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. :) 

Miracle Week!

This week we saw so many miracles!

Miracle on Monday: As we got done with preparation day we were in the elevator going to an appointment and this man asked us if we were JW's. We told him that we weren't and that we were missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He told us that he loves to learn about religion and asked us if we could come teach him about our church. Sister Jensen and I have been praying so hard that we would find more people to teach. This was such a blessing for us. As we walked out of the door we ran into our neighbors. On New Years Eve they brought us a gift and since that time we have ran into them several times. We gave them some of the missionary pamphlets. As we were talking to them outside they told us that they have been reading all of the pamphlets and that they love them. They even mentioned the blessings and miracles they have seen in their life since they started praying correctly. The topic of coffee came up and we told them that we would bring them a word of wisdom pamphlet. They were super excited! As we were walking away from those fifteen minutes of miracles Sister Jensen and I looked at each other slightly confused but smiling ear to ear. The rest of the night was equally as amazing. 

Miracle on Tuesday: Tuesday I was on exchanges with Sister Bott. She is a sister training leader in Oshawa! She and I were both trained by Sister Dayton, and because of that we kept reminding each other of Sister Dayton. We laughed all day and taught many many lessons. Tuesday night we had a lesson with a potential investigator named E. He was a former investigator we found a couple days back and we dropped by and said we could come back Tuesday night. We brought the Relief Society President with us. She is super cool. She is from the Philippines and converted from Catholicism around thirty years ago. As we taught the Restoration she bore a solid testimony of the Book of Mormon and prayer. With out Sister S we would not have been able to solidly invite him to read and pray. Eric had his questions answered by her. Bringing members to our lessons really is key. The people we teach can not progress with out the fellowship of the members. This week with your spare time, call the missionaries and go teach with them. 

Miracle on Wednesday: This day we had  MLC! Sister Bell just said it best to me in an email.." mlc was so great. i don't think i have ever felt the spirit that strong for that long of a time in my whole life. i love it. i love president Clayton. he seriously is the best. i just love everything!" Amen to that Sister Bell. :) While we were in this meeting we discussed the misson culture of the Canada Toronto Mission. After the discussion we concluded with three things that make up the culture of the CTM. 

1. We Teach Repentance and Baptize Converts. https://www.lds.org/church/news/focus-on-the-doctrine-of-christ-elder-andersen-tells-missionaries-worldwide?lang=eng

2. We are a PMG mission

3. We are consecrated disciples of Jesus Christ (one of my all time favorite scriptures 3 Nephi 5:13) 

I know that these three things is what makes up the missionaries in the CTM. This is a great mission. The reason this is a miracle is because it has shaped this mission. In the last month as we all have been fasting and praying about what our Mission Culture is, this is what we have become. We understand that we are called here to teach repentance and to baptize true converts every transfer, PMG is the way of accomplishing it, and as we have that focus we become consecrated disciples of Jesus Christ. This mission is best mission in the world, ask President Monson. 

Miracle on Thursday: This was such a happy day for me. I was in Bayview South which is a Mandarin speaking area. I learned so much from the wonderful sister I was with. She is a convert and is one of two members in her entire family. She had a solid testimony of the role of the Holy Ghost in conversion. She taught me that we have to listen, love, and testify of Christ for the spirit to teach. It was evident in her teaching that she is a master at this. I couldn't understand much of what was going on in the lessons. But as I watched the eyes and body language of the people she taught you could tell that the spirit was teaching them. Sister Deng is also still in her training. This was her first time alone in her area and she killed it! She taught me how to say "I know what my companion said is true." and "I love you." In Chinese. :) 

Miracle of Friday: Porter....I had to see a python....it was a pet of a house we had dinner at. It was super scary. In the white hand book it says that we always need to be in sight and sound of our companions....well that rule was really hard when my companion was holding a snake around her neck! Anyways, after the snake was put away we had a lovely dinner with the Howard family. He is a LA member and she is a non-member. We asked them how religion has played a role in their lives and after listening to so many wonderful stories we testified to them of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. They told us that they wanted to learn more, and invited us over again for dinner this week. They were amazing.

Miracle of Saturday: Wow.. This day was incredible. We taught ESL, found three investigators, contacted three referrals, received two referrals and had many many lessons. One of the lessons we taught was with Roger! He was the man that we ran into in the elevator that asked us to come over and teach him. While we were there we asked if anyone else in the home would like to join us. He then called K and Ke his sons to come and here the good news. We taught the Restoration simply but powerfully and testified that God answers all prayers asked with a sincere heart. Sister Soutar also came to this lesson and even more powerfully and boldly testified of Jesus Christs church. It was amazing. We invited them all to be baptized and they said yes. Then at the end of the lesson he told us that he wanted this wife and a friend of his to come to the next lesson. I have always wanted to help a family progress towards a temple sealing and I firmly know that this family will be there. 

Miracle of Sunday: Well... I ran out of time to email. But just know many miracles happened! :) I love you God Bless you! 

I just love Toronto. It is Beautiful. 

We went to the ROM. I thought this was fitting.

I took this picture of this bird. It was on the top of the next building over.

A TTC tie.. every missionaries dream. I got it from a bus driver and he gave me his clip as well.

The Week Went Great

Yes, I am officially 20! Thanks for all of the birthday wishes once again. You all are the best! 

First off. I have the best companion alive. From making heart pancakes to singing me happy birthday almost every second she really helped me have a wonderful birthday. For me birthday celebrations aren't really a big thing. I just feel the exact way I did the day before I just have to tell people that I am a different age. Sister Jensen was counting down the days until my birthday, I wasn't sure if it was because she was going to make a birthday cake or if was because she just really likes celebrations. I asked her why she was so excited and she told me that she loves birthdays because Heavenly Father sent us here. She said it is such a happy thing that I came to earth and because of that I have been able to make a difference in many peoples lives. So there you have it, she is the best.  While we were getting ready to make the cake we found out that we didn't have eggs, so the YSA sisters brought us three really cute eggs wrapped in a paper towel in a baggie. Then we found out that we didn't have vegetable oil...but we had olive oil and that's pretty much the same thing right? When we went to grab a cake pan we found out that we didn't have one! We then decided that we would go tract our apartment floor and ask for a pan. Finally we found one and we baked our beautiful cake! We took one bite and....it tasted like olives. Hahah it is still sitting in the fridge. Oh the wonderful memories. 

Speaking of memories. This week we went on two wonderful exchanges! I was with Sister Womack. She is from California and has just about three weeks left in the mission. We saw so many miracles happen that day. As we were walking up the road putting up ESL flyers we had the prettiest view of downtown Toronto. It was phenomenal. We stopped to take some pictures and continued on our way. She is such a powerful teacher. I am grateful to have learned how to listen to people better as we teach. The second exchange I went on was with Sister Stoker. I went on an exchange with her last transfer as well. She is from Utah. Something super cool is that her family just poured the foundation to their home they have been waiting to build! That was super happy. Anyways, she is one of the kindest missionaries. While we were on exchanges we dropped by a super LA member. As we knocked on her door she saw that it was us and got angry and told us to take her name off of the records. We finally were able to tell her that the only way that could happen would be if she were to write the church and ask  for that. We told her that we could get her the bishops number. As we were doing that we asked her why she joined the church. And thats when everything changed. She allowed us to come into her house, she fed us juice and a million cookies, and told her about her conversion. After being baptized she was treated badly, offended, by someone else and she stopped coming. She told us how badly it hurt her and how the church just focuses on Joseph Smith. We boldly testified of the savior and that this is his church. While I was there I was so beaten down. I felt so much sorrow for her. Something that should always be on our minds are two primary songs. 1. I'm trying to be like Jesus, and 2. If the Savior Stood beside me. Those songs are songs that could have stopped alot of problems. Everyone, just be kind. Love everyone. This week we have a super busy week. I was teasing Sister Jensen that tonight right before we exchange I will  give her a hug and see her again on Sunday. We laughed but it is true! This week we have two big meetings, and three exchanges. It is going to be so fun! 

E: We have been trying to find more people to teach. We were going through some former records and we picked out a couple of people to go by. We went to E's house. We asked him if he would be interested in learning more about our church. He said that he was actually really interested. He said that since the elders stopped teaching him about four years ago he has continued to read some of the Book of Mormon. We have an appointment with him and several other people just like him this week! Super happy.

Member missionary work is the only work there is. As we were preparing to go to dinner at a members house they asked us if we could come thirty minutes later because she invited a non-member friend to come and that is when she could come. We excitedly agreed. While we were waiting for her friend to get there we asked how they would like us to bring up the church. They said that they didn't really want us to that they just wanted us to talk about what missionaries do. J is from the Philippines. She had seen missionaries before but had a lot of questions. While we were getting ready to leave the member friend got so excited that she asked her friend if we could teach her. Her friend agreed and we shared the Restoration as a spiritual thought. It was so fun to be able to see the joy that comes to the members who share the gospel! Remember, success comes in the invite. 

I love you!

Happy Birthday to Me!

I'm 20! Haha, okay not yet, but soon I will be! :) Thank you for all of you who wished me a happy birthday! :) I love you! 

We have three new converts our area is over, C, B Jr., and Brother M. Last week President Clayton changed made contacting every new convert every week a Standard of Excellence! This is so wonderful. We have been focusing alot on retention in our mission. A couple years ago this mission baptized a lot of people. Just in the Toronto Stake they had around 500 baptisms? (This is going off of the word of another missionary so if it is not true I am so sorry) Not very many of those recently baptized members stuck around. And that just isn't acceptable! Now the mission has a focus of baptism and retention so we can assure sealed, kingdom building families in Ontario! Brother M is super easy to contact because he is super solid and loves the Gospel. But  the other two have started to fall away! C was baptized nearly a year ago and from what was recorded on his teaching record, he was baptized really fast after attending church three times. Since that time he hasn't come to church and for our first transfer here he never answered the door or phone and seemed to have  fallen of the side of the earth. But! Yes, a BUT! The first week of this transfer we were finally able to meet C! He has a super strong testimony just not a strong desire to act. And by miracle once again we met him this last week! Sister Clark and I were on exchanges and we had just got done teaching Mama S and Brother M. They live in the same apartment building so Brother M decided he would come knock with us to see if he would answer the door, and he did! Sadly, the smell of drugs hit us as he opened the door and C, under the influence, told us that he was not interested in meeting this week. As we walked to the elevator Brother M expressed his sincere sadness for C and told us that he would try and be the best example. That was so sweet. We also were able to contact B Jr! His dad doesn't want to go to church and B Jr. is feeling the same way. They have been going through some emotional turmoil lately and just have decided to shut the door on church right now. But they didn't lock the door! We invited them to pray for help. We testified that the Atonement can and will heal them. I am so grateful for mini miracles like these. As a mission we have been focusing on having the Language of Faith. So, the question is what is the language of faith? I think that Alma and the Sons of Mosiah in the Book of Mormon are a wonderful example of the language of faith. They talk about going and teaching for the possibility of bringing one soul back. And then if you fast forward a couple chapters up you have them rejoicing and praising the Lord their God. It is so wonderful. I am so grateful for the missionary examples their are in the Book of Mormon. I really do know that miracles happen. And when our focus is on Christ, there is no way that we won't see those miracles.

Exchanges this last week were a blast. On Tuesday I spent the day in my own area with Sister Clark. She was born and spent the majority of her life in Nevada but moved to Utah for her high school years. She is such a bold missionary who is so prepared to follow the spirit. We were knocking on some doors after dropping by a less active member and as this cute lady answered the door Sister Clark said, "Can we sing you a song?" The lady and I both looked at Sister Clark a little confused, but she let us sing to her! We asked her if she knew the song "How Great Thou Art" (Classic Christian song), and we sang. After we were done singing for her she told us that it brought her back to her childhood when she would go to camp in the summer. She said she loved the memories of singing and being the happy child that she was. She was not interested in learning more about the Gospel, but I learned a very valuable lesson from Sister Clark. She taught me how important it is to follow the spirit. She didn't hesitate or second guess the thought that was put into her mind. She is a wonderful missionary and I am so grateful for all that she does. Sister Chu and I spent the day in the Bayview south area. She speaks Mandarin Chinese! She is from Hong Kong and will be back in Hong Kong by Friday! I was so happy that I was able to go on exchanges with her. After trying so many new foods, trying to say "Hello how are you?" in Chinese, we were in a Asian food market and as I looked around and was listening to them all speak a different language I turned to Sister Chu and told her that the only English in that entire building was the thoughts in my head. She laughed and laughed and laughed. Just about twenty minutes later we were in a Chinese restaurant with some members for dinner. I was just minding my own business eating my dumplings with my chopsticks when I looked around and had a really funny thought. I am not sure if any of you have seen the Kung Fu Panda 3 posters, but it is a poster of Po holding a dumpling in front of his face. As I looked around at all of the extremely skinny Asian people  the thought crossed my mind, "I am Po." I smiled to myself and ate my dumpling like a happy little cartoon panda. As I got home and told Sister Jensen about dinner she just laughed and laughed and laughed. I am so grateful for Sister Chu, she told me that the best way to have a successful mission is to "Work hard, Play hard." So there you have it folks, don't forget the wise words of Sister Chu. :) 

We had Skills and Interviews this last week! I always love this time when we can sit down and have a one on one conversation with President Clayton and Sister Clayton. I just love them so much. 

While I was with Sister Chu, Sister Dung and Sister Jensen found an amazing investigator. Her name is A and she is from Poland. We taught her the Restoration in a cute little coffee shop. This last week the general authorities thought that they would put on a world wide mission broadcast. One of my favorite things that they talked about was the role of the Holy Ghost in conversion. They  talked about the importance of listening and allowing the spirit to be the teacher. In our lesson with A I tried really hard to just listen and allow the spirit to teach. It was such a wonderful feeling to be able to feel the spirit work through us to teach her. We invited her to be baptized and when she accepted we invited her to be baptized on February 21, and she accepted! We are so excited for her! Remember to keep her in your prayers. :) 

This last week Sister Jensen and I decided to clean out our teaching pool with both our investigators and our returning members. Currently we are working with about four people. :) We are so grateful for this week to go and to find the kingdom builders who are ready to truly repent and be a true convert. That is the focus of the missionaries around the world. To Teach Repentance and Baptize Converts. 

I am so grateful for this wonderful week. It was a really hard week. I cried alot, Sister Jensen helped me alot. Just last night after expressing to her some concerns that I had for the area and for the mission, she gave me beautiful advice that conforted me. It also made me feel really bad for being such a negative nelly. I told her, "You know Sister Jensen, it is a wonderful thing, and a terrible thing to have a Sister Training Leader as a companion. Because sometimes I just want to complain." She laughed at me and I laughed at myself and we happily got on the bus and proclaimed the truth of the Restored Gospel. I am so grateful for Sister Jensen she is such a wonderful companion and best friend. She fearlessly and diligently proclaims the gospel and is such a wonderful example to me. I am also so grateful to be serving in the Canada Toronto Mission. I love it here, I love the Canadian people with all of my heart. I love Jesus Christ with all of my heart and I am so grateful he has provided a way for me to return back to my Heavenly Father. I love my mission president and his wife. They are such wonderful examples of following Christ. I love the city of Toronto, I love that it smells and that every culture and country in the world is represented here. And I just really love being Sister Chelson, I don't think anyone is a better Sister Chelson in the mission. Sister Bell would like to argue that and say that she is, but the knowledge I have gained thus far on my mission about my identity is amazing! I have really come to know that I am a daughter of the Living GOD! Isn't that so cool? Isn't it great to be a missionary? :) 

I love you all and I want to leave an invitation with all of you. Will you, eat a bowl of ice cream on my birthday? :) Thanks Mama and Daddy for letting me be your little girl. 

January 18

This week was so crazy! I don't really remember much of what happened! I had to pull out my planner to remember! :) 

Exchanges: This week the exchange that I went on was with Sister D, she is from.....SHELLEY IDAHO! Haha we know a lot of the same people and when we weren't talking about baptism we were talking about potatoes. She totally is born and raised in Idaho. I love it! Just imagine what people thought as they passed us on the street. We would invite them to repent and meet with us, and then they would hear to girls randomly talking about potatoes. She may possibly be the funniest person I have ever met in my life. One time we were on the bus waiting for our stop and we both looked at each other pulling the funniest faces. I am so grateful for her. She is a diligent hard working missionary, with wonderful faith in our missions vision. She only has one transfer left after this, and this is her first time serving in Toronto! She is great

D and S M.: D received the aaronic priesthood this Sunday! Isn't that the greatest thing you have ever heard? We have been teaching his mom s. We call her Mama S. She has been smoking since she turned 18 and she is extremely addicted. When we taught her the Restoration and invited her to be baptized she said of course, but then shortly after she said that she would not stop smoking. We talked about repentance and then we left her with a Book of Mormon chapter to read. 

The next day we had district meeting and our district leader invited us to write down a question about one of our investigators. Both Sister J and I wrote down "how can we help mama sue have the desire to stop smoking." That night we went back to bring her a copy of the Book of Mormon. (Funny Story) I saw a big jar of Tootsie rolls on the table and I asked D if I could have one. He said. "NO! You can't have candy!" I begged a little bit but ended up defeated. Mama S grabbed the jar while he was not looking and told me to come over and give her a hug. While I was hugging her she put the tootsie rolls in my pocket. I was laughing so hard on the inside but had to hold it in so D wouldn't ask questions. Back to the good stuff. After the hug mama s told me that she didn't want to smoke anymore. She said she was sick of it wasting her money, and she is scared she is going to die. She asked if we could help her with it. It was a true miracle. 

She came to church yesterday for the first time in forty years. She said that as soon as she walked in she felt chills throughout her entire body. We told her that it was the spirit and that God was proud of her! Last night we were over there teaching about the priesthood. After we got done teaching her about it she turned and looked at D and said, "I am so proud of you honey. I know that you are going to be able to help so many people. I am so grateful to have the priesthood in my house now." It was the most tender moments I have ever had on my entire mission. 

C Family: We are teaching this sweet Part member family. The mom, son, and daughter are all Catholic. The mom is pretty set on being Catholic. WE taught them about CPR, the mom expressed the concern that when her husband goes to church there family is divided. We promised that the Gospel Blesses Families and that if they would all read and sincerely pray and ask Heavenly Father if the Book of Mormon was the word of God that they would know that Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet and that the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was his kingdom on the earth today. Sister H left a beautiful testimony with the family about how it has brought her family together. It was awesome.

H: She is the coolest lady ever. She is from Bangladesh! She joined the church ten years ago after being Muslim her entire life. Yesterday we taught her about Family History and temples. We started by singing I love to see the temple. The little girls thought that Sister J looked like Elsa, her hair was braided, so they loved it. We promised her that her ancestors would give her strength as she did this. She committed to go to the temple in March and meeting with the family history consultants. We are so excited to work more with her! 

G: Coolest thing ever. We met G on the first day of the transfer....twice. He was super solid and wants to learn more about the Gospel. Then two days later we saw him again! We have an appointment with him tonight and we are super excited!! 

EXCHANGES: I was telling daddy about the exchanges I am going on this week. This Thursday I am going with some of the Mandarin sisters. I think it is just going to be so funny to be with them because I don't know any at all! I am very excited to be able to tell you all about all of the wonderful people here in the CTM! 

This week has been awesome! I am so grateful to be serving a mission here. Sister J is the best. I am so grateful for her and her desire to serve a mission. These last few weeks with her have been some of the best weeks I have had on my mission. She is so diligent and loving. I hope that I will be able to continue to apply the things that she has taught me. I am so grateful for companions! I just love her so much. Serving a mission has showed me that I can be happy, and that I should be happy. Sister J has showed me how to be happy. :) The Gospel brings so much joy into my life and I am grateful I get to be companions with a best friend like her! 

I love you all. I pray for you and I pray that you will be able to feel those prayers. If you see any of my family give them all a big hug from Sister Chelson!