Updates! Only 1 week left in the m.t.c.!

So I've fallen way behind on this (me and my mom take turns updating the blog), but Anna only has 1 week left in the m.t.c! I was actually able to sneak up and giver her a hug today on the Provo temple grounds and she burst into tears when she saw me! And yes...I know I wasn't supposed to...but she's doing really well and was able to bear her testimony to me in Spanish.

Here is the email from this last week as well as more pictures with her and her companions. She had the opportunity of hearing Jeffrey R. Holland and Sherry Dew speak as well as getting to meet Ann Dibbs.
Here's the email received Thursday May 20th:
WOW!!! Guess what world??? I only have 2 weeks left in the MTc before I leave for Argentina May 31......I think that's the correct date.....anyway I'm thinking that we'll be getting our travel plans anyday but once again not sure.......there have been some amazing things going on here in the MTC....to start off, Jeffery R Holland came and spoke to the Missionaries for Tuesday Devotional!! I actually starting crying as he walked into the room!! It's such an amazing feeling when an Apostle of Jesus Christ enters the room!! The Spirit was soooo strong and it was a mindblowing devotional!! He talked about missionary work and it was just amazing.....I'll have to photocopy my notes from my journal for everyone......then Sherry Dew came and spoke to us sisters in Relief Society!!!!!! AMAZING!! She is such a powerful woman AND I got a hug from her!!!!!!! Even better.....Anna Dibbs of the Young Woman General Presidency came and spoke to us the next sunday for Relief Society!!! In case you are unaware....she is the Prophet's daughter!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She talked about many amazing things but my favorite part was when she spoke about her Father and how he had been serving people his entire life and had been prepared for this calling as a Prophet of the Lord when he was only 22 and called to be a Bishop over a ward with hundreds of people in it!!! The Spirit was really strong and powerful......and guess what??? I got a hug from her too!!!!!! She asked me where I was serving!!!! Best Day EVER in the MTC!!!! The longer I'm here the happier I've become......Spanish is still killing me.......slowly but surely but I am thrilled to report that I do talk in Spanish while I sleep............My roommates & companion think it's hilarious......apparantly one of my classic lines is "Quiero saber........Quiero saber"!!!!!!! Which means I WANT TO KNOW!!!!! I WANT TO KNOW! I was also apparantly mad at someone in my sleep and I told them not to touch me and I ended with this in my sleep.....COMPRENDE?????? Which is understand and it's also in the proper ustede form as well ; ) My district has also become friends with the Spanish speaking elders & sisters at the MTC and we talk to them as much as we can AND sit with them at meals.....some of them are from Argentina and even Resistencia!! Pretty cool and we're learning alot.....they actually know sooo much english just from being in the MTC here in Provo Utah....anyway lets just say I'm learning ALOT about myself and Heavenly Father......I seriously feel like a different person.....still myself but better and I've got a long ways to go!! Keep writing everyone......its such a huge deal to have support from family & friends.

Here are the pictures:













Please everyone keep sending letters and dearelders and we'll keep you posted on when she leaves for Argentina!
If anyone has any questions, post a comment or you can send me a message on facebook. I'm at BYU in Provo right now, but anyone back in Texas can also talk to my mom or family.
-Laura

Anna's letter received May 6 is a copy of her journal entry dated April 30

Some tremendous things have happened. I am truly grateful for Hermano Zirkle. He is such an amazing child of God and has been such a blessing to me to have as a teacher. He is such an example of charity and the pure love of Christ. I had a meeting with him and he gave me great guidance.

1. Look outside myself - he told me that his brother learned on his mission in Spain that when you lose yourself in missionary work that you will find yourself.

2. Speak the language now - if I try to speak Spanish right now even though I am struggling and it is really hard the Lord will bless me with the gift of tongues.

He also shared so much other counsel and advised me to work hard to get to know the Savior. He reminded me of Peter who was able to walk on water, but when he became afraid and began to doubt, taking his eyes off the Savior - he began to sink into the waves. He instructed me to always keep my eyes on Christ. We also talked about Satan and D & C 50:23 - dark thoughts and feelings come from Satan. He reminded me that I already know Satan's game plan! Virtue is about having positive thoughts - I must let virtue garnish my thoughts - in other words "think positive" at all times. He gave me an assignment to write down everyday 3 things that are evidences of God's love for me no matter how small they may seem.

At the end of our meeting, I asked him for a blessing. It was an amazing blessing - in it the Lord promised me that I would have peace, courage and the Holy Ghost to be with me as I lived worthily. Hermano Zirkle stated how much the Lord loves me and that as I look back over my life I could see moments where the Lord showed his love. He blessed me with ENERGY which is really a challenge for me as I only get 71/2 to 8 hours of sleep and I usually need much more. He blessed me that on the last night of my mission in the Mission President's home I would look back and feel tremendous gratitude and humility and I would be pleased with how I handled many difficult situations. He said I would be a powerful instrument in the Lord's hands and even after my mission within my own family to bring others to Christ.

Afterward when I went back to class, I felt such peace and I was even able to speak in spanish --my companion Hermana Elwood was so pleased and happy for me! She said that she felt a huge difference in me! I do feel different! To close, I will quote Hermano Zirkle, "Sacudalos con el espiritu" which means "Hit them with the Spirit"

Anna's weekly email dated May 6

WOW!! I can not believe it that I've made it to my 5th week in the MTC!! It's
amazing how fast time has gone by!!! First off couple of things: MOM- I can't
call you on Mother's Day while I'm in the MTC.....we're not allowed to plus
there's not enough phones!! I do have a special card coming to you in the
mail.....however I will get to call my family while I'm at the airport before I
leave for Argentina in 4 weeks!!!  2. Laura - I don't even have your school
address at BYU.....how can I send you a letter??? Dear Elder it to me TODAY!!! I
want to write to you badly my only sister!!

I have a confession to make..on Wednesday all of sudden I
REALLY missed my family......I felt sad......pero
(but) the longer I'm here the more amazed I am at how I'm changing as a
person......I'm going through this GRANDE personal transformation right
now......It's REALLY hard....there are a lot of things I'm realizing and honestly
I have NEVER been so dependent on the Lord as I am right now! There's no way I
could make it through this without fully relying on the Lord.

One of the Elders in my District with whom I'm friends
actually had an interesting perspective on my situation ---
he said that he was actually jealous that I was going through this right
now b/c when I get to the field I will be amazing & able to focus on serving the
people!! I was really surprised to hear that and actually really humbled......I
hear Satan constantly whispering in my ears that I can't do this almost
constantly.....even my Teacher Hermano Zirkle who is already translated
(remember....he's one of the 3rd Nephites) said that Satan has these bounds
wrapped around me and that he knows that I'll be a powerful missionary and
doesn't want me to succeed.

I've been desperately praying for the Lord to help
me handle this.....somehow after every prayer I utter.....I receive an answer
the next day through a class/teacher who talk about the very same thing....I'm
learning to recognize the Spirit in different ways that I NEVER noticed
before.....I have promptings & thoughts and it'll be something I never
thought about before and suddenly I have this understanding!! Spanish is BEYOND
hard for me but last night at the TRC my companionship & had to teach the 1st
lesson in Spanish for the first time and amazingly it went REALLY well!! The
pretend investigator said he felt the spirit strongly from us!
Looking back at where I was to where I am now is insane!!! I'm still behind in Spanish but
everyday I get better.....My teacher Hermano Zirkle said that you don't have to
understand grammar to speak Spanish.....good thing b/c grammar had always kicked
me in my rear end.

To close, I have this little story to share from my Teacher
Hermana Clegg who talked about how she almost didn't serve a mission b/c she
was never comfortable telling people what to do, but one day an impression came to her.
It was around Christmas and she was walking up to her
beautiful home that was all decorated and she could see how beautiful her Mom
had decorated the table with all this amazing food.......it was beautiful and
smelled delicious.  As she walked up, she saw a Woman sitting
in the dirt eating cockroaches (sounds weird I know but just
wait) and my teacher was like NO!! Don't eat that!! It's disgusting!! The woman
refused to listen to her and said.....what are you talking about???? Leave me
alone!!

Hermana Clegg said she realized that what we have it soooo AMAZING &
beautiful!! And what the world feeds you is CRAP.....(like the cockroaches) It
will never nourish & sustain you.......We have the
restored gospel of Jesus Church......if people knew what we knew.....how would
this world be different!! Anyway I'm out of time!! I love you all!! PLEASE keep
sending letters!!! MOM, DAD and Johnny I will mail you some copied pages of my
journal!! Those pages really express what I'm learning & feeling.
LOVE HERMANA ANNA SCHMIDT

Anna's weekly email Dated Thursday April 29, 2010

Hola mi familia & Amigos!!!

My time is once again limited but I have sooo much to say......first off- thank you for ALL the Dear Elders & letters.......they mean EVERYTHING to me!! Actually sometimes people in my District give me crap because I receive so much mail from people but yeah....missionaries aren't perfect!! And sometimes that mail keeps me sane!! So PLEASE keep writing!! Kastle: I LOVE YOUR Dear Elders!! I read them to my companions all the time and usually tear up while I do so.

Spanish is still tremendously difficult for me and I get so angry at myself because it's so hard for me. The Lord is really humbling me big time! In this past month I have learned so much about myself.......I look at my MTC teachers and they are all return missionaries who are younger than me but somehow seem like 30 yrs older with all their wisdom & strong testimonies. It's amazing what a mission does to you! You can truly be molded into the best version of yourself. Don't worry Laura!! I'm still me and my personality & sense of humor isn't going anywhere. Amazing week though!! We actually had L Tom Perry come and speak at Tuesday devotional and he actually met a man who met Martin Harris!!!!

He said that Martin Harris testified to everyone how he saw the Gold Plates and that Joseph Smith is a Prophet of God! It was amazing!!! I wrote to you all about Hermano Zirkle......(he looks like a human version of Ken Barbie remember??) We have decided that he's actually one of the 3 Nephites! He's been amazing to have as a teacher! Everyday I'm learning more and more how to rely on my Savior as I struggle to learn Spanish! I have seen personal miracles everytime I go and pray in the Linen closet out loud (so I can be alone & pray out loud) I am grateful for this Gospel and love you all! I pray for all of you!! I will write letters and send them today!! I love you!! Love Hermana Anna Schmidt

Anna's Letter Dated April 22, 2010

So I ran out of time and didn't have my journal with all the things I wanted tell you about on my last email!! I have had many mini miracles this past week. I've realized a lot of things about myself as a person and I've learning so much more about the Gospel. Sunday night we had Stephen B. Allen speak to the missionaries for the weekly devotional and it was amazing! He told us that had reached a level of spiritual maturity before we were born here in immaturity. Obvious! But I never really thought about it like that.

Brother Allen warned us about not letting our maturity drop to the lowest level of our District. Yeah .... he must have been sitting at our District's table for lunch. The Elders were mixing food together and playing "lets see who will eat it." And someone did of course. One really cool thing I realized this past week is how our name tag has only one thing printed bigger than the words Jesus Christ on it - it's my name! We are being compared to our Savior Jesus Christ on our tag. That is a huge responsibility. Elder Allen showed us all of these church adds all the way back to the 70s and many of them were cheesy but they were really powerful as well. One of the messages was "It's not who are aren't - it's who you are." He also told us to be careful not to offend God and the Holy Ghost by putting yourself down.

Since I've been at the MTC, I've realized how many flaws I have. In fact, it's almost like my flaws are being magnified - of course Satan is helping in that area as well. I've also learned that nervousness & fear actually chase away the spirit. I never realized that before. Also on Sunday during Relief Society Kathy Clayton spoke and she gave us suggestions to keep the spirit with us - they were all really great. She said that when it comes to accomplishing your goals, it breaks down to 45% attitude, 45% decision and 10% circumstances. She said that negative thoughts promote weariness -- NOT being physically tired -- it is becoming SPIRITUALLY TIRED.

Anyway, right now one of my teachers is on a vacation in Spain where she served her mission. We have had some amazing subs! One of them Hermano Zurkle who literally looks like a "Ken Barbie". He gave up playing Football at BYU to be a teacher at the MTC. He is mindblowingly powerful as a teacher. Luckily he is subbing for the next 2 weeks. He really pushes us hard. Tonight when I didn't understand a concept he actually made me get up and teach it. Which I did! It was a pretty big moment. I'm pretty sure he is going to be translated one day. He's also kind of like Mom in a way - he pushes me because he knows I can dot it! WOW - big breakthrough.

He also asked the class a question, "Do I know the Lord well enough that I know I can do this?" So, I am working on knowing my Savior better and always believing in myself. I'm going to be working on breaking years of habits on how I view myself as a learner. I have a complex about learning new concepts - it's hard for me, I don't pick things up quickly depending on what I'm learning. But Elder Kevin W. Pearson (one of the 70) told us during our Tuesday night devotional -- don't look at myself as the Anna before my mission. Don't use my old identity to determine my success in the MTC & on my mission. I was not called to be Anna - I was called to be a missionary - a servant of the Lord. Who I am becoming and who I want to become is my focus. The Lord doesn't call average missionaries. Skipping back to Hermano Zurkle he taught us that miracles are not the exception - THEY ARE THE RULE. If we have faith & do our best - the Lord will qualify me to able to do this. I love you all - Hermana Schmidt