Hey Mom!

It sounds like you all had so much fun up at Kinder Spring! Those pictures looked great! I'm going to ask for one thing... when you email me pictures, try to make them smaller because they take forever to load because they are pretty big. Dad can teach you how to do that. I can't wait for all the pictures to load because the connection here is sooo slow. That would help out a lot! Thanks :)

I feel bad for Dallin... I would hate to have all those disgusting nasty clothes. Sucker. I remember in 9th grade, when I was in tennis, there was one kid who never took his clothes home to wash and he wore them every single day and everyone would stay away from him because he smelled so bad. When we had to run around the tennis courts, everyone would run in front of him so no one got the whiff of whatever nastiness was coming from his shirt and shorts. Haha, oh Dallin.

As far as the African food you ate, I have not eaten that yet. The food is pretty different when you go to Congo. But, I am sure that one day I will eat what you did and I will love it! There are plantains all over there and we eat those all the time. You should try frying them! :) Sooo good.

I'm sorry about the bad news with the teeth... I'm pretty lucky I have never had any problems with mine. My cleanliness habits have definitely grown since being out here on the mission... mainly because of fear of where I would have to go to get checked up on if I did have any problems.

So, I have some pretty big news for everyone! You all ready for this? Because I sure wasn't... So we got transfer letters on Friday and I was pretty shocked with what I read. President Jameson made a recent trip to Central African Republic to see if we (The Church) could get accepted to come and preach the gospel over there. President Jameson actually met with the president himself. Well, Central African Republic has now been officially opened for missionary work and President has chosen me to be the first missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to go there! This is where it gets interesting! I will not have a companion... it is a solo outreach program where I will be asked to stay with a group of people who have received information of The Church and have been holding their own programs and waiting for years for The Church to send missionaries. Transfers will take place this Friday and I will fly over to Bangui and start the work over there! How incredible is that?! I'm kind of freaking out but I know that the Lord will help me carry on his work.

Remember in my email last week, how I was poking fun at the young woman who was called to give a talk in church and she wasn't prepared? Well guess who was "la victime" this week... yep, moi. I was in the investigators Sunday School class and the 1st counselor came in and asked me to give a talk on missionary work. Of course I accepted and I went and sat back down and said a little prayer and asked the Lord to help me say what he wanted me to say. It was incredible what happened... A whole talk outline just unfolded in my head, scripture after scripture, doctrine after doctrine. I had my whole talk outlined in three minutes!! Talk about getting a fast answer to your prayer! When we were in Sacrament meeting I was getting pretty nervous... you know how I am. I love to teach and talk but I always get butterflies!! I said another prayer and asked the Lord to bless me with peace and comfort, and almost immediately again my prayer was answered! I just sat back in my seat and my heart stopped beating fast and I felt totally comfortable. I didn't shake once when I was up there and and neither did my voice. I felt like it was the most powerful "discours" I have ever done! You always know here in Africa because you will get people nodding their heads and you will get some "mmhmm's" and some "Amen's." Afterwards, I had a lot of people come up to me and thank me for the talk and told me how incredible it was. I sang in it to... whaaaa?! I only sang a line and I wasn't even planning to. For you Priesthood holders, remember when Elder Holland was all fired up about missionary work and worthiness and he said "Do I need to hum a few bars of 'We are all enlisted'?" I think that is what he said... well anywho, that is basically what I said but I sang it! Haha, I love what Africa has done to me!

We had zone conference this week and it was incredible. President Jameson wasn't there... it was just the missionaries here in Douala but it was still super powerful. Probably one of the best zone conferences of the mission. All the missionaries had to do a little 5 minute talk/thought on a Christlike attribute and I was assigned "Faith" and I decided to narrow my subject to "Faith in Jesus Christ." I focused on how it is good to believe in Christ, meaning believing in who He said He was, the Son of God, but that is not all, we need to believe Christ. We need to believe that He can save us and redeem us and through His infinite atonement we can become exalted and receive all that The Father hath. I love teaching about that. I was inspired by what I read in "Believing Christ." That book was incredible. A struggle for me lately has been love - love for the people. There are some people that I teach that I love and I am devastated when they don't progress or when they fall, but then there are others where that connection, that love, isn't there. I NEED that love as a missionary. In the end, it is love that is driving me to serve a mission... my love for the Lord and for my brothers and sisters and my desire to bring them into the fold. Elder Nuttall talked a lot about following up with commitments and what we need to do. I asked him this, "Elder Nuttall, It is obvious that love is necessary in missionary work, so that means Satan will do everything that he can do to prevent us from finding this love for the people. What more can I do so that I can recognize the tools that Satan is using so that I can overcome this obstacle that I have and increase my love for these people?" I have been praying and even fasting for that and I haven't really found anything. After discussing that question for a little bit we came to the conclusion, that actually came from Elder Nash. We need to look at everyone we come into contact with and realize that they have the potential to become like God. They have the potential but they are stuck if they don't even know. I think having that mind set about the people I teach will really help me. I wanted to share this because maybe it could help others who are back home who are reading this. We are all in this together. I love telling that to my investigators... yes, I am a missionary and I have been in The Church since birth but I need them just like they need me. We are all brothers and sisters trying to get back to the same father... our Heavenly Father. So that is really what I have been working on this week... love for my family here in Cameroon.

So, about that transfer to Central African Republic... that was all a joke. I'm sorry to get your hopes up or to scare you half to death. But in all honesty, we did get transfer info and I will be staying in Douala! Elder Thibault though has been transferred to Pointe Noire and will leave this Friday. I am pretty bummed because I loved working with him! It was neat having a little brother under my wing these past 12 weeks. It is incredible seeing all the progress he has made. I love teaching with him and working with him. I thought for sure we would get another 6 weeks together but I guess the Lord has different ideas. Isaiah 55:8-9. So that means I will be getting a new companion! Guess what? President Jameson has assigned me to train again! We will be receiving two new missionaries and one will be going to Yaoundé and the other will be working with me. His name is Elder Lavering and will arrive on the 31st. So I will be without a companion for 4 days! Elder Nash has been transferred to Yaoundé and will be working in the sector right next to my old one. These past 18 weeks have been awesome with Elder Nash. He and I have become great friends and it will be a little sad seeing him go but I know he will do great things over in Ekounou! So there you go... the truth about transfers! So that means that I will for sure be here in Douala until October 19th. I'm happy with that because that means weekly mail! It has been awesome not having to wait as long to get letters.

I love you all so much and I hope you have a great week. You are always in my prayers and I am so grateful that the Lord has been protecting you and helping you along the way.

Je t'aime maman,

Elder Schmid