Christmas 2013

12/30/13

This week was so great! Getting to call Christmas morning and then see everyone later on was so fantastic. I'm so grateful for all of the amazing people I have in my life. I am so blessed with incredible family and friends. I felt so loved! THANK YOU!!!!

 

After I talked to you guys, Sis. Lemmon talked to her family. So some background on Sis. Lemmon. Her mom was a stay at home mom. When Sis. Lemmon started going to high school her mom got a job at the school. Sis. Lemmon has never had a job. She's never done her own laundry. When she went to school she went to Snow College and came home every weekend. She completely and totally has relied on her mother for everything her entire life. And she knows it. So being on a mission (and having me for a companion...) has been a bit of an adjustment for her. It has been really hard for her. So when she finished talking to her parents she kind of had a breakdown. It wasn't good. So I've been trying to help her through that for the past couple days. then on Saturday morning I'm getting ready for the day. Sis. Lemmon comes up to me and says we need to talk. I'm still really worried about her at this point and I'm not quite sure what is about to happen. She said, "tell me the reasons why I should stay on a mission." My heart broke. But then I felt the spirit. I was reminded of just a few months ago when I found myself asking that same question. I was able to bear my testimony to her. I told her that she needs to stay because she is going to find someone who needs what she has. She is going to be the one to help someone walk into the waters of baptism, and when you are sitting there watching someone that you have worked so hard with to get them to that point every disappointing, heartbreaking thing that has ever happened on your mission is worth it. All of it is worth it for that  one small, short moment. As I was saying these things I was reminded of some Book of Mormon scriptures that outline our baptismal covenants in Mosiah 18. Mourn with those that mourn, comfort those that stand in need of comfort. I was able to take advantage of this opportunity to bear testimony and to keep my baptismal covenants and be there when Sis. Lemmon needed me. That morning in my personal study I re-read Elder Holland's conference talk, "The First Great Commandment" (everyone please go re-read this!!!!!) and it was something that Sis. Lemmon needed to hear. The Apostles wanted to go back to their old life after Christ's death, but when Christ came back He told them no! He told them that He had called them to His work, and that they could never turn back, that call was supposed to have changed their lives forever. Christ needs disciple and He needs them forever! Our devoted discipleship and service to Him is how we show our love for Him and our gratitude for what He has done for us. As we discussed that article the spirit was so strong. It was an unforgettable experience. I told her that she should call President Vellinga, that he could counsel with her and help her make a decision. So she did. I am so grateful for that man. He is phenomenal! She ended the phone call by telling him that if she ever called him again saying she wanted to go home that he had to tell her no. She is so awesome! She rededicated herself to this work and decided to not give up. She is so strong! I can't even imagine how hard this transition must be for her. But I know she has been called here by a prophet of God for a reason. I know we all have been. And I'm so grateful that we were able to go through this together, it strengthened my testimony and helped me have a stronger desire to do this work.

 

So after all of that on Saturday we went to work and were blessed so much! We found a new investigator and were able to contact some great potentials! We definitely saw the hand of the Lord that day! It was grand. A day I will forever be grateful for.

 

Sunday we had a great church service. Sis. Lemmon and I taught the 5th Sunday lesson in 3rd hour. It went really well. We had a good discussion about the truths that we have because of the restoration of the gospel and how our lives would be different if we didn't have them. We then compared that to the lives of our family and friends who don't have the knowledge of the gospel and how we should want to share it with everyone because of the difference these truths have made in our lives. It went well. I can never tell how these members receive things like that. Hopefully they like it too... But I loved preparing the lesson. It gave me a chance to think about how my life would be different if I didn't know things like: God is  my loving Heavenly Father, the true nature of the Godhead, the priesthood has been restored and I can receive blessings, and have ordinances performed so that I can return to live with God, what my eternal potential is, that families can be together forever, that I have the Holy Ghost that can help me receive personal revelation, that there is continuing revelation today with modern prophets, that God has a plan for me, that Jesus Christ came to the earth and suffered and died for me so that I can be forgiven of sins - HOW FREEING IS THAT? - and so many more things. How blessed is my life because I know these truths that are of eternal importance. The gospel gives our lives structure and purpose. I think that my life without these things would be sad and would feel pointless. I NEVER WANT TO LIVE A LIFE WITHOUT KNOWING THESE THINGS!!!! I love being a missionary and getting to help people receive this knowledge and getting to see how it changes their lives. I can not wait to come home and be a member missionary and help the missionaries back home with this! More than anything else on my mission I have learned what it means to truly be a member of this church and what kind of responsibilities we have as covenant people of Jesus Christ! (you guys need to read the First Presidency message from the December Ensign!) anyway... After church sis. Lemmon got pretty sick and we were stuck in our apartment the rest of the day...

 

But things are going really well. It was a rewarding week. I love those weeks that you can look back on and smile. This was definitely one of those weeks.

 

I AM SO FLIPPING EXCITED FOR REX TO GO TO THE MTC IN BRAZIL!!!!! I was reading an Ensign and there was an article of MTC's around the world and it showed a pic of the one in Brazil that Rex will be going to and I completely lost it! I could see him there with his suit on and that name tag on his heart and just knew that he was going to be changing lives, his most of all. I am so proud of him and what he is doing! I have heard from a lot of people that he was a total stud giving his fairwell talk! I BELIEVE IT! He is totally prepared.

 

EVERYONE WRITE HIM AN EMAIL BEFORE HE GETS TO BRAZIL SO THAT WHEN HE HAS HIS FIRST PREPARATION DAY HE HAS TONS OF EMAILS AND FEELS TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY LOVED BY EVERY HUMAN BEING IN THE WORLD! seriously. do it.

anyway...

 

I love you and all and am so grateful for all of you!!!! - Sister Chapman

12/23/13

It has been a long week. But a good one! We still are having a hard time finding investigators, but we're making the most of it. I've ben kind of sick this week. I think it's a sinus infection. I've had a headache for about 5 days now. So it hasn't been much fun. and I can't get Sudafed because I don't have a legitimate picture ID (because of the stupid picturless driver's license I have...)

 

The senior couple here, the Jensons, have been so great! When we don't have anyone to teach or anything to do we go over to their apartment and teach them or just do stuff with them to be productive. They are the best! Sis. Jenson's mom is 90 and isn't doing well at all. At the beginning of the week they gave her 1 night, she's still alive though. But they are leaving today to be with her. It's where they need to be. But we're kind of sad because we were planning on spending Christmas eve and Christmas with them. They're like our parents out here and take such great care of us. But we'll call them while they're gone and all will be well. They're going to let us go over to their apartment to Skype you guys! I was thinking we could do it around 2pm my time? I hope that works for you... let me know.

 

We were able to contact this less active family - the Felvers. THEY ARE SO GREAT!!!! They have a farm kind of place, lots of free range chickens, goats, and cats. They also have gotten into the wine business (partly why they are less-active) and have their own vineyard. Bro. Felver is LEGIT. He is this huge hillbilly of a man. He LOVES to cook. When we stopped in he was making mince meat for some pies, fruit cakes, and candying lemon and orange peels. He is hysterical. Legitimately knows the guy from Duck Dynasty and I would not be surprised if he was the next star of a redneck reality tv show. They are so great! Sis. Felver is great too! Just welcomed us right in. We hadn't been there 10 minutes and bro. Felver asked us if we liked banana bread and then handed us a HUGE loaf for us to take home, complete with a stick of butter and home made apple butter. (Which you guys will have to try when you come out here - SO GOOD!) They invited us back for dinner tonight - I am so excited! I think we could get them to start coming back to church. Their daughter hasn't been baptized yet. The spirit is still in their home, they still have testimonies. So we've just got to figure out what they need.

 

Sis. Lemmon is doing pretty good. This is really hard for her not being home during the holidays, but we have some fun things planned for this week. Tomorrow we are having dinner with some families from the branch. They've got a bunch of little kids and are going to be doing a white elephant and lots of games. It should be a lot of fun! Then Christmas morning the Branch President invited us over for breakfast and then a family invited us for dinner. It should be a good time.

 

It's hard not being home for the holidays, but not as bad as I thought it was going to be. I know this is where I need to be. I know I'm fulfilling my purpose and I'm doing what the Lord wants me to do. It doesn't really feel like Christmas, just another week of the year. But I have LOVED opening the presents. This morning I opened the Book of Mormon! I LOVED THAT!!! I can not wait till I find the right family to give that to! I loved getting the letter and the pictures! That probably has been my favorite one so far! Diane, Sandy, and Bev and the fam sent me a package! SO SWEET!!! I need their addresses so I can write them and say thank you! I also got a letter from the O'Fallon Beehives - so cute. and emma sent a great package of course. Love her! And the branch made us stockings and the Jensons left some presents for us to open. We are being taken care of pretty well out here in the middle of no where. haha!

 

I can't believe Joseph is home already!!!! Crazy! You'll have to tell him hi for me!

 

Well I love and miss you all so much! Be good and eat a TON of food for me!  Rachel

12/17/13

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE PRESENTS!!!!!!!!!!!!! It has been so much fun opening some of them so far! I felt so loved!

 

This week has been a good one. Long, but good. It started snowing Friday night and hasn't really stopped since then. We have about a foot on the ground right now. But it was a blessing in disguise because we've been able to go around shoveling a lot of snow and people are much more receptive to that than people knocking on their door talking about Jesus Christ.

 

Tuesday night we met with a family, the Bullocks. They are so great! It's just the 2 of them. He has kids from a previous marriage, but they don't live around here, they're all grown and have their own kids. She doesn't have any kids, she's been single until about 10 years ago. they're both in their 60's. But I love them! Bro. Bullock had a stroke about 5 years ago and has a hard time communicating and is handicap, but he is so funny!!!! She works full time and then takes care of him when she gets home. She is so tired, you can tell. But she is a trooper, super strong lady. She served a mission when she was 23. Her bishop called her into his office and told her he was calling her on a mission. HOW CRAZY IS THAT?! haha! That would be trying... But they are so fun. He is from Oklahoma and has a good relationship with one of the big chiefs down there. He loves OK and the Sooners, so he likes me since I was born there. haha!

 

Thursday we went over to Sis. Tenney's house. She is so fun! She has 2 daughters that are off at school and she missed them so she invited us over to make Christmas cookies for people that we would be going to this week. It was a lot of fun! She's hilarious. She just got her masters in social work so we talked about that for a while. She's so cool. Mom, you would like her!

 

Saturday we started shoveling snow and then went to the Branch Christmas party. Not many people showed up. But we had a good time. Lots of good food. The streets were pretty bad, so weren't able to do a lot of what we wanted to.

 

Sunday the  roads were still bad so they cancelled church. We had no idea what to do with 5 free hours... So we went over to the Jensons and they fed us and we had a coordination meeting and got some plans made for Christmas Eve and Christmas. I am so grateful they are here. We haven't gotten any invitations for Christmas or for skyping home, so we are planning on just doing everything with them. They are excited for it too! I need to get a picture with them so you can "see" them. Well, I bet you can meet them when we Skype at their apartment. (When do you guys want to do that? sis. Lemmon's family is Utah, so we would need to do it a little later so that they will be awake. We were thinking afternoon sometime.... Let me know... I AM SO EXCITED TO SEE EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!)

 

Yesterday we had district meeting, that was fun! A few of the missionaries in our district just got their visas to Brazil so we were a little smaller than normal. I AM SO STOKED REX GOT HIS VISA ALREADY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT IS SO AWESOME!!!!!!!!!! I am so grateful he won't have to do that whole transition thing of staying in the states, it's so hard on them. yay!

 

I forgot to tell you about the visitor we had come on Saturday... WE FOUND A BED BUG!!! I have been praying my whole mission I would never get them. We found 1 and then tore our entire bedroom apart looking for more or for any signs of them. we couldn't find anything! But we still took all of our clothes and bedding and stuff to the Laundromat. (the dryer has to be at least 115 degrees to kill them and their eggs and the ones that people have in their homes don't get hot enough...) So that was quite the ordeal. But its over and we still haven't found anymore. THANK GOODNESS!!!!

It's been a pretty uneventful week... We still don't have any investigators and aren't teaching very many lessons at all, so it's been kind of slow. But we are still working hard trying to find as many people as we can.

 

Well I hope you guys have a great week! I miss you all so much and can't wait to actually talk to you guys soon!!!!

 

LOVE YOU!  -Rachel

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!