Dear Mom,

 

Gosh, Africa can be so frustrating sometimes. I had almost finished typing up a nice long email for you and then the internet went out and I lost it all. So I get to restart. Oh well... c'est la vie.

 

The Mother's Day skype call was incredible and it was awesome hearing everybodie’s voices. It didn't bother me at all that I couldn't see you guys. I guess I will be that much more surprised at how much everyone has changed when I get home. It was funny hearing Bronson grunt like Sasquatch throughout the call. He is such a goofy kid. I can'’t wait to see him for the first time.

Mother's Day dinner
 

This past week went by super fast. It was P-week for us. We were only in our sectors for two days because of this huge zone conference that was in Douala. It was totally worth it though. President Jameson did interviews, and that was the best part, I feel, about the conference. I love it when I get one on one time with President Jameson. He is an incredible man and I can'’t wait for you all to get to know him better after we return from Africa. It is such a huge blessing that he lives close to us. I have such a strong testimony that God ALWAYS knows what he is doing.

Bus ride to Douala



Eating on their way to Zone conference

Bus station in Douala

It was neat being able to go and spend a few hours in a sector that I was in for seven months. I was able to go see Matthieu who was an inactive who we were able to reactivate, through the help of the Holy Ghost, of course. He has become somewhat inactive again and it is interesting to see the consequences. If you remember, he has some crazy infection in his leg that has been eating at his leg for years. We gave him such a simple promise… that if he went to church then his leg would heal. That is what he did and his leg started to heal and was steadily progressing. And now that he doesn'’t go anymore his leg is worse off than where it was to begin with when we started meeting him back almost a year ago. Interesting, huh? It was neat being able to talk to him and help him remember his responsibilities and covenants. Hopefully, he will recommit himself. I was also able to go and see Catherine and Rosalie, two of my converts. When I got to their house I was surrounded by a bunch of kids and young women in a massive group hug. Catherine wasn'’t there but one of the little kids went up and got her. When she walked into the door and saw me she ran to me and grabbed me and hugged me and started jumping up and down. I don'’t know if she was praising God or taking his name in vain, but I do know that she was happy. She was tearing up. It was great being able to talk to her and once again share my testimony with her. They are solid converts who are doing things right. I am so grateful that I was able to be there during their conversion.

 

The actual zone conference was awesome. We watched a segment from that new training DVD that the Church made and it was about working with inactives. Elder Clayton and Elder Christensen went out with stake presidents and met with inactive families. We watched that video and then discussed how we could improve our work with the less actives here in Africa. We are blessed to be able to work with them a lot. We have had to drop a lot of investigators, so that leaves us with more time to work with inactives, and you know that I love working with inactives. President Jameson has a great gift of explaining the scriptures and we went over some passages in D&C and discussed, as a group, how we could put them into practice. It was a simple meeting but I like them like that. We got a lot done and the Spirit was definitely there.
 

Taking the missionaries back to the bus station to go home to Yaounde

The Elders of Cameroon
  

I was able to get mail and I got some awesome packages from Natascha with soap and Tide and all sorts of goodies. She'’s awesome. She has definitely spoiled me while I have been out here in Africa. I also got letters from the Kettenrings and Brother Packer, which I loved so much. So if they are reading this, thank you so much for writing me! It means so much to hear from loved ones back home.

 

I love you all so much and I hope you have a great week. Mom, once again happy Mother's Day! I love you and I am so grateful for everything that you have done for me. You are an angel!

 

Je t’aime maman,

Elder Schmid

A generational picture (from left: Elder Schmid's grandson, Elder Colindres who is being trained by next,
Elder Thibault, Elder Schmid, and another son, Elder Johnston)