Loving Youngstown!

Hey!! 

Man, you got it exactly right when you said overwhelmed. haha There is soooo much to do and talk about and plan for and calls to make and meetings its insane.   I seriously love it here though.  The ward is awesome and things are looking so good for this transfer.  It wasn't really hard to say bye to members because I can go on exchanges there and half of them are still in my area.  President put 2 more missionaries in y town cut our area in half and gave us half the Alliance ward.  That's why he kept me in Youngstown because I knew the Alliance members so the area changes wouldn't be confusing.  You will never believe who is in Alliance now either haha.  Elder Johnson and Elder Buxton are companions and now I am Elder Johnson's zone leader. haha It's kinda crazy how it happened.  I bet its way weird for him to have his greenie be his zone leader but we are excited to go on exchanges and stuff.  Sunday nights suck even more.  So much time on the phone taking numbers and stuff.  We are so busy.   I have A LOT more to pray for too! haha I have to like write it all down or else I will forget. It takes me like 20 minutes to pray haha but its all good.  Its amazing how as soon as I got called to be a zone leader and found out about all the missionaries in the zone and their investigators you just instantly develop a love for all of them. 

We have 2 new straight up golden investigators now too.  The members have been awesome and invited their friends to hear the lessons in the members home and now a lady named Tina and her daughter Alicia are getting baptized in May!  She is like the most prepared investigator ever and wants to go to the temple more than anything.  Then Sister W invited her friend to take the lessons and we had our first lesson with her last night.  The work is sooooooo much easier when members invite their friends.  It's amazing how prepared they are.  I am so excited for this area though.  My companion Elder Anderson is awesome too.  I think this is going to be an awesome transfer. 

Looks like Ryan had fun at prom!  He is still not old enough to go to prom or drive! haha I still cant get used to him being so old haha.  It just feels like I went to prom last year. haha I hate how fast time goes.  I cant believe you are getting rid of the table. haha Everything about our house is changing!  Well we are limited to an hour on the computer at this library so I gotta go but I love and miss you all so much!!  Have an awesome week!

Elder Skalla

 Elder Buxton and Elder Skalla 

Elder Skalla working hard

Elder Meza, Elder Skalla and Elder Haiparai

Transfered and called as a ZONE LEADER!!

HI!!  

I did get my Easter package, haha thank you.  My Easter was good!  We just went to church and had dinner with some members.  We were in church and like 2 minutes before it was supposed to start there was only 15 people in the chapel, haha EVERYONE was late.  After we went up to Boardman.  All the members from out west that are here for medical school all get together for the holidays since they cant go home, so we went up there and had dinner.  It was fun.  

We had a pretty good week!  When we told the people at the pantry that
one of us was leaving they were like devastated and made us come in the next day and have a "going away party" and brought in breakfast and wanted pictures and stuff. haha It was funny but it's so good that they like us because we get to talk about the church and missions a lot when we are there. We met a few good potentials this week tracting too so it has been a pretty solid week.  

So now for the big news...  I am getting transferred... But not very far.    I got a call from president yesterday morning and he released me as district leader and called me to be a zone leader.   I will be in the Youngstown ward and be the Youngstown zone leader.  Its kinda like I'm not really leaving Alliance because just last transfer they split Youngstown into 2 areas and the zone leaders took the part of our area that is really far away so I am still covering like 1/4 of the Alliance ward.  I have been on exchanges with Elder Anderson (He is gonna be my new companion)  In Youngstown like 3 times so I already know the area kinda and him so that is good.  I think we will do well together.  I know I will learn a lot from him.   I was very humbled when president asked me to be a zone leader though.  Definitely not a call I was expecting.  Every Zone leader I have ever had I thought was like so old and was such an amazing missionary and I just don't feel like that!  I as well as everyone else I know has always like really looked up to their zone leaders and its just weird to me that I am one so early in my mission.  I know the Lord will help me, He always has, but I am still way nervous.  There are only 12 in the mission and I  always thought they were all like amazing.  I don't feel good enough. haha  I am very excited though to get to work closely with president though.  And odds are I will still be a zone leader when the new mission president takes over... That's only 2 transfers away.  I am excited for everything that lies ahead, but just pray for me because I don't exactly feel qualified haha. 

(Leave a Message for his address)
I hope you guys have an awesome week!  I know my week is gonna be crazy! haha I love and miss you all!!  

Elder Skalla

General Conference Week

I definitely agree conference was awesome!  I haven't watched the Saturday morning session yet but I think my favorite talks so far were Elder Hollands and Elder Ballard's.  I don't know why Elder Ballard's, I just like the way he teaches haha.  I think it was him who was talking about how people are prosperous because they have good families and morals not that they have good families because they are prosperous. I thought that was very true. Some people think you can only have a functioning family and be happy if you are rich I have noticed.  I guess it is just a matter of priorities.

This week has been pretty slow...  It was a tough week for a lot of the members here.  I didn't watch the Saturday morning session because there was a funeral.  A 22 year old kid in the ward passed away earlier this week.  We directed traffic and helped set up for the funeral.  It was probably the most non members we have ever had in the building.  Maybe even the most people we have had in our little building.  It was a great funeral and very Christ centered.  Maybe it will lead someone to the gospel I don't know.  It was a little weird though.  I have not had many experiences with death in my life and I think the only funeral I have ever been to is grandma greats when I was like 11.  It just made me ponder a lot about the plan of salvation and atonement.  It is weird seeing someone one week and then going to a funeral the next... especially so young.  I have become pretty good friends with his dad because he goes out teaching with us a lot.  This is is second child he has lost so I can't even imagine the pain they are going through.  How grateful we should be to have the knowledge of Gods plan for us.  

The guy with the beard is a member here that we have been re-activating.  He has come to church every week since my second week here and I have been trying to get him to shave that beard since the day I got here! haha Finally!  He is a funny guy.  The 2 kids are Tommy's kids I am pretty sure.  They are funny.  The girl Chyanne is 11 and is basically in love with me, haha she is so funny she like writes me notes and all kinds of stuff.  We taught the little one, Kase to say Elder too haha He can only say like 4 words too.  We showed him a picture of Jesus yesterday and he knew exactly who that was!  haha The veil is thin at that age!  

Well that's all I can really think of this week!  P day is on Tuesday next week so I will let you know then if I am staying or going.  I am pretty excited for transfers.  I love my companion to death but 3 transfers is a looooooong time with one person haha.  I hope you have a good week!  Love and miss you!!!

Elder Skalla

Gone fishing

Hi!!  It was a way busy week this week!  Monday was the best though it was like 85 degrees, no clouds and we just sat on the dock and fished all afternoon.  I hate fishing but I loved just sitting in the sun and not worrying about who I am teaching next for once haha it was nice.  We didn't even catch anything but whatever I just wanted to sit there haha I got a lot of my tan back too :)

Every Tuesday we do service at a food pantry in Alliance. Its awesome we get to meet a lot of people and talk a lot about missions in the church.  This Tuesday a lady we tracted into volunteered as well and was telling EVERYONE about us.  We knocked on her door like 2 weeks ago and she wasn't interested and said she wasn't feeling well so we offered to sing her a song to cheer her up.  We sang I am a Child of God to her.  (We do that tracting especially when older women answer the door)  So then she is in the pantry this week telling everyone that we came and sang to her and we should be in the Mo Tab and then all the people wanted us to sing for everyone in the pantry haha it was funny.  We didn't sing by the way haha but its a good rep for the church and for us when someone else says how much they liked us knocking on the door just to sing a song and tells everyone about it.

Wednesday was ZDM in Youngstown which went really well.  We went on exchanges after with the Zone leaders.  Elder Anderson and I taught the weirdest guy.  Picture like a super old super skinny Moses and that is who we taught haha it was quite the experience. I will send his "business" card he gave me home soon.  He says he is a "political advocate and writer"  quite the career eh? haha Thursday we went over to the Wagleys for a "cottage meeting".  Sis Wagley reminds me so much of you.  Her son comes home in April. There were like 5 investigators there and 4 sets of missionaries and a bunch of members.  They fed us dinner and we watched the restoration movie and had a testimony meeting.  Its a really good idea.  You guys should talk to the missionaries and have one for their zone at our house.  It helps soooooo much when you have a nice place where the spirit already resides with no distractions, a bunch of missionaries, people investigating the church just like them and members to bare testimony.  We took Bruce there and it totally changed him.  He is doing awesome.  His less active fiance is holding him back though which is too bad.  We saw him last night and he said when he got home form the meeting he just felt awesome and like everything made sense and just at peace.  Then he went home to Debbie's son running around screaming and her mom drunk trying to bring some other drunk guy into the house.  He said he just felt crushed.  I felt so bad but I think we made him feel better.  We talked about conversion and read out of the BD about how it only comes after much trial and testing.  He is doing awesome though, I will probably never see him get baptized but he has been one of my favorite people to teach. 

Saturday we spent most of the afternoon helping our ward mission leader build a fountain in his backyard.  We  started with nothing and built the whole thing.  We were quite proud of ourselves haha it was fun getting to do some physical labor though.    I am excited to get your quotes!  I am frustrated every week at one point or another haha but you get over it.  I have a little book full of quotes I like so I will put yours in there.  So this week I want you guys or at least you and dad to do something I did in LTM.  Print off the lyrics to "Come thou fount of Every Blessing" and just go through the lines and define the words and write down thoughts feelings and questions.  I will send you what I came up with in the mail this week along with my SD card.  I thought it was pretty cool and made me think.  Well I think that's it for this week!  I hope you have a great week and be safe traveling wherever you guys are going. 

Love and miss you!! Elder Skalla


The lake is in the Bishops backyard and they are using the bishops equipment.  The "waterfall" at the bottom is at his ward mission leaders home.

Great Training Meeting!

Hi!!  

Oh man so this week was crazy. Tuesday we woke up at 4 so I could get to LTM.  We drove to Canton dropped Elder Buxton off, picked up Elder Ingersoll then drove to Tallmadge, switched cars again then to Fairlawn, then to Cleveland.  I was so tired and sick of sitting.  It was fun to ride up with Tallmadge though so they could catch me up on everyone.  I am mad though they moved into a new apartment in January and it is sooooo nice.  I also found out Areo, one of the people Elder Johnson and I found and taught got baptized in February!  That made me so happy although it sucks when you find someone and teach them everything but don't get to see them get baptized haha oh well. They are still teaching Brian too. He is still getting hung up on deep doctrine though.  They said the singles branch had to ask Alex to stop coming to church.  They stopped teaching him like a month after I left but he still came to church and brought his anti books and tried to argue with everyone.  Its too bad... 

Anyway we finally got to Cleveland and I got to see Elder Johnson again.  That was good.  We both miss each other especially with our situations this transfer. haha  We got to teach together in role plays though.  It was fun teaching with him again where I actually knew what I was doing haha it went much better, he was impressed.  

The actual meeting was probably one of the most spiritual experiences ever. I learned so much.  I felt inferior being there cause LTM is like the 30 best missionaries in the mission so it was a way good meeting.  Its sooooooo long but way good.  The first day was from  10-5 and we talked a lot about just different policies and things we are changing and then talked about the Book of Mormon.  The second day was amazing though.  it went from 8 30 - 4 30 (soooo long)  but it was all about the atonement and the doctrine of Christ.  We read through 3 Nephi 11 and president went over the whole thing with us.  It was like wow I have read this a million times but never got any of this out of it.  

Tuesday night Elder Ingersoll and I stayed with the AP's.  I wish we could have spent more time with them but oh well it was still good.  I learned I don't want to be an AP haha those guys are sooooo busy and like never get any sleep.  Not sure I could do that haha It was cool to work around the Cleveland area though.  I want to serve there so bad.  I did ask president about uncle Bruce though.  He was like oh ya! I know Bruce really well.  

Other than LTM this week was pretty lame.  Still tracting a ton trying to find.  We have called Jay a couple times and he keeps saying he wants to read more of the Book of Mormon before he meets with us.  ughhhh I hate that.  Hopefully we will be able to teach him soon though.  

I did get your package!  Thank you!  You are not very good and making me sacrifice though haahah ;)  Although for future packages juice boxes aren't a good idea haha one of them exploded and everything in the box was wet and sticky haha nothing got ruined though so I can still eat it its just sticky.  If you or grandma are gonna send an Easter package in a couple weeks you should hold off to see if I get transferred or not.  I don't want to get stuff in the mail and then have to leave it all behind.  Transfers are like 3 days after Easter.  We had dinner with a member on Saturday and she made green Alfredo and green water haha it was fun their kids loved it.  And they got the exact same little bags of candy with the rainbow licorice and rolos haha she said she got the idea from pinterest so I am guessing that's where you got it too haha.  We get fed probably 2 or 3 times a week.  No one signs up on the calendar but I just go around in church and make people feed us haha.  I had to speak in church yesterday too.  The youth speaker bailed so I filled in.  There was a high counselor there so I only had to speak for 5 minutes on families. I thought it was kinda ironic that they ask the missionary to speak on families when he is supposed to forget about his haha it was good though. 

I am sorry your foot is still bugin you!  I hope you don't have to get surgery. I hope you have fun in Boise too! I didn't even know Ryan had a job!  Where is he working?  He never tells me anything haha. 

Well I hope you all have a good week and travel safely!  i love and miss you!!

Elder Skalla 

8 Months!!!!

Hi!!!

Dang that looks so good!  I really like it! (referring to the pics of the changes we made around the house)  man its gonna be like a new house when I get home! 

Well it is going by fast but not this week.  This week was soooooo hard.  There is just not a lot happening right now but not for lack of trying...  We have been tracting and stopping by formers and trying to get referrals and everything but nothing has happened yet.  Its soooo frustrating. 

We finally got to meet with the district this week.  We have awesome missionaries in my district.  Elder Richardson (my grandpa) is in my district too, it's so weird being DL over him haha. I feel like that is his job.  He is awesome though.  The sisters are really good too.  One is almost done and is training a new sister.  (the new one is such a flirt though haha--not good.)  They work hard though so that is good.  

I had my first baptismal interview this week.  It was with a 9 year old girl.  It was so funny.  She confessed all her "sins" to me.  When I asked her what the Word of Wisdom was she felt bad because one time she had coffee cake haha, she assured me that once she found out it was coffee cake she didn't finish it hahahaha!  Then when I asked if she had asked Heavenly Father to be forgiven of mistakes she made she said "well I got grounded last week for not wiping the counters so I need to repent of that" hahahaha.  She was so cute, it was fun. 

Not much else happened this week.  We met a couple of nice guys tracting though.  We were just walking and went up to this guy outside and he invited us in to have dinner so we went in a grilled burgers and talked to him and his family for like 2 hours.  haha I am not sure how interested in the church they are but they were way nice!  He wants to take us to the Hall of Fame so bad!   haha I was tempted to go!  I still thinks its soooo stupid we can't but whatever. He was totally serious though he called and they wanted to take us today.  Only on a mission though do you knock on a strangers door and end up having dinner and talking for 2 hours.  

Well that's like all this week.  Tomorrow I am headed to Cleveland for a couple days for leadership meeting.  Elder Buxton is going to Canton and me and Elder Ingersoll (from my Tallmadge district)  are going up and get to work with the APs and stay with them Tuesday and Wednesday night.  It is 2 full days of meetings with all the DLs and ZLs and then everyone stays the nights around Cleveland and somehow we get to be with the assistants haha got to be on your best behavior ;) 

Well I hope everyone is doing well!  I love and miss you!!

Elder Skalla


I received the following about an hour after I got the first letter.  Tender Mercy of God working on behalf of my son…I am so grateful and thankful that He is mindful of us each and every day!!  Here is what Elder Skalla said: 


Ok Miracles happen!!!!   Here I am writing to President Sorensen about how hard we have been trying to find people and no one is listening and a guy comes up while I am writing my letter and starts asking us about food storage!  Then we end up teaching him about the Book of Mormon and set up a time to teach him and his wife!!!!!!!!!!!!  Oh my gosh that just made me soooooooo happy you have no idea!!!!!!!  Oh ok I am not discouraged anymore.  That was a tender Mercy.  I love how God works sometimes.  His name is Jay and we are going to meet with him later this week hopefully! 

Uneventful week for all of us!

This week did go by fast!!  I don't have much to tell you either!!  Things are still going well though!  Well kinda.  Things are going well but we seriously need more people to teach haha so keep praying for that!  It is soooo hard to find people.  Especially people that will commit to something.  We have been working well with the ward now and especially our ward mission leader.  Things have been soooooo much better since I got here.  We came up with a new ward mission plan in coordination this week and have done wonders to the ward mission process. President Stacey showed up to PEC yesterday and church yesterday.  He is one of President Sorensen's counselors.  I have never met any of them and didn't know he had counselors until like 2 months ago haha. I was glad he was there because we have our crap together now and didn't have to worry about anything haha.  I would have been embarrassed if he would have shown up in October.  I guess he has just been showing up to Sunday meetings in every ward and branch and seeing how the missionaries are working with the ward.   It went well!  I cant really think of like anything else good that happened this week haha we have just been trying to find people!

That stinks that your foot is still bugging you! I hope you can get to play tennis soon!  Its nice because whenever elder Buxton and I have health problems we just go to someone in the ward haha there is a member that is a resident in just about every field you can think of haha.  That's where a lot of the good young families come from in Ohio is the are from out west but come here to do their residency haha they are nice to have.  I was asking the orthopedic and podiatry (sp?)  residents about your foot the other day haha. 


The weather hasn't been too bad. We kept having tornado warnings every day this week and it rained and snowed a little last night but now it is nice again!  The winter has been soooo weird. I like it but its like bizarre it will be 65 one day then snow then a lightning and hail storm.  People in the west think the weather changes fast but I think it changes faster here its crazy. Tell Ryan congrats for me!  He hasn't sent me one letter my whole mission I don't think he should be complaining that I never talk to him he needs to talk to me back! haha I hope he is keeping up on his BOM reading!  keep on him about it!  I loved reading the end of Alma that fast!  I read it even faster than I was supposed to.  The war stories and stuff are intense when you read them straight through and not just a couple verses at a time!  Well that is like all I can think of!  I hope I will have more next week!  I get to go to a 2 day leadership training next week so that will be good!!  I need to learn how to deal with sisters!  haha  I love and miss you all!!!  

Elder Skalla