It's almost Christmas!

This week was so great! I am just going to write a short email and send a lot of pictures!

I know that every area in our mission can baptize every transfer. This is the Standard that President Clayton has received from the Lord and because of that I know that it can happen. Sister J and I whitewashed into this new area with no one to work with so we immediate had to start to exercise our faith and invite everyone to come unto Christ. We got lost pretty much every day because neither of us have served in the city and we are still getting used to the buses but we are so grateful for every time we get lost because we get to talk with so many more people. :) One of those people we talked to on the bus is D. D immediately accepted to learn more about our message! We had an appointment with him at 4:00 p.m. at a Tim Hortons but we ended up getting lost and D waited for two hours and actually helped us find our way to where he was. When we met with him we shared the Christmas video #aSaviorisBorn, and he loved it. We invited him to be baptized on the last day of the transfer which is Daddy's birthday, and he said yes. Yesterday he came to church and we taught him the Restoration. :) He had a couple questions for us and we were able to lead him to the scriptures where he found his answers. He also found out why baptism is important and last night he sent us a text saying. "I understand baptism now. And I am so excited to be baptized." 

I am so excited for D and the other people that we are working with as well. 

This transfer I am able to do a few new things. Some of those are teaching ESL and going on exchanges. I have this funny thing that  the Sisters I exchange with do with me. What we do is we read 3 Nephi 5:13 very loudly off of the balcony or a really high building adding some words... this is what it would read for me. "Behold I Sister C, am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the son of God, I have been called to declare his word among the people in Ontario..."and so on. Haha it is a hoot and a half and I wish I could send the videos home. :) 

I love you all. I pray for you all. :)

TORONTO!

Well, it is official everybody, I am in love with the city of Toronto. 

Sister J is such an amazing companion. I love her so much. We have alot of fun together. She is from Alberta. She has been on her mission for 14 months. Something that is cool is that she served in Milton right before I did! She is the kindest sweetest person you will ever meet. She talks like a Canadian and I talk like an American so it leads to lots of laughing fits as we go to bed. Something that I learned from her this week is how to better listen to people and discern what they need to know. She is really good at making people feel comfortable and happy as she talks with them on the bus. It has been so fun to learn how to better bus contact with her. This is her first time in a bus area and she is killing it! It is so fun. Her parents are currently living Manila which is in the Philippines. She lived there for 6 weeks before she came to the CTM! She is celestial.

We whitewashed into our area! I think that President Clayton just likes to whitewash me into areas, ahaha I have never just moved into a new area. :) The apartment was last used by Elders. As we were busing  there the Don Mills East sisters told us that our apartment had bed bugs....and that the Elders got bites....So, naturally we were both freaking out. We got there and we opened the door and we had no furniture, we walked into the back room and our beds were taped, with scotch tape, and it was just a little sketchy. That night we were deciding if we wanted to sleep in those beds and we just decided to be brave and do it. As we were getting into bed Sister J said...."I love you, Goodnight, don't let the bed bugs bite..." We immediately got so quiet and just busted into laughter. We understand that phrase now. Mom, I know that while you have been reading this you have been freaking out.. Don't worry we don't have bed bugs. We got rid of those mattresses and got a new couch. Neither of us have bites so we are okay. Porter, I know that you were probably thinking about a smoke alarm and a carbon monoxide detector, we have them and they both work. We also have three locks on our doors, so we are safe. :) 

Sister J

a picture of the fort Sister Jensen and I made. :) 

This year the Christmas initiative is so inspired,they always are inspired but I really like this one. Something that we have been trying to do is to sing Christmas songs on the Subway,buses, and street cars. We get so many happy smiles and it is always a great opportunity to share the Christmas card with people. I love Christmas! We had one time we were singing on the street car (that I call a trolley because it is makes it sound more fun), and this woman turns around and just smiles and closes her eyes. As we were getting off she came and she talked with us and told us how we made her day. She didn't want to learn more but it was a cool to be able to have her feel the spirit of Christ. 

These last nine months have gone by way to fast!! I cannot believe that I have hit my halfway mark. I just wanted to share with you all nine things that I have learned on my mission. 

1. We need to do things the Lords way and not our own way. When you are with someone 24/7 you are bound to not agree on certain things. Something that is important is to pray and ask the Lord what he would have us do. When you are with someone whether you are dating, married, companions, family, or even co-workers, it does not matter who is right or who is wrong because I would guess 99% of the time you are both wrong. Ha the Lord will always be right....Choose the Right=Choose the Lord.
2. Kindness.
3. I love my family so much. I, like Nephi, "have been born of goodly parents". Unlike Nephi, I have siblings who love the Lord and love me.
4. I really like pie and ice cream.
5. There is no substitute for obedience and diligence.
6. Mission Presidents are inspired. Elder Perkins told us that he is convinced that a missionary is not assigned to a specific mission but to a mission president. I know that that is true. President and Sister Clayton are wonderful people. I can not begin to describe the love I have for them.
7. The Restoration actually happened!
8. I really like talking with people.
9. Everyone needs the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We are in a bus area! WOOOOO!!! BUS!!! AREA!!!!!!!!!! I love the buses, you get to trap people on them. :) I rode a subway for the first time in my life the other day. I keep telling  Sister J that serving in Toronto is the best Christmas present I could ever get. :) When new missionaries come out on their mission they are so excited and everything is magical and new to them. That is totally me this transfer. :) A lady this morning in the elevator was telling us that we were far to energetic for 6:30 am. We just smiled and laughed. Sister J and I are constantly chasing down buses. Then we get on the bus out of breath and everyone on the bus gets a good chuckle out of two girls in skirts running down a bus, it makes it easier for us to talk to them. Because we are running and walking so much, I may lose weight this transfer. Haha who knows! The holidays are here! :) 

I will let you all know my new address when I know my new address. :) I love you! 

Transfer News

This was a fun and busy week! We had zone council, exchanges, the temple trip, and transfers!!! 

First of all, transfer news! I am going to Toronto!! I am so excited I have wanted to serve there since I got here! I am going to be companions with Sister J. Sister M will be going to St. Catharines with Sister B and Sister C. :) They will have a party. I was telling Sister M last night that I am slightly envious of her. I love St. Catharines! Sister M does not have any word on her visa yet. Keep her in your prayers.

I got to go to the Temple! I love the Toronto temple. It is so beautiful. I am so lucky to have been able to go so many times on my mission. The mission has a temple trip every six months right before conference, and only people living within two hours get to go. President Clayton started allowing new missionaries to go to the temple after their first six weeks as a missionary, so I have been able to go with Sister B and Sister C. Heavenly Father is so kind. Temples allow us to make covenants with Heavenly Father, and when we keep our covenants we are blessed. Go to the temple everyone! GO! 

Exchanges were really fun. I was with Sister J again. :) We were able to find a new investigator for her area. His name is R. It was a really really cold and rainy day and we didn't have many appointments so we just went out and tracted. We knocked on his door and asked if we could teach him about the Restoration. He allowed us to come in and while we were standing in his doorstep we taught him the entire Restoration! It was wonderful. We asked him if he would be baptized and he said yes, but that he wanted to search the scriptures first. We gave him The Book of Mormon and invited him to read 2ND Nephi 31, and then to pray and ask Heavenly Father if it was true. He said he would and we set up another time to meet with him. All of this took place in about 15 minutes. It was incredible! I haven't been able to invite very many people to be baptized this last transfer so it felt so good to extend that invitation. I LOVE BAPTISM!! WOOO!! 

​This week one of our investigators wife had a baby girl. :) He always feels the spirit, so it was really good for him to have this baby. His wife is a member and really wants him to be baptized but won't make him. We went to visit them in the Hospital and I'll tell you what I was such an emotional wreck! The spirit was so strong in that little hospital room. As I was looking at their new baby girl I was just fighting back tears. It was such a beautiful moment. Babies are wonderful. :) M, the mom, was teasing me saying that I am going to have a million little mormon babies. She came to the conclusion that I will be the perfect mormon mom. I just laughed and thought about how wonderful my mom is. :) Thanks for having me mom! 

Zone Council is always fun! Sister D and I gave an instruction on planning. :) ​Planning easily has been one of my favorite parts of being a missionary. I think that it was the only thing that I actually felt like I could do so I have loved it ever since. I found a really cool scripture talking about revelation. It is in D&C 42:61. It is my ponderizing scripture for the week. 

Well everyone, it's been real. But, we have to go and baptize people. :) Everyone check out christmas.mormon.org, and find out how you can share #aSaviorIsBorn this year. :) You will hear a lot about that  this next month! YAY! Christmas! :) 🎄🎄🎄

Yelled at 3 times, Elder Perkins, and the work of salvation.

This was a fun week! We were only yelled at three times this week on the bus. :) One time the bus driver came back and personally  told me that he would kick me off if I talked with people. I was so upset because we still had fifteen minutes to be on the bus and so many people could have heard the gospel, but oh well, when we got on the next bus we were able to talk to even more people. :) 

*Just so you all know. When I share these stories on the bus, the reason I saw "I" is because I am talking with different people on the bus than Sister M. I got to thinking last week and I just felt so terrible from saying I. I am so grateful for Sister M and everything we do we do as a companionship. I am nothing without her. :) so, there you go.

One night Sister M and I had just got done at a dinner appointment and we had just enough time to bus home so we would get home on time. I went to the back of the bus and sat down by this younger looking girl, she looked like she would be YSA age. We started talking and I asked her if she had ever talked with missionaries, she said that she had just they were two boys and that she wasn't really interested in what we had to share. I told her that was okay and I continued to talk with her. We talked about her school and family. She wanted to be a nurse but decided that it was boring and she chose to be a welder, people have been trying to convince her not to but she knows thats what she should be doing. I encouraged her and told her that if she feels good about it, God will help her. After talking for about ten minutes she asked me what was different about our church and other christian churches. This was wonderful! I was so excited that she asked. I started from the beginning talking about how God loves us and how he send prophets to us to direct us, that people who follow prophets are blessed and when they don't they don't recieve those blessings. We talked about Christ and his priesthood authority and how after his death it was taken from the earth causing us to be in the great apostasy. As I was sharing the first vision with her she was fixated on me. Her entire body language and her spirit was different. She changed as I told her that god speaks with his children and that the priesthood is on the earth. I told her that all of this can be proven to her through the Book of Mormon. I asked her if she would like one and very very quietly she said. "I really really want one." She found comfort in the Restoration of the Gospel. As we got off the bus she thanked me and was excited for us to bring her a Book of Mormon and to teach her more. As we went home that night I kept thinking about what had just happened. I have taught the Restoration so many times before, but the feeling I felt as I taught Jordan is nothing that I could ever try to describe. As I described the first vision, I felt in a very real sense I was there. And that I indeed saw that pillar of light, but not only did I feel as though I saw it, I felt the merciful love of my Heavenly Father and of my savior Jesus Christ. 

Earlier that night we found two families going to the Santa Claus parade. They too found peace in the Restored gospel and gladly accepted our invitation to learn more. :) I am never going to drive another car again. I know that as I open my mouth at all times the Lord will place people in my paths. 

​Elder Perkins came to our mission! The mission tour was wonderful! I was lucky enough to have had time to be interviewed by him one on one. I am such a lucky person! He asked me all about our family and about my mission. I told him about E, a very very special person to me. :) He loved her just as much as I do. We talked about his mission and he asked me what I thought he should teach that day in the conference. I was caught off guard but almost instantaneously my mouth was opened and I proceded to tell him about a chapter in preach my gospel. As we were in the conference that day and he instructed on what the spirit had prompted me to  tell him I felt the sweet assurance from the spirit that I was the one that he needed to instruct. Heavenly Father speaks with us. I know he does.

Yesterday the Montreal Temple was rededicated, and I was able to attend! yay for temples! :) Sister M was very excited and I was excited with her. 

Do any of you remember P? She was my spanish investigator from St. Catharines? SHE WAS BAPTIZED!!! HAPPY DAY! With the people I am working with right now. Sister D: she is from Haiti and she speaks almost no English, luckily Sister M is a stallion and she knows french and the Restoration and was able to teach the entire lesson on her own. The gift of tongues is real everybody. :) She invited her to be baptized on December 11th and she said that she would! Her family are members and they all would love to be sealed together as a family. They have the cutest little kids ever. I die everytime I go over there. :) Ms: a wonderful family we are working with. They want to go back to the temple and be active members. I just love them all so much. S; So, she can not read but is doing a mighty fine job at learning. We go and read with her so she can read the Book of Mormon. :) We are working with some other people but I don't want to overload you all.

Well, this week was good. I love the Lord!!!  ​Eat lots of Turkey and Stuffing this week! But don't forget to eat lots of pumpkin and apple pie! I love pie it has become my favorite treat. :) 

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