March 26th, 2013

Happy Easter!

Love,

Elder Chandler

Chapter 17

Jesus directs the people to ponder His words and pray for understanding—He heals their sick—He prays for the people, using language that cannot be written—Angels minister to and fire encircles their little ones. AboutA.D. 34.

 1 Behold, now it came to pass that when Jesus had spoken these words he looked round about again on the multitude, and he said unto them: Behold, my ^atime is at hand.

 2 I ^aperceive that ye are weak, that ye cannot ^bunderstand all my words which I am commanded of the Father to speak unto you at this time.

 3 Therefore, go ye unto your homes, and ^aponder upon the things which I have said, and ask of the Father, in my name, that ye may understand, and ^bprepare your minds for the ^cmorrow, and I come unto you again.

 4 But now I ^ago unto the Father, and also to ^bshow myself unto the lost tribes of Israel, for they are not ^clost unto the Father, for he knoweth whither he hath taken them.

 5 And it came to pass that when Jesus had thus spoken, he cast his eyes round about again on the multitude, and beheld they were ^ain tears, and did look steadfastly upon him as if they would ask him to tarry a little longer with them.

 6 And he said unto them: Behold, my bowels are filled with^acompassion towards you.

 7 Have ye any that are ^asick among you? Bring them hither. Have ye any that are lame, or blind, or halt, or maimed, or ^bleprous, or that are withered, or that are deaf, or that are afflicted in any manner? Bring them hither and I will ^cheal them, for I have compassion upon you; my bowels are filled with mercy.

 8 For I perceive that ye desire that I should show unto you what I have done unto your brethren at Jerusalem, for I see that your^afaith is ^bsufficient that I should heal you.

 9 And it came to pass that when he had thus spoken, all the multitude, with one accord, did go forth with their sick and their afflicted, and their lame, and with their ^ablind, and with their dumb, and with all them that were afflicted in any manner; and he did heal them every one as they were brought forth unto him.

 10 And they did all, both they who had been healed and they who were whole, bow down at his feet, and did worship him; and as many as could come for the multitude did ^akiss his feet, insomuch that they did bathe his feet with their tears.

 11 And it came to pass that he commanded that their ^alittle children should be brought.

 12 So they brought their little children and set them down upon the ground round about him, and Jesus stood in the midst; and the multitude gave way till they had all been brought unto him.

 13 And it came to pass that when they had all been brought, and Jesus stood in the midst, he commanded the multitude that they should ^akneel down upon the ground.

 14 And it came to pass that when they had knelt upon the ground, Jesus groaned within himself, and said: Father, I am^atroubled because of the wickedness of the people of the house of Israel.

 15 And when he had said these words, he himself also ^aknelt upon the earth; and behold he ^bprayed unto the Father, and the things which he prayed cannot be written, and the multitude did bear record who heard him.

 16 And after this manner do they bear record: The ^aeye hath never seen, neither hath the ear heard, before, so great and marvelous things as we saw and heard Jesus speak unto the Father;

 17 And no ^atongue can speak, neither can there be written by any man, neither can the hearts of men conceive so great and marvelous things as we both saw and heard Jesus speak; and no one can conceive of the joy which filled our souls at the time we heard him pray for us unto the Father.

 18 And it came to pass that when Jesus had made an end of praying unto the Father, he arose; but so great was the ^ajoy of the multitude that they were overcome.

 19 And it came to pass that Jesus spake unto them, and bade them arise.

 20 And they arose from the earth, and he said unto them: Blessed are ye because of your faith. And ^anow behold, my joy is full.

 21 And when he had said these words, he ^awept, and the multitude bare record of it, and he took their little children, one by one, and ^bblessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them.

 22 And when he had done this he wept again;

 23 And he spake unto the multitude, and said unto them: Behold your little ones.

 24 And as they looked to behold they cast their eyes towards heaven, and they saw the heavens open, and they saw angels descending out of heaven as it were in the midst of fire; and they came down and ^aencircled those little ones about, and they were encircled about with fire; and the angels did minister unto them.

 25 And the multitude did see and ^ahear and bear record; and they know that their record is true for they all of them did see and hear, every man for himself; and they were in number about two thousand and five hundred souls; and they did consist of men, women, and children.

March 19, 2013

Hi mom,

Thank you for the email and Buuz are Mongolian dumplings consisting of cooked meat wrapped in a flour circle (like a tortilla) then steamed.  

Thank you also for all the updates on the wonderful 'happenings' of home! This week we had a great time doing the Lord's work. A couple highlights:

Yesterday at a member's house Elder Pendergast and I played soccer with the 3 amigos and they are really good! and then we did a push up competition, where I would get ready, then one of them would start going with me and went until he was worn out, then the next would start going with me then he got tired, then the last one and I kept going for awhile, but then he got too tired too, and then I was REALLY tired, so we just stopped, but it was really fun and the morning work outs are paying off!

We have been teaching a lot and have been going around and working with people and sharing a message of faith and how by small and simple things the Lord brings to pass that which is great. and so we plant radish seeds with the people and develop habits to help them draw closer to God by doing small things and then they watch the seed grow and God watches their faith grow. 

All the missionaries in the zone got together and played kickball last Tuesday and it was such a blast and we all got lots of sun.

2 missionaries in the zone left for Brazil yesterday, so we were happy for them.

We met a guy that makes lightsaber replicas and he showed them to us!!

Finally, I went on exchanges into the YSA ward with a brand new missionary and their boundaries cover the whole stake. They have a car all the time that they drive, but one things that we are trying to do to talk to more people is to use our cars less. We decided to go on a "car-fast" on Saturday and only bike or walk. So we did and it was a long day going all around the stake, but it was worth it because we met this guy named Zoot and he talked with us and we showed him a scripture in the Book of Mormon that directly addressed his needs! It was funny because that very morning we had read that scripture in our studies :)

I love being a missionary and the sun is really nice. 

Have a great week! -Elder Chandler

March 12, 2013

Hey marvelous mother of mine,

Thank you for telling me about the family! I am getting the weekly cards and for the past 3 and a half months they have been wishing me 'Merry Christmas', so i wanted to wish everyone a very merry Christmas back! I sent some pictures this morning and now I am writing the email, because the pictures are more important I think. Does my tie make me look fat?

This week was tremendous, I would like to share a few quick experiences (this is this week's substitute for CrazyRadar):

On Wednesday I went on a day exchange with Elder Hegland, where we switch companions and learn from each other, we do this frequently and it keep us a little more sane. I am so impressed with how fantastic Elder Hegland is!! We were down in Carlsbad and walked and walked and really were not finding anyone to talk to, and so we started knocking on doors, but still no luck. It was getting hot and we were tired, but we just kept walking and talking to everyone we saw, we ended up talking to about 30 people about the Gospel that day. The miracle was though, even though no one answered their doors or was interested when we approached them, there was one lady that came up to us outside of a school and asked us to say a prayer for her to help her overcome an addiction that she was struggling with, so we said we would love to and we would love to come by and meet with her whole family. We got her address and phone number and sent it to the missionaries in Vista that went by and invited her to be baptized the next day and she accepted! The Lord sometimes delays us so that we can be in the right place at the right time. 

On Saturday the 3 Amigos were baptized! Elder Hammar and I talked to them on the streets a few moths ago and it has been awesome to see how the gospel changes people. Then on Sunday we went with a member to pick them up and bring them to church and we got there a little late and so we walked into the chapel right when they announced the baptism and said that they were going to do the confirmation. The member of the bishopric who was conducting invited Jilbert to come up first and he was walking down the aisle and he threw his hands up in the air and said "I'm right here!" It was pretty funny, but not very reverent. I think I am getting a taste of my own medicine of all the years that I was rowdy in church or made a scene at the wrong time. I am grateful for the Amigos for showing me the converting power of Christ as well as helping me appreciate yours and Dad's struggle you must have had with young Elder Chandler and preparing me (in a small way) for rambunctious children of me own... In 20 years.

Then on Sunday Elder Hegland and I got together again and went down to south Carlsbad and taught Oboo again and Naraa at Segii's house. Segii is a member of the church and she had us all over to eat traditional Mongolian food! The Buuz (Boe-dz) were delightful! We ate them too fast to even take a picture of them, sorry. Naraa asked again what makes our church different and the only true church, so we, in our very imperfect Mongolian taught them about those things that make our church different. She also was curious about why we don't drink wine, so we got to talk about that. It was difficult for us sometimes, because Elder Hegland and I both felt so strongly about what we were teaching, and have powerful testimonies in Mongolian, but we have no teaching skills in Mongolian. It is like liking trying to ask a girl on a date who you really. REALLY like, but you have no social skills. We tried and did our best and enjoyed the food and conversation and spirit. 

I am grateful to be a missionary at this time in my life and I hope that each of us can do all we can to be doers of the Word and not hearers only. I pray that we may have opportunities to help others this week.

                                                      Elder Chandler and the 3 amigos

Oceanside, CA

                               Elder Hegland and Elder Chandler with Oboo, Naraa and Segii.

Elder Pendergast and Elder Chandler (Oceanside)

HAve a good one! -Elder Chandler

March 5, 2013

Dear mom,

Glad you got the photos! My new companion is Elder Pendergast from Plain City, UT (by Ogden) He is wonderful and has a great desire to work hard. 

Our week went well. We got some instruction from President Cook about teaching plainly and applying the "How to Begin Teaching" bullet points on pages 176-177 of Preach my Gospel. Those who are preparing to go on missions should memorize them! They are very effective. With mastery of skills also come confidence and the ability to put things into your own words. Elder Pendergast and I relayed this training to the missionaries in the zone (stake) and we enjoyed that. 

Last night we had dinner at a member's home and folded all 10 of the bullet points into our conversation. It was challenging, but we had a lot of fun and they had 2 non-member friends there that listened to our message. 

On Sunday I went down to the La Costa ward down in Del Mar and taught a man named Oboo He is Mongolian! Elder Hegland and I are going down tomorrow to teach him together. The first time, on Sunday, it was just me teaching in Mongolian, so it was a little rusty, but with Elder Hegland it will be better. I shared the first vision and he also said he would read the Book of Mormon and if he received an answer that it was true then he would be baptized. 

That is what I have to report. I know that as each of us learn things and live things about the gospel and becom econverted to the teachings of Jesus Christ then we will have an understanding of what everything means and we will be able to explain things clearly so that thsoe who listen will understand. 

Have a beautiful week! (It is 75 everyday here :))

-Elder Chandler