May 15, 2013 - Short but sweet. :)

Hey Mom and Family! I had an awesome Mother's Day this year! Seeing all of you plus Jenny and the kids, my oh my how all the kids have grown! I do think that was the very highlight of my week. Carson doesn't have a baby face anymore :( Well anyway I will just have a short email this week, really short. The work is going great. It's a lotta work trying to inspire the district to be all we can be. This morning we went to the zoo and the California sea lion was the best. He was doing backflips in the water. I've got some great video of it. My feet are tired, my shoes are worn, my pants are ripped, my suit is torn, but my mind is clear and my heart is warm. This is the life of a missionary. Love you AS BIG AS THE UNIVERSE! -Elder Schoemig

May 8, 2013 - Car problems...but all is well. :)

Hey Mom first week as District Leader was good!  I learned a lot, especially about call-ins.  The reason for call-ins on 3 nights of the week that I've found is because it assists in accountability and for your area.  I am really looking forward to the first district meeting.  I'm gonna have some fun with it.

I think that's awesome about Grandpa's relatives in Elsinore!  Do we know who their descendants are?  

Can't wait to hear from J and H.  Odd that two of my uncle's brothers are out here at the same time but that's fine with me!

Congrats on BYU Rugby winning the National Championship!!!  Also congrats to my friend Anna on her engagement!  

Well in the news back here, we've had a myriad of car difficulties.  On Thursday we had to take it in because the traction control and ABS was acting up.  So we got a replacement car, a 2013 Corolla.  Elder B took the Subaru to the body shop on Friday so it could get repaired for the damages from the accident.  Since the Corolla didn't have DC license plates we had to scramble around for a couple of days to find a place to park.  Finally one of our friends at Gallaudet came up big when her sorority sister got us a parking pass for a month for free so that was taken care of.  Then yesterday we apparently ran over a huge piece of metal with the Corolla and got a flat!  We had to change the flat, IN THE RAIN, then take it to Pep Boys to get it fixed.  We took it in at 5:30, the J's came and picked us up, then we went to go get it at the end of the night and didn't get outta there til 9:10.  I was thinking, "How long does it take to change a tire?!"  Anyways that's been the car struggles we've dealt with this week.

In other news we had a fantastic lesson with J on Sunday!  President F came with us and we taught J about prayer.  We all feel really strongly that Jason will "get" the Gospel.  We just have to keep having faith and doing all we can to support him.  

We helped M move yesterday from her 3rd floor apartment to another 3rd floor.  Oh man does she have a lot of stuff!  I'm pretty pooped from that haha.  

Well anyway I love you bunches!  As big as the universe even!  -Elder Schoemig

May 1, 2013 - New District Leader over ASL/French program

Hey Mom!  Thanks for the great email this week!  I'm glad your double date went well with the Mummies haha.  There are a few mummies out here in the Smithsonian and I agree that they are fascinating and interesting.  That story of Dakota and the stove top reminds me of a couple weeks ago I was trying to make funnel cakes and the bag exploded on me and all over the stove top so I had to clean it up hahahaha.  I even have it on video.  You'll get to watch it on SD card that I'm sending home.

Anyway the past week had us have another lesson with the C family.  The mother is very nice.  She wants us to teach her son very badly but her own self interest is not very high.  Hopefully through the homework assignments that we give them she will become more and more interested.  We should be trying to get President F to come with us for one lesson.  

Oh and by the way,  I told you already mom but I figured I would tell the whole world.  I am the new district leader for the FrASL District (French and ASL).  I know it's a big responsibility and I hope I can do my best to serve in this new calling. 

Anyway, love you to the edge of the universe!  To the edge, Elder Schoemig

April 24, 2013 - Nationals baseball game

Hey Mom!  Glad to hear that you got to catch up on some things that needed to be done.  This week I think I will be sending my package home which will give you more to do however.  Sorry!  Haha it'll have my SD cards from over half my mission on it so you'll have a lot of pictures.  But it'll be fun for you so you can see what I've been up to.  Thanks for the updates on the kids and family and everything.  Those are always the best.

Anyway these past few weeks have been rough because we've been searching for new investigators and just not been having any luck.  We spent all of Saturday trying to find and nothing happened.  On exchange this past Monday night I was with Elder R and we were checking some referrals again that didn't answer.  It was 8 at night and in our mission proselyting stops at 8:30 so it was the last things we were gonna do.  The first lady answered the door which is more than what had previously happened.  She wasn't interested however.  So we went to the 2nd and last referral, and literally knocked on the door at 8:27, just three minutes before we were to stop.  A man answered, I asked if there was a deaf girl who lived there (that is the information we had received, that it was a deaf girl).  He said no but his son was deaf.  The mother came to the door and Elder R started speaking Spanish to them.  They were very nice and said they understood English.  She went and got her son and the very second I started signing with him she said, "Come in, come in."  We had the opportunity to talk with them about the gospel.  I was talking to the son and Elder R was talking to the parents.  It was an answer to my prayers for weeks.  We will go back on Sunday because the mom was thrilled to have her son be able to talk about Christ in his native language.  They are the C family, the mom is L, the dad S and J is the son.  The son was very interested to hear our message because he said he is searching for his own religion.  They are Catholic but I have a feeling that this family is going to love the message that we will share with them.  

I love you mom and I'm looking forward to P-Day today!  We are going to the baseball game!  The Washington Nationals against Dad's favorite team, the St. Louis Cardinals!  Afterwards will have a luau with some of the missionaries so today should be awesomazing!  Love you as BIG as the UNIVERSE!!! To the edge.  Elder Schoemig

April 17, 2013

Hey Mom! Got a real time crunch this week but all's well on my side! We're doing some less active and recent convert work and also focusing a lot on finding, so thanks a MILLION for those referrals. I'll get back to you on those. 

Went to the temple today. It was beautiful. Got some good revelations too. I'll write them down.

 

Wanna wish a happy happy birthday to my Grandpa Jarvis this Friday! He's probably sleeping as I'm writing this but I want to let him know that I can't wait to give him a big old bear hug and to look into those loving eyes of his again. It's at that moment when I can see into heaven :)

 

Love you Mom! As big as the universe! To the edge!

April 10, 2013 - 10 months left

Hey!  This week saw an awesome General Conference and an awesome Cherry Blossom festival!  Two great things in one week makes for quite the week!

My favorite talks in Conference were, well, all of them!  But especially how the repeated theme I noticed was, "Don't think that because you sin God doesn't love you.  Of course He does!  He cheers us on to do better when we make mistakes."  That was really touching for me especially because so many people have difficulty accepting God's love for them, both inside and outside the Church.  We could do well by following the Beatles counsel of, "All you need is love!"  for "God is love" (1 John 4:8)

I woke up at 5:15 this morning to hop along down to the Tidal Basin and do sunrise pictures at the Jefferson Memorial and with the cherry blossoms.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  The blossoms are just so light and fluffy looking!  It reminds me of snow.  I took almost 200 pictures on my camera.  I'm sending home a package soon, this time with pictures in it!  So be ready to do some real organizing.

Glad to hear about Autumn's first flight and how smart Codie is :)  Also I'm sure the house and backyard are gonna look different by the time I'm back in the bubble, can't wait to see it!

To the edge!  Catch the wave!  Missionary fun!  Love you as big as the universe!

Elder Schoemig

April 3, 2013 - No cherry blossoms yet..

Hey!  Start off with some bad news this week... no cherry blossoms down on the National Mall by Tidal Basin yet!  There are some in other area's but only two down there so I guess we'll have to go next week Wednesday to see if we can catch em then :)

I really do love the Conference/Easter package, I can't wait to take notes this weekend, it'll be so great!  We are busy getting everyone pumped up for the great and powerful talks that will be given.  My hope is to get as many investigators/less-actives as we can to see at least one session.  It'll be well worth the effort.  

I did not think in a million years that my family would be at the Festival of Colors.  Those pictures were awesomazing.  I don't need anything from home however, but I will be sending stuff back hopefully soon.  I really appreciate serving my mission inside the States when considering shipping rates and everything haha.  SOOOO thrilled to hear about Elder Lewis though!  I always knew he would get back out on a mission soon. 

Gotta wish an email happy birthday to my little brother Chandler!  Congrats on becoming 4-years-to-a-mission years old!  Hahaha but really enjoy your 14th birthday!

The work this week is focused on finding investigators and less-actives.  If anyone has any referrals for deaf people in the Washington DC region that need the Gospel in their lives please let us know!

Love you to the edge of the Universe, Elder Schoemig

 

(Mom's note:  Elder Lewis is now back out in the mission field!  Yay!  We are happy for him.  He is serving in the Utah Provo Mission.  He went out yesterday.)