Another week in Virginia

Gooooood Afternoon! :) 

Before I begin telling you about my week, shout out to the best human on the face of this planet (my sister) for being born today x amount of years ago :) I love you! 

Alright, so Monday was awesome :) we didn't do a THING and it was beautiful :) 

• Aside from the norm like emails, laundry, groceries, and writing a couple letters. 

• In the evening we went to dinner with a member and checked on potentials. 

• Meanwhile there was a massive storm occurring! Virginia + rain + thunder = the best summer storms I've ever seen! That's why God sent me here ;) to be able to enjoy those things :) It also makes up for the lack of sky over here. I miss my western night time sky. But it's fine :) It could be worse!! 

Tuesday was quite busy! 

• The morning began with district meeting which went super well; always does :)

• Lunch followed,

• Then we went to visit a sister in our ward who just got hip surgery! She is bedridden for a solid 2 weeks! I think I'd go insane. Actually, I know I'd go insane. She can hardly sit up, too so she has to lay down most of the time! I know. Poor thing right? She just ran way too much and busted her hip. She would run like 12 miles a day, and she always ran marathons. Not anymore! So we shared a message and kept her company for an hour :) After that we made brownies and a thank you card for the member who took us to the temple and lunch a couple weeks ago! 

• And then it was time for a lesson on preparing for the temple with a recent convert :) 

• when that was over, we went to dinner with A! :) She is DARLING! I love her so much! We learned that members of our ward have been inviting her to activities and such so that made us happy :) I'm telling you. Serving in a singles ward is one of the best things that's ever happened to me on my mission. These people are stellar. 

• The rest of the night we spent checking on potentials. 

On Wednesday we studied all morning, which was so good! 

• Sister Jones and I received a lot of inspiration as to how we can become better teachers and missionaries in general. I love the spirit :) 

• When that was over we did a little bit of cleaning up in the area book, and then we did some serious DEEP cleaning in our apartment. I kid you not we cleaned everything from the baseboards to the corners of the ceiling and everything in between. For like... 4 hours. With music (the uplifting, spiritual kind) blasting through the apartment. I was in love :) 

• Oh also, mom guess what? We've totally had reoccurring black mold throughout our apartment since I've been here. And everyone that's lived here for the past year has had health problems, but as soon as they're transferred they get better. But don't worry!! We called the maintenance guy for the 47th (that's a legitimate number) time and he came to paint over it :) hahah ohhhh the apartment :) There have been so many things about this apartment that have fallen apart and I have totally forgotten to mention them throughout the past 3 months!! I'll list some for you :) 

| ADVENTURES IN THE APARTMENT|
1. Our light switch in the bathroom didn't work, nor did the outlet for about 3 weeks, so we plugged a lamp in on the outside wall and stuck it in the bathroom :)
2. The carpet was disgusting and our 2 vacuums didn't work. So we got a new one about 2 months in and it's slightly better!
3. The sisters bathroom had black mold growing on their ceiling, so the maintenance guy took out the wall and put a new one in.
4. The black mold is back.
5. We have black mold inside our shower, but no worries. The instructions from our maintenance friend were to throw bleach on it and let it sit. He then told us it would come back though...
6. The air conditioning unit in the sister's room was leaking, so their carpet was wet and their room smelled like wet dog. They've been sleeping in the living room for 2 weeks :)

7. When we want a drink of water, we have to let it sit for 5 minutes so it isn't so foggy

Basically it's been an adventure!! And despite the grossness of the apartment, it's not necessarily awful. It's livable... For the most part... And we find joy in these things because it creates memories that we can laugh at later :) In fact, we laugh as they occur because it's hilariously ridiculous :) Nonetheless, we truly are grateful to have a roof over our heads, food in the kitchen, and a bed to sleep in :) Also, after the deep clean it was better :) 

• Dinner was with a member at a Peruvian restaurant which was pretty good! 

• Then we met another member at the church and went to check on potentials. It was a pretty quiet night when it came to potentials, but when it comes to the member we had with us, it was the opposite! :) haha which was perfect because we studied listening earlier in the day, which is exactly what she needed us to do :) it was fun! :)

• we were exhausted by the end of the night and slept super good :) 

Thursday morning I was not feeling well at all, 

• so after studies I took a nap for half an hour and that helped a little bit. 

• We then had to go to the mission office to take in our driving log. Elder Lowe is in charge of everything when it comes to the mission cars, and he asked if we wanted to see our driving record from the Tiwi! This thing is high tech. Elder Lowe can see when and where our car is at all times, including how long the car sits in one place! He can see where on the road we make a violation (according to the Tiwi), and the route in which we take wherever we go. If we ever lose our car we can just call elder Lowe and he can look it up :) too cool! My driving record was spotless so that was good :) 

• We did some area book mapping for a while and then went to dinner with a member! I learned so much from her while we shared a message on the spirit. I learn so much from everyone that we teach! 

• Our evening finished off with T! She is doing well :) I brought the Book of Mormon I made in college (where I wrote questions of the soul in the front and found the answers and marked/tabbed them) to show her how beneficial the book is in our lives today. She started going down the list of questions, answering them according to her knowledge, and then when she got to the question, "Does my infant need to be baptized?" She said, "oh I know this one! Absolutely!!" We just smiled and explained that we don't believe that's true. So we flipped to the answer in the Book of Mormon; Moroni 8:8-12 and even a couple verses after that, where it explains that baptism is for sinners. Repentance and baptism are for those who are accountable for their own sins, not for Adams transgression. It goes on to teach that little children are whole and not capable of committing sin, so if thy die before the age of accountability (8 yrs.) then they are golden :) 

• When we got home we found a note from the maintenance guy saying we had gotten our faucet replaced in our kitchen? Later the sisters explained that it started to gush out water and the kitchen flooded! hahaha remember everyone, adventures in the Aspen ;) 

On Friday I woke up feeling super sick, and felt like I was going to throw up all day. 

• Luckily it was weekly planning so we didn't have to go anywhere all afternoon! 

• In the evening we went to dinner with a member, but that made me more sick so we went home after so I could sleep for half an hour before we had a lesson. The enabling power of the atonement is so real. I had a prayer in my heart that I would be able to sleep off whatever bug I had, within that power nap, so that we could go teach our new investigators the message of the restored gospel! When I woke up I felt much better! 

• I could feel the Lords support as we went about the rest of that night, which was such a blessing because that lesson was so great!! When we got to their house, Dre opened the door and said with a big grin, "Oh hey, ya'll did come!!" :) he went and gathered his brother and friend (now a new investigator) to hear the message we had to share :) We asked if they had read from the Book of Mormon yet and Dre said, "Ya! I figured you gave me this for a reason, so I read a couple verses". Um, yeah! We totally did give you that for a reason! They all wanted us to text them a scripture every day, and then asked us to come back on Sunday to hear more. Two. Days. Later. 

• What if I stayed home that night?! What if I hadn't accessed the enabling power of the Atonement and just slept for the rest of the night?? Oh how good is Heavenly Father??! :) His hand is absolutely in our lives every single moment of every single day. I LOVE being a missionary :) Sister Jones was tickled :) It was so fun to experience that with her; she rocked it! She is doing so well :) 

• Sister Williams is one of the sisters we live with, and she woke up sick Saturday morning. It's gotta be the mold or something that's making us sick! Anyway, she stayed home all day so sister Jones and I took turns going on splits with Sister Kennedy, Sister William's companion, to cover the lessons they had set up. It was a good switch in routine, and gave Sister Jones more opportunities to teach! So that was awesome! :) I also think Heavenly Father needed us to be with them because all of our appointments for that day canceled. 

• I went out with her for the night and we went to dinner with a member, who lives with her brother, who has 4 kids ages 1, 5, 6, and 8 :) I wish we got our dinner conversation on video because we were crying laughing the whole time! 

Benson is the 5 year old, and he started talking about how he was married. He said he was 31 and his wife was 29. When asked what he liked about her, he said, "her cute little face!" :) hahah then we talked about ways we could be righteous. I asked if he was nice to his siblings and with the most straight face he said, "Yeah. But sometimes I want them dead". Everything that came out of this kids mouth was so funny because he's so little and we kept thinking, "Where did you come up with this?!" By the end of the night we were serenaded by little Benson singing "Let it Go". But not like a normal 5 year old would sing it; this kid had the riffs and level changes and everything! It was sooo cute :)

AND dinner itself was super good because we made our own pizzas, watermelon was the side (including yellow watermelon!), and for dessert we had a pazookie :) For those of you who don't know what that is, it's a chocolate chip cookie fresh out of the oven with vanilla ice cream on top. It's life-changing :) 

• After dinner we picked up a member and went to a lesson! But he wasn't home, 

• so we checked on a few others and they weren't home either! 

• Eventually it was time to head home, and then Sister Kennedy and I had a really cool spiritual experience. Earlier in the day we had taught N, one of her investigators. We taught about prayer and fasting. N is SO close to baptism but is, for lack of a better word, bipolar when it comes to commitment. We called him to tell him that he had a ride to church, but suddenly he didn't want to go anymore. Sister Kennedy, acting on the spirit, told him to kneel down, say a prayer, and open the Book of Mormon to a random scripture to see if it answers his question- should I go to church tomorrow? Bold, right? But even while she invited him to do that, I felt the spirit and knew that it wasn't her idea; it was Gods. He called us back to tell us the scripture he landed on- Alma 21:6 which talks about assembling ourselves together to worship God, and that its a righteous thing to do. If that's not an answer then I don't know what is! 

He still chose not to come, but we knew God had followed through and it was up to Nick to make the decision. Sometimes agency is frustrating haha Nonetheless, it was a good day :)

On Sunday we went to church, which is always good :) 

• The Relief Society- a women's organization, that happens to be the biggest one in the world, that teaches us how to become better wives, mothers, and daughters of God. As well as focusing helping on those in need- lesson was on happiness! It was such a good lesson!! I loved it :) 

• The rest of the day our appointments fell through so we just checked on potentials with a member all night! 

Sometimes the weeks are amazing, other times they are just alright, but that's life right? :)

 I'm grateful to be here!! I love my mission and my Father in Heaven :) I'm grateful for the love, support, emails, letters, pictures, and prayers on my behalf! My heart is continuously full :) 

Happy birthday to Erica, again :) And happy birthday to my Mama on Friday! :) I love you!! 

Love,
Sister Chandler

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

Week 14: Snow, Thumbs Up!, and Four Minutes

Happy Monday!! :))   This has been a LONG week!

THUMBS UP FOR THE SNOW!

On Monday sister Lewis and I went to get our nails done because it was our last P-day together and we wanted to. So while we sat there and enjoyed being pampered, we totally shared the gospel! The guy (yes, guy) doing my nails was Vietnamese, and it was hard to understand him, but for the most part I figured it out. I asked, "If I brought you a Book of Mormon would you read it?" I don't actually know what he said because I couldn't understand him, so I just said, "Great!! I'll bring one in your language next week!" :) That's what I'll be doing this week :) 

On Tuesday we ran to the gym like usual except it had SNOWED (for real this time)!! I was so excited!! :) People are hilarious over here when it comes to snow. Sister Lewis and I come from Utah and Idaho. We are used to snow, but people here are from all over the world so not everyone knows how to handle it. As we were cruising down the road, there were so many people going literally 5mph. A couple of cars just stopped and people got out and walked!! hahah

Wednesday was full of saying goodbye to members and packing, because Thursday was transfers. I learned so much from Sister Lewis and we truly became best friends in the mission. I will miss her SO much! But I know I can't progress if I stick with the same person the whole time :)

This lady is one of our investigators whom we love dearly.

<< MY NEW COMPANION >>

Are you ready?? ;) We went from Sister Lewis, to Sister Liu! (Lew) :) She comes from the land of Taiwan where the people are many and the Wendy's fast food restaurants are none. She is 22, and SO AWESOME!! She is such a great missionary and I have already learned a lot from her :) This will be a successful, fun, hard transfer but we are so ready to take it on! :) PS: Yes mother, I am now driving.   

My Asian companion that I'm pretty excited about :)... and I definitely crocheted that scarf!!

On Friday we helped a member pack up her home because she is moving, and I learned how to fold a fitted bed sheet because those are tricky, so that was cool!! We also ran to the gym that morning and found that it was CLOSED!?! Ya. What? So we ran back, and it was closed the next day, too, but it's open now :) We found someone new to teach!! Finally! Sister Liu and I are going to tract on purpose this week because our teaching pool is diminishing :( 

Okay. Now, I'll tell you about one of my favorite talks from conference last year. 

During my studies this week I came across a talk given by Bishop Gary E. Stevenson in conference of April last year. Many of you may remember it! It's entitled, "Your Four Minutes". In this talk he describes three LDS Olympic medalists, of which, I'd like to expand on two. 

• The first one he mentions is Noelle Pikus-Pace who competed in an event called the skeleton. He described the event as athletes building, "momentum as they sprint and then plunge headfirst on a small sled. With their faces inches above the ground, they race down a winding, icy track at speeds that top 90 miles (145 km) an hour". Bishop Stevenson goes on to teach us that Noelle spent an enormous amount of time, years even, to prepare for the four minutes she had to get it right. After the race was over she would have her whole life to look back on that short amount of time that she had to perform her best.

• Torah Bright is an LDS Olympic half pipe snowboarder who won a silver medal after a flawless run. This story sticks out to me because she, "noticed that American snowboarder Kelly Clark, who had a bad first run in her final round, appeared to be nervous about her second run. 'She gave me a hug,' Clark recalls. 'She just held me until I actually calmed down enough and I slowed my breathing. It was good to have a hug from a friend.'” When questioned because of this Christ-like act, Torah responded with, "I am a competitor--I want to do my best--but I want my fellow competitors to do their best, too.”

These two stories reminded me of dance competitions. From November to March we practice, perform, and compete routines to prepare ourselves for the final State competition. Each dance is about a minute and a half, so when we are standing on the sidelines waiting to walk on the floor to compete, all that races through my mind is, "I can do this! We can do this. We have prepared and worked so hard all season for this moment right now". And then there is always that silent prayer that nobody messes up ;)

In my case, I only had a minute and a half to perform to my best ability in hopes of it being enough to take that state banner home. After the music stopped, we would walk off the floor exhausted from giving our all, and now I have forever and a half to look back on that performance. (In case you're wondering, we did take that banner home. Twice! And I'm humble about it ;)) 

Behind the scenes of a dance competition, I always made sure to compliment other teams on their costumes and performance, as well as wishing them luck before they competed. I, like Torah Bright, wanted to do my best, but I wanted my fellow competitors to do their best, too. 

Now is the time. Before we were born on this earth, we lived with our father in heaven. He presented His plan to us and we prepared to come to this life. NOW is our "four minutes" to "perform" to the best of our ability. To be our best selves, to serve others, to strengthen our relationship with Christ, etc. We will have eternity to look back and remember how we did. I don't know about you, but I want to be exhausted from working so hard and giving my all to be my best self by the end of my four minutes. :) 

The post office is close to my apartment
 and at night the trucks are all parked together.
 It was a pretty great sight because
 I LOVE mail!!! :)

• In the Book of Mormon {Alma 12: 24} we read, "... Therefore this life became a probationary state; a time to prepare to meet God..." And that's exactly what life is! 

I am beyond grateful to know that I have a literal Father in Heaven who loves me, and who helps me throughout this life so that I am able to live with Him again. He wants ALL of His children to return to Him. I know my savior lives, and loves me. I'm grateful to be a tool in the Lord's hands 24/7! I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God and it's the perfect cheat sheet to "performing" our best during this "four minutes" of life. I invite you to read it. Study it. Pray about it! In that sacred book you will find peace, joy, hope, and comfort :)

{{ I  A M  S O  G R A T E F U L  F O R  T H E  G O S P E L  O F  J E S U S  C H R I S T }}

Thank you X10 for the support, love, and prayers!! 

Love, Sister Kailey Chandler 

Week 10: Paper chains, parties, and patience

Hello!! :) 

Wow I had such a good week!! I'll do my best to recap :) 

C has decided to be baptized on the 27th! So we made her a paper chain count down with scriptures and quotes written on them :) she is going through a lot of struggle right now and if you could keep her in your prayers, that would be so great! My sister got me hooked on the paper chain idea after I made one to count down to my mission, so sister Lewis and I made one for Christmas :) it's almost here!!!! :))

We taught the lesson on Sunday and it went so well! The spirit was really strong, and I learned a lot while preparing for it! My mom was blessed with the gift of teaching; she is such a good teacher, especially when it comes to the gospel. I am discovering my own love for teaching as I am out here :) the spirit has been so strong for me this week and I think it's because I am applying the following principles in my life: 

On a mission you are encouraged to set goals, and do all you can to accomplish them. Goals that are set for both personal reasons and as a companionship. During the Christmas party this week, we had a member of the 70 come speak, and stressed the blessings that come from doing ALL you can do and trusting God to do the rest. In high school I really stuck to this, and out here on a mission it brings that phrase to a whole other level! In the Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 25:23 tells us that, "... We know that it is by grace that we are saved AFTER ALL WE CAN DO". 

Sister Lewis and I set a goal to talk to everyone we see. Everyone! So we do! We talk to the people behind us in line at the post office, or at target. We talk to the guy smoking on his porch, and the lady in the computer room in our complex.

We never know what will come of it, if anything at all, but we know that God will bless us with finding someone who wants to hear the gospel after we do ALL we can do; after we do our part.

This can apply in anything! Whether it's studying for a test, practicing your tail off for a basketball game, memorizing a speech, running 2.6 miles, etc. as long as you do your part the best you can, Heavenly Father WILL take care of the rest :) BUT you have to ask for help, and have faith that He will help you. I testify that he will :) 

There were a couple other phrases that were said that day that I want to share:

"God has all power over us, yet still lets us choose"

This is so special to me! I was blessed with parents that gave me guidelines, but still let me figure things out on my own. Our Heavenly Father is the same way! He gives us scriptures, prophets, prayer, and church leaders (as well as parents) to guide us throughout this earthly life, but still lets us choose the path we take, and lets us figure things out. 

"Fear and faith cannot dwell in the same heart" 

As a missionary, you can't have 100% faith that you're going to find someone while knocking doors if you're too scared to approach people and knock doors! 

"All the blessings of the Lord are yours if you call upon him, and you CAN call upon Him". 

Not everyone in the world has the same gifts. I wish I could sing like my sweet companion, but.. No such luck. Something I've always wanted to try was softball! But I'm sort of scared of the ball, and for some reason I can't seem to ever hit it with the bat, so that talent skipped me. We all wish we were more patient, or loving, or motivated, or this, or that, but guess what?? Something I've learned while being on my mission is that you can ask Heavenly Father for these gifts and you can receive them! Like mentioned before, you have to work at it and try your best, but God will always help you out :) This week I invite you to put your trust in God while making any decision! Test it out! You will find just how much you really can do with the Lords help :) 

On Tuesday we had the usual district meeting, but we practice-taught and focused on teaching with the power of the Holy Ghost. I had SUCH a good experience!! I taught boldly but with love, and it was to another missionary but it was SO effective! Loved it. 

Earlier this week when sister Lewis and I came back from the gym, it was so cold outside that the stairs to our apartment had a nice slippery sheet of ice covering them, but we didn't know that until we stepped on them and slipped into each other. I got a cute bruise on my ankle for a few days :P oh my! And sister Lewis is a beast! An elder in our district can break an apple perfectly in half with his hands, so she tried it and after about 5 minutes she did it! I was impressed :) 

Another thing that impressed me was the fact that I ran 2.6 miles one morning!! I haven't done that since college this summer, so I was feeling great!

And then I got a package from my mom full of fudge and my favorite Italian cookies EVER!!! So much for running :) haha I LOVED this package!! Thank you to everyone who wrote me a Christmas card!! That made my day, and the stocking!!? Where on earth did you find such an adorable stocking, mother?!? SO cute!! :) I hung up my garland and stocking above my bed. Our apartment is looking more and more like Christmas every week!! 

On Friday we had a mission Christmas party!! :) this was so fun! All 250 missionaries got together and had a talent show in the beginning. But it wasn't a cheesy talent show at all! The people in my mission are sooo talented!! Oh it was so much fun :) we had good food and goodies served to us, and a wonderful spiritual message. I'll share it later :) 

Every year president Riggs likes to make a "yearbook" for the mission so that people can find someone they were attracted to when they go home. President likes to play match maker, but tells you to lock your heart while you're here. He is funny, but the point to this is that you know how it's extremely rare for anyone to take a decent yearbook picture?? Ya. Same goes for this mission yearbook picture! Sister Lewis and I look like we just woke up... From the dead. hahaha good thing everyone else does too ;) 

I love being a missionary. I love my family and I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have that families can be sealed together for time and eternity. I know my savior lives, and I need Him EVERY. HOUR. of every day. 

I hope you have a fantastic week!! Merry Christmas!!! :) 

Sister Chandler 

Pictures: 

The first one is all the places that people that I've met/taught come from. 

The second is a picture with all those important people when they pushed the button at the temple to turn the lights on. (From left to right: mr. And mrs. Marriott- the guy who owns the hotels, yours truly ;), the member of the 70 that spoke, I don't have a clue who that girl is.. Maybe his wife?, ambassador of Bulgaria and her husband, then just people in my ward, including sister Lewis) 

And then the typical selfie for the week! 

Week Five: Becoming a Consecrated Misssionary

Hello :)

Sister Lewis and I watched an hour and a half of missionary videos
(because we had to) so we grabbed our pillows and got comfortable :)
these pictures capture the moment :)

This week we had zone conference! At every zone conference, the person with the cleanest car inside and out gets to choose the car (out of every missionary's car in the zone) that they want! Our car was the coveted car, and we didn't want to lose it so we went so far as to hand wax it, and definitely took it to the car wash guys so they could vacuum it out. That's not cheating, don't worry, WE WON :) just look at that shine! You could see your reflection!

At zone conference, President Riggs and his wife talked to us, mainly for the purpose of teaching new ways for us to teach, and to fill our spiritual tank. I took good notes and wanted to share a few good phrases that were said:

• Nothing can stop the work. No matter how discouraged you may get, or if you want to quit, the work will continue. The gospel of Jesus Christ will be spread throughout all nations, to every person and what an adventure and privilege it is to be apart of that!!  

• Accept others agency, but use yours to continue to teach. Everyone has the ability to choose for themselves, and nobody has to accept what we teach them, so when they choose not to listen or learn more, we (as missionaries or anyone with the knowledge of the gospel) need to use our agency to choose to brush it off and knock on more doors. Find more people. Teach everyone!

• You cannot get a 1 million dollar answer for a 5 cent prayer. Prayers need to be sincere and with real intent - meaning you will act on whatever God tells you to do in order to get an effective answer from the Lord.

• Part time Christians cannot overcome full time Devils 

• Have you prayed about it as much as you've talked about it?

I also read a talk entitled, "Becoming a Consecrated Missionary" by Tad R. Callister, Sunday School General President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. A consecrated missionary is someone who is willing to lay everything on the alter of sacrifice. This means your fears, pride, laziness, weaknesses, and disobedience can't hold you back from spreading this glad message! You can't keep one foot at home and the other in the mission.

Nephi is a prophet in the Book of Mormon who felt that the power of man was inconsequential. It was only the Lords power that counted. I hope to grow to have that much faith and trust in the lord. Another prophet in the Book of Mormon, Mosiah, (chapter 4 vs.19) states, "and now, if ye believe all these things, see that ye do them". Eventually we must do more than tell the stories of the Book of Mormon; WE MUST LIVE THEM.

As for the rest of my week... We had 5 people drop us, and almost all lessons canceled. We really felt and followed the spirit really well! We found 2 families, but they used their agency and chose not to listen. Sometimes the spirit will lead you somewhere and it all looks really good until the next day when the people call you and say never mind. That doesn't mean we didn't follow the spirit, or hear him right, it just means we did what we were supposed to and if anything we planted seeds. I love being a missionary!! Despite the drops and cancellations, we didn't feel the drag of them. This week actually flew by, and we constantly counted our blessings :)

One of those blessings is C!! She is getting baptized on the first or second Saturday of December. My favorite part of a mission is watching the gospel of Jesus Christ change lives. As a missionary, all we can do is teach what we know to be true, and the spirit of God is the one who testifies of truth. We can't force anyone to believe what we are telling them; it's their choice, and when they choose to listen and act, miracles happen :)

[Sister Lewis said I sleep walk!?  ...This is new!!]

TRANSFERS: Everyone keeps asking me about it so I'll tell you what I know. They are on the week before Thanksgiving. The zone leaders said they are confident that I am ready to take over the area (what?!?) which means I'll get a new companion and be the driver/person in charge. BUT Sister Lewis wants to stay for the holidays and she also is not done training me, so technically we should have 6 more weeks together after this transfer. Regardless of what happens to her; whether she stays or goes, I will be staying, so my address will be the same until January.

Fun fact: squirrels and wild bunnies are common here!! Like, we see them on a daily basis :)

A family took us out to eat at Texas Road House on Friday for dinner and that was weird!!! It felt so weird to be surrounded with TVs and so much business.

This week was spiritually uplifting and I am really working on becoming a consecrated missionary:) thank you for the
emails/letters/love!! :)

The picture of the clouds is cool because they looked like a painting!

I hope all is well with everyone!! :) God is good and I love being a missionary!! :)

Sister Chandler