Heart Attacks!

Hello Everyone!

This week was filled with SAVING MILES!!!!!!!!!!!!! So, our mission has been losing missionaries and vehicles have been taken away and when vehicles are taken away so are... MILES! In my area we only get 850 miles for a whole month and our ward boundary is massive! (But not as massive as my first area.  When I was over YSA (young single adults) I covered the whole stake and my area was 1/5 of the mission! CRAZY!)  Anyway, so we get 850 miles. This week we have to travel to Sandpoint for a zone training and that is 60 miles total. The number of miles we have everyday for the next 7 days is....... 11.2... so if people didn't know that there were sister missionaries in Bonner's Ferry, they know now! We ride our bikes everywhere and we walk. But it is a blessing having our miles cut because we are talking to people on the street, people are seeing missionaries, we get MORE exercise and members get pumped when they see the missionaries. (I know I did when I was home. I always honked at them.) Before my mission I was only concerned about gas, NOT MILES. Now being on a mission, my brain has been wired to only be concerned about miles. It is going to be weird not worrying about miles anymore when I come home.

In the past few weeks here have been SO MANY thunder and lightning storms!!!!! I love it and I can't help but think that it is one way that God is showing me that He loves me. Oh, yesterday Bishop Solomon asked Sister Lake and I if we would give talks in sacrament meeting next week. We said of course! It could potentially be my last Sunday... Sad thought! Get thee hence sad thought! haha :) Transfers are this week!

Bonner's Ferry after a thunderstorm!

Tuesday we gave a heart attack to Kymm while she was gone. Don't freak out! We did not give her one literally. (For those of you who might not know ~ a heart attack is when you literally attack a door and put hearts all over it!) Kymm is always home but on Tuesday she was not because she was picking up her best friend's daughter, Caitlin, from the airport in Spokane which is 2 hours away! We decorated the hearts and made it look cute in the 15 minutes we had before we had to drive a good distance to our dinner appointment. We hoped Kymm would love it! She didn't just love it, she will not take it down!! So Kymm got another surprise on Tuesday, her best friend, Kelly, also came up from California.  We met them the next day because Kymm had us to come up! Haha, I just love Kymm! They are awesome and they love us! We have done a few bible studies with them. They are Catholic but not really practicing it. We have taught them a few things and have helped them understand the Godhead and who God really is. It makes so much sense to them! They were told to not ask questions in Catholic school and they are taking advantage of asking us questions because we encourage them! Caitlin is 18 and she is awesome. She has been through a rough life with people around her developing fatal illnesses and passing away. I hope that we can help her to have hope and live life and continue to love God.

Kymm's front door

We also heart attacked Missy Sanders door and she absolutely loved it!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She took pictures of it and posted them on Facebook and one of her best friends Amie commented on it. Amie's husband is a pastor of the church of Nazarene and Amie said that she has never heard of missionaries doing that before. She was very surprised! I am so happy that we showed that we love Missy but that we also demonstrated to others that we love everyone and that we are considerate. It was a cool experience. 

Missy Sander's door

We then had a zone conference in Hayden, about an hour and a half from Bonner's southward. It was all about finding! I so needed to have this training. The thing that hit me the hardest was that I need to always be myself. The Lord knows who I am better than I know myself and He knows why He sent me to this mission. He needs who I am inside on His side. He didn't call a missionary robot of myself here. He called ME and He needs ME and I need to continue to be ME. We rode in the transfer van there and back and it was so much fun! Elders are hilarious! Never a dull moment ever!

Bonner's Ferry District

We also saw Skyler this week and her daughter Maya. They are doing well! They love having us over. The first time we went over they kept going off on tangents and the second time we had a little more structure. We invited them to read the Restoration pamphlet again and to write down their questions and we will go over it with them. We are actually going over it today! I am super excited!

 

We did some service for Kymm and later Friday night we had a fire and roasted marshmallows! I have such a wonderful time with Kymm, Kelly, and Caitlin. They are awesome and hilarious! One of my smores had a vanilla wafer, an oreo, an almond joy, and marshmallow and the graham cracker. It was interestingly delicious!

 

Then on Saturday we had a dinner appointment at the Bishop's house and we shared a message about having more meaningful prayers. We shared Enos 1:3-4 and I asked an inspired question and I can't remember how it went but it went along the lines of "Why do we pray to our Father in Heaven?" It made everyone think and we had a wonderful discussion about it. I love praying to my loving Heavenly Father!

 

On Sunday the topic in Gospel Principles was about sacrifice. What a perfect topic for Pioneer Sunday. As we were all discussing this I was thinking about how in the beginning of my mission I felt like my mission was a sacrifice. But now, it no longer feels that way. I love my mission and I love teaching people about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how it has been restored! How amazing is that!?!? Christ's church is on the earth! I have taken that for granted but I am so grateful to not just be a member of a church but of Christ's church. I love it! 

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

 

Sister Schmidt