Dear Mom,

 

First off... I owe you big time. Thank you so much. You know what I'm talking about. Tell Brother Iaulualo that I say "aloha." You know when he shakes your hand sometimes he says "good job" but it sounds like "good chop?" Well, I say that to Elder Nash at the end of everyday. I love that man! And tell Brother Campbell that I have been working for the past 21 months and have enjoyed every minute of it. As far as homecoming date, I already know when my release date is so I don't mind knowing that one now. I don't think President and Sister Jameson will be there because they are going to France and Switzerland for a few weeks after they finish. Over the past couple of weeks, I have gotten letters from the Kettenrings, Enghs, and Grandma. I loved hearing from them so much! Tell them thanks for me. Have you gotten any that I have sent you?

 

So, last Monday, I was able to finish reading Thomas S. Monson's biography and it was incredible. I believe it is called "To the Rescue." That book is so inspiring. Every time I put that book down I had the desire to be the best person I can be and just serve others and be charitable. I know with all my heart that that man is a Man of God. I would recommend that book to anyone. It was an easy read... just a little long. I know that if the reader reads with the intention of improving his/her life, they will.

 

We have an investigator named Steve and he is incredible! We had a rendez-vous with him this week and at the beginning we asked him how his study was going in the Book of Mormon because we had given him one the last rendez-vous. He looked down and said quietly that it wasn't going that well. He seemed scared that we would be disappointed. He said, "I only read a little bit..." I was still happy that he read a little bit and I asked him to share with us what he read and what he understood. So he pulls out his book and opens up to Mosiah 3 and begins to share with us five verses that really touched him out of the whole chapter. And then he recites Joseph Smiths story from memory because he had read the Joseph Smith brochure. In my head I was going, "Are you kidding me?! That's awesome!! I wish everyone we came into contact with would read like you!" Throughout the lesson we were talking about the ministry of Christ and talking about the foundation of the Church of Jesus Christ and then Steve says, "Oh yeah, I studied that too... I wanted to know more so I studied Ephesians 2 as well." Dang. Steve is awesome. In our amis class at church he is always raising his hand and wanting to participate. I am so proud of him. He loves the message and you can just see it in his person. He is happier and he knows it. Last week Steve walked up to us at church to show us the extra study that he did in the Restoration brochure and then he announced to us that he wanted to get baptized... on June 15th. I was surprised and super happy! I'm sure he will be getting baptized much sooner than that. It was funny, I said, "Do you know what that day is? It is my birthday!" and then everyone around us (the Africans) all cried out "A sign! A sign!" It was pretty funny.

 

Here is something random... this whole week I have had growing pains in my legs and arms. I thought I was too old for that. Elder Nash was a little envious.

 

We have another awesome investigator named Jean. There are so many Jean's in Africa. So we have been with him since January and we weren't seeing any progress with him. One night Elder Nash and I were pondering and brainstorming what we could do to help Jean progress faster and we came to the conclusion, thanks to the Spirit, that he needs to join the choir. He loves to sing so that would be perfect. So we shared that with our branch missionary leader and with the choir director and now Jean is well integrated in the choir and this past Sunday he was there in white shirt and tie singing about Israel and Zion in the middle of Sacrament meeting. I am so happy for him. We have been teaching him and taking the young men of the branch with us so that they know where he lives and it is super convenient that the two strongest young men in the branch live the closest to him. Things are looking well for him. We have fixed a baptismal date for April 20th and we are really hoping that that will happen.

 

Things are going really well over here and I am super happy. I am so grateful for the opportunities that the Lord gives me everyday to help others but also to help me grow and become a better young man. My mission has saved me. How? By helping me receive a REAL testimony. A testimony that pushes me to act, and when necessary, to not act. It has helped me find true integrity and charity. I'm far from perfect but I am a lot closer than what I was 21 months ago. We, as young men, need the mission.

 

I love you Mom. I love you too Dad. I hope you had a great birthday. I miss you but I don't let it get to me. I'm doing what the Lord wants me to do and what you want me to do... and what I want myself to do. Ainsi soit il (Thus it is).

 

Je vous aime,

Elder Schmid

Dear Mom,

 

I love you, but you already know that. I loved your email this week. It sounds like you guys had a blast up there in Show Low. I can't wait to go back up to that place and spend time with the family. How on earth did you handle 18 seven year old kids at our house?! You are super woman... but I've known that since before the foundation of the Earth. I want you to teach me how to play hand n foot so that I can play with you guys.

 

It's funny that you mentioned that dream. Ever since last July I have been writing my dreams down in a little journal I have. I stopped for a couple of months and picked it back up again this week. I was flipping through some of my old dreams and I have come to the conclusion that someone dopes me up when I sleep because my dreams are so wack. You guys are going to be laughing so hard when I read them to you. I have only had two or three significant dreams. I have a hard time remembering things so I have been trying harder and harder to write things down so that I can remember them when I reach that ripe old age of 48. I love you dad :)

 

So this week I have had a stupid cold. It is so ridiculous... as a missionary I feel so guilty just staying home to recover from a wimpy cold but because I haven't, I feel like it is taking longer for it to get better. I have had gunk in my lungs the whole week and my nose has been running and what not. Elder Nash has been pretty sick too. We gave each other blessings... well, they were a couple of days apart. It all started with him. He has had a weird cough ever since he came here to Congo. Then I got that stupid cough and it got worse and turned into a cold and then I gave him the cold. So, we have been pretty haggard this past week but we're getting through it.

 

The other day we were going to a members house in a quartier called Loussala and when we got there we heard all this shouting and yelling and all of the sudden there was a flash mob of children all with sticks in their hands and they were beating on each other. We just stood right by and watched it all and laughed a little. They wouldn't dare touch the whites so we were in no danger. It was pretty funny. You never know what you will find around the corner over here in Congo.

 

I'm going to talk about Bonace. As you know he is a recent convert and he loves to share the message of the Restoration. We fixed a rendez-vous with him at noon one day and when we showed up we saw him with three girls in his room. My first thought was "okay Bonace... what are you up to?" He walks out to greet us and then he invites us in. I was so impressed when I walked in. There at his desk was his Book of Mormon, Bible, brochures, Liahonas, and other teaching materials. I asked the girls what they were doing and they just said that Bonace was teaching them. I don't think Bonace could be any more "on the rock." He always blows me away. He is an awesome example to me and I am so grateful that I was able to work with him and help him come into the waters of baptism.
 
I read a sweet scripture this week. D&C 43:34. It's the last verse in the section and Christ testifies of himself and then says something I love so much... Que la gravité de l'éternité repose sur votre esprit (and let the gravity/solemnities of eternity rest upon your mind).  In English I think it says "solemnitites" or something liket that, but I like the word 'gravity' so much better.  I was pondering the importance of gravity and to what it serves.  If it wasn't for gravity, our life would be one of chaos and have no order. How would things be held together? I cross referenced this scripture to 2 Nephi 9:39... "to be spiritually minded is life eternal." To be "spiritually minded" and to have "the gravity of eternity" upon our minds I think is the same thing. So, by allowing the immense gravity of eternity, which I feel is the testimony and knowledge of the Gospel and of the Divinity of God and of what we can become, we can receive that unseen force or strength to build and establish order in a world of chaos. I don't know if that is making sense or not. I wrote it out in my study journal. I just love that scripture.

There was this homeless crazy guy that followed us and tried to pick pocket us in fond tie tie. He followed us for a few hundred yards and it was only us and him. He was so blatantly obvious. I just walked with my hands in my pockets and buttoned up my back pocket which had about $10 worth of money. I realized that he wasn't going to stop so I turned around and confronted him. He started asking for money and what not and he was so drugged up and lost. He was feeling my butt and front pockets. I saw that he had a glass pepper shaker in his hand and I had no clue what he was going to do with it. I saw it as a weapon that he could try to hit us with so I told him that I would give him some money if he gave me that pepper shaker. He agreed and I told him that I was only going to give him 100 cfa, which is like twenty cents and he said that was okay. So I gave it to him and then told him to get away. He left and we turned around and started walking away. After a few seconds I realized I still had his pepper shaker so I turned around yelled out "chef!" and threw it to him and luckily he caught it. We were almost 20 yards away from each other. It was probably his only possession besides the raggedy clothes he had. So a few days go by and I see this guy walking on the road. I yelled "hey!" to him and gave him a thumbs up and right when he saw us he went into super crazy mode. He started sprinting after our taxi is his torn up wife beater, shorts, and cowboy boots and actually caught up to us (we were in a little traffic). I locked my door because he was trying to get it. He was asking for more money and what not. He had some kind of butter container in his hand but he moved and put it in between his cheek and his arm, like you would hold a phone when your hands are dirty or something, and he was running along with the taxi like that just hanging on. At one moment he actually tried to stop the taxi. How? He tried planting his feet on the asphalt and pulled but he only slid along. He was shredding his boots. His butter thing fell and the taxi guy sped up and he eventually let go before he fell on his face. I looked back and he was just looking at his destroyed boots. I felt bad for trying to say hi. Crazy stuff. I hope we don't run into him again.
 
So there is my week! I want to do a shout out to Craig and Keri Ford. Congratulations on the birth of your first child Audrey Lee! I can't wait to see her! Je vous aime!

 

I love you Mom :)

Elder Schmid

Dear Mom,

 

Wow, this week went by so fast. I think what was craziest for me was realizing that this week I hit my two year mark of opening up my mission call and also going through the temple. Can you believe that it has already been that long? I am very pleased with how much my life has changed since March 4th, 2011. A lot has come down but today I can say that I am a whole lot closer to my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ. Today, in a sense, I am a whole new person. I still have my goofy personality and what not and I still love to have fun and joke around but I am more now. My mission has converted me. The Jameson’s were in town this week for a little zone conference and Sister Jameson asked us to write down our conversion story. I like mine. It took 19 years but today I can truly say that I am converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. My mission has been a miracle. I say that I am converted but I know that it is a life long process, but I know that I am on the right path.

 

Elder Nash and I set some pretty high goals this week and we achieved them! We taught 7 investigator lessons, all of which were in the presence of a member. I don’t think I have ever done that before on my mission,… taught all investigator lessons in the presence of a member. It has been difficult getting our branch missionaries to work with us because they are always at school. Well, this week there has been a strike and there hasn'’t been school so we took advantage of that and enjoyed working with Bonace, Daljus, and Bonnin. So, I know what you are probably thinking… “only 7 lessons to investigators?” Yes, that is true. Why? Because we have so many after baptism lessons that we need to teach. This week we totaled 25! I have never had a number that high before. Elder Nash and I were go go go and it was so awesome. I love being lost in the work.

 

We had a neat experience with two of our investigators that we teach together. Their names are Floger and Jules. They are relatively new investigators. We tried teaching the first lesson, which is the Restoration, and it went alright. They had so many questions and it was difficult for them to understand that God has a body of flesh and bone. So, we focused a lot on prayer and told them that if they had the faith that when they prayed the Lord would answer them and they would know that our message is true. We tried that once and they said that they didn't receive any answer. People here tend to wait for dreams to receive answers, so if they didn't have a dream the prayer wasn't answered. We then went to Galatians 5:22 and explained the fruit of the Spirit and we promised them that if they prayed that night they would receive that feeling of peace that so often accompanies the Holy Ghost. They committed and that night they both had some pretty neat experiences. Jules said that right after he had prayed he felt a fullness of joy and the next morning he went straight to Floger to tell him that he had received an answer. That same night, as Floger was praying, he received a confirmation that our message is true and then a voice came to him and told him to ask us what our goal was with Floger. So the next day they were both excited to report to us what went down and then Floger asked his question and that provided a perfect intro to baptism and we talked about baptism. It was a great week for Floger and Jules, and Floger came to church again and is progressing well. We look forward to teaching him this week.

 

Ever since last Sunday (8 days ago), I had a feeling that I needed to call one of my recent converts back in Yaoundé but I kept on putting off the impression saying to myself that the phone connection is horrible and that will cost a lot. The feeling kept on coming back... everyday. So finally as I was writing in my journal one night I got the same feeling again and actually acted on it and called. It was nice being able to hear and see how she is doing. She told me that Elder Lamb had called her that same week just a couple of days earlier. Now I haven't seen Elder Lamb in 435 days... 62 weeks... but I am pretty sure the Spirit encouraged us both to call her to check up on her. I don't know why, but I feel like it was needed. It's neat knowing that, in one sense, Elder Lamb and I are still on the same page. I miss that kid. He was the best trainer any missionary could ask for. I can't wait to see him again.

 

We have an investigator named Anaïs. Her mom is an inactive member and her grandfather is a strong member who was baptized back in 1970. Her grandfather lives in France but she is often over there visiting and it is through him that she has found such a big love for the gospel. She is only 9 years old but she is sooo smart! For example, we were over at her house the other night with her grandfather (he is visiting from France) and we planned on teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We got to baptism and I started talking about Jesus Christ and in my head I was thinking about why Christ was baptized, so I thought I would ask her that question. I assumed that she wouldn't know the reason I was wanting to get at so I asked it and was getting 2 Nephi 31 ready and she said, "He got baptized because he needed to show us the example!" I was blown away! I closed my book and said, "Well, there is no point in reading that! You already know!" Her french is gorgeous. Because she is in France so often, she has really picked up that accent. I love talking to her. There is a big difference between African french and french french. Well, with the accents there is.

 

I love you all so much and I am so glad that you are doing well. I'm sorry that Darian broke her arm. How long will the cast have to be on for? Tell her I love her! I am excited for Dallin to go to Mountain Man rendez-vous. I had so much fun on that trip. Are they making capotes? I am sending a letter today that is in a pink envelope. When you get it it goes to Bishop Hitchcock... I don't have his address. Thank you so much! Have a great week!

 

Je t'aime,

Elder Schmid

Dear Mom,

Half of what I pulled out of the bank stayed with me, the other half went to Elder McGrath. The last time I had pulled out money was 18 weeks earlier right before I left Douala. I payed a lot for my baggage because they weighed more than what TAC wanted. So no worries on the money. What I have now in my wallet will definitely last me until the end of my mission. I may take some money out a few weeks before I leave because I will be wanting to buy some sweet African things for everyone to have when I get home. Start telling me what you would like to have because you know how good I am at choosing out gifts.

Please tell the Porter family that I love them, that I miss them, and that I will pray for them.

This week was awesome. I say that so much. My vocabulary stinks. The highlight of the week was the baptisms and confirmations of Henriette and Fugain. They were both baptized by Jean Joseph and they were all smiles that day. Right before the service began, Elder Nash and I snuck into the clerks office and closed the door and said a quick little prayer asking Heavenly Father to help Jean Joseph as he performed the baptisms so that he only had to do it once, and to be with Henriette and Fugain so that they can facilitate the process. The prayer of two simple missionaries was answered! Why did we pray for that? Because at the last two baptisms there were a total of 17 "dunkings" ... for only two people! We wanted it to be done correctly the first time.

Henriette is an incredible woman who just loves the Gospel. When we teach her we have to go pretty slow to make sure that she understands everything, but whenever she talks you know that the Spirit touched her and testified to her of the truthfulness of whatever we taught her. I know that her and Jean Joseph will go to the temple to get sealed.  Jean Joseph was already planning it before we had even started teaching Henriette. I am so grateful to have been able to work with them and I thank God that I am still here helping them come closer to Him. I love this work.

Fugain is quiet but dedicated. He loves this message so much. I am pretty sure I already told you how he came into contact with the Church. He has only missed one Sunday since walking in that one day, following what he thought was his natural curiosity, but we all know what it really was... the Spirit. He will be receiving the Priesthood this next Sunday.

Last Sunday, we met a man for the first time named Didier. A member of the church invited him to come to church and he committed and was there the next Sunday. We spoke with him and got his contact information and told him that we would see him throughout the week. On Tuesday, we were planning our day and we were having a difficult time finding people who were available. The thought popped into my mind to go and see Didier. I sat there for a moment thinking about the possibility but then pushed it aside reasoning that it was too far out of the way. Now fast forward a few hours. We were walking and we had two rendez-vous fall through in a row and it was super hot (seriously...I'm like three shades darker. And I'm already tan.) and we were a little discouraged. We started walking in a random direction and then I heard "Schmid! Schmid!" and I looked over to see Didier waving at us and walking towards us. My first thought was, "Ah crud... I know I should have called him!" It was neat. I recognized immediately that the Lord wanted us to see him. I told him that we are available and he said that he was as well so we started the long walk towards his house. We had a powerful, spirit-filled lesson on the Restoration and I KNOW that we planted a seed. He is not married but living with his girlfriend and they have a few kids together. In situations like that we are counseled to not separate the family but have them understand what God expects of them and push them for marriage. That will take a very long time so I am almost positive I won't see any fruit from the seed we planted that day but that doesn't matter. I left that rendez-vous, my shirt completely soaked and the top part of my pants as well because we were in a sauna shack, knowing with all my heart that we had done our duty for him and presented to him what the Lord wanted him to hear.

I was on splits with Elder Spens and we were walking in a quartier called Loussala and as we were walking we had a group of young teenagers call us over. Usually when they call us they make fun of us in their native language or mock us so I didn't really want to go over but we did anyway. One of the kids said, "So we just talked to a man who was walking down the road whom we recognized as a religious leader so we asked him a question. We asked him if hell existed and he said 'yes.' What do you believe?" Elder Spens and I just looked at each other then back at the kid and said, "yes." The kid thanked us and said that that was all he wanted to know. Then Elder Spens said, "Do you believe us?" and the kid said no and went on to explain how God is love and couldn't possibly send one of His children whom He loves to a place as horrible as hell. He said that everyone goes to heaven. I looked at him and asked, "Where is Satan? Is he with God? No, he is not. Why not? Oh, because he rebelled against our Heavenly Father, right? and because of that he was chased out because nothing dwell in the presence of God, right?" At every question I would give the kid an opportunity to answer and then I would throw another question his way.  After about a minute the kid understood the truth through the basic answers he was giving me. I have never been confounded before men on my mission. It's such a neat promise.

Here are some funny experiences of the week. We were over by the church at a boutique getting a fanta and drinking it outside when this guy walked up to us and started speaking very good english. Turns out he lived in the States for four years and got his masters and then returned back to Congo to work. I told him where I am from and he only had three words to say to me... "hot as hell." Yep.

We went to teach Anna who is a recent convert and we had planned on teaching her about eternal marriage. We have been wanting to teach this lesson for so long so that we could mark it off on her sheet but things just haven't worked out like we wanted them to. So, we were set on teaching it to her that day. We got there and she was there with a young woman friend who already was interested in us because of our skin. We sat down and she sat down right next to me... it was a bit awkward and smelly. Some young woman have BO that can kill you if you are not careful. Disinfectant spray can't even get rid of the smell. I looked at Elder Nash and through eye contact we asked the question to each other, "do we go ahead with the lesson?" and after a couple of seconds we gave the head nod signifying, "why not!" and we taught about marriage. That new girl was all smiles. That is as close as she will get.

One thing I have learned recently is a truth found in Mosiah 21:13-15.  I find myself on my knees sometimes asking the Lord to take certain burdens off of my shoulders... help me not have to worry about it anymore. Elder Nash and I were planning for a certain family and he expressed a desire to share that scripture with them but I think he was actually inspired to share that scripture with me. How can I prepare myself to meet my Heavenly Father if I have nothing to prepare myself with? Why do we have trials, weaknesses, and shortcomings? So that we can overcome them and attain the level of faith necessary to achieve exaltation. I was having some pretty profound thoughts that night. I love my mission.

I love you all and I hope you have a great week. Smile and let everyone know that you love God.

Je vous aime,
Elder Schmid