This one time....

Dear family and friends

So Sister Shumway has experienced me at my tiredest this week, which
resulted in us lying in bed and me listing off a bunch of crazy
stories from my life, and each one began with this one time...

We have had a fantastic week, I was so tired because we have been
talking to so many people and have just been so busy!!

We have 3 new investigators this week!! Oh I love walking. It makes it
so easy to just go up to people and talk to them. I am loving it!
First few days my feet and my legs were sore, but now I think I'm
getting used to it.

So this one time.... we were walking in an area and looking for people
out and about that we could help. We were walking by this one house
when I felt the spirit tell me to go knock on it... I shrugged it
off... then it told me to go knock on it again... and I ignored it...
then the prompting came a third time. Me and sister Shumway were in
the middle of the road almost completely passed the house when I just
threw my hands in the air and said fine and began back to knock that
houses door. Just as we were about to knock we noticed that she had a
bunch of mulch bags in the front of her house. We told her that we
would love to help her and she said she didn't need help... well
needless to say she was very closed when we began our conversation.
After she declined our offer to serve her we began to teach her about
the Book of Mormon and read a scripture from it to her. We asked her
what she thought and she said that it would require some more
investigation. So we said here ya go, and gave her the book. At the
end of our conversation she not only accepted the Book of Mormon, but
she set up a time for us to come back the next day to help her mulch.
We brought a member and her 3 yr. old daughter and they were perfect
fellowship. We mulched in no time and then she let us teach her the
restoration when the task was completed.
Then last night she even came over to the members house to watch
Joseph Smith Prophet of the restoration. She has not yet read the
book, but says she really wants to.  She is taking it with her on her
vacation to Kentucky, so will everyone PLEASE pray that Denise will
read the Book of Mormon this week, that would be wonderful!!! :)

So this other time....
We met a lady name cynethia. We invited her to an event this saturday
but we couldn't find an invitation. She said that when we found one to
come back and give it to her. So the next day we did. She invited us
in and we began talking about our favorite things about Jesus Christ.
The conversation evolved to her telling us about all these dreams she
has been having about her family that has passed away coming to her
and trying to tell her something... WOW. She is pretty prepared. We
asked her if she wanted to learn more and she said of course... we
tried to set a time to come back. Well that resulted in this awkward
moment when she had sooo much faith that she wouldn't reschedule with
us because she knew we would come back at the right time... ha.

So this other time...
We were knocking doors when I realized that the door had 2 peep holes,
one normal height and one very low. I jokingly said to him, "that's a
small peep hole, is it for small people... ha ha ha" He didn't
laugh... it was awkward, and he wasn't interested. As we were walking
away my comp. said, "that awkward moment when his wife is a midget."
GAH! Don't tell me that!

So this one time I forgot sunscreen and got sunburned very very bad...
It peeled. BUT I think I am actually getting tan!?!?!?

So this one time I had a question. I looked at my companion and said
what do you say to Jesus when he sneezes?
you: bless you
Jesus: no, bless you...

So this one time a lady tried to bible bash... and it was really hard
to not bible bash. Seriously people just because it says in
revelations that nothing is to be added to this book, well I always
want to rebut with ...that same statement is written in Genesis, so
should we just throw away the whole bible? But I contained myself. She
asked some questions and we answered, and then she bore her testimony
to us, then we bore our testimony to her and read moroni 10:3-5 and
asked her to read it and compare it to the bible and find out if some
of the things she has heard are really in the Book of Mormon. She
accepted and took the book!! Man I know the Book of Mormon is true, it
seems that every time we read them something from it they accept the
invitation to read it!! :)

So this one time sister Lambson told us a joke...
Sis L: did you hear about that guy who got his whole left side cut off?
Everyone else: what?
Sis L: yeah he is all right now.
Everyone else: HA HA HA!


So this one time our new members brought not only one but two non
members to church. We talked to them and they want to learn more and
be baptized, so we are going to get their parents permission and begin
to teach them!! :)

GOD IS SOO GOOD!

This was one of the best weeks of my mission. I love being here and am
kind of sad that I am at my half way point because that means this is
going to end sooner rather then later... :( though don't get me wrong,
I still love all of ya'll! :)

Happy Easter week! It is going to be so great!!

Love ya'll!

Love,
Sister Chambers

Sharing is Caring

So it has been pretty interesting sharing our car this week... They
have to pick us up and drop us off... and the other sisters don't know
where anything is so basically I just feel like a chaffer. But in a
good way. I love being able to serve them and  help them learn the
area.
So there area is further away then ours so.... looks like we will be
looking into bikes today and seeing if any members could loan us some
bikes.... I think I'll have the best looking legs by the time I go
home.

We are really looking hard for new investigators to teach... which
means a ton of knocking on doors. But Sister Shumway (my new comp.) is
a champ! The first golden hour we had we were able to find a
potential. He is interested in learning about our views on life after
death. He had a ton of great questions but we didn't have enough time
to address all of them. He even gave us a referral for his roommate,
who we met the next day and he was pretty nice.

Oh Just a little shout out about my comp! She and my trainer were mtc
comps and I think she is just the most awesomest person ever. We
already are having a wonderful time laughing and telling stories and
working super hard. I feel like she pushes me to be a better
missionary in the best way possible. She is so sweet and caring and
just what I need right now!

I have decided that I want to improve myself... like a lot! So to be
able to do this I am picking a goal each day and working my hardest to
accomplish it... The first day was to hand out 10 cards to people... I
got 8! :) Second day was to be bold and tell someone that I know the
Book of Mormon can change their life! Did it, and the man even took a
Book of Mormon, though he was not exactly ready to meet with us... at
least he has the book! Today's goal is to make sure that those who I
talk to I make sure to mention the restoration!

When you come out on a mission you are so excited to share the gospel,
but it seems the longer you are out you begin to loose a little of
that zest. The new missionary in the ward is reminding me of what I
was like... Super bold and ready to tell everyone about the church.
Now I am a little hesitant and sometimes as I see people I let fear
rule and not my faith. So my overall goal for this transfer is to not
let fear make my decisions. So far I feel like I am improving!

Oh CONFERENCE!!!
If you loved conference raise your hand (I'm raising mine!!!!!!)

I loved Elder Hollands talk. It is so true, people not only want a God
who doesn't rock the boat, but they want a God who doesn't even row
it.
I have seen this so much here in the south... there are
non-denominational churches.... WHAT? It shows how people are just
making up things that they want and not really doing the Lords will
which will really make them happy.

I have been pondering on how if we were always only doing the things
that we would like it would be detrimental to us. I like to eat, if I
ate all the time I would be way over weight. I like to sleep, if I
slept all the time, I would be depressed. I like to watch t.v., If I
were to watch t.v. all the time I would be lethargic and I wouldn't be
doing my Heavenly Fathers will.
We really do have to fight against our natural man so that we can
become more like our Savior and return to live with our Heavenly
Father.

There were so many things that I loved, but what about you? What were
your favorite parts?
Oh I also like when Elder Ballard talked about the members studying
preach my gospel and then talking to their missionaries through
letters and e-mails about the things that they are learning and how
much power this would bring to all of us. Also I loved that he called
out everyone to invite people to learn from the missionaries 4 times a
year.... I wan't everyone to pay attention to the fact that he didn't
say everyone except those who live in Utah. Nonmembers do exists there
and its up to you to help them!!! So what's your game plan?

Just like I'm stepping up my game I challenge all of you to step up
yours and let's be tools in the Lords hands so that we can see the
miracles he is waiting to perform!

Well I love ya'll a ton!!

Have the bestest week ever!!

Love,
Sister Chambers

The things I have learned...

Hey Ya'll!
I'm staying here in Mandarin and getting a new companion!!!
I am also in a car share... :/ But I have stewardship over the car!! :)
We will probably all pitch in to get some bikes or something to get around.
I am excited to have another set of sisters in this ward. That makes 6
sisters 2 Elders. 1 crazy ward mission leader.
But as far as this week goes I would like to announce that this was
the best week of mail yet! Thanks to all those who participated.
Cute letters from my nephews, letters from friends, and sistas. LOVED IT!
HINT HINT

Now that we have that out of the way...
 This week we had two trade offs.
One day I went with sister Ashcraft. We stayed in our ward, but worked
in a different area. We met an awesome guy who is a Brazilian ju jitsu
fighter. He also teaches a family in our ward, so he already has built
in fellowship.

I also went to the Hendricks area with Sister Heckle and met some
pretty crazy people. It was neat to say the least.

My big Easter project is picking up momentum! In 17 days we will be
showing the Messiah and having a picture gallery of Jesus Christ. This
week a big sign is being made up, and an announcement is going in the
paper, so hopefully we draw a big crowd!

UM.... I can't think of what else we did.
The past days we have been heart attacking people we love as a way for
sister Toledo to say goodbye. She is going to Georgia.

On Sunday there was a cool fireside where they played memory with
pictures of people currently and when they were on their missions.
That was neat. Also all the youth got to open up fake mission calls.
It was fun to see them all get excited to go out and serve a mission.

Yesterday we met with two investigators. We invited both of them to
come to conference this week. The one from Colombia for some reason
thinks that Jesus will be speaking. She is sweet, but kind of crazy.
She always talks about her fear of the Devil, which is not my cup of
tea, but hey I don't drink tea.
Either way she want's to go to conference so I guess that is a win!

OH!!! MY IPAD got wiped clean... which means all the missionary apps
were removed and then my IPAD was all worldly... yuck. So today I got
a new one. And by new I mean used by a missionary who went home. He
left the pictures of his nephew on here though... we thought it was a
sisters Ipad because the screen saver was a little baby.


This week will be a busy week getting everyone squared away, and
figuring out how to share a car... I'm not really great at sharing,
and The Lord knew that so he is making me work on it. Hopefully I
learn something.

Though these past  2 transfers have been my hardest, I think i have
learned the most about myself, and also other really important lessons
that will help me in life.

1. I have learned how to care for others more, and try to really
understand why they do the things that they do.
2. Patience. Sometimes you have to just let people do the wrong
things, even when you know its wrong. It ends up being the best way
for them to learn.
3. Forgiveness. He is a fool who takes offense when none was meant. He
is an even bigger fool who takes offense when it was meant.
The greater sin is in not forgiving.
4. We have to have the downs to appreciate the ups. This was the
roughest companionship with some of the greatest rewards... Mike and
Nicol!!!
5. Prayer is the best remedy for anything!!!

My testimony is stronger now, and my relationship with my Heavenly
Father is stronger. I don't think I would have traded in these hard
times for anything... they have made me stronger.

Tough things don't last.... Tough people do!

Well there are going to be a lot of changes to get used to this
transfer. My new comp will be sister Shumway, from Cottonwood Heights.
We have a new District leader, zone leader, and assistant to the president.
And a lot of sisters loosing cars... :/

I'm excited. I just know this is going to be good!!!

I love ya'll!
Hope ya have a great conference weekend!


Love,
Sister Chambers

The Bilingual Baptism Part Dos !!!

Dear Family and Friends

Hooray Mike and Nicol are officially members of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints.
They were baptized on Saturday Morning and received the Gift of the
Holy Ghost on Sunday.

We put a ton of work and effort into the baptismal program and it went
splendidly.
First sister Jenkins gave a talk on baptism and the spanish Elders translated.
Then they were baptized.
Then the spanish Elders taught the restoration in english and spanish
while mike and nicol got ready.
Then Nicol bore her testimony in English, which we have been helping
her all week to put together.
Following that two youth from our ward, one that friended nicol and
one that friended mike bore their testimonies in Spanish for mike and
nicol.
Following that was sister Toledo and I's time to shine.
We gave a talk on the Holy Ghost, and I thought it went quiet well.
Following us there were many welcomings to the ward, and we concluded
with the song how great thou art.

Unfortunately the pictures of us and them ended up pretty not great,
but oh well, better then nothing! :)

Any who it has been a real miracle to work with these youth!!

My testimony about God's timing has really increased.

The Jimenez family moved to America about 6 months ago. They were
unable to locate the church building until Jan. 12 2014, which they
walked 7 miles to attend church.
Not only that but Jan. 12 2014 happened to be mine and sister Toledos
first Sunday in this ward.
Coincidence, I think not.

I know we were supposed to be here exactly when we were.

Sister Jenkins sent us a text yesterday that was very applicable to
this situation.
She was studying Bishop Causses talk from priesthood last October and
this is what it says...
The gathering of his elect from the four corners of the earth is
taking place not only by sending missionaries to faraway countries,
but also with the arrival of people from other areas into our own
cities and neighborhoods. Many, without knowing it, are being led by
The Lord to places where they can hear the gospel and come into His
fold. "It is very likely that the next person converted to the gospel
in your ward will be someone who does not come from your usual circle
of friends and acquaintances. You may note this by his or her
appearance, language, manner of dress, or color of skin. This person
may have grown up in another religion, with a different background or
a different lifestyle" (Ye are no more strangers)

All I could say was wow.

I am so blessed to be apart of this.

But guess what!
Another one of my investigators was baptized this week!
Emma from back in Gainesville was baptized on Wednesday. After working
with her for six months I was so glad to finally see that picture of
her all dressed in white! I love her.

Goodness, God is Good.

So besides all that crazy this week has been productive and fruitful.
We met another Columbian.Crazy. Guess I really am supposed to learn
spanish, Heavenly Father keeps putting these people in our path. She
is from the same city as our recent converts so we hope to get them
involved in teaching her. She has already began reading the Book of
Mormon and said we could come back on Friday.

The other sisters handed off an investigator to us because of rare
circumstances...

We found Donald, I think I told ya'll about him last week.
WELLLLL.... Donald came to church on Sunday. We were talking before
church started, and Donald became very persistent about me and him
getting married.
YUP MARRIED.
I told him I was too young, so he asked how old I was.
I responded with...21.
He said no that is not too young.
You can have me, I'm sure your Bishop could marry us.

Uh.. I looked around for someone to save me, but I was on my own. I
quickly excused myself and asked for the Elders to sit next to him.
Now the Elders are teaching Donald.

I just don't think that 64 yr old men are my type. Sorry Donald, I'm a
Missionary.

Another funny moment from this week was when sister Toledo told me she
thought your bosom was your bum.

Then I asked her... Well what did you think a burning in the bosom
was? A burning in the bum? If we felt it that way people might be
hopping up out of their seats at church.

Ha ha it brought us a good laugh.

Oh something else that is pretty neat happened this week.
A potential investigator invited us to a neighborhood bbq. That meant
we got to meet all the neighbors without knocking on their doors. Also
we have a return appointment tonight with one of them, and another is
headed to a party with us! Miracle!

And another miracle was when a member invited us over to his house to
teach his friend. That doesn't happen as often as we would like it to,
but the lesson went well and the friend committed to reading the Book
of Mormon and Praying about it. :)

Any who, this week I have been so busy. So busy that we have had to
eat meals on the run, so busy that I sleep sooooo good at night. I'm
always tired, but in the best possible way to be tired.

I have seen Gods hand in my life this week in a very big way, but I
know that he is apart of the small details. Ya know by the small and
simple things are great things brought to pass.... ya, it's true.


Well guess I should share with all of ya'll how my spanish is coming along....

Yo se que Dio es nuestro Padre Celestial,
Yo se que el Evangelio De Jesuchristo is verdadero,
Yo se que el libro de mormon es correcto,
yo se que Thomas S. Monson es un profeta de dios.
En El Nombre de JesuChristo, Amen.

I hope that you have a great St. Patricks day!!
and  Great week!!

Love,
Sister Chambers

The bilingual baptism!

We are getting so excited for our bilingual baptism this up coming
saturday!!! :)
Nicol, our investigator, said something so wonderful to us on
saturday. She said that she was so happy that her grandparents were
able to go to church, because if they didn't walk the 4 miles to
church (the first sunday we were in the ward) then they would not have
met us, and if they didn't meet us they wouldn't know us, and if they
didn't know us then they wouldn't have learned about the gospel, and
if they didn't learn about the gospel then they would be getting
baptized, and if they were not baptized then they wouldn't be with
God.
Wow! She is so amazing!! :) She is only 14 yrs old, yet she knows so
many wonderful things.
Her brother is a hoot as well...
Here is some of the things he has said...
(in spanish) when I get into college I'm going to tell all the
girls... (in english) I like your shoes. (in spanish) then they will
all go oooh =)
He also asked us if there were going to be alligators in the baptism font.
He is sad that he has to take off his necklace for his baptism because
he recently reached his year mark of wearing it.
Oh goodness I love working with the youth!
I realized that most of my mission I have spent my sundays in youth
classes and young womens.
In Gainesville our investigator Emma was 14 so we went with her, and
now we (sister Toledo) has to translate for mike and Nicol so we spend
our time in the youth class and young womens. It's fun, I really like
it!
We also got 2 new investigators this week!
One's name is Betsy. She was found by the YSA sisters, and has been
working with the other sisters in our ward for a little while now.
Unfortunately she got really offended yesterday in church by one of
the sisters and does not want to meet with them any more.
What happened is that one sister was currently busy talking to another
investigator when she came up and wanted all of her attention, and
didn't get it. Its tough being a missionary sometimes when people are
so soft hearted.
It really upset the other sister missionary.
Our other new investigators name is Donald.
So here is a cool story...
Sunday night we were at dinner with a member when we got a call from
the assistants to the president. Once we got out of the dinner we
called them back and found out that there was a man who had just
attended a baptism at the church, and he lived in our area. All the
info they had was his name, the street he lived on, and that he was
wearing a red coat.
So off we went. We ran to the church to see if he was still there, to
no avail. Then we decided to start knocking the doors on the street he
lived on. Luckily with some guidance he lived at the third house we
knocked on. BUT, he was not there. The people who answered the door
were very confused about how we knew him and why we were asking for
him. We told them that we were told to go visit him. The man was
obviously upset and it became apparent to me that Donald was MISSING.
The man as about to slam the door in my face when I told him that I
may have some information that may help him find him. That he was at
our building about an hour ago, and couldn't be too far if he was
traveling on foot. We got the mans number to contact him if we found
Donald and he left in his car and we left in ours. The man zoomed
ahead of us and was in such a hurry to get to the building that he
missed the older man walking on the side of the road in a red jacket.
Sister Toledo pointed him out to me and we parked the car lickedy
split. We walked to him, found out that it was in deed Donald and that
he was lost. That he didn't know where he was or how he was going to
make it back home. We got the gps from the car and put in his address
and walked him home.
He said that he liked it in our church and he felt good there. He also
said that he liked being with us and it made him feel good.
It was so touching to see him tear up as he told us some of the
troubles that he is currently facing and also how he knew God loved
him because he sent us to help him out in a time of need.  He even
said that he would like to be baptized himself! How exciting.
I'm so grateful to have been apart of such a miracle. The family was
so grateful that we were able to find him and bring him home safely. I
am mostly happy that he made it back to sleep in his own bed.
We plan on seeing him tomorrow night, and he is planning on being
baptized on April 12!


So ya know how I am so into service right now? yeah well this week it
finally warmed up enough to do some gardening! We helped out a lady on
saturday and guess what! I got a SUNBURN. Its actually like my first
real sunburn of my mission so I am not complaining much, but it still
is a little sore and looks funny because my tshirt sleeves were longer
then my sleeves of all my cute shirts. Hopefully it just fades soon.

Well I heard that Brother Jenkins made it to the home on Saturday!
Glad to hear it, unfortunately his wife told me my family was not in a
picture taking mood... :( they were going to e-mail them straight to
me... oh well. My companions family looked happy.

Well This week already looks like a busy busy week, finalizing baptism
fun and getting to know two new investigators better!

I hope all of you have a great week this week!
Don't forget to keep this little old missionary in your prayers! :)

I love ya!

Love,
Sister Chambers
Sent from my iPad

The miraculous month of March!

Dear Family and Friends

So this week we had a big surprise.
It turns out that The grandkids of the family who moved from Columbia
Are actually not members. They have been coming to church basically
since we have been here. So this week we began to teach them the
lessons. And the first lesson sister Toledo asked them to be baptized
on March 15 and both of them almost instantaneously said yes! 

They are so excited! We are so excited!
They only speak Spanish so far so mostly in the lesson sister Toledo
translates and teaches them. After the lesson we give them an English
lesson. It's been neat to watch them with  English. It's Also cool to
see myself picking up on some of the Spanish.
On Friday night we scheduled for them to go to a members home for
dinner and a lesson. Then we found out that I was staying in the area
and my companion sister Toledo was going to Hendrix while we were on a
trade-off.
Me and sister McCleary (YES my MTC companion is my sister training
leader!!! And we got to spend a whole day actually teaching together)
So any who Neither of us speak Spanish, luckily the host invited over a
family in the ward who speaks pretty good Spanish. We ended up
watching a movie in Spanish so they could understand.
It has been really neat to me is to be able to put aside the words and
focus on how the spirit feels in the lesson. Even though I don't
understand what's being said, I can always feel when the spirit is
there, and it is so strong.

Back to mine and sister McCleary's adventure. We began walking up to a
door, then I had a mini panic attack. In my head I thought we don't
know what are we doing...But then I remembered that we had already
been on a mission for 7 1/2 months and we knew what we were doing.
It was so cool to see how much she has grown over our mission and I
hope that she could see the progress in me as well. :)
We had a ton of fun together!

We have just been so busy! Every other day we spend 2 1/2 hours at the
food bank, and I just love that place so much. On the days we are not
at the food bank we help out the members by doing service for them. We
started a service calendar and basically every day of the month is
filled up with something. It is so great to serve, I know it brings
huge blessings.

We also recently got a referral from a less active member. She says
she works with a guy who is investigating the church. Well we found
out that he lives in our ward boundaries, though he is 30 and has
worked with The ysa elders. The less active member told us that he was
interested in attending our ward, so this week we got his number and
texted him asking him if he would be interested in meeting us. He said
that he would like to meet us this week,  So hopefully he will want to
take the lessons from us.  The less active member said that he is
going to be engaged soon to a member. She has told us that he believes
that the book of Mormon is true. We are so excited to meet him.

Also the ward members are doing a great job of sharing the gospel. One
member, Sister Kenny, has a really wonderful story. I'm not sure if i
shared recently.
AnyWho, it basically boils down to she shared some information about
the plan of salvation with a friend, the friend wanted to know more,
Sister Kenny said she would text her some scriptures. She then was
returning home and we were at the neighbors. We then gave her some
scriptures. She texted her friend the Scriptures. The following week
she brought her friend the book of Mormon and gave her a conference
talk. The  friend then text sister Kenny and Thanked her for the gift.
She told her that she was interested in learning more and would begin
reading the book of Mormon. So this week we are going to try to find
out where she lives so that we can visit her and find out if she would
like to learn about the lessons.

 Oh March is going to be just filled with miracles!!! I know it
already!!! Currently our ward has three more baptisms scheduled! That
means 7 baptisms by the end of the march and 7 more people closer to
living again we our father in heaven!!! :)

I love being a missionary! It's a great gig! I'm always going to be a
missionary! :)

Love,
Sister Chambers

Oops

wow I wrote a huge long email to all of you, and somehow it didn't send.:(
So now I am going to try and write another email quickly. On
Wednesday we got a new sister in our ward, sister Ashcraft. She is
wonderful. It was hard to say goodbye to Sister whiting but we know
that it's time for her to go home. She served 10 of her 18 months here
in this ward.
On Thursday not much must have happened because I can't remember anything big.
Friday was a very busy day full of service. First we went to the food
bank then we went to help clean autumn graves home, and off to help
sister toombs make treats for a baby shower. We also were able to go
to the baby shower for a less active member in our area.
On Saturday we had any opportunity to take some shoes to a new family
in our walk. They just moved from Columbia and are looking for work.
They don't speak very much English and so my companion is able to
translate church for them. This week we hope to begin teaching them
English, and we also found out that their granddaughter is not a
member, so hopefully we can teach her too.
Sunday was a busy day full of meetings.
Also our ward mission leader just retired this week and it's kind of
scary awsome because now he has more time to devote to his calling.
I have recently taken on the task of putting together an interfaith
5K.  It is going to take a lot of work, but it should be wonderful.
The entrance fee will be Canned food and all the proceeds will go to
the local food bank. There are many ducks to get in a line, but we
have some time to get everything straightened out!

Well I hope you all have a wonderful week this week!
Love ya!

Love,
Sister chambers
Sent from my iPad