So good I can't believe it!

Hey :)

Does anyone want to explain to me how it's suddenly the third week in
November?? I'm pretty sure tomorrow it will be April ;)
Today I'm going to the zoo in DC so I'm sending this a little early
because I'm not sure when we will get back :)

I had SUCH a good week!! My words can not do it justice, but I'll do my best :)

It started off with the best. news. ever. Remember Ka? The girl who
just got baptized, and her mom Jumana, who is a returning member? Well
we are teaching ca, Ka's little sister, and little by little
the whole family has started coming to church and making friends in
the ward. When sister Donato was here, we hardly ever saw ka's dad,
but he came to church a couple weeks ago and had a good time!
I think he felt the spirit at Ka's baptism, and at church, too
because we received a text from Ju saying her husband wanted to
take the discussions and be baptized!? WHAT!?! We were SO excited!!
Not just because of his desire to follow the savior, but because this
means a year from around this time, their whole family can be sealed
together for eternity. That's the ultimate goal; baptism is just the
first step to get there :) It's also super cool because NOBODY saw
this coming! Not even Ju! Heavenly Father is blessing us right and
left and we couldn't be more grateful :)

That was Tuesday :) nothing else super exciting happened other than
planning for zone training and college stuff for sister Williams.

Oh.

And I went to the doctor for my shin splints to get an x-ray because
it's been a month and a half and I STILL have them. The doctor there
said she thought she saw a stress fracture, so she sent me to a sports
medicine doctor on Friday.

Sister Williams and I were in charge of the activity for the zone
training that we had on Wednesday morning. It was SO much fun! There
were 5 different "stations" and each had an activity
representing different topics that we would be discussing that day.

• One activity consisted of 2 people racing from point A to point B with a balloon between their legs, singing a primary song at the top of their lungs. When they got to point B, they were to sit on the balloon to pop it because inside was a paper with a scenario of a person who you might teach. Whoever popped the balloon first got to use that scenario and they were to practice teach to the person they raced. The purpose of this event was to practice "Teaching people, not lessons".
• Another activity involved an obstacle course, one person blind folded holding a hard boiled egg on a spoon, and someone leading them through the course by whispering amongst all the noise in the gym to practice, "Following the spirit". We let the elders set up the obstacle course and it was super cool :)
• The other 3 activities were just as creative and fun and we all had a really good time :) when everything was quickly cleaned up we went to the relief society room where the spirit was invited by a musical number. Sister Williams and I taught a lesson on church attendance, which went super well! We work so great together! :)

Then we got to come home and study before we went to the women's
shelter for a bit :)

After dinner we taught Ju and her family! :) it was such a
wonderful experience!! I absolutely love finding people who sincerely
want to learn more and have real intent. It makes things so much
easier :) haha Thats the best part! They want it! :) I can't even
express my joy and gratitude for the opportunity that I have to be a
tool in the Lords hands to help bring this whole family the restored
gospel, and all of the blessings that it entails. We put them on date
to be baptized on December 19th, and invited them (the dad and two
kids that we are teaching) to pray about it as well. They rock :) I am
bursting over here :)

We asked the dad how he liked church when he went and he said it
wasn't what he was expecting; he said he really liked it because he
didn't feel preached to. He didn't feel preached at, but felt like
everyone had great discussions about gospel topics together. He loved
the friendly, warm feel of the ward and mentioned his appreciation for
how family friendly church is :) he liked how everyone understood that
kids are kids and crying babies or Cheerios on the floor didn't phase
anyone :) I had to agree. I also love those things about church :) it
was a really good day :)

Thursday was the best because we had exchanges and I went to Warrenton
to be with Sister Jones!! :) What a tender mercy that she is in my
stewardship :) We spent the afternoon doing service for a sister in
her ward who just moved in and her home looks like a hoarder's home :(
she hates it. We ended up taking a long walk down an empty country
road for a while, listening to her vent. It was much needed, and we
loved being able to listen! She has a ton on her plate; it's one of
those situations where you wonder why bad things happen to good
people, and have to exercise some serious faith in order to maintain a
positive outlook. My heart bursted with love for this sweet sister and
I just wanted to hug her. So I did :) 

The cool thing about being set
apart as a literal representative of Jesus Christ, is that we can be
there for others when he physically can't. Missionary hugs are not
normal hugs-- there is definitely an extra spirit about them :)

Dinner was some super yummy soup with members of her ward, and then we
went to see an investigator out in the sticks :) Warrenton is the most
country part of Virginia I've ever been to. I haven't seen so many
stars since I drove out in the middle of nowhere in Rexburg, Idaho! I
loved it :) sister jones took a super pretty picture of the area
recently; I'll attach it :)

I absolutely LOVED spending time with sister jones :) I needed her
when I trained her, and I needed her on Thursday. She is so full of
love and meekness! You can't not love sister jones! It's impossible!
She is such a good missionary! It was fun to see her growth and just
to be able to spend a day with her was a tender mercy :) I love her :)

We exchanged back Friday morning because sister Williams and I had our
zone leadership meeting, and then we met with our relief society
president to talk about sisters in our ward that we don't know yet and
could use some uplifting. I've mentioned it before, and I'll say it
again... Our relief society president is the bomb! I love her :) I
love a lot of people ;) haha

Right after that we went to the sports medicine Doctor to figure out
what the heck is up with my leg. He pushed on the part that hurt and
then he pushed on my ankle asking, "Does this hurt?" Holy heck! Yes!
So then he said, "Yeah, come look at your x-rays with me". Apparently
I have a possible stress fracture in TWO places of my leg. My shin,
and right above my ankle. Oddly enough, the ankle one appeared worse
than my shin in the x-Ray (which would explain why it swelled so much
in my last area). So he told me to get an MRI before we make any final
decisions.

Oh my gosh, and then sister Williams told me the coolest news ever.
While I was in warrenton with sister jones, sister Williams and sister
Alcantara went and taught another lesson to Ju and her family! The
sisters asked them if they had been praying about baptism and Ca,
the 9 year old said, "can I get baptized sooner than December 19th?"
Um. Yes! :) and then the dad and brother said, "Yeah, we just want to
get baptized as soon as we can".

Do you feel the bucket of blessings raining down?!? We do!!!

So they picked December 4th for Ca because she wants it to be her
own thing, while her dad and brother picked the 5th of December. AND
THEY ARE SO HAPPY!! I cannot contain my excitement for this family.
They are so united and full of love because of the gospel :) I've
literally seen a change in each member of the family since they've
been applying gospel principals and keeping commitments. I could talk
about this forever :) Heavenly Father is SO GOOD!!! :)

Saturday we weekly planned because we didn't have time on Friday, and
had a pretty successful night! We saw a lot of people and contacted a
good chunk of potentials :)

Sunday was great! We went to church where a youth whom we adore gave
his farewell, and ju's whole family came :) Sister Williams and I
both felt the need for a spiritual recharge, and have never been so
excited to take the sacrament :) 

Dinner was with our stake president
and his family; we love them! That was neat because the spirit in the
home was.... homey. Comfortable, light, pleasant, familiar... as if I
were with my own family. It was good :) 

We spent some time with the
youth who spoke in sacrament meeting and gave his farewell; he had an
open house/goodbye party in the evening so we went :) It was fun
because he is terrified! He's only going to California, speaking
Spanish, but the unknown is what scares him. So we dug back into our
memory and explained what happens from the moment you pull up to the
curb at the MTC, to the time you enter the field. Everyone's
experience is different, especially once you get in the field, but for
the most part the MTC is the same. We helped calm some nerves and gave
him advice, so we had a good time :)

To end our evening we stopped by sister Jensen's because she had just
gotten back in town from burying her husband in Utah. This woman is
the most optimistic woman I know. She is an amazing individual! We
talked with her daughter, too to set up a time to have her friend come
over to take the discussions!

I have the biggest testimony of hard work and endurance. Through
trials, when life is good... any time! Remember to always reach up,
then out :)

Have a good one!!
Sister Chandler

Hard work= miracles

Oh Hello Again :)

We just had P-day 4 days ago, but because I went to the temple and we were stuck in traffic forever. Thursday did not feel like P-day. I'm grateful to have another one so soon after! Tender mercy :) That being said, this might not be very long!

Being able to go to the temple was such a blessing. I never know how much I truly need/miss it until I go and soak up the spirit. While sitting in the celestial room pondering and conversing with the Lord, I thought to myself, "Wow. I have never felt so close to the lord as I do right now". I felt like there was literally a thin, invisible wall between me and my maker as I sat there in prayer. Then I remembered where I was, and it immediately made sense :) I love the temple. I'm grateful for the many blessings I receive from attending as often as I can, and for the spirit that I feel when I go. Talk about a spiritual recharge! It's wonderful :) If you haven't been within the past two weeks, I invite you to do what you can, and go :)

Sister Williams and I are SO similar yet SO different that our companionship is really fun, but really hard at the same time. If we weren't already friends, and didn't have charity for one another, this companionship would not work. We make it work. Thursday nigh,t right before we had to go to a lesson, we had a conversation that included tears, negotiating, serious communication, listening, and love. Neither of us felt like we could go teach with the spirit at that point; we both felt in a rut and almost forced ourselves to let our pride go and hug it out. We decided to say a prayer, read a scripture, and go to work. Tension ceased quite immediately, and as we drove to our appointment sister Williams was like, "Are you as amazed as I am that that actually worked?"

"Praying and reading the scriptures?", I asked. Then reminded her that Heavenly Father helps us according to our faith, and even when our faith is slim to nonexistent, we acted on whatever faith we did have and he blessed us accordingly. We were able to work in unity and love for the rest of the evening and it was so neat to experience :) I'm going to learn so much about myself and how to be my best self throughout the next 5 weeks! Though it's a challenge, I'm truly grateful :) And we do get along! We really are good friends :) The rest of the week was great!

The morning schedule is tough on Sister Williams. She has a hard time waking up whereas I am definitely a morning person and up out of bed as soon as the alarm goes off. I end up working out in our apartment for half an hour before she is up and ready to go to the gym, but it's okay. We all have weaknesses, myself included, and she helps me with mine :) I do love her :)

After studies we had our weekly leadership meeting which went well! We weekly planned for a while before we went to brother Jensen's funeral. I have only been to a couple funerals in my life, and this one was amazing! Every speaker testified of and explained the plan of salvation. Invitations to learn more and see for themselves were extended by everyone, and afterwards a girl brought her friend up to us and said, "This is my friend Hannah! She wants to learn more about what we believe!" :) Hannah described her feelings during the service and acknowledged that it was the spirit. She said her church fell apart and her family is looking for a new one to go to, she loved the warm feelings of love and family, and said her eyes were opened so much that night! We are so excited to begin teaching her :) The lord is so good to us :)

My poor companion woke up pretty sick Saturday morning. So I worked out in the living room again and did what I could to help. We had a lot of really good conversations and finished weekly planning, too! I was going stir crazy from being  inside all day, and she wanted to tough out our dinner appointment, so we went to the bishops home for dinner. I love that family! Seriously I could just write an entire email on my ward and how much I love them alone :)

Sunday was the coolest day of the week! Finally Sister Williams and I are working in harmony together, thus allowing the spirit to work more effectively with us and lead us to where we need to be. After a great day at church and dinner with a member, we had a list of people we were planning to see, but on the way to one of them my companion said, "I feel like there is a member who needs us tonight, but I don't know the members well enough yet to know who it is..." So I opened the ward directory after saying a prayer together, and 3 names stuck out to Sister Williams, while only one of those names stuck out to me. So we went to that family :) IT WAS SO PERFECT!!

Remember when I first got to Gainesville and we checked on a part member family who's son had just received his mission call in the mail literally 60 seconds before we knocked on their door? Well, that son just left for the Philippines the other day, and this is the family we felt prompted to see. When we got there, the non member dad's parents were just about to leave. We started small talk and then the words, "Here, let's sit down!" were music to my ears as the dad motioned for everyone to go to the living room. Because this was a spontaneous
visit, we didn't really have a lesson planned, but before getting out of the car we really felt impressed to talk about the Holy Ghost and prayer, and then a personal story came to mind that I could share regarding those topics. While talking with the family, calming their nerves of the unknown for safety and generally how missionary life is, we found ourselves naturally discussing the Holy Ghost, and I shared my personal experience as if we had planned and practiced it! Everything fell perfectly into place that evening, and we know it was the hand of the lord :)

Seriously, I LOVE being a missionary. It's the coolest thing ever :)

I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to dedicate 18 months of my life to my Heavenly Father. There is no way I would be this close to Him, or be at this level of understanding of the gospel right now, if I didn't serve a mission. It's shaped me, and continues to shape me, into the person God knows I can become. I feel much more prepared to be a good wife and mother when the time comes, and overall I simply have a better understanding of who I am and my individual worth as a daughter of God.

My testimony of church attendance, daily scripture study and sincere prayer, following promptings from the spirit, magnifying church callings, watching general conference, and sooooo many other things pertaining to the gospel has grown exponentially. Big word, huh? ;) Well I mean it! Missionary work rocks. If you have any missionary moments, I'd love to hear them :) Have a wonderful week!! :)

Stay safe, choose the right, be happy :)
Sister Chandler

Ps. We haven't taken any new pictures so, sorry for the lack today

Ten Days of Laughter!

Happy Thursday!! :)

Oh. My. Gosh.
A week and a half really isn't that long... but when you're a missionary

 and it means P-day isn't Monday, it feels like a century long! 
Not even exaggerating ;)

This is our mail box, and I can barely see inside

However!! It was full of exciting, hilarious, bittersweet moments and

I'm excited for you to read about them :)

Because this email will cover more than the usual weeks worth of
events, I'll make sure it doesn't turn into a novel and only share the important things :)

A LOT happened over the past 10 days!

We'll start with MONDAY:) so, two Mondays ago...

In the morning we drove up Bull Run Mountain, the only [ hill ] in Virginia, and it was gorgeous!

 I will never be able to compare Fall to any other Fall anywhere else; its breathtakingly beautiful. 

That's where the pictures I sent last week came from :) We had minimal time to email because

 we went shopping and Sister Donato got her hair cut at 4pm,so our P-day was cut short. It's fine :)

The evening was spent saying goodbye to members. Pretty simple but so much fun. 

I say it all the time, but I truly adore this ward! The members are family, and I love it :)

 I don't ever want to live on the east coast after my mission; I personally like the west much better,

but if I ever did have to live in Virginia again I would make every effort I could to be in Gainesville :) 

The members are wonderful :)

TUESDAY was crazy productive! After district meeting we (by that I mean Sister Donato)
spent part of the afternoon packing until we went to a lesson with K--. Get this. Something about that entire house
has changed dramatically, I know what that is of course; they're living the gospel now, and K's mom is happier than I've ever seen her! There is a pleasant difference every time we are with them now, and Ju--, the mom, is having the rest of her kids take the discussions so they can be baptized! Ca-- is 9 and said that after watching K (her older sister) get baptized, she wants to as well! So now we are teaching Ca the lessons, while teaching her recent convert sister and returning mother at the same time. It's so awesome  :)

We said goodbye to a lot of families that night, and ended the day with a lesson with Tr-- and his mom (the insanely busy sister who can't ever find time to come to church). We taught them the word of
wisdom and they said they would be able to come to the ward trunk-or-treat party on Friday!! :)
To make the day even better, around 9:30 pm we got the email that told us who our new companions are and where we will go for the following Thursday.

Good news!

I'm staying in Gainesville through November :) 

We knew that would happen, but guess who my new companion is?? ----->  SISTER WILLIAMS!!!
I lived with her when I was serving in the singles ward! :) I don't know if you remember me talking about adventures with her or not, but I LOVE this sister!! ALSO!! She has a sucrose intolerance!! Is Heavenly Father not the greatest?! Now there will be absolutely no sugar temptation in the house because neither of us can eat it :) This is the biggest tender mercy. My heart was and still is so stinking full :)

AB-- GOT BAPTIZED on WEDNESDAY!! That was the highlight of the day :) It was an hour and a half drive with rain and traffic, but we have awesome members who are so willing to help us out and drive us there.
It was such a beautiful baptism! There were so many people there to support, and the spirit was incredible.
She received the gift of the Holy Ghost that night, too and it was amazing. The spirit filled the room the entire night! We took pictures at the end; every sister who taught her, minus elders that have already gone home.
 This is the fruit of planting seeds :)

All the Sister who have been a part of AB--'s conversion!

During the rest of the day we just cleaned the house and packed, as well as a couple last minute things for
Sister Donato. It was so weird and sad when we got ready for bed, realizing that was our last night together, and her last night as a full-time missionary. In the beginning of my mission I would be so stumped as to why people were so sad to leave! I thought they would be super excited to go home and see their families. But even with 5
months left, I see the sadness. I never want to go home! Just kidding, I do, but I don't at the same time.
Good thing I don't have to worry about it for a while :)

Transfers were Thursday last week. So many mixed emotions flowed through my heart that day. 

I was so sad to see Sister Donato go; We said goodbye like 10 times and cried and hugged and eventually said
goodbye for real :) haha. She left me with the sweetest note ever, too! You gain life-long friends on a mission, and they're friendships in Christ, so they're even better than any other friendship! 

I sincerely cherish the sisters I've been blessed to serve with.

Goodbye #8 with Sister Donato :) I miss her SO incredibly much!!

On a happy note, Sister Williams is here!! :) 

 Sister Williams and I when we found out we were companions

All day Thursday we cackled at the many memories we have of living at the Aspen, and our
adventures together. We are STOKED to work so hard and see so many miracles!
Sister Williams and I are a lot alike! We are both working on specific Christ-like qualities, and feel as though we are starting from ground zero with our weaknesses. We have so much motivation and
determination to lift and build one another up throughout the next 6 weeks :) I am so excited!!
She's awesome! This is going to be a blast :)

Our evening plans canceled... all of them... so we tracted! We met people who want us to come back, and one of them even came to the trunk-or-treat Friday :)

Okay. Want to hear the coolest miracle ever?? 

So, Sister Williams was trained in Haymarket, which is the area that neighbors Gainesville;
the Haymarket sisters live in the same building as us. While sister Williams was there, a year ago, she taught and developed a strong bond with a lady whom we will call KH. KH moved into the Gainesville ward
and completely went off the radar for the past year, so she is less active and we can never get a hold of her.
Well....
Randomly, Sister Williams asked if KH was in our ward, because she emailed Sister Williams saying something along the lines of, "Where are you?? We need to get together! I'll drive to you if I have to!"
And then Heavenly Father sends Sister Williams to the same town that KH lives in.
Is that not the coolest thing??? So cool :)

ALSO!!! I just need to throw this in here. Sister Jones, my baby, is in my zone now.  

That means I'm her sister training leader and get to go on exchanges with her :)

 I really don't know what else Heavenly Father could do for me; I'm on cloud 9 :)



FRIDAY came around, which Sister Williams and I were both so excited for because that's weekly planning day!! New transfer, new goals, new companionship, new motivation, new start :) It was awesome :)
With that in mind, our zone leadership meeting was really good, too!
We came to a conclusion after debating a transfer zone goal:
The vision is, "Charity- learn it, do it, love it" and we came up with a couple plans for how to go about those 3 things. It's going to be such a good transfer! Within both my companionship and my zone;
 "I can feel it in my toes" as Sister Liu (my second companion as a missionary) would say :)

Our ward Halloween trunk-or-treat/party was that night! It was a perfect opportunity for Sister Williams to meet people :) During weekly planning we made flash cards to help her memorize the members
and their callings, so at the party she was able to put faces to names
she was already familiar with :) It was so fun! We had a handful of investigators and less actives there, so that was awesome!

On SATURDAY we weren't allowed to go out and work after 5pm, but we were
allowed to watch a movie! Sister Huntsman picked it this year for everyone.
First we had our Halloween party with the zone at our stake president's home.
We played reversed charades, and then watched "Cokesville Miracle", which was so good!
 It was a really fun night :)

{ F U N N Y. S T O R Y }
I know I'm fairly little, being 5'2 and all, but I have never felt like anyone really towers over me except for people who are 6' or taller. That being said, I always thought Sister Williams was only a little taller than me... until we looked in the mirror standing side by side. I'M TINY!!! It was so funny :) We laughed so hard!
I have always felt that most people were sort of close to my height...
But I'm just now realizing that is most definitely not the case :P

All week Sister Williams and I have been talking about how inspired this companionship truly is, and how we strengthen each other so well when it comes to our weaknesses. I am so grateful for her! She is such
a powerful, bold, charitable missionary. I have already learned so much from her :)

SUNDAY night is a good example! We followed every prompting we felt, which lead us away from one home where we thought we should go, to a less active whom we witnessed the spirit touch in
more ways than one! In preach my gospel chapter 11 one of the bullet points says that people are not likely to change until they are invited to do so. We witnessed the truthfulness of this statement as
we extended the simple invitation to this sweet sister to read and pray every night.
Knowing her, and observing her reaction made for a neat and humbling experience :)
She agreed to do it, and accepted our offer to hold her accountable by calling her every day to remind her.
Her daughter came down soon after, so we extended the invitation to her as well.
Then her son came in the room with his super sweet hover board, and we learned that he doesn't really know if there is a God. He wasn't asking questions, but we testified and bore our witness of the power of prayer, and the reality of a living God who loves us dearly. It was a really good night. I have the best companion :)

Elder Perkins from the Seventy came to work with us all day MONDAY. It was
such a revelatory meeting, and we talked about that specifically; having revelatory meetings.
No meeting in the church, sacrament meeting, our a meeting for your calling, etc. should be a drag.
It should be a revelatory experience, but it's up to you to make it that way. He had us write down 2 different questions regarding 2 different topics, and invited us to seek answers throughout the meeting. Both of
mine were answered, and that was the case for most everyone in the room :) We practice taught the restoration with him as well, and it was so much fun! I needed those 8 hours more than I realized.

In the evening we had FHE with a less active family and acted out Lehi's vision of the tree of life
(1 Nephi chapter 8). It was super fun and a great way to hold the kids attention :)
Also, sad news. We received a phone call that day that Sister Jensen (the lady with the farm whom we adore)... her husband unexpectedly passed away in his sleep Sunday night :(  Then literally seconds after
that, an elder approached me asking if I served in Centreville and knew a Mary Rose. I did! I taught her a year ago! He then informed me that she was passing away as we spoke! Dear goodness! All these people
I love....within the same 60 seconds! I'm grateful for the knowledge of the plan of salvation and the comfort that it brings. My eyes started to water as soon as I heard about brother Jensen because that
family is the most Christ-like family I've ever met, and they do so much for so many people;
my heart broke for Sister Jensen. Why can't we all just die at the same time?!? :P 

That would prevent a lot of heart break!

 TUESDAY morning we helped a sister in our ward clean her house because she is physically limited. I love service so much. Whenever you're having a bad day, go do something for someone else because it makes a
world of difference on the rest of your day :) In the evening we checked on people and knocked on some doors before we went to correlation with our ward missionaries.
One door we knocked, a man opened and said the lords name in vain, "Oh J****! What's up??" 

The first thing that came to my kind was, "Jesus! That's what's up! We are missionaries! :)" 

Haha, we all laughed about it and then learned that this man had just returned home from the hospital
with his little girl because she got an x-Ray. Something is wrong with her chest :( We said a prayer with them right then and there, after teaching them how to pray :) It was awesome! Sweetest experience :)

MLC with Elder Perkins was on WEDNESDAY! That was yet again, another revelatory experience. 

We learned so much and found ways we could strengthen the missionaries in our mission. I'm grateful to have the
opportunity to serve as an STL. It's such a rewarding time for growth and service :)
I'm not sure if I'll be serving in this position for the rest of my mission or not; I'll never know in advance,
but I'm grateful for the time I do get to be an STL :)

The rest of the day was awesome! We met the kindest people, had wonderful gospel conversations, gave away all of our copies of the Book of Mormon, bore testimony all night, and ended the evening with sister Jensen :)
We are working our tails off and it is a blast :)

Today I get to go to the temple, that's why I'm sending this super early,
but I'll be back on to email later in the day :)
Also, can we all throw our hands up in the air and shout for joy that
TODAY IS P-DAY???!!! :) Woo-hoo!! We. Are. Stoked. I love P-days :)

Have a fabulous week :) I hope you scored on candy.
Pray for my shin splints; they're still very much here, and read the Book of Mormon :)
It's a DARN GOOD BOOK!:)