Elder JD Schoen

4/25/2011

2011-04-25T13:47:00.002-06:00

Hey!

This week was awesome! Wendel was baptized on Saturday! But like always there was alot of trials that happened before the baptism. It started with his mom not wanting to sign the form to let him be baptized, then he decided that he wasn't ready. But after alot of help from god those problems were resolved. Then on Friday night we thought it would be good to go fill up the baptismal font, just so that we could be extra prepared, and avoid any possible problems that could happen the day of. So when we got there Saturday morning 15 minutes before the baptism was supposed to start, we found the font empty!!! All the water drained out!!! So we frantically filled the font and filled buckets of water in the sink in the kitchen and bathroom so it would fill of faster (because normally it takes about 2 hours to fill of the font at this chapel. But in the end everything worked out and Wendel was baptized. It was awesome because his mom went and she loved it, she even cried because she was so happy!

On Sunday I gave a talk. It was sweet! And we got a TON of Easter chocolate from the members in the ward! I've been eating only chocolate for the past 24 hours... I have a headache.

This week Elder Neil Anderson is coming to visit out mission!!! I'm so excited!!!

That's about it for this week.
Love you all!
Elder Schoen

4/18/2011

2011-04-20T15:53:00.000-06:00

We always cut out pictures to make covers for our planners

Me, Tiago, and Elder Manon

Here in Brazil the Big Mac is really small. But in the hands of Elder Manon it looks even smaller!!!

This week was awesome! The baptism of Tiago was really awesome! He was so happy the entire time! I've never seen anyone so Elect!

So after a really difficult fast because of how hot it was we had a sweet miracle that happened on Sunday. There is a young man named Wendel that we are teaching that was still undecided if he was going to be baptized this next weekend or not. So we had a blessing of having an Area 70 named Elder Prieto at our ward on Sunday. So I explained to Wendel who he was and how he is kind of a big deal. Then after the sacrament meeting got over, without Wendel seeing I went up and talked to Elder Prieto and explained to him about Wendels situation and asked him to talk to Wendel. So he took a walk with him around the chapel. Then afterwards we went up to Wendel and were like "WOW! What did he talk to you about?" and he was just like "I don't really remember, I just remember that I felt really really good when he was talking to me, and I want to be baptized this Saturday!" It was sooooooo awesome!!! So he will be baptized this Saturday at 5:30!!! YES!

Also, My Companion broke his bed in half yesterday! He just sat down on it and the wood frame snapped in half! It was really really funny! haha

Just 65 more days!!!

Love

Elder Schoen

4/11/2011

2011-04-20T15:48:00.000-06:00

Noogie!!! Fanther and Son love!

This is Me and Elder Manon with a Sister from the Ward. This sister is Awesome she always calls us to come over and eat food! And her daughter speaks fluent english without an accent, which is sweet!

Hey Ya´ll!

This week was sooo sweet! The transfers were crazy just as expected! My companion (Elder da Silva) was transferred to São Paulo. And I'm training again!!!! My new companion is named Elder Manon! He is from Southern California (Upland). He is a 6´7´´ 280 pound kid! Its awesome! Me and him are getting along so well! Its pretty much a party all the time! So we are now working in Jd Simus only, so as we used to be mostly living in the house at Cerrado we had to move all my stuff to the house in jd. Simus, and then we spent a really really long time cleaning the house, because it had been over 6 months since anyone was officially living it it, and the missionaries that had been there before that had left the place a dump. So after alot of chemicals and elbow grease we were able to turn it into a place that it able to be lived in.

Me and Elder Manon set a goal to baptize 10 weeks in a row. (Which would be every weekend for the rest of my mission) We are super exited because yesterday a huge miracle happened. Well actually 3 miracles happened. 1st... We were freaking out because we need someone to be baptized this next weekend on the 16 to start off our 10 week, but we didn't have anyone. So we fasted on Saturday till Sunday, and on Sunday all the miracles happened. There is a guy who is 24 named Thiago (James in Portuguese) He has gone to church 4 times now, and has read the book of Mormon and the doctrine and covenants, he just works alot so its super hard to teach him. We on Sunday we were finally able to teach him, and we invited him to be baptized, and he was like "Of course!" "What do I need to do to be ready" So we taught him the commandments and he is already keeping all of them, and he already received and answer the the Book of Mormon is true, and he will be baptized this Sunday!!! 2nd... We are teaching a young man named Wendel, he is 17. He is Gabriel´s (the kid that we baptized last month) cousin. He is really interested in the church but every Sunday morning he has Capauera practice.(which is Brazilian dance fighting...look it up on the internet, its sweet!) So that's why he hasn't been able to go to church yet. So we taught him about the Sabbath Day, and left him to make the decision. So we went to church and waited for him to come, and he totally showed up! It was awesome! He should be getting baptized soon. 3rd... There is a family that we have been teaching for a really long time (Edival and Ana Claudia) whose son we baptized a couple weeks ago. They need to get married and they have just been procrastinating marking a wedding date. So we went there last night, and I´ve never talked to someone so boldly with such power and authority. It was nuts! We pretty much just told them how serious the sin is that they have been committing for the last 5 years is, and then I straight up told them " You need to repent!!!" It was a really tense situation but the spirit was testifying so much and it worked, because they agreed to go with us today to mark the wedding date with the judge! So usually the soonest you can mark a date is in 30 days, So next month they will be getting married and Ana Claudia will get baptized!!!

So that's about it. Life it Great!

Love
Elder Schoen

4/4/2011

2011-04-20T15:40:00.000-06:00

Hey Everyone!

General conference was so good! Its amazing how much you can get out of it when you actually watch it and Pay Attention! haha All of the missionaries here are super trunky now, because they spent the whole time talking about how young men need to get married! It was really funny cause after it got over everyone was like, " Man, I need to find a wife!"

This week was kind of slow with the work. A couple of people that we are teaching took some steps back, and aren't really progressing any more. But now, we just need to work hard to find some new people to teach and baptize!

Today we will get the phone call about transfers. There are 20 new missionaries coming to our mission, and only 3 missionaries leaving. So that means that all the areas on the mission will open. Including Jd. Simus. So I'm not sure in which of these these areas president will have us continue working in. Also, the gossip is that alot of zone leaders will be demoted so that they can help train these new missionaries that are coming! I hope one of them is me! I want to train again so bad! Especially cause 6 of the missionaries that are arriving are from Spain! How awesome would that be to have a companion from Spain, then I could learn Spanish!!! But... we will just have to see what happens.

.... I only have 11 more P-Days!!!!

Love,
Elder Schoen

3/28/2011

2011-04-20T15:33:00.001-06:00

The Baptism of Victoria and Yasmin

The Baptism of the family of Marcio. Delair is the mom, and Renan and Gustavo are the two sons.

Hey!

So this past weekend was amazing! I've never seen so many miracles in my life. This past month I've learned so much about faith, and my testimony of fasting has grown so much! On Saturday we were blessed with helping 5 people be baptized! So we ended this month with 7 baptisms! We weren't able to reach our goal, but that's ok. I'm just so happy that I was able to be a part of all these miracles. So on Saturday morning Victoria and Yasmin were baptized. They have been going to church for about 3 years now, but there parents don't want to get married, and never let the girls be baptized. So after alot of prayer and fasting we had a lesson with them and explained really clearly and boldly. We talked to them about the importance of following Jesus. We talked about how we need to follow him today and right now, we should never wait to follow Jesus Christ. So then we said "We are representatives of Jesus Christ, we are inviting you, as if it was him inviting you, to follow him and be baptized." And they agreed to be baptized. Then we asked them when they are going to follow being baptized, and they said " Today! Can we be baptized today?" And instantly their mom got mad, and was like NO NO NO NO, you aren't ready you need to prepare more, then out of no where, (this was the help of the Lord) Their dad, who is Bolivian, and always really angry was like "No! The girls NEED to be baptized, and need to be baptized now!" And then the mom decided that it was alright, so we called one of the elders and he came and did the interview, and they were baptized the next day!!!

Then there is a family that we started teaching 3 weeks ago. Its the parents and two sons. The dad (Marcio) was baptized when he was 15 and went to church 3 times then went inactive. During his time away from the church he got married and had 2 boys. Well 3 weeks ago he decided that he wanted to return to the church and bring his family. So we taught his family and they are all super elect! On Saturday night they were all baptized!!! On Sunday after the Sacrament meeting I got to be part of the ordination... Marcio got the priesthood, then I got to watch him give the priesthood to his two sons. It was the coolest thing in the world, cause he was so lost, he had no idea what was going on, but the bishop helped him out with the words. But it was such a cool experience.

Unfortunately our Zone wasn't able to reach our goal of 40 baptisms. But so many miracles happened and we were able to help 22 people be baptized and confirmed!!! The record for this zone in one month is 12. And with our faith and ALOT of help from the lord we were able to make in difference in 22 peoples lives in one month!!!

I know that this Church is True. I know that the message that I get to share with people is true! I know that The Lord is guiding this work, and I'm so grateful to be able to be a part of it!

Love
Elder J.D. Schoen

100 Days until Elder Schoen's return !!!! YaHOOOO :)

2011-03-23T13:57:00.001-06:00

3/21/2011

2011-03-21T15:14:00.002-06:00

We went exploring to find a shortcut, but we ran into a creek that we had to cross using this pipe. I almost fell in!

This is Luis Gustavo. He was baptized on Sunday. His parents are getting ready to get married and they will be baptized next month!

This is Luis Gustavo and his parents, Edival and Ana Claudia.

Hey!

This week was amazing! We had so many miracles happen! So here in our zone, the record of baptisms in one month is 12. As of right now we have 14! and the crazier thing is that this weekend there are 10 more people preparing to be baptized! We are all at a loss for words, just extremely grateful for the miracles that Heavenly Father is doing. It is such a great feeling to know that because we are exercising our faith so many other people are being able to be blessed!

Sorry I'm not writing much, but next week I will fill you in on exactly what happened!

Love
Elder Schoen

3/14/2011

2011-03-14T14:48:00.000-06:00

We found a dead possum in the street.

This was Gabriel at his baptism. He was baptized by djalma (young mens president)

Hey Everyone!

This week was awesome! So many miracles happened, it will be impossible to tell all of them, but I will try to tell the best ones. So as you know, we have a goal of 40 baptism in our zone in this month of March, which the record of baptisms in the zone is 12. So this past weekend we had 4 huge miracles happened, and 4 people were able to be baptized in the Zone. There were alot of spiritual experiences and people getting answers to their prayers for these 4 miracles to happen. Including our miracle in our area, Gabriel. So he has been going to church for a month now, and he wanted to get baptized. He is 15 years old. But his mom wouldn't let him, because she felt it was too soon. But we knew that heavenly father would help her so that her son could be baptized. So after alot of praying, fasting and preparation, it got to be Friday (the day before the baptism) and Gabriel had passed the interview, the entire ward was already invited to the baptism, he had already picked out his baptism jumpsuit that he would use, but his mom still hadn't authorized the baptism. But surprisingly when we got there on Friday, we said a pray and then entered and talked to his mom one more time, but I'm don't remember what was said exactly but she changed her mind! What a miracle! So Gabriel was baptized and it was awesome!

Its amazing how much Satan trying to interfere with the work here. On Saturday morning we got a call from 3 different Elders that were all sick, 2 with Pink Eye, and on doctors orders couldn't leave the house, and the other had the flu. This was a huge problem seeing as how they all had baptisms that night. So me and my companion prayed to know what we should do. The answer came clearly. So we called everyone in the zone and asked them to start praying for these 3 Elders, and we asked for the companions of these Elders to give them a blessing of health and everyone would be cured. After calling everyone me and my companions kneeled down and started praying, during the prayer we both felt comforted like everything was going to be alright. Then about 20 minutes later I got a call from the 1st Elder, "Hey man, ummm, I'm all better!" Then the Second " Hey you will never believe this but I feel way better and my eye is back to normal, its like nothing was ever wrong with it!" Then the third "Whooo! I'm healed!!!!" It was one of the coolest experiences of the mission so far. Everyone was cured so that the work could go forward! I have such a strong testimony, that is grower stronger every day of faith. Its such a simple principle that makes ALL the difference. I'm so grateful for all the miracles that are happing and that I can be a part of all of this!

I love you all! Thanks for all the love and support!
Elder Schoen

3/7/2011

2011-03-14T14:42:00.000-06:00

This is where we study, and these are our two poasters! 10!!!

Can you say TEN!!!

Hey Everyone!

So this week was sweet! Me and my companion set a goal this month to baptize 10 people! Which is kinda crazy because that's more that is normally baptized during a year. But its totally going to happen. There is a book called calling on the powers of heaven, and it gives 17 steps that you have to do to be able to call on the powers of heaven or (have a huge miracle happen) So we made 2 posters and put them on our wall. one of the is the 17 steps, and the other is our plan of how we are going to achieve our goal. One of the things we are doing is like is says in alma 26:22 praying always without ceasing. So me and my companion are trying to be praying all day long, either out loud as we are walking in the street, or in our minds, or we are singing hymns. Its an amazingly spiritual experience. Its been about 6 days now that we have been doing this and I've never felt the spirit so strongly with me in my life! So one of the things that we put into our plan is that we would involve our family, friends, and the members here in this goal. So I am asking everyone that reads this blog to please pray for us that this miracle can happen. That we can find 10 elects and help them be baptized in March. There are also alot of other things we are doing to exercise our faith and show the lord that we have faith and we really believe that this will happen. One of these things is that we decided that we would fast once for every one of the people that will be baptized. So we are going to do 10 fasts during this month. We are so excited! This Weekend a young man that we are teaching named Gabriel is going to be baptized! He is 15, and we found him knocking doors about a month ago. He is really integrated with the youth in this ward. And everyone is super excited for him to be baptized!!!

Story: So we are teaching a man named Gilson. Its safe to say that he is a drunk. He´s been drunk every day of his life for about the past 10 years. But he is such a good guy! He went to church this Sunday, which was awesome! But when we were at church my companion had a super strong urge to give him food, he felt like Gilson was needing food. Weird huh! So during church we went looking for food, and we were asking some members if they had food, but we only ended up finding some bread. So we told him to follow us to the kitchen and we asked him when the last time he ate was, he said that it had been over 3 days!!!! So we offered him some bread and he was so happy. It was way cool to see my companion receive inspiration like that...

So this week we were teaching Gilson and he had 4 friends over, which were all completely drunk. So it was kinda hard to teach, but when we were talking to them one of them got mad at the other and he grabbed him by the shirt and held his fist up like he was going to punch him, but he was so drunk I think that if he would have tried he would have missed! haha And he was like do want me to hit you now? or later? now or later? And we were like whoa whoa whoa stop! You cant hit him! and re looked at us and was like "Really? Why? is it a law of god?" and we were like ''"YES" And then he said oh ''Ok sorry" and let him go. But it was so funny, it was just one of those things you had to be there to see.

Anyways that's about it!
Love you all!
Elder Schoen

2/28/2011

2011-03-14T14:35:00.000-06:00

The final product of everyone.

This is the T-shirt that i made.

These were some of the Elders paiting their t-shirts

Hey Everyone!

Today we had an Zone activity where we painted T-Shirts. Usually the missionaries put their money together to order a Zone t-shirt, but we decided to do it a little different this time, we made our own. It was alot of fun, cause everyone could make their T-shirt exactly how they wanted it! (Pictures included)

This week was really good. We found a couple new families that went to church with us on Saturday! It was awesome!!!

As of tomorrow its just 4 more months till ill be home! WOW!

Sorry I didn't write alot today, but at least there are lots of pictures!
Love
Elder Schoen

We found a Broken toilet in the street, so I just couldnt pass up the opportunity. But I had to take the picture fast before the people that lived there saw me, they were leaving the house right when I was taking the picture! haha

Sportin´ my new tie that my mom sent me! This was at the end of a division that I did with Elder Otterstrom from Provo, UT.

Underneath a convering waiting for the rain to stop.

So an awesome thing happened today! We got a call from a sister in the ward. She was like " Hey Elders are you guys at home? Casue I need to drop something off for you guys" She brought us 2 huge boxes...

...Full of food!!!! WE ARE SO HAPPY!!!

2/21/2011

2011-03-14T14:26:00.000-06:00

The baptism of Sabrina. Me, my companion (Elder da Silva) and Sabrina.

Hey!

This week was awesome! We finally had a baptism! The baptismal service was really good. There were alot of people there to watch, and a couple of our investigators were there. Which helped alot, so they could see what "Mormon baptism" is like. Sabrina asked me to confirm her, which I did. I always get a little nervous giving the holy ghost in front of so many people! But everything went swimmingly.

On Friday I had a severe case of Diarrhea.....But it was all day long and it was violent!... I'm sure you all wanted to know that. haha but it was one of the highlights of my week.

That's about it for this week.
Love,
Elder Schoen

2/14/2011

2011-03-14T14:21:00.000-06:00

On Friday night we got stuck in the rain and got completly SOAKED!!!

And just as we were getting home it started hailing. I didnt know that hail hurt so bad!

Look at all the water that was in my shoe!!!

Hey!

This was the most exhausting week of my mission so far. We walked sooo much, and slept so little, but it was all completely worth it!

So we have been praying and fasting for miracles and for baptisms. But these two areas where we are are kinda difficult... Cerrado hasn't baptized in 5 months, and Simus hasn't baptized in almost a year. So its kinda hard here. But we have been really optimistic and working really hard, and this week it paid off! We have a couple families that we are teaching, and the members are starting to give a ton of references! Like I said last week we had 12 investigators at church, and only one of them we brought with us. And so this week we decided that we needed to do at least the same or better. We planned for a different member to go and pick up each one of our investigators, and we were inviting the members to bring friends to church all week. So when Sunday morning arrived, the most wonderful thing happened. We showed up at the church, without having to run and pick up a single investigator. We waited there and watched all of our investigators show up with members! We had 12 investigators at church again!!! And there was a couple new people that the members had brought that we will start teaching this week! Its crazy how much the two wards are helping us out!

Ok so now to the huge miracle that happened on Saturday! Saturday was a very very hot day. And we were fasting. All of our appointments fell, and we felt like we were dying of tiredness and dehydration. At 7:00 we went to the house of one of the families that we are teaching that needs to get married before getting baptized. The parents names are Marcos and Margarette. Margarette is a member that was less active, and Marcos wants to be baptized, he just has to get married first. They have 3 kids, ages 18, 14, and 9. The 9 year old Sabrina isn't baptized yet. But we wanted to wait to baptize her at the same time as her dad seeing as how it was going to be soon. But when we got there they told us that there was a couple complications with some stuff and they were going to have to wait 3 months to be able to be married, but they don't want to wait that long to baptize Sabrina!!! So this Saturday (Feb 19th) Sabrina will be baptized!!! And Simus will have its first baptism in almost a year!!!! WHOOO!!! We are so excited, and so are the members! Its amazing how miracles happen when we fast!

I love serving a mission, and Its going by way to fast... I never thought that I would say this, but I wish that time would pass by slower.

Love
Elder Schoen

2/7/2011

2011-02-07T15:06:00.001-07:00

So we went to a members house this week and they have like a little farm in the middle of the city,
and this is the 1st peacock that ive ever seen in person!

Up close with the zoom action!

This is about as close as I got to the geese.
The guy said they are mad and they like to bite!

This is a part of Jardim Simus at sunset.

This one was a gutter ball.

Hey Everyone!

This week was so sweet! We are having so many miracles happen! So we have been working alot with the members because this is an area pretty well-off financially. So knocking doors doesn't work very well. So we decided to put into practice a sweet program that I had heard about. And its working so well. So we asked the bishop to pray and choose a family in the ward for us to work with. Then we work just with this one family. We went there and gave a super spiritual lesson and then while the spirit was there, they wrote down the names of EVERYONE that they know that isn't a member. Then we prayed and they picked a way to talk to each of these people about the church (ex: invite to church, give book of Mormon, give an Ensign, Family Night, etc...) Well this family that we are working with are so excited and brought a bunch of friends to church this past Sunday. We also had a couple of people that other members introduced us to at church. It was so awesome! We had 12 investigators at church on Sunday... So there are 4 families where the parents need to get married 1st, but there are also like 5 people that should be ready to be baptized in the next 2 or 3 weeks if everything goes as planned. Its so crazy! The whole ward is getting excited now about doing missionary work!

This week I found out that there is a bowling alley in our area!!!!!!! So we went bowling today for PDAY! It was the worst 2 games that I've ever bowled in my life, but it was so fun. Its amazing how out of practice you can get after 1 year and 7 months. But it was a blast, then we went to Burger King. And the guy at the cash register hooked us up! So usually for 2 people its about 42 reais. But he gave us a huge discount and it was only 25! So right about now I'm one happy camper!

That's about it for this week!
Love,
Elder Schoen

1/31/2011

2011-02-04T14:39:00.002-07:00

This is our chapel.

Me and my companion today...
Yes, I know, I need a hair cut. The barber shop was closed today :(

Hey Everyone,

Well its extremely hot. I'm sweating so bad right now, and its really hard to concentrate. I've lost 4 pounds in the past 10 days since I've gotten here. But its a good thing because I've slowly been gaining weight since I got here on the mission.

This week was really, really awesome. We found 2 families, where one of the parents is a less active member of the church, and the other parent isn't a member. And both of the families have children that need to be baptized! The only thing is that both of the families need to get married first. So we are trying to help them get the money to get married, and get everything all planned out.

So these past couple weeks I've been reading the Book of Mormon alot. During our study time, and during any down time that we have during the day. I'm getting towards the end already, probably this week I will finish the book. But this has been an incredible experience reading it again. I know for a fact that this book is true. It brings me so much happiness in my life, and Its amazing to see how it moves the lives of all the people that start reading it and applying the things that they learn in their lives. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to be a member of the Only True Church on the Earth. The original church that Jesus Christ established when he was here on the earth was restored, along with all the authority, ordinances, and teachings. I'm so grateful to know that my family is going to be together forever. Every day that I read the Book of Mormon my testimony of these things grows. I'm so grateful that I can share these truths with other people and help them change their lives. I love being a missionary!!!

Thanks for all the love and support!
Elder Schoen

1/24/2011

2011-01-24T12:51:00.001-07:00

Last District Meeting Before Transfers (Elder Garner, Me, Elder Wilkinson)

Elder Pereira, Me, Elder Franco

Saying Bye to Cintia and Leandro. This is the Super Elect lady that is going to be baptized on Feb. 5th.

Hey!
So on Wednesday I was Transferred! I'm now in Sorocaba. I'm serving in the Sorocaba Stake, which is the same stake that Salto de Pirapora is part of (I was serving in Salto like 4 months ago) But there is a shortage of missionaries here in our mission so there are a couple of companionships that are taking care of two wards at the same time... and me and my new companion, Elder da Silva, are one of them! So our chapel is the stake center and there are two wards that meet there. Cerrado and Jardim Simus. Cerrado is huge! It takes almost 2 hours to walk from one side of the area to the other. And Jd. Simus isn't that big, thankfully! But its super super hectic working in two areas at the same time. Because its such a long walk from our house in Cerrado, to Jd. Simus, we are living in both areas. So our day is basically like this. We work in Cerrado one day and we sleep there, then the next day we study in the morning then walk to Jd. Simus and work there for the day and sleep there. Then the next day we study then walk to Cerrado to work there. Its really really exhausting living in two places at the same time. I had to buy another toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, laundry detergent, shampoo, deodorant, and stuff like that. Its been a really tiring couple of days. And not to mention church on Sunday! What a mess! haha We had to go to double the meeting on Sunday, and let me tell you, its exhausting setting through two sacrament meetings in a row! Oh and did I mention that at the last minute the person that was supposed to speak with the high counsel member canceled. So I had the opportunity to give a talk :) But it want really well, it was a great way for everyone in the ward get to know me really fast!

My companion is pretty cool! He is from Fortaleza. He has the same time as me on the mission. We were in the CTM together. Its pretty cool, cause I remember doing a practice with him in the CTM, when I had no idea what I was doing, but now we are companions.

Sorocaba is SOOOOO HOT! I think I might die here! It wouldn't be so bad if AC existed here!

Anyways that's about it for now!
Love you!
Elder Schoen

1/17/2011

2011-01-21T13:58:00.000-07:00

Hey!

Ok so today this computer isn´t letting me download the pictures that I took to send them... so no pictures this week... sorry!

Tonight we will get the phone call about transfers. Me and my companion are hoping that we will get to stay together, but next week i'll let you know what happened.

Today for Pday we went to BurgerKing!

So remember that blessing/miracle that happened last week? ...Her name is Cinita. She is the lady that her husband was an inactive member, and now he is going to church again and she wants to be baptized! Ya, this week we taught her a couple times and brought some families with us from the ward so that they could make friendships. It was really really cool. Then last night a newly-wed couple offered to have a FHE at their house for our investigators. It is so cool how excited she is, and the ward is for her to be baptized!

So I found out yesterday that my dad has a facebook! haha This guy named Nathan (who is a less active member that we helped re-activate that just turned in his mission papers) said that he found my dad on facebook and started talking to him. He said my dad invited him over for dinner, which he thought was funny because he only lives like 5000 miles away! haha I just thought it was funny to find out that my parents are technilogically updated now, using facebook and all! haha

Other than that, not a whole lot is going on.

Lots of Love!
Elder Schoen

OK so it ended up working, This was us a Burger King Today

1/10/2011

2011-01-21T13:53:00.000-07:00

Just thought everyone would like to see an UNedited email from JD. I think he will need to take English as a second language when he gets back to BYU.

So me and my companion decided to play a prank on one of the Elders that lives with us. He spent all morning looking for his name tag, then we pulled it out of the freezer when he wasnt looking and put it on the table. Then he asked for like the 20th time "Have you seen my name tag" I was like "I dont know, did you look it the kitchen". His reaction was so funny!!!

Elder Da Rosa melting the block of ice!

Finally was able to get it out of the ice!

These are the Elders I live with in our Kitchen. So yesterday was Elder Wilkinsons birthday. (He is the one next to me, he is from Texas) So me and my companion threw a suprise birthday party for him and made a mint chocolate cake, chocolate chip cookies, and brownies! He was really really happy!

Playing ping pong on our way smaller tha regulation size table!

This week we combined the two districts to have a breakfast and district meeting at our house to help the Elders be more excited! It worked well. It was a very spiritual experience, and everyone loved it!

Me and My companion after ping pong.

Hey Everyone!

Well this week there are lots of pictures! This week was so good! At our meeting we had with the missionaries in our Zone we talked about spiritual experiences, and everyone took turns bearing testimony and telling stories of mericles and spiritual experiences that happend to them on the mission. It made everyone was excited, and then On Saturday till Sunday we did a fast as a Zone for more spiritual experiences... Well me and my companion had a mericle happen!

So things in this area a kinda really hard. Its been over 2 months now since we´ve had someone that has accepted a basptismal date and since we´ve had an investigator at church. So this week we found a man that moved here from a different part of the city that was being taught by the missionaries a long time ago. So we met with him and he said that he wanted to be batized and he would do all that was necissary to prepare himself! Sweet huh!? But the catch is that he is kinda crazy. Like maybe is a little slow mentally from all the drugs he did in the past. So we were kinda skeptical if he would actually go to church like he promissed. But Sunday morning at 9:00 he was there, and took notes in sunday school and asked questions and made comments. It was so awesome! So I thought that we had recieved our mericle that we were fasting for. But just wait... It gets better! ... So when sacrement meeting ended (sacrament meeting is last here in our ward) The Elders Quorem President came up to us and said "Elder come here, I want you to meet someone" (The golden words that every Elder loves to hear) Then he introduced us to a man and his wife. He has been inactive for the past 10 years and decided to come back to church. His wife isnt a member and wants to be baptized! YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So this tuesday night we are going to go teach her! Im so excited! After so many weeks of effort and no results, the Lord let us have a mericle! Im so excited for these two people, and I hope that we can keep having success.

Thanks for all the prayers and letters from everyone!
Love
Elder Schoen

1/3/2011

2011-01-03T11:54:00.001-07:00

Hey!

Well its offically 2011! Yes! I'm coming home this year!

Christmas and New Years were really good here in Santana. We were able to eat dinner both nights in the homes of members! We ate like kings!!! I think I'm still full from our New Years Day lunch!

Not much new happened, but I will try and send some pictures that will do all the explaining!
Much Love,
Elder Schoen

Christmas Eve

A shot of our Area

The same place as Picture 1, but at night

Christmas Day

Me and Elder Galvão with a sweet view

New Years Eve, The little girls name is Sofie. She is soooo cute!!

We finished our Puzzle we got for Christmas. (We did it in only 2 P-days)

12/25/2010

2011-01-03T11:33:00.001-07:00

We want to thank everyone who is following JD's blog!!!

We talked to Elder Schoen for quite a while on Christmas Day. He expressed feelings of being "trunky", which means he is looking forward to coming home. He assured us that he LOVES Brazil and LOVES what he is doing, it's just that the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter.

He shared the follow-up story to their trip to the "favela". First of all the public transportation system runs 24 hours a day there. So they got done later than they should have that night and hurried to the bus stop. As they waited and waited they noticed the traffic becoming less and less. The bus was late which was weird, they are very efficient. An hour went by and still no bus. A passer-by told them there was a riot up the street and the mop had set a bus on fire in the middle of the street. That explained the lack of traffic and no bus. So they hurried to the next street over to catch a different bus home. Soon they were on the bus headed toward home. Then they realized the bus they were on was headed in the direction of the riot. So the bus wound up in the line of backed up traffic for a very long time. They eventually made it home safe and sound just very tired.

We were able to talk to him about what is going on with the family, extended family, and life in America in general. He asked about President Obama, the media in Brazil is reporting that he has received death treats and is a terrible president. He is looking forward to going back to school at BYU. He talked about how much he has grown to love being on a schedule. For anyone who knows JD that is a 180 from his normal. He has always been a "free spirit" who felt trapped by an agenda. He talked about wanting to have class everyday so that he could stay on task with his homework - so not JD. So I guess the mission has been good for a lot of reasons.

He did not get his Christmas box from us on time. But I have confirmed that it was delivered on 12/30. So he will get it on 1/5/2011 when he goes to Zone Conference.

We have been so blessed by his service. It is comforting to know he is where he should be and that he is learning things about life that it takes some people a life time to figure out. He is a wonderful son and we are so incredibly proud of him. We are grateful for all the love and support he has been shown by everyone.

Love to all - Kaelene Schoen

ps - He loves letters!!!!

12/21/2010

2010-12-21T18:16:00.002-07:00

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

2010-12-21T18:06:00.000-07:00

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

2010-12-21T17:59:00.000-07:00

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

2010-12-21T17:55:00.000-07:00

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

2010-12-21T17:49:00.000-07:00

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

2010-12-21T17:45:00.000-07:00

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

2010-11-17T16:58:00.000-07:00

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

2010-11-17T16:54:00.000-07:00

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

2010-11-17T16:49:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-25T12:23:00.000-06:00

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

2010-10-18T14:29:00.000-06:00

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

2010-10-18T13:21:00.001-06:00

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

2010-10-18T13:13:00.001-06:00

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

2010-09-27T11:39:00.000-06:00

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

2010-09-20T11:42:00.000-06:00

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

2010-09-20T11:29:00.000-06:00

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

2010-09-20T11:28:00.001-06:00

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

2010-09-20T11:19:00.000-06:00

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

2010-08-30T14:47:00.000-06:00

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

2010-08-23T18:16:00.000-06:00

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

2010-08-21T12:36:00.001-06:00

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

2010-08-09T16:53:00.002-06:00

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

2010-07-29T14:30:00.000-06:00

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

2010-07-21T09:22:00.000-06:00

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

2010-07-15T17:07:00.000-06:00

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

2010-07-15T16:58:00.001-06:00

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

2010-07-02T10:38:00.000-06:00

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

6/23/2010

2010-06-23T12:34:00.000-06:00

Hello Family and Friends.

So I would just like to start off today telling you all about the most amazing thing thats happened to me on the mission. As am telling you this story it may not seem like that big of a thing, but to me it was! So when I got the Vila Sonia at the begining of Febuary We started teaching this Ducinei who is 24, her sister named Leda is a member and was baptized 4 years ago. At the time that Leda was being taught Ducineia was being taught too, but she was never baptized... So for the past 4 years the missionaries have been passing by there teaching her trying to baptize her. To this day I still don't know exactly why she didn't get baptized. We taught her everything and tried to figure out what the problem was and Im pretty sure that during my time teaching her I invited her to be baptized over 100 times. I was determined. So about a month ago I decided that I was going to baptize her, it didnt matter what it would take. So i started praying and fasting specifically for her that she could get baptized, I think I fasted 7 times for her and we would pray everyday that she would get baptized, but then still nothing really happened and I kinda lost hope, but we kept praying and kept inviting her. Then the miracle happened. So shortly after writing my email last week we went to her house and left a message with her and talked to her again about baptism, she said to us, look ive been thinking alot and tomorrow I want you guys to return and ill give you my answer. oh just a side note, for the past month she knew my birthday was comming up and she kept asking me what I wanted for my birthday and I told her I wanted her to get baptized. It would be the best present that anyone could give me... So anyways the next day (thursday) we went back and she just said to me "Elder Schoen, on sunday you are going to baptize me, happy birthday!" I almost started crying I couldnt believe it. I was just like "What did you just say!" So sunday Ducineia was baptized. It was the coolest experience of my life! I really dont think there is anything in my life that ive prayed so hard for, and Heavely Father answered our prayers. Best Birthday Ever!

This was the Biggest Miracle of my Life!!! Best Birthday present I've ever gotten and will ever get!

So that was sunday that she got baptized and then monday night we got the phone call "Elder Schoen was transfered!" So tuesday was my birthday and I spent the day saying bye to everyone. The members here are so awesome! I had 5 birthday parties! It was sweet! But i didn't think it would be so hard to say bye to everyone. I cried saying bye to everyone. I just spent the entire day crying. I didnt think i would be so attached to the people in that ward. It was so incredibly hard to leave. I feel that I did everything that God had for me to do there. I left with a happy satisfaction knowing that I did all I could do. But wow is it hard to leave the people that you grow to love so much!

I woke up to this cake and decorations that Elder Duarte made for me!

This was one more beautiful birthday cake!

Birthday cake from Maria and Rodinei (that couple that we married and baptized)

This was my last birthday cake of the day... number 5!!!

From left to right. Ducineia, Me holding Carol, Leda, and Cilene. Im going to miss them soo much!

Saying Goodbye

So right now im in a new area with a new companion. My area is called Salto de Pirapora. Its in the middle of no where! Its just a super small town. Its really weird going from the crazy hectic city to a super small relaxed town. But im excited for the new adventures that I will have here. Everyone says that this area is so awesome. Apearently the bishop here is american and plays the drums, Tonight we are going to his house to meet him. I have a feeling we are going to get along well! haha

My new companion is named Elder L. Barroso. He is from Minas Gerais.. he is Brazilian. He looks like an american but he is Brazilian. He kinda speaks english which is pretty cool and he is way excited to work! Im super excited I think that this new area and companion are going to be really great!

New companion, Elder L. Barroso

Well thats about it for now. Im just sitting here with feelings of sadness cause I miss the people that I had to leave behind, and excited anticipation to see what the next chapter of my mission will bring.

Elder J.D. Schoen

6/16/2010

2010-06-16T13:03:00.000-06:00

Hello!

This past Sunday our elect investigator, Paula, was baptized! It was such an awesome experience. So to start off we decided to do the baptism on Sunday after church, which we normally don't do just because converts have to be confirmed in sacrament meeting. So when you baptize someone on Sunday after church you have to wait one week for the confirmation, and this is kinda dangerous with people that had problems with addictions like smoking and stuff. Its alot of time for Satan to work. But we decided to do it anyways because we wanted alot of people to be there. So normally at a baptism there is like 30 people, but on Sunday everyone stayed after the meetings and there were over 200 people there. Also, Elder Puerta ( Area 70) is a member of our ward and he was there on Sunday and we got him to bear his testimony at the baptism! It was awesome! Paula loved it and took a picture with him afterwards. It was so cool to see how excited she was. Everything went perfect!!!

This week the World Cup started. For those of you that don't know, Brazil is crazy about soccer! Yesterday was the 1st game that Brazil played. Everyone has always told me that during World Cup Brazil stops. I thought they were exagerating. But it was serious, The President of Brazil made an announcement that everyone has the days off when Brazil plays. Its amazing and impossible to work. We are not aloud to watch the games but we have to work. So we just sat on the sidewalk for 2 hours, because there was litterally nothing to do. Everytime Brazil made a goal it was crazerier than the 4th of July! Everyone has fireworks and air horns and it was soooo loud! Its way cool to see the excitement and patriotism that this country has!!!

So I've gained 8 pounds here in Vila Sonia. Its impossible to not gain weight, we eat so much good food all the time! Its a blessing and a curse. But I'm doing better than my companion... Elder Duarte has gained over 20 POUNDS here in Vila Sonia with me!!!! ... He has only been here for 2 and a half months! haha

My Birthday is June 22! I'll be 20 years old! Wow!

June 23rd is the next transfer. So the next time I email you I might be in a different area, and with a different companion. I'm excited to see what happens!

Thanks for everything!
Elder Schoen

The baptism of Paula!!!

JD's Birthday

2010-06-09T12:50:00.001-06:00

Note to All***

Elder Schoen will be 20 years old on June 22nd. You can email him if you like at james.schoen@myldsmail.net but please do not be offended that he can not reply. Also, actual mail is always appreciated.

6/9/2010

2010-06-09T12:47:00.000-06:00

I ate alot and was regretting it!

This is my favorite chocolate in the world!

Yesterday I successfully completed 11 Months on the mission!!!! Whoooo!

Well this week nothing super exciting or interesting happened, except for the part that I found out that my companion's home town is incredibly small. I already knew that he lived in a small town but this week we were talking and I discovered that his town only has 2 street signals! WOW!

Today we went to a mall thats like 20 minutes away from our area. Its called Shopping Eldorado. Its like the Nicest Mall in South America! We ate lunch there... BURGER KING!!!

It was so good... lets just say right now im having Double Whopper w/cheese burps! haha Its awesome!

The work here is going well, nothing super amazing happened this week. It was just a normal week of work, but things are still going really well. This Sunday that girl Paula will be baptized. She just has to stop smoking, but as of today its been 4 days since she stopped, so we are just praying that she will be able to stop for good. Because if she smokes again before Sunday we will have to cancel the baptism!

But I think thats about it for now.
Thanks for Everything!

Elder J.D. Schoen

6/2/2010

2010-06-09T12:41:00.001-06:00

We went to the center again today, and this was at the top of the tallest building in Brazil.

This is a picture of my area. Ive been here for almost 4 months and its about time I sent of picture.

Just having fun!

This desert is called Brigadeiro. Its the best ever! And its super easy to make. So when I get home and make some and you can be as happy as I was in that moment!

Hello!

So this week was really good and went by extremely fast! I can't believe that its already June!!! WOW!!!!

Ok so I have a funny story... I need to start off explaining about the Brazilian sense of humor. They love jokes about mother inlaws. There is like 10 billion jokes about how mother inlaws are so terrible. ... So anyways back to the story... This week I did a division and in the other area that I went to we went to teach a lady that they have been teaching for along time. Her husband hates mormons and never ever ever talks to the missionaries. So when I got there he was there in the living room so I decided to try and start a conversation with him, we started talking because he has visited Las Vegas and he loves the place. So we talked about Vegas for a little while, then he left the room and we taught his wife. (Just to discribe this man, he is fat and angry and has white hair, and a beard, he looks like a member of hells angels just without tattoos.) Ok so anyways after the lesson with his wife, she made us dinner and we were sitted eating dinner and her husband sat down at the table and looked at us and said..." So I heard that your church practices Polygamy...I read it on the internet" And so we explained to him really well about how the church used to but doesn't anymore. Then he looked at us really seriously and said "Do you know what the condemnation that awaits people that practice polygamy is?" And at that moment i wanted to pee my pants, cause he is a really scary man. Then i said " No, what is it?" and he relpied " They have to have multiple mother inlaws!" It was so funny cause it was the absolute last thing I was expecting him to say!!!

Also this week while knocking doors we came across two teenage boys sitting in their driveway with a 3 foot tall bong. And we told them how we are representatives of Jesus Christ and asked if we could enter and leave a message with them. And one of them just looked at me and blew out smoke and was like "i dont know, we´re kinda busy right now, do you think you could come back another day" ...It was pretty funny, and something that you dont see everyday! haha

Other than that things are going well, we are teaching alot and seeing success! Im lovin' life!

Well thats about it! Thanks for all the support from everyone!
Elder Schoen

5/26/2010

2010-05-26T14:08:00.001-06:00

Hello!

So this week was AWESOME! They family that we have been teaching forever (Rodinei and Maria) got married!!!! (Pictures included) that was on Friday then on Saturday they were BAPTIZED! IT was way awesome, we were able to get a ton of members from the ward to go, and we even got Rodinei to make a super good friendship with the Elders Quorem president his name is Moroni and Moroni baptized Rodinei. And Elder Duarte baptized Maria, which was awesome becasue it was his first time baptizing a person! He did great!

Also I cant remember if Ive already told you about our investigator Paula. She is 21, and one of the members invited her to go to an activity last friday night, it was like a play that the ward did. So she went to that and liked it alot and went to church the next day. Which she also loved and ended up going to a young single adult activity that they had that night at the stake center. Then we taught her for the first time on thursday. It was amazing. We taught her the 1st lesson ( about the restoration) and we invited her to be baptized, she accepted! infact we didnt even get to ask her to be baptized, tward the end of the lesson she just asked " so how does this whole baptism thing work? What do I have to do to be baptized?" It was sweet! So we explained to her about the word of wisdom and the law of chastity and the only problem that she has is with coffee and smoking...Well as of right now she already stopped coffee and yesterday she only smoked 1 ciggerette! whooooo!!!! So then we asked to say a pray to end the lesson and she was like what! already?!? I want too learn more (at this point we had already been teaching her for over an hour) So we taught her about the Plan of Salvation. She loved it. She is going to be baptized on June 13th! We are so excited!

Anyways, I think thats about it!
Thanks for all the love and support!
Elder J.D. Schoen

We taught this little girl before being baptized. Her name is Ariel. Her family are members, her dad wanted her to have the missionaries teach her before being baptized

Ariel again, she was baptized on Friday, her 8 yer old birthday

Rodinei and Maria at the wedding

Me and Elder Duarte with the Bride and Groom at the wedding

Baptism! Elder Duarte´s first time baptizing!

2010-05-14T09:59:00.000-06:00

This weekend we painted the house of a member. They gave me purple paint and told me to do something creative with this wall... It turned out pretty good!

This sister missionary is almost as old as my mom! haha

Me and Elder Hayes. He got to the mission the same day as me and we were roomates in the CTM

Me and the Zone Leaders

My District at the last district meeting before transfers

Hey!

This week was super awesome! Sunday was mothers day, so I got to call home and talk with the family. It was alot easier this time. I remember when I called home during Christmas it was so hard, the rest of the day I was just extremely homesick and cried alot. But this time, it just made me happy. After the phone call I was back to normal and happy as ever!

So on the 21st of May the couple that we have been teaching, Maria and Rodinie will get married! We are so excited! So the 21st will be a friday and then on Saturday the 22nd the ward is going to have a little wedding reception thing for them and they will be baptized! Whoo!!! Pray that everything will go well and that they can be baptized!

This week we also found 2 other awesome families that are super intersted, the only problem is... They have to get married! What else is new. This is seriously the most frustrating thing ever here in Brazil. Its the culture. No one is married. People think that marrige is like selling your soul to the devil. its the hardest thing ever to get people to marry! But we will see what we can do with these families. I think that there is hope. Its just going to take a while.

Other than that things are going super well. Me and my son (elder Duarte) are going to stay together for at least 6 more weeks. But I think that this next transfers I will get transfered. But we will just have to see!

Thanks everyone for your love and support!
Elder J.D. Schoen

5/5/2010

2010-05-14T09:35:00.000-06:00

I just thought this door was funny. I hope no one trys walking out of this door.

This is me and Elder Duarte at a Family Home Evening.

Me and Carol, she is so cute and is Megans age.

Hey!
This week was pretty cool, but uneventful. Except for the part where I got another Box. The one you sent with the DVDs and Chocolate Chips! I was so happy!!!! We made chocolate chip cookies this morning and my companions loved them!

...I say companionS becasue as of 2 days ago we got a new elder in our companionship. So right now we are in a trio. There was an elder that hurt his knee and so he was in the office for like 2 weeks while it was getting better, and two days ago he got medical clearance and so they just sent him to our area! joy! He will be here for a week..( Next wednesday is transfers) so he will get assigned an area and he will leave.

Probably me and my companion will stay together for one more transfer. and I hope so! Im absolutely loving this area and the people here!

But thats about it for this week. I hope you like the pictures from our FHE monday night!

p.s. This sunday is Mothersday!!! I get to call home!!!!

Thanks for all the love and support!
Elder Schoen

4/21/2010

2010-04-22T12:45:00.000-06:00

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

2010-04-14T15:17:00.001-06:00

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

2010-04-12T13:40:00.000-06:00

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

2010-04-12T11:10:00.000-06:00

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!!!!!

3/24/2010

2010-03-24T17:32:00.000-06:00

Hello!

Things here are going super well! We have a baptism planned for this Sunday, and we are super excited! His name is Paulo and he is 14. He plays soccer for one of the junior teams of the professional team here in Sao Paulo. He is super excited to get baptized, and he has made friendships with a bunch of the kids here in the ward. The only difficulty is that he has to play soccer on sundays every once in a while.

The past two week we have been living with two other missionaries. The missionaries in the area next to us moved houses but for two weeks they didn't have a house to live while they were moving and getttng everything ready. So they stayed with us. It was super fun but super messy! But they moved into their new house yesterday. So me and my companion are happy to just have peace and quite now!

This area is sweet! But i really miss the country. I want to go back to a quite little city with forest and people with manners. Here in the city its so crazy, and people are sooooo rude and always busy. And everyone in this area is super rich. Its nice to have all the nice things like Mcdolnalds and Walmart and stuff, but i really miss the country!

Oh and I got a hair cut today... Brazilians just dont know how to cut hair.

Other than that everything is going well!
Thanks for all the love and support!
Elder Schoen

email update

2010-03-20T17:37:00.000-06:00

Elder Schoen has a new email address: james.schoen@myldsmail.net

He can receive emails from any one but is only able to respond to his mom, dad, brothers, and sisters. He loves to get updates via email. He really loves to get letters and pictures in the mail. Thank you for keeping him in your prayers!! - Kaelene

3/17/2010

2010-03-20T17:32:00.004-06:00

Hey!
So this week was good! I did a two day division in an area called Jardim das Vertentes. Its the 2nd smallest mission area in the world 2nd only to Temple Square. It was super fun and it made me appreciate my area! haha
Satuday morning the Stake President here had a breakfast and training with all the missionaries serving in the stake. (the São Paulo Stake) I found out that this stake was the first stake established in South America! Pretty cool. Everyone that lives in this stake is super rich and has many generations in the church. One of the counselors of the stake president was there and all the Brazilian missionaries were freaking out becasue he is an actor that does a ton of commercials here in Brazil! It was pretty cool. The breakfast was AMAZING! They made pancakes and waffles with suryp! It was so good, and they had mangos and kiwi and juice and a ton of different types of crissont and muffins! It was soooo good! The highlight of my week! haha

Other than that it was a pretty normal week, nothing extremely exciting happened.

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

( actually something interesting happened: When we mail letters he is lucky to get them in 3 weeks, when we send a box - it takes any where from 2 months to 3 1/2 months. I sent a box on March 1st and he got it on the 11th. The remarkable thing is the box contained 6 videos he requested as a teaching tool. "Reflections of Christ" by Mark Mabry http://www.reflectionsmg.com/reflections-of-christ-videos.php is the name of the video, it's just pictures set to music. I guess Heavenly Father really needed those videos quick. So I sent 10 more - I'll let you know if they get there just as quick.) - Kaelene

3/10/10

2010-03-10T13:52:00.000-07:00

Hey!
This week absolutely flew by! I can't believe that its already P-day! Things with my companion are going way way better! We are actually starting to get along really well, and we are starting to see some succcess. This week we found some awesome new investigators that we are super excited about! The past two days have been super sunny and hot! ITs awesome! Yesterday was the first time that I saw sun in over 3 weeks! It was super rough. I dont think I could ever live in seattle! haha

I received a package from Wendi ( JD's aunt)! Which was awesome! It was filled with snacks, so me and my companion are extremely happy!

So President Cooley made a bunch of new rules and one of them is that we can't play sports anymore... AT ALL! So that means no more soccer. I really hope its not because I sent that other elder to the emergency room a couple weeks ago. If it is then I might not come home alive. All the Brazilians are going to kill me! haha

Other than that there aren't really many new things. Just same old same old. But i sent alot of pictures this time, so everyone should be happy!

Thanks for all the love and support!
Elder Schoen

view from the tallest building in Sao Paulo

As far as the eye can see!

Elder Schoen in front of the Temple

family they are teaching

teaching English

3/3/10

2010-03-04T12:30:00.000-07:00

Hey!

This past week went by super fast! Things here in Vila Sônia are going well. We are starting to figure out the area, we pretty much know our way around.

I'm starting to learn what Patience is... My companion is... a challenge, to say the least. I´ve experienced some of the loooongest days of my life with him. I've never had so many evil thoughts about a person before. haha....Its a continual struggle to be Christlike. But I'm learning that nothing gets done and we don't have the spirit at all when there is contention, which is almost always. So I'm practicing just grinning and bearing it. Becasue if he doesn't get it his way the world explodes and he stays mad for like 2 or 3 days. So its better to just do all possible to try and keep peace so that we can have the spirit. Because without the spirit we are just waisting our time. I've already experienced a couple days when we are fighting and then magically all of our appointments will fall through and then it will start raining and we will have nothing to do but knock doors for 7 or 8 hours. It feels at times like I have those demontors from Harry Potter following me around... It's not very pleasent = Very long day!

So I've just been doing everything possible to not let fights happen, becasue its SO not worth it.

The other day a miracle happened and we found an Elect family. They said the missionaries were teaching them before and they liked it, but then the missionaries just stopped and they don't know why. They tried to look for the church on 2 sepereate occasions but couldn't find it. Then we came along. We marked a baptism/wedding date with them (no one here in brazil is married) they are super exicited! We are just praying that the paperwork for the marriage will go through quickly, usually it takes 6-8 weeks.

Yesterday I started an English class in the chapel. I am doing it from 8-9pm on Tuesday nights. It was sweet. There were like 15 people that went and 3 were investigators. I taught them how to pray in English. Everyone liked it alot, so I think this will be a great tool to do missionary work.

Today we went to the Center. Downtown Sao Paulo. It was sooooo crazy! We went to the tallest building and took pictures at the top (i will send the pictures next week) and we went and ate at a Churrascoria (buffet of meat, its like Tucanos, but way better) and we went to the street where they sell all the fake stufff for super cheap, and I bought a Brazil soccer jersey.

This week I will hit the 8 month mark on the mission. Its amazing how fast time goes by!

I know that what I am doing is the most important thing and of the greatest worth that I could be possibly be doing right now. I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints IS the only and true living church. I know that missionary work is not just the work of Elders and Sisters, that every member of the church has the responsibility to open their mouth and invite people to come unto Christ. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that He knows us individually and He is here to lift us up in our times of difficulty and suffering, but we have to go to Him. It's like that picture of him knocking at the door. If you look carefully the door doesn't have a handle. The handle is on our side of the door, we have to open the door and let Him be a part of our lives.

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

P.S. Shoutout to my best friend Chad Cooley who got his mission call and is going to New York, New York South Mission!!! Congrats!

2/24/10

2010-02-24T14:05:00.000-07:00

Hey!
Ok so let's start with the bad news... I'm not sending any pictures this week becasue I don't have any pictues to send... actually I don't have any pictures at all! Today I was trying to change a setting on my camera and I accidentally erased ALL the pictures on my memory card! Almost 500 pictures! Its was all the pictures from two weeks before I left with my friends and pictures of the family and all the pictures that I've taken so far on the mission! I lost it! I was soooooo mad! But, what do you do. haha there's nothing I can do about it now. But a lot of the pictures that liked a lot I already sent to you, and I think you have been putting them on my blog. So if you wouldn't mind, it would be awesome if you could save all the picutes on my blog onto a cd or a flash drive or something and send it to me so I can put them back on my camera. THanks

Also, I hope that you havent sent measuring cups yet... There is a store in our area called Pão de Açucar that sells a ton of American stuff and I found measuring cups and the measuring cups for tbs and tsp. IT was kinda expensive... like 24 reais. But i figured it was faster and cheaper than waiting for you to send them to me. Also that store has American milk! (or milk that comes from a cow) Here the milk is so nasty and it just sits in a box on the shelves for like a year and its still good. And ive been longing for that good old whole milk that has to be refriderated and expires quickly. And I found it! Its sooooooo Good!!!!

My tennis shoes that I brought where already old and they are falling apart, so we went to the mall today and I bought some sweet shoes that were only 60 reais. Today ill get to try them out when I get completely embarassed again playing with the kids in the ward! There is 4 young men in this ward that play and the junior team of the pro teams here in São Paulo. They are rediculously good! But its super fun, im learning how to play from the best!

So the Brazilian mail system is terrible. This week I got 3 letters... 1 was sent in the beginning of December, the other was the beginning of January, and the other in the beginning of Feburuary. So If anyone has sent a letter and they have been waiting forever for a response, its probably because I havent gottten it yet. haha

Yesterday was so sweet. So When new missionaries get here, they arrive in the mission office the day before transfers and have trainings and lunch with the president and then at night they go and do visits with the elders that work in areas close to the office and then they go back to the office after and have pizza. Well guess what! Im one of those elders that works close to the office. So I worked with a new American and it was super fun! It was fun to see how much ive progressed becasue it was just 6 months ago that I was in his position. But something super cool - He was in the provo mtc, and he was in the same district as Chris Dellrie! Its funny how small the world is sometimes!

Today was transfers and me and my companion are going to stay for at least 6 more weeks! Which im super excited about! THis area is awesome! Today for breakfast I had a sasuage egg mcmuffin from McDonalds! It was awesome!!!!

Also I saw this sweet DVD calle "Reflections of Christ" by Mark Mabry. Its this american photographer that took pictures of events in the new testiment using people and its just a slideshow with music. Its super awesome and super powerful. I was sondering if you could try and find it and send it to me. Thanks!

Thanks for all the love and support!
Elder Schoen

2/17/2010

2010-02-17T13:04:00.000-07:00

Me and my new companion Elder Sales, and a family of the ward.

Hello!
So this past thursday I was transfered. I got a new companion, Elder Sales. He is Brazilian and from Forteleza. Our area is so sweet! Its called Vila Sônia, and its like a ten minute walk from the São Paulo Temple. I seriously fell into heaven, this area is litterally a little America. We have a Walmart, and Mc Donalds, and Brazil's version of Costco, the Missoin office is right next to the temple. So I get my letters like right when they get here! There are like a billion Japanese people that live here. It's the neighborhood with the second most Japanese in Sao Paulo! Everyone is super rich and the ward is super strong! In São Roque there was 70-80 people that were at the sacrament meeting every week, and here in Vila Sônia its over 200! We have 4 ex-Stake Presidents, 5 ex-Mission Presidents, 15 ex-Bishops, and 1 Area 70 in the ward! It's super awesome! Everyone here is super excited to work with the missionaries! There are alot of hills but it will help me keep inshape, and i'll need it, because the lunches here are crazy! Its like a feast of super nice food everyday! Its so crazy!

So this used to be the Assistant to the President´s area but me and my companion are working here now, and the assistants don't have an area, they are just traveling assistants and they just do divisions with other areas every day. So we are still a little lost here. Its hard when you put two missionaries in an area where neither one knows anything! haha but we are getting to know the area and the people.

But it is so crazy here in the City, Sao Roque was so calm and the people on the street would actually stop to talk with me, everyone here is always running and they are always "late for something" There are so many cars and so much noise. But its way cool to have everything so close! (Walmart and Mcdonalds)

I'm so happy with this new area! Its so awesome!

Thanks for all the love and support!
Elder Schoen

A fun little drawing that I found in our apartment

2/10/10

2010-02-10T14:55:00.000-07:00

Hey!

So the past two days have been crazy! Yesterday morning Me and my companion made curry for lunch and then we made M&M cookies for one of the recent converts of me and Elder Briggs, it was his birthday.

...But while we were making the cookies we got a phone call from the President..."Elder Schoen is being emergency transfered. You need to be at the mission office thursday morning at 11." ah! So yesterday I went and said goodbye to all the people in the ward and our investigators. It was super hard, Ive made alot of strong friendships here! ...So i have no idea where I will go. I heard that 5 new americans finally got their visas and so they are getting here tomorrow. So i think that is why i am getting transfered... my companion will train a new american. So tomorrow I will get a new companion and new area. Im excited!

Today we went to Sorocaba to play soccer and so that I could say by the the elders in our zone. When we were playing me and another Elder both went for a ball to hit it with our heads, but instead we hit each others heads and not the ball. I have alittle bit of a headache... But the elder that I bonked heads with split his forehead open and he had to go to the hospital... I think he is alright.

Other than that things are going great! Next week I will email and tell all about my new area!

Thanks for all the love and support!
Elder Schoen

2/3/10

2010-02-07T16:28:00.001-07:00

Me and my hair cut. Extremely short, we went to the hair cutting school and it was only 3 dollars but it wasn't the best hair cut in the world! haha and my companion and 2 other elders in our district enjoying pizza after a hard day of work.

Hey!
Everything here in Brazil is going well! This week I will hit 7 months as a missionary! I can't believe how incredibly fast it's going!

Yesterday we did a division with the zone leaders which was super fun! It's always fun to switch things up for a day and see how it is in other areas, and then when we ended the division we bought pizza (picture included)

Tomorrow we will have zone conference which will be fun to see everyone and to get letters! im excited!

This Saturday we are going to have a baptism. Her name is Irací and she is 60 years old. We started teaching her back when I was with Elder Briggs and it was been a battle to get her to the point that she is ready to be baptized. But we have finally arrived! I'm super excited!

Other than that, things are going well! Sorry I don't have much more to say this week.

Thanks for all the love and support!
Elder Schoen

1/27/10

2010-01-28T11:58:00.000-07:00

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

2010-01-22T19:23:00.003-07:00

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

2010-01-13T13:21:00.004-07:00

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

2010-01-07T12:14:00.000-07:00

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

12/30/09

2009-12-30T13:21:00.000-07:00

Me, Elder Bird, and Elder Swan

getting ready to open presents!

Hello Everyone!

So this past week was Christmas and It was sweet!

On Christmas Eve we had a zone conference, so we went to Sorocaba the night before and spent the night at the Zone leaders house. Then we got up early and went to the zone conference. It was way awesome! We just watched a movie "Its a beautiful life" Its an old black and white, but it was super good! Then we ate lunch and after we played the biggest game of white elephant ever! There were like 85 people! I got a thing of cheap brazilian deoderant. haha Yes!

Then when we got back we went to a members house and hung out and talked for a little bit, but we had to be home by 10. Which was kinda a bummer because everyone here has a huge feast Christmas Eve at midnight. So we missed out. Oh well.

Then we woke up on Christmas morning and I opened the box that my mom sent, which was full of candy and good things like ties and socks and cds of mormon tabernacle choir. Afterwards we went to a members house and ate lunch. It was soooo good! We had a huge pork roast and chicken and brazilian potato salad. Then for desert she made american apple pie with ice cream! It was the greatest thing ever!

After that we got to call home! It was so nice! But i was completely homesick afterwards for the rest of the night. But it was still awesome!

Christmas is completely weird on the mission, but all in all it was pretty good. But luckily I only have to do it one more time! :)

Things here are going well, im sweating because its so hot right now! and Im super sore because we went to Sorocaba today and played soccer with a bunch of other missionaries. Im pretty sure ive never sweated so much in my life, and Im sore in places in my body that I didnt even know exsisted! haha

This friday 2010 will start. I will spend ALL of 2010 in the mission field. Ah! Not that I dont love being a missionary. Its just starting to hit me how long of a time it is! wow!

Haha but Im loving it here!
Thank you for all the love and support!
Happy New Year!
Elder Schoen

P.s. Letters are awesome, and if you have nothing to do and are reading this, Write me a letter! Thanks :)

12/22/09

2009-12-23T10:20:00.000-07:00

A HOT day in December

Merry Christmas!!!

This past week was awesome! At interviews I got two packages! The one you sent for Thanksgiving, and the pre-Christmas one! Thank you!

I gave it another try at fixing our shower! and... Success! We now have hot water again!

On saturday our ward had an activity at this place that the church owns. Its where they do girls camp here. It was way fun! We played soccer and had BBQ. It was a super fun day! I was planning on taking pictures but I forgot. Sorry... But we went hiking on this little trail. It was so sweet! I can officially say that I've been hiking in the jungle now! There was a ton of wildlife and bugs and snakes and streams. It was an adventure!

Then on Sunday we organized a group and went caroling and visited people that we are teaching and inactive members in the ward. Elder Costa brought his guitar and played along. It was a great activity and everyone loved it!

I'm super excited for Christmas! Well... I'm excited to be able to call home!

Sorry I don't have alot of time to write much more today!

Thanks for all the love and support!
Feliz Natal!
Elder Schoen

12/16/09

2009-12-18T11:10:00.000-07:00

Hey!

So This past week was great! It went by super fast and we were able to have alot ofmembers come with us to teach investigators.

Tomorrow we will have interviews with the president so that means that I get to pick up my package and letters! YES!

The mission is kicking my butt lately, ive been so tired! Seriously, every time I sit down I fall asleep. Its super bad after lunch. I think I have a sleeping desiese! haha

This saturday the ward is having a christmas activity thats at the cabin type thing! Im so excited! We are going to bring some investigators, which will be really good. Its an all day thing with games and activities and soccer! It should be super fun!

So last thursday I was taking a shower and, (well to better explain my story... here in Brazil they dont have water heaters. They use elctric shower heads. I know. What a not vey smart Idea. So the shower head is hook up to electricity and it heats the water right as its coming out.) Ok so I was taking a shower and I head a shocking noise and I looked up and the shower head had caught on fire! So I shut the shower off and the bathroom was completely filled with smoke. So bottom line is, our shower doesnt produce hot water anymore. Which normally, wouldnt be a problem, but for some reason its been unusually cold a rainy here. So we have been taking cold showers. Then two days ago I was tired of taking cold showers so I set a chair under the shower head and stood on the chair so I could try and fix the shower head. I had already shut off the power in the appartment so everything was safe, right? ...Wrong! haha I was trying to fix it and electricuted myself! oops. I fell off the chair and slammed my hand on something, im not exactly sure what, but it cut my hand. So ya, im really excited for when I get home, I dont have to deal with electric showerheads! But the whole situation is actually realy funny looking back on it! haha

Other than that, things here is São Roque are going well. Im really liking my new companion, and the ward members are awesome! This is a great place to be for Christmas!

Thanks for all the love and support!
Elder JD Schoen

12/9/09

2009-12-09T12:33:00.003-07:00

Hello!
Everything here in Brazil is going great! This past week has been raining almost everyday and it has been really cool! It been so nice, its probably been around 65 degrees!

Not alot happened, it was just a normal week but it went by super fast. We were super busy so I didnt get a chance to take any new pictures. Sorry.

So this week we went to a less active members house to eat. She is about 65 and I think she is the only member in her family. She was talking to us and she was like, "I have a question for you, So last week my nephew was really sick and in the hospital and so I took some consecrated oil and put it on his head and put my hands on his head and said a pray and asked heavenly father for the authority to give a priesthood blessing and gave him a blessing. Then just a little while later he was maraculously better." So her question was, "was this correct? Was I aloud to do that?... cause it worked" So we got to explain to here that she did not have the authorty to do that and that the oil did nothing, but that here nephew was probably healed because of the faith she had that it would work. And thats how heavenly father works, is through our faith.

We found a couple of new families this week, so we will see. They seem like they have some potential. But we will see.

Thats about it for this time. Sorry Everyone!
Love
Elder Schoen

12/2/09 mom note

2009-12-04T19:38:00.000-07:00

So in talking to JD on Wed he said he got the box marked do not open until Dec 25th. Which is weird! he still has not gotten the box we sent back in Oct for Thanksgiving. and he did not get the other box for Christmas we mailed the same day as the one he got. So I am grateful the most important box arrived with his gifts. It's hard being patient with the distance. He has been getting letters just fine and at the normal delivery time.

Please feel free to send him a note once in a while. It means alot. He even says he likes the pictures the kids draw for him. Thank you for all your love and support, he is having the time of his life!!

12/2/09

2009-12-02T13:21:00.000-07:00

Meet Elder R. Costa

Hello Everyone!
Well This last week was super super awesome! Elder Briggs and I enjoyed a beautiful thanksgiving feast prepared by a member of the ward! Which is awesome because people here don't even know what Thanksgiving is!
Then on Saturday we went to an English school that a less active ownes and we talked with his students in english for a while! It was super super fun!
On Sunday we baptized that family of 3 that we took to the temple a couple weeks ago! It was so awesome! I baptized Felipi, the 14 yr old son. The mom works alot so we couldnt do the baptism on saturday and so we did it after the church meeting on sunday. But there is a rule that converts have to be confirmed in a sacrament meeting, so this sunday we will confirm them. but unfortunatly we were super rushed and didnt get to take a pictures at the baptism :( But it was super awesome and they are a super excited family that will be really strong in the church.

Then on monday we got the call, Elder briggs was transfered :(

On tuesday the ward was having an end of the year Seminary and Institute party, that pretty much the entire ward went to. It was the perfect chance for Elder Briggs to say bye to everyone. It was super fun!

Im really really going to miss Elder Briggs, he is a great missionary and I learned alot from him!

My new compaion is named Elder R. Costa. he is Brazilian and doesnt speak a lick of English... Joy! He is from Fortaleza! I heard its a beautiful place, you should look it up! He seems like a pretty cool guy, and a hard worker. I think we will get along well!

I love all of you and thank you for all the love and support!
Elder Schoen

11/25/09

2009-11-25T15:14:00.001-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

I would just like to start out by wishing everyone reading this a happy thanksgiving! I love you all!

So this past week was pretty sweet! It absolutely flew by! Honestly... I really cant remember anything before this past sunday! haha so anyways...

Sunday:
Was great! We had a bunch of investigators at church! Score! Also, the bishop was super happy because we had 101 people in the sacrament meeting. Its pretty much the first time that there has been more than 100 people there! So the ward is growing, and everyone is loving it! Then after church we went to a members house for lunch, and he lives in a Chácara (SHACK-a-duh) It is a house thats super rich out in the middle of nowhere in the countryside. It was so sweet! He had a little pond in his back yard and the food was amazing!

Monday and Tuesday:
So our family that is getting baptized this weekend needed to get there interviews by the zone leaders. So we did a 2 day division and I went to Sorocabba and one of the zone leaders came to São Roque. It was super fun! I spent the two days with Elder D. Gonçalves, he is a Brazilian and he is sooo funny! We had a blast together! There was this one lady that was one of their investigators that was begging me to bring her to the US because she hates brazil and she thinks her life would be so much better in America. She was so nuts. She knew how to talk! Ive never seen anything like it before in my life! Seriously she just talked and talk and talked and talked. and then we got about 2 minutes of our message in and then she started talking and talking and talking again! It was amazingly frustrating! haha

Today:
We woke up at 4:30 so that we could catch the bus to São Paulo. We went to the temple, which was awesome! Its always a treat to get to go to the temple and relax from all the cares of the world.

Afterwards we went to a mall that is across the street and got some lunch and milkshakes! Then at 230 we started our journey back to Sâo Roque which included an hour and a half non airconditioned bus to Sorocabba, once we got there we waited over an hour to catch our bus to Sao Roque, which is another hour bus ride. Then we got to our house and dropped off our stuff and sat on the floor to try and cool off for a minute, and we took the beautiful picture that I sent to my mom, and she will graciously put on my blog.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we are super excited, because we are going to a families house to eat thanksgiving dinner. They dont celebrate thanksgiving here, but this family is going to make us a feast! Im so excited! Its the same house that we went to that one day to learn how to make Brazilian Stroganoffe. So dont worry, my belly will be fat tommorrow!!!

Thank you for all the love and support! I love you all!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Elder Schoen

11/18/09

2009-11-19T17:04:00.005-07:00

JD is sitting next to Elder Richard G. Scott

Hey Everyone,

So this week was... slow. Not really anything happened. So sorry this email is going to be so short.

Umm so we have a mission rule that at all times we have to have a book of mormon in our hands. So we all have little plastic folders that we keep the book of mormons in to protect it from the rain. And also in it I kept a picture of the family and that map of the US that you sent so I could show people my family and where I lived. Brazilians love that kinda stuff. Also it has some other important papers and some reciepts and things of that nature. We call it our wife because it is always with us... Unfortunatly I lost my wife this week. We were in Sorocaba and I left it on the bus. Which is terribly unfortunate. But oh well.

Thats not all. Also each compaionship has a cell phone, which is pretty much our life, because we have to use it to call the other missionaries to report the numbers, and we need it to call the members and our investiagators to comfirm appointments and what not. .. so anyways, last week we got of the bus and Elder Briggs was like OH CRAP! ...The cell phone fell out of his pocket on the bus. We waited for the bus to come back after doing its round and the phone wasn't on the bus. So we ran to a members house and called it, but it was already off... someone took it.

Then last night Elder Briggs lost his wife with had the remaineder of all the important papers that we own.

So as of right now me and elder briggs are without wives and without a cell phone.

São Roque is a really lonely place right now. It feels like were on an island in the middle of nowhere.

But other than that everything is going great!

Thanks for all you love and support!

Love
Elder Schoen

The mail is suddenly incredibly slow to Sao Paulo. I mailed a box on October 13th and it still has not gone through customs. Before it took 3 weeks. I am worried he will not get the Christmas boxes in time - so please pray for the mail to Brazil!!

11/11/09

2009-11-19T16:58:00.000-07:00

Sorry this is late ( mom error)

Hello!

So this week was super fun, and went by soooo fast!

To start off we had some baptisms this saturday which was way way awesome and a ton of members from the ward showed up to watch. And on sunday we had a ton of investigators come to church! It was awesome, but super hectic!

Today was an awesome change of pace! Last night after we got done with all our lessons we went to Sorocaba, and spent the night at the zone leaders house, because there was a huge activity today for all the missionaries in Sorocaba and the surrounding cities. We played soccer, which I found out, that im not very good at... and Brazillians are AMAZING! Its pretty much the only sport that any of them play so they are super super good! All the chappels here are super nice and have quadras. Which are finced in, concrete soccer fields. Apperently its a super big missionary tool, because they always get nonmembers to come and play! But anyways, im going to need to practice so that I dont feel like such an idiot! But it was still super fun! We got sunburned, which is unfortunant becasue my collar is rubbing against my sunburned neck right now! But after playing soccer for 3 hours we had a BBQ, brazilian stlye. It was sooo good! It was just a super nice break to get to hang out with a buch of missionaries for our P-Day.

Yesterday we painted a members house for a service project. We brought our cameras and were going to take pictures but we got alittle too into painting and forgot that we had brought our cameras, so I dont have any pictures of that. Sorry.

It is soooo Hot here! Im getting pretty tan, and Im develoiping an incredible watch tan! Im pretty proud of it!

Other than that things are going great here! Friday is zone conference which im so excited for, because I will have letters and that package waiting for me! YES!

Thank you for all your love and support!
Elder Schoen

So I asked JD if I should send him some shin guards. He said no one wears them. I suggested that he could be the first. Not so much :)

11/4/09

2009-11-06T16:52:00.004-07:00

Of course JD found a drum set!!

Happy Halloween!!

Hello!

I hope everyone had a great Halloween! Me and Elder Briggs celebrated by dressing up as each other for the day. We just switched name tags. Then when we got back to the house that night we ate a bunch of the candy that you sent in the package I got 2 weeks ago ( thanks mom ).

This past week was HOT.

Really cool spiritual experience....
So like 2 weeks ago, we did a division because the person we were baptizing needed to be interviewed by our Zone Leader. So, I stayed in Sao Roque and one of the Zone Leaders came here. After the interview we went to a new investigators house, it was a reference of a member. She is 28 and when we got there she was laying in bed and couldn't even move...she is very sick. So, we offered to give her a priesthood blessing and it was way spiritual. She was crying. Then we taught the 1st lesson about the restoration and we focused on the fact that she is a daughter of God and her Heavenly Father loves her, we explained that because of the atonement, Jesus Christ knew exactly what she was going through and what she was feeling. We were all crying and it was just way spiritual.
So we came back to teach the 2nd lesson this past week. She told us that the day after we gave the blessing she was way worse and was in so much pain, but the following day she started to feel better. Each day she got better and better. She then told us that during that week she went to the doctors for the check up and the doctor couldn't find the thing that had been causing her to be so sick. It was GONE!!
I just want to let you know , that I know, for a fact, with all my heart that the power of the Priesthood is real. That we really do have the power and authority to act in Gods name and do miracles. Through the Priesthood this young mom was healed!!

So that pretty much was the highlight of the week, but we are also way excited becuase we are going to have another baptism this weekend. Its 2 boys that are 12 and 13, they are the sons of a less active member.

I also want to thank you for sending all that gum in the package. We are teaching this lady who is 26 and divorced and has 2 boys, 6 and 3 years old. Before we started teaching her she was smoking 2 packs a day, she has practically stopped now. I gave her all that gum you sent me and it helped a lot!! So I was wondering if you could send just a ton of gum?? It helps a lot, because it is something else to be addicted to and its all fancy and imported. Thanks:)

Random... We were walking down the street and this like 12 year old boy ran up to me with a piece of paper and a pen and asked for my autograph, so I signed it. It was so random! haha

but things here are going great. Just super super busy, but we are loving it!!

Thanks for all the love and support!
Love,
Elder Schoen

wish list for elder schoen

2009-11-02T15:58:00.002-07:00

To all Elder Schoen's fans:

I have asked him for a wish list for Christmas and his response was a few small items we have taken care of but I need your help with his biggest request:

PICTURES!!

That is really his only request. We are working on a new camera for our family since ours went to Brazil. So if you have pictures from recent events and would not mind printing and sending them that would be great!! Just regular 4x6 prints are great.

Thank you so much for your love and support!!
Kaelene Schoen

10/28/09

2009-10-29T17:37:00.004-06:00

Elder Briggs, Ines, little boy is Douglas, Claudia (we are working on her next), and me.

Our zone

Spider in the baptismal font we had to get ride of first

Welcome Theodore!

2009-10-25T17:21:00.008-06:00

Beautiful Mairinque Sunset

Beautiful São Roque Sunset

Me in the rain wanting to be skiing!

The town center for Dia de Criança (Childrens Day)

The Baptism. Gabbi and Her brother Elvis and the rest of her family.

Hey!

So, I didn´t get transfered and neither did Elder Briggs! We were so happy! We celebrated by buying a pizza and we bought a cactus that we named Theodore to decorate our apartment. Its pretty sweet!

It rained non-stop for the first half of the week. But the past 3 days have been sunny, warm, and beautiful!

On sunday we started Horário de Verão (day light savings) so we are now 4 hours ahead of you guys! and I think soon you will go back an hour so we will be 5 hours apart!

This Saturday is going to be sweet! In the morning we have to be in São Paulo because Richard G Scott is going to meet with our mission and give a talk to us! We are so excited! Then I will get to stop by the mission home and pick up packages and letters! Which I'm way excited about, because its been over 3 weeks now since we have got to get letters! Then at night we come back to São Roque for a baptism! Her name is Inês and she is awesome, and super excited to be baptized!

Other than that, there isnt really much new stuff to report this week. Sorry I know, Im boring....But atleast I sent 6 pictures!!!

Thank you everyone for all your love and support! Elder Schoen

2009-10-16T13:57:00.001-06:00

Hey!Tell everyone in Texas that I say Hi.

So this past week was crazy! So much happend!So lets start off with the weather. The weather here is crazy! This past week it was freezing and raining all week. Which is so weird because it was so hot the week before. So I got alot of use out of the rain jacket you sent. Thank You!
On friday I was really sick. I had a headache all day and then I was throwing up all night. But then the next day I felt alot better, I just still had alittle bit of a headache.
Saturday was my first baptism! It was sweet! Her name is Gabbi and she is 15. Her family is all recent converts and so her 17 year old brother baptized her. It was way cool. When we were filling up the baptismal font we discovered that the church building was out of propane, so the water couldnt be heated. The water was way way cold, but they were good sports about it.

On monday was a Holiday here in Brazil. Its called Dia de Criança. Day of the Child. Its like fathers or mothers day, but for children. I know, rediculous! haha but its a big big deal here. There were so many people in Sâo Roque for the weekend because they had a huge huge festival for the holiday. I am sending a picture. Also there is a month long festival going on here that just started. Its the artichoke festival which apparently is huge. So there is so many people from out of town here. Its pretty fun. Its a way fun environment.

Today when we were walking down the street we came upon a bunch of people standing around looking at something. There was a possum on the power lines. They had the fire department there trying to get it down. It was quite the scene! We sat there and watched for about 5 minutes while they got it down. The craziest thing happened to us the other day. We were in Miarinque (the other city in our area) it was sunday afternoon and we were doing street contacts. We were in the city square and we went up the this really sketchy looking guy. We started talking to him and he asked what church we were from, and so we told him. He then asked if we believed in forgiveness. We said yes. He then said, Even for really really bad things? And we replied yes, its just alot harder the more serious the sin you committed. He then went on to tell us that he and his 2 friends had gotten in a fight with some other people the day before. He killed 5 of them! He said that he normally doesnt wear clothes like these he is just kinding from the cops, and his two friends left town and he doesnt know where they are. He almost started crying and said he feels really bad and wanted to know if he could be forgiven. So we taught him about repentance and gave him a little booklet about repentance. We then went our way and shook his hand and asked what his name is. He wouldnt tell us because he thought we were going to turn him in.CRAZY!

Things are going great here! Next week we have transfers. So me and elder briggs and really hoping that neither one of us gets transfered. We will find out monday night. So next email I might be in a different city. Wish me luck. I really really want to stay.

Thanks for all the love and support! Love,Elder Schoen

2009-10-08T22:14:00.003-06:00

Dear Family
This past week was great! So Last week we stopped by the church during seminary to say Hi to everyone and This girl named Gabriela who is 15 came us to us and says, "Hey I want to be baptized next Saturday!" We couldn´t believe it! Her family was baptized 4 years ago and she goes to church and mutual and seminary every week. Missionaries have invited her to be baptized so many times, but she never wanted to. But now she does! So we are going to baptize her this saturday! We are so excited!
On Friday we had Zone Conference, my first one! Haha it was pretty cool. It was in a city called Sorocaba, about an hour away. Then on Saturday and Sunday we watched General Conference, except our Chapel here in São Roque doesnt have Satalite, so we went to the Stake center in Sorocaba to watch it. It was pretty cool, on sunday we brought 6 investigators with us. They really liked it! Conference was really good. It was the first time in my life that I watched every session. And I loved it! haha On monday we had our district meeting, which we have every monday morning, which is also at the Stake Center in Sorocaba. So we went to Sorocaba 4 days in a row this past week. Then yesterday we took a Family to São Paulo to see the temple. It was awesome! They are struggling because they lost their son 5 months ago. So we went to the temple for the day and taught them about how families can be together forever! It was very effective. We took a picture of them in front of the temple, which we are going to frame and give them tonight so that they can hang it up in their house.Things are going great here!
Its starting to get really hot tho. And its raining alot too. Its super hot and muggy, and then all of the sudden a storm will blow in a it will rain super hard for 5 minutes then the sun comes out and its hot again and even muggier. Its pretty sweet!
This morning we made french toast and brownies. The brownies turned out this time! I ate so many, I feel really sick right now! haha but it was completely worth it!yesterday while in Sao Paulo we stopped by the mission home and checked to see if we had any letters or packages. Elder Briggs got a package from his mom which included alot of treats and some ping pong balls, paddles and a net! We are going to have fun!!!
So its official, I´ve been in Brazil for 3 months. Its crazy how fast its gone by. But I still have a long long long ways to go. But its safe to say that Im enjoying myself. My area is great! I love my companion, he is such a stud! We get along great and have alot of fun!.. and we work too.
Thank you for all the love a support!
Eu te amo,Elder Schoen

News on 9/30/09

2009-09-30T14:39:00.007-06:00

Hello! So this past week was awesome! It rained a lot and we were super busy but it was sweet!On Monday I went on my first division or (spits). So I spent the day in Sorocaba with a Brazilian Elder named Elder Lopes as my companion. It was way fun, but I realized how much I love São Roque, and how much i like serving in a small town. So i finally figured out what São Roque remindes me of: It feels a lot like Sedona, AZ... its kinda a tourist town, but only for locals... its like a get away, so there is always more people here on the weekends, but its really European feeling. Its sweet cause like every other weekend there is some kinda festival going on. In two weeks they are having the Artichoke festival, which I guess is really big here. Its so fun!

We are seeing alot of success here! Its so awesome! The area has been exploding and so many people are accepting baptismal dates! The Lord is just pouring out more blessings that we can handle! So we have a family that has baptism dates for the 10th of October, but the mom and dad aren´t married, so we gave the option to get married or move out, and the mom and kids are going to move out. So we are going to help with that this week, and we have zone conference and General Conference so its a busy next couple of days. Then on Tuesday we are going to take this family of 3 to the Sao Paulo temple for the day and teach them about temples, because they lost a 17 year old son a couple months ago. We are really excited, it should be a really good experience for them! Other than that, the work is going well. We are just super busy and I am loving it!!!

Today we went to a member's house at like 10am and she taught us how to make Brazilian Stroganoff. It was so good!

We made some brownies... they didn't turn out so good. Our oven is really weak and so for like 30 minutes it wasn't nearly hot enough and so then we finally figured that out and turned the heat up, then they baked. We still ate them, but they werent the best tasting. We will try it again tho.

Other than that, nothing else is really going on. Im still alive and haven´t gotten sick yet (knock on wood) But everything is going great and Im loving every minute of it.Thanks for all the love and support! Elder Schoen

2009-09-29T21:36:00.001-06:00

Elder Briggs has a blog www.elderbriggs.blogspot.com

It's fun to hear the story from a different perspective!!

2009-09-23T14:56:00.002-06:00

Elder Briggs in brown pants, Elder Schoen in black pants

Standing on the balcony of my apartment

2009-09-23T14:35:00.002-06:00

Hello Family and Friends,
I can not believe that Ive already finished my second week in the field. The first week went so slow! I thought it would never end! But this past week absolutely flew!My companion is so awesome and we are getting along really well! We are seeing alot of success here and the people are awesome! They are really good at just smiling and nodding when I am talking, cause im pretty sure they dont understand anything I say! Haha but its funny cause it goes the other way too. Im really good and smiling and nodding, and knowing when to laugh and when to sigh. Its quite funny actually. I acutally find myself spacing out alot when people are talking. Its really bad. Its also really frustrating. But hopefully one day I will be able to speak Portuguese!
But other than the laguage, the mission is going great. I think im starting to get into the routine and kinda learning how things work.The food here is so good! Some of the members really know how to cook!
Things that happend this week...So one night we came home and our living room was full of water. The room is tile so it was just a giant puddle. Not like someone spilled a drink, it was like 2 or 3 gallons of water on the floor. But it is so wierd. We cant figure out how it got there. There was no water by any of the doors or walls or anything. We couldnt find a leak anywhere. Its like someone just walked in a poured a ton of water in the middle of the floor. Its definatly a mystery and its safe to say that we will never find out how it got there! haha
Yesterday we were walking down the street and a drunk guy came up to us and started talking to us. (apparently drunks love the missionaries) He asked us for some money for food, but we offered to walk with him to a food place down the road and buy him something to eat. He was so happy and so we walked with him. During the 100 yard walk to the store he managed to almost get hit by 3 cars and he was holding 2 eggs in a paper bag and he accidently dropped them and they broke. So we got to the food shop and bought him a Esfiha (which is like a meat pastery) He was so funny! But when we left he shook our hands and kissed them! It was so weird! haha but so funny!
Today we went to the towne center and bought pirated watches. I got a knock off Emporio Armani watch for only 25 reals! Which is like 15 american dollars.
It has been raining a ton here! Its pretty crazy. But while is raining its so cold and then it stops and the sun comes out and its instantly hot!
Tomorrow we have interviews with the president so I should get my package that you sent. Im really excited to have a rain jacket!!!
I think thats about everything for now!Its going great out here and I love it!
Thank you for all the love and support!
Love,Elder Schoen

2009-09-16T15:05:00.003-06:00

Hey Family and Friends!
So this past week has been crazy! Ive never been so tired before in my life! It usually has taken me about a half hour to fall asleep every night of my life, but this past week as soon as I hit the pillow, I'm out! My area is beautiful! Its consists of 4 little towns, Sao Roque, Mairinque, Aluminio, and Araçariguama. It is so green and beautiful! I will try and send some pictures again, but the computers are being weird.So to answer dads question (how much money do you get to live on?), we get 140 reais every two weeks, with is about 80 american dollars. The unfortunate thing is that we end us spending 100 of it on transportation. We have to take a bus to the other towns everyday. So we work in Mairinque almost everyday, its kinda a poorer town so the people are more receptive. But we are on the bus for about 1hr and a half everyday. Then we have to go to some peoples houses that live like a half hour walk down a dirt road out of the town. Its really cool! Its just like the adventure that I wanted. But it sure is hard work.
The thing in Sao Roque that looks like a slide is actually an artificiall ski hill! Can you bellive that its like the only place to ski in the country and I can see it out my window. But the rules say we aren't aloud to do extreem sports... Heavenly father definatley has a sense of humor! haha So ya, thanks for refilling my Wells fargo account. I think I am going to be using that account more than I thought. But i will try to keep it to necessity purchases.
So things that happened in my first week... I found out that Im terrible at Portugese. I can only talk about the gospel. So I usually have no idea whats going on. Its a big test of my patience. I had to bear my testimony in Church. No big deal. I gave the first half of a priesthood blessing. (the anointing of the oil) We got 2 more baptism dates, and there are 3 people with dates, so thats a total of 5 scheduled for October. But i doubt that they will work out that soon... One of the guys is on crack and other drugs and he and his wife need to get married before they can get baptized. But its exciting. We were teaching a lesson and the lady just wipped it out and started nursing her baby right there. Kinda weird, but I guess it happens alot. But this place is awesome! Its just frustrating because I feel like we have alot of wasted time during the day because we are traveling so much. We walk about 10 miles a day, which takes up about 3 hours during the day and then we are on busses for 1-2 hours everyday. But I guess thats just how this area is. My companion, Elder Briggs, and I are going to start teaching an English class once a week. And we are going to start doing a ward FHE thing every saturday night, and we will teach an american sport after. I think that this will really be great missionary tools.The food here is really good. And the members make us eat like 3 or 4 helpings everyday. One guy got mad at me the other day because I took the small piece of meat. It was rude I guess! haha but whatever!Even though I exercize alot by walking I think I am still going to gain weight! haha the food is just so fatty and we eat so much of it. But today I bought a jump rope so that should be a good cardio workout in the mornings. One thing that makes me happy is that Ice crem exists here... and its good! So thats something that we get to treat ourselves to every once in a while. Its going to be weird not using a dryer for the next two years. But thats just how it is here. No one has a dryer. There is this recent convert family. Its a single mom, and she is 3 kids, and boy thats 15, a girl thats, 12, and a boy that is 4. We go and visit them twice a week and I love it. I love playing with João. He is the 4 year old. Its like a little home away from home. They are great people.But I really like this place, the mission is hard work, but completely worth it. I see little Miricales every day that make the work so worth it!Thank you for all your love and support.
Love,Elder Schoen

things we have learned about sending stuff

2009-09-16T09:52:00.002-06:00

I mailed a box to JD on 8/26 and it was delivered on 9/15. That's 3 weeks. Letters take 2 weeks. The things we send now sit at the mission home for a period of time until he can get them. Rumor has it it may be as long as 2 1/2 weeks. So plan on a month for JD to get a letter you mail and 5 to 6 weeks for a package. His "P" day is Wednesday. For those of you who may not know what a "P" day is - it stands for preparation. It is kind of like a day off. They still have to abide by the mission rules and have a schedule to follow, but it is a day of errands and chores. They are also allowed to be tourist a little bit. That is why he only checks his email on Wed. They can do shopping and laundry. It is a day to blow off some steam. Missionaries still spend the whole day with their companion. It happens to be my favorite day of the week!!

Love to all,
Kaelene

2009-09-10T19:38:00.001-06:00

Hey!Ok, so i dont even know where to start! Its been crazy!This past week in the CTM was pretty relaxed, we just reviewed stuff.Yesterday, at 10:00 we left the CTM and went to the mission home. It is right next to the São Paulo Temple... so its about a 30 min drive from the CTM. When we arrrived we dropped off our bags and then went to the Presidents house, which was about 10 minutes away. He lives in a really tall building of condos. We had so many people coming to the mission from the CTM that he had to reserve a banquate hall at the bottom of the building. There were 19 new missionaries. It was my district of 12 elders, and a brazilian district of 7. So we met the president and had a training, then we ate lunch... Which was sooo good! and i was like "holy cow! This is so good!" and the AP said "IF you think this is good, then you are in for a treat." Appearently the members take really good care of us. So I will probably get fat. But i hope not! Then we had more traning while the president pulled each of us aside to talk to us. President Cooley and his wife are so awesome! They are from Mesa, AZ. He is really really wealthy. So all the land next to the ASU east campus is his. He used to be a farmer. But he is develpíng it into something called Cooley Station. But anyways. He is way nice. Then we got to go up into his house really quick to check it out and take a picture with him and his wife. After that we went back to the mission home were we teamed up with either a sectretary, AP, or Zone Leader and we went on splits. But because there was so many of us it was in groups of 4. 3 Elders that had no idea what was going on (I was one of those) and then 1 Elder that was an AP, ZL, or Secratary. So we went to this ladies house and taught her. It was so neat! I cant believe the situations that people live in tho! Its insane. Everyone living back in America... Count your many blessings! But we taught her about apostacy and why we needed the restoration. Then we proselyted for a while and then at 9 we returned to the mission home. There we had 20 pizzas waiting for us. It was awesome. Then we had 19 people trying to sleep in a room the size of our living room, just stuffed with bunk beds. Lets just say, it wasnt the best sleep ive ever gotten.We woke up this morning and threw on some clothes and ate some breakfast. There was so many people that I didnt get to take a shower. Then we went to the chappel where we had transfers. They called my name and my new companions name and we both stood up. He was american! So that relieved alot of stress. But I still wanted to find our where in the world I was going. Once the meeting was over, my new companion explaned to me where our area is. In the countryside!!! I was ecstatic! So we got on a bus. We drove 2 hours to this one city, that I cant remember the name of, Then we waited there for 30 minutes to catch another bus. We rode that bus for 45 minutes and then we arrived in our area. Its called São Roque (pronounced: São Hockey) It is the coolest place ever!!! Its beautiful! I lucked out. The presidents wife said that my new area is her favorite place in the whole mission, because it is so beautiful. I will try and send some pictures, so hopefully it works.So we arrived at our apartment, my copmpanion said it was nice. I was shocked. If this is nice, I dont want to see what the unnice missionary housing looks like. But, we have a washer! We are one of the only houses in the mission that have a washer! Pretty exciting! Something weird, is that you are not aloud to flush toilet paper down the toilet. So you just have to wipe and then throw it in the trash! haha! I am most definantly in a different country now! Its so awesome! Im at an internet cafe right now, and after this we are going to go teach some families and my companion, Elder Briggs, is going to introduce me to a couple families in the ward. Im excited! My companion seems really cool. I only met him a couple of hours ago. But I like him. He is from Seattle Washington, and has been our for 1 year. He has been in this area for 4 and a half months now. He is the district leader. He is a good guy and I think we will be able to have some success. The only thing is... Our mission is the lowest baptising mission in all of Brazil. (But we have the highest retention rate) My companion has been out for a year and has 6 baptisms. So I guess the average is about 15 during the entire mission. Im going to change that.The town is way cool. Its really green and its litterally a jungle on the outskirts of the town. I guess they have some crazy spinders here. So if I get the chance I will take a pícture and send it.I think I will be happy in this area, they said generally you are in an area for 3-6 months.When I was at the mission home they had the envelope that you sent with all the talks. Thank you so much. I enjoyed the letters. Ryans story about football is really funny. I liked it! Tell Ryan I say Happy Birthday!So I hope the package you sent should get here soonly. I think the next time i will get to recieve mail from the mission home is in like 2 and a half weeks. So hopefully i will get it then. Because it is starting to Rain...Alot!If you wouldn´t mind sending a package asap. Apearlently anti-persperant deorderant doesnt exist in Brazil. and the stuff im having to use now does not work at all. haha so, for the sake of everyone I come in contact with, some good deorderant is much needed. Just some white stick, anti-persirant Old spice would be awesome! and Alot of it. Thank you so much!just being here for 2 hours I realized that I cant speak portugues! haha but I will figure it our sooner or later.Some of the mission rules-We can recieve emails from family and friends, but we are only aloud to respond to Family. (mom, dad, and brothers, and sisters.) sorry everyone, but if you email me, I will be able to send a letter. Just make sure you let me know your address. This will be the best way to communicate the fastest.... But letters are still awesome!-We can listen to MoTab, EFY, and Classical music Thats pretty much the only things that are different.I love you so much! and Thank you everyone for your suppport!Love, Elder Schoen

Silence....

2009-09-09T13:33:00.002-06:00

Well, Elder Schoen left the CTM yesterday for the Mission Home. I hope to hear from him soon. I would think the mission president would send some sort of email letting us know where his first assignment is.

I received this wonderful email from JD's CTM companion's mom:

Dear Sister Schoen,
I am the mother of Elder Andraszczyk, who served as your son's companion in the CTM. I just wanted to express my appreciation to you for your wonderful son and the great impact he had on Michael during his time in the CTM. Michael was a little overwhelmed initially with the whole culture shock and just being away from home in general. It was so comforting to hear each week as Michael talked about what a positive and uplifting companion he had and how grateful he was for him. I just wanted you to know how grateful we are to you and your family for raising such an amazing young man and for the blessing he has not only been to Michael, but to our family as well. We know Elder Schoen will continue to bless the lives of many people on his mission as well as throughout his life. I hope that Michael will have the privilege of serving with him again one day in the field. Again, we express our love and appreciation for you and your fine son and wish you all the best.
With love,
Cathy Andraszczyk

Little does she know it took a "village" to get JD where he is now. I extend my gratitude to everyone who helped raise JD to be the wonderful man that he is.

Love,
Kaelene Schoen

last p day at CTM

2009-09-02T13:44:00.002-06:00

Hey! Thank you so much mom. I got your letter you sent with my favorite recepies. I have a feeling it will come in handy when Im out in the field and have a really bad sweet tooth. I think I should be able to find all the ingredients I will need.
So Today is my last P-Day in the CTM. Im starting to freak out, because I only have 6 days left! Im so excited to get out of here, but Im so scared because Im not ready at all! But I dont think I will ever be ready, its just something that has to happen. Everyone says that for the first 2 months in the field you are just completely useless. So I really hope it doesnt take me that long to figure out what Im doind, because if not... Its going to be a really really long 2 months!
Today we got to do something so awesome! So as of yesterday I thought we werent going to get to go to the temple again, because they are cleaning the São Paulo temple. But they made arrangements for us to go to the Campinas temple. We just got back! It was so beautiful! The temple is about an hour and a half away. So, it turns out that the city of São Paulo does end. Haha it was so cool, cause all of the sudden the city just ended and we drove through a jungle for about 20 minutes untill we got to Campinas. It was so cool. The temple is beautfiul! Its up on a hill overlooking the city of Campinas... which is also a huge huge city. But apperantly you can see the temple from anywhere in the city. It was such a cool expereince.
On sunday our district did a musical number in sacrament meeting. We sang A Childs Prayer, which is one of my favorite songs. All the guys in my district are such good singers, so it sounded really good. The third verse where we do the round, we did the high part in portugese and the low part in English. It was crazy to do the round in two different languages. It was awesome!
On Friday we went proselyting again. They drove us into the deep of the city and dropped us off infront of the biggest Catholic churches I have ever seen. It was kinda intimidating. It was alot harder to get people to stop and talk to us this time, because everyone was in such a hurry! But we had more success with the people that were sitting down. We talked to this girl that was standing outside of a building on a break. And we were talking to here for about 5 minutes and then she said I have to go inside now, but you can come in a we can keep talking. So we went in the building and guess what the building was?? It was a school to learn enlish! Pretty funny! So we asked her if she spoke English, and of course she did! So we talked to her for a while in English and then gave here a pass along card. Then later on we talked to this guy that was working for vallet parking. It was a really cool experience. We would teach him for about 5 minutes and then he would run and park a car real quick. But everytime he told us to wait there. This happened about 4 times. But we taught him a bunch of stuff and ended up giving him a Book of Mormon. He was so excited that he put the number to call to get missionaries at your house into his cell phone! We talked to many more people and at the end of the day we passed out 2 Book of Mormons and passed out 6 pass along cards.It was alot easier this time because we were alot better at the language. We could actuall understand about 30 percent of what people were saying. It was just enough to kinda almost get the gist of what they were saying. It was nice because we could actually understand what they were saying when they were rejecting us. Instead of like last time, when we knew we were going rejected, we just didnt know what they were saying.
Im so excited to get into the field! But im scared that I will get a Brazilian Missionary that doesnt speak a lick of english and is a complete slacker. This is a complete possibility seeing as how I got the best companion ever during the CTM, so its only fair now that I get a bad companion. But I can only hope that I dont end up getting shafted.So the next email you get from me, I will be in the field. Im so excited to find out where I will go. I will keep you updated tho. I heard that our P-Days will be on Wednesdays in the field too. So hopefully I will get to send na email next week. But if not, dont worry... I probably wont be dead. I probably just didnt get a chance to email.
Thank you everyone for you love a support! I love you Family!Love,Elder Schoen

2009-08-26T11:13:00.002-06:00

2009-08-26T11:10:00.000-06:00

August 25th

2009-08-26T11:03:00.002-06:00

Hey!This week has gone by so fast! It was pretty uneventful...We Had TRC again. Which is when we teach families that come to the CTM so we can teach them. Except this time, no one came... So we just had to give a lesson to our teachers. Kinda a let down.I decided to get a haircut from the CTM barber. And it got cut kinda short. So if you get the pictures that we took at the temple this morning please post them. But ya, thats what happens when you get you hair cut at the CTM. But this week I have learned so much about the gospel! We had a bunch of deep doctrine lessons. I dont know if im more amazed at how much i learned, or how much I didnt know! It is amazing how simple the gospel is, but it is also so incredibly complex. We went to the temple today, it was really nice to go and get some questions answered and to just relax from the busy schedule. So every week for the past month only like 20 or 30 missionaries have been leaving, and we are getting 50 to 60 new ones every week. So its getting really crowded here! So now not every district gets to go to the temple every week. So we didnt get to go last week and we wont get to go next week. So it was my last time for about 3 months.There were some missionaries from the São Paulo North mission there at the temple today. It was really cool to talk to them. They said that we get to go to the temple about every three months, and there is about 6 areas in the city, and 6 that are in the “interior” (which means the countryside) So it would be way cool to get to go somewhere out of the city. The missionary that I talked to was in an area that was about 4 hours from the temple. Anyways, its just really exciteing! I cant wait to get out there! Im going crazy in this place!!!On friday we will get to go proselyting for the second time! We will be going to the downtown area! Apperently its the equivilant to Wall Street in New York City.

Oh and from now on all letters sent to me need to go to my mission home. So if you could post that address for me on the blog, that would be great! Thanks. And the missionary that I talked to said that all mail has to get sent to the mission home for your whole mission. So thats going to be my address for the next two years. I guess because the mission is so small we will just pick up our mail from the mission home whenever we are there. Which apperently is only every 3-6 weeks. Which is unfortunant. But I just want to throw this out there, for anyone who reads this... I love letters! I didnt think it would be that big of a deal, but getting actual letters in the mail is so awesome!

Each week I study in my personal studies about a Christlike attribute. This week is was patience. I came across an awesome quote from Thomas S. Monson. “Life is full of difficulties, some minor and others of a more serious nature. There seems to be an unending supply of challenges for one and all. Our problem is that we often expect instantaneous solutions to such challenges, forgetting that fequently the heavenly virtue of patience is required.”

Well I love you so much! Love,Elder Schoen

2009-08-19T10:46:00.000-06:00

Hey,This past week has been so crazy! So to start off, on Friday we went proselyting for the first time, like officially. My companion and I had two Book of Mormons to give out, and they have us an hour and a half to walk around the town that the CTM is in. We walked pretty far and we were just talking to everyone we could. But unfortunatly no one would accept our message, and some wouldnt even give us the time of day. So we had been walking and talking to people for about and hour and twenty minutes and we hadent been able to place a Book of Mormon, or even talk to someone who was the least bit interested. We were starting to get really depressed. So, being almost out of time, we decided to head back to the CTM. Instead of heading back the normal way, my companion and I both had the feeling that we should take a different street to get back. As soon as we turned on to that street there was this lady who was in her late twenties and she was walking with her son, who looked to be about 5 years old. We stopped and talked to her. My companion, Elder Andraszczyk, started the conversation and then I started talking to her about families and how the gospel could bless her family and her son. She got so happy and so we gave her a Book of Mormon. It was the coolest feeling in the world. Then the very next person we talked to was this older lady and we gave her one too! It is such a cool thing to be able to walk around the streets in a foriegn country and be able to talk to people in their language about the gospel. I can not believe how much of the language we have learned already. We are not fluent by any stretch of the imagination, but we can say a little. I am so ready to get out of the CTM to start teaching people!So yesterday it was starting raining sooo hard! Harder than anything I have ever seen in my life! Within 20 minutes the streets we conmpletely flooded! The water was atleast a foot deep and all the streets are on a hill so it was leterally a foot deep river everywhere! It was crazy! Once the rain cleared up I took a picture. So enjoy! Its going to be so crazy when we are having to be tracting in that weather! The crazier thing is that its supposed to rain 4 times as much during the summer!So I met a kid here in the CTM, and his brother is serving in the São Paulo North Mission right now and is going to be done next month. And apperently his parents are comming to pick them up. So if you guys still wanted to come, I'm pretty sure it will be a good possibility that it will be aloud!Thank you so much for sending the poem through the mail. It really comes in handy to be able to read it.Well as of today I have been in Brazil for 6 weeks now! I cant believe how fast time time has gone by! I cant wait to get into the field, the CTM is getting really old. Its like ground hogs day! The same thing day after day, everything just starts blending into one, and I cant remember which day it is! haha But I seriously love being a missionary! Its the best descision I have ever made!I love you so much!Love,Elder Schoen

2009-08-17T09:15:00.003-06:00

Elder Schoen has 3 weeks left in the CMT. It takes about 2 weeks for mail to get to him. So... where do we send mail to now??

You can send letters to the mission office until he lets us know the address of his first assignment at:

Elder James Darin Schoen
Brazil Sao Paulo North Mission
Caixa Postal 26095
Sao Paulo-SP
05513-970
Brazil

Send packages to the mission office at:

Elder James Darin Schoen
Brazil Sao Paulo North Mission
Rua Dr. Rui Batista Pereira, 165
Jardim Caxingui
Sao Paulo-AP 05517-080
BRAZIL

His email stays the same but we will have to see what his new P day is and what the rules are on emailing.

We are so excited to have a missionary!! Although it will be nice when the twins comprehend time, they ask every day when JD is coming home. Trying to explain 2 years to a 4 year old is impossible!