Week 83

Mamá!

Well... that's so awesome that Darian is graduated! And weird to think about, too... but awesome! I'm surprised she didn't want to do the breakfast in our house. I loved that breakfast! But oh well, at least she gets some tacos. I haven't eaten one of those in a while... I'm glad you all had fun with Caelan and Brad. It makes me wonder what Brad is like hahaha, and what Mae is like. I guess I'll find out in four months, right?! And congratulations to Ashlyn as well. Now the real schooling begins...

This week was actually pretty awesome! We had a ton of success in finding new people, mainly for an activity that I will explain later. We started the week with the President's assistant, Elder Rupe. He was staying with us in El Palomar while Pres went down to Vallenar for a few days to do interviews. Vallenar is about 2 hours south of us. Elder Rupe has a very interesting personality. He is always.... energetic, I guess is the word. Like, he just wants to go go go go go, and scream and shout and everything! Haha he's a funny guy. It's hard sometimes, though, because if you aren't there shouting with him, he thinks you're depressed. So he always thinks I'm depressed haha! But we went on divisions with him and another zone leader, Elder Lema. I was with Lema, while Elder Carrasco went with Rupe. We had a lot of success in finding new people, even a guy who worked as a fisherman on a boat that was called ''Nephi''. 

Wednesday we had an activity in the night with the Barrio (ward). It was a fun activity! And we had an insane assistance to the activity! Round abouts 45 people came! That's more than I've ever seen any particiaption in any other barrio activity. We started it with a lesson by Jorge, the ex young mens president. He taught on how to recognize the spirit in our lives, and how it guides us. I really liked it, and liked how he applied it to the youth of the ward. It is so important that we begin at an early age to learn about and recognize the spirit in our lives! It helps us with everything we can imagine, and as President Nelson has said, we will not survive this new world if we do not have that guide. After the lesson, we had a few games that the missionaries were in charge of. We played charades and another game that I remembered from some youth activity, where everyone links arms all criss crossed in a big group and spend time trying to unwind themselves into a complete circle without breaking grips. It was a fun night, with food afterwards! 

Saturday we had an 'Open Chapel', and activity where the ward gives a little tour to anyone, of the church explaining the different organizations and everything the church does. It was a fantastic activity! In the morning, the youth got together and cooked a bunch of treats: cake, roscas, crepes, cupcakes, sopaipillas, and lots of other things! It all turned out really delicious. Many people in the ward had invited friends, and prepared the chapel to show their friends what they do. The time came, and I was asked to teach a little about baptism and the gift of the holy ghost. It was absolutely fantastic, I loved it! The members came with their non member friends, and showed them a tour, in which the gospel was taught to them in its most basic form! I just stood there and waited until the members brought me their friends to teach them! How perfect is that!!!! Many people came! 29 investigators ended up coming, and we got their addresses and numbers and everything, and pretty much all of them showed interest in learning more. It was a very succesful activity. Afterwards,we ate a bunch of good food. 

Today we played soccer as a zone for the last Pday of the cambio. We found a very nice field hidden away at the end of a huge park, and so we went and played, just us. It was fun. While walking to the field, a little puppy started following us. I picked it up, named it Simba, and took it with us. The entire game, Simba was my team's mascot, and the zone played with it a lot! After an hour or two, I was playing with it, and it rolled over, and I realized it was a girl... but we still called her Simba haha! It was not fun though when we left her there in the park, but oh well. I got over it. This week, the assistant will call us telling us our cambios. I think I will be going. It is, of course, possible that I stay another cambio here in El Palomar, but not likely. I believe I am going. I want to go to Iquique, and definitely do not want to go to Calama, but will be happy wherever they send me, because it's God telling me that that's where I need to be.

So that's my life, in all its' glory. Hope you enjoyed. And I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Les amo a todos!

Elder Schmid

Week 82

Hola familia!!

Whoa, that's a dang busy week! It's so awesome that everyone in our family is so engaged in different things, especially in music! One of these days we're all gonna get together and do something musical... that would be pretty awesome, wouldn't it? I wish I could have heard Ashlyn playing the cello. I didn't really hear it too much in the house, and now she's not playing it. But what can I say, choir is just the best! ;) And it makes me a little sad that I won't be able to assist in the Mesa temple right when I get home due to renovations... but oh well. Gilbert is just as holy, I guess! In this mission, the missionaries going home don't go to the temple anymore in Santiago, they just go straight home. I am so excited to be able to enter again in a few months!

Well, this week was pretty great! You asked when the conference was going to be? It was this past week. And it was pretty much the biggest thing that happened, so I will talk about it now! Woo! On Wednesday night, we all gathered together in the bus station at around 12:00 am. We were a lot of missionaries, around 40 of us were waiting. We were there awhile, because the bus was delayed. But then it gets there, and we try to get on, and he looks at us, and just says ''No.'' So we tell him, hey, this is our bus! There's 40 of us! We gotta go! And he just said no! Then he left us there! Haha what?!?! So we began complaining up a storm to the guy in the counter... imagine 40 missionaries yelling at you for something you didn't do, half, of which, not even being able to speak your language... but it worked! He got super mad at the driver that left us there! So he called him up, but the driver was already gone, and refused to come back. The best the man could do for us was give us tickets for the next bus. So 15 of the missionaries left on the first bus that came, and the rest of us had to wait for the next one that came two hours later. So we were late to the conference!

The conference was with Elder Alan Packer, son of Boyd K Packer. We had a fantastic conference with him! The subject of the conference was Teach People, Not Lessons. It is, of course, one of my favorite subjects. Elder Packer and his wife served as mission president for a mission in Spain. So they did not need any translators... most of the time! ;) So President talked with his wife first, and they talked on that subject, teaching people not lessons. President Ferreira is one of the best men I know, but Hermana Ferreira is an angel. She talks very well with the spirit, and loves everyone! She shared with us many experiences she has had on that subject, which I feel is the best subject she could teach. She talked most about how our love for the people only can be shown by helping them individually. Then the Packers taught. Hermana Packer taught about how to have the spirit with us, and why it's important. It was very key what she said, because it's only the spirit who knows what an investigator needs. If we don't have the spirit, we are only teaching lessons, not people. And Elder Packer taught about how we need to not only teach the principles of the gospel, but also explain how they connect, and how they apply to the investigators! He gave the example of having five points in the shape of a pentagon, like a connect the dots, but without the lines, just the dots. Those are the principles we need to teach. The problem is connecting them. We want the investigators to connect them in the shape of a star, but majority of the times, they connect them like a pentagon. So we talked about specific examples of how we have seen that, and how we can avoid it. It was all in all a very good conference. I was supposed to give a musical number, but it ended up being cancelled, because Elder Packer could only stay one of the days instead of three, so our conference in Copiapó was cancelled and we, instead, went to Antofagasta. My musical number was cancelled. Oh well. But there were 6 of the ten zones of our mission there, which is a lot of missionaries! It was interesting seeing so many old faces, like my hijito Elder Aparicio and good friend Elder Smith. I loved the conference! I imagine they put the foto on facebook on the blog by now of all of us.

The rest of the week was slow. Per usual, it seems haha! Oh well... our few investigators that we have all died this past week, which has been rough, but hopefully all the new people we are finding will come through! Nobody came to church, but not only in my sector, but in all my district! Which was weird... today is a holiday in Chile, 21 de Mayo, and so a lot of people left town for the long weekend. That was rough. But those who are still here must be chosen then, right?! Haha we are going at it hard here.

Yesterday, we had an awesome activity in which we got a frame that said ''Somos una familia'' (We are a family) and went around in the parks taking pictures of families, saying we will print them and deliver them another day. We had a lot of success in finding a lot of families here in El Palomar! Of course, we testified of eternal families, and gave everyone... folletos (pamphlets)... of the plan of salvation (forgot how to say that in English). This was an idea from our zone leaders, and it worked really well! But they didnt think of how we are going to print the fotos, and with whose money... -_- 

Today we played soccer with President, who is here to give the interviews for our zone. We always go to a bigger court where we can all run, and it is always fun! I'm getting a lot better at soccer! ;) I juked my companion out in the game and he freaked out. Made me feel perty good. President is funny when he plays because he gets so competetive and angry. I guess I'm a difference maker. My team was winning for a while, and Pres said someone needed to change sides, so I changed, and then my new team started winning! Woot woot! But it was fun, and scary to realize how out of shape I am. 

But anyways, that was my week! I did indeed love it, and now we have only two weeks left in the cambio! But thanks for the email, like always, and I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Les amo a todos!

Elder Schmid

Week 81

Mamá!

Oh man, I can't believe it! Our last skype call has come and gone! It was weird when you told me that there's the same amount of time in between the last two calls and my leaving the mission... that's not a lot of time! Crazy!!! But it was so good talking to you guys, even though we had so many problems with the computers and internet connection. At least, I was still able to talk with everyone, if we couldn't have the video. Just a normal phone call haha! When I got home, it was 11:00 pm. My comp was really mad at me. He gave me the phone with President's number dialed in already wanting me to call him. I called. He asked if I was alright, and told me to send his regards to you guys... so hey, my Mission Pres says hi! The zone leaders didn't say anything, but it was tense. The presidents assistant called me and gave me the regular mission inventory about obedience. But that's it! 

I didn't get to talk to much, and I didn't say half what I wanted to. But most of all I'm sorry I couldn't talk to you so personally mom, especially it being mother's day! But I wanted to wish you the best mother's day! I hope you loved it, and that everyone treated you like a queen! I love you so much! I played the piano here in an activity for mother's day, and before I played, I made a little tribute to you, and I began to cry too much which messed up my playing! But it just goes to show how much I love you, mom, and how much you mean to me! Whenever I feel down about myself, or depressed, what I always do to lift myself back up is think of my family and how much I love them, and how much they love me. And I always think most of you, Mom! I love you!!!

Things this week were alright. I had a couple intercambios which were pretty fun. I was in Pimientos first with the zone leader, Elder Donayre. It was cool, their sector is different from mine. I like it a lot. And they have a lot of very good investigators. At the end of the intercambio, we bought a ''completo gigantesco''. Which I loved. It was a very big completo. The other intercambio I had was in Paipote, another ward here in my zone. I was with an awesome Elder called Elder Jones. We had a good time, and it was interesting being there, because usually I would never go there because it belongs to another district. But I brought a backpack with me with all my stuff to Paipote with me, and left it in the house with a member. It had my towel, my pjs, my toothbrush and everything, and my Book of Mormon. When I got it back, my towel and pjs were missing! I didn't notice until I was in my house again. What the heck? The members stole my pjs! Haha weird

We had some people come to church on Sunday! But we didn't invite them. One was the same man who came last week, Oscar. His wife is a member,but they live in El Salvador. They are here every weekend, so they come to church here now. I guess. But there also came a little girl who is the niece of a member. We have a lesson with both of them this week.

Today for p-day we went to a reservoir that has all the water that Copiapó uses and drinks. It was really fun, but it took so long to get there! 3 hours by bus! We didn't know that, else we wouldn't have gone. But it's ok, we went, and enjoyed it. There was an old acuaduct there as well, that was not used and abandoned and run-down. So being the adults that we are... we climbed and began playing on everything! And took lots of pictures. It was a fun activity!

There was a mother's day activity that the ward put on. It was basically a dinner and show for the mothers. They had all the mothers sit down and eat while all the guys served them, cooked for them, and threw them a show. They didn't have too many acts, I guess, because they asked me to play the piano right there. So I printed the song Caelan sent me, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, a rendition by I have no idea, and played it to them! It was really shaky, but oh well. I also gave a tribute to the mothers there helping me out like my mom back home helps me, and they loved it! Now all the moms are randomly super nice to me! They are getting me things, offereing to cook for me, everything! All of the sudden all the moms in the ward love me. So that's fun! 

But that's pretty much all that happened this week! A busy week, and one more down now on my way to finishing my mission! I'm going to make this last lap the fastest, the best, the hardest working! I will finish strong, sprint to the finish! 

Les amo a todos!

Elder Schmid

Week 80

Hey fam!

Wow... I'm so sorry for that news... Dan Monette was one of my favorite teachers! I'm sorry to hear he passed on in such a way. I pray for his family and his kids. That's a tough situation. But, as for you and Barbara, it makes me grateful for the gospel, and how it helps us keep away from those situations. The Word of Wisdom is not only for physical health, it is also for emotional and spiritual health. I'm grateful I've been taught this, and I'm able to teach it to the people here in Chile. Everyone freaks out over not drinking tea and coffee, but it only has a small part to do with our physical health, and a huge part of having the spirit with us, which is well worth it. Despite that news, I'm glad you guys had such an awesome week! I'm bummed I can't see the dance recital Alex has arranged, or wasn't able to go to the temple with you guys. But oh well... ''Pa' la próxima!'' 

My week was very good. I enjoyed it thouroughly (don't know how to spell that anymore). We had a few more things happen than usual. The zone leaders had the leadership conference in Antofagasta this week, and the Thursday after we had our Zone Training. It was basically just a bunch of new announcements from President, and that's it. He's putting on a lot more rules lately... it's interesting to see how President has changed in his mission, too, no? Haha but oh well. They also made the announcement that I am not supposed to be doing a musical number, but the zone is, and I need to be organizing it. Which is completely different, and I was mad that they failed to tell me that a week ago and made me freak out about practicing a piano number. But now I'm lost in what I can do for this musical number... oh well, pray for me haha!

So there is a little town a few minutes outside Copiapò called Tierra Amarilla. It's small and very green, though not as small as Pozo Almonte. There are four missionaries there. Usually, I would have nothing to do with that place, because there's another district leader there, but out of the blue on Friday, that missionary, Elder Dial, calls us up, and asks us where we want to meet for our intercambio (transfer, or something, I don't know what it's called in English, where two companionships have a little trade off for a day). Anyways, we had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, and we told him that, and he said, ''Oh, the zone leaders didn't tell you? We planned an intercambio for us 4 days ago...'' Haha what?!?! We live with the zone leaders, and they forgot to tell us! But it was a fun little intercambio. I went to Tierra Amarilla to do an interview for a kid who had a baptism planned for the very next day... -_- I was actually mad abnout that, because I feel like somebody should have their interview a few days before, not just a day before their baptism, but it was a fun day. Tierra Amarilla has a ton of converts, and baptisms there are more than any sector in the rest of the zone, however, their assistance to church is the lowest, and it is still a branch. I asked the Elder I went with, Elder Jensen, where all the converts are, and he said he doesn't know, they don't come to church.... but he is a cool Elder, he only has one cambio in the field (haha remember when that was me????) and he is slaying it with the spanish! But we had an activity there, too, with football and basketball and everything, and afterwards Jensen bought me a completo, so I was happy! :)

Sunday came, and we had so many people commited to coming to church, and we were so excited to finally have someone come!!! ....... Nobody came. Well, at least, nobody that we invited. However, a man from El Salvador (the town, not the country) came with his member wife, and we learned he is moving to El Palomar to live there. Will this be another miracle that God is sending us? Who knows? Vamos a ver! I was pretty bummed, though, that nobody came that we invited. There were several that told us they were coming definitely, but we called and knocked, and nobody came. This is basically the fifth week in a row... I'm scared to tell president. The zone leaders were mad. 

But yeah! That's pretty much it. I'm glad you got my letters alright! I sent one to Caelan too, but I think I might have just sent an empty envelope, because... I found the letter a few days ago buried under some books! Oops! I look forward for your guys' letters, but remember, that it might arrive here quickly, but I can only check at the beginning of every month. If it's not here within in a month, I will receive it in two months. But I look forward to them! :) Today I bought the ingredients to make your chocolate chip cookies! (chocolate chips are so expensive!!!) I'll tell you how it goes! I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Les amo a todos!

Elder Schmid

P.S. Despite the lack of investigators, I am going strong and happy. I am grateful for the prayers and fasting! My mission has changed me and for the better! I'm loving working here in El Palomar, and I'm loving serving the Lord! Like you said mom, these are my most important two years. It's true, perhaps they haven't been the best, or most happy, but they are without a doubt the most important! I would not give them up for anything! I have seen a progress in myself, and I love the direction I have taken in my thoughts, testimony, and actions. I owe it all to the mission! Keep praying for me!

Week 79

Hola familia!

Wow, so much going on back home! The moment is finally here... Infinity War came, and I can't see it... I've been dreading this moment since the trailer came out. You all say it wasn't too good, but... still. Oh yeah, and Brad graduated. Jaja just kidding, that's awesome! Congrats Brad! And Caelan! Things are looking so up for those guys... I got an email from Grandma last week about the clot in her leg, and was praying for her. I'm glad she's getting better and doesn't feel the pain too much anymore. I'm pretty impressed with how the Schmid's stepped up! ¡Qué bakan! 

This week has been very slow. I'm beginning to think that that is just how this sector is. It's a place where missionaries go to just die! Jaja it's kinda frustrating that we still barely have any investigators, with only three 'progressing'. I put that in quotes because we haven't seen those people in at least a week. There is no new news about any investigators, because our whole week was going from plan to plan almost never entering in a house and contacting a ton. It's strange, because we get tons of referrals from other missionaries, but the addresses and phone numbers never exist... God is definitely allowing me to be tried in this moment haha, it's very hard! But we keep walking, and we keep talking, and we keep working! I'm glad I know where to find success as a missionary. If I based my mission in numbers in this moment, I would be failing!

At the beginning of the week, last Monday, we were contacting a girl at night at some intersection. We were talking normally, when I hear the screech of someone slamming on their brakes, and I see a car run a light and T-Bone slam into another car, a taxi with two people in back. It was an impressive crash, with a huge sound! The taxi kept going for a little before crashing into a pole, and the driver immeditately jumped out yelling a ton of... bad words. Jaja I don't know how to call those in English anymore. Grosería, porquería, muchos garabatos. While my companion went to him to calm him down, I went to the car and helped out the people there. There was a dude that looked in shock and a woman that was screaming her head off, rocking back and forth. It was interesting to see. They weren't hurt, though, and as I calmed the woman down, I started to testify that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that he restored the church of Jesus Christ..... jaja, just kidding. I just helped her calm down and waited a little until other people came and shoved the stupid gringo out of the way to get some real help in there... the lady started to rock back and forth again as so many people began pressuring her. Oh well. I tried. But the cops came and everything, and I went to find my comp. He was still talking to the driver. We didn't know what else to do, we just kinda dipped. We went away, found the girl we were contacting, finished the contact, and went away!

On Wednesday, I got a call from my zone leader and presidents assistant who told me that in 3 weeks, I am in charge of a musical number in a conference with a general authority coming to our mission. From what I've heard, Elder Packer is coming... I don't know who that is haha, but he's coming, and I'm playing piano. Oh joy. I got permission and emailed Caelan that day asking for some songs to play haha! But she wasn't answering, so I emailed Christiaan saying ''Hey, make Caelan look at her phone!'' Haha I'm sure he was a little confused, especially because it was Wednesday, but we got it all worked out, and so now I'm preparing for that conference. I'll let y'all know how it goes. 

But that's pretty much it! Some week. But we keep pushing forward! I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Les amo a todos!

Elder schmid