My comp and I thought this sign was so funny, from far away the cop looks a little like an alien. So we thought that you were supposed to watch out for Aliens. ha ha just a little joke for ya.

July 24

 Well happy pioneer day. Here it is just another day. We talked about pioneers this Sunday but today is just a regular day. This week again has flown by. WE have found another person who is ready for baptism. He just needs to pray about it but hasnt yet becuase he knows it is true and once he has that confomation there will be nothing holding him back.

My comp got an awesome book from his Grandparents its called Increase in Learning by Elder Bednar it is really good we have been using it in our personal study time in the mornings I think it has helped us with our teaching I think we have been able to reach people. I cant really explain it over email but I have learned alot from it,

I know I need to think about what I am going to do when I come home . I know I have better study habits now and I know I would do better in school. I was wondering about an auto mechanics program? I have heard they have an internship at the Harley Davidson Company in Orem. That would be my dream job. I get nervous about school but also nervous about waiting to long to get into school. So I will pray about it.

The pictures look great it sounds like everyone is doing good. Uncle Wayne is still Uncle Wayne. ha ha. so glad everyone is doing good. 

Well we are off to give ourselves hair cuts and do some laundry. Funny how we get so busy we dont have time to get a hair cut.  

For my birthday I want a purple tie with stripes on it. ha ha. and I really need some new garments. Other than that I will be fine.  Thanks for the money. I am getting good at budgeting but a little extra always helps. 

I have so much to do got to run 

I love you all

Stay Classy

Elder Schmidt

July 17

 This week went by so fast.. Happy Birthday Ethan. I cant believe you are 14 that seems old. 

Wow so Brady had only 4 wisdom teeth he cant complain about anything until he has at least 7 or 8. JK so my picture is on his wall of fame. I always told you guys I was special.. Ha ha. 

So we have been so busy this week. I love that my comp loves to work. We have been needing a car because we have trouble getting to all our apts on time. We didnt even have time for our free slurpie on 7/11 that is something as missionaries we all look forward to. Anything that is free we are excited about.  The thing about the time going by so fast is that I know I will be so surprised when I look it will be Oct and my mission will be almost over. Right now I feel like I have so much to do and so little time. So basically my comp and I get up everyday and get as much done as possible. 

I hope Brady recovers fast. So when will he put his papers in? That is a cool story about the MTC praying for rain. Every boy in the valley should realize the power of missionary work and be excited to become one. Definatly a testimony builder.

So busy. So tired but so good.

I love you all

Stay Classy

Elder Schmidt

July 10

 This week went by kinda slow. My new comp is from Texas and he loves Cajan food so we went over to a ward members house and they got take out from this place it was amazing. It is in New Port. It was a whole mound of food. We had crawdads shrimp clams and gumbo and gumbalia. Some of it was a little spicy for my taste but it was fun. I didnt try the clams. Sorry dad I know you love those but they smelled funny. Even all the spices couldnt kill that smell. The family that had us over took some pics so they might send them to ya. 

On the spiritual side we had a golden contact fall into our laps this month. She has wanted to be a member her whole life but didnt know how and was always to busy. She always felt good inside when she watched the churches commericals and when she say bits of the mormon tabernacle choir. She knew that someday she would be a member of that church. Cool huh.. Well we have a tenative date for her baptism already it is on the 28th. It would be awesome if it all works that fast. I always want to make sure she knows the doctrine though.

 Well I love you all

Stay Classy

Elder Schmidt

July 3

 So I am in Aliso Veijo. Its not a big jump for me just moved over a stake and a ward. The ward here is awesome for what the other Elders have said. It seems slow to me. It always seems like the area is slow then we get working and things pick up.  It seems like the people are home more often so it is easier to tract. Our last area people worked long hours and it was hard to catch people at home. 

My comp is really fun and funny. Its like living with a loony toon character. Its nice though cuz he wakes up in a good mood everyday. After some of my other comps this is great.  

That is so cool about Ellie swimming. I cant wait to take her swimming when I get home. I love swimming to so maybe she is like me a little bit. 

I cant believe that Ethan is going to be 14. That seems really old. So what are you guys doing for the 4th. We usually get invited to a members bbq. That is nice because it is alway such good food.

Well be safe and dont let dad blow anything up.

I love you all
Stay Classy
Elder Schmidt

June 26

 Well I am for sure getting transfered. I dont know where yet. They always wait till the last minute to tell you. I spent the last couple of days saying good bye. This area has been amazing. I really want you to come meet these members they are amazing. Everyone asked me if I was thinking about going home since I only have 6 months left. It kinda scared me. I know how fast 6 months goes .Elder Oldham and I have gotten really close but we area both ready for a change. He is a pesky little bugger sometimes and I am tired of his jokes and his practical jokes. He is a great guy but we both know its time. Oh and by the way he wants to write Sheena. Red heads of the world unite. I think its funny he kept talking about making sure that red heads need to make red headed kids. so the red head population doesnt die out. kinda funny.

Well I will let you know where Im going next week. 

I love you all

Stay Classy

Elder Schmidt

June 19

 Happy Fathers Day  Dad. Sorry we dont get to call like mothers day I know mom gets all the good stuff. I miss you. That bike trip sounds fun. Its always fun to ride down the hill. Alot of people here are into biking they always ask us if we want to do a ride on our PDay. Honestly we spend so much time on our bikes we really dont think it is fun. Not until my mission did people think I was a biker. ha ha. Im still not. Well Pres Cook told me last week after the baptism I would probably get transffered so I know that is coming.  I love this are but I know its time for me to move on. 

Hey does Brady know Coby Peterson from baseball? He is in my apt. small world huh. He knows Brady. 

Granny and Pappa sent me a package and told me about his fishing trip to Alaska. sounds crazy..

So is Brady getting ready. I remember everyone telling me all I had to do to get ready. It gets kind of annoying but everyone is just trying to help. So I will just give a little advice. Study all you can. The more prepared the better missionary you will be. 

Pray for me this week. you know how I worry about transfers. I cant believe its been that hot. Its nice here in Cali. 

I love you all

Stay Classy

Elder Schmidt

 Here is our pics from the baptism. It was awesome!

June 12

The Baptism

 The baptism went great. The font took forever to fill like 3 and a half hours. We had to stay until it was ready. Usually if your at the church for that long your in a meeting or something. I think because we were so excited it seemed like it took forever to fill. She asked me to do the conformation. I was so nervous. President Cook interviewed us this week to ask us about the baptism. I told him I was nervous and didnt want to mess up. Well he showed up to the baptism. That made me more nervous. I said a prayer to help me calm down and like always it worked. Pres. Cook stood right next to me during the conformation. He let me do the whole thing but was there if I needed him. It went smooth. So glad that part of it is over. It was a really stressful week to plan the whole baptism in a week. But like always this ward stepped up and filled in where we needed them. We said to each other many times during the week that the Lord was helping us. This just seemed to fit together. When your doing the Lords work you are blessed. 

I did it mom. I taught someone from the beginning till the end and it felt great.

I love you all 

Stay Classy

Elder Schmidt

So this week some of the other Elders thought it would be funny if they let these little creatures loose in our apt. It was a little freaky at first because we thought they were spiders. We caught them all and took them to the dock and let them go. We are doing the Lords work it didnt seem right to not put them back where they belong.

June 6

Cool Story:
Oh wow what an amazing week. Well to start off you know how we challenged our investigator to get baptized and she said was thinking about it. Well she was really cooling off because of her less active boyfriend. We prayed for her all week. Then we challenged her to be an example to him. Well on Sat she texted us and said it was the right thing for her to lead the way. Then Sunday she got up in fast and testimony meeting and bore her testimony she told the ward she was going to get baptized the end of June.  During Sunday school we told her that one or both of us might be gone before the end of June because transfers were coming up . So slowly after the lesson she said she wanted to move up her baptism date to this Sat. we were blown away. We have so much to get ready for now. So that is my cool story.
I love you all
Stay Classy
Elder Schmidt

May 29

So it sounds like you guys are going to have another graduate in the house. 

This week was a lot of the same still teaching and working with our investigators. One thing this ward does is help fellowship without being to pushy. They seem to do the right kind of things. It has been so cool to watch this ward show love to our investigator. I know she will be baptized because of the love she has been shown.

Well I guess the only person I can tease about being short is Alyssa. She is kind of an easy target though. I think I am a professional at teasing her. Im sure Brady has done a fine job while I have been gone. He seems to have the skills.

Well everyone looks great and congratulations Brady 2012!

I love you all

Stay classy

Elder Schmidt

May 21

 Well this week was awesome. We had our investigator at church. We had a lesson with her and an invitation to be baptized. She said it is something she has been thinking about. Can you believe it !! She was already thinking about getting baptized. We had an old investigator show up at church also and she got the same lesson so she was challenged to get baptized also. She was not quite as ready but she said she would pray and thing about it.

This week ran a 5k. We had a ward Olympics it was fun but you know my comp he signed us up for a runninng event. My legs hurt . I also took  second place in the 100 and 3rd in the long jump. It was fun to do something different if we hadnt done that 5k. After the olympics we had a bbq it was so good it was smoked brisket. One thing is the members always worry about the missionaries getting fed. So we always over eat. 

Well got to run get laundry done

I love you all

Stay Classy

Elder Schmidt

May 17

 Hey it was so fun to see you guys. No mom it dosent make me home sick. You guys all look so good and mom your hair is getting long. It was fun to see Brady and Ethan they seem so grown up . Ellie looked so big has she had a hair cut yet? Her hair dosn't seem to be growing very fast. 

I did think of something I need. Some work out shirts. My comp is still very serious about our workouts every morning he still thinks he is a track star. So my shirts get a little stinky by PDay. So if I had some more to trade off with that would be great.

My old bishops name was Bishop Hess. I want to bring you guys back to meet him. He is a great guy.

We were able to meet with our investigator that night after we talked. I was at the RS house and she had invited her over. We were able to have a great discussion on missionaries and us leaving our families for 2 years so we can share the gospel. It was very powerful.

The Rs did a great job and had our investigator acting like they had known each other for years. Sometimes the power of a calling is pretty cool to watch. 

Well that is all that has happened so far

I love you all

Stay Classy

Elder Schmid

Mothers Day Call

We were able to face time with Stephen. It was so awesome we talked for over 2 hours It was just so good to see him and hear his voice. He spent time talking to each of us. He was so excited to see how big Ellie was getting and how good she is at talking. He love seeing his brothers ..We asked Stephen if he knew anything about coming home what he was wanting to do and those things. He told us he was thinking of trying to extend. He told us in his first area he showed up and baptized someone the other Elders had taught and his second area he left and the other missionaries baptized the person and he really wanted to find someone and teach them from the start to baptism. So proud but sad at the same time. This means more than likely he and Brady will miss each other. Brady turns 19 in Oct and Stephens mission ends in Jan if he extends he will more than likely not see his brother for 4 years.
He was so confident and his comp talked to us for a minute he is from Payson Ut and is a great kid. He is a happy guy who truly loves Stephen. My prayers have been answered.

May 8

 This week was good it went by so fast Im having a hard time remembering what happened. 

I am looking forward to talking to you this Sunday. I have some members who have things set up for us. I will call to set things up but i am pretty sure I can skype. My church is from 9-12 so let me know the time you want me to call.

Our investigator had to go out of town this week to Alaska, she has a son up there that is having a hard time. We are worried about her because she is at a critical time in learning the gospel. So maybe you can pray for her. It slowed down out week a little but we have found others to fill in our time.

We are doing good and working hard everyday.

I love you all

Stay Classy

Elder Schmdit

April 24

 Hey everyone are you all tan? How was Hawaii?

Well this week we had a lesson with Kelli she is the one that is living with her boyfriend who is an inactive. I guess when Elder Nelson said the gold was with the inactives this is what he was talking about. She said she would like to be baptized. She knows the gospel is true and she has been reading. 

Sorry I dont have a lot of time today because we are going to the temple we are going to Newport Beach temple today. My favorite is  still San Diego. But still excited to go. I am happy to know you guys went to Hawaii. Dont worry about me mom I have been in sunny Cali for the last year I am fine.

Im glad your guys are happy

I love you all
Stay Classy
Elder Schmidt

Spoon pic

April 17

 This week was so awesome Elder Nelson was so amazing!!!! He talked about the word hearken. How this word means to listen with the intent to obey. I really liked that because he didnt just talk about obedience he talked about our intentions.  It has helped me this week in my prayers to think about my intentions more. After he had some question and answers. One missionary asked how we can help the less actives and he said we need to help them see that they need the church not the other way around. In Utah we have so many members the work is lighter for the members but out here members work hard and some have more than one calling. He also told us that working with the less actives is where the gold is. Helping them back to activity is one of our main focuses.. It was a great conference. 

This week I went on exchanges with Elder Shourman. It is nice to change things up once in a while sometimes you dont realize you are in a rut with your comp. till you go out with someone else. We made some good contacts.

I am sending some funny pics of my exchanges giant spoon. Dont ask why he has it I dont know. ha ha

I love you all

Stay Classy

Elder Schmidt

April 10

 Hey everyone!

 This week is gonna be awesome we get to have M Russell Nelson come to our mission we are so excited. We had the super bowl with conference and this is like mom seeing Ben Affleck at Disneyland. We are gonna try and get a hand shake from a prophet. 

Well this week we were approached by another anti Mormon basher. They are pretty loud and aggressive. Once they see us they wont leave us along and they follow us. We tried to nicely and polietly leave but he followed us across the street. Its hard not to get upset by this. 

We are excited because we are leading the mission in contacts this week. We have 5 referals to check up on. I love it when we are busy. 

When the work is slow its easy to get discouraged but we are both very excited about this week. When the weeks are slow we spend a lot of time praying. I know we are blessed. We are here to do the Lords work,

I hope you guys have a fun spring break.

I love you all
Stay Classy
Elder Schmidt

Here is the humming bird we tried to save.

April 3

 This week was conference which is good for us it is kinda like the super bowl for missionaries. I really liked President Uchtdorf's talk on not judging and forgivness. I am a little hard on myself. He has a way of speaking and it seems like he touches down deep. It gave me encouragement to keep going forward and to know that I was doing a good job. Crazy thing about conference is that no new temples were announced. I guess we need to finish the ones we have.

We went over to a members house for the first session and they fed us pancakes while we watched. Elder Oldham ate like 10

It was a good week. Our hopes are up because we might get the car this week.

 We got word that we are both staying and not getting transferred. So we are here and together another 6 weeks. Which is great with both of us.

Hows the dog working out? Did you ever find out what kind she is?

Me and my comp found a baby humming bird and tried to nurse it back to health but it was to far gone. Kinda sad. we tried hard.

I love you all 

Stay Classey

Elder Schmidt

It was a good week this week we picked up 3 new investigators. One is so ready we just need to get them wedded and we are ordained ministers so. lol. She has been reading every night before bed. She lives with a non active guy. How nice is that. They just need to get their proirities straight. They have been living together for like 7 years.  I dont understand that. I first all dont understand why they didnt get married in the begining and then they just never got around to it. I dont understand how it could not be a priority.

We had a busy week. Felt good to have so much going on but I am tired. My bike is still terrible ..So Alyssa got a dog huh. That sounds like a cool dog. I want to see it when I get home.

I need some more white shirts.

I have some advice for Brady. He needs to read the Book of Mormon it will help he get his own testimony and help him be a little more ready .

Well I have to go. 

I love you all

Stay Classsy

Elder Schmidt

This week

 This week not much has happened pretty much the same old thing. We have been asked as Elders to sing in the choir so tell Alyssa I am getting practice.  We are biking everywhere and my comp is still a running person. he loves to run so I ride my bike while he runs every morning . to me this is ridiculous because we ride bikes all day isn't that enough. Her is a pic of us fishing. The only thing we caught was some seaweed. I thought maybe would could sell it as sushi. My comp didnt think that was funny Elders are not supposed to sell things. oh well.

K the mail man is getting sick of forwarding mail so we are going to get mail less. So glad we can email so we dont have to wait for a letter.

Im doing good mom and Im being safe on the bike.

 

Elder Schmidt

I love you all 

Stay Classey

 My comp thinking he is funny.

March 18

 Well this week was slow but we were able to give a blessing to a lady who is recovering form breast cancer. She was great and really cool. She is super ready. She understands that there should be modern day prophets. She said well why wouldnt there be more. Kinda cool. She actually came to church on Sunday with a friend and had a great experience. We havent been able to meet with the other couple yet. 

Im so excited we got special permission to go fishing today down by the harbor. Its on the jetty and its free without a liscnece. Super excited about that

Hope all is well.

Stay Classey

Elder Stephen Schmidt