The Eviction

A nice day was met with an enjoyable evening last night. I was preparing for bed and Carolee was bringing some things into the kitchen and then off to bed we thought we'd be. It was 10:30 and we were both tired. As I got ready for bed I heard Carolee yell from the kitchen "Oh My Gosh!! Oh No!!" I knew at that moment that I would not be going to bed. There was a problem and now I had to fix it. But whatever the problem was... I had no idea.

I ran into the kitchen and Carolee explained that we had a rat in our kitchen. It all made sense. A week before I found a pile of rat/mouse droppings in the bottom drawer in our oven.

I knew I couldn’t go to bed knowing with an animal in our kitchen. I think the idea that I had a live animal in my kitchen didn’t exactly help me fall asleep. 

I got dressed and went downstairs to the small pharmacy right next to the entrance of our apartment. I was impressed that they actually sold rat glue. I bought their biggest bottle, walked upstairs, and set the trap.  

With the trap set in the card board box I grabbed a flash light and sat just outside the kitchen with the lights off. I could hear the mouse inside the oven chewing on something. It sounded like he was gnawing on something metal. All I could think of was: What if he chewed on something that caused a gas leak in the oven. How horrible that would be. I think the mouse got brave because he ran out from behind the stove and up the pipes. I think it wanted to get up onto the counter and find a snack.

But every time it got near the counter it stopped, waited, then turned around and went back up near the pipes.

As the night dragged on so did my eyes slowly drag shut. I was finding it hard to stay awake and wait for the mouse to do something. I was hoping that the mouse would be tempted by the piece of cheese and get stuck in the glue. He never actually went near the box with the cheese. 

At around 1:30 he climbed up into the wall fan that was turned off. As soon as he went through I realized that that was exactly how he had gotten in our apartment. When you have the fan off it can slip between the fan blades. So when I realizing this I turned the fan on. Now if he tries to come back into our apartment he will get shredded. Good luck Mr. Mouse. Maybe he can try moving in with Templeton the Rat above the Heiss’. 

Elder Holland visits the Cairo Branch

At the end of September we were told as a branch that Elder Jeffery R. Holland was coming to Cairo to speak just to our branch in the next two weeks.

Josh and I were very excited for we both have had times where we were in the same building/room with a General Authority but we have never been in a situation where it was so personal. This time we didn’t have to fight and struggle to get a close shot of him. We knew he was going to stay awhile afterwards to speak to all the members since there were about 70 members in the branch. And we were right.

Even though our chapel room is small and no matter where you sit, you will have a good view, we wanted the best of the best seats…well besides sitting right next to him. The fireside started at 7. We got there at 5:30. We were the first ones there besides the Branch President. Because of our eagerness, we sat 4 feet away from the podium. We were also able to help our Branch President get everything ready for the wonderful night that lay ahead of us.

To prepare us for the day, we fasted all day and started the day with a wonderful prayer before we both studied the scriptures at 6 a.m. We were able to feel the spirit so much because of our preparation. You could tell Elder Holland was in the building before we saw him because of the feeling you felt.

Elder Steven E. Snow and his wife came with Elder and Sister Holland. All 4 of them spoke for an hour and a half. Mine and Josh’s notes follow:

Sister Snow:

-gospel of happiness

-the church will be recognized here in Egypt

Elder Snow:

-reach out to help others even if they have lost their way

-look for those opportunities

-take care of each other. We are all family here.

Sister Holland:

-We are with the certainy of God.

-we are fulfilling the assignment from God by being here

-accept that we will have disappointment, discouragement, and despair (the 3 D’s) on our journey/path

-we will feel the Love of Christ to know that we are on the right path

-“You can be my sister”-love each other unconditionally; the love of God

-read the scriptures many times a day

-allow ourselves to grow; to blossom like a rose; bring the best of us out

-God’s love is more powerful than the 3 D’s

-keep praying for the light of Christ and His love

Elder Holland:

-within the last 60 days, the church has created a North African Middle East Region with Elders Holland and Snow in charge of it

-we WILL go to EVERY nation

-pray for the openings of nations

-more members outside the U.S. than in and more Spanish and Portuguese members than English

-we are all members of the Body of Christ

-each do our role and part in the Body of Christ

-the 3 D’s will not end this dispensation. This dispensation will NOT end

-if we grasp the priesthood, we can change the world

-Mormon men are strong but the Mormon women are incredible

At the end of Elder Holland’s talk, he turned into a District Conference and opened the floor up for questions. Any of us could ask a question to him or any of the other 3 members there. If I knew that he was going to do that ahead of time, I would have come up with a question to ask but since it was such short notice, I didn’t ask him anything. Only 2 or 3 members asked a question but I don’t remember what they were.

After the whole program was over, we all got in line to meet all 4 of them. He was excited for Josh to be here going to school. He put his hand on Josh’s back and he also rubbed the back of his head. The first thing he told me was he loved my curly hair and he rubbed his hand all over my head and ran his fingers through my hair. He is a very loving person and easily approachable guy. His wife is very pretty. They both made quite a few jokes in their talks.

It was a wonderful experience having Elder Holland speaking to our branch. I can testify that he and Elder Snow are men of God.

The First Post

Well this is our first post on our new blog. I never knew exactly what a blog was until a friend of mine showed me. I thought it was quite a useful little thing. Please return often to read more about the news from the Schillings and their life in Cairo Egypt. We will also post pictures and video. We hope you enjoy.

Unfortunately right now we do not have Internet right now at our apartment. It may take a while for us to get it. We hope to keep it up to date as possible considering.

On another note, here is what we did tonight. I finally got my wish to get my head shaved. Carolee was nice enough to let me get it done today. She says that she didn't want me to get it done until I was way older. But with the help of my friends, one who also had his head shaved last night, persuaded her to shave his head. I wanted it shorter but the clippers wouldn't go any shorter. I never realized I had a big head.













Josh Before

Josh during

Josh After

I feel every breeze now when I'm outside. I guess that means I will need a hat this fall. I intend on growing it all back. Well all that I can. Its something I've always wanted to do. Now I can check that one off my list.