12/21/2010

This is a funny story. So this past week my umbrella got stollen, which was really unfortunate seeing as how it has rained EVERY day this week! haha so one night we were walking in the street completely soaked and I found this broken umbrella in the dumpster and so i grabbed it because I was tired of being completely wet! So I used it for the rest of the day... it kept me pretty dry... for the most part. But it was really funny because everyone was pointing and laughing at me as the drove by all day.

Me and my companion and other Elders waiting outside the chappel before Zone Conference

Me and Elder Galvão today during P-Day

This week was really really WET!

Yesterday, Today, and the rest of this week until Christmas we are spending one night in each of the areas in our District to go to houses of investigators and less active members to go caroling. Last night was way fun! Tonight we are going to the FAVELA! (If you don't know what that word means, look it up) {favela (Portuguese pronunciation: [faˈvɛlɐ]) is the generally used term for a shanty town in Brazil} Its an area called Cachoerinha, it should be interesting!

So you know that old man that we are teaching, the one that has a puzzle obsession, ya well today he took us out to lunch and to the center for our P-Day! It was really funny. He is such an angry old man, he is like 75, and has such a temper. He yelled at 5 different people today. haha I'm just glad that I wasn't one of them. He actually likes us alot, he bought us lunch (at a really nice restaurant) and then took us the the toy store (the equivalent of toys R us) so that we could pick out a Christmas present that he would buy us! Awesome right! haha so we got a puzzle of the last supper. I'm excited to start working on it next P-Day!

Christmas in Brazil isn't Christmas! haha is so hot, and rainy. But I'm excited that next year I will get to spend it with all of you! :)

Thanks for all the love and support!
Elder Schoen

12/13/2010

Me and Elder Galvão (my companion)

Looking at the street from outside the Lan House right now! (Its worse than it appears in the picture)

Hey!

This week was a lot better! We were able to find some new people to teach! Its about time!!! So we started teaching 3 guys that are all 20 years old. They hang out in the gym all day, have tattoos, and are super rich. They are friends of a less active family that started coming back to church. So two of them went to church this week, and they are all super excited!... The only problem is that they don't live in our area :( ... But thats ok, some other missionaries are going to get some sweet gift baptisms!!! haha

So this week was transfers... Me and my companion are going to stay at least one more transfer together!!! Whoo!

So yesterday after church, something awesome happened. A member brought a super nice cell phone to us. She said she had found it on the ground. So we were like "Give it to us and we will find the owner" So we called and arranged to meet up with the owner at a super nice bakery by his house. And he was soo grateful, and he wanted to buy us a beer to thank us. We graciously declined, but instead suggested that we could go to his house and give a message of Christmas for his family. And he got super excited and gave us his address and phone number. So the apartment building that he lives in is one of the nicest in our area. The starting price of one apartment is like about 1 million reais. So he has got to be loaded! I hope that everything works out and we end up baptizing him! But I'll keep you posted!

Other than that, nothing really new is happening.

Love you!
Elder Schoen

12/6/2010

Me and my companion (Elder Galvão) at Outback Steakhouse

Hey!

This week was really really hard work wise. So here in this area we teach on average 30 lessons per week. This week we taught 8. I think it was the worst week of my mission work wise. But it can only get better from here! :)

Tonight we have a family home evening planned with a super rich family in the ward and they are going to bring a bunch of friends. So hopefully we will get some new investigators!

Yesterday we got a referral from a member in the ward. It was his dad, who is 78 years old and has been to church a ton of times but doesn't believe in God. So he will be kinda hard to work with, but he is way cool! He puts together huge puzzles for a hobby and frames them and hangs them up in his house. He has somewhere around 35 puzzles hung up. And he has a huge library in his house (he is super wealthy) He has every single National Geographic Magazine printed since 1919! Its quite impressive.

So a couple weeks ago something really really cool happened. Me and my companion were walking in the street and a man shouted to us, "Hey Elders, come here!" So we went and talked to him and he said that he went to the church a couple times like 2 years ago, but wasn't baptized. We asked him if he knew the Elders there in the neighborhood where he lived (which happens to be one of the areas in our zone) and he was like "Ya, ya I know them, they come over all the time" So we didn't even think to get his address because the Elders already knew him. So we called the Elders and they said they have no idea who he was. So we hung up the phone and we was already out of sight. Then me and my companion had the impression to start running to find him. So we just started running, we ran for a good 3 minutes and then we saw him turning a corner in front of us, so we chased him down and talked to him again. We asked for his address and phone number, and then we passed to information to the Elders in that area. Well we didn't think anything of it at the time. But know I can see how that little prompting of the spirit changed his life. He and his wife and 2 kids have now been to church 3 times, have made a ton of friendships with the members in that ward, and are super super excited for their baptism on Dec. 18th! The Elders there said that it is the most Elect family they have ever seen on their mission. Man am I happy that we listened to the spirit!

Today for P-Day we went to Outback Steakhouse! Which is exactly the same here as in the states! It was soooo Good!

So today we will get the phone call about transfers. I hope me and my companion will stay together again!

Thanks for all the love and support!
Elder Schoen

11/29/2010

Hey Everyone!

This week was good! On Thursday I didn't realize that it was thanksgiving until like two o´clock in the afternoon! haha ...Its a holiday that no one celebrates down here! But I was able to celebrate it well! I made 2 pumpkin pies, which were delicious!!!

Today for P-Day we cleaned our apartment, It was so exhausting! haha We moved all of the furniture and swept and mopped underneath, and we scrubbed everything. So now our house is super clean! ...ITs about time! haha

Sunday was the primary program in our ward! It was just the cutest thing ever. There was a little boy that sang a solo, he sang one of the verses of follow the prophet, when he was singing he forgot the words and then tried to recover but couldn't, Then he got so embarrassed that he started crying an ran off the stage. But the coolest thing was that two of his little friends went and talked to him to comfort him. And then, at the end of the program he got up there and sang his solo again, and did it perfectly. I learned a really valuable lesson, about determination, and doing things again until you get it right.

Sorry these emails are getting kinda lame, its just that not very much is happening these past couple of weeks. We are working hard, but not seeing many results. But I know we just have to have patience, and the blessings will come.

Thanks for all the love and support (and letters that I haven't been getting... its actually been like over 4 months since I've received a letter :(

Elder Schoen

This was me and the Assistents eating pumpkin pie, during our division (or splits as some people call them) on Thanksgiving

Making lunch today... Spagetti

11/22/2010

This is me at my desk studying

Hey!

This week was good. I'm still alive. I'm happy. Nothing really exciting happened this week. We just knocked like 50,000 doors and weren't able to find anyone that lives in our area that even wanted to listen to what we had to say.

I hope next week things will be better!

Love you all!
Elder Schoen

11/22/2010

Hello!

So I realized that I'm slacking on the picture part. Its been like 3 weeks since I've taken a single picture. So this next week I'll try and remember to take some pictures to send.

This week absolutely flew by. We had a leadership training for 3 days this week, which happened in the chapel of Vila Sonia (my old area) It was pretty weird to go back there. I was hoping I would be able to visit some people while I was there, but we didn't have time, but I did run into Leda in the street. She is the sister of that girl Ducineia that I baptized.( remember, the one that took like 4 years to finally get baptized.) Anyways it was cool to hear that she is doing well and way active in the church still!

This week was a rough one. We were teaching 5 people that were preparing for baptism, and on Saturday night we visited all of them to confirm with them about going to church. And every single one of them told us they don't want to be baptized anymore. It was a really really sad day. Then we got home and we checked up with the zone to see how everyone was doing and we had 20 baptism dates fall in one day! It was terrible. There are like 4 Elders in our zone that are slacking alot and not wanting to work at all. So this week we will be doing alot of divisions with them so see what is going on. haha its kinda rough right now, but I know everything will get better!

Love you all!

11/15/2010

Hello!

So I realized that I'm slacking on the picture part. Its been like 3 weeks since I've taken a single picture. So this next week I'll try and remember to take some pictures to send.

This week absolutely flew by. We had a leadership training for 3 days this week, which happened in the chapel of Vila Sonia (my old area) It was pretty weird to go back there. I was hoping I would be able to visit some people while I was there, but we didn't have time, but I did run into Leda in the street. She is the sister of that girl Ducineia that I baptized.( remember, the one that took like 4 years to finally get baptized). Anyways it was cool to hear that she is doing well and way active in the church still!

This week was a rough one. We were teaching 5 people that were preparing for baptism, and on Saturday night we visited all of them to confirm with them about going to church. And every single one of them told us they don't want to be baptized anymore. It was a really really sad day. Then we got home and we checked up with the zone to see how everyone was doing and we had 20 baptism dates fall out in one day! It was terrible. There are like 4 Elders in our zone that are slacking alot and not wanting to work at all. So this week we will be doing alot of divisions with them so see what is going on. haha its kind of rough right now, but I know everything will get better!

Love you all!
Elder Schoen

11/8/2010

Hey!

Well today I officially hit 1 year and 4 months on the mission! WOW! Its going by really fast... Like really really fast!

This week something really really funny happened... So we started a new program to get references from members. We asked the bishop to pray and choose a family of the ward for us to work with. So he did that and last week we went to the family's house and we left a message with them. Now the purpose of this lesson is to have to spirit really strong and then have them start writing a list of all the people that they want to bring into the gospel. So we did this and it was awesome! So spiritual and they started writing names. They took and hour. And when they finished we counted, they listed 254 names. We were freaking out! Usually when other missionaries had done this in the past they only get like 20-50 names. So we went home with the list, and we were soooo happy! And we started looking at the list and about half the names are members of our ward!!! haha we were just like freak! You got the be kidding me, so obviously they didn't understand. But we thought well that leaves about 150, so that's still alot. So 2 days ago we went there with he list to choose the first people that we would start working with and the dad of the family was like " Elders I just want to thank you for the spiritual experience that we had together, it really helped our family realize the importance of doing work for our ancestors that have already passed away." And me and my companion looked at each other and then at the family and we were like, "wait, what? How?" And then he went on to explain the most of the names on the list were people that already passed away! Once again, we were like FREAK! You got to be kidding me! So we asked him to put a check mark next to the people on the list that are living, and not members of the church, and live in our area... He only marked 5!!! haha I was so frustrated! But then me and my companion were thinking when we got home and realized that this activity that we did wasn't exactly to help out the missionary work, but to help this family realize the importance of doing family history work and going to the temple. Its amazing how God works! haha I'm just happy that I could be a tool in the hands of the lord to help out that family.

Love you all!
Elder Schoen

11/1/2010

Hey Everyone!

So this week my companion was transferred. And My new companion is named Elder Galvão. He is from Brasilia. He is from the same stake that Ryan Durfee is serving in right now! Cool Huh! But he is way smart and teaches really well, so I'm going to be able to learn a lot from him.

Today for P-Day we played volleyball, which was pretty fun. It was the first time that I've played a sport in like over 9 months! haha

Things here in my area are going well. We are planning some activities for the stake and our ward to get the members excited about the missionary work. So we are going to plan a huge primary activity focused on missionary work where the kids have to bring friends and the parents have to go too. We are also planning a workshop for the stake, that we are going to do some trainings and practice with the members of how to talk to their friends and how to do the missionary work. Also in December its family week here in Brazil. And in our area we have a huge park that is always full of families during this week, so we are wanting to put together a huge event there in the park.

On Thursday Elder Bednar came and gave a training to our mission, which was so sweet! He is so awesome! I learned a lot about how to be a better teacher and a better listener while teaching. We learned how to teach through asking questions, so that our investigators are actually just teaching themselves, and the stuff we are teaching will sink in more as the spirit teaches them. It is way effective but so hard to do!

That was about it for this week.

Thanks for all the love and support!
Elder Schoen

10/25/2010

Hey!
So this might have been the most exhausting week of my mission. We worked our butts off trying to get the last things in order and teaching and getting our investigators ready that were Baptized. As I had said in previous emails that our goal was 7 baptisms. Well this week on Thursday all 7 people passed the baptismal interview! Everything's was going perfectly! Even the dad of the family of 4, who previously said that he wouldn't allow anyone in his family to be baptized, changed his mind. We did a fast to have the Lord change his heart. Then we went and talked to him and he changed his mind and gave permission for everyone to be baptized! We were incredibly happy! On Saturday night we went to the families house with the baptismal clothes for them to try on and we got there and the mom (Rita) answered the door and said "Elders, you wont believe what happened", She went on the explain that earlier that day the dad got really mad about something and decided to change his mind about the baptism, so then all the kids got mad and him and then they decided to not get baptized so their dad wouldn't kill them, and then they all went to their aunts house for the rest of the weekend to escape having to tell us that they wouldn't be baptized! (I about pooped my pants at this moment!) I seriously started crying a little bit. I couldn't believe that god would have all these miracles happen just to have it taken away at the last minute. So we decided that it wasn't over, there was still a bigger miracle to happen. So we knelt in prayer with the mom and we prayed that the children would change their minds and come back from their aunts house (which is like an hour away on the other side of Sao Paulo) We really felt that it would happen. I've never been so scared and so sure at the same time! So as we got home that night, kinda sad, but hopeful, we got a phone call!!! ...But not from who you think it was... IT was from Lucas, another one of the young men that was scheduled to be baptized. He said "Elders I'm not ready to be baptized" and he started giving a ton of excuses, but we could tell that none of the excuses were really the real reason that he didn't want to be baptized. He was just scared. So I was just like "No, you will be baptized and it will be awesome!!! We will come by to pick you up tomorrow morning at 8:30! Bye!" and I hung up the phone before he could tell us no. Then we started praying...ALOT!

Sunday morning. We woke up. Got dressed. Ate breakfast. and headed out the door. Ready to see a huge miracle take place. So we went to Lucas´ house to pick him up. He was like, No I'm not going to be baptized after church, but ill go to church. And we were like no no no you will be baptized, don't worry, its going to be awesome. We said grab a towel and underwear and lets go! He said he didn't want to because he wouldn't be baptized, but that if he decided to be baptized his mom would come after church and bring his stuff. So we took him to church. When we got there we discovered that the baptismal font that we had filled up the night before had leaked out all the water. The basement of the church was flooded. (haha and amazingly this was the least of our problems, because we had to find 4 people to be baptized, and the stake president was there ready to give his talk. All the members were like good job missionaries! Were excited for the 7 baptisms!!! And we were like AH FREAK!!! What are we going to do! We called Rita, the mom of the family, and she said that the kids were still at the aunts house and that they wouldn't come. That's just about when I fell into depression. I lost it and didn't know what to do. But we knew that some how some way everything would work out! So we decided to tackle the then problem. Lucas, we got a ride from a member and went to his house to talk to his mom. (in the meanwhile the second hour of church had started... just 35 minutes till sacrament meeting) we got there and talked to hear and she decided to come and watch her son be baptized and so she brought his towel and underwear. When she got to the church he got all happy and changed his mind and wanted to be baptized! Miracle!!!!

Then Sacrament meeting started. I was freaking out because at this point it was too late. There was no way that we could baptize then 7. It would just be 3. I was reading the scriptures, I wanted to know why God didn't do this miracle. Because it sure wasn't because we didn't have enough faith, or that we were obedient. Then I realized, everyone has agency (doesn't that just suck! haha) But when God did the miracle of opening the red sea, its because the intelligences in the Red sea obeyed. The scripture says that we are worse than dust because at least the dust obeys god. I realized that even after everything we can do, the people still have their agency, and they can choose to listen and follow the temptations of Satan. But wow! I cant believe how hard Satan worked with this family. I've never seen anything like it! This is literally a war we are fighting. And if I ever get the chance to meet Lucifer, I'm going to punch him right in the face!!! haha

But I'm really grateful for the miracles that the Lord has done in this past month! I know, that just as it says, "IF ye have faith in me, ye will have power to do whatsoever thing that is expedient in me"

I know this church is True and I know that baptism really is the door that all must enter to enter into the kingdom of God! Its just really unfortunate when people understand this and still choose to not walk through the door.

Tonight we will get the phone call about transfers. Probably my companion Elder Viana will be transferred... He has been in this area for like 6 months now. I hope he stays, we are seeing alot of success together and getting along super well. But God knows what needs to happen. So next week ill let you all know what goes down.

Thanks for all the love and support and prayers!
Elder Schoen

10/18/2010

Me and my companion... This is a part of our area of Santana

This was a suprise birthday party that a recent convert did for Elder Viana

Me and Elder Viana on a bridge in the super rich part of town

Super Nice Car Dealership! Lamborghini

Lamborghini Dealership!

Me and Elder Wilkinison. Of of the other Elders we live with. He is from Austin, TX. This was the Ferrari Dealership!

Hey Everyone!

Today was an awesome PDay. We went to this street in downtown called Jardim Cidade ( Its super super rich... on the Brazilian version of Monopoly the Blue property of Boardwalk is named Jardim Cidade!) So anyways we went there because its like an entire street of super nice car dealerships... Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, Bentley, Jaguar, Mercedes, Mazzeratti, Aston Martin, and much much more! But it was solo sweet! So I sent some pictures of some sweet cars!

Then afterwards we went to the mall and we bought Pizza Hut. Which is incredibly expensive.. I spent 65 reais for one pizza! ( that is $ 38.87 ) But it was sooo good!

The work here is going great! I'll explain way better next week... I'm just in an extreme hurry today. But this week we have continued to "Put water up to our necks". At Sacrament meeting yesterday we had the bishop announce that there would be 7 baptisms this next Sunday after church, so now everyone knows. Then we didn't feel like that was enough. We needed to show more faith, so we invited the stake president to come and he is going to give a talk at the baptism. And tomorrow we are going to invite the mission president. The amazing thing is that we don't even have 7 people to be baptized yet!!! haha we have 5 people that think that they aren't ready yet. So we are needing a huge huge miracle to happen. But I know that as long as we do all we can, then Heavenly Father will bless us... He has too! If not we are completely screwed, and we are going to look sooo retarded! haha But I'm calm and know that everything is going to work out. I know that Satan will do everything he can to stop us, but we will come out winners in the end.

For everyone that is reading this. Please! I ask for your prayers. We cant do this alone, in Alma 6:6 he asked his people to pray and fast for the people he would be teaching as he left for his mission. Right now I'm asking all of you that you will include these seven children of God that will be baptized this weekend that they will have the strength and the faith to do what's right. I know that with your prayers that everything will go right! So these are the people that we are preparing to be baptized...

Rita, Lucas, Matheus, Bruna, Camila - This is one family (They think its too early and they aren't ready yet)

Luciana- 32 years old, and needs to stop drinking coffee

Dimitri- He is good to go

Lucas- His friends are saying a lot of stuff about the church, he knows its right, he just need the courage to follow his feelings.

Thanks for Everything!
Love
Elder Schoen

10/11/2010

On Friday we got to go to the temple!!!

Last P-Day we celebrated my companion's Birthday at a sweet restaurant

Hello!!!

In 2 Nephi 2:27 it talks about the need to have an opposition in all things. That we have to know the bad to know the good. And in 3 Nephi, when Christ visited the Nephites it says that his Joy was complete. I like to imagine that he was able to be the happiest person that ever lived on the face of the earth at that moment because he once experienced more pain and sadness than anyone had ever experienced. So because he was able to get to a level so low and feel so much sadness, he was then able to feel so much more happiness... This happened to me this week. Saturday night, we got home after a super hard day and it seemed like absolutely nothing was going right. I kneeled down and just started crying, I felt so sad for the people her that were rejecting the gospel, I felt like nothing we were doing was going well. It was just a really rough night to say the least, and I was not looking forward to the next day, which would be Sunday. For those of you that don't know... Sunday is pretty much the worst day of the week on the mission. Its always just so full of disappointment. Every Sunday you think your investigators and going to go to church because they promised they would, but then when you go to get them at their houses they are sleeping or sick or traveling... there is always some retarded excuse. So yesterday I thought it would be the same story. But to my surprise, it wasn't anything like that. Yesterday was the 1st Sunday on the mission that I've been completely happy (my joy was complete). So let me explain...

Me and my companion made a goal for baptisms this month. Our goal is 7. Which is A LOT for this mission, and especially this area, seeing as how in this ward there has been 10 baptisms in the past 2 years! But this was the 1st time that we have made a goal and been emotionally involved in it. We made little sticky notes and put the number 7 on it and put it all over our house, in the bathroom, Fridge, washing machine, desk, bed, mirror, walls, doors... you get the point, everywhere! And we have just been obsessing over it. I was reading in the Book of Mormon about faith and in Ether 12 it talks about how all the great missionaries of the Book of Mormon EXERCISED faith. So my companion and I started thinking of ways that we can exercise faith. When we made this goal we didn't have a single person that could have been baptized this month, but we started telling people that on the 24th of October there will be a family of seven people being baptized (not lying, we were showing faith) .... When Moses opened the Red Sea it says that he had to start walking into the water before the sea opened. Can you even imagine the pressure... Thousands of people following you, watching. And then to top it off a giant army that's chasing after them! That's a lot of pressure! I can just imagine him walking in the water, and the water getting deeper and deeper till it reached his neck and still nothing.. That was him EXERCISING faith! So me and my companion started thinking of ways that we could put the water at our neck! And that's what we have been doing! We even asked a sister in the ward to make a cake for the baptism! haha

So This past week the lord has blessed us so much! We now have 6 people that have accepted baptism dates for the 24th of October. And all of them went to church on Sunday! But better than that the lord blessed us with more people that we are hoping will be able to be baptized on this day. There was a lady that was surfing the web and found the church website and found the address of the chapel and went to general conference last week and then came to church again yesterday! And the other miracle... This week my companion had told me about 2 nights that he had dreamed with a family from the ward that has been less active and is coming back to the church. He couldn't figure out why. But when we got to church the family walk up to us and I asked my companion if everyone was a member and he said ya, everyone was already baptized. But For some reason I felt that I had to ask the little boy of 11 years if he was baptized. So I did and he said No! That he was never baptized!!! And we thought that he was confused and just didn't remember, so we asked his parents and they were like ya he isn't baptized, but he needs to be! So we marked to go there and visit them on Tuesday! We are totally going to baptize 7!!!!

My testimony of EXERCISING faith has been incredibly strengthened and I hope that it can continue to grow! I am so happy to be able to be serving a mission and having these experiences that are changing my life! I wouldn't trade it for the world!

Thanks for all the love and support!
Elder Schoen

10/4/2010

This week was Nuts!

I´ve never had so many spiritual experiences in my life! The Lord helped us find many of his elects this week. So lets save the best for last. I'm going to tell about this girl named Fabiana that we found. So Saturday night in between the conference sessions we went to contact an address that we had. When we got there is was an apartment and each apartment has an interphone that you have to press the number of the apartment and it will call them. So the person we were looking for wasn't home and my companion Elder Viana said "Well, we´re here for a reason, there must be an elect here" Then he pressed a random number, number 13. And a lady answered and was like wait right there I'm coming down. And she came down to greet us, we couldn't go up and teacher her because she was home alone so we just taught her in front of her building. We taught the Restoration and she accepted a Baptism date! It was so sweet that my companion was guided to know exactly which number to press to find the Elect!

So now, on to the coolest thing ever! So we took a member with us to teach one of our investigators, but when we got there we clapped and clapped our hands but no one answered. We thought it was really strange because the window was open and the light was on. There had to be someone there, but no one was answering. (we later found out that she had fallen asleep, We can really see how God does everything perfectly) So we were about to leave and the neighbor got home and the member that was with us was like "OMG that's like the cutest cat ever'', and then they started talking about cats for like 10 minutes, then the topic moved to how they are both descendants of Arabic's, so they formed like an instant bond, and the lady invited us to enter the house. (I have always hated cats, but at least they're good for something! haha) So we sat down and started talking to her. She told us that she has been really depressed lately and the night before she had been up all night crying and praying for God to help here. And she had a dream. She said that in her dream she saw a man and a bunch of stacks of bibles and he was putting the bibles into a paper shredder and then she saw a huge book next to the bibles and she thought to herself in the dream "He is never going to be able to destroy that book" And in that moment we realized that she had seen the book of Mormon and so I got one out, and showed it to her and we said we wanted to give one to her as a present! So got soooo happy and almost started crying. Then we explained about the Book of Mormon and we told her if she reads and prays she will be able to receive and answer to know that the book is true. So she grabbed the book in her hands and said "Ok lets see what my answer is right now" And she closed her eyes and whispered a little prayer. Now at this point a was franticly praying that she would open to a scripture that would be an answer for her. And where did she open up to... The Index! I was like Dang it! Why did she have to open there, so is going to read something that doesn't have anything to do with anything! But she started reading about the word cross. And it had a quote there from when Jesus said take up your cross and follow me. Apparently that was exactly what she needed to hear in that moment, and she started crying and said I know, I know this book is true! Her name is Camila, she is 37 and lives alone. She is super super smart and way funny. She is an English teacher, and speaks Portuguese, English, Spanish, Italian, German, Turkish, and a little French and Latin! anyways she is soooo Elect... When we went back there 2 days ago we about the restoration and when we told the fist vision and when we finished she was like oh wow! I just got goose bumps everywhere! haha then we talk about the word of wisdom because she smokes and drinks coffee, and she was like "you wont believe this, but a couple days ago I felt like I needed to stop drinking coffee and smoking. She had already set a goal that on the 10th of October she will stop. So has been so incredibly prepared! When the Lord said that there are people that are lost from the truth because they know not where to find it, I know exactly what he means, there are so many people out there that are ready. The only problem is that we don't know who they are until we talk to them about the gospel. For this reason I want to Invite all that are reading this to help in this great cause of spreading the gospel. Just open your mouths, invite people to go to church, to receive the missionaries. All of the people in the world, all the people that aren't members that we pass every day are all children of God. They accepted the same plan that we did. They are just lost and don't even know it. It is our responsibility to share the gospel. I love this work! I know that This is the true church here on the earth!

Thanks for all the love and support!
Elder J.D. Schoen

9/27/2010

Hey Everyone!

This past Saturday was awesome! This past week me and my companion were thinking of something we could do to get the work going here. So we planned an exhibition. We went to the entrance of the subway which is always packed with people and put up a table with a bunch of books and DVDs, we also made some posters advertising General Conference and Free English class that we are gong to start doing here. Then we just talked to everyone that walked by and got their addresses to bring them a DVD. This was an activity that we did with the entire zone, We did this in 2 locations and in our location it was me and my companion and 3 other companionships. One of the companionships even brought a guitar and played and sang church hymns. It was sooo fun! And we were able to get 49 addresses! So this should give our zone a good group of investigators to start teaching, and hopefully we will be able to see alot of baptisms!

This week I saw my dream car in the street! It was a Black Subaru STi! It pretty much made my day!

We are teaching this awesome guy named Clebson! He has gone to church two times now, and wants to be baptized! but he has an addiction with Cocaine and Cigarettes. But we are helping him out and he is going to be able to stop!

We got a referral this week from a recent convert of this guy that plays the drums professionally and is the manager of a bank! I'm so excited to go there, I hope that everything will work out with him!

But other than that, things are going well. Me and my companion are going to go to Burger King for lunch then we are going to the center of the city to by Harmonicas. We are wanting to learn how to play!

That's it for now!
Thanks for all the love and support!
Elder J.D. Schoen

ps- I Love letters! IF your not busy, write me!

9/20/2010

Saying goodbye to the Old Zone. This was a tribute to Elder Lew

Saying goodbye to Bishop Tyler and his family

Hey Everyone!
So I'm now here in Santana, Sao Paulo! Its crazy here! Its literally the complete opposite of where I was. So this area has like 50 billion apartment buildings, its super rich here and I love it! I've seen more BMW and Mercedes in the past 4 days than I've seen in my life! Its Nuts! Comparing this area to Vila Sonia, This area is more of the "New Money" and Vila Sonia is more of the "Old Money". The Ward here is awesome! It has an average of 100-120 people that go to church every week! This area is really big, we do alot of walking and there is always a ton of traffic! But in our area we have pretty much everything you can imagine. So I decided to make a list of awesome/random things and places they have here...

-Like at least 10 McDonalds

-A Huge Mall

-Bowling Alley

-Small Airport

-A Women's Prison

-Mexican Food Restaurant (which I'm so excited to eat at!)

-Tons of Chinese and Japanese Food

-Carrefour (The French Wal-Mart)

-Sambodromo (The place where carnival happens here in São Paulo)

-Pizza Hut

-Subway

-Burger King

And there has to be many many more things that I haven't found yet! But I'm loving it!

Also I got here on Wednesday, and there was already this older lady that was ready for baptism! Her name is Lucilene and she is like 65 or something and has knee problems, so it took the both of us to baptize her. Which was an interesting experience. We had her sit on a little stool in the water and my companion and I laid her back in the water. It was way awesome, then on Sunday I confirmed her. She is such an awesome lady! So strong!

Baptism of Lucilene

Ok so speaking of companions, my companion is named Elder Viana, he is from Baiha. He is super tall and skinny and eats so much! Its amazing! But he is such an awesome guy! He speaks English like fluently, but with a really funny accent! But we are getting along really well so far!
 
Other than that, life is really good! I'm loving being here! This area and ward is perfect for me!
 
Thanks for all the Love!
Elder Schoen

9/13/2010 a few minutes later I pooped a little

So I Just got a call from President Cooley. I am being transferred. Its not normal that the president calls to let people know about transfers, usually its the zone leader. He said Elder Schoen you are being transferred. And you will go to Sao Paulo North Stake to be the Zone Leader there. Do you accept this calling? (That's when I pooped a little) and then I said Yes. So I'm not sure exactly what the name of the ward and neighborhood is, but Ill let you know next week. I just know that its the zone in the mission that baptizes the least! So this will be an adventure!

9/13/2010

Me, Samira, and Elder Calvert

From Left to Right: Bishop Tyler, Samira, Me, Elder Calvert

Hey everyone!

This week was sweet! On Saturday night Samira was baptized! Everything went perfect! There were a ton of people from the ward there! The Young Womens president made a giant cake for her! And her family was there, and they all got really emotional during the baptism! It was an awesome experience!
On Friday we went to this town called Pilar do Sul that's like an hour away to help the Elders out there. That town has a super small branch and the area had been closed for a couple months, and 2 weeks ago it opened again and the Elders that were sent there were having trouble getting started there. So we took a day to go there and work with 4 Elders in the area. It was so awesome! The Elders that are there are a Brazilian and a brand new American. So I decided to go with the Brazilian and put the two new Americans together for the day! I figured it would help out their confidence alot for them to see that they can actually do it on their own. Looking back on it I had alot of faith! haha But it actually turned out to be so good! They ended up finding an awesome family and marked a baptism date with one of the family members! and Me and Elder Andrade (the Brazilian) ended up finding an awesome couple that is already married (miracle) and they accepted a baptism date too! So now they have some good investigators to start working with. It was really a day of miracles! I'm so proud of Elder Calvert! He is such a stud! We have been trying really hard to just speak Portuguese when we are outside of the house and its going great! He is light-years ahead of where I was with the language when I had as much time as he does!

But that's about it for now. I'm just waiting for the call that were going to get today about transfers. Transfers are going to be on Wednesday! I hope I stay!

Love,
Elder Schoen

9/6/2010

Hello Everyone!!!
This past week was super tiring! Every day this week we had the leadership training in Sorocaba, so every day we woke up early and got on a packed bus to Sorocaba and then came back to Salto every night. But despite having a limited amount of time to work in our area this week, we ended up having a very productive week! One of the days after the training Elder Briggs came with us to our area to work the night with us and then sleep at our apartment! It was so fun! That was probably the last time I will get to see him because he is going home on the 15th! So unless I get transferred on the 15th I'm not going to see him again! Its crazy how fast the time goes, that he is already going home. Before I know it, its going to be me!!!

Generations, Elder Briggs came to our area for a day to do a division with us

We also found out that at the End of October Elder David A. Bednar is going to come talk to our mission! I'm so excited because he is my favorite apostle!
Our investigator Samira is super strong, she has been reading the Book of Mormon and is in 2 Nephi 9 right now, and she is going to be baptized on Saturday, everyone is super excited! Especially all the young men of the ward! haha because she is a cute girl and this ward is very lacking in young women, let alone pretty young women!
So Naiara, the 17 year old girl of the big family, that was supposed to get baptized is going to have to wait a while, a couple months ago she had a problem with the law, and so she is waiting for the court to make a decision then after the make a final verdict she can be baptized. She just cant be baptized before because if she gets baptized and then gets convicted she will have to a excommunicated. And we don't want that. But she is super strong, its been like 2 weeks since she has smoked and she is going to church every week!
We are also teaching a couple named Luis and Efginia, they have gone to church a ton of times he is just waiting to get enough money so that they can get married. He just finished the book of Mormon this past week and yesterday he finished the book "Our Legacy" he is pretty much the strongest investigator I've had on the mission so far! I'm excited for him, its just taking forever! I hate it when people have to get married!

Me and Elder Calvert at lunch this sunday. Brazilian Lasagna

Other than that things are going great! I'm loving being with Elder Calvert! He is such a stud! I've never seen someone that is such a hard worker in my life, he is going to be the best missionary ever! ... If he isn't careful he is going to be translated soon and I'm going to be left without a companion!
Thanks for all the love and support,
Elder J.D. Schoen

Sunset

8/30/2010

Hey everyone!
On Friday we had a baptism!!! Jussara, one of the girls from that family we are teaching was baptized. Friday was such a crazy day. So it all happened like this... Friday morning we went to the chapel to fill up the baptismal font (it usually takes about an hour or two, so we just sit there studying while the water runs to fill up the font. So the font filled up about one foot with water and then the water just stopped!!! We started freaking out and started testing the other faucets in the building which were working, it was just the one to fill up the font that stopped, so we got some buckets and started filling up to font with buckets that we were filling up with sink water, and we started to realize that it was going to take all day, then we discovered that as we were putting water in the water level was getting lower... the plug at the bottom wasn't in all the way and we were losing water fast, so my companion kicked off his shoes and jumped in there to put the plug on tight,and I took a picture (refer to picture 1) and just when we thought it couldn't get any worse, all the water stopped! So we prayed... and then we started looking for a solution, and outside we found a hose and hooked it up to this faucet. But then we ran the hose through a window in the chapel. So once again the font started filling up, but really slowly! By this time it was already 10 till noon and we had a lunch appointment like 20 minutes away for 12:00. So we turned off the water and prayed that when we returned the water to the building would be working again. So we went to lunch and then we had a teaching appointment at 2 then we got the the chapel and about 3:30 and the baptism was planned to start at 7, so if the water to the building wasn't working the font wouldn't be filled up in time, we then crossed our fingers and started turning the knob, and then...Water started exploding out, it was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen!haha I don't think I've ever been so thankful for running water before! So the baptism was about to start and Jussara and her family got there, Lorena who is 8 and couldn't make up her mind got there and decided she would be baptized, she even got all dressed up in the baptismal jumpsuit and we were about to take a picture and one of her brothers said something to her and she threw and little drama fit (that reminded me of my sister Megan) and she went and changed out of the clothes and didn't want to be baptized anymore... so It was just Jussara that was baptized, but it was awesome! Elder Calvert baptized her, his 1st baptism on the mission! IT was Sweet!

Elder Calvert ´putting the plug back in the baptismal font

The baptism photo

Ok so I'm going to tell you all how crazy weird Brazil is! So that girl that we are teaching named Samira who is 16 has been going to church and she will be baptized on September 11th. But we started teaching her mom named Iris too, who also went to church on Sunday, but now to the strange part... So Iris is 29 years old.. ya do the math... she had Samira when she was 13, and she is now the mom of 6 children! The father of Samira and other children is the Cousin of Iris. Ya, she married her cousin when she was 13 because she got pregnant with his child! Crazy! So she is now separated now from her cousin, (separated not divorced) and is living with a 22 year old guy. That is one dysfunctional family!!! The gospel is going to be so good for them! I'm excited! haha
This week I will be going to Sorocaba every day for a leadership training thingy of the mission. So I this week probably isn't going to be very productive, but it should be cool.
Other that that things are great! Its getting super hot and sweaty! ...In 10 months from today I will be on an airplane heading home! (I'm not trunky, just excited!)

Love you All,
Elder Schoen

8/23/2010

Almoço (That means lunch!)

Hey Everyone!

This past week was kind of sad cause all the people that we thought were going to get baptized didn't end up happening... So the oldest of the 3 sisters (Naira), wasn't able to stop smoking yet and the other two want to be baptized on the same day as their sister, so those 3 baptisms fell :( ... But we are hoping that it will happen this weekend!!! On Saturday we did a fast with that entire family (8 people) and almost everyone smokes and almost everyone fasted that they could stop smoking and be baptized. It was a really cool experience to see everyone so excited! And on Sunday we were able to get 6 (babies not included) of the 8 to go to church!
So the picture that I sent walking to church is with one of the grandchildren (Ana Paula) on my shoulders and the mom and dad of the family (Luis and Rozeli) This Sunday was awesome, we had 11 investigators at church which was a miracle! Usually if we are able to get like 4 or 5 its a good day! Things are going really well, we are teaching a ton of lessons and walking ALOT! It's starting to warm up here, which I'm so not excited about!
We also found this week this awesome old lady! her name is Sonia! She is 74 and has a daughter that is married with 3 kids and lives in Salt Lake!!! Her daughter and family are members of the church! Sonia has been to visit there 3 times and during those visits she has been to the Christis statue, seen the Mormon Tab Choir, and done an open house of the Salt Lake Temple! And she isn't a member yet!!!! So we went there this week and she talked and talked and talked all about her life story! It was really cool. I hope that we will be able to get her be baptized! I don't know how much time she has left! haha jk... but seriously!
We are also teaching this 16 year old girl named Samira, that we met on the bus one day. She was gone to church these past two weeks and is super excited! We have already taught her everything and she doesn't have any problems with the word of wisdom, and she even broke up with her boyfriend the day after we taught the law a chastity!... ELECT! So we are hoping that she will be baptized soon. She said she wants to get baptized, just that she will let us know when she feels ready. So our challenge is to explain/ convince her that she is ready!

But that's about it for now! Things are going super well! Just loving life!

Playing the guitar and singing with Elder Calvert at a Family Night

Elder Schoen

This is a super rickety bridge that we walk across almost every day, and everyday I feel like its going to break and I will fall through!

Hot Sunny Day!

8/16/2010

Playing Risk on P Day

Hey Everyone!
Things here are going great! This week was super eventful and super busy! We have a ton of people that we are teaching right now and they all live on completely opposite sides of the city! So I've been using the pedometer that my mom sent me and we have been walking about 8 miles a day. Its pretty awesome. Im definitely getting a work out! (a much needed workout, because the members here LOVE us and we eat like 5 meals a day!)
This Saturday we have 4 people that are scheduled to be baptized! But we are going to need a huge miracle! We have been fasting and praying a ton! So 3 of them are sisters, Naiara (17 yrs old), Jussara (11 yrs old), and Lorena (8 yrs old). So the oldest used to be Crazy! Just a little info on her past.... She has a 3 year old child, she smoked 2 packs a day, and used to use drugs. So as of yesterday she only smoked 2 cigeretes, but she has to stop today or else she cant be baptized! Jussara is the only one that doesnt have any problems she is just super excited to be baptized! and Lorena is a sassy little 8 year old girl that likes to use a bikini still! She is addicted to coffee and we cant get her to stop, and she has to stop to be baptized. So we are needing two miracles to happen so that Naiara, and Lorena can be baptized too! The 4th person is the cousin of the bishop's wife. She doesn't really have any problems, she has just been super busy this past week so we haven't been able to teach her all the things we have to teach her before the baptism, so we are praying that we can get a hold of her this week, and finish teaching all the lessons.
Other than that we have an awesome couple named Luis and Efiginia, that need to get married to be baptized. He is going to mark a wedding date today at the Cartorio ( its the place that you fill out the papers to be married, and i dont know how to say it in English) They are super stong and excited. He is reading the BOM and is already in Mormon! They feed us dinner almost every night. Its awesome!
Other than that we have a couple of other people that we are teaching with potential. So lets hope everything goes well!

Cool things that happened this week...

-We learned how to make bread

-We woke up one day to a cat that got trapped infront of our door, and had been there all night meowing

-I started doing push ups in the mornings and realized im really out of shape (upper body speaking)

-I learned how to play and sing "A childs prayer" on the guitar. My companion plays super well and taught me!

-I found out that Eclipse already came out! Whaaat! Im going to have so many movies to watch when I get back!

-Sunday the Gospel Principles teacher didnt show up so I was told that i would teach it as I walked into the classroom! haha Im really good at pretending to know what im talking about!

-Today for Pday we played Risk at the bishops house.

But thats about it!
Love,
Elder J.D. Schoen

8/9/2010

Hey Everyone!




This was a way cool week. Some sweet miracles happened. But the coolest of all is with this guy we are teaching named Luis. He is like 28 and has two kids and needs to get married to the woman that he is living with. Well anyways he is super poor and his work hadn't paid him in like 3 weeks so he was struggling a lot. So he said he was praying a lot and started reading the Book of Mormon and every time he opened to a random page and it was always a story about patience and said something to the effect of have patience with your trials for one day you will rest from your trails. And then when he was laying on his bed he got a phone call from his bank saying that they had opened up a line of credit of 1000 reais for him! So of course he accepted and got money to pay the bills and buy food and then he took some of the money and gave it to the bishop cause he wanted to pay tithing! haha He isnt even baptized yet! It was awesome!!!! Then the next day his work called him and paid him for the 3 weeks of work that he had done! Its so cool to see how God works miracles in the lives of people that have patience and just continue putting God in first place!



So Saturday night I got a call from the 1st counselor of the Bishopric, " Hey Elder do you think you can give a talk tomorrow in sacrament meeting!?" haha so I graciously accepted of course. So that was fun preparing a last minute talk!



Yesterday me and my companion were walking in the street and this guy ran up to my companion asking if he was a Mason, and was like "I know your a Mason, come into my house" and started pulling on his arm, and my companion like yanked his arm free and we got away safely! It was so funny because my companion had no idea what was going on! I asked if afterward if he understood what the man was saying, and he was like, not a word. I just knew that he was yelling something and trying to pull me into his house! haha Crazy People!



So my companion is so awesome! I love him to death! He is already speaking the language way way better than I was when I first got into the field, and he is a super hard worker. I think we are going to have a ton of success together! I'm super happy right now! I love being a missionary, and there isn't another place that I would rather be in the world than here in Salto de Pirapora, Brazil serving these people!



Thanks for all the love and support!... and just a reminder to everyone, I still Love getting letters! :)



Elder J.D. Schoen

7/28/2010

Hey Y'all!

This week was AWESOME!

This was the baptism saturday night! Lucas, Me, Giovana, and Elder Barroso

So to start off on Saturday Lucas and Giovana were baptized. It was a way cool experience. Lucas picked me to baptize him and Giovana picked my companion Elder Barroso. There were a lot of members that went to support them. They were both miracles that they were baptized! Its awesome to see how the Lord is blessing us!

Us with Giovana and her little sister

Friday night the bishop's son Ricardo was baptized. Friday was his birthday and he turned 8. Last week the family of the bishop (Dad, Mom and Brother) from American Fork, UT came into town for the baptism. So this week was way cool to able able to talk to people that are Americans that were like 5 miles away from my house last week! haha I feel so bad for them because none of them speak a lick of Portuguese... they are suffering. But its fun to be able to practice my English with them!

Just having fun!

This morning we got a phone call from the bishop. He was like "Hey Elders, what do you have planned today for your pday?" and we said "Nothing" cause we literally had nothing to do. So he invited us to his house to eat BBQ with his family for lunch and then go fishing with them! It was awesome! Pretty much the coolest thing happened... I was the only one to get a fish!!!! It happened like this... So my companion got a nibble and he started reeling in the fish but the line broke and the fish got away... My line was already out and I decided to reel it in to go to a different spot and I felt something. I was like NO way! I caught a fish and at that point my companion took a picture of me reeling it in. It was a fight cause he was way big! But when I reeled it all the way in, I discovered that it wasn't my hook that was in the fishes mouth... My hook had somehow caught on to my companions broken line and I reeled in the fish that he almost caught just 2 minutes earlier! It was soooo Crazy! I'm a PRO!
 

But I will just let all of you know that the fact that I caught a huge fish today doesn't change anything... I still hate fishing! haha its just sooo boring sitting there all day waiting for something to happen!
 
It was way fun to get to do something different today, and I hope you enjoy the pictures!!!
That's it for this week. Next Wednesday are transfers. Probably me and my companion will stay. But I'll let you guys know next week.

Thanks for everything!
Elder J.D. Schoen

7/21/2010

Hello!
1st things 1st! Friday was zone conference and I received 2 packages!!!! So we have been eating Oreos, Mac and Cheese and Cereal every day since then!

On friday I got 2 Packages!!! One from Mom and one from Kirstin Gunn (Chads Cousin) So we are having a blast eating well!!!

This Saturday we are going to have 2 baptisms which I'm extremely excited about!!! The first is a guy named Lucas. He is 15. We found him like 3 weeks ago on the street. He was sitting on the sidewalk with his friends and we sat down next to him and started talking to them and teaching them. We invited all them to baptism and Lucas and his cousin William accepted. We have been teaching the two of them but unfortunately William isn't really interested. But they have gone to church the past two Sundays and last week they went to a stake activity (super Saturday).

He is way excited!

This is me and Lucas. He is going to be baptized on Saturday!!!

The other person is a 12 year old girl named Geovana. With her it was a miracle. She has been going to church for some time now, and she has always really wanted to be baptized but her mom doesn't let her. So we talked with Geovana and told her that if she has faith her mom will let her, but she has to pray every day asking Heavenly Father and then every day ask her mom (I figured God would do a miracle or the mom would get annoyed after enough time and just let her be baptized! haha) So it didn't even take 3 days and Geovana ran up to us in the street yelling "Elder Elder! I'm going to be baptized! My mom wants to talk to you guys tomorrow night!" So we talked to her mom and she signed the baptismal form to be baptized and this Saturday night will be her baptism! Miracle!!!

That's just about everything new in my life here!
Thanks for all the love and support!
Elder J.D. Schoen

7/14/2010

This is me sitting on the entrance sign of the city.

Holy Cow!!! Time flys!


It seems like yesterday that i was here emailing the last email. Its amazingly true what they say that time flys when your having fun!

So today was an awesome P-day! So our bishop here likes us ALOT! which is awesome! Like I said he is American and is from American Fork, UT. I found out that he played on the drum line in high school and at BYU. So we have had alot to talk about! haha

This past week my companion decided that he wants to learn how to play football. (or futbol americano) <-- Thats what the Brazilians call it. So we asked the bishop where we can buy one and he said the only place is at the mall in Sorocaba, which is the closest big city to where we are... its about 45 minutes away. And so he offered to take us there on p-day and then take us to McDonalds and buy us lunch. Of course we accepted! haha So thats what we did today!
We are already planning to start a little football league here to play on our P-Days. There are a ton of people interested (members and investigators) so this next wednesday we are going to play! Im so excited! Ill be sure to send pictures in the next email.

Funny Story: This sunday a drunk wandered into the church. I got to talking to him and he told me that before he entered he was sitting on a bench in front of the church and felt that he needed to enter, but then the devil started talking to him and told him that he is not aloud to enter and that he needed to go to the bar instead! But he was like i just knew I had to enter this church, so now im here! And I was like well good! We are glad that you are here. So when he entered to sacrament meeting he stopped in the doorway and look at the bishop, who was sitting up at the pulpit and said to me " That man right there is the Judge of God... Im going to go talk to him!" Then he practically ran up to the front and started talking to the bishop. It was so funny the way that he said it. After talking to him a little more he told us that we could pass by at his house and leave a message with him, But we discovered that he lives in a town called Capâo Bonito, its like 100 kilometers away. (Not part of our area)

The work here is going really well, we have a ton of people that we are teaching and if everything goes right we should start having a couple baptisms! :)

But thats about it for now! Thanks for all the love and support!
Elder J.D. Schoen

7/7/2010

Hey Everyone!

This week was a great week of work! The last week we were struggling finding people to teach and we were fasting and praying alot to find people to teach and baptize. When I got here in this area they only had one family that they were teaching and they have to get married before getting baptized, so its going to take a while. And the first week here it was super hard to find people, but this week Heavenly Father really blessed us. We were able to find a couple awesome families and other people that have accepted baptism dates. We are super happy and super busy now with a ton of people to work with!

On Sunday we got to the church and the sacrament meeting was about to start and the bishop stood up holding the microfone and the cord in his hand. The cord was cut in half. He was like " If any of your kids were loose in the church with scissors I think one of them cut the mic cord. But if it wasn't one of your kids then it was someone that entered into the church and cut it, and it was vandalism." So we discovered that it wasn't anyone's kids. Someone had broken into the church and cut the mic cord. How ridiculous huh!? So it was fast and testimony meeting and everyone had to practicallly yell at the pulpit to be heard.

Other than that nothing really exciting happened. But I did discover something... Now that ive been walking around this town for 2 weeks I discovered something interesting... This town doesn't have a single street light! haha its a small town!

But im loving it here! and tomorrow I will hit 1 YEAR ON THE MISSION!!!!!
Elder J.D. Schoen

6/30/2010

I would just like to start off by saying that exactly one year from today I will be arriving at the SLC airport! YES!!!!!


Ok so this week was pretty cool! But i feel like ive entered an episode of the twilight zone... Elder Schoen was sent back in time like 100 years to a cowboy village in Brazil! This weeked there was a Rodeo here and so everyone was just riding horses around. Like the whole week i didn't see one single car, just horse drawn carriges. I saw the funnist thing ever! I saw a horse drawn carriage with a sound system, like huge speakers and subwoofers! ...Ok so back to explaining about this little town. This place is lacking technology, its kinda cool, but kinda rough. For example... Our house doesnt have a washing machine... Thats right! I have the privilege of washing my clothes by hand... its awesome! haha NOt! But im liking it alot here. The people are sooo cool. So laid back and relaxed, its so different of the craziness of the city!

So here in Brazil there is a church that is really strong, its called the Christian Congregation. They are super weird and the women cant cut their hair and can only wear skirts and have the wear veils when praying. Well anyways this town is like 80 percent Christian Congregation! So this week me and my companion decided to knock on a door and the lady opened up the door and was like oh good! Enter! We were just about to pray, pray with us! So I got all excited and just stormed in... when I turned the corner I saw something I wasnt expecting, in the living room were 10 people from the Christian Congregation, all the women with their veils on and in the middle was a big black man, he reminded me of the guy from the Green Mile! Ya I was scared! So we entered and there was a thick tension in the room, like everyone was thinking "Oh great! The freakin Mormons are here!" So we just stood there against the wall and the big black man started praying it was so weird. I wanted to laugh, I was doing everything possible to not laugh, so I started praying to not laugh, then the desire to laugh passed and I started to get really scared, I felt gross inside, so I started to pray that We would be protected ( just to give you guys an idea what it was like it wasnt so much of a prayer, but everyone together talking in creepy voices and chanting weird stuff, and it lasted like 15 minutes) So then i started praying that we would have an opportunity to teach them, thats when the big black man stopped and looked at us for like 10 seconds and asked us to say something. So we started teaching about Jesus Christ, you know, stuff that everyone would agree on. Then the Big black man was like "Thank you, I know that you were sent here by the Lord to talk to us today" Then he looked at me in the eyes for a good 15 seconds, it was super awkward and he said right know I have something to say and I know that you will understand me, and I was like " Ok go ahead" and he started speaking in Italian, i dont know what he was saying but i know it was italian, then he switched to French, and then to spanish, when he was speaking in spanish I was understanding him, he wasnt even saying anything, he said something about an angel behind us and tears and that we need to catch the carpool to europe to teach the people there! It was super funny, I was just trying not to laugh the whole time. And he was like did everyone understand, and Everyone said ya, but i know that no one understood, they just all wanted to make it seem like he had the gift of toungs, and I replied No. I was like "Sorry, but i honestly didnt understand a word you just said" and then it got super awkward, and he was like well anyways thanks for your time and told us that we could come back anytime. So we left and we just looked at each other and were like What the Heck just happened! It was so weird and funny! I love the mission, the funniest things happen!

But other than that things here are going super well! I really like this area and the people and ward members are sweet!

Thanks for all the love!
Elder Schoen


 

This is from the Roof of our house... Salto de Pirapora, its big isn´t it! haha

Me infront of a little lake near the center of the town

This is a funny story... So one night this week, tuesday night to be exact, we stopped by the church to use the bathroom and what did we find in the bathroom... this dog that had been trapped in there since sunday. The poor thing had just been curled up in a ball in the dark bathroom for 2 days. We tried to get him to leave and he just sat there shaking and wouldnt move. Then we saw that it had a collar and realized that it belonged to one of the members in the ward... The member brought their dog to church and forgot it and it got trapped in the bathroom! haha