Enjoyed talking to you on Christmas! I don't have anything to say so here you go! These are pictures from Monument Valley last P-Day! HOpe you enjoy!

Hello Everybody!

What a surprise!! I was not expecting to read about the first niece coming into the world this week! That is awesome! I am glad to hear that everything is good and Ash and Rachel are both doing good! That is a pretty neat Christmas present, she came a little early.

Well my new companions name is Elder Moncur, and he is from Lovell Wyoming which is kind of by Yellowstone. I love him; he is really awesome. He has a twin brother that is still in the MTC, he is going to Monterrey Mexico He is so humble and willing to learn. We had a pretty awesome first week together. When we got back from Farmington on Tuesday we went straight to work. We had appointment all that night, and we had some really good appointments. We met with Keosha and talked about baptism. We have to be careful with her because the missionaries before were really pushy with her and she felt uncomfortable. So we were talking about baptism, and she said that she sees herself getting baptised because it makes her happy when we come over and she comes from a pretty bad family situation so she likes being happy. As we were talking Mosiah 2:41 came to my mind. So i shared it and talked about working towards a baptism date. And when that happened she started crying and I though something bad had happened, but we talked with her friend that was there later and she told us how she just felt the spirit so strong and when we read the scripture she just new it was true. She knows it is true we are just having a hard time because her family is what is holding her back. They think she is becoming to white and just really give her a hard time. But we were excited to hear that and it gave us some ides on what to teach her. We also set a baptism date with Sean Murphy this week. He is really progressing on quiting smoking so we set a date for the 21 of January. We found some really awesome new investigators this week as well. One lady her name is Wahnonah has been going to church for the past three weeks and has been reading from the Book of Mormon every day. She couldn't be anymore prepared. The Lord is truly blessing us here in Blanding. We are working really hard and are seeing the blessings of our efforts.

This week we have our Christmas Zone Conference in Farmington. It will be on Thursday. It should be pretty fun. It will be four zones getting together. So that will be about half of the mission so that will be pretty cool. We are doing a white elephant gift exchange, so I need to find something ugly for that. So by the sounds of things I'm not sure if it's going to be more of a party or a zone conference. Either way it should be pretty fun!

Oh, I almost forgot. Calling next week....Plan on around one o'clock. So that will be two here. So I hope that works if it doesn't get a letter in the mail and let me know a better time. We have sacrament at 9 and 11. Well I look forward to getting to talk to everybody! I hope you all have a wonderful week! I love you all! Merry Christmas! May we all remember the true meaning of the season. We put together a little Christmas message last week to share with people. I can't wait till Sunday!!:) Talk to you soon!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Elder Schmidt

Elder Moncur, Elder Sharp and Elder Schmidt

 Elder Schmidt with Elder Moncur and their Christmas Tree 2011!!!

Good morning everybody!

Well it is hard to believe the transfer is already over again. It seems like I just got here to Blanding and now I have been here for just about three months. I will be getting to stay for another six weeks at least as well. I am getting a new companion. I don't know what his name is. I will find out tomorrow; he will be coming off the plane. I got a call from President Jones on Saturday telling me that the Lord has called me to be District Leader and to train. So since the Lord has called me to these positions I am relying on him to help me because I fell inadequate. Elder Nelson is going to Chinle, that is near Window Rock. So he liked that I was able to tell him a little about the area. This will be his first time getting transferred and I think that he was a little nervous. We did good together here in Blanding, we were able to touch many peoples lives. It is kind of a bummer because we have a couple of baptisms coming up this transfer. One that we are really excited about is Rachaels. She should have been baptised a long time ago but over Christmas they will be having a bunch of family in town so she is getting baptised on December 31!

I am glad that you got those pictures mom. We had our lesson yesterday and said good bye then we received a text from them asking if we could come back. Sister Arthur wanted to get pictures before Elder Nelson left, so we went back and she wanted to email them to you. SO I guess i got your email address right. They are a really good family. It was actually pretty cool because when we went back they were getting ready to ordain their son Chris to the office of Elder and give him the Melchizedek Priesthood. So we were able to stand in on that; which was really cool because that was a first for me. It has been fun to get to know families and make a difference in their lives. Sometimes I don't even realize that we are making a difference.

That is pretty awesome that DO is playing in the state championship game! It has been a long time waiting. That would be fun to go down there and watch. It sounds like most of the town might be. I have to say I loved growing up in Loomis. It has/is a wonderful place. Sometimes I think we take all of the little things for granted. Like being able to raise our family/ grow up in such a wonderful area. I have been blessed with many wonderful church leaders, coaches, friends and the best family I could ever ask for!! When people ask me how many siblings I have and I tell them 5 sisters I get quite a few different reactions. But, I wouldn't have had it any other way!! I have been blessed with amazing sister's who I love dearly and it makes me so happy to see them making the right decisions in life. I have been blessed with the best parents a boy could ask for! I love you so much Mom and Dad! You are everything to me!

Well I better get going! I hope you all have a wonderful week! I love you all!

this time I can say it for real: Talk to you soon! :)

Love,

Elder Schmidt

Christopher's ordination

 Elder Nelson, Rachael and Elder Schmidt

 Elder Nelson and Elder Schmidt

 

 

Week 6!

Hello my wonderful Family!!

I don't know what it is but i guess at the beginning of every month is when it gets cold around here. We had a really nice November then December 1st the snow came. We were in Durango for zone conference and when we went in the sun was out and it was a nice day; then when we came out it was cloudy and snowing. It snowed all the way home so it really slowed us down so we were late for our splits. It sure has been cold too. This morning when we woke up to go play basketball at 5:30 it was 10 degrees out side. Then when we came to email we had a flat tire so we had to change that when it was like 20 degrees. I guess you could say it was fun. It is good to get the moisture we need it because we have not had very much yet.

So we did have our baptism down on the rez. Adrianna Bedoni was baptised on Saturday. So we went down on Sunday to confirm her and the stake president showed up there. The chances of that happening were slim the one and only time that we have gone to church there he was there so it was good to have him stand in as well. I left my camera in the truck so I will email you pictures next week. But, we were really excited to get her baptised. I talked to President about getting a set of Elders to cover Montezuma Creek and Bluff and he told us to find a place to live so we could do it. So we are excited about that because their is a lot of work to be done down there and neither of us can get down there as often as we would like.

Our Zone Conference was really good! It is kind of a bummer because it takes a over a day out of our week for it because we had to leave Wednesday night then we didn't get back until late Thursday night. But, I always love hearing the training that we need and what President has prepared for us. We talked about the kingdom's of glory, and how we reach the highest degree of the Celestial Kingdom. It was really good. I always love listening to President, after all he was a General Authority. So it is always good.

Well it's hard to believe that transfers are already here. This last week absolutely flew by along with the rest of this transfer. We are pretty sure that one of us is leaving. President Jones doesn't normally keep companionship's together more then two transfers. So I hope I stay! There are some people that we are working with that are really progressing and I don't feel like my work here is done. But if the Lord needs me else where then I will faithfully go, but i really hope I stay.

Well I hope you all have a wonderful week! It was so good to get to hear everybody from Thanksgiving! I will talk to you soon! I love you all!

Love,

Elder Schmidt

A Wonderful Week!

Hello Everybody!

i hope you all had a wonderful week, and a fantastic Thanksgiving! I know we did here in Blanding! Thanksgiving sure was a good day for us, except for the fact that we told everybody we would come over to eat so we ended up eating three Thanksgiving dinners that day! We were stuffed by the end of the day. then sister Langston wanted us to come over for pie so we ended up finishing then night off with more pie. I don't think I have ever eaten so much pie in a single day. But it was really good. We are so grateful for all the people that feed us and take care of us. We get well taken care of here in Blanding.

So we have a Baptism coming up this week! We are really excited about it, because we haven't had one here in Blanding yet. It is down on the rez. for a girl named Adrianna. Their family is pretty awesome. It is one of those situations where she really should have been baptised a long time ago but because their was only one set of missionaries for the entire county they couldn't get down there and teach. So since they now have two sets of elders here we are able to make it down there once a week. Our teaching pool is getting pretty big down there now. We are getting to the point where we need to go on splits down there in order to see everybody the day that we are there. We are excited about that because it is showing how the branch is getting involved in the work. We are hoping that this or the next transfer we will get a set of elders to cover the Montezuma Creek branch and the bluff branch don on the rez. We are also hoping that in the near future Mexican Hat will get a set of Elders because they haven't had any in a long time and the other elders up here cover it and don't have the time to go down there. They haven't been down there in at least five months. We are getting a lot more missionaries, in the next two transfers we are getting nine more companionship's meaning that nine new areas will be opened. So we are hoping that we get some more here in Utah! But our goal between the other elders and us is to have a baptism every week to the end of the year. We got started two weeks ago. The past two weeks that other elders have had baptisms and this week we do. And then the weeks that they don't have any planned we do. So we are praying that we will be able to accomplish that goal. President wants us to baptise every week, so that what we are going for. It seems like we get so much pressure sometimes to baptise sometimes that the people that are getting baptised are not ready. I think that's my problem I want to make sure they are converted and are going to continue in the faith rather then getting them baptised to baptise them and hoping things work out. But we are getting on it so we are excited for that.

This week we have zone conference so that will be exciting. It is going to be in Durango again, so that means we will have to leave Wednesday night to go to Cortez and spend the night with the ZL's. Which is unfortunate because our nights are when we are the busiest, but nit is good to get the training. We are having to go on splits at least two nights a week here in Blanding and then when we are down in M.C. which is good for a few reasons. The work is moving forward and we are busy and it gets the people from the wards out seeing who we are working with so their is someone else to fellowship them when they come to church.

This week we found and awesome new investigator. His name is Sean Murphy. He has grown up here in Blanding and Monticello but his whole family is non-members. He said his family were the ones to have a binders full of anti stuff and that they would just bash with the missionaries. He told us we deserve more respect then that ans he has already made up his mind and he wants to be baptised. He already new that he needs to quit smoking and drinking coffee and has already stoped doing that, so it is pretty awesome. We are excited to have found him. It helps that his wife is a member but has been really less active for a long time. But they made up their mind that they want a better life and know where to find it. So they are doing what they know to be best. Let me tell you they chose a pretty good path to go down. They are just an awesome family though.

We had a pretty neat experience last night. We had an appointment with this less active family that we are working with. We got their and only the dad and mom where in the room talking with us. We were bummed because we wanted to meet with one of their daughters and her boy friend who lost a baby about four months ago and are havine a really hard time with it. So we were talking with the mom and dad when the boyfriend came in and just broke down and started balling. we didn't know what to do and so the dad kind of told us what was going on and how he was still having a hard time and that they had been getting in fights and it had been kind of rough. So the girl fiend came in and they asked for blessings. They asked me if I would do it and I gladly accepted. I can truly tell you those blessings came straight from Heavenly Father. I don't think I have have really had the spirit work in me like that for some time. I don't remember exactly what I said but I know what was said is what they needed to hear. It was amazing. I have not been in a lesson on my mission where so many tears were shed. It was a very spiritual experience.

Well I better get going! I hope you all have a wonderful week! I love you all!

Love,

Elder Schmidt

Blanding District

 Sister Langston's home we decorated for Christmas!

Elder Schmidt's Halloween pumpkin! 

 

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Hello everybody!

So how was everybody's week? We had a pretty good week here in Blanding. We are making a lot of progress with some of the Less actives we are working with and with investigators. Their is two less active families inparticular tha we are working with that came to church and stayed for all three hours. It is truly amazing too see the Lord at work. They haven't really been to church in a long time. One family,, the Randals, have just really come a ong way the past few weeks. We got really worried about them because we heard from the mom's boss, who is a member we work with, that one of her close friends and co-workers was really throwing anti stuff at her. Then after we heard that they missed the appointment that we had, so then we really began to worry. Bt last week we stopped by and had a really good visit with them. They had had some things happen in life and were just kind of down so we shared some scriptures and just talked about what was going on and turning to the Lord. We went back a couple days later and the dad told us that he quit smoking and that by the end of next year he wants to take his family to the temple. Two suprisies to us. We didn't know he smoked, and he sat down and picked a date himself that he wanted to go to the temple. That was pretty awesome! They came to schurch and stayed for all three hours, which was amazing. We didn't get to go to priesthood with him because we had to teach the young men and women, but we talked to the ward mission leader after and it sounded like he just fealt really comfortable and the quorum welcomed him. So that was pretty awesome. The other family hasn't been to church since they moved here which was like two years ago. We have been working with them for quit a while now and they are finally making some progress. We like going to see them because the dad is from Samoa and makes really good Samoan food. But they came to church and stayed for all three hours too. So it was really good.

We have a baptism coming up next week. It is a little girl who lives down on the rez in Aneth. It was suppose to be this week but we were unable to teach her a couple weeks ago so we need to teach her one more of the lessons. It stinks because we are only able to make it down to the rez only once a week. So we can't get all of the work done that we would like too. We are really pushing to get a set of missionaries down there because their is a lot of work to be done there. In January their will be nine new areas opened up because their are 18 extra missionaries coming in. So hopefully we can talk President into it. Sometimes it seems like everybody forgets about us out here in Utah. We are the farest north west corner of the mission. But the rez really could use its own set of missionaries.

It will be interesting to see how this week goes. It seems like a lot of people are going out of town, so the work could be kind of slow. It's not like anybody wants family to come here because their is nothing here. We here about it all the time, but the city won't let anything come here either. This place could really use a pizza place but the city won't let any kind of food place or anything in. But we do have quit a few people that have invited us over for Thanksgiving. I guess everybody that is staying has invited us over. They have a community dinner and i'm pretty sure we are going to stop by there because they have a lot of non-members that sow up to that. Then we are just going to have to stagger times so we stop by some when the are not eating. Well I hope you all keep in mind the true meaning of the season! I have so much to be thankful for. I am thankful for my loving family and all they do for me! I am thankful for this wonderful opportunity that I have to be serving the Lord! I have truly come closer to my Father in Heaven and his son Jesus. I am so thankful for this gospel and the joy and happiness that it brings into my life. I hope you all have a wonderful week and keep in mind the many things that we have to give thanks for. I love you all!

Love,

Elder Trevor Schmidt

Hello everybody!

Well it has been a wonderful week here in Blanding! We nare emailng a little early because we have a mission wide Temple day today. Everybody in the mission is going to the Temple. It is pretty awesome. We just found out about it last week. It is pretty exciting. Everybody in the mission will be going through in three sessions. So it will be pretty busy. It will be kind of fun to see some of the other Elders that I haven't been able to see in a while. So that is what we are doing for p-day today. It will be a wonderful day. There is no better place then the Temple.

So yesterday we had a missionary fireside for the stake with Brad Wilcox as a special guest speaker. I was asked to conduct which was a bit frightening because the entire stake center was full; all the way to the back of the gym. I have gotten better with my public speaking skills since I have been on my mission but not that public. It was good because we had such a great turn out but I wasn't to fond of speaking in front of that many people. To make matters worse us four elders had to sing a song, and well you can imagine how that went. Especially since one of the other two sings about like me. So i hope nobody went deaf. But over all I think it went well and Brad did a really good job. I had never heard of him untill we got to putting this on but apparently a lot of people do, and I think thats why we had so many people there.

It was a very good week of missionary work as well. We taught the most lessons I have ever taught in a week on my mission. We had to go on splits two nights which is so wonderful. We were suppose to go on splits down on the rez on thursday but the branch president waited untill that day to try and get someone, and everybody said it was too short of a notice. It was kind of dissapointing because we didn't get to see everybody that we wanted to, and I would have thaught that if people down ther would have had the opportunity to go out with the missionaries they would take advantage of it. So hopefully this week we can get that set up down there. But we are so thankful for those that did come out with us. We have some real amazing ward mission leaders and ward missionaries that are a huge help to us.

Well I better get going we don't want to be late. I hope you all have a wondefrful week. I love you all!

Love,

Elder Schmidt

Hello everybody!

Well the weather sure has changed here as well. It has been cold this past week, and has snowed the past couple of days. It sure turned rather quickly. As soon as we hit November it decided to get cold. It seems like over night the whole weather just changed, it is defiantly winter now.
We had a pretty cool experience this week. A couple of weeks ago we got a referral for a family but we were unable to find where they live. So we tried going back to the people that gave it to us but whenever we went over there they weren't home. So the other night we were at dinner with a family and asked them who we could go see and they gave us that same family. We told them how we had received their name but we couldn't find them. They were able to give us better directions so right after we got done with them we went to go and see if we could find them. We were able to find them with their directions, and it was pretty awesome the way things unfolded. The family we ate with told us it might be kind of hard to get in because the mom is kind of reserved , so they said just be patient with them. So we were expecting to just visit with them on the porch and set a time where we could come back. But that is not how it happened. They invited us right in. they are a very nice family they have three girls and then there is the mom and dad. So after we got in we figured we wouldn't be in very long, but we all started talking and getting to know each other. Then the next thing we know we had almost been there an hour and had to get going. The interesting thing was that we both felt that we shouldn't share a message or really talk about the gospel a whole lot just whatever they would bring up. But we found the real amazing part out two days later when we were at church. We talked to the family that gave us the referral and told them how it went. The dad told us that we should go talk to the bishop because he found something out. So we went and talked to the bishop and were really surprised at what he had "found out." We weren't sure if the dad was a member or not. But i guess that after we left there the dad went to the bishops house and told him how we had come and visited them. I guess it was just perfect the way things went. He told bishop that he wanted to get baptized and that we were welcome there any time. Bishop told us that it is just going to be one of those slow moving situation and not to push anything on them since the family is less active. Sometimes the Lord works in mysterious ways. We are excited to start working with them!
We set three baptism dates this week!! We are way excited about them because it has been way too long since there has been a baptism in this area. One is for the 26 of this month with a girl we are working with down on the rez. She is really awesome so we are excited for that. Then two are from one ward here in Blanding. One is for December 3 but we might have to push that one back a week or two them the other is just before Christmas. She is living here with her aunt and uncle and could be baptized today but she wants her family to be here. So she will get baptized and that is what is awesome.
Well I hope you all have a wonderful week! I love you all! Stay safe!
Love,
Elder Schmidt

Yaateeh my family!

That transfer went by way to quickly! It does not see, like i have been here in Blanding for six weeks already. I guess time flies when you are working hard. I am staying here and so is Elder Nelson. we are working with some really good people right now and should be setting a couple of baptism dates this week. We are excited for that because it has been a couple of months since their have been any baptisms here in this area. We were really progressing with some investigators but then we had some set backs and it was really just bringing us down and we were beginning to wonder what was wrong. But, the past couple of weeks we have found some really awesome investigators. We were talking with one of our assistant ward mission leaders yesterday and he was telling us how on his mission he found that if you just continue to work real hard these awesome investigators will just come to you. I believe that to be really true. We have some we are working with that are slowly progressing and some that are just really grabbing a hold of the message and progressing rather quickly.

So mom that guy who called you on Saturday, his name is Kelly. He is one of our really solid investigators but has a long ways to go. He is a smoker but he has really come a long way with it. We have a goal to have him quit by the 25 of November, so we are taking steps to obtain that goal. He is set on it so we are really trying to get that done. He not only wants to do it because it is a commandment but he really needs to for his health as well. Just a side note he only has one eye and no teeth, he is proud of it too. He is a really good guy and really wants to do what is right, so we are working really hard to get him baptized. I am going to do it! He also has to get married to the lady he lives with, who is a member but is extremely stubborn. But before we can get them married we have to get them both divorced. So it is a big challenge but were working hard to over come them. Last night we were over visiting them and they got a call from her son who was over at her parents who live just next door. I guess her dad is having health problems and fainted and hit his head really hard so we went down to help them out and they asked us to give him a blessing. I love being able to exercise the power of God and being worthy to bring his blessings to his children. They took him to the hosiptal so hopefully he is ok.

So we got a text from the zone leaders today informing us that we have to be in by 7 tonight. That doesn't leave much room for doing much since on P-day we are suppose to be out at 6. So it should be a fun night i guess. We were going to go to the other elders house but they are leaving because one of them is getting transfered so hopefully we can find something to do.

Well I hope you all have a wonderful week! I love you all! Be safe and be smart!

Have a wonderful HALLOWEEN!!

Love,

Elder Schmidt

Hello everybody!

I can't believe it is the last week of the transfer. Time has absolutely flown by it does not seem like I have been here in Blanding for nearly six weeks already. We have had some great success and some upsetting set backs. But our obedience and hard work is seeming to pay off. This week we found two new investigators that are just awesome. One is an 18 year old girl that is living with her aunt and uncle here. We thought she was already a member because she goes to church every week, but we found out that her dad for some reason or another does not like the church; ever though he is a member. She told us I'm 18 now so i can do it if I want. So we are excited she will be baptized in no time. The other is a man named Colemen. He was actually at one of our dinner appointments and asked us if we could come over and teach him. So we gladly accepted and had a really good lesson with him. We actually have a lesson with him this morning, so we are enjoying some success here. We also found out that one of our investigators who the missionary's have been working with for a long time asked somebody to baptize him. We were so excited to find that out because we didn't get to meet with him this week because he has been sick.

This week we went on exchanges with the zone leaders. It was a little different so it wasn't really like exchanges. The zone leaders are in Cortez which is about and hour and a half away from here so they both just stayed and one went with us and the other went with the other elders. So Elder Sharp came with us. It was kind of fun to spend a couple days with him and talk about Window Rock and the people we worked with there and share stories. He was excited because we went down to the rez on Thursday and he hasn't been able to serve their since he left Window Rock. I sure do miss the rez too. Everybody here thinks that I am crazy because I want to go back, but I love it there. And it is hard to tell the people why I miss it so much because it's something that they can't understand. I love the native people and working with them. That's something I couldn't understand until I experienced it for my self. All my life I have grown up listening to people talk about coming to love the people. I always wondered what people meant by that and said to myself that wasn't possible, but now I know! I truly love the Native people and sharing the gospel with them! We had a pretty neat experience this week. We are working with a Navajo girl that is living with some members here because she got kicked out of her house. It;s kind of a sad situation. But she has grown up traditional and with no real belief in God or Jesus Christ. So we have to take things real slow with her. So when we began to talk about the Book of Mormon I asked her where her people came from. She kind of gave me an answer but wasn't too positive. So as we asked her to read the introduction page of the Book of Mormon I asked her to pick something that really stands out to her. When she finished she immediately said we are descendants of the Laminates and this is a record of them. It was so neat to see her make that connection and be excited about it. She thought it was so cool. In our next appointment with her we asked what she had remembered. She remembered everything about that and about the Priesthood and Joseph Smith. It was really awesome to see the spirit work and teach her, and take those things to her memory when she has had no real religious background.

Well I hope you all have a wonderful week. I love you all!

Love,

Elder Schmidt

Hello my loved ones!

How has every body's week been? I hope it was wonderful! We had a pretty good week here in Blanding. It seems like they could always be better, but when we step back and look at it it could always be worse. So I like to look at the bright side and count our blessings and just think how wonderful it has been. We had a very good zone training meeting on Thursday. It was is Durango which is about 2 and a half hours away from here. So we drove to the zone leaders in Cortez on Wednesday night so we didn't have so much driving Thursday morning. It was a very good meeting. President Jones primarily talked on the Ward Mission Process. It was really good to have him present it to us; especially since he has worked with the quorum of the twelve and had a little more in depth understanding about it. It is amazing and I love having a mission President that has been a general authority before. He shares some amazing stories and experiences from meeting's that he has had with the First Presidency and with the apostles. It is amazing. But, back to the ward mission process. It is something that is so effective if understood and used properly. From what I learned I don't think everybody has the complete understanding of it. I haven't been able to really use it in the other area's on my mission because we didn't even have a ward mission leader. But, in this area it could be used so effectively. Everybody thinks that everybody is members but there are a lot that are not but we rely on the members to find them because it is hard to do by knocking doors. Just like Elder Holland has said the most effective way of finding is through referrals and not knocking doors. So it is something that we as missionaries have discussed and next week in our stake correlation meeting we want to talk about it. But it was a very nice meeting. I had never been to Durango, but to put it in your words dad "it was beautiful!" At this time of the year with all the trees changing colors and being up in the mountain's it was beautiful. I'm glad I wasn't the one driving.

Well tomorrow we are moving out of where we are living. We are moving into a three bedroom three bathroom house by ourselves. It is a pretty unique situation. It is a less active lady that is letting us stay in the house that she has, and all we have to pay is utilities. We meet with her on Saturday and she was going to get keys made and then she was going to drop them off to the lady that we are currently living with. We weren't there but Sister Langston, the lady we live with right now, told us about the visit that they had with each other. Sister Langston told her about how she came to have the elders stay with her and how it was at a very hard time in life when she really needed something and the Lord sent the elders to live with her and now it has been going on for almost five years. It is similar with sister Bayless the lady who is letting us have the house. She hasn't been to church in years and is having a lot of trials right now. So the deal with letting us have the house is that we work with her and her son and get them re-activated. So we are so grateful for them and excited to get the back into church.

I am so glad to hear that you had the missionaries over to teach a lesson mom and dad. Their is no greater joy to a missionary then when members open up their doors and let people be taught in their home. It helps so much and it makes it easier for those people to come to church when they know somebody. They feel more comfortable and have someone to fellowship them. President Hinkley said one of the three most important things that every recent convert needs is a friend. Missionaries come and go but the members need to be there to support and befriend those that the missionaries are teaching. So keep it up!!! I challenge you all to invite somebody into your home this week and have the missionaries teach them! We all need to better fulfill our calling as member missionaries!

Well I hope you all have a wonderful week! I love you all! Be safe and be smart!

Love,

Elder Trevor Schmidt

Yaateeh!

It seems like this transfer is just flying by!!! It does not seem like we are already half way through the transfer. I guess that is what hard work does to you. It makes the time fly by!!!! We are working hard but we wish we could have had more success this week. It was kind of a bummer week for us. We were suppose to have three baptisms this week but they moved out of our area and into the other elders area. Then we had another investigator move into their area as well. The real upsetting part is that the three investigators was a mom and her two kids and they moved into the mom's boyfriends house. So that was a real set back so they won't be getting baptized this week. We did set another date this week for down on the rez. It is a boy named Michael he is really awesome. We found him by knocking doors a last week and found out he had been meeting with missionaries before. So we are excited to work with him. We have some other people we are working with down there that we will probably set a date for the same day as him. So the work is still going forward even though sometimes it seems like you get really set back. We wish we could spend more time down there because their is a lot of work to be done, but it takes about an hour to get there. So we don't have the time or the miles to get there as often as we would like.
This week we have a zone training meeting. It should be really good. I always learn lots from them and try to apply them into our work. It really frustrates me when i hear other Elders say that can't stand them or the view them as useless. They are so beneficial, and there is always so much that we need to learn. Sometimes it seems like repetition, but that must be because it is important and we need to progress in that area! So I look forward to what it is President Jones has to say to us this week.
Well last night we drove into Cortez for P-day. The zone leaders decided that they wanted to have a zone activity since we haven't had one yet. Elder Sharp is my zone leader now so it is kind of fun to get to talk with him again. I'm not sure what we are planning on doing but it should be fun there are 10 companionship's in the zone.
Well I hope you all have a wonderful week! I pray for you all! Be safe and be smart I love you!

Love,
Elder Schmidt

Wonderful Weekend!!!

Yaateeh everybody!

What a wonderful week we had here in Blanding! We were so busy, it was amazing. Their is a lot of work going on but a lot more to be done. We set three baptism dates this week for the 15! It is a mom and her two kids. Their name's are Geri, and here kids Vance and Marissa Paulson. Geri has taken the lessons twice before but was unable to get baptized because she was on probation. Now she is off so we are so excited to work toward the 15! We are very excited to finally get the baptism's going again. In our interview with president last week he expressed his feeling's of wanting us baptizing every week. So hopefully we can begin to get back on track.

So I don't know about all of you but conference was amazing! I loved it so much! It seemed like there was a lot of focus on missionary work, which I loved along with the talks about the Book of Mormon! My top two favorite talks were Elder Callister's talk on the Book of Mormon on Sunday morning and like always Elder Holland's talk on missionary work and preparing during the Priesthood Session. Those were such wonderful talks that everybody in the world needs to hear! If that were to happen what a wonderful world we would live in. I also really enjoyed Elder Packer's talk on Saturday. Those were probably my top one's but the entire conference as a whole was extremely good. I loved it! It was such a nice was to spend my birthday! It is weird I do not feel like I am 20! But I could not think of a better way to spend the day then being spiritually fed by the words of our prophets and apostles. It was a spiritual feast! We went to dinner with the less active family that I told you about and they made some really good Samoan food. We actually watched the last session of conference with them as well, and they have a big theater room with a projection screen and lazy-boys it was rather relaxing... We watched Sunday morning with one of or investigators which was really good. On Saturday we watched the first session with the lady that we live with then went to the stake center to watch the afternoon session.

Man I am spoiled. I got Lot's of packages with lots of food to share with my companions. their is four of us that live together but we are looking for another place to live. But we will work it all off, we work out in the morning's with a member that is a professional UFC fighter. So he tends to think we are paying him sometimes and comes up with some ridiculous work out's!

Well thank you everybody for everything! I love you all so much and pray for you every day! Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Elder Schmidt

Third area...Third state!

Hello everybody!!

Well I am in Utah. That is for sure. It was like culture shock comeing here. Everything is so different then the rez. I see people...white people...and lots of them. That is the biggest difference. Not to mention the fact that we cover half of a stake. We cover 4 wards and a branch on the Ute reservatrion and a branch on the Navajo reservation. So i still get some oof the rez! Which I am extremely glad about because I did not want to leave, but it takes about an hour to get there so we only get to go down once a week. Which is unfortunate because their is a lot of work to be done downn there. It recently got changed from a ward to a branch, so that is not good news.

I am getting asjusted to being here though. I am starting to like it more. One thing that is nice is that we pretty much don't do any knocking doors. the ward mission leaders do all the finding then get the people ready for us to ge see. It's kind of nice, but way different then I am use to because in my last area we didn't even have a branch mission leader. Hopefully I can get it figured out on how to work with them. It is hard because they all want to come out with us but we hardly have the time to give everybody their own night, so in that way it is kind of a struggle. So my new companion's name is Elder Nelson. This is his second transfer so I guess I am step training him which means we have an additional 60 minutes of companionship study everyday where we use the preach my gospel dvd's and this circulem that came out. So it is fun we are learning lots together and having fun. He is from Philidalipha. So a long ways from home. But he is a really good servant. Hopefully we can get some baptisims this transfer since he didn't get any last transfer. We have some investigators that we are working with so hopefully some will be prepared we have plans to really help them progress. So we are working hard and hopefully the Lord will bless us!

Sorry we usually end up emailing earlier but President and Sister Jones were in town today to renew their drivers license since they have utah license so we ended up having interviews with President this morning. It was good to sit down and talk because we haven't had interviews in a couple of months.

So yes mom and dad you pretty much could yell across the river to me for my birthday. One of the branchs that the other elders cover is called Mexican Hat and it covers Navajo mountain. So pretty much our area borders, well it does boarder the lake. That sounds like a fun trip. You guys should enjoy it. So I do get to listen to conference on my birthday. That will be fun to "relax" and listen to the prophet. Before priesthood we are going to this less active family we started working with this week for dinner. The dad is from Samoa so he is going to make some native food which we are excited about. It sounds really good! We just met them this past week and it was really good because they have a son who had said he was prepareing to go on a mission but mom stoped going to church so the kids did as well. They hadn't been in about four months so he was kind of slipping away but they came to church yesterday which was really good and so hopefully we can keep working with him and prepare him.

Well I better get going. I hope you all have a wonderful week. I love you all!

Love,

Elder Schmidt

Moving again...

Yaateeh!

Well, Bummer but I am headed to Blanding Utah. I really wish I was staying here in Crownpoint, but the Lord has other plans for me I guess. I have really come to love this area and the people that I have met. I guess it is true you come to love every area and hate to leave. So I look forward to getting to know the people and the area in Blanding. My new companions name is Elder Nelson. I go from Neilson to Nelson hopefully I don't get confused. I hate to leave but look forward to the new opportunities and people to work with. It is a bummer we are making such good progress here in this area and have changed a lot of things. We have a baptisim this week and we have so many people that we are working with that are doing so good. This week we had 10 new investigators. We found a family that is really awesome. They want to keep learning more and asked if we could come back the next day.

This week we had to do two funerals! You already know about the one on Monday, then we had to do one on Saturday as well. For some reason they seem to take up all day. I think it is because they only use shovels to bury the people. So it takes them like over an hour to do instead of using a backhoe. But this one wasn't so weird they were members so they did it normal and not the traditional way. But it was good. After we got done with it we went to this memorial bull riding. Some people that we have been working with were putting it on in rememberance of their dad. It was a lot of fun. We were going to help but they said they had it all under control so we just went to support. They had a few different catagories of riders. One group was thee 50+ riders. Their was some old guys out their and they had some of the best ride's. It was pretty cool.

We have a baptism this week( here in Crownpoint). It is a bummer that I will be missing it. We have really been working hard to get her to progress. Her name is Corletta. She had been meeting with the missionaries before but they would just come every once in a month or so, and didn't really teach and leave committments. Something we did was just invite her to come to church and set timesto meet. Thats what your suppose to be doing anyways. But it's weird when you actually do what your suppose to the blessings come from it.

Well I better get going. Kind of short this week but next week I will have a new place to talk about. I hope you all have a wonderful week! I love you all!

Love,

Elder Schmidt

6 months tie burning

 Distric in Crownpoint, NM

Jaylynn's Baptism 

 

 

Hello everybody!

Yes mom I am fine! Sorry we had to do a funeral yesterday which ended up taking all DAY! We got to the church early to set up chairs and make sure everything was cleaned up, and so that the church would be opened. Its a good thing that we were there, because family started showing up about an hour early and nobody else was there to open the building. It was a pretty good service, but it was a little different. It was for a lady that married a Laguna Indian man, so they did a more traditional Laguna type funeral. So first of all that entails that they don't use a casket, they just wrap the body in a blanket and put it on a board. That was different to be sitting on the stand with a body just laying on the floor in front of us. Then when the service was over before they took the body out they spun it around in a circle four times. Not quite sure what it was symbolic of, but they messed all the chairs up in the process so we had to fix all of them. Then they sprinkled some weird stuff on the ground in front of her so we had to vacuume as well. It was a little different but it was a good service. The reason it was so long was because the Husband talked for over an hour, then they had to dig the hole by hand and bury her by hand so the grave site service took over two hours alone then we had lunch after so by the time it was all over the library was closed so we couldn't email. So that is the story of how we spent our P-day. But we met some really nice people and some that we might begin to work with.

So we had a very good week though. This past weekend we had stake conference. There were some very good talks given. I really enjoyed the talk by the member of the Temple presidency and his wife. Obviously they both talk about the temple but their were some very good comments given. I really like the sister talked about how if everybody in the world worthy held a temple recommend how the whole world would be a better place. She said wives would not weep, children would not shed tears and their would be no room for misery. I really like that line because I find it to be so true. As the scriptures say "wickedness never was happiness" the blessings that come through attending the temple far out way the misery and temporal joy that Satan thinks he can bring to us. I wish I could not go two years without attending the temple. Seven months seems long enough. In the last zone conference we were talking about temples and the only ones that were answering the questions were the greenies that just came out. The temple president (I think he was the president) made a very powerful comment that really hit me. He said "salvation is a personal matter, exaltation is a family matter." he talked about how the temple is the only place and where the only men hold the keys to seal families for all eternity. What a great blessing that is! To know that we can all live together in the life to come where the greatest happiness is. President Redhair of the mission presidency also spoke. To be honest I had no clue as to who he was untill this past weekend. But, he spoke on preach my gospel. He said every family should have a preach my gospel in their home, and should not only read but study chapters 8 and 13. I really liked his talk, he talked to the members about their role in missionary work. He said to many times we see new converts become converted to a missionary and when they bring them to church member don't welcome them or befriend them. then when the missionary leaves so does the new member. that is true all to often that happens. He gave some ideas on what to do as a member. So I challenge you all to take that challenge if you don't have a preach my gospel get one, and then study it. It is Preach my Gospel. We all have that responsibility, not just the full time missionaries.

We had another really good week of missionary work here in Crownpoint as well. We found four new investigators this week. We knocked into a family that is really nice. Their last name is Sam, and they are awesome. They have a son who's ten years old. He rides steers, and seems to be pretty good just before we met them he broke his arm but won some money. After he got off the steer steped on his arm and broke it, but he must have got some money because he had just bought some chaps and they were pretty nice. we are excited to work with them. They were all very excepting and understanding. Their is a little word of wisdom issue but nothing that the spirit won't be able to take care of.

It is hard to believe that this is week 6 of the transfer already. From the sounds of things, I might be getting transfered or we will both be staying. I hope we both stay. We are making such good progress and I really want to see some of these people progress. This week we set a date for the 22 with a really awesom investigator. Her name is Corletta and she is ready to be baptized today. We are excited for that. Then we have a baptisim this week for a little girl named Jalin. So the work is definatly picking up and we are so excited to see it. Our work is paying off.

  Well I better get going. I hope you all have a wonderful week! I love you all!

Love,

Elder Schmidt

 

Baptism of Sister Cowboy September 2011

 

Happy Labor Day!

Well this will be short. The library is closed so this very nice member let us use their computer but elder nielson already emailed for over an hour so i feel bad taking to much time.

however we did have a pretty awesome week here in Crownpoint! We did baptize Candace on Friday! It was a really good day and we were so excited to see her finally step into the waters of baptisim. She asked me to baptize her so that was really neat as well. We have a baptism next week as well, but it is for a child of record, a little girl named Jalin. So we are excited to finally have the font getting wet here in Crownpoint. We didn't know how to set up for a baptisim so it took a couple of times of rearranging things anf figuring out to get it all set up the right way. We also found out that the font leaks pretty fast. We had filled it up and then when we were about to start we looked and almost half of it had drained out, so we had to turn it back on for a little while before we started the service. So it was a good experience, and now we know for the future!

We had another good attendance at sacrament meeting this week. We had two investigators their. Corletta thompson and Lawanda came. Corletta brough her sister who we had not been meeting with and Lawanda brought her two daughters. It was nice to see them excited to feel the spirit and want to share it even more with their family. This week we will be setting dates with the both of them so we are excited! We also found two new investigators this week as well. They seeem really interested and understand alot. One is a man named Myron who is the husband of a lady we met a couple weeks ago but he has never been home, so know we are setting times where we can meet with the both of them.

Well i have more to say but i better get going. Everybody have a wonderful weel! I love you all! I will write more later!

Love,

elder schmidt

Good morning everybody!

How was everybody's week? We had a pretty good week here in Crownpoint. Yesterday was an especially good day. We had a very good sacrament meeting.  There were 50 people at church yesterday. Of those 50, 4 were investigators and we had some less actives there who hadn't been to church in nearly 20 years. Persistance and following the spirit pays off. Sometimes you feel like giving up on somebody but that extra little push is all it takes. Then once they come to church once they want to keep coming. We had two of our new investigators from this week there and they were already talking about coming next week. It is so good to see people progress.

We have a baptisim this Friday. We are really excited about it because their hasn't been a baptisim in Crownpoint all year. It is for a 9 year old girl Sister Cowboy. Yes Cowboy, for some reason everybody likes that last name. Their are lots of Cowboy's that live around here. Anyways, she asked me to baptize her, so that is exciting. We also have a baptism next week as well.  These are two girls that have been ready for baptisim for some time now but the missionaries that have been here haven't beeen in the right mind set. This transfer we have had at least three new investigatiors every week. There hasn't been a new investigator in a single week for the six months before this transfer started. It is unfortunate that some of the elder's get this way and it has really effected the branch. I guess the elder's use to go "hang out" at some of the members houses quite often and for long periods of time. They don't like the fact that we don't do that. We are out working instead and seeing this area progress like it hasn't in such a long period of time. But oh well, I guess sometimes people look at the bad guy as the one who stand's up for what right. Well, in that case I will be the bad guy.

Something we struggle with here is getting the branch involved in missioary work. I believe it's something that is a struggle everywhere. But we are starting to go on splits with the branch Presidency every week, so we are excited about their willlingness and desire to help out in some way. It is somewhere to start, so hopefully we can continue to progress. It will be really good to go see investigators with the members so they have somebodu other then us to connect to when they come to church.

I hope you all have a wonderful week! I love you all!

Love,

Elder Schmidt

Hello everybody!

We had another really good week here in Crownpoint! Last Tuesday we had Zone Conference and it went really well! In the zone conference we had before we talked about increasing our number of baptisims by finding new investigators. So this conference we talked about increasing our number of baptisims by becoming more effective teachers. Some of the things we really focused on were teaching simply, asking questions, and using scriptures. These three things are key to become a more effective servent of the Lord. When we talk about teaching simply we mean really simply. Sometimes it is difficult to teach as simply as we need to but when you follow the spirit your not doing the teaching the spirit is. We are just here bring the truth back to people that have already accepted it; we know that because they are here in this World. These people like things straight forward and simple, I guess you could say plain and simple. I like things like that too so thats how I try to teach. It is not often that you find someone that is very knowledgable about the bible or has a really deep complex understanding of things. Which is good because neither do I. I accept it for what Heavenly Father has given and just continued in faith. Something I think more people need to understand more often.

This week we worked pretty hard and did a lot of knocking doors. We found four new investigators that we are excited about. We have done a lot of finding the past couple of weeks. We are trying to focus more of our attention on them instead of all of these old investigatrs that have been meeting with the missionaries for months and are not making any progress. We had two investigators at church yesterday which was really good. we were suppose to hve a baptisim this week but the branch president didn't feel comfortable with it so we have to puch it back a couple of weeks. We have a baptisim next week though, so we are excited about that. I hope we will be able to set some more dates soon, we ae pretty sure we will be able to.

Well I hope you all have a wonderful week and get back into the routine of school. I love you all! Be safe and be smart! Talk to you soon.

Love,

Elder Schmidt

Hello everybody!

So yes I did get a new companion this week. his name is Elder Nielson. He has been out for five months and he is from Edmonton Canada. His dad is a doctor but had a hobby of horses. I guess it started out with 5 and has now grown to more then 120. So his hobby turned into a job for his kids. But anyways I am glad to have him as a companion. He really wants to work as do I. this week it seems like we did more work then all of last transfer combined, it is sad to say. But we are really enjoying the blessings of our hard work. This week we had three new investigators and have a whole bunch of potentials. Two of our new investigators actually came to us. They showed up to church so we talked to them for a little while and they stayed for sacrament and sunday school but had to leave because they had a baby at home they needed to get home to. They have four children that we are going to meet with as well. We are excited for the work that is going on now. When you work the work goes on.

Tomorrow we have Zone Conference. It seems like we just had zone conference. I guess it is going to be aq combined conference with the zone i used to be i, and it's going to be more like a training meeting. It should be fun to get to see some more of the elder's again. We might go to Gallup today and thn spend the night with the zone leaders because we don't have miles to go back and forth today and tomorrow.

Well it sounds like the beach house was fun again. Did anybody get hurt? We are so blessed to have a close family and be able to spend time together. Yesterday we were talking to one of the members here. She was saying how she didn't see either of her daughters for three years. One lives just in Farmington which is about an hour away from here, but they never had time to meet up. Don't take your family for granted. It is one of the greatest blessings Heavenly Father has given us!

I hope you all have a good week. I love you all!

Love,

Elder Schmidt

Yaateeh everybody!

Well first thing I am stying here in Crownpoint. I am glad! I have really come to love the people here and there is a lot of work that needs to be done. Elder Akaka is going to Durango, and I am getting Elder Nelson. I don't know anything about him but tomorrow is transfers so we will get to know eachother then. I am really starting to like Crownpoint their are a lot of really nice people here, and it is a nice area. Some of the things that we struggle with are some of the thing's that are a huge blesing as well. They are a very humble people. One thing that is difficult is they are just real easy going and real patient. The bad part about that is for some reason it is difficult to get them to church, but the good part is they are always willing to talk and to listen. I really like it because I like to just talk to people and get to know them and build their trust before we start teaching. Everybody around here is into rodeo and has animals so that is something that I can really connect with the people about. Crownpoint is the steer wrestling capital of the Navajo Nation. Some people have suggested wanting me to try it and get into it. So it is fun to connect with the people and get to know them in that way.

Thank you for all of the letters from the beach house! It sounds like you guys are having an amazing time. Dad last week you asked if sending the Pacific Showcase would make me home sick and I thought that hearing about the beach house would to,but it doesn't. I love it out here. I wish I could be there but this is where I need to be. I love my mission! I love the area! I love serving with the laminite people! I can truely say I have come to love them. It sounds like the beach is still the same fun place. It is really nice to just take some time and relax. It was so good to get a little note from everybody! Thank you very much for those, it was so good to hear from everybody and how you are doing. It sounds like you guys are having a blast! Be safe! No trips to the hospital:) Have a wonderful week! I love you all!

Love Elder Schmidt

a few pictures from the back of our trailer & a family we've met who live here in the summer and in Phoenix during the rest of the year

6 Months???

Yaateeh everybody!

I guess time really does fly when your having fun. It does not seem possible that I could already be 1/4 of the with my mission. We were talking about it last night with some members. It seems like just last week that I went into the MTC. It does not seem possible that these past six months are already over. I have heard that time only seems to go by faster and faster. I hope that is not entirely true. I hope I am serving the Lord to the best of my ability because I don't want to look back and regret anything.

Well this is the last week of the transfer. It is hard to believe! It seems like I just got here. Were pretty sure Elder Akaka is going to be transferred. he has been here for about five months, but you never know. We were suppose to have a baptism this week. By they didn't come to church yesterday so we have to push it back. It is so frustrating when it seems like you do all you can to help others come unto Christ but they don't keep their commitment's. I guess we really just have to evaluate ourselves and identify what we are doing wrong and how we can become better.

So the res. is broken up into, what they call agencies. I believe their are six of them, and Crownpoint is the head quarters of the Eastern Navajo Agency. So this week they had the Eastern Navajo Agency Fair and Rodeo going on. It seemed as if everyone put their life on old for a few days, it made work kind of slow this week. Everybody had their "cousin-brother's" or whoever staying with them or they were doing something in the fair. So it was hard to get into some doors. This should be a good week though.

Well I hope you all have a wonderful week! I love you all! Take care!

Love,

Elder Schmidt

Yaateeh shi'qee (my family)

Well how was everyone's week? Our was pretty good here in wonderful Crownpoint! Last week I had to speak at that funeral. They had a man talk on the Plan of Salvation in Navajo so I had no clue what he said. They asked me to just give some words of encouragement, whatever that means. So I shared a scripture from Alma chapter 40 that talks about the spirit word, and how one day we will all be reunited. I hope I didn't repeat anything that the man said. For the part about comforting and encouragment I just talked about how we have memories and we should cherish them and remember those that past on, but be comforted to know we will see them again. Speaking of funerals, we had dinner with some members the other night then on Saturday night the branch President called to ask us is we could speak. He old us that the daughter-in-law of the poeple we ate with, she was actually their and ate with us got in a car accident and passed away. We couldn't believe it we had just eaten dinner with this lady and now she was gone. It just goes to show youi never know what will happen and something takes you life, so are you living everyday so that you can return to live with Hevenly Father?

We had Zone Conference this past week. It was really good. President Jones came and interviewed us here on Wednesday then the conference was in Gallup on Thursday. We had a good interview he talked to me about how I can help my companion. I have coe to find out that the Polynesian people are kind of slow moving. He also told me he looked up where I live on the internet. He said he wanted to see where I raised my animals at. We talked about the animals and I told him how that was one thing I miss about home, but I was like they will be there when I get back. He jokeingly said he didn't feel bad because he has been waiting 17 years to get back to his animals. When he was called to the seventy he had to walk away from it. But our conferene was really good. We talked alot about finding. Which is something that we really need to work on so it was really good. We compared our mission numbers to the other southwest mission's and the rest of the missions in the United States. We were alot better in some and a lot worse in others.

Dad you asked about any Pioneer celebrations. Their are not any here in Crownpoint, but there is a big one down in Ramah which is near the Zuni reservation. They have a rodeo and big parade and everything. Then their is another one down by Grants but not here.

Well I hope you all have a wonderful week! Take care! I love you all!

Love,

Elder Schmidt

Yaateeh,

Well it has been a pretty quick week! Sorry i am emailing so late. We had to be at a funeral this morning and then had to go and dedicate the grave , so they wanted us to eat lunch as well. It took a really long time because they didn't have a backhoe so they had to use shovels to bury the guy. It took awhile. The lady that was kind of putting the funeral service together came to church yesterday and asked if one of us could speak. Elder Akaka didn't really want to so I told them I would. It was kind of weird not knowing anybody and not knowing what to talk on. She just told me to talk for like ten minutes. I hope I did a good job and brought some comfort to the family.

We had a pretty good week but still a lot of progress to be made. There is like 1100 names on the branch list. It is good to see some of the people we are working with come to church. We had one of our investigators their, which made us really happy because we were told she was in Albuquerque. So we should have a baptism coming up. So we are excited about that!

We have Zone Conference this week. I am excited what President has to talk to us about this time and what we need to improve on. President Jones is stopping here on his way down for interviews. We have them on Wednesday morning. It should be a good week!

I hope you all have a wonderful week. I love you all! Talk to you soon!

Love,

Elder Schmidt

Hello everybody,

Well this week seemed to go by pretty fast. It seems like it was just the 4th, but it was a pretty good week. We went around and I got to know a lot more of our investigators and see more of our area. This area is a lot bigger then my last area. There are some people that literally live in the middle of now where. It takes quite some time to get out to see them, so we don't get to see them as often as we would like. There was a lot more people at church yesterday. We meet in a pretty nice building for having such a small branch. We still have the same problems here as we did in my last area. We are suppose to have a baptism coming up but people are not coming to church. We have a lot of work to do with people to get their perceived value of church up, and why church is so important. These people come up with every excuses you could think of for not coming, but their is no excuse for putting off God. The Branch list is 40 pages long of names and we only get about 40 people per week coming to church, so their is a lot of work to be done. Elder Akaka and I get along really well;; we have fun together and work really good as a companionship. Sometimes I just need to get him more excited and out working. He has been here for about 4 1/2 months now and is kind of slacking, but the work needs to be done. In the words of President Jones "knock their door until they are baptized." If you have knocked it once knock it again. That is something I'm trying to help him understand.

Today we are going into Gallup for a zone activity. Most of the zone usually gets together in Gallup on P-day's but we are so far out here we don't have enough miles to go every week. I was closer to Gallup in my last area then i am now. We are just over an hour away and in my last area we were about twenty minutes. We are going to play basketball and games. It will be good to get to know some more Elders, and we have sisters in our zone.

Well I hope you all have a wonderful week! I love you all!

Love,

Elder Schmidt

Happy Fourth of July!

Hello Everybody!!!

Well Crownpoint is much smaller then St. Michaels and Window Rock. Yes Natalie it is very brown, not to many people. However, there is still a lot of work to be done because when Sacrament started yesterday there was only like ten people there, and that was including us and the branch President. More people did show up after we started but not everybody in town that is for sure. Most of the people here have been baptized at some point in their life but have fallen away for one reason or another. it is pretty common with these people. Yesterday in Priesthood we were talking with one of the counselors in the Branch Presidency and he was telling us about his conversion and some of the things that he thinks need to be talked about with the people to get them back to church. It was really good it gave me some ideas on things we need to talk to people about. It was really good to get the perspective of someone like that.

I didn't want to leave St. Michaels but this is where the Lord has called me to serve so I will go forward faithfully and serve the best I can. I guess I must be doing something right because there were many members that said they were sad to see me leave and Joanne even cried when we went to say good bye to her. I hope she continues. I was really worried to leave the area because Elder Smith had a real hard time remembering people and where they live, so I am keeping in touch with them to make sure he is still going to see certain people. Elder Akaka has been out less time then I have. We get along pretty good. He is kind of shy as well but we work well together. I was ready for a new companion. We are going to work hard together.

Well I better get going. I hope you all have a wonderful week. I love you all. Have a happy fourth of july!!! We are going to have a bbq with some members and they have some fireworks so we can watch.

Love,

Elder Schmidt

Moving on...

Yaateeh,

Well I served in my first area for about four and a half months, and now I'm moving. Tomorrow I will be going to Crown point. It's not to far away it's on the other side of Gallup. I will be in the Gallup Zone. It should be pretty fun. My new companion's name is Elder Akaka I think he is from Hawaii. He has been out one less transfer then me, but it should be pretty fun. I really wish I was staying here but I am ready for a new companion. I haven't heard much about Crown point other then whenever I tell somebody they laugh and say there is nothing out there! So we will see how it goes. However it will be good to meet and work with new people. So I am excited for that.

This past Saturday Joanne was suppose to get baptized but it didn't happen. She was really suppose to get baptized like three weeks ago but keeps pushing it back. We told her how Satan is going to work on her and that he is going to do all he can to keep her from coming closer to Heavenly Father, and she is letting him succeed. It is really disappointing to see people put off what they know is right. I really wish I was staying here we have some new investigators that are really awesome. One family, Marty and Phillacita Wood, are really awesome. They don't have much of a background in religion but they are so accepting of everything. We set a date for them to get baptized on the 16. Then Tex and Kristine who we have been working with for a while got their marriage license. They have been ready to get baptized for a while now they just need to get married. So they are taking the steps and should be ready to get baptized this month. So that is pretty exciting. I wish I could be here for some of these things.

Sounds like the Fair went pretty good. I miss being there. That is unfortunate that Aub's pig got sick. I guess those thing's happen. That's pretty cool that Jimmer is going to the King's. I guess we will See how that goes.

Well I better get going. I hope you all have a wonderful day and fantastic week! I will let you know my address as soon as I get it. I love you all!

Love,

Elder Schmidt

Yaateeh everybody!

How was every body's week? I hope it was as good as mine! So Natalie is that how you were expecting to wake up on Saturday. Well thank you, the cake did turn out really good! We did the confetti with strawberry ice cream. I must say I did a pretty good job. I had a really neat experience this week. On Saturday there was a ward temple day with a focus on getting all of the recent converts to go and do baptisms for the dead. Last Sunday we got Terrance the priesthood so that he could go. He and Sandra our two most recent converts were able to make it. That night we went to Sandra's to see how it went. When we got their she had the biggest smile on her face and just had this glow to her. She told us about it and how she loved every minute of it. On Sunday in gospel Principles President Boone asked each of them to talk about their experience and share a little about it. It was so awesome to get to hear each of them talk about it and how they loved it. One of the men said how he hopes that that is how Heaven is. I loved hearing all of them talk about their experience.

This week there was a leadership training meeting in Flagstaff for all Zone Leaders, District Leaders and anybody who had a companion that has been out for less then three transfers. So this week was a pretty crazy week. Elder Chapple and Smith and one of the Ganado Elders went to the meeting. So Elder Ochoa and the other Ganado elder and I were companions from Monday until Thursday night. So we spent a day and a half in Ganado and then a day in each of our areas. It was fun to spend some times and get to know some other elders, but I didn't like not being in my area.

Well I better get going. I hope you all have a wonderful week. Happy Fathers Day to all the Fathers out there. I love you all!

Love,

Elder Schmidt

Yaateeh!

Well this week flew by! We were just driving back from working out and we were talking about what we did last P-day and it seems like it was just yesterday! The time seems to go faster and faster every week. We are in week 5 of the transfer and there is a pretty good chance that I will be leaving at the end of this transfer, there are six weeks in a transfer. President usually does not leave a companionship together for more then two transfers which is three months. It doesn't seem like Elder Smith and I have been together for three months already. I don't even remember last transfer.

We had an alright week this week. Joseph and Joanne our two investigators who got married last week are suppose to get baptized this week. We met with them on Saturday to talk about some things. Joanne is ready to be baptized but Joseph is still having some problems with the word of wisdom. We told them that he would have to be over it for two weeks before he could get baptized so he wouldn't be able to get baptized this week. Joanne took it pretty hard and told us that if he wasn't going to get baptized then she wasn't. We talked to her for a while about it and she told us how she has prayed about it and it's something she knows she needs to do. I kills me to see someone that has such a desire and knows they need to do it, yet they are going to let one little thing stand in their way. We told her that it's not like he can't get baptized we just have to keep working with him on the word of wisdom and then he can. She promised me that she would ask Heavenly Father what she should do, so I need to call and talk to her. On a better note; this week the ward is doing a temple trip with a focus on getting our recent converts to do baptisms for the dead. Sandra and Terrance are both going. In order for Terrance to go he had to get the priesthood. We set an appointment up for him to meet with the bishop before church. Bishop had PEC so the interview was really early at 7:30, but Terrance made it here before bishop did(not surprising). So during priesthood I had the opportunity to do a first in my life. He asked me to be the one to lay my hands on his head and confer the Aaronic priesthood to him and ordain him to the office of a priest. That was a really awesome experience to have that opportunity. I have stood in on ordinations but never have been the mouth piece. It was really awesome.

This week we helped some members move. They needed some sewer and water lines dug so we went to help them. We started by digging by hand using shovels. If you knew how hard the ground is around here you would realize that it would have taken us all year to complete this project. So, after about an hour they decided to rent President Brown's backhoe. They were operating it at first, but they are some older people and couldn't really get the hang of it. So, they asked if we had any experience running one. I had the most of any of us which was close to none, but I gave it a try. I actually did pretty good. I got the hang of it, it was fun.

Well I better get going. I hope you all have a wonderful week! I pray for all of you. I love you very much!

Love your favorite servant of the Lord,

 

Elder Schmidt