July 29

Ya'at'eeh!

Shiprock is still going well! I am meeting lots of people and the ward is really nice. There are some awesome families in the ward that have had us over for dinner, which is really nice. That Pioneer Day celebration in Kirtland was really fun, we rode on the ward float and helped the ward make frybread for the Navajo Tacos at the celebration afterwards! It was really fun to hang out with members of the ward and work and joke with them in that more casual environment. While we were at the Pioneer Day parade it felt like we were back in Utah in Mormonville, which was nice and funny at the same time. It was really nice to see grass again, haha, it's pretty brown here in Shiprock. I have been getting to know the other Elders in Shiprock better and I get along with them really well too, which is fun. We play basketball all together sometimes and I plan on getting decently good at it while being on the mission. People on the rez love basketball, so we have a sports night every and invite ward members and investigators to come play ball with the missionaries at the church. We stay pretty busy every day, which is nice, but I don't always know what parts to tell you! We teach about 15-20 lessons a week, about half less active members or recent converts and half investigators.

I love you all very much and miss you!!!

Regards and love,

Elder Schaelling

July 22

Mom,

Since I didn't check my email last week there were tons of emails to read so I only have 10 minutes to write this email. Tell everyone I love them and sorry if I didn't email back. I can write more easily than email, but I hope to respond more next week. I couldn't read all of your emails.

I am in Shiprock, NM! It is on the reservation, but it is called "city-rez" because it is established and whatnot. But I use the term city loosely, because by this standard Brigham City would be a metropolis. My companion is Elder Miller. He is a nice guy from Florida and has been in the area for 4 months and has been on the mission for 18 months. We live in a trailer behind the seminary building by the high school, but it is a really nice one because usually the senior couple who teaches seminary lives here, but we have it since school isn't in session. We'll have to move next month though, but I think we'll be teaching seminary for a couple of weeks until the couple gets here!

The flight here was good, but a bunch of baggage was misplaced and one of my bags was included. They had them rushed that day and we got them in the evening, so it didn't cause any serious problem... I really like President and Sister Batt, they are super nice and I get along with them well. I had more of an opportunity to talk to Sister Batt because President was busy interviewing everyone.

Shiprock is interesting. I have learned some Navajo and have done a lot of service already. I have been doing "man work" rather than "mind work" which is fun: we built a shed, worked on the ward float for the Pioneer Day parade in Kirtland last weekend and chopped down some trees with more service coming up this week! The ward is good, but pretty small. About 100 people come every week but there are over a thousand members on record. A lot of people were baptized without being properly converted or were baptized on the placement program.

We are tracting more than one would think. Dad will probably think that's funny.

20 seconds left, maybe I'll write you a letter too!

Love,
Elder Schaelling

July 9

Mom (and family),

Thanks for all the letters! I got Aimee's letter today and I got your Dear Elder a few days ago and the package on Saturday (but I didn't pick it up until Monday because the package center closed). I got the ID just fine and all is good!

Like I said in my postcard, I am district leader (my whole district is my same mission, along with two other districts I haven't met) and my companion is great... I don't feel too nervous when teaching, but I am still learning what I need to do to really teach the individual better. This time in the MTC has been awesome spiritually. The first full day, Thursday, I had a bit of a hard time understanding what my purpose as a missionary is. The missionary purpose is to "[i]nvite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in jesus Christ and His Atonmenet, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end." That makes sense well, but in my class they were telling us that we shouldn't be afraid to invite investigators to be baptized in our first lesson, but that didn't really make sense to me because, first, I was worried about being abrasive and, second, I couldn't really understand why we wouldn't begin working on faith and repentance before inviting them to baptism. However, on Friday morning as I pondered this, the spirit revealed unto me a more full understanding of covenants. I understood that while faith and repentance can help us become good people, we are limited in eternal progression until we establish a relationship with God and become covenant people. This first step is baptism. As I learned this, I wanted to go to the temple immediately to ponder further but the Provo temple is closed! How unfortunate.

Today is my P-day for the MTC, but that is only for this week since we leave next Monday...

The food is great for being mass produced. I am sleeping alright, but we have 6:30 AM breakfast (the earliest breakfast) so I have to wake up at 5:45 and we usually don't get in bed until 10:30 or soon after, so I have been pretty tired, especially because we have long days just sitting in a classroom being taught or studying. They are keeping us pretty busy.

Tell people that I love getting mail, especially here in the MTC! I only will be here until Sunday essentially, so send it soon and Dear Elder is great too! Hope I didn't forget too much more. I have grown a lot in the short time I have been here already.

Love,
Elder Schaelling