Leap Year!

Hello Everyone!

Well the wedding is still on!! Korielle is really stressed and we are trying to have the Relief Society meet her so that she can feel not so stressed! Hopefully this week that will happen. So I found out that Korielle is 19 years old. On Sunday we had an amazing lesson with her and her mom about prophets. Cori was asleep. I felt the spirit so strong. I wasn't crying but things just kept coming to mind and I don't remember all that was said. But it was a very touching moment. She lost twins a couple months ago and she asked us if they are in heaven and we talked to her about Moroni 8 and how they are in heaven with God and they will be hers to raise when she passes from this life. Her mom was about in tears at that. It was an amazing experience. Also once she found out that there is a prophet on the earth today she was blown away and excited!  Then we talked about a lot of stuff that needed to be said and when I said that "Christ lives" her eyes got huge and then I realized that she thought I meant that he is walking around on earth. I then said He is in heaven and she was like wow! It was a funny moment. I was a little nervous to see her mom there. Her mom didn't look happy that we were there so I decided that I was going to make her like me and I was myself and we all laughed. By the end of the lesson she was letting me call her mom and give her a hug! ~ 

~  I am just adorable! haha :-)  ~

So transfer calls happen on the 27th of March which is Easter Sunday and fast Sunday! We get the whole package ~ so I will be able to attend Cori and Korielle's wedding! President Dymock used to allow us to go to baptisms but not anymore. We can only go if we are in the zone. So I don't know if I will be here for their baptism?  Korielle asked us if we can still stay in contact. I immediately said YES! 

This week has been crazy. Sister Blackwell has not been doing so well to the point that we needed to call President Dymock so Sister Blackwell could talk to Sister Dymock who is a psychologist. So other than that this week has been okay. 

We have an appointment with a young mom on the AFB base tomorrow so I hope that goes well. So this week I was driving home one night to get home and the back roads that I was driving on reminded me of the back roads at home. I miss driving on them with the country music blasting and with the windows open! I had a little homesick moment ~ but it passed ~ I made it pass. 

We still don't know if Ana is a member or not still. They are still figuring it out. But she finally accepted to have a church tour. We have a church tour with her tonight. We are excited! WE also had another lesson with an investigator whose husband passed away 4 years ago on the day we contacted her.... not a coincidence! We briefly talked to her how she will see her husband again and then we got into sealings and how in the LDS church people are marred in the temple for time and ALL eternity. She wants to learn more.  

Sunday was fun! I had five hours of church and two ward council meetings. We barely had time to take the sacrament ~ don't worry I took it. I love the sacrament. It is like getting re-baptized but with less water, if you catch my drift... 

Well I love all of you and wish you the best in life! 

Toodaloo!

Sister Schmidt

P-Day Basketball!!

Hello Everyone,

It didn't snow at all up here this week, thank goodness. I rode my bike for the first time last week in almost 8 months!  However, we didn't really bike like we were going to because Sister Blackwell's bike had flat tires. Also, she was having a hard week. But we walked some and I am adamant about riding my bike this week!!

Last Monday Sister Blackwell and I played basketball with all the elders in our zone and it was SO much fun. They were all surprised about how well I can play basketball!  I loved seeing all of their surprised faces. ( :-o )  I miss playing basketball ~ I miss playing tennis ~ I miss playing sports!

P-Day Basketball

Spokane West Zone

Sisters Schmidt and Lott

Well not a whole lot happened this week. We had interviews on Tuesday with our Mission President and his wife. I know every missionary says this, but it is true in my case. I have the BEST mission president ever!

This week we found out that Ana might already be a member so we are looking up her records to see if she was baptized. Also Cori and Korielle are doing amazing! They have quit drinking coffee and tea and we only taught the word of wisdom to them last week. They were so tempted to drink that stuff but they did not succumb to those desires. I love them so much! They keep telling us that we are the nicest people they have ever met. Also they LOVE the chocolate chip cookies I make them. I have decided that part of their wedding present will be giving Korielle that cookie recipe. They are praying about their baptismal day for the 2nd of April! I am so excited for them. Every night they are saying family prayers with their 3 and 1 year old. They want to get baptized and they are so ready as well! The Lord has people prepared all over the world but it is up to us as members to find them and bring them unto Christ.

We are not teaching anybody new. We are working on that. But we are also working on getting our two wards up and functioning again. So many callings have yet to be filled and one of the wards doesn't even have  a ward mission leader.... SO ya life is crazy here but very fun! I love the local leaders here. I don't want to leave but I feel that after this transfer I will be leaving and going somewhere else! Sad day....  :-(

But this Sunday we have 5 hours of church and we have 2 ward council meetings..... All I can say is that it will be VERY righteous!  Well I love you all and I miss all of you! Oh and my recent convert, Brittany Harrison, she is doing amazing! She is strong and active! I heard from her today!

Toodaloo!

Sister Schmidt

Happy Single's Awareness Day!!

Hello There Everyone!

So this week I was sick... YUCK!   We were indoors for the majority of the week. I was going insane!!  I wanted to go outside SO bad but, Sister Wall, the mission nurse, said that we had to stay inside. So when we were both feeling better we like literally ran outside.

We were walking along and then saw this
golf ball in the cement!  

Oh and I got my package today... It was here in Washington on Thursday but the UPS left a note and I signed it that when they came back on Friday they could leave it by my door but they never did because they went to a different door and left a note on that door with my name and said that it was in the office but it was after hours and the office is not open on the weekends so I had to wait until today to get it! Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!

SO things that happened this week are: we completed a humongous puzzle of Jesus helping little kids out of a river, Ana knows the Book of Mormon is true but she is confused about the process of how it came about. She thinks that Joseph Smith asked an expert to translate the Book of Mormon. SO we are going to have to address that next lesson. But at least she knows the Book of Mormon is true. She also gave Sister Blackwell and I both a knife that she bought from a dealer!

Also, Cori and Corielle are getting married on the 25th of March!!!!!!!!! Her colors are red and ivory!  We already talked to them about having Bishop Bates marry them and that they can have their wedding at the church for free and also their wedding reception. We are going to call the Relief Society President today or tomorrow to check if she can come to a lesson with us to Cori and Corielle's either on Friday or on Saturday. They accepted the Word of Wisdom very well. They just wanted to know why we didn't drink tea or coffee. Other than that they were good. Corielle told us that we are changing their lives with a smile on her face.

Well, nothing else happened this week other than we are going to have to bike a lot!  Tomorrow we are going to have to bike 16 miles! That is one of our lesser days... I am going to look good after the mission.

Everyone here loves our cookies!   Nothing else is new. 

A Dragon Sword

LOVE YOU ALL!   

Oh and yesterday  ~  we didn't celebrate Valentine's Day ~

we celebrated Happy Single's Awareness Day! 

Awesome! Toodaloo!

Sister Schmidt

Busy Missionary Life!

 Hello to All,

I got a phone call and I am.......................STAYING and so is Sister Blackwell. The new tires on our car are really nice!! And I have yet to get anything from Aunt Sherri??  I feel bad. I have gotten mail that has only been in the mail for 2 days?? 

The mail people here just hate me.

So one of our investigators, Ana is doing really well. She finished the New Testament and she is now in the Book of Mormon. She analyzes everything and she asks really weird questions about things that I have never even thought of or thought that people would ask. I truly believe that she will get baptized someday but she is a work in progress. I am definitely learning patience with her. 

So with our area being made into two wards we are having to update our area like crazy! We are not even close to being done!  We called President Dymock about our area and told him that we can handle it and he told us with the decrease of missionaries coming in we will be covering both areas.  (So I had an idea that I was going to stay here for another transfer.) I stayed in my last area for 3 transfers like this one. I wonder if I am going to do that to all of my areas?? That would mean that I will only have 4 areas.

So another investigator that we have is Janet (Janette) and she is an old lady that is about 81 years old. She is living with a member and they have romantic feelings toward each other so she can't get baptized yet because they have to figure things out before they can get married. But we found out from Bishop Lathen that she asked him if she could get baptized! I knew she knew the church was true. She still comes to church and she still reads the Book of Mormon. (Dad the couple that I think you are thinking of is Greg Jensen and Joyce Daniels. He had heart surgery on the 28th of January. We try to stay in contact with them but they don't really want us around :-(

On Wednesday and again on Friday a Jehovah's Witness came to our apartment and shared with us a message. They first thought that we were nuns. We told them that we are sister missionaries. On Friday we had zone training and it was fun. Those meetings are just so long and spiritually exhausting.

Then on Saturday we had a hand off lesson with the Russian Elders in our zone and the people wanted blessings and after our visit they wanted to have a prayer circle and I was standing next to an Elder so I had to hold his hand and if felt so weird holding a boys hand. Cooties!!!!!!!! GROSS!!!!!!!!!! haha :) We also gave them cookies and they loved them!!!!!!! Wow! I didn't know that our cookie recipe was that good! Then we had a lesson with Cori and Corielle. Cori is Marshallesse and Corielle is white. We had a lesson with them on Saturday with the Marshallesse Elders and it was on the Law of Chastity. I was extremely nervous about this lesson because I have lost two investigators from this lesson. They are not married and they have two little adorable kids. We invited them to pray about getting married and they have been praying about the Book of Mormon and they only have good feelings. They want to join this church because it is a good church and and it just feels good. (That is what they say.) They asked if they could come to church on Sunday and told us they needed a ride and we were so excited that they wanted to come.

Sunday was a hectic day. The wards were calling people to callings and nobody knew where anything was supposed to be? I kept telling Cori and Corielle that church is not normally like this. They liked it a lot and want to come back. During sacrament meeting Cori and Corielle told me that they were talking Saturday night and they want to get married!! So I am kind of planning a wedding in a way on my mission. They don't know how to go about it and neither do I ~ hence I am single. But I am so happy that they want to get married. I love them. They are so amazing. Sunday was the craziest day of my life. Our two wards overlap an hour so Sister Blackwell and I had to split for an hour and then we taught Gospel Principles for both wards on the spot because they didn't have a teacher. Also one of the wards has a ward mission leader. The other ward extended the calling but the individual declined. Sad :-( But life as a missionary is a roller coaster! Good thing that I love roller coasters! I was at church for 6 hours. I was leaving when the Bishop was leaving! 

So ya life is good in Washington.

Love you all!   Toodaloo!!!!!!!

Sister Schmidt

7 Months Out!!

Sunset in the Sunset Ward!

Hello to Everyone!

I have one question before I forget. What are the gas prices in California? The price here for unleaded is $1.79!!!!!!!!!!! I love it! 

We also had Stake Conference this last week-end!  It was very good.  We didn't have a general authority visit here though.  (I was shocked because I am just used to having one to come to all of them at home.)  The speakers talked about keeping the Sabbath Day Holy!  They talked about how doing family history work and missionary work are things that we should all be doing to keep the Sabbath Holy. 

I can't believe that I have been out 7 months!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Time just goes by so fast when you are having fun. I love my mission. I love President and Sister Dymock. I love the missionaries I get to serve with. I love the people here. I LOVE IT!!!!!!!! 

So since I emailed you on Wednesday I don't really have a lot to say.  I made the chocolate chip cookie dough recipe and a member let us "easily brake" into her home and use her kitchen aid. I can't remember if I told you this, but oh well. So everyone loves the dough and the cookies. But they look different when I take them out of the oven??  It must be the weather here because it is different than California. 

We had a district meeting this week and we had a guest speaker. The Elders brought a recent convert couple from their ward to speak to us and tell us their conversion story. Their names are Brother and Sister Thompson. They were baptized over a year ago and they were both taught to hate Mormons. He was a pastor of another faith ~ and they joined the church!! It was very inspiring to hear. It just goes to show that this church is true and that it is God's church on the earth. 

Do you know who Brent Joungeword is?  He is a famous wedding planner and he lives in Spokane. He is coming back to the church and his house is massive!

OH and I am going to be in the Cheney Press paper!!  Those pictures I sent are the ones that might be in it.

Sister Schmidt, Maureen Moberly, Sister Worthen

So I have some good news. Our investigator, Ana, now knows for herself that Jesus is the Son of God which is amazing!!!!!!!!!!!! Also when she discovered that the Lamanites who are in the Book of Mormon are Native Americans she totally freaked out and got super excited because she is part Native American. She told us that she will be done with the New Testament and reading in the Book of Mormon by our next visit ~ which is tomorrow. (She was in Thessalonians.) When she read 2 Corinthians 12:2 and saw that it said the third heaven she said that what we say is true and that she believes in the three degrees of glory!!  She still has questions but she believes in it now!!!!! She is doing so well  :-)   I love her and I am so happy that she coming unto Christ and that she now knows who He is!  

SO that is about it! I love you all and I miss you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Toodaloo!

Sister Schmidt

P.S. Humility accomplishes more than ability.