One day, Kayla and Richard Schroeder began talking about Rich’s past experience in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Rich explained how he was baptized when he was young, but stopped attending church around age 14. He also explained how his parents used to have the missionaries over, and this led the schroeder family to reach back out to the missionaries through an online request. Elder Beckstead and Elder Staker were the first to pick up the phone. Kayla recalled the experience, “We wanted to see if meeting with missionaries could help us to better our lives, grow, and change. We decided to make the request online.”
The Schroeders faced many challenges at first. After their decision, opposition immediately followed, and the Schroeder family was in danger of losing their home after Kayla started suffering medical complications. Despite all of their hardships, the Schroeders still pushed through and sought out the Lord and His church. Rich came to church by himself the first week while his wife was recovering, and Kayla and the rest of their family came the following week. They would begin to see incredible blessings for their acts of faith as they sought at the Lord and experienced the power and blessing of the sacrament.
Elder Driggs and Elder Staker began meeting with Kayla at first. Elder Driggs recalls, “As we met with Kayla, there was always such a powerful spirit. I know that the Lord was preparing her to be an achor for the rest of her family.” Kayla stated that she was nervous attending church at first, but gained more confidence as the missionaries continued to visit. Kayla explains, “I didn’t know much at the start, so when the missionaries would teach the gospel, it blew my mind!” She continues, “I never felt judged by the missionaries or by the members at church, it was an amazing journey to experience and I am happy that I dived right in!”
Kayla would play a pivotal role in helping her children learn and accept the gospel of Jesus Christ. One day the missionaries received a voicemail from Kayla’s phone by their 9 year old nephew Brayden. It was a simple request: “I want to be baptized… please?” Elder Driggs and Elder Lewis began teaching their family: Brayden Rutherford, Kaylie Rose, and Kayla’s mother, Paralee Honeycutt.
Brayden loved the missionaries coming over to have family home evening night. He always was the first to raise his hand to say the prayer before the lesson, and he was so excited for his baptism. Kaylie would always express such amazing thoughts and insights about the scriptures as everyone read them together. Paralee was very happy to see the whole family come together and learn about Jesus Christ.
Later, Elder Driggs and Elder Lewis invited Kayla to set a baptismal date. Kayla accepted and worked on marking off every invitation each day on her calendar with diligence and faith! Kayla tells her experience, “Working towards baptism, there wasn’t one big experience where I knew the church was true. I just felt guided, every day I was just so blessed by being led by the Lord.” On May 11th, 2024, Kayla Schroeder was baptized by her husband, Richard Schroeder.
Kaylie was also able to attend Young Women’s Camp! She was so happy to meet many incredible young women her age, and role models older than her. She discovered a love of volleyball at camp and wants to continue practicing and playing that sport afterwards. Kaylie was very touched by the testimonies at Young Women’s Camp, and wants to continue to go every year. Kaylie also plans to serve a mission when she comes of age! She truly wants to become a lifelong disciple of Jesus Christ. Read more about Young Women’s Camp here:
On July 6th, 2024, Brayden and Kaylie were baptized members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Richard Schroeder. It was incredible to hear Kayla speak at her kids baptism. She bore a powerful testimony of baptism and the restoration of the Christ’s church to the earth. Her faith had always inspired Brayden and Kaylie, and she continues to inspire them to this day.
Paralee continued to meet with missionaries and learn more about the restoration. She made many sacrifices to prepare for baptism, and wanted to have the entire family together as members of the church. She was very grateful for all of the scriptures, videos and movies the missionaries would send to help her learn more. When the time came she felt very ready to be baptized. She was baptized on July 27th 2024. Paralee explains her experience, “when i went under the water and came back up, there was a big change. I came up and felt totally different. Things have changed for the better”.
The Schroeders have grown so much together as a family. They are holding family home evening and working towards the temple together and when the time comes they can be sealed together for eternity. Families can truly be together forever.
Barlows in TKM 