May 26

Mom,

Seems like you have had a lot going on this past week! I'm glad you survived it.

Jacinta is doing great, she is going to be baptized on June 6th and confirmed on June 7th (#holla)! One of several miracles that I need to tell you all about is Jacinta bringing a friend of hers to our lesson last Thursday. She had a friend, named Velvet, who had just moved back from Farmington to Grants earlier that day and she asked her if she wanted to come to Bible study with her that evening, and she agreed. When we heard (about 10 minutes before the lesson) that her friend was coming we were planning on teaching the law of chastity and we were thinking, "Should we teach about chastity still since it'll be her first time meeting with missionaries or should we do something else?" and we just decided to go with chastity and eternal families anyways. So, we did that and she loved it! Haha. She came to the next lesson on Saturday and we taught tithing and fast offerings and she told us about how she feels like now that she's meeting with us she now believes that God is really listening to and answering her prayers! So we invited her to be baptized on July 4th, and she accepted.

In addition, we invited Austin to be baptized on June 20th (we'll see if he makes the date, he has to quit smoking so it might not be that day) and he accepted! Also, we went to go teach him last Saturday and he was talking to his friend Cody who has been thinking about and looking for religion who is 17-years-old and invited him to come to our lesson and so we taught them the plan of salvation and he also invited the invitation to be baptized on July 4th!

My last big miracle to report from this past week is that a really nice Tongan lady named Leah showed up to church Sunday morning. We got talking to her in Gospel Principles, because the relief society president talked to her after sacrament and took her to that class, and she is a non-member. She told us that she was visiting some family in St. George and attended a Polynesian ward there and she has been living here in Grants for a while and she has been praying to God and telling him that she's not sure where her life is supposed to go but that she had faith that he would take her in the right direction. She then took a test to get into a nursing program in Gallup and she had just found out on Saturday that she got accepted and felt like she should join us at church! She sounds pretty amazing.

1) Great! 

2) June 5th, so we'll be celebrating your birthday that way down here haha. I hope you have a great time with whatever you end up doing up there! 

3) Nope, transfers happened on the 19th. 

4) He's doing great! We're having a good time together. 

5) Nope. As a matter of fact, don't send me stuff. Tell the rest of the family that too. Like I said, it would be easier if we just chose some day after I get home to celebrate my birthday or whatever so that way I don't get any packages with stuff that I just have to figure out how to fit into my suitcase for the plane ride home. If people want to send me something for my birthday, just a letter or a card would be greatly appreciated. 

6) I don't think so. 

7) Okay, I started registering for classes two weeks ago and a lot of the good time slots for classes are already full which is unfortunate. I'm just hoping the Lord will provide that when I get home I will be able to get a decent schedule worked in or be able to talk to specific professors and get add codes or something for their class. I'm not really sure what else I can do while I'm on my mission. 

8) Nope. 

9) On one hand I would like everyone to keep the Sabbath holy and attend all the meetings but I'm just not sure how many people will be attending who live not close to Layton where that would make it difficult for them or more time consuming then they can manage. I also personally would like to attend Sunday School and Priesthood if possible, but I'm sure it would be logistically difficult to get that all worked out. What do you guys think? 

10) No, I'm pretty okay with anything.

That's so awesome that the temple open house worked out so well! Keep up the good work. Even if she doesn't join the church, you've done your part. Just like in The Power of Everyday Missionaries, he said a lot of the people whom he has had the missionaries teach in his home or invited to do things have not joined the church, but each time his personal testimony and the testimony of his family has grown and he has become better friends with those whom he has invited.

I hope that Nick does okay! I'll keep him and their family in my prayers.

I guess I'll actually see Idaho Falls and their house and/or cottage for the first time when we go up for President Batt's mission report because I've never been up there before. (I'm sure I went there when I was younger or something, but I can't remember anything about it.)

I hope you had a great Memorial Day! We didn't do anything too unique. The college was closed so we couldn't email yesterday.

I love you all! 

May 18

Mom,

I'm glad you got my Mother's Day letter! Thank goodness for scripture markers haha.

We have gotten some pretty weak rain down here the past few days, it was overcast and kind of gloomy for a few days but the rain was really just a continuous sprinkle, not a real rain.

Good to hear that everyone enjoyed Star Wars! As much as I love Star Wars, I really haven't watched them in a long time so it would be nice to watch them again with you in preparation for Episode 7. It was pretty shocking to me when I heard that the new one wasn't coming out in May because that is the month that all the other six ones came out in! But it's okay that they broke tradition because now I'll be home for it. There are gospel principles within the Star Wars saga. I've heard from my companions about how much of the gospel is in Lord of the Rings, but I never got into those movies so maybe I'll have to try again when I get home.

Sounds interesting! Yeah, Envision Utah would be related to public policy. Public policy is basically law writing and policy making. So if one worked in a public policy research organization, he or she would presumably research things in their specialty, whether that be healthcare policy or transportation policy, etc. Yeah, I'm still interested but I have no idea what will really happen.

Jacinta is doing great! She came to church yesterday with her two daughters and when we asked her how she has been enjoying church she said, "I love it. I feel great afterwards. I think I need it more like two or three times a week rather than just the once!" Haha. We have a new investigator named Austin who is the boyfriend of Jeremey's step-daughter. He has come to church with the family the past three weeks, but always leaves after sacrament so we are trying to get him to stay. (That is the biggest problem, people always leave after sacrament so we are trying so hard to get people to stay!) He's an awesome investigator though, he lost his belief in God due to some bad experiences with his family, but feels the need for something in his life and he is about 18 years old or so and is really interested in learning more, we taught him 4 times this past week! It's so cool because whenever we ask him,  "When can we come back to see you?" he says, "What time are you free tomorrow?" or something rather than waiting until the next week so he has a strong desire to learn!

Another cool experience was when we took out a recent convert with us to a lesson. We took Bob (the RC) to see Bennie (the investigator) because they are both older and retired and we taught Bennie about the Plan of Salvation and Bob was so powerful at the end when he invited Bennie to church on Sunday! He said, "Bennie, I want you to come to church with us this Sunday because it is really just a wonderful place and the spirituality of this church is something that I have never found or seen before! I will be waiting for you at the door and if you come it would be such a pleasure to have you sit by me. The people there at the LDS Church here in Grants are really unlike any other I've met, they are some of the most wonderful and godly people I have ever run into!" Bob is so amazing at how bold he is. He made me think of a verse in Romans, chapter 1 verse 16: " For I am not ashamed of the gospel ofChrist: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth" I could see that Bob was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ in his invitation. Unfortunately, Bennie didn't come to church yesterday. But Bob succeeded, because he was willing to invite! And I can promise that Bob felt the Spirit in his life because he was willing to invite, just like it talks about in The Power of Everyday Missionaries. We succeed when we invite, regardless of the outcome.

Good job at all your awesome fellowshipping with Carola! Keep it up, mom! You're a rock star!

Did you get a J-Dawg while at BYU?

Sounds like a lot of missionary stuff going on in the homeward, that's always good to hear!

Yes, I got the package. Thank you!

I love you all!

Elder Schaelling

May 11

Mom,

It was great to be able to Skype with you all and to have the whole family in the mix! It is pretty amazing how well it can work to Skype and everything.

I can't remember if I said, but we had the appointment with Bud and Alicea with Bud's brother Clayton and his wife, Tannis, at Clayton and Tannis's home and it was really nice! We had dinner and then taught about the Restoration and Alicea had a lot of questions! She doesn't have much of a background in religion at all, she grew up with general belief in God but never learned much of anything about Christ because she never went to church and whatnot. She's pretty awesome though, she and Bud came to church again yesterday! We are waiting for their wedding for their baptism so it probably wont be until July, and similar deal with Albert and Vanessa since they need to get married. Missionary work would be a lot easier if people just got married haha. And I already told you guys about Jacinta yesterday on Skype.

That's so cool that you gave out that book to everyone! And that's great that Aimee is doing well with the piano. And it's okay that it didn't work out with us older kids, at least we can have learned the lesson and remember that for our kids to learn an instrument that we need to set them up with someone outside of the home.

Congrats to Nate and Natalie on the wedding anniversary! Same to Jackie with her birthday, that peanut butter and chocolate ice cream sounds really good.

Teaching is a difficult thing to do, but as you learn how to teach well it really makes a big difference within the church and I would imagine within the family. The most difficult and most important thing to do as a teacher is to engage the learner, just as the new Come Follow Me curriculum for the youth has done. That's what I hope I will be able to learn even more about as I hopefully work at the MTC, how to put the students in the driver seat as seek learning by study and also by faith.

I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Love, 

Elder Schaelling 

May 4

Mom,

I got the information from President and Sister Batt about their homecoming talk, it'll be on July 12th. He's not sure what time it'll be at because he hasn't been to church there for three years so he can't remember what schedule they'll be on now but he gave me their home phone number so we can call him and figure out what time, so I'd like to make it to that.

Things are definitely going great down here! We have another investigator, she is married to a return missionary and we are going to have them be taught at a member's home this Saturday also, her name is Alicea (pronounced like Alisha). Unfortunately the lesson with Albert and Vanessa didn't work out last Monday because they forgot they had a birthday to celebrate but we will be seeing them tomorrow morning with Sister Merayo and hopefully we'll be able to get another lesson lined up at the Merayo's! Yes, Jeremey's baptism is on for this weekend, so we are pretty excited! Yeah, we've had some pretty good turn outs at church. Last week we had 8 investigators at church!

Things with the Calin's sound pretty awesome! Keep up the good work and inviting like you are! Use any opportunity you have to briefly teach her (or anyone else you come in contact with) something about the gospel, share a testimony or personal experience, and invite them to do something that will increase their faith in Christ!

That sounds like an awesome road trip. That's cool that you and Dad aren't too old to do something spontaneous like that! Haha, just joking. I really want to go to the Manti temple, it sounds pretty awesome. I think probably the closest you got to my mission boundaries is when you were at the hole-in-the-rock because the river is the dividing line between our mission and the St. George mission. Across the river from the hole in the rock is actually part of Blanding 3rd Ward's boundaries so you were looking into one of my past areas!

That's great that Natalie and Nate will be able to have a house of their own soon. Aimee will have a great time there with her new position. I'm sure Jackie will have a great time as Young Women's President.

Love, 

Elder Schaelling 

April 27

Mom,

Things are still going great here in Mount Taylor Ward! That's so awesome that Aimee won the election! I'm proud of her, I'm sure she'll have a lot of fun and learn a lot in that position.

That's great that Nate and Natalie found a place to live finally, I hope it all works out well too!

That's awesome that Jackie is the Young Women's President! I'm sure she'll do a fantastic job in that calling. What callings has she held thus far in her life? Has she worked with the young women much before? I've enjoyed working with the youth whenever I have the opportunity to as a missionary, because the youth are so willing and have so many opportunities to do missionary work. 

Great news with all the mission calls and homecomings! New mission calls are always exciting. And yes, I can still remember plenty of Navajo to do my testimony in my homecoming talk. I have been losing it a little bit since I've not been speaking it too much here in Grants, only like once ever 2-3 weeks (it hurts my heart sometimes, I miss the Navajo people a lot). In Blanding I still got to use it a decent amount, but obviously not as much as I did on the reservation. There are a lot of people who either were raised speaking Navajo in Blanding or learned it on their mission. But I'll have no problem in my homecoming talk because I'll be prepared. Sometimes it's hard to converse in Navajo now if it's just regular conversation, but the times when I have been able to testify to people or pray in Navajo either here in Grants or on exchanges in other areas the words that I need always come back. 

Jacinta is awesome. We also have some updates on Albert and Vanessa. We took the Bishop's wife, Sister Merayo, with us to go see them this past week and Albert has been facing some pressure from his family to not join the church and to not accept the Book of Mormon and so he's pretty confused right now, but Vanessa has the testimony of a giant! She defends the church and the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith to everyone she knows who says anything bad about it! She's been having a hard time coming to church just because she's been a little anxious about it but Sister Merayo gave her a big hug and told her she'd be saving the whole bench for her and her family and Vanessa came with her four kids and even brought her cousin and she was commenting in Gospel Principles! Albert had to work so he wasn't able to make it. Tonight we'll be teaching Albert and Vanessa at the Merayo's home so it should be pretty awesome. 

Love, 

Elder Schaelling 

April 20

My questions for Matt:

1) How are you and Elder Van Meter doing?

2) How is Jacinta doing?  That's amazing how The Lord truly guided you to her!

3) How are your other investigators doing?

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

1) We are doing great! Our personalities mesh well and we both have the goal to be exactly obedient and work very hard while also having tons of fun. It's nice to be with someone who understands how to keep that balance well. 

2) Jacinta is doing great, she came to church yesterday with her two daughters and it seems like they really enjoyed it! We'll be teaching her tomorrow night again so we'll get more feedback from her then. She's such an awesome person and I think it makes all the difference in the world the fact that she is being taught in a members home and was introduced to the gospel by Brother Emery and Sister Cash. I think her seeing their excitement for the gospel is really helping her have a stronger desire to live these things herself, as it would any investigator/less active. Obviously us missionaries are very excited about the gospel but you would expect someone to be that way who has devoted two years of their life to doing nothing but preaching the gospel, but I think when someone sees a person who is just like them so excited and have such a strong testimony it just brings it to life! 

3) Our other investigators are doing pretty well! Jeremy Sears will be baptized May 9th and so we're really excited about that! He was already being taught when I got here but it's finally really going to happen! Unfortunately, Jeremy and Jacinta were the only ones who made it to church this Sunday. We have a lot of other awesome investigators but we are just hoping to see them keep the commitment to come to church. Member involvement is really increasing and I think that's going to make a huge difference in investigator's progress. 

 

That's crazy that everyone is coming home! I guess I'm the tail end of the group of homecomings the next few months then, am I? Or are there others who will be coming home after me? 

I'm so jealous of Jackie and Trevor and them living in SLC. SLC is such an awesome place! We had dinner with a member family last week who used to live in SLC because the husband was going to the U and we were just talking about how awesome of a city it is. 

Hopefully everything goes well with Natalie and Nate and their family finding a place to settle down! 

Good luck to Quin with his mission, 5 missionaries is a lot and a big legacy to live up to I guess! Haha, he'll do a great job though. 

Good luck to Aimee with her elections also! 

I LOVE THE LOWER LIGHTS! That's one thing I definitely want to do when I get home, is find one of their concerts so I can go see them live. The music is amazing and so spiritual. I know that Ryan Shupe is part of the group too! Maybe if I brush up on one of my instruments I can play with them on the side... Haha, just kidding. 

I love the gospel and I love the mission. Right now in the Mt. Taylor ward member involvement is really picking up and things are so awesome. Members make ALL the difference in the world when it comes to the work of salvation! We made a family home evening outline for members to use and we are going to have a Meet the Mormons ward social on May 15th where we are going to invite non members to the church to watch the movie and then at the end we are going to have them Meet the Mormons in Mt. Taylor ward and probably have a person or a couple share their conversion story and then hand out Book of Mormons with testimonies of members of the ward to people who want them! It should be really awesome, we brought it up in ward council yesterday and everyone jumped on it so I'm excited! 

Here's the general outline for the FHE
-------------------------------------------------------

Discuss and make plans as a family how you can participate in the work of salvation! (Preach My Gospel pgs. 160-162)

·         Pray and follow the spirit – Alma 6:6

·         Give service – Mosiah 2:17-19

·         Develop friendships – Helaman 6:3

·         Open your mouth to share the restored gospel – D&C 100:5-8

·         Invite others to do things to increase their faith in Christ – Moroni 7:13

Go to hasteningthework.lds.org and watch a video on families participating in the work of salvation

 

Love, 

Elder Schaelling 

April 13

Mom,

So it's official, eh? That's pretty crazy. Yeah, I was planning on flying home not driving home or anything, I feel like that final flight from the mission home and meeting the family at the airport is a must do to have proper closure to missionary service. Haha, so your priority is picking up me? I was wondering what would happen if Natalie did go into labor as my plane was coming in. I was expecting to find a sticky-note on the luggage carousel that says, "Elder Schaelling, take bus 550 to the University of Utah Hospital and meet us there in room 316." Even if it does work out that way, it'd be a great story I could tell for the rest of my life. 

Yeah, I have changed a lot but I think when I go home I will realize that many things have not changed about me. There are a few constants in my personality, and clothing is one of them. I have been relatively less picky in my mission but I'm sure I'll be right back up to my old standards of clothing and food when I go home. When you mail the stuff if you could mail me a copy of The Power of Everyday Missionaries that'd be great. I'd just love to be able to show it to members and encourage them to read it here, because Elder Van Meter and I are really trying to help the members here work with us to find those who have been prepared by the Lord. Yeah, I was re-called as a district leader and to train for my last two transfers. It's been fun so far! I got a little used to having less responsibility last transfer though, and it did feel kind of nice haha. But I'm excited to be able to work with the elders here in the district on exchanges and hopefully really be able to build up some new and young leadership in the mission. 

Sister Parks (a nice sister from Albuquerque who sent Tammy a photo of Matt and his companion at Stake Conference in Gallup, NM) said that her husband is part of the Facilities Management group so they had come out for stake conference just to check on the building as well, but you are right that Albuquerque is out of our stake and mission. It sounds like you already have some of the background of Elder Van Meter from his mom so I don't have to tell you too much more about him haha. 

(Insert from Tammy:  Elder Van Meter's mom connected with me via the photo text from Sister Parks.  She said that they are from Berryville, VA, Elder Van Meter is their youngest child but first to serve a mission and that she is so relieved that he has a good first companion.  I must agree with her on that last part!  She's very happy to have her son serving a mission because she said, "If not for the missionaries that taught me, I never would have had the blessings of the Gospel in my life.")

Things are going really well with us and I'm excited to be his companion! Young missionaries like him are fun because they still have that "ideal missionary" in their mind from the MTC and have a desire to work really hard, be exactly obedient, and change the world so we'll go do a lot of great work together! 

Sounds like a great Easter program! That's awesome that Amy was there. (A high school friend of Matt's named Amy played the violin in our ward's Easter Program last Sunday.)

I'm glad Dad survived his exam. (Mike took his Medical Board exams, a full day of no fun, on April 8.)

Story for this week is about a new investigator that we found via a referral from our ward mission leader valiantly fulfilling his calling. He and another member of the ward work with a lady named Jacinta at the hospital and he told us about her but wasn't sure where she lived and he told us to look in the Area Book to find her address because the missionaries in the past had taught her once or twice a while ago, but we couldn't find a record of her from those missionaries. So we went to go contact a less active member and across the street from his trailer was a teenage boy and his sister in a yard with a dog that ran to us to play with us so we decided to go ask the boy if his parents were home and he said that his mom would be home in a minute. Just at that time, his mom pulled around the corner and parked in front of her house and we talked to her for a minute and we asked if we could come by and she said sure and we asked her name and she said, "Jacinta." And I was like, "No way! Do you work with Brother Emery and Sister Cash?" And she said she did! So we contacted her on accident haha. Well, I should say by the grace of God and the hand of the Lord. We taught her on Thursday with Bob, a recent convert of about two months and he bore a POWERFUL testimony of the reality of the truth of the gospel and the church and she committed to come to church next week (because yesterday was stake conference and she is on call so she can't go too far from the hospital) and we have a lesson tonight at the Cash's home with Jacinta lined up and we're going to teach her the Restoration! She accepted a baptismal invitation the last lesson so tonight we will be planning on setting a baptismal date with her and should be great! 

I LOVE YOU ALL! THE GOSPEL IS TRUE! 

Love, 

Elder Schaelling