January 26

This is the quote from President Monson's First Presidency Message in the January Ensign that Matt refers to:  

"I would not hold the position in the Church I hold today had I not followed the counsel of a prophet, had I not prayed about that decision, had I not come to an appreciation of an important truth:  the wisdom of God ofttimes appears as foolishness to men.  But the greatest single lesson we can learn in mortality is that when God speaks and His children obey, they will always be right. It has been said that history turns on small hinges, and so do our lives.  Decisions determine destiny.  But we are not left unaided in our decisions.  If you want to see the light of heaven, if you want to feel the inspiration of Almighty God, if you want to have that feeling within your bosom that your Heavenly Father is guiding you, then follow the prophets of God.  When you follow the prophets, you will be in safe territory."

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Mom,

Sounds like an exciting weekend up there for you all! That's awesome that Jackie, the boys, and Dad made it all to Utah safely. That's exciting that there is a newer couple there in the ward. I'm glad that Aimee is taking advantage of that opportunity to do temple work. I can't wait until I'm back home so I can go to the temple whenever I want to! That's what I'm planning on doing a lot of the first couple of weeks and months I'm home, do a good amount of family history work and do temple work to keep me occupied. I'll also hopefully be able to find a decent job for that time period, so keep your ears open for me if you could.

Thank you for that quote from President Monson! It's a wonderful one. He says "Decisions determine destiny" often. I was rereading his talks from Priesthood Session and Sunday Morning again and also his closing remarks from the past conference and payed close attention to the things that he has asked us to do. In his closing remarks he invited us to do a few things:

"May we return to our homes with a resolve in our hearts to be a little better than we have been in the past. May we be alittle kinder and more thoughtful. May we reach out in helpfulness, not only to our fellow members but also to those whoare not of our faith. As we associate with them, may we show our respect for them.

"There are those who struggle every day with challenges. Let us extend to them our concern, as well as a helping hand.As we care for each other, we will be blessed.

"May we remember the elderly and those who are homebound. As we take time to visit them, they will know that they areloved and valued. May we follow the mandate to “succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen thefeeble knees.”

"May we be people of honesty and integrity, trying to do the right thing at all times and in all circumstances. May we befaithful followers of Christ, examples of righteousness, thus becoming 'lights in the world.^'"

This week in the mission field we were able to set a baptismal date with a young man named Danny for February 21st, so that is exciting! Chuck, whose date was set for this upcoming Saturday is moving to California and he and his wife are looking to get a divorce which is pretty sad, we'll miss him. He's a really great guy and has a good heart. Tonight we are going to drive to Farmington for MLC tomorrow, so that should be good as always.

If you could send me some more Alavert that'd be awesome. I'll probably be sending a box of stuff home in the next few weeks, there is a family in 3rd Ward who is from Layton so they are going up there sometime soon so they'll be bringing some stuff by the house for me.

I love you all and hope that this week goes great for you!

Love,
Elder Schaelling

January 19

Mom,

It sure is great! Both of the brand new missionaries in the zone are visa waiters for Brazil like Elder Aguilera was and one is Elder Hardy from Layton, UT! He's serving in White Mesa on the Ute reservation. He went to Layton High and grew up way on the west side right before it turns from Layton to Syracuse he says, so I don't think I've ever been out to his area really.

We were able to teach this old couple who is less active, Kerry and Marsha, about the temple. Kerry acts like a mean old grumpy guy but it's just a face he puts up, he's actually really nice guy and Marsha is such a sweet lady. We taught them about the temple and she said that she felt like going to the temple would help her feel "more complete as a person." So we are working with them on that! They just moved here a couple of months ago. We are also teaching this 16-year-old named Jim who is being adopted by a family is is returning to activity and it went so awesome! They asked for us to bless their home and to give a lot of them blessings and it's so cool to see this family who has been out of the church for 10 years to ask for these things and to rely upon the Lord and His Priesthood. One other cool thing is we took this less active guy named Jeremy out with us to teach a lesson to a lady and her family who live here in Blanding but she's from Sweetwater, Arizona (it's on the rez so you wouldn't know where it's at haha) and her father just passed away and he was a Navajo medicine man (traditional priest) and she's trying to decide if she wants to follow the traditional teachings or move to Christianity and Jeremy bore such a powerful testimony of when his family converted to the church and how much it helped and strengthened them! His parents were raising him and his brothers and sisters traditionally and then the missionaries started teaching them and he talked about how he gained a testimony of the Book of Mormon and of Heavenly Father and it was such an awesome lesson! Jeremy's sister gets home from her mission in Brazil this Friday, so his mom (who is Sister Oliver who sent you the purse) is really excited and is going up to SLC to pick her up!

Update on Bluff people, this past Saturday and also the 10th there were two baptisms of people that I taught the lessons to and I got to go to both! Wilbur was married at 11 AM on the 10th and then baptized at 11:30 so it was a pretty awesome day, and then Kervyn and Briannon were married last week and then she got baptized on Saturday! She is 9 months pregnant and due this Wednesday, so she is probably the most pregnant lady to ever get baptized. I was worried she'd go into labor while in the font, hahaha. Just joking. Also, Tiffany and her family were at the baptism so I got to see her and she is doing awesome! Her and Lyle and the Kescoli girls gave talks in Sacrament at the Bluff combined meeting (which usually has about 60+ people now) and did an awesome job I hear!

That sounds pretty interesting! Where is that home you're talking about? You have to be careful when you're looking at hole-in-the-rock stuff because sometimes they are talking about the Bluff pioneers and sometimes they are talking about the hole-in-the-rock at Arches National Park and there's probably a million other holes in a rock somewhere. The place I went to was up by Canyonlands.

Sounds like an awesome stake conference! I wish I could have heard those talks! That is pretty wild that Andrew and Daniel are both ordained to the Melchizedek Priesthood now.

Good luck with all that moving this weekend! It sounds like an exciting time!

I love you all so much and hope that things are going great. I pray for you often and hope that your testimonies are being continually strengthened and that you feel the Spirit often. 

Love,
Elder Schaelling

January 12

My questions:

1) What do you know about transfers?

2) Do you know a Brother & Sister Heslop Senior Couple from this area that recently returned from their mission?  A lady that works at the hospital said they are in her ward, but she couldn't remember exactly where they served.  She said a small town in Arizona and they lived in a camper.  That could describe so many places!

3) Have you ever had any problems with your allergies?

4) How are your investigators doing?  I am so excited about the progress you are able to report each week!

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Mom,

1) I am staying in Blanding with Elder Salmon! There's a lot of good things going on here and it's a fun little town to be in, so I'm happy about it. The other two elders that we live with are staying the same, but Elder Ball was released as a district leader and now we have Elder Hancock up in Monticello serving as district leader for that district. He's a newer missionary which should be really good, he'll bring more excitement to the district. Last transfer our zone was pretty "old," as far as the missionaries are mostly towards the end of their missions but now we have a bunch of younger missionaries so it'll be really good to have some young blood! 

2) I don't believe I have heard that name. They may have been in the Tuba City Stake or Holbrook or Winslow Stakes and I probably wouldn't have heard of them in that case. Or they may have been down towards the Apache reservation (if they were serving on a reservation) in one of the other Arizona missions. 

3) I've had some hay fever here and there and no serious food allergy problems. 

4) Things are going well! This week was a pretty packed week with exchanges in La Sal and zone conference. I got to go to a polygamous encampment and teach some people out there while on exchanges, pretty wild stuff! They live inside of a big rock! They just blow holes into the rock with dynamite and then build houses on the side of the rock so the interior is inside of the rock and they have solar panels and whatnot.

There's no problem with getting older, and I'll remember to remind you of that when you have your next birthday. I'm glad Dad got to enjoy some good pizza in celebration of his birthday, I think I have tried Firehouse once or twice.

Wow! Well, that's awesome that Quin is planning on a mission. I'll be excited to hear where his call is to. It sounds like the Southwest is our place, my mission and Gentry's and Preston's all are right in a row! Then Lindsay is only on the other side of the state from Preston's mission. That's awesome that Camree and Caiden Larkin are sharing a sacrament meeting. (A brother and sister in our ward that are returning from/leaving on their missions about the same time.)

It all sounds like exciting news regarding Trevor Eppich, the Phillipps, and the Norrises! Keep me updated. 

I love you all!!!!!!!

Elder Schaelling

January 5

Questions:
1) How did your MLC (Mission Leadership Conference?) go in Farmington?
2) What did you do on New Year's Eve?
3) How was your New Year's Day zone training?
4) How is Albert doing?  That is so cool that he's already set a baptismal date!
5) Have you been able to meet with Ferris & his wife yet?

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Mom,

1) As always, MLC went great! It's always nice to be able to see President and Sister Batt. I'll get to see them again this Friday at zone conference in Cortez. The thing that really stuck out to me as President Batt guided us in studying chapters concerning Ammon was the joy that he experiences as a missionary as discussed in Alma 26:11, 27:17-18, and 28:8. I'm trying to focus on finding that joy of missionary work daily as I go out and not only trying to stay busy and have a full day as a missionary, but have days that are full of meaningful experiences and trying to find the Lord's Will for my area. As Ammon says, to be an "instrument" in the hands of the Lord rather than merely staying busy. 

2) Nothing too crazy, we had to come in at 8 o'clock and so we came in and finished preparing for zone conference and district leader council that happened on January 1st and then drank some of the juices you sent me! 

3) It went great! It was probably the least stressful one I've had yet and it just felt good the whole way through it and there was a good council at the end of it. We had Elder Lloyd, who is going home next week back to Mesquite, NV, do a training on agency and commitments and Sister Fisi'italia from Tonga do a training on our purpose as missionaries and she did a fantastic job haha. She's a total fireball.

4) We haven't been able to see him this week! He had to go out of town for an emergency on Sunday and we stopped by a few other times and haven't caught him. 

5) Not yet, unfortunately.

This week was pretty awesome. The work is really starting to pick up here in Blanding, investigators are coming together and we have people who are prepared to hear the Gospel. Chuck, whose date was set for the 31st of January (he may not make that date), is super excited about baptism and the church and everything. He is determined to give up smoking and to work on strengthening his marriage with his wife who is a less active member. He said he's never been this excited about the church in his life and he's met with missionaries many times before! That just shows that everything is in the Lord's timing and that he truly is preparing people to receive the word as it teaches in Alma 16:16: "The Lord did pour out his Spirit on all the face of the land to prepare the minds of the children of men, or to prepare their hearts to receive the word which should be taught among them."

We also got to teach Ridge, who is a 15 year old non-member who is enrolled in seminary. His mom is not a member but his dad is and just became reactivated about a year or two ago after 20+ years of inactivity and he is on fire as well. He's going to the temple in February and Ridge is super interested in baptism. Also, there is a family who is just returning to church over the past year and they are adopting a young man named Jim who is about 16 years old and we asked him a month ago if he was interested in baptism or the church at all and he said no but then he came to church yesterday and he decided he wants to get baptized! He has had tough life so he sat down with his adoptive mom and wrote down all the tough things he's gone through in his life and talked it over with her then they knelt down in prayer together and he said he felt the Holy Ghost and now he knows that God is real and that the church is the right way for him! He set his own date for March 21st, so it's a little ways out but it's going to be awesome. People, members or missionaries, who say there is no work to do in Mormon towns don't have faith that God is hastening His work.

I love you all and I am excited that Jackie and Trevor are coming back and that Natalie and Nate are sticking around, I hope all goes well with those things! I'll talk to you all next week, it's transfers this week so we'll see if anything happens!

Love,
Elder SChaellin

December 29

Mom,

Thank you so much for Skyping with me also! I would say that has been my favorite one yet. It was so great to be able to see you and Dad and Aimee and Natalie and Nate and Madelyn and Luke and Grandma!

Not only was that the best Skype session so far, but also the best Christmas of my mission. We got to serve free meals on Christmas day at a gas station on the south side of town and it was so cool to be able to be there serving others. Elder Salmon made some fudge also and we took that to a veteran and some other people who were spending Christmas alone. It was just so great to be serving others and that Heavenly Father provided good people for us to see on Christmas day.

I'm not sure what I'm doing New Years Eve. I'm saving one of those bottles you sent me to pop with the other Elders in my house haha. We drank the pear one already so we'll have to choose between the other two. New Years Day we are having a zone training. Today we are going to Farmington for MLC tomorrow.

Nope, we don't get to relax much but we were able to teach Albert again, the guy we met on Christmas Eve, and he is now on baptismal date for February 7th! Usually the wards would change times, but because the schedule is already so confusing with the South Chapel being closed for renovations they are just going to keep the same schedule until it opens up in March/April/May time frame.

That's so awesome that Aimee gave the talk! I'm glad she did a great job. I probably wont get the opportunity to speak in church very often anymore now that I'm in three full sized wards.

Unfortunately we haven't been able to catch Ferris and his wife yet, hopefully it works out soon!

It definitely has been a great year, it's crazy to think that it's almost over. In just a few days my mission blackout year will be over (that's what they call the year that you are a missionary for the whole year). It's been such a blessing to be able to serve in Steamboat and Bluff and now in Blanding, although I do miss the reservation at times. There is no greater privilege than to serve the Lord and I look forward to a lifetime of dedicated service to Him and His children, wherever that takes me. I hope that as this New Year comes around that each of you will find those in your life that you must minister to and the things you can do to build their faith in Jesus Christ. I recently read a talk by Elder Bednar from the April 2010 conference that was great about parenting, I recommend you all to read it. The same principles are true everywhere, as found in D&C 108:7. "Therefore, strengthen your brethren in all your conversation, in all your prayers, in all your exhortations, and in all your doings." As you meet others seek to bear your testimony and share genuine personal experiences of how your testimony of prayer, the Holy Ghost, the Atonement, the Prophet, or anything else has been strengthened and ask others to share their experiences with similar things, member or non member, active or inactive. I promise that as you do so you will see "the tender mercies of the Lord" that "are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith" (1 Nephi 1:20) and it will amaze you as you learn of the Spiritual experiences in the lives of those you are close with and those you are just getting to know.

I love you all! Happy New Year!

Elder Schaelling

December 22

My  questions:

1) Has someone offered the use of their home and internet on Christmas Day? 
2) Have you received invites for Christmas Eve and/or Christmas Day?
3) How is the weather there in Blanding?
4) Does Blanding decorate much for Christmas?
5) How is it trying to be in three wards at the same time on Sundays?
6) How long have the three Elders you are living with been out on their missions?

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Mom,

Merry Christmas! Those pictures of the He Is the Gift advertisements at Times Square are awesome! I knew that they were there because I had heard about it, but it's cool to really see it and see how the Church is really out there! I hope a lot of people have watched it.

1) Yes, the Einerson family invited us over and their son Cole is on his mission in France right now and they will be Skyping from 9-10 so I'm not sure if 10 o'clock works best for you guys with the brunch or what. The Einersons said we can do anytime other than when their son is calling. If 9 o'clock works better a few other people offered the use of their homes so we might be able to call them and see if I can do it over there. 

2) Yeah, we have some invites for Christmas and so we should be able to stay busy sharing the Christmas story with members and others all throughout Blanding! 

3) The weather is getting colder, but it's probably not as cold as up there. We have had some snow and it has been raining this morning. 

4) Yeah, there are a good amount of Christmas lights up! There are a few houses that are pretty decked out! 

5) It's pretty crazy. Yesterday we went to two ward councils, and then Elder Salmon went to 7th ward with the ward mission leader over there and I went to 1st ward with the new ward mission leader there who was just sustained and set apart yesterday. He was the high councilman responsible for missionary work so it's cool to have him with us there now. He has a lot of pretty awesome ideas on how to get the missionary work rolling forward in 1st ward. 

6) Elder Salmon and Elder Thomas both came out 6 weeks before me, so they've been out for 19 months. Elder Ball has been out for 22 months, he goes home in February.

We had some pretty cool experiences the past few weeks. First, just how the Lord prepares people and puts them in our path. We were out meeting people in a trailer court about a week and a half ago and met a guy named Ferris who was working on his car. We got talking and we asked him where he was from and he said 5-Points (an area that I covered in Bluff) and I had actually taught his mom while I was in Bluff! We asked if we could come by and share a Christmas message with his family and he said that would be fine. Then the next day Bishop Moses from 1st Ward calls us and asks us if we could be witnesses for a wedding on Saturday. So we showed up Saturday morning and asked him who was planning on getting married and he said Ferris and Rayleen! As their family showed up for the wedding at the church we had also just met Rayleen's mom over at her apartment complex and helped her take her trash out! Then Ferris's mom and sister who I knew from Bluff showed up and so it was just so cool how they had decided that after being together for so many years to get married and take a big step in keeping the commandments of God and how we had so much contact with them and their family and we're looking forward to working with their family because they are both non-members.

Secondly, we got to have a big dinner at Brother Bennett, the seminary teacher, with him and his wife and an active young man, a less active young man, and a non-member young man (who are all enrolled in seminary) with the active young man's family and we ate smoked ribs and cornbread and shared a message and it was such an awesome opportunity to work with members!

I love you all and will talk to you on Thursday! Merry Christmas!

Elder Schaelling

December 15

Greetings from New York City!  I am typing this at a desk in our hotel room which has a beautiful view of the Chrysler Building lit up with lights out the window in front of me!

Questions:
1) What do you know about Skyping on Christmas Day?  I'm so excited!!!  We can make it work at any time, but our schedule at this time is as follows:  We will be home all day until we go to Grandma's house at 4pm.  The Neilson/Carling Family will come to our home for a Christmas Brunch around 11:00 or 11:30am.  We can adjust those times if necessary.
2) Do you have any specific plans for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day yet?  We will be at Grandma's home on Christmas Eve this year.
3) How are Duane and the husband of the part-member family doing?
4) You've mentioned grocery shopping in Blanding.  Is there more than one grocery store?  Does Blanding have a Wal-mart or anything of the sort?
5) You mentioned picking up a new truck in Farmington.  What kind is it?
6) Is that truck just for you and Elder Salmon or do yo share it with the other two Elders in your home?
7) What are the names of the other two Elders?  Where are they from?

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Mom,

Sounds like a good time in NYC! That's awesome that you have such a good view of the Chrysler Building.

1) I don't know anything, we're still trying to get to know the people around here and no one has specifically offered to let us use their computer yet so hopefully someone will offer soon and we can get it set up. I should be able to do before 4 o'clock, hopefully. It's mostly up to the member's schedule. 

2) We don't really have any specific plans yet. Grandma's house should be a good time for Christmas Eve!

3) Duane actually moved, but we are hopefully going to start teaching his significant other who is still in town because her sister is a very active member and so we are hoping to have the lessons in their home! Kevin is doing pretty well, he didn't make it to church yesterday but we are going to see him again tonight with his fellowshipping family. Having a family to fellowship someone as they learn about the church makes a world of difference! It's pretty cool to see it here.

4) No, there's just one store, Clark's which is part of Associated Foods. There is also Alco which is a pretty general store (a smaller version of Target/Walmart), they have some food (mostly junk food) and then other items, but Alco across the country is closing down so they'll be gone sometime in January. The closest Walmart is in Cortez, CO.

5) Nissan Frontier, it's pretty nice but the Toyota Tacoma is still my favorite, it is such good truck. Handles really well, drives smooth, very comfortable, and looks nice.

6) Yeah, it's our own truck and the other elders have a Frontier too, ours is silver and theirs is charcoal grey, but we mostly walk here in Blanding to save miles.

7) Elder Ball is from Rexburg, ID and Elder Thomas who is from Lubbock, TX. They are both really good guys and fun to live with.

I can't believe that Stevi is married and it's especially weird to think that Jackie and Trevor bought a house in SLC! They aren't too far from Emigration Market which has Eggs in the City which is a pretty awesome breakfast place on the northwest corner of 13th South and 17th East and then also 15th and 15th which I think has Mazza and Caputos. The Lord has blessed me, I have lost most of my knowledge on non-mission related things but I can still remember all the best eats in SLC. I hope they have that extra bed/couch in their home for me to stay at occasionally. Grandma mentioned all the house shake-ups last week in an email, it sounds pretty crazy!

All of the packages arrived today, thank you so much for all the gifts! There are a ton of them, many more than are necessary but thank you! I'll be excited to find out what they are on Christmas. Enjoy the rest of your time there in NYC!

Things are going pretty awesome here in Blanding. This past weekend was Stake Conference and President and Sister Batt came and spoke in the Saturday evening session and everything was really good. It was so good to be able to see President and Sister Batt again and we actually just got to see them this past Friday in Cortez for a mission Christmas party with the Utah zone and Durango zone, it was a lot of fun. Me and Elder Salmon were in charge of organizing an hour and a half worth of games and we had a couple of big group games at first and then the end portion we opened up for people to play different board games with whomever they would like. We got to play Mormon Bridge with President and Sister Batt and Sister Batt got a little competitive, haha.

We also got to set a baptismal date with another investigator from a part member family, his name is Chuck and his wife is a member and they seem pretty awesome. We have also been working with one of the two seminary teachers because he is in 3rd ward and we are planning on starting to work with the youth a lot. The youth seem to be the place where missionary work is at for Mormon communities because they have so much more interaction with non-members and less active members and they can really embrace and fellowship the kids at school and show them their love. And youth are probably a lot more open to learning about things because they have less prejudices at the younger ages. There are a ton of awesome families here in Blanding and a lot of missionary work to be done.

Merry Christmas! I hope I already mentioned it, but if you haven't seen the He Is the Gift video onchristmas.mormon.org YOU NEED TO WATCH IT AND SHARE IT WITH EVERYONE! Christmas season is such a special time of year because it is one of the few times where everyone's minds and hearts are turned towards Jesus Christ. I was reading through the Christmas story in the Book of Mormon the other day in 3 Nephi 1 and it discussed the signs of Jesus Christ's birth. One was that when the sun went down there would still be light and the other was the new star in the sky. I felt those symbols were significant because they showed that because of Jesus Christ light will even shine in the darkness and that regardless of where we are or who is lost, He will always be guiding us by the beacon of His light even as the North star gives the traveler direction. This Christmas season think of those who are lost, who need His light in their life, and invite them to discover the Gift and embrace the Gift of Jesus Christ. I love you all and am so grateful our Savior who all the prophets have testified and taught of. 

Love,
Elder Schaelling