¡Hola Familia y Amigos!
  It's amazing how every day we can find little miracles. Hermana
Humbert and I saw many this week! We had such an amazing week, and met
some pretty amazing people who made each day something worth
remembering.
  On Tuesday we had decided to pass by an investigator, Gloria, whom
the elders had found and that lived in our area. When we rung her
doorbell she was home and we were able to enter. In her home was also
her boy friend who is a recent convert to the church. We had a
fantastic lesson about the plan which God has for his children and she
committed to be baptized! We are very excited to her!  She came to
church this Sunday with her boyfriend and six-year old daughter.
  On Wednesday we had a lesson with our friend Archi, from Georgia,
and had the help of a member. We extended an invitation to Archi to be
baptized and, instead of him refusing, the member did. I was taken
aback at first, but after the lesson talked with the member and asked
her why she did that. She replied saying that she thought we were
rushing him. Then I explained to her that we had been teaching Archi
for a while now and that every day, my companion and I, we pray and
speak about his needs and seek direction from the Lord to know how we
can help him, and had felt that the specific baptismal date would help
him to progress. She understood and we were later able to invite Archi
to be baptized and he accepted the invitation.
   That night, Hermana Humbert had a dentist appointment to have her
wisdom tooth removed. I thought it was going to take a long time, but
surprisingly it only took ten minutes and we were out. The rest of the
night she was stuck with an ice pack up against her face and watched
bible videos.
    The next day we went to the church to have our German classes.
More people seem to be wanting to learn German these days. One day,
someone even started to talk with us on the bus and when she learned
that my companion was from Germany, she was so interested in learning
German that she wrote down our information. Any time something like
this happens, my companion gets a big grin on her face.
  We met a lot of elderly folk this week. One we met while we were
heading back to our apartment and I decided to start to talk with him
and he was so nice! I felt as if I were truly testifying to him and
even though he did not want to learn more, we were able to at least
help him understand a little.
   Saturday started to rain a little, but I've learned that rainy days
are miracle days. We were out just talking to people on the street
when we came across an old man and I decided to stop him. At first he
didn't want anything to do with religion, but after a while he started
to change and invited us to have something to drink. So, we went to
the nearest restaurant and drank hot chocolate while teaching. The
Spanish people are such fantastic people!
    We were expecting to have three of our investigators come to
church yesterday and we left early to even meet with one of them,
Henry, but he was coming late and so we went straight to church.
Halfway through the first hour I saw a missed call from Henry and it
was the perfect moment to leave while everyone was standing up singing
the intermediate hymn. Henry was lost and waiting for help. We went
running to meet up with him and made it back to the church just as the
song was ending. It was so great to see that all of those three people
were at church!
   I loved experiencing these small miracles throughout the week! It
was a testimony to me that this is the Lord's work and we are simply
the instruments in his hands.

The work is going great!

Hermana Schmidt
Misión Barcelona España

¡Buenos Días!
     The days are flying by. Two days were spent in the apartment with
a sick companion. The others were spent with president interviews,
companionship exchanges, and of course the normal proselyting of
everyday.
     On Wednesday we went to the church to have our interviews with
president. It was Hermana Humbert's first time and she was very
excited. When President called me into his office, he greeted me,
asked how I was doing, and then stated that I had little time left on
the mission and asked how I was adjusting. I honestly hadn't been
thinking about it and just told him that it didn't feel real
whatsoever. His wife also pulled me aside afterwards and asked what I
was doing to prepare myself for the change. I didn't know I was
supposed to be preparing myself, but when she started sharing a
message about faith and Christlike attributes I knew that Heavenly
Father had been preparing me all along through personal scripture
study and prayer. It still doesn't feel real. I feel like I will be a
missionary forever, but the thought of not having to wear a skirt
everyday does sound amazing.
     After the interviews, I went on a companionship exchange with
Hermana Laine who is from Finland. She is a fantastic missionary and
we saw so many miracles. We passed by the apartment of an old
investigator and instead an middle aged man opened. We introduced who
we were and he opened up to us and expressed his desire to want to
know that God existed. When we testified of Jesus Christ and His
Atonement, the man started to cry. He said that he felt bad for
mistakes which he had made in the past and wanted to feel peace. We
testified of cleansing power of the Atonement of forgiveness. It was
such such a powerful experience and when we left we felt the spirit so
strongly. We talked to some people on the street before getting on the
bus, and on the way saw some people ahead of us walking their dogs.
One of the dogs started to walk really funny all of he sudden and we
let out a little laugh. As we passed these people they acted as if
they were offended we would laugh at their dog. We walked passed, but
then feeling awful for what we had done, turned around and apologized.
We learned that the dog was sick and that's why it had been walking
funny. We told them how sorry we were for having laughed. Afterwards
we felt really good for having done that.
       Thursday morning we left early to go to some visits with our
more progressing investigators. Our first visit was amazing as we
taught about the plan of Salvation. When talking about Jesus Christ,
we read in Alma 7:11-14, and asked what he thought of those verses. He
told us that in order to receive the peace he was looking for he
needed to be baptized..... Yes! We were not expecting that answer, but
were very content about it. He is now planning to be baptized on the
30th of this month.
     Saturday we went and played soccer at the church with some
non-members, members, and missionaries. It was a sunny day and my face
got a little burnt. The next day, Sunday, all the members were
pointing out how red my face was. Hopefully it turns into a tan. I
have more freckles on my nose now. We were also invited to share a
short message in young women's about the restoration. It went really
well. I loved being in young women's again!
     Today we went around the old part of Zaragoza and visited the old
cathedrals and walked down the very Spanish streets with the other
sisters who live with us. We stopped in one little shop of scarfs. It
was just us four sister missionaries in the store and the young lady
working their. I started to make conversation with the worker, and
that naturally opened up the topic of what we do as missionaries. She
said that she used to go to church a lot more in her country,
Columbia, but since she had moved here she had stopped. We all invited
her to come to church and got her number. Before leaving I taught her
a little bit about the Book of Mormon and gave her one. She was so
grateful, and said that she would start reading it that very day. She
lives in the Elders area, but are so excited to see her at church!
There have been so many tender mercies this week! God is great.

¡Os Quiero Mucho!

Hermana Schmidt
Misión Barcelona España

Querida Familia,
        I love General Conference weekend! It amazes me how many of
the things which were said, were things which I had been studying
these past couple of months, and everything seemed to just click in my
mind and make sense. I truly believe that as we do our daily personal
study of the scriptures, the Lord prepares us to listen the words of
his chosen servants and receive a confirmation that what we have
learned is true.
     On Tuesday we had our preparation day, and my companion and I
went to the A Castle found here in Zaragoza that is actually named in
the 26th chapter of the second book of Don Quijote. It was a castle
founded by the Muslim people that later on in the fourteenth century
was taken over by the Catholics and added onto. The architecture was
very interesting, and of course my favorite part was the courtyard
where they had orange fruit trees, red flowers, and a really
interesting irrigation system. That afternoon I had taken off my
jacket which had my name tag clipped onto it. I didn't even realize I
wasn't wearing my name tag until we were headed back to our apartment.
Typical Hermana Schmidt thing to do. Well, it's not the name tag that
makes the missionary, but I do prefer wearing it that's for sure.
      Wednesday, we had a meeting with all the missionaries in our
zone and I had been asked to speak for seven minutes about the
blessings we receive as we are valiant missionaries. Seven minute
talks are my specialty. It went well and I saw some ways which I could
improve, but I think everyone understood. One thing that I learned was
that to be a valiant missionary means to be a missionary that has the
courage to do what is right. I believe that this applies to everyone
that as we are obedient or act with courage to do what is right, we
can be sure the Lord's promised blessing will come.
      It has been another week where my companion has gotten sick. I
feel like I might have hold up a sign on transfer days saying:
"Welcome to your next six weeks of hospital visits and sick days."
Poor Hermana Humbert is feeling the truthfulness of that saying. She
has a wisdom tooth that she did not have removed before the mission
and that started to hurt her. We went to the dentist and had a
radiography done  to see what was wrong. She seems to have an
infection going on in the root of her wisdom tooth that is making her
gum swell and causing it to hurt. We called the mission presidents
wife to let her know and then set up an appointment to have the wisdom
tooth removed. Fantastic! Except for now my companion is sick with the
common cold and the visit is on Tuesday. We will be changing that.
      Despite my companion being sick, we were still able to go to he
church and watch general conference. We had passed by an
investigator's house beforehand and found his two children instead.
The daughter was sixteen and we were able to share with her our
message on the doorstep. At the end, the cute little eight year old
brother came and offered the closing prayer. We are very excited to be
able to visit them again.
    Before the Conference started we enjoyed lunch with the ward
members outside of the church building, in the nice spring air. Sister
del Solar, a senior missionary, pulled me off to the side for a second
and said, "Hermana Schmidt, I have been meaning to tell you this for a
while, but everyday you look more and more beautiful." I looked down
at my body thinking that I had not lost weight, and when she saw that
she said, "No, it's as if you have a greater light about you and it's
noticeable in your countenance." That was so sweet of her to say and I
wanted to just give her a tight hug for her kindness. The senior
missionary couple, Los del Solar, had made some chicken and french
fries and shared it with us missionaries. One of the elders got really
excited to eat and, as a joke, Elder del Solar gave him one fry. The
reaction of the young missionary made Elder del Solar laugh, which
made all of us laugh. We love the senior missionary couple here.
    Afterwards all of us missionaries watched the conference in
English, except for my companion who was able to watch it in German on
her iPad. When Mark Pace was called to be a member of the seventy, all
of us missionaries with more time on the mission gave a little woot
because he had been our mission president before. Today all of the
missionaries went to the church to watch the final season of
conference. My companion and I were not able to go because my
companion is still too sick to get out of bed. So, today I believe I
will be doing a lot of drawing and developing talents.
     I have been learning this week about softening a hardened heart
and as I was listening to conference I learned a little bit about that
subject. There is a hymn that says, "because I have been given much I
too must give." I had always thought that what we had been given was
something like a good family, a home, health, etc..., but as I
listened to Henry B. Eyring in the Women's Session I learned that what
all of us have been given is the Atonement of Jesus Christ. As we
apply the atonement into our lives and feel that peace and
forgiveness, we have a greater desire to serve others thereby
retaining a remission of our sins and keeping us humble and our hearts
softened and more receptive to the whispers of the spirit.
    I'm very grateful for my Savior and for a living prophet and
apostles who testify of Him. I know He lives, and I know a he can
soften a hardened heart.

   ¡Os Quiero Mucho!

Hermana Schmidt
Misión Barcelona España