This explains who the Nielson family is that Matt refers to (no relation to Carol's family, different spelling):
It sounds like you and Elder Vicznesky are both happy to be reunited as missionary companions! That's way cool! We were very excited and appreciative to have the Nielson family from Blanding send us a photo of you two last Thursday night! She sent it to me and to Elder Vicznesky's Mom so there was a little group text going on for a bit. I told his Mom that you are excited to be with her son again and she wrote back that Elder V loves you! I hope things are going well for you two.
1) How do you pronounce Elder Vicznesky's name?
2) Are both of you zone leaders? Dad said that's how things worked on his mission.
3) Do you have any difficulty getting to a grocery store?
4) Do you spend much time at Bluff Fort?
5) Do you have much interaction with the Senior Service missionaries there?
6) Do you have specific responsibilities at church on Sunday? Like always teaching or serving as a clerk?
7) What language is spoken at church?
8) Have you been able to meet with the newly wed couple again?
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Mom,
Awesome! The Nielson family was really nice, but we only met them briefly. That's awesome that you got to talk to Elder V's mom!
1) His name is Polish and it is pronounced basically how it is spelled. The only trick is that the "cz" is like the "s" in "pleasure" or "vision."
2) Yup, we are both zone leaders serving the Utah Zone, so it's interesting. Things are awesome already, we had tons of spiritual experiences this week. We have tons of companionship unity in our teaching so it is way cool.
3) Don't worry about me too much, but you can send me cool stuff whenever you want. No need to load me up, I still am working on those Indian food things that are awesome so those will hold me over for a while and we get fed dinner by the senior couples quite a bit.
4) Not particularly, we just stop by here and there and go for Friday Night at the Fort, a community thing that goes on every week and provides free entertainment and whatnot we just go there to meet people from the community.
5) Yeah, we get to know them as we eat dinner with them and also we take a few of them out to appointments with us to help us conserve miles and whatnot. There are some really awesome people here serving their missions!
6) We usually help with the sacrament at both Bluff and Todahaidekani sacrament services and then we teach sometimes but not every week. We'll probably be starting a youth class because a recent convert 12-year-old boy got the Aaronic Priesthood so we'll teach that with him.
7) Both services are in English. Toda might have occasional Navajo, but mostly English.
8) Not yet, but we are hoping to see them this week. He was helping his parents move to Blanding from Oregon this weekend so he's been out of town.
This week was super cool! We met a new investigator named Annie and she is in her 50s or so and it was so cool. We had taught her husband before so we stopped by to see him but he was sleeping and she stepped out onto the porch to talk to us and we sat down and talked to her and just had a normal conversation but we were teaching her the gospel as we were sitting on the porch but in the most casual way. She told us that she never learned how to pray and always wanted to learn so we taught her so Elder Vicznesky and I both said simple prayers, one in English and one in Navajo, and then invited her to pray before we left and she did it and the spirit was there so strong! Her eyes were watering as she felt the spirit and power of prayer and it was so amazing. She had grown up traditionally but I guess never really prayed so it was so cool. We are supposed to go see her tonight again and we're hoping to teach her and her family about the First Vision and how Heavenly Father truly does answer prayers!
Secondly, we were lead by the spirit to a house last night of this man who was very hard hearted. There are some people who just like to try to stump you or press your buttons and make you angry as missionaries and he was trying to do this but Elder V and I just listened to him and to the Spirit carefully and continually prayed for the Lord to give us enough charity to understand how to help this man and as we testified at the end he was confounded before us and could no longer talk and we could see the Spirit touch him as we testified of the power of God's love and how he does love His children and His reality. It was amazing to see him transform from ridiculing us to telling us to sit down on his porch to inviting us in his house to telling us to come back. We don't have an appointment, but we will go see him again sometime soon.
I love you all and know the gospel is true. We had a once in a lifetime experience to go to a meeting this past Saturday and hear Elder Holland speak to us. IT WAS AMAZING. Elder Robbins of the Presidency of the Seventy, and Elder Katcher of the Second Quorum, and Elder Rhien who is the Area Seventy were all there too and it was so amazing to be able to see and hear all these servants of the Lord speak and to see how different of people they are and how their personalities are all different but they are all such consecrated and righteous people. Elder Robbins discussed about how the mission is the most rigorous school available in developing Christlike Attributes and about how important it is to use this time to be able to become those people we need to be, which I know to be true. I have changed and grown so much since I've been on a mission and I know the virtues I have been able to develop even in this first year will bless me and my family throughout my life and I can't imagine how much more I'll learn over the next year! Elder Holland was such a nice and funny guy too. It was really cool because normally around a person of such high rank in any respected organization I would feel uncomfortable or nervous, but I just could tell he is such a loving guy and felt completely calm with him. It was a truly unforgettable experience.
Love,
Elder Schaelling
