Happy V-tine's/President's Day!

Happy President's day, everyone. I hope you all had a great Valentine's day as well. February 14th was my 6-month mark which is pretty crazy to think about. The mission goes by too quickly. 

This was a weird week. Other than teaching Jeremy the new-member lessons, we didn't do much teaching. Basically all of our week was spent knocking on doors, trying to find people to teach. Only problem, I think all of Midland went on a vacation and forgot to tell us. We talked to so few people for how long we were outside. That was a bummer. We didn't start teaching anyone this week, but we did find some really cool, solid potentials that we will hopefully see this week.

Since Elder Peterson and I hit the city streets hard when we whitewashed the area, this week we spent some time knocking out in "the country". The country is basically all of the sketch, secluded homes that are scattered about outside of the major highways. Well, we knocked on this small street and on the first door we knocked on, we talked to this nice Lutheran-raised lady who had a new-born in her arms. After we talked for a while she was like, "Do you know TJ Stoney? That's my husband." TJ is a less-active I've been trying to find TJ ever since I got to Midland. Well, it was a cool miracle that we found his super nice non-member wife out in the wilderness. EVEN COOLER is that she said she'd like to learn more about the church. 

The next door we knocked on, this cool guy named Bill let us in right away. He also has a new-born and was really nice. He's from Flint which is pretty sweet. His girlfriend was having a tough day though (just got out of jail I think?) so it wasn't a good time right then. We're going to go teach them tonight though! Way excited about that. 

Other than that, a slow week. I think people are tired of the cold weather and they're crabby and don't want to talk about Jesus. Oh well. 

Even though it was a little bit of a disappointing week, the Lord always provides tender mercies that keep me going. Earlier in the week we got chased off the doorstep of a potential which was pretty discouraging. As Elder Graves and I drove off, we got a text from Jeremy. It simply said, "Hey guys, I just want to thank you for helping me and for being beacons of light in the darkness." The Spirit was definitely working through Jeremy at that time, because God knew I was a little shaken up and needed a reminder that the Lord has blessed us with great love and success. 

K, lemme just say for a second- Jeremy is the best. He loved the new member lesson and now he's reading the New Testament and Jesus the Christ and he's just loving it. He's also fellowshipping the Midland 2 sister's investigator and will be going teaching with them and everything! Prepared people are prepared. It's crazy to think that about 2 months ago he didn't even believe in God and now he's turned his life around and he's a servant of Christ. 

Other tender mercy- I think I told you like 12 weeks ago that Elder Peterson and I knocked into these super nice Catholic former investigators that let us in and fed us pumpkin bread and herbal tea and listened to our message. Well, we walked by their house and Tim was outside so he talked to us and asked how our work was going. We told him that many were kind, and many weren't. He told us he was glad we were facing opposition so that we could cherish the good (what the heck, 2 Ne 2?!). He also told us, "I pray that the Spirit of God will be upon you so that the people you meet will feel the love of God through you and they will recognize you as His servants." I almost started crying. I wish he would just read the Book of Mormon, you know? It's interesting when people get caught up in minor details or misconceptions and therefore won't accept that the Book is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. ANYWHO. Tender mercy anyway. 

Love you all! Be blessed in everything that your doing. 

-Elder Schmutz

Feb 10, 2014 - Jeremy got baptized

Well, hey everyone! 

Surprise! Jeremy got baptized. He's really great. He's been way prepared from the beginning. Have I told you much about him? Here's his story:

Most of his life he's been an atheist. He used to work at DOW with Bro. Jones, our WML. Well, Bro. Jones, being the boss missionary that he is, gave Jeremy a Book of Mormon and had a good discussion with him like two years ago. When Jeremy went through some tough experiences, he came to know that God lives and wanted to learn more about the Book of Mormon. Well, we first met with him 5 weeks ago and now he's baptized. Super prepared. It was really hard last week because he backed out the day of his interview and we weren't sure if we'd ever see him again. Well, he came back determined to be baptized. Yay!

We had a great district meeting. Our zone leaders (Baird/Oler) came which is always fun. After D-meeting, Elder Graves and I did trade-offs with them which was super fun. Elder Baird and I worked in Midland 2 - we knocked on lots of doors. This was his last transfer and he'll be home in two days. I gave me a lot of wise advice as an experienced missionary. 

So other than that, nothing new. Transfer calls were this week and Elder Graves and I are staying together as expected. We DID get word that Elder Reheis is coming to CMU with Elder Oler so he'll be my zone leader! I'm way stoked to see my trainer again. I love that guy. 

Love you all!

-EKS

Jeremy's baptism. Bro. Jones baptized him which was awesome

The district. 

As expected, all us elders are staying here since we're training. 

The M2 sisters (the trio) are staying together as well, but Sister Whipple is leaving. She was trained in Midland and she's been out for 7.5 months. She's excited to go somewhere new. 

Happy Day After Groundhogs Day!

No time, but a decent week. The weather was pretty miserable. We weren't allowed to door contact on Tuesday due to extreme cold and Saturday we got like a foot of snow.

Jeremy was doing super well all week and was really prepared and excited for his baptism, but on Thursday (the day of his interview) he texted us and told us he couldn't do it. That was rough, but for the best. We didn't have contact with him until Sunday night. He is back, excited, and stronger than ever. We're going to work with him a little slower now and help him feel 100% prepared and committed for baptism. He has kept ALL of our commitments except to be baptized and confirmed so we have a lot of hope for him.

We didn't get to meet with Nick this weekend but he ended up going on a camp out and he had a ton of fun so that is perfect for him.

All of our other investigators are progressing slowly but surely. Our investigator Valerie has told us that she knows the Book of Mormon is true and now just needs to work on making the transition from a church she loves to THE Church. Everyone in the ward knows her already and loves her so YEAH.

We're working hard and having a great time doing it. Elder Graves is doing great and he has a lot of love, humility and desire to do good. He kind of reminds me of Tobias Funke of Arrested Development.

Love you all! Have a great week.

-Elder Schmutz

So many things

Yeah I can't even remember all of the things that happened this week. 

Interviews with President Hess this week. That was amazing as always, President Hess is wonderful. He also took time to speak with Jeremy Hammers, our wonderful investigator who was previously on date but felt that January 25th was too soon. After Jeremy's talk with President Hess, he felt like he was ready for baptism and the next time we saw him he set his own date for February 1st. So yeah, that's this Saturday. 

Nick Gagarian is still progressing for February 15th. He brought a new friend from Hemlock this week to listen to us. This friend wasn't super into the message so Nick was trying to play it cool but he's still excited to be baptized. We taught him the Word of Wisdom and it went pretty well. 

Our other most progressing investigator is Valorie Padgette. She is wonderful. She knows the Book of Mormon is true, and we committed her to pray about a date. She feels she has a lot of things to work through with her current church but she seems to be doing really well. Excited for that. 

We had some great finding experiences as well. We started teaching a cool young couple named Roman and Danielle who really enjoyed the Restoration and want to read the Book of Mormon. Because of the crazy cold, it was an interested doorknocking week. Most people either shooed us away from their window, unwilling to open the door OR they let us in right away. Most of the people that let us in were happy to let us warm up while they bashed us (haha, but seriously). 

That's about it. Outta time basically. Love you all!

-Elder Schmutz

January 20, 2014

Hey there everyone!

This was a sweet week. I did a trade-off Tuesday with Elder Derricott's trainee, Elder Krebs. He's a lot of fun and he's from Heber and we had a great time (picture included?). We had a great zone teaching on Wednesday on Revelation from the Book of Mormon and Planning. I kinda get stressed out when I'm reminded how horrible I am at planning but you know, whatever.

Since Wednesday we haven't had a car so I and Elder Graves have been stompin' all of Midland 2. We walked a heck-ton, knocking on doors and tracking down potentials. It was pretty cool. Oh, and we taught more lessons than I have in all of my 9 weeks in Midland so that was exciting.

 I'm going to cut/paste from my report to President Hess.

"This was a really good week for the work, all things considered. We started teaching a woman named Valorie Padgette- she babysits for many members and is good friends with many of them. We actually thought she was a member already; she has been at many family home evenings and dinners that we've attended at the Millward's. We taught the Restoration to Valorie in the Millward's home on Monday, and it was a very spiritual lesson. After the closing prayer, I felt very strongly that I should share how I came to know how the Book of Mormon was true. We shared Alma 32:27-28 and bore testimony of the Book of Mormon. We met with her three other times this week after that, and Saturday night she told us that she knew the Book of Mormon was true. We've invited her to baptism twice, and she is hesitant to set a date but she knows she wants to be baptized. 

Other awesome thing this week - I told you last Monday that we weren't sure if we'd even be teaching Nick Gagarian (Heather's son) anymore because he had a negative experience at church. Well, Saturday we set up a time to talk with him and when we got there, he had brought a friend, Matthew. Matthew is 15 and had expressed a desire to come to church and wanted to learn more. We changed our plans and taught the Restoration. It wasn't our best lesson, we were pretty overexcited and jumbled, but Matthew soaked everything in. We invited him to baptism, and he wisely told us that he would be baptized if he knew the Book of Mormon was true and if Joseph Smith was a prophet, but he wanted to learn more as well. Also, Nick asked us after the discussion, "When am I going to be baptized?" We reset his date for February 15th because we wouldn't be able to teach him everything before next weekend. Nick told us that he's been pretty weighed down by his crazy-anti aunt but he has thought a lot about the church and everything and wants to be baptized. Yesterday, Matt and Nick came to church and the boys their age fellowshipped them immediately. It was a huge miracle. 

Jeremy Hammers is doing well. We dropped his date because he expressed that he didn't want to make a huge commitment (like baptism) while he is so emotionally and mentally unstable. Our ward mission leader Bro. Jones invited us to take part in a fast and a blessing for Jeremy so that he can find stability and strength in his new mental health issues. Jeremy also wants to be baptized once he is doing better - as of now he is getting himself more and more involved in church services and activities. He truly wants to change and be a servant of God. It's been a humbling blessing to know Jeremy, and I am excited for the things coming up."

Those are the highlights of this week. Elder Graves is a great missionary and he has adjusted to mission life much, much better than I did. He keeps me motivated and happy on a daily basis because sometimes I'm an emotional train-wreck. 

That's about it. I think the weather started getting to me a little bit this week and I got the S.A.D. but other than that, it's been a spiritual powerhouse week.

I love you all, a heck-ton! I love getting your emails and letters. I hope you're all doing well. I seriously do think of you all the time and I pray for 

-Elder Schmutz

January 13, 2014 - Midland 2

I've been sitting here for the past, like, 15 minutes trying to come up with a clever subject line. 

This was an alright week. It was a little bit slower due to the weather which sounds like the lamest excuse but it slowed the work down. The mass email from Pres. Hess this week was titled, "Many are cold, but few are frozen" which I thought was terribly witty. Many parts of the MLM were shut down for a few days. People got snowed in, but luckily we didn't get it as bad in Midland.

I told you a bit about Jeremy Hammers last week. He contacted our WML Bro Jones last week and said he wanted to learn more about spiritual things, specifically the Book of Mormon. He sincerely wants to change his life and become a servant of God and he is so humble. He is going through a lot right now and he feels as though he can't come back from where he's been but the Gospel has been healing him in every way- emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. We set a date with him for January 25th. 

We currently have two other investigators on date. Chuck Moore is a brilliant guy we knocked into before Christmas. He is full of the light of Christ and basically everything we teach him recognizes immediately as truth. He has a mild developmental disability but is seriously brilliant. He knows the Bible and Christian doctrine really well and loves what we teach him. Basically his only concern is getting good fellowshippers- he actually went onto Mormon.org and looked for candidates of Mormons in Midland who could be his fellowshippers. Pretty awesome. I've already told you about Nick (Heather Hale's 13-year old son) who has been progressing pretty well. Apparently he had a bad experience with one of the boys at church the other week so that might be an obstacle we will have to overcome before we can continue with him.

We had two great Restoration lessons with some pretty new investigators. The first was with Chris, a cool guy that was recently in a bad car accident that has changed his life and is always looking for new perspectives on God. He is excited to read the Book of Mormon and we'll be seeing him later this week. We also had a really good lesson with Tearis (Tee-air-iss)- I don't know if I've told you about him yet but he's an awesome black guy from Flint. Tearis loves to talk and we've had a difficult time teaching him but we finally were direct and had a great lesson with him. He is very interested in the Book of Mormon as well and he has committed to read it. He also fed us collard greens which I enjoyed thoroughly.  

Most of the week was full of potential finding since door contacting was less-effective due to the weather. There wasn't a lot of outward success but we still got out there and used our time to the fullest. The Midland wards are getting very involved with the work which is exciting. We have a really good district full of hard-working, loving missionaries. We've been getting lots of solid referrals which is very exciting.

Not much about this week. It was very good- Elder Graves is doing well and is adjusting to the work at a fast pace. He's a great teacher and is quickly learning to love the people of Midland/Michigan. 

I love you all! From what I hear, it sounds like you all are doing well. 

-Elder Schmutz

I attached a picture of the Elders of the District the day me and E. Derricott picked up our trainees in Lansing. 

The Tripanionship, Training, Etc.

This was a very full and wonderful week and I'll try to write everything about it. 

Tuesday morning we went to Mt. Pleasant and dropped off Elder Peterson. I picked up Elders Derricott and Mcmurtery and we headed back to Midland 2. It was a glorious tripanionship. We worked in the Midland 2 area mostly but taught some people in Midland 1. We had a great time teaching and finding together. It was definitely different but a ton of fun. I'll include a picture at the bottom.

Thursday morning, we all went to Lansing to pick up our trainees. Before that we got some instruction from Pres. Hess. Then we met our trainees...My new companion is Elder Graves! He's from Pocatello, ID and is awesome. He is the 4th of 5 children and loves filming, especially sports-camera work. He is a great guy; he has worked hard and is adjusting to mission life well. He loves the people we meet and is a wonderful listener. He is excited to learn more, get better at mission work, but is enjoying himself. Elder Graves is basically teaching me. 

It's been an insanely busy week outta nowhere. We've been following up with a lot of potential investigators and other stuff. It seems like the ward is warming up to mission work as well now that we're bringing people in. We've got some solid referrals which was a surprising blessing. 

So many things happened this weekend. A huge miracle and blessing was teaching Jeremy Hammers. Jeremy is a friend of our Ward Missionary Leader Bro. Jones who gave him a Book of Mormon 2 years ago. Jeremy contacted Bro Jones on Friday and said he wanted to learn more about spiritual things. Jeremy has been through a lot recently which I won't get into a lot of detail with, but he is amazing. We got a text from Bro Jones that said, "come right now, I have someone for you to teach". When we got there, Bro Jones and his son-in-law had taught him the Restoration. We had a profound follow-up discussion with him - he has just recently come to know that God lives and he wants to follow God. After talking to him about the Atonement we gave him a priesthood blessing. The Spirit was very strong. Jeremy asked us if he could come to church with us which was awesome. After we gave him the blessing he cried and asked about prayer and we answered his questions. We set up a time to have a church tour and discussion for Saturday. He loved the church tour, but he got overwhelmed by our discussion on the Plan of Salvation and left hurriedly saying that he needed time and didn't want to investigate any more. We were pretty heart-broken because we had no idea what we had done wrong. We said a prayer when we got back to our apartment for Jeremy and we felt very strongly that everything would be alright. Jeremy called us an hour later and thanked us for the lesson and explained he had gotten anxious. He told us he wasn't going to come to church but he did anyway. He had an amazing experience with Sacrament meeting. He wants some time to read the Book of Mormon then he'll see if he wants to learn more but it I know that everything is alright. 

Wow, that was a long-winded story about that but seriously that doesn't contain a 100th of what happened in the past 3 days. 

We taught a new investigator named Chuck who's awesome. We set a date with him and basically his only obstacle is to make a friend in church. After our discussion he went on Mormon.org and found candidates for a good fellowshipper for himself which was pretty awesome. He has a slight developmental disability but is brilliant as far as gospel doctrine. He seriously said some profound things. Wow.

That's about it. I'm excited for what's ahead and I feel blessed for all of the blessings that God has given us. I love mission work! So many blessings. I love you all. I seriously think about you all of the time. 

-Elder Schmutz

Here's a picture of the tripanionship

Elder Graves, ladies and gentlemen