Week 8: What a week! Feb 28-March 7

3/7/2022

Special assignment!? On Monday night Sister Nyguaard texted Sister Schmidt and I saying she has a special assignment for us and to call her. We were in the middle of contacting some people so we couldn’t call right away and that about killed Sister Schmidt. She was freaking out! I was freaking out a tiny bit on the inside but nothing like she was lol. We called Sister Nyguaard back as soon as we could. She told us that for the last few weeks the head leadership of our mission has been praying about who should be in charge of this mission wide Sister conference. She said “Your names came to my mind many times and when I mentioned it to everyone else they all felt really good about it.” THIS IS CRAZY! Sister Schmidt and I will be planning and in charge of a mission wide Sister Conference. It will be an all day event. We are planing: some speakers, classes to be better self reliant, lunch, activities, and most of all a huge service project. The first presidency of the Relief Society has extended an invitation of service to the relief society Sisters. We will be incorporating a big serve project into this Sister conference. We are a little bit nervous for sure but we gladly accepted this project and we are excited to start this process. We have to move pretty quickly to get the word our soon. I can’t believe we are given such a big opportunity! I must need to learn something or maybe it’s just to get to know the girls in my mission better.
Ring doorbells are the worst invention for missionaries We got a referral from one of our member visits last week and we went to go vist this person. We knocked. We could see the TV on and we could hear walking, so we waited. Then I rang the doorbell. This lady named Linda flew open the door and in a yelling voice said” This better be good, im helping my husband with the spa!” We explained her friend told us about her and we were trying to get to know her. She kinda for a second listened to us, then held up her hands and said, “I know ALL about the Mormons! You are a cult and I am not intrested.” Sister Schdmit asked what the reason was. She responded saying that there were so many reason she couldn’t count them. It’s crazy for me to run into these people who were once members of the church who now hate the church. After we began riding our bikes down the road I looked over at Sister Schmidt and said, “No human would answer the door like that. She knew who was at her door, and still answered the door to bash.” My friend Nora I was super touched by a week or so ago also slammed the door 🙁 that was so sad because we feel strongly about her. I’m so grateful for the strength of the lord, without him I would not be able to be on a mission. I learned it takes about 20 bad houses to run into a good one. There is opposition in all things, im extra thankful for the good people I run into because we have a rough house here and there. I know I will be led to the right house when they are ready.

Uggg let’s set those sad moments asside and focus on the good and the miracles! Peggy is reading the BOM! We still haven’t met with her due to sickness again, but she said she isn’t able to do anything else so she decided to read the BOM. She is reading more than we asked her! We prayed and prayed to know if we should continue to work with her and this is an answer to our prayer. This is the first step she has taken for herself. We reached out to a member to personally invite her to church and she came to both hours of church. She has never been to both hours of church before. Members have power! Be friends with people, you never know when you can change their lives for eternity.

Coming out of the MTC I really struggled simply because I missed the people I was with. We gained such a tight bond, grew together and had a lot of fun together. I am finally begining to get a hint of that here in Kuna. Finally!! Covid restrictions have lifted and we can now do district sports in the morning. 3 times a week, for our workout time, we go and play a sport in the gym together. I have been having a lot of fun with it. I still feel like I don’t know my district super well yet but I can say I am begining to form that relationship. District sports are a lot of fun. Many memories and good laughs come from them. Today I get to experience my first Zone day! Super excited!

My favorite memory from this week was helping this sweet old lady set up her new iPad. Her name is Mary. We were planning a message to share with her before hand and I looked over and saw Sister Schmidts ukulele. I got this super strong feeling that we( Sister Schdmit) should play for her. I told Sister Schmidt and she was nervous! I didn’t force her to do it if she didn’t want to.. but….She did it! We sat down in Mary’s living room after setting up her iPad and the second Sister Schmidt began playing Savior Redeemer of The World, I got this overwhelming warm fuzziness. It was so powerful. The spirt was so strong during this message. I looked up at Mary and she had this soft smile as she watched Sister Schmidt. I was almost crying! I then shared a scripture about peace. I learned a big lesson from this: 1. Music is powerful and 2. God knew Mary needed us that day and that that song would be best for her. She was very thankful for our message. Walking out of her home I looked over at Sister Schmidt just beaming. She said,” Did you feel that!? Thank you for all you do for me, you get me out of my comfort zone and I am so grateful. I am growing and I am happy.”

Later that night we went to a members home named the Jackmans. We thought them about the temple and how we can make our homes more like the temple (Mosiah 2).We testified and were about to leave this sweet family when the mom said something I needed to hear. She said sometimes we work so hard to get our loved ones, friends, and ward members to come to the gospel. I forget that God has a plan for them, I will always give them opportunities to come to the gospel but remember God is on your team. She said this because her daughteds are not members of the church. I needed to hear those words. I felt the spirt so strongly during those words. I thought I was going into that home to teach a lesson but she taught me instead. This week has been full of slammed doors, and rejection but she really reminded me what I am her for. She reminded me that God has a plan and he is on my team. It was a very tender moment walking home from this appointment.

Like mentioned above this week has not been a bad week at all, but we have not found a friend. We have had countless bad moments. I however, am super happy and doing my best so don’t worry 🙂 After weeks of trying we were able to teach this certain family last week. They are extremely nice, so we went back on Saturday to see if we could follow up. The mom let us in and we had a very normal and real conversation with her. After a little while we asked if we could come back and share a message. She very kindly explained she will never be coming back to the church. Why? She said she and her husband came across other material. It broke my heart. She was open and honest and said if we ever need anything she will be there for us. Nice family! We continued down the road and ran into this sweet old lady doing yard work. We told her we’d love to help sometime. Long story short we figured out we are both Christian. She is convinced we worship Joseph Smith and told us the BOM is false. It was a great conversation in the beginning and it slowly turned into this bash. I just stood there, I testified and I said nice to meet you and left. Our intention isn’t to bash and we left as soon as we felt it was going that way. What a day! I learned a lot about other Christian beliefs how to handle hard situations like that.

That night Sister Schmidt kind of went and did her own thing because of some personal things in her life. I stayed in our living area and talked with the other Sisters about their day. They noticed that it has been a week for my comp and I, not because we are sad just because it has been rough. Sister hardy said wait right there and ran to get her phone. She sat me down and we watched this 10 min video on Christ. Boy was it heart wrenching, and motivating. It talked about the rejection Christ felt and that he knows me! I didn’t think I needed that video but I did. I was so touched. I was touched that they would take time out of their night to help me when my companion wasn’t able to be there for me. They made me feel so loved and I am so grateful. I don’t have the video right now but I will share it when I can get it 🙂 Sister Schmidt is an amazing companion but she was dealing with personal things. I felt loved and taken care of that night. God new I needed to watch that video even when I didn’t feel I needed it. He loves each of us so much.
I love you all so much and hope you are all doing well