October 20

My questions for Matt:

1) Did Tiffany come to church today?  I sure hope so!  Thanks for sharing about the wonderful testimony meeting you had with her family and the timely opportunity of helping them with blessings.
2) How many senior couples are serving at Bluff Fort?
3) How long do most of those couples serve there for?
4) How many companionships are you serving as Zone Leader?
5) Are any of those companionships sister missionaries?
6) It seems early to ask this question, but President Batt wanted everyone's Christmas packages pretty early last year.  What is on your Christmas list this year?  I know you don't need or want unnecessary stuff, but what would benefit you and help as you serve The Lord?  Clothing, music, church materials, household goods, money?  We want you to know we're always thinking of you and want to help in any way we can.

--------------------------

Mom,

Yes, I am still in Bluff with Elder Vicznesky!

1) Miracle of miracles, tons of people came to church yesterday! We had 75 or more people at church yesterday in Bluff (because it was a combined meeting of Bluff and Toda with the lunch afterwards) and there were lots of people we have been teaching who came, and for many of them it was their first time at church. Tiffany was able to come with her three sisters-in-laws, Cody came with his grandma and aunt, Sister Lameman (a new awesome family we have been teaching) came and it is about a 35 or more drive for her to come to church and she made it! It was their first time at  Bluff for all of them! There were some others who came that had come before too. Tiffany is now on date for November 29th, Cody for the 22nd, and we are going to put Sister Lamemans three sons on date and her soon to be son-in-law will hopefully get baptized also! Miracles are happening here in Bluff and it is pretty awesome. We taught Tiffany and her sisters on Friday and talked about the Holy Spirit some and we sought to help them recognize and understand the Spirit and they testified about how they felt it on last Sunday night during our "testimony meeting" and that they felt like it told them to come to church and they came so it is so awesome. 

2) There has been 10 couples here throughout the year but two more have arrived in anticipation for the winter. A majority of couples go home in about two weeks but the two new ones and two of the more seasoned ones will be staying for the winter. 

3) Most of them serve for the season, March through October, but some of them stay around for the winter and some of them have done two or more seasons here. 

4) We serve 8 companionships throughout San Juan County basically. We cover Blanding and Monticello stakes. There are elders in Montezuma Creek (Navajo), White Mesa (Ute), Blanding (3 of the 7 wards), and Monticello (all 4 wards). There are sisters in Blanding (3 of the 7 wards) and another there in Blanding (YSA branch and one ward), and then a set of sisters in Dove Creek, Colorado and a set in La Sal, Utah (they cover Paradox, CO too). So four elders and four sisters plus us in Bluff make up the Utah Zone in the New Mexico Farmington Mission. There is one zone in Colorado, four in New Mexico, and four in Arizona. 

5) Yes.

6) I am doing pretty well right now, I don't think there's anything I really need. My short sleeve shirts are kind of gross but I'll be wearing long sleeve until next March/April. I'm not sure if you've gotten any word from the mission/church about the deal with the iPads, President Batt said it will cost between 300 and 400 dollars so that can be my Christmas.

Sounds like an awesome time in California! I'm glad you all got to go visit Jackie and her family. I have shared a lot of spiritual experiences the past few weeks and so I thought I'd share a funny one today. Here on the reservation there are TONS of dogs, and a lot of them are pretty mean so just about everyone's house has 2-10 dogs and they usually don't bite but most all of them bark at you and try to act tough. We found out that casting Harry Potter spells or using the Force on them causes them to run from us and no longer bother us. I can't really describe it over email, but it is hilarious because some dog runs up at us to bark at us and we just wave our finger in the air and then point it at him and make a zapping sound and then they jump up in the air and run away, almost without fail! Haha, missions are some of the coolest times with spiritual experiences, but there are ton of pretty funny experiences. 

I love you all! Have a great week.

Elder Schaelling

October 13

Questions:

1) Where did you watch the "Meet the Mormons" movie?

2) Did you go to the Post Office last Saturday?  There should be one letter and one package there for you!

3) How are your various investigators coming? 

4) What is in Bluff, if they don't have a grocery store?

5) When is the next transfer day, is it still October 20?

----------------------

Mom,

1) We watched it in Cortez, but just at the church on a projector for zone conference, not in a movie theater or anything.

2) Yes, I did get the letter but I haven't been able to get the package yet because there was no one at the desk on Saturday and today is Columbus Day and so it is closed today too. 

3) The investigators are all going pretty well. Unfortunately, not really any of them have attended church so they aren't progressing as much as we would like them to. 

4) A gas station, four restaurants - Twin Rocks, Cottonwood Steakhouse (which looks good but is pretty expensive, so Elder V and I are saving up so we can go get ribs there), and two small places I haven't been to, Dairy Cafe and Blue Moon Cafe - and four hotels/motels, the Bluff Fort, our church, and an Episcopalian church and that's just about it. 

5) Yup, transfers are a week from tomorrow and we'll find out this Saturday what's going on.

That's great you were able to see Meet the Mormons! It is truly such a good movie, and I'm glad to hear it's doing okay in the theaters. Park City sounds like a lot of fun! I remember riding on the rail trail up there with Dad when I was younger. Tell Gentry and Holly congrats for me! No more uniforms?! That's nuts! Aimee's probably glad, though.

Tiffany, who was on date for November 8th fell off of her date due to her not attending church, but we were guided by the spirit to her home last night and we got there and her sisters-in-law and their families who are members from Kayenta and Tempe were there and they were just talking about one of their sons and about how he has been having bad dreams at night and wanted him to have a blessing and we showed up 10 minutes later! We gave him a blessing, and her less active sister-in-law, and then we were inspired to talk to them about church yesterday which was testimony meeting. We said, "Since testimony meeting is such a wonderful experience, we would love to hold a small testimony meeting tonight with the 10-15 of us that are here in this home (about half of them were members)" and it was very powerful! Tiffany's two sisters-in-law bore beautiful and simple testimonies and Elder V and I shared two scriptures by the Spirit. The Spirit was strong in that room and we know it touched Tiffany's heart and thoroughly believe she will attend church this upcoming Sunday. The mission is a wonderful thing!

I love you all!

Elder Schaelling

October 6

My questions for Matt:

1) Where did you watch General Conference?
2) What were some of your favorite conference moments?
3) How was your big week with MLC and Zone Conference?
4) How are your contacts going?  Were you by chance able to check on the elderly Navajo lady you gave a blessing to yet?

-----------------------------------

Mom,

1) We watched General Conference at the church in Montezuma Creek, about 15 miles east of us and on the reservation. We spent the whole weekend working their area with the Elders over there. It was lots of fun!

2) Some of my favorite conference moments... It all happened so fast and so much awesome stuff that it's hard for me to think of things on top of my head because I don't have my notebook with me right now. I loved Elder Robbins talk and Elder Kacher's. I think our mission really lucked out that we got to hear both of them speak about a month ago because I think they gave two of the best talks by members of the seventy in conference! I loved how Elder Robbins discussed about how he represents the prophet to the people, not the people to the prophet along with the importance of always reflecting upon which way we are facing. Amazing talk, I can't wait to listen to it again. President Uchtdorf's talk in Priesthood Session was awesome, it about the apostles asking, "Lord, is it I?" when he said there is a betrayer in their midst. It was awesome because it focused on the importance of not judging others and never being prideful in ourselves. Elder Christofferson's was fantastic, "We do not become immune to the law of gravity by resenting it. But rather, we find freedom as we apply eternal laws." Elder Callister gave an excellent talk on parenthood that will probably be more applicable to me in my life at some future time. Sister McConkie did a FANTASTIC job, I think! Elder Bednar was an awesome capstone to the conference. 

3) MLC and Zone Conference seem so long ago already since so much has happened this week. We go to see Meet the Mormons which was AMAZING!!! Everyone needs to go see it opening weekend! Such a beautiful and spiritual movie that would be interesting and enjoyable to anyone of any faith. MLC and Zone Conference focused on "You are the message." It really talked about how us as missionaries and really everyone as members of the church are the message. It's not so much about what we believe or what we do, but who we are that is the message we want to send to the world. We are a loving, family-oriented, Christ-centered people and that is exactly what Meet the Mormons demonstrates. Warning: You will cry. Everyone should take someone with them to go see it! It'll be amazing, that movie will change the world! 

4) This week was awesome as usual, but I don't really have much to share with you about what happened because we only spent Wednesday and Friday and Thursday evening in our area, the rest of the time was in Farmington, Cortez, or Montezuma Creek.

I love you all so much! Reflect closely upon the words of the prophets and apostles, for their words are the words of Eternal Life. This conference as I watched the Sunday Morning session I was able to receive a spiritual confirmation that President Thomas S Monson truly is a prophet of God and that this church is truly the restored church. As Elder Ballard said, "Stay in the boat." I love you all and pray often that your faith does not fail thee.

Love,
Elder Schaelling

September 29

Mom,

My week has been pretty good! Glad to hear the Phillipps did make it safely, but that's crazy they had such a big trailer full of stuff! I'm glad to hear the General Women's meeting was good! I'm jealous that you women get to hear from the leaders a week earlier than I do, because I'm very excited for this upcoming weekend! This is a pretty crazy week for me. We have MLC tomorrow which is an all day meeting with President Batt, it starts at 7 and goes until about 3 or 4 usually and then Thursday is zone conference which is also all day and then General Conference all day Saturday and Sunday! A lot of spiritual uplifting events this week, hopefully I can soak it all in! 

That's awesome that Ashley had a good mission experience even though it was cut a little shorter than she would have hoped. It's true, missions are invaluable experiences and even if I went home right now it would all be worth it definitely. When we heard from Elder Holland a few weeks ago Elder Robbins of the Presidency of the Seventy spoke with him and spoke of the mission as a "graduate-level schooling experience on Christlike attributes" and I definitely think that is true. He said that we learn some introductory life skills like "Housekeeping 101" and "Cooking 101" and whatnot, but we go through rigorous courses such as "Charity 501" and "Obedience 501," etc. He said there is no other school as rigorous in these attributes as the mission-field is. I'm so grateful for the mission because I have had the opportunity to study and become close to the Savior like I never would have in any other way if I hadn't come out here. It has definitely helped me try to become as Christ desires us to become in John chapter 17 as he encourages us to be "not of the world, even as I am not of the world." I know that happiness and peace can only be founded upon living the Gospel and that happiness found through anything else, whether it be money or prestige or any other worldly pursuit, because each of those things come and go. I think before my mission I would have agreed with that, but I wouldn't of had any genuine idea of what that entails. 

Yes, Elder Aguilera did get his visa for Brazil. He left at the beginning of this transfer right after Elder Holland came, so luckily he got to stay for that. But he is now in Brazil! I just emailed him and I hope to hear from him soon!

We had a really awesome experience this week. We were driving around the south end of our area near the stateline and we were turning onto a dirt road and as we were turning I looked over to a house on the other side of the road that I had never knocked before and Elder V and I determined to go knock it on our way back out a few hours later. We went over there and there was an old lady (probably about 85+) sitting on the floor of her hogan in pain barely being able to sit up straight because of the pains in her leg and back and her grandson came out from the house next door and we asked her if she would like a Priesthood blessing. She accepted, and she doesn't speak too much English, but we blessed her as she sat on the floor because she couldn't get up onto her chair. We had told them we would come back the next day to see them again and we came back and we saw her sitting up on her chair smiling looking much better than she had before and she was so kind to us and you could tell that she knew that we had the true power of God! It was truly amazing! We taught them a little about the Book of Mormon and we are hoping to see them again soon. This week might be a little crazy, we'll probably have a hard time getting into peoples homes because we have such limited time to proselyte with all the meetings going on, but I hope we can see them again soon! She is the nicest and funniest old Navajo lady. 

I love you all and I hope that things are going great back at home! 

Love,

Elder Schaelling

September 22

Mom,

Nope, unfortunately I wasn't able to go to the temple dedication. I'm not sure if it was being broadcast all the way down here, I didn't hear about it at all in Blanding either. However, on Saturday we went into someone's house on the reservation and they had KSL playing and it was showing some stuff from the afternoon cultural celebration and I saw it real quick and said, "Hey! My little sister is in that!" That's such a cool experience for Aimee to be able to do that. I just told Elder V that the Calins are from Woodstock and his house is right on the boarder of Acworth and Woodstock! But they probably have never heard of each other because there are tons of people who live in the area.

I'm glad that Brother Judd was able to get that to you! It was so convenient for him to take all that stuff home! I almost forgot to put the SD card in the box then I remembered that I had been meaning to send that home.

This week has been a pretty good week. We went on exchanges with the assistants to the president and they are such good guys. Elder Harward is one of them and he and I were actually in the Business Scholars program together back at the U which is pretty funny, but we never really talked to each other much at the time.

Lots of miracles have happened as always. Truly, we see miracles every day as missionaries but a lot of them are pretty similar and they are hard to discuss over email. We taught a less active guy who lives in the area who has been attending another Christian church about how to discover which church is the right church and we taught him very powerfully and with a ton of unity as missionaries. It is so cool because Elder Vicznesky and myself are able to teach so clearly and distinctly by the spirit when we go to lessons, it's unreal to me. We were just talking after we taught that less active guy about how each of us said the things the other person was thinking and we were extremely bold with him but in a very loving way while respecting his agency. It was a lesson in watching the Spirit touch someone's heart and what happens when they turn from it. We saw it touch the heart of the man we were teaching and he was lighting up slowly and then we asked him a question and he pondered it for a moment and we could see as he decided to ignore the gentle whisperings of the Spirit because his countenance darkened. I am so glad I have learned how to go and teach by the Spirit as a missionary because I know that this will help me for the rest of my life as I serve the Lord as a home teacher and as I seek for opportunities to share the gospel in casual conversation with those around me. As well I am trying to learn more about the principle of councils and how to both preside over a council and how to participate in a council because I feel as if learning how to council about things by the Spirit is the key to having a successful marriage, family, and succeeding in a church calling.

There is a less active lady we have been teaching named Doris who is a lady of great faith. It was amazing, she was in Cortez a while ago and as she was walking she was hit by a car in the parking lot and it ran her over but she was safe and protected and she attributed it to the fact that she had the copy of the Book of Mormon which we had given her just a few weeks ago. It is amazing to be able to work among the Navajo because no one has as much faith as they do, and it was a testimony to me of the power of the Book of Mormon!

We met a new lady named Tiffany and we set a baptismal date with her for November 8th! She is such an awesome lady and she has been keeping her commitments to read and to pray and she said that she has talked about baptism with her husband and she feels like it is the right step, so we are super excited!

Awesome news for us as missionaries, we are going to be getting iPads by the end of the year! We should be getting more info next week so I'll have the info to tell you two weeks from now. Crazy! And we are going to be able to watch the new Meet the Mormons movie before it comes out in our zone conference a week from Thursday!!!

Life is good, being a missionary is awesome, I love the gospel. 

Love,
Elder Schaelling

September 15

Questions:

1)  I learned from Elder V's Mom that he's from Georgia, what town?

2)  Were you affected by the huge amount of rain earlier this week?

3)  Have you been able to visit with Annie and/or her husband?  Thanks for sharing the experience of teaching her to pray.  I take so much for granted, like knowing how to pray.

4)  Have you gone back to the man's home who tried to stump you?  I'm impressed with how well you and Elder V handled that situation with the Lord's guidance.  I bet it was amazing to personally witness the change in him from the beginning to the end of that encounter.

5)  I noticed that you and his Mom write Elder V.  I hope it's okay for me to use that "shorthand" also.  Thanks for the pronunciation help though.

6)  Do you know where you will watch General Conference this time?

--------------------

Mom,

1) Elder Vicznesky is from Ackworth,Georgia! 

2) Yes, we were. We got quite a bit of rain. We actually were tracting out in an area called 5 Points which is way on top of the mesa about 30 miles away from Bluff and it is very remote up there and we were trying to save miles on our truck so we parked it and started walking from house to house to knock on doors (each house is about a mile apart or so) and we got about two miles away from our truck and it started sprinkling and then we got to the door of a NAC (Native American Church) roadman (priest/medicine man type deal) who wasn't too happy to see us and so we were just as nice as we could be to him and then right when he shut the door on us the rain came REALLY REALLY HARD and we ran back the two miles to our car in complete mud and we were totally drenched hahahaha. 

3) Yes, we have. They are both doing great and her husband is paralyzed from a work accident a few years ago but we are helping him do physical therapy a few times a week by putting braces on his legs and having him walk back and forth (using his arm strength and relying on the braces to hold him up) and he has the goal to walk again. Hopefully he'll be able to make it! Miracles can happen by faith in Jesus Christ, and not many people have more faith than the Native Americans. 

4) Not yet, but we'll return next time we're in his area with a few extra minutes. We don't go out as far as he is too often, he lives pretty far off the beaten path.

5) Yeah, no problem for me.

6) We'll probably either watch it in Montezuma Creek or at one of the senior couple's homes here in Bluff, I'm not sure yet.

I'm short on time, which is not unusual I suppose but we wanted to tell a cool story of how we met a guy who spoke only Navajo and it was so cool, Elder V and I taught him by ourselves and testified of the Book of Mormon and listened to our Navajo Book of Mormon tapes with him! It was the first time I had taught someone completely in Navajo with out any help from a member who also spoke Navajo. It was a miracle and super awesome.

I love you all and I'll have more experiences to share next week! That's so heartwarming to hear that Rachel and Skot pray for me every night! That's super nice of them.

Elder Schaelling