The reason for the title of "Fire Up Chips!" is that this week especially we spent a ton of time on campus, we only had one trade-off, which was with the Elders in West Branch, so I got to be with my fellow St. Georgian, Elder Blazzard at CMU for a day, which was a blast. We were able to get a lot of work done and see a lot of great blessings from the Lord!
- This Monday we were able to teach a guy named Cody J. He was in the Navy for 4 years, and now he's going to school. We met him a few weeks ago and had a great talk with him. He was about to give us his number, but then decided not to so on trade-offs Elder Haddock ran into him again and had another good talk with him. So later that day, Elder Haddock found a phone in the bathroom of the library and called a number on it, the guy said it was his brother's phone, so they explained what the person looked like and where to find him. Elder Haddock asked, "Is his name Cody?" and they said yes. So Elder Haddock found him, and gave him his phone. He said he doesn't believe in coincidences, so we got to meet with him. We focused a lot on the Book of Mormon, and it was powerful. He said, and I quote, "I've been saved, but I feel like something is still missing. I think this (pointing to the Book of Mormon) might be it." It was so cool. He is super humble and we're super excited about him!
- I got to be on trade-offs with Elder Izaic Blazzard at CMU for all of Tuesday. It was a lot of fun having, what I referred to Elder Haddock as "St. George talk." ha. He's doing really good and I was really impressed by how well he could talk to people, especially with how long he's been out. The missionaries that come out are more and more prepared! It was a really fun day, I really enjoyed it.
- We had some other great lessons this week. We met with Bianca again. We had Audi with us, she was baptized like a year ago, and was great to have along. She had some great questions and we had Audi teach the First Vision and Bianca had a huge smile on her face. She's coming to church on Sunday! We also picked up a new investigator named Alexis, who is super genuine. We picked up quite a few new people this week!
- We have been doing a ton of personal contacting on campus and it's been so great. We've developed great unity and we see a ton of success from it. I love it so much!
I had a similar experience this week. I studied in Helaman 13:1-4 how Samuel the Lamanite was told to return to Zarahemla and preach whatever was put into his heart so he goes, and the people won't let him in, so he gets on the wall and preaches. I learned that the Lord will direct us but we still need to be the ones who make stuff happen. So once a week we have a "car fast" where we don't use our mission vehicles. We were walking to CMU capmus and we were in a time crunch but we walked by the house of one of our neighbors and felt really prompted to stop and talk to him, but kept walking, the feeling persisted so we knocked on his door. We had a great conversation with him and he even asked us if we had been driving a lot lately so we told him how we aren't using our car today. We then left and about 5 min. later, my companion said, "We should have asked him for a ride..." Then we realized why we were prompted to stop at his house... The Lord directed us where we needed to be but we didn't do our part and make it happen. I sure wish we had, but looking at it in hindsight, it was a really cool experience.
Love,
Elder Chalmers
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| Elder Chalmers and Elder Haddock caricatures |
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| Trade-offs with fellow St. Georgian, Izaic Blazzard |
BIRTHDAY IN MIDLAND 2.0 10-10-15
Thank you everyone for the Birthday wishes and gifts. I really am so grateful for how much support I get from each of you, it makes a big difference in my life and in helping me to continue to do my best in serving the Lord.
We had a very eventful week and stayed super busy with all of the things we were able to do...
- On Tuesday we had MLC in Lansing which usually includes just the Assistants, Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders with President and Sister Jacobsen, however this time all of the District Leaders were there as well. We had some really good trainings and discussions about effective leadership and other topics. I got to see a few past companions there which was a lot of fun. President Jacobsen made a joke about having me "chalm in" so I've been getting teased about that a lot. hah. I learned a lot, especially about how important it is that you have charity for those that you lead and serve. One thing that Elder Stevenson said in his press conference was, "We lead by serving, not serve by leading" and that really stuck with me a lot.
- Wednesday we had district meeting in Midland and then I was on trade-offs with Elder Jackson in Midland. It was a really cool day. We got to do some work at the Tridge which I always love. We were about to leave, but when we got to the car, felt like we should stay. We met a guy named Ben who was interested and we set a time to see him, that was a great experience with following the Spirit. We tried by a few people that I used to teach or had met while I was there, and they were really positive. :) On our way home to eat dinner we passed a guy who was working in his yard, so we got home and walked over to talk to him. He was super cool and told us how he had been at his friend's funeral that day. We had a great discussion and set a return appointment! It was a great day and the Spirit really led and guided us in all we did.
- Thursday was my Birthday! It went great. I got to see the Shocknesse family. We talked about the temple, and I had the opportunity to give John a blessing, his health isn't great. That was a great experience. John and Jan Marcou had us over for lunch and cake. It was great to see them again. They are so good to me. :) We got a chance to do some door knocking and met some really cool people and had some great success. We also got to see Blake and Joe. I love Midland. :) We traded back and headed over to the church where we had a meeting with the Stake Presidency, some of the high counselors, and also President Jacobsen and President Hoover. We presented some data we had compiled on missionary work in the Midland Stake. It was an awesome meeting, the Spirit was super strong and it was awesome to be a part of all of the revelation and direction that was received in that meeting, it was super great. Afterwards we drove home and planned. And I ate more sugar that night than I think that I have ever eaten in my life. It was a very poor decision (never use your birthday to justify....). :) I really had a great birthday and getting to spend it in Midland for the second year in a row was really special.
- Friday Elder Haddock and I got to work our area together! :) It had been a while. We were walking to campus but never got very far as we met a ton of really cool people and had some great experiences. We also had a great lesson with Gareth. He's making a lot of great progress.
- Today we went to Wyoming, MI for a baptism of one of Elder Haddock's former investigators. I'm glad that he was able to make it to that.
Love,
Elder Chalmers
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| The one and only Joe Booth |
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| Lunch with the awesome Marcou's |
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| Me and the amazingly wonderful Shocknesse's |
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