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