to find an old investigator. We sat
down to text someone before we headed into an apt complex when
Alexander called us and asked us if we could come teach him right now.
 We looked at each other.. What are the chances that our apt fell
through so we came back to his area.. and he calls us just then! So we
headed over there and ended up sitting at a picnic table and explained
the BOM. He is from Serbia and he kept talking about these other
people he had met with that were teaching him but he couldn’t find them
and he was really interested in our message. Turns out they are Jehovah
Witnesses.. but what was the coolest thing for me was just... how in
the world did we find this guy! He really does want to know. He really
is interested! It just blows my mind that we can find the small
percentage in the population who are really searching for God.. and
want to do something about it. :)
   It is just another point for God. He really does run this show and
has a plan. I know that.

I love being a missionary. I love having this chance to give up my
life in order to find it. I hope you all take the time to kneel down
in prayer and find out if Heavenly Father is really there for you too

July 16: pictures!

Alana

Klaus and Yvonne

the big tray of smörgåstårta!

My slice of smörgåstårta!

The sisters Tanner and Mackey

Searching for the Mormon Rock.. we had a district meeting out in
the woods this week in search of the mormon rock. When the church
first began here in Alingsås they were not allowed to meet in public..
so they met in the woods between two farms. And they used this big big
stone to preach at.. so we went in search to see it.. only problem was
that we couldnt find it. It was also really really rainy. Soooo we had
an adventure in the woods and god soaked through.

the sunset from our roof

July 16: "I dont care... cuz I'm getting transfered" (The Missionary Next Door)

Dear Family,

 I heard a funny quote this week. In the bible during Noah's time it rained 40 days and 40 nights and it was a catastrophe... here in sweden its just summer. :)  It has rained ALOT.  And yet we seem to have great luck or someone watching out for us... because often times when we get on our bikes the rain lets up and when we get inside it begins to down pour again.  So I'm staying mostly dry. Especially with my awesome red raincoat.
    You all have an assignment this week. Find "The missionary next door" by Diana H. Hoelscher.  It is a fireside about how to be a member missionary. It is AMAZING. We found it at the church and listened to it during lunch one day. We were so inspired that we decided to do a fireside for our own youth here in Alingsås. We listened to parts of it and then did discussed how they could apply it to their lives. It was super fun. I was so impressed by the youth too because they could listen to it in English. It was definitely something that would put them out of their comfort zone.. but this woman Diana and her family helped 30 people become members.   I am definitely planning on applying somethings they did in their family. Let me know what you think about it.     Do you remember Alana from last week? She had gone to the baptism and felt the spirit and asked when she could get baptized. Well she was supposed to get baptized sunday. So we called wednesday to see if it was still going to happen so we could invite people. Turns out only 1 hour before.. she had decided to get baptized THAT day!  She is shy and didnt want alot of people there but she said she would really love to have us there.  So we had a fast change of our plans.. we threw together some cookies.. had a quick teach with an investigator and sprinted to the train. We then put together a baptism that was done in one day and it was beautiful! We met her at the baptism the week before and were able to teach her and show her around the church for her first time while the other sisters were super busy. We were happy to jump in. Especially after about 3 min.. We asked her some question and she broke into tears just ready to accept the gospel. I really have never met someone so so so ready and searching and able to recognize instantly the difference in our church and in the chapel. She was craving! Hungry!  I really love Alana and I was so happy to have met her and be a little part of her conversion. The baptism was wonderful and she said she felt so at peace.
   
We met this really cute old couple a while back named Claus and Yvonne. They are probably in their 60's or 70's. Claus talks ALOT and
he is soooo sweet. He loves sys Sprague and I. We met them because
they were interested in Family History work and Claus grew up with one
of the area 70's here in sweden. He has tons of questions about the
church and thinks we are great.. but not at all interested in stepping
foot in the chapel. Well sys Sp. and I thought we had better go visit
them one last time before sys sprague heads out. We show up and Yvonne
pulls out this huge tray of magnificence! It is called a
smörgåstårta.It means a sandwich cake. its like a big layered sandwich
with egg on the first level and tuna on the second and on the top mayo
with cucumbers, shrimp, tomatoes.. it was beautiful and SOOO good. I
will send a picture.
    you know me.. i love food. :)

    Other then that we have been working hard here in Alignsås. We
have been working with some less actives who are making progress. This
gives me some of the greatest joys. We also went back to Lennart (the
one who was going to get baptized) to say goodbye for sys spr.  Found
out he is still reading the BOM. And he has read up to ch 16 in the
gospel principles book. :) SOO! there is hope. We also have a cool
investigator who says he will get baptized.. but never shows up to his
appointments.  Just the simple joys of missionary work.. :)  I am
going to try very hard to always be on time to my appointments in
future life.

 I gave a talk this week at church about Faith and Prayer--a source
of personal growth. I felt like this topic was exactly what I needed
to hear. Syster Sprague and I have been doing something every night
that I really like.  Each night as we have our evening prayers we pick
two things that we want to repent of.. or to work on and be better at.
Then the next day we have that as our background focus. It has been a
great source of learning more about who I am and communicating with
Heavenly Father. Sometimes I feel like it is so hard to change. But by
small and simple steps anything is possible. Then the next night in
prayer we see how we did on those goals. It is a great way to repent
everyday.

Oyah!

    Exciting news... We have a change in Alingsås!  Syster Sprague is moving to Västerhaninge aka temple square. She will be with sys
B (she went to Harvard and she is super cool). I will be getting
syster Talbot. She is from Orem UT. Soooo Syster Sprague and I have
deceided that we are ok to finally get a new companion. We love each
other and have so much fun.. but we decided maybe it is time we get
someone new so that we can continue to keep growing :)  So it will be
a good move.

     Lastly, in relief society we talked about "simpleness"  and how we need to focus on the simpleness of the gospel. How often do we get
overwhelmed by all the things we "need" to do in this world.. and also
in the gospel. One can easily feel that they are not good enough and
begin to loose sight of why they even are a member of the church.  So
my challenge to you this week is to pause... shrug off all those
feelings of duty and "to-do lists" and remember WHY is it you do all
these things.

It is because of the joy you receive from the gospel.
Just like when you find this amazing receipt and it was soooo good.
You just gotta share this new found secret you have with others. You
want them too to taste of this joy.  SO yes! remember that. Dad wrote
me an email about that on the beginning of my mission when I was
having a hard time with my testimony.  This gospel isnt to enslave and
break you down. It is to uplift and create a better life.

 One guy asks his neighbor.. "Do you belive in God?".. the other is
hesitant and unsure.. "no not really..."  The guy responds "Well, God
believes in you."

Well.. I love you all!
 Love Syster Schneiber  :)

July 9: Have YOU done any good in the world today?

Well dearest family!
  While writing this letter I am listening to this wonderful song..
you should all listen to it while you read my letter ;)

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/mormon-channel-stories?lang=eng#2012-07-001-have-i-done-any-good-in-the-world-today

This week has gone super fast. We had our fourth of July party on the
5th and zone conference on the 6th in Göteborg. It was a week filled
with lots of missionaries.

 The week has been just another week of missionary work. Gotta love
it.. but it is also just hard work. Some wonderful miracles that
happened.. We have this random guy who lives in our apt house and he
is so sweet. He looks like this weathered sea man. He sells fish in
the neighboring town. In his free time he likes to take care of the
lawn.. he prunes all the bushes and weeds and plants flowers.. there
is a table and chairs out where he likes to read and feed birds his
left over bread.  Well we walked out the door last week and stopped to
chat while we waited for the bus. He asked us how the work was going
and said if we wanted we could use the table and chairs to have
discussions with people. He said it was sad that more people didn't
want to talk with us... We were both taken aback and so grateful for
this warm kindness. He has been living in the same apt as the
missionaries for the past 15 years.. and he doesn't have a Book of
Mormon yet! :)  So we asked him if he would like to meet and discuss
with us at the table and we could give him a book.  He said yes. We
met with him and he said he would read and that he has been really
curious about what we do and what we believe. He is searching for
truth.. YAY!!   SO his name is Börje and he is super sweet. We shall
see how it goes.
   
 We also got a referral from members in a neighboring town.. it
was an old man named Thorston. So we give him a call and he says to
come and show our selves to him :)   We show up and he is so excited
and happy he lets us in and just goes off about his whole life.  His
wife died a few years ago and he is still having a hard time with
that.  Probably 30 mins later he pauses and says.. "Why are you here?
and if you are trying to sell me something, or get me to join
something.. I'm not interested"  Syster sprague and I looked at each
other .. haha whopps... well! now what are we supposed to do!
 
 so We told him of our purpose and said he didn't need to join
anything but that we had a message about how he could be with his wife
again. He opened right back up and said he would love to listen and be
taught. haha I loved it. We gave him the Book of Mormon and he
promised he would read it.  We went back yesterday and unfortunately
he wanted to give it back. He said his memory is so bad there is no
point to reading it because he forgets what he read on the last page.
Sooo We tried to teach him how to pray and he said to come back after
he goes and talks to his doctor about his memory.  :) I still loved
being with him. And you should have seen how happy he was the first
night we left. After he closed the door he opened it back up again and
said "it was so nice to meet you too!"
     
SO what good are you doing in the world?  Who are you taking an
extra second to say hi to?
 
  One of my goals for this month is to recognize that God loves
me.. stop seeking for people to love me.. and LOVE EVERYONE ELSE!
Love. Love. Love the people who are around you. Your family. Your
friends. Strangers.. :)  and then! don't be afraid to tell them that
they have a Heavenly Father who loves them so so so much.
   
Something that has been hard for syster Sprague and I is that not
too many of our investigators are taking steps and progressing.  But
on Thursday after our 4th of July party in Göteborg we went to a
baptism for a guy named Kenneth.  We actually met Kenneth a few months
ago. He is from the states and he went to SVU to play basketball. That
is where he found the church. But he never decided to become a member.
 Well! he walked into the YSA center in Göteborg because he was
needing help and he knew he could get help there. We were there that
day and invited him to join us for pancakes. I think i wrote about it
home... well! he got baptized! Super cool... and the syster
missionaries were the ones who taught him.. So they were in charge of
the baptism. But they had another investigator named Alana coming and
they wanted sys Sp and I to take care of her.  We met Alana outside of
the building and then showed her around the church. When we walked
into the chapel.. she just started crying. I was blown away... I was
not on the same level as she was. As she cried she explained how she
has been searching her whole life for the truth and she just felt that
this was the right place.  We sat with her throughout the service and
she continued to explain how she just felt such happiness and that
this was true.  I couldn't help but feel the spirit sitting next to
this pure woman who wanted so badly to know how to come back to her
Heavenly Father.  She asked.. when can I get baptized!?  :)   It was
neat to be with her and know that there are people out there who
really want to know and really want to have the gospel be a part of
their lives.
 
SO! Syster Sprague and I will keep on looking for more and helping
those we have found.

 Lastly I just want you to all know how grateful I am for scriptures.
I read a talk this week called "you were born to lead"--and in it I
received some inspiration to some questions I had been having. The
inspiration I received was to search deeper in my scriptures for those
questions I have. I know the book of Mormon is true. To receive this
book--alot of effort was put in. Now ask yourself... why did God go to
such great lengths to give this book to the world?  And next
question.. why am I not using it more in my life.

 So ! you all have two commitments for this week
1. re evaluate your scripture study.. is there one thing you could do
differently to use this precious gift more effectively in your life?
2. Do GOOD in the world by first knowing that God loves you and then
go out and spread it by LOVING Others!

    i'd love to hear back about the results! :)

 I LOVE YOU ALL! and guess what! I have been a missionary for over a
year now! crazy! Time FLIES! I think these past 4 months with syster
sprague have been more like 4 weeks. Who knows how fast the next 6
months will go.

 Love Syster Schneiber

July 2: More pictures

Lennart (a member) and Runne (his brother who is not a member.. he
is just like our 2nd grandpa ;)

Digestive challenge! We have been buying different digestives every
week and saving the last one for a test taste challenge. Which
digestive is the best!? The fullkorn won!

Me, Kathe, and Elizabeth!

George and Kathe Larsson. Aren't they adorable!

Me at the temple!

me and sys sprague at the temple!

Sweden! (while driving in a car)

midsommars!

Sys Sprague and I when we climbed Utby mountain (more like a big hill)

we stayed over with the systers in stockholm (syster talbot,
sprague, me and Brinton)

July 2: Clue! Who killed Mr. Body?

Sooo!! a few weeks ago I forgot to tell you that we had the coolest activity for the YSA center in göteborg. We did like a murder myster.. Clue style. Syster Sprague and I were the maids and then we had other characters..

Mr. Green. Colonel Mustard, Professor Plum, Mrs. White, Miss Scarlet and me as Ms. Peacock, the cook, butler and CIA agents:)

It was a hit! It was organized and done by the missionaries in the area. The activity was organized to get the youth to invite less actives and friends. IT WAS AMAZING!

sooo here are some pictures!

Mr. Green: Aldste Marchant

Ms. Peacock: Syster Mackey

Professor Plum: Aldste Nelson

Mrs. White: Syster Oscarson

Colonel Mustard: Aldste Oscarson

Ms. Scarlett: Syster T

July 2: God's timing

Dear Family!

What a great week.. as usual :) Actually I think this week was a
little bit harder for me. But the harder weeks tend to me the more
miraculous ones and the weeks I am most grateful for. This week I had
the chance to do splits with Syster T. She came up to join me in
Alingsås! She came up on Monday afternoon. I had a great two days
planned for her to take part in. Splits might just sound like fun..
you get a new companion for a day.. but it can also be a challenge. So
before we even get to Alingsås our first teach cancels on us and
Lennart calls and says he wants to stop meeting. Well! Here we go.
Syster T jumped right in. We rode to Lennarts and talked to him
at his door. It was like talking to a wall. He had shut himself off.
We bore strong testimony. It was cool to have syster T there
because we really had to rely upon the spirit. She had no clue who
this guy was. She was a powerful soldier to have standing there with
me.
Syster T: Goes to BYU-Idaho!! I had heard about her before I
got here. She is from Holiday UT. She is going home in 2 weeks. I
would say she is alot like me. :)
Well then we had a little dinner and caught the bus out to our
second teach. We had planned on going to Leila but we didnt ever
confirm in with her. So we thought if she is not home we can still
contact around that area.. lets go! In Alingsås the buses drive out
one direction come back and go to the center and then drive out a
different direction. So we get to the center and for some reason the
bus decides to stop going. The next bus out to Leila's doesn't go for
another 30 mins... by that time it would be too late to go out there.
We stood there in the bus terminal and I could feel a little sense of
panic rising.. oh no! what do we do now!! It is all up to me! Syster
T doesnt know this area. I think one of my least favorite things
about being a missionary is not having anything to do. I had a prayer
and looked through my planner. I had one other idea: we could go to
our new convert near town and teach them today instead of tomorrow...
Usually this new convert never can meet on random days. Sys Sp and I
had tried lots of times before. Well what do you know.. we call and
he says sure come on over. So we head over to his house and I give
Leila a call to tell her we wont be able to make it. Guess what Leila
wasn't home.
This might not seem so big to you reading. But for me... this
was a big answer to prayer. I have struggled this week in really
wondering how well I am really doing as a missionary... Is the Lord
really with me in this work if so many people reject me? Its now 4
months in Alingsås and no one has been baptized. If our purpose here
is to find teach and baptize...
Through much contemplation, searching, prayer I know that I am
in the right place. The Lord is with me. He is proud and grateful for
my work. And that this is the Lords work here upon the earth.
This sunday was fast and testimony meeting and one of the
members got up and said the past 6 months have been really hard and he
has felt so far from Heavenly Father. But he had remembered that poem
about the footsteps in the sand. It was the Lord carrying him during
those hard parts of his life. I too bore my testimony. I know that
God is with us. Often times he cant be there right in front of our
faces and hold our hands like we would a friend or parent. But he is
there and he is guiding us. How can we know? Because of answers to
prayers like the one I received on Monday. I cant tell you how many
times timing works out perfectly.
Tuesday syster T and I decided to go to an old investigator in
the neighboring town. (ps. sweden is BEAUTIFUL! Östadkulle is this
town... wow I love this world it is gorgeous) On the way back we
started talking to a girl waiting for the bus.. guess what. She knew
some members in the church. We told her about prayer and how she
could get answers. She declined our invitation to learn more but I
feel like she needed to hear our message. Later that night we were
ridding our bikes home and we passed two ladies trying to carry in a
big couch. We jumped off our bikes and before they could even say
"yes, can you help us" we were there carrying it with them.
Even though people dont make the final decision to get baptized
and follow Christ.. each time someone tries to be a little better from
our commitments I receive joy. We taught Pär (19 yr old who is a
friend to Viktor who just went on a mission). Pär is trying to pray!
It is amazing to see someone try and really find out if God does
exist. I hope you can all meet him one day. And we taught Leila later
on in the week... guess what! She read the first two pages of 1
Nephi!! and she gave the closing prayer again. We taught her about
keeping commandments especially keeping the Sabbath day holy. In her
prayer she thanked God for commandments and asked for help to come to
church.
I think one of my favorite parts about being a missionary is
getting to come into these peoples homes--listening to them--becoming
their friend and watching them change their lives as keep commitments
(like reading the book of mormon, praying, and coming to church) You
can feel a difference in their homes as they change.
Oh yah!! Do you remember how I talked about Kathe and George (two
old people in the ward).. and how they had a friend named Elizabeth--
(80 yr). Kathe met her at the library and Elizabeth gave her a book
she wrote of poems. Kathe found a poem about searching for God and
told George "SHE IS LOOKING FOR THE GOSPEL!! WE HAVE TO FIND HER!" So
they hunted her down and invited her over for dinner. Kathe told her
all about the church and invited her to come back for a second time to
meet the missionaries. :) So!! we went over this week and taught the
POS. It went so great! ELizabeth loved it and she was so grateful for
the plan. She asked if she could keep the paper we wrote the plan on..
so she could look at it and have more hope in her life. We will
hopefully meet her again this week.

You are probably all tired of reading.. but there is a little bit more :)

Syster Sprague and I got to go to Zone Leader Råd in stockholm.. and
then go to the temple!!! It was a neat experience. At the temple we
saw an old man go through the temple for the first time. Before we
left we saw him sitting in the cafeteria and we just couldnt leave
without asking him how he had found the church. I loved sitting down
and listen to him share his story. He teared up as he explained how
the missionaries showed up two days after he had prayed. He looked to
be about 70ish. It is never too late i guess ;)

Ok you have heard enough!

LOVE SYSTER SCHNEIBER

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June 25: Midsommars!

Dear family!

 Sometimes it is so hard to start writing because I just want to keep reading all of your emails!  Man I really do have the greatest family! Sooo! the miracles this week have been amazing! Wow life is just fantabulous! 

         On Monday we were heading home on the train and we didnt have a really well scheduled evening. It is never fun to go back to your work Monday after Pday when you don't have anything set up. BUT! The Lord was leading us. We had planned to go by a few people.. and we went by one of them and she wasn't home.. so we were on our way to the second when we thought to stop by one of our investigators who hasn't really been progressing.. and is usually never home... Leila. She was home and let us come in. Turns out she had been really depressed the whole weekend and hadn't gone to school because she was getting a divorce with her husband. So we had the chance to teach her the plan of salvation. The lesson went really well and at the end we invited her to pray. She was uncomfortable and like usual said .. no you guys do it. But Syster Sprague encouraged her.. and it was wonderful. She said a really sincere prayer and it brought a beautiful spirit. :)  We left and I thought.. wow this day was awesome.. that was a great miracle.

           So we headed to the last person on our list. Melina: She is a less active who stopped going to church when she was 14. She is living with her boy friend right now and she smokes.  Her brother (viktor) just went on his mission. So Melina has some friends who are still active.. one of them named Felix. Well! Felix a while back was talking with Melina and Melina voiced how she really wanted to quit smoking. Felix got real serious and told her.. if you want to quit read the Book of Mormon. So she uploaded it on her iphone and has been trying to read it. So we went by on Monday to give her the non smoking program that we use for our investigators. We knocked on the door and no one was home. So we turned around and there she came walking up the stairs.  YAY! She had just come home from work. Well! We came in and ended up eating dinner with her. She was super excited about the program and even texted her boy friend to get all the things she would need to start. We ended up asking her why she stopped going to church and then invited her to meet with us to see if the gospel could give her more happiness.  She said yes!!! wahoo!  I wish you could have all been there with us. Melina really was happy. You could see her almost glowing as we testified of the purpose of the gospel. So we decided to meet Wednesday and she called up Felix and asked him to come along too.  She called him right there in front of us. We could hear Felix's response when Melina asked him to come meet with the missionaries.. "VA? ja visst vill jag komma!" (what! of course i will come!)  :)  It was awesome.

       Cycling home in the rain.. I couldn't help but smile. If we hadn't gone by Leila's and taught her for 45 mins.. we would have gone to Melina's too early and she wouldn't have been home.

   I feel like Heavenly Father works a lot through timing. I don't always feel a powerful prompting.. "Hey go to Leila's! so that you can go to Melina's"  often times we are just going about the day and doing what we think we should do.. and Heavenly Father leads the way. 

     The same thing happened the next day. We were planning on going by a few other less actives and as we got into town we ended up deciding to walk around the town instead of riding our bikes. Then we started walking the wrong way and thought.. might as well keep going we can visit Alex on the way too. So we decided to visit our list of people backwards.  As we walked under a bridge towards the first house we were going to visit... low and behold! here comes Linnea.. One of the less actives who we were originally planning on visiting first.  Good thing we decided to go backwards or else she wouldn't have been home. We had a great chat with her and she invited us home later on in the week.  :)  YAy! 

    Next day.. same thing! :) We were going to meet Melina in the evening and Felix ended up texting us saying that he would come up to Alingsås at 1230 for a doctors apt. and after that he could help us with missionary work. It was a good thing he came in because Melina had texted us the night before and said she wasn't sure if she really wanted to meet and go back to church. So Felix came in and after his doctor's apt went and talked to Melina at work. She decided to still meet :)  We met up with Felix in town and had a late lunch.  This was also perfect timing from Heavenly Fathers part.  Turns out Felix's dr apt was for his mission... and the results came back not so good. He had a really low blood count and his Hbg levels were super low. The dr was super surprised when the results came back and did it again.. his results said that he was super low on blood and it was acute. Felix had a colostomy two years ago.. and he had it for about a year. But i guess he had been loosing a lot of blood the past little while. So Felix was super bummed about the test results.. he really just wants to go on a mission. He has already had to wait a long time. It was perfect that he got to be with us the rest of the day. MIRACLES happened everywhere we went. It was exactly what Felix needed to see.  The Lord was guiding us throughout the day to make sure that we would see and talk to the people we needed to talk to. It was a bigger testimony to Felix that the Lord is also leading his life and that it would all be ok.  Melina's teach that night was wonderful as well and we all walked away feeling the spirit. 

      ok ok! last miracle!!! Manal! if you remember our amazing investigator from Lebanon. Turns out .. she probably wont be coming back to Sweden. But! we got permission to call the branch president in Lebanon.  We tried finally got through to him Thursday night. He is from America but most of the branch is Lebanese and its about 40 strong members. and!! Turns out Lebanon just got permission from the 12 to have missionaries! they have 4 french speaking missionaries coming in and a Canadian couple. wahoO!! so we are hoping that they will be able to take care of our dear Manal. 

    o ya.. we also have a wonderful little old funny man named Lennart who might get baptized this Saturday.. they announced it on Sunday.. and he got really freaked out and said he didn't want to get baptized.. sooo! we shall see how it goes :) The ward was really great in helping him know that he can take his time.. half the ward saw him shaking his head after they announced it from the pulpit. whoopps.. moral of the story.. don't announce baptisms over the mic ? ;)

   You are probably all tired out of hearing about miracles.. sooO! Just know that this week was amazing. and that I am doing super fantastic! :)  I love syster sprague still and we are learning and growing lots. We also had Midsommars this week.. which is as big as Christmas. We had an extra Pday and had an awesome time. I will try and send pictures.  

 LOVE SYSTER SCHNEIBER