Week 92

Hey mom!

Wow, this is crazy. I´ll answer your biggest question right off the bat. My itinerary just got emailed to me! Whoooooaaaaaa that's so weird! So my arrival date and time is........ drumroll please...... October 10th at 7:42 in the AM baby! Hahaha it's kinda hitting me how close I am to the end. You told me, mom, not to countdown, that helped me realize that I´m the last one still out in the field... thanks haha! So yeah, I´m leaving from Antofagasta the 9th to head to Santiago, then to Dallas, then to Sky Harbor. I don´t know why not straight to Sky Harbor, if it´s an international airport, but oh well! There you have it. Second things second, Happy Birthday Darian!! Jaja you´re getting old too! The 27th of July we celebrated your big day by... walking around and talking to people! :D

Sounds like you guys had an amazing week! Well, at least you mom. Hectic, maybe, but fun! I´m sure you´re glad girls camp is over, and everything is calming down. This was Ashlyn´s first year there, right? I´m glad to hear that she enjoyed it! They have some awesome activities and people there, it seems like. Especially that nature lady. I´m happy Ashlyn actually picked up the animals! So Aiden´s getting a laptop....? Why?!?! Get me one! For... school, and stuff, for when I get back! I need a laptop! :D And Darian, nice going with the scholarship! I, personaly, am freaking out about money when I get back, to pay school. But oh well. 

So, this week has been a very good week. We have been progressing a bit with a few of our investigators. To answer your question first, mom, I haven´t seen Mílan. In a long time. Since he´s gotten back I haven´t even seen him. He spoke with us on the phone and said he was coming to church, but didnt come. And every time we´ve gone, he´s not there. It´s soooooooo frustrating, but we´ll get there. Nacho, the other convert, is golden!!! He comes to church with no effort on our part, comes to the activities, and participates in everything! He´s awesome! He passes the sacrament in the meetings. I'm happy for that. Now we just need to work with Mílan a bit more... or at least find him. 

We worked a lot this week with Sebastian and Constanza, but more than anything with Constanza. We wanted her to come to church really badly, so we were there almost every day to animate her more. She was progressing a lot, and we had her interview, along with Sebastian. Elder Vicente is animated to baptize her this Saturday, and I´m supposed to have the vision now, so we went along with it and she passed, and so we wanted her to come to church desperately. We were there every day, almost, and talked a ton about church. She promised us she´d come, and we were set. Then Sunday came, and we went to pick them up from their house/store, and she´s there selling to some lady, and she looks at us, and gets instantly ashamed. We talk to her and she says, my worker hasn´t come, I can´t come to church. I was severely disappointed. I talked to her, because she said she would close the shop to come, but that didn´t seem to be her plan. She told me no she wasn´t going to close. Then I talked about her commitment, and how it was not with us, but with God, and breaking it would be breaking a commitment with God. I was desperate that she´d come to church. So I left her there to pray and get ready to come, and we waited in church. She never came. 

We have also been working with a few other people, like a kid named Dustin. He lives in front of the branch president, and we´re trying to teach his family, but it´s hard to find them all together. He´s progressing a bit, but not too much. Then we have Jonathen. This is a child of a less active lady from Bolivia, Cochabamba. We met him and his friend and played a little soccer with them and startred teaching a bit. He is super receptive! Then we went to meet his mom, and found out that she is actually a member, though hasn´t been to the church since she moved to Chile (8 years). So we began trying to teach him a bit more, and invite him to church, and he was open for everything! He accepted to come to church, but when we went to pick him up, he said he was sick with a stomach ache. Then I invited him to come for just an hour, and he thought about it, and agreed! So he came with us to church, and we were stoked. We are going to begin working a bit more with him. 

This week has been a very interesting week for me. President passed all the missionaries a sheet with different chapters of the Book of Mormon about the atonement of Christ. I decided to use that as my personal study and study a chapter a day from that list. I begin with a prayer and seek inspiration then read and write down what comes to mind. It has been absolutely mind blowing! I have learned a ton, and my testimony has grown immensely! I started in 2 Nephi 2, Lehi´s patriarchal blessing to Jacob and testimony on Christ. I loved learning a bit more into the reason of why there is opposition in all things. It helped me understand more fully the importance of the fall together with the atonement of Christ that gives us the freedom to choose. Then I moved to Alma 39 through 42, when Alma talks with his son, Coriantón, and admonishes him to repent. I have learned a lot about the resurrection and the restoration of things to us. I have loved studying like this! My testimony on the Atonement has grown a lot. I have coupled this study from the Book of Mormon with a light reading of The Infinite Atonement. It really opens my mind about the atonement, and helps me realize more the importance. It is the doctrine of doctrines, the most important thing to happen in all of history! All doctrines only have light and meaning because of the atonement and Jesus Christ, our Saviour. I know this is true, now more than ever. I have loved reading about and studying this these past days. It helped me to teach better to my investigators this love for Jesus Christ, and understand who He is really for us. I love this gospel, and want everyone to love it like I do! Or more.

So that´s what´s been going on for me. Still cruising on with Elder Vicente! All is good! Hope you all have a great week!

Les amo a todos!

Elder Schmid

Week 91

Hola familia!

Wow... short email! Haha that doesn't happen to me a lot! Usually you send me a new testament every week! 

Things this week have gone by fast! We have gotten a lot done! Let me start by telling you about my new comp. Elder Vicente is from the Phillippines, específicamente, he's from General Santos. He speaks basically perfect english, because that's what his family speaks, though he can speak 5 languages fluently. He is hilarious! Him and I have been getting along so well! There hasn't been a boring day so far! He likes to talk a lot, which is good. It keeps us entertained during the long days. Him and I have a very similar sense of humor, which is good. He also likes to work a lot, which is perfect! I haven't had a companion like that in a long time! I asked president to take away my district leader position, which he did, so Elder Vicente is district leader. He... has the vision. I'd say that's the only point where sometimes we are not in agreement, because he loves baptising, and wants to do it now. I like to wait a bit. So we'll see how this cambio goes, but I think I'm going to love it. 

The work is going smoothly. As I have promised Dad, I wish to make these last 12 weeks my strongest weeks. And as many have challenged me, I plan to follow president more in his vision for this mission, in other words, we set 30 baptismal dates in the street this past week. It kinda goes against everything I want to do, and against my vision that I've applied to myself, but we will continue for a solid 4 weeks with this, so I will reserve my judgement till then. We have plenty of ''new investigators'', but unfortunately, nobody came to church again. This is the 4th week in a row. We had so many people lined up to come, but I don't know what happened. I regret to say... it doesn't bother me too much anymore... I'm too used to it. We have been teaching a few families, the first being a single mom with her son, Constanza and Sebastian. Seba is a friend of Mílan, the recent convert, and Constanza is friends with Maritza, Mílans mom. Constanza is progressing well, we have taught her pretty much everything. Everything was going perfectly until we tried to teach her the Word of Wisdom. As we were beginning, an ex of hers showed up, and joined us. We began teaching, and I decided to just keep on with the WoW, and that was a mistake. The first mention of alcohol, he goes of on a tangent about how beer is good for you, and soda kills you. He also talked about marijuana, and if it's legal now as medicine, why on earth would we forbid it? And tea and coffee are good for you! Ohhhhh it was such a bad lesson. She didn't know what to think, and so I just ended it, tried to put in a spiritual testimony, and got out of there. But other than that moment, she's progressing. It's been good teaching her. We are also teaching a family, a mom Ethel, and Pablo and Sofia, her children. They are progressing a little as well, but didn't come to church. 

So today for pday, we borrowed a couple of bikes and headed up to the top of our sector. It was so fun! We were able to see the greenest part of the mission, and then ride the road down! It was great! I don't have a camera, but Elder Vicente too lots of pictures, I'll try sending you some.

It's weird to think I'm coming in close to the end. I want to make these the best cambios of my mission! Vamos por esta semana! Hope you all have a great week!

Les amo a todos!

Elder Schmid

 

Week 90

Hola familia!!!

Welllllll... so a bit has happened hahaha! First things first, I send my condolences to the the Hoopes family. The first sibling has passed on, that is hard. I hope everyone is dealing with the pain well. The plan of Salvation is real. I am so grateful for that. I know that we will be able to not only see, but be with Aunt Iris for eternity. We need only live now in a way that will give us that opportunity. And that's also very scary with what happened with Gunnar! But... there's a first for everything! I hope he begins to feel better. I cannot begin to tell you how jealous I am of the monsoon you are having right  now... it sounds absolutely amazing! I saw a little bit of rain a few weeks ago, but I need a big storm... 

So this week, as I said, was kinda busy. To begin, we had cambios!! And Elder Flores and I actually had a cambio. I am no longer with our beloved Mexican. He has been cambioed to Alto Hospicio, my birthplace. He is actually with an Elder from my group, Elder Hirschi. He was excited to go, because Alto Hospicio is flying right now! Everyone baptizes there. I stay here in Torreblanca. My new companion is named Elder Vicente. Get this. He's from the Phillipines!!! How awesome is that! He got here today from Alto Hospicio, a 18 hour trip! Haha! But he seems pretty cool. I don't really know too much about him now, I can tell you more next week. 

This week, this Sunday, I had a talk in Sacrament. Nobody else could, I guess, so they say, and so they assigned me. They let me choose my topic, and so I talked about Gozo, or Joy. I decided to talk about this because so many people talk to me about the problems in their lives. I was thinking, I need to tell them why coming to church helps them have joy. I feel like it went very well. People told me I did good, so I feel good. I feel like I learned a lot too, and I applied the joy into the Plan of Salvation. It may have sounded a bit too much like a lesson and not a talk, but oh well! I tried to just tie the what we need to do into the why we need to do it. I enjoyed talking. But then again, there were only 50 people. It'll be different in my homecoming talk, when there's a few more than 50 people haha!

Everyone has been out of town, we are in the middle of their winter vacation. It was kinda hard finding people, but we were able to find some. We spent a lot of times in intercambios, every day almost this week. I went to Baquedano with the zone leader, Elder Levrino. Then they wanted another one, with Elder Cook. I was here with him. While here we had an awesome day. I met this less active kid, a recent convert from a year ago who hasn't come to church in a long time. His name's Jonathen. He is such an awesome kid! He said an amazing prayer better than I could say one at the beginning, and knew all the answers to everything I asked him! He just doesn't come becacuse his mom, also recent convert less active, doesn't come. She works. So he doesn't feel any reason to go. So we talked a lot, and he is starting to progress. We've also been talking a lot with a family who hasn't come to church in a while, the family I mentioned last week, la familia Carmona. They are great, and we had a very good Family Home Evening with them and an investigator friend of theirs. They are progressing. Then the LZ s wanted to have intercambios the next two days with two other elders, but we said no, because Elder Flores was leaving and wanted to say goodbye to people, and we were tired of intercambio. 

But that's my life! I'll tell you more next week of the new comp and everything! Hope y'all have a good week!

Les amo a todos!

Elder Schmid

Week 89

Hola mama!

Haha, I don't know if you were trying, but shoot! That La Jolla trip made me so trunky! It seems like your favorite trip to La Jolla, and I wasn't there! What the crap?! Jaja but that's ok, y'all just have to make it up to me... somehow! And, Feliz Cumpleaños, Tía Lyn! Glad it was so memorable! I enjoyed your birthday by... basically doing the same thing I have done every day for the past 20 months haha! :D And I'm glad that Christiaan and Alex and Maecita could go too! It's always super great to be together as a family! Sounds like the best way to celebrate the fourth! Haha, I still remember when I opened my mission call and it said Antofagasta, and Paul sent a foto from Antofa saying, ''Oh yeah, great place!'' 

Well, this week has been pretty great. This cambio is flying by, I feel like it has just started, but I'm actually now in the last week. A few things have happened, nothing too big, just some good short stories. To answer some of your questions, I did make the salsa. And it turned out fantastic! Thanks again, Mom and Tío Larry! I made it for the fourth of July. I celebrated the American Holiday with mexican food.... the salsa turned out great, not too hot at all, though when I gave it to the Chileans, they all freaked out and ran for water. As I was making it, I dumped out the powder into a small bowl, and it turned into red hot dust that filled the room. All the missionaries with me all started coughing up a storm, and I with them. It was awful, and they all yelled at me asking why I was trying to kill them! It was fantastic! The candy was delicious, and yes, it may or may not have lasted a day or two... what can I say, the mission changed me! I actually shared my Starbursts with people! 

The 4th of July came and went, and I did almost nothing to celebrate it. I made Mexican salsa. It was kind of sad, but the next one will be great, I'm sure of it. The work is going a little slower here, because now all the kids are on their winter vacation. All of the converts here have gone away on vacation, so to answer that question, mom, no, Milan could not make it to church. He is in Calama. But I'm pretty sure he went to church there, we tried to put it all together for him with the missionaries there. But really we've been trying to just find new people. We found a very good family of less actives, who show a lot of promise. The mom's name is Margarita, I've met her and her son, Nicolas. They are fantastic people who stopped going to church for a reason that I don't know jaja. They love the church, and her dad was actually Branch president for a long time. So we talked to her for a bit, and she came to church Sunday with her son! It was fantastic! And then we went and talked to her mom and family, and they came to church too. Her dad is sick in bed with something like alzheimers, and he can't walk any more nor remember anything. But we took the sacrament to them on Sunday, and as we introduced ourselves and what we were doing, he got emotional, and started to cry, and it was a very special moment. He remembered what the santa cena was and took it with a lot of emotion. 

Thursday, we were about to go home for the night, and we found ourselves with an older man that my comp knew somehow. He wanted us to walk with him as he went back home, and we agreed. So we walked with him, and I was a little worried, because he looked really old! And the way home was really steep stairs, and lots of them! He looked like he was around 70, 75 years old. But as we went, we talked and talked, or rather, he talked and talked haha! He told us all about his life, what he had done, and what he had seen. He had seen a lot! He told us all the years and progression he saw in Chile, and so I asked, ''How old are you, anyways?'' 104!!!! The man's older than a century! I didn't believe him at first, but he pulled out his carnet, which is like the ID card in this country, and sure enough! June of 1914! He just finished 104 years! And he was walking pretty fast! He works in Torreblanca as some sort of janitor, and he walks his way there every day and back. Just so you know, he lives in Baquedano, which is on the other side of the valley. He goes down and back up every day twice a day! I just thought that was crazy. 

Our apartment is... interesting. When it was just two of us there, it was amazing! Perfect! It's kinda like a run down New York apartnemt. I think. Even though I've never been in one of those. That's just what it reminded me of. It's small and everything is in the same room. Except our bedroom. The kitchen, dining room, and studying room is all one thing. And it has a massive window in that room and we can watch everyone outside haha! I love it. But now there's four of us, and it's way too crowded. It gets really cold at night inside, or at least it did. It's not too cold here anymore. The vision is going great. 

But yeah! That's... kinda it! Hope y'all have a great week!

Les amo a todos!

Elder Schmid

Week 88

Hey mom! 

I'm sure Ashlyn is traumatized, but the story kind of made me laugh a bit! I love how she couldn't go through it solo, and so she took Sister Cordova along for the ride! JA! (BTDubbs, did you know it's pronounced CorDOva here, and not COrdova? Had to beat that one into my muscle memory). And dang, I can't believe you're going to be spending this holiday in such an awesome place! Needless to say, I'm very jealous. Take tons of pictures! And yes mom, two more transfers and I'm out of here! You don't have to pay any more! I have forgotten how much money I made for my mission... but I really am grateful for your help in that. It was well worth the money, let me tell you! 

Things here in good ol Vallenar are going as usual. Mílan was baptized this past friday! WOOT! It was an excellent service, very small and familiar, and the spirit was felt. His mom came along and his grandma, who is also a member but doesn't come because she can't walk. So it was fantastic to see her there. The mom's boyfriend was going to come, or at least, he was here, but he kind of disappeared. Don't really know why. But then Sunday comes along, and Mílan doesn't answer his phone in the morning. My comp said ''Have faith, he'll be here.'' But... faith requires actions. I dragged my comp out as soon as the meeting started and went on over to Mílans house, and knocked until he came out in his PJs. ''What day is it?'' He asks us. ''Compadre, it's Sunday!'' Haha we woke him up!! Man, this kid. But he was confirmed all right. We got there in time for that. He had forgotten the day because the kids here are now in their winter vacation! And his mom was working, so she couldn't wake him up. I would complain about irresponsibility, but... haha he's only 11! I certainly was not responsible at that age. Nor for years to come. But don't worry, mom, that's something that I've learned here! ;) I'm not sure about Maritza. She listens, I think, as an obligation because we are teaching her son. But I'm trying to help her realize how the message applies to her personally. But, as we know, those with a worldy life tend to enjoy it some. SO it's difficult, but we won't give up. We just baptized her son! I need to help my convert the best I can, and the best way is helping his mom.

The rest of the week was pretty quiet, pretty good. The converts are all doing well. We are running out of progressing investigators. Hopefully our finding efforts will come out, but honestly, I'm not too focused on that. I want to strengthen this ward through the families that are here, and those who have fallen away. I feel like we are doing ok with that, but we could do better. It's honestly a field of the work I am not familiar at all with, because my mission doesn't teach it. So I feel really alone... its hard. It's difficult trying to feel the support of my leaders with this, but I had an interview with President Ferreira that helped. Oh, speaking of, I had an interview with the pres this past week! Haha, yesterday, actually! He is here in Vallenar. It was a good interview, and he has gotten used to the way I think and my vision for my mission. I told him how I am working, and how in the leadership conference I was not in agreement with anything said (I'll get to that.). But he knows. He told me exactly what is always going through my mind. Every missionary is different. Every missionary has strengths and weaknesses. Not every missionary will have the same strength, nor the same weakness. Not every missionary will be motivated by the same thing. Not every missionary will have the same focus or vision on his mission. He doesn't expect that. What he expects is hard work and diligence, and it made me feal infinitely better, because I know I am giving that. 

We had two conferences this week. The first was a leadership conference in Antofagasta. I had to spend my Monday night in the bus with Elder Muñoz, from Bolivia. It was... fun. -_- The conference itself was focused on the spirit of urgency. We talked about chapter 12 of PMG, which is How to help Investigators to be Baptized. You can tell how much I loved it haha -_-. We spent a large amount of time focusing on the interviews, and whatnot. It is now a key indicator for us, Pres wants us to have a baptismal interview weekly. So majority of the conference set me off, it went against basically everything I want in my mission, so I was having difficulty swallowing it. Actually, I still am having difficulty swallowing it. Oh well. We'll see what happens. I'm as far away from anyone as possible, the most southern place in the mission, so I feel like I'll just be forgotten about haha so I'll be fine. The other conference was closer, in Copiapó. We spoke about how to use the agenda better, but the main focus was Real Intent. Sister and President Ferreira talked about how God works with us if we have real intent. I did enjoy the conference, but it's getting harder and harder to remember them. I've had so many... I got to see my old comp, Elder Carrasco. And my older comp, Elder Bravo. They're doing alright. But it was a fun trip. I played If You Could Hie to Kolob, the rendition from Marshall McDonald. I played all the possibilites for Elder Flores and a member, and they both said that would be best, so I played it... again. Remember, it's the same song I played in the CCM. It went really well. There was a draft in the chapel, and it blowed away all my music while I was playing, but I had it memorized, so I just went on. It was well.

But there's not too much more to say. We played fútbol with President and Hermana Ferreira and their daughter today! I don't know if I said this before, but they have a daughter. I met her when I got to the mission, right before she left on her mission to Brazil. Well, she's back! Haha dang, that makes me pretty old, I guess! (In mission terms). Afterward, we had an asado with everyone. It was fantastic. And oh, I got your package!!! Thank you so much! I loved reading everyones letters!!! I love you all so much! And I will definitely love the spicy salsa, just as much as my Mexican comp will. After all, we haven't had real mexican food in a while. Even if it's just a salsa, it will be fantastic. But anyways, I hope you all have a fantastic rest of your week!

Les amo a todos!

Elder Schmid

I completely forgot! I have another story. So, last Monday, my hair was... kinda long. I could take the front part and bring it down past my mouth haha! And I was on my way to a conference or council with all the leaders in the mission, and with President Ferreira. But when I combed it, it didn't look nearly as long! So I thought I'd just bring my gel and comb my hair back! It was an excellent plan. It failed completely. I got there, went and tried to comb it, but it was not working. It wouldn't stay, and I freaked out. I walk out, and there's a sister there, Sister Evans. She says, ''Wow, your hair is kinda long...'' So i said I know!!! You wanna help? We went to the mission office, and found a nice big pair of scissors. She then proceeded to cut my hair as she saw fit! Haha it was a disaster! Basically, all the front was cut short, and middle was still ridiculously long, and the back was almost bald. And that's how I stayed through the conference and pictures. But I got back and had a barber woman cut it. She looks at it, looks at me and asks ''Qué hiciste, tonto?!'' Jaja she basically matched it all... AKA, she shaved me almost bald.