12/30/09

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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.

Me

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

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

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

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

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

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

Elder Briggs in brown pants, Elder Schoen in black pants

Standing on the balcony of my apartment

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

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

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

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....

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

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

August 25th

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

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

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!

Im glad to hear that you guys had fun with Uncle Dave and his family. And the weather here is so random, it has been raining one or two days a week. Today was pretty chilly, it was probably like 50 when we got up, and like 65 or 70 right now, and earlier in the week it was like 80 or 85, which was actually kinda warm with the humidity, They said in the summer it will be like 90 and rain almost every day.I have loved getting your letters and the kids drawing, I especially liked the pictures you sent, I would really love to get a thing of pictures like that every once in a while in the future.

So this past week was the half way hump and the CTM. As of saturday, I had been here for exactly 1 month, pretty crazy. On saturday we had TRC, which is when member families come to the CTM and we teach them the first lesson in Portuguese. It went pretty well, when were able to say everything we needed to say, but they talk soooooo fast, so everytime we asked a question we had no idea what they were saying, so I would just smile and nod my head.Then on sunday the branch president announced all the talks, he didnt say my name, so I thought, good. Im off the hook! Then at the end of the meeting he got up and said, ''We are going to have one more Elder speak, Elder Schoen, could you please come up?'' It was pretty awesome, I didnt end up talking about any of the points that I had written down, and I actually dont remember a single thing that I said. But everyone kept saying it was a great talk. Im pretty sure the spirit was helping me out. Pretty cool.This week our Brazilian roomates left for the field. We are going to miss them. It is pretty weird, because they are only in the CTM for 3 weeks, so they got here 2 weeks after us, and we still dont leave for another 4 weeks.I was wondering if you could find out how Blake is doing, and if he has gotten his call yet. Im super excited for him!I think thats about all the news I have for this week.

For my thought for the week, I just wanted to let you, and everyone who reads this know why I am giving up 2 years of my life. Its pretty simple, its because I love the Lord. I know that God loves all his children, and that Jesus Christ is my savior, redeemer, and brother. I know that He died for each and every one of us, so that we can return to live with our Heavenly Father and our families for all of eternity. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and that he had a question and asked god. I know that God will answer our prayers if we will just sincerely pray to him. I know that through Joseph Smith the true church was restored on the Earth. I know that the Book fo Mormon is True, and that it is the Word of God. I know that in its pages we can find answers to our problems in life. I know that we have a prophet of God on the earth today, his name is Thomas S. Monson. I know that through God, he leads and directs his church. I know that these things are true with all of my heart. I am so excited to share is important message with the people of Brazil. This is why im here.With all my love,Elder Schoen

Pictures from Elder Schoen

Here are two pictures. One is me and my companion and the two Brazilian roomates. I'm on the far left, then next to me is my companion Elder Andraszczyk, and the two on the right and Elder Ramos and Elder Tomaz.The other picture is from our window... The city is huge, and that is my mission. The CTM is in my mission so i just look out the window at my mission... Pretty Cool.

Short but sweet

Sorry, this email might be kinda short, they cut down our internet time to a half hour now, and I received alot of emails so i spent alot of my time reading them.So i got that pizza party today so my companion and I were really happy to get some american food! Also i got the electric razor today. Thank you sooo much!Things that happend this past week...So a couple of days ago our brazilian roomate started crying because he was super homesick. This guy is so funny, he might have a mental disability and he is always yelling and singing. It is the funniest thing. But we absolutely love him. So it was so sad to see him in a bad mood and crying. So his companion and I, and the other three americans in our room gave him a blessing. It was so cool to be part of a blessing in portuguese. And as soon as we were done he was smiling and singing again. It was incredible. The power of the Priesthood is true. I know this whithout a doubt. I am fortunate to see it bless me life on a daily basis.Also, this past week was fast sunday, so I bore my testimony. My companion and I also blessed the sacrament... in Portuguese! ... It was AWESOME!Yesterday we spoke in Portuguese for 24 hours again. This time went alot better because we can actually speak a little bit and start to form sentences, so it was less of a quite contest.I just got done trying to place my first book of mormon with my companion. We somehow got it in our heads that we could speak well enough to try and teach people on the street. So we walked around for a about and hour trying to talk to people. We talked to one guy for about 10 minutes. He was the nicest guy ever, and actually spoke some english, but he "already had a book of mormon and is just really busy so he hasnt read it yet" but It was a great experience to try teach some people.Other than that, its the same ol same ol busy schedule. But I do love it here and I am learning so much! I love my companion and I love my District!
Thought for the Day "Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care".
Love,Elder Schoen

News from Elder Schoen

Hey!Ok so this week has been very eventful. First of all, last thursday we got Brazilian roomates. They moved two of the guys out of your room and moved in two brazilians. They are only in the CTM for 3 weeks before they get sent out to the field! It is so funny, one of them is from a really poor part of Brazil up north. He is a SPAZ! haha he is a skinny black guy that talks really fast and We cant understand anything he is saying. He might just be the most hyper person I have ever met. IT was so funny because they first night he got here we spent a half hour trying to figure out what he was asking us... He was asking how to use the washer and dryer. He had never seen one before! Im so blessed. But he gets up at 530 everyday so that he can wash the one shirt and one pair of pants that he wore the day before. He is very intereseting. The other one looks like he is like Italian or something, he is from a more well off family. He spent the past year serving the the Brazilian army because he got drafted to serve for a year. He is a really cool guy, and speaks pretty good English.On Friday they gave us eggs for breakfast! I was so excited and ate a ton of them... ... BIG MISTAKE! I spent the next 36 hours with exposive diharreah! I lost 6 pounds in that 36 hours... but then gained it back over the next two days. It was a rough weekend. Lessons learned... Dont eat the eggs!On Saturday we attempted to go 24 hours with just speaking Portuguese. We started at noon on saturday and i made it all the way untill sunday morning, when i woke up and started speking in english because I forgot.My companion and I started singing the the MTC choir. I cant sing very well, but I really enjoy it. Its a really nice opportunity to get my mind off of things and just relax. It also helps with the language because all the songs that we sing are in Portuguese.Other than that, there isnt really much to report, seeing as how we do the same thing everyday.Well I just wanted to let everyone know that Im doing well and that I love you all!Also I have decided to start leaving a little message at the end of each of my emails.
Thought for the Week:
A Fulltime Missionary- is someone who leaves their family for a short time, so that others can be with their families forever.I love and miss all of you!Love,Elder Schoen

Elder Schoen's email address is jdschoen@myldsmail.net , he can check it on Wednesdays.

Some things that work for our letter writing sessions: Mormon Tabernacle Choir music, full tummys, lots of paper, and different writing utensils.

Things that DO NOT work: watching TV while writing, Ben hungry, being too close (not enough creative space), or eating.

We got our first hand written letter this past Saturday, it was mailed the day he got there. His plane ride to Brazil was great only 40ish people on the plane, so he got to lay across 3 seats and sleep. Once in Brazil the customs people missed stamping his passport so he spent an hour extra in the airport trying to get it stamped. No one spoke English, but somehow it got sorted out. The MTC is in the Sao Paulo North Mission. The 12 guys in his district in the MTC are all going to the Sao Paulo North Mission and are all American.

We can't believe it's been 3 weeks already. And we miss him greatly, but knowing he is enjoying the adventure helps!

Hey,I'm so happy to hear that everthing is going well back at home. I miss you guys alot, but time is starting to pass by so quickly. It seems like yesterday I was writing my last email. They keep us so busy here, but I am learing the language quickly. I can already pray and bear my testimony in Portugues! And yesterday I memorized the first vision in Portugues. So i would say im learning quickly, but so is everyone else in my district. It is amazing the amount of things that can be accomplished in just two weeks. Not only have we all learned how to speak alot in Portugues, but we have learned so much about the gospel! I love it! A day hasn't gone by yet that I haven't felt the spirit so strongly!Church here is a crazy experience... So every sunday we have to have a talk prepared about a christlike attribute, and then when the sacrament is over, they randomly call up 5 or 6 people to give the talks they prepared. So we seriously dont know if we will get called untill 10 seconds before we have to speak. I guess its their way of keeping things exciting in the CTM. haha I havent had to speak yet, but my time will come. Last sunday I gave the closing prayer in Portugues.The food is ok, but it gets really old really fast! Every morning we have juice and a roll with meat and cheese on it. (I really miss coco-puffs and fruity pebbles) Then for lunch we get a huge meal of weird meat, bread, rice and beans, a salad and then some nasty jiggling dessert. My daily schedule is as follows...
630 Wake up
700 Personal Study
730 Coompanion Study
800 Breakfast (desjejum)
830 Class
1230 Lunch (almoço)
130 Class
330 Gym (we play basketball)
430 Shower
515 Dinner (janta)
615 Class
930 Plan for the next day
10 get ready for bed
1030 Try and fall asleep.
The days go by so slow, but the weeks go by fast. Its really weird. And to answer your question about the beds... well... the beds are ok.. the pillow is like a sack full of cotton balls... its very uncomfortable.Everything here costs relatively about the same as in the US, except electronics are way way more expensive here. I already exchanged all my american money into Brazilian Reals like the second day I was here.My companion has mission ties too, and his mom ordered a Norelco razor off of mission ties and he got it today. So they do have it, I would just look again. Thank you!!I can receive pictures, so i would love for you to send some from the photoshoot. Also, I heard the Brazillians love to see and hear about your family, so if you wouldnt mind mailing me a family picture, that would be great! I meant to send a picture today with my email, but I forgot my camera at the CTM, so I will try and remember to do it next week.It was good to hear about whats going on back home. I havent received your letters yet, the mail system here is super inconsistant. Some people get letters in 6 days and it takes 2 weeks for others, so I should get them soon. It was sooo nice to hear from you! I love you all sooo much! I look forward to hearing from you next week.Love, Elder Schoen

News from JD

Hey mom, I just wanted to let you know that everything is going great and that I Love You! Brazil is Great! The CTM is so intesnse! I seriously am so busy, I am luck if I have time to go to the bathroom! I Miss everyone alot. The first couple of days were really rough. I was feeling really homesick, for the first time in my life. But two days ago my companion gave me a priesthood blessing and I am doing so much better. There is so much to tell you. First of all... I made it, so thats a good start! Haha So my companion is Elder Andraszczyk (Andra-zach). He is so awesome! He is from Laguna Niguel, California. We have so much in common, and we have such a good time together. We are able to work really well together. I have to help him relax alot tho! Haha He is kinda a perfectionist and is used to being the best at everything, so this whole learning a language and learning how to teach the gospel stresses him out big time. He ran track in high school and went to state every year, he is a 5 time gold medalist in the junior olympics... He is kinda fast!!! Brazil is so different. I cant ever understand anything anyone is saying to me! Haha I will pick up the language eventually tho. The climate reminds me alot of southern California, its hilly and has alot of the same plant life. Also, this city is enormous!!! The drivers are crazy, and its dirty! There are sooo many sky scrapers, it reminds me of New York. I have no idea how im going to be able to navigate my way around the city.Today is my first P day. We went to the São Paulo Temple. It was beautiful. I sucessfully rented clothes in potugues. Then when we got back we are aloud to walk around the city from noon untill 5. So we walked to the post office and mailed a letter, and went to a little café and ordered food. It was really hard and we didnt understand anything they were saying, and they didnt understand us, but they brought us food. So it all worked out.Im not sure what our new address is, so i sent a letter to the old house hopeing that it would get forwarded to the Cedar Hills House.So I am in great need of na electric razor because I dont have time to deal with shaving cream ordeal every morning. So i dont know if its possible to order one off of mission ties, or if you could buy one and ship it. That would be greatly greatly appreciated. I have heard that when mailing a package that if you put stickers of crosses and the virgin marry and Jesus that you have a better chance of the stuff in the package not getting stolen, because they think that its church stuff.I am going to try to get on the internet every wednesday at 1 pm São Paulo time. So, I think thats 10 am Utah time. So... if you are wanting to, I could possibly email back and forth, because I have 45 minutes of computer time.Well Im just about of of time for today. I tell the kids that I love them alot. I love you Mom and Dad.Love,Elder Schoen P.S. Tell Chad to write me ASAP

JD's email is jdschoen@myldsmail.net

Our First Letter Writing Session

Last night we gathered as a family to write our first letters to Elder, as the twins call him. It is going to take some practice!! We started out ok with blank paper, crayons, colored pencils, note pads and pens. The twins were crying within 5 min because they were not happy with their art work. Lots of do overs and a half a ream of paper later everyone had something to add to the envelope. I think if I play some institutional approved music, the kind they play for inmates or at Randolf during craft time, softly it might help. I'll be sure to share what works and what does not.

We are looking forward to his "P" day. We are not sure if it is Tuesday or Wednesday but we plan on being ready to email back as soon as we get something. We think they are 3 hours ahead of us. The CTM president said something about going to the temple first. So we will let you know as soon as we do.

He made it!

Dear Parents,
We are happy to send the good news that your missionary has arrived safely at the Brazil MTC. What a great joy and privilege it is to greet each missionary as they come through the front door of the MTC for the first time.
They now have companions and are settled into their rooms. They are assigned to a district with capable and caring instructors for language and lesson study. The branch presidents and their wives, who are usually a senior missionary couple or mature Brazilian couple, will soon give them a second greeting. These couples are rewarded in their callings through the love they always develop as they embrace and watch over the missionaries.
The MTC has a full time live-in physician to care for their health needs. He is assisted by his able wife. We are also happy to report that the Cafeteria food is abundant and very good.
Your missionary will be able to e-mail home on Preparation Day after a morning at the Temple. This will be either Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on individual assignments.
We are also parents of children who have served as missionaries. And we have been missionaries who have left family. Please know that we are mindful of you and know of your love for your missionary.
Your very important young person is about to make an eternal difference in the lives of others. We hope you will be encouraged and comforted by this quote by President Lorenzo Snow: “There is no mortal man that is so much interested in the success of an elder [sister] when he is preaching the gospel as the Lord that sent him to preach to the people who are the Lord’s children.”
Please accept our love,
President and Sister Woodward
Important information . . .
We Strongly discourage sending packages to the Brazil Missionary Training Center. If you have already mailed a package to the Brazil MTC and it arrives after your missionary has left for the field, please understand that the package cannot be forwarded to his or her mission and will be returned to you.
WE Strongly eNCOURAGE sENDING HAND WRITTEN LETTERS. Please write your missionary´s first and last name and district and mail box numbers above the Brazil MTC address on all letters. Your missionary´s numbers are: District (28-A) and Box (42). Record these numbers for future reference.

Thank you to all of Elder Schoen's friends that came by last night to hang out and say good bye, it meant so much to him.

We got him to the airport in plenty of time. His bags were just a pound or two under the limit, whew. He was anxious to just get going, that is so JD. There were 6 total elders, that we could tell on the flight to Brazil, one other from our Canyon View Stake. Rob and I were the only first time missionary parents there. We had a good family hug and some tears.

Last night was hard for JD, having his friends there and then having to say good bye was the reality check. There were several tears and long hugs after they left. He had a hard time falling asleep. I'm sure he will sleep on the plane ride from Dallas to Sao Paulo, he has a window seat and Advil PM. I wish we could get a call or something to let us know he got there OK, but I guess no news will be good news.

Tomorrow is the day! We now have Elder Schoen in our midst. He was set apart last night and we are now a mission home. We went to bed at 10:30 last night and got up at 6:30 ( well Rob and JD did ). When I came downstairs at 7:30am Elder Schoen was laying on the floor with his scriptures open fast asleep. Today, I have permission to be his companion along with Rob. So we are running last minute errands and finishing up the packing. We had a sweet meeting with our stake presidency, they shared testimony with us and instruction. It is still surreal!!

We are off to the doctor to get his oral surgery stitches out and then to the mall.

5 days to departure

JD went to the dentist for a final check and they sent him to have surgery on an infection that turned out to be quite large! They had to go all the way up to his sinus to get it all, but they did and he is cleared to go to Brazil.

His mom is still in a little bit of denial this is really happening. All his brothers and sisters have expressed how much they are going to miss him. Last Sunday was his farewell. Grandpa Bob and Nana came and they said his talk was wonderful. His mom and sisters sang and everyone commented on how nice that was. JD is as ready as he can be and excited to get going.

We are going to try and keep everyone up to date on his mission with this blog. Please check it as often as you like!!