Letter dated 13Mar2023

Dear y'all, It was wack. Mainly because it was good but also because of crazy things always happening. Here we go! Monday Joel Birthday One of the young men in the ward named Joel had his birthday party that day and he invited us! It was super fun, we got to give him a lego set, and he really enjoyed it. It was also fun because his grandparents were on a zoom call with us and one of his grandfathers is a mission president in Peru so that was really cool! They are also related to this one family in the Chestatee ward that I served in and it was super fun to see them again on the zoom call! Tuesday We went to the temple for the last time on my mission and it was wonderful! One of my favorite things is that there is always a focus in the temple and in the church about the atonement of Jesus Christ and it is so wonderful too re express that and to understand it in greater context, especially as we focus on our covenants that we've made with God. I love Christ's atonement and I love this message! We also had a great message that night with Sawyer and we talked about the story of the tree of life from 1 Nephi! She really enjoyed it and we had a fun object lesson where you take a Book of Mormon, representing the iron rod since the iron rod is the word of God, and you smash a can over your hand while you're holding onto it. The smashing of the can represents mists of darkness and other things that come at us in our lives but when you hold on to the iron rod it actually protects you and keeps you from harm. Do not try this at home especially if you are younger, ask your parents for permission and parents don't give permission to your children! Wednesday We had a special devotional with Elder Mckay of the seventy that morning and he's also the church historian! He talked to us a lot about baptism and the covenant that we have therein and it was just very powerful to learn and to grow from someone who is so knowledgeable and so willing to testify of the savior. After the devotional elder Ray and I had interviews along with the rest of our district! It was wonderful to meet with President Harris and to talk some things over on what the district needed but I think above all it was just really good to be able to ask him for help and be edified by him. Towards the end of our evening after everyone else canceled (by the way everyone canceled this week ;-) ), we did an activity with the young men and they made paper airplanes! I made a very bad paper airplane though so that was fun.After contemplating my despair upon losing the paper airplane competition, I remembered that McDonald's has a wonderful thing that they offer in the month of March surrounding Saint Patrick's day called the shamrock shake! We had gone previously to a McDonald's to check out if they had it or not and they did not so we went back to check and nothing yet again… little did I know this issue would persist throughout the eons of eternity. We then went to two more McDonald's in the area and once again absolutely nothing. I had to purchase a shamrock shake all three times and all three times the cashier told me that they were out of stock and so I had to get my refund and it was a very depressing moment where the sun seemed a little bit darker than it truly was. (It wasn't actually that depressing lol) Thursday Then we went on exchanges with my man Elder Miller and they went very well! We visited a lot of people and just made our rounds around the area and it was so fun to shown him around. At 1 point we were tracking sneaker head in we're about to leave but then I felt a prompting that we needed not one last house and looked at this greyhound a couple of blocks down. I decided to knock it and there was no answer. After a minute or 2 of going to the next house the door opened and a man from inside told us to come in I did not recognize him but we came in. Then he put on a mask and I recognized him because he was actually a member that we had didn't have the record of! We shared a really fun message with him and it was awesome to be able to see that he needed that message at that time and that the Lord guided us there. I had never been to his house but it was good to figure out where he was! It's funny how the Lord works sometimes. After that we were in the pits of despair (figuratively) and we looked to our left and there stood the first McDonald's that had not had shamrock shakes for a total of two weeks at this point. I expressed to Elder Miller the great sadness that had befallen me about this shamrock shake predicament, then he looked to me and said, "Elder, I think it might be back. Let's give it one last shot." I said OK. Elder Miller has red hair and I don't think he's Irish but I'm just going to say that he is because with his luck and with the power of Ireland behind me they somehow were no longer out of stock and he got me a shamrock shake *applause in the background*. After those shenanigans we then made it to a lesson with Mykhailo the Ukrainian guy! We have a member in the ward who speaks very good Russian and so we were able to have them connect and had a lesson with Mykhailo. Unfortunately I do not have the gift of tongues to such a degree that I can understand Russian but Mykhailo was very intrigued and very interested in what little English we could give him about the Book of Mormon and we are going to be meeting again with him this week! Unfortunately he was very late to his lesson which should have started around 8 o'clock and he made it there by 8:45 and so we were in his lesson till about 9:40 but it's OK cause being a missionary is good and sleep is great but it isn't always needed. Friday We had a fun district council and part of that was I was given to the idea of a training about difficult questions and teaching situations.What it became was a training about how to defuse bashers as well as people with legitimate and serious concerns and I think it went really well. Everyone was very edified and I did it in such a way where we could trouble shoot and talk to one another about it and I think it was a success! We also talked about weekly planning, the importance of baptism, and all around I think it was really fun. I related baptism to feeling warmth after a very cold day and I was very much reminded of Tetonia Idaho since it's a very different climate over here in Northern Georgia. Unfortunately immediately after district council I was given a call about my flight plans. It was hard to realize that I'm going be going home soon but I'm excited to see you guys. I just need to keep from getting trunky! That night we had a really good conversation with our friend Paul. It was filled with the spirit and we were glad to be able to meet with him via phone call since he lives about an hour and a 1/2 away. He has such a powerful testimony and is such a loving person. I really hope that he continues to progress towards being baptized, it was amazing. Saturday We went on visits with our ward mission leader Brother Elison which was super fun! Unfortunately no one was actually home and no one was available so instead of teaching one lesson with him we tried to teach about 5 lessons that all fell through but it's OK, it happens sometimes.😁 We then had enough time to head over to La Vaquita which is a flea market and it has a bunch of different random crazy things. I had been there when I served in the Commerce ward and we didn't know that it was in the Brasleton area, but now that I'm a Brasleton Elder I can go legally now! Before that I also went to Burger King to grab a shake and there was a friend from Commerce that I had taught previously! I got her reconnected with the missionaries and she wants to return and to read more the book of mormon. She has read up to Ether! That night we were expecting a friend to be at the adult session for Stake conference and unfortunately he did not come, but Elder Craig from the area seventy gave a wonderful talk about being spiritually healed by the savior. He also talked about how Jesus Christ can consecrate and make us more whole than we currently are and it was just something that I really needed. I have been struggling with faith, not that I have been without it, I just need more of it to do the work and seek and expect miracles. It was exactly what I needed! I also got to see members from the Commerce ward which is where I began my mission. It was fun to catch up on old times. Sunday At stake conference we had a lot of very good talks, one of which was President Harris's final goodbye for any Stake Conference. It was sad to see after having him at every Stak Conference I've been too so far but it happens and hes going to do great just like how I'm gonna do great hopefully. Elder Craig also spoke and it was good to see him again! All throughout the week our friend John had not gotten back to us but on Sunday he finally reached back! Turns out he was just on a short vacation and forgot to bring his phone so it was just kind of fun to reunite with him. He read the Book of Mormon all during his vacation and it was just awesome to hear from him and to talk to him. We talked to him outside in this little grove of trees and he dubbed it the "sacred magic mormon Grove" which was kinda funny to hear. We'll teach him that we're members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints but for right now "sacred magic mormon Grove" will do. Last night I had Sunday night calls with the district and everyone seems to be doing well! It has been hard getting our friends to progress this past month but I think we have made a lot of progress from where we were to begin with. If you guys could just pray for the Fort Yargo district I think we could all use it just in helping people come closer to Jesus Christ. Anyways, I've got to get going. I've been writing this letter for far too long and I hope everyone is doing well! I'll write next week and God be with you. I really do love and miss you all. Sincerely, Elder Nicholas Nephi William Schindler