Week 66

Hola mamá! 

Wow, sounds so awesome what you all are doing there in Young Women and Young Men! That is one thing I really miss from our ward. Here, I don't know how to help them have what we had back home, and it makes me sad. There are not many Hombres o Mujeres Jovenes (young men or young women) here. And the young mens president doesn't really have time, and they never do anything. I think we are going to step in a bit, but I don't know how the ward will take that. But I loved the idea of that class you had, and the Bob Ross idea! I'm sure Darian will love that, too. She is a really good artist. I wonder if she has kept at that since I left. 

Things here are sailling on smoothly. We had our cambios come in. I am still here with my peruvian comp, Elder Bravo. We didn't baptize this past cambio, but this cambio we are going to see so many miracles! And I'm sure at least one will be a baptism. I am excited for this cambio. Every new cambio is an opportunity to put the atonement in action more, and to change the bad things to goood, or the good things to better, or the better things to best! Vamos a sacar la mugre este cambio! (Let's get the dirt out this change) WOOT WOOT! 

This past week we had our conference with President. It was a good conference. He talked about using our time wisely, and following the spirit in every moment, especially in a first contact. I want to share a story he shared with us. 

''A friend of mine, who lives in Santiago, is very very very rich. He decided to buy a brand new Ferrari, because he has always loved Ferraris! So he buys this new car, and absolutely loves it, but has a problem! He can't use it to it's potential! Santiago doesn't have any places to drive fast! So he decides to come to the north, where all of the highways are super long and you can drive super fast! And it's perfect! There he is on the highway, driving so fast his eyes get teary! But then, all of the sudden, his car stops! It turns off, and he has to pull over to the side of the highway. But he is in the middle of nowhere! And nobody was there driving! He had a huge problem. So there he was, waiting for hours and hours, praying that somebody would come along that could help him. Miraculously, along comes a truck! So he runs out and stops it, and explains his situation to the man. He didn't know what to do with his car, becasue it was way to modern to have just any mechanic. The driver tells the man that he's in luck, because in the next town, there lives a man who works on cars just like these. So he lets the man go to go get the guy, but he has to wait a while, because it's a 30 minute trip. A little over an hour later, he sees someone coming along on the highway, and he gets excited! But then that turns to disappointment when he realizes it's just some random man riding on a donkey. The man draws near, and stops where the ferrari man is. 'Seems you have a problem with your car! My friend sent me to help you.' The Ferrari man just looked at him not believing that this rinky dink man, riding on a donkey,  could possibly be the man who he is waiting for, the man who is going to fix his freaking ferrrari (president's words, not mine). The man hops off his donkey, and pulls out a small bag of tools. 'Have you worked with cars of this type?' The ferrari man asks to the donkey man. 'Yes, many times' Again, the ferrari man looked on in disbelief. The donkey man asks him to open his hood, and he does so. The donkey man then takes a few minutes inspecting the car, asking some basic questions, when it failed, what happened, how long has it been here, those types. Then, he pulls a fat hammer out of his bag. The ferrari man can not believe it! He was not going to let this guy riding on a donkey hit his ferrari with a sledgehammer! But the man says it is necessary, so the man turns around, and after a few seconds, hears a loud crash... and he doesn't know how to react. Not only is he alone in the middle of a desert with a random man riding a donkey, but as well, that very man was going at his brand new ferrari with a sledgehammer! The donkey man looks at him, smiles, and says 'Try it now'. The man goes, and tries, and it turns on!! The donkey man fixed it! By hitting it with a hammer! So the ferrari man says to the other, 'Thank you, thank you, thank you! How much do you want?' 500,000 dollars, says the donkey man... the ferrari man is dumbfounded again. Yes, he fixed the car, but he only hit it with a hammer! 'Are you sure? You only hit it with a hammer? 500,000 isn't too much?' The donkey man thinks for a little bit, and responds like this. 'Sir, for coming out here and hitting your car with a hammer, I will charge you 1 dollar. But, for knowing where to hit your car with a hammer, I will charge you 499,999 dollars!'

Pres used this story to tell us, we must know where to put our hammer! We have to be better with our time, and do a little work, but with a lot of impact! I like it a lot. 

Well... that took a lot of time to write haha, so that's about it! But to answer your questions, Alejandro is progressing, but slowly. He works 7x7, so it's hard to find him. We haven't seen Kevin again. Eduardo we haven't seen again either. Yes I am still here in El Palomar. With Elder Bravo. The conference was excellent! My feet are all healed now!

Also, Sunday was a day of miracles! We had many people commited to church, but they didn't come. However, our members came in clutch! They brought in three new investigators, all with a bunch of interest to talk to the missionaries!! Woot woot! We are going to teach all of them, we have appointments with them today and tomorrow. It was awesome to see that. Also, I met the latina version of Ashlyn! She is only eight, but she looks and acts like how Ashlyn was when she was eight!! It's so weird! But awesome! And she was hilarious! Her brother showed her a foto of some guy, and asked, is he handsome, or is he ugly? She says 'Oh no, he is really ugly!' Then she looks at him, and asks, 'Is it you?' Hahaha it was funny! She just got baptised in another ward. 

Anyways, that's pretty much it! A good week, all around. Excited for 6 more here in El Palomar! 

Les amo a todos!

Elder Schmid

Week 65

Hola Familia!

¡¿Que pasa?! This week was pretty awesome! I loved your email! I don't know what Randolph is, but I think by what you were describing it's a senior citizen residence... if that's the case, it was called Emeritus when I went. It's fantastic that the youth could go there! I loved going those years to have a little sacrament meeting. Jaja I can't really imagine what it would be like to have a pine trees and green mountains an hour and a half away from my home... I've forgotten what pine trees and green mountains are! But that sounds like a real fun trip! After Junior year, Jared, Daniel, Tristen, Braden and I went to the same cabin, but just us....... that was a fun trip!!! It's a great cabin!

This week was alright! We got in a lot more work, and that made me feel better! Sometimes after working so much as a missionary, you think that having a week off would be fantastic. NO! Wrong! Haha I was itching to get back out and work, and I finally did! And the Lord blessed us with some major miracles. The first of which is Alejandro and his friend Eduardo. They are two friends of 28 years who live together. We found them while we were in a trio with our zone leader, Elder Critchfield. They are so awesome! At first, I thought they looked like they wanted to rob us, they looked pretty angry and were coming at us quick, but then we contacted them, and it ended with them accepting a baptism date, and telling us, ''I've been feeling pretty alone for a long time, and recently have been looking for God! Maybe he was looking for me too...'' Yes! He was! I am so happy, and they are progressing rapidly! Their only hiccup is the word of wisdom. They accepted it, but said it would be a major challenge. They proved that when Eduardo couldn't come to church for being hungover. But Alejandro came! And he's quitting smoking! I love him! And he has an amazing story, a really sketchy past, but with a ton of repentance. Now all he needs to do is get baptized. ''The first fruits of repentance is baptism!'' Start the path now!

Other miracles are just crazy awesome people accepting to listen to us. But it was good just to get out and put it all down for the lord for a week. Yesterday and Saturday were super hard though. It was as if everyone just flipped a switch, and absolutely NOBODY wanted to talk to us. Every house we went to rejected us, and everyone we contacted just waved their finger and kept walking... it was kind of hard. But we got through it, and we are preparing Alejandro to be baptized! We need to baptize him sí o sí!!! Things with the comp are also going well. We are going to finish the cambio with the best week we've had yet! We have some good plans to get things done this week, and I know the Lord will see our efforts and bless us with miracles... I just have to have my eyes and heart open to receive and recognize them! 

We also had some good intercambios this week. I went one day with my other zone leader, Elder Burgos. We had to go to a sector pretty far away to help them with a baptism, but it was a good service. The girl who got baptized looked truly happy, and I saw, right in that service, a change coming upon her father, who was there watching, and who isn't a member. (YET). I also found a really awesome book there filled with classic piano songs, one of which being Clair de Lune!! I'm trying to learn it right now... slowly, whenever I find free time (which really doesn't exist). We worked hard in his sector (of my zone leader). I also interviewed a man from the sector of the hermanas in my district, his name is Rolando. It was a really spiritual experience, and I knew the spirit was there testifying to him the truth of everything he has heard. Unfortunately, his heart was closed. He had set his mind on not being baptized so soon, and blocked out the spirit for his stubborness. But he promised me that that Sunday,  he would go to church with the prayer in his heart of whether or not he should be baptized the next Sunday.... he didn't come to church. I was really sad, but just because he is missing out on so much for his stubborness and laziness. 

But anyways, that was pretty much my week! Tomorrow we are going to have our conference with President, and it will be fantastic! Thursday we have interviews. I am excited for both! This is going to be a good week! I hope the same for all of you! 

Les amo a todos!

Elder Schmid

Week 64

Hola familia! 

This also will be a short email, because I have a ton to do today. My apartment is trashed, and I am trying to get the other elders to help me clean it. So we are going to do that real quick before Pday ends. That's the tough thing about always doing something PDay, is that you have no time to relax, or do things around the house. But oh well!!

This week really, really, really sucked! And it might pretty much be my fault... you know how I was telling you last week that my feet got a little burnt? Well... that was an understatement. They got seriously burnt! Tuesday,  I couldn't walk because they got so swollen and everything and were hurting a lot, so I went to a nurse who lives in my ward (actually, she's the stake president's wife.... we have an interesting relationship. I'll explain later). She works in a clinic, and she looks at it. Little backstory, we had lunch once with her, and she has an interesting personality. If you get along with her, she's mean to you in a really sarcastic way, but she does not hold back on any insult or any comment... it's kind of fun, and I have to try hard not to give it back haha but I guess I'm a missionary and that wouldn't be good. But anyways, that's what she is always like with me, just super super straightforward, and often mean. But anyways, I go to show her my burn, and as I'm taking off my sock, I hear her let out 'Oh, this idiot!!!' Haha, she told me it was going to continue to hurt, and that I would probably come back, but for now we are going to wrap it up. So that's what we did, and she was right. I couldn't work, and the Pres had us try to find some members to do divisions with, so I could stay in their house while Elder Bravo had to go with someone else to work. Nobody came. We barely found someone with whom I could stay the day, and that was... fun. When an elder stays in, he can't do anything. You just sit. And sit. And sit. But anyways, the next day I decide to work, because we had things to get done! That was a mistake. I made it a ton worse. The next day I took of my shoe, and it looked like I had leprosy. Bubbles were forming, the skin went from red to purple and dead. I called the nurse again. We went, and she had to take off all the dead skin. I took off my shoe, she called me an idiot again, and told me 'Now, elder, it's going to hurt!' She knows how to give me encouragemnent so well. But she was telling the truth. It hurt. And I couldn't walk again. So we had another day inside. This time, Elder Bravo went with the zone leaders while I stayed in a members house. The next day I decide to try walking again... this time, the nurse caught me. We are walking, and we here ''Elderes!!!'' She walks over to us, and gives a nice warm handshake. Then she looks at me, and smacks me upside the head! ''Idiot! Why are you walking?!'' I told her I was a missionary! Haha she almost hit me again! She made us go home, and she walked with us to make sure we went. But, long story short, I didn't get much work done this week.

In terms of the work, we are back at square one. Kevin moved. We don't know where. He doesn't answer his phone. We are working with some of the people we've contacted, but there is nobody here in Copiapó. Not just our sector, all the sectores are suffering a bit. But my sector is a bit more wealthy, so we are suffering a lot, because everyone goes to vacation. But oh well! Hopefully we can get the Barrio's help! We talked with a few of the leaders of the barrio, and layed down goals and plans. We are going to have the activities, but not for a while. We need to wait until everyone comes back. Even the mormons are going on vacation! Our ward assistance got cut in half! It's insane! But we are going to wait until the first month of March, because that's when the summer vacation ends and school starts. Then the fire starts back up! WOOT WOOT

But that's pretty much all. OH! Also, I cooked the Nasi Goering, finally!!! And some dutch meatballs. And my comp absolutely loved it! It took me so long how to find out how to say Leek in spanish. I was trying to remember your email, and I remember something about giant onions. So that's how I described it to everyone! ''My mom says it's like a giant onion'' and they just looked at me wierd. Then I remembered you said green onion. So I said that, and the first person knew what it was. Ugh. puerros. But nobody had any puerros, so I ended up using just onions. But it turned out great!!! And now I have a ton extra! WOOT WOOT. But anyways, prettty much that's my life! The work moves forward! This week is gonna be better. 

Les amo a todos!

Elder Schmid

Week 63

Hola familia!

Well, that is one heck of a cabin, if I do say so myself... I want to visit it! Sounds super awesome! That's awesome that they let you guys use it! And what were all the pictures of in church? with Casjen? And who's lap is Bronson on?

Well, this has been one really really slow week... the grand number of progressing investigators we have has moved from a fat 0, to a decent 1. But this one is super awesome! His name is Kevin, and he's from Cali, Colombia. We met him on Saturday, barely, and had a really awesome lesson with him of the restoration. Apparently, he has been looking for a while for a church that has an actual claim on authority and claims to be God's only church, and can actually back it up. That was cool. But even better was when he was telling us that it not only all made sense, but that he felt like what we were sharing is true! The Holy Ghost is the teacher! We are but messengers! When the investigators accept what the Holy Ghost is telling them, only then do they really understand the importance of the message! The best part is, the next day he actually came to church! He completed with his commitment! It was super good sitting with him in church! He got a little irked when he learned that it as actually 3 hours instead of 1 (oops) but he got over it, and really liked the class with the young men. The ward welcomed him perfectly!!! I have been trying so hard to teach them exactly how to make someone feel loved there in church, and they did it all. I loved it! He said he felt very welcomed, and was excited for next week. He gon' get baptized!

Other than that, we have just been spending a lot of time walking, looking for news, and planning with the members a lot. I made the goal of visiting everyone on the ward counsel and making specific goals and specific plans for the mission work there in their own organizations. I began making plans for two aspects of missionary work for the ward, inside the chapel, and outside the chapel. We have been making a lot of plans for inside the chapel for things like fellowshipping investigators, bringing friends, and knowing how to talk and teach to someone who has no knowledge of the gospel. Outside the chapel we have been planning things like activities, members leaving with us, and references on our missionary portal. Over all, I am trying to plan a big ward activity to introduce them to how we can work together better to have more succes as a ward, and to help improve the amistad (friendship) there inside the chapel as a ward family. The ward here is a little seperated, and is lacking a little love, a little peace there in church. We're going to fix that. I am excited to get these plans moving! I know it might take a little time, but once it starts happening, this ward is going to fly!!!

Today we went as a zone to the beach. I put on a butt-ton of sunblock all over my face and arms and neck... but I forgot my feet! You'd think as a missionary, I would be worried a little more about my feet! Oops! My feet are burned... burned burned burned. But that's ok! My face isn't! If anything, I got a little tanner! Woot woot! But while there, we played a bunch of little games, like capture the flag, or soccer, or skipping rocks contest. Lots of things! It was super chill! It as interesting trying to teach the latinos how to play capture the flag... after a few rounds, they got the concept down that they should not let me grab their flag in front of them! Heehee! But it was super fun! I just looked down and realized the tan line of my watch got a lot more intense! That's weird! 

Oh, also! I went with the zone leaders this week to the leadership council with president, along with all the district leaders of the mission. It was a good council! It was all about finding news! Did you guys know, that over the past decade, the mission work worldwide has had around the same number of baptisms yearly? Even with an insane increase in the number of missionaries? The mission department is trying to change drastically. At least, that's what Elder Oaks said... I don't know exactly what that means. But I suppose we'll find out, right? We talked about the goals for this year as a mission. I liked how he changed the view of baptising weekly to baptising one person for every week there is in a month. So if we baptize 3 people one week, it'd be like baptizing three weeks in a row. I think it will make the missionaries baptize only people who are ready, and not rushing a baptism just so we can have that number this week and be able to baptize weekly.

But anyways, things keep moving forward here! There are always good days and bad days. It's just important to make everyday a happy day. The work is moving forward, slowly, but that's ok! I am giving it my all, and what more can I do! Take care, all of you!

Les amo a todos!

Elder Schmid

Week 62

Hola Familia!!! 

It's been one heck of a week, lemme tell you that. This sector... it's pretty hard! Jaja and hot. Not as hot as Arizona, of course, but still... I'm not outside in the sun all day in AZ. I really don't know where to begin with my week... I guess I can start with the investigators. They're not progressing. none of them! Ahh it's so frustrating! We have contacted so many people, set so many fechas, but everytime we try their house, they're not home! Or if they are home, they give us a bad excuse and tell us to come back another time! It gets a little frustrating. Everyone also told us they were going to come to church. Nobody came to church. It was a little hard trying to keep myself happy and animated and everything. And I did! I know it's just part of the work. maybe we'll have to change our routine a little, try some different ways to contact. I'm really trying to get this ward here a lot more animated about missionary work. I'm planning a bunch of activities we can do, and trying hard to leave a lot with different people. This ward is dead. Those who are coming are dying off, and those who are new have no roots, have no friendship inside, and leave as quickly as they came. I hope while I'm here I can help change all of that. My comp is awesome. He has the same vision. We are going to do some good work here in Palomar!!

So, as y'all know, I done did turned 20 this week!! Boom baby!!! Jajaja it was honestly another super super normal day. We did nothing different except in the night I bought myself a churrasco (chilean hamburger). I kinda went crazy and went to an expensive place. it cost me 3000 pesos (5 bucks) instead of 2500 pesos (little over 4 bucks). But it was super super delicious. And that was my birthday haha, and now I'm 20 years old! I have twenty years, as the latinos say...

Yesterday was the celebration for new years! It was pretty big! I think it might have been bigger than Christmas... or at least, louder than Christmas. Everyone was outside with their families until 12, having asados (barbecues) and talking and everything. We went over to the house of a member who invited us to a dinner. Usually I wouldn't have stayed too long to get back to work, but I had had a real rough day, and I caved. I stayed for an hour and a half. But the dinner was super delicious! This hermana is a pro at cooking meats. She does it with the oven. But we had a really fun night, because all of her kids were over and all of their kids. They are really funny, and all really loud. Especially the adults jaja! Imagine the Van De Graaff family, but latino style! All the same noise, but in spanish! It was awesome! In the night at 12:00 all the fireworks were going off. Se llaman Fuegos Artificiales in spanish. We had a good view from our second story of some that were going off real close to us. They weren't as big, but it was still fun! It woke us all up. Then the parties started. We had the extremely good fortune of having a party hosted in our neighbors house. -_- It was massive! And they were playing regueton the whole night! Usually I wouldn't complain, because I kinda like regueton (shhhhh) but this time I was peeved because I was so dead. 

So that's been pretty much my week. Not too much happening, just a lot of work, a lot of walking, and a lot of ups and downs. We are going to ''sacar la mugre'' this week. (Means we gon' get work done) Nothing is going to keep us down! This is the work of God! I will not sleep through the restoration! 

Les amo a todos!

Elder Schmid

Week 61

Hola familia!

Oh my goodness, oh my goodness. I thought I'd get a headstart on my weekly email while Christiaan heads over for the skype! I'm so excited!!! This will most likely be a short email, like yours, because I'm about to talk to you guys face to face. You're gonna hear everything already! What do I write?!

Well, this week was pretty awesome! I loved getting to know Copiapo. It is an awesome place! My sector is so big! If you look up Copiapo Chile in google maps, everything under the Copiapo River is my sector. The rest is divided in between 24 other missionaries. That comes with some pros and cons. (Just finished the skype call! WUT WUT). But anyways, pro, there are a lot of members, which means a lot more possibility of getting help with the work. Con, it's extremly massive, and we don't have bikes. But this week I was getting to know it a bit more. Apparently, it's a little more... dangerous? Than my other sectors. For example, my third day here, we were walking in a park, and some guy walks up to us, and my comp begins freaking out, because it's a man who's robbed them a few times. So he walks up, and begins the whole routine ''Give me all your money! Give me your packs! Give me everything!'' But he was a shrimp! He was tiny! And so I kept walking and said ''No''. Then he tried to follow us, and I kept telling him we didn't have anything! So then he pulls out some ruler or somethig and threatens to 'stab' us! I grab it, throw it, and say ''Lárgate'', and he kind of just walks away. The interesting part is, the whole time that was happening, there was an investigator of ours right behind him, talking to us! It was a little girl, no taller than Bronson, and she was just kind of talking with us! It was so weird!! Jaja but the rest of the week was pretty normal. It's kind of hard contacting people here. They're not as receptive as the people in Antofagasta or Alto Hospicio. But we've been working hard. We want to baptize weekly together.

This week we focused a lot on an investigator who lives with members but is from Peru. her name is Yvania. She is really cool, but a little difficult. She knows everything we teach, she knows it front and back, but still remains in doubt. She feels like her baptism is good for her from when she was baptized in the catholic church as an infant. So we explain everything about the authority here on the earth, and she tells us she understands, but then restates the same thing. So it was a little frustrating. But she still wants to come to church and everything, and we are not giving up on her! We are also working with a family, that same girl I was talking about before! her name is Karen and she lives with her parents Juan Carlos and Aida. They are super great and super receptive, but they just recently ran into a lot of problems. They lost their car, and that's his only work. They are out of work and just barely moved into a new house, and have to give up their other house before they have to pay another month's rent. So they're struggling a little, and we began focusing heavily on putting their trust in God especially in this situation, but they still are struggling. We promised them the blessing of everything they needed on the basis of them keeping God's commandment and keeping the sabbath day holy, but they didn't. But we're just gonna keep moving forward with them! They are still very excited to hear more!

My companion is really awesome! He is super funny, and really chill! He's usually pretty quiet, but he has a hilarious dry sense of humor. He's 25, and is a convert of a year and a half. So he's basically still learning. I say something sometimes about church history that I thought was obvious or really well known, and he'll look really surprised and start writing it down because it's the first time he's heard it! But it's really great to be with him, and he has a lot of excitement for the work! I love being with him!

Christmas was great. Here, they celebrate more Christmas Eve and open gifts at midnight and it's really weird, so basically we did all the big things yesterday. We got invited over to dinner with a really great family of members, and we ate a delicious baked chicken with pork. And we talked and shared together for a bit. I opened my Christmas Eve gift, and then in the morning the rest! Today we got together as a zone and I made everyone pancakes and we ate breakfast together! As we were eating we watched Kung Fu Panda, which was really hilarious! It was a good time. Basically from there, we went home, cleaned up a little, and came to this members house to call home! This family is really great, and their wifi is better than usual, so I am grateful that all went well! It was so great to see all of your faces! And I finally met Brad! But it was great to hear from all of you! Even Tasha was there! And Jared, Daniel and Ethan showed up! That was fun! But it is weird to think that now I only have one of those (a Skype call for Mother's day) left! 10 months, baby!

But that's pretty much my week for now! You already heard everything in the skype talk! But anyways, Merry Christmas everyone! Feliz Navidad! Cuidense!

Les amo a todos!

Elder Schmid