Zoned Out....

Well I'll be honest, I don't think I recognize one of those girls in that picture! haha I tried really hard but I think the only ones I may have recognized were the Cali girls and I think a Babbitt maybe.  I can't believe how much has changed either.  Its gonna be so weird to come home to a different building, bishop and no one I know haha oh well.  I will definitely write a letter this week.  You should tell some of those families moving in to come to Youngstown! We have had a move out about every week.  The stake is really struggling right now.  

This week went really well!  It was kinda slow teaching wise.  Everyone is busy going back to school and that kind of stuff but it was still a solid week!  We had stake conference yesterday which was really good!  I cant believe this is my second one here haha.  From all the exchanges and things I have done here I know like a ton of people in the stake.  haha I just realized that yesterday when we were all in one building haha.  It is a small stake though.  Sounds like our ward at home is probably about half our stake here haha.  Brother H was ordained an Elder yesterday.  Man that made me happy.  He is like one of the most amazing guys ever. 

After Stake conference D got his baptism interview and it looks like its gonna happen this Saturday so we are excited about that! 

Earlier this week I got to go on exchanges in Alliance.  They moved into the bishops second house so I didn't even get to see my old place.  Every apartment I have lived in on my mission is gone now.  Right after I leave they always move out haha.   It was fun though I stopped by all the old investigators I taught and some less actives and stuff.  I love going back there, although that will probably be my last time for a while. 

Saturday we got to stain a deck for a part member family!  That was like the best part of my week cuz we got to get out of proselyting clothes and work outside.  Its nice to do that every once in a while. 

The next couple weeks are gonna be really busy with Zone Conference, Zoned Out, Zone Development, Zone leader council haha-- all kinds of zone stuff and of course we have to run it all.  Its all good though I enjoy doing it, it just stresses me out. 

Well I hope you have a great week and a safe drive to Utah!  I love and miss you!!

Elder Skalla

Fleas instead of bed bugs???

haha Mom I haven't been with Elder Anderson in like 6 weeks... haha I told you I had a new companion from St. George and you even said he knows Brad Dorius! haha getting old?  (I typed Anderson but knew it was Elder Berryessa!  It was late!  LOL  and yes I am getting old!)

This week was good but nothing too exciting.  We dont have bed bugs so thats good.  The East missionaries had to stay 2 nights in a hotel while the exterminators were there haha.  It ended up being fleas not bed bugs.  (Fleas are better???)

Wednesday was transfers so I drove up with everyone that was leaving and picked up the new missionaries.  Its weird cuz like I am one of the "old" missionaries now since our mission is so young.  It was a good transfer meeting.  We got 3 new Elders and they made another new sister area in my zone so now we have 3 sets!  On Saturday we got to go to Kirtland again but with our investigator M.  It was really good!  He is a way nice guy.  I am so sick of driving to Kirtland though, haha but its a huge blessing that we have that so close.  

Probably the only exciting thing this week was D.  He is an 18 year old kid I have been teaching since I got here.  He has taken the lessons for like over a year but last night he said he prayed about it and wants to get baptized on the 1st.  So now we have to get our crap together and get ready for that the week after stake conference.  I hope he is for real about it, but we will see.   Its weird that this is my second stake conference here haha. Its been sooooo long in this area.  Its a good thing I like it.  Brother H is getting the Melchizedek priesthood at stake conference.  They are still doing so good, he blessed the sacrament yesterday and went teaching with us again last night.  Talk about a mighty change of heart... the first time I met him he was grilling us ribs in a wife beater drinking a beer and smoking a cig haha!  He is sweet.  Elder McClellan came back yesterday.  He went to church in our ward.  It was so weird.  He was the one that picked me up from the airport and the first person I roll played with and stuff.  He was the AP when I came out.  Its weird to see your friends not as missionaries. 

I haven't gotten a package or anything yet.  Hopefully today.  I think I am doing pretty well. All my stuff is holding up nicely.  Thank you!

Well I hope you have an amazing week and I will talk to you later!  

Love ya!  

Staying in Alliance Zone for another 6 weeks!

Looks Like you had fun in Cali!!  Ryan looks tall... I cant believe he is a senior either... That is so weird. This is the last year I don't have to go to school. :( I seriously cant believe I have been out 13 months... I hate the fact I have been here longer than I have left... oh well, progression I guess.

So I am staying here 1 more transfer! I am excited about it. I made it pretty clear to the assistants and president that I didn't want to leave haha.  I am excited for the transfer. At the end of this one I will have spent 11 months with the same people. It's so weird haha.  We had dinner with the Warner's last night. They are a cool family I have gotten really close with in the Alliance ward. They made me my favorite french toast since they thought I was leaving ha ha.  Everyone says this is the longest they have ever been around 1 missionary, but its all good, I really like the Alliance members.

This week was another awesome, busy one. On Saturday we went on exchanges with the other Elders in our ward and I spent the day on the PA side of the ward with Elder Read. He is a way solid missionary and we are pretty good friends so I was excited.  All the appointments canceled the whole day so we pretty much had nothing from 11 to 9.... It ended up being such an awesome day. We found like 4 new investigators. We were tracting on this one street and there was a lady smoking on the porch and we were walking up and she was like "I feel like I should be scared" we just told her who we are and stuff and she was like "well I am gonna stop you guys right there. I am Russian Orthodox and don't wanna talk" and all this stuff. I asked if we could sing her a song and she even said no to that haha!   It's like the first time ever I have been rejected when offering to sing!  We just kept talking to her and I don't even know what happened but she just all the sudden invited us to sit with her on the porch and she said she had one question. She said she didn't understand what the Holy Ghost was. We explained the Godhead to her and Elder Read told her about what the Holy Ghost was and then I just like bore testimony of what the Holy Ghost is and the feelings she was feeling were the Spirit and she just started crying and was like oh my gosh that was the most heartfelt thing I have ever heard anyone say. It was like amazing. But then she like got scared and was just like ah I don't know what I am feeling, we need to change the subject haha.  It was funny.  I don't understand why people are afraid of the spirit. They just freak out and don't understand how they could possibly feel good and not be drunk or smoking a cig. We taught her for like an hour and they are goin back tomorrow to teach her again. Then we stayed up till like 3 in the morning…. haha Sunday was a rough day staying awake.

We did get to go down to Alliance for the baptism. I seriously felt like it was my homecoming or something haha, it was so nice to see everyone again and stuff.  I talked to brother G for like 30 mins too.  He is going through a rough time with his kids. He has a 14 year old girl that's giving them so much trouble.  Her and I were friends when I was there and she listens to me so I figured she might listen to me if I had a talk with her haha.  Even like the little kids remembered me. The G's 5 year old came up to me right away and hugged my leg and told me I was her favorite Elder hahaha- I miss that place.

The baptism was awesome too!! Mary has come such a long way! It was so good to see all of them again. It was definitely an amazing week. Oh except for the fact East has bed bugs and I slept over there Saturday night and now we might have them… but other than that its been good!

So I am gonna tell you my frustration as of late. I am getting tired of so many peoples desires, but not following through on action. I meet so many people who like say they have strong testimonies and want to come to church and go to the temple and all this stuff but no one ever does anything about it! We can say we want to read our scriptures and go to church or whatever all we want, but it means nothing till we actually do something about it. There are just so many people that are less active in the church and in the gospel that are just lazy in their testimonies. I think it was president Kimball who said if people could see just seconds of Christ suffering for us they would crawl on their hands and knees to be at church to partake of the sacrament. It's so frustrating people--don't understand. I guess I didn't either for most of my life though haha.  Just go partake of the sacrament!

Well I hope you have an awesome week! I love and miss you!!

Elder Skalla

Letters like these make it all worth it!

Hey!!

I am glad that scouts is over for him (Ryan got his Eagle)! haha It's good to have and I am glad I did it, but man it's rough haha.  I got a little freaked out looking at those pics of (pregnant) Jenni too…  that's just weird! haha

So I think this week was one of the busiest, most exhausting, best weeks of my mission.   Monday we went to Warren and played tennis with Elder Dowley and Elder Porter and went to the mall and stuff.  It was way fun.  I have only been to the mall twice on my mission haha I don't like it.  Too many distractions haha but tennis was fun!  We had 4 rackets and I got stuck with the wooden, long 1930's racket haha It was so weird.  It took a while to get used to but after I did I still beat them all.  I did end up breaking the strings on it though haha oops.  It was nice to play again.  Monday night we met with some crazy guy we got a media referral for.  He was ridiculous.  He went up to the Palmyra pageant for 3 days and went every night to pretty much argue with cast members.  He is like a professional anti-er.  He is really nice and not contentious but still wants to bash.  I am pretty sure he knows more about the church than I do though he was like quoting the scriptures, discourses, lectures on faith and Mormon doctrine and stuff with page numbers.  It was crazy.  We had a good talk though.  It didn't get anywhere but it was kinda fun.  Elder Berryessa didn't even say 2 words the whole discussion though haha.  I hate talking with people like that.  I don't know everything but I feel like I know what I need to to defend what I believe and I am not one to concede to those people.   So I just talk with them and it gets intense sometimes.  I need to work on that though.  I swear anti follows Elder Berryessa haha I have never seen so much since I have been serving with him! 

Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday were pretty much all meetings and exchanges.  We had mission council in Cleveland and then 3 different district meetings to go to.   On Wednesday we were down in Alliance for DM and after we went to see the J family .  I don't know if you remember but I taught Mary there the whole time I was there.  It was fun to see them again.  I guess Mary is progressing really well and is getting baptized on Sunday.  When I was there she asked if I would baptize her so I am excited for that this Sunday! 

So like a week and a half ago we were coming out of an appointment with a recent convert and the truck pulls up and has us stop.  He rolls down his window and says, "Man I have been looking for you guys for forever!"   We set up an appointment with him and then left.  We saw him on Wednesday and he is awesome.  His name is Jeremy.  He was baptized like 5 years ago in Chicago, was active with his family for a while, went through a nasty split and then fell away.  He was talking about how he kept calling the church to get them to send him a Book of Mormon so missionaries would come by but no one ever did.  We had an awesome lesson with him and now we are teaching his 12 year old daughter and 7 year old son that aren't members.  It was sweet.  I love when God puts people in your path.

On Saturday we finally got to take Tina and Alicia to Kirtland.  Andrea was supposed to come as well as another investigator but the morning of they both bailed.  We have to have one to go to Kirtland so I had to call President to get permission to go.  It wasn't an easy yes either haha.  But Kirtland was amazing as always.  Tina LOVED it.  It was cool cuz when we were in the School of the Prophets in the Whitney store the sisters had me bear my testimony and I talked about how exactly one year ago almost to the day  (one day late)  I started my mission on my knees in prayer in that room on the same chair Tina was sitting.  How I prayed that I would be able to find and teach people like them and help them to feel Gods love.  It was an amazing experience and a great reminder to me of that prayer I said sitting there with someone I had watched gain a testimony and seeing that prayer answered.  Man I have trouble explaining it all but it was just awesome.  The sisters let Tina and Alicia have some time to ponder in there alone too.  Such a great day.  

Man this week was seriously just awesome.  There is even more but I don't have time to write it all.  I am just grateful for the experiences I have had this last year and all that I have come to understand.  The Lord truly is anxiously engaged in our lives and especially in His work if we only allow him to work the miracles.  Notice them in your life because they are there every single day, all because He loves us.  I know he does. 

I hope you have an amazing week!!  I love and miss you!!!  Elder Skalla

Elder Skalla and Elder Berryessa

Mission Council-July 31, 2012

President Vellinga with the AP's and Zone Leaders

July 31, 2012