Week 21: Starbucks, Ice Skating, & Testimonies

Dear Everyone,

'Twas a pretty busy week this week! Sister Morris and I decided to be so fully committed to the work and the Lord this transfer; we WILL see miracles within the next 6 weeks!! :)

Pday was pretty fun! We did the usual studies, emails, wrote letters, grocery shopping, and then we went to a street downtown Alexandria that has a bunch of little shops on it. We taught some members and then an investigator later in the evening. The sweetest lady that we taught was so worried about our salvation. She was so genuinely concerned about us and made my heart sad that she was so closed off, but we did what we could! 

Tuesday was awesome :) we had interviews with President Riggs just to see how we are doing, and then we spent the afternoon clearing out our iPads because we were going to get new ones on Wednesday. We ended up not getting them... but that's for the next paragraph :) later in the evening we taught E, our recent convert, at Starbucks! We taught about the atonement and keeping sabbath day holy. It was a super great lesson.

Remember the waitress last week that said she could see a light in our eyes?? Well sister Morris and I needed hot chocolate at Starbucks. Yes. Needed. And while we ordered, the cashier said the same thing!! I love being a servant of the lord!!! :) It makes us feel good knowing people can physically see the light of Christ through our eyes :)

We then taught some members and after that met with K! She's so funny :) we knocked on her door and as she opened it she goes, "oh my gosh this is so embarrassing, ya'll just caught me smoking". haha she said sorry like 20 times after that :) K struggles with the word of wisdom but she's trying to overcome all of her addictions, so if you could keep her in your prayers that would be lovely :)

N came over at the end of the lesson. He confessed his love for us, and said he's really only interested because we are pretty, so he dropped us :/ 

On Wednesday we went to Centreville again for a whole mission conference. (4.5 hours long) A couple people from the 70 came to teach us about what the church's plan is for social media proselyting. This is so cool!! So they're going to start teaching youth how to effectively share their beliefs on social media, and then when they get their mission call, they will receive a more in depth training. Once they hit the mtc the training for online proselyting will be wicked! (In the good way) The kids will already be somewhat prepared for the training there, and will receive/be trained on their own iPads. As soon as they get to the field they have 12 weeks of more training on how to do this! Basically the future generation of missionaries will be stellar at online/ social media proselyting :)
BUT!! It doesn't stop there!! The last 6 weeks of a mission will be partially spent doing normal missionary things, and partially spent figuring out what to do when you go home. We get to take the iPads home after our missions!! Coolest thing ever. We get our new ones in a week or so. I love the church, and the gospel, and being on a mission :) I received a load of revelation/inspiration for how to be a better missionary!!

Missionary meetings are my FAVORITE!! :) oh. Also, sister Lewis was there!! Obviously, because the whole rest of the mission was there, but it was so great! :) you'd think we haven't seen each other for years by the way we react when we see each other hahah I love that woman!! We even went out to lunch together with our companions after the meeting :) tender mercy :)

In the evening we had some more member lessons! Sister Morris and I have a goal to work with the members really hard this transfer! So far it's been so good :)

(Also, on a completely unrelated note, our bathroom light switch stopped working. So we had to take a flashlight in with us every time, until someone had the bright idea of putting a lamp in the bathroom:) hahah seriously I just love serving a mission!! :) )

So Thursday rolled around and we woke up to a text saying we weren't allowed to drive again because it had snowed pretty bad over night. After we got home from the gym, we looked outside to find it STILL snowing! But luckily it stopped eventually and then melted somewhat by the time we needed to go to our appointments and received the okay to drive again. Most of the members in our ward have served a mission, so we got to hear some neat experiences this week about different missions :)

The evening was awesome!! On Sunday a random girl in the ward came up to us and said she had just gotten home from her mission two months ago, and was willing to go out to lessons with us whenever we needed her. So nice! So we grabbed her on Thursday to come to a lesson with us. It was with a less active around my age who just needs good friends :) we ate dinner with her and then her aunt took us out to ice cream. DQ blizzards to be exact :) heaven!! And then our next lesson was with a member who fed us brownies and ice cream!! Two of my most favorite desserts back to back! I definitely ran hard Friday morning.

After studies on Friday we had weekly planning. That took all afternoon! Once we were out the door for the evening we met with more members!! Woohoo! :) earlier though, when we were planning, I felt strongly that we needed to teach humility with a certain member. Not because she seems prideful :) the spirit just said that's what she needed, so in the middle of planning a lesson on the atonement I was like, "sister Morris I really feel like we need to teach humility tonight". I'm grateful for a companion who trusts me and my gut because when we taught that member she started crying and told us to pause so she could run and grab a paper to take notes! What?! Always listen to the spirit :)
Saturday morning we went out to breakfast with a member at a super yummy... Breakfast place? haha it was good:) I think it's called, "Best Buns Bakery"?

Anyway, then we did our studies and had a couple Skype lessons with people from England!! One girl was so excited to hear my accent :) I thought that was funny because clearly she's the one with the accent ;) haha the evening was spent checking on potentials and former investigators. I love Alexandria!! There are so many people to see! We are always busy and I love it!! We have a couple return appointments so that's good.

Fast Sunday is always a spiritual experience on a mission :) I bore my testimony on Sunday and introduced myself a bit. Singles ward is AWESOME! I never want to not serve in a singles ward! :) Later in relief society a sister sitting next to me asked if I was related to her seminary teacher from Nampa- uncle rick. Small world! She even knew some people I know! Way cool :)

During church it rained frozen rain, and continued to do so for the rest of the day, so once again we weren't allowed to drive. (I attached a picture of it frozen to the trees) We had our member come pick us up for dinner, and as soon as I stepped out of the car I had to ice skate my way to the door. It was a thick sheet of ice on everything the rain touched! It felt super cool, but it was way super dangerous at the same time haha we were sliding everywhere :)

After our member dropped us off we spent the rest of the night mapping out potentials and investigators who have fallen off of the radar. Our plan is to pin them on the map so we can just contact everyone that lives near each other at one time vs. driving all over Virginia, back and forth. Smart, right? ;) but it will take a few days to map it out because there are loads of people in our area book! Which is so good! :) once we have that done it will make the work more productive and organized :) it was a good way to spend the evening considering we couldn't really go out.

I'm really grateful to be a tool in the lords hands. I am beyond thankful to have been raised with the fullness of the gospel, and to have the standards that I do. I often wonder if I'm doing all I can to submit my will to Gods, and how I can go about doing that without changing who I am completely.

Elder Ballard stated it beautifully when he said,

"That's the way it is when Jesus Christ becomes a reality in your life. It isn't that he somehow makes you do things that you wouldn't do otherwise. Rather, you find yourself wanting to do what He would do and respond as He would respond in an effort to bring your life into harmony with His, and an interesting thing happens whenever you attempt to put your feet in Christ's footsteps. If you really concentrate on trying to walk the way He walked- loving, caring, serving, and obeying each step of the way- one day you'll look up and discover that His path has led you directly to the throne of God. For that is, and ever has been, His great purpose and mission; to lead us to our Heavenly Father so we can dwell with Him in His Heavenly Home." 

Christ is the perfect example; He has showed us the way, and as we strive to live as He did, we don't become someone we aren't. We become our best selves; who we really are :) through the gospel of Jesus Christ this can happen. I know this to be true, and I love my Father in Heaven like I love my father on earth for helping me through this journey of life :) God is good and I love being a missionary :)

La la la loooovvveee,
Sister Chandler