Week Eight

Querido familia!

So good reading your email, as always! Especially now. This week has been the hardest so far in regards to homesickness. I think it's because it's getting so close to Christmas and I am in another hemisphere. But you are good at putting a ton in your email that catches me up on things! 

But yeah, things are going well here! Just getting done with another regular week, I guess. I'm not exactly sure what a 'regular' week is here, but it was similar to the last one, so yeah... I dunno. Not much happened, just a lot of walking, talking, eating, and a ton of español! I feel so stupid during the meetings because I just sit there trying desperately to follow the conversation! It's super awkward many times though, because while i'm attempting to translate, the person who is talking will look at me as if expecting an answer, and I think, Oh crap, they were talking to me... And it's never a yes or no question! I tried just laughing and saying "Si", and seeing if it would go away, and it never does!!! Ugh. But that's ok, everybody knows how super bad at Spanish I am, so they aren't ever offended or anything. Or at least, I hope not.

Last week was special though because we had a special Conferencia De Navidad with all the missionaries from Iquique, Alto Hospicio, and Arica in attendence with President Ferreira and his wife and daughter! It was so awesome! I didn't understand a word! Which sucked, but that's ok! But it was super cool to see all the other missionaries, especially Elder Butcher who was one of the three of us that came from my distríto in the CCM at the same time. It was nice to talk to someone who spoke just as much Spanish as me! He'll be speaking more, though, pretty soon because his papíto is Latino and he has no choice but to learn or suffer. At least my papíto is American. But anyways, the conference was an all day thing. There was a devotional sort of part where we listened to President speak Spanish for a while, and the only thing I really learned was the my mission president knows how to speak Spanish. But afterwards we had a very good lunch, and they had some chocolate fountains running! After the main meal they brought out a bunch of fruit and shish-kebab sticks, and we went to town with them! It was soooooooooooooooooooooo fetching good! (Fun-fact, 'fetch' is apparently a word here too, and Chileans use it just like we do! Haha, what?!) But after this we took a big picture with everyone, and I thought it was over and everything, but then Presidente said something along the lines of "tiempo para la película"(time for the movie)! I was like, no way, but we all set up chairs, turned off the lights, and began to watch a movie! And it was a legit movie! Madagascar 2! Whaaaaaaat?! I almost started crying, it was so awesome! But I've never had more fun watching a movie than with a bunch of deprived missionaries! Every tiny joke in the movie made us crack up! There were times when I was almost crying, and I could barely even understand the joke! (the movie was in Spanish -_-) But it was one of the funniest things to see! Then we took some more pictures and whatnot and it was amazing and I loved it. 

So other than that, yeah, just another week! Walking around and chatting with people and sharing the good word! Very awesome, very consuming, very spanish. But now, some question answering. Listen closely, because I will not write this again ;)

You asked about my meals and what it's like. Basically, we're on our own for breakfast every day and for PDay. Often, I don't eat breakfast. After a couple hours of working on the streets, like from 11:30 to 1:30, comes lunch. Lunch here is big, like our dinner in the states. Tuesday and Wednesday we eat with our mamíta, and Thursday through Sunday we eat with various members. The meals are really good, so I'm never really hungry afterwards. But they don't have dinner here. So, study language right after lunch, and after we work from 4 until 10:30 when we need to go home. It's like regular food, but more bland. Usually. But sometimes we get lucky with a family that makes something particularly amazing. Like last night, we had pizza. Here they eat pizza differently. It's like an ice cream cone, but pizza!!! I almost cried (again) when I saw it, it was so beautiful. I ate 5.

 The weather is average. It feels probably very similar to what you're feeling now in AZ, highs in the 80s, but the lows aren't as cold. And it's dry.

                                        

After baptism, retention is 'So-so', according to my comp.

But now the important part. Skype. I'm setting up an account today for skype, and will be able to Sunday. I will be skyping at around 6:00 pm here, which should be around 2:00 pm there. I know you have church, but it's the only time we could get. :/ I'm sorry. But it might be a little later than 6, just getting there and getting set and everything, but around that time.

Anyways, I love you all! And miss you so much! Have an amazing Christmas! And Happy Birthday, Bronson!

Elder Schmid

                                        

Week Seven

Querido familia,

Whoa... this was a crazy week, and an even crazier day! I don't really know where to begin, even...

Well, I'll start by saying, this is hard work haha! But at the same time, it is a very enjoyable work! Mi papíto and I live outside of our sector, so just to get to the first houses is a twenty minute walk away! Which kinda blows, but oh well! We didn't hesitate at all to dive right into regular missionary work! Every morning is several hours of various studying (personal, comp, language, all of it). For the first couple of days, I had meetings in the morning, one for weekly planning, and the next was a zone training meeting. These were nice, though I didn't realize at the time, because it was a slight rest from the day to day work that usually goes on. After these, we have lunch. So one thing you gotta know about Chile is that their meals are all jacked up, muy extraño. They don't have dinner!!! Like, what?! Instead, they have a very large lunch, like your dinners, and then no more meals the rest of the day... I'm not sure if I can go 2 years with no dinner haha! It's alright though, because their lunches are super good. Just yesterday, we were eating with an older couple in our ward, and I couldn't finish! There was so much food! They were a lot richer than most of the people here, and so they could afford it. It was just plate after plate! And just when I thought I could eat no more, she handed each of us a quarter of a watermelon, and a spoon... I think I felt my stomach explode inside of me. Haha, but it was good food. 

Elder Crabtree is taking over making citas (appointments) and contacting people. He has been here for a month and a half, and so he knows his way around (sort of. Haha he gets lost sometimes). But I really just follow him around and do what he does. He's been introducing me to various people in the ward, and letting me meet them. We start walking around and doing stuff at around 4:00 and finish at 10:30. We need to be home by 10:30, though, and the Hermanas need to be home by 9:30. Apparently it gets a little dangerous at night o.o... When we get to one of our appointments, I have to mentally prepare myself everytime for the massive amount of spanish that's headed my way... my spanish sucks. I thought I was doing alright coming out of the CCM. I was wrong. These people, they don't speak Spanish. They speak Chilean. There is such a big difference, I'm coming to realize. Everything is so much faster than in Mexico! And then they have their own words and slang, and a different accent! Chileans speak spanish in a slurred sort of way. Everything is melded together, and they cut ends off words, but the biggest thing is, they don't pronounce their s's!!! It's SO confusing to listen to! I don't even have a vague idea of what everyone is talking about during lessons... Crabtree is going ham with his Spanish, because he's been here for 22 months, and I'm just sitting there like Elder Calhoun. "That ain't the language they taught me in the MTC..." Haha it's actually awful, and I hate it entirely, but oh well. It'll come eventually... Maybe... Hopefully...

Another thing you need to know about this mission is that it's a baptising mission. It is reccomended and taught that we should invite to baptism in the first lesson, or even the first conversation on the street! It's insane! So our first new investigators, since I got here, are the Carvajals, Mery and her niños. Our first lesson with them was on Friday or something, and by the end of the lesson they had a baptismal date! El 17 de Diciembre! Whaaaaaaaaat?! Haha I would like to say it's because of my insane skills as a missionary, but it's actually because people are just so receptive here! Mi papíto was telling me of times where he'd walk up to people on the street, and by the end of the conversation, they were a new investigator with a baptismal date! It's so crazy! But I was super excited for them. The carvajals are super awesome! We brought them to church with us yesterday, and they seemed to enjoy it! And come to find out, it was one of the niño's birthday! And what more, he was turning 8! Haha I feel another baptism coming! ;) 

Things are going solid with mi compañero. We are actually super similar, same personalities and whatnot, which is cool. "Bacan", I guess, is what the Chilenos say for "cool" or "awesome" or "dope". I may say it alot in the coming emails haha! But we talk a lot between citas and walking around, and he's super funny. 

The area I am serving in is sweet! It's really poor, but not like in Christiaan's mission. I'll just have to show you pictures. All the houses are super close together, with the walls on each side of the house being the wall for the next house too. Every house has a gate maybe ten feet in front of their door and all the gates connect to eachother. So when we get to house, we knock on the gate, and we shout until they come out. That's how we get their attention haha! It's kinda fun, but also kinda strange! They are also all different colors. There are orange casas, blue casas, green casas... every color! Our area is made up of what here the call "La Tortuga", which is a big hill with tons of houses on it, between a half and a full square mile in diameter, and a little of the city below. It really sucks to climb La Tortuga to get to houses haha, especially when we've walked so far already to get there! I better have super thighs by the end of these six months! Oh, and by the way, it sounds like we are in each sector for around 6 months. So at least these people will know the sound of my voice eventually! 

To answer your question, we don't have a place set in stone where I'm gonna skype you from, but we have a few possibilities, so I'm sure when the time comes we'll have one. We just use a members computer, so we're scoping out the rich families with the best internet haha! 

So the packages and letters work like this. If you want to send something, you send it to this address:

Casilla de Correo 70

Antofagasta, Chile

Chile

Once it gets there, they distribute it to the zone leaders once a month, who then bring it back to you. I'm lucky, because I live with the zone leaders haha! So basically, if you sent something today, I would have it in my hands the second week of January.

But it sounds like you all had a nice week! And what?! A new TV?! I can't believe it. The second I leave... ugh. But I'm curious to see what the whole setup looks like. I know the entertainment system we had when I left would definitely not fit a TV that big! But I'm glad you're all enjoying life! I loved seeing all the pictures! I love you all, and miss you!

Los amo a todos!

Elder Schmid

Week Six

Hola familia!

Well, I made it! I'm here in my first area! I wasn't able to email before, this is my first chance, and there is so much to say! 

So first off, the travel. We left Monday afternoon at around 3 o'clock from the CCM to reach our flight at 6:55. It was me and two Elders from my district and 20 other missionaries from the CCM. Half of us were going to various missions in Chile, and the other half to Uruguay. We got there super early, and so we had to wait a while for our flight! We were all so anxious and excited and everything that a brand new missionary is! So it was all 23 of us sitting relatively close together, and as we were sitting, a man decided to sit down next to us. He sat down right smack dab in the middle of all of us missionaries! Haha he didn't stand a chance! We were like a tank full of pihrannas, and he was a chunk of meat dropped in the midst of us! The missionary closest to him began talking to him and managed, with his broken Spanish, to spin the conversation to our purpose, and why we were all there. He was a little curious to see all these young white people in good clothes gathered together, and so we explained how we were missionaries and everything. We were all trying to get our own words in, so I kinda felt like we were dumping a ton on him, but he seemed alright. And he did decide to sit there, so hey, es su culpa (it's his fault)! We ended up giving him a Book of Mormon, and he started to read it. But then we had to board, so we just left him with the book.

So the plane ride was exactly as you'd expect it. Our flight was literally from sunset to sunrise, and I didn't sleep one dang bit. I was stuck in the middle seat in between two older women, and one of them smelt really bad... pero, está bien (but, it's okay)! I tried to talk to them, but they just wanted to sleep. At least, that's what I think. I couldn't understand them whatsoever and they ended up turning around and stopped talking to me. Luckily, though, our plane was nice, and had this touch screen display in front of us with all kinds of games and music and movies and tv shows. It kind of bummed me out, because I couldn't watch anything, but they had good music! I listened to a bit of Andrea Bochelli (I think that's how you spell it), and played a couple games of chess with one of the elders, who I found out was also playing because he couldn't do anything else haha! He was in another part of the plane, and both of our player names was 'Elder'. But after the ridiculously long flight, we landed in Santiago. We got there a little late, I guess, because we had to quickly rush to our next flight! This was a problem, though, because none of us had ANY idea where to go. We legit ran across the airport and back looking for where we were supposed to go. Even when we found a line that we thought we were supposed to be in, we were wrong. We went through security only to find out that it was the wrong place, and had to go somewhere else! We finally found the line we were supposed to be in, checked in our luggage, and ran to the gate. We got there as they were boarding! Talk about close! 

The second flight wasn't nearly as long, but it was also less fun. It was just an average plane without anything special. So I tried to sleep the whole time. But when we finally got to Antofagasta, I looked out the window, and realized the full magnitude of how crazy dry this place is. It really looked like Mars! It was just dirt! For miles and miles and miles! There are NO plants here! If it's not fed water by the city, it's not growing! And even then, the plants in the city are almost as brown as the dirt they're living in! It's crazy! Our mission pres picked us up, and we took a ride to to a point where we could get a good picture of the arch. We took some pictures, then he took us further into the city where we saw some cool ancient ruins! We took some more pictures, and then headed on to his house. It is actually a very nice house! It's on a street very similar to ones in San Diego. The only difference is the lack of green. It is very close to the ocean, as well. While there, we had our interviews and everything and then had a nice lunch with emenadas and some sort of hot dog thing. After this we FINALLY had a few moments to rest and nap, but were woken up again for dinner. All the missionaries from the mission office came as well, and it was fun. We eventually were able to settle in for the night and sleep.

The next day was the big day when we learned what would be our first area, and who would be our first compañero! We had a couple meetings to introduce us to the mission, had a lunch, and then we found out. They did it kind of interestingly... all the future trainers were on one side of the room, the nuevos on the other. Each nuevo had a letter with their name on it, and were sent to the middle of the room to read it aloud. It basically just said welcome, this is your zone, this is your sector, and this is your trainer. So I got mine, and I was sent to Alto Hospicio zone, the Los Cóndores zone, and mi papíto (daddy) was Elder Crabtree! This was awesome, because as we were talking to all the new trainers, I was thinking to myself, I really hope this guy ends up being my comp. And he did! So we had a few hours to chill while we waited for our buses, and we used this time to kind of introduce ourselves. Elder Crabtree is from Ogden Utah, and this is actually his last transfer, his last cambio. He leaves on January 15, which means I will be his last compañero. He is super awesome, and super funny! I can tell I am gonna have fun!

So the bus ride from Antofagasta to Alto Hospicio was another 8 hours. It was ok though, because the bus wasn't too bad. There was actually a movie playing for the first couple hours, McFarland USA. It was in Spanish, though, so I was basically almost watching it from memory. It was unavoidable, too. The TV was directly in front of us! So we just decided to enjoy it haha! But after that, it was another overnight trip, so they turned the tv's off, and we tried to sleep. Halfway through, though, I really had to use the bathroom. So I went to the back to use it and everything, and when I got in, I couldn't find the lock to the door! Or the light switch! So I was in a tiny bus bathroom in the pitch black with the door open, trying to use it! If that wasn't difficult enough, the road we were on was kinda bad, and so I was being thrown all over the place! And the toilet, which was already small, was even smaller because it's flipping Chilean! So... I had a bad time. The rest of the ride went without incident, though. 

So we get here at 3 AM, and we needed a ride to our casa, So mi papíto called our mamíta and she came and got us. I then saw just how poor our area was. Mi papíto told me it was one of the poorest sectors in the mission, but I didn't realize how much. It's just so crowded, and so dirty, and everything you'd think of when you think 'developing country'. There are also a ton of stray dogs just wandering around, and they like to bark at the tires of passing cars. It was super weird to see! But we got to our tiny apartamento, and went inside, it's even smaller on the inside than it looks from the outside! Elder Crabtree told me the lights don't work, so he took out a flashlight, and we just went upstairs and went straight to bed. It was so nice to finally go to sleep! I thought, though, that we would have a bit of extra time to sleep since I got there so late, but nope. We got up with the rest of the missionaries. I woke up to two tiny Latino missionaries standing right next to my face trying to wake me up! It was a little surprising! They introduced themselves as the zone leaders, Elder Jamarillo and Elder Cordova. They're our housemates. 

So we get ready and everything in the normal missionary routine, studied for two hours, and then went to a weekly planning meeting at the church building. (Apparently Elder Crabtree is District Leader.) We planned for a while, got lunch, and then we struck out to do everything we need to today. And that's where I'm at now. The first thing we did was come here for emailing. So, let me say now what I was 'supposed' to say. I'm safe, I made it here to Chile, and I am doing alright! Everything is going great! I'm crazy excited to start!  

After this, we have appointments with some investigators, and I'm super nervous because my Spanish straight sucks, pero, está bien. I'll just cry myself to sleep tonight. ;) 

Anyways, I love you all! Los amo a todos!

Elder Schmid

(P.S. legit nobody knows how to pronounce Schmid. I've tried to explain, but they're not catching on. It must be a Latino thing. I'll just try to get them to call me Elder Guapo! (Elder Handsome))

Week Five

Querido familia,

Right off the bat, yes, I did get the packages from you and Natascha and Grandma! Thank you so much!!! I really do appreciate them! It's like opening a Christmas present, but better! And you all know me so well! I'll be chowing down on my favorite food the rest of my time here at the CCM. I can't tell you how much of a relief that is! But thank you again for those packages. I haven't gotten the letter yet, but that might be just because she hasn't sorted it all out yet. I'm sure I will get it by the end of today.

So yes, this is my final P day at the CCM! It's so weird to think that. I've been here so long I was beginning to think it was my mission! So my PDay got changed to Wednesday, and I don't know why, and I forgot to mention that in my last email (sorry), but I'm glad Christiaan got the message to you. It's hard though, because only five days have passed since I last emailed you, so I honestly have no idea what to write about! Literally nothing happens here unless it's been completely mapped out in the schedule. But I will try haha, can't have a boring email!

So this coming Monday is my final day here at the CCM. I leave at 6:50 from Mexico city on an 8 hour flight to Santiago Chile, and then hop on another 2 hour flight headed for Antofagasta... I'm not excited for the flight! 10 hours on a plane! The biggest excitement for me will be that I'm finally out and on my way to my mission! I can't wait! It's one thing to practice with the teachers here, and another thing completely to talk to real people with real problems that the Gospel can remedy! I'm beyond excited! Yesterday we had a meeting where all of our flight info was given to us along with our passports, green cards, and our new debit cards for our mission. It felt kind of surreal, but exciting at the same time! We also got a water bottle that has a filter built into it. It goes to all the missionaries who "are going south of the border", so in Mexico or Central/South America. I walked up to get mine, and the lady asks, "Adonde va, Elder?" And so I tell her, Antofagasta Chile. She then laughs and begins to hand me two bottles! She says, "Oh yes, you're definitely gonna need this!" It kinda freaked me out a little... where am I going?!

So other than that, nothing too big has happened here... yesterday another seventy came and spoke to us. He was very young! 40 years old! Elder Pedro X. Larrael was his name, and he gave a fantastic discourse on personal worthiness and revelation. He was very fun to listen to, and he got so animated with it! It was awesome! An elder gave another musical number right before on the piano of a hymn that I barely recognized but couldn't name... but it was so good! He needed no music, just walked up and started playing! But it was a great song and I enjoyed it a lot. 

Well, I can't think of much more to say... perdón. But thank you for your email! Life seems to be running it's same old chaotic course over there in AZ!  Mom, you always have too much on your plate haha, but you are such an amazing person for it! Sometimes I think you are too helpful for everyone! Congrats Kiwi! How slimy do your teeth feel haha?! I remember getting mine off, it felt so weird! Haha same old Dad with that phone thing, but that really made me laugh! I'm sure he had his girlish giggle going on the whole time he was messing with you all! That was a cute story with Ashlyn and Bronson, and it just made me miss you all so much more! (The other day, we were driving and Bronson was in the backseat with Ashlyn having a conversation.  He asked her if Christiaan has ever killed an animal.  Ashlyn told him, “Yes”, and so he asked what kind of animal.  Ash told him that Christiaan had killed a deer.  Bronson was quiet for a while and then asked when he killed the deer.  Ash, by this time, started tuning him out and didn’t respond.  He asked a few more times and then said, “Was it when I was still in Heaven?”  I thought that was pretty cute.)

Los amo y extraño a todos (I love you and I miss you all)!!! 

Elder Schmid

This is a picture of what basically went on for an hour in our room one night.
 It's a chart from a youtube video :)

Elder Scoresby.  He takes everyone's ruined clothes and sews them...
except me, because I know how to.

Our breakfast one morning.  We didn't want the soggy tortilla chips they were serving,
so we grabbed some stuff from our packages and made toast...it was actually pretty good!

Week Four

Hola familia!

Oh boy, what a week! Usually here, when I get to this point in PDay, I feel like I don't have a single thing to say! But this time... this time is different, so prepare yourself! ;)

So last week I told about how I had that musical number coming up, and I was kinda scared. It got worse the closer I got, because mis maestros simply would not let me practice! "If it's not on the schedule, then it's not happening," they told me! And so I had to shave time off my meals to go to the only building in this place, with any pianos, and basically had a couple minutes to play through the music once. Basically, Sunday night came, and it was my turn to go and do my thing, I was relying on 25 minutes of practice and the Spirit... I was scared. I was praying. A lot. But then I got up there, and I began playing, and I just lost my self in the song, but more importantly, the spirit of the song! If You Could Hie to Kolob is easily my favorite. And as I was playing, I just let all of my stress and worry just flow out of me, and focused solely on how I was feeling while playing. It was amazing! By the time I finished, I realized that it was the best I have ever played that piece! I didn't make any mistakes, but actually played it super well! My prayers were definitely answered! That is probably the time, out of all 5 (4) weeks that I've been here, that I have felt the spirit most! I definitely will not forget it. 

So there I am in my room later that night, basically just lounging in pure relief that I was done with that whole thing, when an Hermana walks in with some sheet music in her hand, and I just think to myself..."Uh oh...." Sure enough, she heads straight to me and begins to tell me that she loved the song, and she actually brought her violin with her, and wanted to do a duet with me of that same song, the Marshall McDonald version of Kolob! Of course I couldn't say no, there was no reason to, and everyone was right there staring me in the face. So I said yes, and she gives me the accompaniment version to the song. It was so different! There were no similarities in the right hand, and the left vaguely compared to my version! I started to freak out. Again. And so we audition two days later, and again I couldn't practice at all, so my audition also just so happened to be my first time running through it at all. So after we finish, the lady in charge, Hermana Eves, looks at me and asks if I believe I can be ready to play it by that night! And so I'm sitting there like "No way!!!", but oh lucky me, I had the girl there to answer for me! She says of course we can! So there I was, this basically brand new song in my hand, with a performance of sorts that night in front of several hundred kids my age and an area seventy......... I was stressed. Luckily though, I convinced my teachers to let me practice, and I got a bit more in. That night when we played it wasn't too bad. It wasn't like Sunday, though, and I felt really bad for the girl who asked me to play. She really wanted it to be perfect and I just couldn't. But oh well, people still say it sounded really good.

I don't really remember anything that happened on Monday or Wednesday, but I definitely remember Thursday, and will always remember it! Thanksgiving was fantastic! So it started off as any other normal day here, with morning classes and whatnot, until 10:30. We then went to a devotional that was broadcasted live from the Provo MTC. Niel L. Anderson spoke to us and talked about Thanksgiving and everything, and it was a super good talk! (He also sufficiently rubbed it in that he would be playing and watching football while we were not...). But after that we had a few more  classes and then lunch. Lunch was AMAZING!!! Imagine eating stuff that never tastes better than mediocre while simultaniously destroying your entire digestive tract, and going straight from that to an authentic, well made, all-American, delicious turkey Thanksgiving meal!!! I think I started to cry, to be perfectly honest! They even had root beer!!!! It tasted like Shasta brand, but it was root beer!!! There was Turkey (actually really well cooked, and obviously not sitting in the bottom of a deep freeze for a couple years (I'm looking at you mom), they had mashed potatoes (more like liquified, but still tasted good), they had corn on the cob (delicious), rolls (kinda weird, but i'll explain later), and actually ice cream and apple pie!!!! Like, what?!?! I was so happy! The rolls, though, were super strange. Somehow, they were able to inject butter into the rolls. Like, there weren't any holes where the butter could've gotten in. And it was not spread out, either. There was just a random massive chunk of straight butter just chilling in the middle of the roll. So we ate with caution, but once you found it and took it out, the rolls were perfect. 

Thanksgiving feast: Before

Thanksgiving feast: After

So after the awesome lunch we were lucky enough to have gym time right then! The night before, we grabbed a roll of toilet paper, and bought some clear tape and wrapped it all up. We drew some laces on it and BOOM, football! We had our official turkey bowl (Or toilet bowl, depending on how you wanted to look at it) during gym time that day! It was so fun! One of my roomies is actually a really good QB and was looking at Division 1 schools before coming here, and so he could place it real well, and it was just super fun! After a while, some guys came out who had an actual football, and so we joined with them! It's actually a rule though not to play football, I guess, and so some guy came and took it away... but we just whipped out our toilet paper and kept going! (Yo sé, es pecado, pero... no nos importa!) (I know it's a sin...but we do not care!) The rest of the day we just retained that aura of just being happy, and it was great! Thanksgiving was awesome! At the end of the night, though, my district decided to do something special. We invited the rest of our zone, and everyone else in the building there with us, to come into our room and have a "potluck feast". Everyone brought food, be it from the tienda (store), or from packages we received from home. It was a legit feast of just crap food. This time I'm sure I cried. Hahaha but we started off with a prayer (of course. We're not pecadores (sinners)) and with a "celebratory pop-off". Some kid got martinelli's from a package (take note, mom! ;)) and shook one up and popped off the lid! Haha it really looked like champagne! He stuck it in his mouth, chugged the bottle, and we began to dig in!!! It was the perfect way to end the day! We also had a devotional of sorts, and I took your advice, mom! I told everyone what we did at home every night before family prayer, and we went around and all said one thing we're grateful for! We did kind of have to do it quickly though, and say a one word answer, because there were at least 60 to 70 of us, but it was definitely awesome!

The potluck feast

Distrito 12-C

But that's been my week, basically. It was a great week! Definitely better than last week. I was so glad to read your email mom! And all your letters! Yes, I did get them! The letters which you sent a while ago finally got to me! But this was after they went first to another district... some kids in district 15 came up to me and told asked me if my family found a turkey at the bottom of their freezer, and so I was like, what the crap, how do you know that? Apparently, once they saw "Elder Schmid" at the top of the letter, they decided to read the letter out loud because I guess you guys are funny writers! They were laughing pretty hard! But I eventually got all the letters and packages! It made Thanksgiving that much better! I think one of the problems was the mail lady took a day off. And so everything was super backed up and she had to catch up. But she did. :) Thanksgiving sounds like it went well up there in AZ! I'm sad I couldn't be there, but I'd probably be kicked out of my room and bed anyways because of Caelan and Lydia, so oh well! 

Todos les amo!!! 

Elder Schmid

(Next week, Elder Schmid's p-day is on Wednesday, November 30, if you would like to get an email to him)

These are my roomies.  On the bed is Elder Hickson and Elder Call is on the chair

Drew this when I was bored :)

This is what my desk pretty much looks like every day.
It's what my life has been for the past four weeks.

Week Three

Hola familia!

So, same old life here in the CCM. Same schedule, same teachers, same classes, same food, same everything! I'm always happy to read your emails from home! Seriously, Fridays have become almost like little Christmas's out here! I love them! Especially here in Spiritual Prison. It's so nice to have a break from the constant schoolwork of being a new missionary.

Anyways, nothing too new happening here, except for one big thing. So I was playing piano one day, because we miraculously had 5 minutes of free time, and I was playing the Marshall McDonald arrangement of If You Could Hie to Kolob. After I finished playing, I guess my district really liked it, because they told me to go audition, because every devotional that we have there's a musical number done right before it begins. So my district wanted me to try out to see if I would be able to do that, and they chose me to play! So, this Sunday, I'll be playing the piano in front of the entire CCM before the Sunday night devotional! It's kinda scary, though, because I really don't have much time to practice, only about 15 minutes a day, and so I'm kinda freaking out... but we'll see how it goes! I'm also very excited!

This is what the inside of the Thomas S. Monson building looks like.  It's actually a pretty cool building, and there's a bunch of rooms where we have sacrament meetings and such. Every room has a piano, and sometimes you walk in and somebody is playing away, and you can't tell where it's coming from. I love the flags, too!

 Other than this, CCM life is actually kinda dragging me down... I mean, I love the spirit of the place, but I've hit a major wall. My mind has left this place, and is already in the mission field! I am so dang bored here now! I can barely get through class every day, because it is literally just the same thing every day other than the language, which they don't actually teach very much! Like, we don't learn Spanish here. We learn the gospel, in Spanish. It actually kinda sucks. And don't get me wrong, I love the gospel! But we're "learning" things that I've literally known about pretty much my entire life! So, I don't know, I love this place, but I'd much rather be out in the field right now.

This is the room I'm in. Every day. For 15 hours.

Yeah, I've been a little cold here, but today wasn't so bad. It's kind of off and on with the weather here, I really have no idea what the next day is gonna be like. It could be overcast and rainy, or it could be sunny. I just don't know. But you say I should be fine because I have my coat? Do you mean the coat that you had me take out of my luggage because it made it over 50 lbs and was thus too heavy? (side not from mother:  I did not ever tell him to take his coat out. I purchased the coat, and would have never told him to leave it. I am very upset that I am just finding out that he left it here   :( ) Because if so... I don't have it. I don't have any coat with me here. But that's ok, just a few more weeks of possible cold weather!

You've also told me, and others as well, that you sent me some letters and/or packages, buuuutttt.... I haven't gotten anything. I just barely checked not 10 minutes ago. Mi compañero got a letter, though, making me the only one in my district who has not gotten a thing in the mail. Which is kinda depressing. But oh well. Maybe it's being sent to the wrong place? Elder Schmid, in district 12-C? I don't know. I'll ask about it. 

So this PDay was just a relaxing day. All the missionaries who are staying in Mexico for their missions had to go out and do some sort of immigration thing out on the town, but seeing as how I'm headed for Chile, I just got to stay and do whatever! It was fantastic! So no, I don't get to go to the temple every week. In fact, I won't go again while I'm here, which means I probably won't go again through the entirety of my mission, seeing as how there isn't one in Antofagasta. But that's ok. 

You don't believe I have a clean room?! Oh thou of little faith?! Wherefore dost thou doubt?! I don't have one now, but you wait, I'll send a couple pictures of my room and the other rooms and then you can see! But the cleanliest isn't the biggee, it's the fact that my room smells the best! I can't even walk into the other rooms hahaha!

But anyways, that's how things are here! It's monotonous, but such is the life of the new missionary, I guess haha! I love you all! 

Su misionero en la Ciudad de México

Elder Schmid

The candy here is very different, but is still alright. This stuff is like a singsong almost, but it has marshmallow in the middle instead of cream.  And there's like a cookie sort of stuff in it. I really like the choco retas, which are like mint M&M's, but smaller

Websites to send letters or packages to Elder Schmid at the CCM

There are some websites you can use to send me packages and letters! Everyone else in my district keeps getting all sorts of stuff and it's making me depressed :). 

missionarypackagemx.com or missionarypresent.com 

You don't have to send me a package, but a letter from some people would be nice! :) Love you all! 

Week Two

Hola familia!

Life is good! Life at the CCM is pretty much the same old! Nothing changes in day to day life pretty much, so anything really crazy or fun that goes on, we have to make up and do ourselves. But it's still great! I love it here! It's such a pretty place, and everyone is so awesome, and there's so much open space for gym time and what not! Gym time is probably my favorite time, not gonna lie haha! There's so much to do! They have a massive indoor basketball court, half of it is a basketball court and the other half has a volleyball net! Surprisingly, usually everyone is over at the volleyball half! Everyone plays volleyball here! I must say, I've gotten pretty dang good at serving! ;) But also inside are a ton of foosball tables and a couple ping pong tables. But that's just the inside. Outside, there's a ton more, because we are on a crazy 90 acre lot. So, there are three other basketball courts scattered around the campus, there are a few soccer fields, there's an outdoor concrete volleyball court, and another outdoor beach sand court! There's a baseball field, there's a full track for running, it's insane. My district either usually plays volleyball, or ultimate frisbee, which is super fun. 

I was not prepared for this weather. We only planned for weather in Chile, and didn't bother checking for weather here... which was a mistake on my part. It was super nice at first! But then it started to rain more and more, and now the clouds aren't going away. It's freezing, it's wet, and I don't even have a sweater.  My bag wasn't waterproofed because my mission is the driest place on earth, but Mexico City is definitely not! But that's ok, I can tough my way through it. I just wish I knew what it would be like here. 

So you're wondering how CCM life works. Lemme tell ya. It's boot camp. Day one, you get a packet with all the materials you need, and then a bag with all the books you'll need (It's a lotta books). In the packet, along with your white bible, room key, missionary agenda, and badges, you get a packet of papers that is your life for the next six weeks. It has a schedule on it, on which each and every day of your weeks here has been meticulously planned and mapped out. There is legit NO free-time other than on P-Day. You get three meal breaks, but I got unlucky, and my zone goes last to eat, and so we only get 25 minutes tops before the workers kick us out. The food is... interesting. Let's just say my bowels went for a roller coaster ride. And that's the most censored way I can say that. Other than the meals, though, you are in class. All day. Every day. Classes for language, for book of Mormon, for Preach my Gospel, for everything! You have one little classroom that you are in all day, and two teachers: one for mornings and one for afternoons. It gets pretty boring, not gonna lie. But then you really feel the spirit, and you find interesting ways to pass time and have fun with your district. Basically, this place is like high school, except for instead of 7 hour days, it's 15 hour days. Waking up gets hard, but once you're up and moving, you get into a rhythm and basically sleep walk. 

I spend most of my time here with my district. We have class together and it's just our district in the class. However, we get bored. So we often go to other districts classrooms and mingle.  So we do know, on a very small basis, everyone in our zone. During gym time too we see other people and get to meet people from other zones. It's actually very fun! That's another reason it's my favorite time of the day: because I get to see my friends that I don't see at all the rest of the day! Other than these times though, and during meals, we only ever see our own district. 

Elder LeFoll in the classroom under a desk in the back, it's so tiring!

I went to the temple today! I finally got to escape the prison walls that surround us! It was fantastic! The traffic was even crazier than before, if that were even possible! But the temple itself was so amazing! I love the looks of it, because it has this whole Aztec sort of theme going on inside and out, so it looks similar to ancient Aztec pyramids or something! Inside was super interesting, because we did everything like normal but in Spanish. It was super fun! Even the workers! They were the normal old people, but Mexican! It was awesome! There's also a little store off to the side of the temple with a lot of cool things, and I got myself an Aztec/Mayan Calendar looking sort of thing! It looks dope. And I can hang it up. Which is also dope. Speaking of dope, I heard it's legal in Cali now? Well, sucks for them, I guess... 

Elder Seui and I in front of the temple

I'm a photographer!

My district at the visitors center.

 Anyways, you told me to clean my room and whatnot? I actually have the cleanest room out of my entire house! We always have our beds made, the floor is swept, all of our crap is away in the closets and whatnot! You'd be proud! And, our room smells the best! I go into the other rooms and can't stay because it smells too bad, but my room always smells good! Haha we're a very clean room!

I get a haircut today, but I am a little nervous because the people don't do it the way we are use to.  Elder Seui had to take his sewing scissors to his hair after his haircut to try to get it more to what he is used to.

Yeah, I heard that Trump is now the new President! Hahaha that's funny, and I was sure too that Hillary would win. That's really sad though how it's made people riot. I hate hearing that, and that's one of the worst parts of this whole election. They hated each other, and they made the country hate each other. It's super sad. But hopefully that will clear up after a bit. I wonder what he's gonna do with the country... I'm very interested to see the state of things when I return. 

I'm glad to hear the Grandma and Aunt Tammy are doing great! Two scary things that ended well! That's very funny to hear how Dad switched to an iPhone and now has technical difficulties! I bet Mom's feeling the power now, huh? ;) But thanks for the email, I loved all the stuff you put in! Bronson makes me laugh even from hundreds of miles away! I love you guys! Me encantan todos ustedes! Yo no puedo esperar para viernes cada semana! La iglesia es verdadero, y yo soy agradecido por este evangelio y por la oportunidad para estár un misionero para la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimas Días!

Te amo!

Elder Schmid

Right in front of recepcion is this random statue of just a big head.  I pass it every day, and I love it!  I need to name it...