Hermana Schmidt: Hermana Schmidt Week 76 Letter 03/07/16

From: Nicole Schmidt [mailto:nicole.schmidt@myldsmail.net]
Sent: 03/07/2016 9:36 AM
Subject: This is SO worth it!

Hola a todos!! :)

Happy birthdays to my niece Eden! :) And my cousin Austin! I hope they are great! :)

So this week was full of exchanges so we were everywhere. It was fun to see other areas and work with new people, but it does make for one tired Sister Schmidt... haha. Keep on trucking all the way! Animo!

Okay so the last couple of weeks have been really great, but we have also hit TONS of brick walls. We have seen people progressing a ton and then out of the blue disappear completely! It took kind of toll on us but we kept trying to look for the opportunities and for miracles and blessings daily. But, sometimes there are just low points in some transfers and we have to pass through them to be super excited about the high points.

On that note, yesterday I was sitting at church and I started church SO frustrated. Not one of our investigators had come and I was just so overwhelmed by feelings of disappointment and stress. I was sitting there and as fast and testimony meeting started, I realized that it would be my last Sunday to give my testimony in my ward here in La Romana. Well, I did not want to give my testimony angry and sad so to prep myself before going up I just said a prayer that the Lord would comfort me and inspire me to know what to say to them and as my last testimony as a full time missionary in their ward. Well, to my surprise, our convert ERIC SOSA got to bless the sacrament for this first time yesterday! Okay, that was a total booster! After that the testimonies started and I got up and shared mine. It was really hard, but I felt SO strong the Lord's love for his people here in the DR and once again testified to me how much it has been a priviledge to serve here thus far.

Well, after my testimony, Eric got up and shared his testimony. He started of, with tears in his eyes, mustered out, ''I am just so grateful to my heavenly father who showed me that this church is true, and has changed me, one hundred percent. I am so grateful to have been baptized because I know this is the true, restored church. Thanks to God, the members, and the missionaries who helped me, I am here and I know it's true.'' Yeah. I was crying. After the meeting he said, ''There was more I wanted to say to just you sisters. I want you to know i'm here for the long run. I will miss you when you go, but I am never going to leave here. I just know its true. Thank you so much for teaching me."

You know, there are hard days here. There are hard weeks. There are hard moments that have made me tremble and basically crumble. There are frustrating moments that make me want to just rip my hair out! There are let downs and heart breaks and the hot sun and blisters and cold showers and big bugs and tears and loneliness and darkness. But I just know... that the Good will ALWAYS outweigh and dispell the bad. The light will always dominate the darkness. It always has.

I know, along with Eric, that the church is true. It's SO true! It's so amazing and such a huge blessing from our heavenly father. It has been a wonderful priviledge to see people's lives change from the hands of the Lord and his marvelous spirit. He really is all powerful. With him, as it always has, light will ALWAYS dispel the darkness. The Good will always win!

But another update is that we received a cool reference from the Temple Square missionaries in Salt Lake. They called us and when I saw a utah code I was like (Uh.... what is going on....) but it all worked out. His name is Rodrigo and he, for years, has been interested in the church but hasnt known how to get in contact with it. He was searching on line and found the info to contact missionaries from Salt Lake and they gave us the reference. YEAH so he has already dived into the Book of Mormon and accepted a date. He is so prepared and wants to get baptized on the 20th. the only down side is that he is moving to Santo Domingo so will be baptized in a different ward, but this week we will be teaching him all of his lessons so that it's an easier task for the new missionaries there right before his baptism. It's so cool how some people just KNOW the church is true even before knowing much about it! It's incredible!!

Tomorrow we go to the temple (woot woot!) so excited :)

Other than that, everything is going good here in La Romana. It will be a great week in the work of the Lord!!

I love you all, thanks for all of your support!! :)

Hurrah for Israel! :)

-Hermana Schmidt