Week 60

Hola Familia!

Well, first things first, I'm sorry for not emailing yesterday, but it's not my fault! Well, kinda sorta, not really... story is, we had cambios!!!! I have been sent to Copiapo, which is a bit more south and a ton more pretty. So I was in the bus pretty much all the pday hours, and my zone leaders told me I could write for thirty minutes yesterday, or wait for today and write the full two hours... I chose today jeje. But that's why I didn't write yesterday! 

So sounds like things are running smoothly! Maybe a little too smoothly for Christiaan, just lemme get this straight... his job took him to a nice theater, paid for his dinner in the same theatre, and they watched the new Star Wars, and they paid him for it?!?! I can't believe it! He scored with this job!! But congratulations, Christiaan, seriously, on graduating from college! I'm proud of you!! Too bad I couldn't see you walk, but oh well! C'est la vie! That's funny to here about Bronson! He always makes me laugh! But I'm sure in that moment he was giving mom a little panic attack! And that's awesome running into Mr. Monette like that! Seems like you don't remember, but he was also my teacher in 6th grade! He always called me the Schmidster... but send him my regards next time you see him!

I guess I can share a little more about the cambio. They called us Thursday night out of the blue, saying ''Hey, here are your cambios, ciao!'' Usually they do a big show of it the Friday before, so it was weird. But he told me I was going to Copiapó! My new ward is called 'Palomar', and it's fairly big! In terms of actual land size and people too! We have an assistance here of about 150 - 160 people, which is really good for a ward. My new companion is named Elder Bravo. He also is from Peru, from a tiny little town named Ambo. He seems really awesome!!! I'm really excited to be with him! He has around 9 months on the mission, and guess what? He's 25 years old! Haha it's like having Christiaan as my companion, but better because I'm senior companion, so it'd be like being in charge of Christiaan! Jejeje, as it should be. It's a smaller zone than La Portada, there are only 8 companionships instead of 12. And to baptize here, we have to have 2 assistances to church! It's gonna be different haha! But I'm excietd, of course. Copiapó is so much more pretty, as well! It's not too small of a place, not as big as Antofagata, but not as small as Hospicio. And it's so green!!!! There is a river running through the middle, and grows trees and bushes and all sorts of stuff! I love it! It is so awesome to be sorrounded by so much green again... though when I think about it, it looks like Apache Junction, with the types of houses and plants and dirt and everything. Haha imagine that! On the bus ride here, Interstellar came on and I was glued to it, because it had the voices in the original english.

So the last few days in Caliche were a little slow, not gonna lie. I was trying for all it's worth to end it all with a baptism, but nobody was having it! Luis couldn't get baptized because his mom didn't let him, so that sucks... but he still progresses. There was a lot of goodbyes as well! Then Sunday came, and I had an appointment on the hour every hour from 3 to 10, with some others in between. Every single one decided to make an entire meal for us! I ate soooooo much! Every person gave us food! That's a lot! I almost threw up! It was ridiculous! But it was good to say goodbye to them all. I have a lot of awesome relationships with some really awesome people there. I will miss them! But the spirit has called me to a new sector! I can tell I will love it here! Saying goodbye to Elder Aparicio was also a little bittersweet. Sweet only because we already had so much time together. Bitter for pretty much everything else! I will miss him! He's going to do great work in Caliche! He actually got called as district leader, which is great. 

So two new things that I'm sure mom will love! We played your game!! We played Cover your Assets! And oh my goodness, it was so fun!!! We only played the four of us, but it was all we wanted to do the rest of the week! We actually broke the rule a little and played the Sunday before I left, my last night there. But we loved it. And just to let the record state, I dominated! Haha there was a round where I reached the full million in that very round! Woot woot! So that was fun. Next thing is, the package arrived!!! Jaja it seems like they sent it to my new sector because they knew I would be coming here! I didn't realize how big it was! It is so great! Thank you soooooo much! The starbursts are gone... I ate them.... and gave some to other missionaries. But the rest is unopened, and I don't know what I'm allowed to open, becuase all of it has like a wrapped gift in it or something. But I see some things in there that are super super awesome that I can't wait to open! 

But anyways, that's pretty much it for this week! It was a great week, and we're gonna keep on flying! Thanks for everything y'all do for me! Take care!

Les amo a todos!

Elder Schmid

Week 59

Hola familia!!!

Jajaja dang mom! You are getting pretty snarky! I was reading and it made me laugh how sarcastic you were, and then you actually read back and commented on the same thing! To answer your questions straight off, then, yes, my english is slipping, but that's not why I didn't answer last week the question about skype. It's because I was waiting for the rules to come in from Pres. We got that email this week. We will skype Monday, Christmas day. It has to be before 7:00, my time, so I don't know what hour that is for you guys. Also, I don't know if I will be here, or in another secotr, so I can't really work out the little details. I will be able to do that in... two weeks. Hehehehe...

But that sounds like such an awesome month you are having! December has always been my favorite month, between the cold, the awesome Christmas spirit, my birthday, everything! All of that was kind of taken away on my mission... but that's ok! It's gonna be a good time here! I love that idea of the stake muscial program! I hope they do it again next year! And yeah, classic grandma! Haha has anyone taken time out to just teach her when she can or cannot answer her cell phone? And that's good that you are getting in a lot of work, mom! It still seems strange to me that you're working again, but I think it's awesome!

Well, things here are going strong! First things first, we had our Christmas conference this week! It was so amazing!!! I loved it! It was with my zone, the zone of Antofagasta Centro, and Calama. In all there were around 60-70 missionaries there. President talked a lot about ending the year strong, how the mission is changing drastically for the better every day, and how we keep surprising him with how we follow the vision he has received for us so much. Then he talked a lot about the story of the Nativity in Luke, but focusing on Gabriel, the angel come to spread the news of Jesus' birth, and how relatable it is to the missionaries here relating the very same message to the world. I loved it! Hermana Ferreira also talked about the cost of dicipleship, all that we are giving up to be here and to be diciples of Christ, but also all that we are gaining in return. it was a very spiritual conference with many inspiring messages. The office also did a few cool videos. One was a bunch of clips of recently returned missionaries talking about how it's possible to baptize weekly, giving ánimo, and all that, and it was really touching, and awesome to see faces of people I knew personally back in there homes, some of them actually marries by now! (flpping mormons). Another video was a spif off of some commercial here about Alexis Sanchez, but President put it in his voice, about a grandpa telling his grandkid about how here was in some awesome place when something awesome was going on, and how this mission is exploding, and we are a part of it! It was funny, but also inspiring! After the conference, we had a big lunch given by some volunteers from different wards, and they gave gifts to those who had a birthday this month! (ME!!!) And then we got to take the annual picture with Pres and Hermana Ferreira, in which they gave us a box of chocolates and a paper with all the missionaries currently in the mission on it. The box, to answer your question, mom, is something called 'toffifees', which ended up being super super delicious chocolates with hazelnuts inside! Afterwards, we played a little gift exchange game where we all sat down in a massive circle, and they called a fruit (we were all assigned different fruits) and we had to switch places, but they removed a seat. The person who was left without a seat had to share a funny expereince from their mission. I lost once hehehe. I shared the story of the two dogs with Elder Barney. At the end, the seat you were in had a gift for you given by some other missionary. I got a little chinese golden waving cat with some pens/markers. Then we ended it by watching Wreck It Ralph! Which was HILARIOUS!!! I am so deprived of movies...

Well, the rest of the week was good too, I guess. Our second baptism fell because the person ended up moving back to their home country! -_- That was really really hard. but it's ok. I am fine with the work I am puitting in. I know that I'm not just wasting my time, even if everyone else is baptizing so much and I am not. But we do have some solid people lined up for us. This week, some joven came with Rodrigo (recent convert) to a youth activity, and said he wanted to talk to missionaries. Then he came with Rodrigo to church! Then we went over, and told us he wants to get baptized!!! What?!?! I have to recognize God's hand, his miracles in the mission. This time, it's not too difficult to see it. We are going to baptize this kid, and next his family! We are also talking more with Rosa, the lady who came to church last week. She couldn't make it to church this week for emergency, but she is loving everything we are telling her! (We haven't taught her the word of wisdom yet) But she is gonna get baptized!!! We are also talking to another friend of a recent convert who's name is Jesennia. It's wierd because it's spelt and pronounced the gringo way, but in spanish it reads 'Hesenia'. But she lives with a family of members and is from Ecuador. She gon' get baptized! 

Working has been difficult. I'm pretty sure I'm leaving this sector. It's hard to contact new people when that happens, because you don't have as much drive, because you might not be here to baptize them! But I am still working hard, trying to get over my pride and just work! Yes mom, the fire is still there from both conferences now, and we are going to baptize weekly. A baptism fell in Caliche B that was difficult, but I did her interview sunday, and she is definitely going to get baptized this week, with her son! We are always talking to everyone we cross in the street, and have several new families and people we are teaching. Just puttin down the seeds and weedin out the weeds! 

I have been trying hard this week to look for the hand of God much more in my work. I loved looking for tiny things and recognizing them as tender mercies sent from on high! Like the menos activos that showed their faith again and came to church again. We are talking with a family, la familia Roca. I love them! They are all from Bolivia, and just stopped going to church for a while. But as we've been talking to them, the desire has come back, and one of them is interviewing with bishop to serve a mission! I love seeing their 'reconversion' process here! I also notice how many people God puts on our path who need the message we are preaching! So many people do not have the truth simply because 'They know not where to find it'! I am here to bring it to them! The spirit is using me as a tool in his conversion of all these people, and I have the privelage of watching it from front row seats! How can I not recognize that miracle? The gospel changes lives. I might get a topic for my homecoming talk, but I will probably end up talking about how the gospel changes people! I love seeing the change! Maybe it's not so big sometimes, but it is ever so important!

Today I decided to take my district to have our 'last pday activity'! I saw a bunch of missionaries with pictures in Antofa when they went to some go karting place! So I decided to take them there! We went and it was awesome!!!  They were so much faster than I thought they were going to be! We were drifting and spinning out and it was sooooooooo fun! I won! Jejejeje! Elder Yoshikawa tried to say that I seemed to have a faster kart! (Yeah, okay!) But it was extremely fun! But expensive.... I'm eating pure oatmeal this week. and the next. But it was worth it! Then, when we were leaving, we saw some other missionaries, and they looked at a¡us weird, and said 'Did you just come from go karting? You guys know that's not allowed right? We talked with pres and he said we can't do it, it's an area rule.'' So... I kinda freaked out. But to be fair, I had no idea! But I was chueco... I'm sorry!!! But.... I did have sooooo much fun. But now I know, and I will never do it again. 

But anyways, that's pretty much it! Sorry mom, I haven't gotten that package yet. But I will check soon. It might be in the office. But I can't exactly just hop on over and check. I need a valid reason, and no matter how much I argue it, a pouch is not a good enough reason. But I hope you all have an excellent week! I love you guys! Ciao!!!

Les amo a todos!

Elder Schmid

Week 58

Hola querida familia mía!

You got a job? Haha whoa! That's awesome! All my life your job has been just the kids! Now you're actually getting paid for something! That's cool. And finally Ashlyn has a friend in the ward! And it sounds like an awesome family. I'm sure that Christiaan is getting way excited! Isn't it weird to think that he's graduating, and has a kid, and there is an elder here who is older than him!! I'm so happy for the familia Ngirakamerang!!! That is way awesome! And that makes me so happy that so many people from the ward could come and support them in the temple! It is weird not having a temple so close to us here. It really makes me grateful for the blessings I will have there once I get home! 

This week was pretty legit. The other sector in my district had the easiest baptism ever haha! DARIAN YOUR SONG CAME ON IN THE CIBER HERE WITH THE MUSIC VIDEO haha it made me think of the day you got your teeth pulled and you were singing it! Chamacameleon or something like that. The video is weird. Sorry, back to the baptism. Hannais has been coming to church for several years now with her family (cousins and uncle) and we didn't know she wasn't a member. Apparently the missionaries had been teaching her before but she didn't want to get baptized. But I was talking to her one week, and I asked when she got baptized, and she said that she wasn't baptized, but that she wanted to be! Haha what?! Con tu permiso! They taught her once to repass all the lessons, and I came that same day and did the interview, and then we baptized her that week! Talk about awesome! The work is accelerating! 

So this past week I went to the conference of leaders of the mission, and it was really fantastic. It was different than regular conferences. President was a lot more business like. It was a very good conference too because I learned a ton. He had a few different guests come in who were having a lot of success in certain areas. For example, there is a pair of elders in Arica who have baptized 8 weeks in a row and are going for 9. They talked a lot about how they have done it. I like listening to it, because they didn't really share anything new, just how they have applied everything into their teaching and contacting. They also brought in an hermana from Copiapo who had 83 lessons with member in a week! Apparently it just takes a ward who is willing to help you every hour of every day....... that's a lot harder than it seems haha! But it definitely gave me more of the vision here in la misión Chile Antofagasta! My district is definitely going to baptize every week! 

This week we are working with Nancy a lot. She is a Colombiana who moved a little recently to Antofagasta. She is 46 and takes care of her grandkids at home while her daughter in law works. She is super awesome, and came to church this last week! She was super worried, because her grandkids are freaking insane, but they were really chill in sacrament meeting! She liked it, she told me! We're gonna baptize her. We had an amazing lesson with her the other day del plan de salvación. It was perfect, because her son was killed here not too long ago. It is really sad. But we began teaching, and she stopped us and said ''I thought people died and that was it! Are you telling me there's more? My son is still there?'' It was perfect! We taught a lot about the spirit world and the juicio and everything, and she soaked it all in. The only problem is she is afraid of getting baptized without her husband's approval. I'm just gonna share Matthew 10: 34 - 37. Have you ever read that?! It's so strong! I might not actually share it, because it's really strong, but I will talk about it with her. But she is too great! We also have Rosa, someone who has just had so much stress and problems with stupid people in her life. She just told us she wants to rest! Haha perfect! Matthew 11! Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden or something like that in English! She came to church, stayed all three hours, loved it, and we are just gonna baptize her! We will baptize every week!

Things in the work are getting better and better every day. After the conference, I found a new love of just working! I don't know, of course after every conference we always have so much ánimo! But usually it goes away after a few days. After this conference, no! I still have it! I have never wanted to be outside working, more than inside resting while teaching. I have never really cared too much if the lesson goes a little too long. But now, I get antsy! I just need to leave! I can't waste time! I need to find new people! I need to find the escogidos! After 20 minutes in a house I get anxious. Haha it's weird... my comp doesn't like it. But hey, we gotta go! We've contacted so many people! But not as many as another pair of elderes. In another ward, the zone leaders put 100 baptismal dates in one week! I don't even know what to do with that... I'm happy with less numbers but more people haha! 

Today we played fútbol with president! I didn't trip him today! Haha he's funny, because he gets way more into it than any other elder. He's not exactly as young as he was before! But.... he still jukes out any gringo out there with the ball. The rule is, none of the elders can make a goal. It has to be an hermana. So usually, they don't like getting too active, and they just chill by the goal and wait for some random lucky pass to get it in. But it is always super fun and whatnot. I dunno... I'm running out of things to say! Take care, everyone! My hands ok! I didn't get the package, but I won't see it until I go to the office, so it's probably here. We have a conference for Christmas this week. The call is going to be on Christmas day, which is a Monday (Dangit!!). 

Les amo a todos!

Elder Schmid

Week 57

Wow... mother, you wrote me a new testamant! Jaja half my email time was just reading it!!! But you know what? Worth it!! I loved it!

Well, lots of stuff has happened there!! Not too much here... But that's ok! I can't believe Christiaan is about to finish school! I can only imagine the amount of stress that he's about to lose just by finishing that! Jaja he should be happy! Bueno... not right now, in the middle of a pile of projects, but he can see the light at the end of the tunnel! I have a package?! YESSSSS! Jaja Elder Yoshikawa, a new elder who just finished his training, has had 6 packages so far... it's crazy. Haha I'm not saying you need to send more, I thought it was just weird. I'm actually glad you don't send me as much! Of course, it has both my christmas and birthday inside one gift, how many times have I heard that, huh? That was kinda funny hearing about Caelan! Fetching newlyweds! But I do want to thank you for the last part of the email! It was a great strength! You told me something that I always tell others here, but have never really applied it to myself. God doesn't expect you to be at the end of the path, or not even necessarily standing. He expects us to only be on the path. Or rather, it's not a race, it's a marathon. Thank you! Lo agradezco, muchísimo! 

Well, as I said, not too much went down this week. I had intercambios with everyone in my district! (Jejeje it's just one other companionship). One day with Elder Yoshikawa, and one with Elder Smith. They were awesome days! It was good to see how they are working, and to be able to help them a little bit, and learn from them a little bit. Elder Smith is from Provo and is 27 years old!!! What?! Jaja he's older than Christiaan! But he's probably the best missionary I have ever met! The most humble and loving missionary there is. His only problem would be his spanish, but that just comes with time, nothing he can do about it! I loved working in another sector for a bit. It was just a bit of a refresher for me. Especially because their sector is so flat, there are no hills! Where the mountain starts, that's where my sector starts. We met some crazy people in their sector haha! It's rough there, because almost everyone they contact lives in another sector! They just have such bad luck, haha! 

We are working a lot with the mother of our recent convert. Her name is Maribel. She is super awesome! She has three kids who are members now, but I'm pretty sure that her testimony is bigger than any of theirs  Jaja it was her testimony that convinced her daughter to get baptized. But she is also progressing very rapidly. I know she will get baptized, but I don't know how soon. She wants to do it, but she is dead set on having her son in Ecuador baptize her, and he doesn't come here until February.  So that's a problem. But we'll see how it all plays out. We also found a lady of gold! Actually, she found us. Or rather, the people she lives with did... jaja she moved from Ecuador to Chile a few days ago. We met her because the family she moved in with is the familia Yagual. They are awesome members from Ecuador! And my convert lives there too with them as good friends. But they brought in some hermanas from Ecuador, and called us over, and we began teaching. One of them, Reina (it legit means Queen. When she told us that, I didn't know how to react! Here in Chile, I don't know why, when they say someone's name, the say 'el' or 'la'. It's like saying The Caelan, or The Christiaan.  So she told us, I'm 'The Queen'. I just kinda stared at her for a second) But she is so awesome! She accepted the Book of Mormon, and my convert told me she is reading it a ton! She came to church too!! WUT WUT! She gon' get baptized, fo sure! 

Sunday was kinda crazy, but super awesome! We had the primary program! And oh my goodness, I have never seen so many people in church here in Chile! The chapel was packed!! It was so awesome! And not too many were visitors! It was just a ton of people that usually don't come, and a lot of investigators! Actually, funny story, some of our investigators participated in the primary program! How's that for weird? Their mom won't let them get baptized, but we teach them and they come to shurch with their sister. One had a talk, the other a scripture! But they finally picked three hymns that were not boring, but that I did know how to play! It's tricky with these people, because they have no idea how to sing. They have the hymn book, but don't use it. They memorize the hymns. The only problem is they memorize them WRONG!!!!! Ugh, it's so bad! I play the song how it is, and they all sing something else, and they all look at me like I'm an idiot, and I don't know what to do! But then they keep asking me to play! But oh well. This week they picked hymns that I knew how to play the Chilean way, so that was good. But then we get to the principios del evangelio class, which we help out in, and the teacher wasn't there! So the mission leader just looks over and says, Elder Schmid, teach us. It was the most filled I've ever seen the class! There were a ton of menos activos and the room was filled! It was crazy! And then I had to teach them all and I had nothing prepared! So he handed me the lesson on his cell phone, and I just began talking! I basically had everyone participate a ton while I could read ahead to see what I needed to say. But it ended up being an awesome lesson on Sacrifices, and how today we practice a different form of sacrifice. We offer God a broken heart and a contrite spirit. That is how we show God our sincere repentance. Lots of people had many great inputs, but the best were from a lady named Tamara. Yesterday while in front of the church, I was just greeting people, and a random lady walked up and was staring at the church from a distance. So I of course walk over and invite her in! She comes, and stays for all three classes!!! And her comments in the class made me think she was some general authority in disguise or something, she was awesome! Sad part is, she lives in the boundaries of another ward....

But anyways, that's my week! Just trucking along here with Elder Aparicio! With all the traveling we have to do, I am broke, but that's ok! Who needs breakfast?! I loved your email, and love all that you do for me! The church is true, Jesus lives! Have an awesome week!

Les amo a todos!

Elder Schmid

Week 56

hola hola hola!

Well, this week was a good one! Apparently, more so for you than for me, but that's ok haha! You guys did a lot of awesome stuff! It's as if a kid moved out and all of the sudden you have more money, or something... but I'm happy you enjoyed the week. That was a ton of planning and stress for the wedding, it was probably good to relax. I am also glad that Lehi crushed the new brats! You told me that Dad had new stylin clothes and shoes, and I saw the picture, and I thought, ''He must have bought them after this picture!'' jejejejeje

Anyways, as I said, this week was a good week. First things first, there was baptism in Caliche!! Woot woot, we baptised Dayana, the ecuatoriano jovencita (Ecuadorian young girl) that we were teaching! It was an excellent baptism! The young woman's president stepped up big time and made sure that all of the young woman were there and participating, which was great. The ward is gettting a lot better with... hermanadores (siblings)... I don't know what it's called in English, but people who are basically the member friends of new members. They are getting more active in the work, and I'm about to slam them with some steep sticks. (In spanish, ''give sticks'' means to chastize people to get them to work harder, or something like that). 'dar palos'. My English is going to be very interesting, because I use spanish grammar but with english words... and all the missionaries do that.. but anyways, the baptism was fantastic, and she was so excited! I'm going to try to send fotos, but I don't know if this computer can. Now we are teaching her mom, and she will get baptised too! 

So, this week got a lot hotter than usual, we are officially coming into summer! Fetching everyone is telling me over there how it's getting colder, and I just get jealous! But it's good to think that the next time that it will be getting colder... I'll be there! ;) But it was a little harder to be going up and down so much in Caliche! My sector is just straight uphill! I pity the man who comes here when I leave in December and it's just blazing hot and all of the sudden he has to walk uphill! We are also working a lot more in the tomas. The 'Tomas' are the more ghetto part that is all made up of makeshift houses. Everyone there is always super humble and awesome! The only problem is trying to get them to keep commitments. Especaially the law of chastity. We end the lesson, challenge to them to keep the law of chastity, and they straight up tell us no. They understand completely what they are doing, and why it's bad and sinful, but they just tell us they don't care! Oooooohhhhhhh it's so frustrating! But that's ok! When we find gold, they are truly golden! Like Dayana! She's from the Tomas! It's not like finding gold amidst sand... it's like finding gold amidst a field of Dog Crap! Jejeje I say that not for the people, but because legit the ground is basically just made of dog crap in places...

We are coming up on Thanksgiving! That's weird! Last time I had Thanksgiving in the CCM, and it was really awesome! Here, I'm not even sure if they know what that is. I wouldn't be surprised... especially because it's an American Holiday... but I'm probably going to make some food! Some brownies. Some Elder I live with now has a lot of recipes too, and we do challenges, and I usually win, becuase my recipes are from Sister Konuiszy, and what missionary has a chance against her?! But it's fun, and we're not half bad at it! It is crazy expensive, though. My companion gets mad at me, a lot, because the new people we live with are all super awesome and we end up talking for a very long time, and I don't go to bed on time, which is bad. But we just lose track of time! But it's bad and I need to stop.

But, thinking about Thanksgiving, of course makes one ponder of the things he is really grateful for! On the mission, that list doesn't really get bigger, but rather brings into really intense focus the things you truly are grateful for. I am so grateful for my family, for their strength, for their love, and for their commitment to God. We will live together forever, and what more can I ask for from God? I cannot expres the love I have for them, especially after being away from them for a bit of time, and especially after seeing the state of families here. I am eternally grateful for the chance God gave me to grow up in a family like I did. I am grateful for the gospel. For a long time I thought it was better to be a convert than born into the church, because they have such strong testimonies, but here, I realize how much of a blessing it was to be born in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I cannot imagine what I would be doing if I were not a member! The Gospel brings happiness. Straight and simple. The gospel brings everyone to God, who is the author of said happiness! I am grateful for the opportunity to repent. It is the biggest lesson I have learned here. I am so grateful for the atonement of Jesus Christ, for everything he did, does, and will do for me! Repentence is the only way to come to him! I am eternally grateful for the peace and the joy that comes of shedding off my sins, of becoming a new creature, and continuing onward. I cannot properly express the absolute joy that comes of being able to forget my transgressions with the assurance that God is forgetting them as well, as long as I do my part. This is a testimony that I can never lose. I am grateful... 

Anyways... that's pretty much it. It was a good week, but everything is starting to blur together even more. I still have a year left and need to make the most of it! Hope you all have an awesome week! 

Les amo a todos!

Elder Schmid

Week 55

Whoa... whoa whoa whoa whoa

Caelan is married!!! How crazy is that! I'm so happy for you, hermanita!!!!! Jaja you're not exactly my 'little' sister, but 'hermana mayor' just sounds weird. But really, I am so happy for you!!! Brad is one lucky guy haha! And I'm sure the wedding and reception and everything was just a blur of craziness! Kinda loco that so many months and months of planning got blown through in a couple of hours, huh? But I am sure it was fantastic! It's weird that there were people at our house... I wonder if Darian follows everyone's footsteps and goes to other people's houses instead of inviting them over to ours, even though our house is the perfect house for everything. Jejejeje, But how's everyone holding up? It makes me laugh imagining Bronson at his 'Trash Duty' post, barking at everyone for not cleaning up! What do you mean 'we spotted you at the wedding?'

Well, I must say that my week wasn't quite as busy and crazy as yours! It was a slightly difficult week, but not too much. I honestly don't know what to talk about. It was a pretty normal week. One thing different about this week is that I had some doctor's test all this week. The dermatologist figured that the crap on my hand might be an allergic reaction, so he gave me a 'patch' test. Basically, they put a very high concentration of random chemicals on some patches and taped it to my body, and I leave it there for a week, and at the end, if my body is reacting, it means I'm allergic... so basically, I couldn't shower all week, because I couldn't get them wet. Can you imagine a missionary walking everywhere every day not being able to shower? It wasn't exactly the loveliest of experiences. However, I don't really sweat too much, so it could've been a lot worse. I got the results today, and turns out I'm allergic to some weird named chemicals I don't even know how to pronounce, and cobalt. So that's that...

It was the first week of the new cambios. I'm still with my hijito, Elder Aparicio. We are just trucking along. We live in a ward that's super far away from ours, so we have to travel by bus every day to get there, it takes around half an hour. But that's chill. Now, the other missionaries from Caliche are moving from the old house to our current house. There are going to be eight missionaries in our pension. That will be interesting! I like it though, there are some cool people there. There is a Columbian who lives there and he cuts my hair and he's super cool. 

This Sunday was pretty awesome. We only had two people come to church, and one is an eternal investigator, but the other will get baptized this week! Dayana, a young woman that we are teaching, is progressing very rapidly! She is the sister of a less active kid, Antony, and he's coming back. They're from Ecaudor! There are more foreigners in Antofagasta than there are Chilenos. We call it 'Antofolombia' jejeje. But anyways, the church was awesome too because it was fast and testimony meeting (we had stake conference the first sunday). And there were a lot of awesome testimonies. A missionary came home and he gave an awesome testimony of the work! But in the night we had a family home evening in the chapel with our investigators and less actives and new converts and everything.  It was legit, but I didn't know I was going to teach until a few minutes before. It just ended up being a short thing about the Book of Mormon, but very powerful! And then we had very fun games. 

So, I will admit, Saturday was a little difficult. It didn't really hit me until halfway through the day that my sister was getting married that day! Not the fact of her marriage made me sad, but the fact that I wasn't there. A lot of people just randomly started asking me about my family that day! Jaja I don't get to talk about you guys too much, but just randomly everyone asked me that very day what my family was doing! What the deuce?! So it was just a constant reminder that I wasn't there for such a big family event. But that's ok. The same stuff will happen to Aiden jejeje. But it was just an interesting day.

Well, that's pretty much it... kinda boring, per así es la vida! I'll talk to y'all next week! Keep it classy!

Les amo a todos!

Elder Schmid

Week 54

Hola!

Wow, such a busy week for everyone! At least none of you can say you're bored! That's one crazy scar, grandma! Hope you're doing fine! And dang, Caelan's wedding is coming up quick! This is her last week as a single! It's about time hahaha! This was all supposed to happen before I left! But oh well, I'll find it in my heart to forgive you! ;) I'm excited for you! And mom, I still feel like you're stressing a ton haha, I know you too well. Stress is good, but I imagine you're not just stressing anymore, you're dying. But I know it will all turn out fantastic!

Well, this week for me was pretty good! First things first, we had cambios come in! I'm staying here in Caliche for another 6 weeks to finish the training of Elder Aparicio. It's gonna be a good cambio! We're going to see many more miracles, and many more baptisms! Elder Ramones is leaving for Iquique, the filipino elder who I lived with for a while. My zone leader became the assistant. It was exciting as always to hear it all. We were in a zone training meeting when the assistant called for the cambios, so we were all listening together. I was kind of hoping to leave, honestly, but that's just because I get bored too easily. I want to see more places and meet more people. But there's more for me to do here, so I will get to work! Or rather, keep working. 

This Sunday was stake conference. It was interesting inviting people to the stake conference, especially investigators. As we invited members, they all had the attitude that it was 'just a conference', like a day off! Some members went to the beach, others went to another city to vacation with family, and all that stuff! What the crap! But then as we were inviting the investigators and telling them what it was, they all got super excited, thinking ''Oh man, everyone in the stake is coming to one place! The leaders are going to talk! I want to go! I want to see! Whatever they say is going to have to be important!'' It was very awesome to see that, and their viewpoint of the conference. I don't know what happened to the members! Why would they think that?! They missed out on so much! How is it that the investigators can see the value of the stake conference more than they do?! It was just confusing to me. But Presidente Ferreira and Hermana Ferreira talked in the conference, which was interesting. Basically it was them calling the stake to action in the missionary work! Hopefully it worked! We are always trying to work with memebrs more! The Saturday before the conference, we called a reference that a family gave us from another ward, an hermana who told us that she couldn't attend us that day, but wanted to come to church! So we told her where it would be, not thinking much of it because so many people tell us they want to come to church and then never come. But then we are there waiting for one investigator when some family walks up looking really lost. Some missionaries walk over and start talking to her, and it ends up being the hermana we called with some of her sisters! It was awesome! 

This week we moved out of the piece of crap apartment and into a realy nice house! President decided to come see what's up with our apartment because we kept complaining. He walks in, stands still in the doorway, and just says, ''No!'' He walks further in, takes a look around, and says ''No!'' He goes to the kitchen, and looks around, and says ''This is disgusting!'' Then he goes to the bathroom, opens the door, says ''Nope'' and shuts it again! Haha the lake came back on our bathroom floor because the pipes are leaking again! He tells us he's sorry that we've been living there haha! Apparently, everyone else has houses or something, and he just didn't know that ours was so awful. So he moved Elder Aparicio and I out of there to a house in the other zone, Antofagasta Centro. And now we are there with 4 other missionaries from another zone! It's a very nice house! Very big. And we can't hear the neighbors! But I haven't slept with blankets for a week, so that's been rough. But it's still so much better! and now we are looking for a new house in my sector. We now have to cross over 4 other wards to get to ours! So that's fun, but I love it so much more! I feel relaxed now!

Anyways, the work continues! A lot of our stronger investigators are falling because they don't want to follow the commandments, so that's frustrating. But we are always looking for more! We found two new families that seem promising (mostly because the parents are married). It feels good to finally have investigators who are already married! I thought they didn't exist! But anyways, that's pretty much my life right now! Not nearly as exciting as all of yours right now, but that's ok! Just working away here in Antofa! It's a different mentality now having a year down. Everything goes quicker, and seems more rushed. I can only wonder what it will be like at the end! But I don't ever think about that, right? I'm super consecrated! ;)

Hope you guys have an awesome week! Good luck with the wedding and reception! Don't worry mom, I'll try not to tell you're secret about the tables! ;) Hehehehe put that one on the blog! Well, cuídense, todos!

Les amo a todos!

Elder Schmid

Week 53

Hola familia!!!

Dang, that's the second ward halloween party I missed! You know what that means? I won't be missing no more!!! Hehehehe wow that was a really trunky sentence! But anyways, dang! That looks so awesome! It's interesting that the tradition changed from Windsor to the church, but I think that's a good change! It makes it more of a ward activity... but that might just be my standpoint because I'm on a mission. You guys celebrated by doing all my favorite things?! Not fair! And don't talk to me about "Stranger Things"!!!

Anyways, this week was pretty normal. The biggest things that happened are the conference, the interviews, and Sunday,  so I guess I'll write about those!

Tuesday, all day we had our monthly conference with President! It was a very awesome conference. It was a bit different than normal. Usually, pres teaches us about something from Preach My Gospel, going into depth and changing our views of it a little, and helping us see how to use it to help us baptize. This conference was a little different. He starts by bearing his testimony of what it means to be a missionary who ''Fears no Man!'' Apparently, President Ferreira read the Ricciardi Letter. But it was a very profound testimony of what we can accomplish as missionaries, here in the north of Chile, if we adapted that attitude, and lost our fear! He then told us that he has received revelation, that his vision for this mission, and for every companionship, has changed. Before his goal for a companionship is that they baptized every month. Now, he wants us to baptize weekly! He says that with the tools that he is giving us, and with our testimonies, and with a better vision, we can accomplish this goal. He is expecting an example of all of his leaders. It was, to say the least, a very animated conference!! But it was great to learn from him, and to meet up with all the other missionaries too! I saw Elder Blanco again! He misses me haha, he misses the time when he didn't have to lead! I do too!

Thursday after, we had interviews with President. It was a very nerve-wracking day! I was thinking all day of what we were going to talk about. I had several things I wanted to talk with him about, several things with which I was stressing a lot, and I wanted his help with a lot of things. So I was occupied in my mind all day Thursday haha! Our interviews were set up for the same time as alwyas, 4:00 pm, which is right after his lunch. So he was late as usual hahaha. Elder Aparicio went first, and his interview was a bit longer than the allotted 10 minutes that we usually get. I was expecting it. He seems a little stressed out. I'm trying to help him out, but there were just a lot of things that he needed to talk with president about. Not so much worthiness, more stress. But then it was my turn, and we begin talking, and he just goes off, and gives some long speech of his vision for this mission and for everything, which ended up taking a good 20 minutes!! And then I finally got to talk about what I wanted to talk about! And we ended up having a very long interview haha! I got out, and the rest of my zone had arrived and were waiting to go in, and they all looked at me as if I just told president I wanted to go home or something! Jaja it was a good interview, but I still felt like there were things left unsaid and was dissatisfied, but I don't know what things! Jaja it's weird, but oh well!

So, Sunday comes around and we have a ton of people invited to come to church, and I'm feeling good! Then we go around to get all of them, and all of them cancel on us! So that was depressing. but I refused to be in a bad attitude! It's very awesome when you can get over that obstacle of everyone rejecting you, and you get over that desanimo (discouragement) and the world just gets better! That happened Sunday on the way to church, when I knew that I tried my best, and so I didn't care if the results weren't too good! But then, as we were walking down the street and I was belting 'Praise to the Man' at the top of my lungs, some man walks over to us, and stops us, and asks me, ''Do you know where I can find a Christian church? I want to go hear the word of God!'' Haha I just went right on ahead and said, ''Follow us!'' And we sang hymns with a random man that we did not know on the way to church! His name was Ziko, and was technically not from my sector, but oh well! And he didn't just stay for the first hour! He was there the whole church! Not even our investigators do that their first time! But also, when I get there, I look over at Rodrigo and Maria Jose, my recent converts who are good friends, and they have some random other guy with them, another ym! So I went over and talked and apparently they just went over and decided to invite their friend to church and he came! It was so cool! And then three more investigators came, but they're children of a mom who wants nothing to do with us, so we can't really do anything there. But it was just awesome because I had a good attitude, and I feel like God was blessing my efforst!

But anyways, that's basically all that's going on! To answer your question, mom, I didn't really celebrate at all for my year... I burned a shirt, but that's pretty much it. Elder Aparicio and I don't get along. We had to talk because he is trying to punish me and correct me for almost breaking rules... or, breaking rules that he has made up to keep him from breaking actual rules. It's like, spirit of the law versus letter of the law. He thinks I'm chueco, I think he's a pharisee. It's just basically two different styles of missionary. I'm not saying he needs to change! I feel like having different types of missionaries like that improves our effectiveness. But... we don't fall well together. And yes. I am a boss baker! I make my own bread now! 

Anways, hope you all have an awesome week! Don't do too many things without me! Stop stressing, mom!

Les amo a todos!

Elder Schmid

YEAR MARK Week 52

Hola familia! 

Wow, so much stuff going down for Caelan's wedding! Doesn't really make sense to me, because y'all are gonna wait till I come back to get marreid, right?! Jaja but that's good you got stuff done. Scary how close that day is getting, huh? And dad sent me all the pictures of your trip for church history, and it seemed really awesome! And yeah, about your experience at Pete's, I have one of those every week haha! It's awful, and it usually ends in them yelling at us and throwing liquor at us, but hey, all part of the experience! 

I was thinking of whether or not I wanted to write about my year mark this week, or next week, but seeing as how everyone commented this week, I'll just do it! Wednesday, October 25, 2017 will mark one year from the day I said goodbye to my family, home, and life in the airport in Arizona and embarked on the mission! I can't belive this point is here! I want to say it came quickly, but.... jajaja it's been hard! I am very, very grateful, however, that I did it. I have learned so much this year, and am excited to learn a lot more in this coming year. I can tell how much I'm growing, even though I couldn't before. I know now the difference, and I'm anxious to keep molding myself more and more to a worthy servant of God! This is a new beginning, a new chance to change things and improve myself yet again. My testimony is as strong as it's ever been and gets stronger every day! Here's to one year down, and one year left (just one year) to give it all to God! 

Well, this week was kind of slow. We've been working a lot with several awesome people. One family is progressing rapidly, we call them the ''familia grande.'' It's the family I talked about last week, Cyntia, Kimberly, María, and Ricardo. They alll have different last names. But they've been reading, praying, and Cyntia and Kimberly came to church! So we've been trying to progress further with them, but we still have to tackle a few commandments that they have trouble with. Cyntia, it seems, might be feeding us this week, seeing as how we are need of a new mamíta. That explains the question you were asking, mom. That stuff I was cooking was a 'baked tuna roll' from the recipe book given to me by the familia Konuiszy. It looked like garbage, but it tasted really good! I didn't understand exactly what to do, so was experimenting a bit, and I'm sure Hermana Konuiszy wouldn't recognize the dish from her own cookbook, but hey, it all worked out fine! We are also working a lot with a less active named Gabriel and his non member family. He came to church, but his family was working. But they are coming along, a little slowly, but that's ok! 

Elder Aparicio and I are coming along great. We had a very heated companionship inventory, but that was a good thing. 'Better out than in, I always say!' As soon as it was done, I felt a lot better, and just needed to talk with him. We are coming along really well as companions, and working a lot better together. He still needs a little training in some places, but he is so much better off than I was at the end of two cambios! I am proud of him.

We had an inter-cambio with the President's assitants on Thursday. It was interesting. It was very clear the vision they want for us on the mission, and how I haven't been exactly keeping up with that vision. We are working a lot with the talk by Alvin Dyer called 'A Challenging and Testifying Missionary,' or something like that, we have the spanish version. It's basically about going out and testifying to everyone of Christ and our church, and challenging immediately to be baptized  We set 13 baptismal dates that day! The old standard for the week was 6. So, we're going to see where this new vision takes us! I was with my old zone leader, Elder Lozano, who is now the president's assistant... something that surprised me haha but he's doing great. Now I just need to fit myself to the vision of this mission and help my district do the same.

Well, this week was kinda boring haha, but that's it! Today we watched Shrek as a zone and went to some other pension to cook. But, this week we are going to have a conference with Pres, and it will be the first time I've seen him since 'the accident!' But I'm excited. We'll see what changes Pres has made this time! But anyways, love you all! Hope you have an amazing week! You best celebrate on Wednesday!

Les amo a todos!

Elder Schmid

Week 51

Hola hola hola! 

Wow, very eventful week for everyone! That's so awesome that you all got to travel! Aiden's comment made me laugh so hard!!! He has no idea! Send him to the Atacama desert! Alto Hospicio! He thinks Mexico is ugly! Hah! I am very very grateful for the beautiful state we live in! We are truly truly blessed, and I hope Aiden doesn't forget that lesson! God has blessed us. And because he gave us so much, we must expect that he will require something big of us in his work! I loved that comment you made, mom, of how everyone in the past had their part in the restoration. I will add on to that. Has the restoration ended? Did it all end when the saints reached Salt Lake? NO! It is happening TODAY! We are a part of the Restoration of the True and Complete Gospel of Jesus Christ! We all have our very own parts! It's true we are not required to give nearly as much as the early saints, but God is requiring of us even today, and will until His church is established completely on the earth and everyone is a part of his fold! So we need to ask ourselves, what job does God have for me in order to help him restore his gospel?

This week was excellent. We are starting to get our groove, Elder Aparicio and I. He has remembered almost everything from being a missionary before, and it's great. He is a solid teacher. We are just working on our contacts. From the raised standards, it is obvious that President wants us to set a baptismal date in every contact. So we are working hard on that, but he still struggles with it a little. Haha his people skills are different, but it's fun! We're getting better! We found a few awesome new people! Like an excellent family with 5 generations all living together! That's insane, huh? But they are so golden! The grandma (Jaja I say grandma when she only is mom's age) is super awesome! She drunk in every word we were saying. When we asked her ''Will you read the Book of Mormon?'' She said ''Yes!! I'm gonna start right after you leave and read every night!'' Haha it was fantastic! But listen! After, we asked, ''Will you pray to know if it's true?'' and she said, ''Yes, I will pray, and I will keep praying, every day until I receive an answer!'' That's called a sincere heart!!! It was fantastic! And so we are going back tomorrow to see what happens! 

María José got baptized!!! WUT WUT! It was such a great ordinance! We held it at 7:00! (So in reality, it started at 7:45) We had an excellent assistance of so many ward members! It was the biggest assistance of any baptism I've had! So that was super awesome to see. María José was super excited! She asked me to baptize her, and right before we got into the font, she started freaking out a little, trying to back out, but then we got in, and it was calm, peaceful, and very spiritual! As she came out of the water, I could see the change on her face! It was really amazing to see! Her mom tried to take a video, even after the bishop told her to put her phone away jaja, but she ended up listening and just watched. She also gave the last prayer in the service, and was freaking out! Jaja she told me if I put her name down, she would leave the building and not come back until it was over. But I put it anyways. It was an awesome prayer, probably my favorite part of the service other than the baptism!

We're still struggling with two things, leaving with members and bringing investigators to church. I think the two are actually very connected. So during the first hour of Sunday school, I made a calender, and the next hour I passed it around to all the priesthood so that they could set up a day to come out with us and teach! I didn't think too many would sign up, but a ton did! And a lot of jóvenes (young boys)! So we are going to start flying in terms of lessons with members haha! But I am also super excited to be able to introduce more members to investigators and really ignite the missionary work here in Caliche. We are going to fill our chapel until we need to stand in sacrament meeting because there are not enough seats! 

Anyways, again not too much happened this week. The stuff that did happen was big and awesome, and now it's hard to remember the rest! Dang it! But I'm happy for the email! Take care, everyone! 

Les amo a todos!

Elder Schmid

Week 50

Hola mamá!

Well, short but sweet email this week from you guys haha! But that's ok. I'm sorry I missed that concert of Darian's, I'm sure it sounded fantastic! Chamber orchestra always really impressed me! Almost as much as Encore! ;) And that's cool that the kids are going to Rocky Point! What are they going to do there? 

Anyways, this week was pretty normal for me here in Antofagasta. I'm just getting used to the things here with the new companion. Elder Aparicio is a really awesome elder! He loves the work and has an awesome testimony. He's a convert from 9 years old, but then went inactive, then reactivated and came out to the mission. And while he was out on the mission, his whole family reactivated and now have callings in the church! He is very different from Elder Blanco in the way he works. He loves to plan everything out to the T! It's kind of crazy, honestly. Sometimes we crash together on that because I don't like planning my lessons as much. The most I plan is saying we are going to teach lesson 3 or something, but he plans what we're going to say, when we are going to say it, how much time we need to take saying it, word for word answers, possible questions that they will ask, scriptures, everything! I just kind of watch him go at it while we are planning, not participating too much. He also gets mad when lessons don't go to plan. Not a single lesson has gone to plan haha! I guess I just need to teach him to loosen up a little! ;) He has a little problem with talking to new people, especially on the street. So I'm working a lot with that, trying to get him more comfortable with just conversing. Elder Barney trained me well in contacting, and I hope I can do the same with this kid. 

The work is progressing here. We are finding new people and teaching a lot. Maria Jose is going to get baptized this weekend, and I'm stoked for that. Hopefully she can be a solid anchor for her family and help them back. Other than her, we don't really have too many really strong investigators. we need to renew our stock, and so we are going to be contacting a lot more. We are working with a lot of less active people, trying to get them back to church. We found an awesome brother named Gabriel who is 18 and got baptized when he was 9 and then basically immediately went inactive. But we are teaching him, and he's basically a golden investigator, but already baptized! Now he is the key to baptizing the rest of the family!

So today, president wanted to play soccer with us, and we tried to go to the court in the regional stadium here, but it was busy, and so we ended up going to some dirt and gravel field a few miles away. President really likes playing soccer, and is not a bad player, and so he gets right in the thick of it with all the elders. So I find myself going up against president, who has the ball, and I try to take it from him, and I end up getting in between him and the ball. He then trips on my leg, grabs hold of me, trips again, and we both go down. Now, this field was a really bad field. The gravel made it really rough to fall on. So basically what happens is President's face goes into the ground and slides a bit. And he just lays there. And I start to freak out. I tripped President! In front of everyone! And then he slowly sits up, and his face is bleeding! His nose and face are cut up! So basically I jacked up President's face and he went home...and that was interesting. 

Well, not too much is happening here either. I can't really think of anything more! I hope you all have a fantastic week! Take care!

Les amo a todos!

Elder Schmid

Week 49

Hola familia!!!

Well, this week was kinda crazy! Haha, super slow in terms of work, because we could only work two days of the week, but really good for several other things! First things first, of course, Wednesday my hijito came! I am now companions of Elder Aparicio, from Arequipa Peru! He's a crazy awesome Elder! He had served a part of his mission in Columbia, but had to come here for health reasons. So basically I'm not really training a new missionary. But that's ok! We are going to fly here in Caliche! Elder Aparicio is very capo (hood, cool)! He's basically training me jaja! He is really good with getting people to commit to things, and his spanish is a lot more clear and better than mine or Elder Blanco's jaja! Funny story, I decided to go to an old investigators house our first day, and they got to talking, and they knew each other! It was with José and Mayori, a couple from before, that I haven't visited in a long time. Coincidently, Mayori comes from Elder Aparicio's branch over in Arequipa! Small world! So we are going to use that now to try to get them married!

The days leading up to the cambio were very slow, because we had citas with almost everyone in the ward so Elder Blanco could say goodbye. That was basically all we were doing for those days. Everyone was writing in his notebook and him in theirs. But that's ok, everyone gave us a lot of good food! And we did end up being able to teach Maria Jose and Marianela, who are steadily progressing. They came to general conference this weekend!

Which leads me to the next big thing of this week, conference! Oh man, it was so fantastic! I loved it! I don't know if I explained before, but all the gringos in the zone always meet up to watch conference in English! And everyone buys a jack-ton of food and soda and everything to share and feast while we watch! But it is still super spiritual because everyone listens so intently. It is funny though, because all the elders that get together have a weird mentality of conference. We cheer whenever there comes an apostle to talk, we sing at the top of our lungs all the songs we know with the choirs, and whenever something awesome is said, everyone freaks out and starts doing the finger clap thing and everything! It's awesome!

I loved the first session of conference! They started out with pure fire! I absolutely loved the talk from Dallin H. Oaks, when he talked about the family proclomation of the world! He said it as it is, layed down the law, and it gave me goosebumps! I also loved the talk from Elder Russel M Nelson on the Book of Mormon. I don't have my notes with me, but I think he had a quote that made all the missionaries freak out and cheer, ''The full gospel of Jesus Christ is found in the Book of Mormon. Period!'' Jaja it was funny to see everyone's reactions to that! Actually, I found that that was one of the repeated themes of conference this year! A lot of people talked about the prophet's challenge of the Book of Mormon, and how they accepted it, and what happened, giving us as well the same challenge. It was very interesting to see the emphasis of that challenge, no? Must mean that it's something important... family, have you read the Book of Mormon every day? Personally? If not... DO IT! As Anderson said, we have to pay attention to the prophet's challenges! They're not from him, but are revelation from God for the world! (Was it Anderson? No lo sé...) Also, it was repeated several times the equality of all men, despite race, money, social status, and even spirituality!  Everyone is equal to God, be it the atheist at the end of the street or the Prophet! I loved, as well, Elder Holland's talk talking about how everyone tries to be perfect, especially because it is a commandment, but how everyone comes short. It was also repeated a lot how we need to trust in who the Lord has called as leaders in his church, despite their faults. Those are just a few of many that I can remember off the top of my head. All in all, it was an excellent conference! You had to be actively trying to not feel the spirit during those hours with the prophets. 

So this week was like that. Slow, but awesome. I am very excited to work with Elder Aparicio. We are going to slay it this cambio. I hope you all have an awesome week! Take care!

Les amo a todos!

Elder Schmid

Leather Winter gloves. Both reese's pieces and cups, I love both and so whichever that you send I'm fine. Eso no más?

Week 48

Hola hola hola familia! 

¡¿Qué pasa?! How is everyone? I loved the email! I think the part that made me happiest was the fact that I wasn't there and didn't have to plant the rye grass! But then I realized that you guys will have beautiful green grass while I'll have dirt... and dog crap. But oh well! So what do you guys think about the voice recordings? Is it a good or bad idea? It was to replace the journal. I don't know yet if it's a good or bad idea, soooo... comments? Thoughts? I will definitely try to leave my neighbors out of it. 

Anyways, my week has been pretty eventful!!! It was, of course, the slowest week of my mission. There were not too many people that were out in the street, and it was the first time in my mission that I did not have a single investigator in church... so that cut deep. But it was eventful in different ways. The main way being that we had cambios this week!!!! They called Friday morning, and............. Elder Blanco is leaving! He is going to Calama, the driest and hottest place in the mission, but not the ugliest. That would be Hospicio. (In terms of land, of course. The people there are awesome!) But he is going to open a sector, which means he and his companion are new to the sector and don't know anything about it. He is also going to train! Little Blanco is pregnant!!! Hahaha he is super excited! And I am staying. And I think I will be here for two more cambios because I AM TRAINING!!!!!!!! WUT WUT!!!!! Hahaha I am finally going to have a little hijito!!! Haha I'm pregnant!!!! I am beyond excited! I was super apprehensive about it before, but after I heard it was official, I'm just super ready and excited. We gonna rock it here in Caliche. 

The other big day was Saturday. It was the 23 of September (supposedly the end of the world) which was some global service day or something. The two stakes here, Antofagasta Centro and La Portada, had planned a service activity in an orphanage here in Antofa. We cleaned up around and trimmed a bunch of trees. The group I was in chopped down several trees until the zone leaders chewed me out for using an axe hehehe! But it was fun! And there were a ton of people! All the missionaries in Antofa came and a good amount of members. We were a couple hundred strong all working around the place. Nobody in my group knew how to use an axe (including the members) and so I was hacking away all day and now I can't even shake people's hands but that's ok! We walked to the service project, which was five miles away or so, then to our lunch after, another 6 miles, then to our house, which was a few miles uphill.... I was tired! I fell on my bed and before I knew it, I was a couple hours late to get to work! CRAP! I woke up Elder Blanco, because he was crashed out too, and it was kinda bad, but it was a really long day haha! 

During the week it was very hard to find people in their homes. There were two days where we did not enter a single home! Which was rough. But Sunday came, and we didn't have too many people commited to come to church. We at least have to have 30 people tell us they're coming to church for 6 to show up, and when Sunday came, we had 3 commited. So nobody came to church on Sunday, and that was super hard. But that's ok, because this week is going to be different! Elder Blanco is going to stay with me until Wednesday. The new missionaries come tomorrow, and spend a day with the pres, and the next day we have the big trainers ceremony thing. So we are going around having people sign his notebook and saying goodbye. We are both super excited to meet our new hijitos!

But that's what's going on here! Just one big weekend! But to answer those questions mom, there are no favorites between the two (Skittles or Starbursts for those who would like to send something to Elder Schmid). They are both my favorite, and I can buy them here, but I don't, because they're ridiculously expensive. I miss Canes, but I don't think you can send me that. And movies. But I do also miss beef jerkey. A little. I guess. Actually, no. But Elder Ramones says he wants some hahaha! For my birthday, I want... fetch, I have no idea. Leather gloves? Sony rechargable batteries. Polo RED cologne. Or aqua de jeaux, or however it's spelled. A samsung smart watch. A laptop for when I get home. Scholarships for when I go to BYU. I don't know! I honestly just love the fact of receiving a package with the surprise inside! Just remember, sour cream doesn't exist here, I can't make ranch. And I can't play any games other than Chess, Monopoly and Uno. But I don't know. Something awesome!

Anyways, I love you all! Hope you have an excellent week! Keep walking mom! When you walk 16 kilómetros every day, then talk to me! ;) Haha kidding, it's awesome that you're walking more! Take the whole family with you! Take care everyone!

Les amo a todos!

Elder Schmid

Week 47

¡Hola hola!

Hey! Dang, how awesome was your week?! I'm so jealous haha! A campout in Kinder Springs sounds like such paradise right now... but oh well! I'm glad it was a good semana (week) for everyone! I did laugh at you guys for being locked out so much! Seems like you just can't function without me! ;) And it's even funnier that the whole ward winessed it! I'm also glad you could look for and find some rest in Sunday. I wish I could've heard that talk from Daniel. But it makes me happy to know our friendship is strong. 

This week was pretty great! There was a lot that happened. First we had conference on Tuesday.  It was a great conference that talked a lot about the spirit of urgency, and how we need to baptize and do it now. It was just with my zone and the other here in Antofagasta. It was neat to meet up with some missionaries that I was friends with back in Hospicio, and who are now in Antofagasta. I also enjoyed the training we were doing. The day after, Elder Blanco needed to do some things for his visa, so we had another trip to the office, and then to center. Since we were right there anyways, we were able to print some pictures that we had! I printed one of Christiaan's family and one of Mae, then some for Rodrigo so that he can have a picture of his baptism! It's always great to have a physical copy of the pictures, makes it a little more special, I think. That day, we were also contacted by Oscar saying that he had broken up with his girlfriend (our mamíta) and that he was moving to Ecuador, but before going, he wanted to get baptized! He's been investigating since November of the year before, and has been going to church and everything, and the only thing that was holding him back was being with his girlfriend. Then they broke up, and so we started moving forward with the steps to get him baptized, realizing that the situation was a little more delicate. Well, after a few interviews and lessons, he was ready for baptism! 

Thursday we had interviews with President Ferreira. Ours was right after lunch at 4:00, so he was a little late, but it was a good interview. He told me that he has seen a change in me, and that he was thinking of giving me a bit more responsibilty... oh crap!!! Hahaha, with Presidente Ferreira, that could mean anything! I have no idea what he has in mind... but I have the feeling he's gonna have me train. There are 14 new missionaries coming, and we are opening 5 new sectors in the mssion. So, we'll see what happens! 

Friday was crazy, because we had a ton of citas, and we had to get Oscar his last interview. Everything worked out, though, and Oscar passed his interview! We called the Bishop telling him about it, and he said, ''Ya! Bautizale no más!'' (Already! Baptize no more!)

Saturday we had the baptism of Elizabeth and Oscar! It was a fantastic service, even though legit everyone showed up 30 minutes after it was supposed to start. But it was a good turnout, the best I have seen yet! It was great to see such support from the ward, and it was a very spiritual experience for everyone. I was able to baptize both Elizabeth and Oscar. But the pila (font) filled up way to slow, and the water was freezing! When we got in, it was a little bit higher than my knees... so imagine how it was submerging them in the water! But we pulled it off. It just looked like I was trying to drown them haha! It was a little awkward, because I completely forgot to ask Oscar what his full name was, and then they opened the doors, and I had my hand up and began ''Oscar......'' and then realized I had no idea what his name was! Haha, I stopped and asked him, and then we continued, but it was super awkward! The rest of the night was kind of slow, nobody was home, and everone was preparing for the 18 of September.

Sunday was also very slow. We had commited a lot of people to church, but in the end only 2 came, Oscar and Elizabeth. We confirmed them, and then the Elders had to give the talks. I decided to talk about the Book of Mormon, and how it helps everyone, and how easy it was to read it in our day! I then tied all of that in a challenge to the members to share that with others, and how, if it is so easy to have and share, it means God wants us to read and to share it! I recorded my talk, and then deleted the recording after because I realized how bad my spanish was! But the rest of the day was really calm. Everyone basically was too busy preparing for the 18th. We got a couple lessons in, but not too much.

Today is the 18 of September! And oh man, it's crazy! The 18th of September is the Independence Day for Chile, and basically, they go all out! It is a massive week long party that begins today! Almost everyone has work off, or work for half the day, and all the schools are out, and everyone is having asados (roasts) and are dancing and it's awesome! Today we played soccer with President in the city's stadium and afterward had lunch at his house. I haven't been there since my first day in Chile! And I realized today how massive it is! They live in such a rich sector! And I was thinking before that it was so tiny! We had an asado and some ice cream. All the cibers are closed, so we are at a member's house writing. But it will be a crazy night for sure. 

But anyways, that's my week! It was a good week, and I am super excited for this week! I hope you all have a good one!

Les amo a todos!

Elder Schmid