Letter 02-26-2013

So...

There's still snow on the ground. And snow is still falling. Haven't seen grass since before Christmas pretty much. We have to hit the turning point soon though, right? Frisbee weather will be nice for P-days once it comes.

As great as the week ended, there was a lot that led up to it. So let me explain a bit:

Last week I alluded a little to a problem that we had for keeping the Zhuckkahosees on date for the 23rd. James, the dad, didn't show up at church last week. That meant that he had only been to church once and was scheduled to be baptized on the 23rd... which is pretty against mission policy. We had a meeting with the Mission President afterwards (that training I talked about) and we pulled President Moffat aside afterwards and talked with him about the situation. He told us with James' willingness and the rest of the family being ready, we could go ahead anyways.

So all was well, until Thursday night when we got a text from James that read, "Can u take mara off an call her at house ph tx". So we called the house and I had an hour long conversation with Mara about her drive for Catholicism vs Mormonism, her leadership in the family as the oldest, and a couple other concerns. It ended with a couple action points: to make a pros and cons list of her two paths she could follow, to pray and listen for the Spirit, to fast (and we'd fast with her), and to, when she went to temple square with her family the next day, if she felt the Spirit, to take that as her answer.

So, with that chewing on us, we planned again for temple square on Saturday. I hadn't done one of these trips since I was with Elder Davidson back in my first 3 weeks in the mission, so it'd been a while. We called in beforehand and kind told the tsquared sisters the updates since we'd originally set up the appointment on Wednesday, and asked for powerful teaching sisters :)

They didn't disappoint. By the time we got out of the family presentation, "God's Plan", Mara and her mother were in tears, and the Spirit was so strong. And so they all were baptized on Saturday as a family, to prepare to go to the temple. How often do you get to be a part of something like this on your mission? Props to T^2 sisters as well - that's definitely one of the BEST opportunities we have as SLCC missionaries.

So Saturday came, and I got to do the baptism ordinance for all four of them (James, Mara, Kaneysa, and Kamaywen - the mom, Monica, was a member already). It was scary but awesome. Their hair is all long and one of them blocked the little plaque so I did it from memory, but they all worked on the first time. This is more stressful than the sacrament prayers... but a lot more satisfying I think. Confirmations went swimmingly as well

Anyways, other than that... a new SLC mission, the East. We haven't heard anything about its boundaries yet but I assume it's not going to effect us. We're already so small. My guess is it takes everything north of Sandy and east of Murray, right up against the mountains, including the houses on the foothills and everything. But we'll see.

I think I've written enough... Bernie is still on for March 9th even though he didn't make it to church this week - had to work. Will be interviewed this week.

The whole world is white right now,

Elder Chandler

PS: The letter is my spiritual thought this week. My studies as of late have been reading through the Book of Mormon and following every single footnote. And it's been awesome. I'm going to do it for the first 20 pages is all as a "deep clean" study so I know those pages in and out when I ask people to read them. I'm averaging about 4 verses a study. I have insights but no time to type them so, later I will.

Snow Pictures

1. Some people's snow art as of late (Dragon and Calvin and Hobbes-esque snowman)
2. Snow art of my own :)

Letter 02-19-2013

hi all,

The weather is beautiful today! 47 degrees, clear, sunny... the mountains look great. Too bad it's supposed to snow another inch tomorrow and bring the cold temperatures back. :)

It's so much awesome being here with Elder Bloomfield. We decided so in companionship inventory during weekly planning on Friday, where we both decided we both are awesome, so everything is all good.

Sunday was an interesting blur of meetings. Ward correlation at 8, church from 9 to 12, ward correlation at 12, church from 1 to 4, and a special stake training meeting for us, the ward mission leaders, the bishops, the stake presidency, with speakers President Moffat and Elder Tate, the area 70. Bernie came to church again and is still set and golden for the 9th of March. The Zhuckkahosee family is still on for this Saturday (after a little bit of drama), so we're happy campers to help complete this awesome family by baptizing the three kids and their father!

The special meeting was basically a follow up on the idea of the "pilot" mission and how it's going. We still don't know why our mission is a "pilot", and President Moffat confirmed when he said even he hasn't been given direction on what they're implementing much different over here. Interesting.

Anyways things are going great and joyful!

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thought: prophetic direction

I guess we don't really need to know why or what the new mission is. I really like this story and I've heard it a couple times. I might have even told it before but too bad you can hear it again.

When President Monson raised his expectations for the number of missionaries, we responded and the number of missionaries increased from 55,000 to 58,000. People wondered where they should put these new missionaries - back into Europe where they just cut back? more in the US? And so some of the 70 set out to show why these missionaries needed to go to the Salt Lake Valley.

When their plan to create two new missions (the West and the Central) was presented to the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve, the prophet asked for a sustaining vote. Apparently President Eyring was missing from the meeting. One of the people present asked if it was appropriate to wait until President Eyring would be able to vote as well, but President Monson promptly raised both his hands and said, "no, I think I can vote for him".

What more do we need to know about the mission other than it's divinely inspired and supported by the prophet of God on earth today?

writing from the best mission in the world,

Elder Chandler

Letter 02-12-2013

hi people,

Today's been a fun week, but also very stressful. The Zhuckkahosees are all still working towards being baptized on the 23rd, which means their interview has to be this Saturday. So they have to be totally ready. We had a Zone Training on Wednesday. Right now in February, we have 13 people on date - 4 of those are our companionship, and another five are the zone leaders. So basically the zone leaders are micromanaging us to make sure every single one of them gets baptized, in February. People behind numbers? pshh :| But it's all good. We love the Zhuckkahosees - I hope they feel as excited as we do for the 23rd... and if not, we're going to get a whipping.

We talked with Bernie and had a "real" chat - he's now on baptism date for the ninth of March. He's awesome, as is his new roommate, Cameron. Who knew talking about sasquatch would get us an awesome person and a baptism?

We got transfer calls last night. Elder Fussell is moving to Taylorsville. It's been an interesting roller coaster ride with him. I learned a lot. I'm getting Elder Bloomfield, who was in my MTC district. He's really, really quiet, but whenever he says something it's really funny. We can also talk for forever since we have similar interests too, so it should be a great 5 weeks! (This next transfer is only five weeks due to the MTC changes, so yes mom, I'll be coming back on the 25th of June next year instead of the 2nd of July)

Happy Valentines day and happy birthday jaron,

Elder Ryan Chandler

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thought: Jesus Christ - Our greatest cheerleader

We all know cheerleaders are the smartest, most successful, have the most scholastic drive, and just in general are the best at everything. Maybe not. But somehow, these girls end up at the top of the high school social ladder. There just might be precedent for that, though.

~

In what ways is Christ the best cheerleader?

1) His sole purpose is to give us cheer!

2 Ne 2:25 - "Men are that they might have joy"

Moses 1:39 - "My work and my glory - to bring to pass... eternal life of man"

Christ's whole attention is to bringing as many of his children back to him and his Father. His whole will is pointed towards this goal. He cheers us on every step of the way.

2) We can follow his lead and find cheer.

D&C 78:18 (78:16-22) - "be of good cheer, for I will lead you along."

Christ isn't just a cheerleader, he's a cheer-leader. His example that he set for us was perfect in every way. By following his lead, we will find cheer in our own lives, if not now, in the life to come. His example leads us in cheers.

3) He has perfect empathy, and so can cheer us up

John 16:33 - "In the world ye shall find tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world"

Christ suffered for all. He knows each one of us, not just because we knew each other in the preexistence, but because he suffered, intricately, for each and every one of our sins. If we are ever feeling down, or discouraged, or in despair: have faith! have hope! have cheer! Jesus Christ did suffer for you. Never, ever forget that. He knows your feelings and thoughts. Trust in his mercy, and cheer up!

4) He will do anything in his power to cheer us up

Matthew 9:2 - "Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee... but that ye may know the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, Arise, take thy bed, and go unto thine house."

I love the video and word inflection used for this story (in the Testaments and Finding Faith in Christ). So much so, when I went to memorize Matthew 9:1-7 today in personal study it only took me two read-throughs to have it down.

Christ has the power to heal us from everything we've done wrong bar denying the holy ghost and murder. Everything. And he wants us back, no matter what. He'll cheer for you when you're down, and he'll give you cheer when you, finally, have paid the personal price of faith and repentance for your sins. It's possible, even for a man "sick of palsy" and wallowing in his own guilt for sin, to be of good cheer again.

~

So what, Elder?

Smile!

Be of good cheer!

The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours!

Have a great Valentines week

love elder chandler

Letter 02-05-2013

Dear everyone,

Congratulations Staci and Heidi! :)

Not much reporting to do this week - much of the same. Zhuckkahosee's are still moving forward. The dad didn't get to church again this week because of work, but has his schedule fixed to where he should be able to from here on out, so they should be baptized in the first week of March. The mom and the kids all came to church this week again though. It's kind of sad to see the rest of the family progressing so well and the dad falling behind a bit, but we're supposed to wait for the family so wait for the family we will.

Everything else is hunky-dory. Working on a finding pool so we don't have to go a week "dry" with no people on date again once the Zhuckkahosees come around. Got a couple of great potentials, just waiting for the right opportunity to present itself.

til next week,

Elder Chandler

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thought: misery and joy

I really like 2 Ne 2:25. So simple but so powerful. Been thinking a lot lately about joy.

I always wondered a bit how our purpose as mankind is to have joy. How, in this pothole, are we supposed to fulfill our purpose and have joy? Earth doesn't seem to fit this at all. I mean, we get those fleeting moments, but it's a real struggle down here to reach joy. But there it is, right in scripture, men are that they might have joy. So how does it work?

It took me a couple reads to finally realize the answer was basically the whole point of 2 Ne 2. The point it hinges on is the idea of opposites. In verse twenty three it says that Adam and Eve knew no misery, and so knew no joy.

So... maybe... the purpose of man is to have joy, but our current stage is one of misery. So that we can know joy, when it comes.

Isn't that the beauty of God's plan over Satan's rebellion? Isn't that why we chose to be on God's side? Satan's plan, sure, would have gotten us right back to Heavenly Father, with glorified and perfected bodies, but then what? We didn't fulfill our purpose - we knew no misery, so we knew no joy. The purpose of our existence would be nil.

Isn't it interesting how the world morphs this idea? How, they take an eternal truth: Man are to have joy; and then they look at it without an eternal perspective. They live life for "joy". (sorry boys, look at Alma 41:10)

And so it is, that Adam's fall created a condition in which we could "be", and which was the only way we could fulfill our purpose and have liberty and eternal life, which is, "joy".

Additional scripture study:

Psalms 126:5-6 - love this scripture enough to memorize it. I've now memorized 38 verses of scripture in the last 5 weeks :) Love this one especially since it take the Law of the Harvest and applies it in a way interesting thought.

John 16:20 - and, while you're there, you might as well read verse 33 because it's probably my favorite new testament scripture

Alma 36 - Look at how many times the word "joy" is used. Yes, a ton - but only AFTER the pain and harrowed and suffering.

Bible Dictionary: "Earnest" - This is from a PMG blue box - it was actually the start of this whole thing, but 2 ne 2 25 made it flow better. I love this definition.

Have a great week--