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