Hello family! How are you!? I am going to Niagara Falls today! I just love this area and the beauty that I am surrounded by. :) I am so blessed to be here. Well, this last week was an amazing week, as usual. And I am excited to share some of the adventures we went on this week!
"That thou may fully keep thyself unspotted from the world" Keeping the Sabbath Day holy is so important. We have really been trying to do all we can to help people be at church on Sundays. We invite everyone we talk to and we remind our LA members, members and investigators we are working with everyday about the commitment to come to church. Well this Sunday we had an amazing adventure getting one of our investigators to church. Before my mission I went out with the Sister missionaries, they would bang on peoples doors and yell their name, lovingly of course, and the people would almost always open their door. They were such a great example to me of phenomenal missionaries who knew their purpose! I had a goal that I wanted to be able to have a desire to help people just like those sisters showed me they had. L, our investigator, asked us to call her at 7:30 am so she could wake up and shower and be ready for a member to pick her up at 9:00. We called her and it went straight to voicemail. We had ward council that morning, but in PMG it says getting investigators to church is more important. We asked our WML if he could take over and help us out so we could get L to church. We called her 20 times before we got to her apartment. A really nice lady let us in and we went up to her floor. We continued calling and calling. By this point we had called 30 plus times. So We started knocking and yelling, lovingly, her name. Then, I saw that the door had a letter slot, so I got down on my knees and opened the slot up. I could see L's feet and legs on her couch and, again lovingly, said her name in a rather loud way. She started twitching and I quickly shut the letter slot. Meanwhile, Sister B had called her home and cell number over forty times. She opened up and and let us in! She has been trying to get off of coffee and tea so she asked us if we could make her some herbal tea. I have only ever warmed it up in the microwave, but she asked us to use her coffee maker...Well we messed that up! She laughed and laughed because we made her cold tea. But she got ready and she came to church! It was such a fun experience. :) She is incredible. Later that night we taught her the, as she calls it, "Planet Salvation". She finished reading the definition for the Celestial Kingdom and before we could ask her where she wanted to be she told us that she wanted to be there! The spirit was so strong. Sister B and I have been working on the Plan of Salvation alot this past week and Sister B took control of the entire lesson and just testified and taught. It was so awesome! She is such an amazing companion. I am grateful for her testimony.
A member introduced us to this wonderful lady named S. When we met her she told us that she needed some help with landscaping. We quickly replied we would love to help her! This last week Sister B, Our district leader Elder J and his companion Elder S and I all went over and helped her out. Before the Elders got there we taught about The Book of Mormon and read Mosiah 2:17 (Fitting isn't it?) and then we got to work! She had this five foot deep man made pond that had this black tarp from the top to the bottom holding in all of the water. In the water there was a plant, rocks, and many unclassified objects that belong to her son J. (After reading your emails to me I am guessing the pond and our pool look the same?) Well, S wanted us to help her get the top and water out of the pond so we could fill it in with dirt. For about thirty minutes Elder J just worked on it himself and finally we felt so bad that we all went and helped. We tried for TWO hours to get this tarp out. We got it about half way out and it wouldn't move a bit. So we got buckets and we started draining the water. Finally, the Elders just got into the pond, yes they followed WHB, and were in almost knee deep trying to get this tarp out. S was just laughing and laughing. And so were we. Alot of times the muddy water would splash up and hit me in the face! Some even went in my mouth. It wasn't a very pleasant taste but it was so fun! S invited us back to come and help her again next week. This is the cool part though. The member that referred us to her was talking to her yesterday about us and said that she was willing to come to church and learn more about what our church teaches. She asked if her 12 year old J could get involved in the Young Mens program and if he could listen as well. I have a testimony of member work and the power that comes from members and missionaries working together towards one cause. BRINGING SOULS TO CHRIST. I also have a testimony of service. The savior was the perfect example of service. S is a new investigator and her son J will be soon!
This week we had a harder time finding new investigators! Saturday we had a lot of time to find new investigators. So when we left our apartment we were saying our prayers and we made a promise that we would find two new people to teach before we returned to our house that night. S was one of those people! So heavenly father blessed us with that. As we were contacting around town we weren't finding much success. We decided that we needed to meet with our WML to coordinate for our Ward Council meeting. As we were walking towards their house which was about 3k away. I told Sister B, "I would do almost anything to find a new investigator." Just as I said that we saw this guy walking across the cross walk. We started talking to him. He was BEYOND prepared to meet missionaries. He told us usual things like "Joseph Smith is the Founder" "Salt Lake" and "Family History." We taught him about "Jesus Christ and how he is the founder" "The Temple in Salt Lake" and "The importance of Family History." He loved it all and even told us after we taught him about the priesthood, "Well that is something to brag about." We are going to be meeting with him Tomorrow to teach him more about this beautiful Gospel that has been restored. Heavenly Father promises to bless his missionaries as we open our mouth. And as we promise him we will work our hardest, and we show our faith by our actions. Miracles happen. I am so grateful to be on the same team as God. We have the advantage.
So, I cut my hair again! I love it short! It is easier to manage and get ready with. It is sad that I can't put my hair in a pony tail anymore though! The hair just falls out!
I love you all. I love getting your emails and letters. You all mean the world to me! :) BLESSINGS and MIRACLES are all I see here in St. Catharines!
Sister Chelson,
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