May 5, 2014 LAST EMAIL HOME

Thank you so much Mom!

 

I am really looking forward to the plans that we have for this coming week! On Wednesday we set a baptismal date that is really solid with Casey Wells for May 24 (looks like my Cali trip will heppen around that time) On Sunday we made a schedule for Tara and Thomas as Thomas prepares to baptized his wife (They just got married last week) and set a date with them for July 5 when he gets back from Switzerland. And today Ian Baer got interviewed and will be getting baptized on Saturday! I am so excited about the glorious work that is happening here in the Laguna Niguel stake and the Aliso Viejo ward.

 

I suppose that I need to come home this week and that is inevitable so I accept it. I am not finished with my service yet though! When I get released then I am not longer called and set apart to be a full-time representative of Jesus Christ. Until then... Look out!

 

Well I will tell you all about everything else you could possibly want to know about and more on Thursday and for the rest of your life until you die and we bury you and sing songs about the great life that you had and how we will be together in the spirit world.

 

I should probably write some sentimental and spiritual testimony right now, but I am not really in the mood. Sorry! I just know it is all true and we have a work to do! I love my mission!

 

I love you too Mom!

-Elder Jefferson Chandler

P.S. I love everybody else who reads this email too. Just not quite as much as I love my mom.

April 28, 2014

Hi!

 

Ian Baer moved out of his girlfriend's house on Saturday and quit smoking that same day! He is getting baptized May 10. Casey Wells is getting baptized May 24 and she is good to go. Mike, Heather, Patrick, Tara, George, Rebecca, Mitch and Conrad don't have dates yet and some of them are not progressing so we are trying to help them. We found George and Rebecca this week and taught them the first lesson. George is 26 and lives with his mom and sister, Rebecca. He has given up drugs and alcohol and gotten out of the gang he was in. They are looking for a church to go to because they have drifted away from God ever since their father died 6 years ago. They are humble and wonderful people,

 

Everything is going pretty well. I don't have pictures to send because I didn't bring my bag in because I broke the strap ofSaturday and have to fix it. I will today.

 

On Sunday morning we got to have our monthly meeting with the stake presidency and the Bishop's and ward mission leaders and the MIssion Presidency.

 

This morning we helped Sandra again. We got up at 6 and put a lot of her trash out curbside for pick up. We are trying to help her clean house and start a garden. It is pretty dirty and junky.

 

I am trying to be a better person. Sometimes I just need to slow down. But other times I need to get strict and really run a tight ship. Still working on that balance. The zone is doing well. I love Elder Jung and Elder Deakyne. We have a good time.

 

I love being a missionary!

 

Well people are waiting to get on the computer, so I better go.

 

Have a great week! I will have lots of pictures in two weeks. Is that okay?

 

Love, Elder Chandler of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

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!   

April 7, 2014

Here are a few pictures that I couldn't send last week.

1 is me and my new companion Elder Jung from Seoul Korea! how is Elder Nate Pratt doing?

The Afflek's in the ward have chickens in their backyard!!! It was so cool! i love the chickens!

Hello!

I tried to send more pictures but I am having a hard time with the computers... At least we got a picture of my new companion, Elder Jung! Elder Deakyne (the deacon) took the picture for us.

This week was really good! I am having dinner with Elder Hegland tomorrow night and then he goes home. Or he goes somewhere... I don't know what there is outside of the mission.

Elder Hegland and I sang in the transfer meeting on Tuesday and we sang "I Need Thee Every Hour" The chorus on the third verse was me singing in English and he came in harmony in Mongolian and then we sang the whole fourth together in Mongolian. That was the same song that we sang in the MTC for a devotional for everyone so we thought it fitting to sing at the last meeting together the same song we started our missions with.

Not too much interesting is going on.

I will try to send some more pictures real quick!

Love, ELder Chandler

P.S. I enjoyed conference. I will write about that in a second. 

Darn , I can't figure out how to work the camera, I guess I could ask my Asian companion; he is good at technology.

Well my favorite talk in conference was Sister Reeves! She was so bold and straightforward and I thought she shared some very simple and practical things that we can do in our own lives to keep us close to the Lord. Daily scripture study, prayer and weekly family home evening. I am grateful for a family that strived to do that. Even if I didn't want to it was a good tradition to knw that as a family we read the scriptures and pray together and support each other in our activities.

I also loved President Uchtdorf, of course! I need to make sure that i don't sleep through a minute of this next month!! Because I will never get it back again!

Also, President Eyring in the priesthood session really taught a powerful and simple message to me personally about prayer. I feel like President Orgill, by his example, is teaching me the same thing. It is so vital that we don't just say words to God, but express our feelings and extend our souls to meet Him and align our wills with His. The reason I think that this is so important to me right now is because often I have said nice words and gone through motions and "said my prayers", which was good, but recently I feel like I have exerted myself, even if it is early in the morning or I am exhausted late at night, to pray specifically for what and who and how I am thankful that day (which goes along with President uchtdorf;s message on Sunday).

There was so much good stuff! I need to go back and review and read that which was shared. I have a few inparticular that I am giong to study.

As an aside, since I no longer am teaching English as an assignment for my mission, my grammar and spelling and punctuation and syntax and what I do with my clauses, or don't do with my clauses really doesn't weigh heavily on how I write! (Shoutout Patrick Garvey) There Their They're annnnnnnnnd thier!

Well I think that was it. I am not going to play Norwegian kickball too hard today, because we had a stake hike this morning and we did our studies in the Laguna Beach wilderness park and for the three mile hike back I decided to run up and down the rough terrain with some other missionaires and I am WAAAAYYY out of shape. #icebath.

Hopefully I will be able to walk again next week when we talk again.

May the peace of God be with you!

-Elder Chandler

March 31, 2014

Hi Mama!

Nothing from Obye yet, thanks for trying!

Would you be able to look up something else for me? I heard about a company called Vivint, have you heard of that? I got chastised my some people that I should really be setting up some things so I don't waste time when I go home. So I was just wondering if Vivint should be an option? Sounds like good work and good money over the summer.

This week was so fun!

Elder Corcus is getting trasferred though, which is pretty sad. We have become good friends. I will get another companion who will join Elder Deakyne and I tomorrow. Should be good!

I have a few pictures and a few updates:

We met up with the Sisters this week to try to get a direction for what we should do to help strengthen the Aliso Viejo ward. We have really been trying hard to find people to baptize here, but no one seems to be coming up. So we thought it would be good for us to ask the Lord how we should tend for His vineyard. We felt that it was most appropriate and productive to spend more time visiting the 300 people who were members of the church but who don't come to church that live in the ward boundaries. That would double the size of the ward if we could reactivate them! Just as important as 300 baptisms in my book. So we picked 5 names for the Elders to visit and 5 names for the Sisters to visit. As we went out later that day to go see these people we contacted this guy named George who lived relatively close to one of the people we were visiting. As we talked to him we felt that he was prepared to hear the gospel so he said we could come back on Thursday! That was just a small experience that helped realize that my ways are not the Lord's ways and if we really want to help God, then we need to ask Him what He wants us to do. Then do it!

Everything is going just wonderfully! I am really happy today. I am usually really happy anyways, but I am just grateful to be doing what I am doing right now. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Love, Elder Chandler

March 24, 2014

Hi Mom!

Palm Springs is a desert! We stole all the water down here in South Orange County!! How is your trip going? 

On Tuesday morning I woke up from a dream that I had about some video game. It was about Star Wars. I really like Star Wars. I don't think I played Star Wars video games on a regular basis though, so I was confused about what, if anything, this dream meant. Obi-Wan Kenobi was the hero of the game and in my dream I just barely won. I just kept hearing in my head "Obi, Obi, Obi". then I thought about my friend Alex Obye! We called him Obye in high school. He and I played a Star Wars game together I think and I was just thinking about Obye a few days before that. So I was wondering if I can get Alex Obye's email address? Is that possible for you to get?  

This was an awesome week! Not perfect and not the numbers I was hoping for, but really I feel good about it. Numbers measure how much we are inviting and how much people are accepting. So we invited a lot this week, more than usual which was good, but not a whole lot of people accepted invitations. Invitations include to be baptized, hear the missionary discussion, come to church, give a referral, etc... Not that the numbers represent "success", but they are a strong measure of our diligence and effort and positive responses. 

I feel like it was a $5 week because every one did their best.

I am looking forward to crazy roller coasters with Harrison. He just needs to wait about 15 more months for when I get home from my mission! I think that is about how much longer I have.

We had some really nice lessons this week and I feel like we have some really good relationships with the people here in the ward. Nothing huge happened, but I am really happy here.

Get psyched for General Conference! #MoTab

Have a great week

Love, Elder Jefferson Chandler

March 17, 2014

Hello Oregonians!

 

Thank you for the email, That was nice to see the picture of Elder Chandler at the airport!

 

Is the dynamic realyl different at home now, or not really since he had already been in college for a while?

 

This week was really! We worked especially hard! I have gotten in a bad rut of working really smart and it is not as hard as walking around and talking to awkward people because I am awkward too. Basically I prefer to drive and make visits to people who need help that we already know about, then to go out and hit the pavement and find new people who also need help, or people that we need their help.

 

So on Wednesday I got frustrated that not too much work was happening in the ward like I was hoping that it should be and I wanted my two brand new companions to see that it should be, so we decided to have a companionship study on finding. things like D&C 4:4 and section 33:7-10 and Moroni 8:16 and PMG pgs 155-156, and some other stuff that I don't remember the references too. So we were renewed that the field is white already to harvest if we thrust in our sickles with our might and Open Our Mouths! So we talked to more than 30 people on the street that day and were able to share the message with 3 of them even though they were not interested in hearing more.

 

Then on Thursday we had our mission leadership council and President Orgill stood up and told us to go to D&C 4:4 and PMG pgs 155-156 about finding. and we talked about the exact same thing that my companions and I had discussed 24 hours previously.

 

Then on Friday morning I called the zone together real quick before weekly planning and we decided to really dedicate ourselves to opening our mouths and working hard to find the Lord's elect this week! Each transfer is 6 weeks long and we are in "week 5", so I related a story I heard a year ago about President Monson when he was a child would cut grass for an old lady and she would pay him according to the job that he did. So he would cut it and get a dollar or two. he would cut it twice and line it up nicely and get three dollars and one day he wanted to do a $5 job! So he brought his edger, and sharpened the blades of the mower and brought a tape measure and made sure everything was PERFECT! And then he got $5. So the zone is going to have a $5 week and so in weekly planning they all prepared what they were going to do and I am super excited about it!! $5 week! This is week 5 :)

 

Then one Elder was like "So what should the winner get?" And my awesome companions Elder Deakyne said "Now, I really think that you are over thinking this! The only reward and incentive that we should need is the gratification of bringing someone closer to Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father." That was a good reminder for all of us.

 

Well I am trying to stay out of trouble and my dear companions are keeping me in line. The power of a 26 year old Bolivian engineer and the sincerity of an 18 year old humble man.

 

God bless you all this week!

Love, Elder Jefferson Chandler

March 10, 2014

This week sounds like a blast for the Chandler clan!

Congratulations to your parents, my grandparents!

I have two excuses for my short letter today: 1) This keyboard is not very responsive and 2) there is a big back up at the library today, so i need to get off ASAP to let other Elders on who got here a few minutes after me.

 

here is my funny/spiritual story of the week though. And we got busted in ward council for it. Anyways we have this finding program called "Windows of heaven" and that means that as a companionship we kneel and pray and ask Heavenly Father for guidance where we should go to find a person, or people that He has prepared to accept the Restored gospel. So we prayed and we saw this park. We felt like we should go by on Wedensday at 3:30. Sounds good, there might be a family there or whatever. More importantly, that is where we felt like God wanted us to go. nothing wrong with that so far.

 

So on Wednesday we got there early for ou appointment with God and started walking down to the park. There were a bunch of kids getting picked up from school there! The park was right next to a middle school!! The middle school got out at 3:30!! We are three religious guys walking around at a middle school when all the parents are picking up their kids! So that was the probelm. We were chastised because the appearance of three 20 year old men walking around a middle school with 11-14 year old kids just doesn't look good. Ward council said that they owuld have been mad if they had seen 20 year old guys walking around when they were picking up their kids.

 

Oh well. The good part is this: we taught 2 lessons. The first one was to some lonely kids sitting on a bench by himself (in hindsight I understand how that was creepy). Ansd he was cool, and accepted the message and agreed to pray and share it with his family. We thought we had found the person God wanted us to help! So we got up and all of a sudden this other kid runs up to us and says that his Dad is Mormon and he is trying to find out what is true in his life and he is trying to make a decision. We told him we offer a way to know what is true! So we taught him a 15 minute discussion about the first lesson and he got our phone number and said that he would have his dad call us. So that was cool. We are going to try to meet the Dad before we pursue any more.

 

Well, that is the last time that I am going to proselyte around a middle school ever again!

 

Have a great week!

 

Have a good mission Jackson! See you in two years!

 

Love, Elder Chandler

March 3, 2014

Hi Mother!

 

Thank you for the years of piano lessons that you helped me through and encouraged me to continue! I get to share that a lot with people every week.

 

Well that is all I got. I know that the Lord is looking out for me by not getting into BYU! Woohoo! Sorry if I offend anyone with that comment. I will keep my other opinions to myself. No matter what we all love the Lord and trust in His plan for us. I love being a missionary!

 

We had some really lovely experiences this week with people that we taught. I don't have much time, because I was chatting with some other Elders and also emailing some old friends and companions throughout the world and down in the Carlsbad mission. I am really grateful for the eternal relationships that have been cultivated as we strive to lose ourselves in teh work.

 

Oh, I was going to share a spiritual experience though! So we have been teaching a woman named Tanya and she is really great! Her husband has always been at work because we go by on Fridays, but we set up to teach her yesterday (Sunday) with her husband John. So we had a powerful 20 minute lesson on the Restoration and the Book of Mormon, and we were ready to go, but we stayed for two hours because they had many questions and great converstaion about the church and why we do things the way we do. After the lesson Elder Corcus, Elder Deakyne and I all felt that we had just had the most unified lesson together that we had ever taught. Unity is so critical in teaching, for that is how we can teach by the Spirit. I am so grateful for my faithful companions!

 

Besides that, the real reason that Tanya and John are so great is because they were invited by Sister Johansen to the Christmas party. In Febuary we just knocked on their door without even knowing who lived there, we just felt inspired to knock on that door, so we did and she let us right in. Yesterday we gave John and Tanya a Book of Mormon that had Brother and Sister Johansen's testimonies in it. They were so touched by that thoughtfulness and we are so grateful for the awesome member missionary  work that the Johansen's are doing! They are just being transparent and living the gospel and others recognize that!!!

 

That was one of the highlights!

 

Have a great week!

Love, Elder Chandler

February 24, 2014

Hi MOM!

I got some nice new shoes for cheap, so I used birthday money :)

Here are my highlights this week. It was a sweet week!

The stake had two baptisms this weekend and I knew both of the people really well, so that was nice.

On Tuesday Elder Deakyne (pronounced Deacon) arrived in Orange County California and spent his first day at the mission office until 4pm when I got to become his companion. That night we went over to the Well's house and taught them the first lesson. The Well's were the ones that called about coming to church last week and they came again this week! Casey Wells is not a member, but she has a pure and intent desire to learn more about Christ and is willing to follow Him!

On Thursday the 11 year old scouts asked me to come in and talk about science and my potential career plans to become a doctor, so then we did a science experiment with them.

On Saturday night the choir had a performance at our stake center and there were about 600 people there. By far our biggest audience ever! And about 1/3 of them were not Mormons. That was fine with us :) Then on Sunday Morning we sang at an Episcopalian church and none of them were Mormons.

Sunday night Elder Risk had a dinner at President Orgill's house and about 15 missionaries went because Elder Risk was going home. And then I stayed the night with just me and Elder Risk. So we went to bed about 2:30 this morning and got up at 4:30 to get him to the airport. He is such a good friend of mine and I am going to miss him a lot. Good thing he only lives in Virginia!

I am so excited for the miracles that are happening every day!

oh, this is the last thing, and probably my favorite thing of the week: Thursday we three Elders left the apartment and were going to go visit a referral who lived close by, but as we walked, as we always do, we talked to the people on the way. On the way out of our apartment Elder Deakyne asked that we would be able to help someone in the way that God wanted us to help them. So before we got past our car we saw a woman getting something out of her car and we started talking to her and she was FURIOUS! We asked if there was anything we could do to help and she yelled NO! and she said to leave her alone unless we wanted to do laundry for her. We said we would love to help her with her laundry and she said we were being dumb (censored for young readers), and started walking away, but we decided to follow her and insist and persist that we were serious about the laundry thing. She finally said fine we could help and we went to her house and helped with laundry. While we were doing laundry, her countenance changed. her husband was very depressed and he left. She started to become friendly. Then she had to get something from her room, so us three Elders started just reading scriptures on her couch waiting for her and her laundry to be ready and when she came back she was crying and told us that our mission was not to come do her laundry, but it was to pray for her children. Her husband came back at that point and they told us a very serious story about how her children had been put in tough circumstances and tossed around in foster care until they were finally adopted by her and her husband. Her children were high school age and had already been exposed to the worst that the world had to offer. It was so sad and heart wrenching. We shared a scripture in James. I think it is chapter 4. or 5, but it is verses 13-16 and talks about if there are any afflicted or sick among you, let them pray so then we all said prayers together. We are going over there for dinner on Friday and we are praying for their children every day. I really love these people that I just met one time.

I will send some pictures of the week!

Love, Elder Chandler

February 24, 2014

Hi Mom, do you have a ton of homework? What do you think about CCC?

Threesomes take more effort to stay unified, but it is going well and it is common now in the mission because there are so many missionaries.

Thank you for your prayers. Can you include Bryan and Casey Wells? They are the part-member family that will get baptized in March. Also, can you invoke the blessings of heaven upon Skyler and Delaney Robinson? They are the 2 kids of those people we met on Thursday.

Thanks Mom, have a great week!

Love, Elder Chandler

oh yeah, so that is Elder Risk and I getting ready for bed and then at the airport this morning. What a good man

February 18, 2014

Hello Mom!

 

Thank you for the email and updates this week, it is so fun to hear about what is going on in the world of your life!

 

Elder Tombs is getting transferred today and I will be getting another brand-new missionary to join Elder Corcus and I. Everything has gone really well! I have gotten along with my companions so well!!! It wasn't always that way for a while! I needed to learn to grow up (among other things) and it seems like I am starting to learn little by little.

 

So the 50th wedding anniversary must be for someone else's Grandma and Grandpa, because Delbert and Evelyn just turned 60 last year, right? Wow.

 

We had a nice tender mercy happen this week: We did go and drop a hafl dozen of our investigators who were not progressing and on Saturday night we felt pretty tired. Then a man who had not been to church in a long time called us and said that he wanted to come to church tomorrow and bring his wife who is not a member of the church. They both came to church and we got to meet them and scheduled an appointment with them for tonight at 7pm! The wife has just quit smoking in the past month and wants to learn things very slowly and clearly. AWESOME!! I am so excited for the people that are being prepared and placed into our path by the Lord.

 

Well, I know that this is God's work and that he loveth His children. Even me and even you!

 

Have a lovely week!

Love, Elder Chandler

February 18, 2014

1. Another pair bites the dust!

2. David Gadbury and Elder David Tombs with a missionary relic

3. Me and the rodeo star

Zone olympics! -blue team, mine (we lost) -pink team, Elder Schmacher (They won)

Elder Kurth getting ripped in my winnie the pooh outfit.

 

It was a really fun week!

February 10, 2014

Hola Mama!

 

This was a wonderful week. It just went way too fast!

 

Happy Birthday to Jackson! What's up big boy buddy bratha?

 

My companions are great, the work is starting to get going pretty good! The boys want me to come play basketball now, so I better wrap this up!

 

I love you Mom, and I hope that you are not too snowy up there in the Arctic circle!

Love, Elder Chandler

February 3, 2014

Hi Mom!

Thank you so much for telling me about how school is going! I am happy to hear that.

So Zippy is an Australian Shepherd? Or is he something else? I told someone that my family got a dog, but I forgot what kind it was and they were really suprized that I didn't know, so I guess I better know now.

Where is Christene Biancardi going again?

here is a picture of me and my two companions. Elder Tombs is from Texas and has been out for 8 months and Elder Corcus is from Bolivia and has been out for 6 days now. These are two great men. I am learning a lot from them.

Jackson is going to be a terrific biker.

This week I have spent a lot of time teaching. It has been really nice. We have found a lot of people to teach and none of them really are progressing, but we are teaching quite a few investigators each day. I think I am going to quit the choir becasue it takes up too much time. I have a few meetings this coming week and they will be fun. Also I won't be in my area for half of the week because I am going on exchanges with some Elders who are having a hard time getting the work going in their area. They are really good Elders and I am no better than they are, but I just want to help them see that they are capable of miracles and they can do anything that they put their minds to.

I always have a lot to say, but sometimes I ramble, so I will stop here. I love you and I am so glad that you are my Mom!

Love -Elder Chandler

January 21, 2014

I took pictures every day except for Friday, sorry!

Thanks for the awesome emails!

Here are 7 pictures to recap the week

1) Tuesday (today) - bright morning looking out over our porch

2)Monday (yesterday) -going out shopping in a Mercedes convertable with our investigator David. Elder Tombs ridin shotgun!

3)Sunday- Right before I cleaned it up there was my suit, sheets and blanket, the puppet pig, p-day balls, etc... Just normal life

4) On exchanges with Elder Clinger and Elder Swainston, going on an adventure with cacti!

5) Thursday night full moon and Elder Tombs playing with the gutter. it was about 9pm and we were headed in. It was right after someone told us to never come back. More normal life.

6) Wednesday on exchanges with Elder Donohue & Elder Swainston. So in the mission the people that we "train" we call our posterity, so Elder Donohue is my "son", and he is training Elder Swainston, who would be my "grandson". So here is a picture of the family tree of sorts

7) Monday, Elder Tombs getting ready for stake activity!

Okay, that's it :)

January 13, 2014

Mom-

Thank you for your fantastic email! I love hearing about what is happening in you life. Maybe I will come take classes with you at CCC this summer!

The Aliso Viejo ward council is going through 2-3 chapters a week of "The Power of Everyday Missionaries" as well and it is neat to see how it changes the attitude everyone has towards missionary work. We discussed being transparent and giving others opportunities to serve. I never used to think that people felt a need to serve, so I don't think I ever really invited people to serve in a way that brought the gospel into their lives. With scouts and NHS we did service all the time, but I failed to realize that part of the attraction that people have to organizations is the opportunities that it provides to serve. I knew that I loved serving, but I didn't understand that it was common to others and would be welcomed as an opportunity instead of a burden. That is not how everyone receives it, but it is for some. Thank you for your insights on what you are learning too!

So the Aliso Viejo zone has four wards in it and I get to work really closely with the bishops, ward mission leaders and missionaries in each of those wards. one of the reasons that they split up the zone was so that the numbers of people were more manageable. I am so excited to get to know people better and help in any way I can. I am companions with Elder Tombs from Lubbock Texas and he is a real good kid. He knows the area really well and so he is showing me around this week.

I am absolutely thrilled to hear about Ackshin-Jackson going to Colorado on his mission! He is going to be a bonafidemountain man when I see him in 2016 :-)

I have to confess that I didn't put batteries in the camera last week. whoops. I legitimately feel remorseful for not doing so. I will repent. I will buy batteries today. I will put them in my camera today. Before I play volleyball I will take a picture of Elder Tombs. I will take a picture everyday. I will send you seven pictures on January 20th, 2014. Absolutely.

Well we are teaching some fun people:

Heather -Her boyfriend needs to marry her (they are not engaged)

Tara -Her boyfriend needs to marry her (They are engaged)

Bharat- Hindu guy who we are teaching on Wed

Jonathan -Nice guy who we are teaching on Wed. He loves families

David- Lonely guy (he is also gay. nothing wrong with that, it just brings a different set of challenges)

Erin- 12 generation Catholic. We met her on the street this week outside her house. By far my favorite... If I had a favorite :p

Mike- eternal investigator with a lot of questions.

To help the most, we are going to focus on Erin and Jonathan to get baptized this transfer. So you can pray for everybody, of course, but mostly that we can meet with Erin and that she will come to church and meet friends here and for Jonathan to have a desire to raise his family in the church. 

It has been a solid week, and I am looking forward to serving here for as long as they will let me. Don't have much else to say except that we all need to repent (I need batteries) and God will forgive us if we truly manifest by our works that we are willing to make and keep our covenants.

Have a great week!

Love, Elder Chandler

January 6, 2014

Hallo!

Sorry for not writing last week. We had zone olympics that we set up for and I didn't manage my email time very well. I spent too much time chatting back and forth with Elder Hegland and Elder Shiu.

So for zone olympics we had all 31 of the missionaries in the zone get together and do different events. Everything from pushing a car around the oparking lot, to eating saltines while you run, to dropping chocolate dipped marshmellows into a misionary's mouth, to a Preach My Gospel teaching game. We had a good time and every one enjoyed it.

We also went to the temple on Friday. that was very peaceful.

We also had a New Year's Day "Dodgeball Bash!" It was a last and there were 12 teams of 6 and lots of people came to watch. I was a referree and the Laguna beach youth got second to the misisonary team. Elder Schumacher was the captain of the missionary team and they dominated.

I am going to miss Elder Schumacher though, because we are splitting the zone up and I am moving within the stake to Aliso Viejo to start a new zone and be a zone leader by myself. Elder SChumacher is gong to take the other half of the stake and be a zone leader by himself. We will still have missionary companions, but they won't be zone leaders.

We found 6 new investigators the past two weeks. I am actually really sad to leave Laguna Beach, because I am finally starting to like it. I am so excited to go to Aliso Viejo though!

That is exciting to hear about the Beath baby. I hope Jack is doing alright.

I am looking forward to seeing pictures of Harrison and Kennedy's sewing projects. I am sorry that I haven't sent pictures recently or really at all. I am pretty lousy at remembering to take pictures first of all and secondly I just am bad about sending them. I have batteries at home so I will put them in my camera... It has been dead for a while.

We did a lot of service and gardening this week, which always make me feel good and feel at home. I don't get to bike places anymore, so the only way to really do manual labor here is yard work it seems. Most people have their Hispanic helpers.

Well onward and upward.

We are headed to lunch with Bishop Galland and the Sister missionaries in the ward. I am going to miss Bishop Galland too. He is enthusiastic and unstoppable.

I pray that we may be able to have a full and happy new year.

Love, Elder Chandler