Gladstone for at least 6 more weeks.

Hello family!!

This week was grand of course! Sister Kyaw and i are staying together in GLADSTONE for another six weeks! Raise the roof, six more weeks of full time bikes! Actually we might split the area and go half and half with the car but who knows? That means i would be driving again, woot! Hurray for round a bouts the size of a small island.

Soooooo on tuesday we had a District Meeting! For the first time in Gladstone. Which is funny because out DL wasnt even there. The STLs (Sister Training Leader) conducted it and trained us. Meetings arent usually my favorite thing in the world but it was good. I think the way we can tell if a meeting is effective is if we are inspired to do something and then after, we actually do it, so its not all just talk. "Now if ye believe these things...see that ye do them."

Wednesday we were legitimately persecuted! This lady gave it to us big time. Me and Sister Kyaw just walked away crying and this guy stopped his truck and asked us if we were okay haha :) Then we got over it. I cant imagine being a pioneer and being chased out by mobs and persecuted all the time...they're awesome! We are seeing Celeste every week and teaching her the Gospel. I love when it gets to a point that the investigator is like leading the meeting. Investigator: "Hi sisters how are you?" chatting....Investigator "All right should we start with a prayer?" You betcha! I love Celeste, Mom she kinda reminds me of you. In a small way :) She sketched me a picture of Jesus Christ, my favorite one from the lesson 3 pamphlet.

On Thursday we had weekly planning and we also went to see Sam and Jack, two children that we teach on Thursdays. They are cute with good questions. Usually the mom listens too. Planting seeds! We went to see Adell and Jian and Jian has to quit the communist party before he can get baptized, and his family is freaking out right now. We assured him that we could still teach him and he could still come to church while he tries to figure out his problems. So many times i would excuse investigators if i could--when they're faced with seemingly insurmountable hurdles they must pass through to make it to baptism and confirmation and continued activity in the church--but this is not Sister Schaelling's work, its the Lords. And the Lord will wait and work with us and He is patient, but He does require that we consecrate all to enter His Kingdom, even our very culture at times. But the blessings far out weigh the hardship!

Friday was deep cleaning so we deep cleaned our lovely little flat. I also made a couch for us out of pillows and a comforter. We went and saw Dilys and i corrected her entrance essay for a school program she is trying to get into. We had dinner with this random potential investigator and his wife and their friends! They loved Sister Kyaw :) We were able to share a message about our loving Heavenly Father and sang to them at the end. It was good. Craig, our potential and his wife are so nice and just welcomed us into their homes without even knowing us. It was great. To find Aussie people that nice is kind of a rarity!

Phillip had a rough week this past week and is dealing with a lot of hard stuff. We went over and Elder Fenton gave him a blessing. We sang to him. Also the next day we called Phillip and left him a voice message of us singing "My Heavenly Father Loves me."  He was laughing with us on Sunday about it. He is soooo humble and showed up to church in a white shirt and slacks with his new scriptures. He asked elder Fenton to teach him how to tie a tie :) He is amazing! I will always be grateful for Phillip's example!!

Saturday we saw Arnelson again and set a new baptism date. His struggle is W.o.W and sabbath day holy. He wants to be baptized, i think next week we are just going to bike over their and bang the door down so he will come to church :) He is genuine. Bro Glen Porteous had us over for a bbq with some other RC and it was great...transfer calls came and Sister Wulfenstein is going down to Brisbane! We are getting Sister Russel from South Africa who has been an STL for the past six months! She will be comps with Lealii E'e.  We also got a new Samoan family in the branch and laughing and joking with them reminded me how much i miss Polys!!

I do believe that is all for this week!

Love you all!

Sister Schaelling

May, 2013  Carly's farewell talk Sunday, with cousin Kenna

Ken got baptized!

Hello Family!

So Ken got baptized this morning at 11 a.m., it was wonderful. The elders that taught him in chinese were on skype with us and there were talks in chinese :) The other sisters and i sang a musical number after he was baptized by Elder Fenton. Sitting with Ken after his baptism i asked him how he felt and he just said "Peace." That sums it up!!

 

So this week the STLs (sister training leaders)  Sisters Moran and Tautuiaki flew down from Townsville to go on trade-offs with us! They stayed for a week (theyre leaving tomorrow back to their area) and it has been wonderful. Sister Kyaw and i camped out in our living room/study room and i forgot that sleeping on the floor is fun! We also found some yummy australian sized cockroaches in our flat...like three inches long. And they fly. But thats okay we just smash them burmese style

So on Wednesday sister Kyaw and i had a rediculous day and we found out that there is this one street that everyone just doesnt like us! Except our two investigators that live there that is. On Thursday i went on trade offs with Sister Moran who is just adorable, i was leading the area for the first time here in Gladstone. It was fun, Sister Moran is really positive all day and patient with me as i study the map and try to find where we are. (our area is not really that big i just am direction challenged even after two transfers) we tracted and taught and i love teaching with different missionaries and learning their skills. Friday we were with Sister Moran as a 3 way and we just planned and planned (weekly planning) and then brought our investigator Celeste (snake lady) with us to go work out at Mark and Tabitha's place and have a lesson. We taught the Word of Wisdom, Celeste made it to church on Sunday too, she is doing so good. 

Saturday was good, we saw Arnelson who fell off the radar for a little while. He is still struggling with drinking but really wants to be baptized. We need to send missionaries to his wife and kids in the Phillipines. He wants to be sealed in the temple. He spoke to us about how he can't sleep at night especially if he was arguing with his wife on the phone or if he forgets to pray. He works long hours and needs his sleep but it doesn't come...we committed him to pray and read from the book of Mormon every night before he goes to bed. We promised that if he did the Lord would help him rest. 

 

We were so blessed this week in finding. We found heaps of potentials just at lessons, our investigators friends, on the street, out tracting....so exciting! We are following up with all of them this week. I realized sometimes the Lord blesses us with people to teach, but having lots of people to teach doesnt necesarily make you a good missionary. When it comes to numbers that we add up, there are some numbers that are totally up to the agency of others, like investigators at church, and some that are up to us and our own agency, like hours finding (we report that) and contacts. I like having something to do that will always be up to me. I can always go talk to people or go knock doors, its whether they accept or not thats up to them. Does that make sense at all? Any who.  Also this is the last week before transfers and im pretty sure Sister Kyaw is going down to Brisbane but who knows? I do feel some sort of a change coming. I realize i've always been in just "normal" missionary situations, Jr companion in a developed area. Its kindof nice! I talk to a bunch of sisters that white wash and train and open areas and it seems so stressful. Me and Sister Kyaw we just do our thing :) 

Im so happy Ken got baptized. It was fun to have the STLs here! and i just got kicked off my computer!

 

love you

SIster Schaelling 

Great Goodly Gladstone

Hello Father and Mother and family!!! and friends.

So we didnt baptize anyone this week. :(   But thats okay! :)   And Dad, Sister Fenton just shared it on her page, but i can ask her to message it to you.

Sounds like all is well on the Utah front! We had some cloudy days this week which was a nice break from the piercing Australian sun. The temperature is starting to rise....last week it hit 39 celcius...whatever that is, its hot! And its not summer yet apparently! Bring it on sun. Im just glad we get a nice breeze from the ocean. 

Enough about the weather! This week we taught Ken with the chinese elders as per usual, he is preparing for his baptism on the 11th. We actually just taught him this morning as well, hes doing great! He says he doesnt know everything yet but he just wants to be baptized! Amen Ken, we can make that happen. We taught him "My Heavenly Father Loves Me" in english and sang it together. It was cute. :) We also saw Joann and read the Book of Mormon with her. That book changes people! I cant believe i didnt read it more before the mish! Its amazing

We also had FHE with our RC Mark and Tabitha. I love them :) I was conducting and it was so cool to have fhe with people who had never had it before in their life. We sang and had star of the week and all of that (when you are the "star of the week" everybody else says something nice about you) . Im glad we always had fhe at home. Prophets are pretty inspired I'd say! Wednesday we did service at Bree's house like we always do. She is going through a little bit of a hard time right now. We cleaned her car and i was vacuuming it out and it was parked outside right in the sun, the sweat was dripping off my face onto the ground in the car! Nastay! Dont worry i carry around a sock in the basket of my bike to wipe my face with when we make it to appointments. :) Really though.

We taught some investigators we havent seen for a while so it was good to follow up with them. We also taught Joann the ten commandments and law of chastity. She took it all in very well. Her and Nino actually met in Japan while they were both living there. She made us udon noodles they were so yummy! She worked as a Japanese translator when she moved back to the phillipines. Sometimes she teaches me Japanese. 

On thursday we had a miracle. We were about to bike out to Gondoon street which is across town. Then i discovered i left my helmet in the other sisters car....so we just started walking....then this old couple pulled over and gave us a ride! We were so happy because that would have been a long walk :) We said a prayer of thanks after they dropped us off and contiued the work. We teach one of our potential investigators children about the gospel because she wants them to learn about God ;) i love teaching kids. 

On friday we went and saw Dilys and her mother Stella who is a non member and her father Peter who is RC. We taught Plan of Salvation...who doesnt just love this lesson? How wonderful that God has a plan, a way, a path for us to follow so that we can return to live with him again. How vast, how wondrous, how complete, redemptions grand design. Where justice, love and mercy meet, in harmony divine.... As Eliza Snow says. Dilys is doing great and feels so happy all the time.

Also on friday we worked out with RC Mark and Tabitha and Dilys and Laureen (the Fentons taught and baptized her a few months ago, shes awesome) and put on boxing gloves and punched each other. I was sooooo sore the next day!! Good grief!

On Saturday i held a snake! It was so pretty. This was at Celeste's house, (investigator) she has two snakes they are both over six feet long...i didnt know i loved snakes! They are so soft. I had it all wrapped around me and was petting its head. I think ill get a snake when i come home :)  Except you have to feed it live rats which is kind of disturbing to watch ill have you know. Poor little fella! 

Sunday was lovely, we went to church and Darral came. He needs some serious help in his life and we are trying to give it to him. He always reeks of alcohol and nicotine but has sincerity in his eyes. Im so thankful for the word of wisdom!!!

Family i love you all :) Transfer calls are in two weeks!! Eeek Sister Kyaw might fly back to Brisbane. who knows? Transfers are exciting :) 

love you all,

Sister Schaelling 

Phillips Baptism in Gladstone!

October 27, 2013  

Dearest Family,

Thank you for the letters!  This week was really good, i will just pick a few highlights!

Yong.....so we found this Korean man named Yong and he is awesome. We taught him sitting out on his porch and shared the Restoration. He is very thoughtful and believes very strongly in God and Jesus. Everything he said was so true...if there is no love in someone, they dont know God. He has read eight versions of the Bible. He asked awesome questions and listened intently. We gave him a book of Mormon and invited him to church. He said if he feels love at church it will help him know. "For eight years i have been praying....Im thirsty, and so tired." Man i really felt for him. We went back to give him a Korean book of Mormon and his countanence was totally different...his neighbor who hates us, came over and told him a bunch of anti mormon stuff when we left....he found a bunch of nasty things about the church...we testified til the cows came home and begged him to keep praying and reading. He is confused. "Please pray for me." He said as we left. He came to church on Sunday, and said it was very different, with no pastor. Hopefully we can be in tune enough with the Spirit to resolve his concerns without contention. We really love him!

 

Peter (father), Dilys, Sister Kyaw and Schaelling

Darral....we saw Darral, the man who contacted me in the Library. We brought RC Peter and Dilys (Peter is Dilys's father) with us to teach him. Darral lost his father not long ago. 5 months ago actually which is when i came out on my mission. He kept telling us he needs spiritual guidance and he loves mormons and wants to be a member of our church. This is a miracle, but also we need to be patient with him. He’s a heavy drinker and smoker, and he needs our help. Im glad Peter came with us to his lesson because Darral's house is a little creepy. Darral was just weeping in front of us because he is so lost. I’ve never seen so many men weep before i came out on my mission. Its sad.

Phillip! Phillip was baptized on Friday. Teaching him was a little stressful because we had to teach him everything super fast. So we are going over all of it again now that he’s baptized. He was so nervous before his baptism, he was sitting there in his jumpsuit and turned me and in his new zealand accent said "im dying sister!" I tried to help him out and calm him down :) After he was baptized he said he felt like a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders. He really felt the Spirit when he was confirmed as well. Phillip is really special....so humble and meek. Teaching him was so funny sometimes because we would commit him to do something and he would always say yes, he would. Which is wierd because usually we have to resolve a million concerns before people commit but Phillip is just really gentle and submissive...we can all learn from him.

 

Philip's Baptism, Sister Schaelling and Kyaw

We continue to teach Joann and Nino and this week we shared Word of Wisdom. Something i noticed about myself is that i hate making things....fluffy. I just want to always be bold and speak the truth. Elder Fenton jokes that people stay out of the church because i am too bold....haha. (Im really not that bold)  But ive heard missionaries gloss over questions from investigators because their scared of offending them so they dont really teach doctrine....we dont do our investigators any favors when we do that. Let them know the truth, boldly, and with love. :)  Anywho Nino wants to learn everything about the church before he will think about joining. Joann is very loving and has a hard time getting her three little boys to church alone. I would to if i was her! 

We taught a RC named Laureen this week in her home. I really liked that lesson. We talked about eternal marriage. Her husband Paul is a long time member, recently reactivated. She was baptized before i got to this area. They are seriously the cutest couple ever to me. Laureen is so excited to go to the temple and be sealed....I love the temple.  Mark and Tabitha are aiming for the Temple as well.

At Phillip's baptism all of the sisters, myself included, sang Love at Home first in english than Tongan and sister Lealii e'e played the guitar. We also sang it in sacrament meeting. Elder Fenton put it on facebook actually....interesting haha. Church was really lovely this Sunday. We only had two investigators come but thats okay! We have been seeing so many miracles and Sister Kyaw and i continue to bike the night away,....(well, the day,) and we are so blessed to be teaching all the day long.  I’ve lost a bit a weight here in gladstone. 

I love you all!! 

Sister Schaelling

MIA got baptized!

Hello Family,

This week was grand! And stressful, but honestly what week isnt? So we started the week by teaching our lovely investigator Phillip on Monday night in our branch mission leader's home with him and his wife and his son Rylee came and sat in. I like team teaching with everyone. 

Okay so two weeks ago i was sitting here emailing and this man was like-- who are you? mormons? and we were like yeah! he's from New Zealand.  Anywho he said we could come over and teach him, so i got his info...then we never went and this morning i was thinking we need to visit that man and two seconds ago as i'm emailing guess who comes up behind me? and says "hey you havent visited me yet?" ...yup. Our dear friend from New Zealand named Darral. We're going tomorrow haha

Okay Tuesday was packed as usual teaching Ken with skype the Chinese elders and then visiting Joann and teaching Phillip again with Mark and Tabitha at the Fentons. I love the Fentons by the way. Joann is doing well and reading the Book of Mormon and marking things and asking questions. We taught Phillip with Paul Leao and Glen who is a recent convert (i love having RC at lessons because they can relate so much better than me) Tuesday is always a good day...

Sister Schaelling and the Gladstone view

Wednesday we went over to Bree's and helped her in her house and then taught Law of Chastity with the Fentons because they are mature and married. Bree is living with her partner and the lesson went really well and very spiritual.  Bree said she wants to be married...We also always teach Leyani from Sri Lanka on Wednesdays who is just so nice. We went over to Celeste after that and started teaching Celeste the Restoration. She is really kind and always laughing. Usually she is smoking when we teach but she quit! I never would have pinned her as progressing but she came to church on Sunday with her little boy Linkin, (yes its spelled like Linkin Park) and she really liked it. Judge not!

Wednesday we also taught the Sulit family, Joanna and Nino. We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and invited them to be baptized. They said of course they would, after they learn and understand more. Nino said he really wants to know everything he can and know its true. That is virtuous i suppose. He told us to please keep coming over because he wants to have the word of God in his home. We also taught Phillip again on Wedesday night about The Gospel of Jesus Christ. He is so humble and lonely its rather heartbreaking,. He says he feels like we are a family at church. I love that.

Sister Schaelling and cute boys

Thursday we did service putting a swing set together with the Fentons at a potential's house. Wow i am totally hiring someone to assemble it if i every buy a swing set. Not easy my friends! I learned about tools and lock washers and tee nuts. We didnt finish before we had to go. Jo gave us lunch and we headed out to Joann again and read the Book of Mormon together and after we went to Ardell and John the Chinese couple. We taught Gospel of Jesus Christ just the first two principles. I love teaching John, he is so humble and really his questions are just...adorable.  For example "Am  i allowed to talk with God for forgivenesss?" yes, you are :)  After that we biked back and i biffed it, my tire went parralell to the lip of the side walk and i hit the brakes and flew off landing in the grass.  It was rather hilarious.  I skinned my shin on my pedal and my hands got all black and greasy because i had to put the chain back on my bike.  what a day! We then read scriptures with our less active Bro. Ebert and then taught the less active PM Newton Family the Restoration

Friday we got to teach Dilys (now a member ;) and her non member mother Stella which was lovely!

Saturday was a big day!  We taught Mia, our eight year old investigator and elder Fenton came over to practice baptizing her. Elder Fenton says he loves having sisters around because he gets to do all the baptizing :)  We went over to our filipino investigator Arnelson's house and he wouldn't come out because he was hung over. We coaxed him out and he sat on his balcony while we sat on the ground below him and taught Word of widsom. it was kind of hilarious. We also set a baptism date for Nov. 16. Then we went and got him some lunch and came back and all ate together in front of his house. Then we taught Rosie!!! Love her, she said she wants us to teach her the lessons so she can understand. She feels warm when she prays but has difficulty knowing that God is there. Her questions are sincere and thought provoking

Sister Kyaw, Mia, Sister Schaelling--BAPTISM DAY!

THEN Mia got baptized that evening :) It was so cute. Her whole family came including her father Geoff who isnt really religious. Mia's friends came too, from Japan. Miyuki was her name, (the mother). We stood at the top of the stairs with Bree and watched little Mia get baptized, Mia was so excited in the water and practically jumping for joy it was so cute. Bree really felt the spirit and i think she will really progress now.  It was lovely :) Mia got confirmed on Sunday.

Sunday was lovely, we have significanly less investigators at church now because half of them got baptized but hey we aren't complaining! Celeste came for the first time:)

A full week, i love Gladstone, i love my companion, life is grand!

love,

Sister Schaelling

Dilys got baptized!!!

Hello Family! 

2006, Denali, Alaska.  I know you all want a picture of Carly, and she lost her camera charger.... so I thought I would provide you with one!  :)  Lovin' the adventure even back then.

This week was splendid! Sounds like all is well on the midwestern front! Mom im glad you got to get that quilt activity together, Dad sounds like you are busy with your new calling. Keep being a missionary mom :) You can do it!

So this week! We will start at the beginning. We taught John, from Shang Hai in the Fentons flat about the plan of Salvation. He has no Christian background and limited but decent english so teaching him is pretty humbling and amazing. He has lots of questions about heaven and God and where we came from and where we're going." Will my son still call me father?" was one of them. We taught him how to pray and invited him to say the closing prayer. It was adorable...he said "Heavenly father..thank you for today. The plan of the celestial kingdom, i think it's true? Name of Jesus Christ amen." He was all smiles and told us that was his first ever prayer. 

On tuesday we read from the Book of Mormon with Ken and it was lovely! He told us he has been talking to his family about baptism and feels the Holy Ghost more ever since he started meeting with us. At least im pretty sure thats what he said. We also went and taught Joann with Ate Helen, a filipina lady in our ward. Joann is adorable and showed us she had read Alma 32 and marked and highlighted things. Ah that make me so happy. She wants to be baptized. After we teach Joann we go next door and teach her neighbor who is from India. Again limited English. Shes so pretty and kind. She's hindu, we have to go slow with teaching. This area is really teaching me to slow down and teach simply and clearly.

That night we went tracting and found a lady from Mississippi, Southern Baptist. Wow, do i have respect for missionaries in the deep south...she ripped us apart. I was in tears at her door testifying. Then we left and i just wanted to cry but we just kept on workin...a good experience in the long run. Its so much harder for me to deal with people who believe and have faith in God but their belief and faith is distorted, if that makes sense. 

On Wednesday we taught our Sri Lankan investigator Leyani about the book of mormon and church...she wants to come to church but her husband doesnt really want her too. She is so thankful for the book of Mormon we gave her in Sin Hala, her language. We also taught Helen, and older lady who is a former 7th day adventist (theres a lot of those here) and that night we taught Joann and Nino with the Fentons. They are going through a lot of hard stuff right now with their visa status and his work. We encouraged them to put their trust in the Lord and to pray together for guidance and come to church. There's a scripture in Job i really like about the will of the Father .."He that taketh away, who can hinder him? Who can say..what doest thou?" Or something like that.  What can we do but put our trust in God?  Why should we say "why me" when we know He is our Father and our life is in His hands. 

Thursday we were tracting and met a lovely lady named Jo. She let us in and gave us water which doesn't happen too much! That was so nice. We are going back to do service. I love when people ask the golden questions or say things like "yeah i have often wondered where we came from and why we are here. And of course, where do we go?" ..... why don't you take a seat and we will answer those questions for you!

Okay thursday night we taught John and Ardell the restoration with the Fentons and it was a workout with the language barrier and lack of christian background but i loved it! John is so cute and such a good dad to his little 9 month old son. Then at the end of the lesson elder fenton is walking by holding a glass of water and DUMPS it down my back...why elder Fenton? bahaha it was so funny. Elder Fenton and i just make fun of each other all day.  The fentons are the best. Im so glad they live next door.

Friday was our last lesson with Dilys before she got baptized! It went well and Sister Fenton invited her mother Stella to take the missionary lessons and she said yes! score! Then on Saturday...Dilys got baptized! And Peter baptized her, it was so special. Sister Kyaw and I stood at the top of the stairs in the font and hugged Dilys when she came out all wet. We are so close with her, shes amazing :)  Now we are going to baptize her island in Papua New Guniea:)

We watched conference, which was AMAZZZIINGG!!  love it.  I especially loved Sister Stevens talk...daughters of God, Do we know who we are?? Man she nailed it! And all of the talks were amazing...so much on missionary work, the Priesthood, and so many answers to my many questions!!!  It was funny, i was praying to know how to be a better follower to my mission leaders (surprise... i struggle with that) and then Elder Soares started talking about meekness and quoted an exact scripture i had read that morning during personal study...hurray!  i shall try to be more meek!  Sister Kyaw is helping me because she is like a walking example of Humility.  Love her!  Dilys was confirmed on Sunday and it was awesome.  we had dinner with Joann and Nino family at the Fentons flat and they both got priesthood blessings from Elder Fenton.  Man i love the priesthood, exclamation point! (did anyone catch that) 

You're all so awesome! I love you all.  will send pics of baptism next week hopefully.

much love 

Sister Schaelling

Letter from October 7, 2013

Hello family! This week was a blur and i will try to recall it to form an email for you!! Hope you are enjoying conference. We are watching it this weekend because if we watched it live we'd be chillin and 2 a.m. watching conference :) Wildlife in Gladstone this week is BATS! large and small! swooping through the air as lightning strikes...seriously! Its spooky and awesome. We also have cane toads which are poisinous! and i almost grabbed one...then i got told they have venom seeping from their lower back and you can die if you touch one. Good grief!

 

This week we were committed by the zone leaders to get more member present lessons because we kinda fail at it. So we did, we tried to get members out with us to come to lessons. I dont know why its so hard, but it is for some reason. I love having members at lessons, especially when they can add their testimony to our teaching.We started the week by teaching our investigator Arnelson the gospel of Jesus Christ. That lesson is awesome and makes it a beautiful opportunity to lay down a baptismal invite and a date. I used to be so afraid of inviting people to be baptized....then i had sister Cocker as a trainer and we would tract into a person, teach and she would invite them to be baptized right there. it was awesome! i try to be like her :) Arnelson wants to get baptized and he wants to be sealed in the temple....a great start i would say! We will work with him.

 

On tuesday we taught the lovely Ken with the chinese elders on skype as we do every tuesday. I love Ken! He is so humble and just has light in his eyes. He was taught word of wisdom and is trying to live it this week. He can do it! We also saw Joann on tuesday and read from the book of Mormon with her. Joann is such a good mom and always working around the house and cooking for her boys...you go girl. She gets so tired and prays often. Tuesday night we taught Mark and Tabitha who are now...Recent Converts!! yay. Ryley Gubler, a priest in our branch taught the lesson on Priesthood and he nailed it! I was so proud. I love hearing priesthood holders talk about the priesthood. I am going to sneak into priesthood session....jokes :) but really. It was great. Mark got the Aaronic priesthood last Sunday and Ryley taught him how to bless the sacrament on Tuesday night.

 

On wednesday we went to teach Bree, whose daughter Mia is getting baptized soon. We have been chickens and havent taught law of Chastity yet and still need too...were nervous because she is living with her partner. But she knows she needs to get married to be baptized. Experience time, the other week i was thinking about Bree and trying to think of ways to resolve her baptismal concerns to help her be baptized...thinking of reasons.,..then when we were getting the church ready for Mark and Tabithas baptism i flipped open the childrens hymn book to the song Baptism i love the words of the second and third verse: "To fulfill the law said Jesus, when the Baptist questioned why, and to enter with my Father in the kingdom up on high. .. Now we know that we must also witness faith in Jesus word, be baptized to show obedience as was Jesus Christ our Lord." Why do we need to be baptized? Because Jesus was.

 

Thursday we taught the lovely Ardell and John, our random Chinese couple that rocked up to church on Sunday and we had never met them. The Fentons came with us and our beloved mandarin speaking elder Low spoke in Mandarin to John about faith and the Book of Mormon. I love that language!!! They committed to read and pray. Friday we had deep cleaning for transfers! Hurray.  and we got to teach Dilys!

 

I love teaching Dilys she is so humble. We taught Follow the Prophet, and Obedience. We showed a clip of Gordon B Hinckleys lessons learned as a boy, where he speaks of the two boys who put coins in the poor mans shoes. Of course we were all just weeping as thats what happens when you hear President Hinckleys voice crack. So good. Peter Sepe is Dilys father, with the darkest skin i have ever seen by the way, who is a recent convert. We moved Dilys's baptism to this Saturday and Peter is going to baptize her! Ah it will be grand. Little Mia, Bree's daughter is also getting baptized this Saturday if all goes according to plan. :)

 

Sunday was awesome and Mark did the blessing of the bread in sacrament and did beautifully. He is so awesome and so is Tabitha. It was really special for me listening to Mark bless the sacrament... i am so happy i got to be a small part of his and Tabitha's learning about the gospel. On suday i taught the Gospel Principles class on Families Can be Eternal. It was lovely to speak of my family :) I also talked about Cameron and how the Plan of Salvation and the Temple has blessed my familys lives...how i know we will meet one day. Jordan came to church again and so did Joann. Oh and on Wednesday night we taught Joann and Nino with the Fentons the plan of Salvation. Nino said something amazing....he said when he dies he hopes he will see Joann and they will recognize each other. He said "I hope she doesnt just walk by." Hmm, sounds to me like they need to be sealed. :) We need to get him to church and baptize their family.\

 

Sad news! Phillip the one who read the book of Mormon twice in two weeks is moving back to New Zealand! I really want to baptize him before he moves home...i feel like his salvation is in my hands and hes slipping away! Ah, its in the Lords hands.

 

I learn more every day about the Spirit and being a missionary. I take comfort in one of my favorite proverbs.."Despise not the chastening of the Lord, niether be weary of his correction, for whom the Lord loveth, he correcteth, even as a father the son in whom he delighteth." Happy is the man whom God correcteth!! We shouldnt be mad when we get righteously rebuked or chastened. As many as i love, i rebuke and chasten.

 

Oh transfer calls came and i am staying with sister Kyaw in Gladstone 1 on full time bikes :) Hurray!! Sister Watson flew back to Brisbane and Sister Wulfensteins new companion is Sister Lealii e'e..lay ah lee ee eh eh. Samoan. Try saying that five times fast!! :) Shes adorable. From Sydney.

 

Im so happy to be a missionary and will be eternally grateful that Heaveny Father doesnt require perfection from His missionarys or any of His children! There are oceans of skills and attributes i have yet to develop...i pray every day to be better than i was yesterday....i love my mission and the journey it is. It requires so much patience and i am learning to wait upon the Lord for His promised blessings! He will never leave us. :)

 

Dearest family, you are the best! All my love,

Sister Schaelling

Baptism!!!

Hello Family!
My what a week it has been! Real quick wildlife in Gladstone i forgot:
1. Locust! Seriously. I am partners with those who suffered the plague in Egypt. Okay jokes. But they do have huge locusts here! And it does plague once in a while apparently in western Aus! Theyre huge!
2. GECKOS! Theyre so cute. And theyre everywhere. I have seen a gecko the size of my thumb and the size of my hand! I love them. Also they keep the cockroaches away. Our appt has been pesticided i thnk because we find cockroaches with their legs in the air being carried away by a herd of ants.....also their are beautiful butterflies :)

So this week Mark and Tabitha got baptized! It was beautiful!!!!! Ahh my goodness. We went and taught them the last of the lessons with the Fentons on Friday and on Saturday at 5 we had the baptism. Elder Fenton did the baptizing. A lot of the branch came to support so that was great! Myself, Sister Kyaw and the other sisters Wulfenstein and Watson all sang "Our Saviors Love" A capella for the musical number. During the last part of the program when Pres Rapp was speaking Tiana their little daughter and her friend Yana, Dilys's daughter were being a little rowdy so me and sis Kyaw took them out and played with them for the res of it so the Spirit could be there with Tabitha and Mark.
The actual baptism was so special, everytime i see someone get baptized my spirit jumps. Its the best place to bring investigators because the spirit that resides when a living ordinance is performed...something, some feeling from another place, another time...love it. Mark just stood in the water (her got baptized first) while Tabitha was baptized and they hugged after in the water and man it was beautiful! Husband and wife :) Mark recieved the Aaronic priesthood the next day!! He is blessing the sacrament this Sunday. He is so solid and excited to hold the priesthood. It was amazing to see the difference in their eyes after they were confirmed as members and recieved the Holy Ghost. And now the priesthood is in their home :) How amazing. Im so happy i got to be there to help teach them with the Fentons and sister Kyaw :) Group effort baptisms are the best!!

Sister Kyaw, Schaelling, Tabitha, Mark and little Yani and Tiana

Also this week we went to follow up with our potential Jesse, a 19 year old boy from Texas whose mom is Mormon. We were sitting with him outside because we couldnt go in and his friend Jordan came out and joined the lesson. Jordan is 21 from England but raised in Western Australia. We were talking about God and the Spirit and he mentioned he had a brother pass away that he feels like is always with him. I asked how old his brother would be now, he said around 25....just like Cameron! (We celebrated his birthday by the way! with cake and everything...is that wierd? haha.)  Anyway Jordan and Jesse were smoking so we invited them to quit smoking using the 15 step program we would teach them. We also taught about prayer and committed them to pray that night. Jordan was all over that because he wants to quit. We were going to come by the next day and do it with them but i didnt really feel good about it....seemed a little wierd, so i scheduled them to come to the Fentons flat and we could teach them their with our lovely senior couple. Jordan came and was so genuine. We taught the stop smoking program (which is awesome if you smoke, DO IT) and he said he wanted to come to church. Jordan said he prayed that day we committed him too for his Christrian friend who was about to go into jail. Then his friend wrote him and told him that he didnt have to go to jail anymore. Jordan came to church and we had a recently reactivated member about his age sit with him and they hit it off.....i feel so happy when my investigators make friends with the branch :)  My little children making friends. :) Im excited for him he is super genuine, and once our investigators meet the Fentons THEYRE HOOKED!  Nothin like a senior couple to love and teach. I love Elder and Sister Fenton. Elder Fenton is a hoot, always teasing and joking. Sometimes i have to hold in my laughter around him so ill look mature or something....haha

We also taught Joann and Nino this week with the Fentons. Nino is such a good listener and we taught the Restoration. I love teaching. I wish i could just teach all the time. Joann and Nino are accepting to the idea of baptism. We hope to baptize their whole family this month or next. Theyre amazing, sadly they missed church yesterday. :( :( please pray for them.

Dilys, Dilys, i love Dilys. She is so humble and funny and fun to teach. She came to the baptism of Mark and Tabitha and was so excited for her baptism on the 19th.I love teaching her! She has good questions and is just sweet inside and out and willing to do anything for the Lord. She has and adorable daughter Yana, theyre from PNG.

Sister Schaelling with Yani and Tiana

Bree, our eternal investigator made some progress when she came to the baptism :) She said she will get there one day. Shes not married to her partner and need a solid answer before she will commit. Patience, a heavenly virtue :) Her daughter Mia is also getting baptized on the 19th. If all goes according to plan that is :) She is excited for Mia and Bree knows she will always come to church and help Mia do the same :)

This week has been amazing and very very hard. Satan tries in  "divers ways" to lure us away, to keep us from success. We must never give up our fight with him. We must make the conscious choice, NOT TO BE AFRAID. Fear God only. I am learning so much in Gladstone and this area has more physical, emotional and spiritual challenges i have ever faced in my life, and i feel lucky i get to be a part of such a stretching experience. Sometimes the Lord wants us to recognize that we just cant do it alone...that is when he will help us. 

I love you all!!!
Sister Schaelling

Gladstone Wildlife

Hello Father and Mother and the rest of the world!!

This week was just lovely. I would like to start out with a segment on wildlife in Gladstone:

1. Swooping Magpies. Never have i wanted to harm an animal but let me tell ya....these birds are PUSHIN IT!!! They are black and white magpies that swoop from the sky and click their claws right next to your ear while you are just minding your own business walkin down the road or biking.......so fun!

2. Rainbow parakeets! At least i think they are parakeets. They are the colors of the rainbow and so pretty. I will try to send a pic.

3. Cockroaches....three inches long! Crawling on my shirt....that was an experience. And the spiders are king size!!

4.  They also have little sun flies that are microspopic...(seriously) and they bite you and it itches. But you cant see them!

 

5. Pythons. Yup. You read that right! Okay they dont have pythons everywhere but me and sister Kyaw were tracting one night and felt this feeling we should GO HOME. So we did of course. Then we went back the next day and this lady we were visiting was like "oh yeah they found a PYTHON here yesterday!!" Good GRIEF people! Good thing we have the spirit!!

Sister "Wulf" and Sister Schaelling holding aloe vera "sticks/branch/sword?"

Okay but Gladstone really is the place to be!! We get to teach lessons up the yin yang! Lots of teaching, lots of investigators come to church we are so blessed! So i have been trying to really listen to the Spirit and do things even if theyre uncomfortable or hard. A lot of times i have noticed on my mission that things just "work out." Like, i dont see a vision or anything but ill jsut think, ah just one more house. Then that house turns out to be a potential or someone we help, but its just a normal thought. and plenty of times ive thought things that havent worked out, but we tried anyway. Trial and error. Resilience. Things work out!

Funny story. Me and Sister Kyaw were tracting and saw a mango tree. I really wanted to eat a mango even if it was green. So here we are leaping trying to grab a green mango and we see a man walking by on the other side. We look like total egg-heads! But we waved and laughed and continued mango grabbing and got one. Then later we were tracting and about to head back but decided on one more house. A man come out and invited us to sit. We sat. We taught a quick version of Plan of Salvation. We asked questions, got a return appt, and said the closing prayer. And then he looks at us and say..."So....did you enjoy that mango?" And then we laughed. It was him we saw!!

Sister Schaelling studying hard

I am learning so many things on my mission, about the Spirit and inviting people. I realize there is no reason to be afraid. I was sitting next to Phillip in church, our kiwi Moari investigator who has read the book of Mormon twice in two weeks!!!! we just taught him briefly about the Book of Mormon and didnt see him for two week because of work and he left town. And i thought, Phillip needs to be baptized. So i just asked him when church was over, and we worked out a date. It was simple. We dont need to be complicated about these things...the Lord knows who he wants in His Church. 

We had a branch bbq and their were more investigators than members there almost! it was awesome :) Joann and Nino came. We are teaching them as a family now with the Fentons, (sr couple.) I hope they accept baptism. I love their family. Joann has come twice to church with her kids and Nino should start coming soon. Teaching families is a hundred times harder and more stressful to me than teaching individuals...but so rewarding!! Mark and Tabitha passed their baptism interview like champs and are excited to be baptized this Sunday.

Little Fort and Sister Schaelling

Im not sure if any part of being a missionary is easy for me. Its still hard to teach and invite and be urgent all the time and the list goes on....im not a natural at this. But its worth it! I love it. The Lord always helps those who incline their hearts to him. I feel myself being stretched every day....physically, emotionally, spiritually. How lucky we are. :)

I love you all. This week i have particularly come to appreciate more the Spirit that i feel in my home. (As in my actual home in Utah.) There are some parts of this area that walking through the streets the Spirit is just not there. There is so much darkness in the world. While the people in Australia are kind and laid back, most of the country is aethiest....wierdly, I can feel it. The emptiness of unbelief, ah what a sad feeling it is. I hope me and SIster Kyaw can bring a little hope to these people every day. Oh that i were and angel......

Story time, just a quick one. About the Spirit. Sister Kyaw and I were planning on teaching Dilys Word of Wisdom. That morning i studied "The Savior Wants to Forgive" by elder Cardon and loved it. (Go read it.If youd like.) We biked over to Dilys and we both coincidentally forgot our WoW pamphlets. We thought that was wierd. We went in the lesson and we had tithing pamphlets so we thought maybe we would teach that...then we got talking with Dilys. She asked the question we have all pondered..."how can i know when im forgiven?" For our lesson we had a lovely discussion about repentance and forgiveness. Make plans, then follow the Spirit.

Sister Kyaw and Sister Schaelling

Also we are teaching our investigator Ken, we skype with the Mandarin elders who teach him in Chinese. On thurdays we went over to his house to say hello. We met his boss and bosses wife, Josephine, from china. They were so nice and tried to be very warm and loving. Turns out now Josephine wants me to teach English to her little boy! Ah, foot in the door! That house is full of Asians. We will convert them all and have an Mandarin branch, just you wait :)

I love you all!!!

Sister Schaelling

Another great week in GLADSTONE.

Hello dearest friends and family!

What a week it has been!!! To answer your questions mother, i use a computer at the library for email and only have one hour. For exersize we go walking or running or tackle a beast hill outside our flat we named Rasputen. Like the Russian terrorist. :)

This week i had some amazing experiences that brought me closer to my Savior Jesus Christ. The one that sticks out to me the most happened in a lesson with Dilys, our investigator. Her father is recent convert and has the darkest skin i have ever seen. And the coolest accent!

So we taught Dilys the ten commandments and she was so into it. When we were talking about keeping the Sabbath Day Holy we talked about church and why we go. I remember saying that we go to church to repent and be healed by taking the sacrament, and why cant we just sit at church and cry? We dont go to look perfect for others. She agreed and we had a great discussion. Then at the end, after the closing prayer she said she wanted to ask us something. She told us she was going to live the commandments so she could be baptized. She just started crying in front of us saying since reading the Book of Mormon she just feels how important it is to be baptized and make that covenant. She said she kept thinking, "what am i doing? i could die tomorrow, why should i choose earthly pleasures over God?" It was so amazing. We set a date with her for October 19. I will always remember her humble example of how important it is to repent. More important than anything else.

Also we had a lesson with Mark and Tabitha who are preparing for baptism on the 28th of September. They are truly golden. We talked about temples and boy the spirit was sooooo strong. The Fentons and their friends from Wyoming came and we all taught together about tithing and fast offerings and some other commandments and they took it like champs. Mark and Tabitha told us how they want to go to the temple and be sealed with their little Tiana, their 3 year old daughter. It was amazing, i just sat there and enjoyed feeling the spirit. I noticed before we taught i didnt have a lick of nerves, which usually are killing me. How awesome!!

We go and visit a Filipino lady named Joann and her family. We stopped by on Saturday night to invite them to church. Nino, (ninyo) is the father and he always invites us in and gives us food. "Food is for everyone," he always says. They are so nice. They said they couldnt make it to church because Nino had work. We shared a message with Joann, Nino and their 8 or 9 year old son Arkinz. He wasnt really into it when we were trying to teach him about prayer. We left and the next day, Sunday, in comes Joann with her three beautiful boys--Arkinz, Tres and Fort. They are so cute. Joann said it scared her that Arkinz cared so much about games and not about God. They loved church and want to come next week. That was so special!!

The best things about Gladstone are the people! They are all so kind, and our teaching pool is like the size of the pacific ocean. Very diverse and wonderful! Also my companion who is just awesome. I also lovvve the four way i'm with (meaning the four of us sisters that live in the flat)--Sister Wulfenstein from my MTC distict and Sister Watson who is so wise. Me and Sister Wulf both have companions that are wayyy older than us so we come home and just goof off with each other and laugh our heads off! The hard parts about Gladstone are the same trials in every area, seeing people reject us, and in turn reject their Savior and eternal life. 

i love you all! 

Sister Schaelling

Gladstone life!

Hello dearest friends and family!

This week was splendid as always! I shall start with tuesday, we taught Ken Tim who is from Malaysia and we actually skype the elders who speak Mandarin and they teach while we smile and nod. Oh my goodness i cannot imagine learning Mandarin. Good grief! We had some english class after which i always love.

After Ken we also went to follow up with a potential, Celeste, and her friend Rosie was there. We sat and talked together and taught about how God is our Loving Heavenly Father and prayer. I felt the Spirit a lot when we talked about this. We prayed at the end and all just looked at each other after. Are you feeling what im feeling? Love it.

We also got to teach Niki this week, her son is autistic and dealing with a lot of bullying at school. We listened to her struggles and then shared a message about the power of prayer and scripture study. So many times when people share their own very hard trials there is little i can say to relate. Thank goodness for the Atonement of Christ, there is someone who knows everything we go through, even when others dont. 

We are teaching Leyoni, a Shrilanken lady about the gospel. We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and about baptism. She talked about how she was baptized when the was four months old and her children also. We asked why. She said, (we have a little language barrier with her) that the priest always told them when we are born we are full of sin. Man, that is a soft spot for me. Little children full of sin? Whaaaat? Where is the logic in that?? We talked to her about how we are pure and clean before we know good from evil. She said she would ask her priest about it because she admitted it didnt make sense. We suggested she ask God Himself. She is lovely and has a little girl with the most beautiful brown eyes i have ever seen.

From her mom--All RIGHT!  Since Carly has not sent pics in a while (because she lost her battery charger...)  I thought I would give you a couple of pics of her in her younger life.
Here she is about 6 months old.

We are continuing to teach Dilys, (from Papa New Guniea) and she said she prayed about the Law of Chastity and feels she needs to get married. She is humble. Her little daughter is sooooo adorable. We read 2 Ne 31 with her and talked about the importance of baptism, the Holy Ghost, enduring to the end. Peter Sepe is her father and he is a recent convert. He is awesome. 

Tabitha and Mark- we had dinner with them and the Fentons and they are progressing along beautifully. Such a lovely family. Mark's back got thrown out so he was kindof in pain the whole lesson poor guy. They are so kind and receptive to the gospel. Once the Fentons start fellowshipping theres no going back! they are so sweet and kind and experienced. i love working with a senior missionary couples, it helps the stress because they are so much older and wiser than us little full time missionaries. :)

We are also teaching a Filipino family, Joanne and Nino. They invited us and the Fentons over for a birthday, it was so fun, we ate lots and then intro'd the book of mormon. They are splendid parents. Nino, the father just wants to be a good dad. He told me he could tell i had a good dad by the way i was. Good job dad! (and mom.) He always gives me his slippers when we walk in their house so my feet dont get cold on the tile haha.

Carly showing her enthusiasm for LIFE, age 4 1/2.

Phillip, the kiwi that lives away from home, called and told us he is reading the book of Mormon and it is helping him a lot!!! man that is music to my ears!! i dont even care if investigators remember what i said or did, i just want them to turn to the book of Mormon, because it will always be there for them. That book is amazing.

This week i studied repentance and the atonement. I decieded that repentance is more important than anything. "Say nothing but repentance unto this people"..."mercy claimeth the pentitent." 

My time is up! i love you all and am having a joyful experience here in Gladstone!! I love my companion with all my heart, she is amazing. There is something different about her, she is so much stronger and wiser and humbler than me. i love it! she is also a master chef and teaching me how to make curry!!!

biking in a skirt is......an experience. :)

love you all

sister schaelling

GLADSTONE (pronounced Gladstun)

Dearest family and friends,

Allright first off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM AND JENNA!! Forgive me for not saying anything last week Jenna! Me and my beloved companion definitely sang happy birthday to both of you on the 29th. I hope you heard it :) 

This week has been lovely! So time to update you on my new companion Sister Kyaw! So its pronounced Jaw. She is from Myanmar and is a convert of now three years. They dont even have missionaries in Myanmar just a senior couple and a tiny branch! So get this, when she converted she didnt really speak english so she read the book of mormon with an english to burmese dictionary. In like a month. whaaaaat?? She is the bomb! She is 27 and very loving and kind. She is still learning English.  We get to do language study together which is fun for me :) And she teaches so simply and lovingly. I have learned the power of teaching the doctrine simply. We dont need to use big words or perfect English for the Spirit to testify of what we are saying, that its true. :) I love Sister Kyaw. She is like my little mother, always worried about me getting sunburned or if i am tired. "Is you okay Sister?" She always asks in her adorable accent. :) 

The Fentons! They are the senior couple that lives right next door to us. They are so lovely. Sometimes we teach lessons with them, and they are just so nice. We plan together who we will see and what we will teach. Love them.

My area! Gladstone is an industrial town so everything is expensive. There is a coal mine/big idustrial factory thing on a little island that we can see that everyone goes to work on. Its dusty here :) But not too dusty. It has kind of a country feel. I feel like i am in a new mission, far away from the rest of the world. Its awesome. I also feel like a hard core missionary because we bike everywhere. Wow im not sure if i have ever been so tired. :) Its a good tired :) The people here are nicer than in Park Ridge, less door slams, more polite declines. Thats nice, i guess.

The people! The people we are teaching are great. Bree has been coming to church for seven months and is living with her partner and three kids. Let me tell ya im gonna start handing out Chastity pamphlets at the door! Everyone lives with their partner here haha. We are also teaching her daughter Mia who wants to learn more. She is a little eight year old. I love teaching children because they seem to understand so much better and just accept Gods commandments. I remember studying 2 ne 31 this week where it talks about Christ's baptism, and how he was baptized to fulfill all righteousness, to show an example, and most importantly to humble himself before the father and show that He would be obedient to Him. Um, hello, this is Jesus Christ, who is perfect. Know ye no that he was holy?? The scriptures say. How much more need have we to keep the commandments!! I love it because we dont always need a reason to be obedient, we shouldnt need to be persuaded by logic or emotion. We should just obey for the sake of obeying. 

We are also teaching Dilys who faithfully comes to church :) She also has a partner who lives in PNG. (Papau New Guniea) We are teaching Arnelson, a Fillipino who is living here to work and his family is back in the Phillipines. He misses them so much. We went to knock on his door for his appointment and heard someone was inside. So we just kept knocking. We were about to leave and get lunch and come back but we knocked a little more and finally he came out. We were able to talk about the plan of salvation and the doctrine of Christ. He loves his family and misses them

We also are teaching Phillip, a kiwi (new zealander) who is living away from his family and working. He works so much and is getting sick because of it. He is sad and misses his four daughters. We gave him a book of mormon to read and pray about. So many people in this area and in the whole world are sad a lonely. I am just one person. I cant be there all the time to comfort them and try to help them. But i can give them the word of God. The book of mormon, which will always be there. I love the scripture in Jacob 2 that said the word of God healeth the wounded soul. Isnt that so true?

We have seen many miracles this week. Fast Sunday was so hard for me. I was so tired and hungry. Tiredness is probably my biggest....stumbling block i think on the mission. Its so humbling being a missionary, because we have appointments we need to get too and it doesnt matter if i am tired and hungry. i just have jump on the bike and make it. Many times a day i pray for strength and help and i know that these prayers are heard. The Lord helps us just enough to make it to the end :) 

much love,

Sister Schaelling

Here I am in GLADSTONE!

Dearest family and friends! hello!

I am emailing from my new area, Gladstone 1. I dont have long! So heres what happened: On saturday i get a call from the ASSISTANTS. Calling me to tell me i was getting transferred to the North! So the ABM covers all of Queensland state in Australia, and Gladstone is in the very north of Queensland. So i caught an hour long flight (by myself) up to my second area in Australia and here i am!

I havent gotten to work yet here in Gladstone but i can tell its gonna be amazing! Its just a small branch apparently and everyone is so nice. It is like the country and its and industrial city. We have a senior couple that takes care of us because we are....an hour flight away from the rest of the mission! 

And my companion.....ah she is so cute! Her name is Sister Kyaw (jaw) and she is from Burma! She is 27 and so adorable and humble. i am so excited to get to work with her here in Gladstone. And we get to do language study:)  Also we are on bikes.....and only bikes! No more driving for me! (praise the heavens for that! :) Sister Wulfenstein from my MTC intake is here with her comp Sister Watson and we are all in the same apartment. And its just us here up north! No district meetings, zone meetings.....all quiet on the western front :) well, northern. 

I am so happy to be here. It seems every transfer i am just packing my bags to get on a plane all by my lonesome! I was sad to leave Cherilee and worried how she would take it but she took it well. I didnt get to see the Virtue family before i left. Or Candy but its okay. I loved Sister Cocker so much and will miss her! But i am so excited to be here in Gladstone. I will most likely be up here for about six months or more because of the expense of flying missionaries to their areas. So cool!

The Park Ridge ward was the bomb. I loved eating with the Tongans :) And the members were all so lovely. It reminded me a lot of Pioneer Park ward because it was about the same size. I am excited now to work in a little branch :) i feel so lucky and blessed. 

How amazing is our Heavenly Father. "Ponder anew, what the Almighty can do." I love that line in the hymn, "Praise to the Lord  Almighty" He is our Father and the King of infinite space and everlasting time...yet we mean everything to Him. On my mission something i have learned is that i am so....weak! There is so little that i can do alone. But my Heavenly Father is almighty! And he is the one who listens to every prayer we say. So why should we worry? We know who we have trusted. :)

I love you all so much. I feel like i am in a new mission because we are so far away from everything else! Its so cool to be here up North. I love you all! The hymn i have loved this week is appropriately, "Ill go where you want me to go." I love the line "Perhaps today there are loving words which Jesus would have me speak,.....there may be somewhere in the paths of sin, some wanderer whom i should seek." It is so important to leave the 99 to find the one. I really know that every person we meet means everything to God :) I love you all!!

much love,

Sister Schaelling

Hello Again from Park Ridge!

Hello dearest family! 

Sounds like the last week has been a success! Congrats Dad on winning third place in your age division of the 5K race! That is awesome! :) And all the pictures are lovely :) Scott i love your hair like that with the side swoop! It looks awesome!

Local wildlife in Park Ridge

 So this week has been lovely. On Wednesday we taught Anne, an investigator about praying often. i love the feeling of the Holy Ghost working through me to testify of truth to another child of God. I wish i always taught like this but i am still working on it, but when we taught Anne about prayer i really felt the Spirit in me as i told her how much prayer has helped me and one of my favorite times of the day is nightly prayer when i can kneel down and be close to God.

We are continuing to teach the lovely Cherilee! Sister Alifipo came with us and we shared about keeping the Sabbath Day holy. it went great, at the end we sang "Lord I would follow thee" and the Spirit was strong, it was lovely. Cherilee wants to be baptized but she still smokes and isn't married to her partner, but she has a testimony of what we teach her. She always comes to church now and always speaks so lovingly and highly of Sister Cocker and I. But i was thinking the other day in church, when Jesus came, how some listened and some didnt, and how he said so boldy and simply, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." We can praise the Lord all day but if we arent trying to really do what He asks, we dont truly love him. What a hard and amazing truth.

That night we went and taught the PM Maile family. The kids are great :) Sister Maile is a member but less active and Brother Maile was baptized a long time ago but now he drinks and doesnt attend. He was so nice to us. He came in at the end of the lesson and told us how much he appreciates and loves missionaries and his own children and how he wants to give up drinking. He is Tongan and all his kids have super tongan names that are hard for me to say haha. Kafoa, Tokie, Ate, and Loka. And Maryanne. Lovely family and home.

On Thursday we taught an investigator Colin who has been having lessons since the dawn of time. The lesson was all over the place but he talked about how the Lord has blessed him with peace of mind which he hasnt had for a long while. We committed him to ask in prayer if the Book of Mormon is true and he did.

We also saw the less-active Elkington family! Man less actives are like my favorite for some reason, i love sharing messages with them. We got in the door because i had to use the bathroom. We shared a little thought on prayer and prayed with her, Sister Elkington who is a member and her daughter who isnt. On Friday we taught Zhadee again who is doing good, we have to keep going over book of mormon and prayer with her because she is struggling in recognizing and answer to her prayers.

I asked Sister Schaelling for a picture of kangaroos hopping ... here ya go!
She said there are "kangaroo crossing" signs all over the place

We went to dinner with a kiwi (new zealander) family in our ward, the Wall's. They're Maori and awesome. We sang "My Heavenly Father loves me" at the end of our message and i love singing with my comp and the other two sisters. My companion has a beautiful islander voice that brings the spirit. It was lovely.

On Saturday we started the day off by attending a baptism! A boy in the ward was getting baptized, childhood record. It was so lovely. Baptisms are so special. Cherilee came with us and was just crying when the little boy, Nico's older brother was giving a talk about the Holy Ghost and baptism. His brother was like 9 or 10 and his talk was so sweet and simple. Cherilee wishes she could have raised her children in the church. Then we did lots of tracting. Something about the Australia Brisbane Mission is we are required to do 14 finding hours a week. This is a little hard for me because i love to visit people, less actives, potential investigators, ect. and i wish we had more time to do that. Finding hours is knocking on doors or GQ'ing (street contacting) people which isnt the most effective, but we do it anyway because thats what were supposed to do. Also, tracting is how we found like all of our progressing investigators, so obviously it works :)

That night we taught the Virtue's! i wish we could teach them more than just once a week, but hey. So we followed up oh how they liked church but they said they liked theirs better, sadly!  We taught about prayer and receiving and answer to prayer. James feels that many churches are true and God loves us all so much. Which is mostly true.  We have been trying to explain that through Joseph Smith the Priesthood was restored, so the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only church with the fulness of the gospel. He isnt really understanding too well but we will work with him, Jasmin, his wife read some of the book of mormon :) Brother and Sister Ngawaka came with us to teach and bore solid testimonies. So good to have members out with us, it makes me feel like i dont have to do this alone :) Were a team, the members and the missionaries :)

That night we had HANGI (pronounced hung ee) for dinner! Brother Stockman our WML did a fund raiser.  So hangi is a islander/maori feast where all the food is cooked in the ground. So it was chicken, stuffing, corned beef, potatoes, fry bread and delicious food.  so. good. i will send a picture!

HANGI--chicken, stuffing, corned beef, potatoes, fry bread all cooked in the ground

Church was lovely as always, Cherilee came. After i had a chat with a recent convert, Norman, about the Holy Ghost and sacrament and prayer. Recent converts are still so new and need our fellowship and prayers.

Family i love you all! This week i also got bit by a bull ant while talking to a lady at her door, wow! That hurt, thankfully she gave me some ice. This is the last week of the transfer sadly! i do hope i stay in Park Ridge with Sister Cocker but odds are slim. We have like 16 new sister coming in and Sister Cocker is a boss trainer so i bet we get split so she can train again. we shall see!

much love,

Sister Schaelling