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