4/21/2010

Hello!

Ok so things are going super well here! Tomorrow we are going to have a baptism!!!!!!!!!! I'm so happy/excited! Becasue its been forever! But it's that kid that I was telling you about, Paulo. The one that plays soccer professionally. He went to church this past sunday (you have to go to church 2 times to get baptized) And we planned the baptism for tomorrow night at 8:30, it will be after seminary so all the young men and women of the ward will be there! And afterwards there will be cake and a little part/reception! Everyone is super excited!

Today we went to the center of the city again! It was fun! We ate at a churrascaria (its the same thing as tocanos) buts its all you can eat meat and pizza! It was sooo good! I dont think ill be able to eat for the next 3 days becasue I ate so much! :)

The talk in sacrament went well. My companion said it was kinda hard to understand me because my accent is so strong that when I talk into a microphone or a cell phone its hard to understand. But i think everyone understood enough to get the point.

But I think thats about everything for this week. It was a great week!

Thanks for all the love and support!
Elder Schoen

P.s. I love letters!

Me and 3 of the missionaries that were in the CTM with me

Me and My companion, Elder Duarte

Me playing with the kids!

4/14/2010

Hey!

Ok so this week was super awesome! It flew by!

We were able to mark a acouple baptism dates and we are really working hard to make friendships with the members here so that we can get refrences. This area is impossible to have success working alone. We have to have the help of the members, but right now we have a couple of solid investigators that we are teaching, but we need more. So this week we are really going to work hard to get refrences and new investigators.

The bishop here has asked me to give a talk this Sunday. Im kinda freaking out. Becasue as ive already told you... this ward is crazy stacked with super powerful people. Tons of ex-Bishops, ex-Stake Presidents, ex-Mission Presidents, and 2 area 70s. But im happy about the topic, it will be about how the members can help the missionaries... Exactly what we are needing! So im super nervous but excited becasue I think it will really help the members start helping us!

So Elder Briggs, my first companion, is the new Assistent to the President (AP) now! So he is super close now and we get to hang out on P-Day. As you can see from the pictures that I sent, today we went to the Stadium of Morumbi. Its where the professional soccer team of São Paulo plays. We got to enter the stadium and took a couple pictures. It was super fun to see Elder Briggs and hang out with him!

But thats about it for this week. Enjoy the Pictures!
Love,Elder Schoen


 

Elder Schoen and Elder Briggs

This was Me and my Dad(Elder Briggs) and my Son(Elder Duarte)... 3 Generations!!!
Me and Elder Duarte and front of the Logo of São Paulo Futebol Club

Elder Briggs and Elder Schoen

Me and the São Paulo Mascot

Our super skinny/tall pryamid!

This was me getting ready to go out and work on a cold rainy day.

Letter from a mom

I received this email today... I would like to share it with you.  Love Kaelene

Hi,


I dont know english well but I want to try to talk with You. My name is Lélia and I am at the same Ward of Your son ElderSchoen ,now :Vila Sonia- Sao Paulo Stake( Sao PauloTemple is part of our Stake ).Like You ,I also have one son at the mission, in Tokyo,Japan. Elder Stavi , my son will come back home, next year(2011) in february. We are very happy to have Him at the mission. He is our only and youngest boy. He has 2 oldest sisteres. My husband is an engenhering and works to the Church office in Brasil. He works in constructions of Chapels.

Like missionary mom I would like some one in Japan wrote to me to talk about my son !So,Yesterday when I was at the Sacramental meeting I decided to Write to You .We were sitting close Elder Schoen and They were with a big investigatiors familly, they have a lot of little childrens !And He was taking care of all ,with patience, smiles, and love...like an oldest brother(We know that He is the oldest) . And now He received a new companion,a green one, so He has to do every thing alone.But He is doing very well !His last compie was from Brasil too and They were very well together. Yesterday ,I talked to Elder Schoen that will be very good to His portuguese to have all this brasilians companions.And also He will know better then every one the brasilian people .I allready served in a mission and I Know that the mission presidente only give the greens to the best missionaries, He chose very well. My son also received one green missionary, last week !So, Yesterday at the Church because Your son I remenber my son. They are having the same experiences!

Dont be worry, we love the missionaries in our Ward and in our Stake.All of them.

Now You have my email if you ever need it ! Thank You for send ing Us Elder Schoen!

With love, Lelia Stasevskas

4/7/2010

Hello!

Ok to start, I took a lot of pictures, but the computer here is being weird and its not letting me send pictures. So I will try again next week.

Today we had transfers. Elder Sales, my companion was transfered. He got transfered to São Roque. Which is where I served before this for 6 months. My new companion is named Elder Duarte. He is Brazilian and is new. Today is his first day on the mission! He is pretty cool, and is from Rio Grande do Sol. It will be a challenge with him, but he is super excited to be here serving a mission, so it will be way good! He was baptized 1 year ago, so he is still learning stuff about the church. He has a lot to learn still but he has a super strong testimony! I'm excited!

I'm still here in Vila Sônia, and things are going well. I'm super excited to have a companion that actually wants to work. I think things here in this area will start to turn around and we will start seeing success.

General Conference was super good. and Easter was awesome too! One of the members here bought us Ovos de pascoa. Its a giant chocolate easter egg, and it was soooo good!

Last night I ate Dominos! Here in São Paulo there is a Dominos Pizza and one of the members invited us over to eat with them! It was awesome!

I love the mission. It makes me love my life back at home so much. I've already said this a bunch of times. But here I see and get to help people resolve problems that I didn't even imagine existed. It is super humbling to see how incredibly blessed we are in our lives! I know this church is true! I know that God loves every one of us and knows us individually!

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

P.S. Tomorrow will be 9 months on the mission!!!!!