Livin' on a prayer and priesthood blessings

Another week in good ol' Alexandria! 

Missionary work is exhausting! I come home every night and sleep like a rock, and I'm STILL tired all day! I must be doing something right ;) I wouldn't have it any other way :) 

Last week sister jones and I set specific goals of how many new investigators we want, progressing investigators, and people at church per week for the rest of the transfer. We haven't seen any of our investigators for 2 weeks!! Not good! It's not for a lack of trying though; we do what we can. This week I was sick and home for 3 days straight, but so determined to reach our goals! Sister Jones and I prayerfully considered the goals we set, and when we had finished our thoughts were something along the lines of, "how on earth are we going to do that?! We don't even have that many people close to progressing!" But with faith all things are possible, and we know that :) so, that being said, here was our week :)

Monday was pretty great! 

We didn't do much and it was wonderful, and then we had dinner with a member at a hamburger place called, "Holy Cow" which was super good! After dinner we just checked on some investigators and potentials but nobody was home. When we got home we went down stairs to the library to sync our iPads and ran into a lady we see every now and again. We always have super good discussions! In moments like those, I remember that simply being a friend and showing genuine interest in someone else's life can make a huge impact. Love, people! Love is the key :)

We were the first zone to have personal interviews with president huntsman on Tuesday! He is just getting the hang of things and asked questions to get to know me. It was good! I love his wife :) the whole day I was having hot and cold flashes and felt really prompted to rest. I haven't felt good for a while, but Ive always been able to push through and I've never felt too sick to stay home all day, but 

Tuesday was rough. 

So I stayed home and slept, went to dinner and a members for like 20 minutes and headed back home. There must be something going around because a lot of missionaries have been sick lately! 

I wish I could say that I woke up the next day right back on my feet, but it wasn't so. I went to district meeting Wednesday morning only to discover that I had a fever! Lame sauce! So I went home and slept. 

All.

Day.

Then around 5:00 I woke up and decided if I continued to sleep, I wouldn't sleep all night! So sister Jones and I watched some church movies and then the life of our Prophet, Thomas S. Monson, which was super good :) Being sick on a mission is awful. You feel the need to suck it up and continue working, but you also know that the smarter decision is to rest so that you can be more effective in the Lords hands. It's a constant mental battle (for me at least) and I go stir crazy when I'm awake! Good thing I slept most of the time :)

Thursday rolled around and I managed to get dressed and ready for the day... But that's it. 

I still felt pretty sick :/ so I got a blessing from our district leader and went to a lesson with a recent convert (because I refuse to stay in the Aspen for a full 24 hours) but then I stayed home for the rest of the night with sister Liu, while sister Jones and sister Williams went to the appointments we had for the night. I asked sister Liu if she had any Chinese secrets to making tummies feel better and she said rice and water, so she made me some :) being sick is the worst! I was praying hard that I'd feel better by Friday so I could get back to work, and thanks to multiple prayers, hours upon hours of sleep, and a priesthood blessing, I did! :)

And boy was I ready to work! 

We had weekly planning in the park, and the sisters we live with were sneaky and took a super cool picture of us praying to end our planning :) I'll attach it :) I absolutely LOVE weekly planning! I love setting goals and then working every day to accomplish them. By small and simple means are great things brought to pass :) that's a quote from someone... I just don't know who. But I love it :)

After dinner that night we went to a members house to pick her up and went to check on some people. I was thinking about checking on less actives that night, but didn't say anything, and then our member asked how many less actives were in our ward. I took it as inspiration and decided to go see a few :) the first one wasn't home, so we tried someone else. 

When we pulled up to the apartment complex, guess who was standing 3 feet from our car? The less active we were looking for, whom we haven't been able to get ahold of since sister Morris was transferred! I opened the car door and yelled his name because he had head phones in :) he turned to look at us, threw his head back, got a big guilty grin on his face as if he'd been caught from doing something he knows he shouldn't, and walked over to us :) he is so funny! We talked to him for a minute and asked how some of his friends were doing. One of which is super interested in the gospel but it was impossible for us to ever teach him because of where he lived; not safe, but apparently he moved and is now this less actives neighbor!! We asked if he could show us where he lived, so he did. Long story short, we got 2 new investigators that night, they wanted to come to church on Sunday, and the temple visitors center on Wednesday this week. We also asked if we could come back the next day (Saturday), so we did :) the whole time the spirit was so strong. 

He kept saying, "you don't even know how emotional I am right now. I feel so good! My hands are tingling!" hahah :) we told him that was the spirit and he could have that with him all the time. We briefly talked about the power of the atonement and he was practically begging us to help him get there. I love being a missionary!! I love seeing God's hand in everything, and seeing how He prepares people to accept the message that we share :)

On Saturday we went to see L, the old woman who just likes our company :) it's hard to find things to do in the afternoon, and she appreciates our visits more than I appreciate ice cream on any given day. That's a lot ;) She is so great!! I love that woman! I'm amazed at how much knowledge is in her head; I feel like she remembers everything down to the detail of the things she's learned over the years. We love visiting with her :) 

Our evening was busy! We talked to loads of people, and at one point as we were walking away from talking with someone, we hear someone yelling, "Hey! Hey!" So we turned around to find the cutest African woman, "Do you teach about Jesus?? I love Jesus! Teach me!" We talked about eternal families because she is getting married in October, and she lives in Maryland, but we invited her to church and she said she'd be there! We had a ton of people lined up to come to church on Sunday, and it's always a little iffy so we hold our breath and have a lot of faith in hopes that they actually do come. We also saw a less active who was in a bad mood, but asked us to pray with her. It was cool to see the physical change of relief in her when we said amen. She said she'd come to church, too :)

Of all the people that said they would, only one actually came. That's how it usually goes though! And the overwhelming amount of joy that we felt when he walked in sacrament meeting made up for the rest of the people who didn't make it. D is the neighbor of the less active we saw on Friday night, the one that said his hands were tingling, and he came! He is so solid. I love that kid. He's going through a super rough time of life and I just want to wrap my arms around him and tell him how much Heavenly Father is there for him. But the hug is not missionary appropriate, so I just told him :) haha church was super good!! I'm excited for this week :) it will be a good one :) 

Sunday evening was fun!

We had dinner with a member (who also knows Cameron Ricker so that's cool!) and her old roommate who isn't a member :) she had a TON of questions and we LOVED it :) we taught the restoration and invited her to read the Book of Mormon. It was super good :)

Despite my illness this week, sister Jones and I reached one of our goals and were only off by one person with the rest of them :) I am so grateful for the Lords hand in my life and for this restored gospel. We see so many little miracles throughout each day of the mission, even when I was sick! I know that God qualifies whom He calls. I've seen the growth in myself over the past 9.5 months, feeling inadequate in the beginning to feeling adequate now. I know that God is our loving, merciful, forgiving Heavenly Father who is so very aware of us. I'm grateful to be here, to help hasten the work of the Lord, and to remind people how much God loves them :) 

Today is already P-Day again, and I'm sort of mind blown! It's the middle of July!! What?! Time is cruising :) I hope everyone had a wonderful week!! Stay golden :) also safe, that'd be good, too :) 

Sister Chandler


Pictures:
Sister Liu made me rice when I was sick
Weekly planning in the park! :)