Chinese for Thanksgiving in Mexico?

Hello! 

Thanks for sending packages! Sister Ramirez is going to give us a tree to put up in the office! So now I`ll have something to put under it! Did you get the link I sent you last week about the package sending website? Is it something you would use or...? 

Thanks for editing my essays! I feel pretty good about them. MUCH better than last time! Man I was kinda embarrased reading those over. I hope I get in. I have lots of mission friends that are also applying. Actually I have a friend who just got home last monday, Elder Gilbert or Ryan Gilbert. He will be going to USU I think starting in January. I was thinking he would probably meet Brad, but not if he is in the Philippines! But anyway if Brad knows any girls looking for a returned missionary, Elder Gilbert is a good kid ;p

I did remember it was Thanksgiving... we wanted to do something fun in the office but, it was a busy day because we had the mission council and all the missionaries were coming in from all over the place. So my Thanksgiving dinner was Little Caesers. Yum! And my Thanksgiving lunch was Chinese food! You can read about that story in dads letter haha...

Oh and on my essays I still need to write the scholarship ones. But those aren't due til later so first I will submit it then start working on those. They don't seem too hard. One of my friends, Elder Davila, is applying write now to BYU. He is from Mexico but speaks perfect, fluent English (He lived in Utah for like 6 years, but then they came back to Mexico) And he is applying to BYU right now too... Do you know anyone or anything he can do to have a better chance at getting in? He REALLY wants to get in and he is a great guy. He didn't know he had to apply but he came down to Tampico and stayed in our house and we were talking about it and I mentioned that the deadline was December first and he started freaking out. He goes home in like 3 months but had no idea he had to apply so early. So he asked president permission to go to a ciber and apply and he is trying to get it done by the first for priority admission.

We had a pretty crazy week, but not quite as crazy as last change. Mainly because we planned. We had everything planned to a T and everything went quite smoothly. I actually got to sleep more than 5 hours! wooo!

With changes, new missionaries, end of the month financial madness, visas, and mission council all in one week, we didn't have much of an opportunity to go out and work. I dont know if I have told you but every Sunday we do divisions with members so thats a good time to go work and teach. But hopefully since we got everything out of they way this week, we will have some more time to work the weeks that come... Who knows though, something ALWAYS seems to come up.

We went to the temple this morning. The hardest part about being in the office is staying spiritual. Its SO easy to just get caught up in work and stuff that you slowly start losing habits and study and its crazy. Last week we went to teach some less actives and I couldn't find a scripture! and its one of my favorites! So my goal this change is to take care of the spiritual side of things and I know everything else will come into place. Honestly I am so grateful for the experience of working in the offices. It is preparing me so much for the real world, and had helped me understand a lot more how our investigators, members, converts, and less actives must feel. As missionaries it is so easy to live the gospel because it is all we do, but in the office I am learning how to balance was is pretty much a full time job and gospel study and missionary work and a family of 173 missionaries haha. I have learned so much. 

I am glad the babies are doing well! What do you mean he isnt gaining wait, just look at those fat rolls! Hes a cutie!

Thats awesome that Brad got that internship- Has he decided on a major yet? haha when I left he still didnt know and nobody ever told me what he decided... Tell him to look for a job for me too! 

Thanks for the prayers and support! I love you all so much and I am so grateful to be a part of this family :) I would never ask for anything different! 

Elder Skalla

PS I love their little snowman!

speaking of Christmas....

Hi mom!

Wow I cant believe it has been a year! (since his grandpa passed away) crazy.... I guess that's right though because it has been a year since I started training and I found out like a week later... That is good that Grandma will be with lots of family! I love the pic of me and papa at my baptism :)

I bet your life has been super crazy lately! Parker does look like a little old man haha. Like Benjamin Button! I´m glad Emery is growing so much! Every time I see a new picture of Tate he just looks bigger and bigger and crazier and crazier, and every time I see Addy she just looks much more grown up and sassy haha. It would be fun if they lived closer though... I'm telling ya, invite everyone over for Christmas!! 

Speaking of Christmas... I cant think of anything I need... just garments! I tried ordering some but if I order them from the US they charge me a ton in shipping and I tried ordering from Mexico but I did it like a month ago and it still says out of stock so iI bet it will never be sent... So if you could send me new garments, that would be wonderful... I like the shirts dri lux with the tighter neck... I don't like the long open one. I don't remember the name though.... And for bottoms Dri lux boxers. Aside from garments... I really cant think of anything haha... Oh I forgot to tell you! We have been getting a bunch of packages lately form a place called missionarypackagemx.com. Have you ever heard of it? I'm not sure exactly what it is but we get a ton of packages from there, so maybe it is a cheaper way to do it... they seem to be sent from Mexico... and they get delivered directly to the office. Might be something to look into ;) I always like new ties... Maybe a sweater? Sometimes it gets cold here... Or better, like a rain jacket. just a light windbreaker thing but one that wont get soaked through. The one I have is good but... it doesn't really hold well against Mexican rain haha... In wind it is okay but in rain, not really. And maybe if you can find a beanie laying around there. I don't know if we can wear them proselyting, but in the house it would be nice. Its almost cold season and last year I wasn't super prepared for it haha. but I can find those here too... I really don't need much. I cant ask for books because we can't read anything outside the mission library... umm. I don't know, I trust you! You are more creative than I am, I'm sure. You and Jenn and Ali combined can come up with something haha... maybe Brad can help too. 

Brad did NOT tell me he was going to the Philippines... He actually hasn´t written me in a while. When will he get back?

I'm trying to think of interesting things that have happened this weeks... The assistants and president have been out of town all week at interviews and when they are at the offices they are doing transfer stuff and that's all confidential so we haven't done anything too crazy... just getting everything ready for transfers... but just the same old same old stuff...

Oh yeah, Yesterday was the day they celebrate the revolution here in Mexico, so there was a parade downtown and I had no idea it was even a holiday so I had planned to go to the immigration office with a few elders. We get to the centro/downtown and there's just a ton of people there and a huge parade haha. Luckily the immigration office closed on Monday instead of yesterday and was still open, and we got to see part of the parade too so that was interesting. My first Mexican parade haha. I didn't have my camera so I couldn't take a picture... I'm still looking for something sufficiently Mexican to take a picture with! They are going to put the Christmas tree up in the centro soon so maybe next time I go there I will take a picture in front of the Christmas tree and the giant catholic cathedral :p That's pretty Mexican... My companion also has some good pictures that he is going to send me today and I will forward them to you... 

This weekend is transfers and there is going to be a new assistant and some other crazy stuff so I will probably be super busy this week... We are hoping it goes better than last transfers haha! 

Did you see the news about the MTC? Now the missionaries that don't learn a language will be there for 3 weeks, not 2. They say it might affect release dates for some missionaries. Just so you are aware! I will let you know as soon as I know anything. 

I cant think of anything else to say... I love the offices but... almost nothing "write home"-worthy happens... 

Love you lots!

Elder Skalla

Tampico Mexico Temple (Ryan lives across the street from it!!)

Crazy is normal...

Hi mom!

Yay! I'm so glad everything went well with Jenn's baby! I love the name Parker! He`s a cute little guy! Cant wait to meet him! Addy looks like a cute big sister too! I'm still kinda grasping the whole 4 nieces/nephews thing. But they are adorable and I`m sure even more so in person! 

"Babies and more babies" sounds like a lifestyle you would like haha... I bet you`re having fun! That's cool you are going to teach Sunday school! Teaching callings are fun! Is everyone going to go to your house for Christmas? That would be fun! I decided I want everyone to be there... Last time I was just kind of in a weird point in the mission and super stressed out, so that's why it was weird... But this time it will be better don't worry! I want to see all the babies! And that way all the babies can play together! Do you think Jenni and Greg are going to be able to come out for my homecoming? 

Ya, I read about all the handbook things... I figured it would cause some backlash... It makes sense though! I mean those children are going to get baptized and the poor little kids will have no support system and will have a completely opposite home life to what they are being taught in church and will just create confusion and problems. They aren't withheld from anything else in the church... they can be completely active and participate in everything and then when they have the ability to recognize and comprehend things at a more mature level, they can be baptized. I don't see a problem with it. It is an intent to protect the innocent children. I like what Elder Christoffersen said about how even if the world is changing and the world thinks things are okay, that does not mean that God thinks so as well. Its the whole Moral Relativeness thing that Elder Oaks talked about. Right and Wrong is not determined by man. Luckily this whole thing hasn't really affected Mexico yet. I think homosexuality here is still something that is very hidden and not public...

About my week... It has been pretty normal. Which means pretty crazy! On Monday we FINALLY closed the contract on our new house! It is just 6 blocks form the office and will be much better than the old one! We had to move in before Wednesday because we had 32 missionaries come in for new missionary training meetings, so we scrambled on Monday and Tuesday to get a bunch of bunk beds and mattresses and tons of stuff moved over to our new house... That was crazy. Then on Wednesday we had to figure out where everyone was going to stay the night. In our house 18 missionaries fit, including us, so we had to find 14 other beds... Luckily we already had an idea of how it was all going to happen and could be better prepared, because when this huge generation of missionaries got here it was a mess finding a place to put them all. So we had everything all planned out just perfect with the right amount of beds and pizzas and cereal and everything just perfect, the missionaries started showing up at the offices and we started sending them off to different houses. Meanwhile we realized that the inflatable mattresses we planned on using had holes so we had to rush to buy patches and get those fixed. But everything was going way smooth until I saw 2 missionaries walking down to the offices from the bus station.... I saw them and looked down at my spreadsheet (dad would be proud) of everyone that was going to stay the night, and they weren't on there! They had come down a day early! They were part of the generation whose training was on Friday... So I kinda panicked and had NO idea where they were going to sleep or what they were going to eat and it was crazy but we got it all worked out in the end. So even being all super planned and prepared, something happens to go wrong... But I love those crazy days because we always see so many miracles... Things that just work out without being able to explain it... For example, Little Caesars gave us extra pizza, so the missionaries that weren't supposed to be hear could actually eat. Just little stuff like that that is cool to see. OOh  yah and on Wednesday Elder Tipton got SUPER sick and had to stay at the office, but they were supposed to go with president to a zone while he did interviews, so I had to go be the replacement assistant for a day haha. 

Well that's all the stories I have time to write... Love you lots! Thanks for the prayers and all the support! I really appreciate it. I love being a missionary!

Love,

Elder Skalla

Changing our nature...

Hello Mom!

Saturday again!  I feel like I just wrote haha... This week was a good week... I have been putting a lot of personal goals lately because in the office its super easy to kinda slip out of the normal missionary routine AKA getting to sleep at 10:30pm, doing exercise, studying, all that kind of stuff because most mornings we have a bunch of other stuff to do or we have to go places and at night. Sometimes we leave the office way late or there are other missionaries in our house and its just easy to slip out of the routine so I have been working really hard and getting back into that routine the most I can. It has been a really good experience because I feel like this is how its going to be when I get home and there will always be something else I could do instead of studying or sleeping or exercise and stuff like that and In the mission.  It's honestly fairly easy because it's so structured and you just kinda have to do it all, but in the real world it isn't so easy, and I feel like being in the offices is like my little preview of what its going to be like going home. I feel like I am having to put forth a lot more effort and it has helped a lot. Sometimes as missionaries we just change our behavior for 2 years, and our nature is never really changed, and as soon as we get home we fall right back into where we were before the mission. But really what needs to change is our nature, and that can only be done through the atonement. In many ways my nature has changed in the mission, but in many ways just my behavior has changed when I thought my nature had been changed. Its kinda similar to the scripture that says we can either choose to be humble or be made humble haha. In the mission we can either study by choice and obey by choice or be forced to... Interesting thought I had haha.

Nothing super interesting happened this week... We were excited because we had several appointments and we even had one day planned to work all day after 3:00 after eating lunch (which is the meal we eat with members...) but like always a bunch of stuff came up and our appointments fell and we didn't really get to work much... But I have been working on speaking with everyone. When we go out in the street I'm trying to always find someone to talk to. I actually had a pretty great conversation with one of the immigration workers the other day. I just have to find ways to still feel the spirit of missionary work and share the gospel even when I'm in the office most of the day. Its going well! Try it! Do we have sisters in our ward? if so, tell them to invite you to a discussion or something! You would love it! Or even if you have elders tell them you and dad want to go out with them! The best way to strengthen our testimony is sharing it! 

I'm glad the babies and not-so-babies are doing good! You´re all always in my prayers!

Its weird its almost Christmas. Its still hot here! Like really hot! Last year is was cold already... Man can you believe its been a year almost since I started training Elder Lopez? Crazy!

I will try and send a pic of something cool and Mexican haha.... Have fun in Boise!

Love you all!

Elder Skalla