Happy Birthday Papa ~ April 26th!

Hello Everyone,

Last P~day we had a zone FHE on base! Putting on the Armor of God!  It was so much fun! Those pictures that I sent you were from that event!

The big thing that happened this week was we taught the black lady that I told you about. Here is her background info ~ her name is Karidja Bamba and she is 30 years old and she is a refugee from Algeria, Africa and she speaks French and little English. Her parents were killed in her country and her brother, sister, her son and daughter and her traveled for 3 months from country to country to find shelter and safety. She has been in America for a year and 2 months and she is going to school to learn French.

The first time we went to see her she was getting put into an ambulance and then we tried her again this week and we knocked on her door and she wasn't home but as we were going down the flight of stairs we saw her coming up. She recognized us and she let us in. We started talking to her, well more like tried to talk to her since she speaks French. But before I go on, I just want you all to know that I am truly thankful for technology. Karidja has a smart phone and it has an app that translates writing and what you say. (But we did pretty well without it.) We got background info and she also told us that she has been a Christian for 5 years. When she told us that her mom and dad died, my companion and I both thought of talking about the plan of salvation. We asked her if she thinks she will see her mom and dad again and she replied, "They are dead." We then rephrased our sentence to, "Do you think you will see your parents after this life?" and once we said that she had a huge smile on her face. We had a return appointment on Saturday and during that time between lessons we were desperate to find someone that speaks French and no one in any of our wards do. So we had to go empty handed on Saturday. Let's just say that that was the simplest lesson that I have ever taught in my entire life! It was a struggle and it took almost 2 hours to teach her. Once again I am so grateful for technology. Who would have thought that describing a spirit and a body would be so difficult? On Sunday we had ward council for one of our wards and a new high councilmen who is over our ward attended and once he heard our dilemma he informed us of a lady in his ward who speaks French. Not only does she speak French but religious French as well!!!!!!!!!!! TENDER MERCY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:) gotta love them. :) We called her yesterday and she just so happens to be able to come to our next lesson which is this Thursday! The Lord's hand is in His work. 

Korielle is doing swell! We talked about the temple and she wants to come and do baptisms. I can't wait to see her go inside the temple and to have her tell us afterwards what she felt. Ahhh! I love being a missionary. But this last Sunday she went to the hospital to find out that she has a start of a blood clot and if she gets too stressed she will go into cardiac arrest. Keep her in your prayers please! :) She is better understanding the Book of Mormon which is SO exciting! You want someone to stay strong, have them get addicted to reading the Book of Mormon. 

Brandi is doing good! She came to church again on Sunday! She wants to be a part of the Relief Society and she got super pumped to hear that it is the largest and the oldest women's organization in the world. She wants to be baptized but she also wants her husband to take the lessons but he is not interested. I love her.

The temple was spectacular!  

Spokane Temple

Sisters Sherwood, Paget, Worthen, and Schmidt at the mission office!

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

Sister Schmidt

Put on the Whole Armor of God

Hello Everyone

I am so happy to hear that Natalie's wedding turned out well and that so many people came to her sealing. She deserves to know that people love her, care about her and that they want to support her. Now it is Scott's turn to marry a Natalie!!!!!!!!!! haha:) I am just kidding! Tell Greg that I say congrats and that I am proud of him for graduating! I wish I could be there but I am having a party in the evergreen state of Washington! 

So Cory.... he told us on Saturday that he wants to move his baptismal date to his birthday... which is the 20th of July. We had our ward mission leader with us and Cory is not comfortable with him yet. SO we were going to talk to him about it yesterday but he was sleeping because he had to work in a few hours. So this week we are going to have a chat with Cory. We are okay with him moving his date back but not that far. We both got the impression that he is hiding and that he does not think that he can stop his addiction to chewing. We believe in him and so does his loving Heavenly Father.

Also we are teaching Brandi! She came home this week from being in New Jersey for three weeks. We were going to text her and see when we could come by but instead she contacted us and was wondering when we could come over! So we saw her this last week and we moved her date to the 14th of May (I told her that is a great day! cough.. cough.. dad's bday!) She came to church on Sunday and she brought her little boy. She is coming to the activity on base today. 

So the activity on base today is going to be awesome! The whole zone of missionaries is coming to help with it. The theme is "Putting on the whole armor of God" and all religions are invited to come and participate. They are expecting about 100-150 people. There are games going on, activities, crafts, dinner etc. Not only is Brandi and her kids excited but I am too! I get to wear jeans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! haha... you can't guess how excited I am about wearing jeans uh?

To end your curiosity about the black lady and her son who we met on the street, we went to see them and there was a fire truck and an ambulance at the apartment complex and we were like it can't be her. When we walked to her apartment we realize that they are hauling her into the ambulance with her son in tow. We hope everything is okay and we are going to try her again this week. 

Korielle is doing FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yesterday she told us that during the sacrament prayers she said two prayers and during both of them her chest was on fire and she knew that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ forgave her! Man, I didn't even think about doing that until my mission and we didn't even mention that you could do that. She is definitely one of the elect! She recognizes the spirit and that has been one of my struggles in life even though my patriarchal blessing says otherwise. 

We had zone conference this week with two other zones from 9-3 and it was awesome! The whole conference was on the 10th chapter of PMG (Preach My Gospel). I learned a lot and relearned a lot. I always need reminders! My planner, as a missionary, is my life. If I would to lose it ~ I would be lost and confused. 

I love my mission. I have grown up and I am so thankful. My testimony has grown so much and I love this gospel! I know it has blessed my life and I have seen how it has blessed others. It is for everyone. I am so excited to come home and be a better member. I was active ~ but now when I come home I am going to be proactive! Love you all and miss you! Toodaloo!

Sister Schmidt

This picture: WAR OF THE WORLDS is in Spokane Washington!

Loving My Mission!

Hello everyone!

This week was crazy!!!!!!! So something extremely awesome happened on Saturday. We were tracting and we weren't finding a lot of potentials and we saw this man working on his car and I love cars so it would be a perfect intro. It turns out he is a jack mormon. That is what he called himself. He kept talking and talking and we finally were able to leave and try some more people. A few blocks away we see a black lady and her little boy walking our way and she is on the phone so we wave and smile and we stop to hopefully start a conversation and as we are past each other her son says, "Mom, stop." The mom turns around, still talking on the phone, points to where she lives and she hands us her drivers license so we can get her name and address. We give her a card and they walk away. We didn't really know what just happened but it was a neat experience. If we didn't talk to that man for that amount of time we would have missed her. The Lord's hand is in all things. SO we are excited to find out what is going to happen with her. 

Korielle got confirmed on Sunday and it was amazing! We saw her and her family later in the evening on Sunday and we asked her how it went. She informed us that she was not expecting to feel different but once she received the gift of the Holy Ghost she felt different in a good way. She felt like she could do anything. Once she said that,  it reminded me of a mormon message where a young man felt the Holy Ghost and it was more powerful than any other drug he had ever taken. Korielle is another source of how powerful the Holy Ghost is. She is doing amazing! She is teaching us things and she is understanding so much. I love her and she is already an amazing member of the church! I am so blessed to have taught her and to see her come unto Christ. During last week we saw Korielle and we read from the intro from the Book of Mormon and it went really well. She understands so much more everyday and it is such a neat opportunity to see her progress! We invited her to read the first chapter of first Nephi and that night she texted us and said,"So I just read the chapters you wanted me to and I felt the warm feeling! :) I've never felt it like this before :D and also what is a pillar of fire?" She is going to be a vital member of the church! 

SO I learned something cool this week. One of our ward mission leaders, Brother Gibson who is over the missionary work in the Sunset ward, told us a cool story. The scripture reference is Malachi 3:2-3. I am focusing on the "refiner and purifier of silver." There were scholars who were dissecting some scriptures in the Bible and this was one of them. They decided to interview a silversmith and ask him questions about the process of making silver. You first have to get the fire to the hottest temperature. You then place the silver in the fire and you have to make sure that you don't take it out too early or too late because it will be worthless and it will have been wasted. The interviewer then asked, "How do you know when it is the right time to take the silver out of the fire?" The silversmith said," That is easy. I know it is done when I can see my reflection on it." Isn't that awesome! We go through trials so that we can become more like our Heavenly Father and to grow and learn. We are in our trials for a certain time and we have to be in them long enough to learn what we need to learn. I just love this analogy of Heavenly Father and us going through hard times.

"Sister Schmidt Selfie"

I hope you have a great week! You are ALL missed and I love you ALL!  Toodaloo!

Sister Schmidt

Half Way! 9 Months Out!

Hi Everyone!

Mom, I like totally freaked out in the Family History Center when I read that you hurt yourself! Other missionaries got a little scared, but I didn't care. My momma bear just hurt herself really bad. I am praying for you mom and you are on the temple prayer roll here! Sounds like you all had a crazy week.  I don't know what else to say. All I can say is the Lord knows and that things happen for a reason and that I love you and I am depressed that I can't be home and help you and help everyone around the house. I wish I could be there to assist and to be another lending hand :( 

Sister Sherwood and I are doing well with our diet! I am super excited to lose weight and be healthier and to feel better about myself. It is so nice to have a companion who you are with 24/7 to be held accountable to. We both help and encourage one another! I am so blessed to be with Sister Sherwood for another transfer! I am not sure if I have lost weight but the scale says I have lost 10 but I am not sure. BUT I am SO pumped! Another thing Sister Sherwood and I are doing is sacrificing movies. Let me be more specific. So we both love movies right? YES! We both want this area to progress even further right? YES! So we decided as a companionship to only talk about movies on P-day. We started this last week and it has been hard. Every time something is said or something happens it ALWAYS reminds me of a movie and/or a movie line. I have slipped a couple of times... Okay more than that but who is counting...NOT me! I didn't know how much movies were a part of my life. People know that and when I say something funny they say what movie is that from.... Okay I do have my own personality which can be quite hilarious! Anyways, so ya. Sacrifice brings blessings! I was reading in D&C 117:13. My sacrifice is sacred to the Lord. That made me feel good! So I am reading Doctrine and Covenants and I just finished section 124 this morning! I am almost done! Then I will get back to the New Testament. I am in Romans when I stopped and started focusing on the Doctrine and Covenants. 

So the baptism on Friday went well... when it happened. We got there 2 hours early to fill up the font because our ward mission leader was out of town due to the Air Force. When we turned the water on and it was hot, right? Yes! So we went to shred paper and we came back 10-15 minutes later and the water was an ICE BERG ~ but liquefied! SO we turn the water off and we didn't know what to do. If that wasn't enough the lights to the baptismal font were not working and we were hoping that we just weren't finding the right switch. In total desperation we called people to aid us in our distress. To our misfortune.. no one answers! So we said a prayer together and people start calling. The old bishop comes and assesses our situation and he calls a mechanic and tells him what is going on. He has to check the pilot light on the water heater. He tells us to start filling up pots and boiling water. It is about 4 and the baptism starts at 5... We are cutting it really close.  And of course, there are no pots and so he has to go to his house and gets pots. Once he comes back, the Spanish Elders call us and they come and help us with the light situation. They figured it out. So for an hour we are boiling water and filling up the font. It was quite an experience. So the water was only up to half of her quad and she is only 5' 5". It was pushing it. Then Korielle told us that on the way to the church building someone almost hit them on the freeway. The adversary really does not like her and we told her that and she said I don't like him. It was funny. Then we were going to show a video at the baptism while she was getting out of the wet clothes. The video was not displaying on the TV ~ it would only show pictures. The Spanish Elders then went to get another TV that would show videos. While that was happening we all sang "I am a Child of God" and afterwards the video still wouldn't show so we shared the Restoration. It was extremely powerful. The Lord's hand was in this whole process. I am so glad to know that this is His work and NOT mine. It was a very spiritual high baptism. Korielle loved the way she felt. She told us that when she was going down the stairs into the "luke warm" water... her heart was pounding and she felt good inside! It was such a bad day in the beginning and it turned out to be a fantastic day in the end. Everything happened for a reason and I saw at the end of the day why. I love this gospel!!!! 

Korielle's Baptism ~ Filling the Font

April 1, 2016

I am praying for Grandpa and Grandma! Their names will also be on the temple prayer roll! I hope everything is okay and that healing is the next step in the process! I love you all and miss you all! Toodaloo! 

Sister Schmidt

P.S. Next transfer day is on Mother's Day! So this transfer I will see all of your beautiful faces!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY :-)