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
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