Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Dec. 10: A Last Letter of Joy

Dear Family,

Wow. Here goes my last missionary letter! These weeks just keep going by so fast. This week we had some wonderful things happen. I don't even know where to begin.. PS. I'm writing to you in the middle of a snow storm!

Lets start with Sunday. I love church! We were sitting in our meeting with our mission leader (Samuel Caballero... Awesome mission leader!) and I looked out the window and there was Ondrej and his wife Slatta walking into the parking lot. They walked to church!! It took them about an hour. What dedication! He came up to me with a big smile on his face and motioned with his fingers that he walked to church.. and then said "Måste komma till kyrkan!" (Need to come to church!) He speaks very very very little Swedish. Ondrej's daughter has a hard time coming to church every week. She has four kids and not a lot of money and a lot of things going on. So we usually try and go over on Saturdays and get them excited to come to church. But this Saturday we went to the Copenhagen temple! And when we came back we didn't have any time to go visit them. We just figured that they probably wouldn't come to church. So when Ondrej showed up on his own!! He sat through the whole first meeting with no one to translate for him.. But he knew how important it was to come to church!! I felt like a mother.. so proud of him! We also got a Gospel Principles book for him in Slovak and after he explained how he came to church he pulled out the book and showed me three chapters he had already read. He was so proud of himself! :) That was probably the greatest gift.

But this was not the only gift I received this week. When Syster Werjefelt was sick a month ago I found an old investigator named Björn. I called him up and asked him if we could meet. He said yes and invited us over for Lunch. Since then we have taught him four other times. Two being this week. Björn was a huge blessing! I wish you could all meet him and hope you do get to meet him someday. As we taught him this week... I was reminded why I love being a missionary soo much. There is nothing better then teaching someone who is receptive to our message. He has meet lots of missionaries over many years.. but never really taken the discussions from one set of missionaries. So we are teaching him all over. On Saturday we taught him at a members house who he is friends with. It was AMAZING. We got down to the main problem and he also told us that he knew the Book of Mormon is true. Now he is at a cross roads and needs to make a decision. It is amazing to see how quickly you can develop love for someone when you share the message of the gospel. I hope Björn can receive faith, courage, and take a step into the unknown and follow Christ. For the unknown will be greater than any life he could create on his own.

I too feel a little nervous. Ending the mission is like a roller coaster. Lots of different emotions throughout one day. But this unknown will be filled with light and joy if I choose to follow my Savior. (I plan on following him too :)

I also got to go to the temple in Denmark on Saturday with three amazing women from our branch. Marie Jacobsson, Ellie Rhodes, and Claudia Correa! I love these women so much! I feel as though they have been my mothers, sisters, and friends these past four months here in Kristianstad. It was a wonderful experience to go to the temple with them. I loved every moment and I was reminded of the BIGGER PICTURE of life. I am so grateful for the plan of salvation and the temple.

There is much more I could share.. but I'm running out of energy to write these long letters to you all! I think Heavenly Father helped me write all these letters these past 18 months.

Well! See you soon!!!

I love you all, and I love being a missionary!

Syster Schneiber II

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