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! 

January 11

Brother M was baptized this last week! We met him on the bus about a month ago. He accepted everything that we taught, and was so prepared to be baptized! Well, funny story. We went to fill the font Saturday and the water was icy cold. We tried doing several different things for about thirty minutes and nothing worked!! We had to put the plug in so there would be enough water for him to get baptized in so we started filing it cold. Brother M got there thirty minutes before his baptism and we told him that it was going to be a little cold for him. We felt bad and kept apologizing to him for the cold water. He really was not that happy about it. Right when the baptism was supposed to start the Relief Society president felt bad and came up with the idea  to boil water and pour it in the font. Sister J and I knew that this wasn't  going to work at all because the fonts take a lot of water to fill it up but we decided to go with it to please everyone. People sat in the Primary room waiting for all of this to happen. Finally we started the meeting. While the prayers and talks were going we could hear water draining from the font. (it wasn't full to start with) So we were really stressing out. Right before he got into the water the Elders poured the boiling water in and he got in and was baptized. Brother M is the same size as daddy, and the Bishop of our ward is about the size of Seth. You can imagine how funny it was to see such a small guy baptizing such big guy. Well, as he was coming out of the water Bishop couldn't pull him up and he almost hit the railing as he fell backwards. After all of this craziness. Brother M was finally baptized. Yesterday he was confirmed as a member of the church. I couldn't help peek and watch him smile as he received the Holy Ghost. He loves the church and after an interview with the Bishop yesterday he is preparing to receive the priesthood next Sunday. HAPPY!!!!

I have come to a conclusion that when I feel the spirit I just get super happy and energetic. Most of the time I am bouncing around the streets of Toronto so excited about missionary work! I think that I have exhausted Sister J. This last week she was super tired and just couldn't help but laugh from all of the silly things that I did! Something funny that happened because of the exhaustion of Sister J. Yesterday in church we were singing the closing song and all of a sudden I hear Sister J holding out a note for super long time. I turn and look at her and she was sleeping!!! Haha I just burst into laughter and nudged her. She then started laughing as well. Super funny. :)

Well family! I love you! I hope that you all have a wonderful week! :) Keep being great and reading the scriptures! :) 

January 4

Wow! This was such a wonderful week as usual! 

Tuesday: We taught ESL! it was so fun. I love ESL. 

Wednesday: We taught D and A the Restoration! They loved it, they accepted our invitations to read and pray and invited us back again! I love teaching them! 

Thursday: New Years Eve as a missionary is a really strange thing! We taught a couple lessons before we had to be in and planning. All of the sisters in our zone decided that they wanted to stay the night at our apartment so we had a crazy night of giggles and food.

Friday: One of our Returning Members brought a friend to our lesson with him. What he said when we got there was..."A wants to be a mormon." Haha so we taught the Restoration! 

Saturday:We had a crazy busy day. We spent a lot of time on the phone.  But we were able to see a lot of miracles that day! 

Sunday: Brother M passed his baptismal interview! happy happy day! 

Sorry this email is so lame! We saw many miracles! This week our district (three companionship's of sisters and the district leader and his companion) taught 29 other lessons, found 16 new investigators, and had 9 investigators come to church with us! It was wonderful! 

So many great things happened. I love you all! Happy 2016! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!!!!!! 

December 29

Hello!!!

So funny story real quick. As we were talking on Christmas I invited you all to study the Word of Wisdom! Last night, Sister J and I were at a dinner appointment with an amazing Hungarian family. The fed us the best food! After we shared our message the Mom went to her closet and pulled out a beautiful red square box of chocolate. She told us that some of her students gave her them for Christmas. The chocolates looked so fancy!! Sister J and I took one and bit into it. Immediate my mouth and my throat started to burn. I thought, "Man, this filling is really gross! What should I do, I can't spit it out they will feel bad." So I just swallowed it. The Dad, took one as well and looked down with wide eyes and said in an amazing Hungarian accent, "This is alcohol." He calmly told everyone and the mom snatched the box away. The first time I tried alcohol in my life was on my mission!!!  Haha I just  taught someone the Word of Wisdom this last week! Last night as I was praying I chuckled to myself and repented. I do not like alcohol, it tastes terrible. 

Besides breaking a commandment, yesterday was really cool! 

We dropped by an LA member yesterday and when they weren't home we decided to contact fifteen people around that area. As we were walking up to a door Sister J and I were being our usual goofy selves. I was walking around like a four-year-old throwing a fit and she was videoing me doing it. As we walked up to a door to knock I was still being super silly. As soon as Sister J shut off her camera the door opened. D told us that she had a Book of Mormon but was content with her own religion. We talked for a bit and then left. As we were walking down the driveway, I was holding onto Sister J's foot trying to warm it up because she has holes in her boots, D opened the door and asked us if we would like some tea. We both looked at each other, and agreed! We went inside and while D was making us some herbal tea we talked with her son A. They are both Seventh Day Adventist of about ten years and have such a strong faith in Jesus Christ. As we sipped on our tea D told us how she met with Mormons before she joined her church. She told us she knows Joseph Smith was a prophet. We shared the Restoration with them both. A was fixed on the picture of the first vision and both of them felt the spirit as we testified of the Restored gospel. We taught about the Book of Mormon and invited them both to pray and ask Heavenly Father if what we shared was true. They invited us to come back on Wednesday. As we left D said a beautiful prayer asking if the Book of Mormon was true. As we left the house we both looked at each other amazed with the goodness of our Heavenly Father. We offered a prayer of gratitude on the side of the road. 

Sunday at church we got a call from a random number, we answered and talked with a little  girl telling us that her mom and her wanted us to come visit them! We gladly accepted the invitation and later that night we walked over to their apartment. As we were there we talked with the mom H. She joined the church about 6 years ago and isn't able to come because she married a Muslim man who won't let her come. For awhile she would sneak to church but she didn't like to be dishonest. She told us that she wants to be at church and she wants her sweet daughter to be raised in the church. We talked about the love of God with her and set up another time to come and visit. As we left that night we were again amazed with the goodness of our Father in Heaven. I have seen so many miracles as a missionary and I know that all of them come from being an obedient faith-filled missionary. 

This last Wednesday we went to Dundas Square as a zone and Christmas caroled. Dundas Square is like a mini times square. :) There were so many fun wonderful people. We invited everyone to sing along, and sometimes people did! A lot of people videoed and took pictures. We told them all to share it using the #asaviorisborn! It was a wonderful time. After that we hopped on the subway and headed back to our apartment. After we contacted everyone on the subway we decided we were role play the Restoration with each other (who knows someone could have been listening). We have a walkway from the subway station to our apartment, and as we were walking back we ran into a girl named I. We talked with her a couple days back about the video on Christs birth. She and her family watched it and loved it. We asked her if we could share something with her that has changed our life, when then went on and taught the Restoration. She accepted all of it and was so excited to read the Book of Mormon. The conversation we had with her was almost identical to the role play on the subway! 

Last night we had our first winter storm. Let me tell you, it is cold in Canada! We were trudging back from our commandment breaking appointment and our skirts were flying up because of the wind, our shoes were soaking wet, and we were smiling and excited because we LOVE sharing the gospel. Also because I got some really warm clothes for Christmas. Thank you. :) 

I love you all. I hope you all have a wonderful day. :) 

Merry Christmas!

I love Christmas so much. This week we have seen so many Christmas Miracles. :) 

I am so excited to talk with the family! Oh my goodness! I love you all! 

I know that just over 2000 years ago a Savior was Born. Last night we were doing a free hot chocolate stand! We sang carols and tried tracking people down so we could get people to come and watch the Christmas video. We bumped into a super cool man names J. He told us how he was sturggling with his faith. We told him about modern day prophets and how they give us direction in our life, we promised him that the message we share would take those struggles away because Jesus Christ was born. He agreed to meeting and told us that he knows what we are sharing will help him. We have an appointment with him! I can not wait to tell y'all about it! :)

My favorite Christmas song is Away in a Manger especially with the verse in the second verse. "I love thee Lord Jesus." I love him with all my heart! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!