Email 8/30/11 (last one at the MTC)

I will be looking for that bank info thing and I will send it back as soon as I can. Thanks for taking care of that for me. Thank you so much for getting me a calling card too. Brother Mangum is so awesome. I am so grateful that he was willing to get hold of you and give you some advice on that. I am so excited to see the videos of the family! Thank you so much for doing that! There is another memory card going to Alex that she will get tomorrow with a couple of videos for her, then she is going to bring it to you tomorrow night. I need you to copy everything off of that card and put it back in the mail for me Thursday morning so I can get it by Saturday cause Saturday will be the last day that I will receive any mail here at the MTC. I won't even be getting DearElders on Saturday, so if you want to send one of those, Friday at 11 your time is your deadline. Just a heads up. I finally got my travel plans!! here they are...

Delta Air Lines 86 LV: Salt Lake City 11:00 AM 9/05
AR: New York Kennedy 5:52 PM 9/05
Delta Air Lines 8557 LV: New York Kennedy 9:50 PM 9/05
AR: Paris, Chas De Gaulle 11:05 AM 9/06
Dela Air Lines 8556 LV: Paris, Chas De Gaulle 1:50 PM 9/06
AR: Douala, Cameroon 7:10 PM 9/06

Man, that sucked to type. So yeah there it is. I have no clue what the time difference is in those areas so figure it out and be expecting a call during that time! I can't wait to talk to all of you! I will definitely have a lot of time to talk so I am really stoked :)

I'm so glad that you had Alex over for dinner! Its so funny how all the kids act around her. She loves you guys so much. I'm glad you had a great stake conference! I have been able to listen to someone from the Seventy every week here at the MTC. We haven't had an apostle yet, and today is the last chance that I have to see an apostle here at the MTC so cross your fingers! Pres. Toone is such a spiritual giant. I love that man so much and I have so much respect for him. So Caelan was in the spot light the whole time?? I hope she didn't do anything embarrassing. The cameras here in the MTC are sometimes on the missionaries during the devotional and lots of missionaries act like immature kids when that happens and do really dumb things. You would think that being on a mission you would mature but nooooo. Not at all in a lot of cases. I have so many stories about that. I know that I am maturing. I can definitely see it. I am definitely thinking things through (There Caelan, I used the correct through) before I act or say things. When you mentioned the little language barrier an awesome quote came into my head that Frère Parsons told us before he left on his trip... "The language of the spirit is not curtailed by your own language." Something like that. But anywho, it is so true. Half the time in Sacrament meeting I have no clue what is being said but I can still feel the spirit. That is pretty funny what Elder Gavarret had so say about our stake. We are so blessed to be in the Mesa East Stake. Our stake rocks. I'm glad you guys had a good FHE. I am so sorry to hear about Jasmine and her baby. That has to be so rough. The beauty of our gospel though is that we have the knowledge of life after death, so it makes situations like that a little easier. And wow, I can't believe that someone died right there by the Turleys. I totally feel for Sister Durney and how that criminal is being memorialized for something bad. I would be very frustrated. I am getting upset right now just thinking and typing about it. Let the Durneys know that they are in my prayers. Wow, the dentist is raking in the dough from the Schmid family! What is happening! Why can't everyone be perfect with their teeth like me?! :)

So yes, I am totally ready to leave the MTC. You get to a point where you are just like "Alright, lets go. I'm done here." I love the MTC so much and I am so grateful for the experiences and lessons that I am having and learning here but I am ready to go to Africa and really start my mission. I don't really feel like I am on a mission yet. I am not nervous yet, but I am positive that I will be on Monday morning. All of the Congo elders fly together which is awesome! There is an elder going to Congo that leaves like 6 weeks after us and he has to fly alone... sucker. We have no clue where we are going yet. We will find out when we get there and the senior couple gives us our assignments. I can't believe Elder Palmer is already home. I remember looking at his blog for the first time and he had close to 6 months left. Time goes by so fast. I would love to have the companion who sings "In Our Lovely Deseret". I love that song so much. I love playing it on the piano when I have extra time after lunch or breakfast. My patriarchal blessing has helped me out so much. In some aspects, I would be so lost without it. That blessing always lets me know that the Lord knows ME. I have received so much comfort through that blessing.

Alright, now I am going to tell you about my week. So last Tuesday night I drank 32 oz. of Mtn Dew and I was so wired. I hadn't had caffeine in over a month and a half. It was incredible. So we all thought that for the devotional on Tuesday night there would be an apostle, so Elder Addington and I waited outside for an hour and a half to get goods seats. Well, an apostle didn't come so we were pretty bummed. It was still an awesome devotional though. Oh, and I found out that the little baby is going to be a boy!!! Awww yeah!! I am so excited for that!

Wednesday was good! For our service we hosted. Hosting is where you go and pick up the new missionaries when they are dropped off at the curb and you take them to get all their supplies and stuff. That was a lot of fun. I was playing basketball and I had to guard this elder that was at least 6'6 and I was playing awesome defense on him and even stuffing some of his shots :) That is such a good feeling! Especially when you see them get upset. When I was hosting I saw this elder get out of his car and he was wearing skating shoes and some "cool" sun glasses. He is in for a rude awakening. I played the piano for like an hour. One of the elders in my district, Elder Frazier, has the Jon Schmidt song book with "Onward Christian Soldiers" and he let me borrow it so I was playing that song over and over again. It was so awesome. And you and Dad celebrated your 21st wedding anniversary!! How does it feel?!

Thursday went very well. Sœur Cutler's half birthday was on Thursday so we decided to celebrate Christmas... no clue why. We just did and it was awesome! We even had Christmas lights hanging up on the wall and we sang Christmas hymns. I loved it so much. You will see some pictures on the memory card coming home. I got a lot of letters and DearElders on Thursday so that definitely made my day.

On Friday, we had In Field orientation. Basically an all day event where you go to classes and learn more about the mission field. All the missionaries that are leaving in the next week go to it. Well, since we were supposed to go on Monday we went to it and it was great. I learned a lot but I was so tired at the end of the day. I only wrote like 7 lines in my journal that night. I average like a page and a half everyday... I was so tired. Oh, and I got travel plans so that was so awesome cause I finally got the feeling of "Yes, I am finally going to Africa!!"

Saturday was awesome. I went to gym and played basketball. Everyday this week before I play basketball I get an ultrasound on my ankle and it feels so good cause it warms it up. I have this weird scar tissue build up though right on top of my ankle and it gets annoying when I bend it a certain way. I am hoping that it will go down while I am in Africa. I recorded a very long video for you guys so you will see that tomorrow.

Sunday was incredible. Sunday is always incredible here in the MTC. We had this awesome District President come and teach us. I took like 3 pages of notes just from him. He is such an awesome teacher. We had a special devotional for those that were departing this week and it was PACKED. The MTC president stood up and said that this was the largest group of missionaries to EVER leave the MTC. Over 530 of us. There are so many missionaries right now. I was also a part of the largest group to come into the MTC on June 29th. So that was cool. The real devotional that night was great. A counselor in the MTC presidency spoke about taking care of your self while on the mission. He said that whenever a missionary has a hernia in the mission field, it costs the church $15,000. So he was basically telling us to be careful and to not waste the churches money.

Monday was hard. Elders Arnold, Prows, Frazier, and Barney left. They have become such close friends. It was a bitter sweet time cause I was so happy that they were leaving on starting their missions but it was sad cause I wanted to go with them. We are all going to go to 6 flags together in the summer of 2013 :) It was weird going to class cause half of the class was gone. The only good thing was that Frère Parsons was back. I missed him so much. He is such an awesome teacher. We have all learned so much from him. An Elder in my district came to me at like 11 at night last night. He was knocking on my door and I almost didn't answer it cause I just wanted to finish writing in my journal. But I felt like I needed to and I am so glad I did. He came in and was so sad. He had just received news that a good friend of his just passed away in a car accident. His tire blew out and was ejected when it rolled. I felt so bad for him. I tried giving him the best advice I could. I am really grateful though that he came to me. He had 5 other guys to go to or he could not of told any one but he decided to come to me and talk to me about it. I see my patriarchal blessing coming to pass everyday here in the MTC. It was sad and I felt so bad for him but when we were done talking we both were feeling a lot better.

Today has been great! I went to the temple for the last time for 22 months. It was very special. I love going to the temple. When I get back from my mission it will be my goal to go at least once a week. Going once a week has blessed my life so much over the past couple of months. There are feelings that I have in the temple that I don't think I could feel anywhere else. It is so incredible.

So yeah that is how my week has been. Its crazy to think that the next time I email you I will be in Africa!! I can't wait!! I love you all so much and pray for you everyday!

Je t'aime beaucoup,
Elder Schmid

Email 8/23/11

It sounds like you had a great time at FHE with the Ellsworths! Pizza sounds so good right now. They have pizza here but it is old and not good at all. Yes, I got quite the package yesterday from DJ. It means so much that he would go into his personal stash and give me some of his secret stuff. I have been showing that little thing he gave me to all of the Elders in my district and they have all laughed so hard. I couldn't stop laughing when I pulled it out of the box. He also sent me some Diet Mountain Dew!! Awww yeah! Le nectar des dieus! So yeah that package was awesome. He threw in some other goodies as well... like his favorite Disney princess fruit snacks. I can't believe that he would give those two things up for me. Great guy. So Sven (Mom's cousin) was there at the party? Its crazy to think that you haven't seen him in 11 years. My friend just left the MTC to go to Bangkok. I love Uncle Dale so much. He is such a great example to me. Him and I have such an awesome connection and I am so grateful for that. He is definitely one of my heroes in life. Along with Uncle Dean and Grandpa.

So Ashlyn was jumping on the trampoline with her cast? What the heck! She is crazy! Poor girl. I was crying just wearing a stupid boot... I would HATE to have a cast that goes all the way up my leg. I was kind of banking on you knowing the gender of the baby before I got on today. I will have to check my email again before I go back to the rez for the night. (Holy crap... I went to save this as a draft and I accidentally pressed discard. Thank goodness google has an undo discard button.) So I just got back from the temple and I did a session with Aunt DeAnn!! It was awesome! I was walking up to the temple and she was there with Anastacia. Anastacia went to do baptisms while DeAnn and I did a session. It was so great. She sat next to me in the chapel and we talked for about 10 minutes then went into the session. Afterwards, we went to her car and she gave me some dang good rolls. We got a couple of pictures and that was it! When we were sitting in the chapel I mentioned to her that I couldn't believe that she dropped me off almost two months ago!! Time has been flying by so fast! I am about 8-9% done with my mission. Its almost kind of scary how fast the time goes by. I am so grateful that DeAnn went through a session with me. It was awesome having family in there and then seeing her in the Celestial room. Eternal families mean so much more to me now than ever. Especially, when I see my family in the temple. It is such an incredible experience.

So this past week has been a very good week. Wednesday was pretty chill. Nothing really cool happened. Just typical stuff at the MTC. I did have my doctors appointment though and that was pretty interesting. In order for me to get to the doctor, the MTC has to call a shuttle and have them drive me. Well, the doctor that I went to has two offices and the lady told me to go to the one that was like 10 minutes away. When we got there it looked like no one was there but we got out anyways and the shuttle took off. Well, we got to the door and it was locked. He was at his other office. My appointment was at 4 and it was about 20 til so we decided we would sit and wait for him to see if he would come for the appointment but he didn't. Twenty minutes rolled by and no one had showed up, so Elder Addington and I went next door into a hair salon and asked to use a phone and we called the doctors office and asked them to call the shuttle and ask them to pick us up and take us to the right place. So as we were waiting for the shuttle to come we started talking to this lady who looked about 50. We spoke to her for about 10 minutes and in those 10 minutes she popped like 20 pills. She kept going to her purse and getting more. She was so wack. She had HUGE fake eye lashes and they were falling off so whenever she blinked (which she did a lot) they would just flop around. It was very hard to keep a straight face and not laugh while I was talking to her. Sooo funny. So the shuttle finally came and took us to the doctor and we sat and waited for the doctor to have an open slot. I started talking to this lady that I was sitting next to and I mentioned that I am from Mesa and that got her attention. She asked me if I lived by Mountain View and I said yyyup and then she went on to tell me that her daughter lives on Fox just east of Lindsay. She is in the neighborhood that we were in when we were looking at those houses and that one house smelled like poop. So yeah, small world. She went on to say that she has been to the church just south of Dartmouth on Lindsay and I was like "Hey!! That is right by my house! If I jump my fence and cross Lindsay I am there!" So yeah, small world. So, I finally was able to go in to see the doctor and everything is healing just fine. He said that I should wear the boot for a couple more weeks and then I told him that I could walk, run, and jump on my bad foot and he looked at me with a surprised look and said "Really?? Well there is no need for that boot anymore." That was the best news ever!! I know that the Lord is blessing me with this injury that I have. Normally the healing process takes so much longer but mine is flying by! Now I just have to wear my brace for a couple of weeks and then I should be good! My District Presidents wife gave me a tennis ball too cause we were talking and I mentioned for some reason that I wanted a tennis ball... so she went and got me one! She is so awesome. I love the district presidency.

Thursday was great. We went to the health clinic and got our malaria presentation. Not going to lie... that kind of freaked me out just a tiny bit. That stuff is serious! I also started my physical therapy on my ankle... if you could even call it that. The nurse lady asked me if I wanted to have a bag of ice or use an ice bucket to put my foot into and I was like "Well, I have never used an ice bucket before. Let's do that!" Stupid choice. That hurt so bad. I am never going to do that again. I couldn't feel my foot for like 30 minutes after I took it out. I got a sweet package from you on Thursday as well! Thank you so much for the shirts and everything else! You're the best :) I also got an awesome package from Alex! She made brownies and threw a couple in there. I forgot how much I love brownies. I have soooo many M&M's now!! I'm in heaven! She sent me nerf guns and and bunch of Elders and I had a big nerf war in the rez! I already had two because my companion and I got a pass-along for being the compaionship that fights the most (which is not true at all, we have never argued or anything) and that pass-along was two nerf guns. So I am pretty much set to have a rockin time.

Friday was pretty chill. I was super tired though cause I went to bed at midnight. I was up writing in my journal. I don't care how late it is... I am always going to write in my journal. And I am so glad I have been keeping that goal. So yeah, I was super tired. I went to TALL lab and put the headphones on and turned on some church music from LDS.org and totally crashed on the desk. I was out! I played a couple soft games of basket ball at gym and ran some laps and then iced my ankle. I am getting better and better each day! It is crazy how the human body recovers. We had an awesome class with Sœur Cutler. We all decided that we were going to talk with a lisp. Don't ask me why... we just did. It was soooo funny!! Bonjour! Je thuis un mithionnaire! When we got back to the rez we played a game of russian roulette with the nerf guns... and I won! On Friday the Congo Elders were called to the travel office and once there the people told us that our departure date has been delayed because of visa issues. I guess the people in Cameroon thought that we were children and they wanted to know who our adult guide would be. So yeah, I had to fill out a couple more applications and they quickly sent those out. So now I am set to leave on September 5th. I got a sweet package from Tasha too with an awesome French CTR ring! Or should I say CLB ring.

Saturday was so good. I was really tired again cause I was up til midnight writing in my journal. Totally worth it though. We had gym at 6:30 in the morning. I went and did my physical therapy. There is a lot of scar tissue around my ankle to we tried rubbing it out and it hurt like heck. Class was awesome. Sœur Cutler showed us pictures from her mission and talked about it. Elder Prows (an Elder in my district from San Diego) and I have been getting really close. Him and I went into an empty room during personal study time and we talked about our lives. We were in there for 2hours. He is such a great guy and I really feel that we will be close friends for the rest of our lives. Well, at least I hope so.

Sunday was awesome, like always. Sacrament meeting was great and so was Priesthood, but the best part of the day was running into Anais Moody and her husband, Chad, at the temple on my temple walk! It may or may not have been planned :) But, none the less, it was so good to see them. We talked for a little bit and got some pictures, and then I had to go back to the MTC. I was so grateful for the opportunity to see them. All my friends were like "Dude, who were you talking to?!?!" They were kind of jealous cause Anais, as we all know, is very pretty. I was like "yeahhh, she used to babysit me." hahah it was great! She is an awesome friend. Her husband is awesome too. They are just an awesome couple and I love them. The devotional that we had was amazing. Stephen Allen spoke. He works here at the MTC. This was his second time speaking while I have been here. He is by far my favorite speaker. He is so funny and at the same time very powerful. He spoke about the Holy Ghost and obeying the rules... always. He shared an awesome scripture with us. It is so simple, but yet so powerful. It is 2 Nephi 33:15, and it is the last phrase... I must obey, amen. It says it all in those 4 words. I want that to be my life motto now.

Monday was fantastic. I cranked out some letters to you, Dallin, Darian, Aiden, and Ashlyn. (What the heck Caelan!! Why have I not received a letter from you yet! Aiden and Ashlyn have sent me more than you! I still love you though :) I was looking in my pictures I have of the family that we took right before I left and you look super pretty... just sayin. Horny boys are going to start jumping at you in school so be careful.) After personal study I went to the TALL lab and watched videos in the youth section of LDS.org. Some of those videos are so powerful. After TALL I went to gym and I got an ultrasound on my ankle. I must be super naive cause when she said I should get an ultrasound I was like "uhhhh, Je suis un homme..." but now I understand that it has multiple uses haha. After the ultrasound I did some test like sprinting and jumping and the nurse lady cleared me and said I could go back to normal activity! So that is exactly what I did! I went and immediately played basketball and I rocked it! I was on fire for some reason! I can almost jump as high as I used to! I was grabbing rim and stuff but I know that I could jump higher. On Monday I got that package from DJ... haha he is such a punk. I bet he was having a laughing fit as he was putting together that little "surprise" for me. He is awesome though. I have so much respect for him. For language study, I just read the French/English dictionary. It actually helps out so much. Monday night was the best though! I got 3 letters! One from Grandma, Oma & Opa, and Alex. I also got 6 pages of DearElders! Awww yeah! Mom, ask Alex about the JUST DO IT shirt. I think it is a funny story. I would type it out for you but I don't have much time. Alex is the best. When you here the story you will go "yup, you two are definitely best friends!"

So that was my week! It was very good! You are so lucky that I figured out how to beat the timer here on the email. I have been sending you some pretty legit emails. I love you so much and I am so grateful for all that you do. You are going to get a letter from me pretty soon, like tomorrow, and in that letter I mentioned some stuff about my Patriarchal blessing. What I said about it is so true. I love you and Dad so much. Thank you for being the best parents in the world. I love you :)

Avec amour,
Elder Schmid

Email 8/19/11

So today the Congo elders where called to the travel office and they gave us some bad news. Our travel agent lady has been having trouble with getting visas for us as I'm sure you already know. Well our departure has been delayed now to September 5th. I guess the people in Cameroon thought that we were children and they wanted to know who would be our adult escort and stuff. So yeah, thats a bummer. They allowed me to get on and email you today to tell you that. I hope all is well back home! I got your package yesterday and it was awesome! Thanks so much for that HUGE bag of M&M's! Thanks for the garments and shirts as well. I love you :)

Je t'aime,
Elder Schmid

Email 8/16/11

Bonjour ma famille!!

Man today has been such an awesome day!! I woke up today at 5:30 to do laundry cause missionaries have been coming earlier and earlier so I now go earlier and earlier to beat the rush. That is why a few people got an email today super early in the morning. After laundry I went to the rez avec mon collègue and we chilled and I wrote a letter and got ready for the temple. I was so stoked for the temple cause at 9:30 Alex's mom and nana were going to meet me at the front door to say hi cause they are up here for Education Week. It was sooo good to see them! I am so blessed that the Lord blessed me with that opportunity this morning! We got some pictures and then just talked about the MTC and how my french was coming along and about food in Africa. I loved it so much! And then some of my district was able to meet them as well. I basically consider them family so I gave them a big hug. It was great. I can't even explain how happy I was to see them. They are so awesome and I love them so much. Mom, I know that you mentioned that DeAnn wanted to go through a session with me, well my time to go to the temple is at 9:45 and I am in the 10:00 session. Next Tuesday is my last temple trip where I will be able to go through the temple so if she wants to do that, next Tuesday would be the day to do that. Right now I will plan on meeting her at the front at 9:30 like I did with Kristin and Nana so we can have some time to talk and what not. Just email me before next Tuesday and let me know if she is going to do it for sure. I will get onto my email really early again to check to make sure it is final or not. I would love to see her so much! So yeah, the temple was incredible. Every time I go I learn so much and the Lord always blesses me with insight into my life and other special things. I think I felt complete peace today as I was sitting in the Celestial room... It was incredible. I love the feelings I have there so much. I am bummed that I only have one more opportunity to go through and then that will be it for 22 months. I really wish I went a lot more than I did before I came out here on my mission. Oh well, never look back (watch that Mormon message called Look Not Behind Thee, it is such an awesome short video).

So this past week has been pretty great. Last Tuesday we had a devotional and Cecil O. Samuelson, President of BYU & 1st Quorum of Seventy, spoke to us. He mainly focused on being focused on what is important and not being distracted and that as missionaries we HAVE to be an example of the believers. Everyone looks at us and if they see we are goofing off or talking about things that shouldn't be brought up, they could very easily be turned away from the church. After every Tuesday devotional we have a district meeting. Ours was so incredible. If you were sitting in with us you would think that you were in a room with a bunch of old wise men. It is so crazy how much the mission changes an individuals maturity. After our meeting we came up with a goal that we all want to follow... our oath basically. "I will DO and BE my BEST to worthily represent Jesus Christ." We all wrote it down on a note card and signed each others, and Elder Nash is going to draw a picture of Christ on the back of every single one. Elder Nash is an INCREDIBLE artist. He just busts out pictures of Christ and it looks perfect. I asked him to draw the one of Christ holding the African child. I think that is my new favorite picture of Christ :) I am way excited to see how that one turns out. So yeah, that night was awesome. Wednesday was great! It was my last day to chat with everyone, though, on email...:( that was kinda sad but I was so blessed to have had that opportunity in the first place. Always count your many blessings. On Wednesday, I found out about Alex's mom and nana coming up to Provo and wanting to see me at the temple, so that made my day when I found that out. I got a rockin package from the Kettenrings with a French Plan de Salut wooden puzzle thing and they sent me some of the best salsa in the world and chips!!! Awww yeah!! They rock!! I scarfed that down sooo fast! DeAnn if you are reading this, I have almost finished writing everyone in your family a letter so expect something in the mail soon!! You're the best! Thank you so much! Thursday was a good day. Classes were good and I cranked out some letters to family and friends. I got some very sweet letters as well :) Friday was great! Elder Addington and I taught our progressive investigator, Claudie, and we decided to tackle the Word of Wisdom. Holy crap, that is so hard to do in French. We pretty much got our butts kicked. Well mine was beat pretty hard... Elder Addington is a lot better than I am with the language so he carried us through that lesson. He is such a great companion. He is very very smart. Saturday was incredible. Frère Parsons was leaving to go visit his family for two weeks so that was his last day with us. He decided to not have a lesson but instead have someone sit in the "spotlight" and we would all ask that person a serious or goofy question that they would have to answer, then we gave that person a compliment. It was so great. We had some awesome roll on the floor laughing moments and some very powerful spiritual moments. It is incredible how those two things can be tied together in a situation like that, but it happened and it was amazing! I have learned so much from Frère Parsons. He is without a doubt my hero here at the MTC. I have learned so much from him and my testimony has grown so much because of him. I love him so much. He is such an incredible teacher. I owe so much to him. I want to come home from my mission and just go and talk with him and hang out with him. He is so great. At the end of every lesson I would go up to him and give him a hug and tell him how awesome he is. When we were doing the spotlight thing and I was in the spotlight he got emotional when he was giving me my compliment... he said that it meant the world to him that I would make him feel loved. That's who I want to be... I want to be someone who is known for being loving. It was hard seeing him go, but I know that I will see him again. I talk a lot about Frère Parsons and not so much about Sœur Cutler, but she is also such an incredible teacher. She is way fun and outgoing and we all learn so much from her. It is good having a female in the room every once in a while to keep us in line. Sunday was amazing... just like every other Sunday. I blessed the Sacrament in French for the first time! I was sooo nervous! You could totally hear it in my voice but I did just fine! I didn't mess up! Hallelujah! In Priesthood meeting we had an awesome lesson by Bro. Mangum who is in the Branch Presidency. His son married one of my friends best friends.... if that makes sense. So it is fun kinda having that little 'small world' relationship with him. His son and daughter-in-law were the ones that came to my farewell! Small world! I had an accountability interview with him as well. All missionaries have one and because I am learning French I had to do it in French. In the interview, you have to teach a gospel principle and bear your testimony and I did mine on l'amour de Dieu. That night we had an AMAZING fireside with Richard L. Heaton. He spoke a lot about success. As a missionary I need to have a 'perhaps' mentality. If I teach this investigator about the Gospel of Jesus Christ perhaps they might feel the Spirit bear witness of the reality of my message and get baptized. If that does happen, it didn't happen because I am an amazing missionary but because of the Lord. Whenever a baptism happens, it isn't because of me, it's because of the Lord, and the Lord blesses me with a front row seat to the whole experience. It was such an awesome talk. I took so many notes. Another important quote I got from that is "God has given us weakness that we may be humble." So true. During the devotional we sang "We'll Bring the World His Truth" and in the song they changed the lyrics to "and we are now the Lord's missionaries." It was so powerful as I was singing those lyrics. I still can't believe that I am already a missionary. I am so humbled that the Lord is blessing me with this opportunity to teach His children in Africa. I got a picture with Elder Reidhead and Elder Thompson after the fireside!(Boys that grew up with Christiaan in our home ward) That will be on the next memory card coming home! Tanner (Reidhead) is gone! He is in the DR (Dominican Republic) now! Lucky dog... I want to go to Africa so bad! Only 13 more days!! :) We should be getting our travel info this week, so next Tuesday I will let you know what is going down. Monday was a great day. I went to gym and decided to wear a brace instead of my boot and play basketball. It didn't hurt at all... it actually felt good. I then went and ran some laps on the track and then went to ice my ankle to cool it down. The nurse lady pretty much called me out and said I was stupid for doing that and that I should wear my boot for the next two weeks and never take it off... I couldn't argue. So yeah, I won't do that anymore. I just want to start building up my muscle again. I am already skinny and now my left leg looks disgusting cause it is so skinny. I have pictures that I am sending home.. you will know what I am talking about. So yeah that was my week. I am so glad I figured out how to get past this timer here at the MTC. I wouldn't have been able to tell you half of the things I did in this email if I only had 30 minutes.

So I will be looking for your package here at the end of the week! Thank you so much for getting those shirts for me. I'm glad that you were all able to get together for Grandpas birthday. I was playing Onward Christian Soldier yesterday and I couldn't stop thinking about him. I love and miss him so much. I smiled big when you said that majority of the memories that came up involved him cussing. Yup, he's my grandpa!! I want that sign in Grandmas house that says "If you can't dazzle em with brilliance, baffle them with bull" Best sign in the world. I am so proud of Grandpa and for the man that he was. He was full of integrity and love for the gospel and I hope that I can be like him when I am older. He is an all around stud. I am so proud to say that he is my grandpa. So I bet you loved driving the Van De Graaff's Armada around... you feel like the boss on the road when you drive that thing. You should get something similar to that with the lift and sweet exhaust when you get a new car :)

Well that's about it for today. I love you and miss you so much. I know, though, that we are both getting blessed for this. I am so proud to say "Je suis un missionnaire pour l'Église de Jésus-Christ des Saints des Derniers Jours!!" Remember to always thank the Lord for all that we have and all that we have been blessed with! Til next time!

Je t'aime beaucoup,
Elder Schmid

Email 8/9/11

8.02.2011
So this day sucked. I thought I had found a way to email you and beat the timer and send you a huge long email but it failed miserably. If you go onto LDS.org and log in you can find a journal thing under the tools menu. Well, I thought I would type up a huge email and then copy and paste it into the myldsmail program. I went to save it and for some reason it saved less than half of it. I guess its kind of like text messaging where you can only send 160 characters. I had been typing for over an hour and when I saved it and realized that it didn't save over half of it I was so upset. So then I typed the rest up again and this time copied it and went to paste it into myldsmail and it didn't paste! And when you open a new program, the current program you are using closes down. So I didn't save it and it didn't paste. I was sooo livid. So thats why the email to you last week sucked. I am sorry about that. My ankle was hurting a lot. It was super itchy and I have no clue why... like on the area where the tendon was torn. It got so annoying. The temple was amazing! Because I am on crutches, I went to the travel office and they called for a shuttle to come and pick me up and give my companion and I a ride to and from the temple. :) Awww yeah! There was a grouchy old lady in the temple. I was asking where to go and she was telling me directions and expected that I knew where the rooms were that she was talking about. I got sick of her annoying loud voice so I just said Okay and my companion and I just started walking around and tried to find the chapel on our own. I didn't have to do service because of my ankle so I just sat in the bleachers that the missionaries set up for the devotional and wrote letters. For Tuesday devotionals they have you wait in a line until they let you in the gym... well, if you are not in that line an hour and a half before the thing starts you will be in the nose bleed section in the bleachers. Well smarty pants me went to the front and showed the security that I was crippled and they let me sit in the front on a nice chair and then they let me in early so I wouldn't get trampled when everyone else was running in :) I got awesome seats and I saved seats for my district as well. They are all benefiting from my injury. Even with rides to the temple haha! Gerald N. Lund spoke at the devotional and it was amazing. He is the guy who wrote "The Work and the Glory" series. He was awesome but he spoke so fast so my notes sucked. He spoke on Faith... I think. I don't have my notes with me. So yeah that was last Tuesday.

8.03.2011
Wednesday was good. We have early morning gym on Wednesdays at 6:35 in the morning. I didn't want to go and I decided that I wasn't going to wake up Elder Addington because he needs to wake up on his own so I got up at 6:20 and wrote letters until we had breakfast. Elder Addington never wakes up and I have always had to wake him up but I told him I am not going to do that anymore because its annoying that I have to do it and he needs to learn how to be responsible. He is a missionary now for Jesus Christ. Classes were good. We had TRC (teaching real people about the gospel en français). It was very difficult trying to understand what was being said. I bore my testimony though and I could really feel the power behind the testimony. The plainest and most simple testimonies I think are always the most powerful. We then taught our progressive investigator (our teacher, Sœur Cutler) and Elder Addington and I shared contributed to that lesson about 50/50 which is incredible. My French has come such a long way. We can get onto LDS.org here in the MTC and I clicked onto the link for mormon messages. Watch the one that is "A Civility Experiment". That one struck such a strong cord with me. I am going to one of the most, if not the poorest place in the world. I can't judge at all because majority of the time you are completely wrong in the judgement of that individual. The homeless man said some pretty wise and profound things when he was being interviewed. Watch it tonight as a family. We can all learn important life lessons from Charles. Please please watch it. You will love it. "Life is perfect for none of us. Rather than being judgemental and critical of each other, may we have the pure love of Christ for our fellow travelers in this journey through life." - President Monson

8.04.2011
Today must have been great cause I am looking at my journal and I filled two pages... let's see here. I wrote a letter to Keri and Craig, a couple of my greatest friends! We had gym and I played h.o.r.s.e. and around-the-world in my boot and then these punk missionaries came and took over the court. After that I just went and walked around the indoor track that they have. Kinda like in the Freestone Rec center. Oh okay, now I know why I wrote so much in my journal... this was the day I found out about the accident. So after gym I was changing in the rez and my name was called over the intercom. This lady told me to go to the room of the District President (not the MTC president, some thought that that was who I met with). He went on to tell me that everything was alright, but that you guys had gotten in an accident. He told me what Dad had told him and that was it. I was waiting for him to tell me that I could call you guys but he never told me I could so I asked him if I could email you and he said yes. That is why I have been getting on over the past week. He told me that Dad would be sending me an email later on that day so I was checking my email periodically throughout the day. When I read Dad's email I just started to cry. It was so hard for me to picture all of you guys going through that. Especially Ashlyn, Darian, and you. I won't say much more cause I pretty much already responded to that situation with my email to dad about blessings and all that good stuff. You guys are living witnesses that mircales still happen to this day. Today I got a sweet letter from Alex with some awesome pictures!! She is so awesome. I love her to death. I also got a sweet package from Tasha. Class was good like always.

8.05.2011
This day was filled with many tender mercies. Elder Addington and I taught our progressive investigator Sœur Cutler and I could feel the Spirit so strong. I was able to email home to you guys and I ended up having a running chat with Caelan, Alex, and Tasha. It felt so good to talk to them and to see how everyone was doing. One of my good friends Elder Arnold had a close friend pass away so I gave him the best advice I could. You could tell that it was really affecting him. I was so happy though that he came to me to talk about it. I love him so much. He is such an awesome missionary and friend. Him and I were in the same EFY group 3 years ago when I went with Caleb. He is the one from England. We had a lesson with Frère Parsons, my other teacher who served in Congo as well. He is such a powerful teacher. You ALWAYS feel the spirit when he teaches. During his lesson I felt prompted to tell about my experience with prayer that I had had the day before the accident. We had such an incredible lesson.

8.06.2011
We had early morning gym again. I stayed with Elder LaFleur and Elder Addington and Elder Frazier went on a split to the gym. I just stayed and wrote letters. You guys would be surprised with how obedient I am with the "wake up at 6:30 rule". I actually get up at 6:20 every morning. Even when I could sleep in. Yeah, be proud. I cranked out a couple of letters then went to class. We had zone teaching today and me and 5 other missionaries had to teach a lesson together. It was pretty cool! I did well, surprisingly. I could follow along somewhat alright. Today Frère Parsons told us that he was going to visit his family in CA and that he won't be here to teach us the last 2 weeks that we are here. That was so sad to hear. I love him so much and have so much respect for him. He doesn't put up with our crap and he has helped us as a district become more mature. I can't tell you how awesome he is... he is such an incredible example to me. So it was hard to hear this news because we all love him so much. During personal study today I was able to get on the email and chat with you, Dad, Caelan, Alex, and Tasha. That was AWESOME! I love chatting with you guys so much! I am taking advantage of it while I can!

8.07.2011
Sundays are awesome here in the MTC. Today was fast sunday and for the first time in my life I was excited to fast! Whaaaa?! I know, crazy. There were a few things that I fasted for and I could definitely tell that the Lord is aware of my wants and desires and knows exactly what we pray for. I wasn't planning on bearing my testimony, but that crazy thing called the Spirit persuaded me to get up to the pulpit and bear it! It was incredible! It was so simple but so powerful. At around 8:32 AM I really really felt the Spirit in French. So amazing. Emailing everyone was awesome. So I am embarassed and also excited to tell you what I am about to tell you. For the first time in my life I have read the Book of Mormon completely. All the way through, from cover to cover. I started on 6.29. and finished today! I am so proud of myself. My testimony has grown so much of the Book of Mormon over the past couple of weeks. That book is true!! I know that with all of my heart and being! After the devotional we watched the Testaments. That movie is ridiculous to watch when you are in a room with about 800 other missionaries. Especially when the characters kiss. Its nuts. I loved this Sunday so much though. Sundays here at the MTC are incredible.

8.08.2011
Today I emailed Caelan, you, Darian, Alex, and Tasha!! I was so grateful for that. I was so happy that I could chat with Darian for a couple of minutes. She has a letter coming her way... along with one for Ashlyn. So we had gym and I decided that I wasn't going to wear my boot. Instead I put on my brace and walk around and play a little ball. I took it easy of course. It felt soooo good to walk around and be normal. I am never going to take my foot for granted again. haha before I went to the gym I promised myself that I wasn't going to play ball but I just couldn't do it. I played a slow game with my companion and some deaf missionaries. That was interesting. Class was awesome. My teachers rock!! I got 4 pages of DearElders tonight!! Keep 'em coming! I love getting mail so much! It is the best part of the day! I got a sweet package from Tasha with some Rockport shoes! The ones I have are so worn out. Especially the one for my right foot. The tread is like completely gone.

So yeah that was my week. The temple today was amazing like always. Our teacher Frère Parsons was able to go through a temple session with us. Afterwards we all went and ate lunch together. He was telling us some awesome stories about Africa and what it was like on his mission. I am soooo excited to finally get on my way! I want to go so bad!!! Well, I hope all is well at home. I am so blessed to be a part of such an increcible family. I love you all so much. Thanks for all the love you send me. I will be able to get on tomorrow to email and that will be it. I will then be back to emailing you once a week. So be on tomorrow!! Always count your blessings! Je vous aime beaucoup!!

Elder Schmid

-- In past emails I have put "Je vous aimez". That was just me having a huge brain fart.

Email in response to Dad's letter

Thank you so much for the update. I was called up to the front office around 12:15 today. Usually when that happens it means something is wrong so I was pretty nervous about the visit that I was about to have. One of the President's told me a very brief summary of what went down last night. I asked him if I could check my email to communicate for the next couple of days to see if everything is alright and he said that that was fine. So I will be checking my email periodically throughout the day. So please give me a constant update on the condition of everyone.

I want to share something very special with you. When I say my prayers every morning and night, right before I finish I always ask the Lord to protect my family and let them know that I love them. Yesterday during every single prayer that I had, I felt prompted to ask the Lord to protect you guys. I had no clue why...but I followed the feeling that I had. I had some pretty detailed 'meal' prayers asking for your protection and I was confused as to why I was going into such depth asking for your protection. Last night when I was saying my prayer before I went to bed the Spirit told me to pray for your protection again... so that was majority of my prayer last night. I was kind of scared last night as to why I was feeling those promptings all day yesterday. Well, now I know. As much as it sucks, the family walked away from that accident with their lives. Many lives have been lost in accidents identical to that one that they were just in. I KNOW that the Lord was protecting all in the car last night.

I was crying today when I was reading your email. I hate thinking about Mom, Darian, and Ashlyn in pain. I feel so bad for Caelan that she had to experience that as a driver. How is Dallin and Aiden? What about Heidi and Heaton? What happened to the drivers in the other car?

It is ridiculous how all these bad things are happening to us: heart attack, torn ankle tendons, and accident. But there are always blessings in trials...

Heart Attack

* It didn't occur when we were actually camping.
* We now know the condition (somewhat) of your arteries, and now we know that we need to keep an eye on them
* I know it was bad but I thought it was a blessing that I was able to spend time with you more right before I left because you were home from work. I am so grateful for that.

Torn Tendons

* The Lord blessed me with timing of the accident. Can you imagine what kind of care I would of received in Africa?
* I don't need to have surgery.
* My time here at the MTC wont be prolonged.

Accident

* Although they walked away with some bad injuries, they also walked away with one of the greatest things that the Lord has blessed them with... their life.
* The baby 'walked' away unharmed. I think that it is so incredible and miraculous that the only part of Mom's body that doesn't hurt is where the baby is. We know that God loves his children. I was just reading in the Book of Mormon today in 3 Nephi and I read chapter 17. What happened last night has strengthened my testimony of God's love for his children. It's not a coincidence that I read that before I got the news.
* We finally get a new car :)

Always remember to count your many blessings. The Lord is constantly blessing us. I have been receiving answers to my prayers constantly since I have arrived here at the MTC.

I am so grateful that everyone is alright. I will continue to pray for everyone to have a speedy recovery. Please keep me updated on what is happening and what not with recovery process. And of course, please send me pictures of the car and whatever else you have.

So I guess that means the cabin trip is cancelled. That is too bad. That is one of my favorite places to go. You guys should go in October. It is probably so beautiful on the mountain at that time.

Since I have time I will respond to your email that you sent me this week. As far as my injury goes, everything is alright. My ankle hurts big time still but I can tell that it is getting better. It was bruising big time. It looked like I had old nasty feet. I took a lot of pictures of it and I sent home the memory card home yesterday so you should be getting it tomorrow. I have to wear this boot for a little over 3 more weeks. After that the doctor gave me some legit ankle braces that I will wear everyday for a couple of weeks and then I should be back to normal. I will definitely wear those braces whenever I play basketball from here on out. That is another blessing because of my injury! I knew I needed to get some good ankle braces but didn't know where to get them for a good price (you get what you pay for) but now I have two and I got them for free! There are blessings in every trial! So yeah, my ankle is doing well. No need to worry. I have two more doctor appts before I leave the MTC so we'll know for sure I guess that nothing is wrong on August 16th. I will let you know of my status then. When I was talking to him the day after it happened, he said that he was almost positive my stay here at the MTC wouldn't be prolonged. Yes, I have run into Jordan Thompson. Funny story. The first time I see him, both him and I were in the health clinic. Me for my ankle and him for his companion who suffers from lactose intolerance? But he came up to me and gave me a big hug. He gives me a hug every time I see him and I appreciate it so much. I love that kid to death. It sounds like you had a fun time at the reunion thing that you had. I hope I can do one of those 30 years from now. Its crazy that all these kids are getting called to Africa. A great work is coming forth and has been coming forth in that area and I am so grateful that I am going to be a part of it.

Well, my class is about to start. Feel free to post this on my blog. I love you so much and thank you so much for emailing me and letting me know of the situation and the details. I will be checking my email tomorrow to see updates on everyone. Je vous aimez beaucoup!!

Elder Schmid

Email from Dad

Elder Schmid-



Got a call from Pres. Harris, who said it was alright for me to send an email to you that you might be able to check for today.



Last night after the Ward Swim Party at Shepherd Pool, the family was driving home along Brown Rd. Caelan was driving, with Mom in the passenger seat, Dallin, Darian, Aiden & Ashlyn and friends Heidi & Heaton in the back. I was at home after coming home from work. As Caelan was driving through the intersection of Higley & Brown, another car in the eastbound left turn lane decided to turn left, right in front of Caelan, with no time to stop. The suburban hit the other car pretty much at 45 mph, and ended up on the west side of the intersection in the middle of Brown Rd in front of the Shell station. The other car was also knocked back towards the Shell station.



I got a call from Braden Arnett, who let me know what happened. I hopped in the truck & drove over. The road was blocked by a fire truck and a couple of ambulances by the time I got there (they got there pretty quick). Dallin was wandering around the car a little dazed, all doors were open, and Mom was on the passenger side at the middle door holding Ashlyn. Darian was already in an ambulance with a very deep laceration in her forehead. I checked with Mom, who was standing, and then checked with Caelan who was at the short screen wall in front of Shell. She was pretty shook up and was crying. Sis. Arnett and another lady were with her. Paramedics needed someone to ride in with Darian, so I went. We took the 202 to County Hospital at 24th & Van Buren. While en route, over the radio the driver heard the other ambulance was on its way as well, to the same location.



Darian was admitted to Trauma, and the second ambulance had Ashlyn & Mom. Ashlyn was checked into the Pediatrics ER, and they noticed Mom had a lot of bruises and was bleeding under her chin, so they checked her into the adult ER. She had a cut that they glued together. Ashlyn has some scrapes on her face, and a few bumps & bruises. An x-ray showed that there was a hairline fracture in her left femur, so they set a fiberglass splint until we get to an orthopedist to take a look at it. Mom & Ashlyn came home with Uncle Gunnar & Uncle Taco at 3:30 this morning, who came to help me with some blessings. Darian had a short orthopedic surgery at 6:00am to straighten her broken arm and set it in a cast. I stayed with her till 11:30, she is still at the hospital, I'm headed back over there in a little bit. Dr. Green & Dr. Thomas will be looking at Caelan, Dallin & Aiden this afternoon as a precaution.



Could have been a lot worse, the Lord was definitely on our side. Once again, another incident the night before a camping trip. Maybe we shouldn't be camping! Everyone is doing fine. Darian, who took the brunt of the accident, is doing fine. She's talking a lot, and is getting better every minute. Mom is very stiff & sore in a lot of joints. They did an ultrasound on the baby, everything is fine. Mom says the only place that doesn't hurt is in her stomach where the little baby is. Another tender mercy.



A lot of emails, Facebooks, and phone calls started flying, so I called the MTC and spoke to your District President's secretary. I wanted to make sure you heard from me first before someone else ran into you with another version of what happened.



Again, everyone is fine. Suburban is toast, Uncle Gunnar took a few photos & videos.



Next week I will give an update with all the follow up visits with doctors, etc. Right now I just want to get my family back home in their own beds sleeping peacefully.



So, in the last two months, everyone in the entire family was involved in a major incident, but we're all OK. That is no coincidence. I thank Heavenly Father for watching over us, even if it hurts a little bit.



I will send this via DearElder as well, so please bear with my duplication; I just want to make sure you heard from me.



Take care, no more basketball (or camping) for us.



I love you-



Dad

Email 8/2/11

Well, I have to apologize in advance. I had this whole email typed up and it was deleted so now this is going to be pretty short. I am going to tell you about my ankle. I am going to type what is in my journal.

7.28.2011
So, today could of been a lot better. It was going well until gym. Gym was at 11:10 this morning and Elder Addington and I went to play basketball. All was going well until we had about 5 minutes left to play basketball. I was running around trying to make a basket so I could play. I finally got in a game with a couple minutes left. I got a rebound and I started to run back to the 3 point line to "take it back" and as I did, Elder Addington ran in front of me and I stepped on his foot with my left foot and I rolled my ankle big time. My leg was basically touching the floor and my foot was sideways. I could literally hear something rip in my ankle. I fell down and got back up and I knew immediately that I was hurt. I hobbled about 100 feet to the little medical room. So it took me about 10 seconds and by the time I got there my ankle was the size of a baseball. I could feel the sides of my ankle pressuring into the sides of my shoes. It was hurting so bad. The nurse was touching my foot at certain points and was asking me if it hurt, which it did. Then at one point she pushed down on the bottom of my lef and pushed up on my heel and my foot moved up about an inch. It looked like she dislocated my foot. It didn't hurt but it felt so weird. She immediately went "welllll I have some bad news." and she went on to explain how I have a 3rd degree ankle sprain. I had completely torn one of my tendons, along with partially tearing others. (I don't think his tendons were torn or else I am told he would be having surgery. Instead the doctor said that some ligaments may be torn, in other wards a very severe sprain.) She sent me on my way with an ACE bandage, ice, and crutches.

So yeah that is basically what happened. The next day I went to the MTC health clinic and they sent me to the BYU health clinic down the road to get some xrays. I then went to a podiatrist and he gave me a boot and told me to use crutches for 2 weeks and I have to wear the boot for 4 weeks. That is good because I am out of here in 4 and a half. He said that this is not something that will hold me back from leaving when I am supposed to leave on Aug. 29th. So that was good news.

Sorry this email sucks. I am so mad right now. The email that I had typed up I had spent an hour typing because I figured out how to type up an email and not use anytime. My companion is getting really impatient so I should probably go. I will write you though. I love receiving letters too!!! Soooo much. I love you and I hope all is well back at home. Thanks for the awesome package too :) I have the best family in the world!

Je t'aime
Elder Schmid