March 17

Questions:
1) You mentioned a quarterly interview with President Batt, do you ever see him more than that?
2) Where was your quarterly interview held in Window Rock?
3) How is Elder Aguilera doing?
4) Any idea on how it will work when he get his Visa?  Would they have him leave right away or wait for a transfer day?

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Mom,

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you too! I don't think I have any green whatsoever, but I have made it alright so far today. I don't think St. Patrick's Day is a big thing in Steamboat, haha. .. I did get the package with the Navajo Book of Mormon tapes just fine, thank you very much! I haven't used them with any investigators yet, but I am planning to use them next time we see Molly. Unfortunately, she has decided that she doesn't want to be baptized for now. It seems like her family and kids are pretty traditional in the Navajo ways of religion so they talked her out of it. I pray that listening to these Book of Mormon tapes will help her receive an answer from God regarding her path forward. 

It truly is a miracle all the things that are able to happen each week in a small area like Steamboat! We found yet another really solid investigator this week. He is Latino (the only Latino in Steamboat aside from Elder Aguilera) and just moved up here with his girlfriend who is Navajo and a branch member and we have taught him twice this past week and he even came to church! It was awesome. I'm not sure how much he understood, because about 75-80% of the sacrament meeting and Sunday School was in Navajo, but I'm glad he came. His name is Serafin. Kyle and Kelly (the family we found last week) and their two boys came to church yesterday and it was awesome! It seemed like President Yazzie's talk in sacrament might have really touched Kelly. He spoke about family history and talked a lot about how he grew up on the reservation before it had become more "modernized" like it is now. He spoke about the entire family living inside of the one small hogan and how they would just eat all off of a wooden board of the floor in the middle of the room and everyone would sit together and truly talk, but now people take their phones and go into other rooms and eat their cereal alone and whatnot. The Joseph's are doing well (their daughter is on the mission), we are going to see them tomorrow night. Sister Joseph and her son went to Utah this weekend for something. I think they were visiting her foster family, I'm not sure what part of Utah. Quinton is doing pretty well. Zach isn't coming to church anymore and we haven't taught him for a few weeks now. We haven't really seen Paul and Helen since the first encounter. They've been gone a lot and I don't think they are very interested. Molly's grandson TJ is doing awesome. He's in Shiprock this week visiting his dad for spring break though. 

There weren't any youth at church yesterday so we sat in Sunday School and Elders Quorum for the first time since I've been here. I think I like working with the youth more, it is pretty fun and engaging to work with all of them! We haven't gotten a Boy Scouts leader yet. 

1) When I was in Shiprock I would usually see him about once a month when we would stop at the mission office, but it is just a "hello" in the hallway. We see him once a quarter for interviews, and once a quarter for zone conference where a couple of zones get together to receive instruction from him and Sister Batt and the assistants to the president. 

2) It was originally going to be held at the church building which is technically in St. Michaels, but it is the Window Rock Ward. Ganado's truck wasn't starting so he and Sister Batt ended up just driving out to Ganado and we saw them there because they had to go up to Chinle that afternoon anyways. 

3) Elder Aguilera is doing pretty well. He's a pretty quite guy, but he is adjusting very well. He hasn't really dealt with any homesickness or anything of that sorts from what I see. It seems like sometimes all the decisions we have to make a missionary might stress him out a little, but as far as being in the mindset of being a missionary he is doing really awesome.

4) He will most likely wait until the end of the transfer. Even if he gets his visa in the first or second week of next transfer, they probably wont tell him until the 5th week of the transfer and tell him he'll leave at the end of the transfer. That's how I've usually seen it with other visa waiters. 

I love you all! Thank you for the love and support. I always enjoy hearing from you guys and hope you all have a great week! It's been pretty windy down here the past few days. Hozho'o nan'nah! (Take care of yourself) 

Love,

Elder Schaelling