Letter dated 27Mar2023

Dear yall, *Inhale* *Exhale* Its been a long time since I've been home. I am going into my last transfer of my mission. Elder Ray is heading over to Woodstock and I will be getting Elder Miner tomorrow. It's weird to say I'm almost done and I don't want to say good bye. I have loved my mission. Here's my week. Tuesday I went on exchanges with Elder Hager who is my zone leader. Since I'm his district leader both of us were in charge of one another so it was like being your boss's boss! As we went around his area (Fort Yargo) we just were able to teach and testify to people but unfortunately we were stuck in two houses for the majority of the day. In one we basically just had a bashing session with this one lady who's pentecostal as her anti-mormon care taker. She went on this strange diatribe about the 12 tribes of Israel and trying to explain it accurately her and her not understanding/getting angry or just kind of confused about the whole situation was how it started of but we explained it clearly and she was able to accept that the 12 tribes were scattered just like the Bible says! Afterward we had this very long conversation with an inactive brothere in the Fort yargo area. He will not be named. He got baptized I want to say about 20 years ago but the only reason he got baptized was because his wife was healed by the missionaries and he couldn't deny it so he just got baptized without believing anything about the church. He was a very funny and a very charismatic guy but once he started talking politics and said a few somewhat racist comments we decided we'd better get going so we continued on with our day. After waiting around for a while for people to come to English class we eventually just decided we would post something on Facebook! As a mission we've been trying to implement Facebook a little bit more and the zone leaders have been making Facebook posts. I am a district leader but starting tomorrow I'm going to be doing some Facebook work. It was fun though to be able to work on it with Elder Hager. we made a kind of silly advertisement for service where we were selling a free sudan which was actually just a bunch of missionaries on Facebook marketplace but in any case it is ended up going well and it was pretty fun. We also contacted this guy who spoke Spanish and was a really good opportunity for me to finally speak my assigned language! I have another Spanish story later as well. Wednesday After exchanging back we just kind of went on some more visits for the day and then we got this awesome call from this amazing brother in the Ward named Brother Parrot. Brother Parrot is an older gentleman who converted to the church a long time ago and it was awesome to be able to have a really good conversation with him. He wanted to take us around all of our visits on Thursday so we happily agreed and it was just an awesome miracle that we were able to see that day. I began coughing that day but I didn't really think very much of it so we just kind of went along with our day. That night we played some ultimate Frisbee and some kickball and it was a lot of fun. I don't usually play sports but it was a lot of fun just to have a fun time with the youth and just kind of take it a little bit easy. Thursday We were expecting to teach 3 of our friends with Brother Parrot but instead we taught none of our friends with him. That was OK though because we still were able to go on some visits and he definitely gave us some Cracker Barrel which was amazing! After visits with him he ended up getting us back to our house so that we could move on to a service project which actually fell through :(. Afterward we went to our friend Roy's house and roy is awesome. He was very eager to receive us and have a gospel discussion with us. We read a chapter from the Book of Mormon and I'm really hoping that he can be able to progress some more. We are going to be doing some service with him soon so hopefully we can introduce him to some of the members of the ward. The member family that was planning on feeding us that night had to cancel dinner but then they offered for us to come to their son's baseball game and they would give us concession food! It was a fun experience and I must say I don't usually watch baseball but this time it was a lot of fun and it was also good because there were a lot of members there that we are able to talk to. Sadly no one who was not a member was interested in talking to us so nothing much has changed :D Friday Then on Friday I woke up and I started coughing blood.That has never happened to me before and I was a little bit worried so I got in contact with our mission medical coordinator and I ended up going to the clinic later that day. But what that meant was before I went to the there I still had to go to district council and lead it. I was a little apprehensive at first but decided I would just go ahead and continue with it anyway. Even though I was ill and not feeling great and my throat was hurting immensely it went really well. We talked about enduring to the end and the importance of getting past our difficulties and it was especially poignant because I was getting past my own difficulties and my own endurance of the end and so I think the point was made quite well. I did go to the clinic that day and I tested negative for the flu, covid, and strep throat fortunately! Due to some specific symptoms I had though they did test me for tuberculosis and they gave me a lot of medication to be on for the time being. I think I will be OK and I received a blessing. Tuberculosis is very hard to get in the United States but I could still use the prayers and some more some support. I don't want to go home early. Saturday That day we visited a person who had been taught in the Commerce ward which is where I started my mission but had moved down to Braselton! I never did meet her but it was still fun to be able to connect with her and a few of the missionaries that she did know who I was companions with. Her name is Wendy Weiss if anyone is wanting to pray for her she could just use some more support in her life. After that we went to do service and although I wasn't feeling very good I could still move a couple of limbs and branches. All around it went pretty well and I stopped coughing up blood that day. Earlier in the week when I was on exchanges with elder Hager, Elder Ray was on exchanges with Elder Esplin and they actually ran into this one lady who was interested, but Elder Ray doesn't speak Spanish and she only speaks a little English. Elder Ray didn't want to go to the lesson because he didn't want to just sit there for the entire lesson so he decided he would ask if we could go on exchanges with the other Elders in our apartment one of whom really wants to learn Spanish. I was able to go with him and go over the lesson but we also street contacted several people who also spoke Spanish crazily enough and it was awesome! It felt like I was a trainer leading my greenie threw his 1st couple of Spanish contacts at his 1st Spanish lesson and it was a lot of fun. I don't get to speak Spanish very often and I'm not very good at it but The Spirit that we felt was so powerful and it stuck itself deep within my heart. I love that I can express myself to those who really need it and in a way I haven't been able to before. All in all she was interested, her brother is a member, and I am very hopeful that she'll be able to progress! Sunday We had a less active member who we've been working with for a while actually come to church! She doesn't know a lot about it and has some very interesting beliefs but we were really excited to see her at church! She wants to come more often and we're actually planning on having her come to our Book of Mormon study this Wednesday so that's really exciting. There was a lady in the ward who had signed up to feed us dinner but we did not have her phone number and she was not home on that day that she was supposed to feed us so we checked up on her. She is doing well and was out of town and forgot about dinner but it was a funny little goose chase of us trying to make sure that she was doing okay Last night before we got our transfer calls we had another call with our friend Paul. I've loved being able to teach him and to help him come closer back to the Savior and to where he was before. His faith and his willingness to come back as a prodigal son of sorts has been absolutely amazing and I've been absolutely wowed by his testimony, his belief, and his willingness to change and to come back. I'm so glad I've been able to meet with him, he's a wonderful brother. All in all I'm doing well, I'm excited for this new transfer and everything that comes along with it and I'm just looking forward to being happy and finishing strong! I've loved my mission and I love God so much. May He be with you! Sincerely, Elder Nicholas Nephi William Schindler