03/10/10

March 10, 2010

La Famille Schmidt

Well this week has been very interesting. We have had the opportunity to teach a couple of people; it has been great! The work is moving forward here in Martigny but I have really been humbled this week and I kind of had a little break down as far as my strength or diligence. My companion hasn’t been very motivated to work, so I feel like I have been taking the load of everything this week. At first I thought that I could do it, and mind you I was doing a pretty good job….(insert pride).... (take away pride) or so I thought. This week was a hard one, but I sure needed it, to realize that I need to lean on the Lord more. It’s a funny thing, because I think I have learned this same lesson at least 5000+ times, yet I still think that I can do it by myself, and every time I fall right on my face and look up desperate for help, only to see the Lords hand stretched out to pick me up, so I can finish the race.

This week was my last Zone Conference and I had the opportunity to give my last testimony to the Mission. I hadn’t really thought about what I was going to say. So I related it to me learning tennis. I thought to myself, if only I could hit the ball really hard, I would be a good player, and so I would work really hard to attain that goal and after a while I would reach it, only to realize that I still wasn’t good and needed to learn more. That is how I have felt on my mission. I was always learning things to become better but only realizing that I have a million other things to learn and master. Then, I gave my testimony of the Atonement and cried the whole time. I thought I would be able to keep myself together but I failed. Anyway, I ended with a quote by Michael Angelo “I am still learning”. I said that is how I feel, I am still learning. That’s what being a member of the Church is all about.

I love you all and hope that you have a great week.

Love Elder Schmidt

03/02/10 Finishing My Mission in Martigny

SCHMIDT FAMILY

Hey everyone, I just wanted to drop you a line and tell you what happened for transfers. It looks like I will be staying her in Martigny with Elder Tracy to finish my mission. I plan on working really hard and finding someone that will be baptized so you don’t have to worry about me. I will be staying strong until the end. I am pretty sure that the transfer is going to fly right on by, so I decided to make some plans and some goals that I want to accomplish; that way I can accomplish them. Elder Tracy and I are excited for the work.

We had the opportunity to teach the nine year old Rolph. His father was a little bit worried about the whole thing, so I invited him to listen and he said that he would love to listen. He was posing a lot of questions like….We have the Bible, it’s already big, why do we need more, and I think all churches have little bit of good in them. We went through and explained all of this to him and he really seemed to understand. We have fixed a rendezvous tomorrow, so wish us luck. If we can, I will invite Rolph to be baptized.

I am sooooo thankful that I have the opportunity to finish my mission here, I love the members, and we are working with really great people. I know that we are going to see a lot of miracles this transfer. What I am going to try and focus on this transfer is growing my faith; first comes the faith then the miracles right? Sorry this e-mail is so short, we don’t have a whole lot of time because we went and saw a castle in Sion it was so beautiful. I felt like I was in Lord of the Rings.

I love you all; you are always in my prayers

Love Elder Schmidt