Aug. 29, 2016 Pictures!

Still even dancin on her mission!

Sis Rowley and Sis Schoemig

Waterfall

Having lunch

My skillz are coming in handy

HEYO FAMILY!

I MADE IT THROUGH FIRST TRANSFER! WHOOT WHOOT! 

I dont have a lot of crazy stores this week because i only emailed you five days ago...but i do have some! So here goes!

We met the most prepared girl ever. We got a media referral and they didnt answer so we just decided to work the area and we met Noelle. Her roommate actually answered the door and was about to turn us away when we heard a voice from the back yell "ARE YOU MORMON MISSIONARIES??" and we were like yeah.... and this girl comes up and says oh my gosh. My best friend is on a mission and she said that whenever I see mormon missionaires that I should feed them! do you guys want to eat something? and we were like no...but we could use some water! so we went in and started asking if she was religious and gave her a book of mormon and everything and asked if we could meet with her and she said yes!! So we met with her and the spirit was so strong and she said shes been looking for something for a while and so we asked her to be baptized and she said its a big decision and that she would think about it and pray about it and she'd get back to us but we are meeting with her again this week so its tiny steps but they are at least steps.

But i am so excited for her. She is so ready for the gospel. :)

This week has been all about ASL. This is crazy. One of the girls in the ward suddenly knew that I know ASL but she doesnt know how I know so she was talking to me and was like you probably dont know the things I know but thats super cool that we both know ASL. So I just stood there and smiled and then afterwards Sister Rowley was all why didnt you tell her your two parents are deaf and you are fluent and I dont really know why I didnt. but it was pretty funny to me because i realized i dont want to make judgments about people I dont even know. Thats something the savior did that I think is one of the most amazing characteristics of him. That he goes up to anyone and helps them and talks to them. I realize now that I want and need to be like him, in every way. No judgments against people ever. I think I'd rather know someone than assume something about them. That was my crazy "what?" moment of the week.

Then my other ASL moment of the week was from my district leader, Elder Kitchen. He called us and sister rowley answered and he asked her if she knew ASL and she said no and he said well yeah i kinda already knew that. So by now me and sister rowley are confused as to why he asked us that and in my mind I was like he knows...how does he know? and so he started explaining about this less active they have in the family ward thats deaf and how they cant contact her because they arent sure how to do that, then all the sudden he says "Sister Schoemig, You know ASL right?" and my heart stopped mostly because thats not something I just tell people right off the bat you know? like hey by the way Im fluent in ASL... haha so i said yeah and he said he'd give us the information and everything so we can go talk to her so pray for me to remember all my ASL. I have forgotten a lot of signs since being away at school and then being on a mission. So I hope all goes well. Also, i asked Elder Kitchen later how he found that out and he just said he has telekinesis so apparently it must be going around that i know ASL. They are going to try and use my skillz out here apparently haha. Im excited but nervous!

So since not a lot happened this week, i decided I would share my testimony this week since transfer one is over for me. This week has been a real demanding week. But through it all I realized one thing. I need to be a missionary. Not one thats just here because she can say she went on a mission or anything like that. I have been thinking a lot about my family this past transfer and how they are adjusting to me being gone and if they were going to be okay without me and all this stuff that I should not be worrying about. Then this past week we have been talking about how the most important person in your life is the one right in front of you  and then yesterday I came to a realization in church. That I am called of God. He has been the one to put me in this area and that I need to be WAY better than I am. I dont want to get home and not be a changed person. and the ONLY way i can do that is by focusing myself to the work. I cant have thoughts of home constantly be running through my mind and expect that things are gonna happen for me. The only way to come closer to Christ and his glorious gospel is by focusing on it. By putting all our time and attention on being like Christ. Thats the key word. BEING. be like christ. The gospel is so black and white. its either you believe it and do it or you dont. You dont just halfway follow the word or wisdom or law of chastity, you follow it to the end of your life and beyond. I want to challenge all those at home who are reading this to BE LIKE CHRIST. One thing that has become so important to me is reading his words. The Book of Mormon and the Bible are his worrds. Our Heavenly Father has given us so many resources and books. Why dont we use them more often? I cant stress enough how much our heavenly father is waiting for us to come to him and how much he wants us to BECOME like him. We can become like him by reading and using the many resources hes given us to know of him and his glory. After all we will be with him one day. We dont want to get up to heaven and say Oh well, I didnt have time for that. Thats my testimony today. the only way we can be with him is to become like him. 

Well, I love you all so much. And I hope you can all see God's hand in your life. Focus on him and his gospel, through every word, deed, and act. 

LOVE ​

Sis Schoemig

(Mom's note:  When she was first called to West Virginia and after finding out that this mission only has one language and that is of course English.  I told her that she would never know she may need to use her ASL on her mission or even run into deaf people.  Well, it happened.....we are excited and very proud of her for trying to use her ASL.  She doesn't tell people that her parents are deaf or uses ASL, she'll get the hang of it.)

Pictures!!! 8/24/16

Our family drew pictures and send a package to Sis. Schoemig, she got it up on the wall.

Her favorite things are Marvel Avengers so we send her a bunch of Marvel Avengers stuff in a package.

Isn't Sis. Schoemig cute?

Hokie Volunteers!

Love this picture!

Sister Schoemig with the sunflowers

Whats a Hokie Helper?

I have a lot to say this week so here goes:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMMMM!!!! 

Here is a monologue dedicated to my mother:

Mom, you are the best mother ever. I wouldn't be here without you. You always take care of me and make sure I'm doing what I'm supposed to. I have gifts and talents because of you and I'm so proud to be your daughter. Thank you for being the most amazing person ever and always pushing me along and making sure I was a good girl and I stayed on the path. I'm forever grateful to you and your sacrifice for me. Have a good birthday and make sure the boys treat you well. :)

On Friday and Saturday I got the opportunity to be a HOKIE HELPER. So basically we moved freshman into their dorms all day and none of the buildings have elevators so basically I worked out all weekend. Haha. But it was super fun and good to get to know a few more students here! People still looked at us super weird though. I find it very funny. The way they look at us makes me feel like they think we are gonna stick them in a bag and drag them off to church. I think its hilarious but Sister Rowley doesnt find it that funny... 

CLICK DAY #2! Can you believe its been two months since I've been home.Whoa. I only have sixteen more months. The funny thing was I totally forgot it was my click day and so we didnt really do anything special then at the end of the day Sister Rowley was all "it was your click day today..." and we just laughed because we were so engrossed in what we were doing that day that we just forgot. 

Adrian is my favorite bus driver. Just saying. He doesnt drive like he's gonna kill us and he actually talks to us.

God really does talk to us. Me and Sister Rowley have been having a hard time finding people and getting to teach them so we have been praying to figure out a way to teach more people and boy, did we get an answer. And I'm sure your wondering what that answer is.... its family history! We got four potential investigators on one floor of an apartment just because we talked about family history! Its been amazing! Every time we talk about family history, the work just seems to grow and become easier, its been a huge blessing to have heavenly father give us an answer and help us get into homes and start teaching more. And we've had five referrals in the last three days. If every member gave the missionaries one referral, missionaries would not have to find at all they would just have to teach. I have gained a real testimony of member missionary work. Remember that god loves all his children and wants everyone back. You never know which one of your friends is being prepared so be a member missionary and give referrals to the missionaries. See the joy of bringing others to the gospel in your own life.

I had exchanges and they were super good! I went to Christiansburg which funnily enough is still in my area. And I was with Sister Miller and they had a car so that was a glorious day for me. I learned a lot about following the spirit and taking chances. We had a lesson that was totally guided by the spirit and I didnt even realize it till after the lesson. It was cool to see that once you forget about yourself in a home and truly try to help the person, it becomes was easier to be the missionary. 

I've had a lot of DE JA VU experiences this week. I feel like I've been here before but not... Its been a crazy week... and a half!

We got sunflowers last night. They were free. It was pretty sweet. It really brightens up our bland home. haha

So school has started and there are now 26,000 students alone here in Blacksburg and its been really overwhelming. Sister Rowley actually walks behind me because she gets a little embarrassed and overwhelmed sometimes because there are SO MANY STUDENTS!

I had my first missionary fireside! It was awesome! The theme was Come Unto Christ and one of the members of the Blacksburg family ward took a picture of me and my missionary friends and sent it back home to mom, so that was cool! And we had an investigator come! So it was all around a really good night!

Everyone imagine with me a day where you can only walk, imagine sitting down at the end of the day and thinking about all the things you did that day and having your feet go numb. That is a day in the life of Sister Autumn Schoemig. 

Sister Rowley got really sick one day so we stayed inside all day. That was an awful day.

LOVE YOU ALL AND MISS YOU SO MUCH!

Sister Schoemig

August 15th, 2016

P.S. Poem....

ps. this poem is basically how ive felt the past couple days...

pps. my mission president is awesome. he wrote to me and complimented me on being inspired and so focused. so he is definitely helping me see my true character. im so blessed.

A mission is a strange experience

It is a trial and a test.

A mission throws at you the worst

Yet, teaches you the best.

I’ve never been so happy,

I’ve never been so depressed.

I’ve never felt so forsaken,

I’ve never felt so blessed.

I’ve never been so confused,

Things have never been so clear.

I’ve never felt my Heavenly Father so distant,

He’s never been so near.

I’ve never been so discouraged,

I’ve never been so full of hope.

I feel I could go on for forever,

I think I’ve come to the end of my rope.

I’ve never had it quite so easy,

I’ve never had it quite so tough.

Things have never been so smooth,

Things have never been so rough.

I’ve never traveled through more valleys,

I’ve never ascended more peaks.

I’ve never met so many nice people.

I’ve never met so many freaks!

I’ve never had so many ups,

I’ve never had so many downs.

I’ve never worn so many smiles,

I’ve never had so many frowns.

I’ve never been so lonely,

I’ve never had so many friends.

BOY, I hope this is over soon,

GOSH, I hope this never ends

OH and ive got exchanges tomorrow so wish me luck please. im a little nervous...

The week where everything in the world happened

MY PEOPLE:

Let me start out by saying. I hate homesickness. I have been feeling it this week. I think it started with the news that one of my good friends was getting married and that I was going to miss it. And then saturday came and I was.... the only was to describe it, is my heart feels like its ripped out of my chest and I couldn't really do anything about it. So you know, missionary life. But im pushing. The only way I've realized to not have this feeling all the time is to keep myself going and talking other wise I get so sad that I feel like i'm drowning. but you know what? The lord provides. He gave me a companion that will tell me what I need to hear, not what I want to hear. Ive never really had anyone do that that wasnt family. So it shows me she cares about me and wants me to stay out here and do my best and thats awesome.

My embarrassing moment for the week. When my bag broke. I sat down on a bench and my bag just fell to the ground and ive never laughed so hard in my life basically. haha they didnt make it quite right apparently and it broke but me and sister rowley think that we can fix it with a pair of plyers (if thats how you spell that). So its all good. Dont worry about me, im a pusher (apparently haha)

We have been walking LITERALLY everywhere. I have been hiking some mountains here in blacksburg. But the funniest thing was when we say this sculpture that says "pallets move the world" when we were walking back from the Corporate Research Center thats on the outskirts of blacksburg. We have to plan hours out of our day just for traveling time. its kinda inconvient and sometimes we feel like we could be doing so much more, but i feel like its been good for me and sister rowley to get to know each other a lot more that other sisters could, so i like that part of it. Maybe not the walking for ten miles a day part of it haha.

Theres an airport here in Blacksburg. Its the tiniest thing ever and youll need a private plane to get to it but theres one just so you all know!

We had an awesome week! We have been getting in contact with so many formers and we have been teaching a little bit. For being doubled in we are kicking butt! haha our bishop and first counselor have said multiple times that they were surprised that we were teaching because there is no one here but if you actually go out and work there are tons of people to teach. President always says that he hates when the missionaries says in blacksburg that theres no one to teach here because then he drives around and sees a lot of people. and there really are lots of people. They are just all spread out here right now. but next week when school starts. Its gonna get crazy here at Virginia Tech.

We taught Matt, Nate, and Cameron. They are roommates and they are all really interested and really fun. We taught Yu and Xeuling and they are from mainland china are are super awesome! 

We taught Zebo and he is from mainland china also but hes been here  for eight years and we think he just maybe wants to hang out with us but we are getting him to realize that we arent there to hang out with him. We taught Natalie, shes a former that is in grad school and is super smart and super cool! She has a testimony but just needs a little more help getting to baptism. She just needed sisters to teach her basically. Elders are great but sometimes they cant do the things we can and sometimes we cant do the things they can. So we all gotta work together to get the work done.

OH MY GOODNESS! I ALMOST FORGOT ZONE CONFERENCE! 

This was the coolest experience of my life. You probably wont hear the end of how cool and inspired my mission president is. He is the best person in the whole world. sorry kenny and jess. President Salisbury is super amazing. And sister rowley has been super jealous because she says she wishes that she had gotten this zone conference to start off her mission with haha. So we started talking about some goals from last zone conference that i didnt really know about so that was fun. And then the assistants got up and holy cow these two elders are so smart and such amazing missionaries. They did a role play about keeping everyone involved in lessons and in church meetings and it was super fun and light hearted but i still learned a ton from them. Sister Rowley has basically instilled in me a love for leadership and the people who hold those positions. so i barely know the assistants but i love them so much. they are such great examples to me of being an obedient missionary and being humble and just being so christlike. I want to be just like them but a sister missionary version haha. 

after lunch president then talked for the next four hours and i can listen to him talk forever. And so what we did is we had a vision quest where we talked about who we were, and what we wanted to become. What was super cool about it was it totally helped me to see the person I want to become at the end of my mission and see all the things i needed to work on to become that person. I decided right then and there, that when i come back. I WILL be a changed person. Everyone always says they change and they do but I want to be myself but a more outgoing, loving version of me. I am striving to become a true disciple of christ. One of my favorite things he said was to listen with your heart and your ears. Ive found that super hard for me. To listen to both and not think about what im gonna say next. But once i do it, the spirit totally takes over and I teach so much better. Its the most amazing thing. I wish i could include all that i learned but there is so much. You all would be reading a fifteen page email haha.

Last but not least: 

I knew you would all want to hear about my fantabulous P-day and the exciting thing i get to do here. Have y'all seen dirty dancing? Well little did you all know, that I live in the very town it was filmed in. The lake is not as big as it once was in the movie, they call it the bathtub lake because the water goes up and down so much and they cant figure out why. but I got to visit the hotel where they filmed dancing scenes, the dock where they meet, the cabin where she lives in the movie. Its super cool. Im definitely bringing the fam bam here. I am such a fangirl so the whole time i was thinking THIS IS WHERE PATRICK SWAYZE WALKED AND DANCED!! haha so obviously i had to buy a t-shirt and its the coolest t-shirt of my life. I cant wait to wear it back at the apartment. 

Well, I love you all so so so much! Same time next week?

Sister Schoemig

Aug. 8, 2016 Pictures

PANDA!!!!

what up homies.

today was a REALLY exciting week. Well, not really. haha. It was just another week, but it was really fun because it rained like every day. IT WAS AWESOME!

There are two panda expresses in my mission and guess where they are. In my area! One in Blacksburg, which has yet to open but as soon as it does im pretty sure we will be going there frequently and another in Christiansburg which is also in my area. sooo i lucked out! And we went last week for p day in Christiansbury and it was awesome! SOO GOOD!

I put two cars stickers on my nametag because it reminds me of family and so i feel like a have a piece of you guys are normalcy with me at all times.

And I have blisters out the wazoo. so thats been awesome. but i just put bandaids over it and duck tape and keep pushing.

One time this week we went to this place called the Waffle House. And when we come back out here. WE ARE NEVER GOING THERE. We walked in and no one was in there. So we sat down awkwardly and then the waiters were so weird and creepy so we ordered ate fast and ran out of there. That whole day was just weird, there was an eerie feeling in town and we couldnt really figure out why. haha but it was fine.

real quick: Shout out to Shaylee Smith for being awesome! She sent me mints, lotion and the coolest bracelet EVER! It has the West Virginia state quarter on it and it is the coolest thing! I love it! It was a good pick me up that I definitely needed!!

It rained the entire week, nonstop. But its a good thing I love the rain. I feel a little closer to god when it rains so i was feeling pretty good about the rain, but no one answers or lets you in when it rains so that wasnt so awesome.

OH! zone meeting happened! I met everyone in the zone and that was pretty cool. At zone meeting the zone leaders were amazing, they helped me think more about my calling and how im set apart to be here in the West Virginia Charleston mission and how we need to be constantly striving to become who the lord needs us to become as missionaries and servants of the lord. They really took to the scriptures which was nice because the more and more i get comfortable with the scriptures the more i get comfortable in lessons and teaching them. It was super good and I cant wait for tomorrows Zone Meeting and to listen to President Salisbury and to grow even more. 

I think the coolest thing that happened to me this week was in my personal studies. I was reading the end of second nephi. And these are nephis last words and the last chapter really hit me strongly and how the last things nephi talks about are of Christ and how if we believe in Christ we believe in everything else. It was a good reminder to bring things back to Christ. He is my savior and redeemer and he knows my strengths and weaknesses and I should rely on him. I also thought about how if I had to write down my last words, what would I want them to be? I would want them to be of Christ and how i believe and trust in him with all my heart. And then i thought about how we should live our lives in accordance to him and one thing I always go back to is to live our lives in such a way that if we were being sentenced to jail for being a follower of christ, we would be. I never want to leave this path because I know of the happiness it brings me and how much my savior and heavenly father are there for me every step of the way. I can feel their tender mercies and their love through the small things. its the small things and our trust in them that bring about miracles.  through obedience and trust in them, we become whole and worthy to enter the lords kingdom and thats what it is all about. The gospel needs to be the center of our lives and the priority in all things. May we all strive to become more like Christ and trust in him with our whole heart might mind and strength. 

I love you all so much and I am so grateful for all the support and prayers. Im praying for you all and I hope all is well.  

LOVE TO THE MOON AND BACK,

Sister Schoemig​

Aug. 1, 2016 Pictures

Do you sisters like fish?

WHAT UP?! 

I dont even know where to start this week. haha! 

We called President Salisbury and asked for some clarifications on being YSA and he was so helpful and so nice! He told me hes so proud of me and that he and sister salisbury love me. Zone conference is really soon so im pumped about that! I cant wait to learn more from them again!

I am a fer-real missionary now. You want to know what makes you a real missionary? Walking in the rain for hours knocking on doors. Its rained like a bajillion times and we have to walk and its seriously the best thing. I love being in the rain and its awwwesssoommee! 

We went to the 32 Hokie stones. You remember when a student went and killed 32 students and professors here at Virginia Tech? Well we got to go and see the memorial they have here and they had the story of where the kid went to shoot them and all this crazy stuff. The buildings are still in use here and everything. But while we were reading about each person and i had a cool experience. I dont tend to tell people about these experiences I have, but this one was so cool. I can always feel angels around me most of the time. And I felt every single one of those people there. I felt they were happy that they were being remembered and that we were trying to help bring others to the gospel that they have now learned of. It was seriously the coolest thing. 

We have been putting book of mormons in the most random places. We feel like it'll get to someone somehow but its been part of the funnest part of my week! 

Me and sister rowley have been "ponderize time". Since we have to make sure we walk back we sometimes have extra time before being in at nine and one thing we both used to do at home is lay on the grass and think so we've been doing that and its actually helped so much! To take everything in and to really remember my heavenly fathers creations every day! 

one day while we were tracting, remember we tract college kids and who knows what we are gonna get, we were walking up to knock some doors and this music is just playing so loud so me and sister rowley stood outside the door before we knocked it and danced around and it was so funny! And it was songs i knew but she didnt so that was super funny! It was literally the best thing ever!!

Fish has definitely been a theme for the week. First off, I found Finding Dory goldfish, and then while we were tracting I saw this paper that had a finding nemo quote on it and it really makes me think of home and it makes me happy but sad but its all good im having fun!!

AND NOW FOR THE STORY I HAVE BEEN WAITING TO TELL: 

If you know me, you know I ABSOLUTELY DESPISE FISH. But its never really come up before as we meet with families for dinner. We have this columbian family here in the bishopric and they always invite us over for dinner on Wednesdays. And they come pick us up and they are the craziest drivers ever but as we were walking in their house, sister londono says do you sisters like fish? and sister rowley says yeah we eat everything and im behind her accepting the fact that i am going to have to eat fishtonight. I was literally praying for strength from heavenly father that i could at least eat some of it and be fine. We go in there and sit down and sister londono picks up this pan and starts to hand out food and lo and behold. A fish sits on my plate. IT HAS THE BONES AND THE TAIL STILL ON IT!! And I wasnt feeling all too well anyway so i decide to just eat what i can. But I eat tiny bits of fish with major amounts of potato so i can maybe not throw up. It was awful. Sister londono asked if i didnt like it and i said no i do im just not feeling too well today. Then brother londono asked what i did like and i said pasta and he said cool. And then he started telling me a story about how he was picky too and how he got over it.but i could barely understand him because he has not good english and he throws in spanish words wherever he wants to i just ended up laughing cause i felt so awkward and i was so happy when that hour was over with. But i did it! I ATE FISH! and in turn i have been feeling so sick these past couple days, but i keep on pushing. I think i may be allergic or something haha!!

I had my first dr. pepper on saturday so that was a good treat. It had been a rough kind of a day and so we got slurpees and a dr pepper. 

So many things happened but i can never remember when it comes to writing it but one last experience.

Heavenly father puts us where we need to be.

On Wednesday we were leaving the institute and I felt like we needed to go get some frozen yogurt from the frozen parrot. Sister Rowley agreed and so we went and got some and we decided to sit down and eat it instead of eat it on the run like we have before. And this lady named Nadine, whom we met days earlier on the bus (we gave her a BOM and we have kept seeing her around since), saw us and ran into the store. She asked if she could use our phone and we said sure, why not? She started telling us how she lost her phone on the bus and how work was terrible and how she and her daughter were going to be homeless in a couple of days and she had nowhere to go. And we felt so bad and she said god sent you guys to me, god bless you. Thank you so much. (her daughter had found out where her phone was) and she left. And that was the coolest experience. Just getting frozen yogurt has turned out to be an amazing experience.

Well, I guess thats all for now. 

ALL THE LOVE IN THE WORLD, 

Sister Schoemig

July 25, 2016 Pictures

Happy YOU'VE BEEN GONE FOR A MONTH day!

First off, HOLY COW IT IS HOT!!!!! I need a towel everywhere I go. I am sweating so much, we dont even move and we are drenched. Sorry I had to start off with that because I am dying of heat. haha

so after I last wrote, like right after, we got lost on a bus ride to the outskirts of blacksburg for two hours! What is up with that?! And we've basically gotten lost in a different way every single day.

We met with one investigator named Q. He is studying to be a youth minister and well, its been  a real struggle. He really struggled with Joseph Smith and if he was a prophet or not. He asked about why joseph smith had so many wives, we told him that heavenly father commanded him too and gave him examples of heavenly father doing that with other prophets in the bible and he said god wouldnt do that and basically told us prophets of god werent obeying gods commandments. so we came to a mutual agreement that he didnt want to meet with us anymore. 

We have been tracting a lot and seeing a lot of move ins. Our goal has been to hand out 6 book or mormons a day and we've been doing pretty good. One day we handed out eight. It was awesome!

 One cool thing that happened was that we knocked into these two atheists and they were really open. They were trying to get us to change our beliefs but they definitely were fine when they realized that we were different and we could agree to disagree.I really dont see their logic. Everything points to God. Everything is evidence that he lives and loves us. 

One day sister rowley was like I have a feeling we should go knock this apartment and she challenged me to say something new when we knocked on these doors. And so i did. We knocked on this door and it was my turn to explain ourselves and i said we are missionaries out in the neighborhood and we are teaching about the book of mormon, then i asked him if he has ever heard of the book of mormon and he said he had and so i asked if hes had a chance to read it and he said that he has but hasnt been able to read the full thing but he wants to so i said well i have one right here you can have! and then i got the courage to ask if we could come back later to see how it was going and he said he would love to have us back! He said when he lived in argentina and he was in the military he had a commanding officer who was mormon and started introducing him to it and he started to love it and learn more but he hasnt had the chance to. Way cool!!! Im excited to get to teach him! Although im starting to be awful at names and i've already forgotten it haha

OBEDIENCE IS KEY TO BLESSINGS!!! On satuday, it was a really hard day. I just wanted to go home and lay down the whole day. I mean it was tough. My trainer could see that I was not feeling it that day. So we called the elders and I asked for blessing. So we met later that night and I recieved a blessing and the elders basically told me in the blessing, little by little, heavenly father trusts you, study preach my gospel. I think I am one of those people that needs to be told something a bajillion times before it clicks with them and lately obedience has been one of those things. Really not being a robot missionary but striving deep down to be better and become an obedient but lively missionary. Im really striving to change and become a missionary heavenly father can truly send me anywhere with any companion and i can get the work done. And here comes the obedient part. Our elders LOVE to talk, so they kept talking to us and we didnt pay attention to the time and we missed our bus back home!! and then we realized there was another one so we waited and the elders still kept talking to us. and then the bus comes but it says NOT IN SERVICE! What kind of a bus isnt in service on the last route of the day when theres people waiting, but i know it was because heavenly father was reprimanding us for talking to the elders. They just love to talk! So me and sister rowley seriously were so far from home and we were pumping our little legs to get back home and it took us 30-35 minutes to get home in the dark. And it didnt help that basically everywhere here is like hiking up 50 different hills, and you know how much i am not the biggest fan of hiking. I like it but I could do without it ya know? so that was awesome. apparently heavenly father needs me to like hiking or something. I have no idea why.

Friday was my one month mark of being taken from the curb of the MTC. and here is something i didnt know, your MTC time doesnt count for your mission so i have a bit of bad news mom. You know how you wanted me to come home for Christmas? Not happening haha I get back in January. But we can always wait to have christmas with me when i get back. I'll put a big bow on my head when i get home because ill be your christmas present that year haha :P but friday we went out to the mellow mushroom and ate pizza then later we went to the frozen parrot and got frozen yogurt that was way good! Friday was definitely a good day.

I'm glad things are working out back home. Amanda is strong enough to stick it through, she just needs to realize that. She needs to kick satan in the butt and tell him to leave her alone. I've done it multiple times since being here. Kenny is kenny haha im happy jess is coming home and he can be a happy little boy again :P Jess sure does know how to keep him happy and trucking along. Chandler, i really dont know whats happening with him actually, he doesnt email me. So im sad about that. :( Dakota is a tough boy, hes very gentle hearted but very tough and im praying that his knee gets better soon so he can enjoy summer again.  and carson is happy basically all the time. haha

Mom, I would love to get something from you guys. I am not kidding when i say it makes my day to get packages from people. If you see anything that reminds you or me or that will remind me of you, please send it. I feel very homesick at times and the only things that help are things from home. 

Im happy to get that envelope from Kristi and Ron. Although i dont know them i am grateful that she remembers me and loves me. People like that are my favorite. Tell them thank you!

Tell William good luck and Mckenna good luck and I will write Elder Badger to tell him welcome to the mission!!, man i love that kid. Hes a sweetheart. 

I did not get it yet but im sure i will soon!

My area is good just lots of walking and bus riding. I sure am getting fit over here and my hair is growing so i'm gonna be a whole different sister schoemig by the time i get home!!

HAPPY 24TH OF JULY! I HOPE EVERYONE HAD FUN AND ENJOYED THE HOLIDAY! 

LOVE YOU ALL SO SO SO MUCH! 

Sister Schoemig

ps. i feel like theres so much i dont tell you so ask me questions so i can be sure to tell you all about my very exciting missionary life!​