Hey!!

First off, I need to apologize for not emailing yesterday. We went to the cyber café two different times and the internet was down both times so we went back to the apartment and told the lady to call us when the connection came back. Well, she called us around 8:15 so it was way too late to go do email, so now we are just doing it today! No, I was not transferred. We get transfer info this Saturday. I think I will be staying, but then again, I have absolutely no clue. Douala is no longer new to me... it is my life. It is so nice once you hit that point. That was one of the hardest things for me when I first got to Yaoundé... the transition into African life. That was a fat slap of reality.

I am glad you guys all made it back safely from Kinder Spring! I love that place so much and it is awesome to think that next time you all go I will be there with you :) I bet it made a world of a difference to have a trailer up there. How was the weather? Was their a lot of dust? I guess you will be telling me all about it in your email that you said you were going to send today. I can't wait to hear about it!

Before I forget, I was just with a sister in the branch named Bernadette. We were talking about our families and she was shocked to hear that we only talk to each other twice a year and that we only contact by email. She asked me when I would be emailing you next, and I told her in about an hour, and then she told me to say hi to you. She is awesome. We were talking about trials in our families because she is going through a very tough one and I told her about trials we had in our family and in our extended family and she was really touched by the faith that we all have. We are so blessed to have the family that we do. I am so grateful for all that you and Dad do for us. You two are amazing. I feel so lame telling you that because the words "I am so grateful" just don't do justice in explaining how I feel in my heart.

So, first off, I want to tell you about a neat praying experience I had this week. I was with Bernadette earlier in the week and we were talking about her son, Kalla, and how he had kind of faded away from the church and is led by the influences of his friends, which aren't too good. She wanted him to come back home (he was about an hour away, living with friends) and work with us like he used to with some old missionaries about 5 or 6 years ago. She asked me to pray for him and I told her that I would... and I did. We also had a progressing investigator who told us that she was going to go to Yaoundé to visit her father and we had no clue when she would get back and we were nervous because she was progressing so well and we didn't want anything to happen while she was up in Yaoundé. So, that same night I prayed that she could stay in Douala so that we could continue teaching her. I really focused on those two people in my prayer that night. The next morning we got a call from Bernadette when we were doing our personal study and she was so happy and said, "Elder Schmid, you need to come over right now! Kalla came home! Work with him! Help me!" So we finished our personal study and went strait to her house even though we still had 3 more hours of study to do. Then, later that day, we were with Rosalie and she told us that she was no longer going to Yaoundé because her father was healed and he actually came down to Douala. So BAM! My prayer was answered not even 16 hours later! James 5:16... I'm not saying I'm all righteous, or whatever, but I did pray with a lot of faith.

We are working with a lot of inactives right now, and with one we are having so much success. Her name is Marie Agnes. I think I may have told you about her already... she is the one with the mentally handicapped son. Well, when I first got here to Douala, Elder Spens and I tried working with her but it was next to impossible because she did not have the desire whatsoever. So, we basically gave up because we tried everything with her. Well, something miraculous has happened and now she is totally ready to meet with us again. We finally realized what we needed to found our teachings on (that her son is promised eternal life in the Celestial Kingdom, but will she be there? I asked her that and it really made her think and she realized that there were some priorities that she needs to change) and we are moving from there. Her problem is that she was baptized without a testimony... she felt like she was forced by her mother and by the missionaries. So, now Elder Thibault and I are teaching her, starting from scratch. We are going over the Restoration and helping her understand who God really is. She returned to the catholic church so we are having to talk a lot about the nature of God and authority and what not but the Spirit has been with us at every lesson and has testified to her of the truthfulness of our message! So, slowly but surely, she is receiving her testimony. She wants the testimony, so now we are just working for it. I love working with inactives!

Kalla returned home and when his mom called us we went straight to her house and met with him and talked to him for a little bit. He used to go out and work with the missionaries almost every single day about 5 or 6 years ago. One missionary in particular was an idol to him... a big brother. He always looked up to him. They would talk about life and this missionary would really help him. Well, obviously that missionary is no longer here, so now I am trying to fill his shoes... they are very big shoes, but I am trying my best. Thank goodness I have had some practice with Dallin and Aiden. I definitely wasn't perfect when I was with them, but they taught me a lot of things that I can use to help Kalla. He worked with us this week three days in a row and it was incredible. We are teaching him the Restoration and helping him get a stronger testimony on the foundation of our message and then after that we go out together and let him teach what we just went over. He is still pretty quiet but he is having fun! His problem now is his friends. He will be turning 16 in September... so he is at that stage in life where his friends are everything to him. He does everything they do... and they don't do the best things. So pray for me! I want to help him and his mother! It's not easy but I know that it is possible. God put me here in this situation for a reason.

Earlier this week, we were over in a quartier called cité-sic and we were with one of our investigators named Elizabeth, and we were walking to go get a taxi and I showed her a shortcut to get to a members house but then told her that she would have to jump around from rock to rock if it rains a lot because it becomes a muddy mess. She then looked at me and said, "Oh no. Mama Elizabeth doesn't jump." I couldn't help but laugh. She cracks me up. She is one of those ladies who scares you when they get upset. There was one day I invited her to come have the rendezvous over at another investigators house who lives by her so that she could make friends and it was really muddy and the dirt path was pretty bad and she got upset that I didn't tell her that the path was so bad. There were moments where I felt like she wanted to rip my head off. But hey, she is progressing!

Elder Thibault and I have two hours of companionship study every morning because of this 12 week program that we get to do. In this program there is a lot of role play practice. It is one of those things that you hate to do but when you finish you are glad you did. Well, one day I was pretending to be Rosalie and Elder Thibault had to help me understand the importance of the Book of Mormon and the necessity to read it everyday so that I could grow in my testimony of the Restoration and Joseph Smith and the Church. We went and did role play twice and then went out and actually taught her. It was so crazy because when we taught her, in real life, Elder Thibault and her had THE EXACT SAME conversation that we had role played together only 3 hours earlier. It was so trippy!

Here, in the Douala branch, when the youth know they have to give a talk they somehow 'fall ill' and can't come to church. So, our first counselor in the presidency, Marius, came up with a genius idea. He told all of the youth to prepare a talk and then every Sunday he was going to randomly call on one or two to give their talks in Sacrament meeting. He was walking around the church on Sunday right before Sunday school and was saying, "Je cherche une victime qui peut faire un discours!" (I am looking for a victim who can give a talk!) Needless to say, he found his victim, and she was not prepared. We had an interesting talk that was pulled out of who knows where. Poor girl. I hope she learned her lesson.

Well, life is amazing. I am so grateful that I am where I am, teaching the people I teach, experiencing the things I experience. I would not change one thing. I am not a perfect missionary... we all have our struggles but I am working my hardest and loving every minute of it. I have amazing friends who have set and who are setting an amazing example for me and helping me continue with faith. And I have the best family in the world supporting me every step of the way. I love you all so much!

Je vous aime,
Elder Schmid