Week 69 ~ November 14, 2016 ~ Trump

Well the news of the week has been the same here as I suppose it is there. Everyone wants to hear my opinion on our future president. I don't really have a lot to say but I feel bad because a lot of the people here have pretty good reason to not love him.  But I do think that it's too early to know how anything will turn out and I feel grateful that regardless of the country's leaders are I know that the church is headed by a prophet of God. 

Um... As far as missionary work goes there isn't a whole lot to report. It was really rainy here last week which makes it hard for us to find people to teach because no one leaves their house. But we have two investigators progressing. I will update you more next week because, as always, I am out of time. 

Oo! Fun fact, the mission president’s wife sent me to get acupuncture for my back. It was a crazy experience. I'll send pictures next week. 

Love,

Hermana Schmidt

Week 68 ~ November 7, 2016

I don't have a lot of time, but I put the only picture I took this week. My district leader (Elder Ruiz), who has been my district leader for 7 transfers now and has basically become like a brother to me, and I started a diet (he's going home at the beginning of December) and this was the piece of pizza he cut for me. Jaja. 

Happy November. Don't forget about Thanksgiving. 

 Hermana Schmidt

Week 67 ~ October 31, 2016 ~ Halloween/Día de Muertos

Happy Halloween! They basically don't celebrate Halloween here (there are some people who have parties or kids who go trick or treating but... that's about it) but everyone asks about it. A lot of people think that it's a satanic holiday and can't believe that the church lets us celebrate it. I'm not really sure still how to explain that but I don't feel like it's necessarily satanic. 

This week was a little challenging because they changed the boundaries of our area and the majority of our recent converts and several investigadores we were left with very little work. But that just meant we had to dedicate more time to finding. Which always goes super poorly in this area but... At least we were making an effort. And we saw some results and hope to see more in the coming weeks. 

Today, in celebration of Halloween, we got together with the elders of our district to carve pumpkins. They said that our companionships pumpkins turned out looking just like me, but I'll let you decide that 

Have a great week.

Hermana Schmidt

Week 66 ~ October 24, 2016

Week 65 ~ October 17, 2016

Hola Familia,

I ran out of time last week and I am almost out of time again. (Even after almost 15 months I'm still not great at managing my email time. Jaja.) The exciting news for today is that we have a baptism scheduled for Saturday!!! Moises is finally going to be baptized. I think about how much I have seen him change the last few months and I feel so amazed at what the gospel can do for people. He stopped smoking and working on Sundays. Started living the law of chastity and studying the scriptures every day. And it shows, in his face even, the change that he's had. He always tells us that God is blessing him in every part of his life, even his business is doing better. Those are the kind of miracles that happen every day in the lives of the people that the missionaries teach.

Well.... I think that was the exciting news for this week. I hope to be sending pictures next week which will be a new transfer, but will almost surely find me here in San Luis.

Love you all!

Hermana Schmidt

Week 64 ~ October 10, 2016

Week 63 ~ October 3, 2016

Well Conference was amazing as usual. I don't know if you guys noticed how much they talked about joy. I loved that because living the gospel really does bring so much joy into my life and one of the greatest blessings of being a missionary is spending all of my time trying to share that joy with the people here. One of my favorite statements was from Presidente Nelson when he said "The unrighteous can experience many emotional sensations but the will never know joy."

This week a flat out miracle happened. The mission is full of miracles but sometimes they happen so slowly that you don't really notice, but this one was obvious. We were in companion exchanges and it was almost time to go to the house for the night. We decide to knock on one more door and walked a few blocks to an address that we had from a contact that the other missionaries had left in the area book from almost 2 years ago (we're getting a little creative in order to find people to teach). When we knocked on the door someone asked who without opening. We asked for the name we had and the voice told us that she didn't live there. Something told me to keep talking to her so I did and she opened the door. We explained that we were missionaries and wanted to share a message with her. We were pretty much shocked when she invited us in. I thought "She's either someone who is really prepared or she is going to murder us. That's a risk I'm going to have to take." When we were walking in she said to me "God sent you to me, didn't he?" I told her that He had. Turns out she was really prepared. She started telling us about how she's always tried to do what God asks and that right now she is attending a Christian church but has been feeling that God was going to introduce her to another church and was pretty sure that we had come to her house in answer to her pray to know where God wanted her to go. We had almost no time to teach her, and we didn't even have a Book of Mormon to give her, but regardless she accept another visit and came to the Sunday Morning session of conference. I hope we will be able to continue to see miracles with her and in our area. 

Everyone else is still progress. We have an investigator with a baptismal date for Saturday but she only has been taught the lesson about the restoration, so I think we'll probably be waiting at least another week. The point is that people are prepared not just that they agree so we will give her all the time she needs. 

Pray for us. And watch conference again. I would love to but we unfortunately still don't have iPads. #mexicoproblems

Have a great week.

Hermana Schmidt

Week 62 ~ September 26, 2016 ~ Milagros

Well it was a great week here. I feel like I probably don't start enough of my emails like that even though it would be true. 

This week was a lot better. We had a lot more teaching appointments, we got to see the General Women's session (which was awesome. I would definitely recommend it for anyone who missed it.) and we had 5 investigators come to church. What a miracle. Venecia came with her daughter, accompanied by her boyfriend who is a member. Cristian, who is also the boyfriend of a member, came as well and he's actually seemed a little more genuine in his interest in the gospel. Patricia and Joselin came for the second time and they are actually progressing a lot, even though sometimes I'm not so sure. I think it's Patricia is a little antisocial and that makes her kind of hard to read. But she shared some really spiritual thoughts in Sunday school that helped me to see the progress that she's making. 

And what made me the most happy is that Moises came with his daughters! Finally everything seems to be one track again so that he can be baptized October 8th. And his daughters said that they enjoyed church and stayed all 3 hours. Hopefully we can start teaching them as well this week.

Well. There are always miracles when you look for them.

Enjoy the cooler weather! 

Hermana Schmidt

Week 61 ~ September 19, 2016 ~ Las 24 Semanas

When a new missionary is in their first two transfers we call it their "12 semanas (weeks)" But right now the running joke among the missionaries is that I'm in week 13 of 24.  Jaja. Their say my mission is one eternal training. Jaja. But I have found that I really enjoy the opportunity to train new missionaries.

That being said, week 13 did not go very well for us. It was Mexican independence day last week (I always knew May 5th wasn't independence day but it still is kind of hard to adjust) and I don't know if everyone went on vacation or just didn't leave the house but the streets were empty, no one answered the door and everyone canceled their appointments. It was brutal. Then my companion got really discouraged when the typical new missionary blisters started. Poor thing basically reminds me of a Disney Princess so it wasn't hard to imagine that it would be difficult for her tiny body to handle. And our investigator who was going to be baptized this Saturday didn't come to church so we decided to wait until after general conference for the baptism. 

But all of that aside there we so many blessings. We received a lot of incredible references, we couldn't meet with any of them last week because they were busy, but we went to visit one earlier today and she is SO prepared. She accepted a baptismal date here in a few weeks (she has already been to church varios times) and we are super excited. And it felt nice to finally give my companion the opportunity to teach a first lesson. 

Well we're just going to keep working hard and I'm going to stop trying to figure everything out. Things here happen on a timetable that is not my own and I should be used to that by now.

Que estén bien! Besos!

Hermana Schmidt

Here is a picture of me with H. Bante, the other is a foto of one of the other new sisters named H Christensen. She came up to me and said "This is really weird but I already know you. I read your blog before I went to the MTC" Haha. 

And a #tbt (even though it's Monday. If you want to wait until Thursday to see the picture that would be fine) to when we went to the zoo!

Week 60 ~ September 12, 2016

So María Fernanda and Juventino were baptized! 

Moises was not able to move out of his house in order to stop living with his girlfriend so we had to postpone his baptism until the 24th. But I think it is good that he'll have a few more weeks to prepare. 

This week we had transfers and imagine my surprise when they told me that Hermana Machado was going to be transferred. It's not very common that the trainer stays in the area, and I am going to miss her a lot. But I was even more surprised when they told me that I was going to be training AGAIN! 12 more weeks! Haha. Basically all that I have left. But I feel really blessed to have the opportunity again. My new companion is named Hermana Bante, she is 19 and from Oaxaca. I feel so blessed to be her trainer. She is already helped me to feel less tired and more animated to keep working. I left my camera adapter at the house so I can't send pictures (H. Machado sent me the other foto) but I'll have lots to send next week. 

Well I'm (as always) out of time so I can't write more but keep praying and I'll keep working! 

Hermana Schmidt

Week 59 ~ September 5, 2016

Well I don't think I've ever had a more roller coaster week in my whole mission. There have been a lot of awesome things and a lot of hard things. We had one day were we had 7 appointments, which is crazy because there have been weeks here when we don't have 7 appointments. We had members who were going to accompany us to all of the appointments with investigators. That never happens. I finished my planning the night before and thought "Maybe I have learned a thing or two in the last 13 months." And guess what happened? No one was there. We finished the day with 3 lessons, none of which were with a member present. I wanted to die.

But then when we did our weekly planning session we were planning for 3 baptisms. For a lot of you that probably seems normal but I have never planned for more than one baptism in a week. I felt like we were doing awesome all over again. Then Sunday came and NONE of our investigators with baptismal dates came! We talked about it with the ward mission leader, the bishop and the district leader and chances are they will still all be baptized this week. (All three had real reasons they didn't come. It wasn't just that they didn't want to) But it's just not as exciting as it would've been and it frustrates me when things don't go according to my plan.

The big news around here the last few days has been Trump's visit to Mexico. The people here are, as you can imagine, not huge fans of him. I basically tell people I have no idea what's going on there politically and I just pray that people with make wise decisions. Last week I was listening to a talk by Elder Cook and I thought he gave some really wise counsel. He said that everyone should feel obligated to vote and "the cost of freedom has been too high, and the consequences of non-participation too great, for any citizen to feel they can ignore their responsibility." I can't really comment on candidates because I am absolutely ignorant of the situation but I can say that I think that Elder Cook gives us really wise counsel.

To finish I was also listening to Hank Smith's "Break-up with the World" and I love a quote that he shares. It says "The best decision I ever made was to give up something I loved to the God I loved even more. He has never forgotten me for it." Sometimes I think we forget that God rejoices with us, even if it's when we give up something we never should have had. It doesn't matter. He will always remember the sacrifices that we make because of our love for him. 

I love you all. Have a great week.

Hermana Schmidt

We went to a zoo! It was awesome. There were 3 white tigers, regular tigers, a lion, leopards, a camel, and all sorts of monkeys. And it was in the middle of nowhere. It was super cool. But the lion got a little agitated because we were REALLY close to him. I pretty sure he could have broken down the fence if he wanted to. Luckily he didn't want to. 

Week 58 ~ August 29, 2016

There is no time but here are some sweet fotos. One is my companion and I at church. The other is us with Monica our investigator who just moved to Utah. (It was before our district meeting so we're in skirts. But we still use pants normally) Today we took a bus tour of san Luis with our district and it was sweet. I have awesome fotos and videos to show everyone when I get home. Woohoo! 

Miracle of the week: Sunday a less active sister came to church with her 4 children. (two of whom are baptismal aged) and told us that her kids went to church all summer with their grandma and they made her come to church and find us because they want to be baptized! Woohoo! We'll start teaching them tomorrow. 

Love you all. Have a great week

Week 57 ~ August 22, 2016

Well this is going to be the last week that our investigator Monica, will be here in Mexico. It's crazy that on Saturday she'll be in Utah. And I'll still be here... Jaja. But it's OK. I'm just sad we won't be able to keep visiting her and I hope that everything goes amazingly well for her in the great state of Utah.

But that also leaves us with even fewer investigators. Right now we really only have two investigators that live in our area. We have a few more people that we teach but we teach them at work. They come to church with our ward and everything but they should really be baptized in the ward that they live in. But they all have a ton of things that keep them from getting baptized. 

So basically we're trying to focus on finding new people but it's hard in this area. We talk to people in the street, because we're not allowed to knock on doors, but most tell us no. And the few that tell us yes live in other areas. Our area is very wealthy and so the majority of the people who live there work all day and travel by car so it's not really likely that we would find them in the street. We've been trying to work more with the members but well I didn't exactly love giving references to the missionaries before I was one either. 

I have been thinking a lot about section 121 of D&C. I really love the whole section but I've been thinking a lot about the last 12 verses: 

 34 Behold, there are many called, but few are chosen. And why are they not chosen?

 35 Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world, and aspire to the honors of men, that they do not learn this one lesson—

 36 That the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness.

 37 That they may be conferred upon us, it is true; but when we undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain ambition, or to exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon the souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens withdraw themselves; the Spirit of the Lord is grieved; and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man.

 38 Behold, ere he is aware, he is left unto himself, to kick against the pricks, to persecute the saints, and to fight against God.

 39 We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion.

 40 Hence many are called, but few are chosen.

 41 No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned;

 42 By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile—

 43 Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy;

 44 That he may know that thy faithfulness is stronger than the cords of death.

 45 Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven.

 46 The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever.

We all want miracles. We all hear about the blessing of obedience and we want them but we don't want to make the sacrifices necessary to obtain them. Becoming a "spiritual giant" is not a mysterious process. If we obey, it will happen. It's one of the things I have learned about the gospel. It's not a guessing game. God has told all of us from the start exactly how things work. We're the ones who are inconsistent. But with that also comes hope, confidence, that if we follow God's plan we will receive the blessings. How wonderful.

Well I love you all. Have a great week! 

Hermana Schmidt

Week 56 ~ August 15, 2016

Well I don't think I have much to say this week. Monica, our only progressing investigator, quit her job and is getting ready to move to Utah at the end of this week or during the next. Which is exciting for her but kind of disheartening for us. 

I had exchanges with H. Labrum again which was awesome! Here is a sweet foto of us. Well... That's about all I have to report. It's a tough area but when things get harder the Lord blesses us even more! 

Love you all! 

Week 55 ~ August 8, 2016

My mom told me that I didn't send an email last week. I don't remember not sending one, but that's probably because I just forgot. I feel like the weeks are passing so quickly I can't separate the events into the weeks in which they happened. 

This week we got some good/bad news. The bad news is that we will not get to see Monica get baptized, but the good news is that she's moving to Utah so I will get to see her after the mission! And she wants to go with everything ready so that she can be baptized there. We're pretty excited about that. 

We've really been struggling to find new investigators. The people here and not super interested in what we have to tell them and the majority of the people in the street don't live in this area, they just come to work. We've started inviting the member to plan family home evenings with us and this week we had three. It all went pretty well and I think this will be a good start for us. We still need to think of other ways to find that could work for us, but so far we've been pleased with the response we've seen from the member. 

This week there was a huge YSA dance here in San Luis and so YSA from Aguascalientes and Zacatecas came and on Sunday they came to our ward. It was so interesting to see people I met in my first area and think about everything that has changed since I was there with them. I also got to see one of the hermanas that was my companion for a day when I was without companion. She said that everyone in Aguas misses me a lot which made me sad, because I'm not there, but happy that they miss me too. 

Well this week I would like to share two thoughts that I read in Liahonas:

"Life is beautiful and worth living." -Presidente Uchtdorf

"What we should remember when we behold Him is that because of Him, and all He did and all He was and is, we too can triumph. We also can overcome. We can live abundantly in the midst of trials. If we choose to “behold” Him and accept and apply His saving gospel, He will save us. He will rescue us from the effects of our own fallen natures and foibles, and He will save us from sin, from spiritual mediocrity, and from ultimate, eternal failure. He will purge, refine, beautify, and eventually even perfect us. He will give us joy and peace. He is the key to abundant life." -Elder L. Whitney Clayton

Un fuerte abrazo,

Hermana Schmidt

Week 54 ~ August 1, 2016

Week 52 ~ July 18, 2016

Week 51 ~ July 11, 2016 ~ Still Homeless

We I've officially been in San Luis three weeks and we are still living with the Hermanas from Jardin. We had a maybe option for an apartment but yesterday they told us that they don't want to rent anymore. Luckily all 4 of us have good attitudes and every day we get a little more settled in. We will probably have just gotten comfortable by the time we find a house. But we have a lot of fun. 

This week we had one investigator come to church. His name is Moises and he has a lot of desire, but also a lot of problems. He lives with his girlfriend and he smokes. But we're working on the smoking and he said he would talk to his girlfriend about getting married. Right now he has a baptismal date set for the 30th of this month, but I doubt he'll be married by then. But I know that crazier things have happened.  

I know I should have more things but this is seriously all I can remember.... The days pass so fast but at the same time I feel like the last week was 4 months long. Jaja.

Pray for us. 

Love,

Hermana Schmidt

Week 50 ~ July 4, 2016 ~ Pants: Week 1

From here on out I will be counting the weeks based on when we started using pants. Because it's weird. But I also kind of love it. 

This week was pretty much the same as last week expect we got lost a little less and so we talk a little more. We still basically don't have any investigators but at least we can find people when they tell us we can visit them. 

We did receive a huge blessing this week when we got a reference from a member from Utah. He reconnected with an old girlfriend and she went up to Utah to visit him. Her name is Monica. While she was there she went to temple square and the conference center (they were downtown when they preisthood session ended and it really made an impact on her because she has 2 sons). They also went to welfare square and the member talked to her about how the members of his ward have supported him and she really liked that. We had a great lesson with her and she accepted a baptismal date so we're really excited about that.

Well we're going to keep working hard and trusting in the Lord to guide us. (Even more so because we literally do not know the way) 

Love you all!

Hermana Schmidt

Week 49 ~ June 27, 2016 ~ Perdidas

Well I don't have a whole lot to tell you this week. We basically spent the whole last week somewhere between lost and people who don't remember that the missionaries visited them once six months ago. Haha. But every day is a little better than the day before. My companion is great and we just need to find an apartment so that we can have our own space and unpack our suitcases. But for now we'll just wait.

Here are some fotos. 

Love you! 

Hermana Schmidt

Week 48 ~ June 21, 2016 ~ Cambios!

Well I had one of the best weeks ever last week. We spent the whole week getting Irma ready for her baptism and Saturday night her son Alfonso baptized her and it was absolutely amazing. When she came out of the font she gave me a huge hug and then said "oh no. I got you all wet" (which was true) but I didn't even care and just kept hugging her. 

We also saw a lot of progress in our investigator José. He didn't drink the whole week and came to every activity, including the baptism. 

Saturday when we were waiting to start the baptism the zone leaders called me to tell me I was going to be training a new missionary! I was super excited and assumed it would be in my area in Aguas. (both because it's pretty rare that they transfer people when they're going to train and because it would mean sending two new missionaries to the area where I was) but they told me that I would be training and opening a new area. I felt a lot of things when they told me that. Excited, nervous and also really sad because I LOVE the ward where I was. But I knew one day I was going to have to leave. The good news is I knew ahead of time so I could take fotos. 

Sunday was a really bitter-sweet day. Irma was confirmed a member of the church and we had 4 investigators at church, 2 of which have baptismal dates. At the end of sacrament meeting the bishop announced over the pulpit that I was going to have transfers and asked me to come up and bear my testimony. When I got to the stand one of the counselors whispered to me "without crying please" I am pleased to report that I did not cry but it was close. 

Then after the services ended we were all outside and taking pictures and all three of the people who got baptized while I was there expressed their gratitude to me and that pretty much made me want to sob. And I realized how much I have love this area and how comfortable I have felt there. I really felt like it was my home and it was incredibly hard to leave. Even more so because I didn't know where I was going. 

Monday I went to pick up my new companion and found out that we would be going to San Luis Potosi. My companion is Hermana Machado and she is from Columbia. We are going to have a lot of challenges here in San Luis but I learned in my last transfer that God always takes good care of his missionaries. 

Pray for me to learn my way around quickly. Love you all!

Hermana Schmidt

ps I forgot my camera but I will sent fotos next week.  

Week 47 ~ June 13, 2016 ~ Last week of my 8th transfer #hayquebautizar

Well when Presidente first told me I would be without a companion the whole transfer I felt like I would never end, and now it's the last week and I can't believe it.

The good news is that Irma is excited for her baptismal date and if everything goes according to plan she will be baptized Saturday night. I am also super excited because Alfonso received the Aaronic Priesthood yesterday and he will be the one to baptize her. Unfortunately her other son made some poor choices (well really one) but the point is he won't be able to confirm her. We offered to postpone her baptism so that he could get everything worked out but she said no. So that's kind of sad but I'm happy for Irma and for Alfonso. 

We also met a new investigator this week named Cesar and he is really excited about the church. He is really humble and is so full of faith. I really think he should progress rapidly. José (I don't remember if I wrote about the drunk guy who contacted us in the street and then was actually lucid when we went to visit him) but he has really been working hard and is progressing towards a July 2nd baptismal date. And the wife of the Paredes' family came to church! That was really exciting. I wish it had been everyone but it was nice to see that she made the effort. 

Well keep praying for us. And that it will rain at night. (That may seem oddly specific but if it rains during the day we get wet but at night lowers the temperature for the whole day.) It's better when it rains at night. 

Love you all!

Hermana Schmidt

Week 46 ~ June 6, 2016 ~ Still Companionless

It is such an odd experience to be without a companion. (I obviously am never alone but I technically do not have an assigned companion right now) I've had various sister from the locally wards making visits with me for a few hours or even coming with me for a few days. It's been a lot of work to coordinate everything but I've felt really blessed and seen how God has blessed my life and the lives of everyone around me as we've made the best of a less than ideal situation. One really striking example was last Sunday when the sister who was going to go with me to my area for the day called us 2 minutes before sacrament meeting started to tell us she couldn't make it. At first I felt super stressed and was just praying and praying, asking God what I should do. And I really clearly felt "Don't worry. I know what's going on. I'll take care of it." And I just immediately felt calm and sat through the rest of the meeting without a worry. At the end of the meeting with asked one of the young single adults if she would be willing to go to my area with me for the day and she said yes. Later she told me that the day before she went to the temple and while she was there she was praying and asking for one more day as a missionary. It was so neat to see how God answered both of our prayers. 

Even with everything that has been going on Irma, the mother of our two recent converts Alfonso and Marco, has been coming to church and she says that she is going to be baptized on the 18th. I still feel that she's doing it more for her sons than because she believes it but I have no doubt that she will have a testimony by the 18th. Saturday we taught her the message of the restauration and it was a really powerful lesson. I don't think I'll ever forget it. It was her and her two sons who are members of the church. We shared the story and then one of her sons testified about Joseph Smith and the other about the book of Mormon. I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who cried but it was still powerful. 

Well I hope all is well there in the US. They tell me it's getting hot there. Welcome to the hot. Supposedly it's going to start getting cooler here but I'll believe it when I feel it. The good news is we can use hats and sunglasses now. The bad news is there going to make us use pants. I'll keep you updated on that.

Love you all!

Hermana Schmidt

Week 45 ~ May 30, 2016 ~ Another Week in the Life

Hola familia,

I feel like the past week just flew by. I'm basically just trying to survive until transfers because even though we've found some people willing to help us they have lives too so we are running around trying to conform the plans to work that I have with their schedules. A young lady that is getting ready to go on a mission in august was with me a few days last week but I think she kind of got burnt out. She said she would be coming back today in the afternoon but today she sent me a text that she can't until Wednesday. Which left me with a lot of appointments and without a companion. We found someone for today but without someone who can live with me in the house here it's a LOT of work to be here in my area. But the Lord has been so merciful and we've still been able to teach and the mother of out two recent converts, Irma, came to church. I was expecting more investigators but hopefully this week. 

It's weird that even though I don't have a companion I still don't feel as lonely as I did those first few weeks with H. Yañez. I actually think that time with her really prepared me for all this that is happening now and I've been able to cope better because I was able to build trust with the Holy Ghost who is the only companion I've had my whole mission. 

This has been hard, juggling companions and managing an area alone, but I feel honored that my mission president and the Lord have trusted me with this and strengthened by their confidence in me. 

Pray for me to find sisters with the desire to be missionaries for a few days. And more people to teach.

Love you all!

Hermana Schmidt 

Week 44 ~ May 23, 2016 ~ One Crazy Week

Well this has official been the craziest week of my mission so far. Tuesday Hermana Pacheco went home. I literally cried in the bus station. I felt like I was losing the opportunity to have an angel as my companion. But it's better that she can go home and heal and then finish with less pain. Or continue with the mission that God will assign her at home. 

After that we went to pick up my new companion Hermana Lopez. We had a good few days together but Saturday she also went home for some problems with her ankle. So that left me without a companion. Presidente had told me that they would bring someone from another area, but at the last minute changed his mind and right now I'm with the sister training leaders and we're trying to work out a way to work in both of our areas. It has been super crazy. But we think we've found someone willing to go with me for a few days to my area and then after that... we'll work something out. Or maybe Presidente will have decided on a more long term solution. But I think he kind of wants to wait because in June 4 new sisters are coming to the mission and only one is leaving. So he doesn't want to close areas just to open them again in less than a month. 

Something super funny that happened two weeks ago is I went to the dermatologist so that she could look and a mole that I have and we walk in and she says to me "What brought you in today? Your face?" and me "No... :(" Jajaja. Even after she saw my mole she ended up writing me a prescription for something to help my face.  I was kind of upset at first but now I just think it's funny and it is helping. It's hot so I sweat a lot and that combined with a lot of sunscreen has not left my skin super beautiful and I guess I should be grateful that she was concerned. 

We have been working hard and the Lord is providing for the rest. Keep us in your prayers.

Love you all!

Hermana Schmidt

Week 43 ~ May 16, 2016 ~ The Happenings in Versalles

Well it has been quite the week here and it's going to be another. My new companion is amazing and I love her. She has the sweetest spirit a person could have a just radiates kindness. 

Saturday Alfonso was baptized and it was one of the most spiritual events I have ever participated in. He has changed so much and his testimony is so strong. His mom has come to church the last two weeks and came to the baptism. She's a little hesitant because she's been studying with the Jehovah Witnesses for many years but now that two of her sons are members of the church I think she's more interested in what we have to share with her.

Today Presidente Villareal and his wife invited us to have lunch with them at their house. My companion was in the ward before and they had promised her lunch at their house. That's why we got to the internet so late and I didn't have time to answer people well. Presidente also wanted to talk with my companion because she has some problems with her feet and legs and we called him last week because she doesn't feel like she can keep up with the rigors of missionary work. They talked and she's going home tomorrow. I'm pretty bummed because I love her, but she's really been suffering and it's probably better that she goes home. Presidente told me that my new companion is also having health troubles and so she's only going to be here until they can get her returned worked out and after this I'll have another companion. Crazy! 

Well I've already used more time than I should have. I'll try to be more responsible with my time next week and update you more.

 Love you all!

Hermana Schmidt

Week 42 ~ May 9, 2016 ~ The 8th Transfer

Hello,

I finally have a few minutes to write about the past few weeks but we'll start with what happened in transfers. I'm going to be staying here in Versalles another transfer but I have a new companion. Her name is Hermana Pacheco and she's from... a part of Mexico that I do not know how to spell. But it's in southern Mexico. 

This Saturday were going to have a baptism and I am super excited that I'm still going to be here to see it. Our investigator Alfonso is going to be baptized by his brother Marco who is a recent convert.

We're still visiting Jose (the alcoholic who contacted us in the street) and he is progressing well but it's going to be an uphill battle to get him ready to be baptized. 

The Paredes family told us that they need time and that was a huge bummer. But I have no doubt that they will get baptized someday it just probably will be with other missionaries. 

Well... I feel like I should have more to tell you but I can't think of anything. Pray for us to find new people to teach.

I love you and Happy Mother's day to all.

Hermana Schmidt

Week 41 ~ May 2, 2106 ~

Week 40 ~ April 25, 2016 ~ Faria Round Two

Hola,

The fair keeps taking all of our investigators away. The Paredes family went to Jalisco for the week so we could visit them and they didn't come to church. But Alfonso came and he's excited to be baptized the 14th of May. And we also met a new investigator who already had a book of Mormon and says he already knows that the church is true from what he saw of the Mormons when he was in Utah. He has a huge drinking problem but so far hasn't had a drink since our first visit with him. I'll tell you the full story next week but so far it has the makings of a full-blown miracle.

Love you all! 

Hermana Schmidt