Time is going too fast!

Hello!

Man it seems like everyone is starting to remind me how little time I have left... Not fair! It goes by fast, and even faster here in the office... But lets not talk about that more than is necessary haha. 

Sounds like you´re having a good time as full time grama! Tate just looks so grown up and mature now... Crazy! And Emery just looks so little and tiny! I hope you´re feeding her well! Ali said something about her having a goopy eye? I hope she gets better! Are you going to Boise for when baby boy comes or no? Good luck!

Speaking of Betsy, how is she doing? And how are the Elders in our ward? Haha he looks like hes all wrapped up in his suit AND a sweater haha. Its still dang hot down here! Has it snowed yet in Denver?

I started looking a bit at college stuff... I went on the BYUI page and sent my transcript to BYU. I will talk to President about the ecclesiastical endorsement. First I have to figure out how to say endorsement in Spanish haha. I still haven't even thought about whether I want to go to BYU or stay in BYUI but I still want to apply to at least know my options. I have lots of mission friends that are going to both. And I don't know how I'm gonna do going to Disneyland so soon after I get back... We had to go to a store called Liverpool this week which is like a Dillard's or Macy's or Sears but super fancy and I about died haha. I felt like I was in Park Meadows mall. Try and make it at least a week or two or three after I get back!

That's crazy that Braden has his call already... Weird! I'm glad Brittany is doing better. Tell her I say hi!

I feel bad for writing boring letters... I'm trying to focus more on spiritual experiences throughout the day but I'm still working on it. I´ll share two...

We have an investigator named Edgar! Have I told you about him? He was a reference that the assistants found from the Independence day activity in the stake last month. The sisters started teaching him and we picked him up when we got to the ward. He is super great and he takes a lot of initiative to learn! He started going to institute and mission prep! He works with a bunch of members and the owner of the place he works at is Mormon so he is just kinda surrounded and he already knows its true and has a baptism date for November 14th! I guess that's how I'll be celebrating Jenn's birthday! He is great and is reading the Book of Mormon. He actually told us that he leaves his book and the pamphlets and stuff out in his room and sometimes he finds them in other places and then he found his sister reading them and so he told us on Sunday his sister is going to go to church with him! Super cool! A very prepared investigator..

We also had another referral from the same activity but the sisters hadn't contacted her. Her friend and co worker is a member and was really curious about learning more.. she had already read the introduction and the testimonies and stuff and that helped her clear up some doubts she had and we had a super powerful spiritual lesson with her. We brought a member couple and the member at the beginning just kinda took over the lesson and started talking about the apostasy and how the catholic church was formed and all these historical facts and just kinda trying to convince her that the catholic church is false and my companion and I were just kinda there nervous thinking about how we were gonna save the lesson and we just had to start interrupting where we could and finally we steered the lesson to a point where we could testify and explain that we weren't there to convince her of anything and that she had to find out for herself through personal revelation and prayer.  It was super powerful and I remember a point in the lesson when she was just kinda saying that she was fine where she was and she has always felt like God loves her and cares for her and we testified that we are representatives of Jesus Christ and He sent us to her in this very moment, because He is ready for her to do something even better. She heard that and just looked kinda shocked but she like changed completely and committed to pray and seek the truth for herself and it was super cool. I think the member kinda realized at the end too that its not necessary to explain all the history and the facts. It was a cool moment when the spirit testified to each of us. 

Love you lots!

Elder Skalla

Quiet Week...finally!

Hello!

Haha you all had a crazy week this week and I wasn't busy for once! Weird... But ya honestly it was just a quiet week... I didn't have a whole lot to do but my companion still learning and its the end of the month so he has to put all of the accounts in 0 and account for all the transactions and stuff so he is super busy and there isn't a whole lot I can do to help so It has been a boring, quiet week. On Tuesday we got to teach our investigator Edgar which was super cool. He is learning really well and I'm sure he will be baptized. Keep him in your prayers! I'm really liking being in our new area. We live with the assistants now, so we are right in front of the temple and half a block from the offices which is super nice. Its fun living with them. We are looking for a new house that is a little bigger so that other missionaries can stay in our house too when they come to Tampico. We found a good one yesterday so we are hoping we can move in early next week. I'm sure you had a crazy fun week with Tate! He just looks like an all boy, all play kind of kid haha. I'm excited to play with him. I was looking at pictures of how he was when I left. Just a little bald butter ball! And now he's all grown up and big. Luckily there will be 2 little, bald butter balls when I get back! Time is going by way too fast. My sister missionary friends that went in around the same time as me are getting home soon. Lauren Best gets home in like a month. I think Logan and Susan are gonna go out to pick her up. The good thing Is I still have a ways to go :) But I cant help but start thinking about what I have to do when I get back. I looked in a little bit to BYU and when I need to start registering and EFY counselor stuff and a bit of working in the MTC and if I can make it in getting home early May. We need to start doing that quick if I want to apply to BYU...

The only interesting thing that happened was my little mini vacation on Thursday. A new elder had to go home for some back problems so he and his companion came to Tampico and after the missionary left for home, his companion was left without a companion, but the assistants found a companionship to put him in until a new missionary form Ecuador that was waiting on his visa gets here in a week and a half. BUT the missionary didn't have his clothes, so I went back to his area like an hour and a half away in a bus to go get his clothes with him haha. Its a little tiny town called Ebano that's close to Panuco. Its the same zone. So that was interesting haha. But other than that nothing super crazy has happened. Things are all pretty normal. 

I have just been anxious to see the pics of the baby! On the 20th I had to get on my personal email to check something an elder had sent me and I saw your email there saying she was born but I had to resist the temptation to open it until today haha. But she is super cute and I hope you feed her lots so she is nice and chubby when I get home haha. Sorry for the boring letter... Love you!

Elder Skalla

PS: I sent pictures. The flag is a giant flag we saw in some super tiny town on the way to Ebano. The other one is Elder Tipton sleeping in the office last night. Elder Zufelt had to put all of the accounts in zero because its the end of the month and it was due last night so we were here late haha.

Crazy Week and the Forgotten missionary!

Hey mom!

So... this week was transfer week and guess what! I got transferred! yay!!!! My old ward was called Unidad (did I even tell you that?) and now we will be in a ward called Jardin (Garden). Haha I`m still in the offices but we changed to a closer ward. I did get a new companion though! His name is Elder Zufelt from California! We got to Mexico at the same time. We weren't in the MTC together thought because he was in the advanced Spanish class. So really he leaves a transfer after I do. He is a great guy though and we are gonna have a lot of fun together. We moved wards because the other one was super far (in another stake) and this one is lots closer. So now we can walk to our area instead of taking a bus or a taxi. We also changed houses. Did I tell you that we had already changed houses? We changed again today haha. We still haven't found a house close to the offices so we moved in with the assistants and we are gonna keep the old big house just for now if a large group comes we can go there. its just far and a waste of money. So now I live right in front of the temple and half a block from the offices and 4 blocks from my area! Yay! I think that's gonna help us out a lot when it comes to working in the area. 

So this week was super crazy... 

SUNDAY: We went to our ward and told everyone we were leaving (Which wasn't too hard because I hadn't really had enough time to make many friends in the ward, a few but not many). Then we went to our new ward and got there just in time for Ward Council. They were excited to see us because they have had sisters for  5 years (not that sisters are bad, they just hadn`t had elders for a long time haha) and the sisters had 2 wards but now we just have them so they were happy. Everyone was surprised to see us, but especially the sister missionaries because we never told them that we were going to be in the ward so they were a bit confused when they saw us haha. After church, the craziness of this week started... In the afternoon the missionaries that finished their mission (among them Elder Flores, Elder Arvizu, and Elder Camarena) came into Tampico and we had to get them all into place. Oh and during all this there were 3 missionaries that were going home early (disobedience) that we had to take care of and make sure they didn't do anything. So we were running all over the place but the madness still hadn`t started. After their final dinner all the leaving missionaries went to our house and well we all stayed up talking until like 1:30 and then at 3:30 we had to wake up to take them to the airport. So I slept 2 hours that night haha.

MONDAY: Transfer day! Wake up at 3:30, we went to the airport and made sure everybody's suitcases were paid for and that everyone had their passports and knew how to fill out the immigration forms and then we went up and said goodbye... that was probably the hardest part of the whole weekend. I didn't expect it to be that hard but once it actually came it was rough. Three of some of my favorite companions (one being my trainer), and several other great friends that I might not ever see again in this life. I`m pretty sure we all cried. Or at least I did haha. BUT there wasn't much time for crying because.... in 1 hour, 17 fresh new missionaries would be arriving and we had to get them and their suitcases to our house and then to the stake center! BUT, at the stake center every other missionary that had changes would also be going, and it was my job to keep them separated, trainers and greenies in one room and the rest in the other, and make sure everyone behaved haha, meanwhile trying to get a few missionaries to sign immigration documents. FUN! After all that madness, we had to figure out a way to house 17 missionaries and their trainers, especially when only 1 trainer is from the Tampico area. So we scrambled finding houses to fit everyone in and sending people in taxis with just a piece of paper with our address on it haha. THEN at like 9:00 when everything was settling down and everyone was where they should be... President come up to me and says " Elder Skalla, there is a missionary in the airport that says he has been waiting in the airport for 2 hours and nobody has come for him. My wife is on the way to get him, Do you know who he is??" So my mind starts scrambling and thinking and I remembered counting and we had all 17 missionaries that were supposed to come... BUT, flashback... There was 1 American Elder who was going to come to the mission that day too, around 7:00 PM, BUT the travel department had told us that his Visa wasn't ready so he was reassigned to the California Roseville mission. That was a week ago and we hadn't heard anything since. Well, surprise! Elder Ford showed up! Sister Ramirez brought him to the offices and the poor kid hardly speaks Spanish and he was in the Tampico airport for 2 hours waiting and he finally found Pres Ramirez phone number in the itinerary and found a payphone but president didn't answer, so he called the mission home but sister Ramirez doesn't speak English but her daughter does so they freaked out when they found out there was a missionary in the airport. But he got here safe and we took him to our house and fed him Little Caesars and all was well. But SURPRISE the assistants had to find someone to train this new Elder! He called his mom from the office to let her know he was safe. Side note: during all this we still had to take care of the 3 disobedient missionaries AND buy their plane tickets and find out schedules and stuff. Fun stuff. So President drove us to our house and we ate and everything and by like 12:30 I couldn't finally sleep again! Yay! I was excited for a sold 6 hours of sleep, even though I was on the ground. But...

TUESDAY: 4:00 AM someone steps on my ankle and I wake up thinking its gonna snap, hear my phone ringing and the see the assistants calling. Half awake they tell me to get dressed and go to the airport to pay for the extra bags of the 2 of the missionaries that were going home. Off to the airport again! They said when we got there I looked like a zombie haha. We paid and sent them off and all was well. 

The 4 of us just sat down for a few minutes in the airport, knowing that it would be the last few calm moments before the day started... At 10:00 the new missionary training meeting started and my companion and I had to be there to give our part. At like 9:00 President called me and tells me he finally got the authorization from Salt Lake to send the 3rd missionary home and to buy the next plane out and inform his stake president. So I got everything all ready for that and rushed over to the institute building and one of the assistants and my old companion Elder Bis went drop the elder off at the airport. Surprise though, I was going to have to help Elder Tipton give the training haha. So I played assistant for a little bit. After that I got all the greenies passports and started their processes to not be illegal in the country. After the training, we all went to the mission home and the newbies started eating tacos with the trainers. I hadn't eaten more than a few candy bars or slices of pizza since Sunday so I was excited to sit down and eat some tacos. but NOPE president sent us to DHL to send some urgent packages which took forever because the lady was typing slow. and then we had to go to the bus station to change the tickets we had already bought because they weren't going to make it on time so all the newbies and trainers had to stay in our house again. When we finally got back to the mission home there weren't any tacos left haha. Luckily Sister Ramirez made me an egg and ham sandwich on a bagel :) Then we had to organize again where 40 missionaries were going to sleep, got everyone sent to a house and finally at like 11 o clock we were done and everyone was in a house with food and a bed and happy. The next morning everyone left early on their buses and everything went smooth and we went back to the offices from the bus station feeling like superheroes the end of an avengers movie haha after saving the world and not sleeping or eating for 3 days. 

Since then the week has been pretty calm... Elder Bis stayed here til this morning to train my new companion so now everything is normal and it`s just us again haha. It has been a crazy week but the crazier the better! We learned a lot and had lots of fun so that's what counts! And everything went well in the end. I`m excited for this transfer. Should be pretty fun. Actually we already have a progressing investigator (Thanks Hermanas!) named Edgar. More details in the future haha. Love and support to Ali and the new baby this week! 

After the 4am airport run...

Love you!

Elder Skalla

PS. president let me go to the baptism of the daughter of Maria de Lourdes last Saturday! It was awesome! That's what the pictures are from... The other guy that got baptised is Erika's boyfriend. Erika isn't from Miramar but she is from a ward called Germinal which is in the same district and I was district leader so I interviewed her for her baptism. Her boyfriend lives in Miramar and was baptized Saturday too! I had no clue so that was a cool surprise! Apparently she had told him about me so he recognized me when I got there and I had no idea who he was, but it was a great experience. The others are other families from Miramar. the young couple is Angelica (convert) and Beto (her BF that lives in another ward), and the other family is Luis and Cynthia and their mom Marichuy. I think Rodrigo is in there too... I cant remember who I took pics with. It was great to see all of them though! Esther's mom and sister still haven't gotten baptized yet :( But eventually! They have a testimony they just need to learn a bit more about faith and sacrifice. 

 

Mom tears and McDonalds (he is his mother's child)

Hello! First of all, thanks for the package! I feel like a new man! I didn't realize how dirty and yellow my old shirts were until I put them next to my new ones haha. Crazy! and gross! haha. No don't worry about sending treats... although it does hurt a little thinking that I was that close to eating some of grama's cookies haha. Darn Customs! My Gs aren't too bad... but I also didn't think my shirts were that bad haha so I will probably order some new ones. I am way close to the distribution center here but they don't have the ones I like :( 

Actually I hardly ever see Sister Ramirez so I don't know if that would be the best way to get information to me. Honestly just send it to me and I will wait til Saturday. The time goes by so fast I wont even notice. Don't worry! Its going to be a little weird but I think it was probably weirder for Brad. At least I know now how it is to have nieces and nephews, Brad didn't have a clue haha. It ll still be weird though.

Yay for switching to Verizon haha. Do you really like it better? Man I cant imagine not having unlimited data... for the same reason as Brad haha my music! I don't want to leave sprint! Haha and its weird seeing iPhone 6... Didn't even know that existed. Its weird how much I don't know. 

Haha I´m glad you liked the pictures. We had a pretty good time. I also really liked Elder Holland's talk. I actually did get to watch that session in English because Elder Tipton and I stayed in the offices waiting for our food haha. It made me think "I am positive that my mom is in tears right now, and also my two pregnant sisters" haha. I liked the part when he said "You are doing better than you think you are!". You are and you did! I wouldn't have asked for any other mom. (insert mom tears here )

I also noted the theme of encouragement and hope. I really really loved Pres. Uchtdorf's first talk. I couldnt really get into it a whole lot because I had to watch in Spanish and even though I understand everything, its harder and not the same. So I wrote down talks that called my attention most and am studying them.

-Pres. Uchtdorf

-Larry R. Lawrence

-James B. Martino

-Allen D. Haynie

-Kim B. Clark

-Quentin L. Cook

-Devin G. Durrant

And lots more! I already downloaded the audio of the first session and have started listening in moments of free time in the offices haha.

This week has been kinda crazy because we have been trying to find a house because the one we thought we had fell through and on top of all that all the missionaries who are leaving had to come to the temple and several other things and we always had people in our house and in the office and it was all a crazy mess haha. But it was fun too. Elder Flores goes home this transfer, which is going to be a sad goodbye. And its not like Ecuador is very close to go visit. I will get to take him to the airport Monday morning. That's gonna be weird...

Apart from that everything is normal... I ate McDonald's breakfast this morning! First time in a year and a half! Its the same, which is awesome haha. The only thing they don't have is diet coke, but that's okay because I am trying to not drink soda. Elder Tipton, the assistant, is gonna help me start lifting weights and eating right and get in better shape. I'm excited haha I have never really worked out or cared a whole lot about that kinda stuff but now I don't wanna be the tall skinny gumby kid anymore haha so we will see how that all goes. I´ve got Brad beat on the height side of things, now I just have to work on the other part haha and finally my childhood dreams of being bigger than my brother will be fulfilled. haha just kidding I don't think that will happen, but I'd at least like to get rid of my belly and not be THAT skinny haha.

Love you lots and I appreciate all the love and support you give me :) It helps a lot. I know you are praying for me and I am very grateful for that :)  Love you!

Elder Skalla

I am pretty sure this cute little guy is Presidents son.  Adorable!!

Crazy pictures from Correcto/Incorrecto Training

These guys are having a great time in the office and preparing for the training of new and old missionaries.  I am glad they can have fun while teaching and learning mission rules.  LOVE it!!!

The office staff:

Elder Skalla (Secretary to Pres.), Elder Tipton (AP and friend from the pre-existence), Elder Bis (Comparer & Finance Secretary), Elder Amador (AP), Elder Sampson (Reference Secretary) and Elder Naylor (Health Secretary)

Correcto/Incorrecto

Hi mom!

Haha sorry P-Day got changed... You can keep writing me on Monday if its easier for you... I will just check it Saturday and write you on Saturday. It doesn't make a huge difference. 

Thanks for the package! I have only seen one occasion of having to pay for a package while I have been here in the offices and it was like 900 pesos (70-80 dollars) and we had to call the mom and she sent money to her son. But just send it normal so it isn't a hassle. The best way is through US Mail. It always gets here and we never have to pay. Have you sent it to DHL before? You probably know more than me about this haha. You do what you think is best and if I have to pay, I am here to do it haha.

Sorry you got sick :( but I am glad you got better. I bet its weird having jet lag... I'm pretty sure I´ll have something similar when I get home haha... Mission lag! I am so tired all the time haha but somehow I still have just enough energy to make it through one more day haha... Being in the offices is more tiring than I thought! All the missionaries that have to stay the night in Tampico sleep in our house and this week 3 nights in a row we had a different group of elders haha. First  a group of like 3 new missionaries and their trainers, then 5 new ones and their trainers, and then 20 zone leaders haha. Pretty crazy. Its super fun though. But afterwards I just want to sleep. :D

We also had to move our house this week haha... We have been planning to move for a few weeks because president wants us closer to the offices and we thought we had found a house and so we told our landlord that we were going to leave by the end of the month but then the other house fell through so we had to have an emergency move to a house close to our other one that was desoccupied.  (The word in Spanish is disoccupado so he is speaking Spanglish!!)  It used to be a house for sisters so its really nice haha but it was stressful moving our 10 bunk beds and all the other junk and then cleaning the house and getting everything all organized in the other one in the day before a wave of missionaries was gonna come. Its a whole new kind of adventure here in the offices... I will have lots of stories to share when I get back haha. 

I loved the first session of conference! Its a bit of a bummer though because we have to watch it in Spanish. I guess a stake president called President Ramirez and complained because the American elders always go to a separate room and watch conference and the members feel bad or something dumb. I don't understand it but oh well. At least I understand everything but its just not the same in a language that isn't your own. I will be watching it in English as soon as its available haha.

About how to advise me about the babies.... Ummmm Well you can´t really call the offices because the majority of the time I am the only one that speaks English here haha and I don't want that kind of temptation. Don't write to my secretary email either! But its fine I can just wait til Saturday... or you can email Sister Ramirez and she can show me the pictures or something haha. Just don't write or call the offices. :D love you haha but that's just hard.

Apart from moving and all the other craziness that happened this week... everything has been great. I am happy in the offices and I love serving the missionaries. I realized that it doesn't matter if I am serving members and investigators or if I am serving missionaries, in the end I am serving the Lord and that's what matters, and I am happy.

My favorite talks from the morning session were Pres. Uchtdorfs' and Elder Lawrence. Lots of things I needed to hear :) 

Love you lots! I will send a few pictures... they are a bit crazy though haha... last week we made a PowerPoint to show the new missionaries about different rules and standards called Correcto/Incorrecto haha so we got to mess around a little bit. Ill send the pics.

Love you!

Elder Skalla