Letter from 07/20/09

Hey Dad,
It sounds like you had a really good time at blue lake. The only thing I remember from blue lake is you hanging on my tank, and the inside of my mask. But if I remember right, we still did really well with our air. I think if nothing else between Blue Lake and Sea Base, you learn how to conserve air ha ha. I really can’t wait until I will be able to just hang out with everyone again, that’s what I’m looking forward too. And, as far as the pavers go, I really wouldn’t mind doing them, cause there is nothing like working hard and that feeling that comes right after that the (I feel good) feeling.

We have been working really hard here and I am excited to see more miracles. I still know that there are a lot of changes that I need to make, or in other words repentance, so that I can be a better tool in the Lords hands. We fixed two more baptismal dates this week. One with a man named Khalil; we had to drop him for a bit, but I was really a miracle cause the reason we dropped him, was cause he couldn’t come to church because of work. So we fasted for him, and haven’t called him for a while and then we called him the other day, and said “how’s it going”, the first thing he said is, “I found another job and I don’t have to work Sundays anymore”. The Lord works in mysterious ways, that is for sure and on his own time table.

The second was with a man named Jessie, we have been working with him and he is reading the book of Mormon everyday and praying. He shared a experience with us this past Sunday, he said, “I was looking for this church on the internet and I found some anti Mormon stuff, then he said it made me feel really bad for a couple of days, and I didn’t read or pray. Then, I decided to start to read again, and he felt good again.

Oh… we also had another miracle, the man and his wife that you are going to meet are fantastic member missionaries he was on this camping trip with boys from the ward and he saw two people fishing, he went up to them and said oh you like to fish and then he said I am a Fisher Of Men, then he offered them a book of Mormon, and spoke with them and got their information. We talked with her and she seemed very nice.

And then, the last miracle we had was a lady that referred her self to get a book of Mormon in Salt Lake. We met with her and she said, “I have been searching for the right Church all my life but I still haven’t found it”, so we fixed a rendezvous and offered to help her. We left and like 15 min later, called her to move the appointment. She said, “Sure, and thanks for coming over I really felt something different; it made me happy”. We said we didn’t do much of anything, and then it hit me that she felt the spirit as we where speaking with her.

Dad, I really like what you said, to search for the things that I will want to look back on. Our new mission president said the same thing, he said (these are the GOOD OLD DAYS). So I will take your advice and search for the experiences that I want to remember.

Another thing that I learned this week is that you can honestly tie anything back to the gospel. I was chopping wood for a member the other day and I thought to my self “I can split this in one try; I tried and it didn’t work. Then the old member explained to me, you have to study it, and see if she is telling you anything. So I was thinking, yeah… right… He looked at it for a couple seconds, turned it a bit and swung. If I didn’t know any better I thought I saw Paul bunion right before my eyes. The wood split in two like butter. Then, he explained to me what he did. So I took the next piece of wood and looked at it, and found this little hair line crack, it was the only thing I could find, and this on was bigger, so I had to use a wedge. I took a couple swings and the wood split apart and flew three feet from where I was, and the wedge was stuck in the ground. I was like oui je suis bien en forme which means basically “yeah… I’ve been working out”, they laughed. All in all it helped me see that when we are faced with something, if we just take a moment to study it and search for the best way, we won’t use as much energy, and the job gets done faster it’s like you always say, it’s the lay out that takes the time.

Well, I love you and hope you have a fantastic week. Thanks for the e-mail.

Love Elder Schmidt