6 months!

Hi!!  

It is getting back to normal and it is good!  haha As much as I don't really like doing the same thing every day it's a lot harder to focus when holidays and stuff are thrown into your schedule, so I am glad everything is back to normal.   I am glad everyone fasted!  I didn't forget so don't worry haha I fasted last Sunday too.  I am glad everyone is on track with reading!!!  You should have all just finished 1 Nephi today like me!  I found 121 references to Christ in 1st Nephi!  I probably missed a few but I was surprised there was that many!  That's pretty cool!  

This week was pretty good! It FINALLY snowed on Tuesday.  We got about 6 inches so we spent like the whole day shoveling haha. I think we shoveled the whole town of Sebring.  It was good though and I got to wear my boots for the first time.  They worked well I like them.   Thursday we had our interviews with President.  I cant believe it has been 3 months since my last interview... This area is going by MUCH faster.  I cant believe I have been here almost as long as Tallmadge and that I hit 6 months on Friday!  crazy...   Elder B is still doing well!  His teaching and talking to people is getting much better!  We were tracting this week and he knocked on the door and was talking to this guy and he talked to him and stuff and usually when that happens I kinda bail him out when he doesn't know what to say, but this time I didn't and he looked at me terrified but I just didn't say anything. haha It was probably the most awkward door ever but we talked about it after and I think he learned a lot from it and has improved a lot!  

Man it seems like every missionary there is having all these health problems haha We have been fine!  Some of the people in our district have the flu but we have been good!  I think it would be horrible if Elder B was sick and I just had to sit there all day haha I feel bad for him but I am glad Ryan was there to help keep him occupied.  

Teaching is going all right.  I think we are in a transition phase with our investigators.  The ones we have just aren't progressing and don't want to do what it takes to commit but we have 3 or 4 really solid potentials that we are hoping work out.  Jacob and McKenzie are getting baptized the 22nd and they have a lot of non member family that will be at the baptism so that will be good.  

Hhaha I am going through mail withdrawal haha I don't get anything anymore!  But its all right it happens when you start to be out for a long time haha everyone starts to forget about you haha good thing my mom still remembers me haha ;)    So sister Wagley spoke yesterday in sacrament about preparing your children for missions and helping the full time missionaries. It was really good. She reminds me SOO much of you haha it was very weird.  They have 4 boys and her second son to serve a mission comes home from Germany in May.  I think it was a very good sacrament meeting topic.  Elder B and I said the prayers then a kid preparing to serve a mission spoke then a missionary mom and then the Bishop about preparing to serve missions then Elder B and I taught the young men's lesson about preparing to serve.  We had to teach Sunday school too but that's just because the teacher didn't show up haha so we had a busy Sunday.  We have 5 young men that should be going on missions this year which is like a ton and unheard of for one ward out here so Bishop is very focused on getting all 5 of them out so I thought that was a good sacrament meeting topic.  

So I met a guy in my ward that knows Greg's family. Or at least his parents.  His name is Robert Small.  He used to live in Snowflake haha weird huh. 

Well I am still doing awesome and loving it!   As hard as it is there is no where I would rather be!  I hope you all have a great week!  Love and miss you!!!

Elder Skalla

Happy New Year!

Happy new year!!!!  I am soooo excited to dedicate every single day this year to the Lords work!  Its gonna be sweet.  I cant believe its already 2012 though...  it goes by fast! 

I am glad you liked the pictures, haha you can put whatever ones you want on the blog.  I got the "A town Jersey" in Akron haha and I dont think I am wearing a skirt in any of them... haha except for the one I have the lavalava on.  I got the pillow case from Hill.  She and her mom made it for me! Isn't it cool?  It's the exact same as the ones I brought with me too so its perfect!  I am definitely not getting crafty though haha I am not changing THAT much haha. I am finding super glue very useful though...

This week was pretty good!  Still lots of people "too busy" for us because of the holidays so I am glad they are over. haha I think thats the hardest time to be a missionary.  We had a good lesson with the two kids we are teaching this week.  We talked to president about them last week and he suggested inviting them to ask their parents to help them read the Book of Mormon or pray with them or come to church to see if the kids could help soften the parents hearts towards the gospel.  When I asked them to do that they were really nervous about it but said they would.  Last night Jacobs grandma called and told me about how when they were eating dinner they were talking about the baptism and Jacob turned to his dad and said "dad will you come to church with me tomorrow?"  His dad shot him down pretty quick and Jacob took it pretty hard his grandma said.  I cant believe a dad would turn down his 9 year old son.  I was so proud of him though for doing that.  As he grows in the gospel and is an example to his family they will come around.  We also taught this guy we tracted into this week named Jerry. We had a return appointment with him last night but when we went to his house some lady answered and said he doesnt even live there he just hangs out there a lot haha that was a little weird so I dont know what we are gonna do about him haha.    

On new years eve we arent allowed to proselyte so we went out to a sketchy China Buffet for dinner with some other missionaries and then had our district meeting.  I had to give another workshop.  Not as big of a deal as the one in training meeting since it was just my district, but I think it went so well. I love giving them!  I learn so much. I love how you can just get up and just start talking and then the spirit takes over and you say nothing you have written down and it ends up being amazing haha.  We went back and had our sparkling cider you gave us that was fun.  We were still in bed by 10:30 though haha Thats the first time I can remember I didnt stay up till midnight on new years haha but oh well.  

I am glad you and Dad and Ryan are gonna read the Book of Mormon with me! (WE are doing it with him in 90 days!) I read it that fast the last 3 months. haha I didnt know I would be doing it again the next 3 months too haha.  Well I hope everyone has a great week!  Hopefully things will start picking up here.  I have found the work is much slower in the winter and it kinda stinks, but we will keep working hard! 

Love and miss you!!!

Elder Skalla

 The "skirt" he is referring to.  He said it is a lava lava.  Funny!

The "A Town" look!  Yikes!  

The Christmas tree and some of the decorations I sent for him.  

His companion, Elder Buxton 

 OnChristmas Eve they went caroling in Alliance.  See the previous letter for details about Christmas Eve.

Christmas Morning…lots of new ties!  

 So many gifts he is exhausted???

 The pillow case from Hillary that he mentioned.  I asked him if he was getting crafty or if this was from Hillary.  Him getting crafty scared me a little so I was relieved it was from her!

This is the Sketchy China Buffet he mentioned

We got to Skype with Elder Skalla on Christmas Day!  Best Christmas present ever!!   He told us he just got his first real haircut since he left!  Apparently he bought some trimmers and cuts it himself LOL  That explains why it is so short!   He is doing great and we are so proud of him!  He is used to getting lots of cards and letters so don't slack off now!  He loves getting mail!  Thank you to all of you who sent him letters and packages.  It means a lot to me and he loved it!!!

Merry Christmas!

HI!!!
 
I hope everyone had an awesome Christmas!  Remember to keep the true meaning of Christmas in mind all throughout the year as we strive to remember our Savior every day!  It was so nice to talk to you yesterday! its crazy how fast that time we have to talk goes!  I figure I should give a re cap of what I did this week because I remembered things after I hung up haha. 
 
So Tuesday we got to go to Kirtland for our Christmas Conference!  It was sooo cool we had a meeting in the Kirtland temple and i had the opportunity to stand in the temple and bare my testimony! It was so cool not many people probably get to do that!  after we went to the stake center and had more meetings and stuff.  Then we got to watch the movie 17 Miracles.  Its amazing!!  It made me realize that the Lord asks very little of us today and that me serving a mission is definitely not a sacrifice.  Ya I have to put some important things off for a couple years but I would be losing MUCH more by not serving a mission. 
 
On Friday we helped a former investigator named Matt move.  He is a very nice guy and is really interested in the church i just think he had commitment issues but he was very grateful for us helping him.  On Christmas eve we went over to give him a little Christmas gift and ended up getting to teach him!  It was really cool!  Later that night on Christmas eve a couple more missionaries came down and we went to the hospital to give someone a blessing and sang her some Christmas songs.  We ended up singing to a bunch of people in the hospital.  I felt like it was a very good thing to be doing on christmas eve.  We then went to some neighborhoods in Alliance and went Carolling the rest of the night.  At about 8 we were gonna go get some dinner and drove all over looking for an open place to eat but the only thing open in the whole city was Walgreens.  it was seriously packed too we couldnt find a parking spot and the line inside was huge.  We went in and got a couple frozen pizzas and had them for Christmas eve dinner.  Not your typical Christmas eve but it was still fun! 
 
Christmas morning we just got up and went to church and then had dinner and spent the day with a family in the ward.  it was weird being around someone elses family for christmas but we made the best of it and had a lot of fun!  Thank you for all of the Christmas cards and gifts from everyone!  I love getting mail and they all made me happy! 
 
Well that is pretty much all that happened this week!  I love and miss all of you and hope you have a good rest of the time in Boise and drive or fly or whatever home safe!!  
 
Love
 
Elder Skalla

Great Week

Hi! 

So this week has been MUCH better...  I didnt really explain much last week but it was seriously one of the hardest weeks on my mission.  NOTHING was going right.  I thought it was going to get even worse when everything fell through last monday night but the Lord really knows what he is doing and if we press forward we see the blessings.  I was frusterated monday night and Elder Dransfield (the AP) called and asked if I could give a 25 minute workshop (which is just like a talk or lesson or presentation)  in training meeting for the trainers and new missionaries on planning and companion study.  I thought that was ironic considering my planning obviously sucked because it never worked out haha but I am so so so grateful I was asked to do that, I learned so much.  The workshop went well and I feel like I did an ok job.  Everyone said I did well and Elder Dransfield called me last night and let me know how much him and the other AP and president liked it so that made me feel good. My plans this week worked out much better and we taught a lot and had some awesome lessons.  It is still hard because Elder Buxton is still trying to figure it all out so I do most of the planning and stuff but he is learning so that is good!  

So like I said we had training meeting this week in Cleveland.  It was so weird being there... I couldnt believe it has been as long as it has since my own training meeting. I had to drive all the way there this time though. haha It isnt fun driving in downtown Cleveland though, but we made it safe.  After, we got to go contacting downtown like I did and even though it was freezing it was so fun.  I was with Elder Hargis (the one that knows the Johnsons and went to the ranch a couple months ago)  He is an awesome kid I really like him.  It would have been fun to train him.  But we talked to a ton of people and gave out like 4 Books of Mormon.  It was cool I had one of those like totally random promptings and was walking and then all the sudden I just felt like I needed to turn around and talk to these people at a bus stop so I did and didnt say anything to Elder Hargis it was just like I did a 180 and started talking haha it was cool but anyway we ended up talking to these 2 people and one had taken a tour of the Johnson Farm and was really interested in meeting with missionaries so that was really cool.

This Tuesday we get to go to Kirtland for Chirstmas conference so I am way excited for that.  We have a meeting and testimony meeting in the Kirtland temple!  I guess last year they had the sacrament in the temple but president had to get 1st presidency permission to do that so we might get to do it again this year I dont know.  I am very excited, I love having Kirtland in my mission.   Thats cool president sent everyone a letter. haha He is VERY on top of it. haha He is like all business, all the time.  He is probably one of the most on top of it mission presidents in the world... he doesnt mess around.  We are very lucky to have him. 

Elder Buxton is doing awesome.  I like him a lot and he is working hard and learning a lot.  He is planning on going to USU when he gets home so that is why he has the shirt haha.  He isnt a big sports fan though, but thats ok it keeps me focused when my companion doesnt like sports I decided haha.

I figured I should tell you the ward is taking very good care of us.  At the Christmas party Saturday night they had us come up and gave us a big box of all kinds of stuff! It was very nice, we have an awesome ward.  So we are good on hand warmers, chap stick, tooth paste, envelopes, stamps and junk food haha. 

I did get the Cds and dvds you sent and LOVE them! We have used that Christmas one a ton this week,  but the one with the rest of the movies on it doesnt work.  Im not sure if it is just our DVD player or what but the Christmas ones work great.  So I dont know if you can do this but some missionaries have a DVD of a ton of the "Mormon Messages" on them and they are awesome for teaching so I was wondering if you could make me one.  If you cant or its hard to do, dont worry about it.  Thats ok you didnt get me much for Christmas haha I really dont need much! So remember that because christmas in July sounds good to me :)   haha  I am glad you talked to Elder Johnsons mom! haha thats cool!  He is hitting his year mark tomorrow... CRAZY!  So there were no underlined questions so I hope I answered all of them haha but as for Sunday we are going over to the stake presidents house and they will either have a computer or an I pad so I will be able to skype or do facetime or whatever but I will call you before and we will figure it out.  Its gonna be so weird!  haha At first it was weird not talking to you but now its so normal for me its gonna be weird to actually talk haha.  I am very excited though!!  I will talk to you Sunday!  Love and miss you!!

Elder Skalla

Merry Christmas from Elder Skalla

I promise I had nothing to do with this!  I was a surprised as anyone when this came in the mail complete with a hand written letter!  But….he is his mothers' son so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.  He did this all on his own!  

A new companion

Hi

So I got your package and we set everything up in our apartment.  haha It looks good so thank you for sending everything! Well I picked up my new companion Elder Buxton from Eagle Mountain, Utah.  He is an awesome kid and I am really excited to work with him!  The bad part is we had one of the worst weeks I have had.  I got everything set up for him and had appointments set up all this week so he could start teaching and almost every single one cancelled!  It was soooooooo frusterating and it was hard to find things to do all the time.  I felt bad because he got a bad first taste of missionary work, but this week is looking better so hopefully no one cancels on us!! 

I am LOVING training though!  It makes me think so much about my first weeks.  Its hard because he doesn't really know anything about the area yet and I have to come up with things to do on my own, but its good for me and I am learning a lot.  He is a really hard worker and always wants to be involved which is really good.  It was funny at his first door I had him talk at,  they answered and he was like "Hi were the church of missionaries". hahahaha I think he was a little nervous and I busted up laughing after but he got better the more people he talked to.  Made me wonder what dumb things I said at my first doors haha but like 800 doors later,  I am getting pretty good at it.  It's so weird having someone looking to me to find things to do and to talk to people and to do everything. haha But hopefully I am doing an ok job for him and he is learning. Its funny too how he thinks things are so cool that I like think nothing of. haha He got all excited about a possum that we saw on a porch and cats and dogs jumping on us and someone being really rude to us and lessons that we teach that I just think are normal, but he feels they are amazing. It makes me miss that feeling of everything being so new and wonderful, but its good because he is making me remember.  Not much else exciting happened because so many people canceled but hopefully we have a better week this week. 

I am glad everyone got the Christmas cards.  I just sent them to all the friends and family I had addresses for so I am out of them now, but I figured I should do something for the holidays haha.  We have somewhere to go on Christmas and I will be able to skype.  But where are you going to be for Christmas??  I thought Jenni and Ali would come there. 
Well I am sorry this week was so crappy.  I hope next week I will have a lot more to tell you!  I cant believe next week is my last e mail before I get to talk to you! I remember saying in the airport in Detroit I'll talk to you in December feeling it would never come! haha I love and miss you!!

Love 

Elder Skalla

 Elder Buxton, Elder Skalla, Elder Johnson and Elder Richardson

Elder Buxton is being trained by Elder Skalla who was trained by Elder Johnson who was trained by Elder Richardson.  

Merry Christmas!!

Called as a Trainer!

Oh man this has been one loooong week!  Probably because I have been excited to e mail you and P day is on Tuesday so it seemed like forever.  The thing I was holding was a picture of Jesus?  How did you not know what that was? haha (I knew that one!  I meant what was the other thing!) The other thing I was holding was a nintendo controller.  I will keep Elder Smith in my prayers.  That is so cool he has members like you he can go to.  I am glad you guys take such good care of them, I know how much those little things help.   Why doesn't Ryan use my Nitro board?  That one is nice.  Don't you dare let him use my good one haha.  I had a dream about snowboarding last night. haha I think my legs know what time of year it is and are wondering why I'm not on a board! haha  I am so proud you got moved to 4.0!!! Good job!!!  I am allowed to skype for Christmas :)  The problem is finding a member that has a computer and internet to let us come over... Hopefully we will find someone.  

Soooo for my big news I am staying in Alliance and was called as a trainer! So I will be here allllll winter. President called me Tuesday night and asked me to train and told me I had to be in Cleveland the next day for trainers meeting.  I was kinda bummed it was on Wednesday because we were having a non member funeral in our building and would have been an awesome oppurtunity to find people, but I didnt get to go haha.  So on Wednesday we got up at 5 and drove to Canton where I picked up another trainer and Elder Warner went with his companion.  Then I drove up to Tallmadge.  I didnt know we were meeting there so when I found out that morning I was way excited because I never thought I would get to see my old area again.  So I got to go back to my apartment and see Elder Johnson and hear about everything going on in Tallmadge.  It was awesome!  I was so happy to see him.  So we met 2 more trainers there and I got to drive the truck up to Cleveland.  Wednesday was the first day it really snowed so I felt right at home driving the truck in the snow haha.  I was expecting there would be a few others from my group that I came out with training, but im the only one.  The meeting was at the mission home and was way good.  I am way nervous but very excited to train.  I cant believe it though, I still feel like a brand new missionary and its gonna be crazy getting to serve with a kid that doesnt know anything like I didnt know anything just a few months ago!  Its good though because its fresh in my mind how he will be feeling this week so hopefully I can help him.  I have been trying like crazy to set up good appointments his first few days here like Elder Johnson did for me so he can start  teaching right away.  I am excited to meet him tomorrow.  Elder Warner is getting transfered somewhere else for his last 2 weeks.  He got his travel plans this week so he is getting pretty trunky, but its all good were still working. 

Well thats really the only thing exciting that has happened this week. haha We're just teaching a lot and doin missionary work!   Elder Johnson said Brian wasn't happy that I left and didn't like the whole transfer idea but they have only gotten to see him like twice this transfer.  But elder Johnson said he was starting to question his beliefs a little so I dont know.  Sister ___went to the temple a couple weeks ago which made me way happy and Ray and Areo and Kim are doing good.  They both have baptism dates for January.

Well thats really all that happened this week... I am sure I will have more next week since so much is changing.  I am excited but keep praying for me to be a good trainer cuz I need it! haha 

I love and miss you!!

Elder Skalla