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!!!!!

5 weeks of letters and pics!

Transfer Planning                                                                                                  April 23, 2016
It's the last day or my one and only seven week transfer, that means that it's transfer planning week. That entails a lot of time spent in President's office looking at the transfer board and making changes as we feel inspired to do, lots of logistical work to make sure that the transfers themselves go smoothly and then other things to prepare for the upcoming transfer, so we've spent a lot of time in the office this week but that hasn't stopped us from having miracles and an awesome week.

So on Monday night we were beginning to pray after our planning and we realized that we hadn't set goals yet, so we did that and we felt inspired to set a goal that we would meet someone on campus who we would teach at the Institute right away... back to that in a second...

Tuesday morning we got a call from the sisters asking if we had a jack in our truck they could use because a lady's car broke down right in front of the Institute. So we went outside and it was the lady who lives next door to the Institute. Her tire had come off of the rim, so we got the jack,  got her car up and got the tire off. I wish I could take credit, but I wasn't a ton of help on the mechanical side of things. I tried my best to add humor to the situation. ha. The sisters built a good relationship with her during it all and she came to dinner with all of us that night which was sweet.

....back to the story, during the day when we got a chance to go finding, the first person we tried to talk to told us her name then gave a classic, "I'm in a hurry and not interested" response, so we didn't really get a chance to talk to her but the next girl was sweet. We talked about truly understanding God and not just knowing about Him. She was done with class early so had time and we taught her right then! It was an answer to prayer, a miracle and a witness of working toward an inspired goal. So cool!!! 

We had another similar experience. We had a ton to do yesterday and didn't have time to find, but we felt inspired to go outside and talk to ONE person. So we went out, and met a guy who we had met a few weeks ago, but it was really short and he just gave us his number so he could catch the bus. We had a great conversation and he said we could meet in the summer then Elder Sauer told him how we can make it 20 min. and he agreed to meet on Wednesday. That was a great witness of how when we act on spiritual promptings, they always work out. It's true, the only times they don't "work out" is because our definition of it and God's are different sometimes.

Transfer planning is a great time. It's pretty long and in reality we just stare at the transfer board and talk. The reason I like it is because I get to spend time with President Jacobsen and learn from him, and gain more experience with receiving revelation from someone who is so in tune with the Spirit. 

We are also teaching a LA named Sarah, who is really cool and making some great progress. Tatiyana is getting baptized next week on the 30th, so we are super excited for her. It will be a ton of fun! Wish me luck with driving all over the state on Monday! Tuesday will be a great reward, since we get to go to the Temple! Heaven on Earth!

I love you all and can feel your prayers strengthening me to do what the Lord needs me to do. 

Love,

Elder Chalmers

Sansu Sushi with our friends

MSU Spring game!!!

Ride that pony all the way to the font!                                                                                  April 18, 2016
Hey Everyone!

We had a great week here in the MLM. This week was dominated by Zone Conference. It took most of our time, energy, and focus, and was well worth it! 

We had our conference in Grand Rapids on Tuesday, then Midland on Wednesday and finished with our conference in Lansing on Thursday. They were great. We got to see all of our missionaries and had the chance to train them. 

I was able to train on the skill of "How to Begin Teaching" which is what you do with someone the first time you teach them. I focused on how it builds a foundation for conversion, and the important elements of it, being: inviting the Spirit, establishing expectations, and helping other recognize us as representatives of Jesus Christ. They all went really well and it was amazing how the Spirit worked through me on each of them, to tailor them to what each group of missionaries needed. The spirit of revelation and inspiration is real!

Elder Sauer did an awesome job training about finding by the Spirit, and how we need to testify, promise blessings in the name of Jesus Christ, and boldly invite. Everyone loved it, and we've heard a ton of success stories from the application of both of our training! :)

Sister Jacobsen taught us more about what it means to be a mission family and a team. She's great. President Jacobsen talked a lot about how we need to push ourselves to find out our true potential. He likes to say, "You can be as great as you want to be!" He's so inspirational! I love him. President Winder also taught a few cool principles (he's in the mission presidency). One is that when you say yes to something, you say no to something else, and in a relationship, any relationship, is our mentality, what can I get, or what can I give? 

The subject line for my email was something I said in one of the Zone Conferences, and people thought it was funny, so I thought I'd share it with you. :) I know how to speak nonsense from the best of them. :) 

We had a chance to find, and teach some lessons this week. We also did a lot of traveling on Saturday, to attend a few baptisms, which was really fun. This week is transfer planning week, so that should keep us plenty busy, between getting ready for it and going out and finding people who we can baptize!

I love you all so much and I'm so grateful for each of your prayers and faith!

KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS, in this there is safety, in this there is peace!

Love

Elder Chalmers

Springtime in Michigan...not quite here...                                                              April 11, 2016
It may be April, but that doesn't mean much in Michigan. This week we had about 3 days of snow. It was more like snow/sleet/rain/hail and it was crazy. A month ago, it was 60 degrees. Pure Michigan. :) It's all good though, the weather today is better and it's supposed to keep on improving. We had a busy week. We have been preparing for our Zone Conferences this Tuesday-Thursday and also working hard, and praying hard to find new people to teach. 

We had a really cool experience on Friday. We were in the office and had decided to take lunch at that point since it seemed to make more sense, so we were about to walk into our apartment building, when we felt prompted by the Spirit to go and find right then. So we did! But nobody was giving us the time of day. They all seemed annoyed by us which was discouraging, but we didn't let it get us down. We said to each other, "They just aren't having it today..." But we were acting in faith and the next guy we talked to, named Daniel, had time to meet right then so we walked to the Institute and had a great first lesson with him. We invited him to be baptized on May 21 and he accepted. We even had a member there and he was great. We were super excited about it. It was an answer to prayer. As you would hope in all these stories, they go on to get baptized, however, he wasn't answering our texts, so we called him and when we asked if he still needed a ride to church, he hung up on us. We were both really discouraged about it. But as I've had time to let my emotions pass, I'm really grateful we were able to meet him. That miracle was what we needed at that time to continue to work hard, have faith, and be the Lord's hands. We still have a ton of other things going for us, like Tatiyana who is working to be baptized on April 30th and the gospel is still delicious to me. There isn't much more I could ask for. We met Daniel for us, not necessarily for him, even though I know that it will help him. God is mindful of each of our needs, no matter how small, and I'm so grateful for that. 

Another fun story...the power went out on MSU campus, and we'd got a guy to meet with us, since he had nothing better to do and the only room in the building that had an emergency light in it was the laundry room, so we were in a barely lit laundry room, teaching a guy. It was fun stuff. ha. 

I love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Chalmers

pics...What I/you think I look like when I teach...what I really look like. ha. President Jacobsen needed a picture of us teaching for his powerpoint so we had some elders take these as we practice taught them. haha. It was harder than I thought.

Keeping Busy in East Lansing                                                                                               April 4, 2016
Hey Everyone,

I'm sure everyone is on a spiritual high after General Conference this past weekend. What an amazing thing the Lord has instituted for us to hear from his chosen servants twice a year. I loved the way conference was started and finished, with President Eyring giving us guidance for how to make it the best, and what to expect, and then Elder Holland tying it all together and helping us know that our effort is what counts. This week we had some great experiences and got a lot of things done!

To start the week, we had trade offs with the Lansing elders, Elder Clark and Elder Schetselaar. I was with Elder Schetselaar (Sket-se-lar) at MSU. It was great. We had an awesome day and had a member come finding on campus with us for a few hours, it was super cool, and we had awesome success. We even had Austin get us Jimmy Johns which was great. 

On Wednesday, we went to South Haven where we attended Elder Haddock's district meeting and then spent the next few hours helping him and his companions move apartments. It was fun and some good work. I had a hard time staying awake on the way home. ha. 

We had a super sweet lesson with Tatiyana this week. She wants to be baptized, but things keep on getting in the way (Satan). So we brought it up, and talked a lot about opposition. She really loves her family, so we read D&C 84:20, about how we experience the power of God through the ordinances of the gospel and how as she makes covenants through ordinances, she can become a strength to her family. I compared it to basketball, and how Lebron is a strength to his team, and without him, they aren't as strong. It was a great lesson and we had our recent convert, Trey with us as well. She chose April 30th to be baptized, and we're excited for that. She even came to conference this week! 

I loved the talks by Elders Renlund, Hallstrom, Holland, Duncan, and many others! Very inspirational! I love the concept that life isn't fair and we should be thankful for that. Elder Renlund is great! The key to conference is the application of it!

Love,

Elder Chalmers

The Sisters' joke for Sister Fredline, the office secretary. ha. She's a "my way or the highway" type of lady.

"He is not here. He is Risen."                                                                                      March 28, 2016
I hope you all had a great Easter Sunday. Due to stake conference earlier this month, it was fast Sunday in the Lansing stake yesterday, so rather than an Easter program, it was fast and testimony meeting. It was different, but great and powerful. It was great, too, getting to be involved in the Church's Easter initiative, #Hallelujah. People were really receptive to it. 

This week we had our blitz in Traverse City. It was a lot of fun. I got to work with Elder Webb. He's a great elder, and we had a great time. The weather was also great. That night (Tuesday) I found out that Elder Joe Empey was involved in the bombing in Belgium. We as a mission had a moment of prayer for them which brought me a lot of comfort and I found out the next day that he'd be okay. I'm so grateful for that.

We cleaned out an apartment this week and it was quite a project.  We made 3 trips to Salvation Army and got to know the worker, Karen, pretty well. ha. Then we drove across the state to take some desks to Bay City and due to the weather, we ended up staying the night in Bay City. 

I was able to spend a day at WMU with Elder Hunter Johnson, our 4th trade off. We had a great day. We met a guy who lived in Fairbanks at Eielson AFB. We had some Alaska talk. We met a guy, who met with us right away, and it was a huge miracle. I'm excited for him to be taught.

We had a crazy lesson with a less active member, who is blind. He was skyping with someone when we came, and we eventually realized that the person on Skype was telling him what to say. We invited him to take the sacrament and we heard the girl say, "You know what to do." and also, "Get them out of here!" It was the weirdest thing ever...

The Marcou's (Midland) came to Lansing and took Elder Erekson and I out to dinner on Saturday. It was great to catch up with them, they are so great!

We had Easter dinner with the Burleson family which was great. They are super funny and great to be around. We are so blessed here in East Lansing. We are well taken care of!

I read a great scripture this morning that I'd like to share: Mormon 2:13 - "But behold this my joy was vain, for their sorrowing was not unto repentance, because of the goodness of God; but it was rather the sorrowing of the damned, because the Lord would not always suffer them to take happiness in sin." This is one thing I've gained a strong testimony of, righteousness will always lead us to ultimate happiness, and sin always leads to regret, guilt, and misery. Choose the Right. There is so much truth and wisdom in such a simple phrase. 

Love,

Elder Chalmers

Happy Easter!

Big Changes in 5 Weeks of Letters

Thank Goodness For A Planner And A Journal                                                            Mar. 21, 2016

I feel like each time I sit down to write these emails I remember less and less of what has happened over the past week. I feel like I ask my companion, "What did we even do this week?" every time. Not in a bad way, but the days seem to blend together and fly by. However, I'm grateful for my planner and my journal, which are life savers! :)

This week I got to spend Tuesday working at CMU with Elder Tubagus on trade-offs. We were reunited. It was a ton of fun. I love the CMU campus, it's really easy to talk to people, and I'm just comfortable there. We had a really good time. We were able to teach one lesson and it went really well. I like teaching with Elder Tubagus a lot. I always have a good time with him.

Elder Sauer worked really hard in our area this week. We have a mission standard to do 15 hours of finding every week which isn't an easy task, but we were determined to reach it, even with our leadership responsibilities. On Saturday, we had two baptisms to attend so we PC-ed right away in the morning then attended the baptism and then went straight back to campus before we had to leave to drive to Harrison (2 hours). We did it though and it was great. By having that goal it really motivated us to work harder and push ourselves which really strengthened my own testimony of goals and the power they have! The Branch President there also invited us to speak at the baptism on behalf of President Jacobsen, so I had the opportunity to do that which was great!

We had a few lessons this week with new people who didn't turn out to be investigators, which was a blessing and also a bummer. One girl we'd talked to were then able to meet with immediately, which was really cool. 

I had a really good experience in being chastened by the scriptures this week. While reading in 3 Nephi, one of my weaknesses was highlighted and it really helped me to see the consequence of that weakness unless I change, so I'm very grateful and know that by diligent study the scriptures can help us see who we truly are and who we can become. The verse is 3 Nephi 27:9-11...

"9 Verily I say unto you, that ye are built upon my gospel; therefore ye shall call whatsoever things ye do call, in my name; therefore if ye call upon the Father, for the church, if it be in my name the Father will hear you; 10 And if it so be that the church is built upon my gospel then will the Father show forth his own works in it. 11 But if it be not built upon my gospel, and is built upon the works of men, or upon the works of the devil, verily I say unto you they have joy in their works for a season, and by and by the end cometh, and they are hewn down and cast into the fire, from whence there is no return."

During sacrament meeting, I was able to receive some amazing revelation. I thought about how when I learn something, but something I previously knew, I will think, "oh yeah, I already knew that." But then I reflected on how often the word "remember" is used in scripture, and also how it's used in the Sacrament prayer, "always remember him." I really do feel that if we don't remember something, we don't really know it. We can know that Christ is our savior, but if we don't remember that, than it won't impact us. There is always ways to remember

Keep on living the gospel, not because it's what you do but because it's who you are!

Love,

Elder Chalmers

me and Elder Sauer

Transfer Week...busy. busy.busy...                                                                               Mar. 14, 2016

This was one of the busiest and most tiring weeks of my life. It was great though! We moved missionaries all over the state, sent 8 missionaries home, welcomed 14 new missionaries, paired them up with trainers, and then transported them to their new areas. We then had to prepare for MLC which was on Saturday. It was jam-packed!

First of all, Deb's baptism last Saturday! It was one of the best days of my life. Walking into the Kalkaska building was the best, I love it there so much. I got to see Deb, and we had pictures taken together. Then I walked into the chapel, and I see Tyrone, a recent convert, sitting on the stand. He conducted the baptism! He came up to me and gave me a hug, and said, "Look how far I've come!" He's so great. The baptism was great, watching Deb be baptized was really special, it really helped me to realize and build my testimony that God is mindful of each of His children and that as missionaries, we are instruments in His hands to bring about miracles in the lives of His children. President Hoover invited Elder Sauer, Haddock, and I to each bear our testimony, so I shared my experience of meeting Deb and my testimony of following the Spirit and how when we do, good things will always happen. On the drive home I was so happy, happier than I had been in a long time, and that doesn't mean I haven't been happy, it was just that great. I now have a better understanding of D&C 18:10-16, and how great my joy is when I bring a soul unto the Father! :) 

Monday was spent driving all day around the state and it was great. I love getting to be with so many of our missionaries, they are great!

Tuesday we got to go to the temple with the departing missionaries. It doesn't get much better than the temple! 

Wednesday was a full day. We were up at 4:30 and sent off the departing missionaries. It didn't help that the van got a flat tire overnight and we had lost our truck keys, but we got it figured out eventually. :) ha. Then we got to pick up the new missionaries. They keep on coming out more and more prepared. They were all excited/nervous, and it was fun.

Thursday we matched up trainers and trainees and did some training. I trained on finding, then we drove all the way to the west coast to take Elder Haddock and his two trainees to their area and that took up the rest of our day.

Friday: We had to prepare for MLC which was Saturday, we did get time to PC though. It's Spring Break here, so campus has been dead, but we did meet a guy named Ketelelo from Botswana. The Spirit led us to him. We were prompted to try to talk to an Asian girl, so we turned to catch up to her, but she walked away and then he came towards us. We met with him a few hours later, and he committed to be baptized. It was a huge miracle! 

Saturday: We had a training on the church's new initiative, Just Serve. The former mission president of the New York New York South mission trained us, he was really cool. Then we had our own MLC after which was crazy getting all set up for, but it turned out great! We discussed what it meant when we as a mission say, "We Are Family" I love the MLM! We had the privilege of attending the oratorical "Lamb of God" composed by Rob Gardner in Kalamazoo. It was amazing and so powerful. I'd recommend the soundtrack to everyone! 

I've never been so tired in my life, but I'm honored to give all that I have to the Lord in this labor of love. There's no reason that we should ever not give Him everything, I love the quote by Neal A. Maxwell, "Consecration thus constitutes the only unconditional surrender which is also a total victory!" 

Love,

Elder Chalmers

at the temple in Detroit with my comps...Elder Haddock and Elder Sauer

Me and Tyrone!

Me and Deb!

At The Lamb of God performance. We weren't allowed to wear our name tags so we kept them hidden.

Elder Rapp's "son," Elder Pfau, so that makes me a "Grandpa."

Transfer Planning 2.0                                                                                                           Mar. 5, 2016

We had a good and busy week here in East Lansing. It was our transfer planning week, which consists of a lot of preparation for making transfers happen this Monday. That is also why I'm emailing on Saturday instead of Monday which is when we will be driving all over the state, moving missionaries around, and getting things in place so that the Lords will can be accomplished in the Michigan Lansing Mission (The Greatest Mission in the World).

We spent a big majority of our time doing transfer planning. We did get to teach a few lessons though. It's also Spring Break this coming week, so it was hard to meet with people, since they were all saying that they were leaving and busy getting ready to leave. We got to teach Tatiyana. She is still doing great and we are seeing some really great miracles with her. She just got a job promotion so she said she shouldn't have to work on Sunday and if she does, she should still be able to be at sacrament meeting! We also have promised her that her family will accept the gospel and she told us how she was talking to her sister, and her sister asked her if she was still getting baptized and Tatiyana told her how it needed to be pushed back and that here sister told her to keep working for it because she has seen the change in her. It was super cool to hear. Tatiyana is so solid! We also taught Naveed, we read 1 Nephi 1 with him, he's doing well. We took him to sports night again and he really enjoyed that. 

Transfer calls yesterday all went well even though we forgot to call one companionship, but we got that all figured out okay. 

Today we are going to Kalkaska. Deb, the lady we found as she was walking down the highway and the Spirit told us to talk her, is getting baptized. President Jacobsen has given us permission to go and I'm really excited for it! It will be a great experience and I look forward to seeing everyone in Kalkaska. I love that place so much!

As I studied this week and read in 3 Nephi, I learned a lot about receiving revelation. As Jesus teaches the people in America he continually tells them to ask the Father in His name and that the Holy Ghost will teach them. Receiving revelation is just that, it must be received. Just like the best quarterback in the world is useless unless he has receivers who can catch the ball, if we aren't  striving to receive revelation, we won't. God is answering our prayers and raining down revelation on us more than we even know, we just need to be better at actively receiving it. The other great thing is that as we receive it, God will give us more, and the cycle repeats itself. The ingredients are prayer, pondering, listening, faith, and the love of God. 

Love,

Elder Chalmers

The Trio! Elder Haddock, Elder Sauer and me

Trey is Baptized!                                                                                                        Feb. 29, 2016

I had an awesome week in the Michigan Lansing Mission. Trey was baptized on Saturday. We had a huge snowstorm on Wednesday and Thursday and then on Sunday it was 55 degrees and sunny and basically melted all the snow. So it's still a really warm winter! Things have just been great!

We met with Trey three times this week leading up to his baptism. They all went really well. He's really intelligent, and understands things well. He chose President Jacobsen to baptized him, it's the first person that President has baptized in the MLM. It was a super great baptism. Elder Haddock and I both spoke and the influence of the Spirit was powerful! He's going to do great things in the work of the Lord!

We went to a district meeting in Oscoda and afterward we went to lunch at a members home and it was so good! She knew what she was doing! On the way home the snowstorm hit. We were really fortunate though because it was really light where we were and we made it home safe! All is well.

We have been using a survey on campus that asks some basic fundamental questions that basically everyone has and it has worked wonders. We stop people, ask them to take a survey, and then wait for them to finish it. We have gotten a lot of phone numbers and solid conversations!

Things are going really well for me. We have some big news. We have a new Assistant to the President, his name is Elder Sauer. He's great and from Southwestern Idaho. We aren't sure where Elder Haddock is going yet but we'll know soon. We are about to start transfer planning with President Jacobsen.

I've been working on finishing the Book of Mormon. I had recently been going really slow and in depth, but I want to finish it and I'm praying really hard for a greater spiritual witness of its truth. I've learned a lot already while reading 3 Nephi. One thing I really like is in chapter 11, when Heavenly Father's voice is heard from heaven. It takes three times because the people took so long to finally "open" their ears. Receiving revelation is just that, receiving. We need to be the ones to accept it, and that can happen in many ways. I encourage you to pay special attention to receiving the revelation that comes your way!

Love,
Elder Chalmers

Me, President Jacobsen, Trey and Elder Haddock

Doll hands!

A small town that some members of our ward are from...

  

It's All About Attitude                                                                                              Feb. 22, 2016

Another great week is in the books here in Michigan. I'm pretty sure I was just emailing yesterday, but I guess time says that it's been a week. Crazy! I had a great time this past week, we had two trade offs, one in Lansing, and one in Traverse City, we had some great lessons, and met some great people on campus! Nothing too crazy, pretty routine, but even when what we are doing is routine, (study, find, teach, etc) it's amazing how different and uplifting the experiences you have can be! It's a matter of looking for and finding the beauty and joy in each routine thing you do. It's all about attitude, and ultimately, it's all about faith.

I started out this week with Elder Lowder serving the more downtown Lansing area. We had a great day. We got a few media referrals earlier in the day so we went to try by one of them. As we were walking up to her house, we saw her outside, and then she walked in. So, we knocked and she didn't answer... We knew that we were there for a reason so we knocked her side of the street and met some really cool people. We went back to the car, (they drive a minivan :)) and were going to leave, but we felt like we should stay and knock the other side, so we did. Nobody was interested but as we walked down from the last door, we saw a guy across the street, so we ran over to him, and he said his name is "Edward, like Scissorhands." He was a younger guy and super cool. We set an appointment for Friday! From that experience I gained a sure witness that in the Lord's work, it's all about being in the right place at the right time for the right person. And because we followed the Spirit, we were exactly where we needed to be! :) We also taught a part member family. The way they found them, is that they were at the gas station and the mom came up to them and introduced herself and said that she was inactive. They have two little kids, and they want them to have a church. It was great to be with Elder Lowder, we were in the MTC together. He's the man.

On Wednesday we went to the district meeting in the Grandville Spanish District. The whole thing was in Spanish, it was quite an experience. It made me think of what district meeting was like for Megan and all my friends who are learning languages. I'm glad I was there but my three years of high school Spanish didn't help me at all. ha.

We went to Traverse City for our blitz. I was with Elder Sauer, he's super cool. We taught an older guy named Bill, who basically had us over because he likes company, so we talked a lot about having real intent, but it was hard to get him to listen and understand. I'm used to teaching college students! ha. We also gave a blessing to a member who played a season for Vince Lombardi on the Packers, so that was cool.

Trey is getting ready to be baptized this Saturday. We're excited for that, he's ready to go! He's a super cool guy. He drives dirt sprint cars professionally and is super funny. He had sweet comments in Elder's Quorum as well.

What I've learned this week is really what I shared earlier. We may not know why we feel like doing something, but if the Spirit is prompting us to, it's always the right thing to do. A few weeks ago, I felt like I should pull over on the highway, so I did, and then 15 seconds later, I felt like I could drive again. I don't know why, but I know it's what God wanted me to do.

I love you all. Have a great week!

ELder Chalmers