What a Week

Well this week has definitely been an interesting one.  It started off super awesome with us teaching a lot of less active people and finding new people to teach, then we split the area with the sisters and we lost everyone basically.  All the people that we had found to teach, we had to give to them (except that one awesome family that called us over from their porch) and a lot of the less actives we were visiting were on their side as well, so we had to start fresh all over again!  After the split area, we had no success what so ever!  Everyone here is SUPER nice and welcoming, but once you start to talk about religion they will get all defensive and start talking about how they believe in Christ and that they are already saved; they say they believe in Christ but aren't willing to talk with us about Him.  We have met the two pastors of the First Baptist Church down here and they both were super nice but tried to disprove what we were saying, so we just left because we knew it wouldn't go anywhere.   Speaking of other churches, there are about 40 DIFFERENT churches around here, they all basically believe the same thing, but yet they say they're better than the next.

Elder Peck's bike has a flat tire and we are out of miles in our car, so we have to walk everywhere, and in Crestview that means like 5 miles to someones house; I now understand why missionaries go through so many pairs of shoes!  While tracting, I found this massive pinecone that was as big as my head!  I couldn't believe it, but Elder Peck just thought of it as a normal thing.  Guess I'm just that Greenie that is so excited about every little thing, but whatever this place is cool!  My mom sent me a package and now even my family is calling me the Greenie!!  She was so cute and made sure everything she sent was green.

We made our first real meal (not cereal or ramen noodles) and it turned out pretty good!  It was this cheesy noodle stuff that was really good, with some mashed potatoes and gravy.

We were having a really bad couple of days, cause no one was talking to us and the days were super long and we were looking at our feet as we were walking and looked up to see a sign that said "smile" the Lord really does care for us and wants us to not lose hope and keep pressing forward.  The mission is hard work and the days our long, but on Sunday I was reading through the hymn book and came across How Firm a Foundation and it said "I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand, up held by my righteous omnipotent hand."  It was really nice to read that and be reminded that the Lord is there to help me through the hard times.  Even though it's hard, I love it here and know that this is exactly what I'm supposed to be doing and we will find people to teach!  I love the Gospel no matter what!

 Oh and my sister is super awesome and made this blog for me.

Love and miss you all.

Elder Schipaanboord

Write me letters and send pictures!
 Elder Schipaanboord

800 Spring Creek BLVD APT# 9206

Crestview, FL 32536

Tricking Elder Peck to holding a bowl of water to the ceiling.  hahaha We were showing each other magic tricks and so I told him that I knew this way sick one where the bowl filled with water would stick to the ceiling, so I got on a stool and put the bowl on the ceiling and told him to hold it there with the broom stick, so he did and then I then proceeded to take the stool and run away leaving him holding the bowl of water with no choice but to drop it and get water all over him!

Flo-Rida

"Be careful out there, in the real world, they aren't as nice as we are." haha That's how I feel now that I've left the MTC and I'm out in the "real world".  The night that I left to the airport, I didn't sleep at all!  Some of the Elders in my zone decided to build a massive fort for our last night there!  As we did so, we all got talking with one another, telling stories and just laughing our butts off; gosh I miss them so much already!  When we got to the airport, it all started to feel real, I was going to my first area and going to meet my trainer!  Thankfully I didn't let this get to my head too much and I was able to sleep all the way from Salt lake to Georgia (I didn't have a chance to talk to anyone on the plane, I was surrounded by missionaries)!  When we arrived in Georgia, some photographer for the Meridian Magazine was there and saw all the missionaries that were coming off the plane and took a group picture of all of us and said he would put it in the magazine (I don't know how true that is).  We then got on another plane to Tallahassee on which I slept the whole way again hahaha.  The mission President and his wife were there to greet us, they are so nice and super funny!  We went back to the mission home where food was on the table ready for us!  After dinner we (7 other elders) were shipped to a hotel where we would spend the night and then get our trainers and areas in the morning.  So the next day I wake up with a terrible cough and sore throat, haha that would happen to me!  But its okay, cause I am serving the Lord and He will take care of me!

So my new companion/trainer is ELDER PECK, he is from Santaquin, Utah and was taken out as Zone Leader to train me, how cool is that?!  We were assigned to open up a new area in Crestview, Florida!  So we don't have an area book or anyone to teach, so we have to rely on street contacting and referrals as well as teaching less active members.  The work is slow right now, but I know that it will pick up once we get all settled in and into the swing of things.  It is absolutely gorgeous here!  I think Elder Peck is sick of me talking about the trees, but I cant help it, they're awesome!!!  The trees here literally wall the streets!!  We are in kind of a rural area, so the houses are super cool as well.  Everyone down here just parks their cars on the grass and no one even cares, its so weird!  A lot of people don't even have a driveway!

Southern Hospitality is 100% real!  We have been fed every night so far and have had some random people give us some food!  These people were so cool.  We were riding our bikes and we pass this house with a family sitting out on the porch having a beer and smoking cigarettes and they called us over to talk to them!!  We sat down and ended up having an hour conversation with them building trust and explaining to them what missionaries are and what we do.  We shared a quick little message with them and got their phone number and a return appointment, they invited us for a bbq this Friday! I am so nervous, but excited for this, it is going to be a blast, and I feel like the lord has definitely prepared them to receive the restored gospel!

But then again, we are in the south and there are some crazies... my first day in the field we were riding our bikes down the street for the first time and this car drives pasts and yells some choice words at us.  I couldn't help but think "well, here we go" hahaha but thankfully most people down here are really nice and welcoming!

I miss y'all so much and will definitely keep you posted on what is going on in the Crestview area! keep me posted on life back home and all the adventures that you go on!  As soon as I figure out how to put pictures on here, I will (so maybe next week or later today).  But for now, God Speed!

Love

Elder Schipaanboord

PS my new address is 

Elder Schipaanboord

800 Spring Creek BLVD APT# 9206

Crestview, FL 32536

***Dallin also asks that if any of his friends and family have pictures with him to send printed copies so he can hang them up in his room***

"Nothing like starting out our first leg of the Meridian Magazine sponsored Church History Tour and have 50 missionaries riding with us on the plane! We were all loaning our cell phones to the Elders and Sisters at the Salt Lake airport to make their final calls home (pay phones are at a premium) and many tears of joy were shed. Needless to say, all of our participants felt very safe on this flight! Love these missionaries heading to Louisiana and Florida!"

 Good friend from home, Elder Nicholas Odgden.

Door approaches.

Laundry Day.

Doing laundry for the first time.

 Friend, Ryan.

 

With friend, Bryce Young.

Elder Bean and the map.

MTC teacher, Ammon Ashton.

MTC teacher Elizabeth Eaton.

The Elders in my district.

Elder Lewis, he let me use his phone to call home from the airport.

The Zone.

I found Spencer.

At the airport.

Elder Peck

Almost P-Day

Well sorry it took so long to write back home, I didn't know that I was allowed to until yesterday during my interview with the President.  I have made it here safely but by now I'm pretty sure you have figured that out (thank you Sister Smith).  So my message today is super short but tomorrow I will write much much more!  All you need to know for know that it is awesome and I love it here!  It's different from Utah but I love it!  My companion is Elder PECK from Santaquin, Utah, he's a stud!  I can't wait for tomorrow to get back on a read your emails and send some back!  Love you and miss you lots!

Love,

Elder Schipaanboord 

From Sister Smith's blog.

From Sister Smith's blog.

From Sister Smith's blog.

Leaving the MTC

Friends and Family, it is time; I leave for Florida TOMORROW morning!!  I am honestly so ecstatic to get out into the field!  The MTC has been such a blast, I never knew that I could grow to love 12 random guys that I have never met so much in just two weeks, but it happened!  I'm going to miss these Elders so much!  When I first got dropped off here, I went inside to get my name tag put on, and the lady asked me if I was ready, to which I hesitantly said yes, and then she slid it onto my shirt and I started bawling; I wasn't ready hahaha!  That experience set the tone for the whole time while here.  I have never worked so hard and long in my life; the Spirit here is so unbelievably strong!  I never really noticed myself growing until I look back on my 12 days here (I know that's not a lot, everyone calls the English missionaries 12 day miracles) and realize how far I have come!  I have learned how to teach, bring the Spirit, invite others and come closer to Christ!  I have never prayed so much (like 25 times a day) and so hard in my life!  It's hard work, but it is so rewarding to see the investigators eyes here light up when you share something that they needed! 

Oh man, Conference was absolutely incredible!  The Spirit that filled the room, every time all of the missionaries stood and sang along was jaw dropping!  I loved the talk by Elder Holland and how he talked about mothers and their love for their children; I couldn't stop crying during his whole talk, I love my mom so much!  Everyone go tell your mom how much you love them, no matter what, they need it and will appreciate it.  Even though i studied "Lehi's dream" a couple time throughout conference, I learned a whole lot and am super thankful that we have Prophets and Apostles on the earth today, without them, I don't know what we would do! WE GOT 3 NEW MEMBERS OF THE QUORUM OF THE 12 APOSTLES!!  That hasn't happened in over 100 years!!  I am so excited for them and can't wait for next conference to hear them speak!

While here I have had some of the most fun that I have had in my life!  One Elder in my zone is a total cowboy and brought a rope to lasso people with, which is rather quite impressive, and it is so funny to watch people's faces as they get hooked at their foot!  We have had some late night conversations (wasn't too obedient,whoops) with funny stories of our lives.  Sister Pearl and I threw some acorns at a campus cop who was in his little golf cart thing; we where trying to land them in the bed of the truck but ended up hitting him, so he turned around and proceeded to tell us that he was going to tell our Branch President about it, nothing happened haha but I learned a good lesson.  During one of our study times, we were being a little loud, laughing and out of no where, a teacher comes into our room and "flamed" us hahaha! 

Gosh I love it here and am sad to say goodbye, but I am so excited to get to Florida to start sharing the Gospel with others and helping them come closer to Christ.  I love y'all so much and miss you lots, but God needs me right now in his army.

Love 

Elder Scipaanboord

PS- People have taken pictures of my name tag and always comment on my name, I've kinda become known as the kid with the crazy name hahaha!

PPS- I'll send you an email of my address in Florida when I get there!(:

Week 1

Dad,

Hey I did get your letter, and I want to thank you for it; it was so good to get a letter from home!  I love you guys so much and miss you (the good kind haha I'm not homesick quite yet).  Its been quite an incredible experience here, the spirit is so strong and I've been learning a lot!  The only thing that sucks is sitting in a classroom for 8 hours EVERY SINGLE DAY!  The second day I got here we started teaching, that was so scary!  As my companion and I continue to teach "investigators" we learn more and more that we don't teach but the Spirit does.  We are getting a lot better at learning how to bring the Spirit and meet the needs of the investigator rather than just teaching some random lesson that doesn't pertain to them at all.

The food here tastes really good, but is AWFUL coming out the other end; I'm pretty sure my district hates me because of how much I fart!  My Companion is Elder Bean, he is from Blackfoot, Idaho and is really cool and has such a strong testimony.  We have bonded so much and work really well together; the other companionships are jealous of our relationship and how things just seem to flow for us.  My alarm clock is still intact, I actually keep forgetting to turn the little switch to turn on the alarm, thankfully my companions have one too, so they always wake me up.  It is so hard waking up and staying awake in class!  In my zone there 8 people going to Tallahassee and 7 going to Ft Lauderdale, but I have met a lot of other people going to Tallahassee as well!  Thursday (today) is my P day, and we get to go to the temple today!!  I am honestly so excited!  

I have seen so many friends (Nicholas Ogden, Bryce Young, Brady Theyer, Spencer Fox and a lot more!) and have gotten some pretty solid picture, but I don't know how to send them, so I'll have to wait until I get to Florida for someone to teach me.

 Conference was absolutely incredible!  I just wrote a little bit about it in my email to mom, and I'm going to write you a letter telling you more about it later tonight, but getting up and standing with all the missionaries was one of the most powerful things I have experienced; the spirit was so strong! when we sang We Thank the O God for a Prophet the line "and those who reject this glad message shall never such happiness know" really struck me.  I need to try my absolute best to bring the message to everyone, but some people will reject it... that is so incredibly sad; it breaks my heart!  If they don't accept the message they wont know what it is like to be happy; they say that they are happy how they are, but they wont know true happiness.

Wait, you have to tell my about home!  Who's in the playoffs?  How are the angels doing?  The Dolphins?  And the Utes?  What are they ranked now?  I heard that Oregon lost again to Colorado, is that true?  I need detailed sports updates so I can know how my teams are doing and who to laugh and make fun of because of their team hahaha.

 Oh and also there is this website called dearelder.com it is a way for you and mom or whoever to write me a letter that will arrive to me the same day that you send it, so I dont have to wait until P day to read it and I can write whenever I want, just not email.  You just go to the website and click on write a letter and then fill out your address and then mine and write whatever you want.  It only works for the MTC though, not the actual mission field, but I would love to hear from you guys that way as well, so please let everyone know about that.  But I will always look forward to email you and mom each week! 

I have to go right now, but I'll be able to call you at the airport and talk for a little, I dont know what time I'll be there, all I know is that I wake up at 3:30 AM!  And I am writing a lot of letters today, can you send me more stamps?  I shared the goodies with my roommates: Elder Bean, Elder Turner and Elder Millard. 

Okay, I have to go.  I love you and I pray for you and the rest of the family every day!  I'll email you my next p-day, keep me posted on sports and life at home.

 I love you so much!

Elder Schipaanboord.

HI mom!

I am assuming that you sent that email before you got my letter, well at least I hope you got it... but my first couple of days were really hard, not because the work was hard, but because I had no idea where to go and where everything was, every building here looks exactly the same! But I have gotten my bearings and understand mostly everything now. It is really hard to get enough sleep here, because we stay up talking and laughing and then write in our journals for like 30 minutes, so we don't get to bed until like 11:45 haha. My companion is Elder Bean, he is from Blackfoot, Idaho, a town of only 10,000 people! He is really cool and we have become really close! Thankfully I'm pretty sure that I have packed everything, except for pictures of people!

Thanks for sending pictures of the family, that was honestly the best part of being here until now! That is one thing that I would like more of, pictures of family and friends! I miss you guys so much but its okay cause I am still pushing forward and haven't looked back! 

Conference was absolutely incredible!! There were so many missionaries there and everytime we stood and sang, I could feel the power that was in the room and being the cry baby that I am, I started to cry! I learned a lot at conference, even though Elder Turner and I studied Lehi's dream through a couple talks... hahaha! I am also writing you a letter tonight, and I will tell you more about conference and my experience with it in there! Until then, I only have an hour on the computers, but I'm going to separate my time into two shifts so I can see if you have responded. Feel free to ask any more questions and don't forget to tell me about home!

I am trying to figure out all of the secrets to the MTC as well hahah! Today was laundry day... and nothing changed colors and everything turned out clean, its a miracle!! Gosh I am so jealous you got to go up to Mirror Lake, I love that place so much, I bet it was absolutly amazing with the leaves changing colors and the weather is perfect too!

Mom, I'm so proud of you!! I've raised you well; you've learned to love the Utes just as Dad, Evan and myself hahaha! You have to take pictures and tell me all about it and all the funny signs you see at Game Day, yes even if they lose!

Love you, 

Elder Schipaanboord

First Letter

Dear Mom and Dad,

This place is awesome!  It's new and feels like I'm being shot with a firehose of knowledge, but it's fun!

My companion is Elder Bean!  He's really cool and we have already shared some good laughs and we work well together!  He's from Blackfoot, Idaho (hahaha Napoleon!).  We already had to teach 3 "investigators" (with 30 missionaries) and it was hard!  But I know it will get much easier.

 The food isn't bad, so far, but it's only the first day.  It's so crazy to actually be here.  It's so fun and there is such a strong spirit!  I've cried like 5 times already (including when a worker put my name tag on, that was surreal!).

I saw Nicholas (Ogden) and we took a picture, it was so awesome!

I love you guys and wish you the best!

-Elder Schipaanboord

P.S. My P-day wont be until next Thursday.