January 20

Mom,

I didn't see an email from you today so I just thought I'd shoot you a quick one! Things are going great in Steamboat. I got your second  package and it is great! Thank you. I'm doing pretty well on food for now so you guys don't need to worry about me, I might need some more next transfer or next month or something but it's no big deal. We've got lots of non-perishables. 

Yesterday we had 50 people at sacrament meeting again which was a miracle! There are so many great people and saints here in Steamboat. There is an amazing recent convert, Jasclyn, and her mom, Sharon, who has recently come back to the church and they are on fire! They have such a strong desire to learn and understand the gospel and it is truly amazing. They are so awesome. Jasclyn went to Phoenix last weekend and brought us Panda Express back from there because that is Elder Vicznesky's favorite place. It was way good. Otherwise, there are lots of great things happening in the branch: we are having branch councils twice a month and we are really working on getting a youth program up and running. I'm loving it here so far and I'm sure I will continue to love it for however long I stay! One of our investigators, Molly, she stood up at a funeral reception yesterday to speak and spoke about how much the gospel has helped her in her life so far and how it is the next step for the Navajo people and it is amazing! I wish I was there to hear it and I wish I understood Navajo better so I could have followed it. Pretty much everyone here speaks Navajo in all the meetings: sacrament meeting and any community type of situation. A lot of the older people don't speak any English. I gave a talk yesterday in sacrament meeting about the Book of Mormon and was assigned to speak for the entire time since it is such a small branch. It was fun and wasn't as hard as I was worried it would be to speak for that long! I realized as I was preparing that talk how much I have learned about the scriptures and the gospel. It is basic things that I know I have been taught for my entire life, but I never really understood on a deep and spiritual level until now.

I hope you all are doing well! I love you! 

Love,

Elder Schaelling

January 13

So how are things in Steamboat?  I've got lots of questions for you!

1) What appliances do you have in your camper/trailer, do you have a microwave?
2) Was the box waiting for you in Ganado last Thursday?  Another one is on it's way.
3) Be sure to let me know of specifics that would be helpful for you.
4) Where do you get perishables like milk, etc.?
5) How was church today?  I hope everyone felt the Spirit last week and returned again today.
6) Where is Elder Vicznesky from?
7) Where is the Senior Missionary couple from and what is their last name?
8) Is Steamboat Canyon the same as Steamboat?  I typed Steamboat, AZ in my weather app to see what's going on in your area and it didn't come up, but Steamboat Canyon, AZ did

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Mom,

Sounds like you and dad are having fun! Send the Austins my gratitude for their Christmas card, it was very kind of them! I always loving hearing from members and friends back at home. Glad to hear you met the missionaries there! It's always fun to hear about missionaries in other places. I can't imagine what it might be like serving in a place like Florida or Southern California. Must be a lot different than the reservation! Elder Vicznesky and myself are in charge of less than 300 people and I would imagine those elders in Juniper are probably responsible for tens of thousands if not more! Crazy stuff. 

Things are going great in Steamboat!

1) We have a microwave, stove range, and small refrigerator. We have an oven connected to the stove but we don't think it works, or we haven't been smart enough to figure out how to turn it on. 

2) Yes, the box was waiting for me in Ganado on Thursday! Thank you very much for sending that to us! Soups are great, the only thing I would request is more adventurous or varied soups. We already eat a lot of the basics down here from the times when people do feed us: meats, potatoes, carrots, white corn, etc. I like Italian soups and curry soups and stuff. Just things that you would find somewhere like Kneaders or whatever! Macaroni is always great too. I'll try to think of more things and keep a list of what would be helpful. 

4) There is milk at the trading post there in Steamboat, but it is like 5 dollars for a half gallon so it is pretty expensive. I bought two gallons when we were in Gallup and am about to finish the first and thaw out the second gallon. We'll see if it worked out well freezing it. It is okay to freeze milk, right? I also bought some rice milk/drink thing that lasts forever so it is in the pantry waiting until I am all out of milk. 

5) Church was pretty good yesterday! There was 36 people, so quite a drop from the miracle of 50 people last week, but it was still nice! We are teaching the young men and young women for Sunday School and also for their regular classes right now. 

6) Elder Vicznesky is from Acworth, Georgia just about 30 minutes north of Atlanta. He's a pretty funny and goofy guy. 

7) The senior couple is from Burley, Idaho and their name is the Pattersons. They are very kind!

8) Yes, Steamboat Canyon and Steamboat are the same place. Luckily it hasn't gotten too cold down here yet! There is still snow on the ground, but it fell like 5 or 6 weeks ago or something, it just hasn't gotten warm enough to melt it all. Supposedly this is supposed to be the coldest part of the reservation because of the altitude but we'll see! 

President Yazzie's book will be amazing whenever he gets it finished. It will blow everyone's mind who pays attention to the native traditions of the American Southwest for sure. President Yazzie is a very, very smart man and understands the scriptures miraculously. 

This past week was full of great experiences! We have a few baptisms coming up. One is a boy named Quentin, an older lady named Molly, and young teen named Zack. They are all so awesome and it has been awesome to be working with them! We also found two new investigators yesterday as we were fasting through some miraculous yet small promptings of the spirit. Elder V had the impression the night before while we were planning out our Sunday to visit a less active member so we went there and she was talking on the phone and didn't seem too interested in talking at the moment so we were about to leave but before we left I thought,  "The Lord guided us here to this area for a reason," so I asked Elder V if he had knocked the houses in the area and he said he had already knocked them all, but then I pointed to a house and he said he hadn't so we went to it and helped them bring a whole bunch of wood into their house and started talking with them! It was just a very short introductory message, but we will be visiting them next Sunday hopefully! They also fed us menudo with tripe and pigs feet. Also, Elder V and I are putting on a family home evening for the ward tonight and we are going to play Lead, Kindly Light as a duet on the guitars. It should be fun!

Have a great week everyone! I love and appreciate you all. 

With Much Love and Regards,

Elder Schaelling

January 8, 2014

1)  How did your actual transfer day go?
2)  How was church today?  I was happily surprised to see that they have a church building in Steamboat.
3)  Do you have internet access in Steamboat?  I'm hoping it will be available in Ganado on Thursday if you can't e-mail tomorrow on P-day.  Please use the USPS if you have no internet access anywhere.
4)  What's the weather like there?  Are you warm enough?  Do you need a warmer blanket or a below zero sleeping bag?
5)  What did you do on New Year's Eve?  I'm thinking that mission rules don't allow you to stay up to see the new year arrive.

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Mom,

Things are great in Steamboat! I love the area so far. It is definitely MUCH smaller than Shiprock, and Shiprock was definitely MUCH smaller than Salt Lake City. Line upon line, precept upon precept, I suppose they say haha. My companion is Elder Vicznesky and he is a really funny and goofy guy. Yeah, there is probably about 300 people in our entire area because we cover Steamboat and an area called Jeddito that is west of here. The trailer you saw on Google Maps is probably the trailer the senior couple lives in, our little camper is behind the church. It's a little 20 foot camper, so it is pretty small inside. I would think that I should be able to meet everyone by the end of my time here, haha. 

1) Transfer day went great! 

2) Church was great yesterday! There was a Steamboat record for church attendance yesterday: 50 people at church! It was so awesome, tons of people got up and bore their testimonies. 

3) We do have internet access through the church here in Steamboat. Pretty much every church building needs internet for all the computerized stuff. 

4) Weather is cold but it hasn't been too bad the past week. Supposedly it's about the coldest part of the reservation because it is pretty high altitude. There is snow on the ground and it is very pretty here! There are lots of small trees and shrubs and mesas and hills. The camper has a propane heater so I am just fine at night, haha, don't worry about me! I'll let you know if I need anything.

5) We popped a bottle of Martinelli's and went to bed at about 10 o'clock, 30 minutes early to celebrate haha. It feels so nice to go to bed early as a missionary. 

Everyone here in Steamboat is so nice and the branch is awesome! The branch president, President Yazzie, is such a solid guy. He was teaching me all about how the Book of Mormon and Navajo oral traditions as illustrated in traditional sand paintings are related, it was so awesome! He is writing an entire book on it and has gone throughout his Book of Mormon for the past like 12 years marking scriptures that relate to Navajo traditions, because he grew up very traditional (not very many people are THAT traditional anymore) so he knows all the teachings and stories backwards and forwards. 

 

There aren't very many Spanish speaking missionaries at all in our mission. I believe there are only six, two sets in Farmington (east and west) and one set in Bloomfield. Some Spanish missionaries are sent to English areas and just are regular missionaries or will go places where there are some Spanish speaking people and be in a "zebra" companionship -- one English and one Spanish elder. 

Woohoo! That's so great you guys are hosting the lessons at the house!!! EVERYONE WHO EVER READS THIS: HOST MISSIONARY LESSONS IN YOUR HOUSE FOR INVESTIGATORS AND LESS ACTIVE FRIENDS AND RECENT CONVERTS!!! IT HELPS SO MUCH!

Wow! Crazy to hear that the Phillipps went through my mission just a few days ago. I wonder what they thought of seeing Shiprock! They probably drove through an area just like what I'm serving in now and didn't even realize they were in a place where people lived. Farmington is a pretty nice town, there are some really cool shops there with Native American (mostly Navajo) jewelry, sandpaintings, pottery, rugs, etc.

I love you all so much and hope that this new year brings new opportunities to strengthen our relationship with Jesus Christ. As we see, sometimes these opportunities come in the form of trials but if we will focus on Christ's teachings and living the celestial law -- forgiveness, love, patience, diligence, obedience -- then we will be prepared for the blessings our Father in heaven has prepared for us after this life. 

God Speed! With Much Love and Regards,

Elder Schaelling

December 30

Mom,

 

Thank you so much for Skyping me! I sure hope we can Skype for Mother's Day because I am moving to .......... STEAMBOAT, AZ! It is a TINY little place near the heart of the Navajo Reservation, far from any grocery stores or anything of the like. I hear the elders down there serve as branch clerks and I think the only thing that is there is just a tiny little trading post. The closest thing is a gas station, Burger King, and post office in Ganado, AZ which is where we will go on Thursdays for District Meeting. I am very excited! I will basically be camping down there, with my new companion. I'll live in a tiny little 5th wheel travel trailer in the church parking lot. We'll only get mail once a week at District Meeting when we go to Ganado and we'll shop probably about once a month in Gallup. The only grocery stores in the zone I think are in Chinle and Window Rock, but they will all be SUPER expensive since they are on the reservation. I'll get to work on my Navajo and I'll meet a lot more people who are traditional down there. I'm sure many fun stories will come from my time down there. I'll go to Farmington in the morning and hop on a van and ride it to Gallup then my companion will come pick me up there and then we'll drive to Steamboat.

 

I will miss Shiprock a lot though, it's been hard to say goodbyes yesterday and today but it is nice that it is only a few hours away from Salt Lake. Bryan's baptism went well on Saturday and he was confirmed yesterday! 

 

Christmas went great! We taught a lesson to a less active guy and his brother, chopped wood, and visited some active and less active members and we played Phase 10 with the Watts for the last hour of the day while I set up Skype for Elders Thompson and Rich. Phase 10 is a really fun game!  Sounds like you guys had a great time making candy with Nate's family! That sounds awesome! I don't have tons of time because I need to get home and get packing and cleaning tomorrow because some of the other news is that Elders Thompson and Rich are being replaced with Sister missionaries tomorrow! Elder Thompson is going to Kirtland, Elder Rich will be speaking Spanish in Gallup, and they will put sisters into our trailer since it is nice than the other trailer and Elder Johnson and Elder Griener (the new Shiprock elder) will move into the other trailer.

 

That's a great message from Music and the Spoken Word! I absolutely agree, the Atonement of Jesus Christ's primary message is that of change, so if we don't allow that to happen by labling someone by their past characteristics or sins, then we are trying to keep them from allowing Christ's sacrifice to fully work in their life and allow them to shed the person they were and become a person of God. I am so grateful that through Christ I can overcome my negative characteristics and become a man of God.

 

I love you all!

Elder Schaelling

December 23

Mom,

 

Glad to hear the Irvings made it safely to our house! They are the greatest people, I will miss them very much once I leave Shiprock. I'm glad that they do go up to Utah relatively often so that I can see them when they come up and whenever I am able to make it down to Shiprock. Yes! We found that Indian sauce over at City Market (they probably have it at Smith's there in Layton, it is by the Private Selection brand which I believe is only in that Kroger chain of stores) and she was kind enough to prepare it for us and she even tried making naan! Yeah, Brother Irving comes with us to a lot of people that we teach, especially when they either only speak Navajo or prefer speaking Navajo. He's really funny. I have another cradleboard, maybe I'll make another baby Jesus and try to mail that off to you sometime this week!

 

This week was great! The baptism with Bryan didn't happen yesterday, we decided with him that it would be best to wait another week so that he could become more comfortable with the ward members so it is scheduled for this Saturday, the 28th. But he is doing great and we love him, it seems he is kind of overwhelmed in some ways, but what can you expect? Baptism would be a lot to take in especially in this busy time of year. One of the families in the ward, the Zahne's, invited him over to their house on Christmas and that was so awesome of them to do that. Brother Zahne is a counselor in the bishopric and Sister Zahne is the young womens president. We made the crafts with Sasha Sanchez, she is investigating the church with the Masons as a fellowshipping family, so we were helping Sister Mason make those baby Jesuses for her primary class and I decided to send some home to the kids and Sasha started making a mini cradleboard. She is really crafty. She is dating Matt Mason. We've been able to meet with Gwenevere, and she is doing great and is starting to read the Book of Mormon which is awesome! She is doing awesome and has a real desire to learn and come closer with God. 

 

I'm glad the family all made it safely to Layton even if it took some rescheduling! The Shiprock ward doesn't have a choir, but we had a fantastic Christmas Program yesterday and the congregation served as the choir and sang a bunch of Christmas songs! It was great. I love you all and can't wait to talk to you on Wednesday!

 

 

Love,

Elder Schaelling

December 16

Mom,

I am doing great! I am definitely following your instructions with the advent package and with the 12 Days of Christmas. I started the 12 Days of Christmas on Saturday though, so the last day would be the day of Christmas, should I move it forward one day? I already got the package with the sweater and I actually opened the gift with the two white shirts already since the package said open now. Thank you for sending them to me! We'll be going to the mission office tomorrow so we should be getting the packages either then or by mail tomorrow or something. Thank you so much for sending the sweater! I can't wait to wear it tomorrow.

Do you see the missionaries more often now that our stake has its own set? That's nice if you guys to help them out! I am loving the scarf that we chose, it's conservative yet classy and has a nice pattern. It matches these new cordovan shoes I got from the thrift shop for 5 dollars too!

BIA stands for Bureau of Indian Affairs. It is within the Department of the Interior in our federal government and, as one might imagine, runs nearly all "Indian Affairs" for the federal government. Reservations are basically independent of the state, but aren't classified as states, so they have direct access to the federal government through the BIA, opposed to the traditional set up of Federal government to State government to other local governments. However, because the reservation doesn't have these other governments set up and works directly with the federal government without any kind of state government to write and publish policy autonomously, it does make things work quite differently here. These are things to ponder more on when I come home.

I'm not sure if we will be able to email the next two weeks because Dine College Library will be closed and there's not any other computers we can use in Shiprock so we'll have to figure things out with our zone leaders and mission president to do stuff. If anything, I can probably send you a time through the Watts or something. I'll see my zone leaders later today or tomorrow and I'll ask them!

Yes! I am very glad that with $100 in gas and a weekend I can go visit people from my mission so that will be nice and I'll be able to keep some of the relationships I build with members and investigators down here will be able to go on past my mission!

I hope everything goes well for you all this week! I love you very much and will be praying for a good Christmas for you all back home! I'm glad the whole family is able to get together.

Ya'at'eeh Keshmesh! "Merry Christmas" or "Christmas is well" in Navajo. We've been learning a lot more Navajo the past few weeks because one of the old bishops in our ward is teaching us twice a week for about an hour each time! A'hee'hee shima doo nihi baa a'hee'nisin. Hozho'o nanina!

Love and regards,
Elder Schaelling