Letter 07-30-2013

hello friends,

Two baptisms! Chris and Sherri's baptism was great, as was their confirmations. Elder Oliveros was able to do the confirmation for Chris which is awesome - his first one! President Moffat told us in the pre-training meeting we had that the most important thing we could do for the person we're training is to let them see through a baptism from start to finish. That's Sherri for Elder Oliveros! The Lord blesses us during training so much.

 Other than that we're back to finding. Hitting the streets hard with a smile woo. The district set a goal together to get a lot of baptisms this month, which is invigorating. If we can put 2 on date and baptize them in August we'll have done our part to hit the goal - hopefully though we'll be able to get one of the three (!) families (!) that we've found in the past. Teaching families is the best thing ever.

--Elder Chandler
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thought: Book of Mormon

This week in my Book of Mormon studies, the theme that keeped jumping at me was just how much I need to be using the Book of Mormon and the words of the prophets in my teaching. Between Jacob 7:10, Mosiah 1:3-7, and Mosiah 3:13, there was a ton on just how much influence the scriptures should have in our teaching.

My favorite section on this though is in Enos - verses 14, 16 and 19. The Lord makes so many promises to the Book of Mormon prophets about how the Book of Mormon will be preserved for the people living in our generation, and it's us as missionaries today (verse 16) that get to reap the benefits of their faithful prayers for their children.

It gives me some comfort to be able to lean on their prayers sometimes if I'm feeling week, and also makes me feel an even greater need to use their words in my teaching.

Letter 07-23-2013

peeps(.com),

My companion is from Bulacon.

So today I'm going to do rubric again but I'll go back to paragraphs next week.

Tomorrow is transfers - Elder Oliveros and I are staying put.

Food - We just ate at Moochie's on State and Center. It's WAY good. There's one in South Salt Lake as well if you want to avoid me (as if it's possible but do try).

Weather - is good and hot Teaching - Chris and Sherri were successfully interviewed and will be baptized this Saturday. :) Pictures of that next week.

Things are doing good! Hope all the vacations are going good.

-Elder Chandler

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thought: helping people to salvation

I love Jacob 4. This time verse 13 struck me: "wherefore, these things are manifested unto us plainly, for the salvation of our souls. But behold, we are not witnesses alone in these things; for God also spake them unto prophets of old."

It made me think that I need to make sure I'm teaching for understanding, that I'm manifesting things plainly, to help other people gain salvation. The scriptures/words of the prophets are our best aids in doing so.

Part of our language study is helping Elder Oliveros memorize short scriptures that he can use in teaching; it's helping me to ground myself in foundational scriptures as well.

It's interesting to me as well that the beginning of the verse talks about the Holy Ghost, -wherefore- these things are manifested plainly.

Does it get any plainer then true or false? Right or wrong?

Our "getter" method always returns a boolean value back to us. I'm finding more and more comfort in being able to ask God and get true or false answers back to direct me where I need to be or what I need to do.

Letter 07-16-2013

hey,

the weather - things are getting pretty hot again. but thats alright i survive anyways pretty well.

the food - i still haven't had green jello with carrots yet. only slightly disapointed.

the members - are cool

chris floyd - maybe you'll get to hear his story in my journal after my mission. but hes back on date and shooting for july 27th

sherri derho - she smoked last week and so her date had to be pushed back a week, but shes four days clean now and also shooting for july 27th. shes been smoking for over 40 years so it's a hard change for her

annnnnd of course the update on tammy and madi - the cop cars took madi away to a happier place than shady wasatch apartments (they don't have a name so thats what we call them). shes at her dads now permanently. stink for us but better for her

elder chandler

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thought: proof

2 Ne 11:4,5 - "God... proveth his words... my soul delighteth in proving unto my people the truth of the coming of Christ"

secular: ethos -> pathos -> logos

As we teach, we first help people to feel an emotional connection to the Book of Mormon, as it pertains to their needs. We then have the witnesses of our companion, members, and the prophets in the scriptures. Finally you are able to delve into the logic of the truthfulness of the church - the stats, the Book of Mormon, the miracles, the "greatness of the evidences" (Hel 5:50). I, like Jacob, love during personal study to jump into the logos, the logic, the proof of Christ, the church, and Joseph Smith (Intro BoM last paragraph).

spiritual

It's by the Book of Mormon that God has proved his words to us. I love that the word prove is used - a certainty that comes from being founded in truth. That truth comes through the Holy Ghost. When I'm in personal study, my faith has grown so much as I've noticed all of the prophecies and their fulfillment today in the Isaiah chapters; as I've felt the Holy Ghost tell me these things are true, I too have proof that I can see, touch, and read that we tell the truth, no matter how many detractors there are out there.

Letter 07-09-2013

So,

 

Funny that grandpa met President Moffat. That's what happens when they call you to your mother's home town... I wouldn't get too uptight about him talking to grandpa about going to visit, he told me the same thing my first interview, ha. He did stop by the next morning for companion study, but of course didn't tell me anything about meeting grandpa.

 

Other than that, Shery continues to press for July 20th. We're going to teach her the stop smoking program tonight. Everyone else has kind of flown under the radar... There was a couple police cars in front of Tammy and Madi's house yesterday and we know friends with alcohol have been over there lately. (Midvale woo) We're continuing developing faith to find and are trying the whole member network thing Elder Jackson and I did in Parkway again. We'll see results here soon. There's so many great people around here. Our bishops are amazing. We've gotten two new WML's lately and they're great as well. Oh yeah.

 

Yep,

Elder Chandler

 

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thought: Us and Isaiah

 

1 Ne 21/Isaiah 49. What a prophesy! Starting in verse 8, Isaiah talks of "a servant", to give a "covenant of the people". I don't know where I remember this from, probably Rel A 121, but in Hebrew 'covenant' and 'testimony' are the same word. So a servant will bring forth a testimony of a people to establish the earth, and to cause people to inherit the desolate places. The people will come from far, to be established "in the east" (In the American continent) and to sing "O mountains", to be smitten no more.

 

What strikes me though as a missionary here in the valley is verses 14 and 15 - "Zion [Salt Lake City] hath said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me". Right now many of the people here in Zion don't agknowledge God, or have forgotten him and the miracles that were manifest to bring their forefathers here because they were 'offended' by a bishop or whatever. Maybe some of the members feel that the Lord has forgotten them, He isn't answering their prayers while their wards dwindle in sacrament meeting attendance, even here in Zion. But, "he will show them he hath not... Yea, they may forget, yet I will not forget thee, O house of Israel. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands...".

 

I love that. Especially because, hey, that's me, right there in the scriptures! One of 100 missionaries serving in a small mission in Zion, that's there to "show them he hath not" forsaken them.

 

:)

Letter 07-02-2013

Hi,

It's really cold out here. A nice 40 degrees, celsius. Somehow I haven't sunburned yet. We keep the enthusiasm up to match the temperature though.

We had a roller coaster week... so many people we're teaching, but so many of them "soft-dropped" us. They basically all said, "Come back any time, we'll share a scripture and say a prayer! But we're not ready for baptism yet. Don't get too discouraged because of me - you brought me back to God, and I'm just choosing to stay where I'm at for now. I'm still open to change my mind though!" It puts us in a very tough spot. We could teach and teach and teach and teach but only have a shot at getting them back on date and working towards baptism. So we're really praying whether to drop them or not.

That's got to be the hardest part of the mission. Deciding whether or not to drop someone. Especially when our areas are so small, we'll see the people we drop on the street and outside all. the. time. We have to trust that the Lord will put other people who are prepared in our path, and so far He has - we have a lady that is on date for July 20th that showed up from a Ward Mission Process (yes, those referrals are the best!).

And so on the work moves. I spoke on Sunday again and gave my "The Lord is Hastening His Work" talk. I love giving it. I think I'm going to save giving it as my thought though so I can use it for a certain talk after my mission.

-Elder Chandler

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thought: Prayer

I really enjoyed a recent article in the June Ensign: http://www.lds.org/ensign/2013/06/improving-your-personal-prayers?lang=eng

I've always been a big fan of the Bible Dictionary definition of prayer. In the article heading "Align Your Will with the Father's", he says that prayer is an alignment process. I love that. It's something that I've been realizing more and more over the last weeks. When we pray we're given an opportunity to gain a glimpse into the perspective of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, then realign our lives to be in harmony with their's.

I think it's because of this concept that Alma the Younger was able to tell Helaman, "Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good, yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord that he will watch over thee in your sleep, and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God. And if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day." Or something like that.

Then the promise comes in the article: "When we align our will with Heavenly Father's will, answers and spiritual power will flow more freely." And that's something I need, seeing as "prophesy" and "speak (with power)" are two of the most used missionary verbs in the Book of Mormon thus far.