Elder Pister and Elder Schmid onPrayer Rock
The crew golfing in Yaounde
Bringing the Gospel to Yaounde, Cameroon
Monday, January 30, 2012
Hello Dad,
Mom didn't email me this week so I will respond to yours for the big
email. Thanks for the heads up with what to say... I'll try to be
better. So to start off... CONGRATULATIONS ALEX ON YOUR MISSION
CALL!!! That will be such an incredible experience! Teaching the
message of the Restoration is always a spiritual experience and I
can't even imagine teaching it in the place where it actually
happened! I am so happy for her. The mission has blessed my life so
much and I am excited for her to start receiving the blessings from
serving the Lord full time. Alex you are amazing :)
Alright, I will try to answer all of your questions. Life is treating
me well. This past week was great... like always. Time flies by so
fast as a missionary. I love it! I love working with Elder Pister.
That kid is an awesome teacher and I am learning so much from him. His
french is very good, so I am learning a lot just by listening to him as
he teaches. We have an awesome thing going on over here. There has
been a miracle that has been taking place in my life over the past two
weeks that I would like to tell you about. So lately, I have been
reading a lot from "The Infinite Atonement" about spiritual gifts and
how to achieve them. This section really caught my interest, so I read
it over and over again. A lot of change has been happening in my life
lately... me aligning myself with the desire and will of God. I have
been trying my best to always have the company of the Holy Ghost because,
as we all know, when God is present miracles follow. As I was reading,
I was thinking about 3 specific gifts that I would like to have at
this moment in my life... wisdom, gift of interpretation, and gift of
tongues. My question really was, "How can I attain these gifts so that
I could further the work of God (missionary work)?" Well, as I was
reading I felt pretty stupid... because it is so simple!!! As members of
the Church, we have the right to these gifts. There are two requisites
though: worthiness and simply asking. How many times in the scriptures
do we read "Ask and ye shall receive?" It finally clicked for some
reason... so these past two weeks I have been asking the Lord to bless
me with these 3 gifts that I desire at this time. Well, guess what? I
have seen a miraculous climb in my french skills!! I can seriously
understand everything that people say to me and I can speak with them
and not worry about not knowing the proper word or structure. I have
noticed as well, that the way I teach has been improving so much and
people are really understanding when I teach... wisdom. I know without
a doubt that the Lord heard my prayers and has poured down the
blessings of these gifts upon my head... and it was as simple as
asking. That book (The Infinite Atonement) has been working miracles
in my life since becoming a full time missionary... I know that DJ was
inspired to give me that book.
I love what Bishop Hitchcock talked about at the BYD. What a marvelous
blessing to have a leader who is inspired by God. That topic has been
one teasing my mind lately... maybe not teasing, but I have been
finding a lot of joy in studying that topic. For church the other day,
I brought with me that temple brochure that they give you to read
before you go through the temple, and I read the entire thing. Enduring
to the end is physically and spiritually impossible without the temple
and the ordinances that are performed there. I was reading about the
New and Everlasting Covenant and I was naive and didn't realize really
what it encompassed... the New and Everlasting Covenant is
accomplished when all necessary covenants and ordinances have been
done. I just thought that it was the covenant of eternal marriage...
nope. The covenant of eternal marriage is necessary for the N&EC but
it is not the N&EC. I would really like to study more concerning this
subject, so yes, please send me the notes that you took from that BYD. I
would really appreciate that. I love that he talked about that...
baptism and the Priesthood are necessary but it is not THE END.
Enduring to the end basically means GO TO THE TEMPLE. And when you do
go to the temple you will learn how you can actually endure to the
end. I don't know if any of this makes sense... I am trying to type
out what is in my head but I am reading it and it looks like I'm
crazy.
I am sorry the work situation is not looking too hot. I pray for you
everyday, especially concerning your work. I know that all will end
up well... Ether 12:6. I was talking to this taxi guy the other day
and I just felt inspired to talk about families... he was telling me
how hard life was and how things "ne vont pas." I asked him if he had
a family and he said yes, and he went on to tell me that he is married
and has two little boys. I then went onto explain how life will ALWAYS
be difficult but in the end your family will ALWAYS be there. The
"joy" that so many seek for can, and will, be found in the family unit.
I can't wait for the opportunity to marry one of God's daughters in
the temple for time and all eternity and then to begin a family of our
own. The greatest blessings come through the family... after all, you
can't achieve the highest level in the Celestial Kingdom if you didn't
first start a family (marriage). So always know that after a long hard
day of work... the family will always be there... and THAT is where
you will find the joy.
I am glad everyone is doing well back at home. I am proud of Caelan
and with how well she is doing in choir. That is my biggest regret in
high school... not doing choir. I remember Mom telling me I was going
to regret it, Sister Arnett telling me I was going to regret it,
Sister Halm telling me that I was going to regret it, and all of my
friends. Well guess what... I regret it. I love singing out here so
much. I am sorry, but African members put our ward to shame when they
all sing. A group of 10 people can out sing our ward any day. They
have so much spirit and they truly sing with all of their hearts. I
will pray for Kayson... that hurt to read that. I hope all will be
well. We just have to always know that there are ALWAYS blessings
amongst the trials. I have a hard time telling that to myself when I
find myself in a trial, but when I do, things always get better.
I love you Dad... you are my hero. I pray for you and the family every
morning and night and throughout the day. And I want to thank you for
all the prayers in my behalf. I know that the Lord is with me and that
Grandpa is with me. I have been comforted numerous times by Grandpa
putting his hands on my shoulders. The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints is truly the Lords church. I know that the Gospel of
Jesus Christ is a gospel of miracles. I know that more now than ever
before in my life. All is well :)
Je t'aime,
Elder Schmid
Mom didn't email me this week so I will respond to yours for the big
email. Thanks for the heads up with what to say... I'll try to be
better. So to start off... CONGRATULATIONS ALEX ON YOUR MISSION
CALL!!! That will be such an incredible experience! Teaching the
message of the Restoration is always a spiritual experience and I
can't even imagine teaching it in the place where it actually
happened! I am so happy for her. The mission has blessed my life so
much and I am excited for her to start receiving the blessings from
serving the Lord full time. Alex you are amazing :)
Alright, I will try to answer all of your questions. Life is treating
me well. This past week was great... like always. Time flies by so
fast as a missionary. I love it! I love working with Elder Pister.
That kid is an awesome teacher and I am learning so much from him. His
french is very good, so I am learning a lot just by listening to him as
he teaches. We have an awesome thing going on over here. There has
been a miracle that has been taking place in my life over the past two
weeks that I would like to tell you about. So lately, I have been
reading a lot from "The Infinite Atonement" about spiritual gifts and
how to achieve them. This section really caught my interest, so I read
it over and over again. A lot of change has been happening in my life
lately... me aligning myself with the desire and will of God. I have
been trying my best to always have the company of the Holy Ghost because,
as we all know, when God is present miracles follow. As I was reading,
I was thinking about 3 specific gifts that I would like to have at
this moment in my life... wisdom, gift of interpretation, and gift of
tongues. My question really was, "How can I attain these gifts so that
I could further the work of God (missionary work)?" Well, as I was
reading I felt pretty stupid... because it is so simple!!! As members of
the Church, we have the right to these gifts. There are two requisites
though: worthiness and simply asking. How many times in the scriptures
do we read "Ask and ye shall receive?" It finally clicked for some
reason... so these past two weeks I have been asking the Lord to bless
me with these 3 gifts that I desire at this time. Well, guess what? I
have seen a miraculous climb in my french skills!! I can seriously
understand everything that people say to me and I can speak with them
and not worry about not knowing the proper word or structure. I have
noticed as well, that the way I teach has been improving so much and
people are really understanding when I teach... wisdom. I know without
a doubt that the Lord heard my prayers and has poured down the
blessings of these gifts upon my head... and it was as simple as
asking. That book (The Infinite Atonement) has been working miracles
in my life since becoming a full time missionary... I know that DJ was
inspired to give me that book.
I love what Bishop Hitchcock talked about at the BYD. What a marvelous
blessing to have a leader who is inspired by God. That topic has been
one teasing my mind lately... maybe not teasing, but I have been
finding a lot of joy in studying that topic. For church the other day,
I brought with me that temple brochure that they give you to read
before you go through the temple, and I read the entire thing. Enduring
to the end is physically and spiritually impossible without the temple
and the ordinances that are performed there. I was reading about the
New and Everlasting Covenant and I was naive and didn't realize really
what it encompassed... the New and Everlasting Covenant is
accomplished when all necessary covenants and ordinances have been
done. I just thought that it was the covenant of eternal marriage...
nope. The covenant of eternal marriage is necessary for the N&EC but
it is not the N&EC. I would really like to study more concerning this
subject, so yes, please send me the notes that you took from that BYD. I
would really appreciate that. I love that he talked about that...
baptism and the Priesthood are necessary but it is not THE END.
Enduring to the end basically means GO TO THE TEMPLE. And when you do
go to the temple you will learn how you can actually endure to the
end. I don't know if any of this makes sense... I am trying to type
out what is in my head but I am reading it and it looks like I'm
crazy.
I am sorry the work situation is not looking too hot. I pray for you
everyday, especially concerning your work. I know that all will end
up well... Ether 12:6. I was talking to this taxi guy the other day
and I just felt inspired to talk about families... he was telling me
how hard life was and how things "ne vont pas." I asked him if he had
a family and he said yes, and he went on to tell me that he is married
and has two little boys. I then went onto explain how life will ALWAYS
be difficult but in the end your family will ALWAYS be there. The
"joy" that so many seek for can, and will, be found in the family unit.
I can't wait for the opportunity to marry one of God's daughters in
the temple for time and all eternity and then to begin a family of our
own. The greatest blessings come through the family... after all, you
can't achieve the highest level in the Celestial Kingdom if you didn't
first start a family (marriage). So always know that after a long hard
day of work... the family will always be there... and THAT is where
you will find the joy.
I am glad everyone is doing well back at home. I am proud of Caelan
and with how well she is doing in choir. That is my biggest regret in
high school... not doing choir. I remember Mom telling me I was going
to regret it, Sister Arnett telling me I was going to regret it,
Sister Halm telling me that I was going to regret it, and all of my
friends. Well guess what... I regret it. I love singing out here so
much. I am sorry, but African members put our ward to shame when they
all sing. A group of 10 people can out sing our ward any day. They
have so much spirit and they truly sing with all of their hearts. I
will pray for Kayson... that hurt to read that. I hope all will be
well. We just have to always know that there are ALWAYS blessings
amongst the trials. I have a hard time telling that to myself when I
find myself in a trial, but when I do, things always get better.
I love you Dad... you are my hero. I pray for you and the family every
morning and night and throughout the day. And I want to thank you for
all the prayers in my behalf. I know that the Lord is with me and that
Grandpa is with me. I have been comforted numerous times by Grandpa
putting his hands on my shoulders. The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints is truly the Lords church. I know that the Gospel of
Jesus Christ is a gospel of miracles. I know that more now than ever
before in my life. All is well :)
Je t'aime,
Elder Schmid
Monday, January 23, 2012
Bonjour ma mère!
I love your emails so much! I am always smiling throughout the entire
thing. I am so happy that things are going well back at home. Please
please please send me a video if you can of Bronson laughing when he
gets to that stage. Wanna know something funny? I laughed when you
were describing making that noise to Bronson. I guess I still have it
in me :) I am impressed with Aiden! What a little stud! His emails
crack me up... he always sends those little animation things that you
can put in your emails and he sent me like 50 little poop picture
things this week. I'm sorry bumper boats are lame... too bad you can't
come out here to Africa. You can experience bumper taxis. If a taxi is
mad at you he will brush up against you and nail your mirror or tap
your bumper. It gets intense sometimes! We were driving with this guy
today who got in an accident and he was pointing out the huge cracks
on his windshield and he pointed to a really big one and said, "yeah,
this one was caused by a persons head..." the way he said it was
really funny. Like "yeah, it was no big deal.. just another day here
in Africa." I'm jealous that you went to Elmers... I wasn't a big fan
of mexican food before I left. I liked it but I didn't really crave
it. Well, I am craving it big time right now. I want my breakfast
burritos and my Arizona burrito from filis!! Speaking of filis... I
love avocados! I get them every night and cut if in half and eat it
with a spoon! Mmmm :)
So, there was a lot that went down this week... I hope I can get it all
typed out. If not, you will have Elder Pisters email and that will
have more info in it.
So, last Monday after emailing, we went to this pizza place called Pizza
Roma and we were sitting there waiting for our pizza to come out and
these four white girls walked in. Now, for me it is weird seeing a
white person. Whenever I do, I always think to myself, "What the heck
are they doing here?" They sat down at this table next to us and after
a few seconds we realized that they were speaking American english. I
was tripping out! It was so weird to hear normal english. There is
english here but its really bush english. So Elder Pister asked them
where they were from and they started telling us and then they invited
themselves over and they all sat with us... not going to lie, it was
pretty uncomfortable at first. I was all the way in the corner and
there were two girls blocking my exit. They started telling us how
they were in the Peace Corps program and telling us what they did. At
the very beginning we told them that we were missionaries for The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints... and then about 15
minutes later I was explaining how we don't do any knocking on doors
because we are always in lessons. I basically said, "The missionaries
here aren't like your typical Mormon missionaries going from door to
door trying to find coordonnées..." and when I said Mormon all four
girls at once when "Ohhhhh, you're Mormon??" I wanted to slap my
forehead and say "DOY!!" I don't know what else they could of thought
we were... there was one girl there who then went on to tell us that
her uncle and aunt are mormon and she lived with them for 4 years and
went to church and what not with them... and she was the one who said
the biggest ohhhhh when I said mormon. She wasn't too bright. Elder
Hansen and Elder Graham walked in to Pizza Roma as we were talking
with the four girls. It was funny looking at their faces when they saw
us and realized the situation. One of the girls started talking about
saving the trees and all that... tree hugger. Good luck sister! They
could care less here in Cameroon. If it's there it's theirs! So that was
an interesting dinner. At the end Elder Pister said that that was the
best date he has had in 2 years. I felt like a freak because it was so
weird that I was sitting with girls... I'm going to be screwed for a
few weeks after I get home from my mission. Its a good thing Alex will
be on a mission when I get home so I can adjust and become a normal
kid again.
So, the other night I kind of had a runny nose and I found this Night
Time medicine on a desk so Elder Pister and I decided to take it... It
had been expired for a few months but I felt like it would be alright.
Well, that was a bad decision. I took it right before we started weekly
planning... and that usually takes around 2 hours. Well, this medicine
started working in 5 minutes. I was knocked out!! We finished weekly
planning at around 8:30 and I went to bed at 8:45 and woke up the next
morning at 6:45... 10 hours of sleep!! I was so tired the next day. I
am never going to take that medicine again. I am just going to tough
it out.
We have an investigator named Jean Pierre and he is a very well to do
business man. His big plans for right now are to have a huge brick
construction business. I was half joking around with him one day and
said that when I get back from my mission I will help him out and we
will go 50/50 and he totally thought I was serious... so I had to play
out that I was serious for the next 15 minutes as he went on to explain
how I could help him out. Elder Pister as well. I love teaching this
guy... he speaks very good english so I feel very comfortable when I
teach him. I can't wait until I will feel just as comfortable when I
teach in french. I can teach everything I need to do in french but I
have a hard time saying what I want to say... how I want my
investigators to picture things. Ca va aller avec le temps.
We have another investigator named Remy. We were walking home one day
and we stopped at this little boutique place to by some vegetables and
as Elder Pister was getting everything this man (Remy) walked by me
and looked at me and my name tag and kept on walking a little bit.
Then he turned back around and he started talking to me. His breath
wreaked of alcohol... I gave him a Restoration brochure and invited
him to church and then he was on his way. As he was walking away Elder
Pister said something like, "Good luck seeing him again." Usually
nothing ever happens after you talk to someone who was drunk or
partially drunk. But I had a little feeling that something good was
going to come out of that little contact. Well, a few days later I was
sitting in sacrament meeting and guess what? Remy came walking up and
did his little catholic cross the chest thing and walked in the doors
and sat down! I was so stoked! Well, we have been teaching him these
past two weeks and he is one of the most incredible investigators I
have had out here. The first 3 rendezvous we had he wreaked of alcohol
and smoke. So today we planned on talking to him about the word of
wisdom. Elder Pister and I were kind of nervous to bring this up because,
with what we have seen, he likes his beer and smokes. Our plan was to
have him read the word of wisdom brochure and hope that the spirit
will help teach him as he read. Well, our plan couldn't of been any
more perfect! He started reading and when he got to the part where it
says to not drink alcohol and smoke he started nodding his head real
big and stopped and paused real quick and said "Yeah, last night I had
a dream and Jesus came to me and told me to not smoke. So I stopped
this morning. I won't smoke anymore." We then asked if Jesus said
anything about alcohol and he said no and that he will pray tonight so
that he can receive that answer for the alcohol. But, for the moment, he
said that he will stop drinking and smoking. He has so much faith and
desire to do what is right!! The other day this kid came walking in
and started talking to us about all the questions he had about the brochure (this kid works right next to Remy's house and we gave him a
brochure as we were waiting for Remy). He asked us how he can can
offer a REAL prayer... and really before we could do anything, Remy
opened up to the page that talks about prayer in the Restoration
brochure and showed him and answered the question for us. We hadn't
even talked to Remy about prayer yet!! It was amazing!! He has
accepted to be baptized on Feb 18th!
We have another investigator named Rachelle. I am not sure if I have
talked to you about her or not. She is the one that can't get baptized
because she is not "married enough." Well, we met with her this past week
and we planned on talking to her about the law of chastity. Before we
could do that, she started talking about a lot of problems she had with
work and what not and how she was bummed that she can't be baptized
because of her marriage situation and then she strait up said, "I want
to leave Richard so that I can get baptized because that is more
important." My mouth just went to the floor when she said that. And we
didn't even have to bring up the law of chastity!! She knew exactly
what she needed to do so that she can receive the blessings that God
has for her!! What an amazing example of faith!! I asked her what
Richard thought and she said, "I don't care what Richard thinks... I
need to get baptized." Go Rachelle!! Richard is already a member so
she is really helping him too...
So Jimmy (rugby) and his wife invited us to go to this funeral thing
at hôpital general on Friday. Sœur Jimmy's uncle passed away and she
was really having a hard time, so Elder Pister and I asked her if there
was anything that we could do and she asked us to come to the funeral,
so we did. It was very interesting... it was EXACTLY like what
you see on "The Other Side of Heaven." Women were crying and wailing
all over the place and falling and what not... We got up to walk
around the body when everyone else did... it was very creepy. They
strait up glued the guys lips together... he had glue all over his
lips. It looked like he didn't have any feet either. There were people
walking up to the casket and taking pictures of the body... that was
bizarre.The culture here is sooo different. Before that, Elder Pister
and I were waiting for Jimmy to show up and we were watching this
retard try to parallel park. He almost took off this other cars front
bumper... so then he gave up and drove to go park somewhere else.
Elder Pister and I looked at each other and started to laugh. Elder
Pister offered to help but it was no use.
So, we still have a stupid mouse problem chez nous. They are all over
the place. We ran out of sticky traps so we have been going back to
our good 'ol ways... kill em any way possible!!! We got one in our
closet so we threw a bunch of clothes and what not around the closet
doors so when it ran out it would be blocked... we finally got it out
and it ran under this pillow and Elder Pister jumped and knee slammed
this pillow and killed the mouse! 1 point Elders! We put the dead
mouse in the other Elders room and the next morning they were so
confused because there was a random dead mouse in their room. It was fun
messing around with them. The next morning I noticed that our fridge
door was open... I was kinda mad because that meant all the cold air had
gotten out so I slammed the door shut. Well, I came back at the end of
the day and went to the fridge and I opened the fridge and there was a
mouse SMASHED in between the bottom seal of the door. I guess there was
a mouse in the fridge trying to get out right when I slammed the door!
I think God is on His Elders sides.
We have an investigator named Emmanuel and he used to be a Jehovah's
witness for 14 years... so he has some WACK views. We have been
showing him the truth and he has been loving every single minute of
it!! There was one day when we told him that we didn't believe in the
trinity (God, Christ, and Saint-Esprit all one being) and he stood up
in the middle of the lesson and shook our hands. He has done that a
few times. This guy LOVES learning about the truth! We started
teaching his friend too, who is a pastor, and we were talking about
Jean-Baptiste and the Aaronic Priesthood and at the end the guy said
that he has learned more about that subject in the last 3 minutes than
in his entire life. And this guy is a pastor!!!
We live by Chateau Mimboman. If you zoom in to google maps you can
find it. It's towards the southeast end of Yaoundé. We always walk by
it and we think to ourselves, "Man, I want to climb that thing!" so
the other day we walked up there and talked to the guy who is in charge
and we asked him if we could go up and he said, "Of course!" and he took us
right up! It was sooo humid inside the tank!! We had to climb a very
sketchy ladder too... it was really wasn't bolted down that well. The view
from the top was amazing! You could see almost all of Yaoundé. I took
some pictures and a video so you will see them when I send home my
memory cards.
Well, that is about all for this week. It was awesome! I love
missionary work so much! I am so blessed that I am able to be working
here in Cameroon. There is so much work that needs to get done and the
Lord is allowing me to do it. What a blessing. I love you all so much
and I pray for you every day!
Je t'aime,
Elder Schmid
I love your emails so much! I am always smiling throughout the entire
thing. I am so happy that things are going well back at home. Please
please please send me a video if you can of Bronson laughing when he
gets to that stage. Wanna know something funny? I laughed when you
were describing making that noise to Bronson. I guess I still have it
in me :) I am impressed with Aiden! What a little stud! His emails
crack me up... he always sends those little animation things that you
can put in your emails and he sent me like 50 little poop picture
things this week. I'm sorry bumper boats are lame... too bad you can't
come out here to Africa. You can experience bumper taxis. If a taxi is
mad at you he will brush up against you and nail your mirror or tap
your bumper. It gets intense sometimes! We were driving with this guy
today who got in an accident and he was pointing out the huge cracks
on his windshield and he pointed to a really big one and said, "yeah,
this one was caused by a persons head..." the way he said it was
really funny. Like "yeah, it was no big deal.. just another day here
in Africa." I'm jealous that you went to Elmers... I wasn't a big fan
of mexican food before I left. I liked it but I didn't really crave
it. Well, I am craving it big time right now. I want my breakfast
burritos and my Arizona burrito from filis!! Speaking of filis... I
love avocados! I get them every night and cut if in half and eat it
with a spoon! Mmmm :)
So, there was a lot that went down this week... I hope I can get it all
typed out. If not, you will have Elder Pisters email and that will
have more info in it.
So, last Monday after emailing, we went to this pizza place called Pizza
Roma and we were sitting there waiting for our pizza to come out and
these four white girls walked in. Now, for me it is weird seeing a
white person. Whenever I do, I always think to myself, "What the heck
are they doing here?" They sat down at this table next to us and after
a few seconds we realized that they were speaking American english. I
was tripping out! It was so weird to hear normal english. There is
english here but its really bush english. So Elder Pister asked them
where they were from and they started telling us and then they invited
themselves over and they all sat with us... not going to lie, it was
pretty uncomfortable at first. I was all the way in the corner and
there were two girls blocking my exit. They started telling us how
they were in the Peace Corps program and telling us what they did. At
the very beginning we told them that we were missionaries for The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints... and then about 15
minutes later I was explaining how we don't do any knocking on doors
because we are always in lessons. I basically said, "The missionaries
here aren't like your typical Mormon missionaries going from door to
door trying to find coordonnées..." and when I said Mormon all four
girls at once when "Ohhhhh, you're Mormon??" I wanted to slap my
forehead and say "DOY!!" I don't know what else they could of thought
we were... there was one girl there who then went on to tell us that
her uncle and aunt are mormon and she lived with them for 4 years and
went to church and what not with them... and she was the one who said
the biggest ohhhhh when I said mormon. She wasn't too bright. Elder
Hansen and Elder Graham walked in to Pizza Roma as we were talking
with the four girls. It was funny looking at their faces when they saw
us and realized the situation. One of the girls started talking about
saving the trees and all that... tree hugger. Good luck sister! They
could care less here in Cameroon. If it's there it's theirs! So that was
an interesting dinner. At the end Elder Pister said that that was the
best date he has had in 2 years. I felt like a freak because it was so
weird that I was sitting with girls... I'm going to be screwed for a
few weeks after I get home from my mission. Its a good thing Alex will
be on a mission when I get home so I can adjust and become a normal
kid again.
So, the other night I kind of had a runny nose and I found this Night
Time medicine on a desk so Elder Pister and I decided to take it... It
had been expired for a few months but I felt like it would be alright.
Well, that was a bad decision. I took it right before we started weekly
planning... and that usually takes around 2 hours. Well, this medicine
started working in 5 minutes. I was knocked out!! We finished weekly
planning at around 8:30 and I went to bed at 8:45 and woke up the next
morning at 6:45... 10 hours of sleep!! I was so tired the next day. I
am never going to take that medicine again. I am just going to tough
it out.
We have an investigator named Jean Pierre and he is a very well to do
business man. His big plans for right now are to have a huge brick
construction business. I was half joking around with him one day and
said that when I get back from my mission I will help him out and we
will go 50/50 and he totally thought I was serious... so I had to play
out that I was serious for the next 15 minutes as he went on to explain
how I could help him out. Elder Pister as well. I love teaching this
guy... he speaks very good english so I feel very comfortable when I
teach him. I can't wait until I will feel just as comfortable when I
teach in french. I can teach everything I need to do in french but I
have a hard time saying what I want to say... how I want my
investigators to picture things. Ca va aller avec le temps.
We have another investigator named Remy. We were walking home one day
and we stopped at this little boutique place to by some vegetables and
as Elder Pister was getting everything this man (Remy) walked by me
and looked at me and my name tag and kept on walking a little bit.
Then he turned back around and he started talking to me. His breath
wreaked of alcohol... I gave him a Restoration brochure and invited
him to church and then he was on his way. As he was walking away Elder
Pister said something like, "Good luck seeing him again." Usually
nothing ever happens after you talk to someone who was drunk or
partially drunk. But I had a little feeling that something good was
going to come out of that little contact. Well, a few days later I was
sitting in sacrament meeting and guess what? Remy came walking up and
did his little catholic cross the chest thing and walked in the doors
and sat down! I was so stoked! Well, we have been teaching him these
past two weeks and he is one of the most incredible investigators I
have had out here. The first 3 rendezvous we had he wreaked of alcohol
and smoke. So today we planned on talking to him about the word of
wisdom. Elder Pister and I were kind of nervous to bring this up because,
with what we have seen, he likes his beer and smokes. Our plan was to
have him read the word of wisdom brochure and hope that the spirit
will help teach him as he read. Well, our plan couldn't of been any
more perfect! He started reading and when he got to the part where it
says to not drink alcohol and smoke he started nodding his head real
big and stopped and paused real quick and said "Yeah, last night I had
a dream and Jesus came to me and told me to not smoke. So I stopped
this morning. I won't smoke anymore." We then asked if Jesus said
anything about alcohol and he said no and that he will pray tonight so
that he can receive that answer for the alcohol. But, for the moment, he
said that he will stop drinking and smoking. He has so much faith and
desire to do what is right!! The other day this kid came walking in
and started talking to us about all the questions he had about the brochure (this kid works right next to Remy's house and we gave him a
brochure as we were waiting for Remy). He asked us how he can can
offer a REAL prayer... and really before we could do anything, Remy
opened up to the page that talks about prayer in the Restoration
brochure and showed him and answered the question for us. We hadn't
even talked to Remy about prayer yet!! It was amazing!! He has
accepted to be baptized on Feb 18th!
We have another investigator named Rachelle. I am not sure if I have
talked to you about her or not. She is the one that can't get baptized
because she is not "married enough." Well, we met with her this past week
and we planned on talking to her about the law of chastity. Before we
could do that, she started talking about a lot of problems she had with
work and what not and how she was bummed that she can't be baptized
because of her marriage situation and then she strait up said, "I want
to leave Richard so that I can get baptized because that is more
important." My mouth just went to the floor when she said that. And we
didn't even have to bring up the law of chastity!! She knew exactly
what she needed to do so that she can receive the blessings that God
has for her!! What an amazing example of faith!! I asked her what
Richard thought and she said, "I don't care what Richard thinks... I
need to get baptized." Go Rachelle!! Richard is already a member so
she is really helping him too...
So Jimmy (rugby) and his wife invited us to go to this funeral thing
at hôpital general on Friday. Sœur Jimmy's uncle passed away and she
was really having a hard time, so Elder Pister and I asked her if there
was anything that we could do and she asked us to come to the funeral,
so we did. It was very interesting... it was EXACTLY like what
you see on "The Other Side of Heaven." Women were crying and wailing
all over the place and falling and what not... We got up to walk
around the body when everyone else did... it was very creepy. They
strait up glued the guys lips together... he had glue all over his
lips. It looked like he didn't have any feet either. There were people
walking up to the casket and taking pictures of the body... that was
bizarre.The culture here is sooo different. Before that, Elder Pister
and I were waiting for Jimmy to show up and we were watching this
retard try to parallel park. He almost took off this other cars front
bumper... so then he gave up and drove to go park somewhere else.
Elder Pister and I looked at each other and started to laugh. Elder
Pister offered to help but it was no use.
So, we still have a stupid mouse problem chez nous. They are all over
the place. We ran out of sticky traps so we have been going back to
our good 'ol ways... kill em any way possible!!! We got one in our
closet so we threw a bunch of clothes and what not around the closet
doors so when it ran out it would be blocked... we finally got it out
and it ran under this pillow and Elder Pister jumped and knee slammed
this pillow and killed the mouse! 1 point Elders! We put the dead
mouse in the other Elders room and the next morning they were so
confused because there was a random dead mouse in their room. It was fun
messing around with them. The next morning I noticed that our fridge
door was open... I was kinda mad because that meant all the cold air had
gotten out so I slammed the door shut. Well, I came back at the end of
the day and went to the fridge and I opened the fridge and there was a
mouse SMASHED in between the bottom seal of the door. I guess there was
a mouse in the fridge trying to get out right when I slammed the door!
I think God is on His Elders sides.
We have an investigator named Emmanuel and he used to be a Jehovah's
witness for 14 years... so he has some WACK views. We have been
showing him the truth and he has been loving every single minute of
it!! There was one day when we told him that we didn't believe in the
trinity (God, Christ, and Saint-Esprit all one being) and he stood up
in the middle of the lesson and shook our hands. He has done that a
few times. This guy LOVES learning about the truth! We started
teaching his friend too, who is a pastor, and we were talking about
Jean-Baptiste and the Aaronic Priesthood and at the end the guy said
that he has learned more about that subject in the last 3 minutes than
in his entire life. And this guy is a pastor!!!
We live by Chateau Mimboman. If you zoom in to google maps you can
find it. It's towards the southeast end of Yaoundé. We always walk by
it and we think to ourselves, "Man, I want to climb that thing!" so
the other day we walked up there and talked to the guy who is in charge
and we asked him if we could go up and he said, "Of course!" and he took us
right up! It was sooo humid inside the tank!! We had to climb a very
sketchy ladder too... it was really wasn't bolted down that well. The view
from the top was amazing! You could see almost all of Yaoundé. I took
some pictures and a video so you will see them when I send home my
memory cards.
Well, that is about all for this week. It was awesome! I love
missionary work so much! I am so blessed that I am able to be working
here in Cameroon. There is so much work that needs to get done and the
Lord is allowing me to do it. What a blessing. I love you all so much
and I pray for you every day!
Je t'aime,
Elder Schmid
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Hey Mom,
I love how my weeks go by fast. I can't believe that it is already Monday again.
So, I am going to start off by answering your questions. I am doing very good.
I am healthy and strong... I take my vitamins every day and they are definitely
paying off. I haven't been sick once on my mission. I have only thrown up once and that was because I chugged 1.5 liters of water in a minute... and then I threw up. No worries though! It didn't taste bad :) As for the zone conference... I will write you a letter about that evening and share with you some of my notes. I took a lot, so I will be able to share a lot with you. Well, that's it... you don't ask that many questions.
So, this week was just another week as a missionary serving in Africa... CRAZY!! There is so much work here. I want to tell you a little about one of my investigators. Her name is Rachelle. She was a coordonnée we received from the missionaries working on the other side of the city. Her "husband" is already a member, attending the Bastos 2 branch. I type "husband" like that because they aren't really married...they have been together for 5 years and they have had 2 kids together but have not tied the knot yet. Don't ask me how her husband got baptized...because I have no idea. Anywho, we have been teaching Rachelle for the past month or two and she is such an awesome investigator. She has so much faith and has such a great desire to do what is right. The other day, Elder Pister and I went over to her place (her whole entire house is smaller than my bedroom back home) and we decided to teach her the Word of Wisdom. We had an awesome lesson and she was really interested and participating a lot. She used to have issues with alcohol and smoking but she got over that about 3 years ago because she almost died. After we had our lesson, she told us about an experience she had just that morning. She was at work and one of her old friends came over and invited her to come and drink with her. Rachelle said, "No, you know that I don't drink anymore", and the friend kept on tempting her and begging her to come. But, because Rachelle is awesome, she said no, and with her, no means no and the friend left. Then, Elder Pister and I came about 4 hours later and had a lesson on the Word of Wisdom. Totally planned by God!! She said that she received a lot of comfort and courage to continue to do what is right and necessary. We have had some trouble with her and her marriage position in the past. We had set a baptismal date and we talked with President Motchi (Branch president chez moi) and he said that they were married enough to get baptized. Here in Africa there are like 3 "marriages." You present yourselves to the family and when you do that you are officially married traditionally, then you get married civilly, and then you go to the temple and get sealed to each other for time and eternity. So, to get baptized you have to complete the first "marriage." Her and her husband met with President Motchi and afterwards he told us that we could go ahead with the baptism. But, Rachelle told us that she wanted to wait just a little bit longer. So, we postponed the date until Jan 21st. We continued to teach her and this Sunday she had her interview with Elder Thompson, but she didn't pass. He told us that she wasn't married enough. Things here in Africa are so confusing. Sometimes I feel that the people in our branch give us the go ahead to baptize because they just want more members. They don't realize sometimes that there are rules and procedures and steps to follow. God is a god of ORDER! Oh well... so yeah, she won't be getting baptized this Saturday. I am kind of nervous to bring up the law of chastity again with her. We have to tell her that she can get baptized if she separates from her "husband" until they are "married" enough... we will find out how much faith and desire she has. So that is Rachelle. Sorry this story is kind of scattered... the internet is acting like crap... oh wait I'm in Africa. I hope we can get her to those sacred waters...
Lets see... what happened this last week that was interesting. I saw a wasted drunk old man! It was hilarious!! I got it on video! I have filled up a memory card and already have over 100 photos/videos on this other memory card, so I will send them home soon so you can check it out.
Oh! I ordained one of my converts to the office of an Elder and conferred upon him the Melchizedek Priesthood! It was such a neat experience and I was honored that he wanted me to do the ordination. It went well! I don't think I said anything weird in french so that's good! French is still pretty difficult...well take that back. There are days where it is a piece of cake and then there are days where it kicks my butt. I can't wait until I can basically say anything that I want to say and not have to sit there and think for a while on how to form a sentence or whatever. I need my line of authority so I can give it to him.
Here is a funny story...you might not want little kids to read this one. I will try
to use the best language I can so they won't be able to understand what I am saying. There was one day where Elder Pister and I woke up and our backs were soooo sore. Actually, our whole bodies were sore. It was the day after golf. Well, we went to Jimmy's garage and we were talking with him and we somehow got on the subject of how our bodies hurt so he went into his car and pulled out these flower blossom/seed blossom things and he gave them to us and had us eat them. It was seriously one of the most disgusting things I have ever eaten. They were a little bigger than an almond. As we were eating, he told us how it would help out with our body pain and then he went on to explain how it would help out with other things too... cough at night cough. We basically ate the African purple pill... I think that is what it is called. It was a little too late to do anything though... but no worries. It did absolutely nothing! :)
Well, I hope all is well back at home! I am glad to hear that everyone is doing alright. I'm glad Bronson is doing well too! I saw this baby that was around 18months old and it was weird thinking that that is how old and big Bronson will be when I get home. Craziness... I love you!!
Avec amour,
Elder Schmid
I love how my weeks go by fast. I can't believe that it is already Monday again.
So, I am going to start off by answering your questions. I am doing very good.
I am healthy and strong... I take my vitamins every day and they are definitely
paying off. I haven't been sick once on my mission. I have only thrown up once and that was because I chugged 1.5 liters of water in a minute... and then I threw up. No worries though! It didn't taste bad :) As for the zone conference... I will write you a letter about that evening and share with you some of my notes. I took a lot, so I will be able to share a lot with you. Well, that's it... you don't ask that many questions.
So, this week was just another week as a missionary serving in Africa... CRAZY!! There is so much work here. I want to tell you a little about one of my investigators. Her name is Rachelle. She was a coordonnée we received from the missionaries working on the other side of the city. Her "husband" is already a member, attending the Bastos 2 branch. I type "husband" like that because they aren't really married...they have been together for 5 years and they have had 2 kids together but have not tied the knot yet. Don't ask me how her husband got baptized...because I have no idea. Anywho, we have been teaching Rachelle for the past month or two and she is such an awesome investigator. She has so much faith and has such a great desire to do what is right. The other day, Elder Pister and I went over to her place (her whole entire house is smaller than my bedroom back home) and we decided to teach her the Word of Wisdom. We had an awesome lesson and she was really interested and participating a lot. She used to have issues with alcohol and smoking but she got over that about 3 years ago because she almost died. After we had our lesson, she told us about an experience she had just that morning. She was at work and one of her old friends came over and invited her to come and drink with her. Rachelle said, "No, you know that I don't drink anymore", and the friend kept on tempting her and begging her to come. But, because Rachelle is awesome, she said no, and with her, no means no and the friend left. Then, Elder Pister and I came about 4 hours later and had a lesson on the Word of Wisdom. Totally planned by God!! She said that she received a lot of comfort and courage to continue to do what is right and necessary. We have had some trouble with her and her marriage position in the past. We had set a baptismal date and we talked with President Motchi (Branch president chez moi) and he said that they were married enough to get baptized. Here in Africa there are like 3 "marriages." You present yourselves to the family and when you do that you are officially married traditionally, then you get married civilly, and then you go to the temple and get sealed to each other for time and eternity. So, to get baptized you have to complete the first "marriage." Her and her husband met with President Motchi and afterwards he told us that we could go ahead with the baptism. But, Rachelle told us that she wanted to wait just a little bit longer. So, we postponed the date until Jan 21st. We continued to teach her and this Sunday she had her interview with Elder Thompson, but she didn't pass. He told us that she wasn't married enough. Things here in Africa are so confusing. Sometimes I feel that the people in our branch give us the go ahead to baptize because they just want more members. They don't realize sometimes that there are rules and procedures and steps to follow. God is a god of ORDER! Oh well... so yeah, she won't be getting baptized this Saturday. I am kind of nervous to bring up the law of chastity again with her. We have to tell her that she can get baptized if she separates from her "husband" until they are "married" enough... we will find out how much faith and desire she has. So that is Rachelle. Sorry this story is kind of scattered... the internet is acting like crap... oh wait I'm in Africa. I hope we can get her to those sacred waters...
Lets see... what happened this last week that was interesting. I saw a wasted drunk old man! It was hilarious!! I got it on video! I have filled up a memory card and already have over 100 photos/videos on this other memory card, so I will send them home soon so you can check it out.
Oh! I ordained one of my converts to the office of an Elder and conferred upon him the Melchizedek Priesthood! It was such a neat experience and I was honored that he wanted me to do the ordination. It went well! I don't think I said anything weird in french so that's good! French is still pretty difficult...well take that back. There are days where it is a piece of cake and then there are days where it kicks my butt. I can't wait until I can basically say anything that I want to say and not have to sit there and think for a while on how to form a sentence or whatever. I need my line of authority so I can give it to him.
Here is a funny story...you might not want little kids to read this one. I will try
to use the best language I can so they won't be able to understand what I am saying. There was one day where Elder Pister and I woke up and our backs were soooo sore. Actually, our whole bodies were sore. It was the day after golf. Well, we went to Jimmy's garage and we were talking with him and we somehow got on the subject of how our bodies hurt so he went into his car and pulled out these flower blossom/seed blossom things and he gave them to us and had us eat them. It was seriously one of the most disgusting things I have ever eaten. They were a little bigger than an almond. As we were eating, he told us how it would help out with our body pain and then he went on to explain how it would help out with other things too... cough at night cough. We basically ate the African purple pill... I think that is what it is called. It was a little too late to do anything though... but no worries. It did absolutely nothing! :)
Well, I hope all is well back at home! I am glad to hear that everyone is doing alright. I'm glad Bronson is doing well too! I saw this baby that was around 18months old and it was weird thinking that that is how old and big Bronson will be when I get home. Craziness... I love you!!
Avec amour,
Elder Schmid
Monday, January 9, 2012
Hello Mom!
So, myldsmail.net isn't working for me right now so I am on my gmail. I have no clue what's up... the past two weeks it has been acting up on me. So I haven't read your email yet. I am going to write out everything and try to check to see if the other email will open and read your email and answer questions... Allors je suis désolé! (Therefore, I'm sad)
This past week has been awesome! I love working with Elder Pister so much. This kid is so awesome! We are always laughing and having a good time... and working hard, of course. This past week though has been a bummer. It has been a week of ratévous ... Even with all the ratévous we were still able to pull off 21 lessons, so I am not too bummed.
So, here are some funny things that have happened in the last week. Elder Pister and I were with this family and they invited me to say the closing prayer and as I was praying, one of the women, who is about 30 years old, farted sooo loud! I almost busted up laughing in the middle of the prayer, so I had to pause for a couple of seconds to regain my composure and then continue. I am just super happy that we were able to finish and get out of there before the smell wreaked havoc. I was walking back from the Thompsons with Elder Pister and I started talking to these little kids that we were passing... just saying the 'good evenings' and what not and then I continued walking this older girl said hi to me and then said in her Cameroonian English, "I like your height." I didn't really know what to say, so I just said thank you and kept on walking. I guess it's nice to know someone likes my height over here. I feel like a giant sometimes.
Something terrible happened on Thursday... Elder Pister and I were waiting by the taxi trying to get across town and as I was standing there we heard all of this screaming and so we looked over and there was this HUGE mob and in the front was this man walking shirtless and he was all bloodied up. People were throwing huge rocks at his head and body and they were kicking him in the face... basically killing him. A taxi quickly pulled up and picked us up right as the group got to us... I was so traumatized. They were basically killing a man right in front of my eyes. Here in Cameroon, well actually in a lot of African countries, if they catch a thief they will beat him and sometimes kill him. In Douala, sometimes they stone them with huge cinder blocks and other times they will throw them in a huge stack of tires and light them on fire... It is so sad. Every time we talk to people about it they always say it's better that way. Basically, the thief learns his lesson... or dies. It is such a different world over here. It was so scary. It was right in front of the prison and the guards did absolutely nothing. I don't ever want to see that again... it is so different when you see violence like that in real life. I am fine though... nothing happened. It was just hard emotionally to swallow that.
Alright, so my email is working now let's see if there are any questions I can answer... alright so about the water and electricity question. We run out of water almost every week. When that does happen we have four bidos that we have our guardian fill up and we use that for showers and whatever else... but we try to avoid using it a lot because it is not filtered... straight from a well or something. And those are very dirty here. The power doesn't go out that often, but when it does it sucks. We have candles that we light... romantic. When the power is out, the water doesn't get pumped up to the apartment so it's a double blow. Usually it isn't out for that long. The longest has been about 4 hours, I think. It really doesn't bother me though. We can flush the toilets with the extra water that we have, but that's the thing... after showers we don't have any. We have had some pretty ripe situations... you all have it so nice at home.
Today was AWESOME!! We went to the golf course at the base of Mt. Fébé and hit up the driving range. It felt so good to hit a golf ball again. I was SMASHING these balls. I had no clue what was up with me. I had never hit that good in my life. I was using #3 driver and I was hitting it out of the driving range and into the bush/jungle at the end of the range. The guy had to take away some of my clubs because I was losing their balls... Over here they don't have a ball machine to go around and pick up the balls... well, take that back, they do... it is a man walking around with an orange shirt with absolutely no protection. CRAZY! He was at the very end of the range and I turned to Elder Pister and said, "Hey, I'm taking him out." and I swung and I had one of the most beautiful hits... it soared... directly towards the guy! I was scared because I actually thought I was going to nail him! Luckily I missed him by no more than 10 feet. It was nuts... he was probably a little over 300 yards away and I only missed him by 10 feet. Talk about luck... there is no way I could have been that accurate with next 100 shots. The best thing is that I got it on film... awww yeah! You will be able to check it out when I come home. I might send home my memory card again. After I copy everything over to another card just in case the one I send gets stolen. Speaking of stolen, I got a letter from the Kettenrings and I guess they put money in the letter but the money never got to me. So, for all those who would like to send money... just tell them to put it in my bank account or something... or not even send it and save their money. I would much rather get a letter. And as for packages... never send them in a box because they ALWAYS open up the boxed ones. None of my envelope packages have been opened so I think that would be the way to go to make sure nothing gets taken. And when you send back the memory cards hide them very well. Even if it is in an envelope package... I just don't want to take the chances. And get creative with how you hide them.
So, we had zone conference this week and it was incredible!! Elder Renlund from the 70 and his wife were here along with President and Sister Jameson. It was such a powerful conference and I could feel the spirit so strong throughout the whole thing. It was awesome being able to talk to Elder Renlund, one on one, about the gospel. That man is a genius! Him and his wife busted out iPads... it was weird seeing those. You should send me one :) I loved talking with President Jameson, as well. It's hard only seeing him only once every 2 months...and when we do, it is only for like 6 hours. I don't complain though...that man has a very time consuming and difficult job. I am so in awe over all that he accomplishes. I know that he cares for me and wants the best for me and that is all that matters. I was talking to Sister Renlund and she couldn't believe that I have only been a missionary for 6 months. I guess she thought my little insights and thoughts throughout the conference were very wise and profound... It really made me happy to hear that.
Hmmm... I don't know what else to tell you. I haven't read your email all the way through yet. I just searched the question marks so I could answer your questions. I am going to try to do better with that. I love you so much and I hope that all is well back home! Thank you for sending pictures of Bronson! That kid is cute! I wish I could hold him... I love being with children right after they are born... that way they can't leave you and fight you when you try to hold them. Until next week!!
Je t'aime,
Elder Schmid
So, myldsmail.net isn't working for me right now so I am on my gmail. I have no clue what's up... the past two weeks it has been acting up on me. So I haven't read your email yet. I am going to write out everything and try to check to see if the other email will open and read your email and answer questions... Allors je suis désolé! (Therefore, I'm sad)
This past week has been awesome! I love working with Elder Pister so much. This kid is so awesome! We are always laughing and having a good time... and working hard, of course. This past week though has been a bummer. It has been a week of ratévous ... Even with all the ratévous we were still able to pull off 21 lessons, so I am not too bummed.
So, here are some funny things that have happened in the last week. Elder Pister and I were with this family and they invited me to say the closing prayer and as I was praying, one of the women, who is about 30 years old, farted sooo loud! I almost busted up laughing in the middle of the prayer, so I had to pause for a couple of seconds to regain my composure and then continue. I am just super happy that we were able to finish and get out of there before the smell wreaked havoc. I was walking back from the Thompsons with Elder Pister and I started talking to these little kids that we were passing... just saying the 'good evenings' and what not and then I continued walking this older girl said hi to me and then said in her Cameroonian English, "I like your height." I didn't really know what to say, so I just said thank you and kept on walking. I guess it's nice to know someone likes my height over here. I feel like a giant sometimes.
Something terrible happened on Thursday... Elder Pister and I were waiting by the taxi trying to get across town and as I was standing there we heard all of this screaming and so we looked over and there was this HUGE mob and in the front was this man walking shirtless and he was all bloodied up. People were throwing huge rocks at his head and body and they were kicking him in the face... basically killing him. A taxi quickly pulled up and picked us up right as the group got to us... I was so traumatized. They were basically killing a man right in front of my eyes. Here in Cameroon, well actually in a lot of African countries, if they catch a thief they will beat him and sometimes kill him. In Douala, sometimes they stone them with huge cinder blocks and other times they will throw them in a huge stack of tires and light them on fire... It is so sad. Every time we talk to people about it they always say it's better that way. Basically, the thief learns his lesson... or dies. It is such a different world over here. It was so scary. It was right in front of the prison and the guards did absolutely nothing. I don't ever want to see that again... it is so different when you see violence like that in real life. I am fine though... nothing happened. It was just hard emotionally to swallow that.
Alright, so my email is working now let's see if there are any questions I can answer... alright so about the water and electricity question. We run out of water almost every week. When that does happen we have four bidos that we have our guardian fill up and we use that for showers and whatever else... but we try to avoid using it a lot because it is not filtered... straight from a well or something. And those are very dirty here. The power doesn't go out that often, but when it does it sucks. We have candles that we light... romantic. When the power is out, the water doesn't get pumped up to the apartment so it's a double blow. Usually it isn't out for that long. The longest has been about 4 hours, I think. It really doesn't bother me though. We can flush the toilets with the extra water that we have, but that's the thing... after showers we don't have any. We have had some pretty ripe situations... you all have it so nice at home.
Today was AWESOME!! We went to the golf course at the base of Mt. Fébé and hit up the driving range. It felt so good to hit a golf ball again. I was SMASHING these balls. I had no clue what was up with me. I had never hit that good in my life. I was using #3 driver and I was hitting it out of the driving range and into the bush/jungle at the end of the range. The guy had to take away some of my clubs because I was losing their balls... Over here they don't have a ball machine to go around and pick up the balls... well, take that back, they do... it is a man walking around with an orange shirt with absolutely no protection. CRAZY! He was at the very end of the range and I turned to Elder Pister and said, "Hey, I'm taking him out." and I swung and I had one of the most beautiful hits... it soared... directly towards the guy! I was scared because I actually thought I was going to nail him! Luckily I missed him by no more than 10 feet. It was nuts... he was probably a little over 300 yards away and I only missed him by 10 feet. Talk about luck... there is no way I could have been that accurate with next 100 shots. The best thing is that I got it on film... awww yeah! You will be able to check it out when I come home. I might send home my memory card again. After I copy everything over to another card just in case the one I send gets stolen. Speaking of stolen, I got a letter from the Kettenrings and I guess they put money in the letter but the money never got to me. So, for all those who would like to send money... just tell them to put it in my bank account or something... or not even send it and save their money. I would much rather get a letter. And as for packages... never send them in a box because they ALWAYS open up the boxed ones. None of my envelope packages have been opened so I think that would be the way to go to make sure nothing gets taken. And when you send back the memory cards hide them very well. Even if it is in an envelope package... I just don't want to take the chances. And get creative with how you hide them.
So, we had zone conference this week and it was incredible!! Elder Renlund from the 70 and his wife were here along with President and Sister Jameson. It was such a powerful conference and I could feel the spirit so strong throughout the whole thing. It was awesome being able to talk to Elder Renlund, one on one, about the gospel. That man is a genius! Him and his wife busted out iPads... it was weird seeing those. You should send me one :) I loved talking with President Jameson, as well. It's hard only seeing him only once every 2 months...and when we do, it is only for like 6 hours. I don't complain though...that man has a very time consuming and difficult job. I am so in awe over all that he accomplishes. I know that he cares for me and wants the best for me and that is all that matters. I was talking to Sister Renlund and she couldn't believe that I have only been a missionary for 6 months. I guess she thought my little insights and thoughts throughout the conference were very wise and profound... It really made me happy to hear that.
Hmmm... I don't know what else to tell you. I haven't read your email all the way through yet. I just searched the question marks so I could answer your questions. I am going to try to do better with that. I love you so much and I hope that all is well back home! Thank you for sending pictures of Bronson! That kid is cute! I wish I could hold him... I love being with children right after they are born... that way they can't leave you and fight you when you try to hold them. Until next week!!
Je t'aime,
Elder Schmid
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Hello Mom :)
Well, it sounds like everyone had a great new years! I can't believe that it is
already 2012! The world is going to end this year... weird. And did you
honestly believe that I would be in bed for the new year?? NO WAY!! Elder
Pister and I were out on our balcony banging the pots and pans!! I was so tired the next day though... but that's alright. It will only happen one more time on
my mission.
So, I know that you are all curious to know about Elder Pister. He is AWESOME! He is such a jolly man! Him and I just click. I know that the work will be great with this kid. He speaks really good french and he is a really good teacher. He is from Woodburn, Oregon. It was rough the first few days without Elder Lamb but after a day I was completely okay. I am always laughing with Elder Pister. He went to BYU before his mission and he knew a lot of kids from Mountain View. I busted out some school dance pictures and he knew a lot of people. Things will be awesome with him.
So, this past week was pretty good! It was kind of crazy because Elder Lamb was leaving so a lot of our 'teaching appointments' were really goodbyes. The people here love Elder Lamb. He has done so much good here in Ekounou 1. It sucked knowing that he would be leaving... I didn't want him to go. He was such an awesome companion. So, the day came that he left and the rest of the day I was with a branch missionary from my branch. His name is Jean Claude and he speaks super fast french... but I understood almost all of it! My french is really coming along and I know that my progression will jump with Elder Pister because his french is amazing. The people here think he is from France because his accent is so legit. Anywho, the night after working with Jean Claude I received a bunch a letters. I hate mail here... it takes so long for it to get here! But I am soooo grateful that you continue to send me letters. Those testimonies were awesome!! I loved reading that so much! Have you gotten my letters yet for all the family? I sent them back on the 15th or something like that. Aunt Lynne sent me a little package with a tiny christmas tree and tiny lights and tiny ornaments. I love it! I have it set up on our table in the living room. I have so many people I have to write back to... I have so little time here. I responded to Gunnar and Alisons letters and next I will be writing to the Kettenrings... and if the Kettenrings are reading this, I'm sorry! Your letters will be coming soon :) I felt so good after reading all my letters. So, the next day Elder Wagman and I spent a few hours trying to clean the apartment... It wasn't that much of a success. We hadn't had water for the past 4 days. All four of our toilets were full of goodness so it smelled pretty bad. Elder Pister showed up and I let him unpack and then we were out on the streets. Everyone wanted us to come by when he first got here so we had to make a few visits. I was just blown away with how awesome his french was. So anywho, I don't really know where I am going with this. I love Elder Pister. Things will be so awesome. He is very clean and I like that.
So, this past week I have really seen an improvement in my comprehension skills with french. I have been understanding a lot more lately. French has been kicking my butt since getting out here but I really feel I am getting a handle on this thing and pinning it down.
I can't believe that Dallin is 14!! Man, I remember when he was born and Grandma and Grandpa took Caelan and I out to breakfast and I kept on asking them what my little brothers name was because I couldn't remember it. I love that kid. How is he coming along in scouts? Back at the apartment before the transfers I was the only Eagle Scout... what the heck!
Well, I hope all is going well. I am glad that Bronson and you are doing fine. I love you so much. Thank you for the awesome emails. Talk to you next week!
Je t'aime,
Elder Schmid
Well, it sounds like everyone had a great new years! I can't believe that it is
already 2012! The world is going to end this year... weird. And did you
honestly believe that I would be in bed for the new year?? NO WAY!! Elder
Pister and I were out on our balcony banging the pots and pans!! I was so tired the next day though... but that's alright. It will only happen one more time on
my mission.
So, I know that you are all curious to know about Elder Pister. He is AWESOME! He is such a jolly man! Him and I just click. I know that the work will be great with this kid. He speaks really good french and he is a really good teacher. He is from Woodburn, Oregon. It was rough the first few days without Elder Lamb but after a day I was completely okay. I am always laughing with Elder Pister. He went to BYU before his mission and he knew a lot of kids from Mountain View. I busted out some school dance pictures and he knew a lot of people. Things will be awesome with him.
So, this past week was pretty good! It was kind of crazy because Elder Lamb was leaving so a lot of our 'teaching appointments' were really goodbyes. The people here love Elder Lamb. He has done so much good here in Ekounou 1. It sucked knowing that he would be leaving... I didn't want him to go. He was such an awesome companion. So, the day came that he left and the rest of the day I was with a branch missionary from my branch. His name is Jean Claude and he speaks super fast french... but I understood almost all of it! My french is really coming along and I know that my progression will jump with Elder Pister because his french is amazing. The people here think he is from France because his accent is so legit. Anywho, the night after working with Jean Claude I received a bunch a letters. I hate mail here... it takes so long for it to get here! But I am soooo grateful that you continue to send me letters. Those testimonies were awesome!! I loved reading that so much! Have you gotten my letters yet for all the family? I sent them back on the 15th or something like that. Aunt Lynne sent me a little package with a tiny christmas tree and tiny lights and tiny ornaments. I love it! I have it set up on our table in the living room. I have so many people I have to write back to... I have so little time here. I responded to Gunnar and Alisons letters and next I will be writing to the Kettenrings... and if the Kettenrings are reading this, I'm sorry! Your letters will be coming soon :) I felt so good after reading all my letters. So, the next day Elder Wagman and I spent a few hours trying to clean the apartment... It wasn't that much of a success. We hadn't had water for the past 4 days. All four of our toilets were full of goodness so it smelled pretty bad. Elder Pister showed up and I let him unpack and then we were out on the streets. Everyone wanted us to come by when he first got here so we had to make a few visits. I was just blown away with how awesome his french was. So anywho, I don't really know where I am going with this. I love Elder Pister. Things will be so awesome. He is very clean and I like that.
So, this past week I have really seen an improvement in my comprehension skills with french. I have been understanding a lot more lately. French has been kicking my butt since getting out here but I really feel I am getting a handle on this thing and pinning it down.
I can't believe that Dallin is 14!! Man, I remember when he was born and Grandma and Grandpa took Caelan and I out to breakfast and I kept on asking them what my little brothers name was because I couldn't remember it. I love that kid. How is he coming along in scouts? Back at the apartment before the transfers I was the only Eagle Scout... what the heck!
Well, I hope all is going well. I am glad that Bronson and you are doing fine. I love you so much. Thank you for the awesome emails. Talk to you next week!
Je t'aime,
Elder Schmid
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