Hermana Schmidt Week 45 Letter 08/03/15

From: Nicole Schmidt [mailto:nicole.schmidt@myldsmail.net] 

Sent: 08/03/2015 12:42 PM
Subject: What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger! (Unless you don't have water, that could kill you!)

Hola a todos! 

Happy Happy Happy Birthday to my cute niece JACKI, my brother in law James, my 2nd cousin Sophia, and my grandpa schmidt! I hope you all have AWESOME Birthdays! :) 

So we finally get our health together, and the HOUSE FALLS APART. But, I will get to that because I have to tell you all that we saw HUGE miracles this week! Wonderful, wonderful miracles. 

We've been teaching Fidel, Jose Miguel's brother (PS Jose Miguel passed the sacrament yesterday for his first time and was just so happy and glowing! That is the best!), and he has been progressing but not really progressing for a while now. We always have powerhouse spiritual lessons with him, and he loves them, but he just wouldn't come to church and wouldn't make any solid committments to progress. Well, we taught him about the Book of Mormon this week and talked about the blessings we receive from reading the Book of Mormon, and how it really is all the evidence that the restoration happened. And how It's a powerful tool to feel God's love for us. It was a super strong lesson and then I felt impressed to invite him to be baptized, and he said, in his words, ''No. I will not be baptized. I was raised catholic and I won't change. But I will gladly come to the Mormon church for the rest of my life, but I can't be baptized.'' And I was Shocked! But those answers always require Heavenly Help which makes them super special moments in life! I started asking him about his own experiences and the potencial he thinks that God has in store for him. We talked about how it all revolves around the Book of Mormon, and how he really can recieve an answer. Once again we invited him saying, ''It's not about being baptized tomorrow, or the next day. It's about you feeling the spirit, and if the spirit tells you this is true and is the Church with god's power and authority, will you follow that answer and be baptized?'' He thought for a moment and said, ''You know what, I will if God helps me to feel that.'' It was AMAZING. It just comes to show we NEED the spirit to guide the lessons in order for us to help these people come to christ! I love being a missionary! Hoozah! And the best part!? HE CAME TO CHURCH YESTERDAY!! I am just so super extremely happy. 

Okay here goes to the crazy, dramatic week. You ready? 

So on Wednesday we ran out of water in the house, which isn't TOO weird for here. Normally it's not gone for much time, sometimes a couple of hours but normally not more than that. Personally, it's only lasted more than that one time for me when I was in Los Frailes. But we figured, no big deal, and went working with a huge sink of dishes from lunch and no water to wash it. Well, still nothing that night and we were like... blah.... we want to shower. We are gross. But, we couldn't, so we had faith and prayed and in the morning.... No water! What happened! 

So thursday passed and still no water happened and we were trying to use random things to be our dishes and to cook with. All while calling the owner of the building to help us, (he didn't), and having a stressful, but hopeful day without water. That night, we run into the house, full of faith and hope and excitement, to find no water. And a big cockroach dead on the floor. And all of you who know me, know that I can not handle bugs. Let alone big cockroaches. 

But, my companion served me and threw it away for me. :) --sorry dad, still haven't gotten over that prob. But I did kill a little spider on the wall this week so I am progressing!

So then comes friday. Day 3 with no water. It was smelly. It was ugly. And we couldn't use our bathroom so we had to find random bathrooms to use. One of which being in a small grocery store in our area, in the back area, in the most sketchy bathroom I have literally ever seen in my entire life. I felt that by this point I could definitely last for more than a day on Survivor. 

We then went to a colmado to see if they could get a hold of someone to deliver water because no one was doing anything in our building. We bought popsicles while we were asking their help, and the colmado boy (sorry colmados are like gas stations) asked for a bite of my popsicle. It was one of the VERY few moments I wished I wasn't representing the Lord because I had to say yes. And it was weird. 

Then our neighbors got mad we called without telling them (we had tried multiple times and couldn't go another day without water!) so they banished us to our apartment and told us we couldn't leave until they figured it out. So we were banished by a lot of dominicans, which I think is pretty cool and rare, and we went up and I made us cherry juice while we just kept asking ourselves, did we really get put in time out by our neighbors? It was great. but finally the WATER CAME. And we were only banished for like an hour! 

And then came the Shower.

And then the peace. 

Everything was going good after Friday, we were clean, the sun was shining (typical), the birds chirping, and the lessons great. And then Sunday decides to have a HUGE rainstorm. We were working in seriously sheets of rain with a new convert in the ward, Leiri, talking to everyone and anyone about the gospel, and it was fantastic (and actually, cold! Never thought that'd happen here) Well at the end of the day, we saw a big puddle and I said, ''Well! We gotta just run super fast through it because there's no other option!'' In a voice like ''For Narnia!'' I yelled, ''For Israel!!'' And since it was my idea, I ran into the puddle first. Little do I know, there's a big ditch in this puddle and my foot gets caught and I literally fly in the area and land on my face in the street. In the pouring rain. There was a big ''Woah!'' by all the dominicans nereby, and then my companion was so startled she ran in after me and then too fell right after me. It was like watching tackle football for the dominicans and they cheered for us. What a blessing. We were dying laughing and crying from laughter. We were quite a sight. Dirty, completely wet, and scraped up, but happy because it didn´t matter! We were both just so happy for a wonderful day and the lessons we had. We just laughed and talked about how we had to at least have one ´´bear the shame of the world´´ moments on the mission. J

So yes, there were hard moments but there were MIRACLES. And I am willing to fall on my face, panic from lack of water, be put in time out, and really anything, to have this wonderful, truly incredible experience! It really is all worth it to see the Lord touch lives and be able to feel his spirit this strong. I just love it!

Hurrah for Israel ! J

-Hermana Schmidt

Cherry Juice

Mariella and Family

Cherry Juice

Day 3 with no water

Drinking Juice

All they could find to eat toast on

Making cookies with Mariella

Mariella and Family making cookies

Hermana Schmidt Week 44 Letter 07/27/15

Subject:  I have a Green Card

Hola a todos!

Happy birthday to my cousin Michael! I hope it is wonderful! :) 

So this was my ''stay inside so you can get better'' week and it went just swell!! Although I wasn't happy about it at first, the Lord super helped me through it all with peace, comfort, and healing. Needless to say, I am just SO pumped to be back in the vineyard of the Lord--- happy and healthy! :) I have to tell you all thank you so much for your sweet emails of concerns, and for the prayers. You have no idea how much I needed your sweet words and encouragement! Thank you for showing me what it means to offer selfless service. Love you all more than words can say! 

So yes. I now hold a dominican republic GREEN CARD. They switched us from our visas to GREEN CARDS. I don't know why. I just feel super cool. Green Card. Green. Card. It's a green. Card. So no worries fam bam- I am a legal person in this country now! Woot woot! 

My companion worked super hard this week with the hermana leaders doing exchanges, and i'm just so grateful for her! She is just so sweet, and so hard working. It's definitely given me a boost. Along with the STLs who have seriously sacrificed so much time and energy into helping us and our area. They just rock. I am surrounded by GREAT individuals. 

But I finally left the house Saturday afternoon. When I left, walking into the fearce DR sun was like comin' right back home and the only thing I could think to say or do was throw my hands in the air singing Let it Go from Frozen because in Spanish it's ''Libre Soy'' Which means i'm free! So I sang ''Libre Soy! Libre Soy!'' Too bad I don't have the long braid and fancy dress, but at least 1/2 clean hair and a stained skirt would pass. 

It was a fantastic night! We taught Bierka who is SUPER interested in the church. She's a mom of 3 teenage girls, and her husband and her are LEGALLY married (Sing and shout alelujah!) Her husband works for JetBlue so is barely there, but we finally met him on Saturday. But Bierka always says her whole life has changed from our lessons and she feels so good in them! The only problem is getting her to church, but we taught a powerful lesson about the plan of salvation and I talked to her about her potential, and who she was before this life. I testified that really, truly, she lived with a loving Father who had a perfect plan for HER personally. That it was quite possible that part of that plan would be sending missionaries and the help she would need, and promised blessings if she accepted the message they would share. The spirit was so strong and she was tearing up saying ''I do want to accept it, how can I?'' We shared about baptism and the importance of the church and showing God our willingness to follow him by ACTING. She readily agreed and wants to be baptized the end of August! What a blessing! :) 

So we are just seeing miracles and I know such amazing miracles are up ahead! I feel so blessed to be such an incredible ward and area. It's much more than I could ever ask for and my heart just feels with joy talking about it! There is nothin' better than being a missionary!! Well, maybe being a mom. But you'd have to ask my mom to know that one. 

A theme for my week was FRIENDS. We listened to some talks on audio and they were just so powerful! One was ''I love my friends'' by Hank Smith. I know that friends are super important and i'm including this part in my email to encourage my family to listen to it-- especially cal and jess. I loved this quote by Neil L. Maxwell in the talk : ''The finest of friends must sometimes be stern sentinals- Who insist that we become what we have the power to become.'' Loved that! I have been blessed with great friends on my mission, and great friends in my life. As many of you are coming home from your missions, I hope you know I love you all so much. And am truly grateful for your example. Thank you for serving the Lord, and for doing it worthily. Those who are coming home, I hope you know your example doesn't stop when you lose the tag. Your influence has to keep going, Your family needs it. And Friends. I know you can continue forward helping and serving those around you as you've done for a year and a half or 2 years. You guys just rock! I love you all so much!  

To finish i've thought a lot about this quote: ''Don't pray for easier lives- pray to be stronger men. Don't pray for tasks equal to your powers, pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle-- you shall be the miracle!'' 

Also: ''You can tell God how big your storm is, our your STORM how big GOD is.''

Hurrah for Israel! :)

-Hermana Schmidt :) 

Hermana Schmidt Week 43 Letter 07/20/15

From: Nicole Schmidt [mailto:nicole.schmidt@myldsmail.net]
Sent: 07/20/2015 10:17 AM
To: Bunney Schmidt
Subject: Look At All the Blessings!

Hola a todos! 

Happy birthdays this week to my cousins Noah and Jerrett, I hope they are wonderful ! :) 

I'm sorry I didn't write but I'll let you all know why. I had to get a small operation done in the hospital a week and a half ago to remove a kidney stone and put in a stent. It's been a super painful process, but a SUPER growing one too. It's so true that ''good timber does not grow with ease, the stronger the wind the stronger the trees!''

Just so you all know the 4 baptisms on the 11th went off without a hitch and were AMAZING. The spirit was so strong and it really testified to me that I was in the right place. I'm so grateful to my Lord for this incredible opportunity to be one of his missionaries! 

And I thought i'd update you on the 4 of them and how they are doing, as well as Daniela, our convert who got baptized in May. 

1. Daniela. She is doing wonderful!! She is teaching with us as we are teaching and sharing with her mother! Her testimony is so strong. 

2. Jose Miguel. He is super excited about the gospel and wants to serve a mission! He is helping us teach his brother, Fidel, who has shown a ton more interest and really has a grand potential. 

3. JESSICA. She is just on fire with the gospel!! She wants to leave with us all the time and all she talks about is ''In 8 months i'll get to turn in my mission papers!!'' ''I can't wait to be a missionary!!'' ''Just think in a year I could have my own nametag!!'' It's so special. We had a super cool experience with her this week. She left for an afternoon with us to teach and this man started bashing on her so super hard for her decision to be baptized and said, ''You don't know the history of your church and your own beliefs! Your church is all about polygamy and has ridiculous beliefs.'' That is the first time, I Hermana Schmidt, have had any opposition said like that in my whole mission. But Jessica stayed super composed and responded afterwards, ''Thanks for your comments. I just want you to know that I know this church is true. I prayed about my decision and it wasn't because of the missionaries that I chose to be baptized in this church. It was from a burning feeling from the Holy Ghost that caused me not to sleep for two nights. I just know it's true! All of it.'' Needless to say, she will be a ROCKIN missionary in a year! She is also teaching her sister with us. 

4. Pedro and Jorge. They are teaching with us as we teach their parents. They have gotten into a steady habit of reading the sciptures and the Liahona! For two young boys, that is so very impessive. His dad has seen a change in them which has caused him to have more interest in the church.

I just wanted to share that update because it's so special how strong these converts are and their willingness and desire to share the gospel with their own family members. I'm so very impressed with them, and hope to be more like them and always have a fire to share the gospel! It is the best!!

Last, after I was in the hospital I was told to take it easy. And... knowing me.... taking it easy was like ''Okay lets just work the afternoon but lets walk 15 miles.'' And that resulted in more pain and a new UTI. It hasn't been easy and I had to go see the doctor again but, I had the most touching experience in the hospital on Saturday. 

I was sitting there, frustrated and in pain, literally praying so hard in my heart for something, anything to pull me out of this dark hole. Well, side note. My mom wrote me this week and told me she was praying fervently for my health. When I read that today, I really felt like the Lord answered her prayer in an unusual but special, special way. 

Yeah, we were all hoping I would be better by now and up to full speed. But here I was, sitting in the hospital, not ever wanting to see another hospital again. An older woman had been there waiting for a family member and had been observing us and my conversations with the doctor for the morning, and she had seen one of my more painful moments. So as I was sitting there, she stood up and asked me ''How are you feeling?'' I said, ''Well... More or less.'' She said, 

''where is your mom?'' 

I said, ''The US''

She said, ''Stand up for a second.''

I wasn't feeling very well enough to stand so I was a little hesitant, but something just told me stand. 

She said, ''I know your mom would love to be here for you at a moment like this. And I know you would love a hug from her. But you can hug me, and pretend that it's your mom. Maybe that can help you just a little bit.''

We embraced. I sobbed. 

I knew it was an answered prayer, to my many prayers and my mom's. Even though she was far away, I felt the love of my mom very close. Heavenly Father was able to work through a stranger because the stranger was willing.

How often do we look out for the people who are hurting? The people who simply need a hug? The people who just need something, anything to pull them out of a dark hole. 

I hope I can answer more prayers for other people, as this woman did mine. May we all be more like this selfless, loving woman. 

We can always choose to look at the trials, or the blessings. But... I've learned there really is no difference when we focus on the blessings. The trials ARE blessings because we grow and we come to see that God really loves us and is so aware of us! 

Hurrah for Israel!!

-Hermana Schmidt 

her new companion Hermana Jackson

Her zone on transfer day

I mustache you a question

Hermana Schmidt Week 42 No Letter 07/14/15

Hermana Schmidt was not able to write a group email this week but will next week.  Her 4 baptisms went through as scheduled on Saturday so that was a wonderful day for her, I have included photos. 

Unfortunately she woke up late Sunday night in a ton of pain and it turned out to be a bad kidney stone.  After not responding to the medications, they felt it best to operate and remove it so she is recovering thus no group email.

Transfers were this week and she is staying in the same area and her new companion is Hermana Jackson.  She is about to hit 6 months in the mission and her previous companion Hermana Cabos was her trainer.

I will leave this with a quote from her:

“Don't know why my body rejects this country but at least my mind and spirit doesn't! ha .”  

Jose Miguel, Jorge, Pedro, Jessica and Hermana Cabos and Schmidt

Pedro and Jorge and Jessica and Jose Miguel and the Bishop

Jose Miguel and Brother and Friends

Hermana Schmidt and Hermana Cabos and Jose Miguel and Brother

Pedro and Jorge and Hermanas

Pedro and Jorge and Hermana's

Pedro and Jorge and Family

Hermana Schmidt and Kitten

Hermana Schmidt

Hermana Schmidt Week 41 Letter 07/07/15

From: Nicole Schmidt [mailto:nicole.schmidt@myldsmail.net]
Sent: 07/07/2015 1:16 PM
Subject: Best Week of My Li-i-i-i-i-i-i-fe (That song has gotta be ancient for you all by now)

Hola a todos!! 

Can I just say I am typing like a maniac because of how extremely excited I am to share with you all about the amazing things that happened this week!? AH. So. Excited. :) Best. Week. EVER. Of. My. Life. ! 

Okay so here goes. This will be a shorter email (I think) but full of happy, wonderful news! 

1. Jessica passed her interview!! She said she feels so good and is so excited to be baptized this Saturday! She also went to the ''zona colonial'' (historical landmarks of christopher colombus and other people who discovered the Americas) with us and a member today, and she was just glowing! She told us a couple of days ago: ''Last night, I was thinking about this whole process and learning about the church and I started crying because I felt so strongly that the Lord knew what I was doing and was proud of me!'' It has been such a cool miracle to see her progress and to see her draw so close to the Lord.

2. FIDEL. Fidel is Jose Miguels brother- the jose miguel that will be baptized this Saturday as well. He has slammed the door in our face and told us plenty of times he did NOT want to listen to us. Needless to say, we stopped trying to teach him and started trying to just be friendly if we saw him at Jose's house. WELL. This last week we passed by and invited him to a YSA activity our ward was going to have, and he got super excited about it. Something just clicked! He said he has some curiosity about the church. We started teaching him and he has been so super receptive. How cool to see someone's heart softened! The Lord is good!! 

3. Pedro and Jorge. They are two kids who have had such a hard process to be baptized. We've been teaching them with their parents and their parents had said lots of times they just didn't think Pedro and Jorge behave well enough to be baptized. They read their BOM and pray, and are super prepared so we were working so hard with them and their family this week to reach their goal to be baptized this Saturday as well... and... Their parents accepted and they passed their interviews!! 

4. Elisiel. Elisiel is 8 and needs to wait to be baptized. His mom is lessactive and needs to reactivate before Elisiel gets baptized. However, he is reading the Book of Mormon like crazy! He says he loves it. And he's super smart!! How cool to see that the Lord can touch anyone's hearts- even small children (or especially small children!). 

So there you have it!! We will be having four AMAZING indiviuals being baptized this saturday!! I am just bursting with joy. It's been a hard process and a lot of work but the Lord really has prepared the way and provided so many miracles! I feel so incredibly lucky to have seen the Lord work wonders in the lives of these his children. 

The biggest miracle however, was between my comp and I and our goals we've set. Our mission president has elevated the spirituality of our mission so so high! It has been such a cool process to see. To help, he has set some high goals to keep us motivated and working hard. When I saw some of the goals, I was shocked!! They were so high and nearly seemed impossible!! But my comp. and I decided we would work our hardest and have faith that it was possible to reach our President's goals. If we didn't, we could at least say we strived anxiously to accomplish them!! But this week we hit one of the goals!! It was so so so so exciting! The Lord has truly helped us. 

I just know the Lord lives!! He is So good!! :) 

Keep your chin UP, work hard, and be obedient. 

Hurrah for Israel! :) 

-Hermana Schmidt 

 

Hermana Schmidt and Hermana Cabos in front of museum

Photo received from a member

Columbus Home

Columbus Home

Columbus Home

Columbus Home

Hermana Schmidt and Jessica

Hermana Schmidt and Museum

Hermana Schmidt and Hermana Cabos with member and Jessica

Hermana Schmidt at museum

She says she loves this country

Hermana Schmidt Week 40 Letter 06/29/15

From: Nicole Schmidt [mailto:nicole.schmidt@myldsmail.net]
Sent: 06/29/2015 10:29 AM
Subject: The Prince of Peace! My Lord and King!

Hola a Todos! 

First of all, Happy birthday to my good friend Briana Hopkins!! I hope it's a great 20th!! (p.s. you're old ;) ) 

I also failed to wish my daddy a happy father's day (worst daughter ever award!) but I hope you know dad that you are the BEST dad in the whole world!! (sorry to the rest of you dad's, you're all great, you're just not the Brad Schmidt). I'm sorry I just re-learned how to use cool font tools in email (mission probs) and thought it would only be fitting to use for my dad's name because well, he is the best. So I hope you don't feel too bad that I forgot dad, because your name is big. And bold. And Italicized. And I love you. :) 

Also. Happy USA day to all! My companion and I will be celebrating by painting our nails red white and blue (even though my comp is from peru, she is very supportive) and ordering KFC (yes, they have KFC by our area, and Yes, they do delivery-- hollah! 10 points for ''DR''yffndor. 

This week I finished the Old Testament for my first time and the Book of Mormon in Spanish!! They were both super great!! My testimony of the Book of Mormon grew a ton and reading it in spanish made it even better! It's helped my preaching of the book in spanish improve and my love for it as well. I just know it's true! The Old Testament, though hard at points, was also super intersting and I was able to develop my own testimony of the truthfulness of the stories therein.  I invite you all to study the book of the mormon and bible more! :) There is power in those books- especially when studied together! 

So this week we saw lots of RAIN. Finally! It has been a sauna here with basically no rain and we finally saw rain. But, it meant lots of knee-deep running adventures. Which is always fun. Lots of prayers for no crazy underwater creatures biting me. So far, so good. :) And, i've never felt cleaner. At least from the head, to the waist.  

So we saw HUGE miracles this week my friends! HUGE HUGE HUGE. And they all have to do with YSA investigators. Which is so rare, and so so so special! 

Jose Miguel is doing just fantasic and super set for his baptism on the 11th. The RM that has been on the reactivation cycle has been doing great too, and now they are BEST FRIENDS! And The RM will be baptizing Jose Miguel! The RM has those rights renewed to him so that was such a sweet blessing for the week. They do everything together. Visit our other investigators, play basketball, plan activities.... Golden Investigator/Member right there! So cool! 

We met with a 19 year old investigator Jesica this week and she said, ''You know what. I don't want you guys to come here and waste time. I'm going to start actually putting in my part to know this is true.'' She starting reading the BOM like crazy and praying and she told us, ''I know it's true!!'' And she wants to be baptized on the 11th as well!! How cool!!

We are still teaching Lizbet who is also 19 who is progressing like crazy, and her only set back is coffee but told us she has such a strong testimony of Joseph Smith that she is willing to do anything to be apart of the true church. She will be baptized in August. 

Lots of YSA investigators who will be baptized super soon!! How wonderful!! :) 

We also have a lot of kids who are progressing around the ages of 8-10 who's families are part-members or inactives who are reactivating or learning about the church. One family has two kids named Jorge and Pablo. We taught the family about the temples and said, ''Nothing unclean can be in the temple.''And Pablo, 11 years old said, ''But I haven't showered.'' We committed him to shower more, and to read the book of mormon. What a blessing. :) 

The members are just INCREDIBLE in this ward. They are working with us a ton! The area is picking up so much speed and I feel so lucky to be a part of it. The Lord is just so good!

To finish I just want to share a little bit of my study from this morning. I was reading about the story of Peter walking on water (like I am basically doing with all this rain! jokes, jokes). towards Jesus in Matthew chapter 14. Well, he looks around and sees the waves and starts to panic, and drown. We truly live in troubling times and it's tempting to look around and see the problems in the world and the immorality and the wickedness and be tempted to feel despair or discouragement. But the lord teaches us in this story that his hand is outstretched, ready to catch us in these moments and lift us. But, we need not fall in the first place. We can walk fearlessly through life with our eyes on the savior, trusting in our Prince of Peace. He is our Lord and King! If there's one thing i've felt stronger than anything this week it is that my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Lives and LOVES us! He will not leave us alone to drown in the troubles of life. He will come for us. He will strengthen us to be able to walk about the problems and have the strength to be an example for others. 

We can do it, 

We must do it! 

Keep your chin UP, work hard, and be obedient. 

Hurrah for Israel! :) 

-Hermana Schmidt 

Soaked to the bone

Cachangas a Peruvian Dish she cooked

Hermana Schmidt Week 39 Letter 06/22/15

From: Nicole Schmidt [mailto:nicole.schmidt@myldsmail.net]
Sent: 06/22/2015 11:52 AM
Subject: Rubbing Some Good Old Feet And Going To The Hospital

Hola a todos!! 

Happy birthdays to my 2nd cousins Ellie and Everett, and my aunt Lorelei! I hope you all have so much fun celebrating!! :) 

We had great intercambios with our STLS. I stayed in our area with Sister Curtis, who's family is now in Orem!! She went to Lakeridge but afterwards moved but now her family is back and will have 1 sister at MVHS and one sister at Lakeridge next year. Basically she is AMAZING! And we are also best friends! I am very blessed with incredible leaders. (hopefully her mom is on FB or something, shout out to her family. Your daughter is awesome!)

So this week was full of trials but also FULL of miracles! The coolest part of the mission has been seeing the Lord's hand work wonders in our lives and the lives of others seriously every single day. I can't remember a day I haven't felt the help of the Lord. He truly is wonderful! 

So to start with the bad, and go to the good. My comp. has had some stomach issues and it got really bad one day so we took her to the hospital to get some tests done. While there she ended up throwing up (luckily we were in the right place at the right time!) and getting reallllyyyy sick that day. Thankfully we were only in the hospital for a couple of hours and she got some medicine and is doing a lot better. I also had my round of migranes come back and had to go see some doctors for that, but thankfully have some good medicine to help them. Health has not been my #1 strength on the mission, but it's okay! I have seen so many blessings from all the little trials along the way, and there's always a big miracle that follows these little trials! (sometimes the miracle is just a boost of strength in a moment of need or something like that, who knows! But it comes). 

But! 

We are on an uphill and the Lord is surely showing us WONDERFUL blessings after a couple of hard days. Jose Miguel didn't get baptized BUT HE set a for sure baptismal date for July 11th. He says he is 100% about this date. He also said, ''I just know it's true. And I can feel it is good. I want you to know that when you both leave from this area, you helped someone here who is truly converted to the gospel.'' How truly wonderful!! 

We also met a new YSA aged girl who agreed to get baptized named Lizbet. She just needs to go to church, but she's brand new to learning about the church and says she has always been looking for the truth and always wanted to know which church is true and is finally feeling like she's finding it! 

We also are teaching a man named Juan Enrique who was a reference from a new convert in the church. He has a whole family and he is SO prepared and interested in the church! He loves our doctrine on the family and temples. We had a super powerful lesson with him and he can't wait to come to church and learn more. Yay for families! 

Now for my title rubbing feet. We are teaching an 80 year old woman with cancer named Candida. Well last night we taught her with the RM who recently reactivated that i've talked about lately and we taught her about true conversion and the story of Alma. The RM shared his story of his reactivation and conversion and the importance of hope and helping others (super cool!). After the lesson we sang to her and rubbed her feet with lotion. As we were bursting in song to, ''Gloria, gloria, alelujah, gloria gloria alelujah!!'' (i'm not sure if it's the same in english) but just bursting out, kind of like a bonfire family night or something, I was taken back by how happy I was to be a missionary. Being lost in the service of others. How truly fortunate I WAS to be in a different country, with a wonderful woman, able to see the spirit and service touch her life. It was something so very special. I am so very grateful to the Lord for this mission. I'm so happy I still have so much time left!! 

I just want you all to know that I KNOW the Lord is GOOD. I know life is hard, but ''Good timber does not grow with ease, the stronger the wind the stronger the trees''. And he will not leave us comfortless!! I'm finishing the Old Testament this week and thought i'd share two power verses that I love from the end of the OT. One is in Nahum 1:7 and one in Zephaniah 3:17. They are GREAT! 

Keep your chin up, be obedient, and work hard. 

Hurrah for Israel!!! :) 

-Hermana Schmidt