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