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