August 11

Mom,

I heard that the Irvings were going to the temple and it made me so happy! It sure is great news! I love them so much. They are going to be some of the first people I visit after my mission. I got really lucky last week when I was in Farmington for MLC because I saw six people from Shiprock there! It was so awesome!

Yes, the Bluff Post Office just a block away from our trailer, so we can check it pretty easily. We still don't really check it everyday, just every few or every other day.

I'm not sure who eats at the restaurant, I'm sure the tourists are a good portion of the customer base. I think a lot of people from nearby areas like Blanding and maybe even Monticello come down to Bluff if they want to go to a nice restaurant because most of the establishments in those towns are a little more casual. There are seriously tons of Europeans here though, we were talking to a really nice guy from Holland for about 20-30 minutes this morning.

Being a zone leader is different, last week we weren't even in our area from Monday morning until Thursday afternoon so we only got a half week for proselyting and we had a meeting with the stake presidency yesterday from Blanding.

Oh my goodness! The new family in the neighborhood sounds amazing! Definitely keep it up, I am sure the Lord has been preparing them and as they see you and the family living the gospel to its fulness I'm sure they will be able to see the beautiful fruits of the gospel. Stay close to the Spirit and as you study from the Book of Mormon daily you will be guided to know what to do! How's your Preach My Gospel study been going? What about everyone else in the family, is anyone else studying PMG? Like I mentioned before, studying the doctrines of the lessons and it also explains the most important parts of being a missionary in chapter 1 and if you study chapter 9 I'm sure it will help anyone who studies it understand the principle of inviting individuals to learn more about the gospel. Actually, chapter 9 might be the most important for a member of the church to study since you can leave it to the missionaries to teach the lessons, but it would be awesome to study it all. Let me know how things are going for you all with them!

Sounds like lots of exciting things are happening for you in good ol' Layton! Keep sharing the gospel with everyone you have the opportunity to! Especially with the temple open house opportunity, take big advantage of that with everyone you can since we have no idea when the next local one will be available!

I'm so glad to hear that you are being a great member missionary, mom! I sure hope the rest of the family is "catching the wave!" If dad, Natalie, Jackie, Aimee, and the rest of the family aren't... then whip them into shape! 

Love,
Elder Schaelling