They were not lying when they said it was cold in Canada!

Hello Family! This week was cold! It isn't super cold yet, but it is cold everybody.

I went on Exchanges this last week. I was with Sister J. She is 23 and she is a licensed hair person ( I don't want to try and think of the name). She is from Utah. And I love her. While we were on exchanges all of our appointments fell through which was sad, but we were able to talk to literally everyone we saw. We taught around four lessons on the street, and we would have had four new investigators if they would have accepted a return appointment, but everyone has their agency. It was wonderful.

This week we were able to teach way more than we have in the past. This is so good because it shows that the area is starting to progress. When we got into the area at the start of the transfer it was a new area so we had no information or direction. Now we are starting to see the work pick up and it is such a wonderful sight! God is Good!

This last week Sister M was getting trained in Family History. I luckily have been trained and already knew how to use the website so I was just able to look at my account. I was showing all of the Sisters our family and they were all so jealous because of the pictures and stories and all of the work that has been done. It was a proud moment for me, but then I remembered that I really have not done any of that work. SHOUT OUT to all of my family who has helped with the work! 

This is a super random paragraph.. But I have been trying so hard to be able to do better pushups. I remember in my first transfer Sister B could you know actually do I real boy push up. I couldn't do one so I gave up. Then at the start of this transfer Sister C, who is Sister Bs companion right now, could do like a million push ups and I got to thinking that I wanted to be able to do that. So, this last week one of my goals was to be able to do 10 solid push ups. I am super pumped to tell you all that I can do them. :) Haha, as I said, super random but I am proud of it. 

One day we had no appointments in the afternoon so we decided to tract all day long. It was pouring rain and freezing cold. When we would knock on the doors people would tell us to "stay dry" or "Stay warm", it always made me laugh when they could see us dripping wet. Haha anyways. As we were running to our dinner appointment we saw our bus drive by. The thing about Brampton is the buses only come like twice an hour so if you miss your bus you are pretty much going to be late to your appointment. It was still pouring outside so when we got under the bus shed and saw that it was full we were so excited. We contacted them all and invited them to check out a website..Then we saw the bus and all of us got up to get on, but the bus zoomed right by so we were going to have to wait again. Some boy there had the bus app and told us that the next one would be coming in ten minutes..Sister M and I had already talked to everyone and none showed interest but something just kept telling me to teach them all..So finally I obeyed and turned around faced all of them and just started preaching. Haha I taught the entire Restoration to all of them and invited them all to read the Book of Mormon and pray and ask god if it was true. As I looked over at Sister M she was in complete shock..haha she just kept smiling and laughing at me. When I asked them if they wanted to learn more half of them agreed!!! Then the bus came, and I was super pumped about the contact so then I got on and taught several other people about the Restoration and invited them all to read the Book of Mormon, one man took the book and told me he would read! BY the end of waiting for the bus and the bus ride I had talked to around fifteen people and Sister M had talked with several people as well. It was so fun. I felt like Dan Jones. 

I know that the gospel has been restored. Our mission is having our mission tour this week. Elder Perkins will be coming here and has asked all of the missionaries to prepare a four minute talk on fulfilling our purpose, and has also asked each companionship to prepare a 10 minute Restoration lesson including all of the commitments. :) We are so excited!!! I'm excited to fill you all in! 

Christmas is coming everybody!!!!! I keep forgetting that you all haven't had Thanksgiving yet..but my Thanksgiving has passed. Pretty much everyone here has lights up. It is wonderful! I love you all, I pray for you all. 

Heart Lake

This was a challenging week full of simple miracles. 

Before I talk about this last week, I just want to share some of my thoughts on the handbook changes the church has made relating to same-sex families. My dear mission President had a mission wide conference call the morning after the church realesed the changes. He then invited us to go and read and watch the interview explaining what was going on and the reasoning behind everything. As I listened to President Clayton, who has been called by our beloved prophet, teach us I felt the spirit of the Lord promise me that this is his church, and this is what he needs us to do. As I listened to the interview with Elder Christopherson, who I just sustained as an apostle of the Lord, I once again felt the spirit of the Lord confirm to me that this is the Lords church. Every single person on this earth is my brother of sister and I love them likewise. Our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ love them ever more than I do. So, what does this mean? The only thing that we have to ask ourselves is if Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet of God. The way that we can know if he was called to be a prophet of God is to read the Book of Mormon and to ASK GOD. I strongly encourage everyone whether you agree or disagree with the recent changes to the handbook, to read the Book of Mormon, and then ask God. I tesitfy that he will indeed answer your prayer. The world changes and the church needs to make changes to keep the plain and simple doctrine of the Savior true and clear so that the world can know that Jesus is indeed the Living Christ. I sustain and love our prophet Thomas S. Monson. I sustain all of the leaders he has called through the process of revelation. 

I have not told you all much about my new area and I am so sorry for that! I am sending mom a letter today that talks a little bit about the area. But I will mention some things right now as well! 

Oh how I love this wonderful ward. Our church building is the Stake Center, the Stake Center is right next to the Toronto Ontario Temple. I love always being able to see the angle Moroni above the trees! This ward reminds me so much of our home ward. Just like home we have the young young married couples, the young married couples and their few children, the married couples and their children that just continue to appear  of no where, and the old married couples who are so cute and so close to our Savior. 

On that note, as I have been on my mission I have really come to love singing to people. I don't think they always like it when I sing but I do it anyways. Haha. OUr releif society president asked us to visit this older couple as much as we could. We have been going over and singing with her becasue she loves singing. Just the other day as we were singing she lovingly (Kind of) told me that I really needed to sing the right note! After that I tried extra hard to sing the song better. About five minutes later she started to direct us as we were singing. :) Yesterday in church we were in relief society and we were all supposed to share one of our talents as we got to her she said, "They said to multiply and replenish the earth......And I have done that." The room bursted into laughter. She is a wonderful human being. 

The bus contacting is going great! I love it! The other day our zone went out for lunch. As we were there I introduced my favorite game to play. The way the game goes is you have one person pick a random item in the room and another missionary has to relate it back to the Restoration. (Yes, I understand I have officially become a weird missionary). We played this game for a good twenty minutes. After lunch we were dropped off at a bus terminal and got onto a bus to head home. I sat down to the guy who looked just like Bear I am not kidding. We talked and he told me that he works for a glass company. *LIGHT BULB* this was the following conversation we had. "What happens when a glass table fallls?" I said

"Well, it shatters and breaks into a million peices," he said

"I know that just like that glass table when it falls shatters into a million pieces, so did the Gospel of Jesus Christ when HE and His apostles fell. This was a time of great confusion and darkness called the great apostasy." *by this time I had a couple other people sitting by us listening.*

"But, I know that God loves us and I testify that he has called another prophet on the earth that restored the gospel of Jesus Christ. All of those missing peices of the original glass table is all back together. Just like how The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has all of the truth, power and authority from God. Will you act in faith and learn more of this message?" We went on to talk about how his girlfriend is listening to the missionaries of our church in the next town over and he said that he would listen when they came over next. Thank goodness for that fun game! 

This week we wanted to talk with everyone! And we did! We fear no man! We were able to give people pass along cards pretty much everywhere. Some of the people we gave cards to were; in parked cars, painting, checking us out in the grocery store, bus drivers bus riders and bus waiters, anyone who was breathing really. It was such a fun week. I love talking with everyone! WE FEAR NO MAN! 

I have a testimony of being exactly obedient. When we choose not to be obedient to any rule or commandment we will not be able to receive those blessings. No exception. End of story. So, if there is something that you can be more obedient in in your life. DO IT! DO NOT WAIT! Claim those blessings that are being extended to you. I say this out of love, I hope you understand that. :) 

I pray for you all. I love you.

Sorry not long!

Hello Family! Well, this week was a great one for sure! I love you all and I know that you know that.

It is big brother Bear's birthday this week. Make sure you all wish him a happy birthday! And also thank mom :) 

Well... I am so sorry to break the news to you all but I do not have much time to write this week. I want to let you all know that I know God loves all of us and that he wants us to be happy. That is why he has given us the gospel of Jesus Christ. This last week I finished the Book of Mormon and am now in 2nd Nephi. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I have read the Book of Mormon a few times in my day haha....and every time I read I learn something new. As we are humble as we are reading we will find new knowledge which allows the mystery's of God to be unfolded in front of us. Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. Yesterday marked a year from when I went to the temple to receive my endowment. I know that the temple is the Lords home. Families are sealed together  for time and all eternity every week all over the world. I know that the priesthood has been restored allowing us to perform ordinances  that help us return to our Heavenly Father and that is why we are here on earth. 

I love you all. You are in my prayers. 

"I (Sister Chelson) am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they ( the people in Ontario) might have everlasting life." 3 Nephi 5:13

Heart Lake!

Hi! This was the most interesting week of my entire mission. 

So last week I told you all that I was going to be going to Heart Lake and training a new missionary. Well, Monday night we got a call from the assistant telling us that some stuff came up and I was actually  going to stay in St. Catharines and Sister B and I were going to train a new missionary together! I was so sad! I loved serving in the St. Catharines ward I just felt like I needed to go some where else! I had already packed everything and I didn't really want to un pack quite yet. So Sister B and I drove to Brampton Tuesday morning to pick up our baby. After driving home we had to go to an appointment right away. As we were heading into the lesson we were talking to some people on the street. While we were talking to this guy in the parking lot Sister B looked at the phone and we had a missed call from President Clayton and Elder B. After talking to the man we went and called President Clayton where he told me that I was actually going to be coming back to Brampton to serve in Heart Lake and that I was going to be training! 

So, there is that! I love it here. It has been a very scary week! Sister M and I are opening a new area. So basically we came into our area with no information on the ward, no investigators, no food, and no idea of the area. This week we have had to really rely on prayer and faith that the Lord will bless us with people to teach! 

We are on buses! How fun is that?! I love bus contacting. I think that every single time we have been on the bus we have gotten off at the wrong spot. But all of the mistakes we are making is really helping us get to know the area better! Funny story. Saturday we got onto a bus and there was not very many people. I sat down next to this lady and asked her how she was doing. She ignored me, so I turned my body and tried talking to the people sitting across the bus from me. They ignored me also! I just didn't want to sit on a bus and feel rejected for a couple minutes before we were going to get off so I walked to the back of the bus where there were two people sitting on opposite ends. I started talking to one of the girls and she just laughed at me and ignored me! Haha, so pretty much the last person on the bus talked with me and we had a really good converstation. Just before we were getting off I went to get his contact information and give him our mormon.org card when the bus driver yelled at me and told me that she would kick me off the bus if I kept soliciting. It was dead quiet on the bus so I just said. "I'm sorry?" Haha it was funny I wish you all could have been there. I love bus contacting it is so fun and you meet so many cool people.

Our ward is great! I think that Sister M and I have a dinner appointment for the next year. :) They also are so kind with offering us rides! We share a car with the Elders in the ward so on the days when we are walking and busing the members have been offering us rides. I am so grateful,

Sister M is great! She is from Montreal and speaks french! She has been trying to teach me but she told me that I speak like a Spanish person. Maybe someday I will learn Spanish. :) She is 22 and is a convert of four years. She actually was not called to serve in the CTM. She is waiting for her visa so she can go to her mission she has been assigned to, which is the Milwaukee Wisconsin mission. She has been told it shouldn't take more than six weeks! She is so good at listening to people and really trying to help them resolve their concerns. She is great and I like her a lot. :) 

Just a fun fact. My ward is called Heart Lake ward because there is a lake here that is shaped like a heart! You all should check it out! :)

My ponderizing scripture for this week is Matthew 7:3. I love you all and I hope you all have a good week!

I am still weird.

Transfer News!!!

Oh how I have loved serving in St. Catharines! The people, ward, and area are absolutely stunning. My  testimony has been strengthened so much. I know even more than I did before that Jesus is the Living Christ, and that through him I find peace, strength, and lasting happiness! I know that Heavenly Father is my literal father and that he had, has, and will always have a plan for me. The gospel that Jesus Christ established while he was on earth is perfect. The gospel that Joseph Smith restored in the 1800's is that same perfect church, and to make this all even more glorious, the fullness of the gospel and the priesthood is never  going to be taken again! The Book of Mormon is God's word. I know it, end of story. After General Conference  I will never be able to deny that we have prophets and apostles helping guide us back to Heavenly Father.

My testimony of companions has continued to be strengthened which every companion I have had. My companions that I have had in the past still seem to teach me and help me become a better missionary. Sister B is such an amazing missionary, I am excited to tell you about all of her transfer news. :) I know that serving and loving people with all of your heart is what brings true happiness. A couple weeks ago I was making Sister B's bed for her in the morning. After I finished hers I moved onto mine and I heard Sister B yell "THANKS!" from the other room. Haha I guess I could have responded by saying your welcome but my response of "OH... I only make your bed because I like the room to look tidy." seemed alot funnier to me. But just as I said before, Service is what brings happiness. If any of you are struggling with anything my only word of advice is to forget yourself and serve someone! (said in the nicest tone ever) I have been really really sad before on my mission and in life. And when I have looked back at those times and tried to figure out why is was sad it is because I was turning in when I should have been turning out to help people. I love the scripture in Mosiah 2:17. I know that scripture is REAL. Anyways, I love Sister B. 

Well, last night was transfer calls! (If you want to just see the news read the bold.)The calls start at 9:00 p.m.and go until 10:30 p.m. I had been feeling like I was going to be leaving the area. In fact, I had already prepared myself by giving all of the cute old ladies in our ward a hug at church. But, soon enough it became 9:30, then after giving myself a stress headache I decided to  not think about it anymore and kept myself busy with cleaning up. Then before I knew it it was 10:20 and time for bed! I prayed expressing my confusion to Heavenly Father and went to bed. Then, at 10:25 we got a call from two of the Elders in our district telling us about their news. When we hung up it was 10:29 and we crawled into bed. At 10:32 we heard the phone ring and jumped out of bed and saw that Elder F the assistant, was calling us. We answered and he asked us.."How pumped are you?" We put forth a pathetic shout, which led to him making us redo it all over again and FINALLY he told us what was going on. Wow, I love telling stories. :) So what is going on is... I am going to be training a new missionary and opening a new area! Yay! I am so excited! I am also going to be in a bus area which is going to be super fun because I have never been on a bus! :) So, keep me and my companion in your prayers. Sister B is going to be staying in St. Catharines and is going to be training a new missionary as well. I'm a grandma. :) 

This week was a week full of adventure as usual. But some big things that happened this week:

1. K has decided that he loved investigating the church, but he just doesn't see himself getting baptized. So we let him go..(But don't worry, he will be baptized soon enough). It was funny because we were saying that he was going to miss meeting with us and just a couple hours after the lesson we let him go he called us and told us that he needed to tell us something. We just laughed and went and talked to him. He is a good man. 

2. We had a "Why I Believe Fireside", it went well. E spoke at it and killed it! In fact, she promised everyone in attendance that if they read the Book of Mormon they would find joy and happiness like she has. It was cool. She has also been praying about serving a mission in a year from now. She received probably around five answers this week that she should. :) And in an email to me just now she said....(HOLD FOR COPY AND PASTING) "I also wanted to remind you of that promise I made you, I will always honour it. I promise I will always follow the commandments and the rules that Heavenly Father has put in place. I also hope to see you at my farewell when I decide to go on my mission! That's another promise I want to make to you. I promise that I will be prepared to go on a mission by 2017. I want to be as great as you are. I want to change somebody's life, like how you changed mine."  She is wonderful. I can't wait for when she gets called to the Pocatello Idaho Mission. 

3. We were blessed to have alot of finding time this last week. We contacted all of the streets in downtown St. Catharines (All ten of them, haha), and found a lot of success. Heavenly Father is so midful of all of His children. 

This week I was studying the conference talk "It Works Wonderfully" at the request of Hannah. I learned so much about how the gospel is supposed to work in our lives! If you all have the time I strongly encourage you to read it! This week I have chosen my ponderizing scripture to be Mormon 9:28. It is an awesome scripture in a very book in the Book of Mormon. Well I pray for you all every night. I think about how much each of you have blessed my life. Thank you.  

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving from your Canadian Missionary! I have already had two Thanksgiving dinners, and tonight we are having another with our new Recent Convert E! Then after that we are going to the Relief Society Presidents house for pie, THEENNN we are going to the Ward Mission Leaders house for pie as well. I am going to be rolling into bed tonight!! Well, because it is Thanksgiving, I better tell all of you 10 things I am grateful for! 

1. The Godhead!! I know that each member of the Godhead works perfectly to help me return home safely to Heavenly Father! 

2. The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. How blessed are we all to live at a time where the fullness of the Gospel is Restored?!

3. My wonderful Mother who has always been  by my side, even when I was doing something wrong. Thank you mom. (Behold Thy Mother)

4. My Daddy who understands how to provide for his family temporally and spiritually. I adore you.

5. My brothers Bear, Porter, Nathan, and Brigham. If every woman on earth had brothers like mine no woman would think that they aren't good enough or pretty enough.

6. My sisters Boonie, and Natalie. Both of my sisters are 100% themselves. I think that is remarkable.

7. President and Sister Clayton. They are a perfect examples of true followers of Christ.

8. All of the teachers I have had in  my life. I would be nowhere with out the coaches, school teachers, and church leaders. 

9. My friends! I am amazed that I even have friends! Yes that includes all of my companions and mission friends.

10. All of the people I know in Ontario. I love being a missionary here. 

Well... Here is the semi quick summary of my life here in Canada!

Monday: We went shopping and I got all of my winter stuff! I was so excited!!!!!

Tuesday: Oh my goodness! We taught ESL for the first time this last week!  A member who used to teach ESL saw this confused Japanese Lady at a bus stop and was impressed to talk to her so after talking with her for a while she volunteered us to teach ESL! Haha the family is wonderful. I felt really funny as I was acting out words. This last week we talked about checking out at a store. The father, who knows English pretty well, asked us, "What does, 'Whats going on' , mean?" Haha he told us that he thinks it is a silly question to ask because they know what he is doing. Oh English slang. But Sister Bell did a great job explaining. 

Wednesday: This was a really cool day. The ward made over 200 apple crips for a food bank. It was super sticky and messy! E came and had so much fun. She was excited that she was at her first "I'm almost a member" activity. She had a blast and the entire ward has fallen in love with her. We also all got apple crisp at the end so all the dirty work was worth it! They were selling the pies for $2.50 so we couldn't resist buying two. But don't worry we gave them to K and P, two investigators.

Thursday: This was the start of our Thanksgiving dinners! We had dinner with two of the coolest people in St. Catharines. They made such a good dinner. We like them alot. :) But that morning we went and helped our friend R make FIVE lasagnas! It was so fun! Get this, instead of cottage cheese in the middle she put sour cream and mozzarella cheese! Oh the things I learn on a mission! We were really excited to help her. Her daughter, after watching a friend get baptized, decided to get baptized Sunday. So R suddenly had to plan a baptism, her anniversary, and Thanksgiving all in couple days. She is awesome. :) We were also able to go a Less active members house. Her son told us that we all have buckets over our head and he continued to poor "water" into my bucket. I love the imagination children have, but when I said that out loud he put me into my place and told me that it isn't his imagination. Anyways, his mom is such an amazing woman. She has been through alot. Her son is autistic, and she just had a baby girl. And to make things harder, her family lives in Columbia. As we were talking to her she started to cry and told her that she really just needs strength. She told us that she would love to have us back each week. I love her so much. 

Friday: E GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Happy Day!

Saturday: Our investigator P went to E's baptism. She told us that going to the baptism made her even more excited for her own which is on November 6th. We taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and after the lesson she casually brought up that she had had a dream that she got baptized and as soon as she came out of the water she heard a voice say, "This is the right decision for you." We were so pumped! We were all so excited! She told us that she wants to get baptized asap! So heres to a very busy couple weeks! :)

Sunday: Another Thanksgiving dinner and church!  I LOVE CHURCH.

Well it was a great week, Sorry I didn't get to write more! I love you all. I know that Heavenly Father loves you! And so do I! 

Ponderize? :)

Wow. Wasn't conference great? I could go on for hours about how great it was but. I only have a couple minutes to write an email. :)

Baptism and Confirmation

E passed her baptism interview!!! This wasn't a shock because she is awesome. But she is getting baptized this Friday! She will then be confirmed Sunday! She keeps asking us.."When can I go to the temple?" She is very excited and will be a wonderful member of the church. Highlights of teaching her this week are. 1. She told us that she is HERBAL now and that she doesn't drink tea. She also got us all hot chocolate will we taught her a lesson. 2. She came to all four sessions of conference, took notes, and had alot of questions answered. 3. She is pumped to come teaching with us next week! 4. She wants to serve a mission in a year from now. 

The ward is going to have four baptisms this month! Three of them are 8 year olds. Bishop has asked us to teach all of the kids about baptism so. The girl that got baptized yesterday was so prepared and was a great example for the other two girls. Actually one of the girls has been struggling to make the choice. Her dad is an RM but has gone less active and anti. Her mom is a faithful faithful woman who is doing all she can to raise her children in the church. As the little girl saw her friend be baptized and as she felt the spirit she is getting baptized this week! And the week following this one the other little girl is getting baptized! YAY!!

We made a pro and con list with K about baptism. He was able to recognize that the cons that he has are not even close to the pros that he has. But still, he just doesn't know if he wants to be baptized. We are still teaching him! He enjoyed the last session of conference and is still wanting us to teach him more. He has great questions. I know that K will be baptized it may not be while I am serving in St. Catharines or maybe even while I am serving in Ontario. But I know that he wants this in his life. He just has to decide if God will bless his life more than he can. 

Temple

​A recent convert, J, will be going to BYU this weekend. He is so excited! Porter, Nate. Would you mind if I gave him your contact info? Maybe you could meet up with him and show him the ins and outs of campus. He will also be going to the Salt Lake City temple! He is so excited to participate in baptisms for the dead. This is his next ordinance he can make as a member of the church. Pray that he will have a good experience. 

We went on exchanges this last week. Since President Clayton has changed the mission vision. He has asked the sister training leaders to double up on exchanges for the transfer. I was able to go to Hamilton with Sister M. She is awesome. She has graduated from BYU in Psychology. She plans to go home and be a marriage and family  therapist. She will be heading on home in January. I loved being with her for the day! I hear so many people talk about how they really needed a certain person for the exchange. Well, I needed Sister M. She is such a wonderful example of obedience and love. And I learned so much. While we were in Hamilton we were able to find a new investigator, invite 30 people to watch General Conference, ​help a returning member realize his potential to be sealed to his wonderful wife, and invite a couple people to be baptized. It was a great day with lots of miracles. Over all the thing that I learned on this exchange was how important it is to help people recognize Heavenly Father speaking to them and how that feels. Sister M was always helping people make the connection that what they were feeling was the spirit. I think that it would be a great idea for you all to record how Heavenly Father speaks to you. How amazing would it be if we could really understand perfectly how the spirit talks to us. I do know that each of us have been promised that we will have the spirit with us and we keep God's commandments. As members of His church we get to partake of the sacrament. Listen the the words said in the prayer. I promise that as you are doing all you can do that you will have His spirit with you ALWAYS. It is possible! And when we lose that spirit pray to the Father and ask for it again. I know that even though Adam and Eve separated us physically from God, that he gave us the Holy Ghost so we wouldn't be spiritually separated from him. Pray, take the sacrament, keep the commandments. 

I love you all. I pray for you all. I pray that each of you will find the desire to become a better disciple of Christ. And I pray that you will let that desire work in you until you are standing before God. It is worth it, I promise. Heavenly Father has promised us all he has in hope that we will see how his plan is worth it. I know He loves you. And that He knows you.