Elder Kirk's Email

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: James Schmidt <schmidt.james@myldsmail.net>
Date: Wed, Jul 31, 2013 at 11:17 PM
Subject: Re: Thank you for the photo
To: Benjamin Kirk <benjamin.kirk@myldsmail.net>

Wow, those are great scriptures and insights.  Thank you so much Elder Kirk.  And thank your parents for the nice visit.  It was great they came in the office and we got to meet them, and then to see you all at the program was fun too!

       Thanks for all you did Elder Kirk to help us!  You are a terrific missionary.  We watched you handle lots and lots of problems easily and calmly and with strength!  And in the meetings you conducted very professionally!  I'll never forget the first day in the office when you called the Stake Presidents to let them know their missionaries were coming home!  Wow, you were great on the phone.  It was like you made calls like that every day, and yet it was your first time with only a day or two experience of being in charge!

     Good luck in everything.  Are you going to work now, head to Utah State in the next few weeks?  Good luck, you will handle it admirably!

The Schmidts

On Sun, Jul 28, 2013 at 2:51 PM, Benjamin Kirk <benjamin.kirk@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Yeah no problem. It was fun being in the office and being spoiled so much by having you. You both are so charitable. 

One of my favorite scriptures is Words of Mormon 1:7.  A lot of times we don't know why the Lord tells us to do things. Even Mormon didn't exactly know from the beginning why he had to write and compile the records. But when we trust in the Lord, we don't always need to know everything. HE does and will lead us.  

Some other ones are Ether 12:27 and Moroni 10:32. I'm grateful that perfection is a process and that we have the enabling power of the Atonement to help us be better than we could be by ourselves.

Hope all is well in the DR! 

-Elder Kirk

On Wed, Jul 24, 2013 at 7:48 PM, James Schmidt <schmidt.james@myldsmail.net> wrote:

I was wishing I'd had my camera that day!  We're grateful for the picture and also for the time we got to share with you in the office, Elder Kirk.  You are an amazing person and we wish you the best in everything you do.  Say, I'd like to mark my scriptures with one or two of your favorites if you'd like to share.

Thanks and have fun on your new adventure!

Luv,

Los Schmidts

Explaining the mission...

Sister McEwan, so good to hear from you!  How wonderful that your son is coming.  It is a great mission.  We have a great mission president, President Rodriguez. We have 236 missionaries in our mission. They are absolutely amazing.  They see a lot of success.
     We just attended a cultural program tonight, the USA Cloggers from SLC.  A great event for members and soon to be members!  The senior couple that we were sitting with, the Area Legal and his wife who is doing media for the area just gave me a new web site that will continue to grow.  It is Caribe.lds.org.  She said on the left in that site is Obra Misional to click on.  I haven't tried it yet.  In fact, I didn't know I had a blog until my daughter emailed that you'd left a comment and she had the link to my blog where she had added letters or comments that we'd sent to family or friends as our mission progressed.  What a shock, and what joy!  
     Anyway, I will check our mission data tomorrow to see your son, see if we have sent you a welcome letter from our mission, and get one off to you if we haven't. 
     Good luck in your preparations.  We look forward to meeting your son.  He will be a remarkable missionary!  He has a great family sustaining him!
Thanks for the correspondence,
 Sister & Elder Schmidt, office specialists in la Mision Oeste.

Chantal --A tormentous or big storm

Hi Ellen!   Thanks for thinking of us.  Tons of rain.  It looked like continuous raindrops, just a sheet of water it was coming so fast.  There was flooding everywhere,  We're on the 3rd floor for our apartment, and mission office 2nd floor,  so we didn't have a problem, but the water was coming in the ground level.  The elders moved desks, refrigerators and mattresses that were in the water's way.  We had big deliveries a few days before and they couldn't get them all out before the storm hit.  

     The first day the elders dropped us home at night and took the truck to the area where they are assigned for Church,  discussions, etc. and then picked us up the next morning, so they didn't have to walk or do taxis, since there was tons of water everywhere.  They dropped the cleaning lady Ramona to the other side of town so she wouldn't have to ride on the back of a motorcycle/walk to find one etc.  The water was swooshing around trees and sidewalks, half way to the top of the tires, and we have a big Hilux truck..  The next day it rained continuously and then stopped by evening.   Today the front lawn of the mission office looks pretty dry, you'd never have guessed there was a foot or foot and a half there just yesterday.  When it rains you look out to the ocean and the runoff from the city makes the water all brown.  Further out it is blue.  It drained pretty good off the streets, not sure around houses.  That's probably why they have a mosquito problem here. 

     It was amazing how fast and furious it came down, all the lightening and thunder that was all around us.  They say since the temple was built here that the storms seem to go around.  So hopefully they will continue.  Thanks El!

Love,

Susan

(Note: The response above was written in regard to email from Ellen: You've said nary a word of hurricane Chantal--did it miss you completely? No wind or rain? Can't imagine what it's like to live through something like that. Hope things are going well. -EA)

Traslados--a dinner at our house

Hi!  This is dinner at our house on Sunday night .  The senior couple, the Clawsons, are on the left.  The others are the same missionaries I listed earlier.  We honored two missionaries who were leaving.  (Dos misioneros salio.)

Anyway, someone said to send lots of pictures.

Love,

Mom & Dad

CCM--A men's chorus in the Area

This is a men's chorus in the area that sang patriotic music and hymns.  In the last picture, the quartet, the two on the right, are the mission president's boys.  One just got back from a year at BYU and will turn his papers in soon.  The other one is in high school and will got to BYU soon.  They spoke to us after in English.  They learn it here in school.  Their mom speaks a quite a big, and the mission president is trying, at least with me.

Love,

Mom & Dad

Happy 4th of July---Let's Get together next Year!!

Hi, how are you all? HAPPY 4TH OF JULY TO YOU!!

     Monday night at FHE the seniors celebrated the 4th of July.  The Temple Matron, Sister Bair, had some of the men stand and give quotes from the founding fathers, some history of what happened to some of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and then she spoke of them appearing in the St. George Temple to Wilford Woodruff, who did their work.  Sister Bair is a descendant of Wilford Woodruff.  Then we ate dinner, barbecued beef, potato salad, etc.  I was assigned to bring Apple Crisp.

     Today being the Fourth of July, Dad and I got up early and made two cobblers, an apple and cherry (next year I'm adding blueberry) and took it to the Mission Office with cool whip.  Six young elders, the Clawsons and Dad and I had it still warm for breakfast?  Then we went to a Consejo --a council of zone leaders.  In another room we oriented 3 new missionaries that arrived yesterday from the Provo MTC.  Dad gave it in Spanish and I followed in English.  We ate with all the missionaries the usual Dominican chicken, rice with chopped vegetables, candied banana or guineo and coleslaw of cabbage and carrot.  Then we did picture taking.  I took the new missionaries with the President and his wife.  Then the president wanted a group picture of he and his wife with all the zone leaders--plus 3 new sister leaders to preside over the sister missionaries in the mission.  The missionaries were kind of a rowdy bunch, enjoying each other.  It was fun. 

     On the way home we took the Clawsons, a new senior couple from Kaysville to the spot where the land was dedicated.  We got a phone call there, there was a crash and the Elder needed his passport.  We went back to the office, got the passport and headed across the city to the police station. (We know just where to go.)  This elder Elder Arana is from Virginia, Woodbridge, yellow line, near DC, is bilingual and has just been driving here for 2 weeks.  He took Elder Reeder's place. 

     We made a bank deposit on the way home, entered temple clothes sizes back at the office, recorded the deposit, sent out mail, did bank work with receipts and charging to the missionaries accounts.

     That was the 4th of July.  We were "independent" of tradition.  Oh well, it was fun, everyday is and we'll see you later.  Hope you had an awesome day!! 

Love,

Mom & Dad  Oh, I wore red, white and blue, and some of the missionaries at the meeting asked me if it was La Dia de Independencia.  Si!

Thank you from the Brother Missionaries

A big THANK YOU for the fun entertainment and refreshments for Father's Day!

You might enjoy this little highlight of the event:  http://youtu.be/IwhJADpWaF0

-- from the Brother senior missionaries to the Sister senior missionaries in Santo Domingo