Sis. Rogers! New companion March 27, 2017

Make This Area Great Again

I love Sister Rogers! She is from Fairoaks, California. She has two brothers and two sisters. She is super quirky and fun! We get along really well and basically are best friends already. #compgoals

I spent Thursday with Sister Cook (she's serving in Salem) as we waited for our companions. I had a cool experience with her. She was really nervous because her trainer just left and she was supposed to be a "for real" missionary now. And I've always wanted people to feel comfortable around me and that they can be themselves and tell me anything they are worrying about. Well dreams do come true people. She opened up a lot with me about how she was really scared and she doesn't feel "good enough" to be without her trainer. I love that on my mission, I've realized a lot of things about myself. I hope I can always be a person people can come to. Being a leader, in this mission, at this time is the most amazing blessing in my life.  I love the Lord. 

Sister Rogers joined me that night, and well, we spent a lot of time planning. She has an amazing work ethic that I just love! We both want to make Roanoke be a finding, teaching, and baptizing area. We are working our way from the bottom, but I am so excited for the amazing things that are going to happen in the 'Noke.

There are so many things we have to do as Sister Training Leaders but it's a very good thing I like being busy. ;)

We had General Women's Session and those sisters I look up to so much! One day I hope to be like them. I loved Sister Burton's talk on being a "certain woman". It made me look at myself a lot and think about how I am being a "certain woman" and how much I can improve. I want to be a "certain woman" in the gospel of Jesus Christ and I hope y'all do too. It's all in the little things of being a devoted disciple of Jesus Christ. He loves us and wants the best for us. This gospel is the most important thing we  have in this life, along with our families, and we need to strive to live it as best we can. 

On Sunday, we had Ward Conference, and I learned a lot from it! I had a cute thing happen. Sister Smith, an older lady in the ward that I get along with pretty well, was sitting next to me in Gospel Principles and she leaned over and stuck her bracelet on me! It was the kindest thing I've ever seen. I love that lady.

To explain the title of my email, Sister Rogers and I have a new theme for our companionship. "Make This Area Great Again" off of Trumps "Make America Great Again". We thought we were funny. Ha. 

Sister Rogers had to get some stitches out of her back yesterday. The only doctor/member that could do it lives in Cotton Hill and so we drove out to Cotton Hill to get the stitches cut off. She left them in a bit too long so the member basically had to cut her skin to get them out of her. It was NASTY. Then, the GPS decided to take us all throughout Roanoke, so we ended up getting a little lost, in the dark driving around. But it was really fun! 

We went to the ward dinner Friday night, and the members got us a whole cake. They were so sweet! #lovethisward

I LOVE YOU ALL TO THE MOON AND BACK! 

Sister Schoemig

Hump Day pictures March 22, 2017

Happy Hump Day

I'm not quite sure how I feel about today. Happy hump day family and friends. I have officially been out NINE MONTHS. I will be home in nine months, I've been out nine months. I would just like to tell everyone back at home, congrats, you made it nine months without me. Only nine more to go! ;)

Anyways, transfer doctrine is here! Sister Huntington is on her way to Forest, VA tomorrow and I will be getting a new companion named Sister Rogers! I hope she is excited to work hard because I have some big dreams for Roanoke!

We had some super stellar things happen here! We found four new investigators...now some of them I haven't met because we found them when we were on exchanges so that'll be interesting, but I am so excited that four more humans want to learn about the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

I went on exchanges with the Cotton Hill sisters. I was with Sister Campbell and she is a super stellar missionary! She's always teaching, always testifying, and always being a disciple of Christ. I want to be like her. I seriously learned so much from her and she helped me to see that no matter what, my discipleship is between me and the Lord and that's the way it should be. Our relationship with the Lord shouldn't be determined on whether or not the person next to me says I should have one. Nothing is stopping you from having that relationship, only you are. If you really want to know if this gospel is true, if God is really there, if things are going to get better. Why don't you just ask? God needs and wants you to ask. He can't give you an answer unless you act in faith and ask. Sorry for the rant, but I feel the person I'm talking to knows I'm talking to them. Just remember I always love you and I KNOW God loves you. Just ask him to show you and he will.

We had all sorts of weather here...from rain to hail to almost snow to sunshine. Virginia is bipolar sometimes. 

I had district meeting in Rocky Mount, VA this week and when we showed up, we found that the church building there is absolutely tiny! Pretty sure it was the cutest thing I've ever seen. I loved it. Plus district meeting wasn't bad either. Our mission is focusing on Christlike attributes for the next 9 weeks and we focused on faith in our first one. It was so good. I learned so much about what faith is and what it isn't and how we have to act in faith to receive answers. 

We met with the Espinosas again, but we found out...their name is actually the Espigozas! haha #awkwardmissionarymoments We committed them to come to church this week and the dad just said Sure why not? I am so excited to have them finally come to church! He said he knows its true. The mom isn't quite sure yet and the daughters would like it to be true but they aren't sure either. I am so excited to keep working with this family!

Anyways, I should go. Sorry its a bit short. But life is always busy! 

I LOVE YOU ALL TO THE MOON AND BACK! 

Ask and ye shall receive. ;)

Love, Sister Schoemig​

Haircut??? March 13, 2017

The Typical Life Of A Missionary

​Hey y'all! 

Let's start off with a story of how I got my awful haircut. Last Monday, we decided that it would be good to get hair cuts for interviews the next day. We were trying to decide where to go when we saw a sign for a place that was having a discount for the day, which is good because missionaries do not have money for expensive hair cuts. So we went and I told the hairdresser to just trim the layers a bit and to keep the length of it as long as she could. She decided that that meant to basically chop the right side of my hair short. It looks really funny...but at interviews the next day I asked for Sister Salisbury's opinion on it and she told me it didn't look too bad but that I should wait a few weeks and then go get it fixed somewhere else. So don't judge my hair cut right now. I'm gonna get it fixed soon! haha. 

Then...Interviews. This was probably the best interview I've had so far! He told me so many great things and it just reminded me that my mission president is leaving soon and I don't want that to happen! We started off talking about me and my companion and some of the struggles I've had these past transfers and then we went into how my family was. I told him that my little brother should be meeting with the stake president soon and that I was kinda having a hard time with it because I always imagined me being there for the process and that he is my closest brother and I won't see him for three years because of the way our missions overlap. He told me of how when he and Sister Salisbury first came out to preside over this mission that their youngest son was on his mission in the Philippians and the time that they spent serving together brought them closer than ever before. He made me a promise that that would happen to me and Chandler and that even though I'm going to be missing the process of him leaving that me and him would have an even greater bond after we are both home. It was pretty cool. We got talking about the zone that I'm in and all the amazing changes we have seen here and he was super happy with the things that he's seen here as well! Before we ended our interview I asked him for a blessing and I won't give many details about it but that the Lord knows me and he knows how to help each of us. :)

On Wednesday we had Stake Coordination where us and the Zone Leaders get together with the Stake Presidency and talk about things that need to happen in each unit to help the missionary work. Usually President Salisbury is there but he couldn't make it this time. Since being a missionary, I've figured out that I love meetings, I guess I always have I've just never noticed. So I just wanted to mention that this is one my favorite meetings. :)

....AND IT WAS DAKOTA'S BIRTHDAY! HAPPY 15TH DAKOTA! I LOVE YOU!

Us and the Zone Leaders have been working with the YSA sisters to help the YSA ward here to get all the records for less actives in the area in the right unit. The Counselor in the mission presidency gives us twenty people to find in the zone and we are in charge of giving the names to the right missionaries to go find them. Well, we all decided to meet on Thursday to figure it all out. And we decided to meet at the Zone Leader and YSA sisters library, because it was easiest for them (its quite a bit out of our area), at one o'clock. So we went and arrived at one like we were supposed to...when we got a text from the Elders that they were going to be late, they ended up being 45 minutes late and the YSA sisters were even later, and since we were so far out of our area we couldn't do anything but jam in the car to Sister Huntington's music. That made for an interesting day.

Friday we had zone meeting! Oh my goodness. This was SO good! Us and the Elders planned this thing down to a T! I would explain all the details of it all but it would take WAY too long. The spirit was so strong and the missionaries really loved it! I had the opportunity to teach about the spirit during it and it always amazes me how much I learn by the spirit when I am teaching by the spirit. I learned that you have to have the right attitude to have the spirit with you. You have to be loving and kind and ready to receive him and the things he needs you to say. He's going to help you if you let him.

We had exchanges with the Martinsville Sisters. It was really fun! I was with Sister Rodabough in Roanoke. She's been out almost two months now. Shes absolutely adorable and we like almost the same exact things! She has had a bit of a rough go with homesickness...which is probably exactly why I'm here. I told her a bit of my experience and told her that it was all going to be okay. She ended up being really excited to go back to Martinsville to work hard there. :) I am so glad I am in the position I am to inspire the missionaries to go and work hard for the Lord. 

We got the opportunity to help Roanoke city set up for the St. Patrick's day parade on Saturday, that was pretty fun. I got to know the sisters in the area even more and oh man, how I love them! Transfers are coming up and I do not want any of them to leave! But sadly, that is exactly how a mission goes. You end up getting moved right when you love it the most. We get transfer calls this Saturday so I won't get to talk to y'all till next Wednesday.

Have an amazing week and I LOVE YOU ALL TO THE MOON AND BACK! 

Love, Sister Schoemig

 

 

Fun pictures March 6, 2017

Back to Blacksburg Pt. 2

One word to describe my week: INSANE.

After our preparation day last week, we had a normal rest of our proselyting time. Pretty standard.

Tuesday we had Mission Leadership Council, and that was SO good.  We drove to the Christiansburg sisters home and they drove us all the way up Charleston. It was nice to not have to drive this time.. We talked about a lot about all the amazing things my mission is doing and what we can do better and I felt like this time I actually had a lot more to say on subjects that we talked about AND THEN... President complimented me on it in his personal email to me this week! You know you've grown a lot when someone compliments you for talking a lot..I never thought that would happen to me but I'm glad it has! 

Then... Wednesday. It rained. It poured. There was a tornado warning. It was lots of fun. We still went out and worked and we looked a lot like a wet puppies. 

And Thursday.... The most adventurous day of all. There was a sister coming back to the mission, Sister Cox ( I talked to her before coming out on my mission) and since we have the airport in our area and we are the Sister Training Leaders, we got to pick her up! It was so fun! There was a sister that was in training in the Blacksburg YSA that went home so Sister Cox was going to take her place for the rest of the transfer. I pretty much talked her ear off about Blacksburg and how great it was the whole drive over there..but then the adventure started. We got to the Christiansburg Sister Training Leaders house and they greeted her but then told us they had an appointment to go to so we had to wait with her for her companion. They left, then her companion arrived with the sisters she was staying with, and that companionship had a dinner appointment they had to go to, so we got left with two walking sisters with no way to get home. We took them home, got her stuff up to the apartment (it was really weird to walk into that apartment and not have it be where I was living), then took them grocery shopping, and then took them ALL THE WAY back to Christiansburg because Sister Cox didnt have a pillow or blanket. We took advantage of the opportunity of Panda Express (the guy gave me three fortune cookies!)​​​​​​​​ while they were shopping and then took them home. So basically what was supposed to take an hour and a half of our time took about two to almost three hours of our proselyting time. It actually reminded me a lot of my first day in Blacksburg. Shout out to Sister Rowley for being basically the best ever and taking care of me that crazy day. It was really good for me to say some good formal goodbyes to Blacksburg. I didn't really get that chance when I left the Burg because that day was so crazy. I feel really blessed to have served there but I know now that my time is now in Roanoke and that the Lord really needs me here. 

And Friday we had exchanges with the Roanoke YSA sisters! Probably one of the best exchanges I've ever been on, second to the one with my trainer. I was with Sister Mortensen for the day in my area. We saw a lot of cool miracles. We met with Sister Seay who is a less active with an investigator granddaughter thats 9 years old. We taught them the plan of salvation and they had so many good questions and the spirit was totally guiding that lesson! They really want to learn and do better and it was so amazing! Sister Mortensen is really awesome and we got along pretty well. :) She is an awesome missionary! We had someone try to bible bash us...in a nice way. That was interesting. 

Saturday we got to be involved in a baptism! Sister LInda Magray chose to be baptized and we got to teach the restoration while she was getting changed. It was really fun! I thought I would be really nervous to teach it in front of a whole bunch of people but I actually wasn't! I love teaching the restoration and it was that much more fun to do it in front of a big group! 

We had a crazy week but we are super pumped for this week! We got a lot coming up and I cant wait! We committed ourselves, last night, to change a lot of things we'd been doing to become better and I know it's gonna help us become better missionaries and better disciples! I'm excited!

I LOVE YOU ALL TO THE MOON AND BACK!

Sister Schoemig​