oh man

Hey Family!

Aw man, y'all are going to Lake Powell this week.  You lucky ducks.  :)  I wish I could be there with y'all. 

Oh my goodness, did Sarah tell you?!  Yesterday Sarah, Nik, and Elise were skyping with Sister Mills and she called me.  Haha I could hear their voices through the phone!  We probably aren't allowed to do that but it was pretty cool nonetheless.  It made Sister Mills day too, so thank y'all for doing that.  Oh hey were you in Rexburg when it got all flooded out the other day?  Elder Steele showed me some videos of all the water everywhere and it was crazy!!   

Haha and here's the story of Elder Rothschild emailing you, Emily.  The elders and us always have this joke going around of who we're going to marry.  So long story short I said, "you should write my sister, Elder Rothschild!  Not my twin sister, she's got a boyfriend.  But my little sister."  and then I showed him some pictures and gave him your email.  And low and behold he actually did email you.  And that's about it.  :)  you should email him back though.  He's a pretty cool guy. 

Anyways, here's the crazy story from this week.  So remember last weeks story about BJ and Melissa?  Oh man, so we text him on Saturday to make sure they're still coming to church on sunday and here's how it goes.  I'll just type out our messages so it will make more sense. 

"Hey BJ are y'all still coming to church tomorrow?"

"yea of course ..."

"Sweet we'll be saving y'all a seat.  It starts at 9am.  May we come and teach y'all more tomorrow evening too?"

"Sure.  Can I tell you something ..."

"hello"

"Yeah what is it?" in the meantime I'm just thinkin aw man, what's he gonna tell us.  And then he says,

"I'm kinda have a crush on you, I think your really really cute"

Aw man, it's the worst when that happens!  Way to ruin everything.  We just texted him back and told him our purpose for being here and what not.  Man, I was so excited for the both of them because they were so sweet.  And he said he was gonna come to church tomorrow but they didn't show up.  We stopped by their place later since sunday is their only off day but they didn't answer.  Maybe we'll just pass them over to the elders to teach.  The thing that bugs me about the whole thing is he has a stinkin girlfriend and they were both really interested in learning more about the gospel.  I mean, things like that happen all the time but not when the people are actually interested.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens. 

Oh but there is some exciting news from the week!  Andrea came to church yesterday for the first time and really liked it!  Not the Brazilian Andrea, the Andrea that lives next to the Dixon's.  Aw man, she's so sweet.  We taught her on Thursday too and she really wants to get baptized.  She has a date set for Aug 3 but that ain't gonna happen.  Just minor details, ya know.  The other day we were visiting her and asked her how long she's been married to her husband for.  And she said they actually aren't married yet because if she gets married she won't get any grants or loans to keep going to school.  So basically she said she'll get married to him in four years or so.  But hey we haven't taught her the law of chastity yet so when we do we'll commit her to pray about what to do.  And in the meantime hopefully keep coming to church.  She's awesome though.  Sister Poole was able to bring her because Andrea owes some money on her truck so she can't drive it right now, so that was super nice.  I was freaking out during church too because the lessons weren't all that good and the talks were on the temple and she probably had no clue what anybody was talking about.  But hey the spirit must've touched her heart because she said she's excited to come back next week.

That's about our whole week right there.  Pretty good one to say the least.  Haha wait here's one more weird story.  So we're walking down the street and this guy rides up on his bike.  We wave to him and ask him how he is.  He gets off his bike and pretty sure he's drunk or something.  But he says, "Who?!"  and says it a couple more times.  We were just a tad bit confused so we said, "Who what?"  To which he replies, or at least this is what I heard, but he could've said something different.  "Whose a possessed black nigger?"  I replied, "Um..nobody."  and that happened a couple more times, and then he said, "Whose bullet proof?"  same thing, "Nobody."  In the meantime he was getting up way close.  And he says, "I'm bullet proof!" he said a couple more random things repeatedly and then I said, "Can we give you a picture of Jesus?"  Haha and I think it freaked him out because he started backing away.  Then we said, "Alright.  Have a good day Sir." and walked away.  Really weird.

Hey before I go here's a quick scripture to think about.  4 Nephi 1:38 "And it came to pass that they who rejected the gospelwere called Lamanites, and Lemuelites, and Ishmaelites; and they did not dwindle in unbelief, but they did wilfully rebelagainst the gospel of Christ; and they did teach their children that they should not believe, even as their fathers, from thebeginning, did dwindle."  The key is they didn't dwindle in unbelief, but they chose to rebel.  Everything always turns back to our agency.  So the question to think about is, how are your choices affecting you? 

I just want to say real quick that I love y'all so much.  And I have a testimony that the gospel of Jesus Christ will bless your life more than anything else.  I've seen it countless and countless times.  The secret to it though is you have to live the gospel of Christ everyday the very best you can.  And look back on all your blessings.  After all, your blessings grow when you count them.  Christ lives and God loves us.  I know it's true.  

Love Always, Sister Schmutz

p.s. Missy convinced me the other day to move back out here.  I'll clean out one of her rooms and live at her place for free.  And since I've mastered the bus system I'll ride the bus and go to school at LSU.  Sounds pretty good to me.  What do y'all think?  :)  

p.s.s. or p.p.s?  Anyways, our district is going to an alligator farm over in Hammond today.  So if you never hear from me again it's probably cause I got eaten by a gator.  But know that I love y'all anyway.  :)  I'll send pictures next week!  

blonde hair and blue eyes

Hey Family!

Aw man, I'm so happy y'all got to meet the Walls at their homecoming.  They're awesome people.  :) and I miss them so much!  Y'all could just send a CD with the recordings on it if you want.     

Oh hey and those Book of Mormon notes that I sent home are for Emily.  I didn't have time to write a note in with the package but it was part of our challenge together.  We agreed to read the Book of Mormon by the time school got out and with every chapter write down something we learned.  So that's mine for ya.  Where's your end of the deal, Emily?  ;) 

So yeah, I got a new companion!  Her name is Sister King and she's from Phoenix, Arizona.  She's been on her mission for six months and she's really nice.  Haha I don't know what else to tell y'all about her.  And Sister Wolf got transferred up to Marksville.  I miss her but know she's doing good.  Ya know, at first I really didn't want to get a new companion for my last transfer but now I'm really liking it.  It's weird, new companions help you to grow in different ways.  I actually think I was more trunky last transfer than this one.  Aw man, look at me.  Only trunky people talk about not being trunky.  Haha just kidding I want and need to work real hard the last little bit to help Sister King get to know the area and the people.  Plus I love the people here so much I can't just leave em hanging.  I think my goal this transfer is get members present at as many investigator lessons as possible.  Honestly I just forget to call and invite them so we hardly get any members coming out with us.  But we have so many sweet investigators that sincerely want to learn more and the members could really help. 

Hey!  When are y'all gonna come to Louisiana so you can meet all these cool people?  Here's a great idea!  Let's just all move to Baton Rouge.  Aw man, dream come true.  I've even adopted two children while on my mission so we already got family here!  Haha I'll explain.  At church Heather-Marie and Alasia like to call me mama for some strange random reason and drag me around everywhere with them.  It's hilarious!  I'd tell ya a funny story but you'd have to be there otherwise it'd make no sense.  It's funny, half the people in the ward know I go home pretty soon and the other half think I have a while left.  I love this place so much.       

Anyways, oh my here's the sweetest miracle.  I like to call it our transfer miracle because if we hadn't gone to transfers we wouldn't have ever met this couple.  Here's the background.  So Wednesday we go to transfers and what not and on the way home I think, "Hey we should go to walmart!"  because we haven't been grocery shopping in weeks and I don't want to starve my poor companion.  So fast forward to the end of shopping.  We're using the self check out machine to get our stuff and this couple squeezes past us to get behind us in line. 

They turn to us and say, "Are y'all Mormons?"

So of course we say, "Yeah!" 

"Oh cool!  We saw y'alls name tags and figured you were."

"Have y'all ever talked to missionaries before?"

"No.."

"Can we give y'all a Book of Mormon?"

"Yeah, we'd love one."  And we explain a little about it and how it's another testament of Christ.

"Aw sweet!  We'll go read it tonight!"

"Can we come by and teach you more about it?"

"Yeah.  Can y'all come over tomorrow?"

And then we get their info and what not and that was about it.  We called them the next day but they were at work.  So we went back on Sunday and were able to teach them the restoration.  It was a real good lesson too and I think they understood everything too!  Aw man, they related to Joseph Smith because they've been to so many different churches and have seen how they all teach kinda the same things but they're all different.  They're really interested and want to find out the truth for themselves so it's just really cool.  We didn't even get the chance to invite them to church, Melissa just turned to BJ during the lesson and asked, "You want to go to their church this sunday?"  Aw man, so cool!  I'm so excited for them.  It's so sweet because I've never taught a couple that are both interested.  haha and the funniest part of the lesson.  Melissa says, "In the Baptist church they believe Jesus had blonde hair and blue eyes.  In y'alls pamphlet his hair looks blonde!"  Super random and funny.  We just said, "oooh we've never noticed that before."  And moved on.

Before I got to go I just want to share a quick scripture with y'all.  1 John 3:18 "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth."  Always remember, actions speak louder than words.  The scripture makes me think about something we were discussing in ward council yesterday.  Our ward has a big problem with transportation issues and getting people to church.  We were talking about how we need to assign certain people to pick up others, and yes it can be frustrating at times because we'll get there and they won't be ready or don't want to come.  But we just have to keep doing it until they do come.  Brother Richardson from the high council was there (he's one of my favorite person in the stake) and he reminded us of the covenants we made to consecrate all we have to the Lord.  I don't know, he went into more detail but it's too much to write.  It's so true though.  Our actions speak volumes more than our words.  We have to quit sitting around and expecting others to do things and go do the things Christ would want us to do.  After all, we already promised Him that we would.  

Love y'all so much!  Enjoy your last soccer tournament.  And good luck with finals, Sarah!

Love Always, Sister Schmutz

happy 4th!

Hey Family!

So the news is... I get to stay in Baton Rouge for my last transfer!!  Sister Wolf is getting transferred though which I'm really sad about.  I really hoped we'd be staying together but that's alright.  I'm gonna miss her so much.  Man, I have to say that Sister Wolf has taught me a lot.  And by a lot I mean a lot.  She's awesome and I love her so much!   

Goodness, I feel so bad for the poor soul that gets to be my companion for this transfer.  I feel so bad because she only gets six weeks to learn how to get around in the crazy city of Baton Rouge and learn how to use the bus system and everything.  Goodness, keep her in y'alls prayers.  I only know Baton Rouge so well because I've been here forever but she only gets six weeks to learn it.  I'll have to teach her all that I know! 

We met President and Sister Hansen this last week.  It's weird...I don't like getting new mission presidents.  You expect them to just automatically know you already and all this stuff but they don't.  It's just hard because President Hansen came and he wants to change so many things.  My personal opinion is he shouldn't be changing anything quite yet cause he just got here and he doesn't know anything about Louisiana!  Louisiana is a special place I tell ya.  You can't just do things the normal way down here.  I mean, I love this place like crazy but some things should just be left the way they are.  I mean, we aren't in Idaho anymore.  Other than that though they're pretty cool. 

Ooh so the exciting news!  Geneva and Johnathan got baptized and confirmed on Saturday.  I just have to say it was one of the best baptisms I've been to too.  :)  First let me tell ya.  On Thursday we go over to their house and Geneva comes out crying saying she doesn't want to get baptized on Saturday.  We were kinda freaking out too because she wouldn't even watch her mom get baptized.  And we had no clue what was gonna happen at the baptism.  But Saturday came along and Amy's husband, Jonathan did a really good job with them.  Geneva got straight in the water and was really calm and only had to get baptized once.  It was super sweet.  Haha and then Johnathan wouldn't plug his nose so he had to get baptized twice because his knees kept coming out of the water.  I'm so happy Amy and her family got to come down.  I think it helped calm everyone's nerves and make everything go a lot better.  Oh and the best part.  After their interviews, Elder Navitikula kept saying how strong of a testimony Geneva has.  He said he couldn't really understand her but the spirit was there really strong.  So cool and I'm so happy for them.  :) 

Sounds like y'alls 4th of July was pretty good.  Since it was our p-day we switched our proselyting time to the morning so we had the whole evening to do whatever we wanted.  Our district had a BBQ at the zone leaders apartment.  And then us, the office elders, and the north elders went and got snoballs.  (Snoballs are the greatest invention ever.  It's a snowcone but it has ice cream in the middle and lots of flavors)  And then we went downtown and walked around the city.  And got to watch the fireworks on the levee.  It was a really good day.  Man, I love the elders so much! 

That's so sweet that y'all got to see Sister Calderwood!  I haven't heard from her forever and was thinking about her the other day. 

Anyways, I'm gonna cut this email short so I can send y'all some pictures. 

Love y'all so much!!

Love Always, Sister Schmutz