Dear Mom,

 

So, right now I am currently chilling in Yaoundé! Elder Lavering had to come up here to work out some visa paperwork and get his carte de séjour (residence permit). The Gailey's picked us up at 7:00 in the morning, yesterday, and we drove in their truck up here to Yaoundé. It was such a beautiful ride. I have been in Africa for over a year, but sometimes it just seems surreal that I am on the African continent preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Such an awesome blessing. There would be stretches on the drive where you are in the jungle with huge trees all around you and you can't even see into the forest because there is so much vegetation. We were driving in the clouds and it poured big time. We had to dodge a huge tree that had fallen on the road and a flipped over semi truck. You get to really see what "au village" is when you drive to and from Yaoundé. You see so many red dirt huts. It was a gorgeous drive. I had a monster headache and it was bugging me so much. Then Sister Gailey rolled down her window to take a picture and once the warm fresh air hit my face my headache almost immediately went away. It was so bizarre. I guess I can't handle the a/c... I'm going to be messed up when I get back home.

 

Yesterday, I was able to go to my old area and say hi to some very close friends. I surprised Jimmy. He was so excited to see me. He came up to me and just picked me up and gave me this huge hug. That man is so strong. Your hand disappears when you shake his hand. He kept on hugging me. I miss him so much. This Saturday he will be baptizing his two oldest kids!! Soon he will have an eternal family :) I am so proud of him and for all the progress he has made. Before we left he asked me to say a prayer and it was pretty intimate. We have such an awesome bond. We then went and saw frère Odoumba and Aimé. Aimé was baptized last year on October 15th... It has almost been a year! I was able to talk on the phone with my first convert, Ernestine. She hit her year mark back on the 17th of this month. It's weird thinking that that much time has passed. It is weird being back here in Yaoundé. I am smelling certain smells and it is throwing me back to when I first got here. It is so trippy. Last night I had one of the most amazing sleeps on my mission. In the Bastos apartment, there is a wall of open windows and we had fresh cool air circulating through the apartment all night. Amazing. I love Yaoundé.

 

So back to Douala news. We had two baptisms on Saturday! We were able to baptize Catherine and Rosalie. We ran into a little chaos on Saturday morning. President Njampou called me at 6:30 in the morning and told me that there was no water at the church. We couldn't go to plan B because at the couples apartment the pool is all green because they don't clean it during rainy season for some reason, so we had to go to plan c. We were able to plan the baptism at Bonaberi. We tried calling Catherine and Rosalie, but they weren't answering their phones, so we put on our missionary attire and we went to their house. Rosalie was out playing with friends and Catherine was out at a funeral and wouldn't be back until 1:00 in the afternoon and she wasn't answering her phone. So it got a little stressful, but we were able to get a hold of them and tell them about the change of program. They were so happy to get baptized. We had Catherine's neighbor, André, with us and he loved the baptismal service so much. It was very small but very nice and the Spirit was definitely felt. They were confirmed exactly 3 months after we first met them. The work continues!

 

So I forgot to write about this little incident last week and I thought it was pretty funny so I am going to throw it into this weeks email. I was in the shower getting ready for the day and I got all soaped up and Abega calls and wants to talk to me. Elder Lavering was talking to him and told him that I was in the shower and everything but he insisted on talking to me so I turned off the water and got the phone and started talking to him... even though I had soap suds all over me. I talked to him for about a minute and then got back into the shower and right as I went to turn the water back on the power went out. When there is no power there is no water. So there I was with soap all over me and I could do nothing. So I decided that I was going to wait it out and just sat there for about 15 minutes, but no water. Finally Elder Lavering was like, "Hey I can give you my water bottle..." and I thought that that was the best thing going for me so I accepted, and he went and got it and handed it to me. It had been in the fridge over night and was next to frozen. I sat there for a moment and didn't know what to do... and then after a few minutes I decided to use it. It was the most painful shower I have ever experienced. It was a liter and a half of nearly frozen water. So right as I finish dumping the liter and half of nearly frozen water on me I get out and dry off and right as I finish drying off the power came back on and warm water started shooting out of the spout again... I yelled out, "Ahhh commmme oooon!!!" Elder Lavering thought it was the funniest thing ever. Yeah. Ha.

 

Our investigator has had a rough few weeks. He called me on Saturday night and promised me that he would be at church on Sunday so Elder Lavering and I were really looking forward to seeing him there. Well, on Sunday we come to the intersection where we have to get out of the taxi, and we get out and Elder Lavering says, "Hey look, Alex!" So I look over and there I see this uncoordinated young man with a goofy helmet and a bright orange vest driving a moto with a passenger on it, waving and looking at us and smiling like a little boy....and then he ran into a moving car. He was thrown from the moto along with the passenger but they were okay. They just had a few little cuts on their hands and legs. Alex looked so depressed... I felt so bad but it was so hard not to laugh. Everyone was totally fine... nothing big happened. The moto's windshield was broken and the right mirror was a little busted up. The bad thing is that the moto doesn't even belong to Alex. Some french guy that he used to work for has let him use it because Alex quit his job as a security guard because the people he was around were a very bad influence on him. So it will cost a lot to fix up the moto... well to us not that much but to Alex it will cost an arm and a leg. Poor kid. We will be seeing him on Wednesday so we'll see whats up.

 

Mom, I got your little package with the pictures and memory card and the notes. Thank you so much!! I love those pictures so much. I still can't get over how much Dallin is changing. It is going to be so weird when I get home. Well I have to go. I don't have much more time! I love you all so much and I hope that you have a great week!

 

Je vous aime,

Elder Schmid

Dear Mom,

 

I honestly have no clue where to begin... this week has been, I think, the craziest week of my mission. I was in my journal so much this week. There was one day where I was just tired of writing, so I wrote one sentence then I decided to give up and record it on my camera.  So Elder Lavering got on my bed and we talked about our day and at the end it was 40 minutes long... crazy day. I think what made this week so crazy was all the emotions I felt. I am not going to talk about a lot of the things that went down because they are very personal for the people that were involved... but I thought I would let you know that this week was definitely an interesting, yet gratifying one.

 

Last Tuesday, Elder LaFleur made hamburgers and they were amazing. He made onion rings that we threw on the burgers along with a guacamole that I made. I will definitely incorporate avocados into our diet when I get home... so good! And before my mission I didn't even like them... I was crazy.

 

The zone avec le president de mission

President Jameson came to town this week with Sister Jameson and we had zone conference and it was fantastic. They talked about some things that I really needed to hear and shared some amazing insight. I love learning from President Jameson so much. I am so happy that when I get back from the mission he will only be 10 minutes away. What a blessing! I love that man so much. He is such a spiritual giant. He announced some very exciting news! Recently, he went to Central African Republic to meet with the President to talk about the country recognizing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and now the country has been officially opened and Elder Holland will be in a month or two to dedicate it. President Jameson said that North American missionaries will not be going there due to safety reasons but soon he will be sending 4 missionaries to start officially preaching the Gospel in that country! So, we were all super excited to hear about that and I am sure that we were all a little bummed to hear that none of us would be able to serve over there. I think President knew we would be a little bummed to hear that we couldn't go there so he saved the bigger news for last. He has also been to Gabon a lot recently, and in the past the Church has had no progress whatsoever with getting the Church recognized over in Gabon, but recently Church has sent representatives and President himself went and they talked and discussed what the Church would do for the country and a miracle came about and now Gabon is open for the preaching of the Gospel! He also told us that he has requested that Libreville be the 4th city for the North American missionaries! So we are only waiting for a french speaking couple to accept their call to Gabon and a few weeks after, President would send his missionaries to start preaching the gospel! How awesome is that!? Elder Holland will also be dedicating that country during the same mission tour when he dedicates Central African Republic. So it is possible that I could go work in Gabon :)

 

Elder Lavering and myself at the Military Hospital

 

Our Mormon Helping Hands activity over at the military hospital

 

We had our Mormon Helping Hands service project on Saturday and it was a great success. It almost was a failure though... we got to the project and no one was there. Finally, people started showing up about an hour and a half after it was supposed to have started. We had two grown men arguing amongst each other about the stupid little shirts and who could wear them and who couldn't... I say arguing but they were screaming at each other. It was very pathetic... "Hey look at us! We are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and we focus on love and unity!" HA. I wanted to say something so bad but I kept my mouth shut. President Njampou came late and when he came he saw that the service we were supposed to do had already been done. As he was walking around he ran into some US Navy guys who were fixing up an area at the hospital and he asked them if we could help and they gladly accepted and before they realized what they said yes to they had about 70 Mormons running towards them wanting to help them with whatever. They were blown away and you could tell that they were impressed. It was neat talking to Americans... I miss American English. The head honcho guy was telling me that he has his own religion and prays at his house but he really appreciated what we were out there trying to do... and that is simply to help. He said, "It hits you right here..." as he was put his hand over his heart. He told us that he would be painting next week and we (the missionaries) immediately told him that we are more than willing to help him out. So hopefully we can get that programmed and help out our Navy friends.

 

Our second counselor in the branch presidency was unjustly thrown in jail and Elder Lavering and I went and visited him after we received a call during companionship study. He had been in there 3 days and we didn't even know... He called multiple people before us and they did nothing. I was pretty peeved with the lack of help that was offered by the branch members and dropped some pretty heavy words on a specific individual and he didn't like that at all... but guess who was at the jail when we went for the second time... him! I got to him :) Needless to say... Oscar is now out of jail. This will be a story that you will have to ask me to explain when I get back... it took over two pages in my journal and I could of easily cranked out 5 or 6.

 

We have an amazing investigator named Catherine who loves to preach the gospel to every single person she comes into contact with. Well she has been talking to one of her neighbors named André and invited him to her baptism, which will be this Saturday, and she has read in the Book of Mormon with him and everything. So we went and visited André and started teaching him. He has a crazy past. He used to be a professional fighter and won the Cameroon title twice and the African title once. He was a beast! That all came to an abrupt end when his car stalled on the train tracks. He saw the train coming but thought to himself that he had time. He tried and tried but it never started. He looked back at the train and saw how close it was and started to panic. As he was panicking his arm hit the lock on his door and locked it and he yanked on the door handle and broke it. As his last effort he busted the window and started to climb through when the train hit. The train went completely over him and completely cut off his leg and his stomach... he said that his intestines were out of his body when people came to help him. It is a miracle that he is alive. He has so much faith and wants to more fully understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He is very excited to go to Catherine's baptism and come to church. He almost committed himself to baptism! Hopefully things will roll out nicely. I like the guy.

 

We went teaching with the Gaileys for a few hours on Friday and it was so much fun. I love translating. Elder Gailey was able to crank out an awesome testimony in french. It was very simple but very powerful and the Spirit was definitely making his presence known. They really want to teach with us and work with us so I am really looking forward to working with them. We were at their house earlier this morning emailing photos and they were on their couch together studying french. They are dedicated and serious and awesome. I love the Gaileys!!

 

I am so happy to hear that everything is going well for you all back home. I hope I can still jump high... I wish I could play basketball more. When I was at the MTC I could dunk every try... and then I tore up my ankle. I just need to go running every morning. That is way cool that you were able to go see Les Miserables! I would love to see Phantom of the Opera. I have not yet received your package but I know that it will get here. Usually it takes two weeks. The Gailey's just went to the post office today and there wasn't a package for me.

 

All is going well over here in Douala. Yeah, there are difficult days but the joy you feel as you serve always beats out the trials of the mission. I am so grateful that I still have 9 and a half months left. Le temps passe vite!! Je t'aime!

 

Elder Schmid

 

Elder Mpungu, me, and Elder Rakotoarisoa...try saying that three times fast.



Emmanuel!! One of my converts back in Yaounde! He is now head of
communications for the church in Cameroon and he hasn't even been a
member for 7 months!

Sweet! Zion is in Douala!

Dear Mom,

 

This week was an interesting one, but nevertheless, it was a great one. We are back into the last rainy season before the dry season, so we got caught in the rain a few times without an umbrella… well, I did. I left my umbrella, on accident, over at one of our members houses. It’s not fun when you don’t have an umbrella. You get very wet, very fast. But that didn’t slow us down! The rain slows a lot of other people down, but it can’t slow down missionary work.

 

Right after we emailed last week, we went over to Tom Genning’s work. Tom Gennings is an American who works for Noble Energy, an oil company, and he is here in Cameroon every other month. I wanted to give him a letter to send when he got back to the states so we went to his office. He works, by far, in the nicest building I have been in since my arrival in Cameroon back on 6 Sept. 2011. It’s crazy! There was this huge metal box that you walked into, and when you walked into it, these doors come out of the wall and shut off the entry… then the box started to move and before we knew it we were on the third floor. It was the craziest thing. Tom is awesome. He is a convert and has a neat conversion story. As we were talking with him, he asked us if we had eaten, and we hadn’t, so he invited us to eat with him and the guys at work. So he took us up to the penthouse and had us sit down at a very nice fancy table and told us what our menu was… yes, we had choices!! I got chicken wings with rice and onions, a salad with Italian dressing, and potatoes. I was in heaven. We had a neat conversation with a nonmember man who is from England. He had some questions about the foundational beliefs of the Mormons and what we focus on. We were able to talk about the cleansing powers of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the family. I love those two subjects so much. It was awesome speaking normal English as well. After the amazing dinner and discussion, Tom called up one of his drivers and had him drive us over to the Nuttall’s apartment. It was so weird being in a nice car wearing seat belts with a/c and a sweet sound system. Well, actually it was just stock but stock is much better than anything that exists here. It was so nice… Tom Gennings is great! He has helped me out a lot with sending letters and everything.

 

The Gailey’s are incredible. I would be totally fine with staying in Douala for the rest of my mission just so I could work with the Gailey’s. They are so funny and easy to talk to. It has been so much fun just getting to know them. When they originally got their mission call they were scheduled to start their mission in January, which worked out great for them because they had four grandchildren on that were to be born before January. One day, as they were driving down the freeway, Sister Gailey turned to Elder Gailey and said, “Hey, why don’t we just go earlier?” and they called in and had their report date changed to an earlier date! Little did they know that thousands of miles away we were praying and fasting that we could get a couple here before the Nuttalls left so that 8 missionaries wouldn’t be on their own for 5 months. That is what happened in Yaoundé and it was very difficult for the missionaries. So it was a precious little miracle. They don’ speak any french but they have the best attitude towards their mission. Yesterday, Elder Gailey bore his testimony in french and the branch loved it. The Gailey’s have big shoes to fill, but I know that they will be amazing and do so much for this branch.

 

Our investigator, Alex, is still progressing and learning everyday. We met with him almost everyday and we were able to teach him so much and he loved every minute of it. This week we taught him the law of chastity and he explained some concerns he had but once again he understood the doctrine and accepted to follow it. He has never had any rejections. I love teaching this guy so much. He hasn't come to church yet even though, a few weeks ago, he went through the trouble to change his day off to Sunday and his boss allotted him that day and he still hasn't come to church. His excuse... rain. Which is a legit excuse. It has poured these last two Sundays. But then again, that should never be an excuse. It has rained almost everyday and yet he is at work. I asked him that if it rained every Sunday throughout the year would he never come to church? He promised with God that he would be there this Sunday. He better be... that's not a promise that should be broken. I kind of laid into him today when we met with him telling him that he needs to go to church and he felt bad because he knew that he could have come. We then taught about repentance because he was hit pretty hard by our chastity lesson. We surprised him today, we didn't tell him we were coming, so we just showed up and he was reading his chastity brochure. I asked him if he had any questions and he did, and every single one was on repentance and how he can truly repent of his sins. This man is dedicated and serious and I know that he will be such a solid member.

 

This week when we did weekly planning, Elder Lavering and I set some pretty big, yet achievable goals. We thought that we were good missionaries and that we could accomplish the goals that we had set. Well, the very next day, we saw the funny side of our Heavenly Father because NO ONE was answering their phones. Our program that we fixed was a "I hope so and so will be there and this hour". We got home and were so bugged. We were like, "What the heck? Here we are setting great goals and wanting to do so much good and we get this thrown at us?" It was pretty selfish on my part to complain. So, this whole week I was thinking that our numbers for this week were going to be low and I was so surprised yesterday when we counted them because we tied our record for number of lessons taught! It is interesting how it worked out. Here I was being a little baby, but the Lord knew what He was doing and what He wanted His servants to do. I love my mission.

 

Today I went and got a hair cut and as we were walking back to our apartment I look at Elder Lavering and said, "Wanna race... barefoot?" We took a few more steps as Elder Lavering pondered the possibility...and then he accepted. We took off our sandals and I gave him a head start and we took off. We only ran about 1/4 mile but now I have two blisters... one on each of my big toes and the bottom of my feet are shredded. What the heck was I thinking? That is probably what everyone else was thinking as they saw two young white boys sprinting down the streets of Douala. Oh, I won.

 

Do you remember me telling you about Matthieu? He was an inactive member when Elder Thibault and I started together about 18 weeks ago. Well, today he is totally active and has given up his bad habits, once again, and is at church every Sunday. It is so neat seeing the change that has come into his life. He is the one who has the skin eating disease on his leg. Well, now that he is active his problem has been getting better and better and he is getting happier and happier. The promises that we promised to him are being fulfilled because of his faith and his works! It is so awesome. Every time I see him he is always telling me how much he loves me and how much he is going to miss me. I love this work so much and I love working with inactives.

 

Yesterday I gave a talk in church and I was chose to talk on some of my favorite scriptures... Alma 41:6, D&C 20:77, and D&C 46:9. I love the principle of desire and will. I love to talk in church too. I don't get nervous anymore! I just get up and talk about the gospel and share the message with love. For some reason people got the impression that I was leaving, so I had a bunch of people come up to me after the meeting and ask me if I was leaving and they told me how sad they were. No worries... I am still here until October 19th. Maybe longer... and I would love to stay longer. I love Douala.

 

This week we went over the baptism interview questions with Catherine and I was joking around with her and for the very first question I asked, "How much do you weigh?" and before I could tell her I was joking she says, "58 kg!" People here are so open about anything. I love Catherine. She is such a funny old lady.

 

Well, the mission is awesome... I tell you that every week but it is so true. There is no where else I would rather be right now. I know that my life is changing and I love seeing the change occurring in the lives of my brothers and sisters here in Douala. Have a great week!

 

Je t'aime,

Elder Schmid

Hey there!

 

It sounds like you all are having a great time! I was writing earlier this morning and I realized that today was labor day chez vous. Thank goodness we don't have a 'labor day' in the mission field because this work is the best. I can't believe that we are already in Septembre... no I didn't spell that wrong, that is how it is in french. I think the rings are only $30 over at deseret bookstore. He said he was totally fine with one in English so I would just get that one instead. It would get here faster. Just make sure it is 8 1/2. Thank you so much! It is definitely a small world. Keri Ford (Decker) is one of my really good friends!! I am glad you got the letters!

 

This week was pretty great, and a lot went down, and I forgot to write my little outline thing in my daily planner so I brought my journal with me so I can remember some things. I have the worst memory in the world...

 

On Tuesday, we were able to have interviews with President Jameson. He wasn't here though... it was over skype. It was a little different but it was still awesome. I love President Jameson so much and he will be coming soon for a zone conference. I can't wait to see him! It is always nice seeing him and Sister Jameson because it is like having a little piece of home with you. It's crazy to think that the three of us only have 10 months left on our missions.

 

We met a man named Joseph, for the first time, last Sunday and we met with him a few times throughout the week. He is a great investigator and it seemed like he knew everything was true before we even taught it to him. He told us that a friend gave him a Book of Mormon that she never read and he started reading and found it to be really edifying, and he found our number in it so he gave us a call and asked us to help him understand more about the Book of Mormon and our message. We met with him Tuesday at the church and he got there 45 minutes late, and I was a little bugged because I like sticking to the program but then he told us that he had walked over two hours just to be there.... and then he walked all the way back home. Wow... that is desire. He has so much faith. We went to his house the next day and we taught him the Restoration and Elder Lavering invited him to be baptized and he said "of course"... and by the way he was saying it, he was meaning, "well duh, why wouldn't I get baptized?" He came to church again yesterday and he participates a lot and answers a lot of questions throughout the lessons. He is a great guy!

 

This week, when we went to see Abega, I was fixed on figuring out every single detail that was preventing him from getting married. So, when I told him what I wanted to do for the rendez-vous he kinda chuckled and started making the list. Here in Cameroon if you want to get baptized your marriage needs to be registered by appropriate government officials. Tons of people here are married tribally but the Church sent lawyers here to study the law so we could more fully follow the 12th article of faith and they informed us of what we need to expect now with the marriage. Abega is already tribally married.... all he has to do is register the marriage and he has the money for it too. He didn't know how easy it was! It was neat seeing the excitement in his eyes grow by the second as we were explaining all of this to him. We have a member in the Bonaberi branch who works with registering marriages so we gave him her number and we finally got this boat moving! We have now fixed his baptismal date for Oct. 6th... for him and Carine. All they need to do is register that marriage! So keep him in your prayers. I really want to see this one through.

We were walking down the road the other day and two Americans crossed the road so they could talk to us and when they approached us one of them said, "American?" and we nodded in the affirmative and then he said, "Mormon's?" and we nodded once more and then he got all stoked and said, "No *@#*!! We found the elders!!" He was super excited and started talking about the history of the church and the organization of the church and how a new prophet is called and all that... it was super random, but it was pretty neat. We found out that they were in the Navy and were here in Douala for 2 weeks doing some humanitarian stuff. Their boat left a few days ago. Before we split ways, he asked to get a picture with us and so we did. He was standing there busting his finger signs for the picture and saying, "Yeah man! I'm with the elders!" It was sooo random. I hit me that I was talking to Americans... they were from southern Florida and their accents were so weird. I have been away from the States a long time a guess. Before they left we gave them a Restoration brochure and then we walked away. They passed us in a taxi later that day and one guy was screaming out the window while waving "elders! elders!"

 

In Priesthood meeting every Sunday, there is a man named Frère Momo who gives the lesson and he always writes one sentence on the black board and focuses his whole lesson on that one sentence. Lots of times people ask him questions that he can't answer or he doesn't want to, but he really likes to pick on me... like yesterday for example. Someone asked what it meant to "mettre notre confiance en Dieu" (put our confidence in God, or trust God). When he heard the question he said, "Hmmm, well does anyone want to answer that question?" and before anyone could say anything he said, "The spirit is telling me that Elder Schmid is going to answer that question for you. Elder Schmid..." I just smiled and laughed to myself and dove into the scriptures and helped him understand that phrase.

 

Yesterday in fast and testimony meeting, the other elders investigator got up to bear her testimony but it ended up being a story-mony... and it was 25 minutes long. We got out of church a half an hour late. Testimony meetings always go late over here.

 

All is well and I am loving my mission. It is so much fun working with people helping them improve their lives and helping them come closer to their Savior, Jesus Christ. I love my job :) and I love you!!

 

Je t'aime maman,

Elder Schmid