Helen's Baptism!

Hey everyone!                                                                                                                   August 25, 2014

I hope you don't mind that I tend to gander rant in my weekly e-mails, but I just get on a roll. ha.

This week was a really busy week, especially since we had to get ready for Helen Liu's baptism, which was stressful, but well worth it! 

Last Monday wasn't anything special. We played Risk for P-Day, and that was a huge mistake, it took up the entire day! However, it was all okay since we had dinner at the Joneses and they made those P.F. Chang's lettuce wraps and some dang good sweet n sour chicken that was so good! We watched the Mormon message "Hope Through God's Light" with them and they really liked it. Then we went and talked with Helen and asked her if she would like her husband, Gordon, to be baptized with her. She said yes, and so we asked Gordon, and he said, "I've already been baptized" and then asked which church we were from. So, a little back story to Gordon. He is 87 and has dementia and has been to church the past three weeks but doesn't remember. Monday was actually his birthday and everyone kept telling him that it was his birthday and he would say "It's my birthday?" It was hilarious! 

Tuesday we went out to Joe Booth's house to mow his lawn for him. Elder Hess wanted to mow the lawn so I got to stay and chat with Joe. He's something... We finished mowing the lawn right as it started to rain. When we finally decided to leave it was pouring rain and I had to be the backer out of Joe's super long driveway, so that was pretty fun. ha. Then we talked with Patty for a while, since Nick wasn't home again... We went to see Helen and made sure she was all ready for her interview. It went well and she is super prepared for her baptism. Then we went to Blake's house. I talked with his son Kyle for a while. He just made the Midland High soccer team, so we had a lot to talk about. :) Tuesday wasn't a super eventful day, but it was still fun. It's really nice to be able to get out and work, it keeps me focused on the work.

Wednesday was a good day. We went on trade-offs, so Elder Finlayson was with me in my area. We had district meeting which was on revelation through church attendance.  We had district lunch at Mancino's. They have the best calzones, I'm a believer in them. I also lost my magnetic tag but I found it on Sunday, it had fallen into my suit pocket... hah. We taught Ben today, and we watched the Restoration video with him, he really liked it, once he quits smoking we can baptize him, but he's struggling. Then we tried to contact some referrals and took a picture by the chrome Jesus at the Messiah Lutheran Church. Then we knocked some doors before our dinner appointment. We had dinner at the DePierro's. They made italian food and even canoles for dessert. Then we taught Curt and Patty and Bonnie Bash. We taught them the Restoration, and it went really good, it was awesome to see Bonnie participate a little bit, since she is really quiet. Then we went and helped Elder Hess and Nielsen since they gandered a piano! The had spent the last hour of the day pushing it like 2 miles, it was nuts. hah. 

Thursday wasn't a super exciting day, but it was still a great day to be a missionary. Elder Finlayson and I went to the Tridge for a little bit and then we switched back and Elder Hess and I were reunited! :) We didn't get to teach any lessons today but we did weekly plan which takes up quite a bit of time. We helped a family from the 1st ward unload a truck with the other elders. We spent quite a bit of time at the Tridge today.

Friday we did some serious work! After studies we went and met with David Clark. We got into a pretty deep discussion, which was pretty fun. We talked about if Jesus was married, and about how the Trinity doesn't make any sense. It was pretty fun getting to talk about some deep doctrine, since we don't ever really get to do that with our investigators. Then we went to Joe's house. We had planned to teach him the Restoration, since he finally got first presidency approval, and so he just needs to meet with Bishop and then we can set a date with him! He just went off about baptism and stuff. Then we knocked doors for a little bit. Then we went on a quick Trade-off. Elder Hess and Finlayson went to Helen's house so Elder Finlayson could interview her while Elder Nielsen and I went out to Dennis's house to help him with roofing. Dennis is the 1st ward sisters' investigator who just got baptized on Saturday. It was super fun. Dennis is a stud. Then we switched back and we had dinner with Sister Anderson, Nyman, and Bro. Sovia. They are all older and single. They are really nice. They got us pizza. :) We then finished the day at the Tridge. We met a lot of cool people and even saw the other elders teaching a lesson. They told us that their entire lesson consisted of the guy pulling up anti-mormon literature right in front of them...

Saturday was Helen's baptism! After our studies we went out and met with Nick K. He filled us in on all of what's been happening in the world. It's good to be a missionary and be totally oblivious to everything that is going on. :) hah. Then we got into our suits and went to the church for the baptism. It was such an amazing baptism. Helen's niece gave the opening prayer, and she had it all written down so she could say it in English, it was so sweet. I really like that in her pray she prayed for us to always remember to pray and read our scriptures. Then Sister April Millward gave a talk on baptism. It was really cool since she said that her best friend growing up had moved from Taiwan and that is where Helen is from. She gave a really great talk then the actual baptism was amazing! Brother Henson was really nervous because he had to use Helen's real Chinese name, which is Lie Sun Chueng Fang and he messed up saying it the first time and it totally threw him off. So he then said it right but had totally forgotten everything, so he paused for a second and then looked at me, since I was a witness, and I said "having been commissioned of Jesus Christ" and then he remembered it all and baptized her. It was so sweet. Then Juanita Dorlon, brother Henson's mom shared her testimony and it was really sweet. Elder Hess gave a talk on the gift of the Holy Ghost which was also really good. He did a really cool object lesson with it. My favorite part of it all though was when Helen's brother Mark Sun gave the closing prayer. He gave it in Chinese and the entire time he was bawling. He was so happy to finally get to see his sister baptized. The Spirit was so strong.  I loved it so much. :) The rest of the day we tried to visit some potentials and then went to the Tridge.

Sunday was a good day. We got invited to PEC for the first time and we were at the church for 6 hours straight! It was good to finally get to eat afterwards. hah. But church was really good. Brother Henson got to confirm Helen and we got to stand in the circle. It was a really great blessing he gave her. And then after church, we were trying to round up the whole Liu family and we found Gordon outside and we watched as Mark held him back because he was trying to get into the Jenkins mini-van to hold their baby It was hilarious. :) We were waiting for Helen and Gordon to start gospel principles and so we looked out of the room for them,and all I could see was Gordon waiting outside the bathroom for her. It was so cute. After church we talked with Nick's mom, Heather. They finally got a house in Saginaw, so they are out of here. We won't be able to see Nick anymore, but we will get the Saginaw elders to start meeting with him He needs good role models in his life. Then we tried to see some potentials and drove past Jon and Jan Marcou's. We saw Jon outside, so we stopped by. We talked with them for a while, and they had football on the TV. It was so hard for us to get out of there! The Marcou's are so great, though. Then we did church media study. We started watching Legacy, but we both ended up falling asleep.. dang it! We taught Don and Penny McCormick in the evening. It was a really great lesson on the Plan of Salvation. I kept wanting to commit her to baptism but I just couldn't get it out. Then at the end of the lesson she talked about how missionaries in the past had pressured her so I was happy that I didn't try and commit her since I think she would have felt pressured by it. The Spirit is always guiding as we teach. It's so important to be able to recognize it and then listen to it. 

So far today we have played frisbee golf and basketball.

This week was such a great experience for me even though we felt like getting ready for Helen's baptism was a pain, it was all worth it! I'm a little surprised by how happy I am that Helen got to be baptized. It's such a testimony builder getting to see someone make such a big step on their way back to our Heavenly Father. My one challenge to all of you is to really appreciate the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Elder Holland has said that it is the most underused and under appreciated gifts we have. The Gift of the Holy Ghost is a foretaste of Eternal Joy. Always live worthy of this amazing gift and look for ways to use it more effectively in your life. I can promise you that as you do you will experience so much more joy and comfort in your life. If you use the chart on page 96-97 in Preach My Gospel, you can better understand how the Holy Ghost works and it can help you better use the gift you have been given. I know that it has blessed my life and I am so thankful that I have been given such an amazing gift. 

I love you all so much and am so thankful for all the prayers and support that you give me.

Moroni 10:5

Love,

Elder Chalmers

Chrome Jesus

Matching ties with Elder Finlayson

Helen's baptism

Hey Everybody!                                                                                                       August 18, 2014

This week was another good week for me. We have been losing a lot of our investigators since they are all going to college. But that's okay, other missionaries will get the opportunity to teach them. We have been doing a lot of finding this week since we don't have as many people to teach, but that's okay. Personal contacting at the Tridge and knocking doors is always fun. :) (no sarcasm)

Last Monday we had dinner at the Schmidt's. Their son and Elder Hess were talking about League of Legends the whole time, so Bro and Sis Schmidt and me were giving confused looks to each other the whole time, it was pretty funny. Then we went to Blake's house. We played a board game called Hero Quest, which is like Dungeons and Dragons I guess? It's all pretty much over my head, but I just go with it. We are really trying to build a good relationship with Blake's son Kyle. He really likes us, and even plays soccer, so we are trying to get him as an investigator.

Tuesday we went and met with David. He is one of the ward missionaries, but he is less-active. Something that I have discovered is that none of the less-active members actually realize that they are less-active. So, we met with him and he was super depressed. He has been divorced for the past 10 years and just feels like he has been suffering through life and just wants all the suffering to end. It was pretty sad. So we told him about how we need to endure to the end and more specifically endure to something. I also shared Alma 26:27 that says "bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success" Then we met with Clifford. He is in his 80's and pretty much just wants to Bible bash with us, so we met with him, and decided to drop him. We tried to see Nick, who wasn't home, so we talked with Patty for a while. She is awesome! Not much happened the rest of the day, we just knocked doors.

Wednesday was interviews! We had district meeting in the morning and talked about how important it is to ask questions and also to listen. Then we had to wait around for a while since the Ithaca district was getting interviewed first. My interview with President Jacobsen was good, though. He used to be a football coach and you can tell. hah. He pretty much just asked about my family and how I'm doing. I asked him how I can be better and he told me that it's not about being better but about being the best that I can be. We then spent a lot of time down at the Tridge and talked to a lot of people then we went to a free community lunch at the Midland Community Center. They had a raffle and I put my name in it and I won! hah. I got a shirt, a pedometer and a year pass to the community center, which is basically useless to me but it's still cool that I won. :) Then we met with Curt & Patty and also with Bonnie. Bonnie is the sister's recent convert but since they got the boot out of Midland 2, we are in charge of teaching her the new member lessons. We talked about enduring to the end. We used Alma 13:27-30, among other scriptures. It was really good.

Thursday was a sweet day! We got fed for all 3 meals! Sister Reyes, the angel, brought us breakfast burritos. She is super clutch. :) Then we got a call from a lady who apparently is in our ward and she needed help moving. We called the other elders and got the job done. It was really, really fun. Elder Stevenson, our Zone Leader, was there since he and Elder Nielsen were on trade-offs. After that we went to the Tridge then we got a call from Joe Booth asking us to mow his lawn. So we spent the next hour and a half trying to fix his lawnmower. Well, Elder Hess tried to fix the mower while I talked with Joe and shared a message with him. We had dinner at the Pierce's. We shared with them a message about making goals. 

Friday was a good day. We got to teach Helen Liu about keeping the Sabbath Holy. She is going to be baptized this Saturday the 23rd at 3! We then spent the entire rest of the day either knocking doors or contacting people at the Tridge.

Saturday was a super fun day for us. We woke up and went running. So Mom told me a while ago that running on your toes is good for you or something like that. So for the entire 4 mile run, I ran on my toes and now my calves are KILLING me. I could barely walk yesterday and today isn't much better. But it's okay, it was a good run. :) Then we went and helped Curt and Patty get ready for their yard sale. They kept arguing, it was pretty dang funny. Curt also broke out his nunchucks and put on a show for us. He's a black belt! Then we did companion study and we got shined by Katie who is a potential. So we went and volunteered at the ShelterHouse Resale shop and after that we went down to the Tridge and there was the Gus Macker 3 on 3 basketball tournament going on so we watched that for a little bit. The game we watched was a super good game then we watched the Slam Dunk contest. It was so sweet! The guy who won was this ripped black guy. He could fly! Then we went to Curt and Patty's for dinner and we had Curt teach us a lesson. He taught us about witnesses. It was a really cool lesson. Then we went to the Tridge the rest of the night. I got to talk to this one guy named John, who was awesome. Elder Hess kept getting phone calls because he was setting up getting Helen to church and her baptism, so I was the only one. It was really cool, I explained the Book of Mormon to him and also Adam and Eve. He said it all made sense. It was a really cool experience. 

Sunday was a great day as well. We went to church and Helen and her husband Gordon came, as well as Ben. In Ward Correlation we talked about possibly baptizing Gordon Liu with Helen. He has dementia so we thought that baptizing them as a family would be good. We decided to leave it up to Bishop. After that Bro Jones had us over and made us Coney Dogs. I got to play the piano and I realized that I have forgotten a ton but it was still fun. Then we studied and watched The Mountain of the Lord. It was a super good movie! Then we had dinner at the Wheelers. We invited David Clark, and Hunter and Jefferson Glenn came as well. It was a really fun dinner, it was so good that at one point we all started singing "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" :) We also got a call from Bishop Savage and he talked with President Jacobsen and they decided that we should baptize Gordon with Helen! So we are baptizing two people on Saturday! 

So far today we shopped and then studied. Then we said goodbye to Brian Simonds. He is going to Grand Valley State and we hit golf balls by the side of the road which was pretty fun.

I found a pretty funny scripture this week. Look up Jeremiah 16:16. It will give you a good laugh, at least it did to me. (missionary humor)  I would also recommend reading Alma 13:27-30. It is really good. It is about how we can better endure to the end, and live our lives. I love you all and am so grateful for all the support you give me. 

Love,

Elder Chalmers

Slam Dunk Contest

Me, Brian and Elder Hess

Letters and Pics from August 4 & 11, 2014

From Your Very Own Michiganary!                                                                                    August 11, 2014
Hey Everyone! Thank you so much for all the e-mails you have all sent me this week, I love them. Keep 'em coming, they are super fun and entertaining to read. :) So this past week was sweet, we worked super hard, and had a lot of really great experiences. 

Last Monday after P-Day ended we had dinner at Brother Cannady's house. We roasted hot dogs, and I downed a ton of cantaloupe. His wife was feeling sick, so she just lay on the couch the whole time. He works at the Detroit Temple, so we talked a lot about the temple, which was really cool. It was pretty funny, he kept calling his dog "Dog" and his voice kind of sounds like Doug from Up, so I was entertained. :) After that we went and talked with Nick Gagarin, and then finished the night at Blake's, and it just so happened that he was watching the Man U vs. Liverpool game. :)

Tuesday was a good day. We were able to talk with Nick again. Since he was supposed to be baptized on Saturday. It went really good though. We read 1 Nephi 4 with him. We chose that because Nephi cut Laban's head off, so it would keep a 13-year old entertained. hah. But we talked about how Nephi had the faith that Heavenly Father would provide a way to do that which he was commanded. Then we taught Ben Guffy about Eternal Families, Family History, and Temple work. We brought Bro Cannady along. When we told Ben that he could be with his perfect family forever, he got super excited. It was really cool.  The rest of the day we tried to visit all the part member families in our ward, the last place we stopped was Penny and Don McKormic's. He is a member, and she isn't. I guess the Sister missionaries used to come and teach them a while ago, but they had stopped. So now we are going to teach them. We are pretty excited about it. 

Wednesday was a very interesting day. We had district meeting, so Elder Hess and I got to the church early, because he wanted to print off a set of rules for a game called Pathfinder that we want to play on P-Day. So he started printing them, and then we went to district meeting. So after we had finished with the opening prayer, a guy from the first ward came into our meeting and started chewing us out which was ridiculous because Elder Hess was printing the rules from a CD he had, so we weren't breaking any rules. So the guy just assumed, and took it upon himself to try and discipline us. So I guess he sent an e-mail to President Jacobsen saying that we were on unapproved websites (which we weren't) and all this other stuff. So the assistants and our ward mission leaders and everyone were calling us all day, it was super distracting but we were on trade-offs, so Elder Hess and Elder Finlayson were much more distracted than Elder Nielsen and I. We had district lunch at Golden Buffet, which is a Chinese buffet, I was in heaven. :) So, Elder Nielsen and I were in my area and I was the senior companion, it was crazy! :)  We got to teach Marta. She is our super solid new investigator. We taught her the 1st half of the Plan of Salvation. She had a lot of good questions, and it went really well. Our problem however is that she believes that the priest who baptized her when she was a baby had the priesthood, but we can work with that, we just need to explain covenants to her. Then we went to see Nick. We watched the Restoration video with him. He really liked it, and said that he does believe that Joseph Smith is a prophet. It was really cool. After that we knocked doors for a while, which was good. Then we went to Blake's house, and I got to finish my miniature! It is so sweet. After that we went to A&W and got free root beer floats! Then we had dinner. Sister Glenn gave us a ton of leftover hot dogs and hamburgers since her husband had held a thank you event because he is running for state senate. 

On Thursday we had to go to the Church to trade back, but we also had to go and say sorry to Sister Lund, who is in charge of the Family History center. We just explained everything to her, and she just told us that if we want to print stuff out we have to pay for it so it was no big deal. Then we did our weekly planning. So on our way to go teach Nick again, we got a call from Sister Reyes. We met her at a parking lot, and she gave us some tamales. Then she bought us a blizzard from DQ! It was my first shake I have had on my mission so far! It was delicious. :) Then we went and taught Nick. We had talked to Brother Jones earlier in the week, and decided that for Nick to show he had humbled himself enough to be baptized, he had to come to church on Sunday. So he agreed to do that, which was awesome. After that Sister Schroeder took us to El Patron for dinner. It was super good. She told us her conversion story, it was so awesome. She got really emotional telling us, and it was really spiritual. After that we taught Curt and Patty, which was great as always. Then we met Brother Jones at the Sister's apartment, so we could get their area book. We also took other supplies from their apartment, so we now have a working can opener. :) hah. After that Bro. Jones cut my hair. And he said it best, "You get what you pay for." He did a hack job on my up-do! The longest part of my hair is now my cowlick and I look ridiculous! :) hah. But it's okay, I don't have anyone to impress out here.....

On Friday we met Helen Liu. She is the Sister's old investigator. She is 83 and from Taiwan. We got to her house and her brother and his wife and daughter were in town. They are visiting from Taipei, Taiwan! They were speaking Chinese because they barely know any English. It was really cool. We were able to get to know Helen better and talked about her baptism coming up on the 23rd. She just feels like she needs to know everything before she's baptized, but we told her that as long as she believed it, she would be fine. So she agreed to come to church on Sunday, as long as we could get her a ride. After that we taught Joe. Tracey, his girlfriend, who is a member and is always there picked for us to read 1 Nephi 8. about the tree of life. It was really cool to read it again. What really stuck out to me is when the mist of darkness comes around them it says that they pressed forward through the mist of darkness clinging to the rod of iron which I thought was awesome. How they clung to the Word of God in the mist of darkness which is something that we all need to do in the dark world we live in. After that we tried to contact some potentials. We were able to get a return appointment with one of them. The rest of the day we just tried to find more investigators.

Saturday was a really fun day. During companion study, Elder Hess and I went down to the Farmer's Market at the Tridge. We went for one reason, the cinnamon rolls that the Amish people make! They are super good, so we went and got some of those. :) After studies we met the Midland 1 elders at a lady named Edith Dickinson's house. Sister Reyes asked us to wash her windows for her. When I called her to set it up, she was so confused, I told her we would be there Saturday, and then she would be like "tomorrow!?" And I would say, no today is Tuesday, we are coming on Saturday. It was hilarious. So we got on her roof, and cleaned that window, and then took some sweet pictures up there. :) It was really fun. Then Sister Reyes fed us burritos, and cinnamon rolls and Edith asked us to give her a blessing, which I was able to do. It was a really good experience. After that we changed and then went to the Tridge. And we ran into the other Elders again. We then started talking to the LARPers. (Live Action Role Play) LARPing is just foam weapons, and you are live medieval fighting. Well they invited us to join them so we got to LARP with them. It was really fun. Elder Finlayson and I kept fighting each other, we were just laughing our heads off the entire time. :) After that we went to try and visit some people then we went to see Nick and reminded him he needs to come to church. Then we went and got Curt a couple of Crush sodas. Patty said he was having a rough day, so we decided to take care of our boy. :) Then we went to see Joshua, who is less active and is Sally's son. He was building a fence, and we helped him out for a little bit, he was really nice. Then we went to the Tridge. When we were done, the Midland 1 elders called us to see how many ITL's we had. Their goal for the week was to beat us, and they had 99 and we had 82. So it was 8:15, and we had dinner planned, but our pride got the best of us, and we spent the rest of the night personal contacting at the Tridge to try and beat them, which we did. We got 106! It was really fun, and we had some really good conversations. :)

Sunday was a good day. None of our investigators showed up to our ward. Not even Nick! So we can't baptize him for another week. I was so anxious waiting for them, it was crazy! Then Brother James asked me to give the opening prayer in Sacrament, which was really cool. :) We learned about signs of the second coming in sunday school. Something it said is that if we really are faithful and obedient we will know the signs of the second coming and prepare for it, I thought it was cool. :) Then we went to the 1st ward as well, because that is when Helen came. After church we went and met with Brian. He is leaving for college at Grand Valley State next week so we just chatted and shared Helaman 5:12 with him. He is a super cool guy, and I know he will be baptized soon.  After that we went to the McKormick's. We taught them the Restoration. Penny was really interested, and seemed to really like what we taught. It was a good lesson. For dinner we went to the James'. I love them, they are my new favorite family in Midland. They love soccer and remind me so much of my family! We stayed for their FHE and they are memorizing D&C 4. It reminded me of memorizing the Articles of Faith and Mosiah 2:17 and such when we would do FHE in Alaska. :) They went to the Lions pre-season game last night to go see Van Noy and Ziggy Ansah. They said it was sweet. They were super fun to talk to, I really really like them. 

So far today, we have shopped, studied, took pictures at the Midland sign, and then we tried to go run through a corn field. Except the corn was too close together, so it didn't work out that well, we even sort of got lost, but we made it! It was really fun, except Elder Finlayson had an allergic reaction to it, and his face is currently all blown up. hah.

I had an "A Ha" moment this week. Elder Hess and I were discussing why we don't just meet a daily quota on a mission; like if you work really hard, you can finish the day early. Then I realized that a mission is just like life. We aren't required to meet a quota, we are required to Endure to the End! We can always be better, and improve in some aspect, so we need to continue to endure. That goes for everything in life. I also am doing something called the "Purification Process." It's where you fast from things for 40 days and that way you can better feel the Spirit in your life. I'm doing this because everything good we do on a mission is inspired by the Spirit so if I can recognize and feel the Spirit more, I can be a better missionary. :) I love you all so much. 

Love,

Elder Chalmers

Blake, me and the mini wizard

My awesome miniature!

Washing windows at Sister Dickinson's

Midland photo shoot part 1

Midland photo shoot part 2

Midland photo shoot part 3

Finally Got Some New Gators!                                                                                    August 4, 2011

Hey Everybody!                                                                      

So this week in Midland, Michigan was a pretty good one. I don't know why, but for some reason, the end of this past week seemed to take forever, but we made it through and had some success, so all is well in Zion. :)

So last Monday night after P-Day was over we went to see our 13-year-old, Nick. His mom had called us earlier in the day and said that Nick had an emotional breakdown earlier in the day, and asked if he could talk with us so we were more than happy to go see him. He told us how he got really mad because his Dad isn't a great example. He is trying to use Nick so he can get in America and go see his girlfriends that live here. (His dad is Russian) He just feels used and like he's not really wanted. So we showed him something that President Hess showed us. We drew two circles, one smaller one inside of a bigger one. We told him that the things you can't control go in the outside circle and the things we can control go in the smaller inner circle. We told him to just focus on the things that he could control and as he does that, his own personal inner circle will start to grow and the outer circle will start to shrink. I'm glad he trusts us and looks up to us enough to talk about his problems with us. I really hope that we can help him. After that Blake shined us, which is a first. So we went to the Tridge. We met a guy named Steve who was fishing. We talked to him for like an hour. His two favorite things to do are to fish and golf which reminded me of Dad. He used to be a golf pro at a course in California. He asked a lot of really good questions about what we believe. He had a degree in Old Testament studies and was really smart and nice. He is actually from Los Angeles but was visiting his dad in Midland.

On Tuesday not a lot happened for us. We made a lot of phone calls and tried to set up a lot of our appointments for the week. We did go see Patty Cormier. And turns out that when Curt isn't around she can TALK! She is such a sweetheart, she told us that we are like her kids. :) We had dinner at the Henson's house. He is a super funny guy. He actually served his mission in the Michigan Lansing mission years ago. They made chicken alfredo, which was awesome. I also met Sister Pyper, who just got transferred here with Sister Procopio, she only has 3 weeks left, she is really. We did a lot of knocking and tried to visit some YSA's also.

On Wednesday the day did not start out too great... We worked out our arms in the morning, which was the lone shining spot early on this day. :) We had two sweet appointments set up. One with Tom and another with Brain. So we got to the Tridge to talk with Tom, who is about 50 and we met him at the Tridge earlier in the week. He was really interested in what we believe and in the Book of Mormon. We met him there but he told us he had to go back to work but he was nice enough to still meet us there and tell us which was really cool of him. Then we personal contacted at the Tridge for a while and right before we were about to leave to go see Brian he cancelled on us and we had a member set up to come to that with us, so that was appointment was a "Piece of Hud" situation. :) So after lunch we knocked doors in Wildwood. The second to last door we knocked on made the whole day worth it. We met a girl named Marta Perez. She invited us in and we taught her the entire first lesson! She said that she believes that a prophet could be on the earth today and that the Book of Mormon could definitely be true. It was so awesome. She is 23 or so and moved to Midland from Madrid, Spain about 10 years ago. We were so psyched after that! Then we tried to visit some YSA's. We had dinner at the Gudmundsen's house. He plays the organ and then showed us the MOTAB organ songs from the 4th and 24th of July concert things, they were so awesome. You should listen to the one by Richard Elliot called Follow the Flag, it rocks. That night we met with Curt and Patty. We talked with them for a while before Curt had to leave to go close the pool at the place he works, but then Nick came over and we got to talk with him a little as well, which was awesome. I shared the Title of Liberty and then Alma 48:17 with Curt and Patty. Moroni was one spiritual giant!

On Thursday we Studied and then finally got to meet with Tom. We talked with him about the Book of Mormon and answered his questions. We gave him the Book of Mormon and he said that he would read it. We tried to set an appointment for a week, but he told us to give him two weeks, because apparently he's going to try and read the whole thing!!! :) Which is super awesome! Then we did weekly planning. After that we went to the Tridge for while. Then we went and taught Ben about priesthood and the other auxiliaries, as well as about missionary work. He said he's been off cigarettes for 2 days, which was really good to hear. After that we knocked doors and met a really nice lady who talked with us for a while and she agreed to take our card with our number and to give us a call if she ever needed some manual labor performed. :) Then we talked with a guy named Jerry Hines for a while, he said he played running back at Nebraska back in the day, so that was cool. We had dinner at the Gilberts house. He is the 2nd counselor in the bishopric. They told us their story and it's crazy! They met at EFY when they were about 15. Then they were friends after that, since he lived in Kalamazoo and she lived in Midland. Once he left on his mission she wrote him for the first 18 months but then got a new boyfriend at BYU. Once he got back, he was going to Michigan State while she was at BYU and they were long distance dating and then one day he drove all the way out there and proposed to her. Their first real date was after they were engaged! It was nuts, but really entertaining. She told us that she wouldn't recommend it. haha. That night we went to Blake's. He was playing this crazy game called Warhammer with a friend which was crazy.

On Friday we played soccer really early and met Elder Finlayson's new greenie. His name is Elder Nielsen and he's from Kaysville, Utah. He knows Warner Rigby. We spent that morning at the Tridge and then we got a text from Brian and he cancelled on us again...and we were really frustrated. So after lunch we tried to see David, but he wasn't there so we tried to see some YSA's who weren't home. But then we caught David after we went back there a few hours later. We talked for a while and he had some new CD's he was planning on listening to. He had Oh, Inverted World by the Shins (Jonny) and he also had Up From Below by Edward Sharpe & T.M.Z (Megan/Janglin) I told him that they were both really good. We also got him on board in fellowshipping Blake, since they would get along super great. I also got my driving privileges today, so now I'm riding dirty in my Chevy Cruze, it was weird at first, since I haven't driven a car in two months!

On Saturday we studied in the morning, and we talked a lot about the Questions of the Soul that the Book of Mormon answer. They are so money. You can find them all on page 107 of Preach my Gospel. They are awesome. So we went to the Tridge, and talked to this guy named Calo. He is a brotha with some dreadlocks. He said he would come check out the church. We asked him how long he'd been in Midland and he said, "about a minute" so we asked how long that was and he said 8 years. I'm learning to speak "Hood" out here. :) hah. After that we did service at the ShelterHouse Resale shop. I love it there, it's really fun and they play some awesome music as well. After that we went to see Nick K. I think he's a genius. We talked with him for like three hours. We found out that he basically believes the same as us, except he believes that Heaven, isn't a place, but a state of total peace. He was telling us how saying things like "I wish" just leave emotional baggage around us and how we need to try and cut that out of our vocabulary. He said "Stop Wishing, Start Working" which I thought was sweet.  After that we drove way out of town to try and see a YSA. We sort of got lost so had to ask for directions and they only person around was a super drunk guy. He was swearing up a storm and kept saying really bad, mean stuff about Jesus Christ. I was starting to lose my temper but Elder Hess was able to keep it together and we finally got directions. So the YSA we met with, is named Jeremy and he's no longer a YSA because he's been married 18 months and has a son and one on the way. (Sorry dad, I can't refer them to you...) So we talked with them for a while, and he honestly doesn't really remember anything about the church but we gave them a Book of Mormon and are going to help them move soon. If we can start teaching them she will get baptized and he will come back to church for sure! He lives on a farm so the whole time we were talking there were horses and ponies and his border collie around us the whole time. I wasn't very comfortable. :) We also got free fish and fries from Long John Silvers ( sorry to bring it up dad...) today since they were having a promo, it was sweet!

Sunday was an awesome day. On our way to church David texted us asking us to come over. So we did and he did not look good. He asked for a blessing and asked me to give it. It was a really cool experience. After that my testimony of the power of the priesthood was 100% confirmed! At church I felt super prompted to bear my testimony so right before the end of it I got up there. I shared with them about how important my family and also how important my ward family are to me. I also shared a quote from His Grace is Sufficient by Brad Wilcox; which I love. It is referring to the Mormon pioneers, it says, "The task ahead of them was never as great as the power behind them." I related that to missionary work, as well as life.

After church we knocked doors and we talked with this guy who really wanted to Bible Bash, but we were able to tactfully get out of there, but it was a good learning experience for me. For dinner we went to the Carn's house. They are awesome. Brother Carn is one of those guys who likes to stir the pot. He really gets the debate going in Elder's quorum. We had burritos and I showed them the trick where you put whipped cream in your hand and flip it in the air and try to catch it. Sister Carn is probably going to be cursing my name after that. ha. Then we did church media study at night. We watched Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration which was really good. We also did some true gandering! (which is where you take stuff off the side of the road that people are throwing out.) We got a banana chair and a mirror. ha.

So far today we deep cleaned our apartment which now looks good and shopped. I got a lot of good stuff, mostly rabbit food, but my salads are going to kick butt now. 

This week I studied what "mercy claimeth the penitent" means. I was able to sort of get an answer, but then I was reading Elder Holland's talk called Borne Upon Eagles' Wings and it really explained it well for me. He said that we need to go to our place of penitence whether that be the Lord or even the Bishop. This is because evil can be undone, but it cannot develop into good things so we need to humble ourselves and go back to our place of penitence. (We can think of a penitentiary as an extreme example of a place of penitence) and then repent so we can have our claim on God's Mercy. It was really cool. 

I love you all so much and love hearing from you. No matter what may be going on in your life and no matter what trial or task you are going through remember that the task ahead of you is never as great as the power behind you. Trust in the Lord and He will help you. I can promise you that.

Love,

Elder Chalmers

The usual state of our apartment

A nice older couple we met...

Our sweet gandering finds

Sunset at the Tridge

A Week in the Life of a Michigan Missionary

This week didn't have a ton going on, but it was still fun.                                                           July 28, 2014

     Last Monday was a pretty typical P-Day. We e-mailed then ended up at the mall which sucks, since it's as worldly of a place as there is, but at least we got to play soccer which is always fun. Then we had dinner at the Kepler's. He is our Elder's quorum president. They are both converts, and really cool. Then we knocked doors the rest of the night.

     On Tuesday we went down to the Tridge and talked to some peeps, then we took like an hour of our day and made a ton of phone calls to try and set up all our appointments for the week. Then we went over to a less active member's house and played pool with him since Bishop told us to go over there and be his friend, but not to proselyte. After that we knocked doors for a while and then had dinner at the Bowman's house. Bro and Sis Bowman have been the Mission president in Mexico, the Peru MTC president, and the Peru Temple President. They were really cool. After that we went and saw Curt and Patty Cormier and taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which was really good. They are super awesome.

     On Wednesday it was Arms Day, so things were pretty intense over on 2201 Ashman Street Apt. #2. :) Then we had District Meeting and took District pictures, since it was our last District Meeting of the Transfer. We went to Wendy's for district lunch and almost made it completely around the table because Sister Cox was doing her "Yurps" (when she does her turrets thing) a ton. haha. Then we went to get Hunter Glenn, who is a pretty recent RM, he went to El Salvador. He was coming to teach Brian and then Aaron with us. But when we got to Brian's house, he wasn't there. So we had to take Hunter home, and totally missed out on a couple of sweet member present lessons. We were able to teach Aaron the Restoration still, and it was the hardest lesson ever! We were teaching him in this business building with a nice lobby and there is a restaurant in it and there was music playing in there, it was killing me! The music was all so good: Life in Technicolor, Dog Days are Over, Don't Stop by Foster the People, it was tough for me. Then we studied before going over to Jan and Jon Marcou's house. The Marcou's are etern-i-gators. They have been investigating the church for 14 years, since their daughter joined the church. They always have us over and feed us, then we teach them a lesson. We taught the second half of the Plan of Salvation, it went really, really well. They were saying that the Spirit World and Three Degrees of glory all made sense to them. We told them to look up "His Grace is Sufficient" by Brad Wilcox. Because we kept telling them that we are all saved by grace, but our works determine how comfortable we will be in God's presence. 

     On Thursday we studied, and then helped Sister Reyes help a friend move a washer, it was pretty hard since her ceiling in the basement is only 5 feet tall, but it was all good because Sister Reyes gave us burritos. :) Then we taught Brian the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a really good lesson. Our only obstacle with him is getting him to church. We have him on a baptismal date, but he is nervous to come to church and meet a lot of people, and then he also doesn't really want to affiliate with a denomination. But once he really prays about the Book of Mormon, he will come around. :) Then we had a member present lesson planned with Ben but he canceled on us. Then Nick was supposed to meet us at the Tridge, but he shined us. So we finally contacted the referral that Bro. Chris Sanford gave us. She was busy with people over, but we got her info, and she told us to come back. Her name is Tammi Dunham. After that we tried to go to Nick's house, but he wasn't home. So we went to Curt and Patty's. They fed us dinner and then we taught them. They are so nice to us. Then we got a text from Heather, Nick's mom, telling us to come over. So we went over and she told us about how Nick had just gone and gotten gages and that since she is a single mom and working her butt off he is just taking advantage of that. Also that he just puts on a face for us missionaries and acts interested, but really isn't. So we were able to talk to him for a little, and I told him that it's really important to not "give up what you want most, for what you want now." I hope he can figure things out before he hits rock bottom, and he's only 13! That's what's wrong with the world, it's all about instant gratification.... 

      On Friday we studied and then did Weekly Planning. We also got Transfer Calls! which don't really affect me since I'm training, but was still suspenseful. Elder Anderson is going to be Zone Leader in Spring Lake, and now Elder Finlayson is the District Leader and he is going to be training, which means that I'll no longer be the newest missionary out here! :) Then we went and taught Joe. His roommate was watching American Dad while we were trying to teach him, and that show is super bad, and it was really distracting. But we finally got them to turn it off, but it got worse from there, since Joe was falling asleep while we were teaching him, he would start to doze even when he would be talking. hahahah. It was ridiculous though. Then we knocked doors for a while. I was talking about the Philadelphia Eagles as I often do, and Elder Hess got really mad at me about how much I talk about how I like the Eagles and how I don't like the Cowboys. I think it was just because he was tired. But we got over it, it's all good. He's just mad that the Eagles are the best team on the face of the planet. And he did admit that he was a little jealous of my footie pajamas. :). Then we had dinner at sister Nyman's house and knocked some more. 

     On Saturday after we did studies we went to the Shelter House and helped out for a while, I also found some pretty sweet stuff there. They have everything as a set price, and the longer it is on a shelf, the cheaper it gets, it is really awesome. Then we went to teach Ben with Bro Cannady, but he shined us. That is kind of how our week went, every time we had a member with us, the person wasn't there.... So we went to Blake's house and painted our miniatures and while we were there the entire movie "Planes" played, and it was a pretty good movie. hah. Pretty much a not as good knock off of Cars. We had a hard time getting out of there, but we were able to get out after 3 hours, which may sound like a long time, but with Blake, it's pretty dang good. :) Then we got to teach Ben, turns out he went to the new Hercules movie and forgot. But we got to teach him about tithing. He agrees to everything, but he just can't quit smoking. Then we knocked doors for the rest of the night. 

     On Sunday we had Church. Sacrament meeting's topic was on Eternal Families, and it was so good. Bro. and Sis. Bowman spoke and they did awesome. Sis Bowman said "Life isn't a fairy tale, but we can all live happily ever after" Then Brother Bowman gave some really good marriage/family advice, which I made sure to take some religious notes on. hah. Then after church we talked with Nick and pretty much just talked with him, as friends. Then we told him how important it is to come to church. He just really needs some good examples in his life, so hopefully we can do that for him. Also on Sunday for like an hour it was pouring rain. It was probably raining harder than I have ever seen, it was crazy! We went home teaching with Hunter Glenn and then had dinner at Sister Wheeler's house with the sisters and Hunter since she is a single woman. There were some really good chimichangas. She is a really, really cool lady, except turns out she is a Cowboys fan, but she told me she would keep me posted. :) 

    So far today we have shopped, studied, played soccer, and are now e-mailing. 

  Some really cool scriptures I found this week were D&C 138: 27-60 which talks about how the teaching in the spirit world works. It is really really cool. Also James 4:17 is cool when relating to what SIN really is. It says that if we don't do good when we know that it is good, then it is sin. So it shows just how awesome Jesus really was and still is. Also without Satan, Heavenly Father's plan wouldn't work. So Satan obviously doesn't know Heavenly Father's plan, which is really cool, and so we don't know all of his plan. So I bet Satan feels really dumb about that. hah. 

This week didn't have a lot going on, but I still had a good time, and we knocked a lot of doors and worked really hard so I still feel good about it. I love you all like crazy. I still have a ton of work to do out here, but I dream about the day when I get to walk off the airplane and give all of you a huge hug! It's going to be the best day of my life getting to be together again. :) 

Love,

Elder Chalmers

My district

That is my Brotha Quan, who we see everywhere

My Eagles gear!

A funny sign I saw

Another good P-Day soccer game

I am I am...a real religious man

Hello everybody!                                                                                                                     July 21, 2014

This week we didn't get to teach very much, but we did a lot of finding, and had some really cool things happen to us.

On Monday, I mean P-Day we played soccer in the morning, and Elder Anderson and Finlayson sorta got into an argument, since things had gotten a little too intense during the many games we played, and it didn't help that it was really hot and humid. I was mainly mad because I lost the second to last game we played, so I went 6-1... :( haha. Then we e-mailed for a super long time, then we went to the mall. Elder Hess went to get a new suit, and we were there so long that I bought a new pair of slacks that are pretty dang sexy and were on sale. I also bought some protein from GNC, so I can continue on #operationswoll. We went to the Jenkins' house for dinner. They made the Ling Ling pot stickers and orange chicken, it was awesome! They are probably my favorite family here. They have 5 kids all 10 or younger, and currently they have a 6 and 4 year old I think, who both have broken arms. ha. Their 4 year old, Kade, and I are pretty good buddies. He kept throwing his napkin at me during dinner, it was funny. We taught them the Restoration using the cups to "build" the true church, it is really fun to do with little kids. They are solid members. Then we went over to Blake's house. We got him to open up to us a lot about his family, and we also painted our miniatures, which is pretty hard stuff, but it's really fun.

On Tuesday we did a lot of finding earlier in the day, and it was also our last day with bikes, which is a relief, you get way less work done on bikes... Later in the day we did teach Nick, our 13 year old investigator. We moved his baptismal date up to July 26! After that we had dinner at Curt and Patty Cormiers. They are the coolest people ever, she made apple crisp for dessert! YUM! We were super psyched about Nick, but then the Sister Missionaries, Sister Cox and Procopio, called us and told us that they were over at Nick's house with his mom, Heather. Heather is going through a divorce and her settlement requires her to move to Saginaw to be closer to the dad, so she is going through a really hard stressful time. So they called and told us that Nick had stolen his Mom's credit card and bought a $200 skateboard. So now we can't baptize Nick for a while, because he has some repenting to do, obviously. 

On Wednesday we had District Meeting, which was really good, we talked about "Treasure up the words of Eternal Life" from David A. Bednar's talk, "Becoming a Preach My Gospel Missionary". Sister Cox in our district has tourettes, so every time she "yurps" we all move a chair to the right, it's pretty funny. For district lunch we went to Taco Bell, and we scored some sweet freebies, Mirror by Justin Timberlake, Lucky by Jason Mraz and Colbie Cailet, and even some John Mayer. hah. Then Elder Finlayson and I were on trade-offs, so I was in the Midland 1st ward area. We had to study, and since I'm new and doing the "first 12 weeks" training thing, we had to watch 2 hours of The District, and I fell asleep. ha. Then we went and knocked doors for a while, and met this lady who was super anti-Mormon. She told us she had read some stuff from former members of our church, then we told her we believe in the Book of Mormon, and she told us "don't believe everything you read" I wanted to chew her out and call her a hypocrite... but I can't do that as a missionary... Then we went to the Klopf's house for dinner, she made enchiladas, they were the best ones I have ever had, then she gave us a mountain of strawberry shortcake and ice cream, it was amazing. Then we went to Stephen's house, for a little bit, his whole family was baptized like 20 years ago, but he's addicted to smoking, and doesn't believe it's true yet...

On Thursday we went to help the M1 sisters move a potential investigator, but when we got there they were pretty much done, so we just went and got donuts. We then traded back. We went to the Open Door, a charity place for people who are out of jail and trying to get back on their feet. We were going to meet Patty there, but she never showed up, so we just helped them out anyway. We saw Ben Guffy today. We taught him about following the Prophet. Halfway through the lesson his mom showed up to bring him a blizzard. Ben then said stuff like "I try to impress my mom with my words" and "My mom changes her mind a lot" then his mom was like "what do you mean?" So Bro. Lindauer, who we had brought with us, explained that we understood what Ben meant. But for some reason he just couldn't get his words out, it was the funniest thing ever. He was stammering and didn't make any sense. Ben's mom was probably really happy that we brought someone like Ben with us. haha. Then we went to see David Clark, who is a less active. Once we got back to our apartment we got a call from Blake, and he really needed a ride so he could go pick up his girls from day-care. So we called David Clark since him and Blake are really similar, and he was happy to help. It was awesome, we got Blake a fellowshipper, and got a less-active more involved. Then we weekly planned, and it went really well. Then we went to Blake's again and painted and talked with him.

On Friday I shredded my Bi's and Tri's, which was awesome. hah. Then we visited Dale, who is less active, and he told us that he got $1 million dollars from a motorcycle accident settlement, and had blown it all! After that we went to the Tridge, since this Weekend was River Days, which is a big festival put on by the city to raise money. After lunch and a nap, we started knocking doors. While we were knocking, we got a phone call from a number from Ohio. So I answered. It was a guy named Chris, who grew up in Midland. He asked us for a Book of Mormon and Bible, because his sister had agreed to get them from him, since she isn't a member. So we had to scramble to get a Bible, but we found one then met him at the 7-Eleven parking lot. He was a super cool guy, he was super passionate about missionary work, and he bought us pizza and drinks. He told us some of his mission stories, and then told us to stop by his sister's house, so we got a referral! It was so awesome.! After that we went to the Tridge the rest of the night.

On Saturday we went over to Bro. Jones house to do service. We broke up concrete again and then dug a hole in his crawl space. It was some hard labor, but I loved it! He also fed us the same breakfast as last week with buttermilk pancakes, blueberry syrup, and bacon. It was so good.! We were super dirty after, but I had a blast. After that we cleaned up and went to Nick's house and helped him pack since he's moving, but he's still in our area. We had a good discussion with him, he's a super smart guy. Then we did our studies, and went to the Tridge for River Days. We tried an approach with the other elders. We tried conducting a survey to get more investigators. The people in charge kicked us out since they had "rented the park" so we just kept going on the other side of the Tridge but we gave up on the surveys.

On Sunday we went to church and during Priesthood the lesson was on eternal marriage. All the guys were making a ton of jokes and stuff, it was pretty funny. Then we did our companion study on prayer and it was a really good study. We decided that if you don't pray with real intent, it's sorta a waste of your time. Then we had a speed dinner at the Krueger's house because we had to pick up the other elders and we went to St. Brigid Catholic Church with Alexis, one of their investigators. It was really interesting. And the Priest was preaching and said "I am I am" and we started singing the song from Nacho Libre, after we had left of course. haha. Since it was evening mass, nobody was dressed up, and we were in suits. hah. 

Overall the week was a pretty good one. I am having to learn to be really patient out here, and it's hard, but it's good for me. Being with a companion 24/7 can be tough, even if you get along with them really well. Alma 34:31-35 are great scriptures on Our Earth Life, and how we need to take advantage of the time we have here. Being away from all of you has made me realize how much I really do love you. I'm so lucky to have you all as my family. HE LOVE!!!!

Love,

Elder Chalmers 

A food truck at River Days

After all the digging in the dirt

Elder Hess and I in our hole

Brother Jones' son, Dallin, painted these scenes on their stairs

First week of trade-offs

How's it going everyone?                                                                                                July 14, 2014

So this past week was a pretty dang good week, other than the fact that you were all at Lake Powell! But once Saturday came around and I knew you were all home, I was pretty happy. ha. 

So on Monday we partied pretty hard on P-Day. ( even though it should be called P-8 since we only have 8 hours off.) We studied and then e-mailed, then Elder Finlayson and I played an intense game of P-I-G. Neither of us could make a shot, until the other one did, then we would make a half-court shot to answer the other, it was clutch stuff. After that we went to the mall and ate Taco Bell, then Elder Hess had to get his watch re-sized. After that we went to Grove Park which is like half a mile down the street from our apartment and played soccer. It was super fun, nobody else really plays, so I do work, but it is a ton of running, which can only help me improve my bod. haha. So after that we went over to Blake Schrode's house. He is what we call an "etern-i-gator" He is super nice to the missionaries and always expects us to share scriptures with him. He is super into sports, so we have some great conversations. His hobby is painting miniatures. He has over 150,000 of them, it is insane. The miniatures are of like sci-fi characters, Elder Hess and I are actually painting our own miniatures with him right now, it's pretty hard though, since I'm not very artistic...

On Tuesday we had a bodacious day! We were teaching and had appointments literally the entire day. Which was RAD.( I hate that I just used that word) We first went out to Joe Booth's house. We helped him rearrange his furniture, then taught him about enduring to the end. I really emphasized with him to always be enduring to something, that way things don't seem so insurmountable. I used a quote that President Hess told me before he left, "Life by the inch is a cinch, but by the yard it is hard." It has really helped me with my mission so far. Then we taught Ben Guffy with Bro. Cannady, our ward clerk. We taught him the 10 Commandments using hand signals, then talked about obedience, which is the first law in heaven and to everything, especially missionary work! We had Bro Cannady share his conversion story about giving up alcohol and coffee, so it was good to have him to relate to Ben. After that we went to Blake's house to continue to paint our miniatures, and it "just so happened" that the Brazil vs. Germany game was on!!! I got to watch most of the first half, and my jaw was on the floor the entire time, Germany just throttled them! It was so embarrassing. We sorta felt bad about watching it afterward, but we did give him one of the Family: Proclamations. We then got shined (when we have an appointment but they aren't there) by Nick Gagarian, our 13 year old investigator who blew up his toilet. So after dinner we went and taught Curt and Patty. We are never able to actually teach a full lesson to them since Curt loves to get off subject, but I don't care, I love Curt and Patty Cormier, they are my favorite people!

On Wednesday we met Elder Anderson and Finlayson at the park and played soccer in the morning, after that we just traded off from there. So I was in the other Elders area, the Midland 1st ward, with our District Leader Elder Anderson for the day. We had a pretty solid day. The first two doors we knocked we got a return appointment with a guy, he was the first person to actually let me inside! and then had a really good conversation with this girl named Mercedes, her dad is Muslim. After knocking doors for a while, we got shined, but then knocked more doors. We met a Brazilian guy named Marcelo who we asked if we could come back to meet with him, and he was like "yes of course"  We don't really know how well he understood us, but it was cool. We had dinner at Bishop Ostergaard's house. We had curry, mango sticky rice, then super doughy brownies that rocked, it was a good meal. After that we taught a guy named Brendon with an RM. He was really smart in the Bible, since his parents spent the first half of his life as missionaries in Africa. He said he sorta liked the stuff we shared with him out of the Book of Mormon, but didn't think it was true. So the I bore my testimony about the Book of Mormon and told him that the only way he could really know that it is true is to read it. After that we met with a girl named Alexis, with Sis Keil. So Sis Keil isn't actually a member of the church, but makes all the sacrament meeting programs and stuff, she is just non committal. That lesson went pretty well, we mostly talked about original sin, and the fall of Adam, and the 2nd article of faith.

On Thursday we played soccer again, but this time the Zone Leaders woke up super early and met us there so we could play 3 on 3, which was really fun. Elder Stevenson was actually pretty good, he could sorta hang. :) So after that we showered and got looking nice so we could go to our Meet the President meeting. President Jacobsen is awesome. He is super excited and intense. He pretty much spoke about working hard and being obedient, which is what everybody does when they are new. But he related a ton of stuff to football which I thought was cool. He even showed us this football video which was pretty motivating. His wife shared a cool quote with us "You are better than you think you are". After that Elder Hess and I did studies and weekly planning, then we got picked up and went out to see his cousins, who were visiting her parents, who happen to live in our area and are less active, I don't know how "legal" it was, but they were really cool. After that we traded-off with the Zone Leaders. Elder Stevenson stayed here with me, which meant that I had to "take over" the area. So we went down to the Tridge and PC-ed. We were on fire, everybody was talking with us. Then we got picked up by the Henson's and they took us to Pizza Sam's downtown, which was really good. Her son was there, and he flies Chinooks in the Army, he has been deployed for a total of 58 months!!! But he won't be deployed anymore since he got a new job. After that we went and met with Curt and Patty. We taught about half of the Plan of Salvation and about halfway through the lesson Bro. Jones, Sister Cox and Procopio brought over Heather, who is a recent convert and is going through a divorce and having a super hard time. I was able to give her a blessing. I was pretty nervous since it was my first one ever, but it was amazing how the spirit guides you! After that we knocked on this one door of a couple of drunk people who were crazy. Then on our way out, we saw Nick, and set up an appointment with him. So we had to bike all the way home from Curt and Patty's since we don't have a car this week, I'm a legit missionary now. ha. 

On Friday we had another solid day. Elder Stevenson and I studied and practice taught the Plan of Salvation which we were going to teach Brian. Then we went down to the Tridge for a little bit. We then pedaled over to Brian's. He is 18 like me. We taught him the plan of salvation and it went really well. Then when teaching the part about the Atonement I used 3 NEPHI 27:19-20 and extended the invitation to be baptized, and he said...............YES! It was super cool. We then taught him about priesthood authority and what baptism means, it was an awesome lesson. After that we stopped by Ben's house and taught him the Word of Wisdom, since he just needs to quit smoking so he can be baptized. He even gave us his cigarrettes which was really cool. I even got to give him a blessing which was really cool. After that we knocked doors. We met a sweet potential investigator named Sage. She already knew a lot about the church and her only issue was with Joseph Smith, which we can work with. We also knocked on this one door where the lady answered and when she saw us she started banging on the door yelling "I have my God, I have my Jesus!!" It was nuts. After that we traded back and Elder Hess and I were reunited. But I really liked being with Elder Stevenson, he is a super cool guy. That night We taught A-aron who is Brian's friend. He has a lot of really deep questions that are pretty hard to answer. It was a good discussion though. Then we met a really cool family at the Tridge, and we got their info. The mom was really religious and even wanted to read the Book of Mormon after I explained it to her.

On Saturday we got up and headed straight over to Bro. Jones house to do service with Curt Cormier. I started off the day by digging a hole. Someone had already started digging and had gotten pretty far, but then I dug for about an hour and a half, and got the hole 8 feet deep, it was pretty hard to get out. hah. After that Bro. Jones fed us a breakfast of champions. It was buttermilk pancakes, blueberry syrup, whipped cream, apple sauce, milk, grape juice, and bacon! It was SO GOOD! After that I helped Bro. Jones plant a tree, then spent the rest of the time helping Elder Hess and Curt bust up the concrete on Bro. Jones back porch using a sledge hammer, which we called "persuasion," it was really fun. We were there for like 5 hours. After that we biked home and got ready. Then we biked over to Nick Garagarian's house. We had to wait for like 30 min for him to get there. But we taught him the Restoration, and he asked us when he could be baptized before the lesson was even over which was awesome. We set him for August 9th, same as Brian. Then we went over to Curt and Patty's for a little bit. Curt showed us his tie collection and gave us about 10 ties, which was really cool. After that we headed over to Bro. Jones house and he fed us pizza, which was really good then we just studied the rest of the night.

Sunday wasn't too eventful, except we went to a Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall! We got invited so we decided to go. It was really cool, once we walked in we were just attacked, everyone was so nice and friendly to us. The first 30 min a guy gave a sermon, then the next hour and a half they read from their magazine "The Watch Tower" and then two guys would go around with microphones on boomsticks so people could comment and answer questions, it was sorta weird, but cool. After that we studied. Then we had dinned at the Smith's house and taught a short lesson on the Restoration with them. We then PCed at the Tridge the rest of the night. We met a group of Taiwanese people who were really nice.

So far today we have grocery shopped, studied, and played soccer, which got a little too competitive....

This week was really great for me and I needed it since you were all partying at Lake Powell. 

You should check out Moroni 7:33. It is a great verse on faith, just read the whole chapter, it rocks. I love and miss you all a ton and think about you constantly. I love you.

Love,

Elder Chalmers

This is the note that Elder Stevenson left on the cigarettes that Ben gave us, we put them in Elder Hess's desk.

Service

Service: digging a hole

Planking

Vintage Missionaries

Elder Hess and I at the Tridge

The 4th of July: Michigan-style

"Happy New Year" Everybody,                                                                                        July 7, 2014

So this week has been pretty busy, and fun. We have done a ton of finding this week, which means knocking a lot of doors, and tracting a lot at the Tridge. One of the days at the Tridge we were taking pictures of these turtles. They all group together on this log, it's pretty cool. We also saw these 3 squirrels fighting and I got it on video, it was really cool. 

So the 4th of July here wasn't all that great until the night. None of the members invited us to anything, so we were tracting at the Tridge for about 6 hours. We met some cool people though. One guy gave us blueberries and then another lady gave each of us a Gatorade which was nice. One guy thought we were Jehovah's Witnesses and said something about the 144,000, which was pretty funny. We talked to this black guy named Zach that day, and he actually seemed pretty interested, then he got a phone call and went over to talk to the person who called him, and turns out it was Ben Guffy, our "less accountable" investigator. Turns out that Zach is also slightly "special." We tend to attract those kinds of people. We also saw Quan again today! We see him almost everyday! He is this small black dude that we talked to once when we were walking around knocking doors and ever since then we see him all the time. So he was wearing a purple polo, khakis, and a Jesus hat. We asked him why he was dressed up and he said "You know, For the New Year." The poor guy was a little confused...

 So after walking forever all day, we met the other elders, Elder Anderson and Finlayson at our apartment and we went back down to the Tridge to watch fireworks. The second we got there and were sorta "off duty" everyone started talking to us and being really friendly, while when we were there earlier not very many people wanted to take time out of their holiday and talk to us. So then these 3 high school girls starting talking to us, mainly to Elder Hess and Elder Anderson. Elder Finlayson and I thought it was pretty funny, since it sorta seemed like the girls were just flirting with them. One of the girls asked Elder Hess after talking to him for like 20 min, "Wait, what church are you from?" She obviously wasn't too interested. ha. The fireworks were really cool though. We didn't get back to our apartment til 11:10 and didn't get to bed til like 11:45 so on Saturday we were exhausted all day!

We were able to pick up a new investigator this week though. He is the son of a recent convert. His name is Nick Hale, and he's 13. He came to church with Patty Cormier, who is also a recent convert, and she and her husband, Curt, are on fire. They are so solid. The reason he was at church was because he blew up his toilet with a firework the day before and his mom was super mad. We talked to him and he told us that he had been on date for baptism before but then decided not to go through with it so we taught him later on Sunday. We were able to bond with him really well over screamo music. ha. He said he likes us more than the other missionaries who taught him. The negative is that he is moving pretty soon otherwise we would be able to baptize him pretty easily. But we can just refer him to the Saginaw missionaries. 

I have been super tired all the time but I guess that is just how it goes, but it's still really fun. Elder Hess and I get along really, really well. We make jokes that we are dating. ha. 

For one lesson I taught Joe about enduring to the end. I shared 2 Ne. 31:20, and told him to not think about enduring to the end, but just endure to something. Like his arm is broken, so I told him to endure that, then once he did that, to endure to something else. President Hess told me the first day I got here that "Life by the inch is a cinch, but by the yard it is hard." It has been really helpful for me in enduring to the end, and enduring to the end of the mission. Also Ether 12:27 rocks. I love you all and am always thinking about you. Never forget that without the Atonement of Jesus Christ, there would be no hope in the world. Always be grateful for the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made, and the blessings that it brings to our lives.

Love,

Elder Chalmers 

Party Elders!

Feeling very patriotic

C-Twice found his favorite store

The turtles at the Tridge