Hey

sorry super busy week and super busy Pday, only have a couple of minutes but I got to sing for the priamry on sumday, I played the sons of helamen song on my uke and i think they liked it, in return they sang i hope they call me on a mission, woah! that was the best thing of the week for sure, we have a pretty solid primary and a super solid primary music lady haha Keith is on date to be baptised in two weeks which is exciting, this week is almost everything in a week, Training meeting, exchanges with the assistants, Zone Leader Council, President interviews, and a zone meeting so pretty much this week every day before 3 i will be in meeting of some sort! I would rather be teaching but everyone has their obligations i guess. We had dinner at the Mckells and sister mckell gave me a carton or i guess thats not the right word a container of raspberries, so good! made me think of home and how many good things mom makes with those! i love ya'll! keep it up.

ps its so cool everytime i look at a mormon times there is a pic of either Nicole Sheahan or Stacey Duce! It makes me feel cool i know them!

--
Elder Schallenberger

Another week bites the dust

Ok first off the pics are me and my buddy Jason on a little train they have that goes around there house (i may have sent that one before) then the picture from back in the day of Kerry "Coates" i was talking about that this lady in my ward had. Then Elder Rice and I, you cant see but i had a little lizard on my hand, those things are everywhere! and then Uwe and I. He took me out to lunch this week it was so good. We went to this thai place and if you didnt know before Uwe always treatd us missionaries so well, so he said that we could order anything we want so we both got some chicken (imagine that me ordering chicken haha jk) so to our surprise when it comes out its not just like a wing or a breast it a whole chicken, took up a quarter of the table! so we had leftovers which was good but i was just thinking how in the heck am I going to eat all this chicken! Uwe was able to get his Melchizedek priesthood this week which was exciting! He got baptised back when I was in Hemet if you dont recall. Its pretty cool to see him now, he's the gospel principles teacher in Perris and he is teaching this whole entire month! Pretty cool. Also this week i was able to go on some exchanges. I went with one of my best friends Elder Ellis. He's a Spanish missionary and that night i got there we planned and then i had him work on my Spanish prayers so i can pray at the lessons. Because teaching is just not happening yet is espanol haha so we worked on it and then i worked on it in the morning and we were off. We were teaching and testifying ok let me change that Ellis was teaching and testifying like crazy in Spanish and i would put in my two cents but pretty much i jsut sat there and tried to stay awake because my mind is so idyll when he teaches. So he was teaching this guy on his porch, we were sitting on the lawn teaching him and he jsut had a powerful lesson and he looks over to me and asks if I'll say the prayer haha all I can say up to this point is Dear Heavenly father we thank thee for this day, and i say back to him in espanol? and he says yeah, just follow the spirit and closes his eyes and bows his head, so im like crap what am i going to say! so i bow my head and pray internally for the gift of tongues or remembrance or anything and i started to pray and it came out to what i knew how to say and then my mind jsut went blank. So Ellis whispered something but he was about 6 ft away and being outside i couldn't hear him and i just started saying what i thought he was saying but had no idea and then when i closed he said i said the prayer perfectly, I still think he was jsut saying that to boost my ego but he said i did and i honestly couldn't make out what he was saying so if Elder Ellis is telling the truth then I was able to gain a lot of help from my heavenly father and it made me go home and study enough to where i can say a pretty good but basic prayer in Spanish. (jkust trying to be more like Elder Farley) I was able this week to do two baptismal interviews and man do i love to do that, its so cool to hear their conversion stories and to be able to be just a small part of the big picture. These people were so on fire and ready to be cleansed through being baptised, it was cool. We are still working on getting the forty day fast in the ward and a new class going on wednesday nights so thats exciting too. Well I love ya'll

hey

August 16, 2010

Hey it was a pretty good week this week we tracted quite a bit but we found some great people who want us to come back. We were going to do a forty day fast for missinary work, but it got shut down in ward council and is a no go now, we'll still fast as a ward but not over a course of time with people on specific days. This week we were able to help the robinson's move a family, it was fun to get to know them, they raised their children in lolo and knew the sangsters and rechts and some other people too. They are a senior couple and its so fun to have them, jsut cool people. Today for P-day we went to fairmont park to go craw dad fishing, the water was ridiculously gross, we ended up walking by the "river" and were on an underpass of the highway where some homeless people stay and there were 20 in bass just swimming around in these little puddles of water, pretty crazy but way gross, we had to leave early right as they found a huge hole full of them. so we missed out on the real action. We had a lesson in church and it talked about covenants and how important they are and have been since the beginning of time. How the Lord's people are covenant people and how the abrahamic covenant works, it was cool. Keith was going to move and so we were going to send the missionaries over to plamona but now he's staying so we're pretty happy about that. We have been able to get things going over here but they are still slower than i would like. Uwe is getting the melchezidek priesthood soon, the guy that got baptised in Hemet i was happy to hear that! he is coming along great and loves being able to serve in the church so much, ALbert is still thinking about going on a mission im pretty sure and thats all the update ive gotten from and people that were baptised while ive been here. Sorry i am drawing blanks on the past week but I know that something great happened, if i think of it before i have ot leave ill let you know!

Love you all

Elder schallenberger

HEllo form Orangecrest

August 9, 2010

So I just picked up my bike today, its in such good shape t looks so nice! plus the people gave me a gift card to a nice italian place! how sweet is that! I look at that as a blessing, im back to normal now! feeling good and working out hard trying to look a little more like D! THis one is kind of to everyone (usually i write my siblings personally and mom) so Lindsey Im excited for you and Rob and your new move, it sounds so perfect for you! Also Im excited to hear that shonda and everyone gets to go to the concerts at the fair and that Mom and Dad are doing well. I was at a house last night and I talked to a guy named Lanny Green. He played basketball with grandpa dwain and uncle durell! He new Grandman Lil the most and said she was sure a good looking girl back in the day! haha for sure! grandma his mom was Orpha Hart. Do you know her? was he talking about the right lillian? how many can there be? hwe said that he was able to build the darby church when he was in high school and he just told me story after story. I got pictures of his daughter scrap book it has pics of Kerry "coates" back in the day! classic pics! SHe wanted me to ask so please mom will you ask bro coates what he said at her grandpa's funeral? His name was something hart i think bob or dale or something. She remembered him and he said a classic line of how guys shouldnt complain about how the bread tastes inless they want their wives to complian about how their husbands kneeded it haha or something, she said that has always stuck with her and she wanted to know how exactly went! It was extremely rewarding talking to him about i. This week was crazy I got called to be a zone leader here so i had some meetings and stuff but we're are having great success. We are starting a forty day fast here with a family a day like aunt kerry! ill let you know how it goes! love you all!

elder schallenberger

THis week was a wreck!

August 2, 2010

Ok so this week was pretty good. A little slower than anticipated but so good at the same time! We were asked to dedicate a grave at the Veterans Cemetary which is about 1000 acres, the biggest veterans cemetary in the US land mass wise not buried wise. So 1.5 million people will be buried there when its full. So we show up and they have us go to a meeting station where everyone meets. We meet the family and I dont know if they were members of our church or not but I was asked to do the dedication and so I'm asking who they wanted to have speak or pray and stuff and they siad we thought you two were going to do it all, we want you to do it. So relying on the spirit and improv we ran the service for the family. After we were there a car comes and leads us to one of the many pavillions in the cemetary, so confusing. Thats not where the body is buried just where the service is performed! so they had the casket carried from the hearse to the pavillion and then they had the presentation of the flag and the taps and then Elder Rice gave the opening prayer and it was on. We asked if any of the members of the family wanted to say something so a daughter said some things and then I asked if anyone else wanted to say anything and a grandson got up (probably the me of his family) and had a top ten things He would remember about his grandpa. Everyone was crying and he said, number one, what the hell was his name? and everyone started laughing i guess he had a bunch of nicknames but it just took me by surprise haha and he went on it was pretty cool . I was thinking about what i would say about my two powerful grandpas if i remembered anything and man I got choked up. I have the coolest ancestry and heritage. So then I got up and gave a little sermon on Mosiah 4, how we cant always comprehend why things happen and that pain is inevitable but misery is a choice. I felt Heavenly Father was able to give some of those people hope and was greatful for his help. Since the pavillion wasnt by where the body was to be buried we had a closing prayer and then only I and the hearse guy were able to go to where the body was being buried and I was able to dedicate the grave for Elwood. What an honor. I was standing around the grave with the hearse guy, the director, and two mexican workers that were digging the grave and it was pretty sweet im not going to lie. I wish the family could have been there too but thats the rule!

Ok so heres where the wreck part of the week comes in! We went over are miles on our car. (yes Britt we have cars in our mission) and so we were on bike for a week and I was in the lead on Van Buren heading to an appointment. I was biking against traffic on the bike lane heading east and a Lincoln Navigator pointing North wanting to turn right didnt see me and totally hit me on the bike, it happened really really fast and before i knew it i was picking up my bike and trying to ride like nothing happened but my back tire was connected to my bike to well. I got hit pretty hard i think but it could have been worse. My left leg was super super sore but i took an ice bath and that seemed to help. I have two bruises on my legs and my elbow is cut up. My back is sore too but overall I am so blessed, it could have been worse. The guy felt so bad, hes paying for my bike to get fixed, its not realluy in working shape it wont shift now and the tire is wobbly, he said if i needed any medical stuff to call him but i think ill be cool. Pass along cards were all over the road. He told his wife to back up the car and the bumper was bent so far back that it was rubbing on the tires and so his sons came out and pulled it back so that she could back it up. I think the Navigator got it worse than the bike or me! so dont worry mom im alright but just be thankful for all the blessings your son is receiving. I look back and it could have been way worse. Moral of the story. Dont go over your miles on your car! haha

We are receiving great blessings from the Lords hands. So lucky to be a missionay when the times are like they are, we have so much support and I am grateful for all the support i get from everyone of you. Letters, financially, prayers, everything, my family and friends are making sacrifices so that I can be having the best two years of my life! Is that even fair? Not really but Im very grateful for it!

I LOVE YOU ALL

hello

July 26, 2010

Hey everyone it was a good week. we were able to teach a lot more this week instead of finding but we still tracted for probably 13 hours. it was a little cooler this week, we were able to go with keith to another baptism this sunday and it was really cool, i ran into some family of some good friends from an old ward so thats cool. i am nearing the end of this transfer which is jsut crazy! why do things keep flying past faster? We were able to have a big conference on some new things that will be changing and the mission is stoked, it put a fire under everyones butt for sure! Im starting to feel the urgency of only having a year or so and am wishing that things could slow down. one of the elders im pretty close with is coming back after his mission and playing bball here in the mission so it would be crazy to be serving where he's living in the future because i havent served their yet. It seems like a lot of my good friends out here are starting to wind down in their time. There was a lot of cooler days this week i dont think it got above 100 which is nice, my comp and I are turning things around down here for sure and its so awesome to see the changes the Lord is able to make in our lives and the people around us. I was reading in Alma 50 when moroni is making preperations for war in verses 1-4 i think and how he didnt just stop with the mounds around the citym or the timbers, or pickets, but he built towers and upon the towers he built security to not get hit my the arrows or the stones, what kind of preperations and security are we putting in our lives, what kind of protection do we personally have? Im grateful for the security I have in the gospel and with my friends and family, so many people dont even have that i mean seriously how big of a bummer is that? Make preperations to secure your families and yourselves, spiritually, and physically and emotionally. I love ya'll and am doin fine!

Thanks for the letters of support.

Hey july where did you go??

July 19, 2010

i thought it was start of july and the month is already flying by before my eyes, we are halway into the transfer. We had a guy named keith james that came to church, he stopped us on the street and asked what church we went to and where it was at and we gave him our info and didnt think much of it, he's trying to get a job and we figured thats what he really wanted not the church necessarily, but he called us the night before and needed a ride so he showed up and liked it. HE didnt have dress shoes though so i hooked him up with mine, i had a couple pairs and after seeing how britts mission is i can afford to be more charitable, so i rocked the rest of church with my socks on and nobody noticed haha i had black socks on. He really appreciated it and he felt the love we have for him i feel. He really enjoyed high councilman sunday!!! maybe those sundays aren't as boring as we think! he kept saying how powerful they spoke. So we'll meet with him this week and start teaching him. He's in his 50's and i really like him. Dave is one of our investigators but he is basically a member, he comes every week, watches BYU tv and stands up for our church its pretty cool. His wife was baptised a year ago and they are taking the temple prep classes together. We had dinner there on saturday (hopefully Britt doesn't read this) haha we had this like 5 course meal she just loads us up and there are always tons of things and the best food we always like looking at the calendar and seeing their names, but hes been really stressed so we were able to give him a blessing of comfort and man was that sweet! We also on sunday got to go down to redlands and give one of our families we've been teaching's son a blessing. He got really sick and had blockage in his kidney i think, he's eight or nine and it was so cool to see the faith that he had that he would be healed, the childrens hospitals are the saddest but the biggest faith promoting, its a seventh day adventist hosptial loma linda, really popular hospital in the county and they had a cool painting of doctors operating on a kid and christ was in the middle pointing with his right hand and resting his left hand on the doctor's shoulder, i thought it was pretty sweet. I loved that opportunity! then we went and gave a blessing today to a lady who is having a baby anyday, her family was there and it was cool to see what that was like. I have never been in the delivery area before and you could see how much her husband was anticipating the birth, what a great blessing you sisters have to bring heavenly fathers children into this world, what a calling and responsibility! great blessings this week for sure, i am continuing to work hard and trying to be a better missionary. Keep me in your prayer as you are in mine, I love this work. Also Uwe (the guy that got baptised in hemet) is coming up to take us to breakfast, it will be good to see him. Love you all!