May 21 Update

So it has been an awesome yet hard week as well.. Today was nice because we got to go to the temple! It was awesome to get to have my spirit strengthened. Afterwards we got to go to Doghouse grill which was awesome! Tough news though that i just read... I got an email saying that i have to redo my FBI  clearance... another 12 weeks before my visa is even looked at again. I guess I will just start over? Honestly that is really tough to read after I kinda told myself that I would commit myself to working on my Portuguese in preparation for Brazil.. Its hard but I will talk to president about it tomorrow.  We are doing good in our companionship and hope to have two baptisms in June. I love you all sooo much!! Today is our preparation day and I am not going to get to read any of your emails because I'm super short on time so on Monday i will be able to email all of you in depth!

LOVE YOU!!

Feliz Dia Dos Mais! (Happy Mother's Day!)

Dang it was awesome to talk to yall! Man i will be totally honest... my gut was churning all day in anticipation of talking to yall.. But it was nice to finally sit down and get talking! It was a great source of comfort and peace. I will always be grateful for the moments i have talking with all yall! This week has been another pretty under the radar week except for obviously the skype call! We have set a date with our investigator named A for June 23 so please pray for him!

Thank you all for the love and support you provide me and all the other missionaries around the world! This week I have been reading from 3rd Nephi in the Book of Mormon about when Christ comes and visits the Americas (chps 11-28). I absolutely LOVE these chapters. Christ's doctrine that he teaches the Nephites is the same doctrine found in the New Testament. We can see that Christ established ONE church and set forth ONE doctrine that we should follow (Ephesians 4:5) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the only true and correct church on the earth today. Other churches can have truths in them but there is one church and one faith that Christ himself established- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Be proud to be a member of this church because it is through this church and our faith in our Savior Jesus Christ that we can live again with our Heavenly Father!

LOVE YOU ALL!! Tem um bom Semana! Have a good week!

Mother's Day

So this week has been... I honestly cant even remember! It was just one of those weeks where nothing really happened. We did an exchange and I went with my District leader's companion. His name is Elder Anderson and he is CRAZY.. Haha he literally was talking every single second of the exchange. I will say though that he is a ton of fun. He has what we like to call a "butt part" meaning he parts his hair right down the middle of his head haha! I love him. We didn't really have any success this week in the area. Kinda bland but overall it was a good week!

I am learning to not let little things bother me anymore. Good lesson to learn Huh! I have been studying 3rd Nephi in the Book of Mormon and have found great revelation as i have studied. The pride cylce that the nephites go through is something i am trying to relate to myself! Especially in Missionary work. when things start going good i get prideful and eventually my area begins to suffer which humbles me! I am trying to stay humble though! I am grateful for the lessons I have learned being out here! It will be awesome talking to yall on Mothers day! I will get your info probably through a member contacting you! so be ready to respond! it will probably be later in the day like 5 ish or maybe earlier depending on our schedule and what elder vonk wants to do! Love you!!

Very Interesting Week

Haha sooo this week has been a rather long and very entertaining week. I have been with My district leader and his companion all this week in preparation for my new companion on tuesday. His name is Elder Vonk and he isnt a visa waiter but he did come out with me! From what i hear he is awesome!! So Im pumped!! Haha but this week has been a crazy week covering two rather large areas... I didnt get a whole lot done in my area but we worked hard in their area.  I did find two new invetsigators and we set three [baptismal] dates for may 10th but we will see how solid they are. I am excited about the new companion and the opportunity to be in this area for another transfer. That is crazy that during this transfer is Mothers day.... Whoa where did the time go... But nonetheless I am excited to talk to yall!

Easter was awesome! I gave a talk in sacrament meeting on the new video that came out called Because of Him. It is on lds.org.. It is probably the best video I have ever seen! so powerful yet so simple! We had 2 dinners and a dessert yesterday that we went to so as you can guess i was stuffed.... I love the members here in Visalia! They are all awesome! Im soo glad i am here! You know everyday that goes by the whole brazil thing becomes more of a fantasy.. Not to say i am totally done but it is hard to even think about it because of how long i have been here! Good news is i Love it here! The tri-companionship has been soo fun though. We have been having a blast but i am definitely excited to finally have a companion again. Thanks for all the emails I love you all sooooo much!!! Keep up the awesome work!!

FURTHER UPDATE
Mom got this text message on Saturday...

Hi Sister Schoen! 

We just had the privilege of taking your son and his companion to dinner. 
Elder Schoen was the first to have eaten completely the Burrito Gigantic. 
More pics coming. 

Sister Schoen

Your son has been teaching a co-worker of mine, Sheila Dills. 

Please keep her in your prayers for us too. 

Your son has been one of the best missionary teachers that 

my husband and I have experienced.  Thank you! 

Ever grateful, Elder n Sister Torgeson. 

(We r Service Missionaries for Addiction Recovery Program;)

He is enjoying it!

BAPTISM!

Well this week has been a rather challenging week as far as our numbers. It was difficult to get lessons for some reason or another. We did have a baptism yesterday which was a miracle. His name is "L". We have been teaching him for three weeks now and he has been soooo solid about everything we have taught him. We taught him The Word of Wisdom and when we taught about not drinking coffee or tea, he said "I don't get that but ok I will stop!" 

"L" baptism

Haha so we explained a little better and he did so well in preparing himself for his baptism. Im soo proud of his decision and happy for his chance to receive the Holy Ghost this Sunday. He will make a really good member. Im really looking forward to the new transfer and am excited on starting with a new companion since Elder Reid will be heading off tonight. Im glad I have had the opportunity to work with him and to learn from him. Im impressed by everyones missionary efforts! You all are studs! I absolutley love missionary life! It is soo much fun! Even though it is by far the hardest thing i have ever done! I have learned sooooo much in the little time i have been out and look forward to continuing to grow! Stay safe and beautiful!

Great Conference!

Well this week had its ups and downs. We had a rather difficult week finding and had a lot of people turn down the opportunity to hear from a living Prophet of God, but after much praying we had 2 investigators come and view at least 1 session. We had a man named "A" there on Saturday morning and on Sunday we met at a members home and watched both sessions with an investigator named "S" who we have been struggling with. We have been meeting with her for some time now, like 2 months, and she hasn't really progressed at all. So after watching conference we sat and talked to her for a bit and one of the members asked if this was something that she wanted to continue doing, meaning continue meeting with us. She said that although she has been learning, she doesn't think this is something that interests her... I was devastated. So with one last chance I bore probably the best testimony I have yet born since being on my mission, in which I shared my beliefs about the church and shared with her the fact that we will never know everything about this church or this gospel but we can definitely know enough and she does indeed know enough. She is full of deep and insightful questions that although have great meaning and do have answers, they don't need to be answered in order to know this church is true.

We are taking a break for her because she wants to finish her schooling and so we will hopefully get to meet with in a month or two. Please pray for her and for the rest of those we teach. Conference was amazing though! I loved every second of it! Got a lot of things to work on and improve on but I'm happy to say that they are things I have been needing insight and help determining what to do. So I look forward to the future and the opportunity to improve myself! We hope to have a baptism this week for a young man named "L"! So keep him in your prayers! I love you all soooooo much! Keep up the awesome work!

I cant think of any cool puns for a subject line....

Well this week has been a Greeeeaaaaaattt one! We had a baptism for "R"! He asked me to baptize him and it was rather funny because i forgot my white tie so we went to the closet and i found this sweet old retro jumpsuit that fit to perfectly to pass up;) But when we were getting in the font as i was stepping down the second to last step decided to move on me so i kinda missed it and slipped down.. Luckily i caught myself but it was HILARIOUS... mostly for everyone else but i laughed pretty good;)

We also had one of the best lessons i think i have had thus far on my mission. we taught a guy named "C" who is 18 about the gospel of Jesus Christ and he was pretty quiet the entire time and not really all in it, but when we testified together and asked him how he felt after our testimonies he just started crying.. We sat there in silence for about 25 minutes and just let the spirit teach;) We are going to keep meeting with him and hopefully prepare him for baptism because he said during the appointment when we asked him if he wanted to be baptized that he didnt think he was ready. Pray for him. IM SOOOOOO PUMPED FOR CONFERENCE THIS WEEK!!!!! Hopefully we can have alot of investigators there! we are going to watch it with some members! Should be a good week this week! Love you all!! Keep up the awesome work!