April 5, 2016
Well this is the second time at I'm writing this letter which kind of sucks. It was a really good letter too. My iPad froze up and deleted my whole letter. Ugh.....stupid Apple hahah
Well yes I am currently serving in Malad,, Idaho. Malad is one of those towns that used to be really busy and cool but then they built an interstate right next to it and now there is no need for anyone to go there unless you live there. It's a whole different world out here in Malad. It was kind of a culture shock to me. We cover a fifth of
the mission. The size of our area is bigger than some missions. All it is farming. And yes people live on the outskirts of our area so we get to travel a lot.
The one fast food place here is Burger King. And it's in a gas station. I guess you got subway too. There is one grocery store out here called Thomas market. It's crazy expensive and it's pretty much like a glorified convenience store. There are a couple of other restaurants but they are all too pricy so we don't really go. Oh and the best part of it all is that we live in the good ol' Hess lumber store. Pretty much a member who owns the store bought an even bigger store right next to the one we live in now. He uses the old space for storage and his old office as our apartment. It's great. I use like 5 lint sheets each time I lint roll my clothes. Fun! But really there is a lot of success to be found here in this town of Malad.
We are teaching a part member family with 5 unbaptized children. They want to make sure that the kids understand everything and I mean everything before they are baptized. They are close and should be baptized this month.
We are teaching a fellow by the name of Eddie. Eddie is about in his 60's and he is really interested in the gospel. He is one of those people that when he says he is going to do something he does it. His word is his bond and I like that. We watched the Saturday morning session of conference together and he really enjoyed that. He is coming to church this next Sunday so we are excited. He was originally attending the baptist church but he had a falling out with them so he joined the free mason lodge out here. Yes there is a mason lodge about 50 yards away from where we live. Awesome! Haha but he is really interested in the gospel so he should be baptized soon.
We are also teaching Jeff. Jeff is in his 50's and he is really shy. But he is the coolest guy ever. He has the best fellowships ever. They are his best friends that are working close with him towards baptism. He is currently playing the organ for the Presbyterian church. He has a testimony of the Book of Mormon he is just waiting for that neon
sign of an answer. Jeff is amazing. He can play like ear like no other. If you sing a song that he hasn't heard of before, he can play the whole song like a music genius. Yesterday we went over to this members house and there was a group of people gathering for their weekly music session. Jeff was there and he was playing an organ and I
was singing some lds hymns and he was able to play songs that he's never heard of before and it was amazing. I think the small things like this will help Jeff increase his Faith in Christ towards baptism.
Well that's all for today. Malad is literarily just small shops and farms. I'll send some pictures. It's absolutely beautiful out here. Just too much of a farm life for me to live here forever.
I am in love with the mission. I love the work and I am excited to see where this takes me. The people are awesome. When you really get to know them, they have amazing stories to share and I have a big love for them. I think that that is going to be the key to have success here. Show the love and spread the love. That's what Christ would do.
The church is true. Christ loves us and cares for us. He died for us so that we can be happy. It's as simple as that. I have grown closer to Christ more than I ever have the past couple of weeks. I truly have that desire to go out and serve the lord and it feels great! I love you all!
Elder Skabelund
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
Transfers!!!! Round 5
March 29, 2016
Very short email today! We have a very busy p-day. We are taking a recent convert to the Ogden Temple today to do baptisms. That's pretty cool. I'm excited!!! It's out off the mission so we had to call our mission president to go and he gave us permission so I am stoked. It was recently dedicated in 2014 so it looks pretty awesome.
Transfers are tomorrow and I found out that I will be serving in Malad, Idaho. I went from the south tip of the mission to the north end of the mission. The area is huge!! So we get a car!!! Yay!!!! They are letting us drive a brand new Nissan Frontier. It's only fitting that I drive a truck so that will be cool. My comp is Elder Tamasaka.
He is from Hawaii so he's super chill and he works hard. I will meet him tomorrow. I will stay district leader and Elder Tamasaka has been out for 4 months so I will stay senior comp.
We had a baptism this last Saturday! I will send you pictures. Johnny got baptized. We found him in the trailer park in November. He was supposed to be baptized in February but he got super sick and we baptized him over Easter weekend. It was a great baptism, Elder Sagmeister baptized him, President Allred drove down to see the
baptism.
Well I love all you guys! I'm doing fine and I love the mission! The church is true!
Love Elder Skabelund
Very short email today! We have a very busy p-day. We are taking a recent convert to the Ogden Temple today to do baptisms. That's pretty cool. I'm excited!!! It's out off the mission so we had to call our mission president to go and he gave us permission so I am stoked. It was recently dedicated in 2014 so it looks pretty awesome.
Transfers are tomorrow and I found out that I will be serving in Malad, Idaho. I went from the south tip of the mission to the north end of the mission. The area is huge!! So we get a car!!! Yay!!!! They are letting us drive a brand new Nissan Frontier. It's only fitting that I drive a truck so that will be cool. My comp is Elder Tamasaka.
He is from Hawaii so he's super chill and he works hard. I will meet him tomorrow. I will stay district leader and Elder Tamasaka has been out for 4 months so I will stay senior comp.
We had a baptism this last Saturday! I will send you pictures. Johnny got baptized. We found him in the trailer park in November. He was supposed to be baptized in February but he got super sick and we baptized him over Easter weekend. It was a great baptism, Elder Sagmeister baptized him, President Allred drove down to see the
baptism.
Well I love all you guys! I'm doing fine and I love the mission! The church is true!
Love Elder Skabelund
Super Fast Week!
March 22, 2016
Holy cow did this week go by fast! This mission is just zooming along! It's going by too fast! But I think it's because we are working hard. It's so much more fun when you really work as hard as you can. You can really see the blessings roll on in.
So we didn't have too many lessons this week but we did meet a lot of new people. My companion and I decided to count all the people we don't talk to that we see that day. On average it's around 1 or 2 people which is pretty good. Once we started talking with everyone things really started to click. We are getting return appointments and
people are really interested in hearing about the gospel.
I had the opportunity to see the Provo City Center Temple Dedication. It was pretty sweet. Elder Oaks dedicated the temple. The temple has a really cool story and I would invite you all to research that story. Pretty much it used to be an old tabernacle (fancy meetinghouse) and it burned down and then the First Presidency decided to rebuild it as a temple. Pretty cool. It is absolutely just stunning to see the transformation that has taken place. It really is a House of the Lord. We had a couple recent converts show up so that was a good highlight!
We have a couple baptisms coming up! We have another one for the 26th of March, one for the 15th of April and another for the 16th of April! So exciting! I may or may not be here in April. Transfers are on the 30th and I'm pretty sure that I'm leaving. Pleasant View has been a fun little town to serve in but I think it's my time to go. I have to use my expertise elsewhere ;)
I love the mission. The church is true and it gets truer everyday. Lives change because of the gospel. It's changed mine. I love it so much!
Love,
Elder Skabelund
Holy cow did this week go by fast! This mission is just zooming along! It's going by too fast! But I think it's because we are working hard. It's so much more fun when you really work as hard as you can. You can really see the blessings roll on in.
So we didn't have too many lessons this week but we did meet a lot of new people. My companion and I decided to count all the people we don't talk to that we see that day. On average it's around 1 or 2 people which is pretty good. Once we started talking with everyone things really started to click. We are getting return appointments and
people are really interested in hearing about the gospel.
I had the opportunity to see the Provo City Center Temple Dedication. It was pretty sweet. Elder Oaks dedicated the temple. The temple has a really cool story and I would invite you all to research that story. Pretty much it used to be an old tabernacle (fancy meetinghouse) and it burned down and then the First Presidency decided to rebuild it as a temple. Pretty cool. It is absolutely just stunning to see the transformation that has taken place. It really is a House of the Lord. We had a couple recent converts show up so that was a good highlight!
We have a couple baptisms coming up! We have another one for the 26th of March, one for the 15th of April and another for the 16th of April! So exciting! I may or may not be here in April. Transfers are on the 30th and I'm pretty sure that I'm leaving. Pleasant View has been a fun little town to serve in but I think it's my time to go. I have to use my expertise elsewhere ;)
I love the mission. The church is true and it gets truer everyday. Lives change because of the gospel. It's changed mine. I love it so much!
Love,
Elder Skabelund
Baptisms, Zone Conference, and Snow in March
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
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
Fixed Bikes, Broken Bikes, Springtime, and Baptisms!
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
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
A good ol' week in the field
March 1, 2016
Hey yal'll!
How ya'lls doing? I've had a pretty good week. I've learned how missionary work is fun!! It really is. I'm learning to always have a positive attitude and when you do that you have a good time!
We had a lot of lessons and a lot of people are accepting the gospel. It is amazing. I never thought I would see so much success on the mission.
I have now been out for over 5 months. These p-days are coming around faster and faster! Yet I am still in the same area! Hard to believe! But I love it so much. This past week I have seen the blessings of being obedient. You can be in an area that has generally has no success, but when you are obedient the Lord places people in your way.
We have 2 baptisms on Saturday because of that. And the funny thing is, I don't feel like I have done enough! You can always do more and do better!
So anyways, it was a pretty usual week. It's warming up to the mid-40's so I no longer need to wear my heavy jacket. Just my suit jacket. And I would take off my jacket now if I could. But they make
us wear it til general conference! I can't wait till March 26th!!!
Haha oh speaking of the end of March. We are having a baptism Easter Sunday! That will definitely be a highlight of the mission. Easter is awesome and what an awesome way to celebrate it! Originally this investigator was supposed to be baptized in February but he got super sick. His mom wanted to push it back til April but the Holy Ghost convinced her that Easter is the right day.
We got our bikes fixed so we are real missionaries now! We live up this huge hill and I consistently hit 40mph going down. I'm technically speeding so I hope I don't get caught!! So hopefully I can
finally start losing weight rather than gaining 20+ pounds (yikes!!) Yeah when members feed us every night you gain weight. Especially when they feed you ice cream and brownies every night. But my thighs are dying so I should be losing weight!!
The mission is awesome. The people I meet are fantastic. You would think a Utah mission would suck but honestly I love it. I love the weather, the mountains, the people, the missionaries. I love having church buildings within a quarter mile of each other. And I love the baptisms. You should see plenty of baptism pictures this month. I know it's not because of what I've done, but it's because of what I'm supposed to do, if that makes any sense.
I love you guys!
Elder Skabelund
5 Months
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
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
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