The future is as bright as your faith!

Finding the Spartans                                                                                                  May 23, 2016

Hey everyone!

Another great week, as usual, here in the Michigan Lansing Mission. We were blessed with almost perfect weather all week and great opportunities to testify and teach of the Savior and His gospel. Sounds like a good week to me!

Last Monday we went to Grand Rapids for their P-Day where we played football for about three hours and had a blast. What a great sport. It was great to be with so many amazing missionaries and a lot of my good friends. Then we drove to Kalamazoo to trade off, I was with Elder Dunn, from Cedar City, UT (poor guy).

We had a great day at WMU. We had a cool miracle. We prayed to be able to teach someone that we had just met, and we met a guy named Noe (No-ay) with whom we had an awesome lesson. He told us how he felt comfortable around us and was open with us. God answered our prayer because we acted in faith. Miracles happen because of faith and faith is a principle of action, so our actions determine if God will grant miracles, interesting thought.

We went to district meeting in Grand Rapids and then after coming back to E. Lansing we had a lesson with a new investigator from India named Akhil who's really cool. We're excited for him.

Another cool thing that happened this week is that while finding on campus we met MSU's top freshman QB recruit, Messiah DeWeaver. He is supposed to be pretty good but probably won't play for a little while, but he's a pretty big deal. We told a few members of the ward and they were jealous, he didn't show up for his appointment though. :/

We were driving up to Cheboygan (3.5 hours) on Saturday for a baptism and after we left I had a feeling like we shouldn't drive up there but I tried to ignore it and told myself that I'm just worrying for no reason. But the feeling persisted, so I brought it up to Elder Sauer and we thought about it for a while, then decided to go back home. When we turned around we both felt much better. It was interesting since we were doing a worthy cause, but we didn't want to test a prompting of danger. The Spirit really did protect us. It was a great experience.

We were able to spend a lot of time finding on campus this week and we are really hoping and praying it will lead to some success in our area. I learned recently a great lesson about looking to the future. In 3 Nephi 1:18 it says, "They began to fear because of their iniquity and their unbelief." It's no secret I come home soon and it's made me pretty nervous with all the unknown that it holds. This taught me a lot though. Fear is a result of a lack of faith and/or iniquity or wickedness. I know that I am being righteous and repenting as much as I can, so what it comes down to is not lacking in my faith in Heavenly Father and His plan for me but putting my trust in Him and going home with the right attitude of working hard and continuing in my conversion. Hopefully this is helpful to each of you as you look to the future. 

Remember, "The future is as bright as your faith." -President Thomas S. Monson.

Love,
Elder Chalmers

Sorry that I've been so bad at taking pictures lately... Here's a pic of the mission office and Elder Sauer, emailing.

Putting in the Miles                                                                                                   May 16, 2016

Hey everyone!

This week we spent a lot of time driving taking care of some mission needs. If I ever need to drive trucks, I've gotten a little bit of experience now. It was a good week though.

We went up to Traverse City for our blitz with them. I worked with Elder Bos and we had a great time doing some finding. It'd been a while since I had knocked on doors and I really enjoyed it and realized that you don't have as much time to be conversational as you do on campus. It made me aware of the need to really focus and rely on testifying and helping others to feel the Spirit which is the key. We also had a few great lessons.

Wednesday we had district meeting and following that we packed up the Petosky sisters' stuff in the trailer, drove to Petosky and unloaded them into their new fancy apartment then drove the 3.5 hours home. That was about our day.

Thursday we got to work in our area. We did some finding but campus is pretty sparse. We had some lessons though. There was one girl who wasn't too committed to meeting with us, but Elder Sauer did this cool thing where he invited her to experiment and try to meet with us for two weeks, which included meeting twice a week, reading and praying, and to see how it impacts her, and to then make a decision, it was really sweet!

I was at CMU on trade offs on Friday with Elder Mafile'o. We had a great day. I saw some of the people I knew while I was there. We had a few great lessons. One of the guys was totally willing to do whatever we asked him to and the other girl taught us about the Fall! She had just already believed it which was awesome! I love it at CMU. We also got to do some fun service.

Saturday we were in the car all day. We drove for about 8 hours. We went to a baptism in Big Rapids which was my first time back since I left last February. I got to see my buddy Larry who's still doing great. Then we drove to Petosky to give them a new car and take their old one back to Lansing. It was a long day but we had some good talks together. Life is great with Elder Sauer! We get along super well and work really well together. :)

This week I learned some great things in the Book of Mormon. One of the things I read this morning was in 3 Nephi 3:12. "Now behold, this Lachoneus, the governor, was a just man, and could not be frightened by the demands and the threatenings of a robber; therefore he did not hearken to the epistle of Giddianhi, the governor of the robbers, but he did cause that his people should cry unto the Lord for strength against the time that the robbers should come down against them." I love this because it shows how rather than relying on their own ability, or making a game plan right away, they first and foremost relied on the strength of the Lord. This is a pattern we can all follow in our life every day, by beginning each day with prayer and making it a frequent part of what we do. It will impact and change who we are.

I love you all!

Love,
Elder Chalmers

It's May!

MLC, Moving and Mothers Day                                                                                            May 9, 2016

It was a great week here in the Michigan Lansing Mission. That's the usual report, but truth is truth! The MLM never disappoints. This week we had MLC on Tuesday, then on Friday we spent most of the day helping some missionaries in Bay City move to a new apartment and then capped it off by getting to talk to my amazing family yesterday on Mother's Day. It doesn't get much better than that.

We had a really great MLC on Tuesday. First of all, it's great to get together as Mission Leadership Council because at this point I've built a really good relationship with most of the MLC, especially the Elders, so it's great to be with so many of the people that I've come to love and respect so much. There are some top notch missionaries in the MLM. We discussed some of the mission's policies and learned some great things from President Jacobsen about how to lead and how the way to help others to be great is to strengthen them one by one. 

Elder Smith and I went on trade-offs at MSU. We had a ton of fun. We've been on quite a few trade-offs together and are really close, so we had a blast. We met some cool people on campus during it.

This week I had to say goodbye to Tatiyana, since she's going home for the summer. We had a great last lesson, and she is going to do some great things. She has taught me a lot about persevering, and working toward a goal. She's awesome!

We spent Friday in Bay City moving some missionaries which was fun, and tiring. We got home in time to do some finding on campus.

This was finals week at MSU so everybody was busy, and a lot of people are taking off so things will be a little bit different for us but we're meeting some cool people that will be here for the summer, so are going to continue to work and trust that the Lord will guide us to those that are ready to receive the restored gospel. 

Yesterday I got to skype with my family. It was great to see them, talk with them, and laugh as we usually do. I'm blessed to have such a loving and supportive family.

Something cool that the Spirit taught me this week is found in Luke 12:48. This came to me before I trained at MLC, so I shared it. What it teaches me is that Heavenly Father wants us to continually progress and because of that, as we grow, he requires more and more of us so that through being challenged, we can continue to grow and become more like Jesus Christ. In summary, God tries us and pushes us to our limit so we can return to live with him again, and live more abundant lives. 

I love you all! I'm excited to be able to continue to serve the Lord in the MLM and do my very best as I "sprint to the finish." 

Love,

Elder Chalmers

Mission Leadership Conference (MLC)

 

Tatiyana and me 

Trey and me

me and my mission "twin," Elder Grover.

Baptism!                                                                                                                            May 2, 2016
What an awesome week! We had transfers, got to go to the temple, welcomed in a new missionary, and were able to be a part of Tatiyana Harris' baptism and confirmation, it doesn't get much better than that!

Last Monday went really well, just lots of driving, it was about 14 hours from start to finish to complete transfers, but it was fun. I got to talk with Elder Allred for one leg of the journey, and that was really fun to catch up, I love him a lot. 

Tuesday was crazy. Some missionaries lost their car keys and were stuck with another set, so we had to drive to Grand Rapids in the morning to take them their spare keys and then come back, round up all the sisters and get them to President's for interviews. It was stressful, but all worked out. We then went to lunch and afterward headed to the temple. It was great. I love being there, and being able to feel the Spirit so strongly. I learned while there, that a way to humble ourselves is to pray more often, and more sincerely. It helps us to rely on the Lord, and acknowledge all He does for us (Helaman 3:35). We then came back to Lansing, had dinner, and then a little testimony meeting, it was great. 

Wednesday was a long one. We had to get up early to take the missionaries to the airport with the Jacobsens. We picked up Elder Gregson around noon and sent him and his companion on their way. We then got to teach a referral from the Lansing elders. It's a guy named Daniel from Haiti, and he speaks Haitian-Creole, so there is a real language barrier. This is the first time I've had that issue in my entire mission, it's a real thing. We'll have to really rely on the Spirit when speaking to him.

Saturday was Tatiyana's baptism. It was super great. Elder Haddock was able to be there as well! You could almost see her glowing when she came out of the water, it was an amazing experience to have. I spoke on the gift of the Holy Ghost, and compared it to a free sample. That really is what it is. God gives it to us and it's a foretaste of eternal joy with Him, so as we experience the power of the gift of the Holy Ghost, it motivates us and leads us back to Him, which is how He accomplishes His goal. While a store's goal, is that you will taste the product, buy it, and they accomplish theirs. I learned it all in prayer one morning, it was sweet. 

Later that day, we were on campus and we met a girl named Johnna. She said she was praying right when we stopped her on campus! We walked over to the institute and had a sweet lesson. She first told us she isn't a typical Christian because she thinks that it's wrong that someone can believe in Christ and live a bad life, while a good person who doesn't believe is damned. We were chomping at the bit! We taught her about the spirit world, and 2 Nephi 9:25:26. We had great HTBT, and it was a miracle that we found her. It was a goal that day as well! God rewards us as we faithfully set goals.

We also both ate an almost 5 pound burrito called the "Big Juan." hah. 

Love,

Elder Chalmers

me and Ajee

After eating "Big Juan" and were proud of it! We even got our picture on the wall.

Tatiyana's baptism!!!!!