What, could ye not watch with me one hour?

We finally toughed out the Alabama heat and biked! I was one HOT, happy girl! 

June 17, 2019

Hey y'all!

It's been a minute but God is still so good and Alabama has my whole heart! So many miracles are happening, people are coming closer to Christ, I promise this is the Lord's work. I am so honored to be apart of it! 

In the car today because of hte rain

What I wanted to share with y'all first is the scripture, Matthew 26:40. This is when the Savior is suffering for all the Sins of the world. Choosing to take them upon Himself. Not just the sins, but all the pain, sickness, trial, discouragement, ect. This is where it all happens. We taught so many people about Gethsemane this week and it blew my mind how so many people didn't know the importance of what took place there. So I want to testify to all of you as a representative of my Redeemer, That HE LITERALLY KNOWS EVERYTHING YOU ARE FACING. He saw you, He understood the pain it would take, and He chose to suffer it because HE LOVES YOU! Now you can call out to Him whenever you need and I promise He will be there. I know Jesus Christ will always be there but what I want to focus on is if we will be there for Christ. 

Christ asks Peter, James and John this simple question "what, could ya not watch with me one hour?"  one hour. That is all he asked. It is easy for us to read this and think "How could they not do such a simple thing. How could the not give Him an hour when He is literally giving everything for them."  But I want to relate this to us. Since the new church Schedule changed in January, sacrament meeting is ONE HOUR!  One hour for us to reflect on the Sacrifice Jesus made in your behalf. One hour to hear personalized testimonies of how others have been redeemed by His grace. One hour to set aside our lives, and realize the Hope we have in them is because of Him. I testify that the Savior is asking you the same question "what, could ye not watch with me one hour?" 

I love the Sacrament, it truly is the one thing that keeps me going. That hour is the most special hour of my whole week. I invite you to make it yours. I will change your life, that is what it has done for me and the friends I am teaching. I invite you to come and watch with you Redeemer for one our. 

This whole week I have been thinking " You need to find the family" over and over in my head. So I literally started talking to any family I saw lol determined to find the one. These specific apartments kept coming to mind too which was strange because I have never tracked

Random car pictures

their before. Every day we would plan to go but something would come up. So Saturday comes and I love fasting, literally miracles come every single time! So we decided to have a special fast for our area, our friends who are progressing towards baptism, the ones who are close and to try and find our new family.

So after we started our fast we went to the apartments and decided to track for an hour! That is a long time for us because we usually have appointments but I knew we would find this family. Right when we pulled up this family was getting out of their car and walking to their house. I was like "wow God is so good, His timing is perfect!" We knock on their door and I turn to Sister Lawrence and kept saying "this is it, this is it!" Well they opened, saw us, said Hi, Bye and them shut the door! I was so sad. But luckily this was the first door and we have three buildings left to knock. So we kept knocking and knocking and 45 minutes later we had two potential return appointments and a whollllleeeee bunch of rejection. So we go to knock one more door with the 10 minutes we had before our next appointment. 

All I could hear were kids playing inside and my heart was so happy! They all came to the door laughing and pushing each other to see who was at the door. We told them we were the missionaries and had a special message about Christ and how through Him we can be with our families forever. They got their mom and dad and pretty soon a family of SEVEN were in front of us and we were teaching them the merciful plan of their Loving Heavenly Father! They are a special family. We have been back every day since and these are some of my favorite lessons I've taught! We sit on the sidewalk outside, heat, bugs, skirt and all. The kids circle us, with cupcakes or cookies in hand (which ever bribery focus treat we decide to bring) and we just teach them of Christ. They love Him and through the I have found a whole new love. They are so pure, I have always loved kids but teaching kids the Gospel is something I hope to always do. The closest people to Heaven are kids, no doubt about it. We taught them how to pray and they take turns repeating after me. I finally found the family. They are so special! 

Patricia!! She is a recent convert from Athens Georgia. She just moved here and we have been teaching her the new member lessons with her elders in Georgia. Technology is so cool and the Gospel is the same everywhere. 

I love being a missionary! I hit my year mark this week! Nothing has brought me more joy than serving my Redeemer in His work. My mission truly means everything to me. 

God is good. Christ Lives. They love you, I love you! Have a great week!

-Sister Schultz 

You Can only love, as much as you are willing to feel pain

June 3, 2019

We had to let him out because we can't have pets

Hello! 

The biggest miracle of my mission happened this week. Okay, I say that for a lot of thing...but truly this miracle blew my mind!! I knew that God's timing is perfect and that He is in our details but after this THERE IS NO WAY I COULD DENY IT NOW. 

We went to the Birmingham Zoo

So our friends Farello and Wilnied are truly golden. We knocked on their door, went in and taught the greatest Plan of Salvation lesson ever. The spirit was so strong and Farello said "this just makes sense, God's love is infinite." After I was so pumped and just kept telling Sister Lawrence "God is so Good! God is so Good!"

We heart attacked their door the next day and brought them a scripture card and treat the next. (very Sister Missionary I know;)) but I have never seen someone so grateful because of a heart attack! They put them on their family wall, literally the first thing  you seen when you walk in. I love them so much. 

We stopped by the next day to confirm our appointment for Saturday and that is when we met Rita, Farellos mom. She was soooo happy to see us and kept saying "ohhhh the mormons, I love the mormons! I love my sisters! I told them it was the mormons who had to have made the door. Ohh i love the mormons!" 

We hugged her and kept saying "yes we are members of the Church of Jesus Christ! We love you too!" 

Well we were a little confused because she kept saying "I love my sisters!" and we'd say "yes we love you too!!" and she would correct us and said "no I love MY SISTERS." 

So after a little talking she says " 20 years ago I had sister missionaries, and I WAS BAPTIZED!!!" 

Tori came to the zoo with us!

I WAS SHOCKED!!!! I kept asking her over and over "wait, you were baptized into our church?! You're a member of our Church?!" She probably thought I was hard of hearing or crazy or something because I kept asking! I couldn't believe it!!  For probably 20 minutes after I kept saying "she is a member, God is so good! She is a member, I can't believe it!!" 

Her husband joined as well, but his work visa expired and he had to go home to their country Suriname. She had to move with her family to Alabama and lost contact with the Church. She was so happy to see us and come back to church. Now with her family learning the Gospel as well! She told us before we left "bring the Book, they need the Book!" 

We taught them the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and they are preparing for baptism soon! 

GOD TRULY IS A GOD OF MIRACLES! 

My subject line was a quote I found this week. "you can only love, as much as you are willing to feel pain" 

It made me really reflect on the Love of my Savior and His choice to suffer for me. 

I have truly felt the greatest love on my mission as I see the Gospel change peoples lives. I have also felt the greatest pain as the ones I love choose not to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Yet I still wake up daily so excited to be a missionary, knowing that there will be pain but the joy that comes is so much greater. 

So that brought me to why my Jesus, chose to be my Savior. I know that He chose to do so because of His perfect, infinite love. I also believe that He did it because He had enough Faith in me. That He truly believed His sacrifice would stand as a lasting testimony to me of His love. That I could continually reflect on it. Continually ponder on how it was possible. And in the end know the only true reason why He was willing to feel pain, was because He loved me. I believe He understood that pain was to come but had enough Hope in me to be able to see His love through it. I truly believe He was willing to chose that pain because He knew it would bring me to choose Him.  I believe, He believed in me. I believe, He believed in you. So to show His love He chose to feel pain. Now we have and infinite and eternal witness that HE DID IT FOR US!  

• Hymn 185 was played yesterday to prepare for the Sacrament. Verse four stood out to me so much and I wanted to share it. As you read it, truly imagine your Savior pleading this too you. 
• 4. At the throne I intercede;
• For thee ever do I plead.
  I have loved thee as thy friend,
  With a love that cannot end.
  Be obedient, I implore,
  Prayerful, watchful evermore,
  And be constant unto me,
  That thy Savior I may be.

He is the Savior and always will be. He can only become your personal Savior if you let Him in. So reflect on his Sacrifice again and again. Come to find His love through His pain. Then know that He is pleading for you to come. He loves you! I can testify of that. I love you! Have an amazing week. 

-Sister Schultz

A little more time and a little more faith

May 28, 2019

A little more time and a little more faith

Hello! 

Life here in Alabama has been SO busy and I thank my Heavenly Father everyday for it. Missions are the greatest and WOW  am I so blessed to be a missionary! 

So this week we had a lot of our friends not really progressing. (Like three families we were trying to teach, who I would beg would accept the Gospel, would never work out!). We would stop by and they'd never be home or they would always miss our appointments. We had stopped by at all of their houses a few times the past few weeks and so we decided to give them sometime before we went back and focus on others.

Well yesterday we made plans but I felt like we needed to go see our friends. So literally driving to our other plans the spirit was so strong and told us to "go see..." it was always they family we were closest too. So we turned right then and went. It happened THREE times, specifically right when we were by those three families homes. God just didn't want us to give up on them, I didn't want to give up on them! That day every time we walked to the door of one of these families, I would say to Sister Lawrence "okay this will be the last time we come by." Every single time the families were home and we were able to teach them!!! Just needed a little more time and a little more faith.

GOD IS SO GOOD! Now we have three different families that were about to be dropped, progressing towards Christ!! Those have also been some of the most powerful lessons I have had on my mission. I'm grateful for the Spirit to guide us to be at the perfect place and at the perfect time. I'm grateful that I've learned to never give up on people, always FOLLOW UP! 

This week reminded me of  Matthew chapter nine. As I was studying it a whole new perspective came to me. Christ performed many miracles in this chapter but the one that has stood out to me the most was when He raises Jairus's daughter from the dead. Jairus comes to Jesus, begging to save his daughter before she passed. Knowing, believing and trusting that Christ has the power to do so. How many of us come to Christ to fix something we are struggling with in our lives. Having enough faith that He can do miracles. I do this with every single person we meet and teach. I know Christ can help them change but I need to focus more on His time, than mine. 

to continue, Jesus Christ of course goes to help, but on the way He stops to heal the women with the issue of blood. We hear about this story and that of itself can teach you so many things. But I want to focus on Jairus during this whole thing. Could you imagine watching your child almost pass, then finding the one Man who can heal her and then on the way see Him stop to heal someone else. I don't know how he actually felt, but to me I would think "come on, my child is waiting, we don't have time! she is already healed, don't go back!" And the most heartbreaking

Sister Lawrence and Sister Schultz at the Temple

Summer Fruit, Humidity, all part of Alabama

thing would be when the Savior does come and they do finally make it to Jairus's home, only to see that his daughter did pass away. 

How many of you have gone to the Lord, having so much faith and completely knowing that He can do it. Then you see that life doesn't happen how you planned. The miracle you planned for on the time you hoped for, didn't happen. It's happen to me, I find myself doing this a lot when our friends don't progress. What Christ says next is the thing that always gives me hope to keep going. 

He says "Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth." Now she clearly was dead, people even laughed when Christ said this because everyone saw she was dead. But in the eyes of Christ and through His Atonement, NO ONE IS TOO FAR GONE FOR HIM TO SAVE!.  So in His time and His will, Jairus's daughter was raised. All it took was a little more time and a little more faith. So when we have a "Jairus experience" just give it a little more time and a little more faith! I promise He will deliver, He did exactly that for me with these three families. 

I love Sister Lawrence

I can testify that Christ has the power to save us all. I know He has perfect timing. I know that He can make the impossible happen. I promise He will always sees others the way they can become. It's been amazing to see that as I never give up and keep trying to follow up, Christ is able to spiritually wake my friends up and bring them to the truth! I Testify that no one is too far gone, and the Gospel is for everyone!! I know His timing is perfect. I love Him. I love serving Him. I love being a missionary and finding those that to others seem to far gone, and  knowing Christ can wake them up! I love this Gospel, its so true never give up on it, He'll never give up on you! 

I LOVE Y'ALL, HAVE A GREAT WEEK! 

-Sister Schultz 

I'M FINALLY A MOM!

Monday, May 6 Sister Lawrence--My new trainee Yes! President and the Lord have decided to put wayyyy to much trust in me and let me train a new missionary  5 days fresh from the MTC! Honestly I was so scared about it and have prayed harder than ever before.  And things are going good. Nothing has fallen apart and I only left the keys in the door  overnight one time this week!!!! Sister Lawrence is the best and I am so honored to be her companion!  But in all honesty, it has been so incredible to see the Lord take all my weaknesses and help turn me into  something so much greater than myself. He has turned the work around so much these past few days and  we are busier than ever before. I have never felt his hand so much in my mission.  I literally feel my Savior leading me along in His work and it's changed my life. GOD IS SO GOOD!  So our friend Jennifer is so amazing! She was taught by Elders a few years ago and we tracted into her honestly  because God directed our path! We taught her the plan of Salvation and she LOVED it.  Said that it had to be his plan because the Kingdoms show his love perfectly. We asked her what steps  she could take now to progress closer to Christ. To eventually live in the Celestial Kingdom with her  Father in Heaven and Family. She said "I know I need to be baptized and that is what I want"  I  COULD NOT CONTAIN MY JOY!!!  We set a date for June 8th and she is prayerfully preparing for it. She has some family opposition but told  us she recognizes God softening their hearts! Keep praying for her, she is truly a miracle! We also met Mimi this week! We were going to study at this beautiful garden place that has cute baby  ducks and turtles. The spot we usually go to was taken so we walked down a path I'd never been on.  Sure enough it lead right to Mimi. We stopped and talked for a minute and told her we were going to  study, she asked if she could join! We shared the Book of Mormon with her and she loved it! She told  us that she is looking for more light in her life and knew the minute she saw us, God sent us to her. She is the  most down to earth, genuine person I have met and she is Thriving on the Gospel! Keep praying for Mimi. Kevin who was baptized three weeks ago BORE HIS TESTIMONY IN CHURCH!! MY HEART WAS SO HAPPY!  Miracles happen daily and it blows my mind at how blesses the Lord had made my life, especially my mission.  I do not deserve to be here and yet this is the one thing that means the most to me! I love my Savior and the  short time I have to be his disciple.  During the Sacrament I was reading Alma 29:9-10 and I was so overwhelmed with the Love of my Savior.  I know that He has called me to His work, at times I wonder why yet I'm truly grateful for this blessing it is  to be a missionary! I was tearing up and a little girl next to me whispered "Sister Schultz why are you  crying you're always so happy" and all I could say was "it's because I love my Jesus Christ"  I truly do love Him. I love doing His work. I love seeing his miracles! I know He Lives. He is so real  and relevant in my life. I promise He can be that for you. I'm so blessed to have this Gospel and can  testify to y'all that it will change your life if you Humbly let your Redeemer in.  I LOVE Y'ALL SO MUCH!!! HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

Death, Burial and The Resurrection

We finally toured around since it is our last P-Day together.  I love Sister Tennyson!

Hello!!! 

WOW I love Easter! I love this Gospel! I love my Savior!! 

It was truly the greatest Easter weekend I have ever had, and probably will ever have! I love holidays on missions because everything that you focus on is the true importance. I loved focusing on my Savior, remembering the sacrifice He has made. I love Him, I love that through Him change, redemption and overcoming anything is possible. 

Kevin with Sister Tennyson and Sister Schultz

I was truly so blessed to have seen Kevin enter the waters of baptism on Saturday and receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday. He is one of the biggest miracles of my mission. I have never seen the Gospel spark such a dramatic change in someone before! Who we met two months ago was not the same person who stood up after his baptism and bore the most powerful testimony of this Restored Gospel. (he told us that he stayed up until 3am preparing his testimony because he wanted it to be perfect!)  

There is no better way to celebrate and remember Christ than to see the powerful effect his Gospel and Atonement can have on someone! I love Kevin, I am so honored to have witnessed Jesus Christ convert Him and lead in to the waters of Baptism! 

Also this week end right after Kevin's baptism, ELI WAS BAPTIZED!!!!  So not only was it a miracle to see one baptism, but God is so GOOD and we witnessed another person come to the Fold of God! 

Kevin before he was baptized

We met Eli our first week here, we had just white washed into Birmingham and getting lost was very common. On one of these adventures of being lost we came across Eli. He was on his balcony chewing tobacco and holding a beer. He called out to us "pretty girls" to see if we  wanted to come up and join him. We told him that we were missionaries and had an appointment haha so sadly we couldn't join him. We invited him to church that week and he agreed. We decided it would be best to have the Elders teach him so we sent them over to him. Well he came to church the next 10 weeks in a row, took all the lessons from the Elders and quit everything to completely follow God! 

Eli's wanted to get baptised in a river....it was beautiful

Eli's entering the water of Baptism

He was so happy when he came out of the water!

Eli with Sister Tennyson and Sister Schultz

Eli with the the Sister Missionaries and Elder's before his baptism

Eli had a lot of support for his baptism

Before Kevin and Eli's Baptism

Finding cool things in Birmingham

Believe in Him, He always believes in you!

APRIL 15, 2019

Believe in Him, He always believes in you!

Dinner with the cutest family the Leoa

Hey Y'all

Everything in Alabama is so GREEN! It's so beautiful with all the Spring flowers coming and the warm weather, makes me so happy! 

So this has been an amazing week, lots of ups and downs but truly the Lord answers prayers and has shown me I am never alone. 

We as a mission really tried extra hard this week to find more and bring more friends to church. That means we tracked for hours a day!! I love to tract and knock doors because you meet so many people!! 

So the first part of the week was hard and we didn't have much success. I just need to remember during rejection times, not to be so hard on myself and turn to the Lord.  "President has promised us success, the Prophet is emphasizing the Gathering of Israel more and Heavenly Father promises that He will do a marvelous work, so we have to keep going!" 

Honestly being faithful to the Lord is only half of it. Yes it is so important to be obedient to the Lord and follow His will. However, if we aren't faith-filled, meaning we truly believe in the promises of God,  or we aren't just doing things to check a box off. You're doing them with an attitude of gratitude. Truly grateful for the trust in the Lord has given you and 100% believe MIRACLES WILL HAPPEN!! 

So I put it to the test, just prayed sooo hard that we would find and bring the Elect home. We had two days with nothing! And I just kept crying to my Father in Heaven to help. 

Well that is the most wonderful thing, He listens and when He's ready He answers. So the next two days we were able to find 28 people and make return appointments with all of them!! GOD ANSWERED! 

I LOVE PLANNING!

Weekly planning was crazy and my heart was never so full! We'll I wish I could say of these 28, they all progressed; but sadly people have agency and don't always use it to come to Christ. 

Weekly planning, I could be a slight stocker haha 

Most of them canceled, weren't home or rescheduled. Some heard our message and didn't want to continue. And others believed crazy things people told them and said that there was no way we could be of God sharing the things we believe.

But the point is God answered and gave us so many people to pray for, believe in and have a faith-filled attitude that they would accept it. And although they are not now, they will one day! 

I know this because I've seen it happen so many times. That is why we never give up! Never stop trying to serve the Lord the way He asks. Even when things fall apart. Even when it seems hopeless. We keep going because He has promised us He will deliver. 

Saturday night we were at the end and only had one friend coming to church. We knocked on Raven and Kamary's door. We tried to visit them so many times that week and it never worked, we went by one more time. Faith-Filled, that although history would say it wouldn't happen, you trust Heavenly Father's promise MORE. 

They let us in!!!! We taught the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, about Prophets in these Latter-Days and how we have an at home study for us to strengthen our families, inspired by God through His Prophets. They loved it!! One of my most favorite lessons I've taught on my mission! We invited them to church and.....THEY CAME!!!!  

One of our cancellations left us a note!! So sweet!

Just goes to show that Heavenly Father will always be true to his Promises. Not always how we hope or expect, but always when we need it the most. We just have to not only be faithful to his commandments but faith-filled in our thoughts to the point where no matter what happens we will always believe in the Lord with a brightness of Hope and Love for God! 

I love this work. I love being pushed to my limits and seeing how the Lord will always deliver me. I love that my Father in Heaven hears my cries and never let's me struggle more than I can bear. I love being a missionary!!! 

Keep going, no matter what it is you are facing, keep believing He will carry you through!  Have an attitude that, despite all the facts,  always trust the promise of our Savior. He always delivers. I've seen it, I've lived it, I know it's TRUE! 

He loves you! I love you!   Have a great week remembering your Savior's sacrifice for YOU. Try this week to see what you can Sacrifice for Him. I promise as you willingly give something up to come closer to him, you will not only know that He is the Savior of the world, but that He is your personal individual Savior! 

-Love Sis Schultz! 

KEVIN IS GETTING BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY!!!! We made him a countdown and he was so pumped! PRAY FOR HIM!! He is so incredible and I am so honored to see Him enter the waters of Baptism!! 

FACEMASK FOR THE WIN!

AM I DOING THIS FOR CHRIST?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SISTER TENNYSON!!! If you know me, you know I love birthdays!! and I finally got to celebrate my comps bday with them! went a little extra but it was so fun!! 

Hello my loves!! 

This week has truly changed my life! Recently I was in a weird rut and just felt stuck! Like my prayers weren't being heard or my efforts weren't counting toward the progression of people. I was just in a routine and did things that I should be instead of because I wanted to. 

Soo I started looking deeper for things and wow did God pour out his spirit! I Studied the Atonement of Jesus Christ in a new way I never realized. I started over on PMG and my love for being a missionary came flooding back in a new way. I realized my problem was I just focused on the "need to do it" instead of the 'why I love to" 

As soon as my perspective changed my JOY grew immensely! Thing that use to be hard or impossible were coming so easily! We spent one morning walking around before lunch trying to talk to everyone! We ended up talking to 35 people and read the Book of Mormon with each one. We set up a few return appointments and my JOY could not be contained!! 

We fasted with Kevin yesterday and It was incredible to teach and explain the why behind it to him. He worked at waffle house that whole day and fasted the whole time!!! It was incredible and everything he was searching for came through! He is now officially being baptized on the 20th!! He was willing to do something for the Lord because he UNDERSTOOD WHY!!! And by doing so his JOY was full! 

So just remember we are asked to do hard things, have situations that don't seem happy! But I promise you that if you take a second to rethink about the WHY, you will have JOY no matter what. I promise that If we do things or live our life in a way that is always for JESUS CHRIST we will always be able to have joy. 

I testify as a set apart servant of the Lord that He truly did everything for US. I testify that you are able to make a happy life when you focus on WHY you are doing this for Christ! I promise the change of mind will have you seeing the Savior in a whole new light! 

I love Him!! I know He has done everything for me, I'm honored to be able to in return do things for Him. 

I invite you to really look at the things you are doing now and ask yourself "am I doing this for Christ?" if you are great keep going! If not, Change!! It is possible through Him. I promise you will have more JOY than you thought possible! 

I LOVE YOU!! HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

We had dinner with a member and she gave us stuffed animals, she had hundreds!!

The Birmingham baseball field!! my heart was soooo happy!!!

-I looked like a soccer mom today with my outfit so I took a picture