Elder Skaggs vs whatever the heck he does - from 08/24/2019

Hey everyone!!

Welcome to another update in the life of Elder Skaggs while serving his mission in Salt Lake City. I only have about 26 of these left. Wow!! Not that I'm counting. I shouldn't be trunky, so we shall ignore that and not bring it up. But, I will mention that I turn 21 in a month. I am finally legal to do most things except I still can't rent a car. I don't blame car rental companies. I don't even trust myself when I drive. Anyway, I hope you are all doing well. I assume you guys all read my emails or it goes straight to the spam folder. If someone doesn't email me back (especially after I email them first), I assume they've just died. So at this point, I assume that majority of you are dead and I'm going to be really sad when I get home. I hope that's not the case though. Onto better things...

My dad wants me to talk about what I do, like my projects or my daily schedule. Quite honestly, I don't even know what I do. I'm confused as to my own duties. But, I shall explain them anyway.

A typical day of mine consist of an annoying noise beeping at me to wake up in the middle of an amazing dream. Then some days I proceed to go to the stake center where the elders get together and do a bunch of weird stuff to our muscles and do painful things like stretching and "exercising". After that, I feed my body with food. Then I get ready for the day, which involves having super hot hydrogen Dioxide spraying over my whole entire body and putting on clothes. 

My zone work actually just changed this week and it's super awesome. I originally sat on a computer all day and indexed a mission newsletter printed in the early 1900s called the Liahona, look it up on Family Search's catalog. It's slow and burning brain cells while looking at a computer screen is boring. But, I'm good at my job. It also reminds me that I'm currently doing that exact thing by emailing right now. However, about three times a week we do circulation. We deliver the items that employees order for research. The paid and trained employees go to the vaults and get them and then bring them back to a room and we deliver them. I have delivered things such as a huge book filled with patriarchal blessings that were given in the late 1800's to original copies of the hymnbook and Book of Commandments. It's pretty fun. 

My new assignment though, for the next few days, is scanning. What I do is scan super old documents. We grab a folder of the stuff we need to scan and then set it down on a table and then we carefully pull out the first one. We place it on the scanner and then it scans through. I'm on the wide format scanner, which usually means I'm scanning the super old stuff. Like, right now we are scanning the blueprints for the remodeling of the parking garage of the Hotel Utah. I think it's super cool because I'm seeing original plans and designs of buildings I work in and go to. After it scans, the elder I work with does some computer magic and the paid employees review it. My companion is right around the corner working on another project. He does the bio sketch, which is writing short biographies about the people who owned certain items we have in the museum and the library. 

He just finished Orson Hyde and really enjoyed that. He was the one who dedicated Jerusalem for the gathering of Israel and missionary work. He also did a ton of other amazing things. He apostatized a couple times, but came back to the church in the end. And he served as an apostle for many years. We wanted to convince president to let us go to Jerusalem for "further research", but we figured that would be a long shot. I did visit Jerusalem by way of Google maps though. Pretty cool place. 

My work isn't too bad. Yes, I don't get to preach the gospel to people, but I am serving the Lord in different ways. It doesn't matter how I serve him, it only matters that I do serve him. I don't think we are judged based off whether or not we served a proselyting mission, service mission, or a different type of mission. It's also interesting how your point of view can change. When I first came out here, I convinced myself that we are a full time mission and not a service mission. And that's actually true. So, I convinced myself correctly and didn't lie to myself. Even though service missions are awesome, we are not one. However, I have finally come to accept that we sort of are a service mission. We obey the rules and the white handbook of a full time missionary, but we do the work of a service mission. Well, some of it. The Family History Library does the work of a full time mission. So, in part we are a full time service mission, however, that defeats the purpose of a service mission. So, once again, it's really complicated.

Also, if anyone wants to tell me that because we don't preach the gospel to people, we aren't a "real mission", I'll share some shocking news. The Temple Square sisters are now serving part of their time on Sunday afternoons and Monday evenings working on the first floor of the Family History Library. So, are they not technically "real missionaries" for the time they do that? Nah, they're still real missionaries, which makes us real missionaries, too. I hope that made sense. Anyway, I hope I helped you all see what I do on my mission.

Sister Bell, me and Elder Jensen

A sad moment this week was saying goodbye to Sister Bell. She's from Westminster, CA and lived next to us for a month. She just completed her mission and it was sad to say goodbye. She's been so great to us. We also said goodbye to Sister Smith and the Taylor's (our old zone leaders). It's sad to see people leave to go home, but they will always be friends. Friends are amazing. Well, most of the time.

We also went to the temple yesterday and afterwords we were asked to do some sealings. We found out that we were doing names for Sister Wendy Nelson, the prophet's wife. It was super awesome to know that I was doing names for her. I felt extra special to be doing names for her and knew that I was doing something good. 

My super cool CTR ring that
I bought the other day

Anyway, I still don't know what the heck I do. I'm just trying not to destroy the world and trying to figure out how many grave sites I will have to visit after the mission since it seems like most of you are dead. Also, please do me a favor everyone!!!!!!!!!!! DON'T BE STUPID AND STORM AREA 51! I hope I don't have any friends that are dumb enough to do that. Let me know if there is anything I can do for any of you. I can't promise I can do anything, but we will see. I hope the humor in this email didn't make it too stupid. I LOVE YOU ALL AND MISS YOU ALL!!! You are loved by Heavenly Father and can do amazing things!! Don't give up!! I am here for anyone who needs it. Well, I'm only here once a week for a few hours, but you can write me if you need any love or support or email me or chat with me on Saturdays. Hope to talk to you all soon!

Love,

Elder Michael Skaggs

15 East South temple

JSMB 3 East

SLC, Utah 84150

Elder Skaggs vs LOVE - from 08/17/2019

Elders Passey, Biggs, Jensen and I waiting for the movie
to start

Hello everyone,

I don't have a lot to email this week. Quite honestly, I don't think I really did much, however, I did want to talk about mission conference from Wednesday.

The topic that Sister Fenn (our mission president's wife) talked about was not making judgments on people before you know them and not making judgments on them in the first place. I think that is important for all of us to remember. We are too quick to judge people in today's society and we don't take a moment to stop and think about it. We don't consider this and a lot of the time we make judge people based off first impressions or by looks. We don't consider what they might be going through or that maybe they're just having a rough day. We all need to reflect on our lives and see how we can be less judgmental and more loving towards those we come in contact with. Imagine if we didn't just assume someone was a bad person based off of one interaction. Imagine if we all were considerate to each other and all were able to show more love to everyone.

President Fenn spoke about something quite similar. He talked about charity. Most especially towards each other. We talked about Moroni 7:45. That was the major scripture we talked about. We kind of broke down each part. Each part of Charity is broken down in a great way.

Suffereth long- It means that Charity is patient and is able to withstand a lot of stuff. Charity is able to control itself and be loving and compassionate.

Kind- that's pretty self explanatory

Envieth not- Charity doesn't get jealous of others and is able to be okay with itself. 

not puffed up- Charity isn't arrogant when it gets promotions or is in leadership position. It doesn't take it's power to a whole new level and doesn't use unrighteous dominion. A true leader loves those that he is over. And Christ once said, "And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant." Matthew 20:27

Seeketh not her own- Charity doesn't go after it's own agenda. It's selfless and strives to serve others. Such as the scripture above. Charity isn't a selfish thing and doesn't have any part of selfishness in itself.

Is not easily provoked- Charity doesn't get angry easily or upset easily when others offend it. Charity is able to keep it's calm and show love and compassion back towards them. I think this is something very important to remember. We need to not get upset. HOW OFTEN DO WE WANT TO FLIP SOMEONE OFF BECAUSE THEY DO SOMETHING WE DON'T LIKE WHILE DRIVING? We need to not lose our cool. There is never a reason to get angry at one another. Instead we need to be thoughtful and forgiving

Thinketh no evil- Charity doesn't think about inappropriate things and doesn't do inappropriate things. Charity strives to think about love and good things.

rejoiceth not in iniquity- Charity doesn't dwell in evil and bad things. It doesn't cheer on the evil of the world or the bad influences

But rejoiceth in the truth- Charity celebrates the gospel and the good things in this world. It lives it's live in love and righteousness. We need to align our lives to be towards the will of our Heavenly Father. But, at the very least, we need to strive to think about things that matter most

Charity never faileth... but Charity is the pure love of Christ- Charity will last forever and Charity is something that can't go wrong. There is nothing that can destroy Charity. No person, No object, No thought, No action, No evil can ever destroy Charity. Heavenly Father created Charity to withstand all things. Charity is the love Christ shows us. Charity being the pure of Christ means that it is a love Christ has for us which can't be destroyed. This love is a love we can have for others and we can make a difference in other people's lives if we are showing them this love.

Proof that I, as a missionary, was
at a movie theatre

More proof

WE NEED TO HAVE CHARITY. We need to continue to show Charity towards everyone. This is a trait and action we can have. Don't be charitable towards others if you're looking for recognition. Do it in secret and don't do it to be praised. Be patient with others, be content with your life and don't be jealous of others. DON'T COMPARE YOURSELF TO OTHERS. Comparing yourself doesn't work. It doesn't help. If we compare ourselves to others. then we make ourselves seem less important than we are. I hope we can all strive to be more loving and charitable towards everyone we interact with. Help those that are in need of help, don't get angry when someone cuts you off on the freeway. Here's a little secret: most of the time someone offends you or does something wrong, it's not on purpose, but is usually unintentional. Mistakes happen. Forgive others and love them for how God sees you.

I hope you all have a great week! Let me know how your week has been. Send me your wedding invitations or just send me a letter. I love getting things in the mail. Or just shoot me an email. I love hearing from all of you. Thanks for all of your love and support. I hope we can all be more charitable towards each other.

Much love,

Elder Michael Skaggs

15 East South Temple

JSMB 3 East

Salt Lake City, UT  84150

Elder Skaggs vs The Bees - from 08/10/2019

Group selfie at the Bee's game

This email is dedicated to saving the Bees, however, the whole entire email is not about saving the Bees. But, you need to all save the bees by not killing them. SAVE THE BEES!! This email is about Bees though. Wow, that sounds really confusing.

Saturday and Sunday were alright. We just played games and on Sunday we did the usual. It wasn't really too exciting. 

Monday: Monday morning we got a tour of the mission department. It was fascinating. We got to see where everything was and got to see where everything is including the people in charge of the Safety Zone videos. I really enjoyed it.  

Me, looking gangster at
the game

Me and Bumble Bee Ripple
ice cream which was
banana with fudge. It was
amazing!!

Bees game: Monday evening, we went to the Bees baseball game. It was really fun. We all hung out and enjoyed ourselves. The Bees ended up losing, but in the end, it was a fun night. It also made me realize that God is aware of us. I was having somewhat of a rough night and wasn't in the best of moods. Don't get me wrong, I still really enjoyed the night. I decided I wanted to go get ice cream. Surprisingly it was a good value. About 3 scoops in a waffle cone for $6.50. For a baseball stadium, that's not too bad. I decided I would spend the money. When I got up, some lady said she wanted to pay for me. And she wanted me to keep the change. It was a huge tender mercy because it brightened my day and Heavenly Father knew that was exactly what I needed. I can promise everyone that God is looking over you and He knows what you are going through. Trust me, even when you think God has forgotten about you, He is still looking over you. He loves you and He will not forget about you. 

Selfie at the baseball game

Another selfie

Rain: It rained this week, so that was fun. I guess there really isn't much to talk about, but I love talking about when it rains. 

Spiritual experiences: Monday morning, a senior elder talked about his mother and how she

Just messing around with
Pres. Unger before a fireside

served in the central states mission. I later went up to him and asked him about when she served because my project deals with finding missionaries. Well, I looked into it and I found his mom mentioned in a few parts of the Liahona, which was a mission newsletter published from the early 1900s to about 1945. I managed to find things that talked about her and photos of her. It was super fascinating. I emailed him and he was really excited. I later was talking to my therapist about it and he talked about his parents who are mentioned. We went on the computer and we looked up. Sure enough, we found stuff about his dad and I think he was about to cry. It was super awesome for me because I realized one of the reasons I am here. I'm here to help people with that. If I had decided to go home early or I decided not to come here, I wouldn't be able to help people find their family members like that. Most people don't know that this newsletter exist. I want to help people with this and I hope to continue helping people. If anyone has an ancestor who served a mission pre 1945 then let me know and I'll try to do research on it. I love doing this and I enjoy it a lot. Please let me know. I want to help you all discover your family members.  

Elder Allred and I trying to pay
very close attention while Elder
Hale explains how to play a game.

Anyway, that is about it. Not much more has happened. I can't think of too much more. I love being here. Things are going good and I can't complain. I am so grateful for my Heavenly Father and the opportunity I have to be here. It is a huge blessing to be here.  

I hope you all have a wonderful week. Stay in touch with me. Thanks for reading my emails, I only have 6 months to dedicate my life 24/7 to serving the Lord and serving others. Time flies and I am so grateful for this opportunity. 

Elder Michael Skaggs  

Peace out 

A pic my comp took of me taking
the extra thing in the table off
so we can make our table smaller

Chilling at Elder Shaw's
apartment after Music and
the Spoken Word

Elder Skaggs vs The Fighting Preacher - from 08/03/2019

I've lost count of how many weeks it has been and how many weeks I have left. And, quite honestly, it doesn't matter because I love it, so it's about time I lost myself in the work. But, here's another weekly update of the mission and what I'm doing.  

Not too much happened this week. I'll be honest, it was another somewhat slow week, however, I do have a little bit to share. 

Me with movie theatre popcorn!

Elder Hall and me

The Fighting Preacher: Monday, our mission president rented a whole entire theater to see The Fighting Preacher. Now, missionaries usually don't go to the movies on their mission.  We leave the world behind us and focus 100% on serving God. This is why you guys only hear from me once a week and I'm not constantly texting, calling, or coming home to visit. Running into my family is always an accident and is NOT a common thing. So, going to the movie theater is unique. Most missionaries don't get to do that. Anyway, he rented out a whole entire theater for the elders and the senior missionaries. It was an amazing time. We only went because of the nature of the movie and the content. First off, let me say that having movie theater popcorn was such a huge treat. I bought a large because I love it so much and I wanted my free refill to take home and snack on. I'll explain what The Fighting Preacher is about now. 

  

Here's a pic my comp took
of me playing Solitaire

Explanation: The Fighting Preacher is based on a true story, about Willard and Rebecca Bean. In 1915 they were called to serve as missionaries to the  Joseph Smith farm in Palmyra, New York.  Quick background for those who don't know much about the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Joseph Smith lived in Palmyra for a lot of his early youth. When he first had the visioni about the true church and what not, the people in town were not very happy and told him he was a fraud and what not.  The Thing that made everyone mad, was when he got the Gold Plates. The Gold Plates were used by the ancient Americans in the Book of Mormon to write down their record. They used it to record what happened and record the teachings of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Finally, they were buried in Hill Cumorah and almost 2,000 years later, Joseph Smith was shown in a vision, by an angel, where the plates were and he then got them and translated them by the power of God. Due to all these events, the people in Palmyra, hated Joseph Smith, his family, the gospel, and everything related to "Mormonism". Therefore, they drove them out of town and didn't want them to ever return. 

A pic of our district where
it looks like I'm deeply
meditating. I'm probably
just thinking about bacon.

As the Beans were called to Palmyra, they didn't know what to expect. They figured that 80 or so years later, they still couldn't be that bitter and things obviously had to have changed. Well, they were wrong. Immediately upon arriving to Palmyra, they discovered that people still hated them. Their parents taught them to dislike the "Mormons". They soon realized the hardships that would come from this. No one in town would help Rebecca deliver their new baby, no one would let them buy things in the stores, and when it skipped to 6 years later, it showed their daughter being bullied at school by the kids and the teacher. At first, Willard, who used to be a professional boxer and could beat anyone, tried using his fist to fight back. It didn't take long for him to realize that using his fist didn't help. People still didn't respect him for being able to fight back. They soon learned that instead of fighting back with fist, they needed to fight back with love. They started loving those around them and being kind to them. By the end of their 24-year mission, they gained the respect of most people in town. When they finished, the town citizens were sad to see them go and wanted them to stay. They learned that the "Mormons" weren't bad people after all. The true story of the Bean family shows us that in order to gain the respect and trust of those who hate us, we need to be loving and kind to them.
  

It's a great movie and one I suggest to everyone. I don't know if it's playing in all theaters, but find it online or wherever you can. It's a great movie.  

Transfers: We had transfers. I'm still with Elder Jensen and still in the same zone. Nothing new there. 

90 years of Music and the
Spoken Word

MATT GROW: Super awesome incident. Matt Grow is literally one of the smartest church historians ever. He's the director of the Library and has helped write Saints. Anyway, the other day we were working on our projects when Matt Grow walks by. Elder Jensen said hi and he comes over and then he asked us about our projects. So, we got to share with him what we were doing and he even looked through a project that Elder Jensen just finished about Orson Hyde. Another cool piece about our week. Anyway, that's about it. 

I hope you all are doing great. Let me know how your week is everyone!! I want to hear how life is. Love you all! 

Elder Michael Skaggs 

15 E South Temple 

JSMB 3 East 

Should I warn myself not to eat
them frozen? Don't worry,
I didn't.

Salt Lake City, Utah 84150 

Ummm, apparently I like my
frozen burritos! 

This picture also looks like I'm in deep thought. My brain is empty most of the time, so I probably wasn't thinking about anything. This is just one of our many 10 minute breaks that we have been commanded to do once every hour by our therapist. Yay for getting away from the computer.