General Conference and Tender Mercies

   Good morning to all of you beautiful people! :)

 

  

Because of the hurricane over in the Bahamas, we have been getting

tons and tons of rain this past week! It rained every single day, some

days felt like the hurricane had made its way to Virginia, while

others were just normal rainy days :)

P-Day last MONDAY was awesome. 

We didn't go anywhere, and got to lounge around in sweats all day, until it was time to go to dinner:) After dinner we went to visit sister Jensen, the sister with the farm that we help on. A couple weeks ago I said her husband had a heart attack, but I was mistaken; he had a stroke! 3 of them to be exact :( The poor woman is so overwhelmed. We thought it would be a good idea to go do her dishes or find any possible way to help her

that night. Well we knocked and when she opened the door she said, "Oh hello sisters! Do you want to come in and watch my uncle's funeral with us??" Guess who her uncle is?! Elder Richard G. Scott; A modern day apostle of the lord who has recently passed away. Her maiden name is Scott. We had no idea!  The funeral was being broadcasted online, so we watched it with them :) We thought that maybe we would be intruding on personal family time, but multiple times she expressed her gratitude for our presence during the broadcast. It was neat :)

We had exchanges on TUESDAY and Sister Lemmons came to Gainesville with me! :) We spent a good amount of time training which was so productive and useful! She is currently being trained and has some adjustment troubles that I faced when I was a new missionary :) It was neat to share my experiences and be able to help her. I felt like I was just rambling story after story; experience after experience, and felt so bad for talking so much, but then she expressed her gratitude for it because she needed to hear them! I was grateful :) She's so awesome :)

We had dinner with our relief society president whom I LOVE! She gave us some names of people to go see, so we went to see them right after dinner. In the POURING rain! We were soaked all the way through our clothes--my shoes are STILL wet from that night! We literally had to ring my skirt out before walking into the church for a meeting because it was dripping from being so soaked. I felt like I jumped in a pool fully clothed, and then went straight to correlation with my ward mission leader! It was nuts. I have never been that drenched in my life and all we did was walk from the car to the front door of people's homes! We took pictures, but you really can't tell how drenched we truly were :)

                                       

[WEDNESDAY] morning we exchanged back and talked about how exchanges went. Lunch was with a member who has a stellar family! The parents are incredibly missionary minded and are always thinking of people to reach out to/invite; that's exactly the kind of marriage I hope to have. One that is rich in the gospel :) Each one of their family members loves one another. They are so happy! The 2 year old was at lunch with us naming all of his siblings and asking when they were coming home :) It was so cute. The gospel makes families happy when living it fully :)

After lunch we went to the women's shelter with sisters that we live with to do some volunteering, and then off to interviews with President Huntsman we went! My interviews were really good :) I know that President Huntsman is my mission president right now because I need him, and in some cases he needs me. I'm grateful to have the opportunity to serve with 2 mission presidents!

We noticed that one of the sisters in our stewardship was quite down and troubled, so after some thought and prayer, we decided we needed to go on exchanges for the night. So she came to Gainesville with me! :)

**Super cool story: Two days prior, I was pondering on the genuine joy that I felt because of my understanding of the gospel and my relationship with my Heavenly Father. 

Finally instead of constantly feeling like I need someone to help me, I feel on top of the world; ready to help anyone with anything! I was overwhelmed with love and

happiness, with a prayer in my heart that I could help someone... 

anyone who is really struggling.

So then, fast forward to 2 days later... WEDNESDAY. Heavenly Father placed a sister in my stewardship who is struggling and needs some help. Does God answer prayers? You tell me :) So she came! And I listened as we sat on the couch and she downloaded everything on her heart/mind. Sister Donato and I have really been practicing feeling for the spirit since we have been together, so I said two kneeling prayers before this mini exchange because I really wanted to know how I could best help that sister; I knew that God knew what she needed, and that He would help me help her. It was THE coolest thing, because as I listened, thoughts and solutions came to mind that were definitely guided by the spirit. I know the advice I shared with her did not come from my own thoughts completely. I then felt prompted to go work! To get off of the couch after we had a wonderful, much needed chat, and to go check on people because that's what she needed. She needed to focus on something/someone else :) So we did! And it was perfect. 

We went to a less active's home where there are 9 kids and we were invited in for a spiritual thought before bed. There was a 5 year old little boy with the cutest, biggest afro ever that plopped right down next to us. We had an awesome discussion with the mom after the kids went to bed, and then headed home. 

We decided that the sister I was with needed a blessing, so we met the zone leaders at our apartment complex. She told them her needs without going into any detail; basically saying she just needed comfort for personal reasons, and then they placed their hands on her head. Four words. 

I. LOVE. THE. PRIESTHOOD!!!

I testify that the authority to act in Gods name is given to man on the earth today. I bore witness of this for the trillionth time in my life that night as our zone leader addressed her needs very specifically, as if he knew exactly what she was struggling with. He spoke with the spirit, guided by the spirit, and this sweet sister felt so much better when we all said, "Amen". I am immensely grateful for the priesthood and the worthy men in my life who I've been able to receive blessings from. That is real power. I know that it is because I've felt it in my own life, and I cherish it! What a day! It was so good :)

To make the week even better, we had MLC (mission leadership 

conference) for a good 6-ish hours on [THURSDAY] and I got to 

see my favorite--> Sister Lewis :) She goes home in 4 months!! Does anyone else feel like time has flown?? Last year around almost exactly this time we became companions! Both brand new to the mission, not really sure of what we were doing, running off of loads of faith, ice cream, and pizza :) haha Good times ;) Anyway, MLC was awesome! We talked about finding people to teach and how we can effectively work with missionaries in our stewardship.

We also discussed the hurricane that could potentially keep us inside for a couple days! President Huntsman told us to go to the store that day to make sure we had a supply of food and water to last a few days, just in case. The storm was supposed to hit sometime last night (Sunday) or sometime today, but we are only expecting heavy rain; enough to cause a good amount of flooding which isn't unusual here :) So we went and bought food :) Then we took a nap during dinner because we didn't have a dinner, and we were mentally exhausted! Afterwards we went to a lesson with Ka and her mom! It was so stinking good! :) Ka moved her baptismal date to... O C T O B E R  24th... so that Sister Donato can attend :) We noticed that her mom was glowing that night; there was a different sense of happiness and love that basically radiated from her whole being, later we found out that she has been reading the Book of Mormon, and drawing temples when she can't sleep late at night :)  This gospel IS happiness, people!! :) I love it! :) Thank you for keeping them in your prayers :) they are doing so good! To finish off the evening we spent it with a less active family and had a lesson on faith. My brain was so fried by the end of the night. Meetings take so much brain power! I was a zombie getting ready for bed, but I slept really good :)

[FRIDAY] morning I woke up with a swollen, red eye out of nowhere!? It got worse throughout the day, so after we had a meeting with our zone leaders and lunch, we called the mission doctor to see what was going on with my eye. She sent me to urgent care where we found out I had a contagious eye infection!  So. Random.

The doctor said its not pink eye, but because it's contagious I had to stay home for a full 24 hours -_- I also had to go pick up some eye drops and learned that those eye drops came in a teeny tiny bottle the size of my Thumb- I kid you not even a little bit- that costed $180. Ya. What?? Luckily after some phone calls I only had to pay $10; I've never been so grateful for missionary insurance. Anyway, I had to stay home that night. Lame sauce. We are so blessed to live with sisters in the same building for situations like this, so we went on splits in

order for Sister Donato to go to an appointment we had in the evening :) Remember the sweet sister who was struggling on Wednesday? She stayed with me Friday night which was so inspired! It was awesome to have a follow up conversation and spend more time with her :) Please keep Sister P in your prayers :)

Because I was stuck inside for 24 hours, we had to cancel our plans to watch conference at our bishops house on [SATURDAY ]. Luckily our apartment complex has a theater room with cable, and we signed up earlier in the week to have the room all day :) blessing!! Except despite the cable, it didn't have a channel broadcasting General conference - Lame. So we went to the computer room with the sisters we live with, blankets and snacks, SO ready to soak up the spirit :)

• I loved a quote from President Uchtdorf: "Exaltation is our goal.Discipleship is our journey". He talked about how simple the gospel really is, and we can start where we are to get on the road to exaltation :)
• I also loved Elder Maynes talk because it was focused on how living the gospel of Jesus Christ brings happiness into our lives! That has been such a big focus for me over the past few weeks, so I really enjoyed it :)
• And then of course there's Elder Holland's talk that reminded me of how much I cherish my mother; as if I needed reminding :) He is such a wonderful speaker! Love you, mom :)

The second session ends at 6pm here, so we had dinner afterwards and then had a lesson with a less active family. They are SO hippy. It's hilarious :) But it was good!

Finally, we have [SUNDAY] :) Oh how I LOVE General Conference!

We spent the morning session in a members home, and the afternoon session with our relief society president and her family. This was the first time I've ever taken serious questions to conference, and it was neat to watch and see how they were each answered :) Elder Renlund's testimony was wonderful! I could go off on so many different speakers/talks that I loved, and my reasoning why, but this email would become more of a novel than it already is :) 

Like Nephi, "It sufficeth me" to say that there is a modern day prophet and 12 apostles who lead the church under the direction of the Lord. Each man is inspired, and I am sincerely thankful for all that they do to help build the kingdom of God. I whole heartedly sustain them. I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is indeed the path to honest joy, and we need to have more faith in Him. We forget that He is very aware of our hearts and our minds; He knows what He is doing :) 

I love my mission so much! 

There isn't a day that goes by that I don't learn and progress into my best self. 

I know my savior lives :) I am honored to be apart of this great, marvelous work. 

I hope you enjoyed conference as much as I did, and received answers to your own questions :)

Today is once again P-Day, and Sister Donato and I are a little excited about it ;)

Have a fabulous week! Read over the talks, seek the lords guidance as to what you can improve on, and do it :) Change doesn't happen until we ACT :)
I love you. Thanks so much for your support, love, prayers, and emails! 

If anyone needs anything, I'm only an email away :)
Sister Chandler

P.S.

 The washer destroyed my comforter!!!?? I'm a little heart broken. It's fine.