Valentines and outdoor - 2/26/18

I sent both set of ASL missionaries fun Valentine package.  I love it!

That time we found some deaf people

This week was cool! We found two deaf people in Renton on Monday night and we are going to be trying to follow up with them so we are excited! One is a young boy that doesn't do sign language apparantly but his mother was interested and we are probably going to go back to try to teach him sign and the gospel!

We visited a part member family in Bonny Lake this week, the mom is a member, the dad and two kids are not members. But we taught them about the Book of Mormon and shared experiences about how it has blessed our lives and it was really cool! They said they will read it! We just need to be patient with them because they are kind of slow going but we are really excited!

Everything is going great here though, it has been really cold, and sunny too, which is weird but its all good. Yesterday it hailed/snowed/slushed all over, it was pretty fun to drive in, no one here really knew what to do though, and they don't have snow plows and since the temperature kept changing it would thaw a little and then freeze again on the roads so it was cool. We went down to Olympia and just walked into an apartment complex office and we asked them if there was anyone deaf there, there was. And they can't tell us exactly where they are but now we know they are there and we gave them our information so that was cool. 

Pictures

1. by the way thanks mom for the Valentines package.

2. The other Elders liked it too

3. Snow...99% is already gone

Love you all! This week I have been studying all about God as our Loving Heavenly Father and oh my goodness it has been amazing! God TRULY LOVES US! Isn't that cool? I would encourage everyone to study that doctrine because it is really cool!

-Elder Schoemig

What do most people do for work in your area or is it pretty mixed?

Everyone in my area? meaning deaf people? Or in Seattle in general? I guess a lot of people in general work for big computer corporations like Microsoft and Amazon, those two are the biggest here, also Facebook, T-mobile, and other smaller ones. Deaf people here, quite a few work for Boeing, thats really big up here in general as well, or for the Post Office, Fedex and UPS, its pretty random I guess.

Share with us how has your testimony grown since leaving home? (In your mission language if you want). How has the atonement strengthened you as a missionary?

Testimony? I guess it wants me to sign it, i'll share that video with you. But I can do it in German!

Ich werde mein Wissen teilen. Ich weiß, dass das Buch Mormon wahr ist. Ich weiß, dass Jesus Christus lebt. Ich weiß, dass Joseph Smith ein Prophet ist. Im Namen Jesu Christi Amen

What should we do to be better missionaries at home while you are gone?

To be better missionaries! Just don't be afraid to share the gospel with people, it is such a precious gift and "a city set on a hill cannot be hid". Be a friendly smiley person and find the people in your life who need what we have and don't be afraid to share it with them. I think in Utah we always think oh there are so many members around here someone else will share it with that non member, but its not that way. Help people discover the power in the Book of Mormon, go on splits with missionaries! I wish I would have done that before, when Dakota turns 16 have him go with some Elders to do some work! It will be a really cool experience I promise!

anywho, love you mom! I'll share me signing my testimony growing with you soon!

Elder Bird and cool bridge - 2/19/18

That time Elder Bird got sick...

So Elder Bird was sick Tuesday and Wednesday but we still went out to try to do some work until both Sister Schofield and the WSM nurse told us to go in so he could rest so we were in the apartment a lot, but we still managed to do some good stuff!

One of our members Jorge is from Mexico and he has been a member for about 30 years or something like that and he had never been ordained to the Aaronic priesthood, also he moved from Mexico to Arizona and found a deaf branch there, and then when he moved here he didn't know where any churches or anything was, long story short he found the deaf branch and recently he received the Aaronic priesthood and he has just been so psyched since then. He has referred so many of his friends and he is inviting everyone to meet the missionaries! So that has been way cool.

Other things, we had a lot of lessons get cancelled this week so Elder Bird and I tried to find some deaf people and we actually did! Thursday we were in Federal Way and had planned to go tracting, the first door we knock on we actually have a really good contact with a man and when we ask if he knows anyone who is deaf he didn't really say anything specific but he did say that he was going to go on a walk tomorrow with the guy the next door down. So we said Umm, ok thank you very much! Then we go to the next door, and it was a deaf doorbell!!! (If you don't know what that is, the doorbell flashes lights instead of noise) So we ring it I think 3 times and wait a really long time, then we hear a tiny noise and wait a little more and he answered!! A deaf guy!! So cool! Sad part is that he had a friend in California who was a member and that taught him false things about the church and so although we really tried everything, I mean we testified, read the Book of Mormon and everything that we could, he was still not interested. So I was super bummed about that, super stoked but sad as well. The work continues though!

Anyway, we are doing good and the work is truly led by the Lord! If that last story doesn't prove it I don't know what will, but I know that this is His work and that Jesus Christ is the Savior and He LOVES us!!

-Elder Schoemig

What was your favorite meal from members during the mission so far?

1. Oh man my favorite meal, the Bonny's, ask Micah about them. made these delicious street tacos with carne asada and homemade salsa and stuff that was SSOOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOODDDD mom! I mean delicious.

Are there street vendors in your area?  Do they offer good food?  Do you snack during the day between lessons?

2. I have not tried any street trucks yet, and honestly Elder Bird is afraid of them, so maybe will have to wait a while on that one, we don't see very many though, I'll look harder though.

What has been your favorite P-day activity so far?

3. I just love playing sports, when we have zone sports day its the best thing just lets me be out playing sports again, I really miss that but thats ok! Plenty of better opportunities here!

P-day??? - 2/12/18

That time we laughed so hard we had to stop tracting

Funny story, last night we were tracting and we knocked on this apartment that was just completely dark, the door opens and the lady goes "I'm in the middle of dinner" and so we did our thing invited her to learn and asked for deaf people she said no and then closed the door. And I turned to Elder Bird and say "That's a Dark Dinner..." and then we knock the next door and I say "Do you want to know how I got these potatoes?" (Thats a Dark Knight reference in case some of you don't know) And we just busted up so hard, we had to leave the apartment complex for a little bit, I have really bad timing with my jokes. But we quickly got back to work!

So this week was a little crazy, from investigator lessons with members teaching false doctrine, to arguing with a recent convert over which version of the Bible he should read and other stuff, but it was so fun! We tracted a bunch! It was great! We found a crazy amount of referrals for other missionaries! And then yesterday one of our members, is just a baller and he set an appointment for this Wednesday with his friend to meet us! We are so pumped!

You are all awesome! 1 Nephi 1:20 is a pretty good scripture, the Lord is so merciful to us! Have a great week!

Elder Schoemig

Mom's note;  I have decided that I was going to sent him few questions at a time to get more out of him.  Lol....

Here is what I asked and got responses on these.  :)

1. When was the last time you laughed with your companion and why? What makes you laugh in your area? How do you stay light hearted?

--- I sent one story in the big email, but we laugh a lot about random things that we say, we are both really quick witted and sometimes we are too quick haha. in my area what makes me laugh? Members a lot of time, they just have little quirks that are way funny, we were late to dinner one night with a member and he always tells us we are excommunicated, so when I texted him we were going to be late I said, I bet he tells us we are going to be excommunicated and sure enough about 1 minute later we get a text and it says "You are excommunicated for being late to sacred dinner!" It was pretty funny.

2. What has your mission president been doing to inspire the mission? What do you love about your mission president?

--- My Mission president is the BEST!!!! He has a really distinct voice that Elder Bird and I will copy a lot of times haha, its a sign of respect, we really love him, lately he has been really pushing obedience and working hard and the mission has been changing lately!  Mission culture has really been improving! It has been awesome!

3. Tell us in person about the last miracle you witnessed…When was the last time you saw an answer to prayer?

--- That miracle with the member setting an appointment was really awesome!!! another one is probably that everyday we see ourselves being led by the spirit to find people who are elect, the other day we called the mission office with 7 referrals in a single complex and 2 more in another! It was crazy!

We are rearranging our apartment today, we live in Tukwila, area is just sketchy, yes ASL South is even bigger than ASL North. yes only one branch in Washington, both sets of missionaries go to same branch.

Love you mom! have a great week!!!!

A selfie! - 2/5/18

That time we went to Elder Bird's Baptism Factory!

Hello Everyone! What a great week here in the good ol' WSM. this week was full of interesting experiences! But first I'll explain my subject line, we were driving (as ASL missionaries often do) and talking about how stoked we were for this transfer! and also about Willy Wonka, honestly I'm not the least bit sure how both of those came together and then Elder Bird just says "Hello! and welcome to Elder Bird's Baptism factory! It was funny and we laughed for a long time!

This week we tracted for a very long time! and we found 0 deaf people, but then last night things got wild! The branch got sooooo pumped for missionary work! We had 5 non members at church yesterday! 4 from ASL north and one of our members brought his friend who lives in the South area!! The branch got super excitd and we got 3 referrals in ASL south yesterday!! So cool! The Lord recognizes the work we do when we have faith and inspires people!

Also last night we were street contacted in Tukwila near out apartment and met a member who has a deaf sister! It was crazy! The member said she was trying to contact the local ward because she just moved but hadn't been able to! And we walked up to her and talked to her! It was cool, I felt like I should ask if she had a Book of Mormon at her house and she said she didn't, so we gave her one and she almost started crying she was so happy, it was a fantastic experience and I thank my Heavenly Father that I was able to be a tool in His hands! The Lord guides the work!

Our Savior Jesus Christ loves His children and He inspires His servants to do the most good for them!

Love you all!

-Elder Schoemig