Wassup vazas!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHASEY-POO and MICHELE "mom" SCHROEDTER. i love you both so much and wish you the best. one bday down that i have to miss. only one to go haha chase is turning 20 and my mom is almost at 40, hitting 39 this year. i love you two :) 

How is everyone this week? and in the week previous? i do so ever deeply apologize for not sending a group message in the past preparation day here from Ambohimanarina. So yes i am in the region of capital of Madagascar but i am the furthest north to be counted in Antananarivo. i wish i could here your pronunciation of such malagasy words. i would put offensive language on here and tell you wrongs meanings but this email goes to my mtc malagasy teacher also but i love him and i know hed get a kick out of it. (bro aldous-related to the aldous's the schroed fam knows) small world. but i mean i only say appropriate words in malagasy. dont think less of me haha cant wait to yell random stuff like "door" or "shirt" in malagasy upon arrival in the united states haha 

so first things first, conference. FINALLY got to listen to the throwdown of the apostles and 70. wow it was goood stuff. my favorite talk was Bednar's. finishing off conference strong with "Come and See" freakin beautiful. if you are reading this and you arent a member and if youre reading this and you love me, listen to that talk and tell everyone about it. You need the ointment and bandages we have to offer hahaha great story. another beauty was Tad R. Callister in the Saturday afternoon. it was beautiful. go back and rewatch it if you dont remember it. we can all apply the stories within. i especially thought of caleb in the beginning story of Callisters laydown. i loved it. learned alot about helping those in need, marriage and families and revelation. i loved it. a lot packed in two days. especially since we watched saturdays 6 hours worth of broadcast within 8 hours. whoa nelly but it had never gone so fast. i love it. i hope we truly apply those principles taught. let us seek to sustain those men, not only by the raising of a hand, but by the applying and the living of the principles taught. let us attain those blessings that our rightfully ours.

hopefully i can throw some pics of the pqst couples weeks on here real quick...

but these last couple weeks have been eventful. sickness. conference. work. sickness. just know that my health right now is not at its peak and im having a couple problems. keep me in your prayers haha its nothing serious but just little annoyances you cant control but those are the worst ya? ya.

oh real quick. i was in the mission home a lot this weekend and today and i decided to look for Elder Cryers pics on the board they have of all previous and current missionaries. i found him. this is my version of facebook stalking haha Elder Matthew Tyler Cryer haha seems like a stud. small world he maried Emma Twiggs. cool beans. sorry if that was creepy. but theres your fun fact of the week.

So the pronunciation of my name gets butchered. "Scro...Scroter?" like come on dawg. haha so i say "shro-dare-ah" with a flick of the tongue on the first "r" and a silent release for that "ah" haha beautiful i know. pronunciation here is way mora mora. so phinetic (spelling on that? fa-ne-tick) lol on the irony of that. english sucks haha but i love it i guess.

other fun facts about the mish:

-i have come to believe tana is the dirtiest sight for a mission/mision home. can someone research that for me?

-this is the farthest i will ever be away from home and mission headquarters.

so some crazy food? i havent really eaten anything too crazy yet. just a lotta rice. my favorite laoka is probably henan-kisoa (rice and pig as the side). ive become accustom to cold chicken biscuits and crackers and a lot of fanta and coke. its a beautiful thing. oh and a lotta bread. they have mofo akondro (first word is bread and the second is banana) and its litterally a banana still intact with bread fried around it. havent tried it yet jus cause but i love all the bread they sell at eppiceries. for 1 thou five (1500 ariary) (about 60 cents) i got a glass bottle of coke, a roll like the ones mom handmakes, a little bowl of noodles, and two pizza bite things (about the size diameter-wise of a baseball) and it was way good. maybe i got a discount cause we bought from a members eppicery but i dont think so. was way good!

congrats to becomin bishop, now Bishop Wardinsky! thats way sick. but the names will forever be katy 3rd katy 4th and cross creek haha. true and blue. idk why i said that it just rhymed.

well my third world prob this week is...

not being able to type properly or play the guitar because your pinky nail is so long... #fombagasy #twp

well i love you all and this mission!

i pray to feel your love and support each day. i neeeeeed it for sure. i love you! stay classy! do something spiritual this week and put it on facebook or twitter or instagram

love,

Elder Grant Ross Schroedter

Well HELLO!

Well Hello from Ambohimanarina.

 

this week was a long one haha just adjusting to the new area and new comp and different foods. So i am in tana yay. i am the most north you can get in tana and right close to the airport so come on in. i am livin with elder koplin, a sick malagasy, a BYU soccer player, a greener elder than me, and another malagasy. so my comp is malagasy and i actually knew his family in my first area! way weird right? his dad was just put as a counselor with my old comp (bowler). way small...mission.ya. this week has been quite the change tho, got to see a bunch of other missionaries i hadnt seen for weeks and some id never seen so it was cool. kind of a bummer that guy even went home. come to find out a second would also go home this week, he being in my MTC group. just a bummer. but ya gotta keep your head up and keep working. so they got different...i shouldnt say different, they have food up here haha they did in antsirabe too but not out in the boonies of manandona. so we eat a lot more hotely food, epiceries foods, and other random stuff on the side of the road. its way good. they have a lotttta bread which is way good. maybe thats the reasons ive been havin stomach problems today and yesterday...lets say the VC count has gone up a couple haha but i love it. oh i also drink a lot of soda. dont think i ever told yall this. i broke the soda fast of six full years on august 25th. tiis birthday. from bday to bday. bam bam. beat that caleb haha but yeah they have a lotta coke, fanta (orange, pineapple and grenadelle) and sprite. goood stuff. and cheap haha

 

speakin of cheap haha i bought i rolex today for a lil less than four dollars and its probably worth that much. ill prob give it to caleb when i get back cause i dont really want it...lolz.

 

so last monday we played soccer in antsirabe and me and the guys were talkin about backflips and how i really wanted to do one. so my friend was like, if i do a round off, you have to do a flip so i was like ok cause this guys tall and a big haha but he does it so im like awe crap cause ive never done it off straight ground, but i decided to do a round off into a backflip so it takes me three tries till i try to do a backflip with the roundoff but i nailed it. shocked myself haha first time ever. so we started playin soccer with these malagasies (we won 3-1) haha but i scored one of those and as my celebration i did another one haha it was way sick. id send a video but its back on someone elses camera in antsirabe.

 

oh today we went to the zoo aka lemur land haha and the guys let us into the cages and feed these things. only lemurs ive seen here so far. but they were way cool. i saw king jullien. there hands are way soft and they are way fast. just a heads up. ill send pics next week...maybe

 

so a normal malagasies life is like this: they get up early and work all day. then come home when it gets dark haha and thats it. noone is ever home so we pretty much go contacting all day. ya its great.

 

well i would give you a challenge on something that i studied myself this week buuuuut i only had one actual day of studies amidst all this commotion of moving and interviews and ya. so please, i guess as my challenge, focus a little more each day on YOUR studies. school, church, work, whatever it is. put that little extra effort in, put a little more concentration in, put a little more time in. youll see the difference.

 

i love you all. have a great week!

 

Elder Schroedter

Transfer.

Hello,        HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANIELLE AVERY WARDINSKY (born October 9, this thursday) i hope you have an amazing birthday! one birthday down, only one more i have to miss! yessss.

had a GREAT week this week. got transferred to Antsirabe with the Zone leaders. so there was a lotta driving to pick up new guys and them staying over and new trainers and new trainees. there were 13 people that stayed in our house one night. yaaaa. lotta time at the bus stop. so i got to meet a lotta the new guys and see a couple people i hadnt for a while. loved it. got more missionary work done this week than i did in manandona haha oh well.

so im in a trio...for the next couple days. so itll probably be just this week of trio life...cause im gettin transferred again! yay. about my companions first though. there is elder arrieus (are-you) hes french canadian. way sick guy. i lived with him while i worked in manandona so ive known him. we are way tight now haha then there is elder galbreath. hes a cool guy haha but they dont really matter now cause this emergency transfer. apparently there is a missionary going home :( so since we are in a trio at least one of us is gettin switched. im pretty sure im going up to antananarivo. but i think there are other switches besides jsut me. cant i just stay in an area? oh well. its a good thing i love mada and these people. i get to live (i think) with elder Koplin! one of the fab five from the MTC. sucks to leave Covey but glad i get to see kopes all the time. come what may and love it. JB Worthlin. my man.

well i hope you all paid attention in general conference! i get to pay attention to it on the 25 and 26. whoop! hopefully we can get it in english too...haha but ya im way pumped. 

fun fact "simba" means broken. lion king. whoa. jk its not based in mada in malagasy.

and thats all i got this week! oh wait! there were two baptisms in the branch on saturday that i just moved into so that was way sick but they werent mine haha but ive gotten to teach em a couple times. it was a neat experience.

well have a great week! love ya!

Elder Schroedter

                                                           Grant and his furry friend.

LWoDL

What the mess does this title mean? Well its an accronym. first to guess it right gets 10000 ariary. lol jk 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MILLIE. i love you. i pray for you as you pray for me, ya cutie.

SO lets start at the beginning of the week. Well we taught sooooo much this week...NOT. Elder Bowler got sick a couple a days, fall throughs, and a lotta meetings for the second counselor in the branch presidency. heres what cool happened this week:

-i did a backflip

-arrows were shot at us

-Elder Bowler got bucked by a lady bull (it had horns. only in mada)

-i split a butterfly in half

-my pinky nail is growin way good

-i taught a lesson almost by myself

"you did a backflip? sick bro how?" well we were walking from a fallen through appointment one day and i see this kid trying to do a backflip onto some rice and i was like, "hold my gohld, hold my gohld" so i went over to the ledge (about a four inch drop to the rice [i know it wasnt straight from ground level to ground level sorry]) but i was like whateves and went for it and landed it like that girl who broke her foot in the olympics but still competed. stumbled (cause i mean it was rice...) but stuck it. word.

arrows? dump bro. as we were waiting for another time these kids were shooting make shift arrows (reed with a pen cap) from bows (a bent reed with a band of rubber as the draw string) and we were like we'll try and catch it. didnt ever. close though!

bucked by a bull you say...well elder bowler and i see a ton of animals out in the dona. SO we enjoy holding them and petting them. (pics to come) so he tried to pet this members cow but he wasnt having any of it. so it like rams him into the clay wall and im like just starin watchin haha it was great. cut his shirt but not the second layer and he only got a bruised butt and cut on his arm. he walked away laughing dont worry haha

split a butterfly. I'm just on a kill streak with animals. that's two weeks in a row. the butterfly was like ten yards away so i was like *throw* (cause i thought id never hit it haha) but i like split it perfectly. it was kinda bittersweet. kinda.

pinky nail is growin! ill send a pic dont worry. malagasy fomba.

so real quick lemme tell you about my struggle. so here i am sitting at the cyber typing this email...no...no...dang it i gotta take a bathroom break. (since we are in the city it does have plumbing...) BUT no toliet paper. no toliet seat. muh. the one day i dont bring my bag around with the sacred scrolls inside...so what do ya do? cant stop that. ill just tell you that a couple pages of my planner are now missing and my thighs are on fire. this is real mada life. but we make it through.

SO one of the two lessons we taught to investigators this week was done by me and max (sent a pic of him holding the way cute dogs a couple weeks back) cause bowler was sick so i left him at the branch presidents house and he rested. but this lesson was like 45 minutes and way gooooood. its comin along even though we teach like not at all. 

i love my studies. this past week ive been at least able to study a lot. i still listen to a ton of talks. when ever. during breakfast. when going to bed, on the way out and back to the dona. whenever theres time. but during studies this last week ive read first nephi and a lot of handbook two(leaders and auxilaries guide in the church). one way cool chapter is chapter 13 in nefia voalohany! (first nephi) its all about the Gentiles leaving england, messing up the natives in america, fighting against mother Britain, the "plain and precious things" being lost from mans understanding of the Bible and the need for a Restoration. way sick! please go back and read that one this week. another way cool scripture, especially if youre into logic and you wanna take a second to understand is in 2 Nephi 2:13. Way sweet. love it. 

how did the article of faith thing go this week? noone reported back. thanks.

well read that chapter and that verse and also this talk. i LOVE this talk, it puts Grace into perspective. it is titled "His Grace is Sufficient" by Brad Wilcox. stud. i especially love the piano analogy. caleb pay attention to the piano part. and everyone else (caleb too) focus on the analogy. its beautifully said and easy to understand.

so have you all ever heard the song "When Jesus Say Yes, Nobody Can't Say No"? its by Beyonce and someone else and everyone here loves it. i didnt know beyonce sang stuff like that anymore haha

well the title. "Last Week of 'Dona Life" 

i am getting transferred. MID-training. aint that just the best. NO. i love the dona. i love the people. i love my companion. i dont like it. but im doing my best to accept it. im with the zone leaders in Antsirabe now and im in a TRIO. YAY. thats gotta be a record. 5 comps in three full transfers. good news is one of my comps ive lived with for the last six weeks and hes awesome. elder webb is goin to tana (old zone leader) and a new guy is comin in and ive only heard stuff about him. AND another companionship is comin into the house...gonna be packed and dirty. Mom, i may not have done anything at home, but know that i love it when things are clean, surprisingly, so i do the dishes, clean the countertops, clear and clean the table, and other stuff. im gonna be a great husband. if theres one thing ive learned about being in these companionships is its a lot easier to deal with and love your comp when you serve them and dont complain. i feel like that can be with anything in life. please apply that this week. 

whenever you wanna complain or say something mean to someone, go serve that person or someone.

PLEASE dont worry about me. life is way tough here but i am probably the happiest ever. (except for a few great select moments with fam and friends back home) but really my attitude is great! i love life. i really do. so dont think im down cause the work is down. i dont feel like hinckley at all now, but when even a thought like that comes in i definitely think of that story and remember the 6 word sermon from his father. dont worry about me. i love life. i love manandona. i love antsirabe. i love madagascar. i love these people. i love this work. i love this church. i love my comps. and this may sound weird but i love myself.  not in a conceited kinda way, but in a "im not blamin myself or takin things out on myself mentally" way.

so  here fun words in malagasy to say. 

trash - fako (fah-coo)

ponder (command form) - fakafakao (fah-ka-fah-cow)

read (com. form) - vakio (the v is soft so its va-kiu)

rabbit - bitro (be-chew)

:) lol

well have a great week! love ya all! stay fresh. remember the challenges. gimme feedback.

Elder Schroedter