Sunday, April 27, 2014

April 21, 2014

Hi Mom,
 
Happy day after Easter to you too! We had some fun things happen this week and we have some really great things that are going to happen this upcoming week! Just this morning we got up at 4:45 and participated in a relay race where we ran the boundaries of the stake and I got to run in two of the legs, so that always feels good to do something that I know how to do. I was thinking that one thing about being a missionary that is challenging is having to do things that you don't know how to do. I was coached for years and practiced for years to be able to learn how to run and race and get the fundamentals of running. Then I also was just thinking that pretty much my whole life prepared me to be a missionary; like learning the fundamentals of a testimony, how to study the scriptures, recognize the spirit, listen, love, serve, work and so many more things. Even though I really am not the best at running or missionary work, I do feel like these are things that I love and have a passion for because I have learned, in part, how to do them effectively.
 
We also had our zone training meeting on Wednesday and talked about setting expectations in lessons and providing the 'why' of what we are teaching. Especially with these new pamphlet lessons some of the members are just shocked that we don't teach a lot of the things that they taught in their missions (back in the roaring 20's) so we have been trying to explain a lot about how people can be best helped when we adjust the teaching to meet their needs and the pamphlet lessons are just ONE way to do it, not the only way. So we discussed that. And emergency preparedness. And not blaming others or complaining or gossiping.
 
on Thursday we got to teach a new investigator named Ian Baer and he is so cool! I really love him and he wants to get baptized really bad! So he has already taken the missionary lessons about three years ago and a week before he was going to get baptized he just felt a lot of opposition and backed out. He is still striving to keep all of the commandments and wants to make sure that he will be able to completely walk the walk and live the lifestyle that Christ wants before he makes this big commitment. he even just broke up with his girlfriend whose house he was living in. So we are looking for a place for him to live right now haha
 
Funny story of the week!!!
So it was really actually tragic and sad because we randomly walked by these people in leisure world (we call it seizure world, affectionately, because it is a big gated community filled with sweet residents aged 55+) and so these two random people called out and asked us to come help them. We are not allowed to "evangelize" in there so it was odd that they reached out to us. Anyways i will try to keep this long story short and say that this lady had gotten abandoned by her husband and she had been abused and was left with nothing and this other guy on the street was helping her try to find shelter. We introduced our selves and he said Elder Jung, Elder Chandler and Elder Deacon, nice to meet you! So then we called some people and when we were on the phone with the relief society president he asked to talk to her for a second and he was explaining the situation and it was a dire situation and he was begging for help and said, "please, I am standing here with two Elders and a deacon from your church!" And Elder Jung just busted up laughing and that made me crack and the situation was really serious so Elder Jung just ran behind the car and tried to calm down and I was only two feet away from this man's face and was just holding in my giggles because he had mentioned that he knew what a deacon in the church was and so he misidentified Elder Deacon as just a deacon. Holy cow we quote that a lot. We answer the phone by saying: "Hello, two Elders and a Deacon here".
 
I am just skimming through the week and going to skip to Saturday - Elder Anderson came and instructed us and the Anaheim Mission. A few things that stuck out to me were about the Book of Mormon and a living prophet. He invited us all to really know the stories and testimonies in the Book of Mormon. He also invited us to sit down with a sheet of paper and write down the names of the 1st Presidency and Quorum of the 12. Then write down what they talked about this past conference (without reviewing notes right before) and after that write down what we were doing differently because of their messages. Well I did that this morning and I aced the name test. I got 11/15 on the topics, but only 6/15 on what I changed because of their messages. So I need to go review again.
 
yeah, that is pretty much it. Today I just rambled in this email, sorry. I hope it gives a little taste of how things are doing. Casey Wells is getting baptized in two weeks and it is so fun to teach her!!
 
Have a great day!
Love, Elder Chandler
 
P.S. We are having a sand volleyball tournament today and racing hard boiled and dyed eggs pinewodd derby style at the park. Elder Schumacher is a creative genius!   

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