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!