Greetings From Lake Michigan!

Hey Family and Friends! It's been a wonderful week in Michigan. Just an hour or so ago Elder Reheis and I went to Lake Michigan and took some pictures so those are coming your way. I love Michigan. It is so green, lush, and beautiful. The people are pretty great too. I've come to learn something. Just about everyone in Michigan has all of the following: A dog, a gun, and some kind of faith in Jesus Christ. I mean, what else do you need? (Other than the fulness of the Gospel of Christ) This week went by FAST. Right after I finished emailing last week, I headed straight to a members house to do service. Elder Reheis and I felled a 40-50 foot tree like a boss. Bad news: the tree fell toward their house BUT HEY, nothing was too damaged. I did trade-offs again in Wyoming. This week I was with Elder Patterson, my Zone Leader and Great-Grandfather (he trained Elder Richardson who trained Elder Reheis who is training me). We taught three really powerful lessons to investigators and a less-active chap. The really cool thing about the Wyoming area is the Pawsons. Sister Pawson is a convert to the church (4-5 years) and her sons (Doug, 25) (Andrew, 22) are recent converts. Doug is actually on a mission right now in Alaska, he entered the MTC a week after I did. Andrew is getting is papers in this week I think. What's cool about the Pawsons is that they attend every single lesson that the Zone leaders teach. It really makes a big difference. Their whole lives are dedicated to supporting the missionaries. They are really fantastic. Sister Pawson is about the nicest lady I've every met, too. So, the funniest thing that happened this week was our lesson with Trevor (the pot dealer). His girlfriend wasn't home so we only taught him. At the beginning of our visit, Trevor talked to us about marijuana science and his theory on the world ending in 2017. He believes we are in for an EMP and the whole country is going to collapse. He also thinks that a Zombie apocalypse is very possible as long as a polio strand gets with, like, a rabies strand or something (in his words). Pretty cool stuff. Anyway, this transitioned beautifully into the Restoration and prophets. Best lesson ever. On a more serious note, I'll tell you about the Jacobs. Elder Reheis and Elder Leavitt ran into Madison (17) and Hamish (15) Jacobs while I was on trade-offs with Elder Patterson. They taught them a lesson and they committed to baptism. I met them later this week and we had a really good discussion on the Plan of Salvation. They have been reading the Book of Mormon, praying, and they came to church yesterday. They even enjoyed church. The Jacobs are a miracle find. Golden. Love them to death. Later in the evening, we went and taught them again and their mom sat in. We're going to be teaching all of them now. Seriously, what a blessing! God is great. That's all I have for this week. I love you all, thank you SO much for all of the emails this week. I loved them and read them all and I'm going to try and reply to each of you with the rest of my time. -Elder Schmutz

Spring Lake - Week 4

Hey there family and friends. I didn't send you my address last time because I didn't have it. 

Here it is:

15054 Lukas Ct. #220

Grand Haven, MI

49417

So yeah. That's the best place to send me mail for at least the next 4 weeks, almost definitely longer. The mission office's address is this:

1400 Abbot rd. Suite 310

East Lansing, MI

48823-1900

Preferably send mail to the first one, because it will go directly to me.

I'm going to start this email with where I left off. Last Thursday after Zone teaching Elder Reheis and I went and contacted a referral named Trevor. Elder Reheis taught Trevor's family in Battle Creek and baptized them. Anywho, Trevor was there and we let us in. Trevor's girlfriend Allie was there as well, and both of them seemed interested in the Gospel. We taught them the Plan of Salvation and they committed to praying about the Book of Mormon, etc. 

Here's the thing about Trevor: He's a licensed medical marijuana grower. After we taught them a really powerful lesson on the Plan of Salvation Trevor showed us his farm that was 10 feet away from us the whole time we taught him and Allie. Trevor reminds me a lot of James Franco. 

Moving on.

Friday was a good day. Our afternoon consisted of finding and less-active contacting. Later in the day we went to Brett's house, a less-active, and helped him with the clubhouse he's making for his daughters. We're now going to start teaching Brett, his wife and two daughters (none of them are members except him). Woo!

I'm copying and pasting from the letter I sent to President Hess to tell you about Saturday andSunday.

Saturday was an alright day, Elder Reheis was miserably sick so we didn't leave the apartment. I got lots of studying time. I read all of "Our Search for Happiness" that day and wrote my talk that I gave on Sunday AND started reading the Old Testament along with my daily Book of Mormon study. It was a really relaxing day. After about 5 hours of studying I took a nap and cleaned the apartment up. I don't know what the rules are on days that your companion is sick, but I think I had a really productive day.

Sunday was really good. I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting on the Plan of Salvation. It was a huge blessing for me to get to plan that talk and learn more about the Plan of Salvation myself. After Sacrament, a young man named Parza (pronounced Paza) came up and talked to me and Elder Reheis. He's a foreign exchange student from Germany and was really interested in what I and the other speakers had to say on the Plan of Salvation. Parza wants to have more discussions with us. What a tremendous blessing. He lives with a famiy in the ward, I forget their names but they're great and will be able to help us out a lot in teaching Parza. 

After church, we went over to the Dehogue family's home for lunch. They fed us and we taught them a powerful lesson on the Plan of Salvation. We had a very enjoyable and Spiritual time with them. We asked them for referrals afterwards and even though they didn't have any at the time they committed to praying together and keeping their minds open for referrals to give to us. 

After the Dehouge's we saw our investigators Corey and Kelle, they didn't come to church because Kelle was sick. We had a good talk with them, and they had lots of questions on the Plan of Salvation. We answered them and also taught them the Word of Wisdom. I almost forgot: Kelle's cousin Maysia sat in on our lesson and is willing to hear more about the Gospel. 

So that's what's happened since last time I e-mailed. I love you all tons and tons! I know that I have been comforted and blessed beyond my comprehension because of all of the prayers that are coming my way. In addition, I recognize the Holy Spirit more and more in my life and he comforts me and directs me more than I know as well. Missionary work is hard and I miss you all quite a lot but the miracles I've seen and the feelings that I've had would not be possible without God's love, the Spirit, and all of your prayers. Again, I LOVE YOU.

The Gospel is true. God is our loving, Heavenly Father and he cares for us tremendously. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior, Redeemer,  and greatest friend. I know that he lives! Joseph Smith saw God the Father and the Son, he is a Prophet, and  the Book of Mormon is true. Jesus Christ guides His church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, through a living Prophet. What blessings this knowledge gives! That's why I'm here; I want everyone to hear the message that has blessed my life beyond reckoning. 

Keep writing/e-mailing me! I love hearing from all of you.

-Elder Schmutz

Shoutouts:

Vaughn/Mags: Mom tells me that Lucy is crawling. Is this true? It can't be. 

Mom/Dad: I'm glad to hear that you are sub-settled into your new place. I hope everything else goes well. I hope that Khalil leaving won't leave you terribly traumatized. He's such a sweet guy. I miss him like crazy. 

Annie: THANKS FOR THE POSTCARD, I LOVE IT. In the MTC I was eating fruits and veggies like crazy but now I'm in Michigan, not so much. Thanks for the reminder, I'm working on that. 

Clark: Thanks for that lovely email. I'll keep you in my prayers concerning Med School. Amy, I love you. 

Celia/Benson: Mom told me about your big news! Wow! ;)

Celia: Will you forward this email to Natalie and tell her to email/write me? Is she like, engaged or something? Dang.

Missionary Friends: You're all great! Thanks for the emails, I read them entirely.

Elder Yu, U ROCK.

PICTURES:

This is a picture of my lovely MTC district in front of the Provo Temple being cool.

This is of me and Elder Reheis, a picture I took an hour ago to show you what we look like

This is a picture of the Elders in my MTC district. We were a pretty tight bunch. Such nerds, too.

This is a picture of Elder Safley, my first companion ever, and myself in front of the Provo Temple.

Spring Lake - Week 3 1/2

Hey family and friends! I'm alive!

I haven't got to email until now because Monday was labor day and then Monday night I started a trade-off that ended up lasting until this morning. Crazy. Longest trade-off ever to occur I've been told. So yeah.

Let me start from the beginning. Last Wednesday (the 28th) I and my district headed to the SLC airport at like 4 in the morning. The airport was a funny experience; it was my first time being in the "real world" since I've put the mission tag on. It was hilarious to see half of the people smiling and greeting me and my companion and the other half avoiding all eye-contact with the us. We got to the gate 90 minutes early, and for the first hour I talked to a nice member lady who was sitting by us. For the other 30 minutes I talked to a nice lady named Delores from Tennessee. I talked to her a bit about the Gospel and ended up giving her a pass-along card.

I'll fast-forward through all the travel, because there's nothing special about it. We landed in Lansing around 5 or so and we met Sister and President Hess and the A.P's. Elder Snow and Larsen were very kind and excited to see us. It was a nice little reception we had in the tiny Lansing airport.

Anywho, we went to the mission home and had dinner and socialized for a while. Not soon after, we all piled into a van and headed to MSU campus. We did some personal contacting. It was a good learning experience, I'll say that. The first person I talked to was an older man who complimented my tie and seemed interested in what I had to say, so I bore my testimony to him. After that, he told us that he was a Baptist minister, called us heretics to our faces and told us to burn in hell. So yeah, that was pretty great. Personal contacting is sweet. I laughed about it later but at the time I was stunned and wanted to cry a little.

The next day I got to meet my trainer, Elder Reheis. He's from Arizona (Von, what mission did you serve in?) and he likes aviation. We get a long really well because he's pretty much the coolest dude in the whole world. We've had lots of success already and I'm learning so much from him.

Let me tell you about Tony Lee. Tony Lee is a member who lives in Muskegon and was baptized 5-ish years ago. He's probably the happiest, most dedicated person to the Gospel that I've ever met. He's had to face lots of challenges in his life but everything he does is for other people. He is so genuinely kind and the Spirit is so strong with him. Whenever I get discouraged, I think about how the Gospel has blessed Tony's life and that the Gospel can help people in the same way.

Now let me tell you about Corey and Kelle. They are 20 and 18, boyfriend and girlfriend, and Kelle is pregnant. They are investigators who were found by a miraculous tracting experience. They are way interested in the Gospel, and the first time I met them Elder Reheis, Tony and I taught them the Plan of Salvation. At the end of the lesson, Tony brought up priesthood blessings and Kelle asked for one. Tony gave her one of the most inspired blessings I've ever heard, and it brought most of us to tears. They felt the Spirit in abundance and have committed to baptism. They are now thinking about getting married and Corey is trying to stop smoking. Pretty amazing.

I've seen many other miracles so far, but that is all I have time to share for now. I'll tell you briefly about my super long trade-off. I went to Wyoming and was companions with Elder Benitez for the past 2 days. He's also from Arizona. He was really good for me because we ended up tracting for many hours each day which I need to work on having a good attitude about. We had a good time and worked hard.

OH MAN. I forgot to tell you- lots of the elders in my mission are into a card trading game called Magic: The Gathering. Elder Reheis is trying really hard to get me into it, and I must confess it's pretty fun but also pretty dang nerdy. Elder Benitez plays as well, and a bunch of other elders do too and they're trying to get me into it.

K, I'm out of time.

Shout-outs

Mom: Yes I got my bedding, thank you. Thanks for all of the notes/emails, etc. You're the best. It's good to hear that the move went okay. I hope settling in goes okay as well. What Michigan cities did you grow up in, Mom? I met a brother Schmutz last night in Wyoming.Dad, you're great. Thanks for the candy I got in the MTC. Are you familiar with a Howard Schmutz who was a rancher or something? I wish I was better at knowing about my family, etc. I must be related to this Brother Schmutz in Michigan somehow.

Von: Where did you serve again?

Jae: How's the MTC bud? Can you believe I'm learning to play Magic? I'm somewhat embarrassed.

Annie: Thanks for the email. Keep me posted on things. 

All of you other people: I LOVE YOU. The Church is true. Amen.

-Elder Schmutz

Week 2 of the MTC & 2nd Try

Well hey!

Can you all believe that I've been in the MTC for almost 2 weeks now? I mean, you probably can, but I seriously can't. It's a funny/kind of frustrating feeling that I can't remember a single thing I've done in the past 13 days if I think too hard about it. The only thing I know is that I have had so many spiritual experiences and I've grown so much that I can't even remember the details of them all. Most importantly, I remember how I feel and how I have felt and I know that all is well through faith. My testimony has grown ten-fold in my time at the MTC. I am telling you all now (and mostly myself) that I will never forget what I've felt here and feel now. Gold loves us.

My plan for this email was to send you pictures and tell you about them but these lovely MTC computers won't even allow my to connect my camera with a USB. They'll just have to wait until I get out into the field which is TOMORROW.

Whoa, I'm so excited to get to Michigan. I am so excited for my alarm to go off at 2-3 a.m. so we can prepare to go to the airport. I'm excited. That's all.

Half of our district left Monday morning which was pretty sad. I miss Elder Lester, Elder Sheperd, and the Sisters a lot. It's funny how attached we got to each other in less than 2 weeks. It must be because we had so many spiritual experiences together.

I'm sorry, everyone. Now that I'm sitting here I have nothing to say other than I LOVE YOU. I feel so much peace in my heart and the only way that's possible is because God is watching over me. I recognize the Holy Spirit so much more. I love God. That is all.

-Elder Schmutz

Then, bless his little heart, he gave it a second try!

I promise from now on I'm going to record things I want to tell you all in the moment that I have them. I feel lame sitting down for 40 minutes and wanting to tell you all so much but not being able to. You're all great.

Let me tell you something that happened like 5 minutes ago. Elder Safley and I went to the outdoor cafeteria to get bagged breakfast. On the way out by the outside door, a rug's corner had been flipped up and curled. From outside of it a mouse appeared. It was so cute and tiny. Elder Safely was about 5 feet away when I pointed at it and said, "Hey, look at that cute mouse". He stopped right where he ways and yelled at me "KILL IT". I continued to stand there, pointing at the mouse as it froze about 2 feet away from me. This went on for a few seconds. I continued pointing and repeating variations of, "it's so cute, I'm not gonna kill it, I'm not just gonna step on it" and Elder Safley repeatedly yelled at me from 5 feet away, "KILL IT, SMASH IT!". The mouse continued to stay still, eating some bagel crumbs or something. Realize that a few other missionaries were standing around and witnessing this whole thing.

Elder Safley's great. I realize that we are quite different but we have gotten along SO WELL because we have the same purpose. Yeah.

Pray for Elder Schmutz so that he may be able to write emails that make sense.

Love you all.

-Elder Schmutz

MTC: Letter #1

Well hey everyone!

I LOVE YOU ALL. I'm doing well, and I love the MTC. I've been so busy I haven't been tired to feel homesick, although I do really miss my niece and nephews the most (sorry). Hearing/thinking about them makes my heart ache a little, but not enough to distract me from my work.

I'm sure all of you will understand when I say that the MTC is like drinking out of a Spiritual Firehose. So much revelation and growth that I can't even remember it all at the end of the day. And Celia, as you told me in your letter, I realize that the Spirit really is physically exhausting.

I'll just get started. My companion, Elder Safley, is awesome. We get along super well and we work well together, and he is meant to be my companion. We have had great success in our TRC/Progressing Investigator experiences, but what we realize our greatest weakness is yielding to each other. Ok, this is mostly for me. I'm more naturally outgoing so sometimes I need to hold back so he can have a chance to share his testimony. Other than how we work together, Elder Safley is from Roosevelt UT, a small town somewhere near Vernal? He talks in a sorta small-town accent which is pretty cool. He likes cars and driving things (he liked to talk of his back hoe frequently) and he did a year at Snow College before coming here.

this shift key is broken so im gonna stop using it. dont judge.

I've only told mom and dad this in the one letter i've sent but i was made a district leader last Thursday. it was kinda intimidating but i'm honored that I was trusted to do it. I LOVE MY DISTRICT. i'll tell you briefly about everyone.

Elder lester/Shepherd are the zone leaders and they have a really funny relationship. Elder Lester makes jokes and picks on Shepherd and Shepherd quietly takes it all in while pretending that he is full of hate for lester. They really do get along though and they have lots of respect for each other.

Elder Martin/Wiscombe have an interesting relationship. Wiscombe is really laid back and into laughing but Elder Martin is very serious and dedicated to utilizing every moment in the mtc for spiritual growth. he has an amazing knowledge of the gospel, and can recite like any scripture. I realize that he is so dedicated to the Gospel because that's kind of all he has concerning family. His family doesnt really talk to him because they aren't active. I thank you for all at least being willing to write me.

Elder Palmer plays banjo and guitar. I asked him if he knew Sufjan Stevens and he doesn't. He's from Arizona and also kinda has the small-town accent but he isn't from a small town. I don't get it. Elder White is....I don't know how to describe Elder White. He....yeah. He's nice and has a testimony but his sense of humor generally is kind of strange. Which is awkward because he is humorous like, always. LOVE HIM THO.

Sister Funoa/Peterson are the best friends I think which they admit sometimes gets in the way of their studying. Sister Peterson is from Philly and sister Funoa i think is from Utah. They talk "hood" and it's pretty hilarious.

Sister Muro/Woodruff are great. Sister Woodruff is from a small town in Cali and sister Muro is from Orem. They are the greatest example of friendship of hardwork in our district. They get along super well and (from what I've seen) spend their study time the best. They're great.

As a district, we're pretty much the coolest. We laugh and joke and have our own table at the Cafeteria. I forgot my camera, I was gonna upload some pictures of us all at the temple so I'll have to send another short email with that today.

Celia, you asked about gym time. I play volleyball and basketball. My screens are notorious and my bump/set is pretty good. Workin on dat spike doe.

I'm need to finish up so I'll talk about one other experience that was really special to me so far.On Saturday during companionship study, Elder Safley and I were working when a teacher came in and asked all of us (most of our district was in the classroom) if any of us would volunteer and teach a TRC whose missionaries fell through. Elder Safley said right away that we would do it, which was odd because usually I'm the outgoing one. I was terrified, but we followed the teacher and he showed us what room we would be teaching in. We said a prayer that calmed my fears then we went in. We met Mark and Tammy, non-members who live in the area. Mostly we talked to them and answered their questions. At the end, we invited them to pray, and they agreed. It was a great prayer that Mark gave, and at the end they were silent. They admitted that they had never prayed openly/vocally like that and it was really special. We were out of time, but Tammy said she wanted to talk to their mormon neighbors about the Plan of Salvation since we mentioned that when we talked with them.

I'll never forget Mark and Tammy. They were such kind people and we had a really genuine talk with them and I felt so much love for them. The church is true, everyone. I learn this more and more every day that I'm here. I've gotta get off and change my laundry tho. LOVE YOU. I'll try my best to send some pictures.

God be with you till we e-mail again.

-Elder Schmutz