1/27/10

Rodrigo (the boy that I baptized last month) outside his house holding one of his many chickens.

My companion killed a giant mosquito, and this is the mark it left on the wall.

Hey!


One more week passed already? Time is going so incredibly fast right now! It's seriously like the days are like hours and the weeks are like days! I guess it's a good thing, but everyone says that as you get older on the mission the time just passes faster and faster!

This past week was good. My feet have been completely soaked every day! Its rained every day for the past 3 weeks now! During the day it's super sunny and hot and then at 4 or 5 the most intense thunder storms roll in. It rains soooooo hard! Yesterday we were walked down the road to an appointment and the river overflowed and it was impossible to pass and so we had to wait for a while and then we hopped in the back of a big truck and it drove through. haha it was so crazy! There have been a ton of landslides here because the ground so sooo moist and hilly so everyday a different road gets blocked because of a land slide or a fallen tree!

Also there are so many ants here! I've never seen so many different kinds of ants before! Its crazy!

The work is going well, we have a bunch of families that we are teaching but almost all of them need to get married before they can be baptized. It's so weird here. No one gets married! We have a family where the parents are 70 years old and they have been living together for 50 years and have children and grandchildren and they aren't married. its super frustrating! haha

But other than that things here are great! I'm loving my companion, and the ward and my area!

Thanks for all the love and support!
Elder Schoen

1/20/10

Hey!


Ok so sorry this week I dont have any pictures to send. It was a super busy week and I didn't have time to take any pictures. But things here are going well. Its really hot right now, and its been raining every day.

So there is a less active member that we are teaching his son. He is crazy. He knows so much about the bible. He has read like every bible there is and he loves internet apocrafils. He was baptized like a year ago and we don't know how. He says that he doesn't believe in the Book of Mormon or that Joseph Smith was a prophet. He just likes to fight with us. Its actually really funny, and I like it alot! haha But im realizing that I know nothing about the Bible and so today i started reading the New Testiment, hopefull it will help me not feel so stupid when we teach him! haha

One of our other investigators we are teaching recieved and answer that the church and Book of Mormon are true. He said that when he prayed to ask he started crying and felt the spirit super strong. He has a baptism date in Feburary! We are super excited for him!

Other than that, nothing really new is happening, just working and loving it!

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

1/13/2010

Ellen's baptism day

My Zone

Hey!
Ok so I didnt get transfered and neither did my companion. We are both super happy becasue we are getting along great, and I love the people here in São Roque!

On saturday we had a baptism! It was a 14 girl named Ellen. It was super awesome! The day of her baptism just so happened to be the same day as her birhtday! So we coordinated with the Young Womens president and threw a birthday party after the baptism! It was way fun and a bunch of people from the ward came!

Sorry its super short this week, I didnt have much time!

I love you all!
Elder Schoen

1/6/10

Nice tan line!

Learning to play on P-Day!

Hello,

So today is the last p-day till the next transfer. Next Wednesday we will have transfers. Im having mixed feelings on if I want to stay here or be transfered, not that its up to me. haha But this past month has been... different. Its different to have a Brazilian companion. I'm literally the only American in these towns that we work in, and its been a little hard to be away from home for the holidays for the first time. But other than that everything is awesome! I love this town and the ward, the people here are so awesome!

Cool stuff that happened.
So Alexandre, the guy that we baptized a couple weeks ago, is struggling because his ex-wife has his kid and won't let him see him or talk to him on the phone. Zero contact. Its been really really hard for Alexandre. So this past week we had a fast for him and a couple days ago he got a notice from the court that he will get to spend 10 consecutive days with his son each year! We are all super excited for him. Its so awesome to see the little miracles that happend in the lives of people each day.

Here on the mission I am learning that My life is really really really good. Everyday I meet people that are in the worst situations ever and we get to try and help people solve their problems, its a learning experience. For example, on Monday I did a division in Sorocaba. We went to an investigators house that they are teaching. When we arrived the guy was freaking out, shaking, and screaming. We tried to calm him down and nothing seemed to work, after about 15 minutes 2 of his daughters showed up who were 20 and 23 and he was yelling at them to leave and calling them names like slut and whore, and was saying he didn't want to see them and they needed to leave. So I found out that this man was extreemly educated with over 10 years of college and had a great life with 3 daughters and a wife. I don't know how but he slipped into a coma for 3 years! By some miracle he woke up out of the coma to find that his wife was with another man and his daughters and wife had sold everything he owned, all his insurances and things of that sort. So now he has some brain problems because of the coma and he has EXTREEM depression to the point that he has super bad breakdowns, like what we encountered monday night.

So if you think that everything in your life is going wrong...It could be worse. Day after day I have humbling experiences that make me so grateful for the life that I have, family, and situation that I have back home. Every little thing is a blessing.

I am so greatful for this opportunity to serve a mission, to help people, and learn life lessons that I can't learn anywhere else.

Thank you for all the love and support!
Elder Schoen