Feb. 29th, 2012

Hello again everyone.  I want to tell you about the devotional we had Tuesday night.  Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Twelve came and gave us missionaries a pump-up talk.  I was less than twenty feet away from him.  He is soooooo awesome.  What he said really inspired me and lifted me up.  I received the letter about Dad's company shutting down right before dinner on Tuesday and I was crying a lot.  I felt sad for my family and for the struggles in the past year that we have had to go through.  But instead of being weakened and feeling like I wanted to quit, my resolve was strengthened.  My desire to serve was doubled and the Spirit of the Lord emblazoned upon my heart and mind a sure and steadfast testimony of my service.  Elder Holland spoke about becoming better than we were before.  He told us, "You don't have to be perfect, but you have to be the best you can be."  He told us that THIS IS REAL LIFE!  He said we're not supposed to go back to what we were after our missions.  He told us we needed to go to the edge.  I will go to the edge.  I will not stop.  I will become perfect in my missionary service, and that doesn't mean I won't make mistakes, it means that I will give my all.  The secret of missionary work is work, and my Grandma Jarvis said a little hard work never hurt anyone.  The fact that my father lost his job hurts, but it doesn't mean anything to me.  The Lord gives us trials that we may show through our faithfulness that we LOVE AND TRUST Him.  The adversary would have this weaken me and weaken my family, but it will not happen.  I issue a challenge, right now to everyone who is reading this.  Like Elder Holland said, go to the edge.  Impress upon your soul like it has been impressed upon mine a love for our Heavenly Father and his Son, Jesus Christ.  As Malachi said, as long as we are faithful the Lord will pour blessings upon us until there is no room to receive it.  I love you family.  Stay strong.  To the edge.

February 22, 2012

Wednesday, February 22, 2012 11:26 AM

hi mom thanks for the message.  i have a lot to tell you.  elder englestead lived down the hall from me and we got a pic the night before he left :)  tell dakota great job!  keep on playin ball and getting better!  tell garett oscarson to keep on praying cuz God always listens :)  elder w and i leave the same day march 12 and everyone leaves on april 9, autumns birthday!!! 

 

greetings everyone!  two weeks down and three more to go at the mtc! everything has been great, and i've lost 5 pounds since last week!  hip hip hooray!  that's what eating salad wraps and playin some hardcore basketball will do for you.  elder e, one of our zone leaders introduced to me this week on how awesome the ancient of days, the archangel michael is.  do some reading about him if you can.  my main thought this is about the book of mormon.  brother larry y. wilson of the seventy gave a devotional last night about the importance of reading from the book of mormon with investigators.  we can share the glad message of jesus christ strongly by doing this.  the book of mormon is sometimes confusing, especially to new investigators and if we take the time to sit down and read and kinda explain whats going on then the spirit can help testify of the truth of what they read.  reading the Book of Mormon is so fun and i hope no one will take for granted this awesome book.

 

ok this is for the family:  i love you all soooooo dearly.  last night i was thinkin about my little bros and started to really miss them.  i am glad that i can be an example for them of doing whats right.  i drew them a picture they should get within the next couple of days.  tell autumn good luck in her dance concert and i hope she does really well especially since she is wearing my favorite color.  ask her to tell me how things are goin.  to amanda and codie i hope codies book is coming along well.  hope school isn't too rough.  love you two and am thinkin of you, but not too much cuz my minds on the Lord's work :)  to mom and dad, i'm not sick anymore so thats good i want you both to read ether just for me :) he is kinda starting to become one of my favorite prophets.  i can't believe that moroni said he didn't even write a hundredth of what ether had.  love you all and hope you all have love for not only each other, but everyone.  Christ is strength and Christ is love.  Through love we become strong.  Through Christ we become strong.

The district

Hi Mom!  Everything (except the food) is great at the MTC!  Haha Just kidding, the food is alright sometimes.  I just wanted to say thanks for the wonderful meals you made before I left.  I love you and miss you very much but I know I am doing the right thing.  I can't wait to get to Washington D.C.  The MTC is fun but I'd rather be doing real work!  I'm glad that I am here and am learning soo much about the gospel, my own testimony, and ASL.  President Born is my branch president.  I've talked with him few times, and its fun to see someone I know!  He told me I get to call you on video phone before I leave to D.C. so send me the number please!  :)  Let me tell you about my district now.  Elder J W is my companion.  He's from Hesperia, California and is part Guatemalan, part German.  We get along very well.  He is a CODA (child of deaf adult(s)).  He has a very soft spirit that I think counteracts my loud one!  Haha.  My district leader is Elder H from Dallas, Texas who is a very good leader and is also a CODA.  He always keep us focused.  He is going to San Jose, California.  His companion is Elder Q.  He's from Walla Walla, Washington, the town so nice that they named it twice!  He actually says its pretty scary sometimes.  He is going to Mesa, Arizona.  Elder R is from Springville, Utah and is going to Rochester, New York.  His companion is Elder I from Draper, Utah (Elder Schoemig forgot to mention where he is going).  We have 3 sisters.  Sister T from Salt Lake City who wears hearing aids but can hear just fine, she's going to Anaheim, California.  Sister B is from West Jordan, Utah along with Sister Z and she is from Provo and both are going to Nauvoo, Illinois.  

Hello hello hello Father!  This is fun being at the MTC with all the other missionaries.  I have seen Elder Harley quite a few times and see alot of other friends as well.  Our roommates are leaving to Romania on Monday so we will be getting new ones.  We have 3, Elder R, Elder S and Elder G.  They are so fun and will be missed.  I am glad they are finally going to get to the field though.  It must be an awesome feeling.  In fact, by the time you get this letter they'll already be gone!  Elder B and Elder W are the leftover ASL missionaries and they'll be gone next week too.  I don't know where they're going.  Elder Malm left a few days before I arrived and apparently I sleep in the same bed he did!  Haha.  What a strange coincidence!  Anyway I understand now why you pray for sooo long.  ASL is such a beautiful language so it's fun to sign, but the real reason is that there is sooo much I want to thank God for and so much I want to ask.  Tell Grandma and Grandpa that the Wellington, New Zealand missionaries are in my zone!  Elder S, Elder A Q, Elder D F, and Elder L.  I told them that they would see my grandparents soon.  This is the first time that Elder A Q has seen snow, so he was pretty excited.  Elder W and I are teaching an "investigator" by the name of M  He is hard of hearing, Catholic, goes to school, lives with his parents and plays the piano.  He is interested in learning about our faith.  In the second time we talked with him Elder Winkler invited him to be baptized but he was worried about his mom and dad's approval and he said he also has a lot of responsbilitity in the Catholic Church.  We testified of the Holy Ghost and reading the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith and the Restoration, God's love, Jesus' ministry, the Great Apostasy and many other things from the first lesson.  We plan on teachin him more about the Holy Ghost and obedience to God's commandmanets on Monday morning.  Anyway I love you very much and look forward to hearing back from everyone!  Love, Elder Schoemig

(This is from the letter he wrote home last week.)

Elder Schoemig's first email to home....

Hi everyone! Wednesday is p-day in our branch so that is why it has taken sooooooo long to respond. I only have 30 minutes to read and write email so here goes. I hope everyone received the letters I sent.

Happy Day After Valentines Day! It was great to receive those letters from everyone and the chocolate and bear! I ate the chocolate and the bear is next to my bed! I am improving at ASL sooooo much it is amazing! Everyone in my district is as a matter of fact! We are learning a lot about the Doctrine of Christ (Perfect Love or Charity to put it shortly) and we all can't wait to serve. Elder Winkler, my companion, and I are teaching an "investigator" and we got him to come to church with us this Sunday! I think I like teaching in ASL better than I would in English haha.  I am having fun and loving every second, even though it is sometimes hard. But like George Wright said... no stress on your mission! 

Now for Dakota, my companion is elder winkler from hesperia california. look it up and draw me a map of how close it is to disneyland will ya? I am saving the candy money bishop gave me for later cuz they give us sooooo much food here! my pday is today, wednesday. the only sport i play at gym is basketball!!! I play with all the best players during my alloted gym time and i'm not bad! keep workin hard bro!

Autumn- It is SO GOOD here! Yeah my classes are alll day long but we are learning very important material so it is ok with me. I've learned to have perfect love for everyone. We all need to have perfect love. i talk to elder harley at meal times, it is fun to see what he's learned in Thai :) And your dance sounds soooo fun! Red is my favorite color! Do I miss you guys? Of course, but not too much ;) yes actually a lot but serving the Lord makes the pain go away. Thank you so much for your quote! I loved it!

Carson- Yes I am having fun! Thank you for the wonderful letters! Are you a Master Agent on Cars 2 yet? Yes i have gotten mom's emails, and I leave for Washington DC on march 12!

Amanda- Loved the card! it is on my desk. Thank you and Codie for the love and support! I hope both your classes and his book is going well! I will write, don't worry, but send me lots of stuff to let me know how things are going!

Dad- I am great! We get up, go to breakfast, go to class, go to lunch, go to class, go to dinner, go to class, go to bed, repeat. with a little gym and devotional and workshops mixed in haha.  I am glad you have a job still as well. Love you!

Mom-Cool that Brady and Kale got Eagles! Tell them i am well pleased with them. I hope you get a buffalo or an elk or a deer! that would be way cool.  Feeling better but i still have a cough and am getting over it. it's hard because my district is soooo funny they make me laugh too much.

anyway LOOOOOOOOOOOVE LOOOOOOOOOOVE LOOOOOOOOVE you all and tell everyone to read the BoM everyday! til next week or next letter bye :)

Elder Schoemig

This is his mom, Heather.  Elder Schoemig have asked me that we keep up with his blogspot about his mission experience and we gladly do it for him.  It has only been one week since he entered the Missionary Training Center and his preparation day is Wednesdays.  Currently people have asked us how long will he be in there, right now we don't know.  It could be up to 8 weeks, depending on his mission president in the mission field and his knowledge in the ASL, he could leave early to go out to the mission field.  We have been so grateful for this opportunity to have our son serving for the Lord.  We do miss him a ton around here.  It is a little quiet at home and we are very proud of Elder Schoemig.  He would love to hear from you.  We will be putting up his mission experience on this blogspot.  :)  Wanted to thank all those who have supported him through this time, I know he has been deeply touched and humbled by all of you.  Thank you.