Loving Lewiston

Happy November to Everyone!

Dad and Mom, I am so happy that the kitchen is almost done and that you were able to have a real home cooked meal!

My companion and I are running everyday in the morning. We wake up at 6:20 and we go running at 6:30 and we run for about 20-25 minutes so we have time to cool down and stretch after. So that is progress.

We had exchanges Friday and Saturday and I was with the STL (sister trainer leader), Sister Rencher, and she is super intense. She brags about not crying and how she is super confident. It was a struggle to be with her for a whole day but I took a bullet for her companion. I am proud to say that I have cried a lot on my mission. It shows that I am strong and not weak. I used to say that I didn't like my emotions and how easy I cried, but now I am really proud about it. I don't know if you remember Dominic, who I taught in the MTC, but he told me that he loves my emotions and that I should not apologize for them. I am no longer apologizing for my emotions. I just let them go. I often joke about it and say, "I am leaking!"  It always gets a couple of laughs.

Oh, so I get along with the Elders except for one ~ but that is because he signed a pact to hate sister missionaries ~ but that is besides the point. So I get along with the Elders and Sister Rencher, the STL, asked me if I am keeping the sister/elder relationships appropriate. I was taken back??  I treat them like brothers but not in the same way, if you know what I mean. So I explained that to her and I hope she understands now. For pday last week, I beat all the elders at knock out and the version they played was war. I won and they were impressed.  (I am so humble it is ridiculous!) haha :-)  It felt good to shoot a basketball again.

Last FHE we played sukiyaki kickball! It was so much fun. I played and I had to take off my shoes because when I kicked the ball my shoe flung across the court.... It was an adventure doing it in a skirt. You'd be surprised by what I have done in a skirt so far on my mission. It is kind of ridiculous, but that is me. 

So nothing really happened this week. OH on Wednesday we had dinner with a family that has two boys that are attending the YSA Branch. There was some interesting mission stories shared and we were dying of laughter at the dinner table. I like pumpkin pie but it has to be firm and NOT like jello formed. I have had Arabic food multiple times now from international students from Saudi Arabia. It was delicious!!!

We don't have any solid investigators right now, but we scheduled to have a church tour with Brie for Tuesday. We are excited and hope it goes well. We found some new potential investigators and are hoping that they have been prepared to receive the gospel. It is just sad when people say they are not interested and we haven't even said anything. Some people have come up to us and have tried to save us by telling us that we are manipulated and brain washed. How can we be brain washed when we have asked Heavenly Father if this church is true? On Saturday I prayed that I would get something out of church the next day. (We can always get something but we need to be prepared.) God answers prayers! I wrote a few quotes down. A return missionary said in his talk, "Humility accomplishes more than ability." I thought that was very profound and I love that. It is SO true. Then in Sunday School a scripture popped out at me ~ 2 Timothy 4:7 ~ "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith."  I love that scripture because it is a good introspection scripture. It helps me want to be a good missionary everyday. Then two quotes stood out to me in Relief Society. One is, "The Lord will bless more fully the man who works for what he prays for,  than He will the man who only prays." The other one is, "You will never wish or dream yourself into heaven. You must pay the price in toil, in sacrifice, and righteous living." Both of these quotes are from President Ezra Taft Benson. I love them. Just think about it for a second, if you want to be patient God is not going to give you the attribute of patience. You are going to have to work for it. He is going to give you challenges where you are going to have to be patient. We learn things from trials and challenges, so obviously Heavenly Father is going to give us hard things to learn to be patient. I just think that is cool.

I really don't want to be transferred. I have become attached to this area and the people in it. Transfer calls are this Sunday and I am nervous!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I want to be here for another transfer and this next transfer has both Thanksgiving in it and Christmas. I want to be around people that I know and care for for the holidays. But I will go where God needs me to go, but I want Him to need me here.

Thank you for the last package. I loved everything, especially the Giants cups!!! I love them!!!! I have already used them a bunch!!!!

Love you all and miss you all!!! toodaloo!

Sister Schmidt

Sister's Rencher, Andruski,
Lovell, and Schmidt
Splits ~ Lewiston Zone