¡Hola Familia!
   It's finally starting to warm up and so of course to celebrate the
nice weather we had a barbecue and played baseball with all the
missionaries in Zaragoza. We didn't actually have a baseball or a bat
so we used our hands and a tennis ball. I made it back to home base a
couple of times, but in the end I just took videos and photos of
everyone.
    I did my first companionship exchange with a sister missionary
Ledida. It was a two hour train ride because I was put on the long way
around. I loved it though because I could just enjoy the scenery. On
the train ride home a young man sat down in front of me and we began a
conversation. He started to ask me about the name tag I wear and that
lead into the perfect opportunity to share about the church. I ended
up teaching him the whole restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon. I
had been praying for an opportunity to share a Book of Mormon on the
train ride and was so happy when it actually happened.
   Normally, every Thursday my companion and I go to a rest home to
sing for for an elderly woman of our ward. We have loved to sing and
hear stories of her past. On Wednesday morning we assisted at her
funeral service. The cemetery was beautiful with its old architecture,
but the wild cats were a bit creepy. We had to run from the funeral to
another visit where we were able to invite a man to be baptized.
  Just now, we were on the bus with all of the missionaries heading
home and an elderly man started to talk with us. I had a Book of
Mormon in my hand and we started to explain to him what it was. When
we were all getting off I asked him if he would like the book and
invited him to read it. He accepted!

This week has been great! Hope you all have a great Easter weekend!

Hermana Schmidt
Misión Barcelona España

¡Hola Familia y Amigos!
   It's been a really good week with lots of sun and also some days
with lots of rain, but overall we've had a lot of success. The other
sister missionaries scared me, there was a barbecue, and so many
miracles!
   My companion and I are trying to plan out our days better by
planning which streets we will be proselyting on, or which people we
will try and pass time, etc... We knew that if we did this we would
have a lot more success and God could place prepared people in our
path.
   Wednesday morning we had our day all planned out and we noticed it
was raining. My companion looked at me and said, "can we just make
phone calls instead?" I then just replied by saying that with
sacrifice always comes blessings, and there were so many blessings! We
passed an old investigator and he was at home. We were able to teach
him on his doorstep and invite him to come to church. He did end up
coming to church that Sunday. Then, while walking in the planned
street, we found an Spanish lady with her child entering into there
apartment and stopped to talk to them. We shared with her a little
about our message and she accepted to receive more visits from us.
      More people are wanting to learn German and now we teach three
women. I have a goal to be able to share my testimony in German by the
end of these six weeks. "Jesus Christus ist mein Erlöser" that's all I
know so far.
       We were walking home to our apartment and I was talking with my
companion and didn't even realize that the other Sisters were right
behind me. They scared me good as they ran behind us and shouted. I
screamed, but Hermana Humbert stayed calm. Hermana Humbert is actually
gaining so much more confidence. Whenever we go proselyting with a
member she will do role plays and teach the member. She is getting
very good at stopping the people on the street.
     It's snowing a little bit today! I made some Rosquillas for the
older missionary couple in ward and will be dropping them off at there
house because they had a loss of a loved one recently. I love the
senior missionary couple. I get a new recipe from them every week. Now
I know how to make churros and Croquetas.

I love this work, I love this people, and I love Spain!

Hermana Schmidt
Misión Barcelona España

¡Buenos Días!
      It's transfers again and I'm staying in Zaragoza with Hermana
Humbert, mi bebe. One of the sisters in my apartment ended her mission
and will be leaving to go home, and coming to Zaragoza fill her spot
is a sister from Finland! There is so much different culture in our
apartment. I love it! I received another call from president this
transfer asking if I would be willing to serve as a Sister Training
Leader. Of course I accepted. It will be interesting because I will
have to speak in front of our zone once a month and all who came to my
farewell talk know that speaking in front of large groups is not one
of my strengths, but if president thinks I can do it than I will do my
best.
    We had a zone meeting this week and were taught about the Word of
Wisdom and how to help our investigators understand it. It was a nice
day outside and as an activity we split into groups, each group having
to eat a bowl full of fruit as fast as possible while the other groups
were cheering. I was in the last group and we had to eat melon. MELON!
I ate it for the team, and it was strange because I don't normally
like melon, but it actually didn't taste to bad. All girls were
holding my hair back for me and everyone was so loud cheering us on.
In the last room was a bowl of celery and everyone had to participate.
It went from being really loud and everyone cheering, to everyone in
silence with only the sound of celery being chewed. No one even even
like celery, but we did it for the team. The senior missionary couple
made some Spanish treats called rosquillas and gave me the recipe to
make them. My recipe book is getting pretty full!
    We read the Book of Mormon in German with one of our
investigators. I'm able to kind of understand their conversations, and
companion is helping me with reading in german.
      With a member family and their little children we taught the 10
commandments by playing a memory game, and the little girls got really
into it. It was so cute to see them all getting excited about learning
and playing the game, and everyone participated so that was even
better.
   I'm so proud of my companion. One night we were walking back to our
apartment and saw the other sisters coming as well. So we hid behind
the gate. When they came around, my companion yelled which made the
other sisters scream and jump. I'm teaching her so well. But, really I
am so surprised by how amazing my companion is. Yesterday we were in a
lesson teaching a man from Africa who speaks English, and she was just
pulling out scriptures to answer his questions. She is so smart, and
the scriptures that she used helped the spirit to testify.
    We seemed to be in the right place at the right time again this
week and were able to find more people that are so prepared to listen
to this message. Thank you so much for your prayers.

¡Os quiero mucho!

Hermana Schmidt
Misión Barcelona España

¡Buenos Dias!

     This week we seemed to always be in the right place at the right time. We had a lot more success in finding people to teach and even received some references from the members. 

     On Tuesday morning we were just passing by some people, that had been taking the missionary discussions before, to see if they were home and to see if we could teach them again. Before going back to our apartment to have lunch, I thought it would be good to surprise the other sister missionaries in apartment with some "palmaritas"(a Spanish pastry that is absolutely delicious!) I've found my favorite bakery here and it was right in the area we were working in. We started to walk across the street to go the store when we heard someone shout. We looked behind us to see if the person was talking to us. It was some lady and it looked like she was looking at someone else. So we went ahead and bought out palmaritas. When we walked outside the shop, the little lady was standing there. She said that she could see that we were missionaries and that she was going through a difficult time right now and wanted to learn about God. We wrote down her information and went to visit her the next morning, but she wasn't there sadly. We will try again.

      On Wednesday night we had a dinner appointment with a member family who lives close to the church. I kind of knew where they lived, but the address I had was incorrect and we were little lost. This member had a reference for us and I did not to be late. I tried calling everyone in their family, but no one answered. We didn't know what else to do, when we heard someone calling us from out their window. It was the sister we were to be visiting. We later asked her if she had seen our missed call and knew we were lost. She said she hadn't even looked at her phone but that she had just felt impressed to look out the window. That was great! Most of the dinner conversation was in German and I understood maybe half of what was going on. I was pretty glad that I could understand a little. 

    The reference we were given was of a lady who is from Spain but knows German as well and so our visit with her was also mainly in German. I could kind of tell what was going on, so I just spoke in Spanish during the visit while I responded to in German. It's been pretty great to be able to hear my companion speak her native language. 

     It rained a lot one day, and my companion laughed at me as I started to sing "I've got sunshine on a cloudy day," and skipped over the puddles. I'm not going to lie that I was really happy for the long bus ride to get to our dinner visit. We arrived there and gave a message on prayer. As I was speaking, the family's pet bunny jumped up onto my lap. It startled me a little and I let out a little squeal, but tried to act cool. It was a really cute bunny though and loved to be petted. I thought we all were supposed to eat afterward, but they brought out food just for us and watched us eat. It was way too silent and I felt awkward being watched, so I started to make conversation. My companion still has a hard time understanding and speaking so she didn't help me with the conversation. I found the situation so funny and wanted to laugh, but kept myself from doing so. 

     In my scripture study I am in Mosiah and in chapter 19 of Mosiah, the Lamanites are pursuing the people of King Noah. Many people begin to perish by the sword and King Noah commands them "that all the men should leave their wives and their children, and flee before the Lamanites." In this moment of  pressure some men are weak and run away with the king, but some stay with their wives and their children to face the Lamanites. 

     All of us have had moments or will have moments where our faith will be tested. Our testimonies will be tried, and we will have to make a decision whether we will stay true to what we have been taught or if we will fall away. All of us must strengthen our own testimonies and come to know for ourselves that the gospel is true, that God has restored his church, that we have a living day prophet who leads and guides us, etc....As we pray to our Heavenly Father we can ask for the confirmation that the things which we are learning are true. As we do so, and as we study and live these principles, we will be able to confront difficult situation with the faith to hold fast to those principles of the gospel that we have been taught. I know that we are all children of our loving Heavenly Father and, as His children, we have the potential to become like him and overcome the obstacles in our way. My prayer is that we will all do what is necessary in order for us to reach our full potential, and choose the right when faced with decisions, so that we can one day live in the presence of our Heavenly Father and receive a fullness of joy. 

Cariñosamente,

Hermana Schmidt

Misión Barcelona España 

¡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