Bonjour,

So yesterday was incredible!!! I loved talking to you all so much! I honestly didn't even recognize Oma with her hair... and the camera was a little blurry. I was curious as to who that stranger was standing in the back. I can't believe that Bronson is already here! I am so stoked to have another little brother!! He looked so cute! It's weird to think that he will be 18 months old when I get back from the mission. That was the fastest 43 minutes of my life... I was so sad when it was over. I feel bad, I was telling everyone I loved them and I think I forgot to mention Ashlyn... So here is a little shout out to her: Ashlyn, I love you and everyone over here thinks you look like an angel :) I can't wait to see you again! I feel like I was barely able to say anything. I just couldn't believe that I was talking to you and seeing you! It was so awesome!

So, like I said last night, I went to the Gorilla Park today and it was AWESOME! We were like 5 feet away from these huge animals. We walked by the chimpanzees and they would run up and down a side of their huge cage and they would chuck their poop at you!! I got hit by a few chunks that was grated when it went through the chain link fence... it was so funny!! I got it on camera too!!! It was so fun running down the fence trying to get away from these stupid monkeys. This guy who helped drive us all there got nailed by some poop! NASTY! I got a picture in front of the HUGE tree. It was nuts... that thing is so ginormous.

So that was my day... right now I am sitting in a cyber burning up because the blinds here suck. Christmas was different not being with the family but I still loved it so much. Like I said yesterday, it has taken on a whole new meaning now being an official representative of Jesus Christ. What an incredible blessing. I am so grateful for this opportunity to be a missionary in Africa. I know the church is true!!

Je t'aime,
Elder Schmid

Hey Mom :)

Wow, I can't believe that CHRISTmas is in only 6 days. In 10 days, I will have been out on my mission for 6 months!! Time is going by so fast! I love being on a mission so much. My testimony is growing and growing each and every day. This has been the most incredible experience I have ever had. Every night I listen to Christmas music and it makes me think of home and of my friends and family. Every single memory I had was being with family and spending time together and what not. That's what I love most about this time... Well, of course it's a beautiful time to really focus on Christ, but it is also a time where we spend so much time together. I'm going to miss that so much this year... not being with you, but I know that I will be blessed because I am out here. I was thinking about the feast that you are going to have at the Van De Graaffs... lucky. I could use some of your potatoes and steak.

So, this week went by soooo fast! I seriously can't believe that it is Monday already. I don't really have that many cool stories... I have CRAZY ones. So yesterday, our power was out the whole morning and we had no water... I have taken 7 bucket showers since December 3rd... no fun. Anywho, we were walking to church and we saw all these fallen power lines. I thought to myself, "hmmm... no wonder we don't have power" and right as I said that a mercedes drove right over the fallen lines and somehow they got caught on the underneath of the car and it started dragging them and pulling more lines down. It was crazy! There were power lines flying all around us! Luckily we weren't hit.

Now, that story is nothing compared to this next one. So that same day we were walking back down to our apartment and as I was walking I heard this little girl scream so I looked over at where I heard the noise and I looked at a gate to a drive way (if you could even call it a drive way) and through the little crack I saw a white car going backwards. I thought to myself, "No way..." and then BAM this white mercedes nails this fence open and comes rolling out. There was a little kid in the front seat with the door open. I guess he was playing with the car and he undid the emergency brake. Words can't describe the terror that was on this kids face. So anywho, this car just comes rolling no more than 10 feet in front of me and it was heading towards a 10 foot drop into a patio just in front of the doors of this church. There was absolutely nothing I could do... I just stood there and watched this kid roll off the edge and fall 10 feet. I quickly ran to the edge and jumped down to help him... I didn't realize how far the drop was until I had already jumped... and then I thought "ah crap." but all was well. I ran up to the kid and kept on asking "ça va? ça va?" The kid got out of the car and put on his sandal that had fallen off and was in complete shock. The first thing he said was a silent "merde" (google translate that one) and then he put his hands on his head and started screaming that word. Then he said "Quest-ce que j'ai fait?!" (What have I done?) Once I realized that he was completely alright I kind of chuckled because I knew that this kid was SCREWED!! He kept on saying that he was going to kill himself...that was a little scary but I think he was just overwhelmed with the thought of what kind of whippin was in store for him. Women love whipping their children here. No more than two minutes after the accident there was a crowd all around the car. Elder Lamb and I just walked back to our apartment and then I took a picture. You will see that soon. Crazy, right?! Its nuts because it happened RIGHT in front of us. I love my mission.

So, as far as skype and what not, I have no clue what the schedule is. When I find out I will let you know. Don't worry, you will know before Christmas Eve. I can't wait to see all of your faces and hear all of your voices! So when did you guys get skype? Do you have a new computer or did you by a web cam? I'm pretty sure I will have more than 30 minutes but I'm not exactly sure. I am so stoked!!

So, when the heck is that baby going to come? I have gotten my hopes up the last 3 times I have gone to email, but each time I read the same news. I hope all is going well with that. I pray for you and my little brother every day.

The work is going very well over here. Elder Lamb and I have been pushing 30 lessons a week the past couple of weeks! It's awesome! We are finding (I guess I should say 'being blessed) with so much success. I love Ekounou 1 so much. That branch is so solid. So on Sunday, this little girl went up to give a talk and gave a solid talk and she's not even a member! We are teaching her grandmother and she has been coming to church for the past month or two. How cool is that?! I'm not sure with how legal that is but I thought it was awesome.

Well, I have to go. I love you :) I pray for you and the family every day. Bon chance avec the baby! (Good luck with the baby)

Je t'aime,
Elder Schmid

Hey hey hey!

Man, I can't believe that it has been another week. This week went by so fast and it was sooo awesome!! I love being a missionary so much! I have the privilege of seeing so many blessings and miracles every single day. This is the best job in the world.

So, something pretty funny happened last week. We went to go meet with one of our investigators but she wasn't there, and her husband wasn't either, so Elder Lamb and I just sat down on their front step and tried calling around for people that we could see. As we were sitting there, the grandmother walked up and started talking to us. I asked her how she was doing and she said that she wasn't doing too well. So, then I asked what was not going well. Haha, she told me that she has had diarrhea for the past two weeks and that she was throwing up and what not... I said, "wow, ça n'est pas bien!" (that's not good!) and she said "Oui! Je te dis!" (Yeah, I'm telling you!) haha it was pretty funny. Gross too.

Last Sunday, there was a man who came to church because a member in our branch introduced the church to him. So we set up a rendezvous with him this week and met him and his family and gave an awesome lesson. Well, he ended up telling us that he was Muslim and his kids were too... and as you all know, missionaries CAN NOT teach Muslims because of the problems that could come into their lives through converting to Christianity. We asked him if there would be any problems and he looked at us like we were stupid and basically said, "uh, no when you get old you can make your own decisions." So Elder Lamb and I are going to talk to President Jameson and see what we can do. His wife is catholic and was so excited that he was finally expressing interest in Jesus Christ and wanting to learn more. Their kids are pretty cool too! It was a little awkward at first. We had to wait at this huge catholic church for someone to come show us to their house and his 16 year old daughter came and she was dressed kind of sleazy... so it was weird walking in the dark with her. We got a lot of weird looks. I felt like such a creeper... and that wasn't the case at all!

We were teaching another one of our investigators with her granddaughter who is about 11 years old. Our investigator, Marthe, wasn't really understanding the stuff we were reading in 2 Nephi 31, and before we could explain it to her, her little granddaughter, who isn't even a member, started busting out the doctrine that is found in that chapter! It was so incredible. I felt like I was listening to a person who has been a member their whole life! A little later in the lesson she said something that opened my eyes a little... "Elle a dit," (You can't call anyone ugly). "We are created in the image of God and if you do you are insulting God." I felt like I was just slapped right across the face. I had never thought about this like that before. The day before that, I saw this french guy walking arm in arm with these 2 sleazy African women and I was telling Elder Lamb how he looked like a freak child predator and weird. And then this little girl said that little line and I was put in my place... figuratively speaking. It was a good chastisement.

So, on Sunday we went and met one of our investigators who was at church. We got there and started talking to her and she started talking about how she got back from work that morning at 6 in the morning and she didn't really want to go to church. But she had said to us that she would go. So she got down on her knees and started praying and said "Lord, if the Book of Mormon and this church are true, please give me the strength to get up and go to church." She said right at that moment she was overcome with joy and strength and she went to church! She told us how she knows now without a doubt in her mind that our message and that this church are true!! It was so awesome to hear that! And I understood all of it too! Elder Lamb didn't have to translate for me. I was so happy! Those are the kinds of things that I see every single day of my mission. I love this work so much!

As far as the skype, I can skype but I have no clue what the schedule will be. When I do find out I will email you first thing. I can't wait to see you and talk to you!

I love you all so much and I hope all is going well. And thank you so much for your emails... they are so awesome. I'm sorry my emails suck... anywho, I love you! I can't wait to find out that you popped and that I have another little bro layin around at chez-moi!!

Oh, and as for the blog, you are doing AWESOME!! Thank you so much. It looks so good! You're the best :)

Je t'aime,
Elder Schmid

Hello Mom :)

I got your Thanksgiving card! Thank you so much for that! It was kinda weird getting that... because usually I sign that along with the family and we give it to someone, and now I am the recipient of it. I love it though :) I love the pictures, as well. Can you please send me some nice printed pictures that I can put in my photobook? I look at those all the time. Just like the ones you sent of our family pictures before we left. That would be awesome! It's good to hear that Caelan is doing well in choir. I am so bummed that I never did choir in high school. FORCE the kids to take it. Also I want to see some pictures of you being pregnant! I don't know why... I just do.

We had a lesson in Priesthood and it was about eternal marriage and then it somehow turned into a discussion about Heavenly Mother... It was very awkward... just the way they were talking about her and throwing out her title. Some of our members don't even believe in her and were debating... yikes! Elder Lamb had to basically bear testimony that yes, we do have Heavenly PARENTS and that there, in reality, is a Heavenly Mother. Elder Lamb is a stud.

We had three more baptisms this week! I am so blessed that the Lord is allowing me to experience all of this! We baptized an older lady named Paulette, and her two daughters, Laure and Isabelle. The two daughters are like 29 and 33. I was able to baptize Paulette and Isabelle. When I baptized Isabelle, before she was fully immersed she flew back out of the water... I don't know why. I always have the people who don't want to go down all the way. So we had to do it again and I shoved her down pretty far just in case she wanted to jump up again. After the baptism all of the missionaries in Yaoundé (10 including the Thompsons) went over to their house and we had a FEAST! There was sooo much food and it was so good! Well, some of it was. I ate chicken and cake bread :) I let the other missionaries eat the gumbo and fufu. That stuff is definitely not for me.

I finished writing in my first journal on December 2nd! It took me 157 days to complete it... and I wrote in it every single day. I am pretty proud of myself. It is so cool to look back and read about my life basically in the MTC and the first few months in Africa. You will have fun listening to some of my entries when I get back!

So, we got into a taxi one day to go over to an investigators house and we called "cent-cent" which is basically 40 cents. You can usually get a ride for that amount. Well because we are white the taxi men think they can get more money out of us. So we called our call and the taxi man hesitated for a little bit and then let us in and then he asked us "comment est-ce que vous connaissez 'cent-cent'?" (How is it that you know 'hundred-hundred'?) and I said "Par le pouvoir du Saint-Esprit vous pouvez connaitre la vérité de toutes choses!" ("By the power of the Holy Spirit you can know the truth of all things ! Moroni 10:5) It was pretty awesome. I felt pretty proud.

So we met this anglophone (able to speak english) lady the other day and her name is Désy (Daisy) and she is crazy! But she is so awesome! She was telling us that she used to visit with other missionaries, like a year ago, and she loved them so much. She said that they were best friends and that they would come over to her house and pray and talk about the gospel all the time. At one time, she said that the missionaries and her laid their hands on her sons head and she prayed and the next day he was speaking english! I couldn't believe that one... so we called the missionary who was with her that night and asked because we thought it was so funny and he was shocked that she said that... he said "WHAT?!?! No way! That didn't happen!" and then he said "yeah, we were spreading apostasy over there in Ekounou 1." haha it made for a good life. Well, anywho, Elder Lamb and I invited her to baptism at the end of the lesson and she thought about it and then she asked us if we were married and we said no, and then she asked us if we will ever get married, so then, I pulled out my picture book and showed her a picture of Alex and I and I told her that someday I hope that I will marry her. Well, she looked at Elder Lamb and I, and told us how happy she is that we will get married when we get back from our missions and she told me that she loves Alex so much because she is so pretty... then she accepted our invitation to baptism!! haha so, I need to thank Alex for helping one of our amis accept the commitment to be baptized :) She will probably be so embarassed when she reads this. I love you babe :)

So, that was my week. It was pretty good and I am very happy! I love this misson so much and I am so blessed that I am here right now. Everything is going so well. I hope all is well back at home. Enjoy the cold... it is so hot over here. I love you!

Avec amour,

Elder Schmid