Hey there Mother!

So, please forgive me for joking around with you last week! It was an idea that popped into my head as I was typing and I thought it would be pretty funny and I thought I would trick a lot of you and it sounds like I did! Awww yeah :) There was some truth to that story though. President Jameson did go to Bangui and had a special meeting with the president himself and talked about The Church and opportunities to enter into that country. I'm not really sure what will happen in the future but their meeting was a good one, so we'll see! I would love to go there, but I highly doubt I will have that opportunity. It will probably be another area for the African missionaries in our mission. But that is alright... I love Yaoundé and Douala and I am sure that I will love Pointe Noire.

Elder Thibault left this morning and it was pretty sad seeing him go. I loved working with that kid so much. He is such a goof ball and there were so many times that I felt I was with a little brother. It's neat being a trainer because you get a firsthand look at the progression of those new missionaries and I was blown away with how quickly Elder Thibault progressed. I am looking forward to training again. Yes, I am officially a trainer, but I feel that the trainer learns just as much, if not more, from the trainee. It has been a neat experience and I am looking forward to doing it again! I can't believe that Alex will be training this next transfer!!! She was just trained on this new special 12 week program and now she will switch roles and train a new sister. That is awesome! That is the whole point of the 12 week program... to be able to train after you have been trained. I know that that program is an inspired program put to work to improve the success of missionaries world wide.

This week, Elder Thibault and I went out and did some contacting because we were/are in need of some new fresh investigators who have a sincere desire to learn and improve their life by following the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. Elder Thibault and I had a special fast and at the beginning of this week we found some AWESOME investigators! We went to go follow up on a contact that he had made when he was on splits with Elder Addington and the contact fell through, but we decided to talk to everyone that was around that little house and we found this one young woman named Chrispine and she invited us to come and talk with her and her family. We went into the house and met a young father named Hervé and his wife, Françine. They are catholic and have been for a very, very long time. So, this week we saw them four times and we focused all of our lessons on The Restoration and the principles that we teach in that first lesson. Because of their background, we needed to especially focus on the nature of our Heavenly Father, the apostasy, and authority. I was kind of nervous at first because, in the past, those teachings have been the foundation of some pretty sharp criticism and accusation against us and our message, but it couldn't of turned out any better! We presented the doctrine and taught by the Spirit and the Spirit testified to them of the truthfulness of what we were teaching and they were convinced!! Just like that! It was incredible.

Chrispine has taken a lot of interest in our message and has been really doing her 'homework' and studying the Book of Mormon. Every time we went there, she had very thought out, amazing questions, and they helped us transition perfectly into what we wanted to teach that day. It is neat how that works out. On Saturday, she told us that she would be coming to church because she likes what we teach and she is just curious to see how things go down chez nous. We went and picked her up and we walked to the church and she had an awesome time! One of our recent converts, Rosine, was able to talk with her about her story and history with the missionaries and shared her testimony and it really touched Chrispine and they exchanged contacts and will see each other during the week! That is what needs to happen every time an investigator comes to church! I am just praying that Chrispine doesn't hit a brick wall like all of our other investigators.

Elder Thibault and I have been working a lot with inactives, and one inactive we have been working with is named Matthieu. He was baptized 5 or 6 years ago but has been inactive for a pretty long time. I may have told you already a little bit about him. Well, this week we focused on the Word of Wisdom. He never told us that he has any problems with that but it is obvious. We had such a spiritual lesson with him and he knew exactly what he needed to do. He knew that he was disobeying one of the 'big' commandments and he knew that he needed to change. In the lesson I asked him when the last time was that he tasted alcohol and he told us that it was months ago. I knew that his answer wasn't true... but I let it slide for a little bit. We read D&C 89:18-21 and we discussed the blessings that we could receive if we respect this commandment. I hit him with this question towards the end... "Matthieu, are you respecting the Word of Wisdom 100% so that you can receive ALL of these blessings mentioned in D&C 89?" I told him that I didn't care when the last time was that he tasted alcohol. I told him that starting today he was going to commit himself to respecting this commandment 100%. He has the promise, too, that if he does respect this commandment, reactivates himself at church, and fulfills his responsibilities, that his flesh eating leg disease problem will go away. So now it is on the wings of faith and works.

We were in Cité-sic this week and we got raté'd by someone and as we were walking away some drunk man called us over. We had nothing else to do for about 45 minutes so we decided to go over and talk with him and see what he wanted. He told us that he wanted us to preach to him... so we did. Now, you are probably asking yourselves, "why would you waste time preaching to a drunk man?" He had friends that were with him and they were all there in the head so we focused our lesson on them. We shared the message of the Restoration, and right after that, this drunk man turns to me and says this, "Ne parle plus de Joseph Smith." (Don't talk about Joseph Smith)  Now, if I was the same person I was at the beginning of my mission, I would of turned on him and chastised him, using the bible and even his own religious beliefs (he informed us that he is a catholic priest), but I have matured a lot and have realized that sometimes you just need to swallow what is dished and always remember that you represent the Savior. He was totally ruining our lesson though... but that is okay... the Lord answered my prayer! He got a phone call and left :) So we started sharing some spirit filled testimony to the others who were there and you could tell that there was something inside of them telling them that these two white boys were telling the truth. Now, I honestly have no idea what will come from this. I don't think I will ever see those men ever again, but I do know that we planted a good seed that day.

We had another interesting experience with another catholic priest who was also drunk. He came and totally interrupted one lesson we were having. He first came and started telling us that he was a catholic priest and that he has been to many seminars and conferences where many 'wise' and 'smart' men have spoken about the philosophies of Christ and what not. He then went on to tell us that white people are so much wiser and smarter than black people. I told him right away that I don't agree with that at all, and then he responded with this... "Have you ever seen a black man build an airplane?" I had no clue what to say... It was hard enough not laughing at his ridiculous comment. I told him that the current president of the United States is black and then he said this, "Yeah, but has he ever built an airplane?" So there you have it... the wisdom of a catholic priest here in Douala.

Mom, I love my mission. It is such an incredible experience and I am so grateful for all that I am learning. The greatest thing that is happening is the change that is occurring within myself. It is incredible seeing the man that the Lord wants me to be. I have seen His hand almost daily in shaping and molding me into who He wants me to be. There is no way I could ever experience this kind of change if I wasn't serving the Lord as a full time missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Thank you for raising me in such a way that I am able to be where I am today. I love you so much :)

Je t'aime,

Elder Schmid