Sunday, May 1, 2011

IM STAYING IM MURRIETA

April 18, 2011

Hey Family, Friends, and well that covers everyone! I'm staying in murrieta with Elder Beyeler and hopefully Ill be able to finish here! I'm Excited for this new transfer it always feels like a new beginning and brings excitement into a new start. I'm so excited for this transfer, but this last week we had one experience that takes the cake.


We got a call from one of the Assistants to the President and he said that they are short a sister missionary and would need someone from the singles branch and so we prayed as to who it should be and Susan popped into are minds, if you don't remember she just got baptized like three weeks ago and so we called her and asked her and she was pretty nervous and didn't think she could but said she would get back to us. So later that night we met up and she said three things would have to happen.
-She would have to get 6 weeks off of working at the oak grove school
-she would need to find someone to take care of her dog
-and she would have to buy a new sister missioanry wardrobe and pay for her car payment which she couldnt if she didnt work, she wouldnt have the money to do those without the work.


So we said lets make it happen and have some faith! Doubt not but be believing. So she called her boss and boom six weeks off!!!!! then the next morning we put some things on craigslist some weights and a dining table, pretty much everything that was in our apartment that we didnt absolutly have to sell and it all sold within the first half of the day!!!! We made a hundred and some dollars and then we took her shopping at some random thrift stores and there was some legit skirts and stuff there, with the money we got 11 skirts and two pair of shoes, someone else bought her some nice shoes and then president clegg is taking her to get some other random toiletries and stuff today so it was ll covered and then we were thinking how can we pay for her car payment? We had apointments and stuff so me and Elder Beyeler split it 50/50 and gave her an envelope with the cash as we left, she was so grateful which made it all worth it! AS we went to dinner she called and was crying and sayed how she was so grateful and everything and that made it completly worth it! i mean she gets to serve a six week mission! she will grow so much it was a no brainer and some fun/different kind of service. I know its true what they say about service, if ye dont have charity you are nothing! I love the lessons and experiences ive had and will continue to have and am so grateful for Susan to go out! we will see her at a huge mission conference on the 27th so that will be cool.


We met her six weeks ago got baptized three weeks ago and will be serving a mission for six weeks! Its so amazing.


I LOVE EVERY MINUTE THAT I GET TO SPEND HERE AND AM LOOKING FORWARD TO THE FUTURE DONT FORGET TO LOOK FOR OPPORTUNITIES TO SERVE AND LOOK OUT FOR OTHERS I LOVE YA'LL

--
Elder Schallenberger

Last week of transfers lets hope i finish in Murrieta!

April 11, 2011

This week was solid so much going on, there were two baptisms, a multi-zone meeting, and I got to see Egan Asay and his mom and sister.
I shared my testimony in both wards im serving in and one of them im sure you would enjoy, it talked a little about a story that has been on my mind a lot lady and it envolves my father! I told the story of how he used to a week before the game for Dwain put out his blanket on the chairs and duck tape a plastic covering over it so that it would be protected and he went through this whole effort so that he would for sure get the spot that he wanted for the game and i related it to something thats been on my mind a lot. Are we or am I really prepared right now to meet with my redeemer and to be judged and can i stand before the judgement bar of God and feel confident with who I am and what I have done. Are we preparing now for the future and are we repenting and forsaking or are we just putting it off till the end to hope we get a deat where we want? haha it was funny to remember Dad's diligence in putting out that blanket and how we would make fun of him, but he wanted the good seat, i told the people in the branch that thats how you get reserved seating in MT, (to tape a a blanket to the chair haha)
BUt the Multi Zone was really good I am blessed to have an amazing and inspired Mission President who I can really relate to and to have his wonderful life, she is a barometer for the spirit and is so sensative about all that she does and her loe fills the room, it was a very impacting meeting and i learned a lot of how i can become better in all that i don. It was my secong to last multizone and it was weird to see all the young misisonaries that i didnt know, one is from vaughn MT, (i probably spelled that wrong)
Veronics and Heather both got baptized this weekend and it was awesome I was able to baptize them both and it ws so special! BOth of there baptisms were spirit filed and amazing. ELder Beyler and I sang a duet acapella of "Nearer, My God To Thee" it was a little shakey but people said they liked it!
KC Maas received the Aaronic Priesthood Sunday and that was special, him and his son shared their testimonies and it was just so cool, Plus COrinne, Bianca, and Andrea all shared their testimonies and they were all very good! I love it! We have so many blesssing being pored upon us and I feel as though there are people showing up that want to be taught left and right and I dont see why or how we come in contact with them. I know the power of fasting is real and we can truly receive answers to our fast.
Egan and his family came to heathers baptism and then he came and played ball with us and we went to boardz grill. It was good to see him and meet his family, or part of them, they are so awesome it was fun getting to kow them. I am so lucky to have this opportunity to serve and cant believe Ill only be able to be a fulltime missionary for another 3 months! its crazy! i love you all
ELder SChallenberger

Family ad everyone

March 28, 2011

This week was awesome, Susan, KC, and Teddy all got baptized, i have no time and wanted to send pics but even lost time becasue it was taking to long, im giving my camera to corinne smith and login info and she said tonight she"ll send all the pictures to you all so look forward to those, i left no time to email we had apointments... so soryy i love you all

--
Elder Schallenberger











ONE OF THE BEST WEEKS EVER!

March 14, 2011

So this week was awesome! We had the opportunity to have a big training meeting up in Riverside which taught me a lot and the lessons throughout the week were really good as well! But the biggest day was on sunday!
We had church obviously and I taught the young women about the Plan of Salvation, of the plan of happiness that our God has for us! (http://mormon.org/plan-of-happiness/) check out the link to see what all I taught but I acted like it was a football game on earth and we are in the locker room and then go to the game and if we make the plays on earth, Baptism, Receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Endure we can make it to the after game celebration! it was fun and I hoped they liked it, the teacher has a Uke and brought it and then i played i want to be a missionary for them it was pretty funny, we have the coolest ward!
Then We had Rachel Davidson's baptism. She emailed shonda to forward to everyone so if you didn't receive that shonda or everyone check your email in the trash or something! Her baptism was awesome! She is just amazing and so ready! SHe tried to sing a song that NIcole Sheahan has on the new EFY cd and she only made it through the first part before the spirit overtook her so much that she started crying and therefore couldn't sing anymore so she stopped and bore her testimony which was awesome!!!!
Then at seven there was a baptism for grandma Yvonne and for Kayla Maas which was awesome! I was able to baptize Yvonne, and at 84 she did awesome, we did it first try and it was so sweet! Kayla was baptized by her G-pa and it was just an amazing sunday!
All three of them have become such a big part of my life and I love them each so much! we were excited for all those that came and supported them. So now we are off to do more work and to find more of the elect, the ward and branch are awesome!!!! I love it out here and love my companion!


--
Elder Schallenberger

hello! Another great week

February 21, 2011

Hey everyone so i wasnt able to open any of my emails this week becasue my mouse doesnt work, we are emailing at our apointments and there are two computers, ELder Beyeler picked the one that has a working mouse i did not. Ive actually been impressed that Ive gotten to this pint in the email system with only using the keys of the keyboard, lots of trial and error, the tab key is a great feature and you just have to keep trying with the f keys to get new windows and such. So i wrote the mass email first and will get on in a bit on the other computer just to read stuff!
Bianca was baptised this week, it was awesome, the spirit was felt and you could see how happy she was, I was able to be the one to baptise her so that was really special as well, there was a pretty good turnout. Also we had a girl from the singles branch Hayley stayner sing after the ordinance and testimonies and it was really good, she sings country, google her and you might see some stuff shes done, maybe not though who knows, but shes really good! So many talented people all around the world. It was a great night, after that Rio a girl in the singles who we tach with a lot had her big diesel ford break down so we went and helped her till the tow truck driver showed up, she barrell races PRCA and they have a ranch out here so its cool to have some feel of home knowing her. SO that was another small event.
My companion Elder Beyeler (bee-ler) is great, i love him as a brother, he motivats me to work hard, today since there was no school the high school guys that are good that we know came so ball was fun and then one of the kid's families had almost us all over for a bbq at there house and he invited me to come work out with the team on P-days so i might do that im not sure, it would be fun to do the drills and stuff but will see if it works with the responisibilities i have being a missionary and with our apintments and stuff. HE is the Head coach at Murrieta VAlley High School.
We have had so many blessings with people in our lives! the lady Evon that I'm pretty sure we talked about she set agoal for baptism on the 13th of March, shes so excited about the gospel and came to church this last sunday, in the lesson i said, :Evon I have two beautiful grandmothers who I love and who are still alive, but I dont get to see them out here on my mission and wanted to know if you wanted to be an adopted grandmother?" haha she started crying and coouldnt talk for like a minute because she was so choked up and then when she finally could catch her breath she said, "I'll be the best grandma ever!!!!" it was sweet. Not that gma louise and lil are not the best gma's ever, she just doesnt have family and i definetly could use all the help I need. It was a cool experience.
The members down here provide for us thats no doubt! they do so much for us and always are trying to do anything they can for us. It makes being a missionary so much more effective and rewarding. WE are so lucky! i love my mission with all my heart. Its the best secret ever, I try and give a glimpses of what is going on with my lack of descriptive words and lack of info given you dont get a glimpse very good at all. there are miracles that suround me daily, im starting to learn what it mean to be led by the spirit and have had many exeriences that tell me this is wher im supposed to be, President and i were talking this week about how fast itsbeen, (he goes home two weeks before me) and how hard we want to serve till the end. I love it, thanks for all of you who make it possible for me to be here, especially mom and dad!
love you all!!

--
Elder Schallenberger

SO blessed less than five months left :(

February 14, 2011

SO this week was very eventful. Patricks baptism didnt happen this which week which is ok, there are some things that we have to work through with his families support, but hes still so awesome. WE had a great day with a lady named Evon.
We were going down the area book and lookinga t people who had met with the missionaries in the past and we came across this lady in her 80"s named Evon we stopped by and had a chat and we set up a time to come back, she is so weet, at first though i thought she was probably just a lonely lady who wanted company more than like actually meeting with us to learn and to meet with the missionaries, but she humbled me pretty quick, the lesson was amazing, the spirit was so strong and she criesd almost the whole time! IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!! SHe came to church and loved it!! we have a whole row of ladies her age that sit in the back row of the soft seats and they all just welcomed her in, it wqas awesome she said that she had never felt so loved in her whole life nad especially in a church. I think thats what a lot of people dont realize is how much the congregations we have are wan extended family, we take care of each other, she called us during the singles branch and i stepped out and she told me how much she lovwed church and how she knows Elder Beyeler and I how much we mean to her and how shes never understood the stuff so well and how she knows we were sent on our misisons especially for her and that we had changed her life forever!! Seriously there has not been one single moment on my mission where I have felt so humbled, i feel that she is someone that I told before that I would come find! Among the many that i feel that way for she is definelty one of them, O love her! its also made me feel super guilty for not qriting back my two grandmas and my extended grandmas in the ward and sister hughes and gramm joyce... I love them all so much.
Especially my two grandmothers how awesome are they! they both are so talented and are full with love, that is one thing that I look forward to being able to do again, seeing my two beautiful grandmas and hug them and see them, they are amaziing. HAppy Valentines day grandmas! (and everyone else too)
So that was the best part of the week probably Bianca just go tback from lake tahoe so we will meet with her a couple times this week as she awaits her baptism this sunday, we played ball this morning and she brought her bf Addison hes super nice, i just love it here so much, o and we got to go to the temple which was way good, i was able to speak at church too which is always fun, it was on finding the lsot sheep i told howGpa is always looking for the lost cattle and he is so happy when he finds them and how he is always looking for the lost cattle and how he was probably out on his horse looking for them, I love out here, the mission continues to grow and grow on me. '
I LOVE YOU ALL!!

--
Elder Schallenberger

Woah!

February 7, 2011

THis week was probably the best week of my mission, actually saturday just took the cake we are being blessed right and left and I think its due to just are diligence and hard work and companionship unity haha we are gettting along so good and have been working out super hard every morning im getting a lot stronger, we busted out the crock pot and rice cooker ive been lugging around my mission (asay gave me the rice cooker) so we have been eating a lot better, tons of chicken haha sister orrelano bought us a big bag that we are going to cook up this week, we are jsut trying to get bigger, well at least i am i mean i dont have a lot of time to get back in shape for Dixie but my companion doesnt have to be any bigger he's huge! like seriously i guy that you would see on the billboards in vegas if you know what i mean, he put up 300 on bench this last week and hadn't benched his whole mission till he got here, he's chizzled which motivates me for sure!!!
Asay someone was telling me this week that when you were in corona that you put a picture with your shirt off on the wall as motivation for the missionaries and what they could become, haha i though that was funny, maybe a little much, but i got the real life version as a companion.
We had some great meetings this week one of them had to do with what being a successful missionary was like and becasue there have been some missionaries with doubts on how successful they really are and it was awesome it got me pretty motivated to be something more then i am.
We had a great lesson with Patrick, I feel weird emailing most of the time about specific people on my mission but i know him and KC who i will talk about soon would b sool with it considering how much it affected me and how cool i think it is. We ahd a lesson with Patrick this week, he's in high school and played football a lot of people know him i guess you could say hes kind of a big deal and we talked about the doctrine of Christ, the need for faith, repentance, being baptised, and receiving the Holy ghost, the spirit was strong in that lesson and we talked about two of my favorites that talk about the importance of authority and of the holy ghost, one in Acts 8 when stephen tries to buy the authority or power-the priesthood from the apostles and they say that it cant be bought and in Acts 19 when Paul comes across the disciples and rebaptises them after they had been baptised by john because they had not received the holy ghost. Becasue John baptised for forgiveness but he who came after him Jesus came with the baptism of fire, of the holy ghost, he did that with his higher authority which he gave to his apostles which could give the GIFT of the holy ghost to every one, it was awesome and then we asked if he wanted to receive that gift and he said yes on the 13th! so he's getting baptised this week as Bianca is the next day.
Ill tell you about KC next week remind me, hes awesome and one of my best friends here in murrita, but i have four minutes left on the computer
i seriously love ya'll and hope the week goes well.

--
Elder Schallenberger