Pictures dated 26 April 2023

Letter dated 24 April 2023

Dear yall, It was a good week. I really have been torn up about coming home because of how much I have loved my service but I'm excited for my next adventure too. 16 more days to go! Tuesday We had interviews with my mission president which were amazing! We talked about going home and he emphasized to finish off stronger than I started and it was just really awesome encouragement and I was glad that I was able to have it! Later that day one of our friends wasn't home so we prayed to figure out what to do. I received an impression to call an inactive member who isn't interested in coming to church which was strange. As we were calling him, since his phone kept ringing for a couple minutes, our friend actually pulled into his home as we were calling! We ended up teaching him and it was a cool answer to prayer. We then visited an inactive member who snuck up on us from the woods while we were kicking ant hills and we had a good visit. Suddenly, a glimmer in the dirt caught my eye and I saw a Ford logo on a small plastic handle in the ground. I picked it up and it was key to a truck and I gave it to him. His eyes widened and said that he had been looking for the key for a long time and that a replacement would have costed 400 dollars. This day was pretty cool since we were specifically praying for inspiration that day and we saw a ton of it! We also taught sawyer again which was hype! She is so elect and has loved being baptized/ taking the sacrament. Wednesday One of our members took us around to all our visits that day and his name is Brother Parrott. Parots are now officially the best animal at sharing the gospel. We had a ton of great lessons and Brother Parrott testified boldly of prayer and the restoration of God's church and it was powerful. That night we taught a part member family and will start teaching their grandpa now! He is a singer and it was fun to connect with him. Thursday I went on exchanges with Elder Esplin who is coming home with me. We have been good friends and it was fun to work with him one last time. Everyone canceled that day but a member showed us his cute cats so that was good and a member family fed us for 2 HOURS!!! It was waaaayyy too long but we connected really well and they were almost family (their last name was Wilson, no relation but it was fun. They even had a daughter named Anne Wilson so it was funny to draw similarities. Friday At district council we talked about praying for the spirit and it was incredibly powerful. I love praying sooo much! It is a wonderful opportunity to connect with my father. We also had a lesson with our friend Paul and he is so sweet! God is working a marvelous work and wonder in his life and it has been tremendous. Saturday Everyone canceled. 🥲 We went to a Chinese buffet with our apartment mates to make up for it though! Sunday Music/ talley/ mykhailo We performed a musical number *surprise* and it was Elder Miner's debut performance! We did a duet of i heard him come and it was great! We then taught a new member lesson and waited for our Russian mukhailo again and *drumroll*. He didn't come again! So we just shared a message with the family he has befriended. All in all it was a good week, see you soon! Sincerely, Elder Nicholas Nephi William Schindler

Pictures dated 17 April 2023

Letter dated 17 April 2023

Dear yall, Tuesday We had my last zone conference and it was incredible. We talked about the Spirit and how to help our friends that we start teaching and all around it was inspiring! I also got to bear my final testimony to my mission friends which was sweet and also incredibly sad. I don't want to say goodbye. Sadly I almost passed out afterwards because I didn't eat very much and was dehydrated at a service project so make sure to eat your 3 squares a day. We then met with this one family who only speaks Spanish and it was sweet! We are hoping they can make it back to church soon once they come home from Puerto Rico. Wednesday Everything fell through except for a long discussion we had with a member named Sister Lamberg about the miracles she has seen in her life recently. Her son was going through liver failure and jaundice but once we started coming over to visit with her a couple of weeks back and began praying for him as well as the rest of her family, he began to get better and receive the blessings he needed to survive and he got a new liver. We prayed together and it was so cool to see her recognize God in her life and she actually made it to church yesterday with her son! Thursday We went on exchanges with the Winder Elders who live in our apartment so it was an easy travel distance and it was super fun, I was with Elder Miller again. We have been doing more facebook in our proselytizing and we actually made a video together and you can view it on my timeline! We also had a ton of lessons! The ones that stood out were with our friend John who has been staying in Gainesville recently and he seems to be doing a lot better than before! We also taught the plan of salvation powerfully to a mother who has been going through marital problems and she was greatly touched by it. We were then called to give a blessing just like how The Bible says (James 5:14) and the sister hasn't needed her medication for the pain in her foot since. That night we re-taught Sawyer the restoration and she loved it. She is so excited to go to the temple when she is old enough. Please pray for her family that they can continue in the gospel! Friday We had district Council in the morning but we actually had a special guest speaker from North Carolina who got to visit since he is friends with the senior missionaries in the district. His name is Brother House and he shared some very good insight about the Holy Ghost and it was a great testimony about the Spirit and how to testify of truth. Afterward we had a great visit with our friend Sunny and we explained more of the Bible and set a foundation for her to understand who Jesus Christ is more clearly. She had the perception that God was not all loving by reading the Old Testament so we shared messages from the New Testament and The Book of Mormon and had a good discussion about the nature of God and she really appreciated it. She was not able to make it to church yesterday due to illness but seems to be doing well regardless. Saturday We helped our friend Amy move into her new home which was a blast! It did take a little longer than expected but she was thankful for our willingness to help her when she needed it. We then went on exchanges with my friend Elder Bennett and we saw a ton of miracles. One of them was that we visited this member family and asked if they had had any missionary opportunities and they said yes because one of the friends that we had met two weeks ago on general conference actually talked to them about us since he knew they were members so it was so cool to see all the seeds we are planting are paying off! Sunday At church we had a new friend that we had never met before just showed up out of the blue and we were able to refer her over to the sisters in the other ward since she lives outside of our area. The Lambergs also made it very special to see especially since they got greeted by so many people. After church we visited our friend Kevin who is following all the commandments and wants to continue to come to church! We will most likely put him on baptismal date next week. To finish off the day we waited another 2 hours for our Russian friend who didn't make it even after he confirmed. Hopefully someday he will stop standing us up more consistently. Anyways, it's been a crazy week. Hope everyone else is doing well and that you guys have a good week. God bless! Sincerely, Elder Nicholas Nephi William Schindler

Elder Nick's letter to Aunt Jeanne's temple prep class!

Dear temple prep class of Alaska, This is Elder Nicholas Nephi William Schindler again and I am very pleased to be able to write to you again this year. I will actually be going to the temple tomorrow which I'm very excited about and whenever each of you are planning to visit the house of the Lord, it is always a privilege and it's always something very wonderful to prepare for. I'm excited for each of your journeys as you make progress to enter His home. All throughout my mission we talk to others a lot about baptism, helping them come on to Jesus Christ, and bringing others to the faith, but there was something that my mission president mentioned to us a while ago that hit me to the center. Our purpose as missionaries is not only to baptize others, although that is a very nice part of what we do. Our main objective is to get families into the temple. We are here to allow others to experience those wonderful covenants that they will someday make and I'm so glad that each of you are preparing to go to the temple and to be worthy of that privilege. The temple is incredibly special, the Holy Spirit is the one who resides in each of our hearts and our bodies because of this are temples. To physically be inside a temple is a different experience. It is the house of the Lord, it is where He resides and it is where his holy ordinances are performed. There you will be given power and strength from your heavenly father to overcome and to persevere through all of your many trials and this is a wonderful time to prepare to enter. Always strive to make your home be a place that feels like the temple. I have ventured into many homes on my mission that were not conducive to the spirit and were difficult to focus in. On other occasions when I entered the home of those who were willing, pure in thought, pure in deed, and we're loving, there was something majestic and simply overwhelming about being in their presence. I encourage each of you to be able to support and to be able to love your families enough to be able to have that same exact feeling whenever you come back home, that no matter how stormy the world around you may be, you will be protected and find true refuge in your Savior. May God be with you And keep on this wonderful journey and this iron rod. You have got this! Sincerely, Elder Schindler

Pictures dated 10 April 2023

Letter dated 10 April 2023

Dear y'all, Gotta fast with this one, I was playing some intense games of volleyball and poetry with Neanderthals for toooo long! Tuesday We had MLC (Mission leadership council) and DLC (District leader Council) combined this transfer which was dubbed "THE SUMMIT"! It was a lot of fun seeing friends/old companion and feeling pumped to help my district members out and helping their friends get closer to baptism! We had our final lesson with Sawyer that night and she had her baptismal interview and she passed with flying colors and actually taught elder Peterson (the interviewer) each question with an object lesson. What a champ! Wednesday We burned a ton of wood for Sister Kennedy again but this time I cinged my face so now I have a cool battle scar! Afterward we had some awesome visits with Roy who is heading to Florida (sad) and Sunny who is so awesome! She sought out the missionaries and wants to come to church this next week and we are excited for her. Thursday We had to stop at pepboys and we did some more service afterward. I also officially have an undiagnosed illness so that's fun so if you start coughing blood you may have the rare illness of "Elder Schindleritis". Side affects may include coughing up blood and burning your face slightly. We also called John, he is not well but seems to be getting his feet under him. Please send him some prayers. Friday You could way it was a... "good friday".... For reals though district council was amazing, we talked about Easter and everything that came along with Christ's atonement as well as how to our studies more effectively, finding joy in the work, and really figuring out more in depth who the Holy Ghost is. Everyone canceled until our friend Paul and we had a beautiful phone call with him. He is doing soooo well! We discussed Easter as well as how he liked general conference and the talks we shared from were from Elder Renlund, President Nelson, and Elder Juan Uceda. He was touched and we were glad he could feel the Spirit and God's love. Saturday Drumroll please 🥁🥁🥁🥁 SAWYER GOT BAPTIZED!!!! Yayayay! It was such a wonderful service and Sawyer was jumping and dancing the whole time from excitement! She also thanks everyone for praying for her and wishing her well! We then had some good but short visit to finish off the day Sunday One more drumroll please 🥁🥁🥁🥁 SAWYER GOT THE GIFT OF THE HOLY GHOST!!!! yyyeeeeessss! Fortunately she was able to contain her joy during sacrament meeting and was jumping but was still so excited! I am so proud of her and am glad I got to see her to this point. We finished weekly planning and did a little bit of finding and that was the week! I also wanted to share that I loved Easter and this beautiful season that we have been given. I took what Elder Gary E. Stevenson shared to heart and I've really been focusing to make Easter really really special. I saw a lot of fruits from it and I must say this it is just as special as Christmas and I would even dare say even more! This is really the greatest holiday of all time, it's the day we get to celebrate the resurrection and atonement of Jesus Christ. How fitting to see a completed baptism on this day. God be with you, 30 more days till I am forced to say goodbye. I have loved my service and don't want to finish yet. However, life must go on. I'll push even harder these last few weeks! Love, Elder Nicholas Nephi William Schindler

Pictures dated 3 April 2023

Letter dated 3 April 2023

Dear yall, This week was great! I got Elder Miner and he is such a faithful servant of Christ and I am excited to perform some miracles with him in the coming weeks. Monday: Elder Ray and I went on visits to say goodbye. It was sad saying goodbye but Woodstock Georgia will be blessed by him! Tuesday: I got to see many past companions, friends, and previous district members that I missed. It was especially sweet to see Elder Lind come back into the mission after being gone! Elder Miner and I proceeded to do some visits and we met this family from Millington Michigan! It was great to connect with some fellow Michiganders and we connect well. Please pray for their daughter named Maddie, she needs the blessings. That night we had dinner with the Duces and Sister Duce gave me a stunning hair cut! It was a good gift to no longer be a shaggy missionary. She did it just in time for our visit with Sawyer that night who is GETTING BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY!!!! All in all, a successful day. Wednesday: After an hour and half long contact block we went out and no one was available except for a sister in the ward who needed her car washed! We were able to wash and take care of it and it was sweet being able to serve her. Thursday: We ended up having a good couple of hours doing yard work and cutting down some blackberry bushes that infested the yard of another member. Later we had lunch with them and they offered cinnamon pancakes with soy sauce and chili flakes. Most of you would think that is gross, and you would be right! They did it as a joke and I was the one who fell victim to it. We later visited a family (The Rohliks) who have been through a lot of struggles and offered prayers and a message. It was a sweet experience. Friday: We had lunch with our friend John and his mom which was awesome! He is struggling and looking for another place to move to but still wants to come to church and be baptized which was awesome to hear! We then did even more service (Our district is piloting a new initiative to do 5-10 hours of service per week which I have loved!), had a good meal with the Powells and our friend Paul, and visited our friend Vania. She has been thrown to the wayside recently and is just struggling terribly. The Spirit moved me and I proceeded to boldly testify to her and her kids about the healing and strengthening power of Jesus Christ and we gave her a blessing of comfort. It was incredibly powerful. We all cried and she will be okay, just needs time and the help to heal from the heaviness of the world. Please pray for her husband Mark that he might recover from his ailments and support his family as well as for her. Saturday: Conference was AWESOME! We watched it with Sawyer and then Rohliks who we visited on Thursday. We taught Sawyer her last couple of principles and I did a fun object lesson with tithing. I had a box of chocolates and asked her to pick her 10 favorites. She eagerly chose and I requested payment for giving them to her that I needed one of the chocolates back. She was reluctant but conceded and gave me the chocolate. Once she did, I gave her the entire box of chocolate and her eyes lit up. I like this lesson with tithing because it shows the need to give the material blessings we receive back to the Lord and then He repays us in more numerous ways than we can conceive. My favorite talk from Saturday's Sessions of conference was Elder Renlunds with Christ's ability to change us completely. For the Evening session we had no internet in the apartment so we went on a late night Arby's run so we could steal their internet and we actually met a member while we were there! Good stuff. Sunday: Then we watched conference with the Whitmires and their extended friends/family. Several of their cousins were recently baptized so we went over the new member lessons with them and we started teaching a friend who was there named Kevin. He is a sweet guy and we are excited to begin meeting with him! In between sessions we met with Sister Lambergs son who is being miraculously provided for with a doner, good insurance, and recovery! It is wonderful to see the Lord working his powerful miracles in Georgia. For the last session we watched it with the Padrick family and had a good visit with them. My favorite talk from this day was President Nelson's about being a peacemaker. It was exactly what I needed to hear. God be with you all! I only have 5 amazing weeks left and am excited to serve joyfully! Sincerely, Elder Nicholas Nephi William Schindler