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

December 9, 2013

Good morning Mom!

 

I was going to complain about the weather getting below 50 degrees here, but it sounds like you are getting more chilly up there! And complaining has never helped anyone get anything except for a spanking.

 

We got a new ward mission leader this week and he is British! Name, Mark Dunning. Hobbies, spending time with the family. Where he keeps his spare time, in the boot of the car. We love him.

 

The geese are getting fat somewhere and I think that means that Christmas is coming! Ten of us missionaries are getting together this week with some members of the ward and we are going to go deliver some "live Christmas cards". That means that we are going to knock on some people's doors, sing a Christmas song or two and then ask if we can come in and read the Christmas story with them from the Bible and then sing another song or two and leave them with a prayer. We have 10 families lined up, so I hope we have enough time or enough people to split up and still sound alright!

 

Yesterday I got to accompany the mission choir at a performance that we did. I was on the organ and my Canadian friend helped me a lot by pressing all of the buttons that we needed to to make it sounds good while I pressed the keys.

 

I forget about other highlights... We had a gospel discussion with well over a hundred people this week on the streets and it is interesting to see how the spirit of Christmas has been able to inspire people to turn their thoughts, feeling and actions towards others.

 

Oh yeah, one other thing! Elder Schumacher and I got to dress up as wise men and do a live nativity for the community! The lights were blinding, but some people got pictures. I will ask Sister Richardson to email them to you. just got to get her your email.

 

Well Mom, don't forget to layer and remember that I love you! I am going to send up a sleighful of gifts with one of the members here who is from Oregon. Look for reindeer in two weeks.

December 2, 2013

Happy December!

 

This week with Thanksgiving was quite a trip! Elder Schumacher is my new companion from the NE corner of Colorado in a little town called Peetz! He has got to be one of the calmest, hard working, creative people I have ever met.

 

We got to prepare for Thanksgiving dinner by playing some games with the Bishop's extended family at a local park; mostly just capture the flag with the kids. It felt good to have normal fun! Then we had a delectable dinner with the Hanson family. This morning we went running with Brother Hanson and got up at 5:00 so that we could be back in time. it was a beautiful morning. I don't know what words describe the California skies as the sun rises and sets each day. I suppose that's where the saying "words can't descirbe it" comes from.

 

Other highlights:

We had a baptism this weekend in the ward for Brian Rich! The Sisters have mostly been teaching them, but we got to be involved a little bit. I was blessed to be able to conduct his baptismal interview and I was so inspired by his sincerity and commitment to living the right way and helping his family be more united.

 

The first day that Elder Schumacher and I were together we had to go run a meeting and we had all of the administrative paperwork completed ahead of schedule and we sere just going to make everything run so smoothly. Until I locked the keys in the trunk of the car. So we were about an hour late after the locksmith saved our behinds.

 

President Orgill, our fearless Mission President, gave us permission to organize a regional dodgeball tournament on New Year's Day! We are excited  to work with the youth and hopefully have people throw something besides Mormon myths at us!

 

I am so excited to be here in Laguna Beach as Christmas rolls around. We were studying this morning about understanding "Why" we do things. It is a critical part of having true faith that we learn more about that in which we believe and then strive to adhere more closely to the tenets of whatever we have faith in. As we study out those things that we say we have faith in then we make changes in our lives to make sure we are living how we believe we should. Often the first part of having faith is simply to act on whatever knowledge that we have. Through the experience of living what we believe then we come to know of its truthfulness. The more we live it the more we understand it. Sometimes we want to know everything before we do anything. I believe in Jesus Christ, but I don't know everything. With Christmas making its presence known I am reminded that everything I do is because Jesus Christ was born, lived and died for us. I start to see on a small, yet ever increasing scale, why it is that Jesus Christ makes it possible for us to be happy in this life and happy in the next life. I do my best to act in faith and live according to what I know, but I am grateful for the opportunity that we have to keep trying and to keep learning. This is a happy time to be on the earth!

 

Have a great week!

Love, Elder Chandler