Springtime for a Michiganary!

KEEP THAT FIRE BURNING!                                                                                        June 1, 2015
The subject line for this e-mail comes from Quan Porter in Midland. I was looking back through my journal and read about how one day at the Tridge we saw him again and when we were parting ways he told us to "keep that fire burning" like 10 times, so we have adopted it here in the Kalkaska district. :)

This was an awesome week. There were so many miracles, the Spirit was our senior companion, and we were able to be instruments in the hand of the Lord! Here are some highlights:

•We taught Rich again this week. We had President Robinson and Steve with us. The lesson started out with Rich sounding like he was going to drop us. He kept saying how "this stuff comes hard for me."  How Joseph Smith was confusing to him but then the Spirit really directed the lesson from there. We told him how he was overthinking things. We told him how we all have different stories and journeys on how we come to know the truth, but the one thing every story has in common is the we can only truly know by the Power of the Holy Ghost. After we watched the Restoration video and told him to pay attention to how he feels. It was powerful for all of us there, I love that movie. After it Rich told us how that made it all make so much more sense. It was amazing.

•We taught a new investigator named Allisha on Wednesday. She is Donna's best friend from when they were kids and we taught her at Donna's house. She was really open with us and we taught her about the Atonement. She committed to be baptized! 

•I got to go on a trade-off with Elder Johnson. He's from Saratoga springs, UT and is super cool. We had a ton of fun, he's super funny and we spent the whole time laughing and having a good time. 

•We were finally able to teach Deb again! It had been a month since we had a chance to teach her. It went super great. She is still super committed to getting baptized. We taught her the GOJC and she loved it. She had a ton of great questions, like she asked us, "If we lived with God before, and we are trying to live with him again, what's the point in even leaving?" It almost doesn't even matter what you say to her, she is so prepared!

•We met with Justin. He has had some hesitancy with the Book of Mormon and more specifically Joseph Smith. He hasn't read the Book of Mormon yet, so we read it with him and the Spirit was super strong. He really enjoyed it and we are teaching him again tonight and are very hopeful for similar results, and a similar Spirit. :)

• We went to try by a potential on Friday and he answered so we asked him if we could come in. We may have caught him a little off guard, but he let us in. We had an amazing lesson with him. The Spirit was guiding us so much. We were able to teach him the Restoration and relate it really well to him and he committed to be baptized! It was so cool because when we first met him he really didn't seem that interested but we were supposed to be there for a reason!

•Another miracle was, we were door knocking and we came to a AFC home and the guy outside told us to go in, we were a little hesitant, but went in anyway. The lady working used to meet with the missionaries like 6 years ago and we got an appt. with her next week! :) 

My spiritual thought today comes from the talk I gave yesterday. Elder Allred and I both had the opportunity to speak in Sacrament yesterday. Sister Draher spoke as well on her journey from baptism to the temple. That is all we had as a topic so I looked up "journey" in the TG and was led to these scriptures in Mark 13:32-37

32 ¶But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.

 33 Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.

 34 For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch.

 35 Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning:

 36 Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.

 37 And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.

I loved them and I spoke on what our "work" that we have to do on our journey to meet the Son of Man when he returns from His. First we need to seek our own salvation, we need to be in a position to where we can be of help to others and not just company. We do this by living the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not just knowing it. Only faith in Christ can produce salvation, repentance is change and brings happiness, our baptismal covenant gets us off neutral ground and puts us in a position to act and secure promised blessings do we truly understand the Gift of the Holy Ghost? If we did, we would crawl over broken glass to get it (Elder Holland), Don't think of it as endure to the end, endure to something... Once we are in a position where we are help and not company, we need to be the Hope of Israel that we are...

Hope of Israel, rise in might

With the sword of truth and right;

Sound the war-cry, "Watch and pray!"

Vanquish ev'ry foe today.

We are the Hope of Israel!

Love,

Elder Chalmers

Party van with Steve!

Torch Lake with Elder Allred

You can't help but love Steve!

SEEK AND YE SHALL FIND                                                                                                May 25, 2015

This was a great first week with Elder Allred! We were able to have a lot of time to find new investigators and it went really well. Some highlights of the week:

•We had a lesson with Rich Mason. We left him the Joseph Smith pamphlet to read and it was a little too much for him. We took President Robinson with us and he has known Rich since they were in kindergarten together. They got to reminisce a little bit and we talked about Joseph Smith. Elder Allred bore his testimony of how he knows that Joseph Smith is a prophet and it was super powerful. It was a great lesson. Rich was referring to me as "brother" the whole time. He'd be talking to Pres. Robinson and say something like, "I was telling my brother here that this comes hard for me..." Rich is so awesome. 

•We were able to have an amazing lesson with a new family we are teaching. Their names are Ralph and Katie, and their kids are Noah 17 and Olivia 13. We really hit it off with them and we were having a great lesson on the Restoration. After we taught them about the First Vision, the picnic table we were sitting on broke. As it was happening we all stood up really quick (distractions always come while teaching the First Vision). I said a personal prayer that the Spirit would stay with everyone and we all just stood where we were and continued with the lesson. Ralph asked us how we knew the Book of Mormon was true, so both of us and Bro. McDuffie shared, then Ralph told us about his past experience with church. It was such a spiritual lesson. At the end Katie said how she thought it was cool that even though the table broke we just kept on going and didn't let it stop us. They are a great family.

•On Friday all of our appts. cancelled on us so we had lunch with the Hildebrand's and then tried by some people, and we forgot something at the Hildebrand's so we had to go back and get it, so we decided to knock by their house. We turned down this street to park and felt like we should knock it. It was this dirt road that seemed pretty desolate from our efforts though, we were able to get 4 return appts with people and they were all super prepared. It was a miracle! 

• On Saturday we knocked pretty much the entire day and met some really cool people. We got a few return appts. and also were able to respond to people's objections by the Spirit really well. On our way home for dinner we kept running into people to talk to and there went our dinner. It was a super cool day. 

•A member here gave an amazing talk yesterday, he started it out by reading the Gettysburg address, it was great. I never realized how spiritual it is. He talked about how we need to remember those who gave their lives, and finished by talking about how Christ gave his life, it was powerful.

Things have been great in Kalkaska. We are finally getting some great weather and that has been a blessing. 

My spiritual thought is to be prepared. There is a scripture that President Hoover loves to share, it's Alma 13:5 "Or in fine, in the first place they were on the same standing with their brethren; thus this holy calling being prepared from the foundation of the world for such as would not harden their hearts, being in and through the atonement of the Only Begotten Son, who was prepared." I've been reading in the war chapters of Alma, and Moroni is constantly preparing the people for war, and when they're prepared, they always succeed. It's no different for us today, we need to always be preparing ourselves, especially spiritually. We never know when our trials are going to come, and if we aren't ready for them, we won't be able to withstand them. Always be preparing!

Love,

Elder Chalmers

Elder Allred at his finest! :)

Elder Chalmers!

TRANSFER CALLS...                                                                                                    May 19, 2015

This week we got our transfer call, and Elder Houser is leaving down to Battle Creek and I'm staying here and my new companion will be Elder Allred. He's from Orem and has been on his mission for about 5 months. I'm really happy to be staying in Kalkaska!

Last Monday we spent the majority of our day doing service at Bro. Chowhan's.

Tuesday: Today we spent most of our day in Bellaire knocking on doors. We had a great lesson with Rich. He is still really open to learn. We have known him for like 2 weeks now and he loves us, we love him as well. Rich is great! We had dinner at President Thomas' and then went to the Young's. 

Wednesday: We had our last district meeting down in Cadillac. After lunch I got to do a couple of baptismal interviews and both of the guys were really great. They were so different but both super spiritual experiences. I love getting to do interviews! We met with this crazy guy. He pretty much invited us back so he could tell us how wrong he thinks we are. He said he won't believe anything that a man says but then he would read a scripture from the Bible, so we would tell him how a man (prophet) wrote it, but he just made no sense. ha. Then we taught Bill the Plan of Salvation. That went really well, he's open to learn, but we don't know if he's open to change... Following that we met up with Tiffany then we had a lesson with Bro. Chowhan's stepsons. They weren't really interested but it was a good experience!

Thursday: Today we knocked pretty much the entire day in Fife Lake. It was a really nice day and we were out in the sticks all day. We met some cool people though. We had dinner at Carrie Norman's. She made some ridiculous chicken alfredo... It was a good day.

Friday: We got our T-Call in the morning, and as I said, I'm really happy to be staying put,=. I really like Kalkaska! We tried to go to a lesson with Bro. Brown but they shined us. He talked to us on our way back about how he taught English in China, it was really cool. We then went to Bellaire and Elder Houser said his goodbye to Rich. We went on a walk with him and talked about Joseph Smith, it was great! Then we did some door knocking. We had dinner at the Shafer's. They made some huge steaks and it was a feast! Then we knocked doors in Kalkaska and got a couple of really cool potentials.

Saturday: Elder Green and Elder Sauer, who are serving in the U.P stayed the night with us. Elder Green went down to the temple with the Drahers and Elder Sauer got to be with us for the weekend. We went with Gary to teach Chris and Angel then we had burgers over at the Piatt's. We then went with Steve down to Cadillac for the baptism of Richard Marvin, it was a really sweet experience and once we got back we did some door knocking. We had this couple let us in and they were asking some awesome questions about the Plan of Salvation, we are going to go back, it was a miracle! :) 

Sunday: Church was great as usual. We had potluck and ate a lot of food. It was all super good! Then I did call-ins. Following that we tried to see Donna but she had a ton of people there so we went to say hi to Sis. Wilke. We were able to set an appt. with her friend that was over there, so that was really sweet. :) We had dinner and Bible Study at Dennis'. They really like the comments we make and I know that we really are softening their hearts. After that we met with Tiffany and then Chris and Angel.

Monday: This morning we decided to do a food challenge... It's called the Skillet Challenge, it's a 5 pound skillet. It was a ton of food and I almost did it...out of Elder Houser, Sauer, and myself, I got the closest but it was a ton of fun then we drove down to Mt. Pleasant with the Hoovers. I got to see Elder Rapp again. I also got to see Elder Laing and I got the scoop on what's what in Big Rapids. Then we stopped at Wendy's on the way back. After our P-Day was over we knocked on doors and had a ton of success in the short time, it was sweet. We went over and had correlation with Bro. Chowhan and had a lesson with Jessie. Elder Allred is a really cool Elder and I look forward to working with him!

My spiritual thought for this week is the importance to put your heart into being obedient to the Lord, I read a scripture this week, Alma 45:6-7 "And Alma said unto him again: Will ye keep my commandments? And he said: Yea, I will keep thy commandments with all my heart. ' If we really put our heart into our obedience, then the Lord will help us to truly change and become more Christlike disciples, if we withhold our heart, then the Lord won't change us against our will.

I love each one of you, and am so thankful for the support!  

Love,

Elder Chalmers

The Piatt's made us both blankets

The District

Skillet Challenge before...

...and Skillet Challenge after.

Steve Cole and me

Rich and me

Mother's Day=THE BEST! :)                                                                                     May 11, 2015

Hey Everybody!

The highlight of the week was Mother's Day, no doubt! :) It was so much fun getting to see everyone and talk to you. The week leading up to it was great as well. 

Monday: We had a couple of lessons after we spent our P-Day setting up our lifting rack we got. We taught a lesson to Justin. It was a crazy one! We are pretty sure that he got some anti material so that was a little rough, but it all comes back to reading and praying about the Book of Mormon for yourself, so that's what he committed to do. Then we had a lesson with Chris and Angel.

Tuesday: We had lunch at Bro. McDuffie's today then we had a lesson with Steve and Joy at the Bellaire Library, that was really fun. We spent a big part of the day knocking on doors, the weather was great, and it was fun. We knocked into a member and spent some time with him. We had a great lesson with a new investigator named Rich. He really likes us and he's really open to learn.

Wednesday: We had lessons today with Chris and Angel, and also Tiffany. We spent some time with Gary Piatt today which was sweet, Gary is a stud. Not a super eventful day, all of our plans seemed to fall through...

Thursday: Today we had Zone Conference in Midland! It was so great to get to go back! I got to see Elder Rapp, my Boy! :) I also got to see Elder Nielsen and my entire MTC district was there as well. The training was really good on how we can be better finders and planners. I got permission to go and see John and Karolyn on the way home. It was the the BEST! She answered and said come in and then she took a double take and realized it was me, and she freaked out! I got to spend about 45 minutes there. We talked about the temple and they are going to do baptisms soon. We also reminisced about the good old days. :) ha. They are the best, I love them so much!

Friday: Today was really good. We also got fed a ton of food. We went to the Hildebrand's and they fed us and we had a good lesson. Then we went to see Rich, and he had pizza for us. We talked a lot, but we still had a good lesson, he's a great guy. Then we had dinner at the Belitz's and following that we were door knocking and met the guy who owns all the McDonald's around here and he gave us like 35 free McFlurry cards! They are really trying to fatten us up here! ha. 

Saturday: Today we spent a while doing service at the Chowhan's, since they are trying to get it all done, we did some sanding and painting of the ceiling, it was some fun stuff. Then we knocked on some doors, and met some interesting people. We had dinner with the Piatt's. They are amazing! Then we were able to go to the Chowhan's and give him a blessing. It was a really powerful experience.

Sunday: Church was great. Steve spoke about Mother's. He called them "Awesome", "So Cool", and said "Wow" like 100 times. It was super great, we love Steve! :) We had a great lesson with Tiffany today about repentance and putting God first. Then we had burritos and Bible study over at Dennis' house. That was really fun. Then we got to Skype! It was so great getting to see everybody and talk. THE BEST! :) Such a blessing of technology.

My spiritual thought is from what I said about our lesson with Tiffany. To Repent is to change. We find great counsel from the Savior himself in 3 Nephi 13:33- "But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." Take a look at your life, and think of the instances where you could put God first, and then repent (change) and see the blessings that will come. :)

I love you all so much, and I love my Mom! Happy Mother's Day!

Love,

Elder Chalmers

Gary Piatt and me

Elder Rapp and me-together again

The Shocknesse's. I love them!

KALKASKA MIRACLES!                                                                                                    May 4, 2015

This was a really great week in Kalkaska, Michigan. It has finally gotten warm and it's been great! :) We had a lot of really cool experiences this week. I will give you the highlights!

Monday: We had district P-Day and played some basketball then we did trade-offs and Elder Lowder cut my hair. He did a pretty good job. ha. We doorknocked the rest of the day. We knocked some sketchy apartments. We asked this one guy when we could come back and he said when he had finished his brandy and wasn't drunk. So I offered to dump it out for him and he offered to beat me up (lthough he didn't say it that way) ha. We had a couple of doors where the people weren't interested so we bore our testimony to them, it was really great to be able to leave with the Spirit there.

Tuesday: Elder Lowder and I met the craziest people today. These two ladies had us sit with them on their back porch. They talked to us for an hour about their beliefs about UFOs and spaceships and all kinds of crazy stuff. WOW! I actually learned a lot from it... What I received was a testimony of teaching simply. They said so much stuff to us that we left not understanding a word that they said. ha. We had a great time on the trade-off. I also got to do a baptismal interview for one of the Cadillac Sister's investigators, named Joe. He was really cool. (Elder Houser and Hoover taught Deb today and put her on date to be baptized, she is so solid!)

Wednesday: We had district meeting in Cadillac today, it went great! We were able to have some good lessons today. We taught George, Tiffany and Virginia. She is on fire. :) She is such a funny lady. Then we had a lesson with a new investigator we found a few weeks ago. His name is Justin and he's 23. We went over there and he told us how he feels like God has a purpose for him. Bro. Chowhan was super pumped about it. The lesson went great. He's solid. 

Thursday: Today was also really good. We spent time knocking in Bellaire. We met this guy who is friends with one of our investigators, named JR. He said JR had talked about us and he wants to meet with us and JR next time, it was awesome! Then we drove down to Bro. Chowhan's. We had a big branch service project for him. Since he is super sick and they want to be able to close on the house. It was really incredible to see how so many people came together to help them out. It was really fun.

Friday: Today we weekly planned and then spent almost all of our day in Elk Rapids. It is a little community right on Lake Michigan and it is super nice. We had lunch with President Hoover. He used to be the Superintendent there so he literally knew every single person we passed, it was like going to Cafe Rio with Dad. We did a lot of door knocking. It was a cool experience. We talked to a lot of people and everyone was really friendly and we had a lot of great conversations with people. I feel like the Lord had given us a specific task to plant seeds all day. I feel like everyone we met was given a much more positive attitude towards the church as a result of our visits. It was really cool to be an instrument in the Lord's hands.

Saturday: Today we did a good chunk of door knocking. The weather was perfect today is was like 75 degrees and sunny. Then we had a couple of great lessons. We taught Justin and man is he prepared! We taught him the Restoration. We first had him read it and he did and he said that he learned that there is a modern day prophet. Then he told us that when we had called him last night he was reading the pamphlet, and read about Joseph Smith, so he decided to pray and ask God is Joseph Smith was a prophet. Man! It was like a breathe of fresh air to see him take the initiative like that. He has some real intent! He said he hasn't gotten an answer yet, but we can tell he's determined. Then we had a lesson with George, he's been frustrating, he won't really do anything. He plays video games all day. Bro Chowhan pretty much chastised him last time for it, it was funny. We pretty much put the ball in his court for meeting with us. Then we went with Steve Cole down to Kalkaska for Joe's Baptism. It went great. His car broke down on the way but they got him there safe and sound. :) 

Sunday: Deb came to church today! She was fellowshipped really great as well. We did some door knocking and had a lot of success. Then we had our Bible Study/ Dinner at Dennis' house. (Virginia's nephew) It was awesome, we got to teach it, and we taught it on obedience. They really liked it. Then we taught Tiffany. 

This week I have been doing a lot of study in Alma 41, which talks all about the Resurrection or as he phrases it, the plan of restoration. I never quite understood the Resurrection fully but this chapter is amazing. A few verses I really like from it are verses 13 and 14,  

 13 O, my son, this is not the case; but the meaning of the word restoration is to bring back again evil for evil, or carnal for carnal, or devilish for devilish—good for that which is good; righteous for that which is righteous; just for that which is just; merciful for that which is merciful.

 14 Therefore, my son, see that you are merciful unto your brethren; deal justly, judge righteously, and do good continually; and if ye do all these things then shall ye receive your reward; yea, ye shall have mercy restored unto you again; ye shall have justice restored unto you again; ye shall have a righteous judgment restored unto you again; and ye shall have good rewarded unto you again.

When we understand that the things we do and desire here will all come back to us, they help me to better understand that the little things I do each day matter. Decisions Determine Destiny!

I love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Chalmers

Bellaire

Haircut

I Now Know Why People Live in Northern Michigan

                                                                                                                                      April 27, 2015

This was a great week in Kalkaska! They all are, but this one was great as well. :) We met a super prepared lady this week, it was incredible!

Monday: I had to catch up on a lot of journals today, and I exercised, it was a pretty bland P-Day. We got some pizza with Bro. McDuffie and then helped Chris rake his yard. We had a great lesson with Tiffany and then Chris & Angel. It was a great day. We also called the lady who we met while we were driving down the highway and felt impressed to stop and talk to her. She asked us before we asked her, when we will be in Bellaire again, because she "really wants to talk to us" so we were pumped about that. :)

Tuesday: Today we met with Deb (the lady from the highway).. Before that though... we had a lesson at the Lamb's. Bro. McDuffie brought cupcakes for E. Houser's Birthday which is on the 28th. We taught the GOJC and had some great discussion then we had lunch with the Draher's. They drive trucks, but their truck is broken down so the whole branch is happy that they are here for a little longer. They rock. We were knocking doors and we met a 19 year old who let us in. We had a cool discussion with him and we're going to see him later in the week. So, we had our lesson with Deb... WOW! Steve was already there and she has been reading a book called, "The Keys of Enoch" which talks about the church and the Melchizedek Priesthood. So we had a prayer, and the second question she asked us was, "How do I go about being baptized?" We almost didn't know what to do. It was a miracle. She had read the restoration pamphlet and believed it all! We went through it with her and she believed it all so we gave her a Book of Mormon. It all happened so fast, she is so prepared! We left and then went back because we felt like we should give her a Plan of Salvation pamphlet. She answered the door and told us she was just about to pray and also that "it felt like God was just in my house." Again, Wow. It's so rewarding to look back and see the fruits of following the Spirit. We met this lady while driving down the highway. The Lord will put people in your path so we need to be worthy and courageous enough to follow those promptings and then wait to see the hand of God bring salvation to souls. We had dinner with Sue who is a new convert and the Robinson's, then we had a lesson with Stanley. Deb was such a miracle!

Wednesday: We had a great district meeting today. I got the chance to study humility, it was really cool. We had an intense lesson with Bill. We talked about being baptized by the proper authority and things got a little contentious. By the time we left, however, he had prayed and asked that his heart would be softened and he wouldn't be so set in his ways. It was the power of testimony. Elder Houser bore a really powerful testimony to him. Then we had a lesson with Virginia and then had a lesson with the Piatts.

Thursday: Today we spent quite a while in Fife Lake knocking doors. We met some cool people and had a great time. We had a lesson with George today that went really well. We are having a hard time getting him to keep commitments, which has been a little tough. We had a potential leave us a note saying that she didn't want to meet anymore, but she did call us "fine gentlemen" which added some humor, even though we were sad she didn't want to meet. 

Friday: Today we had lunch with the Hildebrand's then went to Bellaire and did some door knocking. We met a guy who was walking and talked to him. He told us how he used to weigh 420 pounds and then started walking, and 4 years later, he weighs 170 pounds. It was incredible! We are going to go back and see him! We had a lesson with the 19 year old, Dominic. It was good, he had a lot of good questions and hopefully we can see him again. Then we taught Tiffany.

Saturday: Today we went out with President Robinson. We visited a less active member, and she and her husband are super cool. We also read 1 Nephi 4 with Angel. That was awesome as well. We went to Priesthood leadership and the adult session of district conference. It was really good. We went with Gary Piatt. He is the coolest guy ever. He is so new to the church and is so sincere and just does things. He's amazing. 

Sunday: We tried to go with Gary to get George for church, but it didn't work. :( For district conference we got to watch a broadcast. It was Elder Andersen and Hales and it was really good. We had a bible study with Virginia's niece and nephew, they are super cool. We are hoping for some really cool things to happen over there. :) We also taught Tiffany and Chris & Angel. We also saw Donna, her baby is due this week, so that should be cool!

Today we are in Cadillac for our district p-day, so that should be a lot of fun. :)

My spiritual thought from the week comes from my study on humility. In D&C 67:10 it says that fear and jealousy oppose humility. As I thought about that, it all made sense. When we become jealous, it's because we are insecure about ourselves and how others view us. Having low self-esteem also equates into this. So because of that we focus all of our time and attention on trying to improve ourselves in the wrong ways so we can be "seen by men". When we are truly humble we know that our true strength lies in God and that being more and more Christlike each day is really all that matters.

I love you all!

Love,

Elder Chalmers

With Steve after Penny's and Virginia's baptisms...YES!!

                                                                                                                                    April 20, 2015

This was a great week. The work has been great here, as usual. But the change has been the weather, it was such a nice week! :) I already partially understood why people lived here, everyone here is awesome, but the cold just isn't too great. However, the sunny and 70 degree weather makes it all make sense. :)

Monday: We got invited to lunch with Bro. Chowhan after e-mailing. So we did that and then had to clean our apartment for inspections. After that we went to Bro. Chowhan's and spent the rest of P-Day over there. Then we tried by a few people. We had an awesome lesson with George. We read the Book of Mormon with him. We prayed really specific before and after and took a few minutes to really think about it. The Spirit was really strong and we knew he could feel it. :) We left him to ponder how he felt when we left. Then we met with Chris and Angel. That went pretty well also. We had to leave, but Steve stayed over there until like 11:30 talking to them. ha. Steve is awesome!

Tuesday: Today was also a pretty good day. We had a good lesson with Chris and then Bro. Lamb. We tried by a referral and then knocked a few doors. One of the guys we met was not too happy to see us and made it clear he didn't want us on his property... :) We had dinner with Bro. McDuffie then had our apartment inspections. We passed with flying colors. We had second dinner with the Chowhans. :) We watched Kevin W. Pearson's talk from conference, "Stay By the Tree." It was so good. It's one of my favorites!

Wednesday: We had district meeting in Cadillac. I stayed there for trade-offs with Elder Hoover. He's a stud. We knocked on doors all day. It was great! The weather was great and we met a lot of cool people. They might move the Cadillac elders out to Manistee, so I asked him if he wanted to stay or go out to Manistee and he gave a golden response. He said, "I don't care, I'm here to serve." He's got a great attitude! 

Thursday: We went running along Lake Cadillac in the morning and at the turn around point we stopped and had a great view of the lake and the sunrise. The sky was all pink, it was super pretty. We did some more door knocking and then traded back. Elder Houser and I spent some time in Fife Lake. We were knocking but it's on the lake, so not very many people were home. We tried by a few referrals. It was pretty good, we set some return appts with them so we were really excited about that. We had dinner with the O'Neills and after that we tried by one of Bro. O'Neills friend and on the way back, we felt like we needed to stop and see Angel. She really opened up to us and it was really great. We are excited to get to help her progress more.

Friday: Today was a great and busy day. We had lunch with Bro. McDuffie. We watched "None Were with Him" by Elder Holland. It was so good then we met with the Drahers, since they aren't on the road. We met with a new guy named Bill. He knows all kinds of stuff about the Church, so that was really cool. We aren't sure of his intentions, but he is a really nice guy then we met with Penny, she's doing great! We had dinner with the Shafer's. It was super good and they stocked us up on leftovers! We went and read the Book of Mormon with Angel. It was really good and she gave a super sincere prayer at the end. It was so awesome! :)

Saturday: Today we had a good lesson with Bro. Chowhan, we taught Stanley about prayer. Then we had correlation and lunch. That was really good. We did a lot of door knocking today. It was really good. We got a few potentials, so that was great.

Sunday: I found out on Friday morning that we have been asked to give a talk. It was on dedication to the Lord and building his kingdom. I want to give a special thank you to both of my Grandpas. As I was thinking and praying what to speak on, I was led to a portfolio that my Grandpa Green had given me a few days before I left on my mission. I had looked over it briefly, but not very much. In it there was a speech given by a Navy SEAL about 10 life lessons and it was exactly what I needed. In my talk I spoke on how doing the small things is how we can be truly dedicated to the Lord. I gave some examples, and one of them was of Elder Smoot and Anderson. I read to the Kalkaska branch the story that my Grandpa Chalmers shared at Bob Smoot's funeral. I'm thankful that I'm able to have that to read and reread and cherish. I love that story. Elder Houser also gave a really great talk. In Gospel Principles, Bro. Chowhan taught the lesson. Chris and Angel were there. He shared his conversion story, it was really cool, and the spirit was really strong. We had potluck today, so that was great. I got to meet one of the converts here who lives in Florida part of the year. She joined, met a guy and got sealed and is super solid. Her name is Sue. She said her stepson is serving in Concepcion. Do you know him Megan? We were able to have a lesson with Donna then I had to do call-ins. We were able to knock doors for a while and met a guy who was super knowledgeable about our church and we had a great discussion with him. We also met a Seventh-Day Adventist and my past experience of dealing with them really paid off and we taught him about the Spirit World, he really liked it! :) Then we taught Chris and Angel. It was another good lesson.

Today we have shopped and studied and that's about it. ha

My Spiritual thought goes right along with what I was able to speak on. As we do the small and simple things, such as pray morning and night, read our scriptures (both individually and as a family), go to church, magnify our callings and so forth, is how we can be dedicated servants of the Lord and build his Kingdom. Because 2 faithful missionaries were out working, my great-grandma was able to meet them and invite them over. It wasn't anything huge that they did but miracles came from their small act of faith in serving the Lord. The same can be true for each on of us! 

D&C 123:13-17: Therefore, that we should waste and wear out our lives in bringing to light all the hidden things of darkness, wherein we know them; and they are truly manifest from heaven—These should then be attended to with great earnestness. Let no man count them as small things; for there is much which lieth in futurity, pertaining to the saints, which depends upon these things. You know, brethren, that a very large ship is benefited very much by a very small helm in the time of a storm, by being kept workways with the wind and the waves. Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.

I love you all so much. Thank you for the prayers and support!

Love,

Elder Chalmers

A swing at an old rundown house in Kalkaska

Me, George and Elder Houser

Good Times in Northern Michigan

Penny & Virginia got baptized! :)                                               April 13, 2015

This week was amazing! The highlight was the baptism of both Virginia Hollis and Penny Puckett and there were a lot of other great things happening here in Kalkaska! :)

Monday: After e-mailing we went for a run and hung out. We had dinner at President Thomas's house. They had this cool website that shows who your relatives are. I'm 4th cousins with Joseph Smith, so that was cool. Also Elder Houser and I are like 10th cousins 8 times removed, so we're getting pretty close over that. :) ha. Then we had a lesson with Virginia and went over the baptismal interview questions with her to make sure she is ready for her baptism. Virginia is really cool. She used to be RLDS and so her hang-up was originally the need to be baptized again but she told us that now that she's been reading the Book of Mormon, she's noticed how it emphasizes the need for authority a lot, so it's really cool. The Book of Mormon is key!

Tuesday: Today we were able to have a lesson with Chris and Angel. It wasn't the greatest lesson because he had just woken up, if that explains it. ha. We helped Brian McDuffie's neighbor do some cleaning in her garage and then were helping finish cooking our dinner with Bro. McDuffie when Elder Houser accidentally put the lid to his pot on the burner that was still on, so that caught on fire. He had me use the fire extinguisher (my first time! :)). So that was quite fun. He called it "The Great Fire of 2015" ha. He now calls Elder Houser, "Elder Hazard." We watched the Restoration video with Penny, it was really good. She's really excited for her baptism! Then we met with Virginia again.

Wednesday:  We had a really good day. We met with the Hildebrand's and had a good discussion with them. Then we knocked and met a guy named Tony. He was really cool and wants to talk with us more. We met up with Bro. Thomas and had a lesson with Tiffany and the kids. We had Bro. Thomas explain to Bill how the Book of Mormon and the Bible work together. Bro. Thomas is SUPER knowledgeable, so it was really cool and it made a lot of sense to Bill. We had Virginia's baptismal interview. Elder Elmer did it, and she is all good to go! Then we did a trade-off. I was with Elder Coziar. He's a really cool guy. We went and taught George, the 19 year old, the Plan of Salvation, it was a sweet lesson. George gets things really well and it makes sense to him.

Thursday: Elder Coziar and I had a sweet day. We did some door knocking and had a Baptist guy be pretty forward about how he feels about us but oh well. We also met the Sheriff and he is really cool, so that could come in handy later. :) We had lunch with the Piatts and then Gary came out with us all day. We drove to Bellaire and Elder Coziar did Penny's baptismal interview, she's good to go as well. :) We also had a great lesson on the Atonement with Ken and Donna following a lesson with Tiffany. We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and they are committed to their baptismal date still! When we traded back we had a great lesson with our neighbor JR on the Plan of Salvation. He's such a sincere guy.

Friday: Today was the baptism day. Preparing for a baptism is super stressful, but the pay off is well worth it. We had to make the program and it took 5 hours to fill the font so we had to be at the church for all of that, we did our weekly planning during it. There was some stress getting everything ready and all of that but it all worked out. Gary Piatt gave the talk on the Holy Ghost, he's been a member 6 months now. I don't think I've ever met someone as sincere as him. His talk was amazing. Then Elder Houser baptized Penny and I baptized Virginia. It was amazing and they were both so happy. :) It was a great night! I'm super happy for them. :)

Saturday: Today we were able to pick up a few new investigators and do some finding. We read the Book of Mormon with George and Stanley's friend, Dana was there and I felt prompted to see if we could help her at all, so said she could use some help raking so after we tried to meet with a few people, we helped her out. I have a gnarly blister to show for it but it was really good to follow the Spirit and help someone in need. :) We also met some cool potentials. 

Sunday: Today was great. Elder Houser confirmed Virginia and I was able to confirm Penny. It was also an amazing experience. They are both such great ladies. We had a lesson with Ken and Donna as well as some less active members then we went by one of our potentials from yesterday, Dan. We taught him the Restoration, he really liked it and has a lot of sincere desire, so that was really exciting! It was also 70 degrees today! :)

Monday: This morning we woke up and went "hiking" up a hill with Ken. We had a good time talking and spending time together. It was also like 50 degrees. :)

My spiritual thought is to take a look into the First Vision. We had a lesson on Joseph Smith in Priesthood that I was able to teach. If we take a close look at the First Vision we can learn a lot of important truths. A few are the power of a sincere prayer and that we often receive a witness when we have given it our all and are about to give up. There are many more truths we can learn. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and that brings me joy and comfort and it can do the same for you. I love D&C 135:6 "They lived for glory; they died for glory; and glory is their eternal reward."

Love,
Elder Chalmers

Me, VIrginia, Penny and Elder Houser

Early morning hike

Elder Chalmers+Houser=Kalkaska Part 2                           April 6, 2015

This was a good week in Kalkaska! We also got our transfer call, and we are staying in Kalkaska together for another transfer! With Conference and Easter, this was a great week, I'm sure for everybody! :)

Monday: Today we went running and exercised for a while. Then we had a lesson with Stanley and the guy who lives at his house with him, George, was listening in so we involved him a lot in the lesson and we are going back to teach him and catch him up. He's 19, so he should be fun. :) We went to see the Chowhan's who just got back from their cruise.

Tuesday: Today we spent the majority of the day in Bellaire. We saw a few less-actives and spent most of it door knocking. We met some really cool people and have some people who invited us to come back. Then we had a lesson with Virginia and Pres. Thomas came with us. We read 2 Nephi 31 with her. She's gettting baptized on the 10th! :) We had a little time left so we knocked doors until dark. We went into the trailer park and it was full of miracles. We met a lady who was really interested and invited us back for next week then we met a couple, Nolan and Lindsey. They let us in and he told us he was drunk but that they felt like us coming over was a sign, so they invited us back for the next day! 

Wednesday: We had our last district meeting in Cadillac. It went really well. We all shared why we are on our mission and it was a really spiritual experience. Then on the way home we stopped to see the Laforest's and had a good lesson with them. Then we had to drive home and Bro. Stickney picked us up. We had a lesson with Nolan and Lindsey. It went really well, they committed to be baptized! We watched the Restoration video with Bill. He liked it. He is a great guy and we are really trying to help him to see the importance of reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. We met Steve at the church. He brought Virginia and Penny. We taught them and picked out everything for their baptism, then read the Book of Mormon together. They are both some awesome ladies!

Thursday: Today we had to go to Traverse City to get our phone switched to our new one. We talked to the lady who did it for us, and gave her a "Because He Lives" card. :) We spent a while knocking in Williamsburg. We had a good time and met some cool people. One guy was pretty interested. Then we met Gary Piatt and had a lesson with George. He understood the Restoration really well, and committed to be baptized! :) Then we had dinner with the O'Neills and went to see one of his friends. We talked a little about the Plan of Salvation with her, it was good. Then we visited the Piatts. 

Friday: Today we got our T-Call that we are staying in Kalkaska. Then we did our weekly planning. After that, we went to see some potentials close by before Steve came to get us and we went to Rapid City. We met with Donna and Ken. We had a great lesson on the Atonement then we taught Virginia, she's still solid. Later, we read the Book of Mormon with Tiffany and the kids. They are a crazy bunch, so it's hard to get things focused. They are great though.

Saturday: Today we watched a lot of conference! :) It was so great! There were so many amazing talks. I loved Elder Renlund's talk and the quote by Nelson Mandela, "a saint is a sinner who keeps on trying," then how he said, if you quit trying, you're a Latter Day Sinner! Elder Ringwood's talk was also really good. We taught Stanley in between sessions and had an ice cream social before the Priesthood session which was awesome. All of the talks were amazing. My favorite quote of it, and of the whole conference, was from Larry M. Gibson's talk. He said, "Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words." There is so much truth behind that.

Sunday:  The O'Neill family had us over for a breakfast of waffles :) then we went and watched conference. Elder Holland and Elder Uchtdorf's talks back to back were so powerful, Holy Cow! Then we had dinner with the Thomas's. It was some good stuff then we watched the rest of conference. I really liked Kevin Pearson's talk. Conference was great! We had another dinner with the O'Neill family. They take good care of us. :) It was a great Easter.

My spiritual thought is the quote I wrote down: "Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words." As the common adage goes, actions speak louder than words. Always live your faith, and blessing, and opportunities for missionary work will follow. 

I love you all!

Love,

Elder Chalmers

The District

Elder Elmer, who used to live in Santa Clara!

Fresh Prince...

TOUR OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN                                                                        March 30, 2015

This week was a great one! Through the trade-offs and interviews this week, I got a good tour of Northern Michigan. :) It's a "great thing!"

Monday: After our P-Day that consisted of me taking a tubby because I ate too much and doing a lot of catch up things, we had a couple of great lessons. We taught the guy who lives across the street from us, his name is JR. He is super cool. We taught him the Restoration. He had a few friends there are well. His friend Stephanie was listening and was really interested and he had another friend there, who was the most agnostic person I've ever met, he was kind of a pain. ha. It was a good lesson though. We met with Stanley and we read the Book of Mormon with him. Steve was with us, great as usual :) then the Zone Leaders came and we started our trade-off and planned together. Elder Elmer used to live in Santa Clara, he left about a year before we moved in, so he was asking me all about the people he knew and I was telling him about them. It was really fun. :)

Tuesday: I got to spend today in Traverse City! Before we left Kalkaska, all 4 of us elders went running in the morning, that was fun. :) Getting to be with Elder Elmer for the day was amazing! He is such a spiritual giant. We did a lot of things that were "out of the ordinary" but we were following the Spirit and there is a great satisfaction in doing what Heavenly Father wants you to do, even if you can't see an immediate benefit in it. A lot of times I believe He is testing His trust in us and as we do so, we build that trust. We were able to knock doors and saw a ton of miracles, almost everyone we talked to received us, it was great! We met with Dale who is the man I was able to interview a few weeks ago, before he was baptized. He and his fiance are the coolest people ever! Then we taught a less active member. I learned a ton in following the Spirit from Elder Elmer, it was great!

Wednesday: We drove back to Kalkaska, and Elder Houser and I were reunited. :) We had a great day! We were able to take Dillon with us all day, he is less active. It was really great. We first taught John Tweedie, it was really great, he loves having us over. Then we met with Chris and Angel. We watched the Restoration video. The Spirit was really strong, he loved it. Angel really likes us, but her mom is against the church, so she sort of is now, it's sad. Chris would be baptized in 5 min. if he could...then we met with Virginina. We taught her about tithing and wrapped up the commandments with her. We gave her a paper and we're having her plan her baptism. She and Penny are going to both be baptized on Friday night, April 10th! :) We also had a really great lesson with Bill. We taught him the Restoration and put him on date to be baptized. He is really humble and has a real desire to know if the Book of Mormon is true. Then we ate dinner really quickly and traded off with the Cadillac Elders. I went down to Cadillac with Elder Lowder. 

Thursday: We had a great day in Cadillac! We did a lot of door knocking in a town called Harrietta. (I laughed every time I saw a sign) :) ha. Elder Lowder and I were able to have a really good talk together. We taught a couple of really good lessons to some less-active members and we also taught their investigators and put the 13 year old son on date, that was really cool. We worked really hard and it was a great day. He told me, "I learned a lot this trade-off, not so much what you said, but what you did." That was really cool for me. Elder Lowder is one of the most sincere missionaries I know. His dad is also an OB/GYN, so he has to be cool. :)

Friday: We drove to Gaylord to have interviews today. We were instructed first by Sister Jacobsen on the new "Because He Lives" initiative, which will be really cool. Before I went in to be interviewed, we received a call and found out that John Tweedie, our investigator passed away. That was really hard for both of us. The knowledge of the Gospel and our Father's Plan for us, really was a comfort to both of us. My interview was really good, I love President Jacobsen, he is a great man and gives great counsel. Then we had district meeting. It was on finding people and how we have to be friendly and then bold/loving that way we give people a clear choice on why they need to meet with us and learn more of the Gospel. We had lunch as a zone, one of the senior couples made it for us then we drove home and did our weekly planning. We weren't able to get a lot of work done today, but it was still good.

Saturday: Today we knocked doors almost the entire day. We met some cool people and got some good potentials. It also wasn't too cold, so that was a blessing. We had a lesson with Stanley. Gary Piatt was with us and was great. He related to him so well and was a great teacher. We really emphasized the importance of specific prayers and baptism so he can be with his wife, who passed away, forever. Then we taught the Piatts about the Temple and they shared their experience with us. They did baptisms for Debbie's family and loved it. Then we had dinner at BC pizza with Sisters Jones and Chandler. We had a competition. It was a dismal effort from Elder Houser, no contest. :) ha. We worked really hard today, it was great!

Sunday: Church was great. There were a lot of really powerful testimonies. The Kalkaska branch is something truly special. Everybody always bears their testimony and the Spirit is always so strong. Elder Houser and I also bore our testimonies. Penny, Virginia and Donna were there. We were able to show Penny and Virginia the baptismal font. We are all excited for their baptisms coming up! :) Then we did our call-ins and had dinner at the Oneil's. They are really cool and live next door to us! Then we drove up to Bellaire and picked up Steve. It also started snowing pretty hard. :( We had a lesson with Virginia and talked about temples with her. She understands everything really well and is getting excited for her baptism. She's a great lady. :)

My Spiritual Thought comes from Alma 34, which is an amazing chapter and I would recommend a serious study of it.. :) Alma 34:34 -"Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world." I love this scripture because it shows us that death isn't going to change who we truly are. This life as the verse that precedes this one says, is our time to prepare for eternity. We need to refrain from becoming complacent and always be improving. We also need to be patient and as it says in D&C 67:13 - "continue in patience until ye are perfected." The Atonement is real and it can really change us as long as we allow it to.

I love you all so much and I love being a missionary. There really is nothing better then spending every day serving others and the Lord. "Every Member a Missionary," the blessings are available to each one of us. :)

Love,

Elder Chalmers

                                                                   The Bay in Traverse City

Weekly Planning

The Traverse City Zone