2 Missionaries in the Family

Carley didn't have much time to write about her week, (in fact, her e-mail to me said, "I love you but I don't have time to write you because I have to send e-mails to other people!") I'm so glad she had so much support from friends in family this week, and I'll gladly get put-off on account of her responding to others' e-mails any time.

But here was the e-mail chain between her and Dallas this week. And you should also check out www.thebroinbrazil.blogspot.com to see how Dallas' missionary farewell went.

Dallas' Letter to Carley: 


On Mon, Sep 23, 2013 at 7:06 AM, Dallas Schoen <dallas.schoen@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Sestra Schoen,

Soooo The time has finally come!! Today was the Farewell and open house! what a day! The Sacrament meeting was seriously soo awesome! it without a doubt rocked;) It really was funny because mine and brother Floyds talks were basically identical! Which is crazy considering how much material there is on obedience! He started his talk by saying how amazing the Spirit is because of the similarities in our messages. The spirit really wanted to get that message across haha! So I hope you don't mind but I quoted you in my talk by using your words of wisdom that you gave me when I asked you what you thought about my topic obedience brings blessings! and everybody loved it!;) apparently your phrase "Exact obedience brings miracles" was used for about half of the gospel doctrine lesson;) 

And Jack did a FANTASTIC job on his musical number. He sang "Oh that I Were an Angel." Just amazing! great meeting all around! and as for the farewell, it was also very nice! we had a bunch of people stop by and wish me off! haha it was kinda funny there was a Glenn Beck fireside tonight so a lot of people came at the end of my farewell which was very nice. It was good getting to see a bunch of people one last time. I didn't want anything from anybody, but I did get some cash, but mostly I just love reading peoples notes! It was hard saying bye to people like the Weavers but it'll be no time at all before I am back! 

I was humbled by how many people came to my farewell talk! Loved it! But all in all today was one heck of a day! it is forreal now! I get set apart on tuesday night by president Healey and leave at 10:05 on Wednesday morning! Haha and Brian is picking me up in Salt Lake!! its gonna be great! 

The time has come and we are going to be out at the same time finally!!!! It really will be soooo awesome to exchange stories! YOU BETTER WRITE ME!!!!! Regardless of how difficult our missions are we always have each other to lean on! I really do look forward to getting to write with you!! its going to be sooo awesome!! I love you so much and cant wait to hear back from you!!! Keep up the awesome work you are doing! We are going to grow so close over the next two years and I cant wait to see how our missions play out! You are a rockstar! You are by far the best example of a missionary to me! I have always looked up to you as a role model and you never cease to amaze me with your love and strength! Just know that I will always be your biggest fan because I like to think I know you the best;) (because of all the family games where we would have to guess what the other person would answer and we would always win!!!) You are sooooooo awesome and the people in Czech are going to catch on very soon and really start wanting to know more about the gospel, it'll just take some time;) LOVE YOU SOOOOOOOO MUCH!! Cant wait to write you for the first time when I am in the mission field;)

Your soon to be for real ELDER Brother;) 

Dallas

Carley's Response: 

My dear Fantastic Brother, You are in Texas now and I am 1000's of miles away in Czech Republic, but guess what? I am thinking and praying for you and just missing you like all get out! Golly, you know how proud I am of you?? Do you possibly realize how amazing a missionary you will be?? As a missionary I think you have a heightened love for people, or just a better grasp of people and the Lord's infinite love for them. It's amazing. I think that plus my love for my family makes me too keenly tuned into how much I miss y'all sometimes haha. But, I am grateful for every moment I have here and at the same time I don't want to ever be done!

You will grow so much in the MTC and in the field, be excited for the times when you are pushed. Because it always comes back around in blessings 100 fold. 

You have so much strength Dal, you are so dedicated and persistent with things you love. These are things I have had to learn more being out here, but you are already so adept to these things. You are beyond capable of performing miracles no matter where you are. I miss our inside jokes and teasing. We have a sports day here and sometimes bring out the basketball and shoot on the hoop behind the church, so I may be able to take you a bit more when we get back and you have been only playing soccer haha ;) I laugh when people see my pics and they're like "yall don't look that alike" and I am like, maybe not in appearance, but I know we get each other and our spirits look alike, I bet we were twins in heaven You just let me have a head-start. ;)

I love you!!!

Carley

Weekly Czech In 9/16/13

Here's this week's e-mail from Sestra Carley Schoen.

Transfers are coming up next week...expect me to be sending a big letter of my experiences from this transfer. Sorry it is soo hard to capture the week in an email, I have no clue how to do it! Gah!

I love y'all and miss you so much. The work is hard, the language is hard, the people are hard... but hey, the gospel's true!! haha. We only get mail when we see people from Prague. I will be seeing them this weekend for District Conference. That should be fun. I love the people here and I am really growing a ton. That rhymed ha.

 

I hope everything goes well with Jenn's shower. Send my excitement and best wishes to her please :)

I can't believe Dallas is going in so soon...wow. 

 

Random thought: Talking to Courtney about Iron Man 3 and laughing about Tony Stark walking down the stairs all stiffly in that one scene and Courtney just nailed it on the head by comparing his walking in an armored suit to walking down stairs with ski boots on. haha. Saw an Iron Man poster and thought of that first, I cant remember anything else from that movie, I couldn't explain the story-line to my companion at all, that was all I could really remember. 

 

I have been having a harder time...Vladimir dropped us...won't respond to any calls or texts...we don't get it. Its really hard. But we have others we meet with. Felina is reading the Book of Mormon, but she is in Italy for another week and we cant get a hold of her at the moment. You really learn perseverance here. I am learning a ton, some are harder lessons. I am also sad that the transfer is almost over..I have loveeed Sister Woody, I am so worried about where I am going to be (I love Brno!!) and who I will be with...what if we don't get along?? blah. But I will trust that everything will be for my profit and learning. I finished the new testament this week, one of my favorite passages is in the last chapter of 1 Peter verses 6-10 if you could post that on my blog that would be great. I love you! I miss you! 

 

1 Peter 5:6-10

6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:

7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

9 Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

 

You are always in my prayers! <3

Sestra Schoen

Czeching In 9/9/2013

Here's the weekly update from our favorite sister missinoary:

I love reading y'alls letters!!! I just sit here laughing and all teary-eyed. I miss y'all so freaking much!! I talk about you all the time to my companion and she passes her love onto y'all too :) I really love Sister Woody (insert Courtney's note here: Carley is Sister Buzz and Sister Woodworth is Sister Woody) and it is going to be super difficult to part ways with her in a few weeks (what the heck??! already been like over a month out here...craycray.) She is so great and we still can laugh at the hard things. It has been such a huge blessing for me! It is all about having a resilient attitude here. How fast is your recovery time. How fast can you get back up and give it another go. And I have a testimony that if you keep punching away, something WILL happen. The Lord loves us so much He just won't let us lose. That is why we need to trust in Him. I have learned so freaking much about this.

I had such a pessimistic outlook before I came on a mission, and even though I'd say that that tendency may not be completely gone just yet, I have seen miracles when I desperately needed them :) I love my Heavenly Father and my Savior and I KNOW they love me and EVERYONE. Even the crazy people of the Czech Republic.

I am blessed everyday to have the knowledge I do and it is a blessing to share it with others.

I have great news.... We have our first baptismal date!!! :D Vladimir, he's from....drumroll....Russia!

Yes. I love the irony there.  (I think this is the irony she's talking about...)

Remember Vladimir from the movie "Anastasi"? Carley LOVED that film.

He is excited for November 9th to be baptized, please include him in your prayers. He speaks great English so we mix up English and Czech since there are a lot of similar words between Russian and Czech, go figure. And he loooves the Spirit and wants to feel it always.Juuuupppiii!!! (Yay in czech)

Mommy, I miss you!!! We went shopping for groceries this morning and....I bought salad stuff. Even though it is more expensive and takes more time, I just have to have things to remind me of you. Plus I should prolly eat better.  I just cant tell you enough how much I miss you and love you! Tell the Zumba ladies I say hello! And when I get back, Zumba's gonna "make me go crrrrazy" (like the crazy song Eliana does). I miss Zumba a heckalot.

I am so proud of Cassidy!!!! Atta girl!!!!! wow :) (Cassidy is striving for all A's this school year, and to be on time daily for seminary) Don't tell her if she is indeed trying to follow in my footsteps that I was not so punctual for seminary haha...but she is so amazing!! I have now gotten in the habit because of Sister Woody being 10 minutes early always to everything. Dad's jaw would be on the floor for that one. 

I am loving it here, it's beautiful and rich in history and culture. I feel like I can tell the growth in Dallas (our brother, not the city) through  y'alls emails. I miss him a lot. I have adopted these elders as brothers for now but they can't even measure up to him at all (literally too, they're a bit short haha). I know he is going to be an amazing missionary. I am glad he is taking the opportunity to be home, wish I had done that more even!

I miss dad a bunch too, it's hard not having y'alls guidance so easily accessible.I can't spell anymore, I have forgotten sooo much!! gah. But the language is coming, slowly but surely. I am kinda hard on myself but it propels me forward. I just feel like my brain is absolutely fried by the end of the day.If I can get this language, I think I could study pretty much anything and be confident that I could do it. Just a side-note. It's definitely hard though. But the people here know it too, they have a hard time with it too lol. 

Courtney's note: Then she closed with a single-item Christmas wish list: a mini Preach My Gospel book. Wow. What an incredible girl. She's separated from all the things that she used to have at an arm's reach (certain brands and varieties of food, accessories and clothing, hair and body products) and instead of asking for any of it to be mailed to her, she wants a spiritual manual???!!! She is so mature and such a good example of Christlike service.

Another Week in Brno

Here's the update from Sestra Schoen...

At a castle in Brno

Leopold is busy with school (he's a head-master) but we hope to meet with him this week again. Its been tough, we had several new investigators drop us. It is hard not to take it personally, they love us, they just don't want to commit to anything... That's a very common thing here.

The idea of God doesn't give them hope, but fear that they would be held accountable to something higher, there are definitely exceptions to this (and we're trying to find them) but many of them fall into this way of thinking.They show interest as to how the machine works but don't want to actually plug it into their outlet. 

I am sorry if I can't necessarily fill my e-mails with success stories and numerical stats about those who are converting to Christ... But I am still trying my gosh-darn hardest.

Thank you for your support and encouragement, I am soooo proud to have this family. I miss y'all a TON. It's crazy. But I wouldn't be any other place than here; I even get surges of sheer excitement to be here and to be doing what I am doing. 

And I'm so glad Dal loved the temple so much :) 

Oh, and shout out to Cam! (Insert Courtney's note: on Cam's first day on his mission to Detroit Michigan, he looked out the car window and witnessed a man walking down a sidewalk, pants unzipped, just peeing as he walked) I saw a man pooping the other day, so I can now officially relate to Cam, and...I wish I didn't...my condolences lol.

Love you!