The Colors, They Are a Changin'

Sept. 29, 2014

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This week was a great week for Elder Rapp and I, but I don't have my planner with me so this whole e-mail will have to be from memory, bear with me.

Monday: Last P-Day we didn't really do anything. We played basketball and e-mailed. Elder Rapp and I then just chilled at the apartment for the last few hours of P-Day. After that we biked to the Pierce's. We had dinner with them and taught FHE. It was really cool though because they hometeach a part member family, the Sexton's. Joseph is a member and his wife Teresa isn't. He really wants to be able to bless his 18 month old son, so it's really cool. We taught them the Restoration and it went really well It was great having the Pierce's to teach, they are such a great family. Then we went to Blake's and he went off about government and once he gets going you can't stop him. Then we had to bike home in the dark, which was pretty fun.

Tuesday: We spent most of our time either at the Tridge or knocking doors. We met a few pretty cool guys. We did have dinner at the Cormiers which was sweet. I love them so much, they are my favorite! I honestly can't really remember exactly what we did but I know that it was fun. ha

Wednesday: Today was fun! We woke up early and met the Zone Leaders and the Midland 1 missionaries. We played some basketball at the church which was dang fun then we had district meeting. After that, Elder Rapp and I hurried home and changed and I got my stuff since we were going on trade-offs with the Zone Leaders. I went with Elder Tuttle to Mt. Pleasant. We had lunch with a member named Bro. Clynick, he is just full of off-color one liners, it was pretty funny. :)  All day we did personal contacting on campus and also taught a few lessons. They have a ton of people they are teaching since everyone on campus is super open. We taught a couple of girls named Mckenzie and Krystal. We taught them both about covenants and the Restoration.  I love teaching about covenants. Elder Tuttle showed me how he does it and it's super effective. We had dinner at Bro. Bassett's. He is wanting to rejoin the church and has so many struggles and wants to change so badly but he just can't get himself to commit. It was really sad. Elder Tuttle is such a stud. He works super hard and it was a blast. 

Thursday: I spent today in Mt. Pleasant on Central Michigan University's campus. We taught like 4 lessons today and they were all about the Restoration. We ran into one of their investigators named Alex and she is a fireball. She is a sorority girl and as she would say, she is a "hot mess". She is all drama and super chatty. She would see us and then all the personal contacting we were doing was shot. It was a really fun day, and I learned a ton. I loved the trade-off but I was happy to get back to Midland, I was starting to miss it. 

Friday: Today was busy and fun. We went to teach Joe and it was Tracey's birthday, so he had made her a cake and we sang "Happy Birthday" to her. It was pretty cute. Then we taught Joe about the Sacrament. We also tried to visit a few former investigators. We tried to see a guy named Bill, so we got there and asked if he was Bill and he was, so we talked to him for a while. But it turns out he had just moved in and was a different Bill. ha. He let us hold his little parrot though. :) Then we went and got shined by Ben. After that we did weekly planning which was actually really, really good. :) Then we picked up the 1st ward elders and went out to the Crippen's farm for their ward party. It was super fun. We got to meet Jade & Nathan who are their sweet investigators who are moving into our area. :) We played ultimate frisbee with some of the priests and Nathan. It was super foggy which was sweet. Then we went on a hay ride which was also really cool. It was a super fun day.

Saturday: Today is the day we met Jon... This morning after studies we went and taught Ben the GOJC with Bro Cannady. Then after that we went to see James Cannady, Bro Cannady's son. We got there and the last time we were with him he was telling us how excited he was to see the new TV show, Gotham, that I guess just came out. We asked him about it and for the next hour he told us every little detail about the first episode. He even had to use the bathroom after about 40 min so we were prepared to get the lesson back when he came out, but NOPE, he didn't lose a beat. It was crazy. After he was done we asked him if we could start with a prayer and he offered to say it! We have really been working on getting him to pray so it was super cool. :) Then we went to the Tridge and met with one of our potentials that Elder Hess and I had met at the Tridge. He is awesome! We taught him the Restoration and really focused on covenants and the priesthood. We read Mosiah 18:8-10 with him and he said, "Well, the catholic church is wrong. You can't make a covenant as a baby." It was so awesome. He is so prepared. He is on date for the 25th of October. Elder Rapp and I are super pumped about him! Then we went to meet Sis. Reyes for dinner at the mall with the 1st ward elders and she gave us money to get food, so we went to Golden Buffet which is a Chinese buffet. It was super good! :) Then we went and saw David Clark for a little bit. It was a really good day.

Sunday: Today was really good as well. None of our investigators showed up for church which was a little frustrating but church was still really good. Bro. Gudmundsun gave a talk about the evils of the world and the Atonement, which was really, really good. We listened to Dallin H. Oaks's talk from last conference about the priesthood which was also really good. I like how he says that men are not the priesthood. After church, we went to Bro .Jones and he gave us a ton of venison stew, which is pretty dang good. After that we knocked doors and for some reason nobody was home?! After that we went to the McCormick's where we talked about covenants and priesthood. Penny said that she believes everything we teach and knows she needs to be baptized, she just isn't ready for it yet. It's kind of frustrating, but we don't want to push her away then we stopped by the Robel's to follow up with them and we just chatted for a while about D&C 4. We had dinner at the Tuft's, who are a new family in our ward, they made surprisingly good meatloaf. They are really cool. Then we did our studies. 

Today we have gone shopping, done our laundry and we went to Dow Gardens which is a really cool place. We got a ton of pictures, it's super beautiful in there. Then we played soccer which was sweet, since we haven't played in forever. Tonight we are going to Helen's to teach her FHE and she's feeding us, which should be good. :)

So this week, I learned a lot from my studies and I don't know what to share with you. I will just share something from last Sunday. As I was preparing for the sacrament, I read Alma 5. It's a pretty intense chapter about basically how prepared we are to meet God. I really like a section from verse 48. It says "It is he that cometh to take away the sins of the world, yea, the sins of every man who steadfastly believeth on his name." I thought that it was really interesting that Alma distinguishes that Christ will take away the sins of only those who have faith in Christ. I don't really have much to add to that, but I would just challenge each of you to ponder what Alma says and see how it applies to you personally and also to read Alma 5 and really check your progress and see the areas that you need to improve. I promise that it really helps. 

I love each and every one of you and am so thankful to have so much support out here.

Love,

Elder Chalmers

2 Cor. 12:9-10

The Cormier's

Foggy ultimate frisbee

Elder Rapp and me at Dow Gardens

Hey Everybody!                                                                          Sept. 22,2014

Joe Booth got baptized on Saturday! It was such a great experience to get to help him prepare, especially since he has been waiting for 3 years to get baptized.

Monday: It was a pretty typical P-Day. We had to go to Marshall's to get Elder Rapp a jacket and they had a ton of Eagles mugs, so I bought one. :) We had dinner at Justin and Erica Jones. They made some really good enchiladas. I really like Justin, he's a Steelers fan and always wears his Steelers tie to church, so we talk about football. ha. Then we went to Blake's and he brought up the afterlife, which was cool since it's hard to keep him on a gospel topic. Then Bro Jones gave me a haircut, which wasn't quite as bad of a hack job as the first one he gave me. ;) hah. I put on all my Eagles gear at night to support my Eagles against the Colts!

Tuesday:Today I was on trade-offs with Elder Nielsen in my area. We studied Alma 36 quite a bit. I really like it a lot ,especially verse 27 that says "I do put my trust in Him, and He will still deliver me." It talks a lot about how a faith in Jesus Christ can bless us. Then we taught Joe the Restoration since we needed to go through all the lessons with him again. Then we watched "Hope Through God's Light" Mormon Message at Ben's house. We talked a lot about hope and showed him Moroni 7:41 about having "hope through the Atonement." We knocked doors for a long time after that. We ran into Gary Glenn, who is running for state senate here. His wife and kids are all members, I'm sure I've mentioned Hunter Glenn, he teaches with us all the tim and returned from his mission in May. We talked with him for a while. He talked a ton about Boise State Football. Then for dinner we heated up some of the ribs Dad sent me. :) 

Wednesday: Today was sweet. We had District Meeting and we talked about the Holy Ghost and how He works through our testimonies. Then we had to extend our trade-off for a little bit. Elder Nielsen and I went to see Patti since we had to reschedule with her. He shared Jacob 4:7 with her and she said that is exactly what she needed, it was really cool.  Then we went and taught Joe and taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ. During this lesson is when the Spirit testified to me that Joe was truly ready for baptism. He explained repentance to us and talked a lot about the desires of our hearts. Then I asked him why he wanted to be baptized and he talked about how he wanted to follow the Savior and help others do that same. Right then I knew he was ready. Then we traded back and had to give the car to the STL's in Mt. Pleasant. So we are now on bikes for the next week. So we biked to the Krueger's for dinner. She made ribs, but they were no Traeger ribs. We then knocked doors and one lady threatened to call the cops on us and have us arrested and I told her, "I don't think that's how that would work." ha. But we just left. Then we had dessert at the Marcou's. We talked about Faith, Hope & Charity in Moroni 10:20 as well as 1 Cor. 13. Then we had to bike home in the pitch black and we were singing hymns and some guy yelled, "It's late!" at us. ha. 

Thursday: Today while studying PMG I found that my responsibility as a missionary is to teach from my heart by the Spirit.  Then we did weekly planning. After that we went out to Joe's. This time was different though, because since we were on bikes and it's like six miles each way. We had to bike out there and about half of it we have to bike on the side of the road which was sketchy. ha. We just basically went over all the Commandments and Laws & Ordinances with him. After that we went to Dennis's. We did tear off one of the sides of his roof and also unloaded all the shingles from the truck. Then tried to visit a few potentials, so we stopped by the Robel's and shared D&C 4 with them. Then we had dinner at the Gilberts. He picked us up, thank goodness. We had Hawaiian Haystacks and they were so good! They are such a cool family. Then we knocked doors.

Friday: Today was so much fun! :) Today while studying PMG I read some cool stuff. I read that my power as a missionary and priesthood holder comes from prayerfully and worthily exercising authority. Then after studies, Hunter Glenn called us and told us that the car he had planned to borrow from his neighbors to pick us up wasn't there. So we told him that we would just meet him there. So we had to bike all the way to Helen's which is like 6 miles each way. We were like 20 min late but the Sisters came with us too so we just told them to start. We went over the Plan of Salvation and then taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a really great lesson having 4 missionaries, an RM and a member as well there. Helen fed us pizza, noodles w/ shrimp and lemon cake. She's an angel. :) Then on our way home, Joe called us and told us he passed his baptismal interview and asked if we were coming to see him. We said we weren't planning on it,then he told us that he thought we wanted to see him everyday this week so after trying to visit a few people who both weren't home, we decided to toughen up and go see Joe. We watched the John Tanner story with him. We talked about doing all that we can to give everything to the Lord. We also did his paperwork and then we went to Mancino's with Sisters Anderson and Nyman. We met a sweet girl named Jaclyn at the Tridge, she is so solid. We are going to meet with her next week sometime. We biked like 25 miles today since Helen is the furthest North of the people we regularly see and Joe is the furthest South. It was so fun though. :)

Saturday: Today was awesome! It was Joe's Baptism! We had to bike to the church at about 7:30 since we had to start filling the font. We set up everything for the baptism then we also studied there. We got Joe ready in his jumpsuit. President and Sister Jacobsen both came and they brought Elder Hess and his companions Elder Lyman and Sinsel. Since Elder Hess and Lyman have both worked with Joe and Joe really wanted them there. It was amazing getting to watch Joe get baptized. I was so happy getting to watch him enter into the waters of baptism. He's been waiting so long for this and he finally made it! After the baptism we went and met with James Cannady, we watched Only a Stonecutter with him and talked about how keeping the commandments isn't always easy, but we receive blessings when we do. Then we knocked doors for a while. Then we went to the Fall Frolic stake activity. It was just pretty much free food and a ton of sweets. :) Then we were at the Tridge. On our way home I looked in the window of one of the coffee shops and I saw Brian Simonds! :) He is going to Grand Valley State but was back in town for the weekend and so we gave each other a big hug and then chatted for a while, it was so cool. :)

Sunday: Today was incredible. I was able to confirm Joe in sacrament meeting. I was shaking the entire time, I was really nervous. It was an amazing experience. Then Bishop Savage spoke about how we need to look past others imperfections. The way we do that is to be welcoming, accepting, patient and sincere.  After church we taught the McCormick's with Bro Krueger. We talked about being prepared. Then after church we did studies. Then we had Stake Priesthood meeting where President Lenhart talked about how we are all on the same team. He showed the Mormon Message about football, which was sweet. Then President Henrie talked about how we need to go to the temple more. After we had dinner at Sister Wheelers. We went with Hunter and Jefferson Glenn. She made some good enchiladas. :) Sister Gallon, who is a less-active, was also there. She asked me if Satan can disguise himself as the Holy Ghost. So this will be my spiritual thought for the week. I read her Moroni 7:11-13 which says that whatever inviteth and enticeth us to do good is from God. Then she asked if we follow that prompting if something we think is good, and it turns out bad. Then I told her that it comes down to us being worthy of the Spirit. If we aren't living worthy of the Spirit, we won't be able to discern the promptings we get or even recognize them. I also explained to her that sometimes we do follow a prompting from the Holy Ghost and it doesn't turn into something "good." I used the example of Jesus Christ and how suffering for the sins of the world wasn't "good" for him to go through but it was incredible and worth it. It all comes down to submitting our will to the Lord's. 

I have been having a ton of fun out here, especially this week. I love getting to be on bikes. I feel like a true missionary. :) I want to tell each and every one of you how much I love you and how thankful I am for your constant support and love. 

Love,

Elder Chalmers

haha!

Joe's Baptism!!

Elder Rapp and me