Hermana Schmidt: Hermana Schmidt Week 77 Letter 03/14/16 Last Letter :)

From: Nicole Schmidt [mailto:nicole.schmidt@myldsmail.net]
Sent: 03/14/2016 12:57 PM
To: Bunney Schmidt
Subject: ''What tongue, my gratitude, can tell? O gracious God of Israel!'' Hurrah for Israel!

Hola a todos!

Yeah, i'm already crying, it's fine.

Okay, I will start with our week and then I will get to... that other thing.

So this week was amazing!! We taught Rodrigo Rubio ALL of the lessons! Every day he kept saying ''I just feel it so strong when I read the Book of Mormon! The church is true!!'' And at the end of the week, he said he is for sure moving to the capital. BUT we got to have the amazing priviledge to teach him everything before he left! He said, ''I'll never forget the missionaries who taught me everything in a week and changed my life'' :) Missionary work really is amazing, whether or not you get to be there to see them get baptized or something. Just seeing someone develop, or redevelop, a testimony makes it all worth it.

Eric is getting the melchizidek (idk how to spell that) priesthood this sunday!! so amazing! :)

WE WENT TO THE TEMPLE!! Okay... I have never felt so much peace ever!! It was definitely the boost I needed for the end of the mission. I just know that that is the house of God.

We went to a church history discussion with a general authority in the capital and OKAY. Yes I know the church is true from the spirit, but secondly WOW! Our church history just says it all. It's amazing how much good God has done with weak people! He's amazing.

Now...

to that part.

Well, I thought a lot about a song this week and thought to share the lyrics:

1. Savior, Redeemer of my soul,

Whose mighty hand hath made me whole,

Whose wondrous pow'r hath raised me up

And filled with sweet my bitter cup!

What tongue my gratitude can tell,

O gracious God of Israel.

2. Never can I repay thee, Lord,

But I can love thee. Thy pure word,

Hath it not been my one delight,

My joy by day, my dream by night?

Then let my lips proclaim it still,

And all my life reflect thy will.

3. O'errule mine acts to serve thine ends.

Change frowning foes to smiling friends.

Chasten my soul till I shall be

In perfect harmony with thee.

Make me more worthy of thy love,

And fit me for the life above.

Words cannot express..

I never realized how much I needed the Lord. I never realized how powerful he really he is and how completely, utterly, wonderfully, perfectly aware he is of all of us. He is the being that doesn't just make us whole, he makes us holy. He lives!! And what a joy it is to share that, to proclaim his name and defend his faith!

You know, before my mission I always said, ''I know it will be hard but it will be worth it.'' I didn't really grasp it I think. I didn't really know what the ''worth it'' meant. I was like, ''Well... i'll learn a lot and change and stuff.'' But that was like... one tiny itty bitty bit of it. I came to know for myself that God is our LOVING Heavenly father, and he is My loving heavenly father, and yours! He is AMAZING! He is glorious! He is so patient. I want to be like him. In every day and in evey way, I want to follow him. And I know I will fall short and trip and fall, but the Lord will always be there to pick me up and help me change. I came to know what faith in the Lord Jesus Christ really means and how that can change our lives. I came to know who I was before I came to Earth, and how that can motivate me and change me here on earth. I came to know that what I preach every day is true.

And although I know I didn't deserve it,

I can honestly say that I have been changed.

The Lord has changed me.

I know He lives.

Thank you for being my ''angels through the mail (email and real)'' and it's true when the Lord said he would send angels round about to bear me up... he sent you. All of you. Thank you for lifting me when I couldn't keep going. I owe it all to you and the Lord. I love you and admire you all.

And last, I want to thank my parents. I do not deserve parents like them, but i'm so grateful the Lord gave me people so capable and so loving to be my leaders. I had an experience about 7 months into my mission when I got a call from the doctor (after an emergency run to the hospital from an infection) telling me I would probably have to go home early. I remember being shocked and I kept telling myself, ''Well.. I guess that's the Lords plan for me.'' And I can be so weak and I was so ready to just throw in the towel without a fight. Well, my dad wrote me ''hang in there sweetheart, don't let the adversary confuse you as to what you are destined to do for our Heavenly Father and Savior. You have greatness in you and Satan knows that.'' and encouraged me to stay. Well, I took that to heart and I actually got to the go to the temple the next day after that pday with the mission.

In the temple, I was reading my scriptures at the end, and I prayed after pondering long and hard about what my father said, and I felt, better said, heard, like thunder in my mind, ''You will serve 18 months.''

I have been blessed with a good earthly and heavenly father.

I owe it all to them. Thank you mom and dad for inspiring me, and for putting up with me, and for sustaining me. I love you.

I know the church is true. I KNOW IT! It is everything. There came a point early on my mission when I had to ask myself, ''Well, am I gonna give everything?'' And I had to take a step back and realize that if I was going to give it all it would HAVE to mean everything to me. And that's where the journey started. It has become everything to me, God's eternal truth. I know it's true.

I love you all...

I just know this will be the best week ever, as my sister sarah encouraged me long ago, ''Make your last weeks your hardest working.'' I know that the lord will help us to do so!

HURRAH, HURRAH, HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!

Love,

Hermana Schmidt