So good I can't believe it!

Hey :)

Does anyone want to explain to me how it's suddenly the third week in
November?? I'm pretty sure tomorrow it will be April ;)
Today I'm going to the zoo in DC so I'm sending this a little early
because I'm not sure when we will get back :)

I had SUCH a good week!! My words can not do it justice, but I'll do my best :)

It started off with the best. news. ever. Remember Ka? The girl who
just got baptized, and her mom Jumana, who is a returning member? Well
we are teaching ca, Ka's little sister, and little by little
the whole family has started coming to church and making friends in
the ward. When sister Donato was here, we hardly ever saw ka's dad,
but he came to church a couple weeks ago and had a good time!
I think he felt the spirit at Ka's baptism, and at church, too
because we received a text from Ju saying her husband wanted to
take the discussions and be baptized!? WHAT!?! We were SO excited!!
Not just because of his desire to follow the savior, but because this
means a year from around this time, their whole family can be sealed
together for eternity. That's the ultimate goal; baptism is just the
first step to get there :) It's also super cool because NOBODY saw
this coming! Not even Ju! Heavenly Father is blessing us right and
left and we couldn't be more grateful :)

That was Tuesday :) nothing else super exciting happened other than
planning for zone training and college stuff for sister Williams.

Oh.

And I went to the doctor for my shin splints to get an x-ray because
it's been a month and a half and I STILL have them. The doctor there
said she thought she saw a stress fracture, so she sent me to a sports
medicine doctor on Friday.

Sister Williams and I were in charge of the activity for the zone
training that we had on Wednesday morning. It was SO much fun! There
were 5 different "stations" and each had an activity
representing different topics that we would be discussing that day.

• One activity consisted of 2 people racing from point A to point B with a balloon between their legs, singing a primary song at the top of their lungs. When they got to point B, they were to sit on the balloon to pop it because inside was a paper with a scenario of a person who you might teach. Whoever popped the balloon first got to use that scenario and they were to practice teach to the person they raced. The purpose of this event was to practice "Teaching people, not lessons".
• Another activity involved an obstacle course, one person blind folded holding a hard boiled egg on a spoon, and someone leading them through the course by whispering amongst all the noise in the gym to practice, "Following the spirit". We let the elders set up the obstacle course and it was super cool :)
• The other 3 activities were just as creative and fun and we all had a really good time :) when everything was quickly cleaned up we went to the relief society room where the spirit was invited by a musical number. Sister Williams and I taught a lesson on church attendance, which went super well! We work so great together! :)

Then we got to come home and study before we went to the women's
shelter for a bit :)

After dinner we taught Ju and her family! :) it was such a
wonderful experience!! I absolutely love finding people who sincerely
want to learn more and have real intent. It makes things so much
easier :) haha Thats the best part! They want it! :) I can't even
express my joy and gratitude for the opportunity that I have to be a
tool in the Lords hands to help bring this whole family the restored
gospel, and all of the blessings that it entails. We put them on date
to be baptized on December 19th, and invited them (the dad and two
kids that we are teaching) to pray about it as well. They rock :) I am
bursting over here :)

We asked the dad how he liked church when he went and he said it
wasn't what he was expecting; he said he really liked it because he
didn't feel preached to. He didn't feel preached at, but felt like
everyone had great discussions about gospel topics together. He loved
the friendly, warm feel of the ward and mentioned his appreciation for
how family friendly church is :) he liked how everyone understood that
kids are kids and crying babies or Cheerios on the floor didn't phase
anyone :) I had to agree. I also love those things about church :) it
was a really good day :)

Thursday was the best because we had exchanges and I went to Warrenton
to be with Sister Jones!! :) What a tender mercy that she is in my
stewardship :) We spent the afternoon doing service for a sister in
her ward who just moved in and her home looks like a hoarder's home :(
she hates it. We ended up taking a long walk down an empty country
road for a while, listening to her vent. It was much needed, and we
loved being able to listen! She has a ton on her plate; it's one of
those situations where you wonder why bad things happen to good
people, and have to exercise some serious faith in order to maintain a
positive outlook. My heart bursted with love for this sweet sister and
I just wanted to hug her. So I did :) 

The cool thing about being set
apart as a literal representative of Jesus Christ, is that we can be
there for others when he physically can't. Missionary hugs are not
normal hugs-- there is definitely an extra spirit about them :)

Dinner was some super yummy soup with members of her ward, and then we
went to see an investigator out in the sticks :) Warrenton is the most
country part of Virginia I've ever been to. I haven't seen so many
stars since I drove out in the middle of nowhere in Rexburg, Idaho! I
loved it :) sister jones took a super pretty picture of the area
recently; I'll attach it :)

I absolutely LOVED spending time with sister jones :) I needed her
when I trained her, and I needed her on Thursday. She is so full of
love and meekness! You can't not love sister jones! It's impossible!
She is such a good missionary! It was fun to see her growth and just
to be able to spend a day with her was a tender mercy :) I love her :)

We exchanged back Friday morning because sister Williams and I had our
zone leadership meeting, and then we met with our relief society
president to talk about sisters in our ward that we don't know yet and
could use some uplifting. I've mentioned it before, and I'll say it
again... Our relief society president is the bomb! I love her :) I
love a lot of people ;) haha

Right after that we went to the sports medicine Doctor to figure out
what the heck is up with my leg. He pushed on the part that hurt and
then he pushed on my ankle asking, "Does this hurt?" Holy heck! Yes!
So then he said, "Yeah, come look at your x-rays with me". Apparently
I have a possible stress fracture in TWO places of my leg. My shin,
and right above my ankle. Oddly enough, the ankle one appeared worse
than my shin in the x-Ray (which would explain why it swelled so much
in my last area). So he told me to get an MRI before we make any final
decisions.

Oh my gosh, and then sister Williams told me the coolest news ever.
While I was in warrenton with sister jones, sister Williams and sister
Alcantara went and taught another lesson to Ju and her family! The
sisters asked them if they had been praying about baptism and Ca,
the 9 year old said, "can I get baptized sooner than December 19th?"
Um. Yes! :) and then the dad and brother said, "Yeah, we just want to
get baptized as soon as we can".

Do you feel the bucket of blessings raining down?!? We do!!!

So they picked December 4th for Ca because she wants it to be her
own thing, while her dad and brother picked the 5th of December. AND
THEY ARE SO HAPPY!! I cannot contain my excitement for this family.
They are so united and full of love because of the gospel :) I've
literally seen a change in each member of the family since they've
been applying gospel principals and keeping commitments. I could talk
about this forever :) Heavenly Father is SO GOOD!!! :)

Saturday we weekly planned because we didn't have time on Friday, and
had a pretty successful night! We saw a lot of people and contacted a
good chunk of potentials :)

Sunday was great! We went to church where a youth whom we adore gave
his farewell, and ju's whole family came :) Sister Williams and I
both felt the need for a spiritual recharge, and have never been so
excited to take the sacrament :) 

Dinner was with our stake president
and his family; we love them! That was neat because the spirit in the
home was.... homey. Comfortable, light, pleasant, familiar... as if I
were with my own family. It was good :) 

We spent some time with the
youth who spoke in sacrament meeting and gave his farewell; he had an
open house/goodbye party in the evening so we went :) It was fun
because he is terrified! He's only going to California, speaking
Spanish, but the unknown is what scares him. So we dug back into our
memory and explained what happens from the moment you pull up to the
curb at the MTC, to the time you enter the field. Everyone's
experience is different, especially once you get in the field, but for
the most part the MTC is the same. We helped calm some nerves and gave
him advice, so we had a good time :)

To end our evening we stopped by sister Jensen's because she had just
gotten back in town from burying her husband in Utah. This woman is
the most optimistic woman I know. She is an amazing individual! We
talked with her daughter, too to set up a time to have her friend come
over to take the discussions!

I have the biggest testimony of hard work and endurance. Through
trials, when life is good... any time! Remember to always reach up,
then out :)

Have a good one!!
Sister Chandler