Three More Weeks!

Hello Family!

Christmas happened and that meant I was able to see you guys! It was awesome to see you! I remember when I skyped you on Mother's Day 6 months ago. I thought that it would be forever until I got to Skype home again. But here it is, a day after Christmas. Time goes by so fast! I am going to embrace these last 3 weeks that I have as a full-time missionary. Miracles have been happening here in the Silver Lake ward. We have been teaching a man named Daren Geller for three weeks now ~ so ever since I got here. I feel that I am here for him. He has come to church 3 times and he has accepted to be baptized. We invited him to be baptized on the 28th of January and he asked if he could change it to the 27th because his birthday is the 27th of February and he wants to remember when he gets baptized. When we checked on the date we found out that the 28th was full of youth activities and stake conference so the 27th was divine intervention. He is so genuine and humble and PREPARED!!!!!  When he comes to church he feels loved and accepted and he wants to continue to come. He has attended a lot of different churches throughout the years and he feels something good that he hasn't felt in those other churches! We are excited to continue to work with him. Pray for him that he will have the strength to overcome his Word of Wisdom addictions. He wants to quit and he has before.

Another investigator that we have been working with is Liz Osburn and she is awesome! She was first throwing Anti ~ Mormon information at the sisters and she is now thinking about joining church! Liz loves to read the Book of Mormon and she enjoys it. At first she was reading it like it was a piece of Literature but I am not sure what she thinks of it now?  Hopefully she thinks that it is the word of God. I know that the Book of Mormon is from God and that it benefits us tremendously!! She came to the Christmas party and she enjoyed herself. Even her daughter who is anti-religion came and she had a blast! Liz is excited that church is now going to be at 11 because it was hard for her to come to church at 9 with her health.  We are just working on getting members to her appointments.  Please pray for her and her daughter Chloe. 

Christmas was fantastic! We went caroling Christmas Eve as a zone! It was so much fun! After we had a snowball fight and there was no mercy! I was the main target for some reason ~ because I was holding a hymn book and I couldn't throw one. 

The Ritzville sisters came and spent the night with us and we enjoyed Christmas morning together opening up presents! This ward loves us! And I love them!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On Christmas Day we went to church and we had a wonderful Christmas program. We then went to the Flink's and we skyped home which was awesome!! I love the Flink home!!!!! After, we went caroling with a family in our ward in a nursing home and it was so much fun! A lady got up and she started to lead us in our singing. They enjoyed it very much! Christmas should be a day of service! I want to continue to do so for the rest of my life. Later in the day we had dinner with Bishop Harshberger and his family and it was a delicious meal!

Christmas Package 2016!

I love all of you and I hope all is well! Love you and miss you!! Toodaloo!!!!!!!

Sister Schmidt

Merry Christmas!

Hello Everyone,

On Monday we had a lesson with an older couple and their names are Dell and Claudette. When he was in the Air Force his general, who is a Bishop in this area, talked to him about the gospel and he wanted to join but didn't. So we are teaching them and he has read about 50 pages in the Book of Mormon.  He is doing well!!!

Ayla got baptized and it went well! About 60 people came to it! The best turn out I have ever seen ever for a baptism! When she was getting dressed, after she got baptized, we passed out sheets of paper to everyone and asked them to write down their testimony. We are going to put them into a book for her. After the baptism ~ while we were having refreshments ~ a lady who is pregnant passed out! The fire department came in and apparently she does not drink water so she was dehydrated! So that was very eventful. But she is doing better!

We had a district meeting and during lunch we talked about what super powers we would want and I want to fly and my super hero name is Sky Searcher! It was so much fun! We then had dinner with President McCombie and his family!

Friday we had specialized training with President Dymock and Sister Dymock. We were trained on councils and some major deep doctrine was shared!!!!! I will share with you later! We then had a Christmas activity of ginger bread house making. We did district against district. My district is the only district that has sisters in it and we won..... haha :) 

Specialized Training
AND
Gingerbread Houses!

On Friday we went on exchanges and I went to Ritzville with Sister Madsen. It was so cold there! When we were walking outside we asked someone how cold it was and they said it was -12 degrees outside! HOLY MOLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We tracted into a young mom who is interested in learning more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ritzville, WA

Sister Madsen and Schmidt on exchanges!

Something extremely awesome happened on Saturday!!! We were driving to our ward Christmas Party and while we were on the road we saw someone walking on the side of road and it was 6 degrees outside!!!!!!!!! We remembered that we had hand warmers in the back and so we pulled over and gave them to him. His name is Tyleek and he is 17 ~ but he looks like he is in his 20s. He had to walk about 3 miles home and we couldn't give him a ride.  So we drove to the party and the stake president and his daughter came with us and we picked him up.  He agreed to come to the party! He enjoyed it a lot! He had never seen anything like it before! The McCombie's then took him home and they got his number and they are going to invite him to go sledding with their family! We had hand warmers in the car because of the Christmas initiative. If it wasn't for the advent calendar then we wouldn't have had those hand warmers to give to Tyleek and he then wouldn't have come to the party or been invited to go sledding!!!!!!!! Miracles happen all over!!!!!!!!!!

Ayla got confirmed on Sunday and it was wonderful! We got picked on a lot yesterday! But it went well! We had a lesson at the stake president's home with a recent convert and it was pretty intimidating. There was a lot of return missionaries there ~ and the way that we were all sitting ~ it was scary! Sister McCombie came up to us after and apologized for the situation and said that we did good! YAY!!!!!!!!!!! This week was crazy but fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love you all and miss you!!! Toodaloo!!!!

Sister Schmidt

Let it Snow!

Hello Everyone!

My new companion is Sister Reidhead and she is from Kanab, Utah. She has 6 siblings so with her they have 7 children.  She has only been out for 3 months so I am her "dad" in mission terms because I am her companion right out of training. She is awesome!!!!!!!! We have a lot of fun together! 

Sisters Reidhead and Schmidt

We live on a member's property in their farm house (no apartment number). It is so adorable. When I was in this stake about 8 months ago I went on exchanges and stayed in the farm house. SO it is fun to be somewhere familiar. 

So transfer day, last Tuesday, was super crazy!  Sister Andruski and I were going to be driving up to Spokane with 4 bad tires and it snowed all night. We both did not feel safe driving with bad tires ~ which we found out that we could change them out for new ones on Saturday of the week before. So we called the senior missionary to check if we could get our tires changed and he said yes but our car wouldn't get done until 4pm and we were supposed to be in Spokane by 1pm to meet our new companions.... that didn't happen. So during that time ~ when our car was getting fixed ~ we hung out with Sister Cook who I just adore! We played basketball with their family on Thanksgiving and they were bummed when they found that we were leaving ~ because they wanted to play on Christmas. We went shopping with her and it was weird not doing missionary work. I felt gross because it seemed like we were being disobedient. But we weren't because we had no place to go. The assistants called us later on and said that President Dymock would be driving down from Spokane with the two sisters that are taking our place and that he would be driving us back up to Spokane. The drive from Moscow to Spokane is 2 hours. So they didn't get to Moscow until 4:30pm and we didn't leave Moscow until 5ish. It was fun to ride with President. We talked to him about how he got called to being a mission president and how he and Sister Dymock met each other! It was a blast! We arrived in Spokane and then we had to wait for our ride to get to the stake center. My area is about 30 minutes away from Spokane where the temple, mission home and office are located.

I got to see sisters I've served with one last time before they left for home and before I leave. It was a tender mercy! God is good!!!!! Then we got our ride and we were off to Spokane West! I love this stake! I served here for 6 months and I was hoping to see members from these past areas at church and I did!!!!! Tears were shed and hugs were given! I love this area so much!!!!!!!!!! This is my favorite area ~ even though I love all of them! 

We have an investigator named Darin and the first time I met him he was drunk... :-( We shared a lesson with him and a member who lives with him was there. At the end of the lesson he gave us a handshake and kissed our hands. My first time having my hand kissed and it was by a drunk guy in his 50's. He kept asking us if we have twin sisters who are possibly 50. ???

We have a lot of snow here! About 6 inches and more is coming and colder weather is coming. It is supposed to be in the single digits this week.... YAY!!!!! NO! Our farm house's heater was not working until I came so I am glad it working now because we would be freezing otherwise. 

Snowy Wasteland

We have a baptism tomorrow at 6. Her name is Ayla Leyden and she is 16. Her family are members and she has come to church ever since she was little but her biological father said  she couldn't get baptized until she was 16 ~ so here she is!!!!! Tomorrow is her birthday and her mom is bringing cake as dessert and I was so happy to hear that!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE CAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also the ward here is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have extremes here, SUPER wealthy and not so wealthy and everyone acts as equals with each other!!!!!!!!!!!!  

I love you all and miss you all!!!!!!!!! Toodaloo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sister Schmidt

Last Transfer ~ 6 weeks left!

Hello Everyone!

It's the final countdown!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am LEAVING and so is Sister Andruski!

New address ~ 

                                                     Sister Monica Schmidt
                                                     9011 S Medifor Road
                                                      Cheney, WA 99004

Our area is being swept!  President Dymock said that it would be good to have a clean slate since a lot of his good missionaries have struggled here.  I am going to the Silver Lake Ward which is in the Spokane West Zone and I will still be the STL.  I served in the Sunset and West Terrace wards there for 6 months! I am excited to go back!  Silver Lake, Sunset, and West Terrace wards meet in the same building!!!!!!  I'll get to see the people I met there before I go home and I am so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!! 

My new companion is Sister Readhead and this is her 3rd transfer out!  She will most definitely keep me going!  Not that I am having problems!  I am going to miss this area!  But I am ready for change!  When we told the ward on Sunday they were not happy to hear that we are leaving!  They told us that they don't want Elders... good thing sisters are coming in!

Downtown Moscow!

We are having to say "see you later" to a lot of people today before we leave tomorrow.  Also, Sister Andruski and I will be going on a road trip tomorrow to Spokane to meet our new companions!  Pray that we make it there safely!

Good-bye Idaho!

Hello Washington!

On Tuesday I went to MLC (Missionary Leader Conference) and it was amazing like always!!!!!!!!!!! We were taught about Moses (Exodus 3-4) and  how he struggled with his calling and the excuses that he gave to the Lord and then we read the Lord's responses to him and they were full of love and encouragement and support! Sister Dymock gave a training all about commitments and how we need to be committed to the gospel and that we should NEVER fall away!  I gave this training in our zone training and it well really well apparently. Everyone said that I did a good job and that I got really intense when I committed everyone to make an oath with themselves to never fall away! I will NEVER  fall away from this Gospel because it is Christ's!  The final training was given by the assistants to the president and it was on using technology with members!  Since we don't have technology (Ipads or smart phones) we are encouraged to have members use theirs for hastening the work. The reason we have technology is to hasten the Lord's work! It is not for wasting time by playing bingo up until 3 am. So everyone reading this email should go onto their social media and share the #LIGHTtheWORLD video on your Face Book page!  DO IT!

Today has been crazy! We have been all over the place but I think I have gotten better at packing! haha :) I am going to miss Moscow but I am ready for a change of scenery! I will be close to the Fairchild Air Force base and the airport! I miss seeing planes! 

I love all of you and I miss you all! Toodaloo!

Sister Schmidt

17 Months Down!

Hello Everyone,

This is the last week of the transfer!  TIME KEEPS FLYING AND IT WON'T STOP! 

We had a lesson this week with an investigator named Uriah and he seemed interested and open but then we had a lesson and he wasn't so much. Thankfully we had a member with us. He is nice but he doesn't really want to know.... that is what we are guessing. The lesson was on the Restoration and he asked crazy questions and we had no idea what to say! The spirit was not there and we felt abandoned. But we evaluated the lesson after and we think that Uriah is not ready. If he was ready then the spirit would put things into our minds but nothing came up. It was discouraging and thankfully he said that we can meet again. 

So..... we definitely had a FEAST on Thanksgiving. We had a dinner appointment at 1 and then we played basketball with the stake president and his family at 2 at the stake center. It was so nice to play basketball again. They have four daughters and I love them all. The youngest is an 8th grader. I had to tone it down a bit and not play like I did in high school. I wanted to keep playing! We then had another appointment at 3 and another one at 5. We had a lot of food but we did pace ourselves. I now like pumpkin pie and pecan pie. My tongue is developing! haha :) I still don't like tomatoes! 

Thanksgiving with the Bloomfield Family!

On Friday we went to the temple and a lady named Sister Ferguson took us four sisters and we went together! It was so nice to be in the temple! That is one thing that I am excited about coming home for ~ I can go to the temple every week! I want to be an ordinance worker. I did the work for a lady from Normandie, France. She was born in 1541 and her name is Anna per de Moulin. It was awesome! This was my last time going to the temple on my mission! I want to go when I get home when I am still a missionary. It might not happen but I would love to be a missionary still in my temple!

November 25, 2016 

A few weeks ago our Ward Mission Leader and his family bought me boots for the winter! They have good tread on the bottom so I won't slip! OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT SNOWED LAST NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It looks so pretty outside! I am actually happy to live in the snow! 

One of our investigators, Brother Leonard, is going through a hard time. He and his wife who is in LA are getting a divorce and he is now homeless. If you could keep him in your prayers that would be awesome!!!! Our lesson with Therman was changed to Sunday and we taught him the Restoration. He is from North Carolina and he started to meet with the missionaries because a lady that comes to his work a lot invited him to come to church and he agreed. He is a man of his word which is nice because when we says he will do something he will do it! I love it when people are true to their word. We taught the Restoration and he understood it and we are helping him believe it. He works two jobs everyday and he said that he won't have time to read the Book of Mormon. In response we said then pray about what we shared with you and ask if it is true and he said that he can do that! We have FHE with Ryan tonight with a family in the ward. We are excited!!!!!!!!!!!! Transfers happen next week so you will all know where I will be for the last 6 weeks of my mission. 

I love you all and miss you all!!!!!!!!!! Toodaloo!!!!!!!!!

Sister Schmidt

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello Everyone!

This week was very fun! I had two exchanges with two wonderful sisters! I went on exchanges with Sister Hsiao who is from Taiwan and with Sister Paget! This exchange was the 4th exchange with Sister Paget! We have served around each other for 7 and a half months. I love her!!!!!! She came out with me in July! 

On Friday we had a church tour with Ryan, our 13 year old boy investigator. It was not a reverent church tour. Let's just put it that way. He was all over the place and was being crazy. He does have ADHD but in church he sits still...... he can choose to be quiet but that night he didn't want to. But we did find out that he doesn't really understand why we are baptized. He just wants to be baptized to get baptized for his family. That is a righteous desire but there is more to it that just that. So we are going to teach him about baptism with more details. I am excited! 

I am going to the temple on the 25th of November! When everyone else is doing Black Friday shopping I will be in the house of the Lord drawing closer to him! It will be Light Friday to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This morning Sister Andruski and I decorated our apartment for Christmas and it looks gorgeous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It feels like home!

Decorating our Moscow apartment ~ 2016
"Don't mind the beds, we were doing our laundry!"

Five families are feeding us on Thanksgiving! We missionaries know how to have a feast! haha :) I will for sure be stuffed!! Have fun with all of the family!!!!!!!!! 🦃🦃🦃🦃

This week we also taught a less active lady and she expressed to us that she is having a hard time with her daughter and we read 1 Nephi 6-7 and she received revelation as to what she needs to do. Once we finished the chapter where she got her answer her home teachers came in and shared a message with her as well and they, not knowing her situation, told her the same thing the scriptures told her!!!!!!!! Heavenly Father is aware of every single child of His. He loves us and wants us to know that we are loved and cherished and appreciated! We are not alone in this world and we never will be! 

Ryan, Isabeau and Mike Fielder all came to church on Sunday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!We asked Mike if we could call him in the morning and keep calling until he answers..... he shouldn't have given us permission ~ we called him 8 times in a row until he called us back. He came and we did everything we could to get him there and the Lord did the rest! 

I don't remember if I said this last time but the new stake president is our old Bishop and we are still waiting to get a new one. 

We have a new investigator and his name is Therman. We have an appointment with him next Saturday and we are excited! He is from North Carolina! Pray for him! 

I love you and miss you all! Toodaloo!!!!!

Sister Schmidt

A Crazy Good Week!

Hello Everyone,

It was a Crazy good week!!!!!!!!! We had stake reports and that was fun. I have come to realize that I like meetings.  I don't know why, I just do. You find yourself on your mission... haha :) I don't know if you remember me sending pictures of a Llama farm full of alpacas and a few Llamas. So the Elders decided to not help anymore and we are the only missionaries helping this old lady take care of her animals. We did the hay and water. I am not good at telling stories so I am going to just say that we have to carry bails of hay up hills and the rubber boots I was wearing had a tear in them and Suvia, the old lady, put a garbage bag in it to keep the mud and water from getting to my sock and foot. I was physically exhausted and I wanted to pass out but the only thing keeping me from doing so was that my pillow would be mud, poop, and pee.... that did not sound appealing.

Since it gets dark here at 4pm we are teaching the members at 8 and 8:30. We are teaching them the missionary lessons and it is helping us practice teaching. It is also strengthening the members and strengthening me as well. It is a win win situation. I love the Restoration. You should invite the Elders to the house in the late evening and have them share with you the Restoration. It will lift up your spirits. I promise you that as a missionary, since I have permission to do that. haha :) We have a new investigator!!!!!! Her name is Gail Krauss and her son is a member and we have a lesson with her this week on Friday at 1. Pray for us!!!!!!!!!! She is so sweet and we are not sure about her level of commitment but we will see on Friday.

Stake Conference was this weekend and we got a new stake presidency!!!!!! Guess who the new stake president is? Obviously you don't know so I will just tell you! It is our Bishop in the Quail Run ward! He is no longer Bishop Cook but President Cook! The stake president loves Sister Andruski and I!!!!!!!!!! He is going to do such a wonderful job! We had two general authorities come, Elder Keetch and Elder Call. Something that Elder Keetch shared with everyone was a poem called "Be ye therefore perfect" by Michelle Hamdee. I am not sure if that is her first name... A line that I love from it is "In my flaws I act as proxy." I love as a missionary, I am a representative of Jesus Christ and He is perfect and I am NOT. But I am stepping in for Him to help the people in Moscow. I love it! It can also go for a lot of different things. One of the many themes at conference was service and I love this quote he mentioned as well "If you don't like your lot in life, build a service station on it." That statement is so true. When we serve others we are happier and I have a strong testimony of that from being on my mission. When we focus on others we don't get caught up in our problems and they eventually resolve themselves. We find our self instead. The gospel is simple and it is supposed to be. God does want it to be complicated because He wants us all to return to live with Him after this life. I love being a missionary! Also another thing that I took was I am going to pray and ask Heavenly Father how He sees me. I encourage all of you to do the same and you will be thrown back by how much YOUR Heavenly Father loves you and what He sees in you!

I love you and miss you all!!!!!!!!!!!Toodaloo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sister Schmidt

Missionary Leadership Council

Hello Everyone!

This week went by really fast as usual! Last pday was Halloween and we stayed with members and wrote letters. It was not very exciting but it was a pday. On Tuesday I went to MLC (missionary leadership council) from 9-3 in Spokane. It was amazing to be trained by President Dymock and to be united with the other mission leaders. I love being a missionary and I love wearing Christ's name on my shoulder! It always draws people's eyes and I love it! In the beginning of my mission I was always so nervous because people kept staring and now I don't even care. 

It doesn't even phase me that eyes are on me. haha :) 

Missionary Leadership Council

During MLC we talked about our purpose as missionaries and it was based off the Mission President's training by Elder Rasband of the 12. It was so motivating! Something that was talked about was that people on the other side are praying for us to find their family and to teach them the gospel! I loved that because it reminded me of an experience I had with a lady named Sister Davis when I was at the temple in Sacramento before I left for Spokane! (She told me that she knew people who have passed on are helping missionaries to find their families here!)  

After that 6 hour meeting I had a "spiritual headache" and it lasted until the next day. On the road trip up the zone leaders and STL from Lewiston picked us up and we drove to Spokane together. We had a lot of fun laughing with each other. On the way back we were less excited and more mellow and we shared why we came on a mission and some of the zone leaders started talking about marriage and how they are "marriage hungry" and this made me feel uncomfortable because I am the closest one to "die" out of all of the missionaries in the van. When I mean "die" I mean go home. It was wonderful to hear how other missionaries decided to come on a mission. 

As a STL in Moscow, I had my first exchange with Sister Sonenstahl. And knowing me, I didn't take a picture.... I am really bad at taking pictures at the moment. I have gotten better on my mission but I have a lot to improve on. I need to learn from you BrieAnn. The exchange went well. We didn't die and we are still breathing. Sister Sonenstahl has been out for three months and she is amazing! We talked a lot and we met a lot of people! I love the sisters in Moscow! 

 I love you all and I miss you! Toodaloo!!!!!!!!

Sister Schmidt

Happy Halloween!

!! Happy Halloween ~ 2016 !!

Hello Family,

Answers to your questions:

1) The visit with Chris went well! We just talked to him and his girlfriend. She didn't really talk much but we talked to him about why he doesn't go to church anymore. We had a good time. We can definitely have missionaries stop by and see them! Do you know what she is expecting or if she just liked our company?

2) As an STL I am over 5 sisters and they are all in Pullman, WA besides my companion obviously!

3) I am still thinking about what I want for Christmas? I have thought about you just giving me a gift card so that I can go out and buy one new outfit that I can wear for when I come home. But depending on where I am sent for my last transfer I might ask you to send me a new outfit. I would like just nicer tops since all I have back at home is regular t-shirts even though I am going to love wearing those again with a sweatshirt and jeans! But strangely enough, I am going to miss wearing a skirt everyday... The mission has changed me!

I am so jealous that you got to see Emilee Lloyd, Danielle, and Julie Jones !!!!!!!!!!!!! I miss all of them and love them so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you have fun at Uncle Blain's for Halloween! Tell him that I say HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope everything for tennis will turn out okay! I miss playing it! I have not stepped foot on a court since I have been out and I held a racquet for only a few minutes! So I am going to relearn once I get home!

Ryan Osborn is doing SO well !!!!!! We had two lessons with him this week! It is so refreshing to teach Ryan. He is so eager and understands what we are teaching him. Our first lesson we taught him the gospel of Jesus Christ and we  had steps for it and everything and he enjoyed it tremendously! He wants to get baptized and we are going to follow up with him and to see if he has talked to his parents about getting baptized. I love Ryan! Sister Andruski and I both imagined Ryan being baptized at the exact same time so we are assuming that is God telling us that he will get baptized. Then we had a dinner appointment with the Dixon's and we had Ryan come over! We watched the Restoration movie and he had already watched it twice beforehand. The first time he had questions and then he watched it again with subtitles and his questions were answered! We asked him if he will pray and ask God if Joseph Smith was a prophet and he said that he already knows that he was prophet because he asked God! I LOVE RYAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! To top it off he came to church! He can now get baptized tomorrow if he wanted to but first we need to teach him all of the lessons. Do you have any ideas on how to teach the law of chastity to a 13 year old boy?

I then had an all day meeting in Spokane at the Mission home for new missionary leaders! It was awesome! I am so nervous about being a STL! I don't want to mess up and I have so many weaknesses and I need to be an example but it is hard when I struggle with things. I am learning how to be humble and get over that. haha :)

This week in personal study I learned a few cool things. So in 1 Nephi chapter 4 verse 20 it is talking about how Nephi is going to the treasury with Zoram and Zoram thinks that Nephi is Laban. I imagine the treasury to be like National Treasure or the bank account of Harry Potter. Nephi could have taken anything he wanted but all he wanted was the brass plates! He had integrity and he put the Lord's will in front of his. I love it! So at points I struggle to have constant motivation to do missionary work! (It is hard to get rejected a lot.) But I was reading in Alma chapter 8 and it was exactly what I needed to read at the exact moment! I love the Lord's tender mercies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Earlier today we tried a potential investigator and on the door there was a sign that said, "LDS friends" and then a note taped on the door. I immediately thought that it was a drop letter but NOPE! She informed us of when it would be a good time to stop by! Another tender mercy! The Lord loves His children!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I Love you all and miss you!!!!!!! Toodaloo!!!!

Sister Schmidt

"Sister Trainer Leader"

< Moscow District

                         Moscow Zone >

Hello All,

So this week is transfer week and yesterday, 10/23/16,  we found out if we would be staying or leaving and I am staying!! So is Sister Andruski! We have one and doned people on our mission except for one other companionship we were in. I can't believe I am saying this but I was looking forward to change. I don't hate the area or my companion. I enjoy both of them! I just got use to change every 6 weeks and when I found out that there was no change except for one thing (I will tell you that in second) I was disappointed. My body was used to it. So the one thing that is different this transfer is that I am now a STL (sister training leader)! This is similar to a zone leader, but for the sisters. President Dymock called Sister Andruski and I on Saturday and we were in an appointment when he called us. So after the appointment we looked at the phone and saw we had a missed call from the President we both screamed in the car because that phone call meant either one of us is training or becoming a STL! Well I am now a STL!  So I am excited for this chance to be a leader in the mission! 

Nothing really happened this week except that Ryan came to church! That was awesome!! We had a lesson scheduled with him but when we went over to see him he was sick :( All of our lessons this week canceled on us and it was very depressing. But knowing how much Heavenly Father loves us, He gave us tender mercies along the way. Those blessings wouldn't have come if those lessons didn't fall through. 

 One tender mercy was when we were walking! Nothings happens in missionary work until you walk! So we were walking on a busy street and we were waving and smiling at people as they drove by when a lady pulled over and asked us if were Mormon missionaries and we said yes! She asked us to come over and talk with her.  (While we were walking over to her car, I recognized her car and her and I realized that we had waved to her as she drove by and she turned around and came back!) She wants us to come by and teach her! That never happens! So we are going to teach her soon because she was having surgery the next day to get her gall bladder removed! Her name is Keely! 

Then another one happened the next day! We were tracting and we came across a lady who does volunteer work at a place similar to D.I. or Goodwill. She then went on to talk about how we came at a very good time because she is having a life crisis with her church. She asked us if we believe Jesus Christ to be just another prophet. We went on to testify that Christ is the Son of God! She was very happy to hear that. We talked about prophets and the Book of Mormon and she was liking everything   that we were saying. She wants us to come and teach her as well! Her name is Gail! 

Llama Poop! YUCK!

The Lord loves His children!!!! I love Him and I hope you do as well! 

I love you all and miss you! Toodaloo!!!

Sister Schmidt

Halloween is in the air!

Hello To All, 

I have experienced another rainy week in the great and dreary land of Moscow. But I am having fun splashing in the puddles and making wet memories! The rain is doing wonders for my crazy curly hair! I apologize before hand how crazy this email is going to be ~ it is going to be all over the place. 

Isabeau came to church on Sunday and she stayed during the whole entire sacrament meeting. She has never done that before and she has been meeting with the sisters since April! She also attended the other two classes after and she has always walked in and out and could never sit still. She did this Sunday!!!!!!!!!!! I love her and I hope she joins Christ church soon! She deserves to be happy!

We had a zone conference and the doctrine from President Dymock was on the 2nd Coming!!!!! Dun Dun Dun Dun!!!!!!!!!!! It was mind blowing and I don't understand all of it hence why I am not going to try and attempt to type it out to you! Just know that Christ is coming and the signs all over the place and if we do what we are supposed to be doing we will be okay! Something that threw me off guard was a statement that President Dymock quoted from Elder Christofferson when he came to Cour' de Alene. He said that the world is already wicked enough for Christ to come. There is just not enough righteous people!  The continents are going to come back together into one massive piece of land. Also, here are somethings we can study to better understand the 2nd coming. 1. Joseph -Matthew (overview of 2nd coming, vs. 22 --> signs of the times) 2. D&C 45 (expanding Christ's sermon, explain the signs) 3. D&C 101, 133 (explain events) 4. D&C 38,29 (warnings we need to heed to be ready). This is from President Benson I believe if I remember correctly. We also did role plays of street contacting and tracting. I loathe doing these but these were actually fun! haha :) 

Moscow Zone Conference ~ October 13, 2016

Companions!

So Ryan is doing well! He didn't come to church because he didn't finish his homework. Can you pray that his parents will allow him to be baptized? We invited him to be baptized on the 12th of November and he wants to be so bad. This past week we taught him the Plan of Salvation or Plan of Happiness. He asked SO many good questions that were deep. He already has a goal to go to the temple to get baptized for his grandpa who passed away. I love Ryan!!!!!!!! It is always so fun to teach him. The gospel is simple and his lessons remind me of that. 

We went to the Bishop's fireside last night and it was on missionary work and we were part of the program. I talked about your conversion story mom. Then we played Mormon jeopardy that Sister Andruski and I made. The youth had a blast and there was plenty of laughter. The Bishop loves us! President Dymock told us that Bishop Cook emailed him and said that we are amazing sisters and that he wants both of us to "die" here meaning he wants this to be our last area before we go home. That definitely made me feel good!

The pumpkin turned out good. I didn't know what to carve so I did "CARVED" with a bat above it. 

I know. Original right? 

Pumpkin 2016

Sister Schmidt, Sister Paget, Sister Andruski

I love the Gospel so much! I have learned so many valuable skills and pieces of knowledge that I am excited to use after my mission. I am excited to do visiting teaching. I am excited to do missionary work! I am pumped to meet less actives and befriend them! I am excited to be a pro active member of God's church!

Almost every morning the Elders and Sisters in our zone play volleyball or ultimate Frisbee together for working out. It has definitely developed zone unity within Moscow. 

I love all of you and I miss all of you! Toodaloo!

Sister Schmidt

Decisions, Decisions

Monica at a member's home in Moscow, ID
Beautiful view!

Hello Everyone!

So a lot of emotions have gone through my body this week, mainly on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I went on exchanges this weekend with the Sister Trainer Leader ~ Sister Paget. She came out with me over 15 months ago and she is going home early just like every sister who came out with me. She and a few others are leaving on December 17th and she told me that I could go home then as well. So we called the mission President and I talked to him about it and I asked him if he could take the knots out of my stomach and he just chuckled. During the course of a couple days so many thoughts were racing through my mind of either staying the full time or going home early. Both of the options felt good and then they felt bad! I don't like making big decisions that have an affect on the future Sister Schmidt. I obviously was praying about it and freaking out about it. On Sunday I decided to fast and receive extra strength and help. I was so tempted to have one of the senior couple missionaries telephone home and get your opinions on what I should do. All day Sunday the day of  Jan 16th kept popping into my head and I thought it was just because I was so used to saying that date from the very beginning of my mission. But I decided to stay the whole time.

I was debating whether or not to write about this and inform you that I could be home in 2 months and be home for Christmas but I came to the conclusion that you wouldn't care because I got my answer to stay out. I believe I have a few more pimples populating my face now because of this... haha :)

So the teenage boy, Ryan Miller, came to church yesterday! He disappeared before we could ask him anything. We are seeing him today to check up on him. We hope he enjoyed it! We had a lesson with him this week and we knocked on his door and his brother, who does not like Mormons just yelled when he saw us in the peep hole, "The Mormons are here!" I just laughed. We were talking to Ryan for a few minutes when his parents rolled into their driveway and Ryan asked if we could come inside. We did and for the first few minutes Ryan was showing us around his house and he showed us his room ~ it is covered in ninja turtle stuff... I APPROVE! His parents were making dinner in the kitchen and getting us chairs to sit in to teach Ryan. We taught him the Restoration of the Gospel and he understands the whole thing! He told us in his own words what we had just taught him. He is such a smart kid!

We taught the Leonard's this week as well! I love them so much! We taught them about faith and repentance and we did a demo for them with water, pepper and hand sanitizer! It was entertaining. I love this family! Brother James Leonard is such a sweet man with a caring soul. He is walking evidence of the Atonement!!!!!!!!!!!!! The church is true!

It has been raining here like crazy! I love it but I do miss the sun! It is shining right now and I am so happy and so is my companion. All of us 6 sisters in the zone are going to be carving pumpkins today as a sisters pday activity. I have no clue what to carve......

One of the ward's investigators named Mike is awesome! He lives out in the middle of nowhere! We followed up on his reading and he is doing it! He understands and believes it! Magical words to a missionaries' ear! We have a lesson with him tonight and we are excited! Mike is such a fun old man who is very racist. There is never a dull moment with him.

NOELLE!!!!!!!!!! NOELLE!!!!!!! (imagine I am singing this...) We taught Noelle and it went really weird. She is hard core 7th day and we have come to realize that she is not wanting to change ~ she is wanting to teach us ~ so we are going to have to discontinue our visits with her.  We are going to inform her of it this week.  We just boldly testified to her that the Book of Mormon is true and that we would get nearer to God by abiding its precepts (teachings) than by any other book. She was taken back because she was expecting us to have our faith shaken. My faith is rock solid!

I got my hair cut today. I only got 3 inches taken off!

Sister Andruski and Schmidt at a LLama Farm!

I love you all and miss you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Toodaloo!

Sister Schmidt  

3 and 1/2 months to go!

Hello Everyone,

So this week was a blur! I am so grateful for planners and for journals or else I would not remember what happened this week! 

One of the ward's investigators, Nancy, is on date to be baptized for the 29th of October! We are so excited for her! We had a lesson with her on Wednesday and we were talking about baptism and how that we in order to get to a position in life  need to make goals. We expressed to her that the main goal in life is to find and have joy and that is only through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The first step is by being baptized and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. We invited her to be baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God and she said "when" and we told her to choose and she said "any day". SO we suggested October 29th and she agreed! She is still fighting the addictions that she is overcoming and I know that if she continues to come closer to Christ she will have the strength to beat her addictions and to have her agency back that belongs rightfully to her! We asked her if she knows what the Book of Mormon is about from the previous sisters teaching her and she said no. I am so happy that she was honest with us because understanding the Book of Mormon is vital for our conversion. Before the mission I never read the introduction or the testimonies. I encourage everyone to read those because they are so good with helping us understand the story of the Book of Mormon and the ability it has to increase our spirituality. 

The Leonard family is doing so well! Brother James Leonard is the non-member and he is amazing! I love this family! I just want to be around them all the time! We had a lesson with them this week about temples and how Heavenly Father wants them to go to the temple to be sealed for time and all eternity. In weddings outside of the temple the individual performing the wedding usually says "Till death do you part" or "for as long as you both shall live". In the temple we are married forever! It doesn't just end once we die, it continues even after this life! At the end of the lesson we let them choose a picture of the temple that they would like to put in a place where they would always see it. (The temple pics you gave me mom are the one's that they chose from). They also came to General Conference and it was awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

I love general conference even if I get rebuked by God. It is always with love. I don't have my notes with me so I can't exactly tell you what I liked but I did absolutely love the topic of trials. We go through trials for a reason. We can receive strength from the Savior to get through our trials. I have learned that sometimes the strength I receive is patience to endure my trials. An important thing to remember is that there is a reason why we are going through trials. We are learning and growing! Another topic that I loved was JOY!!!!!!!!!!!! We are here to experience joy and we can choose to be happy or choose to be unhappy. IT IS OUR CHOICE! I love it! God does not force anything on us. As a missionary I don't force this wonderful, joyful message on others. I only invite. (Even though I would really like to force this on people because I know it will make them happier and give them more purpose in life!) But I have to remember they get to choose. I will talk about general conference more next time when I have my notes! 

I love you all and miss you tons!!!!!!!! TOODALOO!!!!!!!!!

Sister Schmidt

Another week in Moscow!

A Beautiful Sunset!

So not much happened this week. We taught Ryan the 13 year old investigator who we are teaching. He is so eager to meet with us. We went by one night and he came outside and we talked to him about Jesus Christ and about baptism. He went on to tell us that his grandpa passed away a few years ago and we did a three way pinkie promise and we promised him that he will be happy and that he will see his grandpa again. He looked at our pinkies with a very serious look and it was so adorable! I love Ryan so much! I am so blessed to have met  him and to teach him!

So I have a firm testimony that nothing happens in missionary work until you WALK! So we tried a girl who was not home and while we were walking up a hill and when we got in our vehicle a young man was walking up to us barefoot. We got out of the car and we started talking to him. His name is Nash. He asked us if we are missionaries because he recognized our name tags. He then went on to explain that he was a member but that he fell away a long time ago. He wants to get back into it and that he doesn't want to feel miserable anymore. He knows that he needs the church in his life and he was wondering if we could help him. We said, "OF COURSE!" We have a lesson with him this week and after we will be going to the Addiction Recovery Program with him. 

This is why I am on a mission. I am here to help people change their lives and come closer to Christ. I am here to help people be happy and STAY happy. I am here to help bring Heavenly Father's children back to him. I love being a missionary! I love seeing the Atonement work in people's lives. It is real, God is real, and so is His Son, Jesus Christ.

We go through hard things for a reason. Life is full of them. But what is the reason?  Why do bad things happen to good people? There is opposition in all things. There is always good and bad. We go through hard things because they are helping us become like our Savior and like our Heavenly Father who are both perfected beings. We need to experience the hard times to appreciate the good times. For example, you wouldn't know what it is like to be healthy if you have never been sick. You need both to appreciate the good. Mission life is hard but it helps me be grateful for the good times that happen. I love this work and I love having trials. 

Attitude is everything in life. You can choose to be happy and to hold your head up when life gets heavy.  Smile and push through. When you do that you can accomplish anything you set your mind to. 

I love you all and I miss you!!!!!! Toodaloo!!!!!!!!

Sister Schmidt 

Sister Norwood and Sister Schmidt on exchanges!

Special Leadership Training

Moscow Zone Special Leadership Meeting

Hello Everyone!

This week was awesome! First off, are any of you doing the Book of Mormon challenge where you read 5 pages everyday? I love it so much!!!!!!!!!!!! I never realized how much mercy is in the Book of Mormon. On Friday we had specialized training and that involves President and Sister Dymock and the stake president. For the first half it was just us missionaries and the Dymocks and we talked about the Book of Mormon. Did you know that on average there is mercy every 1.7 verses in the Book of Mormon and for the Bible it is every 7 verses. Moroni's promise is real! I love the Book of Mormon! We mainly talked about how to work with the ward better and get them more involved! I am so excited to apply what I have learned! Then I can take all the learning from my mission to my life after my mission. When I think about it ~ I didn't know anything! Now I gotta lifetime of knowledge. (catch the movie line...?) Then later in the day we had the ward council come and ward missionaries! It was fantastic! I hope I will be in a leadership position when I come home so I can contribute! One thing that stands out to me is that the president of an auxiliary is the "mission president" of missionary work in that auxiliary. I thought that was interesting! 

We got four new investigators but later in the week they dropped us because they are happy where they are at. I was devastated but I am happy to have met them and I know that the Lord is preparing them and I am glad that I was able to be a part of that process! Another investigator we found is an older man and his name is Mike. He only works and he has never been married so he is lonely. So when we came over he couldn't stop talking. It was an interesting lesson to say the least. But he is interested and he told us that he believes what we say and we are praying that he is reading the Book of Mormon. Another investigator that we found is a lady named Noel Mesa. She just moved from Georgia! I love the south, so I immediately loved her! She met with missionaries down there and she was very surprised to see girls out serving. We are going to teach her here and she is a hard core 7th day. Keep her in your prayers :) 

Our assistant ward mission leader's wife had her baby on Friday! This is their first child and they had a girl. Her name is Murphy! We have yet to see her, but when we do it is going to be SO HARD to NOT hold her :(😥 

Heavenly Father is real! He has a body just like us but His is perfect! I know that we are here to become like Him! In order to become like Him we need to go through hard things. I am grateful for hard things because that means that I am one step closer to becoming like my Father in Heaven! I love this gospel and for the things that I KNOW to be true! 

Love you all and miss you! TOODALOO!!!

Sister Schmidt