firery darts

I realized this past week that my writing had become boring to me, and if it is boring to me then it is definitely boring to the reader! So, like missionaries do, I evaluated myself and did a better job of taking notes this past week of interesting things to write about! Hopefully this is a little more enthralling than the last few months have sounded. 

With the nice weather there are people out doing something on every block! Winter hibernation has ceased and people are soaking up the rays. Something cool about Bettendorf is that wherever you go in the city there is a two lane exercise path. Literally, everywhere. Even on major and big streets! It's pretty rad because it makes for some good people watching as we drive. The other day we saw a lady rollerblading, her husky pulling her, hair flowing and she was jamming out to some tunes! It was quite a site to see. 

Also something funny about missionary work here is that when we knock on a door and the people are not expecting us we often times just hear "who is?!" It caught us off guard the first time and but now we just yell back "missionaries!" It's fun, except for when they don't open the door. 

The work is going better here and we are seeing our area the investigators progress more. We were blessed to find more investigators this week and look forward to helping two others progress to baptismal dates. Elena is one of my favorite people I have ever taught! I love her so much, not only because she cooks for us, but because of her sweet spirit and fun loving personality! The people of Iowa are the best.

This past Saturday Sister Nakayu and I had the wonderful opportunity to go to the Nauvoo Temple! We went with our ward Relief Society. Nauvoo is about two hours down the Mississippi. It was great to be there and have the opportunity to worship in the temple. After our session we went over to the stake center for lunch. Walking up to the building I recognized a car, it was from Kirksville! When we got in the building we learned that the young women from the Nauvoo stake were there for a meeting and activity later in the day! I was so blessed to see so many people from Kirskville. It was most definitely a tender mercy of the Lord. 

A side note, I've never mentioned, but there are Bald Eagles everywhere! Especially down by the river. They are not in vans though, we saw like six up in a tree on Saturday. They are huge and so majestic! 

I am so very grateful that as a missionary I have the opportunity to study the scriptures for two hours every morning! They provide the armor for us to go out into the world. Read 1 Nephi 15:24 what better way to prepare for the day than to fortify ourselves against the fiery darts of the adversary! Feast, don't just nibble or put it on the shelf to have every once and a while. A greater resolve to stand in the ways of righteousness will come as we do so!

Love y'all,

Sister Skaggs

this is His work

Another great week in the service of the Lord is in the books and boy what it was! We got an ice storm that put a shell on our car. No joke, it was like cracking a hard boiled egg. I was smacking the windows to get the ice to shatter so we could scrape it off. Once it cracked a lot is simply just slid off in huge ice sheets! It was totally crazy and kinda fun. Much easier to get off the car than snow. 

We also had the great opportunity to teach a family and they are new investigators! The Leapley's are so fun and definitely have a desire to follow our Savior. We look forward to meeting with them again this week! Also, Elena accepted a baptismal date for April 4th! She is a totally funny lady but is so in tune with the spirit. Sister Makayu and I are crazy excited about these developments in our area because we had seen so little for so long as we have worked here in Bettendorf. We pray that these wonderful people will progress towards baptism. What a blessing it is to teach them!

Also two weeks ago we went out to LeClaire with a couple in our ward. It's a cute small town in our ward but not in our area.  We went to this sweet restaurant right on the Mississippi called Sneaky Pete's and I got a buffalo burger! It was so delicious.

I want to just quickly include something that my friend sent me. We were in the MTC together and he is serving in Alberta, Canada. He said, "The Lord will help you, for this is His work. We are just blessed to be a part of the ride." It is so true! That advice rings true for us all as we are engaged in the work of the Lord whether it be in the temple, as a missionary, as a loyal and supportive spouse, as a parent, as a primary pianist! It is amazing how I have seen the hand of the Lord in His work. If it is something you haven't seen or picked up on, think about it and pray to recognize the Lord's hand. Greater clarity and understanding comes when we are on His errand and trust that He is in charge. WE are His work and it is an amazing blessing to be along for the ride.

Love y'all,

Sister Skaggs

P.S. It is in the 50's today and I could not be more ecstatic!

Do IT!

Somehow the two don't go together

Hey just a quick note today cause I'm running low on time somehow. 

This week we didn't have any crazy happenings as there was transfers and Sister Nakayu and I are both staying put another six weeks. Last Wednesday was our preparation day and we played dodge ball with racket balls! It was pretty brutal but it was nice cause I could throw it as hard as I could at the elders but they felt bad hitting me hard! Many many laughs were in order that day. Sister Nakayu even loved it, she bought some racket balls at Walmart this morning! We had some good lessons but no new investigators and no one at church yesterday. 

Yup, the real deal

Something kinda cool I have learned on my mission is the importance of finding the Lord's will and doing it.The knowledge does not always come right at once, sometimes it takes weeks. But as we find the Lord's will through counsels, scriptures, prayer, and listening to the spirit it is imperative that we then DO IT. The Lord can do great things with us if He can trust us with His work. What a blessing it is to be on His errand! 

Love y'all,

Sister Skaggs

100x0x0=0

At the John Deer Factory

Time for your Midwest weather update courtesy of Sister Skaggs in Bettendorf, Iowa. I seem to always start with the weather, probably because it is constantly changing, it gets me in typing mode, and it's a good way to awkwardly start a conversation. It was cold this week. One day we scurried back to our car, after 20 seconds on a door step and no answer, close to ten times. It was just so bitterly cold and the windchill took it down into negative temperatures.

We had Stake Conference this weekend and President and Sister Jensen were there. It was a great opportunity to feel the spirit and receive guidance from our leaders. This week is transfers and Sister Jensen said she won't be seeing us there. Sister Nakayu and I will be together one more transfer together and I am so happy! Things are slowly picking up with the work and I am grateful that finally I feel that I know the area and we are going in the right direction. 

Something I wanted to share real quick was what I realized in my studies this morning. I am reading in the beginning of 1 Nephi, and Nephi is just flabbergasted at his brother's lack of faith and inability to remember the Lord. So many miracles benefited Lehi's family and still Laman and Lemuel could not muster the faith to trust the Lord would deliver them yet again. They saw an angel for crying out loud! And yet they immediately murmured. I thought as I reflected on their stubbornness, "experiences do not equate to conversion." It does not matter how many amazing spiritual experiences we have if we do not couple them with faith and action. 100 Miracles x 0 Faith x 0 Action = 0 Conversion. It's as simple as that. We mus have faith, act, and remember the goodness of our Father in Heaven.

I hope y'all have a good week and stay warm.

Love y'all,

Sister Skaggs

Miracles

"I can't believe I bowled!"

Finally a dog in her life!

A wise man once said that "the Midwest is flat and the wind whips like no other." He was correct. I don't actually know that a wise man once said that, but it is a true statement nonetheless. I say "ow" a lot when walking to from our car to the house. The sun can be shining and it can be colder than a walk in freezer outside. Sometimes I miss San Diego and Hawaii and the locals here just chuckle with sympathy. But hey, we are doing the Lord's work and frostbitten fingertips thaw nicely!

This past week we found two new people to teach, Gary and Hazel. Gary even came to church yesterday and really enjoyed it! He is an older guy who lives in a nursing home, and is a friend of a less active member who lives there. Gary wears a coonskin cap anytime he is not lounging in his room watching movies on AMC. He's pretty much awesome and we're excited to help him progress in the gospel. 

Last week we had a rad zone preparation day. We went bowling. If you know me, you know I'm not the greatest fan of bowling. I just feel the athlete's foot coming on as I wear old shoes that hundreds of others have sweat in as they walk the 15 feet to the lane, chuck a ball, and walk back. Also, the natural grease that coats your fingers as your stick em in holes that little kids and old men have used after sneezing and eating nachos, is not the most pleasant feeling. Regardless, I was determined to overcome my aversion to the plentiful germs that infest the sport of bowling. I relay this message because I'm pretty sure I bowled my best score ever. A solid 152! I was saying I was happy to break a 100 and when I was knockin them pins down I just thought, "my dad would be so proud!" Super cheesy and somewhat prideful but I wanted to share my amazing bowling experience! The power to overcome dislike and being not a fan of something is real! Now, I'm not gonna say I love bowling, but putting up a 152 makes coping with the germs, weird feeling toes, and sticky fingers a lot easier. I could draw a gospel parallel to this subject, but it doesn't seem terribly appropriate.

Instead I will write to you all of something great I learned this past week. So last week we ended up with a big zero in the investigator pool. Cashena dropped us and thus went her daughter. It was hard but I learned that we did our job. The Lord put us in her path as she was taking out her trash. He had prepared her with thoughts about being baptized for two weeks prior to us meeting her! She was totally prepared. He put us in her path and we opened our mouths. God had done His part and we His servants did our part, she exercised agency to not accept the message of the restored gospel. Although it is sad to see her make that choice, it is extremely gratifying to know that the Lord is able to use us as His tool, and that He trusts us with those people who He has prepared. 

Our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are so incredibly invested in our lives. But in the end we must exercise our agency to make the correct decisions. There are powers seen and unseen working on our minds and hearts, preparing us for what is ahead. We must yield to the Lord, for He knows best, and is completely, entirely, totally invested in our lives. For He said "This is my WORK and my glory- to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." 

I hope that lesson from the learnings of Sister Skaggs is more uplifting and enlightening than a bowling analogy would have been. Love you all and I thank you for your support and kind words. 

Love y'all,

Sister Skaggs

hope is a good thing

This past week was pretty cool, we still have major piles of snow everywhere because of the big storm. Instead of it being pretty and white it is all black and mucky now. Definitely doesn't look like shave ice material anymore! The last few days have been in the 40s though and I didn't even wear a cardigan or nothing. I never thought 40 degrees would feel so good! It's awesome. 

We are working hard here and trying to build up our teaching pool. Key word is trying. The Sister Training Leaders from Clinton came in on Saturday for exchanges and it was so fun to work with them! I was with Sister Harmon, who is from New Mexico, and she beat boxes so good. We've got a lot of potential investigators and are trying to work with some formers but now much is going on. We just keep a smile on and have fun. How can you not when you're in the service of the Lord? 

I read Ether chapter 12 this morning in my personal study. It is pretty much the most intense chapter ever because it is packed with counsel and revelation from two amazing Book of Mormon prophets. I could babble and type a good bit if I had the time and I knew y'll would want to read my sometimes insightful scriptural finds, but I won't. Just one cool thing I learned is in verse 4. Read it! How often do we wish we glorified God to a greater degree or abounded in more good works? I do a lot. Well, hope, Christlike hope, and faith, leads to those sought after traits. We often times underestimate the power of hope. One of my favorite quotes is from the movie Shawshank Redemption. "Remember... hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies." When we feel spiritually or emotionally or physically down, hope is what brings us back and elevates us. Hope enables us to abound in those good works and glorify our Father in Heaven. Hope is a good thing.

Love y'all,

Sister Skaggs

We fully flower in heaven

It finally snowed in Iowa!

This week was a good one as we found two new investigators! Yay for having people to teach. Cashena and her daughter, Chastity, are totally rad! We have found a lot of potential investigators as well so the work is starting to pick up a bit. Sister Nakayu is still awesome as ever and we have a lot of fun together. 

Something not so fun was having church cancelled because we got close to seven inches of snow overnight! Then we proceeded to receive three or four more inches through the day. It was crazy! We weren't able to drive our cars. In the morning we shoveled snow for a good two hours. I'm going to be pretty dang buff by the end of winter. We have to have our driveway clear and sidewalks clear by the end of today, so that will be some good exercise. The plow trucks put a whole slew of snow right at the edge of our driveway! Not cool. That's the only bad part about snow, moving it around. Other than that I had some major fun jumping in the massive piles and climbing over them like a mountaineer. 

This morning in my personal study I read something near from Russell M. Nelson. He said "as seedlings of God, we barely blossom on earth; we fully flower in heaven." I absolutely loved that! Our purpose on earth is to blossom. We should understand that we don't have to be a perfect and full flower yet! All we must do is be sure that our seed is planted in good ground, that we water and nurture it daily, and that we pull up those pesky weeds that pop up so frequently. Plant, nurture, protect. That's what we must do in order for our spiritual buds to blossom. Plant yourself in the soft and moist soil of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Nurture your spirit whether weak or strong with the scriptures and earnest prayer, daily. And pluck out those bad habits and vices through the atonement of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. There is not better way to prepare to fully flower in the presence of our Heavenly Father.

Love ya'll,

Sister Skaggs