Letter 04-30-2013

Dear everyone,

To commemorate this momentous occasion where we are able to take our suitcoats off, Elder Bloomfield and I took a beautiful bright picture on the beautiful bright Friday. Shorts... :)

This week was still pretty slow. We're seeing slow progression with some people in the area, but it's not enough to show up very well on our numbers. It's been rough but enjoyable here in Murray Little Cottonwood.

We got transfer calls last night. Elder Bloomfield will be staying here and will be companions with my old compadre back in Murray Parkway, Elder Jackson. Elder Jackson will also be the District Leader over here. I'm getting moved to the other side of the mission, to the Midvale UT stake. When I say across the mission, I mean I'm going 22 blocks south, from 59th to 81st or so. Ha. I'll be "follow-up training" an elder that's been out for six weeks, Elder Cheverdeene (shev-er-dean-ee) (I think that's how you spell it). So it's going to be an exciting new adventure... but a lot of work for sure. I think it'd be easier to be a district leader than a trainer...

It's hard to leave MU LCW. I've been here for quite a while now (5 months). But maybe a new face is what the area needs to see some movement.

In any case it'll be a fun new adventure to be in Midvale for a little while. I hope to be back in Murray again!

Elder Chandler

ps that shirt was funny. a member (Erik Winther) found it buried and had two so he gave me one, ha.

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thought: I would write one but I've got quite a bit to do. Was planning on doing it on D&C 121. I'll save it for next week if I don't find something better between now and then.

Letter 04-23-2013

Dear Frens,

This mission is really a blast

The days seem to fly by real fast

I wish we could find

We're in quite a bind

But this drought we will surely outlast

~Elder Chandler

ps im a poet

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thought: my talk

I spoke in sacrament meeting this week on the topic of, well, missionary work. But I took a "The Lord is hastening His work" spin. So here it is (or the outline at least):

I. Intro

~ This talk will talk a bit about some prophecies about missionary work and their fulfillment both church wide and locally

II. Prophecies of missionary work and their fulfillment

~ D&C 88:73 - the Lord is hastening his work

- overall: 471% increase in missionary applications; steady rise in mission applications, from 900/week max processed before announcement to 1800/week this last week; 40% of total missionaries sent out in this dispensation were set apart between 1990 and 2002, how much more of that is it this last 12 years? the last two years?

- local: smallest mission in the world (other than temple square); went from a total of 11 missionary companionships in our current mission area to 70 missionary companionships serving in the same space.

~ Daniel 2:45 - the stone cut out without hand to roll forth

- overall: total church membership up from 1.5mil in 1959 to 15mil in 2012; worldwide church

- local: SLC 2002 winter olympics, increased Utah tourism

~ Ephesians 1:10 - gather all in heaven (temple work) and in the earth (convert work) in Christ

- not just a gathering of doctrine or keys

- overall: 180 announced/in operation temples; convert baptisms church wide on the rise

- local: ANOTHER announced UT temple; new mission an astounding success

III. Purpose for our being on the earth now

~ Ephesians 1:11 - foreordination applicable to this gathering

- Quote from Howard W Hunter, PMG pg. 13

- President Hinckley)?), "If we preach the gospel and redeem the dead, perfecting the saints will take care of itself"

IV. How?

~ PMG pg 92

~ PMG pg 160-161

V. Testimony

pps i didn't even know it

Elder Sighting 04-19-2013

This is an email that I received from our American Fork Bishop's wife.

Dear Greg and Valerie,

Just had to tell you about bumping into your Ryan at Chuck 'O Rama - of all places! Rob and I had an appointment this afternoon in Murray, and we were stuck in traffic. We decided to stop in at COR (which we NEVER do) for a quick salad while we waited it out.

I spotted Ryan immediately. I'm sure he didn't really remember who we were - just that he knew us from "somewhere." I said, "Elder Chandler!" and he came over, shook my hand and was terribly embarrassed when I couldn't resist giving him a sideways, fake squeeze. I guess he and his compy had a dinner appointment out tonight. Ah, Utah.

He looks GREAT! Happy, confident - with that wonderful missionary glow. Big smiles for us as he racked his brain trying to remember our names. Made me happy to see him. Adorable as ever.

Hope I didn't scare him by giving him a hug. He made me miss our own missionary. The momma-missionary pride just kinda spilled over.

Thought you'd want to know he's doing well!

Hope you are, too.

Love, Denise

Letter 04-16-2013

Hey,

Things are pretty dandy out here.

The weather is kinda going insane right now, in and out of the 60s and 30s, with snow on and off, sometimes "mist" rain, other times pretty heavy rain. I still don't think it's as crazy as Arkansas weather but it's pretty close. In the meantime we're still required to wear suit coats - that'll be a good day when we can finally relieve ourselves of them :) They need a good dry cleaning anyways

There's a member missionary fireside coming up in our area by Clayton Christensen. They invited all the stakes in the whole mission to come, and all members in each stake. The meeting is in a stake center. Even if just the ward mission leadership came out from each ward, that's already 1,200 people or so. How in the world are they going to fit? I wish we were allowed to go just so I could see the logistics.

All else continues moving forward,

Elder Ryan Chandler

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thought: personal "mission" statement

I took some time lately to sit down and actually write out the mission of my mission. ha. So I guess I'll just share that as a thought. Hope it makes sense - it's a lot of musings. Good thing it's personal so it doesn't have to make sense to anyone else.

~

To invite others to come unto Christ by helping them recieve the restored gospel, through faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement, repentance, baptism, recieving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end, by developing my-self into the kind of person I want others to be, through living principles of...

a) Humility

- recognizing the Lord's hand in everything, and striving to do His will;

b) Integrity

- keeping the commandments and covenants I have made with God, keeping oaths I have made with others, and keeping my promises made to myself; both now and in the future;

c) Charity

- seeing all people as children of God, and serving them as such - as physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual beings with strengths, trials, and wills different from mine, but no less important and with the same divine potential

d) Patience

- understanding that others have wills of their own - irrepressible - that may make their own decisions; not invalidating my purpose, but understanding that the results measured are, not products of myself, but the products of other's efforts

e) Humility

- recognizing that all problems - both personal and interpersonal - are first addressed by things I directly control, most especially myself and the development of the previous four principles;

...And by so doing may find success in fulfilling my life's purpose: to have joy.

Letter 04-09-2013

Hello everyone,

General conference on your mission is always so great. It's funny how before every talk I'd be asking in my mind, "talk about missionary work, common". Elders Nelson and Anderson did great jobs. Presidents Eyring and Monson did their work during the priesthood session. So I heartily suggest going back over each of their talks - especially Elder Eyring's.

I'd also like to spend a minute on Elder Holland's talk and ask you all not to read, but LISTEN and WATCH that talk again and again and again Jaron and McKay and Jamison and Trenton and Holden. Seriously. If you feel you've lost direction in your life, if you feel like you're wandering blindly through the mists of darkness, you can't find the tree of life... Elder Holland's tree is right there. Lean on it if you need to. The church is true. With that knowledge, move forward where you need to go. Cuz even if you don't know yet, Elder Holland does. ha.

The work moves forward... still not many exciting updates. As a companionship we've decided to go back to foundational work - in the last three weeks, we've lost ourselves in all the immediate, pressing problems when in reality some of those could be worked out better by creating a foundation. So more meeting members. More 21-day promises handed out. Generate trust and make these wards missionary wards. And if we do that, some of the immediate, pressing problems should fade and we should be able to move forward with more confidence in dealing with those important problems that still exist.

Have a great week,

Elder Chandler

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thought: Cap'n Moroni

What an example. In attempting to figure out how to deal with the problems I come across, I found my way to Alma 46 and the story of Amalekiah and Moroni. Some of my musings--

1) Moroni deals with the rebellion of Amalekiah not by going to the "source" of the problem, straight to Amalekiah, but by doing things that are under his direct influence of control. Amalekiah and his followers are a concern of his, but he realizes that whatever he does with them directly will have no effect. Instead what he focuses on is what he DOES have under his control - a) his attitude b) his 'Christian' followers c) and his promised blessings from God (as he and his people are obedient to commandments, God will keep them safe). I love the idea that God's blessings are always under our direct control. They're based on one simple precept - obedience (President Monson's talk)

2) Moroni's resistance isn't based on him. It's not based on the church as a structure. It's based on fundamental values that do not change. He adopts the Title of Liberty, a mission statement based on these values, and rallies everyone, himself first and foremost, around these values. People then are willing to adopt this mission statement into their own lives, making it individually significant.

3) Based on these values, Moroni is then able to create a plan, centered around these values, to finish off any of Amalekiah's waning support group - they themselves "doubtful" of their own value mission statement which is based on an idea centered on self and possession. He carries it out efficiently and without hesitation, because he knows it is based on values that are true and unchangeable.

There's my musings for the week :) Have a good one

Letter 04-02-2013

Dear EVERYONE,

Mom, where did you find dinosaur egg oatmeal??????

As most of you probably already know, there's been a change in church policy regarding emails. We can email anyone now! So now you get emails directly from me - feel free to respond to them directly whenever you want at rchandler@myldsmail.net

Not much to report new this week - still "sowing in tears". It's spring break this coming week in Utah so everyone was prepping for their vacations. So. many. people. out of town. We met a few great people this week we're planning on working with into April - one of them is a nine year old named Gabe Cosgrove. His older brother got baptized last year and he was going to get baptized with him but cut his leg on a broken fish tank or something and couldn't get the stitches wet for that day, so we get to do it now! :)

We had a great mission conference this week on teaching investigators the "why" and "how" of praying, studying the book of mormon, and going to church. It was really insightful; it's something I can work on. I think sometimes I get so "what", so task oriented that I forget about the "how" and "why". Teaching is the best part of missionary work, so I love working on being a better teacher.

Hope everyone had a great easter,

Elder Chandler

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thought: behaviors vs attitudes

This is kind of on the same vein as the what why how thing. As I've thought back on how I act and interact with regards to this idea, I have figured out a lot as far as what effective interactions should be like. So I'll just throw some of my musings at you.

Isn't it interesting that people can do the exact same outward behaviors and yet the meaning and feelings conveyed can be absolutely different? What you do is totally irrelevant to the actual interaction. Someone could do something that's pretty dumb socially, but because the intention is good the interaction still pans out for the better. People can sense the inner intention and kind of disregard what is said.

The most important thing in interactions is not what you do, but how you do it. You can practice active listening at the edge of your chair, have eye contact, but if you don't really care about what they're saying, then they know. On the flip side, if a small child comes up to me and I say something to him or her, a bad listening skill, the other person would overlook it. Small mistakes are forgiven more easily.

So it's worth it not to "fake" it during interactions. Decide to genuinely care. Be interested in others! And then, even if you're "too bold", you push too hard, people won't be offended.

Anyways, I like this thought train so maybe I'll keep thinking on it. hm.