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