June 18, 2013

Hi Mom!

Thank you for the wonderful update on your week and weekend, I am glad that fathers were able to spend time together. This week in California we have been working really hard. I know I say that every week, but this week especially we were working on working smart. A few highlights and specifics:

We compiled lists of people that have had positive contact with missionaries in geographical locations and organized them so that we can pull that list out whenever we are in an area. On  Sunday night we went on splits with 2 of the priests in the ward and knocked on a lot of doors and talked to a lot of people around our apartment complex. I went with Clay Coleman, who just graduated from high school and is doing a summer term at BYU then leaving on his mission to Singapore at the end of the summer. That is where President Clark was the president, AND we had had missionaries in our ward in the MTC who went there, so Clay will meet some of my best friends from the MTC! 

We are working on getting ward missionaries out, or members of the ward out with us every night of the week to help us find, fellowship and teach. We haven't found a new investigator in like 4 weeks, which is different than Oceanside, where we could find 2 or 3 a week just by being obedient! 

In other news I went on exchanges with a missionary named Elder Prusse (Proo-suh) who is from Salem, OR, did cross country, went to camp Baldwin and cam Meriwether, came to Lake Oswego stake dances, has the same color eyes and hair as me and the same shoulder bag from target! I gave him one of my ties that matched the tie I was already wearing and we, of course, wear the white shirt, black pants and shoes already. One of my favorite parts of the exchange was we were walking down the road and no one was around so we pretended to be robots and "marched" down the road saying "We are machines, we are machines" Elder Prusse is a blast!

I am excited for the big broadcast on Sunday at 3pm our time! I wonder what will be revealed.

Well we are having lots of great, clean fun and working hard and getting dirty in the service of out Lord! This week we are going to keep doing the same! I love being a missionary even though we ALWAYS have to get up earlier than 6:30 (often 5:00), and we work until 9pm and get to bed at 10:30 every night. I don't mind. A returned missionary visited this Sunday and he said that he is not tired anymore because he is not a missionary. I was so happy to hear that, because now it gives me the hope that one day I will be rested again. As for now, I have a renewed determination and dedication to work and wear out my physical body towards the end of bringing salvation to my dear brothers and sisters. So get some extra sleep this week for me :)

Love, Elder Chandler

June 4, 2013

Happy June!

Thanks for the pictures of all the chicks that I haven't seen before (of the poultry variety)! Also congratulations to dad on a fine marathon time! 

Rancho Santa Margarita is a wonderful stake, I feel like I have been here for 3 months already, and Oceanside was just a dream. That is always how it seems to go, except the MTC is still a reality -- I feel like I just left the MTC. Before I forget, yes. Yes that my mission address will change on July 1st. To what, I know not, save it will be in Irvine and the Lord will prepare a way wherewith all things which are expedient unto Him shall be recieved by His servant, even Elder Chandler. Amen? Not that I really need anything. (A little secret is that the members here buy us anything we need!) We don't need much though.

Could you please send me a picture of the Portland Temple's visitor center? That sounds incredible! Also could I get a hard copy picture of my eagle project? I appreciate the electronic version, but when people ask me about it we don't have iPads yet to pull it up. 

This week we have met a lot of people and I haven't taken any pictures yet, but if things go well I should send 20 in 6 months when I get transferred... Just kidding! I send them as I take them. I washed all the blood out of my hair and my headache is gone! I smaked myself pretty good last night on the bottom of a staircase right before a lesson. I don't really remember the lesson, but Elder Hemmelgarn said I had some funny, random comments.

Our ward mission leader is fatastic! We are going to be working with him a ton now. Great things are on the horizon, like they were in Laguna Niguel! I think Orange County requires a different sort of vision than San Diego does. This key board is not very good, so sorry if words are misspelled. And if I just blame it on the key board I feel better about my ineptitude to spell correctly.

Have you seen the Life of Christ videos online? I hav been keeping up with them for a year now and if you haven't seen them (this applies to each and every individual who is reading this, not just my momma!) you would be wise to check them out! 

LIfe is good, I am getting some color on my face from the sunshine! I love being a missionary and seeing how no matter what anyone is going through; the gospel and the principles therein can improve the quality of their lives. As always I hope the family is doing well, I am safe, happy and healthy, and life is good. Read the Book of Mormon! 

Love, Elder Chandler

May 28, 2013

Dear Mummy,

My mind flashed a "Does not compute" signal when I saw one of my previous companions with you, dad, Jackson, Kennedy and Harry! I am glad that you could meet Ben, formerly known as Elder Barton. We had some great adventures together and brought many unto Christ; he taught me a lot and helped me become who I am today. 

Well looks like you will have one more graduate from West Linn High School in the very near future. Pretty cool! Down in Oceanside there is a Spanish speaking sister missionary named Carolynn (spelling?) Jensen and she went to BYU with Nate and high school with Cami Pratt, so she says hi and congratulations on going out to South Korea! Elder Hegland also just got a brand new companion from South Korea who speaks very little English and his name is Elder Jung (pronounced 'Chung'). Elder Hegland is in Laguna Niguel, the stake I served in with Elder Barton, and now I am in the Rancho Santa Margarita stake serving with Elder Hemmelgarn (who you met through that picture that Sis. Day sent you.) So Elder Hegland and I will both, starting July 1st, be in the California, Irvine mission. First Mongolia, then Carlsbad, now Irvine! Do I get to come home to 3 missionary plaques?! Not that it matters. 

I really missed being up here in Orange county, Oceanside was a place where we could connect with the people and serve a lot in very visible ways, but in Orange county, it is more difficult to get people to let you help them. However, once they see how incredible the gospel is and what Christ's church can do for them in their lives the people here, in general, are more receptive and committed to the lifestyle that God asks them to live. In Oceanside it was a lot of talk and not much real conversion. Except I really do miss a lot of the people, especially the 3 Amigos. They are the only people that I have promised on my mission that I would come back and see. So in the future I know I will see them again. 

We are teaching some awesome people! I will get some stories ready for next week, but I don't have much time right now, we have a couple appointments to catch! 

Love you lots! Have a great week. Jackson- don't be TOO crazy your last 3 days of high school ;)

-Elder Chandler

May 21, 2013

Dear Mom,

Sounds like a fantastic week! We have been pretty busy as well and I took pictures. Tonight I will not be sleeping in Oceanside, I am getting transferred to who knows where! 

Elder Quentin L. Cook came to stake conference on Sunday, and spoke to us and we had a few investigators there and they got to shake his hand! He talked to us about the drug culture in California as well as faith in Jesus Christ. 

His wife told a great anecdotal story from their lives- One Monday night for family home evening they decided to reenact the Bible story of Moses asking Pharaoh to let the Israelites free. Larry, their 3 year old son dressed up and acted as Moses and Dad got to be Pharaoh. After the 3rd time of being denied his request, the young Moses lost his temper and socked mean old Pharaoh right in the nose. The purpose of her sharing this story is to provide encouragement for those who may have a hard time having family time and telling those all of us that it is often the times that didn't go quite as planned are the times that we remember most. I thought was really nice.

Well hope you enjoy the pictures and I will let you know where I get to serve now next week! I miss the rain! 

Love, Elder Chandler

May 14th, 2013

Dear Mom,

I only have 3 minutes before the computer kicks me off, so it is a good thing that we talked 2 days ago! it was good to see you all and you looked beautiful and everyone else looked the same, except dad got skinnier.

Thank you for the picture of the cow! I can't wait to meet the newest member of the family! Well, missionary work is the most worthwhile use of my time that I have ever used my time for! I love the people that I serve and I hope that you have a great week!

Love, Elder Chandler

May 7, 2013

Dear Mom,

The weather is the same up and down the west coast it looks like! This week was full of training meetings! I forgot to take too many pictures, but I did get one of some of us setting up for zone training meeting! 

So my update is that picture! Elder Pendergast and I have been working hard; he wants to lose some weight, and I wouldn't mind using a different hole in my belt to hold my pants up either, so we do challenges, like not eating after 7, or doing a bunch of push-ups or stuff like that. 

I just remembered a really funny experience that we had that I can share! So last week we went to Lisa's (name has been changed) house and helped her move a new coach into her place. She already had a couch in there and so we had to stand it up on end and make room for the new one. The old coach was pretty nice so a different person wanted to buy it. I should say that it wasn't exactly Lisa's house, but it was an elder person's care facility, so all of the people there are 65 and up and having personal problems. The lady that wanted to buy the coach said that she would pay us to move it and we said that we would move it, fine, but would not take money. The next day we went back and in order to get Lisa's old coach to the ladies place we had to more the lady's old coach out. the problem starts here, because after we got it out there was no place we could put it. The dumpster was too small and the property was strict on junk. So we had the lady's old coach in the courtyard and 3 other elderlies came by and started bickering and saying that people were breaking promises and causing quite a commotion. The lady buying the coach got really mad and said she wasn't breaking any promises, and then 3 other older ladies told Elder Pendergast and me that they were so sorry that we had to be abused and put through this like this. We ended up putting the old coach on the roof of the lady's boyfriend's car. It looked ridiculous. Then we moved the new coach in and tried to escape but they tried to give us money and the other 3 tried to say how incredibly sorry they were that we had to deal with backstabbing liars. We just told them that it was okay and started walking briskly back out to the street and we left them in the dust! We get a kick out of that every time we talk to missionaries about conflicts that they are having and we just relate this story to them and then they realize how immature that they are being about their issues, and that straightens them out! 

Life is good. I love being a missionary. Elder Barton goes home in 2 weeks... wow When we heed the impressions of the Holy Ghost, we learn what is feels and sounds like. It is a process, and I am learning slowly, but anybody can learn this! As we are consistent to following the voice of the Lord, through the whisperings of the Spirit His direction comes clearer to our minds and truer to our hearts. And it feels really good! So keep doing that everyday :)

Love -Elder Chandler 

April 30, 2013

Hi mom,

Thanks for the email and pictures this week. Missionary work is really going well! At the service project on Saturday the 3 amigos came and we had fun with them. It was at the cemetery of the San Louis Ray Mission and we sanded and painted the gate and fences, cut back brush, cleaned headstones, dug up bodies (just kidding) and put gravel around the headstones. There were about 400 people there. 

What else this week... I went on an exchange with Elder Hegland and we talked in Mongolian a lot and discussed patience. We decided that we are starting to get a little impatient sometimes with the work and want things to happen faster then they are right now. We studied it out and understand more fully that God is in charge of the work and when we continue to do all that we can, then there is no need to be worried. It is funny that we talked about this because we each were having problems with being generally irritable and prone to anger, and we couldn't figure out why, until we studied out patience. To clarify, it was more of the mad on the inside and frustrated anger, not furious fighting anger. 

I think that from now on I will just send pictures with captions, because I really don't know what to say, and pictures say a lot. 

Life is good and I am really happy! God gives us commandments so that we can govern ourselves, He does not tell us each day the exact things that we must do at a given time. We can find happiness and build our faith when we follow God's commandments and that will also let us know what we do need to be doing.

See you in 12 days :)

Love, Elder Chandler