Hey so P-day was on Tuesday again this week because of the New Year.

This week was amazing. I have learned so much. As always, the

highlight of my week was the Parque de Retiro. I was paired up with

Hermana Merrill and thankfully she is not scared to go up to people

and start talking. We walked up to one young man who was sitting on a

bench, and he was very friendly and was from Barcelona, but knew

English very well, but he had to go pick up his girlfriend before we

could teach him anything about our church. He gave me his contact

information so that I could look him up when I get to Barcelona

though. I have a contact already! :) The whole time I was talking with

him I could just see him dressed in white. He doesn´t know it yet, but

he is going to be getting baptized. I´m excited to teach him the

Gospel when I get into the field. 

There was a lot of rejection in the park, but Hermana Merrill and I took that knife out of our heart and

pressed forward. We saw an old man sitting on a bench, and decided to

go and talk to him. At first he didn´t seem very interested, but as we

got to know him he started to open up more. I felt impressed to sit

next to him, so I did. That broke the ice, and he seemed a lot more

cheerful, and spoke openly about his feelings on religion. I felt such

a great love for this man whom I had only known for maybe 5 minutes,

and it was easy for me to bare my testimony and to be persistent. He

never took the Book of Mormon I offered him, but I believe that one

day he will be baptized. He´s the German I sent a picture of to you.

Every week I meet a German. The sad thing is that there are no German copies of The

Book of Mormon here. The Austrian gives me a new German word

everyday. So far he has taught me to say ¨shut your trap¨ ënough¨and

¨go away.¨ I think the Germans at the park will really want to listen

to me! 

Sometimes my companion and I just need to take a break and

relax, so we dance in the elavator, and we did the laughing game with

all of my roommates. We are planning on having a dance party with all

the girls one night. We are getting some more missionaries who are

going to Russia.

 More adventures to come! Love you all!

 -Hermana Schmidt

So much has happened this week! I will tell you more when we skype, but here is just an overview. Don´t forget that we skype at 9am your time. This week David Archuleta came to Madrid, and was kind enough to come to the MTC and do a fireside for us. He is SO tiny! His voice was amazing, and whenever he spoke I could hear all of the girls around me just giggling. Then we went to the Temple today, and he was in the same temple session. I don´t know why people go all crazy about him. He is a normal guy with an amazing voice. :) 

It turns out that my companion has cousins that live in the same neighborhood as us. Their last name is Judy. Do you know them? 

Oh, dad, what is that Scottish saying? 

So my companion and I probably have too much fun. One day we wanted to scare some of the girls in our district, so we went into our room and hid next to the wall. My comp went down onto her hands and knees, and we waited. Well... It wasn´t someone from our district that came in the door. Instead it was our Hermano Giorgino, our teacher. We totally scared him though, and his facial expression was so funny! 

Onto the more spiritual side of things, I have gained a closer relationship with my Heavenly Father through my personal prayers and study. This work is amazing. I love it. 

Can´t wait to skype with you all on Christmas! Feliz Navidad. 

Tell Cameron, Aunt Chris E and Uncle Kirk Happy Birthday for me.

 - Hermana Schmidt

This is my companion and I at the temple today

Oh my goodness so much is happening back home! I hope Lysje and Cody
get married haha. Send me a picture of Chandler if Sje hasn´t yet. A
lot has happened to me this week. I´m always tired, but I´m so happy!
I haven´t been hard on myself like I thought I would. My companion
helps a lot with that though. Her name is Hermana Judy, and she is
from Idaho Falls. She reminds me of Lysje´s personality, but more
innocent haha. In our afternoon class we learn a lot of the words that
we shouldn´t say. It´s very useful because at the park when we
proselyted one of the Elders in my district totally swore, but didn´t
realize it. OH! This is very important: On Christmas I will be skyping
you at 9am your time. Don´t forget. We only get 40 minutes max. Let me
know your skype account. I will be using the MTC´s. I have seen two
people that I know that are serving missions here in Madrid. One is
Elder Bigelow from our ward in Rigby. The MTC food is actually really
good! They are always giving us chocolate though, so I have to be
careful to not eat too much. We play soccer almost everyday for sport.
It´s really fun even though I´m not very good. I have had a lot of
¨She´s the Man¨moments when I try to kick the ball and fail just like
the brother does in the movie. I have learned so much about how to
study effectively for the investigators. Love you all so much! Talk to
you on Christmas! MacKinzee

Safely in Madrid

So I made it to Madrid safely without losing any luggage! Hermana
Moser and I were flirted with at Dunkin Donuts, we talked to a lady in
the airport about the gospel, and on the plane to Madrid I talked to a
lady from Spain. I slept a total of maybe three hours on the plane,
and the food made me want to throw up. That is probably because I
accidentally ate the vegetarian food that was meant for the lady next
to me. Oh well.  The MTC is so close to the temple! I have a picture
of the view from out the window, but I don´t know how this computer
works. When I figure that out I will send a picture. Everyone speaks
Spanish here, and I don´t understand a word. I can´t get worse than
that, so from here on out I should only get better. There won´t be a
Pday this Thursday, so the next time I will write you will be next
Thursday. Hopefully I will know how to use this computer by then. Wish
me luck!                        Love You! MacKinzee - p.s.- the enter
button isn´t working like it should so I can´t make paragraphs.

   Welcome to my mission blog everyone! I hope that as you read the experiences that I have as a missionary  in Spain that you will be able to laugh and also have a greater desire to be better member missionaries! As Elder Bednar has said "We must prepare ourselves to assist the missionaries in finding those of our Heavenly Father's children who will embrace the message of the Restoration." I know as you serve those around you, you will feel a greater love for all of God's children. If you look to the right of this page you will see my email and mailing address. Write me! Let me know about all the experiences you are having! I love y'all!