Pics of Rachel. Love seeing her beautiful face.

12/9/13

It sounds like you guys will have a fun day! I hope everything goes well! I'll be praying for you!

 

It has been a fantastic week here in Ohio. Monday night we went with the Jensons and drove to the Mission Home. (Kirtland is 4 hours away from here, so they didn't want us driving there and back all in one day so they had us drive up the night before.) We got there around 5:45 and the sisters in that area picked us up and we went to some of their appointments. There were 3 of them so then with the 2 of us we were a little intimidating during lessons, but they saw a lot of members, so it wasn't too bad. It was funny though! We went back to the mission home and got to spend some time with Pres. and Sis. Vellinga. That was wonderful. I love them! Then the other 12 elders who were staying at the mission home got there. A few of them had served in St. Marys before so we were able to get some help from them and lists of people to try and visit. It was so helpful.

 

Tuesday was a day I will NEVER forget as long as I live. We had our mission conference in the Kirtland Temple. Around 9 everyone started showing up and we all met outside in front of the Temple. It was so great to see all the sisters and elders I have missed seeing so much! Got some good pics and got to just visit. At about 9:30 they started having us all file into the temple. As we walked in we could see Pres and Sis. Vellinga up front standing waiting for us with the assistants. It was silent in the temple and the spirit continued to get stronger and stronger as we continued to fill the building. There was a member of the 70 that came and some of the Stake Presidents from our mission and the Kirtland Patriarch, who is a Kirtland historian. I got to conduct the music for the day, which made it even more special for me. I was able to conduct a choir of 250 missionaries in the first temple of this dispensation. All of the presidents spoke and Pres. and sis. Vellinga. It was so great. Everyone commented on what a historic event it was. There has never been that many called, set apart, full-time missionaries gathered in that temple in all the history of the church. A lot of them spoke about how that moment had been fore-ordained before the world was, that we had all been reserved to come to the earth at this time, to this mission, to that temple, with Pres and Sis Velling specifically. it was just incredible. We sang "The Spirit of God" which was written for the dedication of the Temple and our mission song - which is SO GREAT - and the spirit was just so strong. It was awesome. then we went to the stake center down the road for lunch and to watch a picture slide show of all the companionships and baptisms that have happened over the past year. It was so neat to see all of us participating in this work together and witnessing miracles. After lunch we went to the historic sites and went on a tour. Right now Kirtland is having a Nativity display where they have hundreds of nativities from all around the world. It was so cool! Then we went back to the stake center for the concluding session of the conference. President was the only speaker. He talked about how the Lord had inspired his comments for that night. He talked about the need to rededicate our apartments and ourselves to the Lord's work. I knew they were things I needed to hear. the past 9 months of my mission have been great and I have loved it. But there are a lot of things I would have changed. So that's the goal of my next 9 months - to rededicate myself to the work and to have no regrets. I am so grateful for his challenge to us all, I know it's something that is going to help this mission see even more incredible miracles than we have already seen. Then we all departed. We got home at 10:30 Tuesday night and went right to bed. We were so tired!!! It was righteous fatigue, the strength of the spirit of the day just wore us out! ha!

 

Wednesday and Thursday were good. not much happened. We found out that our sister training leaders wanted to move our exchange up to Friday, so we were scrambling to get things figured out for that. We saw a less-active sister, Tammy Longsworth. She was so sweet! I loved getting to know her and spending time with her. She reminds me A LOT of Tammy Martin. Which is why I think I instantly loved her, she's just so easy to love. She made me miss her. How are the Martins doing?  Tell them hi for me!!!

 

Friday we went and did some service at the food pantry in town with the Jensons and then met up with the sisters for our exchange. Sis. Frampton, who was in the MTC with me, came to St. Marys with me and then Sis. lemmon went with the other sister to her area - a BIKING area. I felt so bad for her, it was FREEZING! poor thing...

 

Sis. Frampton had done what I am doing right now a few months ago, she was training in a new area she had never been before. So it was a total answer to my prayers that she came. She was a huge help! Seriously, I have been praying hard that I'll figure out what I'm doing here and that we will have some direction. Having that exchange strengthened my testimony that the Lord knows me and is completely aware of me and my needs. It was wonderful. Definitely a spiritual experience I won't forget.

 

Church yesterday was great! I love the branch! I am a little worried though that they think that now because they have the 4 of us that that means there is less for them to do. Actually that means there is MORE for them to do to keep US busy. haha! But that's something that the 4 of us have been talking a lot about and I think that's going to be our goal, is helping the Branch see that that's their job. Hopefully we can accomplish that... We'll see.

 

The Davis family had us over for dinner last night. I love them!!! They have 5 kids. The oldest, Sam, is 13 and the youngest, Violet, is free years old. It was a ton of fun! And then we stayed and got to watch the Christmas Devotional with them. It was so good! I loved being in someone's home, not an apartment or the chapel, wrapped up in a blanket on their comfy couch sitting with them watching their TV. It was so weird to be watching TV!!!! haha! that's going to be a weird adjustment....
Last night was the night that president wanted us to rededicate our apartments. that was cool. I had never done that before. neat experience; spiritual.

 

Today we are deep cleaning the apartment. Transfers are next week (so I won't email until Tuesday) so they have everyone deep clean the week before, whether you're being transferred or not. And I won't so, don't worry.

 

Things here are great though! Definitely getting better.

 

I hope you guys are all doing well! I miss you all so much!

 

Love you!!!!   Rachel

12/2/13

Hey momma!

Things in St. Marys are a little better. Still slow, but we're getting there. We had a great week though!

Monday we got home from our errands and there was a big package waiting for me! Thank you so much! It was so fun to see things from the family and everyone. I loved it! It made Thanksgiving so much better!

 

Monday night we went and saw this less active family that we are starting to work with. I love them! They are the Beoughers (Bookers) and they are sweet. Michelle is the mom. She's adorable. She has this really high pitched (but not annoying) sweet voice and I can't see her hurting a fly. She has 2 boys. Nate is 21 and he just got his associates degree in graphic design. He's struggling to find a job, but he's cool. And then she has another son, Joey, who is 17. He has some disabilities. But he's funny. It was too cute, they don't get company very often it seems because when we were there both of them brought out all of their stuff and had like show and tell time. haha! Nate showed us all of his projects and his degree and some of his football stuff from high school. Joey did the same thing. It was fun. Michelle's husband isn't very friendly toward the church and he plays a lot of head games from what she has said. She doesn't really know the doctrine of the church and so he uses that against her. But hopefully if we can teach her and help her understand the doctrine she'll be able to combat that and also gain her own testimony and be motivated to come back and stay. They're great! I love them.

 

Tuesday I don't remember what happened... We had district meeting. Those are fun. I like our district a lot. Our zone leaders were on exchanges and one of the elders from my MTC district came to our district meeting. So that was fun getting to see Elder Maxwell. He's awesome!

 

Wednesday nothing too exciting happened. We met some less actives that the branch has been looking for for a while. so that was great! We dropped off an invitation to the Beoughers for the branch xmas party and she told us that we were really getting through to Nate. That made me so happy to hear! She had always said that she only wanted to have lessons when her husband wasn't home but she told us wed. night that she didn't care anymore, she was going to do it! That was awesome to hear. She really wants to make a change.

 

Thanksgiving was good. We were invited over by a family, the Kiefers. They're great! They joined the church about 5 years ago and are so solid and awesome. Dinner was a little akward. Her nonmember family was there and they didn't really know what to do with a bunch of missionaries. so they didn't really talk to us. We sat by ourselves at the bar in the kitchen to eat. But then after dinner they started playing games and we played a fun game with Sis. Kiefer and her mom. It was good!

 

Thursday we made plans with the senior couple to go to a funeral on Friday. The situation is a little complicated so I will try to explain it correctly. Sis. Jill Shepherd is a less active. She joined about 4 years ago. Her parents and family joined the church when she was 18, she's in her 50s now, and were SUPER active when they were alive. She never joined, was a little rebellious. But she joined and got active, but then moved back in with her ex-husband who wouldn't let her go to church. So she fell away and got back to her old habits. But last week on Saturday we went by and saw her. She had taken her sleeping pills early (at 3) and so when we were there she was COMPLETELY out of it. She doesn't even remember us being there, she thought she had dreamed that there were sister missionaries in the branch! ha! But her ex husband, Dave, had just gotten home from some intense surgery a few days before. He was down stairs sleeping when we were there, but Jill went down to check on him and he was dead. It was awful! We later found out that when we were there he was already dead. That really creeped me out.... but anyway she told the Jensons (the senior missionaries) that the funeral would be on Friday. So we made plans to go to that. When we got to the church that Dave went to there was no one there, the church was locked. So we called Jill and they had moved it to Tuesday.... So we talked to her about coming over and helping her go through stuff and clean the house and she said yes. She was a little embarrassed about it but needed a lot of help. So Saturday the Jensons picked us up and we went over to start. HER HOUSE IS DISGUSTING. It was pretty bad. She suffers from severe depression and has a lot of other health issues, so she completely let go and didn't do anything around her house. But we got to work and made a pretty good dent in things. She was really good about throwing things away and just getting a ton of crap out of the house. (literally, she has 2 dogs and 2 cats inside the house). But she was really appreciative and it made me so happy to see someone who really needed help saying thank you and meaning it. She was SO excited to have sisters in the branch! She wouldn't stop saying how happy she was. It was cute. I like her a lot. She doesn't remember much about the doctrine either. She had a few overdoses a few years ago and has lost a lot of memory. So we offered to start teaching her the lessons and she said yes. I'm really excited to start working with her! She's great. I love Jill.

 

Yesterday was awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jill came back to church and bore her testimony. She has NEVER done that even when she was active. It was huge. I love this gospel. It is a gospel of change!!!!!!!!!!! It helps people overcome their weaknesses and become the people the Lord knows they can be. Change is possible through the atonement of Jesus Christ. I am just so grateful for what this gospel has done for me. I look back at who I was when I first got out here and it's neat to see how much I have already changed. there is a lot left to change though! Don't get me wrong. But it's cool to see a little bit of progress. I just think its so awesome how this is really possible. It's true that when you lose your life for the Savior's sake, you find your life. You become something better than you ever had thought for yourself.  THE GOSPEL IS TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Today we are going up to the mission home with the Jensons and then tomorrow we are having our Christmas Mission Conference INSIDE the Kirtland Temple!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I  AM SO STOKED!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's going to be so legit. I can't wait. The entire mission, every single missionary, is going to be inside the first temple built in these latter days. HOW COOL IS THAT??????

 

I almost forgot to tell you about this scary thing that happened to us! We had only been here a few days and we were driving home from a tiny town in our area. We turned the corner and I saw some guys crawling on the ground and some running around this house. I did a double take and they were holding these HUGE GUNS!!!! IT WAS A FLIPPING SWAT TEAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They didn't block off the road or stop us or anything! We just kept driving by. It was scary! I thought I had left East St. Louis!!!! reminded me of being home! haha!

 

How was your Thanksgiving? Did you guys get home safe? How are the kids? How is Rex doing at home? How is Sarah feeling? How were Gma's rolls? How is that great woman doing?

Ah! I miss you all so much! I can't wait to talk to you all on Christmas! I don't know where or when we'll be skyping, but I'll let you guys know when we figure it out.

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

11/18/13

OH MY GOSH HAS IT BEEN A CRAZY WEEK!!!!

 

Saying goodbye was super hard. I was actually pretty proud of myself though, I kept it together for most of it. Packing was pretty easy, I had known for a while that it was coming so I had been packing for a few days already. We had to pick up some other sisters in Tallmadge and then went up to Kirtland for transfers. I had heard people talking about an elders area where both elders had gotten their visas to Argentina and they hadn't had missionaries there for about a month and then people started saying that's where they thought I was going to be put with my new companion. I decided I wasn't going to assume anything, you never know what Pres is going to do. So we go into the room where all of the trainers wait to meet their new companions. There were 8 new greenies who walked in and sat in front of us and then President told them to "go find your trainer" and sweet Sis. Lemmon walked up to me. She is adorable. She is 19 from Tooele Utah. VERY young. She went to Snow College for a year before coming out here. She is the youngest of 4. We got to know each other a little bit and then I asked her where her paper said we were going. And she said St. Marys! That is the elders area where they hadn't had missionaries for a month. It is the largest area in the mission. It is the farthest south west corner of the mission. I'm right on the Indiana/Ohio border. There is a tiny branch here, about 40 people come every Sunday on a good day. It reminds me a lot of the East St. Louis branch, super small, same building set up and everything. The people here are really nice, very friendly. The towns are very small and really spread out. In Massillon we had 1050 miles for the  month, here we have 1500 and the area is A LOT bigger than Massillon. Our house is really nice! Mom, our closet is bigger than yours!!!! It's quite exciting! We have a 2012 Malibu - its super swanky! I like it a lot! I'm not used to driving such a big car though, my last one was a tiny Subura Impreza, this thing is huge compared to that! but it's been fun.

 

The area is a hard one. everyone has been making sure we understand that! Most people out here are Catholic and aren't interested in changing. It's been hard to talk to investigators that the previous elders were meeting with, no one returns phone calls. But we are trying. Things are just going to be really slow for the next couple weeks I think, which sucks but oh well. The branch president here is great! He's a lawyer and has a great family! We had dinner at their house last night with the senior couple that is serving here. (they are the Jensons. WE LOVE THEM! They are the best!) While we were there we were under a Tornado Warning so we had to go down to the basement and wait till things calmed down. Quite an adventure for my companion who didn't really know what a tornado was... haha!

 

Well I hope things for Sarah get better and that Rex's visa gets figured out. Sis. Trussel was telling me that one of the elders she knows, his mom went and did the visa process herself and was able to get it before everyone else. She also said that because people were doing that it made it harder for everyone else too! haha! But if the lady from the church said you could do it THEN GO FOR IT!!! Let me know when you're going, I want to fast with you guys. I hope he's getting excited and is preparing! He hasn't emailed me in a while, so I don't know how he's doing. I loved the pics of Haleigh and Cory and Steph! They look so happy! I miss you guys all so much! I am happy though that I'm out of the super homesick phase, Sis. Lemmon is having a really hard time with it. She breaks down at random parts of the day and needs a hug... I feel bad for her. Hopefully things start picking up here soon and we get busy and she won't have time to think about it.

 

Well I love and miss you all! I hope everyone has a great week!

 

Rachel

 

P.S. I'm sending a couple pics. my new comp, a buddy of mine that was in my first district, some families that I said goodbye to in Massillon and some other stuff...

11/12/13

WOWOWOWOW!!!! That is some crazy news about the family... Did not expect that...

Well I Hope Gma is having a good time down in OK with everyone! I miss them all so much! I hope you guys have a good time with the fam in Utah! I miss them so much too!!!!! I am so jealous you guys are getting to see them all! Tell them all hi for me!

 

Things here are good! It snowed pretty good last night and this morning, we have a few inches. But I think the sun's going to melt it all before the day's over.

 

I got a call on Tuesday morning last week from President. I'm training again. I seriously couldn't believe it. There are only 3 sisters coming in this transfer, so I thought for sure I would be off the hook. nope, lucky me. And He told me that I would be transferred from Massillon. So I'll be training in a new area where I know nothing about the ward, the members, the investigators, or my companion who knows nothing. It's going to be interesting. But I am excited. It should be fun!

 

Friday I had to go to the Trainer's meeting in Cleveland up at the mission home. That was fun to get to see Pres. and Sis. Vellinga for a little bit. They're so great!

 

Saturday night was the adult session of stake conference. SO GOOD! I was so excited about the topic that the first presidency chose - the work of salvation! It's a pretty great topic. Pres. Vellinga spoke and then he and Sis. Vellinga spoke Sunday too. It was great! Our stake president is really awesome, Pres. Talley. He is a very spiritual man and made some prophecies about the stake. It's a long story, but if you look back at church history this area, the Akron Stake, was very rich in church history. there were a lot of apostles that lived here and the prophet visited here often. And when the Lord scourged Kirtland, this area was cursed as well. Well Pres. Benson came and lifted the scourge a while ago and in the D&C it talks about how the wasteplaces of Zion would be built up. So Pres. Talley said that our stake was one of the wasteplaces of Zion and prophesied that our stake would see many new wards and branches be built in the next year. And he also talked about another Kirtland Temple being built. Elder Ballard was in Kirtland for their stake conference and talked with the priesthood leadership about that possibility! HOW EXCITING IS THAT?!?!?!!?!?!? We could be getting a new Temple in the future in Kirtland! Where the first temple in this latter-day dispensation was built! I am so flipping excited! I can't wait for you guys to come out and see Kirtland. It's awesome.

 

Then the closing hymn for conference was "God Be With You Till We Meet Again". I completely lost it. It was pretty bad. Pres. saw me and asked me about it after. I am having a really hard time leaving Massillon. It's become my home and family and I love the people here so much. And I have no idea where I'm going or what to expect. I'm super scared and anxious and nervous and alkdfjhieufhnejnflskfh. This has been a hard week. Saying goodbye sucks. BIG TIME. But I told them I would be back in July with you and dad, so that was good.

 

OH! Sis. O'D had a doctor's appointment here yesterday so she just SHOWED UP at our apartment!!! It was so good to see her! Especially since I don't know if I will get to see her tomorrow at transfers.  She's doing well and is liking her new area. That made me so happy to hear. I have missed her so much!  I can't remember anything else too exciting that has happened here lately....

Mom, you have to add Margie Colman Morrison on my facebook. She is seriously going to shoot me if you don't do it soon! She said she has been waiting for you to accept her friend request for months now. C'mon mom - got to get on this! haha! just joking - I love you! but seriously, add her. She has pictures of me that she wants to post for you. and there was a lady at stake conference that took a pic of the sisters, she had never seen them before, and wanted to send it to our moms, so she probably sent that to you yesterday. Don't know if you got it or not, I think I remembered your phone number... haha!

 

I don't really need anything right now. You can always send stuff to the mission office and they will send it to where I get transferred - 2070 west 117th street cleveland OH 44111. Just make sure you address it to Sister Rachel Chapman. But I will send you something when I get to my new area so you have the address. There is an elder chapman here and I would hate it if he got my awesome packages! haha! I'll have to send you a pic of he and I. We look NOTHING alike. He's a ginger... but he's awesome. he's one of the assistants.

 

But anyway... things are good!!

 

I love you and miss you all so much! Please tell everyone hi for me!

 

you're the best momma!

11/4/13

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!! It sounds like it has been a good week! I'm so glad to hear that.

This week was a good one for us here too! We had Zone Conference one Thursday. It was really good. I love being around President. He always says something I need to hear or that I the Lord wanted me to know. We found out WE'RE GETTING IPAD MINNIES!!!! It's going to start in 2014, not sure which month though... But still, EVERY MISSIONARY WILL HAVE THEIR OWN IPAD!!! I'm pretty stoked. It's going to make missionary work so much easier! I can't wait.

When Elder Bowen from the 70 came for mission conference he talked a lot about believeing in miracles. President Vellinga elaborated on that this week and talked about how if the Lord is hastening His work, we need to hasten ours. If we expect to have miracles we have to be even more obedient. He asked us to raise the bar on obedience. I'm a pretty obedient missionary, but I know that there are things I need to work on, so I was grateful for his comments.

 

Saturday was Rachael Bennett's baptism. It was incredible! After all the stress and worry, it went perfectly. I was so happy for her. She even bore her testimony and it was awesome!!! The spirit was so strong. there were a few investigators there that got to see it too! And she comes from a part member family and her extended family aren't members, so that was great for them to feel the spirit and see her make this decision for her life! It was a great weekend!

 

mom to answere your  question, Sis. Trussel was supposed to go to the Brazil MTC but because she didn't have her visa they sent her to the Provo one instead. So if Rex doesn't get his he will go there for 6 weeks and if he still doesn't have it after that they'll reassign him temporarily to a stateside mission. He will have to do 4 hours of study for his first 12 weeks! haha! I do not envy him in that area, it is hard to be at a desk for 4 hours. I'm glad Sis. Trussel's extra hour of study won't be necessary after next week! It's been a little difficult lately...

 

No new investigators yet, but we have a few potentials we're going to be working with.

Not much else has been happening... Just staying busy and working with the members. So what kind of meetings are the ward mission leaders having? I want to know what they're doing so maybe we can impliment something like that here! We could definitely use it!

 

Well I don't know what else to tell you...

 

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!

 

P.S. With transfers being next week I won't email till Tuesday

10/28/13

	Rachel Chapman (rachel.chapman@myldsmail.net) This sender is in your contact list.
	Mon 10/28/13 3:13 PM
	Darlene Chapman (darchapman@hotmail.com)

YOU ARE THE BEST MOTHER IN THE ENTIRE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I got all the packages and they were the best thing EVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!! I love it!

 

It has been a good week! We were able to get Rachael in for a baptismal interview and SHE PASSED!!! So I will be having another baptism this weekend! I'm so excited! Especially for Rachael. She has been an eternal investigator that no one ever thought would get baptized. She had had 3 sets of missionaries before I got to the area and I had taught her and dropped her twice. This last time we started teaching her things were different. She was ready this time to make the commitment. She is awesome! I can't wait for this weekend. Her less active dad also started coming back to church! It's a really good situation.

The Padilla's have moved out of our area once again. So we don't really know what's going to happen with them. They aren't ready yet. They're not willing to commit.

I think that's a problem a lot of people have. Being a member of this church is such a huge commitment, a life long one. and I think for people who haven't tried it are really intimidated by that. But when they actually make the commitment and start working toward that goal they realize it's not a sacrifice and they are richly blessed for the step that they made into the dark. I wish more people would just take a chance on it, they have nothing to lose. They may think they do, but they don't! Only more to gain.  Linda has gone crazy and we have pretty much dropped her. Bonnie we are still trying to get into contact with. We have an appointment with her tomorrow and I really hope she remembers. She could be a really great mormon!

 

I get so invested in these people that I am trying to help and be a vessel for the spirit to help them and I'm able to teach them the tools they need to help themselves. They take them and use them and see the blessings and get baptized and are the happiest people in the world and then they start to use these tools less and less and forget about the things we taught them. And then before you know it they don't come to church all month and their lives are falling a part. I HATE PEOPLE'S AGENCY! Sometimes I just want to take it away, but that's Satan's plan. And the Lord meant for us all to have agency and choose for ourselves. Even if it hurts the people around us. This is something I have been thinking a lot about. How our agency is a precious gift that the Lord has given us and we have to respect it and cherish it and use it for what the Lord intended us to use it for. CHOOSING THE RIGHT! Sometimes that's easier said than done, I will be the first to admit I don't use my agency to choose the right all the time. anyway.... I'll get off that soap box.

 

We have this incredible couple out here, the Hildebrands, who I love so much. I can't wait for you guys to meet them when you come out and get me! Are you guys planning on doing that? Well I'm planning on it... They fed us last night. We have the best time with them. They do so much for all the missionaries. They are an answer to our prayers and yours. they make sure we're getting fed and that we have enough coats and pots and pans and shoes and anything. I'm so grateful for them. Pam has been huge emotional support too! Totally been our moms while we're out here. She keeps me going!

Things are going really well here though. We are trying to get some new investigators, we really need some. We have a few solid potentials that we can hopefully start teaching this week. I'm excited for it.

 

The fall here is beautiful! It reminds me a lot of our drives through Alton. Grandma Grimes would love it.

 

Sis. Trussel still doesn't know a lot about her visa. They are saying by January she should be in Brazil. She also said that the consulate in Oklahoma is one of the faster ones, so hopefully Rex gets his in soon! How is he doing? I hope he's surviving down there! haha! I bet it's good mission prep being with Chris and Katie and Sam.

 

Is Sarah doing better? How is her mouth and the kidney infection? I hope she can get a break from pain soon!

 

I love you guys and miss you all so much!  Rachel