January 18

This week was so crazy! I don't really remember much of what happened! I had to pull out my planner to remember! :) 

Exchanges: This week the exchange that I went on was with Sister D, she is from.....SHELLEY IDAHO! Haha we know a lot of the same people and when we weren't talking about baptism we were talking about potatoes. She totally is born and raised in Idaho. I love it! Just imagine what people thought as they passed us on the street. We would invite them to repent and meet with us, and then they would hear to girls randomly talking about potatoes. She may possibly be the funniest person I have ever met in my life. One time we were on the bus waiting for our stop and we both looked at each other pulling the funniest faces. I am so grateful for her. She is a diligent hard working missionary, with wonderful faith in our missions vision. She only has one transfer left after this, and this is her first time serving in Toronto! She is great

D and S M.: D received the aaronic priesthood this Sunday! Isn't that the greatest thing you have ever heard? We have been teaching his mom s. We call her Mama S. She has been smoking since she turned 18 and she is extremely addicted. When we taught her the Restoration and invited her to be baptized she said of course, but then shortly after she said that she would not stop smoking. We talked about repentance and then we left her with a Book of Mormon chapter to read. 

The next day we had district meeting and our district leader invited us to write down a question about one of our investigators. Both Sister J and I wrote down "how can we help mama sue have the desire to stop smoking." That night we went back to bring her a copy of the Book of Mormon. (Funny Story) I saw a big jar of Tootsie rolls on the table and I asked D if I could have one. He said. "NO! You can't have candy!" I begged a little bit but ended up defeated. Mama S grabbed the jar while he was not looking and told me to come over and give her a hug. While I was hugging her she put the tootsie rolls in my pocket. I was laughing so hard on the inside but had to hold it in so D wouldn't ask questions. Back to the good stuff. After the hug mama s told me that she didn't want to smoke anymore. She said she was sick of it wasting her money, and she is scared she is going to die. She asked if we could help her with it. It was a true miracle. 

She came to church yesterday for the first time in forty years. She said that as soon as she walked in she felt chills throughout her entire body. We told her that it was the spirit and that God was proud of her! Last night we were over there teaching about the priesthood. After we got done teaching her about it she turned and looked at D and said, "I am so proud of you honey. I know that you are going to be able to help so many people. I am so grateful to have the priesthood in my house now." It was the most tender moments I have ever had on my entire mission. 

C Family: We are teaching this sweet Part member family. The mom, son, and daughter are all Catholic. The mom is pretty set on being Catholic. WE taught them about CPR, the mom expressed the concern that when her husband goes to church there family is divided. We promised that the Gospel Blesses Families and that if they would all read and sincerely pray and ask Heavenly Father if the Book of Mormon was the word of God that they would know that Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet and that the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was his kingdom on the earth today. Sister H left a beautiful testimony with the family about how it has brought her family together. It was awesome.

H: She is the coolest lady ever. She is from Bangladesh! She joined the church ten years ago after being Muslim her entire life. Yesterday we taught her about Family History and temples. We started by singing I love to see the temple. The little girls thought that Sister J looked like Elsa, her hair was braided, so they loved it. We promised her that her ancestors would give her strength as she did this. She committed to go to the temple in March and meeting with the family history consultants. We are so excited to work more with her! 

G: Coolest thing ever. We met G on the first day of the transfer....twice. He was super solid and wants to learn more about the Gospel. Then two days later we saw him again! We have an appointment with him tonight and we are super excited!! 

EXCHANGES: I was telling daddy about the exchanges I am going on this week. This Thursday I am going with some of the Mandarin sisters. I think it is just going to be so funny to be with them because I don't know any at all! I am very excited to be able to tell you all about all of the wonderful people here in the CTM! 

This week has been awesome! I am so grateful to be serving a mission here. Sister J is the best. I am so grateful for her and her desire to serve a mission. These last few weeks with her have been some of the best weeks I have had on my mission. She is so diligent and loving. I hope that I will be able to continue to apply the things that she has taught me. I am so grateful for companions! I just love her so much. Serving a mission has showed me that I can be happy, and that I should be happy. Sister J has showed me how to be happy. :) The Gospel brings so much joy into my life and I am grateful I get to be companions with a best friend like her! 

I love you all. I pray for you and I pray that you will be able to feel those prayers. If you see any of my family give them all a big hug from Sister Chelson!