Porter's Perspective: That One Time I Went to Snuck to Em's Door

Sister Chelson mentioned how I went to St. Catharine's and left a note on her door...here's the story as I wrote it to her: 

So...I'm not sure if you got our note or not...but I went to St. Catharine's Thursday! Haha, I couldn't pass up the opportunity while I was so close...so before me and Hannah went to Niagara Falls I dropped her off at a mall and I went into Canada. It was so exciting! Haha, my phone stopped working because I was out of the country so I just hoped the map with directions to your house was working. I was driving on the QEW (whatever that means haha) and I saw a sign that said 80km/h and underneath it it said (80km/h=50mph. It seems like they probably have a lot of Americans driving through. Anyways, I pulled off the highway and it wasn't too long to I was on your street! Then panic settled in and I was like, oh no!, I can't let her see me but what if she is walking down the street or comes out of the house (the plan was just to leave the note and candy on your door and slip away without you knowing) she'll see me! So I parked down the street and walked to your address,and there was a car in front and so I asked a guy across the street if he knew the Mormon missionaries that lived there and I asked him what kind of car you drove and he said it was a little car and it wasn't the car that was parked in front of the house. So I felt a little relieved and went up to the door, and I decided to knock on the door to maybe meet the member you live with. She didn't come to the door, but some barking dogs did. :) So I left the note on the doorstep. Afterwards I realized it wasn't the safest place to leave it...so if you didn't get it some dog probably carried it away. 

It was so fun to be in St.Catharine's and see what you see every day! I still can't believe I was on your doorstep haha.

This is a picture of the note and candy we left her.

Busy Week, K and other Investigators, Food, and Porter visited my house say what?

NOTE:THIS LETTER MAY OR MAY NOT MAKE SENSE. READ AT OWN RISK OF BEING CONFUSED. 

Wow this week was the busiest week of my entire life, yes even more so than State DYW! President Clayton has changed the way we are doing missionary work here in the CTM. Just because I could talk about it for hours, I will briefly summarize. We are now going to be reporting the usual key indicators like every mission does, but we are also going to be reporting on Returning Members, and Recent converts in the same way we do our investigators. With the new changes in the mission we are going to easily be teaching 20+ lessons each week. Crazy eh? Oh, and on top of that. We are going to be so busy teaching everyone that we won't have time to tract or contact anymore. Sister Clayton actually talked about how if we have a little bit of time we should plan and make calls to meet with people. This doesn't mean we will call people all day if we don't have lessons, of course we will tract and contact. But the idea is that we will be busy teaching members, returning members, recent converts, and investigators. Well, Sister B and I were so excited when we found out about all of this that we left and got to work. President Clayton promised us all that if we would do mission work in this way we would be able to find the elect to teach, that Heavenly Father would place these people in our path. We learned all of this and a whole lot more on Thursday. Like I said, Sister B and I got straight to work. We were so busy teaching people since Thursday that we have not had one minute to knock on a single door. We were able to receive so many referrals from members and non members. And we found a strong potential in between every appointment. I know that this is how the Lord wants missionary work done. I feel so blessed to be able to be apart of it. At the start of this training last Thursday we started by discussing Doctrine and Covenants 82:14. It is such a powerful verse that talks about what the Lord wants us all to be doing. I invite you all to read it and personally set a goal to help achieve that goal. Last night after our follow up calls I counted how many lessons Sister B and I taught and we taught 21 people about the Gospel. I love being a missionary in the Canada Toronto Mission. I am also very sorry if I just confused anyone with this first paragraph! I tend to not make sense when I am excited. :)

Okay, okay, I will write about K, don't worry. ;) He is doing so well! This last week we were able to meet with him several times and he is doing amazing. The first time we met with him this week we finished teaching the Plan of Salvation, and we taught about the importance of prayer. Later that night we got a text from K, in the text he said, "I talked with God. He told me to listen." Sister B and I FREAKED out. I was so excited that I did a back flip off of the car we were walking past...Okay that was a lie I am sorry. But I was so excited! THHEEEENN the next morning we got anther text of him telling us that God told him to trust in our religion and that it was good! THEEENNN we met with him Friday. We had planned to teach him about the Law of the Fast but when we asked him if we had read his Book of Mormon he said that he had not. We pulled out our books and we started to read in Alma 22. K loved the entire chapter and told us that he learns so much from the Book of Mormon. And that he believes it is the word of God. Before we even asked him to read he told us that he wanted to read another story like Alma 22 so we had him read the story of Alma the younger. That night he told us that he loved how Alma gained his testimony, he also told us that he was going to start from the start. So, from all of that you can see that K is an amazing person. Last night when we were talking about his Baptism Date he told us that he wants to be completely loyal and true to his decision. He told us he has been praying to ask God if he should be a Mormon.  God told him that he needs to use his agency. He is doing all he can to prepare to be baptized. I love the Gospel. :) 

Our other investigators are also starting to progress! Four of the people we meet with LOVE this Bible, which is awesome because so do I, and they just have been having a hard time with the Book of Mormon. All we can do is to invite people to  pray about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. I know that they will receive their witness. I love Ether 12:12. Miracles will happen if people exercise faith. All four of them told us that when the came to know that this is true that they would be baptized!

The Zone Leaders do YSA work in this zone so they have the option of going to any area and working there. This last Friday Sister B and I got a call from them. Just the night before they had called us and followed up with us on our obedience and our area. So it was really weird when they told us they "felt impressed to call us" and when they asked us about our obedience. My heart dropped. The only other time I have ever felt my heart drop like that was when I was in High School and I got called to the principles office. I was in Seminary and had to walk back to the school and the entire time I was walking back I was thinking about every single thing I could have done wrong. Yes, I did the same thing this time. After five seconds of Sister B and I not knowing what to say we said "good", questioning ourselves. They started screaming and laughing and they told us that they had found us a family of four to teach! My emotions were all over the place I went from so nervous and sick to Celestial happiness and ,idk, puppies! Heavenly Father blesses his missionaries as they are obedient. I am so grateful for an obedient companion. Sister B is the best.

I don't have much to say about food this week.. But to explain the entire weeks food experience, I will give you one phrase. TWO ICE CREAM CONES. 

​So Porter visited my house this week!! I wish I had time to tell you the story from his side but I don't! I was so happy and giggly about it all day! I will put the picture on the bottom! :) He is crazy. I have the best family! All is well in St. Catharines. I love you all! ​

Sister Chelson

(she was excited to have pajamas like Mom's)

The Gospel has been RESTORED TELL THE WORLD!

This email will be broken up into days. :) 

Tuesday:This last week our zone set a goal to invite 1300 people to church. There are 13 companionship's in the blessed Hamilton Zone, so we all needed to invite 100 people to church this week. Sister B and I LOVED this challenge. This last ​Tuesday we were walking to our Ward Mission Leaders home we were inviting everyone we saw. Sister B is such a great missionary and was so enthused about the challenge that she invited everyone she could see to join us at church. This woman was running behind us pushing her child in a stroller and when she passed by Sister B took off and ran along side her to invite her to church. I stood back wide eyed and trying to not laugh and watched it all happen. The woman laughed herself and stopped when she figured Sister B was just  going to run along side her. :)  That day when invited 48 people to come to church. And by the end of the week our companionship invited over our goal. And the zone ended up inviting 1400+ to come to church!

Wednesday: I don't know what it is about Sister B, but everyone seems to always want to give us gifts?! We went and visited an older member of our ward this last week to help her with some service. She recently had a pipe break in her apartment and she had a big flood. She had to move everything around and her house was just in total chaos. So we told her we would LOVE to come help her. We got there and she wanted to show us around her house and she took us to her back room and we saw these beautiful paintings. She is such an amazing artist! I instantly fell in love with a painting of the Niagara river. She told me that she would love for me to have it. So she gave it  to me. She also gave Sister B several paintings. She told us she would teach us how to draw and paint someday. I am excited for that day. Then we went and helped a Returning Member with some service, and she gave Sister B an awesome new bag. (Not so new, but new to Sister B) Then we went  to a Recent Converts house and his mom gave us granola and an entire jar of pickles for Sister B. So, if any of you ever want any gifts, find Sister B and then you will receive plenty. 

Thursday: We had an awesome weekly planning day and we were able to set goals for our next week (this week). We really felt inspired and knew Heavenly Father was telling us what we needed to do to help our investigators, returning members, members, and recent converts progress in the gospel. I am so grateful for Heavenly Father answering my prayers.

Friday: This day we had our District Meeting! We worked on Revelation through the Book of Mormon. I have such a testimony of Role Play and personal study. While we were role playing Sister Bell and I were able to find out what we needed to do with one of our Returning Members. Later that night we did that and she committed to reading her Book of Mormon and praying about it for the next week. We were so grateful for our District leader feeling inspired to have District meeting centered on the Book of Mormon.

Later that day the Elders invited our investigator K to come play basketball at the church. Sister B and I decided to go and play with them. K told us that he wasn't going to be able to make it and we were sooo sad. But when we got there Kwas there. And not only was he there but he had invited a friend to come along as well. She was awesome! Her name is K. She had an amazing time playing basketball and she told us she would LOVE to meet with us again! So many of my favorite things happened that day. 1. I was able to beat everyone in bump (Lightning) 2. K introduced a friend to the church. 3. The Book of Mormon answers all of our questions!! 

Sunday: Sister B l and I decided that we wanted to hold a "Why I Believe" fireside a couple weeks ago. We prayed about who we wanted to speak, what the opening song and musical number should be, what Mormon message we should show, and who should say the prayers. We put so much preparation into this fireside and we were praying all week that it  would work out and that there would be a good turn out. It started at 7:00 p.m. last night and at about 6:45 people started showing up. We thought that maybe 20 people would come if we were lucky but 61 people came! We were so excited! The fireside went great. The people who spoke did such a wonderful job and you could feel the spirit testify of the love that God has for all of his children. I know that as we rely completely on the Lord he will help us. But we have to do our part as well. Just like Sister B and I prayed to know what we needed to do, we all need to do the same. But what is important is what we do after we pray. We have to show our intent to our Father. He is not  going to bless us and help us if we are not doing our part. We need to "ask with a sincere heart and real intent" and that is when we are going to be helped. I love the scripture from Ether 12:12"For if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until after their faith." I testify that as we put our faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ, and we pray to the father with a sincere heart and real intent, willing to act on the answer he gives us. Miracles will happen. Last night was a true miracle as Sister B and I saw 55 members of the church come together and as we saw 6 future members of the church join together to hear the testimonies of those who have truly become converted to the Lord and his Gospel. 

Saturday: The highlight of this day was meeting with K and re-teaching the Restoration. We decided that to help him progress better we would start over. This lesson was my favorite time I have ever taught the Restoration. He asked so many questions and he loved the lesson. I wish I could describe it better! Just know that it was powerful and beautiful. In his prayer he said that he understood better and that he enjoyed the lesson. (Just in his really stubborn sassy wording) :). We were so pumped! I LOVE THE RESTORED GOSPEL. 

Today: I am grateful to be a member of this church. I am also grateful to be a member of the Chelson family. I love the joy I have when each Monday at FHE I am able to quote the Chelson Family motto. I believe that we really do understand who we are because we have been taught about our pre-mortal existence our purpose on earth and the potential we all have in the life to come. I am striving with intention as I actively work and serve my God. I pray for you all hoping that I will be able to build you all up spiritually. And I labor every day in the St. Catharines vineyard the Lord has allowed me to be in charge of, so I can build up the kingdom of God. I love being a member of this family. The Heavenly Family we are all apart of and the Chelson family. I hope you all have a wonderful day. I love you.
-- 

Sister Chelson 

The latest from Canada

What a week in St. Catharines. :) 

This week was so fun! We had our Ward Picnic, we taught the commandments, OYM'ing always brings fun stories, and Heavenly Father watches after his children. 

This last week St. Catharines had the annual ward picnic! It was held at Niagara on the Lake. As Sister B and I were driving there we were getting closer and closer to the United States. We w ere so close actually that if we would have drove 1 KM more we would have hit the bridge to the USA. I was glad my GPS worked well and didn't glitch out because we would have had no where to turn around! The area was so beautiful we were in. It had a monument at the Park Actually, it was called the Brock Monument, you can look it up if you would like! So many members Less active and active  came to the ward picnic. There was really good food and a lot of fun fun games. We were able to talk with alot of people who we don't usually see, and were able to build relationships with more members of the ward. It was awesome! This ward is a wonderful ward! We invited K and our other investigators to attend but they didn't come. K texted us later asking about it and told us that he regretted not going. :)

K is doing wonderful if you were all wondering. We were able to teach him the Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity this last week. He told us that it all made sense and at a time in his life he chose to live his life like that but he was always stressed and the only thing he could do to take that stress off was to break the commandments. Sister B bore her testimony about the strength that we can get from God as we pray and ask for strength. He told us that he would pray and ask Heavenly Father what the point was in living his commandments. He wasn't able to attend church this week which made us sad. We know the way coming to church helped him progress and we were sad he missed out on those blessings. 

After church we were talking to our land lords about him (They come to lessons with us for him) and Brother N told us that he was just like K when he was investigating the church. It has been so cool to see the N's reach out to K and try to help him. Having them at the lessons has helped us help K see the change the Gospel really does bring to our lives. I am so grateful for members who help us. It has been so powerful to see the love they have for him and the deep desire they have for him to take the first step towards living with God. They are wonderful.

This last week we were out contacting on the streets and we ran into this guy getting out of his car. We started talking to him and he told us that we were "special people" and he could tell so he wanted to give us a gift. We looked at each other a little worried about what he was getting out of his car. He pulled out two arrowheads and put them on the hood. He told us to pick one in our mind and then go to grab it. Neither of us picked the same one, he said he was glad because he would have had to do some big long thing? We don't know. So Sister B and I got really cool Arrow Heads! We in turn gave him a Book of Mormon as a gift. It  took everything in me not to say "This is a book about your people!" (He was a Native) :) 

Later that week we were trying to find new investigators. We were talking to everyone in Downtown St. Catharines! We saw this lady carrying bags and we went to ask her if she needed help. She took one look at the nametags and said "OH no." We still invited her but she took off. After that we were just going to continue down the street but we got the feeling we should turn around and continue on the other way. We were in a parking lot so we turned around and walked to the other side of the lot to a side walk. As soon as we turned onto the walkway we saw a mother and a daughter carrying bags. We once again offered to help. They declined and said they had it under control but they didn't go anywhere! We talked to them about who we were and what we do and they were interested. We asked them if we could come to their home to teach them a lesson and they said yes!! We were so excited! Heavenly Father blesses us as we are doing all we can do.

I love you, 

Sister Chelson

Latest Update!

This week was awesome as usual. 

Well family, I can tell you one thing that is 100% true. I know that Heavenly Father answers our prayers. This last week has really allowed me to evaluate my relationship with my Heavenly Father. I spent a lot of time on my knees asking for guidance. And I know that he answered. 

K is still doing amazing. This week we were able to meet with him several different times and each time we saw him progress in miraculous ways! We met with him earlier this week and when we first saw him we could see a physical change in his appearance. He was glowing. It is just something that I can not describe. It's amazing how going to church can help people progress so much in the gospel. Later on this last week, we invited him to come to a members house and have ice cream and cake, cause who doesn't want to spend their Friday night with LDS members eating ice cream and cake? We told him we were going to talk about the priesthood and it would be super fun. He agreed to come and our returning member C, who officially is an active member of the ward now, picked him up and they both came! C also invited another non member friend and they all came! The cake was awesome! Sister C was the member who invited us to her home is so amazing. She is the one who sends pictures to you all? Yes, she is amazing. Anyways, we taught the priesthood and he LOVED IT. After the lesson was over we were having eternal small talk and asked him about church. He told us he really liked it but he wished he could have had a tour of the church. So we invited him to have a chapel tour with us the next day!

He has so many wonderful questions and I am so grateful for Sister B because she has so many wonderful answers. She took the lead on the church tour and you could tell that K felt the spirit. We finished in the Chapel. We reminded him about the priesthood as we taught him about the sacrament. While we were showing him the paper and microphone Sister C said, "Well, why don't you just read the paper? You're going to be doing it soon enough anyways!" Sister B and I looked at each other with wide eyes not knowing what to think. And guess what?! He did it! He was grinning from ear to ear after he read it. We finished our lesson with a prayer that he gave. It was so wonderful. When we were saying good bye to him we invited him to come to church. He forgot that it was Sunday the next day and told us he didn't know if he would make it, but that he would make it a priority. 

Later that night we texted him reminding him and he said he wasn't going to be able to make it. We were so bummed!! But, right before we went to bed we sent him a text sharing a testimonies of the church and the blessings that come from going. We also offered him a ride. As we woke up the next morning we were hoping we would see a text from him, but we didn't. While we were doing our studies we got a text and sure enough it was from K. It said, "Is it to late to get that ride?" We were so excited to see him come to church with C. Then to add to our excitement we loved seeing him read the Book of Mormon while the sacrament was being passed. Then, as if our joy was not enough, he had so much fun as he set up a family history account and worked with some of the members on his family work. After church as we were driving home Sister B told me that she had fasted for K. I felt the spirit. I am so grateful for Sister B and her faith she has.  Heavenly Father truly is blessing us here.

I have not done a weekly update on food lately!! You want to know why? Well, food has been making me extremely sick. :( At first I thought it was because I was eating to much, it's hard not to when the food is so darn good. But when I stopped eating as much and it didn't help I got a little worried. So  I talked to the mission nurse and she had me only eat crackers, bananas, and apple sauce. It was a really fun diet! haha I am feeling so much better now though, I can eat normal food now and I only feel sick about half of the time! :) 

We have really been trying to exercise more. I love to run and Sister B doesn't really like to so we had to compromise. So what we do is run to a park nearby, then we do some work outs on the ground, running in between, then we run back. It has been so fun! I have been so sore. 

Yes, we have more than one investigator. But we drop alot of them this last week :( It is always so sad when you have to stop teaching people. You grow to love them and really  want them to be happy. We know that this Gospel is what allows us to be happy but sometimes people just aren't ready. So, in a couple months another set of missionaries will pick those former investigators back up and maybe they will be prepared then. The people we are teaching are amazing. They really allow us to study the Bible and the Book of Mormon out so we truly do understand what  we believe. I am grateful for both books and the knowledge I get as I learn more about the Savior.

Sister B is really good at making cookies. This last week we decided we were going to try and drop by as many members as possible and bring them cookies. We started with the older members of the ward. They are so wonderful and have amazing testimonies. Then we went to the young moms. It has been really fun being surrounded by little kids and babies. Sister B and I tease about all of our new best friends in the ward because all of the young moms are about 5-10 years older than us and just LOVED having someone to talk to. They almost all said, "Wow, it is just so nice to have company." It has been so fun. 

From visiting the younger couples in the ward we had an amazing opportunity. We had family home evening last night with a wonderful family in the ward. About a week ago we got a call from the mom telling us that her son invited one of his friends and his mom to come, so they did. Last night we were able to meet this wonderful young single mom. We had a blast at FHE, and she told us she would love to see us again sometime. I am so grateful for the example children are to us. It was so cool to see missionary work happening at such a young age. 

This week has been amazing I love you all so much. 

Sister Chelson

WOW! I LOVE YOU!

Wow! What a crazy week this has been! I am so happy! I just can not believe how fast time goes on a mission! I remember when I first got here I found out my trainer was at the end of her mission. I felt like that day would never come! And I am so glad that it hasn't and that it is so far away! But at that time I felt like the days were so long and the weeks were even longer. The thought of six weeks seemed like an eternity! But now I am getting close to five months on my mission? It's so crazy eh? 

This last week a Sister in my district went home due to medical issues. So, right after we got done emailing last week we got a call from President Clayton telling us that we would be in a trio until transfers the following week. Sister R is such an amazing missionary. She has been on her mission for six months now! So, we are all pretty seasoned. :) Just kidding! We are all still new missionaries. It has been so fun. So, with the addition to a new companion we also had another area that we were responsible to cover. I do not think that we have ever been as busy as we were this last week. Planning for two areas and working in two areas really takes up a lot of time. But I loved every single second of it. We were able to accomplish so much in both areas and we know that it is because of the prayers we offered. Heavenly Father will never give us more than we can handle. I wish I could tell you all of the amazing stories and miracles that happened but I won't have enough time so I will just write a couple.

We have so many amazing investigators and members we are working with! But I wanted to share a little bit about one specific investigator. I think that I have talked about him every single week since we met him but K is awesome! This last week we taught him the third lesson! We invited a member in our ward who has a lot of the same interests as K to come teaching with us. Brother L is in three bands and does sound work for a handful of other bands here in the N region. K loves music and even as come up with some of his own music and songs. So, lets just say they have a lot in common. As we began to teach Brother L just told us all how he came to know that the church was true. He talked about having faith in Jesus Christ and how he showed his faith by praying and being baptized, how he changed because of the gospel, and how he is doing his best to stay worthy of the companionship of the Holy Ghost, and finally how he is learning more and showing more faith so he can endure to the end. Does that sound familiar? It should because it is the THIRD LESSON! The member taught the entire lesson and K loved it. Sister B felt inspired to ask K to be baptized on August 16th and he said yes! The spirit was in total control of that lesson. I know that Heavenly Father has asked all of us missionaries, and member missionaries, to teach people about the gospel. He knows that as missionaries and members work hand in hand we will be able to invite and help more people come unto Christ. I know that that lesson went exactly the way Heavenly Father needed it to go so K would accept the Gospel.

We had dinner with a Returning Member. We had planned to teach B about priesthood blessings. As she has been returning to church she has had a hard time understanding the priesthood and why some people have it when she feels that they shouldn't. So as we taught her about priesthood blessings she expressed her legitimate concerns on the topic. We did all that we could do to help her understand that God knows the true hearts of everyone and that we can not decide who is or isn't worthy. We invited her to pray about these things that she was struggling with and sincerly ask God for help. She told us she would, but the thought came to our minds that we should show her a mormon message on priesthood (Sanctify Yourself). After about ten minutes of me searching and searching to try and find the right one, we finally found it and invited her to watch it. After we closed with a prayer we left and headed back. B texted us ten minutes later telling us that she watched the video and was in tears. She knew that the priesthood was real and was comforted by the video. She went on to tell us that she had been hit by lightning when she was younger and how she knew she needed to watch that video to understand so much about her life. I know that Heavenly Father will inspire us all as we are trying to declare his word. I am so grateful for the technology that we have and that we were able to share that video. God loves all of His children and will always find a way to bring peace to our soul. 

We were able to go the temple! President and Sister Clayton have been trying to get missionaries to the temple more often. Something they just started was inviting missionaries after 6 weeks of their missions to come to the temple. Sister B, Sister R and I were blessed to be able to go to the temple! The Toronto temple is so pretty I can not even describe it. We all learned so much as we went to the Temple with questions. Heavenly Father has blessed me so much in my life and I am so grateful. 

Well I don't have much time left to write! Mama, I did receive your letter. I hope you have a great birthday! And I just love you all! 

Sister Chelson

Niagara Falls, Kieran, Exchanges

Hello Family and Friends! I love you all so much and that is why you are on this email! :) Just know that when I say I pray for you all each night I really do. I love you all and care about you so much. There is not a day that I don't think about you all and pray that you are being faithful and that you are happy. I just felt like I should start this email telling you all that I love you, and that Heavenly Father answers our prayers. He knows everything that we should be doing in our life and when we sincerely pray and ask him for help or guidance he will answer us. And we need to act on that message. Sometimes we may not understand why, but he does. And Proverbs 3:5-7 tells us "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths." I know that this is true. He will guide us. 

Niagara Falls is so beautiful. The first time I went we just looked at the falls and didn't take much thought to go and look at Clifton Hill. That is a BIG shopping, games, and so much more street that is by the falls. I felt like I was in Disneyland because of all the people and the music. It was really strange. While we were there we had a couple different families come up to us and tell us that  they were Mormon! It was so fun seeing happy families together. They all were going to go to the Pageant in Palmyra. The gospel blesses families. I know that it is what has kept my family together. I love being a witness of the sealing power in the temples. I get to teach people everyday that if my family endures to the end we will be united eternally. But, back to the falls..It is so beautiful there. In The Living Christ it  says, "and his voice was as the sound of the rushing of great waters." I think that the sound and power of Niagara Falls is a wonderful way to describe the way the Saviors voice was when he appeared to Joseph Smith. Something that I LOVE to think about is how Joseph Smith preached the Gospel in the same places that I am. I LOVE MY MISSION!!!

K is an amazing investigator! Last week I mentioned the story of how we would do anything to find a new investigator. And then we found one as we were walking across the cross walk? Well, this is him!!! I was on exchanges when Sister B and Sister R taught him about the Restoration. So I don't think I would do a very good job at explaining the lesson. But he wanted to learn more so it had to have been a spiritual one! But, this last week we taught him the Plan of Salvation. (Side note Friday night I decided I wanted to memorize the Family Proclamation to the World. So I started! I got to the bottom of the first column and I am so grateful for the knowledge and understanding of God's plan it has brought to me.) While we were teaching him the Plan of Salvation, he would stop and tell us that he really "digs" what we were teaching. He LOVES the idea of the potential we all have to become like Heavenly Father and he told us that it really makes sense to him what we are teaching. As we were teaching about our purpose of our life on earth, Sister Bell invited him to be baptized!! He really had to think about it and told us that he was not saying no but that he was not saying yes. He wanted to know more about baptism and was thrilled when we told him we would teach him more about it when we visited him next. The spirit was so strong as Sister Bell testified about  the Atonement. He told us that he would pray to ask God if it was true. He has a hard time asking God for help because he doesn't believe he will answer him. He told us he feels like God sent us here and left us alone to figure things out. We shared a scripture from Mormon 9 about believing that God is a God of miracles. He changed his attitude on scriptures and prayer! And told us he was excited to receive an answer. We taught about Family History and Temples and again he told us "I really dig what you teach." Then we taught him about the Kingdoms of Glory. He told us he loves Mormons. He loves everything we teach and that alot of his favorite music groups, authors, and people in general are LDS. K texted us the next day and told us that he really wanted to take his Book of Mormon reading seriously. IT was such an amazing lesson. I have a testimony of the Plan of Salvation. I know that God has a plan for us all and that his Gospel which teaches us about his plan was changed during the Great Apostasy. Because of the Restoration, Joseph Smith was able to translate the Book of Mormon to teach us the simple doctrines of this divine plan. I know that Families are central to this plan and that because Mom and Dad chose to be sealed in the temple we are living this plan! The Gospel is true. God loves us. 

This week we had skills and interviews with President and Sister Clayton. I am so grateful for the inspiration they both receive on how to help their missionaries. I have so many things that I need to work on in my life to become a better disciple of Christ! I have come to realize that we can never just stay in one spot. We need to continue to move forward. This last week I really reflected on a specific attribute that I know that I am lousy at. I have been praying and studying on how to develop this attribute. As I met with both Sister and President Clayton they gave me similar advice on the same topic! They had no idea that I was trying to work on that but, Heavenly Father did. He answers us through other people. After our interviews Sister B and I got to go on our exchanges! I was with Sister C! She is such a wonderful example of a consecrated missionary. We have a lot in common! She did DYW and Rotary Youth. She LOVES PMG, and we had a long discussion on our favorite sections. We talked about fun things like weddings and cute baby names (While we were trying to sleep of course) cause fun! And she just was the perfect Sister Training Leader for me at this point in my mission. At the close of exchanges we set goals. She, just like President and Sister Clayton, knew exactly what I needed. She challenged me to study and apply the attribute in my life. Since the exchange and interview I had, I have been trying to apply charity so much more in my mission work and life. I love the idea in PMG, in charity, saying. "Charity is the pure love of Christ." I have a testimony that  this is true. But I think that the first thing that we need to do to have charity in our life can simply be shown by slightly changing the phrase. "Charity is the pure love IN Christ." I know that as we go to Heavenly Father with a weakness we ever so desire to be a strength, and we humble ourselves, He will change us through his son Jesus Christ. As we show that we have love for our Savior, we will change to become like him. I am grateful for the charity I feel from reading and coming to know my Savior. I pray that people can feel that same love through me.

I love you.

Sister Chelson