Easter

This week was an awesome week! Easter is always amazing on the mission! Well, this morning Sister Wilson and I ran around like crazy women trying to find a library to email at. I don't have anytime to write a big email to you all, but I love you! 

Have a good week and remember to read and pray! 

Canada

Wow. Looking at the emails I received from some of you this week. I have the prettiest little Sister in the entire world. :) I love you N. I am so excited for you!

This week was really adventurous. I was so sick this week. I had this really terrible cold that had me coughing all day. One day was so bad that Sister Wilson made me go home and sleep for an hour. I was so grateful! That same day when we got home to plan I told her before  going to bed that it was the hardest day I had ever had on my mission, physically that is. I was so exhausted all day and the coughing and caused me to have s many pains that it was really hard to talk with people on the bus. But, I did anyways and if it comes up on the new that Toronto had broken out into sudden sickness it is because sometimes you just can't help but sneeze or cough on someone! haha


Family History is where it is at! This week Sister Wilson and I got to help a young womens group learn how to do family history. About two weeks ago we had to use the church family history centre for an instruction we would be giving. As we went in there we started to talk a little about the volunteers family trees. After talking for a little about it I asked them if I could sing them the Family History song I once learned in Primary. After singing I told them about how much I love Family History work and how much my family loves it as well. I told them about our family history room, "Earl", and all of the wonderful genealogists my family has. They were ecstatic! They asked if we would come back and help them out. While we were there we were able to help this really cute 13 year old girl. She and her mom and had done so much work to be able to enter in the family information easily. After they had imputed a few names we told them about adding stories or memories to an ancestors name. They were so excited to put in stories about their grandparents. "I have records of my loved ones on my own family tree!"

One of our part member families we are working with brought up the desire to do family history work. When we went for dinner  this last week we brought them a My Family book and challenged them to get started on it. A, the investigator, told us that she wants to come to the family history centre to start finding her family. A hasn't been progressing very fast. But Sister Wilson and I are excited to help A and S start to progress as they feel the spirit. They aren't currently married, they have been living common law for about 11 years now. They don't see the need for a "paper" that says they are married. We are excited to teach them more about temple work and how they can be sealed together and with all of their recently found family. "I am yours and you are mine now, for all eternity."

M: Here it goes. This week we taught M about the Word of Wisdom. The lesson was not the greatest lesson ( I studied Chapter 10 in PMG the entire week after that lesson haha), but she committed to start to cut back on her coffee. As we were getting ready to leave she asked a question about the Law of Chastity. We left her a pamphlet and scriptures to read so we could talk about it the next time we visited. Just two days ago we got a text from M telling us that she didn't want to continue to study with the Mormon religion. She told us that she wasn't ready to "conform" to the rules. :( MY HEART BROKE! 💔 We tried to talk to her about meeting with us one final time so we could clear about questions and concerns that she had, but she has never replied. As I stated previously I was really heart broken about the decision that she made to discontinue our meetings. But I learned so many important things from this experience.
"Your success as a missionary is measured primarily by your commitment to find, teach, baptize, and confirm people and to help them become faithful members of the church who enjoy the presence of the Holy Ghost." (Preach my Gospel, Chapter One, Successful Missionary.) Sister Wilson and I pray every single day that we will be able to find future converts. The title of a convert is important. What does in mean to be truly converted? It means that we live the Gospel of Jesus Christ, faithfully and fully. In the Canada Toronto Mission we baptize converts. :) Although M was not baptized at this  time that does not mean that we are not successful missionaries. It means that we learned, she learned, and all of us can and will become better because of the experiences we had.
She is an incredible mother. She loves her children and has taught them so much. It seems to be a silly thing to say I learned from her but I honestly respect her as a mother and I hope that I will someday be able to show that much love to the children I have!
I have a faith filled companion who does not shut down or turn away when things get hard. Sister Wilson is such an amazing example of a diligent missionary. She studies so hard for the people that we teach and she always knows what we need to share with our investigators to help them. While teaching M I was always able to feel the power that comes from having Charity. Sister Wilson is a Christ-Like missionary. Christ-Like, isn't that a great word? She is like a savior Jesus Christ. I love her and I am so grateful to be her companion.
Something really cool happened this week. Sister Wilson and I were walking to the church and we saw this man sitting outside the church. When I first got to Toronto we saw the same man sitting outside the church. The first day here in Toronto Sister Jensen and another missionary went over and talked to him. They found out that his name was S and they shared a card with him. Four months later Sister Wilson and I go over and address him by name and start talking with him. He tells us about his family and occupation. He asks about Jesus Christ and God and we answer his simple but oh so profound questions. He told us that he just doesn't know if Jesus Christ was the son of God. At this exact moment in the conversation the spirit whispered to me instructions that were specific and so plain that I could not misunderstand. I obeyed, and said, "S. Look at me straight in the eyes. (he did) S, I know that Jesus Christ is my savior and your savior. God is our father. He knows each of us personally. We want to teach you how following Jesus Christ will give you a new life. Can we teach you about your Savior?" At that moment I felt the spirit re-testify to me that Jesus Christ is the son of God. S agreed to meet with us to learn more. I want you all to know the exact same thing. I know Jesus Christ is your savior and mine.

This Wednesday I have been in Canada for an entire year?! Last night at a dinner appointment I was telling a member about how I felt when I got here. I remember the pilot announce that we had just crossed from the United States of America to Canada. I looked out the window and realized that my prayers to ask if I should serve a mission were slim to almost non-existent. I had never really received an answer that I should serve, I just chose to come. At that moment I was so nervous. I didn't know what to expect for my next 18 months as  missionary and I didn't know what to think about the new country I had just entered into. I then realized that I had already made my decision and that I was where I should be. Now more than ever I know that I am supposed to be serving a mission in Canada. I love the Canadian people who have won my heart, I love them so much. :) I am grateful to be serving in Toronto!


I love you all so much! Have a great week

--Sister Chelson 

I wish I had more time sometimes!

Sister Wilson and I saw many many miracles this last week. 

The first miracle happened while I was on exchanges with a new missionary! Sister Holmstead has been out for four weeks now and she is a phenomenal missionary. I was blown away by her teaching skills. All of the sisters I exchange with teach me so much. She had never contacted on a bus or a subway before so I told her for the first little bit she could watch how I did it and then she could go and find what worked best for her. After watching me contact TWICE she went off and contacted so many people. One of the people she contacted was super interested in coming  to church. She waved me over to tell her where the church was and after talking for a little bit and finding out that she was getting off at the same stop as us we asked if we could teach her. We taught her the Restoration and invited her to be baptized! I was so grateful for Sister Holmstead and the example she is to always open her mouth. She is going to see so many miracles as she continues to do that.

The next miracle that we had was also from Sister Holmstead and I opening our mouth. The next day a man named H called and told us that he wanted to learn more about the church. We met with him twice this week and invited them to be baptized. They are from Nazareth and love Jesus Christ. It was super cool!

We had a district meeting this week on prayer. Sister Wilson and I were able to teach a really cool lesson to this man named M. A couple weeks ago we met him on the bus. Sister Jensen was getting screamed at by some man and I was talking with M. M thought it was cool that even though we get yelled at we still continue to teach. At the time M didn't have a phone and had no way of meeting with us. I gave him a card so he could call us when he had a phone and he DID!!!!! We taught him about prayer and it was exactly what he needed. We asked similar questions to the role play that we had in district meeting and left the same commitments. He is going to be baptized. 

I wish I had more time but I don't! There were many other miracles seen, and don't worry mom I have recorded all of them in my journal in detail. I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful week! 

Shout out to N who is participating  in the DYW program. I am so proud of you. I love you and I hope you know that no matter what I am so proud of you! You are in my prayers. 

An Update from Canada

"Jesus Christ died and lived for us again, follow him and find a new life." This Sunday the church will be putting out the new Easter Initiative! This was my favorite part of the video. I am so excited for you all to watch it and share it. I don't know if it is just because I am a missionary who is set apart to have the spirit or if I have just become an emotional person.. but I tear up every time I watch this video.

This week we met some really cool people on the streets of Toronto. One specific person keeps coming to my mind. We met this awesome man named L on the bus. As we were talking to him about our message he was really excited to learn more, just as he was walking away I called out to him and asked him what his religious background was and he said "Almost Christian". I am really excited to meet with him.

Sister Wilson and I are teaching this amazingly prepared woman named M. We were preparing to teach her about the plan of salvation and we just thought that she would have a lot of questions so while we were role playing we were asking hard questions to each other. When we went to follow up with her on her Book of Mormon reading she told us that she had been reading the testimonies and that nothing had really come to her telling her that it was true...BUT THEN she said that while she was reading the testimony of Joseph Smith she felt an amazing sense of peace and truth. She said that she feels like God is answering her that what we are teaching her is true. In my head I was thinking..."What. I don't know what to do now. She actually read and received an answer within seconds? They don't teach us what to do when people know that it is true!"  While I was thinking this her son called out for her from the backroom and when she went back there Sister Wilson and I both looked at each other with dropped jaws. It was so cool! When she came back she said a prayer to understand and accept all that we were going to teach her. As we taught her about the creation, fall of Adam and Eve, and our life on earth she told us while hugging the pamphlet, that she can relate so much to all of what we had taught her. She committed to read, pray, and come to church.

While on exchanges this last week with Sister Spencer we had a miracle happen. Sister Spencer is in her first 12 weeks so she gets to have an hour extra study time from a book called the First 12 weeks ( really fitting name eh?). While we were praying a thought came to my mind to use our training that day and go over and teach our neighbors about the Book of Mormon. Luckily that day in training we were focusing on how to use the Book of Mormon. Sister Spencer prayerfully selected a scripture and we role played going over to their house knocking on the door, and teaching them about the scripture. We did this three times and were finally ready to go over to their house. Just a side note on our neighbors. While Sister Jensen and I were companions we gave them some chocolates for Christmas. After that we continued to run into them, they would give us free calender's and we would give them gospel literature. They had read every single pamphlet and were even reading the Book of Mormon. But they never would allow us to go and share a message with them. Last transfer I had been praying to know when it would be a good time to go to them and teach them and I never received an answer so I knew it was not the right time. Knowing all of that, I can get back to the story. Sister Spencer and  I go over and say exactly what we had role played to them at the door and *BOOM* they invited us to come into their home to talk more. While we were in there we talked about the Book of Mormon and we set up an appointment to go back in two days. This experience strengthened my testimony in two ways. 

1. Prayers are always answered. I had been praying to know when they would be ready and I received an answer that it was not time yet. Sometimes when we pray we don't get the answer that we were looking for or expecting and I think that that discourages us. Do you think that Joseph Smith was expecting the answer that he received when he saw two heavenly beings appear to him? I would think that he wasn't! But what he was expecting was an answer. And from the answer that he received he acted. If there is anything that any of you have been praying for and you feel like you haven't received an answer, KEEP PRAYING.  "Ask, and it shall be given unto you; seek, and ye shall find;  knock, and it shall be opened unto you". 

2. Every person on earth can receive revelation. Sister Spencer and I felt inspired to go and do a very specific thing, using a very specific scripture, at a very specific time and place. I'm here to tell you that there is absolutely no way that I could do that without the guidance of the spirit. It is so important that we always remain worthy of the companionship of the holy ghost. Each week we go to church and while there we partake of the sacrament which renews a promise that we will always have "his spirit to be with us". As we take the sacrament seriously, we will be able to feel his spirit in our life. And not only will we feel his spirit but we will be guided by his spirit so we can bless his other children. 

M came to church and her cute children M and Z came to church! She asked great questions and felt the spirit so strongly. :)

Well, I could go on and on about this week. We were able to see so many miracles. There were lots of little and big miracles! I know that I get to see these miracles because of Jesus Christ. I know that he is my savior and just as I quoted before, "Jesus Christ dies and lived for us again, follow him and find a new life." I have found my life in Christ. I want to invite all of you to find your life in him as well. Have him be the center of all aspects of life. Think about the media you enjoy, focus that media on Christ. Think of the friends you have, do they help you focus your life on Christ? Remember Christ. Helaman 5:12