Hermana Schmidt's Week 13 Letter 12/22/14

So, big time internet problems this week so we didn't get any photos are a letter.  Good thing we are skyping on Thursday!  We did get some photos from her companion's mom though so those are below also.  Here is the message she sent me:

From: Nicole Schmidt [mailto:nicole.schmidt@myldsmail.net]
Sent: 12/22/2014 12:23 PM
To: Bunney L. Schmidt
Subject: Re:

Oh my goodness. The internet is SO SLOW. It just stopped and deleted the drafts with the pictures. There won´t be a family email this week but let everyone know that Sonia and Angel will be baptized really soon and progressing and happy christmas!!

Hermana Schmidt's Week 12 Letter 12/15/14

From: Nicole Schmidt [mailto:nicole.schmidt@myldsmail.net]
Sent: 12/15/2014 1:16 PM
To: Bunney Schmidt
Subject: We are witnessing ANGELS :)

Hola a todos!!

I can´t believe it´s already Pday again! And even more the end to my first tranfer in the field! The results are in, both Hna Fletcher and I are staying in Los Frailes as comps! Which means I get to kill Hna Fletcher (Mission Slang because it´s her last transfer). But I´m stoked we get to stay!! Ah :)

So, we faced a lot of opposition this transfer. From being sick, robbed, and our area really slowing down. However, miracles really do come after the trials because we have seen the area start picking up again this week!! :)

I will start with Smith and Kevin, the 2 teenagers I talked about last week. They both are progressing and reading the Libro de Mormon. They haven’t come to church yet but they are really excited to learn. They are praying about our message and they said if they receive an answer they will both be baptized!!

We also started teaching Sonia. Sonia is the grandma of a menos activa. One of her daughters, who was a member, died recently. Sonia said she´s been seeing a lot of flaws in her own church and wants to learn about ours (her passed on daughter´s). Our lesson with her was so powerful and we invited her to baptism and she said yes!! We are hoping to set a date tonight. Ah. There really are people who are ready and we just need to be willing to share.

A man called us out form the street asking if we were from the states. We said yes and talked with him. turns out he lived in the US for a long time and talks in english! His name is Angel and we got an appointment with him. His name suits him because he was out little needed miracle this week! We taught him and he said "Iknow God lives. I always have, but recently I´ve felt like I just need to go to church. I know I need to go, I just feel it. Both my parents died, and since then I just have felt this so strong!" AH. And guess what!! HE CAME TO CHURCH YESTERDAY. Hermana Hinrichsen and I played a special musical number with the violin and piano and he said he loved it and felt something! It was just the coolest ever. We are hoping to get a baptismal date this week with him as well.

Okay so in the DR they have a system with colmados, they are like little gas stations without the gas part. You just call them and they deliver whatever you need in seriously less than 5 minutes. They are on every corner, It´s making me lazy... haha but anyway. It´s a great system. Well we always call this colmado and the colmado boy comes and his name is Kennedy. Well, we aren´t supposed to contact people when they are working but we decided because he brings us stuff seriously every day, we became good enough friends to at least try and start up a conversation. So we got all of our mission courage up and prayed and when he came we were so pumped. We run down the stairs and the first thing he says is "So if one wants to come to your church how do they do that???" AHHHH. We were freaking out!!! That was such a crazy little tender mercy. So the other hermanas will hopefully start teaching him in the next couple of weeks because he lives in their area!

So the funnies.

In a prayer in a lesson, our member that came with us said (Keep in mind we had barely taught this investigator anything) "Please bless this woman. I don´t know her name but yeah. Bless her to be baptized and to believe in Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints" Yeah, you pick your favorite part that went haywire for your liking. haha

Also, I have these princess stickers from my mom (WHICH ARE AWESOME) And so now we have a crowd of little kids that attack us every day. Like... 20 kids hugging each of us at a time haha. It´s wonderful. They treat us like princesses, which is good unless we are hurrying to an appointment :)

We got woken up by a marching bandish party thing at 5 AM one morning because it´s almost christmas and the DR is going crazy. Someone help me sleep please, tips anyone?? haha.

Okay, this isn´t really funny but cool. A man in our ward is writing a hymn for the church and guess what?! I´m writing the piano part for it! So there could be future hymn with the piano part done by me! AH! That would be really cool if it all works out.

Anyway, I love you all. This church is true!!! I know God lives and loves us.

Hurrah for Israel!!

Hermana Schmidt :)

Another airport photo from last week

Photo with her ward friends Rafi and Diego

House Buddies, AKA Roommates

Goofing off with her ward friends Rafi and Diego

A ward friend Alex taped up her hand to protect her watch since her other one got broken in the mugging

Her and Sister Curtis, from Orem and went to Lakeridge

Hermana Schmidt's Week 11 Letter 12/8/14

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

Sent: 12/08/2014 1:26 PM
Subject: We got mugged.

Hola a todos, 

So we got mugged last monday night. <we were walking to visit a contact and a moto got really close to us. One man jumped off and tried to take our backpacks, but they were too tight, so he just took our planners. But it wasn´t too bad and we are fine :) December is sketchy here because a lot of people are desperate for christmas money, so now we have a new rule for this month to have a man in the ward come with us every night from 6-9 to our appointments so we feel really safe :) And hey! >The lessons are in the planners, maybe the robbers will read them and get baptized one day!!

So this week was just wonderful and flew by! I finished the Pearl of Great Price and now I´m in the Old Testament and almost done with Genesis! In the story of Jacob and Rachel, when he works 14 years to have her be his wife, it says the years felt like days to him because of the love he had for Rachel. Well the weeks feel like seconds on the mission because I love being a missionary!! It is just the best!!

We started teaching two teenage boys named Smith and Kevin. They are really excited to learn. I told them how I know God loves us and that he lives. I had one of those "I don´t feel like I´m the one talking" moments. I told my 1st fluent story in spanish! I´m so excited because it´s hard for me to tell stories but it is finally coming. 

We taught Omar again and we met his 8 year old daughter. Omar is awesome and I think he knows it is true, but he said he likes having freedom and partying it up. So it will take time, but I really really feel that he and his daughter will be baptized. I challenged him to be baptized if he receives an answer to his prayer and he said YES. So he is really progressing. No date yet on the baptismal service, but he accepted the challenge to pray and act on his answer!! Miracles upon Miracles. 

And now I´m SO excited to tell you about Wilfo. Wilfo is the contact who said we always looked so happy. Well we taught him and he has a wife and 2 little baby boys. He was super excited about our message. We taught him how to pray and he just was so excited to do it! He´s always believed in God but hasn´t really done anything about it, so he is excited to start. He said he is going to invite his wife next time! I had my 1st I´m so happy I could cry moment. In the Pearl of Great Price it says that Enochs heart spread as wide as eternity, and that´s how mine felt!! I´m just so so so happy we found him!! 

So funny moments of the week:

1. Wilfo couldn´t read my nametag so he said Hermana Samantha. He couldn´t believe it was pronounced Sh-mit. He said no! Those are the letters for Samantha! So I said if he wants he can call me Hermana Samantha. He calls me both haha.  

2. Also with wilfo, we asked if him and his wife are legally married and he said "No, but we need to be because she´s Christian and fornicating.".... at least he said it 1st right? ;) But it was blunt and he said they´ll get married so woot woot!

3. I told a guy who was escorting us one night how I got mugged and he just suddenly whips out his machete!! So we had to explain to him it was unnecessary haha. 

4. Omar has a "theres a dog" sign and we saw the sign but not the dog last appointment but this one we saw the dog. The dog is like a poodle sized, least intimidating, unnecessary of a sign little yapper i´ve ever seen. We laughed about that for a while. Signs are a little different here for that :)

5. We had a district activity in the airport today!! Kinda funny, kinda interesting. Definitely the most unique activity ever. 

Well friends and family, you are all so wonderful! You have no idea how much your support means for me. 

I know this church is true, and this is the Lord´s work. 

Hurrah For Israel!!

Hermana Schmidt :)

A cool graffiti wall

Recent convert Alex's family

Another cool wall

Their district at the airport

at the candy stand of Marcellos

A new t-shirt we sent from Yellowstone

More graffiti

Hermana Schmidt's Week 10 Letter 12/1/14

From: Nicole Schmidt [mailto:nicole.schmidt@myldsmail.net]
Sent: 12/01/2014 1:10 PM
Subject: "The more you eat the more handsome your husband will be"

Hello everyone!!

Good news. I am healthy once again! It is a miracle, because I did not want to be out of working anymore. And, the miracles always follow tribulation... and this week was not short of them that is for sure!!

So some really spiritual moments were that we found a new family to teach!! We have been working so hard to find one and we did. There are 3 sisters, all  the same ages as my younger sisters. They are just adorable! And super excited to learn more about the gospel. The girls names are Kiara Korina and Kiandra, and my heart just burst with joy after our first lesson because we found a family!! That is just the best feeling in the world. 

Also, we teach a recent convert named Antonio. He is older and is just so passionate about the gospel! Every time we schedule to teach him he has a whole lesson prepared for US. He is just such a great example, and it´s been great to get to know him and have him help us with our work! 

We taught a lesson to a disfellowshipped member about repentance and hope through the atonement. It was one of those lessons when the gift of tongues really kicked in and I could truly testify from my heart of the Atonement and the power to change!! And he keeps coming to church now!! I am so so so so so happy. 

We also started a new program this week, i´m sure youve all heard of it called He Is The Gift. We invite others to watch that mormon message and share it. Well we contacted a man named Wilfo and he said, "Okay. You two always look SO happy. I just want to know why! I want to hear about your church and come to it!!" i started tearing up because i´ve been praying for a good teaching opportunity while contacting. It was a miracle!! I´m very excited to teach him. 

The area is picking up a little more speed because we decided to really take time visiting members and motivating them to help with missionary work! We are getting more references and the ward seems more happy to give them which is just wonderful!!

Also, the other hermanas we live with had a baptism this weekend!! We got to attend and watch it. My heart just wanted to explode!! I am so happy for her and her decision to be baptized. I am so happy for the other sisters too!! I hope my first baptism is soon, because that was such a special experience. 

This week i´ve worked on being strictly obedient, and it´s been so special for me. Like, making sure I am really studying the whole study hour and ready when I need to be and do everything exactly the way it needs to be done. I have felt the spirit 100x more this week!! I can honestly say I have never been happier in my whole life. 

Also, I finished D&C for my first time in my life this week. My new mission goal is to finish my mission and have the Lord approve of it like in D&C 126. Also, I loved 136:28-29. It really taught me the importance of being joyful in the hard and good times! It showed me to rejoice in the good times, and ask for the lords help and he can make our hearts joyful once again! I know that is true, I have felt that so much this week because it was the best and worst of times. On the mission we face a lot of disappointment, fatigue, frustration... but we also face the happiest most wonderful moments in our entire lives!! Ah. It is so wonderful. 

Okay so some funnies from the week!! 

We taught the first lesson to a new investigator Omar. We showed him a picture from the ensign of the first presidency, quorum of 12, and the 70... he said... "Where are the women!!!" So shocked and surprised. We explained that to him and then he said... "But they are all american" and we explained that they weren´t and then he was a lot more comfortable. He was so pleased with the lesson and excited for the next he bought us coca cola. It was my first "I don´t like this but I will have it for my investigator" moment. haha. 

So thanksgiving was just the best! We took lots of thanksgiving selfies with a pumpkin and then went to the zone activity, where our thanksgiving feast was 98% cookies and brownies, but hey there were mashed potatoes so it was still good! Also, that day we started the program and the cards. we took one to our Colmado owner friend, Luis. He is so busy with the colmado so he can´t take our lessons but loves to talk about the gospel when we come in and when he sells the colmado he will meet with us. But we went in and he told his whole colmado "These girls are wonderful. Take their lessons and go to their church!" And then went on to tell everyone where and when our church is. He can´t even go or take the lessons, and he is already a missionary haha. I am hoping he sells the colmado soon! 

We also approaced another woman for the cards, and she said : "How wonderful. Everyone calls me crazy but really I just went to the other side, met Christ, and chose to come back! I don´t have faith because I know he lives!! I know it. I am here representing him because I am not crazy!" And went on and on about that experience. We just kept trying to give her the card and leave because she seemed mentally not all there, and finally we did. 

A freco (A flirty 50+ year old man who hits on girls on the streets all day by hissing at them) owns a beauty salon and asked to do my eyebrows SO creepily. So me, being the sass I am, said, "But they are perfect!" And he was just silent. So I handed him a card, invited him to church, and walked away. :)

We also got 2 other thanksgiving feasts, one was chimmys (DR Hamburgers by our area) and a family home evening meal after the baptism on Saturday. We went with our ward friend Diego on Saturday and I got scared of a car driving past and he said "WELCOME TO THE HOOD" in perfect english waving his arms around. I love it when they speak english here because it´s always unexpected and so funny! 

And then at the other meal they offered me more but I was SO full it was impossible. And one of them said but the more you eat the more handsome your future husband will be! So that was a new saying... haha. Hopefully it is true! :)

Anyway, over all this week was great!! I am so happy to be a missionary and bring this gospel to others. It is true!! I know it will all of my heart. 

Hurrah for Israel!! And happy official Christmas month. :)

Hna Schmidt

Thanksgiving Selfie and the Caribbean Sun is starting to show on her face

Thanksgiving Chimmies

Her and Hermana Fletcher

Another of her and Hermana Fletcher

Her Zone Leader Elder Tate from Orem

Roommates (Hermanas Fletcher, Hinrichsen, Jenkins and her)  photo credit: Hermana Hinrichsen

Thanksgiving Feast

Dress Swapping

Goofing Off

Hermana Schmidt's Week 9 Letter 11/24/14

Ugh, she’s sick, well was sick! And she couldn’t send any photos :( I asked her what amebas were and she said there it means some type of parasite and that I shouldn’t be nervous because tons of missionaries get it and it’s from vegetables usually so I guess I should be glad she is eating veggies.  Also, she mentioned in a separate email to me that she is the only person in her zone that doesn’t get hand written letters (she got a few in the CCM so thanks to her friend Leda and Aunt Rebekah and the Abbotts).  We are just all creatures of technology in my family so I am going to try to get better at that.  If you would like to send her a handwritten note or card or picture or anything, it is just a regular U.S. Postage stamp to Miami (a contracted company that pouches it all to the DR) and her address is: 

Sister Nicole Renee Schmidt

Dominican Republic Santo Domingo East Mission

SDQ 4102

2250 NW 114 Ave. Unit 1A

Miami, FL  33172

I can’t wait to read next week’s email, I am sure it can only get better after this week, poor girl. Bunney

From: Nicole Schmidt [mailto:nicole.schmidt@myldsmail.net]
Sent: 11/24/2014 12:33 PM
Subject: The Trials In Life Shape Us

Hola family and friends!!

So, this week was full of trials. However, it was also full of miracles, blessings, and lessons learned. 

First of all, last monday I was sick to my stomach with pain, and so we took the night off. I woke up on Tuesday in even more pain, so we called the doctor to figure out what to do and he told me rest and tylenol. I didn´t sleep that night because of the pain so we went to a lab on Wednesday and did a lot of tests. The pain just got worse, and so the mission doctor thought, It could be amebas (that´s the spanish word and idk the english one) so he gave me medicine for that and i´ve been getting better!! Not perfect, but SO much petter and the pain isn´t constant like before, so it probably was Amebas and we can finally work!! 

Second, I got a bad eye infection on top of all of that. 

Third, our area has been really struggling and not progressing. All of our baptismal dates fell through. I guess it was good to be sick because we didn´t have a ton of appointments, but it´s been hard trying to pick up the missionary spirit of the ward and help investigators keep committments. But I know Heavenly Father will help us, we are here for a reason and that might just be to get this ward back into the spirit of missionary work. 

We didn´t really get to go out this week because of that, so that was rough but!! I have the best comp. in the whole world!! She was so good at helping me feel better every second. 

However, I did learn something I needed to learn. 

God loves us. Like.... really loves us. Before my mission I thought, hey if my trial isn´t big enough I can just deal with it on my own, I don´t need to ask God for help. But this has shown me that God wants to help us, with the big and small trials. In every moment. He filled my heart with joy so many discouraging moments this week! I think I had my most hard moment of my whole life this week, with the bishop thing, missing my family, and being in pain... it was a HARD moment. A moment I thought I should just give up. But, then I prayed. My heart swelled with joy and comfort that God has a plan for me, and that plan wasn´t sending me here to quit! It wasn´t calling me to fail. He called me here to be an instrument, and if that means I gotta go through some rainstorms to shape me into the servant he needs than so be it. I will go through the hurricane because I know my Heavenly Father will be there for me. He IS our loving Heavenly Father. He IS always, ALWAYS there for me. I´m just so grateful I could feel that so strongly this week I felt like I could just burst into fireworks! What an amazing feeling and special experience. 

Yes, I am grateful to be feeling so much better. But even more i´m so grateful to have my testimony strengthened because of these trials this past week. Trials are opportunities to grow if we trust in Heavenly Father. 

Hermana Jenkins shared a story this week about a donkey falling into a hole. He fell into this big ditch and the farmer thought he was going to die, so he started shoveling dirt over him for a grave. But the donkey instead shook off the dirt, and used it to step up higher and higher until it climbed out. Sometimes we need some dirt in our lives to grow, change, and step up a little higher. 

I know God lives. I know he is good. This is his work. I will go where he needs me, change how he needs me, and do what he asks me. And that will make all of the difference. I know it. 

Hurrah for Israel!!

Hermana Schmidt

Hermana Schmidt's Week 8 Letter 11/17/14 (A Tribute to our Bishop)

Subject: How much of life do we miss waiting for the rainbow without thanking God that there is rain? (Tribute to my dear homeward bishop and his passing)

Dear Friends and family,

Normally I would tell you everything, well as much as I can, about my week and about my wonderful adventures as a sister missionary. And believe me, this week was wonderful! With many adventures! One being I taught 2 great lessons and totally felt the gift of tongues kick in, and saw, LITERALLY saw, a change in their countenances and eyes. It was incredible. Another woman didn´t accept our message because her eyes are so bad and thats all she can focus on right now, fixing her eyes. But she cried as we told her how much god loved her and the purpose of trials in this life, once again the gift of tongues really kicked in for that lesson. How special it is to be a missionary and help those whos heads hang low.

That´s my very brief overview because, i´m sure a lot of you have heard, my dear sweet bishop from UT passed away this week. I read about it this morning, and I´m still in shock. But I felt inspired to make my email mostly about him, and also about the purpose of trials.

So, Bishop Loveless. There are some people in the world who when they smile or laugh, it´s like the world stops and you would be perfectly content seeing them never stop smiling or laughing, that was Bishop. As i´m sure it is still is on the other side. I can´t express with words my gratitude for Bishop Loveless. He helped me in the hardest time of my entire life, and without him I know I wouldn´t be on a mission.

I´ve been reading the D&C since arriving, and a verse reminds me of bishop. 81:5-6. : Where be faithful, stand in the office which I have appointed unto you succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees. And if thou art faithful unto the end thou shalt have a crown of immortality...

I don´t know if I know someone who endured to the end better than Randy Loveless. And magnified his calling because he lifted my hands that hung down, and strengthened my feeble knees... so many times. Ah he is an incredible man.

My dad wrote me that there must have been a big celebration when he got to the other side and I am sure of it. I am sure they were so excited to have such a strong soldier join their side of the battle!! I know he IS an amazing person, not was, IS. Because life does not end here, I will never accept that. God is loving, and I know he has a plan and that plan includes that there is life after this. And Randy Loveless is a valiant soldier, he was here on Earth, and he is now on the other side. I know it.

At girls camp this year he talked about trials and it reminded me of D&C section 58:2-4. Basically blessings follow tribulation. He was a perfect example of that! He trusted God and I know he wants us to all do the same. Because wow, he was just amazing at that. Trusting God at every single point.

To my bishop:

I will miss your girls camp skits, your slip ups on the pulpit, your funny jokes, and your laugh and smile. I will miss your advice to me and your ability to cheer me up and bring sunshine to the darkest of times. I will miss your ability to boldly testify of the gospel to crowds and to just one person, and bring the spirit every time. But I know I will see you again. I know you are bravely fighting on the other side. Thanks for all you did for the ward, and especially for me personally.

To everyone else:

I know Bishop would be telling us all right now exactly what he told us before his passing, Trust god in the hard times. God will help us and he loves us.

How much of life do we miss waiting for the rainbow without thanking God that there is rain?

Praying for you Elder Loveless, and the entire Loveless family. Thanks for all that you do.

Hurrah for Israel!!! (On both sides of the veil)

Hermana Schmidt

President Corbitt and his wife

Hermana Fletcher-her companion

The Crazy Rain

The Devil as she calls it

Getting to use her raincoat

Selfie

Her view from the roof

Hermana Schmidt's Week 7 Letter 11/10/14 (we didn't get a week 6 letter because of her transferring)

From her mom (me):

I had a chance to email her back and forth for a few minutes and asked her about her meeting with her mission president and her response was the following which I thought was so touching:  “And my meeting was incredible... First he said as a mission president he had the ability to see someone´s potential and he already knew I would be a leader my whole mission for him. And then I asked him for a blessing and in it he said my future kids are with me every step of my mission.... and that was just incredible. I sobbed like a baby through that one for sure!”.  She is missing home and missing her family (11 days was a long time to wait to email) so I consider this meeting with him a huge blessing in helping her through the harder days J  Enjoy reading about her week!

Dear Family and Friends,

The keyboards are really hard to use here but I will do my best to write as much as possible. Sorry it´ll be more of an update this week rather than a spiritual thought because i´m getting used to the time and everything.

So first to finish off the CCM. AH. I miss the CCM and my district so much!!! I for sure had the best district (plus CCM family) in the universe. Last monday we had orientation all day which was boring, except that Elder Wood kept taking over the translators mics and would make funny comments during breaks. That´s the only thing that kept me alive during that day because it was so long. That night we had a district testimony meeting in spanish and the gift of tongues is real! Everyone´s spanish was amazing. Then my district did a musical number at the last family prayer and then said goodbye (through many tears). It was like saying goodbye to my family all over again. 

But for my first area! I am in Los Frailes! My comp. is Hna Fletcher and she has been on the mission for 15 months!! She is amazing at spanish and just the best trainer I could ask for. It´s fun that she´s going home soon too because she is going to visit you family and tell you things from me and such. She is fantastic and I couldn´t ask for a better first comp. in the field. 

In the first 24 hours she challenged me to give baptismal committments. And FOUR people in the first 24 hours of my mission accepted the invitation to be baptized!!! What a miracle. And a great way to start off the mission. OH AND ELDER TATE IS MY ZONE LEADER. I see him everything Thursday.

One man we are teaching is named Choubert and he is from Haiti. He is super interested and great friends with one of the recent converts, Alex. Both of them are total jokers but we have great lessons with them. Choubert will be baptized the 29th. 

So RAINSTORMS this week were huge!!! I couldn´t sleep because of all the thunder but it was pretty cool. The kids have slipnslides here but it´s on the concrete, not on nice material. It´s funny to watch them sliding down the sidewalk. 

Calli, I have a boy i´m setting you up with. His name is michael and he is your age, and is the best kid in the ward. He offers to go to lessons with us and is such a great example. He´s the most active member in his family. But I told him after his mission and showed him your picture so if that works out in the future, I am the bomb at matchmaking :). Jokes Jokes (kind of). 

The highlight this week was teaching Arlette, a 13 year old whose dad died in September. My spanish really kicked in and I promised she would see her father again and apparently she has been putting off baptism but after I talked with her she finally accepted to be baptized!!! It was amazing and the spirit was just so strong. It was such an amazing blessing. 

So I don´t have much time so i´ll just tell you a bit about my house and stuff. Bucket showers that are ice cold have really made me grateful for the CCM showers and showers in UT. But it´s been very humbling. Our home is right by the ocean and is nicer than most of the homes here so it´s really cool and a great experience. I have a dog... kind of he is a dog by the house and I named him feo or ugly. Which was funny. It´s a great area with a great ward who all is happy to help us. 

I have no time for personal emails and I am so sorry but I love you all!!!!!!! Thanks for your emails and your support. They are great strength for me.

Hurrah for Israel!!

Hermana Schmidt 

Goofing off with their teacher

Her district

A photo with Elder Wood, the Elder that keeps everyone laughing

Her first day in the Field

The mosquito nets on their windows

Her roommates at the CCM