Happy Halloween!

!! Happy Halloween ~ 2016 !!

Hello Family,

Answers to your questions:

1) The visit with Chris went well! We just talked to him and his girlfriend. She didn't really talk much but we talked to him about why he doesn't go to church anymore. We had a good time. We can definitely have missionaries stop by and see them! Do you know what she is expecting or if she just liked our company?

2) As an STL I am over 5 sisters and they are all in Pullman, WA besides my companion obviously!

3) I am still thinking about what I want for Christmas? I have thought about you just giving me a gift card so that I can go out and buy one new outfit that I can wear for when I come home. But depending on where I am sent for my last transfer I might ask you to send me a new outfit. I would like just nicer tops since all I have back at home is regular t-shirts even though I am going to love wearing those again with a sweatshirt and jeans! But strangely enough, I am going to miss wearing a skirt everyday... The mission has changed me!

I am so jealous that you got to see Emilee Lloyd, Danielle, and Julie Jones !!!!!!!!!!!!! I miss all of them and love them so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you have fun at Uncle Blain's for Halloween! Tell him that I say HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope everything for tennis will turn out okay! I miss playing it! I have not stepped foot on a court since I have been out and I held a racquet for only a few minutes! So I am going to relearn once I get home!

Ryan Osborn is doing SO well !!!!!! We had two lessons with him this week! It is so refreshing to teach Ryan. He is so eager and understands what we are teaching him. Our first lesson we taught him the gospel of Jesus Christ and we  had steps for it and everything and he enjoyed it tremendously! He wants to get baptized and we are going to follow up with him and to see if he has talked to his parents about getting baptized. I love Ryan! Sister Andruski and I both imagined Ryan being baptized at the exact same time so we are assuming that is God telling us that he will get baptized. Then we had a dinner appointment with the Dixon's and we had Ryan come over! We watched the Restoration movie and he had already watched it twice beforehand. The first time he had questions and then he watched it again with subtitles and his questions were answered! We asked him if he will pray and ask God if Joseph Smith was a prophet and he said that he already knows that he was prophet because he asked God! I LOVE RYAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! To top it off he came to church! He can now get baptized tomorrow if he wanted to but first we need to teach him all of the lessons. Do you have any ideas on how to teach the law of chastity to a 13 year old boy?

I then had an all day meeting in Spokane at the Mission home for new missionary leaders! It was awesome! I am so nervous about being a STL! I don't want to mess up and I have so many weaknesses and I need to be an example but it is hard when I struggle with things. I am learning how to be humble and get over that. haha :)

This week in personal study I learned a few cool things. So in 1 Nephi chapter 4 verse 20 it is talking about how Nephi is going to the treasury with Zoram and Zoram thinks that Nephi is Laban. I imagine the treasury to be like National Treasure or the bank account of Harry Potter. Nephi could have taken anything he wanted but all he wanted was the brass plates! He had integrity and he put the Lord's will in front of his. I love it! So at points I struggle to have constant motivation to do missionary work! (It is hard to get rejected a lot.) But I was reading in Alma chapter 8 and it was exactly what I needed to read at the exact moment! I love the Lord's tender mercies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Earlier today we tried a potential investigator and on the door there was a sign that said, "LDS friends" and then a note taped on the door. I immediately thought that it was a drop letter but NOPE! She informed us of when it would be a good time to stop by! Another tender mercy! The Lord loves His children!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I Love you all and miss you!!!!!!! Toodaloo!!!!

Sister Schmidt

"Sister Trainer Leader"

< Moscow District

                         Moscow Zone >

Hello All,

So this week is transfer week and yesterday, 10/23/16,  we found out if we would be staying or leaving and I am staying!! So is Sister Andruski! We have one and doned people on our mission except for one other companionship we were in. I can't believe I am saying this but I was looking forward to change. I don't hate the area or my companion. I enjoy both of them! I just got use to change every 6 weeks and when I found out that there was no change except for one thing (I will tell you that in second) I was disappointed. My body was used to it. So the one thing that is different this transfer is that I am now a STL (sister training leader)! This is similar to a zone leader, but for the sisters. President Dymock called Sister Andruski and I on Saturday and we were in an appointment when he called us. So after the appointment we looked at the phone and saw we had a missed call from the President we both screamed in the car because that phone call meant either one of us is training or becoming a STL! Well I am now a STL!  So I am excited for this chance to be a leader in the mission! 

Nothing really happened this week except that Ryan came to church! That was awesome!! We had a lesson scheduled with him but when we went over to see him he was sick :( All of our lessons this week canceled on us and it was very depressing. But knowing how much Heavenly Father loves us, He gave us tender mercies along the way. Those blessings wouldn't have come if those lessons didn't fall through. 

 One tender mercy was when we were walking! Nothings happens in missionary work until you walk! So we were walking on a busy street and we were waving and smiling at people as they drove by when a lady pulled over and asked us if were Mormon missionaries and we said yes! She asked us to come over and talk with her.  (While we were walking over to her car, I recognized her car and her and I realized that we had waved to her as she drove by and she turned around and came back!) She wants us to come by and teach her! That never happens! So we are going to teach her soon because she was having surgery the next day to get her gall bladder removed! Her name is Keely! 

Then another one happened the next day! We were tracting and we came across a lady who does volunteer work at a place similar to D.I. or Goodwill. She then went on to talk about how we came at a very good time because she is having a life crisis with her church. She asked us if we believe Jesus Christ to be just another prophet. We went on to testify that Christ is the Son of God! She was very happy to hear that. We talked about prophets and the Book of Mormon and she was liking everything   that we were saying. She wants us to come and teach her as well! Her name is Gail! 

Llama Poop! YUCK!

The Lord loves His children!!!! I love Him and I hope you do as well! 

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

Sister Schmidt

Halloween is in the air!

Hello To All, 

I have experienced another rainy week in the great and dreary land of Moscow. But I am having fun splashing in the puddles and making wet memories! The rain is doing wonders for my crazy curly hair! I apologize before hand how crazy this email is going to be ~ it is going to be all over the place. 

Isabeau came to church on Sunday and she stayed during the whole entire sacrament meeting. She has never done that before and she has been meeting with the sisters since April! She also attended the other two classes after and she has always walked in and out and could never sit still. She did this Sunday!!!!!!!!!!! I love her and I hope she joins Christ church soon! She deserves to be happy!

We had a zone conference and the doctrine from President Dymock was on the 2nd Coming!!!!! Dun Dun Dun Dun!!!!!!!!!!! It was mind blowing and I don't understand all of it hence why I am not going to try and attempt to type it out to you! Just know that Christ is coming and the signs all over the place and if we do what we are supposed to be doing we will be okay! Something that threw me off guard was a statement that President Dymock quoted from Elder Christofferson when he came to Cour' de Alene. He said that the world is already wicked enough for Christ to come. There is just not enough righteous people!  The continents are going to come back together into one massive piece of land. Also, here are somethings we can study to better understand the 2nd coming. 1. Joseph -Matthew (overview of 2nd coming, vs. 22 --> signs of the times) 2. D&C 45 (expanding Christ's sermon, explain the signs) 3. D&C 101, 133 (explain events) 4. D&C 38,29 (warnings we need to heed to be ready). This is from President Benson I believe if I remember correctly. We also did role plays of street contacting and tracting. I loathe doing these but these were actually fun! haha :) 

Moscow Zone Conference ~ October 13, 2016

Companions!

So Ryan is doing well! He didn't come to church because he didn't finish his homework. Can you pray that his parents will allow him to be baptized? We invited him to be baptized on the 12th of November and he wants to be so bad. This past week we taught him the Plan of Salvation or Plan of Happiness. He asked SO many good questions that were deep. He already has a goal to go to the temple to get baptized for his grandpa who passed away. I love Ryan!!!!!!!! It is always so fun to teach him. The gospel is simple and his lessons remind me of that. 

We went to the Bishop's fireside last night and it was on missionary work and we were part of the program. I talked about your conversion story mom. Then we played Mormon jeopardy that Sister Andruski and I made. The youth had a blast and there was plenty of laughter. The Bishop loves us! President Dymock told us that Bishop Cook emailed him and said that we are amazing sisters and that he wants both of us to "die" here meaning he wants this to be our last area before we go home. That definitely made me feel good!

The pumpkin turned out good. I didn't know what to carve so I did "CARVED" with a bat above it. 

I know. Original right? 

Pumpkin 2016

Sister Schmidt, Sister Paget, Sister Andruski

I love the Gospel so much! I have learned so many valuable skills and pieces of knowledge that I am excited to use after my mission. I am excited to do visiting teaching. I am excited to do missionary work! I am pumped to meet less actives and befriend them! I am excited to be a pro active member of God's church!

Almost every morning the Elders and Sisters in our zone play volleyball or ultimate Frisbee together for working out. It has definitely developed zone unity within Moscow. 

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

Sister Schmidt

Decisions, Decisions

Monica at a member's home in Moscow, ID
Beautiful view!

Hello Everyone!

So a lot of emotions have gone through my body this week, mainly on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I went on exchanges this weekend with the Sister Trainer Leader ~ Sister Paget. She came out with me over 15 months ago and she is going home early just like every sister who came out with me. She and a few others are leaving on December 17th and she told me that I could go home then as well. So we called the mission President and I talked to him about it and I asked him if he could take the knots out of my stomach and he just chuckled. During the course of a couple days so many thoughts were racing through my mind of either staying the full time or going home early. Both of the options felt good and then they felt bad! I don't like making big decisions that have an affect on the future Sister Schmidt. I obviously was praying about it and freaking out about it. On Sunday I decided to fast and receive extra strength and help. I was so tempted to have one of the senior couple missionaries telephone home and get your opinions on what I should do. All day Sunday the day of  Jan 16th kept popping into my head and I thought it was just because I was so used to saying that date from the very beginning of my mission. But I decided to stay the whole time.

I was debating whether or not to write about this and inform you that I could be home in 2 months and be home for Christmas but I came to the conclusion that you wouldn't care because I got my answer to stay out. I believe I have a few more pimples populating my face now because of this... haha :)

So the teenage boy, Ryan Miller, came to church yesterday! He disappeared before we could ask him anything. We are seeing him today to check up on him. We hope he enjoyed it! We had a lesson with him this week and we knocked on his door and his brother, who does not like Mormons just yelled when he saw us in the peep hole, "The Mormons are here!" I just laughed. We were talking to Ryan for a few minutes when his parents rolled into their driveway and Ryan asked if we could come inside. We did and for the first few minutes Ryan was showing us around his house and he showed us his room ~ it is covered in ninja turtle stuff... I APPROVE! His parents were making dinner in the kitchen and getting us chairs to sit in to teach Ryan. We taught him the Restoration of the Gospel and he understands the whole thing! He told us in his own words what we had just taught him. He is such a smart kid!

We taught the Leonard's this week as well! I love them so much! We taught them about faith and repentance and we did a demo for them with water, pepper and hand sanitizer! It was entertaining. I love this family! Brother James Leonard is such a sweet man with a caring soul. He is walking evidence of the Atonement!!!!!!!!!!!!! The church is true!

It has been raining here like crazy! I love it but I do miss the sun! It is shining right now and I am so happy and so is my companion. All of us 6 sisters in the zone are going to be carving pumpkins today as a sisters pday activity. I have no clue what to carve......

One of the ward's investigators named Mike is awesome! He lives out in the middle of nowhere! We followed up on his reading and he is doing it! He understands and believes it! Magical words to a missionaries' ear! We have a lesson with him tonight and we are excited! Mike is such a fun old man who is very racist. There is never a dull moment with him.

NOELLE!!!!!!!!!! NOELLE!!!!!!! (imagine I am singing this...) We taught Noelle and it went really weird. She is hard core 7th day and we have come to realize that she is not wanting to change ~ she is wanting to teach us ~ so we are going to have to discontinue our visits with her.  We are going to inform her of it this week.  We just boldly testified to her that the Book of Mormon is true and that we would get nearer to God by abiding its precepts (teachings) than by any other book. She was taken back because she was expecting us to have our faith shaken. My faith is rock solid!

I got my hair cut today. I only got 3 inches taken off!

Sister Andruski and Schmidt at a LLama Farm!

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

Sister Schmidt  

3 and 1/2 months to go!

Hello Everyone,

So this week was a blur! I am so grateful for planners and for journals or else I would not remember what happened this week! 

One of the ward's investigators, Nancy, is on date to be baptized for the 29th of October! We are so excited for her! We had a lesson with her on Wednesday and we were talking about baptism and how that we in order to get to a position in life  need to make goals. We expressed to her that the main goal in life is to find and have joy and that is only through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The first step is by being baptized and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. We invited her to be baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God and she said "when" and we told her to choose and she said "any day". SO we suggested October 29th and she agreed! She is still fighting the addictions that she is overcoming and I know that if she continues to come closer to Christ she will have the strength to beat her addictions and to have her agency back that belongs rightfully to her! We asked her if she knows what the Book of Mormon is about from the previous sisters teaching her and she said no. I am so happy that she was honest with us because understanding the Book of Mormon is vital for our conversion. Before the mission I never read the introduction or the testimonies. I encourage everyone to read those because they are so good with helping us understand the story of the Book of Mormon and the ability it has to increase our spirituality. 

The Leonard family is doing so well! Brother James Leonard is the non-member and he is amazing! I love this family! I just want to be around them all the time! We had a lesson with them this week about temples and how Heavenly Father wants them to go to the temple to be sealed for time and all eternity. In weddings outside of the temple the individual performing the wedding usually says "Till death do you part" or "for as long as you both shall live". In the temple we are married forever! It doesn't just end once we die, it continues even after this life! At the end of the lesson we let them choose a picture of the temple that they would like to put in a place where they would always see it. (The temple pics you gave me mom are the one's that they chose from). They also came to General Conference and it was awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

I love general conference even if I get rebuked by God. It is always with love. I don't have my notes with me so I can't exactly tell you what I liked but I did absolutely love the topic of trials. We go through trials for a reason. We can receive strength from the Savior to get through our trials. I have learned that sometimes the strength I receive is patience to endure my trials. An important thing to remember is that there is a reason why we are going through trials. We are learning and growing! Another topic that I loved was JOY!!!!!!!!!!!! We are here to experience joy and we can choose to be happy or choose to be unhappy. IT IS OUR CHOICE! I love it! God does not force anything on us. As a missionary I don't force this wonderful, joyful message on others. I only invite. (Even though I would really like to force this on people because I know it will make them happier and give them more purpose in life!) But I have to remember they get to choose. I will talk about general conference more next time when I have my notes! 

I love you all and miss you tons!!!!!!!! TOODALOO!!!!!!!!!

Sister Schmidt