Mission president's blogspot

For those that are interested in reading about the Washington D.C. North Mission.  The mission president's wife has set up the blog.  It is www.teachallnations5014.blogspot.com. 

March 28, 2012

I am now one week old!  Haha and what a good week it was.  I met our investigators and am very pleased with their potential.  Their names are C, P, and I.  Please pray for them to know the truth and want to join the Church.  I know I was sent here at the right time so I can testify and help them come unto Christ.  It has been different getting used to the streets here and not knowing which way is north all the time, but I am getting used to it and can now find my way to church!  I wanted everyone to read King Benjamin's sermon to his people before General Conference, paying extra attention to Mosiah 4.  Me and my companions like to hit each other in the car when we see yellow cars, VW bugs, X-Terras, and Hummers.  Its an extra hit if it's yellow and one of those types and an extra if it's a convertible bug haha. Yesterday our GPS took us a weird way and we ended up right in front of the Pentagon and a camera took our pictures and some security guys came out and helped us find our way haha.  We have free reign to go into Virginia to teach deaf people and Patricia lives there so we were trying to get there.  Stupid GPS hahahaha.  But can you believe it?!  The Pentagon!!!  That was pretty awesome.  I'm still not used to driving along and seeing the Washington Monument or Capitol Building making the horizon.  DC is a special place.  Oh and also last Thursday we were at a members house named Emma Mayes and she had Scotch Bonnet peppers which rank between 100,000 and 350,000 on the Scoville scale.  In comparison jalapenos only rank between 2,500 and 8,000 on the Scoville scale.  So she had those INSANELY hot peppers and guess how many I ate?  That's right TWO of them!  Talk about the worst pain my mouth has ever experienced!  My jaw was clenching up and you know when the scriptures talk about the very bowels of Hell?  Yeah that was my stomach.  Haha but I'm glad I had that new opportunity and I'm gonna try to break the mission record of 10.  It's really quite torturous but I'm willing to do it.  Anyway getting along very well here in Washington DC.  ,\,,/ Elder Schoemig p.s. send me letters everyone!

He is now in Washington D.C.!

Hi Mom and Dad and family and friends!  I'm emailing you from Prince George County Memorial Library.  More on DC later :)  I'm glad you got to see Elder Lewis!!!  That's so awesome I'm very proud of him.  Glad you read the Mission President's blog.  Pres. Matsumori picked me up and took me to IHOP, he was surprised cuz i didn't eat very much.  I felt a little sick from the plane (you know me, afraid of heights haha) plus being dehydrated.  I was fine after Sister Matsumori gave me Gatorade and let me take a 3 hour nap and shower. 

The trip from SLC to Atlanta took a long time because we ran into some turbulence so i missed the plane by a couple minutes.  I waited 2 hours in Atlanta for the next flight.  It was fun to be in the world's busiest airport for a little while though.  The flights were a little nerve-wracking cuz I was all by myself but I said, just fake it til you make it.  Look confident, like you know where you're going even though you actually don't haha. 

DC is beautiful!!!  So many trees and green stuff everywhere and the blossoming trees are everywhere!  The temple yesterday was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.  Totes amazing ;) It appeared right out of the trees, on top of a hill.  It truly was like going up to a mountain of the Lord.  It is so majestic and I felt so holy and spiritual there.  I got to go have my own first vision kind of experience.  I walked down to the east door, which some guy said is where Christ is supposed to come.  I touched it and knew that it was a powerful place.  I said a prayer right in front of the temple and dedicated myself to two years of service to the Lord. 

This morning we went to try and get a sunrise shot with the cherry blossoms around Jefferson Memorial but it was cloudy so we got cloudy shots instead :)  I visited the Martin Luther King Jr monument, it was so awesome to see a monument to that great man from history.  He did so much for this country.  Then we walked around through all the Cherry trees to the Jefferson Memorial.  That felt like holy ground to me.  I was in such awe and wonder climbing the steps and beholding the great statue of Thomas Jefferson.  He is such a boss.  My favorite quote was the one around the dome, "I have sworn upon the Altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny."  It reminded me of Captain Moroni and the Title of Liberty, 1 Nephi 4, and Mosiah 20:10-11.  I am glad that our Founding Fathers had their faith in God.  I got to ride the Metro for the first time today, super fun. I also walked around the city for a bit.  It's weird cuz you're in the city but all the trees make it feel like a jungle haha.  Anyway now we are going to go shopping for food and whatever.

My last comments are this: that I am scared.  I don't think any missionary knows what they are getting into until they get to the field.  But I have my faith in the Lord and that is what matters.  We had a dessert appointment last night with the 2nd counselor in the deaf branch and with a recent convert.  It was cool to have that experience on the first day.  I told myself, "Just like in the MTC, but real."  I had to keep reminding myself that God called me on my mission and to be strong.  I will be strong and already I love it.  To the edge.

March 14th, 2012

Hey so this is my last official MTC update! haha My shoulder has improved so much from the physical therapy and I'll be leaving on Monday. I wanted to share what I learned in workshop on Tuesday. We watched videos about Lorenzo Snow, Dan Jones, Wilford Woodruff, George Q. Cannon, and Heber C. Kimball. I was amazed at the passion and dedication they had in serving. One of my favorites was Dan Jones and his fire and passion as a preacher. Another favorite was Heber C. Kimball, who apparently had a flair for the dramatic when he taught. It taught me that I don't need to be quiet and reverent all the time when I teach, that I can preach with vigor and fire. This is an awesome work so why shouldn't we teach with all the excitement we have? I am soooooooooooo excited to finally get out to the field! Așa e viața, which is in Romanian, thus is life.

March 7th, 2012

  Another week down at the MTC and only five more days to go!  I have learned sooo much and am excited to get to Washington DC.  My shoulder has been killing me and preventing me from signing so I would ask your prayers be with me so I can serve the people of DC with my heart, might, mind and strength.  Elder W and I are anxious to get going and serve the Lord.  Alex Boye, the wonderful singer, gave us the Sunday night devotional and sang for us and shared his conversion story.  I was edified and uplifted.  The biggest thing I took away from him is that if I say that I am going to have a great mission, then I will.  The power of positive thinking goes a long way :)  Thank you to my wonderful ward for helping to support my family and me.  You all have blessed our lives tremendously and we owe a great debt to you all.  Next time you all get an email from me,  I'll be sitting in Washington DC :)