Getting Hot in Panuco!

Haha man am I jealous of your snow right now! It just started getting SUPER HOT. It gets hotter here in Panuco than it did in Tampico because we are farther from the ocean and they burn a lot of sugar cane here so it gets super warm. But I'm actually pretty used to it after a few days it doesn't even phase me anymore haha. Weird thinking about Brad saying by to a girl. Think he can wait 18 months?  

Haha there are lots of pigs here! Its somebodies little farm behind their house. Lots of people have pigs and they are funny haha. I will try and take some pics of the area. We aren't allowed to take pics that have people in them that we don't have their direct permission so I can't just take random pictures. And we can't look like a tourist. Haha the thing on my belt is a money holder. We use a ton of coins so its convenient. An Elder from Peru gave it to me. It says Peru and has a llama on it. He gave it to me before he went home. He was ZL in Tampico, Elder Del Aguila. 

Haha have fun with the dinner! I'm sure it will be great! I'm excited to show you guys my Mexican cooking skills now :p if you think you have ever eaten a quesadilla before you re wrong. 

One thing I want for my birthday is an MP3 player. We aren't allowed to use the DVD players anymore and so I bought a little speaker, but its kinda bad and hard to use so I want just a simple little one with a screen that I can choose songs and have playlists and stuff and has an entrance for headphones because I still have the little speaker we bought at walmart and it works great. I have looked around here  but haven't found anything trustworthy.  Our zone leader Elder Wall right now has one that is super good that he bought in his house. (translated Spanish??  I think he means in his area) It's little and blue and just has a little screen but its perfect for what we need it for.  Its A Sandisk Sansa or something like that. Nothing fancy just a screen. If I think of something else I will tell you. I want to buy a football jersey here but I haven't found a good one yet so Maybe I will just ask for money :) 

This week was hard. Our success has been dropping as we just keep working harder and getting to know the area. We are working hard but its a tough area. But we are having success with the people that we are teaching, but we just don't have many to teach, and we can't touch (does he mean knock?) doors so that's hard too. But poco a poco :) We had interviews on Friday with president and we got to watch Conozca a los mormones! Or Meet the Mormons as you know it! We were the first to see it since it doesn't open in theaters here till the 27th. It was way good! The girl from Costa Rica supposedly is going to come here for a devotional so that's awesome. Can you do me a favor and search the Spanish version of the David Archuletta song that he sings at the end of the movie and send it to me? It's an EFY song we we are allowed to listen to it don't worry. 

There isn't too much to tell you.... Still working hard. Send me talks you like or something because I love talks and don't have enough time on Monday's to look for good ones so its better if you send me them haha :) Love you!!

Pray for missionary opportunities!

Elder Skalla

More pigs??

Pigs??? Cute video of Pigs too!

Hey mom,

This week was a great week. My companion and I get along great. He knows the scriptures super well and is a great teacher and I am improving too and little by little we are getting better about planning and studying haha. We get along great and have a ton of fun together. He is from Veracruz. The city is called Coatzacoalcos.  It's like 15 hours away. Panuco is at the North tip and Coatza is at the south. My whole mission I have been in Veracruz haha :) The house is nice. Its big enough for the 4 of us but we are still looking for another house because president doesn't like it that the four are living in the same house. We are the only elders in the mission living more than 2 haha. Yes I met Sister Gonzalez like 4 months ago at transfers.  I just forgot to tell you. We didn't talk much, we both just said "ohhh so you're the one my mom keeps telling me to find" haha. 

I hope David gets better soon. I didn't know Marissa had her papers in! That's awesome!  (HIs cousin Marissa is going to Gilbert,AZ Spanish Speaking) That's a great mission too, I have heard. And we will be able to speak Spanish together! Doesn't matter where you are everywhere feels like a whole different world when you are on a mission. That's the place she was foreordained to serve in and any other mission wouldn't be right for her. I am proud of Kelsie AND Brad for making the decision to serve a mission. Brad's not worth missing a mission :p  (Brad's girlfriend leaves next Wednesday for the Knoxville Tennessee Spanish Speaking Mission)  She's a cute girl and I am excited to meet her and talk in Spanish.  The living room looks super weird like that haha. Did I ever tell you about the house we went to when I was on splits in Barrio Tampico that had that picture on the wall? That was weird... I love that picture though... 

I am still loving my area and loving Mexico. Every day is something new and crazy and its just awesome. We are having tons of fun and lots of success too. We found a family the other day that has lots of potential and yesterday we started teaching the wife of a less active member. They are a young couple and have been married for 3 years and we talked about eternal marriage and temples and The Family, A Proclamation and it was an awesome lesson. We hope they can come to church and progress so they can be baptized. They have a cute little two year old that reminds me of Tate and Addy. I didn't get any pics from Jenni today :( I hope everything is going well and that you feel better soon. You already got a blessing right? If you thought the pigs were gross... haha I wish I could take pictures of some of the things we see haha. But just things you have to laugh at. The other day we were walking to our area in the morning after studying and we saw a drunk guy passed out on the sidewalk, snoring, with his empty wallet by his side haha. I love Mexico :) 

Hope you are all doing great. I always forget about the things I want to tell you on Monday... I should probably be better about writing in my journal but Its so boring... does Chandler have his papers in yet?

That's all I can think of right now haha. 

Love you!

Elder Skalla

Good bye Pictures

Elder Skalla sent a lot of pictures this last 2 weeks!  These are all from his first area where he spent 7 months!   He had to say goodbye to people he has grown to love and who have changed his life.  It was hard for him to say goodbye, but he is excited for his new assignment in Panuco.  

Farewell to Pueblo Viejo, Hello Panuco!

Hello!

Haha I thought you would like all those pictures. I took a bunch my last day with the families I said bye to. The boat is my last time on the lancha :( I have crossed that river at least twice a week for 7 months going to district meetings and other stuff in Tampico. The river is what divides Tampico from Veracruz and Pueblo Viejo is in Veracruz, but just across the river. So those little boats are the only way to cross, or you can cross the Tampico Bridge, but it takes longer and taxis don't cross it. The weather was a bit ugly that day, usually it's a lot prettier.   But I wanted a video my last time crossing haha. 

The birthday party is from an inactive family we found. The first week we found them they all came to church and that was like when Elder Lopez had just barely gotten here. But since then the dad hasn't gone to church. He works on every day and like once a month he rests on Sunday but he always has some sort of excuse. But his wife is doing really well and comes almost every week and was going to get a calling when I left. They are a fun family but they just aren't super converted. They got sealed in the temple then inactivated. But 2 weeks ago we taught them about fasting and we fasted with them and finished on Monday with Logan's 7th birthday party and Tortas de la Barda (Tortas unique to Tampico) and cake. They hadn't fasted in a really long time and they got excited about it. They said they felt good about it and were seeing a change in their family when they started going back to church, but also that lots of bad things started happening too. My last day (last Sunday) He told us he had lost his job. I think its for the better and was the answer to our fast, but I don't know what he thinks about it. Its a great family but they have lots of trials. All 6 of them live in that little room where I took the pic with Logan. Elder Lopez was practically touching the wall when he took the picture.

Anyway I love my new area! Panuco is bigger than Pueblo Viejo but still little enough to be nice. there are a few regualr stores like coppel and milano and Farmacia Guadalajara but more than that its Oxxo and Miscelaneas. We are about an hour from Tampico. The zone is Zona Panuco. There are only 10 missionaries in the zone. its a district so its just Ebano which is like 45 minutes from here and Panuco 1 and 2. We are in the branch Panuco 2 and there is another pair of missionaries in Panuco 2 with us and another pair in 1. and 4 in Ebano. Its small but its fun. The district president is in our area. We ate with him on Sunday. He's a nice guy.

Our area is small and we are still looking for a house, but the house of the other elders is big and we like living there but president doesnt like the four of us living together haha. The four that live with me are Elder Gilbert from Ogden, Elder Sifuentes (greenie) from Matamoros, and My companion Elder Arvizu from Coatzacoalcos Veracruz.

Elder Arvizu and Elder Skalla

My companion Elder Arvizu from Coatzacoalcos Veracruz, Mexico, Elder Skalla, Elder Sifuentes  from Matamoros, Mexico and Elder Gilbert from Ogden, UT

We all get along well and its fun haha. My companion is great. Hes a hard worker most of the time and he teaches well, but he just doesn't like to study or plan. But we get along well and are helping each other out which is good. Its nice being a regular missionary and not being trained or training or with a missionary thats about to finish haha. We are having lots of success so far in the area but it is a small area so we have pretty much already met all the members and the majority of the less actives. Now we just have to search out the in-actives and find some investigators. Everything is going well and I love being in the mission. 

Dont worry about questions is gives me something to talk about because sometimes I get here and forget everything that has happened this week and have no idea what to write so questions are good :) Love you lots! 

Elder Skalla

First Transfer! With More Pics and Video

SO before I talk about my new area I'll talk a bit about last week...

We had a pretty good week but also pretty stressful. Elder is starting to get sick of me which happens with all trainers and trainees I think, but for a while I think he has been waiting for me to leave. He is a good missionary with lots of potential but he has a lot of pride (me too, not a good combo) and never really has had to obey in his life.  Thanks for making me do stuff :) But he is learning and he will realize one day.  We had divisions both Tuesday and Wednesday with the zone leaders because they both wanted to do divisions and they aren't companions so on Tuesday I was in Tampico ward with Elder Getz from California (zone leaders comp) and on Wednesday I was in my area with Elder Soto from Chile, the zone leader. It was hard leaving the area but I know Elder Lopez will do well. There were a few Elders in the ward and zone that were a bad influence on him and they all got transferred so I am hoping he can make the change from a boy to a missionary. I loved training but it was just really hard. 

On Sunday we got the transfer call. I am going to an area that's called Panuco. Its part of a little district an hour from Tampico and we are going to be in a branch, opening the area. Panuco is a little town that has 2 branches, Panuco 1 and 2, and before there were just two areas, Panuco 1 and 2. Now my companion, Elder Arvizu, and I are going to open Panuco 3!! There are still just two ramas but they want to build another chapel here in Panuco, but President Jordan wants there to be more attendance before they start building.   Right now the attendance is around 80. They sent me and Elder Arvizu here to help them get the attendance up to 120 before the end of March. Sounds like fun! I am super excited honestly. Elder Arvizu is from the same generation as Elder Flores. So far he seems like a good Elder and I have heard good things about him but I have also heard that I"ll have to keep him in line a bit. We are both Senior companion haha. But I am excited. Right now we still don't have a house so we will live with the missionaries in Panuco 2 while we find one. There is only one zone leader because it's a small zone, Elder Wall. He was in Villa Cuahutemoc before me and elder Flores. He found Brandon :) but I am excited to be here. It is similar to Villa. Small but a bit bigger than villa. SO whats going to happen is that they are going to dive the area Panuco 2 but they still haven't decided where the dividing line is going to be so this week is going to be interesting. But before transfers I prayed for an area that would challenge me and make me a better missionary so I am honestly really excited. I hope we can get the attendance up. In villa we have been activating like 20-25 less actives (like 10 families) so we will just try to do the same here and also find some investigators. I am still in the state of Veracruz haha. The river I crossed every week in my old area is the river that divides Tamaulipas and Veracruz and its called the Panuco River. Panuco the city is a ways downstream just on the bank of the river. It's a cool little town. I am really excited for this transfer and hope we can help this branch grow so they can build a new chapel :) Thanks for all the letters and the love and support! It helps me keep going strong!

PS Pray for my convert Norma. She is having lots of doubts about baptisms for the dead. We taught her about family history and invited her to prepare names to take to the temple and a few days later we went to visit her and she just told us that she cant accept that we can be baptized for the dead. She says that salvation is personal and that when Christ comes again they will have another chance and that we shouldn't be doing that and that she just cant accept it. We have read a few scriptures with her like the one in Corinthians and Peter but she still can't accept it and we have invited her to read the Book of Mormon and the Bible and pray and she will get an answer but she doesn't want to read the Book of Mormon because she says the Bible comes first and just a bunch of stuff. We are trying to help her but just keep her in your prayers.

Everything was going really well in Villa when I left. We had 4 investigators in church that have lots of potential and I feel content leaving the area. It was hard to say goodbye but I am ready to start a new era of my mission. We are gonna work super hard here in Panuco so we can build a new chapel. I will let you know a bit more about the area next week when I know it a bit better. Love you lots!

Elder Skalla

I was tagged in an Instagram picture taken by this cute boy in the Villa Cuahutemoc Ward where Ryan has been serving.  Made me day!!! 

I got these pictures from Elder Skalla this week as he said good bye to people in his area.  It was this cute boy's 7th birthday and Ryan got to celebrate with him and his family.  

And here at the cutest videos!  Do you recognize the tunes?  I know, it is a little hard!!  So Cute!!