Hello, Hello! :)
My week was SO. GOOD.
Probably the best week on my mission thus far!
No
joke. Let me just tell you about it :)
In the evening we had a lesson with
Cory, an investigator who we have taught the restoration to and is truly
seeking for truth. We taught the plan of salvation and he had some awesome
questions! The best part was that we had answers :) I am so grateful to have
this knowledge! He read from the Book of Mormon like we invited him to do a
couple weeks ago, and he had questions about the people that wrote it. He is
really seeking :) we talked a lot about repentance and baptism, and he totally
understood! He feels that everything we have taught him so far makes sense
(because it does) and he wants to learn more! We see him again tonight and we
are so excited :)
After dinner we went to a less
active's home and had a lesson on testimonies and conversion with her and her
grandchildren. It went super well! They have a golden retriever, so when we
first got there and they opened the door to let us in, the dog came right up to
us with the biggest greeting I've ever received! Suddenly I felt finger nails
digging into my shoulder and found Sister Donato trying to climb on me to get
away :) hahah I discovered her fear of big dogs that night :) (She is also
afraid of frogs, and sometimes we come across them in the night time! Her
reaction is the same; to climb on any human nearby) It's super funny :)
And then we have { T U E S D A Y }... which was
the coolest day of the week... Until Saturday and Sunday, but until this point,
it was the coolest day of the week... because it started off in sweats. Not
skirts, not jeans, but comfy sweats and a t-shirt so that we could help Philip
with his bounce houses. We were in sweats all day! Heaven :) First we went to a
meeting with our relief society president though, to talk about what we can do
to help some sisters in the ward! It was very effective and we decided we need
to do it a lot more often! When we were done with that, we went to Philip's :) Here's
where it gets super cool.
When we were walking up to the
house, his brother walked outside- almost as if he was walking outside
specifically to talk to us - and we said hello. We got to talking and quickly
he began asking questions, "What do you do? Do you have a job? Are you
going to school?" We explained inside and out how missionary service for
the church works, and then he completely downloaded his entire life to us! I
kid you not. The entire thing. We were more than happy to listen! He's in his
30's and has found success all on his own; he believes in a higher power but
not necessarily in God. He believes in positive thinking! He knows that if you
tell yourself you can do anything, then you can do anything.
That's how I was raised, too so I
could relate, but I also know that man only has so much strength/power. I know
that when I give my all, coupled with heavenly father's help, things are so
much easier/better and life is happy! He's searching for happiness. He's
searching for purpose and direction, but won't do anything to see if maybe God
is real and maybe God could really bring him lasting happiness. We were
lovingly frank with our answers, and we definitely listened with love. It was
the coolest conversation :) It's even more amazing because we have only said
"hello" to him twice before this conversation. It lasted a good hour
and a half on his porch before we went to help Philip clean some inflatable
bounce houses :) That is laborious work, my friends! I thought it would be
cake, but it was tiring!
He is neighbors with one of my
favorite families in our ward, and the mom offered to feed us lunch when we
were done! Homemade pizza :) We talked with her and her boys for a while about
missions and they gave us a referral :)
Everyone was so surprised that we
were helping Philip for free and I thought it was so weird. Philip and his
brother thought it was incredibly strange and almost wrong that we were helping
him without asking for anything in return. Does nobody around here do service??
We offered to help every week, because he needs it, and after some hesitant
thought, he said he would let us know :) haha We are friends though! Which is
big for them; they have acquaintances but not necessarily friends. We told them
that they were our friends from day one, and to let us know when we were
theirs, too ;)
That night we had a lesson with a
recent convert and checked on a couple families before we went to correlation
with our ward missionaries. We were EXHAUSTED by the end of the night! We slept
so good :)
{
W E D N E S D A Y } began with district meeting in the morning. We have
a new district leader and a different district from last transfer, so I’m excited
to see how it goes! :) Later in the day, we went to the women's shelter to help
out for an hour or so before we had to go to dinner. I love the members in our
ward so much! During district meeting we played a get-to-know-you game and one
question that was asked was, "What has been your favorite area?” In all
honesty I really love Gainesville! The members of the ward are so incredibly
willing to work with us, our bishop is so missionary minded, our Relief Society
president served a mission and it's like she never left :) etc. My companion is
wonderful, the people we teach are progressing... I could really go on and on.
I love where I am right now and the people I'm surrounded by :)
The lesson we had scheduled had to
reschedule last minute, so we went to a recent convert/less active member's
home and watched the restoration video :) It was so good. I love watching it
thinking, "This actually happened" because I get goosebumps every
time Joseph Smith goes into the woods. I know that the true church has been
restored in its fullness here on the earth. I know that God called Joseph smith
to be a prophet in the 1800's, and since that time we have had a living prophet
on the earth. I am PUMPED for conference!! :) My heart is so... yep. You
guessed it- full :) So full! I love this gospel so much.
Sister Donato and I have a transfer
goal to be literally "FIT for the kingdom" so we got a super intense
work-out routine that's 12 weeks long, and progressively gets harder, and we do
it with the other sisters in the gym every morning :) We started on { T H U R S D A Y } and it
kills! I'm still sore! But very excited to do it every day :)
The women's shelter needed help
early that morning organizing some closets, so we spent a good chunk of time
there doing that :) After lunch we went to Sister Jensen's home to help load
her car full of pots for plants for her farm. She still has more on her plate
that she can handle, but her attitude is the most chipper any attitude could
ever be. Seriously. This woman does not have a negative bone in her body :) By
this point it was almost dinner time, so we cleaned up from being covered in
bug spray before we went to dinner. Tacos :) Yumm :)
We had a couple lessons that evening
but my favorite one was with Kayla and her mom. Kayla is the one getting
baptized in November :) We watched the 20 min. video on Joseph smith and the
restoration and made sure she understood what that even was. It was such a good
lesson! I love being able to bear testimony every day of the truths that I know,
and help others come to understand that truth for themselves. It's the sweetest
experience :) Thursday was my year mark, and it was sister Donato's "one
more month left" mark; weird coincidence :) haha. So we took pictures :)
{F
R I D A Y} morning we went to a leadership meeting with the leadership
in our zone and came up with some ideas for upcoming activities. Our zone
leaders are stellar. I feel so blessed to work so closely with such awesome
missionaries! Then we went straight to a lunch with the stake president's wife
and our sister ward missionaries. We had borscht; a Russian soup. It was super
good!! We then weekly planned until it was time to pick up a member and go
check on people! :)
We ended up meeting with a less active family that neither
Sister Donato nor I knew, and had a lesson with them. They are the spunkiest,
animated, dramatic (in the positive way), loudest family I've ever met :) It
was so fun! They have little girls around 10 and 11 who tell the best stories!
We got the whole reenactment of every story they told, and it was great :)
The lesson we shared was on the
atonement and once we started, it was so neat to see and feel the spirit calm a
room that was filled with busy energy moments prior. We discussed repentance,
and the blessing that it truly is. I am so thankful to be able to repent all
the time. You know you're a missionary when you're super excited to say a
prayer to repent ;) Change is so good! That's all repentance is; change. A
change of heart :) I am grateful for the multiple second chances we are given
because of Jesus Christ. I know that repentance is real because Jesus Christ is
real, and that we are never ever too far gone :)
< Random > Oh my gosh! ...
Every week I keep meaning to tell this super funny story but I always forget!!
Every week I keep meaning to tell this super funny story but I always forget!!
Remember our middle-eastern friend who escaped Isis, and we
teach her English every week? Well every time we leave she yells from her front
door, "Gratitude!" as if to say, "I'm grateful for you!"
followed by a, "Keep touching!" meaning, "Keep in touch!"
:) hahaha
We think it's so funny every time that we just decide not to correct
her :)
...Alright, back to my week :)
We had
our usual breakfast with the bishop on {
S A T U R D A Y } morning while we discussed our week with him. He also
said that he had a "wonderful opportunity" for us! Automatically
assuming a referral to be the next sentence out of his mouth, he says,
"Can you speak in sacrament meeting tomorrow??" :) Well... shoot. We
had maybe a total of 2 hours to think of a topic, write a talk, and in my case
memorize it (because I grew up memorizing
my talks since primary; nobody really listens to people that read their talks,
no offense to those of you who do read them!) :) But somehow we managed!
Right after that we went to a baptism for members in our ward; we invited Kayla
to come, so she did! :) She really liked it, and then she asked if we could
move her baptismal date to October so that sister Donato can be there! If
that's the case, it will be the 24th I believe, but it's not set and stone yet
so we will see :) Please keep her family in your prayers.
Quickly after the baptism we went
home to write our talks. After lunch we headed over to the church to help with
something called "A Day To Serve". People all over northern Virginia
find some big service projects to participate in that day, and we were in
charge of collecting, boxing, and organizing thanksgiving dinner kits for the
needy :) We spent about 3 1/2 hours there before we went home for a bite to
eat.
You probably won't believe me when
I say what we did next, but it's the truth! We went to.... a concert :) Our
investigator, Craig, invited us to a conference that his church held. It was a
total concert with a band, lights, stage smoke, clapping and singing along,
etc. it was a blast :) There were a couple preachers that spoke for about 15-20
minutes each, one of them even threw out a Mormon polygamy joke :P but the
majority of the conference was the band :) In all honesty, after about 45
minutes I was super bored. I had an open mind and heart, and I was happy to be
there for Craig! But I noticed something lacking and I couldn't figure out
exactly what that was until sister Donato and I were talking about it later. We
both realized that we had left the conference still starving for spirituality!
We hadn't gotten a spiritual fill. At all. Right after his conference we went
to the General Women's Broadcast with women of our stake. As soon as the choir
started singing I felt like my almost empty spiritual cup was being filled
immediately. I loved that conference! I learned so much, and walked away
feeling complete :) I know this church is true :) I'm so grateful for the
restored gospel on the earth and the many, many blessings that come with it :)
Needless to say we were once again, EXHAUSTED. It was such a good day :)
{ S U N D A Y } was amazing. I repeat, uh-may-zing. Sister Donato
and I spoke in sacrament meeting and later found out we had answered a lot of
people's prayers. We know that we were only instruments in the Lords hands, and
were filled with gratitude that we were able to help :) The rest of church was
wonderful!! It was incredibly spiritually filling and I was on cloud 9
spiritually J
Immediately after church we went
home to eat a quick dinner before we went to choir practice for the fireside
that would follow. This fireside is called, "Why I Believe" and the
author of "A God Who Weeps" spoke with his wife on why they believe
in the LDS faith. They're very religiously educated individuals, and Craig
came! They addressed a lot of concerns and questions Craig has had, as did the
stake president during his closing remarks. We are still waiting for his heart
to soften, but this fireside was perfect for him :) I was able to see a good
handful of families from my very first ward as a missionary because I'm back in
that same stake, so that was a tender mercy :)
 |
| Our ward makes super cute baptismal program handouts! |
My week was stellar. I truly mean
it when I say I haven't had a better week on my mission! Heavenly Father is
taking such wonderful care of us and the people we work with.
I know with all my heart that God is
there, and that He loves us.
We are His children. He wants nothing
but happiness for us :) I love this work!! Being a missionary is the best
decision I've ever made! :)
I am truly, honestly, genuinely happy
:)
Sister Chandler
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