Daniel safely arrives in Sweden!

Dear missionary parents: All Elders and Sisters arrived safe and sound and very tired but excited to be in Sweden. It was a picture perfect day. You will hear more about their first day and see a couple of pictures next week. Please be sure to read the attachment regarding their mail and share this information with their other family members and friends please. Syster Lowry Mission Secretary Sweden Stockholm 08 544 70 930

Daniel's district

Daniel with friend

Swedish flag

MTC desk

Hero

Beautiful scene

Tense moment with companion

Frozen bikers

Crossing street

Swedish district

Elder at MTC

MTC tree

Plant in cage at MTC

Daniel and MTC companion

Exhausted

Learning Swedish

Daniel's district

Provo temple

Dad on trip to MTC

Andrew while on trip to MTC

Chris on trip to MTC

Nick on trip to MTC

Letter dated 13Aug2013

Dear Family!! This has been a really fantastic week, and next week will be grand as well! I am getting really excited to leave to Sweden, and all the time I catch myself imagining what the following week will be like, like going to church for the first time, talking to lots of Swedish people, and much more of the sort. I leave on Monday morning Utah time and arrive Tuesday morning in Swedish time. I will also get to call home! I will probably call early Monday afternoon or late Monday night Michiagn time and leave a message. Like I said, this week was amazing! We had the chance to skype with another two Swedish people, Menne (a Noregian name) and Sarah. We taught about the Atonement and how great a blessing it has been in our lives (and it is such a great blessing!). Äldste Taggart and I have loved meeting these great people, and it is really fun to be missionaries already! The other night, a Korean-speaking elder was outside our residence door shouting what sounded like "Titrate!" A titration is a chemistry process, so it sounded like he was cheering on some chemicals mixing. It was really weird. But then we opened the door and realized he just wanted to trade ties. I thought it was really funny :) The devotional speaker on Tuesday night quoted a quote from President Packer that is "There is a height, a bredth, and a depth to scripture that we have yet to find." I like that idea so much! Always, there is so much that I can learn from the scriptures, and they often are very specific to choices I am making and give me confidence in making a tough choice well. I have found recently that it is always good to begin scripture study with a prayer and ask for guidance and the ability to learn well with the Holy Ghost; this is an important element. I am noticing substantial help with learning Swedish that I know is beyond my own capacity and from God. I have also been thinking of how I've been blessed, protected, and supported in the past, and this has been very humbling and refreshing. I love being a missionary and having a greater chance to think about these things! Yesterday, I was in a big, random room with Äldste Taggart and his accompanist as they were working on vocal solo of his when the projector turned on and we realized we were being filmed! The videographer was practicing an automatic camera that is used when people give speeches in that room. He was having a good time using different camera effects and I felt really important. It was a win-win. I hope mom has a great birthday on Saturday! Do something fun and relaxing for me :) Joseph: I understand you just finished finals, congrats! Hope you aced them like I aced Dow High in tennis once. Andrew: dad told me that band camp went well, that's good to hear! I really miss band and playing the trombone a lot, so be sure to have some fun this season for me. What's the show you're doing? And is there another crazy drum major whistle solo? Twins: remember how I helped you with your biography projects when you were in 5th grade? I was wondering if you could do me a little favor and send me short memos that tell me about the 7 wonders of the world. I just know of the pyramids and possibly that statue in the Curious George movie. So if you could just write about 100 words on each of the 7 wonders, that would be swell. You could even use Google translate and send me the descriptions in Swedish. But don't do that, because my vocabulary doesn't extend far beyond gospel words. Also, it's possible that there are 2 sets of 7 wonders of the world, one of ancient things and one of newer things. If this is the case, send me info on the list that includes the pyramids. Thanks guys! Have fun in Utah and Idaho! Say hi to everyone! There is a slight chance that my visa will not have arrived by the time I am to go to Sweden. I would then stay an extra week here. But I will probably be in Sweden next week, and I will not necessarily get to e-mail until up to two weeks from now. My address in Sweden will be Elder Daniel Wilson Schindler Sweden Stockholm Mission Enebybergsvägen 38 182 46 Enebyberg Sweden And due to the new policy, I can receive and send e-mails from and to anyone on this account, not just immediate family. I know that Jesus is our Savior and I love you a lot! Love, Äldste Schindler P.S. Thanks so much for the box of goodies! Everything was great!

Letter dated 6Aug2013

Dear Family: It is great to hear the news from you! I the DearElder messages and email notes are very great; thanks for them! I hope that Andrew's, Joseph's, Jacob Wilson's, and David Anderson's (if I'm remembering that one right) birthdays were all great this week, as well as Stephanie's + Scott's and Janell's + Wesley's weddings. Congrats to you all on a new age or being married! For me, this week was spectacular! The highlight was hopping on Skype to teach lessons to two church members in Sweden. Both were about 20 and really nice and patient with Elder Taggart's and my Swedish skills (with which I at least feel confident enough to call skills). Talking with them made me very much more excited to go to Sweden, and glad that 100% of my interactions with Swedes have been sweet! There have also been Swedes and former Swedish missionaries who have come to the MTC to have us practice teaching them in Swedish. We've been able to do that 3 times and it is really helpful and fun! On Sunday, the MTC had a fireside where Jenny Oaks Baker spoke about spiritual gifts and played the violin. She received her master's in violin from Julliard and is very good. It made me want to learn the violin when I get back and also made me miss the trombone. She talked about how in order to develop our gifts (which means abilities and talents) with God's help, we need to use them humbly and for good purposes, and that we should seek for those gifts of which we are most in need dutifully and prayerfully. Her four young children played "I am a Child of God" together, and they were really amazing. Her son who was 6 was wearing cowboy boots and played the guitar really boldly. He was my favorite part of the group. Recently there's been a cold going around many of the Scandinavian missionaries. Once for almost a minute, someone we could hear from the classroom was blowing his nose within a couple seconds of the person who'd just finished. I thought it was really funny and enjoyed imagining how Monk would be reacting. The other day, Elder Taggart's knee was injured from a run we'd gone on, so we went to an orthipedist's office outside of the MTC. This sort of field trip where you leave the facility is rare, and it was really sweet that everyone at the clinic treated us like we were celebreties, being decked in missionary attire and all. No one requested a signature, but it was almost to that point. Some interesting discoveries: the words "yetti" and "nonchalant" originate from Sweden. I actually only discovered that these words are Swedish for "giant" and "unnormal," and am assuming that they're original to Swedish. So don't quote me. Also, the Swedish word for "happy" is licklig, which reminds me of Christopher's favorite pokemon, LickyLicky. I hope Andrew has a great time F Altoing at band camp, and that dad has a safe return to the Auburn. I know that this church is true and love to be on my mission now! Love Äldste Daniel Schindler

Letter dated 30July2013

Dear Family: I had another fantastic week! It was great to hear that you are doing well. Right now I am waiting for my laundry to be finished. The window on the dryers has a yellow tint, so it appears that my white clothes have been thoroughly stained. Luckily I found out the cause shortly after I began the investigation. Whoever designed these dryers has a choice sense of humor. So far, I have had 0 dreams in Swedish. However, on Tuesday night I had a dream where I was teaching myself grammar and woke up knowing more than I did when I went to bed! It was neat and great that I just dreamed it! Especially helpful in learning Swedish is a great computer program called TALL that I hear is similar to Rosetta Stone. It has native Swedes pronounce each word or phrase and has great settings for discovering and reviewing words. It has been such a help! It has also been amazing to teach our teachers acting as investigators the gospel lessons. It is very difficult, but I can't wait to actually do it in 3 weeks! I am incredibly excited to actually be in Sweden. Many Swedish words, especially the more-common ones, sound very similar to English. For example, to say "Shall we now go to his home?" sounds like "Ska ve noo goa till hans hem?" It doesn't happen often, but occasionally I will begin a sentence in Swedish that sounds like English, and say the rest of it in English with Swedish pronunciation. I think it's really funny. Our zone, which is has about 120 missionaries, has missionaries going to Scandinavia minus Finland and Dutch-speaking nations. Some elders in the zone played soccer on Wednesday in what was mostly a Swedish vs. non-Swedish game. We Swedes were really good at scoring, and the other team was not so good. When I was playing goalie, one did get past me which came by a round-house kick from roughly mid-field. Later I found out that the kicker broke his ankle from the kick, so I was glad for him that it got past me. And the elder with the broken ankle is a champion and isn't letting his injury stop his non-athletic activity (or much of his athletic activity). On Tuesday morning while doing service outside, I saw a really sweet sight: I was by the half-circle of nations' flags, Sweden's was the most northeastern, and I was such that Sweden's flag fell right between Squaw Peak and Y-Mountain; the sun was rising between these mountains; and the air was glowing from the dust from the leaf blower I was operating. So I saw the Swedish flag alone between the mountains with sun coming through it and the air around it glowing. This got me so excited and I thought it a real tender mercy. On Tuesday night, Elder Taggart and I had a really incredible experience: we were hanging out at by a building we typically are not by right before our curfew when the sister missionaries in our district came outside with a sister from the other Swedish district who was very sick. They asked us to give her a priesthood blessing that she would feel better, so we did that and left to our dorm. She later went to the hospital and felt much better in the morning. Later we found out that at about the same time as we gave her the blessing, the elders in the other Swedish district had been praying fervently together that the ill sister, who'd been ill in the daytime before we gave her a blessing, would feel well. Because of the rare odds that we were there then, when other priesthood holders were not around, and because of the prayer, I reckon that it happened for a reason and that it was a help to her. I also felt really blessed to have been able to participate in the ordinance and to have partly been an answer to a prayer. On Sunday, we heard a talk in sacrament meeting given by an elder who is going to Norway. Its topic was recognizing the Holy Ghost, and it was a really touching message because he is legally blind so he had it memorized and he did such a good job. I also thought of how hard it would be to want to be a missionary if blind, and of how well I have been blessed. He is a really inspiring person! It would seem that all the letters Andrew, Nick, and Chris are sending to me are getting lost in the mail. Please review my mailing address :P Some questions: how often is one to polish his shoes? Is once a day too often? Which is bigger: the continental United States or Brazil? How much money is in my checking account? I will be withdrawing about $40 therefrom this week to prepare for my travel across the Atlantic. Mom: Please tell me how much remains via DearElder when you can. Love you all! You're the best family I could imagine!

Letter dated 23Jul2013

Dear Family: This week was another great one! Hands down one of the very best weeks I've had while in the MTC. Elder Taggart and I were passing by a pose of missionaries playing the game 4-square. I couldn't resist joining the line to relive my elementary-school glory days, so we did. And what do you know? I still had it! I probably served 6 times before I got out. It was so great. Also of interest is that I am practicing handstands, and soon I think I'll be able to stand thereon better than the average person. And my whistling skills are greatly increasing, and so I am really happy. On Sunday there was the MTC choir practice. About 1000 people are in the choir, so it sounds really good. I was the second closest of those 1000 people to the choir director, who is very entertaining and good, and my companion was the closest. It was really fun. I felt like a flute in a concert band. At one moment I became really tired and was really scared that I would fall asleep and that he'd call me out in front of everyone. But that fear caused me to dismiss the sleepiness. If you've ever heard me sing the song "Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel," you know that I always accidentally begin the song by saying "Put your should..." instead of the real first line. We were singing that song for Sunday's fireside, and I was watching it on the tv as a broadcast. And the person in charge of putting the words to the songs on the tv screen was behind, so the title of the song was still up when we started singing, so I messed up again. Some day the stars will align and I'll get it. The other day the district went about assigning each person to a superhero or a Disney princess. I was happy to get Batman :D We chose Tinkerbell for Sister Darby before she came in, and it was really funny that that day she had done her hair to look just like Tinkerbell. The other elders in my district frequently quote movies. And about 90% of these quotes are from "Nacho Libre" or "Madagascar 2". It's so funny and it always cracks me up. Because we are learning for so long each day, it can be hard to not get bored. So I've been telling a whole lot of jokes. So Elder Cushing started a book called "Schindler Jokes" which is usually pronounced in Swedish as "Whindler Yokes." They're usually pretty lame jokes, but they help me to focus doubly hard when it's game time. I lost one of my name tag, but luckily I have Joseph's name tag from his mission. So when I wear a suit I'm and I take my jacket off, I become a Czech missionary. Each day usually has its own theme of what I study and I really liked yesterday's topic, childlike characteristics which bring us nearer to God. The main one I noticed was meekness. Solomon felt overwhelmed and inexperienced to be a king, but he he was meek when he asked Heavenly Father for wisdom, and he got it. Meekness being so important reminds me a lot of my favorite poem, "If" by Kipling. It's really inspiring, and I love reading it. Have a good one!

Letter dated 16Jul2013

Dear Family! God dag (Good day)! I have been having such a great time! Learning Swedish is the bomb diggity, and it's really funny sounding (the Swedish chef is a lot like what my teachers sound like). I'm starting to be able to think the occasional Swedish word naturally, and my companion, Elder Taggart, and I have had 3 mock teaching experiences where we've been able to say some pretty simple things in Swedish about Christ and the church. My district is composed of 10 people, 4 sister missionaries and 5 elders besides me. For the first couple of weeks here, I am being the district leader, so I am in charge of getting the mail and facilitating a few meetings. It's mainly the mail though, and I try to make it as cool as the owls who drop packages in Hogwarts. It is so fun to be in my district! All of us in it study together for perhaps 10 hours a day and hang out at meals and stuff. My companion is from Utah, and he is really insightful and caring about e'rebody. He wants to be a theology professor when he grows old. The other missionaries are great too! Everyone is super nice and funny. Elder Johnson is also from Utah, he has a sweet photographic memory, and he is going to play soccer for BYUH when he gets back from Sweden. Elder Hansen's from Arizona, was in a class of mine at BYU, and he has a really discrete and funny sense of humor. Elder Baily is from Utah, he played football and always has a really contagious smile. Elder Cushing's from Utah and went to Honduras for a service trip a little before coming here, and he's done a lot of other service things. All of us elders were born in 1994, so we're pretty close in age. Sister Eborn is going to Utah State majoring in history; Sister La Fonataine (sp?) is a dancer who's going to BYU, Sister Darby does track and cross country at BYU, and Sister Andersen is going to BYU after her mission. It feels a little like we're a family, because we're always around each other and everyone is so nice. There's never really an argument that happens and it's really cool. Like the other day I said something sarcastic, so one of the elders said "Shut up Aldste Schindler... Just kidding :)" That's about as strained as it's gotten here. And with the other 5 elders, I feel super close. We are in the same dorm room and they feel a lot like my real brothers to me, except they're all my same age and there's probably more variety of personalities here than there is at home. The schedule here is pretty fun. It keeps us pretty busy, and I think that contributes to a feeling of comradery. The only complaint I have is that we're in buildings all day except for the hour of exercise, and during the exercise you're still pretty far from nature. But fortunately we get to go on a trip across the street to the temple twice a week, and it's awesome to be there and right by the mountains that it's in front of. My favorite event so far has been listening to a talk given by Elder Bednar at the missionary training center a couple of years ago around Christmas called "Character of Christ." In it, he focused mainly on the importance of living what you know, or changing your life to be like Christ, instead of just knowing it. He told the parts of Jesus' mortal ministry where He was tempted by the devil after His 40-day fast to use His power as God for His gain, but where Jesus was just like "No," and even sent angels to minister to John (if I'm remembering whom) who had just been unjustly incarcerated. And he told of when Christ didn't get mad at His apostles falling asleep or betraying Him and even healed the guard's ear in the midst of suffering for the accomplishment the atonement, or when He suffered for the sins and sorrows of all mankind. The message was that Christ was perfectly selfless, and that we need to be so. He told about a woman he knew who, as a single mom attending her young and only daughter's funneral, received a call from a church lady who was angry about not having received a meal from the relief society while she had a cold; and so the selfless woman made a meal for her and dropped it off on her way to the funeral. I loved it so much! And it resonated so powerfully with me about how I need to be so much more selfless. I looked for this talk on the church's website but could not find it. Otherwise I would suggest for everyone to listen to it! Oh, and you say Elder in Swedish like: eld-stay :)