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