Thursday, March 13, 2014

alright

Hey Family!
 
So here's the good news..I'm still in North Baton Rouge with Sister Wolf!!  Man, I'm so happy to be here, I just love it, and I love my companion too.  :) it was a stressful beyond stressful week though.  Lot's of little things kept coming up and I won't go into much detail about them but hey it's all good now. 
 
Our district got all switched up again.  The new north Elders are Elder Navitikula and Elder Ford and then the Office Elder switched out of our ward and we're in a district with the South Sisters and Zone Leaders and LSU Sisters.  Man I miss our old district so much, it was definitely one of my favorite districts.  Sister Toleafoa went home too so we got two new spanish sisters living with us because they're in a threesome.  Lots and lots of changes this week!   
 
Oh and here's the other exciting news..Chandra is gonna get baptized on Easter!!  She called us up on tuesday and said, "so I decided I'm getting baptized on easter!"  She said she was gonna get baptized in South Carolina because that's where her friend Amy lives but now she just said they'll be coming down here and she'll get baptized here!  We've still got a couple things to teach her before then and she's gotta come to church but I'm super excited for her.  We've got to get things figured out though because President Wall said we could keep teaching her and she could go to whichever ward she wants.  But we mentioned that in PEC and everyone was saying how she needed to go to second ward.  So we called our stake president and he said she needs to go to second ward unless there's a really good reason why she needs to go to first ward and in that case we'd have to get permission from the first presidency.  We didn't get to see her this week though because her daughter, sister, and nephew were all in the hospital and things were a little crazy.  We're gonna see her and talk about the ward boundaries and see what's going to happen.  Needless to say I think she'd fit in at either ward really well, everyone just loves her!  Maybe I'm just too selfish and I don't want her to go to second ward.  Maybe we'll just keep teaching her but bring the second ward sisters along and she'll get baptized down there.  I'm not really sure, but everything will work out!  Our plan then for afterwards is to teach them all the new member lessons but at a simpler understanding so then Geneva and Johnathan can understand and they can get baptized too because she wants them to make their own decision.  I'm really excited for them.  :)  
 
Aw man, that's sweet y'all got to hear from Sister Tiller.  Y'all should go to her homecoming if she hasn't already had it.  I got to go on a couple exchanges with her and she's amazing.  Goodness, I just love her!  Haha and mom there's tons of missionaries here that went to Olympus, I think I've counted at least seven while I've been on my mission.  I never knew any of them personally though so I can't remember their names.  Sister Toleafoa went home last week too so y'all should find her as well.  I love and miss her too!     
 
the McCartney's dog had puppies.  :) aw man, nothing cuter than baby pitbulls!

Emily!  Congrats on making it into BYU-I!  I hear you got the winter/spring track.  What do you think of that?  Have you heard back from BYU?  Good luck at choosing where you'll be going.  :)  you know if my opinion counted which one I'd be voting for.  Hmm...it's a hard decision though.  Man I want to move back to Baton Rouge after my mission...maybe I'll switch and come to school here.  Anyways, enough random tangents.  Let me know where you decide! 
 
Sarah, I like your glasses.  :)  however, you do know that people won't be able to mix us up anymore because I don't got no glasses.  What are we gonna do? 
 
Oh here's a sweet little story for y'all.  Saturday night we were in this neighborhood trying to contact a less active but they weren't home. 
As we were driving away Sister Wolf said, "ya know, this would be a really good neighborhood to tract." 
(You have to keep in mind that we hardly ever tract because it's not effective and we hate doing it.  We'd never been to that neighborhood before too, so I guess it was kinda a good place to go.) 
Then on sunday all of our plans and back up plans fell through and we didn't have anyone else to see.  It just so happens that we were just around the corner from this said neighborhood.  So low and behold we decided to just do it.  We pulled up by the less actives house but he wasn't home and his neighbor randomly opened the door and was staring at us so we drove around the corner and parked at the school.  We were just sitting in the car talking trying to avoid having to get out.  While we're sitting there this guy keeps walking back and forth on the sidewalk looking like he was talking to his bushes or something, haha it was very funny looking.  
We walk by him on the other side of the street and he says, "hey how y'all doing?"
"Good, how about yourself?"
"Alright" (everyone in Louisiana says alright for everything...just a random fact for y'all;)  and then we just kept walking because we didn't get the nerve to go talk to him. 
We knock on tons of door and no one answers.  The two that do answer say they aren't interested so we decided to head home.
We turn the corner and see that he's there so we cross the street to his side and walk towards him.
"Hey what y'all selling?" he says
"Oh, we're missionaries just sharing more about our church and beliefs."
"Y'all do this all day?"
"Sure do!"
"You mean that's what you've been walking around doing?"
"Yes sir"
"Man, I thought y'all didn't want to talk to me.  I was the first one y'all saw and you just walked past."
"I want to listen." 
Haha definitely a very humbling experience.  Lesson learned, never skip past the first person! 
His name Tony and we ended up talking a little about the church and gave him a Book of Mormon and he really wants us to come back next week and share more with him. 
It was a sweet experience because Heavenly Father taught me that sometimes those he wants us to talk to are placed right in our path but we just walk on by.  We've got to talk to all of them, even despite the fact that we don't want to.  Hey and when we do do that, we won't have to waste our time knocking on all those other doors.
 
Man, I love being a missionary and learning more about Jesus Christ and his gospel everyday, it's absolutely wonderful.  God really does have a hand in all that we do every single step of the way.  Keep strengthening your testimonies everyday y'all.  For it's our testimonies that keep us strong in the hard time and help us become who we need to be. 
 
Before I go here's a quick spiritual thought for y'all.  It's from one of my favorite talks, The Word is Commitment by Elder Marvin J. Ashton, "Most of us who have ever heard of the great American leader Abraham Lincoln will recall what he said of his mother: “All that I am, all that I hope to be, I owe to my Angel mother.” (in Abraham Lincoln’s Philosophy of Common Sense, ed. Edward J. Kempf, New York: The New York Academy of Sciences, 1965, p. 60.) But how many of us know what his mother’s last words to him were? They were “Be something, Abe.”  Not only is this wise counsel, but it also expresses the yearnings of most fathers’ and mothers’ hearts to have their children be something. Simple terms, but, oh, how powerful, “Be something.” I am so pleased she didn’t say, “Be someone.” She said, “Be something, Abe.” There is a significant difference. In the dictionary someone is defined as “conceived or thought of, but not definitely known,” while something is identified as “a person or thing of importance.”  Abraham Lincoln’s mother knew her son, his potential, and the rocky roads ahead of him; hence, she wanted him to commit himself promptly to being steadfast and immovable in living and promoting deeds of courage and faith in the lives of all mankind."
 
I know that y'all have great potential.  The thing is we can't see our full potential, but God can because he has the eternal perspective.  He has more instore for us than we can possibly imagine, and all we've got to do is strive to do the right things.  He doesn't expect us to be perfect, but he expects us to try.  So think of that this week, what do you want to become and how can you become?  The word is commitment.  :)
 
I love y'all so much, I really do mean it.  
 
Thank you for everything!
 
Love Always, Sister Schmutz  

Monday, March 3, 2014

mardi gras

Hey Family!
 
I'm sorry to hear about all the crazy things that have happened to y'all this week.  I will definitely keep Grandma and Paul in my prayers.  The power of prayer works I tell ya, that's all there is to it.
 
We've had a pretty sweet week here in Baton Rouge!  Oh and hey it's actually transfer week.  The library is closed tomorrow for mardi gras so we're emailing today but we don't find out until tonight whether we're being transferred or not.  So I'll let y'all know next week what the news is.  Sister Wolf and I really hope we'll be staying here together, man I just love this place!  Baton Rouge, I tell ya there's no place like it.  :)
 
Last monday we went down to the captial with our district and then we went to touch the Mississippi.  I'll send y'all some pictures because it was definitely one of the best p-days I've had.  Man I'm gonna miss our district!  Elder Morrow is going home on wednesday and Elder Bushman is flying out to Brazil today.  And then usually one of the office elders gets transferred, so everything's getting switched up. 
 
We went to a Mardi Gras parade on Saturday.  We were allowed to go to one parade during the day and the spanish town parade is the big one in Baton Rouge.  Sister Mills was supposed to come with us but she was sick.  But we hung out with tons of other missionaries.  Haha and boy let me just say it was supposed to be a family friendly parade but it wasn't family friendly at all, haha I never want to go to any other parade.  It was nasty, we'll just leave it at that!  There were tons and tons of people it was crazy.  We did catch quite a few beads though so we have them all hanging from our chandelier in our apartment, it's pretty sweet!
 
Let's see..here's the sweetest story from the week.  Yesterday we go over to see Chandra and we're just talking about all these random things because it's Johnathon's birthday on wednesday and they're having a big party on saturday so she's gotta get all this stuff done before then.  We had planned to talk about baptism and it felt right but when we got there Sister Wolf and I both kinda felt unsure about it because of all the craziness going on with her life.  And she mentions how she's very involved with her church and she can't just leave them hanging because she's in charge of all the media stuff.  And she doesn't know what to do...Then just out of the blue this is what happens. 
"So how was the baptism today?"  Chandra asks. (Catherine Wleh turned 8 so she got baptized right after church and we invited Chandra but she couldn't come)
"Oh it was wonderful, I mean they didn't turn the water on in time so we had to dump pitchers of water to fill up the font.  But otherwise it was all good."
"So you do full immersion for baptism?"
"Yep, we sure do, just like Jesus was baptized."  (go on explaining about the symbolism)
"Chandra why do you think it's important to be baptized?"
Then she goes on to explain all these awesome things of exactly why we need to be baptized.  (follow Christ, always remember him, etc)
"Exactly! all those things you just said, here let's read some scriptures about baptism"  We turn to Mosiah 18 and read when Alma baptized all these people.  And the crazy thing is the scriptures just said exactly what she said for why we need to get baptized!
"How do you feel about those scriptures?" 
And then she just starts crying and says, "That was my confirmation that this is what I need to do."  Definitely the sweetest moment ever!  You have to keep in mind that when we first started meeting with her she kept saying that she needed a spiritual confirmation that this is all true.  She's very religious and knows a lot but she wanted that answer from God, and it just wasn't coming.
"You know, I've been fasting and praying since January and I told God that he needed to tell me if it's true before Easter.  And Easter is in April!"
"So you're saying you know all these things are true?" 
"Yes, otherwise I wouldn't let y'all keep coming over to see me!  So what do I need to do to get baptized?"  Ahh that's every missionaries dream question!!
"Keep inviting us over, reading, praying, and come to church." 
And then Geneva says, "I want to go to church with them!"  It was incredible y'all, absolutely incredible.  Man I'm so excited for them!!  We didn't set a date from them to be baptized yet because she's gotta get things figured out with her church plus they gotta get a ride figured out to come to church.  But hey those are only minor details.  I couldn't be happier.  :) 
 
Anyways, I just want y'all to know I love ya.  And I love being a missionary.  :)  I'm gonna send some pictures home so this email will be a little short, but enjoy the pictures. 
 
Love Always, Sister Schmutz

Monday, February 24, 2014

seems like spring is here

Hey Family!
 
My email is being really weird today and won't let me write any new emails without replying to old ones so I hope y'all get this!  I'm glad y'all are feeling better too and the weather in Utah sounds real nice.  It got up into the 80s here this past week and man it was hot let me tell ya.  I thought I'd be ready for summer but I like the cold weather just a little bit.  :)  things have been going great here though!  How's life treating y'all? 
 
Mardi Gras is coming up so we're gonna be going to a parade downtown this weekend with Sister Mills and possibly the spanish sisters.  Can you believe it, I'm going to my first parade.  Man, I feel all grown up!  Haha but for real everyone can't believe I've never been to any parade before.  Not very many people in Baton Rouge really celebrate Mardi Gras though.  Over in Covington people were putting up decorations two months early and what not.  It's a weird holiday and king cake is nasty.  Geez there's no school for anyone the entire next week! 
 

Let's see, what else has been happening.  So I told y'all that Chandra moved just about two houses south of our area but President said that we can keep teaching her.  She's great and I love her family so much!  It's hard though because they got no car and our ward already has a big enough problem to get members to church.  And then the bus system doesn't run on sundays.  She said before though that they'd take a taxi to church but last week she said they couldn't come on sundays but they'd take the bus to church wednesday nights if we start up bible study again.  I think we'll just need to teach her the importance of church and then they'll make the sacrifice to come.  The thing I've really learned this week is that no matter how bad I want something to happen, it won't happen if it's not on the Lord's time.  I know that Chandra and her family are going to come to church and join the church too and it will completely change their life.  I wish so bad it could be right now, I'd give anything to give them a car to come to church.  But ya know what, Heavenly Father has a plan and we have to trust in his timing.  So in the meantime we're just gonna keep teaching her and doing our best to help her work towards baptism.  Goodness they are just the sweetest. 
 
The same thing kinda applies to Kiwanna.  We hadn't been able to see her in a couple weeks because she was never there and then her phone broke and all these other things.  She's the same way as Chandra.  She wants to do these things but her circumstances won't allow her to at the moment.  So once again, I know it's hard for her to get to church now and it feels like there's so many obstacles to get her baptized but at the same time I know she will be able to when she's ready. It's not on my timing, it's on the Lord's time.  She got a job working at Sonic so hey at least now she's making some money and she really wants to move out which will be really good for her.  Maybe we'll convince her to move within walking distance of the church.  :) well see. 
 
But for now we aren't gonna give up on either of them and we'll just help them prepare for when the timing is right.  Man I tell ya, I love how God has a perfect plan for each of us.  It can definitely be so frustrating but he does know best.  
 
This transfer we've been focusing lots on investigators because all the time here before we were really focused on less actives.  And the thing is it's so easy to find new investigators in Baton Rouge because everyone will listen.  I mean our investigators won't always be here waiting around to find the truth.  Our less actives will always be there, no offense to them, I mean I love them all dearly.  It's awesome though we've given out more Book of Mormon's this transfer than any time before in my mission.  I just love it!
 
Another sweet investigator we have is Andrea.  I think I told y'all about her last week.  She's from Brazil and is the cutest and sweetest lady.  Her and her husband came to the ward activity we had friday night and she really liked it.  She loves for us to come visit her too.  
Sister Banks spoke at church yesterday for the first time in her entire life!  It was amazing too.  :)  haha she was freaking out all week and didn't know what to say. She tried calling all these people to help her but no one really gave her that much help.  It was real good.  She just started temple prep yesterday too so hopefully we can get Sister Banks to the temple soon.  That'd be awesome!
 

It was quite a good week to say the least.  We got to go to the temple on tuesday for our ward temple night and it was so good to be back.  Goodness the peace that comes from going to the temple is unreal.  :)  we walked though the ghetto to find some less actives and met some sweet potential investigators.  Haha here's a story from the ghetto...Sister Wolf is much better at telling stories though so I'm just gonna quote her: 
 
So the other day we're walking down the street. We just came from contacting a lovely fellow who was quite interested in learning and it had only rained a little so we were only a little wet. It was a great day!
WELL, you know that Satan (the little bugar) has to put some sort of kink in things! He doesn't like seeing missionaries happy! So we cross the road and pass by a bus stop. This man comes out of the bus stop and asks us who we are. The man is about 6"2, black, probably 63 years old and has no teeth, poor fellow.
"I'm Sister Schmutz." Sister Schmutz says. He takes her hand and kisses it. Then he turns to me. 'Oh boy, this is going to be interesting.' I think.
"I'm Sister Wolf." He takes my hand and kisses it too. Then he puts his arms around both of our shoulders with him in the middle, kind of like those pictures of those people at the drunk parties with the drunk fart in the middle and two beach babes on both arms. Except we aren't beach babes and this guy was a lot older than those guys in the pictures. Poor Sister Schmutz looked kind of shocked and was just sort of standing there with his arm around her. I really didn't feel like being hugged by this guy so I was trying to step away from him but I couldn't really, especially since he was still hugging my companion and I wasn't quite sure what to do in this scenario.
"Why don't y'all come to my house?"
"We can't, we're missionaries." I say.
"I'm on a mission too." He says. Then he kisses both of us on the cheek. That kind of ticked me off. His breath stank on ice and smelled like bad beer!
"Nope, we can't." I say again.
"Nobody can?!"
"Tell you what, we'll send the Elders and they can come teach you. Take this Book of Mormon and it can teach you how to know Christ better." I take the Book of Mormon out of my bag and sort of shove it at him. Sister Schmutz, (I love Sister Schmutz, have I mentioned that yet? She's awesome!) takes out a pass along card and begins to write down the elders' number.
"Why don't you girls come teach me? I'm by muself and I'm nice!" He says. Sister Schmutz is writing down the end of the phone number when he reaches over and kisses her on the neck! That made me mad. You do NOT kiss my companion on the neck!
"No!" I said.
"I'm nice!"
"If you're nice then you're not gonna touch us!" He looked shocked and let go of both of us.
"Now you take this book and phone number and you call the elders and come to know Jesus Christ." Sister Schmutz handed the card to him and we began to walk away. Then he called us, "Hey, you se that apartment over there? On the corner? That's mine!"
"Ok." we said and walked away.
"It was probably mean to the Elders to give him their phone number..." I said.
"We'll tell them about it at dinner" Sister Schmutz said and we walked away laughing.
That guy was ridiculous and obviously slightly tipsy. It was a very interesting experience but kind of hilarious in a really weird way too.
 
I was reading in 3 Nephi 11 this past week and here's something I really liked, there was this voice that came from the sky talking to them but no one understand. It came again and no one understand. "And again the third time they did hear the voice, and did open their ears to hear it; and their eyes were towards the sound thereof; and they did look steadfastly towards heaven, from whence the sound came. And behold, the third time they did understand the voice which they heard." (v.5-6) The key is they had to open their ears to hear it. That doesn't mean that their ears were blocked, it means they weren't paying attention. It's the exact same way with us and the spirit. We always have the spirit with us but a lot of the time we don't tune ourselves in to hear it. I think it related to what Elder Perkins said at zone conference. We can't just do things when the spirit prompts us to. We must do everything and stop if the spirit prompts us not to.  After all, Heavenly Father isn't going to tell us every single step we need to take, otherwise we'd have no agency.  It's up to us to do something, and he'll stop us if we're going the wrong way. 
 
I just want to say that I love y'all.  And I think you're pretty awesome.  :)  I'm so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the pattern it has to lead and change our lives.  It's not just the principles we learn, but it's our way of living and effects everything.  Truly wonderful. 
 
Love Always, Sister Schmutz