Sister Kailey Chandler: MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

We have approximately 4 more days until my favorite day of the year, and I may or may not be super excited about it :))

I had a good week! It started wonderfully at the TVC Monday evening! I had the opportunity to talk to a gentleman from Nigeria who served a mission in Ghana and he told me some amazing stories from his mission! Two of which, I'd love to share… :)

He and his companion taught a pastor, and when the priesthood came up the pastor recognized that if what the elders were teaching was true, then he didn't have the authority from God that he needed/wanted. He brought the elders to his church service and told them to teach his congregation, so they spent 3 hours, and then some, teaching 200 people. Slowly, people who weren't interested left, but 85 children of God were touched by the spirit and baptized a few days later, on the same day.
Another story he shared was about a woman they met after walking in the pouring rain for a while. She committed to be baptized, but didn't show up to her baptism. About two hours had passed from when she was supposed to be baptized, and the elders were going to go home. It was pouring rain that day, and as they were about to leave they saw her walking in the rain to the church. She told them something along the lines of, "Rain didn't stop you from coming to teach me, so rain, hail, snow, etc. won't stop me from being baptized!" :) I thought that was so neat :) I LOVED listening to his stories and experiences. It was the neatest thing to see him light up as he traveled deep in his mind, back to a few years ago when he served. I met and taught some really fun people that night :)

Have I mentioned that I love being a missionary yet?? Because I do ;)

District meeting was Tuesday morning, and it was so effective! We looked at our key indicators as a zone; our zone has the highest key indicators in our mission, but somehow we have the lowest number of baptisms. We set goals and made plans for how we are going to fix that, and are so excited to see the fruits of our labors! :) Our evening rocked. We contacted so many people and by the end of the night people were commenting on how tired we looked haha :) We slept super good that night :) I love my companions :)

Wednesday was a little rough; after pushing through for a week, my body needed a break. We went out and talked to tons of people in the afternoon for a few hours, but in the evening we stayed home to rest. It's so annoying- not being able to be as effective as I'd like to be- but I'm grateful that I'm able to do what I can each day! When we were contacting in the afternoon, there was a potential that owned a ton of cats. Right in front of her front door there was a row of bowls full of cat food! We knocked and when the lady answered the door, she was wearing a doctor’s mask and gloves. "This isn't a good time, I'm in the middle of the cat operation".... and shut the door. What just happened?? hahah too funny :)

Thursday was pretty rough, too. My body is just not havin' it. :/ I refused to stay inside all day, though, so we went out and worked until I couldn't push it anymore, so, about dinner time. We passed a black man selling water while street contacting, and when he saw my crutches he said, "Oh no! Buy some water and I'll give you my leg, then you can have a white one and a black one!" :) hahaha It was so funny :)

The mission Christmas party was on Friday! It consisted of an uplifting message, mission talent show (not as good as last year, but descent), lunch, and another uplifting message to finish. Choir practice for the TVC on Christmas Eve was right after that for an hour. We were at the church for a solid 9 hours, and then went straight to our ward Christmas party afterwards.

I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity I have to be here. I continue to grow exponentially in various ways and I know that if I hadn't served a mission I wouldn't be able to do grow so much so fast. If you're considering it, just choose to go :) It's the best decision I've ever made. Even through the trials I've faced :)

Sorry this is so short; I don't have a ton of time today! Thanks again for every prayer, support, and massive amounts of love on my behalf. I can't tell you how grateful I am :)

Have a very merry Christmas!! :)

Sister Chandler

The prettiest painting of a real place in Russia