March 15, 2016
Hello!!!!
So since it's daylight savings, most of you will get my emails on average an hour earlier! Yippee!!! I hate daylight savings. Like its cool because you get more sun but in the spring you set your clocks forward an hour so you lose an hour of sleep. So now all you Arizonan's are on Pacific Time and I'm stuck on Mountain Standard Time
or Mormon Standard Time whichever way you look at it.
So one of my buddy's on a mission sent out an email saying that only in Arizona do we say cheese crisp for a cheese quesadilla and it's so true. No one know what a cheese crisp. I've said it more and more often just to test this theory and everyone I mention it too has never heard of a cheese crisp. Random fact.
So yeah the work is going good here. We had 3 baptisms today. 1 on Friday evening and 2 on Saturday morning. The first one was an investigator named Josh. He was a referral from a lady in the Ward back in November and we've been teaching him since then. He wanted to be baptized, but he had one silly concern. He wanted to wait until June to be baptized so he could be baptized in a spring on his boss' ranch. We were teaching him one night in January and he knew everything to be baptized but he still had that concern. I finally asked him if he has ever prayed and asked God to see what he should do because sometimes it's not about what you want but it's about what God wants. He said he hasn't and he said he would pray about it. The next week I asked him if he prayed and he said he got an answer to be baptized on March 11 in a baptismal font. It was so specific so that was pretty cool and he held true to his answer.
The other 2 baptisms are Ivan and Julian. They are brothers and Ivan is 11 and Julian is 13. Their mom and mom's boyfriend take car of them and the whole family are nonmembers. They are from Montana and they recently moved to Utah in December. They lived with their family friend who is lds and then they bought a trailer to live in just north of their friends. We found out what house they lived in and we knocked the door in February. The mom answered and agreed to have the lessons. The first lesson we had was great. Everyone was there but the boyfriend. It was a pretty powerful lesson and all 3 of them accepted a date to be baptized on the first lesson. We continued teaching the family and the boyfriend kept listening in. Now the 2 boys were definitely ready to be baptized and so was their mother, however the mother currently has to get a divorce to marry her boyfriend so they couldn't be married right now. Which I think is a good thing. I'll explain that in a little bit but the baptisms on Saturday went great. Ivan wanted me to baptize and confirm him so I had the honor to do that and it was awesome. So in sacrament meeting at the confirmation the whole family came, even the boyfriend and the entire time the boyfriend was reading the Book of Mormon on his phone. He actually got through 4 chapters!! So I think the boyfriend is slowly progressing towards baptism and I think by the time that he is ready to be baptized it will probably be around the same time that they will be married. They both have said that they notice that the home feels a lot better and that it's brighter and that the gospel is changing their lives. It's cool to see how a whole family can change and accept the gospel. God works in mysterious ways and things work out for a reason. The boyfriend always mentions that we always have an answer to every question he asks us. I explained to the mother that the reason we have an answer is because we have the truth. We have the restored gospel. We have the Book of Mormon which contains the fullness of the gospel. We have prophets that lead and guide us in this dispensation. We have the answers right in front of us. Because we have restored truth, we have those restored answers.
So yes the boy's mother and mothers boyfriend should be baptized in May or June. How awesome. We should have a couple more baptisms at the end of the month. Our goal is 7 and we should do it. I have faith. Our AP told us that if we hit our goal he and he president will take us out to eat anywhere we want. So that's my only motivation to hit the goal. (Just kidding our motivation is to serve the lord with all our heart might mind and strength and to fulfill our purpose).
And about zone conference. We had an 8 hour zone conference yesterday. And about the Snow in March. Yes it is currently snowing right now. Ughhh.
But I love working and I love baptizing and this is the best and most fun thing I've done in my life so far. I love the church. I love this restored gospel. And I love Jesus Christ.
Love,
Elder Skabelund
March 8, 2016
Ahhhh finally..a chance to spend some time to write a quality email! You know you guys could actually email me back, I'd love to hear from ya'll.
And yes, I have started to say ya'll a lot. Not that it's a Utah thing but an elder I associate with is from Georgia and I started to make fun of him about it and now I can't stop saying it. I guess since I've gained 20 lbs and since I say ya'll a lot I guess I could live in the south ;)
But oh man it's been another awesome week in the field. Now not to say we haven't had our failures because we still do, but oh is the success rolling in. Elder Woolwine and I have seemed to be able to get better at teaching with each other and that's awesome. We are still working with a lot of people and the end of March should be a good week!
On March 20 I have the privilege of watching the Provo City Center Temple Dedication. That will be pretty legit. It will be the 150th operating temple of the church and for it to be such a unique temple it will be pretty cool. The only downside is that none of our investigators can come to church and if we have a baptism the day before we will have to wait til Easter to confirm them. On the bright side all of our recent converts can come :)
So yeah this week we were riding our bikes a lot. I am currently borrowing a bike from an elder who previously served in this stake. He left it here and I'm not going to let it sit around. The bike is awesome!!! It has disc brakes and I can jump curbs like no other hahaha ;) My companions bike he is borrowing it from a member in the stake and it's awesome and it's really fast, but it breaks every day. His pedal keeps falling off because it doesn't have the right size nut and it's impossible to find so it looks like we'll have to replace the shaft on it. I always love flying down that hill next to my house. It's pretty much the same hill as hawes road up by las sendas.
This last week we were supposed to have 2 baptisms but we only had 1. Our investigator, Jackson who is 8 years old, decided to get a 103 degree fever on Friday and it turns out he has strep. Fun. That day we went to his house in the trailer park. We gave him a blessing and just wow. This was probably one of the most spiritual experiences I've had. I put my hands on his head and he wanted me to give him the blessing. My companion but a drop of oil on his head and then I blessed him. The Priesthood is just awesome. During the blessing I got a glimpse of
what Jackson's purpose is in life. I gained a testimony of how special little children are. They are so innocent and they want to do what's right. And Jackson will be a great example to his family and if he stays active in the church I know he will be a great leader in the church. I also got emotional because I gained a testimony of how
important missionary work is. Because I am working with Jackson at such a young age, he is able to recognize the spirit. Just think about how that will bless his life right now. And as he grows older he will have something to rely on and he and his future family and his children and grandchildren will have the gospel. Woah. How amazing.
Our 1 baptism Noah, he is 9 years old and he is slightly autistic but he is the coolest kid ever. You will tell when I send you a picture of us with him at his baptism.
Well I guess it's kind of a long letter so I guess I'll stop here. We will have 3 baptisms this week!! And I will baptize one, scary, but anyways look out for pictures!
Love,
Elder Skabelund
February 23, 2016
Ok I don't have too much time!! I tried to send out a invite to a mission blog via iCloud photo sharing. I don't know if it's working or not. If you got like 50 emails I'm sorry. But the latest email that I sent out around 4:10 that should be the good one. let me know if you got it or didn't get it so I can re-invite you.
I'm doing great! I'm still alive! We have plenty of baptisms lined up so that's good. We should be baptizing every Saturday so far in March.
I'm adjusting to this whole senior companion/district leader gig. It's tough but I'm learning. My patriarchal blessing helps me recognized how capable I can actually be so I find confidence in that!
I love the work and I apologized for such a shot email but we have a lesson in 15 minutes. Hope you all are staying safe! It's warming up here. 40 degrees never felt so good!!!
Love all y'all!
Elder Skabelund
February 16, 2016
Hello!
This week was very interesting. It started off with me going up to Logan on Wednesday. I received some training from the assistants and President Allred on how to be a District Leader. I hope I'm doing a good job so far. I then found my new companion, Elder Woolwine. Elder Woolwine is a pretty big dude. He is from Orlando, Florida and he is 20 years old. He did a year of schooling before he came out for a mission. He has been out for 3 months. YES 3 MONTHS. So the mission decides to make an elder(me) a district leader and a senior companion just barely being out for 4 months. To me it seems like to most unlikely thing to actually happen but God's ways are not the way man usually likes to take. Hahaha but it's awesome, stressful but awesome!
Then we went out to work, work, and work. We only have 2 years to bring people to Christ. I'm not going to waste my time. And so we worked all day and all night this week. We had very few lessons this last week so we spent our time being as obedient as we can, going out and finding people to teach. We set up several lessons for this week. So we will stay busy. We invited investigators to be baptized and of course they accepted a date. So expect a lot of baptisms next month! :)
I've learned very quick that the mission is not about numbers. We have a lot of people that want to be taught in this stake and that's awesome. Yet I feel like crap when just one lesson falls through or just one person shows up to church. I'm not concerned about how many people take the lessons. I'm concerned about those who chose not to. So that's something that I'm working on. I've realized that there are some things that are just out of my control. I'm trying to be as obedient as I can and at the end of the day, I'm glad to say that there was nothing else I could do to help others come closer to Christ.
So I had my first district meeting last Thursday. I was pretty nervous which is unusual for me. I'm not afraid to go up and talk to strangers about the gospel. But something about trying to be a leader and example in the mission is scary. Hahaha but from what I've heard my first district meeting went great! A lot of the missionaries in my district who have been out for a lot longer time than I have all said that it went pretty well. (They're probably just saying that to help me not feel like garbage) haha but I enjoyed it. I have to present a district meeting every Wednesday so this is definitely a new experience for me.
Overall though it's been a good week. We have found people that need the gospel in their lives. Just yesterday we were walking in a group of town homes and we saw a family moving in. Without hesitation I grabbed something and asked if I can help the family move in. So we did that for about half an hour. It turns out that the family is
active, however, they have a 9 yr old boy that is not baptized and the family wants us to come back and teach them! So I asked if they would like to shoot for the 12th of March to have him baptized and they
agreed (the boy did too of course). Lesson learned this week that God brings you to people that need your help. As long as you are doing what you're supposed to do. Also, yesterday we had 2 lessons fell through. During these 2 hours we actually found people that desperately needed blessings and so we helped them. God places people in our lives that need help and it is awesome.
I'm enjoying the mission. I am seeing people's lives change right before my eyes. Including mine. I love every minute of the mission. The church is true without a doubt. My testimony is strong and its growing every day. Well until next week!
Love,
Elder Skabelund
February 9, 2016
Hello family and friends!
It is transfer week! In fact tomorrow is transfers! I found out today all the good info I need to know! And guess what!!! (Drum roll) I am STAYING in Pleasant View! I am so happy! This transfer should be full of baptisms so who wouldn't be excited? I have some other news as well! My dad (trainer Elder Sagmeister) is leaving me behind and is now going to serve in Logan! So now I have a new companion. His name is Elder Woolwine and that's all I know about him.
Oh I have some other news. I received a phone call from the assistants to the president and they informed me that I will serve as district leader! I find that fairly crazy but I humbly accepted the offer and hopefully I can be a example to the other 9 missionaries in my district.
So I am excited. It is bitter sweet because I love Elder Sagmeister but I know that the whatever the Lord has in store for us will help bring others closer to Christ and that is the whole purpose of missionary work.
This week wasn't our best week. It's just one of those where a lot of your lessons fall through. However, that doesn't mean that the work isn't strong. It just means that we have to change something about our work.
We did get a new investigator so that is pretty cool. There are still a lot of people who are ready and who need to hear the gospel. So we are always busy. Right now we are struggling with plans for earlier in the day but I think if we have a good brainstorming session we will be able to figure out some ideas. And who know? Maybe we will start to see a lot of oracles happen in this area.
I was curious one day to see how big the stake is compared to my stake back home. So I did some research and it looks like the size of the stake I cover is about the size of two wards back home. There are literally church buildings closer by then supermarkets. There are Christ buildings within less that half a mile away from each other.
Welcome to Utah.
I love this gospel. I love this church. It is true it's as simple as that. We have a God who loves us very much. Because of his son, Jesus Christ, we are able to return to live with God with our families forever. What a great blessing that will make anyone feel joy. We can feel peace and happiness in this life as we allow ourselves to use
Christ's atonement. He is with us by our side every step of the way. We can always improve our lives. There are always second chances and clean slates. I love being a missionary. It has blessed my life so much. There is so much joy to be found in the gospel of Jesus Christ as you apply its teachings. The church is true.
I love all of you!!
Love, Elder Skabelund
February 2, 2016
Ok sorry about the late email!!! I have to keep it short!!! To sum it up it is freezing here in Pleasant View! Just about 8 degrees or so!! The work is strong and stronger than ever. The field is white and we are thrusting with our sickle with all out might!!
We had two amazing baptisms this past week so I'll send pictures!! It went great and President Allred, the mission president showed up to our later baptism. We will be baptizing all month long and that will be awesome!! I'm excited and I am in love with missionary work!!
Anyways gotta go! If there are any random questions don't be afraid to email me!!!! Love you all!
Love,
Elder Skabelund
