Easter

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

Have a good week and remember to read and pray! 

Canada

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

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


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

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

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

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


I love you all so much! Have a great week

--Sister Chelson 

I wish I had more time sometimes!

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

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

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

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

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

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

An Update from Canada

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Week Filled With Miracles

This week was filled with so many miracles.

We are teaching this super amazing woman named E. We taught her the Restoration and she told us that she felt goose bumps. We invited her to be baptized and she said that she would! We invited her to read, pray, and come to church. She told us that she has been praying to know if the Book of Mormon is true and just hasn't received and answer quite yet. We promised her that is she would continue she would know that it is true. She accepted and guess what everybody?! She is keeping her commitments! She is going to be baptized soon I just know it. After working around her house for a little bit we got to a bus stop. School had just got out so there were around 40 young girls leaving the Catholic school. As we all were at the bus stop I turned to Sister Wilson and said, "We are going to teach all of these girls the Restoration." She looked at me like I was crazy but did it anyway! We had a blast teaching them all and several of them were really interested in the message we shared. They took our cards and while we were on the bus we saw some of them looking at the website. :) I love being a missionary. 

We had a lot of dinner appointments this week. All of the families that we eat with are persistent in having us have not just seconds but thirds every time we go over to their house. I was so full. By the end of the week I had to pull out my fat skirt so I could still feel semi good. Don't you worry mom! I have been jump roping away. :) The best part about the dinner appointments we had was that in every single one we received referrals. Just last night we were at a members house and after teaching the Restoration and asking them who the spirit brought to their mind, they told us that their niece was finally give permission to listen to the missionary discussions. They set goals and made a plan to have her over to the house to be taught. This just didn't happen last night but it happened several times this week. I am so grateful for faithful members who try to share the gospel. Remember, success comes in the invite. 

Brother M is still doing great. He is preparing to go to the temple to do proxy confirmations. :) The members are going to be picking him up, taking him there, and then bringing him home. The ward council is so great here. They have just stepped up and are willing to help him. I love the Don Mills ward. Brother M was given an assignment a couple weeks back to organize a bowling activity for the Elders Quorum. He was so excited and got a super cheap price. The ward was really impressed with how he fulfilled his assignment and told him that they would give him even more. :) I'm so proud of him. 

This week I got a new companion. Sister Wilson is a champ. She and I together contact 200+ people every single day and I am pretty sure that 150 of those are her. She just knows how to get it done. While she was on the bus she talked to a woman named U. She loved the Restoration and was super excited to come to church. She hadn't been answering our calls so we were kind of bummed thinking that she would not come to church. BUT WAIT! We stepped out of ward council to call her and she answered. She told us that she had not been feeling well but that she would come. We waited for her to come to sacrament meeting but she never came. Then we got a call from her that she was downstairs. We rushed down the stairs and found her. Not only did U come but she brought her entire family as well. We gave them a tour of the church and they decided to sit in on the YSA branch sacrament meeting. Side note...The YSA in Toronto are so awesome they saw new faces and all of them came running to introduce themselves. GO RETURNED MISSIONARIES!!! Anyways, they loved sacrament and committed to coming to church. 

M. Is. Incredible. Sister Jensen and I met her a little over a week ago and got her contact info. She has been through so much in her life. Including being addicted to pretty much everything. Sister Wilson and I got a hold of her and set up an appointment to meet with her. She offered us tea and muffins. :) While we were there we taught her about the Restoration. She said that she felt so much peace while we were talking and has experience similar feelings of light in her life. She used to be Atheist but came to know that God was real when she was put into a life or death situation where she received an answer to her first prayer. We invited her to be baptized on March 26th, and invited her to CPR. She happily accepted all of the commitments and was over joyed when she found out about the Primary program for her two children. She couldn't come to church this week but will be attending next week. I am so excited to be visiting with her. When we asked when we could come back she asked how often we come back. She thought that we were going to say two weeks and was super surprised when we said two or three times a week. But, hey she said yes and loved the idea of 15-20 minute lessons. 

In ward council we have been watching training videos on the Sabbath Day. I was thinking about my Sabbath day observance I have had over my life time and obviously found serious faults. But as I was thinking about how I could be better I thought about family councils. As a missionary we have companionship inventory every week. We talk about strengths and opportunities we have personally and as a companionship and we set goals to achieve them. Family councils are the same way.I love the idea of having a weekly family council on Sunday. I was writing in my journal last night about all of the ideas and thoughts I had and I wrote, "If we take a vacation from the Sabbath,  the spirit will take a vacation from us." The purpose of church is to partake of the Sacrament, which allows  us to renew our baptism covenant so we may "always have his spirit to be with us." I am grateful for the Sabbath day. I am grateful for the resources lds.org has given us to help us make it a delight. I want to invite you all to refelct on your Sabbath Day observance and to use the concept of "good, better, best." Make the Sabbath good then better then the best. 

I love you all and I hope that you have a great week!

An Update from Canada

I feel like I just emailed you yesterday! This week just flew on by.

​Transfers have come! I have loved to serve with Sister Jensen. She is my best friend and I just love her so much. She is going to be serving in a really small area named Simcoe with two other missionaries who are pretty young. One starting her second and one starting her fifth! She is going to love it. I really am sad that I won't be with her...but! I will see her again in a couple months! My new companion is Sister Wilson. She came out with Sister Bell. Right before I left to go to the MTC I had a girl message me on Facebook telling me she was going to go to the CTM as well. She asked me some questions and me not really paying attention I forgot to email her back. When I was called to train I remembered that this sister was going to be coming out and I thought for sure I was going to train her. But then I trained Sister Bell, who is wonderful. Now Sister Wilson will be coming and joining me! I love Toronto and I never want to leave!

I just have one story for today. The other day Sister Jensen and I were heading back from an appointment. We were walking towards the nearest subway station and were talking with everyone along the way. The man that we were talking with wasn't interested in learning more about our message. We asked him if he knew anyone that would like to learn more about Jesus Christ and all of a sudden we hear an enthusiastic "ME!" shouted from somewhere. I looked up, down, left and right trying to find this marvelous being who wanted to learn more. Then I saw her... "Y". We walked over to her laughing and smiling at her excitement to hear our message. She said,
 "What can I do for you, or what can you do for me seeing as how I already know God."​ I said, "Have you ever heard about the RESTORED Gospel of Jesus Christ?"  She said no so we started to teach her about the Restoration. She was super cool! As we walked away we just laughed and laughed. Toronto is the best.

Sorry for the short email! I have lots of pictures I need to transfer to some sisters. I love you all!

Many are Called but Few are Frozen

Yes everybody! Canada is super cold. Did you all know that your nose hairs freeze? Haha I didn't until this week! But I survived! Last night I was even walking around with my normal boots. This morning however we woke up to lots of snow! :) I love Canada alot.

This will be a pretty short email!
Brother M is still doing wonderful! We have been meeting with him and his mom for about six weeks and this last week Mama S decided to no longer investigate the church. We went over and were going to teach her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When we got in there it was really smokey and she just looked so sad. We sat down and talked and she told us that she was not ready to be baptized because she could not give up her smoking and coffee. She had tried to quite cold turkey and almost killed herself. We were so sad, we told her we loved her and went over the 12 steps to recovery book with her again so she would follow the guidelines correctly. As we were leaving she said the prayer and apologized to Heavenly Father for not being willing to give up her addictions for him. Mama S will be baptized someday. :) Brother M was super supportive about it all. He actually has been stronger since his mom stopped.

I love when members of the church actively fulfil callings. Last night we got a call from a new member telling us that his home teachers just left from giving him a blessing. They had heard he had been having a hard time and when he didn't answer his phone they decided to just go by. It is amazing when people love the people whom they serve, it changed his night.

Exchanges were super fun! We saw many miracles. I was with Sister Womack in Ajax. She is in her last week of her mission! We got to teach an investigator her final lesson before her baptism interview. The power and love that Sister Womack displayed was indescribable. After the lesson her investigator was interviewed and passed the interview and will be getting baptized! It was a great day. I also exchanged with Sister Wheldon! She came to my area and we had such a good day. We were able to teach several lessons! Sister Wheldon is from Texas and LOVES Texas. Haha she always says, "My loyalty is first to Texas, then to the USA." So... this is super happy everybody. Sister Dayton and I were companions in my second transfer as a missionary. She and I got to go on an exchange yesterday! I learned so much from her. Something that I loved about the exchange was our prayers. Every prayer we said we asked Heavenly Father to help us find people that day who would be baptized. As we went out we saw miracles. We found so many sweet potentials who were so ready to hear the gospel. Prayer works everybody! :)

This Sunday Sister Jensen and I were  trying to find a member to go and visit and we had a hilarious but awesome experience. We were sitting at the table calling people and I told Sister Jensen that we were both going to receive revelation about who to call and that the people that came to our mind would be the same. Sister Jensen looked at me and asked who I was thinking of and I responded, "The A's" She then burst into laughter and told me that she had been thinking the exact same person. It is a silly story but it happens all of the time. We watch the PMG planning videos every morning and one of them talks about how when we pray and ask for guidance we will be able to receive answers. I am so grateful for Sister Jensen. She is a consecrated obedient missionary and because of that we are able to receive inspiration as a companionship for our area. :)

Well, there was many other things that happened but I can't just type my day away! I love you all. :)