June 23

Mom,

Thank goodness I'm staying in Steamboat, we set four baptismal dates this week! Edna and her two oldest children who are living there are going to be baptized on July 12th and they are solid. It's so cool to be able to see people truly embrace the gospel and experience the subtle peace and happiness that comes from living these principles and building our personal relationship with our Father in Heaven through those tools of meaningful personal prayer, studying His holy words given through the prophets, especially in the Book of Mormon, and attending church. If there is one thing I have learned on my mission, is that the gospel doesn't work unless you do all three of those things. We have a lot of investigators who read and pray but they don't attend church, and the few investigators that I've been able to work with who actually do all three at the same time, they truly do receive answers! Elder Carlson during the mission tour, when one of the missionaries asked him if there is anything he wants the members in these remote areas to know from him since they don't have the opportunity to hear from General Authorities very often, he said "Go to church, read and ponder the scriptures, and pray often. The gospel that we preach isn't rocket science." It really struck me the longer I thought about it. Sometimes as a missionary I worry about explaining the role of the Holy Ghost better or teaching the story of Joseph Smith more clearly or do this or that and making it more complicated that it is, but the promise is that if someone will read the Book of Mormon, attend church, and pray to their Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ, they WILL receive an answer and recognize it is the true church.

Unfortunately, Brother Jospeh didn't attend church with us yesterday but thanks to the Navajo audio tapes of the Book of Mormon, we went over with President Yazzie Saturday evening and listened to 3 Nephi 11 and 27 and they talked about the doctrine in Navajo a bit, and it was so awesome to see Brother Joseph so enthralled in Book of Mormon! There are so many people who are so Navajo-minded and I feel bad because I am getting decent conversational Navajo, but I still can't do much teaching in Navajo, mostly just bear testimony and quote some scriptures. I am hoping to work with President Yazzie on translating the first vision into Navajo and maybe some other small things. So, I let Brother Joseph borrow the tapes because I trust him and Sister Joseph to take care of them, haha. 

Also, thank you so much for the Thomas S Monson movie, it has been able to help Edna. As we were going over the baptismal interview questions with her the only one she was kind of shakey on is that she was talking about how it is just weird for her to think about the fact that there is a prophet today so we had her watch it yesterday and she said she enjoyed it! Sister Harris (the senior missionary) watched it with her and she said that Edna laughed during it and Edna says she is feeling better about it. Please pray for Edna and her kids!

Keep reading Preach My Gospel! Probably focus on the lessons in Chapter 3 because understanding those really helps you organize the doctrines of the gospel so much better and see how just about everything relates back to those three things, the restoration, plan of salvation, and gospel of Jesus Christ, and Chapter 9 on Finding people. There are some really good parts of Chapters 4 (Pray with Faith, Learn to Recognize the Promptings of the Spirit, and Relying on the Spirit) and 5 (really just all of this chapter) that could probably help members also. 

I absolutely agree. I hope that I am able to find the elect and to help them build their foundation on Christ, but truly the reason why it is so essential for every young man to serve and, in my opinion, every young woman who is able to and has a desire to serve. There is truly nothing to lose by going and the things you will gain will give you a sure foundation to build on for the rest of your life, if you don't become "normalized" and worldly again after returning home. I will be forever changed because of this experience.

I hope you all have a fantastic week! I love you all so much! I am so grateful for the blessings of the gospel and the restored truth which we have in these days. These things we have are precious and we must be willing to share them with all of our fellow brothers and sisters. Look for those whom the Lord is preparing through you or those he has prepared and help them to recognize the things we share as a source of light and peace for them! 

Love,
Elder Schaelling