¡Hola Famlia!
     We made a lot of brownies this week. I haven't made brownies
since the beginning of my time in Santander. The people here love
brownies and they just expect missionaries to know how to make them,
but we all learn how to make brownies while we are on the mission. I
don't think tey realize that in the States we just buy the box mixes.
The first time we made brownies was not a success. The brownies were
fine but all the people we passed by were not at home. My companion
thought it was so funny and every time we would ring a doorbell and no
one answered she would just start laughing which then would make me
laugh. We did have success later on though.
      We were walking down the street and saw an elderly couple
smiling up at us pointing to a pamphlet they held in their hands. They
were Jehovah Witness and when they realized who we were just smiled
and turned away. Same thing happened whenever two elderly ladies
knocked our door this morning. They are pretty smart at realizing that
we are not interested in their message.
     The week has been so cold except for one day and it was gorgeous.
The trees are freaking out and are blooming even though they still
have another month of cold to go through. The temperature is always
changing here though. I feel like I am in Missouri but there is no
humidity. I love whenever the whether is just perfect even if it is
only a few hours. One day I just was so scared to face the cold again,
but when I walked out it was perfect outside and I felt like God had
answered me prayer! The sun was out, the trees were in blossom, and
there was smell of someone barbecuing. People were a lot more happy
even though we still received a lot of the Spanish finger saying that
they did not desire to listen to us. That's normal though.
    One day we were running to visits, and our last visit was far. We
needed to catch the bus, but there was a strike going on with the
buses and we were booking it to the bus stop to see if we could catch
one. I was praying all the way while running there, and just as we
reached the stop, the bus came. Prayer answered, and we got to our
next visit just on time.
   God does hear our prayers. We have been teaching a lot of people
about prayer this week, and to help out my companion we created an
object lesson by making a paper sandwich. We explained how prayer was
like a sandwich and how it had the beginning and end with a bunch of
yummy stuff in between. It's amazing how much we overlook when really
we should consider it as one of our greatest gifts. How amazing is it
that we can talk to our Heavenly Father and that he is listening to
us. I know He listens and that he answers.
   I love you all and hope that you all have a fantastic week full of
wonderful days, and don't forget to tell your Father in Heaven about
them.

Hermana Schmidt
Misión Barcelona España

Hola Caballeros y Señoritas!
    Training my German companion, Hermana Humbert, is going really good. She speaks a little bit of English and her Spanish is improving rapidly. We have to repeat ourselves a lot, or act out what we are trying to say so that we understand one another. I'm just learning all sorts of talents: acting, pronunciation, some fun phrases in German as well. We just laugh about or miscommunication because there are so many of them. She is reminding me of how it was to be in training. I remember how I was so tired at the very beginning of my mission and just wanted to take a nap. My companion is smart and just takes a nap every time we get onto a bus. One day I was wanting to talk to her on the bus, but she had already fallen asleep. I woke her up with my question and she looked at me with her eyes only slightly opened. She started to answer and about halfway through her sentence she paused to think, closed her eyes, and fell back asleep. I asked her later if she remembered doing that and she started to laugh because she could not remember a thing. 

      We had another lesson with our Argentina investigator and this time we went in to asked her to be baptized. It was so good to hear that she was keeping her commitment to not drink alcohol. She said that ever since the last time we met with her she has not even had a desire to drink even a small glass of wine. We invited her to be baptized on the 27th and she loved the date, but said she would have to pray first. That was okay with us. She did come to church again. That is three times in a row and she is progressing so much! 

       On Sunday we left early so that we could practice with the choir for our ward conference, but on the way we saw the bus leaving and the next one didn't come for another 20 minutes. We caught the next bus and had to run to the church. We got there two minutes late and I felt so awkward as all the stake was there watching as we walked in late. We then sang with the very small ward choir, and I had the soprano part. It turned out fine. I think that I've used my singing voice more in the mission than at any other time in my life. Another talent that I'm learning although there is still a lot of improvement needed. 

       I was reading in Mosiah this week and in chapter 12:27 it says,"Ye have not applied your hearts to understanding; therefore, ye have not been wise..." I asked myself what it means to apply our hearts to understanding, and the answer came as I read in Mosiah 2:9, "you should hearken unto me, and open your ears that ye may hear, and your hearts that ye may understand, and your minds that the mysteries of God may be unfolded to your view." In order to apply our hearts to understanding we must:

1. Hear the word of God-we fins the word of God through the scriptures but also through the prophet and other church leaders. 

2. We must apply those teachings into our lives so that we can feel, within our heart, that they are good.

3. As these teachings become a part of our lives, our eternal perspective becomes more clear, as though the sun were coming out and the fog going away.

  I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Hermana Schmidt

Misión Barcelona España

¡Soy una Madre!
    So I went over to Barcelona on Tuesday to pick up my new companion
that I would training. I loved being able to see my first area again!
Sadly I was not able to see any of my recent converts because I had to
stay the night in Badalona. We got to the mission home on Wednesday
morning and President Dayton talked to us on how to train. I was so
excited and nervous to meet my companion that I could barely even eat
when they brought out a cafe rio styled lunch. There were only three
new girls and so we got to know each of them during lunch time.
President then brought out his golden envelope and read off the names
of who would be training. He called my name and I pointed to where
Zaragoza is. He the said who would be my trainee... Hermana Humbert
from Germany! She is so cute! She is from Frankfurt and speaks little
English and very little Spanish. We have to repeat ourselves a lot in
order to understand one another, but we work well together and she is
getting used to daily missionary life.
    It's such a blessing that Hermana Humbert is here. On Sunday she
introduced herself in sacrament meeting and afterwards everyone was
coming up and greeting her. One member said that he had a friend who
spoke German and wanted us to teach her. Another member started
talking to my companion is German. Who knew that so many people had
some sort of relationship with Germany. I picked up on a few of the
things that the member was saying, but she tried talking to me in
German and expected me to understand it. I found that pretty funny
seeing as I'm here learning Spanish. I have learned a couple of German
phrases though.
    We had our Argentina investigator come to church today. She loved
it! We then went and visited her that night and she gave us a drink. I
asked her what she had in it and she said that there was some fruit
and a little bit of wine.... umm... I told her that we don't drink
alcohol and at first she was taken aback, but then we sat down and had
a really good lesson about the word of wisdom. We shared with her the
promise found on D&C 89 and she told us that she would not drink any
alcohol for two weeks and see if she could do better on her exams that
she will be having. Yes!!! Music to my ears! She seems to have just
completely changed since the one bad experience we had with her. It
reminds me of the scripture in Alma 26:27 “Now when our hearts were
depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted
us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with
patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success.” We
decided to give her another chance and she is doing so well!
 We had such a great week! Hope you all are doing well!

Hermana Schmidt
Misión Barcelona España

¡Hola!
    This was Hermana Plant's last week in Zaragoza. We were all hoping
that she could go and see a different place of the mission because she
had been here for six months and it was only her first area. She's off
to Valencia and I'm happy for her but also sad she's gone. Her and I
together equaled a drama free companionship. Our district leader even
thanked us for not having drama. Hermana Plant and I really had so
much fun together and she is going to do so great in her next area!
I'm going to be training! I don't know who the girl is yet, and I
won't meet her until Wednesday, but I'm really excited to have the
opportunity to train someone! It was the end of the day on Saturday
night and my companion and I were in the tram via heading back to the
apartment. My companion joked about how I would be training and would
receive a phone call from president. I just laughed because I never
thought that would happen. I jokingly looked at the phone to show her
that there were no missed calls, but when doing so I realized we did
have two missed calls from president. My heart started to race and I
quickly called him back. He picked up the phone and asked if he was
talking with La Hermana Schmidt. He asked if I would like to train and
gladly accepted!
         I am in Barcelona, where I first started my mission, to pick
up my new companion. It's been about 7 months since I have been here
and it's crazy to think of all the things that have happened in that
time and the people I have met. I love it! This week we said a lot of
goodbyes and found a lot of new people to teach. Remember that
investigator that I told you all about last week? The one we thought
that we would never see again? Well, we felt like we needed to not
give up on her and set up a visit to meet. The lesson went really well
and this week she came to soccer at the church building on Saturday as
well as church on Sunday! And she loved it!
        One night we were passing by some people because we didn't
have any visits, and we passed by a reference we had received from a
member. The girl answered and let us come in. Miracle! We spoke in
English, which by the way it is so weird to give a lesson in English,
and she had the perfect questions! We are very excited to visit her
again.
      In Zaragoza they have another holiday called "Dia de San
Valero." It's traditional to eat a ring cake called a Roscón. The
night before we had a visit with a recent convert who is none and her
family. Our lesson was about prayer and how God is always listening
and also answers our prayers. The opening prayer was given by the
little sister who prayed for a Roscón. I was so touched by the
sincerity of her prayer that after we left I told my companion that we
were going to buy a Roscón for her family. We left it on their
doorstep, rung the doorbell and left. We heard them receive the Roscón
as we waited down the stairs of the apartment building. It felt so
good to be able to help them have a memorable holiday in Zaragoza.
       I hope you all have a fantastic week and are able to see the
tender mercies of the Lord each day.

Os Quiero,

Hermana Schmidt
Misión Barcelona España