Week 25: Peace ~ January 11, 2016

Well my first full week in a different area. It was so weird not to know my way around again, but I feel like I am learning much faster this time. It took me almost two full transfers to know my way around my last area and after a week I know (more or less) the neighborhood were we live and the one where the majority of our investigators live.  

I think I forgot to write about my new companion. Her name is Hermana Barzola. She's from Argentina and so she is the first person I've met here who has a notable accent (apart from the other missionaries from the US).  She's 19 and she just finished her first 2 transfers, so combined we have less than 9 months in the mission field. It feels a little bit like when you were a little kid and you looked up and couldn't see your parents.  It's a little empowered and also pretty nerve wracking.  But she has a great attitude and a lot of love for the work so I'm sure everything else will work out.  

The area here is really different from my last area. Primarily because there are no hills here! I feel like I could walk for days! Also the other companionship in our ward are 2 missionaries from the US and they're always speaking English. It is the oddest thing. 4 months of no English and now almost daily.  I'm not going to lie, I don't love it.  But I don't really speak English to them and so they're starting to speak more Spanish. 

This area has it's own unique challenges. One is that we have to find a cheaper house. Our apartment where we live now costs almost 1000 pesos more than the mission limit and the problem is that almost all the "safe" neighborhoods are really expensive, but I have faith that the Lord will provide something for us. 

Also the last few missionaries here have not been very good at following up with their investigators and so there are more than 50 teaching records in our apartment of "investigators" but many haven't been visited in quite some time so we're going to try and visit them all to see who might really be interested.  

We had 2 invistigators at church this Sunday! One is named Jessica and she is living with her boyfriend who is a less active member of the church.  We're working with them so they can get married and she can get baptized.  The other is named Mari and she... well she's a little odd but very excited about the church..  She's an older lady (60's) and she lives alone. Hopefully things keep going well with her.  

Well my spiritual thought for the week come from "Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Howard W. Hunter"   Chapter 2 “My Peace I Give unto You”.  It is so easy to worry here. Worry about my family and friends at home, what I'm going to do with my life, our investigators, my companion, the way I teach, the way I talk to people in the street, the fact that I still hardly speak the language, and a million other things.  But I loved this lesson from President Hunter. There will always be a million and one things to worry about, but we'll be alright as long as we know in whom we have trusted.
“… in the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." John 16:33

I love you!

Hermana Schmidt