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