Letter dated 24Dec2012

[Dear friends and family, as always, we were thrilled to receive this letter from Weston this morning! We hope that you are all happy and well and enjoying this beautiful Christmas season! If any of you have any messages for Weston, we will be talking to him TOMORROW(!!) and we could pass any message that you may have along to our missionary son. Have a blessed Christmas during His day! Love, Weston's editor - BWS] Dearest Family, Happy Christmas! I´m so happy that the family is all safe and together right now. I don´t have to imagine how the house is, because I know it´s warm and welcoming and Christmas is definitely in the air. I was glad to see that I had many notes to read and that you didn't wait to talk to me tomorrow! Each message was super great and I´m excited to talk about a bunch of things tomorrow. I really do hope that it will be the highlight of the day for all of us. I guarantee nothing but I promise that it will be the best Christmas gift I´ll be receiving! As soon as the post office gets back to work after all of this holiday season and gives me the package, I´ll let you know. Thanks for getting that all together. I am, without a doubt, going to freak out when I get it and just be incredibly excited for the rest of the day! I can´t wait! Just to give you a heads up, we are going to be eating at the same member´s house whom we ate with on Thanksgiving and they have several computers and we have plans to sign onto our Skypes at 4:00pm here in Spain, so that´ll be around 10:00am for you all. We might get one a bit earlier, depending, so if you start waiting at 3:30, that would be splendid! Now, just thinking, would it be possible to have the computer set up in the piano room and get a tour of how everything looks? I hope the connection will be fine, but I would love that! Also, I want to see some presents get opened! That would be fantastic! But hey, I think that it´s time for some legit Christmas miracles that I've seen during this past week. One day I went to open a new bag of bread and I was happy to see two heels at the front end of the loaf! A true Christmas miracle! Okay, here´s another one. We have been having a problem with a family that we teach because they have to work on Sunday mornings now but we've been trying to arrange different things to get the daughter to come to church, but all of our attempts were unsuccessful... but this week we visited the family of a recent convert, Meyling, and we somehow mentioned the name of the other family. It turned out that they knew them very well and I was just sitting there, unable to say much of anything for a few seconds because I was literally awed by the experience. We asked the family if they could walk to the other family's house on Sunday mornings and pick up the daughter and bring her to church and they said that it would not be a problem. That, my family, was a Christmas miracle if I ever saw one! Happy Christmas, Harry! Hope you enjoy the Grinch tonight! I love you all! Élder Xander Weston Schindler P.S. We have to go back, Kate... to the north pole!

Letter dated 18Dec2012

[Dear family and friends, I hope this letter finds you healthy and well. I like Weston's word: "Fantastically!" I hope you are all doing fantastically well! May you have a safe and wonderful, Merry Christmas! Love, Weston's editor - BWS] Dear Family, How about that? Would you believe me if I told you all that it´s almost Christmas?! Seriously, it´s literally one week from today in case you didn't know! I´m doing fantastically right now. It sounds so great that everyone (but me) will be home for the holidays. I hope that Daniel is having a great time in San Diego and stays safe while he´s down there. [Daniel is with the BYU Marching Band in San Diego. They will be marching in the Poinsettia Bowl!] Maybe you´ll be able to brush up a little on your Spanish while you´re there. Maybe not, you´ll just have to let me know how it is next week! We´ve been having a great Holiday season here in Terrassasourus-Rex. Last Friday we had a ward Christmas dinner and tons of people showed up. It was different than any church dinner I've seen and we had rows of rows of people at tables and we all got served bread, soup, and turkey during the course of the dinner. Unfortunately, the dinner started a bit later than it was supposed to and as soon as Elder Wiggins and I got our last plate we had to eat fast and leave to get home on time. Lots of people asked us why we had to leave and we had to explain that we have a curfew, which even some strong members seemed a bit surprised. It was possible that it was because we were at a ward activity but had we stayed the whole time, we would have been back home past midnight! But rest assured, we got home on time! We also sang after church in the Christmas Choir practice but it seriously took the longest time in the world. I was having a good time, but my companion didn´t enjoy himself one bit. I thanked him for giving it a try but I don´t think we´ll be going back anytime soon during this transfer. I thought it was funny though! Mom, is the Catalan song, by chance, called Fum Fum Fum? The ward sang that song at the dinner and it was super fun and cute! Let me know which on it is and I´ll ask some of the families if they can sing it for me. That´d be tight! It´s no big deal that no package has been sent yet, I´ll just be happy to get one! So if I could choose things that I´d like to get, here´s a short list of ideas for what I´d enjoy: Black socks, Cheez-Its, Reeses, Starbursts, Kool-Aid, Advil (maybe), a sick tie, money for new shoes or a functionable camera, or anything else that would be awesome for me to get (notably any gift that has to do with The Hobbit or with Batman)! I´ll know more about the Skype call next week and I´ll let you know on Monday what time you should be waiting for me to sign on for Christmas. [We are able to Skype with Weston on Christmas day!] I think the most likely will be that I´ll get on around 4:00 pm and I hope you´ll all be awake by then in Michigan time. I´ll let you know for sure next week! I e-mailed late this week because they moved transfers a week early but luckily I´ll be with my companion for another 7 weeks. Can´t wait to hear and see you all next week! Hope you get a Happy-White-Christmas! Best of wishes to Adam tomorrow as well! I love you all so much, Élder Xander Weston Schindler P.S. We have to go back, Kate...

Letter dated 10Dec2012

[Dear friends and family, I am a week behind in sending Weston's letters out. This is the letter dated December 10. There are some pictures that I will be including in Weston's blog. I will let you know when they have been posted! I hope you are all well and enjoying this beautiful Christmas season! Weston's editor - BWS] Dear Family, Hey everyone! Glad to hear from dad this week. I hope everyone else is doing well and staying safe and successful. I´m sure you all are. If not, sorry! I think it´s so exciting that Donald is leaving this week! [Our friend, Donald, is leaving on a mission for Scotland/Ireland!] He´ll be getting closer to me but we won´t be able to see each other. I hope that he´s all ready for what is to come in his mission. I was happy to get both Thanksgiving cards from his family and from you all! In other words, the address is good so you can send anything you want and it should get here in good time! We had a great zone conference this past Friday and we learned tons of great things. I do hope that as a missionary I am working with the members as best I can. I know that that is the best way to have success in whatever are you have, whether it be a small branch or a huge ward, it´s important. Have fun watching the Hobbit everyone! If you don´t watch it immediately I´ll be very disappointed in you... BUT I love you all at least a little more than the Hobbit! Élder Xander Weston Schindler P.S. We have to go back, Kate... [Weston's weekly movie reference!] P.P.S. Should I be blessed to get a package, I would enjoy surprises! Make your best judgments! ^_^ P.P.P.S. Here are some photos of Terrassa that I´m in! WHEW! The outside picture is with Nicole and the other two girls in the other photo are Carolina (left) and Yurimar (right). The other photo is my companion (left) and I (right). The Santa Hat one also has Juan Peroni, who just left for the Malaga Mission this past Wednesday! He was a lot of fun.

Letter dated 26Nov2012

Dear Family, Happy-Week-After-Thanksgiving! How are you all doing? I´m doing- FANTASTIC! We had a fantastic week and I believe that I´m going to be looking at several more weeks like this one in the future. In regards to Thanksgiving, I was blessed to be fed by a wonderful member from the USA who lives here with his family and they prepared an awesome meal for us on Thursday night! I have reason to believe it´s because you had the Elders over for dinner at home last week that we were blessed with this treat, so thank you! I forgot how good biscuits were and I actually ate a ton without stuffing myself. I usually always feel like I´m about to pass out when I eat Thanksgiving dinner, so I was good this time. Our baptism went swimmingly (literally) well and it was a great feeling for me to get back in the water personally ^_^! The service was fantastic and so many members showed up, it was fantastic. I´ll try to get photos from my companion and send them soon. We were disappointed to not see Nicol come to church for her confirmation yesterday, but we´ll be visiting them and going over just how important it is to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. She´s great and I´m sure the family had something come up that was just unexpected, but we´ll be working hard nevertheless to get her to church this week. We are also incredibly excited to have two more baptisms this Saturday! They are two great girls, Yurimar from Venezuela and Carolina from Ecuador, and they are telling everyone about their baptism. The are really just honestly and sincerely excited for baptism! That would have to be the greatest miracle I saw last week. We had visited the girls two times and both times we asked them about how they felt about baptism and about the church as a whole. They had been taught by Elders a few months ago but then felt that they needed more time to develop their testimonies. In our second lesson with them we asked them once again how they felt about baptism, showing them the video of Jesus being baptized by John the Baptist, and we shared some great scriptures about baptism. We gave them a few seconds to think about it and they both said, individually, ´´Me gustaría´´ (which translates to ´´I would like that´´). As soon as they both said that we both just got huge smiles on our faces (well, they were already there, but they got bigger, that´s for sure!) and we started planning for their baptism. We suggested having it on the 8th of December but they both said ´´Do we really have to wait that long?´´ It kind of caught me off guard, but I knew that they had been taught everything before, had been coming to church regularly, and knew that it would be a blessing in their lives to take this step, so the sooner the better, right! They´ll be baptized on the 1st of December and we´re going to be working with the Ward a whole lot to bring the service together, which should be a great one. I´m so happy to be here on my mission! I've been keeping up the promptness of getting up on time as well. [Missionaries wake up at 6:30 AM.] We had some interesting days because we hardly had time to get to our apartment so we went throughout some of the days with little to no food, then we had our fast for the mission, but overall, we survived and we´re still operating at full capacity! Elder Wiggins is a great guy and we´re really working hard together to get our companionship unity down. We´re open with our feelings and if one of us does something that bothers the other, we tell each other and work on fixing it. I easily see many more blessing here in Terrassasaurus while we´re together and I´m positive that we´ll both see plenty throughout the rest of our missions. He has so much great energy that drives a great personality which I appreciate so very much. I´m excited for the rest of our time together. I´m thankful to have such a wonderful family and I hope that you all love me equally! I´m thankful for all of our opportunities we have in our lives and the blessings that we can receive when we are faithful and obedient. Muchas gracias por su amor y consuelo en mi vida y por todo de mis experiencias! Os quiero mas que puedo decir! Es un montón, a decir lo menos! Élder Xander Weston Schindler P.S. Here´s my new address! Élder Alexander Weston Schindler c/ d´egara 164 Nº 1,1 08225 Terrassa España If you send me anything, I would appreciate a dradle very much ;). But I don´t really want to buy a new camera. If Joseph doesn´t use his camera anymore and if it still works, I´d be down to having that one. If not, then I´ll just borrow my companion´s cameras for the next year. A cheap substitute camera would be nice, but I´d rather get other things, you know what I mean? Also, I see myself staying in Terrassa for a while now, so unless it changes in the future, send stuff (letters and packages) here and tell people via Facebook as well. Thanks! P.P.S. We have to go back, Kate. [Weston's random quote from Lost!]

Letter dated 19Nov2012

Dear Family, What an interesting and eventful first week in Terrassa. I know for sure that it´ll be difficult to top it, but hey, I´ll just let you know how the week went! Sadly, we didn't have a baptism this past Saturday.. he´s been in the hospital since Friday and he only has permission to allow family to into visit him. That was an extremely disappointing day when we heard what happened. We´re trying to find out more of the story, but we´re waiting until we can get in touch with him. We do, however, have a baptism for this Saturday which looks like it will be so good. Her two sisters were baptized two weeks ago and the whole family is incredible. They are from Ecuador and have been living here for a few years. They´re fantastic! It was also great to come to another area again and get to meet tons of people. I´m getting so much better at remembering names when I meet the person for the first time. I used to be the worst in the world but I've been getting so used to learning it within the first few moments of saying hello. Church was also a great day. It´s been the biggest chapel I've been in since... well, it´s the biggest I've been in my entire mission! I can´t wait to get to know the ward even better during the upcoming months! But this next part happened during the week... We had been away the entire day on Thursday and when we arrived at our apartment that night I realized something was missing... my camera. Just to point out, you can´t really misplace a camera of my magnitude. I went through ever emotion possible and every possibility of how it was stolen and I´m positive that our neighbors upstairs stole it. The reason for that is because we have a small patio in the back where all the apartments have back windows and people put their clothes to dry and wash and I´m positive that I could climb up into their apartment if I wanted to. Also, I discovered that they stole my tripod with the camera as well as my Pokedex but also... my milk. They came into our apartment and stole my milk! It was fun calling the police and the guy said ´´...hmmm, well, I can´t think of a solution for you..´´ because when we called we couldn't tell who could have done it for sure. I was thinking to myself ´´Well thanks a lot!´´ The thing that helped the most was the fact that I knew I was bringing the camera on my mission with possibilities that something could happen. I've had it for two years and now, I´m mostly sad that I won´t have the same chance to share the rest of my mission stories like I could have been able to. l have the majority of my photos saved so I´ll be sending those hopefully next week. I´m protecting our apartment like a beast right now as well so if anything else is missing, I´m going to make the police come down and search our neighbor's house. But oh well... I still have the photos so look forward to some Inca memories sometime in the future. Happy birthday Daniel! Sounds like you had a great weekend turning 18! I love you all! Did you know that? Élder Xander Weston Schindler

Letter dated 13Nov2012

Dear Family, Yes, it´s true. Today is Tuesday. I´m happy to be the bearer of news! So.. whether or not you put 1 and 1 together, I have been rescued from the island and am currently recuperating in my new area. Where is that you ask? None other than Terrassa (or Terrassasourus as I´ll be calling it from time to time (^_^) ) which is just a city located just north-west of Barcleona. I safely arrived back in Barcelona this morning and to say the least, it feels good to be back, yet it feels different. I haven´t had enough time here yet to say what it is, but it might just be the cold weather (that´s my bet) but now I have one more area that I´ve left behind and I´m truly going to miss ´lil Inca out in the islands. It was an experience and if I can say one thing that I accomplished it was that I got a far better grasp on this language! What a blessing! From what my new companion, Élder Wiggins, keeps telling me is that Terrassa is the best area in the mission! I´m coming in and for the first time I´ll be serving in a ward! It´s been half a day but Élder Wiggins and I will get along just fine during our time here (I´m praying that I´ll never ever say that I´m serving with a companion with whom I DON´T get along!). I recently passed my 10 month mark, coming closer and closer to the end of the slope but I already know that Terrassa is going to become one of my most memorable experiences of my life. Élder Wiggins, with 8 months in the mission, just sounds so excited when he talks about this city and with good reason! The members here, as he says, are fantastic! Not to mention they baptized two people in the area last Saturday and that we have two more fechas (dates for baptism) for the end of this week! Is it alright if I say that I´m stoked?! My last week in Inca was a good send off for me. I shared my testimony in church and had the chance to say good bye to all the good people of the branch. I also had the chance to say bye to Ricardo who should be getting baptized on the 24th and I pray all the best for him in these next couple of weeks. For my very last day in Inca we helped make cookies (about 88-90 of them! :P) for the birthday party of Cielo! I´d send pictures, yet alas, I forgot my pictures in my briefcase in the apartment. Oops, my bad. Also, I´m wanting to see more pictures of all of you, but in the meantime, I enjoyed the ones you shared of Central Park and of Zachary in the Philippines! My companion doesn´t have the address for letters at the moment, so you´ll just have to wait a week to get that. Letters to the mission office are still good, since I´m not incredibly far and it takes just one hour to get there from where we are stationed here in Terrassa. It´s nice! Ahh, I´m happy! Ya feel me! I love you more than words can say, but they´ll have to work for the moment.. :P Élder Xander Weston Schindler P.S. This is for Andrew. I heard you killed at the show this past weekend! I know you did (and I know that you know that you did) and I wish more than anything that I could see your plays! I´ll have to get a hold of recording I suppose in the future. You know, more than anything, this time is incredibly special for you to develop and become who you are meant to become. You rock. What kind of camera did mom get? Does it work for what you want to do? I can´t wait to hear from you! P.P.S. Daniel, I´ll keep my eye out for that missionary. That will be a great awkward moment to say ´´Hey, I know you. That´s right, you were at my Grandpas piano recital when you were waiting for your visa!´´ Haha! Tell me when you get your papers done too, bro! P.P.P.S. We have to go back, Kate. We have to go back to the island!

Letter dated 8Oct2012

[Dear friends and family, here is the letter that we received from Weston this morning. I hope you enjoy it. As you can tell, he loves hearing from you - and he enjoys your questions. Send your questions and message via "reply" and I will make sure he receives them. We are humbled to think that next year we will have two sons out on missions! Thank you for your love and support! Weston's editor - BWS] Dear Family, I know that you already know all about the announcement made in this past General Conference, but here is some of what came to my mind when I heard it. ´´WHOA!!!!´´ [At General Conference it was announced that Young Men could leave on their missions starting at age 18 (down from age 19) and the Young Women could leave at age 19 (down from age 21)!] That summed it all up right there. I was a little surprised (especially by the new age for women serving missions), very awed, and very excited to hear that news. Daniel, you were the first person who came into my mind when I heard that. I thought about how long that is going to be without seeing you but at the same time it is an exciting opportunity for you and I fully support your decision to leave whenever you find is the best time. You´re ready to take on Argentina, France, Australia, or wherever you're planning on going! Keep me updated on what your plans are so that I can keep my prayers focused on specific things that you are seeking. Also, try to stay around for Christmas, because it´d be nice to at least say good-bye for your mission via Skype! I´m also very happy for the timing of this announcement. For me, personally, I was able to develop myself before my mission and I could not and would not take back any of the friendships that I made during that time. [The year before Weston left on his mission.] My time spent with you and with my friends is sacred to me and also for things that are playing out in my life right now during my mission. Had I had this opportunity two years ago, I could be home now, but I´m glad I´m where I am right now. I can´t wait to be able to look back at what I´ve done and have a big smile on my face for the sacrifices I had to make day after day. The world is about to change because of this as well; that´s a fact. We went to Palma, Mallorca to watch conference in the main chapel and you would not believe, but the family I have been teaching came to the first session of conference! They had time that day and we went with them on the train and we were able to share feelings about what we heard and learned from the speakers. It was a great night for me (since I´m in the future, so the first session came on at 6:00pm)! The only session I have not seen yet is the Sunday Afternoon session, so I missed out on Elder Bednar's talk, but I´ll get a hold of it somehow. Of my favorite talks were President Uchtdorf´s and Elder Nelson´s talks for the morning session of Saturday, Elder Perkin´s and President Eyring´s talks for the Priesthood session, and Elder Holland´s talk about Jesus´ question to Peter, ´´Do you love me?´´. It was the first time that I took real, hard notes on the talks given and I enjoyed it so much. With some other opinions of the announcement for missionaries was that one of the senior missionaries thinks that within 2-5 years, the world-wide-mission program will be split to half men, half women with this new announcement. Everyone is excited to receive the younger missionaries in the coming months and I will without a doubt, be serving with one of these 18 year old Elders. Someone asked where Elder Batanero is from. In reply, he hails from the coastal city of Cádiz, Epsaña in the Andalucia province. He speaks, so, fast. He was in my first district and he can remember when I was so new that it was hard to understand what I was saying, but since then he has seen a dramatic change in my communication skills. He stated that for such a short time in Spain, 7 months or whatever, I have come a very long ways. He told me that my grammar is really good but that now I need to work on speaking faster and just speaking more (easy for him to say, since he has a knack for that himself!). We speak only in Spanish, only with some English to fill in gaps or to clarify certain things, but I´ve already gained a huge leap in my progress within the past 6 days. A little bit more about my mission, since I saw some more questions asked. We do tend to find more people ready to hear the gospel who are from other countries other than Spain. We do, however, have a dominating percent of Spaniards who are members here in Inca. Our Branch President, Second Counselor, Elder´s Quorum President and Counselor, all their families and several recent converts are all from Spain. Back in Manacor we started teaching a girl who is from Spain and now Elder Swenson and his companion have a baptismal date with her! I have finally been able to recharge my camera so now I´ll have lots more photos to be sending you. [Wonderful!] Hope they´ll turn out to be good ones! Oh, and please post them on Facebook and tag me in them. I decided that it would be a great sharing opportunity to have used more with my Facebook to keep some of my friends updated with what I´m doing now. Also so that people I´m meeting here will become my friends faster, but that is besides the point! I can´t wait to hear again from you and see if any new things develop in our family's future. Let´s also just remember that ´´..it´s not a race, it´s a journey, enjoy life!´´ Love, your son, your brother, Élder Xander Weston Schindler P.S. Remember by nice BASS shoes that I brought on my mission? Well, the right shoe is falling apart, which is super exciting! That means that I´ve been doing a lot of walking and I hope to run them into the ground before I´m finished serving here! [I love this goal!] P.P.S. That´s exciting news about the first debate. We only progress as a nation and people (or individually) when we get some good competition going!

Letter dated 2Oct2012

[Dear family and friends, here is the letter we received from Weston earlier today. He is back in Inca! As you can tell, he loves your letters and your notes. Reply to this letter with a response and I will forward it to Weston. Thank you EVERYONE for your support and prayers! Weston's editor - BWS] Dear Family, What a great last week! Not to mention what a great last transfer this has been. I can´t believe how fast the time is going by, but it definitely is moving and moving fast. Today I said good-bye to Elder Swenson once we both recieved our new companions and I feel like we are moving into the new chapter here on the island. Now that we have more Elders here in the island I´m excited to see what the new progress will be here in our areas; his in Manacor and mine back here in little Inca! My companion, Elder Batanero, is from Spain and he loves photography and many other thing that I enjoy as well. I´ll be getting to know him better and better during the next few weeks but I am especially excited to be learning all the Spanish during our time together! (Also, he is a magician, nicknamed The Magician´s Nephew by my ex-companion Elder Carlson. He´s rather quite tricky sometimes! I´ll basically be going up 100 notches higher, improving and critiquing my skills. He and I served in the Gerona district in our separate areas earlier in my mission, during my beginning months in the field. I feel like we´ll be able to have a new kind of experience here in the city different than what I´ve seen here before. He has been saying only positive things and is ready to help me work in the area, improve my speaking ability, and serve the Lord. I know that this will be a time to remember. I will also always remember the time I had with Elder Swenson. We really were able to connect and I honestly can say that he is one of the most humble people I have ever met. He brings a spirit with him that I would love to have everyone feel and his love for the people with kindness and understanding is incredible. He´s going to have a great time working in Manacor and both areas will become even better in the coming month, I know this for a fact. One miracle I was blessed to see happened after our district meeting last week. That night we had a visit with our friend Ema from Brazil and we were wrapping up the lesson but then finally I had to ask what was troubling her. She told us and basically said that for the past month she had no intention to be baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints because she was getting ready for her communion in the Catholic church.. that was hard news, because she made no mention of this previously and it caught us by surprise. At first we basically thought that we had thrown out all of our time spent with her and we took some precious moments to talk to her, address doubts, and make sure we knew exactly where she was coming from. It was sad when we left that lesson and for the rest of the day I felt heavy.. but then finally the next day we went to introduce ourselves and meet a boy whom we had contacted a week before. We arrived and sat down with him, Alex, and his girlfriend, Shela. As the lesson progressed, every heavy feeling I felt left me from the previous night. The simple lesson and the two new kids we were teaching reminded me how powerful our message is and why we´re here on the Earth. I then realized that even if some of these people don´t want to progress with us at this moment, we have already laid an incredible foundation and that they will never forget us in the future. By the end of the week, knowing that I would be leaving the area, we had a visit with Ema and I was able to say farewell and there were no negative feelings and we had a great chance to say farewell. I´m grateful for Jesus and His message and I know that everyone that we meet has an impact from us, one way or another, and that it´s important for us to not get carried down into the pits of woe, so to say. But yes, that was a lot I just wrote you; now stop reading and get on with it! Oh, and I should be sending some pictures in the upcoming week or two! YA! Os quiero, Élder Xander Weston Schindler P.S. I sent the application, and I´ll send it fast when I get it again. [Application for absentee ballot!] Just be sure to give the people the appropriate amount of stamps for the return send off! P.P.S. That´s really weird what happened on my Facebook... I know my leg´s broken but they didn´t let me go home.. They actually told me that I had to stay a few more years in Spain and wait for it to recover! (^_____^) [Weston is talking about a prank one of his friends pulled on Facebook. Weston's leg is NOT really broken!] P.P.P.S. I will be here in Inca for at least 6 more weeks, maybe more. My mailing address is still the same one, and I did get some really awesome letters from friends, so if you read this message, you know that I got it!

Letter dated 24Sept2012

[Dear friends and family, I hope that Fall is treating you well! Here is our latest letter from Weston. He loves hearing from you -- so send a reply and I will pass it along to him! It is so good to hear him sounding so positive! Best wishes! Weston's editor - BWS] Dear Family, Oh, what a good week. For the past while, we´ve been hitting some walls with people but I feel like we finally jumped over quite a few. We had an invitation from our Zone Leaders as a district for every compaionship to get over 20 lessons during the week. Now, I´m not a numbers guy, but Manacor/Inca are quite a bit harder than other areas. But we made a plan that we would meet that goal and guess what? We were able to teach 22 lessons this week! A huge improvement to what the area really ever sees. We also had the great chance to spend time with President Pace for a day, since he came out for our Branch Conference. It was a great pleasure to have a moment to work with our president. It was a fantastic opportunity for me to learn and gain better insight for the work we´re doing here on the island and I feel that I learned a tremendous amount from him. It was especially great while we were visiting a less active member of the Church, Jorge. I was able to see, personally, a great change from him during our visit with our president. He really does want to improve and get back onto the right path and his entire family is special beyond description. We´ll be continuing to visit him and I know for a fact that he wants to see President Pace again as soon as he can. A little bit about Jorge, he has been all around the world, is from Colombia, has been to Japan, all of Europe, Canada, and is learning about 5 different languages, including English from us. He´s fantastic! Most Colombians I know are great people, including a family in Inca that we visit every week. They are just full of love and are just so caring. Let Adam Jensen know that, please! The biggest miracle that we were able to experience happened directly after our time with President Pace. We were walking down the street on the narrow sidewalks and we saw a family coming towards us in the opposite direction. Elder Swenson quickly and quietly said, ´´Let´s talk to them´´ and as soon as we approched them we stopped them. We told them who were were, that we are missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and that we have a message, one that families can live together forever. The family consisted of the mother and father and 5 children, the oldest being a 9 year old girl and all the rest just running around in every direction. We asked them if it would be possible to visit them in their home. They looked at each other, then said ´´Of course!´´ and gave us their address. We then asked when would it be possible to see them again and the following Sunday worked for them so we set up a time and went on our way. That Sunday we went to the visit, shared the Book of Mormon and the Proclamation to the Family and were able to establish a great friendship with them. They are a little bit rougher around the edges, but all the kids running around reminded me so much of my childhood that I loved every distraction that was going on during the lesson. We saw a blessing and we have plans to see them tomorrow evening. I love you all a ton, I miss you all a bunch, I pray for you all the time, Élder Xander Weston Schindler P.S. During a lesson with a new member we were reading 1 Nephi 2 and at the part where it describes Nephi as being youthful yet large in stature, President Pace took that opportunity to say that Elder Swenson and I personify that description; me being youthful (for real, like a little 10 year old sometimes..) and Elder Swenson since he is a pretty big guy! I thought I´d share that funny experience I had. It´s going into my journal!

Letter dated 17Sept2012

[Dear family and friends, here is Weston's letter that I just received! If you have a message for Weston, simply reply to this note - and I'll send your note to Weston. He LOVES hearing from you! I hope everyone is having a wonderful U.S. Constitution Day! Sincerely, Weston's editor - BWS] Dear Family, I hope that you all had a safe and well protected week. I´ve been well here we had a good week, again! Last week, for our Preparation Day we went to Palma and played an awesome game of vollyball with the other missionaries on the island. Elder Swenson and I were with our Zone Leaders and we tore up the court! It was great to just get outside and break a sweat while NOT wearing a white shirt and tie! Very, very relaxing.. then later we went on splits with the Zone Leaders the next day till Tuesday and I had a really great time in Palma. I was with Elder Kane and he reminds me a lot of Donald and I can see Donald having that same mission spirit and energy when he gets to Scotland. It was also a good break from my area, since it is a hard area but we keep our heads up and are working on both areas, so we´re stretched, but nothing so bad that I´d complain. It was just good to see how a strong area operates and I was able to borrow some ideas that I´ll be using in the future. Tonight we have two Family Home Evenings [a meeting with families that focuses on the family] that we´ll be going to and they should both be really fun. I made some brownies for one of them and yes, they taste fantastic! We´ll be switching back to Manacor tomorrow and then be coming back this Friday. Now that we are getting into this system we should be seeing a lot of changes happening and I´m excited to see them! Next week I´ll be giving another talk (YEAH) [this will be a talk (sermon) in Sacrament Meeting] but this time ít´ll be in Inca. I´ll let you know how it goes! Cuídense, Élder Xander Weston Schindler P.S. I can fax my ballot once I get it, what´s the number I have to send it to? Thanks for getting that all ready daddy!

Letter dated 10Sept2012

[Dear family and friends, here is the letter from Weston that we received this morning. As you can tell, he LOVES hearing from you! Send me your notes as a reply to this letter - and I will make sure he gets them. I hope you have a wonderful September! Love, Weston's editor - BWS] Dear Family, Wow, I seemed to get a little bit more feedback from other people this week than usual. I liked all the letters shared with me and I´m glad people are following my adventures! I hope they don´t get too boring time to time.. if so, I´ll just have to do more things! Yesterday was Missionary Day in the Manacor Branch and so I was asked to give a talk. Looking back at my first experience giving a talk in Spanish and then comparing it to yesterday was a total 180 degree change. I was able to share my experiences on my mission and also express my love for the mission. I told everyone why the mission is important and why I´m here in Spain. I was actually going to talk about more things, but I was taking up too much time and so the President put a paper right next to me that said ´´Time Off´´ in English, so I figured I´d just finish up right where I was and it was so good. I am so happy I know what I know and it´s easy to talk to people now. A true blessing. Here in our area we´ve been doing more and more and progressing more and more as well in getting to know our whole area and working with as many people as we can. Last week we had a great opportunity to help the family from Brazil with a move they had and we really helped them finish a stressful job in a very short time and they were all really grateful. We also came into contact with a woman who was baptized about a year ago and we´ve been able to help her with a few things and right now it looks like she´ll be coming to church a little bit more often. I did send a bunch of letters last week. I hope to send more today as well! ¡BESOS! Élder Xander Weston Schindler P.S. Thanks for getting all the information for the voting papers. If you actually send the application to my Inca adress, that would be great! Letters sent this week should get to the island before October, so I´ll still be here! Just make sure that the Inca adress has the #50 in it, because I accidentally left that out the first time I sent that to you.. but yeah, everything I hear sounds like the election is nuts! P.P.S. This is a story for mommy! One of the past nights we were walking home and on the way we walked past one of the dumpsters and right next to it was a fantastic luggage case! I saw it, wondered why it was getting thrown out, then grabbed it and took it home! I explained to Elder Swenson that I get it from my mother, but it really is an amazing luggage bag. The only problem is that some of the zipper tops broke off, but I´m willing to deal with that. I hope you enjoyed this story! ;)

Letter dated 4Sept2012

[Dear family and friends, here is the letter we received from Weston today! I hope everyone is enjoying September! If you have a note for Weston, send it to me as a reply - and I will forward it to Weston. Best regards, Weston's editor - BWS] Dear Family, Once again, as I usually am when I write you, I am doing very well! We had our Zone Conference yesterday and I was able to learn even more again this week. There is alway room for improvement in our lives, no matter how we are doing at something. This past week was a bit of a trip but now finally I feel like I am 100% in on what is going on in the area. I am actually back in Inca for the time because for the moment we are in charge of both areas until we can get some more missionaries into the area. It was nice coming back to Inca yesterday because it was kind of like coming back home (but not like coming home, it just felt familiar and welcoming). We were able to get together with our Ward Mission Leader and the Branch President of Inca and update them on what our plans are for these areas. It is an interesting experience to say the least and I´m excited to see what September brings. We have a lot of our strong members in the city who are unable to attend church regularly for the time being so that´s going to become another factor for how the progression of Inca will go. I am excited though. It´s going to be a good time in the mission! Last week we were running into a bit of a wall with some of the people out in Manacor. Elder Swenson is such a sweet guy but even he got a bit down and one of the nights he just prayed and prayed that we would be able to find more people that are ready to listen to us. The very next morning we got a call from our Zone Leaders and they had a referral It was a 17 year old girl that lives in Inca that they met in Palma and she said she was very excited to have us over! Just one of the many ways that we recieve blessings after we demostrate our faith through our works! I´m always excited to be hearing from you all and it seems like each week life gets more and more exciting! I'm so glad to be a part of our family and I hope you all are okay with having me in your lives. I LOVE YOU Daddy, Mommy, Joey, Danny, Andy, Chrisy, and Nicky! Os quiero, Élder Xander Weston Schindler P.S. If it would be possible, I would like to get my vote in for this election. I´ve heard that there is a form I just have to fill out for the open-ballet and then send it to you or just somewhere. Thanks much! P.P.S. I got the postcard you sent from Wyoming! Thanks for the love!

Letter dated 27Aug2012

[Dear friends and family, Our summer is coming to an end. I hope that all of you had a great summer and that you're looking forward to a wonderful Fall! We are getting excited for BYU Football! It's the first year we'll be following it (for the Marching Band, of course!) Daniel will be playing T-bone in the Cougar Marching Band - the Power of the Wasatch (I think this is their motto!) . Here is Weston's letter that we received today. I hope you enjoy it! If you would like to send a note to Weston, reply to this note and I will make sure that Weston receives your note! He will love hearing from you! Take care and be safe! Weston's editor - BWS] Dear family, My first week in Manacor has been a far different experience than my time in Inca. It´s so different in some ways even though they´re right next to each other but I´m having a great time here with Elder Swenson. I have come to find out that he´s very, VERY much into football and I can only imagine that it is the same with me and movies. I apologize if I ever got annoying for obsessing over them! Anyways, I have really gotten to know the investigators here and we´re working with a fun family from Brazil. They all have so much attitude so I find it entertaining to dish some right back at them! I don´t know a few of the other people who are here in the city but we already have plans set up to see them this week, so I´m excited for them! We´ve been in the process of making plans so that we can help both Inca and Manacor in the most productive and efficient manner possible. Once we get the system down to the nail I know that we´ll be able to make some serious headway in our areas. One thing that I´m sure will be a huge help is if we begin to work to be as diligent as possible in order to see differences with these people. The idea for some people however, is that change is a difficult thing and that is what I´m noticing to be the overwhelming theme of people's concerns with the church and also faith. I´m currently in the process of learning how to better help our friends with this issue. Too bad I don´t have President Obama for my companion. He´s all about change, right?! Oh yes, I finally sent out my first batch of letters and I have a million more on the way but they just are so time consuming.. but totally worth the hassle, I must admit. I didn´t get your card yet but I did finally get a letter from a friend last week. It was a fantastic surprise! It must be good to be home and at college. I can´t even imagine how crazy it must be with only three children running around the house now. I do imagine, however, it must be a little less stressfull! Ahh, but you´re all so great, I could just kiss you all! (Watch out brothers!) Estoy bien y bueno ;) ¡se que es igual por cada de vosotros! les quiero, mas que una chalupa, Élder Xander Weston Schindler P.S. Use the address I have in Inca and make sure you use the second one I sent you. It has the building number on it! Haha! [Let me know if you want this address.] P.P.S. Don´t translate ´´Estoy bueno´´. It´s a funny mistake that most new Spanish speakers make all the time. Hmmm, random thought, I might try to write in more Spanish in upcoming letters.

Letter dated 27Aug2012

[Dear friends and family, Our summer is coming to an end. I hope that all of you had a great summer and that you're looking forward to a wonderful Fall! We are getting excited for BYU Football! It's the first year we'll be following it (for the Marching Band, of course!) Daniel will be playing T-bone in the Cougar Marching Band - the Power of the Wasatch (I think this is their motto!) . Here is Weston's letter that we received today. I hope you enjoy it! If you would like to send a note to Weston, reply to this note and I will make sure that Weston receives your note! He will love hearing from you! Take care and be safe! Weston's editor - BWS] Dear family, My first week in Manacor has been a far different experience than my time in Inca. It´s so different in some ways even though they´re right next to each other but I´m having a great time here with Elder Swenson. I have come to find out that he´s very, VERY much into football and I can only imagine that it is the same with me and movies. I apologize if I ever got annoying for obsessing over them! Anyways, I have really gotten to know the investigators here and we´re working with a fun family from Brazil. They all have so much attitude so I find it entertaining to dish some right back at them! I don´t know a few of the other people who are here in the city but we already have plans set up to see them this week, so I´m excited for them! We´ve been in the process of making plans so that we can help both Inca and Manacor in the most productive and efficient manner possible. Once we get the system down to the nail I know that we´ll be able to make some serious headway in our areas. One thing that I´m sure will be a huge help is if we begin to work to be as diligent as possible in order to see differences with these people. The idea for some people however, is that change is a difficult thing and that is what I´m noticing to be the overwhelming theme of people's concerns with the church and also faith. I´m currently in the process of learning how to better help our friends with this issue. Too bad I don´t have President Obama for my companion. He´s all about change, right?! Oh yes, I finally sent out my first batch of letters and I have a million more on the way but they just are so time consuming.. but totally worth the hassle, I must admit. I didn´t get your card yet but I did finally get a letter from a friend last week. It was a fantastic surprise! It must be good to be home and at college. I can´t even imagine how crazy it must be with only three children running around the house now. I do imagine, however, it must be a little less stressfull! Ahh, but you´re all so great, I could just kiss you all! (Watch out brothers!) Estoy bien y bueno ;) ¡se que es igual por cada de vosotros! les quiero, mas que una chalupa, Élder Xander Weston Schindler P.S. Use the address I have in Inca and make sure you use the second one I sent you. It has the building number on it! Haha! [Let me know if you want this address.] P.P.S. Don´t translate ´´Estoy bueno´´. It´s a funny mistake that most new Spanish speakers make all the time. Hmmm, random thought, I might try to write in more Spanish in upcoming letters.

Letter dated 21Aug2012

[Dear friends and family, I hope this note finds you well and enjoying your August! We are dropping Joseph and Daniel off at BYU this week. Daniel is participating in Cougar Marching Band Camp this week. He will be marching on National TV on August 30 for the BYU vs. Washington State Game! He is having a great time. As you can see, Weston has been transferred - to another city on the island of Majorca. We are amazed and happy about his persistently positive attitude! If you have a note for Weston, send it as a reply to this note -- and I will forward it to Weston. Thank you for your prayers! Love, Weston's editor - BWS] Dear Family, I wanted to let you all know that the transfer went smoothly and that my companion, Elder Greep, is currently content in Barcelona with his parents. It was a great transfer and I was able to learn a lot and believe me, it didn´t get me too trunky! [Trunky is the missionary term for being homesick! He was so good at being a missionary that it gives me hope that I´ll hopefully end my mission being like him! Now for the moment, while I have moved areas, I just moved farther east on the island, to Manacor. This means that I´ll still be working in Inca but there is a small lack of Elders here in the mission and there have been quite a few mission areas that have needed Elders taken out, because we just don´t have enough coming through at the moment. In the meantime, I´ll be working two areas for the next few weeks and I´m sure I´ll be having lots and lots of fun coming up. My new companion is Elder Swenson, also from Utah, and he is a very chill, relaxing Elder. It´s way better than the other men who are uptight and never lighten up (like me, if you know what I mean). [I think this is a joke!] In our last days in Inca with our companionship, we were able to leave our friends on very good notes. I´m not sure what the future will bring but I´m looking forward to it very eagerly! I´ve been working on getting letters ready all day; I think I´ll need to see a chiropractor. Now the problem is just getting them to the States... Hedwig, anyone? I´ve been praying everyday for each and every one of you with everything you are doing. Every week it sounds like more and more adventures just keep happening. Makes me feel like we´re just destined to journey throughout time on these grand adventures. Sorry, done being dorky! (for the moment) Con cariño y chocolate, Élder Xander Weston Schindler P.S. Would you be able to get my information ready for the election? I believe my vote will be the one to turn the tide in this political debate that you have going on. Let me know and I´ll let you know if I vote for Mr. Obama or Brother Romney. (^_^)

Weston with Inca family

Weston with Inca family

Weston and mission companion

Weston with Gerona friends

Weston and missionary friend

Weston and Gerona friends

Weston with new member

Weston with new members

Letter dated 14Aug2012

[Dear family and friends, here is the letter we received today from Weston. I hope you enjoy it. Weston also sent some pictures - I will post some of these later on his blog -- and I'll let you know when they have been posted. We are in Idaho right now. We will be leaving Joseph and Daniel at BYU next week for school. May you all have a wonderful August! Weston's editor - BWS] Dear Family, I´m almost at my 5th transfer of my mission.. but it´s exciting because I have plenty of time to continue learning and progressing! Every day is still an adventure, that´s for sure. This is also the last week I´ll be with Elder Greep, because he is going home! His family is coming to Barcelona next week and he´ll actually be leaving the island on Sunday because he´s going to attend a baptism from his most recent area. I´ll be finding out who my new companion is but it´ll be hard to beat Elder Greep. That does mean that I´ll have my Preparation Day on Tuesday next week as well and then I can inform you about all the changes in my life! Ohhhh, exciting! (^_^) Yesterday I had a great opportunity to have some specialized training for our zone here on the islands. I was happy to have been able to learn what we did, recieve feedback to questions that we had, and also just to get to know our new leaders. The focus of the training for working with those people who have drifted away from the church was especially powerful for me. All the things shared in that conference were things that I knew would help our area here on the islands. What part I think affected me the most what what Sister Pace said about paying compliments. Her whole talk about us as missionaries giving sincere compliments to our companions, members of the church, and everyone else, really was an inspired thing that we learned. At the end of the day yesterday, we were teaching our family but as soon as we began we knew something was wrong. We could just sense it in the air. We asked them if there was anything that was wrong and we came to find out that the parents had been fighting just prior and they definitely were all feeling down in the dumps and we were all feeling a bunch of negativity in the family. At that time we had our trio of Elder Greep, Elder Swenson, and myself and we were just sitting there in silence for a few moments because we knew that anything we would try to teach them would be like throwing water balloons at the wall. Then Elder Swenson got up and said, ´´Alright, here´s what we´re going to do. I want you (the parents) to come together and give compliments to each other about what you love about the other.´´ At first I thought, ´´What in the world?´´ but then I thought ´´Man, why didn´t I think of that!´´ That visit became one of the most powerful moments we´ve had with them and everyone in the family cried at least once, as everyone gave compliments to each and every one of their family members. Finally, when we were leaving I asked when would be a good time to come back and they said, ´´Viernes!´´ [Wednesday] without any hesitation! The power of gratitude and the love of our families are some of the most powerful things we have in our lives! Everything that I´m hearing from you sounds positive and absolutely amazing! Have a great time in Idaho and dropping off Joseph and Daniel at BYU. Keep me posted coming up and I´ll be looking forward to everything that you´re all doing. The right thing is going to happen and everything will be for the best! Oh man, I´m just so excited for all of you! Ahhhh, HUG ATTACK! Con cariño, Élder Xander Weston Schindler, P.S. I´ve been showing lots of people the picture I have of me with all of you brothers! I might stop doing that though, since they all say, ´´Oh, so you have three older brothers?!´´ Maybe one day I´ll look older than a 16 year old.. (^_^) P.P.S. Send my love to Adam Jensen! He´s going to love Colombia! There is a Colombian family here in Inca and the mom has told us to call her our ´´mission mommy´´! As soon as I get my camera working, I´ll send more photos, but I´m very, very short on updated photos... and the one of our family is blurry... but hey, it works! :D I´m just dissapointed that I don´t have too many photos with Elder Greep...

Letter dated 6Aug2012

[Dear family and friends, good morning! I hope this note finds you safe and well. Here is the letter we received from Weston this morning. I hope you enjoy it. He would LOVE to hear from you. Simply reply to this email - and I will forward your response to him. Take care and be safe! Weston's editor - BWS] Dear Family, All is well in the land of Inca and we are making new efforts to see changes and new activity here in the area. Even before I arrived here I was told to be ready to work a lot. From the little bit of experience I do have in the mission I am learning a lot from this area. As of right now I feel comfortable knowing the area and most of the men and women in the branch. It is a bit different getting ready to say good-bye to Elder Greep, seeing as he goes home in two weeks. It´s been great having that extra edge of experience with me so that I can learn more here but still I´m anxious for the next Elder to come and join me in the area. I know that everything will be fine and we are working to make the appropriate preparations for the future. The family that we´ve been teaching have their baptismal fetchas [project date] for the Saturday in two weeks and we´ll be working as hard as we can in order to get them feeling welcomed and comfortable with the Branch. They didn´t come to church yesterday but they already had a planned activity in Palma, the main city on the island. We've been doing a lot of fasting and praying specifically for them since we both know that they are great people. I have found that the mission is one of the most powerful ways to feel love for other people and honestly think about them with sincerity of heart. I´m positive that the Lord is also at work and that the right things will happen according to His will. This week we are planning to make new efforts to contact more new people so that we can introduce them to the Gospel of Christ. It´s going to be a vital thing for us to do since I am going to be the experienced Elder in the area and I´m going to need to set some good foundations for the next several weeks so that we´ll have a great time and also help the people here progress! So that´s some of the missionary work of Elder Schindler(^_^)! Another thing that we had was an activity that we worked pretty hard to get together, code named ´´Noche de Juegos´´ (or Game Night), for the youth and the YSA (los jovenes y JAS). The night was really fun and we got 5 kids from our area to come and a few others from the other branches on the island. We also had some incredible help from the Senior Missionaries here on the island (who are in charge of the YSA here). They brought their computer, projector, and the first Pirates of the Caribbean to watch at the end of the activity and of course, we did *NOT* watch it with them. But we played a bunch of fun games, including one similar to that Police and Criminal game we would play with the Wilsons. It was a blast, but we didn´t have food, because a member said, "Oh, but it´s fast Sunday the following day!" It would have been so much better if we had food but it was still a success. We´ll try to get pizza or some small snack foods for the next one we do in the future. I did get a letter from a friend the other day and it reminded me how nice it is to get letters. I´m going to do my best to write everyone who´s written me so far because it just gives you a great feeling to see letters in your mailbox that are not advertisments! OH YEAH, and we were at a members house and the daughter was wanting to become Facebook friends with both of us and so we gave her our names to search and it was super weird when she got to mine. I hadn´t even seeing my profile picture in well over 7 months and I forgot what it looked like. I wish I could get it changed to some of my new photos in Spain! Speaking of which, my camera battery died last week and I left my charger in Gerona! Elder Carlson said he was going to get it to Barcelona but he hasn´t yet and now I can´t take my pictures once every day... but it´ll all be okay in the future. Con cariño, Élder Xander Weston Schindler (^_^) P.S. I got a lot of wiffs of very exciting news! I´m so excited for Donald and his mission call to the Ireland/Scotland Mission. We´re going to be little Europe neighbors, except I´m still super far away from him. I´m sure that he´ll like the Preston MTC a whole lot! I´m also very excited for Joseph and Daniel going out and getting dropped off at Utah this upcoming week. I´m sure that´s going to be an experience unlike any other! Probably way too many college adventures to even count! Andrew also sounds like he´s going great and that band camp was a blast! I´m so happy that you all sound so great right now! Man, we´re just all doing really great!! P.P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAYS TO ANDREW AND TO JOSEPH AND TO JACOB! Sorry, I didn´t get you anything, unless you still have Netflix. You´re welcome!

Letter dated 30Jul2012

[Dear family and friends, I hope this letter finds you doing well! We have had a couple of busy weeks. Julie, Andrew, Christopher and Nicholas just finished a wonderful but grueling 5 weeks preparing for two musicals - Beauty and the Beast and Chicago. The twins were dishes and wolves in Beauty; Andrew did an amazing and wonderful job as Cogsworth in Beauty - and as Aaron the attorney in Chicago. Julie was the musical director for both musicals. Right now Andrew and I are at Band Camp for the week. I hope you are enjoying your summer! If you want to send a note to Weston, just respond to this email - and I'll forward your note to him! Much love, Weston's editor - BWS] Dear Family, I´m sorry, but photos will have to wait until next week. I forgot to bring my camera to the computer today so you´ll just have to wait. I´m excited to hear how well the plays went this past week! I can just tell that Mom is way more relaxed now that they´re done! You deserve a good rest for everything you did to help out Chicago and Beauty and the Beast. I wish I could have seen them, hearing everything that Andrew´s been doing in the plays he´s been in! You´re going to be so good by the time I get home that I´ll have a lot of competition for being the dramatic one in the house (HAHA)! I hope that you´re having a really fun time at Band Camp as well. It´s good to know that you are all doing so great and having a great summer right now. Rest assured, I am also doing great and so far I have not been attacked by any smoke monsters.. yet! [This is a reference to the smoke monster in the TV show - LOST.] There was a really weird thing that happened one of the nights this past week (but I need to establish a little bit of the story first). We were wondering if it would be possible to go up onto the roof of our apartment and so we talked with our building president to see if she had a key. She did and nobody uses the roof, so she just gave it to us but told us to keep it safe. So for the past week we´ve gone up to the roof to chill and just look at the stars. We also brought our couch up to the roof as well, and since it hasn´t rained much here, we´re good!) but earlier this week we were talking on the roof and some weird clouds came by and we started seeing lightning in the clouds. They weren´t striking the ground, but it was still super weird because there was no sound at all. It could have been the smoke monster but I´m not exactly sure... Oh, and the other week I had an interview with President Pace since he was getting to know all the missionaries in the area and I asked him if he knew Grandpa Wilson. We had already finished the interview and were walking back when I asked him and he paused, looked at me, then said ´´Come back into my office´´. He asked me how I knew the name Merrill Wilson and I told him that he´s my grandfather. He then gave me his account of how Grandpa saved his life in surgery when his appendix ruptured. President Pace is very fond of Grandpa Wilson. So we´ve had quite the week. One of the families that we´ve been working with are from Equador. They are a family of four and this past week we had a few lessons with them, teaching them about the Book of Mormon and then the last visit we had with them we watched the Testaments with them. We´ve been working with them a lot for the past couple of weeks and they have shown so much interest in learning more, letting us come over and teach, and they are reading out of the Book of Mormon. Then finally, yesterday, we walked over to their house right before church and wanted to check to see if they were coming. The father of the family looked out the window and told us that the girls were getting ready and that they were coming in just a minute. Elder Greep noticed in his hands that he was holding a Book of Mormon and asked if he had been reading it just then and said he was. We had a moment and told him that we love them and then he said that they all love us as well and then we went to church, shortly followed by them. It was a special time and we´re going to see them tonight to see them again but they are such a great family. We´ve been meeting lots of new people as well, including families that are less active but they all have great hearts and it´s been a blessing to meet and get to know them all. There was another family that we helped move some of their furniture because they are moving back to the mainland but we got to talking with them and they were just so great. Sometimes it doesn´t seem fair why some things are going on in our lives but I know that the Church of Jesus Christ is the biggest blessing that we have in our lives, right next to our families. I can´t wait to continue meeting and helping new people but I hope that you all continue doing what you´re all doing and always remember how important it is to give our devotion to the Lord. While this area in Inca may be one of the harder areas in the mission, I´m keeping my head up and haven´t felt as discouraged as some might let themselves get. I´ll continue praying for every one of you and keep you close to my heart, always (literally, I have a photo in my agenda and so it´s always right next to my heart XD) Can´t wait to hear from you all next week! I wuv you daddy, mommy, Joey, Danny, Andy, Chrisy, and Nicky! Élder Xander Weston Chandler P.S. Here is my actual adress and I know that it should work. But make sure you share this one with everyone and get rid of the other one. Elder Schindler C/ Ramon Desbrul #50, Escl. 2B Inca 07300 Mallorca, España

Letter dated 23Jul2012

[Dear family and friends, I hope this note finds you well. This is the letter that we received from Weston this morning. We appreciate your support and prayers! Be safe, stay cool and enjoy the rest of July! If you would like to send a note to Weston, simply reply to this note and I will forward your note to him. Weston's editor - BWS] Dear Family, Another week gone and here I am again! Best wishes that you all recieve this letter as well. I´m sure you are staying healthy and well at home. Rest assured that I am also well here on the island. It weird that I´ve only been here in Inca for 2 weeks. It feels like it´s been way longer than that but I guess a lot can happen in 2 weeks. We´ve been having a good amount of sucess here during this time. The first week was dedicated to getting to know the area a bit better, contacting people in the street, and introducing ourselves to the members here in the branch. We continued doing the same during this past second week but we also were able to begin teaching new people who are amazing. We found a family from Ecuador and we´ve taught the family three times this week and its been fun and exciting to share the gospel with them. They are very humble and they are always prepared when we come for our lessons. The one sad thing was that they didn´t come to chruch yesterday but we´re going to visit with them tonight and on Wednesday as well. The names of the parents are Juan and Sandra and they have two kids, Julie who is 17 and Juan who is 11. If they continue progressing and start coming to church then they will be able to be baptized on the 11th of August, so if you would, could you help Elder Greep and me by praying for them during these upcoming weeks for them to come to church and to feel the Spirit in their lives? I know that your prayers will make wonders! Something that I started doing this week that has been lots of fun has been making brownies for different people. I´ve been using a super easy recipie I´ve found but they turn out really, really good! I enjoy thinking about the story from Dad´s mission about the cake you made and how it made a huge impact on that father of the family that you taught all those years ago. Sometimes it´s the smallest of things that make the difference in the world (I may or may not have just quoted Lord of the Rings (^_^) ) but I´m definitely still finding out what kind of missionary I am here in Spain. The nice thing for me is that I still have so much to see and do and I have all that time to improve the things that I still want to change about myself. My companion, Elder Greep, is on his last transfer of his mission right now and it´s interesting because he´s going to be with his family within the next month. I need to make sure that I´m using my time appropriatly right now because when he leaves I´ll be with a new compaion and once again I will be the experienced Elder in the area. I´m really looking forward to it. I hope that the address I gave you last week works, because if it doesn´t then I´ll have no idea how to know! Daniel, sounds like you´ve been having a really good summer! I´m sure this last week will be a blast and that you´ll be ready for BYU very shortly. It´s exciting to hear that the ward is taking off in missionary work! I´m exctied to see the difference in the future and I´m sure it´s going to be completely different in the next year and a half, with all these new callings, new faces, and the fact that everyone will speak English! ¡Les quiero! Élder Xander Weston Schindler P.S. Andrew, how are the plans for your birthday coming along? I´d get you something but I have an ocean in the way so.... sorry. But if you still have Netfilx at home, then just consider that my present to you! ;) By the way, you should cancel my Netflix if you haven´t yet. Thanks! P.P.S. Post script, eh? Makes sense. (^_^) But that news about what happened in Colorado is so sad... I hope that it wasn´t influenced by The Dark Knight Rises.. P.P.P.S. I´ll have more photos coming in the next couple of weeks, but I´d like to see some new photos of the family if that be possible. If not, I´ll understand.

Letter dated 16Jul2012

[Dear family and friends, I hope this note finds you well. We enjoyed seeing our Wilson family at Nauvoo! Here is the letter we received from Weston this morning. It is always so good to hear from him. I am hoping that I can share some more pictures next week - if he has time to send them. In the meantime, I hope everyone is well and happy. With love, Weston's editor - BWS] Dear Family, Hey, sorry for last week. I just ran out of time so I couldn´t tell you anything that happened that you didn´t already know. So right now I´m going to give you the run down on everything I can think of during the past two weeks that I should let you know. Melky and Jean were baptized back on the 7th and Jean's was my favorite baptism. He was just so ready and it was amazing to see his change from the first day he came to church to the last Sunday I saw him. The first day he came he was wearing a shirt that said, ´´Sex, Drugs, And Sausage Rolls´´ but then the last Sunday he was wearing a suit and tie! I have lots of pictures to send but that´ll have to wait since the good Locotorio [internet cafe] is closed today for some reason. But I have been here on the island for about a week now and now I have a good idea of what the area will be like. The branch here is small but it´s a great group of people. We had about 25 people in church yesterday and I finally got to see more of the members which was great. My new companion, Elder Greep, had actually served here in Mallorca for his very first area in his mission. This transfer is his last and it was a surprise for him to come back to finish off his time as an Elder. We´re whitewashing [this is the word missionaries use when two new missionaries replace two existing missionaries in an area] the area from the Sister missionaries who were here before us. One nice thing that we have here in Inca is our apartment. Sister missionaries just seem to have better homes than most of the Elders so we were lucky to get their old apartment. Here in Inca, the work is a bit slower so I´ve been doing more contacting than I have ever done in Gerona. We usually start talking to about 20 people each and every day and get to know them a little bit and give them our invitation to learn more and it's been a great experience to have been doing more of that. We have already met quite a number of people who have shown real interest and I´m excited to see what happens here in the island. One thing that suprised me is that we have a lot of mountains on the island here and it´s somewhat similar to being on the island from Lost . [This is a confusing (and pointless) television show about people lost on an island.] So far I haven´t seen any smoke monsters but I´m keep both eyes open at every moment, just in case! [There was a smoke monster on the island in the show Lost.] May the force be with you, always, Élder Xander Weston Schindler P.S. I´ll try to e-mail a few more specifics next week, but I ran out of time, again! I´ll also do my best to send the photos back from Gerona. I´m excited about the blog present you made for me. I´d follow it! (^_^) if I could. Also, here is my new address so that you can send whatever you want out here to the island! From what I´ve been hearing, I might be here until winter, but we´ll find out about that I guess! Elder Schindler C\ Ramon Desbrull Escalera 1,2ºB 07300 Inca España

Information about Inca

Here is a link to an article and pictures about Inca, Spain! http://www.mallorca-info.info/Inca.htm

Information about Mallorca Island

Here is a link that has some information and pictures of Mallorca Island. http://www.mallorca-info.info/index.htm

Information about Inca, Spain

Here is a link to a Wikipedia article about Inca: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inca,_Spain

Letter dated 10Jul2012

Dear friends and family, Here is the letter we received from Weston a little while ago. As you can see, he has been transferred to Inca, Mallorca -- which is on an island in the Mediterranean Sea! I will be putting pictures in Weston's newly created blog! (See below!) Thank you for your incredible notes for Weston's birthday. As you can tell, he LOVED them. I will see some of you at our Family Reunion this week! I hope you are all well, happy and cool! Weston's editor - BWS] Dear Family, I want you all to know, before you continue reading, that I am brain dead right now, so bear with me. (Yeah, Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.) A BEAR?!?! PWSH!! As I had previously informed you the other day, I have been transferred to Inca, Mallorca. I arrived today but I have to fill you all in right now, just give me a second to get my thoughts put together. Alright. This past Friday (which was my Birthday, thank you for sending all the notes that everyone sent to me! [I was able to send over 50 birthday notes -- thank you EVERYONE!]) I recieved the news that I would be transferred and that my companion, Elder Carlson would be training in Gerona. When we got this news, I didn´t believe it at first because our District Leader had told me two times previously that I was being emergency transferred but he was just lying. This time it was true though and we were both really excited to get ready for this huge change. This past Saturday I was blessed to have taken part in the baptism of our two wonderful friends, Jean and Melky. With Jean, it was Elder Call and I who first met him and we were the first people who introduced the gospel into his life and for that reason he asked me to baptize him. Melky had previously requested that one of the members, our Gospel principles teacher, would be the one to baptize her. From now on, whenever I think of Gerona, I´ll think of each person who touched me and whom I know I touched in some way or another. (MORE TO COME NEXT WEEK, I´M OUT OF TIME) I have started a blog for Weston! The address is: http://bwschindler1.blogspot.com/ I still need to work on it -- but it is finally started! I hope you can visit and -- and become a "follower!" I will be adding some pictures of Weston's new town/Island so you can see where he is living!

Transfer to Inca - 6Jul2012

[Dear friends and family, today is Weston's birthday - and we received the following note from him today! I am sure this island is beautiful! It takes me back to my transfer to Awaji Island in Japan - several years ago! For his birthday, I started his blog -- which is not finished -- but it's a start. I'll be putting all of his pictures on the blog later this weekend. Here is the address for his newly created "birthday blog"! http://bwschindler1.blogspot.com/ Enjoy!! Weston's editor - BWS] Dear Family, Just really quickly, so that you all know, I am being transfered to Inca. If you look it up on Google Maps you´ll see that I´ll be serving out in the islands! Catch you all this Tuesday sometime (I hope)! Oh, and pray that I´ll arive safely in Inca but also pray for my final baptisms here in Gerona tomorrow with Jean and Melky. Have a fun birthday celebration at home for me! I got the second letter from mom with the awesome cookie card! LOVE, Élder Xander \/\/eston Schindler

Letter dated 3Jul2012

[Dear family and friends, greetings from a stormy Michigan! (We're getting some much needed rain with lots of lightning and thunder!) Here is the letter we received from Weston yesterday (it took it 11 hours to make it to us from Gerona!). Friday is Weston's birthday!! Thank you for all of your birthday wishes. If you have any more notes you would like me to forward to him, just send them as a reply. I hope this note finds you well and safe. Have a GREAT 4th of July and holiday weekend! Weston's editor - BWS] Dear Family, Thank you so much! I did get the first little package that you sent to me! I´ll be sure to be making some brownies this Friday and then send some pictures in a few weeks with the sick [as in "cool"] balloon you sent too! The pictures are also fantastic and I´m so glad to have them now. I finally have a family picture right next to my desk and sometimes I catch myself staring at our amazing family while I´m studying. Maybe it's not the best way to spend my time, but it was a fantastic early birthday present. I am also excited to use these recipes I´m receiving now. I´ll hold off plans for gyoza until after transfers just because this week is going to be super hectic, since we have an intercombio [exchanges with other missionaries] this Tuesday till Thursday, we have three people being baptized who are planning to be baptized this Saturday, it´s my birthday, and I might get transfered. It sounds like you´re all just doing everything that there is to do from what I´m hearing from back home. I hope Joseph and Daniel are having a good time working so far. I know this is their second day but it´s a whole lot of fun. [Joseph and Daniel are working at Paul Bunyan Scout Camp; Daniel as a cook and Joseph as a wall climbing and zip-line instructor!] Today we went to Barcelona and I hope you get the pictures I´m sending. I saw the Sagrada Familia once again but this time got a few pictures! We have so much planned for this week and I will be e-mailing on this upcoming Tuesday. That will be when I´ll let you know if I´m still going to be with my Gerona or moving onto new and exciting things! I´m really hoping I stay in Gerona a little longer, but I know I´ve done work here a while so we´ll see what happens. I have a list I have to make of all the funny stories that happened to me during the week, but here were a few that happened recently. When we were teaching Jean yesterday he asked me if I used make-up to get my cheeks so red. I suppose that´s just an international question people have for Weston Schindler! Today we also were asked by some people to sign a paper and donate to a cause that they had. I´m a pushover so I donated one euro, but then we had some police dressed as civilians who came up, told the women to stop what they were doing because they were frauds. They asked us if we wanted to prosecute them but we said we didn´t want to, since it was just one euro! We also came back to Gerona and saw two people playing the bagpipes and riding unicycles to get money from cars parked at the red light. I think the world's going crazy, but that could be just me... As always, I just love you all to death! Elder Xander Weston Chicle (Spanish for chewing gum, but it´s easier for people to call me Elder Chicle (^_^´)! P.S. I´ll let you know when I get the next letter but hold off for just a week before you send anything else, since I could be in another part of the world (maybe closer to Hogwarts, I don´t know).

Letter dated 27Jun2012

[Dear friends and family, We heard from Weston today -- here is his letter. Enjoy! Weston's birthday is on July 6. Send your birthday wishes as a reply to this message - and I will pass them along to him! I hope you are all having an enjoyable summer! Stay safe and stay cool. Love, Weston's editor - BWS] Dear Family, Whoa, so it´s definitely true right now that summer is here! In Spain the weather is at a solid 32º [this is Celsius!] and it is so hot right now! It sounds like Michigan is getting a pretty similar heat wave so I´m sure it´s easy for you all to relate to this problem. If I were all of you I would go to the beach as soon as possible so as to cool off a bit, whether or not you are all so busy! Stay cool and stay fresh for me, please. But this week we seemed to have the funniest things happen to us and every story was just super hiliarious. One night when we were sleeping I woke up Elder Carlson because I was sleep talking. I have absolutely no memory of it but he told me that I said ´´...en el nombre de Jesucristo, amen. En el nombre de Jesucristo, AMEN!´´ He was afraid at first because he had not idea what was going on but then I just continued saying weird things, but it was all coherent and he was just cracking up the whole time. According to him I said the following: ´´Judging by the top of her head ... dang.´´ What was going on in that dream, I have no clue, and as to what the top of the head is, I have no idea, but it was soooo funny! Also this past Saturday we went to a member's house and taught some English to the children and a few of their friends but then at the end of the visit I answered the phone and was talking to an investigator and was setting a time for us to visit her. Elder Carlson, in Spanish, said to tell her at 6:00. Then I, just repeating what he said, basically said ´´Dígale a las 6´´ [for those who know Spanish, this may make sense. I am guessing the the "six" was in English.] which made the family just crack up because it was so funny! Another thing that happened this week was the Day of John the Baptist [must be a Spanish holiday] and everyone was setting off fireworks and firecrackers the whole day. We were sitting at a bench in a park planning out where we needed to go; then a guy and his girlfriend walked up to us, then the guy threw a firework into the middle of the park and then it exploded. At first I was thinking to myself, ´´Are you seroius?´´ but then as they got closer I thought it was super funny and I asked them if they had another one. The girl asked if I was serious and I said of course! So now I have a big firework and I´m going to save it for next week for the 4th of July or for my birthday. Whenever I do set it off, I´ll take a video of it and be sure you all see it in a year and a half. But the reason I´m writting a bit later this week is because we had a visit with a family who lives in a city thats really far away but is still in our area. The city was really beautiful because it is right on the coast and there are mountains sitting on the entire coast. But then yesterday we couldn´t take a preparation day because we had our district meeting. We were planning on not having it because we just had a conference in Barcelona on Friday and now we actually have another one this Saturday. The reason we have multiple conferences is because this is the last week that President Hinkley will be here and we will be receiving President Pace at the end of this week. [Weston's mission president, President Hinckley will be finishing his 3-year mission on June 30; President Pace will begin his 3-year mission on July 1!] We´re in the process of preparing 3 people to be baptized within the next few weeks. One of whom is Jean who I´ve mentioned before and recently we´ve gone out running with him and then teaching him after we´re done running. It killed me the first time, since he´s training to do either Marathons or possibly the Olympics (no lie) and so keeping up the energy was crazy hard. If I stay here in Gerona for the rest of July then I´m going to finally get into really good shape if we keep this running up. We went running again yesterday and now I just need to work on my cardio so that I can keep up the internal fight. Another friend of ours that we are helping progress is Vlady. The interesting thing with him is that he does not have a background with religion but he wants to feel the spirit in his life because of his best friends, who are members. The one thing that we are going to make sure of is that he´s not just getting baptized to make his friend happy, which happens to be an amiga. [I am guessing this is a lady friend!] If that's what it turns out to be, then it wouldn't even be for the right reason so we are trying to see if his desires are sincere. The other one that looks promising is Melky who is from Honduras and she has been interested in the church for the past year or so. She´s waited so long because she has been wanting to make sure that what she´s been learning is the truth and now she has her answer, but we´re just waiting to see when she can have time off from work for us to set up her baptism. From what it looks like for next week, we´ll be having a little missionary party this Monday for the best holiday of the world, MY BIRTHDAY (or the Fourth of July, one or the other). But this should be a great week for me and I can´t wait to let you know how it goes. It´s possible that it will be my last week here in Gerona, and I will be very sad if it is. This transfer went by way too fast and I´m praying that I can stay for at least one more! But from what it sounds like from what dad said, I might have a package coming my way! If that´s true, then just don´t break the bank with it, but you know that I don´t ´´need´´ anything. But I´m glad to hear that you remembered my birthday and I´m just going to go crazy because I don´t feel like I´m almost 20 years old... I´m going to miss the good old days when I was just a crazy teenager! Brothers, mother, and father, with all the love I can muster within my heart, take care and always remember that I love you, Élder Xander Weston Schindler P.S. Daniel, that´s sick [sick -- in a good way!] that you shook hands with Brother Romney! [Daniel met and shook hands with Mitt Romney this past week!] I´m sure it was just like going to a rock concert! I´m also excited to hear that both you and Joseph will be working at the Paul Bunyan Scout Reservation this summer. [Daniel will be a cook; Joseph will be a rock climbing/zip line instructor.] I´ve never been, but I´m sure you´d have a blast this month kicking it with all those childrens! Andrew has C3-P0, so just ask the brother politely and he´ll give it to you. Mother, I´m praying the best I can for your outcome with work coming up and I know as well that the Lord has the best plan in store for you. Just don´t stress too much, it´s summer! Same goes to you dad, I can´t imagine being 4 gallons lighter can help with your declining health right now, but my prayers will be coinciding with grandma´s wishes to keep you going! [I received my 4-gallon blood donation pin this week; Grandma Schindler thinks that it will"do me in!"] YES, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! [Julie and I celebrated our 23rd Anniversary on June 24.] That´s strange to think that you hit the 23rd mark... dang. Nick and Chris, it looked like that the rock climbing was fantastic! You should also refrain from watching Adventure Time, since that show is of the devil (I kid, but seriously)! Andrew, my heart will go on, but you need to write me something. I can´t expect to try to send you my camera if I don´t know how / what you´re doing! Just keep being you though, bro! P.P.S. This is more of a want list than anything else, just keep this on record of what I want. Pictures (Thanks mom for getting those ready!) Ties (Harry Potter ties would be the best) Cheezits Recipes (including Egg Nog, ASAP) Family History Stories Family Mission Stories Black Socks My Visa Card Laser Pointer (Just because) My Lord of the Rings Music Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (They have oreos here in Spain, so I´m good with those (^_^) MISSION FOR ANDREW: The LOTR ring from that game that is super legit. I would love that, so so much! Cancel my Netflix Any little action figures from home that you know I´d love (i.e. Dinosaurs, Star Wars, Batman) ¡AMOR!

Letter dated 18Jun2012

[Dear family and friends, here is Weston's letter that we received this morning! I hope all of you are healthy, happy and doing well. Weston LOVES hearing from you! Send a reply to this note - and I will forward it to Weston. Be safe and be well! Weston's editor - BWS] Dear Family, From what you all sent me, you all sound terrific! This summer sounds like it´s going to be turning into quite the adventure for all of you. Just remember to have too much fun, all the time! I´m already having a very fun summer as well. It´s getting pretty hot here in Spain and I´m finding myself looking exhausted when I get to different appointments, seeing as how everyone sees my face and thinks I´m going to die (you know, since my face is so red). We´ve been getting a lot of sun as of late with some very relaxing breezes as well which gives you the best of both worlds. It´s the humid days that I can live without but I´m sure we´re going to have quite a few of those days coming up soon. These past couple of weeks have been the best of my mission so far. Elder Carlson is the kind of Elder who knows when to work but he also knows that life isn´t something to make stressful because that just gets you worked up for no reason. We´ve been meeting brand new people and as of right now, we have a group of 6 people with whom we are working to be baptized in the upcoming weeks. One of the men, Jean, is 22 and has been coming to church for the past four weeks but yesterday was the first day so far that he didn´t come. We have set up plans to go running with him and teach him after we are done as a way to get to know him better and also to get into better shape. He´s African so I´ll do my best to run and not die when we start doing that later this week. We are also teaching Vlady, who is an 18 year old guy from here in Spain. He´s really close friends to a lot of the youth in the church and just the other day he said that he wants to get baptized within the next three weeks. He´s definitely going to be a good kid to join the chruch and I can´t wait to see what happens with these two friends of ours and with the others that we´ve met! As part of our companionship we have also been making goals for ourselves including contacting goals of meeting new people, speaking more Spanish throughout the day, and also getting into better shape. Just the other night I made some homemade fudge brownie mix but I ended up eating too much of the batter. The other Elders are very curious as to why I don´t have diabetes yet. I´m beginning to wonder the same thing myself.. but today we have plans to be going to Barcelona and seeing what happens down there! It should be a lot of fun and I hope to take lots of pictures, not get robbed, and get home safely tonight. With great love, Élder Xander Weston Schindler P.S. I´m not sure if you´ve sent the pictures yet, but let me know when you do. And if you haven´t, would you be able to see if you could send me a CD with my Lord of the Rings music? It´s all on our iTunes and if you just send the envelope with a ´´DO NOT BEND´´ sign, I hope that would work. Thanks so much for that! (^_^)