Hermana Schmidt: Hermana Schmidt Week 26 Letter 03/23/15

From: Nicole Schmidt [mailto:nicole.schmidt@myldsmail.net]
Sent: 03/23/2015 9:36 AM
Subject: Speechless.

Hola a todos!!

Can I just start by saying that God is real. And God is good.

And that's how I want to start, because I have first hand witnessed the hand of our Heavenly Father in my life this week, and I will be eternally grateful.

But as always, I like to start off with either spiritual news or funny things that happened. Today I think i'll start with the funny, and save the best for last.

So this isn't exactly funny, it's awesome, but my trainer came and visited the mission this week!!! It was great seeing Hna. Fletcher (now Erika) and catching up over the past 6 weeks she's been home! She looks great and is doing great! And you'll read on that this was perfect timing for her to come visit.

Okay on a really funny note, we have an investigator named Juanito who is 70+ years old and normally not wearing a shirt, and normally doesn't understand us or is a little bipolar. He keeps us very entertained in our lessons, just to put it that way! He's the neighbor of a recent convert in our ward, Antonio (the one who yelled out in church 'what hymn!?' from the email last week), so they are both a hoot. Well we get to Juanito's lesson, and Antonio was helping us out, and the first thing Juanito says is "I am ALWAYS here for this lessons because you girls decide my life. You are my government." ... He's crazy. And awesome. And getting baptized in April. However, we were laughing and continued the lesson. Antonio brings up the second coming and says "No one knows when it will be!!" And I said, "Yeah, it could even happen tomorrow!!"(as a joke) and Juanito literally almost has a heart attack. It takes him a good 20 min. to realize it was a joke and calm down. Poor guy. Almost killed off an investigator. However, then I almost killed off Antonio as well when I told him (as a joke!!) I have 5 boyfriends at home, and he said, "The lord does not permit that!! You need to repent!!" dead serious. I can't joke with old men in this country.

So that's the funny to update, because... the spiritual updates are just WAY TOO GOOD this week.

So we had a lesson with Sonia and Mario, and older couple and the mom of Edgar/Miguelina (who are praying to know if they should get married!! sweet!!) and her boyfriend. Well, we've been praying to know how to help them and we both felt we needed to help them with their testimonies of Joseph Smith before we dive into the word of wisdom, which is where they have a lot of difficulties. So we decided to watch the Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration movie with them, and the whole movie they were making comments about how amazing it was, or how great the sacrifices where.. and all that good stuff. And right after the movie, the spirit was so strong, and seriously without hesitation, Sonia says:

"I now KNOW that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and this church is true."

Soon after Mario said,

"That man was telling the truth. Joseph Smith saw everything he said he saw! I know it! I can feel it!"

Ah. My heart. Dead.

My testimony of Joseph Smith was once again renewed and strengthened. I share my testimony with the testimonies of Mario and Sonia, He WAS a prophet, and this church is true!!

But, that's still not the best part. You ready? Let's see if I can share this story without rambling from pure joy and excitement.

So you all remember the story of Smith's miracle lesson right? If not, I believe I wrote about it last week. So all week we were trying to set up an appointment with his Dad, and nothing was working out!! Our phone didn't have minutes, and neither did Smith's. But the minutes came Saturday morning, and for me that was a miracle.

That morning had been just a tad hard for me, because one of my best friends Leda, who I had the opportunity to share the gospel with, was getting sealed in the temple for time and all eternity to Jason, and it was hard not being there. I am so proud of Leda, so when you read this don't get me wrong. But there is a reason I am here, and not there. As much as I would've loved to be there, Saturday just showed me that I KNOW this is where I am supposed to be.

so the minutes came, and we were able to call his dad!!! He answered and we set up an appointment to meet with him Saturday night. Side note, we have been non-stop praying for Smith's dad to come around and give him permission to be baptized, because Smith's grandma convinced him that the church was bad and all of these lies about the church. So, the fact he even agreed to an appointment was a miracle in and of itself!! Prayers are answered my friends!! So after that, we went to the church for English class at 3:30 and then we were going to wait for his dad to come at 5:30. Well Smith showed up at 5 for mutual, as well as Elder Smith for baptismal interviews. Well Smith doesn't need permission to have the interview, so we took the opportunity and a leap of faith and told him he should get his done, and he did, and obviously passed with flying colors! And afterwards he said, "Now I feel really excited to talk to my dad, and ready!" So that was a cool tender mercy of the day. Later his dad had work, and kept pushing the appointment back, until it was almost too late to have it!! Hermana Greenstreet and I decided to go and say a prayer in the bathroom, for him to come, for his heart to be softened, for Smith to have faith and courage, and for us to have the gift of tongues. We both felt invigorated with the power of the Holy Ghost, and knew that it was all in God's hands, and we felt we would be able to see a miracle.

And we did.

His dad CAME! And he came just in time to have the appointment. Well, we started talking about the changes with Smith and the good things the church can give him. And then Smith fearlessly shared his baptismal desires and his testimony, and how great the church is. A 14 year old boy. Infused with power and faith. It was a david and goliath moment everyone. And it worked. The power of God was made manifest, and his dad softened his heart and signed his baptismal paper!!! Smith will be baptized this Saturday, and Kevin will baptize him!!!!

Now, I hope you all allow me to take a little liberty here and ramble about my thoughts and my own personal feelings. These aren't doctrine, just personal feelings.

We talk a lot about miracles in the scriptures, for example: the red sea, david and goliath, seeing angels and such. And these are incredible stories, that really do show that God is all-power and loving. However, I believe we are able to see miracles everyday, and miracles aren't normally like those. Miracles can be simple manifestations of God's power and love in our ordinary lives. Now don't get me wrong, this wasn't my miracle. This was a miracle for Smith, I was just a simple instrument. However, I am so grateful I could witness it. A miracle can be as simple as a heart being softened enough to sign a paper. A miracle can be as simple as a 14 year old boy having the courage to share his beliefs with his hardened, distant father.

To be honest, I don't know if seeing the red sea part would have changed my testimony all that much. Yes, it would have been incredible and I could never forget it, but physical miracles don't last. But this miracle, seeing this miracle in the life of Smith, will be something I will treasure forever. Because it was a spiritual and simple miracle when I could not deny the existence of our Heavenly Father. He is real. And He is Good.

Hurrah for Israel!!!

-Hna. Schmidt :)