"Enjoying to the end!"

Hello Everyone,

I love being a missionary! I have thought about my mission so far and how blessed I am. I have met so many wonderful people and I have developed many strong relationships. The best part is that I have learned more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Before my mission I thought the Gospel of Jesus Christ was everything that we believe, which it is but it simplifies to 5 steps. The first step is faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.  That is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is what my purpose is as a missionary.

I invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. We recite that in the beginning of every meeting in the mission. I love it. It helps remind all of us missionaries why we are here.

When people have faith in Christ they are going to want to repent and align their life with the Savior's. In turn, when they are forgiven it will strengthen their faith in Christ. When their faith is strengthened they are going to want to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized with the proper priesthood authority and make sacred covenants. To make a baptism complete they will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.  The Holy Ghost will help you remember your covenants and help you keep them. Enduring to the end should be changed to "enjoying to the end," -President Hinckley. It just means to continue to do the things that strengthened your faith, repent daily, partake of the sacrament weekly, be worthy of the Holy Ghost and heed his promptings. I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We missionaries call this the ladder of progression to tell where our investigators are at. If they are stuck on faith, we teach them what they need to hear to increase their faith and leave them with commitments that will increase and strengthen their faith.

So last week our ward helped Skyler move into her new home. We met with her this past week and she has met with missionaries before and she told us that she felt they were just there to baptize them and not answer their questions. Skyler and her daughter, Maya, read a few pages in the Book of Mormon and the missionaries asked them to be baptized the next week. They didn't even believe in the Book of Mormon. Skyler told us that to her ~ we are genuine and real. We don't "stick to the script" as she put it. I am glad that she loves us and wants us around. She recognizes the spirit and she wants that around more. She grew up Mennonite and she informed us that they don't help people who are not Mennonite and she was very happy to see that the LDS members help anyone. That definitely softened her heart. So we are now going to be teaching Skyler and her daughter Maya! :) Happy day!

Kymm Mann is stuck on the Sabbath day is Saturday not Sunday. For her to accept that she needs to read the Book of Mormon and then she will believe in modern day revelation, D&C 59. But she does not want to read the Book of Mormon until she reads the entire New Testament and she has yet to finish Matthew. She wants to understand every little detail before she moves on. So it is a constant battle with Kymm but I love her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She loves the institute manual for the New Testament.

Last Monday, a member did a pre-treatment for lice. One of the steps was to put vinegar in my hair...... my hair absorbs any smell that I am around.... MY HAIR SMEL LIKE VINEGAR FOR A WHOLE WEEK! I washed it 5 times. NO LUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But we are all good now! :)

Pre-Lice Treatment  ~ Yuck!

SO I might have almost died this past week...... We were biking in the mountains to save miles and we were about 4 miles in and we were going down a hill and I thought that I should look at the front of my bike and I saw that the rod that was holding my bike bars and wheel together was about 3/4 out. If I hadn't noticed ~ my wheel would have flown off and I would have crashed and burned on a hill face first.... I love the Holy Ghost! He gives us warnings. So we are going, hopefully today, to get a nut for my bike.

Two less actives came to church today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One of them was Sister Humphreys and the other one was Sister Wiley. I love Sister Wiley!!!!!!!!! She is working on coming back to activity. It just warms my heart to see people come back to church. It is not easy to come back after you have been gone for SO long. Sister Humphreys was less active for 30+years. The Lord loves all of His children and the Atonement is for everyone.

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

Sister Schmidt