Bonjour! Yet another week has come and gone and I am sitting at the computer again. Thanks for the email! I love all the detail you put into it. This past week was pretty crazy with the transfers, missionaries going, missionaries coming, splits and so much more. I forgot my daily planner so if this email is kind of scattered I am sorry.  Gah… the lady that works at this cybercafé is watching Clash of the Titans…don’t look! Don’t look!

I am sure you are all wondering about my new companion… my trainee. His name is Elder Thibault (tee-bow) and is from Provo, Utah. He is awesome… I don’t know how to put it any other way. Yah, his French is just like every other new missionary’s French but that doesn’t stop him. He has a great testimony and a great desire to learn. I am so excited to work with him and to be his companion. I know that I will learn a lot of good things by working with Elder Thibault. He has an awesome sense of humor, so that will be great. It is awesome having him as a companion because everything is so new and crazy to him, so when he points something out that is so bizarre I realize how habituated I am. Crazy things don’t phase me any more… it’s just life. So, it is fun having him around. Yesterday, he was given the opportunity to bear his testimony in church and he did very well. Afterwards, we taught one of the recent converts here and he was able to participate and he was able to teach. It was incredible. I had to translate a lot and help him understand what everyone was saying and sometimes I had to help him say what he wanted to say but for the most part he did it all on his own! It was so cool seeing a fresh missionary like that teaching and seeing the people listening to him learn. Now that is the gift of tongues!

We went to look for one of our inactive members who hasn’t really been to church in six months. Elder Spens and I have tried and tried with her to get her back but nothing seemed to be working. The spirit led us to her house yesterday so I started asking her questions to see why. After asking her a few questions about her family and how she was doing I asked her a very simple question, which was also the key question… “Why were you not at church today?” She looked down and said, “Well, now is the hour of truth…” and she went on for about 10-15 minutes explaining everything. I felt bad for Elder Thibault because he probably didn’t understand one thing and she was talking very fast and I couldn’t interrupt her… I looked at him and said, “Hang in there bud. I will explain everything afterwards.” This girls main problem was that she was offended and persecuted from inside the church… when she was active and when she became inactive. I explained to her that the church is perfect, but the people aren’t. I explained to her that salvation can ONLY come through the ordinances that are done in the church... so by not going to church because of what someone said to her was only hurting herself even more. My goal was to have her feel the love and concern that we have for her. I wanted her to see that we want what is best for her… the Gospel of Jesus Christ! After explaining all that to her she looked down and was pretty quiet. You could tell that the spirit was really working with her. I then told her, “Look, Elder Spens and I have tried and tried to help you but you have always fled when we came. Do you want Elder Thibault and I to continue? Do you want our help?” She looked at me in the eyes and said a soft, but desperate ‘oui.’ It was a pretty powerful moment. I love working with inactive members. I love seeing that fire that they once had, rekindle inside of them and begin to burn again. That was the spiritual part of that lesson. Something pretty funny happened… well, not funny. It was more ridiculous. As she was talking there were two teenagers who were getting very upset with each other and calling each other very bad things in French. Because of how loud they were they attracted a pretty large crowd really fast. Crowds are bad… they always taunt the people in the middle to fight because they all want a show. And that is exactly what they got. So there we are… having this awesome lesson and all of the sudden these two kids start throwing a bunch of punches. There were some pretty sweet hits to the face and some nice tackles in filthy poop water. Elder Thibault couldn’t believe what was happening right before his eyes. Here we are in his second rendezvous ever in Africa, and there is this huge fight right in front of him. They were no more than 15 feet away. After about 5 minutes the two punks got tired of hitting each other and left… and because the show was over everyone else left too. Welcome to Cameroon, Elder Thibault!

This past week was so chaotic. I wasn’t even with Elder Spens the last 3 days that we were together as companions because he wanted to do splits and say goodbye to everyone. I wasn’t in my sector for almost half of the week… and Elder Spens was only saying goodbye so hardly anything got done. It kind of frustrated me… but I can’t get mad. I can only take what is bugging me and let it change me into a better person. The Lord is really helping me out with my patience. It was weird having all those missionaries go home. In total there were 7 that went home from Cameroon and they were all at the Nuttalls house on Friday. The Nuttalls invited all the missionaries to be there so we could all spend time together and say our final goodbyes. It was weird because I felt like I was going to leave with them and then reality slapped me in the face and let me know that I still had 14 months left. And then I started thinking about how long away that is. It was annoying. I just wanted to get back to work the whole time so I could focus more on my investigators and converts than about the time I still have until I go home. I love to work. Time only goes by fast when you are actually working. So that is why I try to work as hard as I can… and of course because it is the Lords work.

So that was my week. I hope you are all doing well and I can’t wait to talk with you on Mothers Day! I have no clue what the plans are but once I do I will email you and let you know, so no worries! I love you all! Au revoir!

Je vous aime,
Elder Schmid