2 Weeks into 1 email

A lot has happened in the past two weeks and I'm going to try and fit it all in. I must admit my emails have become a journal of sorts but I've been doing better at writing every day in my paper journal.

Two Wednesdays ago was our zone training. I conducted and did my training first. I spoke about consecration and obedience as well as remembering Jesus Christ. At first I was disappointed I didn't get to train on the area book and planning, but my segment turned out really well. I practically put together a bunch of things I've learned from past leaders, and I used a cool handout I got from my great-grandfather Elder Patterson. 

I love talking with everyone. It's something I didn't understand when I was a young missionary and I disliked doing it. Now I don't think there's anything better than striking up a conversation with someone I come across. Two weeks ago we were out doorknocking and we saw three girls walking in the middle of the road/parking lot and I felt like we needed to stop them. I kind of startled them by yelling a "Hey" to get their attention. After exchanging pleasantries we found out that one of them was a former investigator who had previously gone to the KUB for 6 months. While we talked about the church she chimed in to share her experience and testimony of the Book of Mormon and other principles of the gospel. It was a very interesting experience that could have been passed up if we were too nervous to walk up to them and say hello. 

The rest of that week was spring break, so proselyting was a little slower. We also got assigned to clean out an old apartment which was pretty time-consuming. Despite little time working in our area we still found 5 new investigators. We're now teaching one of the WMU football players, Andre (we also found him by going out of our way to talk to him in the parking lot). We also got called up out of nowhere by a member's friend who was previously too busy to learn from us. He called us during break and said he had nothing better to do so we went and taught him. Turns out he loved the Restoration and is progressing well. 

THIS week was pretty nice. Since we didn't have p-day Monday we proselyted instead. We picked up a former named Cody as well as his friend from Grand Rapids. 

On Tuesday we did a lot of finding since our usual appointments fell through. We pc-ed into a music major who sat down with us right away. We taught him a super shaky plan of salvation but surprisingly he wanted to meet again. He loved the Restoration and wants to get involved with the church. He shows lots of potential so we're excited for him. We also followed up with Sujith Dudekula, a student from India we doorknocked into. 

On Wednesday we did trade-offs with Sturgis and I was on campus with Elder Pace. We had a full teaching day, and we also found two new investigators that dropped us the next lesson. They were kind of into the "Holy Roller" thing so we were probably too low-key for their taste. 

On Thursday we had interviews with the President and trade-offs with Battle Creek. I was with Elder Stewart, my former companion's trainee. We had too much fun for the days we were together. He is super funny and could make me laugh pretty much at any point. We also taught a bunch of great people, including Yvonne Jones. She's an older lady that's been investigating for years. She remembers all of the missionaries that ever taught her and she loves the Elders. She even told me about how Elder Reheis promised he'd take her on a plane ride one day. 

Saturday, all of our appointments fell through and we went to the tail end of the YSA conference at the KUB. We helped prepare food and eat it as well before the fireside. We then got to see the Lamb of God. 

EVERYONE. If you haven't heard it, you should. Listen to the soundtrack. It's the most beautiful thing ever. I pretty much know that I want to be a musician when I grow up because of Kalamazoo's performance of the Lamb of God. 

Sunday was stake conference, and Elder Cook of the Quorum of the 12 came to Kalamazoo! It was the best thing ever. I had to trample some old ladies but I got to shake his hand. What an action-packed weekend. 

OK, sorry for longest email to date but that's pretty much my life for the past two weeks.

Here's some other news though; we've fallen out of contact with Alex. He was ready to go but something must have happened during break. We warned him of opposition/anti to the extreme and kept in contact with him throughout break but he hasn't responded for over a week now to any of our calls or texts. All prayers would be much appreciated! WMU has been one of the best but hardest roller-coasters of my mission. I've been privileged to teach so many prepared individuals that seem to fall to the wayside just before they're about to make it. It's one of my greatest weaknesses, but I am coming to understand the role of agency in the Plan of Salvation. 

On a positive note, I know God lives and His plan is perfect. At the end of the day, we have the gospel of Jesus Christ. All of the miracles and joys of bringing others into the gospel is just icing on the cake after that. I love Jesus and I can't adequately describe my gratitude for His eternal, atoning sacrifice. I think I understand better after hearing the Lamb of God in person, though.

Love you all! Stay strong and do what is right. 

-Elder Kent Schmutz

Come On! Feel the Illinoise

Hey everyone! This week was swell. If you haven't seen on facebook, I went to the temple again on Saturday to support Long Chen for his endowment. It was super awesome! The temple is so awesome.

This week was action packed! I told you last week about our zone baptismal date goal...We hit it, of course! 21 out of 21, right on the dot. 11 of 15 areas contributed to the goal which is also really awesome. We celebrated today by getting together as a zone to play basketball, and the assistants even came over from Lansing. Too much fun!

So we saw some pretty incredible miracles in our area this week. I already told you we found Nikesh again, so that was sweet. On Tuesday we were at MLC so we discussed topics for our zone training coming up this Wednesday. After we got home we went doorknocking at 58 west. We felt inspired to knock building 5 and the second person who opened the door was Ashley. After we exchanged pleasantries she let us in right away. We talked to her and got to know her. We taught her half of the plan of salvation and she was blown away. At some point in the middle of our lesson she told us that the night before she had prayed that God would send someone to talk with her so she could change her life. For the past six months she has contemplated being baptized. She told us practically her life story and how she lost faith with God but knew she needed to get back in touch with Him. It was a powerful lesson and a huge miracle from Heavenly Father from what I think is a result of our goal. We set a baptismal date with her in May and we taught her 3 (almost 4) days in a row. The only obstacle so far is that her grandpa is the pastor of her church and it will be very hard for her to transition to a completely different faith.  All prayers would be much appreciated!

We actually didn't talk to many people this week because once we started finding, we got let in for a lesson. We also found this sick couple named Terriana and Tommy. They let us in and we taught them the Restoration. When we asked them what they wanted to get from our meetings, Tommy told us he wanted to learn to say better prayers and Terriana wanted to develop faith in God. She told us she knew little about religion but wanted to have a faith in God. Right from the beginning Terriana looked at the back of the pamphlet we gave her, and she asked, "do you do baptisms?" We were like, "Yeah", and she just got a fat grin on her face. When we showed her a picture of Joseph Smith receiving the priesthood, her face lit up and she was like, "So Joseph Smith received the priesthood authority that was lost after the apostles were killed?" And we were like, "Yeah". Both of them accepted a date. After we explained what the Book of Mormon, Tommy asked, "Where can I get a copy of that book?" and Elder Marley just set one in his lap and was like, "this is your own copy". He was ecstatic. We set a date with them for May as well. Before we left, Terriana said, "Hey! Could you write the day of our baptism on the back of my pamphlet?" and we were like .

So there you have it! It should be another good week. I'm feeling excited for zone training. You won't hear from me next week since we need to switch out a P-day for going to the temple. Spring Break has begun for WMU so things will be getting interesting over here. Other cool thing: our investigator Alex went to church in Colorado by himself and really enjoyed it. The gospel principles class was on Adam and Eve which is just what we learned so he added lots of insights to the class. He probably brought up Adam being mighty Michael or the Ancient of Days because that is definitely what got taught at the KUB last week. #MilkbeforeMeat. 

Love you all! I am so happy to be a missionary and I love you all. Jesus Christ is so involved in this work, because it is His church. I am far from being perfect consecration, but if we give our all to building the Lord's Kingdom we will find true happiness. 

-Elder Schmutz

I forgot my camera. You'll see pictures on FB. 

Love you all

IT'S GOLD AND WHITE OK FIGHT ME

Hey everyone, it's been a good week! Elder Marley and I are having a lot of fun at WMU already. The work is good and I am so happy to still be here in Kalamazoo!

Alex is doing super well. He's come to church 4 weeks in a row and loves it more and more every time. He told us he feels very comfortable at the branch and is excited for baptism. Sierra also came to church and enjoyed herself. Fast and testimony meeting was powerful as always and in gospel principles we learned about Adam and Eve. It's one of my favorite doctrines to teach as a missionary! We learned in class that mighty Michael was Adam or the ancient of days. Way too deep for gospel principles but our investigators and less-actives loved it! We had break the fast after and everyone had a great time.

We have fallen out of contact with Kirstin. It has been heartbreaking to see someone progress so far and then fall off for whatever reason. My first thought is, "what more could we have done?" but in the end people have agency and I can't change that nor should I want to change that. Just as Sister Voyles (in the district) explains, seeing others use their agency poorly helps us know how God feels about us when we make poor choices. He has a lot of patience for each of us.

Elder Marley is a great companion and I imagine he will spend time at MSU in the future as an assistant. MAYBE he can go AP after this transfer and I'll get to stay her for another transfer! That would be a dream come true. We have already had some cool miracles and I'm excited to keep working hard here. During my time here I've been so focused on the result of our missionary work that I've lost sight of the most important part which is the process of conversion.

Saturday was probably the highlight of this week. In the morning we had breakfast at the Bertolina's with all the members of the branch plus some less-actives and non-member friends. There was a long conversation about the dress illusion and it got pretty heated. Later we got dropped off by our father Long Chen at a place we were going to doorknock. We had him choose a place for us and when we started knocking, the fourth door we knocked on we got let in. We taught Andrew the Plan and he really enjoyed it.

In between key indicator call-ins we went to follow up with some people at an apartment complex and we found Nick again! He was happy to see us and he is looking forward to coming back to church and meeting up.

OK last thing. We set a goal for 21 new baptismal dates thoughout the zone by the end of this week and we're already at 5. I'm excited to update you on it next week! Last last thing: we're probably going to go to the temple again this weekend with Long Chen for him to receive his endowment. WOOP WOOP

Love you all!

-EKS

Accentuate the Positive, Eliminate the Negative

Hey everyone! This was a super eventful week and I'm going to try and pack it all in this email because I don't have much time.

Transfer calls! From talking to other missionaries, no one saw the results coming but me. I'm staying another transfer in WMU and Elder McMurtrey is being transferred to whitewash/train Battle Creek! My new companion will be Elder Marley, he is coming from Holland which makes 3 missionaries in a row that to from Holland to WMU. (Me, Mac, and Marley) I saw Elder Marley at our last training and I told him he was going to come serve in K-zoo with me. CALLED IT. I am beyond ecstatic to stay at WMU for a 5th transfer. I'm a lucky dog.

Saturday: Went to the temple with a member of the branch, Kiersten Meales! She joined the church a couple years ago and is becoming reactivated so we got to go to the temple for her to receive her endowment. You can see all of the pictures on Facebook, I'm not going to bother posting them through email. It was incredible to go to the temple after 18 months! I was dying to get there and it was so awesome. I never would have thought I would go to the Chicago temple during my time in Michigan, and I'm really glad I got to go thanks to the new rules. I'll probably go next month with Long Chen and Chris Bates when they receive their endowment. 

In other news...We got broken into last Monday night! We left our apartment at 6 for trade-offs and interviews with Sturgis, and when I and Elder Erekson returned, I knew right away we had been broken into. Our stuff was kinda thrown around; they clearly went through all of our stuff pretty thoroughly. They climbed up our balcony into the unlocked sliding glass door. They stole an expensive watch from an elder, our Microwave, vacuum and broom (who would steal a broom, IDK), my companion's GPS, stamps, and a single dollar out of my wallet. I accidentally left my wallet and they just took the cash I had which was very little. However, they did steal my nice Timbuk2 bag from Celia and Benson which was saddening. They didn't steal my scriptures though which was a miracle. Although it was pretty wack and it sucks getting stuff stolen, I feel very fortunate that they didn't take my scriptures or whole wallet. 

Our interaction with the police officer that came was pretty hilarious. He had lots of questions about our rules and why on earth we were together for only 24 hours and had to stay within sight and sound of each other, etc. Elder Erekson invited him to learn and he got wayyy sketched out but it was a pretty fun and funny experience. 

The area is doing good. Alex decided he wasn't ready to get baptized this weekend, but he is super solid and will be baptized soon. Kirstin is having a lot of family issues and wasn't in town. She still talks to us though so that's a plus. Tomorrow is her last day at OG we're pretty sure so once she's outta there we'll be able to teach her and get her to church. We picked up a lot of other great new investigators and we're seeing them progress really nicely. 

Love you all! Have a great week. 

-EKS

Well Hey.

How is everyone? Things are pretty good here, it was a crazy week because of the weather. We are in a rush so I'll try to keep it brief (but it never happens). 

The highlight of this week was our training with Elder Nash. We thought it wasn't going to happen for a bit, but it did. We had a training from him yesterday and it was very good. 

Last Monday us and the K1 Elders went to the mall and got some really cool pants at Banana Republic for a good sale. We did a photo shoot (pictures attached). 

We did a trade-offs with St. Joseph on Thursday night with the plan to trade back on Saturday morning at Elder Nash's training. I had a great day with Elder Giar, we did some finding earlier in the day and then taught investigators and less-actives for the rest of the evening. I really like all of their investigators, they're teaching some really cool people in St. Joe. When we got home from the evening my companion called to tell us that Elder Nash got cancelled until SUNDAY because of a severe weather warning. Our exchange got extended about 30 hours. The weather was so bad we couldn't leave our apartments for some of the day. When we did, we luckily got let in by investigators and other less-actives when we stopped by. We also went and visited this super cool member who plays percussion! After we taught him a lightning lesson he let me play his marimba/drum set and we jammed out for a sec. That was a pretty sick tender mercy. We talked for quite a while about all of his close friends in the drum corp world (Scott Johnson, Ralph Hardimon, etc.) basically people I idolize.

So that's it for this week. We need to jet off because we're doing a bunch of baptismal interviews tonight in Sturgis. The zone should have 10 or so baptisms this weekend, including one from us!

Love you all,

-Elder Schmutz

Banana Republic Models in the Middle of a Snowfield.

P-Day Well Spent. 

Church Wasn't Cancelled!

Not much has happened since I updated you last on Wednesday! Thursday was pretty slow. Our investigator from India no-showed probably like 5 appointments this week because we can't understand him over the phone. That's cool though! Makes for funny moments. We had dinner with dad Chen on Friday followed by teaching an investigator with three members. It was pretty sweet. We also had stopped by sports night before teaching Kirstin the word of wisdom. She took it like a champ, but we knew she would. She didn't get to church this week because her boss is psycho and her coworkers wouldn't take her shift but the (kinda) good news is that she had such a horrible day at work that she put in her two weeks notice! It was great, she needs to get a job that will allow her to honor the Sabbath day and keep it Holy. 

Saturday we walked around everywhere and did some quality finding. We also went to Insomnia Cookie (have I told you about that?) and we got ice cream sandwiches. I almost died because it was so rich; I only got through half of mine before giving up.

Sunday was super good! Since Break the fast/Bring your friend to church day was cancelled last week, we had it yesterday. Not many of the members were there but us and the sisters had a few investigators. President and Sister Jacobsen came and visited for the sister's investigator's confirmation (he got baptized Saturday!) so it was good to see them. Our investigator Alex and a new investigator Tony. Alex stayed the whole time and made tons of friends, it was great! We had two lessons on agency but both of them were really good. We had a turkey dinner/lunch after and had tons of fun! 

In other news, we got called by some girl from Iowa that tore her ACL and has to get surgery so she's back home (in Kalamazoo). She ran into some other Elders on campus two years ago and kept their number and called us. Her roommate in Iowa was mormon and got her to read the Book of Mormon and she loved it! She called us last night mid-hysteria (we think she was on pain-meds) but we're hoping it will be a good teaching opportunity and we're not just getting punked or something.

Love you all! The mission is great. We're having some good laughs and being obedient. I learned again this week that I need to not freak out over things I have no control over. The lesson I must learn over and over again is patience, I'm sure of it. 

-Elder Schmutz

Did I already send you this picture? Can't remember.

Quick Update

Hey everyone!

I didn't get to email you until now because Kalamazoo got hit really hard in a winter storm! We were practically snowed in for all of Monday and everything was closed anyway. I was on trade-offs yesterday so here I am now. 

This last week was incredible for mission work! On Monday we went to FHE and our investigators came and loved it. We started trade-offs with the assistants in the evening, and I got to stay at WMU with Elder Green! We had a great day full of teaching. Missionary work has changed quite a bit since our last training. We spend less time tracting and personal contacting and more time teaching the members. We got more referrals this week than I have in the past transfer. In the evening we taught Dontreal who prophesied to both of us. That was pretty great. 

Wednesday was slow, but we got a really solid referral from a married couple in K1 ward that want us to teach their best friend. 

Thursday we did trade-offs with K2. I was in K2 again with my MTC companion Elder Safley! We had a pretty good but rather cold day. We picked up a bunch of referrals from this lady on the street we started talking to. She wasn't interested but when we asked about her neighbors she basically pointed out to us which of her neighbors needed the Gospel or had recent life changes. We picked up a ton of potentials as a result; that's why you ask everyone for referrals! We also got let into this guy's house named Phil McNeil. Super prepared. We taught him the Restoration and set a baptismal date with him. 

Friday we were in Battle Creek doing a blitz. We were supposed to be teaching the rest of the day when we got back but everyone fell through. A busy day nonetheless. 

Saturday was really cool! We were walking and we talked to two people total that whole day and we picked them both up as investigators and set baptismal dates with them. It was a very cool experience; this is God's work, not ours. The rest of the day was spent teaching other lessons and helping a part-member family move.

Sunday was SUPPOSED to be "Bring your friend to church" day. We woke up and it was snowing hard; it had already snowed a good foot. Church got cancelled and I went hysterical because we were supposed to have 6 investigators there AND it was going to be a great finding experience. Oh well. God had other plans. We got permission to do a little sacrament meeting with the district AND Kirstin came. That was super cool. The Spirit was strong. The rest of the day was spent doing call-ins and helping other missionaries get around without dying (we have a truck so it travels well in severe snow storms). 

Monday we were snowed in and weren't allowed to drive so we played this nerdy/super fun game called Munchkin with the K1 Elders that live right by us. 

Quick update turned into a journal entry. Sorry! In other news, my new nephew Sebastian is super cute and I love his face already.

Love each of you. I'll send some pictures next week!

-EKS

Training in Lansing, etc.

Hey everyone!

Man, what a great week. Monday night we taught Kirstin at the church. She is doing well though! She has already finished the Book of Mormon. We also went to FHE that night and played "9 square" (like 4 square but with 8 squares surrounding a king square) and I wrecked face. We did trade-offs with Paw Paw over Tuesday. I brought Elder Fairbanks to campus with me, and he is HUGE. 6'8" and 300+ lbs. I think people on campus were scared of him. We had a full, active day of finding and teaching and picked up some new investigators.

Wednesday for district lunch we did a buffet at Pizza hut. Big mistake! Later in the day we went and taught Kirstin on her break at Olive Garden. She told us she'd buy us dessert if we guessed her favorite scripture in the Book of Mormon. I guessed her favorite chapter and verse in two guesses, one right after the other. I enjoyed my black tie mousse cake thouroughly.

Thursday was incredible! We went to Lansing for a leadership training (DL's, ZL's, and STL's). Brothers Hemmingway and Radford from the mission department  (IN SLC) cam and blew our minds with an awesome training. They opened up facebook to district leaders and told us to have only one account and delete the other. That's whey you've seen me on facebook now! The best part is they taught us how to teach super efficiently and simply and it blew our minds. They gave us lots of good finding advice, and how to work with members. It was probably one of my most favorite trainings ever. 

Friday, we applied the things we learned. With the two new investigators we were meeting with that day, we taught a simple restoration out of the pamphlets. We taught Autumn, a freshman from Detroit and committed her to read, pray, come to church, and be baptized in half an hour. We taught Nick, a Christian from India the same lesson but in half the time and extended the same commitments. We also taught the Restoration to our investigator from Nepal named Prashant. He loved it too and we set a date with him as well. We taught Sierra and had a sort of break-through lesson with her. She opened up and told us she had been avoiding really praying about the Book of Mormon because she's afraid of the answer she'll get. She's gotten opposition from family but I think she understands how significant this is now. Later in the day we had hotpot with our chinese dad, Long Chen. We ate a lot and it was very good. Shoulda taken pictures.

Saturday we did a church tour with Autumn and Nick and they loved it. We were supposed to have a total of 6 people come to church, but two ended up coming. Some got sick and others left town and Kirstin didn't come either! Gahh, she is sorta making us crazy! Nick and another investigator Jacob came. They both had good experiences though. 

Man! My emails are long. Sorry.

 I love each of you a lot! The message we share is true and it will bring the love of God into the lives of anyone who hears it! Peace in this life cannot be achieved without the gospel of Jesus Christ. Keep up the missionary work I hear about! 

-Elder Schmutz

Attached: a picture of myself and Elder Fairbanks. I told people on campus he was my bodyguard. No one thought it was very funny.

Quick Update

Hey everyone!

It was a busy but good work. Kids are back on campus so we had plenty of teaching opportunities! We picked up a handful of investigators, almost more than I ever have in a week. The highlight is Prashant from Nepal. He knew little about God and practically nothing about Jesus Christ. We taught him the plan of salvation and he loved it! He had so many golden questions that are answered by the scriptures. He practically asked if we could be exalted and that was a breath of fresh air considering so many of my former investigators were hung up over our divine potential.

Kirstin is still doing ok, but she didn't come to church! :/ We're meeting with her today.

To close, I want to share with you a text conversation that we had with a potential investigator. We doorknocked into him before break, his name is Hao (from China). He opened the door with boxers only on and we had a pretty good conversation. His girlfriend, Juju, was also listening and not clothed very much. He gave us a number to text after the break. The other day we texted him.

Us: Hey Hao, how have you been? It's the Mormon missionaries who knocked on your door a month ago.

Hao: What

Us: We talked to you before break about God. We talked to you and Juju at your apartment, do you remember?

Hao: Obviously not. Juju is my cat! Why are you talking to my cat?

Us: You told us your gf's name was Juju. Is your gf a cat? Either way we want to kow if we could come visit you tomorrow.

Hao: Umm I guess. My girlfriend is named Allison my cat is Juju. Who would name their child juju

Us: Haha I agree, you'd have to be crazy to name your child Juju. Could we come at 5?

Hao: Ummm 5 is not good how about 3?

Us: Yeah that would work. At your apt or campus?

Hao: Apartment would be best so I can feed Juju.

Us: Cool we'll see you then!

Hao: Sounds like a plan

...The next day as we are standing outside Hao's door....

Us: Hey Hao are you close to your apartment?

Hao: Wait this isn't someone joking with me

Us: No we were serious and we're standing outside your apartment.

Hao: Oh dude I am so sorry I thought you were pranking me

Us: haha ok. Can we come another time for reals?

Hao: I seriously have no idea who you are.

Us: You and Allison answered the door in the evening one day and we talked to you for not even 5 minutes about God's plan for us. You were only wearing boxers and you gave us your number so we could set up a time to come back. Do you remember this at all?

Not Hao: You definitely have the wrong number.

Us: Do you really have a cat named Juju? If not you're the one punking us. Do you live in Kalamazoo?

Not Hao: No I live in Decatur and I do not own any cats I honestly thought you were one of my friends messing with me.

....The conversation continues and we eventually invite this person to learn. Nothing came of it except a pretty funny text conversation.

Love you all! Have a great week! I'd send you some pictures but I don't have my camera on me. We are short on time since we're not emailing at the library (MLK day). I love hearing your updates and your own missionary moments! Don't be afraid to open your mouth; the Gospel is so 100% true!!!

-Elder Schmutz

T-Calls, Etc.

Hey everyone!

Well, the big news is that I'm staying at WMU for another transfer! Wooo!!!! Elder McMurtrey and I are re-united after two long weeks. In other news around the mission, they recombined Grand Rapids and Spring Lake into one zone and the same with Lansing and Meridian. So we're back down to one zone per stake.

Not a lot to report on this week. Worked really hard in K2 with Elder Olsen. Went to St. Joseph on a blitz (their apartment is on the last stage of treatment for bed bugs; heck no am I sleeping over). We drove there through a severe blizzard with no visibility. I think it was the following morning there was a 100+ car pileup on the highway so I feel blessed we didn't get into a wreck of any kind. It was bitter cold pretty much all of this week but it's warming up nicely. The students are coming back to WMU so I'm stoked out of my mind to start the REAL fun. These past 6 weeks have been full of miracles but it's also been really tough with so many members and students out of town! It was sort of a blessing our area got closed for two weeks but now we're eagerly anticipating proselyting here again.

MLC was on Tuesday and that was nice. We can go to the temple more frequently AND we can listen to more music now. 

That's about it! Love you all, I'm out of time because we need to go help with transfers.

-Elder Schmutz

Picture: a cross-stitched Jesus displayed in the upper rooms of the Kalamazoo University Branch.

Our mission president made some banners that say "We are Family" and "We can do hard things".

They'll be displayed at every big training from now on. Pretty dope.

1st Week of 2015

Hey everyone!

This week was good. I'm working in K2 basically full-time so not much is happening in our area. I've had fun greenie-busting Elder Olsen who just got done being trained. It's been a weird week since transfers aren't happening yet but I'm away from Elder McMurtrey. 

The coolest news is that we taught Kirstin on Thursday night. She fed us and a member that came with us. During dinner she handed me a little envelope with mine and Elder McMurtrey's name on it. I put it away thinking I would read it later. We finished the Plan of Salvation with her and the lesson went really well and it made perfect sense to her. As we asked her about how she's been feeling while reading the Book of Mormon she told me I should open the note and read it to everyone. It practically said that after much prayer and thought she knows what we have taught is true and that she needs to be baptized. The Spirit was very strong and it was a pretty sweet experience for everyone there. Elder Olsen and our fellowshipper looked pretty shocked/excited.

Kirstin is progressing super well, she's finishing up Alma and knows what she needs to do next. The only problem is that Satan is working SOOO hard to keep her from church. Not only could she not get out of work this week but she also had strep, bronchitis and the flu all at once. Prayers would be much appreciated. 

We're teaching some other really prepared individuals in K2, but mostly we're finding. They have also found some really solid people doorknocking. We started teaching this lady Cheryl that loves the Book of Mormon and knows it's ture. I also met their recent convert Robert who was baptized two weeks ago. He was doorknocked into, and I think he read the Book of Mormon in two weeks and has since read half of it again and has read all of the standard works AND Jesus the Christ and the Articles of Faith. He's a 60-year-old reading machine.

Kalamazoo is just full of miracles right now. I pray every night that I won't get transferred now that we have found Kirstin and so many others. We'll see though, the pattern is not in my favor. It's probably going to be a big mix-around for the zone leaders and I've been here 3 transfers already. I'll go and work super hard where I'm sent. It's likely I'll go to Lansing, Traverse City, Wyoming, or Mt. Pleasant (CMU). 

Love you all! God has a plan for each of us and this is His truth.

-Elder Schmutz