Week 96

Hey mom!

So... it was a crazy last week, that's to say the least...like I said last week, Elder Vicente was taken to the hospital with what might've been tuberculosis. A few days ago that was confirmed, so he does in fact have TB. He was sent to Antofagasta to begin recovering and everything, and president decided to keep him there in Antofa to recover or something. I was, meanwhile, left to suffer the consequences in Torreblanca. Basically... stress. Lots of stress. 

Every day was a lot of planning and calling and moving around. I was with the elders from the other sectors, with the two who live with me and also the zone leaders. However, that made me super stressed just being with them, so I tried hard to get a member that I could be with in my own sector. Every day I was calling and planning and whatnot, and trying my best to be able to work in my own sector. Even so, I basically didn't get anything done in my sector. President decided not to send me a new comp right away because the cambios were so close, so I spent the week alone. In some ways I loved it, in some ways I hated it haha! I loved the actual part of being alone, but hated the part of having to take up the slack left by the lack of companion. But oh well, I got through it haha! But then Friday comes, and I get a call from the assistant. I've been transferred! I have been sent back to La Portada, to the ward that's right next to my old ward, Caliche. My new ward is called Centenario. I am with yet another Peruvian companion, Elder Gonzalez, who has around a year and a half on the mission. It feels really weird, I'm actually in the same cyber that I always wrote in before, so it almost feels like I never left, or I'm picking up where I left off. I am now officially in my last cambio. Mis ultimas seis semanas! How crazy is that, no? It's weird to think about, but it hasn't really hit me yet. It feels like any other cambio. I'm excited to be with Elder Gonzalez, he seems pretty chill. I'm gonna have to turn up the heat these last few weeks! Kick it into even higher gear! But I'm excited to do that. 

The last few days in Torreblanca were uneventful, I was basically just with members all day. I almost couldn't even say goodbye to most people. But that's ok, this week I'm going to start it well! Thanks for everything! 

Les amo a todos!

Elder Schmid

Week 95

Hey mom! Well... I can only write for a tiny bit before I can go. I have enough time to give a rough overview of the week haha, which has been kinda wild.

Well, we had conference on Thursday in Copiapo, which was fantastic. We talked a lot about personal rervelation, and how the spirit works with us, and lots of other things. The main theme seemed to be The Lord has Invested a lot in us. I really liked it, and then Saturday we had interviews with president, which was super short and normal. However, Saturday night was kinda weird. So, since my comp got here, he's had a small cough that has never gone away. It's not really bad, and I always made fun of him for it because he coughs like a little girl, but then Saturday night he goes to the bathroom, and starts coughing up a ton of blood. So we said, "Oh, that's not normal". But we're not allowed to do anything medical until we have permission from President and his wife, so we are trying to call them and call them and it took forever, and all the doctors were closed, so we had to wait until Monday to be able to do anything. We went in the morning, and we thought he was going to have some cut in his throat from coughing too much or something, and the doctors take an xray. Then they call him in, but I stay outside, and after five minutes, the doctor calls me in, and tells me he's sending my comp to the hospital. I look over at his xray, and there's a golf ball sized spot in his lungs. So, the doctor isn't a lung specialist, but he tells us he thinks it's tuberculosis, so he gives my comp a mask, and sends us to the hospital in an ambulance, and he gets checked in and isolated. Luckily, the senior couple here is Elder and Sister Olsen, who was a surgeon for 40 years. He helped a ton. He got everything situated, told the doctor everything he needed, and now my comp is on his way to Antofagasta so he can have a specialist... I am now without a companion, and I'm going around with members and missionaries as some add on or something. If it gets confirmed that my comp had TB, then I'll have to take a test to see if I have it. But I am not even coughing and feel fine in every sense of the word. It's also possible that it is some fungal thing or lots of things just chillin there in his lung, sooooo... I don't know. That's my life right now, and it got thrown into a ton of stress and chaos, and that's all I have time for! I'm fine, things are going well for me, everythings good!

Les amo a todos!

Elder Schmid

Week 94

Hola Buenas!

Haha two weeks in a row! Good thing the rest of the family is coming in clutch writing me, mom! ;) Nah, I'm just kidding! Haha I'm sure you have your reasons. 

Things are sailing smoothly along here in Torreblanca. I'm still here with Elder Vicente, we are entering the 5th week of our cambio. We are working super hard, trying to get everyone to come to church with us. It's been kinda hard, we are in a tough spot right now. There are a lot of inactive people, and our assistance to church keeps going down. Last week only 30 people came to church. So... I'm sorry leaders, Ima start using my vision again and start talking with the menos activos. We are working a lot with this menos activa familia, Gisel y Jonathen. They are progressing well, the only thing that gets in the way of them coming back to church is her work. So I was ecstatic when this week, she told me that her job was lost because the kids she took care of aren't here anymore! So all week we were working with her and teaching her and her son, until Sunday. They both had told us sí o sí they were coming to church with us. But then Saturday came along, and we went to verify how everything was, and she was leaving, on her way to work. She told us she got a job with the same people, but not taking care of their kids, just cleaning their house. Soooooo.... I was worried. She told me that she doesn't have nearly as much to do, so it should be fine. However, Sunday came, and neither she nor her son came to church. I was... bummed, I guess. But I just need to keep going at it this week. We are also going to start working with a ton more menos activos. 

Things with Elder Vicente are good. We have very different visions of the mission, but thats ok. We still teach well together, and get along well. We are also trying to teach Rosario, a 15 yr old girl who is the kid of a menos activa. She has heard from the misisonaries before, so it's nothing new to her. She remembers a ton of stuff, and is progressing a lot. But....... she's lazy! Hahaha she doesn't wake up for church. Such was the case yet again yesterday. Everyone has an excuse not to come. But oh well, next week sí o sí she will come. 

But that's pretty much it.... not much is going on. We will have more to write about next week, because this week we have conference with president. I think. They haven't sent us any schedule, so I'm not sure, but yeah...

Les amo a todos!

Elder Schmid

Week 93

Well, nobody sent me an email (except Caelan) so I'm just gonna go ahead and write anyways haha! Hey family! How's everyone doing! Things are going ok here in el Gran Torreblanca! It is now the fourth week of the cambio with Elder Vicente, and we are still going at it strong! This week was kinda different from the rest of the semanas, so I have at least a few things to write about, haha!

First things first, Tuesday, there was a man working on his farm with his tractor next to the electricity towers that feed the entire city of Vallenar and some other cities beyond. He... crashed... and the entire city was without lights from 8 in the morning to 10 in the morning the next day. So our cell phone was super bad, and gets uncharged within an hour of using it, and so we could not use it the entire day, and we could not charge it. So we did not know what to do. I remembered a similar experience we had in Alto Hospicio a while back, and in it all the missionaries had to not work. So as soon as night fell, everything got super sketchy. I felt super weird working, and told Elder Vicente we should not be outside, so we tried finding a member to be with. But there was none, and so we went home and made ramen... and slept 3 hours early haha! 

Our investigators are progressing... I think... sorta. We had to stop teaching Sebastian and Constanza. After everything, we tried to get her to come to church, and she told us ''I told you from the beginning, I belong to this other church. I don't go, but that's my church!'' So I was confused, by why she listened to us, and how in the heck she passed her baptismal interview, but we don't teach them anymore. The Jonathen kid that came to church last week still wants to listen, but is never home, and this week couldn't come to church because it was 'Día del Niño'. His mom took him to center to celebrate. We haven't been able to talk to her at all. Nobody else is super strong... none of the converts came to church this past week, Nacho doesn't listen to us anymore, Mílan went to centro to celebrate Día del Niño. Nico and Ezekiel, the two kids who were baptized a week before I got here, sent a note to the young men's leader saying that they don't want them or us to pass by there house anymore, and that they only got baptized because they got along well with Elder Flores and Rodriguez. None of the less active people we are teaching is progressing at all, and all the 15 people we passed by to come to church with us yesterday gave us an excuse for not coming. Sooooooo.... that's my sector. But I'm supposed to have the vision now, sooo..... We're just gonna baptize everyone and that will fix it!

We bought two big tubs of ice cream last week. I ate it all. We make milkshakes. I'm still going good with Elder Vicente. We talk with everyone we can, and talk about exactly the same thing with every single one of them. That's your choice. You can set a baptismal date with everyone and report those numbers to the mission, or you can talk about what specifically applies to them and skip baptism, and receive the backlash from your leaders. If you can't tell, I'm a little flustered. As I apply the vision again to my mission, I am quickly reminded of why I abandoned it in the first place. But, it is my duty to have it, so... we move forward. The branch may be dying around me while I watch, but we will baptize. If a bottle is broken, and spills everything you fill it with, what should I do? Should I keep filling it, hoping it will somehow stay there, or should I fix the bottle?

So that's pretty much what is going on in our sector. AS promised, this cambio has been my most obedient, in which I have worked the most. So I'm excited to keep going with that. I still have my unbreakable testimony that Jesus is the Christ, and his atonement is infinite, and amazing. He helps us in absolutely every aspect of our life, but we must ask for, and be ready to recieve, that help. I know that He loves each and every one of us, and knows each and every one of our cares and worries. His arms are forever outstretched for us, and he welcomes us with love every time we turn to Him. I know this, and I have felt this. I know we all can feel this. I hope all of you can feel it a little more this week!

Les amo a todos!

Elder Schmid