May 30, 2012

Hi Mom! I'm doing so well! Memorial weekend was like any other weekend on a mission haha. Work work work! Don't worry about the letters, I'll get em eventually. Did you get the map I sent?

Congrats to all the Lone Peak High School 2012 grads! You survived the easy part haha :)

Yay so glad to hear about Grandma and Grandpa getting their Visas! Get them outta here and into the Southern hemisphere! Also super cool about Dad finding work closer to home! See what marvelous blessings have come upon our family! I will remember to thank the Lord especially today :)

Shout-out to my awesome bishopric! They are top-notch brethren and they take care of me and my family and my ward so well!

Last Saturday we did service for a super sweet family named the B's in Virginia. One of our member's rents the basement out from them, P P. We cleared tons of brush and Bro B is psycho! He was climbin up a huge tree with his chainsaw and machete and just cuttin stuff down. He reminds me of Elder Harley in about 15 years, cuz he has a ponytail and they have chickens just like the Harley family. Shout out to Mama and Papa Harley, Ashton, Kayla, Micah, and Eva! Sunday we had J and M show up to church! Super awesome and they enjoyed it. Friday we had a super sweet lesson with them, F and 2 new people, A and G. It was about the pre-earth life. Monday G dropped us! NOOOOOOOO he was soooooo close! We think some family member or neighbor got to him and turned him against us. We picked up a new investigator that day though from the VC referral we got. Her name's C. Today we did endownments in the temple! Super awesome I feel the Spirit so strongly in there! Anyway I love you all! To the Edge -Elder Schoemig

(Mom's note:  If you are wondering what's up with Bill's job.  He received a phone call from a dental lab in Lindon last week and he went yesterday, didn't even have to try out and was offered the job right on the spot, after praying and pondering, he had decided to take this job which it is nice then he will be closer to home then he was in Taylorsville.  My parents received a mission call right before Christmas and was supposed to have left for New Zealand last month but had VISA issues since then and they finally received their VISA yesterday and they are leaving next week.)

May 23, 2012

I don't like the day by day format of telling you what's happened. It's super boring. We had one of our investigators, T, her mom threaten to call the cops on us if we ever went back there. Wow needless to say we had to drop them which sucks cuz E the son was reading the Book of Mormon and told us he believed it. Thursday we had a really sweet lesson with M and J with Sister M and they said they'll come to church. Our lesson with C at the VC was great, it was about our heavenly family. Her gospel foundation is coming along.

Saturday morning we had service at Bro T's and Elder L accidentally stabbed right through a baby egg shell with a rake and we got to see the half formed baby bird squirm around until it died. We had a funeral for it. Super sad and made me reflect on how fragile our lives are. One day someone might come around and put a rake through you so live your life so you're not scared to die. 
Right now we are in the middle of getting a branch mission plan together, we have some super good ideas that we are brainstorming. The branch is small but strong and I know that we can build it up to big and strong. We did service for a man who feeds us dad, he's old and can't lift so we went to Bowie and pulled some weeds and moved some dirt for him. He's got like a dillion (thanks Elder Simon Taylor ;) ) parrots. Cool old dude.

As of now G is off date but we are putting him back on soon. We just feel he needs a little more time, but if he's ready on June 3rd we'll baptize him. He came to church Sunday so that was awesome. This morning Elders L, G, S, M, F, S, W, and I went laser tagging in Gaithersburg. Super fun but I prefer the Laser Assault in Provo or wherever it is.

Well I hope everyone is turning to the Lord when you meet up with a challenge. He will help you when you remember and obey His word. READ THE BOOK OF MORMON EVERYDAY! With love, Elder Schoemig

May 16, 2012

Here's my weekly update:

Wednesday: Went to the H's after email and another delicious dinner. Then went and visited G and talked with him. He is really cool and said he can see lights around our heads because of our power and authority. Wow that was sweet.

Thursday: Went to this place called CHEEBURGER CHEEBURGER yeah gotta do caps lock on that. Ate a whopping 1 pound cheesburger! Wow that was huge! Then went to C's for a super sweet lesson about God and his characteristics. Then tried to check up on some people but no one home. It took us forever to get home from C's. Traffic here sucks.

Friday: Friday had weekly planning session which went really well. We went to the B's for dinner and ate chicken fajitas. Learned how to cook a little from Sister B, I don't know how well I'll use what I learned though haha. They live in Virginia and so it is a little farther, but what really makes it a long trip is the traffic!

Saturday: We were planning on going to Baltimore but scratched that idea cuz we didn't want to use a ton of miles. So we stayed home and cleaned the apartment from top to bottom, with the exception of our roommates room and bathroom. We went to East-West chapel for some 12-week training, and then checked up on K. She said she was good to walk to church on Sunday so we were excited about that!

Sunday: Mother's Day! Started to go to K's but she texted and said don't bother cuz she was mad at her daughter and her daughter was mad too, so we just went to the EW chapel early and I read a lot of Alma. Church was great! But G didn't show :( Bore my testimony of how important mother's are in Elder's quorum. They are super important. Enough said. Got to then go home and watch Saturday's Warrior while waiting til it was time to call home. Such a cool movie, and though a little cheesy but super great! Had a revelation that we all chose each other when we were in heaven. We chose each other cuz we knew that we could help each other through this life. So if you're reading this, you chose me and I chose you! Then my awesome call home where I got to see and hear my family! Thank goodness for the VP! They all looked great and I asked Dakota if he wanted me to come home and he said yeah but I said sorry cuz I'm stayin! He misses me I think and I miss him too but my service to the Lord is most important. Then we tried to go check up on G, but he wasn't home! By then I was getting a super bad headache and we retired early.

Monday: H's for service where we mixed sand, peet, and clay to make what he says is beautiful soil haha. Then checked on some people and went to D M's for FHE and dessert. We taught Armageddon, all the prophecies, The Second Coming, the 1,2, and 3 Resurrections, and the Millenium. Elder G and Elder S were also there.

Tuesday: Took our car to the car wash, then tried to stop by Travia's but she was busy so we'll stop by tonight. Had combined District Meeting with President Matsumori and an interview with him. Super sweet and inspiring. Chinese buffet dinner with Bro and Sister K, the senior missionaries who work in the Archives. They go home in 2 weeks so it was our last time with them. Then we went to G's and he was home! He is super excited about his baptism and we will now meet with him twice a week!

Hope everything goes well! Remember the example of Teancum and when everyone else is too tired to work, go to work and get the job done! Read the Book of Mormon! Ahhh be wise, what can I say more?!

Love, Elder Schoemig

May 9, 2012

Ah ha!  I am now 3 months old!  What a good letter, sounds like everyone is very very busy!   I love getting all these emails with everything is going on, and Mom you better be keeping em so I can read em when I get back (if I have the time!)  So much is going on and everyone, like you said, is growing up.  Is there ever a stop to it?  No we just have to enjoy each moment as it comes to pass.  I feel like it was just yesterday that me, Kale, Taylor, and Jackson were having Lego and Nerf wars in the Lewis basement hahaha. 

 

I am going to try and give a brief rundown of what I did since last Wednesday:  Wednesday night we went to the Heath's home in College Park for dinner.  Mmmm delicious :)

 

Thursday we had to go get our car fixed, the steering wheel was wobbling when we braked, but now it is all fixed.  It took forever!  Like 7 hours so we helped out around the mission office washing cars and stuff.  Then we visited the Ethiopians that night with Sister Deb Moore, her testimony is so awesome and that was our best lesson yet!  Unfortunately they still haven't read the Book and gained a testimony so darn.

 

Friday we went to the VC and had a great time with the recent convert, Charo!  We interpretted for her and then watched "To this end was I born" and the end scene with the empty tomb was super powerful for me.  He lives!  We also visited Greg, and committed him to come to church.

 

Saturday was the bomb!   Elder Bednar came and spoke to us at the VC!  Baltimore, DC N, and DC S missions were all there, and I got to see Elder Jared Pyne :) but didn't see Elder Tanner Wilson :(  He spoke about patterns, false and true ones, and was really funny and humble.  Instead of a talk, he had people ask him questions and he would answer them.  Very different from the GC version of an Apostle haha.

 

Sunday was fast Sunday, and Greg actually came to church!  That was so sweet the first time an investigator came to church.  He said he felt the spirit and felt good, so I'm happy about that.  I bore my testimony that Christ lives!  and that there is no where else and no one else I'd rather be serving then them.  Sunday night a Jewish scholar came to the church building and we interpretted for a member.  Very interesting people are the Jews.  It is sad they don't recognize their Messiah has already come.  We tried to talk with him a little after, but he is a very strong Jew, so to no avail. 

 

Monday we went to the Scott's home for service, dug a root out of his backyard, and he was nice enough to sharpen the ax we have so now it's sup totes dange (dangerous, that one is for you Anna and Mike Chex too ;) )  Then we visited Kizzy, a LA and we will walk to church with her on Mother's Day.  We want to show her how much we are willing to do for her.  Also stopped by Christian, a 15 year old boy who is almost full ASL.  It's fun to chat with him.  Then had exchanges!  Elder Lindsay came with me.

 

Tuesday was exchange day.  Got to know Elder L pretty well.  He's from Montreal and speaks French, English, and Spanish.  He also knows a little bit in 20 African dialects.  Crazy Canadians (that's for Kale)  We had district meeting in the morning then checked up on a bunch of formers and LA, almost no one was home except for a guy named G who answered the door in his towel haha.  He's LA but we set up an appt with him.  Had dinner at a Meditarranean grill named Rδti.  It was super good.  Then went over to T's house.  Her mom doesn't want us to go over there, her mom called us and told us not to, but we went over yesterday.  Unfortunately T was sick so we just talked to E for a bit.  Then switched back to get Elder L.

 

Well this morning we woke up had study went shopping and now we are here.  We don't know exactly what we're gonna see today, we are going exploring.  I'll let you know next week.  I love you all and am super glad that you are gonna start reading the Book of Mormon soon!  Right now I'm in Alma 47 and everytime Captain Moroni says something the Spirit just chills me and gives me goosebumps.  He's so awesome. 

 

Ok on Mother's day I'm gonna call 5 o'clock my time, which is 3 o'clock your time ok?  I'll see ya on Sunday!  Love Elder Schoemig

Feb. - April 2012 pictures



His mission field...



His missionary tag...



Elder Schoemig and Elder Englestead (cousin)

Elder Harley and Elder Schoemig (best friend)

His scripture...

The ASL program group

Elder Schoemig and Elder Larsen (high school football teammates)

Don't know what this is about but loved Elder Winkler in the background.

ASL group

Elder Ah Quin and Elder Schoemig

The day he left for the mission field.  He flew out alone, red eye flight and missed the connecting flight because the flight from SLC to Atlanta had bad turbulence and so he missed it by a few minutes and ended up waiting 2 hours at Atlantic for the flight up to Washington D.C.

His favorite temple!  Washington D.C. Temple

Martin Luther King Monument

Washington Monument

May 2, 2012

Hello and good day everyone! Today I am emailing from (drum roll please).......... The Library of Congress! Crazy right? It's sup totes clas. This morning we spent our time in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and I got to see all sorts of cool stuff! Animals, dinosaurs, the Hope Diamond! I even saw a giant squid! (btw future wife, when you read this, I wish I could use the hope diamond for your wedding ring, but I don't think it's gonna happen hahaha) Cool stuff, we walked from there all the way past the Capitol building, and now we are in the LOC. Anyway, my week went well, kinda slow at the end of last week, but on Sunday me and my companion, Elder L, made a covenant with the Lord that we would be 100% obedient and maybe He could bless us with someone who wants to be baptized. And yesterday we found 2 new investigators! Their names are Travia and Edward, a mother and son. They are really interested in learning about God and I hope this is the Lord's answer to our prayer! We really want to be the best missionaries we can be, and are willing to do whatever it takes to lead souls closer to Christ. I wish I could of been there over 2000 years ago when Alma, Ammon, Omner, Amulek, Zeezrom, and Alma's sons went to teach the Zoramites. So much spiritual firepower in that group! Sheesh those men could not be stopped by anyone or anything, cuz they knew the Lord was on their side and had full trust and faith in Him. I want to become like that. Anyway thanks for all the prayers on behalf of me and my family. It means a lot to know so many who care about us. Thank you. To the edge, with love, Elder Schoemig. p.s. if you are reading this, send me a letter! I'd love to hear from you and how you're doing!