September 11, 2012

Dear mom,

 

This week was great! I am having a fabulous time here and the people we are meeting with have needs and concerns that can ALL be addressed through the gospel of Jesus Christ. We had a district meeting yesterday and some of the mission leadership was there and I gave a training about contacting every single person we meet. I spent hours and hours studying the why, what and how of contacting and learned a lot about the sacred call that I have received to be a missionary and represent Jesus Christ. I am also almost done with the big book "Jesus the Christ" and am just scratching the surface of the depth of understanding that I want to have and that will transform me.

 

Every morning I have about an hour after running to do everything I need to before personal study starts at 8, so I have been memorizing a scripture every morning the past two weeks and I love it! Elder Scott said that scriptures are "packets of light" and I know that I have been having less and less un-missionary like thoughts as I keep the words of God treasured up throughout the day.

 

I set some goals and wrote myself a personal mission statement to aid me in fulfilling my purpose as a missionary. I am really excited to be a Carlsbad missionary! Elder Scott Hicks is home isn't he?!!? Wow, that came fast. I will send pictures next week. A transfer is every 6 weeks and what that means is that the mission president and his assistants pray about and think about which elders and sisters would serve where, then they make those changes. Not for sure yet, but President Cook told me I would probably be moved to a different location next week and I am excited to see where that is, or if I actually stay here. I have come to love this ward that I have been in and I think of it as my first "real" area as a Carlsbad missionary.

 

As I said in the first sentence of this email, the restored gospel of Jesus Christ can provide for each and every person's greatest desires and most pressing needs. Whether it be a longing for a sense of belonging or peace in this life and the hereafter or a search for purpose to their life or providing for a family or just a set of morals in a world of changing values, I know that my duty is to take this message to all the world because it will change lives. I am blessed to see the miracles that happen around me everyday and the changes people make and the brightness that enters their life and their eyes as the accept and embrace the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I cannot express enough how much I love this work. Even days that never end or when we get forgotten about at dinner time (That is my LEAST favorite!) it helps me realize that I am about my heavenly Father's work. I know that God is real and loves each of us.

 

Have a great week! Love, Elder Chandler