Dear Mom,

 

Holy cow…, this is the last email that you will get from me while I am out here on the mission! I am blown away by how fast time has gone by. It seems like it was just a few weeks ago that I was meeting Elder Johnston for the first time and now I will be saying goodbye. It’'s surreal. It’'s weird that it is my turn. It'’s bittersweet. I just can’t believe that it is already here.

 

This past week flew by. I am officially done getting stuff for everyone back home. I was stressing big time about that because I wanted to get good things, but I think I really succeeded. I am excited to see how you all react when you all get your little ‘goodies’.

 

When you are involved in the training program you have an extra hour to do study as a companionship so that means that you have one less hour out in the field. Well, Elder Johnston and I worked it out this week so that we could have more time in the field and it paid off. We were able to have many lessons but more importantly we were able to go out and help more people throughout the week and let them know that we care about them. We always teach more lessons with inactives than we do with our own investigators, but I am totally okay with that. Some of my greatest joys I have had on the mission were with inactives who once again found the light that they once had.

 

We have been working with Ebenezer ever since I got here. He was baptized back when I was in Ekounou… October 2011. He was strong, but work began to really interfere with his weekly church attendance. So we went over to his place and let him know that we care for him and want what is best for him. He first started to change because he knew that he could trust us and he know that we loved him. Love is crucial for the progress of all things eternal. God is love. So once we established that progression followed and it has been neat to see how far he has come along. We have been going over the after-baptism lessons and we talked about the priesthood. He has the Melchizedek Priesthood and so our goal was to help him understand at a deeper level the power and authority that he holds. We had an awesome lesson but the best part was what happened afterwards in his personal study. We had him read D&C 121. The next day we planned on following up on that section and then moving on to temples and genealogy, but instead he taught us for about 30 minutes about what he had learned as he read that section. It was incredible. It was so evident that his testimony had grown. He even told us himself… he said, “I learned something yesterday… the priesthood is real.” It was such a simple testimony but yet so powerful. He no longer knows that it is real because the branch leaders tell him or because the missionaries tell him, but he knows because the Lord told him through the spirit. I wish that could happen in every single lesson we have. The world would be a Mormon world in no time.

 

In my life I have heard returned missionaries say many times, “the mission is the best two years of your life.” Though well intended, I don'’t agree. DJ and I talked about it a bit before I left on my mission and I really appreciate the counsel that he gave me. My whole mission I went out and worked, but not with the attitude that these would be the best years of my life,… instead I worked as hard as I could because I knew that these two years would be the perfect training for what the Lord has in store for me. My best years are yet to come, but I know with all my heart that they will be better because of what my mission has done to me. I have truly found who I am over these past 24 months and I have come closer to my Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ. I know with every fiber of my being that they are real and that they love us unconditionally and are waiting for us to come back home. All is set, the way is there, and they are beckoning to us… their arms are open. I have recognized that on my mission. I have changed my life… no, the Lord has changed my life because I was willing. I can'’t wait for you all to see that. My mission has been a miracle and it is sad that it is coming to an end, but I know that whatever comes in the future I will now be better prepared to accomplish the will of the Lord. The journey was long and I definitely had thorns and briar's along the way, but I know that my testimony that I have received has brought me up to higher places, spiritually speaking. I am converted. My mission was a success.

 

See you in a few!

Elder Schmid