More thought, prayer and effort…

Hey!! 

 

Sorry I am e mailing a little earlier...  President switched the schedule around a little because we have to get some missionaries going to Brazil to the airport.  They finally got their visas. 

This week was really good!  Semi normal.  We were across the mission from Bowling Green to Ashtabula going to zone training meetings and picking up visa waiters.  We actually got some time to find this week too!  We have been working with the mission on finding the elect and using every tool we have been given to find and not just mindlessly tracting.  We need to be more confident in the message we share and start to find because we are struggling.  Elder Ingersoll and I kinda cracked the whip on it in the Zone meetings we went to.  This week I finally got to practice what I have been preaching and do some finding for the first time in like 6 weeks.  We planned to stop by a few formers and tract some specific places and set goals on what tools we wanted to use and how we were going to focus our efforts on the days we got to go out.  Over 3 days we knocked on 4 doors and got in all 4 and taught lessons and set 2 return appointments.  It was awesome. I have never had that much success in such a short time.  We had planned to go a lot longer but every time we got out we knocked on the first door we felt impressed to and they let us in every time.  I definitely have a testimony of putting a little more thought, prayer and effort into finding.  Hopefully one day ill get to go back to the field and use is more haha. 

When we went to Youngstown ZTM we showed up and Dylan was there in a suit!  The Elders there invited him to the meeting.  It was fun to see him and talk about how he was doing and see him get excited to go on a mission.  I kinda embarrassed him I think because I pulled him up in front of everyone and talked about his miracle of how he prayed about a date that was 1 week away and we had to get moving to make sure he was ready and everything was set for the baptism.  He got a lot more comfortable though and by the end was practicing and talking with all the other missionaries.  It was cool to see. 

I did get my running shoes in the mail, thank you! Sorry for the short e mail.  I hope you had a good week!  

Love and miss you!!

 

Elder Skalla

Survived "the flood",

HEY!!  

Well we did survive... barely.  It was an absolutely insane week.  Just about everything that could have gone wrong went wrong and the weeks we spent preparing and making plans got thrown out the window and we just had to wing it, but we figured it out and everything worked out!  

President got a call Monday night at 12 am saying that the flight the 29 of them were supposed to be on got cancelled and told him all the other options.   They also said there would be 30 coming so we had to scramble to find a trainer and an area and all that kind of stuff Tuesday morning.  Then we just had to wait on word from Salt Lake. Then at presidents on Tuesday morning we got a call from the "travel leader"  from the group that was coming.  (the travel leader is someone they give a paper of flights to and its whoever s last name starts with A haha)  Anyway this sister calls and he answers and she was like "uh ya is this our mission president?  We're at the airport and our flight got cancelled and we don't know what to do" haha.  There was like a million missionaries talking in the background trying to figure out whats going on, haha it was really funny.  Then he gets a call from the missionary department to explain what was going on and they were mad because the missionaries are supposed to call them not the mission president and it was just a mess.  We felt bad for them at the airport though.  They ended up splitting up onto 5 different flights coming in throughout the afternoon so we were back and forth from the airport a lot.  It was weird, I have never spent so much time alone on my mission.  We had to drive alone to the airport and all these other places. So we get them all and take them to the stake center with only 2 lost bags.  All this while Sister Vellinga is sick.  (She is better now)  We fed them dinner and got them all to the different places they were staying.  Elder Weaver and I had to go back to the airport at like 11pm to get the lost bags.  We got to bed around 12 that night and woke up at 6 the next day.  All day Wednesday we had training while President interviewed.  Sister Vellinga came and interviewed too even though she was like dying.  She was a champ this week.  Elder Weaver and I did every kind of training you could think of from 9 am to 6 haha, it was a looong day but it actually went really well and we had a lot of fun with them.  Wednesday night right when we were about to go home we had one missionary pretty much pass out so we had to take her to the ER with president.  We got back about 11.  She was ok, she was just tired and stressed and had a little anxiety. We started to pick trainers up and all the stuff we have to do before transfers.  We got to bed a little after 2am Wednesday and took a nap till 4am.  We were on the road with all of them packed in 5 cars to Kirtland by 6am.  Did the Kirtland tour and everything and got ready for transfer meeting.  It was by far the biggest transfer meeting we have ever had.  It was so cool to see.  We got everyone where they were supposed to go took care of departures that night, got home at 11 and I just crashed. Then woke up and ran 2 miles the next morning :)  It was so exhausting and so busy but such an amazing and unforgettable week.  It was part of church history.  Being on a mission and being involved when "the flood " came haha. The best part is in 6 weeks we get to do it all again with 27 more!  

The other cool thing is that we decided to put sisters in our ward! We just don't get a ton of time to proselyte so I think it will be really good.  They are awesome sisters too.  1 brand new one and then one who just got released from being the training sister.  It was funny, they were like celebrities at church yesterday haha, no one even noticed Elder Ingersoll and I haha. We are just old news now.  President just walked in and handed us a goodie bag from sister Vellinga and he said she felt bad that everyone at church gave all the attention to the sisters and not us so she made it for us.  haha She is so funny.  I have never worked in a ward with sisters though so I am excited.  

Sounds like you had quite the sacrament meeting!  That is way sad they split the ward... It was bound to happen I guess.  

(As for picking him up….)I figured you guys would want to.  That trip is what everyone usually does when their parents come to get them.  I would love to do that but I was talking to president and I guess the brethren  discourage it.  He also said its just really weird for the missionary too which I totally agree with.  Its not the same when you are with your family and you are still set apart.  PLEASE PLEASE let us come out in the Fall though.  Ohio is beautiful in the Fall anyway.  Then we could do some of the fun things around here too since I wont be a missionary.  My original release date was July 18th.  But because of transfers you usually stay about a week longer than when you went to the MTC, but now its 2 days short of it.  

By the way I loved Brother Driggs.  He was one of the good ones haha. *(a Seminary teacher that is now in our ward)

We got a missionary from the Castle Rock stake.  Elder Houser.  I told him he was my new favorite missionary since we were the only ones from CO.  He liked that! haha It's funny how much the new missionaries think the AP's are so amazing when were not haha.  I guess I was the same way,  I was reading my journal this week and on my first night I wrote "I hope one day I can be as good of a missionary as the Ap's are"  haha made me laugh.  

It is an amazing time to be serving a mission.  Miracles are happening every day and I love every minute of it.  I hope you got my letter I sent this week!  

Love and miss you!!

Elder Skalla 

Another Crazy Week!!

Hey!!

 

Sorry you are sick!  That's no fun.  Well you guessed right it was another busy week! We are throwing the last second things together today and then tomorrow is when they all come! I am actually really excited but just hope nothing goes wrong.  It is going to be interesting seeing 29 missionaries come out of the terminal at the same time.  I am sure they will turn heads.  I wish I could video it or something.  We are still working out some kinks.  Just pray everything will run smoothly.  Even the weather.  It has been snowing the last 4 or 5 days but today it is beautiful so I just hope it lasts. 

Even amongst delivering furniture, planning travel arrangements, working on transfers and a million other things we actually had some good lessons this week!  We haven't handed David off yet but we taught him about the Book of Mormon this week and invited him to read it and this morning we got this text (see picture)  It was sweet.  He is doing great. 

We had our trainer meeting this week which was way cool meeting with 29 trainers.  Elder Curtis is training too!  So I get my first grandson!  Well half.  Him and another missionary are training together. But I am proud of him.  I am just bummed he is getting transferred so I wont get to see him train but oh well. Our transfer meeting was interesting.  I think I have told you about that but the one where the 3 of us come in fasting and pretty much stare at the board all day long and move people.  It was hard finding places for everyone since so much of the mission is tied up training. The picture is what we stare at haha.  Elder Weaver is getting transferred and my new companion is Elder Matthew Ingersoll.  He came out 1 transfer after me and Elder Weaver trained him in the Tallmadge ward so we have served together before.  He will be awesome. 

I hear ya about time flying by...  I cant believe it is almost spring.  I am not complaining about that though I am sick of winter.  This one was way worse than last year.

That is exciting about all those mission calls!  Even though I feel like some of those people aren't old enough haha.  It's weird Ryan turns 18 next month… 

Well speaking of time flying, I don't know if I have talked to you or if you have thought about it but I don't want you to come pick me up.  But I would love to come back shortly after I am released :)  Then we can do the fun stuff.  Not that there is a whole lot to do in Ohio but like Cedar Point and the Hall of Fames and stuff. 

Also for Easter can I have some razor blades?  No shaving cream I just bought some.  Oh and remember NO FOOD :) 

Sorry I am just spitting out random thoughts.  My mind is a million different places today.  But we gotta go and wash some cars and set up the church for tomorrow.  Please pray for us this week we need all the help we can get!  haha 

Love and miss you!!!

 

Elder Skalla

Happy Birthday Pres. and Sis Vellinga!

Hi!! 

 

Sorry this is so late!   It has been one heck of a week...  It just keeps getting better and better too.  From here on out we are always runnin with this new transfer and everything that is going into it.  I had no idea how much it would take.   I am at presidents house right now.  I dont know if I told you about him but we had a skype meeting with Brother Donaldson today.  He is one of the guys from the missionary department that came to train us in December and it was way intense and stuff.  But the meeting we had today was sooooo good.  Good things were gonna implement.  Then President let us do our laundry and wash our car here and Sis Vellinga made us dinner.  We were at the office today till like 3 and then have been at the mission home since.  So much for a P day...  oh well too much to get done. 

Man I dont even know where to start for this week.  So many things happened.  The last two zone conferences were great.  It was a little weird because it was a little snowy on Tuesday and Wednesday.  For the Cleveland Conference President had us wear our jeans and coats so we could help Elder Jacklin with the vehicle inspections.  Wednesday it was snowing pretty bad and we had the meeting in Youngstown so he had us do the same thing.  We got there and the Jacklins and Lemons and President were all like 45 minutes late because of the weather so I had to conduct and make stuff up for 45 minutes till they got there,  all while wearing jeans and a t shirt haha.  

Everyone gave us a pretty hard time that the AP'S showed up in jeans to a zone conference! haha But everyone made it safe and the meeting went well.  After the conference I got to go on exchanges in Y town which it sounds like you have already heard all about.  I got to see pretty much everyone I wanted to and it was the best exchange ever.  I talked to Dylan and he is still doing good and told me he wants to go on a mission!  I also talked to Anthony, a priest we worked with a lot and went on a mini mission with and he should be getting his call this week!  Then I saw Tina and Alicia and they are doing awesome and she is preparing for the temple and is right on track!  Thursday morning we went and did service at the H family's house and they were so surprised to see me.  They are doing so great!  They have a date to go to the temple and be endowed and sealed as a family this spring!  From smoking and drinking to sealed in the temple all in the short time I have known them.  Everyone I grew to love there is doing so well and progressing amazingly.  It was one of those times where I just felt like it was all worth it.  I can not even begin to describe the feeling you recieve when people you have fasted, prayed for and worked so hard with are going on missions and to the temple!  All because the Atonement is real the gospel is true.  You would never be able to deny that if you had been able to watch the process of conversion in each of them as I did.  What a blessing to be involved. 

After exchanges we came back and got all ready for giving president and sister Vellinga's birthday present to them.  We got the picture and wrapped it up with brown paper and tied it up with string.  (his favorite movie is the sound of music)  We also worked with the Lemons and made a "Deer catching kit"  and Elder Lemon wrote up all these instructions.  All it is is a little box, a hanger and some string.  But its the inside joke with him right now because he is obsessed with the deer in his yard haha.  So the Lemons had their farewell dinner and then we, and the rest of the office staff, went over and surprised them and gave it to them.  I have never seen those two laugh so hard in my life when they opened up and read the deer catching kit.  I thought they were gonna pass out they thought it was so funny.  They loved the picture too and already have it hung up in the mission home. 

Friday and saturday were pretty boring.  We spent all day at the office working on transfers with president.  We hadn't heard from David all week and we were getting a little worried and then he didn't show up to church Sunday.  He ended up calling us Sunday night and felt really bad.  He said he was just busy with the move and stuff and said he really wanted to meet so were teaching him again tomorrow.  He is still solid and looking good to get baptized in March. 

I wish I had more time to write.  There are so many things I wish I could tell you and so many feelings and stories I want to tell you I just dont have time haha.  One day I promise I will sit down and just write to you haha.  You get most of the stuff though. 

This week is full of craziness moving furniture, training meetings, transfer stuff and a billion other things we need to do.  On March 8th when this is all over I am gonna be sooooo happy.

Oh ya kinda a weird request but will you send me my running shoes?  No rush but my next companion is gonna whip me into shape haha which is a good thing.

Love you,

Elder Skalla

This is the Presidents car they washed at the Presidents house and they are wearing the Presidents clothes!  Too funny!!!

 

Seeing people change…

Hey!! haha I am glad you get to spend some time at home now. I did get your valentines package! Thank you!! It is not helping me eat better but it was good haha. I am gonna go get my suit dry cleaned today. I used to wear it twice a week but now I wear it like 5 times a week with different meetings and stuff. I also got to listen to that recording thanks!

 Remember the kid who said he wanted to be a missionary like us after he heard that? He went to church for the first time this sunday and has a baptismal date and I guess he is like really excited. This week was zone conferences so we were all over the mission. I drove over 1000 miles this week it was crazy. I am so sick of driving haha. Zone conferences have been really good. We have 2 more to do this week. We studied and practiced teaching the Law of Chastity and a senior couple who inspected every apartment in the mission gave a presentation on cleaning which was really good. It was kinda different talking about Chastity and Cleaning in a zone conference but I have liked them all! It is fun to see how different each meeting is. We usually help with the training and run the computer and evaluate role plays and stuff. One meeting President randomly called me up to share my testimony of the law of Chastity. I had never shared my testimony of that before and it was a really good experience and it was definitely something I will never forget.

 This week we have the Cleveland and Youngstown zone conferences and I get to go on exchanges back in Youngstown so I am sooo excited for that. We met with David a couple more times this week and man is he amazing. Teaching him just feels like I am role playing or something. Our lessons have been awesome. He is just slowly gaining more light and you can see it in his countenance. I dont think I told you this but we met with him last friday for the first time and he came to church sunday. After the second hour I asked how he was doing and he was like pretty good I am just really tired. I havent had Coffee or tea in 3 days. That friday he like briefly asked about that and we mentioned we dont drink it but didnt even teach him anything about the word of wisdom but he stopped on his own. Last week he came in jeans and a t shirt to church and this week he showed up in a dark suit, white shirt an tie. He comes in to the chapel and was like ya it was weird the dry cleaners lost this suit 3 months ago but this week they randomly called and said they found it. He recognized that that probably wasnt a coincidence haha. There is some bad news with David though. He is moving to Lakewood this week... I was like so sad when I found out. Our ward has really taken him in and has great fellowship and now he will have to switch. I am way sad but I think Elder H and Elder C need it. They havent taught a single investigator since I left... Everything kinda just fell apart with everyone cuz they still dont really know what they are doing. So maybe this will help them pick it up. Were gonna go on exchanges with them every time they teach him so we can kinda make sure its going the right way. Neither of them have ever taught anyone this far or planned a baptism so we are gonna help them a little so at least I will still get to see him sometimes.

 So a member donated a really nice leather couch this week to us so saturday night we went and picked it up. We took the mission van with the trailer on it so we could put it in there. When we left it was like snowing lightly but nothing was sticking. The member lived 20 mins away. Basically it was a bad choice to drive a huge van with a trailer in the snow. It got really really bad and took us over an hour to get home. There were points I couldnt see more than 3 feet in front of me and the trailer was like fishtailing all the time. But we made it! I am just never doing that again. I was so tense driving that dumb thing. Well we have a ton to do today so I better get going.

 Love and miss you!! Elder Skalla

This time…a NEPHEW!

Elder Skalla is going to be an Uncle again.  Ali and Ty are expecting July 17th!  ONE week after Brad is released….Ya, you can't time your blessings!!  We are thrilled and Elder Skalla is too.  I think he is having a hard time imagining being an Uncle to little Adalynn who we keep sending pictures of, but she is kind of a figment of his imagination.  Baby #2 is likely in the same category….


CONGRATULATIONS!   I did read your e mail first by the way haha.  I bet you are both very excited.  I am excited to meet him when I come home!  Any ideas on a name or anything else?  Love and miss you!   Elder Skalla

Miracles Happen

This week was another insane one.  I am constantly mentally exhausted, stressed and tired but I cant figure out why I am so happy... This week was incredible.  Tuesday we had mission council which went really well.  Wednesday we were with President planning zone conference and we ended up rearranging his furniture in his office which was the funniest thing ever.   I want to make a TV show like the Office but with the mission office.  I swear I could already write like 10 episodes haha.  Thursday we went to Kirtland for our meeting with all the new missionaries and their trainers after their first week.  It was really good.  Probably one of the best I have seen.  Friday I got to go on exchanges with Elder Newey down in Tallmadge.  It was sooooo fun getting to work there again.  I was surprised that so many people remembered me!  They didn't remember my name or anything but they asked if I had served there before.  It was fun getting to go by some of the families I worked with so long ago.  Driving around Akron and going to the university just caused memories to flood back of Elder Johnson and I in the heat on our bikes in downtown Akron.  It was a fun day.  The next morning we helped someone move and then Elder Weaver picked me back up and we went back to Cleveland.  We had a meeting that day with president to run through the Mission President fireside.  We pulled in the parking lot of the church and then 2 more cars pulled in right after we parked and the wheel on one car was all messed up.  The mom in the other car was like yelling at her son who was driving the damaged car.  We walked over to talk to them and then President pulled up.  When we were walking over there the tire just started to smoke and then the whole thing just burst into flames.  The kid was like throwing snowballs at it and I ran into the church and got a fire extinguisher and put it out.  I had never used one of those things before!  It was pretty exciting.  I got some fire extinguisher stuff on my suit but it came out.  The fire department and police showed up and we just made quite the scene in the church parking lot ha ha.  It was probably a good thing we were there to get in the church and get the fire extinguisher though.  The things you do on a mission... sometimes its just unreal.  

Sunday night was the fireside.  This was the first one we have ever done and it was kinda our trial run.  It went sooooo well though.  Everyone loved it and there were tons of people there. We tried to do something different so we didn't have anyone conduct we just had the meeting flow and had some Mormon messages a bunch of musical numbers recent convert testimonies and President Vellinga and the Stake President spoke.  I sang "This is the Christ" with a couple other members and then all the missionaries sang which is what you saw.  I think we are going to start taking it to all the other stakes around the mission.  Miracles happened because of it.  Just one of the stories is amazing.  This guy that we play ball with in another ward has been working with an 18 year old.  He wasn't going to but felt like he needed to invite him to the fireside so he called like 30 mins before and invited him.  They came and he loved it.  We were talking to the member after and he was saying how the much the kid loved us singing "I know that my Redeemer Lives" and leaned over to him and said "How can I be a missionary like those guys" after the song.  So the member invited him to come to church and meet with the missionaries.  So cool!  He isn't in our ward but still.  And that was just one of the many stories we heard.  

The thing that made this week the best was David.  He is an answer to prayer.  I have been praying the last like 2 weeks saying Heavenly Father we need people to teach and we have no time to go find them, please help us find another way.  While we were driving back from Kirtland Thursday we got a call from the office saying someone called and said they wanted to be a Mormon and is staying in a hotel in North Olmsted.  We just thought it was another crazy person referral that we get all the time. All our appointments cancelled that night so we just called and asked if we could come by.  He said we could so we went and we weren't really expecting much but man it was amazing.  I haven't had a lesson like that in a long time.  He is so prepared.  I wish I had time to tell you the full story.  He is 26 has a wife and little boy and just got out of the Army.  His wife isn't too sure about the church but we taught him that night and then again in the church on Saturday with our Bishop while president pretty much babysat his son.  But that's another story in itself.  The lesson was awesome, we committed him to baptism and he offered such an amazing prayer at the end.  He came to church on Sunday and really liked it.  He has a lot to overcome but he has so much desire.  I am really excited about him.  

Well we got word Friday that were getting 5 Visa waiters coming in today so we have been working on finding places for them and Elder Weaver and I have to go to the airport and pick them up so I gotta go. (It really never ends, one surprise after another)  I love and miss you!!  

Elder Skalla