Last week in Big Rapids then on to Kalkaska...

TRANSFERRED!                                                                                                        Feb. 24, 2015

Hey everybody, I'm e-mailing a day late, because I got transferred! I'm e-mailing you today from snowy Kalkaska, Michigan! This was a good week though! To be honest, right now I don't really remember much, but I will do my best. :)

Monday: Last monday we went to Greenville and had a district P-Day playing Risk and basketball. It was really fun. For FHE we cut out hearts and went around putting them on people's doors and door bell ditching them. It was fun stuff. :) 

Tuesday: We had correlation at Bro. Hunt's. We also had some hot chocolate with John Montgomery. He's the guy who likes to have us over, and also the Jehovah's witnesses. So we talked with him for a little bit. Then we were on campus. We had an awesome lesson with Justin. We finished teaching the Plan of Salvation, and put him on date to be baptized. He walks everywhere, and we offered to get him a ride to church and he said, "The cold never bothered me anyway..." It was hilarious. We had dinner with the Lillywhites.

Wednesday: We had district meeting in Big Rapids. The Zone leaders also came. It was really good. We talked about how the Holy Ghost usually works as just a thought and if we are living worthily, it will be the first thought. We had lunch at the FSU campus cafeteria, it was really good stuff. ha. We then helped Bro. Thompson cut wood then met with Chantice and read the BOM with her. We went to see Shade and his brother, Ivory who just got baptized in a different ward was there, he was really cool. We had dinner at the McClures, which was great as usual.

Thursday: We spent a lot of time on campus today and also knocking doors. It was SO COLD! We worked hard though and were proud. :) We had dinner at the Williams and went through the Plan of Salvation with Sis. Williams. It was cool. 

Friday: Today we got our Transfer call... I was in the bathroom and Elder Laing yelled, "Get out here now!" So Pres. Jacobsen first told Elder Laing he was staying and would be comps with Elder Olsen, then he told me I was going to Kalkaska with Elder Houser and that I would be the district leader... While Elder Green was telling us our travel arrangements I was shaking pretty bad. ha. I started packing during lunch and we did weekly planning. We spent time on campus, my last PC-ing. :( Then we taught Sis. Tucker and had dinner with Larry and watched Bible Videos. He's a stud!

Saturday: We walked all day! We knocked and met some cool people. We had lunch with Sis. Milton and knocked some more. We met with Gabe. He's a stud as well. Today was fun. 

Sunday: Church got cancelled today! The building flooded yesterday so we spent the whole day visiting people. It was fun, but also really sad. I love it in Big Rapids. We got offered to be fed for like 6 meals. ha. We settled for 3. :) 

Monday: Today when we left Big Rapids it was -22. We drove to Grand Rapids then I got on the transfer van to Lansing. I saw Elder Rapp! I love him. Then we went to Mt. Pleasant and I saw Elder Hess there! We drove with some recent converts, the Piattes. We had Ponderosa for lunch and finally made it to Kalkaska. I live in a house here, it's literally a house! :) We met the Branch Pres. then had dinner with the Piattes. 

I'm exited to get to be here in Kalkaska. It has had a lot of success this past year and has a lot of great people here. 

My spiritual thought was what I included about the Holy Ghost. He usually speaks to us in a simple thought and as we act on it we will be able to recognize how he works and how he can help us in our lives. I like the verse, John 7:17,  "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine." Make sure you are living worthy of the beautiful gift of the Holy Ghost and he will guide, protect, strengthen and comfort you!

I love you all and I love serving as a Michiganary!

Love,

Elder Chalmers

Me with the McClure/Hardbarger Family (AJ & Ryan)

The Hunt Family and me

Justin and me

This week flew by! It was a good one though! :)                                                     Feb. 16, 2015

Monday: After e-mailing, we drove up to Reed City to play games and teach our new investigators, The Simmons. Their kids are members and live in Cadillac. So we get there, and to my surprise, Elder Hess was there! They got approved to come down with the kids so we had dinner and I got to spend the evening with him. It was great to see him! :) The lesson went okay, there were 6 missionaries so it was a little too much, but it still went well.

Tuesday: Today we spent time on campus. We also had a lesson with a new investigator named James Hurst. He committed to be baptized! He had even done an online quiz on the Book of Mormon since we last met with him and said, "I failed." ha. We also taught Justin the Plan of Salvation. It was sweet, he really takes time to think about his responses to our questions and we had a great lesson with him. He's a stud. We then ate pizza with Larry and watched Bible Videos.

Wednesday: Today we spent A LOT of time on campus. I was talking to a girl who is in charge of the student Christian organization. It was annoying because she just kept bringing up things that she strongly disagreed with, with our doctrine, and it really bothered me. I love having religious conversations but not when people aren't at all open minded... :/ We had a great lesson with Chantice. We had Wyatt come with us and he is a great teacher and invited her to church for us and it was just perfect! :) We had dinner at the McClures... it was "a slug between the teeth." They made deer meet, biscuits and gravy, grilled potatoes and peach cobbler... So good! 

Thursday: We met with a guy named Issa who is a muslim and he educated us on it. It was really interesting stuff. He was cool. We also shared with him about our church then we did our weekly planning. Following that, we had a lot of people cancel on us so we knocked for a little bit. We had dinner at the Williams and had another awesome conversation with them about obedience and the gospel. It was great!

Friday: Today we had trade-offs. I was with Elder Raun in Greenville. We went to see a less-active there and I told her I was from Big Rapids and she said, "You're heaven sent!" She has a friend in Big Rapids that needs somebody to talk to...then "coincidentally" her friend, Rose called while we were there, so I talked to her and set up an appt. with her. :) Then we knocked for a few hours. That was COLD! My feet went completely numb but we still had fun. We picked up a new investigator and taught her, it was really cool. Then Elder Raun bought a couple of pizzas and we both ate a whole one. :) Elder Raun is 6 foot 6, and a big boy, so I was proud of myself. ha. 

Saturday: We were supposed to spend the whole day in Grand Rapids because Elder Nash of the Seventy was coming to speak to us, but they cancelled it, due to the weather so Elder Raun and I went to try and see some potentials, and the weather was crazy! The wind was blowing like crazy! We traded back and went to see Bro. Krome. He told us all about being a Navy Seal, it was crazy. After that we went to see the Fairchilds. His wife is from China and has only been here for 3 years. She cooked us dinner, it was so good. She made the tomatoes and egg dish that I loved when I was in China in 2010! :) 

Sunday: I wrote my talk that I was was asked to give then we had Branch council. We had 4 investigators at church! It was awesome! I spoke on "Love in the Family" and talked about how serving others and also serving God, can allow us to have more love in our families. It went well. Elder Laing also spoke then we drove to Fremont and from there drove to Wyoming, MI to see Elder Nash. It was so good. A few cool things he said are, 

"Considering all the blessings the Gospel has given you, a mission is the least you can do." and he told us how "we need to have more Gospel conversations, not just 'lessons.'"

He was awesome. I loved it. He was so powerful and inspiring. I also got to see Elder Finlayson and Sister Cornia! Midland reunion!

My spiritual thought for today comes from Elder Nash. One thing he told us to do is to "think about the doctrines & principles, then get on your knees." I really loved it and I would challenge each of you to think about how that applies to you. The doctrine, is "the why" of the gospel and the principle is "the how" of the gospel. Look at your life and certain doctrine and ask yourself, why and then how you can apply that into your life and take it to the Lord. This life is all about making progress. This is a way that can help.

I love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Chalmers

All For the Picture!

GQ Elders

The District

Snow!

 I Believe in Miracles!                                                                                                           Feb. 9, 2015

This week was awesome! We had so many awesome things happen for us! It seemed like everything was just going our way!

Tuesday: We had correlation in the morning at Bro. Hunt's. We went over making a branch mission plan then we went to teach Bea. She is back in Big Rapids so we had a lesson with her. She wants to be baptized but has a hard time acting on anything. Later, we spent some time on campus and after that we knocked doors for a little while. We then tried to see Wyatt, who was actually busy. ha. Following that we tried to visit some potentials then we got shined by a guy named Joey. We spent a little bit of time with Larry and then made a lot of phone calls.

Wednesday: Today we had district meeting in Fremont. We talked about the "Green and Clean" Theory which is that there is a lot of ways to do missionary work right. On the way back to Big Rapids we tried to visit some less actives. We had a lesson with a potential named Robin. She wants to meet in about a month, so that's not too bad. Then we had a few lessons. One with a girl named Chantice at the FSU Library. The lesson went great, she has faith in Christ, but said, "I don't even feel like a Christian, since I don't do anything." We also had a lesson with a guy named Justin. He is really smart and we taught him the Restoration. He really liked it and at the end of the lesson he pulled out a Book of Mormon and said the sister missionaries had given it to him last year. "coincidence" :) We also met with Wyatt today and since he's always straight with us we pretty plainly invited him to church. He had a few excuses but we got him to commit to it. :) 

Thursday: Today was pretty slow. We spent a while on campus and a big chunk of the day weekly planning. We had dinner with the Williams and had a great talk about the Holy Ghost. Then we went to try and visit a potential named Sheena. When we met her the first time she was wearing footie PJs, so she obviously had a lot of promise. :) She was wearing footie PJs again and we talked with her for a while. She had done some research into us and asked about alcohol and polygamy, of course. It went well though, and we got a return appt. with her.

Friday: Today was off the charts good! We spent about an hour on campus before we had a lesson and I met this girl who said, before I even asked it, "I've wondered my purpose..." so we set up an appt. with her right after her class was done. We had a lesson with a new guy named Brody that went well then before the girl, Alexis got there, we got a call from a guy in Hart, MI who is a recent convert who said that his brother wanted to be baptized! So we taught Alexis the Plan of Salvation. It was really great. She liked it and understood it well then we picked up Gabe and headed up to Reed City to contact this referral. It was not what we had expected.... This guy's brother is named Shade. He is probably like 90 pounds and was a little out there. He told us, "I was already going to join your church. I knew it the second you walked into the door." So, we just need to make sure he actually knows about the church and has a testimony. :) ha. We contacted another referral who are the parents of members in Cadillac. They were super cool and we were able to get a return appt. with them. Then we came back to Big Rapids and had lessons with Sis. Tucker and Seitler. Then we took of for Bitely to go to Sis. McClure's. We had sloppy joes and read about David and Goliath with AJ and Ryan. Today was just awesome. We were able to get 5 new investigators and teach all day. :)

Saturday: We did a lot of walking today but it all paid off. :) We were able to pick up a few potentials while walking today so that was cool. :) While knocking doors we saw some members and said hi and then they yelled at us to come over for lunch so that was pretty cool. :) We had to go and get our bags at the apartment and then were knocking before we had to go to a lesson. We tried to help a lady shovel but she referred us to go to her neighbor's house. We knocked and the guy who answered was a guy we had met two weeks ago while we were car fasting. He let us in and we taught him the Resto. and got a return appt. It was awesome! Then we had a lesson with Gabe then had a lot of bookkeeping to do. Today was good though.

Sunday: This morning, as I was thinking about what to eat, I got the prompting that I should fast, so I prayed and decided to fast for the gift of discernment. It's so important to be able to teach to people's needs, so I want to be better at that. We went to PEC this morning and then went with Bro. Clark to pick up Wyatt for church. He walked right out, and said, "I got my hair all did." hah. We had a ton of less actives at church, it was awesome! After church, we tried to contact referrals and potentials then we had a lesson with Wyatt. We are going to be teaching him all the lessons again because he had a talk with Pres. Williams and has some conflicting beliefs. He told us how he is partially wiccan, and so we talked about that and he has an interesting way of praying, so we told him that Jesus taught us how to pray and that's how we need to do it and then he said, "you're right." We also told him to focus on how he feels during our lessons and look for the Spirit. Then we went to Reed City with Bro. Hunt. We re-taught the Resto to Shade. He was a lot less crazy and it went well. Then we met a new move in named Bruce Smith. I found out he's a Cowboys fan... ;( We had dinner at the Hunt's. They are the best!

Today has been good. We shopped and studied. Then I spent two hours cleaning the apartment, making it shine. :) I got caught up in my journals and worked out. We are going to the Simmonds, in Reed City, to play games, eat dinner, and have a lesson tonight. We are pretty excited about them. :) 

My spiritual thought of the week is short, it's a quote that President Monson used in a talk, when quoting Jabari Parker, "Be the same person in the light, that you are in the dark." That is what true character is. Always be yourself and be striving to be a better, more Christlike you. To go along with that, find out what your motivations for the things you do are, especially in keeping the commandments. It should be out of love for God, not out of fear. As my good friend Curt Cormier always says, "It's all about Love."

I love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Chalmers

My first mission tubby...eating ice cream and watching Bible videos!

Sunset, taken from the car

Another one of the bulldogs around town.

The planner that my branch mission leader, Bro. Hunt, made for me.

 Goodbye January...It's Been Nice!                                                                             Feb. 2, 2015

This was a Solid week in Big Rapids! Elder Laing and I have really gotten comfortable with each other and things keep on getting better and better, it's awesome! :)

Tuesday: Today was great and not only because we got fed three meals today. :) ha. After studies, we had correlation and breakfast at the Hunt's. Teagan came as well. We talked about a branch mission plan and sort of had a kick-off meeting since Bro. Hunt was called on Sunday. He's a stud. They have three kids, ages 1,2, and 3 and she's pregnant again. ha. We had lunch with an investigator named John Montgomery. He fed us bear meat stew. It was "a slug between the teeth." He is a Catholic and taught marketing at Ferris so he loves talking to us and also the Jehovah's Witnesses. He had me share the best thing about missionary work and Elder Laing had to share the worst thing. I said, "The opportunity to change people's lives." (Alma 26:15) and Elder Laing said, "The disappointment of people dropping us and not progressing..."  It turned into a great discussion. We had a great lesson with Connie. She has been on date to be baptized before so we asked her about a new date and she was unsure about a few things so we scrapped our lesson and talked about the importance of receiving her own answer from the Holy Ghost. We also had a convert with us who had similar concerns and he bore his testimony to her. It was a really spiritual and powerful lesson. We knocked doors for a while and met a pretty funny lady, we introduced ourselves and she wasn't too happy to see us so we asked her what she believes and very emphatically she goes, "The Cross! Jesus Christ!" It was so funny. Then we finally had a lesson with Sandy. He is really cool and told us his conversion story and how he was prepared for the sisters to knock on his door, it was cool. Sis. Milton got a pizza for us for dinner.

Wednesday: We played some early morning B-ball here in Big Rapids before District meeting. It was a great meeting. We talked about finding and teaching. They want us to be super friendly with people and not be too pushy which will be a change. I don't like to let people off easy... We had lunch at Taco Bell and I went on trade-offs with our district leader, Elder Bischoff, down to Greenville. We spent the whole day trying to find less-actives and knocking doors. It was really fun though. Elder Bischoff is really cool. He goes home in a month and it was great getting to learn from him and talk. We also met a crazy guy named Dean. He kept telling us how he's experienced a lot of the same stuff as Jesus. He was a true Gander. ha. 

Thursday: We were planning on trading back in the morning, but we weren't allowed to drive until later because there was black ice on the roads so we extended trade-offs. We knocked all day. It was fun though. We met some cool, and of course, crazy people. ha. Then once I got back to Big Rapids we ate dinner and then tried to track down some potentials. 

Friday: Today we spent the morning on campus. I met a black guy named Christian Success. ha. He was really cool. He said if we meet again on campus, that it will be a sign, and we can talk some more. ha. I'm going to find him. :) We had lunch with the Hoerters at The Rock. It's a sweet buffet on campus. It was good stuff. We got shined by a student at the library. It's pretty frustrating, the students will always make appts. with you, but they never show up... So we knocked doors, and we met one pretty cool guy. Then we had a lesson with Sis. Tucker. Our cool new investigator Kevin had to cancel, which was sad. We then did Weekly Planning. It went really good, our best one yet. It was so great! :)

Saturday: Today we did a lot of knocking. We knocked into a former investigator who said we can come back, so that should be cool. :) We also found a few cool potentials. We had a lesson with Sebastian and Chloe. We taught them the Plan of Salvation. They really liked it. Then we had a lesson with Gabe. He came with us to see Debbie, who gave us some pie. :) Then Sis. Cox & Sis. Yearkey. 

Sunday: Church was great today. Sebastian and Chloe came to church! They both walked in with the Harvey's with their Book of Mormons in hand, it was cute. :) We also had a lot of less-active members there. They cancelled the third hour of church because there was so much snow so we went and knocked doors. We shoveled snow for a lady. She was really grateful and tried to pay us. ha. Then we had a really great lesson with a guy named, Mike. Elder Raun talked to him on campus on trade-offs. Our lesson went amazing. He had a ton of great questions and we were able to teach in unity really well, it was sweet! We had dinner at the Hunt's. We talked about his mission a lot. I'm so happy he got called to be branch mission leader. He loves missionary work and coming and teaching with us. We tried to visit some potentials then shoveled for Larry. We also didn't watch the Super Bowl. So I"m happy I wasn't put into a tough situation. :) ha.

Today we have studied and I got Elder Laing to work out with me again. :) We also got our hair cut so we don't look like scrubs. :) 

My spiritual thought of the week is more of a personal experience. I feel like in the past few weeks my faith has really been tested. I have found myself asking the question, "Why would someone want to change their life to join the LDS church?" I gave it a lot of thought and I finally found my answer right in my question. It WILL change their life. That it what living the gospel will do for people, it will change their life in a way they never knew was possible. As I fasted yesterday, I fasted to have my faith strengthened and I found the truth of the scripture, "Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faith.  Nevertheless—whosoever putteth his trust in him the same shall be lifted up at the last day. Yea, and thus it was with this people." There is also a quote I read in Preach my Gospel by Ezra Taft Benson, it says, "Every man eventually is backed up to the wall of faith, and there he must make his stand." I want to testify to each of you that the church is true, Jesus is the Christ and that Heavenly Father does and will answer any of your questions as you "ask in faith".

I love each one of you and am so grateful for all of the support!

Love,

Elder Chalmers

The Michiganary!

SNOW!

comp unity...

This dog will kill me one day, we walk past it all the time, and it's out to get me....