I am a Mormon

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I'm Brad and I am a Mormon

Happy Thanksgiving

HI!!

Im glad you had a good Thanksgiving!  That stinks about the pipe and Kristi being sick but it sounds like you still had a good week!  I loved the pictures of the kids and seeing everyone with Hillary.  That made me happy.  Although I wasn't able to see the video you sent me. Not gonna lie, Thanksgiving was harder than I thought it would be.  Our ward didnt have a turkey bowl and there is something about waking up at 6:30, working out, studying for 2 hours and then having a weekly planning session that doesnt quite scream Happy Thanksgiving.  It was hard to stay focused and stuff but I am just glad its over.  We went over to a members house and had a good dinner and played Monopoly. Haha It was fun.  I would have rather been playing/watching football and with my own family, but I still had a good time.  That night we went and spent time with some investigators and other members. 

Other than that this week hasn't been very exciting, haha just missionary work.  I found out a cool little fact about my area.  Did you know the angel Moroni on top of the Salt Lake temple was casted in Salem Ohio?  Haha Me neither till I watched Mountain of the Lord this week.  Salem is in my area and I go there all the time.  That is probably the most exciting thing that has ever happened in the town of Salem though haha.   On Saturday we went to our ward mission leaders old house to help him clean up a little bit and take some stuff out.  It was crazy. I have never been in a burnt down house before. 

I cant really think of anything else exciting that has happened.  Yesterday we had dinner at a members house that have a daughter that lives in the Roxbourough ward boundaries. She isn't a member but I found out the members here have been to our ward in HR twice! Weird huh?  They are way nice.  We had a really good dinner.  We had steak and like all this other food like peas and mushrooms and weird salad and other food I would have NEVER eaten at home, but I like now haha.  Its weird how much my eating habits have changed in 4 months.  Ill eat just about anything and like it now!  We were just talking about how you will be shocked when I get home and I am not picky.  A mission didn't really cure Elder Warner though.  He is SO picky and like doesnt eat anything when we go to members haha.  

So I have been meaning to tell you this for like 3 months now but always forget.  Everyone needs to get a mormon.org profile!  So tell Dad and Ryan and everyone else to make one if you havent already and link it to your facebooks and whatnot. (I will link his profile in a different post)

Thats sad your missionary is leaving, haha you better get used to it.  Its easy to get attatched to us and then they rip us out! haha  Speaking of that, transfers are next week so p day will be on a Tuesday.  I dont feel like I am getting transfered, but hey I didn't last time either and look what happened.  I dont know whats gonna happen to Elder Warner if he will stay or if we will be in a triple up or what but he is going home December 20th which is right in the middle of the transfer so im not sure whats gonna happen.  We will find out next week.  So just in case dont send me mail unless it will get here before the 7th!

Thats exciting you gave Olga a Book of Mormon!!  You need to invite her to take the missionary discussions!  I dont know how they count referrals out there but here they are strict rules, hard to come by.  But if you do ask Olga make sure you specifically ask her to take the discussions so the missionaries can count it on their numbers.  haha It's annoying when the missionaries are introduced to members friends but they were never invited to take the lessons by the member so its not a referral.  But hey it might be different out there I dont know. 

Haha you can send me some Christmas stuff, just dont go overboard. haha I dont think we need a tree haha.  I will start thinking of something I want for Christmas too.  Maybe my suits dry cleaned.  All my clothes smell like smoke since everyone smokes here, haha its nasty. I hope you have a good week and the basement gets finished!


I love and miss you!!

Elder Skalla

Tommy, Elder Warner, Elder Skalla, Debbie & Bruce

These are from his ward mission leaders home that burned down.  He said he is amazed at what didn't burn.  I can't tell what he is holding up in the first picture.

A Great Week!

Good another not so exciting week!!  haha (I told him nothing exciting at home lol)  My week has been way good!  First to answer your questions I have already been to steak and shake like 3 times. haha Don't send a giftcard because we dont have one in our area.  We eat out every once in a while but mostly at home.  Its cheaper and healthier.  We usually only eat out when we go up to Youngstown for the day but even then Rocky takes us out.  Thats good you finished your yw project!  Hopefully it all turned out ok! Drive safe to Utah!  I am so jealous but I sure I will be well taken care of here.  Not sure where we are going yet but we will find somewhere.  My p day is the same as the elders there.  We get untill 1 today to e mail and shop and then Thursday is an all day p day except we have to weekly plan that day too.  Im so sad this ward doesnt have a turkey bowl.  Tallmadge does and appearently it's a big deal and a good missionary oppurtunity I wish I could go back there for that! haha

 

So my week was awesome.  On Wednesday we had zone conference and after went on exchanges with the zone leaders.  Zone conference was the best! I went with goals, questions and things I wanted to work on and really gained a testimony of personal revelation.  If we ask Hevanly Father for answers and dilligently seek to find them he WILL answer every one of our prayers and inspire our minds on what we should do.  It was awesome how it all worked out and I recieved answers to my questions.  I had to give a short workshop at zone conference as well and its awesome when you are talking and the spirit just takes over and you dont even go off your notes and just know what you are supposed to say and ask.  I love when that happens.   I went on Exchanges with Elder Helton who was in my first district in Tallmadge.  It was awesome getting to serve with him again and getting advice and help with things. 

 

Saturday we went to Kirtland with a less active named Tommy, our investigator Bruce, his daughter and his less active girlfriend.  It was awesome!  I love Kirtland and Bruce really enjoyed it too.  They are doing this nativity thing this year and they have like 1000 of them all over, its pretty cool.  It was cool because in the school of the prophets when they were talking about the word of wisdom Tommy told us that it was in that room he decided to quit smoking and hasnt had a cigarette since going in there.  It was pretty cool and I hope Bruce has the same experience as Tommy since Bruce is trying to quit smoking. 

 

So remember Tim? (the guy from the robbery story) He showed up at church yesterday!  I was like seriously shocked.  We havent talked to him since Elder Vang and I went there that one time but he found a ride on his own and came up to me and shook my hand in church and said thank you and that he is starting to get his life in order and solved his arrest warrant, figured out how to pay the rent and found a job.  It was truly a miracle we showed up that day, but we are gonna start teaching him and Tina again so hopefully he will figure it out. 

 

Speaking of things I want for Christmas I kinda already bought myself one haha.  They sell replicas of the original printing of the BOM in Kirtland and I wanted one and didnt have cash so I put it on the credit card haha. 

 

Well I think thats all I had to tell you. haha I hope you have fun in Utah and give all the family a hug for me!  I miss you and love you all!  Have a great Thanksgiving!!

 

Love

 

Elder SKalla

This is a short note that was attached to his photos:

Our shower didnt drain and I got sick of showering in 6 inches of water every day so I stuck a hanger down there and pulled out clumps of hair haha we found like 4 more balls of hair like the one in the pictures haha nasty huh?   (I am glad he is so resourceful!)

A little too much excitement!

Hi! 

 

Well I am glad everyone is back home and stuff!  (Randy was out of town for 10 days!)  I cant believe I have been out 4 months already...  It feels like I just got here!  But I have plenty of time left haha.

 

I had one crazy week haha,  every week is pretty crazy though.  Monday night we parked on the street to go visit a less active member and some crazy black lady came out and told us we couldnt park there and thought we were dealing drugs.  She called the cops on us. haha I was on the phone with a member and he heard the lady talking about drugs and he was like "drugs?!  where are you?!"  haha It was so funny.  Elder Warner got some of it on his recorder so I am gonna try to send it to you (he did, I will try and attach it cause it was so good to hear his voice!) But the cops came and he was like what are you guys doing and we said we were missionaries and he was like oh jeez someone thought you were dealing drugs but nevermind and left!  haha It was pretty funny.  

On Wednesday we went on exchanges and I was with Elder Vang and we visited a semi investigator randomly.  It ended up being a miracle that we stopped by.  He was dressed in all black and had a mask and knife in his coat and was about to go rob a gas station!  This was the first time I had ever met him but Elder Vang knew him and his girlfriend from when he was in Alliance.  But he had a warrant out for his arrest, no money, he and his girlfriend were being evicted the next day and had no where to go.  Elder Vang had no idea what to do and neither did I.   They just kept asking for money and stuff.  Tim was a little drunk but Tina was like balling and seriously wanted help.  She is the one that has been actually interested in getting her life together and coming to church so I felt really bad for her.  She needs to get away from Tim.  She was freaking out because Tim was supposed to get surgery on his face that next week and now they can't and his face could be really messed up forever.  He got his jaw blown off by a kid who accidently shot him in the face with a shotgun.  He has a big peice of metal where his jaw is supposed to be but everything around that is gone so he has a big hole in his face.  Anyway I kinda gave him a talking to.  I took the beer out of his hand and threw it out the door and told him to get it together and focus on where they were going and what they needed to do.  I think he was kinda taken back by a kid telling him what to do,  but I think he actually realized I was right so we called a member of the stake presidency who was one of his face surgeons to see if he could help.  We had to go to an appointment but President Wagley said he would take care of it, but we needed to leave which was probably a good idea.  I have no idea what happened to them or if he is in jail now or what, but at least we talked him out of robbing a gas station.  I never expected I would be dealing with people like that on my mission haha, but I swear it happens like once a week.  (Great!)

 

Other than that crazy stuff things are going well.  We are taking an investigator named Bruce to Kirtland on Saturday so I am really excited for that.  He should be getting baptized as soon as he and his member girlfriend get married.  

 

That sounds like an awesome service project for the young women!  Speaking of that our ward mission leaders house burned down this week so we had to help him clean some of that up. Apparently it was on the news and in papers and stuff they lost everything.  You could probably google it. (I did)  It was in Hannoverton, Ohio.  It kinda sucks though because now he is busy with all that and cant help us much. 

 

I am proud of Hill for going all out for the BYU game!! (She painted her face and arms!) hahaha Thats what I would have done!  I am excited to see this!  I am glad USU won though!  I cant believe its already basketball season though....  crazy.  And with the Christmas card you do have to realize I am in Ohio... haha not much too exciting here, but I will do my best and get a picture to you hahaha  Oh! One more thing I drove a car for the first time in 4 months on Saturday! haha that was exciting!  Elder Warner got a bad migraine when we were in Youngstown so I had to drive back to Alliance. haha I still remember how to drive so thats good! 

 

Well I gotta get going!  I love and miss you all and hope this week is good and nothing too exciting happens again! haha 

I love you! 

 

Elder Skalla

Week 16 in Alliance

Yes, I LOVED my extra hour haha it was good.  Tell Ryan sorry I didn't write him I didn't have much time because we had to drive all the way to Youngstown for zone p day and district meeting since we weren't allowed to work on Halloween.  I didn't get Lil Rays  address because I didn't think I was getting transferred haha but she said she was going to add me on FB so I don't know.  I am not really sure what P days are going to consist of here since Elder Warner doesn't like sports and we aren't close to the other Elders in the district and the rest are sisters.  The sisters that cover the singles branch along with Tallmadge are in my district so its nice to get updates from them on things going on there.  I am still the backer in the car haha I hate it haha but my thoughts are that I will finish this transfer then train for the next 2 here in Alliance so I have a feeling i'll be here till at least March haha but it's OK, I like it.  We have to pay for laundry in our apartment but its cheaper than in Tallmadge so that's good.  But still feel free to send me quarters if you have any :)  

I am sure Clayton will see Elder Lewis.  The Spanish elders here I see all the time and most are paired with an English companion and not in Spanish areas.  One of my ZL got called Spanish and he hasn't even used it in like 6 months haha. 

Thanks for your package though!  I will still use the air fresheners!  I took a nice blanket that someone left in Tallmadge with me so I am good although I am starting to get cold at night so I may need to buy a big one soon.

So I had a bad experience this week that really got to me.  That family I was telling you about that I was way excited for dropped us...  We had an appointment and I called to confirm and Mike just told me they had prayed about it and done "research" and decided they didn't want to meet with us anymore.  I like was shocked and my stomach just dropped and I didn't know what to say.  I cant even describe the feeling it was like getting dumped or something.  I asked if we could come by and talk about it but he said no.  I have never been dropped by someone I actually cared about and was excited to teach. I had been studying and praying for them and it just made me feel like crap knowing they didn't want it. It really got to me and I couldn't stop thinking about it for days.  I knew they were into anti stuff and it just makes me so mad.  I am so sick of that crap, you have to be an idiot to get caught up in all that stuff.  It frustrating because it makes so much sense to me and I get frustrated when other people don't get the gospel and get caught up in stupid things.  We are gonna try to contact them in a couple weeks but I guess all I can do now is pray for them and move on.  I guess there has to be opposition or else it wouldn't all be true. 

Not too much else exciting this week.  Just still trying to help the ward out and get them going on the ward mission process.  It will be slow but once it gets going things will hopefully take off.  I hope everything is good at home and everyone is doing well!  Cant wait to hear from you again!  Love and miss you!

Elder Skalla

Brad's new home in Alliance, Ohio

Elder Warner & Elder Skalla

Elder Warner is finishing his mission and going home in December.

I feel like I need to send a dust ruffle and bed spread!  LOL

This is AFTER he has been scrubbing a little bit every day for a week!  YUCK! 

 Kitchen  after he has been cleaning every chance he gets!  Makes me wonder how bad it really was!