Mother, O Mother, I love you :)
This week was incredible. The mission is always incredible. So first off, you are such a punk... thanks for the cheese and crackers. I laughed out loud when I saw that. Don't worry about the mouse... it only got into a bag of cheezits. It made the rest of the package smell quite nice. I opened up your Christmas package as well... I just wasn't thinking and I just started opening. But, thank you so much! I love that little yo-yo and that nice banner thing you sent! Was that homemade? I know this Christmas will be such a happy one. I have been reading Jesus the Christ (the Beast) and everyday my testimony of Jesus Christ has grown so much. I am really excited to celebrate Christmas this year because for the first time I think I will have the true spirit of Christmas. I can't even begin to express in words how grateful I am for Jesus Christ... especially right now. He has been helping me out so much lately. I KNOW that he is there. I KNOW that he loves me and wants to help me.
So, this last Sunday there was a little primary program and it was one of the cutest things I have ever seen. Africans sing so loud, especially the kids. There was only like 30 kids but when they were done singing my ears were ringing. They sang "I love to See the Temple" one time and the spirit was so strong. I just wanted to cry... I knew that that little message the children were singing was true. Half of the kids in the program are non members. We are teaching them and their families right now. They all went up and were reciting scriptures and the Articles of Faith... even the non-members. I was so proud! They would get up on the stand, take the microphone, bow or curtsy (no clue how to spell that one), and then do whatever they needed to do, bow or curtsy encore, and sit down. It was awesome! I had to give a talk but this primary program was a surprise to some of the leaders so they postponed my talk... hopefully forgot about it too. We'll see :) So when I first started here in the beginning of September, about 70 people were attending sacrament meeting every week. Well, this past Sunday we had 120! The work is so crazy here! I am so blessed that the Lord has blessed me with the opportunity to work here in Ekounou 1 WITH Elder Lamb. Elder Lamb is such a stud. I am so grateful that he is my trainer. I am learning so much from him. It's crazy to think that we are cousins too. Small world!
So, here is a cool story for you. Last week we received a contact from the missionaries who work in Bastos 2 and they said that this lady came to their church but lives in our area so we need to teach her. Her name is Rachelle. We finished a rendezvous and walked to a carrfour to get a taxi to Carrfour Essomba and as we were waiting, Elder Lamb went to close the taxi door for a lady that just got into the front seat and all of the sudden we heard "Elder Lamb!!" This lady in the back of the taxi was screaming his name and we were so confused because we had never seen her before. As she was driving away we realized that that was Rachelle! She quickly called us and we told her that "on arrive!" It took us like 10 minutes to get a stupid taxi though... It usually costs cent cent (basically 40 cents) to get wherever you need to go but because we are white, taxi guys think they can charge us more because we "have more money". We finally got to Essomba and met up with Rachelle and went to her little house. And when I say little house I mean her whole entire house is smaller than my room back home. I would say it was 8' x 8'. We started asking her what interests her in the church and then she started pulling out all these brochures she had and she even had un Livre de Mormon and a Prechez mon Evangile!! Elder Lamb and I were like "what the heck?!" We started going over the "How to Begin Teaching" Steps in Preach My Gospel chapter 10 and at one point she told us that her little daughter had passed away when she was about 2 years old. The awesome thing was that that morning Elder Lamb had read Moroni 8 (8. Listen to the words of Christ, your Redeemer, your Lord and your God. Behold, I came into the world not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance; the whole need no physician, but they that are sick; wherefore, little children are whole, for they are not capable of committing sin; wherefore the curse of Adam is taken from them in me, that it hath no power over them; and the law of circumcision is done away in me. 9. And after this manner did the Holy Ghost manifest the word of God unto me; wherefore, my beloved son, I know that it is solemn mockery before God, that ye should baptize little children. 10. Behold I say unto you that this thing shall ye teach—repentance and baptism unto those who are accountable and capable of committing sin; yea, teach parents that they must repent and be baptized, and humble themselves as their little children, and they shall all be saved with their little children.) for personal study and we discussed it a little bit for comp study. So we looked at each other and jumped right into what we talked about. We shared verses 8 and 10 with her. I love verse 10. I told her that I honestly believe it was her little daughter that was prompting her to go to church and what not because she wants to live with her mom for eternity. It was such a powerful moment and I know without a doubt the spirit bore witness to Rachelle that the things I had just told her were true. She then got very emotional and told us how much that meant to her. She then told us that her father had passed away without hearing about the gospel... she then looked at us and asked, "Is he lost?" I was so happy to receive that question!! We talked about how we can do baptisms for the dead and when we do we are helping others who have passed on achieve their salvation. We told her that she could send his name to the temple and he could have the work done for him. She broke down again when she received this news. It was so awesome seeing the spirit work with her. We invited her to be baptized on the 7th of January and she accepted!! Awww yeah! We got a call from the Elder that gave us her contact and he told us that she wasn't married, and the guy who she lives with is a member and attends their branch. Don't ask me what happened... I have no clue. Things in Africa are a little crazy sometimes. But we will work it out!
Lately, we have been bringing Finding Faith in Christ with us to our rendezvous to watch with our amis and in that little video there is a scene where Jesus helps this man pick up some bread that he dropped. Well, the first time I watched it I must have put my head down for a second because when I looked up Jesus had a piece of bread and was walking away. I thought he straight up took the bread! I had to watch it again later just to see that scene again and the second time I realized that the old man gave it to him. I am so stupid! It provided a good laugh though when I told that to Elder Lamb.
Alex sent me a rockin package and she put Christmas lights in it! And they are awesome! So we are going to tape them to the wall in the shape of a Christmas tree and then we will hang that little banner thing up that you gave me. Then our apartment will be decorated! I love Christmas time! And, no, I didn't get your thanksgiving card.
The apartment is pretty nice... well nice compared to everyone else here in Yaoundé. We have a stupid mice problem, as you can tell by the beautiful pictures :) Did those make some stomachs stir? We have a butt load of cockroaches too... HUGE ones. We went to the American store the other week and bought some Raid and have been powning noobz with that stuff. Our kitchen table is infested with termites... there are ants all over the kitchen... we have mice running all around and hitting up our trash cans at night... we have stupid little spiders all over. Some might consider that a hell hole, but for me it's home :) I love my life in Africa so much! I am so glad that I am here right now. J'aime ma vie!! Et je t'aime ma mère!!
Avec amour,
Elder Schmid
This week was incredible. The mission is always incredible. So first off, you are such a punk... thanks for the cheese and crackers. I laughed out loud when I saw that. Don't worry about the mouse... it only got into a bag of cheezits. It made the rest of the package smell quite nice. I opened up your Christmas package as well... I just wasn't thinking and I just started opening. But, thank you so much! I love that little yo-yo and that nice banner thing you sent! Was that homemade? I know this Christmas will be such a happy one. I have been reading Jesus the Christ (the Beast) and everyday my testimony of Jesus Christ has grown so much. I am really excited to celebrate Christmas this year because for the first time I think I will have the true spirit of Christmas. I can't even begin to express in words how grateful I am for Jesus Christ... especially right now. He has been helping me out so much lately. I KNOW that he is there. I KNOW that he loves me and wants to help me.
So, this last Sunday there was a little primary program and it was one of the cutest things I have ever seen. Africans sing so loud, especially the kids. There was only like 30 kids but when they were done singing my ears were ringing. They sang "I love to See the Temple" one time and the spirit was so strong. I just wanted to cry... I knew that that little message the children were singing was true. Half of the kids in the program are non members. We are teaching them and their families right now. They all went up and were reciting scriptures and the Articles of Faith... even the non-members. I was so proud! They would get up on the stand, take the microphone, bow or curtsy (no clue how to spell that one), and then do whatever they needed to do, bow or curtsy encore, and sit down. It was awesome! I had to give a talk but this primary program was a surprise to some of the leaders so they postponed my talk... hopefully forgot about it too. We'll see :) So when I first started here in the beginning of September, about 70 people were attending sacrament meeting every week. Well, this past Sunday we had 120! The work is so crazy here! I am so blessed that the Lord has blessed me with the opportunity to work here in Ekounou 1 WITH Elder Lamb. Elder Lamb is such a stud. I am so grateful that he is my trainer. I am learning so much from him. It's crazy to think that we are cousins too. Small world!
So, here is a cool story for you. Last week we received a contact from the missionaries who work in Bastos 2 and they said that this lady came to their church but lives in our area so we need to teach her. Her name is Rachelle. We finished a rendezvous and walked to a carrfour to get a taxi to Carrfour Essomba and as we were waiting, Elder Lamb went to close the taxi door for a lady that just got into the front seat and all of the sudden we heard "Elder Lamb!!" This lady in the back of the taxi was screaming his name and we were so confused because we had never seen her before. As she was driving away we realized that that was Rachelle! She quickly called us and we told her that "on arrive!" It took us like 10 minutes to get a stupid taxi though... It usually costs cent cent (basically 40 cents) to get wherever you need to go but because we are white, taxi guys think they can charge us more because we "have more money". We finally got to Essomba and met up with Rachelle and went to her little house. And when I say little house I mean her whole entire house is smaller than my room back home. I would say it was 8' x 8'. We started asking her what interests her in the church and then she started pulling out all these brochures she had and she even had un Livre de Mormon and a Prechez mon Evangile!! Elder Lamb and I were like "what the heck?!" We started going over the "How to Begin Teaching" Steps in Preach My Gospel chapter 10 and at one point she told us that her little daughter had passed away when she was about 2 years old. The awesome thing was that that morning Elder Lamb had read Moroni 8 (8. Listen to the words of Christ, your Redeemer, your Lord and your God. Behold, I came into the world not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance; the whole need no physician, but they that are sick; wherefore, little children are whole, for they are not capable of committing sin; wherefore the curse of Adam is taken from them in me, that it hath no power over them; and the law of circumcision is done away in me. 9. And after this manner did the Holy Ghost manifest the word of God unto me; wherefore, my beloved son, I know that it is solemn mockery before God, that ye should baptize little children. 10. Behold I say unto you that this thing shall ye teach—repentance and baptism unto those who are accountable and capable of committing sin; yea, teach parents that they must repent and be baptized, and humble themselves as their little children, and they shall all be saved with their little children.) for personal study and we discussed it a little bit for comp study. So we looked at each other and jumped right into what we talked about. We shared verses 8 and 10 with her. I love verse 10. I told her that I honestly believe it was her little daughter that was prompting her to go to church and what not because she wants to live with her mom for eternity. It was such a powerful moment and I know without a doubt the spirit bore witness to Rachelle that the things I had just told her were true. She then got very emotional and told us how much that meant to her. She then told us that her father had passed away without hearing about the gospel... she then looked at us and asked, "Is he lost?" I was so happy to receive that question!! We talked about how we can do baptisms for the dead and when we do we are helping others who have passed on achieve their salvation. We told her that she could send his name to the temple and he could have the work done for him. She broke down again when she received this news. It was so awesome seeing the spirit work with her. We invited her to be baptized on the 7th of January and she accepted!! Awww yeah! We got a call from the Elder that gave us her contact and he told us that she wasn't married, and the guy who she lives with is a member and attends their branch. Don't ask me what happened... I have no clue. Things in Africa are a little crazy sometimes. But we will work it out!
Lately, we have been bringing Finding Faith in Christ with us to our rendezvous to watch with our amis and in that little video there is a scene where Jesus helps this man pick up some bread that he dropped. Well, the first time I watched it I must have put my head down for a second because when I looked up Jesus had a piece of bread and was walking away. I thought he straight up took the bread! I had to watch it again later just to see that scene again and the second time I realized that the old man gave it to him. I am so stupid! It provided a good laugh though when I told that to Elder Lamb.
Alex sent me a rockin package and she put Christmas lights in it! And they are awesome! So we are going to tape them to the wall in the shape of a Christmas tree and then we will hang that little banner thing up that you gave me. Then our apartment will be decorated! I love Christmas time! And, no, I didn't get your thanksgiving card.
The apartment is pretty nice... well nice compared to everyone else here in Yaoundé. We have a stupid mice problem, as you can tell by the beautiful pictures :) Did those make some stomachs stir? We have a butt load of cockroaches too... HUGE ones. We went to the American store the other week and bought some Raid and have been powning noobz with that stuff. Our kitchen table is infested with termites... there are ants all over the kitchen... we have mice running all around and hitting up our trash cans at night... we have stupid little spiders all over. Some might consider that a hell hole, but for me it's home :) I love my life in Africa so much! I am so glad that I am here right now. J'aime ma vie!! Et je t'aime ma mère!!
Avec amour,
Elder Schmid
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