Dear Mom,

Let me answer your questions right off the bat. The part I appreciated is when you were talking about the memories you had of when I was born. Did you honestly think I would appreciate the title greeting over that?? I printed off your email and I wrote that memory part in my journal so I can read it whenever I want :) My birthday was honestly just another day. The only time that it really felt like it was my birthday was when I opened your package. Other than that, it was just another day, going out and teaching our Heavenly Father's children. We had an amazing rendezvous on the 15th that I will write about later in the email. I loved your package so much! Thank you for the gifts! I love the ties so much! And thanks for the Gillette razor! I have that sweet norelco but it just sucks here in Douala because it is so humid and it just tugs on my skin, but back in Yaoundé that was the only thing I used. I love that book you sent me. I have been able to translate part of it and incorporate it into my lessons! The beef jerky is amazing... yes, there is actually some left. I have managed to ration out my jerky so it lasts a little longer. The pictures were by far my favorite part!! I love my family so much and I am so happy that I have some more pictures of you all! Keep them coming :) Especially the ones you just emailed to me. About those pictures, what's up with Dallins hair? Its long!! It is so weird seeing how much he is changing!! And you sent me a picture of Caelan kissing some guy on the cheek... who the heck is that? She is too young for that!! :) Caelan is gorgeous! And so is Darian and Ashlyn. I really like the outfits that Darian has! She seems much older than her age. The temple looks amazing! Any news yet on when it will be finished? Will I be home before the dedication? Bronson is HUGE!!! There are little children around here who are almost twice his age and he can sit on them and squash them... and its not because they are not fed or malnourished... they are just small! Thank you for the picture of you, Bronson, and Louise. I am going to go show that to her brother, Abega. I know he will really like that. He is struggling right now with marriage. Things aren't working like he thought they would so he could use some cheering up. So yeah, my birthday package was awesome! It was opened before I got to it, but I don't know if anything was taken. I sure was happy though, with what I got :)

So I got a hair cut by Elder Thibault a few hours ago... I am now rolling with a #2 buzz cut :) It feels niiiiice.

Here is a little update with Serge. He is still struggling with friends and work and finding time to meet with us. But I know that all the prayers are being answered. He knows that our message is true and I know that he has felt the spirit push him to continue with us... but that is as far as our prayers can go. He still has his free agency and lately he hasn't been using that in the best way... well, you know what I mean. But we are still with him trying to help him as much as we can. This past week I have had some really neat experiences with recognizing the promptings of the spirit. I was meeting with this less active member and we were discussing some of her problems and I read a scripture in Moroni, and as she was reading that scripture, I had the distinct impression to ask her what struggles she is facing in her life at the moment. I was kind of puzzled with why I had that impression, but after being a missionary for almost a year, you learn to just act... so I did. She came out with some major problems and now we are really helping her build her faith to overcome all of her trials and temptations. It was neat how the lesson totally changed direction and it was completely guided by the spirit. A few days later I was teaching, and as I was teaching, I had this weird sensation come over me and it was like a voice in my head telling me to stop talking... so I did. And almost immediately, Elder Thibault came in and nailed our investigator with some amazing teaching. It wasn't because I was talking, so much, but that I needed to let Elder Thibault take the lead because what he had to say was more important for the investigator than what I had to say. It was neat seeing how the spirit works with us missionaries throughout our lessons.

We have a member who lives out in an area called cité-sic and lately he has been off work and he told us that if he is not working he wants to spend his time serving the Lord. So, we had taught 8 lessons this week with him helping us and it was only two days that he was with us. I love this mans faith and desire to go out and serve and fulfill his responsibilities as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

We had an investigator named Shella that we contacted about 10 weeks ago and she is officially dropped. She knows... she knows that our message is true but she doesn't want to change her church. I had her pray right there in the middle of the rendezvous and ask the Lord if we (Elder Thibault and I) were telling the truth about the gospel of Jesus Christ. So after what seemed to be like a 5 minute silence, she said that she knows that she needs to continue. So we started talking about her church attendance and how, in order to progress with where she is at, she really needs to go to church because she had received almost all of the lessons we have to offer as missionaries. Her parents are really anti American and think that Elder Thibault and I are possessed with the devil, and over the past month they have been really getting into Shellas head and now she totally believes her parents and she doesn't want to go to church where the devil is. Her story is so weird because she knows our message is true but she thinks we are possessed by the devil. In the end we told her that we can't continue with her if she was not willing to continue progressing with us and she seemed totally okay with that. I looked at her in the eyes and told her something that went along the lines of this, "Shella, listen very carefully to what I am about to tell you. I know with all my heart The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Kingdom of God here on earth. I know that through the ordinances done in this church you can actually receive eternal life and exaltation. I know and I testify to you with everything that I have that our message is true and that you need it. Always remember what I just said and don't let it stand against you in the end." Thinking back it was pretty bold and harsh, but after testifying like that I felt relieved because I know I had done all that I needed to as a missionary and that I won't get in trouble in the future because of my lack of effort. So, its sad that she is gone but I am glad that Elder Thibault and I can move on and help other people.

On my birthday we went and met with a man named Etienne. He told us to be at his house at a certain time and so we were but he wasn't there yet, but his older brother gladly let us come in and he told us to sit down. After seeing his smirk, his huge picture of him on the wall dressed in his pastor robes, and the certificate claiming ecclesiastical authority, but reeking of apostasy on the wall behind us, I knew exactly why he had invited us in. He immediately told us to preach. So I started talking about our message of the Restoration and once I started talking about the Book of Mormon he rudely cut me off and told me that he didn't want me to ever talk about the Book of Mormon again. He then went on to prove his stupidity because he had the guts (I should really say immaturity) to pull out Revelations 22:18-19 and said that no one can add to the bible. Rookie mistake! This pastor, who kept on pointing to the certificate, who kept on telling us that he went to so many years of pastor school, didn't even understand how the bible came to be the bible. I could have bible bashed with him so easily but I kept my mouth shut. We showed to him our dignity and let him try to tell us how we are young and naive and how we have been led away by our foolish parents. Etienne finally showed up and invited us to come outside and so as we got up, I looked at that big jabba the hut on his couch and said, "I know with all of my heart that the Book of Mormon is true and that it contains la plenitude de l'évangile éternelle." He can never bible bash my testimony. Take that. We had an amazing rendezvous with Etienne!! I invited him to go to the church with us so we could do the rendezvous there because I didn't want to be around his brother and he gladly accepted. We had a whole 45 minute lesson on the Book of Mormon and it was the best Book of Mormon lesson I have ever been a part of. Etienne knows that the Book of Mormon is true and is so excited to have it. We talked about the church and priesthood authority and he asked if he would need to change his church if he was to meet with us. I went on to explain that we are not here to say that all the other churches are false but we know that if you continue with us with receiving these lessons and you continue to read in the Book of Mormon, a desire will grow from within you. A desire to be baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He totally agreed and told us right then and there that he knows that our church is true and that he would be there on Sunday (which he was) and that he will go there for the rest of his life. It was awesome to hear that, but after being here in Africa for almost 10 months we'll see how serious he was. I have so much faith in this man. Etienne is awesome!

I got into a bible bash yesterday and made a man look like a fool... well really he made himself look like a fool. He tried discrediting our message by saying that there is no man in between Jesus and us, so therefore prophets are fake and we should not follow them. I then had him read Amos 3:7 and asked him to explain what that verse meant. He couldn't. He tried, but failed miserably. He contradicted himself so much throughout the little discussion. In the end he was telling us that we were prophets and that he was a prophet and that everyone is a prophet. It was so wack. He is the husband of one of our investigators and he wouldn't let his wife come to church. I called him out and said, "So, what? You are God now? You can make the choices for your wife? God gave everyone free agency and that is something that no one can take away. God won't even make a choice for someone because that would go against himself. We are here to choose and through our choices we can make it back to our Heavenly Father. You have no right whatsoever, even as a husband, to tell your wife where she can and cannot go to church." He tried to fight back but his words were choking in his throat. Victory. Even after that, we finished with a prayer and we were laughing before we left. I love Africans.

So that was my week! I love my mission and I am learning and growing every single day. I hope all is well for you back home!! I love you! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO AIDEN!!! I can't believe that it has basically been a year since him and I were in the baptismal font over in the stake center. Time flies. I love you bud!

Je t'aime,
Elder Schmid