Baptism Pictures!

April 11th:

Hello family! I am thrilled to say that my companion and I had 2 baptisms on Saturday for Lucas and Ezequiel....so thank you everyone who prayed for them.

IT WAS BY FAR THE MOST SPIRITUAL BAPTISM OF MY MISSION. Ezequiel is REALLY shy so we didn't share this baptism with the Elders in Maipu....and Ezequiel invited his new friends from Institute and his family.

It was sooo sweet because we also baptized his youngest brother who is 9 yr old....their Mother was sooo happy...(we baptized her in Feb) It was seriously the most spiritual baptism that I have ever attended. Ezequiel & his brother were sooooo happy and it was sooooo sweet!

Ezequiel wants to prepare for his Mission now....he is 21. He received the Aaronic priesthood yesterday in church and was so happy. His story is just so awesome because he is very shy and hates attention. When we first visited he really didn't want to talk to us because he is sooo shy but its amazing how he has changed!!

! Sunday....he just about ran up to the front to be confirmed. Lucas is sooo cute and happy as well. yep......So my companion and I are so happy because last year our area only have 4 baptism for the whole year....my Companion and I have had 4 baptisms in 3 months!!!!

The goal of our area is to have 8 for the whole year and we have already hit the halfway mark. When you actually baptize someone who has truly had a change of heart......its just worth all the tears.

Everyone in our Branch is just so excited for the progress in our area. It's amazing how the Lord can see the whole picture and we can only see a little......but if we have faith and take action....we will see the evidence that this was the right path to take and its all true.

I think one of the greatest blessing that I have received in my Mission is learning how truly blessed I am in my life. I am soooo crazy grateful that I am an American and that I have been blessed to be born into the church in an area where the Gospel is sooo strong and the members give everything that they have. Our lives are sooo much easier in different ways than other places in the World but we also have different challenges and temptations that other do not have.


I am ALWAYS praying for ALL of my family....Dad, Mom, Jonathan, Laura, grandparents, aunts uncles,cousins.....I love you all and plan to visit everyone of you!!!

What happened to my letters?? Ya'll can do it!!!!! Only 6 more months to go!!!!! But thank you all dearly for your emails......I love opening my email to see all those emails waiting for me!!!!

Right now I need everyone to pray that I will receive both of my packages with everything in it....everyone pray please!!! Love you all....Hna Anna Schmidt

March emails

February 28:
Hola Familia...........Estoy tan feliz decir que yo tuve otro bautismo!!!!

Now in English......I am very happy to say that I have another baptism. Yep our theme here in the Argentina Resistencia Mission is Baptisms Every Week.......and its true. I am in the highest baptizing mission in Argentina and I am thrilled to say that my name is listed with my companion in the weekly email that all the missionary's receive.......and it says that Hermana Schmidt and Hermana Medero had a baptism!!!!

First time my name is listed but not the last!!! Things are going very well here and we are working a lot. I'm not sure what happened here but this area has changed and we are baptizing. PLEASE THANK....the Mclaughlin family because I received an AWESOME Christmas package from them!!!!!! I was sooo thrilled because it was a bunch of really cute things from Target.I never got my christmas package from Dad & Mom.......don't ever send anything through Federal Express......ONLY UPS........you can also gift wrap the things in boxes and normally they won´t open it up!!! Anyway...if everything goes to plan-----we are planning to baptize about 3 teenagers this Saturday.....the sons of my new convert. I love you all and am praying a lot for all of you. love Hna. Schmidt

March 21:
Hello family!!! I am glad to know that things are better.
Things are good here. Transfers are tomorrow and we will see whats going to happen...
I'm pretty sure my companion is going to leave before me but I think that we have one more transfer together......I am pretty shocked at all the things are going in the World and the people here are always asking us questions about the end of the world now......we are always saying if you are prepared....ye need not fear......so LISTEN!!!

But yeah I am happy to know that things are better..........WOW......Heather Turner is going to have another baby!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW......please tell her how much I miss Taylor and how I thought of her when she had her birthday in Sept!

In July we are going to have a new President of the Mission and it will be an American..........that will be weird and interesting for me to say the least. Love you all!

March 28:
Hello family----I am doing fine......REALLY tired but am happy because our investigator who is the 21 yr old son of our recent convert has accepted a date with baptism for April 9 AND listen to this: he doesn't want to waste anytime and he wants to serve a mission right after...how awesome is that????
I am just thrilled...we also have a few investigator who is someone really special and my Companion and I are certain that she will be baptized because she is attending church and doing commitments. This Thursday is my year birthday in the Mission..............how crazy......I love you all.........hermana Schmidt

February and beginning of March emails

February 21st:

Hola familia!!! Guess who had a baptism Saturday? HERMANA SCHMIDT!

I had my first man baptized and he will be receiving the Priesthood next Sunday! Guess what?? I have ANOTHER baptism this next Saturday!!!!

Yup, pretty awesome! All day I kept thinking......wow I have a baptism! I am very pleased…it’s so awesome because before.....this man was a different person......and now......he is the happiest person that I have ever seen!! He’s had a rough life and it’s amazing to see how the Gospel of Jesus Christ changes the lives of WHATEVER person who embraces it.

I have never before in my life been so grateful for the church. We are sooooo blessed to be members of the church in the United States where we have giant wards and the members go above and beyond their duty and have developed their talents. Here it is a very special thing if you can play the piano...it’s not like in our house where you can find a teacher in every neighborhood.

NOW...I actually have a ton of things that I plan to do after my mission like for example....now I want to learn a hymn or song from the Primary song book every week when I get back home. From what I’ve seen in my areas in my mission there are many problems but the members who are faithful are sooo amazing and it’s the same faithful members of the church who are doing all they can do to help us missionaries......You ALL need to help the missionaries back home!!!

They have other struggles and you need to invite them to eat dinner in your house! There are members here who are very poor but they always feed us- (that’s why we become fat)! There are special blessings for people who help the missionaries.

Okay.....there are million things that I want to share but I can’t remember in this minute but I am doing okay.......this is very difficult but we are not able to learn if things are always easy. I do feel very strongly that my Mission is preparing me for other responsibilities and future callings. I am planning on studying Spanish in college after my mission as well. The other week was very hard for me and I received a blessing from an Elder and in this blessing he said that it is NECESSARY that I am on a mission and that there are people for me to find and baptize. I am learning that having faith is having hope that things will get better and putting your trust in the Lord that everything will turn out the way he promised it would. I received a blessing in the MTC that told me how my mission would end. I am working hard to put faith in that promise....please pray for my investigator Ina that she will be able to meet this goal of baptism this Saturday. Also if you could all put the name of my investigator Nancy Torres in the temple! I love you all!! please pray for me as I am praying for you and what the heck???? Where are my letters?! Love hermana anna schmidt

March 7th:

Hola Familia! Estoy tan feliz decir que yo tuve otro bautismo!!!!

Now in English......I am very happy to say that I have another baptism.......yep our theme here in the Argentina Resistencia Mission is Baptisms Every Week.......and it’s true. I am in the highest baptizing mission in Argentina and I am thrilled to say that my name is listed with my companion in the weekly email that all the missionary´s receive.......and it says that Hermana Schmidt and Hermana Medero had a baptism!!!!

First time my name is listed but not the last!!! Things are going very well here and we are working a lot. I’m not sure what happened here but this area has changed and we are baptizing. PLEASE THANK....the Mclaughlin family because I received an AWESOME Christmas package from them!!!!!! I was sooo thrilled because it was a bunch of really cute things from Target. Anyway...if everything goes to plan-----we are planning to baptize about 3 teenagers this Saturday.....the sons of my new convert. Anyways I love you all and am praying a lot for all of you. love Hna. Schmidt

End of January emails

January 31st:

Hola Familia y amigos. Yo no Pudeo creer la semana que yo tenia. Otro vec es P DAY........

.First off to Hermana Shirley.....my awesome most wonderful tutor in the MTC: I am soooo THRILLED that you are now engaged and getting ready to be married in the Temple.....I got your letter about a week or two ago......I love you.......thank you for everything that you did for me in the MTC.....you listened ALOT and witnessed a TON of tears......thankyou for your prayers still......please email me wedding pictures one day before the end of my mission!!!!!!

Okay everyone, my companion and I had a VERY hard week.....but our numbers are amazing here in Laguna Seca in the Capital of Corrientes.......We had 5 investigators in the church this past Sunday and the Mission President is VERY happy with our work here..our numbers are better than our Zone Leader.

I am still struggling A LOT but honestly its been pretty awesome because my Companion and I know each other much better and we are actually laughing A LOT at all the crazy stuff thats happening. And.....that's really good.......by the way today is my 10 month birthday in the MIssion. Its hard to believe that in 2 months I will have 1 yr in the mission......its all downhill from that.

I had my 3rd interview with My Mission President and I was able to talk about a lot of things that have been in my mind. It was really good that talk about those things. This past week the members here REALLY helped us out alot and it was really great. I'm starting to get to know them better and things are getting better but its still very hard.

But something that I never understood before is that with the atonement of Jesus Christ......it doesn't take away your suffering but its helps you get through it because Jesus Christ made it through it and he knows how to help you. What's really strange now that I look back at my time in Ituzaingo.....I really have a lot of love for that area and I REALLY miss it......the faithful members there are sooooo wonderful and I miss hma Catricura and I actually miss my bed.........seven and a half months there........but I am happy to be in this new area.......

I am stilll adjusting to the culture shock here in different ways but there are many wonderful things as well...........anyways I love you all......please keep praying for me as I am praying for you all everyday!! Love Hermana Anna Schmidt

January 24th:

Hello family!!

Well......Its been about 1 month here in my new area. I have been learning a TON and its still really hard. BUT...I think I'm making progress......first off I am thrilled to say that I recieved my little package of clothes Laura sent FOREVER ago!! I was sooooooo happy when I got it!! I am in desperate need to clothes!!

I am dying my black skirt for the second time......yep...I've learned have to be frugal.......my Companions are sewing up the holes in my clothes and I'm dying my skirt black again......if I have only know how rough the mission would be on your clothes.......now If I could go back.....I would buy like 10 of the wrinkle free blouses from DCC a little big (.for all the weight the Sisters gain in the Mission ) and I would have brought those shoes I left Laura in my package in the MTC because the shoes here won't last.........I need to find some European shoes here which are going to cost a ton but whatever......my former Companion from Chile has some really great amercian shoes that she is going to leave for me when she finish the Mision in one more transfer........but I wanted to share the lyrics of a really funny missionary song that is to the melody of a church song that Hermana Catricura always played in our apartment in Ituzaingo and I totally can relate to every single word!!!!!!!!!

Will I ever learn this language?

WIll it ever come easily?

When the people I met, start to speak

Will I know what they`re saying to me ?

Teach me, I beseech thee

Help me learn my role

Teach me, Teach me

This language that I need to know

Will I ever learn this language

And recognize the sounds

of the native tongue when I am among

the lost souls who want to be found.

Will I always be a stranger in some distant foreign land

Will I ever be at home and not feel alone

Will I ever understand????????

Teach me I beseech thee thee

Help me learn my role

Teach me, Teach me

this language that I need to know

Everyday I keep on hoping, working, waiting

Wondering if I will ever feel at ease

I should be out there cause I know that I should be teaching

Instead of just crying myself to sleep here on my knees

If I`m going to learn this language

I think it is perfectly clear

Its more than just words that need to be heard, its what only the Spirit can give

Teach me, I beseech thee

Help me learn my Role

Teach me, Teach me

&nb

January 17th:

Hey family!!!! WOW.....halfway through january....its horribly hot but I'm actually doing okay with the heat.....sometimes its hard to sleep at night though because its soooo hot.We sleep with our bedroom windows open. We don't have any air conditioning in our apartment but we have 2 fans......one for each person to sleep with!!

I just have to survive another 6 weeks and then we start to cool down and prepare for autumn & winter! Anyway I am thrilled to say that we had a really good week. We had an amazing day that resulted in our District leader calling me late at night to congragulate me......yep.......I was pretty thrilled. But rIght now its REALLY hard....this is a really hard change......I miss my other Companion........I miss my bed in Itunzaingo.....I miss the members there A TON......and the investigators.

When we were in Walmart today...they were playing popular classic music from the 90's that I listened to as a teenager and there were a ton of american things in there and I just REALLY started to miss the United States & my life soooo much.

SO yeah I'm kinda dumping all my problems onto ya'll......I don't want anyone to worry......its just really hard right now. I just have to endure and have faith that in the end.....everything will be okay and turn out. My companion from the MTC is here in the Capital of Corrientes and she is in a VERY difficult area.....how lucky am I to be in this area with investigators in the church every Sunday. I was talking to her about everything and she reminded me of a really great section in Preach my Gospel about how every missionary has special talents and that they are in their areas because the Lord knows exactly what the area needs......she is right.....I know that I can do this.....

I know that my MIssion President prayed and knew that I needed to be here with a new missionary as Senior Companion........Pray for me......I love you all and am always praying for my family!!! Love you all......hermana anna Schmidt

January emails

January 10th
Hey family!! WOW......I still cannot believe that I am here in
Corrientes Captial in an area called Laguna Seca......lots of things
happened this past week and my head is still spinning......

First off we went to the city of Resistencia about 5 days this past week to do
medical for my companion. Resistencia is where the Mission office in
for the Argentina Resistencia Mission. Our mission consists of about 4
or 5 different states in Northern Argentina......YEP....its THAT huge.


But yeah....so its been really hard with my companion and all the
medical tests that we are doing. Our personalities are VERY different
so that's really hard. Honestly she could be senior companion! She's
got the missionary part all figured out! She is also EXTREMLY
obedient and this I really really like because its really helping me
to be VERY obedient as well.

She is also very careful with money and not wasteful......soooooo as you can imagine I am going to learn a lot from her and she is learning many things from me like how to
laugh at silly things and enjoy all the small things in life. I'm
pretty proud of her because this past week this teenager tried to
steal her bag and she didn't let him!!!!!! She is a little person!!


In this area Laguna Seca the Sister missionaries are always getting
their stuff stolen. We were walking in an area when we heard a bike
coming up really fast behind us. My Companion is REALLY street smart
because she is from the Capital of Uruguay and she instantly tightened
her hand through the straps of her bag.

So when this teenager with like 18 yrs went past us he grabbed her bag and she held on with
all her might and said NO!!!!!!! The teenager actually almost fell
over with his bike which could have been much worse for us but he let
go and zoomed off really fast. I just started laughing........ because
first off I was totally shocked and it was 11 in the morning !! But
yeah I was proud of her....I did tell her beforehand that she needed
to use a MUCH smaller bag. She changed bags after-wards. But I was so
proud of her!!!

As for the other crazy stuff here......there are
Gypsies in almost every corner here!!!! The Missionaries are not
allowed to teach them.......its seriously like in the movies.....all
the Gypsies here wear flowing skirts and outfits with a silky fabric
tied around their hair. They all have car dealerships here but I think
only a crazy person would buy a car from them. Also in the nighttime I
can listen to the crazy noise from that crazy religion I talked to
ya'll about on the phone for Christmas......its so nuts because we
have neighbors on our street who are this religion sooo in the
nighttime we can hear them beating drums and chanting in the middle of
the night.

But I love our apartment and we are in the safest part
of Laguna Seca. Honestly......a lot of been happening but I am very
grateful to be here. We are talking to a ton of people and our church
is the Stake Center but we don't have a stake here but pretty
soon....we are going to become the first Stake in Corrientes.....which
is the only stake in Argentina to not have a Stake.....sooo its
honestly a huge opportunity to be here at this time.......but we have
been talking to a lot of really great people here in this area and I
actually taught a lesson yesterday and put a date with baptism in the
first lesson and she said YES!!!!

So I am very excited about that!!
God has been preparing this woman for a long time!!This woman is a
single Mom with lots of teenage sons so we are hoping to baptize them
as well and bring in some badly needed Priesthood authority. But still
the church is doing way better here than Ituzaingo. But anyways I am
learning a ton and am trying very hard not to be totally stressed out
because I am still learning this language but its getting better!!
Anyway I love you all!! Please pray for us here in Laguna Seca. I am
quite happy to be here and hoping to improve a lot now that I´m Senior
Companion. I love you all!! Love Hermana Schmidt

January 17
Hey family!!!! WOW.....halfway through January.......its horribly hot
but I'm actually doing okay with the heat. Sometimes its hard to
sleep at night though because its soooo hot. We sleep with our bedroom
windows open. We don't have any air conditioning in our apartment but we
have 2 fans, one for each person to sleep with!

It’s hard to believe that its cold where ya`ll are right now! I just have to survive another 6 weeks and then westart to cool down and prepare for autumn & winter!

Anyway I am thrilled to say that we had a really good week. We had an amazing day that
resulted in our District leader calling me late at night to congratulate
me...yep...I was pretty thrilled.

But right now its REALLY hard....this is a really hard change. I miss my other
Companion. I miss my bed in Itunzaingo.....I miss the members
there A TON......and the investigators.......Right now I don't feel very
accepted by the members here.

I feel a lot of pressure as Senior Companion and I feel like everyone is judging
me and thinks that I can't do this...I feel really disappointed
that everyone else has baptisms and I have almost nothing. Yep...when we were in
Walmart today...they were playing popular classic music from the 90's
that I listened to as a teenager and there were a ton of American things
in there and I just REALLY started to miss the United States & my
life soooo much.

I just have to endure and have faith that in the end everything will be okay and turn out. My
companion from the MTC is here in the Capital of Corrientes and she is
in a VERY difficult area.....how lucky am I to be in this area with
investigators in the church every Sunday. I was talking to her about
everything and she reminded me of a really great section in Preach my
Gospel about how every missionary has special talents and that they are
in their areas because the Lord knows exactly what the area
needs......she is right.....I know that I can do this......

I know that my mission President prayed and knew that I needed to be here with a new
missionary as Senior Companion........Pray for me......I love you all
and am always praying for my family!!! Love you all......hermana anna
Schmidt

Tuesday January 4th

Hello Dad, Mom, Laura and Johnny!! Okay so I have lots of things to say but very little time to say it because I wasnt able to write yesterday because we were in Resistencia for medical reasons for my new Companion.

First off.........You wont believe it but I am SENIOR COMPANION and I am now in Corrientes Capital in an area called Laguna Seca with a missionary who only had 1 transfer with her trainer...YEP...I'm still in shock...I am one of the first to be Senior Companion in my District and the first sister to be a senior companion in my district.

Now I'm in a whole other world and after Ituzaingo......I am totally overwhelmed and in shock. My companion is from Uruguay named Sister Medero and she is suffering from some serious health problems so I am dealing with a lot. But I am happy to be here....still I never thought I would miss Ituzaingo!!! I was comfortable there after 7 1/2 months.....now I'm here and we go to Walmart (who would have thought that I would want to go to Walmart every week? heehe ) every week for P'day and I was totally overwhelmed with all my options!

But what's really awesome is that one of my companions from the MTC Hermana Elwod is in my zone here in Corrientes and I get to see her every P day AND Elder Meeks is in my District!!! This was seriously the last place that I thought I would go.....Senior Companion and with a new missionary!!! But yeah.....WOW.....my apartment is really pretty and I still can't believe that I am here...anyway I love you all......please put my name and my companions name on the temple pray roll. Jessica Mederno and ME!!! I love you all!! Everything is fine but a huge change.....but obviously if I'm here...the Lord knows I can do it and so do I.....I just need to fight my fear!!! Love you all.....hermana anna Schmidt

Monday December 20th email

Hey Family & friends!! I think I have survived one of the hardest weeks in my Mission so far. First off and most important......there was a baptism in Ituzaingo Corrientes for the first time in more than 7 months!!!! And.....she is my baptism : )

You would not believe the things that happened before this woman was baptized. I started feeling really sick but it was different than normal. I started having problems with my stomach last Sunday.....and then my back started hurting. I started to toss and turn at night because I felt pain and discomfort in my body.

Tuesday afternoon after our investigator's interview I felt like I needed to get a blessing from Elder Christofferson (yep there were Elders in Ituzaingo for maybe 2 hrs and it was AWESOME to see the looks on the faces of everyone here! ) In the blessing He said, God is watching over you and protecting you....God is also watching over and protecting your family.

There were other really wonder things but I really started thinking about how God IS protecting me and my family. Tuesday night was when things got worse. I started to have the craziest chills I have ever had!!!! I was sooo cold and then afterwards I started to get REALLY REALLY hot. I still had pains in my stomach and my body just really hurt. My Companion called the Mision President's wife Wednesday morning and she said go to the Doctor NOW.

We went to the Doctor in the Morning and after talking to me and feeling my stomach- he was very concerned. He was afraid that I had appendicitis and this Doctor started calling everyone in town during lunch to do analysis.......We have a 4 and 1/2 hr break in this town where EVERYTHING is shut down for lunch and a huge nap. The Doctor also said that he didn't want any money right now and that we could work everything out in the end. This was a HUGE blessing b/c here......you pay BEFORE you walk through the door. He made about 3 different phone calls and said things like........these girls are here alone and they are Missionaries from the church......this is serious we need to have right now.

Seriously Heavenly Father was looking out for me. We did X-rays right after of my stomach. Afterwards we left to have blood tests done and that alone was a horrible experience because I had the most horrible reaction afterwards in the Doctor office. I left reality for a little bit and it was awesome because I couldn't feel any pain but then I woke up with my Companion and the Doctor. My teeth hurt really bad because my Companion said when I blacked out that I started grinding my teeth like crazy.

This other Doctor made a taxi come and bring us to our apartment. We had to wait until night time to get all the results. This is when my fever started in REALLY strong and it was over 102 when my Companion took it. Honestly I was soooo frustrated and mad when all this started because we had a baptism the same week!!!! There were sooo many things we needed to do still. Anyway a member came to our apartment and gave me a blessing. He said that I would finish my Mission and that I would have health and strength. He also said that this thing that I had would NEVER affect me again in my life after my Mission.

Anyway the night came and we went to the Doctor with the results of the blood test and he was worried again. My fingernails had turned blue and my fever was still above 102. He said......you need to be in the hospital so you can be observed and have an IV. He called the hospital (there is only one here and its public) and we checked in. Alright.....I'm out of time......to be completed next week! But seriously this entire experience I was able to learn once again how blessed I am in my life and the miracle of how people's lives can change when we bring them to Gospel. I am so grateful that its Christmas and a little sad to be without my family. But I am without my family for a little period of time so that others can be with their families FOREVER!! I am grateful for seeing once again the hand of the Lord in my life and in the lives of others!! I am much better and have many meds to fininsh off this thing in my body. I Love you all and MERRY CHRISTMAS!! Its sooo hot here!!! love hermana Anna Schmidt