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!:)

Free FALLin'

What a week!

So many things happened this week, big and small, but first I need to
tell you how much I love my companion. Sister Donato is leaving this Thursday :( 

bittersweet for her, but secretly I'm really sad about it. She is going home!

L for love, U for You

Each companion that I've been blessed to serve with has been exactly what I needed when I needed them, and sister Donato is a wonderful example of that.

Before I was transferred to this area I prayed for a companion to help me better learn meekness and how to become more charitable. I can honestly say that no one could have taught me those things better than
sister Donato. She is FULL of patience, meekness, love, joy, forgiveness... everything I prayed for help with. I've never met a more relaxed, happy person in my life.

We have worked incredibly well together for the past 12 weeks; I haven't had better companionship unity since I was trained, and a lot of that is because we both put forth the effort to be humble and submissive. Our goals have been the same, spiritually and temporally. She is so supportive!

On Monday night she offered to massage my shins (that sounds so weird) with Deep Blue (lotion similar to Icy Hot), and of course I didn't turn that down! But she did that for a solid 30 minutes voluntarily, and that was just the climax of my gratitude towards her. I love that sister. My heart is so full.

Monday evening was a blast because after dinner we went to a less
active's home for FHE and made treats to go spook people as part of
our lesson on service :) sister Donato has never ding-dong-ditched
anyone before, and it was hilarious because she was just as giddy as
the 5 and 7 year olds in the family ;) It was FREEZING but so fun :)

On Tuesday we did a lot to prepare sister Donato to return home; of
those things included visa stuff, so while she did that, I did stuff
for college applications. It was time well spent! We had a meeting
that night with our ward mission; we are in charge of the ward
Christmas party, so we spent an hour planning that before we talked
about missionary things :) it was a very productive day!

Sister Donato had her departing interview right after district meeting
on Wednesday! So weird! Sometimes I feel like I'm going home this
week, too because I'm by her side doing all of these departing
missionary things with her 24/7 :P But lucky me, I still have 5 more
months :))

The rest of Wednesday was so stinking good!! I got a lot done for my
application to schools; my essays and such are written and finished,
so that's off of my plate which is incredibly nice. Sister Donato had
to fill out some departing papers, so I started writing "Open When"
letters for her 12 hour flight home :) just because I love her, and
she will still be a missionary so her forms of entertainment will be
limited.

After dinner with our ward mission leader and his family, we spent
some time with Ka and her mom reviewing the baptismal interview
questions before our district leader came to interview her! For those
of you who are wondering why the heck people need to be interviewed
for baptism, we believe that this is a big commitment that one needs
to be ready for; the interview is to make sure the individual truly us
ready to make sacred promises with the Lord.

We finally saw a less active and her spiritual dinosaur of a son that
evening as well!! This is the sister who can't ever come to church
because she is extremely busy from 6am to 8pm every day, and her son,
T, is the most spiritually in-tune 9 year old I've ever met. We
taught the gospel of Jesus Christ, invited them to come to church, and
put her son on date to be baptized for December 19th! It was such a
good day :)

We had our last zone leadership meeting of the transfer Thursday
morning. My companion continued to complete departing tasks, while I
worked on "open when" letters. I also pulled out my journal and read
from December of 2013 to now. It's insane how fast time flies, and how
much can happen in such a short amount of time. I'm thankful that I've
kept a journal since I was 8! It's been fun to be able to go back so
far and see how I've grown :)

We had another lesson with Ka Thursday evening; the last one before
her baptism, on the priesthood. She was so excited for Saturday :)

Then we stopped by P's home to 1) see his new puppy and 2) remind
him about church on Sunday. We were still picking our jaws up from off
the ground from last week when he said he wanted to come :)

Our last appointment for the night was with C, the gentleman who
feels the need to convert us. It ended up being a mutual dropping;
both parties felt like it wouldn't go anywhere, so we had a nice discussion about Christ and how we have
seen Gods hand in our lives. We bore testimony of the truthfulness of
the things that we share, and he gave us a book on grace as a gift to
say, "I have enjoyed our meetings! Thank you for your time and
efforts". He's a nice man :) walking away from that appointment, we
felt good! We both feel like this is one of those stories where we are
the first set of missionaries that he drops, and there will be a
couple more, until eventually he will come around :)

All day Friday we kept thinking it was Saturday! We just weekly
planned and continued preparing for sister Donato's departure. There's
so much to do when you get ready to leave! We have been really good at
staying focused and living in the moment though, so that's a tender
mercy :) neither of us is homesick or "trunky" which is what

missionaries say when they're mentally on their way home :)

For dinner we went to a recent converts home and she needed Tylenol,
but didn't own any. We offered to go home to grab some for her, but
when we got there we realized we actually didn't have any. So after a
quick run to the store, we got some Tylenol for B :) she's lonely
and sick, so after we shared a message with her, we sat on her couch
to look at her high school year book from the 60's. Holy cow!
Hairstyles back then were so funny! I'm glad I was born when I was ;)
She told us about the different "groups" of people back then; we
learned a lot!

After that we went out with our relief society president to check on
some people none of us have ever met. Nobody answered the door until
the last house we tried for the night. Usually parking is nonexistent,
but we found a spot, right in front of the house we were going to
knock! The lights were on and everything looked perfectly promising :)
and it was! We were let inside and got to know this wonderful
individual who has lived there for 5 years!? Why has nobody ever
contacted her?! We had a lovely chat and invited her to the primary
program on Sunday :) she said we could come back, so we will :)
I LOVE our relief society president SO much! She's the bomb :) it was
a good day :)

Saturday was even better because our sweet friend Ka entered the
waters of baptism :)) It was beautiful! So many people were there to
support her, and her whole family came, too! We love her, and know
that Heavenly Father is so proud of her decision :)

Right after her baptism we went to the temple visitors center with
Mo!! It was so fun! She's super cute :) the sisters there did a
wonderful job teaching us about the temple, and the restoration. I
love this gospel so much. Every time I go to the temple, or even stand
on the temple grounds, I am filled with peace. It's an amazing place
to be :)

We ended our night with the bishop, discussing people we work with and
who we can help in the ward. Sister Donato and I were BEAT that night!
We said a prayer to end the day, and then out of no where (possibly
from a Hershey's candy bar) we became full of energy!? So we took
pictures and made a music video to "make a man out of you" from Mulan.
It was pretty great. Then we were exhausted again, so we went to bed
:) haha can anyone say sugar rush?? :)

Sunday was the primary program, and it was flat out adorable! You
can't not grin from ear to ear during those things :) you know how
there is always a teacher whispering in the little kid's ears to tell
them their part? One little boy was like, "I know my part. I know
Jesus loves me because he gives me food". That was my favorite part :)

P came! That was cool! Then he texted us and said he would
stay longer next time... The fact that he is even considering a 'next
time' is a miracle. Heavenly Father is so good to us!

We spent the evening saying goodbye to people and taking pictures for
sister Donato. It was productive :) we saw a handful of less active's
that we have been working with as well!

I love my mission. I can't say it enough. I'm so grateful for the
opportunity that I have to spend 18 months of my life, at this
specific time in my life, to serve my savior. What a blessing it has
been and will continue to be throughout my life! I'm happy :) the
gospel is true :) I hope you went to church and had a wonderful week!!
Transfers are on Thursday, so everyone pray really hard that Sister
Lewis comes to Gainesville ;) just kidding :) ..... But not really.

Love,
Sister Kailey

Ps. A from my last area in Alexandria is getting baptized on
Wednesday, and we get to go!! :) yay!! :) we clicked really well, and
I miss her bunches, so I'm thrilled :))

------

We totally went up the only mountain in Virginia, parked in the middle
of a windy road, and took pictures because fall here is gorgeous :) I
love these sisters!