Elder Sighting 01-10-2013

Facebook Photo Tag from the Romney Family:

"Teamwork!!!! After 2 days and 10 patches (one of them duct tape), Elder Chandler's bike is now working......For how long we don't know. :) —"

Elder Sighting 01-10-2013

Tagged on Facebook as seen at a Romney Family Christmas Party.  Looks fun!

Letter 01-08-2013

With the new year comes new opportunity, especially with these slow last couple weeks. Katie, Alison, and Bryson are still going strong for this Saturday. Still working ever so slowly with Max and Zhenia, from Ukraine. Still handing out 21-day promises. We're starting to see some turnaround in the people we've been trying to work with around here - a couple people are progressing closer and closer to lessons. Sometimes I sit and just marvel at how, in a 3-block large area, we are trying to get (and in some cases getting) as much work as everyone else around the world. We're trying to keep tabs on every single house living in our area and measuring their progress towards taking lessons or coming back to church. This mission really is amazing.

It's been really cold. Temperatures continue to stay in a dry 15-25 degree range. They were warmer yesterday though. I absolutely love looking at the snow every morning. It just makes everything so much more fun. The whole valley is just brighter with all the white on the ground! I hope the snow sticks until spring rolls around.

Christmas break ended and so the youth are back in school, young adults are leaving on missions/going back to college, the parents are back at work, people are back from vacation, and life continues on again--

Elder Chandler

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thought: walls and communication

We had what was the best district meeting/training of my mission thus far on Thursday. We talked about loving our investigators. Is is a chore for your investigators to meet with you? Or is it easy to get them to meet? Are you really their friend? Are you "their" missionary? Will you keep in contact and be friends for the rest of your lives?

The answer to the last three should be yes for all the people we teach. We then did a role play on using the love and trust to really, truly, bring out concerns. Not just surface level ones. And it was amazing for me to watch what a bit of conversation did.

There's always a wall in initial conversation. Some people's walls are thicker and taller than others. But you can tell (or at least I've found I can see a difference, somehow) when someone's wall breaks. And just at that moment is when you can probe deep. "Why" questions can be asked, and a real response and feelings can be communicated. "Whats" can be addressed. A "how" plan can be produced. Breaking through the communication wall is preparatory and essential before any and all concerns can be addressed.

Not only that, but after the wall is broken, there is no such thing as being overbearing. You're doing everything truly out of love for the other person and really listening to them. It's pure and true communication. And it's something I now strive for in every interaction I'm a part of.

Anyways the idea is pretty abstract but I like it. It makes more sense when you see/feel it. Have a great week.

Photo 12-13-2012

That tie, Mother--

It's name is Zelgius. Ask the boys who that is. (Jaron or McKay will know, maybe Jamison. I think they'll understand why.) I really do like it.

Elder Sighting 12-26-2012

From: Dave Trudo
Date: December 26, 2012, 5:26:43 PM CST
To: Greg Chandler
Subject: Elder Chandler

Just thought I would let you know that my brother Scott saw your Elder shopping in his store today and said hello. He heard Bentonville and his ears perked up and he went and met him.

Hope your family had a great Christmas!

Letter 01-01-2013

Happy New Years!

There's still a bunch of festive snow on the ground. Probably is going to stick for quite some time, because it's staying so cold around here. (compared to last year, at least. We were still playing frisbee on Heritage Hill much later into the season than this...) (also so cold isn't really that bad - only gets to the teens generally but is still a little chilly).

Found a camera cord so I'll send a couple pictures this time around:

1) Court of Honor for a couple boys in my area that we attended. Got a couple nonmembers to get there, as well as a less active/returning member. It's really fun to get to stand in the eagle's nest for that short time. Thanks mother.

2) It's pretty cold

I don't know how much memory emails hold so I'll leave it at that.

We had our baptismal interview with Bryson, Alison, and Katie on Saturday. They're all prepped and ready for the 12th of January! Such an exciting time in their lives.

On Sunday there was the most massively attended sacrament meeting I've ever seen. Two apparently (very) popular kids from the high school both had their farewells. The attendance rivaled stake conference, not even joking. Got to re-see a lot of the people from my old area that I had to leave in the blink of an eye and gave them my contact info. (That probably means I have a couple pending friend requests on facebook so, mom, if you'd like you can go through and just add all the people that request me, if they're from Utah. Especially the Murray area.) Two great talks from great new elders going to serve in Ukraine (not Kiev, Kelson) and Mexico.

Oh yeah. I told my parents but I'm serving in David Archuleta's home stake. His dad lives 4 or 5 doors down from me. For all of you Utah-people that know who he is.

Maybe it's important to know that transfer calls were yesterday. Elder Fussell and I are staying here for another six weeks (bar another emergency, ha. I'm hesitant to say that after what happened last transfer). I really love this area. Hope I never leave Murray.

Have a great week,

Elder Chandler

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thought: truth of the book of mormon

As a mission we had the opportunity for the last four months to read the Book of Mormon while underlining every mention of Jesus Christ. We finished yesterday. It struck me that this is actually the first time I've read the Book of Mormon cover to cover chronologically with a real system of reading. Kind of sad actually. Don't make it that way! I get so many complements on how well I know the scriptures that it really is embarassing to have this be pretty much the first time I've read it. I guess that attests to the greatness of the seminary program and Book of Mormon classes at the Y. But how many nuggets there are in Helaman, Mormon, Ether, and Moroni!

I guess I could have done my spiritual thought on Ether (I'm memorizing a scripture or couple scriptures each day to try and keep my memory running and in check), but I'll just leave it at this most important one. Read the Book of Mormon, ponder in your hearts the message it contains, and then ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if it is true. If you pray in faith, with real intent, you WILL gain a testimony of it's truthfulness and divinity by the power of the Holy Ghost. It's that simple. Everything else stems from it. It works.

If you will to gain a testimony, you will gain a testimony.

That principle applies to anything in the spiritual realm. If you will to do, you will. It's almost cliche. But its true, true doctrine even at a secular level.

Have a happy new year. Make a goal to help someone be baptized this coming year. My goal is to baptize bi-weekly for the rest of this year. That means that if all six Chandler boys help one person each to get to the water this year, than I'll bring four people in for each of those. So as a family we could help baptize and confirm 30 people this year. That would be so cool.

--Elder Ryan Chandler

Elder Sighting 12-24-2012

Merry Christmas to you. It is a pleasure to have your wonderful son with us.

All Mission Christmas Conference--

Dear Parents,

At this Christmas Season we thought you would enjoy the attached photograph of your missionary. We send it with our best wishes for a Merry Christmas. We love your missionary and thank you for sharing him/her with us. What greater way for them to show their love for their Savior than to be preaching His gospel at this special time of year. We know the Lord blesses missionaries and their families and hope you feel our Savior's blessings in your lives. We saw your missionary today and they look happy!

Merry Christmas,
Richard & Amy Moffat
Utah SLC Central Mission

Letter 12-18-2012

(Rain)dear everyone,

Thank you Chase's, mom, and grandparents Lewis for the treats and packages. One of your presents was already open, grandpa, so I opened up the book. Already read (skimmed) it once through. So cool.

I sent a massive amount of letters out last week to people at BYU. Hopefully they got there before finals ended. I'm caught up now though!

Every day's a good day when there's snow on the ground! After a green last week, we've had a fair amount of white on the ground thus far. I don't know if it will stick until the 25th, but it's made things more enjoyable anyways. Not much is better than waking up at the crack of dawn, seeing snow on the ground, and having those mountains as a backdrop. What a nice comfort it is to be on a mission in Salt Lake City! Hope everyone else's Christmas is just as fun.

As far as the work goes things are still going. Christmas is seeing a lot of people busy and out of town and such, but that's alright. The season's cheer makes up for it. Still working with Katie, Alison, Bryson, Max, Jenya, and Dillon. Built a frisbee game for a short time around a 15 y/o potential investigator, Taylor. He's really cool and I really think it did wonders for us to be able to have a solid interaction with him. Hope to see him come to young mens - he's already playing church ball. Both of his parents are inactive members. Seems to be the most common story around here.

There's so many well-established families here in Murray, especially in this area. They've been here 20, 30, 40, 50 years. It's pretty insane to hear some of their insight into the change of the valley since the 1950s and such. Fun to get them working on 21-day promises with their friends and family they've been trying to work with for years on end. A little faith, fasting, and prayer is all that's needed to change a heart.

--Elder Chandler

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Spiritual thought: Musings on Isaiah

This week in BoM reading was the ministry of Christ to the Nephites. What a great time in the Book of Mormon! One of the things Christ does is throw Isaiah quotes randomly into his teaching. It made me think of a couple other places in the Book of Mormon where the same thing is done - Moroni, and Abinadi. I absolutely love love love Mosiah 14 and 15 so I guess I just want to talk about some of the Isaiah in there.

I think it's funny how Abinadi is giving a speech to the wicked priests in chapter 15 and, in his thought progression, turns to quoting Isaiah. This happens in two instances: verses 15-18, and verses 27-31. These are a few of my very favorite Isaiah verses (along with 2 Ne 24/Isaiah 14):

"And O how beautiful upon the mountains were their feet! And again, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those that are still publishing peace! And again, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those who shall hereafter publish peace, yea, from this time henceforth and forever! And behold, I say unto you, this is not all. 

'For O how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who bringeth good tidings, that is the founder of peace, yea, even the Lord, who ahs redeemed his people; yea, him who has granted salvation unto his people;'"

Can't you picture that? A prophet, standing on a mountain, declaring "thy God reigneth!" Then picture that mountain to be a temple, and the prophet angel Moroni, blasting from his trumpet the "good tidings", the good word, the gospel of Jesus Christ again restored on the earth. "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing!"

Abinadi covers past, present, and future prophets in his phraseology, and then states the one prophet whos "time-stretch" covers them all - Jesus Christ.

Have a great Christmas prep. Can't wait to call home--

Letter 12-11-2012

Hello family and friends,

That package (I guess it was from Christmas Kick-off?) was so fun to get. Just so you know, I'm rocking that tie today. Can't beat light blue and white during the winter, ya know?

"Whitewashing" has turned out to be amazing. The Lord has prepared this area and I'm so excited to be able to work to tie SO MANY loose ends that are leading to so much productivity right now. The amount of work that has been done here the last 6 months is basically nil, and so there's six months worth of backlog on people that the missionaries basically neglected to teach. So things are crazy.

But it helped that we took a surprise Trax trip to the Salt Lake Temple on Thursday. Didn't expect to get to go to the temple for two years, but got a chance this last week. What a historic temple. They didn't let us bring cameras, so no pics, but it was a great chance to reflect and settle a few personal thoughts. I have a feeling the trip was more to fix a few very disobedient missionaries with an emphasis on the first temple covenant  but hey, I'm not complaining. Any chance to get there is worth it.

A couple of loose ends we've been able to tie:

- A mom and dad who haven't been to church in a decade now deciding that it's time to turn around, including their three baptism-aged children: 11/9/8. Katie, Alison, and Bryson.

- A family that adopted two Ukrainian kids, ages 15 and 11. Max and Jenya are awesome! A lot of families out here are adopting Ukrainian children. I think it has something to do with gathering tribes but I'm not sure.

- A kid who's older brother was baptized a year ago and who now also wants to follow in his brother's footsteps

- A couple apartments with the sheer amount of people that that brings in contacting power

I'm still handing out 21-day promises over here. Still working very closely with the youth. It's imperative with these Ukrainian adoptions that we get them comfortable with us since a lot of times they come with some social blocks. So we're making it a point to play ping pong with them at least once a week with some of the other youth to keep a good, friendly relationship with them. (Yep, here in Utah too, Elder Koch). The youth are awesome everywhere. They network so well.

SO GUESS WHAT THAT MEANS, FAMILY? It means you should all network too! And use that network to share the thing that's most important to us all, the gospel. The best way to prepare for a mission is to do missionary work before you come out, so get to work. Don't be afraid to give someone a Book of Mormon. You can even just say it's touchable, see-able, smell-able (???) proof that angels minister on the earth today, that God still works through prophets, that all the weird intricacies of the Joseph Smith story actually happened! So go give someone a book of mormon Jaron McKay Jami Trenton Holdy Lewis family and everyone else gogogogogogo it's not that scary I'm promise it's really just super coollllllll

~Elder Chandler

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Thought from last week: role of works kinda

Just reading in Helaman. Really liked the phrase "restored unto grace for grace." Really thought a lot about the phraseology. How interesting that we receive the grace of Heavenly Father based on our own grace that we give unto others. What an unequal trade, but an amazing one.

Thought for this week: "three kingdoms of glory" in society

I was reading in 3 Ne 7 this morning. Verses 2 and 3 got me thinking:

"the people were divided one against another; and they did separate one from another into tribes, every man according to his family and his kindred and friends; and thus they did destroy the government of the land. And every tribe did appoint a chief or a leader over them; and thus they became tribes and leaders of tribes."

Secret combinations, when they prevailed, didn't create a "higher society". They were responsible for a regression, a degrading of societal values.

When you get a group of dissenters, or even factions, you're creating a society based on, not a higher, but a lower law:

Celestial Society - based on one; "one heart, one mind"; the will of God

Terrestrial Society - based on factions; representative democracy; multiple wills expressed

Telestial Society - based on all; "every man for himself"; Darwinian rule

It is only through the grace and power of God that humanity is even able to be at a societal level above that of the law of the jungle and Darwinian rule. Satan will do anything to have societies regress - any law except Celestial isn't enough to live in God's presence again.

Examples of societal patterns that relate to regression in recent times:

- language: experts in this field actually see regression of language over time. We can't express ourselves as well as we used to. The language of heaven is perfect. We've gone backwards since Babel.

- law: We're seeing our own judicial system start to create laws, not protecting the minority, but promoting the minorities, thereby increasing factions and groups

- warfare: warfare during the revolutionary war was based on honor and cause. Now based on sending as many people to their deaths as possible.

Also random afterthought: 2 Ne 12:3; out of Zion will come forth the law for the millennium  I really believe the Constitution was an inspired document of Terrestrial law that is fit to be the governing document of the millennial, paradisaical world. Maybe I'm preaching false doctrine here but I think it makes sense. Whatever. See you all soon--

Email from Sister Larsen--

Hi Brother & Sister Chandler,

I asked your son for your email address just before he was transferred. If you haven't heard, he received an emergency transfer to help another missionary.  We were very sad to hear this because we thought we had a few more weeks with him.

My name is Myra. I serve in the Stake YW Presidency of the area your son has been serving in.  We were blessed to have Elder Chandler in our home on several occasions! He and Elder Jackson would stop by often at the end of a day about once a week to say hi.  The spirit was strong with them and always lifted or spirits!

I'm writing because I wanted to let you know (which you may already
know) that your son is an amazing young man! He has a grasp for the gospel unlike any other missionary we've ever had in our home. He's so positive and has a fantastic head on his shoulders!  We have two daughters and are expecting our third daughter any day.  My husband and I often joke that we would be thrilled if our girls could find a young man just like your son to marry.

We were very sad to hear he had to leave out stake.  He will and has done amazing things already as a new missionary and I wanted to express to you my gratitude for raising such a great young man.  We are blessed to have spent the short amount of time with him and know you must be missing him.

Sincerely,

Myra (& Shane) Larsen Family
Murray Parkway Stake - 33rd ward.

Btw, where did he get that contagious laugh from... Mom or Dad?  We miss it!!! :)

Letter 12-04-2012

umm

Hi! Things just got really crazy over the last two hours, so here's the low-down.

9:00, call comes from the mission president, explaining that a transfer needs to happen. All that you need to know I guess is that it wasn't because of Elder Jackson and I. In any case I got sent over to the Murray East Stake with Elder Fussel. He's awesome and has a great drive to get things done... just the last couple weeks have been a wee bit frustrating for him. Elder Jackson the ENFORCER! is now fixing problems and getting job experience for his law enforcement degree.

I loved working in Murray Parkway and hope I get transferred back some day. The people are awesome and the work is great there. The day before I left we talked with Casey Dunn again, a senior in high school who's into acting and stuff. We're going to help him (or now Elder Jackson) will help him to get baptized on the 22nd of December.

Now it's time to whitewash an area. I know Elder Fussel is awesome so we're going to do well together. We've already set a goal to get two baptisms this month, which means putting two people on date this week. He's from Southern Georgia. Other than that I've only been with him for 30 minutes now so I'm sure you'll get more next week--

Elder Chandler

Just so you know, everything is fine. It's not our side that the problem was coming from. It's a little frustrating to always get moved just as things are picking up, but I think I'll find that's how it always is going to feel with any transfer, whether it be emergency or not.

It's scary and exciting. I'm senior companion - Elder Fussel has been out one transfer less than I have. I don't know if I feel ready for this yet. I guess the Lord knows better than I do though.

Yes I remember Philmont...  yet I still feel woefully unprepared. I was reading my patriarchal blessing this morning during personal study before we even got the call, with interest on the line during the declaration of my lineage. Something like "You are a leader". I was thinking about my current position always as junior in my mission and at the same time how much comfort I've found in being junior.

I also thought a lot about how the very first thing, after stating that Heavenly Father knows and loves me, is that I have been blessed with many gifts and an intellect that exceeds many - and then the warning: "Do not let that get to your head". I'm going to have to follow that council a lot... as well as the thought afterwards to pray every night and thank the Lord for the compliments others give me.

Ugh. Change.

Email from Sister Fillmore--

Sister Chandler,

This is Sister Fillmore. My husband and I are the senior couple that is working with your son right now. We are really enjoying him. He is a delight!

Hope you have a great Thanksgiving.

- Diana Fillmore

Elder Sighting 11-27-1012

"Your kids! Found them at lunch. Anyone you know? Happy Thanksgiving! They were doing great! I thought you might like to see for yourself."

Letter 11-27-2012

Dear everyone,

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving week. We had fun hopping between five appointments on Thanksgiving (which of course means way too much pie), and pretty much dying afterwards from belly-exploding. I didn't think it was possible to be full past the top of your head :(

But it's okay. Fun week. We worked on getting people to sacrament meeting this week and, lo and behold, we had all of our people on date (and more!) at church. Now we've just got to keep that going for the rest of forever.

The key it seems so far is to use the advantage we get here that no other mission in the world gets - the use of 50% of the population as active members. It's been awesome to "capitalize" on that by getting to know so many great people in the area. With information on every single house in our area, the importance isn't necessarily as much on "finding" here. We know where all the people are. We just need to "find" ways to change hearts, to get into houses. It's a slow process and it falls a lot on the members but it's great to help them out, as well as leave positive interactions for the church with less-active members and non-members alike. It's the best mission in the church!

We're still working with Kaylee and Alec and Sinead (for now, she might transfer to the YSA ward or something...) towards their baptism goals, as well as picking up a nine year old that just moved in this week that hasn't been baptized.

Have a good week,
Elder Chandler

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Thought: "will"

v. a) to choose, ex: I will go and do; b) expressing the future tense, also a statement of implication, ex: If you read, ponder, and pray, you will gain a testimony.

Most of my studies have to do with the will of God and defining what that exactly is. (I've also been studying the "question personalities" of people so I can ask better questions during lessons - either who, what, how, or why people. I think I'm a what. But that's beside the point.) As I was reading one day though, I started flipping the word will, using one definition in place of the other. For example, Nephi says:
"I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded"
Instead of reading that as "I choose to go and do the things...", you read it as "I, in the future, go and do the things...". If that makes sense. I've found great power in switching the definition of the word will, enough that after I finish the Book of Mormon in this read-through I'm going to go back through it and circle every time the word "will" is used.

So what's interesting then is that the definitions become one. To choose something is a definitive statement of implication. Where's the significance?

The significance comes when you realize that to choose something, to will something, when used in a gospel sense, is to imply something else. Thus the word "will" can be applied to either definition because they are one and the same. We must choose to imply something in our lives; we must will.

Nephi doesn't just say he will (choosing) follow the commandments - he's will-ing (implying) to keep the commandments, he's will-ing (expressing the future), and thus he's falling in line with God's will (the express future and the choice we all need to make) for us to keep the commandments.

And then comes the tie-in to an old thought - the thought of becoming. Nephi isn't just choosing, he's literally becoming by using that single word, will. What a strong word - a definitive statement that must imply a full following, thus laying out the future before us.

There's probably more to this that would enlighten me on how I can understand a little better the way God sees the future. I'll probably spend a bit more time on this.

Have a great week!

Letter 11-20-2012

Happy birthday mother. 

It's been fun this week to see everything progress so fast. This was the last week of the reporting transfer, and we have quadrupled our weekly lessons since the beginning of the transfer. Missionary work is always a bit more fun when you're busy teaching :)

As we start teaching, the struggle (as all missionaries know...) is getting people to church. It's a little frustrating to be sitting in sacrament meeting, alone, when someone is supposed to be there sitting next to you. Darn agency. Our investigators on date right now have come to church enough in the past that they "technically" didn't need to come this week but it's still not the point. We'll be trying to fix that this coming week. Alec is still on for the 8th though, and Kaylee is still on for the 15th as of now.

This week turned out kind of funny though. On Sunday we got a call from one of our bishops, Bishop Goddard, that he had a new investigator for us at his home. We were just around the corner and now are teaching a girl named Sinead (Shin-ade). She's working towards a goal for baptism on Dec 15th. Only in SLC.

Also, only in SLC will come things like going to Berlington Coat Factory to browse ties and having a member hand you a $60 gift card. I have a couple fun new ties to wear around now. People are so nice to us here. All those poor people serving outside of Zion... :)
Thanksgiving plans are going to be fun. Oh I guess I should say that Elder Jackson and I are staying here for another transfer. This one goes all the way through January 2nd so we'll get all the holidays spent in this great, great area. Hip hip hooray!

Hope all your Thanksgivings are just as delicious as ours will be,

Elder Chandler

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Thought: Developing Christ-like Attributes

This last week Elder Jackson and I have been spending time in personal and comp study going over chapter six in Preach My Gospel. There was a section header before a scripture that intrigued me one day - "What is the relationship between the first principles of the gospel and Christlike attributes?", which directed me to Moroni 8:25-26

And what I found there was a process that we can go through to endure to the "end" (which I think in this case means until you receive the second Comforter). If it looks like -this-, it's a finite way to tell where you are on the scale:

1) Faith
2) Repentance
3) -Baptism-
4) Obedience
5) -Remission of all Sin-
6) Humility
7) -First Comforter-
8) Hope
9) Diligence
10) -Prayer- (true prayer that reflects the will of the Father)
11) Charity
12) -Second Comforter-

So I get a way to evaluate where I am on the scale. I get a chance to consciously work on the Christlike Attribute where I feel I'm at. From there I get to try and progress up the scale.

I don't mean to say you can't develop attributes that would mean "skipping" steps, but this is a process in the scriptures so I can see it being a bit easier to do it this way. In any case I thought it was pretty cool. Have a great week.

Letter 11-13-2012

Hello, All--

What a fun week! First (sticky) snow of the year, and boy was it fun to wake up and see four inches on the ground come Friday. I think we got another two or three over the rest of Saturday. Snow is so happy and makes me so anxious for Christmas.

A couple pictures, both from a while ago. One of them is at Bryce's baptism, the other is Alyssa's. Finally got access to a computer with USB access...

I don't think I can explain how fast the work is picking up right now. After handing out about a hundred 21-day promises, we're starting to see a ton of miracles happen in houses around the area. What used to be just a list of names of potential investigators is now turning into a list of lessons. It's amazing to watch. We've seen our lesson numbers quadruple since two weeks ago. Super exciting.

It's fun to see things that I can attribute to only Elder Jackson and I happening in the community. We set up a time to meet with Jay Hill, the Utah running back coach who lives in the area and his nice family. As we introduce 21-day promise, we like to talk about a few miracles that have happened as people complete it. Before we even had a chance to though, Sister Hill said she already had heard the stories because some people had been talking about it while waiting to vote. 21-day promise is a conversation topic now :) We also followed up with Rylee on the person she handed a Book of Mormon to. Apparently his reading the book is the hot topic of the school now. Its really fun to organize this kind of thing!

Speaking of organizing, on Saturday we woke up and decided the time was ripe for a snowball fight. We started "spreading a rumor" that at 3:00 a lot of kids were going to be in the field where Bullion "U"s and have a massive snowball fight. We also expressly worked with Bryce to get two non-member youth his age in the ward that aren't baptized to get to the thing. Lo and behold, about 20 or 25 youth showed up from three of the wards we cover. We spent the first hour splitting the people between wards (28th vs 33 & Highland) and building forts. It was a great tool to get the youth acquainted with each other. Afterwards it turned into an all-out brawl and was a great experience for everyone! We had so many complements from the ward leaderships. We're planning on seeing both Skyler and Mikey, the two non-members, coming to young mens now, as well as start taking the discussions and coming to church. Funny how these things work. (picture - back: Bryce Chatwin, visitor, Ethan, Ben Linton, Jake Hardman, Hill cousin, Brock, Caydon Selph. Front: Nick Richins, Emily Richins, Alex Richhart, Doug Martin, Alayna Hill, Hill cousin, Ashtyn Hill, Rylee Richheart, Katie Martin, Soren Selph, Brock brother, Cayden Madsen)

This month in primary, the sharing time theme is missionary work, so we are doing quite a few sharing times. Our lesson is really fun - we call up two kids up front with us, and roleplay inviting them to come to primary to learn about Jesus. Then, all four of us go out and invite someone to primary, and they bring them up to the front. So on, until everyone is standing with us at the front of the primary room. We then talk about missionary work and how important it is to invite friends. I think we'll see some cool things happen with the primary kids' fearlessness. Anyways, I thought of your blog mom when I did this so I took a blurry picture of the blackboard. (picture)

Last funny story - on Saturday morning we had just arrived at our full-time senior couple's house to discuss and correlate when we get a call from the Assistants, asking us where we were and why we were there. They drove up to the front of the house, called us again, and told us they needed us to get in the car, and it would take about an hour. As soon as we were inside and the doors were shut, they asked us, "This is about your landlords. We need to know everything that happened on Halloween night." Elder Jackson and I kind of looked at each other funny since we didn't really do anything anyways, but Elder Wilson the AP broke pretty fast and said they were joking and took us out to lunch. It's always great to get to feel of their spirit and love for missionary work, especially since one of them used to serve in our current area.

It's an exciting time to serve a mission in Murray, Utah--

Elder Chandler

PS: Why did we elect a candidate who will only have two years to do anything, at which point he will be a lame duck with no political presence unless he does something good in the next two years? When he's proved he's done nothing good the last four years? And when the situation in the Legislative branch didn't change one bit? Makes me sick. Sorry Romney, it's hard to win against Santa Claus.

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Topic: Attitude of missionary work

I had the chance to speak this week in sacrament meeting again. Funny how much easier it gets each time I do it. This time the topic was attitude, so of course I made it into an "attitude of missionary work".

I started by talking about how the people were in the smallest mission in the world, the new mission announcement, to have first an attitude of excitement for missionary work. I then turned to the story of Ammon and found three important attitudes that he developed in order to be a good missionary. I then tried to relate how this pattern of attitude adjustment can be applied to us.

Alma 17--

verse 25: an attitude of service

- Ammon gets in the door through service. I talked briefly about the role of service in missionary work. Encouraged others to look for service opportunities. Promised that, as many of them are praying for missionary opportunities, the first opportunity that always comes is a service opportunity

verse 26: an attitude of patience

- Ammon waits three days as a servant. Once your foot is in the door, you need to "submit to the Lord's will and accept His timing" (PMG 120). The change might not happen immediately but we can watch for patterns that show progress and the Lord's hand in their life. Also put in a plug for 21-day promise as a tool to make patience easier by being able to see the Lord's will be done in a max of 21 days.

verse 29: an attitude of faith

- Ammon, even in a rough time, knows that the Lord will turn the situation into a good one. We can all do the same.

verse 31: an attitude of happiness

- Ammon encourages others (and himself) to "be of good cheer". By being happy and just in general being positive, we can have interactions with people that leave everyone feeling better about themselves. This increases the web of connections, which increases missionary work.

I love looking at these patterns that I can follow in the Book of Mormon.

Letter 11/6/2012

Dear everyone,

A busy week in the mission field is always a good one.

We're teaching Jose again who I think I talked about in an earlier email. He just got out of jail and is working to turn his life around. We also started working with a new investigator, Alec. He's 20 and has had the lessons a couple years ago, but was struck down by his semi-anti mother. Now that he's on his own, he's ready to start it up again. We're working towards getting him baptized on December 8th!

One thing I've found that's fun about our current companionship is our retention rate of investigators. So far (almost) every single investigator we find, we have progressing and working towards a baptism date. It makes teaching a lot more enjoyable when you're both working towards something. It's also nice to have those consistent lessons.

On Friday, my companion and I were through with our plans by 8 and didn't know exactly what to do, so we went over to the Richin's house. It was kind of a blind guess, but I wasn't surprised when I found a massive group of 12-13 year olds there. The house is kind of like my house back home - the rendezvous of the neighborhood. It really feels like home to be there. We took the opportunity to pump up the kids (there might have been a little bit of Jigglypuff sung), including our recent convert Bryce, and give away some copies of the Book of Mormon. We played doubles ping-pong and foosball, loser takes the challenge to give away a Book (we did it with love and sanctity though I promise (: ). We've already had requests from other youth to take the challenge, and three have been handed out. We're looking to pick up two new investigators very soon from it. One of the girls, Rylee, got up and bore testimony on Sunday of the experience she's had giving her Book away. It's really been cool to see the Lord work through these kids in such strong ways. (Turns out we were accidentally "crashing" a birthday party for the Richins triplets. They turned 13. They enjoyed it and thanked us though so I think it was alright (: ).

The work continues in Zion,
Elder Chandler

Elder Sighting 11-04-2012

We loved getting a call from Josh and Jenni Hall this evening. They are friends from Arkansas who recently moved to Lehi, Utah. Josh's sister lives in Murray and Ryan is their missionary. Tonight the Halls joined the Murray family for dinner and a message. 

 Josh reported that Ryan acts like he is "30"-- so mature. He said that Ryan was full of light. He said that it is a great companionship and that they really like each other. Ryan and his companion said over and over again how "fun" everyday was! He said that they gave a message and that Ryan was helping the companion with scripture references and acting so confident. Josh said that he tried to talk about Arkansas but Ryan wasn't really game-- they just wanted to talk about about the people that they are teaching and the four that they have on date. It was great to hear from the Halls with this report. My heart is full and bursting over this great kid. Sometimes he feels so far away. It is was wonderful to know that he is well and happy. 

Pictured are Ryan and his companion with Josh and Jenni Hall and their kids: Brinley, Wyatt and Parker.

Elder Sighting 11-1-2012

"Elder Chandler carved a Pikachu pumpkin. Elder Jackson carved Salt Lake City mission. They are both doing awesome. They live in the basement. -The Hardmans. Elder Chandler is an awesome kid. We love him."  Text with Picture from The Hardmans