Dear Mom,

 

Wow, I can't believe how much Dallin is changing! It is going to be so weird when I see him again in real life because he will be so much bigger. I don't care how big he gets... but he CANNOT be taller than me. So do whatever you can to keep him from passing 6'3. K, thanks!

 

I'm glad to hear that everyone is doing alright. I love your emails. I am always laughing and showing Elder Lavering some of the things you say. To clarify your question about that picture of me at PK12... the kids name is Kevin. Sylvestre lives about 2 hours away right next to the water. The picture I sent you last week of me right next to the filthy water is where Sylvestre lives. So, it was just a little typo I guess.

 

I know I don't respond to everything in your email but I am so grateful for all the detail you put into your emails... please continue!! There is just so much that I want to tell you about what's happening over here, so I don't focus much on 'responding' to your email... if you know what I mean. I love your emails though :) You and Dad made me laugh a lot as I was reading your emails. I love you guys!

 

So, I want to tell you a little about Alex... my investigator, not the gorgeous one over in New York under the title of Sister Adams. This week we saw him every single day and he progressed so much!! We taught him the lesson on respecting the Sabbath day. We taught that one early because a lot of security guards have problems with that one because they work everyday. He is a man who is driven by his faith in Jesus Christ and his potential, and his knowledge of his potential, has grown so much this last week. He understood that he shouldn't work on Sunday and that he needs to come to church. So, right after our rendez-vous he went and talked to his boss and requested to have his jour de repos (rest day) on Sunday. He explained that he is a religious man and that he needs to respect what he believes. Well, his boss told him that he couldn't change it this Sunday but starting on the 2nd of September he will be free every Sunday!!! How awesome is that! We gave him a blessing this week... right after we taught him about the Sabbath day and in that blessing he was promised that the Lord would provide a way for him to respect the commandments if he continues to show his faith and follow the commandments. We stopped by on Sunday after church to see how he was doing and he was a little sick but we were able to teach him about why he is here on earth and we gave a little intro into the word of wisdom and afterwards he started testifying to us that he knew that Joseph Smith was a true prophet and that he knew that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. It was so neat to hear him say that... and he said it on his own. We weren't asking him if he believed. He loves to learn and he loves to share what he learns. We were with him one evening and one of his security guard buddies came by and starting talking poorly about the Book of Mormon and Alex set him strait and almost converted him to the Book of Mormon. He has such a powerful testimony. He will probably be baptized on October 6th.

 

We were teaching Matthieu this week and he told us about a dream he had. He said that in this dream he was running on water trying to escape and he just ran and ran and ran and couldn't escape the water. That was his whole dream. He asked me what it meant and I had absolutely no clue, so I told him that it was probably just a dream. He then said, "Is it just a dream when you are wide awake in the middle of the day and all of the sudden you are vividly seeing your dream just as you dreamt it only a few hours earlier? I don't think this is 'just a dream'." I had some thoughts pop into my head and I just started telling him about his dream. I said, "Maybe the water represents danger and you are running on water... which means you are playing with something that shouldn't be played with and you want to escape the danger but yet you still find your self right there. God is right there to help you but he won't help when you still don't fully have the desire to change. Maybe that is what it means." He looked at me almost as if in shock... he then said, "It's not 'maybe'... that is EXACTLY what the dream means. Wow Elder Schmid... you have a gift." I was just saying what came to my head but after he said that I know that the Lord put into my head what I needed to say. I just thought that was a neat little missionary experience and I wanted to share it with you. I am not a dream interpreter but I am a missionary for Jesus Christ and I know that He will always help us further the work... in all aspects.

 

So, this past week I finished my third journal. I am not even 14 months into my mission and I have already filled out three big journals. I love writing in my journal so much and it is so neat going back a year ago and reading about what went down that day. I am constantly reminded of how fast the time flies as a missionary.

 

The other day, Elder Lavering and I decided to go running in the morning and as I was getting ready to go running I kept on having this thought in my head that I needed to say a prayer before we left the apartment to run. I kept on telling myself, "No, you don't need to... you never have before." Well, I decided to and we left the apartment and started our run. We had ran about a half a mile and I was looking down at my feet and I randomly looked up and I saw this red car coming right towards me going pretty fast. It seemed like the person who was driving lost control. I jumped sideways and the car violently swerved the other way and kept on driving. I just kept on running like nothing happened but inside I couldn't believe what had happened. I think I know now why I felt impressed to say a prayer.

 

A few days ago we were at the church and we saw one of the members I helped reacivate... Barthélemy. He was chilling out back reading some church material. He is about 18 years old. We went and sat next to him because we had a little time before our next rendez -vous and we talked about what he was studying and how his life was and everything and about his sister, Marie Agnes. He is a branch missionary but he never comes to our meetings and never helps us and for our next rendez-vous we didn't have a member coming so I smiled and looked at him and said, "Barthélemy, do you want to fulfill your responsibilities as a branch missionary and help us out in 5 minutes?" I got him! It was impossible for him to say no. He smiled because he knew he was 'caught' and he started packing up his things so he could come and help us. As he was packing he looked up and all excitedly asked, "C'est une sœur??" (Is it a sister?) We just smiled and said nope! He is a goofy kid.

 

I can't believe that you and Dad have already been married 22 years! That is awesome! I hope you had a fun time! It's weird to think that 22 years ago you were younger than me getting married. I don't know if that makes any sense but it does to me and it is so weird thinking about it like that. Anywho, félicitations (congratulations)!

 

A person here wants to get a CTR ring like mine and I told him I would help him get one if he gave me money... he gave me money, so now I was wondering if you could help me out a little. You can take the money out of my account but go and get a CLB ring size 8.5 and get the large one like I have. Just throw it into your next package you send me. If it will take you forever to get one in french you can get it in English because I don't want you to get it and then I won't be here in Douala when the package comes. Thank you so much! You should also send a frisbee over here!

 

I love you all so much and I am so glad that everyone is doing well. I belong to the most amazing family in the world. Thank you so much for all that you do for me. I love you, Mom :)

 

Ik hou van je (trying to be tricky in Dutch...I love you),

Elder Schmid

 

PS - I met a dutch man who works for an American company over here and I told him the two words I know in dutch... the one that means tasty and the one that everyone else says when they are upset... well, he laughed when I said that and said, "Don't say that too much because you will get your butt whipped kicked."

Dear Mother :)

Ne me jugez pas parce que je peche différemment de vous :) (Don't judge me because I sin differently then you)  Just joking! I love you! This week was awesome and I can't wait to tell you all about it. I just gotta say that I love working with Elder Lavering. This past week we have finally come out of that awkward beginning stage of being companions and have really opened up. We are definitely best buds now. It's fun just talking about life and what not with him. He is an awesome missionary and is always wanting to further the work. The Lord always blesses me with great companions.

So, we have an investigator named Catherine. She is the grandmother of Rosalie. It has been difficult in the past talking to her because she doesn't have a phone and she is always gone to work. But we fixed the problem... we just found where she worked! She is a sitter for this old handicapped woman who can't move. So she basically does everything for her. We showed up at the house and she was sitting there on the floor with her legs spread apart and she had a Book of Mormon, triple combination, Gospel Principles, Restoration brochure, and a notebook all open in between her legs and she was doing some hardcore studying. She is awesome!! We didn't even really need to teach her the Restoration because she thoroughly studied the brochure and answered all the questions and did all the necessary studies in Gospel Principles. So she basically taught us. We have had to slow down a little bit on the Plan of Salvation because there was some confusion on who God was, but we cleared that up super fast. It is so easy to teach her because we just need to show her the scriptures and then she believes. It is as simple as that. Her granddaughter Rosalie is a little different and a little stubborn but we are slowly progressing.

On Elder Laverings first day, we were walking by the church and a security guard called us over and told us, "Hey I want you to teach me." We looked at each other and said, "Okay!" Well, we have been meeting with him and he is incredible! One of the first rendez-vous we had with him he was telling us how he wants to have the Holy Ghost and we told him that he would need to be baptized and he told us that he really wanted to because he knows he hasn't received the true baptism yet. He has been baptized twice and he said that after those baptisms there were absolutely no changes. We met with him today and we cranked out the whole entire first lesson with him and the whole time he was asking great questions and we were able to answer every single one of them and help him understand. He is a security guard for the little brother of Samuel Eto'o who is basically god #2 for the people here in Cameroon. He is a a very well known soccer player who was raised just down the road from where I live. His little brother is the owner of that "pretty" quad I was next to in that picture.

I like going to teach Alex because the AC from the apartments en haut (top) comes down and the cool air chills in the little entry area so we are not sweating like crazy. We will probably see him tomorrow or Wednesday and invite him to be baptized.

So, there has been a documentary created by the devil that has been going around here in Cameroon. It caused a lot of problems over in Yaoundé and now it is finding its way here into the homes of Douala. There has been one by the National Geographic and also one by some BBC world thing. So now everyone here thinks we are polygamist and filthy rich billionaires and that we have department stores as big as cities and what not. We have had to answer to many questions and set so many people straight. Every single one of our progressing investigators has seen it and has second guessed what they were doing with "the Mormon's".

Things with Chrispine, I think, will be coming to an end here in a few weeks. She will be moving back to PK 12 (way the heck out there) and will not be able to come to church. She will be there for 9 months. Elder Lavering and I made the trek out to her house on Wednesday and it took us about 2 hours.... just to get there. While we were there we explained the baptismal covenant and what the Lord will expect of her if she is baptized at this time and what would happen if she chose not to respect those promises. There are so many inactive members who live out there and we don't want to add another. She totally understood and admitted that she would definitely not be at church every Sunday. It is just too far away. It was sad because I loved teaching Chrispine. She always read the Book of Mormon and progressed really well. She also saw that stupid documentary and questioned our sanity and what not but after one rendez-vous we were able to ease her mind and help her understand the truth.

On a better note... PK 12 is gorgeous!! It reminded me a lot of Yaoundé because there were a lot of hills and it was sooo green. You were in the jungle and it was so awesome. When we were walking to Chrispines house we only passed a few houses so it was dead quiet. It was so peaceful and beautiful. When we showed up to her house she showed us the construction going down for their new house. When we showed up the workers all started singing and one threw me a shovel and invited me to shovel cement from the ground up the the roof. So there I was standing in cement shoveling it up in my white shirt and tie. There were a lot of people around seeing something that I know they will NEVER see again. Elder Lavering was also able to shovel a bit and we both walked away sans tache (spotless)! There was a crazy old shirtless man dancing like a drunk man on the roof with a shovel in hand. I wish I had my camera on me.

We see Abega once a week because he is also pretty far out. We were with him and his wife on Saturday and we had an awesome lesson on sacrifice. There is no question in their mind that they will get baptized... they know that they will be baptized one day. The only thing holding them back is their marriage. They need to be married first before we can baptize them. This has been the issue for over a year now. Marriages cost a lot of money so that is the problem. They recognized that they needed to sacrifice a little to show the Lord their desire to be baptized and they had it planned that they were going to fast for 3 days. The day they started Abega got really sick and was falling down because he was so dizzy. It is interesting that that happened the day they started their fast. They are always in my prayers and I hope and pray that they will be baptized before I leave Douala. That would be incredible. I love that family so much.

Yesterday, we were able to go give a blessing to a sick woman and when we walked into the house there were 4 children who had never seen a white man in person before. One of the kids who was probably 4 said, "Wow, les blancs les blancs!! Merde!! (*?*#!) and then he came and gave us a hug! It was pretty cute. I have no clue why he hugged us but it was funny.

Well, life is awesome over here. I need new vocabulary... I always say awesome, neat, incredible. Forgive me. It is weird thinking that soon I will be at my 14 month mark. Time is going by so fast. I am so grateful that I still have 10 months left! There is still so much I want to do and so much I want to improve. I'm not perfect... far from it. But I feel like I am on the pathway that leads to perfection. I love my life!

Adios!

Elder Schmid

 

Kevin and I over in PK 12... aka way the heck out there

Need any buckets?

Over at Abega's house

Over in a area called Quartier Bafia



Bonjour!

I can't believe that school has already started back up! I'm glad everyone is doing well and enjoying their classes. I always wanted Caelan to be there when I was at Mountain View. I always thought that that would be neat. I'm glad her and Dallin are there together. That crazy fast Bolt guy tore it up! I wish I could of seen some of those races! We didn't see much of the Olympics while they were going. Some investigators would have it on when we came to their house and we would be slow to ask them to turn it off :)  I saw some pretty sweet archery! As far as Elder Lavering... don't worry. Everything is going a lot better!

This week has been a pretty long/fast one. I don't know how to explain that... you just have to believe me. Elder Lavering was sick from Sunday night to Thursday evening, the whole time we were at the apartment. He slept the whole time and got up a few times to puke the little water he may have sipped...and then he was back down. I felt so bad for him. I felt so helpless. We found out that he ate some bad eggs. So while we were at the apartment, I was able to go crazy with my studies. I got a few headaches because I was studying so much and going into some pretty deep doctrine... the stuff that just leaves your mind a mess because it is so hard to grasp the meaning of it and everything. I love doctrines like that...namely the eternal nature of exaltation :) But, like I said, I got a few headaches so I took a few breaks and wrote a lot of letters. 24 to be exact. It was awesome being able to crank out so many letters. I had been needing to respond to letters that I had received in Yaoundé. There is just no time here. A man is going home to the states on the 22nd and I will be giving him everything so I would expect you to have them by the following Monday or Tuesday. Even though we were basically out of the area for 4 days Elder LaFleur was able to sacrifice some time and go out with me on Wednesday for a few hours so I could visit with some of our leading progressing investigators. I love Elder LaFleur because he is always willing to serve and help others.

So here is some exciting news. Well for me it was. In the past I have talked to you a little about frère Abega. He is the brother of sœur Louise. Well, he is not in my sector... he is actually in no mans land, also known as "way the heck out there." He was with Elder Nash for almost 10 whole months and then Elder Nash left and his companion didn't really know Abega. So I talked with them and now Elder Lavering and I are the missionaries in charge of Abega! It takes a very long time to get out to meet him but I love teaching him. We always have awesome lessons. His wife was sick and I was able to give her a blessing when I was there and there were some neat promises in that blessing and I am excited for them to act on their faith and receive those blessings. I think Louise will be happy to hear this news :)

We weren't able to see Chrispine at all this week because her aunt passed away. She came back into town today so we will see her tomorrow and next week there will be a better update on her progression.

There is not much to write about this week because we weren't out a lot but I would like to talk about one brother. He is an inactive member who is becoming active again. Elder Thibault and I found him and ever since we found he he has only missed church once or twice... out of 6 or 7 weeks. It has been incredible seeing the spirit come back into his life... to an extent. He still suffers with some addictions that he was able to overcome once but when he fell inactive it all came back. In one of our recent rendez-vous we decided to do a lesson on the Aaronic Priesthood because that is what he has received. We talked about the responsibilities and all that good stuff but then we turned to D&C 121:34-36 and I laid it down. I explained to him what those scriptures meant and then I looked him in the eyes and said, "Now (name of person), we know that you have been called... but are you chosen?" You could see how the question pierced his soul...you could see him mentally cringe because he knew exactly what the answer was. My point in presenting this question was not to chastise him but to let the spirit work within himself... to help HIM fix HIS problems. He knows that The Church is true and that by his inactivity and casualness with the covenants he has made he has really degraded the quality of his life... so when he got a question like that he really took it in. I love working with him because he is real. He knows what he needs to do and we are here every step of the way so that he can do it. It is a miracle already that he he is coming to church... you can't expect all at once. That is very rare, but I know that one day he will be up there.

As for me... I am moving along. There are ups and downs... but even the downs in the end are ups because they helped you become who you need to be. I am just glad I am where I am today... I say this so often but that is because it is so true - the mission is a miracle. I have learned and grown so much and I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for me over the next 10 and a half months. I am so glad that I still have that time to work out some things that I am trying to improve in my life. Overall, I am a fast moving train that can't be stopped. I am trying the best I can to "obtain the salvation of my soul for the price of my faith." I think that is my mission scripture. I love how it is written in French. It is 1 Peter 1:7-9. Trials are so hard and we question the Lord so often as to why we have them, but have you ever considered yourself rich because you have them? It sheds a new light on trials and really helps me overcome the ones that present themselves along the way... on the railroad tracks of life. But like I said, I am a train that can't be stopped. Hmmm... let me change that. The Lord is a train that can't be stopped, and I was able to jump and hang on.

Je t'aime,

Elder Schmid

Elder Schmid, Elder Lavering, Sister Nuttall and Brother Nuttall

Elder Nash and Elder Schmid

Watch your head Elder Schmid!

This will be Bronson in another year...

Sister Rosine and Elder Schmid, small in stature, giant in spirit

"The field is white, already to harvest"

Hey there!

Wow, these past few days have been pretty crazy. Elder Lavering hasn't been feeling to good... not good at all, actually. He has been throwing up since yesterday morning beginning at 2 in the morning. I feel pretty bad for him... he has been in bed for basically the last 30 hours or so. We are over here at the Nuttalls just in case another wave comes... because there is a bathroom right by us.

I'm glad everyone had fun up at the cabin! I love that place so much. It is weird picturing Dallin running around and doing all that exercise... because before the mission those kinds of activities were non existent in his life. I am happy for him though! I am excited that he is taking initiative and having fun! I miss that kid.

Last Monday was so awesome! After we went and emailed, we came back to the apartment and were chilling and then I got a call from one of my converts back in Yaoundé... Yves! He told me that he was in Douala and that he wanted to come by and see me. I told him where our apartment was and he came! I was sooo happy to see him! This is the convert that I ordained an elder and gave him the Melchizedek Priesthood. It was so neat just sitting and talking about life. He asked me about you guys and Alex, so I went and got pictures of the family and of Alex, and we talked about you. He thinks Bronson is a stud. There was a moment where he just went off for 5 minutes or so telling me how grateful he was for the gospel in his life and for all that I had done for him. It meant so much to hear that from him. I took the opportunity to get personal with him and bear a really sincere testimony about how the mission has blessed my life and how I have grown so much because of what I have learned since being out here. I shared with him some scriptures and one of those was D&C 18:15-16 and I told him how happy I was that he was continuing to grow in the gospel and in the faith. He is such a great guy. We talked about trials and struggles and we read some scriptures together. Before he left he asked me to say a prayer so we stood up and prayed together. It was such a neat experience. I know that that scripture in D&C can be fulfilled in this life time. I was so happy. There is no other way to put it.

Elder Lavering arrived Tuesday evening over here in Douala. Before, I was kind of nervous. Change is always difficult to swallow. Especially when you were comfortable with your program before. But right when I saw him all of that worry went away. I knew that we would do big things together. He is from a town by Seattle, Washington and went to BYU. He loves to snowboard and is super chill and down to earth. It has been fun working with him this past week. Elder Lamb ran into Elder Laverings sister at the provo temple when doing baptisms... but at the time he had no clue who it was. Well, they were talking together and realized that her little brother was going to be trained by his trainee! How neat is that?

On Wednesday, Sister Nuttall came to the apartment to bring some goodies by and when we were all standing outside the apartment she accidentally dropped her keys and they fell in between the big sewage converings and into the sewage. We had absolutely no clue what to do. These converings are huge concrete blocks that weigh close to two hundred pounds and are set in place and never move. We couldn't reach our hands down because the crack was to small. We ended up getting a hanger from our apartment and untwisted it and I was fishing for about 30 seconds and finally the keys showed up on the hook!! We were so lucky. I got a picture. I will try to send it to you when I am done with this email.

I got two packages from Natasha and they were full of awesome snacks and dryer sheets!! My room has smelled sooo good for the past week and I haven't even opened the box. She also sent me some tide laundry detergent... the little single use packs and I did two loads and I have been in heaven! It smells so good in our apartment. For Christmas, if you want to send me anything I would be completely happy with tide laundry detergent. Those good smells have put me in such a good mood. Big shout out thanks to Tasha!!!

So, I want to talk a little about our investigator Chrispine. Thinks have been amazing with her. She loves to read the Book of Mormon and when she finishes whatever reading assignment she had to do she continues to read whatever she wants because she loves the book! What is even better is that she understands what she reads... you can tell that she is open to the promptings of the spirit when she reads. Her questions are always so deep and sincere. She has such a great desire to read and learn and be baptized. Now, like with every other investigator, we have hit a little road block. But this one isn't as bad. She lives over at PK 12 which translates to "way the heck out there" and it would be next to impossible for us to go out there and teach her... unless we only wanted to teach two or three lessons a day. The reason I am a little scared is that we have sooo many inactive members who live out there. But then again, some of the strongest members in the branch live even further than that. Travel is pretty difficult because it is a lot of money... so you need to have a lot of faith and a great desire to follow the Lord. I know she has that but in the back of my mind I am still a little scared. I am always reminded of the scripture 2 Nephi 31:14... I don't want to baptize someone to their own condemnation... if that makes sense. But then again, she has the choice. We just need to make it very clear what the consequences are when people don't follow through with their side of the covenant. She is awesome though... I don't know why I worry. But yeah, that is where we are at with Chrispine.

Last week at church, this random man showed up who's name is Sylvestre. We talked with him and fixed a rendezvous with him on Wednesday. It was Elder Laverings very first rendezvous in Africa and it was one of the most amazing rendezvous I have ever participated in. I guess Sylvestre used to work as a pousse-pousse, which is a man who has a cart kinda like a wheel barrow and loads it and takes it places for other people. Well, about a year ago he had a very heavy load and he was struggling a little and then a white man came and helped him. He was utterly confused as to why a young white man dressed in a white shirt and tie would help him but he was grateful for it and he got a Book of Mormon out of it. Well, he finally came to church and we met him! Elder Lavering invited him to be baptized and he accepted! He told us that about 11 years ago he was baptized into a church called "The True Church of God." Ha. He told us that he worked for about 5 years there and then he fell back into the world... so he needs to be baptized again! Well, sweet! We taught him again a few days later, and he had invited two friends who were so interested in our message, and he was so happy with what he was learning. People here in Africa make a clicking noise with their throats when they really agree with something... like when we nod our heads in agreement with something. Sylvestre was clicking away the whole rendezvous along with his two buddies. We were able to teach the whole first lesson in one meeting... it was so incredible. I love missionary work!

We were in a taxi a few days ago and there was this radio station that was on reporting some news. The anglophone version came on and this lady was talking about some theft that happened earlier in the day. She said that some men came and robbed a store but when they were caught they left the 'booty' and ran away. It had been a very long time since I had heard that word. I love Cameroonian english.

Well, that was my week! It was great and I am loving every single minute of what I am able to do. The Lord has blessed my life so much. I am living in a miracle. The field truly is white and ready to harvest.

Je t'aime maman,

Elder Schmid

Hey there Mother!

So, please forgive me for joking around with you last week! It was an idea that popped into my head as I was typing and I thought it would be pretty funny and I thought I would trick a lot of you and it sounds like I did! Awww yeah :) There was some truth to that story though. President Jameson did go to Bangui and had a special meeting with the president himself and talked about The Church and opportunities to enter into that country. I'm not really sure what will happen in the future but their meeting was a good one, so we'll see! I would love to go there, but I highly doubt I will have that opportunity. It will probably be another area for the African missionaries in our mission. But that is alright... I love Yaoundé and Douala and I am sure that I will love Pointe Noire.

Elder Thibault left this morning and it was pretty sad seeing him go. I loved working with that kid so much. He is such a goof ball and there were so many times that I felt I was with a little brother. It's neat being a trainer because you get a firsthand look at the progression of those new missionaries and I was blown away with how quickly Elder Thibault progressed. I am looking forward to training again. Yes, I am officially a trainer, but I feel that the trainer learns just as much, if not more, from the trainee. It has been a neat experience and I am looking forward to doing it again! I can't believe that Alex will be training this next transfer!!! She was just trained on this new special 12 week program and now she will switch roles and train a new sister. That is awesome! That is the whole point of the 12 week program... to be able to train after you have been trained. I know that that program is an inspired program put to work to improve the success of missionaries world wide.

This week, Elder Thibault and I went out and did some contacting because we were/are in need of some new fresh investigators who have a sincere desire to learn and improve their life by following the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. Elder Thibault and I had a special fast and at the beginning of this week we found some AWESOME investigators! We went to go follow up on a contact that he had made when he was on splits with Elder Addington and the contact fell through, but we decided to talk to everyone that was around that little house and we found this one young woman named Chrispine and she invited us to come and talk with her and her family. We went into the house and met a young father named Hervé and his wife, Françine. They are catholic and have been for a very, very long time. So, this week we saw them four times and we focused all of our lessons on The Restoration and the principles that we teach in that first lesson. Because of their background, we needed to especially focus on the nature of our Heavenly Father, the apostasy, and authority. I was kind of nervous at first because, in the past, those teachings have been the foundation of some pretty sharp criticism and accusation against us and our message, but it couldn't of turned out any better! We presented the doctrine and taught by the Spirit and the Spirit testified to them of the truthfulness of what we were teaching and they were convinced!! Just like that! It was incredible.

Chrispine has taken a lot of interest in our message and has been really doing her 'homework' and studying the Book of Mormon. Every time we went there, she had very thought out, amazing questions, and they helped us transition perfectly into what we wanted to teach that day. It is neat how that works out. On Saturday, she told us that she would be coming to church because she likes what we teach and she is just curious to see how things go down chez nous. We went and picked her up and we walked to the church and she had an awesome time! One of our recent converts, Rosine, was able to talk with her about her story and history with the missionaries and shared her testimony and it really touched Chrispine and they exchanged contacts and will see each other during the week! That is what needs to happen every time an investigator comes to church! I am just praying that Chrispine doesn't hit a brick wall like all of our other investigators.

Elder Thibault and I have been working a lot with inactives, and one inactive we have been working with is named Matthieu. He was baptized 5 or 6 years ago but has been inactive for a pretty long time. I may have told you already a little bit about him. Well, this week we focused on the Word of Wisdom. He never told us that he has any problems with that but it is obvious. We had such a spiritual lesson with him and he knew exactly what he needed to do. He knew that he was disobeying one of the 'big' commandments and he knew that he needed to change. In the lesson I asked him when the last time was that he tasted alcohol and he told us that it was months ago. I knew that his answer wasn't true... but I let it slide for a little bit. We read D&C 89:18-21 and we discussed the blessings that we could receive if we respect this commandment. I hit him with this question towards the end... "Matthieu, are you respecting the Word of Wisdom 100% so that you can receive ALL of these blessings mentioned in D&C 89?" I told him that I didn't care when the last time was that he tasted alcohol. I told him that starting today he was going to commit himself to respecting this commandment 100%. He has the promise, too, that if he does respect this commandment, reactivates himself at church, and fulfills his responsibilities, that his flesh eating leg disease problem will go away. So now it is on the wings of faith and works.

We were in Cité-sic this week and we got raté'd by someone and as we were walking away some drunk man called us over. We had nothing else to do for about 45 minutes so we decided to go over and talk with him and see what he wanted. He told us that he wanted us to preach to him... so we did. Now, you are probably asking yourselves, "why would you waste time preaching to a drunk man?" He had friends that were with him and they were all there in the head so we focused our lesson on them. We shared the message of the Restoration, and right after that, this drunk man turns to me and says this, "Ne parle plus de Joseph Smith." (Don't talk about Joseph Smith)  Now, if I was the same person I was at the beginning of my mission, I would of turned on him and chastised him, using the bible and even his own religious beliefs (he informed us that he is a catholic priest), but I have matured a lot and have realized that sometimes you just need to swallow what is dished and always remember that you represent the Savior. He was totally ruining our lesson though... but that is okay... the Lord answered my prayer! He got a phone call and left :) So we started sharing some spirit filled testimony to the others who were there and you could tell that there was something inside of them telling them that these two white boys were telling the truth. Now, I honestly have no idea what will come from this. I don't think I will ever see those men ever again, but I do know that we planted a good seed that day.

We had another interesting experience with another catholic priest who was also drunk. He came and totally interrupted one lesson we were having. He first came and started telling us that he was a catholic priest and that he has been to many seminars and conferences where many 'wise' and 'smart' men have spoken about the philosophies of Christ and what not. He then went on to tell us that white people are so much wiser and smarter than black people. I told him right away that I don't agree with that at all, and then he responded with this... "Have you ever seen a black man build an airplane?" I had no clue what to say... It was hard enough not laughing at his ridiculous comment. I told him that the current president of the United States is black and then he said this, "Yeah, but has he ever built an airplane?" So there you have it... the wisdom of a catholic priest here in Douala.

Mom, I love my mission. It is such an incredible experience and I am so grateful for all that I am learning. The greatest thing that is happening is the change that is occurring within myself. It is incredible seeing the man that the Lord wants me to be. I have seen His hand almost daily in shaping and molding me into who He wants me to be. There is no way I could ever experience this kind of change if I wasn't serving the Lord as a full time missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Thank you for raising me in such a way that I am able to be where I am today. I love you so much :)

Je t'aime,

Elder Schmid