Another week in Moscow!

A Beautiful Sunset!

So not much happened this week. We taught Ryan the 13 year old investigator who we are teaching. He is so eager to meet with us. We went by one night and he came outside and we talked to him about Jesus Christ and about baptism. He went on to tell us that his grandpa passed away a few years ago and we did a three way pinkie promise and we promised him that he will be happy and that he will see his grandpa again. He looked at our pinkies with a very serious look and it was so adorable! I love Ryan so much! I am so blessed to have met  him and to teach him!

So I have a firm testimony that nothing happens in missionary work until you WALK! So we tried a girl who was not home and while we were walking up a hill and when we got in our vehicle a young man was walking up to us barefoot. We got out of the car and we started talking to him. His name is Nash. He asked us if we are missionaries because he recognized our name tags. He then went on to explain that he was a member but that he fell away a long time ago. He wants to get back into it and that he doesn't want to feel miserable anymore. He knows that he needs the church in his life and he was wondering if we could help him. We said, "OF COURSE!" We have a lesson with him this week and after we will be going to the Addiction Recovery Program with him. 

This is why I am on a mission. I am here to help people change their lives and come closer to Christ. I am here to help people be happy and STAY happy. I am here to help bring Heavenly Father's children back to him. I love being a missionary! I love seeing the Atonement work in people's lives. It is real, God is real, and so is His Son, Jesus Christ.

We go through hard things for a reason. Life is full of them. But what is the reason?  Why do bad things happen to good people? There is opposition in all things. There is always good and bad. We go through hard things because they are helping us become like our Savior and like our Heavenly Father who are both perfected beings. We need to experience the hard times to appreciate the good times. For example, you wouldn't know what it is like to be healthy if you have never been sick. You need both to appreciate the good. Mission life is hard but it helps me be grateful for the good times that happen. I love this work and I love having trials. 

Attitude is everything in life. You can choose to be happy and to hold your head up when life gets heavy.  Smile and push through. When you do that you can accomplish anything you set your mind to. 

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

Sister Schmidt 

Sister Norwood and Sister Schmidt on exchanges!

Special Leadership Training

Moscow Zone Special Leadership Meeting

Hello Everyone!

This week was awesome! First off, are any of you doing the Book of Mormon challenge where you read 5 pages everyday? I love it so much!!!!!!!!!!!! I never realized how much mercy is in the Book of Mormon. On Friday we had specialized training and that involves President and Sister Dymock and the stake president. For the first half it was just us missionaries and the Dymocks and we talked about the Book of Mormon. Did you know that on average there is mercy every 1.7 verses in the Book of Mormon and for the Bible it is every 7 verses. Moroni's promise is real! I love the Book of Mormon! We mainly talked about how to work with the ward better and get them more involved! I am so excited to apply what I have learned! Then I can take all the learning from my mission to my life after my mission. When I think about it ~ I didn't know anything! Now I gotta lifetime of knowledge. (catch the movie line...?) Then later in the day we had the ward council come and ward missionaries! It was fantastic! I hope I will be in a leadership position when I come home so I can contribute! One thing that stands out to me is that the president of an auxiliary is the "mission president" of missionary work in that auxiliary. I thought that was interesting! 

We got four new investigators but later in the week they dropped us because they are happy where they are at. I was devastated but I am happy to have met them and I know that the Lord is preparing them and I am glad that I was able to be a part of that process! Another investigator we found is an older man and his name is Mike. He only works and he has never been married so he is lonely. So when we came over he couldn't stop talking. It was an interesting lesson to say the least. But he is interested and he told us that he believes what we say and we are praying that he is reading the Book of Mormon. Another investigator that we found is a lady named Noel Mesa. She just moved from Georgia! I love the south, so I immediately loved her! She met with missionaries down there and she was very surprised to see girls out serving. We are going to teach her here and she is a hard core 7th day. Keep her in your prayers :) 

Our assistant ward mission leader's wife had her baby on Friday! This is their first child and they had a girl. Her name is Murphy! We have yet to see her, but when we do it is going to be SO HARD to NOT hold her :(😥 

Heavenly Father is real! He has a body just like us but His is perfect! I know that we are here to become like Him! In order to become like Him we need to go through hard things. I am grateful for hard things because that means that I am one step closer to becoming like my Father in Heaven! I love this gospel and for the things that I KNOW to be true! 

Love you all and miss you! TOODALOO!!!

Sister Schmidt

Welcome to Moscow!

Welcome to Moscow

Hello Everyone!

Another transfer week and I am staying.  My new companion is Sister Andruski! She was serving in Moscow this transfer but she has now been moved to my area. I have served with her in 3 out of my four areas. So we know each other really well! I love her and I am excited to work with her!!!!!!!!!!

My first recent convert, Brittany Harrison, was baptized a year ago on Labor Day! I can't believe it has been over a year now. Time goes by so fast! CRAZY!!!!!!!!!! I have been trying to get a hold of her. So hopefully I can get a hold of her soon. Crossing my fingers!

Isabeau is doing so well!!!!!!!!!!!! This past week she read 100 pages in 3 days! She told us that she has to read about 5 pages and then she starts to feel the spirit. She knows that it is the Holy Ghost and she has told us multiple times that we are right but she is a VERY stubborn daughter of God. She reads books that she gets into and she is into the Book of Mormon. Thank you so much for praying for her. If you would continue to do so that would be awesome!!!!!!!! The adversary is attacking her right now, so she needs all the help that she can get! Love you all! I appreciate all of you!!!!!!!!!! 

The stake president has received revelation for our stake to know how the members can do missionary work. It is through their spiritual gifts! The first lesson that we share is D&C 46:11-12. We talk about how we have spiritual gifts from our Father in Heaven and how we can affect people in so many ways. There are people out there that ONLY we can affect and we need to use our spiritual gifts to help God's children! I have a spiritual gift of being patient apparently. That is what Sister Gibson said and other missionaries all throughout my mission. Everyone also states that you should not pray for patience because you are going to get experiences to learn patience. I am glad that I do not have to! haha :) 

So I obviously had a companion who went home!  It was hard not to think about home and family when your companion is talking about it 24/7!  Do I miss my family?  YES!  Do I miss taking a nap? YES!  Do I miss relaxing?  YES!  As I thought about it I realized that I am going to be a better missionary! Yes, it is hard. Yes, some days I don't want to do it. But, I am here because Heavenly Father knows I am supposed to be here. He trusts me and I don't want to let Him down at the end of the mission. I have recommitted myself again to succumb to His will and to let mine go. I will be home and see family again. But I will not be a full-time missionary as Sister Schmidt again. I am going to make the most of this! I will be successful! I will be happy because I choose to be happy!

I love this Gospel and I love you guys and miss you guys obviously! TOODALOO!!!!!!

Sister Schmidt

"By their fruits ye shall know them!"

So last Thursday I went to the temple with the other 4 sisters in my zone. My companion stayed in Moscow because she has not been endowed. I had so much fun and I was refreshed after the temple. I love the temple. I went with a lot of questions and even though I did not receive an answer to any of them I left with a feeling of peace and love. Afterwards we went to an AWESOME burrito place called "Sweeto Burrito" and it lives up to its name.

So Izzy is doing really well! She is progressing and she is happier.  We see her almost everyday and if we don't we have contact with her everyday through phone calls or text messages. First off we had a lesson with Izzy on the Book of Mormon and we had it at our assistant ward mission leader's home. Izzy went on to say how when she reads the Book of Mormon she always has a sick feeling in her stomach and that she doesn't think that it is the word of God. Our assistant ward mission leader went all "Mr. Bold" and told her that he knows that she is wrong  and that the Book of Mormon is true and the word of God. It was a heated lesson but it ended well. Izzy came to church on Sunday without us asking her. She listened to our testimonies and the last testimony was an answer to her prayer. The man was talking about "by their fruit ye shall know them" (Matthew 7:20).  She told us that she believes what we are saying is true. We then talked more about the Book of Mormon and had to get bold and she informed us later that she read 6 chapters of the Book of Mormon and that she had a feeling that was a good feeling!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LITERALLY jumped up for joy! I don't think our downstairs neighbors were too happy! oops.... But ya! Izzy is doing well!

We had zone training on Friday and it was all about the greatest book on the face of this planet! THE BOOK OF MORMON! The mission is doing another Book of Mormon challenge, we call it part 2. Starting on the 14th of September we are going to be reading 5 pages a day (5 symbolically means grace, mercy, atonement) and we are going to be marking references to Christ and marking references to how merciful the Lord is. In Moroni's promise it talks about that we shall remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of the world. It will end on December 25th and it is going to be our Christmas present tot the savior of the world. I invite all to join us!!!!!!!

Moscow Zone!

There is a member in our ward who has a LEGIT light saber and we took pictures with it! It is awesome and it even makes noises!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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