Another Transfer Week

Hello Everyone!

Well the question that everyone is probably dying to know the answer to you is if I'm staying? Well... I am staying! I am so EXCITED to be here in this area for another transfer. I get to be here for 6 months! I will have been out for 10 and a half months and I will only have been in 2 areas. It is going to be so hard to say goodbye to people here. Good thing that it is not a "goodbye" but a "see you later." I am staying here with Sister Sherwood and I am so excited because there are so many people that we are teaching who I am close with. So ya that is awesome! 

The wedding went well! Sister Sherwood and I both felt like wedding planners. There is so much work to do for a wedding that is behind the scenes. I am tempted to elope! haha... don't worry, I won't do that.  Korielle is getting baptized this Friday at 5 and she is super excited! I don't really have anything else to say. 

We might have a few more new investigators this week. I am really grateful to be serving in this area. I love these two wards. So many members this week told me that they don't want to me to leave. I am glad to stay but I am sad that so many missionaries are leaving this zone. I don't like change but this happens every transfer so I can get over it once again. 

This week was full of wedding stuff so nothing really happened. I love Cory and Korielle and their adorable little kids. I have gotten so close to them it is ridiculous! Charity is a real thing! 

Thank you for the package! I love it! I love all of you! I want you all to know that I KNOW that my Savior lives and that He died and rose again so that we can return back and live with our Heavenly Father again. I know this church is Christ's church on the earth and that this church is the only way for us to be truly happy on this earth and after this life. I love you all! Toodaloo!

Sister Schmidt

Happy Easter!

Hello to Everyone!

Things are going well here. We have three "On" dates for baptism! One is Korielle  ~ who is getting baptized on the 2nd of April. The other two are Cory (fiance of Korielle) and Brandi Simmons ~ who are both scheduled for the 30th of April. So a lot has happened this week! 

So bear with me for this email. I already know you will because you want to hear from me. :-) 

On Monday we played marshmallow dodge ball and I totally owned it! I snatched a marshmallow in the air with my left hand and I wasn't planning on trying to catch it but my arm thought other wise. Everyone was amazed but they said why are we even surprised anymore. I love surprising people!! 

So do you remember Ana Watson? She is a lady who we thought was not a member but who turns out to be. She read the New Testament in 4 weeks and she is now reading in Alma in the Book of Mormon AND she is reading the Old Testament for like the 10th time. She is amazing! She has had the hardest life ever. She has gone through things that I would never wish on my greatest enemy. Yet, she is the sweetest person I have ever met. She has no mean bone in her body. I have been blessed to have been a missionary who has had the opportunity to have taught her. She has taught me more than I have taught her it seems like but she would tell you other wise. Every visit she has jewelry to give us. ~ I have a mound of jewelry from her! I love it! ~

On Tuesday we met at the church building and she talked with the Bishop (and she didn't care if we were in the office when she was going to talk to him) about something specifically. It was a very spiritual moment.  I don't want be in that situation again ~ but it was eye opening to see the affect the Atonement has on people. It is said that one of the greatest blessings missionaries have is to see the affect the Atonement has on people. That statement is so true. After this meeting, she kept crying because the burden she has been carrying aaround with her for about 12 years was lifted and the flood gates were opened. Of course, the tissue box runs out in the climax of her tears so we got toilet paper. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Only on Tuesdays! (This happened on Tuesday). 

We had a lesson with Brandi Simmons on Wednesday and we brought Sister Robins who has been coming to Brandi's lessons. We taught her about eternal marriage and she wants to be sealed in the temple!!!!!!! I was so happy to see that she wants that for her family! For dinner on Wednesday night we had HOBO DINNERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so ecstatic to have those! I have been thinking of camping my whole mission! The Lord loves me! :-) Also on Wednesday we had exchanges and my companion was Sister Kulcsar who is from Hungary and she is going home next week. The mission life goes by so fast! We had a good time. She is an amazing missionary and it was a neat experience to learn from her even if it was only 24 hours. 

On Thursday we had a green cake since it was St. Patrick's Day. YAY cake! :-) 

On Saturday we saw Brandi again and we talked about following the prophet and she is excited to watch general conference. She is leaving tomorrow and she is going to be gone for 3 weeks. :-( Because she was leaving ~ we talked to her about how people make up lies and rumors about the church just like in Christ's time. She doesn't understand why people would do that and she says that when she hears something she will contact us and pray about it.  I love her! I am going to miss her because I feel that I am leaving this area. 

Oh transfer calls are on Easter Sunday.  

We then saw Cory and Korielle on Saturday and we taught them about obeying the law and serving others. Their life is really stressful right now with everything that is going on. We also gave them a Book of Mormon stories book and they were excited because they can read that with their kids and so they themselves can understand what is going on. It was a spiritually high lesson. 

I love Sister Sherwood. She and I get along so well. But I feel that I am leaving. :-(  I don't like it! 

Sunday, Cory and Korielle and their little ones came to church and they talked to Bishop Bates after sacrament meeting to talk about the final details for the wedding. I love their family. They want to do what is right. I have been blessed to teach them and to see them align their lives with God. I love it. I am so blessed! I love being a missionary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we taught Gospel Principles and we were teaching a potential investigator. She is dating a less active member and his family are active members and she comes with them. The first Sunday her boyfriend invited her to come to church, and yesterday she asked if his family, the Barr's, would pick her up and take her to church with them! The Lord is preparing His people! Her name is Aubrey and she is 18 and she lives on base with her brother. Then we also went to West Terrace's wards sacrament meeting and Brandi came with her five year old boy, Jayden. (He has a crush on me according to what he has told Brandi.) He is adorable. She stayed for all three hours and she loved it and Jayden loved his class as well. She went to Gospel Doctrine with her friend who is a member. For dinner we had salmon and deer meat at the Barr's and we talked to Aubrey. She is so sweet. 

After dinner with the Barr's, we went to another dinner appointment and it was with the Robins and they invited Brandi and her family over for dinner. We shared with them the new Easter video. (#HALLELUJAH) It was powerful. Member missionaries are amazing! I am going to be so much better when I get home. Then we had an appointment with Cory and Korielle and President Clark came because he was going to have to interview Korielle.  She wanted to meet him before the interview because she is shy. (President Clark is a counselor in the mission presidency.) We talked about the priesthood and temples and family history. They want to be married in the temple! They also read 32 pages in the Book of Mormon stories! We just gave it to them two days ago! We put Cory on date for the 30th of April. I was there during the baptismal interview. We had it done after the lesson. She was crying when she was feeling God's love. I love this area! 

Well I have to go! Love to you all! Toodaloo :-)

Sister Schmidt

News from West Spokane!

 Hello Everyone,

So this week has been crazy!  BUT good! haha :)  So Monday night Sister Blackwell and I left around 7 to get to the mission home on time at 8. We had her bike on the bike rack so I wanted to make sure we had enough time to get there safely with the bike in tow. It takes about 30 minutes to get there and we made it in 50 minutes. Once we got there we got her luggage out and we took down her bike. Oh and remember that it is raining at this point as well. We knock on the door and Sister Dymock lets us in and we took off our shoes. We were at the mission home for over an hour because I was waiting for Sister Sherwood to show up with her companion who is also going home. Isn't it just random that both of our companions went home at the same time....? No it is not. The Lord is in all things. He is aware of everything and everyone! So I said goodbye to Sister Blackwell and I took Sister Sherwood to our area. We got home around 9:55 at night. We didn't have time to plan for our next day! It was so weird not having my day planned. It was the first time not planning for my whole mission. I have changed so much! I used to not plan and here I am planning every 15 minutes (including backup plans).

Good-bye to Sister Blackwell

Hello to Sister Sherwood

So my new companion is Sister Sherwood. She is from Logan, Utah. She is the youngest of 6 kids and she is 29 years old. I am the senior companion and we have to keep telling people that ~ when they say that she is. She has two brothers and two sisters. She has been out for almost 6 months. So I have been out for 3 months longer than her (2 transfers).

So last week on Wednesday we met with one of our investigators named Brandi Simmons. She is the one who lives on the AFB base. We had a lesson and we had a member with us, Sister Robins, and this is the second time that we have brought Sister Robins with us and they get along so well! They connect on many different levels of life. (Members are so important to missionary work.)  ~ When I get home I am not just going to be an active member of the church. I am going to be a proactive member!  ~ SO anyways back to the lesson. We talked about the Book of Mormon and how important and vital reading the scriptures are and how we should always pray. She read the 2nd and 3rd chapters of the Book of Mormon and she is even more excited to read. She is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!! During the lesson her husband kept walking in and out of the lesson and he sometimes even sat down. That was the second time that I met him and he is really nice. While we were deciding on a day to come back he said "don't do it on Tuesday or Thursday because I won't be home" !!!!!!!!!!!!!! I like totally freaked out in my seat on the couch and was so tempted to do a victory dance. He recognizes something and I am excited for the Simmons family. We saw her today at Walmart and her adorable little boys. She is excited to see us this week and to have us over for lunch.

Then we saw Cori and Korielle and she is still good for her baptismal day for the 2nd. 

Pray for her and her family! They are so prepared by the Lord.

This week Sister Sherwood and I have a goal to find 3 new investigators.

Then we saw another investigator named Jeannie Nielson and I am not sure about her. I don't know if she loves the message that we share or the company that we bring. Hopefully I will be able to tell this week. 

I love you all! Hope you have a great week! 

How was Downton Abbey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!???????????  I am dying up here in Washington!  

Also on Friday we had Specialized Training and it was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!! Spiritual high! 

I have a notebook full of deep doctrine and it is fantastic! 

Toodaloo!

Sister Schmidt

8 Months Out!

Everyone!

So Ana is a member! So we are reactivating her! We couldn't find her records because her name was different when she was baptized at 12 years old. We found one of Christ's sheep even though she was never lost to Him. But she is doing well. She is reading in Alma and she is understanding so much!

For Cori and Korielle they are doing SUPERB!!!!!!!!!!!  They shared with us how their financial situation is really bad and then we taught them the law of tithing. THEY ACCEPTED IT!  They want to start paying now before they are even baptized.  I was blown away. The Lord is preparing people everywhere! Korielle is on date for the 2nd of April. Pray for their family because they have a lot of things that are stressing them. The adversary is working hard on them. Korielle asked us one day if there was something that she could do to handle the stress besides drinking coffee. We told her to pray and read the scriptures and sleep. She did just that. They are amazing. They keep telling us that they know that we are here to teach people but that they feel we are really good friends! Of course we are!!!! They are a huge blessing in my life and we are a huge blessing for them (they told us that). We are changing their life! The wedding is going well. The Relief Society President is meeting with Korielle this week. (I also gave the $100 to Korielle and Cori for their wedding. It felt so right and I prayed about it!)

Another investigator of ours, Brandi Simmons, who is on base is doing well. She read the first chapter of the Book of Mormon and she was asking us if there are sites where she can see where Joseph Smith got the plates. We also talked to her about other church historical sites and she wants to go to all of them! I have never had anyone ask me that before. We met her husband and he asked us a lot of questions about being a missionary in general. It was a very good first impression for him of LDS missionaries.

So this week was good but also rough. Sister Blackwell is going home tomorrow for medical leave. On Thursday we went to the mission home for Sister Blackwell to talk to Sister Dymock about what she is going through and then on Friday we went to LDS Family Services for Sister Blackwell to meet with a psychiatrist to see if she is eligible to go home. She was and they started the process. On Saturday we got called by President Dymock and he informed us that everything has been sent to the missionary department in Utah and we would find out on Monday if Sister Blackwell is staying or going home. We got called this morning by President and Sister Blackwell is going home tomorrow and I am getting a new companion tonight or tomorrow. I don't know yet. I am nervous about getting a new companion but such is life. I am glad that Sister Blackwell is going because it is what she needed to hear. It was getting too difficult for her and she was not having fun anymore. She had fun laughing at me because I was being a dork to make her laugh. So ya that is this week. My new companion is Sister Sherwood. I don't think she has been out for very long.  SO I am a little stressed. I don't like leading out areas. There is SO much to explain.

Anyways love you all and I miss you! I am jealous that Sister Blackwell gets to see her family tomorrow and I have to wait another 10 months! It will go by fast!

So in Alma 7:11-13 there are 7 things that the Atonement covers. The number 7 symbolically means perfection... Think on that! Toodaloo!

Sister Schmidt