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