Letter dated 1Apr2013

[Dear friends and family, here is the latest letter from Weston. I hope you enjoy it! I will be posting the pictures later today in his blog. If you would like to reply, simply hit reply and I will forward any replies to Weston! I hope your Easter was wonderful. Be safe! Love, Weston's editor - BWS] Dear Family, I hope you all enjoy the photos! It sounds like this week is going to be a very fun time to spend with all the family and to enjoy a week of rest. We had our Holy Week last week and while we didn't really have a holiday to take a break, we did have an incredible amount of eating visits and I thought I was going to gain 5 or 10 pounds by the end of it! All the food we ate was delicious and we loved feeling the spirit of our area and the desires that the members have to help us in all the missionary work that we have. In total, we contacted about 5 referrals that we got and ended the week with 8 new investigators! Two of these new investigators came to church and they enjoyed their time with us and the members. Their names are Joaquin and Olga and the are married and work here in Terrassa. He is a piano instructor, which hit off a quick friendship with Elder Glenn and him, because Elder Glenn is an incredible piano player and wants to go into music composition after the mission. We look forward to seeing what miracles will lay in store for us this week and see what we can do to help them. Speaking of music, we also stayed for choir after church yesterday and we sang Homeward Bound (Retorno a Casa in Spanish or something like that) and it was a great song. I´m kind of excited to be able to sing in a choir again because I've found that I would enjoy having that talent and I have mommy and daddy for helping me begin that desire! Thanks! Our Easter was good, but there was nothing really special that we did.. except at district meeting, because the sister missionaries got the chapel early and hid little Easter bunny presents around in the garden area next to the church, and it was incredibly fun! Ah, and now we are looking forward to General Conference next week [twice a year the entire church tunes into Salt Lake City for a general conference with our church leaders] and I´m glad that some of you will be able to see it in person! Oh well, I guess all I have to say more is that.... OS QUIERO!!!! Élder Xander Weston Schindler P.S. We have to go back, Kate... P.P.S. Enjoy the photos!

Letter dated 25Mar2013

[Dear family and friends, here is Weston's letter that we received today. I hope you enjoy it! We wish all of you a wonderful Easter week! Send me any notes that you have - and I will forward them to Weston! Thanks for your prayers and support! Weston's editor - BWS] Dear Family, All is well here in Spain and I´m excited for our week of fiestas! It should be good week though and I´ve already been able to see some big changes already since transfers. I kind of felt like I was coming to a new area when Elder Glenn came in, since I was with Elder Wiggins for what seemed like since the beginning of time, but now that we´re getting into things better and learning how we both are, it´s becoming something special. It was great on Sunday because we had plenty of people come up to us and invite us to eat during the week and these are people that I´ve never really met before. It will be great to know more of the members and possibly have new opportunities to teach by visiting these members and I´m excited for the rest of the week. We should have some new investigators and we are making plans as a mission to double our efforts in finding new people to teach, which is great! It´s what we really need. I finally got sick during the week too, but it was only a cold and I´m mostly over it now, so I hope to be perfectly better by the end of this week. I promise to get you more stories and photos sent next week, but I don´t have my card right now and I would like to save all the stories til when I have the photos to describe them. Until next week, HAPPY EASTER!!! Con amor, Élder Xander Weston Schindler P.S. We have to go back, Kate... P.P.S. So just as a little cool thing, there is a Sister in my district who is from St. Joseph, Michigan and she also happened to be in my EFY group [this is "Especially for youth" which was a youth conference Weston attended in the summer of 2008!] way back in 2008. We made that connection and it was super funny and just goes to show you how small of a world we have :D

Letter dated 19Mar2013

[Dear family and friends, here is Weston's letter for this week that we received today. Thank you for your continued prayers in support of Weston. We are always so happy to hear from him and hear that he is doing well! We hope that Spring is finding you wherever you may be. I think that Michigan is not convinced that tomorrow is the first day of Spring -- but I am sure that warmer days will come . . . Send any notes that you may have as a reply to this note and I will forward them to Weston. Much love! Weston's editor - BWS] Dear Family, I love you all so much, you´re just the best! I´m glad you are all having such a time and I´m so glad to get to write you all right now. Once again I've had a big change happen recently, which is super exciting! Unlike last week, in which we had a Zone Conference and that´s why I wrote on Tuesday, we had transfers this week and guess what happened- I got a new companion! I am going to miss Elder Wiggins so much and he is heading down south to the Valencia area and I hope all the best for him. He´s been a fantastic friend and companion and an even better missionary! After serving with him for over 4 months I have learned so much from him and we got super close over that time. He´s going to have a great time in his mission coming up and I can´t wait to see what he ends up doing! During the weekend we had a fun time together as he said bye to all of the wonderful people here and we took tons of photos (which I´ll send soon!) We had some great meals prepared for us and one of which, form Peru, was so incredible it knocked my socks off! I think that they are called Juanes, or something that sounds like that. It´s super good! But Elder Wiggins is going to be missed by so many people, it´s nuts, and I know that he was sad to go, yet we knew it was time for him to go and see a new place. It was hard to say bye, but at the same time, it was exciting to say hello to my new companion, Elder Glenn. He´s also from Utah and he´s very, VERY different from Elder Wiggins. I've already been impressed by the amount of Spanish he knows for how long he´s been out in the mission (7 months) and it makes me want to work harder to talk better! Ha ha! He seems a lot more relaxed and he´s also a terrifically obedient elder, as what I've heard from others in the mission. Oh, and guess what, he´s very musical and he wants to conduct orchestra in the future! He plays the piano and sings opera which I´m sure I´ll be totally down with for the future and, maybe, we´ll join the choir after church and sing. The only reason we might not, is because I enjoy having my time to get home after church and eating and resting a bit before going out, so we´ll see where we go with singing ;) So I also was blessed to see Elder Swenson today as he goes home! I've been blessed with so many great companions but he was so special and he helped me with so many things, it´s a joke! Anyways, it was so great to see him and from what 3-4 month of missing someone did, I can only imagine what it´ll be like to see other people I love *AHEM* I´m definitely excited for the new e-mail rule, but trust me, I´ll be writing you all just the same and won´t be getting distracted by friends and converts. It´s just a great blessing that we don´t have to sever our connections completely and that it makes it more convenient and cheaper to do it! ¿Qué mas? Alright, I´m excited for this new companionship and I can´t wait to tell you how it´ll be in the coming weeks! I also hope you continue to pray for me! You´re the greatest, did you know that? Con Amor, Élder Xander Weston Schindler P.S. We have to go back, Kate...

Letter dated 12Mar2013

Dear family and friends, Here is a short letter from Weston. I know that he appreciates everyone's prayers and support. I hope this letter finds everyone well and happy! If you have a note for Weston, send it as a reply and I will forward it! Have a great week! Weston's editor - BWS] Dear Family, That is so disappointing yet great about the job. It´s good that we didn't get wrapped up in all that shifty business and I hope that the best things will happen for our family. ^_^ This week was a good week. Yesterday we had Zone Conference, and for that reason, I did not get to write you, so here I am! YEAH! But speaking of writing, I don´t know how fast word spreads, but Mission Headquarters came out with a change in the White Handbook and now, for all missionaries, we are not only allowed to write to family, but we can also write to friends, priesthood leaders, recent converts and investigators! It was announced in our conference and that means that I´ll be able to send e-mails specifically and far more easily to others, rather than them getting stuck with these general letters! During the week we've been working hard but we´re just in one of those tricky slumps that we hope will change in the near future. We´re focusing on finding more people and getting more references so I hope to have more miracles to tell you in weeks to come. Love from every fiber of my being, Élder Xander Weston Schindler P.S. We have to go back, Kate...

Letter dated 4Mar2013

Dear family and friends, I am going to include a letter from Daniel along with Weston's letter. This will help explain everything that is in Weston's letter! We are so excited about Daniel's mission! If you have a message for either Daniel and/or Weston - just reply to this note. I hope all is well with everyone. Stay warm and stay safe!! Weston's editor - BWS Dear family: I am assigned to labor in the Sweden Stockholm mission! I'll speak Swedish and go to the Provo MTC on July 10 (4 days after George W. Bush's and someone of insane importance's birthday It will be Weston's birthday!). I'm so excited! Yesterday, I went to Moab to mountain bike a trail with most of my topology class (my professor and two other students). Turns out, I am not fit for mountain biking, but am very good at falling. I fell a bunch of times, and two of them were pretty epic. From those two, I have what is probably a sprained left wrist, a scratched up upper lip (I am still trying to figure out how the ground got right under my nose without getting my nose...), and a nice gash on the bottom of my chin. Both my knees, my left shoulder, and my left thigh are also bearers of wounds. It was really fun, but I do not think I will go again. I got to announce my mission call in church today, and I did that with a bloody upper lip and 3 bandaids on my chin. It was pretty epic :D Unfortunately, my favorite t-shirt (the tennis one) got ripped up. Fortunately, my favorite shorts (the scout / swimsuit ones) I was wearing were perfectly tough. I had a Book of Mormon mid-term last week, which I got a 100 on (mayhaps higher with a curve). I also had a band concert. And I went on a date to another band's concert and the creamery. This coming week I have two mid-terms and loads of great stuff (like visa application and mission prep stuff) to do. It should be good. Have a great week! Lots of Love, Daniel Dear Family! I got an explosion of crazy things to hear from you this week! I don´t think I've had a week quite like this where I've gotten so much news! I´m gonna start talking to Daniel, if that´s alright with the rest of you. Stockholm! Where you seeing that mission coming at all?! I knew that it would be Europe, but I didn't think of Sweden really. That´s so tight! How long are you going to be studying Swedish in the MTC? Will it be for 9 weeks or 12? I wish I could have announced my mission call at church with the same cuts you had yesterday! That made me laugh so much! Since you, like Broseph, (combination of "brother" and "Joseph") got blessed with a crazy hard language, I suggest that you study a ton and get super prepped while you´re at BYU! It will help you get that initial start to get talking to people and get in the door, which helps a ton! Dang, now I´m still the only person in the family who speaks Spanish... now way I´m going to be learning Czech or Swedish... or Qatarian for that matter! Kidding! I think it´s awesome and I would love to have you pick me up and tour my mission when I´m done! That would be the sickest thing ever (I think . . . hope . . . that this is the positive kind of "sick?" ) and I would also love to see other parts of Europe! So.. this week we had it pretty chill and we've been working and working, but not much is new or happened that was as amazing as Sweden. It´s like comparing Batman and Frodo to Biduf or something, but I´ll be sure to have some new amazing stories for the future weeks. We´re coming up to transfers in two weeks and Elder Wiggins and I feel that he is going to be leaving. What happens after that, who knows! I´ll be ready for anything that comes my way and I´m hoping that I´ll get another great companion! Thanks for keeping me in your prayers and just being the greatest family on the earth! I love you all more than anything else I have in this world and I just want to thank you for being so amazing! Élder Xander Weston Schindler P.S. We have to go back, Kate... we have to go BACK! P.P.S. I´ll hope to have more photos next weeks. Stay tuned! TTFN!

Letter dated 25Feb2013

[Dear family and friends, I have attached the letter that we received from Weston this morning! I hope you enjoy it as much as we did! We are excited - Daniel's mission call should be coming any day now! If you have a message for Weston (or for Daniel!), simply respond to this note - and I will forward it to the right missionary! Thank you for your support and prayers! Weston's editor - BWS] Dear Family, Hey, what´s going on? It´s nice to be here again and write to you all this week. I hope that you enjoy this week´s series of stories that I have. It sounds like you are all doing great, which is always the best of news! Keep up the good times and the good days! Do you want to know something awesome?! It snowed!!! We had every intention to wake up and go running on Saturday morning but we looked out the window and saw a great big old white covering over all the cars and the streets! It was quite the Christmas miracle if I say so myself ^_^ Once we left our apartment it was just natural to start throwing snowballs at each other and at street signs on our way down to the train station and it reminded me so much of what home looks and feels like. What a great day that was! Also on Saturday we went to Manresa and had some visits (and some people who canceled on us) but the very next day we had another blessings and Ángel, one of our investigators, came with his mother, who had previously not given permission to her son to leave her alone to come to Terrassa on Saturdays (keep in mind, Ángel is about 60 years old and his mother is... well... older...) BUT THEY CAME, so that was tight (exciting!) and I´m looking forward to visiting them later this week. He progresses a bit differently, but he´s told us that he has never felt better than when he´s around us and he´s the one who said that The Testaments was the best movie he´s ever seen (if I mentioned that last week). (Let me know if you would like a copy of The Testaments!) Later that night on Saturday, we made our way over to Rubí and had a visit, but the cool thing happened while we were heading back home for the night. We were sitting on the bench, waiting for our train, when my companion turned to me and said ´´Contact that lady´´. I looked at her and she was standing next to the bench just 10 feet away and I looked back at my companion, who was still staring at me and waiting for me to talk to her. I paused, thought about what I could say, but didn't think of anything special that I could say to her, and I knew that my companion just felt a bit shy to talk to her... so I just started talking to her. I caught her attention and I told her that we were missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and I asked her if she knew anything about us. She said no, so I asked if she wanted to know more. Yes. She said yes, she would like to know more. We got on the train and for the ride back from Rubí we gave each other our information and she said her name is Veronica and that she has lived in Terrassa her whole life, but that she would love to learn more about families, because she is not married and has no children. We invited her to church and asked her if she knew anyone else who would be interested in learning about the church and she said that we could start teaching her mother and her sister who live with her. That whole experience was a short, yet to us, a powerful message from our Heavenly Father that when we open our mouths, it will be filled and we will see blessings come out like not other force that is on this earth. Now let me back track really quick- we had our two day Training conference in Lleida and it was AMAZING! That was part of the reason why I mentioned that contact, because right after training I felt pumped up to go out into the world and talk to more and more people than I have been, so that is why I saw that experience as such a huge blessing. Also, we learned some very good things about the importance of locking our hearts and I know that Heavenly Father will bless me if I do lock the heart and mail the key back home! The mission is not the time to do anything of the sort, but rather time for helping others come to know for themselves of this wonderful Gospel that we have so readily available in our lives! ¡Love from the deepest cavern of my heart! ¡Amor de la más profunda caverna de mi corazón! Élder Xander Weston Schindler P.S. We have to go back, Kate...

Letter dated 18Feb2013

[Dear family and friends, here is the letter that we received from Weston today. I will try to share some pictures that I can find of Manresa so we can see where Weston has been working! I hope everyone is staying warm and safe. I hope you keep a lookout for stray meteorites! Respond to this note and I will forward it to Weston. Have a great week! Weston's editor - BWS] Dear Family, Hey, what´s going on?! It´s so good to hear from you and know that you´re all safe. I´m glad that no meteorites came and wrecked Michigan while I was gone! We heard from some members of what had happened in Russia and it was so crazy to think that things like that can really just happen randomly and at any moment. Strange, huh :/ Sad news first... Joan is back in the hospital... He was doing so well but then we were let known that he still just can´t handle his bi-polar disorder. I know that one day he will be able to get better and get baptized, but until then, he´ll mean a ton to me because he´s just a great kid! On some good news, we had an intercombio (Elder splits or whatever they´re called in English) and while we were at a members house I saw some Captain Maní peanut butter in their pantry and I made a comment about how there´s just not very cheap peanut butter anywhere in Spain. They then said that I could have that jar and it is sooooo goood!! Never forget to appreciate the little things in life- like a good jar of peanut butter! ^_^ We also had the chance to visit more of Manresa today, which is a city north of Terrassa, and is an old Catalán city. We had some great lessons, one of which we watched the Testaments and it was a great day. This upcoming Saturday we should be going back to visit there, and just in time, because they´ll be having a Medieval Festival there! Don´t worry, my companion and I will be taking plenty of photos (with his camera) and I hope to share tons with you next week. We are also looking forward to going to Lleida this Thursday and Saturday for a Specialized Training, where I think that they´ll be teaching us about locking our hearts. (Mom, I thought you´d appreciate that ;D!) [Meaning -- keeping your focus on the work!] It should be good, but it´ll take us out of our area for quite a bit of time, so I hope that we learn tons of great things that we need to know for us to do as a mission. I love you all just more and more every single day! Élder Xander Weston Schindler P.S. We have to go back, Kate...