Letter 05-21-2013

Hello all,

We had a great week this last week missionary work wise!

We hit the mission vision in every key indicator except for baptisms and confirmations. It's a great thing to be a part of! Chris came to church this week and had a great time - we also got to take he and his family up to temple square. They loved it. We also met a mom who wants her two daughters, 9 and 10, baptized. They've been coming to church actively for a while now, just not baptized yet. We're working with quite a few less actives - especially youth LA - who seem to be catching fire for the gospel and want to share it as well. We've had a couple bishopric changes, including one of our Ward Mission Leaders becoming a bishop. Things seem to all be falling in place very, very quickly. The Lord has plans for this valley!

~Elder Chandler

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thought: repentance

During our district meeting at the mission office (the steaks we had were yummy!), our companionship role played with President Moffat asking for referrals. He asked us to do it in the context of teaching Repentance, on the premise it's what we should be "crying" anyways. So we did, the role play went really really well, President couldn't stop thinking about it, and so on.

But it really got me thinking about repentance a lot. So I went to the Bible dictionary, where the first sentence really hit me:

"The Greek word of which this is the translation denotes a change of -mind-, i.e. a fresh -view- about God, about oneself, and about the world."

As I analyzed the passage more, I realized that the first definition of repentance is the definition of the noun repentance. The more common definition is stated in the second sentence, and is about the verb repent, or to "turn your will to God's".

I love the first definition, and it sounds a lot like a paradigm shift. I feel that this explains the true effect of sincere repentance, the verb - a continual shift of your view of the world, until that view is aligned with God's. I've felt the power of this idea since I've been on my mission, and at no other time have I had as many chances to repent, to gain a clearer view of the world, until now.

My study brought me to one last thing, a scripture, I wanted to share. Read it with the enthusiasm it deserves!!!!:

"For behold, this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort [repented], what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge!

In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter."

~2 Cor. 7:11

Oh, and I guess I should add--
M. Russell Ballard from the quorum of the twelve came and spoke to us on Friday. He gave a great talk on the statistics that the General Authorities have run on missionary work and that by far the most important thing in the conversion process is... us, the missionaries. And deeper than that, the enthusiasm and personable-ness we show in our work. Good to hear we shouldn't be robots :)

--Elder Chandler

Letter 05-14-2013

Dear people,

Things are pretty busy over here in Midvale. We actually just got our weekly email from president which told us that our district, Midvale District 2, is leading the mission so we get a bbq at president's house tomorrow. :) When Elder Ciavardini and I set our goal for six baptisms this transfer, we've really strived to try and do our part to obtain our goal so the Lord can fill in the rest, and it's been amazing to see the miracles happen not just in our area but in our whole district. (It also helps that the Spanish elders in our district have eight people on baptism date... little mexico over here)

The nine-year old boy, Chris, is really a star. Elder Ciavardini and Martell talked with his mom outside her house and set up a lesson. While he hasn't been to church yet still, he is developing such a great testimony. In our last lesson, talking about him needing to church, I asked him, "Chris, why do you want to come to church? Why do you want to be baptized? Why do you like our lessons?" He was silent for a while. Finally I told him, "I'm going to read your mind if that's alright... It's because it makes you feel happy!" He gave me a high five for reading his mind. Then we turned together to 2 Ne 2:25 and repeated "men are, that they might have joy" until he had it memorized. Ha. I love teaching kids. (He now tells me every day about how 2 Ne 2:25 runs through his head EVERYWHERE, from school to skateboarding to karate. hahaha)

I love teaching this much. It's seriously a blessing. Now if only they'd come to church... but they will.

--Elder Chandler

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thought: D&C 121:34-46

I said I would give this thought two weeks ago and still haven't, so here it is. Sorry family for having to hear it twice, both over phone and written now.

I had been thinking a lot lately on a couple of random topics, mostly questions posed by less actives that I wanted to answer for myself because they seemed to be leading to something fun:

1) Why would the Lord work through priesthood authority given to only a select few? Would a loving heavenly father not accept ordinances performed with good intentions as sufficient? Doesn't that kind of contradict the idea that the Lord wants all of us to be with him?

2) Why organized religion? Why is it not sufficient to just do your own thing, march to your own drummer, while still keeping the commandments?

3) How does leading a principled life effect leadership? Why does success follow those, not that do all the right things, but those who are the right things? How can I apply this? What principles should I deem most important to follow to begin to really lead a successful life?

So, yes, lots of random questions. They each would have a separate answer if you were to answer them individually - #2 is answered by talking about the need for continuing revelation from a prophet for instance - but I felt that there should be one answer, together. And so I turned to D&C 121. And loved it. And memorized the whole thing (starting from verse 34) (by that point I had read it over so many times it took a total of like... 25 minutes to memorize the 12 verses).

1) Hence many are called but few are chosen (proceeding verses explain why there is need for a select few "chosen")

2) Organizations led by men holding the powers of heaven can bring forth blessings that include everlasting dominions and such... which is kind of the point of our existence

3) By living principles of patience, humility, love unfeigned, kindness, pure knowledge, integrity, charity, faith, and virtue (some of these are a little different from the original text, but mean basically the same thing) we are able to gain the blessings stated, most especially that "[success], without compulsory means, will flow unto thee forever and ever".

I'd say more but there's too much... so maybe we can all look over it again together.

What fun ideas! And so the work of shifting my paradigms continues...

Letter 05-07-2013

Dear everyone,

This new area is insanely fun. It's good to actually be teaching again. I think I was getting a little antsy with the inability to have ANYONE to teach. But I think I'm sane again.

We've got a couple great investigators - a nine year old who's mom is being a great help, and a part member family with a couple kids. They're both joys to work with and really have desires to press forward with baptism. Which is always good :)

Training isn't as scary as I thought. It's not much different, especially since Elder Ciavardini (that's how you spell it!) is mature enough to handle the load he does. There's honestly not much to train him on. So we just go and work. Midvale is great, woo.

-Elder Chandler

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I have to skip thought again this week. With more people to email now it's harder to get the time to write everything I'd like to :( Gotta have some time to play dodgeball hehe

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.

Letter 03-26-2013

Hi,

It's been a really busy week trying to get settled into this new, big area. In some ways it's actually harder than just working the old, smaller area, which is weird because our area only went from around 1500 total people to 3000 total people, and from 22 square blocks to 45 square blocks. But there's been so much to catch up on.

There was a lot of loose threads left when the area was split. One of the brighter moments of the week was when we happened to pass by one of the (famous around here) returned missionaries who served in this area for eight months, from April to December of 2012. They go to BYU now and so are in the area a lot, and the added knowledge and relationships are going to help a lot. It made me think a little bit about how involved I want to be in my former areas after my mission. No reason to let the ball drop when I'm only a half hour south. Already they have pointed us to a couple people that we should be working smoothly with very soon.

One of our wards held an Easter party that was pretty hilarious. The highlights probably were a 20-minute cake decorating contest between the High Priests, Elders quorum, Relief Society, Primary presidency, YM, and YW. Everyone took it really serious (yes, they had fondant and stuff) and they looked good. The MC then picked a random song to which the cake had to be presented to and the classes danced around with their cake. It was funny. We had a couple potentials there as well and it helped a lot with their fellowship into the ward. ha.

Not much else to report... weather is getting warmer, slowly (but it is warm enough for frisbee which is all that really matters. we know what our zone pday activity is going to be today :] )

--Elder Chandler

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thought: finding

Last transfer, Elder Bloomfield and I really focused on teaching skills. This six weeks we've resolved to find out all we can about the decidedly harder part (for us) of missionary work: finding.

And the report I have so far isn't so good; all we can figure out that PMG tells us is this: finding is long and hard and dreary and will cause many tears, but press forward with faith and you will find. An earlier study quickly came to my mind: Psalms 126:5-6. This is easily becoming my favorite psalm as well as one of my favorite scriptures. So simple, yet deep.

They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.

He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

Do we not bear precious seed in our message? Do we not "sow" that seed every day, every hour? (sometimes in tears, when we're tired, when its an anti, when its whatever?) Yet this verse promises us that the sheaves, the harvest will come. As will the rejoicing.

cf. D&C 33:9 - The only way to reap is to Open Your Mouth, so do it! Even without the badge. It's worth it.

summary of our study so far? and our montra? "for this cause came I into the mission".

Have a great week!

Elder Sighting 03-21-2013

Posted on Facebook by CR Despain:

"P Day at the Mall with the Zone Leaders!!! :)"

Elder Sighting 03-19-2013

A text:

"Just had dinner and a nice visit with your son. He's a great missionary!"

Letter 03-19-2013

Hi people,

First, pictures! 1. Bernie's baptism, ha. His eyes are closed and the whole picture looks skewed because of the way Elder Bloomfield and Brother Goates (WML) are tilting their heads. 2. My St. Patrick's day garb. Thanks for the tie Soderquists :) (The ties name is Bob the Leprechaun)

Next: Finding weeks are the longest weeks.

Lots of referrals received, many contacted, but no new investigators, so we're still dealing with a dry investigator pool. To add to the situation, the other companionships in the zone had many a person fall off date, so there was a massive scramble by the leadership to try and pick up the pieces this week. Lots of calls to everyone, lots of training, lots of working.

So maybe a little stressful.

But besides that, things are going so. good. We have transfers this week - Elder Bloomfield and I are staying together for another six weeks. That was good enough for us, but then came the plot twist; we're now covering the whole Murray Little Cottonwood Stake, rather than just half of it. The sisters that were covering the other half both got transferred out... so things are about to get really crazy. President Moffat told us that he's looking for us to build a foundational framework in the other half of the stake in preparation of a re-split. We're expected to produce. That's a lot of trust that, after this last week, I don't really feel deserving of. But it's exciting nonetheless!

Other than that, things continue on. Just looked back and realized I've already been out almost nine months... there's no way. Sooo fastttttttt

Elder Chandler

 

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thought: five "keys" to missionary work

Our landlord, John Brantly, has a big bookshelf downstairs. It's full of a lot of books I don't have time to read (Articles of Faith, Millennial Messiah, Infinite Atonement, etc.). But, there was a book by Steven R. Covey that caught my eye for a second, "Spiritual Roots of Human Relations". I looked in the Table of Contents and there just so happened to be a short section titled "to missionaries". So I checked it out, and from the genius mind of Steven R. Covey comes some great suggestions on how to do missionary work!

80% of your success comes from 20% of your activities, and vice versa. The key is to make each of your activities as productive as possible by following these five points:

1) Communicate: a) With God, b) with yourself, c) with your companion. If all three of these happen, everything else will fall into place.

2) Plan Ahead: By effectively planning, you will double or triple your effectiveness in all that you do. It's a hard skill to acquire, but well worth the effort to gain.

3) Simplify: Bear testimony, ask questions, and testify. Be awesome.

4) Be Strong: You have a testimony of the gospel - don't hide it. Drink the bitter "cup" (tracting, street contacting, etc.) of your mission. It's why you're out here. "For this cause came I into the mission".

5) Multiply Yourself: Create relationships with members in a way that you are effectively creating more missionaries out in the field. The power of one missionary companionship trying to place 10 copies of the Book of Mormon vs a companionship handing out 50 to members, and having them place the books, is not only more efficient but much more successful.

From one of the masters of success and human relations himself.

Letter 03-12-2013

Hi,

Not much time to email today. We've got a special opportunity today to leave the mission and go to the Jordan River temple, so that's taking up most of the day. We even get to eat in the cafeteria :)

Bernie's baptism went AWESOME. He's been being prepared for a long time - it just took a little friendliness to get him where he's now at. I had the chance to do the confirmation; what a thrill (and a little bit of a scare). But it was also cool beans.

So yep back to finding. Got lessons set up with a couple pretty promising potentials this week so we'll see how things turn out.

Elder Chandler

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thought: teaching skills

Elder Bloomfield and I have had some great, productive companionship studies over this transfer. The thing we've probably hit most is teaching skills, particularly asking questions, listening, and bearing testimony. We've concluded that 90% of the lesson should be those three things, and only 10% hard teaching.

We had the first counselor in the mission presidency stop by for our comp study this morning. Without knowing he was doing it he solidified everything we had taught each other and gave us the final piece to our puzzle - the 30-45 minute lesson plans in PMG. Know/memorize those statements, and those can be our 10% teaching. Everything else is questions, listening, and testimony. Kinda cool. So get familiar with those bullets brothers!

Letter 03-06-2013

Hi,

Sunny skies lately in SLC. There's still quite a bit of snow on the ground, even after mid-50s temperatures... just goes to show how much snow there was on the ground I guess. But it is a nice relief to have a little smidgen of warmth sneak in.

After the Zhuckkahosees last week, we're now able to turn all of our attention to Bernie and finding new people. Bernie passed his interview and is still set for this Saturday so we'll have pictures from that and probably T^2 as well next week.

But yes, finding. I really wish I could just teach all the time. But, we've actually had quite a bit of success lately with our finding efforts. Cameron and us continue to tract through the half of an apartment complex we cover and have pretty good success. We now get to work through the Zhuckkahosees to find even more people to teach without having to double focus on getting them to baptism themselves. We have miracles happening as wards come together to fast for new opportunities for us to teach. It might not be the most exciting part of the day, and it's definitely the part that takes up most of the day, but it happens and we learn from it a lot!

have a sunny week maybe,

Elder Chandler

thought: the family history center is packed so I've got to go... sorry.

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!

-------------

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--